Category: On This Day

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 »

Historical Events

1916 – Austrian forces capture Mount Lovćen, Serbia. Serbian army retreats, evacuating to Greek island of Corfu
1917 – Guy Bolton and PG Wodehouse’s “Have a Heart” premieres in New York
1919 – 3 year old German communist party (Spartacus) crushed
1989 – 140 nations agree to ban chemical weapons (poison gas, etc)
1999 – American comedian Jon Stewart succeeds Craig Kilborn as host of late-night talk and satirical news program “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central in US
2022 – Quebec announces it will impose a healthcare tax on unvaccinated adults who are accounting for 50% of ICU cases (scrapped Feb 2022)

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1322 – Emperor Kōmyō of Japan, 2nd Northern Emperor (1336-48), born in Japan (d. 1380)
1449 – Domenico Ghirlandajo, Italian Renaissance painter and teacher of Michelangelo, born in Florence (d. 1494)
1818 – John Reese Kenly, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1891)
1905 – John Henry Jacques, English co-operative retailer and politician, born in Ashington, Northumberland (d. 1995)
1915 – Robert Blair Mayne, British soldier, co-founder Special Air Service (d. 1955)
1956 – Big Bank Hank [Henry Lee Jackson] American rapper (The Sugarhill Gang – “Rapper’s Delight”), born in The Bronx, New York City (d. 2014)

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1650 – Paul Hallman, composer, dies at 49
1763 – Caspar Abel, German theologian, historian, and poet (b. 1676)
1928 – Thomas Hardy, English novelist (Far from the Madding Crowd) and poet, dies near Dorchester at 87
1973 – Rudolf Kubin, Czech cellist, dies a day after 64th birthday
1995 – John AG Gere, English art historian (Raphael and his Circle), dies at 73
2016 – Gilberto Mendes, Brazilian composer, dies at 93

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1863 – 1st underground railway opens in London
1890 – Edward Macdowell’s “Lancelot and Elaine” premieres
1946 – UN General Assembly meets for 1st time in London
1967 – PBS (the National Educational TV) begins as a 70 station network
1980 – Last broadcast of “The Rockford Files” on NBC
2005 – A mudslide occurs in La Conchita, California, killing 10 people, injuring many more and closing the Highway 101, the main coastal corridor between San Francisco and Los Angeles, for 10 days.

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1840 – Louis Nazaire Bégin, French Canadian archbishop and cardinal, born in Lévis, Canada (d. 1925)
1931 – Peter Barnes, English writer, born in Manchester, United Kingdom (d. 2004)
1933 – Akira Miyoshi, Japanese composer, born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 2013)
1945 – Rod Stewart, British singer (“Maggie Maey”; “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy”; “Downtown Train”), and model railroad designer, born in London, England
1972 – Brian Lawler, American professional wrestler, born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 2018)
1982 – Josh Ryan Evans, American actor, born in Hayward, California (d. 2002)

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1761 – Edward Boscawen, British admiral in the Royal Navy, dies at 49
1862 – Samuel Colt, American inventor and industrialist (Colt 6 shot revolver), dies of gout at 47
1956 – Karl L Schmidt, German/Swiss theologist (Urchristentum), dies at 64
1970 – Pavel Belyayev, Soviet fighter pilot and cosmonaut (Voskhod II), dies at 44
2017 – Tony Rosato, Italian-born Canadian comedian (SCTV, Saturday Night Live), dies at 63
2018 – Doreen Tracey, British-born American performer (Mickey Mouse Club-Mouseketeer), dies at 74

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1858 – Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide
1868 – Last convict ship the Hougoumont arrives in Fremantle, ending 80 years of penal transportation to Australia
1894 – William K.L. Dickson’s motion picture “Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze” aka “Fred Ott’s Sneeze” receives first US copyright for the format; it was filmed a few days earlier at Edison Studio, West Orange, New Jersey
1954 – Bert Olmstead of the Montreal Canadiens, ties NHL record of 8 points in game
1967 – Georgia legislature seats Representative Julian Bond
1970 – Constitution of Singapore enacted

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1851 – Giuseppe Gallignani, Italian composer and conductor, born in Faenza, Emilia-Romagna, Papal State (now Italy) (d. 1923)
1914 – Derek Allhusen, English equestrian (Olympic gold 1968), born in Chelsea, London (d. 2000)
1925 – Abdelhamid ben Hadouga, Algerian writer, born in Mansoura, Algeria (d. 1996)
1931 – Algis Budrys, Lithuanian-American sci-fi author (Man of Earth), born in Kaliningrad, Russia (d. 2008)
1945 – Frank Biondi, American businessman (HBO), born in NYC, New York
1952 – Eva Leonie “Eveline” Herfkens, Dutch civil servant, diplomat, and politician (PvdA), born in The Hague, Netherlands

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1893 – Mohara, Arab ivory/slave trader, dies in battle and is eaten
1933 – Daphne Akhurst Cozens, Australian tennis player (Australasian C’ship singles 1925, 26, 28, 29, 30), dies of ectopic pregnancy at 29
1936 – John Gilbert [Pringle], American silent film screenwriter, director (Love’s Penalty), and actor, known as “The Great Lover” (The Merry Widow The Big Parade; Flesh and the Devil), dies of a heart attack at 38
1958 – Paul Fechter, German writer (Der Zauberer Gottes), dies at 77
1971 – Elmer Flick, American Baseball HOF outfielder (AL batting champion 1905; NL RBI leader 1900; 2 × AL stolen base leader; Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Bronchos/Naps), dies at 94
1990 – Spud Chandler, American baseball player (AL MVP 1943), dies at 82

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1746 – “Bonnie Prince Charlie”, Prince Charles Edward Stuart’s troops occupy Stirling, Scotland [NS=Jan 19]
1798 – 11th Amendment ratified, judicial powers construed
1902 – New York state assemblyman Francis G. ​Landon gets a bill passed to criminalize men turning around on a street and “looking at a woman in that way”
1949 – “Make Mine Manhattan” closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 429 performances
1971 – 29 pilot whales beach themselves and die at San Clemente Island, California
1993 – NBC offers “The Tonight Show” to David Letterman

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1788 – Archduke Rudolph of Austria, Austrian clergyman and noble, born in Florence, Tuscany (d. 1831)
1830 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer, born in Dresden, Germany (d. 1894)
1836 – Lawrence Alma Tadema, Dutch-British painter, husband of Laura Epps, born in Dronryp, the Netherlands (d. 1912)
1912 – Rudolf George Escher, Dutch composer (True Face of Peace), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1980)
1928 – May Wynn [Donna Lee Hickey], American actress (Caine Mutiny, Noah’s Ark), born in NYC, New York
1940 – Cristy Lane, American country music and gospel singer, born in Peoria, Illinois

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1456 – St. Laurence Justinian [Lorenzo Giustiniani], Italian catholic bishop and 1st Patriarch of Venice, dies at 74
1651 – Giovanni Battista Gagliano, Italian composer, dies at 56
1986 – Mansel Treharne Thomas, Welsh composer, dies at 76
1993 – Hakija Turajlic, Bosnian vice-premier, murdered
2008 – Clyde Otis, American songwriter and music producer (b. c. 1924)
2010 – Monica Maughan, Australian actor (b. 1933)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1610 – Galileo Galilei discovers the first three moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa and Ganymede
1890 – African American inventor William Purvis receives a patent for the fountain pen
1933 – 1st edition of People and Fatherland published in Netherlands
1964 – Bahamas becomes self-governing
1985 – Revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “The King and I”, still starring Yul Brynner opens at Broadway Theater, NYC; runs for 191 performances
1994 – South Africa beat Australia in the Sydney Test by 5 runs

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1903 – Vladimir Alexandrovich Vlasov, Russian composer and conductor, born in Moscow (d. 1986)
1911 – (Thelma) “Butterfly” McQueen, American actress (Gone With The Wind; Flame of Barbary Coast), born in Tampa, Florida (d. 1995)
1925 – Gerald Durrell, British naturalist, zoologist and writer (My Family and other Animals), born in Jamshedpur, British India (d. 1995)
1929 – Mario Bergamaschi, Italian soccer midfielder (5 caps; Calcio Como, A.C. Milan, U.C. Sampdoria), born in Crema, Italy (d. 2020)
1949 – Marshall Chapman, American country singer, born in Spartanburg, South Carolina
1962 – Aleksandr Dugin, Russian politician, born in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1721 – Rochus Aerts, Flemish sculptor, dies [or 1739]
1743 – Anne Sophie Reventlow, Queen of Denmark and Norway (1721-30), dies at 49
1767 – Thomas Clap, American academic, 1st president of Yale University, dies at 63
1922 – Antonio Scontrino, Italian composer, dies at 71
1935 – Alfred Ewing, Scottish Physicist (magnetic properties of metals, hysteresis), dies at 79
1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist, electrical engineer and inventor who developed alternating current and the Tesla Coil, dies at 86

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1017 – Cnut the Great crowned King of England in London by Lyfing, Archbishop of Canterbury
1617 – English court favorite George Villiers is made Earl of Buckingham by King James I
1781 – Battle of Jersey: Major Francis Peirson and his men defeat invading French troops
1896 – 1st US women’s 6-day bicycle race starts, Madison Square Garden
1929 – Alexander I establishes a royal dictatorship in Yugoslavia
2009 – Israel begins an assault on the Gaza Strip

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1811 – Charles Sumner, American leading Reconstruction senator, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1874)
1916 – Vincent Serventy, Australian writer and conservationist, born in Armadale, Australia (d. 2007)
1936 – Ebo Taylor, Ghanaian highlife and Afrobeat musician and composer, born in Cape Coast, Gold Coast
1952 – Larry Booker (Moondog Spot), American pro wrestler (WWF Tag Team champion 1981), born in Louisiana, United States (d. 2003)
1969 – Nick A’Hern, Australian 20k walker (Olympics 22-92, 96), born in Swansea, United Kingdom
1978 – Nikki Einfeld, Canadian coloratura soprano, born in Manitoba

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1849 – Hartley Coleridge, English poet, dies at 52
1960 – Erik Lindahl, Swedish economist (Theory of Money and Capital), dies at 68
1993 – Elisabeth, arch duch of Austria/princess of Liechtenstein, dies at 70
1997 – Ian Peter Leslie Smith, British journalist, dies at 52
2007 – Roberta Wohlstetter, military historian and strategist (b. 1912)
2021 – Bobby Few, American jazz pianist and vocalist, dies at 85

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1925 – James Gleason and Richard Tabers “Is zat so?” premieres in NYC
1942 – 55 German tanks reach North-Africa
1969 – Creedence Clearwater Revival release their second album “Bayou Country”, featuring singles “Good Golly, Miss Molly” and “Proud Mary”
1972 – US President Nixon signs a bill for NASA to begin research on a manned space shuttle
1976 – In retaliation for the Reavey and O’Dowd killings, the South Armagh Republican Action Force shoot dead 10 Protestant civilians after stopping their minibus in County Armagh
1995 – Bill Fitch becomes the 5th coach in NBA history to register 850 career victories with the LA Clippers’ 95-93 home win over Philadelphia 76’ers at the LA Memorial Sports Arena

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1888 – George “Rube” Foster, American baseball pitcher (World Series 1915, 16; no-hitter 1916; Boston Red Sox), born in Lehigh, Oklahoma (d. 1976)
1932 – Umberto Eco, Italian philosopher and author (Name of the Rose), born in Alessandria, Piedmont (d. 2016)
1938 – Leo Avery, Abbot of Quarr Abbey, born in Wakefield, United Kingdom (d. 1996)
1969 – Marilyn Manson [Brian Warner], American shock-rock singer-songwriter (Marilyn Manson – “The Dope Show”; “Tainted Love”), artist and actor, born in Canton, Ohio
1973 – Phil Joel, Australian bassist (Newsboys), born in Auckland, New Zealand
1987 – Kristin Cavallari, American actress, born in Denver, Colorado

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1740 – Antonio Lotti, Italian opera composer, dies at about 72
1858 – Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Czech field marshal, dies at 91
1904 – Karl Alfred Ritter von Zittel, German geologist and paleontologist (Libya), dies at 64
1986 – Ilmari Salminen, Finnish athlete (Olympic gold 10,000m 1936), dies at 83
2003 – Massimo Girotti, Italian actor (Last Tango in Paris, In the Name of the Law), dies of a heart attack at 84
2006 – Lord Merlyn-Rees, British politician (b. 1920)

More Famous Deaths »