Author: gil7

Historical Events

1926 – Boxer J. Gordon Whitehead sucker punches magician Harry Houdini in the stomach in in his dressing room at the Princess Theater in Montreal. The attack started, contributed, or covered-up the appendicitis that would take Houdini’s life 9 days later.
1930 – Blake and Razaf’s “Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1930” premieres in NYC
1935 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Twin Hills CC: Johnny Revolta wins his only major title, defeating Tommy Armour, 5 and 4
2012 – MLB National League Championship: San Francisco Giants beat St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 3
2018 – Cameroon’s President Paul Biya wins seventh term in office, extending his 36 years in office, in election marred by intimidation and low turnout
2020 – Goldman Sachs agrees to pay record $3 billion to end probe into its role in 1MDB corruption scandal to regulators in the US, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia

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Famous Birthdays

1809 – Federico Ricci, Italian composer, born in Naples, Kingdom of Naples (now Italy) (d. 1877)
1935 – Judy Devlin Hashman, Canadian badminton player (World Team C’ship gold US 1957, 60, 63, 66), born in Winnipeg, Manitoba
1938 – Christopher Lloyd, American Emmy Award-winning actor (Taxi – “Reverend Jim”; Back to the Future films), born in Stamford, Connecticut
1959 – Todd Graff, American actor (Five Corners, Dominic and Eugene), born in NYC, New York
1960 – Cris Kirkwood, American cow-punk bassist, singer, and songwriter (Meat Puppets – “Backwater”), born in Phoenix, Arizona
1975 – Míchel Salgado, Spanish soccer defender (53 caps; Celta Vigo, Real Madrid 251 games, Blackburn Rovers), born in As Neves, Spain

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Famous Deaths

1725 – Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian baroque composer (Tigrane), dies at 65
1989 – Ewan MacColl [James Miller], Scottish folk singer-songwriter (“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”), dies at 74
1990 – Frank Sinkwich, American College Football Hall of Fame halfback (Heisman Trophy 1942, U of Georgia; NFL Draft #1 pick Detroit Lions 1943; NFL MVP 1944), dies at 70
1995 – Mary Wickes [Wickenhauser], American character actress (Father Dowling Mysteries; Sister Act; Dennis The Menace), dies of surgery complications at 79
2004 – Alastair Down, CEO (Burmah Oil), dies at 90
2021 – Jay Black [David Blatt], American pop singer (Jay and the Americans – “Come A Little Bit Closer”; “This Magic Moment”), dies of pneumonia and complications from dementia at 82

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Historical Events

1096 – Sultan Kilidj Arslan of Nicea defeats The People’s Crusade at the Battle of Civetot, only about 3,000 out of 20,000 Crusaders survive
1854 – Florence Nightingale with a staff of 38 nurses is sent to the Crimean War
1961 – USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan USSR
1975 – Mexico City’s 1st major subway accident takes 26 lives
2004 – MLB National League Championship: St. Louis Cardinals beat Houston Astros, 4 games to 3
2020 – Parents of 545 children cannot be found that were separated at the US-Mexico border according to American Civil Liberties Union

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Famous Birthdays

1803 – George Wright, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Norwich, Vermont (d. 1865)
1847 – Giuseppe Giacosa, Italian playwright, poet, and librettist (Puccini’s “La bohème”, “Tosca”, and “Madama Butterfly”), born in Colleretto Parella, Kingdom of Sardinia (now Italy) (d. 1906)
1928 – Ardico Magnini, Italian soccer defender (20 caps; Fiorentina 225 games), born in Pistoia, Italy (d. 2020)
1940 – Manfred Mann [Michael Lubowitz], British, rocker (“Mighty Quinn”; “Blinded By The Light”), born in Johannesburg, Transvaal, Union of South Africa
1945 – Everett McGill, actor (Jezebel’s Kiss, Silver Bullet), born in Miami, Florida
1949 – Masao Ohba, Japanese boxer (WBA flyweight champion), born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 1973)

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Famous Deaths

1500 – Go-Tsuchimikado, 103rd Emperor of Japan, dies at 58
1777 – Samuel Foote, British actor, dramatist and theatre manager (Mirror), dies at 57
1977 – Ferit Tüzün, Turkish composer (Esintiler – Inspirations; The Ears of Midas), and conductor (Turkish State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, 1959-77), dies at 48
1995 – Linda Goodman, American astrologer and poet, dies from complications of diabetes at 70
2003 – Fred Berry, African-American actor (Rerun-What’s Happening), dies at 52
2007 – Ronald B. Kitaj, American-British painter and graphic artist (pop art), dies at 74

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Historical Events

1906 – Dr Lee DeForest demonstrates his electrical vacuum tube (radio tube)
1940 – Cheese rationed in the Netherlands
1968 – Margitta Gummel of East Germany throws world record 19.61m to beat teammate Marita Lange by 0.83m and win the women’s shot put gold medal at the Mexico City Olympics
2013 – 37 people are killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad, Iraq
2013 – 78 people are killed by cattle raiders in Jonglei, Sudan
2018 – 12,000 year old fossil called “Luzia”, oldest known fossil in South America announced found mostly intact after devastating fire at Brazil’s National Museum

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Famous Birthdays

1616 – Thomas Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian (d. 1680)
1884 – Thomas Chalmers, American opera singer, actor, and filmmaker (Blind Alleys, Outrage), born in NYC, New York (d. 1966)
1923 – Herschel Bernardi, American actor (Arnie, Voice of Charlie the Tuna, Front), born in NYC, New York (d. 1986)
1961 – Ian Rush, Welsh footballer (Liverpool), born in St Asaph, Wales
1966 – Fred Coury, American glam rock drummer (Cinderella -“Heartbreak Station”; “Nobody’s Fool”), born in Johnston, New York
1967 – Harvey Pulliam, American MLB outfielder (Colorado Rockies), born in San Francisco, California

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Famous Deaths

1906 – William “Buck” Ewing, American Baseball HOF catcher (NL home run leader 1883 NY Giants; Cincinnati Reds) and manager (NY Giants, Cincinnati Reds), dies of diabetes at 67
1994 – Sergei Bondarchuk, Soviet director and actor (Destiny of a Man, War and Peace), dies of a heart attack at 74
1997 – Henry Vestine, American guitarist (Canned Heat), dies of heart and respiratory failure at 52
2003 – Jack Elam, American actor (The Dakotas, East Street, Rio Lobo), dies at 82
2006 – Frank Vicari, American jazz, session, and touring saxophonist (Maynard Ferguson; Woody Herman; Tom Waits; Saturday Night Live), dies at 75
2010 – Bob Guccione, American publisher (Penthouse, Omni), dies of lung cancer at 79

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Historical Events

1863 – Battle of Buckland Mills, Virginia
1870 – 1st African Americans (4) elected to US House of Representatives
1919 – 1st US Distinguished Service Medal awarded to a living female recipient, Anna Howard Shaw
1952 – Alain Bombard departs from the Canary Islands on his solitary journey across the Atlantic ocean with almost no provisions and only a sextant for navigation to test his theory that a shipwrecked person could survive
2013 – 16 people are killed and 30 are wounded by a suicide bombing Beledweyne, Somalia
2019 – Sunnyside, Queens, New York City: Intersection of 46th Street and Skillman Avenue named “Ethel Plimack Way”, in honor of a longtime resident

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Famous Birthdays

1688 – William Cheselden, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1752)
1866 – Clarence Lucas, Canadian composer, librettist, conductor, and music professor, born in Six Nations Reserve, Ontario (d. 1947)
1954 – Deborah Blum, American writer
1962 – Tracy Chevalier, American author
1964 – Webster Slaughter, NFL wide receiver (KC Chiefs)
1969 – Pedro Castillo, Peruvian teacher, union leader and politician (President of Peru 2021-22), born in Puña,, Peru

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Famous Deaths

1609 – Jacobus Arminius [Jacob Hermans], theologist, dies at about 49
1918 – Harold Lockwood, American actor (Tess of the Storm Country), dies from the flu at 31
1988 – Edward “Son” House, American delta blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (“Walking Blues”; “Preachin’ The Blues”), dies of larynx cancer at 86
1996 – Neville Robinson, English physicist, dies at 71
1997 – Pilar Miró, Spanish screenwriter and director (Wether, Beltenebros), dies at 57
2003 – Hawk [Michael Hegstrand], American professional wrestler (ECW/WCW/WWF/AWA, Legion of Doom), dies at 46

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