1 October

International Day of Older Persons

959      Edgar the Peaceable (Edgar I) becomes king of all England.

1553     Coronation of Queen Mary I of England.

1811      The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River (Orleans) arrives in New Orléans, Louisiana.

1843     The News of the World tabloid begins publication in London.  Ceases publication  10 July 2011

1847     German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.

1880     First electric lamp factory is opened by Thomas Edison.

1880     John Philip Sousa becomes head of the United States Marine Band.

1881     William Boeing (born), American engineer and businessman, founded the Boeing Company (died 1956)

1890     Yosemite National Park is established by the U.S. Congress.

1891     In the U.S. state of California, Stanford University opens its doors.

1903     Vladimir Horowitz (born), Ukrainian-American pianist (died 1989)

1908     Ford puts the Model T car on the market at a price of US$825.

1910     Bonnie Parker (born), American criminal (died 1934)

1915     Jerome Bruner (born), American cognitive psychologist

1918     World War I: Arab forces under Thomas Edward Lawrence, also known as “Lawrence of Arabia” capture Damascus.

1924     Jimmy Carter (born), American politician, 39th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate

1931     The George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey and New York opens.

1932     Albert Collins (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1993)

1940     The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic.

1946     Mensa International is founded in the United Kingdom.

1949     The People’s Republic of China is established and declared by Mao Zedong.

1957     First appearance of In God We Trust on U.S. paper currency.

1958     NASA is created to replace NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics).

1962     First broadcast of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.

1964     Japanese Shinkansen (“bullet trains”) begin high-speed rail service 200 mph (320 k/hr) from Tokyo to Osaka.

1964     The Free Speech Movement is a student protest launched on the campus of University of California, Berkeley.

1971     The first brain-scan using x-ray computed tomography (CT or CAT scan) is performed at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London.

1971     Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida, United States.

1972     Louis Leakey died, Kenyan-English archaeologist (born 1903)

1979     The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.

1982     EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.

1982     Sony launches the first consumer compact disc player (model CDP-101).

1989     Denmark introduces the world’s first legal modern same-sex civil union called “registered partnership”.

1992     Cartoon Network begins broadcasting.

2004    Richard Avedon (died), American photographer (born 1923)

Follow me

EO Smith

Interests include biological anthropology, evolution, social behavior, and human behavior. Conducted field research in the Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya and on Angaur, Palau, Micronesia, as well as research with captive nonhuman primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Institute for Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya.
EO Smith
Follow me

Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)