About the day » Saturday October 12, 1940Calender converter

• Darrell Dee Elders, Downey, Los Angeles, California († 1997)
• Alfred Pieter Henry (Freddy) Booy-, Malang, Indie († 1993)
• François Leopold Vlassenroot, Lebbeke († 2010)
• Cornelis Alexander Kraaijeveld, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Nederland († 2009)
• David Costima, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Nederland († 1942)
• Flora Pieternella Baas, Leiden,, Zuid-Holland, Nederland († 1940)
• Jan Abma, Oosterend, hennaarderadeel.fr.nld († 1989)
• Alfred Pieter Henry (Freddy) Booij, Malang, Indie († 1993)
• Ad van Maasakkers, Veghel,, Noord-Brabant, Nederland († 1996)
• Hendrikus Cornelius (Harrie) HEERINGS, Eindhoven(N-Br.)

• Anje Alkes Datema (61), Overschild
• Charles Paul LABOUS (33)
• Albert de Groot (0), Meppel (NL)
• Baaltje WESTHOEVE Kdr (77), Ouddorp, Goeree-Overflakkee, NL-ZH
• Bernard Veeder Plantz (80), unbekannt
• Anje Datema (61), Overschild gem. Slochteren
• Adriana Maria van Steen (70), Boxtel, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Anna Catharina SIEVERS (72), Winterswijk, Gelderland, Nederland
• Andreas van den Diepstraten (53), Jutphaas, Nederland
• Bertha Stella Greenfield (30), Mitchell, Davison County, South Dakota

• 1935 » Don Howe, English footballer and manager († 2015)
• 1935 » Sam Moore, American soul singer-songwriter
• 1935 » Shivraj Patil, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence
• 1935 » Tony Kubek, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1937 » Paul Hawkins, Australian race car driver († 1969)
• 1937 » Robert Mangold, American painter
• 1941 » Michael Mansfield, English lawyer, academic, and republican
• 1942 » Melvin Franklin, American soul bass singer († 1995)
• 1943 » Kostas Tsakonas, Greek actor († 2015)
• 1944 » Angela Rippon, English journalist and author

• 1923 » Bunny Lucas, English cricketer (b. 1857)
• 1924 » Anatole France, French journalist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1844)
• 1926 » Edwin Abbott Abbott, English theologian and author (b. 1838)
• 1933 » John Lister, English philanthropist and politician (b. 1847)
• 1940 » Tom Mix, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1880)
• 1946 » Joseph Stilwell, American general (b. 1883)
• 1948 » Susan Sutherland Isaacs, English psychologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1885)
• 1954 » George Welch, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
• 1956 » Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer and painter (b. 1872)
• 1957 » Arie de Jong, Indonesian-Dutch linguist and physician (b. 1865)

• Koningin Wilhelmina (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1890 till 1948 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from August 10, 1939 to September 3, 1940 the cabinet De Geer II, with Jonkheer mr. D.J. de Geer (CHU) as prime minister.
• In The Netherlands , there was from September 3, 1940 to July 27, 1941 the cabinet Gerbrandy I, with Prof. dr. P.S. Gerbrandy (ARP) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 8.8 million citizens.
• May 24 » Acting on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, NKVD agent Iosif Grigulevich orchestrates an unsuccessful assassination attempt on exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico.
• June 23 » Adolf Hitler goes on a three-hour tour of the architecture of Paris with architect Albert Speer and sculptor Arno Breker in his only visit to the city.
• August 15 » An Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Greek cruiserElli at Tinos harbor during peacetime, marking the most serious Italian provocation prior to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in October.
• September 7 » Romania returns Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria under the Treaty of Craiova.
• September 12 » Cave paintings are discovered in Lascaux, France.
• November 13 » Walt Disney's animated musical film Fantasia is first released, on the first night of a roadshow at New York's Broadway Theatre.

The temperature on October 12, 1940 was between 4.4 °C and 15.9 °C and averaged 9.7 °C. There was 6.5 hours of sunshine (59%). The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the north-northeast.