Today In The Past
Events
451 – The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place. The Armenians are defeated militarily but are guaranteed freedom to openly practice Christianity.
961 – German King Otto II crowned
1328 – William of Ockham forced to flee from Avignon by Pope John XXII
1538 – Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin lives in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.
1637 – 1st battle of Pequot at Mystic Ct kills 500 indians
1647 – Alse Young becomes the first person executed as a witch in the American colonies, when she is hanged in Hartford, Connecticut.
1736 – Battle of Ackia (La), British & Chickasaw Indians defeat French
1770 – The Orlov Revolt, a first attempt to revolt against the Turks before the Greek War of Independence ends in disaster for the Greeks.
1781 – Bank of North America incorporates in Philadelphia
1798 – British kill about 500 Irish insurgents at the Battle of Tara
1805 – Lewis & Clark 1st see Rocky Mountains
1828 – Mysterious feral child Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg.
1860 – Garibaldi occupies Palermo Italy
1861 – Postmaster General Blair announces end of postal connection with South
1861 – Union blockades New Orleans LA & Mobile AL
1864 – -30] Skirmish along the Totopotomoy Creek, Virginia
1864 – Territory of Montana formed
1865 – Battle of Galveston TX, surrender of Edmund Kirby Smith
1868 – President Andrew Johnson avoids impeachment by 1 vote
1869 – Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
1874 – 2nd Preakness: William Donohue aboard Culpepper wins in 2:56.5
1876 – HMS Challenger returns from 128,000-km oceanographic exploration
1883 – 11th Preakness: G Barbee aboard Jacobus wins in 2:42.5
1887 – Racetrack betting becomes legal in NY state
1894 – Emanuel Lasker (26) becomes World Champion chess player
1896 – 1st American intercollegiate bicycle race, Manhattan Beach NY
1896 – Dow Jones begins an index of 12 industrial stocks (closing is 40.94)
1896 – James Dunham murders six people in Campbell, California.
1898 – 32nd Belmont: F Littlefield aboard Bowling Brook wins in 2:32
1900 – British troops under Ian Hamilton attack the Vaal in South Africa
1906 – Archaeological Institute of America forms
1908 – At Masjed Soleyman (مسجد سليمان) in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.
1911 – 1st Indianapolis 500 auto race is run
1923 – 1st Le Mans Grand Prix d’Endurance is run
1924 – Pres Calvin Coolidge signs Immigration law: restricting immigration
1925 – Tigers’ Ty Cobb is 1st to collect 1,000 extra-base hits (ends 1,139)
1930 – Supreme Court rules buying liquor does not violate the Constitution
1937 – San Francisco Bay’s Golden Gate Bridge opens
1938 – House on un-American Activities forms
1940 – 1st successful helicopter flight in US: Vought-Sikorsky US-300 designed by Igor Sikorsky
1940 – Operation Dynamo begins evacuating defeated Allied troops from Dunkirk
1941 – American Flag House (Betsy Ross’ Home) given to city of Phila
1941 – Ark Royal airplane sights German battleship Bismarck
1942 – Belgium Jews are required by Nazis to wear a Jewish star
1942 – Tank battle at Bir Hakeim: African corps vs British army
1944 – 82nd Airborne div D-day-landing at La Haye du Puits to Ste Mere Eglise
1945 – US drop fire bombs on Tokyo
1946 – 2-for-42 & hitting .048 for 1946, Mel Ott stops playing baseball
1946 – Patent filed in US for H-Bomb
1956 – Aircraft carrier “Bennington” burns off RI, killing 103
1961 – USAF bomber flies Atlantic in a record of just over 3 hours
1966 – Buddhist sets self on fire at US consulate in Hué South-Vietnam
1969 – Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth
1970 – The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
1972 – Joe Frazier TKOs Ron Stander in 5 for heavyweight boxing title
1973 – Super Fly Meets Shaft by John & Ernest hits #31
1974 – During a David Cassidy concert in London a 14 year old is trampled
1977 – George Willig climbs NYC World Trade Center
1978 – 1st legal gambling casino opens in Atlantic City
1979 – Dancin’ Fool by Frank Zappa hits #45
1980 – Dietmar Mogenburg of West Germany ties high jump record at 7’8″
1980 – Phillie Steve Carlton is 1st NLer to record 6, 1-hitters
1981 – Marine jet crashes on flight deck of USS Nimitz, killing 14
1982 – British ship Atlantic Conveyor & Coventry were hit in Falkland war
1983 – NASA launches Exosat
1984 – Frisbee is kept aloft for 1,672 seconds in Philadelphia
1984 – Tulsa Oklahoma gets 13″ of rain, 14 die
1985 – Danny Sullivan wins Indy 500 by 24 seconds following a spin
1985 – Explosions destroys 2 tankers off of Gibraltar, 30 die
1987 – Supreme Court ruled dangerous defendants could be held without bail
1987 – William H Webster replaces Robert M Gates as 14th director of CIA
1989 – At 7:42 AM, radio has a 30 2nd silence, honoring radio
1993 – Olympique Marseille wins 38th Europe Cup I at Munich
1993 – Long fly ball by Indians’ Carlos Martinez bounces off Jose Canseco’s head & goes over fence for a home run
1997 – Sammy Sosa (Cubs) & Tony Womack (Pirates) hit inside the park HRs
1998 – Date for Paula Jones sex harassment trial vs Pres Clinton
1998 – The United States Supreme Court rules that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.
2002 – The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars.
2003 – Only three days after a previous record, Sherpa Lakpa Gelu climbs Mount Everest in 10 hours 56 minutes. The tourism ministry of Nepal confirms this record in July that year.
2004 – The United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
2006 – The May 2006 Java earthquake kills over 5,700 people, leaves 200,000 homeless.
2012 – A gunman in the Finnish town of Hyvink
Births
1264 – Prince Koreyasu, Japanese shogun (d. 1326)
1478 – Clement VII, [Giulio de’ Medici], Italy, Pope (1523-34)
1566 – Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor (1595-1603)
1667 – Abraham De Moivre, French mathematician (De Moivre’s theorem)
1669 – Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist (d. 1722)
1689 – Mary Wortley Montagu, English essayist, feminist, eccentric
1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, writer/mother of Mary Shelley
1764 – Edward Livingston, American jurist and statesman (d. 1836)
1799 – Alexander S Pushkin, Russia, writer (Eugene Onegin)
1806 – Henry Knox Thatcher, Comm (Union Navy), died in 1880
1835 – Edward Porter Alexander, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1859 – Alfred Edward Housman, Bromsgrove England, poet (A Buried Life)
1863 – Robert Fitzsimmons, Boxing champion (d. 1917)
1865 – Akseli V Gallen-Kallela, Fins painter/graphic artist/illustrator
1876 – Jack Root, boxing’s 1st light heavyweight champion
1877 – Isadora Duncan, SF, free form/interpretative dancer
1883 – Mamie Smith, American singer (d. 1946)
1886 – Al Jolson, [Asa Yoelson], jazz singer/silent actor (Mamie, Swanee)
1895 – Dorothea Lange, US documentary photographer
1895 – Paul Lukas, Budapest Hungary, actor (Watch on the Rhine, Sphynx)
1903 – Estes Kefauver, (Sen-D-Tn)
1907 – John Wayne [Marion Mitchell Morrison], Winterset IA, actor (Green Berets, True Grit)
1907 – Jean Bernard, French physician (d. 2006)
1908 – Robert Morley, England, actor (High Road to China, African Queen)
1910 – Laurance S Rockefeller, NYC, CEO (Chase Manhattan Bank)
1913 – Peter Cushing, England, actor (Dracula, Star Wars, Dr Who)
1916 – Moondog, American composer, musician and poet (d. 1999)
1919 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian actor (Tonto-Lone Ranger)
1920 – Peggy Lee, American singer (d. 2002)
1923 – James Arness, Minneapolis MN, actor (Matt Dillon-Gunsmoke, Thing)
1926 – Miles Davis, Alton, Illinois, American jazz musician, trumpeter and composer (d. 1991)
1927 – Jacques Bergerac, France, actor (Gigi, Les Girls, Thunder in Sun)
1939 – Brent Musburger, sportscaster (CBS-TV)
1939 – Gerald Ronson, English multi-millionaire
1940 – Levon Helm, Elaine Arkansas, American musician (The Band), (d. 2012)
1944 – Verden “Phally” Allen, keyboardist (Mott the Hoople)
1944 – Sam Posey, American race car driver, TV commentator and author
1945 – Garry Peterson, rocker (Guess Who)
1946 – Neshka Robeva, Bulgarian Rhythmic gymnas and coach.
1946 – Mick Ronson, English musician (d. 1993)
1948 – Stevie Nicks, American rocker and songwriter (Fleetwood Mac, Bella Donna)
1949 – Dan Pastorini, NFL quarterback (Houston Oilers, Raiders) [or Dec 25]
1949 – Dayle Haddon, Montreal Quebec Canada, actress (Bedroom Eyes)
1949 – Hank Williams Jr, Shreveport La, country singer (Honky Tonk)
1949 – Pam Grier, Winston-Salem NC, actress (Big Bird Cage, Tough Enough)
1949 – Ward Cunningham, American computer programmer and inventor
1951 – Sally Kristen Ride, LA California, 1st US woman astronaut (STS-7, STS 41G), (d. 2012)
1955 – Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
1957 – Margaret Colin, actress (Independence Day, Three Men & a Baby)
1959 – Nancy White-Brophy, Montague PEI, LPGA golfer (1994 McCall’s-25th)
1959 – Wayne Hussey, rocker (Mission-Lover for Life)
1962 – Bob[cat] Goldthwait, Syracuse NY, comedian (Police Academy)
1962 – Genie Francis, Englewood NJ, actress (General Hospital, Bare Essence)
1963 – Eddie Martin Jr, jockey
1964 – Lenny Kravitz, American musician
1966 – Helena Bonham Carter, London, English actress (Fight Club, Howards End)
1968 – Rachael Sporn, Australian basketball forward (Olympics-bronze-96)
1970 – Nobuhiro Watsuki, Japanese cartoonist
1977 – Raina Telgemeier, American cartoonist
1979 – Ashley Massaro, American model and professional wrestler
Deaths
604 – Augustinus van Canterbury, bishop/apostle of England, dies (or 605)
735 – Bede (Beda Venerabilis), English historian and monk, (b. circa 672 or 673)
818 – Ali ar-Rida, Shia Imam (b. 766)
1055 – Margrave Adalbert of Austria
1421 – Mehmed I, Ottoman Sultan (1413-21). B. 1389.
1512 – Bayezid II, Ottoman Sultan (1481-1512) dies at 62
1595 – Philippus Nerius, [Filippo Neri], Italian merchant/saint, dies at 79
1609 – Cornelis Claesz, mapmaker, buried
1685 – Charles II, Elector Palatine (b. 1651)
1703 – Samuel Pepys, English marine expert (Diary)/composer, dies at 70
1814 – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, officially named the Guillotine (b. 1789)
1831 – Georg Hermes, German philosopher/theologist (Hermenianen), dies
1831 – Ciro Menotti, Italian patriot (b. 1798)
1840 – Sidney Smith, British admiral (b. 1764)
1868 – Michael Barrett, Irish nationalist, last British public execution
1883 – Edward Sabine, Irish astronomer (b. 1788)
1902 – Almon Strowger, American inventor (b. 1839)
1904 – Georges Gilles de la Tourette, French neurologist (b. 1857)
1905 – Alphonse de Rothschild, French banker, dies
1907 – Ida McKinley, First Lady of the United States (b. 1847)
1926 – S V Petlura, Ukrainain ataman, assassinated by Shalom Schwarzbard
1933 – Jimmie Rodgers, country singer, dies at 35
1939 – Charles H Mayo, US surgeon/co-founder (Mayo Clinic), dies at 74
1939 – Cornelis J Cutters, supreme commander of Navy (1910-18), dies
1943 – Edsel Ford, owner (Ford Motor Company), dies at 49
1951 – Lincoln Ellsworth, artic explorer, dies at 71
1968 – William E “Little Willie” John, US R&B-singer (Fever), dies at 30
1969 – Paul Hawkins, Australian racing driver (b. 1937)
1969 – Allan H. Loughead, American aviation pioneer (Lockheed Corporation; b. 1889)
1973 – Jacques Lipchitz, US cubist sculptor, dies at 81
1974 – Silvio Moser, Swiss racing driver (b. 1941)
1976 – Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (Holzweg), dies at 86
1994 – Warren Harding “Sonny” Sharrock, American jazz Guitarist, dies at 53
1995 – Isadore “Friz” Freling, cartoon director (Sylvester), dies at 88
1995 – Ron Weatherburn, jazz pianist, dies at 61
1995 – Severn Darden, comedian (Second City), dies at 65
1996 – Halka Grossman, resistance fighter/politician, dies at 76
1997 – Manfred Von Ardenne, German scientific pioneer, dies at 90
1999 – Waldo Semon, American inventor (b. 1898)
2001 – Vittorio Brambilla, Italian racing driver (b. 1937)
2004 – Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, Russian astronomer (b. 1931)
2005 – Eddie Albert, American actor, war hero (b. 1906)
2006 – Édouard Michelin, CEO of Michelin (b. 1963)
2007 – J Edward Oliver, cartoonist and composer (b. 1942)
2008 – Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1934)
2010 – Art Linkletter, Canadian-American radio and television personality (b. 1912)
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