359 – Honoratus, first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office.
1816 – Citizens of Geneva thwarted Savoyard invaders
1878 – Anglo-Zulu War: British high commissioner Henry Bartle Frere presents an ultimatum to the Zulu Kingdom to submit to British rule or face war
1913 – “Mona Lisa” recovered 2 years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum
1934 – Ford C Frick becomes president of baseball’s National League
1941 – Dutch government in London declares war on Italy
1945 – Het Parool publishes 1st Captain Rob-strip
1951 – Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball
1987 – Test debut of Carl Hooper, WI v India at Bombay
1993 – Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle elected President of Chile
Author: gil7
Today in History for 11th December 2020
Historical Events
1878 – Anglo-Zulu War: British high commissioner Henry Bartle Frere presents an ultimatum to the Zulu Kingdom to submit to British rule or face war
1967 – “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn, premieres in NYC (Hepburn – Academy Award for Best Actress 1968)
1989 – Mark Davis signs record $3.25 million per year KC Royals contract
2016 – Bombing at a chapel in Cairo, Egypt, kills 25 and wounds 45
2018 – US President Donald Trump says he would be “proud” to shut down the government in contentious meeting at The White House with Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer
2019 – Climate activist Greta Thunberg is named Time magazine’s Person of the Year
Famous Birthdays
1856 – Georgy Valentinovich Plekhanov, Russian revolutionary theorist, born in Gudalovka, Russia (d. 1918)
1904 – Marge, American cartoonist (created Little Lulu), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1993)
1910 – Robert Grieve, Scottish civil servant and planner, born in Glasgow (d. 1995)
1927 – John Buscema, American comics artist (Conan the Barbarian), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2002)
1942 – Derek Parfit, British philosopher who specialized in problems of personal identity, rationality and ethics, born in Chengdu, China (d. 2017)
1962 – Kim Linehan, American swimmer (1979 1500m World record), born in Bronxville, New York
Famous Deaths
1532 – Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1455)
1718 – Charles XII, King of Sweden (1697-1718), shot dead invading Norway at Fortress of Fredriksten at 36
1737 – John Strype, English historian and biographer, dies at 94
1941 – John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (b. 1922)
2008 – Ron Carey, American labor leader (International Brotherhood of Teamsters), dies of lung cancer at 72
2012 – Ravi Shankar [Chowdhury], Bengali Brahmin sitar master and Indian classical music composer (West Meets East; Concert for Bangladesh), dies at 92
Famous Deaths for 10th December 2020
1850 – François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist and geologist, dies at 63
1878 – Henry Wells, American businessman and founder (American Express Co and Wells Fargo and Co), dies at 72
1888 – Marià Obiols, Catalan composer, dies at 79
1921 – George Ashlin, Irish architect noted for his work on churches and cathedrals, dies at 84
1939 – Wilhelm Grosz, composer, dies at 45
1969 – Franco Capuana, composer, dies at 75
1982 – Roy Webb, American film score composer (films of Val Lewton), dies at 94
1994 – Alexander Wilson, Canadian athlete (b. 1905)
2001 – Ashok Kumar [Dadamoni, Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly], Indian actor (Mahal, Afsana), dies from chronic asthma at 90
2007 – Robert Moevs, American composer, dies at 87
Historical Events for 10th December 2020
1912 – Nobel Prize for Physics awarded to Gustaf Dalén for inventing automatic regulators for gas accumulators for lighthouses and buoys
1914 – French government returns to Paris
1919 – NY, Boston, and Chicago, oppose AL resolution accusing Ban Johnson of overstepping his duties
1931 – Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize
1952 – Izhak Ben-Zvi elected 2nd president of Israel
1984 – South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is presented with his Nobel Peace Prize
1992 – NHL awards franchises to Miami and Anaheim for 1994-95
1994 – Nobel Peace Prize presented to Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat
1995 – Worst snowstorm in Buffalo history, 37.9″ in 24 hours (Starting Dec 9 at 7 PM, breaks previous record of 25.3″ in 1982
2016 – Bob Dylan is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature at a ceremony he does not attend in Stockholm
Today in History for 10th December 2020
Historical Events
1510 – Muslim ruler of Goa, Yusuf Adil Shah and his Ottoman allies surrender to Portuguese forces led by Afonso de Albuquerque who puts the Muslim population to the sword
1904 – King Peter I of Serbia named nationalist regime
1956 – Establishment of MPLA in Angola
1966 – Nobel for chemistry awarded to Robert S. Mulliken
1988 – Washington Capitals 1st NHL scoreless tie, vs Montreal Canadiens
2012 – Google begins selling US$99 laptops
Famous Birthdays
1821 – Nikolay Alekseyevich Nekrasov, Russian poet, writer and publisher (Russkije Zjenjshiny), born in Nemyriv, Russian Empire (d. 1877)
1872 – Johann Babtist Thaller, German composer, born in Röhrmoos, Germany (d. 1952)
1906 – Walter Zinn, Canadian-American nuclear physicist (invented the breeder reactor), born in Kitchener, Ontario (d. 2000)
1937 – Don Sebesky, American orchestra leader (Jimmy Dean Show), born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey
1961 – Mark McKoy, Canadian track star (world record 50m indoor, Olympic gold 1992), born in Georgetown, British Guiana
1963 – Doug Henry, American baseball pitcher (NY Mets), born in Sacramento, California
Famous Deaths
1890 – Ludolph Anne Jan Wilt Sloet van de Beele, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1861-66), dies at 84
1958 – Adolfo Camarillo, American horse breeder (b.1864)
1982 – Freeman Gosden, American writer and actor (The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show, Calvin and the Colonel), dies at 83
1986 – Kate Wolf, folksinger (Back Roads), dies of leukemia at 44
1993 – Maroun Bagdadi, director/writer (Little Wars, Veiled Man), dies at 42
1995 – John Francis Boyd, journalist, dies at 85
Famous Deaths for 9th December 2020
1165 – Malcolm IV of Scotland, nicknamed Virgo “the Maiden”, King of Scots (1153-65), dies of poor health at 24
1544 – Teofilo Folengo, Italian macaronic poet, dies at 53
1692 – William Mountfort, English actor and dramatist, dies at approximately 38
1854 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese writer (b. 1799)
1905 – Henry Holmes, English violinist and composer, dies at 66
1971 – Sergey Konenkov, Russian sculptor, dies at 97
1983 – David Rounds, American actor (Terence-Beacon Hill, Alice, The Blue and The Grey), dies of cancer at 53
1996 – Raphael Samuel, British Marxist historian, dies at 61
1996 – Anne Bolt, photo-journalist and trade unionist, dies at 84
1997 – Tamara Geva, Russian-born dancer and actress, dies at 91
Historical Events for 9th December 2020
536 – Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to its empire
1724 – Colley Cibber’s play “Caesar in Egypt” premieres in London
1905 – French Assembly National votes for separation of church and state
1961 – “From the Second City” closes at Royale Theater NYC after 87 performances
1980 – 61°F in Boston at 1 AM
1988 – The Michael Hughes Bridge in Sligo, Ireland is officially opened.
1990 – 23rd NAACP Image Awards: “Coming to America” wins Outstanding Motion Picture
1992 – 3rd Billboard Music Awards: Garth Brooks, Ropin’ The Wind win
1992 – Operation Restore Hope: US Marines land in Somalia
2016 – Ghanaian Presidential election won by Nana Akufo-Addo of the opposition New Patriotic Party
Today in History for 9th December 2020
Historical Events
1861 – American Civil War: The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War is established by the U.S. Congress.
1926 – USGA legalizes steel shaft golf clubs
1968 – The Derry Citizen’s Action Committee (DCAC) calls for a halt to all marches and protests for a period of one month
1992 – Operation Restore Hope: US Marines land in Somalia
1995 – 61st Heisman Trophy Award: Eddie George, Ohio State (RB)
2012 – 13 people are killed and 10 are injured after a bus rolls of a cliff and falls 100 meters in Taiwan
Famous Birthdays
1728 – Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi, Italian opera composer, born in Massa, Tuscany, Italy (d. 1804)
1898 – Emmett Kelly, American circus clown (Weary Willie), born in Sedan, Kansas (d. 1979)
1928 – André Milhoux, Belgian racing driver, born in Bressoux, Belgium (d. 1956)
1953 – World B. Free [Lloyd Bernard Free], American NBA guard (Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors), born in Atlanta, Georgia
1974 – Canibus [Germaine Williams], American rapper, born in Kingston, Jamaica
1982 – Vincent Accardi, American guitarist (Brand New), born in Wantagh, New York,
Famous Deaths
1706 – Pedro II, King of Portugal (1683-1706), dies at 58
1718 – Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian cartographer and encylopedist, dies at 68
1930 – Jim Slight, cricketer (represented Australia at Oval 1880), dies
1938 – Johannes van Laar, Dutch chemist (thermodynamics), dies at 78
1982 – Leon Jaworski, American Watergate scandal special prosecutor, dies at 77
2009 – Gene Barry [Eugene Klass], American actor (The Atomic City, Bat Masterson), dies of congestive heart failure at 90
Famous Deaths for 8th December 2020
1292 – John Peckham, English archbishop of Canterbury, dies at 62
1722 – Elisabeth Charlotte “Liselotte”, German-French duchess of Orleans, dies at 70
1874 – Franz Wilhelm Ferling, German oboist and composer (48 études for oboe) dies at 78
1926 – Jan Six, Dutch art historian/collector, dies
1991 – [Wilbur] Buck Clayton, American jazz trumpet player and bandleader, dies at 80
1992 – William Shawn, American magazine editor (New Yorker, 1952-87), dies at 85
2006 – Martha Tilton, American singer (b. 1915)
2006 – José Uribe, Dominican baseball player (b. 1959)
2016 – Sheila Quinn, British nurse and adviser (British Red Cross), dies at 96
2016 – John Glenn, American astronaut (1st American to orbit the earth) and politician (Senator D-Ohio), dies at 95
Historical Events for 8th December 2020
1863 – Abraham Lincoln issues his Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of the South
1863 – 2,500 reported killed as result of fire at Jesuit Church of La Compana, Santiago, Chile
1875 – Aleksandr Ostrovsky’s “Volki i Ovsty” premieres in St Petersburg
1936 – Anastasio Somoza García elected President of Nicaragua
1952 – Isaak Ben-Zwi elected president of Israel
1956 – Guy Mitchell’s “Singing the Blues” single goes #1 for 10 weeks
1963 – Pan Am Flight 214 crashes outside Elkton, Maryland with 81 killed
1972 – United Airlines crashes at Chicago’s Midway Airport killing 45
1977 – 43rd Heisman Trophy Award: Earl Campbell, Texas (RB)
1993 – Storm hits western Europe, 11 killed in England