Today in the Past
Events
1199 - Rambam (Maimonides) authorizes Samuel Ibn Tibbon to translate Guide of Perplexed from Arabic into Hebrew
1399 - King Richard II of England abdicates throne
1452 - 1st book published, Johann Guttenberg’s Bible
1544 - King Henry VIII draws his armies out of France
1555 - Oxford Bishop Nicholas Ridley sentenced to death as a heretic
1777 - Congress, flees to York Pa, as British forces advance
1787 - 1st US voyage around the world – Columbia leaves Boston
1808 - Covent Garden Theatre Royal destroyed by fire
1841 - Samuel Slocum patented the stapler
1846 - Anesthetic ether used for 1st time (Dr Wm Morton extracts a tooth)
1867 - Midway Islands formally declared a US possession
1877 - 1st US amateur swim meet (NY Athletic Club)
1880 - Henry Draper takes the 1st photograph of Orion Nebula
1887 - Volunteer (US) beats Thistle (Scotland) in 8th America’s Cup
1888 - ”Jack the Ripper” butchers 2 more women, Liz Stride & Kate Eddowes
1898 - City of NY established
1927 - Babe Ruth hits record setting 60th HR (off Tom Zachary)
1928 - Leon Vanderstuyft of Belgium cycles record 76 mi 604 yds in 1 hr
1929 - 1st manned rocket plane flight (by auto maker Fritz von Opel)
1935 - The Hoover Dam, astride the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, is dedicated.
1939 - 1st televised college football game (Fordham vs Waynesburg at NYC)
1939 - Britain first evacuates citizens in anticipation of war.
1940 - 47 German aircrafts shot down above England
1942 - Admiral Nimitz B-17 finds Guadalcanal using National Geographic map
1946 - Von Ribbentrop & Goering sentence to death by Nuremberg trial
1949 - Berlin Airlift ends after 277,000 flights (Ed. note: dates differ from site to site)
1950 - 1st congress of International Astronautical Federation opens in Paris
1950 - Radio’s “Grand Ole Opry” is broadcasted on TV for 1st time
1953 - Auguste/Jacques Piccard dives with bathosphere to 3150 m (record)
1953 - Earl Warren appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
1960 - Flintstones premieres (1st prime time animation show)
Flintstones Cigarette Commercial
1961 - Bill for Boston Tea Party is paid by Mayor Snyder of Oregon who wrote a check for $196, the total cost of all tea lost
1968 - 1st Boeing 747 rolls out
1972 - Roberto Clemente, is 11th to get 3,000 hits
1975 - The Hughes (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing) AH-64 Apache makes its first flight.
1977 - Due to US budget cuts, the Apollo program’s ALSEP experiment packages left on the Moon are shut down.
1980 - A’s Rickey Henderson sets AL stolen base record at 98 en route to 100
1980 - Ethernet specifications published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.
1984 - NY Yankee Don Mattingly wins AL batting crown with .343 avg
1985 - Howard Stern gets fired from WNBC AM (NY)
1986 - US releases soviet spy Gennadiy Zakharov
1986 - Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed details of Israel covert nuclear program to British media, was kidnapped in Rome, Italy.
1988 - IBM announces shipment of 3 millionth PS/2 personal computer
1988 - Louise Ritter, US, jumps 6’8″ to win Olympic gold medal
1989 - NASA closes down tracking stations in Hawaii & Ascension
1993 - 6.4 earthquake at Latur, India, 28,000 killed
1993 - MS Dos 6.2 released
1994 - Space shuttle STS-68 (Endeavour 7), launches into orbit
1997 - Microsoft Corp releases Internet Explorer 4.0
1999 - Japan’s worst nuclear accident at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tōkai-mura, northeast of Tokyo.
2004 - The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat are taken 600 miles south of Tokyo.
2004 - The AIM-54 Phoenix, the primary missile for the F-14 Tomcat, retired from service. Almost two years later, the Tomcat retires.
2005 - The controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Births
1207 - Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, Persian mystic and poet (d. 1273)
1227 - Pope Nicholas IV (d. 1292)
1631 - William Stoughton, American judge at the Salem witch trials (d. 1701)
1861 - William Wrigley Jr., American industrialist (Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company) (d. 1932)
1870 - Jean Perrin, France, physicist, studied Brownian motion (Nobel 1926)
1905 - Nevill Francis Mott, physicist
1915 - Lester Garfield Maddox, (Gov-D-Ga)/restaurant owner
1917 - Buddy Rich, New York, American jazz drummer and band leader (Buddy Rich Band-Away We Go), (d. 1987)
Drum Solo Battle with Jerry Lewis
1917 - Chung Hee Park, general/pres of S Korea (1961-79), assassinated
1921 - Deborah Kerr, Helensburg Scotland, actress (King & I, Night of Iguana)
1922 - Alan Stretton, Australian general
1924 - Truman Capote, New Orleans LA, author (In Cold Blood)
1928 - Elie Wiesel, Romania, author (Souls on Fire) Nazi hunter (Nobel 1986)
1931 - Angie Dickinson, [Angeline Brown], Kulm ND, actress (Police Woman)
1935 - Johnny Mathis, SF, vocalist (Chances Are, 12th of Never)
Too Much Too Little To Late with Deniece Williams
1942 - Frankie Lymon, NYC, rocker (The Teenagers-Why do Fools Fall in Love)
1943 - Marilyn McCoo, Jersey City NJ, host/singer (Solid Gold, 5th Dimension)
1945 - Ehud Olmert, twelfth Prime Minister of Israel
1947 - Marc Bolan, London England, rock vocalist (T-Rex-Bang a Gong)
1951 - Nicholas Yermakov, US, sci-fi author (Epiphany, Jehad, Clique)
1951 - Barry Marshall, Australian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1953 - S.M. Stirling, Canadian-born author
1954 - Barry Williams, Santa Monica California, actor (Greg-Brady Bunch)
1957 - Fran Drescher, Queens NY, actress (Cadillac Man, Nanny)
1958 - Marty Stuart, Phila Miss, country singer (Hillbilly Rock)
1958 - Nona Garson, equestrian show jumper (Olympics-96)
1961 - Crystal Bernard, Garland TX, actress (Amy-It’s a Living, Helen-Wings)
1961 - Eric van de Poele, Belgian racing driver
1962 - Dave Magadan, Tampa FL, 1st baseman (NY Mets, Chicago Cubs)
1964 - Stephen N Frick, Pitts PA, Lt Cmdr USN/astronaut
1964 - Trey Anastasio, American musician (Phish)
1968 - Monica Bellucci, Italian actress
1971 - Jenna Elfman, LA California, actress (Townies, Dharma & Greg)
1975 - Marion Cotillard, French actress
1981 - Dominique Moceanu, California, gymnast (World-silver-95, Olympics-gold-96)
1982 - Lacey Chabert, actress (Party of Five)
1982 - Tory Lane, American nude model, exotic dancer, and pornographic actress
1982 - Ryan Stout, American comedian
Deaths
420 - Saint Jerome, translator of the Vulgate Bible
653 - Saint Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury
739 - P’u-chi Ho-shang Tao-chao, Northern Ch’an Line Zen teacher, dies
1101 - Anselm IV, Archbishop of Milan
1351 - Muso Soseki, Zen teacher/Rinzai line/head of Nanzenji, dies in Japan
1440 - Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, English soldier and politician
1551 - Ōuchi Yoshitaka, Japanese warlord (b. 1507)
1626 - Nurhaci, Manchurian chief (b. 1559)
1630 - John Billington, murderer, 1st American execution, hanged
1772 - James Brindley, English engineer (b. 1716)
1877 - Toohoolhoolzote, prophet of Nez Perce indians, dies in battle
1888 - Catherine Eddowes, English, murdered by Jack the Ripper at 45
1888 - Elizabeth Stride, Long Liz, English, murdered by Jack the Ripper at 45
1897 - St Therese of Lisieux, Roman Catholic saint and mystic (b. 1873)
1910 - Maurice Lévy, French engineer (b. 1838)
1955- James Dean, actor (Rebel Without a Cause), dies in a car crash at age 24
James Dean’s Crash – The Truth?
1960 - Harry St John Philby, [sheik Abdullah], British explorer, dies
1965 - E[dward] E[lmer] “Doc” Smith, sci-fi author (Triplanetary), dies at 75
1978 - Edgar Bergen, ventriloquist (Charlie McCarthy), dies at 75
1985 - Charles F Richter, US seismologist (scale of R), dies at 85
1985 - Helen MacInnes, US spy writer (Affiliate in place), dies at 77
1985 - Simone Signoret, German/French actress (Room at Top, Gina), dies at 64
1987 - Alfred Bester, sci-fi author (Dark Side of Earth), dies at 73
1995 - George Kirby, comedian/impressionist (Pearl Bailey), dies at 71
1997 - Male alligator, largest in Florida (14 feet), killed at about 65
2003 - Robert Kardashian, Armenian-American lawyer (b. 1944)
2011 - Anwar al-Awlaki, American-born terrorist and islamist militant (b. 1971)
