October 12 is the 285th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (286th in leap years). There are 80 days remaining.

Events

1400-1899

• 1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean. The explorer believes he has reached East Asia.
• 1609 - "Three Blind Mice" published by London teenage songwriter Thomas Ravenscroft.
• 1681 - A London woman is publicly flogged for the crime of "involving herself in politics."
• 1773 - America's first insane asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Virginia.
• 1792 - First celebration of Columbus Day in the USA held in New York.
• 1793 - The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina.
• 1810 - First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
• 1822 - Brazil becomes formally independent of Portugal; Dom Pedro is proclaimed emperor.
• 1847 - German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.
• 1859 - Self-described "Emperor of the United States" Joshua A. Norton 'orders' the U.S. Congress to dissolve.
• 1892 - To mark 400 anniversary Columbus Day holiday, the Pledge of Allegiance was first recited in unison by students in US public schools.

1900-1999

• 1915 - World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium.
• 1928 - An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston.
• 1933 - The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island, is acquired by the United States Department of Justice.
• 1938 - Filming starts on The Wizard of Oz.
• 1953 - "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York.
• 1960 - Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a General Assembly of the United Nations meeting to protest discussion of Soviet Union policy toward Eastern Europe.
• 1962 - Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities; 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages.
• 1964 - The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives were futile because of North Vietnam's opposition.
• 1968 - 1968 Summer Olympics open in Mexico City, Mexico.
• 1970 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
• 1972 - En route to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk.
• 1976 - The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to the late Mao Tse-tung as chairman of Communist Party of China.
• 1983 - Japan's ex Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed and is sentenced to 4 years in jail.
• 1984 - Brighton hotel bombing: Margaret Thatcher survives an IRA bomb, which shredded her bathroom barely two minutes after she had left it.
• 1988 - two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia
• 1994 - NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the atmosphere either October 13 or October 14).
• 1998 - U.S. Congress passes Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
• 1998 - Matthew Shepard dies.
• 1999 - A military coup led by Pakistani Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf takes control of Pakistan and ousts the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

2000-2099

• 2000 - In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two suicide bombers , killing 17 crewmembers and wounding at least 39.
• 2001 - War on Terrorism: Prompted by a request by US President George W. Bush, an episode of America's Most Wanted aired featuring 22 most wanted terrorists.
• 2002 - Bali bombing: In Bali, terrorists detonate bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, killing 202 and wounding over 300.
• 2003 - Belarus.
• 2003 - Michael Schumacher clinches his 6th Formula One championship, an all-time record.

Births

1300-1899

• 1359 - Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Moscovia and Prince of Vladimir (d. 1389)
• 1537 - King Edward VI of England (d. 1553)
• 1558 - Archduke Maximilian III of Austria
• 1801 - Friedrich Frey-Herosé, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1873)
• 1817 - Bahá'u'lláh, prophet founder of the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1892)
• 1840 - Helena Modrzejewska, Polish and American actress
• 1860 - Elmer Sperry, inventor (d. 1930)
• 1866 - Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1937)
• 1872 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (d. 1958)
• 1875 - Aleister Crowley, occultist, author (d. 1947)

1900-1999

• 1906 - Joe Cronin, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1908 - Ann Petry, novelist (d. 1997)
• 1912 - Alice Childress, novelist (d. 1994)
• 1918 - P.S. Ramakrishna Rao, film director (d. 1986)
• 1923 - Jean Nidetch, founder of Weight Watchers
• 1924 - Doris Grau, actress, script supivisor and voice actress (d. 1995)
• 1932 - Dick Gregory, comedian, activist
• 1935 - Luciano Pavarotti, opera singer
• 1935 - Joan Rivers, comedienne, television host
• 1944 - Angela Rippon, British television personality
• 1950 - Susan Anton, actress
• 1950 - Kaga Takeshi, Japanese actor, host of Iron Chef
• 1953 - Serge Lepeltier, French politician
• 1953 - Les Dennis, comedian and television presenter
• 1955 - Ante Gotovina, general, Croatia
• 1968 - Hugh Jackman, actor, singer
• 1968 - Adam Rich, actor
• 1970 - Kirk Cameron, actor
• 1974 - Stephen Lee, English snooker player
• 1975 - Marion Jones, track and field star
• 1976 - Sarah Lane, on-air talent on The Screen Savers
• 1987 - Thomas Sanchez aka Nash, hWo Wrestler
• 1988 - Jeremy Redmond, Florida pianist, singer

Deaths

600-1899

• 632 - Edwin, king of Northumbria and Bretwalda
• 638 - Pope Honorius I
• 642 - Pope John IV
• 1095 - Margrave Leopold II of Austria
• 1576 - Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II
• 1845 - Elizabeth Fry, British social reformer and philanthropist (b. 1780)
• 1870 - Robert E. Lee, United States Civil War general (Confederate)
• 1898 - Calvin Fairbank, abolitionist minister, (b. 1816)

1900-1999

• 1915 - Edith Cavell, nurse
• 1924 - Anatole France, author, Nobel Prize winner
• 1940 - Tom Mix, actor
• 1946 - General Joseph Stilwell
• 1954 - George Welch, pilot (b. 1918)
• 1969 - Sonja Henie, figure skater (b. 1912)
• 1971 - Dean Acheson, United States Secretary of State
• 1971 - Gene Vincent, musician
• 1978 - Nancy Spungen Sid Vicious's girlfriend
• 1984 - Sir Anthony Berry, British politician, along with three of the other victims of the Brighton bombing
• 1985 - Johnny Olson, game show announcer
• 1987 - Alf Landon, governor of Kansas
• 1993 - Leon Ames, actor
• 1997 - John Denver, singer
• 1998 - Matthew Shepard, college student and gay-bashing victim (b. 1976)
• 1999 - Wilt Chamberlain, basketball player (b. 1936)

2000-2099

• 2001 - British politician
• 2002 - Ray Conniff, band leader, musician
• 2002 - Audrey Mestre, freediver
• 2003 - Jim Cairns, Australian politician
• 2003 - Joan Kroc, philanthropist
• 2003 - Willie Shoemaker, Hall of Fame jockey

Holidays and observances

• Hispanic Day, the Spain.
• Columbus Day (traditionally) - United States.
• El Dia de la Raza - Latin America.

October 11 - October 13 - September 12 - November 12 -- listing of all days