Holidays Calendar for October 28, 2014

Independence Day is celebrated in the Czech Republic on October 28. This is the national holiday in the republic, celebrating the anniversary of declaration of independence of Czechoslovakia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Ochi Day (also Ohi Day) is celebrated throughout Greece, Cyprus and Greek communities around the world on October 28. This is a national holiday, that has a significant meaning to the Greek nation.

Civil Servants' Day isn't just another professional day in Brazil, its a day off for the civil servants and bank employees. This holiday is annually observed on a state level.

The International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) designated October 28 to be International Animation Day. This event took place in 2002 to celebrate anniversary of the first public performance of Théâtre Optique.

October 28 is Engineer's Day in Venezuela. This holiday was established to commemorate the foundation anniversary of the first College of Engineering in Venezuela in 1861.

National First Responders Day is celebrated annually on October 28. It was created to show appreciation for the men and women who are the first to deal with emergency situations and to honor the memory of first responders who died in the line of duty.

Earthquake Disaster Prevention Day in the Japanese prefecture of Gifu is observed annually on October 28. It was established to commemorate the victims of the disastrous Mino–Owari earthquake that occurred on October 28, 1891.

Liberation of Ukraine from Nazi Invaders Day is an official remembrance day in Ukraine. This observance was created to commemorate the anniversary of liberation of Ukraine during World War II on October 28 1944.

People of Indonesia annually observe Youth Pledge Day on October 28. This is an important observance, commemorating the 1928 Youth Pledge.

October 28 is the National Chocolate Day. While throughout the year many other chocolate related holidays are celebrated, this day honors all things chocolate. This is the perfect excuse for all chocoholics to eat their favorite food without having pangs of conscience.


This Day in History

  • 2023 Died: Matthew Perry, American and Canadian actor best known for starring as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom Friends that ran from 1994 to 2004.
  • 2014 Died: Michael Sata, Zambian politician, serving the 5th President of Zambia from September 11, 2011 till his death.
  • 2010 Died: Liang Congjie, Chinese historian and activist. He founded the Friends of Nature in 1994, the oldest and first environmental non-governmental organization to be officially recognized in China.
  • 2009 A car bomb was detonated in Mina Bazar in Peshawar, Pakistan. 137 people, mostly women and children, were killed and over 200 injured.
  • 2006 A mass funeral ceremony took place outside Kiev, Ukraine. 817 Ukrainian civilians out of some 100,000 executed by Bolsheviks at Bykivnia forest during the 1930s - early 1940s were reburied.
  • 2005 Died: Richard Smalley, American chemist and academic, noted for his discovery of a new form of carbon called buckminsterfullerene. This discovery won him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996.
  • 2002 Died: Erling Persson, Swedish businessman. In 1947 he founded H&M clothing company, that originally sold only women's clothes.
  • 1996 Born: Jack Eichel, American professional ice hockey center. As of 2023, he was an alternate captain for the Vegas Golden Nights of the National Hockey League.
  • 1995 The fire broke out in the subway system of Baku, Azerbaijan between two stations. 286 passengers and 3 rescue workers died and 270 were injured. This fire is world's deadliest subway disaster.
  • 1987 Born: Frank Ocean, American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. As of 2023, he has won two Grammy Awards and a Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist among other accolades.
  • 1982 Born: Matt Smith, English actor and director, best known for his role as the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who.
  • 1982 The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party won the elections and composed the first Socialist government in Spain. Felipe González became Prime Minister-elect.
  • 1974 Born: Joaquin Phoenix, American actor, producer and director, a Grammy Award winner and a Golden Globe and three Academy Award nominee. His most prominent films include Gladiator, Walk the Line, The Master, Her.
  • 1967 Born: Julia Roberts, American actress. Her first work was Steel Magnolias in 1989, but she became successful actress only after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman in 1990.
  • 1965 Pope Paul VI promulgated Nostra aetate, the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions. The declaration absolved the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus.
  • 1963 Born: Eros Ramazzotti, Italian musician, singer and songwriter. He is popular in Italy, Europe and throughout Spanish-speaking countries as he released most of his albums in Italian and Spanish.
  • 1955 Born: Bill Gates, American businessman, inventor. He gained reputation as the co-founder of Microsoft, the world's largest PC software company. Gates is currently the richest man in the world.
  • 1952 Died: Billy Hughes, Australian politician, serving the 7th Prime Minister of Australia. He was one of the most controversial politicians in Australia, during his 51-year federal career he changed five parties, was expelled from three of them and represented four different electorates in two states.
  • 1916 Died: Oswald Boelcke, German captain and pilot, one of the most influential leaders of the early years of air combat. He is known to be the first person to formalize the rules of air fighting, that are represented in Dicta Boelcke. He was also the teacher of Germany's premier ace Manfred von Richthofen.
  • 1915 Richard Strauss conducted the first performance of his tone poem Eine Alpensinfonie in Berlin.
  • 1914 Born: Richard Laurence Millington Synge, British biochemist, known for the invention of partition chromatography. This work won him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1952.
  • 1909 Born: Francis Bacon, Irish painter and illustrator, known for his bold and emotional imagery. He started painting in his early 20s but his breakthrough came with the triptych Three Studies for Figures at the Base of Crucifixion in 1944.
  • 1903 Born: Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, better known by his pen name Evelyn Waugh, English author, best known for works including Decline and Fall, Handful of Dust, Sward of Honour.
  • 1891 The Mino-Owari earthquake stroke Gifu Prefecture, Japan. This earthquake is the strongest recorded inland earthquake in the Japanese archipelago. The earthquake damaged the cities of Gifu and Ogaki and was felt in Tokyo.
  • 1886 President of the USA Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
  • 1846 Born: Auguste Escoffier, French chef, a legendary figure among chefs and gourmets. He was one of the most important figures in the development of modern French cuisine. He codified the recipes of the five mother sauces and introduced organized discipline to the kitchen.
  • 1818 Died: Abigail Adams, American wife of President John Adams. She is now designated the 1st Second Lady and the 2nd First Lady of the United States, although these titles were not in use at her time. She is most noted for many letters she wrote to her husband, that became the discussion on government and politics.
  • 1793 Born: Eliphalet Remington, American businessman, known as the designer of the Remington rifle. He founded a company, that now is known as the Remington Arms Co., L.L.C.
  • 1792 Died: John Smeaton, English civil engineer. He was the first self-proclaimed civil engineer and often regarded as the father of civil engineering. He was responsible for design of many bridges, lighthouses, canals and harbors across England.
  • 1707 Over 5,000 people were killed by the Hōei earthquake, that stroke Honshu, Shikoku and Kyūshū, Japan.
  • 1704 Died: John Locke, English philosopher and physician, one of the most influential thinkers of Enlightenment, often called the father of Classical Liberalism. His works greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy.
  • 1646 Died: William Dobson, English portraitist, one of the first notable painters in England. Around 60 of his works survived, mostly the portraits of notable figures of his time.
  • 1636 A vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony established the first college in the United States. This college later became known as Harvard University.