1572 – Failed assassination on Gaspard de Coligny, a French nobleman and admiral, a Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion (killed 2 days later)
1914 – German troops execute 384 inhabitants of Tamines, Belgium
1939 – Dutch border guards take positions for German invasion
1952 – The penal colony on Devil’s Island is permanently closed.
1954 – WPTV TV channel 5 in Palm Beach, FL (NBC) begins broadcasting
1971 – Approximately 130 non-Unionist councillors announce their withdrawal from participation on district councils across Northern Ireland in protest against Internment (allowing suspected terrorists to be indefinitely detained without trial)
1979 – 200 black leaders meet in NY to support Andrew Young
1980 – Leaders of Port Elizabeth’s Black secondary school children in South Africa decided to end a four month boycott of classes
1993 – “In the Summer House” closes at Beaumont Theater NYC after 25 performances
2018 – Forbes say George Clooney made more money in a single year ($239 million) than any actor ever ($239m), due to sale of alcohol company, followed by Dwayne Johnson ($124m)
Author: gil7
Today in History for 22nd August 2024
Historical Events
1654 – Jacob Barsimson arrives in New Amsterdam (modern day Manhattan) aboard the Peartree, one of the first Jewish colonists
1912 – England defeat Australia to win the Triangular Tournament
1914 – Canada’s Finance Act, 1914, receives assent
1932 – BBC begins experimental regular television broadcasts
1950 – Rotterdam dock strike ends
1960 – Gil Hodges set NL right handed HR record with #352
Famous Birthdays
1848 – Melville E. Stone, American newspaper publisher (Founder of Chicago Daily News), born in Hudson, Illinois (d. 1929)
1920 – Pierre A. Lauffer, Antillian poet (Patria), born in Curacao, Venezuela (d. 1981)
1945 – Ron Dante, American rock vocalist (Archies – “Sugar, Sugar”), and producer (Barry Manilow), born in Staten Island, New York
1956 – Paul Molitor, American Baseball HOF infielder (7 x MLB All-Star Milwaukee Brewers; World Series MVP 1993 Toronto Blue Jays) and manager (Minnesota Twins 2015-18), born in Saint Paul, Minnesota
1966 – GZA [Gary Grice], American rapper (Wu-Tang Clan), born in Brooklyn, New York
1975 – Robert Enes, Australian soccer midfielder (Olyroos, Olympics 1996)
Famous Deaths
1914 – Léon Amédée François Raffenel, French general (3rd Colonial Div, WWI), dies during Battle of Rossignol at 58
1929 – Otto Liman von Sanders, German general in Turkey during WWI, dies at 74
1985 – Paul Peter Ewald, German Crystallographer and Physicist who devised the theory of X-ray interference by crystals and pioneered X-ray diffraction methods, dies at 97
2009 – Beryl Sprinkel, American economist (Council of Economic Advisers), dies at 85
2009 – Elmer Kelton, American Western novelist (b. 1926)
2011 – Jerry Leiber, American songwriter (Leiber and Stoller – “Hound Dog”; “Jailhouse Rock”; “Is That All There Is?”), dies at 78
Famous Deaths for 21st August 2024
1131 – Boudouin II van Bourg, king of Jerusalem, dies
1614 – Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian countess and the world’s most prolific female serial killer, dies at 54
1673 – John de Love I, vice-admiral, dies in sea battle at about 54
1762 – Mary Wortley Montagu, English poet and writer (wrote about life in Istanbul, advocated for smallpox inoculation) dies at 73
1838 – Adelbert von Chamisso, French writer (Peter Schlemihl), dies at 57
1994 – Hein Fentener van Vlissingen, Dutch eccentric millionaire, dies at 73
2008 – “Huckle” Jerry Finn, American sound engineer and record producer (Blink-182), dies of a cerebral hemorrhage and heart attack at 39
2008 – Buddy Harman, American country music drummer (Grand Ole Opry, Elvis Presley), dies at 79
2012 – Georg Leber, German politician, dies at 91
2015 – Anna Kashfi [Joan O’Callaghan], Welsh actress and 1st wife of Marlon Barando, dies at 80
Historical Events for 21st August 2024
959 – Erachus becomes bishop of Luik
1573 – Spain begin siege of Alkmaar in the Netherlands
1831 – Former slave Nat Turner leads uprising against slavery
1932 – Cleveland Indians pitcher Wes Ferrell first to win 20 games in each of his 1st 4 seasons
1957 – The Soviet Union successfully tests the world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7, which flies over 6,000 km (3,700 mi)
2004 – South Africa clinch their 2nd Tri Nations Rugby Series on points differential with a 23-19 win over Australia in Durban; Wallabies score 3 tries to 2, but Percy Montgomery lands 5 goals for Springboks
2013 – 37 people are killed and 16 are injured in a bus crash near Chin Swee Temple, Malaysia
2016 – Brazil takes 3rd Olympic men’s indoor volleyball gold medal at the Rio Games with 25–22, 28–26, 26–24 win over Italy
2017 – Destroyer USS John S McCain collides with an oil tanker near Singapore leaving 10 missing and 5 injured
2018 – Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull calls for and wins a leadership vote 43-35 over Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton
Today in History for 21st August 2024
Historical Events
1878 – American Bar Association organizes at Sarasota, NY
1948 – Cleveland Indians 47-inning scoreless streak is broken as future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Lemon yields a home run to Aaron Robinson in a 3-2 loss to Chicago White Sox
1975 – 3 truck pile up kills 10, injures 26 on French highway
1986 – Surinames Ronnie Brunswijks Jungle commandos kill 2 government officials
1998 – Marvel superhero film “Blade” starring Wesley Snipes is released
2023 – Saudi border guards accused of killing hundreds of migrants, shooting them as they tried to cross into the country from Yemen in report by Human Rights Watch
Famous Birthdays
1905 – Stan Worthington, English cricket all-rounder (9 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 128, 8 wickets, BB 2/19; Derbyshire CCC, Northumberland CCC), born in Bolsover, England (d. 1973)
1920 – Christopher R. Milne, son of Alan A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh), born in Chelsea, London (d. 1996)
1930 – Alan Ashcroft, English rugby union number 8 (16 caps England, 2 caps British and Irish Lions; Waterloo FC), born in St. Helens, England (d. 2021)
1936 – Wilt Chamberlain, American College / Basketball HOF center (4 x NBA MVP; 13 x All Star; NBA C’ship 1967, 72 [MVP]; Philadelphia/SF Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, LA Lakers), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1999)
1970 – Steve Everitt, American NFL center (Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles), born in Miami, Florida
1988 – Robert Lewandowski, Polish football player (Bayern Munich, Polish national team), born in Warsaw, Poland
Famous Deaths
1689 – William Cleland, Scottish poet and soldier
1943 – Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer (Peter Gelukkige, Nobel 1917), dies at 86
1957 – Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, Norwegian meteorologist and oceanographer, dies at 68
1974 – Buford Pusser, American sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, dies in a single vehicle car crash at 36
1992 – Dai Vernon [David Frederick Wingfield Verner], Canadian magician, dies at 98
2017 – Abdur Razzak, Bangladeshi actor and director (Ki Je Kori, Chandranath), dies at 75
Famous Deaths for 20th August 2024
984 – John XIV [Petrus Canepanova], Italian Pope (983-84), dies
1384 – Geert Groote, Dutch founder of the Brethren of the Common Life, dies at 43
1825 – Richard Wainwright, composer and church organist, dies at 68
1910 – Arthur Coquard, French composer, and music critic (Le Monde; L’Echo de Paris), dies at 64
1915 – Paul Ehrlich, German bacteriologist and physician (Chemotherapy, Nobel Prize 1908), dies in 61
1931 – Waldemar von Baussnern, composer, dies at 64
1961 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist (Nobel 1946 – physics of high pressure), dies at 79
1968 – Earl Sande, American HOF jockey (Triple Crown 1930 Gallant Fox; 3 x Kentucky Derby; 5 x Belmont Stakes; 1 x Preakness Stakes; 3 x US Champion Jockey by earnings; US Champion Trainer by earnings 1938), dies at 69
2006 – Bryan Budd, British soldier (Afghanistan), dies at 29
2022 – Tom Weiskopf, American golfer (British Open 1973; US Senior Open 1995), dies from pancreatic cancer at 79
Historical Events for 20th August 2024
1534 – Turkish admiral Chaireddin “Barbarossa” occupies Tunis
1619 – Slavery begins in America: 1st known African Americans (approx. 20) land at Point Comfort (Fort Monroe), Virginia before being sold or traded into servitude
1648 – Battle of Lens: French Duc d’Enghien defeats Spaniards
1795 – Joseph Haydn returns to Vienna from England
1913 – 1st pilot to parachute from an aircraft (Adolphe Pégoud, France)
1962 – USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1974 – Nelson Rockefeller is selected as US Vice President by President Gerald Ford
1980 – UN Security Council condemns (14-0, US abstains) Israeli declaration that all of Jerusalem is its capital
1998 – The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.
2018 – Polish immigrant and former volunteer Nazi guard Jakiw Palij (95) is deported from the US in New York to Germany
Today in History for 20th August 2024
Historical Events
1828 – Gioachino Rossini’s opera “Le Comte Ory” premieres in Paris
1951 – 12th Venice Film Festival: “Rashomon” directed by Akira Kurosawa wins the Golden Lion
1953 – Russia publicly acknowledges hydrogen bomb test detonation
1959 – Belgium shortens military conscription to 12 months
1994 – Archbishop Quarracino wants all homosexuals to leave Argentina
2023 – Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon according to Roscosmos, the country’s space agency
Famous Birthdays
1926 – Frank Rosolino, American jazz trombonist (The Frank Rosolino Sextet), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1978)
1931 – Don King, American boxing promoter best known for his association with Mike Tyson and for his unusual hairstyles, born in Cleveland, Ohio
1956 – Joan Allen, American actress (Peggy Sue Got Married, Tucker, In Country), born in Rochelle, Illinois
1966 – Steven Finn, Canadian NHL defenseman (LA Kings), born in Laval, Quebec, Canada
1971 – Steve Stone, English footballer, born in Gateshead, England
2003 – Prince Gabriel of Belgium, second child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, born in Erasmus Hospital, Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium
Famous Deaths
1914 – Pius X [Giuseppe Sarto], 257th Italian Roman Catholic Pope (1903-14 – lowered age of Communion from 12 to 7,) and saint, dies at 79
1932 – Paul Keller, German writer (Vergrabenes Gut), dies at 59
1959 – Alfred Kubin, Austrian writer and illustrator, dies at 82
1978 – Ivan Jirko, Czech composer, music critic and psychiatrist, dies at 51
1996 – Rio Reiser, German rock singer (“Ton Steine Scherben”), dies at 46
2017 – Jerry Lewis [Joseph Levitch], American comedian (Martin and Lewis, MDA Telethon), dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 19th August 2024
1493 – Frederick III of Innsbruck, Holy Roman Emperor (1452-1493), dies at 77 probably of blood loss after his leg is amputated
1650 – Abraham de Verwer, Dutch painter, buried at about 55
1856 – Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, French chemist, dies at 39
1887 – Alvan Clark, American astronomer and maker of the Dearborn Observatory telescope, the largest telescope in the world at the time, dies at 83
1895 – John Wesley Hardin, American outlaw and gunfighter (claimed to have killed 27 men), shot dead in a saloon at 42
1944 – Günther von Kluge, German field marshal during World War II (Invasion of Poland, Battle of France, Operation Barbarossa), commits suicide at 61
1967 – Isaac Deutscher, Polish-English historian (Stalin/Trotsky biography), dies at 60
1971 – Mary Browne, American tennis player (US Nat C’ship 1912-14), dies at 80
1975 – Mark Donohue, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500, 1972), dies from injuries suffered in a crash during a practice run in Graz, Austria at 38
2016 – Jack Riley, American actor (The Bob Newhart Show – “Mr. Carlin”; Rugrats -“Stu Pickles”), dies of pneumonia at 80
Historical Events for 19th August 2024
1914 – Harris Theater (Candler, Coan and Harris) opens at 226 W 42nd St NYC
1936 – Trial against Ljev Kamenev and Grigori Zinovjev because of “Trotskyism” opens in Moscow
1958 – NAACP Youth Council begin sit-in at “whites-only” lunch counter at Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
1970 – The Chinese Community in South Africa is granted ‘White’ status
1974 – RCA records releases “Pussy Cats”, the tenth album by American singer Harry Nilsson in the US; album was produced by John Lennon and Nilsson worked through a serious vocal chord injury which diminished his vaunted range
1986 – Car bomb kills 20 in Tehran, Iran
2001 – Canadian Open Women’s Golf, Angus Glen GC: Annika Sörenstam wins by 2 from Kelly Robbins
2012 – Plane crash in mountainous region of Talodi, Sudan kills 32, including several government officials and staff, enroute to Eid al-Fitr festival marking end Muslim holy month of Ramadan; crash blamed on bad weather conditions
2013 – 24 Egyptian policemen are killed in an attack in Rafah
2013 – 91 people are killed by floods across China