Today In The Past

 

 

Events

1379 – End of Gelderse war victory

1545 – German Parliament opens in Worms

1550 – France & England sign Peace of Boulogne

1603 – Scottish king James VI becomes King James I of England

1629 – 1st game law passed in American colonies, by Virginia

1645 – Battle at Jankov Bohemia: Sweden beats RC emperor Ferdinand III

1664– Roger Williams is granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island

1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach opens his Brandenburgse Concerts

1765 – Britain enacts Quartering Act, required colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers

1792 – Benjamin West (US) becomes president of Royal Academy of London

1832 – Mormon Joseph Smith beaten, tarred & feathered in Ohio

1848 – State of siege proclaimed in Amsterdam

1878 – British frigate Eurydice sunk; 300 lost

1880 – Tobacco Growers’ Mutual Insurance Company incorporates in CT

1894 – 37 miners killed at Franklin, WA

1898 – 1st automobile sold

1900 – New York City Mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground “Rapid Transit Railroad” that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.

1910 – 83°F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in March

1920 – 1st US coast guard air station established (Morehead City NC)

1922 – Grand National at Aintree sees only 3 horses out of 32 starters finish

1930 – Planet Pluto named

1932 – 1st US radio broadcast from a moving train (Belle Baker WABC from MD)

1934 – U.S. Congress passes the Tydings-McDuffie Act.

1937 – National Gallery of Art established by Congress

1944 – 76 Allied officers escape Stalag Luft 3 (Great Escape)

1944 – 811 British bombers attack Berlin

1945 – Gen Eisenhower, Montgomery & Bradley discuss advance in Germany

1945 – Largest one-day airborne drop, 600 transports & 1300 gliders

1947 – Congress proposes 2-term limitation on the presidency

1949 – Walter & John Huston become 1st father-and-son team to win an Oscar

1950 – US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Yvonne C Sherman

1950 – US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button

1955 – 1st seagoing oil drill rig placed in service

1955 – British Army patrols withdraw from Belfast after 20 years

1958 – Elvis Presley joins the army (serial number 53310761)

1960 – US appeals court rules novel, “Lady Chatterly’s Lover,” not obscene

1964 – Kennedy half-dollar issued

1965 – US Ranger 9 strikes Moon, 10 miles (16 km) NE of crater Alphonsus

1966 – Selective Service announces college deferments based on performance

1967 – U of Mich holds 1st “Teach-in” after bombing of North Vietnam

1979 – Columbia flown on carrier aircraft lands at Kennedy Space Center

1986 – US & Libya clash in Gulf of Sidra

1989 – Worst US oil spill, Exxon’s Valdez spills 11.3 mil gallons off Alaska

1992 – 1st Belgium in the space, Dirk Frimout on Atlantis Space Shuttle STS-45 (Atlantis 11) launches into space

1994 – F-16 collides with C-130 Hercules above AFB in NC, 120 die

1994 – Robert F Kennedy Jr divorces Emily Black

1998 – Jonesboro massacre: Two students, ages 11 and 13, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are dead and ten are wounded.

1999 – Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire: 39 people die when a Belgian transport truck carrying flour and margarine caught fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel.

2003 – The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.

2012 – African Union deploys 5,000 strong force with the aim of catching or killing warlord Joseph Kony

 

 

 

Births

1188 – Ferrand of Portugal, earl of Flanders/son of Sancho I

1441 – Ernst I, elector of Saxon (1464-86)

1494 – Georgius Agricola, Germany, mineralogist (De Re Metallica)

1607 – Michiel A de Ruyter, Dutch rear admiral (St Vincent, Dune)

1657 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese writer and politician (d. 1725)

1693 – John Harrison, British clockmaker (d. 1776)

1725 – Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman and acting Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1788)

1755 – Rufus King, framer of US constitution

1809 – Joseph Liouville, France, discover of transcendental numbers

1814 – Galen Clark, US, naturalist/discovered Mariposa Grove

1820 – A. E. Becquerel, French physicist (d. 1891)

1821 – [George] Hector Tyndale, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)

1829 – Ignacio Zaragoza, Mexican general (d. 1862)

1834 – John Wesley Powell, US, geologist/explorer/ethnologist

1848 – Honoré Beaugrand, Quebec journalist and newspaper publisher (La Patrie) (d. 1906)

1855 – Andrew W Mellon, founder (Mellon Bank)/US Sec of Treasury

1866 – Jack McAuliffe, US lightweight boxing champ, hall of famer

 

 

 

1874 – Harry Houdini, [Erich Weiss], Budapest, magician/escape artist

 

 

 

 

1884 – Peter Debye, Holland, physical chemist (Nobel 1936)

1885 – Charlie Daniels, US swimmer (Olympics-4 gold-1904, 08)

1886 – Edward Weston, American photographer (d. 1958)

1887 – Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, San Jose CA, actor (Keystone comedies)

1891 – Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov, Soviet physicist (d. 1951)

1895 – Arthur Murray, dancer (Arthur Murray’s Dance Party)

1901 – Ub Iwerks, American cartoonist (d. 1971)

1902 – Thomas E Dewey, Oh, 1st Catholic Pres candidate 1944, 1948 (R)

1903 – Adolph F J Butenandt, German bio-chemist (Nobel 1939)

1903 – Malcolm Muggeridge, English writer (Observer of Life)

1906 – John Cameron Swayze, news correspondent/spokesman (Timex) [OS]

1907 – Janet Harmon Bragg, US pilot/columnist (Chicago Defender)

1907 – Lauris Norstad, US gen (NATO commander)/CEO (Owens-Corning Fiberglass)

1907 – Lucia Chase, US ballerina/co-founder (American Ballet Theater)

 

 

 

1909 – Clyde Barrow, bank robber (Bonnie & Clyde fame)

 

 

 

 

 

1911 – Joseph Barbera, animator (Hanna-Barbera)

1914 – Lilli Palmer, Posen Germany, actress (Boys From Brazil, Sebastian)

1915 – Gorgeous George, American professional wrestler (d. 1963)

1916 – Donald Hamilton, Swedish-American novelist (d. 2006)

1917 – John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1997)

1919 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, US, beat poet (Coney Island of the Mind)

1919 – Robert Heilbroner, American economist (d. 2005

1922 – Dave Appell, singer/musician/songwriter (In the Midnight Hour)

1923 – Edna Jo Hunter, expert on military families & prisoners of war

1923 – Murray Hamilton, Washington NC, actor (Rich Man Poor Man)

1924 – Norman Fell, Phila, actor (Mr Roper-3’s Company, The End, Graduate)

1926 – Dario Fo, Leggiuno Sangiano VA, playwright (Nobel-1997)

 

 

 

1930 – Steve McQueen, Slater Mo, actor (Wanted, Dead or Alive, Blob, Bullitt)

 

Videos

 

 

 

 

 

1931 – Thelma Kalama, US, 4 X 100m relay swimmer (Olympic-gold-1948)

1932 – William Smith, Columbia Mo, actor (Rich Man Poor Man, Hawaii 5-0)

1936 – David Suzuki, Canadian scientist and environmentalist

1943 – Jesus Alou, baseball outfielder (SF Giants)

1943 – Marika Kilius, German FR, ice skating pair (Olympic-silver-1960, 64)

1944 – Denny McLain, baseball pitcher (Detroit Tigers, 31 wins in 1968)

 

 

 

1944 – R. Lee Ermey, Gunny, American actor

 

 

 

 

1945 – Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist

1946 – Lee Oskar, Denmark, rock harmonicist (War-Why Can’t We Be Friends)

1946 – Paul Williams, climber

1947 – Alan Sugar, English multi-millionaire/computer manufacturer (Amstrad)

1947 – Mike Kellie, rock drummer (Spooky Tooth-It’s All About)

1949 – Steve Lang, Montreal Canada, rock bassist (April Wine)

1949 – Nick Lowe, England, rock vocalist (Rockpile-Cruel to be Kind)

1951 – Dougie Thompson, rocker (Supertramp-Bloody Well Right)

1951 – Kenneth S Reightler Jr, Patuxent R Md, Cmdr USN/astro (STS 48, 60)

1954 – Donna Pescow, Brooklyn, actress (Angie, Out of this World, Rainbow)

1954 – Robert Carradine, LA California, actor (Slim-The Cowboys, Wavelength)

1957 – Scott J Horowitz, Phila Pa, PhD/Capt USAF/astronaut (STS 75, 82)

1959 – Renaldo Nehemiah, US, hurdler (110m at 12.93)/NFLer (SF 49ers)

1960 – Kelly LeBrock, NYC, actress (Weird Science, Woman in Red)

1960 – Nena, German pop singer

1962 – Star Jones, attorney/TV hostess (NBC, Inside Edition)

1965 – Angela Zuckerman, St Louis Mo, speed skater (Olympics-1994)

1967 – Kathy Rinaldi-Stunkel, Fla, tennis player (Virginia Slims of Ark 1987)

1967 – Richard Gillam, Atlanta Ga, pairs skater (& Erin Moorad)

1969 – Yoko Zetterlund, SF California, volleyball setter (Olympics-bronze-92, 96)

1970 – Lara Flynn Boyle, Davenport Iowa, actress (Donna Hayward-Twin Peaks)

1973 – Josh Lakatos, Pasadena California, trap shooter (Olympics-silver-1996)

1974 – Chad Butler, American drummer (Switchfoot)

1976 – Danielle Garrett, Camp Hill Penn, soccer forward (Olympics-96)

1979 – Lake Bell, American actress

1985 – Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and model

1986 – Kohei Hirate, Japanese racing driver

 

 

Deaths

809 – Harun al-Rashid, caliph of the Abbasid empire (786-809), dies at 44

1284 – King Hugh III of Cyprus

1381 – Saint Catharine of Sweden, Swedish saint

1396 – Walter Hilton, English mystic

1455 – Nicholas V, [Tommaso Parentucelli], Italian Pope (1447-55), dies at 57

 

 

 

1471 – Thomas Malory, author (Le Morte d’Arthur), dies at 55

 

 

 

 

 

1563 – Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese military leader (b. 1514)

1603 – Elizabeth I Tudor, [Virgin Queen], of England and Ireland (1558-1603), dies at 69

1635 – Jacques Callot, French cartoonist/engraver, dies at about 42

1661 – William Leddra, last Quaker, hanged in Boston

1773 – Philip Dormer Stanhope, English statesman (b. 1694)

1776 – John Harrison, English clockmaker (b. 1693)

1877 – Walter Bagehot, English economist/critic/banker, dies at 51

1882 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, US poet (Song of Hiawatha), dies at 75

 

1905 – Jules Verne, sci-fi author (Around the World in 80 Days), dies at 77

 

See Also : Happy Birthday Jules Verne

 

 

1915 – Karol Olszewski, Polish scientist (b. 1846)

1945 – J S Nicklin, Lt-Col/Canada’s 1st parachutist, dies

1945 – Thomas Rennie, Gen-Maj (Dutch command 51st Highland Division), dies

1946 – Alexander A Aljechin, world chess champ (1927-35, 37-46), dies at 53

1950 – James Rudolph Garfield, American politician (b. 1865)

1964 – Peter Lorre, Hungarian/US actor (Maltese Falcon, Raven), dies at 59

 

1976 – Bernard L Montgomery, British general, defeated Rommel, dies at 88

 

 

 

 

1980 – Oscar Romero, archbishop of San Salvador, murdered during mass

1982 – Ace Goodman, KC Mo, comedian (Easy Aces), dies at 83

1990 – An Wang, computer manufacturer (Wang), dies at 70 of cancer

1990 – Ray Goulding, comedian (Bob & Ray), dies of kidney failure at 68

1993 – John Hersey, Pulitzer prize author (Hiroshima), dies at 78

1995 – Joey Long, blues/cajun guitarist, dies at 62

1997 – Martin Caidin, American aviation writer (b. 1927)

2002 – César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)

2008 – Chalmers “Spanky” Alford‎, American guitarist (b. 1955)

2008 – Neil Aspinall, British record producer (b. 1941)

2008 – Richard Widmark, American actor (b. 1914)

2010 – Jim Marshall, American photographer (b. 1936)

2010 – Robert Culp, American actor (b. 1930)

2010 – Johnny Maestro, American singer (b. 1939)

2012 – Jocky Wilson, Scottish world champion darts player, dies at 62

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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