Today In History
Historical Events
1566 – Protestant Iconoclasm “Beeldenstorm” (Iconoclastic Fury) begins in the European Low Countries
1897 – Automobile Club of Great Britain is established (now called the Royal Automobile Club)
1980 – Canadian Open Women’s Golf (Peter Jackson Classic), Richelieu Valley GC: Pat Bradley wins by one from JoAnn Carner for her first of six major titles
1984 – Ian Ferguson of New Zealand wins two canoeing gold medals in the one day, winning the K-1 500 and K-2 500 with Paul MacDonald at the Los Angeles Olympics; he wins K-4 1000 the next day
2014 – Israeli and Palestinian officials agree to a 72-hour ceasefire proposed by Egypt
Famous Birthdays
1645 – Eusebio Kino, Italian Catholic missionary and explorer in Mexico and Arizona, born in Segno, Bishopric of Trent (d. 1711)
1654 – Bernard Nieuwentyt, Dutch philosopher and physician, born in West-Graftdijk, North Holland (d. 1718)
1794 – Leopold Zunz, German Jewish scholar (Science of Judaism), born in Detmold (d. 1886)
1893 – Douglas Moore, American organist, pianist, songwriter (“Goodnight Harvard”), and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer (Giants in the Earth; The Ballad of Baby Doe), born in Cutchogue, Long Island, New York (d. 1969)
1957 – Fred Ho [Houn], American jazz baritone saxophonist, composer (Year of the Tiger), playwright, writer and social activist, born in Palo Alto, California (d. 2014)
Famous Deaths
1911 – Carl Lumbye, Danish composer, dies at 70
1948 – Andrew Brown, Scottish football coach (b. 1870)
1960 – Oswald Veblin, mathematician
1976 – Ray “Crash” Corrigan, American actor (Crash Corrigan’s Ranch), dies at 74
1987 – Raquel Torres, actress (Duck Soup, Sea Bat), dies
Historical Events
1512 – Battle of Saint-Mathieu (also called the Battle of Brest): an English fleet of 25 ships commanded by Sir Edward Howard and a Franco-Breton fleet of 22 ships commanded by René de Clermont
1885 – Leo Daft opens America’s first commercially operated electric streetcar in Baltimore
1893 – Rudolf Diesel’s prototype internal combustion engine, a single 10-foot iron cylinder with a flywheel at its base, runs on its own power for the first time in Augsburg, Germany
1971 – During the internment round-up operation in West Belfast, the Parachute Regiment kills 11 unarmed civilians in what becomes known as the Ballymurphy Massacre
1985 – Uno Lindström of Sweden juggles a soccer ball 13.11 miles (21.09 km)
1993 – Charlotte Anne Lopez, 16, of Vermont is crowned the 11th Miss Teen USA
1997 – Atlanta Braves sign Greg Maddux to a then-record 5-year, $57.5 million deal
2019 – Monsoon flooding in southern and western India kills at least 150, with 40 dead in Kerala state and 100,000 in emergency relief camps
Famous Birthdays
1839 – Aleksandr Grigorievich Stoletov, Russian physicist, made advances in electrical engineering, born in Vladimir, Russia (d. 1896)
1877 – Rudolf Hilferding, Austrian-German Marxist economist (SPD Minister of Finance), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1941)
1891 – Henry O’Neill, American actor (“Lady Killer”; “Nothing But Trouble”), born in Orange, New Jersey (d. 1961)
1947 – Dmitri Alexeev, Russian concert pianist (Leeds International Competition, 1975), and teacher (Royal College of Music – London, 2010-present), born in Moscow, USSR
1951 – Juan Manuel Santos, Colombian politician, President of Colombia (2010-18) and Nobel laureate (2016), born in Bogotá, Colombia
1959 – Florent Vollant, Innu-Canadian musician (Kashtin), born in Labrador, Newfoundland
1965 – Claudia Christian, American actress (Babylon 5), and author, born in Glendale, California
1969 – Cate Shortland, Australian film director and screenwriter (Somersault; Lore; Black Widow), born in Temora, New South Wales, Australia
1977 – Aaron Kamin, American guitarist, and singer-songwriter (The Calling), born in Studio City, California
1989 – Ben Sahar, Israeli soccer striker (44 caps; Chelsea, Espanyol, Willem II, Hapoel Be’er Sheva), born in Holon, Israel
Famous Deaths
1589 – Maarten Schenck Nideggen, Dutch army leader, drowned at about 49
1730 – Sebastien de Brossard, French composer and music theorist, dies at 74
1910 – Joe Gans, American boxer (world lightweight champion 1902–08; International Boxing HOF), dies of tuberculosis at 35
1973 – Douglas Kennedy, American actor (Dark Passage, The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold), dies of cancer at 57
1987 – I W Able, CEO (United Steel Workers of America, 1965-77), dies at 87
1996 – Rex Tucker, British TV writer and director of early “Doctor Who”, dies at 83
1996 – Adriano Mandarino Hypolito, priest, dies at 78
1999 – Padma Bhushan Acharya Baldev Upadhyaya, Eminent Sanskrit Scholar in India (b. 1899)
2022 – Abdul Wadud [Ronald DeVaughn], American jazz, avant-garde, and classical cellist (Camille; By Myself), dies at 75
2022 – Fernando Chalana, Portuguese soccer winger (27 caps; Benfica, Bordeaux), dies from degenerative disease at 63