Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1864 – The Tauranga Campaign of the New Zealand Wars begins
1952 – Jawaharlal Nehru’s Congress party wins general election in India
1958 – Phillies agree to televise 78 games into NYC (doesn’t happen)
1974 – Gold hits record $161.31, silver hits record $3.97 an ounce in London
1980 – Gold hits record $850 an ounce
2001 – 58th Golden Globes: “Gladiator”, Tom Hanks, and Julia Roberts win

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1926 – Stephen “Steve” Reeves, American professional bodybuilder, actor, and philanthropist (Hercules, Goliath, Sandokan), born in Glasgow, Montana (d. 2000)
1951 – Eric Holder, American lawyer and judge (1st African American US Attorney General 2009-2015), born in The Bronx, New York
1959 – Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
1963 – Detlef Schrempf, German-American NBA forward, 1985-2001 (Mavericks, Pacers, Supersonics), born in Leverkusen, West Germany
1985 – Adrian Lewis, English darts player (PDC World Champion 2011-12), born in Stoke-on-Trent, England
1994 – Laura Robson, British tennis player (Olympics mixed doubles silver 2012), born in Melbourne, Australia

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1831 – Achim v Arnim, writer, dies at 49
1933 – George A. Moore, Irish novelist (b. 1852)
1957 – Arthur L Bowley, English statistician/economist, dies at 87
1963 – Al St. John, American vaudeville and silent film comic (Young and Dumb),and talkie character actor billed as “Fuzzy” St. John (Outlaws of the Plains), dies of a heart attack at 70
1987 – Charles Goodell, American politician (b. 1926)
1991 – Frank Mitchell, actor (Music is Magic, Prairie Gunsmoke), dies

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1879 – British troops under Lord Chelmsford make camp at Isandlwana
1921 – British submarine HMS K5 (which was unusually equipped with steam turbines) sinks with 57 crew during exercises in the Bay of Biscay
1929 – 1st feature talking motion picture taken outdoors, “In Old Arizona”
1972 – Six oil exporting countries conclude meetings with Western oil companies; an agreement is reached to raise the price of crude
1983 – American gangster Roy DeMeo is found murdered in his car trunk after disappearing a few days earlier
1988 – Arizona committee opens hearing on impeachment of Gov Evan Mecham

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1681 – Francesco Bartolomeo Conti, Italian composer and mandolin player, born in Florence, Italy (d. 1732)
1878 – Finlay Currie, Scottish actor (Quo Vadis, Ivanhoe, Avengers), born in Edinburgh (d. 1968)
1932 – Frank Arok, Yugoslavian-Australian soccer coach (Australia 1983-89), born in Kanjiža, Serbia (d. 2021)
1944 – Isao Okano, Japanese judoka (Olympic gold 1964), born in Ryugasaki, Japan
1956 – Adrian Vernon Fish, British classical composer, born in Bristol, England
1969 – Andre Cason, American sprinter, born in Virginia Beach, Virginia

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1713 – Pavao Vitezovic, Croatian historian, dies
1841 – Jørgen Jørgensen, Danish explorer and adventurer (attempted to rule Iceland), dies at 60
1971 – Broncho Billy Anderson, American actor and the 1st cowboy in a movie (The Great Train, The Lucky Dog), dies at 88
1983 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer, dies at 49
1996 – Ellis Hillman, British Labour party politician, lecturer, and writer (London Under London), dies during heart surgery at 68
1998 – Zevulun Hammer, Israeli politician, minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Israel (1996-98), dies at 61

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1945 – Adolf Hitler moves into the Fuhrerbunker, his underground bunker in Berlin
1963 – Khrushchev claims to have a 100-megaton nuclear bomb
1968 – Jay Allen’s “Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” premieres in NYC
1984 – 11th American Music Awards: Pat Benatar and Michael Jackson win
2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
2014 – 19th Critics’ Choice Movie Awards: 12 Years a Slave wins Best Film

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1870 – Jimmy Collins, American Baseball HOF 3rd baseman (World Series 1903 Boston Americans; NL HR leader 1898 Boston Beaneaters) and manager (Boston Americans 1901–06), born in Niagara Falls, NY (d. 1943)
1911 – Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)
1928 – Pilar Lorengar [Lorenza Pilar García], Aragones soprano, born in El Gancho, Zaragoza, Spain (d. 1996)
1950 – Jesse Dizon, American actor, born in Oceanside, California
1972 – Joe Horn, American NFL wide receiver, 1996-2007 (KC Chiefs, New Orleans Saints, and 1 other team), born in New Haven, Connecticut
1972 – Salah Hissou, Moroccan long-distance runner, born in Morocco

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1886 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer (La Gioconda), dies at 51
1901 – Hiram R. Revels, American clergyman, politician,1st African American in Congress (US Senator from Mississippi, 1870-71), and college president (Alcorn, 1871-82), dies at 73
1942 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Governor General of Canada (1911-16), dies at 91
1962 – Emanuel Stickelberger, Swiss writer (Holbein in England), dies at 77
1979 – Ted Cassidy, American actor (Lurch-Addams Family), dies at 46
2004 – Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1582 – Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to Poland, loses access to Baltic
1981 – Police drama “Hill Street Blues” premieres on NBC-TV
1985 – CBS’ premiere of TV made teen drug abuse drama, “Not My Kid”, based on the previous year’s book by Beth Polson
1994 – Lawrence Taylor announces his retirement from the NFL
1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, calls for an international ban on landmines, angering ministers in the UK
2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1747 – John Aikin, English doctor and writer, born in Kibworth Harcourt, United Kingdom (d. 1822)
1909 – Gene Krupa, American jazz and big band drummer (Benny Goodman, “Sing, Sing, Sing”), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1973)
1943 – Mike Marshall, American baseball pitcher (MLB All-Star 1974, 75; NL Cy Young Award 1974; Montreal Expos, LA Dodgers, Atlanta Braves), born in Adrian, Michigan (d. 2021)
1952 – Melvyn Gale, English cellist (Electric Light Orchestra, 1975-79 – “Livin’ Thing”), born in London, United Kingdom
1969 – Delino DeShields, American baseball infielder, 1990-2002 (Montreal Expos, LA Dodgers, and 3 other teams), born in Seaford, Delaware
1979 – Young Dro [D’Juan Hart], American rapper (Shoulder Lean), born in Atlanta, Georgia

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1755 – Azzolino Bernardino Della Ciaia, composer, dies at 83
1833 – Banastre Tarleton, British soldier and politician (Waxhaws Massacre), dies at 78
1961 – Francesco Maria Saraceni, Italian composer, dies at 49
2013 – Jennings Michael Burch, American writer (They Cage the Animals at Night), dies at 71
2017 – Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka, Fijian-born American professional wrestler, dies at 73
2018 – Dolores O’Riordan, Irish musician and singer-songwriter (The Cranberries – “Zombie”; ,”Linger”), drowns in the bath at 46

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1724 – Spanish King Philip V abdicates throne
1813 – Gideon Hawley becomes 1st state school superintendent in US (NY)
1945 – In Greece, Communists and the British agree to a cease-fire in the struggle to control Athens (and with it Greece)
1976 – “The Bionic Woman” with Lindsay Wagner debuts on ABC (later NBC)
2008 – MESSENGER spacecraft performs a Mercury flyby
2019 – Americans chance of dying from an accidental opioid overdose higher than a car accident for the first time, according to US National Safety Council

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1722 – Friedrich Gottlob Fleischer, German organist and composer, born in Köthen, Germany (d. 1806)
1863 – Pieter Oosterlee, Dutch educator, born in Valkenburg, Netherlands (d. 1930)
1931 – Caterina Valente, Italian singer, dancer, and actress (Bon soir, Kathrin!, The Entertainers), born in Paris, France
1957 – Anchee Min, Chinese writer, born in Shanghai, China
1980 – Ossama Haidar, Lebanese soccer player
1990 – Grant Gustin, American actor and singer (The Flash), born in Norfolk, Virginia

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1872 – Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye-Terrier who spent 14 years guarding the grave of his owner John Gray, dies at 16
1937 – Jaishankar Prasad, Hindi poet, dramatist and novelist, dies at 47
1970 – William Feller, Croatian mathematician (b. 1906)
1987 – Douglas Sirk, German American film director (All That Heaven Allows), dies at 86
1996 – Pamelo Mounk’a, Congolese musician, dies at 50
2006 – Henri Colpi, French New Wave film editor and director, dies at 84

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1099 – Crusaders set fire to Mara, Syria
1915 – Earthquake in Avezzano, Italy kills 29,800
1939 – Belgian premier signs Burgos Treaty for trade relations with Franco’s Spain
1972 – Bernice Gera wins anti-discrimination case against the National Baseball Congressl, initiated March 15, 1971 to be allowed to umpire
1987 – West German police arrest Mohammed Ali Hamadi, suspect in 1985 hijacking
2016 – Record Powerball lottery held in America – $1.6 billion, (3 winning tickets)

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1925 – Gwyneth “Gwen” Verdon, American actress, singer and dancer (Cotton Club, Sweet Charity), born in Culver City, California (d. 2000)
1943 – William Duckworth, American composer (Time Curve Preludes), teacher (Bucknell, 1973-2011), and internet pioneer (PitchWeb), born in Morganton, North Carolina (d. 2012)
1947 – Chris Thomas, British sound engineer and record producer (Beatles; Pink Floyd; Procol Harem; Elton John; The Pretenders), born in Brentford, Middlesex, England
1967 – George Paterson, Scottish rock singer-songwriter (Donaldson, Moir and Paterson (DMP) – Natural Anthems)
1969 – Katarzyna Nowak, tennis star (1994 Futures France), born in Łódź, Poland
1970 – Frank Kooiman, soccer player (Sparta)

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1691 – George Fox, founder of Quakers, dies at 66
1796 – John H. D. Anderson, Scottish scientist and inventor (b. 1726)
1929 – Wyatt Earp, American frontiersman and marshal who participated in the gunfight at the OK Corral, dies at 80
1939 – Jacob Ruppert Jr., American Baseball HOF executive (owner New York Yankees 1915-39; signed Babe Ruth; built Yankee Stadium), dies from phlebitis at 71
1988 – Chiang Ching-huo, president of Taiwan (1978-88), dies at 69
2009 – Mansour Rahbani, Lebanese composer and lyricist (b. 1925)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1906 – 1st time Dow Jones closes above 100 (100.26)
1916 – Britain proclaims Gilbert and Ellice Islands as a colony in Pacific
1948 – 1st Supermarket in UK opens
1990 – Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton is stabbed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
1993 – NHL great Mario Lemieux announces that he has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma
2013 – “Mile High Miracle”, In AFC Divisional Playoff Game Denver Broncos ahead of Baltimore Ravens 35-28 with 1:09 remaining, quarterback Joe Flacco heaves 70 yard touchdown pass to receiver Jacoby Jones to tie the game. Ravens win in overtime.

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1797 – Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician (d. 1873)
1819 – Zealous Bates Tower, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Cohasset, Massachusetts (d. 1900)
1915 – Paul Jarrico, American writer, born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1997)
1933 – Michael Aspel, English television presenter, born in Battersea, London
1962 – Richie Richardson, West Indies cricketer (elegant West Indian batsman 1983-95), born in Five Islands Village, Antigua and Barbuda
1969 – Olga Domuladzhanova, Russian boxer (World amateur heavyweight gold 2001), born in Tashkent, Russia (d. 2021)

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1705 – Luca Giordano, Italian artist (b. 1634)
1953 – Simeon Roncal, Bolivian composer, dies at 82
1972 – Padraic Colum, Irish novelist and poet (Collected Poems), dies at 90
1992 – Walt Morey, US children’s book writer (Gentle Ben), dies at 84
2009 – Claude Berri, French actor, director and screenwriter, dies at 74
2012 – Sadao Bekku, Japanese classical and film composer (Matango), dies at 89

More Famous Deaths »