1590 – Niccolo Sfondrati chosen as Pope Gregory XIV
1741 – -6] Russian princess Elisabeth Petrovna grabs powers
1896 – Henrik Ibsen’s play “Kejsor og Galileer” (Emperor and Galilean) premieres in Leipzig
1949 – Ezzard Charles defeats Jersey Joe Walcott for heavyweight boxing title
1957 – William Inge’s “Dark at the Top of the Stairs” premieres in NYC
1960 – Ghana drops diplomatic relations with Belgium
1965 – Brunswick Records releases “My Generation”, the debut album of British rock group The Who, in the UK and Australia
1979 – Ireland premier Jack Lynch resigns
1983 – 12 killed by a car bomb shattering 9-story building in west Beirut
2008 – Former NFL star O.J. Simpson is sentenced to 33 years in prison for kidnapping and armed robbery
Author: gil7
Today in History for 5th December 2023
Historical Events
1492 – Christopher Columbus is the first European to sight Hispaniola (modern Dominican Republic and Haiti)
1941 – Patrick Hamilton’s “Angel Street” premieres in NYC
1941 – US aircraft carrier Lexington and 5 heavy cruisers leave Pearl Harbor
1955 – Historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery, Alabama by Rosa Parks and other civil rights activists
1957 – NYC is first US city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in housing market (Fair Housing Practices Law)
1975 – NASA launches space vehicle S-196, it failed
Famous Birthdays
1914 – Hans Hellmut Kirst, German author (The Lieutenant Must Be Mad), born in Osterode, Germany (d. 1989)
1932 – James Cleveland, American gospel singer, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1991)
1940 – Peter Pohl, Swedish writer, born in Hamburg, Germany
1947 – Rick Wills, British bass guitarist (Peter Frampton, 1972-74: Foreigner, 1977-91), born in Cambridge, England
1951 – Tom Purtzer, American golfer (5 PGA Tour titles), born in Des Moines, Iowa
1965 – Johnny Rzeznik, American singer, songwriter and guitarist (Goo Goo Dolls), born in Buffalo, New York
Famous Deaths
1745 – Christoph Förster, German composer, dies at 52
1965 – Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist (shock therapy-Nobel 1944), dies of heart disease at 91
1995 – Bill Bruton, American baseball outfielder (NL stolen bases leader 1953-55 Milwaukee Braves), dies of a heart attack at 70
2001 – Peter Blake, New Zealand yachtsman (Whitbread Round the World Race 1989-90; America’s Cup 1995, 2000) and Special Envoy UN Environment Program, killed by pirates on the Amazon River at 53
2008 – Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (The Ten Commandments, Spartacus, An American in Paris), dies from complications of myelodysplastic syndrome at 84
2008 – Beverly Garland [Fessenden], American actress (My Three Sons, Scarecrow and Mrs. King), dies at 82
Famous Deaths for 4th December 2023
811 – Charles The Younger, King the of Franks, son of the Emperor Charlemagne, dies at about 39
1214 – William I “the Lion”, King of Scotland (1165-1214)
1585 – John Willock, Scottish reformer
1676 – Johann Georg Ebeling, German composer, dies at 39
1991 – Alex Graham, Scottish cartoonist who created the comic strip “Fred Basset”, dies at 78
1993 – Frank Sturgis, watergate burglar, dies at 68
2004 – Elena Souliotis, Greek soprano, dies of heart failure at 61
2012 – Jack Brooks, American politician, dies at 89
2016 – Radim Hladík, Czech guitarist (The Blue Effect), dies from lung illness at 69
2021 – Eileen Ash-Whelan, English cricket medium pace bowler (7 WTests, 10 wickets, BB 4/68; Middlesex CC), dies at 110
Historical Events for 4th December 2023
1691 – Spanish king Carlos II names Maximilian II as Viceroy of Southern Netherlands
1914 – Walter Johnson accepts an advance from the Chicago Whales of the Federal League; Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith threatens to take Johnson to court
1963 – Boston Bruins’ right wing Andy Hebenton sets a new NHL record by playing in his 581st consecutive game in 2-2 tie with Chicago Black Hawks; reaches 630 straight games
1964 – Baseball approves a free-agent draft
1965 – San Francisco Giant Masanori Murakami, 4-1 this year, does not renew his contract signing instead with the Nankai Hawks of Osaka for $40,000
1974 – Jean-Paul Sartre visits Red Army Faction (Baader–Meinhof Gang) leader Andreas Baader in prison
1977 – Neil Simon’s play “Chapter Two” opens in NYC
1981 – Reagan Executive Order on Intelligence (No 12333) that allows CIA to engage in domestic counter-intelligence
1987 – Karlstad skates world record 10 km (13:48.51)
2018 – First successful birth resulting from uterus transplant from a deceased donor in São Paulo, Brazil
Today in History for 4th December 2023
Historical Events
1489 – Battle of Baza – Spanish army captures Baza from Moors
1920 – 1st Pro football playoff game Buffalo-7, Canton-3 at Polo Grounds, NYC
1958 – Dahomey (Benin), Ivory Coast become autonomous within French Community
1985 – President Reagan appoints Vice Admiral John Poindexter as security adviser
1988 – Actor Gary Busey critically injured in motorcycle crash
1988 – Edmonton center Jimmy Carson becomes just the third player to score 6 NHL hat tricks before the age of 21 in the Oilers 10-6 win over the New York Rangers
Famous Birthdays
1844 – Franz Xavier Wernz, German Superior General of the Society of Jesus, born in Rottweil, Württemberg (d. 1914)
1868 – Jesse Burkett, American Baseball HOF left fielder (NL batting champion 1895-96, 1901; 240 hits in 1896 MLB record for 15 years; Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Perfectos/Cardinals), born in Wheeling, West Virginia (d. 1953)
1912 – Ian Wallace [John Wallace Pritchard], American sci-fi author (Megalomania), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1998)
1930 – Ronnie Corbett, British comedian (The Two Ronnies), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 2016)
1933 – Dick Ricketts Jr., American basketball center (# 1 overall pick 1955 NBA draft St. Louis Hawks) and baseball pitcher (St. Louis Cardinals), born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania (d. 1988)
1938 – Yvonne Minton, Australian-British soprano, born in Sydney, Australia
Famous Deaths
1131 – Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician (cubic equations), astronomer (Jalali calendar, basis of the Persian calendar), poet (quatrains), and philosopher, dies at 83
1182 – Henry, earl of Gelre/Zutphen (1141/79-82), dies
1935 – Hylton Philipson, English cricket wicketkeeper (5 Tests, 11 dismissals), dies at 69
1983 – Bruce Drake, American Basketball Hall of Fame coach (University of Oklahoma 1938-55, 200-181), dies at 77
2007 – Chip Reese, American poker player (3 x World Series of Poker bracelets), dies from pneumonia at 56
2007 – Pimp C. [Chad Butler], American rapper (Underground Kingz), dies of overuse of prescription cough syrup and sleep apnea at 33
Famous Deaths for 3rd December 2023
1469 – Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici [Piero the Gouty], Italian ruler of Florence (1464-69), dies at about 53
1491 – Thomas Basin, French historian/bishop of Lisieux, dies
1789 – Claude-Joseph Vernet, French painter, dies at 75
1942 – Arthur Berson, German meteorologist (Balloon flights, Amazon), dies at 83
1949 – Maria Ouspenskaya, Russian stage and film actress (The Wolf Man; King’s Row), and teacher (School of Dramatic Art – New York), dies following a house fire at 73
1984 – Virginia Lacy Jones, American librarian and presidential advisor, dies at 72
1992 – Harry Ellerbe, American actor (House of Usher; Magnetic Monster), dies at 91
1992 – Nureddin Al-Atassi, president of Syria (1966-70), dies
2018 – Philip Bosco, American actor (Trading Places, Lend Me a Tenor), dies at 88
2020 – Alison Lurie, American novelist (Pulitzer Prize – Foreign Affairs), dies at 94
Historical Events for 3rd December 2023
1586 – Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia
1929 – Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1, the first win of an NHL record 14-game winning streak, and a 22-game home winning streak
1932 – Gen Kurt von Schleicher becomes chancellor of Germany
1946 – 12th Heisman Trophy Award: Glenn Davis, Army (HB)
1964 – Police arrests 800 sit-in students at University of California at Berkeley
1967 – Final run of “20th Century Limited” famed NY-Chicago luxury train
1979 – Shadow Traffic begins broadcasting in the New York City metropolitan area.
1983 – Musical “Marilyn: An American Fable”, loosely based on life of Marilyn Monroe, starring Alyson Reed and Scott Bakula, closes at Minskoff Theatre, NYC, after 17 performances
1995 – England cricket wicket keeper Jack Russell dismisses Clive Eksteen with his record 11th catch in 2nd Test v South Africa in Johannesburg
2014 – Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot dead unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, resigns
Today in History for 3rd December 2023
Historical Events
1903 – The Sultanate of Aceh’s Panglima Polim surrenders to Dutch Army Captain Hendrikus Colijn at Atjeh
1944 – Britain’s Home Guard (‘Dad’s Army’) is officially stood down at a special farewell parade in Hyde Park, London.
1960 – Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s musical “Camelot”, starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, and introducing Robert Goulet, opens at Majestic Theater, NYC; runs for 873 performances, wins 4 Tony Awards
1982 – 35.7 cm rainfall at Big Fork, Arkansas (state record)
1995 – Davis Cup Tennis, Moscow: Pete Sampras beats Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 to give US a winning 3-1 lead (ends 3-2); record 31st US title
2020 – ATandT Inc’s Warner Bros studio announces all its 2021 movies will stream online the same day they appear in theatres because of the pandemic
Famous Birthdays
1764 – Mary Lamb, British author (Tales from Shakespeare), born in London, England (d. 1847)
1909 – Dana Suesse, American musician and songwriter (You Ought To Be In Pictures), born in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri (d. 1987)
1951 – Mike Stock, British songwriter and producer (Stock, Aitken and Waterman; Rick Astley; Bananarama; Kylie Minogue), born in Margate, Kent, England
1970 – Amy Helm, American singer-songwriter (Ollabelle), born in Woodstock, New York
1973 – Sammy Leung, Hong Kong disc jockey
1976 – Byron Kelleher, New Zealand rugby union halfback (57 caps; Highlanders, Chiefs, Toulouse), born in Dunedin, New Zealand
Famous Deaths
1265 – Odofredus, Italian jurist
1892 – Afanasy Fet, Russian poet, dies at 71
1989 – Jimmy Shirley, American jazz and RandB electric guitarist, and early proponent of the Vibrola vibrato arm (“whammy bar”), dies at 76
1994 – Elizabeth Glaser, American AIDS activist, wife of director Paul Michael Glaser, dies of AIDS at 47
2002 – Glenn Quinn, Irish actor (b. 1970)
2016 – Antonio Membrado, Spanish-French classical guitarist and composer, dies at 81
Famous Deaths for 2nd December 2023
1828 – Simon Paap, Dutch dwarf (71 cm/28 inches tall) cabaret artist, dies at 39
1888 – Namık Kemal, Turkish writer, journalist and political activist (Young Ottomans), dies at 47
1918 – Margit Kaffka, Hungarian writer, dies in the flu pandemic at 38
1935 – Martha Carey Thomas, American educator, suffragist, linguist and second President of Bryn Mawr College, dies of a coronary occlusion at 78
1935 – State of California uses gas chamber instead of hanging for 1st time: Robert Lee Cannon (29) and Albert Kessel (28) executed for role in Folsom Prison escape attempt resulting in murder of warden and guard (San Quentin State Prison. Marin County)
1981 – Wallace Harrison, American architect (Metropolitan Opera House, United Nations complex), dies at 86
1982 – Giovanni Ferrari, Italian soccer midfielder (44 caps; US Alessandria, Juventus, Internazionale) and manager (Italy 1958–59, 1960–62), dies at 74
1998 – Bob Haggart, American dixieland, swing jazz, and session double bass player, and composer (“What’s New?”), dies at 84
2009 – Foge Fazio, American college football coach (University of Pittsburgh), dies of leukemia at 71
2010 – Ron Santo, American Baseball Hall of Fame third baseman (9 x MLB All Star; 5 x Gold Glove; Chicago Cubs), dies from bladder cancer at 70
Historical Events for 2nd December 2023
1802 – Britain sells Suriname to the Netherlands
1913 – Vladimir Mayakovsky’s self titled tragedy “Vladimir Mayakovsky” premieres at Saint Petersburg’s Luna Park theatre
1929 – First skull of Peking man found in the caves of Zhoukoudian, 50 km outside of Peking, China. Later dated roughly 750,000 years old.
1939 – British Imperial Airways and British Airways merge to form BOAC
1954 – Taiwan (ROC) and US sign the Mutual Defense Treaty, preventing Mainland China (PRC) from taking Taiwan between 1955-1979
1975 – Laos king Sisavang Vatthana resigns, Lao People’s Democratic Republic founded (National Day)
1990 – First time 12 people in space at the same time
2014 – The World Food Programme suspends critical food aid to more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt because of a lack of funds
2018 – Trade war truce agreed between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at G-20 meeting in Argentina
2020 – The UK becomes the first western country to authorize a vaccine for COVID-19, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine