Category: On This Day

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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Historical Events

1862 – -Dec 20th] Battle of Kelly’s Ford, VA
1917 – Cheka formed – Soviet state security force and forerunner to the KGB, under Felix Dzerzhinsky after decree by Lenin
1941 – Free France under adm Muselier occupies St-Pierre et Miquelon
1949 – Maurice Ravel and John Cranko’s ballet “Beauty and the Beast” premieres
1963 – “Contempt” film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Brigitte Bardot and Jack Palance, is released
1966 – Nuclear Planning Group forms in Brussels

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Famous Birthdays

1729 – Franz Xaver Thomas Pokorny, Czech composer, born in Městec Králové (d. 1794)
1894 – Robert Menzies, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (United Australia Party: 1939-41, Liberal: 1949-66) and its longest-serving, born in Jeparit, Victoria (d. 1978)
1902 – George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent, born in York Cottage, United Kingdom (d. 1942)
1925 – Benito Lorenzi, Italian footballer, born in Buggiano, Italy (d. 2007)
1963 – Pam Casale, American tennis player (Marco Island finals 1985), born in Camden, New Jersey
1983 – Adrián Varela, Mexican singer, born in Culiacán, Mexico

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Famous Deaths

1812 – Sacagawea, Shoshone interpreter for the Lewis and Clark expedition, dies at 24
1936 – Baron De Borchgrave, Belgian ambassador, murdered in Madrid
1962 – Erik William Gustav Leidzen, Swedish American composer, dies at 68
1994 – J C “Jody” Bateman, fiddler, dies at 75
2015 – Patricia Elliott, American actress (Renee-Empire, One Life to Live), dies at 77
2017 – Bernard Francis Law, Disgraced American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (1982-2002), dies at 86

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Historical Events

1777 – Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania for the winter
1842 – US recognizes independence of Hawaii
1862 – Skirmish at Jackson, Salem Church, Tennessee (80 casualties)
1931 – Joseph A Lyons (C) becomes premier of Australia
1948 – Cleveland Browns beats Buffalo Bills 49-7 in AAFC championship game
1993 – “Red Shoes” closes at Gershwin Theater NYC after 5 performances

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Famous Birthdays

1817 – James Jay Archer, Brigadier General (Confederate Army) (d. 1864)
1905 – (Charles) Robert Medley, English abstract and figurative style painter, born in London (d. 1994)
1925 – Robert Sherman, songwriter (Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book), born in NYC, New York (d. 2012)
1934 – Rudi Carrell [Rudolf W Kesselman], Dutch showmaster
1957 – Kevin McHale, American NBA forward (Boston Celtics), born in Hibbing, Minnesota
1960 – Mike Lookinland, American actor (Bobby-Brady Bunch), born in Mt Pleasant, Utah

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Famous Deaths

1911 – John Bigelow, American statesman and author, dies at 94
1967 – Alfred Courtens, Belgian sculptor, dies at 78
1982 – Jean-Jacques Grunenwald, French organist/composer, dies at 71
1982 – Dwight Macdonald, American social critic (b. 1906)
1990 – Massimo Amfiteatrof [Maksim Amfiteatrov], Russian-Italian classical musician, known as ‘the Cellists’ Caruso’, dies at 83
1995 – Harold Watkinson, British politician/businessman, dies at 85

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Historical Events

1813 – British take Fort Niagara in War of 1812
1917 – The Soviet government issues a decree recognizing Finland’s newly-declared independence [N.S. December 31]
1956 – Israeli flag hoisted on Mount Sinai
1963 – “The Pink Panther” film premieres directed by Blake Edwards and starring Peter Sellers and David Niven with theme by Henry Mancini
1969 – House of Lords votes to abolish the death penalty in England, Wales and Scotland (Northern Ireland 25 July 1973)
2018 – Manchester United sacks high profile Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho; United in 6th place in EPL, 19 points behind league leaders Liverpool; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer new caretaker manager

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Famous Birthdays

1734 – Jean-Baptiste Rey, French conductor (Paris Opera) and composer, born in Lauzerte, France (d. 1810)
1920 – Willis Conover, American broadcaster (Voice of America), born in Buffalo, New York (d. 1996)
1934 – Colin Baker, Welsh soccer wing half (7 caps; Cardiff City 298 games), born in Cardiff, Wales (d. 2021)
1966 – Mille Petrozza, German singer (Kreator)
1970 – Lucious Harris, NBA guard (NJ Nets, Dallas Mavericks)
1971 – Frank Pimiskern, CFL safety (BC Lions)

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Famous Deaths

1651 – Francisco the Melo, Portuguese-Spanish earl of Assumar, dies at 54
1894 – Erastus Flaval Beadle, American publisher (Beadle’s Dime Novels), dies at 73
1971 – Aleksandr Tvardovsky, Russian poet and editor in chief (Novyj Mir), dies at 61
2002 – Wayne Owens, former U.S. Congressman (D-Utah) (b. 1937)
2004 – John W. Downey, American composer, dies at 77
2007 – Jack Linkletter, American TV host (Haggis Baggis, Hootenanny), dies at 70

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