Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1621 – Rabbi Isaiah ben Abraham aha-Levi Horowitz arrives in Israel
1903 – Temperance activist Carrie Nation attempts to address the US Senate
1939 – Don Lash wins 6th straight AAU cross-country 10K championship
1955 – KXMB TV channel 12 in Bismarck, ND (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
1968 – Yankees pitcher Stan Bahnsen wins AL Rookie of Year
1996 – “Sex and Longing” closes at Cort Theater NYC

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1563 – Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester, English statesman, born in Penshurst, Kent, England (d. 1626)
1909 – Peter Drucker, Austrian-American management theorist, born in Kaasgraben, Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 2005)
1913 – Blue Barron [Harry Freidman], American “sweet music” orchestra leader (“Cruising Down The River”), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2005)
1971 – Adrian Griffith, Barbadian cricketer (West Indian Test opening batsman), born in Saint James, Barbados
1976 – Jack Dorsey, American computer programmer, co-founder of Twitter, born in St. Louis, Missouri
1978 – Matt Dusk, Canadian jazz vocalist, born in Toronto, Ontario

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1672 – John Wilkins, English Bishop of Chester (b. 1614)
1723 – Antoine Nompar de Caumont, French courtier and soldier (b. 1632)
1785 – Bernard de Bury, French musician and composer, dies at 65
1806 – Shah Alam II, 17th Mughal Emperor (1760-1806), dies at 78
1938 – Lev Shestov, Russian existentialist philosopher, dies at 72
1998 – Earl Kim, Korean-American composer, dies at 78

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1903 – Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty gives US exclusive canal rights in Panama
1943 – 444 British bombers attack Berlin
1985 – Howard Stern radio show returns to NYC (WXRK 92.3 FM-afternoons)
1995 – 60th Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 31-27 in Auburn
1995 – Jacqueline Aguilera Marcano (19), of Venezuela, crowned 45th Miss World
2017 – Shawn Mendes is the first singer under 18 to get three No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1898 – Joris Ivens, Dutch director (A Tale of the Wind, Rain), born in Nijmegen, Netherlands (d. 1989)
1915 – Ken Burkhart, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals) and umpire, born in Knoxville, Tennessee (d. 2004)
1922 – Al Dvorin, American Elvis Presley concert announcer, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2004)
1935 – Rodney Hall, Australian author
1970 – Peter Dutton, Australian politician, Minister for Home Affairs (2017-18), born in Brisbane, Australia
1992 – Nathan Kress, American actor (iCarly – “Freddie”; Into The Storm), born in Glendale, California

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

942 – Odo van Cluny, 2nd abbott of Cluny (924-42), dies
1883 – Wilhelm Siemens, German/British physicist (steam engine), dies
1976 – Man Ray, American artist (Dada), dies at 86
1979 – Freddie Fitzsimmons, American baseball pitcher (MLB record career double plays [79] 1938-64) and manager (Philadelphia Phillies), dies of a heart attack at 78
1992 – Dorothy Kirsten, American operatic soprano (Time to Sing, Chevy Show), dies from stroke at 82
2016 – Denton Cooley, American heart surgeon (1st artificial heart transplant), dies at 96

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1558 – Elizabeth I aged 25, ascends the English throne upon death of her half sister, Queen “Bloody” Mary
1798 – Beginning of a 5 day New England Blizzard that covers thousands of houses and kills hundreds
1877 – Russia launches a surprise night attack that overruns Turkish forces at Kars, Armenia
1951 – Britain reports development of the world’s first nuclear-powered heating system
1985 – NY Jets best offensive production beating Tampa Bay 62-28
1993 – US House of Representatives approve Nafta

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1911 – William Tannen, American actor (Jailhouse Rock, Sitting Bull), born in NYC, New York (d. 1976)
1927 – Ellis Hillman, politician
1928 – Colin McDonald, Australian cricket batsman (47 Tests, 5 x 100s; Victoria), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 2021)
1951 – Butch Davis, American football coach
1954 – Jorge Hernández, Cuban boxer Olympic gold light flyweight 1976; World C’ship gold 1974, 78), born in Havana, Cuba (d. 2019)
1966 – Jeff Nelson, pitcher (NY Yankees), born in Baltimore, Maryland

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1600 – Kuki Yoshitaka, Japanese naval commander, commits seppuku (ritual suicide) after defeat at Battle of Sekigahara (b. 1542)
1968 – Wilhelm Lehmann, German writer, dies at 86
1982 – Duk Koo Kim, South Korean boxer, legally declared dead
1990 – Robert Hofstadter, American atomic physicist and Nobel laureate (electron scattering in atomic nuclei), dies at 75
2003 – Arthur Conley, American singer (b. 1946)
2017 – William Mayer, American composer (A Death in the Family, Brief Candle), dies from heart failure at 91

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

13 – General Tiberius’ (later Emperor) triumphant procession through Rome after siege of Germany
1917 – British occupy Tel Aviv and Jaffa
1935 – Cole Porter’s musical “Anything Goes” closes at 46th Street Theatre, NYC, after 420 performances
1957 – University of Oklahoma Football NCAA win streak ends at 47 after losing 7-0 to Notre Dame at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
1999 – “The Chronic 2001” second studio album by Dr Dre is released
2003 – Roger Federer of Switzerland wins his first of 6 season-ending Tennis Masters Cup titles with a 6–3, 6–0, 6–4 victory over American Andre Agassi in the final in Houston, Texas

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1609 – Henrietta Maria, French-born daughter of Henry IV of France and Queen Consort of England (d. 1669)
1615 – Guillaume Dumanoir, French composer, born in Paris (d. 1697)
1890 – George Seldes, American investigative journalist, born in Alliance Colony, New Jersey (d. 1995)
1922 – Gene Amdahl, American computer scientist who designed the IBM mainframe, born in Flandreau, South Dakota (d. 2015)
1938 – Richard Landry, American composer, born in Cecilia, Louisiana
1969 – Thomas Ingalsbe, 238+ lbs (108+ kg) US weightlifter (Olympics 1996)

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1724 – Jack Sheppard, English robber, hanged
1979 – Bert Baston, American College Football Hall of Fame end (University of Minnesota), dies at 84
1994 – John Boylan, American actor (Twin Peaks, Sleepless in Seattle), dies at 82
1996 – John Reginald Bevins, British Conservative politician, dies at 88
2004 – Massimo Freccia, Italian-American conductor (New Orleans Symphony, 1944-52: Baltimore Symphony), 1952-59, dies at 98
2016 – Jay Forrester, American engineer, invented random-access magnetic core memory, dies at 98

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1315 – Battle of Morgarten: Swiss beat duke Leopold I of Austria
1887 – British SS Wah Yeung catches fire on Canton River off Hong Kong
1901 – 6th Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 17-0 in Tuscaloosa
1945 – The rules are revised for election of modern players to the Hall of Fame
1961 – UN bans nuclear arms
2017 – Argentine submarine San Juan goes missing in the Atlantic after reporting mechanical failure

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1604 – Davis Mell, English composer, born in Wilton (d. 1662)
1741 – Johann Kaspar Lavater, Swiss writer, philosopher and founder of physiognomics, born in Zürich, Switzerland (d. 1801)
1868 – Ferruccio Giannini, Italian-American operatic tenor (one of the first to be recorded), teacher, and impresario (Verdi Opera House, Philadelphia), born in Barga, Italy (d. 1948)
1928 – John Orchard, British actor (Capone, M*A*S*H), born in Kennington, London (d. 1995)
1930 – Whitman Mayo, American actor (Grady Wilson-“Sanford and Son”), born in NYC, New York (d. 2001)
1954 – Mitch Easter, American record producer (REM), born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1579 – Ferenc Dávid, Hungarian religious reformer (b. 1510)
1863 – Frederik VII, 1st constitutional king of Denmark (1848-63), dies at 55
1918 – Georges Antoine, Belgian composer, dies at 26
2010 – Ed Kirkpatrick, American baseball player (b. 1944)
2011 – Oba Chandler, American convicted murderer, dies at 65
2020 – Campbell Forsyth, Scottish soccer goalkeeper (4 caps; St Mirren, Kilmarnock, Southampton), dies at 86

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1666 – Samuel Pepys reports on 1st blood transfusion (between dogs)
1936 – More than 21,000 watch Don Bradman score 192 for South Australia v Victoria in a drawn Sheffield Shield match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
1968 – Yale University announces it is going co-educational
1976 – “Network”, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch and William Holden, premieres in Los Angeles and New York City (Finch – Academy Awards Best Actor 1977)
1981 – In the first world championship fight between 2 Puerto Ricans in boxing history, WBC Super Welterweight champion Wilfred Benitez beats Carlos Santos in a 15-round unanimous decision at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas
1994 – Space shuttle STS-66 (Atlantis 13), lands

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1814 – Michael Kelly Lawler, Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in County Kildare, Ireland (d. 1882)
1875 – Jakob Schaffner, Swiss writer: Conrad Pilater
1883 – Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek premier (1945, 50, 51-52)
1932 – Ramon Zupko, American composer, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1966 – Eric Hill, NFL middle linebacker (Arizona Cardinals)
1982 – Joy Williams, American singer-songwriter (the Civil Wars), born in West Branch, Michigan

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1780 – Jacobus Houbraken, engraver/illustrator, dies at 81
1946 – Herman de Man [Salomon H Hamburger], author/Radio Orange, dies
1996 – Virginia Cherrill, American actress (City Lights; Lake Extra; Brat), dies at 88
1997 – Stefan Lorant, Hungarian-American writer, photojournalist and filmmaker, dies at 96
2001 – Charlotte Coleman, British actress (Four Weddings and a Funeral), dies of an asthma attack at 33
2004 – Michel Colombier, French composer (b. 1939)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1002 – English king Ethelred II (the ‘Unready’) launches ‘St Brice’s Day’ massacre of Danish settlers
1839 – 1st US anti-slavery party, Liberty Party, convenes in NY
1875 – Harvard-Yale game is 1st college football contest with uniforms
1960 – Fire in movie theater kills 152 children in Amude, Spain
1984 – Ryne Sandberg wins the NL MVP Award
2007 – An explosion hits the south wing of the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Quezon City, killing four people, including Congressman Wahab Akbar, and wounding six

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1792 – Edward John Trelawny, English traveler and author (Adv of Younger Son), born in London (d. 1881)
1854 – George Whitfield Chadwick, American composer (Judi Van Winke), born in Lowell, Massachusetts (d. 1931)
1894 – Nita Naldi [Anita Donna Dooley], American stage and silent film actress (Blood and Sand; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), born in New York City (d. 1961)
1938 – Jean Seberg, American actress (Breathless, Paint Your Wagon), born in Marshaltown, Iowa (d. 1979)
1947 – Joe Mantegna, American actor (House of Games, Weeds), born in Chicago, Illinois
1963 – Thilo Timothy Newman, writer (Freejack, Alien), born in Hamburg, Germany

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1606 – Geronimo Mercuriali, Italian philologist and physician (b. 1530)
1841 – Caroline of Baden, Queen of Bavaria, dies at 65
1909 – Aeneas Mackay, Dutch Internal minister (ARP)/Colonization, dies at 70
1994 – Joseph H. Hazen, US Lawyer/producer/VP (Warner Bros), dies at 96
1998 – Edwige Feuillère, French actress (b. 1907)
2004 – Thomas Foglietta, American politician (b. 1928)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1727 – France and Bavaria renew secret treaty
1859 – Jules Leotard performs 1st Flying Trapeze circus act (Paris) He also designed garment that bears his name
1940 – Blizzard strikes North American midwest, 154 die (69 on boat on Great Lakes)
1960 – Coup against South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm fails
1980 – US space probe Voyager I approaches 77,000-mi (124,000 km) of Saturn
1984 – NBC premiere of “Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story”, fact based telepic of actress Saldana’s near fatal attack and its aftermath

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1896 – Salim Ali, Indian ornithologist ‘Birdman of India’, born in Bombay, British India (d. 1987)
1915 – Roland Barthes, French literary critic (L’Empire des Signer)
1917 – Jo Stafford, American singer (You Belong to me, Never Smile Again), born in Coalinga, California (d. 2008)
1976 – Scott Mark Cameron, NZ 4x200m relay swimmer (Olympics 1996), born in Dunedin, New Zealand
1980 – Trent Acid, American professional wrestler, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1984 – Sepp De Roover, Belgian footballer, born in Geel, Belgium

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1823 – Emmanuel Aloys Förster, Bohemian composer and music teacher, dies at 75
1836 – Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (b. 1773)
1962 – Sid Tomack, American actor (The Life of Riley, Adventures of Superman), dies from a heart ailment at 55
1987 – Roger Lewis, aviation exec (Lockheed, C Wright, Pan Am), dies at 75
1993 – Bill Dickey, American Baseball Hall of Fame catcher (11 × MLB All-Star; 14 × World Series; NY Yankees) and manager (NY Yankees), dies at 86
2013 – Allan Blank, American composer, dies at 87

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1811 – Cartagena Colombia declares independence from Spain
1836 – Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru
1963 – Brian Epstein and Ed Sullivan sign a 3 show contract for The Beatles
1982 – Gas explosion in Israeli army headquarters near Tyre; kills 60
1992 – The Church of England approves the ordination of female priests
2014 – The people of Catalonia in north-eastern Spain vote in a disputed and non-binding poll on independence

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1748 – Carlos IV (English: Charles], King of Spain (1788-1808), born in Portici, Italy (d. 1819)
1792 – Mary Anne Disraeli, English wife of Benjamin Disraeli, born in Brampford Speke, Devon, England (d. 1872)
1883 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 1918-67). and composer (Feuilles de Printemps), born in Vevey, Switzerland (d. 1969)
1953 – Kostas Skandalidis, Greek politician, born in Kos, Greece
1956 – Ian Craig Marsh, English, rocker (The Human League, Heaven 17), born in Sheffield, England
1970 – Derry Brownson, British rock keyboardist (EMF – “Unbelievable”), born in Gloucester, England

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

307 – Flavius Valerius Severus, compassionate emperor of Rome (306-07), dies
1724 – Joseph Blake, alias “Blueskin”, a highwayman known for attacking “Thief-Taker General” (and thief) Jonathan Wild at the Old Bailey, is hanged in London. (b. c. 1700)
1931 – Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (b. 1840)
1947 – Martin Dibelius, German theologist (That Drawer Jahwes), dies at 64
1990 – Alexis Minotis [Alexandros Minotakis], Greek actor (The Merchant of Venice, King Lear), dies at 90
1993 – H. R. Haldeman, Nixon’s White House Chief of Staff during Watergate, dies at 67

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1871 – Henry Morton Stanley encounters David Livingstone at Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, with the immortal words ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’
1959 – Corinne Rottschaeffer of the Netherlands elected Miss World
1968 – Portuguese socialist Mário Soares released from banishment in Sao Tomé under new regieme of Marcello Caetano
1988 – Orel Hershiser (23-8) is a unanimous choice as NL Cy Young Award
1989 – Germans begin demolishing the Berlin Wall
2014 – “The Hunger Games” Mockingjay – Part 1″ directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson premieres in London

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1895 – John Knudsen Northrop, American aircraft designer (Northrop Air), born in Newark, New Jersey (d. 1981)
1918 – Oda Blinder [Yolanda Corsen], Antillean poetess (Doorstep)
1958 – Massimo Morsello, Italian fascist political singer and songwriter, born in Rome, Italy (d. 2001)
1965 – Eddie Irvine, Irish auto racer (runner-up World F1 Championship 1999), born in Newtownards, Northern Ireland
1971 – Jennifer McFalls, American softball infielder (Olympic gold 1996), born in Arlington, Texas
1985 – Giovonnie Samuels, American television actress (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody), born in San Diego, California

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1670 – Geory Horn [Hornius], theologist/historian, dies at about 50
1937 – Nikolai Batalov, Russian actor (Tretya meshchanskaya, Mother), dies from tuberculosis at 37
1992 – Chuck Connors, American author, actor (The Rifleman, Branded, Cowboy in Africa), professional basketball and baseball player, dies at 71
2001 – Ken Kesey, American author (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), dies at 66
2006 – Gerald Levert, American singer (In My Songs) (b. 1966), dies at 40
2015 – Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany (SPD, 1974- 82), dies at 96

More Famous Deaths »