Today In The Past
Events
502 – Bourgundy King Gundobar delegates royal power
1461 – Battle near Towton Field, 33,000 die (War of the Roses)
1549 – The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded.
1638 – 1st permanent white settlement in Delaware (Swedish Lutherans)
1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm’s Royal Opera just 13 days earlier. He is succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.
1795 – Beethoven (24) debuts as pianist in Vienna
1798 – Republic of Switzerland forms
1804 – Thousands of Whites massacred in Haiti
1806 – Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway.
1827 – 20,000 attend Ludwig von Beethovens burial in Vienna
1847 – 12,000 US troops capture Vera Cruz, Mexico
1848 – Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam
1849 – Great Britain formally annexs Punjab after defeat of Sikhs in India
1850 – Ireland’s SS Royal Adelaide sinks in storm; 200 die
1852 – Ohio makes it illegal for children under 18 & women to work more than 10 hours a day
1864 – Union General Steeles troops reach Arkadelphia Arkansas
1865 – -Apr 9th], Appomattox campaign, VA , 7582 killed
1865 – Battle of Quaker Road, VA
1867 – Congress approves Lincoln Memorial
1882 – Knights of Columbus chartered for Catholic men
1886 – Chemist John Pemberton begins to advertise for Coca-Coke
1912 – Capt Robert Scott, storm-bound in a tent near South Pole, makes last entry in his diary “the end cannot be far”
1930 – Heinrich Brüning is appointed German Reichskanzler.
1932 – Jack Benny debuts on radio, on Ed Sullivan’s New York interview program
1935 – French liner Normandie begins its maiden voyage
1936 – 10,000 watch the 200″ mirror blank passing through Indianapolis
1940 – Joe Louis KOs Johnny Paycheck in 2 to retain heavyweight boxing title
1942 – British cruiser Trinidad torpedoes itself in the Barents Sea
1942 – British destroyer Campbeltown explodes in St-Nazaire: 400 Germans die
1942 – The Bombing of Lübeck in World War II was the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city.
1943 – Meat, butter & cheese rationed in US during WW II
1943 – Meat rationed in US (784 gram/week, 2 kilogram for GI’s
1945 – World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England.
1949 – Turkey recognizes Israel
1951 – Julius & Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of spying
1958 – US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Carol Heiss
1958 – US Mens Figure Skating championship won by David Jenkins
1959 – “Some Like it Hot” with Marilyn Monroe & Jack Lemmon premieres
1961 – 23rd Amendment ratified, allows Wash DC residents to vote for pres
1966 – Muhammad Ali beats George Chuvalo in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1971 – 1st Lt William L Calley Jr found guilty in My Lai (Vietnam) massacre
1971 – Chile president Allende nationalizes banks/copper mines
1973 – US troops leave Vietnam, 9 yrs after Tonkin Resolution
1974 – Mariner 10’s, 1st fly-by of Mercury, returns photos
1976 – 8 Ohio National Guardsmen indicted for shooting 4 Kent State students
1981 – Tiina Lehtola ski jumps female record 110m
1984 – NFL Baltimore Colts move to Indianapolis
1985 – Wayne Gretzky breaks own NHL season record with 126th assist
1987 – Wrestlemania III-93,173 watch Hulk Hogan beat Andre the Giant
1989 – 1st US private commercial rocket makes suborbital test flight (NM)
1989 – I M Pei’s pyramidal entrance to the Louvre opens in Paris
1989 – Michael Milken, junk bond king, indicted in NY for racketeering
1992 – Ice Dance Championship at Oakland won by Klimova & Ponomarenko (CIS)
1992 – Ice Pairs Championship at Oakland won by Mishuktienok & Dmitriev (CIS)
1992 – Ladies Fig Skating Championship in Oak won by Kristi Yamaguchi (USA)
1992 – Men’s Fig Skating Championship in Oakland won by Viktor Petrenko (CIS)
1999 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 10006.78 – above the 10,000 mark for the first time ever.
2004 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members.
2004 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
2010 – Two female suicide bombers hit the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour, killing 40.
Births
1484 – Johann Spangenberg, composer
1519 – Carlo Caraffa, Italian cardinal
1553 – Vitsentzos Kornaros, Greek Renaissance poet (d. 1613 or 1614)
1561 – Santorio Sanctorius, Trieste Italy, physician/burned at stake/heretic
1584 – Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general (d. 1648)
1602 – John Lightfoot, English theologist/literary (Horae Hebraicae)
1668 – Thomas Coram, Founder of the Foundling Hospital (d. 1751)
1790 – John Tyler, Va, (D/W) 10th Pres (1841-1845)
1816 – James Gallant Spears, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1869
1819 – Edwin Drake, drilled 1st productive US oil well
1821 – Joshua Thomas Owen, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1887
1824 – Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (d. 1899)
1829 – Ritta & Christina, Siamese twins, in Sardinia
1829 – Robert Emmet Rodes, Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1864
1867 – Cy [Denton True] Young, Gilmore Ohio, baseball pitcher (511 wins, 1890-1911). Died 1955
1869 – Ales Hrdlicka, US, anthropologist/curator (US National Museum)
1869 – Edwin Lutyens, architect, London
1900 – Bill Aston, British racing driver (d. 1974)
1911 – Philip Ahn, LA California, actor (Master Kan-Kung Fu)
1916 – Eugene J McCarthy, Watkins Minn, (Sen-D-Minn, pres candidate 1968)
1917 – Man O’War, racehorse (winner of 20 out of 21 races & $249,465)
1918 – Pearl Bailey, Newport News Va, singer (Hello Dolly)
1918 – Sam Walton, billionaire CEO (Wal-Mart) (d. 1992)
1927 – John McLaughlin, TV commentator (McLaughlin Group)
1928 – Vincent Gigante, American mafioso (d. 2005)
1931 – Evelyn de Rothschild, English banker/multi-millionaire
1932 – William Charette, Ludington, Michigan, United States Navy Hospital Corpsman and Medal of Honor recipient, (d. 2012)
1937 – Billy Carter, Plains Georgia, brother of Pres Carter
1939 – Nancy Kwan, Hong Kong, actress (Flower Drum Song, Night Creature)
1943 – Eric Idle, England, comedian/actor (Monty Python)
1943 – Vangelis, [Papathanasiou], composer/keyboardist (Chariots of Fire)
1943 – Sir John Major, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1945 – Walt “Clyde” Frazier, NBA guard (NY Knicks)
1947 – Bobby Kimball, [Robert Toteaux], Vinton LA, rocker (Toto-Roseann)
1948 – Bud Cort, New Rochelle NY, actor/director (Electric Dreams, M*A*S*H)
1949 – Michael Brecker, rocker (Brecker Brothers)
1952 – Teofilo Stevenson, Cuba, heavyweight boxer (Olympic-gold-1972, 76, 80), (d. 2012)
1954 – Karen Anne Quinlan, NJ, famous comatose patient (right to die case)
1955 – Earl Campbell, NFL running back (Houston, New Orleans, 1977 Heisman)
1956 – Kurt Thomas, US, gymnist (Olympics), actor (Gymkata)
1959 – Marina Sirtis, London, actress (Troi-Star Trek: The Next Generation)
1959 – Perry Farrell, American musician, (Jane’s Addiction, Porno For Pyros)
1961 – Amy Sedaris, American actress and comedian
1961 – Gary Brabham, Australian racing driver
1964 – Elle MacPherson, Sydney, Austrailian super model and actress (Sirens)
1964 – Jill Goodacre Connick, Lubbock Texas, model (Victoria Secrets)
1967 – John Popper, American musician
1968 – Sue Foley, Canadian singer and guitarist
1968 – Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer
1973 – Brad Bridgewater, US, 200m backstroke (Olympics-gold-96)
1976 – Jennifer Capriati, Long Is NY, tennis pro (Oly-gold-92)
Deaths
1058 – Stephen IX, [Frederik van Lotharingen], 1st Belgium Pope (1057-58), dies
1368 – Emperor Go-Murakami, Emperor of Japan (b. 1328)
1461 – Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b. 1421)
1546 – Cardinal Beaton, English archbishop of St Andrews, murdered
1578 – Arthur Champernowne, English admiral (b. 1524)
1625 – Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Spanish historian (b. 1549)
1650 – Cornelis Galle I, Flemish engraver, dies at about 73
1683 – Yaoya Oshichi, a young girl burned at the stake for arson in 17th Century Japan (b. 1667)
1745 – Robert Walpole, 1st British premier (1722-42), dies at 68
1751 – Thomas Coram, English sea captain and philanthropist
1772 – Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish philosopher and mathematician (b. 1688)
1792 – Gustav III, King of Sweden (1771-92), dies of wounds
1794 – Marie-J-A-N C Condorcet, mathematician (Theory of Comets), dies at 50
1800 – Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer and writer (b. 1714)
1848 – John Jacob Astor, charted American Fur Company, dies at 84
1873 – Francesco Zantedeschi, Italian physicist (b. 1797)
1891 – Georges Seurat, French painter (Pointillism), dies at 31
1912 – Robert Falcon Scott, British pole explorer, dies in Antarctica at 43
1934 – Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire and benefactor (b. 1867)
1945 – Karl T Sapper, German geographer/geologist (Vulkankunde), dies at 79
1980 – … Mantovani, orchestra leader (Mantovani), dies at 74
1982 – Nathan Twining, USAF general (b. 1897)
1990 – Germaine Montenesdro, 2nd victim of NYC’s Zodiac killer, shot dead
1991 – Lee Atwater, political strategists (R), dies of brain tumor at 40
1994 – Paul Grimault, animator, dies at 89
1995 – James Eric Storrar, fighter Pilot, dies at 74
1999 – Joe Williams, American singer (b. 1918)
2001 – John Lewis, American jazz pianist (b. 1920)
2005 – Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer (b. 1937)
2005 – Mitch Hedberg, American comedian (b. 1968)
2007 – Calvin Lockhart, Bahamian actor (b. 1934)
2009 – Maurice Jarre, French composer (b.1924)
2012 – Bill Jenkins, American Hall of Fame drag racer and engineer, dies at 81
—
