1479 – Johan II, king of Aragon/Navarra, dies at 81
1625 – Erhard Buttner, German composer, dies at 32
1766 – Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-French architect, dies at 70
1847 – Charles Bent, American fur trader and Governor of New Mexico Territory for 100 days (1846-47), killed at 47
1970 – Hal March [Harold Mendelson], American comedian, actor and TV host ($64,000 Question, Outrage), dies of lung cancer at 49
1980 – Richard Franko Goldman, American educator and composer, dies at 69
1983 – Don Costa, American composer (Hello, Dolly!), arranger, and record producer (Sinatra and Strings; My Way), dies at 57
1991 – Marcel Chaput, French Canadian politician, dies at 72
1996 – Harold Wolpe, South African sociologist, lawyer, and activist, dies at 70
1997 – Adriana Caselotti, voice of Snow White in Disney’s animated film, dies at 70
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 19th January 2023
1810 – Cold Friday: temperature at Portsmouth, New Hampshire drops from 54°F to minus 12°F in one day with many frozen to death
1886 – Aurora Ski Club, 1st in US, founded in Minnesota
1913 – Raymond Poincaré installed as President of France
1969 – 19th NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: West beats East, 10-7; MVPs: Roman Gabriel, Los Angeles Rams, QB; Merlin Olsen, Los Angeles Rams, DT
1970 – UCLA fires Angela Davis for being a communist
1971 – 24th NHL All-Star Game, Boston Garden: Western Division beats Eastern Division, 2-1; MVP: Bobby Hull, Chicago, LW
1974 – Notre Dame beats UCLA, 71-70 in South Bend, Indiana to end Bruins’ NCAA-record 88-game basketball win streak
1983 – Klaus Barbie, SS chief in Lyon in Nazi-occupied France, arrested in Bolivia
1989 – President Reagan pardons George Steinbrenner for illegal funds for Nixon
2003 – NFC Championship, Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia: Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10
Today in History for 19th January 2023
Historical Events
1770 – Battle of Golden Hill (Lower Manhattan)
1885 – Battle of Abu Kru (Battle of Gubat), Sudan: British Desert Column defeat Mahdist forces: 121 British and untold Mahdists killed
1915 – Neon Tube sign patented by George Claude
1941 – British offensive in Eritrea
1992 – Nature Boy Ric Flair becomes WWF champ at Royal Rumble
2006 – Terrorist blows himself up in Tel Aviv, killing only himself but injuring 20 people, one of them seriously
Famous Birthdays
1747 – Johann Bode, German astronomer (Titius–Bode Law), born in Hamburg, Holy Roman Empire (now Germany) (d. 1826)
1935 – [Augustus] Owsley Stanley III, American audio engineer and LSD cook who worked with the Grateful Dead, born in Kentucky (d. 2011)
1947 – Roderic “Rod” Evans, English rocker (The Maze, Deep Purple), born in Eton, Buckinghamshire, England
1971 – Jeff Juden, American baseball pitcher (Philadelphia Phillies, SF Giants), born in Salem, Massachusetts
1984 – Karun Chandhok, Indian racing driver, born in Chennai, India
1991 – Tommy Fleetwood, British golfer (US Open runner-up 2018; Ryder Cup 2018), born in Southport, England
Famous Deaths
1576 – Hans Sachs, German composer, dies at 81
1865 – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French philosopher and anarchist (b. 1809)
1893 – Julius Eichberg, German composer, dies at 68
1962 – Harry “Snub” Pollard, Australian actor (Don’t Shove, Arizona Days), dies of cancer at 72
1976 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese electrical engineer (b. 1886)
2020 – Kazım Ayvaz, Turkish wrestler (Olympic gold lightweight, 1964; World C’ship gold welterweight, 1958; lightweight, 1962), dies at 81
Famous Deaths for 18th January 2023
1985 – Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (Hard Day’s Night, Steptoe and Son), dies from cancer at 72
1995 – Charles Baskerville, American pop vocalist (Shep and the Limelites – “Daddy’s Home”), dies at 54
1996 – Leonor Fini, Argentine artist, dies at 87
2000 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)
2003 – Edward “The Sheik” Farhat, American professional wrestler (b. 1926)
2008 – Georgia Frontiere, American businesswoman (co-owner Cleveland/Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams 1979–2008), dies at 80
2008 – John Stroger, first African-American Cook County Board President (b. 1929)
2009 – Grigore Vieru, Romanian poet (b. 1935)
2016 – Johnny Bach, American basketball coach (Fordham Uni, Penn State Uni; NBA C’ship 1991-93 Chicago Bulls assistant coach), dies at 91
2022 – Ron Franklin, American sportscaster (ESPN 1987-2011; ESPN College Football Primetime), dies at 79
Historical Events for 18th January 2023
474 – Leo II, age 6 or 7, briefly becomes Byzantine Emperor, being joined by his father as co-ruler by his father on January 29th
1921 – William Archer’s “Green Goddess” premieres in NYC
1938 – Pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander is elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1951 – 1951 NFL Draft: Kyle Rote from SMU first pick by New York Giants
1963 – Al Davis becomes the head coach and general manager of the Oakland Raiders
1977 – Pakistan cricket all-rounder Imran Khan takes 6 for 63 in the Australian 2nd innings for a match total of 12 to lead his side to an easy 8 wicket 3rd Test win in Sydney
1980 – Studio 54 owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager sentenced to 3½ years in prison for tax evasion and fined $20,000
1986 – NY Lotto pays $30.5 million to one winner (#s are 19-20-27-34-41-46)
1990 – South Africa says it is reconsidering ban on African National Congress
1992 – 49th Golden Globes: Bugsy, Nick Nolte and Jodie Foster win
Today in History for 18th January 2023
Historical Events
1886 – Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England
1955 – 5th NBA All-Star Game, Madison Square Garden NYC: East beats West, 100-91; MVP: Bill Sharman, Boston Celtics, G
1967 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1973 – Boston Red Sox sign Orlando Cepeda as 1st player signed as a DH
1984 – 80th Islander and 3rd dual hat trick (Carroll and Bossy) 9-1 win
1992 – Comedian Pat McCormick injured in a car accident
Famous Birthdays
1685 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch Classical professor, baptized (d. 1766)
1840 – Ernst Rudorff, German pianist, composer, and teacher, born in Berlin, Germany (d. 1916)
1950 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian auto racer (World F1 runner-up 1979; Ferrari), born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec (d. 1982)
1961 – Peter Beardsley, English footballer, born in Hexham, United Kingdom
1964 – Jenny Holliday, Australian softball pitcher (Olympic bronze 1996), born in Melbourne, Australia
1967 – MC Tab [Sharon Richard], American rapper, born in NYC, New York
Famous Deaths
1659 – Benedikt Lechler, German composer, dies at 64
1954 – Sydney Greenstreet, British actor (Casablanca, Maltese Falcon), dies at 74
1977 – Yvonne Printemps, French singer and actress (Paris Waltz, Voyage to America), dies at 81
1978 – Hasan Askari, Pakistani philosopher, critic and writer, dies at 58
1982 – Trent Lehman, American child actor (Butch-Nanny and the Professor), commits suicide at 20
2007 – Brent Liles, American rock bassist (Agent Orange, 1981-84; Social Distortion, 1988-92), dies after being hit by a truck while cycling at 43
Famous Deaths for 17th January 2023
1856 – Thomas Attwood Walmisley, English organist, composer and educator (Cathedral Music), dies at 41
1899 – Jedediah Hotchkiss, American topographer and cartographer, dies at 70
1983 – Bill Bonthron, American athlete (world 1,500m record 3:48.8 1934), dies at 70
1987 – Raymond Scheyven, Belgian minister of Economic Affairs, dies at 75
1992 – Charlie Ventura [Venturo], American jazz tenor saxophonist and band leader (Bop for the People), dies of lung cancer at 75
1994 – Chung Il Kwon, Prime Minister of South Korea (1964-70), dies
2003 – Balint Vazsonyi, Hingarian pianist (b. 1936)
2004 – Noble Willingham, American actor (Walker, Texas Ranger), dies at 72
2010 – Daisuke Gouri, Japanese seiyu (b. 1952)
2013 – Lizbeth Webb, English soprano, dies at 86
Historical Events for 17th January 2023
1377 – Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon
1893 – Franco-Russian Alliance is signed
1912 – Captain Robert Scott’s expedition arrives at the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen
1915 – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s Hospital in Amsterdam opens
1915 – Jerome Kern and Harry B. Smith’s musical “Love o’ Mike” opens at the Shubert Theatre (later transferring to the Maxine Elliott and Casino theatres), NYC; runs for 233 performances
1945 – Auschwitz concentration camp begins evacuation
1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, arrested by Soviet secret police in Hungary
1961 – 11th NBA All-Star Game, Onondaga County Coliseum, Syracuse, NY: West beats East, 153-131; MVP: Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati Royals, PG; at 22, youngest player to receive All-Star MVP honours, 23 points and 14 assists
1989 – Murden and Metz are 1st women to reach South Pole overland (on skis)
2007 – Doomsday Clock set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea’s 1st nuclear test
Today in History for 17th January 2023
Historical Events
1377 – Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon
1862 – -Jan 22nd) BBT Ft Henry, Tennessee by USS Lexington
1961 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the “military-industrial complex”.
1987 – US President Reagan signs secret order permitting covert sale of arms to Iran
1996 – Iraq agrees to talks concerning a UN plan to allow for the Iraqi sale of $1 billion of oil; proceeds from the sale would be used for humanitarian purposes
2007 – Doomsday Clock set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea’s 1st nuclear test
Famous Birthdays
1899 – Roel Houwink, Dutch writer and poet (1 Man Without Character), born in Breda (d. 1987)
1948 – Anne Queffélec, French concert pianist, born in Paris, France
1971 – Derek Plante, American NHL center (Buffalo Sabres), born in Cloquet, Minnesota
1974 – Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian musician, born in Sofia, Bulgaria
1985 – Riyu Kosaka, Japanese singer (BeForU), born in Yokohama, Japan
1996 – Klaus Mäkelä, Finnish cellist and conductor (Oslo Philharmonic, 2020-present; Orchestre de Paris, 2021-present), born in Helsinki, Finland
Famous Deaths
1661 – Andres Malong, Philippines rebel leader, executed
1856 – Thomas Attwood Walmisley, English organist, composer and educator (Cathedral Music), dies at 41
1884 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist, dies at 79
1984 – Kostas Giannidis [Yannis Constantinidis], Greek composer and pianist, dies at 80
1995 – Isador Caplan, British lawyer and Aldeburgh Festival pioneer, dies at 82
1996 – Robert Covington, American drummer and singer, dies at 54
Famous Deaths for 16th January 2023
1934 – Annie Patterson, Irish organist, composer, and musicologist, dies at 65
1942 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Governor General of Canada (1911-16), dies at 91
1945 – Dennis Donnini, British rifleman (Victoria Cross), dies in battle at 19
1962 – Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor and architect, dies at 78
1963 – Ike Quebec, American tenor-saxophone player, dies of cancer at 44
1996 – Marcia Davenport, American author and music critic (b. 1903)
1997 – Jim Kensil, NFL president (NY Jets), dies of heart failure at 66
2001 – Auberon Waugh, British author and journalist (b. 1939)
2002 – Robert Hanbury Brown, British-Australian astronomer and physicist (b. 1916)
2022 – Charles McGee, American US Air Force officer and fighter pilot of the Tuskegee Airmen (WWII, Korean War, Vietnam), dies at 102