Today In The Past
Events
68 – Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging.
641 – Arabic/Islamic army contrasts with the Hippo over Alexandria
721 – Odo of Aquitaine defeats the Moors in the Battle of Toulouse.
922 – French republic chooses Robert I, King of France
1075 – Battle at Homburg/Unstrut: German king Henry IV beats Saksen
1310 – Duccio’s Maestà Altarpiece, a seminal artwork of the early Italian Renaissance, is unveiled and installed in the Siena Cathedral in Siena, Italy.
1456 – 23rd recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet
1525 – Tax revolt in Hertogenbosch
1534 – Jacques Cartier 1st sails into mouth of St Lawrence River
1549 – Book of Common Prayer is adopted by the Church of England
1628 – 1st deportation from what is now US, Thomas Morton from Mass
1650 – The Harvard Corporation, the more powerful of the two administrative boards of Harvard, is established. It is the first legal corporation in the Americas.
1732 – Royal charter for Georgia granted to James Oglethorpe
1742 – Battle of Bloody Marsh-Spanish assault on Simons Island, Georgia
1752 – French army surrenders to the English in Trichinopoly India
1772 – 1st Protestant church west of Penn (in Ohio) holds communion
1772 – 1st naval attack of Revolutionary War takes place in Providence, RI
1789 – Spanish capture British schooner Northwest America near Vancouver I
1802 – US Academy at West Point founded
1822 – Charles Graham patents false teeth
1856 – 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
1860 – 1st US “dime novel” published: “Malaseka, The Indian Wife of the White Hunter,” by Mrs Ann Stevens
1862 – Battle of Port Republic, last of 5 battles in Jacksons Valley camp
1863 – Battle of Brandy Station, VA (Fleetwood, Beverly Ford)
1864 – Battle of Big Shanty, GA
1864 – Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, GA (Pine Mt, Pine Knob, Golgotha)
1865 – Battle of Grand Gulf, MS
1869 – Charles Elmer Hires sells his 1st root beer (Phila)
1870 – Washington: Pres Grant meets with Sioux chief Red Cloud
1873 – Alexandra Palace burnt down, after being open for only 16 days.
1877 – 11th Belmont: C Holloway aboard Cloverbrook wins in 2:46
1883 – 17th Belmont: Jim McLaughlin aboard George Kinney wins in 2:42.5
1887 – 21st Belmont: Jim McLaughlin aboard Hanover wins in 2:43.5
1888 – 22nd Belmont: Jim McLaughlin aboard Sir Dixon wins in 2:40.25
1891 – Painter Gauguin arrives in Papeete, Tahiti
1892 – 26th Belmont: W Hayward aboard Patron wins in 2:12
1898 – China leases Hong Kong’s new territories to Britain for 99 years
1899 – James J Jeffries KOs Bob Fitzsimmons in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1901 – NY Giants get record 31 hits to beat Cin Reds 25-13
1902 – 1st Automat restaurant opens (818 Chestnut St, Phila)
1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, becomes the first woman to drive across the United States. With three female companions, none of whom could drive a car, in fifty-nine days she drove a Maxwell automobile the 3,800 miles from Manhattan, New York, to San Francisco, California.
1910 – Passenger on SS Arawatta throws bottle with note overboard (found June 6, 1983 in Queensland)
1914 – Honus Wagner, is 2nd to get 3,000 hits
1915 – William Jennings Bryan quits as Secretary of State
1922 – First ringing of the Harkness Memorial Chime at Yale University.
1923 – 55th Belmont: Earl Sande aboard Zev wins in 2:19
1923 – Brinks unveils 1st armored security vans
1924 – “Jelly-Roll Blues,” is recorded by blues great, Jelly Roll Morton
1928 – 60th Belmont: Clarence Kummer aboard Vito wins in 2:33.2
1930 – Paavo Nurmi runs world record 6 mile (29:36.4)
1930 – Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle is killed during rush hour at the Illinois Central train station by the Leo Vincent Brothers, allegedly over a $100,000 USD gambling debt owed to Al Capone.
1931 – 1st rocket-powered aircraft design patented (R Goddard)
1934 – 1st Donald Duck cartoon, Wise Little Hen, released
1934 – 66th Belmont: Wayne D Wright aboard Peace Chance wins in 2:29.2
1940 – Norway surrenders to Germany during WW II
1941 – Ammunition plant at Fort Smederovo in Belgrade explodes; kills 1,500
1942 – Nazis kill all inhabitants of Lidice Czechoslovakia
1945 – 71st Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Hoop Jr wins in 2:07
1946 – 19 guests at Canfield Hotel die in fire (Dubuque Iowa)
1946 – Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn in 8 for heavyweight boxing title
1953 – “Milton Berle Show/Texaco Star Theater,” last airs on NBC-TV
1953 – Worcester County tornado (94 killed, 1310 injured, 10,000 homeless)
1954 – Joseph Welch asks Sen Joseph McCarthy “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” during Senate-Army hearings
1955 – 100°F – Hottest day in Seattle Washington
1957 – Anthony Eden resigns as British PM
1957 – First ascent of Broad Peak (the world’s 12th highest mountain).
1958 – “Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley hits #1
1959 – 1st ballistic missile sub launched (George Washington-Groton, Ct)
1960 – Typhoon Mary in China killed at least 1,600
1962 – “Bill of Hare,” premieres in USA
1962 – 94th Belmont: Bill Shoemaker aboard Jaipur wins in 2:28.8
1963 – Equal Pay Act enacted
1965 – Frenchman, Machal Jazy, runs record mile in 3:53.6
1967 – Israeli troops reach Suez Canal
1967 – Monkees appear at Hollywood Bowl
1969 – Warren Burger confirmed as US Chief Justice
1970 – Harry A Blackmun, sworn in as Supreme Court Justice
1972 – 14″ of rain in 6 hrs burst Rapid City SD dam, drowns 237
1973 – 105th Belmont: Ron Turcotte aboard Secretariat wins in 2:24
1973 – Secretariat becomes 1st Triple Crown winner in 25 years by winning horse racing’s Belmont Stakes
1974 – Supergroup Blind Faith’s (Clapton, Windwood, Baker) 1st concert
1975 – 107th Belmont: Bill Shoemaker aboard Avatar wins in 2:28.2
1975 – Fire in prison hospital kills 10 prisoners & 1 guard (Sanford Fla)
1977 – Silver jubilee of Queen Elizabeth celebrated with fireworks
1978 – Gutenberg Bible (1 of 21) sells for $2.4 million, London
1978 – Larry Holmes beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1978 – Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) strikes down 148 year policy of excluding black men from priesthood
1979 – 111th Belmont: Ruben Hernandez aboard Coastal wins in 2:28.6
1980 – Comedian Richard Pryor suffers burns from free basing cocaine
1982 – Israel wipes out Syrian SAM missiles in Bekaa Valley
1983 – Margaret Thatchers Conservative Party wins British parliamentary election
1984 – 116th Belmont: Laffit Pincay Jr aboard Swale wins in 2:27.2
1984 – Jurgen Hingsen of West Germany sets record for decathlon, 8,798 pts
1984 – NASA suffers a launch vehicle failure launching Intelsat 509
1985 – American Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped & held hostage in Lebanon
1986 – Dow Jones-index hits record 45.71 points
1989 – Rare tornado in Philadelphia kills 1
1990 – 122nd Belmont: Michael Kinane aboard Go & Go wins in 2:27.2
1991 – Jack La Lanne, 76, arrested for suspicion of DWI
1994 – Angolan plane bombs school in Waku Kungo (89 killed)
2012 – It is announced that up to $125 million dollars in loans will be given to aid Spain’s struggling banks
Births
1595 – King Wladislaus IV of Poland (d. 1648)
1597 – Pieter J Saenredam, architecture painter
1640 – Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1658-1705)
1661 – Tsar Feodor III of Russia (d. 1682)
1672 – Peter the Great [Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov], tsar of Russia (1682-1725)
1768 – Samuel Slater, American industrialist (d. 1835)
1781 – George Stephenson, Newcastle England, inventor (RR locomotive)
1791 – John Howard Payne, US, author/actor/diplomat (Home Sweet Home)
1792 – Frederic L G, Earl of Merode, Belgian revolutionary
1812 – Hermann von Fehling, German chemist (Fehling’s reagens)
1812 – Johann G Galle, German astronomer (discovered Neptune)
1833 – John Rogers Cooke, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1891
1854 – Gerardus J P J Bolland, Dutch philosopher (Bolland Society)
1861 – Floris H Verster, [van Wulverhorst], painter/cartoonist/etcher
1875 – Henry Dale, London, physiologist (Nobel-1936)
1882 – Bobby Kerr, Canadian sprinter (d. 1963)
1896 – Catherine Filene Shouse, philanthropist (Wolf Trap Institute)
1898 – Luigi Fagioli, Italian race car driver (d. 1952)
1900 – Fred Waring, Tyrone Penn, musician/conductor/inventor (Waring Blender)
1901 – George Price, cartoonist
1910 – Geoffrey Musson, British General
1913 – Patrick Steptoe, scientist (developed in vitro fertilization)
1915 – Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss) Waukesha Wisconsin, American musician , guitarist/inventor (Les Paul guitar)
1916 – Robert S McNamara, US Sec of Defense (1961-68)/head (World Bank)
1918 – Rob de Vries, Dutch WW II resistance fighter/dir/actor (Ciske de Rat)
1921 – Agnes Keleti, Hungary, gymnist (Olympic-gold-1952, 56)
1922 – John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (d. 1941)
1922 – Fernand Seguin, Canadian biochemist – Radio and TV animator (d. 1988)
1924 – Christine Goitschel, France, slalom (Olympic-gold-1964)
1925 – [John] Keith Laumer, [Anthony LeBaron], US, sf author (Retief’s War)
1929 – Johnny Ace [John Marshall Alexander, Jr.], Memphis, Tennessee, rhythm and blues singer (My Song)
1929 – Keith A St H Gardner, Jamaica, 4x400m runner (Olympic-bronze-1960)
1930 – Lin[wood] [Vrooman] Carter, US, sci-fi author (Thongor of Lemuria)
1930 – Marvin Kalb, NYC, educator/newscaster (CBS/NBC, Meet the Press)
1931 – Jackie Mason, Wisc, comedian (World According to Me, Chicken Soup)
1933 – Patrick Symons, British vice-admiral
1934 – Donald Duck, famous fowl
1934 – Helga Haase, German FR, 500m speed skater (Olympic-gold-1960)
1934 – Jackie Wilson, Detroit, singer (Lonely Teardrops, Night)
1934 – Wild Jimmy Spruill, blues guitarist
1937 – Harald Rosenthal, German biologist
1939 – David Hobbs (auto racer)
1940 – Dick Vitale, US, sportscaster (ESPN, ABC “Oh Baby!”)
1941 – Billy Hatton, rocker
1941 – Jon Lord, England, keyboardist (Deep Purple-Hush, White Snake), (d. 2012)
1941 – Peter Wilson, CEO (Gallaher)
1943 – Charles Saatchi, English magnate (Saatchi & Saatchi)
1943 – Joe [William] Haldeman, US, sci-fi author (Hugo, Nebula, Worlds Apart)
1944 – 23 puppies, (record litter) born to Lena, a foxhound, Ambler Penn
1948 – Nathaniel Rosen, Altadena Ca, cellist (Tchaikovsky-gold-1978)
1952 – Uzi Hitman, Israeli singer (d. 2004)
1954 – Pete Byrne Bath – English rocker (Naked Eyes)
1954 – George Pérez, American comic book artist
1954 – Gregory Maguire, American fantasy writer
1956 – Patricia Cornwell, American author
1961 – Michael J. Fox, Edmonton, Alberta, Canadian actor (Family Ties, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf)
1961 – Aaron Sorkin, American writer
1963 – Johnny Depp, Queensboro Ky, actor (21 Jump Street, Ed Wood)
1963- Gilad Atzmon, Israeli jazz musician and author
1965 – Gloria Reuben, actress (Jeanie Boulet-ER)
1969 – Mitch McLee, [Douglas Lee Mitchell], Miles Mi, drummer (Southgang)
1971 – Rick Renstrom, American guitarist
1973 – Laura Ponte, Spanish model and royal
1974 – Samoth, Norwegian guitarist (Emperor, Zyklon)
1975 – Carolyne Lepage, Montreal Quebec, 48 kg judoka (Olympics-96)
1981 – Natalie Portman [Natalie Hershlag], Jerusalem, Israeli/American actress (Professional, Everyone Says I Love You)
1981 – Anoushka Shankar, Famous sitarist and daughter of Ravi Shankar
Deaths
62 – Claudia Octavia, wife of Nero (b. 40)
68 – Claudius Nero, Roman emperor (54-68), commits suicide at 31
373 – Ephrem the Syrian, Christian hymnodist
597 – St. Columba, Christian missionary (b. 521)
630 – King Shahrbaraz of Persia
1171 – Jacob Ben Meir, [Rabbenu Tam], French Tosofist, dies
1361 – Philippe de Vitry, French composer/poet, dies at 69
1382 – Philip of Lead, lawyer of Utrecht, dies
1563 – William Paget, 1st Baron Paget, English statesman (b. 1506)
1572 – Jeanne d’Albret, queen of Navarra, dies at 44
1681 – William Lilly, English astrologer, dies
1716 – Banda Bahadur, Sikh military commander (executed)
1863 – Benjamin Franklin “Grimes” Davis, Union major, dies in battle at 30
1870 – Charles Dickens, English writer (David Copperfield), dies at 58
1897 – Alvin Graham Clark, dies 3 weeks after 1st use of Yerkes 40″ lens
1901 – Walter Besant, novelist/philanthropist, dies
1911 – Carry Amelia Moore Nation, American temperance leader, dies
1944 – 99 inhabitants of Tulle, hanged by SS
1946 – Rama VIII, king of Siam (1935-46), dies at 21
1958 – Robert Donat, actor (Citadel, Goodbye Mr Chips, 39 Steps), dies at 53
1971 – Harold Lloyd Jr, actor (Frankenstein’s Daughter), dies at 40
1973 – Erich von Manstein, German military commander (b. 1887)
1981 – Allen Ludden, game show host (Password), dies at 63
1992 – Clarence Miller, blues/jazz vocalist, dies at 69 of a heart attack
1994 – Lloyd Lindroth, the Liberace of the Harp, dies at 63
1996 – Edward Morris Bernstein, economist, dies at 91
1996 – Robert Kidd, marine geoscientist, dies at 48
1997 – Reid Shelton, actor (Daddy Warbucks-Annie), dies of stroke at 71
2009 – Dick May, Former NASCAR racecar driver
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