Today In History
Historical Events
518 – Former peasant Justin I proclaimed Byzantine emperor in the Hippodrome, Constantinople
1775 – Horatio Gates issues order excluding Blacks from Continental Army
1971 – National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) founded in US by women, including Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Myrlie Evers-Williams, and Gloria Steinem
1992 – Spaceship Giotto (Halley 1986) approaches comet Grigg-Skjellerup
2006 – Pakistan International Flight PK-688 crashes in Multan, Pakistan shortly after takeoff, killing all 45 people on board
Famous Birthdays
1625 – Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer, born in La Rochefoucauld, France (d. 1703)
1888 – Giorgio De Chirico, Italian painter (founded the scuola metafisica art movement), born in Volos, Greece (d. 1978)
1914 – Joe Shuster, Canadian-American cartoonist (co-creator, with Jerry Siegel, of “Superman”), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1992)
1933 – Ivan Passer, Czech film director (Born to Win, Cutter’s Way), born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (d. 2020)
1982 – Alex Arrowsmith, American pop-rock singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (The Shaky Hands), born in Hood River, Oregon
Famous Deaths
1594 – Paulo Bellasio, Italian organist and late Renaissance composer, dies at 40
1868 – Carlo Conti, Italian composer, dies at 71
1970 – Félix Gaillard, French Radical Party politician (Prime Minister, 1957-58), dies in a yacht accident at 50
2000 – Justin Pierce, English-American actor and skateboarder (b. 1975)
2020 – Corra Dirksen, South African rugby union winger (10 caps; Northern Transvaal), dies from COVID-19 complications at 82
Historical Events
1652 – England declares war on The Netherlands – beginning of the 1st Anglo-Dutch war
1861 – Lincoln writes to Kentucky’s militia and says Union troops will not enter that state
1926 – Lake Denmark, New Jersey, arsenal explodes, killing 21 and causing $75 million in damage
1945 – Admiral Marc Mitscher named chief of US Navy staff
1947 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah is recommended as the first Governor General of Pakistan by then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Clement Attlee
1991 – Foreign Minister R.F. Botha of South Africa signs accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on behalf of South Africa
2016 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Scotsman Andy Murray beats Canadian Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 for his second Wimbledon and third Grand Slam title
2018 – Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo joins Italian champions Juventus in a deal worth £99.2 million, becoming one of the four most expensive players of all time
Famous Birthdays
1682 – Roger Cotes, English mathematician (Newton–Cotes formulas), born in Burbage, Leicestershire, England (d. 1716)
1697 – François Hanot, French composer and violinist, born in Dunkirk, France (d. 1770)
1792 – George Mifflin Dallas, American politician (11th Vice President of the United States) and United States Minister to Russia, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1864)
1818 – John Stuart Williams, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky (d. 1898)
1928 – Bernard Buffet, French painter (Expressionism), born in Paris (d. 1999)
1945 – Ron Glass, American actor (Barney Miller, Frank’s Place), born in Evansville, Indiana (d. 2016)
1965 – Peter Duncan, Scottish politician (Member of Parliament (C), 2001-05), born in Saltcoats, Scotland
1977 – Vivek Murthy, Vice-Admiral and 19th US Surgeon General (2014-17), born in Hudderfield, UK
1985 – Mario Gómez, German soccer striker (78 caps; VfB Stuttgart, Bayern Munich), born in Riedlingen, Germany
2024 – Moo Deng, Thai baby pygmy hippopotamus and internet sensation, born at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Chonburi, Thailand
Famous Deaths
1086 – Knut IV, the Saint, king of Denmark (1080-86), murdered
1460 – Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English military leader (b. 1402)
1909 – Flooi Du Toit, South African cricket leg-spinner (Test for South Africa 1892), dies at 40
1910 – Johann Gottfried Galle, German astronomer, discoverer of Neptune by telescope, dies at 98
1937 – Attilio Brugnoli, Italian pianist and composer, dies at 56
1963 – John Sutton, British actor (The Three Musketeers, Tower of London, Return of Fly), dies of a heart attack at 54
1971 – Bhikari Thakur, Indian poet, playwright, and folklorist, known as the “Shakespeare of Bhojpuri”, dies at 83
1991 – Gerome Ragni, American playwright and songwriter (Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical), dies of cancer at 55
2010 – John Coates, British naval architect best known for reconstructing an Ancient Greek trireme, dies from cancer at 88
2015 – Roger Rees, Welsh Tony winning stage and screen actor (Cheers – “Robin Colcord”), dies of brain cancer at 71