Category: On This Day

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

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%

More Historical Events »

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)

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1890 – Henry Morton Stanley inaugurated in London
1954 – “Seven Samurai”, Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, is released
1962 – Ranger 4 crash lands on (backside of) Moon
1967 – San Marco 2 Launch (1st Equatorial Launch)
1992 – “Growing Pains” final episode on ABC TV
1993 – “Shakespeare for My Father” opens at Helen Hayes NYC for 266 performances

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1603 – Francesco Nigetti, Italian composer, born in Florence, Italy (d. 1681)
1834 – Artemus Ward [Charles Farrar Browne], American humorist (considered to be America’s first stand-up comedian), born in Waterford, Maine (d. 1867)
1910 – Erland von Koch, Swedish composer, born in Stockholm (d. 2009)
1925 – Jørgen Ingmann, Danish jazz guitarist (“Apache”; “Dansevise”), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 2015)
1933 – Carol Burnett, American comedian (The Carol Burnett Show) and actress (Annie; The Four Seasons; Mad About You), born in San Antonio, Texas
1952 – Popo Molefe, South African politician and secretary-general (South Africa UDF), born in Sophiatown, Gauteng, South Africa

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1922 – Hans Sommer, German theatre composer, dies at 84
1951 – John Alden Carpenter, American composer (Sea Drift), dies at 75
1981 – Jim Davis, American actor (Jack Ewing-Dallas), dies at 65
1986 – Broderick Crawford, American actor (All the King’s Men, Highway Patrol), dies after a series of strokes at 74
1991 – Leo Arnaud, French-American composer (Bugler’s Dream), dies at 86
2013 – George Jones, American country singer-songwriter (“Golden Rings”; “Oh Lonesome Me”), dies from hypoxic respiratory failure at 81

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1905 – Whites win right to vote in South Africa
1943 – The Demyansk Shield for German troops in commemoration of Demyansk Pocket instituted
1945 – Allied air raid on Surabaja, Java
1972 – Hans-Werner Grosse glides 907.7 miles (1,461 km) in an AS-W-12
1976 – Elections in Vietnam for a National Assembly to reunite the country
2005 – Final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1608 – Gaston, Duke of Orleans, brother of French King Louis XIII, born in Palace of Fontainebleau, France (d. 1660)
1903 – Camilla Horn, German actress (Rebus, Vertigine, Polterabend, Matinee Idol), born in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany (d. 1996)
1940 – Al Pacino, American actor (And Justice For All, The Godfather, Scorpio), born in NYC, New York
1948 – Yu Shyi-kun, Premier of the Republic of China (2002-05), born in Dongshan, Yilan County, China
1951 – Ian McCartney, British MP for Makerfield (1987-10), born in Lennoxtown, Scotland
1961 – Dinesh D’Souza, Indian-American author (2016: Obama’s America), born in Mumbai, India

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1271 – Master Gerhard, first master mason of Cologne Cathedral, falls to his death from scaffolding during the building of the cathedral (b. c. 1210)
1974 – Pamela Courson, American woman and long-term companion of Jim Morrison, dies of a heroin overdose at 27
1996 – John Lorne Campbell, Scottish folklorist, dies at 90
2000 – Lucien le Cam, French mathematician (b. 1924)
2007 – Alan Ball, English footballer (b. 1945)
2009 – John Marchi, American politician (b. 1921)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1801 – 1st performance of Joseph Haydn’s oratorio “Die Jahreszeiten” (The Seasons)
1865 – Fire alarm and police telegraph system put into operation in San Francisco
1915 – German army fires chloroform gas in Ypres (Leper)
1929 – Thorvald Stauning becomes premier of Denmark
1992 – “Man of La Mancha” opens at Marquis Theater NYC for 108 performances
1993 – Farm Aid VI held in Ames, Iowa; performers include Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Arlo Guthrie, The Jayhawks, Lyle Lovett, Johnny Cash, Ricky Van Shelton, Marty Stuart, Martina McBride, Bruce Hornsby, Bryan Adams, Ringo Starr, and Dwight Yoakam

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1828 – Robert Brank Vance, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina (1873-85), born in Buncombe, North Carolina (d. 1899)
1856 – Philippe Pétain, French marshal and Chief of the French State (1940-44), born in Cauchy-à-la-Tour, France (d. 1951)
1942 – Richard M. Daley, American politician, 43rd Mayor of Chicago (1989-2011), born in Chicago, Illinois
1950 – Rob Hyman, American rock singer-songwriter, keyboardist, melodica and accordion player (The Hooters – “All You Zombies”; “And We Danced”), born in Meriden, Connecticut
1961 – Roger Mayweather, American boxer, (WBA and lineal super featherweight titles 1983-84, WBC light welterweight 1987-89; IBO light welterweight; IBO welterweight 1994-95), born in Grand Rapids, Michigan (d. 2020)
1969 – Melinda Clarke, American actress (Days of Our Lives), born in Dana Point, California

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

709 – Wilfrid, English bishop and saint, dies at about 76
1656 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (b. 1561)
1850 – Louis Alexandre Piccinni, Italian-French composer, dies at 70
1945 – Anton de Kom, Suriname resistance fighter, dies at 47
1955 – Alfred Polgar, Austrian writer/theater critic, dies at 79
2017 – Don Gordon [Donald Guadagno], American actor (Bullitt, Papillon), dies at 90

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1344 – Order of the Garter founded by English King Edward III, the most senior knighthood in the UK with just 24 living members plus the monarch (or 1348)
1597 – William Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance
1918 – Dover Patrol overthrows Germany U-boat in East Sea
1948 – KSTP TV channel 5 in St Paul-Minneapolis, MN (ABC) 1st broadcast
1953 – WCOV TV channel 20 in Montgomery, AL (IND/CBS) begins broadcasting
1996 – US docuseries “Forensic Files” (Medical Detectives) premieres on TLC Network

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1818 – James Anthony Froude, English historian and novelist (The Nemesis of Faith), born in Dartington Rectory, Devon (d. 1894)
1900 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player, born in Oglesby, Illinois (d. 1959)
1914 – John Hubbard, American actor (Don’t Call Me Charlie, The Tall T, One Million B.C.), born in East Chicago, Indiana (d. 1988)
1920 – Eric Yarrow, British businessman, CEO (Clydesdale Bank), born in Frensham, Surrey
1939 – Ray Peterson, American singer (“Tell Laura I Love Her”), born in Denton, Texas (d. 2005)
1977 – Willie Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player, born in Port McNeill, British Columbia, Canada

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1124 – Alexander I, King of Scots (1107-24), dies at 47
1792 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and adventurer, dies at 50
1996 – Jean Victor Allard, Canadian army general, dies at 82
1998 – James Earl Ray, American assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., dies while still under detention of complications related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C at 70
2010 – Peter Porter, Australian-British author and poet (Chair of Babel), dies at 81
2021 – Bill Whittington, American auto racer (24 Hours of Le Mans 1979), dies in a plane crash at 71

More Famous Deaths »