Discover what happened on October 14 in history as aviation pioneers shattered barriers, historic battles changed nations, Michigan moments made headlines, and remarkable achievements helped shape the world we know today.
What Happened on October 14 in History?
On this day, William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings, Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier, John F. Kennedy delivered the Michigan speech that helped inspire the Peace Corps, the Detroit Tigers won the World Series, and Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier in free fall.
OCTOBER 14 – TODAY IN HISTORY:
1066 – William the Conqueror’s Norman army defeated the forces of English King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, one of the most consequential battles in English history. Harold was killed, clearing the way for William’s conquest of England.
1884 – George Eastman received a patent for his paper-based photographic film, an important step toward replacing cumbersome glass photographic plates and making photography more accessible.
1887 – Thomas Edison reached an agreement with George E. Gouraud giving him international marketing rights for Edison’s phonograph.
1912 – Former President Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest while campaigning for President in Milwaukee, WI. A folded copy of his lengthy speech and his eyeglass case helped slow the bullet, and Roosevelt insisted on delivering his scheduled speech before going to the hospital. The bullet remained in his body for the rest of his life.
1922 – Army Lieutenant Lester J. Maitland set a new airplane speed record of 216.1 mph while flying at Selfridge Field near Mount Clemens, MI.
1926 – A.A. Milne’s children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh was published, introducing readers to the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore and their friends in the Hundred Acre Wood.
1936 – The Social Security Board opened its first field office in Austin, TX, as the new Social Security system began establishing a nationwide network to serve Americans.
1943 – Edward J. Noble completed his $8 million purchase of NBC’s Blue Network from RCA. The network later became the American Broadcasting Company, better known as ABC.
1947 – Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first person to officially fly faster than the speed of sound when he piloted the rocket-powered Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis over California’s Mojave Desert. Remarkably, Yeager made the historic flight with two broken ribs suffered in a horseback-riding accident two days earlier.
1954 – Filming began in Egypt on Cecil B. DeMille’s epic The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston as Moses. The massive production was released in 1956.
1960 – Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy spoke to about 10,000 students gathered at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor at 2:00 a.m., challenging them to spend part of their lives serving people in developing countries. The impromptu speech helped inspire the creation of the Peace Corps the following year.
1964 – Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent campaign against racial discrimination. At age 35, he was the youngest person at the time to receive the honor.
1968 – The Apollo 7 astronauts made the first live television broadcast from an American spacecraft in orbit. The crew jokingly called their broadcasts “The Wally, Walt and Donn Show.”
1977 – Gay-rights activist Tom Higgins hit singer and anti-gay-rights campaigner Anita Bryant in the face with a pie during a televised news conference in Des Moines, IA.
1982 – President Ronald Reagan announced a major expansion of the federal government’s campaign against illegal drugs, beginning a new phase of the effort that became widely known as the “War on Drugs.”
1984 – The Detroit Tigers defeated the San Diego Padres 8-4 in Game 5 at Tiger Stadium to win the World Series. Manager Sparky Anderson became the first manager in Major League Baseball history to win a World Series championship in both the American and National leagues.
1987 – Eighteen-month-old Jessica McClure fell into an abandoned well in Midland, TX. The dramatic effort to rescue “Baby Jessica” from the narrow shaft captivated television viewers around the world for the next 58 hours.
1994 – Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman and Bruce Willis, opened in U.S. theaters.
1995 – The sketch comedy series MADtv premiered on Fox. The show would run for 14 seasons.
1998 – Eric Rudolph was charged with six bombings, including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, GA.
2000 – A lawsuit was filed against Don Henley by a concertgoer who claimed she was struck in the forehead by a maraca thrown from the stage during a performance ten days earlier.
2001 – Toys “R” Us introduced the new version of Geoffrey the giraffe in a 60-second commercial.
2003 – Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman became an infamous figure in baseball history after interfering with a foul ball that left fielder Moisés Alou attempted to catch during Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. The Cubs later surrendered eight runs in the inning and lost to the Florida Marlins.
2005 – Daniel Craig was officially introduced as the new James Bond, succeeding Pierce Brosnan as Agent 007. Craig made his Bond debut the following year in Casino Royale.
2007 – The low-budget horror movie Paranormal Activity had its world premiere at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival. Made for only a tiny fraction of what major Hollywood films cost, it eventually became a huge box-office success.
2007 – Keeping Up with the Kardashians premiered on E!, launching a reality television franchise that would become a major force in American pop culture.
2010 – TV’s “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” debuted.
2011 – Apple released the iPhone 4S, which introduced millions of consumers to the Siri voice assistant.
2012 – Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped from a balloon more than 24 miles above New Mexico and became the first person to break the sound barrier in free fall, reaching about 844 mph. His historic jump came exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in an airplane.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS ON OCTOBER 14:
John Dean – 88 years old (1938) – Lawyer and author, 13th White House Counsel
Ralph Lauren – 87 years old (1939) – Fashion designer, founded the Ralph Lauren Corporation
J. C. Snead – 86 years old (1940) – Golfer
Jerry Glanville – 85 years old (1941) – Football player and coach
Art Shamsky – 85 years old (1941) – Baseball player and manager
Norman Ornstein – 78 years old (1948) – Political scientist and scholar
Katha Pollitt – 77 years old (1949) – Poet and author
Joey Travolta – 76 years old (1950) – Actor, director, and producer
Greg Evigan – 73 years old (1953) – Actor
Chris Bangle – 70 years old (1956) – Automotive designer
Beth Daniel – 70 years old (1956) – Golfer
Isaac Mizrahi – 65 years old (1961) – Fashion designer
Chris Thomas King – 64 years old (1962) – Singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
Lori Petty – 63 years old (1963) – Actress
Joe Girardi – 62 years old (1964) – Baseball player and manager
Karyn White – 61 years old (1965) – Singer-songwriter
Pat Kelly – 59 years old (1967) – Baseball player, coach, and manager
Stephen A. Smith – 59 years old (1967) – Sports television personality
Johnny Goudie – 58 years old (1968) – Singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
P. J. Brown – 57 years old (1969) – Basketball player
Jim Jackson – 56 years old (1970) – Basketball player and sportscaster
Jon Seda – 56 years old (1970) – Actor
Erika deLone – 54 years old (1972) – Tennis player
Thom Brooks – 53 years old (1973) – American-British political philosopher and legal scholar
Jessica Drake – 52 years old (1974) – Porn actress and director
Natalie Maines – 52 years old (1974) – Singer-songwriter
Floyd Landis – 51 years old (1975) – Cyclist
Kelly Schumacher – 49 years old (1977) – American-Canadian basketball and volleyball player
Justin Lee Brannan – 48 years old (1978) – Guitarist and songwriter, and politician
Usher – 48 years old (1978) – Singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
Stacy Keibler – 47 years old (1979) – Wrestler and actress
Scott Kooistra – 46 years old (1980) – Football player
Terrence McGee – 46 years old (1980) – Football player
Ryan Hall – 44 years old (1982) – Runner
Matt Roth – 44 years old (1982) – Football player
LaRon Landry – 42 years old (1984) – Football player
Wesley Matthews – 40 years old (1986) – Basketball player
Skyler Shaye – 40 years old (1986) – Actress
Jay Pharoah – 39 years old (1987) – Actor and comedian
Max Thieriot – 38 years old (1988) – Actor
Jared Goff – 32 years old (1994) – Football player
Ariela Barer – 28 years old (1998) – Actress
Quinn Hughes – 27 years old (1999) – Ice hockey player
Rowan Blanchard – 25 years old (2001) – Actress
Tate Sandell – 23 years old (2003) – College football player
DAYS OF THE YEAR FOR OCTOBER 14:
- National Dessert Day: Satisfy your sweet tooth with cakes, pastries, tarts and candies on Dessert Day, have a bake-off with friends or invent a brand-new delicacy of your own.
- National Emergency Nurses Day: Honor the dedication of these amazing medical professionals by fundraising for your local emergency department or sending gifts on Emergency Nurses Day.
- Bring Your Teddy Bear To Work & School Day: Improve your day by bringing your teddy bear to work or school, and spending the day with one of your oldest, truest, and cutest friends who has never let you down.
- National Take Your Parents To Lunch Day: Take your parents to school (or go to your kid’s school) to see what food is available, and help make changes for healthier, higher quality food in schools.
- Dysautonomia Awareness Month: Join or host a fundraising event, do your research, and help raise awareness about dysautonomia, a class of diseases affected the autonomic nervous system.
- National Real Sugar Day: Discover natural sweetness that enhances flavors, caramelizes dishes, and brings authentic taste to your recipes.
- National Pet Obesity Awareness Day: Raise awareness about pet obesity, and make sure that your own pets live happy, healthy, long lives by keeping their weight in check.
- International E-Waste Day: E-waste is made up of electronic products that are old, broken or have come to the end of their usefulness. Televisions, computers, tape players, printers, VCRs, game consoles and so many other electronics items are often left sitting in someone’s basement or garage for years to come or, even worse...
- National Fossil Day: Join in on the fun of observing history throughout the many years via the preservation of the remains of ancient organisms. National Fossil Day is here for learning, observing, educating and celebrating this phenomenon that has cast so much light on the earth’s past. History of National Fossil Day Founded...
- UK Coffee Week: UK Coffee Week is a lively celebration of the UK's coffee culture. For one week, coffee lovers, shops, and roasters unite to enjoy their favorite brews while supporting a great cause. The event is filled with various activities and events, all aimed at bringing people together over their shared love...
- National Curves Day: National Curves Day celebrates body positivity and self-love for people of all shapes and sizes. This day encourages everyone to appreciate their unique bodies, promoting confidence and self-esteem. It brings together people from different backgrounds to honor diversity in body types and show fashion and style that cater to plus-size...
- International Top Spinning Day: Tops are a fun toy, but they can also represent balance and harmony. Buying or make a new top yourself, and reflect on these matters of philosophy.
- World Standards Day: Take some time to learn about the history of standardization, and consider how much more difficult our lives would be without standard measurements, sizes, shapes, etc.
- Be Bald and Be Free Day: Stop hiding under wigs, comb-overs, or toupees, and just be bald and free. Show off your shiny dome, and don’t be ashamed of your low-maintenance style.
- National I Love You Day: Expressing affection and care creates meaningful connections, nurturing bonds and enriching lives with love's warmth.
- Day of Svetitskhoveli Cathedral: The Day of Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is a special occasion in Georgia that honors one of the most sacred sites in the country. Located in the ancient town of Mtskheta, the cathedral is considered a spiritual center for many Georgians. The celebration focuses on the importance of the cathedral, which is...
- National School Lunch Week: Fueling minds, nourishing potential—school lunches aren't just meals; they're key ingredients for young aspirations to thrive.
- Baby Loss Awareness Week: Baby Loss Awareness Week brings light to a tender topic, uniting those touched by the loss of a baby. Celebrated from the 9th to the 15th of October every year, it offers a meaningful time for parents, families, and friends to honor and remember their dearly missed babies. This week serves...
- Rtveli: Rtveli is a vibrant grape harvest festival celebrated across Georgia. It is a joyful blend of hard work and celebration. It's a time when people unite to collect the fruits of their labor and honor the cultural heritage of winemaking that has been cherished for generations. The festival extends beyond...
- Hispanic Heritage Month: Join an event, forum, or exhibition for Hispanic Heritage Month, and appreciate the art, history, and cultural offerings of this rich and expansive heritage.
- Drink Local Wine Week: Drink Local Wine Week gives small wineries a chance to be noticed. It’s when bloggers and wine writers focus on bottles made nearby. Instead of just talking about famous spots like Napa or Willamette, this week shifts attention to local vineyards. People get to read about wines made just down the...
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