Author: gil7

Historical Events

1916 – Denmark and the United States sign a treaty whereby the Danish West Indies, including the Virgin Islands, are to be ceded to the US in 1917 for $25 million
1916 – The Turks attack the British line at Romani in the northern Sinai (WWI)
1962 – Nelson Mandela captured by South African police
1984 – Prince’s “Purple Rain” album goes #1 and stays #1 for 24 weeks
1996 – Jim Bunning, Earl Weaver, Bill Foster and Ned Hanlon inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY
2001 – Australian cricket spinner Shane Warne skittles England (162) with 6/33 to guide tourists to a 7 wicket 3rd Test victory at Trent Bridge; Aussies regain Ashes with record 7th straight Test win v England

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Famous Birthdays

1825 – Arthur Haygarth, English cricket batsman (Middlesex and Surrey, cricket historian), born in Hastings, Sussex, England (d. 1903)
1927 – Jess Thomas, American tenor known for his singing in Richard Wagner operas, born in Hot Springs, South Dakota (d. 1993)
1930 – Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iranian shia cleric, born in Mashhad, Iran
1958 – Kym Karath, American actress (The Sound of Music – “Gretl”), born in Los Angeles, California
1962 – Joey Huffman, American rock keyboard and organ player (Soul Asylum), born in Pikeville, Kentucky
1983 – Greta Gerwig, American actress and film director (Lady Bird, Little Women, Barbie), born in Sacramento, California

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Famous Deaths

1873 – Viktor Hartmann, Russian architect and painter, dies at 39
1875 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author of 150 fairy tales (The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen), dies at 70
1905 – Kinjikitile “Bokero” Ngwale, Tanzanian prophet and rebel leader, hanged for treason by German East African military
2004 – Sir Kenneth Couzens, British Deputy Chairman of British Coal Board and significant figure during Miners Strike, dies at 79
2019 – Nuon Chea, Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader ‘Brother Number Two’, dies at 93
2022 – Johnny Famechon, Australian boxer (WBC featherweight champion 1969-70), dies at 77

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Historical Events

1492 – Christopher Columbus with Juan de la Cosa second-in-command sets sail on his first voyage with three ships, Santa María, Pinta and Niña from Palos de la Frontera, Spain for the “Indies”
1897 – John McNally’s musical “Good Mr Best” premieres in NYC
1973 – National People’s party wins Dutch Antilles National elections
1977 – Radio Shack introduces the TRS-80 personal computer, within weeks thousands were ordered
1996 – American Andre Agassi wins the men’s singles Tennis gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics beating Spaniard Sergi Bruguera 6-2, 6-3, 6-1
2004 – The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11, 2001 attacks

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Famous Birthdays

1748 – Carl Ludwig Junker, German composer, born in Kirchberg an der Jagst, Germany (d. 1797)
1915 – Sal Santen, Dutch writer (You Are Jewish People), born in Amsterdam (d. 1998)
1936 – Vinko “Vice” Vukov, Croatian singer (Eurovision Song Contest 1963 and 1965), born in Šibenik, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (d. 2008)
1951 – Hans Schlegel, German astronaut (STS 55), born in Überlingen, Germany
1963 – Isaiah Washington, American actor (The 100), born in Houston, Texas
1999 – Brahim Díaz, Spanish footballer (Real Madrid), born in Málaga, Spain

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Famous Deaths

1958 – Peter Collins, English auto racer (British GP 1958), dies in race accident at German GP at 26
1983 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (Morticia-Addams Family), dies of colon cancer at 53
2000 – Michael Meyer, English novelist and translator, dies at 79
2003 – (John) Roger Voudouris, American singer and songwriter (Get Used To It), dies of liver disease at 48
2007 – John Gardner, English spy and thriller novelist (Boysie Oakes novels; James Bond continuation novels), dies of suspected heart failure at 80
2017 – Robert Hardy, British actor (Harry Potter, All Creatures Great and Small), dies at 91

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Historical Events

1578 – Battle of Rijmenam: Spanish Habsburg forces defeated by Dutch troops (Eighty Years’ War)
1953 – KCPQ TV channel 13 in Tacoma-Seattle, WA (IND) begins broadcasting
1964 – Race riot in Jersey City, New Jersey
1967 – “In the Heat of the Night” directed by Norman Jewison, based on John Ball’s novel of the same name, starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger premieres in New York (Academy Awards Best Picture 1968)
1969 – US President Richard Nixon visits Romania
1994 – Explosion in lead/zinc mine in Guangxi China, 120+ killed

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Famous Birthdays

1775 – Jose Angel Lamas, Venezuelan composer, born in Caracas, Venezuela (d. 1814)
1832 – Henry Steel Olcott, American military officer and co-founder of the Theosophical Society, born in Orange, New Jersey (d. 1907)
1878 – Aino Kallas, Finnish writer (White Ship, Estonian Tales), born in Kiiskilä, Viipuri Province, Grand Duchy of Finland (d. 1956)
1945 – Eric Simms, Australian rugby league fullback (8 Tests; NSWRL points record [1,841] stood until 1983; South Sydney), born in Karuah, Australia
1952 – Paul David Crews, American murderer (FBI Most Wanted List), born in South Carolina (d. 2022)
1972 – Mohamed Al-Deayea, Saudi Arabian footballer, born in Hail, Saudi Arabia

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Famous Deaths

1100 – William II [Rufus], king of England, shot hunting in the New Forest at 44
1600 – Arent van Dorp, Dutch governor of East-Zealand, dies at about 70
1979 – Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician and author (founder of Peruvian Aprista Party), dies at 84
1996 – Michel Debre, French politician, Prime Minister of France (1959-62), dies at 84
1997 – Fela Kuti, Nigerian Afrobeat musician and composer, dies of an illness, disputedly AIDS related, at 58
2020 – Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov, Kazakh Greco-Roman wrestler (Olympic gold, light-flyweight 1980; World C’ship gold 1981), dies at 69

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Historical Events

1863 – Cavalry action near Brandy Station-End of Gettysburg Campaign
1932 – George Washington quarter goes into circulation
1976 – XXI Summer Olympic Games, Montreal, Canada: Officially close
1992 – British athlete Linford Christie (32) becomes the oldest man to win an Olympic 100m gold medal edging Frankie Fredericks in Barcelona
1997 – 6th Athletics World Championships open at Athens, Greece
2021 – 394 migrants rescued from a stricken vessel by humanitarian NGO ships in Tunisian waters

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Famous Birthdays

1819 – Herman Melville, American author (Moby-Dick, Billy Budd), born in NYC, New York (d. 1891)
1903 – Thomas D’Alesandro Jr, American politician (US Representative for Maryland (D), 1939-47; Mayor of Baltimore, 1947-59), and father of Nancy Pelosi, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1987)
1932 – Meena Kumari, Indian film actress (Parineeta), born in Dadar, Mumbai, India (d. 1972)
1933 – Erwin Nypels, Dutch economist and Minister of Housing (D66), born in Bloemendaal, North Holland
1955 – Pierre Robert, American rock and roll radio DJ (same station in Philadelphia since 1981), and Deadhead, born in Truckee, California
1964 – Adam Duritz, American rock singer-songwriter, and keyboardist (Counting Crows – “Mr. Jones”; “Accidentally in Love”), born in Baltimore, Maryland

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Famous Deaths

1883 – Karl Wilhelm Dindorf, classic scholar, dies
1896 – William Robert Grove, Welsh physicist and inventor of the first fuel cell, dies at 85
1973 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer, pedagogue (Venice Liceo Musicale, 1932-52), and musicologist (Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi). s at 91
1990 – Norbert Elias, German-British sociologist and philosopher (Process of Civilization), dies at 93
2000 – Hugh Hood, Canadian author (White Figure, White Ground), dies at 72
2012 – Joan Bernard, English educator (Principal Trevelyan College, Durham) and army officer (WWII Auxiliary Territorial Service), dies at 94

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