Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1886 – Modest Mussorgsky’s musical fantasy “Night on Bald Mountain” premieres in St. Petersburg’s Kononov Hall, Russia
1968 – The Nationalist Party of Northern Ireland (NPNI) withdraws from its role as ‘official’ opposition within the Northern Ireland parliament at Stormont
1969 – Vietnam Moratorium Day; millions nationwide protest the war
1975 – Iceland moves intl boundary from 50 to 200 miles
1977 – Don Ritchie runs world record 100 mile (11:30:51)
1997 – NY jury awards boxer Mitch Green $45,000 in civil lawsuit against Mike Tyson, for street brawl in 1988

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Famous Birthdays

1885 – Dirk Filarski, Dutch painter and lithographer (Bergense School), born in Amsterdam (d. 1964)
1925 – Tony Hart, English artist and television presenter (Take Hart, Hartbeat), born in Maidstone, Kent (d. 2009)
1934 – Peter Haskell, American actor (Bracken’s World, Rituals), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2010)
1944 – Haim Saban, Israeli-American media proprietor (Saban Entertainment), born in Alexandria, Kingdom of Egypt
1968 – Meredith Rainey, American 800m runner, born in Brooklyn, New York
1979 – Paul Robinson, English football player

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Famous Deaths

1817 – Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish-Lithuanian military leader and statesman considered a national hero, dies at 71 after falling from a horse, developing a fever and suffering a stroke
1883 – Francesco Schira, composer, dies at 74
1918 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian saint (b. circa 1838)
1981 – Frank DeKova, actor (Chief Wild Eagle-F Troop), dies at 71
2008 – Edie Adams [Edith Enke], American businesswoman, singer, actress and comedian (Murial Cigar), dies at 81
2012 – Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, dies from a heart attack at 89

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Historical Events

1862 – Excelsiors defeat Unions of Morrisania 13-9
1960 – Peace Corps 1st suggested by John F. Kennedy in a speech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
1964 – Mary Rand of Great Britain leaps a world record 6.76m to win the women’s long jump gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics
1969 – Race riots in Springfield, Massachusetts
1973 – 42 year old future Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Willie Mays’ last MLB career hit, as NY Mets beat A’s, 10-7 in World Series Game 2 in Oakland
1995 – Atlanta Braves become 1st team to sweep in NL playoff (beat Reds)

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Famous Birthdays

1404 – Marie of Anjou, Queen of France (1422-61), born in Angers, France (d. 1463)
1643 – Bahādur Shah I, 7th Mughal Emperor of India, born in Burhanpur, Mughal Empire (d. 1712)
1738 – Giovanni Zanotti, Italian composer, born in Bologna (d. 1817)
1940 – J. C. Snead, American golfer (8 PGA Tour titles; Masters 1973 runner-up), born in Hot Springs, Virginia
1967 – Dave Hajek, infielder (Houston Astros), born in Roseville, California
1981 – Boof Bonser, American baseball player

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Famous Deaths

1669 – Antonio Cesti, Italian composer, singer and musician, dies at 46
1703 – Thomas Hansen Kingo, Danish poet (b. 1634)
1983 – Paul Fix, American actor (Rifleman), dies of kidney failure at 82
1999 – Richard B Shull, American character actor (Diana, Holmes and Yoyo), dies at 70
2008 – Richard Cooey, American murderer and rapist (executed) (b. 1967)
2012 – Kyle Bennett, American BMX racer, dies in a traffic collision at 33

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Historical Events

1724 – Jonathan Swift publishes last of Drapier’s letters
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
1967 – First American Basketball Association (ABA) game is played with Oakland Oaks beating Anaheim Amigos, 132-129; red, white and blue ball and 3-point field goal introduced
1970 – A man dies in a premature bomb explosion in Dublin, Republic of Ireland
1984 – John Henry becomes 1st thoroughbred to win $6 million
1989 – Bob Quinn resigns as NY Yankee VP/GM and replaced by Harding Peterson

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Famous Birthdays

1783 – Frantiszek Sołtyk, Polish composer, born in Piastów, Poland (d. 1865)
1853 – Maria “Beppie” Bakker, Dutch actress and wife of Piet Vink Senior (d. 1949)
1876 – Rube Waddell, American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (Triple Crown, AL wins leader 1905; ERA leader 1900, 05; strikeout leader 1902–07; Philadelphia A’s), born in Bradford, Pennsylvania (d. 1914)
1954 – Claude Ribbe, French historian and writer, born in Paris
1970 – Paul Potts, British opera singer and winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2007, born in Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, England
1973 – Peter Dumbreck, Scottish race car driver, born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland

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Famous Deaths

1788 – Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, Irish politician and poet (b. 1702)
1795 – William Prescott, American Revolutionary soldier, dies
1819 – Giovanni Battista Gaiani, Italian organist and composer, dies at 61
1979 – Rebecca Clarke, British-American violist and classical composer (Morpheus), dies at 93
1996 – Henri Nannen, journalist, dies at 82
2016 – Gerhard Wimberger, Austria composer (Glove), dies at 93

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Historical Events

1609 – Children’s rhyme “Three Blind Mice” published in London
1730 – Christian VI succeeds Frederik IV as king of Denmark
1862 – JEB Stuart completes his “second ride around McClellan”
1920 – Cleveland Indians beat Bkln Dodgers, 5 games to 2 in 17th World Series
1976 – Hua Guo-feng succeeds Mao Zedong as chairman of Communist Party
1979 – Typhoon Tip becomes the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded with peak sustained winds of 305km/h (190mph) and a wind diameter of 2,220km (1,380mi)

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Famous Birthdays

1855 – August Sauer, Austrian literature historian (Euphorion), born in Wiener Neustadt, Austria (d. 1926)
1891 – Edith Stein, German philosopher and Discalced Carmelite nun (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), born in Breslau (Silesia), Germany (d. 1942)
1903 – Josephine Hutchinson, American actress (Story of Louis Pasteur), born in Seattle, Washington (d. 1998)
1935 – Luciano Pavarotti, Italian operatic tenor (Oh Giorgio, The Three Tenors), born in Modena, Italy (d. 2007)
1942 – Daliah Lavi [Levinbuck], Israeli actress (Casino Royale, Lord Jim), born in Haifa, British Palestine (d. 2017)
1968 – Charles Anthony, American CFL defensive back (Toronto Argonauts), born in Las Vegas, Nevada

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Famous Deaths

638 – Honorius I, [dux plebis], Italian Pope, dies
1941 – Harry Micajah Daugherty, American politician, lawyer and political manager accused of corruption, dies at 81
1983 – Jiri Lederer, Czechoslovakia journalist/dissident, dies at 61
1989 – Franco, [Francis Luambo/”Makiadi”], Zaire composer/music, dies at 51
1998 – Mario Beaulieu, French Canadian politician (b. 1930)
2007 – Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect (b. 1934)

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Historical Events

1776 – Brigadier-General Arnold’s Lake Champlain fleet defeated by British during the Battle of Valcour Island (American Revolutionary War)
1863 – Skirmish at Rheatown/Henderson’s Mill, Tennessee
1906 – White Sox Ed Walsh strikes out then record 12 in a World Series game
1960 – Radio/TV executive John Fetzer buys a controlling interest of Detroit Tigers
1985 – President Reagan bans import of South African Krugerrands to the USA
1997 – Dennis Rodman returns from second longest NBA suspension (11 games)

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Famous Birthdays

1675 – Samuel Clarke, English philosopher and theologian, born in Norwich, England (d. 1729)
1835 – Hunter McGuire, American physician and Med Director (Confederate Army), born in Winchester, Virginia (d. 1900)
1871 – Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian Christian leader who founded the evangelical Brunstad Christian Church, born in Fredrikstad, Norway (d. 1943)
1884 – Sig Ruman [Siegfried Albon Rumann], German-American actor (Schultz-Life With Luigi), born in Hamburg, Germany (d. 1967)
1956 – Nicanor Frutos, 47th President of Paraguay (2003-08), born in Coronel Oviedo, Paraguay
1961 – Amr Diab, Egyptian singer (Leily Nehary), born in Port Said, Egypt

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Famous Deaths

1809 – Meriwether Lewis, American explorer, soldier and public administrator who helped lead the Lewis and Clark Expedition, dies of gunshot wounds at 35 under mysterious circumstances that could have been murder or suicide along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee at an inn called Grinder’s Stand
1962 – Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg, Austrian botanist who was one of three scientists (also Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns) who independently rediscovered Gregor Mendel’s work on the laws of genetics, dies at 90
1984 – K. M. Rangnekar, Indian cricketer (33 runs at 5 50 for India), dies at 67
1988 – Wayland Flowers, ventriloquist (Madame), dies of AIDS at 48
2002 – Dina Pathak [Ghandi], Indian Gujarati theatre actress, director and activist (President-National Federation of Indian Women), dies of a heart attack at 80
2006 – Cory Lidle, American baseball pitcher (b. 1972)

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Historical Events

1960 – Ron Stewart of Ottawa rushes for CFL-record 287 yards
1967 – Brendan Behan’s “Borstal Boy” premieres in Dublin
1976 – Giant’s Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey opens with the NY Giants going down 24–14 to the Dallas Cowboys in from of 76,042 fans
1978 – Yanks and Dodgers play in World Series # 75
1995 – Most Dutch telephone numbers increase to 10 digits
2010 – Senior Players Championship Men’s Golf, TPC Potomac: Mark O’Meara wins his lone Champions Tour major title with par on first playoff hole against Michael Allen

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Famous Birthdays

1819 – Zebulon York, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Avon, Maine (d. 1900)
1919 – Gerry Gomez, West Indian cricketer (post-war WI all-rounder), born in Trinidad (d. 1996)
1946 – Naoto Kan, Japanese politician (61st Prime Minister of Japan), born in Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan
1968 – Nancy Brookhart, American WPVA volleyballer (Hermosa-17th-1994), born in Elmhurst, Illinois
1972 – Yinka Dare, Nigerian NBA center (NJ Nets), born in Kano, Nigeria (d. 2004)
1974 – Julio Ricardo Cruz, Argentine footballer (Internazionale), born in Santiago del Estero, Argentina

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Famous Deaths

1765 – Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, dies at 77
1797 – Carter Braxton, American plantation owner and signer of the US Declaration of Independence, dies at 61
1893 – Lip Pike, American baseball player, dies at 48
1979 – Christopher Evans, British psychologist and computer scientist (b. 1931)
1996 – Siddig El Nigoumi, ceramicist, dies at 65
2004 – Christopher Reeve, American actor (Superman, Somewhere in Time), dies of an adverse reaction to an antibiotic at 52

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Historical Events

1915 – Gil Anderson races auto (165.1 km record) in Sheepshead Bay, New York
1953 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill aproves Guyanese Constitution
1961 – World Series scoreless pitching streak Yanks beat Reds 4 games to 1
1994 – Austrian parliamentary election (23% extreme-right)
2014 – Gatwick, Heathrow and JFK airports enhance screening for the Ebola virus
2017 – American economist Richard Thaler is awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics

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Famous Birthdays

1221 – Salimbene di Adam, Italian chronicler, born in Parma, Italy (d. 1288)
1884 – Martin Elmer Johnson, American adventurer and filmmaker, born in Rockford, Illinois (d. 1937)
1890 – Aimee Semple McPherson, Canadian-American evangelist (Pentecostal), born in South-West Oxford, Canada (d. 1944)
1925 – Robert Finch, American politician (8th U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare), born in Tempe, Arizona (d. 1995)
1935 – Paul Beers, Dutch actor (Mother Courage and Her Children)
1935 – Tibor Fátyol, Hungarian composer, born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (d. 2017)

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Famous Deaths

1793 – Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, French missionary (b. 1718)
1912 – Millie and Christine McCoy, American Siamese twins born slaves, die at 61
1990 – Richard Murdoch, actor (Lilli Marlene), dies of heart attack at 83
1994 – Raich Carter, English soccer forward (13 caps; Sunderland, Derby County, Hull C) and manager (Hull C, Leeds, Mansfield Town, Middlesborough), dies from a stroke at 80
1997 – Arthur Tracy, American radio personality (The Street Singer), dies at 98
2016 – Andrzej Wajda, Polish film director (Ashes and Diamonds, Man of Iron), dies at 90

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Historical Events

1955 – World’s most powerful aircraft carrier, USS Saratoga, launched
1962 – Spiegel scandal: Der Spiegel publishes article “Bedingt abwehrbereit” (“Conditionally prepared for defense”) about NATO manoeuver called “Fallex 62”, uncovering sorry state of West German army. Magazine soon accused of treason.
1963 – Sultan of Zanzibar cedes his mainland possessions to Kenya
1965 – Post Office Tower opens in London, tallest building in England
1972 – Lerrin LaGrow Campy, who had been hit by a pitch, is fined and suspended
2016 – 140 people are killed in an air strike during a wake in Sanaa, Yemen

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Famous Birthdays

1828 – Francisque Sarcey, French writer (Le Temps), born in Dourdan, France (d. 1899)
1837 – Otto Winter-Hjelm, Norwegian musician and composer, born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1931)
1883 – Dick Burnett, American musician (Man of Constant Sorrow), born in Monticello, Kentucky (d. 1977)
1918 – Ron Randell, Australian actor (Loves of Carmen, I am a Camera), born in Sydney, New South Wales (d. 2005)
1949 – Hamish Stuart, Scottish guitarist and singer (Average White Band), born in Glasgow, Scotland
1952 – Edward Zwick, American film director (Shakespeare in Love), born in Chicago, Illinois

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Famous Deaths

1651 – Isaac Elsevier, book publisher, dies at 55
1659 – Jean de Quen, French Jesuit missionary
1970 – Mitr Chaibancha, Thai film actor (b. 1934)
1994 – Brian Hartley, mathematician, dies at 55
1996 – Watkins Shaw, British musicologist, dies at 85
1997 – Brown Meggs, CEO (Capitol Records), dies of a brain hemorrhage at 66

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Historical Events

1922 – First radio link, WNJ (Newark) and WGY (Senectady) link for World Series
1922 – Oud-burgem of Rotterdam Zimmerman becomes High Comm’s of Austria
1926 – Italian Great Fascist Council forms
1927 – Yank Herb Pennock retires 1st 22 Pirates in World Series game
1944 – Uprising at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, Jews burn down crematoriums
1961 – 15th NHL All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL: All-Stars beat Chicago Black Hawks, 3-1

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Famous Birthdays

1728 – Caesar Rodney, Delaware, judge/signer (Declaration of Independence)
1929 – Harold Zirin, American astronomer, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2012)
1931 – Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop of South Africa and 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner, born in Klerksdorp, Western Transvaal, South Africa
1952 – Vladimir Putin, Russian politician (President and Prime Minister), born in Leningrad, Soviet Union
1952 – Graham Yallop, Australian cricketer (Australian capt in 7 Tests, won 1 lost 6), born in Balwyn, Australia
1974 – Shannon MacMillan, American soccer forward (Olympics 1996), born in Syosset, New York

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Famous Deaths

1553 – Cristóbal de Morales, Spanish composer, dies at about 53
1571 – Müezzinzade Ali Pasha, Turkish fleet commander, dies in the Battle of Lepanto
1903 – Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician (b. 1832)
1950 – Willis Carrier, American engineer (developed modern air conditioning), dies at 73
2007 – Norifumi Abe, Japanese motorcycle road racer, dies in road accident at 32
2009 – Shelby Singleton, American record label owner and producer (Smash Records, Mercury Records), dies of brain cancer at 77

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Historical Events

1898 – Gustav Mahler conducts 1st Wiener Philharmonic
1936 – NY Yankees beat Giants 4 games to 2 in 33rd World Series
1942 – Allied assault on oil installations of Bula Ceram
1996 – Lois and Clark (fictional characters) wed
2014 – John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser win the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
2019 – Tens of thousands of Hong Kong protesters march in defiance of a new ban on face masks

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Famous Birthdays

1510 – John Caius, English physician, born in Norwich, England (d. 1573)
1738 – Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, second child of Francis I Holy Roman Emperor, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1789)
1849 – Basil Zaharoff, Greek arms dealer (merchant of death), born in Muğla, Turkey (d. 1936)
1888 – Roland Garros, French pilot (d. 1918)
1954 – David Hidalgo, American musician (Los Lobos, Latin Playboys)
1962 – Rich Yett, baseball player

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Famous Deaths

1413 – Dawit I, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1382)
1651 – Heinrich Albert, German composer (Arien oder Melodien), dies at 47
1951 – Henry Gurney, British high commissioner to Malaya, assassinated
1972 – Cliff Hall [Robert Clifford Hall], American actor (At This Moment, Dutch Treat, Crime Photographer), dies at 78
1974 – V. K. Krishna Menon, Indian nationalist, Minister of Defense (1957-62), dies at 78
2010 – David Rowbotham, Australian poet and journalist, dies at 86

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