October 4: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). There are 88 days remaining.

Events

• 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.
• 1537 - The first complete English-language Bible (the Matthew Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale.
• 1582 - Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
• 1777 - Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe
• 1824 - Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic.
• 1830 - Creation of the state of Belgium after separation from The Netherlands
• 1883 - First run of the Orient Express.
• 1883 - First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.
• 1895 - The first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship run by the United States Golf Association was played on a nine-hole course in Newport, Rhode Island.
• 1931 - Debut appearance of the Dick Tracy comic strip, created by cartoonist Chester Gould.
• 1957 - Launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, and first Avro Arrow rolled out of main plant.
• 1958 - Fifth Republic of France established.
• 1960 - An Eastern Airlines Lockheed L-188 Electra flying from Boston crashes, killing 62 people after a bird strike.
• 1966 - Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.
• 1983 - Hooters restaurant first opened in Clearwater, Florida, United States.
• 1983 - Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph, driving Thrust 2 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, United States.
• 1988 - U.S. televangelist Jim Bakker indicted for fraud.
• 1991 - The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was opened for signature.
• 1992 - An El Al Boeing 747-200F crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 38 on the ground. See Bijlmerramp
• 1993 - Doom press-release version is made available to journalists for review.
• 1993 - Russian constitutional crisis of 1993: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders tanks to storm the Russian parliament building.
• 1998 - Leafie Mason of Hughes Springs, Texas, is murdered by Ángel Maturino Reséndiz. She is the serial killer's second victim in his second incident.
• 1999 - The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign goes dark as its new owner doesn't pay the power bill.
• 2001 - A Sibir Airlines Tupolev TU-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. 78 people are killed.
• 2002 - Opie and Anthony have their show cancelled from WNEW.
• 2003 - Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, were killed, and 51 others were wounded.
• 2004 - SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight.
• 2005 - Americans John L. Hall and Roy J. Glauber and German Theodor W. Haensch win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

• 1160 - Alys, Countess of the Vexin, daughter of Louis VII of France
• 1289 - King Louis X of France (d. 1316)
• 1379 - King Henry III of Castile (d. 1406)
• 1515 - Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (d. 1586)
• 1542 - Robert Bellarmine, Italian saint (d. 1621)
• 1550 - King Charles IX of Sweden (d. 1611)
• 1562 - Christian Sørensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (d. 1647)
• 1570 - Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal and statesman (d. 1637)
• 1625 - Jacqueline Pascal, French child prodigy and sister of Blaise Pascal (d. 1661)
• 1626 - Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland (d. 1712)
• 1720 - Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist (d. 1778)
• 1723 - Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, German entomologist (d. 1798)
• 1814 - Jean-François Millet, French painter (d. 1875)
• 1822 - Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (d. 1893)
• 1841 - Prudente José de Morais Barros, President of Brazil (d. 1912)
• 1858 - Michael Pupin, Serbian-born telephone pioneer and author (d. 1935)
• 1861 - Frederic Remington, American painter (d. 1909)
• 1862 - Edward Stratemeyer, American author (d. 1930)
• 1877 - Razor Smith, English cricketer (d. 1946)
• 1880 - Damon Runyon, American writer (d. 1946)
• 1881 - Walther von Brauchitsch, German Commander-in-Chief (d. 1948)
• 1886 - Luis Alberni, Spanish character actor (d. 1962)
• 1888 - Oscar Mathisen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1954)
• 1892 - Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian politician (d. 1934)
• 1895 - Buster Keaton, American comedian, actor (d. 1966)
• 1903 - John Vincent Atanasoff, American computer pioneer (d. 1995)
• 1903 - Ernst Kaltenbrunner, German military officer (d. 1946)
• 1910 - Frankie Crosetti, American baseball player (d. 2002)
• 1914 - Jim Cairns, Australian politician (d. 2003)
• 1916 - Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1918 - Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
• 1922 - Malcolm Baldrige, 26th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1987)
• 1924 - Charlton Heston, American actor
• 1928 - Alvin Toffler, American author
• 1934 - Sam Huff, American football player
• 1937 - Jackie Collins, British author
• 1938 - Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1940 - Silvio Marzolini, Argentine footballer
• 1941 - Anne Rice, American writer
• 1942 - Karl W. Richter, American aviator
• 1943 - H. Rap Brown, American civil rights activist
• 1944 - Tony La Russa, American baseball manager
• 1945 - Clifton Davis, American actor
• 1946 - Susan Sarandon, American actress
• 1947 - Ann Widdecombe, British politician
• 1949 - Armand Assante, American actor
• 1953 - Tchéky Karyo, Turkish-born actor
• 1959 - Chris Lowe, British singer (Pet Shop Boys)
• 1959 - Tony Meo, English snooker player
• 1960 - Afrika Bambaataa, American musician
• 1961 - Jon Secada, Cuban-born singer
• 1961 - Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese author and artist
• 1963 - A.C. Green, American basketball player
• 1967 - Marcus Bentley, British voice actor
• 1967 - Liev Schreiber, American actor
• 1971 - Tammi ann, American porn actress
• 1976 - Alicia Silverstone, American actress
• 1976 - Mauro Camoranesi, Argentine-Italian footballer
• 1979 - Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress
• 1980 - Me'Lisa Barber, American athlete
• 1980 - Sarah Fisher, American race car driver
• 1984 - Elena Katina, Russian musician (t.A.T.u.)

• 1052 - Prince Vladimir of Novgorod (b. 1020)
• 1221 - William III Talvas, Count of Ponthieu (b. 1179)
• 1226 - Saint Francis of Assisi (b. 1181)
• 1250 - Herman VI, Margrave of Baden
• 1305 - Emperor Kameyama of Japan (b. 1249)
• 1582 - Teresa of Avila, Spanish saint and poet (b. 1515)
• 1597 - Sarsa Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1550)
• 1646 - Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, English statesman (b. 1586)
• 1660 - Francesco Albani, Italian painter (b. 1578)
• 1669 - Rembrandt, Dutch painter (b. 1606)
• 1680 - Pierre-Paul Riquet, French engineer and canal builder
• 1743 - John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier (b. 1678)
• 1749 - Franz Freiherr von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (b. 1711)
• 1754 - Tanacharison, Catawba Indian chief
• 1785 - David Brearly, delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention (b. 1703)
• 1821 - John Rennie, Scottish engineer (b. 1761)
• 1851 - Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman (b. 1767)
• 1859 - Karl Baedeker, German author and publisher (b. 1801)
• 1880 - Jacques Offenbach, German-born composer (b. 1819)
• 1903 - Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher (b. 1880)
• 1904 - Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor (b. 1834)
• 1935 - Jean Béraud, French painter (b. 1849)
• 1944 - Al Smith, Presidential candidate and Governor of New York (b. 1873)
• 1946 - Barney Oldfield, American automobile pioneer (b. 1878)
• 1947 - Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
• 1951 - Willie Moretti, American gangster (b. 1894)
• 1969 - Natalino Otto, Italian singer (b. 1912)
• 1970 - Janis Joplin, American singer (b. 1943)
• 1982 - Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist (b. 1932)
• 1989 - Graham Chapman, British comedian (b. 1941)
• 1989 - Secretariat, American race horse (b. 1970)
• 1992 - Denny Hulme, 1967 Formula One World Champion
• 1997 - Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game developer (b. 1941)
• 2000 - Michael Smith, English-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
• 2002 - Alphonse Chapanis, founder of ergonomics
• 2003 - Sid McMath, Governor of Arkansas (b. 1912)
• 2004 - Gordon Cooper, astronaut (b. 1927)
• 2005 - Stanley K. Hathaway, U.S. politician (b. 1924)

• Roman festivals - Ieiunium Cereris (Fast of Ceres) (since 191 BC; that calendar date fell in late spring at that time).
• RC Saints - Feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi; also of Saint Amun, Saint Petronius of Bologna.
• Also see October 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Islam - tonight in 2005 Ramadan begins in some parts of the world.
• Australia - Labour Day of 2005 (ACT, NSW, & SA, 2004: first Monday of October).
• Lesotho - Independence Day (from Britain, 1966).
• World Animal Day

October 3 - October 5 - September 4 - November 4 – more historical anniversaries