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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)

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