Today In The Past
Events
211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta.
960 - The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
1194 - Richard I Lion Hearted pays Leopold O Fenrik VI’s ransom of 100,000
1454 - In the Thirteen Years’ War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
1508 - Maximilian I assumes imperial title without being crowned
1586 - Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, becomes governor of Neth
1600 - Tycho Brahe & Johannes Kepler meet for 1st time near Prague
1657 - Oliver Cromwell grants residency to Luis Caravajal
1697 - 3 VOC-ships anchor at Dirk-Hartogeiland, Australia
1699 - 350 rebellious Streltsi executed in Moscow
1703 - In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-Seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master’s death.
1782 - British garrison surrenders to French & Spanish fleet
1783 - Worst quake in 8 years kills some 50,000 (Calabria, Italy)
1784 - 1st unmanned balloon flight in Ireland
1787 - Shays’ Rebellion (of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers) fails
1789 - 1st electoral college chooses Washington & Adams as Pres & VP
1797 - Earthquake in Quito, Ecuador kills 41,000
1810 - Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
1822 - Free American Blacks settle Liberia, West Africa
1824 - J W Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to public
1846 - Mormons leave Nauvoo, Mo for settlement in west
1847 - 1st US telegraph co established in Maryland
1849 - University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20 students
1855 - Soldiers shoot Jewish families in Coro, Venezuela
1859 - The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
1861 - Confederate constitutional convention meets for 1st time, Montgomery Ala, Ga, Fla, La, Miss & SC elect Jefferson Davis pres of Confederacy
1864 - Skirmish at Big Black River Bridge, Mississippi
1865 - Robert E Lee is named commander-in-chief of Confederate Army
1866 - Mary Baker Eddy cures her injuries by opening a bible
1887 - Interstate Commerce Act authorizes federal regulation of railroads
1895 - 1st rolling lift bridge opens, Chicago
1899 - Revolt against US occupation of Philippines
1913 - Louis Perlman patents demountable auto tire-carrying wheel rim
1914 - US Congress approves Burnett-anti-immigration law
1915 - Experiments to find cause of pellagra begin at Miss Penitentiary
1924 - 1st Winter Olympic games close at Chamonix France
1932 - 3rd Winter Olympic games open in Lake Placid, NY
1932 - Japanese troop occupy Harbin, Manchuria
1932 - World War II: Japan occupies Harbin, China.
1933 - German Pres Von Hindenburg limits freedom of the press
1936 - 1st radioactive substance produced synthetically (radium E)
1938 - Hitler seizes control of German army & puts Nazi in key posts
1939 - Glenn Cunningham (top miler) says 4-min mile beyond human effort
1941 - British tanks occupy Maus Libya
1941 - United Service Organization (USO) founded
1942 - Clinton Pierce becomes 1st US general wounded in action in WW II
1944 - US 7th Infantry Division captures Kwajalein
1945 - FDR, Churchill & Stalin meet at Yalta
1949 - Failed assassination attempt on Shah of Persia
1951 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Sonya Klopfer
1951 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
1952 - 1st black executive of a major TV station (Jackie Robinson-WNBC NY)
1957 - 1st electric portable typewriter placed on sale (Syracuse NY)
1958 - Hall of Fame fails to elect anyone for 1st time since 1950
1961 - Sputnik 7 launches into Earth orbit; probable Venus probe failure
1964 - FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms over Oklahoma City
1967 - ”Wild Thing” hits #20 on the pop singles chart by Senator Bobby
1967 - US launches Lunar Orbiter 3
1969 - John Madden is named head coach of NFL’s Oakland Raiders
1969 - Yassar Arafats takes over as chairman of PLO
1971 - Apollo 14 lander Antares lands on Moon (Shepard & Mitchell)
1971 - Baseball announces a special hall of fame wing for blacks
1971 - British car maker Rolls Royce declared itself bankrupt
1971 - National Guard mobilized to quell rioting in Wilmington NC
1972 - 6th round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks ends in Vienna Austria
1973 - Reshef, Israel’s missile boat, unveiled
1974 - Chimpanzee Nim Chimsky signs his 1st word, at 2½ months
1974 - Patricia Hearst (19) kidnapped by Symbionese Liberation Army
1976 - 12th Winter Olympic games opens in Innsbruck, Austria
1976 - 7.5 earthquake kills 22,778 in Guatemala & Honduras
1977 - Elevated train jumps track, crashes onto Chicago st (11 die, 200 hurt)
1977 - Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” released
1977 - Wings release “Maybe I’m Amazed”
1980 - Bani Sadr sworn in as premier of Iran
1982 - ”Pump Boys & Dinettes” opens at Princess Theater NYC for 573 perfs
1982 - Indoor distance record for a paper airplane (47m) Tacoma Wash
1983 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Hamilton
1984 - Frank Aquilera sets world frisbee distance record (168m) Las Vegas
1985 - 20 countries (but not US) sign UN treaty outlawing torture
1985 - Naval exercises canceled when US refuses to tell NZ of nuclear weapons
1986 - Israeli fighters intercept Libyan liner (passenger plane)
1987 - Stars & Stripes beats Australia’s Kookaburra 3, sweeps America’s Cup
1988 - Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega indicted on drug charges
1990 - 10 Israeli tourists murdered near Cairo
1990 - Anders Holmertz swims world record 400 m freestyle (3:40.81)
1990 - Danny Everett runs world record 400m indoor (45:04)
1990 - Lyudmila Narozhi-Lenko runs world record 60m hurdles indoor (7.69)
1991 - Hall of Fame’s board of directors vote 12-0 to bar Pete Rose
1991 - US postage raises from 25 cents to 29 cents
1993 - Admiral Studeman, ends term as acting director of CIA
1994 - 20 die in armed assault on mosque in Khartum Sudan
1994 - Merlene Ottey runs world record 50 m indoor (6.00 sec)
1994 - Russian team beats ladies world record 4×800 m indoor (8:18.71)
1995 - Sandra Volker swims female European record 50m backstroke (27.77)
1997 - OJ Simpson found guilty of libel in murders of Ron Goldman & Nicole Simpson
1997 - Sec of State Margaret Albright announces she just discovered that her grandparents were Jewish
1997 - En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
1998 - Bill Gates gets a pie thrown in his face in Brussels Belgium
1998 - An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
1999 - The New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon.
1999 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
2000 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.
2003 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
Births
1465 - French van Brederode, leader of Hoeksen
1524 - Luis de Camões, Portugal’s greatest poet. (d. 1580)
1549 - Eustache du Caurroy, composer
1575 - Pierre de Barulle, French cardinal
1677 - Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (d. 1731)
1725 - Dru Drury, English entomologist (d. 1804)
1746 - Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish, Lithuanian and American National hero and general (d. 1817)
1764 - Carel H Verhuell, Dutch/French vice-admiral/minister of Navy
1778 - A. P. de Candolle, Swiss botanist (d. 1841)
1819 - Joshua Norton, SF, Norton I, emperor of USA
1826 - Halbert Eleazer Paine, Bvt Mjr Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1905
1841 - Clément Ader, French aviation pioneer (d. 1926)
1846 - Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist (d. 1915)
1859 - Timofei Mikhailov, Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya (d. 1881)
1872 - Gotse Delchev, a great Macedonian revolutionary, (d. 1903)
1875 - Ludwig Prandtl, Germany, physicist (father of aerodynamics)
1881 - Kliment J Woroshilov, marshal/president USSR (1953-60)
1891 - Yuri Losmann, Estonia, marathon runner (Olympic-silver 1920)
1893 - Raymond Dart, Australian paleoanthropologist (Australopithecus)
1895 - Hanns [Johann] Rauter, German SS-lt-general/SS police chief in Neth
1902 - Charles A Lindbergh, Detroit, pilot (1st fly solo across Atlantic)
1903 - Alexander Oppenheim, mathematician
1903 - Frank Howley, Hampton NY, Brigadier General (Answers for Americans)
1905 - Eddie Foy Jr, New Rochelle NY, actor (Eddie-Fair Exchange)
1906 - Clyde William Tombaugh, US, astronomer (discovered Pluto)
1906 - Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (champ-1933)
1912 - Byron Nelson, Fort Worth Tx, PGA golfer (won 19 tournaments in 1945)
1913 - Rosa Lee Parks, civil rights activist (bus protestor)
1915 - Ray Evans, American songwriter with Jay Livingston (d. 2007)
1917 - Aga Yahya Khan, Pakistan military/politician
1918 - Ida Lupino, actress screenwriter director/producer (Jennifer)
1919 - Frank van Klingeren, Dutch architect (De Meerpaal, Dronten)
1921 - Betty Friedan, Peoria Ill, feminist writer (Feminine Mystique)
1923 - Conrad Bain, Alberta Canada, actor (Maude, Diff’rent Strokes), (d. 2013)
1928 - Dave Ketchum, Quincy Ill, actor (Agent 13-Get Smart)
1931 - Isabel Peron, [Maria Martinez], dancer/president Argentina
1937 - John Devitt, Australia, 100m freestyle swimmer (Olympic-gold-1960)
1937 - Magnar Solberg, Norway, 20K biathalete (Olympic-gold-1968, 72)
1939 - John Schuck, Boston Mass, comedian (McMillan & Wife, Holmes & Yoyo)
1940 - George A Romero, actor/director (Creepshow, Martin, 2 Evil Eyes)
1941 - John Steel, rock drummer (Animals-House of the Rising Sun)
1943 - Ken Thompson, American computer scientist
1944 - Florence LaRue Gordon, Penn, rocker (5th Dimension-One Less Bell)
1945 - David Brenner, Phila, comedian/TV talk show host (Nightlife)
1946 - Mary Meyer, US, 500m speed skater (Olympic-silver-1968)
1946 - Roy Yeager, Doraville Ga, rocker (Atlanta Rhythm Section)
1947 - James Danforth “Dan” Quayle, Indianapolis Indiana, USA (Sen-R-Ind, 44th Vice President 1989-93)
1948 - Alice Cooper, [Vincent Furnier], Detroit, rocker (School’s Out)
1950 - James Dunn, US vocalist (Stylistics-You make me feel Brand New)
1950 - Pamela Franklin, Tokyo Japan, actress (Satan’s School for Girls)
1952 - Jerry Shirley, rock drummer (Humble Pie-Hot N Nasty, Eat It)
1959 - Lawrence Taylor, [LT], NFL’s greatest linebacker (NY Giants)
1960 - Siobhan Dowd, British/Irish author (d. 2007)
1961 - Vern Fleming, LIC NY, basketball player (Olympic-gold-1984)
1962 - Clint Black, Long Branch NJ, country vocalist (A Better Man)
1963 - Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss alpine skier (Olympic-gold-1988)
1963 - Tracie Ruiz-Conforto, Hawaii, sync swimmer (Oly-2 gold/silver-84, 88)
1964 - Noodles, American guitarist (The Offspring)
1966 - Barry Klein, Grand Rapids Mich, rower (Olympics-1996)
1970 - Gabrielle Anwar, Laleham England, actress (Body Snatchers)
1973 - Oscar De La Hoya, Los Angeles California, US boxer (Olympic Gold 92)
1978 - Laurence Borremans, Miss Belgium Universe (1997)
1979 - Andrei Arlovski, Russian mixed martial artist
1979 - Giorgio Pantano, Italian racing car driver
1982 - Chris Sabin, American professional wrestler
1982 - Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian professional road racing cyclist
1982 - Kimberly Wyatt, American singer and dancer (Pussycat Dolls)
1985 - Bug Hall, American actor
1988 - Carly Patterson, American gymnast
Deaths
211 - Lucius Septimus Severus, emperor of Rome (193-211), dies at 64
708 - Sisinnius, Greek-Syrian pope (708, 20 days), dies
856 - Hrabanus Maurus, East France, archbishop of Mainz, dies
869 - Saint Cyril, Greek missionary to the Slavs (b. 827)
1189 - Gilbert of Sempringham, English monastery founder/saint, dies
1222 - Willem I, earl of Holland (1203-22), dies
1503 - Queen Elizabeth, consort of Henry VII of England, dies
1508 - Conrad Celtes, German humanist scholar (b. 1459)
1615 - Dom Justo Takayama, Japanese warlord (b. 1552)
1615 - Giovanni Battista della Porta, Italian scholar, polymath and child prodigy (b. 1535)
1640 - Hendrick C Vroom, Dutch seascape painter, dies
1746 - Robert Blair, Scottish poet (Grave), dies at 46
1774 - Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)
1781 - Willem Crul, admiral (West-Indies), dies in battle at 59
1799 - Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (b. 1728)
1815 - Geert Reinders, Dutch cattle breeder/inoculation proponent, dies at 77
1815 - Jacob van Strij, Dutch cartoonist/graphic artist, dies at 58
1894 - Antoine J “Adolphe” Sax, instrument maker (saxophone), dies at 79
1911 - Peter A “Piet” Cronje, South Africa Boer general, dies at about 75
1928 - Hendrik A Lorentz, physicist (L transformation-Nobel 1902), dies at 74
1939 - Edward Sapir, US linguist/cultural anthropologist (indian), dies at 55
1939 - Henri W A Deterding, Dutch oil magnate (Royal Oil, Shell), dies at 72
1940 - Nikolai Yezhov, Head of Soviet NKVD (b. 1895)
1957 - Joseph Hardaway, creator of Bugs Bunny, dies at 66
1959 - Una O’Connor, actress (Banjo, Invisible Man), dies at 78
1964 - Siegfried T Bok, neurobiologist/anatomist (Cybernetica), dies at 71
1965 - U C Greyhound, champion trotter (horse), dies at 33
1966 - Gilbert H Grosvenor, president Natl Geographic Society, dies at 90
1968 - Ed Baker, actor (Keystone Kops), dies of emphysema at 70
1969 - Thelma Ritter, actress (All About Eve, Pillow Talk), dies at 63
1974 - Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist (b. 1894)
1975 - Louis Jordan, American musician (b. 1908)
1975 - Howard Hill, American archer (b. 1899)
1983 - Karen Carpenter, rock drummer (Carpenters), dies of anorexia at 32
1987 - Liberace, pianist (Liberace Show, Evil Chandell-Batman), dies at 67
1989 - Kenneth “Jethro” Burns, country singer (Homer & Jethro), dies at 69
1992 - John Dehner, actor (Apache, Cowboy, Boys from Brazil), dies at 76
1994 - Harold Schneider, US producer (5 Easy Pieces, War Games), dies at 55
1994 - Jan Veldkamp, Dutch geophysicist/director (KNMI), dies at 84
1995 - Betty Davis, British dance teacher of Dame Margot Fonteyn, dies
1995 - Patricia Highsmith, [Mary Patricia Plangman], US/Swiss, dies at 74
1997 - James Friell, political cartoonist, dies at 84
2000 - Doris Coley, American singer (Shirelles) (b. 1941)
2000 - Phil Tonken, American radio and television announcer (b. 1919)
2001 - J. J. Johnson, American jazz trombonist and composer (b. 1924)
2002 - George Nader, American film and television actor (b. 1921)
2003 - Charlie Biddle, Canadian jazz bassist (b. 1926)
2006 - Betty Friedan, American feminist (b. 1921)
2006 - Myron Waldman, American animator (b. 1908)
2007 - Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (b. 1934)
2009 - Lux Interior, Frontman of the garage rock band The Cramps (b. 1946)
2012 - Florence Green, last surviving veteran of World War One, dies at 110
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