Today In History
Historical Events
1905 – US Open Men’s Golf, Myopia Hunt GC: Willie Anderson wins his third consecutive Open title, and his record fourth overall, two strokes ahead of runner-up Alex Smith
1968 – KMTC (now KDEB) TV channel 27 in Springfield, MO (IND) begins broadcasting
1987 – US TV series “Full House,” starring Bob Saget and John Stamos, premieres
1993 – A Transair Georgian Airlines Tu-154 is shot down by a missile in Sukhumi, Georgia
2013 – Angela Merkel and the Christian Democrats win a third term with their best result since 1990 in the German federal elections
Famous Birthdays
1601 – Anna of Austria, Spanish princess, Austrian archduchess, Queen of France as wife of Louis XIII and regent of France (1643-51) for her son Louis XIV, born in Benavente Palace, Valladolid, Spain (d. 1666)
1822 – Eppa Hunton, American representative and Brigadier-General who fought in most ANV campaigns, born in Warrenton, Virginia (d. 1908)
1931 – Fay Weldon [Franklin Birkinshaw], British feminist, novelist (Praxis; The Lives and Loves of a She-Devil), playwright, and screenwriter, born in Birmingham, England (d. 2023)
1958 – Neil Cavuto, American television commentator (Fox), born in Westbury, New York
1961 – Kofi Burbridge, American blues-rock keyboardist and flute player (Derek Trucks Band, 1999-2019; Tedeschi Trucks Band, 2010-2019), born in The Bronx, New York (d. 2019)
Famous Deaths
1345 – Henry Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Leicester (b. 1281)
1978 – Lina Carstens, German actress (Homeland, Broken Jug), dies at 85
1993 – Margaret MacDonald ‘Bobo’, Scot-born maid to Queen Elizabeth II, dies at 89
1994 – (John Edward) “Teddy” Buckner, American Dixieland jazz trumpeter, dies at 85
2025 – Henry Jaglom, American actor, screenwriter and director (Last Summer in the Hamptons, Always), dies at 87
Historical Events
1851 – City of Des Moines, Iowa, incorporated as Fort Des Moines
1885 – Lord Randolph Churchill delivers a speech in Ulster opposing Home Rule, stating, “Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right”
1919 – Steel strike begins in the US and continues for four months
1937 – Date celebrated as the first International Hobbit Day and the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins
1959 – Chicago White Sox clinch AL pennant
1973 – Henry Kissinger is sworn in as America’s first Jewish Secretary of State, succeeding William Rogers
1979 – Montreal Expo Larry Parrish hits home runs off Phillies’ Rawly Eastwick in a doubleheader
2018 – Singer Rihanna is appointed as an ambassador for Barbados
Famous Birthdays
1791 – Michael Faraday, English scientist, discovered electromagnetic induction, invented 1st electric motor, born in Newington Butts, England (d. 1867)
1833 – Stephen Dill Lee, American 1st president of Mississippi State University, Lt General in Confederate Army, born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 1908)
1880 – Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragist, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, born in Manchester, England (d. 1958)
1931 – Nello Santi, Italian opera conductor (Opernhaus Zürich; NY Metropolitan Opera), born in Adria, Veneto, Italy (d. 2020)
1937 – Raul Machado, Portuguese soccer centre-back (11 caps; Leixões SC, SL Benfica), born in Matosinhos, Portugal (d. 2023)
1939 – Junko Tabei, Japanese mountain-climber, 1st woman to climb Mount Everest, born in Miharu (d. 2016)
1946 – King Sunny Adé [Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye], Nigerian jùjú and Afrobeat singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboard player (Jùjú Music; Synchro System; Odu), born in Oshogbo, Nigeria
1961 – Dot Richardson, American softball infielder (Olympic gold 1996), born in Orlando, Florida
1966 – Mike Richter, American ice hockey goalie (Stanley Cup 1994 NY Rangers; World Cup gold 1996; Olympic silver 2002), born in Abington, Pennsylvania
1995 – Juliette Goglia, American actress (That’s So raven), born in Los Angeles, California
Famous Deaths
1286 – Mugaku Sogen, Zen Rinzai line founder of Engakuji temple, dies at 60
1539 – Guru Nanak, Founder of the religion of Sikhism and the 1st Sikh Guru, dies at 70
1952 – Cor Ruys, Dutch actor (Princess Stage, The Cross-Patch), dies at 63
1953 – William Brann, South African cricketer (3 Tests for South Africa), dies at 54
1960 – Melanie Klein, Austrian-British author and child psychoanalyst (object relations theory), dies at 78
1979 – Otto Robert Frisch, Austrian-British physicist who coined the term nuclear fission (Manhattan Project), and educator (Cambridge), dies at 74
1994 – Edward Shackleton, English explorer, geographer and Labour Party politician, dies at 83
2010 – Eddie Fisher, American pop singer (“Oh My Papa”: I’m Walking Behind You”), dies from complications from hip surgery at 82
2021 – Orlando Martínez, Cuban boxer (Olympic gold bantamweight 1972), dies at 77
2025 – Aron Bell [Bielski], Polish-American WWⅡ resistance fighter and scout for the Bielski partisans, dies at 98