Today In The Past
Events
1178 BC – A solar eclipse may have marked the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca, to his kingdom after the Trojan War.
73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Jewish Revolt.
556 – Pelagius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1071 – Bari falls to Robert Guiscard, ending Byzantine rule in Italy.
1346 – The Serbian Empire is proclaimed in Skopje at an Easter assembly and Stephen Uroš IV Dušan crowned Emperor over much of the Balkans.
1395 – Azzo X d’Este is defeated at the Battle of Portomaggiore by Venetian-Ferrarese troops.
1509 – French army under Louis XII enters Alps
1521 – Martin Luther arrives at Diet of Worms
1582 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina.
1632 – Albrecht von Wallenstein appointed supreme commander
1705 – Queen Anne of England knights Isaac Newton at Trinity College
1724 – 1st Easter observed (OS=Apr 9)
1746 – Battle at Culloden: Troops of George II of Great Britain defeat Charles Stuart
1777 – Battle of Bennington-New England’s Green Mountain Boys rout Brits
1780 – The University of Münster in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is founded.
1789 – George Washington heads for 1st presidential inauguration
1799 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.
1818 – Senate ratifies Rush-Bagot amendment (unarmed US-Canada border)
1853 – The first passenger rail opens in India, from Bori Bunder, Bombay to Thane.
1854 – Steamer “Long Beach” sinks off Long Beach NY, 311 die
1861 – US president Lincoln outlaws business with confederate states
1862 – Slavery abolished in District of Columbia
1862 – US Confederate Congress approves conscription act for all white males (18-35 years)
1865 – Battle of Columbus & West Point, GA (Ft Tyler)
1866 – Nitroglycerine at Wells Fargo & Co office explodes
1868 – Louisiana voters approve new constitution
1869 – Ebenezer Bassett, 1st US Negro diplomat, begins service in Haiti
1874 – Dr David Livingstones corpse arrives in Southampton
1881 – In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.
1908 – Natural Bridges National Monument forms (Lake Powell Utah)
1912 – Harriet Quimby becomes 1st woman pilot to cross English Channel
1912 – Pirates turn a rare 5-3-7 doubleplay (left fielder covers 2nd base)
1917 – Lenin returns to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution
1922 – Annie Oakley sets women’s record by breaking 100 clay targets in a row
1924 – 1st radio-transmission of wireless: Mattheus Passion
1925 – During the Communist St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, 150 are killed and 500 are wounded.
1926 – Book of the Month Club sends out its 1st selections “Lolly Willowes” & “Loving Huntsman” by Sylvia Townsend Warner
1929 – NY Yankees become 1st team to wear uniform numbers
1935 – 1st radio broadcast of “Fibber McGee & Molly”
1939 – Stalin requests British, French & Russian anti-nazi pact
1940 – 1st televised baseball game, WGN-TV, (White Sox vs Cubs exhibition)
1940 – Cleve Indian Bob Feller hurls an opening day no-hitter vs Chic, 1-0
1942 – Japanese occupying army on Java installs film censorship
1942 – King George VI awards George Cross to Island of Malta
1943 – 40 NZ bombers attack Haarlem Neth (85 killed)
1943 – Dr. Albert Hofmann discovers the psychedelic effects of LSD.
1945 – German troops in Groningen surrender
1945 – Red Army begins Battle of Berlin
1945 – US troops enter Nuremberg, Germany, during WW II
1945 – US troops land on He Shima Okinawa
1946 – 1st US launch of captured V-2 rocket, White Sands, NM; 8 km alt
1947 – -17] Explosions & fire on French ship Grandcamp
1947 – Lens to provide zoom effects demonstrated (NYC)
1947 – Massive explosion & fire kills 522 in Texas City, Tx
1948 – Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris
1951 – British submarine Affray sank in English Channel, killing 75
1953 – British royal yacht Britannica taken out of service
1956 – 1st solar powered radios go on sale
1962 – Brazil nationalizes US businesses
1962 – Walter Cronkite begins anchoring CBS Evening News
1964 – 9 men sentenced 25-30 years for Britain’s 1963 “Great Train Robbery”
1964 – Geraldine Mock of US is 1st woman to fly solo round the world
1965 – Test flight of heavy Saturn S-1C-rocket
1970 – 70 die in a snow crush (France)
1972 – Apollo 16 launched; 5th manned lunar landing (Decartes Highlands)
1972 – China sends 2 giant pandas to US
1975 – Cambodian Red Khmer occupy Phnom Penh
1983 – Steve Garvey sets NL record by playing in 1,118 consecutive games
1986 – To dispel rumors he’s dead, Moammar Gadhafi appears on TV
1987 – British Conservative MP Harvey Proctor appears at Bow Street Magistrates’ Court in London charged with gross indecency.
1990 – Maximum NY State unemployment benefits raised to $260 per week
1990 – Supreme Court rejects appeal from retarded man, Dalton Prejean, condemned to death for murdering a Louisiana state trooper in 1977
1992 – The Katina P. runs aground off of Maputo, Mozambique. 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.
1993 – Jury reaches guilty verdict in Federal case against cop who beat Rodney King, but the verdict is not read until April 17th
2004 – The super liner Queen Mary 2 embarks on her first Trans-Atlantic crossing, linking the golden age of ocean travel to the modern age of ocean travel.
2007 – Virginia Tech massacre: The deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. The gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, shoots 32 people to death and injures 23 others before committing suicide.
2012 – At least 55 people are killed in the Syrian uprising despite UN presence to oversee ceasefire
Births
778 – King Louis the Pious (d. 840)
1495 – Petrus Apianus, German mathematician (d. 1557)
1628 – Cornelis Evertsen de Young, vice admiral of Zealand
1660 – Hans Sloane, England, physician/naturalist/founder (British Museum)
1661 – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, British poet and statesman (d. 1715)
1673 – Francesco Feroci, composer
1682 – John Hadley, mathematician/inventor (1st reflecting telescope)
1728 – Joseph Zwart, Scottish chemist/physicist
1738 – Henry Clinton, British general (d. 1795)
1816 – Edward “Old Allegheny” Johnson, Major General (Confederate Army)
1821 – Ford Maddox Brown, painter
1823 – Orlando Bolivar Wilcox, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1907
1823 – Ferdinand Eisenstein, German mathematician (d. 1852)
1850 – Herbert Baxter Adams, US, historian (American Historical Association)
1865 – Henry George Chauvel, Australian general (d. 1945)
1867 – Wilbur Wright, of aeronautical fame (Wright Brothers)
1889 – Charlie Chaplin, (Tramp), comedian (City Lights)/IBM salesman
1897 – John B Glubb, British commandant/writer (A soldier with the Arabs)
1899 – Osman Achmatowicz, Polish chemist (d. 1988)
1900 – Polly Adler, Russia, bordello proprieter/author (House is not a Home)
1905 – John Lee-Barber, admiral
1906 – Pigmeat Markham, Durham NC, comedian (Here Comes da Judge-Laugh In)
1907 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, French-Canadian inventor and businessman (Bombardier) (d. 1964)
1911 – Christine McIntyre, actress (3 Stooges movies)
1912 – John Halas, animator
1912 – Garth Williams, American illustrator (d. 1996)
1913 – Les Tremayne, London, actor (Angry Red Planet, War of the Worlds)
1913 – Lord Aberconway, CEO (John Brown & Co)
1914 – John Hodiak, Pittsburgh PA, actor (A Bell for Adamo, Lifeboat)
1918 – Spike Milligan, India, actor/comedian (Digby, 3 Musketeers)
1918 – Dick Gibson, British racing driver
1919 – Merce Cunningham, choreographer (Acrobat in Every Soul is a Circus)
1920 – Barry Nelson, Oakland, actor (Airport, My Favorite Husband)
1921 – Peter Ustinov, London, actor (Death on Nile, Logan’s Run, Billy Budd)
1922 – Christopher Samuel Youd, UK, sci-fi author (Tripods Trilogy), (d. 2012)
1922 – Kingsley Amis, London, novelist (Lucky Jim, James Bond Dossier)
1922 – Eddie Bert, Yonkers, New York, bebopjazz trombonist, (d. 2012)
1924 – Henry Mancini, Cleveland, composer/conductor (Pink Panther)
1925 – Edie Adams, Kingston Pa, Mrs Ernie Kovacs (Murial Cigar), actress
1927 – Joseph Ratzinger, German theologist/dogmaticus
1928 – Dick “Night Train” Lane, NFL defensive back (Rams, Cards, Lions)
1930 – Herbie Mann, Brooklyn NY, jazz flute/sax (Just Wallin’)
1932 – Imre Polyak, Hungary, featherweight (Olympic-gold-1964)
1934 – Brian Peppiatt, joint CEO (SG Warburg Securities)
1934 – Geoffrey Owen, British editor (Financial Times)
1934 – Robert Stigwood, producer (Saturday Night Fever, Grease)
1935 – Bobby Vinton, Pitts Pa, singer (Roses are Red, Blue on Blue)
1935 – Haskell “Cool Papa” Sadler, blues singer/guitarist
1939 – Dusty Springfield, [Mary O’Brien], London, vocalist (Growing Pains)
1945 – Stefan Grossman, NYC, country blues singer (Yazoo Basin Boogie)
1946 – Margot Adler, American journalist
1947 – Gerry Rafferty, Paisley Scotland, guitarist/vocalist (Baker Street)
1947 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, [Lew Alcindor], NBA center (Mil Bucks, LA Lakers)
1949 – Melody Patterson, American actress
1951 – Pierre Toutain-Dorbec, French photographer
1952 – Peter Westbrook, St Louis Mo, US fencer (Olympic-bronze-88, 92, 96)
1953 – Jay O Sanders, Austin TX, actor (Meeting Venus, V I Warshawski)
1953 – J. Neil Schulman, American writer
1954 – Ellen Barkin, Bronx NY, actress (Big Easy, Sea of Love)
1954 – John Bowe, Australian racing driver
1955 – Charlotte Morrison, English large landowner/multi-millionaire
1956 – David M Brown, Arlington Va, Cmdr USN/astronaut
1956 – Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
1959 – Anne Kursinski, equestrian show jumper (Olympics-silver-96)
1961 – Doris Dragović, Croatian singer
1963 – Jimmy Osmond, Ogden Utah, singer (Donnie & Marie)
1964 – Dave Pirner, rocker (Soul Asylum)
1965 – Jon Cryer, actor (Pretty in Pink, Superman IV)
1965 – Martin Lawrence, comedian (Martin)
1971 – Selena, Texas, spanish singer (Grammy-1994)
1976 – Lukas Haas, actor (Music Box, Witness, Testament, Leap of Faith)
1976 – Dan Kellner, American fencer
1977 – Alek Wek, Sudanese supermodel
1979 – Christijan Albers, Dutch Formula One driver
1982 – Gina Carano, American Mixed Martial Arts fighter.
1985 – Benjamín Rojas, Argentine actor and singer
1986 – Paul di Resta, British racing driver
1990 – Heather Fulton, American marine biologist
Deaths
69 – Otho, Roman Emperor (b. 32)
744 – al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph
924 – Berengar of Friuli, King of Italy
1115 – Svjatopolk II, great monarch of Kiev, dies [or 1113]
1118 – Adelaide del Vasto, wife of Roger II of Sicily
1198 – Duke Frederick I of Austria
1446 – Filippo Brunelleschi, architect, dies
1529 – Louis de Berquin, French humanist/reformer/heretic, burned at stake
1619 – Denijs Calvaert/Caluwaert, [Dionisio Fiamingo], Flemish painter, dies
1645 – Tobias Hume, English composer
1756 – Jacques Cassini, Fr astronomer (Discover rings of Saturn), dies at 79
1783 – Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer (b. 1719)
1788 – Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist (b. 1707)
1828 – Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Spanish painter/cartoonist, dies at 82
1850 – Marie [Gresholtz] Tussaud, maker of wax figures, dies at 88
1859 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian (b. 1805)
1865 – Robert C Tyler, US Confederate brig-general, dies in battle
1879 – Bernadette, st/(saw Virgin Mary at Lourdes), dies in Nevers France
1888 – Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist (b. 1845)
1899 – Emilio Jacinto, Filipino poet and revolutionary (b 1875)
1914 – George W Hill, US astronomer (moon orbit), dies at 76
1915 – Nelson W. Aldrich, American politician (b. 1841)
1928 – Henry Birks, Canadian businessman, founder of Henri Birks and Sons (b. 1840)
1938 – Bertram Wagstaff Mills, circus proprietor, dies
1946 – Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and automobile designer (b. 1884)
1947 – Rudolf Höß, commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp (b. 1900)
1955 – Abdullah Seif el-Islam, brother of Yemenite king Ahmed, beheaded
1958 – Rosalind Franklin, British chemist (b. 1920)
1968 – Edna Ferber, American author (American Beauty), dies at 82
1970 – Richard Neutra, American architect (b. 1892)
1972 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese author (Nobel 1968), dies at 72
1978 – Lucius D Clay, gen/gov US zone W-Germany (airlift), dies at 80
1988 – Khalil al-Wazir, PLO milt commander, assassinated by Israeli commandos
1991 – David Lean, director (28 academy awards), dies of pneumonia at 83
1992 – Neville Brand, actor (Stalag 17), dies of emphysema at 71
1994 – Ralph Waldo Ellison, US writer (Invisible Man), dies at 80
1995 – Cheyenne Brando, daughter of Marlon, commits suicide
1996 – Raymond Earl Hill, saxophonist, dies at 62
1996 – Stavros Spyros Niarchos, Greek shipowner, dies at 86
1997 – Emilio Azcarraga Milmo, media tycoon, dies at 66
1997 – Mae Boren Axton, song writer (Heartbreak Hotel), dies at 82
1998 – Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913)
1998 – Alberto Calderón, Argentine mathematician (b. 1920)
1999 – Skip Spence, Canadian-born guitarist, singer and songwriter (Jefferson Airplane) (b. 1946)
2002 – Ruth Fertel, American restaurateur (b. 1927)
2002 – Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
2005 – Marla Ruzicka, American humanitarian worker and peace activist (b. 1976)
2007 – Maria Lenk, Brazilian swimmer and first Brazilian woman to compete in the Olympic Games (b. 1915)
2007 – Seung-Hui Cho, Korean American murderer (b. 1984), see List of victims of the Virginia Tech massacre
2007 – Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, American instructor of French (b. 1958)
2007 – Kevin Granata, American professor of Engineering (b. 1961)
2007 – Liviu Librescu, American Jewish-Romanian professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics (b. 1930)
2007 – G. V. Loganathan, Indian American professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (b. 1954)
2007 – Frank Bateson, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1909)
2008 – Edward Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (b. 1917)
2010 – Rasim Delic, Bosnian military chief of staff and war criminal (b. 1949)
2012 – Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, Danish shipping Magnate, dies at 98
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