- Oct 1 Cosmonauts Ryumin & Popov break space endurance record of 176 days
Holmes vs. Ali
Oct 2 38-year-old Muhammad Ali comes out of a two-year retirement to challenge undefeated world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. Ali is pounded unmercifully for ten rounds before his corner throws in the towel.
Baseball Record
Oct 4 Future Baseball Hall of Fame 3rd baseman Mike Schmidt's 2-run homer off Stan Bahnsen in 11th inning gives Philadelphia, 6-4 win v Montreal and NL East title; Schmidt's 48th of the season; breaks Eddie Mathews' single-season MLB record for 3rd basemen
F1 World Champion
Oct 5 Australian Williams driver Alan Jones wins the United States East Grand Prix to claim his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship; wins by 13 points from Nelson Piquet of Brazil
- Oct 5 Formal opening of meditation hall of Zenshin Temple in Riverdale, the Bronx NYC
- Oct 6 Guyana adopts constitution
Music History
Oct 6 John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) sentenced to 3 months imprisonment on assault charges
- Oct 7 Belgium 3rd government of Martens resigns
- Oct 8 British Leyland starts selling Mini Metro
- Oct 8 USSR & Syria sign peace treaty
- Oct 8 USSR performs nuclear test
- Oct 9 1st consumer use of home banking by computer by United American Bank in Knoxville, Tennessee
- Oct 9 Nobel prize for literature awarded to Czesław Miłosz
- Oct 10 4,500 die when a pair of earthquakes strikes NW Algeria
Private Benjamin
Oct 10 Comedy film "Private Benjamin" is released starring Goldie Hawn
- Oct 10 MLB American League Championship: Kansas City Royals beat New York Yankees, 3 games to 0
- Oct 10 Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope network dedicated
- Oct 10 Yanks lose 4-2 & are swept by Royals in AL Championship series
- Oct 11 Cosmonauts Popov & Ryumin set space endurance record of 184 days
- Oct 11 Dallas Mavericks open debut NBA season with a 103-92 victory against interstate rival San Antonio Spurs at Reunion Arena
- Oct 11 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- Oct 12 "Your Arm's Too Short to Box With God" closes at Ambassador Theater, NYC, after 149 performances
- Oct 12 7 stabbed at Blood, Sweat & Tears concert in Los Angeles
- Oct 12 MLB National League Championship: Philadelphia Phillies beat Houston Astros, 3 games to 2
Country Music Association Awards
Oct 13 14th Country Music Association Awards: Barbara Mandrell, Emmylou Harris, and George Jones win
- Oct 13 Unprovoked slayings of 6 blacks in Buffalo, NY
- Oct 14 Phils rally from 4-0 deficit to beat the Royals, 7-6 to take WS opener
Event of Interest
Oct 14 Presidential nominee Ronald Reagan promises to name a woman to the US Supreme Court
Brigadoon
Oct 16 Revival of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's musical "Brigadoon" opens at Majestic Theater, NYC; runs for 133 performances
- Oct 17 1st-class debut of Mike Whitney, NSW v Qld (2-52 & 1-39)
- Oct 18 Bernard Slade's stage comedy "Romantic Comedy", closes at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, NYC, after for 396 performances
- Oct 18 Brooke Alexander, 18, of Hawaii, crowned Miss World USA
- Oct 18 Detroit blocks 21 Atlanta shots setting NBA record (double OT)
- Oct 19 Steve McPeak rides 101'9" unicycle
The Wanderer
Oct 20 Geffen Records release their first album, Donna Summer's "The Wanderer"
- Oct 21 "Banjo Dancing" opens at Century Theater NYC for 38 performances
- Oct 21 Baseball World Series: Philadelphia Phillies beat KC Royals, 4-1 at Veterans Stadium to secure series, 4-2; first championship in franchise history; MVP: Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt
Election of Interest
Oct 21 Mikhail Gorbachev elected member of Politburo
Event of Interest
Oct 23 Nikolai Tikhonov succeeds Alexei Kosygin as Premier of the Soviet Union, due to illness
- Oct 23 Rick McCosker (168) and John Dyson (152) make record 319 opening stand in a Sheffield Shield cricket match for NSW v WA in Sydney
- Oct 24 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Oct 24 Iraqi troops occupies Khorramshar
(Just Like) Starting Over
Oct 24 John Lennon releases single "(Just Like) Starting Over" in UK
- Oct 24 Polish government legalizes independent labor union Solidarity
Boxing Title Fight
Oct 25 American Mike Weaver KOs local favourite Gerrie Coetzee in 13 rounds in Sun City, South Africa for WBA heavyweight boxing title
#1 in the Charts
Oct 25 Barbra Streisand's "Guilty" album goes #1 for 3 weeks & her single "Woman In Love," goes #1 for 3 weeks
New York City Marathon
Oct 26 New York City Marathon: Grete Waitz of Norway wins for 3rd straight year in 2:25:41.3; Alberto Salazar claims men's event in 2:09:41
- Oct 26 St Louis Cardinals sack Baltimore Colt QBs an NFL record tying 12 times
- Oct 27 American Dave Gryllis sets world bicycle speed record of 94.37 kph
- Oct 27 MLB Houston Astros owner John McMullen replaces GM Tal Smith with Al Rosen
The Ayatollah Votes
Oct 27 William Safire’s column entitled "The Ayatollah Votes" is published in the New York Times, and was later quoted in a campaign ad for Ronald Reagan in that year's presidential election
- Oct 30 Honduras and El Salvador sign a peace treaty ending the "Football War"
- Oct 30 NASA launches Flt Satcom-4
- Oct 31 Julian Nott sets world hot-air balloon altitude record (16,806 m)
- Oct 31 Polish government recognizes Solidarity trade union
- Oct 31 Senegal routes troops to Gambia due to Libyan threat
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists