Today In The Past
Events
757 – Paolo Orsini replaces his brother Pope Stephen II, as Paul I
1220 – German king Frederick II grants bishops sovereign rights
1467 – The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy.
1478 – 1st Easter
1478 – Pazzi conspirators attack Lorenzo de’Medici & kill Giuliano de’Medici
1514 – Copernicus makes his 1st observations of Saturn
1532 – Sultan Suleiman through Hungary on away to Vienna
1564 – William Shakespeare baptized
1607 – 1st British to establish an American colony land at Cape Henry, Va
1654 – Jews are expelled from Brazil
1677 – Emperor Leopold I forms University of Innsbruck
1721 – Smallpox vaccination 1st administrated
1755 – 1st Russian university opens (Moscow)
1777 – Sybil Ludington, 16, rode from NY to Ct rallying her fathers militia
1819 – Odd Fellows Lodge forms
1859 – Dan Sickles is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity 1st time this defense is successfully used
1865 – Battle of Durham Station, NC (Greensboro)
1865 – Battle of Ft Tobacco, VA
1865 – Confederate Gen J E Johnston surrenders Army of Tenn, at Durham NC
1887 – Huntsville Electric Co forms to sell electricity
1904 – Bell Telephone Company of Antwerp Belgium forms
1905 – Cubs Jack McCarthy becomes only major league player to throw out 3 runners at plate in 1 game, all were ends of a double play
1907 – Jamestown, Va Tercentenary Exposition opens
1912 – 1st homerun hit at Fenway Park (Hugh Bradley, Red Sox)
1913 – Panama-Pacific International Exposition opens in SF
1913 – Sun Yet San calls for revolt against pres Yuan Shikai in China
1928 – Madame Tussaud’s waxwork exhibition opens in London
1931 – Lou Gehrig hits a HR but is called out for passing a runner, mistake costs him AL home run crown; he & Babe Ruth tie for season
1933 – Jewish students are barred from school in Germany
1937 – German Luftwaffe destroys Basque town of Guernica in Spain
1938 – Austrian Jews required to register property above 5,000 Reichsmarks
1941 – A tradition begins, 1st organ at a baseball stadium (Chicago Cubs)
1941 – Potatoes rationed in Holland
1942 – Coal mine explosion kills 1,549 at Honkeiko Manchuria
1944 – 1st B-29 attacked by Japanese fighters, one fighter shot down
1945 – Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, leader of France’s Vichy collaborationist regime during WW II, arrested for treason
1945 – World War II: Battle of Bautzen – last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
1950 – Last horse race at Havre de Grace Track in Md, is run
1950 – U of Miami ends William & Mary straight tennis match victories at 82
1952 – Patty Berg scores 64, best competitive round of golf by a woman
1952 – US minesweeper “Hobson” rams aircraft carrier “Wasp,” kills 176
1954 – Nationwide test of Salk anti-polio vaccine begins
1956 – First container ship left Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas
1957 – Jamestown, Va 350th Anniversary Festival opens
1959 – Cuba invades Panama
1961 – French paratroopers’ revolt suppressed in Algeria
1961 – Roger Maris hits 1st of 61 homers in 1961
1962 – 1st Lockheed A-12 flies
1962 – Ranger 4 crash lands on (backside of) Moon
1962 – Red Sox Bill Monbouquette no-hits White Sox 1-0
1962 – US/UK launch Ariel; 1st international payload
1966 – Arnold “Red” Auerbach retires as Boston Celtic’s coach
1968 – Students seize administration building at Ohio State
1971 – SF lightship replaced by automatic buoy
1977 – NY’s famed disco Studio 54 opens
1980 – Iran begins scattering US hostages from US Embassy
1980 – Longest jump by a jet boat is set at 120′
1980 – Phillies’ Steve Carlton pitches his 6th 1-hitter (beats Cards)
1982 – Argentina surrenders to Britain on S Georgia near Falkland Island
1982 – Rod Stewart is mugged, gunman steals his $50,000 Porsche
1983 – Dow Jones Industrial Avg breaks 1,200 for 1st time
1984 – Pres Reagan visits China
1989 – Mike Tyson is ticketed for driving 71 MPH in 30 mile zone in Albany
1990 – NY court of appeals ends 2½ year legal battle over 1988 America’s Cup by refusing jurisdiction of case
1990 – Nolan Ryan ties Bob Feller’s record of pitching 12 1-hitters
1991 – “Dinosaurs” premieres on ABC-TV
1991 – 23 killed in Kansas & Oklahoma by tornadoes
1992 – “Growing Pains,” final episode on ABC TV
1992 – “Who’s The Boss,” final episode after 8 years on ABC TV
1992 – Ozzie Smith steals his 500th base
1993 – NBC announces Conan O’Brien to replace David Letterman
1994 – Physicists announce first evidence of the top quark subatomic particle.
1995 – Coors Field, opens in Denver, Rockies beat Mets 11-9 in 14 innings
1996 – Sothebys ends 4 day auction of Jackie O stuff-take in $34.5 million
2002 – Robert Steinhäuser infiltrates and kills 17 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt,Germany before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
2005 – Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country.
2012 – 70 people are killed by rocket attacks by the Syrian Army on the city of Hama
Births
121 – Antonius Marcus Aurelius, [Marcus A Verus], Emperor of Rome (161-180)
570 – Muhammed, founder of Islam, according to the Shi’a sect. Other sources suggest April 20.
1319 – Jean II, the Good, king of France (1350-64)
1538 – Giovanni P Lomazzo, Italian writer/poet (Trattato)
1564 – William Shakespeare, Stratford-on-Avon England, baptism and presumed birth date, playwright and poet
1567 – Nicolas Forme, composer
1662 – Maria Luisa of Orleans, queen consort of Spain (d. 1689)
1710 – Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher (d. 1796)
1711 – David Hume, English empiricist/philosopher (Treatise of Human Nature)
1718 – Esek Hopkins, US, 1st commander-in-chief (US Navy)
1774 – Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist (d. 1853)
1785 – John James Audubon, Haiti, bird watcher/artist
1798 – James Beckwourth, American explorer (d. 1867)
1812 – Alfred Krupp, German arms merchant
1822 – Frederick Law Olmsted, architect/writer (designed Central Park)
1826 – George Hull Ward, American general (d. 1863)
1826 – Ambrose R. Wright, American Civil War General (d. 1872
1827 – Charles Edward Hovey, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1834 – Artemus Ward, (Charles Farrar Browne), humorist
1839 – Cyrus Hamblin, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1867
1841 – Wilhelm Scherer, German literature historian
1875 – Syngman Rhee, South Korea, pres of South Korea (1948-60) [or Mar 26]
1879 – Owen Williams Richardson, England, physicist (Nobel 1928)
1886 – Ma Rainey, [Gertrude Pridgett], “Mother of the Blues” American singer (d. 1939)
1888 – Anita Loos, American screenwriter, novelist (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) and playwright (d. 1981)
1893 – Draza Mihajlovic, Serbian WWII hero and war criminal (d. 1946)
1894 – Rudolf Hess, Nazi official (d. 1987)
1897 – Eddie Eagan, American sportsman (d. 1967)
1898 – Edward PF Eagan, Denver, boxer (Oly-gold-20)/bobsledder (Oly-gold-32)
1898 – John Grierson, documentary film maker
1903 – Geoffrey Worthington, Air vice-marshall
1903 – Niven Busch, US screenwriter (Postman Always Rings Twice)
1912 – A. E. van Vogt, Canada, sci-fi author (Wizard of Linn) (d. 2000)
1914 – Bernard Malamud, US, novelist (Fixer, Natural, Pulitizer 1967)
1914 – Horace Leonard Gold, Sci-Fi writer/editor
1914 – James William Rouse, US builder (shopping malls/Columbia, Maryland)
1916 – Morris L West, Australia, novelist (Shoes of the Fisherman)
1916 – Vic Perrin, American actor (d. 1989)
1917 – I[eoh] M[ing] Pei, Canton, China, architect (1961 Brunner Prize)
1917 – Sal “The Barber” Maglie, pitcher (NY Giants, 8th best won-lost pct)
1918 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Holland, 100m/200m dash, hurdler (Olym-gold-1948)
1921 – Harry Knutton, Maj-Gen/dir-general (London City & Guilds Institute)
1922 – James Holt, medieval historian
1927 – Anne McLaren, biologist/zoologist/actress (Things to Come)
1930 – Roger Moens, Belgium, 800m runner (Olympic-silver-1960)
1932 – Michael Smith, English-born chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 2000)
1933 – Carol Burnett, San Antonio Tx, comedian/actress (Annie, 4 Seasons)
1937 – Robert Boozer, Omaha Neb, basketball player (Olympic-gold-1960), (d. 2012)
1938 – Duane Eddy, Phoenix, Az, country singer (Peter Gunn, Cannonball)
1942 – Bobby Rydell, Phila Pa, rock singer (Wild One, Bye Bye Birdie)
1942 – Claudine Auger, Paris France, Miss France (1958)/actress (Thunderball)
1942 – Vitali Andreyevich Grishchenko, Russia, cosmonaut
1943 – Gary Wright, singer, dream weaver (Spooky Tooth-It’s All About)
1943 – Peter Zumthor, Swiss architect
1944 – Martha Rockwell, Providence RI, skier (Mount Washington)
1945 – Giorgio Moroder, producer/singer/songwriter (150 gold discs)
1947 – Donna Elizabeth De Varona, Greenwich Ct, swimmer (Olympic-2 gold-64)
1948 – Boyd Matson, TV host/correspondent (National Geographic Explorer)
1949 – Jimmy Hall, rocker (Wet Willie)
1950 – Howard “Leon” Reeder, rock guitarist (Champaign)
1956 – Koo Stark, [Kathleen Dee-Anne], photographer/actress (Emily)
1958 – Giancarlo Esposito, actor (Bob Roberts, School Daze, King of NY)
1958 – Johnny “Earl of” Dumfries, racing driver
1959 – John Corabi, American Musician
1960 – Roger Taylor, rock drummer (Duran Duran-Hungry Like the Wolf)
1961 – Albert Lawrence, Jamaica, 4X100m relayer (Olympic-silver-1984)
1961 – Joan Chen, [Chen Chong], Shanghai China, actress (Heaven & Earth)
1963 – Jet Li, Beijing, Chinese actor and martial artist (Romeo Must Die, Unleashed)
1965 – Kevin James, American comedian
1970 – Melania Trump, Slovenian model
1970 – Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, American singer (TLC)
1978 – Avant, American singer
1980 – Jordana Brewster, Panama, actress (Nikki Graves-As the World Turns)
1981 – Ms. Dynamite, English musician
1983 – José María López, Argentine racing driver
1983 – Jessica Lynch, American P.O.W.
1987 – Jessica Lee Rose, American-born New Zealand actress, famous YouTube star lonelygirl15
Deaths
757 – Stephen II, Pope (752-57), dies
1192 – Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (b. 1127)
1196 – Alfonso II, King of Aragon (1162-96), dies
1444 – Robert Campin, South Neth painter/porter of Doornik, dies at about 65
1476 – Simonetta Vespucci, inspiration of Botticelli (b.1453)
1478 – Giuliano de’ Medici, Medeheerser of Florence, murdered at about 24
1489 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shogun (b. 1465)
1558 – Jean Francois Fernel, French physician, dies
1648 – Christoph Thomas Walliser, composer, dies at 79
1731 – Daniel Defoe, English author (Robinson Crusoe), dies at about 70
1789 – Peter I Panin, Russian general (Pugatshov-uprising), dies at about 67
1865 – John Wilkes Booth, assassin, is shot dead near Bowling Green VA at 27
1881 – Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (b. 1815)
1892 – Sir Provo Wallis, British Admiral and naval hero (b. 1791)
1940 – Carl Bosch, German chemist (BASF, IG Farben, Nobel 1931), dies at 65
1941 – Jean Demoor, Belgian physician/physiologist/educationalist, dies at 74
1957 – Gichin Funakoshi, Father of Japanese Shotokan Karatedo (b. 1868)
1969 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist and founder of aikido (b. 1883)
1970 – Gypsy Rose Lee, stripper/actress (Pruitts of S Hampton), dies at 56
1973 – Irene Ryan, actress (Granny-Beverly Hillbillies), dies at 69
1981 – Robert Davi, dies at 54
1984 – William “Count” Basie, jazz piano great
1986 – [William] Broderick Crawford, actor (Highway Patrol), dies at 74
1989 – Lucille Ball, comedienne (I Love Lucy), dies of heart attack at 78
1992 – Alberta Vaughn, actress (Wild Horse, Silver Devil), dies at 87
1996 – Stirling Silliphant, screenwriter, dies at 78
1997 – Joey Faye, comic (Fruit of the Loom grapes), dies at 86
2005 – Mason Adams, American actor (b. 1919)
2005 – Maria Schell, Swiss-Austrian actress (b. 1926)
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