Author: gil7

Historical Events

1888 – “Father of American Golf” John Reid first demonstrates golf on a Yonkers cow pasture to friends
1915 – Germany begins “unrestricted” submarine war
1932 – Purple Heart (the Badge of Military Merit) award reinstituted
1941 – Roy Harris’ “Ballad of a Railroad Man” premieres
1972 – US President Richard Nixon, meets with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing
1973 – US and China agree to establish liaison offices in Beijing and Washington, D.C.

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Famous Birthdays

1773 – Matthijs Ignatius van Bree, Belgian painter of historical subjects, born in Antwerp (d. 1839)
1822 – Adolf Kussmaul, German physician (stomach pump, Kuszmaul disease), born in Graben (d. 1902)
1918 – Sid Abel, Canadian NHL hockey player (1948-49 Hart Trophy), born in Melville, Saskatchewan (d. 2000)
1926 – (Alan) “Bud” Yorkin, American film and television producer and director (Divorce American Style; All in the Family; Sanford And Son), born in Washington, Pennsylvania (d. 2015)
1939 – George Haslam, British avant-garde jazz baritone saxophonist, and tárogató player, born in Preston, Lancashire, England
1969 – Thomas Jane, American actor, born in Baltimore, Maryland

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Famous Deaths

1897 – Charles Blondin, French acrobat and tight rope walker, dies at 72
1921 – Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1864)
1968 – Omer CFL Tulippe, Belgian geographer, dies at 71
1976 – Florence Ballard, American pop and RandB singer (The Supremes, 1959-67 – “Buttered Popcorn”; “Where Did Our Love Go”), dies of a heart attack at 32
1996 – Helmut Schoen, Germany football coach (manager of West Germany (1964-1978, 1974 World Cup), dies at 80
1997 – Albert Shanker, American labor leader (Amer Fed of Teachers), dies at 68

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Historical Events

1795 – Freedom of worship established in France under constitution
1902 – Dr. Harvey Cushing, 1st US brain surgeon, performs his 1st brain operation
1909 – John Galsworthy’s “Strife” premieres in London
1965 – Civil rights activist and Muslim minister Malcolm X is shot dead by Nation of Islam followers at Audubon Ballroom in New York City
1969 – 1st launching of heavy N-1 rocket at Baikonur Kazakhstan (explodes)
2017 – Plane crashes into shopping centre in Essendon, Melbourne, Australia killing the five people on board

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Famous Birthdays

1909 – Hans Erni, Swiss painter and sculptor, born in Lucerne, Switzerland (d. 2015)
1917 – Tadd Dameron, American jazz pianist, composer (“If You Could See Me Now”; “Lady Bird”), arranger (Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine) and band leader, born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1965)
1940 – Peter McEnery, English actor (Game is Over, Moonspinners), born in Walsall, England
1955 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor, comedian, director and activist (“Frasier Crane” in Cheers and Fraiser), born in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands
1966 – Bronwen Booth, English actress (Andy-One Life to Live, Eternal Evil), born in London, England
1978 – Kumail Nanjiani, Pakistani American comedian, actor and writer (The Big Sick, Silicon Valley), born in Karachi, Pakistan

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Famous Deaths

1513 – Julius II, Italian Pope (1503-13) and patron of Michelangelo, Bramante and Raphael, dies at 69
1918 – Neltje Blanchan, American nature writer, dies at 52
1919 – Habibullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan (1901-19), murdered at 46
1996 – Morton Gould, American pianist, conductor, and theatrical, screen, and concert composer (Pulitzer Prize, 1956 – Stringmusic), dies at 82
2012 – Eiko Ishioka, Japanese Costume designer, dies from pancreatic cancer at 74
2016 – Pascal Bentoiu, Romanian composer, dies at 88

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Historical Events

1953 – August A. Busch buys St. Louis Cardinals MLB club from Fred Saigh for $3.75 million; pledges not to move the team from St. Louis, Missouri
1975 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 – Soviet cross-country skier Nikolay Zimyatov wins his 2nd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics as part of the 4 x 10k relay; also wins 30k and 50k gold
1981 – James Sanford equals 50m indoor world record (5.61 sec)
2010 – On the Portuguese Atlantic island of Madeira heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, leaving at least 32 deaths in the worst disaster on the history of the archipelago.
2013 – Estonia becomes the first country to establish a national system of fast chargers for electric cars

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Famous Birthdays

1745 – Henry James Pye, English poet, British Poet Laureate (1790-1813), born in London (d. 1813)
1896 – Henri de Lubac, French Jesuit cardinal and theologist (“new theology” movement that influenced Second Vatican Council), born in Cambrai, France (d. 1991)
1926 – Cameron Rusby, British Vice-Admiral
1927 – Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, first black actor to win Oscar for Best Actor (‘Lillies in the Field’ – 1963; To Sir With Love”; “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”), director (Stir Crazy), civil rights advocate, and diplomat, born in Miami, Florida (d. 2022)
1928 – Donald Longmore, British cardiac surgeon
1954 – Anthony Stewart Head, actor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

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Famous Deaths

1810 – Johann Friedrich Kranz, German composer, dies at 57
1937 – Barlow Carkeek, Australian cricket wicket-keeper (6 Tests, 6 dismissals; Victoria), dies when struck by a car at 58
1980 – Joseph Banks Rhine, American parapsychologist (Extra-Sensory Perception), dies at 84
2002 – Stephen Longstreet, American writer (All or Nothing), dies at 94
2007 – F. Albert Cotton, American chemist, dies at 76
2013 – Antonio Roma, Argentinian footballer, dies at 80

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Historical Events

1771 – French astronomer Charles Messier adds M46-M49 to his catalog (galactic clusters in Puppis and Hydra and galaxy in Virgo)
1819 – British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III
1945 – US 5th Fleet launches invasion of Iwo Jima against the Japanese with 30,000 US Marines
1985 – Canned and bottled Cherry Coke introduced by Coca-Cola
1992 – In a blockbuster NHL trade, Pittsburgh Penguins send Mark Recchi, Brian Benning and LA’s 1st round 1992 pick (Jason Bowen) to the Philadelphia Flyers for Kjell Samuelsson, Rick Tocchet and Ken Wregget
2014 – Death toll in Ukraine reaches 26 after Government crackdown on protesters

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Famous Birthdays

1920 – Jaan Kross, Estonian writer (d. 2007)
1923 – Donald Lybbert, American composer (Zap; Lines for the Fallen), and educator (Hunter College, 1954-80), born in Cresco, Iowa (d. 1981)
1940 – [William] Smokey Robinson, American soul singer-songwriter (The Miracles – “You Really Got A Hold On Me”; “Tears Of A Clown”; “My Girl”), born in Detroit, Michigan
1979 – Mariska [Anna Maria Rahikainen], Finnish rapper, born in Helsinki, Finland
1981 – Ronnie Arniell, Canadian professional wrestler
1993 – Victoria Justice, American Actress (The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody, Lola Martinez in Nickelodeon show Zoey 101)

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Famous Deaths

1545 – Pierre Brully [Peter Brulius], Calvinist minister, burned to death for teaching Protestant doctrine in Tournai
1878 – Charles-François Daubigny, French painter of the Barbizon school, dies at 61
1948 – Bob Groom, American baseball pitcher (Washington Senators; no-hitter 1917 St. Louis Browns), dies at 63
1957 – Maurice Garin, Italian-born French road bicycle racer (winner of Tour de France in 1903), dies at 85
1993 – Michael Morrison, actor (Caleb-As the World Turns), dies at 33
1994 – Derek Jarman, English filmmaker (The Tempest), artist and gay rights activist, dies of AIDS at 52

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