Author: gil7

Historical Events

1864 – Federal assault on 4th day of battle at Deep Bottom Run, Virginia
1890 – Alexander Clark, journalist and lawyer, named minister to Liberia
1921 – Members of the Dail (parliament) swear allegiance to the Irish Republic at their first meeting, held at Dublin House
1993 – The Debian distribution first announced by Ian Murdock, a student at Purdue University (Murdock initially called his system the “Debian Linux Release”)
2017 – Philippine police kill 32 in raids near Manilia, most deadly night in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs
2023 – The Northwest Territories in Canada declare a state of emergency due to wildfires and order an evacuation of the city of Yellowknife, affecting 22,000 people

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1860 – Lord Hawke [Martin Hawke], English cricket batsman (5 Tests; Yorkshire CCC, Cambridge Uni CC, MCC), born in Willingham by Stow, England (d. 1938)
1862 – Amos Alonzo Stagg, American athlete and American football pioneer, born in West Orange, New Jersey (d. 1965)
1937 – David Behrman, American composer (On The Other Ocean), born in Salzburg, Austria
1946 – Lesley Ann Warren, American actress (Cinderella, Mission Impossible), born in New York City
1952 – Mahes Goonatillake, cricketer (Sri Lankan keeper in their 1st 5 Tests)
1985 – Agnes Bruckner, American actress, born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1445 – Margaret of Scotland (Dauphine of France), wife of the future King Louis XI (b. 1424)
1938 – Andrej Hlinka, Slovak politician and Catholic priest, dies at 1938
1952 – Lydia Field Emmet, American painter (b. 1866)
1991 – Stuart Karl, CEO (Karl Home Video), dies at 38 of skin cancer
2015 – Jacob Bekenstein, American-Israeli theoretical physicist (Bekenstein-Hawking radiation), dies of a heart attack at 68
2017 – David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort, British aristocrat, art dealer, and peer, dies at 89

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1858 – Regular US mail to the Pacific coast begins
1964 – WEWS-TV in Cleveland, Ohio first airs “The Big 5 Show”, a teen dance and music program later syndicated as “Upbeat”
1968 – Pirate Radio Free London begins transmitting
1974 – Hurricane and floods ravage Bangladesh, 4,000 killed
1975 – Army officers in Bangladesh stage a military coup d’état, assassinate elected President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most members of his family and install Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad as President
1979 – Andrew Young resigns as US ambassador to the United Nations

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1780 – Marie-Anne Gaboury, French-Canadian settler (first white woman to settle in Western Canada), born in Maskinongé, Quebec (d. 1875)
1879 – Ethel Barrymore [Blythe], American classic film and stage actress (Constant Wife, Corn is Green), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1959)
1934 – Georgy Garanian, Armenian-Russian jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer, born in Moscow, USSR (d. 2010)
1943 – Eni Faleomavaega, American-Samoan politician (3rd Lieutenant Governor of American Samoa), born in Vailoatai, American Samoa (d. 2017)
1954 – Mary Jo Salter, American poet and co-editor of The Norton Anthology of Poetry, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan
1969 – James Black, Canadian NHL center, 1989-2001 (Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Capitals, and 4 other teams), born in Regina, Saskatchewan

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

423 – Flavius Honorius, Western Roman Republic emperor (395-423), dies at 38
1118 – Alexius I Comnenus [Alexios I Komnenos], Emperor of Byzantium (1081-1118), dies
1552 – Hermann of Wied, German Catholic archbishop (b. 1477)
1967 – René Magritte, Belgian surrealist painter (This is Not a Pipe), dies at 68
1971 – Thomas Wayne, American rockabilly singer (“Tragedy”), dies in a car accident at 31
1991 – Marietta Tree, American diplomat and ambassador (1st woman to serve as chief U.S. delegate to the UN in 1961), dies at 74

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1183 – Taira no Munemori and Taira clan take young Emperor Antoku and 3 sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape Minamoto clan (Traditional Japanese date: 25th Day of the 7th Month of the 2nd Year of Juei).
1813 – British warship Pelican attacks and captures US war brigantine Argus
1825 – Dutch King William I expels foreign students
1976 – 10,000 Northern Ireland women demonstrate for peace in Belfast
1980 – Democratic Convention in NYC nominates Jimmy Carter for president and Walter Mondale for vice president
2015 – Most extensive face transplant surgery ever performed on Patrick Hardison by Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez at New York University Langone Medical Center

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1626 – Daniel Elsevier, Dutch book publisher, born in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherland (d. 1680)
1836 – Walter Besant, English writer and philanthropist (Rebel Queen), born in Portsmouth, Hampshire (d. 1901)
1868 – Leone Sinigaglia, Italian composer, born in Turin, Italy (d. 1944)
1928 – Lina Wertmüller [Arcangela Braueich], Italian screenwriter, film director, and 1st woman nominated for an Academy Award for Directing (Seven Beauties), born in Rome, Italy
1968 – Adrian Lester, English actor, born in Birmingham, United Kingdom
1971 – Pramodaya Wickremasinhghe, Sri Lankan cricketer (Sri Lankan fast-medium bowler), born in Matara, Sri Lanka

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1390 – John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, English soldier, dies at 26
1913 – Josephine Cochrane, American inventor (automatic dishwasher), dies of a stroke at 74
1954 – Hugo Eckener, German inventor and commander of the famous Graf Zeppelin during its record-setting flights, dies at 86
1974 – Raymond Budd, South African trade unionist
1994 – Alice Childress, American playwright, actress and writer, dies at 77
1995 – Joseph Fattorini, businessman, dies at 82

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1908 – King Edward VII of Great Britain meets with Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria at Ischl; the King tries to persuade the Emperor to advise Germany against aggressive (anti-British) policies
1944 – British 8th Army occupies Florence
1987 – Jackie Joyner-Kersee ties world record with 24’5½” jump
1992 – Revival of Tom Stoppard’s play “The Real Inspector Hound” opens at Criterion Center Stage Right, New York, NYC; runs for 61 performances
2015 – 76 people are killed and 212 are wounded by an ISIL truck bomb in Baghdad, Iraq
2020 – Israel strikes historic deal with the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations, Israel suspends plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1898 – Jean Borotra, French tennis player (Wimbledon 1924, 26), born in Biarritz, France (d. 1994)
1902 – Felix Wankel, German inventor (Wankel rotary-piston engine), born in Lahr, Germany (d. 1988)
1912 – Rita Johnson, American actress (Honolulu, All Mine to Give), born in Worcester, Massachusetts (d. 1965)
1949 – Sheralee, American vocalist (Your Hit Parade, 1974-75), born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
1971 – Vernell Brown Jr., American jazz and RandB pianist, composer, arranger (Kenny Garrett Quintet), born in Las Angeles, California
1982 – Sarah Huckabee Sanders, American political operative and politician (Trump White House Press Secretary 2017-19, 1st Female Governor of Arkansas 2023-), born in Hope, Arkansas

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1860 – Danillo II, ruler of Montenegro, dies
1918 – Luther Gulick, American Basketball Hall of Fame contributor (basketball pioneer; international official), dies at 53
1948 – Edwin Maxwell, Irish actor (Taming of the Shrew), dies at 62
1958 – Otto Witte, acrobat and, purportedly, King of Albania (b. 1868)
1959 – Henri Garat [Garascu], French actor (Congress Dances), and singer (“Les dieux s’amusent”), dies at 57
2008 – Jack Weil, American oldest working CEO (Rockmount Ranch Wear), dies at 107

More Famous Deaths »