- Oct 1 J Chodorov/N Panama's "Talent for Murder" premieres in London
- Oct 1 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya
- Oct 2 17-year-old gelding Behavin Jerry, the oldest winning racehorse in modern times, sets record for most career starts by a thoroughbred, 307
- Oct 2 Ali Chamenei elected president of Iran
Weaver vs. Tillis
Oct 3 After a year's inactivity, American boxer Mike Weaver outpoints countryman James 'Quick' Tillis in 15 rounds in Chicago to retain his WBA heavyweight title
- Oct 3 Irish Nationalists at Maze Prison near Belfast end 7-month hunger strike
- Oct 3 Milwaukee Brewers and Montreal Expos clinch their first-ever postseason appearances; Brewers beat Detroit, 2 - 1, for AL East title; Expos defeat NY Mets, 5 - 4, for NL East second playoff spot
- Oct 4 Meadowlands Arena opens in Rutherford, New Jersey
- Oct 5 Dutch guilder/Deutsche mark revalued up 5.5%
- Oct 5 Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg becomes an honorary American (posthumously)
- Oct 6 Fokker Fellowship plane crashes at Moerdijk, Netherlands, killing all 17 passengers
Event of Interest
Oct 7 Hosni Mubarak becomes acting-president of Egypt
- Oct 7 In 1st Eastern Division championship Yanks beat Brewers 5-3
Event of Interest
Oct 8 US President Ronald Reagan greets predecessors Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon before sending them to Egypt for Anwar Sadat's funeral
- Oct 9 Abolition of capital punishment in France.
Indy 500
Oct 9 United States Auto Club appeals panel restores disputed Indianapolis 500 victory to disqualified first-across-the-line Bobby Unser
Event of Interest
Oct 10 Anwar Sadat's funeral service held in Cairo
- Oct 11 LeRoy Irvin sets yards gained on punt returns record (207 yds)
Music History
Oct 11 Then unknown musician Prince Rogers Nelson opens for The Rolling Stones at the Los Angeles Coliseum
- Oct 11 Yanks beat Brewers 7-3 & win only Eastern Championship Series
- Oct 12 "Marlowe" opens at Rialto Theater NYC for 48 performances
Country Music Association Awards
Oct 12 15th Country Music Association Awards: Barbara Mandrell & George Jones wins
- Oct 13 Vice President Hosni Mubarak elected President of Egypt
- Oct 14 Citing official misconduct in the investigation and trial, Amnesty International charges U.S. government with holding Richard Marshall of the American Indian Movement as a political prisoner
- Oct 14 Yank Graig Nettles is 1st to get 2 hits in same inning of an ALSC game
- Oct 15 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Oakland Athletics, 3 games to 0
- Oct 15 Professional cheerleader Krazy George Henderson leads what is thought to be the first audience wave in Oakland, California.
- Oct 16 2nd Dutch government of Van Agt resigns
- Oct 16 Harvey Fierstein's "Torch Song Trilogy," premieres in NYC
F1 World Champion
Oct 17 Brazilian Nelson Piquet driving for Brabham finishes 5th in the season ending Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas to clinch his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by 1 point from Carlos Reutemann
- Oct 18 Andreas Papandreous' PASOK wins Greek elections
- Oct 18 NY Giant Joe Danelo ties NFL record of 6 field goals in a game
- Oct 18 Poland General Jaruzelski elected party leader
- Oct 19 LA Dodgers beat Montreal Expos for NL pennant
- Oct 19 MLB National League Championship: Los Angeles Dodgers beat Montreal Expos, 3 games to 2
- Oct 20 1st NBA game at Meadowlands Arena, NJ Nets lose to NY Knicks 103-99
- Oct 20 3 members of Weather underground arrested for armored truck robbery
- Oct 20 Bomb attack on Antwerp Belgium synagogue, 1 dead, 80 injured
- Oct 22 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization decertified
- Oct 22 Start of 1st-class game at Newcastle, NSW v Queensland
- Oct 22 The founding congress of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Organisation faction led by Hareram Sharma and D.P. Singh begins.
- Oct 22 The TGV railway service Paris-Lyon is inaugurated.
- Oct 22 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved aspartame artificial sweetener for tabletop use following years of scrutiny
- Oct 22 US national debt tops $1 trillion
- Oct 22 USSR performs underground nuclear test
Concerto for Orchestra
Oct 23 "Concerto for Orchestra" by American composer Roger Sessions premieres with Seiji Ozawa conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra
- Oct 23 US national debt hits $1 trillion
Event of Interest
Oct 24 Pablo Picasso's 1937 painting Guernica goes on display in Madrid Spain to celebrate the centenary of the artist's birth
- Oct 25 200,000 demonstrate in Brussel against cruise missile
Sports History
Oct 25 George Steinbrenner scuffles with 2 fans in a hotel elevator
New York City Marathon
Oct 25 New York City Marathon: defending champion Alberto Salazar retains crown in 2:08:13; Allison Roe of New Zealand takes out women's race in 2:25:29
Under Pressure
Oct 26 British rock band Queen and David Bowie release their serendipitous collaborative single "Under Pressure"
- Oct 27 Andrew Young, former UN Ambassador, elected mayor of Atlanta, Georgia
Wrack My Brain
Oct 27 Ringo Starr releases single "Wrack My Brain", written and produced by George Harrison, and album "Stop and Smell the Roses" in the US
- Oct 27 The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
- Oct 28 Baseball World Series: LA Dodgers beat NY Yankees, 9-2 at Yankee Stadium to clinch series, 4 games to 2; first co-MVP's: LA's Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero, Steve Yeager
- Oct 28 Edward M McIntrye elected 1st black mayor of Augusta Georgia
- Oct 31 1st live US radio drama in 25 years (Halloween Story on NBC)
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists