This Day in History

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October 26

Today is the 300th day of 2016, and there are 66 days left in 2016.

There are 59 days until Christmas.

Events

306 – Martyrdom of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki.

1185 – The Uprising of Asen and Peter begins on the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki and ends with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire, ruled by the Asen dynasty.

1597 – Imjin War: Admiral Yi Sun-sin routs the Japanese Navy of 300 ships with only 13 ships at the Battle of Myeongnyang.

1689 – General Piccolomini of Austria burns down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera. He died of cholera himself soon after.

1775 – King George III of Great Britain goes before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion, and authorizes a military response to quell the American Revolution.

1776 – Benjamin Franklin departs from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.

1825 – The Erie Canal opens: Passage from Albany, New York to Lake Erie.

1861 – The Pony Express officially ceases operations.

1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, one of the most famous gunfights in the history of the American Old West, took place in Tombstone, Arizona, between The Cowboys and lawmen led by Wyatt Earp.

1912 – First Balkan War: The Ottoman occupied city of Thessaloniki, is liberated and unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.

1917 – World War I: Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat to the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany. The young unknown Oberleutnant Erwin Rommel captures Mount Matajur with only 100 Germans against a force of over 7000 Italians.

1936 – The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.

1940 – The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.

1942 – World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier, USS Hornet, is sunk and another aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, is heavily damaged, while two Japanese carriers and one cruiser are heavily damaged.

1958 – Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris, France.

1984 - 19-year-old John D. McCollum killed himself with a .22 caliber handgun after spending the day listening to Ozzy Osbourne records. One year later, McCollum's parents took court action against Ozzy and CBS Records, alleging that the song "Suicide Solution" from the album Blizzard of Ozz contributed to their son's death. The case was eventually thrown out of court.

1984 – "Baby Fae" receives a heart transplant from a baboon.

1985 – The Australian government returns ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines.

1992 – The London Ambulance Service is thrown into chaos after the implementation of a new CAD, or Computer Aided Dispatch, system which failed.

1999 - American singer/songwriter and actor Hoyt Axton died of a heart attack in Victor, Montana aged 61. Wrote songs for, Elvis Presley, Three Dog Night, (1971 US No.1 Joy To The World), John Denver, Ringo Starr, Glen Campbell. His mother Mae Boren Axton wrote 'Heartbreak Hotel'.

1999 – Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.

2001 – The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.

2002 – Moscow theater hostage crisis: Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.

2007 - Rapper T.I. was released on $3m (£1.5m) bail in Atlanta after he was charged with unlawfully possessing firearms, unregistered machine guns and silencers. US Magistrate Judge Alan Baverman said the rapper would remain under house arrest in Henry County, Georgia, being monitored 24 hours a day by a private firm paid for by himself. The rapper was also electronically tagged.

2011 - Aerosmith were forced to delay a concert in South America after Steven Tyler fell in his hotel bathroom. The singer suffered cuts to his face and lost two of his teeth ahead of a concert in Asuncion, Paraguay. He was said to have received stitches and had emergency dental work, forcing the gig to be postponed by 24 hours.

Births

1854 – C. W. Post (founded Post Foods); 1865 – Benjamin Guggenheim (of the mining Guggenheims, went down with the Titanic); 1871 – Guillermo Kahlo (Mexican photog, father of Frida Kahlo); 1874 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (founded MOMA in NYC); 1902 – Jack Sharkey; 1911 – Mahalia Jackson♪ ♫; 1912 – Don Siegel; 1914 – Jackie Coogan; 1916 – François Mitterrand (21st President of France); 1919 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Shah of Iran); 1929 – Neal Matthews, Jr.♪ ♫(The Jordanaires); 1936 – Shelley Morrison (Megan Mullally's maid on Will & Grace, 'Sister Sixto' on The Flying Nun); 1942 – Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?); 1945 – Pat Conroy (wrote the novels The Great Santini, The Prince Of Tides); 1945 – Jaclyn Smith (Charlie's Angels (tv)); 1946 – Pat Sajak; 1946 – Holly Woodlawn(Holly came from Miami F.L.A., Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A., Plucked her eyebrows on the way, Shaved her legs and then he was a she, She said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side); 1947 – Hillary Clinton; 1951 – Bootsy Collins(James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic); 1954 – D. W. Moffett; 1956 – Rita Wilson (Tom Hank's main squeeze); 1961 – Dylan McDermott; 1962 – Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Saw); 1963 – Natalie Merchant♪ ♫(10,000 Maniacs); 1966 – Steve Valentine♪ ♫(Crossing Jordan (tv); 1967 – Keith Urban♪ ♫; 1973 – Seth MacFarlane; 1977 – Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite)

Deaths

1866 – John Kinder Labatt (founded Labatt Brewing Company); 1881 - Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, Billy Clanton (all 3 died at the Gunfight At The O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona); 1902 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton; 1931 – Charles Comiskey (Chicago's Comiskey Park baseball stadium); 1952 – Hattie McDaniel (Gone With The Wind); 1972 – Igor Sikorsky (founded Sikorsky Aircraft); 1999 – Hoyt Axton; 2008 – Tony Hillerman; 2009 – Troy Smith (founded Sonic Drive-In); 2012 – Arnold Greenberg (co-founded Snapple); 2012 – Alan Kirschenbaum