Today In The Past
Events
553 – 2nd Council of Constantinople (5th ecumenical council) opens
1260 – Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
1382 – Battle of Beverhoutsveld – population beats drunken army
1430 – Jews are expelled from Speyer Germany
1494 – On 2nd voyage to New World, Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica
1640 – English Short Parliament unites
1646 – King Charles I surrenders at Scotland
1762 – Russia & Prussia sign peace treaty, Treaty of Saint Petersburg ending the Seven Years War
1780 – 2nd oldest learned society in US (American Academy of Arts & Sciences) forms (Boston)
1809 – Mary Kies is 1st woman issued a US patent (weaving straw)
1814 – British attack Ft Ontario, Oswego, NY
1816 – American Bible Society organized (NY)
1842 – City-wide fire burns for over 100 hours (Hamburg Germany)
1847 – American Medical Association organized (Philadelphia)
1854 – English pirate Plumridge robs along pro-English Finnish coast
1855 – NYC regains Castle Clinton, to be used for immigration
1862 – French army intervenes in Puebla, Mexico: Cinco de Mayo
1862 – Peninsular Campaign-Battle of Williamsburg, VA
1863 – Battle of Tupelo, MS
1863 – Joe Coburn KOs Mike McCoole for US boxing title in 63rd round
1864 – Atlanta Campaign: 5 days fighting begins at Rocky Face Ridge
1864 – Battle between Confederate & Union ships at mouth of Roanoke
1864 – Battle of Wilderness, VA (Germana Ford, Wilderness Tavern)
1864 – Campaign in Northern Georgia – Chattanooga GA to Atlanta GA
1865 – 1st US train robbery (North Bend Ohio)
1877 – Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
1886 – The Bay View Tragedy occurs, as militia fire upon a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin killing seven.
1891 – Music Hall (Carnegie Hall) opens in NY, Tchaikovsky as guest conductor
1893 – Panic of 1893: Great crash on NY Stock Exchange
1904 – Cy Young of Boston pitches perfect game against Phila A’s (3-0)
1908 – 34th Kentucky Derby: Arthur Pickens on Stone Street wins in 2:15.2
1908 – Great White Fleet arrives in SF
1912 – 5th Olympic games open at Stockholm, Sweden
1915 – German U-20 sinks Earl of Lathom
1916 – US marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until 1924
1920 – US Pres Wilson makes Communist Labor Party illegal
1922 – Construction begins on Yankee Stadium (Bronx)
1925 – John T Scopes arrested for teaching evolution in Tennessee
1925 – Ty Cobb goes 6 for 6, (16 total bases)
1925 – Afrikaans is established as an official language in South Africa.
1926 – Sinclair Lewis refuses his Pulitzer Prize for “Arrowsmith”
1930 – 1st woman to fly solo from Engl to Australia takes-off (Amy Johnson)
1934 – 60th Kentucky Derby: Mack Garner aboard Cavalcade wins in 2:04
1935 – Jessie Owens of US, sets then long jump record at 26′ 8½”
1936 – Edward Ravenscroft patents screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip
1936 – Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa
1938 – Phillies Harold Kelleher faces 16 batters in 6th, as Cubs score 12 runs, both marks are NL records off one hurler in a single inning
1940 – Norwegian government in exile forms in London
1941 – 2 Fokker’s employees flee nazi occupied Netherlands to England
1941 – Chanel No. 5 was released.
1942 – British assault on Diego Suarez Madagascar
1942 – US begins rationing sugar during WW II
1943 – Postmaster General Frank C Walker invents Postal Zone System
1944 – Gandhi freed from prison
1944 – Russian offensive against Sebastopol Krim
1945 – Mauthausen Concentration camp liberated
1945 – Netherlands & Denmark liberated from Nazi control
1945 – Uprising against SS-occupying troops in Prague
1945 – Premier Gerbrandy on Radio Orange tells Dutch they are liberated
1945 – World War II: Admiral Karl Dönitz, leader of Germany after Hitler’s death, orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.
1947 – Mississippi Valley flooding kills 16 & causes $850M in damage
1947 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Robert Penn Warren (All the King’s Men)
1948 – 1st air squadron of jets aboard a carrier
1951 – 77th Kentucky Derby: Conn McCreary aboard Count Turf wins in 2:02.6
1952 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Herman Wouk (Caine Mutiny)
1954 – Military coup by general Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay
1955 – West Germany granted full sovereignty by 3 occupying powers
1956 – 82nd Kentucky Derby: David Erb aboard Needles wins in 2:03.4
1956 – Jim Bailey (US) runs mile a record 3:58.6 in LA Calif
1956 – World championships of judo are 1st held, in Tokyo
1958 – Pulitzer prize awarded to James Agee for (Death in the Family)
1961 – Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space (aboard Freedom 7)
1962 – 88th Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack aboard Decidedly wins in 2:00.4
1962 – West Side Story soundtrack album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 54 weeks which is more than 20 weeks longer than any other album
1964 – Separatists riot in Quebec
1965 – 1st large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam
1966 – Willie Mays hit his 512th HR
1973 – 99th Kentucky Derby: Ron Turcotte aboard Secretariat wins in 1:59.4
1975 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Michael Shaara (Killer Angels)
1978 – Cin Red Pete Rose becomes 14th player to get 3,000 hits
1979 – 105th Kentucky Derby: Ron Franklin on Spectacular Bid wins in 2:02.4
1979 – Voyager 1 passes Jupiter
1980 – Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends; British commandos & police stormed the building
1984 – 110th Kentucky Derby: Laffit Pincay Jr aboard Swale wins in 2:02.4
1985 – Amy Alcott wins LPGA Moss Creek Women’s Golf Invitational
1987 – Congress begins Iran-Contra hearings
1988 – Eugene A Marino installed as 1st black US archbishop
1989 – Mike Tyson gets 2nd speeding ticket for drag racing in Albany NY
1990 – 116th Kentucky Derby: Craig Perret aboard Unbridled wins in 2:02
1990 – Paul Hogan & Linda Koslowski wed in Byron Bay, Eastern Australia
1991 – A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after a Salvadoran man is shot by police.
1994 – North-Yemen air force bombs Aden South Yemen
1995 – Last basketball game at Boston Gardens (Magic beats Celtics)
1997 – “Married With Children” final episode on Fox TV
1997 – Iridium-1 Delta 2 Launch, Successful
2000 – Conjunction of Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn & Moon
2005 – The United Kingdom general election takes place, in which Tony Blair’s Labour Party is re-elected for a third, consecutive term.
2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).
2012 – Japan shuts down its nuclear reactors leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970
Births
867 – Uda, Emperor of Japan (d. 931)
1210 – King Afonso III of Portugal (d. 1279)
1352 – Ruprecht, Roman catholic German king
1479 – Guru Amar Das, third Sikh Guru (d. 1574)
1546 – Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English politician (d. 1623)
1635 – Philippe Quinault, French playwright (L’amant indiscret)
1764 – Robert Craufurd, British general (d. 1812)
1800 – Louis Hachette, French publisher (Librairie Hachette)
1813 – Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (d. 1855)
1818 – Karl Marx, Trier, Prussia, philosopher (Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital), (d. 1883)
1823 – James Allen Hardie, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1876
1830 – John Batterson Stetson, American hat manufacturer (d. 1906)
1832 – H H Bancroft, historian, publisher (History of Pacific States)
1833 – Ferdinand von Richthofen, German geographer/explorer
1834 – Viktor Hartmann, Russian architect and painter (d. 1873)
1849 – Hambletonian, Chester NY, greatest standardbred horse
1865 – Nellie Bly, [Elizabeth Cochran Seaman], American journalist and writer (d. 1922)
1866 – Thomas B. Thrige, Danish industrialist (d. 1938)
1883 – Charles Bender, only American Indian in baseball’s Hall of Fame
1883 – Archibald Wavell, British general (d. 1950)
1890 – Christopher Morley, author (Kitty Foil)
1899 – Freeman Gosden, Richmond Va, radio actor (Amos-Amos ‘n’ Andy)
1900 – Charles Jewtraw, US, 500m speed skater (Olympic-gold-1924)
1900 – Mervyn A Ellison, British astronomer (spectrohelioscope)
1901 – Blind Willie McTell, American ragtime/blues singer and guitarist (d. 1959)
1903 – James Beard, US, culinary expert/author (Delights & Prejudices)
1908 – Rex Harrison, [Reginald Carey], Engld, actor (My Fair Lady, Cleopatra)
1910 – William I Martin, US pilot/vice-admiral (WW II)
1911 – Phillip Edmund Clinton Manson-Bahr, specialist in tropical medicine
1912 – Alice Faye, [Ann Leppert], NYC, actress (Barricade, State Fair)
1913 – Tyrone Power, Cleve, actor (Mark of Zorro, Alexander’s Ragtime Band)
1916 – Zail Singh, President of India (d. 1994)
1920 – John Hidalgo Moya, architect/designer (Skylon)
1922 – Phil Gordon, Meridian Miss, singer/actor (Jasper-Bev Hillbillies)
1925 – Leo Ryan, United States Congressman (d. 1978)
1926 – Ann B Davis, Schenectady NY, American actress (Bob Cummings Show, Alice-Brady Bunch)
1927 – Pat Carroll, Shrevport La, comedienne/actress (Make Room for Daddy)
1930 – Michael James Adams, USAF pilot (X-15)
1931 – Greg, Belgian comic-book writer (Achille Talon) (d, 1999)
1932 – Will Hutchins, Atwater California, actor (Sugarfoot, Hey Landlord)
1938 – Johnnie Taylor, Crawfordsville, Arkansas, R&B and multi-genre singer (Disco Lady, I Believe in You), (d. 2000)
1939 – Cesare Fiorio, Italian sporting director of various Formula One teams
1940 – Lance Henriksen, actor (Aliens, Pumpkinhead, Knights, Hard Target)
1942 – Tammy Wynette [Virginia Pugh], Redbay Alabama, country singer (Stand by your Man), (d. 1998)
1943 – Michael Palin, England, comedian (Monty Python, Fish Called Wanda)
1944 – John Rhys-Davies, Salisbury England, actor (Sir Edward-Quest, Sliders)
1945 – Raphael, Spain, spanish singer (When the Sun Sets, Lo Meyur de Ano)
1945 – Kurt Loder, Entertainment reporter
1946 – Stefania Sandrelli, Viareggio Italy, actress (Lie, Conformist, 1900)
1948 – Bill Ward, Birmingham England, heavy metal drummer (Black Sabbath)
1950 – Googoosh, Faegheh Atashin (فائقه آتشین), Iranian, Persian Singer & actress
1951 – Rex Goh, rock guitarist (Air Supply)
1952 – Louis Cortelezzi, rock saxophonist (Mink DeVille)
1952 – Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster (d. 2005)
1953 – Billy Burnette, Memphis Tn, rock guitarist (Fleetwood Mac)
1954 – Angelo Kimball, Boston Mass, rock guitarist (Face To Face)
1955 – Robert Feld, Nashville Tn, National Scrabble Champion (1990)
1957 – Lisa Eilbacher, Dharan Saudi Arabia, actress (Beverly Hills Cop)
1958 – Ron Arad, Israeli aircraft navigator missing in action.
1959 – Ian McCullough, rock vocalist (Echo & Bunnymen-Heaven Up Here)
1964 – Heike Henkel, German FR, world record indoor high jumper (1992)
1967 – Maro Mavri, Greek fashion model and actress
1970 – Naomi Klein, Canadian author and activist
1970 – Soheil Ayari, French racer
1972 – Janelle Lynn Canady, Miss Alaska USA (1996)
1972 – James Cracknell, British rowing champion, double Olympic gold medalist
1973 – Tina Yothers, Whittier California, actresss (Jennifer-Family Ties)
1974 – Seiji Ara, Japanese racing driver
1984 – Eve Torres, American dancer and model
1988 – Jessica Dubroff, American aviator (d. 1996)
1988 – Adele, English singer
Deaths
200 – Sun Ce, warlord of the Han Dynasty (b. 175)
311 – Gaius VM Galerius, emperor of Rome, dies at about 50
984 – Gerberga of Saxony, Queen of Western Francia
1028 – Alfonso V, King of Leon/Galicia (999-1028), dies in battle
1194 – Casimir II, the Just, grand duke of Poland (1177-94), dies. Born 1138
1219 – King Leo II of Armenia (b. 1150)
1309 – Charles II, the Lame, King of Naples (1285-1309), dies
1504 – Anton of Burgundy, the Great Bastard, knight, dies at about 82
1525 – Frederik III, the Wise, ruler of Saxon (1486-1525), dies at 62
1582 – Charlotte de Bourbon, Princess of Orange, dies
1613 – Johann Steuerlein, composer, dies at 66
1672 – Samuel Cooper, English painter (b. 1609)
1702 – Jacob Hintze, composer, dies at 79
1766 – Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (b. 1684)
1811 – Robert Mylne, Scottish architect (b. 1734)
1821 – French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1799-1815), dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena
1827 – Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (1806-27), dies at 76
1859 – Peter G L Dirichlet, German mathematician, dies at 53
1864 – Alexander Hays, US Union-general-major, dies in battle at 44
1864 – John Marshall Jones, Confederate brig-general, dies in battle at 43
1864 – Leroy A Stafford, US Confederate brig-general, dies in battle at 42
1886 – Joseph Albert, German photographer (Albertotype), dies at 61
1892 – August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist (b. 1818)
1902 – Bret Harte, writer, dies at 65
1931 – Glen Kidston, British aviator and racing driver (b. 1899)
1968 – Albert Dekker, dies of accidental suffocation at 62
1971 – Petro Scaglione, Italian procureur-general, killed by Mafia
1972 – Rev Gary Davis, folk/blues pioneer, dies at 76
1976 – Thomas Burnett Swann, sci-fi author (Day of Minotaur), dies at 47
1981 – Bobby Sands, IRA activist/terrorist dies in the 66th day of his hunger strike
1985 – Sir Donald Bailey, British civil engineer (b. 1901)
1988 – Michael Shaara, American author (b. 1928)
1989 – Frank Easton, cricket wicketkeeper (NSW 1933-39), dies
1993 – Irving Howe, US writer/critic (Dissent), dies at 72
1994 – Hein Salomonson, architect, dies at about 83
1995 – James Pack, naval officer museum curator, dies at 81
1995 – Lionel Alexander Bethune [Alastair] Pilkington, engineer, dies at 75
1995 – Mikhail Moseyevich Botvinnik, world chess champ, dies
2001 – Raymond Kessler, American midget wrestler
2002 – Paul Klipsch, American engineer, noted for his loudspeaker designs. (b. 1904)
2007 – Theodore Harold Maiman, Inventor (b. 1927)
2008 – Irv Robbins, Canadian-American entrepreneur (b. 1917)
2011 – Claude Choules, last surviving World War I veteran (b. 1901)
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