Today In History
Historical Events
1960 – San Francisco Giants hire Tom Sheehan to replace Bill Rigney; baseball’s oldest debuting manager (66) goes 46-50-2 for remainder of season
1963 – 3,000 blacks boycott Boston public school to protest de facto segregation
2006 – US Open Men’s Golf, Winged Foot GC: Geoff Ogilvy of Australia makes clutch pars on the final 2 holes to win by 1, as runners-up Jim Furyk, Colin Montgomerie and Phil Mickelson all fail to par the 72nd hole
2014 – King Juan Carlos I of Spain abdicates the Spanish throne to make way for his son Felipe VI
2019 – England cricket captain Eoin Morgan smashes a ODI world record 17 sixes against Afghanistan in his side’s 150-run World Cup victory at Old Trafford; Morgan, 148 from 71 balls
Famous Birthdays
1919 – Ted Leadbitter, British politician (Labour), born in Easington, England (d. 1996)
1929 – James Bishop, English editor (deputy editor of The Times), born in London, England (d. 2017)
1946 – Russell Ash, British author (‘the human Google’), born in Surrey, England
1947 – Bernard Giraudeau, French actor (L’Annee des Meduses), screenwriter, and director, born in La Rochelle, France (d. 2010)
1971 – Nigel Owens, Welsh rugby union referee (record holder for most Test matches refereed 100), born in Mynyddcerrig, Wales
Famous Deaths
1580 – Juliana van Stolberg, German countess, mother of William of Orange and Jan Nassau, dies at 74
1911 – Franjo Ksaver Kuhač, Croatian composer who collected and published 1,600 folk songs, dies at 76
1959 – Ethel Barrymore [Blythe], American classic film and stage actress (Constant Wife, Corn is Green), dies at 79
1961 – Eddie Gaedel, American baseball pinch-hitter (shortest player in MLB history 3′ 7″; St. Louis Browns), dies after mugging at 36
1981 – Richard Goolden, British actor (Two Days to Live, School for Husbands), dies at 86
Historical Events
1580 – States of Utrecht forbid Catholic worship
1980 – Dutch 2nd Chamber joins oil boycott of South Africa
2003 – Google launches AdSense, a program that enables website publishers to serve ads targeted to the specific content of their individual web pages, many of which like On This Day (then HistoryOrb.com) go on to start their own publishing businesses
2005 – David Tennant’s first appearance as the Tenth Doctor in BBC “Doctor Who” episode “The Parting of the Ways”
2013 – 27 people are killed and 30 are injured by a suicide bomb in Sher Garh, Pakistan
2017 – ICC Men’s Cricket Champions Trophy, The Oval, London: Pakistan wins the competition for the first time with a 180-run victory over India; Player of the Series: Hasan Ali (PAK) 13 wickets
2020 – World record for greatest duration for a single lighting flash of 17.1 seconds during thunderstorm over Uruguay and Argentina according to World Meteorological Organization
2022 – Flooding in Bangladesh and nearby Indian states leave four million stranded and without electricity, with at least 41 dead as monsoon floods become more frequent and extreme
Famous Birthdays
1717 – Johann Stamitz, Bohemian composer and violinist, born in Německý Brod, Kingdom of Bohemia (d. 1757)
1757 – Ignaz Joseph Pleyel, Austrian-French composer and piano builder, born in Ruppersthal, Austria (d. 1831)
1799 – William Lassell, British astronomer who discovered satellites of Uranus and Neptune, born in Bolton, England (d. 1880)
1896 – Philip Barry, American dramatist (Philadelphia Story), born in Rochester, New York (d. 1949)
1896 – George Thalben-Ball, Australian-English organist (Birmingham City Organist, 1949-83), and composer (Elegy), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 1987)
1907 – Froelich Rainey, American anthropologist and quiz moderator (What in the World), born in Black River Falls, Wisconsin (d. 1992)
1908 – Nedra Volz (née Gordonier), American character actress (All in the family; Diff’rent Strokes; The Dukes of Hazzard), born in Montrose, Iowa (d. 2003)
1927 – Paul Eddington, British actor (Devil Rides Out, Devil’s Bride), born in Paddington, London (d. 1995)
1937 – Gail Godwin, American novelist and short story writer (A Mother and Two Daughters, Getting to Know Death), born in Birmingham, Alabama
1971 – Mara Hobel, American actress (Mommie Dearest), born in New York City
Famous Deaths
1686 – Johann Quirsfeld, German composer, dies at 43
1772 – Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-Austrian physician (Austrian Empress Maria Theresa’s personal physician), dies at 72
1853 – Branko Radicevic, Serbian poet (1st Serbian Uprising), dies of tuberculosis at 29
1939 – Frans “Sas” van Aerschot, Flemish operetta actor (Paljas), dies at 73
1980 – Terence Fisher, English film director (Hammer Films), dies at 76
1980 – Kazimierz Kuratowski, Polish mathematician known for his work on topological and metric structures, dies at 84
1983 – Luther Tucker, American blues guitarist, dies of a heart attack at 57
1987 – Bruce Marshall, Scottish writer, dies at 87
2005 – J.J. Pickle, American politician (Rep-D-Texas, 1963-95), dies at 91
2024 – Willie Mays, American Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder (24 x MLB All Star; 12 x Gold Glove Award; 660 career HRs, NL MVP 1954, 65; NY/SF Giants, NY Mets), dies of heart failure at 93