Today In The Past
Events
1027 – John XIX crowns Conrad II the Salier Roman German emperor
1147 – Jewish community in Cologne fast to commemorate anti-Jewish violence
1150 – Tichborne family of Hampshire England started tradition of giving a Gallon of flour to each resident to keep deathbed promise
1484 – William Caxton printed his translation of Aesop’s Fables.
1526 – King Francois I returns Spanish captivity to France
1552 – Guru Amar Das becomes the Third Sikh Guru.
1668 – England takes control of Bombay India
1780 – 1st British Sunday newspaper appears (Brit Gazette & Sunday Monitor)
1790 – Congress passes Naturalization Act, requires 2-year residency
1799 – Napolean captures Jaffa Palestine
1804 – Congress orders removal of Indians east of Mississippi to Louisiana
1804 – Territory of Orleans organizes in Louisiana Purchase
1812 – Earthquake destroys 90% of Caracas Venezuela; about 20,000 die
1830 – The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, New York.
1839 – 1st Henley Royal Regatta
1845 – Joseph Francis, NYC, patents a corrugated sheet-iron lifeboat
1845 – Patent awarded for adhesive medicated plaster, precusor of bandaid
1859 – 1st sighting of Vulcan, a planet thought to orbit inside Mercury
1872 – Thomas J Martin patents fire extinguisher
1878 – Sabi Game Reserve, world’s 1st official designated game reserve, opens
1885 – Eastman Film Co manufactures 1st commercial motion picture film
1886 – 1st cremation in England
1910 – US forbid immigration to criminals, anarchists, paupers & the sick
1913 – Bulgaria captures Adrianople, ending the 1st Balkan War
1913 – Dayton, Ohio almost destroyed when Scioto, Miami, & Muskingum River reach flood stage simultaneously
1916 – Birdman of Alcatraz receives solitary
1930 – Congress appropriates $50,000 for Inter-American highway
1936 – 200″ telescope lens shipped, Corning Glass Works, NY-Cal Tech
1936 – Mary Joyce ends a 1,000 mile trip by dog in Alaska
1937 – Spinach growers of Crystal City, Tx, erect statue of Popeye
1942 – 20 tons of gelignite in a stone quarry at Easton Pa, kills 21
1942 – German offensive in North-Africa under Col-general Rommel
1943 – 1st woman to receive air medal (US army nurse Elsie S Ott)
1943 – Battle of Komandorski Islands, Pacific Ocean
1944 – 705 British bombers attack Essen
1945 – Generals Eisenhower/Bradley/Patton attack at Remagen the Rhine
1945 – Japanese resistance ends on Iwo Jima
1945 – Kamikaze attack on US battle fleet near Kerama Retto
1945 – US 7th Army crosses Rhine at Worms
1953 – Dr Jonas Salk announces vaccine to prevent polio[myelitis]
1954 – US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
1955 – “Ballad of Davy Crockett,” becomes the #1 record in US
1956 – Red Buttons debuts on TV in Studio One
1958 – 30th Academy Awards-“Bridge over River Kwai,” Lean & Guinness win
1958 – US Army launched America’s third successful satellite, “Explorer III”
1960 – Iraq executes 30 after attack on Pres Kassem
1965 – A truck loses control down Moosic Street, Scranton, Pennsylvania, killing the driver. This accident later inspired the 1974 Harry Chapin song, “30,000 Pounds of Bananas.”
1969 – Marcus Welby MD, a TV movie is shown on ABC-TV
1970 – Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul & Mary) plead guilty to “taking immoral liberties” with a 14 year old girl
1971 – “Benny Hill Show” tops TV ratings
1973 – Soap “Young & Restless” premieres
1974 – George Foreman TKOs Ken Norton in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
1975 – The Biological Weapons Convention enters into force.
1977 – Elvis Costello releases his 1st record “Less Than Zero”
1980 – Bombay gets its 1st rock concert in 10 years (The Police)
1986 – Geffen records signs Guns & Roses
1988 – Janet B Evans swims 1500m freestyle female world record (15:52.10)
1989 – 1st free elections in USSR; 190 M votes cast; Boris Yeltsin wins
1992 – Mike Tyson sentenced to 10 years in rape of Desiree Washington
1994 – Bonnie Blair skates world record 500 m ladies (38.99 sec)
1994 – Gunda Niemann skates world record 5 km ladies (7:03.26)
1994 – Gunda Niemann skates un-official world record 10 km ladies (14:22.60)
1994 – Yuka Sato of Japan wins world figure skating championship in Tokyo
1996 – The International Monetary Fund approves a $10.2 billion loan for Russia.
1997 – Thirty-nine bodies found in the Heaven’s Gate cult suicides.
1998 – Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria; 52 people killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of 2.
1999 – The “Melissa worm” infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world.
1999 – A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.
2006 – In Scotland, the prohibition of smoking in all substantially enclosed public places comes into force.
2006 – The military junta ruling Burma officially named Naypyidaw, a new city in Mandalay Division, as the new capital. Yangon had formerly been the nation’s capital.
2012 – Canadian Film maker, James Cameron, becomes the first person to visit Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth in over 50 years
Births
603 – Pacal II ruler of the Maya polity of Palenque
1479 – Vasili III, great prince of Moscow (1505-33)/son of Ivan III
1516 – Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (d. 1565)
1554 – Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, French military leader (d. 1611)
1577 – Elisabeth of Nassau, daughter of Willem I & Charlotte of Bourbon
1698 – Václav Prokop Diviš, Czech theologian and natural scientist (d. 1765)
1749 – William Blount, American Statesman (d. 1800)
1753 – Benjamin Thompson, physicist (Royal Inst of Great Britain, Woburn MA)
1773 – Nathaniel Bowditch, mathematician/astronomer/author (Marine Sextant)
1813 – Thomas West Sherman, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1879
1817 – Herman Haupt, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1905
1874 – Robert Frost, SF, poet (Mending Wall, Road Not Taken)
1875 – Syngman Rhee, pres of South Korea (1948-60) [or Apr 26]
1879 – Othmar Ammann, Swiss bridge engineer (d. 1965)
1880 – Duncan Hines, US, restaurant guide writer (Out of Kentucky Kitchens)
1885 – Robert Blackburn, British aviation pioneer
1886 – Hugh Mulzac, America military officer (d. 1971)
1904 – Joseph Campbell, mythologist (Mythic Image)
1911 – Bernard Katz, biophysicist
1911 – Tennessee Williams, Columbus Miss, playwright (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)
1916 – Sterling Hayden, NJ, actor (Dr Strangelove, Asphalt Jungle, Cobra)
1917 – Rufus Thomas, Miss, blues singer (Walking the Dog)
1919 – Strother Martin, Kokomo Ind, actor (Cool Hand Luke, Slapshot)
1921 – George Jefferson, CEO (British Telecom)
1921 – Peter Horsley, CEO (Osprey Aviation)
1923 – Bob Elliott, American comedian
1925 – Pierre Boulez, Montbrison France, composer/conductor (Visage Nuptial)
1930 – Gregory Corso, beat poet (Happy Birthday of Death, Long Live Man)
1930 – Sandra Day O’Connor, Texas, 1st woman Supreme Court Justice (1981- )
1931 – Leonard Nimoy, Boston, actor (Spock-Star Trek, Mission Impossible)
1934 – Alan Arkin, NYC, actor (Catch 22, In-Laws, Simon, Wait Until Dark)
1934 – Gino Cappelletti, ORFU, AFL running back (AFL Player of Year 1964)
1935 – Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestine National Authority
1936 – Fred Paris, rocker (Five Satins)
1938 – Anthony James Leggett, American physicist, Nobel laureate
1940 – James Caan, Bronx NY, American actor (Misery, Godfather)
1941 – Richard Dawkins, British evolutionary biologist
1942 – Erica Jong, [Mann], NYC, author (Fear of Flying)
1943 – Robert Woodward, investigative reporter (Watergate, CIA crimes)
1944 – Diana Ross, [Earle], Detroit, (Supremes, Lady Sings Blues, Mahogany)
1945 – Mikhail Voronin, USSR, horse vault gymnist (Olympic-gold-1968)
1947 – Dar Robinson, American stuntman (d. 1986)
1948 – Richard Tandy, rock bassist (ELO)
1948 – Steven Tyler, NYC, rock vocalist (Aerosmith-Janie Got a Gun)
1949 – Fran Sheehan, rock bassist (Boston-More than a Feeling)
1949 – Vicki Lawrence, Inglewood Ca, actress (Carol Burnette, Mama’s Family)
1950 – Martin Short, Hamilton Ontario, comedian (SNL, SCTV, 3 Amigos)
1950 – Teddy Pendergrass, Phila, singer (Turn Off the Lights)
1950 – Tony Papenfuss, Minneapolis Minn, (Daryl–Newhart)
1950 – Alan Silvestri, American film score composer
1952 – Didier Pironi, French Formula One driver (d. 1987)
1953 – Elaine Chao, U.S. Secretary of Labor
1954 – Curtis Sliwa, founder (Guardian Angels)/radio personality (WABC)
1956 – Tatyana Kochergina, USSR, team handball (Olympic-gold-1976, 80)
1957 – Leeza Gibbons, SC, TV host (Entertainment Tonight, Leeza)
1962 – John Stockton, Spokane Wash, NBA guard (Utah Jazz, Olympics-gold-96)
1963 – Rebecca Twigg, Seattle Wash, 79K cyclist (Olympic-silver-1984, 92, 96)
1964 – Martin Donnelly, Irish racecar driver
1964 – Baz Warne, English Guitarist (The Stranglers)
1968 – Kenny Chesney, American, Country singer
1968 – James Iha, American musician (The Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle)
1968 – Laurent Brochard, French cyclist
1971 – Behzad Ghorbani, Iranian zoologist and sociobiologist
1973 – Lawrence E. Page, American search engine pioneer
1976 – Amy Smart, American actress
1985 – Keira Knightley, London, English actress (Bend It Like Beckham, Pirates of the Caribbean)
1986 – Jessica McClure, baby trapped in Texas well in 1988
Deaths
304 – Saint Emmanuel, Christian martyr killed under Diocletian
752 – Stephen II, Catholic Pope (3/22-26/752), dies
809 – Liudger, missionary/1st bishop of Munster/saint, dies at about 66
1130 – King Sigurd I of Norway (b. ca. 1090)
1212 – Sancho I, King of Portugal (1185-1212), dies at 58
1258 – Floris, the Guardian, count-regent of Holland, dies
1350 – Alfonso XI, King of Castile & Leon, dies
1535 – Georg Tannstetter, Austrian scientist (b. 1482)
1649 – John Winthrop, Puritan & 1st Governor (Mass), dies
1697 – Godfrey McCulloch, Scottish politician and murderer (executed) (b. 1640)
1776 – Samuel Ward, American politician (b. 1725)
1797 – James Hutton, geologist, dies
1814 – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, namesake of the guillotine (b. 1738)
1827 – Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (Appassionata), dies at 56
1858 – John Addison Thomas, American soldier (b. 1811)
1865 – Thomas Hancock, pioneer of rubber industry (Stoke Newington), dies
1892 – Walt Whitman, poet, dies in Camden, NJ at 72
1902 – Cecil Rhodes, Prime Minister of Cape Colony (1890-96) dies at 48
1905 – Maurice Barrymore, actor; patriarch of the Barrymore family (b. 1849)
1910 – Auguste Charlois, French astronomer (b. 1864)
1910 – An Jung-geun, Korean assassin of Ito Hirobumi (executed) (b. 1879)
1923 – Sarah Bernhardt, [Henriette], actress (Queen Elizabeth), dies at 77
1940 – Spiridon Louis, Greek runner, winner of the first modern Olympics marathon (b. 1873)
1942 – Jimmy Burke, American baseball player (b. 1874)
1945 – David Lloyd George, British (L) premier (1916-22), dies at 82
1945 – Isaack Stouten, resistance fighter, shot to death at 29
1948 – Helen Ernst, German poster artist/resistance fighter, dies at about 43
1959 – Raymond T Chandler, US detective writer (Long Goodbye), dies at 71
1962 – Marjorie Colton, inventor of wax paper, dies at 64
1973 – Noel Coward, English playwright (Private Letters), dies at 73
1981 – Cyril Dean Darlington, biologist (hereditary mechanisms), dies at 77
1983 – Anthony F Blunt, British art historian/spy for USSR, dies at 75
1990 – International Chrysis, Transvestite actor (Q&A), dies of cancer at 38
1993 – Luis Falco, US choreographer (Fame, Angel Heart), dies at 50
1996 – David Packard, electronic engineer/businessman, dies at 83
1997 – Marshall Applewhite, American cult leader (b. 1931)
2000 – Alex Comfort, American author (b. 1920)
2002 – Randy Castillo, American drummer (Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe) (b. 1950)
2003 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator (b. 1927)
2005 – Paul Hester, Australian drummer (Split Enz and Crowded House) (b. 1959)
2006 – Paul Dana, American race car driver (b. 1975)
2006 – Nikki Sudden, British singer/songwriter (b. 1956)
2011 – Diana Wynne Jones, British fantasy writer (b. 1934)
2011 – Paul Baran, internet pioneer who helped create the technical underpinnings of Arpanet, dies at 84
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