Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1774 – American Continental Congress orders discouragement of entertainment
1921 – Germany and Allies comes to an agreements over reparation payments in a meeting at Wiensbaden
1973 – OPEC oil embargo begins
1975 – Supreme Court rules teachers could spank their pupils after warning
1977 – Plane chartered by rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd runs out of fuel and crashes in a wooded area near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Six people are killed, including band members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gains, and Cassie Gaines, and road manager Dean Kilpatrick
1990 – Antiwar protest marches begin in 20 US cities (US-Iraq)

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Famous Birthdays

1751 – Hendrik van Stralen, Dutch politician
1882 – Bela Lugosi [Blaskó], Austrian actor (Dracula, Plan 9 From Outer Space), born in Lugos, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1956)
1917 – Jean-Pierre Melville, French director (A Cop), born in Paris, France
1925 – Art Buchwald, American columnist and author (Have I Ever Lied to You), born in Mt Vernon, New York (d. 2017)
1943 – Dunja Vejzovic, Croatian soprano, born in Zagreb, Croatia
1968 – Raymond Biggs, Canadian CFL linebacker (Calgary Stampeders), born in Toronto, Ontario

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Famous Deaths

1896 – Félix Tisserand, French Astronomer, dies at 51
1929 – Rudolf Kittel, German theologist (Psalms), dies at 76
1967 – Yoshida Shigeru, Japanese politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Japan (1946-54), dies at 89
1970 – Patrick Wymark [Cheeseman], British actor (Skull, Tomb of Ligeia), dies of a heart attack at 44
1984 – Paul Dirac, English physicist (quantum electrodynamics, Nobel 1933), dies at 82
1986 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique, dies in air crash at 53

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Historical Events

615 – Pope Deusdedit [Adeodatus I] elected to succeed Boniface IV as Catholic Pope
1864 – Approx 25 Confederates make surprise attack on St Albans, Vermont
1946 – Yanks trade Joe Gordon to Cleveland for Allie Reynolds
1988 – 3 Americans win Nobel in physics; 3 W Germans win chemistry Nobel
1999 – “Believe” single released by Cher (Billboard Song of the Year, 1999; Grammy Award Best Dance Recording, 2000)
2006 – MLB National League Championship: St. Louis Cardinals beat New York Mets, 4 games to 3

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Famous Birthdays

1911 – Hilde Spiel, Austrian writer, born in Vienna (d. 1990)
1936 – Johnetta Betsch Cole, educator/president (Spellman College)/(Sen-D-KY)
1940 – Jerzy Kulej, Polish light welterweight boxer (Olympic gold 1964, 68), (d. 2012)
1955 – Nino DeFranco, Canadian musician (The DeFranco Family)
1979 – José Luis “Parejita” López, Mexican footballer
1982 – Louis Oosthuizen, South African golfer (British Open 2010; runner-up in all 4 major events), born in Mossel Bay, South Africa

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Famous Deaths

1216 – King John of England (1199-1216), agreed to the Magna Carta, dies at 49
1897 – George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)
1937 – Betty Carver, wife of English WWII Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, dies
1955 – John Hodiak, American actor (Battleground, A Bell for Adamo, Lifeboat), dies from coronary thrombosis at 41
1964 – Nettie Palmer, Australian poet and essayist (Henry Handel Richardson: A Study), dies at 79
2013 – Ronald Shannon Jackson, American avant-garde jazz and funk drummer, and composer (Cecil Taylor; Last Exit; Decoding Society), dies of leukemia at 73

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Historical Events

1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock
1902 – 7th Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 23-0 in Birmingham
1952 – Date of the first Mad Magazine issue
1962 – US launches Ranger 5 for lunar impact; misses Moon
2012 – MLB American League Championship: Detroit Tigers beat New York Yankees, 4 games to 0
2016 – US White Houses says it is “confident” Russia behind recent email hacking and attempts to influence US election

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Famous Birthdays

1569 – Giambattista Marini, Italian poet (d. 1625)
1854 – Salomon August Andrée, Swedish engineer, balloonist and polar explorer, born in Gränna, Sweden (d. 1897)
1865 – Logan Pearsall Smith, American essayist and critic (d. 1946)
1918 – James Cameron Tudor, politician
1995 – Yui Ohashi, Japanese swimmer (Olympic gold women’s 200/400m IM 2021), born in Hikone, Japan
2001 – Annelise Manojlovic, English actress

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Famous Deaths

1771 – Robert Praelisauer, German composer, music director, and priest, dies at 62
1830 – Peter I Petrovic Njegos, bishop (Montenegro), dies
1862 – James Creighton, amateur American baseball player, dies of ruptured bladder from hitting home run on Oct 14th
1982 – Bess Truman, 1st lady (1945-53), dies in Independence, Mo at 97
2002 – Nikolay Rukavishnikov, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz 10, 16, 33), dies at 70
2020 – Sid Hartman, American sports journalist (Minneapolis Star Tribune; WCCO 830 AM), dies at 100

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Historical Events

1387 – Swells convent Windesheim initiated
1825 – 1st opera by Franz Liszt, “Don Sanche” premieres in Paris
1888 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie)
1918 – Yugoslavia proclaims itself a republic
1969 – NY Nets move from Comack to Island Garden, Hempstead NY
1984 – Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to Bruce Merrifield

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Famous Birthdays

1813 – Georg Büchner, German playwright (d. 1837)
1928 – Zacharias J de Beer, South African physician/MP (DP)
1931 – Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian writer
1941 – Viden Apostolov, Bulgarian soccer defender (22 caps; PFC Botev Plovdiv 429 games), born in Novi Iskar, Bulgaria (d. 2020)
1955 – Georgios Alogoskoufis, Greek politician
1959 – Norm MacDonald, Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor (Saturday Night Live, 1993-98; Dirty Work; The Norm Show), born in Quebec City, Quebec (d. 2021)

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Famous Deaths

1705 – Anne “Ninon” de l’Enclos, French patron of the arts, courtesan and writer, dies at 84
1849 – Frederic Chopin, Polish-French pianist and composer (Concert in F Minor), dies of at 39
1958 – Paul Outerbridge, American photographer, dies at 63
1977 – [Robert] Cal Hubbard, American football and baseball player and umpire (only person in football and baseball Hall of Fame), dies at 77
1996 – Berthold Goldschmidt, composer/conductor, dies at 93
2005 – Franky Gee, European techno artist (b. 1962)

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Historical Events

1861 – Confederacy starts selling postage stamps
1950 – The first edition of C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” is released in London
1982 – USSR performs underground nuclear test
1984 – Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican Archbishop, wins Nobel Peace Prize
1986 – Wole Soyinka, Nigerian playwright and poet, becomes the first African to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature
1990 – “Stand Up Tragedy” closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 13 performances

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Famous Birthdays

1762 – Paul Hamilton, Governor of South Carolina (1804-06) and U.S. Secretary of Navy (1809-12) (d. 1816)
1851 – James A. Ten Eyck, American champion rower and coach (Ten Eyck Trophy namesake), born in Tompkins Cove, New York (d. 1938)
1890 – Michael Collins, Irish revolutionary leader and leading figure in the struggle for Irish independence in the early 20th century, born in Clonakilty, Ireland (d. 1922)
1907 – Roger Vailland, French author (La Novice, Et Mourir de Plasir)
1962 – Flea [Michael Balzary], Australian-American bassist (Red Hot Chili Peppers), actor, and educator (Silverlake Conservatory of Music), 1962 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
1962 – Laura Coenen, team handball goalie (Olymp-1988, 92, 96), born in Neenah, Wisconsin

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Famous Deaths

1906 – Varina Howell Davis, First Lady of the Confederate States (1862-65), dies at 80
1981 – Moshe Dayan, Israel’s general/minister of Defense, dies at 66
1981 – Stanley Clements, actor (Boys’ Prison, Army Bound, Hot News), dies
1982 – Jakov Gotovac, Croatian conductor and composer (Ero the Joker), dies at 87
1995 – Richard Caldicot, British actor (Horse’s Mouth, Strife, Mrs Thursday), dies at 87
2020 – Andrzej Pogorzelski, Polish motorcycle speedway rider (Speedway World Team Cup gold 1965, 66, 69), dies at 82

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Historical Events

1777 – Mjr James Graves Simcoe appointed commandant of Queen’s Rangers (Penn)
1928 – German dirigible “Graf Zeppelin” lands in Lakehurst, New Jersey
1959 – KNDO TV channel 23 in Yakima, WA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1968 – American sprinter Wyomia Tyus wins her second consecutive Olympic 100m title with a world record 11.08s; beats teammate Barbara Ferrell by 0.08s for the gold medal at the Mexico City Games
1973 – 7th Country Music Association Award: Roy Clark wins
1992 – Howard Stern radio show begins broadcasting on WLUP-AM, Chicago

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Famous Birthdays

1723 – Johann Andreas Joseph Giulini, German composer (Canticum Zacharia), baptized in Augsburg, Bavaria (d. 1722)
1784 – Thomas Hastings, American composer, born in Washington, Connecticut (d. 1872)
1831 – Helen Hunt Jackson, American author (Ramona), born in Amherst, Massachusetts (d. 1885)
1836 – James Tissot, French artist, born in Nantes, France (d. 1902)
1908 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian economist (Affluent Society-58 Hillman Award), born in Iona Station, Ontario (d. 2006)
1910 – Xenophon Balaskas, South Africa cricketer (South African leg-spinner of 30’s), born in Kimberley, Cape Province (d. 1994)

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Famous Deaths

912 – Abdullah ibn Muhammad, Emir of Córdoba
1326 – Walter de Stapledon, English bishop (1308-26), dies at 65
1539 – Reynier Brunt, procureur-general of Court of Holland, dies
1788 – Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian admiral (Battle of Chesma), dies at 53
1980 – Apostolos Nikolaidis, Greek footballer and volleyball player (b. 1896)
2010 – Richard C. Miller, American photographer (b. 1912)

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Historical Events

1933 – Nazi Germany announces its withdrawal from the League of Nations
1958 – Malagasy Republic becomes autonomous republic in French Community
1962 – Houston Oiler George Blanda throws for 6 TD passes vs NY Titans 56-17
1969 – USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1970 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1992 – Toronto Blue Jays beats Oakland A’s to win their 1st AL pennant

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Famous Birthdays

1859 – Camille Chevillard, French composer, born in Paris (d. 1923)
1902 – Shunter Coen, South African cricketer (South African batsman in two Tests 1927-28), born in Heilbron, Orange Free State (d. 1967)
1951 – Marcia Barrett, Jamaican-British rock vocalist (Boney M), born in Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica
1970 – Jim Jackson, NBA guard (Dallas Mavericks, Philadelphia 76ers)
1980 – Niels Lodberg, Danish footballer
1985 – Daniel Clark, Canadian actor

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Famous Deaths

1847 – William Michael Rooke, composer, dies at 53
1967 – Marcel Aymé, French novelist and playwright, dies at 65
1990 – Leonard Bernstein, American conductor and composer (West Side Story), dies of heart attack at 72
2004 – Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell, British historian, dies at 67
2012 – Arlen Specter, American Senator (Republican-PA, 1981- 2011), dies at 82
2020 – Fred Dean, American Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end (Pro Bowl 1979–81, 83; First-team All-Pro 1980, 81; Super Bowl 1981, 84; SD Chargers, SF 49ers), dies from COVID-19 at 68

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Historical Events

1724 – Jonathan Swift publishes last of Drapier’s letters
1899 – 7,000 laid-off black mine workers of South Africa reach Natal
1964 – US sweeps medals in the men’s 200m backstroke at the Tokyo Olympics; Jed Graef swims world record 2:10.3 to win gold ahead of teammates Gary Dilley and Bob Bennett
1994 – Earliest start of Sheffield Shield season (Queensland v Tasmania)
1997 – Andy Green’s Jet-powered car reaches record 749.69 MPH
2018 – Oldest known human remains from Poland at 115,000 years from revealed to be Neanderthal child from Ciemna Cave eaten by a large bird

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Famous Birthdays

1878 – Patrick Joseph Hartigan, Australian Roman Catholic priest, born in O’Connell Town, Yass, New South Wales (d. 1952)
1912 – Jan Peeters, Dutch watercolor painter, stained glass, tile, and monument artist, born in Amsterdam (d. 1992)
1923 – Faas Wilkes, Dutch soccer star (Xerxes, Fortuna, Inter Milan), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 2006)
1958 – Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabian progressive journalist, author, and editor in chief (Al-Arab News Channel), born in Medina, Saudi Arabia (d. 2018)
1968 – Tisha Campbell, American actress (Gina-Martin, House Party), born in Newark, New Jersey
1971 – Irv Smith, American NFL tight end (New Orleans Saints), born in Trenton, New Jersey

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Famous Deaths

1415 – Thomas FitzAlan, 12th Earl of Arundel, English military leader (b. 1381)
1805 – Johann Christoph Kuhnau, German composer (Thomaskantor in Leipzig), dies at 70
1918 – Gerrit Engelke, German writer (Briefer der Liebe), dies fighting in WWI at 27
1947 – Sydney Webb, English socialist and economist (founded London School of Economics) and husband of Beatrice Webb, dies at 88
1970 – Julia Culp, Dutch mezzo-soprano, dies at 90
2004 – Enrique Fernando, Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, dies at 89

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Historical Events

1776 – British Brigade begins guarding Throgg Necks Road in Bronx
1854 – Lincoln University founded in Pennsylvania as Ashmun Institute
1914 – The First Battle of Ypres begins
1944 – German army retreats from Athens
1976 – Hua Guo-feng succeeds Mao Zedong as chairman of Communist Party
2008 – Senior Players Championship Men’s Golf, Baltimore CC: D. A. Weibring wins his lone career major title by 1 stroke from Fred Funk

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Famous Birthdays

1832 – Walter T Watts-Dunton, English lawyer, poet and writer (Aylwin), born in St. Ives, England (d. 1914)
1884 – Godfrey Tearle, English-American actor (39 Steps, Mandy, At Dawn We Die), born in NYC, New York (d. 1953)
1895 – Alfred “Tubby” Hall, American jazz drummer (King Oliver; Louis Armstrong), born in Sellers, Louisiana (d. 1945)
1905 – Rick Ferrell, American Baseball Hall of Fame catcher (8 x MLB All Star; Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators), born in Durham, North Carolina (d. 1995)
1916 – Alice Childress, American playwright, actress and writer, born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 1994)
1981 – Brian Kerr, Scottish football manager, born in Dublin, Ireland

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Famous Deaths

1565 – Jean Ribault, French explorer and colonizer (b. 1520)
1914 – Margaret E. Knight, American inventor (flat-bottomed paper bag), described as a “female Thomas Edison”, dies at 76
1924 – Anatole France [Jacques Anatole Thibault], French writer (Thaïs, Wickerwork Woman, Nobel 1921), dies at 80
1979 – Celia Lovsky, Austrian-American actress (Man of a Thousand Faces), dies from natural causes at 82
2008 – Karl Chircop, Maltese politician (b. 1965)
2013 – Oscar Hijuelos, American novelist (The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love), dies from a heart attack at 62

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Historical Events

1138 – Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, kills an estimated 230,000
1923 – A pair of Babe Ruth home runs in the 4th and 5th innings is the difference; NY Yankees beat NY Giants, 4-2 at the Polo Grounds to tie World Series, 1-1
1976 – Mao Zedong’s widow Jiang Qing and the “Gang of Four” are arrested and charged with plotting a coup
1978 – Dodgers Bob Welch dramatically strikes out Reggie Jackson in 9th
1981 – Unknown rocker Prince opens for Rolling Stones at LA Coliseum
2006 – US sitcom “30 Rock” created by and starring Tina Fey alongside Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan first premieres on NBC in the US

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Famous Birthdays

1782 – Steen Steensen Blicher, Danish poet and short-story writer (E Binddstouw), born in Vium, Denmark (d. 1848)
1872 – Harlan Fiske Stone, Chief Justice Supreme Court (1941-46), born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire (d. 1946)
1914 – J. Edward Day, 55th U.S. Postmaster General (1961), born in Jacksonville, Illinois (d. 1996)
1939 – Maria Bueno, Brazilian tennis player (7 Grand Slam singles titles), born in São Paulo, Brazil (d. 2018)
1971 – Chann McRae, American cyclist (Olympics 1996), born in Albany, Georgia
1971 – Natalie Jay, English actress (Baywatch), born in Hendon, London

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Famous Deaths

1598 – Joachim Camerarius, German botanist (horticulture catalog) and physician, dies at 63
1959 – Bert Bell, NFL hall of famer, dies at 64
1960 – Richard Cromwell [LeRoy Melvin Radabaugh], American actor (Jezebel, Riot Squad), dies of cancer at 50
1967 – Ivan Isakov [Hovhannes Ter-Isahakyan], Russian-Armenian military commander (Commander in Chief of the Soviet Navy during World War II), dies at 73
1990 – Robert Tessier, actor (Nightwish, Future Force), dies at 56
1995 – Isolde Ahlgrimm, Austrian harpsichordist, fortepianist, early music and original instrument proponent, and teacher, dies at 81

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