26th October, on this day

306 Martyrdom of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki
740 An earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing much damage and many deaths.
1640 The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Scotland and Charles I of England.
1760 George III is crowned King of England, at the start of what becomes a 60 year reign - one of the longest for a British monarch
1774 The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1776 Benjamin Franklin departed from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.
1795 The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created.
1825 Erie Canal between Hudson River and Lake Erie opened
1859 The Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, north Wales with 459 dead.
1860 Italian unification leader Giuseppe Garibaldi, officially proclaims Victor Emmanuel as King of Italy
1861 The Pony Express officially ceased operations.
1863 Worldwide Red Cross is formed in Geneva
1863 In England, the formation of the Football Association at a meeting at Freeman's Tavern in London
1868 White terrorists kill several blacks in St Bernard Parish, La
1876 President sends federal troops to SC
1881 The legendary 'Gunfight at the OK Coral' outside Tombstone, Arizona Territory, between the Ike Clanton gang and the US Marshal Virgil Earp, his deputised brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and the alcoholic Doc Holliday
1905 1st Soviet (workers' council) formed, St Petersburg, Russia
1905 Swedish King Oscar II abdicates crown of Norway following signing of the Treaty of Separation between Norway and Sweden
1912 First Balkan War : The city of Thessaloniki is unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron Saint Demetrius. On the same day the Serbian troops captured Skopje.
1916 Margaret Sanger arrested for obscenity (advocating birth control)
1917 During World War I, Brazil declares war on Germany
1918 Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.
1927 In America, Duke Ellington and his orchestra record the jazz classic 'Creole Love Song'
1929 TW Evans becomes the first woman to give birth on board an aircraft
1936 The first electric generator at Hoover Dam went into full operation.
1940 The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.
1942 In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier, Hornet, was sunk and another aircraft carrier, Enterprise, is heavily damaged
1944 The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends - the largest naval battle of World War II
1947 Maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir accedes to India
1948 Killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.
1950 In London, the rebuilt chamber of the House of Commons, destroyed by bombing in 1941 during World war II, is opend by King George VI
1951 Rocky Marciano defeats Joe Louis at Madison Square Garden
1954 Trieste return to Italy.
1955 After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares permanent neutrality.
1955 Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as president
1956 UN's International Atomic Energy Agency statute approved
1956 Vietnam promulgates its constitution
1957 USSR fires defense minister, Marshal Georgi Zhukov
1957 Vatican Radio begins broadcasting
1958 Pan American World Airways flies the 1st transatlantic jet trip - NY to Paris
1964 Rolling Stones appear on the Ed Sullivan Show
1964 Eric Edgar Cooke becomes last person in Western Australia to be executed.
1965 'The Beatles' go to Buckingham Palace to be presented with their MBE's by Queen Elizabeth II
1965 Sylvia Likens tortured by teen girl gang
1966 1st Pacific communications satellite launched, Intelsat 2
1967 Shah of Iran crowns himself after 26 years on Peacock Throne
1968 Soyuz 3 launched
1970 "Doonesbury" comic strip debuts in 28 newspapers
1971 UN votes to replace Taiwan with China
1972 Guided tours of Alcatraz (by Park Service) begin
1972 Henry Kissinger declares "Peace is at hand" in Vietnam
1975 Anwar Sadat became 1st Egyptian president to officially visit the US
1976 Transkei gains independence, not recognized outside of South Africa
1976 Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic
1977 The last natural case of smallpox was discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.
1978 Independent Counsel Act is signed into law.
1979 Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by KCIA head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May
1984 An American child, known only as 'Baby Fae' is given the heart of a baboon during a transplant operation
1986 In Britain, leading politician Jeffery Archer is forced to resign from the deputy chairmanship of the Conservative party following allegations he made a payment to a prostitute to avoid a scandal. He denies the allegations and later fights a successful libel case
1987 Head of Salvadoran Human Rights Comm assassinated by death squads
1988 Donald Trump bills Mike Tyson $2,000,000 for 4 month advisory service
1988 US-Soviet effort free 2 grey whales from frozen Arctic, Barrow, AK
1992 The Charlottetown Accord fails to win majority support in a Canada wide referendum.
1992 The London Ambulance Service was thrown into chaos after the implementation of a new CAD, or Computer Aided Despatch, system which failed catastrophically.
1994 Isreali Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin and Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul Al Majah sign a peace treaty on the Isreali-Jordanian border ending 46 years of war
1995 Israeli-Palestinian Conflict : Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in Malta.
1999 Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.
2000 Laurent Gbagbo takes over as president of Côte d'Ivoire following a popular uprising against President Robert Guéï.
2001 The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
2002 Moscow Theatre Siege : Approximately 50 Chechen rebels and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the rebels during a musical performance three days before.
2003 The Cedar Fire, the second-largest fire in California history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km²), and destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego.

October 26th 2005

Five die in Israel market bombing

Thousands still stranded in Cancun

U.N. appeals for more quake relief

October 26th 2006

'Civilians killed' in Nato raids

Bush signs Mexico fence into law

Prize offered to Africa's leaders

October 26th 2007

Putin warns of new missile crisis

Turkey demands PKK extraditions

Burma regime 'frees 70 detainees'

October 26th 2008

'US troops' strike inside Syria

Ukraine set for $16.5bn IMF loan

Palestinian football returns home

October 26th 2009

Afghan crashes kill 14 Americans

Pakistan 'holds elite Iran force'

Karadzic boycotts start of trial

Birthdates which occurred on October 26th:

1466 Desiderius Erasmus Holland, scholar/author (In Praise of Folly)
1685 Domenico Scarlatti Naples Italy, composer/harpsichordist
1759 Georges Danton France, revolutionary leader
1791 Charles Sprague Boston, banker/poet (Curiosity)
1855 Charles Post who had a way with breakfast cereals
1861 Richard D Sears Boston, 1st to win US amateur national tennis match
1873 Thorvald Stauning Denmark, PM (1924-26, 1929-42)
1879 Leon Trotsky Russian revolutionary (pres of 1st Soviet)
1894 John S Knight WV, publisher (Knight-Rider)
19-- James Pickens Jr actor (Another World)
1910 John Cardinal Krol former archbishop of Philadelphia
1911 Mahalia Jackson New Orleans, gospel singer (Whole World in his Hands)
1911 Sid Gillman NFL coach (LA, San Diego, Houston)
1914 Jackie Coogan LA Calif, actor (Uncle Fester-Addams Family)
1916 Fran‡ois Mitterand Jarnac France, President of France (1981-1995)
1917 Felix the Cat cartoon character
1919 Edward W Brooke 1st black senator in over 80 yrs (Sen-R-Mass)
1919 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Aryamehr Shah of Iran (1941-79)
1931 Hank Garrett Monticello NY, actor (Car 54 Where Are You)
1932 Chinadorai Deshmutu India, field hockey player (1952)
1933 Suzy Parker San Antonio Tx, model/actress (Chamber of Horrors)
1936 Bruce Belland Chicago, singer (Tim Conway Hour)
1939 John Arden England, novelist/playwright (Left Handed Liberty)
1940 Mario Orosco 1st victim of NYC's Zodiac killer (survives)
1941 Harald Nielsen Denmark, soccer player (Olympic-silver-1960)
1942 Bob Hoskins Suffolk England, actor (Brazil, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)
1945 Pat Conroy American writer (Great Santini, Prince of Tides)
1946 Pat Sajak Chicago, TV host (Wheel of Fortune, Pat Sajak Show)
1947 Jaclyn Smith Houston Tx, actress (Charlie's Angel, Nightkill)
1947 Hilary Rodham Clinton First Lady (1993-)
1948 Marshall Colt New Orleans La, actor (Eric-Lottery)
1950 Chuck Foreman NFL running back (Minnesota Vikings)
1951 Bootsy Collins Cin, rocker (Parliaments-We Got the Funk)
1953 Julian Keith Strickland drummer/guitarist (B-52's-Rock Lobster)
1954 Lauren Tewes Braddock PA, actress (Love Boat, Eyes of a Stranger)
1962 Cary Elwes actor (Glory, Princess Bride)
1963 Kerri Lynne Rosenberg Burlington Ia, Miss Iowa-America (1991-top 10)
1966 Olga Bicherova gymnastics (won title at 15yrs 33 days)

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Deaths which occurred on October 26th:
901 King Alfred the Great, die
1868 B F Randolph SC state senator, assassinated
1909 Prince Ito of Japan is assassinated by a Korean
1962 Louise Beavers actress (Beulah-Beulah), die at 64
1979 Park Chung-hee South Korean President is assassinated
1984 Sue Randall actress (Miss Landers-Leave it to Beaver), dies at 49
1990 William Paley CEO (CBS), dies at 89 from a heart attack
1991 Lori Rae Matthews crushed to death by an artist's 485 lb umbrella

Golden Link 1 On this day 26th October

Golden Link 2 On this day 26th October

Golden Link 3 On this day 26th October