1844 – John Wedgwood, British ceramicist and founder of the Royal Horticultural Society, dies at 77
1850 – Francis Jeffrey, Baron Jeffrey, Scottish judge and literary critic, dies (b. 1773)
1952 – André Cheron [Duval], French-American silent and sound screen character actor (The King of Kings; Anna Karenina; Wife vs. Secretary), dies at 71
1953 – Martinus Nijhoff, Dutch poet and linguistic (spelling), dies at 58
1963 – Ole Olsen, American comedian (Olsen and Johnson), dies at 70
1975 – Lubov Orlova, Russian actress (Moscow Laughs; Man of Music; Tanya), dies at 74
1978 – Leo Genn, British lawyer and actor (Mourning Becomes Electra, Moby-Dick, Affair in Monte Carlo), dies at 72
1990 – Bob Gerard, British racing driver (b. 1914)
2013 – Edwin London, American horn player, conductor (Cleveland Chamber Orchestra; Ineluctable Modality Choir), and composer (Dream Thing on Biblical Episodes), dies at 83
2023 – Keith Thomson, New Zealand cricket batsman (2 Tests, 1 x 50; Canterbury) and field hockey centre-half (28 Tests; Canterbury), dies at 81
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 26th January 2024
1863 – American Civil War: Massachusetts Governor receives permission from Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent (54th Massachusetts Regiment)
1931 – “Cimarron” directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne premieres in New York. 1st western to win Best Outstanding Production/Picture (1931)
1957 – Francis Poulenc’s opera “Dialogue des Carmelites” premieres at La Scala, in Milan
1958 – Jack Smith takes over from Art Baker as TV host of “You Asked for It”
1959 – Australian Championships Men’s Tennis: American based Peruvian Alex Olmedo wins his first Grand Slam event; beats Neale Fraser of Australia 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
1969 – Minister of Health and Social Services William Morgan resigns from the Northern Ireland government
1983 – Nazi Gestapo war criminal Klaus Barbie arrested in Bolivia
1988 – Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart’s musical “Phantom of the Opera”, directed by Hal Prince and starring Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman, opens at Majestic Theater, NYC ; runs for 13,981 performances, winning 7 Tony Awards, and becoming Broadway’s longest-running shows
1997 – Mario Lemieux ties NHL record with 4 goals in the 3rd period as Pittsburgh wins, 5-2 at Montreal; 39th career hat trick and 13th 4-goal game, tying NHL record shared by Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy
2021 – Antony Blinken confirmed by US Senate as Secretary of State
Today in History for 26th January 2024
Historical Events
1870 – US Congress authorises Virginia to rejoin the union
1918 – US Food Administrator Herbert Hoover calls for “wheatless” and “meatless” days to help war effort
1939 – Filming begins on film adaptation of “Gone With The Wind”
1951 – Mel Ott and Jimmie Foxx are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
1969 – 1st Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Margaret Court wins inaugural Open event; beats American Billie Jean King 6-4, 6-1
2013 – The United States Sentencing Commission is hacked by Anonymous in response to the suicide of Aaron Swartz
Famous Birthdays
1786 – Benjamin Haydon, British painter (Waiting for The Times), born in Plymouth, England (d. 1846)
1913 – William Prince, American actor (Spies Like Us, The Stepford Wives, City in Fear), born in Nichols, New York, (d. 1996)
1932 – George H Clements, first Roman Catholic Priest to adopt a child.
1943 – Thom Bell, American session musician, arranger and Grammy Award-winning “Philadelphia soul” producer (Delfonics; Stylistics; The Spinners), born in Kingston, Jamaican (d. 2022)
1977 – Vince Carter, American basketball forward (8 x NBA All Star; NBA Rookie of the Year 1999, Toronto Raptors; Olympic gold 2000), born in Daytona Beach, Florida
1981 – Reminisce [Remilekun Khalid Safaru], Nigerian singer-songwriter and rapper (Vibes and Insha Allah), born in Kaduna, Nigeria
Famous Deaths
1895 – Arthur Cayley, British mathematician (Cayley–Hamilton theorem), dies at 73
1974 – Siegfried von Vegesack, German writer, dies at 85
2006 – Carol Lambrino, son of Carol II of Romania and Zizi Lambrino (b. 1920)
2012 – Dimitra Arliss [Arlys], American actress (Rich Man Poor Man II, The Sting), dies at 79
2013 – Edwin London, American horn player, conductor (Cleveland Chamber Orchestra; Ineluctable Modality Choir), and composer (Dream Thing on Biblical Episodes), dies at 83
2022 – Janet Mead, Australian Catholic nun and pop-rock singer (The Lord’s Prayer), dies of cancer at 84
Famous Deaths for 25th January 2024
1726 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1675)
1906 – Pierre-Lambert Goossens, Belgian archbishop of Mechelen and Cardinal Primate of Belgium, dies at 78
1973 – Masao Ohba, Japanese boxer (WBA flyweight champion 1970-73), dies in a car accident at 23
1998 – Attila Zoller, Hungarian-American jazz guitarist, educator (Vermont Jazz Center, 1974-98), and inventor (bi-directional pickup), dies at 70
1999 – Sarah Louise “Sadie” Delany, American author and teacher, dies at 109
2005 – William Augustus Bootle, American judge (b. 1902)
2013 – Zekkariyas [Cecil Womack], American soul songwriter, singer, and record producer (Womack and Womack – “Teardrops”), dies at 64
2017 – Robert Garcia, American politician hit by Wedtech scandal (Rep-D-NY, 1978-83), dies at 84
2021 – Barry Heywood, British director of the British Antarctic Survey, dies at 83
2023 – B. V. [Balkrishna] Doshi, Indian architect (Pritzker Prize 2- 018), dies at 95
Historical Events for 25th January 2024
1648 – French theologian Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet obtains his first thesis in theology with Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, as a witness
1721 – Tsar Peter the Great makes the Moscow patriarchate and Russian Orthodox Church subordinate to the state
1904 – 179 die in coal mine explosion at Cheswick, Pennsylvania
1904 – John Millington Synge’s play “Riders to the Sea” premieres in Dublin
1909 – Richard Strauss’ one-act opera “Elektra” premieres in Dresden
1959 – 1st transcontinental commercial jet flight (American) (LA to NY for $301)
1964 – Dale Wasserman’s stage play “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey, starring Kirk Douglas, Ed Ames; Joan Tetzel, and Gene Wilder, closes at Cort Theatre, NYC, after 82 performances
1988 – Ramsewak Shankar sworn in as President of Suriname
1989 – Augusto Alcalde, 1st South American Zen teacher, receives Dharma Transmission
1996 – Ottawa Senators set an NHL record with 16th consecutive home game without a win (0-15-1) in a 4-2 loss to Detroit at the Palladium; old record (15) shared by 1928 Black Hawks and 1939 Canadiens
Today in History for 25th January 2024
Historical Events
1861 – Augusta Arsenal seized by the Confederacy in Georgia (US Civil War)
1890 – National Afro-American League founded in Chicago by Timothy Thomas Fortune, one of earliest civil rights organizations in America
1919 – The Hotel Pennsylvania, at the time the world’s largest, opens in Manhattan
1955 – Russia ends state of war with Germany
1987 – 3rd Sundance Film Festival: “Waiting for the Moon” and “The Trouble with Dick” (tie) win Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
1994 – Australia beat South Africa 2-1 to win cricket’s World Series Cup
Famous Birthdays
1509 – Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal, born in Milan, Italy (d. 1580)
1866 – Emile Vandervelde, President (1900–1918) of the International Socialist Bureau and Minister of 3 Belgian governments (d. 1938)
1957 – Andrew P. Harris, American politician and physician, born in New York City
1961 – Michele Tobin, American actress (Fitzpatricks), born in Chicago, Illinois
1966 – Paul Ranheim, American NHL left wing (Hartford Whalers), born in St. Louis, Missouri
1976 – Mario Haberfeld, Brazilian racing car driver, born in São Paulo, Brazil
Famous Deaths
1627 – Louis Hébert, French apothecary, kings attorney and colonist of New France, dies at 51 or 52
1907 – René Pottier, French racing cyclist (Tour de France 1906), dies of suicide at 27
1963 – Wilson Kettle, of Newfoundland, dies at 102, leaving 582 living descendants
1975 – Charlotte Whitton, Canadian politician, Mayor of Ottawa (1951-56), dies at 78
1995 – Tom Brugman, Dutch puppeteer (Brave Dodo), dies at 62
1998 – Mohammad Yusuf Khan, prime minister of Afganistan in (1963-65), dies
Famous Deaths for 24th January 2024
1924 – Thephilo Braga, Portuguese poet and politician, dies at 80
1989 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer of up to 100 women during the 1970s, executed by electric chair in Florida at 42
1992 – John Bleifer, American actor (Highway to Heaven), dies at 90
1998 – Walter Bishop, Jr, American bebop jazz pianist, music theorist, and educator, dies of a heart attack at 70
2002 – Elie Hobeika, Lebanese Forces militia commander (b. 1956)
2005 – June Bronhill, Australian stage and opera singer, dies at 75
2006 – Schafik Handal, Salvadoran politician
2020 – Rob Rensenbrink, Dutch soccer left winger or forward (46 caps; Anderlecht), dies of progressive muscular atrophy at 72
2021 – Jóhannes Eðvaldsson, Icelandic soccer defender (34 caps; Celtic, Tulsa Roughnecks, Hannover 96, Motherwell), dies from COVID-19 at 70
2021 – George Armstrong, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame centre (Stanley Cup 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1966–67 Toronto Maple Leafs; 7 x NHL All Star), dies from heart complications at 90
Historical Events for 24th January 2024
1568 – In Netherlands, Duke of Alva declares William I of Orange an outlaw
1722 – Edward Wigglesworth appointed 1st north American divinity professor (Harvard)
1908 – Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell publishes “Scouting for Boys” as a manual for self-instruction in outdoor skills and self-improvement. The book becomes the inspiration for the Scout Movement.
1959 – WHCT TV channel 18 in Hartford, CT (IND) begins broadcasting
1960 – Algeria uprises against French President de Gaulle
1969 – Students protest the erection of steel gates around the London School of Economics
1970 – Valeri Muratov skates world record 500m (38.99 sec)
1985 – 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 is launched
1988 – NBC premiere of fact based “The Murder of Mary Phagan”
2023 – Third baseman Scott Rolen (Philadelphia Philleis, St. Louis Cardinals) elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Today in History for 24th January 2024
Historical Events
1857 – University of Calcutta founded as the first full-fledged university in South Asia
1961 – Lazard Brothers Ltd draw a check for $334,867,807.68
1986 – NHL New York Islanders Mike Bossy scores his 1,000th point
1988 – 4th Sundance Film Festival: “Heat and Sunlight” wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
1988 – Australian Open Men’s Tennis: Mats Wilander wins 3rd Australian title; beats home town favourite Pat Cash 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 6-1, 8-6
2013 – A Japanese Coast guard ship engages a Taiwanese activist ship in the Senkaku Islands dispute
Famous Birthdays
1712 – Georg Friedrich Schmidt, German engraver and etcher (court artist for King Frederick of Prussia and Empress Elizabeth of Russia), born in Wandlitz (d. 1775)
1798 – Karl von Holtei, Silesian actor, playwright and author (Die Vagabunden), born in Poland (d. 1880)
1828 – Adam Jacoby Slemmer, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (d. 1868)
1886 – Henry King, Christiansburg Virginia, American film director (d. 1982)
1972 – Naoshi Mizuta, Japanese composer, born in Kōchi
1977 – Lenka Cenkova, Czech tennis player (1995 Futures-Vaihingen-GER), born in Trinec, Czechia
Famous Deaths
817 – Stefanus IV, Pope (816-17), dies
1812 – Eligio Celestino, Italian violinist and composer, dies at 72
1948 – Arthur Liebehenschel, Polish Commandant at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, executed for war crimes at 48
1995 – David Cole, American songwriter ( C+C Music Factory – “Gonna Make You Sweat”), and record producer (Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, James Brown), dies at 32
2003 – (Giovanni) “Gianni”Agnelli, Italian industrialist, executive (President of Fiat Automobiles, 1966-96), and Italian Senator-for-life (1991-), dies of prostate cancer at 81
2012 – James Farentino, American actor (The Final Countdown; Dynasty; Mary), dies of heart failure at 73
Famous Deaths for 23rd January 2024
1549 – Johannes Honter, Transylvanian Saxon humanist and theologian (b. 1498)
1926 – Joseph Carl Breil, American lyric tenor, and composer – one of the first to write for film (Les amours de la reine Élisabeth; Birth of a Nation; Intolerance), dies of heart disease at 55
1944 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (The Scream), dies at 80, bequeathing all of his work to the city of Oslo
1957 – Willie Edwards, US African American, murdered by KKK at 25
1973 – Alexander Onassis, Greek heir of the Onassis family (b. 1948)
1976 – Aleksey Vasilyevich Sorokin, Russian cosmonaut, dies at 44
1980 – Babs Gonzales [Lee Brown], American be-bop jazz vocalist, poet, and songwriter (“Oop-Pop-A-Da”), dies of cancer at 60
1991 – Northrop Frye, Canadian writer and critic (b. 1912)
1997 – Audie Pitre, American bass guitarist (Acid Bath), killed by a drunk driver at 26
2003 – Nell Carter, American actress (Gimme A Break; Lobo), dies at 54