Today in the Past
Events
1409 - The University of Leipzig opens.
1682 - English earl of Shaftesbury flight to Amsterdam
1697 - St Paul’s Cathedral opens in London
1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.
1763 - Touro shul of Newport RI dedicated (oldest existing US synagogue)
1777 - British Gen Howe plots attack on Washington’s army for Dec 4
1805 - Napoleon defeats Russians & Austrians at Austerlitz
1812 - James Madison re-elected president of US, E Gerry vice-pres
1816 - 1st savings bank in US opens (Philadelphia Savings Fund Society)
1823 - President James Monroe declares his “Monroe Doctrine“
1840 - William H Harrison elected 9th President of USA
1845 - Manifest Destiny: US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
848 - Franz Josef I becomes emperor of Austria & King of Hungary
1851 - Newly-elected French President Charles Louis Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.
1852 - 2nd French empire established; Louis Napoleon becomes emperor
1864 - Skirmish at Rocky Creek Church, Georgia
1867 - In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
1868 - 1st British government of Disraeli resigns
1882 - Amsterdam Artis Zoo opens aquarium
1899 - Philippine-American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed “The Filipino Thermopylae”, is fought.
1901 - Gillette patents 1st disposable razor
1901 - King Camp Gillette begins selling safety razor blades
1907 - Tommy Burns KOs Gunner Moir in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
1908 - Pu Yi (Hsuan-T’ung) became China’s Last Emperor at age 3
1914 - Austria army occupies Belgrade Serbia
1927 - 1st Model A Fords sold, for $385
1929 - 1st skull of Peking man found, 50 km out of Peking at Tsjoe Koe Tien
1933 - 1st transatlantic telephone wedding (Bertil Clason-Sigrid Carlson)
1933 - Fred Astaire’s 1st film, “Dancing Lady,” released
1934 - 5.08-m (200″) Mt Palomar Observatory mirror is cast
1939 - British Imperial Airways & British Airways merge to form BOAC
1939 - NY’s La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago lands, 1 minute after midnight
1941 - Largest roller skating rink (outside of NYC) opens in Peekskill NY
1941 - Naval Intelligence ceases bugging Japanese consul
1941 - Yamamoto sends his fleet to Pearl Harbor
1942 - 1st controlled nuclear chain reaction (Enrico Fermi-U of Chicago)
1943 - 1st RSHA transport out of Vienna reaches Birkenau camp
1944 - 10th Heisman Trophy Award: Les Horvath, Ohio State (QB)
1944 - US 95th Infantry division occupies bridge at Saar
1947 - 13th Heisman Trophy Award: John Lujack, Notre Dame (QB)
1948 - Stan Musial is picked NL MVP
1950 - Vic Toweel knocks down Danny O’Sullivan 14 times in a title fight
1951 - Phila sets NFL record of 25 1st-downs rushing
1952 - 18th Heisman Trophy Award: Billy Vessels, Oklahoma (HB)
1952 - 1st human birth televised to public (KOA-TV Denver, Colo)
1954 - US Senate censures Joe McCarthy (Sen-R-Wisc) for “conduct that tends to bring Senate into dishonor & disrepute”
1956 - Fidel Castro lands with “Granma” on coast of Cuba
1957 - 1st US large scale nuclear power plant opens (Shippingport Penn)
1957 - Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me” reaches #1
1958 - 24th Heisman Trophy Award: Pete Dawkins, Army (HB)
1958 - Benelux treaty signed by Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg
1959 - Malpasset dam collapses destroying French Riviera town of Frejus
1961 - Fidel Castro declares he’s a Marxist, & will lead Cuba to Communism
1963 - 1st Dutch rocket launched/reaches height of 10 km
1966 - Love, Moby Grape & Lee Michaels perform at Fillmore East
1969 - Boeing 747 jumbo jet 1st public preview (Seattle to NYC)
1970 - Environmental Protection Agency begins (Dir: William Ruckelshaus)
1971 - United Arab Emirates, (Trucial States) declares independence from UK
1972 - ”December Giant” largest sinkhole in US collapses (Alabama)
1974 - Cowhide, rather than just horsehide, can be used to make baseballs
1975 - 7 South Moluccans hijack train at Wijster Drente, 3 killed
1978 - Chanting “Allah is great,” anti-Shah protesters poured through Tehran
1979 - Crowds attack US embassy at Tripoli Libya
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 - 4 American Maryknoll nuns killed by death squads in El Salvador
1982 - 1st permanent artificial heart successfully implanted (U of Utah) in retired dentist Barney Clark; lived 112 days with Jarvic-7 heart
1986 - Dow-Jones index hits record 1955.57
1988 - ”Naked Gun” premieres, a movie based on TV’s “Police Squad”
1988 - 5 gunmen who hijacked Soviet Aeroflot jet, surrender in Israel
1988 - UN votes 151-2 (Isr & US) to move PLO debate to Geneva, Brit abstains
1989 - 55th Heisman Trophy Award: Andre Ware, Houston (QB)
1990 - 1st time 12 people in space
1990 - US 69th manned space mission STS 35 (Columbia 11) launches into orbit
1991 - Bobby Bonilla signs record $29 million-5 year pact with NY Mets
1991 - Muslim Shites release American held in Lebanon hostage Joseph Cicippio
1993 - Dow-Jones hits record 3702.11
1994 - Achille Lauro (Willem Ruys) sinks off the coast of Somalia
1994 - Jury finds Heidi Fleiss guilty of running a call girl ring
1999 - The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.
2001 - Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Births
1578 - Agostino Agazzari, composer
1678 - Nicolaas S Cruquius, Dutch hydraulic engineer (drained Haarlemmermeer)
1694 - William Shirley, Colonial Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1771)
1703 - Ferdinand Konscak, Croatian explorer (d. 1759)
1728 - Ferdinando Galiani, Italian economist/philosopher/diplomat
1738 - Richard Montgomery, Irish-born soldier (d. 1775)
1802 - Melancthon Smith Wade, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1868
1821 - Rufus Barringer, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1895
1837 - Charles Garrison Harker, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1864
1863 - Charles Ringling, American circus owner (d. 1926)
1884 - Ruth Draper, US, lecture artist [or 1989]
1885 - George Minot, US, physician, worked on anemia (Nobel 1934)
1896 - Georgi K Zjukov, marshal of Moskow/Stalingrad [NS-Dec 11]
1897 - Hovhannes Bagramyan, Marshall of the Soviet Union (d. 1982)
1899 - John Cobb, British racing driver (d. 1952)
1906 - Peter Carl Goldmark, developed color TV & LP records
1914 - Ray Walston, New Orleans LA, actor (My Favorite Martian, Damn Yankees)
1915 - Adolph Green, songwriter (married to Phyllis Newman)
1915 - Randolph Hearst, newspaper publisher
1917 - Sylvia Syms, American jazz singer (d. 1992)
1922 - Leo V Gordon, Baltimore MD, actor (Circus Boy, Enos, Winds of War)
1923 - Maria M Callas, NYC, soprano (Carmen)
1923 - Meshulam Riklis, husband of Pia Zadora
1924 - Alexander Haig Jr, Bala-Cynwyd Pa, US Sec of State (1981-82)/General
1924 - Jonathan Frid, actor (Barnabas Collins-Dark Shadows)
1925 - Julie Harris, Grosse Pt Mich, actress (Bell Jar, East of Eden)
1929 - Lowell North, Springfield Mass, yachtsman (Olympic-Gold-1968)
1930 - Gary Becker, American economist, recipient of the Bank of Sweden Prize
1931 - Hatsumi Masaaki, Founder and head of the Bujinkan Dojo organization
1937 - Brian Lumley, England, sci-fi author (Compleat Crow, Psychomech)
1939 - Harry ( Pederast , or so we’ve been told ) Reid, American politician
1940 - Gerry Cheevers, NHL goalie (Bruin, longest undefeated streak-32 games)
1940 - Willie Brown, NFL defensive back (Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders)
1941 - Paul C W Chu, China, physicist (superconductivity)
1942 - Ted Bluechel, San Pedro Ca, rock vocalist/drummer (Association)
1943 - David Munden, rocker
1944 - Cathy Lee Crosby, LA, actress (Coach, That’s Incredible)
1945 - Penelope Spheeris, American film director
1946 - Gianni Versace, Reggio Calabria, Italy, fashion designer (Versace), (d. 1997)
1947 - Ivan Atanassov Petrov, Bulgarian neurologist
1948 - T. Coraghessan Boyle, American writer
1953 - Jay Dean Haas, St Louis MO, PGA golfer (1978 Andy Williams-San Diego)
1953 - Meg Griffin, DJ (WNEW-FM, WPLJ-FM, WKRK-FM)/VJ (V-1)
1954 - Stone Phillips, news host (NBC Dateline)
1956 - Steven Bauer, Havana Cuba, actor (Scarface, Thief of Hearts)
1958 - Vladimir Parfenovich, USSR, 500m kayak (Olympic-gold-1980)
1959 - Greg Barton, kayak (Olympics-2 gold-88)
1963 - Ann Patchett, American novelist
1966 - Anita Jokiel, Poland, gymnast (Olympic-1980)
1966 - Jinsei Shinzaki, Japanese professional wrestler
1968 - Lucy Liu, American actress
1968 - Nate Mendel, American bassist (Foo Fighters)
1971 - Rachel McQuillan, Merewether NSW Aust, tennis star (1989 Futures ITA)
1973 - Monica Seles, Novi Sad Yugoslavia, tennis star (US Open 1992)
1975 - Mark Kotsay, Whittier CA, baseball outfielder (Olympics-bronze-96)
1978 - Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer and songwriter
1978 - Chris Wolstenholme, British bassist (Muse)
1981 - Britney Spears, Kentwood, Louisiana, singer and popstar (“Baby One More Time,” “Oops! …I did it again” and “I’m A Slave 4 U”)
1983 - Bibiana Candelas, Mexican volleyball player
Deaths
537 - Sylvester, Italian Pope (536-37), dies
1348 - Emperor Hanazono of Japan (b. 1297)
1381 - John of Ruysbroeck, Flemish mystic
1463 - Archduke Albert VI of Austria (b. 1418)
1515 - Gonzalo de Cordoba, Spanish general/strategist/viceroy of Naples, dies
1552 - Francis Xavier, Spanish Catholic missionary (b. 1506)
1723 - Philip, French duke of Orleans/regent (1715-23)/PM (1723), dies
1726 - Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist and historian (b. 1665)
1747 - Vincent Bourne, English classical scholar (b. 1695)
1814 - Marquis de Sade, writer, dies at 74
1859 - John Brown US abolitionist (Harpers Ferry), hanged at 59
1892 - Jay Gould, American entrepreneur (b. 1836)
1899 - Gregorio del Pilar, Filipino general (killed at Battle of Tirad Pass) (b. 1875)
1919 - Henry Clay Frick, built largest coke & steel operation, dies at 69
1935 - Albert Kessel, 1st to die in California gas chamber
1936 - John Ringling, American circus owner (b. 1866)
1944 - JW Ummels, Dutch resistance fighter (House of Saxon-Nazi), dies
1957 - Harrison Ford, silent screen actor (Rubber Tires), dies at 73
1963 - Sabu Sabu, actor (Jungle Book, Drums), dies of heart attack at 39
1966 - Luitzen [Bertus] Brouwers, Dutch mathematician, dies at 85
1967 - Francis J “Cardinal” Spellman, archbishop of NY, dies at 78
1972 - Friedrich Christian Christiansen, German Luftwaffe general, dies
1976 - Danny Murtaugh, baseball manager (Pittsburgh Pirates), dies at 59
1982 - Marty Feldman, comedian (Young Frankenstein), dies at 49
1986 - Desi Arnaz, actor (Ricky Ricardo-I Love Lucy), dies at 69 of cancer
1987 - Yakov Borisovich Zel’dovich, Russian physicist (b. 1914)
1988 - Tata Giacobetti, Italian singer and lyricist (Quartetto Cetra)
1990 - Aaron Copeland, composer (Fanfare for Common Man), dies at 90
1993 - Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Colombian drug baron, shot to death at 44
1995 - Roxie Roker, actress (Helen Willis-Jeffersons), dies at 66
1997 - Shirley Crabtree, British professional wrestler (b. 1930)
1997 - Michael Hedges, American guitarist known for originality (b. 1953)
2004 - Alicia Markova, British ballerina (b. 1910)
2005 - Kenneth Lee Boyd, American convicted murderer (executed) (b. 1948)
2008 - Edward Samuel Rogers, Canadian entrepreneur (b. 1933)
2008 - Odetta, American singer (b. 1930)
Black Woman & Shame And Scandal In The Family with Johnny Cash
1 Trackback or Pingback for this entry:
[...] 1930 - Odetta, [Holmes], Birmingham Ala, folk singer (Sanctuary)(see UE 12/02 Deaths) [...]