Today In History
Historical Events
1932 – German election (NSDAP gets 37.3%)
1967 – Rolling Stones’ singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards are released from jail in England after serving 1 month on drug charges
1970 – Black Tot Day: the last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy, which started in 1740
1980 – Crew of Soyuz 37 returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 36
2022 – Women’s Euro 2022: England defeats Germany 2-1 in extra time in front of the biggest-ever Euro crowd of 87,192 at Wembley, London
Famous Birthdays
1929 – José Santamaría, Uruguayan soccer defender (Uruguay 20, Spain 16 caps; Nacional, Real Madrid) and manager (Español, Spain), born in Montevideo, Uruguay (d. 2026)
1932 – John Searle, American philosopher (Chinese Room Argument), born in Denver, Colorado (d. 2025)
1951 – Gerald Anthony, American actor (Marco Dane in “One Life to Live” and “General Hospital”), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 2004)
1981 – M. Shadows [Matthew Sanders], American singer (Avenged Sevenfold), born in Huntington Beach, California
1988 – A. J. Green [Adriel Jeremiah Green], American NFL player (Cincinnati Bengals), born in Summerville, South Carolina
Famous Deaths
1972 – Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian politician (Prime Minister of Belgium, Secretary-General of NATO, 1957-61), dies at 73
1988 – André Navarra, French concert cellist (Jolivet’s Cello Concerto), and educator (Paris Conservatoire, 1947-88), dies at 76
1997 – Edith Fore, American pitchwoman (ad for LifeCall alarm – I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!), dies at 81
2015 – Howard W. Jones Jr., American physician who oversaw the birth of the first American ‘test tube’ baby and helped open the first sex-change clinic in a US hospital, dies at 104
2022 – Mo Ostin [Ostrofsky], American record company executive (Verve; Reprise; Warner Bros; Dreamworks), dies at 95
Historical Events
1658 – Aurangzeb appoints himself the sixth Mughal emperor; the Mughal Empire reaches its greatest extent under him
1969 – KWIH TV channel 44 in Winona, Minnesota (IND) begins broadcasting
1983 – Dutch July average temperature is 20.1°C (68.18°F), making it the warmest July since 1854
1991 – US Senate votes to allow women to fly combat aircraft
1997 – First baseman Mark McGwire becomes MLB’s top home run hitter to be traded in the middle of a season when he moves from Oakland to the St. Louis Cardinals with 34 home runs and 81 RBIs
2016 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Baltusrol GC: American Jimmy Walker wins his first major by one shot from defending champion Jason Day of Australia
2019 – Russian President Vladimir Putin orders the Russian army to help put out huge wildfires in Siberia covering 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) after 700,000 people sign a petition
2019 – US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by 0.25%, the first cut since 2008
Famous Birthdays
1578 – Catharina Belgica of Nassau, Countess of Hanau-Münzenberg and daughter of William the Silent, born in Antwerp (d. 1648)
1686 – Charles, Duke of Berry, French heir presumptive to the Spanish throne (1700-07), born at the Palace of Versailles, France (d. 1714)
1803 – John Ericsson, Swedish-American inventor (screw propeller, rotating turret), born in Långban, Sweden (d. 1889)
1844 – Ignazio Guidi, Italian orientalist and archaeologist, born in Rome, Italy (d. 1935)
1912 – Milton Friedman, American economist (Nobel Prize Economics 1976), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2006)
1914 – Louis De Funes, French actor and writer (The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacobs), born in Courbevoie, France (d. 1983)
1939 – France Nuyen, Vietnamese-French actress (St Elsewhere, Diamond Head), born in Marseilles, France
1958 – Bill Berry, American drummer (R.E.M., 1980-97 – “Losing My Religion”; “Stand”), born in Duluth, Minnesota
1962 – Troy Murray, Canadian NHL hockey center (Chicago Black Hawks, Colorado Avalanche, and 3 other teams), and broadcaster (Black Hawks), born in Calgary, Alberta (d. 2026)
1965 – Pat Finn, American television actor (The Middle, Marvin Marvin), born in Evanston, Illinois (d. 2025)
Famous Deaths
1638 – Sybilla Schwarz, German baroque poet, dies at 17
1784 – Denis Diderot, French enlightenment philosopher (Encyclopédie), dies at 70
1917 – Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (b. 1881)
1981 – mar Torrijos, Panamanian military officer, coup d-etat leader, and dictator (Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution, 1968-81), dies in plane crash at 52
1990 – Albert Leduc, Canadian ice hockey defenseman (Stanley Cup 1930, 31 Montreal Canadiens), dies at 87
1997 – Edith Fore, American pitchwoman (ad for LifeCall alarm – I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!), dies at 81
2013 – Michael Ansara, American actor (Broken Arrow, Centennial), dies at 91
2022 – Mo Ostin [Ostrofsky], American record company executive (Verve; Reprise; Warner Bros; Dreamworks), dies at 95
2023 – Melaku Worede, Ethiopian plant geneticist and agronomist (helped Ethiopia recover from 1984 famine), dies at 87
2023 – Angus Cloud, American actor (Euphoria), dies of an accidental drug overdose at 25