Today In The Past
Events
419 – [Etalius] ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1043 – Edward the Confessor crowned king of England
1077 – The first Parliament of Friuli is created.
1312 – 2nd council of Vienna
1376 – Battle of Navarrete (Najera), English beat France
1559 – Spain & France signs 2nd Treaty of Le Cateau-Cambrésis
1657 – English Lord Protector Cromwell refuses crown
1679 – Edmund Halley meets Johannes Hevelius in Danzig
1721 – Robert Walpole becomes England’s 1st Lord of the Treasury
1776 – Washington receives honorary Ll.D. degree from Harvard College
1783 – Sweden & US sign a treaty of Amity & Commerce
1790 – Revenue Marine Service (US Coast Guard), created (3rd or 4th)
1856 – Gunpowder in church explodes killing 4,000 in Rhodos
1860 – Pony Express began between St Joseph Mo & Sacramento Calif
1864 – Skirmish at Okolona, Arkansas
1865 – Battle at Namozine Church, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign)
1865 – Union forces occupy Confederate capital of Richmond Va & Petersberg
1868 – An Hawaiian surfs on highest wave ever, he rides a 50′ tidal wave
1882 – Wood block alarm invented, when alarm rang, it dropped 20 wood blocks
1882 – American Old West: Outlaw Jesse James is killed by Robert Ford.
1908 – Frank Gotch wins world heavyweight wrestling championship in 2 hrs
1910 – Highest mountain in North America, Alaska’s Mt McKinley climbed
1913 – British suffragette Emily Pankhurst sentenced to 3 years in jail
1918 – House of Reps accepts American Creed written by William Tyler
1925 – Great Britain goes back to gold standard
1927 – Interstate Commerce Comm transfers Ohio to Eastern time zone
1929 – RMS Queen Mary is ordered from John Brown & Company Shipbuilding and Engineering by Cunard Line.
1933 – 1st airplane flight over Mt Everest
1933 – Then longest North American hockey game requires a 1:44:46 overtime as Maple Leaf Ken Doraty scores to beat Canadiens 1-0
1935 – Yasuo Ikenada runs world record marathon (2:26:44)
1936 – Al Carr KOs Lew Massey on 1 punch, :07 of 1st round
1936 – Shortest boxing bout with gloves lasts only 10 seconds
1941 – Churchill warns Stalin of German invasion
1944 – British dive bombers attack battle cruiser Tirpitz
1944 – Supreme Court (Smith v Allwright) “white primaries” unconstitutional
1945 – Hengelo freed from nazi control by Canadian army
1945 – Nazi’s begin evacuation of camp Buchenwald
1945 – US 1st army conquers Hofgeismar
1948 – 1st US figure skating championships held
1948 – Harry Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan ($5B aid to 16 European countries)
1948 – US female Figure Skating championship won by Gretchen Merrill
1948 – US male Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
1954 – Don Perry climbs a 20′ rope in under 2.8 seconds (AAU record)
1956 – Hudsonville-Standale Tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado.
1958 – Fidel Castro’s rebels attacked Havana
1962 – Jockey Eddie Arcaro retires after 31 years (24,092 races)
1962 – Lt General Marshall S Carter, USA, becomes deputy director of CIA
1965 – 1st atomic powered spacecraft (snap) launched
1966 – Tom Seaver, signs with the Mets for a reported $50,000 bonus
1967 – 113 East Europeans attending World Amateur hockey championships in Vienna, ask for political asylum
1968 – N Vietnam agrees to meet US reps to set up preliminary peace talks
1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to “Vietnamize” the war effort.
1970 – Miriam Hargrave of England passes her drivers test on 40th try
1973 – The first portable cell phone call is made in New York City, United States.
1974 – 148 tornadoes are reported over an area covering a dozen states
1974 – Gold hits record $197 an ounce in Paris
1974 – The Super Outbreak occurs, the biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history. The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.
1975 – Bobby Fischer stripped of world chess title for refusing to defend
1977 – Egyptian Pres Anwar Sadat 1st meeting with President Jimmy Carter
1981 – Arnie Boldt of Saskatchewan jumped 6′ 8.25,” with 1 leg
1981 – Race riots in London’s Brixton area
1984 – Soyuz T-11 carries 3 cosmonauts (1 Indian-Rakesh Sharma) to Salyut 7
1985 – Vic Elliot pocketed 15,780 pool balls in 24 hours in London
1986 – US national debt hits $2,000,000,000,000
1987 – Bill Elliott sets NASCAR qualify record of 212.809 mph at Talladega
1988 – 7th NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: Louisiana Tec beat Auburn 56-54
1988 – Mario Lemieux wins NHL scoring title, stopping Gretzky’s 7 year streak
1991 – Bo Jackson signs 1-year contract with Chicago White Sox
1991 – UN Security Council adopts Gulf War truce resolution
1994 – 1st roster of Silver Bullets (all-female pro baseball team) announced
1997 – Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
2004 – Islamic terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves.
2007 – Conventional-Train World Speed Record: a French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record.
2012 – Spanish unemployment reaches record high, youth unemployment stands at 50%
Births
1151 – Igor Svyatoslavich, Ukrainian prince (d. 1202)
1245 – Philips III, the Stout, King of France (1270-85)
1367 – Henry IV, Bolingbroke Lincolnshire, King of England (1399-1413)
1438 – John III van Egmont, [Manke John], viceroy of Holland
1529 – Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1581)
1683 – Mark Catesby, English naturalist (d. 1749)
1693 – George Edwards, English naturalist (d. 1773)
1715 – William Watson, English physician and scientist (d. 1787)
1783 – Washington Irving, US writer (Legend of Sleepy Hollow)
1798 – Charles D Wilkes, Commander (Union Navy), died in 1877
1822 – Edward Everett Hale, US, clergyman/author (Man without a Country)
1823 – William Macy “Boss” Tweed, corrupt political boss (NYC)
1842 – Ulric Dahlgren, Col (Union volunteers), died in 1864
1866 – James B Hertzog, South African general/premier (1914-39)
1885 – Harry St John Philby, [sheik Abdullah], British explorer
1885 – Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 1954)
1893 – Leslie Howard, [Stainer], London, actor (Gone With the Wind)
1894 – Dooley Wilson, Tyler Tx, actor (Bill-Beulah, Casablanca)
1898 – George Jessel, toastmaster general/entertainer (Diary of Young Comic)
1898 – Henry R Luce, Tengchow China, publisher (Time, Fortune, Life)
1904 – Russel Wright, American industrial designer (d. 1976)
1905 – Robert Frederick Sink, United States Army Officer (d. 1965)
1915 – Paul Touvier, war criminal
1916 – Herb Caen, Sacramento California, columnist (SF Chronicle)
1920 – John Demjanjuk, Ukrainian-born American auto worker, alleged Nazi and convicted war criminal (under appeal at death), (d. 2012)
1924 – Doris Day, Cincinnati Oh, “girl next door” actress (Pillow Talk)
1924 – Marlon Brando, Omaha Neb, actor (Superman, Godfather)
1926 – Virgil Grissom, Mitchell Ind, Lt Col USAF/astronaut (Merc 4, Gemini 3)
1927 – Wesley Brown, Baltimore, Maryland, 1st African American US Naval Academy graduate, (d. 2012)
1928 – Don Gibson, American country musician (d. 2003)
1930 – Helmut Kohl, chancellor (Germany, 1982- )
1930 – Max Frankel, journalist (Tables of Id of Organic Compounds)
1934 – Jane Goodall, London England, ethologist (studied African chimps)
1934 – John Lelliott, English contractor/multi-millionaire
1936 – Jimmy McGriff, American jazz organist
1936 – Reginald Hill, British crime author (Andrew Dalziel and Peter Pascoe novels)
1941 – Eric Braeden, Aust, actor (Victor Newman-Young & Restless, Colossus)
1941 – Jan Berry, LA California, rock vocalist (Jan & Dean-Deadman’s Curve)
1941 – Carl Boenish, American father of BASE jumping (d. 1984)
1942 – Billy Joe Royal, Valdosta Ga, country singer (Down in the Boondocks)
1942 – Marsha Mason, St Louis Mo, actress (Blume in Love, Cinderella Liberty)
1942 – Michael Elliott, US, skier (Olympics-1968)
1942 – Rick Sylvester, parachute ski jumper (world record 3,300′)
1942 – Wayne Newton, American singer
1943 – Doreen Tracey, English-born Mouseketeer
1944 – Barry Pritchard, rock guitarist (Fortunes)
1944 – Tony Orlando, NYC, singer (& Dawn-Tie a Yellow Ribbon)
1945 – Richard Manuel, rock pianist/vocalist (Band-Up on Cripple Creek)
1946 – John Virgo, British snooker player
1948 – Mary Gordon-Watson, England, equestrian 3 day event (Oly-gold-1972)
1949 – Lyle Alzado, NFLer (LA Raiders)/actor (Oceans of Fire, Hangfire)
1949 – Richard Thompson, vocalist/guitarist (Shoot Out the Lights)
1951 – Mel Schacher, MI, bassist (Grand Funk Railroad-Some Kind of Wonderful)
1955 – Aleksandr Nikolayevich Yablontsev, Russian lt-colonel/cosmonaut
1955 – Mick Mars, guitarst (Motley Crue)
1959 – David Hyde Pierce, NY, actor (Niles Crane-Fraiser)
1961 – Eddie Murphy, Bkln NY, actor (SNL, 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Raw)
1962 – John Gruffith, rocker (Red Rockers)
1962 – Mike Ness, rocker (Social Distortion)
1962 – Nancy Filteau, Swift Current Saskatchawan, 72k judoka (Olympics-96)
1964 – Ajay Sharma, cricketer (Indian spin all-rounder played one Test 1988)
1966 – John de Vries, Australian racing driver
1968 – Sebastian Philip Clerk Bach, Bahamas, rock (Skid Row-Psycho Love)
1968 – Jamie Hewlett, English illustrator
1971 – Peter Schwab, Boston, Mass, rower (Olympics-1996)
1971 – Picabo Street, skier (Olympic–gold–94,98,02)
1972 – Jennie Garth, Champagn Ill, actr (Kelly Taylor-Beverly Hills 90210)
1981 – Heath Ramsay, Australian Olympic swimmer
1986 – Amanda Bynes, American actress
Deaths
33 – Christ, crucified (according to astronomer Humphreys & Waddington)
628 – Chosroes II, emperor of Persia (579..628), murdered by his son
963 – William III, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 915)
1287 – Honorius IV, [Giacomo Savelli], Italian Pope (1285-87), dies
1350 – Eudes IV, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1295)
1512 – Richard Pafraet, Dutch printer, dies
1525 – Giovanni Rucellai, Italian poet (Le Api), dies at 49
1680 – Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire, India (b. 1630)
1682 – Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter, dies
1717 – Jacques Ozanam, French mathematician (b. 1640)
1792 – George Pocock, British admiral (b. 1706)
1827 – Ernst Chladni, German physicist (b. 1756)
1862 – James Clark Ross, Arctic explorer, dies
1882 – Jesse James, outlaw, shot dead at 34, in St Joseph Mo by Robert Ford
1897 – Johannes Brahms, German composer/conductor (Hung Dances), dies at 63
1936 – Bruno Hauptmann, convicted Lindbergh baby killer, executed
1943 – Conrad Veidt, German/US actor (Cabinet of Dr Calgary), dies at 50
1946 – Masaharu Homma, Lt Gen (responsible for Bataan Death March), executed
1950 – Kurt Julian Weill, German composer (Dreigroschenoper), dies at 50
1962 – Benny “Kid” Paret, US welterweight boxer, dies after fight, at 24
1971 – Joseph Valachi, US gangster, dies at 66
1971 – Manfred Bonnington Lee, [Ellery Queen], detective writer, dies at 65
1981 – Juan Trippe, Airline entrepreneur and pioneer, Pan Am founder (b. 1899)
1982 – Warren Oates, actor (East of Eden, Stoney Burke), dies at 53
1988 – Milton A Caniff, US cartoonist (Terry & the Pirates), dies at 81
1990 – Sarah Vaughn, jazz singer, dies of lung cancer at 66 (See Our Birthday Tribute)
Videos
1991 – Graham Greene, Brit writer (3rd Man, Our man in Havana), dies at 86
1993 – Dieter Plage, German wildlife filmmaker, dies at 57
1993 – Pinky Lee, kiddie host (Pinky Lee Show), dies of heart attack at 85
1994 – Frank G Wells, US director (Walt Disney), dies at 62
1994 – Jerome Lejeune, French geneticist (Syndrome of Down), dies at 67
1996 – Ron Brown, sec of Comerce, dies in an accident
1996 – Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes, bluesman, dies at 59
1997 – Judy Flannery, master triathelete, killed by a car at 56
1998 – Mary Cartwright, English mathematician (b. 1900)
2003 – Michael Kelly, American journalist (b. 1957)
2007 – Eddie Robinson, American football coach (b. 1919)
2007 – Nina Wang, Asia’s richest woman (b. 1937)
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