What are the important events that happened on October 18? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
October 18: Facts & Myths About This Day
October 18 is the 291st day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 74 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is October 5, 2025 – a Saturday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,760,745,600 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectaenneacontahenagon’ day.
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Libra is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Opal is the modern birthstone for this month. Jasper is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 122 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,684 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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October 18 Historical Events
- 1009 –The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock.
- 1016 –The Danes defeat the Saxons in the Battle of Ashingdon.
- 1210 –Pope Innocent III excommunicates German leader Otto IV.
- 1356 –Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.
- 1648 –Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor organization.
- 1797 –Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria
- 1860 –The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.
- 1898 –United States takes possession of Puerto Rico.
- 1921 –The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is formed as part of the RSFSR.
- 1922 –The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
Who were born on October 18?
- 1870 –Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Japanese scholar (d. 1966)
- 1920 –Melina Mercouri, Greek actress and cultural minister (d. 1994)
- 1929 –Violeta Chamorro, Nicaraguan politician
- 1933 –Forrest Gregg, American football player
- 1940 –Cynthia Weil, American songwriter
- 1950 –Om Puri, Indian actor
- 1956 –Craig Bartlett, American animator
- 1974 –Candy Lo, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress
- 1990 –Bristol Palin, American daughter of Sarah Palin and Todd Palin
- 1998 –Julia Wróblewska, Polish actress
Who died on October 18?
- 1558 –Maria of Austria, wife of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia (b. 1505)
- 1739 –Antônio José da Silva, Brazilian-born dramatist (b. 1705)
- 1865 –Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1784)
- 1931 –Thomas Edison, American inventor (b. 1847)
- 1948 –Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal (b. 1881)
- 1966 –Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (b. 1878)
- 1975 –Al Lettieri, American actor (b. 1928)
- 1984 –Henri Michaux, French painter and poet (b. 1899)
- 1988 –Sir Frederick Ashton, British dancer and choreographer (b. 1904)
- 2007 –Alan Coren, English writer and satirist (b. 1938)
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