- Oct 1 1st Dutch casino opens
Sports History
Oct 1 Muhammad Ali visits Istanbul, Turkey, praying alongside Deputy Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan at Sultan Ahmet mosque [1]
- Oct 2 "Let My People Come" closes at Morosco Theater NYC after 106 performances
Sports History
Oct 3 Future Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder Hank Aaron singles in his last MLB at-bat & drives in his 2,297th run as Milwaukee Brewers lose, 5-2 v Detroit Tigers
- Oct 3 Helmuth Kohl's CDU wins German parliament election
- Oct 4 Official launch of the Intercity 125 High Speed Train (HST).
- Oct 4 Supreme Court lifts 1972 ban on death penalty for convicted murderers
- Oct 4 US Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz resigns after telling a racial joke
- Oct 5 MLB expansion draft: Seattle Mariners & Toronto Blue Jays pick 30 unprotected AL players; Ruppert Jones OF (Seattle) & Bob Bailor OF (Toronto) are first picks
- Oct 6 "Gang of Four" arrested in Beijing
- Oct 6 Cubana Flight 455 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean after two bombs, placed by terrorists with connections to the CIA, explode onboard shortly after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados, killing all 73 people on board
- Oct 6 John Hathaway completes 50,600 mile bicycle tour of every continent
Event of Interest
Oct 6 US President Gerald Ford says there is "no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe"
Event of Interest
Oct 6 Wang Hongwen finishes his term as Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party
- Oct 6 Yao Wenyuan is arrested for his role in the Chinese Cultural Revolution
Event of Interest
Oct 7 Hua Guofeng succeeds Mao as Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Music History
Oct 8 EMI signs British punk rock band "Sex Pistols"
- Oct 9 "Robber Bridegroom" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 145 performances
- Oct 9 Peter Petherick takes hat-trick on cricket debut New Zealand v Pakistan Javed 1st wkt
- Oct 9 Test Cricket debut of Javed Miandad (Pakistan), scores 163 on 1st day
- Oct 9 Yanks 1st AL Championship game, beat Royals 4-1
Event of Interest
Oct 10 Beijing reports arrest of Mao Zedong's widow
- Oct 10 Giant's Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey opens with the NY Giants going down 24–14 to the Dallas Cowboys in from of 76,042 fans
- Oct 10 Greece's 98 year-old Dimitrion Yordanidis, is oldest man to compete in a marathon; he finishes in 7:33
- Oct 11 10th Country Music Association Awards: Mel Tillis wins
Event of Interest
Oct 11 Mao Zedong's widow Jiang Qing and the "Gang of Four" are arrested and charged with plotting a coup
- Oct 12 Hua Guo-feng succeeds Mao Zedong as chairman of Communist Party
- Oct 12 MLB National League Championship: Cincinnati Reds beat Philadelphia Phillies, 3 games to 0
- Oct 13 A Bolivian Boeing 707 cargo jet crashes in Santa Cruz, Bolivia killing 100 (97, mostly children, killed on the ground)
- Oct 13 First electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle obtained by Dr. F.A. Murphy, working at the C.D.C.
- Oct 14 Chris Chambliss' 9th inning lead off homer gives NY Yanks pennant #30
- Oct 14 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Kansas City Royals, 3 games to 2
Nobel Prize for Economics
Oct 14 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to American economist Milton Friedman
- Oct 14 Soyuz 23 carries 2 to Salyut 6, but returns without docking
Event of Interest
Oct 15 1st debate of major-ticket US Vice President nominees, Walter Mondale (D) vs Bob Dole (R)
A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll
Oct 15 Ringo Starr releases single "A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll"; peaks at 26 in US, fails to chart in UK
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Oct 18 Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to American William Lipscomb
- Oct 19 Battle of Aishiya, Lebanon during Lebanese Civil War.
- Oct 19 US President Gerald Ford signs 1st major revision of copyright law since 1909
- Oct 20 70 die as Norwegian tanker Frosta collides with George Prince
- Oct 20 NY Nets Julius "Dr J" Erving sold to Philadelphia 76ers
World Series
Oct 21 Baseball World Series: defending champions Cincinnati Reds sweep NY Yankees; beat Bombers, 7-2 in Game 4 at Yankee Stadium; MVP: Reds catcher Johnny Bench
Nobel Prize in Literature
Oct 21 Nobel prize for literature awarded to American Saul Bellow
Sports History
Oct 21 NY Knicks retire 1st number, # 19, Willis Reed
- Oct 22 Red Dye No. 4 is banned by the US Food and Drug Administration after it is discovered that it causes tumors in the bladders of dogs. The dye is still used in Canada.
Sports History
Oct 22 Rick Barry (San Francisco), begins then longest NBA free throw streak of 60
- Oct 24 1st Jewish film & TV festival
- Oct 24 1st Toronto International Film Festival opens
F1 World Champion
Oct 24 English McLaren driver James Hunt finishes 4th in the season ending Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway to win his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by 1 point from Niki Lauda
New York City Marathon
Oct 24 New York City Marathon: American Bill Rodgers wins his first title in 2:10:10; Miki Gorman takes out women's race in 2:39:11
- Oct 24 Sadiq & Mushtaq Mohammad score hundreds in same Test Cricket innings v NZ
- Oct 25 5th Enterprise, approach & lands test (ALT) flight
- Oct 25 Governor Wallace grants full pardon to Clarence Norris, last known survivor of 9 Scottsboro Boys who were convicted in 1931 rape
- Oct 26 Transkei gains independence, not recognized outside of South Africa
- Oct 26 Trinidad & Tobago becomes a republic
Sports History
Oct 28 Billy Martin named AL Manager of Year (NY Yankees)
- Oct 30 "Going Up" closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 49 performances
- Oct 30 Jane Pauley becomes news co-anchor of Today Show
- Oct 30 Rev Joseph Evans elected president of United Church of Christ
- Oct 31 Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad scores 206 v NZ, aged 19 yrs 141 days (29 fours 1 six)
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists