on this day in October

October 1	1974 The first British McDonald's opened in south London, God help us
October 2	1985 The actor Rock Hudson died 1983 Neil Kinnock was elected leader of the Labour Party 1901 Holland 1, the Royal Navy's first submarine, was launched
October 4	1957 Sputnik 1 was launched - the first man-made object to be sent into space 1940 The Columbia Broadcasting Company demonstrated colour television on station W2XAB
October 5	1984 The actor Leonard Rossiter died of a heart attack during a performance of Loot 1969 Monty Python's Flying Circus was first broadcast on television 1917 Lord Lee of Fareham gave Chequers to the nation as a country home for its prime ministers
October 6	1961 Anthony Armstrong-Jones was created Earl of Snowdon 1951 William Kellog, the US statesman and cereal tycoon, died 1927 The The Jazz Singer, the first (part) talking picture, opened on Broadway 1895 The Promenade Concerts were founded 1889 The Moulin Rouge opened in Paris 1536 William Tyndale, who translated the Bible into English, was strangled and then burnt at the stake
October 7	1986 Candido Jacuzzi died 1985 The Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro was hijacked by members of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation 1984 A branch of the Trustee Savings Bank in Edinburgh became the first bank in Britain to open on a Sunday 1920 The first women were admitted to Oxford University to follow degree courses
October 8	1999 The comic actor Derek Guyler died in an Australian retirement home 1965 The death penalty was abolished in the UK
October 9	1977 Scottish pubs served drinks on a Sunday for the first time in a hundred years
October 10	1975 Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were married for the second time 1970 The Fiji Islands became independent
October 11	1982 The Mary Rose was raised from the Solent, 437 years after she sunk 1963 The French singer Edith Piaf died 1521 The Pope Leo X conferred the title 'Defender of the Faith' on Henry VIII
October 12	1986 The Queen became the first British monarch to visit China 1984 A bomb exploded at the Grand Hotel, Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference 1973 Spiro T Agnew, accused of tax evasion, resigned as Vice-President of the US 1971 Gene Vincent died in Newhall, California from a bleeding ulcer
October 13	1943 Italy declared war on Germany
October 14	1969 The 50p coin was first issued 1947 Captain Chuck Yeager became the first person to fly supersonically 1937 The first London Motor Show opened at Earl's Court 1926 Winnie the Pooh first published 1066 Battle of Hastings
October 15	1917 Mata Hari was executed for spying
October 16	1987 South-east England was battered by 110mph hurricane force winds 1984 Archbishop Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize 1958 Blue Peter, with presenters Leila Williams and Christopher Trace, was first shown on BBC tv 1815 Napoleon was exiled to St Helena
October 17	1931 Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion
October 18	1767 The Mason-Dixon line between Maryland and Pennsylvania was finally settled
October 19	1958 Mike Hawthorn became the first British Formula One Champion 1944 Marlon Brando made his New York stage debut 1812 Napoleon's retreat from Moscow began 1805 Lord Nelson wrote his last letter to his mistress Lady Hamilton - it was unfinished and found upon his desk 1781 Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General Washington at Yorktown, Virginia ending fighting in the American War of Independence
October 20	1968 Jacqueline Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis 1922 Lt Harold Harris became the first person to escape death by using a parachute 1827 The Battle of Navarino, the last naval fleet engagement to be fought entirely under sail 1818 The 49th parallel between Canada and the USA was establishedl
October 21	1966 A coal tip slid onto the Welsh mining village of Aberfan killing 116 children and 28 adults 1960 Britain's first nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought, was launched 1932 The Rector of Stiffkey on the Norfolk coast, Harold Davidson, was defrocked after being found guilty of disreputable association with women 1805 Lord Horatio Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar
October 22	1797 Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent from a balloon over the Parc Manceau in Paris
October 23	1987 The former jockey Lester Piggott was found guilty of tax fraud and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment 1972 The ceramics designer Clarice Cliff died 1911 The first Model T Ford motor car to be made outside the USA came of the production line in Manchester 1642 The Battle of Edgehill, the first major engagement of the English Civil War
October 24	1980 The British Leyland MG car plant at Abingdon closed after 50 years of production
October 25	1976 The National Theatre on London's South Bank opened 1961 Private Eye was first published 1854 Captain William Morris led the charge of the Light Brigade 1839 Bradshaw's Railway Guide was first published 1415 Henry V defeated the French at Agincourt
October 26	1991 Bill Graham, founder of the Fillmore concert halls, was killed in a helicopter crash 1929 Mrs T W Evans became the first woman to give birth in an aircraft 1881 A gunfight took place at the OK Corral, Tombstone, Arizona
October 27	1879 The Liverpool Echo first published
October 28	901 Alfred the Great died
October 29	1863 The International Red Cross was founded
October 30	1905 Aspirin became available in Britain
October 31	1984 Mrs Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, was shot by one of her bodyguards 1964 The Windmill Theatre in London closed 1951 The zebra crossing was introduced

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