Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1889 – North Dakota becomes 39th and South Dakota becomes 40th state in the United States
1898 – French government of Dupuy forms
1954 – Strom Thurmond is the 1st senator elected by write-in vote (South Carolina)
1983 – US President Ronald Reagan signs bill establishing Dr Martin Luther King Jr. holiday
1997 – Typhoon Linda kills at least 208 in southern Vietnam
2000 – The first crew arrives at the International Space Station.

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Famous Birthdays

1696 – Conrad Weiser, Pennsylvania’s ambassador to the Native Americans, born in Herrenberg, Germany (d. 1760)
1888 – Dutch Zwilling, American baseball outfielder (Federal League HR all-time leader), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1978)
1919 – Jorge de Sena, Portuguese novelist and poet (Reino da Estupidez), born in Lisbon, Portugal (d. 1978)
1946 – Alan Jones, Australian auto racer, commentator (World Formula 1 champion, 1980), born in Melbourne, Victoria
1975 – Chris Walla, American musician (Death Cab for Cutie), born in Bothell, Washington
1982 – Charles Itandje, Cameroon soccer goal-keeper (12 caps; Lens), born in Bobigny, France

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Famous Deaths

1717 – Johann Jacob Walther, composer, dies
1877 – Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, Prussian field marshal, dies at 93
1909 – Wilhelm Ahlwardt, German orientalist, dies at 81
2007 – Witold Kiełtyka, Polish metal drummer (Decapitated) (b. 1984)
2007 – Henry Cele, South African Actor; best known for his onscreen portrayal of the legendary Shaka Zulu
2015 – Colin Welland, British screenwriter (Chariots of Fire) and actor (Straw Dogs), dies at 81

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Historical Events

1877 – Dutch government of Heemskerk-Van Lynden resigns
1940 – 1st US air raid shelter, Fleetwood, Pa
1968 – Noël Coward’s “Sweet Potato” opens at Booth Theater NYC for 36 performances
1973 – “Molly” opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 68 performances
1991 – Three faculty, and one staff member of the department of physics and astronomy, were killed, along with one administrator, when physics graduate student Gang Lu went on a shooting rampage at the University of Iowa.
2004 – “That’s What I Love About Sunday” single released by Craig Morgan (Billboard Song of the Year 2005)

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Famous Birthdays

1643 – John Strype, English historian and biographer, born in Houndsditch, London (d. 1737)
1871 – Stephen Crane, American novelist (Red Badge of Courage), born in Newark, New Jersey (d. 1900)
1912 – Bill Bonthron, American athlete (world 1,500m record 3:48.8 1934), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1983)
1927 – Victor Pellot, Puerto Rican baseball infielder (6 x MLB All Star; 7 x Gold Glove), born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico (d. 2005)
1968 – Kent Graham, American NFL quarterback (New York Giants), born in Winfield, Illinois
1972 – Glen Murray, Canadian ice hockey right wing (1,009 NHL games; All Star 2003-04; Boston Bruins), born in Halifax, Nova Scotia

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Famous Deaths

921 – Richard, Duke of Burgundy
1676 – Gisbertus Voetius, Dutch theologian (b. 1589)
1881 – Jacques Perk, Dutch poet (Iris, Wood Song), dies at 22
1962 – Ricardo Rodríguez, Mexican auto racer (youngest F1 driver ever to race for Ferrari), dies in practice accident at 20
1963 – Elsa Maxwell, American author (Jack Paar Show), dies at 80
1995 – Alun Pask, Welsh rugby union flanker (26 caps; British Lions 8 caps; Abertillery), dies at 58

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Historical Events

1978 – Iranian oil workers go on strike
1982 – Pope John Paul II becomes first pontiff to visit Spain
1994 – American Eagle ATR-72 crash down at Gary, Indiana: 68 killed
1995 – American jam band Phish performs The Who’s “Quadrophenia” as a musical costume during a show at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois
1998 – Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq announces it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
1999 – Finnish McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen wins season ending Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka to clinch his second straight F1 World Drivers Championship; wins by 2 points from Irishman Eddie Irvine

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Famous Birthdays

1345 – Ferdinand I, King of Portugal (1367-83), born in Coimbra, Portugal (d. 1383)
1872 – James Hogan, Irish College Football Hall of Fame tackle (Yale), born in Glenbane, County Tipperary, Ireland (d. 1910)
1912 – Ollie Johnston, American animator and the last living member of Disney’s Nine Old Men, born in Palo Alto, California (d. 2008)
1941 – Lucas Brown Jackson, American basketball player (Olympic gold 1964), born in San Marcos, Texas
1945 – (Russell Glyn) “Russ” Ballard, British rock singer, songwriter and guitarist (Argent – “Liar”; “You Can Do Magic”), born in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, England
1973 – Grigorios Georgatos, Greek footballer, born in Piraeus, Greece

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Famous Deaths

1926 – Harry Houdini [Erich Weisz], magician, dies in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured
1950 – Jozef C Bittremieux, Flemish theologist, dies at 72
1984 – Indira Gandhi, 4th Prime Minister of India (1966-77, 1980-84), assassinated by two of her bodyguards at 66
1991 – Johan Schmitz, actor (Gysbregt van Aemstel/Soldat van Orange), dies
1995 – Wallace Edward Rowling, Prime Minister of NZ (1974-1975), dies at 68
2009 – Tom Wheatcroft, English businessman and car collector (Donington Grand Prix Collection ), dies at 87

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Historical Events

1502 – Vasco da Gama returns to Calicut, India for the second time.
1944 – Last transport for Auschwitz arrives in Birkenau
1947 – Darius Milhaud’s 3rd Symphony “Hymnus Ambrosianus,” premieres in Paris
1963 – Morocco and Algeria sign cease fire
1969 – WXPO (now WNDS) TV channel 50 in Manchester, NH (IND) 1st broadcast
2004 – Breeders’ Cup Horse Racing, Lone Star Park; winners: Ghostzapper, Wilko, Ashado, Better Talk Now, Oujja Board, Sweet Catomine, Singletary, Speightstown

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Famous Birthdays

1895 – Gerhard Domagk, German bacteriologist (Nobel Prize 1939 in Physiology or Medicine – first commercially available antibiotic and marketed under the brand name Prontosil), born in Lagow, Brandenburg (d. 1964)
1945 – Glenn Poshard, American politician (Rep-D-Illinois), born in Herald, Illinois
1953 – Kathleen Cody, American actress (Charley and the Angel), born in The Bronx, New York
1970 – James Pedro, American lightweight judoka (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Danvers, Massachusetts
1970 – Patrice Tardif, Canadian NHL center (LA Kings), born in Thetford Mines, Quebec
1983 – Trent Edwards, American football player (Buffalo Bills), born in Los Gatos, California

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Famous Deaths

1602 – Jean-Jacques Boissard, French poet (b. 1528)
1944 – Paul Ladmirault, French composer, dies at 66
1956 – Pío Baroja y Nessi, Spanish Basque writer, author of over 100 novels (The Struggle for Life, Zalacain the Adventurer), dies at 83
1996 – John Young, Scottish actor and TV panelist (Masquerade Party), dies at 80
2008 – Pedro Pompilio Argentinian businessman (b. 1950)
2018 – Hardy Fox, American member of avant-garde band The Residents, dies at 73

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Historical Events

1889 – “World Championship” Baseball Series, Polo Grounds, NYC: defending champion NY Giants (NL) beat Brooklyn Bridegrooms (AA), 3-2 in Game 9 to claim series, 6-3
1923 – Mustafa Kemal officially confirms Turkey as a republic (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti), now commemorated annually as the Republic Day of Turkey
1923 – Gibbs, Grey and Wood’s revue “Runnin’ Wild” (introducing “The Charleston”) opens on Broadway, New York City
1949 – White Sox trade Joe Tipton to A’s for Nellie Fox
1985 – Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced the winner of the first multiparty election in Liberia
1987 – “Don’t Get God Started” opens at Longacre Theater NYC for 86 performances

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Famous Birthdays

1908 – Stewart Myles MacPherson, Canadian-born British broadcaster (WWII), born in Winnipeg, Manitoba (d. 1995)
1934 – Ramon Sender, Spanish composer, born in Madrid, Spain
1952 – Arnell Carmichael, rock keyboardist (Raydio)
1977 – Brendan Fehr, Canadian actor (CSI: Miami), born in New Westminister, British Columbia
1978 – Kelly Smith, English football player (Arsenal Ladies), born in Watford, England
1981 – Reema Sen, Indian actress, born in Kolkata, India

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Famous Deaths

1802 – Jacques-Philippe Lamoninary, French composer, dies at 95
1957 – Rosemarie Nitribitt, German call girl, strangled in her apartment in an unsolved murder at 24
1994 – Andrew Miller-Jones, British TV pioneer (Picture Page, Dressing Up), dies at 84
1996 – Patricia Ticia Anne Ingrams, broadcaster, dies at 50
2002 – Glenn McQueen, American animator (b. 1960)
2015 – Murphy Anderson, American comic artist (DC Comics), dies at 89

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Historical Events

1061 – Emperor disposes of bishop Cadalus and Pope Honorius II
1538 – The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established on Hispaniola
1612 – Robert Dowland appointed court luitist of King James I
1848 – The first railroad in Spain – between Barcelona and Mataró – is opened.
1970 – NBA Cleveland Cavaliers 1st home game, lose to San Diego 110-99
1984 – 14th NYC Women’s Marathon won by Grete Waitz in 2:29:30

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Famous Birthdays

1879 – Conrado del Campo y Zabaleta, Spanish composer, born in Madrid (d. 1953)
1909 – Ādolfs Skulte, Latvian composer, born in Kiev, Ukraine (d. 2000)
1924 – Alfonso Montecino, Chilean-American composer, born in Osorno, Chile (d. 2015)
1930 – John Mayer, Indian composer (Indo-Jazz Fusion), born in Calcutta, Bengal, British India (d. 2004)
1938 – David Dimbleby, English TV presenter and political commentator, born in Surrey, England
1960 – Landon Curt Noll, Astronomer, Cryptographer and Mathematician: youngest to hold the world record for the largest known prime 3 times

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Famous Deaths

1857 – Louis Eugène Cavaignac, French soldier and politician (b. 1802)
1973 – Taha Hussein, Egyptian writer (b. 1889)
1980 – Leon Janney (Ramon), American actor (Charly, Stolen Paradise, Hawk), dies of cancer at 63
1992 – Joan Maloney Rio, dancer, dies of cancer at 57
2006 – Trevor Berbick, Jamaican boxer (WBC heavyweight champion 1986), dies from blows to the head by his nephew at 52
2010 – Liang Congjie, Chinese environmentalist (b. 1932)

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Historical Events

1676 – Poland and Turkey sign Peace of Warsaw
1922 – 1st commemoration of Navy Day (USA)
1948 – Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS).
1950 – Paul Creston’s 3rd Symphony, “Triumph of St Joan” premieres
1980 – Dave Gryllis sets world bicycle speed record of 94.37 kph
1992 – Tipper Gore (wife of future VP) admits to covering clock on her VCR with black tape so she wouldn’t have to watch it blink

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Famous Birthdays

1760 – August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal, born in Schildau, Saxony (d. 1831)
1873 – Henry Tate, Australian composer and poet, born in Melbourne (d. 1926)
1910 – Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne and Guinness brewing heir, born in Mandatory Palestine (d. 1992)
1917 – Oliver Tambo, South African lawyer, anti-apartheid politician and co-founder (African National Congress), born in Nkantolo, Bizana, South Africa (d. 1993)
1966 – Timm Rosenbach, NFL quarterback (New Orleans Saints), born in Everett, Washington
1982 – Takashi Tsukamoto, Japanese actor (Battle Royale), born in Tokyo

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Famous Deaths

1789 – John Cook, American farmer and Governor of Delaware (b. 1730)
1933 – Julius Klengel, German cellist and composer, dies at 74
1968 – Lise Meitner, Austrian-Swedish physicist (discovered the nuclear fission of uranium, dies at 89
1974 – Rudolf Dassler, German entrepreneur who founded sportswear company Puma, dies at 76
1991 – George Barker, English poet, dies at 78
2009 – David Shepherd, English cricket umpire (b. 1940)

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Historical Events

1887 – “World Championship” Baseball Series, Sportsman’s Park, Detroit Wolverines (NL) beat St Louis Browns (AA), 10 games to 5 in series played in bitterly cold conditions
1941 – Second meeting of partisans Tito and Draza Mihailovic in Yugoslavia
1970 – Tanzania begins building railway Lusaka-Drone ash Salaam
1975 – China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
1997 – World Series Baseball: Florida beats Cleveland Indians, 3-2 in Game 7 at Pro Player Stadium, Miami for Marlins first-ever title; MVP: Florida pitcher Liván Hernández
2017 – US President Donald Trump declares the opioid crisis a public health emergency

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Famous Birthdays

1673 – Dimitrie Cantemir, Romanian historian and Monarch of Moldova (1710-11), born in Silişteni, Moldavia (d. 1723)
1789 – Joseph Mayseder, Austrian violinist and composer, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1863)
1880 – Andrei Bely [Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev], Russian writer (Petersburg), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1934)
1893 – Miloš Crnjanski, Serbian poet (Seobe), born in Csongrád, Austria-Hungary (d. 1977)
1929 – Hans Peter Haller, German composer, born in Radolfzell, Germany (d. 2006)
1977 – Jon Heder, American actor (Napoleon Dynamite), born in Fort Collins, Colorado

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Famous Deaths

1896 – Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (b. 1827)
1903 – Herbert Oakeley, English composer, dies at 73
1966 – Alma Cogan, English singer (b. 1932)
1982 – Giovanni Benelli, archbishop of Florence/Pope candidate, dies
1991 – Lori Rae Matthews, crushed to death by an artist’s 485 lb umbrella
2008 – Delmar Watson, American child actor (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Heidi, Annie Oakley), dies at 82

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Historical Events

1671 – Giovanni Cassini discovers Iapetus, satellite of Saturn
1885 – Johannes Brahms’ 4th Symphony in E premieres
1929 – Former Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall convicted of accepting $100,000 bribe in the Teapot scandal – 1st US Cabinet member to go to jail
1930 – 1st scheduled transcontinental air service began
2013 – 74 Boko Harem members killed in a coordinated assault in Borno State, Nigeria
2020 – Chile overwhelmingly votes to scrap their constitution, drafted during dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet

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Famous Birthdays

1906 – Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (World Heavyweight Champion 1933-34), born in Sequals, Italy (d. 1967)
1926 – Ismail Gulgee, Pakistani painter, born in Peshawar, Pakistan (d. 2007)
1936 – Sir Martin Gilbert, British historian (Winston Churchill biography), born in London, England
1971 – Laura Chapot, equestrian show jumper (Olympics 1996)
1973 – Steve White, American football defensive end (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), born in Memphis, Tennessee
1979 – Rob Hulse, English footballer (Sheffield United), born in Crewe, England

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Famous Deaths

79 – Gaius Plinius Secundus [Pliny the Elder], Roman admiral and writer, dies during eruption of Mount Vesuvius [approx date, month of eruption disputed]
1942 – Ted Arnold, English cricketer (England all-rounder in 10 Tests 1903-05), dies at 65
1991 – Bill Graham, rock concert promoter (Filmore, Dylan), dies at 60
1992 – Roger Miller, American country singer (King of the Road, Dang Me), dies at 56
2013 – Marcia Wallace, American actress (Carol-Bob Newhart Show), dies from pneumonia at 70
2019 – Chou Wen-chung, Chinese-American composer (Mode of Shang), dies at 96

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Historical Events

1881 – Levi P Morton, US ambassador to France drives first rivet in Statue of Liberty
1954 – Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States’ support to South Vietnam
1957 – The USAF starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
1968 – The People’s Democracy (PD) stage a protest demonstration at Stormont Parliament buildings, Belfast, Northern Ireland
1976 – 1st Jewish film and TV festival
1980 – Polish government legalizes independent labor union Solidarity

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Famous Birthdays

1863 – Manuel Manrique de Lara, Spanish composer (The Oresteia), born in Cartagena, Murcia (d. 1929)
1885 – Ernest Claes, Belgian author (Saints from Zichem), born in Zichem, Belgium (d. 1968)
1924 – Piet Roozenburg, Dutch World champion checker player (1948, 51, 52, 55), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 2003)
1934 – Margie Masters, Australian golfer (Western Open runner-up 1966), born in Swan Hill, Victoria
1950 – Rawly Eastwick, American baseball player (Cincinnati Reds), born in Camden, New Jersey
1954 – Malcolm Turnbull, Australian politician, Prime Minister (2015-18), born in Sydney, Australia

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Famous Deaths

1930 – Renaat Verheijen, Flemish actor and director (Dr Faustus), dies at 26
1931 – Murray Bisset, South African cricketer (South African wicket-keeper 1899 and 1910), dies at 55
1938 – Ernst Barlach, German writer and artist, dies at 68
1982 – James Philbrook, actor (Islanders, Investigators), dies at 58
2004 – Randy Dorton, American race car crew member (b. 1954)
2008 – Moshe Cotel, American composer and pianist (b. 1943)

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