Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1920 – Detroit radio station 8MK (now WWJ, 950AM) is 1st to broadcast a news program on the air
1944 – Allied offensive at “Gothen-linie” Italy
1977 – Spyros Kyprianou appointed president of Cyprus
1978 – Constitution adopted by Sri Lanka
1997 – Don Mattingly’s #23 is retired by NY Yankees
2012 – Apple loses its patent dispute with Samsung in Tokyo, Japan

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Famous Birthdays

1749 – Alexander Radishchev, Russian writer (Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow), born in Moscow (1802)
1889 – Bombardier Billy Wells [William Thomas Wells], English heavyweight boxer (Lonsdale Belt, 1911), born in London, England (d. 1967)
1892 – Claire DuBrey, American actress (Lightnin’ in the Forest), born in Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho (d. 1993)
1908 – Peter Conrad Baden, composer
1957 – Colm O’Rourke, Former Gaelic footballer and Current panelist
1982 – Ian Crocker, American swimmer

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Famous Deaths

1631 – Nicolaus Erich, composer, dies at 43
1796 – John McKinly, American physician and President of Delaware, dies at 75
1995 – John Erik Jonsson, American businessman and Mayor of Dallas, dies at 93
2005 – Michael Sheard, British actor (b. 1940)
2007 – Gay Brewer, American golfer (US Masters 1967), dies of lung cancer at 75
2017 – Edward du Cann, British politician and Chairman of the Conservative Party (1965-67), dies at 93

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Historical Events

1721 – Russian and Swedish sign Treaty of Nystad, ending North Sea War
1933 – Portuguese dictator Salazar forms secret police (PIDE)
1958 – US performs nuclear test at S Atlantic Ocean
1960 – US women’s 4 x 100m medley relay team swims world record 4:41.1 to beat Australia and win the gold medal at the Rome Olympics; Lynn Burke, Patty Kempner, Carolyn Schuler and Chris von Saltza
1986 – Soviet authorities arrested Nicholas Daniloff (US News World Report)
1992 – “Most Happy Fella” closes at Booth Theater NYC after 229 performances

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Famous Birthdays

1916 – Kenneth Keith, Lord Keith of Castleacre, English banker, born in Castle Acre, England (d. 2004)
1925 – Julien Schoenaerts, Flemish actor (Daens/Medea), born in Eigenbilzen, Belgium (d. 2006)
1948 – Donnacha O’Dea, Irish poker player and swimmer
1953 – Ron George, American politician (Member of the Maryland House of Delegates), born in Syracuse, New York
1954 – David Paymer, American actor (Love Mary, Mr Saturday Night), born in Oceanside, New York
1959 – Mark Jackson, Australian rules footballer and actor, born in Melbourne, Australia

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Famous Deaths

524 – Chlodomer, Frankish King of Orléans dies at about 29
1903 – Vicente Fidel López, Argentine historian (Historia the Chile), dies at 87
1989 – Dorothy Schiff, American owner and publisher (NY Post), dies at 86
1996 – José Toribio Merino, Chilean admiral (one of the principal leaders of the 1973 Chilean coup d’état), dies at 80
2001 – Julie Bishop [Jacqueline Wells], American actress (My Hero, Northern Pursuit, Threat), dies of pneumonia at 87
2002 – J. Lee Thompson, English film director (b. 1914)

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Historical Events

1655 – Warsaw falls without resistance to a small force under the command of Charles X Gustav of Sweden during The Deluge.
1907 – The Quebec Bridge over St Lawrence River collapses during construction, killing 75 workers
1947 – B.R. Ambedkar is appointed chairman of the drafting committee for the Indian constitution
1954 – San Francisco International Airport (SFO) opens
1960 – Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser wins blue ribband 100m freestyle gold medal at the Rome Olympics; retains title won in Melbourne 1956; will win unprecedented 3rd consecutive 100m gold in Tokyo 1964
1990 – C-5 transport plane crashes at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, killing 13

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Famous Birthdays

1862 – Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian poet (Blue Bird, Nobel 1911), born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1949)
1891 – Michael Chekhov, Russian-American actor (Abie’s Irish Rose, Rhapsody), born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (d. 1955)
1923 – Lester Trimble, American composer, music critic and educator, born in Bangor, Wisconsin (d. 1986)
1959 – Tony Johnson, New Zealand rugby commentator and presenter (Newstalk ZB; TV3; SKY Television), born in Picton, New Zealand
1962 – Carl Banks, American NFL linebacker (Cleveland Browns, NY Giants), born in Flint, Michigan
1967 – Neil Gorsuch, American lawyer and US Supreme Court Judge (2017-) nominated by Donald Trump, born in Denver, Colorado

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Famous Deaths

1910 – Allen Hill, cricket bowler (England, 2 Tests), dies
1933 – Georgy Eduardovich Konyus, Russian composer, and music theorist dies at 70
1965 – Paul Waner, American Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder (NL MVP 1927; NL batting champion 1927, 34, 36; MLB All-Star 1933–35, 37; Pittsburgh Pirates), dies at 62
1973 – Michael Dunn, American short actor (Justine, Boom, Madigan), dies at 38
1995 – Thomas Strittmatter, German writer, dies at 33
2007 – Alfred Peet, Dutch-American entrepreneur and the founder of Peet’s Coffee and Tea (b. 1920)

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Historical Events

1637 – WIC-colonel Hans Koin conquers Fort Elmina, West Africa
1884 – MLB pitcher Mickey Welsh makes record for most consecutive batters struck out to begin a game, striking out the 1st 9 men he faces
1967 – Boston signs 1st free-agent outfielder Ken Harrelson for $75,000 bonus
1982 – “Sugar Babies” closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 1208 performances
1986 – Bolivia president Victor Paz Estensoro calls state of siege
2004 – British athlete Kelly Holmes wraps up the 800/1,500m double at the Athens Olympics taking out the 1.5k in 3:57.90

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Famous Birthdays

1795 – Joannes Paredis, Belgian Bishop of Roermond, born in Bree, Belgium (d. 1886)
1833 – Edward Burne-Jones, English Pre-Raphaelite painter and designer, born in Birmingham, England (d. 1898)
1878 – George Whipple, American physician and biomedical researcher (Nobel-1934), born in Ashland, New Hampshire (d. 1976)
1903 – Rudolph Wagner-Régeny, composer, born in Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary (d. 1969)
1903 – Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-American psycho-analyst (Uses of Enchantment), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1990)
1981 – Agata Wróbel, Polish weightlifter, born in Żywiec, Poland

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Famous Deaths

1528 – Pedro Navarro, Navarrese general and engineer (invented the land mine), dies (b. c. 1460)
1803 – Charles L Fournier, Flemish writer and painter, dies
1955 – Emmett Till, African American kidnapped and lynched at 14, in Money, Mississippi
1981 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian soccer midfielder (4 caps; MTK Hungária, Hakoah Wien) and coach (Benfica, AC Milan, FC Porto; Hungary, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, Uruguay, Portugal), dies at 82
1995 – Michael VerMeulen, American journalist and magazine editor (British GQ), dies at 38
2015 – Al Arbour, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame defenceman, coach and executive (coach NY Islanders Stanley Cup 1980-83), dies of Parkinson’s disease and dementia at 82

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Historical Events

1859 – 1st successful oil well drilled, near Titusville, Pennsylvania, by Edwin Drake
1958 – USSR launches Sputnik 3 with two dogs aboard
1979 – 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and last Viceroy of India, is killed along with three companions, two of them children by the IRA when his boat is blown up near Sligo, Ireland
2002 – 59th Venice Film Festival: “The Magdalene Sisters” directed by Peter Mullan wins Golden Lion
2004 – China’s first ever gold in Olympic Games men’s track and field; Liu Xiang wins 110m hurdles in Athens, equalling Colin Jackson’s 1993 world record time of 12.91 seconds
2012 – First interplanetary human voice recording is broadcast from the Mars Rover Curiosity

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Famous Birthdays

1847 – Gustave J Waffelaert, Flemish theologist and bishop of Bridge, born in Rollegem, Belgium (d. 1931)
1930 – John Daly, British trade union leader
1967 – Bob Nastanovich, American percussionist (Pavement, Silver Jews), born in Rochester, New York
1969 – Avril Haines, American lawyer, 1st female Director of National Intelligence (2021-), born in New York City
1970 – Greg Woodcroft, 52 kg freestyle wrestler (Olympics 1996), born in Hamilton, Ontario
1972 – Mike Smith, Canadian actor

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Famous Deaths

1830 – Louis Henri, Prince of Condé, commits suicide at 74
1958 – Ernest Lawrence, American nuclear scientist and inventor (Cyclotron – Nobel 1939), dies at 57
1967 – Brian Epstein, English music entrepreneur and manager (Beatles), dies of an accidental barbiturate overdose at 32
1979 – Bolesław Szabelski, Polish organist and composer, dies at 82
2003 – Jinx Falkenburg [Eugenia], American actress and well-known US cover-girl model throughout 1930s-40s, dies at 84
2011 – Nico Minardos, Greek-American actor (The Twilight Zone; Twelve Hours to Kill), dies at 81

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Historical Events

1944 – Bulgaria announces withdrawal and German troops are to be disarmed
1947 – Dodgers’ Dan Bankhead, MLB’s 1st African-American pitcher, homers in his 1st MLB at bat in 16-3 loss to Pittsburgh, at Ebbetts Field, Brooklyn, NYC
1973 – University of Texas (Arlington) is first accredited school to offer belly dancing
2012 – 17 villagers in Afghanistan’s Kajaki district are beheaded by an unknown organization
2017 – Violent clashes after conviction of spiritual leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh kill 31 in Panchkula, 120 admitted to hospital
2017 – Half a million people take part in a peace march in Barcelona, following terrorist attacks

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Famous Birthdays

1788 – Aloys Schmitt, German pianist, composer and music theorist (Preparatory Exercises, Op. 16), born in Erlenbach am Main, Bavaria, Germany (d. 1866)
1891 – Emmy van Lokhorst, Dutch author
1942 – John E. Blaha, American USAF/astronaut (STS 29, 33, 43, 58, 79/81), born in San Antonio, Texas
1959 – Kathryn P Hire, American Lt Commander USN/astronaut (sk: STS 90), born in Mobile, Alabama
1966 – Shirley Manson, Scottish rock singer (Garbage), born in Edinburgh, Scotland
1979 – Jamal Lewis, American NFL running back (Super Bowl 2000; NFL rushing yards leader 2003; Baltimore Ravens), born in Atlanta, Georgia

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Famous Deaths

1785 – George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, British soldier and politician (b. 1716)
1977 – Heinz Rottger, German composer, dies at 67
1978 – Charles Boyer, French actor (Gaslight, Rogues), dies at 78
1995 – Evelyn Wood, speed reading guru, dies at 86
2002 – Miguel Querol Gavalda, Spanish musicologist and composer, dies at 90
2011 – John McAleese, British SAS Trooper, Team leader during 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege (b. 1949)

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Historical Events

1912 – The Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party, is founded.
1928 – Tri-City Rugby Football Union forms consisting of Moose Jaw, Regina and Winnipeg
1941 – German troops conquer Nowgorod, Leningrad
1967 – Train crash at Beesd, Netherlands: 2 die
1984 – USSR performs underground nuclear test
1987 – Madonna sings in Rotterdam

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Famous Birthdays

1921 – Bryce Mackasey, Canadian politician, born in Quebec, Canada (d. 1999)
1925 – Thea Astley, Australian novelist and short-story writer, born in Queensland, Australia (d. 2004)
1941 – Mario Corso, Italian soccer winger (23 caps; Inter Milan 413 games) and coach (Lecce, Inter), born in Verona, Italy (d. 2020)
1944 – Conrad Black, Canadian-born British newspaper magnate, born in Montreal, Quebec
1975 – Molly Tuter, WNBA guard (Phoenix Mercury)
1976 – Alexander Skarsgård, Swedish actor (True Blood, Big Little Lies), born in Stockholm, Sweden

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Famous Deaths

1688 – Henry Morgan, Welsh pirate and privateer who raided Spanish settlements and shipping, dies at 53
1885 – Reuben Fenton, American merchant and politician (22nd Governor of New York), dies at 66
1975 – John R Dunning, US physicist, dies at 67
1995 – Doug Stegmeyer, American rock bassist (Billy Joel Band, 1976-87), dies of a self-inflicted gun wound at 43
2005 – Peter Glotz, German politician (b. 1939)
2009 – Robert Heppener, Dutch composer (Hymns and Conversations for 28 Harps; Memento), dies at 84

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Historical Events

1217 – Battle of South Foreland: English fleet beats France
1814 – British forces capture Washington, D.C. and destroy many landmarks (War of 1812)
1904 – Battle of Liao-Yang-200,000 Japanese against 150,000 Russian, Japanese tactical victory
1914 – Jerome Kern and Michael E Rourles musical premieres in NYC
1921 – Battle of Sakaray Valley begins between Turkey and Greece
1994 – Kieren Perkins swims world record 1500m free style (14:41.66)

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Famous Birthdays

1898 – Malcolm Cowley, American author (Flowering of New England), born in Belsano, Pennsylvania (d. 1989)
1902 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-born American mafioso (Gambino family), born in Palermo, Sicily, Italy (d. 1976)
1919 – Enrique Llanes, Mexican professional wrestler, born in Otumba de Gómez Farías, Mexico (d. 2004)
1944 – Gregory Jarvis, American engineer and astronaut (STS 25), born in Detroit, Michigan
1946 – Richard N. Richards, American naval officer and astronaut (STS 28, 41, 50, 64), born in Key West, Florida
1961 – Colin Angus, Scottish pop musician (Shamen, Ebeneezer Goode)

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Famous Deaths

1991 – Abel Kivlat, US 1500m runner (Olympic silver 1912), dies at 99
1993 – Professor D B Deodhar, cricketer (Ind non-Test bat o 30s), dies at 101
1996 – Ahmed Bahauddin, journalist, dies at 69
1997 – Vincente “Tete” Montoliu, Catalonian jazz pianist, dies at 64
1998 – Gene Page, American arranger and composer (Righteous Brothers, Whitney Houston), dies at 58
2020 – Paul Wolfisberg, Swiss soccer forward (FC Luzern) and coach (Switzerland 1981-85), dies at 87

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Historical Events

1869 – 1st carload of rail freight (boots and shoes) arrives in San Francisco, from Boston after a 16-day trip
1915 – Tsar Nicolaas II takes control of Russian Army
1946 – 13th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: All-Stars 16, Los Angeles 0 (97,380)
1963 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1972 – Republican convention (Miami Beach, Fla) renominates Vice President Spiro Agnew but not unanimously: 1 vote went to NBC newsman David Brinkley
2008 – Midfielder Ángel Di María scores a 58th minute winner as Argentina beats Nigeria 1-0 to take the men’s football gold medal at the Beijing Olympics; 89,102 at the National Stadium

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Famous Birthdays

1911 – Albert Alberts, Dutch writer and journalist (French battle), born in Haarlem, Netherlands (d. 1996)
1919 – Robert Crichton-Brown, Australian businessman and CEO (Rothmans International), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 2013)
1922 – Eevi Huttunen, Finnish speed skater (8 World C’ship gold 1951-59), born in Karttula, Finland (d. 2015)
1951 – Akhmad Kadyrov, 1st President of Chechnya, born in Karaganda, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union (d. 2004)
1973 – James Roe, American football wide receiver (Baltimore Ravens), born in Richmond, Virginia
1974 – Benjamin Limo, Kenyan runner, born in Eldoret, Kenya

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Famous Deaths

1387 – King Olav IV of Norway (b. 1370)
1853 – Alexander Calder, first mayor of Beaumont, Texas (b. 1806)
1933 – Adolph Loos, Austrian architect, dies at 62
1962 – Irving Fine, American composer (Toccata), dies of heart disease at 47
1980 – Norman Shelley, English radio actor (Churchill’s Speech), dies at 77
2006 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader, dies at 78

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Historical Events

1787 – John Fitch’s steamboat completes its tests, years before Fulton
1914 – German troops execute 384 inhabitants of Tamines, Belgium
1917 – Pittsburgh Pirates play 4th straight extra inning game; left fielder Carson Bigbee sets MLB record of 11 at-bats in 22 inning, 6-5 loss to Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field
1944 – Adolf Hitler orders Paris to be destroyed [or 23rd]
1992 – Matthews and Warne spin Australia to a famous win v Sri Lanka
2004 – “The Scream” (1910 painted version) and “Madonna”, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway.

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Famous Birthdays

1836 – Archibald M Willard, American artist (Spirit of ’76), born in Bedford, Ohio (d. 1918)
1873 – Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician and philosopher, born in Sokółka, Poland (d. 1928)
1874 – Max Scheler, German philosopher (Vom Umsturz der Werte), born in Munich, Germany (d. 1928)
1891 – Jacques Lipchitz, Polish-French-American painter and cubist sculptor, born in Druskininkai, Lithuania (d. 1973)
1926 – Marc Bohan, French fashion designer, born in Paris
1958 – Stevie Ray [Lane Huffman], American professional wrestler, born in Houston, Texas

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Famous Deaths

1991 – Boris Pugo, USSR minister of Interior (1990), commits suicide
1996 – Mareo Ishiketa, Japanese composer, dies at 79
2004 – Daniel Petrie, Canadian television and movie director, dies at 83
2004 – Al Dvorin, American Elvis Presley concert announcer, dies at 81
2005 – Luc Ferrari, French composer, dies at 76
2011 – Nickolas “Nick” Ashford, American songwriter, record producer (“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”; “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”), and singer (Ashford and Simpson – “Solid”), dies of throat cancer at 70

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