Today In The Past
Events
558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately orders the dome rebuilt.
1274 – 2nd Council of Lyons (14th ecumenical council) opens
1355 – 1,200 Jews of Toledo Spain killed by Count Henry of Trastamara
1416 – Monk Nicolaas Serrurier arrested because of heresy at Tournay
1429 – English siege of Orleans broken by Joan of Arc
1579 – Congress of Cologne forms in Netherlands
1624 – Admiral Hermites conquering fleet reaches Callao the Lima, Peru
1660 – Isaack B Fubine of Savoy, in The Hague, patents macaroni
1700 – William Penn began monthly meetings for Blacks advocating emancipation
1718 – The city of New Orleans was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville .
1727 – Jews are expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia
1765 – Adm Nelsons flagship HMS Victory launched
1789 – 1st inaugurational ball (for George Washington in NYC)
1840 – Tornado strikes Natchez Miss, kills 317
1847 – American Medical Association organizes (Phila)
1862 – Battle of West Point, VA (Eltham’s Landing, Barnhamsville)
1864 – Battle of Wilderness ends (total losses: USA-17,666; CSA-7,500)
1864 – Skirmish at Port Walthall Junction Virginia (Drewry’s Bluff)
1866 – German premier Otto von Bismarck seriously wounded in assassin attempt
1873 – US marines attack Panama
1877 – Cin Enquirer, 1st uses term “Bullpen” to indicate foul territory
1888 – George Eastman patents “Kodak box camera”
1891 – Battle in Bunyoro: Capt F Lugard stops Moslem rebellion, 300 killed
1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention – the world’s first radio receiver. In the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.
1902 – Soufriere volcano on St Vincent kills 2-5,000
1904 – Flexible Flyer trademark registered
1907 – Charles Collier wins 1st Isle of Man TT Race: (38.22 mph)
1909 – Construction begins on first 100 houses in Ahuzat Bayit (Tel Aviv)
1910 – 35th Preakness: R Estep aboard Layminster wins in 1:40.6
1912 – Columbia University approves plans for awarding the Pulitzer Prize in several categories The award is established by Joseph Pulitzer
1915 – Lusitania sunk by German submarine; 1198 lives lost
1921 – 47th Kentucky Derby: Charles Thompson on Behave Yourself wins 2:04.2
1925 – Pirate shortstop Glenn Wright makes an unassisted triple play
1927 – SF Municipal Airport (Mills Field) dedicated
1928 – England lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21
1928 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Thornton Wilder for (Bridge of San Luis Rey)
1932 – 58th Kentucky Derby: Eugene James aboard Burgoo King wins in 2:05.2
1934 – World’s largest pearl (6.4 kg) found at Palawan, Philippines
1938 – 64th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Lawrin wins in 2:04.8
1941 – British House of Commons votes for Churchill (477-3)
1941 – Glenn Miller records “Chattanooga Choo Choo” for RCA
1942 – Battle of Coral Sea halts Japanese expansion
1942 – Nazi decree orders all Jewish pregnant women of Kovno Ghetto executed
1943 – Dutch men 18-35 obliged to report to labor camps
1943 – Liberty Ship George Washington Carver, named after scientist, launched
1944 – German assault on Tito’s hideout in Drvar Bosnia
1945 – Branch Rickey announces formation of the US Negro Baseball League
1945 – Formal undertaking of complete German surrender
1945 – Mauthausen Concentration Camp liberated
1945 – Nazi generals Jodl & Von Friedenburg surrender
1945 – Pulitzer prize awarded to John Hersey (Bell for Adano)
1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees.
1947 – General MacArthur approves Japanese constitution
1948 – Nazi collaborator V-Mann Antonius van de Waals sentence to death
1949 – 75th Kentucky Derby: Steve Brooks aboard Ponder wins in 2:04.2
1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.
1953 – Record 537-kg swordfish is caught by LE Marron, in Chile
1954 – French surrender to Vietminh after 55-day siege at Dien Bien Phu
1955 – 81st Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker aboard Swaps wins in 2:01.8
1956 – Battle at Oran, Algeria, kills 300
1957 – Maj Johnson, USAAF flies a Lockheed Starfight to 17.28 miles (27.8 K)
1958 – Howard Johnson sets aircraft altitude record in F-104, 27,810 m
1960 – 86th Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack on Venetian Way wins in 2:02.4
1960 – USSR announces Francis Gary Powers confessed to being a CIA spy
1962 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Theodore H White (Making of President 1960)
1963 – Bruno Sammartino becomes WWF champ
1966 – 92nd Kentucky Derby: Donald Brumfield aboard Kauai King wins in 2:02
1966 – Mamas & Papas “Monday Monday” hits #1
1969 – Lt General Robert E Cushman, Jr, USMC, becomes deputy director of CIA
1970 – “Long & Winding Road” becomes Beatles’ last American release
1975 – Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 53 launched to study X-rays
1977 – 103rd Kentucky Derby: Jean Cruguet on Seattle Slew wins in 2:02.2
1980 – Josip Tito, Yugoslav president, buried
1982 – IBM releases PC-DOS version 1.1
1983 – 109th Kentucky Derby: Ed Delahoussaye on Sunny’s Halo wins in 2:02.2
1984 – $180m out-of-court settlement reached in Agent Orange suit
1987 – 105°F in Sacramento, CA
1987 – Diane Chambers’ (Shelley Long) final episode on Cheers
1988 – 114th Kentucky Derby: Gary Stevens on Winning Colors wins in 2:02.2
1989 – Panamanian voters reject dictator Manuel Noriega’s bid for presidency
1992 – 5 NYC cops arrested in Hauppauge Long Island for selling cocaine
1992 – Constitutional amendment barring mid-term congressional raises passes
1992 – Jockey Angel Cordero retires after winning over 7,000 horse races
1992 – US space shuttle STS-49 launched (maiden voyage of Endeavour)
1994 – 120th Kentucky Derby: Chris McCarron on Go For Gin wins in 2:03.6
1994 – Edvard Munchs painting “The Scream” recovered 3 months after stolen
1995 – Jacques Chirac wins French presidential election
1997 – Galileo, 4th Ganymede Flyby (Orbit 8)
1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40 billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
1999 – Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
1999 – A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode. Schmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure’s family $25 million USD.
2007 – The tomb of Herod the Great is discovered.
2012 – Vladimir Putin sworn in for third six year term as President of Russia
2012 – Paeleoclimatological research claims dinosaur flatulence may have warmed the earth
Births
1328 – Louis VI the Roman, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1365)
1530 – Louis I Condé, French prince/leader of hugenots
1574 – Innocent X, [Giambattista Pamfili], 236th pope (1644-55)
1643 – Stephanus Van Cortlandt, American politician (d. 1700)
1700 – Gerard van Swieten, Dutch botanist
1724 – Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, Austrian general (d. 1797)
1740 – Nikolai Arkharov, Russian general (d. 1814)
1748 – Olympe de Gouges, playwright and feminist revolutionary (d. 1793)
1774 – William Bainbridge, American Commodore (d. 1833)
1795 – Gerhard M Roentgen, industrialist (founder dockyard Fijenoord)
1812 – Robert Browning, London England, poet (Pied Piper)
1826 – Varina Howell Davis, 1st lady (Confederacy), died in 1905
1827 – Francis Engle Patterson, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1832 – Carl G Neumann, German mathematician/physicist (Neumann-functions)
1833 – Johannes Brahms, Hamburg Germany, composer
1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Votkinsk, Russia, composer (1812 Overture, Swan Lake), (d. 1893)
1885 – George “Gabby” Hayes, Wellesvile NY, actor (In Old Santa Fe, El Paso)
1892 – Archibald MacLeish, Glencoe Ill, polit essayist/poet/dramatist (JB)
1892 – Josip Broz Tito, WW II partisan, leader of Yugoslavia (1943-80)
1897 – Kitty McKane, England, tennis (Oly-gold/2 silver/2 bronze-1920, 24)
1901 – Gary Cooper, Montana, actor (2 Acad Awards–Sgt York, High Noon)
1909 – Edwin H Land, inventor (instant photography (Polaroid))
1911 – Ishiro Honda, Japanese film director (d. 1993)
1917 – David Tomlinson, Scotland, actor (Mary Poppins, Helter Skelter)
1917 – William Geoffrey Biddle, bomb disposal expert
1919 – Eva Peron-Duarte [Evita], Argentina, 1st lady/actress, (d. 1952)
1922 – Darren McGavin, Spokane Wash, actor (Night Stalker, Tribes, Turk 182)
1922 – Joe O’Donnell, American documentary photographer, photojournalist (d. 2007)
1927 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German screenwriter
1928 – Marvin Mitchelson, attorney
1930 – Totie Fields, American comedienne (d. 1978)
1931 – Gene [Rodman] Wolfe, US, sci-fi author (Soldier of Arete)
1931 – Teresa Brewer, Toledo Ohio, singer (Put Another Nickel In)
1933 – Johnny Unitas, NFL QB (Balt Colts, San Diego); one of the greats
1934 – Willard Scott, weatherman (Today)
1938 – Johnny Caldwell, Ireland, flyweight boxer (Olympic-bronze-1956)
1939 – Jimmy Ruffin, vocalist (What Becomes of Broken Hearted)
1939 – Johnny Maestro, NY rock vocalist (Crests-16 Candles, Brooklyn Bridge)
1939 – Sidney Altman, Canadian molecular biologist, Nobel laureate
1943 – Peter Horak, jetboat jumper
1944 – John Heard, actor (Pelican Brief, CHUD, Radio Flyer, Big)
1944 – Sivi Aberg, actress (Batman TV show)
1946 – Bill Danoff, Springfield Mass, vocalist (Starland Vocal Band)
1946 – Bill Kreutzmann, Palo Alto CA, American rock drummer (Grateful Dead)
1946 – Richard L Brodsky, US lawyer/NY State Assemblyman (D) (1983- )
1946 – Brian Turner, English celebrity chef
1949 – Marilyn Cole, Portsmouth England, playmate of the year (Jan, 1972)
1950 – Prairie Prince, rocker (Tubes)
1950 – Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb, American boxer and actor
1950 – Tim Russert, Buffalo NY, American television journalist and host of NBC’s Meet the Press, (d. 2008)
1951 – Robert Hegyes, NJ, actor (Underground Aces, Welcome Back Kotter)
1952 – Amy Heckerling, Bronx, dir (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Clueless)
1953 – Ian McKay, British soldier (VC recipient) (d. 1982)
1954 – Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
1957 – [Christopher St John] “Sinjin” Smith, LA CA, volleyballer (Oly-96)
1959 – Tamara E Jernigan, Chattoonaga, PhD/astro (STS 40, 52, 67, 80)
1961 – Phil Campbell, British musician (Motörhead)
1962 – Robbie Knievel, daredevil, son of Evel (Chips Something Special)
1964 – Doug Benson, American comedian
1969 – Eagle Eye Cherry, Swedish musician
1971 – Horgh, (Reidar Horghagen) Norwegian drummer (Immortal/Hypocrisy)
1972 – Frank Trigg, American Mixed Martial Arts Fighter
1973 – Kristian Lundin, record producer
1973 – Paolo Savoldelli, Italian cyclist
1975 – Jason Tunks, London Ontario, discus thrower (Olympics-96)
Deaths
685 – Marwan I ibn al-Hakam, 4th kalief of Omajjaden (684-85), dies
973 – Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor (962-973), dies at 60
1092 – Remigius de Fécamp, first bishop of Lincoln (b. unknown)
1166 – Willem I, the Bad, king of Sicily (1154-66)
1205 – Ladislaus III Arpad, King of Hungary (1204-05), dies at 5 or 6
1427 – Thomas la Warr, 5th Baron De La Warr, English churchman
1523 – Franz von Sickingen, Germ knight/protect of poor, dies of wounds at 42
1539 – Guru Nanak Dev, Founder of Sikhism (b. 1469)
1539 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (b. 1466)
1617 – David Fabricius, German astronomer, dies at 53
1671 – Edward Montagu, English baron Kimbolton, dies at about 68
1793 – Johan A Zoutman, Dutch lt admiral (battle of Doggersbank), dies at 68
1863 – Amiel Weeks Whipple, US Union gen-major, dies of injuries at 46
1884 – Judah P Benjamin, confederate minister of War, dies at 72
1896 – H. H. Holmes (Herman Webster Mudgett) , American serial killer (b. 1860)
1915 – Alfred G Vanderbilt, US millionaire, dies aboard Lusitania
1915 – Alfred Scott Witherbee Jr, US Lusitania officer, dies
1915 – Charles Frohman, dies aboard Lusitania
1929 – Albert Anselmi, US gangster, murdered by Al Capone
1929 – John Scalise, US gangster, murdered by Al Capone
1929 – Joseph “Top Toad” Giunta, US gangster, murdered by Al Capone
1958 – Nyogen Senzaki, 1st Zen teacher to reside in USA, dies at 81
1987 – Colin Blakely, dies at 56
1994 – Margaret Skeete, oldest American, dies at 115
1996 – Albert Meltzer, anarchist, dies at 76
1996 – Howard Frank Trayton Smith, diplomat/head of MI5, dies at 76
1998 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South African physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1924)
1998 – Eddie Rabbitt, American musician (b. 1941)
2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (b. 1909)
2002 – Seattle Slew, American racehorse (b. 1974)
2002 – Kevyn Aucoin, Makeup Artist and Photographer (b. 1962)
2006 – Joan C. Edwards, American philanthropist (b. 1918)
2007 – Yahweh ben Yahweh, American cult leader (b. 1935)
2009 – David Mellor, English cutlery designer (b. 1930)
2011 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (b. 1957)
—
