Today in History for 2nd September 2023

Historical Events

1924 – Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart’soperetta “Rose-Marie” opens to rave reviews at the Imperial Theatre, NYC; runs for 577 performances
1931 – American crooner Bing Crosby makes his solo radio debut on his “15 Minutes with Bing Crosby” program broadcast on the CBS network
1967 – The Principality of Sealand is established, ruled by Prince Paddy Roy Bates.
1990 – Steve Allen, installed as a new abbot of Hartford St Zen Center, San Francisco
1996 – Museum of Contemporary Art of Niterói (MAC) designed by Oscar Niemeyer inaugurated in Niterói, Brazil
2020 – Press conference with body camera evidence brings to light death of African American Daniel Prude after being retrained by police back in March

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Famous Birthdays

1911 – Romare Bearden, African American painter (d. 1988)
1918 – Allen Drury, American author (Advise and Consent – 1960 Pulitzer Prize), born in Houston, Texas (d. 1998)
1941 – John Thompson, American Basketball Hall of Fame center, coach and broadcaster (NBA C’ship 1965, 66, Boston Celtics; coach NCAA C’ship 1984, Georgetown), born in Washington, D.C. (d. 2020)
1952 – Earl Pomeroy, American politician (Rep-D-North Dakota 1993-2011), born in Valley City, North Dakota
1967 – Andreas Möller, German footballer
1979 – Ron Ng, Hong Kong actor

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Famous Deaths

1944 – Gustav Aschaffenburg, German psychiatrist (pioneer in criminology and forensic pathology), dies at 78
1993 – John [Eoin] Higgins, Northern Ireland supreme court justice (1984-93), dies at 66
1996 – Kenneth M Stewart, euro MP for Merseyside West, dies at 71
2008 – Denis Rooke, British engineer and CEO (British Gas), dies at 84
2011 – Roberto Bruce, Chilean journalist (b. 1979)
2020 – William Yorzyk Jr., American swimmer (Olympic gold 200m butterfly, WR 2:19.3, 1956), dies at 87

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Famous Deaths for 1st September 2023

1557 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer who claimed what is now Canada for France, dies at 65
1941 – “Kansas City” Frank [Melrose], American jazz and blues pianist, killed in a bar fight in Hammond, Indiana at 33
1967 – James Dunn, American vaudeville performer, stage and screen actor (Bad Girl; Bright Eyes; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), dies from surgery complications at 65
1983 – Larry McDonald, American congressman (b. 1935)
1993 – Jacqueline Wijchers, film publicist (Havenloods, Sextant), dies at 89
1993 – Neon Park [Martin Muller], American illustrator of album covers (Little Feat; Frank Zappa), dies of ALS at 52
1994 – Pieter C “Piet” Author, sailor/corrector, dies at 71
1994 – Boris Malenko, American professional wrestler (b. 1933)
2004 – Johnny Bragg, American doo-wop singer-songwriter (The Prisonaires – “Just Walkin’ in the Rain”), dies of cancer at 79
2006 – Nellie Connally, wife of Texas governor John Connally (b. 1919)

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Historical Events for 1st September 2023

1255 – Königsberg (modern day Kaliningrad) founded by Teutonic Knights and named in honor of the Bohemian King Ottokar II
1906 – New York Highlanders win their 6th consecutive MLB game in 3 days from Washington Senators; sweep AL record 3 straight double headers
1911 – Anthony Fokker famously flies his aircraft “Spin” around the tower of the Grote Kerk in Haarlem
1971 – Rolling Stones sue manager Allen Klein
1972 – Welshman Richard Meade representing Great Britain and riding Laurieston grabs the equestrian individual and team 3-day event gold medals at the Munich Olympics
1979 – LA Court orders Clayton Moore to stop wearing Lone Ranger mask
1986 – Henri Debehogne discovers asteroid #8265 La Silla
1989 – Chris Evert becomes the first player ever to win 100 matches in the US National/Open Tennis Championship by beating Patricia Tarabinia 6-2, 6-4
2007 – In one of the biggest upsets in college football history, 109,218 fans see Appalachian State’s Corey Lynch block a Jason Gingell 37-yard field goal attempt with 6 seconds remaining to inspire an epic 34-32 win v Michigan at Ann Arbor
2021 – South America’s second-longest river, the Paraná, at its lowest levels for 77 years due to drought

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Today in History for 1st September 2023

Historical Events

1939 – General George Marshall sworn in as the United States Army Chief of Staff
1974 – Train accident at Zagreb Yugoslavia, 121 killed
1978 – Jacqueline Smith of Great Britain scores 10 straight dead center strikes on a 4″ disk in World Parachute Championships in Yugoslavia
1983 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1984 – Middlesex beats Kent off the last ball of the Nat West Trophy cricket final in London; John Emburey hits Kent seamer Richard Ellison to square leg for 4 for the winning runs
1999 – 56th Venice Film Festival: “Yi ge dou bu neng shao” directed by Zhang Yimou wins Golden Lion

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Famous Birthdays

1529 – Taddeo Zuccari, Italian Mannerist painter (Villa dei Farnese at Caprarola), born in Sant’Angelo in Vado (d. 1566)
1549 – Charles Philip of Croÿ, Marquis of Havre, military general for the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1613)
1892 – Leverett Saltonstall, 55th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1979)
1923 – Theo Joekes, Dutch journalist, writer, and politician (VVD), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1999)
1951 – David Bairstow, English cricket wicket keeper, broadcaster (4 Tests, 13 dismissals; father of England Test ‘keeper Jonny; Yorkshire CCC), born in Bradford, Yorkshire (d. 1998)
1954 – Riccardo “Ric” Formosa, Italian-Australian guitarist (Little River Band, 1975-76), session musician, arranger and classical composer, born in Rome, Italy

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Famous Deaths

1615 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and man of letters, dies at 86
1818 – Robert Calder, British naval officer, dies at 73
1969 – William Flanagan, American composer, and music critic, takes his own life at 46
1970 – Francois Mauriac, French novelist, poet and playwright (Nobel 1952), dies at 84
1983 – Lennox Brown, South African cricket leg spinner (3 wickets at 63 for South Africa), dies at 72
2013 – Tommy Morrison, American boxer (WBO heavyweight title, 1993) and actor (Rocky V), dies from AIDS at 44

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Famous Deaths for 31st August 2023

651 – Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne, Irish bishop and missionary
1667 – Johann von Rist, German composer and poet known for his hymns, dies at 60
1741 – Johann Gottlieb Heineccius, German jurist, dies at 59
1814 – Arthur Phillip, British admiral, 1st Governor of New South Wales (1788-92), dies at 75
1949 – André-Louis Debierne, French chemist and physicist (discoverer of element actinium, worked with Marie Curie), dies at 75
1973 – Raymond Keane, American actor (Midnight Sun, Love Eagle), dies at 66
1996 – David Pollock, Viscount Hanworth, British barrister, dies at 80
2002 – George Porter, British chemist (Nobel Prize, 1967), dies at 81
2003 – Jaap Geraedts, Dutch composer, dies at 79
2013 – David Frost, British broadcaster (That Was the Week That Was), dies from a heart attack at 74

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Historical Events for 31st August 2023

1903 – New York Giants future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Joe McGinnity wins his 3rd doubleheader of month, beating the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 and 9-2 at the Polo Grounds
1920 – Detroit radio station 8MK (now WWJ, 950AM) is 1st to broadcast a news program on the air
1923 – Italian troops occupy Corfu
1954 – Indians beat Yanks 6-1 for record tying 26 wins in August (1931 A’s)
1979 – Donald McHenry named to succeed Andrew Young as US UN ambassador
1983 – 40th Venice Film Festival: “First Name: Carmen” directed by Jean-Luc Godard wins Golden Lion
1983 – Edwin Moses of USA sets 400m hurdle record (47.02) in Koblenz
1985 – “Prakas” sets trotting mile record of 1:53.4 at Du Quoin, Illinois
1990 – East and West Germany sign a treaty to join legal and political systems
2015 – Violent protests in Kiev after Ukraine parliament vote leave 1 national guard dead, 100 injured

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Today in History for 31st August 2023

Historical Events

1919 – John Reed forms American Communist Labor Party in Chicago
1950 – Dodger Gil Hodges hits 4 HRs and a single in a game vs Braves
1980 – 80th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Hal Sutton
1990 – Baseball outfielders Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. become the 1st father and son to play on same team (Seattle Mariners), the pair hit back-to-back singles in the first inning and both scored
2012 – “Argo” directed by Ben Affleck and starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston and John Goodman premieres at the Telluride Film Festival (Best Picture 2013)
2020 – Singer Akon lays first stone for Akon city, futuristic solar-powered city to be built in Senegal, saying will be real-life version of Wakanda in “Black Panther”

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Famous Birthdays

1822 – Fitz John Porter, American Major General (Union Army), born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (d. 1901)
1855 – Stefan Surzynski, Polish conductor and composer, born in Srem, Poland (d. 1919)
1908 – William Saroyan, American novelist and playwright (Time of Your Life), born in Fresno, California (d. 1981)
1963 – Richard “Reb” Beach, American heavy metal guitarist (Winger; Whitesnake), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1978 – Philippe Christanval, French footballer
1984 – Rajkummar Rao, Indian film actor (Shahid), born in Gurgaon, India

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Famous Deaths

1057 – Leofric, count of Mercia, husband of Lady Godiva, dies
1631 – Nicolaus Erich, German composer, dies at 43
1638 – John Ward, British madrigal and religious music composer, dies at 67
1974 – William Pershing Benedict, American World War II fighter pilot in both the RCAF and U.S. Army Air Forces, killed in a plane crash while firefighting in California at 56
1996 – Harald Penrose, British test pilot, dies at 92
2020 – Tom Seaver, American Baseball HOF pitcher (NL Cy Young Award 1969, 73, 75; 12 x MLB All Star; NY Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago WS), dies of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19 at 75

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Famous Deaths for 30th August 2023

1934 – Earnest L. Wolzogen, German writer (That tolle Komtess), dies at 79
1946 – Grigory Semyonov, Russian counter-revolutionary (executed) (b. 1890)
2001 – Ivor Spencer-Thomas, English farmer, entrepreneur and inventor, dies at 94
2004 – Fred Lawrence Whipple, American astronomer (dirty-snowball theory), dies at 97
2005 – James H. Scheuer, American politician (Rep-D-NY, 1965-73, 75- 93), dies of heart and kidney failure at 85
2007 – Augustine Harris, British Bishop of Middlesbrough, dies at 89
2013 – Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and playwright (Nobel Prize in Literature 1995), dies at 74
2015 – Oliver Sacks, English Neurologist and author (Awakenings), dies at 82
2015 – Wes Craven, American filmmaker (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream), dies at 76
2019 – Valerie Harper, American actress (The Mary Tyler Moore Show; Rhoda), dies of cancer at 80

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Historical Events for 30th August 2023

1757 – Battle at Gross Jagerndorf: Russian army beats Prussia [OS=Aug 19]
1800 – Gabriel Prosser leads a slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia
1862 – Battle of Altamont-Confederates beat Union forces in Tennessee
1932 – Hermann Goering elected President of the German Reichstag
1939 – General Reijnders appointed supreme commander of Dutch army
1961 – Oriole Jack Fisher walks 12 LA Angels in a 9 inning game
1982 – PLO leader Yasser Arafat leaves Beirut
1984 – 12th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (41D): Discovery 1 launches for a 6-day excursion
1991 – Dan O’Brien sets US decathlon record with 8,812 points
1993 – “Late Show with David Letterman” debuts on CBS, from the Ed Sullivan Theater in NYC; Bill Murray is his first guest, Billy Joel performs

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Today in History for 30th August 2023

Historical Events

1843 – 1st time African-Americans participate in a national political convention (Liberty Party)
1918 – Czechoslovakia forms independent republic
1954 – Hurricane Carol kills 68 on the US East Coast
1983 – 8th NASA Space Shuttle Mission: Challenger 3 launches for a 6-day excursion
1986 – Soviet authorities arrested Nicholas Daniloff (US News World Report)
1987 – Yves Pol of France runs complete marathon backwards (3:57:57)

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Famous Birthdays

1809 – Adolf Friedrich Hesse, German composer, born in Wrocław, Poland (d. 1863)
1913 – Thomas F. Torrance, Scottish Protestant theologist, born in Chengdu, Sichuan, China (d. 2007)
1918 – Ted Williams, American Baseball HOF outfielder (last player to bat over .400 in single season; 19 x MLB All Star; AL MVP 1946, 49; Triple Crown 1942, 47 Boston Red Sox), born in San Diego, California (d. 2002)
1921 – Angelo Dundee, American boxing trainer and cornerman (Muhammad Ali 1960–81 and 15 other world boxing champions), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2012)
1963 – Paul Oakenfold, British record producer and DJ, born in Mile End, London
1966 – Michael Michele, American actress (Nikki-Central Park West), born in Evansville, Indiana

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Famous Deaths

1580 – Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (1553-80, regained lands of Savoy), dies at 52
1981 – Vera-Ellen [Westmeier Rohe], American actress and dancer (White Christmas; Big Leaguer; On the Town), dies of cancer at 60
1984 – Wesley Lau, American actor (Lt Anderson-Perry Mason), dies at 63
1989 – Joe Collins, American baseball first baseman (World Series 1949–53, 56; New York Yankees), dies at 66
2007 – Charles Vanik, American politician (Rep-D-Ohio 1955-81), dies at 94
2008 – Tommy Bolt, American golfer (US Open 1958), dies at 92

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