Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1758 – The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature establish the “starting point” for standardized species names across the animal kingdom, based on the binomial nomenclature by Carolus Linnaeus 10th edition of Systema Naturae
1937 – US Army Air Corps physiological research laboratory completed, Ohio
1958 – 24th Sugar Bowl: #7 Mississippi beats #11 Texas, 39-7
1964 – 50th Rose Bowl: #3 Illinois beats Washington, 17-7
1971 – Cigarette advertisements banned on TV
1996 – 62nd Orange Bowl: #6 Florida State beats #8 Notre Dame, 31-26

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Famous Birthdays

1784 – William Beale, English composer and baritone, born in Lankrake, Cornwall (d. 1854)
1833 – Robert Lawson, New Zealand architect (d. 1902)
1863 – Pierre de Coubertin, French educator and historian (founder International Olympic Committee; President IOC 1896–1925), born in Paris, France (d. 1937)
1873 – Mariano Azuela, Mexican novelist (The Flies, The Bosses)
1875 – Frank Druce, English cricket batsman (5 Tests; Surrey), born in London, England (d. 1954)
1921 – Ismail al-Faruqi, Palestinian philosopher, born in Jaffa, British-mandate Palestine (d. 1986)

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Famous Deaths

1742 – Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman, dies at 55
1758 – Johann Friedrich von Cronegk, German playwright (Codrus), dies at 26
1923 – Willie Keeler, American Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder (highest career AB-per-strikeout ratio in MLB history), dies of tuberculosis at 50
1932 – C. P. Scott, British journalist, publisher and politician, dies at 85
1980 – Pietro Nenni, Italian politician (Socialists), dies at 88
1988 – Leo Steiner, American restaurateur (Carnegie Deli), dies at 48

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Historical Events

1906 – French, British and Italian treaty concerning rights on Abyssinia
1953 – WFBC (now WYFF) TV channel 4 in G’ville-Spartanburg, SC (NBC) begins
1964 – Indonesia proclaims expelled from the UN
1966 – Toboggan Chutes begin operation in Cleveland Metroparks
1977 – Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with Vietnam
1991 – CPN, Communist Party of Netherland, last day of existence

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Famous Birthdays

1869 – Henri Matisse, French impressionist painter (Odalisque), born in Le Cateau-Cambresis, France (d. 1954)
1916 – Suzy Delair, French actress and singer (The Murderer Lives at Number 21, Utopia, White Paws), born in Paris, France (d. 2020)
1941 – Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager, born in Glasgow, United Kingdom
1948 – Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasieyv, Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-11, TM-18)
1962 – Heather McCartney, American-British potter and artist, born in Tucson, Arizona
1978 – Tom Hamilton Jr., American songwriter, guitarist, producer, and singer (Brothers Past; American Babies; Billy and the Kids), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Famous Deaths

1896 – Leland Hone, Irish cricketer (scored 7 and 6 in only England Test 1879), dies
1947 – Franz X Ritter von Epp, German General (SW Africa), dies at 79
1966 – Pieter Geyl, Dutch historian (History of the Dutch Race), dies at 79
1993 – Thomas J. Watson Jr., American businessman and politician (President of IBM, 1952-1971, US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1979-1981), dies of a stroke at 79
2004 – Gérard Debreu, French-American economist (Nobel 1983), dies at 83
2007 – Bill Idelson, American actor (b. 1919)

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Historical Events

1610 – Hungarian aristocrat Elizabeth Báthory arrested at Csejte Castle on suspicion of killing and torturing hundreds of young girls and women
1836 – Lehman Theater in St Petersburg catches fire; 100s die
1853 – Dinner party held inside life-sized model of an Iguanodon (ornithopod dinosaur), created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in South London
1888 – Belgium: king Leopold II installs Order of African Star
1968 – -48°F (-44°C), Mazama and Winthrop, Washington (state record)
1968 – Frank Sinatra first records “My Way” with lyrics were written by Paul Anka and based on the French song “Comme d’habitude”

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Famous Birthdays

1784 – Dorothea von Benckendorff, Baltic monarch of Lieven
1887 – Henry George Ley, British organist, composer, and teacher (Eton, 1926-45), born in Chagford, England (d. 1962)
1934 – Joseph P. Hoar, former US Central Command commander
1937 – Tsisana Tatishvili, Georgian lyric-dramatic soprano, born in Tbilisi, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (d. 2017)
1949 – Bruce Fairbairn, Canadian musician and record producer (Loverboy; Bon Jovi; Aerosmith), born in Vancouver, British Columbia (d. 1999)
1964 – Kris Tschetter, American golfer (US Open runner-up 1996), born in Detroit, Michigan

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Famous Deaths

1912 – Alfred von Kiderlen-Wächter, German foreign minister, dies at 60
1971 – Melba Rae, American actress (Search for Tomorrow) (b. 1922)
1986 – Jiri Jaroch, Czech composer, dies at 66
1988 – Yuli Daniel, Russian writer (b. 1925)
1995 – Heiner Muller, dramatist, dies at 66
2004 – Artie Shaw [Arthur Arshawsky], American bandleader, jazz clarinetist and actor (“Begin the Beguine”), dies at 94

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Historical Events

1708 – Great Alliance occupies Gent
1934 – Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Yerma” premieres in Madrid
1977 – Ronald Ribman’s “Cold Storage” premieres in NYC
1978 – Spain constitution goes into effect
1994 – Shane Warne takes a hat-trick v England at cricket MCG
1997 – Cricket Women’s World Cup: Australia defeats New Zealand by 5 wickets

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Famous Birthdays

1880 – Jean-Fernand Vaubourgoin, French composer (Ophellia), born in Bordeaux, France (d. 1952)
1919 – Roman Vlad, Romanian-born Italian composer, born in Cernauti, Romania (d. 2013)
1921 – Robert C. Baker, American inventor and professor (invented the chicken nugget), born in Newark, New York (d. 2006)
1958 – Nancy J. Currie-Gregg, U.S. Army officer and astronaut (STS 57, 70, sk: 88), born in Wilmington, Delaware
1979 – Diego Luna, Mexican actor, born in Toluca, Mexico
1994 – Princess Kako of Akishino of Japan, born in Tokyo, Japan

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Famous Deaths

1822 – Albert Christoph Dies, German painter, engraver and biographer, dies at 67
1910 – Reginald “R.F.” Doherty, British tennis player (Wimbledon 1897-1900), dies of neurasthenia at 38
1915 – Tom Shevlin, American College Football Hall of Fame end (Yale – Consensus All-American 1902, 04, 05; National C’ship 1902, 05), dies of pneumonia at 32
1929 – Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (b. 1846)
1984 – Sidney Garfield, American physician and pioneer of health maintenance organizations (Kaiser Permanente), dies at 78
1994 – Frank Thring, Australian actor (El Cid, Ben-Hur), dies at 68

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Historical Events

1612 – First observation of Neptune – Galileo observes and records a “fixed star” without realising it is a planet
1926 – Ponsford scores 352 and Ryder 295 against NSW
1927 – George Kaufman and Moss Hart’s “Royal Family” premieres in NYC
1973 – Akron Ohio’s Chamber of Commerce terminates itself from Soap Box Derby
1985 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1993 – John Maclean passes Kirk Muller as all-time NJ Devils scorer (521 pts)

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Famous Birthdays

1665 – George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, British general (d. 1716)
1866 – Szymon Askenazy, Polish historian and diplomat (d. 1935)
1888 – Gabriel von Wayditch, composer
1940 – Lonnie Liston Smith, American jazz piano and keyboard player (Cosmic Echoes, Magic Lady), born in Richmond, Virginia,
1969 – James Trapp, US sprinter and NFL player (Oakland Raiders), born in Greenville, South Carolina
1981 – Sienna Miller, British actress, born in NYC, New York

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Famous Deaths

1671 – Johann Friedrich Gronovius, German classical scholar, dies at 60
1830 – Adrien-Joseph van Helmont, Flemish composer, dies at 83
1947 – Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy (1900-46), dies of pulmonary edema at 78
1991 – Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (For Your Eyes Only), dies of cancer at 39
1997 – James Lees-Milne, English writer and architectural historian, dies at 89
2016 – (Mary Frances) “Debbie” Reynolds, American actress and singer (Singin’ In The Rain -“Kathy Selden”; The Unsinkable Molly Brown), dies of a stroke at 84 one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher passed away

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Historical Events

1703 – England and Portugal sign Methuen-Asiento-trade agreement
1918 – The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.
1937 – Mae West performs Adam and Eve skit that gets her banned from NBC radio
1941 – Japan bombs Manila even though it was declared an “open city”
1995 – Australian cricketer David Boon completes his 21st Test Cricket century (110 v SL, MCG)
2012 – NASA unveils plans to capture a 500 ton asteroid in 2025

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Famous Birthdays

1910 – Jack Massey, groundsman
1915 – William Masters, American gynecologist who studied sexual dysfunction, born in Cleveland, Ohio (2001)
1931 – Scotty Moore, guitarist (for Elvis), born in Gadsden, Tennessee (d. 2016)
1933 – Dave Marr, golfer, broadcaster, (PGA Championship 1965), born in Houston, Texas (d. 1997)
1966 – Wendy Coakley-Thompson, American writer
1969 – Suzanne Paxton, fencer-foil (Olympics 1996), born in Baltimore Maryland

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Famous Deaths

1065 – Ferdinand I, the Great, king of Castile, dies
1919 – Achilles Alferaki, Russian composer, dies at 73
1966 – Frankie Genaro, American boxer (World flyweight champion 1928-31; Olympic gold flyweight 1920), dies at 65
1972 – Lester B. Pearson, 14th Canadian Prime Minister (Nobel Peace Prize 1957), dies at 75
1983 – Walter Scott, American singer (Bob Kuban), murdered at 40
2015 – Stein Eriksen, Norwegian alpine skier (first Olympic giant slalom gold 1952), dies at 88

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Historical Events

1705 – Fateh Singh (6) and Zorawar Singh (7), sons of Guru Gobind Singh, are murdered by Wazir Khan for refusing to convert to Islam; they are now among the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism
1831 – Vincenzo Bellini’s opera “Norma” premieres in Milan
1957 – Roger Sessions’ 3rd Symphony premieres in London
1968 – Arab terrorists in Athens fire on El Al plane, kills 1
1990 – Reggie Williams becomes 1st GM of WLAF’s NY-NJ Knights
1992 – New York Jets announcer Marty Glickman retires at 75

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Famous Birthdays

1853 – René Bazin, French novelist (d. 1932)
1945 – John Walsh, activist/TV host (America’s Most Wanted)
1971 – Jonathan M. Parisen, American film director, born in Staten Island, New York City
1982 – Kenneth Darby, American National Football League player, born in Huntsville, Alabama
1984 – Alex Schwazer, Italian race walker, born in Sterzing, Italy
1986 – Kit Harington [Christopher Catesby Harington], English actor (Game of Thrones), born in London, England

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Famous Deaths

1786 – Gasparo Gozzi, Italian critic and dramatist, dies at 73
1923 – Dietrich Eckart, German Nazi politician (b. 1868)
1986 – Leslie Dwyer, English actor (Hi-de-Hi!), dies at 80
1992 – John G Kemeny, US computer pioneer (BASIC), dies
2008 – Gösta Krantz, Swedish actor (b. 1925)
2010 – Edward Bhengu, South African activist (b. 1934)

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Historical Events

1902 – Pope Leo XIII, at his annual Christmas reception, endorses the Christian Democratic movement now emerging in Europe as an attempt to offer an alternative to more radical movements
1905 – V Herbert/H Blossoms musical “Mlle Modiste” premieres in NYC
1947 – Constitution of the Republic of China comes into effect
1959 – Sony brings transistor TV 8-301 to the market
1987 – Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who escaped 2 days earlier, recaptured
2009 – Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years in prison in Beijing, China for “inciting subversion of state power”

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Famous Birthdays

1808 – Stephen Cleeg Rowan, Commander (Union Navy), (d. 1890)
1907 – Mike Mazurki, Austrian-American actor and professional wrestler (Some Like It Hot, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World), born in Tarnopol, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1990)
1942 – Mani Kaul, director (Idiot, Nazar, Dhrupad, Duvidha)
1944 – Kenny Everett [Maurice James Christopher Cole], British DJ and TV personality (Kenny Everett Show), born in Seaforth, Lancashire, England (d. 1995)
1956 – Mansoor Akhtar, Pakistani cricket batsman (19 Tests, 1 x 100, 3 x 50s; 41 ODIs; UBL, Sind, Karachi), born in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
1975 – Marcus Trescothick, English cricket batsman (76 Tests, 14 x 100s, HS 219; 123 ODIs; Somerset CCC), born in Keynsham, England

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Famous Deaths

1883 – Marek Konrad Sokolowski, Polish guitarist and composer, dies at 65
1895 – Raul Pompeia, Brazilian writer (O Ateneu), dies at 32
1973 – İsmet İnönü, Turkish statesman (b. 1884)
1979 – Joan Blondell, American actress (Real McCoys), dies of leukemia at 73
1990 – Marguerite N Wittenberg, entertainer, dies of cancer at 77
1999 – Peter Jeffrey, British character actor (Dr Phibes Rides Again, Twinsanity), dies at 70

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Historical Events

1798 – Russia and Britain sign Second anti-French Coalition
1922 – BBC broadcasts first British radio play “The Truth about Father Christmas”
1930 – F Garcia Lorca’s “La Zapatera Prodigiosa” premieres in Madrid
1953 – René Coty elected president of France
1966 – Soviet spacecraft Luna 13 lands on Moon
1973 – Ferryboat capsized off coast of Equador, drowning 200

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Famous Birthdays

1810 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter and illustrator, born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1873)
1910 – William “Bill” Pickering, NASA scientist (JPL), born in Wellington, New Zealand (d. 2004)
1916 – (Eduardo) “Lalo” Guerrero, American guitarist, Chicano singer-songwriter (Los Carlistas), and women’s rights activist, born in Tucson, Arizona (d. 2005)
1949 – Ray Colcord III, American film and television composer, born in NYC, New York (d. 2016)
1968 – Marleen Renders, Belgian athlete, born in Diest, Belgium
1992 – Melissa Suffield, English actress, born in London, England

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Famous Deaths

1869 – Edwin Stanton, US Secretary of War during most of the American Civil War (1861-65) and US Attorney General (1860-61), dies at 55
1914 – John Muir, Scottish naturalist and discoverer (glacier in High Seirras), dies of pneumonia at 76
1963 – Raphaël Verwilghen, Belgian architect, and urban planner, dies at 78
1996 – Edward Leadbitter, politician, dies at 77
1997 – Pierre Péladeau, Canadian businessman and founder of Quebecor, dies at 72
2014 – Boniface “Buddy” DeFranco, Italian-American jazz clarinetist and bandleader (Glenn Miller Orchestra), dies at 91

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Historical Events

1692 – Nahum Tate is appointed the third Poet Laureate by English monarchs William and Mary
1917 – 3 British warships come close to Holland
1930 – Police Bureau of Criminal Alien Investigation started in NYC
1937 – First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber
1958 – Musical Revue “Party with Comden and Green” opens at John Golden NYC for 38 performances
1974 – “Good News” opens at St James Theater NYC for 16 performances

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Famous Birthdays

1544 – Anna, duchess of Saxson/wife of prince Willem of Orange (1561-71)
1923 – Günther Schifter, Austrian music journalist and radio host, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2008)
1923 – James Stockdale, American admiral (Vietnam) andRoss Perot’s 1992 running mate, born in Abingdon, Illinois (d. 2005)
1951 – Johnny Contardo, American doo-wop singer (Sha Na Na), born in Boston, Massachusetts
1971 – Masayoshi Yamazaki, Japanese singer-songwriter, born in Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
1981 – Beth [Elisabeth Rodergas Cols], Spanish singer and actress, born in Súria, Catalonia

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Famous Deaths

1675 – Caesar, duc de Choiseul, French marshal and diplomat (b. 1602)
1911 – Karl Hoschna, Bohemian born Tin Pan Alley-era composer (Every Little Movement), dies at 34
1975 – Richard S Welch, CIA station chief in Athens, shot dead
1992 – Eddie Hazel, American pop guitarist (Funkadelic-Knee Deep), dies at 42
2004 – P. V. Narasimha Rao, Indian politician, 9th Prime Minister of India (1991-96), dies of a heart attack at 83
2010 – Fred Hargesheimer, American World War II pilot (b. 1916)

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