October 26

Events

• 740: A strong earthquake strikes Constantinople causing many deaths and much damage.
• 1912: The Greek army liberates Thessaloniki
• 1929: Eleftherios Venizelos inaugurates the Marathon dam, which later helps form Lake Marathon.
• 1944: British Foreign Minister, Anthony Eden, arrives in Athens for talks with Greek PM Georgios Papandreou.
• 1971: Mitsos Partsalidis, Babis Drakopoulos and 30 other members of the KKE-Interior are arrested.
• 1983: The first Greek woman gives birth through in-vitro fertilisation.
• 1993: Constantine Mitsotakis resigns the leadership of the New Democracy Party.
• 2010: The European Court on Human Rights awards 19 Cypriots the sum of €15,001,498 as compensation for denial, by Turkey, of use and enjoyment of their property in the occupied north.

Sports

• 1972: Totis Fylakouris is handed a 4-game ban because, prior to Panathinaikos' game against CSKA Sofia, he left a rooster in midfield as an insult to Olympiakos who had lost the previous day 4-0 to Tottenham Hotspur.
• 1986: 29-year old teacher, Charalambos Blionas, is killed in Larisa when he is hit with a flare during the football game between AE Larisa and PAOK.

Births

• 1795: Nikolaos Mantzaros, composer
• 1897: Maximus V, Patriarch of Constantinople
• 1954: Vasilis Chatzipanagis, footballer
• 1955: Antros Kyprianou, Cypriot politician
• 1993: Dimitris Pelkas, footballer

Deaths

• 1822: Mahmud Dramali, Ottoman commander during the Greek War of Independence.
• 1946: Ioannis Rallis, politician
• 1957: Nikos Kazantzakis, writer, philosopher
• 1991: Takis Morakis, composer

Namesday

• Saint Demetrius, patron saint of Thessaloniki.