Today In The Past

Events

837 – Comet 1P/837 F1 (Halley) approaches within 0.0334 AUs of Earth

847 – St Leo IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope

879 – Louis III becomes King of West Francia.

1407 – the lama Deshin Shekpa visits the Ming Dynasty capital at Nanjing. He is awarded with the title Great Treasure Prince of Dharma.

1500 – France captures duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan

1516 – 1st ghetto, Jews are compelled to live in specific area of Venice

1589 – Spanish troops conquer Geertruidenberg

1694 – Duke Victor Amadeus of Savoye attacks Casale

1710 – The first law regulating copyright is issued in Great Britain.

1739 – Dick Turpin executed in England for horse stealing

 

 

 

1790 – Robert Gray is 1st American to circumnavigate the Earth

 

 

 

 

 

 

1790 – US Patent system forms

1816 – 2nd Bank of US chartered

1825 – 1st hotel in Hawaii opens

1841 – NY “Tribune” begins publishing under editor Horace Greeley

1845 – More than 1,000 buildings damaged by fire in Pittsburgh Pa

1849 – Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (NYC); sold rights for $400

1856 – The Theta Chi Fraternity is founded at Norwich University.

1858 – The original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonne bell for the Tower of London is cast in Stockton-on-Tees by Warner’s of Cripplegate. This however cracked during testing and was recasted into the 13.76 tonne bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry and is still in use to date.

1863 – Rebel Gen Earl Van Dorn attacks at Franklin, Tenn

1864 – Austrian Archduke Maximilian becomes emperor of Mexico

1865 – At Appomattox, Gen Lee issues Gen Order #9, his last

1866 – American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) forms

1868 – British defeat King of Abyssinia at Magdala

1869 – Congress increases number of Supreme Court judges from 7 to 9

1869 – José Martí founds the Cuban Revolutionary Party.

1872 – 1st National black convention meets in New Orleans

1872 – 1st Arbor Day celebrated in Nebraska, later changed to Apr 22

1877 – 1st human cannonball act performed in London

1877 – Federal troops withdrawn from Columbia SC

1882 – Matson founds his shipping company (San Francisco & Hawaii)

1887 – President Abraham Lincoln’s re-buried with his wife in Springfield Il

1912 – RMS Titanic sets sail for its 1st & last voyage

1916 – 1st professional golf tournament held

1916 – The Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) is created in New York City.

1917 – Munition factory explosion at Eddystone PA, kills 133 workers

1919 – Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.

1925 – Scribners publishes “The Great Gatsby” by F Scott Fitzgerald

1930 – Synthetic rubber 1st produced

1932 – Paul von Hindenburg elected 1st German president (Hitler is 2nd)

1936 – 200″ mirror blank arrives in Pasadena

1938 – NY makes syphilis test mandatory in order to get a marriage license

1940 – Vidkun Quisling forms Norwegian “national government”

1942 – Cigarettes & candy rationed in Holland

1944 – Soviet forces liberate Odessa from Nazis

 

 

 

1945 – Allies liberate 1st Nazi concentration camp, Buchenwald (Czech)

 

 

 

 

 

 

1945 – Canadian troops conquer Deventer

1945 – US troops land on Tsugen Shima Okinawa

1945 – US troops liberate Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald, Germany

1947 – Jackie Robinson becomes 1st black in major league baseball (Dodgers)

1948 – Jewish Hagana repels an Arab attack on Mishmar HaEmek

1953 – “House of Wax,” 1st 3-D movie, released (NYC)

1955 – Dr Jonas Salk successfully tests Polio vaccine

1955 – Ruth Ellis shoots jilting lover David Blakely

1956 – Philips broadcasts 1st Dutch color TV programs

1957 – Suez canal reopens for all traffic

1958 – Northern strip of Spanish Sahara ceded to Morocco

1960 – Senate passes landmark Civil Rights Bill

1961 – Adolf Eichmann tried as a war criminal in Israel

1962 – NY Yankee Mickey Mantle hits his 375th HR

 

 

 

1963 – USS Thresher, US atomic-powered submarine, sinks 220 miles east of Boston

 

 

 

 

 

 

1964 – Demolition begins on Polo Grounds to clear way for housing project

1964 – Iranian motor launch catches fire & sinks killing 113 (Persian Gulf)

1968 – Ferry Wahine sinks in Wellington harbour, New Zealand on route from Lyttelton (51 killed)

1972 – 7.0 earthquake kills 1/5 of population of Iranian province of Fars

1972 – US, USSR & 70 other nations agree to ban biological weapons

1972 – 20 days after he was kidnapped in Buenos Aires, Oberdan Sallustro is executed by communist guerrillas.

1974 – Magicians Penn & Teller 1st meet

1974 – Yitzhak Rabin replaces resigning Israeli PM Golda Meir

1979 – J R Richard throws major league record 6 wild pitches in Astrodome

1979 – Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people.

1981 – Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands elected to Brit Parliament

1983 – Baltimore’s Eddie Murray hits his 1,000 career hit

1983 – Jordan king Hussein ceases negotiations with PLO

1984 – Damaged Solar Max satellite snared by Challenger shuttle

1984 – US Senate condemns CIA mining of Nicaraguan harbors

1986 – Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan

1988 – Herschel Walker performs Fort Worth Ballet

1989 – Intel corp announces shipment of 80-486 chip

1989 – H J Heinz, Van Camp Seafood & Bumble Bee Seafood say they would not buy tuna caught in nets that also trap dolphins

1991 – Boat rams a tanker in Livorno Italy fog, killing about 138

1991 – LA King Wayne Gretzky scores NHL record 93rd playoff goal

1991 – Last automat (coin operated cafeteria) closes (3rd & 42nd St, NYC)

1991 – Martin Zubero swims world record 200m backstroke (1:52.51)

1991 – A rare tropical storm develops in the Southern Hemisphere near Angola; the first to be documented by satellites.

1992 – 25 die in a bus bombing in Sri Lanka

1992 – Floriade (Flower Show) opens at Hague Neth

1995 – NYC bans smoking in all restaurants that seat 35 or more

2012 – United Nations deadline for Syrian troop withdrawal passes as violence continues

2012 – Apple Inc claims a value of $600 billion making it the largest company by market capitalization in the world

2012 – Raymond Aubrac, French Resistance Leader, dies at 97

 

 

 

Births

401 – Theodosius II, the Younger, Eastern Roman emperor

1512 – James V, King of Scots (1513-42)

1569 – Emilia van Nassau, daughter of Willem of Orange & Anna of Saxon

1583 – Hugo Grotius, Holland, jurist, father of international law

1651 – Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician (d. 1708)

1713 – John Whitehurst, English clockmaker and scientist (d. 1788)

1755 – Samuel Hahnemann, German physician/originator of homeopathy

1762 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist (d. 1834)

1778 – William Hazlitt, Maidstone Kent England, essayist/critic

 

 

 

1794 – Matthew Calbraith Perry, Commodore, opened Japan

 

 

 

 

 

 

1796 – James Bowie, American pioneer and soldier (d. 1836)

 

 

 

 

 

 

1797 – Claude Ambroise Seurat, Troyes France, (World’s skinniest man)

1806 – Leonidas Polk, Lt Gen (Confederate Army), died in 1864

1823 – Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)

1827 – Lewis Wallace, Major General (Union volunteers)/author (Ben Hur)

1829 – William Booth, founder (Salvation Army)

1833 – David McMurtrie Gregg, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)

1833 – James Edward Rains, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1862

1857 – Henry Ernest Dudeney, mathematician/puzzle maker

1867 – George William Russell, Irish nationalist (d. 1935)

1880 – Frances Perkins, American politician and 1st woman to hold cabinet-level position (Labor), (d. 1965)

1880 – Mohammed Nadir Shah, Afghan king (d. 1933)

1887 – Bernardo A Houssay, Argentine physiologist (Nobel 1947)

1892 – Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt, German anthropologist (Rassenkunde)

1903 – Clare Boothe Luce, US ambassador (to Vatican)

1907 – Pete Desjardins, US, platform/springboard diver (Olympic-gold-1928)

1910 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (d. 2004)

1912 – Roy Hofheinz, engineer (Houston Astrodome)

1915 – Harry Morgan, Detroit Mich, actor (December Bride, M*A*S*H, Dragnet)

1917 – Robert Burns Woodward, organic chemist (Nobel 1965)

1918 – Lee Bergere, American actor (d. 2007)

1921 – Chuck Connors, Bkln NY, actor (Rifleman, Branded, Cowboy in Africa)

1921 – Sheb Wooley, Erick Oklahoma, vocalist (Purple People Eater, Hee Haw)

1923 – Floyd M Simmons, actor/decathlete (Olympic-bronze-1948, 52)

 

 

 

1926 – “Alvin” Junior Samples, Cummings Ga, country singer (Hee Haw)

 

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VIDEOS

 

 

 

 

1927 – Marshall Warren Nirenberg, American scientist, Nobel laureate

1929 – Max Von Sydow, Lund Sweden, actor (Hawaii, Exorcist, Dune, Dreamscape)

1932 – Mae Heriwentha Faggs Starr, NJ, 4x100m runner (Olympic-gold-1952)

1932 – Omar Sharif, [Michael Shalhoub], Egypt, actor (Dr Zhivago, Top Secret)

1933 – Robert Rhodes James, historian (Gallipoli)

1934 – David Halberstam, intl correspondent (NY Times/Pulitzer 1964)

1936 – John Madden, NFL coach (Oakland Raiders)/sports commentator (CBS, FOX)

1936 – Robert “Bobby” Smith, US singer (Spinners)

1937 – Stan Mellor, British racehorse trainer/jockey

1938 – Don Meredith, Mount Vernon Texas, NFL QB (Cowboys)/Mon Night Football

1939 – Daniel Oliver, NYC, CEO (Federal Trade Commission)

1941 – Paul Theroux, American travel book writer (Mosquito Coast)

1944 – Danny Woods, US musician (CEO of the Board)

1945 – Vera Misevich, USSR, equestrian dressage (Olympic-gold-1980)

1947 – Bunny Wailer, vocalist/percussionist (Bob Marley & Wailers)

 

 

 

1950 – “Lonesome” Dave Peverett, rocker (Foghat)

 

peverett

 VIDEOS

 

 

 

1950 – Eddie Hazel, US pop guitarist (Funkadelic-Uncle Jam Wants You)

1950 – Ken Griffey, Sr., American baseball player

1951 – Steven Seagal, Detroit MI, actor (Above the Law, Hard to Kill)

1953 – Terrie Roche, rocker (Roches)

1954 – Peter MacNicol, Dallas TX, actor (Chicago Hope, Sophie’s Choice)

1958 – Ken Griffy, baseball player (Cin Reds, NY Yanks)

1958 – Bob Bell, British engineer

 

 

 

1959 – Brian Setzer, Massapequa Park NY, rock guitarist/vocalist (Stray Cats)

 

VIDEOS

 

 

 

 

1961 – Jeb Adams, Hollywood California, actor (Lt Jeb Pruitt-Baa Baa Black Sheep)

1962 – Cathy Turner, Rochester NY, short track skater (Olympics-gold-1994

1963 – Claire Smith, Ottawa Ontario, equestrian 3 day event (Olympics-96)

1963 – Warren DeMartini, heavy metal rocker (Dokken-Alone Again, Ratt)

1964 – Alan “Reni” Wren, English pop drummer (Stone Roses-Fools Gold)

1965 – Karen Booker, WNBA center (Utah Starzz)

1965 – Tim “Herb” Alexander, US funk metal drummer (Primus-Prok soda)

1970 – Wesley Barnett, St Joseph Mo, Oly weightlifter (Pan Am-silver-1987)

1970 – Q-Tip, American musician

1974 – Eric Greitens, American former military officer

1976 – Sara Renner, Canadian cross country skier

1978 – Jessica Davis, Greenbrae California, rhythmic gymnast (Olympics-27th-96)

 

 

 

1979 – Shemekia Copeland, American blues singer

 

 

VIDEOS

 

 

 

 

1980 – Kasey Kahne, American race-car driver

1981 – Laura Bell Bundy, American actor

1984 – Zoe, Melbourne Australia, 1st frozen-embryo child

1984 – Mandy Moore, American singer/actor

1989 – Haley Joel Osment, LA California, actor (Matt-Jeff Foxworthy Show)

 

 

 

Deaths 

879 – Louis II the Stammerer, King of the West Franks (877-79)

947 – Hugo van Arles, count of Arles/king of Italy, dies

1008 – Notger, bishop of Luik (972-1008), dies

1362 – Machteld, countess of Holland, dies

1533 – Frederik I, King of Denmark/Norway (1523-33), dies at 61

1601 – Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet (b. 1562)

1646 – Santino Solari, Swiss architect and sculptor (b. 1576)

1706 – Arthur Chichester, 3rd Earl of Donegall, Irish soldier (b. 1666)

1712 – Yusuf Nabi, Turkish poet (Hayriye), dies at about 77

1760 – Gerard George Clifford, head of East-Indian Company, dies at 75

1784 – Simon Fokke, book illustrator, dies at 71

1786 – John Byron, British naval officer (b. 1723)

1813 – Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Italian-born mathematician and astronomer (b. 1736)

1823 – Karl Leonhard Reinhold, Austrian philosopher (b. 1757)

1862 – William Harvey Lamb Wallace, US lawyer/brig-general, dies at 40

1863 – Giovanni B Amia, Italian astronomer/physicist/botanist, dies at 77

 

 

 

1919 – Emiliano Zapata, Mexican leader, murdered at 39

 

emilianoZapata

 

 

 

 

 

 

1920 – Moritz B Cantor, German mathematician, dies at 90

1929 – Edmond Thieffry, Belgium, WW I pilot, dies at 36

1938 – Joe “King” Oliver, American musician (b. 1885)

1945 – Hendrik N Werkman, resistance/painter (Blue Boat), executed at 63

1954 – Auguste Lumière, French photograph/movie pioneer, dies at 81

1954 – Ludwig Curtius, German archaeologist (Die antike Kunst), dies at 79

1958 – Chuck Willis, rocker, dies at 30

1962 – Stuart Sutcliffe, bassist (Beatles), dies of brain hemorrhage at 21

 

 

 

1962 – Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-born director (b. 1886)

 

 

 

 

 

1965 – Linda Darnell, dies from burns received in a fire at 41

1965 – Lloyd Casner, American race car driver and owner (b. 1928)

1966 – Evelyn Waugh, British writer (Black Mischief), dies at 62

1969 – Harley J. Earl, American automobile designer (b. 1893)

1975 – Marjorie Main, actress (Ma & Pa Kettle), dies at 85

1975 – Walker Evans, US photographer (Fortune Magazine), dies at 71

1983 – Ulf S von Euler-Chelpin, Swedish physiologist, dies at 78

1991 – Natalie Schafer, actress (Gilligan’s Island), dies at 90 from cancer

1992 – Sam Kinison, loud mouth comedian, dies in a car crash at 38

1996 – Jessica Dubroff, attempting to be youngest pilot, dies in crash at 7

2000 – Larry Linville, American actor (b. 1939)

2003 – Little Eva, American singer (b. 1943)

2007 – Dakota Staton, American singer (b. 1930)

2010 – Dixie Carter, an American actress (b.1939)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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