Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1894 – Ludwig Englander’s musical “Passing Show” premieres in NYC
1958 – US and Canada form North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)
1962 – Grevelingen dam closes in major project to protect the southwest of the Netherlands from flooding
1973 – 6th ABA championship: Indiana Pacers beat Ky Colonels, 4 games to 3
1981 – NY Islanders tie their own record with two shorthanded playoff goals in a period vs Minnesota North Stars
2006 – A major rebellion occurs in São Paulo as members of criminal organization Primeiro Comando da Capital attack police officers and stations, eventually escalating to several prisons in Brazil leaving around 130 dead

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Famous Birthdays

1915 – Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics (d. 2001)
1958 – Kim Greist, American actress (CHUD, Brazil, Payoff, Manhunter), born in Stamford, Connecticut
1958 – Andreas Petroulakis, Greek political caricaturist
1966 – Rafael Bournigal, Dominican infielder (Oakland A’s), born in Azua, Dominican Republic
1978 – Jason Biggs, American actor (American Pie), born in Pompton Plains, New Jersey
1979 – Andre Carter, American football player and coach, born in Denver, Colorado

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Famous Deaths

1825 – Elias Mann, American composer, dies at 75
1845 – János Bacsanyi, Hungarian poet (b. 1763)
1876 – Henri-François-Alphonse Esquiros, French poet and writer (Evangile du peuple), dies at 63
1996 – Hubert William Dean, British air armaments specialist, dies at 84
2000 – Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)
2001 – Didi (Waldyr Pereira), Brazilian soccer midfielder (68 caps; Fluminense), dies at 72

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Historical Events

1858 – Minnesota admitted as 32nd US state
1862 – Confederates scuttle CSS Virginia off Norfolk, Virginia
1949 – Siam renames itself Thailand
1975 – Natalie Cole releases her debut album “Inseparable” (wins 2 Grammys)
1998 – India conducts three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including a thermonuclear device
2018 – Most popular names in the US for 2017 revealed as Emma for girls, Liam for boys

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Famous Birthdays

1838 – Walter Goodman, British painter, illustrator and author (d. 1912)
1905 – Marjorie Sykes, peace campaigner
1947 – Butch Trucks, American drummer (The Allman Brothers – “Whipping Post”), born in Jacksonville, Florida (d. 2017)
1964 – Tim Blake Nelson, American actor (O Brother, Where Art Thou?; The Ballad of Buster Scruggs; Watchmen), born in Tulsa, Oklahoma
1974 – Stanley Gene, Papua New Guinean rugby league footballer
1986 – Ronny, Brazilian footballer

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Famous Deaths

1304 – Maḥmūd Ghāzān, 7th Mongol Empire ruler in Iran, dies at 32
1938 – Arnold Sauwen, Flemish poet (Hours of Solitude), dies at 81
1996 – Bruce Boyce, Canadian-born American singer and teacher, dies at 85
2013 – Oliver “Ollie” Mitchell, American musician and bandleader (The Wrecking Crew), dies of cancer at 86
2017 – Yale Lary, American NFL safety Hall of Famer (Detroit Lions), dies at 86
2020 – John “Moon” Martin, American rockabilly singer-songwriter and guitarist (“Bad Case Of Loving You”), dies at 74

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Historical Events

1267 – Vienna’s church orders all Jews to wear a distinctive garb
1643 – Essex County, Massachusetts is founded, which contains the town of Salem in which the notorious witch-trials will occur in 1692
1893 – 19th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Kunze aboard Lookout wins in 2:39.25
1906 – Russian Duma (Parliament) meets for 1st time
1969 – US troops begin attack on Hill 937 (“Hamburger Hill”), Vietnam
2003 – The May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence takes place.

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Famous Birthdays

1911 – Alexander Goode, American US Navy chaplain and rabbi (The Four Chaplains), born in Brooklyn, NYC (d. 1943)
1923 – Herb Carneal, American sports broadcaster (Minnesota Twins 1962-2006; Ford C. Frick Award 1996), born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 2007)
1943 – Andrzej Badeński, Polish athlete (400 metres) (d. 2008)
1944 – Jackie Lomax, English singer-songwriter (Is This What You Want), born in Liverpool, England (d. 2013)
1958 – Ellen Ochoa, PhD/Astronaut (STS 56, 66), born in Los Angeles, California
1968 – Al Murray, British comedian

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Famous Deaths

1290 – Duke Rudolph II of Austria (b. 1271)
1950 – Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian, bibliographer and archivist, dies at 66
1974 – Hal Mohr [Harold Leon Mohr], American Cinematographer and husband of Evelyn Venable (Captain Blood), dies at 74
2000 – Dédé Fortin, Quebec singer and songwriter (Les Colocs) (b. 1962)
2003 – Milan Vukcevich, Yugoslavian chemist and a grandmaster of chess problem composition, dies at 66
2017 – Geoffrey Bayldon, British stage and screen actor (Catweazle; Worzel Gummidge – “Crowman”), dies at 93

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Historical Events

1971 – Elizabeth Bonner runs female world record marathon (3:01:42)
1977 – Hotel Poland in Amsterdam destroyed by fire, 33 killed
1980 – Slasher horror film “Friday the 13th” is released in US cinemas
1986 – NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final: Montreal Canadians beat New York Rangers, 4 games to 1
1997 – 1st US ambassador since Saigon fell arrives in Vietnam
2019 – Pope Francis introduces new rules on reporting sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, criticized for not going far enough

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Famous Birthdays

1783 – Alexander Ross, Canadian fur trader, born in Morayshire, Scotland (d. 1856)
1941 – Pete Birrell, British rock bassist (Freddie and The Dreamers – “I’m Telling You Now”) born in Wythenshawe, Cheshire, England
1951 – Alley Mills, actress (Norma Arnold-Wonder Years), born in Chicago, Illinois
1953 – Ron Jackson, baseball player
1960 – Iain Butchart, cricket all-rounder (Zimbabwe, Test v Pak 1995)
1979 – Rosario Dawson, American actress

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Famous Deaths

1785 – Franz Xaver Schnitzer, German composer, dies at 44
1850 – Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French physicist and chemist, dies at 71
1952 – Canada Lee [Leonard Canegata], African-American actor (Lost Boundaries), dies of a heart attack at 45
2009 – Turner Stephen Bruton, American country songwriter and musician (Crazy Heart), dies of throat cancer at 59
2013 – Andrew Simpson, British sailor, dies after a yacht capsize at 36
2017 – Qian Qichen, Chinese diplomat and vice premier, dies at 89

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Historical Events

1821 – Greek War of Independence: Greeks defeat the Turks in Gravia
1895 – China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki
1924 – Memel territories given to Lithuania
1942 – Aircraft carrier USS Lexington sunk by Japanese air attack in Coral Sea
1989 – US space shuttle STS-30 lands
1994 – President Clinton announces US will no longer repatriate boat people

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Famous Birthdays

1786 – Thomas Hancock, British engineer, founded British rubber industry, born in Malborough, Wilshire (d. 1865)
1893 – Francis Ouimet, American golfer (US Open 1913, US Amateur 1914, 31), born in Brookline, Massachusetts (d. 1967)
1921 – Graham Leonard, Bishop of London, most senior Anglican to convert to Catholicism since the reformation (d. 2010)
1932 – Phyllida Law, Scottish actress (Much Ado About Nothing, The Time Machine), born in Glasgow, Scotland
1977 – Joe Bonnamassa, American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter (“Dust Bowl”; “Redemption”), born in New Hartford, New York
1981 – Stephen Amell, Canadian actor (Arrow), born in Toronto, Ontario

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Famous Deaths

1941 – Heinrich Zöllner, German composer, dies at 86
1974 – Graham Bond, British RandB musician, dies jumping under a train at 36
1976 – Ulrike Meinhof, German journalist who lead Germany Red Army Faction ( “Baader-Meinhof gang”), dies in uncertain circumstances in prison at 41
1976 – Fred McLeod, Scottish golfer (US Open 1908), dies at 94
1992 – Richard Derr, American actor (When Worlds Collide), dies at 74 of cancer
2004 – John Peel, British politician (C), dies at 91

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Historical Events

1908 – Emperor Franz-Joseph celebrates his golden jubilee with festivities throughout the Austro-Hungarian empire
1965 – WAOW TV channel 9 in Wausau, WI (ABC) begins broadcasting
1980 – Yugoslav President Josip Tito is buried
1982 – Californian federal jury rules NFL violates antitrust laws in preventing Oakland Raiders move to Los Angeles Coliseum
1995 – Twins beat Indians 10-9 in 17 innings, 6 hours and 36 minutes
2003 – Arsenal thrash Southampton, 6-1 at Highbury to start Gunners’ amazing English Premier League record 49-game unbeaten streak; ends 24 October, 2004 with 2-0 defeat at Manchester United

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Famous Birthdays

1883 – Martin Albertz, German theologist (Jesus Christ’s Church) and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime, born in Halle (Saale), Germany (d. 1956)
1900 – Ralph Truman, British actor (Henry V, Treasure Island, Web of Evidence), born in London, England (d. 1977)
1938 – Johnny Caldwell, Irish flyweight boxer (Olympic bronze 1956), born in Belfast, Ireland (d. 2009)
1959 – Barbara Yung Mei-ling, Hong Kong actress, born in Hong Kong (d. 1985)
1980 – Johan Kenkhuis, Dutch swimmer
1986 – Mark Furze, Australian actor (Home and Away), born in Orange, New South Wales

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Famous Deaths

1928 – Alexander Spendiaryan, Russian-Soviet composer, dies at 56
1950 – Bertha “Chippie” Hill, American blues and vaudeville singer (King Oliver’s Jazz Band), struck and killed by a car in New York City at 45
1968 – Lurleen Wallace, American politician (46th Governor of Alabama, 1967-68), dies at 41
1986 – Gaston Defferre, French Socialist politician, dies at 75
1996 – Henry Diamond, Irish Nationalist MP, dies at 87
2005 – Peter W. Rodino, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey (1949-89), dies at 95

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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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