Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1698 – Scottish settlers make landfall in Panama, establishing the ill-fated ‘Darien Venture’ colony
1852 – Franklin Pierce elected as President of US
1944 – Canadian troops occupy Knokke
1968 – “Her First Roman” closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 17 performances
1995 – Spanish Broadcasting System buys NY radio station WPAT-FM for $83.5M
2002 – Mark Messier plays his 1,616th NHL game, a 3-2 Rangers loss against the St. Blues, to move into 2nd place on the all-time games played list; passes Larry Murphy and ends career with 1,756 games, just 11 shy of Gordie Howe

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Famous Birthdays

1528 – Peter Lotichius Secundus [Peter Lotz], Neo latin poet (Collected Works), born in Schlüchtern, Hesse, Germany (d. 1560)
1899 – Edgar du Perron, Dutch author and poet (Land of Origin), born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (d. 1940)
1924 – David Bauer, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame player and builder (priest, school coach; National Team manager), born in Kitchener, Ontario (d. 1988)
1947 – Dave Pegg, British folk and rock bassist and producer (Fairport Convention 1969-79 and 1985-present; Jethro Tull, 1980-85), born in Birmingham, England
1962 – Simon Hill, English-Australian football commentator, born in Manchester
1963 – Ines Diers, German swimmer (GDR Olympic gold 400m, 4x100m relay 1980), born in Rochlitz, Sachsen, Germany

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Famous Deaths

1863 – Theodore Judah, American railroad engineer (b. 1826)
1882 – Cenobio Paniagua, Mexican composer, dies at 61
1950 – George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist (Pygmalion, Nobel Prize for Literature 1925), dies at 94
1980 – Edith Bunker, character on “All in the Family”, dies
1994 – David Feinberg, American AIDS activist and author, dies at 37
2012 – Milt Campbell, American decathlete (Olympic gold 1956), dies from prostate cancer and diabetes at 78

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Historical Events

1943 – Dim-out ban lifted in San Francisco Bay area
1976 – “Don’t Step on My Olive Branch” opens at Playhouse NYC for 16 performances
1979 – Tanker Burmah Agate off Galveston Bay, Texas, spills 10.7 m gallons of oil, in US’s worst oil spill disaster
1993 – After playing 12 Tests for Australia, fast bowler Michael Whitney plays his final day in 1st class cricket for NSW in a tour match loss v New Zealand in Newcastle
1993 – Atlantic Radio (20 radio stations) becomes American Radio Systems
2009 – British Mercedes driver Jenson Button finishes 3rd in inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit to win his first F1 World Drivers Championship by 11 points from Sebastian Vettel

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Famous Birthdays

1351 – Leopold III, Duke of Austria (1365-68), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1386)
1526 – Catherine Jagellion, Polish princess and queen of Sweden as the wife of John III of Sweden, born in Kraków, Poland (d. 1583)
1530 – Étienne de La Boétie, French judge and writer, born in Sarlat-la-Canéda, Périgord, France (d. 1563)
1897 – Naomi Mitchison, Scottish author (African Heroes, Return to Fairy Hill), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1999)
1911 – Henri Troyat, Russian-French author and historian, born in Moscow (d. 2007)
1934 – Umberto Agnelli, Italian automotive executive (Fiat, 1965-2004), born in Lausanne, Switzerland (d. 2004)

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Famous Deaths

1596 – Pierre Pithou, French lawyer and scholar (Les Libertés de l’église gallicane), dies at 57
1678 – William Coddington, first Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1601)
1985 – Arnold Pihlak, Estonian soccer forward (44 caps; FK Austria Wien), dies at 83
1995 – Desmond Shawe-Taylor, British critic and writer (co-author of The Record Guide), dies at 88
2006 – William Styron, American novelist (Confess of Nat Turner, Sophie’s Choice), dies at 81
2012 – Pascual Pérez, Dominican baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1983; Atlanta Braves), dies during apparent home robbery at 55

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Historical Events

802 – Empress Irene of Byzantium driven out
1887 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral work “Capriccio Espagnol” premieres in St Petersburg
1917 – World War I: Battle of Beersheba in southern Palestine – “last successful cavalry charge in history” performed by the 4th Australian Light Horse
1973 – Tom Seaver wins NL Cy Young Award
1981 – 1st live US radio drama in 25 years (Halloween Story on NBC)
2003 – Bethany Hamilton, aged 13, has her arm bitten off by a shark while surfing in Hawaii

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Famous Birthdays

1838 – Luís I, King of Portugal (1861-89), born in Necessidades Palace, Lisbon, Portugal (d. 1889)
1887 – William Whysall, British cricketer (4 Tests for England 1924-30) (d. 1930)
1912 – Ollie Johnston, American animator and the last living member of Disney’s Nine Old Men, born in Palo Alto, California (d. 2008)
1914 – Joe Carcione, American consumer advocate (The Green Grocer) (d. 1988)
1970 – Craig Kelly, English actor (Queer as Folk, Coronation Street), born in Lytham St Annes, England
1970 – Nicholas “Nicky” Wu, Taiwanese singer, actor and martial arts expert (Xiao Hu Dui/Little Tiger Team), born in Taipei, Taiwan

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Famous Deaths

1917 – Tibby Cotter, Australian cricket fast bowler and soldier (21 Tests, 49 wickets), dies in world’s last successful cavalry charge, 4th Light Horse Brigade at Beersheba at 33
1926 – Harry Houdini [Erich Weiss], Famous magician and escape artist, dies at 52 in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured
1939 – Otto Rank [Rosenfeld], Austria psychoanalyst (Trauma of Geburt), dies
1991 – Johan Schmitz, actor (Gysbregt van Aemstel/Soldat van Orange), dies
1996 – Andrew Hutchings, British trade union leader, dies at 88
2014 – Käbi Laretei, Estonian-Swedish concert pianist, dies at 92

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Historical Events

1503 – Queen Isabella of Spain bans violence against Indians in the Americas
1944 – Aaron Copland’s ballet score “Appalachian Spring” premieres in Washington, D.C. with Martha Graham dancing lead role
1947 – Darius Milhaud’s 3rd Symphony “Hymnus Ambrosianus,” premieres in Paris
1967 – Dolly Parton releases her debut single with Porter Wagoner “The Last Thing On My Mind”
2011 – “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” based on the book by Stephenie Meyer, directed by Bill Condon, starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, premieres at the Rome Film Festival
2021 – World Leader agree historic corporate tax agreement of at least 15% at G20 summit in Rome

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Famous Birthdays

1739 – Grigory Potemkin, Russian military leader, statesman and favorite of Catherine the Great, born in Chizhovo near Smolensk (d. 1791)
1840 – William Graham Sumner, American sociologist (Folkways), born in Paterson, New Jersey (d. 1910)
1904 – Alfred Gradstein, Polish composer, born in Częstochowa, Poland (d. 1954)
1961 – Hans Segers, Dutch soccer goalkeeper and coach (Wimbledon), born in Eindhoven, Netherlands
1970 – James Pedro, American lightweight judoka (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Danvers, Massachusetts
1979 – Yukie Nakama, Japanese actress, born in Urasoe, Okinawa, Japan

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Famous Deaths

1932 – Paul S Methuen, English baron/fieldmarshal/gov of Natal, dies at 87
1969 – George “Pops” Foster, American jazz double bassist, tuba player, and trumpeter (Louis Armstrong; Sidney Bechet; Earl Hines), dies at 77
1979 – Donna Rachele Mussolini, wife of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, dies at 89
1991 – Johan Mekkink, painter, dies
2007 – John Woodruff, American athlete (Olympic gold 1936), dies at 92
2017 – M V Sridhar, Indian cricketer (scored 366 for Hyderabad v Andhra Pradesh 1994), dies of a heart attack at 51

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Historical Events

1921 – The Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project, is completed in northern California and Oregon
1932 – French liner Normandie is launched
1945 – Happy Chandler resigns as US Senator, remains as baseball commissioner
1982 – Car maker John DeLorean indicted for drug trafficking, later acquitted
1988 – First scheduled Soviet shuttle launch (postponed)
2017 – British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton finishes a distant 9th in Mexican Grand Prix at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez; good enough to clinch his 4th F1 World Drivers Championship

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Famous Birthdays

1704 – John Byng, English admiral executed by firing squad at 52 for neglecting his duty in defence of Minorca, born in Southill, Bedfordshire, England (d. 1757)
1853 – Josephine Beall Bruce, African-American activist (NACW) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1923)
1882 – Jean Giraudoux, French writer and playwright (The Madwoman of Chaillot), born in Bellac, Haute-Vienne, France (d. 1944)
1923 – Dietrich Manicke, German composer, born in Wurzen, Saxony, Germany (d. 2013)
1937 – Sonny Osborne, American bluegrass banjo player (The Osborne Brothers – “Rocky Top”), born in Roark, Kentucky (d. 2021)
1938 – Ralph Bakshi, Krymchak-American animator and film maker (Fritz the Cat; Lord of the Rings (1978); Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures), born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine

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Famous Deaths

1677 – Charles Coypeau Dassoucy, French poet and singer, dies at 72
1919 – A. B. Simpson, Canadian preacher (b. 1843)
1965 – Bill McKechnie, American Baseball HOF manager (World Series 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1940 Cincinnati Reds) and coach (World Series 1948 Cleveland Indians), dies at 79
1979 – Ramon “Tiki” Fulwood, American funk drummer (Parliament-Funkadelic; Miles Davis), dies of stomach cancer at 35
1983 – Sten Broman, Swedish composer, dies at 81
2011 – Jimmy Savile, British entertainer and suspected sexual predator, dies at 84

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Historical Events

1619 – Japanese Keichō Embassy headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga leaves Sendai aboard the Japanese-built Date Maru galleon for Acapulco
1886 – Statue of Liberty dedicated by US President Grover Cleveland, celebrated by first confetti (ticker tape) parade in New York City
1915 – Richard Strauss’ Alpensymfonie, premieres in Berlin
1916 – Australian government holds a national referendum seeking support for the proposal of compulsory conscription; it is rejected
1959 – Jean Genet’s play “Les Negres” premieres in Paris
1995 – Breeders’ Cup Horse Racing, Belmont Park; winners: Cigar, Desert Stormer, Inside Information, My Flag, Northern Spur, Ridgewood Pearl, Unbridled’s Song

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Famous Birthdays

1703 – Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician, born in Portes, Gard, France (d. 1768)
1930 – John Mayer, Indian violinist and composer (Indo-Jazz Fusions), born in Calcutta, Bengal, British India (d. 2004)
1948 – Telma Hopkins, American singer (Tony Orlando and Dawn – “Tie A Yellow Ribbon”), and actress (Family Matters), born in Louisville, Kentucky
1958 – Manzoor Hussain, Pakistani field hockey striker (Olympic gold 1986; World Cup gold 1978, 82; 175 caps, 86 goals), born in Sialkot, Pakistan (d. 2022)
1966 – Aris Spiliotopoulos, Greek politician
1985 – Richard Smith, American entrepreneur

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Famous Deaths

1639 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer (b. 1587)
1897 – Hercules Robinson, British colonial administrator (Ceylon, Fiji, New Zealand, South Africa), dies at 72
1929 – Bernhard von Bülow, Chancellor of the German Empire (1900-09), dies at 80
1994 – Sjlomo Goren, Polish/Israeli supreme rabbi, dies
2005 – Raymond Hains, French artist (b. 1926)
2010 – Jonathan Motzfeldt, Greenlander statesman (b. 1938)

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Historical Events

312 – Roman Emperor Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross
1946 – Georgi Domitrovs National Front wins Bulgaria elections (78%)
1950 – Paul Creston’s 3rd Symphony, “Triumph of St Joan” premieres
1962 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1985 – Anthony Carter begins NFL streak of 100+ consecutive game receptions
2001 – Breeders’ Cup Horse Racing, Belmont Park; winners: Tiznow, Johannesburg, Unbridled Elaine, Fantastic Light, Val Royal, Banks Hill, Tempera, Squirtle Squirt

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Famous Birthdays

1763 – William Maclure, Scottish-American Geologist (first geological map), born in Ayr, Scotland (d. 1840)
1932 – Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (Trout), born in Paris, France (d. 2007)
1938 – Elliot del Borgo, American music educator (SUNY/Crane School of Music, 1966-95) and composer (1980 Winter Olympics), born in Port Chester, New York (d. 2013)
1946 – Peter Martins, Danish dancer and choreographer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark
1964 – Mary T. Meagher, American swimmer (3 x Olympic gold 100/200m butterfly, 4x100m medley 1984; WR 100/200m butterfly 1981), born in Louisville, Kentucky
1967 – Jaren Jackson, American NBA guard and forward (Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs), born in New Orleans, Louisiana

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Famous Deaths

1955 – Clark Griffith, American Baseball HOF pitcher (MLB ERA leader 1898 Chicago Colts/Orphans) and manager (Chicago WS, NY Highlanders, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Sens [owner]), dies at 85
1966 – Nigel Haig, English cricket all-rounder (5 Tests; 1,000 runs and 100 wickets 1921, 27, 29 Middlesex), dies at 78
1977 – Peg Leg Sam [Arthur Jackson], American country blues harmonica player, singer and comedian, dies at 65
2004 – Lester Lanin, American orchestra leader (40 Beatle Hits), dies at 97
2006 – Joe Niekro, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1979; NL wins leader 1979; Houston Astros; World Series 1987; NY Yankees), dies from a brain aneurysm at 61
2010 – Néstor Kirchner, Argentine politician, President of Argentina (2003-2007), dies of heart failure at 60

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Historical Events

1863 – Football Association forms in England, standardizing soccer, splitting with rugby
1916 – American sex educator Margaret Sanger arrested for obscenity (advocating birth control)
1926 – Belgium stabilizes current value of franc (5 franc becomes 1 “Belga”)
2003 – The Cedar Fire, the second-largest fire in Californian history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km²), destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego
2015 – 7.5 magnitude earthquake hits northern Pakistan and Afghanistan killing over 300
2018 – Longest Baseball World Series game by both innings and time; LA Dodgers beat Boston Red Sox, 3-2 in the 18th inning (7 hours, 20 mins) in Game 3 at Dodger Stadium with Max Muncy walk-off homer

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Famous Birthdays

1483 – Hans Buchner, German composer, born in Ravensburg (d. 1538)
1823 – Karl Weinhold, German sociologist (founder of Journal of the Association of Folklore), born in Dzierżoniów, Poland (d. 1901)
1916 – François Mitterrand, 21st President of France (1981-95), born in Jarnac, France (d. 1996)
1937 – Dave Gavitt, American basketball coach, formed Basketball’s Big East Conference (1979), born in Westerly, Rhode Island (d. 2011)
1952 – Abbas al-Musawi, influential Lebanese Shia cleric, and founder and leader of Hezbollah, born in Al-Nabi Shayth, Lebanon (d. 1992)
1959 – François Chau, Cambodian actor, born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

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Famous Deaths

900 – Alfred the Great, Anglo-Saxon monarch who was King of Wessex and King of the Anglo-Saxons, dies at 50 or 51
1881 – Billy Clanton, brother of outlaw Ike Clanton, dies in the gunfight at the OK Corral at 19
1943 – Marc Aurel Stein, Hungarian-British archaeologist, dies at 80
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
2007 – Khun Sa, Burmese warlord (b. 1934)
2021 – Glen Tuckett American college basbeall coach (Brigham Young Uni 1959-76) and administrator (BYU athletic director 1976-94), dies at 93

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Historical Events

1521 – Emperor Charles V bans wooden buildings in Amsterdam
1780 – John Hancock becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts
1944 – Battle at Samar-island
1962 – American author John Steinbeck awarded Nobel Prize for Literature
1963 – Beatles begin their 1st full foreign tour in Karlstad, Sweden
1968 – Chicago recognizes Jean Baptiste Pointe de Sable as its 1st settler

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Famous Birthdays

1612 – James Graham, Marquis of Montrose “the Great Montrose”, Scottish general and poet, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1650)
1825 – Johann Baptist Strauss Jr., Austrian composer (Waltz King), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1899)
1843 – Gleb Uspensky, Russian author (Power of the Soil), born in Tula, Russian Empire (d. 1902)
1909 – Whitner “Whit” Bissell, American actor (Time Machine, Soylent Green, The Magnificent Seven), born in NYC, New York (d. 1996)
1929 – Peter Rohmkorf, German writer, born in Dortmund, Germany (d. 2008)
1964 – Pat Swilling, American NFL defensive end and linebacker (Oakland Raiders), born in Toccoa, Georgia

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Famous Deaths

1647 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist (inventor of barometer), dies at 39
1957 – Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, Irish sci-fi writer (Time and Gods), dies at 79
1973 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian distance athlete (Olympic gold marathon 1960 WR [barefoot], 64 WR; Africa’s first WR breaking athlete in any sport), dies of a brain haemorrhage at 41
2000 – Don Brooks, American session and touring harmonica player (Waylon Jennings; Ken Burns’ “The Civil War”), dies of leukemia at 53
2013 – Bill Sharman, American Basketball HOF guard (8 × NBA All-Star; 4 x NBA C’ship; Boston Celtics) and coach (NBA C’ship 1972 LA Lakers), dies from stroke complications at 87
2019 – Chou Wen-chung, Chinese-American composer (Mode of Shang), dies at 96

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Historical Events

1596 – -26] Battle at Kerestes: Ottoman beat Austria-Hungary and Germany
1656 – Treaty of Vilnius: Russia and Poland sign anti-Swedish covenant
1940 – Protestant churches protest against dismissal of Jew civil servants
1958 – USSR lends Egypt 400 million rubles to build Aswan Dam
2012 – Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in Jamaica killing 1 person and causing over $50 million in damage
2020 – Deadliest shipwreck of the year claims 140 lives on a ship that sank with 200 migrants on board off the coast of Senegal

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Famous Birthdays

1808 – Ernst Richter, German musical theorist and composer, born in Großschönau, Saxony, Germany (d. 1879)
1908 – John Alwyne Kitching, British zoologist (d. 1996)
1936 – Bill Wyman, English rock and jazz bassist (Rolling Stones, 1962-93 – “Under My Thumb”), born in Lewisham, London
1943 – José E. Serrano, American politician (Rep-D-New York), born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
1960 – Joachim Winkelhock, German race car driver, born in Waiblingen, West Germany
1972 – T. J. Cunningham, American NFL safety (Seattle Seahawks), born in Aurora, Colorado (d. 2019)

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Famous Deaths

1852 – Daniel Webster, US Secretary of State (1841-43, 1850-52), politician and lawyer, dies at 70
1931 – Murray Bisset, South African cricketer (South African wicket-keeper 1899 and 1910), dies at 55
1935 – Abe Landau, American gangster (henchman for Dutch Schultz), murdered at 39
1938 – Ernst Barlach, German writer and artist, dies at 68
1996 – Bruce Matthews, Australian newspaper executive who worked for Rupert Murdoch, dies at 71
2004 – James Cardinal Hickey, American Catholic archbishop (b. 1920)

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