Today In History
Historical Events
1915 – Kansas City Packers’ Alex Main no-hits Buffalo Blues (Federal League), 5-0
1966 – The Beatles perform in concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for their second and final show in the city
1972 – USSR performs a nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeastern Kazakhstan
1997 – The South African soccer team, Bafana Bafana wins against the national team of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at First National Bank stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa
2021 – Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his cabinet resign after losing their majority amid political turmoil
Famous Birthdays
1868 – Bernarr McFadden, American physical culture advocate, credited with beginning the culture of health and fitness in the United States, born in Mill Spring, Missouri (d. 1955)
1935 – Andreas Stamatiadis, Greek soccer forward (8 caps; AEK Athens 316 games), born in Athens, Greece (d. 2025)
1954 – George Galloway, British politician, broadcaster, and writer, born in Dundee, Scotland
1958 – Anne L’Huillier, French-Swedish physicist (2023 Nobel Prize for Physics for attosecond pulses of light), born in Paris, France
1985 – Taylor Goldsmith, American folk-rock singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Dawes), born in Los Angeles, California
Famous Deaths
1419 – Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, King of Bohemia (1378-1419) and Germany (1376-1400), dies at 58
1929 – Frank Valentine der Stucken, American-Belgian composer, dies at 70
1956 – Bela Lugosi [Blaskó], Austrian actor (Dracula, Plan 9 From Outer Space), dies of a heart attack at 73
1986 – Jaime Saenz, Bolivian poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1921)
2024 – Countess of Airlie [Virginia Ogilvy], British-American Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II, dies at 91
Historical Events
1905 – Mbunga Rebellion occupies German post Ifakara, East Africa
1915 – Kansas City Packers’ Alex Main no-hits Buffalo Blues (Federal League), 5-0
1920 – Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman is hit in the head by NY Yankees pitcher Carl Mays and dies the next day in the only MLB game-related fatality
1928 – Belgian cyclist Georges Ronsse wins men’s road race at UCI Road World Championships in Budapest, Hungary
1971 – Over 8,000 workers go on strike in Derry, Northern Ireland, in protest against the introduction of internment, which allows suspected terrorists to be indefinitely detained without trial
1987 – Astrological Harmonic Convergence – Dawn of a New Age
1997 – The South African soccer team, Bafana Bafana wins against the national team of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at First National Bank stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa
2008 – British sailor Ben Ainslie convincingly wins the Finn class at the Beijing Olympics, earning his third gold medal in as many Games
Famous Birthdays
1644 – François-Timoléon de Choisy, French writer (Quatre dialogues sur l’immortalité de l’âme), born in Paris (d. 1724)
1769 – Jean Aimé Vernier, French harpist and composer, born in Paris (d. 1838)
1846 – Justus van Maurik, Dutch author and cigar manufacturer, born in Amsterdam (d. 1904)
1868 – Bernarr McFadden, American physical culture advocate, credited with beginning the culture of health and fitness in the United States, born in Mill Spring, Missouri (d. 1955)
1892 – Harold Foster, Canadian-American cartoonist (Prince Valian), born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (d. 1982)
1929 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer who scored the winning goal in the final of the 1954 World Cup, born in Essen, Germany (d. 2003)
1935 – Betsy von Furstenberg, German-American actress (Machine Calls it Murder), born in Nelheim, Germany (d. 2015)
1939 – Eric Weissberg, American singer and musician (“Dueling Banjos”), born in New York City (d. 2020)
1952 – Gianna Rolandi, American soprano (Der Rosenkavalier), born in New York City
1953 – James “J.T.” Taylor, American RandB singer (Kool and The Gang – “Ladies’ Night”; “Celebration”; “Joanna”), born in Laurens, South Carolina
Famous Deaths
1864 – Victor Girardey, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in battle at 27
1895 – Samuel Bell Maxey, American Brigadier General in the Confederate Army and Senator from Texas (Democratic: 1875-87), dies at 70
1905 – Jamie Anderson, Scottish golfer (British Open 1877-79), dies at 63
1983 – Earl Averill, American Baseball HOF outfielder (6 × MLB All-Star 1933–1938; Cleveland Indians), dies at 81
1997 – Gerard McLarnon, British-Irish actor and writer (The Wrestler’s Honeymoon), dies at 82
2004 – Carl Mydans, American photojournalist (Life Magazine, 1936-72), dies at 97
2020 – Chetan Chauhan, Indian cricket batsman (40 Tests @ 31.57, 16 x 50; Maharashtra, Delhi), dies of COVID-19 at 73
2022 – Aydın Yelken, Turkish soccer forward (9 caps; Karagümrük, Fenerbahçe, Altay, İzmirspor), dies at 83
2023 – Renata Scotto, Italian soprano (Metropolitan Opera, 1965-87; La Traviata – “Violetta”) and opera director, dies at 89
2024 – Countess of Airlie [Virginia Ogilvy], British-American Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II, dies at 91