Today In The Past
Events
1049 - Bruno count of Egesheim & Dagsburg crowned Pope Leo IX
1111 - German King Hendry V arrives at St Peter, Rome
1130 - Pope Innocent II elected
1502 - Granada Moslems forced to convert to Catholicism
1502 - Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal on his second voyage to India.
1700 - The Great Northern War begins in Northern Europe.
1709 - Alexander Selkirk, Scottish seaman is rescued after 4+ years from Fernandez Island (inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe”)
1719 - The Onderlinge van 1719 u.a., the oldest existing life insurance company in the Netherlands is founded.
1733 - Georgia founded by James Oglethorpe, at site of Savannah
1793 - 1st US fugitive slave law passed; requires return of escaped slaves
1825 - Creek Indian treaty signed. Tribal chiefs agree to turn over all their land in Georgia to the government & migrate west by Sept 1, 1826
1839 - Aroostock War: Boundary dispute between Maine & New Brunswick
1850 - Original Washington’s Farewell Address manuscript sells for $2,300
1855 - Michigan State University was established.
1861 - State troops seize US munitions in Napoleon, AK
1865 - Henry Highland Garnet, is 1st black to speak in US House of Reps
1870 - Official proclamation sets April 15 as last day of grace for US silver coins to circulate in Canada
1873 - Congress abolishes bimetallism & authorizes $1 & $3 gold coins
1874 - King David Kalakaua of Sandwich Is Hawaii, is 1st king to visit US
1876 - Al Spalding opens his sporting good shop
1877 - 1st news dispatch by telephone, between Boston & Salem, Mass
1878 - Frederick Thayer patents catcher’s mask (pat # 200,358)
1879 - 1st artificial ice rink in North America (Madison Sq Garden, NYC)
1879 - News about slaughtering of Isandlwana reaches London
1880 - National Croquet League organizes (Phila)
1885 - Carl Peters founds German East-Africa Society
1894 - Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into Paris’s Cafe Terminus, killing one and wounding 20.
1899 - -47°F (-44°C), Camp Clarke, Nebraska (state record)
1899 - 1st 2-man team 6-day bicycle race in US begins, Madison Square Garden, NYC
1908 - Anna Jeanes bequeaths $1,000,000 to Swarthmore to become all female
1908 - NY to Paris auto race (via Alaska & Siberia) begins in NYC George Schuster wins after 88 days behind the wheel
1909 - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) forms
1914 - In Washington, DC, the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
1915 - Cornerstone laid for Lincoln Memorial in Wash DC
1924 - President Calvin Coolidge makes 1st presidential radio speech
1927 - British expeditionary army lands in Shanghai
1934 - The Austrian Civil War begins.
1935 - Great airship, USS Macon, crashes into Pacific Ocean
1942 - 3 German battle cruisers escape via Channel to Brest N Germany
1946 - World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
1947 - Daytime fireball & meteorite fall seen in eastern Siberia
1947 - Record 100.5-kg sailfish caught, C W Stewart, Galapagos Islands
1948 - 1st Lt Nancy Leftenant becomes 1st black in army nursing corps
1949 - Panic in Quito Ecuador, after “War of the World” played on radio
1949 - Unidentified aircraft bomb Jerusalem
1950 - Albert Einstein warns against hydrogen bomb
1950 - Sen Joe McCarthy claims to have list of 205 communist government employees
1955 - Pres Eisenhower sends 1st US advisors to S Vietnam
1955 - Soviets decides space center built in Baikonur, Kazachstan
1957 - Researchers announce Borazan (harder than diamonds) been developed
1958 - Celtic Bill Russell grabs 41 rebounds to beat Syracuse 119-101
1958 - Gen Miguel Ydegoras Fuentes elected president of Guatemala
1960 - Chinese army kills 12 Indian soldiers
1961 - Celtic Bill Russell grabs 40 rebounds to beat Warriors 136-125
1961 - USSR launches Venera 1 toward Venus
1962 - Bus boycott starts in Macon, Georgia
1964 - Beatles 1st NYC concert (Carnegie Hall)
1964 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Peggy Fleming
1964 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Allen
1967 - Keith Richards, Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithful busted for drugs
1973 - 1st US POWs in N Vietnam released; 116 of 456 flown to Philippine
1978 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Linda Fratianne
1979 - Kosmos 1076, 1st Soviet oceanographic satellite, launched
1981 - Admiral Bobby R Inman, USN, becomes deputy director of CIA
1981 - Arbitrator Goetz declares Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk a free agent
1981 - Pete Squires sets record for 1575 steps of Empire State Bldg, 10m
1984 - Cale Yarborough, becomes 1st Daytona 500 qualifier, above 200 MPH
1984 - Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean skate “Bolero” at Olympics
1989 - 5 Pakistani Moslem rioters killed protesting “Satanic Verses” novel
1989 - Thursday’s Child sets sailing record, NY-Cape Horn-SF, 80 d 20 h
1989 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Christopher Bowman
1991 - Iceland recognizes Lithuania’s independence
1991 - North & South Korea form a joint team for table tennis competition
1994 - 17th Winter Olympic games opens in Lillehammer, Norway
1994 - Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” stolen (in Oslo)
1994 - Inna Lassovskaya jumps world record 14.90m
1994 - Model Anna Nicole Smith hospitalized for drug overdose
1995 - Bonnie Blair skates female world record 500m (38.69 sec)
1995 - Sun Cayun pole vaults indoor female world record (4.13m)
1995 - Susan Auch skates female world record 500m (38.94 sec)
1997 - Fred Goldman says he will settle for a signed murder confession from O J Simpson in lieu of his $20.5 million judgement
1998 - 250-car Italy pile-up due to fog, 4 die & 50 hurt
1998 - Intel unveils its 1st graphics chip i740
1998 - US district judge T Hogan declares line-item veto law unconstitutional
1999 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
2001 - NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the “saddle” region of 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
2002 - US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States’ nuclear waste repository.
2002 - The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He eventually dies four years later before its conclusion.
2004 - The city of San Francisco, California begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
2006 - A powerful winter storm blankets the Northeastern United States dumping 1 to 2 feet of snow from Washington DC up to Boston, Massachusetts. The storm dumped a record 26.9 inches of snow in New York City.
2007 - A gunman opens fire in a mall in Salt Lake City, killing 5 people in the Trolley Square shooting.
Births
1074 - Conrad, King of Germany and Italy (d. 1101)
1211 - Henry VII, Roman catholic German king (1220-35)
1218 - Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shogun (d. 1256)
1438 - Adolf van Egmond, duke of Gelre/earl of Zutphen
1606 - John Winthrop, the Younger, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1676)
1637 - Jan Swammerdam, Amsterdam, Dutch anatomist/entomologist (Bible of Nature)
1663 - Cotton Mather, witchcraft authority
1728 - Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (d. 1799)
1753 - François-Paul Brueys D’Aigalliers, French admiral (d. 1798)
1785 - Pierre Louis Dulong, French physicist (d. 1838)
1791 - Peter Cooper, industrialist/philanthropist (Cooper Union)
1794 - Alexander Petrov, Russian chess player (d. 1867)
1804 - Heinrich Lenz, German physicist (d. 1865)
1809 - Abraham Lincoln, Kentucky, (R) 16th US President (1861-65)
1809 - Charles Darwin, England, discovered evolution (Origin of the Species)
1818 - Otto Ludwig, German writer (Die Heiterethei)
1824 - Arya Samaj Maha Rishi Dayanand Sarsvati, Indian hindu leader
1828 - Robert Ransom Jr, Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1892
1831 - John Morrissey, boxer/developer of Saratoga Springs horse race track
1838 - Charles Carroll Walcott, Bvt Mjr Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1898
1843 - John Graham Chambers, English athlete who wrote the Queensberry rules for boxing (d. 1883)
1876 - Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (d. 1933)
1884 - Johan Laidoner, Estonian military commander (d. 1953)
1893 - Marcel G J Minnaert, Dutch astronomer
1893 - Omar Bradley, General of Army WW II (GI General)
1903 - Joseph F. Biroc, American cinematographer (d. 1996)
1904 - Ted Mack, Denver Colo, TV host (Original Amateur Hour)
1907 - Clifton C. Edom, American photojournalism educator (d. 1991)
1908 - Jacques Herbrand, French logician and mathematician (d. 1931)
1911 - Charles Mathiesen, Norway, 1500m speed skater (Olympic-gold-1936)
1914 - Gordon Tex Beneke, saxophonist/bandleader/vocalist (Glenn Miller Orch)
1915 - Andrew J Goodpaster, US, general/supreme commander (NATO-Europe)
1915 - Lorne Greene, Ottawa Canada, actor (Bonanza, Battlestar Galactica)
1918 - Julian S Schwinger, US physicist
1919 - Forrest Tucker, Plainfield Ind, actor (O’Rourke-F Troop, Dusty Trail)
1923 - Franco Zeffirelli, Florence Italy, director (Romeo & Juliet)
1926 - Joe Garagiola, St Louis Mo, sportscaster/host (Today Show)
1926 - Paul Hamlyn, English publisher/multi-millionaire (Octopus)
1926 - Charles Van Doren, American quiz show contestant
1933 - Costa-Gavras, director
1933 - Ivan Nikolayevich Anikeyev, cosmonaut
1933 - Juanita [Ruth] Coulson, sci-fi author (Web of Wizardry, Space Trap)
1934 - Bill Russell, Monroe La, NBAer (Boston Celtics, Oly-gold-56)
1934 - Anne Krueger, American economist
1935 - Gene McDaniels, US vocalist/bandleader/actor (Young Swingers)
1936 - Fang Lizhi, Beijing China, Chinese astrophysicist/dissident (Tiananmen Square, 1989), (d. 2012)
1936 - Joe Don Baker, Groesback Tx, actor (Eischied, Walking Tall, Fletch)
1937 - Charles Everett Dumas, Tulsa Ok, high jumper (Olympic-gold-1956)
1938 - Judy Blume, author (Wifey)
1939 - Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist (Doors-Light My Fire, Unknown Soldier)
1941 - Naomi Uemura, mountain climber (1st Japanese to scale Everest)
1942 - Chananjit Vohra, Kenyan/British hotel magnate/multi-millionaire
1942 - Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel
1944 - Moe Bandy, Meridian Ms, country vocalist (Just Good Ol’ Boys)
1945 - Maud Adams, Lulea Sweden, actress (Octopussy, Rollerball, Tattoo)
1948 - Raymond Kurzweil, American inventor and author
1949 - Stanley Knight, country artist (Black Oak Arkansas-High on the Hog)
1950 - Steve Hackett, rock guitarist (Genesis-Against All Odds/GTR)
1951 - Steven Parent, Manson murder victim (d. 1969)
1952 - Michael McDonald, St Louis, rock keyboardist/vocals (Doobie Brothers)
1953 - Joanna Kerns, [de Varona], SF California, actress (Maggie-Growing Pains)
1953 - Simon MacCorkindale, Cambridge, actor (Falcon Crest, Manimal) [or 2/2]
1954 - Philip Zimmermann, American cryptographer
1955 - Arsenio Hall, comedian (Alan Thicke, Arsenio, Coming to America)
1955 - Daniele Masala, Italy, pentathelete (Olympics-1976)
1958 - Ingrid Klich, Whittier California, rower (Olympics-96)
1959 - Omar Hakim, drummer (Dire Straits, Weather Report)
1959 - Sigrid Thornton, Australia, actress (Amelia Lawson-Guns of Paradise)
1963 - Ed Lover, American radio personality
1967 - Chris McKinstry, Canadian computer scientist
1968 - Chynna Phillips, LA California, vocalist (Wilson Philips-Hold On)
1968 - Josh Brolin, actor (Johnny-Private Eye, Jimmy Hickok-Young Riders)
1968 - Christopher McCandless, American nomad, subject of biography Into the Wild (d. 1992)
1969 - Colin Keely, Buffalo NY, water polo driver (Olympics-96)
1969 - Meja, Swedish singer
1973 - Brendon Mark Cameron, Pirongia NZ, 4k pursuit cyclist (Olympics-96)
1974 - Toranosuke Takagi, Japanese race car driver
1974 - Fonzworth Bentley, American hip-hop artist
1976 - Anna Benson, American model
1980 - Christina Ricci, actress (Wednesday-Addams Family, Mermaids, Casper)
1984 - Brad Keselowski, NASCAR Nationwide Series Driver
Deaths
1128 - Toghtekin, slave/atabek of Damascus, dies
1242 - Hendrik VII, Roman Catholics German king (1220-35), commits suicide
1538 - Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter, dies at about 57
1554 - Jane Grey, queen of England for 9 days, beheaded at 17
1554 - Lord Guildford Dudley, Jane Grey’s husband, beheaded
1571 - Nicholas Throckmorton, English diplomat and politician (b. 1515)
1624 - George Heriot, Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist (b. 1563)
1630 - Fynes Moryson, English traveler and writer (b. 1566)
1700 - Aleksei Shein, Russian general and statesman (b. 1662)
1787 - Ruggiero Boscovich, Ital physicist/astronomer/philosopher, dies at 75
1789 - Ethan Allen, American patriot (b. 1738)
1799 - Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian biologist (b. 1729)
1804 - Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (Zum ewigen Frieden), dies at 79
1896 - Isaac Murphy, jockey, 628 wins on 1,412 mounts (44.5%), dies at 35
1916 - J W Richard Dedekind, German mathematician, dies
1929 - Lillie Langtry, British singer and actress (b. 1853)
1931 - Samedbey Mehmandarov, Russian general (b. 1855)
1935 - Auguste Escoffier, French chef (b. 1846)
1942 - Grant Wood, US painter (American Gothic), dies at 49
1945 - Henrietta Szold, founder (Hadassah, Youth Aliyah), dies
1945 - Walraven [Wally] van Hall, Dutch banker/resisted Nazis, executed at 39
1947 - Sidney Toler, actor (Charlie Chan, Dark Alibi), dies at 72
1949 - Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (b. 1906)
1951 - Choudhary Rehmat Ali, Pakistani nationalist (b. 1897)
1960 - Bobby Clark, vaudevillan (World’s funniest circus clown), dies at 71
1971 - James Cash Penney, US founder (J C Penney), dies at 95
1976 - Sal Mineo, actor (Exodus, Rebel Without a Cause), stabbed at 37
1979 - Jean Renoir, French writer/director (Human Beast), dies at 84
1981 - Jean Dixon, actress (Joy of Livng, You Only Live Once), dies
1982 - Victor Jory, actor (Adv of Tom Sawyer, 1st Lady, Jigsaw), dies at 79
1983 - Eubie Blake, ragtime-composer/pianist (Memories of You), dies at 100
1985 - Nicholas Colissanto, actor (Coach-Cheers), dies at 61
1991 - Roger Patterson, American death metal bass player (b. 1968)
1992 - Bep [Lambertus] van Klaveren, boxing champ (Olympic-gold-1928), dies
1992 - Ton Brandsteder, CEO (Sony Netherland BV), dies at 74
1993 - James Bulger, English child beaten to death at 2, by 10 yr old boys
1994 - Donald Judd, US furniture maker/architect/artist, dies at 65
1994 - Sue Rodriguez, Canadian assisted suicide advocate (b. 1950)
1995 - Earring George Mayweather, blues harmonica player, dies at 66
2000 - Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)
2000 - Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)
2000 - Charles M Schulz, American cartoonist, dies at 77
2000 - Oliver, American pop singer (b. 1945)
2007 - Peggy Gilbert, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1905)
2011 - Mato Damjanović, Croatian chess grandmaster (b. 1927)
2012 - John Severin, America comic book artist, dies at 90
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