Today In The Past
Events
215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
1014 – King Brian Boru of Ireland beats Danes at Battle of Clontarf
1154 – Damascus surrenders to sultan Nur ad-Din van Aleppo
1229 – Ferdinand III of Castile conquers Cáceres.
1343 – St. George’s Night Uprising.
1348 – 1st English order of knighthood founded (Order of Garter)
1500 – Pedro Cabral lands & annexes Brazil (Terra da Vera Cruz)
1501 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Cabral & 6 ships return to Lisbon
1597 – William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance.
1635 – Oldest US public institution, Boston Latin School founded
1662 – Connecticut chartered as an English colony
1789 – President-elect George Washington moves into Franklin House, NY
1795 – William Hastings acquitted in England of high treason
1827 – William Rowan Hamilton presents his Theory of systems of rays.
1838 – English steamship “Great Western” crossing Atlantic docks in NYC
1861 – Arkansas troops seize Ft Smith
1864 – Battle of Cane River, LA (Red River Expedition, Monett’s Ferry)
1867 – Queen Victoria & Napoleon III turn down plans for a channel tunnel
1871 – Blossom Rock in SF Bay blown up
1896 – Vitascope system of movie projection 1st shown at Koster & Bial’s Music Hall (NYC)
1900 – 1st know occurrence of word “hillbillie” (NY Journal)
1915 – ACA becomes National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA)
1918 – Battle of Zeebrugge ends
1919 – Major leagues open a reduced 140-game season
1921 – Charles Paddock runs world record 100m (10.4 secs)
1924 – British Empire Exhibition opens at Wembley
1932 – Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opens at Stratford-on-Avon
1932 – The 153-year old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem, the Netherlands burns down.
1938 – Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia demand self government
1939 – Boston Red Sox Ted Williams hits his 1st HR
1940 – Dance hall fire kills 207 (Natchez Miss)
1941 – Greece Army surrenders to German Nazis RAF brings Greek king George II to Egypt
1942 – 4-day allied bombing on Rostock begins
1942 – Luftwaffe bombs Exeter
1943 – British & US offensive directed at Tunis/Bizerta
1945 – Concentration camp Flossenburg liberated
1945 – US troops in Italy cross river Po
1949 – Chinese Red army conquerors Nanjing
1950 – Nationalist China evacuates Hainan Island
1952 – Oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Banias completed
1953 – General Charles P Cabell, USAF, becomes deputy director of CIA
1954 – Hammerin’ Hank Aaron hits 1st of his 755 homers
1956 – US Supreme court ends race segregation on buses
1958 – Gil Hodges hits his 300th HR & Pee Wee Reese plays in 2,000th game
1959 – 1st heliport in Britain opens in London
1962 – 1st US satellite to reach the moon launched
1968 – 1st decimal coins issued in Britain (5 & 10 pence)
1969 – LA Laker Jerry West scores 53 points
1969 – Sirhan Sirhan sentenced to death for killing Bobby Kennedy
1971 – Columbia University operations virtually end, by student strike
1972 – Apollo 16 astronauts explores Moon surface
1977 – Milt workers kill 300-500 students in Addis Ababa
1977 – Czech chess master Vlastimil Hort plays 201 games simultaneously & only loses 10
1978 – Reds Joe Morgan ends record streak of 91 cons errorless games at 2nd
1982 – Conch Republic is established.
1984 – AIDS-virus identified (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)
1985 – New Coke debuts
1987 – 28 construction workers killed in an apt collapse in Bridgeport, Ct
1988 – A Greek pedals self-powered aircraft, 74 miles
1988 – Federal smoking ban during domestic airline flights of 2 hrs or less
1989 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar plays his last game as a Laker
1989 – Nolan Ryan blows a no hitter in 9th inning
1992 – Marion Berry (former mayor of Wash DC) let out of prison
1992 – McDonald’s opens its 1st fast-food restaurant in China
1994 – General Tire World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Norm Duke
1994 – Libertarian party nominates Howard Stern for Governor of NY
1995 – Pres Clinton declares a national day of mourning for Oklahoma City
1997 – Omaria massacre in Algeria: 42 villagers are killed.
2003 – Beijing closes all schools for two weeks because of the SARS virus.
2009 – The gamma ray burst GRB 090423 is observed for 10 seconds as the most distant object of any kind and also the oldest known object in the universe.
2012 – 38,000 London Marathon entrants have their home and email contacts published in a data protection breach
Births
1170 – Isabelle of Hainaut, queen of France (d. 1190)
1185 – King Afonso II of Portugal (d. 1223)
1464 – Johanna van Valois, Queen of France
1464 – Robert Fayrfax, composer
1484 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italy, scholar (On the Subtlety of Things)
1598 – Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp, naval commander
1621 – William Penn, English admiral (d. 1670)
1697 – George Baron Anson, British admiral/explorer
1728 – Samuel Wallis, explorer (Wallis Island)
1746 – Félix Vicq-d’Azyr, French physician and anatomist (d. 1794)
1791 – James Buchanan, Cove Gap PA, (Fed/Dem), 15th US president (1857-61)
1792 – John Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
1813 – Stephen Arnold Douglas, (Little giant), US senator (Lincoln debates)
1858 – Max K E Ludwig Planck, German physicist (Planck Constant, Nobel 1918)
1891 – Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev, Sontsovka, Ukraine, composer (Peter and the Wolf)
1895 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand writer (d. 1982)
1897 – Lucius du Bignon Clay, US, general (WW II)/gov (West Germany)
1899 – Vladimir Nabokov, St Petersburg, Russia, novelist (Lolita, Ada)
1903 – Guy Simonds, youngest general officer in the Canadian army (d 1974)
1906 – Marcel Hillaire, Cologne Germany, actor (Adv in Paradise)
1908 – Myron Waldman, American animator (d. 2006)
1911 – Simone Simon, France, actress (All Money Can Buy, Ladies in Love)
1914 – Mitsu Suzuki, teacher of tea ceremony at SF Zen Center
1915 – Arnold Hall, CEO (Hawker Siddeley Group)
1917 – Jacob Kistemaker, nuclear physicist (ultra centrifuge)
1917 – Dorian Leigh, American supermodel (d. 2008)
1918 – Gordon Hirabayshi, Seattle, Washington, American civil rights activist and WWII internment opponent (Hirabayshi v. United States), (d. 2012)
1919 – Oleg Penkovsky, Soviet double-agent
1920 – Eric Yarrow, CEO (Clydesdale Bank)
1921 – Warren Spahn, left-handed pitcher (Boston/Milwaukee Braves)
1922 – Boy [Segundo JA] Ecury, Aruba, resistance fighter
1924 – Colin Welch, columnist/critic
1928 – Shirley Temple Black, Ca, actress (Heidi)/ambassador (UN)
1932 – Halston, [R Halston Frowick], fashion designer (1972 Hall of Fame)
1932 – Jim Fixx, jogger/writer (Jim Fixx on Running)
1936 – Roy Orbison, Vernon Tx, rocker (Pretty Woman)
1939 – David Birney, Wash DC, actor (Brigette Loves Bernie, St Elsewhere)
1940 – Lee Majors, [Harvey Yeary], Mich, TV actor ($6,000,000 Man, Stunt Man)
1940 – Richard Monaco, US, sci-fi author (Grail War, Final Quest)
1942 – Sandra Dee, [Zuck], Bayonne NJ, actress (Gidget, Imitation of Life)
1943 – Herve Villechaize, France, “Da Plane! Da Plane!” (Fantasy Island)
1947 – Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Ireland, political activist [or 1940]
1947 – Saskia, [Trudy van den Berg], singer (S & Serge, Spinning Wheel)
1948 – Richard Day, engineer/development expert
1949 – Blair Brown, Wash DC, actress (Altered States, Molly Dodd)
1949 – Joyce DeWitt, Wheeling WV, actress (Janet Wood-Three’s Company)
1952 – Narada, [Michael Walden], Mich, rocker (Don’t Want Nobody Else)
1955 – Judy Davis, Perth Australia, actress (Husbands & Wives)
1957 – Jan Hooks, Decatur Georgia, comedienne actress (SNL, Designing Women)
1960 – Steve Clark, Hillsborough England, rock guitarist (Def Leppard)
1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, Del, (1 Day at a Time, Sydney); Ms Eddie Van Halen
1961 – George Lopez, American actor and comedian
1964 – Gen, [Simon Matthews], English pop drummer (Jesus Jones-Zeroes & Ones)
1965 – Donna Weinbrecht, skier (Olympic-gold)
1967 – Brent Muscat, rocker (Faster Pussycat-Wake Me When It’s Over)
1967 – Melina Kanakaredes, Akron Ohio, actress (Eleni Andros-Guiding Light)
1968 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (d. 2001)
1969 – Yelena Shushunova, Russian gymnast
1969 – Richard Wolstencroft, Australian Filmmaker
1977 – John Cena, American professional wrestler
1979 – Barry Fratelli, Scottish bassist (The Fratellis)
1979 – Jaime King, American actress
1981 – Joanna Krupa, Supermodel/actress
1981 – Chris Sharma, American rock climber/boulderer
1983 – Jennifer Heil, Canadian free style skier
1986 – Jessica Stam, Canadian supermodel
Deaths
34 – Christ, crucified, according to Isaac Newton
303 – Saint George, Greek officer in the Roman army, beheaded. Patron saint of many lands including England
725 – Wihtred, King of Kent
871 – Ethelred I, king of Wessex/brother of Alfred the Great, dies
990 – Ekkehart II, [Palatinus], monk to St-Gallen/poet, dies
997 – Vojtech “Adalbert” of Prague, 2nd bishop of Prague/apostle, dies at 40
1014 – Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, dies in battle at Clontarf
1016 – Æthelred II “the Unready”, king of England (979-1016), dies
1151 – Queen Adeliza of England (b. 1103)
1217 – King Inge II of Norway (b. 1185)
1407 – Olivier de Clisson, French soldier (b. 1326)
1416 – Blaise/Blasius of Parma, Ital astrologist/philosopher/algebra, dies
1605 – Boris Godunov, chief adviser to Tsar Fyodor I and Tsar of Russia (1598-1605), dies after a lengthy illness and a stroke at approximately 20
1616 – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spanish writer (Don Quixote), dies at 69
1616 – William Shakespeare, English poet and playwright (b. 1564) (Julian calendar) dies aged 52
1625 – Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, dies at 57
1774 – Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich, painter, dies
1781 – James Abercrombie, British general (b. 1706)
1792 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and adventurer (b. 1741)
1794 – Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French statesman (executed) (b. 1721)
1839 – Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French explorer (b. 1768)
1853 – Auguste Laurent, chemist, dies
1865 – James Dearing, US Confederate brig-general, dies at 24
1895 – Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig, physiologist, dies
1895 – Carl Ludwig, German physician (b. 1815)
1907 – Alfred Packer, American Cannibal (b. 1842)
1918 – Percy Thomson Dean, lt-commander, killed at Zeebrugge, dies
1951 – Charles G. Dawes, Vice President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
1975 – Pete Ham, rocker (Badfinger), commits suicide by hanging himself at 27
1983 – Buster Crabbe, 400m US swimmer (Olympics-gold-1932), dies at 73
1986 – Harold Arlen, [Hyman Arluck], US composer, murdered at 81
1986 – Otto Preminger, dir (Advise & Consent, Anatomy of Murder), dies at 79
1990 – Albert Salmi, (Caddyshack), kills terminally ill wife & self at 62
1991 – Johnny Thunders, American musician (b. 1952)
1995 – Howard Cosell, sportscaster (Monday Night Football), dies at 77
1995 – John Stennis, (Sen-D-MS), dies at 93
1995 – Lonesome Sundown, blues singer/guitarist, dies at 66
1996 – Leonard Kuntstat, blues discographer, dies at 70
1996 – Pamela Lyndon Travers, writer (Mary Poppins), dies at 96
1996 – Jean-Victor Allard, Canadian military officer (b. 1913)
1998 – James Earl Ray, American assassin (b. 1928)
2003 – James H. Critchfield, American Central Intelligence agent (b. 1917)
2005 – John Mills, English actor (b. 1908)
2006 – Johnnie Checketts, New Zealand fighter pilot (b. 1912)
2007 – Paul Erdman, American economist and author (b. 1932)
2007 – David Halberstam, American journalist, historian and author (b. 1934)
2007 – Boris Yeltsin, first President of the Russian Federation (b. 1931)
—
