October 13 is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years). There are 79 days remaining.

Events

1-1899

• 54 - Roman Empire emperor Claudius I dies after being poisoned by his wife Agrippina.
• 1307 - All Knights Templar in France are simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair, to be later tortured into "admitting" heresy.
• 1775 - The United States Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later renamed the United States Navy).
• 1792 - In Washington, DC, the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid.
• 1812 - War of 1812: Battle of Queenston Heights - On the Niagara frontier in Ontario, Canada, United States forces under General Stephen Van Rensselaerof are repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock.
• 1843 - In New York City, Henry Jones and 11 others found B'nai B'rith (the oldest Jewish service organization in the world).
• 1845 - A majority of voters in the Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution, that if accepted by the U.S. Congress, will make Texas a U.S. state.

1900-1999

• 1918 - Talaat Pasha and the Young Turk (C.U.P.) ministry resign and sign an armistice, ending Ottoman participation in World War I
• 1943 - World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
• 1946 - France adopts the constitution of the Fourth Republic.
• 1960 - 1960 World Series: Baseballer Bill Mazeroski becomes the first person to end a World Series with a home run.
• 1962 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens on Broadway.
• 1972 - An Aeroflot Ilyushin-62 crashed outside Moscow killing 176
• 1972 - Andes Flight Disaster (1972): Fairchild passenger plane transporting a rugby team crashes in Andes. They are found alive December 20 but they have had to resort to cannibalism to survive, as chronicled in the 1993 film Alive: The Miracle of the Andes.
• 1976 - A Bolivian Boeing 707 cargo jet crashes in Santa Cruz, Bolivia killing 100 (97, mostly children killed on the ground)
• 1976 - The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle was obtained by Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, who was then working at the C.D.C..
• 1977 - Four Palestinians hijack a Lufthansa Airlines flight to Somalia and demand release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.
• 1990 - Syria invades Lebanon killing over 500, and a perfect Palindrome appears on the California Lottery in the form of the numbers 1-5-7-15-17-51. Using the major system for memorizing numbers, the name al-Qaeda forms the number 571. Several years later, California Lottery officials are arrested for taking bribes, involving the awarding of contracts - yet no foreign invlovment is proven.
• 1995 - Microsoft releases Windows 95.
• 1997 - Syria invades Lebanon again.
• 1999 - The United States Senate rejects ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

2000-2099

• 2003 - The Public Library of Science commences publication of an open-access scientific journal, PLoS Biology.

Births

1800-1899

• 1821 - Rudolf Virchow, German doctor, pathologist, biologist, and politician (d. 1902)
• 1853 - Lillie Langtry, actress
• 1862 - Mary Kingsley, English writer and explorer (d. 1900)
• 1876 - Rube Waddell, baseball star (d. 1914)

1900-1999

• 1909 - Art Tatum, jazz pianist (d. 1956)
• 1909 - Herbert Block ("Herblock"), editorial cartoonist (d. 2001)
• 1910 - Ernest McGann, author (d. 1991)
• 1911 - Ashok Kumar, actor, India (d. 2001)
• 1915 - Cornel Wilde, actor (d. 1989)
• 1917 - Burr Tillstrom, puppeteer
• 1918 - Robert Walker, actor (d. 1951)
• 1921 - Yves Montand, singer, actor (d. 1991)
• 1924 - Nipsey Russell, comedian, actor, television personality
• 1925 - Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1925 - Lenny Bruce, comedian (d. 1966)
• 1931 - Eddie Mathews, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 2001)
• 1934 - Nana Mouskouri, Greek singer
• 1938 - Hugo Young, journalist (d. 2003)
• 1940 - Pharoah Sanders, jazz saxophonist
• 1941 - Paul Simon, musician
• 1942 - Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys
• 1946 - Edwina Currie, former British politician
• 1947 - Sammy Hagar, singer
• 1948 - Ted Poe, American politician
• 1953 - Pat Day, jockey
• 1959 - Marie Osmond, singer, actress, television personality
• 1962 - Jerry Rice, American football star
• 1969 - Nancy Kerrigan, figure skater
• 1971 - Sacha Baron Cohen, comic
• 1978 - Jermaine O'Neal, NBA basketball player
• 1980 - Ashanti, pop music artist, USA
• 1982 - Ian Thorpe, swimmer

Deaths

1-1899

• 54 - Claudius, Roman emperor
• 1812 - General Sir Isaac Brock, killed at the Battle of Queenston Heights
• 1890 - Samuel Freeman Miller, U.S. Supreme Court justice (b. 1816)

1900-1999

• 1909 - Francisco Ferrer Guardia, Spanish free-thinker
• 1917 - Florence La Badie, pioneer actress
• 1945 - Milton S. Hershey, founder of Hershey Chocolate Company
• 1966 - Clifton Webb, actor
• 1968 - Bea Benaderet, actress
• 1974 - Ed Sullivan, television personality
• 1979 - Rebecca Clarke, composer and violist
• 1990 - Le Duc Tho, Nobel Peace Prize recipient (b. 1911)

2000-2099

• 2002 - Stephen Ambrose, historian and Dwight Eisenhower biographer
• 2003 - Bertram Brockhouse, Nobel Prize-winning Canadian physicist
• 2003 - Joan B. Kroc, philanthropist, widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc

Holidays

• Roman Empire - festival dedicated to Fontus

October 12 - October 14 - September 13 - November 13 - more historical anniversaries