October 28

Pre-1600

 * 97 – Roman emperor Nerva is forced by the Praetorian Guard to adopt general Marcus Ulpius Trajanus as his heir and successor.
 * 306 – Maxentius is proclaimed Roman emperor.
 * 312 – Constantine I defeats Maxentius, becoming the sole Roman emperor in the West.
 * 969 – The Byzantine Empire recovers Antioch from Arab rule.
 * 1344 – The lower town of Smyrna is captured by Crusaders in response to Aydınid piracy.
 * 1420 – Beijing is officially designated the capital of the Ming dynasty when the Forbidden City is completed.
 * 1449 – Christian I is crowned king of Denmark.
 * 1453 – Ladislaus the Posthumous is crowned king of Bohemia in Prague.
 * 1492 – Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba on his first voyage to the New World, surmising that it is Japan.
 * 1516 – Second Ottoman–Mamluk War: Mamluks fail to stop the Ottoman advance towards Egypt at the Battle of Yaunis Khan.
 * 1520 – Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific Ocean.
 * 1531 – Abyssinian–Adal war: The Adal Sultanate seizes southern Ethiopia.
 * 1538 – The Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino is founded in what is now the Dominican Republic.

1601–1900

 * 1628 – French Wars of Religion: The Siege of La Rochelle ends with the surrender of the Huguenots after fourteen months.
 * 1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony votes to establish a theological college, which would later become Harvard University.
 * 1640 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, ending the hostilities of the Second Bishops’ War.
 * 1664 – The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, is established.
 * 1707 – The 1707 Hōei earthquake causes more than 5,000 deaths in Japan.
 * 1726 – The novel Gulliver's Travels written by Jonathan Swift is published.
 * 1776 – American Revolutionary War: British troops attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Continental Army.
 * 1834 – The Pinjarra massacre occurs in the Swan River Colony. An estimated 30 Noongar people are killed by British colonists.
 * 1835 – The United Tribes of New Zealand are established with the signature of the Declaration of Independence.
 * 1864 – American Civil War: A Union attack on the Confederate capital of Richmond is repulsed.
 * 1886 – US president Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.
 * 1891 – The Mino–Owari earthquake, the largest inland earthquake in Japan's history, occurs.
 * 1893 – Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique receives its première performance only nine days before the composer's death.

1901–present

 * 1918 – World War I: A new Polish government in western Galicia is established, triggering the Polish–Ukrainian War.
 * 1918  – World War I: Czech politicians peacefully take over the city of Prague, thus establishing the First Czechoslovak Republic.
 * 1919 – The U.S. Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, paving the way for Prohibition to begin the following January.
 * 1922 – Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government.
 * 1928 – Indonesia Raya, now the national anthem of Indonesia, is first played during the Second Indonesian Youth Congress.
 * 1940 – World War II: Greece rejects Italy's ultimatum. Italy invades Greece through Albania a few hours later.
 * 1942 – The Alaska Highway first connects Alaska to the North American railway network at Dawson Creek in Canada.
 * 1948 – Paul Hermann Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.
 * 1948 – Ecological disaster in Donora, Pennsylvania.
 * 1949 – An Air France Lockheed Constellation crashes in the Azores, killing all 48 people on board.
 * 1956 – Hungarian Revolution: A de facto ceasefire comes into effect between armed revolutionaries and Soviet troops, who begin to withdraw from Budapest. Communist officials and facilities come under attack by revolutionaries.
 * 1958 – John XXIII is elected Pope.
 * 1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis ends and Premier Nikita Khrushchev orders the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.
 * 1965 – Pope Paul VI promulgates Nostra aetate, by which the Roman Catholic Church officially recognizes the legitimacy of non-Christian faiths.
 * 1971 – Prospero becomes the only British satellite to be launched by a British rocket.
 * 1982 – The Spanish general election begins fourteen years of rule by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party.
 * 1990 – Georgia holds its only free election under Soviet rule.
 * 1995 – The Baku Metro fire sees 289 people killed and 270 injured.
 * 2006 – A funeral service takes place at the Bykivnia graves for Ukrainians who were killed by the Soviet secret police.
 * 2007 – Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes the first directly elected female President of Argentina.
 * 2009 – The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213.
 * 2009  – NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its short-lived Constellation program.
 * 2009  – US President Barack Obama signs the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
 * 2013 – Five people are killed and 38 are injured after a car crashes into barriers at Tiananmen Square in China.
 * 2014 – A rocket carrying NASA's Cygnus CRS Orb-3 resupply mission to the International Space Station explodes seconds after taking off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia.
 * 2018 – Jair Bolsonaro is elected president of Brazil with 57 million votes, with Workers' Party candidate Fernando Haddad as the runner-up. It is the first time in 16 years that a Workers' Party candidate is not elected president.

Pre-1600

 * 1017 – Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1056)
 * 1466 – Erasmus, Dutch philosopher (d. 1536)
 * 1479 – John Gage, English courtier (d. 1556)
 * 1510 – Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandía, Spanish priest and saint, 3rd Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1572)
 * 1550 – Stanislaus Kostka, Polish saint (d. 1568)
 * 1585 – Cornelius Jansen, Dutch bishop and theologian (d. 1638)
 * 1599 – Marie of the Incarnation, foundress of the Ursuline Monastery in Quebec (d. 1672)

1601–1900

 * 1610 – Jacob Kettler, 3rd duke of Courland and Semigallia (d. 1682)
 * 1667 – Maria Anna of Neuburg, Queen consort of Spain
 * 1690 – Peter Tordenskjold, Norwegian admiral (d. 1720)
 * 1693 – Šimon Brixi, Czech composer (d. 1735)
 * 1696 – Maurice de Saxe, French general (d. 1750)
 * 1703 – Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1768)
 * 1718 – Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian priest, mathematician, astronomer, and explorer (d. 1793)
 * 1733 – Franz Ignaz von Beecke, German composer (d. 1803)
 * 1754 – John Laurens, American soldier (d. 1782)
 * 1767 – Marie of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1852)
 * 1793 – Eliphalet Remington, American businessman, founded Remington Arms (d. 1861)
 * 1794 – Robert Liston, Scottish surgeon (d. 1847)
 * 1804 – Pierre François Verhulst, Belgian mathematician and theorist (d. 1849)
 * 1815 – Ľudovít Štúr, Slovak philologist and politician (d. 1856)
 * 1816 – Malwida von Meysenbug, German writer (d. 1903)
 * 1837 – Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1913)
 * 1839 – Edward P. Allen, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 1909)
 * 1845 – Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist and chemist (d. 1888)
 * 1846 – Auguste Escoffier, French chef and author (d. 1935)
 * 1854 – Jean-Marie Guyau, French philosopher and poet (d. 1888)
 * 1860 – Kanō Jigorō, Japanese martial artist (d. 1938)
 * 1864 – Adolfo Camarillo, Mexican-American rancher and philanthropist (d. 1958)
 * 1867 – Sister Nivedita, Irish-Indian nurse, author, and educator (d. 1911)
 * 1875 – Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, Turkish-Canadian journalist (d. 1966)
 * 1877 – Joe Adams, American baseball player and manager (d. 1952)
 * 1879 – Channing H. Cox, American lawyer and politician, 49th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1968)
 * 1880 – Wilhelm Anderson, Belarusian-Estonian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1940)
 * 1880  – Billy Wedlock, English footballer (d. 1965)
 * 1881 – Vin Coutie, Australian footballer (d. 1951)
 * 1884 – William Douglas Cook, New Zealand horticulturalist, founded Eastwoodhill Arboretum (d. 1967)
 * 1886 – O. G. S. Crawford, British archaeologist (d. 1957)
 * 1886  – Noel Macklin, English soldier and engineer (d. 1946)
 * 1888 – Christopher Vane, 10th Baron Barnard, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Durham (d. 1964)
 * 1889 – Juliette Béliveau, Canadian actress and singer (d. 1975)
 * 1892 – Dink Johnson, American pianist, drummer, and clarinet player (d. 1954)
 * 1893 – Christopher Kelk Ingold, British chemist (d. 1970)
 * 1896 – Howard Hanson, American composer, conductor, and educator (d. 1981)
 * 1897 – Edith Head, American costume designer (d. 1981)
 * 1897  – Hans Speidel, German general (d. 1984)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Eileen Shanahan, Irish poet (d. 1979)
 * 1902 – Elsa Lanchester, English-American actress and singer (d. 1986)
 * 1903 – John Chamberlain, American historian, journalist, and critic (d. 1995)
 * 1903  – Evelyn Waugh, English journalist, author, and critic (d. 1966)
 * 1904 – George Dangerfield, English-American historian, journalist, and author (d. 1986)
 * 1905 – Tatyana Ehrenfest, Dutch mathematician (d. 1984)
 * 1907 – John Hewitt, Irish poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1987)
 * 1908 – Arturo Frondizi, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Argentina (d. 1995)
 * 1909 – Francis Bacon, Irish painter and illustrator (d. 1992)
 * 1912 – Richard Doll, English physiologist and epidemiologist (d. 2005)
 * 1914 – Glenn Robert Davis, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1988)
 * 1914  – Jonas Salk, American biologist and physician (d. 1995)
 * 1914  – Richard Laurence Millington Synge, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
 * 1916 – Pearl Hackney, English actress (d. 2009)
 * 1917 – Jack Soo, American actor and singer (d. 1979)
 * 1919 – Walt Hansgen, American race car driver (d. 1966)
 * 1919  – Hans Klenk, German race car driver (d. 2009)
 * 1921 – Azumafuji Kin'ichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 40th Yokozuna (d. 1973)
 * 1922 – Gershon Kingsley, German-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
 * 1922  – Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwe politician, 1st Vice President of Zimbabwe (d. 2003)
 * 1922  – Butch van Breda Kolff, American basketball player and coach (d. 2007)
 * 1923 – John Connell, American actor (d. 2015)
 * 1924 – Antonio Creus, Spanish race car driver and motorcycle racer (d. 1996)
 * 1924  – Peddibhotla Suryakantam, Telugu actress (d. 1994)
 * 1925 – Ian Hamilton Finlay, Bahamian-Scottish poet, sculptor, and gardener (d. 2006)
 * 1926 – Bowie Kuhn, American lawyer and businessman, 5th Commissioner of Baseball (d. 2007)
 * 1927 – Cleo Laine, English singer and actress
 * 1928 – Ion Mihai Pacepa, Romanian general (d. 2021)
 * 1928  – William Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
 * 1929 – Marcel Bozzuffi, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1988)
 * 1929  – Virginia Held, American philosopher, author, and academic
 * 1929  – John Hollander, American poet, critic, and educator (d. 2013)
 * 1929  – Joan Plowright, English actress
 * 1930 – Bernie Ecclestone, English businessman
 * 1931 – Harold Battiste, American saxophonist, pianist, and composer (d. 2015)
 * 1932 – Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Cyprus (d. 2002)
 * 1932  – Suzy Parker, American model and actress (d. 2003)
 * 1933 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (d. 1983)
 * 1933  – Michael Noakes, English painter and illustrator (d. 2018)
 * 1934 – Charles A. Gargano, American diplomat, businessman and government official
 * 1935 – Alan Clarke, English director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
 * 1936 – Charlie Daniels, American singer-songwriter, fiddle-player and guitarist (d. 2020)
 * 1936  – Ted Hawkins, American soul-blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)
 * 1937 – Graham Bond, English keyboard player, singer, and saxophonist (d. 1974)
 * 1937  – Lenny Wilkens, American basketball player and coach
 * 1938 – Keigo Abe, Japanese martial artist and coach (d. 2019)
 * 1938  – Kenneth Best, Liberian journalist, founded The Daily Observer
 * 1938  – Howard Blake, English composer and conductor
 * 1938  – Dave Budd, American basketball player
 * 1938  – Gary Cowan, Canadian golfer
 * 1938  – David Dimbleby, English journalist
 * 1938  – Anne Perry, English author (d. 2023)
 * 1939 – Jane Alexander, American actress and producer
 * 1939  – Andy Bey, American singer and pianist
 * 1939  – Miroslav Cerar, Slovenian gymnast and lawyer
 * 1939  – Curtis Lee, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
 * 1940 – Susan Harris, American screenwriter and producer
 * 1941 – Hank Marvin, English singer and guitarist
 * 1942 – Terence Donovan, English-Australian actor
 * 1942  – Abdelkader Fréha, Algerian footballer (d. 2012)
 * 1942  – Gillian Lovegrove, English computer scientist and academic
 * 1942  – Kees Verkerk, Dutch speed skater
 * 1943 – Jimmy McRae, Scottish race car driver
 * 1943  – Karalyn Patterson, English psychologist and academic
 * 1944 – Gerry Anderson, Irish radio and television host (d. 2014)
 * 1944  – Coluche, French comedian and actor (d. 1986)
 * 1944  – Dennis Franz, American actor
 * 1944  – Anton Schlecker, German businessman, founded the Schlecker Company
 * 1945 – Sandy Berger, American lawyer and politician, 19th United States National Security Advisor (d. 2015)
 * 1945  – Wayne Fontana, English pop singer (d. 2020)
 * 1945  – Don Iverson, American golfer
 * 1946 – John Hewson, Australian economist and politician
 * 1946  – Wim Jansen, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 2022)
 * 1946  – Sharon Thesen, Canadian poet and academic
 * 1948 – Telma Hopkins, American singer and actress
 * 1949 – Dwight Davis, American basketball player
 * 1949  – Caitlyn Jenner, American decathlete and actress
 * 1950 – Sihem Bensedrine, Tunisian journalist and activist
 * 1950  – Ludo Delcroix, Belgian cyclist
 * 1951 – Peter Hitchens, English journalist and author
 * 1951  – Joe R. Lansdale, American martial artist and author
 * 1952 – Annie Potts, American actress
 * 1953 – Pierre Boivin, Canadian businessman
 * 1953  – Desmond Child, American musician, songwriter, and producer
 * 1955 – Bill Gates, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Microsoft
 * 1955  – Indra Nooyi, Indian-American businesswoman
 * 1956 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian engineer and politician, 6th President of Iran
 * 1956  – Volker Zotz, Austrian philosopher, scholar, and author
 * 1957 – Marian Bell, English economist and academic
 * 1957  – Stephen Morris, English drummer
 * 1957  – Zach Wamp, American businessman and politician
 * 1958 – Concha García Campoy, Spanish journalist (d. 2013)
 * 1958  – Ashok Chavan, Indian businessman and politician, 16th Chief Minister of Maharashtra
 * 1958  – William Reid, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1959 – James Keelaghan, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1959  – Toshio Masuda, Japanese composer
 * 1959  – Randy Wittman, American basketball player and coach
 * 1960 – Landon Curt Noll, American computer scientist and mathematician
 * 1962 – Erik Thorstvedt, Norwegian footballer and manager
 * 1962  – Daphne Zuniga, American actress
 * 1963 – Kevin Dineen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1963  – Lauren Holly, American actress
 * 1963  – Sheryl Underwood, American comedian, actress, and talk show host
 * 1964 – Andrew Bridgen, English soldier and politician
 * 1964  – Peter Coyne, Australian rugby league player
 * 1965 – Jami Gertz, American actress
 * 1965  – David Warburton, English composer, businessman, and politician
 * 1965  – Miyako Yoshida, Japanese ballerina
 * 1966 – Steve Atwater, American football player
 * 1966  – Chris Bauer, American actor
 * 1966  – Matt Drudge, American blogger and activist, founded the Drudge Report
 * 1966  – Andy Richter, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1966  – Aris Spiliotopoulos, Greek politician, Greek Minister of Education and Religious Affairs
 * 1967 – Kevin Macdonald, Scottish director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1967  – Julia Roberts, American actress and producer
 * 1967  – John Romero, American video game designer, co-founded Id Software
 * 1968 – Chris Broussard, American journalist and sportscaster
 * 1968  – Marc Lièvremont, French rugby player and coach
 * 1968  – Mayumi Ozaki, Japanese wrestler
 * 1969 – Steven Chamuleau, Dutch cardiologist
 * 1969  – Jeremy Davies, American actor
 * 1969  – Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Puerto Rican screenwriter and producer
 * 1969  – Ben Harper, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1969  – Noriyoshi Omichi, Japanese baseball player and coach
 * 1970 – Alan Peter Cayetano, Filipino politician and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines
 * 1970  – Greg Eagles, American voice actor and producer
 * 1971 – Roxana Briban, Romanian soprano and actress (d. 2010)
 * 1971  – Caroline Dinenage, English businesswoman and politician
 * 1972 – Terrell Davis, American football player and sportscaster
 * 1972  – Brad Paisley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1972  – Trista Sutter, American reality star
 * 1973 – Montel Vontavious Porter, American wrestler and actor
 * 1973  – Aleksandar Stanojević, Serbian footballer and manager
 * 1974 – Braden Looper, American baseball player
 * 1974  – Vicente Moreno, Spanish footballer and manager
 * 1974  – Joaquin Phoenix, American actor and producer
 * 1974  – Dejan Stefanović, Serbian footballer and coach
 * 1974  – Dayanara Torres, Puerto Rican actress and singer, Miss Universe 1993
 * 1976 – Keiron Cunningham, British rugby league player and coach
 * 1976  – Martin Lepa, Estonian footballer
 * 1976  – Simone Loria, Italian footballer
 * 1978 – Gwendoline Christie, English actress
 * 1978  – Justin Guarini, American singer-songwriter and actor
 * 1979 – Olcay Çetinkaya, Turkish footballer
 * 1979  – Jawed Karim, American computer scientist
 * 1979  – Natina Reed, American rapper and actress (d. 2012)
 * 1979  – Martin Škoula, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1980 – Christy Hemme, American wrestler and ring announcer
 * 1980  – Agnes Obel, Danish singer-songwriter and pianist
 * 1980  – Alan Smith, English footballer and coach
 * 1981 – Milan Baroš, Czech footballer
 * 1981  – Shane Gore, English footballer
 * 1981  – Nate McLouth, American baseball player
 * 1981  – Nick Montgomery, English-Scottish footballer
 * 1982 – Jeremy Bonderman, American baseball player
 * 1982  – Enver Jääger, Estonian footballer
 * 1982  – Anthony Lerew, American baseball player
 * 1982  – Hironori Saruta, Japanese footballer
 * 1982  – Matt Smith, English actor and director
 * 1983 – Jarrett Jack, American basketball player
 * 1983  – Kayo Noro, Japanese singer and actress
 * 1983  – Joe Thomas, English actor and screenwriter
 * 1984 – Bryn Evans, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1984  – Obafemi Martins, Nigerian footballer
 * 1984  – Finn Wittrock, American actor
 * 1985 – Tyrone Barnett, English footballer
 * 1985  – Troian Bellisario, American actress
 * 1985  – Anthony Fantano, American music critic
 * 1986 – May Calamawy, Egyptian-Palestinian actress
 * 1986  – Isabelle Eriksson, Swedish athlete
 * 1986  – Anthony Griffith, English footballer
 * 1986  – Aki Toyosaki, Japanese voice actress and singer
 * 1987 – Frank Ocean, American singer-songwriter
 * 1988 – Edd Gould, English cartoonist and animator (d. 2012)
 * 1988  – Devon Murray, Irish actor
 * 1988  – Jamie xx, English musician, DJ, record producer and remixer
 * 1989 – Devin Ebanks, American basketball player
 * 1989  – Camille Muffat, French swimmer (d. 2015)
 * 1991 – Lucy Bronze, English footballer
 * 1992 – Lexi Ainsworth, American actress
 * 1992  – Jeon Ji-hee, South Korean table tennis player
 * 1992  – Maria Sergejeva, Estonian figure skater
 * 1994 – Andrew Harrison, American basketball player
 * 1995 – Glen Kamara, Finnish footballer
 * 1995  – Jae'Sean Tate, American basketball player
 * 1996 – Jasmine Jessica Anthony, American actress
 * 1996  – Jack Eichel, American ice hockey player
 * 1996  – Una Raymond-Hoey, Irish cricketer
 * 1997 – Stetson Bennett, American football player
 * 1997  – Taylor Fritz, American tennis player
 * 1997  – Georgia Godwin, Australian artistic gymnast
 * 1998 – Nolan Gould, American actor
 * 2001 – Sonay Kartal, British tennis player

Pre-1600

 * 312 – Maxentius, Roman emperor (b. 278)
 * 457 – Ibas of Edessa, Syrian bishop
 * 816 – Beggo, count of Toulouse and Paris
 * 875 – Remigius of Lyon, Frankish archbishop
 * 1138 – King Bolesław III Wrymouth of Poland
 * 1225 – Jien, Japanese monk, historian, and poet (b. 1155)
 * 1266 – Saint Arsenije I Sremac
 * 1310 – Ecumenical Patriarch Athanasius I of Constantinople (b. 1230)
 * 1312 – Elizabeth of Carinthia, Queen of Germany (b. 1262)
 * 1412 – Margaret I of Denmark (b. 1353)
 * 1468 – Bianca Maria Visconti, Duchess of Milan (b. 1425)
 * 1568 – Ashikaga Yoshihide, Japanese shōgun (b. 1539)
 * 1592 – Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Flemish diplomat
 * 1594 – Ōkubo Tadayo, Japanese general (b. 1532)

1601–1900

 * 1627 – Jahangir, Mughal Emperor of India (b. 1569)
 * 1639 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer and educator (b. 1587)
 * 1646 – William Dobson, English painter (b. 1610)
 * 1661 – Agustín Moreto y Cavana, Spanish priest and playwright (b. 1618)
 * 1676 – Jean Desmarets, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1595)
 * 1703 – John Wallis, English mathematician and cryptographer (b. 1616)
 * 1704 – John Locke, English physician and philosopher (b. 1632)
 * 1708 – Prince George of Denmark (b. 1653)
 * 1716 – Stephen Fox, English politician (b. 1627)
 * 1740 – Anna of Russia (b. 1693)
 * 1754 – Friedrich von Hagedorn, German poet (b. 1708)
 * 1755 – Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, French composer (b. 1689)
 * 1763 – Heinrich von Brühl, German general and politician (b. 1700)
 * 1768 – Michel Blavet, French flute player and composer (b. 1700)
 * 1787 – Johann Karl August Musäus, German author (b. 1735)
 * 1792 – Paul Möhring, German physician, botanist, and zoologist (b. 1710)
 * 1792  – John Smeaton, English engineer, designed the Coldstream Bridge and Perth Bridge (b. 1724)
 * 1800 – Artemas Ward, American general and politician (b. 1727)
 * 1806 – Charlotte Turner Smith, English poet and author (b. 1749)
 * 1818 – Abigail Adams, American writer and second First Lady of the United States (b. 1744)
 * 1841 – Johan August Arfwedson, Swedish chemist and academic (b. 1792)
 * 1857 – Louis-Eugène Cavaignac, French general and politician, 26th Prime Minister of France (b. 1802)
 * 1877 – Robert Swinhoe, English ornithologist and entomologist (b. 1835)
 * 1879 – Marie Roch Louis Reybaud, French economist and politician (b. 1799)
 * 1899 – Ottmar Mergenthaler, German-American engineer, invented the Linotype machine (b. 1854)
 * 1900 – Max Müller, German philologist and orientalist (b. 1823)

1901–present

 * 1906 – Jean Benner, French artist (b. 1836)
 * 1914 – Richard Heuberger, Austrian composer and critic (b. 1850)
 * 1916 – Cleveland Abbe, American meteorologist and academic (b. 1838)
 * 1916  – Oswald Boelcke, German WWI flying ace (b. 1891)
 * 1917 – Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1831)
 * 1917  – Dimitrios Votsis, Greek lawyer and politician (b. 1841)
 * 1918 – Ulisse Dini, Italian mathematician and politician (b. 1845)
 * 1929 – Bernhard von Bülow, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1849)
 * 1936 – Newton Moore, Australian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1870)
 * 1939 – Alice Brady, American actress (b. 1892)
 * 1941 – Filipp Goloshchyokin, Soviet politician (b. 1876)
 * 1945 – Kesago Nakajima, Japanese general (b. 1881)
 * 1952 – Billy Hughes, English-Australian politician, 7th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)
 * 1957 – Ernst Gräfenberg, German-American physician and gynecologist (b. 1881)
 * 1959 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban soldier (b. 1932)
 * 1963 – Mart Saar, Estonian organist and composer (b. 1882)
 * 1965 – Thomas Graham Brown, Scottish mountaineer and physiologist (b. 1882)
 * 1969 – Constance Dowling, American model and actress (b. 1920)
 * 1970 – Baby Huey, American singer-songwriter (b. 1944)
 * 1973 – Taha Hussein, Egyptian historian, author, and academic (b. 1889)
 * 1973  – Sergio Tofano, Italian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1883)
 * 1975 – Georges Carpentier, French boxer and actor (b. 1894)
 * 1975  – Oliver Nelson, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (b. 1932)
 * 1976 – Aarne Juutilainen, Finnish army captain (b. 1904)
 * 1978 – Rukmani Devi, Sri Lankan singer and actress (b. 1923)
 * 1983 – Otto Messmer, American animator and screenwriter (b. 1892)
 * 1986 – John Braine, English author (b. 1922)
 * 1987 – André Masson, French soldier and painter (b. 1896)
 * 1989 – Henry Hall, English bandleader, composer, and actor (b. 1898)
 * 1993 – Juri Lotman, Russian-Estonian historian and scholar (b. 1922)
 * 1997 – Paul Jarrico, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1915)
 * 1998 – Ted Hughes, English poet and playwright (b. 1930)
 * 1999 – Antonios Katinaris, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1931)
 * 2000 – Andújar Cedeño, Dominican baseball player (b. 1969)
 * 2001 – Gerard Hengeveld, Dutch pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1910)
 * 2002 – Margaret Booth, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1898)
 * 2002  – Erling Persson, Swedish businessman, founded H&M (b. 1917)
 * 2003 – Sally Baldwin, Scottish social sciences professor (b. 1940)
 * 2004 – Eugene K. Bird, American colonel and author, US Commandant of Spandau Prison (b. 1926)
 * 2005 – Bob Broeg, American soldier and journalist (b. 1918)
 * 2005  – Raymond Hains, French photographer (b. 1926)
 * 2005  – Tony Jackson, American basketball player (b. 1942)
 * 2005  – Fernando Quejas, Cape Verdean-Portuguese singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
 * 2005  – Richard Smalley, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1943)
 * 2005  – Ljuba Tadić, Serbian actor and screenwriter (b. 1929)
 * 2006 – Red Auerbach, American basketball player and coach (b. 1917)
 * 2006  – Trevor Berbick, Jamaican-Canadian boxer (b. 1954)
 * 2006  – Marijohn Wilkin, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1920)
 * 2007 – Takao Fujinami, Japanese lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
 * 2007  – Porter Wagoner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1927)
 * 2009 – Taylor Mitchell, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1990)
 * 2010 – Liang Congjie, Chinese historian and activist, founded Friends of Nature (b. 1932)
 * 2010  – James MacArthur, American actor (b. 1937)
 * 2010  – Jonathan Motzfeldt, Greenlandic politician, 1st Prime Minister of Greenland (b. 1938)
 * 2010  – Ehud Netzer, Israeli archaeologist, architect, and educator (b. 1934)
 * 2011 – Tom Addington, English soldier (b. 1919)
 * 2012 – Gordon Bilney, Australian dentist and politician (b. 1939)
 * 2012  – John Cheffers, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1936)
 * 2012  – Jack Dellal, English businessman (b. 1923)
 * 2013 – Tetsuharu Kawakami, Japanese baseball player and manager (b. 1920)
 * 2013  – Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Polish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1927)
 * 2013  – Aleksandar Tijanić, Serbian journalist (b. 1949)
 * 2013  – Rajendra Yadav, Indian author (b. 1929)
 * 2014 – Galway Kinnell, American poet and academic (b. 1927)
 * 2014  – Michael Sata, Zambian police officer and politician, 5th President of Zambia (b. 1937)
 * 2018 – Colin Sylvia, Australian rules footballer (b. 1985)
 * 2022 – Jerry Lee Lewis, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1935)
 * 2023 – Matthew Perry, American-Canadian actor (b. 1969)
 * 2023 – Adam Johnson, American ice hockey player (b. 1994)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Abdias of Babylon
 * Abgar V of Edessa (Eastern Orthodox Church)
 * Eadsige
 * Faro
 * Fidelis of Como (Roman Catholic Church)
 * Firmilian
 * Godwin of Stavelot
 * Job of Pochayiv (repose) (Eastern Orthodox Church)
 * The Apostles Simon and Jude (Western Christianity)
 * Lord of Miracles (Lima)
 * October 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Day of the Establishment of an Independent Czecho-Slovak State, celebrates the independence of Czechoslovakia from Austria-Hungary in 1918. (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
 * International Animation Day (ASIFA)
 * Ohi Day (Greece, Cyprus and the Greek communities), a national day in Greece.
 * Prefectural Earthquake Disaster Prevention Day (Gifu Prefecture)
 * Youth Pledge Day or Hari Sumpah Pemuda (Indonesia)
 * Anniversary of the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis, celebrating the liberation from Nazi German troops of the territory of current Ukraine