Today in the Past
Events
202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the invading Carthaginian army, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus in the Battle of Zama.
439 - The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa.
1031 - Abbot Humbertus van Echternach opens grave of Saint Willibrord
1216 - King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.
1453 - 2nd Battle at Castillon: France beats English, end of hundred year war
1466 - The Thirteen Years’ War ends with the Second Treaty of Thorn.
1492 - Columbus sites “Isabela” (Fortune Island, Bahamas)
1512 - Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia).
1722 - French C Hopffer patents fire extinguisher
1765 - Stamp Act Congress met in NY, wrote decl of rights & liberties
1781 - Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown at 2 PM; Revolutionary War ends(see UE 10/16 & 10/17)
1812 - Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow
1818 - US & Chicasaw Indians sign a treaty
1856 - James Kelly & Jack Smith fight bareknuckle for 6h15m in Melbourne
1859 - Wilhelm Tempel discovers diffuse nebula around Pleid star Merope
1863 - Battle of Buckland Mills, VA
1864 - Approx 25 Confederates make surprise attack on St Albans, Vermont
1864 - Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, Union beats back Conf attackers
1864 - US brig-gen Emory Upton (25) promoted to major-general
1870 - 1st (4) blacks elected to House of Reps
1872 - World’s largest gold nugget (215 kg) found in New South Wales
1879 - Thomas Edison demonstrates electric light
1882 - Pierre de Brazza meets Henry Morton Stanley
1900 - Henry O Tanner, painter, wins Medal of Honor at Paris Exposition
1914 - US post office 1st used an automobile to collect & deliver mail
1919 - 1st Distinguished Service Medal awarded to a woman
1926 - John C Garand patents semi-automatic rifle
1932 - Austria forbids demonstration by nazi’s & anti fascists
1935 - Mao Tse Tung’s army reaches Shanxi
1943 - Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.
1944 - US forces land in Philippines
1950 - UN forces entered Pyongyang, capital of North Korea
1951 - Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Texas Women’s Golf Open
1951 - Pres Harry Truman formally ends state of war with Germany
1953 - 1st jet transcontinental nonstop scheduled service
1953 - Singer Julius LaRosa is fired on TV by Arthur Godfrey
1954 - Egypt & Great Britain sign treaty; British troops departs
1959 - Florence Henderson joins Today Show panel
1962 - Stalin-monument removed in Prague
1968 - Golden Gate Bridge charges tolls only for southbound cars
1970 - Amdahl Corp forms at Sunnyvale Calif
1971 - Last issue of “Look” magazine is published
1973 - Ringo releases “Photograph”
1976 - Battle of Aishiya in Lebanon. The same day, the Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is placed on the List of Endangered Species.
1977 - Corpse of kidnapped West German, H M Schleyer, found
1977 - Supersonic Concorde jet’s 1st landing in NYC
1981 - Nicolaas Bloembergen & Arthur Schawlow win Nobel for physics (laser)
1983 - Grenada general Hudson Austin forms “revolutionary council”
1983 - Senate establishes Martin Luther King Jr federal holiday
1986 - USSR expels 5 US diplomats
1987 - ”Black Monday“ Dow Jones down 508.32 points, 4½ times previous record
1987 - US warships destroy 2 Iranian oil platforms in Persian Gulf
1988 - 3 Americans win Nobel in physics; 3 W Germans win chemistry Nobel
1988 - Car bomb kills 7 Israelis, wounds 11 near Lebanon border
1988 - Senate passes bill curbing ads during children`s TV shows
1991 - Longest NCAA football game (3:52) as RI beats Maine 52-30 (6 OTs)
1993 - UN authorizes arms, milt & police supply embargo against Haiti
1994 - 160 killed at battles in Tsjetsjenie
1994 - Palestinian bomb attack on bus in Tel Aviv, kills 22
1997 - 700th World Series home run (Sandy Alomar, Cleve Indians)
1998 - The Earth Liberation Front sets fire to the Vail Mountain ski resort in Vail, Colorado, causing $12 million in damage.
2001 - SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sank in international waters with the loss of 353 people.
2003 - Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.
2004 - Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt is ousted and placed under house arrest by the SPDC on charges of corruption.
2004 - Care International aid worker Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Iraq.
2005 - Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.
2005 - Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb.
Births
1276 - Prince Hisaaki, Japanese shogun (d. 1328)
1433 - Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher (d. 1499)
1581 - Dimitri Ivanovitch, Russian son of Ivan IV “the Terrible”
1610 - James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English statesman and soldier (d. 1688)
1688 - William Cheselden, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1752)
1720 - John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (d. 1772)
1784 - John McLoughlin, Hudson’s Bay Co pioneer in Oregon Country
1784 - Leigh Hunt, British writer (Lord Byron)
1810 - Cassius Marcellus Clay, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1903
1819 - Joseph C Juglar, French physician/economist (Crises Commercial)
1824 - Rufus Saxton, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1908
1834 - Francis Channing Barlow, US lawyer/gen-major/co-founder (ABA)
1850 - Annie S Peck, mountain climber/explorer/diplomat
1858 - George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (d. 1937)
1862 - Auguste Lumière, made 1st movie (Workers Leaving Lumière Factory)
1871 - Walter B Cannon, US physiologist (Wisdom of the Body)
1876 - Mordecai (3 finger) Brown, hall of fame pitcher
1885 - Charles Merrill, American investment banker (d. 1956)
1892 - Alexander A Aljechin, Russian/French chess champ (1927-35, 37-46)
1895 - Louis Mumford, cultural historian/city planner/writer
1895 - Frank Durbin, last American veteran of the Battle of Verdun (d.1999)
1897 - Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani scientist and scholar (d. 1994)
1899 - Miguel Asturias, Guatemala, poet/diplomat (Hombres de Maiz, Nobel 67), (d. 1974)
1901 - Arleigh A Burke, Colo, admiral (WW II, Solomon Islands, Navy Cross)
1903 - Tor Johnson, Swedish wrestler and actor (d. 1971)
1907 - Roger Wolfe Kahn, American bandleader (d. 1962)
1908 - Patrick Cairns “Spike” Hughes, British jazz musician/composer (Elegy)
1920 - LaWanda Page, Cleve Ohio, actress (Aunt Esther-Sanford & Sons)
1920 - Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher (d. 2003)
1921 - Gunnar Nordahl, Sweden, soccer player (Olympic-gold-1948)
1922 - Jack Anderson, Long Beach, California, journalist (Wash Post)
1925 - Victor Zorza, journalist/Russian specialist
1926 - Joel Feinberg, American moral philosopher (d. 2004)
1927 - Marjorie Tallchief, US ballerina (Harkness Ballet)
1931 - John le Carré, English novelist
1932 - Lloyd Haynes, South Bend Indiana, actor (Pete Dixon-Room 222)
1932 - Robert Reed, Highland Park Ill, actor (Mike-Brady Bunch, Nurse)
1937 - Peter Max, Berlin, American psychedelic artist (Dynamite Chicken)
1940 - Jerzy Kulej, Poland, light welterweight boxer (Olympic-gold-1964, 68), (d. 2012)
1940 - Michael Gambon, English actor (Singing Detective, Paris at Night)
1942 - Andrew Vachss, American author and attorney
1944 - Peter Tosh [Winston Hubert McIntosh], Jamaica, reggae musician (Mystic Man, Mama Africa)
Walk & Don t Look Back with Mick Jagger
Concrete Jungle with Bob Marley
1945 - John Lithgow, Rochester NY, actor (Harry & Hendersons, Pelican Brief)
1945 - Patrick Simmons, rocker (Doobie Brothers)
1946 - Philip Pullman, English writer
1947 - Giorgio Cavazzano, Italian comic strip artist
1949 - Lynn Dickey, American football player
1951 - Demetrios Christodoulou, Greek mathematical physicist, recipient of the Bôcher Memorial Prize
1952 - Alexander Leibkind, Germany, judo (Oly-76)/WLAF GM (Rhein Fire)
1955 - Lonnie Shelton, NBA forward (NY Knick, Seattle Supersonics)
1956 - Didier Theys, Belgian racing driver
1958 - John Bloom, [Joe Bob Briggs], drive-in movie critic
1960 - Jennifer Holliday, Houston Tx, singer/actress (Dream Girls)
1962 - Evander Holyfield, Atmore Ala, boxer (Oly-bronze-1988)/champ (1990-92)
1964 - Webster Slaughter, NFL wide receiver (KC Chiefs)
1965 - Ty Pennington, American television carpenter
1966 - Jon Favreau, actor/writer (Swingers)
1970 - Chris Kattan, American comedian and actor
1972 - Megan Still, Australian rower (Olympics-96)
1977 - Louis-José Houde, Canadian stand-up comic
1977 - Jason Reitman, Canadian filmmaker
1978 - Enrique Bernoldi, Brazilian race car driver
1979 - Brian Robertson, American trombonist
1981 - Heikki Kovalainen, Finnish race car driver
Deaths
727 - Saint Frideswide
1187 - Pope Urban III
1216 - King John
1268 - Konradin von Hohenstaufen, duke of Zwaben, beheaded
1547 - Pierino del Vaga, Italian painter, dies at about 46
1553 - Bonifazio Veronese/Veneziano, [de' Pitati], Italian painter, dies
1608 - Martinus A del Rio, Spanish lawyer historian/theologist, dies
1608 - Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist (b. 1551)
1682 - Thomas Browne, English writer (b. 1605)
1745 - Jonathan Swift, English writer (Gulliver’s Travels), dies
1790 - Lyman Hall, US physician/signer (Decl of Ind), dies at 66
1810 - Jean-Georges Noverre, French choreographer (ballet d’action), dies
1813 - Josef Poniatovski, Polish gen/marshal of France, dies in battle
1864 - Daniel Davidson Bidwell, magistrate/brig-general, dies in battle at 45
1897 - George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)
1901 - Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish financier and industrialist (b. 1829)
1937 - Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand physicist (Nobel 1908), dies at 66
1950 - Edna St Vincent Millay, poet/dramatist/feminist (Harp Weaver-Pulitzer Prize)
1957 - Vere G Childe, British archaeologist/prehistorian, dies at 65
1959 - Boughera El Quafi, marathoner (Olympic-gold-1928), shot to death at 60
1966 - Elizabeth Arden, US cosmetic manufacturer, dies
1971 - Alberto Pirelli, Italian industrial, dies at 89
1978 - Gig Young, American actor, kills his bride of 3 weeks and commits suicide at 64
1983 - Maurice Bishop, premier of Grenada (1979-83), murdered in coup
1984 - Jerzy Popieluszko, Polish priest/dissident, kidnapped & murdered
1986 - Moses Asch, record founder (Folkways), dies at 81
1987 - Jacqueline du Pre, British cellist, dies at 42
1987 - Hermann Lang, German race car driver (b. 1909)
1988 - Son House, American musician , Bluesman (b. 1902)
Son House talks about his friend Robert Johnson
Masters of Country Blues Guitar ( Documentary)
MY BLACK MAMA with Buddy Guy 1968
1992 - Cleavon Little, actor (Blazing Saddles), dies at 53
Blazing Saddles – Camptown Ladies
1992 - Gert Nastian, general & companion of Petra Kelly, found dead at 69
1992 - Petra Kelly, founder (German Green Party), found dead at 44
1993 - Roy Armstrong, English historian (Traditional buildings), dies at 91
1994 - Martha Raye, actress (Pin Up Girl), dies after illness at 78
1995 - Don E Cherry, jazz Musician, dies at 58
1996 - Frank Neville Hosband Robinson, physicist, dies at 71
1997 - Glen Buxton, guitarist (Alice Cooper), dies of pneumonia at 49
2006 - James Glennon, American cinematographer (b. 1942)
2008 - Mr. Blackwell, American fashion critic (b. 1922)
2010 - Tom Bosley, American actor (b. 1927)
