Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1527 – Spanish and German Imperial troops sack Rome, ending the Renaissance
1753 – French King Louis XV observes transit of Mercury at Mendon Castle
1851 – Dr John Gorrie patents a “refrigeration machine”
1915 – The Allies on Cape Helles launch three attacks to enlarge their beachheads; after terrible losses, they advance about three miles
1950 – 76th Kentucky Derby: William Boland on Middleground wins in 2:01.6
1974 – West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns amidst controversy over his aide Günter Guillaume’s ties with the Stasi (East German secret service)

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Famous Birthdays

1713 – Charles Batteux, French philosopher, born in Alland’Huy-et-Sausseuil, Ardennes (d. 1780)
1801 – George Sears Greene, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Apponaug, Rhode Island (d. 1899)
1861 – Motilal Nehru, Indian lawyer and freedom fighter, born in Agra, British India (d. 1931)
1921 – Freddy Randall, English jazz trumpeter, born in London (d. 1999)
1941 – Fred J. Eckert, American politician (U.S. Ambassador to Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Tonga), born in Rochester, New York
1970 – Emerson Martin, NFL guard (Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers, Packers)

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Famous Deaths

1527 – Karel van Bourbon, military governor (Lombardije), dies at 37
1862 – Henry David Thoreau, American naturalist and pacifist (Walden Pond), dies of tuberculosis at 44
1910 – Edward VII, King of England (1901-10), dies at 68
1975 – József Mindszenty [József Pehm], Hungarian cardinal who opposed fascism and communism in Hungary, dies at 83
1995 – Leonard “Red” Truss, American RandB singer (The Steelers – “Get It From The Bottom”), dies at 47
2007 – Curtis Harrington, American film director (b. 1926)

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Historical Events

1921 – Perfume Chanel No. 5 released by fashion designer Coco Chanel
1947 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Robert Penn Warren (All the King’s Men)
1981 – After 66 days on hunger strike, 26 year old Provisional IRA member and British MP Bobby Sands dies in the Maze Prision. Nine more hunger strikers die in the next 3 months.
2015 – “Traveller” debut album by Chris Stapleton is released (Grammy Award Best Country Album, 2016; Billboard Album of the Year, 2016)
2017 – Anna Wintour, the editor of US Vogue, is made a dame by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace
2021 – A week of mass protests and demonstrations against government tax reform and poverty in Colombia leaves 24 dead

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Famous Birthdays

1352 – Rupert, King of Germany (1400-10), born in Amberg, Germany (d. 1410)
1741 – John Archer, American Congressman who received the 1st medical diploma issued on US continent (1768), born near Churchville, Maryland (d. 1810)
1804 – Jacob Kats, Flemish writer (Earthly Paradise), born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1886)
1918 – Erbie Bowser, American blues and jazz pianist, born in Davila, Texas (d. 1995)
1935 – Edward “Kidd” Jordan, American jazz saxophonist and music educator, born in Crowley, New Orleans
1973 – Matt Dubuc, CFL running back (Toronto Argonauts), born in Montreal, Quebec

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Famous Deaths

1672 – Samuel Cooper, English painter (b. 1609)
1801 – Philippe-Lambert-Joseph Spruyt, Flemish painter and engraver, dies at 74
1921 – Alfred Hermann Fried, German pacifist (Nobel 1911-co-founder of the German peace movement), dies at 56
1995 – Lionel Alexander Bethune [Alastair] Pilkington, British engineer (float glass), dies at 75
1998 – Syd Lawrence, British bandleader (Syd Lawrence Orchestra), dies at 74
2011 – Claude Choules, last surviving World War I veteran (b. 1901)

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Historical Events

1256 – Augustinian monastic order constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae
1626 – Peter Minuit becomes director-general of New Netherlands
1917 – A flotilla of US destroyer ships arrive in Queenstown, Ireland, to aid in convoying ships to England
1919 – 1st legal Sunday baseball game in NYC, 35,000 watch the Phillies beat the NY Giants 4-3
1998 – A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
2012 – 14 decapitated bodies and 9 hung from a bridge are found in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico

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Famous Birthdays

1826 – Frederick Edwin Church, American romantic landscape painter (Hudson River Sch), born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1900)
1877 – Arthur Lang, American boxer and businessman, born in Van Wert, Ohio (d. 1992)
1893 – Edgar Dearing, American actor (Pollyanna, Abraham Lincoln, Free and Easy), born in Ceres, California (d. 1974)
1903 – Elmer Layden, College Football Hall of Fame fullback (Notre Dame legendary 4-horsemen, 1st NFL Commissioner), born in Davenport, Iowa (d. 1973)
1921 – Edo Murtić, Croatian painter, born in Velika Pisanica, Bjelovar, Croatia (d. 2005)
1928 – Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian president (1981-2011) who was ousted during the Arab spring, born in Kafr-El Meselha, Egypt (d. 2020)

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Famous Deaths

1506 – Husayn Bayqarah, ruler of Herat (b. 1438)
1799 – Tipu Sultan, Indian military leader killed during Battle of Seringapatam, dies at 48
1879 – William Froude, English engineer and naval architect, dies at 68
1937 – Noel Rosa, Brazilian guitrist, mandolin player, and songwriter, dies of tuberculosis at 26
1971 – Joseph Csaky, Hungarian/French sculptor, dies at 83
2013 – Otis Bowen, American politician, US Sec of Health and Human Services (1985-89), dies at 95

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Historical Events

1512 – Pope Julius II opens 5th Council of Lateran at St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome
1937 – Margaret Mitchell wins Pulitzer Prize for “Gone With The Wind”
1944 – Meat rationing ends in US
1960 – The Anne Frank House opens in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1965 – Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with the US
1980 – Texas Ranger Ferguson Jenkins becomes 4th to win 100 games in AL and NL

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Famous Birthdays

1923 – Ralph Hall, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Texas (1981-2005), born in Fate, Texas
1956 – Akio Toyoda, Japanese president of Toyota Motor Corporation, born in Nagoya, Japan
1957 – [Michael] Cactus Moser, American country singer (Highway 101), born in Montrose, Colorado
1974 – Princess Haya bint Hussein of Jordan, daughter of King Hussein of Jordan and his third wife, Queen Alia, born in Amman, Jordan
1980 – Marcel Vigneron, American chef (Top Chef), born in Bainbridge Island, Washington
1983 – Romeo Castelen, Dutch footballer, born in Paramaribo, Suriname

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Famous Deaths

1294 – John I, Duke of Brabant and Limburg and poet, dies murdered aged 41 or 42
1964 – Diana Wynyard, British stage and film actress (Cavalcade), dies of renal disease at 58
1990 – Pimen [Sergei Irzyekov], patriarch of Rus-orthodox church, dies at 79
2003 – Suzy Parker, American model and actress (Chamber of Horrors), dies at 70
2018 – Joe Scannella, American football coach (Oakland Raiders, Montreal Alouettes, Cleveland Browns), dies at 89
2018 – Alfonso Dhlakama, Mozambican politician and opposition leader (RENAMO), dies of a heart attack at 65

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Historical Events

1946 – The “Battle of Alcatraz” takes place, killing two guards and three inmates
1957 – First Hammer color horror film released “The Curse of Frankenstein” starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee
1969 – British liner Queen Elizabeth II leaves Southampton on maiden voyage to NY
1984 – Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Sunday in the Park with George”, a fictionalized version of painter Georges Seurat’s relationship with his grandson, starring Mandy Patinkin, opens at Booth Theater, NYC; runs for 604 performances, wins a Pulitzer Prize for Drama
1999 – John Elway announces his retirement from the NFL
2002 – Marad massacre of eight Hindus near Palakkad in Kerala

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Famous Birthdays

1857 – Frederic Cliffe, English composer, born in Bradford, Yorkshire (d. 1931)
1859 – Eugène d’Harcourt, French composer, born in Paris (d. 1918)
1924 – Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American stage and screen singer and actor (The Sound of Music; Fiddler On The Roof; The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming; 200 Motels), folk singer (co-founder Newport Folk Festival), and political activist, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2015)
1942 – Jacques Rogge, Belgian sports administrator, (8th President International Olympic Committee 2001-13), born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 2021)
1945 – Goldy McJohn [John Goadsby], Canadian rock keyboard and Hammond B3 organ player (Steppenwolf – “Magic Carpet ride”; ‘Born To Be Wild”), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 2017)
1975 – David Beckham, English soccer midfielder (115 caps [58 as captain]; Man Utd, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Paris SG, LA Galaxy) and owner (Inter Miami CF, Salford City), born in London, England

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Famous Deaths

1845 – August Pauly, German writer (Real Encyclopedia), dies at 48
1918 – Ernie Parker, Australian tennis player (Australasian C’ship 1913), dies in action WWI at 34
1954 – Pauline Manifarges, Dutch contralto singer, dies at 82
1985 – Bridget D’Oyly Carte, British theater and hotel director, dies of lung cancer at 77
1998 – Hide [Hideto Matsumoto], Japanese rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer (X Japan; Zilch), takes his own life at 33
2018 – Tony Cucchiara, Italian folk singer and songwriter (“Cain and Abel”), dies at 80

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Historical Events

1394 – Ekiho exorcised the Zen temple and its surroundings of an old badger
1900 – Premature blast collapses mine tunnel killing 200 at Scofield, Utah
1926 – Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige (19) debuts in the Negro Southern League for Chattanooga
1939 – Pulitzer Prize awarded to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Yearling)
1993 – Bomb attack on Sri Lankan president (26 die)
2010 – Canadian singer Bryan Adams is given the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for his 30 years of contributions to the arts

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Famous Birthdays

1900 – Ignazio Silone, Italian novelist (Fontamara, Pane e vino), born in Pescina, Italy (d. 1978)
1924 – Dennis Main-Wilson, British TV and radio producer (Marty, Till Death Us Do Part), born in Dulwich, London (d. 1997)
1927 – Billy Byers, American jazz trombonist and arranger, born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1996)
1937 – Bo Nilsson, Swedish composer (Doppelspiel), born in Skellefteå (d. 2018)
1939 – Judy Collins, singer (Send in the Clowns, Clouds), born in Seattle, Washington
1982 – Jamie Dornan, Irish actor (Fifty Shades of Grey), born in Belfast, Northern Ireland

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Famous Deaths

1572 – Pius V [Antonio Ghislieri], Italian Pope (1566-72) who excommunicated Elizabeth I of England and arranged the formation of the Holy League (Battle of Lepanto), dies at 68
1772 – Gottfried Achenwall, German lawyer/statistics/economist, dies at 52
1913 – John Barclay Armstrong, Texas Ranger and U.S. Marshal (b. 1850)
1957 – Grant Mitchell, American actor (Great Lie, Laura, Cairo, Conflict), dies at 82
2017 – Sam Mele, American MLB outfielder/manager (Minnesota Twins record 102 wins 1965), dies at 95
2021 – Olympia Dukakis, Greek-American stage and screen, Obie, Oscar, and Golden Globe award-winning actress (Man Equals Man; Moonstruck; Steel Magnolias), dies at 89

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Historical Events

1907 – Honolulu, Hawaii, becomes an independent city.
1935 – World Congress for Women’s Rights concludes in Istanbul
1997 – Tajik Prest Imomali Rakhmonov wounded in assassination attempt
2004 – U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison
2012 – The unfinished One World Trade Center overtakes the Empire State building to become the tallest building in New York
2013 – 13 people are killed after a bomb explodes in Damascus

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Famous Birthdays

1623 – François de Laval, French clergyman, 1st Roman Catholic bishop of Québec, and saint, born in Montigny-sur-Avre, Kingdom of France (d. 1708)
1874 – Cyriel Verschaeve, Belgian priest and writer (Maria Magdalena – 1928), born in Ardooie, West Flanders, Belgium (d. 1949)
1941 – Wilfried Jentzsh, German composer, born in Dresden, Germany
1944 – Jill Clayburgh, American actress (Unmarried Woman, Semi-Tough), born in NYC, New York (d. 2010)
1980 – Sam Heughan, Scottish actor (Outlander), born in Balmaclellan, Scotland
1981 – Emma Pierson, British actress

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Famous Deaths

1328 – Meister Eckhard, German theologist and mystic, dies at about 78
1544 – Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, Lord Chancellor of England
1883 – Édouard Manet, French impressionist painter (Olympia, The Luncheon on the Grass) dies at 51
1900 – Casey Jones, American railroad engineer, dies at 36 heroically in Cannonball Express train wreck
1982 – Taisen Deshimaru, founder of several Zen centers in France, dies at 67
2007 – Grégory Lemarchal, French pop singer, dies of health complications while waiting for a lung transplant at 23

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Historical Events

1943 – German pastor and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer arrested by the Gestapo
1945 – Japanese army evacuates Rangoon, British Burma
1965 – Australian government announces it would send troops to Vietnam
1981 – NFL Draft: South Carolina running back George Rogers first pick by New Orleans Saints
1990 – Wrecking cranes began tearing down the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate
1992 – William Finn and James Lapine’s musical “Falsettos” opens at John Golden Theater NYC for 487 performances

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Famous Birthdays

1660 – Matthias Henriksen Schacht, Danish scholar and composer, born in Visby, Gotland, Sweden (d. 1700)
1727 – Jean-Georges Noverre, French dancer and choreographer (ballet d’action), born in Paris (d. 1810)
1771 – Matthäus Stegmayer, Austrian composer, born in Vienna (d. 1820)
1938 – Bernard “Bernie” Madoff, American fraudster and financier who committed the largest fraud in US history, born in Queens, New York (d. 2021)
1944 – Richard Kline, American actor and director, born in New York City
1986 – Renee Alway, American Model and felon, born in Micigan

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Famous Deaths

1935 – Leroy Carr, American blues piano player and singer-songwriter (“How Long, How Long Blues”), dies of nephritis of the kidneys at 30
1937 – Wallace Carothers, American chemist and inventor (nylon), commits suicide at 41
1945 – Matthias Kleinheisterkamp, German SS officer (b. 1893)
1951 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austria English philosopher (Philosophical Investigations), dies at 62
2007 – Arve Opsahl, Norwegian actor and stand-up comedian (Mot i brøstet, Olsen-banden), dies of heart failure at 85
2008 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist (first synthesised LSD), dies at 102

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Historical Events

1865 – Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera “L’Africaine” premieres in Paris
1943 – 1st performance of Marc Blitzstein’s “Freedom Morning”
1987 – NBA announces expansion to Charlotte NC and Miami Fla in 1988 and Minneapolis Minn and Orlando Fla in 1989
1991 – “Taking Steps” closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 78 performances
1994 – Freddy Thielemans sworn in as Mayor of Brussels, Belgium
2019 – Spanish general election: no party wins a majority, Socialists under Pedro Sanchez win most with 29%

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Famous Birthdays

1928 – Eugene M. Shoemaker, American planetary scientist and geologist (Shoemaker-Levy comet), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1997)
1930 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (Morticia-Addams Family), born in Amarillo, Texas (d. 1983)
1936 – John Tchicai, Danish jazz saxophonist and composer (New York Art Quartet), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 2012)
1941 – Lucien Aimar, French cyclist (won 53rd Tour de France 1966), born in Hyères, France
1956 – Jimmy Barnes [Swan], Scottish-Australian rock and blues singer-songwriter (“For the Working Class Man”), born in Glasgow, Scotland
1975 – James Thrash, American football wide receiver (Washington Redskins)

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Famous Deaths

1741 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and statesman, dies at 73
1841 – Peter Chanel, French priest and saint, dies at 37
1976 – Richard Hughes, English writer (Fiction as Truth), dies at 76
1987 – Åke Olof Sebastian Uddén, Swedish violist, composer and educator (Royal College Of Music, 1934-70), dies at 84
1991 – Steve Broidy, American motion picture executive, dies at 85
2007 – Tommy Newsom, American saxophonist and bandleader (The Tonight Show), dies at 78

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Historical Events

1539 – Re-founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada (nowadays Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar.
1576 – Peace of Beaulieu and Paix de Monsieur
1805 – US Marines attack shores of Tripoli
1972 – Apollo 16 returns to Earth
1974 – Pan Am 707 crashes into mountains of Bali, killing 107
1989 – Mandatory seatbelt law goes into effect in Italy

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Famous Birthdays

1802 – Louis Niedermeyer, composer, born in Nyon, Switzerland (d. 1861)
1848 – Otto I of Bavaria, King of Bavaria (1886-1913), born in The Residence, Munich (d. 1916)
1927 – Coretta Scott King, American activist and wife of Martin Luther King Jr., born in Heiberger, Alabama (d. 2006)
1952 – Ari Vatanen, Finnish rally driver, born in Tuupovaara, Finland
1966 – Peter McIntyre, Australian cricketer (Australian leg-spinner 1995), born in Gisborne, Australia
1976 – Walter Pandiani, Uruguayan footballer, born in Montevideo, Uruguay

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Famous Deaths

1695 – John Trenchard, English radical Whig politician and statesman, dies at 46
1915 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (Prometheus) and pianist, dies at 43
1950 – Hobart Cavanaugh, American actor (Border Town, Black Angel), dies at 63
1970 – Arthur Shields, Irish actor (River, Enchanted Island), dies at 73
1996 – Joan Sterndale-Bennett, British actress (Brighton Rock, Those Fantastic Flying Fools), dies at 82
2020 – Marty Smith, American motocross racer (AMA 125cc 1974, 75; AMA 500cc 1977), dies in a dune buggy accident at 63

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