1654 – Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, French writer (b. 1594)
1900 – Eugenio Beltrami, Italian mathematician (non-Euclidean geometry), dies at 64
1902 – Charles Lewis Tiffany, American jeweler and founder of Tiffany and Co, dies at 90
1951 – Piet A W Hopmans, bishop of Breda (Crusade), dies at 85
1959 – Alfred Alessandrescu, Romanian composer, dies at 65
1975 – Chivu Stoica [Stoica Chivu], premier of Romania (1955-61), dies at 66
1993 – Jacqueline Hill, dies of cancer at 63
2008 – Sir Richard Knowles, British politician (b. 1917)
2009 – Ronald Dearing, British civil servant and chairman (British Post Office), dies of cancer at 78
2013 – Kevin Ayers, British progressive rocker (Soft Machine; Joy of a Toy), dies at 68
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 18th February 2023
1574 – Zeeland falls to Dutch rebels
1861 – Confederate President Jefferson Davis inaugurated at Montgomery, Alabama (US Civil War)
1865 – Battle of Fort Moultrie, SC occupied by Federals
1885 – Mark Twain publishes the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in the US
1919 – Cy Denneny of NHL Ottawa Senators scores record 52nd goal
1950 – “Dance Me a Song” closes at Royale Theater NYC after 35 performances
1952 – Norwegian speed skater Hjalmar Anderson wins his 3rd gold medal of the Oslo Winter Olympics when he claims the 10,000m in Olympic record 16:45.8; also wins gold in 1,500m and 5,000m
1977 – George Harrison releases music single “True Love”, from his “33-1/3” album
1984 – Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen wins first of 4 career Olympic gold medals in the Large Hill individual event at the Sarajevo Winter Games
2020 – President Donald Trump commutes the 14-year sentence of former Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich’s corruption conviction
Today in History for 18th February 2023
Historical Events
1896 – Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for first time in 50 yrs
1957 – Dedan Kimathi, a Kenyan freedom fighter is executed by the British colonial government.
1967 – Softball pitcher Eddie Feigner strikes out 6 straight major leaguers
1980 – East German cross country skier Barbara Petzold wins first of 2 gold medals at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in women’s 10k; also takes gold as part of 4 x 5k relay team
1992 – American amateur astronomer Peter Collins discovers Nova Cygni 1992, observed from Boulder, Colorado
2022 – Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway wins his 4th biathlon gold medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics when he takes out the men’s mass start
Famous Birthdays
1770 – Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck, German composer, born in Elgersburg (d. 1846)
1867 – Hedwig Courths-Mahler, German Romantic novelist whose novels sold 80 million copies (Warbride), born in Nebra (d. 1950)
1909 – Wallace Stegner, American novelist and critic (Pulitzer-1972 for Angle of Repose), born in Lake Mills, Iowa (d. 1992)
1936 – Jozef Vengloš, Slovak soccer manager (Australia, Czechoslovakia, Malaysia, Fenerbahçe, Aston Villa, Celtic, Slovakia), born in Ružomberok, Slovakia (d. 2021)
1955 – Miles Tredinnick, English playwright, born in Warrington, United Kingdom
1967 – Colin Jackson, Welsh 100m hurdler (Olympic silver 1988), born in Cardiff, Wales
Famous Deaths
1546 – Martin Luther, German theologian and key figure in the Protestant Reformation, dies at 62
1743 – Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, last of the Medicis (b. 1667)
1957 – Dedan Kimathi, Kenyan freedom fighter, dies by execution at 36
1963 – Monte Blue, American silent film actor (Apache), dies of a heart attack at 73
1980 – Gale Robbins [Betty Gale Murphy], American singer and actress (Fuller Brush Girl, Mr Hex), dies of lung cancer at 58
1996 – Jack Thieuloy, French writer, dies at 64
Famous Deaths for 17th February 2023
1652 – Gregorio Allegri, Italian singer and composer (Miserere), dies at about 67
1815 – Franz Gotz, Bohemian composer, dies at 59
1841 – Ferdinando Carulli, Italian classical guitar composer (Méthode, Op. 27), dies at 71
1852 – Micha Joseph Levenson, Hebrew poet, dies
1951 – Nikoghayos Fadeyi Tigranyan, Armenian composer, dies at 94
1971 – Teddy Hart, American actor (After the Thin Man, 3 Men on a Horse), dies at 73
1977 – Janani Luwum, Ugandan Archbishop (b. 1922)
1980 – Graham Sutherland, English artist (official WWII war artist), dies at 76
1999 – Shirley Stoler, American actress (The Honeymoon Killers, Seven Beauties), dies at 69
2004 – Shirley Strickland, Australian athlete (Olympic gold 80m hurdles 1952, 56; 4 x 100m relay 1956), dies at 78
Historical Events for 17th February 2023
1843 – Battle of Miani: Bombay Army of the East India Company led by Charles Napier defeats a Baluch army of Talpur Emirs of Sindh led by Mir Nasir Khan Talpur. Leading to the capture of parts of Sindh, the company’s first possession in modern-day Pakistan.
1915 – Edward Stone, 1st US combatant to die in WW I, is mortally wounded
1951 – Detroit right wing Gordie Howe scores his 100th career NHL goal and adds an assist in a 2-1 Red Wings’ victory away to the Montreal Canadiens
1967 – Parlophone releases the Beatles’ double “A” side single “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields” in the UK
1984 – 34th Berlin International Film Festival: “Love Streams” wins the Golden Bear
1985 – Panamanian jockey Laffit Pincay Jr is third to ride 6,000 winners; wins aboard Doria’s Delight in the 5th race at Santa Anita Park
1989 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
2016 – Car bomb attack on military convoy in Ankara, Turkey, by Kurdish militant eaves 28 dead
2016 – Nike ends endorsement deal with Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao after he made TV comments gay people are “worse than animals.”
2021 – Texan senator Ted Cruz flies to Cancun, Mexico with his family amid a winter disaster in his state, igniting widespread condemnation
Today in History for 17th February 2023
Historical Events
1621 – Myles Standish is elected as the first commander of the Plymouth Colony
1905 – Frances Willard becomes 1st women honored in National Statuary Hall
1954 – WAST (now WNYT) TV channel 13 in Albany-Troy, NY (NBC) 1st broadcast
1995 – Colin Fergusson found guilty of killing 6 people on the Long Island Rail Road in NY
1995 – Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson takes unpaid leave due to baseball strike
2021 – South Africa, Africa’s worst-affected country begins COVID-19 vaccinations with the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine in Cape Town
Famous Birthdays
1796 – Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician (d. 1866)
1821 – Lola Montez, Irish dancer and courtesan, born in Grange, Ireland (d. 1861)
1850 – Anton Urspruch, German composer, born in Frankfurt (d. 1907)
1895 – Anita Stewart, American silent film actress (South of Hell Mountain), producer, and mystery novelist, born in Brooklyn, NYC (d. 1961)
1913 – Oskar Danon, Yugoslav conductor (Belgrade Opera, 1944-65), born in Sarajevo, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Bosnia and Herzegovina) (d. 2009)
1963 – Larry the Cable Guy [Daniel Lawrence Whitney], American comedian (Blue Collar Comedy Tour), born in Pawnee City, Nebraska
Famous Deaths
1841 – Ferdinando Carulli, Italian classical guitar composer (Méthode, Op. 27), dies at 71
1924 – Henry Bacon, American architect (Lincoln Memorial), dies at 57
1976 – Jean Servais, Belgian actor (Le Plaisir, Every Man is My Enemy), dies from heart failure at 65
1982 – Lee Strasberg, Austrian acting coach and actor (The Godfather: Part II, Somewhere in the Night), dies at 80
2013 – Mindy McCready, American country singer, commits suicide by gunshot at 37
2019 – Ethel Ennis, American jazz singer (If Women Ruled The World), dies of a stroke at 86
Famous Deaths for 16th February 2023
1495 – William Stanley, English soldier and lord chamberlain, beheaded for treason against the king at about 59 [birth date undocumented]
1710 – Esprit Fléchier, French writer and Bishop of Nîmes, dies at 77
1858 – Georg F. Creuzer, German philological and historian, dies at 86
1919 – Vera Kholodnaya, Russian film star (b. 1893)
1963 – László Lajtha, Hungarian composer, ethno-musicologist and conductor, dies at 70
1996 – Charles McCorquodale, art historian, dies at 47
2000 – Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-born engineer and inventor (b. 1911)
2012 – Elyse Knox, American actress and model (Hit the Ice, Black Gold), dies at 94
2019 – Don Bragg, American pole vaulter (Olympic gold 1960), dies of a stroke at 83
2019 – Ken Nordine, American voice-over and recording artist (World Jazz), dies at 98
Historical Events for 16th February 2023
1646 – Battle of Great Torrington, Devon – the last major battle of the first English Civil War
1892 – Opera “Werther” by Jules Massenet premieres in Vienna
1909 – 1st subway car with side doors goes into service (NYC)
1916 – Russian troops conquer the Ottoman Empire city of Erzurum during WWI
1916 – The US rejects the right of Germany and Austria-Hungary to sink armed merchant ships
1961 – 1st all-solid-propellant rocket put in orbit, Wallops Island, Virginia
1963 – 1st round-trip swim of Strait of Messina, Italy (Mary Revell of US)
1966 – End of Wally Grout’s Test Cricket career, 187 dismissals as Australian wicketkeeper
1973 – West Indies v Australia at Kingston, 1st time since 1955 without Gary Sobers
1975 – 17th Daytona 500: Benny Parsons wins after Cale Yarborough sends race leader David Pearson spinning on the backstretch; Parsons avoids the accident and takes the victory
Today in History for 16th February 2023
Historical Events
1512 – Battle at Valeggio: French troops beat Venetianen
1559 – Pope Paul IV calls for deposition of sovereigns supporting heresy
1916 – The German ambassador in Washington announces that Germany will pay an indemnity for American lives lost on the Lusitania
1931 – Extreme right wing politician Pehr Evind Svinhufvud becomes President of Finland
1952 – Ian Craig makes NSW cricket debut aged 16 years 249 days (NSW record)
2016 – Former French President Nicholas Sarkozy is placed under investigation for campaign funds
Famous Birthdays
1868 – Wilhelm Schmidt, German anthropologist and linguist (Anthropos), born in Hörde, Germany (d. 1954)
1900 – Vincent Coleman, American actor (For the Freedom of Ireland, Salome), born in Louisiana (d. 1971)
1934 – Harold “Hal” Kalin, American singer (Kalin Twins), born in Port Jervis, New York (d. 2005)
1945 – Julio Morales, Uruguayan soccer striker (24 caps; Racing Montevideo, Nacional, Austria Wien), born in Montevideo, Uruguay (d. 2022)
1971 – Marco Sas, Dutch soccer player (NAC)
1980 – Agim Kaba, American actor and film producer
Famous Deaths
1823 – Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, French Romantic painter and draughtsman – allegorical paintings and portraits, dies at 64
1907 – Giosuè Carducci, Italian writer and Nobel Prize Laureate 1906 regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy, dies at 71
1932 – Ferdinand Buisson, French pacifist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1841)
1944 – Edmund von Borck, German composer, dies fighting in Italy in WWII at 37
1966 – Hendrik Tilanus, Dutch artillery officer and political leader (CHU 1939-63), dies at 81
1987 – Dmitri Kabalevsky, Russian pianist and composer (In the Fire), dies at 82
Famous Deaths for 15th February 2023
1775 – Peter Dens, Flemish Catholic theologian, dies at 84
1820 – William Ellery, US attorney (signed US Declaration of Independence), dies at 92
1885 – Leopold Damrosch, German-American composer, and conductor (New York Oratorio Society; New York Symphony), dies at 52
1964 – Robert L. Thornton, American businessman and politician (b. 1880)
1981 – Thomas Beversdorf, American classical composer (“Of Walruses, Cheesecake, and Morse Code”), and educator (Indiana University, 1949-80), dies of asthma complications at 56
1991 – Gary Gears, Chicago disk jockey, dies at 46 of a heart attack
1994 – Maria Britneva, Russian actress (A Room with a View, Maurice), dies of heart failure 72
2005 – Samuel Francis, American journalist (b. 1947)
2006 – Andrey Petrov, Soviet-Russian classical and film score composer (Creation of the World), dies at 75
2021 – Leopoldo Luque, Argentine soccer striker (43 caps; River Plate), dies from COVID-19 at 71