Category: History
Here’s a variation of our previous creation . Again , apologies to the late Ms Bourke-White . If you are unfamiliar with the name read here . Margaret Bourke-White was a “Life” magazine war correspondent as well as one of the most accomplished photographers of all time .
Today In The Past
Events
1542 – Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo claims California for Spain
1652 – New Amsterdam (now NYC) passes 1st speed limit law in US
1693 – 1st woman’s magazine “Ladies’ Mercury” published (London)
1743 – War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Dettingen: on the battlefield in Bavaria, George II personally leads troops into battle. The last time that a British monarch would command troops in the field.
1759 – General James Wolfe begins the siege of Quebec.
1778 – Liberty Bell came home to Phila after the British had left
1847 – NY & Boston linked by telegraph wires
1893 – Great stock crash on NY stock exchange
1905 – Russian sailors mutiny aboard battleship “Potemkin”
1929 – 1st color TV demo (NYC)
1940 – Soviet Army attacks Romania
1942 – FBI captures 8 Nazi saboteurs from a sub off NY’s Long Island
1950 – US sends 35 military advisers to South Vietnam
1950 – North Koreans troop reach Seoul, UN asks members to aid South Korea, Harry Truman orders Air Force & Navy into Korean conflict
1954 – 1st atomic power station opens (Obninsk, near Moscow, Russia)
1954 – CIA-sponsored rebels overthrow elected government of Guatemala
1955 – 1st automobile seat belt legislation enacted (Illinois)
1957 – Hurricane Audrey, kills 526 in Louisiana & Texas
1963 – USAF Major Robert A Rushworth in X-15 reaches 86,900 m
1973 – “Live & Let Die” premieres in US
1976 – Israeli raid on Entebbe, Uganda
1977 – Willie McCovey smashes 2 HRs in inning for 2nd time (Apr 12, 1973)
1985 – Route 66 (Chicago to Santa Monica), is decertified
1993 – Don Henley booed in Milwaukee when he dedicates the song “It’s Not Easy Being Green” to President Clinton
1994 – Aerosmith become first major band to let fans download a full new track free from the internet
2008 – Bill Gates steps down as Chairman of Microsoft Corporation to work full time for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Births
1040 – King Ladislaus I of Hungary (d. 1095)
1838 – Paul von Mauser, German weapon designer (d. 1914)
1869 – Emma Goldman, anarchist/publisher (Mother Earth)
1880 – Helen Keller, Ala, blind-deaf author/lecturer had more sense than many
1899 – Juan Trippe, American airline entrepreneur (d. 1981)
1923 – Paul F Conrad, Cedar Rapids Iowa, cartoonist (Pulitzer 1964, 71, 84)
1925 – Jerome “Doc” Pomus, rocker
1930 – H Ross Perot, Texas, billionaire/presidental candidate (1992)
1944 – Bruce Johnston, US pop musician (Beach Boys-God Only Knows)
1955 – Isabelle Adjani, Paris, actress (Story of Adele H, Driver, Ishtar)
1985 – Nico Rosberg, German race car driver
Deaths
444 – Cyrillus van Alexandria, patriarch of Alexandria, dies
1638 – Lukaris Cyrillus, patriarch of Alexandria/Constantinople, dies
1844 – Hyrum Smith, founder/leader (Mormon Church), shot by mob in Carthage Ill
1844 – Joseph Smith Jr, founder/leader (Mormon Church), shot by mob at 38
1889 – Carlotta Patti, Italian soprano, dies
1952 – Max Dehn, German mathematician (b. 1878)
1971 – Kenneth Washington, actor (Sgt Baker-Hogan’s Heroes), dies at 53
1995 – Prez “Kidd” Kenneth, blues singer/guitarist, dies at 61
2001 – Jack Lemmon, American actor (b. 1925)
2002 – John Entwistle, bass-player with The Who dies in his sleep of a heart attack in his Las Vegas hotel room aged 57
2004 – George Patton IV, American general (b. 1923)
2005 – Shelby Foote, American author and historian (b. 1917)
2005 – Domino Harvey, English-born bounty hunter (b. 1969)
—–
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)
—-
Today In The Past
Events
253 – St Lucius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1183 – Peace of Konstanz
1500 – Pope Alexander VI accept Treaty of Granada
1630 – Fork introduced to American dining by Gov Winthrop
1638 – Lunar eclipse is 1st astronomical event recorded in US
1788 – Virginia becomes 10th state to ratify US constitution
1798 – US passes Alien Act allowing president to deport dangerous aliens
1867 – 1st barbed wire patented by Lucien B Smith of Ohio
1868 – FL, AL, LA, GA, NC & SC readmitted to US
1876 – Custer & 7th Cavalry wiped out by Sioux & Cheyenne at Little Big Horn
1910 – Mann Act passed (no women across state lines for immoral purposes)
1929 – Pres Hoover authorizes building of Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam)
1935 – Joe Louis defeats Primo Carnera at Yankee Stadium
1938 – “A Tisket A Tasket” by Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb hits #1
1942 – Maj Gen Dwight Eisenhower appointed commander of US forces in Europe
1947 – Tennis shoe introduced
1949 – Long-Haired Hare is released in Theaters starring Bugs Bunny.
1950 – Korean conflict begins; N Korea invades S Korea
1951 – 1st color TV broadcast-CBS’ Arthur Godfrey from NYC to 4 cities
1956 – 51 die in collision of “Andrea Doria” & “Stockholm” (Cape Cod)
1968 – Bobby Bonds hits a grand slam in his 1st major league game (Giants)
1977 – Roy C Sullivan of Va is struck by lightning for 7th time!
1979 – Failed attack on NATO commander Haig in Obourg, Belgium
1981 – Supreme Court upholds male-only draft registration, constitutional
1988 – Cal Ripken Jr plays in his 1,000th consecutive game
1996 – The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.
Births
1242 – Beatrice of England, Duchess of Brittanny (d. 1275)
1726 – Thomas Pennant, British naturalist
1886 – Henry “Hap” Arnold, commanding general, US Army Air Force (WW II)
1900 – Lord Louis Mountbatten, of Burma, royal relative/earl/baron/admiral
1903 – George Orwell, [Eric A Blair], Bihar, British India, British writer (Animal Farm, 1984), (d. 1950)
1924 – Sidney Lumet, Phila, director (Group, Pawnbroker, Fail Safe)
1925 – Clifton Chenier, Opelousas La, blues singer (Bayou Blues)
1925 – June Lockhart, NYC, actr (Lassie, Lost in Space, Petticoat Junction)
1929 – Eric Carle, American author
1936 – Harold Melvin, US singer (Blue Notes-My Hero)
1945 – Carly Simon, NYC, singer (Anticipation, You’re So Vain)
1946 – Allen Lanier, rock keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist (Blue Oyster Cult)
1956 – Anthony Bourdain, Chef and author
Deaths
1212 – Simon de Montfort, a leader of the crusades, dies at 67
1483 – Edward V, king of England (Apr 9-Jun 25, 1483), murdered
1533 – Mary Tudor, queen consort of Louis XII of France (b. 1496)
1579 – Hatano Hideharu, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1541)
1876 – Boston Custer, brother of George Custer, dies at Little Bighorn
1876 – George A Custer, US general (Little Bighorn), dies at 36
1876 – Thomas W Custer, brother of George Custer, dies at Little Bighorn
1906 – Stanford White, Architect, shot dead atop Madison Square Garden which he designed by Harry Thaw jealous husband of Evelyn Nesbit
1916 – Thomas Eakins, American artist (b. 1844)
1956 – Ernest J King, US fleet admiral/Chief of Naval Operations, dies at 77
1959 – Charles Starkweather, spree killer (b. 1938)
1976 – Johnny Mercer, US songwriter (That old Black Magic), dies at 66
1995 – Warren Earl Burger, Supreme Court Justice, dies of heart failure at 78
1997 – Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Fren oceanographer, dies of heart attack at 87
2009 – Michael Jackson, American recording artist, entertainer and King of Pop music (The Jackson 5, Thriller, Dangerous) dies of cardiac arrest aged 50
2009 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and pop culture figure (b.1947)
—-
Today in the Past
Events
451 – 10th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet
843 – Vikings destroy Nantes
1314 – Battle of Bannockburn; Scotland regains independence from England
1441 – Eton College founded by Henry VI
1509 – Henry VIII crowned King of England
1540 – Henry VIII divorces his 4th wife, Anne of Cleves
1664 – The colony of New Jersey is founded.
1795 – US & Great Britain sign Jay Treaty, 1st US extradition treaty
1817 – 1st coffee planted in Hawaii on Kona coast
1853 – Gadsden Purchase 29,670-square-mile (76,800 square km) from Mexico (now southern Arizona and New Mexico) for $10 million signed by President Franklin Pierce
1861 – Tennessee becomes 11th (& last) state to secede from US
1863 – Planning an invasion of Pennsylvania, Lee’s army crosses Potomac
1884 – John Lynch is 1st black elected chairman of Republican convention
1894 – Decision to hold modern Olympics every 4 years
1916 – Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to get a million dollar contract.
1917 – Russian Black Sea fleet mutiny at Sebastopol
1930 – 1st radar detection of planes, Anacostia DC
1938 – 500 ton meteorite lands near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
1939 – Pan Am’s 1st US to England flight
1947 – Jackie Robinson swipes home for 1st of 19 times in his career
1948 – Soviet Union begins Berlin Blockade
1962 – Jack Reed’s 22nd-inning HR wins longest NY Yankee game in history
1968 – Jim Northrup hits 2 grand-slammers to help Tigers beat Cleve 14-3
1970 – “Catch 22” opens in movie theaters
1970 – Bobby Murcer ties record of 4 consecutive HRs
1972 – “Troglodyte (Cave Man)” by Jimmy Castor Bunch peaks at #6
1972 – Yvonne Braitwaite Burke becomes 1st black chair in Dem convention
1980 – Affirmed wins $500,000 Hollywood Cup, 1st horse to win $2 million
2004 – In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional.
Births
1386 – Giovanni da Capistrano, Italian saint (d. 1456)
1771 – E I Du Pont, France, chemist/scientist (Du Pont)
1813 – Henry Ward Beecher, Litchfield Ct, clergyman/orator (Independent)
1842 – Ambrose Bierce, Meigs County, Ohio, American writer and satirist (Devil’s Dictionary, Nuggets & Dust)
1850 – Horatio Herbert Kitchener, England, original Order of Merit member
1897 – Daniel K. Ludwig, American shipping magnate (d. 1992)
1899 – Chief Dan George, actor (Harry & Tonto, Little Big Man. Smith!)
1903 – Phil Harris, Linton In, actor (Anything Goes, Robin Hood)
1911 – Juan Manuel Fangio, racing driver
1944 – Jeff Beck, Surrey England, singer/guitarist (Jeff Beck Group)
1950 – Mercedes R Lackey, US, sci-fi author (Arrow’s Fall, Magic’s Pawn)
Deaths
1398 – Hongwu Emperor of China (b. 1328)
1519 – Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander, dies at 39
1817 – Thomas McKean, US attorney/signer (Decl of Independence), dies at 83
1908 – Grover Cleveland, 22nd & 24th Pres (1885-89, 93-97), dies at 71
1946 – Louise Whitfield Carnegie, American philanthropist (b. 1857)
1987 – Jackie Gleason, comedian (Honeymooners), dies of colon cancer at 71
2007 – Chris Benoit, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1967)
—–
Today In The Past
Events
930 – World’s oldest parliament, the Iceland Parliament, established
1683 – William Penn signs friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape indians in Pennsylvania;
1775 – 1st regatta held on Thames, England
1776 – Final draft of Declaration of Independence submitted to US Congress
1780 – American Revolution: Battle of Springfield fought in and around Springfield, New Jersey (including Short Hills, formerly of Springfield, now of Millburn Township.
1784 – 1st US balloon flight (13 year old Edward Warren)
1810 – John Jacob Astor organizes Pacific Fur Co (Astoria, Oregon)
1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes patents “Type-writer”
1888 – Frederick Douglass is 1st African-American nominated for president
1894 – The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
1931 – Wiley Post & Harold Catty took off for flight around world
1939 – Bronko Nagurski beats Lou Thesz in Houston, to become wrestling champ
1947 – Truman’s veto of Taft-Hartley Act overridden by congress
1949 – 1st 12 women graduate from Harvard Medical School
1950 – Swiss parliament refuses voting right for women
1952 – US airplanes bomb energy centers at Yalu Korea
1955 – Walt Disney’s “Lady & the Tramp” released
1961 – USAF Maj Robert M White takes X-15 to 32,830 m
1964 – Gen Maxwell Taylor appointed US ambassador in South Vietnam
1967 – Jim Ryun sets mile record (3:51.1, Bakersfield CA)
1969 – Warren E Burger sworn in as Supreme Court Chief Justice
1974 – 1st extraterrestrial message sent from Earth into space
1976 – CCN Tower in Toronto, tallest free-standing structure (555 m) opens
1979 – Charlie Daniels Band releases “Devil Went Down to Georgia”
1979 – Rock group, the Knack releases “My Sharona”
1981 – 33 inning game ends, Pawtucket 3, Rochester 2
1982 – -117°F; All time low at South Pole
1986 – Tip O’Neill refuses to let Reagan address House
1991 – Mazda becomes 1st Japanese car to capture Le Mans 24 hour race
1993 – Lorena Gallo Bobbitt amputates husband’s John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis
1997 – Dow Jones drops 192.25 pts
Births
47 BC – Pharaoh Ptolemy XV of Egypt (d. 30 BC)
1534 – Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (d. 1582)
1894 – Alfred Kinsey, Hoboken, New Jersey, American entomologist/sexologist (Kinsey Report)
1894 – Edward VIII, King of Great Brit/N-Ireland/emperor of India (1936)
1902 – Howard T Engstrom, Boston, computer designer (Univac)
1940 – Wilma Rudolph, St Bethlehem Tenn, runner (Olympic-3 gold-1960)
1943 – Vint Cerf, American Internet pioneer, Turing Award laureate
1948 – Clarence Thomas, Savannah Ga, 108th US Supreme Court Justice (1991- )
1977 – Jason Mraz, American singer and songwriter
Deaths
79 – Vespasian, Roman Emperor (b. 9)
1582 – Shimizu Muneharu, Japanese military leader (b. 1537)
1916 – Victor Chapman, US legionaire/WW I pilot, killed
1945 – Lt Gen Ushijima, Japanese commander, commits suicide at Okinawa
1970 – Roscoe Turner, American aviator and racer (b. 1895)
1995 – Jonas Salk, biologist (Polio vaccine), dies of heart failure
2005 – Shana Alexander, American columnist (b. 1926)
2009 – Ed McMahon, American television personality (b. 1923)
2011 – Peter Falk, American actor (b. 1927)
—-
Today In The Past
Events
168 BC – Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeat and capture Macedonian King Perseus, ending the Third Macedonian War.
1377 – Richard II succeeds Edward III as king of England
1611 – Henry Hudson set adrift in Hudson Bay by mutineers on his ship Discovery & never seen again
1633 – Galileo Galilei forced to recant Earth orbits Sun by Pope (on Oct 31, 1992, Vatican admits it was wrong)
1675 – Royal Greenwich Observatory established in England by Charles II
1775 – 1st Continental currency issued ($3,000,000)
1807 – British board USS Chesapeake, a provocation leading to War of 1812
1812 – Napoleon’s Grand Army invades Russia
1847 – Doughnut created
1873 – Prince Edward Island joins Canada
1910 – 1st airship with passengers sets afloat-Zeppelin Deutscheland
1933 – German social-democratic party (SPD) forbidden
1940 – France falls to Nazi Germany; armistice signed, France disarms
1947 – 12″ rain in 42 mins (Holt, MO)
1949 – Ezzard Charles beats Jersey Joe Walcott in 15 for hw boxing title
1969 – Aretha Franklin arrested in Detroit for creating a disturbance
1970 – Pres Nixon signs 26th amendment (voting age lowered to 18)
1978 – Pluto’s satelite Charon, is discovered
1982 – Pete Rose gets his 3,772nd hit, moves past Aaron into 2nd place
1990 – Billy Joel performs a concert at Yankee Stadium
1990 – Florida passes a law prohibits wearing a thong bathing suit
1992 – Supreme Court rules “hate crime” laws violated free-speech rights
Births
1757 – George Vancouver, surveyed Pacific coast from SF to Vancouver I
1856 – Henry Rider Haggard, author (King Solomon’s Mine, She, Dawn)
1896 – Francis C Denebrink, US Naval officer (WW I, WW II, Korea)
1903 – Carl Hubbell, pitcher (NY Giants)-253 wins, 2.97 lifetime ERA
1922 – Bill Blass, Ft Wayne Ind, fashion designer (Nancy Reagan)
1941 – Ed Bradley, Phila, CBS news correspondent (60 Minutes)
1945 – Howard Kaylan, rocker (Flo & Eddie/Turtles-Happy Together, Eleanor)
1949 – Meryl Streep, New Jersey, American actress (French Lieutenant’s Woman, Sophie’s Choice)
1964 – Dan Brown, Exeter, New Hampshire, American author of thriller fiction (The Da Vinci Code)
1978 – Dan Wheldon, British race car driver
Deaths
1535 – John Fisher, English bishop (1504-35)/cardinal, beheaded at about 65
1874 – Howard Staunton, world chess champion, designer of chess pieces, dies
1903 – George White, black resident of Delaware, lynched
1965 – David O Selznick, producer (Gone With the Wind), dies at 63
1969 – Judy Garland, actress (Wizard of Oz, Easter Parade), dies at 47 of an overdose
1979 – Louis Chiron, Monaco race car driver (b. 1899)
1987 – Fred Astaire, actor/dancer (Royal Wedding, Let’s Dance), dies at 88
1993 – Pat Nixon, 1st lady (1969-75), dies of lung cancer at 81
2002 – Ann Landers, American columnist (b. 1918)
2008 – George Carlin, American comedian, actor (b. 1937)
—
Today In The Past
Events
1607– 1st Protestant Episcopal parish in America established, Jamestown
1633 – Galileo Galilei is forced by Inquisition to “abjure, curse, & detest” his Copernican heliocentric views
1788 – US Constitution goes into effect as NH is 9th to ratify
1834 – Cyrus Hall McCormick patents reaping machine
1877 – The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants, are hanged at the Schuylkill County and Carbon County, Pennsylvania prisons.
1893 – 1st Ferris wheel premieres (Chicago’s Columbian Exposition)
1932 – Heavyweight Jack Sharkey TKOs Max Schmeling (NYC)
1945 – US defeat Japanese forces on Okinawa during WW II
1950 – Joe DiMaggio gets his 2,000th hit
1962 – USAF Maj Robert M White takes X-15 to 75,190 m
1968 – Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren resigns
1975 – “Jaws” by Steven Spielberg opens
1982 – John Hinckley found not guilty of 1981 attempted assassination of President Reagan by reason of insanity
2001 – A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicts 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen.
2004 – SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
2006 – Pluto’s newly discovered moons are officially named Nix & Hydra.
Births
1002 – Leo IX, [Bruno count of Egesheim & Dagsburg], Pope (1049-54)
1732 – Martha Washington, 1st, 1st lady (1789-97)
1921 – Jane Russell, Bemidji MN, full-figured actress (Outlaw)
1922 – Judy Holliday, NYC, comedienne/actress (Born Yesterday, Adam’s Rib)
1944 – Ray Davies, London, singer/guitarist (Kinks-Come Dancing)
1953 – Benazir Bhutto, 1st female leader of a Moslem nation (Pakistan)
1982 – Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, London, England, son of Prince Charles & Lady Diana
Deaths
1527 – Niccolo Machiavelli, Florentine statesman/author, dies at 57
1582 – Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (b. 1534)
1893 – Leland Stanford, American business tycoon and founder of Stanford University
1965 – Bernard M Baruch, pres advisor (termed “Cold War”), dies at 94
1969 – Maureen “Little Mo” Connolly, 1st woman grand slam (1953), dies at 34
2001 – John Lee Hooker, American bluesman , guitarist , musician (b. 1916)
2001 – Carroll O’Connor, American actor (b. 1924)
2008 – Scott Kalitta, American drag racer (b. 1962)
—
Today In The Past
Events
451 – Germans & Romans beat Atiila the Hun at Catalarinische Fields
1214 – The University of Oxford receives its charter.
1633 – Charter for Maryland is given to Lord Cecil Baltimore
1756 – 146 Brit soldiers imprisoned in India-Black Hole of Calcutta-most die
1787 – Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the United States.
1819 – 320 ton Savannah becomes 1st steamship to cross any ocean (Atlantic)
1837 – Queen Victoria at 18 ascends British throne following death of uncle King William IV Ruled for 63 years ending in 1901
1840 – Samuel Morse patents his telegraph
1863 – West Virginia admitted as 35th US state
1867 – Pres Andrew Johnson announces purchase of Alaska
1910 – “Krazy Kat” comic strip by George Herriman debuts in NY Journal
1919 – Treaty of Versailles: Germany ends incorporation of Austria
1936 – Jesse Owens of US sets 100 meter record at 10.2
1944 – Congress charters Central Intelligence Agency
1950 – Joe Dimaggio’s 2,000th hit, Yanks beat Indians 8-2
1969 – 150,000 attend Newport ’69, Jimi Hendrix gets $120,000 to appear
1995 – Space probe Ulysses begins 2nd passage behind the Sun
Births
236 BC – Scipio Africanus, Roman statesman and general of the Second Punic War (d. 183 BC)
1894 – George Delacorte, NYC, philanthropist/publisher (Dell Books)
1905 – Lillian Hellman, American playwright (d. 1984)
1909 – Errol Flynn, Hobart Tasmania, actor (Captain Blood, Robin Hood)
1924 – Audie Murphy, Kingston Tx, most decorated American WW II hero/actor (Destry, Joe Butterfly)
1924 – Chet Atkins, Luttrell Tenn, guitarist (Me & My Guitar)
1942 – Brian Wilson, Inglewood California, vocalist (Beachboys-In My Room)
1967 – Nicole Kidman, Honolulu Hawaii, actress (Dead Calm, Far & Away)
Deaths
451 – Theodorid, King of the Visigoths
1947 – Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, gangster, shot dead in Beverly Hills Cal
1972 – Howard Johnson, US restaurant/hotel founder, dies at 75
—–
Today in the Past
Events
987 – Louis IV, crowned king of France
1306 – The Earl of Pembroke’s army defeats Bruce’s Scottish army at the Battle of Methven.
1586 – English colonists sailed from Roanoke Island NC
1588 – Spanish Armada heavily destroyed in storm at Coruna
1754 – Albany Congress held by 7 British colonies & Iroquois indians
1778 – Washington’s troops finally leave Valley Forge
1829 – Sir Robert Peel found London Metropolitan Police
1846 – 1st baseball game (Cartwright Rules)-NY Nines 23, Knickerbockers 1
1848 – Elizabeth Stanton & Lucretia Mott open 1st women’s rights convention
1862 – Slavery outlawed in US territories
1864 – CSS “Alabama” sunk by USS “Kearsarge” off Cherbourg, France
1865 – Siege of Richmond, VA
1893 – Lizzie Bordon acquitted
1910 – Father’s Day celebrated for 1st time (Spokane, Wash)
1926 – DeFord Bailey is 1st black to perform on Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry
1936 – German boxer Max Schmeling World Champion KOs Joe Louis
1941 – Cheerios Cereal invents an O-shaped cereal
1944 – Two day Battle of Philippines Sea begins
1964 – Bob Dylan completes UK tour
1972 – -29] Hurricane Agnes, kills 118 in NY & Florida
Births
1941 – Václav Klaus, Czech politician and President
1945 – Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician (Nobel)
1947 – Salman Rushdie, Pak, novelist (Midnight’s Children, Satanic Verses)
1964 – Boris Johnson, British politician
1969 – Thomas Breitling, American entrepreneur
1978 – Garfield the Cat, animated character “Big fat hairy deal”
Deaths
1786 – Nathanael Greene, American Revolutionary general (b. 1742)
1794 – Richard Henry Lee, US farmer (signed Decl of Independence), dies at 62
1937 – James M Barrie, Scottish writer (Dear Brutus/Peter Pan), dies
1953 – Ethel Rosenberg, executed at Sing Sing, in 5 tries
1953 – Julius Rosenberg, NYC, 1st US civilian executed for espionage at 37
1984 – Lee Krasner Pollock, US painter, dies at 75
1993 – William Golding, author (Lord of the Flies, Nobel 1983), dies at 81
1994 – Christopher Clarkson, test Pilot, dies at 92
1997 – Bobby Helms, singer (Jingle Bell Rock), dies at 63
—-
Today In The Past
Events
860 – Swedish Vikings attack Constantinople
1682 – William Penn founds Philadelphia, US
1812 – War of 1812 begins as US declares war against Britain
1815 – Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon defeated by Wellington & Blucher
1873 – Susan B Anthony fined $100 for voting for President
1898 – 1st amusement pier opens in Atlantic City, NJ
1900 – Empress Douairiere orders I-Ho-Chuan (Boxers) to kill all foreigners
1928 – Amelia Earhart becomes 1st female to fly across Atlantic Ocean
1940 – Winston Churchill urges perseverance so that future generations would remember that “this was their finest hour”
1941 – Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn in 13 for heavyweight boxing
1956 – Last of foreign troops leaves Egypt as Brits leave Suez Canal
1959 – 1st telecast transmitted from England to US
1960 – Real Madrid wins 5th Europe Cup 1
1968 – Supreme Court bans racial discrimination in sale & rental of housing
1973 – NCAA makes urine testing mandatory for participants
1977 – Billy Martin & Reggie Jackson get into a dug out altercation
1977 – Space Shuttle test model “Enterprise” carries a crew aloft for 1st time, It was fixed to a modified Boeing 747
1979 – Pres Carter & Leonid I Brezhnev sign SALT 2 treaty
1981 – Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart retires (replaced by Sandra Day O’Connor, 1st woman on high court)
1982 – ABC’s All Talk radio network expands to 22 stations
1985 – Boston Red Sox Fred Lynn gets 10 RBIs
1996 – Ted Kaczynski, suspected of being the Unabomber, is indicted on ten criminal counts.
Births
1839 – William Henry Seward Jr, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1920
1886 – George Mallory, England, mountain climber (“because it is there“)
1906 – Kay Kyser, Rocky Mount NC, orchestra leader (Kay Kyser’s Kollege)
1910 – E G Marshall, Owatonna Minn, actor (Playhouse 90, Chicago Hope)
1917 – Richard Boone, LA California, actor (Paladin-Have Gun Will Travel)
1942 – Paul McCartney, Liverpool, English rocker & pop star (Beatles)
1952 – Isabella Rossellini, Rome Italy, actress (Big Night, Blue Velvet)
1976 – Blake Shelton, American Country Singer
1989 – Renee Olstead, American singer and actress
Deaths
1234 – Emperor Chukyo of Japan (b. 1218)
1629 – Piet Heyn, lt-admiral (Spanish silver fleet), dies in battle at 51
1788 – Adam Gib, Scottish religious leader (b. 1714)
1880 – John Sutter, US colonist (gold discovered on his land), dies at 77
1902 – Samuel Butler, British writer (Erewhom), dies at 66
1916 – Max Immelmann, German pilot (WW I), killed
1928 – Roald E G Amundsen, Norwegian pole explorer, dies
1936 – Maxim Gorky, [Alexei M Peshkov], Russian writer (Mother), dies at 68
1959 – Ethel Barrymore, [Blythe], actress (None but the lonely), dies at 79
1967 – Beat Fehr, Swiss racing driver (b. 1942)
1974 – Georgi K Zhukov, Russian marshal/minister of Defense, dies at 77
1984 – Alan Berg, American radio talk show host
2011 – Clarence Clemons, American saxophonist (b. 1942)
—-
Today In The Past
Events
653 – St Martin I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
656 – Ali ibn Abu Talib chosen kalief of Islam
676 – Deusdedit III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1091 – Floris II de Vette becomes earl of Holland
1119 – Charles the Good becomes earl of Flanders
1291 – Akko reconquered after 200 years by French crusaders, & destroyed
1397 – Union of Kalmar established between Denmark, Sweden & Norway
1462 – Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat from Wallachia.
1497 – Battle of Deptford Bridge – forces under King Henry VII soundly defeat troops led by Michael An Gof.
1535 – English Catholic Cardinal John Fischer state rights
1565 – Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
1579 – Anti-English uprising in Ireland
1579 – Sir Francis Drake lands on coast of California at Drakes Bay, names it “New Albion”
1580 – Battle at Hardenberg: Spanish troops beat rebels
1583 – Brabant: duke of Parma beats French mercenaries
1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends more than 20 years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal.
1665 – Battle at Viciosa: English & Portuguese army beat Spain
1745 – American colonials capture Louisburg, Cape Breton I from French
1775 – Battle of Bunker Hill (actually it was Breed’s Hill)
1815 – Stephen Decatur conquerors Algerian frigate Mashouda
1824 – Bureau of Indian Affairs established
1837 – Charles Goodyear obtains his 1st rubber patent
1850 – Paddle-wheeler “G P Griffith” burns off Mentor Ohio (206 die)
1855 – Heavy French/British bombing of Sebastopol, 2000+ killed
1856 – Republican Party opens its 1st national convention in Philadelphia
1861 – Battle of Boonville, MI-Brigadier General Lyon defeats Confederate forces
1863 – Battle at Middleburg Virginia
1863 – Battle of Aldie, Confederates fail to drive back Union in Virginia
1863 – Naval Engagement at Warsaw Sound GA-USS Weehawken vs CSS Atlanta
1863 – Travelers Insurance Co of Hartford chartered (1st accident insurer)
1864 – -18] Confederate troops pull back out Solves/lost Mt, Georgia
1864 – 640m long ponton bridge over James River Virginia finished
1864 – General John B Hood replaces General Johnston
1864 – Skirmish at Mud Creek/Noyes’s (Nose) Creek, Georgia
1876 – Battle of Rosebud/Battle Where Girl Saved Her Brother
1877 – Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon – the Nez Perce defeat the US Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory.
1882 – Tornado kills 130 in Iowa
1885 – Statue of Liberty arrived in NYC aboard French ship `Isere’
1894 – 1st US poliomyelitis epidemic breaks out, Rutland, Vermont
1895 – US Ship Canal (W 225th St) in the Bronx completed; cutting Marble Hill off from Manhattan
1898 – The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established.
1901 – The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT.
1916 – US troops under Gen Pershing march into Mexico
1919 – “Barney Google” cartoon strip, by Billy De Beck, premieres
1928 – Amelia Earhart leaves Nfld to become 1st woman (passenger) to fly Atlantic (as a passenger in a plane piloted by Wilmer Stultz)
1932 – Oil tanker Cymbeline explodes in Montreal, Canada
1932 – Bonus Army: around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.
1933 – Kansas City Massacre: 1 FBI agent, 4 cops & 1 gangster killed by mob
1937 – Marx Brothers’ “A Day At The Races” opens in NY
1938 – Japan declares war on China
1939 – Last public guillotining in France. Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is guillotined in Versailles outside the prison Saint-Pierre.
1940 – France asks Germany for terms of surrender in WW II
1940 – USSR occupies Estonia
1940 – World War II: sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France.
1946 – SW Bell inaugurates mobile telephone commercial service, St Louis
1947 – Pan Am Airways chartered as 1st worldwide passenger airline
1950 – 1st kidney transplant (Chicago)
1952 – 2 mine cave-ins at Charleroi, Belgium
1953 – Sup Court Justice Wm O Douglas stays executions of spies Julius & Ethel Rosenberg scheduled for next day their 14th anniversary
1954 – CIA exile army lands in Guatemala (JF Dulles & United Fruit Co)
1954 – Rocky Marciano beats Ezzard Charles in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1956 – Golda Meir begins her term as Israel’s foreign minister
1958 – Radio Moscow reports execution of Hungarian ex-premier Imre Nagy
1958 – The Wooden Roller Coaster at Playland, which is in the Pacific National Exhibition, Vancouver, Canada opened, and is still open to this day
1960 – Ted Williams hit his 500th HR
1962 – Lou Brock is 2nd to HR into Polo Grounds right-center field bleachers
1963 – Supreme Court rules against Bible reading/prayer in public schools
1965 – 1st bombing by B-52 (50 km north of Saigon)
1965 – Kinks arrive in NYC beginning their 1st US tour
1966 – Peter Green joins John Mayall’s Bluebreakers
1967 – “Somebody To Love” by Jefferson Airplane peaks at #5
1967 – 1st Chinese hydrogen bomb explodes
1967 – China becomes world’s 4th thermonuclear (H-bomb) power
1967 – Longest doubleheader 9:15 (Tigers & Athletics)
1968 – Ohio Express’ “Yummy Yummy Yummy” goes gold
1969 – “Oh! Calcutta!” opens in NYC (almost entirely in the nude)
1970 – Edwin Land patents Polaroid camera
1970 – Led Zeppelin begins their last European tour
1972 – 5 arrested for burglarizing Democratic Party HQ at Watergate
1972 – Looking Glass releases “Brandy”
1972 – Five White House plumbers apprehended after second burglary of Democratic Natl HQ, Watergate
1973 – Russian party leader Brezhnev visits US
1978 – “Cheeseburger In Paradise” by Jimmy Buffett peaks at #32
1978 – Ron Guidry sets Yankee record with 18 strike-outs
1981 – Battle between Moslems & Christians in Cairo, 14 killed
1982 – Pres Reagan 1st UN Gen Assembly address (“evil empire” speech)
1982 – President Galtieri resigns after leading Argentina to defeat
1986 – Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger resigns Antonin Scalia nominated
1987 – With the death of the last individual, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct.
1988 – Microsoft releases MS DOS 4.0
1988 – Women sentenced to 90 years in 1st product tampering murder case
1991 – Country entertainer Minnie Pearl suffers a stroke at 78
1991 – Pres Zachary Taylors body is exhumed to test how he died
1993 – Indians’ Carlos Baerga hits 3 home runs against Detroit
1994 – OJ Simpson doesn’t turn himself in on murder charges, LA cops chase his Ford Bronco for 1½ hours, eventually gives up (seen live on TV)
Births
1239 – Edward I, King of England (1272-1307) subdued Wales, expelled Jews from England
1603 – Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint (d. 1663)
1682 – Charles XII, King of Sweden (1697-1718)
1691 – Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Italian painter and architect (d. 1765)
1704 – John Kay, English inventor (d. 1780)
1714 – Cesar F Cassini, de Thury, French astronomer (geodesic labor)
1718 – George Howard, British field marshal (d. 1796)
1742 – William Hooper, US attorney (signed Decl of Independence)
1811 – Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic independence fighter and Icelandic historian (d. 1879)
1817 – Thomas Maley Harris, Bvt Mjr General (Union volunteers), died in 1906
1823 – John Henry Hobart Ward, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1903
1830 – Rochard Montgomery Gano, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1913
1832 – William Crookes, English chemist/physicist (Crookes-pipe, thallium)
1837 – Vincent Strong, civil war fighter, died in 1863
1861 – Omar Bundy, U.S. army general and soldier (d. 1940)
1867 – John Robert Gregg, Ireland, inventor (shorthand)
1870 – George Cormack, cereal inventor (Wheaties)
1880 – Carl Van Fight, US author/critic (Red, Nigger Heaven)
1880 – Carl Van Vechten, American writer and photographer (d. 1964)
1881 – Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer (d. 1955)
1882 – Igor F Stravinsky, Oranienbaum Russia, composer (Rite of Spring) [OS 05/06]
1888 – Heinz Guderian, German General (d. 1954)
1898 – Maurits C Escher, Dutch graphic artist
1898 – Carl Hermann, German physicist (d. 1961)
1900 – Martin Bormann, propoganda minister (Hitler)
1902 – Sammy Fain, American popular music composer (d. 1989)
1903 – Ruth Wakefield, inventor of the Toll House Cookie, the first chocolate chip cookie (d. 1977)
1904 – Ralph Bellamy, Chicago, actor (Air Mail, Dive Bomber, Trading Places)
1910 – Red Foley, Blue Lick Ky, country singer (Mr Smith Goes to Washington)
1914 – John R Hersey, author (Hiroshima, Bell for Adano, Wall)
1915 – Stringbean, [David Akeman], Ky, banjoist/comedian (Hee Haw)
1917 – Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (d. 2007)
1920 – Beryl Reid, actress (Joseph Andrews, Psychomania, Yellowbeard)
1920 – Francois Jacob, France, biologist/bacteriologist (Nobel 1965)
1922 – Jerry Fielding, Pitts Pa, composer (Lively Ones, Hogan’s Heroes)
1923 – Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch, AAFC, NFL halfback, end (LA Rams)
1929 – Tigran Petrosyan, USSR, world chess champion (1963-69)
1930 – James Gathers, Sumter SC, 200m runner (Olympic-bronze-1952)
1933 – Harry Browne, American free-market libertarian writer, politician, and investment analyst (d. 2006)
1937 – Peter Lupus, actor (Mission Impossible)
1939 – Dickey Do, [Gerry Granahan], rocker (Dickey Doo & The Dont’s)
1940 – George Akerlof, American economist, Nobel laureate
1942 – Norman Kuhlice, England, rocker (Swinging Blue Jeans-You’re No Good)
1942 – Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian IAEA director, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1943 – Newt[on] L Gingrich, (Rep-R-G, 1979- /Speaker of House 1995-97)
1943 – Barry Manilow, New York City, American singer/pianist (Mandy, I Write the Songs)
1943 – Burt Rutan, American aerospace engineer
1944 – Bill Rafferty, comedian (Real People, Laugh-in ’77)
1944 – Chris Spedding, rocker
1945 – Eddy Merckx, Belgium, cyclist (5 time winner of Tour de France)
1945 – Tommy Franks, American General
1947 – George S. Clinton, American composer and musician
1951 – Joe Piscopo, Passaic NJ, comedian (SNL, Miller Lite commercials)
1957 – Philip Chevron, English pop musician (Pogues-Peace & Love)
1958 – Jello Biafra, American musician and activist
1958 – Bobby Farrelly, American film director
1960 – Thomas Haden Church, American actor
1963 – Greg Kinnear, actor/talk show host (Talk Soup, Sabrina, Later)
1964 – Diane Murphy, actress (Tabitha Stevens-Bewitched)
1964 – Erin Murphy, actress (Tabitha Stevens-Bewitched)
1964 – Michael Gross, West Germany, swimmer (Olympic-2 world records-1984)
1964 – Rinaldo Capello, Italian racing driver
1965 – Dan Jansen, West Allis Wisc, speed skater (Oly-gold-1984, 88, 92)
1965 – Kami Cotler, Long Beach California, actress (Elizabeth-Waltons)
1969 – Karen Nystrom, ice hockey forward (Canada, Oly-Silver-98)
1969 – Kevin Thornton, Amarillo, vocalist (Color Me Badd-Want to Sex You Up)
1970 – Michael Showalter, American comedian
1971 – Tripp Schwenk, US, 100m/200m backstroke (Olympics-silver-96)
1971 – Paulina Rubio, Mexican singer
1976 – Sven Nys, Belgian mountainbiker & cyclo-crosser
1980 – Brittney McConn, Largo Fla, figure skater (1997 Eastern Sr champ)
1980 – Venus Williams, Lynwood California, tennis star
Deaths
656 – Osman ibn Affan, 3rd kalief of Islam (644-56) murdered
676 – Adeodatus/Deusdedit II, Italian Pope (672-76), dies
855 – Leo IV, Italian Pope (847-55), dies
1091 – Dirk V, count of Holland (1061-91), dies
1119 – Boudouin VII with the Axe, earl of Flanders (1111-19), dies
1463 – Princess Catherine of Portugal, writer (b. 1436)
1565 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shogun (b. 1536)
1678 – Giacomo Torelli, Italian stage designer, engineer and architect dies at 69
1696 – John III Sobieski, King of Poland (1674-96), dies at 66
1734 – Duke of Berwick, French general strategist, dies in battle
1775 – Major John Pitcairn, British marine (killed in battle) (b. 1722)
1797 – Aga Mohammed Khan, cruel ruler of Persia, castrated & killed
1815 – Hammida, Algerian admiral, dies in battle
1821 – Martín Miguel de Güemes Argentine military leader (b. 1785)
1906 – Harry N Pillsbury, US chess player, dies
1938 – Peter Michael, CEO (Cray Electronics), dies
1939 – Eugene Weldman, last guillotined in France
1952 – Jack Parsons, American rocket-fuel pioneer and renegade occultist (b. 1914)
1956 – Bob Sweikert, American racing driver (b. 1926)
1961 – Jeff Chandler, [Ira Grossel], actor (Away all boats), dies at 40
1968 – José Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1901)
1981 – Richard O’Connor, British general (b. 1889)
1981 – Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (Dick and Jane) (b. 1889)
1981 – Yitzhak Zuckerman [Itzhak Zuckerman], Jewish resistance hero in World War II and one of the few survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, dies at 65
1984 – Swale, Kentucky Derby winner, collapses & dies
1986 – Kate Smith, singer (God Bless America), dies in Raleigh NC at 78
1989 – John Matusek, NFLer (Oak Raider)/actor, dies of a heart attack at 38
1992 – Dewey Balfa, bayou fiddler, dies at 65
1996 – Thomas Kuhn, American philosopher of science (b. 1922)
2001 – Donald J. Cram, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1919)
2002 – Willie Davenport, American athlete (b. 1943)
2005 – Sam Loeb, comic book writer (b. 1988)
2005 – Karl Mueller, American bassist (Soul Asylum) (b. 1962)
2007 – Serena Wilson, American belly dancer (b. 1933)
2008 – Tsutomu Miyazaki, Japanese serial killer (b. 1962)
2008 – Cyd Charisse, American dancer and actress (b. 1922)
2009 – Darrell Powers, American World War II veteran of the United States 101st Airborne Division. (b. 1923)
2012 – Rodney King, African American motorist beaten by LA cop, dies at 47
—–
Today In The Past
Events
632 – Origin of Persian [Yezdegird] Era
1338 – German monarch declares pope & king’s decree redundant
1487 – Battle at Stoke: Henry VII beats John de la Pole & Lord Lovell
1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots, imprisoned in Lochleven Castle prison Scotland
1624 – Judge directs US colony Virginia to English crown
1673 – Peace of Vossem: Fren King Louis XIV & Frederik Willem of Brandenburg
1745 – English fleet occupies Cap Breton on St Lawrence River
1746 – Battle at Piacenza: Austria & Sardinia beat Spanish & French army
1755 – British capture Fort Beauséjour, expel Acadians
1775 – Liberty Bell rang for the 2nd Continental Congress
1779 – In support of the US, Spain declares war on England
1779 – Vice-admiral Hardy sails out of Isle of Wight against Spanish Armada
1779 – Spain declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the siege of Gibraltar begins.
1784 – Holland forbids orange clothes
1815 – Battle at Ligny: French army under Napoleon beats Prussia
1815 – Battle at Quatre-Bras: allies strike French
1822 – Denmark Vessy leads slave rebellion in South Carolina
1832 – Battle of Kellogg’s Grove, Ill
1858 – Abraham Lincoln says “A house divided against itself cannot stand”
1861 – Battle of Vienna, VA & Secessionville, SC (James Island)
1864 – Battle of Lynchburg VA
1864 – Skirmish at Golgotha Georgia
1864 – Union General Grant begin siege of Petersburg, Va
1871 – Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of Mystic Shrine founded, NYC
1873 – Pres Grant decrees Wallowa Valley for Nez-Perce indians
1880 – Salvation Army forms in London
1882 – 17″ hailstones weighing 1.75 lbs fall in Dubuque Iowa
1883 – The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland, England kills 183 children
1884 – 1st roller coaster used (Coney Island NY)
1893 – RW Rueckheim invents Cracker Jack
1896 – Temperature hits 127°F at Fort Mojave, Calif
1897 – A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later.
1903 – Ford Motors incorporates
1903 – Pepsi Cola company forms
1903 – Roald Amundsen commences the first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage by leaving Oslo, Norway.
1909 – 1st US airplane sold commercially, by Glenn Curtiss for $5,000
1909 – Jim Thorpe makes his pro baseball pitching debut for Rocky Mount (ECL) with 4-2 win, this will cause him to forfeit his Olympic medals
1911 – A 772 gram stony meteorite strikes the earth near Kilbourn, Columbia County, Wisconsin damaging a barn.
1917 – 49th Belmont: James Butwell aboard Hourless wins in 2:17.8
1922 – Henry Berliner demonstrates his helicopter to US Bureau of Aeronautics
1923 – Sun Yat Sen founds military academy
1929 – Otto E Funk, 62, ends marathon walk (NY to SF, 4165 miles in 183 days)
1933 – US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) created
1935 – US Congress accepts FDR’s “New Deal”
1937 – Marx Brothers’ “A Day At The Races” opens in LA
1938 – Jimmie Foxx is walked a record 6 consecutive times by Browns
1943 – Race riot in Beaumont Texas (2 die)
1945 – 71st Preakness: Wayne D Wright aboard Polynesian wins in 1:58.8
1951 – 83rd Belmont: David Gorman aboard Counterpoint wins in 2:29
1952 – Soviet Fighters shoot Swedish Catalina reconnaissance flight down
1954 – Ngo Dinh Diem elected president of Vietnam
1956 – 88th Belmont: David Erb aboard Needles wins in 2:29.8
1957 – French offensive in Algeria
1960 – “Psycho,” opens in NY
1962 – 2 US army officers killed in Saigon
1966 – “Rowan & Martin Show,” debuts on NBC-TV
1967 – 50,000 attend Monterey International Pop Festival
1970 – Kenneth A Gibson elected 1st black mayor of Newark, NJ
1970 – Race riots in Miami Florida
1972 – The largest single-site hydro-electric power project in Canada starts at Churchill Falls, Labrador.
1975 – Bucks trade Kareem Abdul-Jabber & Walt Wesley to LA for 4 players
1975 – Supreme Court rules uniform minimum legal fees are a violation
1976 – Student uprisings begin in Soweto, South Africa (Soweto Day)
1977 – Leonid Brezhnev named president of USSR
1977 – Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
1978 – Cin Red Tom Seaver no-hits St Louis Cards, 4-0
1979 – “Logical Song” by Supertramp peaks at #6
1979 – Carl Yastrzemski hits his 1,000th extra base hit
1979 – Moslem Brotherhood kills 62 sheiks in Aleppo Syria
1980 – “Blues Brothers,” premieres in Chicago
1982 – Britain requests Argentina arrange for return of prisoners
1983 – Charlos Vieira completes 191 hr “nonstop” cycling in Leiria Portugal
1983 – European Space Agency launches European Comm Satellite 1, Oscar 10
1984 – Edwin Moses wins his 100th consecutive 400-meter hurdles race
1984 – Matt de Waal finishes 14,290-mi round trip from Salt Lake City (106d)
1985 – Willie Banks of USA sets triple jump record (58 feet 11 inches) in Indianapolis
1987 – Subway gunman Bernhard Goetz acquitted on all but gun possession charges after shooting 4 black youths who tried to rob him
1989 – Funeral for Imre Nagy, leader of Hungarian uprising in 1956
1989 – Only 17 hole-in-ones recorded since US open began, today 4 more are made all on 6th hole (Weaver, Wiebe, Pate & Price)
1991 – Boris Yeltsin elected president of Russian SSR
1991 – Otis Nixon steals NL record 6 bases in 1 day
1992 – Caspar Weinberger (Sec of Def 1981-87), indicted on Iran-contra charge
1992 – Longest salami is 68’9 & 25 circumference, weighed 1,492lbs/5oz in Flekkefjord, Norway
1995 – “Batman Forever” opens with a record $528 million weekend
1995 – Marlins outfielder Andre Dawson hits his 400th NL career HR (429)
1995 – Salt Lake City awarded the XIX Winter Olympics in 2002
1997 – The Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; 50 people are killed.
2012 – 32 people are killed by a car bomb in Baghdad
2012 – A collapse of a stage at a Toronto Radiohead concert kills one person
Births
1139 – Emperor Konoe of Japan (d. 1155)
1332 – Isabella de Coucy, English princess (d. 1382)
1591 – Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician, and music theorist (d. 1655)
1606 – Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, Irish soldier (d. 1675)
1633 – Jean de Thévenot, French traveler and scientist (d. 1667)
1644 – Henrietta Anne Stuart, Princess of Scotland, England and Ireland and Duchess of Orléans (d. 1670)
1792 – Sir Thomas Mitchell, Australian explorer (d. 1855)
1801 – Julius Plücker, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1868)
1806 – Edward Davy, English physician, chemist, and inventor (d. 1885)
1813 – Otto Jahn, German archaeologist (d. 1869)
1826 – Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist and botanist (d. 1897)
1829 – Geronimo, Apache leader (d. 1909)
1834 – Wesley Merritt, Major General (Union volunteers), (d. 1910)
1837 – Eli Long, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1903
1840 – Ernst Otto Schlick, German engineer (d. 1913)
1888 – Bobby Clark, vaudevillan (World’s funniest circus clown)
1888 – Peter Stoner, American mathematician and astronomer (d. 1980)
1890 – Stan Laurel, [Arthur S Jefferson], England, comedian (Laurel & Hardy)
1895 – Stan Laurel, [Arthur S Jefferson], comedian (Laurel & Hardy)
1896 – Jean Peugeot, Frans auto manufacturer (Peugeot)
1897 – Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1987)
1899 – Nelson Doubleday, US, publisher (Doubleday)
1902 – Barbara McClintock, US, cytogeneticist (Jumping Genes, Nobel 1983)
1902 – Kornelis Posthumus, Dutch chemist
1907 – Jack Albertson, Malden Mass, actor (Thin Man)
1909 – Archie Fairley Carr, biologist (d. 1987)
1910 – E G Marshall, Owatonna Minn, actor (Lawrence-Defenders, Caine Mutiny)
1910 – Ilona Massey, Budapest Hungary, actress/singer (Ilona Massey Show)
1910 – Richard Maling Barrer, chemist
1912 – Enoch Powell, England, MP (C)/racist/Greek professor
1916 – Hank Luisetti, NBA forward (1st to use a one-handed shot)
1917 – Katharine Graham, NYC, newspaper publisher (Wash Post)
1917 – Aurelio Lampredi, Italian mechanical engineer (Ferrari; d. 1989)
1917 – Irving Penn, American photographer
1920 – Raymond U. Lemieux, Canadian scientist (d. 2002)
1923 – Ron Flockhart, Scottish racing driver (d. 1962)
1925 – Faith Domergue, New Orleans, actress (House of 7 Corpses)
1925 – Richard Jacobs, philanthropist/sports owner (Cleveland Indians)
1929 – Ramon Bieri, American actor (d. 2001)
1932 – Ralph Robins, CEO (Rolls-Royce)
1934 – Little Caesar, vocalist (Little Caesar & the Romans)
1934 – William Forsyth Sharpe, American economist, Nobel laureate
1937 – August Busch III, CEO (Anheuser-Busch, St Louis Cards)
1937 – Erich Segal, Brooklyn NY, author (Love Story, Oliver’s Story)
1938 – Joyce Carol Oates, NY, novelist (Garden of Earthly Delights)
1938 – Mickie Finn, Hugo Oklahoma, TV hostess/banjo player (Mickie Finn’s)
1940 – Billy “Crash” Craddock, Greensboro NC, singer
1941 – Lamont Dozier, Detroit, songwriter (Dozier-Holland-Dozier)
1941 – Aldrich Ames, CIA officer and spy for the Soviet Union
1942 – Eddie Levert, Canton Ohio, vocalist (O’Jays-For the Love of Money)
1942 – Giacomo Agostini, Lovere, Italy, world motorcycle race champion
1943 – Joan Van Ark, New York City, New York, American actress and director (Valene-Dallas, Knots Landing)
1944 – Takamiyama, [Jesse Kuhaulua], Hawaii, 1st non-Japanese sumo champion
1950 – James Smith, US, singer (Stylistics-Can’t Give you Anything)
1951 – Sonia Braga, Maringa Brazil, actress (Dona Flor & Her 2 Husbands)
1951 – Roberto Durán, Panamanian boxer
1952 – Aleksandr Zaitsev, USSR, pairs figure skating (Olympic-gold-1976, 80)
1952 – Gino Vanelli, Montreal Quebec, singer (Living Inside Myself)
1954 – Gary Roberts, rocker (Boomtown Rats)
1958 – Jóhannes Helgason, Icelandic guitarist (Þeyr)
1959 – Warrior, American professional wrestler
1966 – Jan Zelezny, Czech, javelin thrower (Olympics-2 gold-92, 96)
1966 – [Eric] Randy Barnes, Charleston WV, shot putter (Oly-silv/gold-88, 96)
1970 – Phil A Mickelson, San Diego CA, PGA golfer (1991 Northern Telecom)
1971 – Tupac Shakur, Bkln NY, rap star/actor (Juice, Bullet) (killed in 1996)
1972 – Ann Shoket, American magazine editor
1973 – Eddie Cibrian [Edward Carl], Burbank, California, American actor (Sunset Beach, Third Watch)
1978 – Jasmine Leong, Chinese Malaysian singer
1980 – Nehir Erdoğan, Turkish actress
1982 – May Andersen, Danish supermodel
Deaths
956 – Hugo, the Great, duke of France, dies
1246 – Lutgardis/Ludgardis, Flemish mystic/saint, dies at about 64
1397 – Philip of Artois, Count of Eu, French soldier (b. 1358)
1492 – Jan Coppenhole, Flemish rebel leader, beheaded
1575 – Hadrianus Junius, [Adriaen the Jonghe], medical/historian, dies at 63
1623 – Christian, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel, German Protestant military leader (b. 1599)
1671 – Stenka Razin, Cossack rebel leader, tortured & executed in Moscow
1722 – John Churchill up Marlborough, English general strategist, dies at 72
1752 – Joseph Butler, English philosopher (b. 1692)
1792 – Benjamin Tupper, Continental Army officer, and pioneer to the Ohio Country (b. 1738)
1815 – Frederik Willem, duke of Brunswick (1813-15), dies in battle
1850 – William Lawson explorer of New South Wales, Australia (b. 1774)
1855 – John Gorrie, American physician (b. 1803)
1858 – John Snow, English epidemiologist (b. 1813)
1869 – Charles Sturt, English explorer (b. 1795)
1881 – Marie Laveau, American Voodoo practitioner (b. 1801)
1881 – Sir Josiah Mason, English manufacturer (b. 1795)
1902 – Ernst Schröder, German mathematician (b. 1841)
1905 – Hermann von Wissmann, German explorer/governor of E Africa, dies at 51
1925 – Chittaranjan Das, Indian patriot and freedom fighter (b. 1870)
1930 – Elmer Ambrose Sperry, US inventor (gyroscope compass), dies
1930 – Ezra Fitch, Abercrombie & Fitch founder (b. 1866)
1939 – Chick Webb, American jazz drummer and big band leader (b. 1905)
1944 – Marc Bloch, French historian (executed) (b. 1886)
1945 – Aris Velouchiotis, Greek guerrilla resistance leader (b. 1905)
1947 – Jean-Francois Capart, Belgian egyptologist (Memphis), dies at 86
1952 – Andrew Lawson, Scottish-American geologist, first to map the entire San Andreas Fault (b. 1861)
1958 – Imre Nagy, Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1895)
1959 – George Reeves, actor (Superman, Gone with the Wind), shoots self at 45
1969 – Harold RLG 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, Brit field marshal, dies at 78
1970 – Brian Piccolo, American football player (b. 1943)
1976 – Francis E Meloy Jr, US ambassador to Lebanon, kidnapped & killed
1977 – Wernher von Braun, rocket scientist (V1/V2), dies at 65 of smoking
1981 – John S Knight, US newspaper magnate, dies at 86
1982 – John Honeyman-Scott, guitarist (Pretenders), overdoses on drugs
1996 – Mel Allen, American sportscaster (NY Yankees), dies at 83
2003 – Georg Henrik von Wright, Finnish-Swedish philosopher (b. 1916)
2006 – Alireza Shapour Shahbazi, Iranian archaeologist, (b. 1942)
2008 – Mario Rigoni Stern, Italian writer, World War II veteran and Nazi concentration camp survivor (b. 1921)
—-
Today In The Past
Events
763 BC – Assyrians record a solar eclipse that will be used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.
923 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France is killed and King Charles the Simple is arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.
1094 – Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar [El Cid] occupies Valencia on the Moren
1184 – King Magnus V of Norway is killed at the battle of Fimreite.
1215 – King John signs Magna Carta at Runnymede, England
1219 – King Valdemar brought victory for Denmark
1219 – Dannebrog – oldest national flag in the world – and flag of Denmark. According to legend, fell from the sky during the Battle of Lyndanisse (now Tallinn) in Estonia, and turned the Danes’ luck.
1246 – Battle at Leitha: Hungary-Austrian
1389 – Battle of Kossovo; Turks defeat Serbs
1567 – Battle at Carberry Scot: Protestant troops beat Earl Bothwells army
1643 – Able Tasmania returns to Batavia after discovering Tasmania
1664 – NJ established
1741 – Capt Bering leaves Petropavlovsk, sailing to America
1752 – Ben Franklin’s performs his kite-flying experiment
1762 – Austria uses 1st paper currency
1775 – George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of American Army
1779 – General Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, Bronx
1785 – 2 French balloonists die in world’s 1st fatal aviation accident
1804 – 12th amendment ratified; deals with manner of choosing president
1836 – Arkansas becomes 25th state
1844 – Goodyear patents vulcanization of rubber
1846 – Oregon Treaty signed, setting US-British boundary at 49°N
1851 – Jacob Fussell, Baltimore dairyman, sets up 1st ice-cream factory
1859 – Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the “Northwestern Boundary Dispute” between U.S. and British/Canadian settlers.
1861 – Johnston evacuates Harpers Ferry
1862 – Gen JEB Stuart completes his “ride around McClellan“
1863 – 2nd battle at Winchester Va, ends in Federal defeat; 1350 casualities
1864 – -17] Skirmish at Gilgal Church, Georgia
1864 – Battle for Petersburg begins as Gen Grant assaults Confederate line
1864 – Capt Mendell begins building 640m long ponton bridge over James R Va
1864 – Robert E Lee’s home area (Arlington, VA) becomes a military cemetery
1867 – Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode gold mine located in Montana.
1869 – Celluloid patented by John Wesley Hyatt, Albany, NY
1869 – Mike McCoole (US) defeats Tom Allen (England) in bare-knuckle bout
1871 – Phoebe Couzins is 1st woman graduate of a US collegiate law school
1877 – Henry Ossian Flipper becomes 1st African American to graduate from West Point Military Academy
1878 – 1st attempt at motion pictures (used 12 cameras, each taking 1 picture) done to see if all 4 of a horse’s hooves leave the ground
1887 – Carlisle D Graham survives 2nd ride in Niagara waterfall in barrel
1898 – US marines attack Spanish off Guantánamo Cuba
1904 – Side-wheeler “General Slocum” burns in NY’s East River (1,031 die)
1911 – Tabulating Computing Recording Corporation (IBM) is incorporated.
1913 – The Battle of Bud Bagsak in the Philippine concludes.
1915 – US government mints 1st $50 gold pieces, for Panama Pacific Expo
1916 – Boys Scouts of America forms
1918 – 1″ of snow falls in Northern Pennsylvania
1918 – 50th Belmont: Frank Robinson aboard Johren wins in 2:20.6
1920 – Duluth lynchings in Minnesota.
1921 – Bessie Coleman reaches France as US 1st black pilot
1924 – Ford Motor Company manufactures its 10 millionth Model T automobile
1924 – J Edgar Hoover assumed leadership of the FBI
1924 – Native Americans are proclaimed US citizens
1928 – Ty Cobb, 41, steals home for 50th & final time
1934 – Great Smokey Mountains National Park dedicated
1940 – France surrenders to Hitler, German troops occupy Paris
1943 – Congress of racial Equality (CORE) forms
1944 – US forces begin invasion of Saipan in Pacific
1951 – 1st coml electronic computer dedicated Phila
1951 – Joe Louis scored his last knock out victory
1954 – Great Britain’s 2 biggest steel factory nationalized
1955 – The Eisenhower administration stages the first annual “Operation Alert” (OPAL) exercise, an attempt to assess the USA’s preparations for a nuclear attack.
1957 – 89th Belmont: Bill Shoemaker aboard Gallant Man wins in 2:26.6
1960 – Angel Cordero wins his 1st of over 7000 horse races
1960 – Argentina complains to UN about Israeli illicit transfer of Eichmann
1962 – Students for a Democratic Society complete the Port Huron Statement.
1963 – SF Giants Juan Marichal no-hits Houston Colt .45s, 1-0
1964 – Last French troops leave Algeria
1965 – Denny McLain in relief strikesout 1st 7 batters faced & record 14 in 6 2/3 innings, Bill Freehan ties catcher record of 19 putouts
1968 – Yummy Yummy Yummy by Ohio Express hits #4
1969 – “Hee Haw” with Roy Clark & Buck Owens premieres on CBS TV
1969 – Mets help their power needs by adding 1st baseman Donn Clendenon
1972 – Rock fall inside Vierzy Tunnel (France) causes 2 train crash; 107 die
1973 – “American Graffiti” opens in NYC
1974 – “Streak” by Ray Stevens hit #1 on UK pop chart
1977 – NY Mets trade Tom Seaver to Reds for Pat Zachry
1982 – Supreme Court rules all children, regardless of citizenship, are entitled to a public education
1983 – Supreme Court struck down state & local restrictions on abortion
1984 – Thomas Hearns KOs Roberto Duran
1985 – Rembrandt’s painting Danaë is attacked by a man later judged insane; he threw sulfuric acid on the canvas and cut it twice with his knife.
1987 – Bettino Craxi’s Socialist Party wins election in Italy
1987 – Michael Spinks TKOs Gerry Cooney in 5 for heavyweight boxing title
1991 – Climactic eruption of the Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines
1991 – Birth of the first federal political party in Canada that supports Quebec nationalism, le Bloc Québécois.
1992 – 1st Berlin Air Show in 60 years
1992 – Jeff Reardon breaks Rollie Fingers’ save record with #342
1992 – Dan Quayle, relying on faulty card, erroneously instructs Trenton NJ, elementary student to spell “potato,” “potatoe” during spelling bee
1994 – Disney’s “Lion King,” opens in theaters with $42 million
1994 – NY Giants cut quarterback Phil Simms
1994 – Ruth Bader Ginsburg, sworn in as Supreme Court Justice
1996 – IRA bomb in Manchester wrecks city centre at 11.17am, injuring 200
2002 – Near earth asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles (120,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon
2012 – Apple I computer sells for a record $374,500
2012 – Five Dutch banks, including ING, receive credit rating downgrades of one or two notches
Births
1221 – Frederik II, [Strijdbare], duke of Austria
1330 – Edward, the black prince, prince of Wales (1343-1376)
1542 – Richard Grenville, English parliament leader/vice-admiral (Roanoke)
1553 – Ernst, archduke of Austria/governor of the Netherlands
1624 – Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist (d. 1704)
1640 – Bernard Lamy, French mathematician (d. 1715)
1755 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist (d. 1809)
1765 – Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German mathematician (d. 1831)
1767 – Rachel Donelson Jackson, wife of Pres Andrew (1828-37) (died 1828)
1789 – Josiah Henson, American slave and settlement founder (d. 1883)
1833 – Edward Moody McCook, Bvt Mjr General (Union volunteers), died in 1909
1884 – Harry Langdon, Council Bluffs IA, comic/director (Strong Man)
1900 – Paul J Mares, US, jazz trumpetist/composer (Farewell blues)
1900 – Gotthard Günther, German philosopher (d. 1984)
1908 – Sam Giancana, American mafioso (d. 1975)
1910 – David Rose, London England, orchestra leader (Red Skelton Show, Stripper)
1914 – Saul Steinberg, Romania, cartoonist/illustrator (New Yorker)
1914 – Yuri Andropov, Russian KGB chief/1st secretary
1914 – Hilda Terry, American Cartoonist (d. 2006)
1916 – Marshall Field IV, publisher/editor (Chic Daily News, Sunday Times)
1919 – Van Barfoot, Edinburg, Mississippi, Army colonel and Medal of Honour recipient, (d. 2012)
1923 – Errol Garner, American jazz pianist (Misty) (d. 1977)
1926 – Shigeru Kayano, Japanese Ainu activist (d. 2006)
1927 – Hugo Pratt, graphic artist
1929 – Nigel Pickering, guitarist (Spanky & Our Gang)
1932 – Einar K Enevoldson, US, Nasa test pilot (X-24B)
1934 – Ruby Nash Cutis, Akron Oh, rocker (Ruby & The Romantics)
1937 – Waylon Jennings, country singer/guitarist (Ramblin’ Man)
1939 – Ward Connerly, American political figure
1941 – Harry Nilsson, Bkln NY, singer/guitarist (Midnight Cowboy)
1942 – Xaveria Hollander, [DeVries], Surabaya Indonesia, auth (Happy Hooker)
1943 – Johnny Halliday, rocker
1944 – Inna Ryskai, USSR, volleyball player (Olympic-2 gold/2 silver-1964-76)
1944 – Robert Keppel, American criminologist
1945 – Rod Argent, England, keyboardist (Zombies-She’s Not There)
1945 – Lawrence Wilkerson, American retired military officer
1946 – Janet Lennon, vocalist (Lennon Sisters)
1947 – Lee Purcell, Cherry Point NC, actor (Big Wednesday, Mr Majestyk)
1949 – Jim Varney, Lexington Kentucky, American actor (Ernest Goes to Jail, Hey Vern)
1949 – Dusty Baker, baseball player (LA Dodgers)
1950 – Noddy Holder, rock vocalist/guitarist (Slade-Cum On Feel The Noize)
1954 – James Belushi, Chicago Ill, comedian (Sat Night Live, Trading Places)
1955 – Julie Hagerty, Cincinnati OH, actress (Airplane, Princesses)
1955 – Sally E Silverstone, Walthamstow England, Co-Captain (Biosphere 2)
1955 – Polly Draper, Gary, Indiana, American actress (Thirtysomething, Side Effects)
1957 – Brad Gillis, rock guitarist/vocalist (Night Ranger)
1957 – Brett Butler, MLB center fielder
1957 – Clio Goldsmith, Paris France, actress (Gift, Heat of Desire)
1958 – Wade Boggs, Nebraska, Red Sox/Yank 3rd baseman (AL bat champ 1985-88)
1959 – Eileen Davidson, Artesia California, actress (Kristen-Days of our Life)
1963 – Helen Hunt, LA California, actress (Jamie-Mad About You, Twister)
1963 – Scott Rockenfield, drummer (Queensryche-Breaking the Silence)
1964 – Courteney Cox, Birmingham, Alabama, American actress (Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends)
1969 – Ice Cube, rap singer/actor (Boyz in the Hood, Anaconda)
1970 – Leah Remini, American actress
1971 – Jake Busey, American actor
1973 – Neil Patrick Harris, Albuquerque NM, actor (Doogie Howser MD)
1975 – Rachel Wacholder, American beach volleyballer
1976 – Gary Lightbody, Northern Irish musician (Snow Patrol)
1979 – Charles Zwolsman Jr., Dutch racing driver
1981 – William Dean Martin, American musician (Good Charlotte)
Deaths
923 – Robert I, King of France (922-23), dies in battle
948 – Romanus I Lecapenus, Armenian emperor of Byzantium (919-44), dies
991 – Theophanu, wife of Holy Roman Emperor Otto II and regent of Otto III, dies (b. 960)
1073 – Emperor Go-Sanjō of Japan (b. 1034)
1246 – Frederik II “the Strijdbare”, duke of Austria, dies in battle at 25
1381 – Wat Tyler, leader of English Peasants’ Revolt, beheaded in London
1389 – Lazar I, Serbian prince, dies in battle
1389 – Murad I, Osmaans sultan, dies in battle
1397 – Count of Eu, French knight, dies in Turkish captivity
1467 – Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, dies at 70
1557 – Sebastiaan Van Noyen, military master builder, dies
1666 – Pieter de Bitter, Dutch admiral (Colombo, Goa), dies
1702 – Georg E Rumphius, German nature explorer, dies
1703 – Gillis Schey, Dutch admiral (battle at Lowestoft), dies at 58
1768 – James Short, Scottish mathematician and optician (b. 1710)
1849 – James Knox Polk, 11th Pres (1845-1849), dies in Nashville, Tenn at 53
1865 – Edmun Ruffin, US secessionist/writer, commits suicide
1905 – Hermann von Wissmann, German African expl/gov East-Africa, dies
1907 – William Le Baron Jenney, US architect, dies
1917 – Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian physicist (b. 1867)
1917 – Lillian Bassman, Russian emigrant to America, photographer and painter (Harper’s Bazaar), (d. 2012)
1941 – Otfrid Foerster, German neurologist (b. 1873)
1968 – Samuel Earl “Wahoo Sam” Crawford, baseball pitcher, dies at 88
1968 – Wes Montgomery, jazz guitarist, dies of a heart attack at 48
1982 – Art[hur E] Pepper, US, alto saxophonist, dies at 56
1985 – Robert Stethem, U.S. Navy Seabee diver murdered by terrorists on TWA Flight 847 (b. 1961)
1987 – Walter W Heller, US economist (Old Myths & New Realities), dies at 71
1989 – Victor French, actor (#44-Get Smart, Highway to Heaven), dies at 54
1993 – John Connally, (Gov-D/R-Texas), dies at 76
1996 – Ella Fitzgerald, singer, dies at 78 see also Our Birthday Tribute
1996 – Fitzroy Maclean, the original James Bond, dies at 85
1996 – Jean Gimpel, author/iconoclast, dies at 77
2002 – Choi Hong Hi, founder of Taekwon-Do (b. 1918)
2003 – Hume Cronyn, Canadian actor (b. 1911)
2007 – Claudia Cohen, American gossip columnist and socialite (b. 1950)
2007 – Sherri Martel, American professional wrestler and valet (b. 1958)
2008 – Stan Winston, American special effects and makeup artist, and film director (b. 1946)
2011 – Bill Haast, American Herpetologist (b. 1910)
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
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
—
Today In The Past
Events
28 – Gaius Carrinas’ triumphant procession through Rome
1381 – Peasants’ Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.
1418 – An insurrection delivers Paris to the Burgundians.
1534 – Turkish adm Chaireddin “Barbarossa” allows Giulia Gonzaga to kidnap & plunder Naples
1560 – Battle of Okehazama: Oda Nobunaga defeats Imagawa Yoshimoto.
1653 – – 13] First Anglo-Dutch War: Battle of the Gabbard/ Battle at North Foreland, English fleet beats the Dutch
1665 – English rename New Amsterdam, NY, after Dutch pull out
1673 – Charles II’s brother duke James of York resigns as Lord High Admiral
1775 – 1st naval battle of Revolution-Unity (US) captures Margaretta (Br)
1787 – Law passes providing a senator must be at least 30 years old
1792 – George Vancouver discovers site of Vancouver BC
1812 – Napoleon invades Russia
1830 – Beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch.
1838 – Hopkins Observatory, dedicated in Williamstown, Mass
1849 – Gas mask patented by Lewis Haslett (Louisville Ky)
1859 – Comstock Silver Lode in Nevada discovered
1864 – Lee sends Early into Shenandoah Valley
1864 – Skirmish at Mcafee’s Cross Road Georgia, about 57 dies in battle
1875 – 9th Belmont: Bobby Swim aboard Calvin wins in 2:42.25
1885 – Roof collapse kills 30 at murder trial in France
1889 – 88 are killed in the Armagh rail disaster near Armagh in what is now Northern Ireland.
1897 – Possibly most severe quake in history strikes Assam India, shock waves felt over an area size of Europe (low mortality rate given size of earthquake, 1500 casualties)
1900 – German Navy Law calls for massive increase in sea power
1908 – Lusitania crosses Atlantic in record 4 days 15 hours (NYC)
1913 – “Dachshund” by Pathe Freres, early animated cartoon, released
1917 – Secret Service extends protection of president to his family
1918 – 1st airplane bombing raid by an American unit, France
1920 – 52nd Belmont: Clarence Kummer aboard Man o’ War wins in 2:14.2
1923 – Harry Houdini frees himself from a straight jacket while suspended upside down, 40 feet (12 m) above ground in NYC
1925 – William DeHart Hubbard of US, sets long jump record at 25′ 10 3/4″
1926 – 58th Belmont: Albert Johnson aboard Crusader wins in 2:32.2
1930 – 34th US Golf Open: Bobby Jones shoots a 287 at Interlachen CC Minn
1930 – Max Schmeling beats Jack Sharkey on a foul in 4 for heavyweight boxing title
1931 – Al Capone is indicted on 5,000 counts of prohibition & perjury
1934 – Black-McKeller Bill passes causes Bill Boeing empire to break up into Boeing United Aircraft [Technologies] & United Air Lines
1935 – Senator Huey Long of Louisiana spoke continually for 15½ hours in Senate’s longest speech on record (150,000 words)
1936 – 1st 50 KW US radio station (Pittsburgh Pa)
1937 – USSR executes 8 army leaders as Stalin’s purge continues
1939 – Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown NY
1939 – Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures’ Dr. Cyclops, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor.
1942 – Anne Frank gets her diary as a birthday present (Amsterdam)
1944 – 1st V-1 rocket assault on London
1944 – British 12th battalion conquers Bréville
1944 – US troop march into Carentan/Caumont, Normandy
1945 – US 7th Marine regiment conquer summit of Kunishi Ridge, Okinawa
1947 – Babe Didrikson is 1st American to win Brit Women’s Amateur Golf Champ
1948 – 80th Belmont: Eddie Arcaro aboard Citation wins in 2:28.2
1954 – 86th Belmont: Eric Guerin aboard High Gun wins in 2:30.8
1954 – Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock,” is originally released
1955 – “Mr Peepers” (TV Comedy) starring Wally Cox airs for last time on NBC
1957 – Paul Anderson of US back-lifts a record 2850 kg (6,270 lbs)
1962 – 3 convicts used spoons to dig their way out of Alcatraz
1962 – USAF Maj Robert M White takes X-15 to 56,270 m
1965 – Morio Shigematsu runs world record marathon (2:12:00)
1965 – Big Bang theory of creation of universe is supported by announcement of discovery of new celestial bodies know as blue galaxies
1966 – Dave Clark 5 set record as they appear for 12th time on Ed Sullivan
1967 – Israel wins 6 day war
1967 – Race riot in Cincinnati Ohio (300 arrested)
1967 – USSR launches Venera 4 for parachute landing on Venus
1970 – Pitts Pirate Doc Ellis no-hits San Diego Padres, 2-0
1978 – David Berkowitz sentenced in NY Supreme Court to 25 yrs to life
1979 – Kevin St Onge throws a playing card a record 185′
1979 – Bryan Allen flew man-powered Gossamer Albatross over English Channel in a human-powered aircraft; flight took 2 hrs, 49 min
1981 – “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” starring Harrison Ford premieres
1981 – Larry Holmes TKOs Leon Spinks in 3 for WBC heavyweight boxing title
1982 – 750,000 anti-nuclear demonstrators, rally in Central Park NYC
1982 – Battle of Mount Longdon Falkland Islands
1983 – Comet C/1983 (Sugano-Saigusa-Fujikawa) approaches 0.0628 AUs of Earth
1989 – Ben Johnson, Canadian Olympian, admits using steroids
1990 – Egypt (500-1 longshot) ties favorite Neth 1-1 in World Cup game
1994 – Cab Calloway suffered massive stroke at his home in White Plaines NY
2000 – Sandro Rosa do Nascimento takes hostages while robbing Bus #174 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the highly-publicized standoff becomes a media circus and ends with the death of do Nascimento and a hostage.
2004 – A 1.3 kilogram chondrite type meteorite strikes a house in Ellerslie, New Zealand causing serious damage but no injuries.
2012 – The chemical compound NOTT-202, which is capable of selectively absorbing carbon dioxide, is created
2012 – An Australian coroner’s report rules that a dingo was responsible for the death of a baby in 1980
Births
1107 – Emperor Gaozong of China (d. 1187)
1468 – Juan del Encina, composer
1519 – Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and art patron of Florence (d. 1574)
1577 – Paul Guldin, Swiss astronomer and mathematician (d. 1643)
1659 – Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Japanese samurai (d. 1719)
1771 – Patrick Gass, Falling Springs PA, sgt of Lewis & Clark Expedition
1775 – Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal (d. 1851)
1795 – John Marston Jr, Comm (Union Navy), died in 1885
1798 – Samuel Cooper, Sect of War/General (Confederate Army), died in 1876
1802 – Harriet Martineau, controversial journalist, political economist, abolitionist and life-long feminist (d. 1876)
1806 – John A. Roebling, German-America civil engineer (Brooklyn Bridge) (d. 1869)
1812 – Edmond Hébert, French geologist (d. 1890)
1821 – Henry Moses Judah, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1866
1825 – John Cook, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1910
1829 – Johanna Spyri, Switzerland, writer (Heidi)
1851 – Oliver Joseph Lodge, England, early radio pioneer
1877 – Thomas C Hart, US admiral (Asiatic fleet)
1897 – Anthony Eden, Earl of Avon (C), British PM (1955-57)
1912 – Eddie Williams, blues/Jazz Bassist
1915 – David Rockefeller, CEO (Chase Manhattan Bank)
1916 – Irwin Allen, NYC, director (Land of the Giants, Poseidon Adventure)
1916 – Ivan Tors, TV producer (Sea Hunt, Flipper)
1917 – Priscilla Lane, US, actress (Arsenic & Old Lace)
1919 – Uta Hagen, Germany, actress (Boys From Brazil)/teaches acting
1920 – Dave Berg, American cartoonist (d. 2002)
1924 – George Herbert Walker Bush, MA, 43 VP (1981-89) 41st Pres (R, 1989-93)
1927 – Timir Pinegin, Moscow, Russia, sailor (Olympic gold 1960), (d. 2013)
1928 – Richard Sherman, composer/lyricist (Mary Poppins)
1928 – Vic Damone, [Vito Farinola], Bkln, singer (Street Where You Live)
1929 – Anne Frank, Holland, Nazi victim/diarist (Diary of Anne Frank)
1930 – Jim Burke, cricketer (Australian opener of 50s)
1930 – Donald Byrne, American chess player (d. 1976)
1932 – Jim Nabors, Sylacauga Al, actor/singer (Gomer Pyle)
1932 – Mamo Wolde, Ethiopia, marathoner (Olympic-gold-1968)
1932 – Rona Jaffe, novelist (Mazes & Monsters)
1933 – Eddie Adams, American photographer, won Pulitzer Prize (d. 2004)
1934 – John A. Alonzo, American cinematographer (d. 2001)
1937 – Vladimir Arnold, Russian mathematician
1941 – Chick Corea, Chelsea Mass, jazz pianist (Delhpi I, Toy Dance)
1941 – Reg[inald] Presley, [Ball], rock vocalist (Troggs-Wild Thing), (d. 2013)
1941 – Marv Albert, NYC, “Yes!” sportscaster (NBC-TV)/back biter
1942 – Bert Sakmann, German physiologist, Nobel laureate
1945 – Terry Anderson, Sydney NSW Aust, US rapid fire pistol (Olympic-80, 96)
1947 – Ronald J Freeman II, Elizabeth NJ, 4x400m runner (Olympic-gold-1968)
1948 – Barry Bailey, Doraville Ga, rocker (Atlanta Rhythm Section)
1948 – Hans Binder, Austrian racing driver
1951 – Bun E Carlos, [Brad Carlson], rock drummer (Cheap Trick-Dream Police)
1951 – Brad Delp, guitarist (Boston-More Than a Feeling)
1952 – Dale Krantz, singer (Rossington-Collins Band)
1952 – Seigfried Brietzke, German DR, coxless rower (Oly-gold-1972, 76, 80)
1952 – Pete Farndon, English musician (The Pretenders) (d. 1983)
1953 – Grace Jones, Kingston Jamacia (she claims but actually 5/19/48)
1957 – Jim Morris, impressionist/comedian (Ronald Reagan, George Bush)
1959 – Scott Thompson, comedian (Kids in the Hall, Larry Sanders Show)
1959 – Steve Bauer, St Catharines Ontario, cyclist (Olympics-silver-84, 96)
1959 – John Linnell, American musician (They Might Be Giants)
1959 – Jervis Johnson, Games Designer for Games Workshop, Nottingham
1962 – Ally Sheedy, [Alexandria], NYC, actress (Wargames, Breakfast Club)
1964 – Derek Higgins, Irish racing driver
1965 – Gwen Torrence, Lithonia GA, 100m/200m/400m (Olympics-2 gold-92, 96)
1968 – Bobby Sheehan, American musician (Blues Traveler) (d. 1999)
1969 – Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian guitarist (Omen, Bikini) (d. 2007)
1971 – Florencia Labat, Buenos Aires Argentina, tennis star (1992 Austrian)
1974 – Hideki Matsui, Japanese baseball player
1975 – Scott Ferrier, Australia, high jumper/decathlete (Olympics-96)
1977 – Kenny Wayne Shepherd, American blues-rock guitarist
1981 – Adriana Lima, Brazilian supermodel
1982 – Loïc Duval, French racing driver
1985 – Blake Ross, American software developer
1985 – Chris Young, American musician
Deaths
816 – Leo III, Italian Pope (795-816), dies
918 – Ethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians
1020 – Lyfing, Archbishop of Canterbury
1036 – Tedald, Bishop of Arezzo
1231 – Antonius van Padua, [Fernando M de Bulhom], Port minister, dies at 35
1435 – John FitzAlan, 14th Earl of Arundel, English military leader (b. 1408)
1490 – Adriaan Vilain II of Rassegem, peace of Tours, murdered at about 39
1560 – Imagawa Yoshimoto, Japanese daimyo (b. 1519)
1560 – Ii Naomori, Japanese warrior (b. 1506)
1567 – Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1490)
1687 – Jurriaen van Streeck, Dutch still life painter, buried
1772 – Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, French explorer (b. 1724)
1778 – Philip Livingston, American merchant (signed Declaration of Independance), dies at 62
1858 – Cornelis Smit, Dutch ship builder/ship owner, dies at 74
1936 – Isidore Weiss, French world checker champion, dies
1957 – James F “Jimmy” Dorsey, US orchestra leader, dies at 53
1963 – Andrew Browne, Irish/British admiral (Cape Matapan, WW II), dies at 80
1963 – Medgar Evers, NAACP official, shot in Jackson Miss at 37
1972 – Saul David Alinsky, radical writer (John L Lewis), dies at 63
1980 – Milburn Stone, actor (Doc-Gunsmoke), dies at 75
1982 – Karl von Frisch, Austrian zoologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1886)
1982 – Sgt Ian McKay VC, British soldier (Falklands War) (b. 1953)
1983 – Norma Shearer, actress (Escape, Romeo & Juliet), dies at 82
1989 – Lou Monte, American singer (b. 1917)
1994 – Nicole Brown Simpson, ex-wife of OJ, murdered at 35 (probably by OJ)
1994 – Otto Roesch, paleontologist, dies at 93
1994 – Ron Goldman, waiter, murdered with wife of OJ Simpson at 27
2002 – Bill Blass, American fashion designer (b. 1922)
2003 – Gregory Peck, American actor (b. 1916)
2007 – Don Herbert aka “Mr. Wizard”, American television host (b. 1917)
2012 – Henry Hill Jr., American mobster and FBI informant, dies from a heart condition at 69
—
Today In The Past
Events
1184 BC – Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
1231 – Harderwijk becomes a city
1345 – The megas doux Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire, is lynched by political prisoners.
1429 – Hundred Years’ War: The start of the Battle of Jargeau.
1488 – Battle of Sauchieburn, Scotland
1578 – England grants Sir Humphrey Gilbert a patent to explore & colonize US
1666 – -14] Vierdaagse Sea battle (Ruyter-Monk vs Prince Ruprecht)
1676 – Battle at Öland: Danish & Dutch fleet under CM Tromp beats Sweden
1685 – James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, rebels against Catholic king James II
1742 – Benjamin Franklin invents his Franklin stove
1770 – Capt James Cook discovers Great Barrier Reef off Australia
1776 – Continental Congress creates committee (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston) to draft a Declaration of Independence
1788 – Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
1793 – 1st American stove patent is granted to Robert Haeterick
1825 – The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurres in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between English-Americans and Irish-Americans.
1859 – Comstock silver load discovered near Virginia City, Nevada
1864 – -12] Battle of Trevillian Station, VA (Central Railroad)
1864 – 300′ (90 m) of Meigg’s Wharf washed away in storm
1864 – Battle at Cynthiana Kentucky: Gen Hobsons unit caught
1864 – Battle of Laurel Hill, WV
1864 – Confederate warship CSS Alabama runs into harbor of Cherbourg
1870 – 1st-stone Amstel Brewery opens in Amsterdam
1876 – Republicans pick Rutherford B Hayes as presidental candidate
1892 – The Limelight Department, one of the world’s first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia.
1895 – 1st auto race
1895 – Charles E Duryea patents a gas-driven automobile
1896 – US Assay Office in Deadwood South Dakota authorized
1898 – 1st US Marines (600) land at Guantanamo Cuba during Spanish-American War
1898 – 23rd Preakness: Willie Simms aboard Sly Fox wins in 1:49.75
1900 – -12] Battle at Diamond Hill: British troops chase General Botha
1905 – Penns Railroad debuts fastest train in world (NY-Chicago in 18 hrs)
1919 – 51st Belmont: J Loftus aboard Sir Barton wins in 2:17.6 & Trip Crown
1921 – 53rd Belmont: Earl Sande aboard Grey Lag wins in 2:16.8
1927 – 59th Belmont: Earl Sande aboard Chance Shot wins in 2:32.6
1927 – Charles Lindbergh is awarded the 1st Distinguished Flying Cross
1928 – Alfred Hitchcock’s 1st film, “Case Of Jonathan Drew,” is released
1935 – Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States, at Alpine, New Jersey.
1936 – Presbyterian Church of America founded at Philadelphia
1937 – Marx Brothers’ “A Day At The Races” released
1939 – King & Queen of England taste 1st “hot dogs” at FDR’s party
1940 – Italy declares war on allies/raids Malta
1941 – Vichy-French planes bomb Tel Aviv, killing 20 Jews
1942 – German army defeated at El-Alamein North Africa
1942 – US & USSR sign Lend-Lease agreement during WW II
1943 – Heinrich Himmler orders liquidation of Polish ghettos
1944 – 15 US aircraft carriers attack Japanese bases on Marianas
1949 – 81st Belmont: Ted Atkinson aboard Capot wins in 2:30.2
1949 – Emile Zatopek runs world record 10,000m (29:28.2)
1950 – Ben Hogan wins US Open golf tournament
1953 – “Amos ‘n Andy,” TV Comedy, also radio from ’29; last aired on CBS
1955 – 87th Belmont: Eddie Arcaro aboard Nashua wins in 2:29
1955 – Le Mans race car accident kills 83 spectators (race continues)
1958 – UN Security council sends observers to Lebanon
1959 – Postmaster General bans D H Lawrence’s book, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (overruled by US Court of Appeals in Mar 1960)
1960 – 92nd Belmont: Bill Hartack aboard Celtic Ash wins in 2:29.2
1960 – House packed with wedding celebrants collapses killing 30 (Pakistan)
1964 – Chicago police break up Rolling Stones press conference
1966 – “I Am A Rock” by Simon & Garfunkel peaks at #3
1966 – “Paint It, Black” by The Rolling Stones peaks at #1
1966 – “Sloop John B” by The Beach Boys hit #1 in UK
1966 – French & German media mistakenly report death of Roger Daltry
1967 – A J Foyt & Dan Gurney drove a Ford to victory in Le Mans
1969 – David Bowie releases “Space Oddity”
1971 – US & Japan sign accord to return Okinawa to Japan
1971 – US ends ban on China trade
1974 – Bundy victim Georgann Hawkins disappears from UW, Seattle, Wash
1974 – Mel Stottlemyre’s AL record 272nd consecutive start, without relief
1975 – 1st oil pumped from North Sea oilfield
1976 – Australian band AC/DC begin their 1st headline tour of Britain
1977 – 109th Belmont: Jean Cruguet aboard Seattle Slew wins in 2:29.6
1977 – Dutch marines rescued hostages from a Moluccan held train in Holland
1977 – Main Street Electrical Parade premieres in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World
1978 – “Grease” starring John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John opens
1979 – Chuck Berry pleads guilty to income tax evasion, sentenced to 4 months
1981 – Cannibal Issei Sagawa kills Dutch student
1982 – Larry Holmes TKOs Gerry Cooney in 13 for heavyweight boxing title
1982 – Movie “ET the Extra-Terrestrial” released (highest grossing film)
1983 – 115th Belmont: Laffit Pincay Jr aboard Caveat wins in 2:27.8
1984 – Supreme Court declares illegally obtained evidence may be admitted at trial if it could be proved that it would have been discovered legally
1988 – 120th Belmont: Eddie Delahoussaye aboard Risen Star wins in 2:26.6
1990 – Nolan Ryan pitches his 6th no-hitter beating Oakland, in 9th he retires Ken Phelps, Rickey Henderson & Willie Randolph (all ex Yanks)
1991 – Microsoft releases MS DOS 5.0
1993 – “Jurassic Park” opens, sets box office weekend record of $502 million
1994 – 126th Belmont: Pat Day aboard Tabasco Cat wins in 2:26.8
1994 – Drunken officer shoots 7 people dead in Falun Sweden
1994 – Cbox is 39’115 long, 20’85 wide, & 8′ high in Jacksonville, Fl Largest popcorn container is 6,619.76 cubic feet full of popped corn
1998 – Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2002 – Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
2004 – Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe.
2004 – Ronald Reagan’s funeral is held at Washington National Cathedral.
2009 – A Texas mother was hit by lightning while standing in her kitchen inside her Texas home. Witnesses say the lightning came through a light fixture and struck her chest and exited her foot. Her 9-year-old son franticly called 9-1-1 to save her life. She had to spend three days in the hospital.
2012 – The Nobel Prize is reduced by 20% to prevent any future undermining of capital
Births
1403 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (d. 1427)
1456 – Anne Neville, wife of Richard III of England (d. 1485)
1540 – Barnabe Googe, English poet (d. 1594)
1572 – Ben Jonson, England, playwright/poet (Volpone, Alchemist)
1696 – Francis Edward James Keith, Scottish soldier and Prussian field marshal (d. 1758)
1723 – J G Palitzsch, 1st saw Halley’s comet on return, Prolitz
1741 – Joseph Warren, American doctor and soldier (d. 1775)
1807 – James Findlay Schenck, Commander (Union Navy), died in 1882
1808 – Charles Henry Poor, Commander (Union Navy), died in 1882
1815 – Julia Margaret Cameron, English photographer (d. 1879)
1816 – Robert Huston Milroy, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1890
1822 – Samuel Davis Sturgis, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1889
1823 – James Lawson Kemper, Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1895
1842 – Carl von Linde, German engineer and industrialist (d. 1934)
1846 – William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (d. 1920)
1847 – Millicent Garrett Fawcett, leader (English women’s movement)
1864 – Richard Georg Strauss, Munich Germany, composer (Don Quixote)
1879 – Max Schreck, German actor (d. 1936)
1880 – Jeannette Rankin, 1st woman elected to US Congress (Rep-Montana)
1883 – Frank O King, Cashton Wisc, cartoonist (Gasoline Alley)
1886 – David Steinman, NYC, bridge designer (Hudson, Triborough)
1888 – Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist (d. 1927)
1889 – Wesley Ruggles, actor/producer/director (Keystone Kops)
1895 – Nikolai A Bulganin, Gorki Russia, premier of USSR (1955-58)
1904 – Clarence “Pinetop” Smith, jazz pianist/singer (Boogie Woogie Piano)
1904 – Daphne Fielding, socialite/writer
1907 – Paul Mellon, US, oil magnate/pres (Washington National Gallery of Art)
1910 – Jacques-Yves Cousteau, France, oceanic explorer (Calypso)
1913 – Vince Lombardi, NFL coach (Green Bay Packers)
1914 – Jack Mann, pilot/hostage
1915 – Nicholas Metropolis, Greek-American mathematician, physicist and computer scientist (d. 1999)
1920 – Irving Howe, US, writer/critic (World of Our Fathers)
1925 – William Styron, Va, novelist (Confess of Nat Turner, Sophie’s Choice)
1926 – Brother Dave Gardner, Novelty singer/comedian
1927 – John Aspinall, owner (casino, zoos)
1931 – Lucianna Paluzzi, Rome Italy, actress (Five Fingers, Thunderball)
1932 – Athol Fugard, Middleburg South Africa, anti-apartheid writer (Blood Knot)
1933 – Jud Strunk, Jamestown NY, singer/comedian (Laugh-In)
1935 – Gene Wilder, [Jerome Silbermann], Milwaukee, actor (Silver Streak)
1937 – Johnny Brown, St Petersburg Fla, comedian (Good Times, Leslie Uggams)
1937 – Robin Warren, Australian pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
1939 – Christina Crawford, author, Joan’s daughter (Mommie Dearest)
1939 – Jackie Stewart, Scotland, driver/sports announcer (27 Grand Prix)
1940 – Joey Dee, Passaic NJ, singer (Hey Let’s Twist, 2 Tickets to Paris)
1943 – Henry Hill Jr., Brooklyn, New York, mobster and FBI informant (inspired Goodfellas), (d. 2012)
1945 – Adrienne Barbeau, Sacramento California, actress (Maude, Swamp Thing)
1946 – Jenny Pittman, horse trainer
1946 – John Lawton, British rock singer (Uriah Heep)
1947 – Glenn Leonard, R&B singer (Temptations)
1948 – Anthony Nelson, British Sec of Treasury
1948 – Skip Alan, [Alan Skipper], drummer (Them, Pretty Things)
1949 – Frank Beard, rocker (ZZ Top-She Got Legs, Fandango)
1949 – George Willig, stuntman (climbed World Trade Center in 1977)
1949 – Tom Pryce, British racing driver (d. 1977)
1950 – Graham Russell, Melbourne Australia, rock vocalist (Air Supply)
1950 – Debbie “Pokey” Watson, US, 200m backstroke swimmer (Olympic-gold-1968)
1950 – Lindsey de Paul, singer
1952 – Donnie Van Zant, rock vocalist (.38 Special)
1952 – Russell Hitchcock, Melbourne Australia, rock vocalist (Air Supply)
1955 – Yuriy Sedykh, Soviet hammer thrower
1956 – Joe Montana, NFL quarterback (SF 49ers)
1959 – Hugh Laurie [James Hugh Calum Laurie], Oxford, English actor (Strapless, Dr Gregory House-House)
1963 – Bruce Kimball, American diver
1964 – Kim Gallagher, Phila, 800m runner (Olympic-silver-1984)
1964 – Jean Alesi, French Formula One driver
1966 – Tiffany Cohen, Culver City California, swimmer (Olympic-2 gold-1984)
1969 – Peter Dinklage, American actor
1970 – Chris Rice, singer/songwriter
1978 – Ujjwala Raut, Indian supermodel
1982 – Eldar Rønning, Norwegian cross-country skier
1985 – Anja Rubik, Polish supermodel
1986 – Shia LaBeouf, Los Angeles, California, American actor (Disturbia, Transformers)
Deaths
323 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king, dies from either fever or excessive wine at 32, (or the 10th June)
1183 – Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England (b. 1155)
1216 – Henry of Flanders, Emperor of the Latin Empire
1249 – Adelheid van Schaarbeek, Flemish mystic/saint, dies
1479 – Johannes a San Facundo, Spanish Augustine saint, dies
1488 – James III, King of Scots, dies in battle
1557 – King John III of Portugal (b. 1502)
1560 – Marie Guise, French wife of King James V of Scotland and mother and regent of Mary Queen of Scots, dies at 44
1666 – Cornelis Evertsen the Old, Swiss vice-admiral, dies in battle at 55
1695 – André Félibien, French architect (b. 1619)
1727 – King George I of Great Britain (b. 1660)
1796 – Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and politician (b. 1720)
1825 – Daniel D Tompkins, 6th US Vice President (1817-25), dies at 54
1847 – John Franklin, English sea captain and explorer (b. 1786)
1903 – Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician (b. 1837)
1913 – Machmud Shevket Pasha, Turks grand vizier, murdered
1937 – R. J. (Reginald Joseph) Mitchell, British aircraft designer (b. 1895)
1941 – Daniel Carter Beard, founder of the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1850)
1955 – Jacques Lemaigre-Dubreuil, French industrialist, murdered
1966 – Wallace Ford, actor (Deputy), dies of heart attack at 68
1970 – Aleksandr F Kerenski, Russian premier (1917), dies at 89
1979 – John Wayne [Marion Mitchell Morrison], actor (Green Berets, True Grit), dies at 72
1985 – Karen Ann Quinlan, comatose patient, dies in Morris Plains NJ at 31
1986 – Robert E Howard, sci-fi author (Conan the Conqueror), dies at 80
1986 – Chesley Bonestell, American-born engineer, architect, and artist (b. 1888)
1990 – Clyde McCoy, jazz trumpeter (wah wah sound), dies at 86
1992 – Marjorie Newell Robb, oldest living survivor of Titantic, dies at 103
1992 – Scotty Sachs, actor (Hanoi Hilton), dies of gunshot wounds at 39
1994 – Jack Hannah, animator, dies at 90
1994 – Kitty Rosalind Muggeridge, author, dies at 90
1999 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (b. 1920)
2001 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (by execution; b. 1968)
2003 – David Brinkley, American television reporter (b. 1920)
2004 – Egon von Furstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (b. 1946)
2006 – Michael Bartosh, computer expert and author (b. 1977)
2007 – Imre Friedmann, American scientist (b. 1921)
2008 – Ove Andersson, Swedish rally driver (b. 1938)
2012 – Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban Heavyweight boxer, dies from a heart attack at 60
—
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
—
Today In The Past
Events
65 – Jews revolt against Rome, capturing fortress of Antonia in Jerusalem
68 – Rome Senate accepts emperor Galba
452 – Italy invaded by Attila the Hun
536 – St Silverius begins his reign as Catholic Pope
793 – Vikings plunder St Cuthbert convent Lindisfarne
979 – Louis V de Luie, crowned King of France
1191 – Richard I arrives in Acre thus beginning his crusade.
1405 – Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York and Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Norfolk, are executed in York on Henry IV’s orders.
1551 – Pope Julius III excommunicates Duke Ottario Farnese of Parma
1632 – Prince Frederik Henry conquerors Sittard
1663 – Battle at Amegical: English & Portugese fleet beats Spanish
1694 – English troop landing at Brest attack (300 killed)
1786 – Commercially made ice cream 1st advertised (Mr Hall, NYC)
1789 – James Madison introduces a proposed Bill of Rights in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1824 – Washing machine patented by Noah Cushing of Quebec
1829 – 1st UK municipal swimming pool outside of London, opens in Liverpool
1846 – Battle at Gwanga: British troops beat Bantu
1861 – American Civil War: Tennessee votes to secede from the Union.
1862 – Valley Campaign-Battle of Cross Keys, Virginia
1869 – Ives W McGaffey of Chicago patents 1st vacuum cleaner
1878 – 12th Belmont: L Hughes aboard Duke of Magenta wins in 2:43.5
1882 – 16th Belmont: Jim McLaughlin aboard Forester wins in 2:43
1886 – 1st Civil Rights Act passes
1892 – Homer A Plessy refuses to go to segregated RR car (Plessy v Ferguson)
1896 – 1st car is stolen
1914 – 34.7°F (1.5°C) in De Bilt, Netherlands
1915 – 92°F (33.3°C) in De Bilt, Netherlands
1917 – Walt Disney graduates from Benton High School
1918 – Nova Aquila, brightest nova since Kepler’s nova of 1604, discovered
1920 – Reds’ Edd Roush falls asleep in center during long infield argument Heinie Groh goes to wake him, but ump ejects Roush for delay of game
1921 – Babe Ruth arrested for speeding, fined $100, & held in jail until 4 PM
1927 – Tony Lazzeri hits 3 HRs Yanks beat White Sox 12-11
1928 – 1st US-to-Australia flight lands (Sir Charles Kingford)
1929 – 61st Belmont: Mack Garner aboard Blue Larkspur wins in 2:32.8
1933 – A’s Jimmie Foxx homers his 1st 3 at bats for 4 consecutive HRs
1935 – 67th Belmont: Willie Saunders aboard Omaha wins in 2:30.6
1936 – 1st parking meters are invented
1937 – World’s largest flower blooms in NY Botanical Garden, 12′ calla lily
1940 – 72nd Belmont: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 2:29.6
1940 – Discovery of element 93, neptunium, announced
1940 – Last British troops leave Narvik Norway
1944 – 1st SS-Pantser corps counter attacks at Normandy
1944 – Allies occupy Port-and-Bessin Normandy
1944 – Dutch Resistance fighter Frans Duwaer arrested
1944 – Gen Montgomery lands in Normandy, forms HQ in Chateau de Creully
1948 – “Milton Berle Show” premieres on NBC TV
1948 – John Rudder becomes 1st negro commissioned officer in US marines
1949 – Siam changes name to Thailand
1950 – Sir Thomas Blamey becomes the only Field Marshal in Australian history.
1953 – Cluster of 6 tornadoes touch down in Flint Michigan killing 113
1953 – Segregated lunch counters in DC forbidden by Supreme Court
1955 – Dodgers option Tommy Lasorda to make room on roster for Sandy Koufax
1959 – X-15 makes 1st unpowered flight, from a B-52 at 11,500 m
1961 – Milwaukee sets record of 4 consecutive HRs (Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock & Frank Thomas)
1963 – 95th Belmont: Braulio Baeza aboard Chateaugay wins in 2:30.2
1965 – US troops ordered to fight offensively in Vietnam
1966 – NFL & AFL announce plans to become NFC & AFC in 1970
1966 – Topeka, Kansas is devastated by a tornado that registers as an “F5” on the Fujita Scale: the first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.
1967 – Israel attacks USS Liberty in Mediterranean, killing 34 US crewmen
1968 – Don Drysdale pitches a record 58th consecutive scoreless inning
1968 – Gary Puckett & Union Gap release “Lady Will Power”
1968 – James Earl Ray, alleged assassin of Martin Luther King Jr, captured
1968 – Rolling Stones release “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
1969 – “Smothers Brothers comedy Hour,” last airs on CBS-TV
1969 – Brian Jones leaves The Rolling Stones
1969 – Mickey Mantle Day, 60,096 saw #7 retired (I was there-BTG)
1969 – Nixon says 25,000 US troops would leave Vietnam by end of August
1969 – Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor replaces Brian Jones
1971 – North Vietnam demands US end aid to South Vietnam
1974 – 106th Belmont: Miguel Rivera aboard Little Current wins in 2:29.2
1974 – Keyboardist Rick Wakeman quits rock group “Yes”
1974 – US & Saudi Arabia sign military-economic contract
1977 – Nolan Ryan notches his 4th career 19-strikeout game
1978 – Nevada jury rules Howard Hughes “Mormon Will” is a forgery
1979 – “The Source,” 1st computer public information service, goes on-line
1982 – Reagan addresses joint session of British Parliament
1983 – “Trading Places,” “Ghostbusters,” & “Gremlins,” premieres
1985 – 117th Belmont: Eddie Maple aboard Creme Fraiche wins in 2:27
1986 – Alleged Nazi Kurt Waldheim elected pres of Austria
1987 – Oliver North’s secretary Fawn Hall tesifies at Iran-Contra hearing
1988 – Nippon Airways announces that painting eyeballs on Jets cut bird collisions by 20%
1990 – “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” last airs on Fox-TV
1991 – 123rd Belmont: Jerry Bailey aboard Hansel wins in 2:28
1991 – Former NY Jet Mark Gastineau wins 1st pro boxing fight in 12 seconds
1991 – Victory parade held in Wash DC (Persian Gulf War)
1991 – Warren Schutte, is 1st non American to win NCAA Div 1 golf title
1992 – NY Yankee pitcher Steve Howe is banned from baseball for 7th time
1995 – Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O’Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.
1996 – 128th Belmont: Rene Douglas aboard Editor’s Note wins in 2:28.96
1996 – Panama becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
2004 – Transit of Venus (between Earth & Sun) occurs
Births
1318 – Eleonora Plantagenet, daughter of King Eduard II/wife of Reinald II
1625 – Giovanni D Cassini, Perinaldo, France, discoverer (4 moons of Saturn)
1652 – William Dampier, English explorer/pirate
1722 – Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht, composer
1724 – John Smeaton, Leeds, civil engineer
1743 – Alessandro Cagliostro, Palermo Italy, adventurer
1745 – Caspar Wessel, Danish mathematician (d. 1818)
1759 – Thomas Dunham Whitaker, Rainham Norfolk UK, topographer
1772 – Robert Stevenson, Glasgow, civil engineer
1806 – Gideon Johnson Pillow, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1878
1813 – David Dixon Porter, Rear Admiral (Union Navy), died in 1891
1821 – John Dunlap Stevenson, Bvt Mjr Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1897
1821 – Samuel White Baker, London England, explorer (Ceylon/Egypt)
1824 – William Montgomery Gardner, Brig Gen (Confederate Army), died in 1901
1831 – Thomas J. Higgins, decorated Union Army soldier (d. 1917)
1851 – Jacques-Arsène d’Arsonval, French physicist (d. 1940)
1867 – Frank Lloyd Wright, Richland Center Wisc, master builder (Guggenheim)
1901 – Lena Baker, American murderer (d. 1945)
1903 – Ronald Shiner, actor (Carry on Admiral, Keep it Clean, Aunt Clara)
1909 – William Odling, major-general
1910 – John W Campbell, US, sci-fi writer (Moon is Hell)
1914 – Joseph de Pietro, US, 56kg weightlifter (Olympic-gold-1948)
1916 – Francis Crick, British co-discovered DNA’s structure (Nobel 1962)
1918 – Robert Preston, Newton MA, actor (Music Man, Mame, Last Starfighter)
1918 – John D. Roberts, American chemist
1921 – LeRoy Neiman, American painter, (d. 2012)
1924 – George Kirby, Chicago, comedian (ABC Comedy Hour, Pearl Bailey Show)
1924 – Lyn Nofziger, American political operative (d. 2006)
1925 – Barbara Pierce Bush, Flushing, New York, US 1st lady (1989-93)
1925 – Eddie Gaedel, 3’7″ St Louis Browns pinch-hitter (he walked)
1927 – Jerry Stiller, Bkln NY, comedian (Frank Constanza-Seinfeld)
1928 – Kat[i]e [Gertrude] Wilhelm, US, sci-fi author (Hugo, Hamlet Trap)
1930 – Dana Wynter, London, actress (Airport, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
1930 – Robert Aumann, German-born Israeli mathematician; Nobel laureate
1933 – Joan Rivers, [Molinsky], Bkln, comedienne (Late Show, Hollywood Sq)
1936 – James Darren, Phila, actor (TJ Hooker, Diamond Head, Venus in Furs)
1936 – Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist, Nobel laureate
1937 – Bruce McCandless II, Boston, Cap USN/astronaut (STS 41B, STS-31)
1939 – Bernie Casey, Wyco WV, actor (Boxcar Bertha, Rent-a-Cop)
1939 – Herb Adderley, Phila, NFL hall of famer (Packers, Cowboys)
1940 – Nancy Sinatra, Jersey City, singer (Boots are Made for Walkin’)
1940 – Sherman Garnes, rock vocalist (Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers)
1941 – Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins, US pop singer (Funkadelic-Knee Deep)
1942 – Chuck Negron, singer (3 Dog Night-Joy to the World)
1942 – Gael Ramsey, Brigadier commander (HQ Aldershot Garrison)
1942 – Willie D Davenport, Troy Alabama, 110m hurdler (Olympic-gold-1968)
1943 – Colin Baker, actor (Dr Who, Swallows & Amazons)
1943 – William Calley, American war criminal
1944 – Boz Scaggs, [William Royce], Dallas Tx, rocker (Steve Miller Band)
1944 – Don Grady, [Agrati], actor (Robbie Douglas-My Three Sons), (d. 2012)
1946 – Elizabeth A Lynn, US, sci-fi author (Watchtower, Red Hawk)
1947 – Mick Box, rock guitarist (Uriah Heep)
1947 – Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1949 – Hildegard Falck, German FR, 800m runner (Olympic-gold-1972)
1951 – Bonnie Tyler, [Gaynor Hopkins], rocker (Total Eclipse of the Heart)
1951 – Tony Rice, American acoustic guitarist
1952 – Martin Taylor, CEO (Barclays Bank)
1955 – Griffin Dunne, actor (American Werewolf in London, Who’s That Girl)
1955 – Tim Berners-Lee, English internet developer
1955 – Greg Ginn, American guitarist (Black Flag)
1957 – Scott Raymond Adams, Catskill NY, cartoonist (Dilbert)
1958 – Keenan Ivory Wayans, NYC, comedian (In Living Color)
1960 – Mick Hucknall, rocker (Simply Red-Every Time We Say Goodbye)
1961 – Ursula Buchfellner, Munich Ger, playmate (Oct, 1979)/actr (Bloodline)
1962 – Nick Rhodes, [Bates], keyboardist (Duran Duran-Hungry Like the Wolf)
1965 – Robert Platus, NYC, lip syncher (Milli Vanilli-Girl You Know This)
1966 – Julianna Margulies, Spring Valley NY, actress (Carol Hathaway-ER)
1967 – Neil Mitchell, rocker (Wet, Wet, Wet-Wishing I Was)
1970 – Gabrielle Giffords, American politician
1976 – Lindsay Davenport, Palos Verdes CA, tennis star (Olympics-gold-96)
1977 – Kanye West, Atlanta, Georgia, American rapper and record producer
1979 – Derek Trucks, American guitarist
1981 – Matteo Meneghello, Italian racing driver
1981 – Sara Watkins, American fiddle player
1983 – Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player
1984 – Andrea Casiraghi, son of Princess Caroline of Monaco
Deaths
218 – Opellius Macrinus, emperor of Rome (217-8), dies in battle at 54
632 – Mohammed, prophet of Islam (Koran), dies (according to tradition)
1042 – Harthacnut/Harthacanute, King of Denmark and England (b. 1018) Lambeth
1115 – Peter van Amiens, French minister of crusades, dies at about 64
1376 – “Black Prince” of Wales, son of King Edward of England, dies at 46
1383 – Thomas de Ros, 5th Baron de Ros, English Crusader (b. 1338)
1384 – Kanami, Japanese actor (b. 1333)
1476 – George Neville, English archbishop and statesman
1505 – Hongzhi, Emperor of China (b. 1470)
1628 – Rudolph Goclenius, German philosopher (b. 1547)
1695 – Christian Huygens, inventor/astronomer (ring of Saturn), dies at 66
1711 – Katharina Lescaille, [Netherlands Sappho], poetess, dies at 61
1742 – Omobono Stradivari, Italian violin maker/son of Antonius, dies at 62
1768 – Johann J Winckelmann, German archaeologist, dies at 50
1806 – George Wythe, US attorney (signed Decl of Indep), dies at about 79
1809 – Thomas Paine, writer (Age of Reason, Common Sense), dies at 72
1835 – Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian physicist (b. 1761)
1845 – Andrew Jackson, (D) 7th pres (1828-37), dies at 78
1857 – Douglas William Jerrold, British playwright and satirist (b. 1803)
1865 – Joseph Paxton, designer (Crystal Palace), dies
1871 – Satank, Kiowa indian chief, shot to death
1874 – Cochise, Apache leader
1876 – George Sand, French author (Indiana, Consuelo), dies at 71
1913 – Emily Wilding Davison, suffragette, trampled to death by a horse
1924 – Andrew Irvine, English mountain climber (climbing accident) (b. 1902)
1924 – George Leigh Mallory, English mountain climber (climbing accident) (b. 1886)
1951 – Eugène Fiset, French Canadian military officer and politician (b. 1874)
1967 – Laverne Andrews, vocalist (Andrews Sister), dies
1969 – Robert Taylor, actor (Death Valley Days), dies of lung cancer at 57
1972 – Jimmy Rushing, US blues singer, dies at 68
1982 – [Leroy] Satchel Paige, US baseball pitcher, dies at 75
1987 – Yogi Horton, drummer (Luther Vandross), commits suicide at 33
1991 – Mary Bacon, jockey, dying of cancer, commits suicide by gun at 43
1992 – Beverly Carter, entertainer, dies at 51
1992 – William France, founder (Daytona 500), dies at 82
1993 – Root Boy Slim, American entertainer (b. 1945)
1998 – Maria Reiche, German-born mathematician and archaeologist (b. 1903)
2000 – Jeff MacNelly, American political cartoonist (b. 1948)
2003 – Leighton Rees, Welsh darts player (b. 1940)
2007 – Kenny Olsson, Swedish speedway racer (b. 1977)
2012 – Frank Cady, American actor, dies at 96
—-
Today In The Past
Events
555 – Vigilius ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1099 – 1st Crusaders arrive in Jerusalem
1340 – Rotterdam Netherlands founded
1413 – King Ladislaw of Naples occupies Rome
1420 – Troops of the Republic of Venice capture Udine, ending the independenceo f the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
1494 – Treaty of Tordesillas, Spain & Portugal divide America
1546 – England signs Peace of Andres with Scotland/Ireland
1654 – Louis XIV crowned King of France
1672 – Battle by Solebay: Dutch adm M de Ruyter beats French/English fleet
1692 – Earthquake in Porte Royale, Jamaica, kills 3,000
1694 – English invasion army under Thomas Talmash reaches Brest
1769 – Daniel Boone begins exploring Bluegrass State of Kentucky
1776 – Richard Lee (VA) moves Decl of Independence in Continental Congress
1788 – Masses stone French government army at Grenoble
1800 – David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba.
1832 – Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
1862 – Skirmish at Union Church, VA (Peninsular)
1862 – Gen B Butler orders William Mumford hanged after he removed & destroyed US flag on display over New Orleans Mint
1863 – Battle of Milliken’s Bend, LA-Jefferson Davis’ home burnt
1863 – Mexico City captured by French troops
1864 – Abe Lincoln renominated for Pres by Republican Party
1866 – Irish Fenians raid Pigeon Hill, Quebec
1866 – 1,800 Fenian raiders are repelled back to the United States after they loot and plunder around Saint-Armand and Frelighsburg, Quebec.
1873 – 7th Belmont: James Roe aboard Springbok wins in 3:01.75
1881 – 15th Belmont: T Costello aboard Saunterer wins in 2:47
1893 – Gandhi’s first act of civil disobedience.
1896 – G Harpo & F Samuelson leave NY to row the Atlantic (takes 54 days)
1900 – Boer general Christian de Law occupiers British train depot Roodewal
1906 – Famous Cunard passenger liner Lusitania launches
1909 – Mary Pickford made her screen debut at the age of 16.
1912 – US army tests 1st machine gun mounted on a plane
1916 – Germany troop march into Fort Faux, Verdun
1924 – 56th Belmont: Earl Sande aboard Mad Play wins in 2:18.8
1924 – George Leigh-Mallory disappears 775′ from Everest’s summit
1929 – Vatican City becomes a sovereign state
1930 – 62nd Belmont: Earl Sande aboard Gallant Fox wins in 2:31.6
1930 – NY Times agrees to capitalize the n in “Negro”
1938 – Boeing 314 Clipper flying boat 1st flown (Eddie Allen)
1938 – The Douglas DC-4E makes its first test flight.
1939 – 1st king & queen of England to visit US, George VI & Elizabeth
1940 – British/French troops evacuate Narvik
1941 – 73rd Belmont: Eddie Arcaro aboard Whirlaway win in 2:31 (triple crown)
1942 – Battle of Midway ends: Adm Nimitz wins 1st WW II naval defeat of Japan
1942 – Germany Armys march into Sebastopol
1942 – Japanese troops lands on Attu, Aleutian Islands
1944 – Claus von Stauffenberg meets Hitler
1946 – US Supreme Court bans discrimination in interstate travel
1948 – Communist complete takeover of Czechoslovakia; Pres Bernes resigns
1952 – 84th Belmont: Eddie Arcaro aboard One Count wins in 2:30.2
1953 – 1st color network telecast in compatible color, (Boston Mass)
1954 – 1st microbiology laboratory dedicated (New Brunswick NJ)
1955 – “$64,000 Question” premieres on CBS TV
1955 – 1st President to appear on color TV (Eisenhower)
1958 – 90th Belmont: Pete Anderson aboard Cavan wins in 2:30.2
1962 – NASA civilian test pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 31,580 m
1963 – 1st Rolling Stones TV appearance (Thank Your Lucky Stars) & release 1st single, “Come on”
1965 – Sony Corp introduced its home video tape recorder, priced at $995
1965 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides on Griswold v. Connecticut, effectively legalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
1967 – 2 Moby Grape members arrested for contributing to deliquency of minors
1967 – Israel captures Wailing Wall in East Jerusalem, Jericho & Bethlehem
1968 – Sirhan Sirhan indicted for Bobby Kennedy assassination
1968 – The body of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy lies in state at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York.
1969 – “Johnny Cash Show,” debuts on ABC-TV
1969 – 101st Belmont: Braulio Baeza aboard Arts & Letters wins in 2:28.8
1969 – Tommy James & Shondells release “Crystal Blue Persuasion”
1970 – Jockey Willie Shoemaker passes Johnny Longden with his 6,033 win
1970 – The Who’s “Tommy” is performed at NY’s Lincoln Center
1971 – Soviet Soyuz 11 crew completes 1st transfer to orbiting Salyut
1975 – “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” by John Denver hits #1
1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder for sale to the public.
1976 – NBC Nightly News with John Chancellor & David Brinkley, premieres
1979 – Bhaskara 1, Indian Earth resources/meteorology satellite, launched
1980 – 112th Belmont: Eddie Maple aboard Temperence Hill wins in 2:29.8
1980 – Tommy John wins his 200th, 3-0 on a 2-hitter
1981 – Israeli F-15/F-16 destroys alleged Iraqi plutonium production facility
1982 – LA Dodger Steve Garvey is 5th to play in 1,000 consecutive games
1983 – Steve Carlton temporarily passes Nolan Ryan with his 3,552 strike out
1986 – 118th Belmont: Chris McCarron aboard Danzig Connect wins in 2:29.8
1989 – 23 year old olympic barefoot South African runner Zola Budd retires
1989 – For one second this morning, the time is 01:23:45, 6-7-89
1989 – Wayne Gretzky wins his 9th NHL Hart (MVP) Trophy in 10 years
1989 – 1st Baseball game to start outdoors & end indoors, as Toronto Blue Jays stadium closes roof during game at 8:48, & beat Brewers 4-2
1991 – Mount Pinatubo (Philippines) erupts for 1st time
1993 – Cleveland breaks ground for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
1993 – Prince celebrated his birthday by changing his name to a symbol
1994 – A’s outfielder Rickey Henderson steals his 1,100th career base
1995 – The long range Boeing 777 enters service with United Airlines.
1997 – 129th Belmont: Chris McCarron aboard Touch Gold wins in 2:28.8
1998 – James Byrd, Jr. is dragged to death by Shawn Allen Berry, Lawrence Russel Brewer, and John William King in Jasper, Texas in a racially-motivated hate crime.
2001 – Tony Blair’s Labour Party wins another landslide victory in the General Election.
2006 – British Houses of Parliament temporarily shut down due to anthrax alert.
2012 – 16th century archaeology remains of the Curtain Theatre, where some of Shakespeare’s plays were first performed, were found under a pub in London
2012 – Credit rating agency Fitch downgrades Spain’s credit rating to BBB in the wake of international bailout speculation
Births
1529 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and man of letters (d. 1615)
1619 – Paulus Voet, Dutch jurist/historian
1761 – John Rennie, Scottish engineer (d. 1821)
1778 – George Bryan “Beau” Brummel, London England, English dandy
1811 – James Young Simpson, Scotland, obsterician (used chloroform)
1812 – Theophilus Toulmin Garrard, Brig Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1902
1825 – Richard D Blackmore, England, author (Norie, Lorna Doone)
1831 – Amelia Edwards, English author and Egyptologist (d. 1892)
1843 – Susan Elizabeth Blow, US, pioneered kindergarten education
1848 – Paul Gaugin, [Eugene Henri], French post-impressionist painter
1862 – Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1868 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect, designer, and illustrator (d. 1928)
1877 – Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)
1879 – Knud J V Rasmussen, Danish pole explorer (Thule)
1879 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer (d. 1963)
1883 – Sylvanus Morley, U.S. archaeologist and spy (d. 1948)
1886 – Henri Coandă, Romanian aerodynamics pioneer (d. 1972)
1891 – Koos [Jacobus J] Vorrink, Dutch politician (SDAP/AJC/PvdA)
1896 – Robert Mulliken, US, chemist/physicist (Nobel 1966)
1896 – Douglas Campbell, American World War I flying ace (d. 1990)
1909 – Jessica Tandy, London, actress (Birds, Cocoon, Batteries Not Included)
1910 – Bradford Washburn, American explorer, (d. 2007)
1911 – Brooks Stevens, automotive designer (d. 1995)
1913 – Anthony David Machell Cox, medievalist
1917 – Gwendolyn Brooks, US poet (Bean Eaters, Annie Allen, Pulitzer 1950)
1917 – Dean Martin, Steubenville Ohio, American singer/actor (with Jerry Lewis)
1921 – Tal Farlow, American jazz guitarist (d. 1998)
1925 – Camille Flammarion, French astronomer/writer (Thunder & Lightning)
1927 – Charles de Tornaco, Belgian racing driver (d. 1953)
1928 – James Ivory, producer/director (Howard’s End, Remains of the Day)
1935 – Thomas Kailath, American engineer
1937 – Bert Sugar, Washington D.C., sports writer (Sting like a Bee), (d. 2012)
1938-Susan Herrlin , mother , wife , pianist , figure skater ,business woman
1940 – Tom Jones [Sir Thomas John Woodward], Pontypridd, Welsh singer (What’s New Pussycat)
1943 – Ken Osmond, actor (Eddie Haskel-Leave it To Beaver)
1944 – Clarence White, guitarist (Byrds-Turn! Turn! Turn!)
1946 – Jenny Jones, [Janina Stronski], Canada, comedienne (Jenny Jones Show)
1947 – Thurman Munson, baseball catcher/captain (NY Yankees)
1949 – Jack Ryland, rock vocalist (Three Dog Night)
1952 – Liam Neeson, N Ireland, actor (Schindler’s List, Les Miserables)
1953 – Johnny Clegg, rocker
1955 – William Koch, US skier (World Cup 1982)
1956 – Robert Dover, equestrian dressage (Olympics-bronze-96)
1958 – O+> (Prince), [Rogers Nelson], Minn, rocker/actor (1999, Purple Rain)
1962 – Janice Lawrence Braxton, WNBA center (Cleve Rockers, Olym-gold-1984)
1962 – Takuya Kurosawa, Japanese racing driver
1965 – Damien Hirst, English artist
1969 – Lachlan Elmer, Australian field hockey halfback (Oly-silver-92, 96)
1974 – Jason Caswell, Winnipeg Manitoba, Skeet shooter (Olympics-96)
1974 – Bear Grylls, British survivor
1981 – Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
1981 – Larisa Oleynik, American actress
Deaths
555 – Vigilius, Italian Pope (537-55), dies
1329 – Robert Bruce, King of Scots (1306-29), dies at 53
1358 – Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese shogun (b. 1305)
1394 – Anne of Bohemia, wife of Richard II of England (plague) (b. 1367)
1492 – Kazimierz IV, King of Poland (1447-92), dies at 64
1549 – Eelke Fouckens, Frisian anabaptist, beheaded
1555 – Maarten van Rossum, Dutch army leader, dies at about 76
1572 – August I [Sigismund II August], king of Poland (1548-72), dies at 42
1618 – Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English Governor of Virginia (b. 1577)
1667 – Thomas de Keyser, Amsterdam master builder/painter, buried
1672 – Willem J van Gendt, admiral/governor of Breda, dies at about 37
1754 – Nikolaj Eigtved, Danish, architect (Amalienborg Square), dies at 52
1862 – William B Mumford, 1st US citizen hanged for treason, at 42
1866 – Chief Seattle, Native American leader
1876 – George Sand, writer, dies at 71
1877 – Winand C H Staring, geologist (Bottom of Netherlands), dies at 68
1926 – Henry Charles Tonking, composer, dies at 63
1927 – Voikov, Soviet ambassador to Warsaw, murdered
1928 – Chiang Tsolin, Chinese warlord of North-China, murdered
1935 – Ivan V Mitsjoerin, Russian botanist, dies
1936 – Stjepan Seljan, Croatian explorer (b. 1875)
1942 – Alan Blumlein, English electronics engineer (b. 1903)
1951 – Bobel, Braune, Naumann, Ohlendorf, Pohl, Schallenmair & Otto Schmidt, Nazi war criminals, hanged
1954 – Alan M Turing, British mathematician (Turing), commits suicide at 41
1963 – Zasu Pitts, actress (Wedding March, Life With Father), dies at 65
1965 – Judy Holliday, comedienne (Born Yesterday, Adam’s Rib), dies at 42
1967 – Dorothy Parker, US writer (Enough Rope), dies at 73
1967 – Pauline Brooks, actress (Make a Million), dies of cancer at 54
1969 – Leo Gorcey, actor (Bowery Boys), dies at 53
1970 – Edward M Forster, Brit writer (Maurice, passage to India), dies at 91
1970 – E. M. Forster, English author (b. 1879)
1978 – Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
1980 – Henry [Valentine] Miller, US writer (Tropic of Capricorn), dies at 88
1989 – Chico Landi, Brazilian racing driver (b. 1907)
1992 – William France, founder (Daytona 500), dies at 82
1993 – Drazen Petrovic, NBA player (NJ Nets), dies in auto-accident at 28
1994 – Joseph Ruzindana, Rwandian bishop of Bjumba, murdered
1994 – Stuart Havelock Hollingdale, anthropologist, dies at 42
1995 – Hsuan Hua, influential Buddhist master in the United States (b. 1918)
1996 – Noel Walton Bott, engineer, dies at 88
1996 – [Francis] Max Factor Jr, makeup inventor, dies at 91
2008 – Jim McKay, American sportscaster (b. 1921)
2009 – Kenny Rankin, American singer (b. 1940)
2012 – Phillip Tobias, South African palaeoanthropologist, dies at 86
2012 – Bob Welch, American musician, commits suicide by gunshot at 66
—
Today In The Past
Events
1002 – German king Henry II the Saint crowned
1242 – 24 wagonloads of Talmudic books burned in Paris
1391 – Inhabitants of Seville Spain massacres 5,000 Jews
1513 – Battle at Novara: Habsburgers vs Valois
1520 – France & England sign treaty of Scotland
1536 – Mexico begins it’s inquisition
1639 – Massachusetts grants 500 acres of land to erect a gunpowder mill
1654 – Queen Christina of Sweden resigns & converts to Catholicism
1664 – New Amsterdam renamed NYC
1665 – Battle at Monte Carlo: English & Portuguese army beat Spain
1683 – The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world’s first university museum.
1716 – 1st slaves arrive in Louisiana
1752 – 3rd great fire in Moscow in 2 weeks; 1/3 of city destroyed
1772 – Haitian explorer Jean Baptiste-Pointe Dusable settles Chicago
1795 – Fire destroy 1/3 of Copenhagen; 18,000 injured
1813 – US invasion of Canada halted at Stoney Creek (Ont)
1816 – 10″ snowfall in New England, “year without a summer” (Mount Tambora)
1832 – The barricades fall and the Paris student uprisings of 1832 end.
1844 – Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) forms in London
1850 – Levi Strauss make his 1st pair of blue jeans
1859 – Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales (Queensland Day).
1862 – Battle of Memphis-city is surrendered
1862 – Battle of Port Royal, SC (Port Royal Ferry)
1862 – Skirmish at Harrisonburg, PA
1863 – Battle of Milliken’s Bend, LA & Williamsport, MD
1864 – Battle of Lake Chicot, AR (Dutch Bayou)
1875 – Netherlands goes on the gold standard
1882 – Cyclone in Arabian Sea (Bombay India) drowns 100,000
1882 – Electric iron patented by Henry W Seely, NYC
1885 – 19th Belmont: Paul Duffy aboard Tyrant wins in 2:43
1889 – Great Fire in Seattle destroys 25 downtown blocks
1890 – United States Polo Association forms, NYC
1896 – 21st Preakness: Henry Griffin aboard Margrave wins in 1:51
1896 – George Samuelson leaves NY harbor to row across Atlantic
1911 – Nicaragua signs treaty turning over customs to US (not ratified)
1912 – The eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins. It is the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.
1913 – Rabbit Maranville, is thrown out trying to steal home 3 times
1914 – 1st air flight out of sight of land (Scotland to Norway)
1918 – Battle of Belleau Wood, 1st US victory of WW I
1920 – Gen Wrangel opens offensive against red Army
1925 – Walter Percy Chrysler founded Chrysler Corp (Iacocca is 8 months old)
1932 – US Federal gas tax enacted
1932 – The Revenue Act of 1932 is enacted, creating the first gas tax in the United States, at a rate of 1 cent per US gallon (1/4 ¢/L) sold.
1933 – 1st drive-in theater opens (Camden NJ)
1936 – 68th Belmont: James Stout aboard Granville wins in 2:30
1936 – Aviation gasoline 1st produced commercially Paulsboro NJ
1939 – NY supreme court justice J F Crater legally declared dead
1941 – 1st navy vessel constructed as mine layer Terror launched
1941 – Giants use plastic batting helmets for 1st time
1942 – 1st nylon parachute jump (Hartford Ct-Adeline Gray)
1942 – 74th Belmont: Eddie Arcaro aboard Shut Out wins in 2:29.2
1942 – Japanese forces retreat, ending Battle of Midway
1942 – Japanese troop land on Kiska, Aleutians
1944 – Baseball cancels all games honoring D-Day invasion
1944 – D-Day: 150,000 Allied Expeditionary Force lands in Normandy, France
1944 – Nazi troops executed 96 prisoners by firing squad
1944 – Theodore Roosevelt Jr receives congressional medal of honor
1944 – U-955, U-970, U-629, U-373 sink in Gulf of Biskaje
1946 – Martin Kresses begins publishing “Eric the Viking” comic strip
1955 – Bill Haley & Comets, “Rock Around the Clock” hits #1
1958 – Ozzie Virgil is 1st black to play as a Tiger
1960 – Roy Orbison releases “Only the Lonely”
1960 – Steve Allen Show,” last airs on NBC-TV
1962 – Beatles meet their producer George Martin for 1st time, they record “Besame Mucho” with Peter Best on drums
1964 – 96th Belmont: Manuel Ycaza aboard Quadrangle wins in 2:28.6
1966 – Activist James Meredith wounded by white sniper in Mississippi
1966 – Claus Von Bulow & Martha (Sunny) Crawford wed
1966 – NFL & AFL announce their merger
1966 – Stokely Carmichael launches “Black Power” movement
1967 – Israeli troops occupy Gaza
1968 – Senator Robert Kennedy dies from his wounds after he was shot the previous night.
1969 – Joe Namath resigns from NFL after Pete Rozelle, football commissioner, said he must sell his stake in a bar
1970 – 102nd Belmont: John Rotz aboard High Echelon wins in 2:34
1971 – “Ed Sullivan Show” last broadcasts on CBS-TV
1971 – Air West filght 706 collides with Navy Phantom jet over LA, 50 die
1971 – Willie Mays hits record 22nd & last extra inning HR
1972 – David Bowie releases “Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust”
1972 – Explosion at world’s largest coal mine kills 427 (Wankie Rhodesia)
1972 – Gold hits record $60 an ounce in London
1972 – US bombs Haiphong, North-Vietnam; 1000s killed
1975 – British voters decide to remain in Common Market
1977 – “Washington Post” reports US has developed neutron bomb
1977 – Doobie Brothers sponsor a Golf Classic & Concert for United Way
1977 – Supreme Court tosses out automatic death penalty laws
1979 – 200th running of horse’s Derby in England
1979 – Royal Air force receives 1st F-16
1981 – 113th Belmont: George Martens aboard Summing wins in 2:29
1981 – Maya Yang Lin wins competition to design the Vietnam War Memorial
1982 – 30,000 Israeli troops invade Lebanon to drive out PLO
1983 – Bottle with note of June 9, 1910 found in Queensland
1983 – Nicaragua expels 3 US diplomats
1984 – 1,200 die in Sikh “Golden Temple” uprising India
1985 – Body of Nazi criminal, Dr Josef Mengele located & exhumed
1987 – 119th Belmont: Craig Perret aboard Bet Twice wins in 2:28.2
1988 – George Bush makes campaign promise to support reparations for WW II
1989 – Mets turn their 1st triple play in 7 years but lose to Cubs 8-4
1990 – For 2nd time this season, Cecil Fielder belts 3 home runs in a game
1991 – Albert Belle is shipped to minors for not running out a ground ball
1991 – Dana Plato receives 6 yr suspended sentence for robbing a video store
1991 – NBC announces Jay Leno will replace Johnny Carson on May 25, 1992
1992 – 124th Belmont: Eddie Delahoussaye aboard AP Indy wins in 2:26
1994 – 6.0 earthquake/avalanche destroys Toez Colombia (about 1000 killed)
1998 – 130th Belmont
1999 – At the Putim maximum security prison in Brazil, 345 prisoners run from the main gate in the largest jailbreak in Brazilian history, marking the 10th escape for the three-year-old facility. In the ensuing manhunt, two fugitives are killed and five innocent bystanders are accidentally jailed.
2002 – Eastern Mediterranean Event. A near-Earth asteroid estimated at 10 metres diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. The resulting explosion is estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, slightly more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb.
2005 – The United States Supreme Court votes to ban medical marijuana in Gonzales v. Raich.
2012 – The Solar Impulse completes the world’s first intercontinental flight powered by the sun
Births
1236 – Wen Tianxiang, Chinese prime minister (d. 1283)
1436 – Regiomontanus (Johannes Muller), prepares astronomical tables
1502 – King John III of Portugal (d. 1557)
1580 – Godefroy Wendelin, Flemish astronomer (d. 1667)
1599 – Diego Velázquez, Spanish painter (d. 1660)
1606 – Pierre Corneille, France, dramatist (El Cid, Horace)
1622 – Claude-Jean Allouez, French Jesuit missionary and explorer (d.1857)
1695 – Adriaen Valckenier, gov-gen Neth-Indies (1737-41)/killed 8,000 Chinese
1755 – Nathan Hale, hanged patriot, had but one life to give for his country
1756 – John Trumbull, US painter (Declaration of Independence)
1799 – Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, Russian writer and poet (Eugene Onegin) (5/26 OS)
1829 – John Baillie McIntosh, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1888
1829 – Shusaku Honinbo, Japanese Go player (d. 1862)
1840 – William Francis Bartlett, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1850 – Karl F Braun, Germany, co-developed wireless telegraphy (Nobel 1909)
1862 – Henry John Newbolt, English sea historian/poet
1867 – David Abercrombie, Abercrombie & Fitch founder (d. 1931)
1868 – Robert Falcon Scott, Plymouth, British leader of ill-fated south pole expedition
1875 – Thomas Mann, Germany, novelist (Magic Mountain-Nobel 1929)
1879 – L Patrick Abercrombie, English architect
1890 – Ted Lewis, American bandleader (d. 1971)
1892 – Donald F. Duncan Sr., American entrepreneur (d. 1971)
1902 – Harold Roxbee Cox Kings Norton, aeronautical engineer
1902 – Jimmie Lunceford, American bandleader (d. 1947)
1903 – Aram Il’yich Khachaturian, Tiflis Georgia, musician/composer (Gayane)
1906 – Max Zorn, German mathematician (lemma of Zorn)
1907 – Bill Dickey, NY Yankee hall-of-fame catcher (1928-43)/manager (1946)
1917 – Kirk Kerkorian, CEO (MGM, UA)
1918 – Maria Montez, Dominican Rep, actress (Arabian Nights)
1923 – V. C. Andrews, American author (d. 1986)
1926 – Tom Ryan, comic strip cartoonist (Tumbleweeds)
1932 – Billie Whitelaw, Coventry England, actress (Omen, Adding Machine)
1933 – Heinrich Rohrer, Swiss physicist (tunneling microscope-Nobel 1986)
1936 – Levi Stubbs, rocker (4 Tops-Same Old Song)
1939 – Gary “US” Bonds, [Anderson], Fla, singer/songwriter (New Orleans)
1940 – Laudir De Olivera, rocker (Chicago)
1940 – Sandra Morgan, 100m freestyle swimmer (Olympic-gold-1956)
1941 – Alexander Cockburn, Scottish-born American journalist, (d. 2012)
1942 – Larry “The Mole” Taylor, rocker (Canned Heat)
1944 – Phillip Allen Sharp, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1946 – Lasse Hallstrom, director (Once Around, My Life as a Dog, ABBA)
1947 – Marion Coakes, England, equestrian show jumper (Olympic-silver-1968)
1947 – Robert Englund, Glendale, California, American actor (Freddy vs. Jason, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
1949 – Holly Near, American folksinger
1951 – Dwight Twilley, Tulsa Oklahoma, country singer (Twilley Don’t Mind)
1951 – Noritake Takahara, Japanese racing driver
1954 – Harvey Fierstein, Brooklyn NY, playwright (Torch Song Trilogy, ID4)
1955 – Sandra Bernhard, Flint Mich, actress (King of Comedy, Nancy-Roseanne)
1956 – Bjorn Borg, Sodertlage Sweden, tennis champ (Wimbledon 1976-79)
1959 – Amanda Pays, London England, actress (Max Headroom, Off Limits)
1959 – Colin Quinn, American comedian
1960 – Steve Vai, Carle Place, New York, American guitarist (Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth Band, Whitesnake)
1964 – Dee C Lee, [Diane Sealey], rocker (Style Council-You’re Best Thing)
1967 – Paul Giamatti, American actor
1969 – Douglas Lee Mitchell, Miles Mi, heavy metal artist (Southgang)
1975 – Staci Keanan, [Anastasia Love Sagorsky], actress (Nicole-My 2 Dads)
1976 – Lukas Hass, actor (Mars Attacks, Lady in White, Witness, Music Box)
1976 – Geoff Rowley, British skateboarder
1977 – Bryn Williams, Welsh chef
Deaths
840 – Agobard, archbishop of Lyon (anti-semite), dies
1134 – Norbertus van Xanten, monastery founder, dies at about 51
1393 – Emperor Go-En’yu of Japan (b. 1359)
1480 – Vecchietta, Italian artist and architect
1548 – Juan de Castro, Portuguese explorer (b. 1500)
1563 – Ikeda Nagamasa, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1519)
1583 – Nakagawa Kiyohide, Japanese warlord (b. 1556)
1671 – Stenka/Stepan Razin, Russian cossack/boer leader quartered alive (ns. 16 June)
1740 – Alexander Spotswood, British governor of Virginia Colony
1799 – Patrick Henry, American revolutionary (b. 1736)
1832 – Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher (b. 1748)
1862 – Turner Ashby, General, killed near Harrisonburg VA, dies at 33
1877 – Prairie Flower, daughter of Ponca & chief Standing Bear, dies
1878 – Robert Stirling, Scottish inventor (b. 1790)
1922 – Lillian Russell, entertainer, dies at 60
1937 – Jean Harlow, actr (Bombshell), dies from gallbladder infection at 26
1939 – Ford Madox Ford, writer, dies at 65
1941 – Louis Chevrolet, American automotive pioneer (b. 1878)
1943 – Karl Landsteiner, Austrian/US pathologist (Nobel 1930), dies at 74
1944 – Danny Brotheridge, British lieutenant, 1st to die during D-Day
1948 – Louis Lumière, French movie pioneer (b. 1864)
1961 – Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss Psychiatrist, dies at 85
1968 – Robert Kennedy, (Sn-D-NY), assassinated in LA by Sirhan Sirhan at 42
1976 – J Paul Getty, oil magnate/billionaire, dies at 83
1979 – Jack Haley, American actor (The Wizard of Oz), dies of a heart attack at 80
1988 – Ella Raines, actress (Brute Force), dies of throat cancer at 66
1991 – Stan Getz, jazz saxophonist (Girl from Ipanema), dies at 64
1994 – Barry Sullivan, actor (Great Gatsby), dies at 81
1994 – Peter Graves, English actor (Derby Day/Admirable Crichton), dies at 82
1994 – Willie Humphrey, jazz clarinetist, dies at 93
1996 – George Snell, genetecist, dies at 92
2003 – Dave Rowberry, British musician (The Animals) (b. 1940)
2005 – Anne Bancroft, American actress, dies from uterine cancer at 73
2006 – Billy Preston, American musician (b. 1946)
2006 – Hilton Ruiz, Puerto Rican-American jazz pianist (b. 1952)
—
Today In The Past
Events
70 – Titus & his Roman legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem
754 – Friezen murders bishop Boniface & over 50 companions
1257 – Kraków, Poland receive city rights.
1288 – Battle of Woeringen: Reinald I vs Jan I
1305 – Bordeaux’s archbishop Bertrand the Got elected Pope Clement V
1507 – England & Netherlands sign trade agreement
1625 – Spanish troops under Spinola conquer Breda
1661 – Isaac Newton admitted as a student to Trinity College, Cambridge
1716 – England & Emperor Karel VI signs military treaty
1798 – The Battle of New Ross: The attempt to spread United Irish Rebellion into Munster is defeated.
1805 – 1st recorded tornado in “Tornado Alley” (Southern Illinois)
1806 – 1st trotter to break 3 minute mile (Yankee)
1808 – –6] Battle at Wagram: French army beats Austrians
1827 – Turks capture Acropolis & takes Athens during Greek War of Independ
1829 – The HMS Pickle captures the armed slave ship Voladora off the coast of Cuba.
1833 – Ada Lovelace (future 1st computer programmer) meets Charles Babbage
1846 – Telegraph line opens between Phila & Balt
1855 – Anti-foreign anti-Roman Catholic Know-Nothing Party’s 1st convention
1861 – Federal marshals seize arms & gunpower at Du Pont works DE
1863 – Battle of Franklin’s Crossing, VA (Deep Run)
1863 – CSS “Alabama” captures “Talisman” in Mid Atlantic
1864 – Battle of Piedmont, VA (Augusta City)
1869 – 3rd Belmont: C Miller aboard Fenian wins in 3:04.25
1872 – Republican National Convention meets (Phila)
1873 – Sultan Bargash closes slave market of Zanzibar
1879 – 13th Belmont: George Evans aboard Spendthrift wins in 2:42.75
1884 – William T Sherman refuses Republican presidential nomination saying “I will not accept if nominated & will not serve if elected“
1886 – 20th Belmont: Jim McLaughlin aboard Inspector B wins in 2:41
1888 – The Rio de la Plata Earthquake takes place.
1899 – Alfred Dreyfus’ acquitted
1900 – Lord Roberts’ army occupies Pretoria
1907 – Automatic washer & dryer are introduced
1912 – US marines invade Cuba (3nd time)
1915 – 47th Belmont: George Byrne aboard The Finn wins in 2:18.6
1915 – Denmark amends its constitution to allow women’s suffrage.
1917 – 10 million US men begin registering for draft in WW I
1920 – 1st rivet driven on Bank of Italy headquarters at 1 Powell
1927 – Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard & 200-yard free-style swim record
1933 – Gold standard abolished
1934 – 1st formal meeting of Baker Street Irregulars (NYC)
1937 – 69th Belmont: Charley Kurtsinger aboard War Admiral wins in 2:28.6
1937 – Henry Ford initiates 32 hour work week
1940 – Battle of France begins in WW II
1940 – Netherlands rations petroleum
1940 – Synthetic rubber tire unveiled
1942 – British offensive in North Africa under general Ritchie
1942 – Elwood Ordnance Plant near Joliet Illinois kills 54
1942 – USA declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary & Romania
1943 – 75th Belmont: Johnny Longden aboard Count Fleet wins in 2:28.2
1944 – 1st B-29 bombing raid; 1 plane lost due to engine failure
1944 – 1st British gliders touched down on French soil for D-Day
1944 – Allies march into Rome
1946 – Fire at LaSalle Hotel cocktail lounge kills 61 (Chicago Ill)
1947 – Sec of State George C Marshall outlines “Marshall Plan”
1950 – US Supreme Court undermines legal foundations of segregation
1952 – 1st sporting event televised nationally-Walcott vs Charles boxing
1952 – Jersey Joe Walcott beats Ezzard Charles in 15 for heavy weight boxing title
1953 – US Senate rejects China PR membership to UN
1954 – “Your Show Of Shows,” last airs on NBC-TV
1955 – NY Yankee Mickey Mantle hits 550′ HR off Chicago Billy Pierce
1956 – “Milton Berle Show,” last airs on NBC-TV
1959 – Bob Dylan graduates Hibbing HS in Minn
1960 – “George Gobel Show,” last airs on CBS-TV
1963 – State of siege proclaimed in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini arrested
1964 – Davie Jones & King Bees debut “I Can’t Help Thinking About Me,” group disbands but Davie Jones goes on to success as David Bowie
1965 – “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham & Pharaohs hits #2
1965 – 97th Belmont: John Sellers aboard Hail to All wins in 2:28.6
1967 – 6 day war between Israel & Arab neighbors begins
1967 – Murderer Richard Speck sentenced to death in electric chair
1969 – Race riot in Hartford Connecticut
1971 – 103rd Belmont: Walter Blum aboard Pass Catcher wins in 2:30.6
1975 – British population agrees to European Common Market membership
1975 – Egypt president Sadat reopens Suez Canal (closed since 1967)
1976 – 108th Belmont: Angel Cordero Jr aboard Bold Forbes wins in 2:29
1976 – Teton Dam in Idaho burst causing $1 billion damage (14 die)
1977 – Coup in Seychelles (National Day)
1981 – Astro’s Nolan Ryan passes Early Wynn as all-time walk leader (1,777)
1982 – 114th Belmont: Laffit Pincay Jr aboard Conquistador Cielo wins in 2:28
1982 – Waterfront streetcar begins operating in Seattle
1984 – Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” becomes #1
1984 – Indira Gandhi orders attack on Sikh’s holiest site (Golden Temple)
1988 – Kay Cottee sails into Sydney as 1st woman to circle globe alone
1988 – Longest champagne cork flight is 177’9 in NY
1989 – Billy Smith, last original NY Islander, retires
1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev receives his 1990 Nobel Peace Prize
1993 – 125th Belmont: Julie Krone aboard Colonial Affair wins in 2:29.8
1993 – Liberian Charles Taylors rebellion kills 550 fugitives
1993 – Somali warlord Aidids murders 23 Pakistani
1995 – The Bose-Einstein condensate is first created.
1998 – A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants (the strike lasted seven weeks).
2001 – U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords leaves the Republican Party, an act which shifts control of the United States Senate from the Republicans to the Democratic Party.
2001 – Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm caused $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the costliest tropical storm in U.S. history.
Births
1341 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of Edward III of England (d. 1402)
1493 – Justus Jonas, German Protestant reformer (d. 1555)
1553 – Bernardino Baldi, Italian mathematician (d. 1617)
1640 – Pu Songling, Chinese writer (d. 1715)
1646 – Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician (d. 1684)
1660 – Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (d. 1744)
1664 – Mustafa II, sultan of Turkey (1695-1703)
1718 – Thomas Chippendale, England, furniture maker (baptized)
1723 – Adam Smith, Kirkcaldy Scot, economist (Wealth of Nations) (baptized)
1757 – Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist (d. 1808)
1760 – Johan Gadolin, Finnish chemist (discovered yttrium)
1771 – Willem F, count of Bylandt, Dutch military officer
1819 – John Couch Adams, English astronomer (co-discover Neptune)
1827 – Beverly Holcombe Robertson, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1831 – Marcus Joseph Wright, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1922
1850 – Pat Garrett, American Western lawman (d. 1908)
1862 – Allvar Gullstrand, Swedish physician (Nobel 1911)
1878 – [Francisco] Pancho Villa, Mexico, revolutionary/guerrilla leader
1879 – Robert Mayer, German-born philanthropist (d. 1985)
1883 – John Maynard Keynes, Cambridge England, economist/math/journalist
1885 – Georges Mandel, [Louis Rothschild], French Foreign minister (-1940)
1887 – Ruth Benedict, New York City, American anthropologist (Patterns of Culture)
1895 – William Boyd, Ohio, cowboy (Hopalong Cassidy)
1900 – Dennis Gabor, inventor (holography (3D laser photography)) [or Jan 5]
1901 – Anastasia N Romanova, great ruler of Russia/daughter of last tsar
1906 – Margaret Rawlings, actress (Roman Holiday)
1911 – Charles Fletcher, physician/CEO (ASH)
1912 – Josef Neckermann, German FR, equestrian dressage (Olympic-gold-1968)
1912 – Dean Amadon, American ornithologist (d. 2003)
1914 – Beatrice de Cardi, archaeoligist
1915 – Lancelot Ware, founder (MENSA)
1920 – Cornelius Ryan, US historian/writer (The Longest Day , A Bridge Too Far)
1923 – Jorge Daponte, Argentine racing driver (d. 1963)
1928 – Robert Lansing, SD California, actor (12 O’Clock High, Equalizer, Automan)
1931 – Jacques Demy, France, director (Lola, Magic Donkey)
1932 – Christy Brown, Dublin, novelist (My Left Foot, Down All the Days)
1934 – Bill D Moyers, Hugo Oklahoma, news commentator (Bill Moyers’ Journal)
1934 – Katherine Helmond, actress (Soap, Coach)
1938 – Karin Balzer, German DR, hurdler (Olympic-gold-1968)
1938 – Marion Chapman, smallest known premature baby to survive (280 g)
1941 – Duane Duke Sims, baseball player
1941 – Spalding Gray, RI, actor (Beaches, Clara’s Heart, Heavy Petting)
1945 – Don Reid, Va, country singer (Statler Bros-Flowers on the Wall)
1946 – Fred Stone, rock guitarist (Sly & Family Stone-Stand)
1946 – Fuzzy Fuscaldo, rocker (Capt Beefheart)
1946 – Gillian Hills, Cairo Egypt, actress (Blow-up, Clockwork Orange)
1946 – Michael Monarch, rocker (Steppenwolf)
1947 – David Hare, playwright (Strapless, Plenty, Wetherby, Fatale)
1947 – Laurie Anderson, performance artist (O Superman, Excellent Birds)
1947 – Tom Evans, Liverpool, rock bassist/vocalist (Badfinger)
1948 – Frank Estersmith, Australia, rocker (Air Supply)
1949 – Ken Follett, Cardiff, Wales, spy author (Eye of the Needle, Lie Down with Lions)
1950 – Adrian Cosma, Romania, team handball (Olympic-silver-1976)
1950 – Ronnie Dyson, US, singer (Hair, All over your face)
1951 – Suze Orman, American financial advisor, writer, and television personality.
1953 – Kathleen Kennedy, American film producer
1954 – Peter Erskine, jazz drummer (Weather Report)
1954 – Michael “Nicko” McBain, Eng hard rock drummer (Iron Maiden-Powerslave)
1956 – Kenny G, saxophonist (Duotones)
1959 – Michael Winans, gospel singer (Winans)
1961 – Teri Nunn, California, rock vocalist (Berlin-You Take my Breathe Away)
1962 – Astrid, Belgian princess/daughter of Albert II
1964 – Mags, rocker (Fuzzbox-Into Rescue)
1967 – Joe Deloach, US, 200m runner (Olympic-gold-1988)
1970 – Izabella Scorupco, Bialystok Poland, actress (Golden Eye)
1971 – Mark Wahlberg, Boston, Massachusetts, rap singer (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch) and actor (Boogie Nights, The Departed)
1972 – Chuck Klosterman, American journalist
1973 – Brady Smith, defensive end (New Orleans Saints)
1973 – Gella Vandecaveye, Belgian judoka
1976 – Ross Noble, British comedian
1977 – Nourhanne, Lebanese singer
1979 – Pete Wentz, American musician (Fall Out Boy)
1979 – Jason White, American NASCAR driver
1981 – Jade Goody, British television personality
1985 – Kenny De Ketele, Belgian cyclist
1987 – Lara Bingle, Australian model
Deaths
535 – Epiphanius of Constantinople, patriarch of Constantinople
754 – Boniface, [Winfrid], English saint/archbishop (Dokkum), dies at 79
754 – Eoda, English speaking bishop of Utrecht, murdered
1017 – Emperor Sanjō of Japan (b. 976)
1118 – Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester
1288 – Hendrik VI, earl of Luxembourg/Laroche (1281-88), dies in battle
1296 – Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England (b. 1245)
1383 – Dmitry Konstantinovich, Russian prince (b. 1324)
1443 – Ferdinand, Portuguese saint/slave to Fez, dies
1568 – Lamoraal, earl of Egmont/prince of Gavere, beheaded
1568 – Philips van Montmorency count of Horne, admiral/statesman, beheaded
1688 – Constantine Phaulkon, Greek adventurer (b. 1667)
1716 – Roger Cotes, English mathematician (b. 1682)
1738 – Isaac de Beausobre, French Protestant pastor (b. 1659)
1825 – Odysseas Androutsos, hero in the Greek War of Independence
1861 – John Garland, US Union colonel/brig-general, dies in battle
1864 – William Edmonson “Grumble” Jones, Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at 39
1866 – John McDouall Stuart, Australian explorer (b. 1815)
1900 – Stephen Crane, author (Red Badge of Courage), dies at 28
1908 – Luca Fumagalli, composer, dies at 71
1910 – O. Henry, American author (b. 1862)
1916 – Horatio H Kitchener, British General (Sudan), drowns at 65
1930 – Jules Pascin, [Julius Pincas], Bulgarian/US painter/cartoonist, dies
1939 – Elijah Beardsworth, world quick shaving champion, dies
1953 – Bill Tilden, tennis champ, dies at 60
1970 – Jay Irving, cartoonist (Draw Me a Laugh), dies at 69
1975 – Paul Keres, Estonian chess player (b. 1916)
1977 – “Sleepy” John Estes, bluesman , guitarist , singer , dies at 74
1990 – Vasily V Kuznetsov, pres of USSR supreme soviet (1982-83, 85), dies
1992 – Laurence Naismith, actor (Scrooge, Gypsy Girl), dies at 83
1992 – Max Lerner, US writer/columnist (NY Post), dies at 88
1993 – Conway Twitty, country star (Linda on My Mind), dies in surgery at 59
1994 – Ish Kabbible, [Merwyn A Bogue], cornetist (Kay Kyser), dies at 86
1996 – Vito Scotti, actor (Nude Bomb, Get Shorty, Big Bus), dies at 78
1998 – Jeanette Nolan, American actress (b. 1911)
1999 – Mel Tormé, American singer (“The Velvet Fog”), composer, and actor (b. 1925)
2002 – Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist (The Ramones) (b. 1952)
2004 – Ronald Reagan, American , radio sports announcer, actor, governor of California, and 40th President of the United States (b. 1911)
2009 – Jeff Hanson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1978)
2012 – Ray Bradbury, American Sci-Fi author, dies at 91
—-
Today In The Past
Events
781 BC – The first historic solar eclipse is recorded in China.
1039 – Henry III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
1070 – Roquefort cheese created in a cave near Roquefort, France
1133 – Rome-Innocentius II crowns Lotharius III Roman-German emperor
1391 – Mob led by Ferrand Martinez surounds & sets fire to Jewish quarter of Seville Spain, surviving Jews sold into slavery
1487 – Lord Lovell & John de la Poles army land at Furness Lancashire
1615 – Siege of Osaka, Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan.
1632 – Prince Frederik Henry conquerors Venlo
1647 – British army seizes King Charles I as a prisoner
1666 – Battle at Duinkerk: English vs Dutch fleet
1745 – Battle at Hohenfriedberg Silezie: Frederick the Great (Prussia) defeats Austrians & Saxons
1756 – Quakers leave assembly of Pennsylvania
1760 – Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada taken from the Acadians.
1769 – A transit of Venus is followed five hours later by a total solar eclipse, the shortest such interval in history.
1783 – Montgolfier brothers launch 1st hot-air balloon (unmanned)
1784 – Madame Elizabeth Thible becomes the first female balloonist.
1789 – US constitution goes into effect
1792 – Capt George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Britain
1794 – Congress passes Neutrality Act, bans Americans from serving in armed forces of foreign powers
1805 – Tripoli forced to conclude peace with US after war over tribute
1812 – Louisiana Territory officially renamed “Missouri Territory”
1825 – Unseasonable hurricane hits NYC
1845 – Mexican-US war starts
1850 – Empire Engine Company No 1 organized
1862 – Confederates evacuate Ft Pillow, Tenn
1870 – 4th Belmont: W Dick aboard Kingfisher wins in 2:59.5
1873 – 1st contract workers of British-Indies Co arrives in Suriname
1875 – Pacific Stock Exchange opens
1884 – 18th Belmont: Jim McLaughlin aboard Panique wins in 2:42
1892 – Oil City & Titusville Penn, destroyed by oil tank explosion; 130 die
1892 – Sierra Club forms in SF
1896 – Henry takes his 1st Ford through streets of Detroit
1907 – Automatic washer & dryer introduced
1912 – Cone of Mount Katmai (Alaska) collapses
1912 – Massachusetts passes 1st US minimum wage law
1916 – Russian General Brusilov fails on his Eastern Front attack
1917 – American men begin registering for the draft
1917 – Order of British Empire inaugurated
1919 – Senate passes Women’s Suffrage bill
1919 – US marines invade Costa Rica
1927 – 1st Ryder Cup: US beats England, 9½-2½ at Worcester Country Club (Worcester, Massachusetts, US)
1927 – Johnny Weissmuller set swim records in 100-yard & 200-yard free-style
1928 – President of the Republic of China Zhang Zuolin is assassinated by Japanese agents.
1929 – George Eastman demonstrates 1st technicolor movie (Rochester NY)
1932 – 64th Belmont: Tom Malley aboard Faireno wins in 2:32.8
1938 – 70th Belmont: James Stout aboard Pasteurized wins in 2:29.6
1940 – British complete miracle of Dunkirk by evacuating 300,000 troops
1940 – The synthetic rubber tire unveiled
1940 – Winston Churchill says “We shall fight on the seas & oceans”
1942 – Battle of Midway begins; Japan’s 1st major defeat in WW II
1942 – Capitol Record Co opens for business
1942 – USS Yorktown sinks near Midway Island
1943 – Argentina taken over by Gen Rawson & Col Juan Peron
1943 – Race riots in LA
1944 – 1st British gliders touches down on French soil for D-Day
1944 – 1st submarine captured & boarded on high seas-U 505
1944 – 5th Army enters & liberates Rome from Mussolini’s Fascist armies
1945 – 6th Marine division occupies Orokoe Peninsula Okinawa
1945 – US, Russia, England & France agree to split occupied Germany
1946 – Largest solar prominence (300,000 mi/500,000 km) observed
1947 – House of Reps approves Taft-Hartley act
1954 – Arthur Murray flies X-1A rocket plane to record 27,000 m
1954 – France grants Vietnam independence inside French Union
1962 – Lee Harvey Oswald departs Rotterdam on SS Maasdam to US
1965 – Rolling Stones release “Satisfaction”
1966 – “Batman & His Grandmother” by Dickie Goodman hits #70
1966 – 98th Belmont: William Boland aboard Amberoid wins in 2:29.6
1967 – Monkees take home an Emmy for their Outstanding comedy Series
1967 – Curt Flood’s record 568 straight chances without an error ends (227 straight games)
1968 – Don Drysdale pitches his 6th straight shutout, en route to 58 innings
1969 – 22-year-old sneaks into wheel pod of a jet parked in Havana & survives 9-hr flight to Spain despite thin oxygen levels at 29,000 ft
1972 – Record 8 shutouts pitched in 16 major league games (AL=5, NL=3)
1973 – A patent for the ATM is granted to Don Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
1974 – Never repeated 10 cent Beer Night at Cleveland, unruly fans stumble onto field & cause Indians to forfeit the game to Rangers with score tied 5-5 in 9th
1975 – Oldest animal fossils in US discovered in NC
1977 – Apple II, the 1st personal computer, goes on sale
1982 – “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” released in USA
1982 – Israel attacks targets in south Lebanon
1984 – Arnold Palmer fails to make US Open golf tournament 1st time in 32 yrs
1984 – DNA is successfully cloned from an extinct animal
1985 – Supreme Court strikes down Alabama “moment of silence” law
1986 – Jonathan Pollard, spy for Israel, pleads guilty in US court
1987 – Danny Harris beats Edwin Moses, ends streak of 122 cons hurdle wins
1988 – Rickey Henderson steals 2 bases for record 249 as a NY Yankee
1989 – Beijing cop shoots & wounds Chinese priemer Li Ping
1989 – Eastern Europe’s 1st somewhat free election in 40 years held in Poland
1989 – Gas explodes near 2 passenger trains in USSR, kills 100s
1989 – Largest parade in Bronx history honors 350th anniversary
1990 – Greyhound Bus files bankruptcy
1990 – Dr Jack Kevorkian assisted an Oregon woman to commit suicide, beginning a national debate over the right to die
1992 – San Jose voters reject Giants plan to build a new stadium
1992 – USPO announces young Elvis beats old Elvis stamp
1998 – Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2012 – US drone attack kills 15 militants in Pakistan, including high ranking al-Qaeda official, Abu Yahya al-Libi
2012 – Japan’s stock market plummets to record lows with the S&P/TOPIX 150 reaching its lowest level since 1983
Births
1394 – Philippa of England, queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (d. 1430)
1489 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1544)
1604 – Claudia de’ Medici, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (d. 1648)
1665 – Zacharie Robutel de La Noue, Canadian soldier (d. 1733)
1694 – Francois Quesnay, French personal physician of Louis XIV
1704 – Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and manufacturer (d. 1776)
1738 – George III, English King during American Revolution (1760-1820)
1744 – Patrick Ferguson, Scots army officer and rifle designer (d. 1780)
1754 – Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, Austrian editor and astronomer (d. 1832)
1787 – Constant Prévost, French geologist (d. 1856)
1801 – James Pennethorne, architect
1803 – Gabriel James Rains, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1881
1815 – Paul Jones Semmes, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1863
1816 – Phillipe Regis Denis de Keredern de Trobriand, Bvt Mjr Gen (Union)
1828 – Alexander William Campbell, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1864 – Nassau William Senior, British economist
1887 – Tom Longboat, marathon runner (d. 1949)
1894 – Blanch Knopf, publishing CEO (Knopf)
1899 – Hassan Fathy, Egyptian architect (d. 1989)
1908 – Rosalind Russell, Waterbury CT, actress (Mame, Take a Letter Darling)
1910 – Christopher Cockerell, inventor (Hovercraft)
1916 – Cecil Blacker, CEO (British Equestrian Federation)
1917 – Allen Greenwood, deputy CEO (British Aerospace)
1917 – Charles Collingwood, Mich, news commentator (CBS, Chronicles)
1917 – Robert Merrill, Bkln NY, baritone (NY Metropolitan Opera)
1918 – LeRoy Walker, Atlanta Ga, CEO (US Olympic Committee)
1924 – Dennis Weaver, Joplin Mo, actor (Chester-Gunsmoke, Duel, Battered)
1927 – Priscilla Morrill, Medford Mass, actress (Edie Grant-Mary Tyler Moore)
1930 – Morgana King, jazz singer/actress (Godfather)
1932 – John Barrymore Jr, Beverly Hills California, actor (Pantomine Quiz)
1932 – Oliver Nelson, American jazz composer and arranger (d. 1975)
1934 – Seamus Elliott, Irish cyclist (d. 1971)
1936 – Bruce Dern, Winnetka Ill, actor (Coming Home, Silent Running, Tattoo)
1937 – Freddie Fender, Mexico, country singer (Feelings)
1937 – Mortimer B Zuckerman, CEO (US News & World Report, NY Daily News)
1937 – Robert Fulghum, American author
1937 – Gorilla Monsoon, American professional wrestler (d. 1999)
1938 – Art Mahaffey, baseball player
1943 – Sandra Haynie, Fort Worth TX, LPGA golfer (1974 US Women’s Open)
1944 – Charlie Whitney, rock guitarist (Family)
1944 – Michelle Phillips, Long Beach CA, singer/actress (Mamas & Papas)
1944 – Roger Ball, Scotland, saxophonist (Average White Band)
1945 – Gordon Waller, Scotland, singer (Peter & Gordon-World Without Love)
1945 – Ivan “Ironman” Stewart, Mickey Thompson off-road champ (1983, 84, 90)
1946 – Bettina Gregory, correspondent/journalist (ABC-TV)
1952 – Carlene Watkins, Hartford CT, actress (Tough Enough)
1952 – Parker Stevenson, Phila Pa, actor (Falcon Crest, Stroker Ace)
1953 – Paul Samson, British guitarist (Samson) (d. 2002)
1956 – John Treacy, marathonr (Olympics-silver-1984)
1956 – Martin Adams, English darts player
1956 – John Hockenberry, American journalist
1959 – Lord Rayleigh, agri-businessman (Lord Rayleigh Farms)
1961 – El Debarge, Grand Rapids Mich, rocker (Debarge-All this Love)
1963 – Mossimo Giannulli, fashion designer (hot)
1964 – Chris Kavanagh, rocker (Sigue Sigue Sputnik-Love Missile F-111)
1965 – Andrea Jaeger, Chicago, tennis player (retired as a teenager)
1965 – Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
1968 – Al B. Sure, American R&B singer
1969 – Tine Moberg-Parker, Oslo Norway, Canada Europe class yachter (Oly-96)
1971 – Noah Wyle, Hollywood California, actor (Dr John Carter-ER)
1971 – Joseph Kabila, Congolese politician
1975 – Russell Brand, British comedian and television personality
1975 – Angelina Jolie, Los Angeles, California, American actress (Girl, Interrupted, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider)
1981 – T. J. Miller, American actor and comedian
1985 – Bar Refaeli, Israeli model
1985 – Ana Carolina Reston, Brazilian fashion model (d. 2006)
1992 – Earvin Johnson III, son of NBA foward Magic Johnson
Deaths
1039 – Conrad II the Salian, King/Emperor of Germany (1024/27-39), dies at 49
1135 – Emperor Huizong of China (b. 1082)
1267 – Hendrik of Vianden, bishop of Utrecht (1252-67), dies
1316 – Louis X, King of France (1314-16), dies at 26
1394 – Mary de Bohun, wife of Henry IV of England (b. c 1369)
1463 – Flavio Biondi, Italian writer (Rome instaurata), dies at about 65
1558 – Maximilian of Burgundy, leader of Holland/admiral, dies at 43
1663 – William Juxon, archbishop of Canterbury (1660-63), dies
1792 – Gen John Burgoyne, soldier/playwright, dies
1798 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer/writer/librarian and womanizer, dies at 73
1801 – Frederick Muhlenberg, American statesman (b. 1750)
1830 – Antonio José de Sucre, Great Marshall of Ayacucho (b. 1795)
1880 – Eugen Adam, painter, dies
1916 – Mildred J Hill, composer/musician (Happy Birthday To You), dies at 56
1921 – Heinrich E Albers-Schoenberg, German x-ray experimenter, dies at 56
1922 – William Halse Rivers, British psychologist/anthropologist, dies
1959 – Charles Vidor, director (Gilda, Farewell to Arms), dies at 58
1962 – William Beebe, US biologist/explorer, dies at 84
1989 – Ayatalloh Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian leader (-1989), dies at 89
1989 – Dik Browne, cartoonist (Hi & Lois, Hagar the Horrible), dies at 71
1990 – Jack Gilford, comedic actor (Cocoon II), dies at 82 of stomach cancer
1994 – Derek Lek Leckenby, rock guitarist (Herman’s Hermits), dies at 48
1995 – William J Law, sailor, dies at 84
1997 – Ronnie Lane, bassist (Faces), dies of multiple sclerosis at 51
2001 – John Hartford, American musician (b. 1937)
—