Today In The Past
Events
1325 – Sheik Ibn Battuta begins 1st world trip, Tangiers to Mecca
1373 – Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Alliance (world’s oldest) signed in London
1392 – Assassination attempt on Pierre de Craon Van Clisson of France, fails
1547 – King Ferdinand of Austria subjects himself on Turkish sultan Suleiman
1665 – Sea battle at Lowestoft: English fleet beats Dutch
1774 – Rhode Island becomes 1st colony to prohibit importation of slaves
1777 – Leonard Norcross patents a submarine diving suit
1777 – Marquis de Lafayette lands in US
1789 – Mrs Alexander Hamilton serves ice cream for dessert to Washington
1828 – Simon Bolívar proclaimed dictator
1863 – Battle of Winchester VA
1863 – Skirmish at Berryville Virginia
1865 – Pres Johnson proclaims reconstruction confederate states
1866 – House passes 14th Amendment (Civil rights for blacks)
1868 – Oscar J Dunn (a black) is elected Lt Governor of Louisiana
1871 – Hurricane kills 300 in Labrador
1874 – 8th Belmont: G Barbee aboard Saxon wins in 2:39.5
1881 – The USS Jeannette is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.
1886 – Fire destroys nearly 1,000 buildings in Vancouver, BC
1888 – Congress creates Department of Labor
1889 – 2′ of snow accumulates in Rawlins Wyoming
1889 – 23rd Belmont: W Hayward aboard Eric wins in 2:47.25
1895 – Emile Levassor wins 1st Paris-Bordeaux-Paris auto race (24 kph)
1898 – Yukon Territory of Canada organized, Dawson chosen as capital
1900 – China’s Boxer Rebellion against foreigners & Christians
1907 – Lowest temp ever in 48 US states for June, 2°F in Tamarack Calif
1908 – Tommy Burns KOs Bill Squires in 8 for heavyweight boxing title
1910 – Pilot Charles Hamilton makes 1st 1-day round-trip from NY to Phila
1913 – 45th Belmont: Roscoe Troxler aboard Prince Eugene wins in 2:18
1917 – Germany bombs London
1917 – World War I: the deadliest German air raid on London during World War I is carried out by Gotha G bombers and results in 162 deaths, including 46 children, and 432 injuries.
1920 – Post Office says children could not be sent by parcel post
1922 – Longest attack of hiccups begins Charlie Osborne, 98 hiccupped over 435 million times before it stops, He dies 11 months after it stops
1925 – 57th Belmont: Albert Johnson aboard American Flag wins in 2:16.8
1927 – Ticker-tape parade welcomed Charles A Lindbergh to NYC
1930 – 1st Nudist Colony opens
1930 – 22 people killed by hailstones in Siatista Greece
1931 – 63rd Belmont: Charley Kurtsinger aboard Twenty Grand wins in 2:29.6
1933 – 1st sodium vapor lamps installed (Schenectady NY)
1933 – German Secret State Police (Gestapo) established
1935 – James J Braddock beats Max Baer in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1937 – Joe DiMaggio hits 3 consecutive HRs against St Louis Browns
1937 – Stalin executes Rus officers Tuchachevski, Jakir, Putna & Uberevitch
1940 – Paris evacuates before German advance
1942 – 1st V-2 rocket launch, Peenemunde, Germany; reached 1.3 km
1942 – Germany puts 4 saboteurs on Long Island
1942 – OSS, Office of Strategic Services, form
1944 – German counter attack on Villers-Bocage Normandy
1944 – Nazi Germany begins V-1 (Fieseler Fi-103) buzz-bomb attacks
1945 – Orokoe peninsula Okinawa captured, with 6,000 dead
1946 – 1st transcontinental round-trip flight in 1-day, California-Maryland
1947 – 1st night game at Fenway Park (Red Sox 5, White Sox 3)
1951 – UN arm forces reach Pyongyang Korea
1952 – Soviet fighters shoot Swedish Dakota down over East Sea, kills 8
1953 – 85th Belmont: Eric Guerin aboard Native Dancer wins in 2:28.6
1954 – Cornerstone of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, laid in Bronx
1955 – Mercedes racing car kills 77 at Le Mans France
1956 – After 72 years, Britain gives up Suez Canal to Egyptian control
1957 – Mayflower II from Plymouth, England, reaches Plymouth Mass
1958 – Frank Zappa graduates from Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster Ca
1959 – “Sammy Kaye Show,” last airs on ABC-TV
1959 – 91st Belmont: Bill Shoemaker aboard Sword Dancer wins in 2:28.6
1960 – “Alley-Oop” by Dyna-Sores peaks at #59
1962 – “Bob Newhart Show,” last airs on NBC-TV
1966 – Supreme Court’s Miranda decision; suspect must be informed of rights
1967 – “You Only Live Twice” premieres in US
1967 – Thurgood Marshall nominated as 1st black Supreme Court justice
1969 – Mick Taylor leaves John Mayall Band & joins Rolling Stones
1970 – “In The Summertime” by Mungo Jerry hit #1 in UK
1970 – Beatles’ “Let It Be,” album goes #1 & stays #1 for 4 weeks
1971 – NY Times began publishing “Pentagon Papers”
1973 – Garvey, Lopes, Cey & Russell play together for 1st time, set record of staying together as an infield for 8½ years (LA Dodgers)
1977 – Convicted Martin Luther King assassin James Earl Ray recaptured
1978 – Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from Lebanon.
1979 – Sioux nation receives $100 million in compensation for Black Hills SD
1980 – Billy Joel’s “Glass Houses” hits #1
1981 – Teenager fires 6 blanks at Queen Elizabeth II
1983 – Pioneer 10 is 1st man-made object to leave Solar System
1987 – Daniel Buettner, Bret Anderson, Martin Engel & Anne Knabe complete cycling journey of 15,266 mi from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Argentina
1988 – 45th time opposing pitchers hit HRS, Mark Davis (Padres)/Mike Krukow
1988 – Fed jury finds Liggett liable in death of NJ woman of lung cancer
1990 – Boeing 767 sets nonstop commercial flight, Seattle to Narobi Kenya
1991 – A spectator is killed by lightning at US Open Golf tournament
1993 – Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani re-elected president of Iran
1994 – A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blames recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages.
1996 – The Montana Freemen surrender after an 81-day standoff with FBI agents.
1997 – Jurors in Oklahoma City bombing trial sentence Timothy McVeigh to death
1997 – American fugitive Ira Einhorn is arrested in France for the murder of Holly Maddux after 16 years on the run, though he would not return for another four years.
2000 – Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.
2002 – The United States of America withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
2005 – A jury in Santa Maria, California acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch.
2012 – A series of bombings across Iraq kill 93 and wound 300 people
2012 – San Francisco Giants’ Matt Cain pitches first perfect game in the franchise’s history against the Houston Astros
Births
40 – Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman general and Governor of Britain, conquered Wales and Northern England
823 – Charles II, the Bald, King of France (843-77)/emperor (875-77)
1539 – Jost/Jobst/Jodocus Amman, Swiss cartoonist/graphic artist/illustrator
1592 – Tobias Michael, composer
1649 – Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (d. 1706)
1786 – Winfield Scott, army general (Union)/presidential candidate
1809 – George Philip St Cooke, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1895
1820 – WF Hendrik, the Navigator, prince of the Netherlands/admiral
1821 – Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox, Asst Secy (Union), died in 1883
1822 – Carl Schmidt, German chemist (d. 1884)
1823 – Gustave Paul Cluseret, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1900
1825 – Benjamin Jefferson Hill, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1880
1827 – Alberto Henschel, German-Brazilian photographer and businessman (d. 1882)
1831 – James Clerk Maxwell, Scotish physicist (electromagnetic theory, speed of light)
1854 – Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor (steam turbine)
1865 – William Butler Yeats, Ireland, poet (Wild Swans at Coole-Nobel 1923)
1884 – Etienne Gilson, French philosopher (d. 1978)
1892 – Basil Rathbone, Johannesburg South Africa, actor (Sherlock Holmes)
1894 – Isaak E Babel, Russian writer (Konarmija, Marija) [or Jul 13]
1894 – Jacques-Henri Lartigue, France, photographer
1897 – Paavo Johannes Nurmi, Finland, 5K runner (Olympic-gold-1920/24/28)
1903 – Harold “Red” Grange, “Galloping Ghost” of football (Illinois Bears)
1905 – Doc Cheatham, jazz musician
1906 – Bruno de Finetti, Italian mathematician (d. 1985)
1913 – Ralph Edwards, Merino Colo, TV host (This is Your Life)
1915 – J Donald Budge, US tennis player (1st to hold world’s 4 major titles)
1918 – Ben Johnson, Foraker Oklahoma, actor (Chisum, Battle Force, Dillinger), (d. 1996)
1918 – Helmut Lent, German night fighter pilot (d. 1944)
1920 – Knut Nordahl, Sweden, soccer player (Olympic-gold-1948)
1925 – Hans Fellner, bookseller
1926 – Paul Lynde, Mt Vernon Ohio, comedian (Uncle Arthur-Bewitched)
1928 – John Forbes Nash, American mathematician, Nobel laureate
1929 – Ralph McQuarrie, Gary, Indiana, conceptual designer (Star Wars, E.T.), (d. 2012)
1930 – Ryszard Kukliński, Polish colonel (d. 2004)
1931 – Lachlan Macleay, USAF/pilot
1938 – Peter Michael, English electronic manufacturer (UEI, Paintbox)
1939 – Don “Sugarcane” Harris, rocker/actor (Soup for 1, Greeased Lightning)
1943 – Edward Skorek, Poland, volleyball player (Olympic-gold-1976)
1943 – Malcolm McDowell, Leeds England, actor (Clockwork Orange, Caligula)
1944 – Joe Amato, NHRA top fuel drag racing champion (1991)
1945 – Whitley Strieber, American author
1949 – Dennis Locorriere, Union City NJ, rock guitarist (Dr Hook)
1951 – Richard Thomas, New York City, American actor (John Boy-Waltons, Last Summer, Johnny Belinda)
1951 – Stellan Skarsgard, Swedish actor (Breaking the Waves)
1952 – Jean-Marie Dedecker, Belgian politician and former judoka
1953 – Tim Allen, Denver Colo, comedian (Tim-Home Improvement, Jungle2Jungle)
1954 – Bo [Robert] Donaldson, rock vocalist (Billy Don’t Be a Hero)
1954 – Jorge Santana, rocker (Malo)
1954 – Rita Cadillac, Brazilian dancer
1962 – Hannah Storm, sports journalist (CNN, NBC)
1962 – Davey Hamilton, American racing driver
1963 – Catarina Lindqvist, Sweden, tennis player (Swedish Open 1986)
1963 – Paul De Lisle, American musician (Smash Mouth)
1966 – Grigori Perelman, Russian mathematician
1966 – Naoki Hattori, Japanese racing driver
1968 – Deniece Peterson, rocker (5 Star-Silk & Steel)
1972 – Natalie MacMaster, Canadian musician
1974 – Steve-O, American television personality
1974 – Brande Roderick, American actress
1978 – Mikako Ichikawa, Japanese actress and model
1979 – Nila Håkedal, Norwegian beach volleyball player
1980 – Markus Winkelhock, German racing driver
1981 – David Madden, 4th-ranked Jeopardy! champion of all-time
1983 – Matt Allison, British racing driver
1985 – Filipe Albuquerque, Portuguese racing driver
1986 – Ashley Fuller Olsen, twin actress (Michelle-Full House)
1986 – Mary Kate Olsen, twin actress (Michelle-Full House)
1986 – Kat Dennings, American actress
1992 – Tyler Davison, was world’s smallest baby at 6 inches, 11 ounces
Deaths
1036 – Ali az-Zahir, caliph (b. 1005)
1142 – Godfried II, duke of Brabant/Neth-Lotharingen, dies
1231 – Anthony of Padua, Portuguese saint (b. 1195)
1256 – Tankei, Japanese sculptor (b. 1173)
1371 – Jan V of Virneburg, bishop of Utrecht (Pledge Vollenhove), dies
1550 – Veronica Gambara, Italian poet, dies at 64
1645 – Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese swordsman
1665 – Auke Stellingwerf, lt-admiral of Friesland, dies in battle at about 29
1665 – Egbert Meussen Kortenaer, vice-admiral, dies in battle at about 29
1665 – Jacob van Wassenaer, [Foggy Obdam], lt-admiral, dies in battle at 55
1784 – Henry Middleton, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1717)
1865 – Cleaveland J Campbell, Union brig-general, dies at about 29
1905 – Theodoros Delyannis, premier Greece, murdered
1930 – Henry Segrave, British racing driver who held land speed records and the water speed record (b. 1896)
1931 – Shibasaburo Kitasato, Japanese physician (b. 1851)
1961 – Ben Jones, Missouri, horse trainer (Citation, Whirlaway), dies at 79
1965 – Martin Buber, German/Israel philosopher/zionist/theologist, dies at 87
1972 – Clyde L Mcphatter, US singer (Drifters-Without Love), dies at 39
1977 – Matthew Garber, British child actor (Mary Poppins) (b. 1956)
1979 – Darla Hood, actress (Our Gang 1935-45), dies at 47
1986 – Benny Goodman, clarinetist/bandleader (King of Swing), dies at 77
1987 – Geraldine Page, actress (Blue & Gray), dies at 62
1989 – Fran Allison, actress (Kukla, Fran & Ollie), dies at 81
1993 – Donald “Deke” K Slayton, US major/astronaut (Apollo 18), dies at 69
1995 – David Parry, guitarist, dies 53
2004 – Dick Durrance, American skier (b. 1914)
2008 – Tim Russert, American television host, NBC News Meet the Press moderator, dies at 58
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