Today In The Past
Events
888 - Odo, Count of Paris becomes King of the Franks.
1099 - Crusaders set fire to Mara Syria
1547 - Earl Henry Howard of Surrey sentenced to death
1559 - Elizabeth I crowned queen of England in Westminster Abbey
1605 - The controversial play Eastward Hoe by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston is performed, landing two of the authors in prison.
1607 - The Bank of Genoa fails after announcement of national bankruptcy in Spain.
1610 - Galileo Galilei discovers Callisto, 4th satellite of Jupiter
1621 - Jan Pieterszoon Coen’s fleet sets sail to Moluccas (from Jacarta)
1630 - Patent to Plymouth Colony issued
1695 - Jonathan Swift ordained an Anglican priest in Ireland
1733 - James Oglethorpe & 130 English colonists arrive at Charleston, SC
1785 - John Walter publishes 1st issue of London Times
1794 - Congress changes US flag to 15 stars & 15 stripes
1822 - The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
1830 - Great fire in New Orleans thought to be set by rebel slaves
1840 - The steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives.
1842 - Dr. William Brydon, a surgeon in the British Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 16,500 when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad.
1854 - Anthony Foss patents accordion
1863 - Chenille manufacturing machine patented by William Canter, NYC
1863 - Thomas Crapper pioneers one-piece pedestal flushing toilet
1865 - -Jan 15th] BBT & CPT Ft Fisher, NC
1869 - Colored National Labor Union, 1st Black labor convention meets in Wash DC
1873 - P B S Pinchback relinquishes office at Louisiana governor
1874 - Battle between jobless & police in NYC, 100s injuried
1874 - US troops land in Honolulu to protect the king
1888 - National Geographic Society founded (Washington, DC)
1893 - British Independent Labor Party forms (Keir Hardie as its leader)
1893 - U.S. Marines land in Honolulu from the U.S.S. Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.
1898 - Emile Zola publishes his open letter (J’accuse) in defense of Dreyfus
1906 - 1st radio set advertised (Telimco for $7.50 in Scientific American) claimed to receive signals up to one mile
1908 - French pilot Henry Farman is 1st European to fly roundtrip
1911 - Roald Amundsens anchors at Walvis Bay
1912 - -40°F (-40°C), Oakland, Maryland (state record)
1913 - Delta Sigma Theta, the world’s largest Black Women’s Sorority is founded at Howard University, Washington DC
1915 - Earthquake in Avezzano Italy kills 29,800
1915 - W Churchill presents plan for assault on Dardanelles
1920 - NY Times editorial (falsely) reports rockets can never fly
1922 - Buck Weaver, a Black Sox, applies unsuccessfully for reinstatement
1922 - Conference of Cannes concerning German retribution payments ended
1927 - US & Mexico battle over oil interests
1929 - Humanist Society established, Hollywood Calif
1930 - ”Mickey Mouse” comic strip 1st appears
1935 - Plebiscite in Saar, indicates a desire (90.3%) to join Nazi Germany
1938 - The Church of England accepts the theory of evolution.
1939 - The Black Friday bush fires burn 20,000 square kilometres of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.
1942 - Allied Conference for war trials
1942 - German U-boats begin harassing shipping on US east coast
1942 - Henry Ford patents a method of constructing plastic auto bodies
1942 - Interallied war trial conference publishes St James Declaration
1942 - World War II: First use of aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.
1943 - British premier Winston Churchill arrives in Casablanca
1943 - Hitler declares “Total War”
1943 - Russian offensive at Don under general Golikov
1943 - US infantry captures Galloping Horse Ridge Guadalcanal
1948 - 1st country music TV show, Midwestern Hayride, premieres on WLW Cin
1953 - Gas explosion in Belgium coal mine kills 14
1954 - Milt rule in Egypt; 318 Mohammedan Brotherhood arrested
1957 - Wham-O Company produces the 1st Frisbee
1958 - US newspaper “Daily Worker” ceases publication
1958 - Moroccan Liberation Army ambushes Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.
1959 - De Gaulle grants amnesty to 130 to Algerian death row convicts
1962 - Wilt Chamberlain of Warriors scores then NBA-record 73 pts vs Chicago
1967 - Coup in Togo
1967 - Rolling Stones appear on Ed Sullivan Show
1968 - Minn North Stars center Bill Masterton fatally injured (dies on 15th)
1969 - Beatles release “Yellow Submarine” album
1972 - Former umpire, now housewife Bernice Gera wins her suit against baseball, initiated on March 15, 1971 to be allowed to umpire
1974 - Superbowl VIII: Miami Dolphins beat Minnesota Vikings, 24-7 in Houston Superbowl MVP: Larry Csonka, Miami, RB
1976 - Sarah Caldwell is 1st woman to conduct at NY’s Metropolitan Opera House as she led orchestra in a performance of “La Traviata”
1979 - Charlie Daniels hosts Volunteer Jam
1980 - Head of narcotic brigade arrested for drug smuggling in Belgium
1982 - Hank Aaron & Frank Robinson elected to Hall of Fame
1982 - Air Florida 737 took off in a snowstorm, crashes into 14th St Bridge in Washington, DC, & falls into Potomac River, killing 78
1983 - AMA urges ban on boxing sites Muhammad Ali’s deteriorating condition
1985 - 99-yr-old Otto Bucher scores a hole-in-one at Spanish golf course
1985 - Cerberal Palsy telethon raises $17,100,000
1985 - Express train derails in Ethiopia, kills at least 428
1986 - NCCA institutes eligibility requirements based on college exams
1986 - South Yemen Pres Ali Nasser Mohammed’s bodyguard shoots opponents
1987 - 7 top NY Mafia bosses sentenced to 100 years in prison each
1987 - W German police arrest Mohammed Ali Hamadi, suspect in 1985 hijacking
1988 - Supreme Court rules (5-3) public school officials have broad powers to censor school newspapers, plays & other expressive activities
1989 - ”Friday the 13th” virus strikes hundreds of IBM computers in Britain
1989 - ”Ryan’s Hope” ends 13½ year run on ABC-TV
1989 - Jerry Parks, Oklahoma defensive back, charged with shooting a teammate
1989 - Ruins of Mashkan-shapir (occupied 2050-1720 BC) found in Iraq
1989 - Subway gunman Bernhard Goetz begins 1-year jail sentence
1990 - 1st elected US black governor inaugurated (Douglas Wilder-Virginia)
1991 - 12th ACE Cable Awards: HBO wins 25 awards
1991 - 42 killed in exhibition soccer match in Johannesburg South Africa
1991 - Phil Mickelson wins PGA Northern Telecom Golf Open
1992 - Excavation of new ballpark at Gateway (Jacobs Field) begins
1992 - US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer pleads guilty but insane
1992 - Japan apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
1994 - Tonya Harding’s bodyguard, Shawn Eric Eckardt & Derrick Brian Smith arrested & charged with conspiracy in attack of skater Nancy Kerrigan
1995 - America3 becomes 1st all-female crew to win an America’s Cup race
1998 - CBS pays $4 billion to televise AFC games for 8-years
2000 - Microsoft chairman Bill Gates steps aside as chief executive and promotes company president Steve Ballmer to the position
2001 - Earthquake measuring magnitude 7.6 strikes El Salvador, killing more than 840 people
2007 - Two thirds of the Venus’s southern hemisphere suddenly brightened as something triggered aerosols to form at a furious rate.
2012 - Cruise ship, Costa Concordia, runs aground at Isola de Giglio, Italy, with at least 15 deaths
Births
1334 - King Henry II of Castile (d. 1379)
1381 - St Colette, abbess/reformer (Poor Clares)
1406 - Matteo Palmieri, Italian writer (Della vita civile)
1505 - Joachim II Hector, ruler (Brandenburg)
1562 - Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet (d. 1601)
1596 - Jan J Goyen, Dutch landscape painter
1610 - Maria Anna of Austria, Electress of Bavaria (d. 1665)
1616 - Antoinette Bourignon, Flemish mystic/French religious fanatic
1720 - Richard Hurd, English bishop and writer (d. 1808)
1749 - Friedrich Müller, painter and dramatist (d. 1825)
1807 - Napoleon Bonaparte Buford, Mjr Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1883
1808 - Salmon P Chase, (Sen-R) cabinet member, 6th chief justice (1864-73)
1812 - Humphrey Marshall, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1872
1815 - William Henry French, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1881
1832 - Horatio Alger, Jr., Chelsea Massachusetts, American minister and author (Lost at Sea, Work & Win)
1845 - Félix Tisserand, French Astronomer (d. 1896)
1861 - Max Nonne, German neurologist (d. 1959)
1864 - Wilhelm K W Wien, German physicist (Nobel 1911)
1869 - Emanuele F, duke of Aosta, Italian general (WW I)/fascist
1870 - Ross Granville Harrison, American biologist (d.1959)
1878 - Lionel Groulx, Canadian nationalist (d. 1967)
1881 - Essington Lewis, Australian industrialist (d. 1961)
1884 - Sophie Tucker, [Kalish], Russia, singer/last of red hot mammas
1885 - Alfred Fuller, CEO (Fuller Brush Man)
1892 - Paul Smart, US, yachtsman (Olympic-gold-1948)
1893 - Clarke Ashton Smith, US, sci-fi author (Lost Worlds, Genius Loci)
1901 - A. B. Guthrie, American novelist, historian (d. 1991)
1903 - Kay Francis, [Katherine E Gibbs], Oklahoma City, actress (False Madonna)
1909 - Danny Barker, jazz guitarist
1918 - Lester Sill, pioneer music publisher/record producer
1919 - Army Archerd, Hollywood columnist/TV host (Movie Game)
1919 - Robert Stack, LA California, actor (Eliot Ness-Untouchables, Airplane)
1925 - Gwen Verdon, LA, actress/singer/dancer (Cotton Club, Sweet Charity)
1926 - Pamela M Cunnington, English architect/author (Change of Use)
1927 - Brock Adams, American politician (d. 2004)
1929 - Joseph Anthony Pass, jazz guitarist
Duets in Hannover with Ella Fitzgerald
1930 - Frances Sternhagen, Wash DC, actress (Outland, Starting Over)
1931 - Charles Nelson Reilly, NYC, actor (Match Game, Ghost & Mrs Muir)
1933 - Nurdin Jivraj, Tanzanian/British hotel magnate (Buckingham Intl)
1933 - Ron[ald Joseph] Goulart, US, sci-fi author (Deadwalk, Plunder)
1934 - Rip Taylor, Washington, D.C., American actor and comedian (Gong Show, $1.98 Beauty Show)
1935 - Mauro Forghieri, Italian automotive & mechanical engineer (Scuderia Ferrari)
1935 - Elsa Martinelli, Italian actress
1938 - Billy Gray, LA California, actor (Bud-Father Knows Best)
1941 - Meinhard Nehmer, German DR, 2 man bobsledder (Olympic-gold-1976)
1943 - Richard Moll, Cal, actor (Night Court, House, Dungeonmaster, Survivor)
1945 - [Eileen] Joy[ce] Chant [Rutter], UK, sci-fi author (High Kings)
1947 - Peter Sundelin, Sweden, yachtsmen (Olympic-gold-1968)
1948 - ’T Bone‘ Burnett, rocker
1948 - Gaj Singh, Maharaja of Jodhpur
1949 - Brandon Tartikoff, TV exec (NBC)
1949 - Rakesh Sharma, India, cosmonaut (Soyuz T-11)
1952 - Cornelius Bumpus, keyboardist (Doobie Bros-Minute by Minute)
1952 - Sharon Gabet, Fort Wayne IN, actress (Edge of Night, Another World)
1954 - Vicki McCarty, Los Angeles Ca, playmate (Sep, 1979)
1955 - Fred White, rocker (Earth Wind & Fire-Shining Star, Easy Lover)
1955 - Trevor Rabin, rocker (Yes)
1956 - Janet Hubert-Whitten, actress (Vivian Banks-Fresh Prince of Bel Air)
1956 - Jay McInerney, writer (Bright Lights, Big City)
1956 - Malcolm Foster, rock bassist (Pretenders-Mystery Achievement)
1957 - Christina Seufert, Sacraento California, diver (Olympic-bronze-1984)
1957 - Don Snow, rocker (Squeeze)
1961 - Graham “Suggs” McPherson, Sussex, rock vocalist (Madness-Our House)
1961 - Julia Louis-Dreyfus, NYC, comedienne (SNL, Seinfeld, Soul Man, Troll)
1963 - Felita Carr, Fort Lauderdale Fl, dance skater (& Komarov-1995 Pac Champ)
1963 - Tim Patrick Kelly, Trenton NJ, guitarist (Slaughter-Stick it Live)
1964 - Penelope Ann Miller, LA Ca, actress (Kindergarden Cop) [or Feb 13]
1966 - Joseph Harper, Ventura California, canoe (alt-Olympics-96)
1966 - Patrick Dempsey, Lewiston Me, actor (Mike-Fast Times)
1969 - Andre Cason, US runner (world record 50 indoor)
1969 - Katarzyna Nowak, Lodz Poland, tennis star (1994 Futures France)
1970 - Anne-Marie Goddard, Utrechtum Netherlands, playmate (Jan, 94)
1970 - Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (d. 2004)
1972 - Nicole Eggert, Glendale California, actress (Charles in Charge, Baywatch)
1973 - Gloria Yip, Hong Kong actor
1975 - Angela Holbeck, Australian rower (Olympics-96)
1976 - Vaclav Batlik, Costa Mesa California, canoe (alt-Olympics-96)
1976 - Michael Peña, American actor
1977 - Orlando Bloom, Kent England, English actor (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lord of the Rings)
1983 - William Hung, American Idol contestant
Deaths
86 BC - Gaius Marius, Roman general and politician (b. 157 BC)
533 - Remigius van Reims, 1st bishop of Reims (459-533)/saint, dies about 96
703 - Empress Jitō of Japan (b. 645)
858 - Aethelwolf, king of Wessex (Battle at Aclea), dies
888 - Charles III, the Fat One, King of Franconia/Roman emperor, dies
1049 - Derrick IV, Count of Holland (1039-49), dies in battle
1138 - Simon I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1076)
1151 - Abbot Suger, French statesman and historian (b. 1081)
1177 - Hendrik Jasomirgott Babenberg, Duke of Austria, dies. (b. 1107)
1330 - Frederick I (III), the Fair, Duke of Austrian/German anti-king, dies (b. 1286)
1363 - Meinhard III of Gorizia-Tyrol (b. 1344)
1488 - Hermann Vischer, “the Old”, buried
1599 - Edmund Spenser, poet (Faerie Queene), dies at about 46
1630 - Yuan Chonghuan, Chinese military commander (b. 1584)
1658 - Edward Sexby, English Puritan soldier (b. 1616)
1682 - Simon van Leeuwen, Dutch lawyer/historian, dies at 55
1691 - George Fox, founder of Quakers, dies at 66
1790 - Luc Urbain de Bouexic, comte de Guichen, French admiral (b. 1712)
1796 - John H. D. Anderson, Scottish scientist and inventor (b. 1726)
1853 - Theophilos Kairis, Greek priest, humanist and revolutionary (b. 1783)
1864 - Stephen Foster, composer (My Old Kentucky Home), dies at 37 in NY
1882 - Wilhelm Mauser, German weapon designer and manufacturer (b. 1834)
1906 - Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist (b. 1859)
1924 - Georg H Quincke, German physicist (Test of Quincke), dies at 89
1928 - Johan Peter Koch, Danish officer/explorer, dies at 57
1929 - Wyatt Earp, US marshal (OK Corral), dies at 80
1934 - Jean-Baptiste Marchand, soldier/explorer (Sudan), dies at 70
1939 - Jacob Ruppert, CEO (NY Yankees, 1915-39), dies
1941 - James Joyce, novelist (Ulysses), dies in Zurich Switzerland, at 58
1962 - Ernie Kovacs, comedian, dies in a car crash in West LA, at 42
1978 - Hubert Humphrey, (Sen-D-Minn, VP), dies at 66 in Waverly, Minn
1979 - Donny Hathaway, Chicago Ill, rocker (Ghetto), commits suicide at 33
1980 - Andre Kostelanetz, Russian conductor, dies at 78
1985 - Carol Wayne, Johnny Carson’s teatime movie hostess, dies at 42
1992 - Josef Neckermann, German founder mail-order firm/travel bureau, dies
1996 - Willian Myuon Bany Guerrilla leader, dies
2002 - Ted Demme, American film director (b. 1963)
2002 - Gregorio Fuentes, Cuban fisherman, reputed model for Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (b. 1897)
2003 - Norman Panama, American screenwriter and director (b. 1914)
2004 - Arne Næss Jr., Norwegian mountain climber (b. 1937)
2004 - Harold Shipman, British serial killer (b. 1946)
2006 - Marc Potvin, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1967)
2007 - Michael Brecker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1949)
2007 - Danny Oakes, racecar driver (b. 1911)
2009 - Doña Mary Ejercito, Filipino supercentarian, mother of Joseph Ejercito Estrada (b. 1905)
2009 - Patrick McGoohan, American actor (b. 1928)
2009 - Nancy Bird Walton, Australian aviator (b. 1915)
2010 - Teddy Pendergrass, American R&B singer (b. 1950)
2010 - Jay Reatard, American garage punk musician (b. 1980)
