Today In History
Historical Events
1918 – Czechoslovakia forms an independent republic
1944 – 11th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Chicago Bears 24, All-Stars 21 (48,769 attendees)
1972 – American women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Shirley Babashoff, Jane Barkman, Jenny Kemp, and Sandy Neilson beats East Germany by just 0.36 seconds to win gold at the Munich Olympics with a world record time of 3:55.19
2013 – Fifteen people are killed by a liquid ammonia leak at a cold storage plant in Shanghai, China
2019 – Co-founder and CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, has his Twitter account hacked; racist comments are posted in his name
Famous Birthdays
1914 – Julie Bishop [Jacqueline Wells], American actress (My Hero, Northern Pursuit, Threat), born in Denver, Colorado (d. 2001)
1923 – Gerhard Wimberger, Austria composer (Glove), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2016)
1939 – John Peel [Ravenscroft], British popular music radio presenter (BBC Radio 1, 1967-2004), born in Heswall, England (d. 2004)
1960 – Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, American Medal of Honor recipient, born in Lincoln, Maine (d. 1993)
1996 – Trevor Jackson, American actor (Grown-ish), and RandB singer-songwriter (“Drop It”), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
Famous Deaths
1974 – Abraham Schierbeek, Dutch biologist (Leeuwenhoek), dies at 87
1991 – Alan Wheatley, British actor (The Adventures of Robin Hood), dies from a heart attack at 84
2007 – Michael Jackson, British beer and whiskey author and expert, dies at 65
2013 – Lotfollah “Lotfi” Mansouri, Persian opera director (Canadian Opera Company, 1976-88; introduced opera surtitles, 1983; San Francisco Opera, 1988-2001), dies at 84
2022 – Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1985-91), dies after an unspecified long and grave illness at 91
Historical Events
1888 – Lord Walsingham kills 1,070 grouse in a single day
1922 – Babe Ruth is thrown out of a game for the fifth time in 1922
1924 – The Rentenmark is replaced by the Reichsmark as legal tender in Germany, during Hans Luther’s tenure as Minister of Finance.
1933 – Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar forms the secret police (PIDE)
1956 – White mob prevents enrollment of Black students at Mansfield High School, Texas
1966 – American medical drama series “Dr. Kildare,” starring Richard Chamberlain and Raymond Massey, ends a five-season run on NBC-TV
1969 – Three-day Texas International Pop Festival opens in Lewisville, Texas, with 125,000 attendees, featuring performers such as Chicago Transit Authority, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, Grand Funk Railroad, Janis Joplin, B.B. King, Led Zeppelin, Nazz, Sam and Dave, Sly and the Family Stone, and Johnny Winter
2006 – 63rd Venice Film Festival: “Still Life” directed by Jia Zhangke wins Golden Lion
Famous Birthdays
1852 – Jacobus Henricus van’t Hoff, Dutch physical chemist (Nobel 1901), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1911)
1888 – Eduardo Ciannelli, Italian character actor (Foreign Correspondent; Gunga Din), born in Ischia, Italy (d. 1969)
1923 – Charmian Clift, Australian writer and essayist, born in Kiama, New South Wales, Australia (d. 1969)
1934 – Luther “Georgia Boy” Johnson [Lucious Johnson], American blues guitarist, singer, and songwrite, born in Davisboro, Georgia (d. 1976)
1942 – Pervez Sajjad, Pakistani cricket left-arm spinner (19 Tests 1964-73), born in Lahore, Pakistan
1959 – Mark ‘Jacko’ Jackson, Australian rules footballer and actor (Jetto in “The Highwayman”), born in Melbourne, Australia
1960 – Thom Tillis, American politician (Senator-R-North Carolina 2015-), born in Jacksonville, Florida
1963 – Paul Oakenfold, British record producer and DJ, born in Mile End, London
1974 – Rich Cronin, American singer-songwriter (Lyte Funkie Ones), born in Boston, Massachusetts
1979 – Niki Chow, Hong Kong singer and actress (Nothing Gold Can Stay, The Virtuous Queen of Han), born in Hong Kong
Famous Deaths
1856 – Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, British writer of humor, dies of typhoid fever at 45 (b. 1811)
1903 – Vicente Fidel López, Argentine historian (Historia the Chile), dies at 87
1950 – Ralph Hancock, Welsh garden designer (Rockefeller Center), dies at 57
1963 – Guy Burgess, English-born Soviet spy, dies of acute liver failure at 52
1986 – Ellis Achong, West Indian cricket spin bowler (6 Tests, 8 wickets; Trinidad; 1st of Chinese descent to play a Test match), dies at 82
1994 – Michael Gribble, American film animator (Mike and Spike Festival), dies of cancer at 42
2007 – José Luis de Villalonga, 9th Marquess of Castellbell, Spanish aristocrat, author, and film actor, dies at 87
2015 – Marvin Mandel, American politician (Governor of Maryland 1969-79), dies at 95
2015 – Wes Craven, American filmmaker (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream), dies at 76
2019 – James Cellan Jones, Welsh television director (Fortunes of War, The Forsyte Saga), dies at 88