Died on Tuesday, 21st October – Famous Deaths

21/10/2025

Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Portuguese politician, former Prime Minister of Portugal (born 1937)

Francisco José Pereira Pinto Balsemão was a Portuguese businessman, journalist, and politician, who served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1981 to 1983.

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21/10/2024

Mimi Hines, Canadian singer and comedian (born 1933)

Mimi Hines was a Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show and her work on Broadway. She succeeded Barbra Streisand in the original production of Funny Girl.

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21/10/2023

Bobby Charlton, English footballer and manager (born 1937)

Sir Robert Charlton was an English footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, left winger or centre-forward. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the year he also won the Ballon d'Or. He finished second in the Ballon d'Or voting in 1967 and 1968. He played almost all of his club football at Manchester United, where he became renowned for his attacking instincts, passing abilities from midfield, ferocious long-range shooting from both left and right foot, fitness, and stamina. He was cautioned only twice in his career: once against Argentina in the 1966 World Cup, and once in a league match against Chelsea. With success at club and international level, he was one of ten players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the European Cup and the Ballon d'Or. His elder brother Jack, who was also in the World Cup–winning team, was a defender for Leeds United and also for ten years was the manager of the Republic of Ireland.

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Bobi, Portuguese dog (born 1992)

Bobi was a male purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo dog cared for by Leonel Costa of Conqueiros, Leiria, Portugal. Bobi was claimed by his caretaker to be the oldest dog to ever live and the first dog on record to reach 30 years. On 2 February 2023, Bobi was certified by Guinness World Records as the oldest living dog, along with being the oldest dog on record to ever live. However, after veterinarians became suspicious of his real age, an investigation was pursued. Once his records were revoked, he was stripped of the title. Bobi died on 21 October 2023, reportedly aged 31 years and 163 days.

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Bill Hayden, Australian politician, 21st Governor General of Australia (born 1933)

William George Hayden was an Australian politician who served as the 21st governor-general of Australia from 1989 to 1996. He was Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 1983, and served as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 1983 to 1988 under Bob Hawke and as Treasurer of Australia in 1975 under Gough Whitlam.

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21/10/2021

Bernard Haitink, Dutch conductor and violinist (born 1929)

Bernard Johan Herman Haitink was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to London, as principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1967 to 1979, music director at Glyndebourne Opera from 1978 to 1988 and of the Royal Opera House from 1987 to 2002, when he became principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden. Finally, he was principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2010. The focus of his prolific recording was classical symphonies and orchestral works, but he also conducted operas. He conducted 90 concerts at The Proms in London, the last on 3 September 2019 with the Vienna Philharmonic. His awards include Grammy Awards and the 2015 Gramophone Award for his lifetime achievements.

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21/10/2020

Frank Bough, English television presenter (born 1933)

Francis Joseph Bough was an English television presenter. He was best known as the host of BBC sports and current affairs shows including Grandstand, Nationwide and Breakfast Time, which he launched alongside Selina Scott and Nick Ross.

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21/10/2015

France Bučar, Slovenian lawyer and politician (born 1923)

France Bučar was a Slovenian politician, legal expert and author. Between 1990 and 1992, he served as the first speaker of the freely elected Slovenian Parliament. He was the one to formally declare the independence of Slovenia on 25 June 1991. He is considered one of the founding fathers of Slovenian democracy and independence. He is also considered, together with Peter Jambrek, the main author of the current Slovenian constitution.

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Marty Ingels, American actor (born 1936)

Martin Ingerman, known professionally as Marty Ingels, was an American actor, comedian, comedy sketch writer, and theatrical agent, who is best known as the co-star of the 1960s television series I'm Dickens, He's Fenster.

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Norman W. Moore, English conservationist and author (born 1923)

Sir Norman Winfrid Moore, 3rd Baronet was a British conservationist and author who worked extensively on studies of dragonflies and their habitats and was one of the first people to observe and warn of the adverse effects of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides on wildlife. The Independent described him in his obituary as one of the most influential figures in nature conservation in the second half of the 20th century.

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Sheldon Wolin, American philosopher, theorist, and academic (born 1922)

Sheldon Sanford Wolin was an American political theorist and writer on contemporary politics. A political theorist for fifty years, Wolin became Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at Princeton University, where he taught from 1973 to 1987.

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21/10/2014

Ben Bradlee, American journalist and author (born 1921)

Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee was an American journalist who served as managing editor and later as executive editor of The Washington Post, from 1965 to 1991. He became a public figure when the Post joined The New York Times in publishing the Pentagon Papers and gave the go-ahead for the paper's extensive coverage of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. He was also criticized for editorial lapses when the Post had to return a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 after it discovered that its award-winning story was false.

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Nelson Bunker Hunt, American businessman (born 1926)

Nelson Bunker Hunt was an American oil company executive. He was a billionaire whose fortune collapsed after he and his brothers William Herbert and Lamar tried to corner the world market in silver but were prevented by government intervention. He was also a thoroughbred horse breeder and a major sponsor of the John Birch Society.

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Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani, Iranian cleric and politician, Prime Minister of Iran (born 1931)

Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani was an Iranian Shia cleric, writer and conservative and principlist politician who was Prime Minister of Iran from 2 September until 29 October 1981. Before that, he was Minister of Interior in the cabinets of Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Mohammad-Javad Bahonar. He was the leader of Combatant Clergy Association and Chairman of the Assembly of Experts and also founder and president of Imam Sadiq University.

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Edith Kawelohea McKinzie, Hawaiian genealogist, author, and hula expert (born 1925)

Edith Kawelohea Kapule McKinzie was an American genealogist, educator, author, and expert in hula and chant. A Kanaka Maoli, or Native Hawaiian, Edith published two books on Hawaiian genealogy, was director of the Hawaiian Language Newspaper Indexing Project, and taught traditional hula and chant across the United States. In 2004, she was named a Living Treasure of Hawaii for her contributions to Hawaiian culture and heritage.

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Gough Whitlam, Australian lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Australia (born 1916)

Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being the head of a reformist and socially progressive government that ended with his controversial dismissal by the then governor-general of Australia, John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have been removed from office by a governor-general.

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21/10/2013

Bud Adams, American businessman (born 1923)

Kenneth Stanley "Bud" Adams Jr. was an American businessman who was the founder and owner of the Houston Oilers of the American Football League (AFL), of which he was also a co-founder. The franchise eventually was moved to Nashville, where it was renamed the Tennessee Titans, a National Football League (NFL) franchise. A member of the Cherokee Nation who originally made his fortune in the petroleum business, Adams was chairman and CEO of Adams Resources & Energy Inc., a wholesale supplier of oil and natural gas. He was instrumental in the founding and establishment of the former American Football League (AFL).

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Gianni Ferrio, Italian composer and conductor (born 1924)

Gianni Ferrio was an Italian composer, conductor and music arranger.

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Rune T. Kidde, Danish author, poet, and illustrator (born 1957)

Rune Torstein Kidde was a Danish writer, storyteller, musician and artist. He was the son of illustrator and painter Thormod Kidde and ceramist Ragnhild Kidde. He graduated from Vestfyns Gymnasium in 1976 and has studied theology for short while. Rune T. Kidde was a multi-talented artist and has released both humorous cartoons, poems, novels, children's books and biographies. Additionally, he made radio features to the Danish Children's Radio and was a folk singer, poet and dramatic.

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Colonel Robert Morris, American singer-songwriter and drummer (born 1954)

Robert Neill Morris, known professionally as Colonel Robert Morris, was an American musician, drummer, singer and songwriter. He was also known as "The Man with the Golden Pen".

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Major Owens, American librarian and politician (born 1936)

Major Robert Odell Owens was an American politician and librarian who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 2007, representing the New York's 11th and then 12th congressional district. He was first elected to replace retiring representative Shirley Chisholm. Owens shepherded the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 through the House. He retired at the end of his term in January 2007 and was succeeded by Yvette Clarke.

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Tony Summers, Welsh swimmer (born 1924)

Thomas Phillip "Tony" Summers was a British competition swimmer and Olympian. He was born in Newport, South Wales, the son of Edwin Charles Summers. His grandfather was the bonesetter A. E. Kennard.

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Oscar Yanes, Venezuelan journalist and author (born 1927)

Óscar Armando Yanes González was a Venezuelan journalist and bestselling author, considered a pioneer in Venezuelan broadcast journalism. He was awarded three times with the National Prize for Journalism.

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21/10/2012

Yash Chopra, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1932)

Yash Raj Chopra was an Indian film director and film producer who worked in Hindi cinema. The founding chairman of the film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films, Chopra was the recipient of several awards, including 6 National Film Awards and 8 Filmfare Awards. He is considered among the best Hindi filmmakers, particularly known and admired for his romantic films with strong female leads. For his contributions to film, the Government of India honoured him with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2001, and the Padma Bhushan in 2005. In 2006, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts presented him with a lifetime membership, making him the first Indian to receive the honour.

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Antoni Dobrowolski, Polish educator (born 1904)

Antoni Dobrowolski was a Polish educator, teacher and Holocaust survivor. At the time of his death in 2012, Dobrowolski was the oldest known survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

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Jaroslav Kozlík, Czech volleyball player and educator (born 1907)

Jaroslav Kozlík was a Czech educator and theorist of education, a senior member of the Sokol movement, and a volleyball player. He was a pioneer of volleyball and a former volleyball champion of Czechoslovakia. He was the author of 30 books and over 300 articles, mostly devoted to the theory of education and sports organizations. Kozlík developed the concept of physical education for primary schools in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Until his death, Kozlík was active in the Sokol organization, criticizing its current administration for a lack of edificatory impingement on society and youth.

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Alf Kumalo, South African photographer and journalist (born 1930)

Alfred Khumalo, better known as Alf Kumalo, was a South African documentary photographer and photojournalist.

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George McGovern, American historian, lieutenant, and politician (born 1922)

George Stanley McGovern was an American politician, diplomat, and historian from South Dakota who served in both chambers of the United States Congress as a member of the United States House of Representatives for two terms representing South Dakota's 1st congressional district from 1957 to 1961, the director of Food for Peace in 1961 and 1962 under John F. Kennedy, and a member of the United States Senate for three terms from 1963 to 1981. He was the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 U.S. presidential election.

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21/10/2011

Hikmet Bilâ, Turkish journalist and author (born 1954)

Hikmet Bilâ was a Turkish journalist and columnist. He was the author of three books about Turkish political history.

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Tone Pavček, Slovenian poet and author (born 1928)

Tone Pavček was one of the most influential Slovene poets, translators, and essayists from the first post-war generation. He published numerous collections of poetry, well received by readers and critics alike. He also translated a number of Russian works into Slovene.

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21/10/2010

A. Ayyappan, Indian poet and translator (born 1949)

A. Ayyappan was an Indian Malayalam-language poet in the modernist period. He is considered as the "Icon of anarchism" in Malayalam poetry. He was also an iconoclast figure who had a close friendship with famous Malayalam film director John Abraham.

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21/10/2007

Paul Fox, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1951)

Paul Richard Fox was a British singer and guitarist, best known from his work with the UK punk band, The Ruts. The Ruts' style combined punk with dub reggae, a sound that owed much to Fox's guitar skills and earned him respect and admiration. The Guardian noted in his obituary: "Fox played a pivotal songwriting role, and quickly became a model punk guitarist at a time when the three-chord thrash was the height of many of his contemporaries' ambitions". Unlike many of his peers, Fox had been playing guitar since the mid-1960s, citing Hendrix as an influence.

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21/10/2006

Sandy West, American singer-songwriter and drummer (born 1959)

Sandra Sue Pesavento, known professionally as Sandy West was an American singer, drummer and songwriter. She was one of the founding members of the Runaways, a teenage all-girl rock band that achieved some success in the 1970s.

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21/10/2003

Louise Day Hicks, American politician (born 1916)

Anna Louise Day Hicks was an American politician and lawyer from Boston, Massachusetts, best known for her staunch opposition to desegregation in Boston public schools, and especially to court-ordered busing, in the 1960s and 1970s. A longtime member of Boston's school board and city council, she served one term in the United States House of Representatives, succeeding Speaker of the House John W. McCormack.

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Luis A. Ferré, Puerto Rican engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of Puerto Rico (born 1904)

Don Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo, most commonly known as Luis A. Ferré, was a Puerto Rican engineer, industrialist, politician, philanthropist, and patron of the arts who served as the third democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico from 1969 to 1973. Ferré previously served as an at-large member of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico from 1953 to 1957. After his governorship, he served as the eighth president of the Senate of Puerto Rico from 1977 to 1981.

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Elliott Smith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1969)

Steven Paul Smith, known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he gained popularity. Smith's primary instrument was the guitar, though he also played piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica. He had a distinctive vocal style characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery", and he often used multi-tracking to create vocal layers, textures, and harmonies that were usually fingerpicked and recorded with tape.

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21/10/2002

Edward J. Mortola, American academic and president of Pace University (born 1917)

Edward Joseph Mortola was an American academic and education executive who served as president of New York's Pace University from 1960 to 1984, when he became chancellor. He was the university's third president and oversaw its growth from a Lower Manhattan business school to one of the largest independent universities in the U.S., with a centrally located campus at One Pace Plaza, across from City Hall.

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21/10/1999

Lars Bo, Danish author and illustrator (born 1924)

Lars Bo was a Danish artist and writer. He is known for his graphic works with surrealistically inspired fantastic motifs. He was nicknamed "Wizard".

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Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Turkish political scientist, lawyer, and politician (born 1939)

Ahmet Taner Kışlalı was a Turkish professor, politician, and commentator. He served in the Parliament of Turkey in 1977 and was minister of culture in 1978 and 1979. He was killed in 1999.

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21/10/1998

Francis W. Sargent, American soldier and politician, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (born 1915)

Francis Williams Sargent was an American politician who served as the 64th governor of Massachusetts from 1969 to 1975. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 63rd lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1967 to 1971. In 1969, he became acting governor when John A. Volpe resigned to become Secretary of Transportation under the Nixon Administration. In 1970, he was elected governor in his own right, defeating the Democratic Party's nominee Kevin White. He lost reelection in 1974 to Democrat Michael Dukakis.

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21/10/1996

Georgios Zoitakis, Greek general and politician (born 1910)

Georgios Zoitakis was a Hellenic Army General and regent of Greece from 13 December 1967 to 21 March 1972, during the military regime of the Colonels.

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21/10/1995

Maxene Andrews, American singer (born 1916)

The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911–1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (1916–1995), and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie Andrews (1918–2013). The sisters have sold an estimated 80 million records. Their 1941 hit "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" can be considered an early example of jump blues. Other songs closely associated with the Andrews Sisters include their first major hit, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön " (1937), "Beer Barrel Polka " (1939), "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" (1940), "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree " (1942), and "Rum and Coca-Cola" (1945), which helped introduce American audiences to calypso.

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Jesús Blasco, Spanish author and illustrator (born 1919)

Jesús Blasco was a Spanish author and artist of comic books, whose career covered most of the conventional history of comic strips. He worked extensively in British comics in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Nancy Graves, American sculptor and painter (born 1939)

Nancy Graves was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and sometime filmmaker known for her focus on natural phenomena like camels or maps of the Moon. Her works are included in many public collections, including those of the National Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), the Des Moines Art Center, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the Museum of Fine Arts. When Graves was just 29, she was given a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. At the time she was the youngest artist, and fifth woman to achieve this honor.

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Shannon Hoon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1967)

Richard Shannon Hoon was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer of the band Blind Melon from 1990 until his death in 1995.

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21/10/1993

Sam Zolotow, American journalist and critic (born 1899)

Samuel Tecumseh Zolotow was an American theater reporter for The New York Times who was known for his tenacity in getting the details about how Broadway shows were performing, relentlessly pursuing producers, press agents and the crowds attending opening nights to get the details he needed for his stories and columns during his half century at the newspaper.

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21/10/1992

Ante Ciliga, Croatian politician, writer and publisher (born 1898)

Ante Ciliga was a Croatian politician, writer and publisher. Ciliga was one of the earliest leaders of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). Imprisoned in Stalin's Gulags in the 1930s as part of the Great Purge, he later became an ardent Croatian nationalist, anti-communist and ideologue of the fascist Ustaše movement.

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Jim Garrison, American lawyer and judge (born 1921)

James Carothers Garrison was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana, from 1962 to 1973 and later a state appellate court judge. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his investigations into the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the prosecution of New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw to that effect in 1969, which ended in Shaw's acquittal. Garrison believed the assassination was the result of a conspiracy involving the CIA, FBI, The Pentagon, the Mafia and other organizations. He wrote three published books, one of which became a prime source for Oliver Stone's film JFK in 1991, in which Garrison was portrayed by Kevin Costner, while Garrison himself made a cameo appearance as Earl Warren.

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21/10/1991

Lorenc Antoni, Albanian composer, conductor, and musicologist (born 1909)

Lorenc Antoni was an Albanian composer, conductor, and ethnomusicologist.

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21/10/1990

Dany Chamoun, Lebanese engineer and politician (born 1934)

Dany Chamoun was a prominent Lebanese politician. A Maronite Christian, the younger son of former President Camille Chamoun and brother of Dory Chamoun, Chamoun was also a politician in his own right. He was murdered on October 21, 1990 at age 56, along with his family.

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Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Indian spiritual guru, philosopher and author (born 1921)

Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, also known by his spiritual name Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti, and known as Bábá ("Father") to his disciples, was a spiritual guru, philosopher, social reformer, linguist, author and composer of 5,018 songs mostly in the Bengali language. He founded Ananda Marga in 1955 as a spiritual and social organisation that continues to offer instruction in meditation and yoga and runs numerous social service and disaster relief projects throughout the world.

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21/10/1989

Jean Image, Hungarian-French director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1910)

Imre Hajdú better known by his stage name Jean Image was a Hungarian-French director, script writer and producer of French animation films.

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21/10/1986

Lionel Murphy, Australian jurist and politician, 22nd Attorney-General of Australia (born 1922)

Lionel Keith Murphy was an Australian politician, barrister, and judge. He was a Senator for New South Wales from 1962 to 1975, serving as Attorney-General in the Whitlam government, and then sat on the High Court from 1975 until his death in 1986.

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21/10/1985

Dan White, American assassin and politician (born 1946)

Daniel James White was an American politician who assassinated George Moscone, the 37th mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk, a fellow member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, inside San Francisco City Hall on November 27, 1978.

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21/10/1984

François Truffaut, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1932)

François Roland Truffaut was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic, who is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a young man and was hired to write for Bazin's Cahiers du Cinéma, where he became a proponent of the auteur theory, which posits that a film's director is its true author. The 400 Blows (1959), starring Jean-Pierre Léaud as Truffaut's alter ego Antoine Doinel, was a defining film of the New Wave. The films Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970) and Love on the Run (1979) continued to chronicle the story of the couple Antoine and Christine. Truffaut contributed to another significant milestone of the movement with his work on Breathless (1960), a film directed by his Cahiers colleague Jean-Luc Godard.

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21/10/1983

Joseph P. Lordi, American government official (born 1919)

Joseph P. Lordi was an American law enforcement official who served as the Essex County, New Jersey prosecutor and as the first Chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

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21/10/1982

Radka Toneff, Norwegian singer-songwriter (born 1952)

Ellen Radka Toneff was a Norwegian jazz singer, daughter of the Bulgarian folk singer, pilot and radio technician Toni Toneff, she was born in Oslo and grew up in Lambertseter and Kolbotn. She is still considered one of Norway's greatest jazz singers.

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21/10/1980

Hans Asperger, Austrian physician and psychologist (born 1906)

Johann Friedrich Karl Asperger was an Austrian physician. Noted for his early studies on atypical neurology, specifically in children, he is the namesake of Asperger syndrome. He wrote more than 300 publications on psychological disorders that posthumously acquired international renown in the 1980s. His diagnosis of autism, which he termed "autistic psychopathy", garnered controversy.

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21/10/1978

Anastas Mikoyan, Armenian-Russian civil servant and politician (born 1895)

Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan was a Soviet statesman, diplomat, and Bolshevik revolutionary who served as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the head of state of the Soviet Union. As a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee from 1923 to 1976, he was the only Soviet politician who remained in power from Lenin, through the eras of Stalin and Khrushchev, to his retirement under Brezhnev. His longevity inspired the popular Russian saying "from Ilyich [Lenin] to Ilyich [Brezhnev] without heart attack and paralysis".

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21/10/1977

Ferit Tüzün, Turkish composer (born 1929)

Ferit Tüzün was a Turkish composer. His works included the opera Midas'ın Kulakları, on the tale of King Midas' ears.

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21/10/1975

Charles Reidpath, American runner and general (born 1887)

Charles Decker Reidpath was an American track and field sprinter and winner of two gold medals at the 1912 Summer Olympics, who later went on to have an outstanding military career.

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21/10/1973

Nasif Estéfano, Argentinian race car driver (born 1932)

Nasif Moisés Estéfano was a racing driver from Argentina with Lebanese ancestry. He participated in two World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 7 February 1960, but scored no championship points. He entered the 1962 Italian Grand Prix but failed to qualify. He was born in Concepción, Tucumán.

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21/10/1971

Minnie Evans, American artist (born 1888)

Minnie Eva Evans was an African-American artist who worked in the United States from the 1940s to the 1980s. Evans used different types of media in her work such as oils and graphite, but started with using wax and crayon. She was inspired to start drawing due to visions and dreams that she had all throughout her life, starting when she was a young girl. She is known as a southern folk artist and outsider artist, as well as a surrealist and visionary artist.

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21/10/1970

Li Linsi, Chinese educator and diplomat (born 1896)

Li Linsi, born Li Jiaxiang (厉家祥), was a Chinese educator, diplomat, and scholar who has been recognized as one of the key figures in modern Chinese cultural and diplomatic history. Hailed as China's Mahatma Gandhi, Li was the leader of China's nonviolent resistance against Japanese aggression. His military research contributed to China in the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was known for his efforts to save hundreds of Jews fleeing to Shanghai during World War II. A diplomatic consultant to Chiang Kai-shek, Li was a key facilitator of the China–Germany relationship during the 1930s, and a major proponent of China's League of Nations diplomacy.

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21/10/1969

Jack Kerouac, American novelist and poet (born 1922)

Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.

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Wacław Sierpiński, Polish mathematician and academic (born 1882)

Wacław Franciszek Sierpiński was a Polish mathematician. He was known for contributions to set theory, number theory, theory of functions, and topology. He published over 700 papers and 50 books.

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21/10/1965

Bill Black, American bass player and bandleader (born 1926)

William Patton Black Jr. was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio, the Blue Moon Boys. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo.

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21/10/1963

Józef Franczak, Polish sergeant (born 1918)

Józef Franczak was a soldier of the Polish Army, Armia Krajowa World War II resistance, and last of the cursed soldiers – members of the militant anti-communist resistance in Poland. He used codenames Lalek, Laluś, Laleczka, Guściowa, and fake name Józef Babiński. He was a resistance fighter for 24 out of 45 years of his life.

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21/10/1952

Hans Merensky, South African geologist and philanthropist (born 1871)

Hans Merensky was a South African geologist, prospector, scientist, conservationist and philanthropist.

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21/10/1944

Alois Kayser, German-French missionary (born 1877)

Alois Kayser was a German-French Roman Catholic missionary who spent almost forty years on Nauru and wrote a Nauruan grammar. In 1943, he was deported along with Pierre Clivaz, a Swiss missionary, as well as most of the Nauruan population, by the Japanese to Truk Atoll in Micronesia, where he died.

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21/10/1941

Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton, Australian biologist (born 1852)

Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton was an Australian naturalist and teacher born in Ireland. A former president of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, he was known for his studies of desert plants and pollination as well as birds and terrestrial worms.

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21/10/1940

William G. Conley, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (born 1866)

William Gustavus Conley was an American lawyer and politician who served as the Attorney General of West Virginia (1908–1913) and 18th governor of West Virginia as a Republican.

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21/10/1939

Hendrik Wortman, Dutch civil engineer (born 1859)

Hendrik Wortman was a Dutch civil engineer. Born in Amersfoort, Utrecht, he graduated from Delft Polytechnic in 1880 and joined the Rijkswaterstaat. He took offices throughout the country, focusing particularly on questions of water management and hydraulic engineering, until he was seconded to the Ministry of Public Works, Trade, and Industry in 1894. In this capacity, he developed several infrastructure projects, including a harbour in Scheveningen, while preparing exploratory studies for damming of the Zuiderzee.

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21/10/1938

Dorothy Hale, American actress (born 1905)

Dorothy Hale was an American socialite and aspiring actress who died by suicide by jumping off of the Hampshire House building in New York City. Her husband's death, followed by several unsuccessful relationships, had left her financially dependent on her wealthy friends. The artist Frida Kahlo created a famous painting commissioned by Clare Boothe Luce, titled The Suicide of Dorothy Hale.

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21/10/1931

Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian author and playwright (born 1862)

Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist. He is considered one of the most significant representatives of Viennese Modernism. Schnitzler's works, which include psychological dramas and narratives, dissected turn-of-the-century Viennese bourgeois life, making him a sharp and stylistically conscious chronicler of Viennese society around 1900. Schnitzler's Jewish upbringing and the sexual content of his works made them controversial or banned in his time and beyond.

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21/10/1927

Borisav Stanković, Serbian author (born 1876)

Borisav "Bora" Stanković was a Serbian writer belonging to the school of realism. His novels and short stories depict the life of people from South Serbia. He belongs to an exceptional group of storytellers that appeared at the turn of the 20th century, Ivo Ćipiko, Petar Kočić, Milutin Uskoković, Svetolik Ranković, Veljko Milićević and others.

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21/10/1907

Jules Chevalier, French priest, founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (born 1824)

Jules Chevalier, MSC was a French Catholic priest and founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, along with their lay associates, known collectively as the Chevalier Family.

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21/10/1904

Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer and journalist (born 1877)

Isabelle Wilhelmine Marie Eberhardt was a Swiss explorer and author. As a teenager, Eberhardt, educated in Switzerland by her father, published short stories under a male pseudonym. She became interested in North Africa, and was considered a proficient writer on the subject despite learning about the region only through correspondence. After an invitation from photographer Louis David, Eberhardt moved to Algeria in May 1897. She dressed as a man and converted to Islam, eventually adopting the name Si Mahmoud Saadi. Eberhardt's unorthodox behaviour made her an outcast among European settlers in Algeria and the French administration.

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21/10/1903

Jinmaku Kyūgorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 12th Yokozuna (born 1829)

Jinmaku Kyūgorō was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Itō, Izumo Province. He was the sport's 12th yokozuna and one of its most important record keepers and historians.

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21/10/1896

James Henry Greathead, South African-English engineer (born 1844)

James Henry Greathead was an English mechanical and civil engineer renowned for his work on the London Underground railways, Winchester Cathedral, and Liverpool overhead railway, as well as being one of the earliest proponents of the English Channel, Irish Sea and Bristol Channel tunnels. His invention is also the reason that the London Underground is colloquially named the "Tube".

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21/10/1873

Johan Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian author, poet, and critic (born 1807)

Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven was a Norwegian writer, poet, critic, and art theorist. He has been considered "one of the greatest figures in Norwegian literature."

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21/10/1872

Jacques Babinet, French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer (born 1794)

Jacques Babinet was a French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer who is best known for his contributions to optics.

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21/10/1861

Edward Dickinson Baker, American congressman and colonel (born 1811)

Edward Dickinson Baker was an American politician, lawyer, and US army officer. In his political career, Baker served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois and later as a U.S. senator from Oregon. He was also known as an orator and poet. A long-time close friend of the president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, Baker served as U.S. Army colonel during both the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. Baker was killed in the Battle of Ball's Bluff while leading a Union Army regiment, becoming the only sitting U.S. senator ever to be killed in a military engagement.

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21/10/1835

Muthuswami Dikshitar, Indian poet and composer (born 1775)

Muthuswami Dikshitar, mononymously known as Dikshitar, was a South Indian, Hindu poet, singer, veena player, and prolific composer of Indian classical music. He was the youngest member of the Trinity of Carnatic music, alongside Tyagaraja and Shyama Sastri. Dikshitar was born on 24 March 1776 in Thiruvarur near Thanjavur, in Tamil Nadu. His family traditionally traced its lineage to Virinchipuram in the northern part of the state.

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21/10/1821

Dorothea Ackermann, German actress (born 1752)

Caroline Dorothea Elisabeth Ackermann was a German actress and eldest daughter of Konrad Ackermann and Sophie Charlotte Bierreichel. She had one sister, Charlotte Ackermann, and one stepbrother Friedrich Ludwig Schröder via her mother.

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21/10/1805

John Cooke, English captain (born 1763)

John Cooke was an experienced and highly regarded officer of the Royal Navy during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the first years of the Napoleonic Wars. Cooke is best known for his death in hand-to-hand combat with French forces during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. During the action, his ship HMS Bellerophon was badly damaged and boarded by sailors and marines from the French ship of the line Aigle. Cooke was killed in the ensuing melee, but his crew successfully drove off their opponents and ultimately forced the surrender of Aigle.

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George Duff, Scottish captain (born 1764)

Captain George Duff was a Royal Navy officer who served in the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was killed by a cannonball at the Battle of Trafalgar.

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Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, English admiral (born 1758)

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte was a British Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics led to multiple decisive British naval victories during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Trafalgar Square is dedicated to him. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest admirals in history; many historians consider him the greatest.

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21/10/1777

Samuel Foote, English actor and playwright (born 1720)

Samuel Foote was a Cornish dramatist, actor and theatre manager. He was known for his comedic acting and writing, and for turning the loss of a leg in a riding accident in 1766 to comedic opportunity.

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21/10/1775

Peyton Randolph, American lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Continental Congress (born 1721)

Peyton Randolph was an American politician and planter who was a Founding Father of the United States. Born into Virginia's wealthiest and most powerful family, Randolph served as speaker of Virginia's House of Burgesses, president of the first two Virginia Conventions, and president of the First Continental Congress. He also served briefly as the first president of the Second Continental Congress.

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21/10/1765

Giovanni Paolo Panini, Italian painter and architect (born 1691)

Giovanni Paolo, also known as Gian Paolo Panini or Pannini, was an Italian Baroque painter and architect who worked in Rome and is primarily known as one of the vedutisti. As a painter, Panini is best known for his vistas of Rome, in which he took a particular interest in the city's antiquities. Among his most famous works are his view of the interior of the Pantheon, and his vedute—paintings of picture galleries containing views of Rome. Most of his works, especially those of ruins, have a fanciful and unreal embellishment characteristic of capriccio themes. In this they resemble the capricci of Marco Ricci. Panini also painted portraits, including one of Pope Benedict XIV.

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21/10/1687

Edmund Waller, English poet and politician (born 1606)

Edmund Waller, 3 March 1606 to 21 October 1687, was a poet and politician from Buckinghamshire. He sat as MP for various constituencies between 1624 and 1687, and was one of the longest serving members of the English House of Commons. Although considered a major poet by contemporaries, his literary reputation declined after his death, and he is now rarely read.

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21/10/1662

Henry Lawes, English composer (born 1595)

Henry Lawes was the leading English songwriter of the mid-17th century. He was elder brother of fellow composer William Lawes.

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21/10/1623

William Wade, English politician and diplomat, Lieutenant of the Tower of London (born 1546)

Sir William Wade was an English statesman and diplomat, and Lieutenant of the Tower of London.

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21/10/1600

Ōtani Yoshitsugu, Japanese samurai (born 1558)

Ōtani Yoshitsugu was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period through the Azuchi-Momoyama Period. He was also known by his court title Junior Assistant Minister of Justice or Gyōbu-shōyū (刑部少輔). He was born in 1558 to a father who was said to be a retainer of either Ōtomo Sōrin or Rokkaku Yoshikata. He became one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's followers. He participated in the Toyotomi's Odawara campaign and Korean campaign.

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21/10/1558

Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar (born 1484)

Julius Caesar Scaliger, or Giulio Cesare della Scala, was an Italian scholar and physician, who spent a major part of his career in France. He employed the techniques and discoveries of Renaissance humanism to defend Aristotelianism against the New Learning. In spite of his contentious disposition, his contemporary reputation was high. Jacques Auguste de Thou claimed that none of the ancients could be placed above him and that he had no equal in his own time.

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21/10/1556

Pietro Aretino, Italian author (born 1492)

Pietro Aretino was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satirist and blackmailer, who wielded influence on contemporary art and politics. He was one of the most influential writers of his time and an outspoken critic of the powerful. He gained prominence through his politically charged writings and biting satire, which targeted powerful figures, including monarchs and popes. His works spanned various genres, including poetry, drama, and religious commentary, but he is particularly noted for his lampoons and erotic literature. Owing to his communications and sympathies with religious reformers, he is considered to have been a Nicodemite Protestant.

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21/10/1505

Paul Scriptoris, German mathematician and educator (born 1460)

Paul Scriptoris was a German Franciscan mathematician, Scotist, and professor at the University of Tübingen. His surname is a Latin translation of the original German name Schreiber ("writer"). Born in Weil der Stadt, Scriptoris studied at Paris and joined the Franciscan order. He subsequently began teaching at Tübingen. Konrad Pellikan, who became Scriptoris’ most favored pupil, joined him at Tübingen in March 1496.

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21/10/1500

Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (born 1442)

Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado was the 103rd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1464 through 1500.

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21/10/1422

Charles VI of France (born 1368)

Charles VI, nicknamed the Beloved and in the 19th century, the Mad, was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychotic episodes that plagued him throughout his life, including glass delusion.

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21/10/1314

Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville

Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville also known as Geoffrey de Joinville and Geoffroi de Joinville, was an Anglo-French noble, supporter of Henry III, who appointed him Baron of Trim, County Meath, and, subsequently, a staunch supporter of Edward I.

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21/10/1266

Birger Jarl, Swedish politician (born 1210)

Birger Jarl or Birger Magnusson was a Swedish statesman and regent, jarl, and a member of the House of Bjälbo, who played a pivotal role in consolidating Sweden after the civil wars between the House of Erik and the House of Sverker. His first marriage was to Princess Ingeborg of Sweden, which created his base of power. Birger led the Second Swedish Crusade, which established Swedish rule in Finland. Additionally, he is traditionally attributed with the foundation of the Swedish capital, Stockholm, around 1250. Birger used the Latin title of dux sveorum et guttorum.

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21/10/1221

Alix, Duchess of Brittany (born 1201)

Alix of Thouars, whose name may also be spelled Alis or Alice, was the Duchess of Brittany from 1203 until her death. She was also Countess of Richmond in the peerage of England.

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21/10/1204

Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester, English politician

Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester was an English nobleman, the last of the Beaumont earls of Leicester. He is sometimes known as Robert FitzPernel.

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21/10/1125

Cosmas of Prague, Bohemian priest and historian (born 1045)

Cosmas of Prague was a Czech priest, writer and historian.

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21/10/1096

Walter Sans Avoir, a leader of the First Crusade

Walter Sans Avoir was the lord of Boissy-sans-Avoir in the Île-de-France. His name is often mistranslated as Walter the Penniless. While the words in his name do literally mean "Walter without having", the name actually derives from that of his demesne, Sans avoir Peur ("Fearless"). As lieutenant to Peter the Hermit, he co-led the People's Crusade at the beginning of the First Crusade.

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21/10/1023

Gero, Archbishop of Magdeburg

Gero was the Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1012 until his death. He was a son of Dedo Wodenswege and Eilika (Eilica) and possibly a relative of the family of Gero the Great.

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21/10/0645

Zhenzhu Khan, khan of Xueyantuo

Zhenzhu Khan was a khan of the Xueyantuo, under whom the Xueyantuo rose from being a vassal of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate to a khanate ruling over northern and central Asia. His personal name was recorded as Yishi Yinan, the latter being Chinese rendering of Inan. He was later bestowed with the full regal title Zhenzhupijia Khan.

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