Author: gil7

Historical Events

1917 – WWI: Battle of Mărăşeşti between the Romanian and German armies begins
1948 – Dutch super athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen wins the 200 m in 24.4 seconds at the London Olympics, becoming the first woman to claim three individual track and field gold medals at a Games, having already won the 100 m and 80 m hurdles
1965 – 32nd NFL Chicago College All-Star Game at Soldier Field: Cleveland 24, All-Stars 16 (68,000 attendees)
1974 – Explosion and fire destroy Great Northern Railroad yard in Wenatchee, Washington
2015 – Eqyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi inaugurates the Suez Canal Expansion at a ceremony in Ismaïlia

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Famous Birthdays

1738 – Hayashi Shihei, Japanese military scholar, born in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan (d. 1793)
1942 – George Jung [Boston George], American drug trafficker whose story was portrayed in the biopic “Blow”, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2021)
1943 – Ray Buktenica, Greenwich Village actor (Rhoda, House Calls), born in New York City
1953 – Pat MacDonald, American rock singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Timbuk 3 – “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”), born in Green Bay, Wisconsin
1963 – Charles Ingram, English former British Army major known for cheating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, born in Derbyshire, England

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Famous Deaths

1272 – Stephen V, King of Hungary and Croatia (1270-72), son of Béla IV, dies at 32 or 33
1928 – W. H. Grattan Flood, Irish author and composer, dies at 68
1996 – Richard M. Goodwin, American mathematician and economist (The Dynamics of A Capitalist Economy), dies at 83
2009 – Bahadır Akkuzu, Turkish rock guitarist and singer (Kurtalan Ekspres), dies of a heart attack at 54
2022 – David Muse, American rock and smooth jazz saxophonist and flutist (Firefall – “You Are The Woman”; Marshall Tucker Band), dies of cancer at 73

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Historical Events

1763 – Pontiac’s War: Battle of Bushy Run – British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Native American forces at Bushy Run
1957 – Comic strip “Andy Capp” makes its debut
1983 – American rock singer David Crosby sentenced to 5 years in Texas state prison on drug and weapons convictions
1989 – First-ever tie in harness racing’s Hambletonian as Park Avenue Joe and Probe tie the third and final heat; Park Avenue Joe wins the series on a countback
1997 – Ramzi Yousef, the Pakistani mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, goes on trial in New York; he is eventually found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment plus 240 years

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Famous Birthdays

1301 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, son of King Edward I, beheaded for plotting against King Edward III, born in Woodstock, Oxfordshire (d. 1330)
1822 – Johann Georg Herzog, German composer and organist, born in Hummendorf, Kingdom of Bavaria (d. 1909)
1935 – John Saxon, American actor (Bees, Nightmare on Elm St, Electric Horseman), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2020)
1968 – Tokimitsu Ishizawa, Japanese professional wrestler better known as “Kendo Kashin”, born in Japan
1981 – Erik Guay, Canadian alpine skier, born in Montreal, Quebec

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Famous Deaths

1678 – Juan García de Zéspedes, Mexican musician and composer, dies at 59
1931 – Ullrich Haupt, Prussian actor (Morocco, Du Barry-Woman of Passion), accidentally shot at 43
1983 – Judy Canova, American comedian and actress (Cannonball), dies of cancer at 66
2005 – Polina Astakhova, Soviet-Ukrainian gymnast (5 Olympic gold 1956, 60, 64), dies at 68
2023 – (Russell) “Rusty” Richards, American cowboy singer, yodeler, songwriter (Sons of the Pioneers, 1963-84), actor and film stuntman, dies at 89

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Historical Events

1558 – The first printing of the Zohar in Spain popularizes the Jewish study of Kabbalah
1777 – Retired British cavalry officer Philip Astley establishes his riding school with performances in London, a precursor to the circus
1897 – Henry A. Rucker is appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for Georgia
1941 – Winston Churchill departs on the Prince of Wales to the US
2015 – Muppets Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog announce the end of their relationship on Twitter

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Famous Birthdays

1900 – Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, British consort of King George VI and Queen Mother after his death, born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England (d. 2002)
1900 – Nabi Tajima, 2nd oldest Japanese supercentenarian and the last living person certified to have been born in the 19th century, born in Kikaijima, Japan
1901 – Louis Armstrong, American jazz trumpeter and singer (“Hello, Dolly!”; “What A Wonderful World”), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1971)
1904 – Helen Kane [Schroeder], American actress (Heads Up, Pointed Heels), born in The Bronx, New York (d. 1966)
1910 – William Schuman, American composer (Pulitzer Prize, 1943), and administrator (Juilliard, 1945-61; Lincoln Center, 1961-68), born in New York City (d. 1992)

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Famous Deaths

1938 – Pearl White, American actress/stunt woman (Perils of Pauline), dies at 49
1981 – Melvyn Douglas [Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg], American actor (Hud, Being There, Ghost Story), dies at 80
1984 – Edmond Ryan, actor (Human Monster), dies at 79 of a heart attack
2003 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist and Nobel Prize laureate 1954, dies at 86
2019 – Bob Wilber, American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and band leader (The World’s Greatest Jazz Band), dies at 91

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Historical Events

1941 – German troops conquer Roslavl in Russia
1946 – Belgian government of Huysmans forms
1956 – American sprinter Willie Williams sets a 100 m world record at 10.1 in Berlin, Germany
1963 – Warner Bros. Records releases the single of Allan Sherman’s novelty song “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp),” set to the music of Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” from his 1876 opera “La Gioconda”
2024 – American swimmer Katie Ledecky ties Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina as the most decorated female Olympian of all time when she wins her fourth consecutive 800m in Paris, her ninth individual gold medal

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Famous Birthdays

1878 – Constantino Gaito, Argentinian composer, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 1945)
1885 – Siegfried Salomon, Danish composer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1962)
1924 – (Elizabeth) “Connie” Converse, American folk singer-songwriter, born in Laconia, New Hampshire (disappeared 1974)
1937 – Duncan Sharpe, Pakistani cricketer (3 Tests for Pakistan 1959-60), born in Rawalpindi, Punjab, British India
1964 – Nate McMillan, American basketball head coach (Seattle SuperSonics 2000-05, Portland Trail Blazers 2005-12, Indiana Pacers 2016-19, Atlanta Hawks 2021-23), born in Raleigh, North Carolina

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Famous Deaths

1779 – Henry Kobell, Dutch painter and cartoonist, dies at 27
1910 – Nicolas Kinet, Belgian pilot, dies
1954 – Colette [Sidonie-Gabrielle], French author, novelist (Gigi, La Vagabonde) and actress, dies at 81
1978 – Ezzedin Kalak, Palestinian PLO representative in Paris, assassinated at about 42
2013 – Farman Fatehpuri [Syed Dildar Ali], Urdu scholar, linguist, critic and author, dies of natural causes at 87

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