Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1569 – Battle of Montcontour: Duke of Anjou beats Huguenots
1900 – Edward Elgar/Cardinal Newmans oratorium premieres in Birmingham
1988 – WBMW-FM, Washington, D.C. changes calls to WJFK and begins airing Howard Stern
1990 – Reunification of East and West Germany. West German flag is raised above the Brandenburg Gate on the stroke of midnight.
2013 – 325 people are killed after a migrant ship catches fire and shipwrecks of the coast of Lampedusa, Italy
2018 – 259 people have died taking selfies since 2011 according to study in “Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care”

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1900 – Jay Irving, American cartoonist (Draw Me a Laugh), born in NYC, New York (d.1970)
1902 – Arturo da Costa e Silva, 27th President of Brazil (1967-69), born in Taquari, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (d. 1969)
1935 – Charles “Charlie” Duke Jr, American Brigadier General and astronaut (Apol 16), born in Charlotte, North Carolina
1951 – Jack Harris, British rock vocalist (The Alan Parsons Project), born in, Shoreditch, Hackney, London
1956 – Hart Bochner, actor (Aron-East of Eden, Supergirl, Die Hard), born in Toronto, Ontario
1984 – Ashlee Simpson, American pop singer (Autobiography), born in Waco, Texas

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1207 – Xin Qiji, Chinese poet and military leader, dies at 67
1564 – Christophorus Fabritius [Christoffel Smit], calvinist vicar, burned
1703 – Richard Saab, Amersfoorts rebel leader, beheaded
1941 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austria composer (Kuhreigen), dies at 84
1989 – Joseph Wybran, Belgian physician/Jews foreman, murdered
2006 – John Crank, British mathematician (b. 1913)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1969 – Seattle Pilots’ last game in Seattle; crash to 98th season loss, 3-1 to Oakland in front of just 5,473; move to Milwaukee as the Brewers next season
1977 – Austrian Ferrari driver Niki Lauda finishes 4th in the US Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen to clinch his second Formula 1 World Drivers Championship; Englishman James Hunt wins the race
1983 – Green Bay Packers erupt for NFL record 49 points in the first half (35 in the second quarter) to clobber the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 55-14 at Tampa Stadium
1984 – Papa John’s Pizza is founded by John Schnatter in Jeffersonville, Indiana; it would go on to become the fourth-largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States
1990 – Radio Berlin International’s final transmission (links to Deutsche Welles of West Germany); final song is “The End” by Doors
1990 – US Senate votes 90-9 to confirm David Souter’s appointment to Supreme Court

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1470 – Isabella of Naples, Duchess of Milan (1489-1494), born in Naples, Italy (d. 1524)
1897 – (William) “Bud” Abbott, American comedian (Abbott and Costello), born in Asbury Park, New Jersey (d. 1974)
1914 – Albe Vidaković, Croatian composer, born in Subotica, Serbia (d. 1964)
1928 – Robin Duthie, British accountant and CEO (Britoil), born in Greenock, Scotland
1943 – Franklin Rosemont, American poet, artist and co-founder of the Chicago Surrealist Group, born in Chicago, Illinois
1946 – Jo-El Sonnier, American country singer (Louisiana), born in Rayne, Louisiana

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1724 – François-Timoléon de Choisy, French writer (Quatre dialogues sur l’immortalité de l’âme), dies at on his 80th birthday
1842 – William Ellery Channing, cleric/writer, dies
1872 – Eberhard Friedrich Walcker, German organ builder (Paulskirche Frankfurt A/M), dies at 78
1989 – Liesbeth Ribbius Peletier, Neth’s 1st female advisor of State, dies
2003 – John T. Dunlop, U.S. Secretary of Labor (b. 1914)
2007 – Lady Katherine Brandram, Princess of Greece, the last surviving great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, dies at 94

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

965 – John XIII Crescentii elected to succeed Pope Leo VIII
1868 – “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott is published in America by Roberts Brothers of Boston
1922 – Former Chicago Staleys play first NFL game as Chicago Bears; beat Racine Legion, 6-0 at Horlick Field, Racine, Wisconsin
1933 – New York Giants make no 1st downs, but still beat the Green Bay Packers, 10-7 in a week 3 NFL matchup at Borchert Field, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1955 – Jackie Gleason’s sitcom “The Honeymooners” debuts on CBS, replacing his variety series; production ends after 39 episodes
1966 – Newspaper magnate Thomson purchases “The Times”

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1644 – Jean Rousseau, French composer and viol player (d. 1699)
1835 – William Hicks “Red” Jackson, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Paris, Tennessee (d. 1903)
1917 – René A de Rooy, Suriname/Antillian poet (Juancho Picaflor)
1927 – Sandy Gall, Malaysian-born British journalist and newscaster
1966 – Christopher Titus, American actor/comedian
1975 – Kim Suna, Korean actress

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

540 – Vedastus St Vaast, 1st bishop of Atrecht/saint, dies
1970 – Hans Poser, German composer, dies at 52
1990 – Andrzej Krzanowski, Polish classical composer and accordionist (The Wind Carries the Echo Across a Wood Clearing), dies at 49
1994 – Marjorie Weaver, American actress (Michael Shayne: Private Detective, Young Mr Lincoln), dies from a stroke at 81
1998 – Pauline Julien, Canadian singer-songwriter, social and political activist, takes her own life after a brain disease diagnosis, at 70
2019 – Karel Gott, Czech singer ‘Sinatra of the East’, dies at 80

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1920 – Time Square Theater opens at 217 W 42nd St NYC
1940 – 47 German aircraft shot down above England
1980 – Ethernet specifications published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.
1981 – Last game at Minn’s Metropolitan Stadium, lose to KC 5-2
1981 – International Olympic Committee votes to award Seoul, South Korea as host of the 1988 Summer Olympic Games
2012 – Car bomb blasts kill at least 32 people across Iraq

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1857 – Hermann Sudermann, German writer (Honor, That Ehre, Frau Sorge), born in Matziken, East Prussia (d. 1928)
1870 – Thomas W. Lamont, American banker; father of Corliss Lamont; great-grandfather of Ned Lamont (d. 1948)
1898 – Felix Kersten, Baltic-German Finnish masseuse (masseuse to Heinrich Himmler who helped save people from Nazi persecution), born in Tartu, Imperial Russia (d. 1960)
1950 – Renato Zero [Fiacchini], Italian pop, rock and soul singer (Madame), born in Rome
1962 – Shaan [Shantanu Mukherjee], Indian singer, born in Khandwa
1981 – Brandon Watson, American baseball

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

739 – P’u-chi Ho-shang Tao-chao, Northern Ch’an Line Zen teacher, dies
1955 – Arnold Struycken, Dutch lawyer, dies at 55
1993 – Tony Brafa, actor (Enrico Pallazzo-Naked Gun), dies at 72
2004 – Michael Relph, British film producer and director (b. 1915)
2012 – Turhan Bey [Sahultavy], Austrian-born actor dubbed “The Turkish Delight” (Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves), dies from Parkinson’s disease at 90
2019 – Jessye Norman, American opera singer (sang at two presidential inaugurations), dies at 74

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1608 – Captain Newport arrives from England with supplies for colonists
1954 – “Masquerade Party” TV game show moves from CBS to ABC for two seasons
1967 – Mickey Hart joins the Grateful Dead and plays the Straightater
1968 – Chuck Latourette, sets NFL record 47.7 yd punt return avg (3 punts)
1979 – John Huston’s “Wine Blood” premieres at NY Film Festival
1989 – Zsa Zsa Gabor convicted of slapping a police officer in Beverly Hills

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1636 – Thomas Tenison, English Archbishop of Canterbury (1694-1715), born in Cottenham, England (d. 1715)
1831 – John McAlister Schofield, American Major General (Union Army), born in Gerry, New York (d. 1906)
1915 – Vincent DeDomenico, American entrepreneur (Rice-A-Roni), born in San Francisco, California (d. 2007)
1934 – Lance Gibbs, West Indian cricketer (prolific West Indian off-spinner, 309 wickets), born in Georgetown, British Guiana
1941 – Kermit Zarley, American golfer, author (Canadian Open 1970), born in Seattle, Washington
1968 – Matt Goss, English singer-songwriter (Bros. – “I Owe You Nothing”), born in London, England

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1908 – Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Brazilian writer (Epitaph of a small winner), dies at 69
1994 – Don Watson, Australian race car driver, dies in an accident at a practice for the Bathurst 1000 at 43
1995 – George Chesterman Phillips, British naval officer, dies at 90
1997 – Milner Gray, British graphic designer, dies at 97
2005 – Austin Leslie, American chef, the “Godfather of Fried Chicken” (b. 1934)
2009 – Pavel Popovich, Ukrainian cosmonaut (Vostok IV, Soyuz 14), dies at 78

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1920 – 8 White Sox indicted, threw 1919 World Series (Black Sox scandal)
1953 – “Juvenile Jury” TV Children’s last airs on NBC, moved to CBS
1958 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1961 – “Doctor Kildare” debuts on NBC-TV
1962 – The last airing of “The Tonight Show” prior to Johnny Carson becoming host airs on NBC-TV
1997 – St Louis Cardinals Mark McGwire hits his 58th HR of 1997 (34 with Oak A’s)

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1605 – Ismaël Bullialdus, French astronomer (Astronomia Philolaica) and mathematician, born in Loudun, Vienne, France (d. 1694)
1855 – Thomas Frederick Tout, British historian (Manchester school of historiography), born in London, England (d. 1929)
1924 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian actor (8½, La Dolce Vita; Dark Eyes, The Pizza Triangle), born in Fontana Liri, Lazio, Kingdom of Italy (d. 1996)
1945 – Conny Van Dyke, Nassawadox Va, actress (Framed, Hell’s Angels ’69)
1947 – Gillian Rose, philosopher/writer
1975 – Karan Ashley Jackson, Odessa Tx, actress (Aisha-Mighty Power Rangers)

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1618 – Gilles van Ledenberg, sec of Utrecht States (1588-1618), suicide at 68
1702 – Robert Spencer 2nd earl of Sunderland, Engl PM (1687-88), dies at 61
1815 – Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist and geographer (Volcanos), dies at 90
1959 – Vincent Richards, American tennis player (US Pro C’ships 1927-28, 30, 33), dies of a heart attack at 56
1994 – Warwick Hutton, artist, dies at 55
2017 – Vann Molyvann, Cambodian architect (New Khmer architecture), dies at 90

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1953 – Typhoon destroys one third of Nagoya, Japan
1959 – Braves and Dodgers finish in a tie (86-68)
1982 – Cards clinching NL East title
1987 – Ryder Cup Golf, Muirfield Village GC: Europe beats US, 15-13; after 13-0 unbeaten record spanning 60 years, US loses for first time on home soil
1996 – Baltimore Oriole Roberto Alomar spits in face of umpire John Hirschbeck
2001 – At its two-day meeting in Vienna, OPEC decides to keep its production quotas unchanged at 23.2 million barrels per day, despite crude oil being at its lowest price levels since 1999

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1911 – Peter Doig, British Labour Party politician, born in Lochgelly, Fife, Scotland (d. 1996)
1919 – Jayne Meadows, American actress (Dark Delusion, David and Bathsheba) and wife of Steve Allen, born in Wuchang, Hubei, China (d. 2015)
1940 – Josephine Barstow, British opera soprano singer, born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
1953 – Benjamin Gene Brown, 4X400 runner (Olympic gold 1976), born in San Francisco, California
1957 – Richard Vagg, Australian baseball infielder (Olympics 1996)
1991 – Simona Halep, Romanian tennis player (French Open 2018, Wimbledon 2019), born in Constanța, Romania

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1831 – Joannis Capodistrias, Greek governor of Troezen, murdered at 55
1944 – Aristide Maillol, French painter and sculptor (Seated Woman), dies in car crash at 82
1948 – Frank Cellier, British actor (Quiet Wedding, Big Blockade), dies from ill health at 64
1972 – S. R. Ranganathan, Indian mathematician (b. 1892)
1977 – Jock Hutchison, Scottish golfer (PGA C’ship 1920, British Open 1921), dies at 93
1993 – Andrei Solovyiov, Russian photographer, dies in battle at 38

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1953 – Polish government fires/imprisons Cardinal Wyszynski
1960 – Cuban leader Fidel Castro delivers a 4 hour and 29 minute long speech at the United Nations
1962 – TV comedy series “Beverly Hillbillies” premieres on CBS
1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald travels on Continental Trailways bus to Mexico
1978 – NY District Court Judge Constance Baker Motley rules that women sportswriters cannot be banned from locker rooms
2019 – US Income inequality widest for over 50 years, worst in California, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana and New York, according to new census figures

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1832 – Pyotr Petrovich Sokal’sky, Russian composer, born in Kharkiv, Ukraine (d. 1887)
1907 – Ralph Michael, British actor (Quest, Doctor in the House), born in London (d. 1994)
1907 – Anthony Blunt, British art historian and spy for USSR, born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England (d. 1983)
1932 – Manmohan Singh, Indian politician, 13th Prime Minister of India (2004-14), born in Gah, British India
1948 – Vladimír Remek, Czech politician and cosmonaut (Soyuz 28), born in České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia
1973 – Marty Casey, American singer (Lovehammers), born in Chicago, Illinois

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1023 – Godfried I, duke of Neth-Lutherans, dies
1937 – Bessie Smith, American blues singer known as the “Empress of the Blues” (recorded over 200 songs), dies of injuries sustained in car crash at 43
1964 – Calvin Thomas, actor (Judge Hunter-One Man’s Family), dies at 79
1997 – Dorothy Kingsley, American screenwriter (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers), dies at 87
2000 – Richard Mulligan, American actor (Soap, Empty’s Nest, Big Bus), dies at 67
2006 – Byron Nelson, American golfer (winner 5 major titles; record 19 tournaments 1945), dies of a blood disorder at 94

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1555 – Freedom of Religion in Augsburg
1861 – Secretary of US Navy authorizes enlistment of slaves
1866 – (Leonard W) Jerome Park opens in Bronx for horse racing
1924 – Malcolm Campbell sets world auto speed record at 146.16 miles per hour
1967 – WGBX TV channel 44 in Boston, MA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1975 – Jackie Wilson suffers heart attack and lapse into a 9 yr terminal coma

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1807 – Alfred Vail, American inventor and early telegraph pioneer, born in Morristown, New Jersey (d. 1859)
1862 – Leon Boellmann, French organist and composer (Variations Symphoniques), born in Ensisheim, France (d. 1897)
1926 – Aldo Ray [Da Re], American actor (God’s Little Acre, Green Beret), born in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania (d. 1991)
1932 – Andrew Gardner, British newscaster (News at Ten), born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire (d. 1999)
1932 – Terry Medwin, Welsh footballer (Tottenham Hotspur), born in Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales
1946 – Gil Morgan, American golfer (7 PGA Tour titles, 3 Champions Tour majors), born in Wewoka, Oklahoma

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1066 – Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northumbria, killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge
1396 – Philip of Bar, French knight/crusader, dies in battle
1916 – Julius Fučík, Czech composer, dies at 44
1987 – Emlyn Williams, actor and director (I Accuse, Ivanhoe, Scarf), dies at 81
1987 – George Emlyn Williams, Welsh actor and playwright (David Copperfield), dies from cancer at 81
1999 – Marion Zimmer Bradley, American writer, dies at 69

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1920 – Future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth becomes first to hit 50 home runs in a MLB season with a 1st inning blast off Jose Acosta in a 2-1 loss to the Washington Senators
1922 – Nuremberg fusion congress USDP-SPD; picks Karl Kautsky
1940 – Jimmy Foxx hits his 500th career HR
1979 – Pete Rose reaches 200 hits in a season for 10th time
1982 – US, Italian and French peacekeeping troops begin arriving in Lebanon
1991 – After 3 year reign as AL champs, A’s are eliminated from AL West

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1802 – Adolphe d’Archiac, French paleontologist and geologist, born in Reims, France (d. 1868)
1902 – Ayatollah Khomeini [Ruhollah Khomeini], Supreme leader of Iran (1979-89), religious figure and political leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, born in Khomeyn, Persia (d. 1989)
1923 – Mervyn Brown, British diplomat and historian of Madagascar
1924 – Jean-Pierre Warner, British high court judge (d. 2005)
1932 – Terry Davies MBE, Welsh rugby union full back (21 Tests Wales, 2 British and Irish Lions; Swansea, Llanelli), born in Llwynhendy, Wales (d. 2021)
1945 – David Drake, American sci-fi author, veteran and lawyer (Cross the Stars, Rolling Hot), born in the United States

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1742 – Johann Matthias Hase, German scientist (b. 1684)
1815 – John Sevier, American soldier, Governor of Tennessee (1796-1801, 1803-09), dies at 70
1934 – Edwin H. Lemare, British organist and composer (Andantino in D-flat, also known as “Moonlight and Roses”), dies at 69
1960 – Mátyás Seiber, Hungarian-British classical and jazz composer (Scherzando), dies at 55
1982 – Sarah Churchill, British actress (Matinee Theatre, All Over Town, Royal Wedding), dies at 67
1997 – Larry Hall, American rocker (Sandy), dies at 57

More Famous Deaths »