What happened on October 2 ?

1452 - King Richard III of England (d. 1485)

1539 - Saint Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal (d. 1584)

1644 - François-Timoléon de Choisy, French writer (d. 1724)

1722 - Leopold Widhalm, Austrian luthier (d. 1776)

1737 - Francis Hopkinson, American author and signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1791)

1768 - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (d. 1854)

1798 - King Charles Albert of Sardinia (d. 1849)

1800 - Nat Turner, American leader of slave uprising (d. 1831)

1828 - Charles Floquet, French statesman (d. 1896)

1832 - Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (d. 1917)

1847 - Paul von Hindenburg, German officer and politician (d. 1934)

1851 - Ferdinand Foch, French soldier (d. 1929)

1852 - William Ramsay, Scottish chemist (d. 1916)

1869 - Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political leader, Father of the Nation (d. 1948)

1871 - Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1955)

1873 - Plum Warner, English cricketer (d. 1963)

1879 - Wallace Stevens, American poet (d. 1955)

1882 - Boris Shaposhnikov, Russian military commander (d. 1945)

1890 - Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1977)

1895 - Bud Abbott, American comedian and actor (d. 1974)

1901 - Alice Prin, French singer and artist (d. 1953)

1904 - Graham Greene, British novelist (d. 1991)

1904 - Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prime Minister of India (d.1966)

1907 - Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)

1911 - Jack Finney, American author (d. 1995)

1913 - Karl Miller, German footballer (d. 1967)

1914 - Jack Parsons, American rocket scientist (d. 1952)

1917 - Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

1921 - Albert Scott Crossfield, American test pilot (d. 2006)

1921 - Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 2000)

1926 - Jan Morris, English writer

1928 - George "Spanky" McFarland, American actor (d. 1993)

1929 - Moses Gunn, African-American actor (d. 1993)

1930 - Dave Barrett, Premier of British Columbia

1932 - Maury Wills, American baseball player

1934 - Earl Wilson, American baseball player (d. 2005)

1935 - Omar Sivori, Argentine football player (d. 2005)

1937 - Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., American attorney (d. 2005)

1938 - Rex Reed, American movie critic and actor

1938 - Waheed Murad, Pakistani film actor and director (d. 1983)

1943 - Franklin Rosemont, American artist

1945 - Don McLean, American songwriter

1948 - Avery Brooks, American actor

1948 - Donna Karan, American fashion designer

1948 - Chris LeDoux, American musician and rodeo performer (d. 2005)

1949 - Richard Hell, American musician

1949 - Annie Leibovitz, American photographer

1950 - Persis Khambatta, Indian actress (d. 1998)

1950 - Michael Rutherford, British musician

1951 - Sting, British musician and actor

1951 - Romina Power, Italian singer

1955 - Lorraine Bracco, American actress

1960 - Glenn Anderson, Canadian ice hockey player

1964 - Dirk Brinkmann, German field hockey player

1966 - Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoai, Samoan professional wrestler (d. 2000)

1967 - Frankie Fredericks, Namibian athlete

1967 - Bud Gaugh, drummer for ska punk band Sublime

1968 - Jana Novotná, Czech tennis player

1968 - Glen Wesley, Canadian ice hockey players

1969 - Mitch English, American actor and television host

1970 - Kelly Ripa, American actress and television host

1971 - James Root, American guitarist (Slipknot)

1971 - Tiffany, American singer

1973 - DeShaun Holton AKA Proof, former member of American rap group D12 (d. 2006)

1974 - Paul Teutul Jr., Co-Star of American Chopper

1978 - Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer

1982 - George Pettit, Canadian singer (Alexisonfire)