Today in the Past
Events
331 BC - Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.
704 - Aengibald gives away bishop Willibrord estate in Waalre
1189 - Gerard de Ridefort, grandmaster of the Knights Templar since 1184, is killed in the Siege of Acre.
1574 - -2] Storm breaks Leiden dike; drowns 20,000 Spanish soldiers
1661 - Yachting begins in England; King Charles II beats his brother James
1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie flees to France
1768 - English troops under general Gauge lands in Boston
1814 - Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw the Europe’s political map after the defeat of Napoléon the previous spring.
1827 - The Russian army under Ivan Paskevich storms Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination in Armenia.
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1843 - News of the World began publication in London.
1847 - Maria Mitchell discovers a non-naked-eye comet
1847 - German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.
1854 - The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American System of Watch Manufacturing.
1867 - Karl Marx’ “Das Kapital,” published
1880 - John Philip Sousa becomes new director of US Marine Corps Band
1888 - National Geographic magazine publishes for 1st time
1890 - Congress creates Weather Bureau
1890 - Yosemite National Park forms
1891 - In the U.S. state of California, Stanford University opens its doors.
1892 - University of Chicago opens
1893 - 3rd worst hurricane in US history kills 1,800 (Mississippi)
1898 - Henry Huntington buys LA Railway
1907 - Plaza Hotel (5th Av & 59th Str, NY) opens
1908 - Henry Ford introduces Model T car (costs $825)
1910 - Berkshire Cattle Fair held in Pittsfield Mass (1st state fair)
1910 - Explosion at LA Times kills 21
1918 - World War I: Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence (a/k/a “Lawrence of Arabia”) capture Damascus.
1920 - Sir Percy Cox landed in Basra to assume his responsibilities as high commissioner in Iraq.
1924 - Fokker F-7 1st flight (Amsterdam to Batavia)
1926 - An oil field accident cost aviator Wiley Post his left eye, but he used the settlement money to buy his first aircraft.
1931 - The second (and current) Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is opened in New York.
1933 - Packers make 5 1st downs, Giants make 0, but still win 10-7
1936 - Generalissimo Francisco Franco establishes state of Spain
1940 - Pennsylvania Turnpike, pioneer toll thruway, opens
1945 - Heavyweight champ Joe Louis is discharged from army
1945 - US Office of Strategic Serbia (OSS) disbands
1947 - The F-86 Sabre flies for the first time
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1950 - South Korean troops cross 38th parallel into North Korea
1951 - 24th Infantry Regiment, last all-black military unit, deactivated
1955 - ”Honeymooners” premieres
1957 - B-52 bombers begin full-time flying alert in case of USSR attack
1957 - First appearance of “In God We Trust” on U.S. paper currency.
1958 - Inauguration of NASA
1958 - Vanguard Project transferred from military to NASA
1958 - NASA created to replace NACA.
1961 - A believed extinct volcanco erupts in Tristan da Cunha
1961 - Roger Maris sets record of 61 HRs (off of Tracy Stallard)
1962 - Johnny Carson hosts his 1st Tonight Show, Joan Crawford guests
1962 - Lucy Show premieres
1967 - Pink FLoyd’s 1st US tour (arrives in NYC)
1968 - ”Night of the Living Dead” premieres in Pittsburgh
1970 - 63 arrest in riot to buy Rolling Stone tickets in Milano Italy
1974 - Watergate cover-up trial opens in Wash DC
1975 - Muhammad Ali TKOs Joe Frazier in 15 for heavyweight boxing title in “The Thrilla in Manila”
1979 - US returns Canal Zone to Panama after 75 years (but not the canal)
1982 - EPCOT Center opens in Orlando Florida
1984 - Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury comic strip resumes after 2-year hiatus
1985 - Israeli air raid on PLO-headquarter at Tunis, 68 killed
1987 - 6 killed by an earthquake measuring 6.1 in LA
1989 - Thousands of East Germans flee to West Germany
1989 - US issues a stamp, labeling an apatosaurus as a brontosaurus
1990 - 10,000 Uganda RPF rebels move into Rwanda
1990 - Meteorite explode above Pacific Ocean
1991 - Howard Stern adds Baltimore to his radio network (WJFK-AM)
1992 - Cartoon Cable Network premieres
1992 - Ross Perot re-enters presidental race
1998 - Vladimir Putin became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.
2000 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, the chairman of the IOC declares Sydney the “best Olympic Games ever”
2000 - United States retain Basketball’s Olympic gold medal defeating France 85-75
2000 - United States wins the most medals (97), and the most gold medals (40) in Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia
2005 - Bombing kills 23 people in Bali.
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BIRTHS
1207 - Henry III, king of England (1216-72)
1507 - Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Italian architect (d. 1573)
1730 - Richard Stockton, US attorney/signer (Decl of Independence)
1781 - James Lawrence, naval hero (War of 1812-“Don’t give up the ship!”)
1799 - Rufus Choate, US, lawyer (Hall of Fame)
1800 - Lars Levi Laestadius, Swedish-born botanist and founder of Laestadianism (d. 1861)
1870 - Pieter van Essen, Dutch artillery officer/inventor (grape-shot shells)
1881 - William Edward Boeing, founded aircraft co (Boeing)
1893 - Yip Man, Martial Arts Master d.(1972)
1903 - ”Slapsie” Maxie Rosenbloom, NYC, light-heavyweight box champ (1932-34)
1904 - Vladimir Horowitz, Kiev Ukraine, pianist (Carmen)
1910 - Bonnie Parker, Rowena, Texas, outlaw (Bonnie and Clyde), (d. 1934)
1920 - Walter Matthau, NYC, actor (Odd Couple, Bad News Bears)
1921 - James Whitmore, White Plains NY, actor (Give ‘em Hell Harry)
1924 - Jimmy Earl Carter, Plains Ga, (D) 39th Pres (1977-1981)
1924 - William Rehnquist, Ws, Supreme Court (1972-86)/chief justice (1987- )
1926 - Roger Williams, American pianist
1927 - Tom Bosley, Chicago, actor (Howard-Happy Days, Murder She Wrote)
1928 - George Peppard, Detroit Mich, actor (Banacek, A-Team, Blue Max)
1928 - Laurence Harvey, [Larushka Skine], actor (Alamo, Romeo & Juliet)
1930 - Frank Gardner, Australian racing driver
1931 - Reginald Hall, endocrinologist
1932 - Albert Collins, Leona TX, blues guitarist (Frosty, Showdown)
Iceman Dirty Dishes Cold Cold Feeling with Gary Moore
I Ain’t Drunk Stormy Monday with BB King Further On Down The Road with Roy Buchanan
Travelin’ South Master Charge Sweet Little Angel with BB , Buddy Guy , Jeff & Eric
1935 - Julie Andrews, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, actress/singer (Sound of Music, Mary Poppins)
1936 - Charles G Fullerton, Rochester, NY, astronaut (STS-3, 51F)
1936 - Edward Villella, Bayside Queens, ballet dancer (NYC Ballet)
1936 - Stella Stevens, Yazoo City Miss, actress (Girls! Girls!, Manitou)
1943 - Jim Martini, rocker (Sly & Family Stone-Everyday People)
1945 - Donny Hathaway, Chicago, singer/songwriter (Where is the Love)
1945 - Rod Carew, baseball slugger (AL Rookie of Year 1967)
1945 - Spider Sabich, American skier (d. 1976)
1947 - Mariska Veres, Dutch singer (Shocking Blue)
1950 - Randy Quaid, Houston Tx, actor (Midnight Express, Vacation, Saturday Night Live)
1953 - Greta Andersen Waitz, Oslo Norway, marathoner (NYC – 1984)
1957 - Brad MacDonald, race horse trainer
1959 - Youssou N’dour, Senegalese singer (Shaking the tree)
1963 - Mark McGwire, 1st baseman (AL rookie of year 1988, Oakland A’s, Cards)
1964 - Kristi Atkinson, Van Nuys Ca, WP volleyballer (Best of Beach-6th-1994)
1964 - Harry Hill, British comedian
1965 - Cindy Margolis Model
1973 - Rodney Kite-Powell, historian
1973 - Jana Henke, German swimmer
1975 - Eric Morel, PR, US flyweight boxer (Olympics-96)
1977 - Jeffrey van Hooydonk, Belgian race car driver
1978 - Andrew JC Jackson, Australian surf lifesaver
1982 - Harry Lawrence, Bath born Entrepreneur
1985 - Revazi Zintiridis, Greek judoka
DEATHS
290 - [Christian] Bacchus, roman soldier/martyred saint, killed
552 - Teja, king of Ostrogoten, dies in battle
976 - Al-Hakam II, Moors kalief of Cordoba, dies
1189 - Gerard de Ridefort, grandmaster of the Knights Templar
1404 - Boniface IX, [Pietro Tomacelli], Pope (1389-1404), dies
1570 - Frans Floris, Flemish painter (b. 1520)
1838 - Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and industrialist (b. 1768)
1864 - Rose Greenhow, American Confederate spy (b. 1817)
1876 - James Lick, California land baron (b. 1796)
1913 - Eugene O’Keefe, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1827)
1943 - Antoine T Broekman, resistance fighter, executed at 32
1943 - Anton JT Koreman, resistance fighter, executed at 27
1943 - Antoon Pleyte, resistance fighter, executed at 26
1943 - Dionysius Remiens, resistance fighter, executed at 24
1943 - Earnest Klijzing, resistance fighter, executed
1943 - Gideon Boissevain, resistance fighter, executed at 22
1943 - Hans Katan, resistance fighter, executed at 24
1943 - Henri H Geul, resistance fighter, executed at 27
1943 - Johan Kalshoven, resistance fighter, executed at 20
1943 - Johan Roemer, resistance fighter, executed at 22
1943 - Johan van Mierlo, resistance fighter, executed at 35
1943 - John Charles Boissevain, resistance fighter, executed at 23
1943 - Leo Frijda, resistance fighter, executed at 20
1943 - Louis Boissevain, resistance fighter, executed at 21
1943 - Maarten van/of Gilse, resistance fighter, executed at 27
1943 - Olaf T Thomsen, resistance fighter, executed at 23
1943 - Peter “Pam” Pooters, resistance fighter, executed at 32
1943 - Sape Kuiper, resistance fighter, executed at 19
1943 - Victor van Swieten, resistance fighter, executed at 36
1943 - Walter Brandligt, literature/resistance fighter, executed at 42
1945 - Walter B Cannon, US physiologist (Traumatic Shock), dies at 73
1965 - Edward E “Doc” Smith, US, sci-fi writer (Subspace encounter), dies
1970 - Raoul Riganti, Argentine racing driver (b. 1893)
1972 - Louis Leakey, English anthropologist, dies at 68
1975 - Al Jackson, rock drummer (Booker T & The MG’s), dies at 39
1985 - E B White, US author (New Yorker, Charlotte’s Web), dies at 86
1990 - Curtis E LeMay, USAF General/VP candidate, dies at 83
1992 - Bruce Vorhauer, inventor (Today contraceptive sponge), suicide at 50
1994 - Scott Dunbar, bluse vocalist/guitarist, dies at 90
1995 - Aditya Biria, industrialist, dies at 50
2000 - Reginald Kray, British gangster (b. 1933)
2002 - Walter Annenberg, American publisher and philanthropist (b. 1908)
2004 - Richard Avedon, American photographer (b. 1923)
2004 - Bruce Palmer, Canadian musician (Buffalo Springfield) (b. 1946)
2007 - Harry Lee, Sheriff of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana (b. 1932)
2007 - Al Oerter, American discus thrower (b. 1936) (Olympics-gold-56, 60, 64, 68) dies aged 71
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