2 Aban 1403

Events

• 1295 (731 years ago) The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France against England is signed in Paris.
• 1868 (158 years ago) Meiji Restoration: Having taken the shogunate's seat of power at Edo and declared it his new capital as Tokyo, Mutsuhito proclaims the start of the new Meiji era.
• 1940 (86 years ago) Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco meet at Hendaye to discuss the possibility of Spain entering the Second World War.
• 1942 (84 years ago) World War II: Allied forces commence the Second Battle of El Alamein, which proves to be the key turning point in the North African campaign.
• 1958 (68 years ago) Belgian artist Peyo's comic characters, the Smurfs, make their debut in Spirou magazine.
• 1998 (28 years ago) Israel and the Palestinian Authority sign the Wye River Memorandum.
• 2017 (9 years ago) War against the Islamic State: Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana declares the end of the Siege of Marawi.
• 2022 (4 years ago) Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party by the Central Committee, beginning a third term of the paramount leader of China.

Births

• 1940 (86 years ago) Pelé, Brazilian footballer and actor (died 2022)
• 1942 (84 years ago) Michael Crichton, American author and screenwriter (died 2008)
• 1954 (72 years ago) Ang Lee, Taiwanese-American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1957 (69 years ago) Paul Kagame, Rwandan soldier and politician, 6th President of Rwanda
• 1959 (67 years ago) "Weird Al" Yankovic, American comedy musician, writer, and actor
• 1976 (50 years ago) Ryan Reynolds, Canadian-American actor and producer
• 1985 (41 years ago) Masiela Lusha, Albanian-American actress, poet, and humanitarian
• 1986 (40 years ago) Emilia Clarke, English actress

Deaths

• 42 BC Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, Roman general and politician (born 85 BC)
• 1867 (159 years ago) Franz Bopp, German linguist and academic (born 1791)
• 1872 (154 years ago) Théophile Gautier, French journalist, author, and poet (born 1811)
• 1910 (116 years ago) Chulalongkorn, Thai king (born 1853)
• 1944 (82 years ago) Charles Glover Barkla, English-Scottish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1877)
• 1986 (40 years ago) Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1893)
• 2003 (23 years ago) Soong Mei-ling, Chinese wife of Chiang Kai-shek, 2nd First Lady of the Republic of China (born 1898)
• 2011 (15 years ago) Herbert A. Hauptman, American chemist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)

All 454 events, births and deaths of October 23