Category: On This Day

Historical Events

740 – An earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing damage to city walls and buildings
1926 – Belgium stabilizes current value of franc (5 franc becomes 1 “Belga”)
1968 – KMIR TV channel 36 in Palm Springs, CA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1972 – Edwin Land introduces the first truly instant camera the Polaroid SX-70 camera at an event in Miami, Florida
1981 – British rock band Queen and David Bowie release their serendipitous collaborative single “Under Pressure”

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1886 – Hermann Unger, German composer, music journalist, pedagogue and administrator (Rheinische Musikschule), born in Kamenz, Germany (d. 1958)
1930 – John Arden, English novelist and playwright (Left Handed Liberty), born in Barnsley, England (d. 2012)
1965 – Kelly Rowan, Canadian actress (Kirsten Cohen in “The O.C.”), born in Ottawa, Ontario
1967 – Shelly Stokes, American softball catcher (Olympic gold 1996), born in Sacramento, California
1981 – Sam Brown, American comedian (The Whitest Kid U’Know), born in Sandwich, Massachusetts

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1902 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American women’s rights activist, abolitionist and writer, dies of heart failure at 86
1975 – Herman van San, Belgian classical and electro-acoustic composer, dies at 46
1990 – Guus Jansen, Dutch pianist, Hammond organist, and popular song composer (“Net als Toen” – Eurovison, 1957), dies at 79
2004 – Bobby Ávila, Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman (MLB All-Star 1952, 54, 55; AL batting champion 1954; Cleveland Indians), dies of diabetes and lung ailment at 80
2005 – David Townsend, American session and touring RandB guitarist (Isley Brothers; Port Authority; Surface – “Shower Me With Your Love”), and songwriter, dies at 50

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1666 – Brandenburg, Brunswick, Denmark and The Netherlands form anti-French Quadruple Alliance
1930 – Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) begins 1st scheduled US transcontinental air service between NYC and Los Angeles, California; 30 hour trip includes overnight stop in Kansas City, Missouri
1984 – “Give My Regards to Broad Street” premieres (Gotham Theater-NYC)
1990 – NY Daily News goes on strike (lasts through March, 1991)
2024 – MLB World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman hits 1st ‘walk-off’ grand slam in World Series history in 6-3 win over New York Yankees in 10 innings at Dodger Stadium

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1884 – Eduardo Barrios, Chilean novelist (The Love-Crazed Boy), born in Valparaíso, Chile (d. 1963)
1912 – Jack Kent Cooke, Canadian entrepreneur, NFL team owner (Washington Redskins), born in Hamilton, Canada (d. 1997)
1973 – Steve White, American football defensive end (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), born in Memphis, Tennessee
1975 – Zadie Smith, British novelist (White Teeth; On Beauty; Swing Time), born in Brent, London, England
1981 – Austin John Winkler, American rock singer (Hinder, 2001-13), and songwriter, born in Oklahoma City

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1647 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist (inventor of barometer), dies at 39
1760 – George II [Georg August], King of Great Britain and Ireland (1727-60), Elector of Hanover, dies of thoracic aortic dissection at 76
1806 – Henry Knox, American general (Continental Army and later the United States Army) and 1st US Secretary of War (1785-94), dies at 56 after swallowing a chicken bone which lodged in his throat and caused a fatal infection
1895 – Charles Hallé, Anglo-German pianist, conductor and founder (Halle Orchestra), dies at 76
2022 – Brian Robinson, English cyclist (Tour de France: first Briton to finish 1955; first stage winner 1957), dies at 91

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1899 – Battle of Rietfontein, South Africa: Boers vs. British army
1913 – Joe Tinker fired as Cincinnati Reds manager
1956 – Margaret Towner becomes the first woman to be ordained into the Presbyterian Church in the US (PCUSA)
1976 – First Toronto International Film Festival opens
2021 – COVID-19 cases in Eastern Europe surpass 20 million, with Russia, Ukraine, and Romania among the top five countries reporting deaths globally

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1939 – Uri Sharvit, Israeli composer, born in Jerusalem
1954 – Perry Lee “Tiny” Tavares, American rocker, born in Providence, Rhode Island
1960 – Wolfgang Güllich, German rock climber, born in Ludwigshafen, West Germany (d. 1992)
1962 – Jay Novacek, American NFL tight end (Dallas Cowboys), born in Martin, South Dakota
1984 – Kaela Kimura, Japanese model and singer (Rirura Riruha), born in Adachi, Tokyo

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1869 – Joseph Jackson Lister, British optician who perfected the optical microscope by designing the achromatic objective lens, dies at 83
1952 – Frederick Jacobi, American composer, dies at 61
1994 – Alexandr Nikolaievich Shelepin, dir of KGB (1958-61), dies
2008 – Ankie Peypers, Dutch author and poet, dies at 80
2020 – Kevin McCarra, Scottish sports journalist (The Guardian, Scotland on Sunday, The Times), dies from Alzheimer’s disease at 62

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1850 – First US National Women’s Rights convention opens in Brinley Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts
1853 – Maastricht-Aken railway in Netherlands opens
1971 – Three Catholic civilians are shot dead by the British Army during an attempted robbery in Newry, County Down
1989 – Browns’ Bernie Kosar sets club record with a 97-yard TD pass
2007 – Rounder Records releases “Raising Sand”, a collaborative album by American bluegrass singer Alison Krauss and British rock vocalist Robert Plant; tops the chart in Norway, peaks at #2 in US, UK, and Sweden

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1794 – Joseph Panny, Austrian violinist and composer, born in Kollmitzberg, Austria (d. 1838)
1805 – John Russell Bartlett, American linguist and historian known for his “Dictionary of Americanisms”, born in Providence, Rhode Island (d. 1886)
1941 – Igor Smirnov, Transnistrian politician, President of breakaway region of Moldova, born in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Soviet Union
1945 – Kim Larsen, Danish rock singer (“In the Middle of the Night”), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 2018)
1991 – Mako of Akishino, Japanese former princess of the imperial family who gave up her title upon marriage, born in Toyko

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1928 – François Victor Alphonse Aulard, French historian, dies at 79
1944 – Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist (1917 Nobel Prize for Physics for X-ray scattering), dies at 67
1950 – Al Jolson [Asa Yoelson], American-Lithuanian jazz singer and silent film actor (Mamie, Swanee), dies at 64
1995 – Gavin Ewart, English poet (Pleasures of the Flesh), dies at 79
2020 – W. C. Gorden, American College Football Hall of Fame coach (Jackson State University, 1976-91, record 119–48–5), dies at 90

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1884 – International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. adopts Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) worldwide and creates 24 international time zones with longitude zero at the Greenwich Meridian
1930 – Blake and Razaf’s “Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1930” premieres in NYC
1938 – Chester Carlson conducts the first successful experiment in electrophotography and later sells it to the Haloid Company, now known as Xerox Corporation, which names it xerography
1968 – Apollo 7 returns to Earth
1997 – NHL superstar Wayne Gretzky’s wife Janet is knocked unconscious and gets 2 stitches after plexiglass falls on her watching a game

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1894 – Méi Lánfāng [Lan], Chinese opera performer known as “Queen of Peking Opera” for his portrayal of female roles, born in Beijing, China (d. 1961)
1908 – Helmut Gollwitzer, German anti-Nazi theologian and pacifist, born in Pappenheim, Bavaria (d. 1993)
1920 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and advocate for psychedelic drug use, born in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 1996)
1952 – Greg Hawkes, American rock keyboardist (The Cars – “Shake it Up”; “Drive”), born in Fulton, Maryland
1974 – Tim Kinsella, American singer-songwriter (Cap’n Jazz; Owls), and visual artist, born in Chicago, Illinois

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1792 – Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer, dies at 67
1871 – Roderick Murchison, Scottish Geologist (Silurian system), dies at 79
1937 – Frank Damrosch, German-American author and music teacher (founded New York Musical Institute of Musical Art, later Julliard), dies at 88
2001 – Helmut Krackowizer, Austrian motorcycle racer and journalist (“Motorcycle Sport”, “The History of Famous Makes of Motorcycle”), dies from a heart attack at 80
2020 – Matt Blair, American football linebacker (6 × Pro Bowl 1977–82; First-team All-Pro 1980; Minnesota Vikings), dies from dementia complications at 70

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1568 – Second Altenburg sermon: Philippists/Gnesio-Lutherans
1897 – Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago is dedicated
1959 – Players Association approves two All-Star Games in 1960 to be held in Kansas City and New York
1975 – Mexico City’s first major subway accident takes 26 lives
1982 – Private funeral service held for Bess Truman, former First Lady of the United States

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1757 – Pierre Augereau, Marshal of France and duc de Castiglione during the Napoleonic Wars, born in Paris, France (d. 1816)
1827 – Peter Paul Maria Alberdingk Thijm, Dutch historian and writer, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1904)
1926 – Bob Rosburg, American golfer, analyst (PGA Championship 1959), born in San Francisco, California (d. 2009)
1943 – Paula Kelly, American dancer, choreographer, and actress (Night Court, 1984 – “Liz”), born in Jacksonville, Florida (d. 2020)
1995 – Doja Cat [Amala Dlamini], American rapper and singer-songwriter (“Get Into It (Yuh)”; “Paint the Town Red”), born in Los Angeles, California

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1422 – Charles VI, King of France (1380-1422) known as “the Beloved”, dies at 54
1992 – Jackson Weaver, voice of Smokey the Bear, dies of diabetes
1995 – Shannon Hoon, American vocalist (Blind Melon), dies of a drug overdose at 28
1995 – Linda Goodman, American astrologer and poet, dies from complications of diabetes at 70
2011 – Edmundo Ros, Trinidadian-Venezuelan musician and arranger, dies at 100

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1905 – Great General Strike in Russia begins and lasts 11 days
1935 – Communist forces end their Long March at Yan’an in Shaanxi, China, bringing Mao Zedong to prominence
1973 – Mariette Hartley appears on “The Bob Newhart Show” in the episode “Have You Met Miss Dietz?”
2018 – President Trump threatens to pull the US out of an arms control agreement with Russia because Russia violated its terms
2018 – All-England Lawn Tennis Club announces tie break to be used when scores reach 12-12 in deciding set at Wimbledon

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1882 – Bela Lugosi [Blaskó], Austrian actor (Dracula, Plan 9 From Outer Space), born in Lugos, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1956)
1927 – Joyce Brothers, American pop psychologist ($64,000 Question, Naked Gun), born in New York City (d. 2013)
1931 – Jules Eskin, American cellist (Boston Symphony, 1964-2016), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2016)
1969 – Herman Moore, American NFL wide receiver (Detroit Lions), born in Danville, Virginia
1977 – Sam Witwer, American actor (Battlestar Galactica, Riverdale), born in Glenview, Illinois

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1676 – Christopher Gibbons, British composer, dies at 61
1955 – Eino Roiha, Finnish pianist, composer, and musicologist dies at 51
2003 – Jack Elam, American actor (The Dakotas, East Street, Rio Lobo), dies at 82
2007 – Max McGee, American football wide receiver, punter (NFL C’ship 1961, 62, 65, 66, 67; Super Bowl I, II; Pro Bowl 1961; Green Bay Packers), dies at 75
2013 – Lawrence Klein, American economist who created computer models to forecast economic trends (1980 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences), dies at 93

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1781 – Edict of Toleration issued by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, providing limited freedom of worship for non-Roman Catholic Christians
1888 – Moshav Gedera is attacked by Arabs
1983 – Grenadian Army General Hudson Austin forms a “revolutionary council”
1988 – Three Americans win the Nobel Prize in Physics, and three West Germans win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
2024 – MLB New York Yankees win ALCS over Cleveland Guardians on the strength of Juan Soto’s 10th-inning 3-run homer at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio; a 4-1 series win sends Yankees to World Series for the first time since 2009

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1784 – Leigh Hunt, English poet, critic and journalist (Romantic Movement, “Jenny Kissed Me”), born in Southgate, England (d. 1859)
1918 – Charles Evans, British mountaineer and surgeon (deputy leader 1953 British Everest expedition, led 1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition), born in Liverpool, England (d. 1995)
1931 – John le Carré [pen name for David Cornwell], English novelist (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold), born in Poole, England (d. 2020)
1956 – Sunny Deol [Ajay Singh Deol], Indian actor (Ghayal), born in Sahnewal, Punjab, India
1999 – Abigail Morris, British musician and lead singer of The Last Dinner Party (2020-present), born in London

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

727 – Saint Frideswide, patron saint of Oxford, England
1954 – Hugh Duffy, American Baseball HOF outfielder (Triple Crown and MLB record .440 batting average, single season 1894 Boston Beaneaters), dies from heart failure at 87
1972 – Dr. Fredrick Arthur Willius, American cardiologist and medical historian, dies from bladder cancer at 83
1993 – Dionisio Herrero, Spanish air force general, murdered
2013 – Ronald Shannon Jackson, American avant-garde jazz and funk drummer, and composer (Cecil Taylor; Last Exit; Decoding Society), dies of leukemia at 73

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1240 – Ukrainian city of Chernihiv surrenders, but despite this, it is still sacked and pillaged by the Mongolian army of Batu
1912 – The Treaty of Lausanne ends the Italo-Turkish War; Italy annexes Libya
1921 – Charles Strite is granted US patent #1,394,450 for his invention, the automatic pop-up toaster
1931 – Gangster Al Capone is convicted on five of the 23 counts of tax evasion against him, later fined $50,000 and sentenced to 11 years in prison
1979 – USSR performs a nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeastern Kazakhstan

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1844 – Harvey W. Wiley, American chemist known for leadership in the passage of the landmark Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, born in Kent, Indiana (d. 1930)
1870 – D. T. Suzuki, Japanese-American Zen Buddhist scholar, born in Kanazawa, Japan (d. 1966)
1947 – (John) “JJ” Johnson, American NBA basketball player, 1970-82 (Cleveland Cavaliers, Seattle SuperSonics, and 2 other teams), born in Carthage, Mississippi (d. 2016)
1948 – Isabel Elaine Allen, American biostatistician known for her work on distance education, born in the United States
1960 – Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian actor (Double Impact, Kickboxer, No Retreat), born in Brussels, Belgium

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1570 – Manoel da Nóbrega, Portuguese missionary, founder of the Jesuit mission in Brazil, dies at 53
1788 – Jean-Guillain Cardon, French harpist, composer, and teacher, dies at 56
1845 – Jean-Dominique, comte de Cassini, French astronomer, dies at 97
1997 – Bill Rotsler, cartoonist/writer, dies of cancer at 62
2000 – Julie London, American singer (“Cry Me A River”) and actress (Emergency – “Nurse McCall”), dies at 74

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1888 – Thomas Edison writes a letter to the US Patent Office describing his idea for “a device that would do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear”
1968 – Soviet athlete Viktor Saneev sets a world record of 17.39m to win the triple jump at the Mexico City Olympics; the world record is improved five times by three different athletes during the competition
1970 – Anwar Sadat is sworn in as the third President of Egypt
2008 – Sachin Tendulkar becomes the highest run-scorer ever in Test cricket, surpassing Brian Lara’s record and passing 12,000 runs against Australia in Mohali
2015 – Amy Schumer’s comedy special “Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo” premieres on HBO

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1878 – Henri Mulet, French organist, cellist, and composer (Carillon-Sortie; Esquisses Byzantines), born in Paris, France (d. 1967)
1886 – Spring Byington, American actress (December Bride), born in Colorado Springs (d. 1971)
1926 – Julie Adams [Betty May Adams], American actress (Creature from the Black Lagoon; Code Red), born in Waterloo, Iowa (d. 2019)
1957 – Steve McMichael, American College-Pro Football HOF defensive tackle (University of Texas; Super Bowl XX; First-team All-Pro 1985, 87; Pro Bowl 1986, 87; Chicago Bears), born in Houston, Texas (d. 2025)
1957 – (Giuseppe) “Pino” Palladino, Italian-Welsh session and touring rock bassist (Paul Young; The Who; John Mayer Trio), born in Cardiff, Wales

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1985 – Joseph Rosenstock, American conductor (NY City Opera), dies at 90
1999 – Ralph Grey, Baron Grey of Naunton, Governor of Northern Ireland (1968-73), dies at 89
2001 – Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete (Olympic gold shot put, discus; bronze high jump 1948), dies at 78
2009 – Vic Mizzy, American composer (“Green Acres” and “The Addams Family” themes), and bandleader, dies at 93
2017 – Ingvar Lidholm, Swedish composer (Toccata e Canto), dies at 95

More Famous Deaths »