Today In History
Historical Events
1806 – British forces lay siege to the French port of Boulogne using Congreve rockets, invented by Sir William Congreve
1813 – Treaty of Ried between Bavaria and Austria
1973 – Spyros Markezinis forms a government in Greece
1988 – Fire in the Space Needle causes evacuation and results in damages of $2,000 in Seattle, Washington
1990 – Israeli police kill 17 Palestinian protesters
Famous Birthdays
1789 – John Ruggles, American politician, born in Westborough, Massachusetts (d. 1874)
1927 – César Milstein, Argentine biochemist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1984), born in Bahía Blanca, Argentina (d. 2002)
1944 – Ray Handley, American football coach (HC New York Giants 1991-92; Super Bowl XXI, XXV NY Giants assistant coach), born in Artesia, New Mexico (d. 2026)
1959 – Tony Eason, American football quarterback (New England Patriots), born in Blythe, California
1965 – Martin Mayhew, American NFL cornerback (Tampa Bay Bucs), born in Daytona Beach, California
Famous Deaths
1728 – Anne Danican Philidor, French composer (Concert Spirituel), dies at 47
1985 – Malcolm Ross, American balloonist and atmospheric physicist, dies at 65
2001 – Javed Iqbal, Pakistani serial killer (murderer of 100 boys), commits suicide in prison at 45
2011 – Antonio Iglesias Álvares, Spanish pianist, composer, educator and critic, dies at 93
2023 – Alcides Báez, Paraguayan soccer goalkeeper (16 caps; FC Cerro Porteño, FC Libertad), dies at 76
Historical Events
876 – Battle at Andernach: East Frankish king Louis the Younger heavily defeats the West Frankish king Charles the Bald
1906 – Karl Nessler demonstrates the first “permanent wave” for hair in London
1977 – Largest baseball crowd in Pennsylvania, 64,924, sees Dodgers beat Phillies 4-1 in the 4th NL championship game (Dodgers win pennant)
1980 – British Leyland starts selling the Mini Metro
1982 – MGM releases comedy film “My Favorite Year,” directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Peter O’Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, and Joseph Bologna
1983 – MLB National League Championship: Philadelphia Phillies beat Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1
1986 – “The Color of Money,” directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise, premieres in New York City
2012 – 35 people are killed when a Nigerian military bomb strikes a convoy in Maiduguri
Famous Birthdays
1551 – Giulio Caccini, Italian composer, violist, tenor, and teacher, born in Florence, Republic of Florence (d. 1610)
1621 – Maximilian Henry of Bayern, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, Bishop of Hildesheim and Bishop of Liège, born in Munich, Germany (d. 1688)
1740 – Michel-Julien Mathieu, French composer, born in Fontainebleau, France (d. 1777)
1868 – Max Slevogt, German painter, born in Landshut, Germany (d. 1932)
1879 – Chen Duxiu, Chinese revolutionary socialist and author who co-founded the Chinese Communist Party with Li Dazhao and was the 1st General Secretary (1921-27), born in Anqing, Anhui, Qing dynasty of China (d. 1927)
1880 – Ernest Douwes Dekker, Indo-Dutch nationalist and founder of National-India Party, born in Pasuruan, Malang, Indonesia (d. 1950)
1883 – Dick Burnett, American musician (“Man of Constant Sorrow”), born in Monticello, Kentucky (d. 1977)
1932 – Ray Reardon, Welsh snooker player (World Champion 1970, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78; Pot Black 1969, 78), born in Tredegar, Wales (d. 2024)
1951 – Jack O’Connell, American politician (Member of the California State Senate), born in Glen Cove, New York
1968 – Zvonimir Boban, Croatian football player and Deputy Secretary General of FIFA, born in Imotski, Croatia
Famous Deaths
1604 – Janus Dousa [Johan van de Does], Dutch politician and poet, dies at 58
1925 – Abraham Pieter Cornelis van Karnebeek, Dutch Foreign Minister (Liberal, 1918-27), dies at 89
1927 – Mary Webb, English writer (Gone to Earth), dies at 46
1941 – Gus Kahn, German-American lyricist (“It Had to Be You”; “Makin’ Whoopee”; “I’ll See You in My Dreams”), dies of a heart attack at 54
1975 – Alberto Hemsi, Turkish born composer and collector of Sephardic Jews music, dies at 78
1981 – Heinz Kohut, Austrian-American psychoanalyst who opposed Freud and created the theory of self-psychology, dies of congestive heart failure at 68
1997 – Brown Meggs, CEO (Capitol Records), dies of a brain hemorrhage at 66
2008 – George E. Palade, Romanian-American cell biologist (ribosomen, Nobel 1974), dies at 95
2010 – Frank Bourgholtzer, American television correspondent (b. 1919)
2015 – Paul Prudhomme, American cajun chef (K-Paul), dies at 75