Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1429 – Joan of Arc and Charles d’Albret liberate the heavily fortified town of Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier after a siege
1934 – After posting 7 straight shutouts to start the NFL season, Detroit Lions beat Pittsburgh, 40-7 at University of Detroit Stadium; scored upon for the first time of the season; rush for NFL single game record 426 yards
1957 – 2nd Soviet Earth-satellite launched
1978 – 3rd annual reentry free-agent draft, Pete Rose, Tommy John, and Darrell Evans, available
1988 – First NBA game at Charlotte Coliseum – Hornets lose to Cavs, 133-93
1994 – United Center in Chicago opens – Bulls beat Charlotte Hornets, 89-83

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Famous Birthdays

1842 – William Barker Cushing, American naval officer (best known for sinking the CSS Albemarle during a daring nighttime raid on 27 October 1864), born in Delafield, Wisconsin (d. 1874)
1903 – Ion Vasilescu, Romanian composer, born in Bucharest, Romania (d. 1960)
1943 – Marlene Jobert, French actress and novelist (Adventures of John Difool), born in Algiers, French Algeria
1946 – Frederick Elmes, American cinematographer (The Night Of), born in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey
1968 – Carlos Baerga, Puerto Rico, infielder (Cleveland Indians)
1970 – Corey Schwab, Canadian NHL goalie (NJ Devils), born in North Battleford, Canada

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Famous Deaths

1937 – Rogelio del Villar, Spanish composer, dies at 61
1940 – Manuel Azaña, Prime Minister of Spain (1931-33) and 2nd President of the Spanish Republic (1936-39), dies of a heart attack at 60 while in exile in France
1994 – Jan Wegter, actor (Pastorale 1943), dies at 64
1995 – Paul Eddington, British actor (Devil Rides Out, Yes Minister), dies at 68
1999 – Daisy Bates, American civil rights activist and publisher, dies at 84
1999 – Charles Wintour, English editor (The Evening Standard), dies at 82

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Historical Events

1620 – Great Patent granted to Plymouth Colony
1918 – Thousands of revolutionary German sailors with the fleet at Kiel mutiny, seize the city, and set up councils of workers and sailors
1927 – Tropical storm flooding kills 84 in Winooski River Valley, Vermont
1955 – First virus crystallized (announced)
1981 – Milwaukee Brewers future Baseball Hall of Fame reliever Rollie Fingers (6-3 record, 28 saves and 1.04 ERA) wins American League Cy Young Award, with 22 of 28 possible 1st-place votes
1993 – Greg Maddux becomes first pitcher since Sandy Koufax to win the National League’s Cy Young Award in successive MLB seasons and the first in successive seasons with different teams; Cubs 1992, Braves 1993

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Famous Birthdays

1826 – Jasper Adalmorn Maltby, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Kingsville, Ohio (d. 1867)
1914 – Hallgrímur Helgason, Icelandic novelist (Höfundur Íslands), born in Reykjavík, Iceland
1933 – Aneta Corsaut, Jutchinson Ks, actress (Helen Crump-Andy Griffith)
1943 – Bert Jansch, Scottish folk musician (Pentangle), born in Glasgow (d. 2011)
1952 – Roseanne Barr, American comedienne and TV star (Roseanne), born in Salt Lake City, Utah
1981 – Vicente Matías Vuoso, Mexican soccer striker (15 caps; Santos Laguna), born in Mar Del Plata, Argentina

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Famous Deaths

1584 – Saint Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal and Archbishop of Milan (1564-84), dies at 46
1643 – Paul Guldin, Swiss astronomer and mathematician (Guldinus theorem), dies at 66
1793 – Olympe de Gouges [Marie Gouze], French playwright and revolutionary (Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen), executed by guillotine at 45
1969 – Zeki Rıza Sporel, Turkish soccer striker (16 caps; Fenerbahçe), dies at 71
1993 – John Lupton, American actor (Tom-Broken Arrow), dies at 65
1994 – Ralph Wyckoff, American scientist and pioneer of X-ray crystallography, dies at 97

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Historical Events

1722 – Willem KH Friso (11) appointed viceroy of Gelderland
1813 – Treaty of Fulda signed in Germany after Battle of Leipzig
1949 – Netherland recognizes Indonesia as a sovereign state
1974 – USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1982 – Fire in Salung tunnel, Afghanistan, 1,000+ Russians die
1993 – Rudy Giuliani wins the New York mayoral election, becomes 1st Republican mayor since 1965

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Famous Birthdays

1892 – Paul Abraham, Hungarian composer (Viktoria und ihr Huzar), born in Apatin, Austria-Hungary (d. 1960)
1926 – Myer Skoog, American basketball guard (NBA C’ship 1952-4; Minneapolis Lakers), born in Duluth, Minnesota (d. 2019)
1932 – Melvin Schwartz, American Physicist and Nobel Laureate (neutrinos – subatomic particles with no electric charge and virtually no mass), born in NYC, New York
1967 – Marc van Roon, Dutch improvising musician, born in The Hague, Netherlands
1980 – Diego Lugarno, Uruguayan soccer defender (95 caps; São Paulo, Fenerbahçe), born in Canelones, Uruguay
1980 – Kim So-yeon, South Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea

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Famous Deaths

1845 – Chretien Urhan, composer, dies at 55
1937 – Maude Valérie White, French-born English composer, dies at 82
1950 – George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist (Pygmalion, Nobel Prize for Literature 1925), dies at 94
1979 – Jacques Mesrine, French “enemy of the state”, shot to death
1991 – Irwin Allen, American director (Land of the Giants, Poseidon Adventure), dies at 75
1995 – Alvaro Gomez Hurtado, Columbian politician (helped write Colombian Constitution), assassinated at 76

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Historical Events

1787 – First free school in NYC (African Free School) opens
1928 – Graf Zeppelin sets airship distance record of 6384 km
1972 – Germaoin Gagnon scores 1st Islander hat trick
1992 – New York City Marathon: Willie Mtolo of South Africa wins men’s race, 2:09:29; Australian Lisa Ondieki women’s champion, 2:24:40
2003 – University of Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald establishes a new NCAA record with a touchdown reception in his 14th straight game as Pittsburgh beats Boston College, 24-13 at Alumni Stadium
2012 – 46th Country Music Association Award: Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert wins

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Famous Birthdays

1860 – Boies Penrose, American politician (U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1897-1921)), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1921)
1896 – Edmund Blunden, English poet and critic (Undertones of War), born in London (d. 1974)
1898 – Sippie Wallace [Beulah Belle Thomas], American blues singer, (Women Be Wise), born in Plumb Bayou, Arkansas (d. 1986)
1961 – Anne Donovan, Basketball Hall of Fame center and coach (Olympic gold 1984, 88; coach 2008), born in Ridgewood, New Jersey (d. 2018)
1978 – Mary Kate Schellhardt, American actress (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape), born in Chicago, Illinois
1983 – Yuko Ogura, Japanese model, born in Mobara, Chiba, Japan

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Famous Deaths

1711 – Christian Demelius, composer, dies at 68
1947 – Man o’ War, American thoroughbred racehorse (Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes 1920), dies from a heart attack at 30
1995 – Lex Hixon, religious teacher/author, dies at 53
2004 – Terry Knight, American rock producer and singer (Grand Funk Railroad), murdered at 61
2007 – S. Ali Raza, Bollywood Screenwriter (b. 1922)
2017 – Ray Robinson, American magazine editor and biographer (Lou Gehrig), dies of a stroke at 96

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Historical Events

802 – Empress Irene of Byzantium driven out
1756 – Giacomo Casanova escapes from prison in Venice by climbing onto the roof
1863 – The Maori Wars resumed as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron began their Invasion of the Waikato
1932 – Greek government of Venizelos falls
1953 – TV broadcasting begins in Belgium
1982 – “Rock ‘n Roll!: The 1st…” closes at St James NYC after 9 performances

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Famous Birthdays

1291 – Philippe de Vitry, French composer and poet, born in Paris (d. 1361)
1941 – Derek Bell, British racing driver, born in Pinner, Middlesex, England
1941 – Lucas Brown Jackson, American basketball player (Olympic gold 1964), born in San Marcos, Texas
1957 – Robert Pollard, American rocker (Guided by Voices), born in Dayton, Ohio
1970 – Craig Kelly, English actor (Queer as Folk, Coronation Street), born in Lytham St Annes, England
1994 – Spencer Achtymichuk, Canadian actor (The Final Cut)

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Famous Deaths

1977 – Joan Tetzel, American actress (Hell Below Zero, Joy in the Morning), dies of cancer at 56
1994 – John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy, English art historian and director of British Museum (1974-76), dies at 80
2005 – John “Beatz” Holohan, American drummer (Bayside), dies in an auto accident at 31
2009 – Tom Wheatcroft, English businessman and car collector (Donington Grand Prix Collection ), dies at 87
2012 – Brian Cobby, British actor (Evita, The Nudist Story) and the first male voice of the British speaking clock, dies from health complications at 83
2018 – Willie McCovey, American Baseball Hall of Fame 1st baseman (6 x MLB All Star; NL MVP 1969; NL home run leader 1963, 68, 69; SF Giants), dies of an infection at 80

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Historical Events

1768 – First Methodist church in North American colonies initiated (Wesley Chapel, NYC)
1905 – “October Manifesto” Russian Tsar Nicholas II grants civil liberties and accepts the first Duma (Parliament)
1918 – WWI: Turkey signs an armistice with the Allies, agreeing to end hostilities at noon on 31 October
1944 – Anne Frank is deported from Auschwitz to Belsen
1948 – 20 die and 6,000 made ill by smog in Donora, Pennsylvania
1967 – Ferdinand Bracke bicycles world record time (48,093 km)

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Famous Birthdays

1668 – Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, 1st Queen consort of Prussia (1701-05), born in Iburg Castle, Osnabrück, Hanover (d. 1705)
1848 – Zinovy Rozhestvensky, Russian vice-admiral (d. 1909)
1896 – Rex Cherryman, American actor (Camille, The Sunshine Trail, In for Thirty Days), born in Grand Rapids, Michigan (d. 1928)
1905 – Christian Darnton, British composer, born in Leeds, England (d. 1981)
1915 – Fred W. Friendly, American journalist and broadcast executive, born in NYC, New York (d. 1998)
1966 – Quin Snyder, American basketball head coach (Utah Jazz 2014-19; University of Missouri 1999-2006), born in Mercer Island, Washington

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Famous Deaths

1915 – Charles Tupper, sixth Prime Minister of Canada, dies of heart failure at 94
2000 – Steve Allen, American comedian, composer, actor and TV host (Tonight Show, Steve Allen Show), dies of a heart attack at 78
2002 – William Mitchell, British physicist, dies at 77
2002 – Jam Master Jay, American rapper and musician (Run DMC) (b. 1965)
2013 – Pete Haycock, English guitarist, dies at 62
2018 – Hardy Fox, American member of avant-garde band The Residents, dies at 73

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Historical Events

1923 – Army move SPD/KPD-government to German part of Saxon
1923 – Gibbs/Grey/Wood’s revue “Runnin’ Wild” (introducing Charleston) opens on Broadway, New York City
1942 – Branch Rickey named president and General Manager of Brooklyn Dodgers
1947 – Trial of art forger Han van Meegeren begins in Amsterdam
1990 – 30 die in a (5.7) earthquake in Algeria
1998 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.

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Famous Birthdays

1875 – Marie, last Queen of Romania as the wife of King Ferdinand I (1914-27), born in Eastwell Park, Kent, England (d. 1938)
1898 – Emmanuel Bondeville, French composer, born in Rouen, France (d. 1987)
1938 – Ralph Bakshi, American animator (Lord of the Rings, Fritz the Cat, Mighty Mouse), born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine
1954 – Herman Ronald Frazier, 400m/4x400m runner (Olympic gold 1976), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1968 – Tsunku [Mitsuo Terada], Japanese music producer and former singer (SHARAM Q), born in Osaka, Japan
1970 – Marquez Pope, NFL cornerback (SF 49ers)

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Famous Deaths

1883 – Friedrich Robert Volkmann, composer, dies at 68
1931 – Luciano Gallet, Brazilian composer, dies at 38
1951 – De Raymond, French High Director of Cambodia, murdered
1968 – Marius Ulfrstad, Norwegian composer, dies at 78
1994 – Pearl Primus, Trinidad-born American dancer (poplularized African dance), dies at 74
1996 – J. Edward Day, 55th U.S. Postmaster General (1961), dies at 82

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Historical Events

1516 – Battle of Yaunis Khan: Turkish forces under the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the Mameluks near Gaza
1939 – Anti-German demonstrations/strikes in Czechoslovakia
1953 – Red Barber, resigns as Dodger sportscaster to join Yankees
1976 – Billy Martin named AL Manager of Year (NY Yankees)
1984 – 14th NYC Women’s Marathon won by Grete Waitz in 2:29:30
2012 – 15 people are killed and 33 injured by a series of Baghdad car bombings

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Famous Birthdays

1798 – Henri Bertini, French classical composer and pianist, born in London (d. 1876)
1842 – Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, American orator (Joan of Arc of the Civil War), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1932)
1897 – Edith Head, Hollywood costume designer (8 Oscars), born in San Bernardino, California (d. 1981)
1916 – Jessie Kesson, Scottish writer and radio producer, born in Inverness (d. 1994)
1962 – Bobby Tate, fictional character on Soap
1974 – Dejan Stefanović, Serbian footballer

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Famous Deaths

1138 – Boleslaw III Wrymouth [scheefmond], Duke of Poland, dies at 52
1412 – Margaret I of Denmark, wife of Haakon VI of Norway (b. 1353)
1916 – Oswald Boelcke, German pilot (b. 1891)
1918 – Edward Bouchet, American Physicist, 1st African American to receive US Ph.D, dies at 66
1996 – Jack Tinker, British drama critic, dies at 58
2001 – Gerard Hengeveld, Dutch composer (b. 1910)

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Historical Events

1924 – The Uzbek SSR is founded in the Soviet Union
1957 – Celal Bayar re-elected president of Turkey
1973 – 1st time Islanders beat Rangers-3-2
1974 – French runner Chantal Langlacé sets female world marathon record (2:46:24) in Neuf-Brisach, France
1979 – Voluntary Euthanasia Society publishes how-to-do-it suicide guide
1985 – KC Royals beat St Louis Cards, 4 games to 3 in 82nd World Series

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Famous Birthdays

1928 – Stefan Wewerka, German architect and sculptor, born in Magdeburg, Germany (d. 2013)
1946 – Leslie Byrne, American politician (Rep-D-Virginia), born in Salt Lake City, Utah
1958 – Manu Katché, French drummer (Peter Gabriel, Preface), born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France
1960 – Tom Nieto, American baseball player, born in Downey, California
1968 – Vinny Samways, English footballer, born in Bethnal Green, London
1971 – Mike Ricci, Canadian NHL center (Colorado Avalanche), born in Scarborough, Ontario

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Famous Deaths

1675 – Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (b. 1602)
1944 – Iman J Van de Bosch, Belgian resistance fighter, dies
1965 – French Luitjes, Dutch athlete, dies at 21
1988 – Hannah Tillich, German-American writer (Harbor Mouse) and wife of Paul Tillich, dies at 92
1995 – Susi Hush, English television producer, dies at 49
2010 – Néstor Kirchner, Argentine politician, President of Argentina (2003-2007), dies of heart failure at 60

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Historical Events

1850 – Robert McClure sights the fabled Northwest Passage for the first time (from Banks Island towards Melville Island)
1901 – First recorded use of “getaway car” occurs after holding up a shop in Paris
1905 – First Soviet (workers’ council) formed, St Petersburg, Russia
1930 – Dmitri Shostakovich’s ballet “Zolotoy Vyek” premieres in Leningrad
1950 – 630 Dutch volunteers depart for Korea
1985 – Doug Harvey’s #2 jersey is retired by the Montreal Canadiens

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Famous Birthdays

1645 – Aert de Gelder, Dutch painter (King David), born in Dordrecht, Netherlands (d. 1727)
1938 – Charles Stenholm, American politician (Rep-D-Texas, 1979-2005), born in Stamford, Texas
1964 – Vencie Glenn, American NFL safety (NY Giants), born in Grambling, Louisiana
1973 – Seth MacFarlane, American animator, television producer (American Dad!, Family Guy) and filmmaker (Ted), born in Kent, Connecticut
1974 – Lisa [Elizabeth Sakura Narita], Japanese musician (M-Flo), born in Tokyo
1996 – Pasaye, twin born 92 days before his brother (Jan 26), born in Palatine, Illinois

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Famous Deaths

1983 – Mike Michalske, American football NFL guard (NY Yankees, Green Bay Packers), dies at 80
1995 – Agha Saadat Ali, Pakistani cricketer (8 not out in 1 inn for Pak 1956), dies at 66
2005 – Keith Parkinson, American fantasy artist, dies of Leukemia at 47
2007 – Khun Sa, Burmese warlord (b. 1934)
2009 – Teel Bivins, American politician (b. 1947)
2014 – Jeff Robinson, American baseball player, dies at 52

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