Today In The Past

 

 

Events

1294 – John II becomes duke of Brabant/Limburg

1342 – Count Hartmann II becomes ruler of Vaduz (Liechtenstein)

1382 – Battle on Beverhoutsfield near Brugge

1455 – Jews flee Spain

1494 – Jamaica discovered by Columbus; he names it “St Iago”

1512 – Pope Julius II opens 5th Council of Lateran at St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome

1654 – Bridge at Rowley Mass begins charging tolls for animals

1661 – Johannes Hevelius observes 3rd transit of Mercury ever to be seen

1662 – Royal charter granted Connecticut

1715 – Edmund Halley observes total eclipse phenomenon “Baily’s Beads”

1765 – 1st US medical college opens in Philadelphia

1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city

1810 – Lord Byron swims Hellespont

1815 – Battle at Tolentino: Austria beats king Joachim of Naples

1845 – 1st black lawyer (Macon B Allen) admitted to bar (Mass)

1845 – Fire kills 1,600 in popular theater in Canton China

1846 – Mexican army surrounds fort in Texas

1851 – Most of SF destroyed by fire; 30 die

1861 – Gen Winfield Scott presents his Anaconda Plan for the North against the South in US Civil War

1861 – Lincoln asks for 42,000 Army Volunteers & another 18,000 seamen

1863 – Battle of Fredricksburg, VA (Marye’s Heights)

1863 – Battle of Salem Church, VA

1864 – 3rd day in Battle at Alexandria Louisiana: Confederate assault

1867 – The Hudson’s Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.

1900 – 26th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Boland aboard Lieut Gibson wins in 2:06.25

1901 – Fire destroyed 1,700 buildings in Jacksonville, Florida

1902 – 28th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Winkfield on Alan-a-Dale wins in 2:08.75

1906 – British-controlled Egypt takes Sinai peninsula from Turkey

1909 – 35th Kentucky Derby: Vincent Powers on Wintergreen wins in 2:08.2

1916 – The leaders of the Easter Rising are executed in Dublin.

1921 – West Virginia imposes 1st state sales tax

1923 – 1st nonstop transcontinental flight (NY-San Diego) completed

1926 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Sinclair Lewis (Arrowsmith)

1926 – US marines land in Nicaragua (9-mo after leaving), stay until 1933

1928 – Japanese atrocities in Jinan, China.

1932 – 24 tourists begin 1st air-charter holiday (London-Basle, Switz)

1933 – 1st female director (Nellie T Ross) of US Mint takes office

1936 – NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio makes his major-league debut, gets 3 hits

1937 – Margaret Mitchell wins Pulitzer Prize for “Gone With the Wind”

1938 – Lefty Grove defeats Tigers 4-3 for 1st of record 20 consecutive wins at his home field Fenway Park; he doesn’t lose there until May 12 1941

1941 – 67th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Whirlaway wins in 2:01.4

1942 – Japanese troop attack Tulagi, Gavutu & Tanambogo, Solomon Islands

1943 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Upton Sinclair (Dragon’s Teeth)

1943 – US 1st armour division occupies Mateur Tunisia

1944 – Meat rationing ends in US

1945 – 1st Polish armour brigade occupies Wilhelmshafen

1945 – Allies arrests German nuclear physics Werner Heisenberg

1945 – German ship “Cap Arcona” sinks in East Sea, 5,800 killed

1947 – 73rd Kentucky Derby: Eric Guerin aboard Jet Pilot wins in 2:06.8

1949 – 1st firing of a US Viking rocket; reached 80 km

1951 – Gil McDougald ties major league record with 6 RBIs in 1 inning

1952 – 1st landing by an airplane at geographic North Pole

1952 – 78th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Hill Gail wins in 2:01.6

1954 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Charles A Lindbergh & John Patrick

1956 – A new range of mountains discovered in Antarctica (2 over 13,000′)

1958 – 84th Kentucky Derby: Ismael Valenzuela aboard Tim Tam wins in 2:05

1958 – WINS suspends Alan Freed for causing a riot in Boston, he quits

1961 – Warren Spahn pitches a 2 hitter after pitching a no hitter

1962 – Express train crashed into wreckage of a commuter train & a freight, killing 163, injuring 400 (Tokyo, Japan)

1965 – 1st use of satellite TV, Today Show on Early Bird Satellite

1967 – Black students seize finance building at Northwestern U

1968 – Holland Pirate Radio Station VRON becomes Radio Veronica Intl

1969 – 95th Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack on Majestic Prince wins in 2:01.8

1971 – National Public Radio begins programming

1971 – Pulitzer prize awarded to John Toland (Rising Sun)

1973 – Chicago’s Sears Tower, world’s tallest building (443 m), topped out

1975 – 101st Kentucky Derby: Jacinto Vasquez on Foolish Pleasure wins 2:02

1976 – Panama 747SP lands after record flight around world (46:26)

1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail (which would later become known as “spam”) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.

1979 – 1st woman prime minister of Great Britain (Margaret Thatcher)

1979 – Bobby Bonds hits his 300th HR (2nd to have 300 HRs & 300 stolen bases)

1980 – 106th Kentucky Derby: Jacinto Vasquez on Genuine Risk wins in 2:02

1980 – Giants 1st baseman Willie McCovey hits his 521st & final HR

1980 – Texas Ranger Ferguson Jenkins becomes 4th to win 100 games in AL & NL

1982 – NY Times reports that military will get 25% of NASA’s budget

1982 – Pres Reagan begins 5 minute weekly radio broadcasts

1986 – 112th Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker aboard Ferdinand wins in 2:02.8

1986 – Cubs 3rd baseman Ron Cey hits his 300th & 301st HR

1988 – 4,200 kg Colombian cocaine in seized at Tarpon Springs Florida

1988 – Jasper Johns’ “Diver” sold for $4,200,000

1991 – 356th & final episode of CBS 2nd longest running series Dallas, 2nd only to Gunsmoke

1992 – Balt’s Gregg Olson, 25, is youngest to record 100 saves

1994 – US space probe Clementine launched

1997 – 123rd Kentucky Derby: Gary Stevens aboard Silver Charm wins in 2:02.3

1997 – Garry Kasparov begins chess match with IBM supercomputer Deep Blue

1999 – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is slammed by an F5 tornado killing forty-two people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado was one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak.

1999 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time in its history at 11,014.70.

2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.

2001 – The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.

2003 – New Hampshire’s famous Old Man of the Mountain collapses.

2006 – Zacarias Moussaoui is sentenced to life in prison in Alexandria, Virginia.

2007 – British girl Madeleine McCann disappears from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Births

612 – Constantine III, Byzantine Emperor (d. 641)

1415 – Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (d. 1495)

1469 – Niccolo Machiavelli, Florence, Italy, politician/writer (Prince), d. 1527)

1514 – Bartholomaeus a Martyribus, [Fernandez], primate of Portugal

1535 – Alessandro “Agnolo” Allori, Italian painter/carpet designer

1662 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (d. 1736)

1695 – Henri Pitot, Italian-born French engineer (d. 1771)

1713 – Alexis Clairault, French mathematician (d. 1765)

1816 – Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, Bvt Mjr Gen (Union Army), died in 1892

1849 – Jacob Riis, Denmark, reporter (NY Tribune, NY Evening Sun)

1860 – John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist (d. 1936)

1861 – Emmett Dalton, American outlaw (d. 1937)

1873 – Pavlo Skoropadsky, Ukrainian general (d. 1945)

1874 – Francois Coty, Corsica, Corsican senator/perfume maker

1879 – Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman (d. 1950)

1888 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (d. 1981)

1892 – Beulah Bondi, Chicago, actress (It’s a Wonderful Life)

1895 – Zoltan Korda, Hungarian/British director (Jungle Book, 4 Feathers)

1896 – Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright (d. 1990)

1896 – Karl Allmenroder, German World War I Ace (d. 1917)

1898 – Golda Meir, [Meyerson], Kiev Ukraine, 4th Israeli PM (1969-74)

1902 – Walter Slezak, Vienna, actor (Bedtime for Bonzo, Inspector General)

1903 – Bing Crosby, Tacoma Wash, singer (White Christmas, Going My Way)

1906 – Mary Astor, Quincy IL, actress (Maltese Falcon, Dinky)

1907 – Earl Wilson, Rockford Ohio, columnist (Midnight Earl)

1913 – Earl Blackwell, Atlanta Ga, author (Celebrity Register)

1913 – William M Inge, US playwright (Picnic-Pulitzer 1953)

1917 – Betty Comden, American lyricist, (d. 2006)

1919 – Pete Seeger, NYC, folk singer (Weaver, Goodnight Irene)

1919 – John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (d. 2004)

1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson, [Walter Smith], Ailey, Georgia, middle/welterweight boxer (1946-52, 55, 58), (d. 1989)

1922 – Marina Svetlova, ballerina/choreographer (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo)

1924 – Ken Tyrrell, English founder of eponymous F1 racing team (d. 2001)

1933 – James Brown, Barnwell, South Carolina, American soul singer (Hot Pants, Living in America) and originator of funk music (d. 2006)

1933 – Alex Cord, American actor

1934 – Henry Cooper, English boxer

1935 – Ron Popeil, American inventor

1936 – Engelbert Humperdinck, [Arnolde Dorsey], India, singer (EH Show)

1937 – Frankie Valli, [Castelluccio], Newark NJ, singer (Four Seasons-Sherry)

1939 – Jose Torres, US, boxer (Olympics)

1939 – Samantha Eggar, London England, actress (Collector)

1941 – Nona Gaprindasvili, USSR, world women’s chess champ (1962-78)

1942 – Dave Marash, American journalist

1944 – Peter Staples, rocker (Troggs-Wild Thing)

1946 – Greg Gumbel, sportscaster (CBS TV, WFAN)

1947 – Doug Henning, Ft Garry Manitoba, magician (Broadway play-Magic)

1949 – Albert Sacco Jr, Boston Mass, PhD/astronaut (STS 73)

1950 – Mary Hopkin, South Wales, singer (Those Were the Days)

1951 – Christopher Cross, [Geppert], Texas, singer (Sailing, Arthur’s Theme)

1952 – Allen Wells, England, 100m dash (Olympic-gold-1980)

1953 – Bruce Hall, Champaign Ill, rock bassist (Reo Speedwagon)

1955 – Timmy Cappello, rock & sax player (played with Tina Turner, Ringo Starr & The Lost Boys)

1959 – David Ball, Blackpool, rock keyboardist (Soft Cell)

1961 – Joe Murray, American cartoonist

1962 – Anders Graneheim, Swedish bodybuilder

1963 – Jamie Reeves, British strongman

1965 – Nina Garcia, Colombian-American fashion expert and television personality

1969 – Karen Kraft, San Mateo California, rower (Olympics-silver-96)

1972 – Shonie Carter, American MMA fighter

1972 – Suzi Suzuki, former Japanese adult actress

1978 – Christina Hendricks, American actress

1980 – Marcel Vigneron, American chef (Top Chef)

1981 – Farrah Franklin, American singer (former member of Destiny’s Child)

1985 – Greg Raposo, American pop/rock singer

 

 

 

Deaths

1010 – Ansfried, 9th bishop of Utrecht (995-1010)/saint, dies at about 69

1152 – Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England (b. 1105)

1160 – Peter Lombard, Italian scholar and bishop (b. c.1100)

1270 – King Béla IV of Hungary (b. 1206)

1481 – Mehmed II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1432)

1598 – Anna Guarini, Italian singer (b. 1563)

1606 – Henry Garnet, English Jesuit (executed) (b. 1555)

1679 – James Sharp, English archbishop (assassinated) (b. 1613)

1703 – Eglon van de Down, still-life painter, dies

1779 – John Winthrop, American astronomer (b. 1714)

1863 – Elisha Franklin “Bull” Paxton, US Confederate brig-gen, dies at 35

1921 – Théodore Pilette, Belgian racing driver (b. 1883)

1940 – Henry Ossian Flipper, American soldier, former slave and first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point, dies at 84

1961 – Maurice [Jean Jacques] Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher, dies at 53

1972 – Bruce Cabot, actor (Diamonds are Forever), dies at 68

1972 – Les Harvey, rocker, dies

1982 – Helmut Dantine, actor (Shadow of the Cloak), dies at 64

1988 – Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)

1989 – Christine Jorgensen, 1st transsexual, dies at 62

1991 – Jerzy Kosinski, author (Being There), dies at 57

1996 – Jack Weston, actor (Ishtar, Rad, Cuba), dies of lymphoma at 71

2000 – John Joseph Cardinal O’Connor, Catholic Archbishop of New York (b. 1920)

2003 – Suzy Parker, American actress (b. 1932)

2004 – Ken Downing, British racing driver (b. 1917)

2006 – Earl Woods, Athlete and father of Tiger Woods (b. 1932)

2007 – Wally Schirra, American astronaut (b. 1923)

2007 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician (b. 1932)

2011 – Jackie Cooper, American actor (b. 1922)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

—