Today In The Past
Events
141 – 6th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet
1345 – Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction: thought “cause of plague epidemic”
1525 – Paris’ parliament begins pursuit of Protestants
1600 – The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden.
1616 – Walter Raleigh released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana
1739 – Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
1760 – Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings
1800 – French army defeats Turks at Helipolis Turkey, & advance to Cairo
1815 – Napoleon enters Paris after escape from Elba, begins 100-day rule
1816 – US Supreme Court affirms its right to review state court decisions
1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” published (Boston)
1863 – Battle of Pensacola FL -evacuated by Federals
1865 – 2nd day of Battle of Bentonville NC
1868 – Jesse James Gang robs bank in Russelville Kentucky of $14,000
1886 – 1st AC power plant in US begins commercial operation, Mass
1896 – Marines land in Nicaragua to protect US citizens
1896 – Uprising in Matabeleland
1897 – 1st known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10
1911 – Winter Garden Theater opens at 1634 Broadway NYC
1920 – 1st flight from London to South Africa lands (took 1½ months)
1922 – USS Langley is commissioned, Navy’s 1st Aircraft Carrier
1930 – Clessie Cummins sets diesel engine speed record of 129.39 kph
1933 – Dachau, 1st concentration camp, completed
1934 – Rudolf Kuhnold demonstrates radar in Kiel Germany
1934 – Test of practical radar apparatus made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany
1934 – Female Babe Didrickson pitches hitless inning for Phila A’s in exhibition game against Brooklyn Dodgers
1937 – Franco-offensive at Guadalajara Spain
1942 – Convoy PQ13 departs Reykjavik Iceland to Russia
1942 – Gen MacArthur vows, “I shall return”
1943 – British offensive against Mareth-line
1943 – German U-384 bombed & sinks
1944 – Mount Vesuvius, Italy explodes
1945 – US 70th Infantry division/7th Armour division attack Saar
1947 – 180-metric ton blue whale (record) caught in South Atlantic
1951 – Indonesian army offensive against Darul Islam on Java
1952 – Final ratification of peace treaty restoring sovereignty to Japan
1952 – US senate ratifies peace treaty with Japan
1956 – 156-day strike against Westinghouse ends
1956 – Mount Bezymianny on Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) explodes
1956 – Tunisia gains independence from France
1958 – 50″ snow across the Mason-Dixon line
1968 – LBJ signs a bill removing gold backing from US paper money
1972 – 19 mountain climbers killed on Japan’s Mount Fuji during an avalanche
1973 – Roberto Clemente elected to Hall of Fame, 11 weeks after his death
1976 – Patricia Hearst convicted of armed robbery
1979 – Columbia flies on Shuttle carrier aircraft to Kennedy Space Center
1980 – The Mi Amigo ship containing England’s pirate Radio Caroline sinks
1980 – US appeals to International Court on hostages in Iran
1981 – Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron sentenced to 8 years
1981 – Jean Harris sentenced 15-to-life for slaying of Scarsdale Diet Dr
1982 – Joan Jett & Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” goes #1 for 7 wks
1984 – Senate rejects amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools
1985 – Libby Riddles is 1st woman to win Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race
1986 – 228 KPH gust of wind strikes Cairngorm (UK record)
1986 – Jacques Chirac forms French government
1987 – FDA approves sale of AZT (AIDS treatment)
1987 – NASA launches Palapa B2P
1990 – LA Lakers retires Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s #33
1990 – Singer Gloria Estefan breaks her collarbone in a bus accident
1991 – Court awards Peggy Lee $3 million in suit against Disney
1991 – Michael Jackson signs $65M 6 album deal with Sony records
1991 – Supreme Court rules unanimously employers can’t exclude women from jobs where exposure to toxic chemicals could potentially damage fetus
1991 – US forgives $2 billion in loans to Poland
1992 – Janice Pennington is awarded $1.3M for accident on Price is Right set
1993 – Dan Jansen skates world record 500m (36.02 sec)
1993 – IRA-bomb kills 3 year old in Warrington England
1994 – El Salvador’s 1st pres election following 12-year-old civil war
1995 – Dow-Jones hits 4083.68 (record)
1995 – Poison Gas released in Tokyo subway 12 killed, 4,700 injured
1996 – Erik & Lyle Menendez found guilty of killing their parents
1999 – Legoland California, the first and only Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California.
2000 – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after a gun battle that leaves a Georgia sheriff’s deputy dead.
2004 – Stephen Harper wins the leadership of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada, becoming the party’s first leader.
2006 – Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Deby.
2012 – 50 people are killed and 240 injured in a wave of terror attacks across 10 cities in Iraq
2012 – Disney movie John Carter records one of the largest losses in cinema history with a $200 million dollar write down
Births
43 BC – Ovid, Roman poet (d. 17)
1469 – Princess Cecily of York (d. 1507)
1477 – Jerome Emser, German theologian (d. 1527)
1502 – Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (d. 1575)
1735 – Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist (d. 1784)
1750 – Martinus van Marum, Dutch chemist/physicist (Homo Diluvii Testus)
1804 – Neal Dow, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1897
1812 – George Bibb Crittenden, Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1880
1823 – John Echols, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1896
1823 – Ned Buntline, American publisher (d. 1886)
1825 – William Nelson Rector Beall, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1828 – Henrik Ibsen, Norway, playwright (Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabler)
1830 – Eugene Asa Carr, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1910
1834 – Charles William Elliot, Boston, Pres of Harvard (1869-1909)
1853 – George Godfrey, Chelsea Mass, heavyweight boxer (Old Chocolate)
1856 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, father of scientific management
1870 – Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, Prussian general/politician (East Africa)
1879 – Maud Menten, Canadian biochemist (d. 1960)
1885 – Hendrik A de Fish, [Henri Pauwels], Flemish philological/sociologist
1902 – Edgar Buchanan, Humansville Mo, actor (Uncle Joe-Petticoat Junction)
1903 – Vincent Richards, hall of fame tennis pro (elected 1961)
1904 – B[urrhus] F[rederic] Skinner, Pa, Behaviorism pioneer (Skinner box)
1906 – Abraham Beame, (Mayor-D-NYC), NYC’s 1st Jewish mayor
1906 – Ozzie Nelson, Jersey City NJ, actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet)
1906 – Pavel P Parenago, Russian astronomer
1908 – Michael Redgrave, Bristol England, actor (Browning Version, Lady Vanishes)
1911 – Alfonso García Robles, Mexican diplomat and Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
1915 – Sviatosiav Richter, Zhitomir Ukraine, pianist (Stalin Prize-1945)
1918 – Marian McPartland, jazz pianist (Bill Mayer, Jimmy McPartland)
1920 – Douglas G Chapman, biomathematical statistician
1920 – Werner Klemperer, Cologne Germany, actor (Col Klink-Hogan’s Heroes)
1922 – Carl Reiner, Bronx, comedian (2000 Year Old Man, Dick Van Dyke Show)
1922 – Ray Goulding, Lowell Mass, comedian (Bob & Ray)
1925 – John D Erlichman, Politician (Nixon aide, Watergate)
1926 – Ted Bessell, Flushing NY, actor (Don-That Girl, Frankie-Gomer Pyle)
1928 – Christopher Benstead, race horse trainer
1928 – Fred Rogers, Latrobe PA, children TV host (Mr Rogers’ Neighborhood)
1928 – Jerome Cousins Biffle, Denver Co, long jumper (Olympic-gold-1952)
1936 – Lee “Scratch” Perry, Jamaican Reggae artist
1937 – Helmut Recknagel, Germany, 90m ski jump (Olympic-gold-1960)
1937 – Jerry Reed, Atlanta GA, singer/actor (Bat 21, Smokey & the Bandit)
1938 – Sergei Petrovich Novikov, Russian Mathematician, Fields Medalist
1943 – Paul Junger Witt, American TV producer
1945 – Pat Riley, Schenectady NY, NBA coach (Lakers, Knicks, Heat)
1945 – Henry Bartholomay, American fighter pilot
1947 – Carl Palmer, drummer (Asia-Heat of the Moment, Emerson Lake & Palmer)
1947 – John Eastburn Boswell, medievalist
1948 – Bobby Orr, Parry Sound, Ontario, HOF NHL defenseman (Boston Bruins)
1948 – Pamela Sargent, US, sci-fi author (Venus of Dreams, Cloned Lives)
1949 – Marcia Ball, American blues singer and pianist
1950 – William Hurt, Wash DC, actor (Big Chill, Children of a Lesser God)
1951 – Guy Perry, rock guitarist/vocalist (Motels-Only the Lonely)
1951 – Jimmie Vaughan, guitarist (Fabulous Thunderbirds)
1951 – John Wetton, rocker (Asia)
1952 – Geoff Brabham, Australian racing driver
1954 – Jim Seales, Hamilton Ala, singer (Shenandoah-Sunday in the South)
1957 – Spike Lee [Shelton Jackson Lee], Atlanta, Florida, American film director (Mo Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X)
1957 – Theresa Russell, [Paup], SD California, actress (Black Widow, Razor’s Edge)
1957 – David Foster, Australian woodchopper
1958 – Holly Hunter, Conyers Georgia, American actress (Broadcast News, The Piano)
1959 – Sting, American professional wrestler
1961 – Slim Jim Phantom, [Jim Mcdonnell], rock drummer (Stray Cats)
1963 – Paul Annacone, Southampton NY, tennis star
1963 – Manabu Suzuki, Japanese racing driver and broadcaster
1963 – David Thewlis, Blackpool, Lancashire, English actor (Remus Lupin-Harry Potter series)
1969 – Caroline Brunet, Quebec City Quebec, kayaker (Olympics-silver-96)
1969 – Konstantine Starikovitch, Podolsk Russia, 238lbs US weightlift (Oly-96)
1969 – Sharon Manning, WNBA center/forward (Charlotte Sting)
1969 – Thang Thanh Nguyen, Soc Trang Vietnam, murderer (FBI Most Wanted)
1970 – Kristin Klein, Santa Monica California, volleyball outside hitter (Oly-96)
1971 – Touré, American writer
1972 – Alexander Kapranos, Greek-British musician (Franz Ferdinand)
1973 – Jane March, Edgeware England, actress (Lover)
1974 – P J Bogart, NYC, diver (Olympics-96)
1976 – Chester Bennington, American musician (Linkin Park)
1982 – Nick Wheeler, American guitarist (The All-American Rejects)
1984 – Markus Niemelä, Finnish racing driver
1984 – Christy Carlson Romano, American actress
Deaths
687 – St. Cuthbert, patron saint of Northumbria (b. c. 634).
842 – Alfonso II the Chaste, king of Asturia (791-842), dies
1191 – Clement III, [Paolo Scolari], Pope (1187-91, 3rd crusades), dies
1239 – Hermann von Salza, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (c. 1179)
1351 – Mohammed ibn-Tughluq, sultan of Delhi India, dies
1393 – Johannes Nepomucenus, [Jan Nepomucky], Czech saint, killed
1413 – King Henry IV of England (b. 1367)
1415 – Henry IV Bolingbroke, King of England (1399-1413), dies at 45
1531 – Sicke Freerks/Frericx, [Cutter], Dutch anabaptist, beheaded
1549 – Thomas Seymour of Sudely, English Lord Admiral, beheaded
1617 – Franciscus Aguilon, physicist/theologist/mathematician, dies at 50
1673 – Augustyn Kordecki, Polish prior (b. 1603)
1703 – Johann Kunckel/Kunkel, German alchemist/ambassador to Sweden, dies
1780 – Sir Benjamin Truman – English brewer (b. 1699/1700)
1855 – Joseph Aspdin, English mason and inventor (b. 1788)
1865 – Keisuke Yamanami, Japanese samurai (b. 1833)
1878 – Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (b. 1814)
1890 – Alexander F. Mozhaiski, aviation pioneer (b. 1825)
1894 – Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian freedom fighter/president (1849), dies at 91
1899 – Martha M Place, of Bkln, becomes 1st woman to be executed in an electric chair.
1918 – Lewis A. Grant, American Civil War General (b. 1828)
1920 – Venustiano Carranza, president Mexico (1915-20), murdered at 60
1929 – Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France (WW I), dies at 77
1933 – Giuseppe [Joe] Zangara, electrocuted for assassination attempt on FDR
1940 – Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
1941 – D A van den Bosch, anti-nazi clergyman (Amersfoort Camp), dies
1962 – Andrew E Douglass, Dendrochronologer (Study of Tree Rings), dies
1964 – Brendan Behan, Irish writer/poet, dies at 41
1967 – A J F Moody, 1st US Army General to die in Vietnam
1974 – Chet Huntley, newscaster (NBC Huntley-Brinkley Report), dies at 62
1987 – Norman Harris, guitarist (O’Jays), dies at 39 of heart failure
1988 – Gil Evans, Canadian/US jazz composer (Out of the Cool), dies at 75
1991 – Conor Clapton, Eric Clapton’s son, falls out of 53rd floor window at 5
1994 – Lewis Grizzard, American humorist (b. 1946)
1995 – Rachida Hammadi, Algerian TV journalist, murdered at 32
1995 – Sidney Kingsley, US playwright (Pulitzer prize 1934), dies at 88
1997 – Carlo Fassi, figure skating coach (Fleming, Hamill), dies at 67
1997 – Tony Zale, American boxer (b. 1913)
1998 – George Howard, American jazz saxophone musician
2003 – Sailor Art Thomas, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)
2008 – Eric Ashton, English rugby league footballer (b. 1935)
2008 – Shoban Babu, Indian actor (b. 1937)
2009 – Mel Brown, American/Canadian Blues Guitarist (b. 1939)
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