Today In The Past

 

Events

1276 – While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Song Dynasty court hold the coronation ceremony for the young prince Zhao Shi, making him Emperor Duanzong of Song.

1381 – Richard II in England meets leaders of Peasants’ Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London is stormed by rebels who enter without resistance.

1535 – Karel V’s fleet sails under Andrea Doria to Tunis

1565 – Catharina de Medici & Duke of Alva discuss Calvinism

1597 – At 4:30 AM Willem Barents leaves Novaya Zemlya for Netherlands

1642 – 1st compulsory education law in America passed by Massachusetts

1645 – Battle at Naseby Leicester: New Model army under Oliver Cromwell & Thomas Fairfax beats royalists

1658 – Battle at Dunes: English & French fleet beat Spanish

1673 – Battle at Schooneveld: Michiel de Ruyter beats French/English fleet

1755 – 1st edition of Dr Johnsons “Dictionary”

1775 – US Army founded

1777 – Continental Congress adopts Stars & Stripes replacing Grand Union flag

1789 – Capt William Blighs reaches Timor

 

 

 

1800 – Battle of Marengo (Alessandria): Bonaparte vs Austria

 

 

 

 

 

1807 – Emperor Napoleon I’s French Grande Armee defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Prussia (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.

1822 – Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled “Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables”.

1834 – Hardhat diving suit patented by Leonard Norcross, Dixfield, Maine

1834 – Sandpaper patented by Isaac Fischer Jr, Springfield, Vermont

1839 – 1st Henley Regatta held

1846 – California (Bear Flag) Republic proclaimed in Sonoma, declaring independence from Mexico

1847 – Robert von Bunsen invents the Bunsen burner

1850 – Fire destroys part of SF

1861 – Harpers Ferry evacuated by rebels in face of McClellan’s advance

 

 

 

1863 – Battle of 2nd Winchester, Virginia

 

 

 

 

 

1864 – US Union warship USS Kearsarge appears at Cherbourg

1876 – 1st player to hit for cycle (George Hall, Phila Athletics)

1880 – 14th Belmont: L Hughes aboard Grenada wins in 2:47

1881 – Player piano patented by John McTammany Jr (Cambridge, Mass)

1901 – 1st golf championship is played

1907 – Norway adopts female suffrage.

1917 – 1e German air attack on England, 100+ killed in East-London

1917 – Gen Pershing & his HQ staff arrived in Paris during WW I

1919 – 1st nonstop air crossing of Atlantic (Alcock & Brown) leaves Nfld

1922 – Pres Harding is 1st US president to use radio, dedicating the Francis Scott Key memorial in Baltimore

1923 – Recording of 1st country music hit (Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane)

1933 – Lou Gehrig & Joe McCarthy thrown out of game, McCarthy suspended 3 games but Gehrig isn’t, so he continues his streak at 1,249 games

1934 – Max Baer KO’s Primo Carnera in 11 for HW box champ in Long Island City

1935 – Chaco War between Bolivia & Paraguay ends

1938 – Chlorophyll patented by Benjamin Grushkin

1940 – Auschwitz concentration camp opens (3 million killed there)

1940 – German forces occupied Paris during WW II

1941 – Ground broken for Boeing Plant II (ex-AFLC Plant 13) Wichita KS

1942 – 1st bazooka rocket gun produced Bridgeport Ct

1942 – Walt Disney’s “Bambi” animated movie is released Thumper’s 1st job

1944 – 1st B-29 raid against mainland Japan

1948 – Klemens Gottwald becomes president of Czechoslovakia

1949 – State of Vietnam forms, Bao Dai installed as Emperor

1951 – 1st commercial computer, UNIVAC 1, enters service at Census Bureau

1952 – Keel laid for 1st nuclear powered sub USS Nautilus (4th to be named Nautilus)

1953 – Elvis Presley graduates from LC Humes High School in Memphis Tenn

1954 – Pres Eisenhower signs order adding words “under God” to the Pledge

1956 – “New Faces of 1956” opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 221 perfs

1957 – 42.0 cm rain falls on East St Louis, Illinois (state record)

1958 – British parachutists lands on Cyprus

1961 – 106°F, hottest temperature in SF

1962 – Albert DeSalvo, better known as the Boston Strangler, murders Anna Slesers, his first victim.

1963 – NY Met Duke Snider hits his 400th HR

1967 – Mariner 5 Launch (Venus Flyby)

1974 – Angels’ Nolan Ryan strikes out 19 Red Sox in 12 innings

1976 – “Gong Show” premieres on TV (syndication)

1979 – Rock group “Little Feat” disbands

1982 – Argentina surrenders to Britain on Falkland Is, ends 74-day conflict

1987 – 4th full-duration test firing of redesigned SRB motor

1988 – Woman sues Chuck Berry for $5,000,000 alleges he hit her

1989 – Ground breaking begins in Minn on world’s largest mall

1989 – Nolan Ryan becomes 2nd pitcher to defeat all 26 teams

 

 

 

1989 – Ronald Reagan is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

 

 

 

 

 

1989 – Rocker Carol King gets a star in Hollywood’s walk of fame

1989 – Zsa Zsa Gabor arrested for slaping Beverly Hills motorcycle patrolman

1990 – Supreme Court rules police check for drunk drivers constitutional

1991 – Leroy Burrell of USA sets 100m record (9.90) in NYC

1993 – Tansu Ciller appointed 1st female premier of Turkey

1998 – “Comic Relief” benefit comedy show

 

 

Births

1479 – Giglio Gregorio Giraldi, Italian poet (d. 1552)

1529 – Ferdinand, archduke (Austria)/mayor (Bohemia)

1657 – Cornelis Cruys, [Niels Olsen Creutz], Norwegian/Dutch admiral

1736 – Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, physicist (formulated Coulomb’s Law)

1796 – Nikolai Brashman, Russian mathematician (d. 1866)

1805 – Robert Anderson, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1871

1811 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, author (Uncle Tom’s Cabin)

1820 – John Bartlett, US, editor (compiled Familiar Quotations)

1836 – Thomas Wilberforce Egan, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)

1844 – Edouard Naville, Swiss egyptologist

1855 – Robert Marion La Follette, Wisconsin, pres candidate (Progressive)

1856 – Andrey Markov, Russia, mathematician (Markov Chain)

1864 – Alois Alzheimer, Germany, psychiatrist/pathologist (Alzheimer Disease)

1871 – Jacob Ellehammer, Danish inventor (d. 1946)

1889 – Victor van Straelen, Flemish biologist/palaeontologist

1893 – Siggie Nordstrom, Swedish singer (The Nordstrom Sisters) (d. 1980)

1903 – Arthur William Raynes McDonald, radar Pioneer/pilot

 

 

 

1906 – Margaret Bourke-White, photographer/innovator/correspondent

 

 

 

 

 

1907 – Chico Landi, Brazilian racing driver (d. 1989)

1909 – Burl Ives, Hunt Ill, folk singer/actor (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)

1912 – E Cuyler Hammond, scientist (1st to link smoking with lung cancer)

1917 – Al “Lash” LaRue, Gretna La, actor (Lash of the West, Wyatt Earp)

1919 – Sam Wanamaker, Chic Ill, actor (Holocaust, Competition, Raw Deal)

1919 – Gene Barry [Eugene Klass], New York City, New York, American actor (The Atomic City, Bat Masterson)

1922 – Kevin Roche, Irish architect

1925 – Pierre Salinger, newsman (ABC)/press secretary (John Kennedy)

1929 – Cy Coleman, [Seymour Kaufman], songwriter (Witchcraft, Sweet Charity)

1931 – Marla Gibbs, Chicago Ill, actress (Florence-Jeffersons, Mary-227)

1932 – Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona

1933 – Jerzy Kosinski, novelist (Painted Bird, Being There)

1936 – Renaldo “Obie” Benson, singer (The Four Tops) (d. 2005)

1943 – Muff [Mervyn] Winwood, singer (Spencer Davis Group-Gimme Some Lovin)

1943 – John Miles, British racing driver

1945 – Rod Argent, rocker (She’s Not There-Zombies, Hold Your Head Up-Argent)

1946 – Donald Trump, billionaire/master builder (Trump Towers/Plaza/Castle)

1947 – Barry Melton, American guitarist (Country Joe and the Fish)

1949 – Alan White, English rock drummer (Yes, Ramshackled)

 

 

 

1949 – Harry Turtledove, American author

 

 

 

 

 

1952 – Eddie Mekka, Worcester Mass, actor (Carmine-Laverne & Shirley)

1952 – Jimmy Lea, England, rock bassist (Slade)

1956 – King Diamond [Kim Petersen], Copenhagen, Denmark, heavy metal musician (Merciful Fate, King Diamond)

1958 – Brian David Willis, rock drummer (Quarterflash)

1958 – Eric Heiden, Madison, Wisconsin, US speed skater (5 Olympic gold medals 1980)

1960 – Tonie Campbell, LA California, 100m hurdler (Olympic-bronze-1988)

1961 – “Boy George” O’Dowd, androgynous vocalist & druggie (Culture Club)

1961 – Grace Jackson, St Ann Jamaica, 200m runner (Olympic-silver-1988)

1963 – Chris DeGarmo, guitarist (Queensryche-Breaking the Silence)

1967 – Wendy Lian Williams, St Louis Mo, US diver (Olympic-bronze-88, 92)

1968 – Yasmine Bleeth, NYC, actress (Ryan’s Hope, 1 Life to Live, Baywatch)

1969 – Steffi Graf, Bruhl West Germany, tennis player (Grand Slam 1988)

1969 – Michael Gerber, American parody author

1970 – Willie Beamon, NFL cornerback (NY Giants)

1972 – Matthias Ettrich, German computer scientist (KDE)

1975 – Ryuji Miki, Japanese racing driver

1975 – Chris Onstad, American cartoonist

1976 – Alan Carr, British Stand-up comedian, Television presenter

1978 – Diablo Cody, American screenwriter

1978 – Annia Hatch, Cuban-American gymnast

1981 – Lonneke Engel, Dutch model

1982 – Jamie Green, British racing driver

 

 

Deaths

1144 – Aboe ‘l-Kasim Mahmoed ibn Omar al-Zapowersjari, theologist, dies at 69

1161 – Emperor Qinzong of China (b. 1100)

1349 – Gunther Van Schwarzburg, German anti-king 1349, dies at about 44

1381 – Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury

1497 – Giovanni Borgia, Duke of Borgia (b. 1474)

1544 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1489)

1662 – Henry Vane the Younger, British Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1613)

1703 – Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer (b. 1625)

1727 – Cornelis Cruys, Norwegian/Dutch admiral, dies at 70

1752 – Charles-Antoine Coypel, French carpet designer, dies at 57

1752 – Daniel Marot, French/Neth, architect/engraver, dies at about 88

1800 – Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French military leader (b. 1768)

1800 – Jean-Baptiste Kleber, French general (b. 1753)

1801 – Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary War general, dies in London

1825 – Pierre Charles L’Enfant, French architect, dies at 70

1864 – Leonidas Polk, general, killed in action in Battle of Pine Mt

1920 – Max Weber, German sociologist/economist/historian, dies

1932 – Dorimène Roy Desjardins, Canadian business pioneer

 

 

 

1936 – G. K. Chesterton [Gilbert Keith], English writer/poet (Father Brown), dies at 62

 

 

 

 

 

1938 – William W Campbell, US astronomer (Stellar Motions), dies at 76

1944 – Lubor Niederle, Czech archaeologist/slavist, dies at 78

1944 – Robert H Iseley, US pilot/lt-comdr (Saipan), dies in battle

1946 – John Logie Baird, Scottish television pioneer (b. 1888)

1967 – Eddie Eagan, American sportsman (b. 1897)

1975 – Pablo Antonio, Filipino modernist architect (b. 1902)

1977 – Alan Reed, actor (Fred Allen)/voice (Fred Flintstone), dies at 69

1986 – Alan Jay Lerner, Broadway librettist, dies in NY at 67

1986 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine author (Book of Sand), dies in Geneva at 86

1986 – Marlin Perkins, TV host (Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom), dies at 81

1991 – Peggy Ashcroft, British actress (A passage to India), dies at 83

1993 – Vincent T Hamlin, cartoonist (Alley Oop), dies at 93

1994 – Harry “Little” Caesar, blues singer/actor (City Heat), dies at 66

1994 – Henry Mancini, composer (Pink Panther, Moon River), dies at 70

1994 – Lionel Grigson, professor of Jazz, dies at 52

1995 – Roger Joseph Zelazny, sci-fi writer, dies of cancer at 60

 

 

 

1995 – Rory Gallagher, Irish rock/blues guitarist (See Here), dies at 47

 

 

Videos

 

 

 

 

1997 – Henry C Gordon, USAF/astronaut (Dynasoar), dies at 71

1997 – Richard Jaeckel, actor (Starman, The Dark), dies of cancer at 70

2003 – Dale Whittington, American racing driver (b. 1959)

2005 – Mimi Parent, Canadian painter (b. 1924)

2007 – Robin Olds, American fighter pilot (b. 1922)

2007 – Kurt Waldheim, Austrian politician and statesman (b. 1918)

2008 – Esbjörn Svensson, Swedish jazz pianist (b. 1964)

2009 – Bob Bogle, founding member of The Ventures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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