1492 – Christopher Columbus sights “Isabela”, now Fortune Island/Long Cay, Bahamas
1856 – James Kelly and Jack Smith fight bareknuckle for 6h15m in Melbourne
1879 – Afghan’s emir Mohammed Yakub forced to resign
1944 – John Van Druten’s “I Remember Mama” premieres in NYC
1966 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1968 – The West German crew beats Australia by just 0.9s to win the men’s eights rowing gold medal at the Mexico City Olympics
1973 – Ringo Starr releases music single “Photograph” in the UK
1993 – UN authorizes arms, military and police supply embargo against Haiti
2019 – UK parliament votes for the Letwin amendment in a special Saturday sitting, which forces Boris Johnson to ask the EU for an extension and delays vote on his Brexit deal
2020 – US charges six Russian military officers with massive cyber-attack meant to disrupt 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2017 French presidential election, and Ukraine’s power grid
Author: gil7
Today in History for 19th October 2021
Historical Events
615 – Pope Deusdedit [Adeodatus I] elected to succeed Boniface IV as Catholic Pope
1864 – Approx 25 Confederates make surprise attack on St Albans, Vermont
1946 – Yanks trade Joe Gordon to Cleveland for Allie Reynolds
1988 – 3 Americans win Nobel in physics; 3 W Germans win chemistry Nobel
1999 – “Believe” single released by Cher (Billboard Song of the Year, 1999; Grammy Award Best Dance Recording, 2000)
2006 – MLB National League Championship: St. Louis Cardinals beat New York Mets, 4 games to 3
Famous Birthdays
1911 – Hilde Spiel, Austrian writer, born in Vienna (d. 1990)
1936 – Johnetta Betsch Cole, educator/president (Spellman College)/(Sen-D-KY)
1940 – Jerzy Kulej, Polish light welterweight boxer (Olympic gold 1964, 68), (d. 2012)
1955 – Nino DeFranco, Canadian musician (The DeFranco Family)
1979 – José Luis “Parejita” López, Mexican footballer
1982 – Louis Oosthuizen, South African golfer (British Open 2010; runner-up in all 4 major events), born in Mossel Bay, South Africa
Famous Deaths
1216 – King John of England (1199-1216), agreed to the Magna Carta, dies at 49
1897 – George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)
1937 – Betty Carver, wife of English WWII Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, dies
1955 – John Hodiak, American actor (Battleground, A Bell for Adamo, Lifeboat), dies from coronary thrombosis at 41
1964 – Nettie Palmer, Australian poet and essayist (Henry Handel Richardson: A Study), dies at 79
2013 – Ronald Shannon Jackson, American avant-garde jazz and funk drummer, and composer (Cecil Taylor; Last Exit; Decoding Society), dies of leukemia at 73
Famous Deaths for 18th October 2021
1382 – James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormonde, dies at 51
1604 – Igram van Achelen, Dutch statesman (b. 1528)
1938 – Karl J Kautsky, Austrian Marxist/socialist, dies at 83
1941 – Manuel Teixeira Gomes, 7th President of Portugal, dies at 81
1943 – Benedictus H. Danser, Dutch taxonomist and botanist, dies at 52
1972 – Esma Cannon, Australian-born actress (Sailor Beware!), dies at 66
1973 – Frank Knight, TV announcer (Chronoscope), dies at 79
1977 – Andreas Baader, German left-wing militant and leader of the Red Army Faction, commits suicide along with other RAF leaders at 34
2009 – Nancy Spero, American feminist artist, dies at 83
2013 – Mary Carver [Carvellas], American actress (Simon and Simon, Star Trek: Enterprise), dies at 89
Historical Events for 18th October 2021
1863 – Battle of Charlestown, WV
1929 – Women are considered “Persons” under Canadian law
1952 – Vinoo Mankad takes 13 Pakistan wkts to win 1st India-Pak clash
1966 – “Apple Tree” opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 463 performances
1977 – NY Yankees win their 21st World Championship, 4 games
1979 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 – Brooke Alexander, 18, of Hawaii, crowned Miss World USA
1991 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1991 – “My Own Private Idaho” directed and written by Gus van Sant starring River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves is released
1997 – The groundbreaking Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Gehry, is inaugurated by King Juan Carlos I in Bilbao, Spain
Today in History for 18th October 2021
Historical Events
1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock
1902 – 7th Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 23-0 in Birmingham
1952 – Date of the first Mad Magazine issue
1962 – US launches Ranger 5 for lunar impact; misses Moon
2012 – MLB American League Championship: Detroit Tigers beat New York Yankees, 4 games to 0
2016 – US White Houses says it is “confident” Russia behind recent email hacking and attempts to influence US election
Famous Birthdays
1569 – Giambattista Marini, Italian poet (d. 1625)
1854 – Salomon August Andrée, Swedish engineer, balloonist and polar explorer, born in Gränna, Sweden (d. 1897)
1865 – Logan Pearsall Smith, American essayist and critic (d. 1946)
1918 – James Cameron Tudor, politician
1995 – Yui Ohashi, Japanese swimmer (Olympic gold women’s 200/400m IM 2021), born in Hikone, Japan
2001 – Annelise Manojlovic, English actress
Famous Deaths
1771 – Robert Praelisauer, German composer, music director, and priest, dies at 62
1830 – Peter I Petrovic Njegos, bishop (Montenegro), dies
1862 – James Creighton, amateur American baseball player, dies of ruptured bladder from hitting home run on Oct 14th
1982 – Bess Truman, 1st lady (1945-53), dies in Independence, Mo at 97
2002 – Nikolay Rukavishnikov, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz 10, 16, 33), dies at 70
2020 – Sid Hartman, American sports journalist (Minneapolis Star Tribune; WCCO 830 AM), dies at 100
Famous Deaths for 17th October 2021
1638 – Gilles Claesz de Hondecoeter, Flemish (?) painter, buried at about 63
1806 – Jean Jacques Dessalines, Emperor of Haiti, dies
1910 – William V Moody, American poet (Sabine Woman, Great Divide), dies
1966 – Wieland Wagner, German opera director, dies
1974 – René A de Rooy, Suriname/Antillean poet, dies at 57
1994 – Joan Barbara Grigor, artist, dies at 50
1999 – Nicholas Metropolis, Greek-American mathematician, physicist and computer scientist, dies at 84
2008 – Levi Stubbs [Stubbles], American baritone singer (The Four Tops – “It’s the Same Old Song”; “Standing In The Shadows of Love”), dies at 72
2015 – Danièle Delorme [Gabrielle Girard], French actress (Pardon My Affair), dies at 89
2019 – Márta Kurtág [née Kinsker], Hungarian classical pianist, dies at 92
Historical Events for 17th October 2021
1483 – Tomas de Torquemada appointed inquisitor-general of Spain
1959 – “Billy Barnes Revue” closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 87 performances
1967 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1974 – “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” closes at Playhouse NYC after 1065 per
1975 – 1st Space Shuttle main engine test at National Space Tech Labs, Miss
1988 – Phillip Morris announces $11 Billion tender offer for Kraft
1988 – Lyndon LaRouche pleads innocent to fraud, conspiracy indictment
1990 – “Jackie Mason – Brand New” opens at Neil Simon Theater, NYC; runs for 216 performances
1991 – News anchor Bree Walker Lampley files an FCC complaint that LA radio KFI-AM personally attacked her by discussing her having a disformed baby
2017 – American short-story writer George Saunders wins the Man Booker Prize for his first novel “Lincoln in the Bardo”
Today in History for 17th October 2021
Historical Events
1387 – Swells convent Windesheim initiated
1825 – 1st opera by Franz Liszt, “Don Sanche” premieres in Paris
1888 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie)
1918 – Yugoslavia proclaims itself a republic
1969 – NY Nets move from Comack to Island Garden, Hempstead NY
1984 – Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to Bruce Merrifield
Famous Birthdays
1813 – Georg Büchner, German playwright (d. 1837)
1928 – Zacharias J de Beer, South African physician/MP (DP)
1931 – Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian writer
1941 – Viden Apostolov, Bulgarian soccer defender (22 caps; PFC Botev Plovdiv 429 games), born in Novi Iskar, Bulgaria (d. 2020)
1955 – Georgios Alogoskoufis, Greek politician
1959 – Norm MacDonald, Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor (Saturday Night Live, 1993-98; Dirty Work; The Norm Show), born in Quebec City, Quebec (d. 2021)
Famous Deaths
1705 – Anne “Ninon” de l’Enclos, French patron of the arts, courtesan and writer, dies at 84
1849 – Frederic Chopin, Polish-French pianist and composer (Concert in F Minor), dies of at 39
1958 – Paul Outerbridge, American photographer, dies at 63
1977 – [Robert] Cal Hubbard, American football and baseball player and umpire (only person in football and baseball Hall of Fame), dies at 77
1996 – Berthold Goldschmidt, composer/conductor, dies at 93
2005 – Franky Gee, European techno artist (b. 1962)
Famous Deaths for 16th October 2021
1655 – Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician, and music theorist (b. 1591)
1793 – Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1774-92) who allegedly uttered the phrase “let them eat cake”, beheaded at 37
1796 – Victor Amadeus III of Savoy (b. 1726)
1810 – Nachman of Breslov, Ukrainian founder of Breslov Hasidut, dies at 38
1942 – 12, Dutch Communist Party-resistance fighter/3 NVV-hostages, executed
1946 – Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi foreign minister and war criminal, hanged at 53
1972 – Leo G. Carroll, British actor (Topper; Strangers On A Train; Man From U.N.C.L.E.), dies at 85
1996 – Anthony Griffin, sailor, dies at 75
1998 – Jon Postel, American Internet pioneer (b. 1943)
2002 – Angela Dawson, American murder victim
Historical Events for 16th October 2021
1909 – In his 4th title defence Jack Johnson KOs Stanley Ketchel in the 12th round at Mission St Arena, Colma, California to retain his heavyweight boxing crown
1916 – T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) meets with Fasal Hoessein
1969 – Soyuz 6 returns to Earth
1980 – China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
1992 – 1,700th David Letterman Show
1995 – Allan Donald takes 8-71 as South Africa defeat Zimbabwe
2000 – MLB National League Championship: New York Mets beat St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 1
2005 – Renault driver Fernando Alonso wins season-ending Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit; first Spanish Formula 1 World Drivers champion; wins by 21 points from Kimi Räikkönen
2012 – Conflict in Maiduguri, Nigeria, leads to 24 militant deaths and several structures set ablaze
2013 – The United States ends its 16-day government shut down and avoids default in a Bi-partisan deal in the Senate