Category: On This Day

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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Historical Events

1216 – Pope Honorius III delegates decree “Religiosam vitam eligentibus”
1923 – Bill Ponsford and Edgar Mayne make 456 opening stand for Vict
1939 – Finnish counter offensive at Petsamo
1947 – Italian constituent assembly adopts new constitution
1974 – Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb home of former UK Prime Minister, Edward Heath, just before announcing Christmas ceasefire
1983 – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak meets with PLO leader Yasser Arafat

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Famous Birthdays

1819 – Franz Abt, German composer and choir conductor, born in Eilenburg, Germany (d. 1885)
1881 – Enver Pasa, Turkish politician, born in Istanbul, Turkey (d. 1922)
1903 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American biophysicist (Nobel 1967), born in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania (d. 1983)
1905 – Pierre Brasseur [Espinasse], French actor (Eyes Without a Face, Children of Paradise), born in Paris, France (d. 1972)
1942 – Dick Parry, English session and touring rock saxophonist (Pink Floyd – “Money”), born in Kentford, Suffolk
1961 – Yuri Ivanovich Malinchenko, Russian cosmonaut (1st person to marry in space), born in Khrushchev, Ukrainian SSR, USSR

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Famous Deaths

1788 – Percivall Pott, English physician and surgeon (b. 1714)
1828 – William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist and physicist (famous for discovering the chemical elements palladium and rhodium), dies at 62
1969 – Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-American director (Shanghai Express), dies at 75
1996 – Hetta Empson, South African-British artist, dies at 81
1997 – Juzo Itami, Japanese director, commits suicide at 64
2006 – Dennis Linde, American songwriter (b. 1943)

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Historical Events

1929 – Coco the Clown first appears for Bertram Mills Circus in Manchester, England
1937 – The first full-length animated feature film and the earliest in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre
1970 – Oregon v. Mitchell Supreme Court case was decided, lowering the minimum voting age in U.S. federal elections to 18. The voting age for state and local elections was left to states discretion
1972 – Soviet Union signs a separate peace with East Germany
1985 – Heart’s “Heart” album goes #1
2016 – Carl Icahn is announced as Special Advisor to the President on Regulatory Reform, under President Donald Trump

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Famous Birthdays

1872 – Sidney Ainsworth, British silent film actor (Not in the News, The Rajah’s Tunic), born in Manchester, England (d. 1922)
1892 – Amy Key Clarke, English mystical poet and writer, born in England, United Kingdom (d. 1980)
1909 – Seichō Matsumoto, Japanese mystery writer and journalist, born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan (d. 1992)
1914 – Ivan Generalić, Croatian painter, born in Hlebine, Croatia (d. 1992)
1933 – Huib Eversdijk, Dutch 2nd chamber member (CDA), born in Kapelle, Netherlands (d. 2012)
1977 – Emmanuel Macron, French politician, President of France (2017-), born in Amiens, France

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Famous Deaths

1859 – Nicolaas Christiaan Kist, Dutch Reformed theologian and church historian, dies at 66
1890 – Niels Wilhelm Gade, Danish violinist, organist, composer, and conductor, dies at 73
1985 – Kamatari Fujiwara, Japanese film actor (Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo), dies of a heart attack at 80
1996 – Margaret E Rey, author of children’s books, dies at 90
2006 – Sydney Wooderson, English athlete dubbed “The Mighty Atom” (world record 1937), dies at 92
2014 – Billie Whitelaw, British actress (Omen, Adding Machine), dies at 82

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