Today In The Past
Events
837 – Best view of Halley’s Comet in 2000 years
989 – Battle at Abydos: Byzantine emperor Basilius II beats Bardas Phocas
1055 – Bishop Gebhard van Eichstattt named Pope Victor II
1111 – Pope Paschalis II crowns Roman catholics-German king Hendrik II
1180 – Republic day of Gelnhausen
1204 – Crusaders occupy Constantinople
1241 – Battle at Theiss: Mongols beat Hungarian King Béla IV
1250 – The Seventh Crusade is defeated in Egypt, Louis IX of France is captured.
1256 – The Grand Union of the Augustinian order formed when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.
1346 – Pope Clemens VI declares German emperor Louis of Bavaria, envoy
1367 – Battle at Nájera Spain: Castile & England beat Aragon & France
1556 – Portuguese Marranos who revert back to Judaism burned by order of Pope
1598 – Edict of Nantes grants political rights to French Huguenots
1640 – English Short Parliament forms (- May 5)
1668 – John Dryden (36) becomes 1st English poet laureate
1741 – Dutch people protest bad quality of bread
1741 – Royal Military Academy forms at Woolwich
1759 – French beat European Allies in Battle of Bergen
1796 – 1st elephant arrives in US from India
1796 – Battle at Millesimo Italy: Napoleon beats Austrians
1808 – William Henry Lane (“Juda”) perfects tap dance
1829 – English Emancipation Act grants freedom of religion to Catholics
1860 – 1st Pony Express reaches Sacramento Calif
1861 – After 34 hours of bombardment, Ft Sumter surrenders to Confederates
1863 – Battle of Irish Bend, LA (Ft Bisland)
1863 – Hospital for Ruptured & Crippled in NY is 1st orthopedic hospital
1865 – Battle of Raleigh, NC
1865 – Sherman’s march through Georgia begins
1868 – Abyssinian War ends as British and Indian troops capture Magdala and Ethiopian Emperor commits suicide
1869 – Steam power brake patented (George Westinghouse)
1870 – Metropolitan Museum of Art forms in NYC
1873 – Colfax Massacre in Grant Parish Louisiana (60 blacks killed)
1883 – US prospecter Alfred Packer convicted of manslaughter though accused of cannibalism
1902 – J C Penney opens his 1st store in Kemmerer, Wyo
1904 – Battle at Oviumbo Africa: Herero’s chase away German army
1904 – Congress authorizes Lewis & Clark Expo $1 gold coin
1906 – Mutiny on Portuguese battleships Dom Carlos & Vasco da Gama
1918 – Electrical fire kills 38 mental patients at Oklahoma State Hospital
1919 – Amritsar Massacre-British Army fires on nationalist rioters in India
1919 – British forces kill 100s of Indian Nationalists (Amritsar Massacre)
1920 – 1st woman US Civil Service Commissioner, Helen Hamilton appointed
1926 – Bicyclists without bicycle-tax-stamp rounded up in Amsterdam
1933 – 1st flight over Mount Everest (Lord Clydesdale)
1934 – US Congress passes Johnson Debt Default Act
1939 – In India, the Hindustani Lal Sena (Indian Red Army) is formed and vows to engage in armed struggle against the British.
1940 – 2nd battle of Narvik-8 German destroyers, destroyed
1940 – Cornelious Warmerdam became 1st man to pole vault 15 ft
1941 – Heavy German assault on Tobruk
1943 – FDR dedicates Jefferson Memorial
1943 – Nazi’s discover mass grave of Polish officers near Katyn
1944 – The diplomatic relations between New Zealand and the Soviet Union are established.
1945 – Canadian army liberates Teuge & Assen Neth from Nazis
1945 – Red Army occupy Wien (Vienna)
1945 – US marines conquer Minna Shima off Okinawa
1948 – 75 scientists ambushed on way to Mount Scopus
1954 – Robert Oppenheimer accused of being a communist
1955 – 20.33″ (51.64 cm) of rainfall, Axis, Alabama (state record)
1957 – Due to lack of funds, Saturday mail delivery in US is temp halted
1958 – Van Cliburn is the first American to win the Chaikovsky Compettion in Moscow.
1959 – USAF launches Discoverer II into polar orbit
1960 – France becomes 4th nuclear nation exploding an A-Bomb in Sahara
1960 – Transit 1B, 1st navigational satellite, placed in Earth orbit
1962 – US steel industry forced to give up price increases
1963 – Pete Rose triples for his 1st major league base hit
1964 – Ian D Smith becomes premier of Rhodesia
1966 – Pan Am places $525,000,000 order for 25 Boeing 747s
1969 – 33rd Golf Masters Championship: George Archer wins, shooting a 281
1970 – 34th Golf Masters Championship: Billy Casper wins, shooting a 279
1975 – 39th Golf Masters Championship: Jack Nicklaus wins, shooting a 276
1975 – Chad military coup by General Odingar
1975 – Christian Falange kills 27 Palestinians, begins Lebanese civil war
1976 – $2 bill re-introduced as US currency
1976 – Federal Reserve begins issuing $2 bicentennial notes
1979 – Longest doubles ping-pong match ends after 101 hours
1980 – “Grease” closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 3,388 performances
1980 – US boycotts Summer Olympics in Moscow
1981 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Beth Henley for “Crimes of the Heart”
1981 – Wash Post Janet Cooke wins Pulitzer Prize (later admits story a hoax)
1983 – Undefeated middleweight boxer Tony Ayala gets 35 years on sex assault
1984 – Pete Rose becomes 1st NL to get get 4,000 hits in a career
1985 – “TASS” denounced US boycott of Moscow Olympics
1986 – Boston Celtics end season with a 40-1 home win record
1986 – Spanish Grand Prix decided by 0.014 of a second
1987 – Portugal signs agreement to return Macau to China (in 1999)
1992 – American Airlines reduce its 1st-class fares 20%-50%
1992 – Crystal Pepsi begins test marketing in Providence, Denver & Dallas
1992 – Great Chicago Flood – Chicago’s underground tunnels flood
1994 – President guard at Kigali Rwanda, chops 1,200 church members to death
1997 – Hartford Whalers last NHL game
2012 – North Korean long range rocket testing ends in failure after the rocket broke up after launch
Births
1506 – Peter Faber, French Jesuit theologian (d. 1546)
1519 – Catherine de’ Medici, Italian born Queen consort to Henry II of France and later regent to her sons
1547 – Elisabeth of Valois, daughter of King Henry II of France and 3rd wife of Philip II of Spain (d. 1568)
1570 – Guy Fawkes, English Catholic conspirator (d. 1606)
1573 – Christina of Holstein-Gottorp, queen consort of Sweden (d. 1625)
1618 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French writer (d. 1693)
1626 – Aert Jansz van Nes, Lt-admiral, baptised
1721 – John Hanson, Maryland, 1st US Pres under Articles of Confederation (d. 1783)
1743 – Thomas Jefferson, Virginia, (D-R) 3rd President of the United States (1801-09) (d. 1826)
1771 – Richard Trevithick, Cornwall, inventor (steam locomotive)
1780 – Alexander Mitchell, Irish engineer (d. 1868)
1784 – Cornelis Smit, Dutch ship builder
1784 – Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, Prussian field marshal (d. 1877)
1791 – Félix PBOG earl de Merode, Belgian minister of War/Finance
1802 – Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist (d. 1884)
1808 – Antonio Meucci, Italian inventor (d. 1896)
1822 – Leroy Augustus Stafford, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1864
1822 – William Stephen Walker, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1899
1832 – James Wimshurst, British designer/inventor (electricstatic generator)
1850 – Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, British astronomer (d. 1917)
1852 – F.W. Woolworth, American businessman (d. 1919)
1854 – Richard T Ely, US economist (Hard Times)
1866 – Butch Cassidy, [Robert LeRoy Parker], American desperado (Wild Bunch Passage)
1887 – Gordon S. Fahrni, Canadian physician and President of the Canadian Medical Association (d. 1995)
1889 – Herbert Osborne Yardley, American cryptographer (d. 1958)
1891 – Maurice Vincent Buckley, Australian winner of the Victoria Cross (d. 1921)
1892 – Arthur Harris, Cheltenham, Marshal of the RAF
1892 – Robert A Watson-Watt, England, physicist (radar)
1897 – Werner Voss, German World War I pilot (d. 1917)
1899 – Alfred Moser Butts, game inventor (Scrabble)
1900 – Pierre Molinier, French painter and photographer (d. 1976)
1902 – Philippe de Rothschild, Paris, manager (Bordeaux Vineyard)
1904 – Sir David Robinson, British philanthropist and entrepreneur (d. 1987)
1906 – Budd [Lawrence] Freeman, US jazz saxophonist (Eel)
1906 – Samuel Beckett, French playwright (Waiting for Godot, Nobel 1969)
1907 – Harold Stassen, W St Paul Minn, (Gov-R-Minn) perennial pres candidate
1909 – Eudora Welty, Jackson Ms, novelist (Optimist’s Daughter-Pulitzer 1973)
1909 – Stanislaw Marcin Ulam, Polish mathematician (d. 1984)
1913 – Bernard Chacksfield, Air Vice-Marshal
1913 – David Donald Albritton, Danville Al, high jumper (Olympic-silver-1936)
1916 – Phyllis Fraser Cerf Wagner, American actress, journalist, and publisher (d. 2006)
1917 – Howard Keel, Ill, actor/singer and president of the Screen Actors Guild (7 Brides for 7 Brothers, Kiss Me Kate)
1919 – Madalyn Murray O’Hair, American atheist (opppsed prayer in school)
1920 – Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (d. 1982)
1921 – Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, industrialist
1921 – James Wilson, British Lt-General
1922 – Julius Nyerere, Tanzanian politician (d. 1999)
1923 – Don Adams, American actor and comedian (d. 2005)
1924 – Stanley Donen, SC, film director/producer (Bedazzled, Damn Yankees)
1925 – Frank Neville Hosband Robinson, physicist
1926 – 11th duke of Marlborough, English large landowner
1926 – Don Adams, NYC, comedian (Maxwell Smart-Get Smart, Check it Out)
1927 – Rosa Joyce Plesters Brommelie, conservation scientist
1931 – Jon Stone, co-creator of Sesame Street (d. 1997)
1933 – Ben Nighthorse Campbell, (Sen-D Colorado)
1933 – Shani Wallis, Ireland, singer/actress (Oliver)
1935 – Kenneth Hayr, air marshal
1935 – Lyle Waggoner, KC Kansas, actor (Carol Burnette Show, Wonder Woman)
1937 – Edward Fox, London England, actor (M-Never Say Never Again)
1937 – Lanford Wilson, US playwright (Hot L Baltimore)
1939 – Paul Sorvino, actor (Chiefs, Dick Tracy)
1940 – Lester Chambers, Ms, vocalist (Chamber Brothers-Time Has Come Today)
1940 – Mike Beuttler, British racing driver (d. 1988)
1941 – Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist, Nobel laureate
1942 – Bill Conti, Providence RI, composer (For Your Eyes Only, Rocky IV)
1943 – Bill Koch, US skier
1943 – Billy Kidd, American skier
1944 – Brian Pendleton, rocker (Pretty Things)
1944 – Jack Casady, Wash DC, rock bassist (Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane)
1945 – Edward J Caruthers Jr, Troy Ala, high jumper (Olympic-silver-1968)
1945 – Lowell George, rock vocalist/guitarist (Little Feat-Time is a Hero)
1945 – Tony Dow, Hollywood California, actor (Wally-Leave it to Beaver)
1946 – Al Green, Forest City Arkansas, singer (Lets Stay Together)
1946 – Roy Loney, rocker (Flaming Groovies)
1948 – Nam Hae-il, Chief of Naval Operations of Republic of Korea Navy
1949 – Jean-Jacques Favier, Kehl Germany, astronaut (STS 78)
1949 – Philippe Petit, Nemours France, juggler/aerialist
1949 – Ricardo Zuniño, Argentine racing driver
1950 – Riff West, rock bassist (Molly Hatchet)
1950 – Ron Perlman, Bronx NY, actor (Quest for Fire, Beauty & the Beast)
1951 – Beatrix “Trixie” Schuba, Austria, figure skater (Olympic-gold-1972)
1951 – Max Weinberg, rock drummer (E Street Band, Conan O’Brien Show)
1951 – Peabo Bryson, Greenville SC, R&B vocalist (I’m So into You)
1951 – Peter Davison, actor (Dr Who, Sink or Swim, Fiddlers Three)
1952 – Jonjo O’Neill, racehorse trainer
1952 – Ron Dittemore, American space administrator
1954 – Jimmy Destri, rock keyboardist (Blondie-Heart of Glass, Rapture)
1956 – Peter ‘Possum’ Bourne, New Zealand rally driver (d. 2003)
1957 – Saundra Santiago, Bronx NY, actress (Gina-Miami Vice)
1958 – Randy Piper, heavy metal rocker (Wasp-Wildchild)
1959 – Vicki Witt Lansing MI, playmate (Aug, 1978)
1960 – Olaf Ludwig, German cyclist
1962 – Hillel Slovak, Israeli-born guitarist (d. 1988)
1963 – Gary Kimovich Kasparov, USSR, world chess champion (1985- )
1964 – Davis Milton Love III, Charlotte NC, PGA golfer (1987 MCI Heritage)
1964 – Caroline Rhea, Canadian actress
1969 – Harold Pruett, rocker (Outsiders-Time Won’t Let Me)
1970 – Rick Schroder, SI NY, actor (Ricky-Silver Spoons, Champ, Earthling)
1971 – Charles Outlaw, NBA forward (LA Clippers, Orlando Magic)
1974 – Darren Turner , British Race Driver
1975 – Lou Bega, German-born musician and artist
1978 – Chris Sligh, American Idol finalist
Deaths
799 – Paul the Deacon / Paulus Diaconus Warnefred, Italian Benedictine monk and chronicler (born c. 720)
814 – Krum of Bulgaria
1093 – Prince Vsevolod I of Kiev (b. 1030)
1279 – Boleslaw the Pious, Polish duke
1517 – Tuman Bey, last Mamelukken sultan of Egypt, hanged
1612 – Sasaki Kojirō, Japanese samurai
1635 – Fakhr-al-Din II, Druze Prince of Lebanon (b. 1572)
1722 – Charles Leslie, Irish controversialist, dies
1793 – Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, French revolutionary (b. 1763)
1806 – Jean-Jacques Bachelier, French painter, dies at about 82
1853 – Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (b. 1788)
1855 – Henry De la Beche, English geologist (b. 1796)
1880 – Robert Fortune, Scottish botanist (b. 1813)
1904 – Vasili Vereshtshagin, Russian painter (War & Peace), dies
1918 – Lavr Georgevich Kornilov, Russian general (b. 1870)
1936 – Milton Brown, American swing bandleader (b. 1903)
1941 – Annie Jump Cannon, US astronomer (Henry Draper catalogues), dies at 77
1942 – Henk Sneevliet, leader of Dutch RSAP/Spartacus, executed at 58
1945 – Ernst Cassirer, German philosopher (b. 1874)
1967 – Luis Somoza Debayle, president of Nicaragua (1956-63), dies at 44
1980 – Markus Höttinger, Austrian racing driver (b. 1956)
1984 – Christopher Wilder, FBI’s “most wanted man,” accidentally kills self
1992 – Wallace Stegner, novelist (Pulitzer 1972), dies at 84
1994 – Donald Benjamin Harden, archaeologist, dies at 92
1996 – James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke, criminal, dies at 64
1997 – George Wald, scientist (Nobel Prize, vitamin A in retina), dies at 80
1997 – Dorothy Frooks, American author and military figure (b. 1896)
1998 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfer (b. 1960)
2002 – Desmond Titterington, Northern Irish racecar driver (b. 1928)
2003 – Possum Bourne, New Zealand rally car driver (b. 1956
2005 – Johnnie Johnson, American blues musician (b. 1924)
2007 – Don Selwyn, Māori actor and film director (b. circa 1936)
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