October 11th in History

October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years). There are 81 days remaining until the end of the year. (Image: Apollo 7 mission patch.)
Today in History
- Reformation theologian Huldrych Zwingli is killed in a religious war with Roman Catholic Swiss (1531)
- This day does not exist in Italy, Poland, Portugal, or Spain because of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar (1582)
- Surveying of the Mason-Dixon line between Pennsylvania and Maryland is completed (1767)
- Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first US president to fly in an airplane (1910)
- The US Navy defeats Japan in the Battle of Cape Esperance (1942)
- NASA launches Pioneer 1 (1958)
- Pope John XXIII convenes the Second Vatican Council (1962)
- Apollo 7* is launched (1968)
- A race riot breaks out on the US aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk (1972)
- Saturday Night Live premiers on NBC (1975)
- George Washington is posthumously awarded the rank of “General of the Armies” (six stars), previously held only by General John J. Pershing (1976)
- Ronald Reagan and Михаи́л Горбачёв (Mikhail Gorbachev) meet in Reykjavík, Iceland (1986)
- NASA launches the 100th Space Shuttle mission (2000)
- Polaroid Corporation files for bankruptcy (2001)
*For the story of how I came to own an Apollo 7 spacesuit, see my blog post Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.
Birthdays
- Григо́рий Потёмкин (Grigory Potemkin), Russian leader (1739 O.S.**)
- Henry Heinz, catsup maker (1844)
- Harlan F. Stone, US Chief Justice (1872)
- Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady (1884)
- Joe Simon, comic book writer (1913)
- Jerome Robbins, choreographer (1918)
- Art Blakely, drummer and bandleader (1919)
- Jean Vander Pyl, voice of Wilma Flintstone (1919)
- G. C. Edmondson, science fiction writer (1922)
- Elmore Leonard, writer (1925)
- Roscoe Robinson, Jr., first African-American four-star general (1928)
- Dottie West, country singer (1932)
- Daryl Hall, singer-songwriter (1946)
- Patty Murray, US Senator (1950)
- David Morse, actor (1953)
- Joan Cusack, actress (1962)
- Luke Perry, actor (1965)
- Jane Krakowski, actress (1968)
- Michelle Trachtenberg, actress (1985)
**O.S. = Old Style. The Soviet Union did not move from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1918.
Deaths
- Hans Herr, first Mennonite bishop in America (1725***)
- Casimir Pulaski, Polish general in the American Revolutionary War (1779)
- Meriwether Lewis, explorer (1809)
- James Prescott Joule, physicist and brewer (1889)
- Chico Marx, comedian (1961)
- Jean Cocteau, playwright (1963)
- Édith Piaf, singer (1963)
- Chesty Puller, most decorated Marine (1971)
- MacKinlay Kantor, author (1977)
- Redd Foxx, comedian (1991)
- Eleanor Cameron, children’s author (1996****)
- Werner von Trapp, singer (2007)
***Hans Herr is my 7th generation great-grandfather. His house, the oldest surviving structure in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is open to the public.
****My magazine Random Jottings takes its name from Mr. Bass’s diary in Eleanor Cameron’s Mushroom Planet novels.
Holidays
- Blackberry Baking Day (United Kingdom)
- Bookkeepers’ Day (informal)
- Feast of Saint Æthelburh of Barking (Christianity)
- General Pulaski Memorial Day (United States)
- International Day of the Girl Child (International)
- It’s My Party Day (informal)
- Marital Bliss Day (in honor of St. Gomer the Confessor, patron saint of the miserably married)
- Mato Grosso do Sul Day (Mato Grosso, Brazil)
- Meditrinalia (Ancient Rome)
- National Coming Out Day (various countries)
- National Sausage Pizza Day (US)
- Old Michelmas Day (Celtic)
- Revolution Day (Macedonia)