Today In The Past

 

Events

238 – Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperor.

752 – Stephen II elected Catholic Pope (or 23rd)

1349 – Townspeople of Fulda Germany massacre Jews (blamed for black death)

1457 – Gutenberg Bible became the 1st printed book

1556 – Cardinal Reginald Pole becomes archbishop of Canterbury

1594 – French King Henri IV festival in Paris

1621 – Hugo de Grote escapes in bookcase from Loevenstein castle, Neth

 

 

 

1622 – 1st American Indian (Powhattan) massacre of whites Jamestown Virginia, 347 slain

 

 

 

 

 

1630 – 1st colonial legislation prohibiting gambling enacted (Boston)

1638 – Religious dissident Anne Hutchinson expelled from Mass Bay Colony

1733 – Joseph Priestly invents carbonated water (seltzer)

 

 

 

1765 – Stamp Act passed; 1st direct British tax on colonists

 

 

 

 

 

1775 – Edmund Burke presents his 13 articles to the English parliament

1790 – Thomas Jefferson becomes the 1st US Secretary of State

1794 – Congress bans US vessels from supplying slaves to other countries

1822 – NY Horticultural Society founded

1829 – The three protecting powers (Britain, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece.

1865 – Raid at Wilson’s: Chickaswas AL to Macon GA

1929 – 66 horses run in Irish Grand National Sweepstakes

1929 – KIT-AM in Yakima WA begins radio transmissions

1929 – USCG vessel sank Canadian schooner suspected of carrying liquor

1934 – 1st Masters golf championship began in Augusta, Ga

1934 – Fire destroys Hakodate Japan (kills 1,500, injures 1,000)

1935 – Blood tests authorized as evidence in court cases (NY)

 

 

 

1941 – Grand Coulee Dam in Washington goes into operation

 

 

 

 

 

1944 – 600+ 8th Air Force bombers attack Berlin

1945 – US 3rd Army crosses Rhine at Nierstein

1946 – 1st US rocket to leave the Earth’s atmosphere (50 miles up)

1947 – President Harry Truman signs executive order calling for loyalty

1958 – Faisal succeeds Saudi as king of Saudi-Arabia

1958 – Liz Taylor’s 3rd divorce (Mike Todd)

1960 – 1st patent for lasers, granted to Arthur Schawlow & Charles Townes

1963 – Brit Min of War John Profumo denies having sex with Christine Keeler

1965 – US confirms its troops used chemical warfare against the Vietcong

1967 – Muhammad Ali KOs Zora Folley in 7 for heavyweight boxing title

1969 – 31st NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Purdue 92-72 UCLA wins its 5th national championship in 6 years

1972 – Congress approves Equal Rights Amendment (never ratified)

1972 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar named NBA MVP

1972 – Nick Mileti purchases Cleve Indians for $9 million

1972 – Yankees trade Danny Cater to the Red Sox for Sparky Lyle

1975 – A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama causes dangerous lowering of cooling water levels.

1978 – Karl Wallenda of the The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

1981 – 1st class postage raised to 18 cents from 15 cents

1984 – Teachers at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges are later dropped as completely unfounded.

1985 – NASA launches Intelsat VA

1986 – Ice Pairs Championship at Geneva won by Gordeeva & Grinkov (URS)

1986 – Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Geneva won by Debi Thomas (USA)

1986 – Trevor Berbick beats Pinklon Thomas in 15 for heavyweight boxing title

1990 – Anchorage jury finds Capt Hazelwood innocent of Valdez oil spill

1991 – Pamela Smart (HS teacher) found guilty in NH of manipulating her student-lover to kill her husband

1993 – Intel introduces Pentium-processor (80586) 64 bits-60 MHz-100+ MIPS

1997 – Comet Hale-Bopp Closest Approach to Earth (1.315 AU)

1997 – Ladies Fig Skating Championship in Lausanne won by Tara Lipinski (USA)

 

 

 

2004 – Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist militant group Hamas, and bodyguards are killed in the Gaza Strip when hit by Israeli Air Force AH-64 Apache fired Hellfire missiles.

 

 

 

 

 

2006 – ETA, armed Basque separatist group, declares permanent ceasefire.

2006 – Three Christian Peacemaker Teams Hostages are freed by British forces in Baghdad after 118 days captivity and the death of their colleague, American Tom Fox.

2009 – Mount Redoubt, a volcano in Alaska began erupting after a prolonged period of unrest.

2012 – Largest protest in Quebec’s history occurs in Montreal with over 200,000 people marching against government tuition hikes and for free access to post-secondary education

2012 – Australia’s most wanted man, Malcolm Naden, is captured after seven years on the run in Gloucester, New South Wales

 

 

 

Births

841 – Bernard Plantapilosa, Count of Auvergne (d. 885)

1212 – Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan (d. 1235)

1366 – Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, English politician (d. 1399)

1459 – Maximilian I of Habsburg, German Emperor/archduke of Austria

1503 – Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer (d. 1583)

1599 – Anthony Van Dyck, Flemish painter (Charles I of England)

1609 – John II Casimir Vasa, cardinal/king of Poland (1648-68)

1663 – August Hermann Francke, German Protestant minister (d. 1727)

1720 – Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect (d. 1799)

1723 – Charles Carroll, American statesman (d. 1783)

1797 – Kaiser Wilhelm I, German emperor (1871-88)

1813 – Gabriel Rene Paul, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1886

1814 – Thomas Crawford, US sculptor (Babes in the Wood)

 

 

 

1817 – Braxton Bragg, Gen (Confederate Army), died in 1876

 

 

 

 

 

1818 – John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-born explorer of South Australia (d. 1846)

1819 – William Wirt Adams, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1888

1822 – Seth Williams, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1866

1824 – William Henry Chase Whiting, Major General (Confederate Army)

1834 – Francis Asbury Shoup, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1896

1846 – Randolph Caldecott, England, illustrator (Caldecott Medal namesake)

1860 – Alfred Ploetz, German physician (d. 1940)

1868 – Robert A Millikan, US physicist (photoelectric effect; Nobel 1923)

1869 – Emilio Aguinaldo, first President of the Philippines (d. 1964)

1887 – Chico Marx, [Leonard Martin], NYC, comedian (Marx Brothers)

1903 – James S Russell, US pilot/admiral (WW II Pacific Ocean)

1907 – James Gavin, US, 82nd Airborne Div General (Sicily/Normandy)

 

 

 

1908  – Louis D L’Amour, Jamestown ND, author (Hondo, Jubal Sackett)

 

 

 

 

 

1912 – Henri Rousselot, admiral

1912 – Karl Malden, Chicago, actor (Mike-Streets of SF, American Express)

1913 – Lew Wasserman, American film studio executive (d. 2002)

1915 – Forest Sagendorf, cartoonist

1916 – George Wyle, NYC, orchestra leader (Jerry Lewis Show, Flip Wilson Show)

1920 – Ross Martin, Grodek Poland, actor (Mr Lucky, Wild Wild West)

1923 – Marcel Marceau, Strasbourg France, mime (Barbarella, Silent Movie)

1924 – Al Neuharth, newspaper founder (USA Today)

1926 – Julius Marmur, biochemist/geneticist

1930 – Derek Bok, college president (Harvard)

1930 – Pat Robertson, televangelist (700 club, Pres candidate-R-1989)

1930 – Stephen Sondheim, NYC, lyricist (West Side Story, Company)

1931 – William Shatner, Montreal Canada, actor (Star Trek, T J Hooker)

1932 – Richard Thomas, admiral

1935 – M[ichael] Emmet Walsh, Ogdensburg NY, actor (Wildcats, War Party)

1936 – May Britt, Sweden, actress (Young Lions)/wife of Sammy Davis Jr

1936 – Roger Whittaker, Nairobi Kenya, country singer (Durham Town)

1940 – Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian/American actor (d. 1996)

1941 – Bruno Ganz, Zurich Switzerland, actor (Strapless, Wings of Desire)

1941 – Gary Lewis, horse trainer

 

 

 

1943 – George Benson, Pittsburgh Pa, American jazz singer/guitarist 

 

 VIDEOS

 

 

 

 

1943 – Keith Reif, England, rocker (Yardbirds-For Your Love, Renaissance)

1944 – R P Mardling, headmaster (Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield)

1946 – Rudy/Rudolf [von Bittner] Rucker, US, sci-fi author (Wetware)

1946 – Serge, [Ruud Schaap], Dutch singer/guitarist (Saskia & Serge)

1948 – Andrew Lloyd Webber, London, composer (Phantom of the Opera, Cats)

1948 – Randy Hobbs, rocker (Johnny Winter Band, McCoys)

1948 – Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist

1949 – Fanny Ardant, Monte Carlo, actress (Australia, Confidentially Yours)

1949 – Fran Sheehan, Boston Mass, rock bassist (Boston-More than a Feeling)

1950 – Jocky Wilson, Scottish darts player (world champion 1982, 1989), (d. 2012)

1951 – Howard Reitzes, Southgate Ca, rocker (Iron Butterfly)

1951 – Musa Khiramanovich Manarov, USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-4, TM-11)

1952 – Bob Costas, Queens NY, sportscaster/talk show host (Later)

1956 – Lena Olin, Stockholm Sweden, actress (Enemies A Love Story)

1956 – Generosa Ammon, widow of Ted Ammon (d. 2003)

1957 – Stephanie Mills, singer/actress (Wiz)

1963 – Rich Monteleone, Tampa FL, pitcher (California Angels)

1963 – Suzanne Sulley, Sheffield S Yorks, rocker (Human Leauge-Human)

1970 – Travis Richards, Crystal Minn, US hockey defenseman (Olympics-1994)

1974 – Kidada Jones, American actress

1975 – Jiri Novak, Czechostovakia, tennis star

1976 – Reese Witherspoon, American actress

 

 

 

Deaths

337 – Constantine, Emperor of Rome, dies at 47

1322 – Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, English politician (b. 1278)

1418 – Dietrich of Nieheim, German historian

1421 – Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, second son of Henry IV of England (killed in battle) (b. 1388)

1544 – Johannes Magnus, last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden (b. 1488)

1589 – Lodovico Guicciardini, Ital historian, dies at 67

1602 – Agostino Carracci, Italian artist (b. 1557)

1685 – Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (b. 1638)

1758 – Jonathan Edwards, theologian/philosopher (Original Sin), dies at 54

1772 – John Canton, English physicist (b. 1718)

1777 – John Bartram, father of American botany, dies at 77

 

 

 

1820 – Stephen Decatur, killed in a duel with Com James Barron at 41

 

 

 

 

 

1832 – J W Goethe, writer, dies at 82

1840 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician (b. 1798)

1931 – Ban Johnson, founder of baseball’s American League, dies at 67

1958 – Michael Todd, producer (Around the World in 80 Days), dies at 56

1974 – Peter Revson, US race car driver (Indianapolis 500), dies at 35

1975 – Cass Daley, actress (Red Garters), dies at 59

1975 – Paul Verhoeven, German director dies at 73

1978 – Karl Wallenda, falls to death walking high-wire in PR at 73

1987 – Joan Shawlee, actress (Abbott & Costello Show), dies at 58

1990 – Gerald Bull, Canadian engineer (b. 1928)

1993 – Steve Olin, pitcher (Cleve Indians), drowns at 27

1993 – Tim Crews, pitcher (Cleve Indians), drowns at 31

1994 – Luther Diamond, radio Personality, dies at 89

1994 – Walter Lantz, US cartoonist (Woody Woodpecker), dies at 93

2001 – William Hanna, American animator and studio founder, dies at 90

2006 – Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (b. 1921)

2006 – Kurt von Trojan, Australian science fiction author (b. 1937)

2009 – Jade Goody, Reality TV Star and Entrepreneur

2010 – James W. Black, Scottish Nobel Prize-winning doctor and medical research scientist (b. 1924)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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