Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1652 – Nikita Minin becomes patriarch of Russian Orthodox Church
1917 – Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a “temporary” measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
1985 – USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1990 – US Ambassador tells Iraq, US won’t take sides in Iraq-Kuwait dispute
1993 – The St James’ Church massacre in Kenilworth, Cape Town by Azanian Peoples’ Liberation Army
1993 – 31st Tennis Fed Cup: Spain beats Australia in Frankfurt Germany (3-0)

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Famous Birthdays

1421 – Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician, born in Leconfield, United Kingdom (d. 1461)
1897 – Hermann Ambrosius, German composer, born in Hamburg (d. 1983)
1927 – Stanley Dancer, American harness racer (4 Hambletonians, 3 Trot Triple Crown), born in West Windsor Township, New Jersey (d. 2005)
1930 – Annie Ross, British-American jazz singer (Lambert, Hendricks and Ross – “Twisted”) and actress, born in London (d. 2020)
1956 – Frances Arnold, American Chemist (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2018), born in Edgewood, Pennsylvania
1971 – Billy Wagner, American MLB pitcher (Houston Astros), born in Tannersville, Virginia

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Famous Deaths

1643 – Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, English statesman (b. 1584)
1814 – Charles Dibdin, British composer, author (Sea Songs), and actor, dies at 69
1997 – Margaret Farrer, midwife, dies at 83
2003 – Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical engineer, dies at 91
2005 – Albert Mangelsdorff, German jazz trombonist, dies at 76
2011 – Mihalis Kakogiannis, Cypriot filmmaker (b. 1922)

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Historical Events

1651 – Anthony Johnson, a free African American, receives grant of 250 acres in Virginia
1971 – WUHQ TV channel 41 in Battle Creek, MI (ABC) begins broadcasting
1976 – John Naber is 1st to swim 200m backstroke under 2 minutes
2014 – 47th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at San Diego Convention Center
2019 – 10th million Mini car produced during its 60th anniversary year in Oxford, England
2019 – Global warming is the fastest in 2,000 years and scientific consensus that humans are the cause is at 99%, according to three major reports published in journals “Nature” and “Nature Geoscience”

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Famous Birthdays

1935 – Trevor Chinn, CEO (Lex)
1941 – Barbara Love, American soul singer (Friends of Distinction), born in Los Angeles, California
1953 – Claire McCaskill, American politician, junior senator from Missouri
1965 – Andrew Gaze, Australian basketball player (Olympics 1984, 88, 92, 96)
1968 – Mark Gunn, NFL defensive end (Philadelphia Eagles)
1986 – Andrei Lutai, Russian figure skater

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Famous Deaths

1831 – Maria Szymanowska, Polish pianist and composer, dies of cholera at 41
1842 – John Sell Cotman, landscape painter, dies
1936 – Georg Michaelis, Chancellor of German Empire, dies at 78
1954 – Mary Church Terrell, educator/civil rights leader, dies at 90
2008 – Robert T. Herres, American air force officer (Vice Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff), dies at 75
2018 – Tony Cloninger, American MLB pitcher and coach (2 Grand Slams in one game), dies at 77

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Historical Events

1594 – Dutch city Groningen held by Spain surrenders to Dutch and England army led by Maurice of Orange
1877 – 1st telephone and telegraph line in Hawaii completed
1959 – US Vice President Richard Nixon begins visit to the USSR
1966 – Cavern Club in Liverpool reopens
2005 – Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people
2010 – One Direction is formed during the X Factor show as Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson join together

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Famous Birthdays

1902 – Walter Burle Marx, Brazilian pianist and composer, born in São Paulo, Brazil (d. 1990)
1906 – Clancy Cooper, American actor (Enchanted Forest, Girls in Chains), born in Boise, Idaho (d. 1975)
1917 – John Stokes, British MP (C), born in Sandy, Bedfordshire (d. 2003)
1950 – Blair Thornton, Canadian rock guitarist (Bachman-Turner Overdrive, 1974-79), born in Vancouver, British Columbia
1957 – Larry Stefanki, American tennis star, born in Elmhurst, Illinois
1968 – Chris Kerber, American lightweight rower (Olympics 1996), born in Collingswood, New Jersey

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Famous Deaths

1403 – Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester, English rebel (executed) (b. 1343)
1878 – Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, Bohemian physician (b. 1804)
1944 – Max Nettlau, German anarchist and historian, dies at 79
1955 – Cordell Hull, American Secretary of State (1933-44) who established United Nations (Nobel Peace Prize 1945), dies at 83
1996 – Hamilton Fish IV, American politician (Rep-R-NY, 1969-95), dies at 70
2011 – Johnny Hoes, Dutch musician and producer (Wished I’d Stayed With My Mom), dies at 94

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Historical Events

1731 – Spain signs Treaty of Vienna
1923 – Washington Senators future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson becomes 1st to reach 3,000 career strikeout milestone (en route to 3,508) with 5 K’s in 3-1 win over Cleveland Indians
1925 – NY Yankees buy future Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Leo Durocher from Hartford Senators (Eastern League)
1940 – Dutch Prime minister Dirk Jan De Geer meets Adolf Hitler seeking peace talks
1959 – Natural gas found at Slochteren, Groningen, Netherlands
1967 – 1st major appearance by Vanilla Fudge (Village Theater NYC)

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Famous Birthdays

1830 – Herbert Stanley Oakeley, English composer, born in Ealing (d. 1903)
1863 – Alec Hearne, English cricket batsman (1 Test; Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1894; Kent), born in Ealing, England (d. 1952))
1889 – Frederick Preston Search, American cellist, composer and conductor (Bridge Builders), born in Pueblo, Colorado (d. 1959)
1926 – Bryan Forbes, director and producer (Endless Games, King Rat), (d. 2013)
1957 – Dave Stieb, American MLB pitcher (7-time All Star, Blue Jays), born in Santa Ana, California
1967 – Pat Badger, American heavy metal bassist (Extreme – “More Than Words”), born in Boston, Massachusetts

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Famous Deaths

1929 – Édouard Empain, Belgian railway builder (Heliopolis), dies at 76
1934 – John Dillinger, Notorious American bank robber, shot dead at 31 by federal agents at the Biograph Theater in Chicago
1992 – Wayne McLaren, American stuntman, rodeo performer, model and actor best known for playing the Marlboro Man, dies of lung cancer at 51
2003 – Qusay Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1966)
2018 – Tony Sparano, American football coach (Miami Dolphins 2008-11; Oakland Raiders 2014), dies of a heart attack at 56
2018 – Rene Portland, American college basketball coach (Penn State 1980-2007), dies of cancer at 65

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Historical Events

285 – Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler
1915 – Woodrow Wilson sends the third Lusitania note, warning Germany that future infringement of American rights will be deemed ‘deliberately unfriendly’
1952 – Premier Ghavam es-Sultaneh of Persia, resigns
1952 – “The Quiet Man” film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara is released in the UK
1975 – NY Met Félix Millán hits 4 singles; erased by Joe Torres 4 double plays
1991 – Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Rod Carew, Tony Lazzeri, and Bill Veeck are elected into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY

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Famous Birthdays

1664 – Matthew Prior, English poet and diplomat, born in London (d. 1721)
1826 – James Gillpatrick Blunt, American physician, abolitionist, and Major General (Union Army), born in Trenton, Maine (d. 1881)
1856 – Harry A P Eyres, British diplomat (Constantinople, Albania)
1892 – Lenore Ulric, American actress (Notorious, Better Woman), born in New Ulm, Minnesota [or 1894]
1942 – Alun Davies, Welsh touring and session guitarist (Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam), born in Wales
1978 – Kyoko Iwasaki, Japanese swimmer (Olympic gold 200m breaststroke 1992), born in Numazu, Japan

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Famous Deaths

1889 – Nelson Dewey, American politician, 1st Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1813)
1932 – Bill Gleason, American late 19th century baseball player, dies at 73
1986 – Paulo Correia, Guinee-Bissaus colonel/putschist, executed
1994 – Hugh Scott, American lawyer and politician (Senate Minority Leader 1969-77), dies at 93
1996 – Francis James Claude Piggott, soldier, dies at 85
2015 – Paul Freeman, American conductor and composer (Chicago Sinfonietta, 1987 -2011; Czech National Symphony, 1996-2007), dies at 79

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Historical Events

1914 – Armed resistance against British rule begins in Ulster
1925 – Italian-Serbian/Croatian/Slav treaty about Dalmatie
1953 – USSR/Israel recover diplomatic relations
1963 – Verne Gagne beats Crusher Lisowski in Minneapolis, to become NWA champ
1963 – US Open Women’s Golf, Kenwood CC: Mary Mills wins her first of 3 major titles by 3 strokes ahead of runners-up Louise Suggs and Sandra Haynie
1964 – 1st surfin’ record to go #1-Jan and Dean’s “Surf City”

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Famous Birthdays

1726 – William Jones, British composer and clergyman, born in Lowick, England (d. 1800)
1951 – Larry Black, 4×100 runner (Olympic gold 1972), born in Miami, Florida
1952 – Keiko Matsuzaka, Japanese actress
1965 – Jovy Marcelo, Filipino racing driver, born in Quezon City, Philippines (d. 1992)
1966 – Tracey Mcfarlane, US breaststroke swimmer (US record 100m)
1999 – Princess Alexandra of Hanover, daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco

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Famous Deaths

833 – Ansegis [Ansegius], French abbot of Fontenelle and writer, dies at about 63
1398 – Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, heir to the throne of England, dies at 24
1912 – Andrew Lang, Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and anthropologist (Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books), dies at 68
1944 – Arthur J Treadwell, English mayor of Stoke Newington, dies at about 71
1962 – George MacAulay Trevelyan, English royal historian, dies at 86
1976 – Samuel Mutendi, founder of the Zimbabwean Zion Christian Church, dies

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Historical Events

1937 – Entartete Art Fair opens in Munich
1950 – French/Vietnamese offensive against Viet Minh
1951 – “2 in the Aisle” opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 276 performances
1971 – Sudan military coup under maj Hashem al-Atta, Numeiry flees
1977 – Floods in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, kill 76
1990 – Cincinnati Red Pete Rose is sentence to 5 months for tax evasion

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Famous Birthdays

1873 – Louis Zimmermann, Dutch violinist and 1st concert master of Concert building, born in Groningen, Netherlands (d. 1954)
1883 – Max Fleischer, Polish-American animator and film producer (Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor Man), born in Kraków, Austrian Poland (d. 1972)
1909 – Jeno Vecsey, Hungarian composer, born in Cece (d. 1966)
1958 – Robert Gibson, American professional wrestler, born in Pensacola, Florida
1969 – David Goldsmith, actor (Eric-Models Inc), born in New Brunswick, New Jersey
1990 – Steven Anthony Lawrence, American actor

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Famous Deaths

1740 – Francois van Aerssen, Dutch vice-admiral (Suriname, Algeria), dies at 71
1964 – Carol Veazie, actress (Maude-Norby), dies at 69
1992 – Bert Brugman, Dutch puppeteer (Dutch marionette theater), dies
1996 – (Emmanual Tettey) “E.T.” Mensah, Ghanaian saxophonist, known as the “King of Highlife” music (Accra Rhythmic Orchestra; The Tempos), dies at 77
2003 – Pierre Graber, Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1970–1978), dies at 94
2010 – Cécile Aubry, French actress (The Black Rose), author (Belle et Sébastien), television screenwriter and director, dies at 81

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Historical Events

1572 – Willem of Orange recognized as viceroy of Holland/Friesland/Utrecht
1944 – RAF Mosquitos attack Cologne and Berlin
1960 – Premier Kishi of Japan resigns
1960 – 1st UN troops reach Congo
1994 – Comet Shoemaker-Levy’s largest collision with Jupiter leaves black spot 12,000 km across
2019 – Children’s songs “Baby Shark” and “Raining Tacos” used by City of West Palm Beach, Florida to drive away homeless people from the waterfront

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Famous Birthdays

1635 – Robert Hooke, English scientist (Micrographia), born in Isle of Wight, England (d. 1703)
1914 – John G Bearer, writer (Metro, Drunken Canary, Fast Heartbeat)
1920 – Eric Brandon, British racing driver, born in East Ham, Essex (d. 1982)
1938 – Britt Leach, American actor (Mickey-Spencer’s Pilots), born in Gadsden, Alabama
1950 – Jack Dongarra, American computer programmer (2022 Turing award, Linpack), born in Chicago, Illinois
1956 – Audrey Landers [Hamburg], American actress and singer (Dallas; Chorus Line), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Famous Deaths

1833 – Joseph Comb, missionary to Moluccas, dies at 63
1989 – Rebecca Schaeffer, American actress (Patti-My Sister Sam), is shot by a fan at 21
1993 – Jean Negulesco, Romanian-American film director (3 Coins in a Fountain), dies at 93
2004 – Émile Peynaud, French oenologist, dies at 92
2005 – William Westmoreland, US general during the Vietnam War, dies at 91
2012 – Rajesh Khanna, Indian Bollywood actor officially titled “The First Superstar of Indian cinema”, dies of kidney problems at 69

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Historical Events

1774 – Captain James Cook arrives in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
1945 – Potsdam Conference: Harry Truman, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill hold 1st post-World War II meeting
1958 – Peter Shaffer’s musical “Five Finger Exercise” premieres in London
1974 – John Lennon is (again) ordered to leave US in 60 days, due to a 1968 marijuana charge in the UK
1975 – Four British soldiers are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army remote-controlled bomb near Forkill, County Armagh; attack the first major breach of a February truce
1987 – Don Mattingly is 2nd to hit HRs in 7 straight AL games (en route to 8)

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Famous Birthdays

1897 – Elbert Parr Tuttle, lawyer/judge
1948 – Phillip Harris, rocker
1948 – Luc Bondy, Swiss theatre and opera director, born in Zurich Switzerland (d. 2015)
1949 – Mike Vale, American rock bassist (Tommy James and The Shondells)
1975 – Elena Anaya, Spanish actress, born in Palencia, Spain
1978 – Émilie Simon, French singer, born in Montpellier, France

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Famous Deaths

521 – Magnus Felix Ennodius, bishop and Latin poet (b. 474)
1766 – Giuseppe Castiglione, Italian Jesuit brother and missionary to China, dies at 77
1943 – Sir Patrick Duncan, Governor-general of the Union of South Africa (1937 to 1943), dies at 72
1989 – Heinz Risse, German writer, dies at 91
2009 – Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher (b. 1927)
2020 – Derek Ho, American surfer (World C’ship 1993; Hawaiian Triple Crown 1984, 86, 88, 90), dies from a heart attack at 55

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Historical Events

1439 – Kissing is banned in England (to stop the Black Death from spreading)
1964 – Republican convention selects Barry Goldwater as presidential candidate
1983 – Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities in Britain’s worst helicopter accident
1989 – US Open Women’s Golf, Indianwood G and CC: Betsy King wins the first of her 2 consecutive titles, 4 strokes ahead of runner-up Nancy Lopez
1990 – Civil trial by parents of Suicide victims against Judas Priest begins
1994 – Spanish fishing boats sink a French fishing boat over fishing rights

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Famous Birthdays

1928 – Ray Thornton, American politician (Democratic U.S. Representative for Arkansas), born in Conway, Arkansas (d. 2016)
1941 – George Young, Baron Young of Cookham, British minister of housing and planning, born in Oxford, England
1945 – Barry Dudleston, English cricketer and cricket umpire, born in Bebington, Cheshire
1954 – Jeanette Mott Oxford, American activist and politician, born in Eldorado, Illinois
1975 – Bas Leinders, Belgian racing car driver, born in Bree, Belgium
1976 – Carlos Humberto Paredes, Paraguyan footballer and coach, born in Asunción, Paraguay

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Famous Deaths

1796 – George Howard, British field marshal, dies at 78
1953 – Hilaire Belloc, Anglo-French author (Path to Rome), dies at 82
1972 – Giorgio Nataletti, Italian composer, dies at 65
1995 – Patsy Ruth Miller, American actress (Quebec, Wide Open, Sap, Twin Beds), dies at 91
1996 – Adolf von Thadden, German politician, (b. 1921)
2005 – Blue Barron [Harry Freidman], American “sweet music” orchestra leader (“Cruising Down The River”), dies at 91

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