Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1502 – Vasco da Gama returns to Calicut, India for the second time.
1944 – Last transport for Auschwitz arrives in Birkenau
1947 – Darius Milhaud’s 3rd Symphony “Hymnus Ambrosianus,” premieres in Paris
1963 – Morocco and Algeria sign cease fire
1969 – WXPO (now WNDS) TV channel 50 in Manchester, NH (IND) 1st broadcast
2004 – Breeders’ Cup Horse Racing, Lone Star Park; winners: Ghostzapper, Wilko, Ashado, Better Talk Now, Oujja Board, Sweet Catomine, Singletary, Speightstown

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Famous Birthdays

1895 – Gerhard Domagk, German bacteriologist (Nobel Prize 1939 in Physiology or Medicine – first commercially available antibiotic and marketed under the brand name Prontosil), born in Lagow, Brandenburg (d. 1964)
1945 – Glenn Poshard, American politician (Rep-D-Illinois), born in Herald, Illinois
1953 – Kathleen Cody, American actress (Charley and the Angel), born in The Bronx, New York
1970 – James Pedro, American lightweight judoka (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Danvers, Massachusetts
1970 – Patrice Tardif, Canadian NHL center (LA Kings), born in Thetford Mines, Quebec
1983 – Trent Edwards, American football player (Buffalo Bills), born in Los Gatos, California

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Famous Deaths

1602 – Jean-Jacques Boissard, French poet (b. 1528)
1944 – Paul Ladmirault, French composer, dies at 66
1956 – Pío Baroja y Nessi, Spanish Basque writer, author of over 100 novels (The Struggle for Life, Zalacain the Adventurer), dies at 83
1996 – John Young, Scottish actor and TV panelist (Masquerade Party), dies at 80
2008 – Pedro Pompilio Argentinian businessman (b. 1950)
2018 – Hardy Fox, American member of avant-garde band The Residents, dies at 73

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Historical Events

1889 – “World Championship” Baseball Series, Polo Grounds, NYC: defending champion NY Giants (NL) beat Brooklyn Bridegrooms (AA), 3-2 in Game 9 to claim series, 6-3
1923 – Mustafa Kemal officially confirms Turkey as a republic (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti), now commemorated annually as the Republic Day of Turkey
1923 – Gibbs, Grey and Wood’s revue “Runnin’ Wild” (introducing “The Charleston”) opens on Broadway, New York City
1949 – White Sox trade Joe Tipton to A’s for Nellie Fox
1985 – Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced the winner of the first multiparty election in Liberia
1987 – “Don’t Get God Started” opens at Longacre Theater NYC for 86 performances

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Famous Birthdays

1908 – Stewart Myles MacPherson, Canadian-born British broadcaster (WWII), born in Winnipeg, Manitoba (d. 1995)
1934 – Ramon Sender, Spanish composer, born in Madrid, Spain
1952 – Arnell Carmichael, rock keyboardist (Raydio)
1977 – Brendan Fehr, Canadian actor (CSI: Miami), born in New Westminister, British Columbia
1978 – Kelly Smith, English football player (Arsenal Ladies), born in Watford, England
1981 – Reema Sen, Indian actress, born in Kolkata, India

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Famous Deaths

1802 – Jacques-Philippe Lamoninary, French composer, dies at 95
1957 – Rosemarie Nitribitt, German call girl, strangled in her apartment in an unsolved murder at 24
1994 – Andrew Miller-Jones, British TV pioneer (Picture Page, Dressing Up), dies at 84
1996 – Patricia Ticia Anne Ingrams, broadcaster, dies at 50
2002 – Glenn McQueen, American animator (b. 1960)
2015 – Murphy Anderson, American comic artist (DC Comics), dies at 89

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Historical Events

1061 – Emperor disposes of bishop Cadalus and Pope Honorius II
1538 – The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established on Hispaniola
1612 – Robert Dowland appointed court luitist of King James I
1848 – The first railroad in Spain – between Barcelona and Mataró – is opened.
1970 – NBA Cleveland Cavaliers 1st home game, lose to San Diego 110-99
1984 – 14th NYC Women’s Marathon won by Grete Waitz in 2:29:30

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Famous Birthdays

1879 – Conrado del Campo y Zabaleta, Spanish composer, born in Madrid (d. 1953)
1909 – Ādolfs Skulte, Latvian composer, born in Kiev, Ukraine (d. 2000)
1924 – Alfonso Montecino, Chilean-American composer, born in Osorno, Chile (d. 2015)
1930 – John Mayer, Indian composer (Indo-Jazz Fusion), born in Calcutta, Bengal, British India (d. 2004)
1938 – David Dimbleby, English TV presenter and political commentator, born in Surrey, England
1960 – Landon Curt Noll, Astronomer, Cryptographer and Mathematician: youngest to hold the world record for the largest known prime 3 times

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Famous Deaths

1857 – Louis Eugène Cavaignac, French soldier and politician (b. 1802)
1973 – Taha Hussein, Egyptian writer (b. 1889)
1980 – Leon Janney (Ramon), American actor (Charly, Stolen Paradise, Hawk), dies of cancer at 63
1992 – Joan Maloney Rio, dancer, dies of cancer at 57
2006 – Trevor Berbick, Jamaican boxer (WBC heavyweight champion 1986), dies from blows to the head by his nephew at 52
2010 – Liang Congjie, Chinese environmentalist (b. 1932)

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Historical Events

1676 – Poland and Turkey sign Peace of Warsaw
1922 – 1st commemoration of Navy Day (USA)
1948 – Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS).
1950 – Paul Creston’s 3rd Symphony, “Triumph of St Joan” premieres
1980 – Dave Gryllis sets world bicycle speed record of 94.37 kph
1992 – Tipper Gore (wife of future VP) admits to covering clock on her VCR with black tape so she wouldn’t have to watch it blink

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Famous Birthdays

1760 – August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal, born in Schildau, Saxony (d. 1831)
1873 – Henry Tate, Australian composer and poet, born in Melbourne (d. 1926)
1910 – Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne and Guinness brewing heir, born in Mandatory Palestine (d. 1992)
1917 – Oliver Tambo, South African lawyer, anti-apartheid politician and co-founder (African National Congress), born in Nkantolo, Bizana, South Africa (d. 1993)
1966 – Timm Rosenbach, NFL quarterback (New Orleans Saints), born in Everett, Washington
1982 – Takashi Tsukamoto, Japanese actor (Battle Royale), born in Tokyo

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Famous Deaths

1789 – John Cook, American farmer and Governor of Delaware (b. 1730)
1933 – Julius Klengel, German cellist and composer, dies at 74
1968 – Lise Meitner, Austrian-Swedish physicist (discovered the nuclear fission of uranium, dies at 89
1974 – Rudolf Dassler, German entrepreneur who founded sportswear company Puma, dies at 76
1991 – George Barker, English poet, dies at 78
2009 – David Shepherd, English cricket umpire (b. 1940)

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Historical Events

1887 – “World Championship” Baseball Series, Sportsman’s Park, Detroit Wolverines (NL) beat St Louis Browns (AA), 10 games to 5 in series played in bitterly cold conditions
1941 – Second meeting of partisans Tito and Draza Mihailovic in Yugoslavia
1970 – Tanzania begins building railway Lusaka-Drone ash Salaam
1975 – China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
1997 – World Series Baseball: Florida beats Cleveland Indians, 3-2 in Game 7 at Pro Player Stadium, Miami for Marlins first-ever title; MVP: Florida pitcher Liván Hernández
2017 – US President Donald Trump declares the opioid crisis a public health emergency

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Famous Birthdays

1673 – Dimitrie Cantemir, Romanian historian and Monarch of Moldova (1710-11), born in Silişteni, Moldavia (d. 1723)
1789 – Joseph Mayseder, Austrian violinist and composer, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1863)
1880 – Andrei Bely [Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev], Russian writer (Petersburg), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1934)
1893 – Miloš Crnjanski, Serbian poet (Seobe), born in Csongrád, Austria-Hungary (d. 1977)
1929 – Hans Peter Haller, German composer, born in Radolfzell, Germany (d. 2006)
1977 – Jon Heder, American actor (Napoleon Dynamite), born in Fort Collins, Colorado

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Famous Deaths

1896 – Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (b. 1827)
1903 – Herbert Oakeley, English composer, dies at 73
1966 – Alma Cogan, English singer (b. 1932)
1982 – Giovanni Benelli, archbishop of Florence/Pope candidate, dies
1991 – Lori Rae Matthews, crushed to death by an artist’s 485 lb umbrella
2008 – Delmar Watson, American child actor (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Heidi, Annie Oakley), dies at 82

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Historical Events

1671 – Giovanni Cassini discovers Iapetus, satellite of Saturn
1885 – Johannes Brahms’ 4th Symphony in E premieres
1929 – Former Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall convicted of accepting $100,000 bribe in the Teapot scandal – 1st US Cabinet member to go to jail
1930 – 1st scheduled transcontinental air service began
2013 – 74 Boko Harem members killed in a coordinated assault in Borno State, Nigeria
2020 – Chile overwhelmingly votes to scrap their constitution, drafted during dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet

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Famous Birthdays

1906 – Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (World Heavyweight Champion 1933-34), born in Sequals, Italy (d. 1967)
1926 – Ismail Gulgee, Pakistani painter, born in Peshawar, Pakistan (d. 2007)
1936 – Sir Martin Gilbert, British historian (Winston Churchill biography), born in London, England
1971 – Laura Chapot, equestrian show jumper (Olympics 1996)
1973 – Steve White, American football defensive end (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), born in Memphis, Tennessee
1979 – Rob Hulse, English footballer (Sheffield United), born in Crewe, England

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Famous Deaths

79 – Gaius Plinius Secundus [Pliny the Elder], Roman admiral and writer, dies during eruption of Mount Vesuvius [approx date, month of eruption disputed]
1942 – Ted Arnold, English cricketer (England all-rounder in 10 Tests 1903-05), dies at 65
1991 – Bill Graham, rock concert promoter (Filmore, Dylan), dies at 60
1992 – Roger Miller, American country singer (King of the Road, Dang Me), dies at 56
2013 – Marcia Wallace, American actress (Carol-Bob Newhart Show), dies from pneumonia at 70
2019 – Chou Wen-chung, Chinese-American composer (Mode of Shang), dies at 96

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Historical Events

1881 – Levi P Morton, US ambassador to France drives first rivet in Statue of Liberty
1954 – Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States’ support to South Vietnam
1957 – The USAF starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
1968 – The People’s Democracy (PD) stage a protest demonstration at Stormont Parliament buildings, Belfast, Northern Ireland
1976 – 1st Jewish film and TV festival
1980 – Polish government legalizes independent labor union Solidarity

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Famous Birthdays

1863 – Manuel Manrique de Lara, Spanish composer (The Oresteia), born in Cartagena, Murcia (d. 1929)
1885 – Ernest Claes, Belgian author (Saints from Zichem), born in Zichem, Belgium (d. 1968)
1924 – Piet Roozenburg, Dutch World champion checker player (1948, 51, 52, 55), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 2003)
1934 – Margie Masters, Australian golfer (Western Open runner-up 1966), born in Swan Hill, Victoria
1950 – Rawly Eastwick, American baseball player (Cincinnati Reds), born in Camden, New Jersey
1954 – Malcolm Turnbull, Australian politician, Prime Minister (2015-18), born in Sydney, Australia

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Famous Deaths

1930 – Renaat Verheijen, Flemish actor and director (Dr Faustus), dies at 26
1931 – Murray Bisset, South African cricketer (South African wicket-keeper 1899 and 1910), dies at 55
1938 – Ernst Barlach, German writer and artist, dies at 68
1982 – James Philbrook, actor (Islanders, Investigators), dies at 58
2004 – Randy Dorton, American race car crew member (b. 1954)
2008 – Moshe Cotel, American composer and pianist (b. 1943)

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Historical Events

1760 – First Jewish prayer books printed in North America
1805 – Sailing ship “Aeneus” sinks off Newfoundland killing 340
1814 – One of the first modern plastic surgeries in the west performed by Joseph Carpue on a soldier’s nose in England using Indian techniques
1854 – English newspaper “The Times” gives precise British positions in Crimea during Crimean War
1989 – Browns’ Bernie Kosar sets club record with a 97-yard TD pass
2019 – Hong Kong Legislative Council scraps the extradition bill that sparked months of protests and unrest

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Famous Birthdays

1905 – Alexander Shamil’yevich Melik-Pashayev, Georgian conductor and composer (Bol’shoy Theatre, 1931-62), born in Tblisi (d. 1964)
1917 – Robert Bray, American actor (Corey-Lassie, Stagecoach West), born in Kalispell, Montana (d. 1983)
1950 – Harry Sacksioni, Dutch guitarist (Around the Corner)
1968 – Bettina Fulco Villella, Argentinian tennis star (1993 Futures), born in Mar Del Plata, Argentina
1969 – Sanjay Gupta, American neurosurgeon and medical reporter (CNN), born in Novi, Michigan
1986 – Emilia Clarke, English actress (Game of Thrones), born in London, England

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Famous Deaths

1892 – Emin Pasha, German explorer and governor (Equatoria), murdered at 52
1901 – Georg von Siemens, German banker and politician (Deutsche Bank), dies at 62
1942 – Georg Stumme, German general, commandant of African corps, dies at 56
1984 – David Gorcey, actor (Angel’s Alley), dies at 63 in a diabetic coma
2008 – Kevin Finnegan, British Middleweight Boxing Champion (b. 1948)
2011 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American Mathematician whose models for determining the chemical crystal structures vital for life revolutionized chemistry, dies at 94

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Historical Events

1926 – J. Gordon Whitehead sucker punches magician Harry Houdini in the stomach in Montreal
1956 – Great Britain performs nuclear test at Maralinga Australia
1991 – General Motors announces 9 month loss of $US2.2 billion
1992 – Atlanta Braves become 1st American team to win a Baseball World Series game outside of United States; beat Toronto Blue Jays, 7-2 in Game 5 at SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario
1996 – NY Yankee Bernie Williams hits record tying 7th post season HR, as Yanks tie record of 6th straight post season road win (en route to 8)
2019 – Chilean president Sebastián Piñera agrees to meet opposition leaders after 15 people killed in growing nationwide protests over living costs and inequality

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Famous Birthdays

1870 – Ivan Bunin, Russian poet and novelist (Gentleman from San Francisco-Nobel 1933), born in Voronezh, Russian Empire (d. 1953)
1873 – Gustaf John Ramstedt, Finland-Swedish linguist and diplomat, born in Ekenäs, Finland (d. 1950)
1947 – Haley Barbour, American politician, governor of Mississippi
1961 – Sanath Kaluperuma, cricketer (four Tests for Sri Lanka 1984-88)
1975 – Míchel Salgado, Spanish footballer
1978 – Dion Glover, American basketball player, born in Marietta, Georgia

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Famous Deaths

1613 – Pomponio Nenna, Italian composer
1881 – Janis Cimze, Latvian composer, Father of Latvian choir music, dies at 67
1928 – Andrew Fisher, 5th Prime Minister of Australia (1908-09, 1910-13, 1914-15), dies at 66
1942 – Gustave “Staff” de Clercq, leader Flemish Nationally Covenant, dies
1979 – Nadia Boulanger, French composer and conductor (1st woman to conduct Boston Symphony), dies at 92
1994 – Fabio Grobart, founder (Cuban Communist Party), dies

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Historical Events

1972 – “Pacific Paradise” closes at Palace Theater NYC after 5 performances
1975 – Elton John is given a star in Hollywood
1975 – USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1988 – Philippine former first couple Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos indicted on racketeering charges
2007 – Tennessee kicker Rob Bironas sets NFL record for most points scored in a game (no touchdowns) with 26 in the Titans 38-36 win v Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium, Houston
2019 – Facebook says it has taken down four state-backed disinformation campaigns, three from Iran, one from Russia in addition to dozens earlier this year

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Famous Birthdays

1908 – Howard Ferguson, composer
1921 – Jarmil Burghauser, composer
1949 – Masao Ohba, Japanese boxer (WBA flyweight champion), born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 1973)
1953 – Eleonora Giorgi, actress (Nu de Femme, To Forget Venice), born in Rome, Italy
1967 – Gavin Brian Lovegrove, javelin (Olympics 1996), born in Auckland, New Zealand
1984 – Kenny Cooper, American soccer forward (10 caps), born in Baltimore, Maryland

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Famous Deaths

1558 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian-French physician and scholar (On the Subtlety of Things), dies at 74
1945 – Henry Armetta, Italian-American actor (The Black Cat, Bell for Adano, Big Store), dies from a heart attack at 57
1975 – Charles Reidpath, American athlete (Olympic gold 1912), dies at 86
1986 – Lionel Murphy, Australian politician and judge, dies at 64
1992 – Jackson Weaver, voice of Smokey the Bear, dies of diabetes
1996 – Eric Halsall, sheepdog trial commentator, dies at 76

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