1832 – Robert the Hermit, US ex-slave/hermit in Massachusetts, dies
1869 – Anthony Gerhard Alexander van Rappard, Dutch politician, dies at 69
1925 – Francis William Davenport, English composer, dies at 77
1933 – Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, 22nd Governor of New South Wales (1908-13) and Viceroy of British India (1916-21), dies at 64
1955 – Silvio d’Amico, Italian theater critic (Il Teatro Italian), dies at 68
1973 – Arthur Wood, English cricket wicketkeeper (4 Tests, 11 dismissals), dies at 74
1993 – Nicanor Zabaleta, Spanish harpist, dies at 86
1995 – H. Adams Carter, American mountaineer (Alpine Club President 1954-58; editor American Alpine Journal 1960-95), dies at 80
2013 – Nicolae Martinescu, Romanian Greco-Roman wrestler (Olympic gold 100kg 1972), dies at 73
2015 – Eddie LeBaron, American NFL quarterback (Pro Bowl 1955, 57, 58, 62; Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys), dies at 85
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 1st April 2021
1857 – Herman Melville publishes The Confidence-Man
1919 – Stanley Cup Final, Seattle Ice Arena, Seattle, WA: With Montreal Canadiens (NHL) and Seattle Metropolitans (PCHA) tied at 2-2-1, trophy not awarded due to worldwide flu epidemic
1931 – Jackie Mitchell becomes the second female (after Lizzie Arlington 1898) in organised baseball when she signs with the Chattanooga Lookouts Baseball Club
1933 – Nazi Germany begins persecution of Jews by boycotting Jewish businesses
1933 – Scotland beats Ireland, 8-6 at Lansdowne Road, Dublin to win the Home Nations Rugby Championship and Triple Crown
1947 – 1st Jewish immigrants to Israel disembark at Port of Eilat
1954 – WQED TV channel 13 in Pittsburgh, PA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1957 – World’s biggest glass oven used
1984 – 14th Easter Seal Telethon raises $24,600,000
1992 – Rocker Billy Idol fined $2,000 for hitting a woman
Today in History for 1st April 2021
Historical Events
705 – Greek pope John VII chosen as successor to John VI
1905 – British East African Protectorate becomes colony of Kenya
1939 – US recognizes Francisco Franco’s government in Spain at end of Spanish civil war. Pope Pius XII congratulates Generalissimo Franco’s victory in Spain
1946 – The Malayan Union is formed as a federation of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca
1992 – Battleship USS Missouri, on which the Japanese surrender took place, decommissioned
2001 – 20th NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: Notre Dame beats Purdue, 68-66; Fighting Irish forward Ruth Riley is named Most Outstanding Player
Famous Birthdays
1621 – Guru Teg Bahadur Ji, ninth Nanak, 9th of 10 Guru of the Sikhs, born in Amritsar, India (d. 1675)
1911 – Joe Fortenberry, American basketball forward (captain Olympic gold 1936), born in Leo, Texas (d. 1993)
1932 – Gordon Jump, American actor (Arthur Carlson-WKRP, Growing Pains), born in Dayton, Ohio (d. 2003)
1940 – Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and political activist, founder of the Green Belt Movement, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (2004) and Indira Gandhi Peace Prize (2006), born in Ihithe village, Kenya (d. 2011)
1949 – Sammy Nelson, Irish soccer left back (51 caps Northern Ireland; Arsenal), born in Belfast, Northern Ireland
1980 – Bryan Buffinton, actor (Bill Lewis Jr-Guiding Light), born in Ridgewood, New Jersey
Famous Deaths
1799 – Narciso Casanovas, composer, dies at 52
1960 – Piet[er O] Bakker, Dutch journalist/writer (Ciske), dies at 62
1979 – Bruno Coquatrix, French music impresario (b. 1910)
1990 – Russell Vis, American Greco-Roman wrestler (Olympic gold freestyle lightweight 1924), dies at 89
1996 – Alfredo Nobre Coast, Prime Minister of Portugal (1978), dies
2004 – Nilo Soruco, Bolivian singer and songwriter, dies at 76
Famous Deaths for 31st March 2021
1340 – Ivan I of Moscow, Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of Vladimir (b. 1288)
1877 – Antoine Cournot, French philosopher and mathematician (rule of Cournot), dies at 75
1938 – Willem Kloos, Dutch poet and critic (New Guide), dies at 78
1952 – Wallace H. White, Jr., American politician (Senate Majority Leader), dies at 74
1974 – Andrea Checci, actress (2 Women, Assassin, Black Sunday), dies at 57
1990 – Lillian “Miss” Miller, audience member (Merv Griffin, Tonight), dies
1997 – Edwin Alberian, TV celebrity (Clarabell), dies at 76
1999 – Yuri Knorozov, Russian linguist (b. 1922)
2003 – H.S.M. Coxeter, English-born geometer (b. 1907)
2017 – James Rosenquist, American pop artist, dies at 83
Historical Events for 31st March 2021
1885 – Great Britain declares Bechuanaland a protectorate
1906 – Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States is founded to set rules in amateur sports; becomes the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1910
1949 – Newfoundland becomes Canada’s 10th province
1955 – Merger of Chase National Bank (3rd largest bank) and Bank of the Manhattan Company (15th largest bank) forms Chase Manhattan
1958 – USSR suspends nuclear weapons tests, and urges US and Britain to do same
1972 – Final day of the rum ration in the Royal Canadian Navy
1996 – First time in MLB history, the regular season opens in March with Seattle Mariners beating Chicago White Sox, 3-2 in 12 innings at the Kingdome, Seattle
1996 – Radio Canada International’s final shortwave broadcast
1998 – Expansion clubs, Tampa Bay and Arizona both suffer bad losses in their MLB debuts; Devil Rays lose, 11-6 to the Detroit Tigers and the Diamondbacks fall, 9-2 to Colorado Rockies
2012 – Fiji Floods kill 2 people and force thousands to be evacuated
Today in History for 31st March 2021
Historical Events
1667 – France and England sign anti-Dutch military accord
1917 – The Danish West Indies are officially ceded to the US for $25 million and renamed the Virgin Islands
1918 – 1st daylight savings time in US goes into effect
1961 – Aklilou Habtewold becomes 1st premier of Ethiopia
2001 – German brothers Michael and Ralf Schumacher become first siblings to share front row of the grid in a Formula 1 World Championship event; qualify 1st and 2nd respectively for Brazilian GP in São Paulo
2020 – British pensioner Robert Weighton becomes the world’s oldest man at 112 years
Famous Birthdays
1794 – Thompson McKennan, American politician who served as the 2nd United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1852)
1913 – Dai Rees, Scottish golfer (British Open runner-up 1953-54, 61), born in Fontegary, Glamorgan (d. 1983)
1915 – Henry Morgan, American comedian and TV panelist (I’ve Got a Secret, Arena), born in NYC, New York (d. 1994)
1916 – John H. Wood, Jr., American federal judge (d. 1979)
1944 – Mick Ralphs, British rock guitarist (Mott the Hoople; Bad Company), born in Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire, England
1967 – Nanci Bowen, American golfer (Nabisco Dinah Shore 1995), born in Tifton, Georgia
Famous Deaths
1567 – Philip, the Generous, count of Hessen, dies at 62
1703 – Johann Christoph Bach, German composer, dies at 60
1855 – Charlotte Brontë, English novelist (Jane Eyre), dies at 38
1886 – Giovanni Rossi, composer, dies at 57
1900 – Frank Milligan, cricketer (Mafeking 2 Tests Eng v South Africa 1898-99), dies
1968 – Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (b. 1885)
Famous Deaths for 30th March 2021
1486 – Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury
1764 – Pietro Locatelli, Italian violinist and composer, dies at 68
1949 – Dattaram Hindlekar, Indian cricket wicketkeeper (4 Tests), dies at 40
1959 – Riccardo Zanella, president of Free State of Fiume (b. 1875)
1960 – Joseph Haas, German opera composer (Totenmesse), dies at 81
1986 – John Ciardi, American poet/interpreter (Dante), dies at 69
1989 – Dort Clark, actor (In Harm’s Way), dies
1991 – Jan Willem Hofstra, Dutch actor/writer (Friends of My Friends), dies
2004 – Hubert Gregg, British broadcaster (b. 1914)
2016 – Howard Cable, Canadian conductor, arranger, and composer, dies at 95
Historical Events for 30th March 2021
1870 – Florida territorial government established
1942 – SS murders 200 inmates of Trawniki concentration camp
1945 – 289 anti-fascists murdered by nazis in Rombergpark Dortmund
1946 – 3rd Golden Globes: “The Lost Weekend”, Ray Milland, and Ingrid Bergman win
1968 – General Ludvik Svoboda elected president of Czechoslovakia
1972 – Northern Ireland’s Government and Parliament dissolved by the British Government and ‘direct rule’ from Westminster is introduced
1981 – “Chariots of Fire” directed by Hugh Hudson and starring Ben Cross and Ian Charleson premieres at a Royal Command Film Performance (Best Picture 1982)
1983 – Ray Cooney’s “Run for your Wives” premieres in London
1984 – World’s most valuable tip – New York police detective Robert Cunningham offers waitress Phyllis Penzo half of $1 lottery ticket, next day they win $6 million
1991 – PBA National Championship Won by Mike Miller
Today in History for 30th March 2021
Historical Events
1919 – Gandhi announces resistance against Rowlatt Act
1923 – Zeta Phi Beta Sorority formed at Howard U in 1920 incorporates
1949 – Riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO
1993 – French government of Balladur forms
2003 – PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Davis Love III shoots a final round 64 to win his 2nd Players title, 6 strokes ahead of runners-up Jay Haas and Pádraig Harrington
2019 – Pope Francis arrives in Rabat, Morocco, on his first-ever visit to the Magreb region of Northern Africa
Famous Birthdays
1768 – Maria Reynolds, American mistress of Alexander Hamilton and part of America’s 1st political sex scandal (Reynolds Pamphlet), born in NYC, Province of New York, British Empire (d. 1828)
1892 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (d. 1972)
1930 – John Astin, American actor (I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster; The Addams Family), born in Baltimore, Maryland
1931 – Aleksey Vasilyevich Sorokin, Russian cosmonaut
1957 – Paul Reiser, American actor (My 2 Dads, Diner, Aliens, Mad About You), born in NYC, New York
1983 – Jérémie Aliadière, French footballer
Famous Deaths
1969 – Lucien Bianchi, Italian-Belgian auto racer (24 Hours of Le Mans 1968), dies during Le Mans testing accident at 34
1978 – Larry Young [Khalid Yasin], American jazz musician (Unity), dies at 37 in unclear circumstances
2003 – Valentin Pavlov, Russian politician and Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (1991), dies at 65
2014 – Kate O’Mara, English actress (Dynasty) and writer, dies at 74
2016 – Gianmaria Testa, Italian singer-songwriter, dies of cancer at 57
2018 – Bill Maynard [Walter Williams], English actor (Greengrass-Heartbeat) and comedian, dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 29th March 2021
1792 – Gustav III, King of Sweden (1771-92), dies of septicemia at 46 after being shot by an assassin thirteen days earlier
1906 – Slava Raskaj, Croatian painter (b. 1878)
1924 – Charles Villiers Stanford, Irish composer/writer, dies at 71
1934 – Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire and benefactor (b. 1867)
1995 – James Eric Storrar, fighter pilot, dies at 74
1995 – Jimmy McShane, Irish singer (Baltimora-Tarzan Boy), dies of aids at 37
2002 – Rachel Levy and Ayat al-Akhras, Israeli and Palestinian children
2005 – Miltos Sahtouris, Greek poet (b. 1919)
2012 – Bill Jenkins, American engine builder and drag racer (Motorsports Hall of Fame of America), dies of heart failure at 81
2020 – Ken Shimura, Japanese comedian and actor (Shimura Ken no Bakatono-sama), dies of COVID-19 at 70