Today In The Past
Events
30 – Scholars’ estimate Jesus crucified by Roman troops in Jerusalem
451 – Attila’s Hun’s plunder Metz
529 – First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
1118 – Pope Gelasius II excommunicated Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
1348 – Prague U, 1st university in central Europe, formed by Charles IV
1456 – Louis van Burbon becomes prince-bishop of Luik
1498 – Crowd storms Savonarola’s convent San Marco Florence, Italy
1509 – France declares war on Venice
1521 – Inquisitor-general Adrian Boeyens bans Lutheran books
1521 – Magelhaes’ fleet reaches Cebu
1541 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
1584 – Ieper surrenders to duke Van Parma
1625 – Albrecht von Wallenstein appointed German supreme commander
1712 – Slave revolt (NYC)
1776 – Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the HMS Edward.
1788 – 1st settlement in Ohio, at Marietta
1795 – France adopts the metre as the basic measure of length.
1798 – Mississippi Territory organized
1818 – Gen Andrew Jackson conquers St Marks Fla from Seminole indians
1827 – English chemist John Walker invents wooden matches
1862 – Grant defeats Confederates at Battle of Shiloh, Tenn, Island #10 falls
1863 – Battle of Charleston SC, failed Federal fleet attack on Fort Sumter
1865 – Battle of Farmville VA
1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation is assassinated by the Irish, in one of the few Canadian political assassinations, and only federal politician.
1891 – Nebraska introduces 8 hour work day
1902 – Texas Oil Company (Texaco) forms
1906 – Act of Algeciras drawn between Moroccan police & banking business
1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
1922 – Naval Reserve #3, “Teapot Dome,” leased to Harry F Sinclair
1927 – Using phone lines TV is sent from Wash DC to NYC
1933 – Prohibition ends, Utah becomes 38th state to ratify 21st Amendment
1940 – 1st black to appear on US stamp (Booker T Washington)
1941 – British generals O’Connor & Neame captured in North Africa
1943 – Lt colonel Claus von Stauffenberg seriously wounded at allied air raid
1944 – General Montgomery speaks to generals about invasion plan
1945 – 1st & last assault of German Rammkommando on US bombers
1945 – US B-17’s bombs range at Luneburg
1945 – US planes intercept Japanese fleet heading for Okinawa on a suicide mission battleship Yamato & four destroyers were sunk
1948 – World Health Organization forms by UN
1953 – 1st west-to-east jet transatlantic nonstop flight
1954 – Pres Eisenhower fears “domino-effect” in Indo-China
1959 – Oklahoma ends prohibition, after 51 years
1959 – Radar 1st bounced off Sun, Stanford Calif
1964 – IBM announces the System/360.
1965 – Bevan Congdon makes a stumping as 12th man NZ v Pakistan
1966 – US recovers lost H-bomb from Mediterranean floor
1967 – Israeli/Syrian border fights
1968 – Jim Clark, two-time F1 World Champion and winner of the Indianapolis 500, dies in a racing accident during a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim, Germany.
1969 – Supreme Court strikes down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material
1969 – The Internet’s symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1.
1971 – Pres Nixon orders lt Calley (Mi Lai) free
1977 – Consumer Product Safety Comn bans “TRIS” flame-retardant
1977 – German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
1978 – Guttenberg bible sold for $2,000,000 in NYC
1978 – Pres Carter defers production of neutron bomb
1979 – Henri La Mothe dives 28′ into 12 3/8″ of water
1981 – Willem Klein mentally extracts 13th root of a 100-digit # in 29 sec
1982 – Iran minister of Foreign affairs Ghotbzadeh arrested
1983 – Oldest human skeleton, aged 80,000 years, discovered in Egypt
1985 – NJ General Hershel Walker runs for USFL record 233 yards
1987 – National Museum of Female Physician opens in Wash DC
1987 – Al Campanis, Dodger executive for more than 40 years, resigns, after making racial remarks on “Nightline”
1988 – Russia announced it would withdraw its troops from Afghanistan
1989 – Soviet sub sinks in Norwegian Sea, with about a dozen deaths
1989 – NY Supreme Court takes America’s Cup away from SD Yacht Club for using a catamaran against NZ. Appeals court eventually overrules
1990 – Farm Aid IV concert
1990 – John Poindexter (Natl Sec Advisor) found guilty on Iran-Contra scandal
1990 – Michael Milken pleads innocent to security law violations
1990 – Fire kills 110 on a ferry in Norway, in an unrelated event, 30 die in a ferry flip over in Burma
1991 – Compton Gamma Ray Observatory orbits Earth
1991 – George Washington Bridge raises toll from $3.00 to $4.00
1993 – Dante Bichette hits the 1st Colo Rockie HR (Shea Stadium NY)
1994 – Vatican acknowledges Holocaust (Nazis killing Jews) for 1st time
2003 – U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein’s regime falls two days later.
2012 – Joyce Banda becomes President of Malawi
2012 – 130 Pakistani Army soldiers are buried in an avalanche near the Siachen Glacier
Births
1506 – Francis Xavier, saint/Jesuit missionary to India, Malaya, & Japan
1534 – Jose de Anchieta, Spanish jesuit/missionary (Brazilian Tupi-Indians)
1644 – François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (d. 1730)
1652 – Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
1718 – Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (d. 1800)
1770 – William Wordsworth, England, poet laureate (Prelude)
1775 – Francis C Lowell, founded 1st raw cotton-to-cloth textile mill
1786 – William Rufus DeVane King, (D) 13th VP (1853)
1801 – Henry Eagle, Commander (Union Navy), died in 1882
1805 – Francis Wilkinson Pickens, (Gov-SC, Confederacy), died in 1869
1822 – Gershom Mott, Major General (Union volunteers)
1859 – Walter Camp, Ct, father of American football (Yale)
1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American cereal manufacturer (d. 1951)
1869 – David Grandison Fairchild, US, botanist/explorer, brought plants to US
1884 – Charles Dodd, English new testament authority
1884 – Louis H N Bosch van Rosenthal, Dutch politician/resistance fighter
1890 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, environmentalist (1st Lady of Everglades)
1893 – Allen Dulles, American Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 1969)
1897 – Walter Winchell, Harlem NYC, newscaster/columnist (Untouchables)
1897 – Erich Loewenhardt, German flying ace of World War I (d. 1918)
1908 – Percy Faith, conductor (Summer Place)
1915 – Billie Holiday, [Eleanora Fagan], Balt, singer (Aint Nobodys Business)
1915 – Henry Kuttner, US, sci-fi author (Dark World, As You Were)
1917 – R G Armstrong, Birmingham Ala, actor (T.H.E. Cat), (d. 2012)
1918 – Peanuts Hucko, Syracuse NY, dixieland clarinetist (Lawrence Welk Show)
1919 – Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer (6x Olympic gold, 1936-1960), (d. 2012)
1920 – Ravi Shankar, Varanasi, British India, musician (the Pandit), (d. 2012)
1920 – Terence Edward Armstrong, polar geographer
1924 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer
1926 – Johannes Rood, Dutch immunologist (Eurotransplant)
1928 – Alan J Pakula, director (All the President’s Men, Klute)
1928 – James Garner, Norman Oklahoma, actor (Rockford Files, Bret Maverick)
1928 – James White, UK, sci-fi author (Star Surgeon, Star Healer)
1929 – Bob Denard, French mercenary (d. 2007)
1930 – Andrew Sachs, actor (Manuel-Fawlty Towers)
1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, whistleblower (Pentagon Papers)/patriot
1932 – Louis “Mr Bo” Collins, blues Singer
1933 – Wayne Rogers, Birmingham Ala, actor (M*A*S*H, House Calls, Chiefs)
1935 – Bobby Bare, Irontown Oh, country singer (Detroit City)
1935 – Hodding Carter III, press secretary (Jimmy Carter)
1936 – Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist
1937 – Charley Thomas, rocker (Drifters)
1938 – Freddie Hubbard, Indianapolis, jazz trumpeter (Art Blakey)
1939 – David Frost, Tenterdon England, TV host (That Was the Week That Was)
1939 – Donald L Holmquest, Dallas Texas, astronaut
1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, Detroit, director (Godfather, Apocalypse Now)
1943 – Mick Abrahams, Luton, rock guitarist (Jethro Tull, Blodwyn Pig)
1943 – Spencer Dryden, NYC, rock drummer (Jefferson Airplane-Go Ask Alice)
1945 – Megas, Icelandic singer, songwriter and writer
1945 – Joël Robuchon, French chef
1947 – Florian Schneider, German musician (Kraftwerk)
1947 – Charles ‘skip’ Pitts, Washington D.C., soul and blues guitarist (Shaft), (d. 2012)
1949 – John Oates, NYC, rock guitarist/vocalist (Hall & Oates-Rich Girl)
1951 – Janis Ian, NYC, [Janis Eddy Fink], lesbian/folk rocker (At 17)
1952 – Bruce Gary, Burbank Ca, rock drummer (Knack-My Sharona)
1952 – Jane Frederick, US pentathlete (Olympics-7th-1976)
1953 – Everard Endt, US, yachting (Olympic-gold-1952)
1954 – Jackie Chan, martial art actor (Rumble in the Bronx)
1954 – Tony Dorsett, NFL running back (Dallas Cowboys, Heisman Trophy)
1956 – Christopher Darden, American O.J. Simpson prosecutor
1964 – Russell Crowe, Wellington, New Zealand, Australian/New Zealand actor (A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator)
1968 – Duncan Armstrong, Australian swimmer
1969 – Peggy Clasen, St Paul Minn, speed skater (Olympics-1994)
1972 – Shana Williams, Bridgeton NJ, long jumper/heptathlete
1973 – Carole Montillet, French skier
1975 – Beverly Peele, super model (Elle)
1975 – Tiki Barber, running back (NY Giants)
1986 – Brooke Brodack, American internet celebrity
Deaths
30 – Jesus Christ, crucified, according to astronomer Schaefer, dies
924 – Berengarius I, Emperor of Italy, murdered
1307 – Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I of England (b. 1271)
1444 – John Capreolus, French theologist (Libri IV), dies at about 50
1498 – Charles VIII, King of France (1483-98), dies at 27
1524 – Philip of Burgundy, bishop of Utrecht, dies
1614 – El Greco, Greek-born artist working in Spain (b. 1541)
1638 – Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese ruler of Satsuma (b. 1576)
1651 – Lennart Torstenson, Swedish soldier and engineer (b. 1603)
1658 – Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish mystic (b. 1595)
1661 – Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, English soldier and politician (b. 1604)
1663 – Francis Cooke, Mayflower pilgrim (b. c. 1583)
1719 – Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, French priest/theory/saint, dies at 67
1739 – Dick Turpin, English highwayman (hanged) (b. 1706)
1747 – Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal (b. 1676)
1782 – Taksin, King of Thailand (b. 1734)
1789 – Peter Camper, anatomist/animal scholar, dies at 66
1803 – [Francois D] Toussaint L’Ouverture/Haitian revolutionary, dies
1836 – William Godwin, English political writer (b. 1756)
1885 – Carl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist (b. 1804)
1891 – Phineas T Barnum, US circus promoter (B & Bailey), dies at 88
1928 – Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician and philosopher (b. 1873)
1950 – Walter Huston, dies at 66
1955 – Theda Bara, actress (Camille, Cleopatra, 2 Orphans), dies at 62
1968 – Jim Clark, of Scotland, world driving champ, dies at 32 in race car
1972 – “Crazy” Joe Gallo, mobster, killed at his 43rd birthday party
1982 – Harald Ertl, Austrian racing driver (b. 1948)
1984 – Frank Church, (Sen-D-Ohio, 1957-81), dies at 59
1994 – Lee Brilleaux, British R&B-singer/guitarist (Stupidity), dies at 41
1996 – Ian Spurling, ballet designer, dies at 59
2001 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
2005 – Cliff Allison, British racing driver (b. 1932)
2007 – Johnny Hart, American cartoonist (b. 1931)
2007 – Barry Nelson, American actor (b. 1917)
2009 – Dave Arneson, Co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons (b. 1947)
2012 – Mike Wallace [Myron], American media personality, dies at 93
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