October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in Leap years). There are 74 days remaining.
Events 1016 - Battle of Ashingdon -- Danes defeat Saxons 1685 - Louis XIV of France revokes the Edict of Nantes, which had protected French Protestants 1767 - Mason-Dixon line, survey separating Maryland from Pennsylvania completed 1808 - Belgium annexes Congo Free State 1867 - United States takes possession of Alaska 1898 - United States takes possession of Puerto Rico 1912 - Beginning of First Balkan War 1922 - BBC established 1925 - The Grand Ole Opry opens 1944 - Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of a German national militia - Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia Births 1706 - Baldassare Galuppi, composer († 1785) 1741 - Choderlos de Laclos, author († 1803) 1859 - Henri Bergson, writer 1898 - Lotte Lenya, singer, actress († 1981) 1898 - Shin'ichi Suzuki, violin player and teacher, creator of the Suzuki method († 1998) 1902 - Mirian Hopkins, actress († 1972) 1911 - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru 1918 - Bobby Troup, musician († 1999) 1919 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau, fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada († 2000) - Anita O'Day, jazz singer 1920 - Melina Mercouri, actress († 1994) 1921 - Jesse Helms, Senator from North Carolina 1926 - Chuck Berry, musician 1926 - Klaus Kinski, actor († 1991) 1927 - George C. Scott, actor († 1999) 1928 - Keith Jackson, American football commentator 1929 - Violeta Chamorro, President of Nicaragua 1934 - Inger Stevens, actress († 1970) 1935 - Peter Boyle, actor 1939 - Mike Ditka, American football player, coach, commentator 1939 - Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin (†1963) 1947 - Laura Nyro, singer, songwriter († 1997) - Joe Morton, actor 1948 - Ntozake Shange, author 1950 - Wendy Wasserstein, playwright - Om Puri, actor 1951 - Terry McMillan, author 1956 - Martina Navratilova, tennis player 1960 - Jean-Claude Van Damme 1961 - Wynton Marsalis, musician 1962 - Vincent Spano, actor Deaths 707 - Pope John VII 1545 - John Taverner, composer 1817 - Etienne-Nicolas Méhul, composer 1871 - Charles Babbage, mathematician and inventor of computing machines 1893 - Charles Gounod, composer 1921 - King Ludwig III of Bavaria 1931 - Thomas Edison, inventor 1984 - Jon-Erix Hexum, actor, model 2000 - Gwen Verdon, dancer, actress - Julie London, singer, actress 2002 - Nikolai Rukavishnikov, cosmonaut Holidays Christianity - Feast of Saint Luke Alaska: Alaska Day See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
October 17 - October 19 - September 18 - November 18 - more historical anniversaries