Historical Events
1627 – Last Emperor of the Chinese Ming dynasty, Chongzhen, comes to the throne after death of his brother Emperor Tianqi
1799 – Duke of York and Russians capture Alkmaar in Netherlands
1851 – The pasilalinic-sympathetic compass(a contraption built to test the pseudo-scientific hypothesis that snails create a permanent telepathic link when they mate) is demonstrated but proves to be a fake.
1926 – Bert Gibb kicks 9 singles as Hamilton Tigers beat Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers 12-10 in Montreal in Canadian Inter-provincial Rugby Football Union opening round
1982 – Bomb attack in Tehran, kills 60, injures 700
1990 – Chinese plane explodes, about 100 die
Famous Birthdays
1880 – George Alexander Russell, American organist, composer and the first Frick Professor of Music for Princeton University, born in Franklin, Tennessee (d. 1953)
1945 – Don McLean, American singer and songwriter (“American Pie”; “Vincent”), born in New Rochelle, New York
1947 – (Frank) “Skip” Konte, American keyboardist, songwriter (The Blues Image – “Ride Captain Ride”), and record producer, born in Canon City, Oklahoma
1967 – Floyd “Bud” Gaugh, American ska-punk rock drummer (Sublime), born in Kihei, Hawaii
1967 – Frankie Fredericks, Namibian athlete (Olympic silver 100m, 200m 1992, 96), born in Windhoek, South West Africa
1969 – Badly Drawn Boy [Damon Gough], British singer-songwriter (Have You Fed The Fish?), born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England
Famous Deaths
1729 – Arnold Boonen, portrait painter, dies at 60
1842 – William Ellery Channing, cleric/writer, dies
1974 – Ina Seidel, German poet and novelist, dies at 89
1993 – Ahmed Abdul-Malik [Jonathan Tim, Jr.], American jazz double bassist and oud player (Odetta; Thelonius Monk), dies at 66
2001 – Franz Biebl, German composer, mostly of choral music, dies at 95
2005 – Bert Eriksson, Flemish neo-Nazi, dies at 74