Today In History
Historical Events
1855 – American inventor Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine motor
1877 – American Humane Association organizes in Cleveland
1932 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin expels Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev from the Communist Party after a power struggle
1959 – Lee Harvey Oswald arrives in Southampton, England
1999 – The last flight of the US aircraft Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird”
Famous Birthdays
1942 – Shukri Ghanem, Libyan Prime Minister (2003-2006), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2012)
1954 – James Fearnley, British celtic-punk accordionist (The Pogues – “The Irish Rover”), born in Worsley, Greater Manchester, England
1957 – Don Garber, American sports executive (Commissioner USMLS 1999- ), born in New York City
1974 – Kavika Pittman, American defensive end (Dallas Cowboys), born in Frankfurt, Germany
1981 – Zachery Ty Bryan, American actor (Brad-Home Improvement), born in Aurora, Colorado
Famous Deaths
1963 – Thurlow Lieurance, American composer (By the Waters of Minnetonka; Sad Moon on Falling Leaf), ethnomusicologist (Indigenous peoples), and educator, dies at 85
1995 – Alec Douglas-Home, British Prime Minister (Conservative: 1963-64), dies at 92
1999 – Akhtar Hameed Khan, Pakistani pioneer of Microcredit in developing countries, dies at 85
2022 – Margie Masters, Australian golfer (Western Open runner-up 1966), dies at 87
2023 – (Charles) “Buck” Trent, American country and bluegrass banjoist, dobro player, and singer (Hee Haw), dies at 85
Historical Events
1865 – First US underground pipeline for carrying oil is laid in Pennsylvania
1959 – Lee Harvey Oswald arrives in Southampton, England
1963 – The French Air Force receives its first nuclear weapons
1968 – WKMU TV channel 21 in Murray, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1989 – 27th Tennis Fed Cup: USA beats Spain 3-0 in Tokyo, Japan
1991 – Revival of Paul Osborn’s stage drama “On Borrowed Time,” starring Conrad Bain, George C. Scott, and Nathan Lane, opens at Circle in Square Theater in New York City and runs for 101 performances
2012 – Serge Haroche and David Wineland win the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on quantum optics
2018 – President Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, says she is resigning at the end of the year
Famous Birthdays
1873 – Carl Flesch, Hungarian violinist, born in Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary (d. 1944)
1892 – Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (The Train of Life), born in Moscow (d. 1941)
1922 – Robert Galvin, American businessman and chief executive of Motorola (1959-86), born in Marshfield, Wisconsin (d. 2011)
1924 – Robert A. Rushworth, American test pilot (X-15), born in Madison, Maine (d. 1993)
1938 – Olga Szabó-Orbán, Romanian fencer (World C’ship gold women’s foil individual 1962, team 1969; Olympic silver individual 1956, bronze team 1968, 72), born in Cluj, Romania (d. 2022)
1954 – James Fearnley, British celtic-punk accordionist (The Pogues – “The Irish Rover”), born in Worsley, Greater Manchester, England
1955 – Linwood Boomer, Canadian-American actor (Adam-Little House on the Prairie), born in Vancouver, British Columbia
1957 – Yuri Usachyov, Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-18, TM-23), born in Donetsk, Russia
1970 – Annika Sörenstam, Swedish golfer (10 LPGA major titles; 8-time LPGA Tour Player of the Year), born in Stockholm, Sweden
1982 – Shi Jun, Chinese footballer, born in Dalian, China
Famous Deaths
1646 – Baltasar Carlos, son of Spanish King Philip IV, dies of smallpox at 16
1940 – Wilfred Grenfell, British medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador, dies at 75
1960 – Howard Glenn, NY Titan, dies of injuries sustain in this day’s game
1995 – Patric Walker, American-British astrologer, dies of food poisoning at 64
1996 – Alan Charles Downes, British founder member of Independent Television News and cameraman, dies at 58
2008 – Albert Hall, American hammer throw athlete, dies at 74
2016 – Aaron Pryor, American welterweight boxing champion, dies of heart disease at 60
2020 – Pierre Kezdy, American punk-rock bass player (Naked Raygun), dies of cancer at 58
2023 – Gerhard Grimmer, German cross-country skier (World C’ship gold GDR 50km, 4×10km relay 1974), dies at 80
2025 – Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, American chaplain for the Loyola University Chicago basketball team and noted superfan, dies at 106