Today In The Past
Events
1059 – Henri I crowns his son compassionate King Philip I of France
1275 – King Edward I of Engld orders cessation of persecution of French Jews
1420 – Jews of Syria & Austria expelled
1430 – Joan of Arc is captured at Compiegne & sold to the British
1536 – Pope Paul III installs Portugese inquisition
1568 – Battle at Heiligerlee: Dutch rebels beat Spanish, 100s killed
1568 – The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.
1576 – Tycho Brahe given Hveen Island to build Uraniborg Observatory
1609 – Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.
1618 – 2nd Defenestration of Prague; beginning of 30 Years War. Four Catholic Lords Regents thrown out of window
1660 – King Charles II returns from exile sails from Scheveningen to England
1701 – After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
1706 – Battle of Ramillies–Marlborough defeats French; 17,000 killed
1774 – Chestertown tea party occurs (tea dumped into Chester River)
1785 – Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals
1788 – SC becomes 8th state to ratify US constitution
1813 – South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (“The Liberator”)
1861 – Virginia citizens vote 3 to 1 in favor of secession
1862 – Battle at Front Royal, Virginia
1862 – Valley Campaign-Stonewall Jackson takes Ft Royal, Virginia
1863 – Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.
1864 – Battle of Dallas, GA
1864 – Battle of North Anna, Va, 1st of 3 days of fighting
1865 – -24] Victory parade in Washington, DC (Grand Review)
1867 – Jesse James-gang rob bank in Richmond Missouri (2 die, $4,000 taken)
1873 – 1st Preakness: G Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43
1873 – Canada’s North West Mounted Police Force forms
1876 – 1st NL no-hitter (Joe Borden, Boston)
1882 – 6″ of snow falls in eastern Iowa
1883 – 9th Kentucky Derby: William Donohue aboard Leonatus wins in 2:43
1884 – 12th Preakness: S Fisher aboard Knight of Ellerslie wins in 2:39.5
1887 – 1st transcontinental train arrives in Vancouver, BC
1894 – William Love hosts ground breaking ceremonies for Love Canal
1898 – 1st Philippine Expeditionary Troops sail from SF
1900 – Associated Press News Service forms in NY
1901 – 35th Belmont: H Spencer aboard Commando wins in 2:21
1901 – US captures leader of Philippine rebels, Emilio Aguinaldo
1903 – 1st automobile trip across US from SF to NY, ended April 1
1903 – 1st direct primary election law in US adopted, by Wisconsin
1908 – Dirigible explodes over SF Bay, 16 passengers fall, none die
1915 – Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary & Germany during WW I
1916 – Heavy battles at Fort Douaumont Verdun
1921 – “Shuffle Along” 1st black musical comedy, opens in NYC
1922 – Harry Greb gave Gene Tunney his only professional boxing defeat
1922 – Walt Disney incorporates his 1st film company Laugh-O-Gram Films
1923 – 1st flight of Sabena: Brussel-Lympne, Great Britain
1923 – Launch of Belgium’s SABENA airline.
1928 – Bomb attack on Italians embassy in Buenos Aires, 22 die
1934 – The Auto-Lite Strike culminates in the “Battle of Toledo”, a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.
1935 – 1st scheduled night game, postponed due to rain (Cincinnati)
1939 – British decoration, George Cross, 1st presented
1939 – British parliament plans to make Palestine independent by 1949
1939 – USS Squalis sank off Portsmouth NH, 26 die
1940 – 1st great dogfight between Spitfires
1941 – Joe Louis beats Buddy Baer on DQ in 7 for heavyweight boxing title
1943 – -24] 826 Allied bombers attack Dortmund
1944 – British/Canadian troops occupy Pontecorvo Italy
1944 – Chinese counter offensive at Hunan front
1944 – Polo Grounds host 1st NYC night game since 1941
1945 – British milt police arrest Admiral Karl Doenitz
1945 – German island of Helgoland in North Sea surrenders to British
1945 – Heinrich Himmler, German Nazi leader & Gestapo leader, commits suicide in prison at 44
1945 – Lord Haw-Haw arrested at Danish boundary
1948 – Joe DiMaggio hits 3 consecutive HRs
1949 – Federal Republic of [West] Germany proclaimed (Republic Day)
1953 – 79th Preakness: Eric Guerin aboard Native Dancer wins in 1:57.8
1958 – Schools 1st use Cliff’s Notes
1958 – Mao Tse tung start “Great leap forward” movement in China
1958 – Explorer 1 ceases transmission.
1959 – Presbyterian church accepts women preachers
1960 – Israel announces capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina
1962 – Joe Pepitone 2nd Yankee to hit 2 HRs in 1 inning (Joe DiMaggio)
1962 – OAS leader general Raoul Salan sentenced to life
1962 – Scott Carpenter orbits Earth 3 times in US Aurora 7
1963 – NBC purchases 1963 AFL championship game TV rights for $926,000
1964 – Dale Greig runs female marathon world record (3:27:45)
1965 – Pontoon ferry overturned on Shire River Malawi, kills 150
1969 – BBC orders 13 episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus
1969 – Who release rock opera “Tommy”
1970 – Grateful Dead’s 1st performance outside of US (England)
1970 – A fire breaks out in the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits in north Wales contributing to its partial destruction and causing approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage.
1971 – Rock group Iron Butterfly disbands
1974 – Italian Red Brigade officer Mario Sossi freed
1977 – Supreme Court refuses to hear appeals of Watergate wrong doers H R Halderman, John Ehrlichman & John Mitchell
1977 – Moluccan extremists hold 105 schoolchildren & 50 others hostages on a hijacked train in Neth, children released May 27, siege ends June 11
1979 – “Kids Are All Right” premieres
1979 – Rocker Tom Petty files chapter 11 bankruptcy
1982 – BBC warns Britain will bomb Argentina
1988 – Maryland stops sale of cheap pistols on Jan 1, 1990
1990 – Cost of rescuing savings & loan failures is put at up to $130 billion
1990 – Dow Jones avg hits a record 2,856.26
1991 – Last Cubans troops leave Angola
1991 – US Supreme Court bars subsidized clinics from discussing abortion
1992 – Pres Bush orders Coast Guard to intercept boats with Haitian refugees
1994 – 270 pilgrims dies in bustle round Mina Saudi-Arabia
1994 – Star Trek The Next Generation, finale airs this week in syndication
1995 – 47th time opposing pitchers hit HRS, K Foster (Cubs)/M Freeman (Rocks)
1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.
2002 – The “55 parties” clause of the Kyoto protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
2003 – The euro exceeds its initial trading value as it hits $1.18 for the first time since its introduction in 1999.
2004 – Part of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport’s Terminal 2E collapses, killing four people and injuring three others.
Births
1052 – King Philip I of France (d. 1108)
1100 – Emperor Qinzong of China (d. 1161)
1598 – Claude Mellan, French engraver/cartoonist/painter, baptized
1606 – Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish writer (d. 1682)
1617 – Elias Ashmole, antiquary
1620 – Pieter Neefs, the Younger, Flemish painter, baptized
1707 – Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist and the Father of Taxonomy (d. 1778)
1710 – Francois-Gaspard Adam, French sculptor (garden sculptures)
1734 – Friedrich Anton Mesmer, Austria, physician/hypnotist (Mesmerism)
1790 – Jules Dumont d’Urville, French explorer (d. 1842)
1795 – Charles Barry, architect
1813 – Mason Brayman, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1895
1820 – James Buchanan Eads, US, engineer/inventor (Eads Bridge-St Louis)
1820 – Lorenzo Sawyer, 9th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California (d. 1891)
1824 – Ambrose Everett Burnside, Major General (Union volunteers)
1828 – Edward Hitchcock, America’s 1st prof of physical ed (Amherst College)
1834 – Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (d. 1890)
1837 – James Sanks Brisbin, Bvt Mjr General (Union volunteers), died in 1892
1844 – `Abdu’l-Bahá, Successor to Prophet of the Bahá’í Faith (d. 1921)
1848 – Helmuth J L von Moltke, German general/chief of staff (WW I)
1848 – Otto Lilienthal, pioneer aviator
1862 – William “Dummy” Hoy, professional baseball player who lived to 99
1875 – Alfred P. Sloan, American long-time president and chairman of General Motors (d. 1966)
1883 – Douglas Fairbanks, Denver CO, actor (Zorro/3 Musketeers/Robin Hood)
1887 – Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1963)
1893 – Ulysses S. Grant IV, American geologist and paleontologist (d. 1977)
1900 – Hans Frank, German Nazi war criminal (d. 1946)
1903 – Walter Reisch, US, screenwriter (Ninotchka, Gaslight, Titanic)
1907 – Kenneth Allen, engineer
1908 – John Bardeen, US, physicist (transistor, Nobel 1956, 1972)
1908 – Max Abramovitz, US architect (Lincoln Center, UN Building)
1910 – Artie Shaw, [Arthur Arshawsky], NYC, bandleader (Come’on my House)
1910 – Franz Jozef Kline, US expressionist painter
1910 – Scatman Crothers, [Benjamin], Terre Haute IN, actor (Zapped, Shining)
1911 – Melvin M Payne, president (National Geographic Society)
1912 – John Payne, Roanoke Va, actor (Restless Gun)
1914 – Alec Dickson, founder (VSO)
1915 – Clyde Wiegand, physicist
1917 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (d. 2008)
1918 – Bumps Blackwell, rocker
1920 – Sid Melton, Bkln NY, actor (Alf-Green Acres, Charlie-Danny Thomas)
1921 – Humphrey Lyttelton, jazz musician/actor (It’s Great to Be Young)
1921 – James [Benjamin] Blish, US/UK, sci-fi author (Hugo, Star Trek Reader)
1928 – Nigel Davenport, Cambridge England, actor (Without a Clue, Masada)
1928 – Nina Otkalenko, USSR, 800m runner (9 world records)
1928 – Rosemary Clooney, Kentucky, singer , actress
1931 – Barbara Barrie, Chicago, actress (Breaking Away, Barney Miller)
1933 – Bruce A Peterson, US test pilot (M2, HL-10)
1933 – Joan Henrietta Collins, London, actress (Alexis-Dynasty, Bitch)
1934 – Robert A Moog, inventor (Moog Synthesizer)
1936 – Robert Sangster, horse owner/trainer
1937 – John Mazza, horse trainer
1939 – Ron Stevens, horse trainer
1942 – Zalman King, Trenton, New Jersey, actor and director (Wild Orchid), (d. 2012)
1944 – Ramon “Tiki” Fulwood, US drummer (Funkadelic, Knee Deep)
1945 – Elliott Bernerd, English broker/multi-millionaire
1945 – Lauren Chapin, actress (Kathy-Father Knows Best)
1945 – Padmarajan, Indian film director (d. 1991)
1946 – H. Paul Shuch, American SETI scientist
1947 – Jonathan Pryce, North Wales, stage actor (Miss Saigon)
1950 – Linda Thompson, Memphis Tn, actress (Hee Haw)
1951 – Anatoli Karpov, USSR, world chess champion (1975-85)
1952 – “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, NJ, middleweight boxing champ (1982-83)
1958 – Thomas Reiter, Germany, cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-22)
1958 – Mitch Albom, American writer
1958 – Drew Carey, Cleve Oh, actor/comedian (Drew–Drew Carey Show)
1962 – Karen Duffy, [Duff], NYC, MTV VJ/actress (Meet Wally Sparks)
1962 – Imran Anwar, Pakistani Internet pioneer and American TV personality
1967 – Craig John Monk, Auckland NZ, finn class yachter (Olympics-96)
1970 – Yigal Amir, Israeli assassin of Yitzhak Rabin
1970 – Bryan Herta, American race car driver
1971 – Laurel Holloman, American actress
1972 – Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian formula one driver
1974 – Jewel Kilcher, Payson, Utah, American singer-songwriter (Pieces of You)
1974 – Ken Jennings, American game show contestant
1983 – Heidi Range, English singer (Sugababes)
Deaths
1125 – Hendrik V, Roman catholics German king/emperor (1098/1111-25), dies
1304 – Jehan de Lescurel, French poet and composer
1423 – Benedict XIII, [Pedro the Luna], Spanish Pope (1394-1423), dies
1498 – Girolamo Savonarola, dictator of Florence (1494-98), hanged at 45
1523 – Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shogun (b. 1466)
1524 – Ismail I, Shah of Persia (b. 1487)
1568 – Adolf van Nassau, German son of Willem the Rich, dies in battle at 27
1670 – Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1610)
1691 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer (b. 1622)
1701 – William Kidd, Scottish pirate, hanged at London’s Execution Dock
1754 – John Wood, architect/town planner, dies
1783 – James Otis, American lawyer, dies
1841 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher/theologist, dies at 76
1842 – Jose de Espronceda y Delgado, Spanish revolutionary/poet, dies at 34
1851 – Lucas Pieter Roodbaard, architect, dies at 69
1855 – Charles Robert Malden, English explorer (b. 1797)
1857 – Augustin Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (b. 1789)
1868 – Kit Carson, American trapper, scout, and Indian agent (b. 1809)
1886 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian (b. 1795)
1895 – Franz E Neumann, German mineralogist/physicist, dies at 96
1906 – Henrik Johan Ibsen, Norwegian playwright (Doll House), dies at 78
1934 – Bonnie Parker, American outlaw (Bonnie & Clyde), killed in police ambush at 23
1934 – Clyde Barrow, outlaw (Bonnie & Clyde), killed in police ambush
1937 – John Davison Rockfeller, industrialist, dies at 97 in Ormond Beach Fla
1940 – Andrej N Rimski-Korssakov, Russian musicologist/son of Nikolai, dies
1941 – Lord Herbert Austin, motor manufacturer, dies
1960 – Georges Claude, engineer/inventor, dies
1961 – Joan Davis, comedic actress (I Married Joan), dies at 53
1975 – Jackie “Moms” Mabley, comedienne (Amazing Grace), dies at 81
1979 – Hubert van Doorne, auto manufacturer (DAF), dies at 79
1981 – George Jessel, US comic/toastmaster (Diary of Young Comic), dies at 83
1983 – Albert Claude, Belgian biologist (Nobel 1974), dies at 84
1986 – Sterling Hayden, actor (Blue & Gray), dies at 70
1991 – Peter T Thwaites, British brig-gen/playwright (Love or money), dies
1991 – William Sinnot, Scottish pop musician (Shamen), dies at 30
1994 – Joe Pass, US jazz guitarist (The Trio), dies at 65
1996 – Kronid Arkadyevich Lyubarsky, human rights activist, dies at 61
1996 – Rob Hall, New Zealand high altitude climber (b. 1941)
1996 – Scott Fischer, American high altitude climber (b. 1955)
2002 – Sam Snead, American golfer (b. 1912)
2012 – Joseph Lesniewski, soldier (Easy Company, 101st Airborne), dies at 91
2012 – Paul Fussell, American historian, dies from natural causes at 88
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