Today In The Past
Events
46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus.
402 – Battle at Pollentia: Roman army under Stilicho beats Visigoten
610 – Lailat-ul Qadar, night koran descended to Earth
774 – Charles the Great affirms Pippins promise of Quiercy
1106 – Fire in Venice
1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
1362 – Robber bastion Tard-Venus strikes at Brignais France
1385 – John, Master of the Order of Aviz, is made king John I of Portugal.
1516 – A Willaert installed as singer of cardinal Ippolito I d’Este
1652 – Cape Colony, the 1st European settlement in South Africa, established by Dutch East India Company under John of Riebeeck
1672 – France declares war on Netherlands
1712 – Slave revolt in NY
1722 – Peter the Great ends tax on men with beards
1757 – English king George II fires minister William Pitt Sr
1789 – 1st US Congress begins regular sessions, Federal Hall, NYC
1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company.
1815 – English militia shoots prisoners, 100’s killed
1830 – Joseph Smith & 5 others organizes Mormon church in Seneca Co, NY
1859 – US recognizes Liberal government in Mexico’s War of Reform
1862 – Battle of Shiloh, Union defeats Confederacy in SW Tennessee
1865 – Battle of Sayler’s Creek during US Civil War, 1/4 of Lee’s army cut off
1865 – Skirmish at High Bridge VA (Appomattox) during US Civil war;
1869 – 1st plastic, Celluloid, patented
1889 – George Eastman places Kodak Camera on sale for 1st time
1896 – 1st modern Olympic games open in Athens Greece [3/25 OS] American, James Connolly, wins 1st Olympic gold medal in mod history
1900 – James J Jeffries KOs Jack Finnegan in 1 for heavyweight boxing title
1903 – The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Israel and the Western world.
1906 – 1st animated cartoon copyrighted
1909 – 1st credit union forms in US
1909 – North Pole reached by Americans Robert Peary & Matthew Henson
1912 – Electric starter 1st appeared in cars
1916 – German parliament OKs unrestricted submarine warfare
1917 – US declares war on Germany, enters World War I
1919 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi orders a General Strike.
1924 – 4 planes leave Seattle on 1st successful around-the-world flight
1925 – 1st film shown on an airplane (British Air)
1930 – 1st transcontinental glider tow completed
1930 – Hostess Twinkies invented by bakery executive James Dewar
1931 – 1st Scottsboro (Ala) trial begins – 9 blacks accused of rape
1934 – 418 Lutheran ministers arrested in Germany
1936 – Tornado, kills 203 & injuring 1,800 in Gainesville Georgia
1938 – Teflon invented by Roy J Plunkett
1939 – Great Britain & Poland sign military pact
1941 – British general Gambier-Parry caught in North Africa
1941 – German bombardment on Piraeus (munitions ship explodes)
1941 – Italian held Addis Ababa surrenders to British & Ethiopian forces
1943 – British & US army link up in Africa during WW II
1943 – British offensive at Wadi Akarit, South-Tunisia
1943 – Lou Jansen, leader of illegal Dutch political party (CPN) arrested
1945 – Japanese giant battleship Yamato heads to Okinawa
1945 – Massive kamikaze-attack on US battle fleet near Okinawa
1945 – US marines explore Tsugen Shima near Okinawa
1954 – TV Dinner was 1st put on sale by Swanson & Sons
1957 – NYC ends trolley car service
1965 – Intelsat 1 (“Early Bird”) 1st coml geosynchronous comm satellite
1968 – Gunpowder stocks at a sporting-goods store explode, killing 43 (Va)
1968 – In Richmond, Indiana’s downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
1973 – Pioneer 11 launched toward Jupiter & Saturn
1973 – Roberto Clemente Day, Pirates retire his #
1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
1974 – 200,000 attend rock concert “California Jam” in Ontario
1975 – Bundy victim Denise Oliverson disappears from Grand Junction, Colo
1975 – Fastest hat trick by a Wash Cap 3 mins 26 secs (Stan Gilbertson)
1976 – 1st quadrophonic movie track: “Ladies & Gentlemen the Rolling Stones”
1980 – Gordie Howe completes a record 26th season
1980 – Post It Notes, introduced
1984 – 1st time 11 people in space
1987 – Sugar Ray Leonard upsets Marvelous Marvin Hagler
1988 – Black pole explorer M Henson buried next to R Peary in Arlington
1989 – Orel Hershiser ends his record 59 consecutive scoreless streak
1991 – Former child actor Adam Rich arrested for breaking into a pharmacy
1992 – Microsoft announced Windows 3.1, upgrading Windows 3.0
1992 – Serbian troops begin siege of Sarajevo
1992 – US Supreme Court rules a Nebraska farmer was entrapped by postal agents into buying mail-order child pornography
1993 – 1st test flight of Ilyushin IL-96M (Moscow)
1994 – Chuck Jones found guilty of breaking into Marla Maples home
1994 – Liberal Supreme Court Justice Blackmun (Roe v Wade) resigns
1994 – Palestinian suicide bomber kills 7 Israelis & himself
1994 – Rockwell B-1B Lancers break 11 world speed records
1996 – Albert Belle shows off his arm by hitting Sports Illustrated photographer Tony Tomsic in the hand prior to a game
1998 – Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of hitting India.
2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from the post by impeachment.
2009 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L’Aquila, Italy, killing at least 253.
2012 – US F-18 Hornet crashes into side of apartment building in Virginia with no fatalities
Births
1483 – Raphael Sanzio, Italian painter/master builder (Madonna Sistina)
1613 – Stjepan Gradić, Croatian philosopher and scientist (d. 1683)
1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French playwright/poet (Sacred Odes & Songs)
1773 – James Mill, Scotland, philosopher/historian (Hist of British India)
1828 – Charles William Field, Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1892
1851 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (d. 1932)
1884 – Walter Huston, Tor, actor (Maltese Falcon, Treasure of Sierra Madre)
1886 – Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, The Last Nizam of Hyderabad state (d. 1967)
1890 – Anton Hermann Fokker, avation pioneer born
1890 – Andre L Danjon, French astronomer
1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, US, aircraft pioneer (McConnell Douglas)
1894 – Gertrude Baines, American Supercentarian
1903 – Harold Edgerton, foremost high-speed photographer
1903 – Mickey Cochrane, baseball hall of fame catcher (.320 avg)
1909 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (d. 1987)
1910 – Desmond Dreyer, British admiral
1917 – Julian Faber, CEO (Willis Faber)
1917 – Big Walter “Shakey” Horton , Miss, harmonica player (Everybody’s Fishin’)
1922 – Barry Levinson, director (Rain Man)
1925 – John Knox, British supreme court justice
1927 – Gerry Mulligan, British saxophonist/orchestra leader (Jazz on a Summer Day)
1928 – James Dewey Watson, chemist (co-discovered structure of DNA)
1929 – “Crazy” Joe Gallo, mobster
1929 – Andre Previn, Berlin Germany, conductor (London Symphony)/pianist
1931 – Ivan Dixon, NYC, actor (Car Wash, Hogan’s Heroes)
1933 – Dudley Sutton, British actor (Leather Boys, Brimstone & Treacle)
1934 – Antonius Geesink, Holland, judo (Olympic-gold-1964)
1937 – Billy Dee Williams, Harlem NYC, actor (Chiefs, Empire Strikes Back)
1937 – Merle Haggard, Bakersfield California, country singer (Death Valley Days)
1942 – Phil Austin, comedian (Firesign Theater)
1943 – Roger Cook, investigative journalist/broadcaster
1944 – John Stax, rocker (Pretty Things-Don’t Bring Me Down)
1945 – Neal Boortz, American talk radio personality
1947 – John Ratzenberger, Bridgeport Ct, actor (Cliff Clavin-Cheers)
1949 – Mary Maples Dunn, college president (Smith College)
1951 – Ralph Cooper, Australia, drummer (Air Supply-All Out of Love)
1951 – Bert Blyleven, Dutch-born baseball player
1952 – Marilu Henner, Chicago, actress (Taxi, Man Who Loved Women, Eve Shade)
1952 – Udo Dirkshneider, heavy metal rocker (Accept-Balls to the Wall, Udo)
1953 – Janet Lynn, ice skater (Olympics-bronze-1972)
1955 – Keith Hunter Jesperson, Canadian-born serial killer
1957 – Paolo Nespoli, Italian astronaut
1959 – Dianne Brill, Tampa, fashion designer/party girl (Queen of the Night)
1961 – Rory Bremner, impressionist
1964 – Johnny Dee, heavy metal drummer (Britny Fox-Boys in Heat, King Kobra)
1966 – Kymberly Paige, Newport Beach Ca, playmate (May, 1987)
1969 – Ari Meyers, San Juan PR, actress (Emma McArdle-Kate & Allie)
1969 – Paul Rudd, Passaic, New Jersey, American actor (Clueless, The 40-Year-Old Virgin)
1972 – Jason Hervey, actor (Wayne Arnold-Wonder Years)
1975 – Zach Braff, South Orange, New Jersey, American actor (Dr. John Dorian-Scrubs)
1982 – Ilan Hall, Israeli-American chef
1983 – Jade Seah, Singaporean model, host and actress
1983 – James Wade, English Darts Player
1984 – Max Bemis, American musician/songwriter
Deaths
885 – Methodius, Greek apostle of the slaves/archbishop of Sirmium, dies
912 – Nottker “the Stamelaar”, benedictine monk/poet, dies at about 71
1147 – Frederick II, Duke of Swabia (b. 1090)
1199 – Richard I, the Lion-hearted, King of England (1189-99), dies at 41
1199 – Pierre Basile, French soldier
1252 – Peter of Verona, [Peter Martyr], Italian inquisitor/st, dies at 45
1348 – Petrarch’s Laura, dies of plague
1362 – Jacques de Bourbon, count of Marche, killed in battle
1472 – Pieter Bladelin, Belgium, land owner (Middelburg castle), dies
1489 – Hans Waldmann, Swiss military/mayor (Zurich), beheaded
1520 – Raphael [Sanzio], artist (Sistine Madonna), dies on his 37th birthday
1593 – Henry Barrow, English puritian/Congressionalist, hanged
1593 – John Greenwood, English Congressionalist, hanged
1605 – John Stow, British historian, dies
1755 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and antiquarian (b. 1690)
1829 – Niels H Able, Norwegian mathematician (infinite series), dies at 26
1854 – William Strickland, US architect, dies
1862 – Adley Hogan Gladden, Confederate brig-general, dies in battle at 51
1862 – Albert Sidney Johnston, US Confederate general, dies in battle at 59
1865 – John Austin Wharton, US Confederate general-major, dies at 36
1865 – Reuben B Boston, US Confederate cavalery colonel, dies in battle
1933 – Elizabeth Bacon Custer, wife of George Armstrong Custer (b. 1842)
1935 – Edward Arlington Robinson, US poet, dies
1945 – Benjamin M Telders, president (Dutch Liberal States Party), dies at 42
1963 – Otto Struve, Russian-born astronomer (b. 1897)
1968 – Bobby Hutton, US Black Panther leader, shot to death
1970 – Sam Sheppard, American accused murderer (b. 1923)
1970 – Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (b. 1933)
1974 – Willem Dudok, Dutch architect (Hilversum Town Hall), dies at 89
1974 – Hudson Fysh, Australian aviator and businessman (b.1895)
1975 – Chiang Kai-Shek, Nationalist Chinese leader, dies at 87
1976 – Sidney Franklin, American bullfighter (b. 1903)
1983 – Ana Maria, Salvador guerilla leader, murdered
1990 – Ronald E Evans, astronaut (Apollo 17), dies of a heart attack at 57
1992 – Isaac Asimov, Sci-Fi author (I Robot), dies from kidney failure at 72
1992 – Molly Picon, Yiddish actress (Milk & Honey), dies of Alzheimers at 94
1993 – Divya Bharati, “Baby Doll” Indian Bollywood actress (Diwana), dies at 19 by mysteriously falling from her husband’s apartment
1994 – Theo Bosch, humanist/architect (Amsterdam), dies at 54
1996 – Greer Garson, actress (Goodbye Mr Chips), dies at 92
1997 – Jack Kent Cooke, NFL owner (Wash Redskins), dies at 84
1998 – Tammy Wynette, American country singer, dies at 55
1998 – Wendy O. Williams, American singer (Plasmatics) (b. 1949)
1999 – Red Norvo, American jazz vibraphonist (b. 1908)
2003 – David Bloom, American reporter (b. 1963)
2004 – Larisa Bogoraz, Soviet dissident (b. 1929)
2004 – Niki Sullivan, American guitarist (The Crickets) (b. 1937)
2005 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)
2006 – Francis L. Kellogg, U.S. diplomat and prominent socialite (b. 1917)
2010 – Wilma Mankiller, Native-American activist, chief of the Cherokee Nation (b. 1945)
2012 – Fang Lizhi, Chinese astrophysicist/dissident, dies at 76
2012 – Thomas Kinkade, American artist, dies from acute intoxication at 54
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He spotted a Sears snow cruiser that was only made from
1965 to 1972 and is truly a collector’s item.
There is considerable expense involved with installing a septic tank.
Nitrogen-deficient grass invites the growth of moss.