Today In History
Historical Events
1805 – 45 women meet at Mrs. Silas Lee’s home in Wiscasset, Maine, and organize the Female Charitable Society, one of the earliest women’s clubs in America
1925 – French General Sarrail bombs Damascus (ends October 20)
1954 – Hurricane Hazel becomes the most severe to ever hit the US, killing 195 in the US and Canada
2000 – Zack de la Rocha announces he is leaving the rock band Rage Against the Machine
2020 – Bolivia elects Luis Arce President and his party, Movement for Socialism back into government
Famous Birthdays
1818 – Edward Otho Cresap Ord, American engineer and Major General (Union Army), born in Cumberland, Maryland (d. 1883)
1878 – James Truslow Adams, American historian (Pulitzer Prize 1921, popularized phrase “American Dream”), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1949)
1898 – Lotte Lenya [Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer], Austrian-American singer, muse and wife of Kurt Weill, and actress (The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone; From Russia with Love), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1981)
1956 – Jim Talent, American politician (Rep-R-Missouri), born in Des Peres, Missouri
1990 – Brittany Griner, American basketball center (Olympic gold 2016, 20; WNBA C’ship 2014 Phoenix Mercury; 8 × WNBA All-Star; WNBA scoring champion 2017, 19; detained in Russia for drug smuggling Feb-Dec 2022), born in Houston, Texas
Famous Deaths
1459 – Jan of Heinsberg, Bishop of Liège (1419-56), dies
1977 – Andreas Baader, German left-wing militant and leader of the Red Army Faction, commits suicide along with other RAF leaders at 34
2013 – Mary Carver [Carvellas], American actress (Simon and Simon, Star Trek: Enterprise), dies at 89
2016 – Phil Chess [Fiszel Czyż], Polish-American record company executive (Chess Records), and jazz record producer, dies at 95
2023 – Dwight Twilley, American power pop singer-songwriter (“I’m On Fire”; “Girls”), dies of complications from a stroke at 72
Historical Events
1904 – Gustav Mahler’s 5th symphony premieres in Cologne, Germany
1943 – US bombing of Bougainville, Solomon Islands
1961 – The Museum of Modern Art in New York displays Henri Matisse’s picture “Le Bateau” upside down, and it takes 47 days and 116,000 people before someone notices
1981 – Andreas Papandreou’s PASOK wins Greek elections
1991 – Revival of Frank Loesser’s 1956 musical “The Most Happy Fella” closes at the NY State Theater in New York City after a limited run by the New York City Opera
2000 – Zack de la Rocha announces he is leaving the rock band Rage Against the Machine
2021 – Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso declares a 60-day state of emergency in response to a violent crime wave caused by a power struggle between drug cartels
2022 – Evidence of a lost star catalog by second-century BC Greek astronomer Hipparchus, the earliest known attempt to record celestial objects’ coordinates with the naked eye, is found in a palimpsest manuscript published by scholars
Famous Birthdays
1706 – Baldassare Galuppi, Venetian composer (opera buffa), born on Burano, Republic of Venice (d. 1785)
1818 – Charles Edward Mudie, English book publisher, founder of Mudie’s Lending Library which dominated the UK circulation library movement, born in London (d. 1890)
1909 – Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher and legal theorist, born in Turin, Italy (d. 2004)
1935 – Michael Oatley, British MI6 officer who held secret talks with the IRA, born in London (d. 2026)
1944 – Katherine Kurtz, American sci-fi author (Deryni Rising, Saint Camber), born in Coral Gables, Florida
1944 – Nelson Freire, Brazilian classical pianist, born in Boa Esperança, Brazil (d. 2021)
1947 – Laura Nyro, American singer-songwriter (“Wedding Bell Blues”; “Stoned Soul Picnic”; “And When I Die”), born in The Bronx, New York (d. 1997)
1958 – Kjell Samuelsson, Swedish NHL defenseman (Philadelphia Flyers), born in Tyngsryd, Sweden
1959 – Milčo Mančevski, Macedonian film director and screenwriter, known for “Before the Rain”, born in Skopje, Macedonia, Yugoslavia
1970 – Bob Kennedy, American 5K runner, born in Bloomington, Indian
Famous Deaths
1417 – Pope Gregory XII [Angelo Correr], Pope (1406-15), dies
1604 – Igram van Achelen, Dutch statesman (b. 1528)
1812 – Henry Martyn, English missionary (India and Persia), dies of a fever at 31
1876 – Francis Preston Blair, American journalist and newspaper editor (Washington Globe), dies at 85
1921 – King Ludwig III, the last king of Bavaria (1913-18), dies at 76
1932 – William E. Upjohn, American physician who invented dissolvable pills (Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company), dies at 79
1956 – Charles Strite, American inventor who invented the automatic pop-up toaster, dies at 78
1961 – Tsuru Aoki, Japanese-American silent film actress (The Dragon Painter), dies at 69
1972 – Ken Wishart, cricketer (WI opening batsman in one Test 1935), dies
1983 – Vijay Manjrekar, Indian cricket batsman (55 Tests, 7 x 100, HS 189no; Bombay, Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra), dies at 52