Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1265 – Battle of Evesham: English prince Edward beats Simon de Montfort the younger
1347 – English troops conquer Fort Calais
1636 – Johan Mauritius appointed governor of Dutch Brazil
1914 – US declares neutrality on the outbreak of WWI
1946 – An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. 100 are killed and 20,000 are left homeless.
1958 – The Billboard Hot 100 is published for the 1st time, with “Poor Little Fool” by Ricky Nelson at #1

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Famous Birthdays

1904 – Witold Gombrowicz, Polish author (Ferdydurke, Pornography), born in Małoszyce, Russian Empire (d. 1969)
1906 – Marie-Jose von Saksen-Coburg, Belgian Princess (last Queen of Italy), born in Ostend, Belgium (d. 2001)
1913 – Robert Hayden, African-American poet (Those Winter Sundays), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1980)
1928 – Udham Singh, India, field hockey player (Olympic gold 1952, 56, 64), born in Sansarpur, India (d. 2000)
1939 – Frank Vincent, American actor (The Sopranos), born in North Adams, Massachusetts (d. 2017)
1973 – Peter Tsekenis, Australian soccer midfielder (Olyroos, Olympics 1996)

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Famous Deaths

1265 – Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, killed in the Battle of Evesham (b. 1223)
1476 – Jacob van Armagnac-Pardiac, French duke of Nemours, beheaded
1938 – Pearl White, American actress/stunt woman (Perils of Pauline), dies at 49
1975 – John Baragrey, American actor (Creeper, The Loves of Carmen), dies of a stroke at 57
1978 – Frank Fontaine, American comedian (Crazy Guggenheim), dies at 58
2013 – Sandy Woodward [John Forster], English admiral (British Naval Task Force, Falklands War), dies at 81

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Historical Events

1913 – Wheatland Hop Riot on a California farm, 4 die in one of the first farm labour disputes
1962 – NY Met Frank Thomas hits his 6th HR in 3 games
1990 – US announces commitment of Naval forces to Gulf regions
1990 – Radio Kuwait resigns air, due to Iraqi invasion
1991 – Giant Victory driven by Jack Moiseyev wins Hambletonian, 2nd $1m purse in 22 days for Moiseyev after winning Meadowlands Pace
1997 – Canadian Open Women’s Golf (du Maurier Classic), Glen Abbey GC: Colleen Walker wins by 2 shots from Liselotte Neumann of Sweden

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Famous Birthdays

1921 – Richard Adler, American composer and songwriter (Pajama Game; Damn Yankees), born in NYC, New York (d. 2012)
1924 – Max van der Stoel, Dutch politician and Minister of Foreign Affairs (PvdA), born in Voorschoten, Netherlands (d. 2011)
1950 – Waldemar Cierpinski, East German runner (Olympic marathon gold 1976, 80), born in Neugattersleben, Germany
1967 – Skin [Deborah Dyer] Jamaican-British singer (Skunk Anansie), born in Brixton, London
1974 – Blaine Wilson, American gymnast (Olympic 5th 1996), born in Columbus, Ohio
1978 – Mariusz Jop, Polish footballer, born in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Poland

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Famous Deaths

1779 – Henry Kobell, Dutch painter and cartoonist, dies at 27
1939 – Eugust Enna, composer, dies at 80
1966 – Lenny Bruce [Leonard Schneider], American comedian, dies of a morphine overdose at 39
1995 – Harry Craft, American MLB baseball player and manager, dies at 80
2008 – Erik Darling, American folk musician (Rooftop Singers), dies at 74
2011 – Allan Watkins, Welsh cricket all-rounder, (15 Tests, England @ 40.15, 11 wickets; Glamorgan), dies at 89

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Historical Events

1924 – A’s 1st baseman Joe Hauser sets AL record of 14 total bases in a game; 3 HRs and a double as Philadelphia beats Cleveland Indians, 12-4 at Dunn Field
1934 – Adolf Hitler becomes commander-in-chief of German armed forces
1942 – 250 Dutch Catholic Jews arrested, transported to Amersfoort camp
1986 – Lee Elder fires a record 11-under par 61 on his way to winning the Senior PGA Merrill Lynch/Golf Digest Commemorative at Sleepy Hollow CC; mark stands for 11 years
1992 – “Death and the Maiden” closes at Brooks Atkinson NYC after 159 performances
2019 – Seven-year-old boy operated on after 526 teeth found inside his mouth in Chennai, India

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Famous Birthdays

1915 – Johan Limpers, Dutch sculptor and resistance fighter, born in Heemstede, Netherlands (d. 1944)
1928 – Malcolm Hilton, English cricket slow left-arm (4 Tests), born in Chadderton, Lancashire (d. 1990)
1954 – Sammy McIlroy, Irish soccer star (Manchester United), born in Belfast, United Kingdom
1954 – Lisa Brown, American actress (Guiding Light, Iva-As the World Turns), born in Kansas City, Missouri
1961 – Pete de Freitas, English rock drummer (Echo and the Bunnyman), born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (d. 1989)
1962 – Lee Mavers, British singer and songwriter (The La’s – “There She Goes”), born in Liverpool, England

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Famous Deaths

257 – St Stephen I, bishop of Rome (Pope) (254-57) and heretic fighter, dies
924 – Ælfweard of Wessex, briefly King of the Anglo-Saxons
1921 – Enrico Caruso, Italian operatic tenor (Faust), dies of pleurisy at 48
1939 – Harvey Spencer Lewis, American Rosicrucian author and mystic, dies at 55
1969 – Clarence Dickinson, American composer, dies at 96
2004 – Don Tosti, American musician (“Pachuco Boogie”), dies at 81

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Historical Events

1922 – Hendrikus Colijn becomes political editor-in-chief of The Standard
1926 – Failed assassination on General Primo de Rivera in Barcelona
1964 – Beatles’ single “A Hard Day’s Night” goes #1 and stays #1 for 2 weeks
1988 – Rush Limbaugh begins his national radio show.
2002 – In signing star linebacker Ray Lewis to a 5-year contract extension the Baltimore Ravens give him a $19m signing bonus, then the largest in NFL history
2014 – USA and UN announce a 72 hour ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, though it quickly breaks down

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Famous Birthdays

1848 – František Kmoch, Czech composer and conductor, born in Zásmuky, Austrian Empire (d. 1912)
1923 – Yoshinao Nakada, Japanese composer, born in Shibuya, Tokyo (d. 2000)
1929 – Ann Calvello, American roller derby queen, born in Newport, Rhode Island (d. 2006)
1933 – Jesse Corti, Venezuelan-American voice actor and comedian, born in Venezuela
1976 – Kevin Joseph, American baseball player, born in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania
1979 – Jason Momoa, American actor (Game of Thrones, Aquaman), born in Honolulu, Hawaii

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Famous Deaths

1902 – Ludwig Beckmann, painter, dies
1935 – Arthur Dehon Little, American chemist (patented rayon), dies at 71
1980 – Strother Martin, American actor (Cool Hand Luke, Slapshot), dies of heart attack at 61
1989 – John Ogdon, English pianist/composer, dies at 52
1995 – Robert L. “Bob” Talley, American jazz and blues pianist and composer, dies at 75
2021 – Ian Thomson, English cricket fast bowler (5 Tests, 9 wickets; Sussex), dies at 92

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Historical Events

1917 – World War I: Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) begins, goes on to cause approximately 500,000 casualties
1988 – Miami Dolphins beat San Francisco 49ers, 27-21 in the American Bowl at London’s Wembley Stadium
1988 – Pittsburgh Pirates 1st baseman/left fielder and 7-time All Star Willie Stargell becomes 200th man inducted in Baseball’s Hall of Fame
1991 – Senate votes to allow women to fly combat aircraft
1991 – Russia and US sign long range nuclear weapons reduction pact
1992 – Three world record swims on final night session at the Barcelona Olympics; Australian Kieren Perkins 1,500m (14:43.4); Tamás Darnyi of Hungary 200m backstroke (1:59.36); China’s Yang Wenyi women’s 50m freestyle (24.79)

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Famous Birthdays

1935 – Yvon Deschamps, French Canadian author and humorist, born in Montreal, Quebec
1962 – Wesley Snipes, American actor (Passenger 57, Money Train, Blade trilogy), born in Orlando, Florida
1967 – Rodney Harvey, actor (Salsa)
1970 – David Sacco, NHL left wing (Olympics 1994, Anaheim Mighty Ducks), born in Malden, Massachusetts
1976 – Marty Booker, American NFL wide receiver (Pro Bowl 2002, Chicago Bears), born in Jonesboro, Louisiana
1992 – Kyle Larson, American auto racer (NASCAR Cup Series Championship 2021; 24 Hours of Daytona 2015), born in Elk Grove, California

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Famous Deaths

1508 – Na’od, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1494)
1864 – Louis Christophe François Hachette, French publisher (Librairie Hachette), dies at 64
1960 – Karl Hasse, German composer, dies at 77
1961 – Jesse Harper, American College Football Hall of Fame coach (Notre Dame 57–17–7), dies at 77
1998 – Serge Golovine, French ballet choreographer (Death of Narcissus), dies at 73
2009 – Sir Bobby Robson, English soccer forward, coach (20 caps; England manager 1982-90), dies of lung cancer at 76

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Historical Events

657 – St Vitalian begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Eugene I
1905 – Dutch Covenant of Worker’s union, NVV, forms
1942 – FDR signs bill creating women’s Navy auxiliary agency (WAVES)
1953 – Rikidōzan holds a ceremony announcing the establishment of the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance
1960 – 1st AFL preseason game Boston Patriots defeat Bills in Buffalo (28-7)
1997 – Eighteen lives are lost in the Thredbo Landslide in New South Wales, Australia

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Famous Birthdays

1875 – James W. Tate, English composer, born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (d. 1922)
1880 – Robert R. McCormick, American editor and publisher (Chicago Tribune), born in Chicago (d. 1955)
1940 – Clive Sinclair, British consumer electronics inventor (Executive pocket calculator; ZX Spectrum computer), born in Richmond, Surrey, England (d. 2021)
1959 – Petra Felke, German javelin thrower (world record 1988), born in Saalfeld, East Germany
1981 – Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (MotoGP Champion 2006), born in Owensboro, Kentucky (d. 2017)
1982 – Jimmy Anderson, English cricket fast bowler (most wickets for England in both Test and ODI cricket), born in Burnley, Lancashire

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Famous Deaths

1965 – Junichiro Tanizaki, Japanese writer (Key), dies at 79
1982 – Roberta Pedon, American glamour model, dies at 28
1994 – Theo van Scheltinga, skater, dies at 80
2008 – Anne Armstrong U.S. ambassador to Britain and first female counsel to the President, dies at 80
2009 – Peter Zadek, German theatre director (b. 1926)
2012 – Maeve Binchy [Snell], Irish novelist (Light a Penny Candle), dies at 72

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Historical Events

1928 – Test footage first created for Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” with Mickey Mouse
1942 – Eastern Blvd in the Bronx renamed Bruckner Boulevard, in honor of former Bronx Borough President and US Congressman, Henry Bruckner
1956 – WCKT (now WSVN) TV channel 7 in Miami, Florida (IND) begins broadcasting
1978 – American Penny Dean swims English Channel in record 7 hrs, 40 min; record holds until 1995
1994 – 200,000 Muslims demand the death of feminist writer Taslima Nasrin in Bangladesh
1995 – Monica Seles beats Martina Navratilova in her return to tennis

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Famous Birthdays

1866 – George Morrison, American entrepreneur (owner of Mammoth Caves), born border of Ohio and Pennsylvania (d. 1937)
1914 – Dovie Hudson, American community activist in rural Mississippi (filed lawsuit to desegregate the public schools)
1935 – Peter Schreier, German tenor and conductor (Dresden State Opera, 1962-2000), born in Meissen, Saxony, Germany (d. 2019)
1937 – Daniel McFadden, American economist and Nobel Prize Laureate who developed theory and methods for analyzing discrete choice, born in Raleigh, North Carolina
1981 – Troy Perkins, American professional soccer goalkeeper, born in Springfield, Ohio
1990 – Shin Se-kyung, South Korean actress (Deep Rooted Tree), born in Yangcheon, South Korea

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Famous Deaths

1108 – King Philip I, King of the Franks 1059, 1060-1108), dies at 56
1887 – Agostino Depretis, Italian statesman, Prime Minister of Italy (1876-78, 1778-79, 1881-87), dies at 74
1954 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (World Alllround Speed Skating champion 1905), dies at 75
1984 – Fred Waring, American bandleader, conductor, and Waring Blender namesake, dies at 84
2007 – Michel Serrault, French actor (Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud, La Cage aux Folles), dies at 79
2016 – Marta Marzotto, Italian countess and designer, dies at 85

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Historical Events

1790 – Henry James Pye appointed as British Poet Laureate by King George III
1919 – Vrije Vakbewegings Internationale (VVI) forms in Amsterdam
1979 – France performs nuclear Test
1985 – Canadian Open Women’s Golf (du Maurier Classic), Beaconsfield GC: Pat Bradley wins by 1 from Jane Geddes
1986 – Bomb attack in East Beirut, 25 killed
1992 – RandB singer Mary J. Blige releases her debut album “What’s the 411?”, with production by Puff Daddy

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Famous Birthdays

1863 – Hussein Khan Nakhichevanski, Russian general (d. 1919)
1901 – Sándor Vándor, Hungarian Jewish composer, born in Miskolc, Hungary (d. 1945)
1928 – Adrian Ratiu, Romanian composer, born in Bucharest, Romania (d. 2005)
1934 – Jacques d’Amboise, American ballet dancer, and choreographer (NYC Ballet Company, 1949-84), actor (Seven Brides For Seven Brothers), and educator (founded National Dance Institute, 1976), born in Dedham Massachusetts (d. 2021)
1951 – Santiago Calatrava, Spanish architect (Milwaukee Art Museum), born in Valencia, Spain
1972 – Ed Templeton, American skateboarder (Toy Machine), born in Garden Grove, California

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Famous Deaths

1641 – John Amner, English composer, dies at 61
1864 – Samuel Benton, US Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at about 44
1895 – Edward Beecher, American theologian, dies at 91
1904 – Vyacheslav von Plehve, Russian Minister of the Interior, killed by Jewish revolutionaries after a bomb is thrown at his carriage, dies at 58
1991 – Luis Aravena Munoz, Chilean singer exiled to Netherlands, dies at 45
1996 – Roger Tory Peterson, American ornithologist and writer (How to Know Birds), dies at 87

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Historical Events

1816 – US troops destroy Fort Apalachicola, a Seminole fort, to punish Indians for harboring runaway slaves
1914 – Felix Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo with the Filipino government.
1941 – German army enters Ukraine
1974 – House Judiciary Committee votes 27-11 recommends Nixon impeachment
1991 – TV Guide publishes its 2000th edition
1996 – Bomb explodes at Atlanta Olympic Park, 1 killed, 110 injured

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Famous Birthdays

1886 – Ernst May, German architect and city planner (New Frankfurt), born in Frankfurt am Main (d. 1970)
1896 – Henri Longchambon, French politician, born in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, France (d. 1969)
1904 – Kenneth Bainbridge, American physicist (measurements of mass differences between nuclear isotopes), born in Cooperstown, New York (d. 1996)
1917 – Isabelle Kelley, American social worker credited with instigating the US Federal Food Stamp Program, born in Ellington, Connecticut (d. 1997)
1942 – John Pleshette, American actor (Richard-Knots Landing, 7th Avenue), born in NYC, New York
1979 – Shannon Moore, American professional wrestler, born in Cameron, North Carolina

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Famous Deaths

1689 – John Graham, of Claverhouse, 1st viscount Dundee/soldier, fatally wounded at the Battle of Killiecrankie at 41
1844 – John Dalton, English physicist and chemist who developed the atomic theory of matter and researched colour blindness, dies at 77
1978 – Willem Van Otterloo, Dutch cellist, composer, and conductor (Residentie Orkest, 1949-73; Melbourne Symphony, 1967-70; Sydney Symphony, 1971-77), dies in a car crash at 70
1979 – Shirley Mason, actress (Let it Rain, Dark Skies), dies at 79
1986 – Leroy Holmes, American orchestra leader (The Tonight Show, 1956-57), dies at 72
2021 – Mike Hendrick, English cricket fast bowler (30 Tests, 87 wickets; 22 ODIs; Derbyshire CCC), dies from bowel cancer at 72

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Historical Events

1878 – In California, poet and American West outlaw calling himself “Black Bart” makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box found later with a taunting poem inside.
1944 – Japanese suicide attack on US lines in Guam
1963 – US Syncom 2, 1st geosynchronous communications satellite, launched
1990 – General Hospital records its 7,000th episode
2012 – Insurgent attack kills 19 people and destroys a helicopter at Baqubah, Iraq
2021 – Ship carrying migrants wrecks off coast of Al-Khums, Libya, killing at least 57, takes death toll in central Mediterranean to 987 for 2021

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Famous Birthdays

1899 – Carel C. van Essen, Dutch archaeologist (Italian and Roman art), born in Amsterdam (d. 1963)
1921 – Jean Shepherd, American writer and actor (A Christmas Story), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1999)
1926 – James Best [Jewel Franklin Guy], American actor (The Dukes of Hazzard, Sounder), born in Powderly, Kentucky (d. 2015)
1940 – Dobie Gray [Lawrence Brown], American musician and singer (“Drift Away”), born in Simonton, Texas (d. 2011)
1952 – Jan Randall, American-Canadian film, stage and broadcast composer (The Irrelevant Show; Poetry In Motion), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1980 – Dave Baksh, Canadian guitarist (Sum 41), born in Ajax, Ontario

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Famous Deaths

1592 – Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron, French soldier (b. 1524)
1925 – William Jennings Bryan, American orator and statesman known as “The Great Commoner”, dies at 65
1971 – Diane Arbus [Nemerov], American photographer (Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar), commits suicide at 48
1994 – Owen “Terry” Scott, British actor and comedian (Terry and June, Carry On Films), dies of cancer at 67
2005 – Alexander Golitzen, American art director (b. 1908)
2005 – Gilles Marotte, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1945)

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