Today In The Past
Events
535 – St Agapitus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
609 – Pope Boniface I turns Pantheon in Rome into a Catholic church
641 – Eligius (Saint Eloy) becomes bishop of Doornik-Noyon
1106 – Henry I of Limburg becomes duke of Neth-Lutherans
1110 – Crusaders march into Beirut causing a bloodbath
1364 – Peter Coutherel banished from Leuven
1497 – Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola
1559 – Excavated corpse of heretic David Jorisz burned in Basel
1568 – Mary Queen of Scots is defeated by English at battle of Langside
1607 – English colonists (John Smith) lands near James River in VA
1624 – Admiral Hermites fleet blockade Lima Peru
1637 – Cardinal Richelieu of France creates the table knife
1643 – Battle at Grantham: English parliamentary armies beat royalists
1643 – Heavy earthquake strikes Santiago Chile; kills 1/3 of population
1648 – Construction of the Red Fort at Delhi is completed.
1654 – Venetian fleet under Adm Adeler beats Turkish
1846 – US declares war on Mexico, 2 months after fighting begins
1861 – Queen Victoria announces England’s position of neutrality
1861 – The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
1864 – -16] Atlanta Campaign: Battle of Resaca Georgia
1865 – S Brownsville, TX (Palmito Ranch) Final engagement of Civil War PVT John J Williams of 34th Indiana is last man killed
1884 – Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) forms
1887 – 15th Preakness: William Donohue aboard Dunboyne wins in 2:39.25
1890 – 18th Preakness: W Martin aboard Montague wins in 2:36.75
1891 – 17th Kentucky Derby: Isaac Murphy aboard Kingman wins in 2:52.25
1911 – 37th Kentucky Derby: George Archibald aboard Meridian wins in 2:05
1913 – 1st four engine aircraft built and flown (Igor Sikorsky-Russia)
1916 – 42nd Kentucky Derby: Johnny Loftus aboard George Smith wins in 2:04
1916 – Native American Day is 1st observed
1922 – 48th Kentucky Derby: Albert Johnson aboard Morvich wins in 2:04.6
1922 – 48th Preakness: L Morris aboard Pillory wins in 1:51.6
1927 – “Black Friday” on Berlin Stock Exchange
1930 – Farmer killed by hail in Lubbock, Texas
1933 – 59th Preakness: Charley Kurtsinger aboard Head Play wins in 2:02
1939 – 65th Preakness: George Seabo aboard Challedon wins in 1:59.8
1939 – SS St Louis departs Hamburg with 937 Jews fugitives
1940 – Churchill says I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears & sweat
1942 – Helicopter makes its 1st cross-country flight
1943 – German occupiers confiscate all radios
1944 – 70th Preakness: Conn McCreary aboard Pensive wins in 1:59.2
1950 – Diner’s Club issues its 1st credit cards
1950 – The first round of the Formula 1 World Championship is held at Silverstone.
1958 – Stan Musial, is 8th to get 3,000 hits
1958 – The trade mark Velcro is registered.
1959 – Kraft Music Hall with Milton Berle, last airs on NBC-TV
1965 – Several Arab nations break ties with West Germany after it established diplomatic relations with Israel
1966 – Federal education funding is denied to 12 school districts in the South because of violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
1967 – NY Yankee Mickey Mantle hits career HR #500 off Stu Miller
1967 – Octagonal boxing ring is tested to avoid corner injuries
1971 – Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane seriously injured in a car accident
1972 – 115 die in nightclub atop 7-story Sennichi dept store (Osaka Japan)
1978 – Henry Rono of Kenya sets record for 3,000 m steeplechase (8:05.4)
1978 – Joie Chitwood drives a Chevette 5.6 miles on just 2 wheels
1979 – Shah & family sentenced to death in Teheran
1983 – Reggie Jackson is 1st major leaguer to strike out 2,000 times
1985 – Phila Police bomb a house held by group “Move,” kills 11
1987 – Ajax wins 27th Europe Cup II
1989 – Approx 2,000 students begin hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, China
1991 – Apple releases Macintosh System 7.0
1992 – 3 astronauts simultaneous walked in space for the 1st time
1992 – Final episode of “Night Court” airs on NBC-TV
1992 – Frank Stallone beats Geraldo Rivera in boxing on Howard Stern Show
1993 – Arsenio Hall’s 1,000th show retrospective seen in Netherlands
1993 – KC Royal George Brett hits his 300th HR
1995 – New Zealand beats US for the America’s Cup
1995 – Chelsi Smith, 21, of USA, crowned 44th Miss Universe Shanna Lynn Moakler, (19-NY), replaces Chelsi Smith as Miss USA
2000 – In Enschede, the Netherlands, a fireworks factory explodes, killing 22 people, wounding 950, and resulting in approximately €450 million in damage.
2005 – The Andijan Massacre occurs in Uzbekistan.
2006 – 2006 São Paulo violence: a major rebellion occurs in several prisons in Brazil.
2012 – 49 dismembered bodies are found on a Mexican highway as part of the Mexican drug war
Births
1024 – Hugh of Cluny, French saint (d. 1109)
1254 – Maria of Brabant, queen of France (d. 1321)
1314 – Sergius of Radonesh, Russian saint
1588 – Ole Worm, Danish physician (d. 1654)
1592 – John Cloppenburg, vicar/theologist
1638 – Richard Simon, French Biblical critic (d. 1712)
1729 – Henry William (Baron) Stiegel, early American glassmaker
1753 – Lazare Carnot, French general, politician, and mathematician (d. 1823)
1795 – Joshua Ratoon Sands, Commander (Union Navy), died in 1883
1842 – Arthur Seymour Sullivan, London England, composer (Gilbert & Sullivan)
1856 – Peter Henry Emerson, 1st to promote photography as an independent art
1867 – Frank Brangwyn, Wales, painter/muralist/cartoonist (Willam Morris)
1883 – Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek doctor, inventor of the Pap smear (d. 1962)
1903 – Alfred Pugsley, civil engineer
1907 – Daphne du Maurier, English writer (Rebecca, Parasites)
1907 – Laurence Kirwan, archaeologist
1908 – Michael Richardson, commandant (Home for Disabled Sailors)
1914 – Joe Louis, world heavyweight boxing champion (1937-49)
1924 – Theodore Mann, American theatre producer and director
1926 – Beatrice Arthur, [Frankel], NY, actress (Maude, Dorothy-Golden Girls)
1927 – Clive Barnes, drama critic (NY Times, NY Post)
1927 – Herbert Ross, director/choreographer (Footloose)
1927 – Archie Scott-Brown, English race car driver (d. 1958)
1928 – Jim Shoulders, Champion rodeo cowboy (d. 2007)
1931 – Jim Jones, reverend, poisoned over 100 in Guyana (Jonestown Massacre)
1937 – Roger [Joseph] Zelazny, sci-fi author (6 Hugos, Chronicles of Amber)
1937 – Trevor Baylis, English inventor of the wind-up radio
1938 – Laurent Beaudoin, French Canadian businessman (Bombardier)
1939 – Anthony Hide, racehorse trainer
1939 – Harvey Keitel, actor (Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs)
1941 – Joe Brown, singer/guitarist
1941 – Ritchie Valens, singer (Donna, La Bamba)
1941 – Senta Berger, Vienna Austria, actress (Cast a Giant Shadow)
1942 – Jim Douglas, jazz guitarist
1943 – Mary Wells, Detroit, singer (My Guy)
1944 – Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, British explorer/genealogist
1944 – Armistead Maupin, American author
1945 – Magic Dick, [Richard Salwitz], harmonicaist (J Geils Band-Centerfold)
1947 – Pete “Overend” Watts, rock bassist (Mott The Hoople-All Young Dudes)
1947 – Stephen R Donaldson, US, sci-fi author (Lord Foul’s Bane)
1949 – Overend Watts, rock bassist (Mott the Hoople-All the Young Dudes)
1950 – Danny Kirwan, London, rocker (Fleetwood Mac)
1950 – Stevie Wonder, Saginaw, Michigan, American singer-songwriter (You are the Sunshine of My Love)
1951 – Paul Thompson, rock drummer (Roxy Music)
1951 – Selina Scott, TV newscaster (West 57th)
1956 – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder of the Art of Living Foundation
1959 – Robert Earnshaw, racehorse trainer
1961 – Dennis Rodman, Trenton, New Jersey, NBA forward (Chicago Bulls)
1964 – Stephen Colbert, American comedian and actor
1964 – Ronnie Coleman, American bodybuilder
1965 – José Antonio Delgado, Venezuelan mountain climber (d. 2006)
1965 – Hikari Ota, Japanese comedian
1966 – Darius Rucker, American singer (Hootie & the Blowfish)
1967 – Melanie Thornton, African American German pop singer, former member of La Bouche. (d. 2001)
1968 – Buckethead, Guitarist
1974 – Tim McMahon, American hardcore singer (Mouthpiece, Hands Tied, Triple Threat)
1977 – Samantha Morton, English actress
1982 – Yoko Kumada, Japanese gravure idol
1986 – Robert Pattinson, London, English actor (Cedric Diggory-Harry Potter, Edward Cullen-Twilight)
Deaths
384 – Servatius/Aravatius, bishop of Tongeren, dies at 65+
1162 – Géza II of Hungary
1176 – Matthias I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1119)
1312 – Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1263)
1381 – John of Chatillon, governor/viceroy of Holland, dies
1390 – Robert II the Steward, King of Scots (1371-90), dies
1573 – Takeda Shingen, Japanese warlord (b. 1521)
1619 – Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, lands advocate, beheaded
1742 – Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)
1776 – Anton de Haen, medical Ratio medendi, dies at 71
1832 – Georges Cuvier, French naturalist (b. 1769)
1839 – Israel Ashkenazi of Shklov, found Ashkenazic community (1815), dies
1864 – Junius Daniel, Confederate brig-general, dies at 35
1866 – Nikolai Brashman, Russian mathematician (b. 1796)
1884 – Cyrus Hall McCormick, inventor, dies
1885 – Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician (b. 1809)
1961 – Gary Cooper, 2 time Acad award winning actor (High Noon), dies at 60
1962 – Franz Jozef Kline, US expressionist painter, dies at 51
1972 – Dan Blocker, American actor (Hoss-Bonanza), dies at 43
1985 – Selma Diamond, comedienne (Selma-Night Court), dies of cancer at 64
1988 – Chet Baker, jazz trumpeter, fell to death out of a hotel window at 59
1991 – Jimmy McPartland, jazz cornetist, dies of cancer at 83
1992 – Floyd Arceneaux, trumpeter, dies at 58
1996 – John “Jack” Baines, mountaineering publisher, dies at 57
1999 – Gene Sarazen, American golfer (b. 1902)
2005 – George Dantzig, American mathematician (b. 1914)
2011 – Bruce Ricker, American jazz and blues documentarian (b. 1942)
2012 – Donald “Duck” Dunn, American bassist, dies at 70
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