Today In The Past
Events
303 - 1st official Roman edict for persecution of Christians issued
1208 - St Francis of Assisi, 26, received his vocation in Portiuncula Italy
1296 - Pope Boniface VIII degree Clericis Iaicos
1387 - King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda.
1389 - Battle at Falköping: Danes defeat King Albert of Sweden
1496 - England’s Henry VII ends commercial dispute with Flanders
1525 - Battle of Pavia: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s troops beat the French
1525 - Francois I captured at Battle of Pavia and 8700 killed
1552 - Privileges of Hanseatic League in England are abrogated
1582 - Pope Gregory XIII announces New Style (Gregorian) calendar
1607 - Claudio Monteverdi’s opera “Orfeo,” premieres in Mantua
1739 - Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.
1779 - George Rogers Clark captures Vincennes (Ind) from British
1803 - Supreme Court 1st rules a law unconstitutional (Marbury v Madison)
1804 - London’s Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute.
1807 - 17 die & 15 wounded in a crush to witness execution of Holloway, Heggerty & Elizabeth Godfrey in England
1821 - Mexico gains independence from Spain
1836 - 3,000 Mexicans attack 182 Texans at Alamo, lasts 13 days
1839 - Steam shovel patented by William Otis, Philadelphia
1863 - Arizona Territory created
1863 - Forrest’s raid on Brentwood, Tennessee
1864 - -Feb 25] Battle of Tunnel Hill, GA (Buzzard’s Roost)
1868 - 1st US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile Alabama)
1868 - House of Reps vote 126 to 47, to impeach President Andrew Johnson
1875 - The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high profile civil servants and dignitaries.
1881 - De Lesseps’ Co begins work on Panama Canal
1894 - Nicaragua captures Tegucigalpa, Honduras (National Day, sort of)
1895 - Cuban war for independence begins.
1902 - Battle at Yzer Spruit: Boer general De la Rey beats British
1903 - US signs agreement acquiring a naval station at Guantanamo Bay Cuba
1905 - Simplon tunnel in Switzerland completed
1909 - The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded.
1917 - German plan to get Mexican help in WW I exposed (Zimmerman telegram)
1921 - 1st transcontinental flight in 24 hrs flying time arrives Florida
1923 - Flying Scotsman goes into service
1923 - Mass arrests in US of mafia
1924 - Johnny Weissmuller, swims 100m record (57 2/5 secs)
1924 - Mahatma Gandhi released from jail
1925 - Thermite explosive 1st used to break up ice jam, Waddington, NY
1932 - Malcolm Campbell drives record speed (253.96 mph) at Daytona
1933 - League of Nations tells Japanese to pull out of Manchuria
1938 - Du Pont begins commercial production of nylon toothbrush bristles
1941 - 43 Geuzen resistance fighter trial opens in the Hague
1942 - Voice of America begins broadcasting (in German)
1942 - The “Battle of Los Angeles” takes place, lasting until the next day.
1943 - Texas League announces it will quit for the duration of WW II
1944 - Argentina coup by Juan Peron minister of war
1945 - Egypt & Syria declares war on nazi-Germany
1945 - Manila freed from Japanese
1945 - Nazi occupiers begin state of siege
1945 - Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
1946 - Juan Peron elected President of Argentina
1948 - Communist Party seizes complete control of Czechoslovakia
1949 - V-2/WAC-Corporal 1st rocket to outer space, White Sands, NM, 400 km
1951 - Ladies Figure Skating Champion in Milan won by Jeanette Altwegg of GRB
1951 - Men’s Figure Skating Championship in Milan won by Richard Button USA
1960 - US beats Germany in Olympic hockey finals round, 9-1
1961 - Explorer (10) fails to reach Earth orbit
1968 - 1st pulsar discovered (CP 1919 by Jocelyn Burnell at Cambridge)
1968 - Jocelyn Bell discovers 1st pulsar
1968 - US troops reconquer Hue Vietnam
1969 - Mariner 6 launched for Mars flyby
1970 - 29 Swiss Army officers die in avalanche (Reckingen, Switzerland)
1971 - Algeria nationalizes French oil companies
1974 - Atje Keulen-Deelstra becomes world champ all-round skater
1977 - Pres Carter announces US foreign aid will consider human rights
1978 - Kevin Porter, NJ, sets NBA record with 29 assists in a game
1979 - Highest price ever paid for a pig, $42,500, Stamford, Texas
1979 - War between North & South Yemen begins
1981 - Britain’s Prince Charles announces engagement to Lady Diana Spencer
1981 - Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Scarsdale diet doctor Tarnower
1983 - Dow Jones closes above 1100 mark for 1st time
1983 - A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
1984 - Iraq resumes air attack on Iran
1986 - Texas Air buys Eastern Airlines for $676 million
1986 - Voyager 2, 1st Uranus flyby
1987 - LA Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scores his 36,000th NBA point
1988 - Matti Nykanen becomes winter olympics 1st triple gold medalist
1989 - 150-million-year-old fossil egg (oldest dinosaur embryo) found
1989 - Margaret Ray found in David Letterman’s home, claims to be his wife
1989 - US Boeing 747 loses parts of roof over Pacific, 9 die
1989 - Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1M-$3M bounty on Salman Rushdie’s death due to his novel, “Satanic Verses”
1991 - US & allies begin a ground war assault on Iraqi troops
1995 - Dow-Jones hits record 4011.74
1995 - The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
1996 - Cuba downs 2 US planes
1997 - South Africa announces it is constructing largest modern day blimp
1998 - Elton John knighted
1999 - The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery, in spite of Germany’s legal action to attempt to save him.
2002 - XIX Winter Olympics closes in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
2002 - Canada defeats the United States 5-2 to win the men’s ice hockey Olympic Gold Medal
2006 - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
2008 - Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.
2011 - Final Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103).
Births
1103 - Emperor Toba of Japan (d. 1156)
1304 - Muhammad ibn Battutah, Arab travel writer (Travels in Asia & Africa)
1463 - Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italy, scholar/platonist
1500 - Carlos V, King of Spain (1516-56)/Holy Roman Emperor
1545 - Don John of Austria, Spanish military leader (d. 1578)
1547 - Jan of Austria, Spanish military man/land guardian of the Netherland
1684 - Catherine I, Empress of Russia 1725-27, Dorpat, Estonia
1709 - Jacques de Vaucanson, French inventor (d. 1782)
1723 - John Burgoyne, British general (d. 1792)
1786 - Wilhelm Karl Grimm, Hanau Germany, story teller (Grimm’s Fairy Tales)
1811 - Edward Dickinson Baker, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1861
1824 - John Crawford Vaughn, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1875
1827 - Charles Davis Jameson, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1836 - Winslow Homer, US, painter (Gulfstream)
1838 - Thomas Benton Smith, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1923
1866 - Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev, Russian physicist (d. 1912)
1866 - Hubert Van Innis, Belgian archer (d. 1961)
1872 - John Jarvis, England, swimmer (won 108 titles)
1874 - Honus Wagner, HOF shortstop (Pittsburgh Pirates, 1900-17)
1885 - Chester Nimitz, US admiral (commanded Pacific fleet in WW II)
1890 - Marjorie Main, [Tomlinson], Action Ind, actress (Another Thin Man)
1898 - Kurt Tank, German WW II aircraft designer
1905 - E Boyland, biochemist
1909 - Max Black, Dutch/British/US philosopher (analytical philosophy)
1913 - Richard Murphey Goodwin, economist
1914 - David Langdon, cartoonist/illustrator
1914 - Zachary Scott, Austin Tx, actor (Spotlight Playhouse, Mildred Pierce)
1914 - Ralph Erskine, British architect (Byker Wall) (d. 2005)
1917 - William Fairbank, Minneapolis, physicist (superconductivity)
1919 - Alan Hugh Iliffe, psychologist
1919 - Earl Kitchener of Khartoum
1920 - Frank Rogers, CEO (NPA Telegraph)
1921 - Abe Vigoda, NYC, actor (Barney Miller, Fish)
1928 - Al Lettieri, NYC, actor (Deadly Kiss, Pulp, Mr Majestyk, Getaway)
1929 - Richard B Shull, Evanston Ill, actor (Diana, Holmes & Yoyo)
1932 - Everard Goodman, English real estate developer (TOPS Estates)
1932 - John Vernon, Canada, actor (Animal House, Chained Heat, Dirty Harry)
1932 - Michel Legrand, composer (Summer of ’42, Windmills of Your Mind)
1934 - Bettino Craxi, Italy’s 1st socialist premier (1983-87)
1934 - Frank Chapot, US, equestrian (Olympic-silver-1960, 1972)
1934 - Linda Cristal, Buenos Aires Arg, actress (Victoria-High Chapparal)
1936 - Renata Scotto, Savona Italy, operatic soprano
1938 - James Farentino, Brooklyn, New York, actor (The Final Countdown), (d. 2012)
1938 - Phil Knight, American sportswear manufacturer
1940 - Theo Bosch, Dutch humanist/architect (Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam)
1940 - Pete Duel, American actor (d. 1971)
1942 - Joe Lieberman, (Sen-D Connecticut)
1942 - Paul Jones, England, rocker (Manfried Mann-Mighty Quinn)
1942 - Colin Bond, Australian racing driver
1943 - Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer
1943 - Terry Semel, American business executive
1944 - Barry Bostwick, San Mateo Ca, actor (Rocky Horror Show, Megaforce)
1944 - Nicky Hopkins, rock pianist (Stones-Ruby Tuesday, Quicksilver)
1946 - Grigory Margulis, Russian mathematician
1947 - Edward James Olmos, Cal, actor (Miami Vice, Stand & Deliver, Triumph)
1947 - Lonnie Turner, bassist/vocalist (Steve Miller Band-Abracadabra)
1947 - Rupert Holmes, English musician
1948 - Lorri Menconi, playmate (Feb, 1969)
1950 - George Thorogood, Wilmington, Delaware, American singer and guitarist (The Delaware Destroyers-Bad to the Bone)
1951 - Helen Shaver, Ontario Canada, actress (WIOU, Praise of Older Women)
1952 - Tom Burleson, USA, basketball (Oly-silv-1972) tallest Olympian-7’4″
1955 - Alain Prost, Formula One racing driver (Championships: 85, 86, 89, 93)
1955 - Steve Jobs, San Francisco, California, American computer entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple (d. 2011)
1956 - Paula Zahn, Napperville Ill, news anchor (ABC, CBS This Morning)
1956 - Judith Butler, American philosopher
1957 - Phil McConkey, NFL wide receiver (NY Giants)
1958 - Sammy Kershaw, Kaplan LA, country vocalist (Cadillac Style)
1958 - Plastic Bertrand, Belgian singer
1962 - Michelle Shocked, singer/musician
1964 - Bill Bailey, British comedian
1964 - Russell Ingall, Australian racing driver
1966 - Billy Zane, actor (Orlando, Memphis Belle, Millions, Titanic)
1971 - Pedro de la Rosa, Spanish Formula One driver
1973 - Chris Fehn, American percussionist (Slipknot)
1976 - Eric Griffin, American rock guitarist
1976 - Marco Campos, Brazilian racing driver (d. 1995)
1977 - Floyd Mayweather, Grand Rapids Mich, featherweight boxer (Oly-br-96)
1978 - Louise Woodward, ELton England, nanny who killed Matthew Eappen
1979 - Jesse Billauer, American quadriplegic surfer
1980 - Anton Gustafsson, Swedish rock music fan (d. 2003)
1980 - Shinsuke Nakamura, Japanese professional wrestler
1984 - Clivio Piccione, Monegasque racing driver
1987 - Daniel Reilly, British entrepreneur
Deaths
616 - King Ethelbert of Kent
1525 - Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, French soldier
1563 - Francois Guise, French general/duke, assassinated at 44
1588 - Johann Weyer, Dutch physician and occultist
1685 - Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, English politician and military leader (b. 1629)
1686 - Ferdinando Tacca, Italian painter/son of Pietro Tacca, dies at 66
1721 - John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (b. 1648)
1732 - Colonel Francis Charteris, known as “The Rape-Master General”. (b. 1675)
1779 - Paul Daniel Longolius, German encylopedist (b. 1704)
1810 - Henry Cavendish, physicist/chemist, dies
1812 - Etienne-Louis Malus, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1775)
1815 - Robert Fulton, steamboat pioneer, dies at 49
1914 - Joshua Chamberlain, Civil War hero for the Union on Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg
1926 - Eddie Plank, pitcher (won 327 games in 17 years), dies at 51
1945 - Ahmed Maher Pasha, Egypt’s PM, assassinated in parliament
1953 - Karl R G von Rundstedt, Germ gen-field marshal (Ardennes), dies at 77
1967 - Franz Waxman, German composer (Day at the races), dies at 60
1975 - Nikolai A Bulganin, marshal/premier of USSR (1955-58), dies at 79
1990 - Malcolm Forbes, CEO (Forbes Publishing), dies of a heart attack at 70
1990 - Tony Conigliaro, baseball player (Red Sox), dies of pneumonia at 45
1991 - George Gobel, Chicago, comedian (George Gobel Show), dies at 71
1991 - Webb Pierce, US country singer (Bye Bye Love), dies of cancer at 64
1994 - Dinah Shore, singer (Chevrolet), dies of cancer at 76
1994 - Knut Anders Haukfield, SOE Operative, dies at 83
1994 - Lores Bonney, aviator, dies at 96
1996 - Anna Larina, revolutionary, dies at 82
1998 - Henny Youngman, comedian (Take my wife please), dies at 92
2002 - Arthur Lyman, American jazz vibraphone and marimba player (b. 1932)
2006 - Don Knotts, American actor (b. 1924)
2006 - Dennis Weaver, American actor (b. 1924)
2011 - Anant Pai, Indian educationalist and creator of comics (b. 1929)
2012 - Jan Berenstain, American author dies from a stroke at 88
Reblogged this on bearspawprint.