Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

October 1

1992
USS Saratoga mistakenly fires two missiles at a Turkish ship killing the captain and four crew members.

1992
The Cartoon Network debuts.

1992
Ross Perot: The Texas billionaire re-enters the presidential race. He had dropped out of 2½ months earlier, during which time he spent $10,000,000 maintaining his campaign organization and creating new advertisements.

1987
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes president of the Soviet Union.

1979
U.S. International Development Cooperation Agency is established.

1979
Panama Canal Commission is established; its purpose is to maintain and operate the Panama Canal.

1975
Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali fights Joe Frazier for the 3rd time.

1962
First black University of Mississippi student: James Meredith enters after 3,000 troops were used to put down riots.

1962
The Tonight Show gets a new host, Johnny Carson. His first guests were Groucho Marx, Joan Crawford, Mel Brooks, Tony Bennett and Rudy Vallee.

1961
CBN: Pat Robertson's The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) goes on the air. CBN was the first Christian television network established in the United States. It used the call letters WYAH-TV, taken from the Hebrew name of God, Yahweh, which means "The One who causes (everything) to be."

1961
Baseball: Roger Maris hits his 61st home run for the season, breaking Babe Ruth's 1927 record.

1961
Mr. Ed debuts.

1958
NASA: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration officially begins operating.

1956
The Tonight Show gets a new host: Ernie Kovacs.

1947
First supersonic flight: American WWII flying ace, George Schwartz "Wheaties" Welch, puts his XP-86 Sabre into a dive from 35,000 ft. achieving supersonic speed. Chuck Yeager would break the sound barrier two weeks later during level flight.

1919
Barney Google comic strip is first published in syndication.

1910
Los Angeles Times building is bombed: Twenty-one people were killed.

1908
Model T: Henry Ford's $850 automobile is introduced. It was capable of 40 mph and was available in "any color you choose as long as it's black."

1903
First World Series game: Boston of the American League won the series against Pittsburgh of the National League five games to three.

1873
America's First trained nurse: Linda Ann Judson Richards, having graduated from the Training School of the New England Hospital for Women and Children a month earlier, begins working at Bellevue Hospital, New York City.

1869
First postcards are issued, in Vienna, Austria.

1832
Telegraph: Samuel F.B. Morse sets sail from Havre to America. It was on this trip that he conceived the idea for his greatest invention.

1953
Grete Waitz, Norwegian runner, 9-time New York City Marathon winner (1978-80, 82-86, 88).

1950
Randy Quaid, American actor. Film: The Last Picture Show (1971).

1946
Ewa Klobukowska, Russian female athlete, first to fail a sex test (1967).  The I.A.A.F. declared her a male and took away the gold and bronze medals she had won in the 1964 Olympics. Several years later she became pregnant and had a child.

1935
Julie Andrews (Julia Elizabeth Wells), English actress, singer.

1928     d. 1973
Laurence Harvey (L. Mischa Skikne), Lithuanian-born American actor. Film: Room at the Top (1958, Joe Lampton), The Manchurian Candidate (1962, the assassin).

1928     d. 1994
George Peppard, American actor. Film: Pork Chop Hill (1959) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). TV: Banacek (title role), Doctors' Hospital and The A-Team (Hannibal Smith).

1927
Tom Bosley, American actor. TV: Happy Days (Mr. C.) and The Father Dowling Mysteries (Father Dowling).

1924
Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter), 39th U.S. President (1977-81). He is the only president to have reported seeing a UFO (1973) and the first president to have been born in a hospital.

1921
James Whitmore, American actor. TV: The Law and Mr. Jones (Abe Lincoln Jones).

1920     d. 2000
Walter Matthau (Walter Matthow), American Oscar-Tony-winning actor. Film: A Shot in the Dark (1961, Tony), The Fortune Cookie (1966, Oscar), and The Odd Couple (1968, Oscar Madison). Quote: "I never mind my wife having the last word. In fact, I'm delighted when she gets to it."

1916     d. 1995
James Herriot (James Alfred Wight), Scottish veterinarian. His book All Creatures Great and Small (1972) was the basis for the popular BBC series.

1799     d. 1851
John Brown Russwurm, American publisher. He co-published the first Negro newspaper in American (1827, Freedom's Journal).

1781     d. 1813
James Lawrence, American naval officer. He made his famous proclamation, "Don't give up the ship" after falling mortally wounded in battle during the War of 1812.

1207     d. 1272
Henry III, King of England (1216-72).

1985     b. 1899
E.B. White (Elwyn Brooks White), American Pulitzer-winning author, essayist, Charlotte's Web (1952).

1972     b. 1903
Louis S.B. Leaky, British anthropologist. He discovered the oldest-known manlike remains (1960), those of a 1,750,000-year-old juvenile.

1969     b. 1900
Thomas Francis, Jr., American virologist, epidemiologist. He was the first American to isolate the virus influenza A (1934) and showed that there are other strains, such as influenza B (1940) and developed an effective vaccine against both strains. He also conducted the field trials of the polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk.

1873     b. 1802
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, British artist. He was the first to portray St. Bernard dogs carrying brandy casks around their necks, although the real rescue dogs never did.

1404     b. ????
Boniface IX, Italian religious leader, 203rd Pope (1389-1404).

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