Famous birthdays in October through history - born on this day in history

Our selection of historic birthdates in July, including Oscar Wilde, King Henry III and Sir Christopher Wren (pictured to the left).

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1 Oct.	1207	Henry III, became King of England at the age of nine, he inherited a country that had been torn apart by his father's (John) misrule.
2 Oct.	1852	Sir William Ramsay, Glasgow-born chemist, as Professor of Chemistry at University College, London he discovered a whole bunch of 'on's' including argon, neon, krypton, xenon and radon.
3 Oct.	1911	Michael Hordern, actor of stage, television and film. Playing both classical and modern roles, Jumpers (1972) and Stripwell (1975), he cornered the market as the elderly British eccentric.
4 Oct.	1931	Terence Conran, designer who transformed the look of the modern British home when he founded the Habitat chain of stores in the 1960's.
5 Oct.	1919	Donald Pleasence, actor of both stage and film, best remembered for his roles as James Bond's arch-enemy Blofeld in You Only Live Twice and the horror films Halloween.
6 Oct.	1732	Nevil Maskelyne, London-born Astronomer Royal who produced the British Mariner's Guide and Nautical Almanac thus helping to open up the world to British navigators and explorers.
7 Oct.	1573	William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury and advisor to Charles I, his high church policies proved so unpopular he was impeached and beheaded on Tower Hill.
8 Oct.	1878	Alfred Munnings, Suffolk-born specialist painter of horses and sporting subjects, not the biggest fan of modern art.
9 Oct.	1940	John Winston Lennon, first found fame as singer and songwriter with the Liverpool pop group the Beatles, later married Yoko Ono and together lived and loved to Give Peace a Chance.
10 Oct.	1731	Henry Cavendish, physicist who discovered the existence of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and the chemical composition of water. He started to play with the theory of electricity as early as 1771.
11 Oct.	1821	Sir George Williams, Somerset-born social reformer who, luckily for the Village People, founded the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in 1844.
12 Oct.	1537	Edward VI, King of England and Ireland from the age of ten, the long awaited but sickly son of Henry VIII and his third wife Jane Seymour, died at just 14 years from tuberculosis.
13 Oct.	1853	Lillie Langtry, society beauty also know as 'Jersey Lily' who was a 'very close' friend of Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales.
14 Oct.	1644	William Penn, London-born Quaker leader who founded that now famous American colony of Pennsylvania.
15 Oct.	1881	P G Wodehouse, English author of more than 90 books who created the characters of Bertie Wooster and his famous butler Jeeves.
16 Oct.	1854	Oscar Fingal Wilde, dramatist and author, wild child of a Dublin surgeon and leader of the cult that believed in art for art's sake. Acknowledged himself as 'a lover of youth'.
17 Oct.	1727	John Wilkes, radical, his defiance of authority made him a popular figure and darling of the mob, despite his outrageous behaviour he was re-elected to Parliament four times and became a symbol of free speech.
18 Oct.	1697	Canaletto, Italian painter who worked in England between 1746 and 1756, famous for his views of London and his home town of Venice.
19 Oct.	1784	Leigh Hunt, poet and essayist, a friend of Keats and Shelley he was fined and imprisoned in 1813 for libelling the Prince Regent (the future George IV).
20 Oct.	1632	Sir Christopher Wren, architect, who after the Great Fire (1666) prepared the grand plan for rebuilding London, designed St. Paul's Cathedral and fifty other city churches, hospitals, theatres, etc.
21 Oct.	1772	Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Devon-born poet who claimed that the true end of poetry is to give pleasure "through medium of beauty", and whose works include The Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan.
22 Oct.	1917	Joan Fontaine, Oscar winning actress, born in Tokyo to British parents, the younger sister of Olivia de Havilland, her career took off in 1940 when she played the lead in Rebecca, opposite Laurence Olivier
23 Oct.	1900	Douglas Jardine, cricketer who captained England during the controversial 'bodyline' tour of Australia, where he employed Harold Larwood to bowl extremely fast at the batsman's body (the so called 'leg theory').
24 Oct.	1882	Dame Sybil Thorndike, Lincolnshire-born Shakespearian actress, also famously remembered for her performance in George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan (1924).
25 Oct.	1800	Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay, Liberal MP, historian and essayist who as a member of the Supreme Council of India fought for the abolition of slavery and reformed the education system.
26 Oct.	1942	Bob Hoskins, former steeplejack and fire-eater turned actor of stage and screen, achieved international stardom in Mona Lisa (1986) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).
27 Oct.	1728	Captain James Cook, Yorkshire-born naval explorer whose voyages in his shipEndeavour led to the discovery and charting of Australia , New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands.
28 Oct.	1794	Robert Liston, Scottish surgeon who became the first to use a general anaesthetic on a patient in a public operation in London in 1846.
29 Oct.	1740	James Boswell, Edinburgh-born writer, toured the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland with his close friend and mentor Samuel Johnson. He recorded their trip in his biography, the Life of Johnson (1791).
30 Oct.	1751	Richard Brinsley Sheridan, son of an Irish actor, he moved to England in the 1760's and gained fame initially as a comedy writer for the theatre. This provided the funds for his career in politics, he was elected MP in 1780.
31 Oct.	1828	Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, Sunderland-born chemist, who in the 1880's fought with Thomas Edison over the patents to the electric lamp, the two inventors joined forces to form the prosperous Edison and Swan United Electric Light Co.

Historic Birthdates in October

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