Today In History
Historical Events
1906 – Motion pictures begin regular showings at the Orpheum Theater in Honolulu, Hawaii
1996 – Shaun Pollock takes 4 wkts in 4 balls for Warwickshire in BandH
2014 – Oratorio for chorus evoking Pennsylvania coal-mining life “Anthracite Fields” by composer Julia Wolfe premieres in Philadelphia (Pulitzer Prize for Music 2015)
2019 – Six suspected militants connected to Sri Lankan terror attacks killed along with ten others in a shootout with police in Sainthamaruthu
2023 – Brazilian Portuguese-language Michaelis dictionary adds “pelé” as a new adjective to its online edition, meaning “exceptional, incomparable, unique”
Famous Birthdays
1798 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter and etcher (Journal), born in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, Île-de-France, France (d. 1863)
1931 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent, manager and producer (The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd), born in Manhattan, New York (d. 2008)
1955 – Mike Scott, American baseball pitcher (NL Cy Young Award and NLCS MVP 1986, NL wins leader 1989; 3 × MLB All-Star Houston Astros), born in Santa Monica, California
1957 – Rosa Briceño, Venezuelan conductor, and educator, born in Caracas, Venezuela (d. 2018)
1975 – Joey Jordison, American drummer (Slipknot, 1995-2013 – “All Hope Is Gone”), born in Des Moines, Iowa (d. 2021)
Famous Deaths
1196 – Alfonso II, King of Aragon (1162-96), dies at 39
1984 – May McAvoy, American actress (Ben Hur), dies from heart attack at 84
2003 – Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist, dies at 98
2017 – Jonathan Demme, American film director (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia), dies at 73
2021 – Al Schmitt, American Grammy Award-winning recording engineer and record producer (Sam Cooke, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand), dies at 91
Historical Events
1819 – Odd Fellows Lodge forms
1912 – First home run hit at Fenway Park by Hugh Bradley of the Red Sox
1956 – First modern container ship, the Ideal X, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas
1967 – Jule Styne, Adolph Green and Betty Comden’s musical “Hallelujah, Baby!”, starring Leslie Uggams, opens at Martin Beck Theater, NYC; runs for 293 performances and wins 2 Tony Awards
1976 – Pan Am begins nonstop flights between NYC and Tokyo
1983 – San Antonio spurs beat Denver Nuggets, 152-133 in NBA playoff game
1994 – Physicists announce the first evidence of the top quark subatomic particle
2012 – NFL Draft: Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck first pick by Indianapolis Colts
Famous Birthdays
1648 – Pedro II, King of Portugal (1683-1706), born in Ribeira Palace, Lisbon (d. 1706)
1726 – Pasquale Paoli, Corsican freedom fighter, born in Stretta di Morosaglia, France (d. 1807)
1910 – Ernst Tittel, Austrian organist and composer, born in Sternberg, Moravia (d. 1969)
1920 – Padú del Caribe [Juan Chabaya Lampe], Aruban pianist and composer, known as the “Father of the Caribbean” (“Aruba Dushi Tera” – Aruba’s national anthem), born in Oranjestad, Aruba, Kingdom of the Netherlands (d. 2019)
1930 – Bruce Jay Friedman, American novelist (A Mother’s Kisses), playwright (Scuba Duba) and screenwriter (Splash), born in New York City (d. 2020)
1933 – Ilkka Kuusisto, Finnish opera composer, organist, arts administrator (Finnish National Opera, 1984-92), broadcaster, and educator, born in Helsinki, Finland (d. 2025)
1949 – Jimmy Hall, American southern rock singer and saxophonist (Wet Willie), born in Birmingham, Alabama
1972 – Juanita du Plessis (née Naudé), Namibian Afrikaans country music singer (“Ska-Rumba”), born in Windhoek, South West Africa
1972 – Natrone Means, American NFL running back (San Diego Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars), born in Harrisburg, North Carolina
1982 – Brock Gillespie, American basketball player (CB Ciudad de Valladolid), born in Des Moines, Iowa
Famous Deaths
1922 – Hans Sommer, German theatre composer, dies at 84
1944 – Violette Morris, French athlete and spy for Nazi Germany, dies at 51
1951 – Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist, dies at 82
1958 – Joan Collette, Dutch graphic artist and painter (New Church, Delft), dies at 68
1965 – Aaron Avshalomov, Russian-Jewish-American composer (Kuan Yin; The Great Wall), conductor (Shanghai Municipal Orchestra, 1943-46), and librarian, dies at 70
1983 – Bronislaw Kaper, Polish-American Academy Award-winning film composer (Green Dolphin Street; Lili; The Brothers Karamazov), dies at 81
2007 – Edward Seidensticker, American historian and translator of Japanese and classical works, dies at 86
2013 – Len Rempt-Halmmans de Jongh, Dutch politician (House of Representatives, 1975-79, 1982–94), dies at 85
2018 – Charles Neville, American vocalist and saxophonist (Neville Brothers), dies of pancreatic cancer at 79
2025 – Andy Bey, American jazz singer and pianist (Horace Silver; Gary Bartz), dies at 85