Today In The Past
Events
684 – St Benedict II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1284 – Pied Piper lures 130 children of Hamelin away (actually happened)
1498 – Toothbrush invented
1721 – Dr Zabdiel Boylston gives 1st smallpox inoculations in America
1797 – Charles Newbold patents 1st cast-iron plow. He can’t sell it to farmers, though, they fear effects of iron on soil!
1843 – Hong Kong proclaimed a British Crown Colony
1848 – 1st pure food law enacted in US
1896 – 1st movie theater in US opens, charging 10 cents for admission
1906 – Hongar Szisz wins 1st Grand-Prix (Le Mans, France)
1917 – 1st US Expeditionary Force arrive in France during WW I
1936 – 1st flight of Fw61 helicopter
1941 – Finland enters WW II against Russia
1944 – Yanks, Dodgers & Giants play unique 6 inn game for War Bonds, each playing successive innings, final score Dodgers-5, Yanks-1 & Giants-0
1945 – UN Charter signed by 50 nations in SF
1959 – Ingemar Johansson TKOs Floyd Patterson in 3 for heavyweight boxing title
1959 – Queen Elizabeth & Pres Eisenhower open St Lawrence Seaway
1964 – Beatles release “A Hard Day’s Night” album
1970 – Frank Robinson hits 2 grand slams as Orioles beat Senators 12-2
1974 – The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio
1975 – Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial.
1977 – Elvis Presley sings in Indianapolis, last performance of his career
1990 – 122°F in Phoenix Arizona
1994 – 104°F (40°C) at Denver Colorado
1994 – 107°F (41.6°C) at Albuquerque New Mexico
1994 – 112°F (44.4°C) at El Paso Texas
1994 – 122°F (50°C) at Laughlin Nevada
1994 – 126°F (52.2°C) in Death Valley Calif
1995 – Gunmen ambush Egyptian pres Hosni Mubarak, escapes unharmed
2008 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. Heller that the ban on handguns in the District of Columbia is unconstitutional.
Births
1575 – Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1612)
1819 – Abner Doubleday, Mjr Gen (Union)/inventor (baseball) [or 1/26]
1887 – Anthony G de Rothschild, Britain, philanthropist
1892 – Pearl Sydenstricker Buck, China, author (Good Earth-Nobel 1938)
1893 – “Big Bill” Broonzy, Miss, blues singer/guitarist (Blues by Broonzy)
1898 – Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer
1898 – Chesty Puller, the most decorated Marine in history (d. 1971)
1904 – Peter Lorre, Hungarian/US, actor (M, Casablanca, Beast with 5 Fingers)
1911 – Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American athlete (d. 1956)
1943 – Georgie Fame, rock vocalist (Get Away, Ballad of Bonnie & Clyde)
1961 – Greg LeMond, US bicyclist (Tour de France winner-1986, 1989, 1990)
1973 – Gretchen Wilson, American singer
1974 – Derek Jeter, Pequanock NJ, shortstop (NY Yankees, Rookie of Year 1996)
1979 – Ryo Fukuda, Japanese racing driver
Deaths
363 – Flavius C Julianus, [Apostata], emperor of Rome (361-63), dies
1541 – Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego Almagro the younger. Almagro is later caught and executed.
1863 – Andrew Hull Foote, US Union lt admiral, dies
1993 – Roy Campanella, 3xMVP catcher (Dodgers), dies of a heart attack at 71
2003 – Strom Thurmond, U.S. Senator (b. 1902)
2003 – Sir Dennis Thatcher MBE, husband of Margaret Thatcher (b. 1915)
2007 – Liz Claiborne, Belgian-born American fashion designer (b. 1929)
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