Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1639 – Suzuki Shosan, Samurai monk of Zen Buddhism, found awakening
1867 – Congress creates 1st all-black university, Howard U in Washington, D.C.
1934 – Lou Gehrig plays in his 1,500th consecutive game
1997 – Britain’s Andy Green sets jet-powered car record (714 mph)
2012 – Anouchka van Miltenburg is elected President of the House of Representatives in the Netherlands
2019 – Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva named as the new head of the IMF

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Famous Birthdays

1830 – Karl Klindworth, German pianist and conductor, born in Hanover, Germany (d. 1916)
1835 – Harry Wright, English Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder and manager (established baseball’s first fully professional team, Cincinnati Red Stockings 1869), born in Sheffield, England (d. 1895)
1932 – Terry Medwin, Welsh footballer (Tottenham Hotspur), born in Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales
1935 – Harv Schmidt, American college basketball coach (University of Illinois 1967-74), born in Kankakee, Illinois (d. 2020)
1954 – Sylvester Croom, American college football coach, born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
1981 – Jason Bergmann, American baseball player, born in Neptune City, New Jersey

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Famous Deaths

1914 – Jan B Stobbaerts, Flemish painter, dies at 76
1967 – Hezekiah “Stuff” Smith, American jazz violinist and composer (It’s Wonderful), dies at 58
1986 – Ben Sajet, physician/politician, dies at 99
1995 – Bessie [Annie Elizabeth] Delany, American dentist and civil rights pioneer, dies at 104
1999 – Marion Zimmer Bradley, American writer, dies at 69
2010 – Art Gilmore, American actor (b. 1912)

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Historical Events

312 – Start of Imperial Indication
1493 – Christopher Columbus embarks on his 2nd expedition to the New World, setting sail with a fleet of 17 ships
1966 – -30] Hurricane Inez, kills 293 in Caribbean, Florida and Mexico
1969 – NY Mets clinch NL East pennant
1985 – Apollo Computer Inc lays off 300 employees
2019 – Spain’s Supreme Court rules body of dictator Francisco Franco can be removed from state mausoleum, the Valley of the Fallen, to municipal cemetery

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Famous Birthdays

1895 – André F. Cournand, French physician and physiologist (Nobel 1956), born in Paris (d. 1988)
1910 – Leon MacLaren, British philosopher and founder of the LSE, born in Glasgow (d. 1994)
1914 – Hein Jordans, Dutch conductor, born in Venlo, Limburg, Netherlands (d. 2003)
1939 – Sonny Turner, American singer (The Platters, The Metrotones), born in Fairmont, West Virginia
1950 – Mohinder Amarnath, Indian cricketer (son of Lala Indian batsman of 70’s/80’s), born in Patiala, India
1974 – Matt McKeon, American soccer midfielder (Olympic gold 1996), born in Florissant, Missouri

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Famous Deaths

1790 – John Keyse Sherwin, engraver/painter, dies
1813 – André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, Belgium French composer, dies at 72
1948 – Warren William [Krech], American actor (The Wolf Man, Cleopatra), dies of multiple myeloma at 53
1978 – Ruth Etting, US dancer/singer (Ziegfeld Follies), dies at 80
2002 – Leon Hart, American College Football Hall of Fame end and fullback (Heisman Trophy 1949, Notre Dame), dies at 73
2008 – Irene Dailey, American actress (Another World, Grissom Gang), dies of colon cancer at 88

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Historical Events

1868 – Grito de Lares proclaims Puerto Rico’s independence (crushed by Spain)
1913 – Women protests take place in the Free State, South Africa, led by Charlotte Maxeke, resisting government attempts to impose passes on women; passes are burnt in front of the municipal offices
1922 – Berthold Brecht’s “Drum in the Night” premieres in Germany
1963 – Georgette Ciselet is 1st woman on Belgian Council of State
1983 – Argentine military regime gives amnesty to military and political assassins
2012 – Scientists discover four genetically distinct types of breast cancer

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Famous Birthdays

1887 – Alfieri Maserati, Italian auto racer and engineer (established Maserati Racing), born in Voghera, Italy (d. 1932)
1934 – Per Olov Enquist, Swedish writer (Hour of the Lynx, The Royal Physician’s Visit), born in Hjoggbole, Sweden (d. 2020)
1943 – Marty Schottenheimer, American football coach (Cleveland Browns, San Diego Chargers), born in McDonald, Pennsylvania
1947 – Mary Kay Place, actress/country singer (Mary Hartman!), born in Tulsa, Oklahoma
1958 – Marvin Lewis, American NFL coach (DC Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl 2000; Cincinnati Bengals 2003-18), born in McDonald, Pennsylvania
1974 – Harumi Inoue, Japanese actress and model

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Famous Deaths

918 – Conrad I, German King of East Francia (911-18), dies of battle wounds at 42
1929 – Richard A Zsigmondy, Austria chemist (Nobel 1925), dies at 64
1937 – Caro Roma [Carrie Northey], American composer and singer, dies at 68
1956 – Earl Godwin, newscaster (Meet the Veep), dies at 75
1997 – Abe Gibron, head coach (Chicago Bears), dies at 72
2003 – Yuri Senkevich, Russian TV anchorman (b. 1937)

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Historical Events

1885 – Lord Randolph Churchill makes a speech in Ulster in opposition to Home Rule e.g. “Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right”
1915 – Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas) holds its 1st class
1921 – Music Box Theater opens at 239 W 45th St NYC
1925 – New York left fielder Ben Paschal hits 2 inside-the-park-home runs as the Yankees score an 11-6 home victory over Chicago White Sox
1931 – Coalition Government forms in New Zealand to combat the Depression (their lack of success led to the election of the First Labour Government in 1935)
1965 – India and Pakistan cease-fire goes into effect, ending the Indo-Pakistani War

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Famous Birthdays

1717 – Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer (d. 1783)
1917 – Peter Adams [James H Adams II], American actor (Zorro, Kraft Mystery Theater, Alternative), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1987)
1940 – Anna Karina, Danish French ‘New Wave’ actress (Alphaville), born in Solbjerg, Denmark (d. 2019)
1957 – Pete Jones, English rocker (Public Image Ltd.), born in Watford
1958 – Andrea Bocelli, Italian tenor (The Prayer), born in Lajatico, Italy
1970 – Mystikal, American rapper

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Famous Deaths

1959 – Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside, British fieldmarshal, dies at 79
1975 – Franz Salmhofer, composer, dies at 75
1981 – Harry Warren, American composer and lyricist (b. 1893)
1994 – Forest Cowles Bud Forrest Sagendorf, cartoonist, dies at 79
2007 – Bodinho, Brazilian footballer (b. 1928)
2007 – Marcel Marceau, French mime artist (b. 1923)

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Historical Events

1965 – O Kommissarova (USSR) sets women’s longest parachute jump (46,250′)
1973 – Nate Archibald signs 7 yr contract with NBA KC Kings for $450,000
1986 – SD Padre Jimmy Jones pitchs 1-hitter in his major league debut
2001 – University of Roorkee, becomes India’s 7th Indian Institute of Technology, rechristened as IIT Roorkee
2003 – Galileo mission terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter’s atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes
2009 – Macedonia officially enters the recession after experiencing a drop in GDP of 0.9% in the first quarter, followed by 1.4% in the second quarter

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Famous Birthdays

1756 – John Loudon McAdam, Scottish engineer and road builder who created macadam road surface (asphalt), born in Ayr, Scotland (d. 1836)
1840 – Murad V, 33rd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876), born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (d. 1904)
1899 – Luc Haesaerts, Flemish art critic (Flandre), born in Antwerp (d. 1962)
1934 – Leonard Cohen, Canadian writer and singer-songwriter (“Hallelujah”; Death of Ladies Man), born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 2016)
1944 – Fannie Flagg, American actress and comediene (Candid Camera), born in Birmingham, Alabama
1945 – Richard Childress, NASCAR team owner

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Famous Deaths

1558 – Charles V, King of Spain (1516-56) and Holy Roman Emperor (1519-56), dies of malaria at 58
1719 – Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (b. 1647)
1963 – Paulino Masip, Spanish playwright (b. 1899)
1966 – Paul Reynaud, Premier of France (May-June 1940), dies at 87
1985 – Gu Long, Taiwanese writer of wuxia novels (b. 1937)
1995 – Peter Shankland, filmmaker/writer, dies at 94

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Historical Events

1530 – Luther advises protestant monarch compromise
1917 – Paraguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1948 – Mexican Baseball league disbanded
1961 – USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1990 – South Ossetia declares its independence from Georgia
2016 – Black American Keith Lamont Scott is shot dead by a black police officer in Charlotte, North Carolina, provoking violent protests in the city

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Famous Birthdays

1873 – Robert Wrenn, American tennis player (US Open 1893-94, 1896-97), born in Highland Park, Illinois (d. 1925)
1910 – Jacques-Baptiste LeBrun, French finn yachtsman (Olympic gold 1932), born in Paris (d. 1996)
1936 – Dany Carrel, French actress (Passionate Summer), born in Tourane, Annam, French Indochina
1938 – Jane Manning, English soprano, born in Norwich
1967 – Catherine Bond-Mills, Woodstock Ontario, heptathlete (Olympics 1996)
1971 – Henryk Larsson, Swedish soccer player (Feyenoord), born in Helsingborg, Sweden

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Famous Deaths

1803 – Robert Emmet, Irish nationalist, executed
1884 – Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist, dies at 82
1968 – Frank Pelleg, Czech-Israeli composer, dies at 57
1984 – Steve Goodman, American folk singer and songwriter (Somebody Elses Trouble), dies at 36
1994 – Jimmy Hamilton, American jazz saxophonist, dies at 77
2010 – Leonard Skinner, American high school gym teacher; namesake of rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd (b. 1933)

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Historical Events

1796 – George Washington’s farewell address as president
1940 – Nazi decree forbids gentile woman to work in Jewish homes
1945 – Kim Il-sung arrives in harbor of Wonsan, Korea
1952 – “Adventures of Superman” TV series starring George Reeves premieres in syndication in the US
1955 – Hurricane Hilda, kills 200 in Mexico
1973 – Frank Robinson homers in record 32nd ML park (Arlington Tx)

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Famous Birthdays

1902 – Pieter Jan Bouman, Dutch sociologist and historian, born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (d. 1977)
1911 – William Golding, English novelist (Lord of the Flies, Nobel Prize for Literature 1983), born in Newquay, Cornwall (d. 1993)
1965 – Alexandra Vandernoot, Belgian actress (Highlander: The Series), born in Brussels, Belgium
1969 – Tapio Wilska, Finnish singer (Sethian), born in Savonlinna, Finland
1973 – Jeremy Jordan, American singer and actor, born in Hammond, Indiana
1981 – Damiano Cunego, Italian cyclist (Nippo–Vini Fantini team), born in Cerro Veronese, Italy

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Famous Deaths

1356 – Jean de Clermont, French marshal, dies in battle
1836 – Carl Friedrich Ebers, composer, dies at 66
1936 – Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, Indian musician (b. 1860)
1957 – Reginald Aldworth Daly, Canadian-American Geologist who independently developed the theory of magmatic stopping, dies at 86
1962 – Nikolai Pogodin, Soviet playwright, dies at 61
1987 – Einar Gerhardsen, Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1897)

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Historical Events

1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica on his 4th and last voyage
1635 – Emperor Ferdinand II declares war on France
1793 – US President George Washington lays the cornerstone of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
1915 – Boston Braves trounce St Louis Cardinals 20-1
2003 – The United Kingdom’s Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, receives Royal Assent
2017 – 69th Emmy Awards: hosted by Stephen Colbert, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, Elisabeth Moss, Sterling K Brown, Julia Dreyfus, Donald Glover win

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Famous Birthdays

1636 – Pietro Sanmartini, Italian composer, born in Florence, Italy (d. 1701)
1875 – Tomas Burgos, Chilean philanthropist (founder of Villa Lo Burgos), born in Osorno, Chile (d. 1945)
1906 – Semjon I Kirsanov, Ukrainian poet (Semj Dnej Nedeli), born in Odessa, Ukraine [OS=Sept 5]
1908 – Victor Ambartsumian, Russian astronomer (Stalin Prize 1946, 50), born in Tiflis, Russian Empire (d. 1996)
1973 – Ami Onuki, Japanese singer (Puffy AmiYumi), born in Tokyo, Japan
1973 – Mark Shuttleworth, South African entrepreneur (founder and CEO of Canonical Ltd.), born in Welkom, Orange Free State, South Africa

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Famous Deaths

31 – Sejanus, Roman head of praetorian guard, executed
1684 – Joannes Antonides van der Goes, Dutch poet (Ystroom), dies at 37
1860 – Joseph Locke, English railway and civil engineer, dies at 55
1904 – Herbert von Bismarck, German politician/son of Otto, dies
1929 – Hermann Gradener, German composer, dies at 85
1966 – Jeno Vecsey, Hungarian composer, dies at 57

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Historical Events

1900 – USA, Anthracite coal miners go out on strike for better wages until the October 25, by which time the owners are persuaded that their stand is harming President McKinley’s campaign
1939 – US National Championship Men’s Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Reigning Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs beats fellow American Welby van Horn 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
1941 – World War II: A decree issued by the Soviet State Committee of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch “Universal compulsory military training of the citizens of the USSR” in the face of the “Great Patriotic War”
1959 – Typhoon kills 2,000 in Japan and Korea
1992 – NFL decides to suspend World League Football
2004 – SF Giants outfielder Barry Bonds hits his 700th career MLB home run, off San Diego’s Jake Peavy

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Famous Birthdays

1825 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, American politician and U.S. Supreme Court Justice, born in Eatonton, Georgia (d. 1893)
1929 – Patricia “Pat” Crowley, American actress (Money from Home, There’s Always Tomorrow), born in Olyphant, Pennsylvania
1938 – Francisco Aritmendi, Spanish athlete (International Cross Country Championships 1964), born in Cogolludo, Spain (d. 2020)
1965 – Bryan Singer, American director
1980 – Asashoryu Akinori, Mongolian sumo wrestler (born as Dolgorsuren Dagvador)
1986 – Dimitrios Regas, Greek sprinter

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Famous Deaths

1823 – Abraham L Breguet, French clock maker, dies at 76
1862 – William Edwin Starke, Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at about 48
1948 – Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist (Patterns of Culture), dies at 61
1983 – Humberto Madeiros, US cardinal to Boston, dies at 67
1991 – Zino Francescatti, French violinist (NY Phil-1939), dies at 89
1998 – Ted Binion, Las Vegas casino heir (b. 1943)

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Historical Events

1858 – 1st overland mail for California
1951 – US National League umpire Frank Dascoli clears the Dodgers bench, ejecting 15 players
1960 – Amos Alonzo Stagg retires as a football coach at 98
1996 – Space Shuttle STS 79 (Atlantis 17), launches into space
2007 – 59th Emmy Awards: The Sopranos, 30 Rock, James Spader and Sally Field win
2019 – Guantánamo Bay is the world’s most expensive prison at US$13 million per prisoner according to investigation by “The New York Times”

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Famous Birthdays

1666 – Antoine Parent, French mathematician, born in Paris (d. 1716)
1887 – Jean Arp [Hans Arp], French-Swiss sculptor, artist and poet, born in Strassburg, Germany (d. 1966)
1911 – Wilfred Burchett, Australian communist and writer (Catapult to Freedom), born in Clifton Hill, Melbourne (d. 1983)
1916 – Julius B. Richmond, 12th US Surgeon General (1977-81) created Head Start program, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2008)
1925 – Charles Haughey, Irish Taoiseach (1979-81, 82, 87-92), born in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland (d. 2006)
1930 – Anne Francis, American actress (Honey West, Forbidden Planet, Pancho Villa), born in Ossining, New York (d. 2011)

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Famous Deaths

1933 – George Gore, American baseball player, dies at 79
1945 – Johannes “Pa” van der Steur, Dutch missionary and philanthropist (Java), dies at 80
1945 – John McCormack, Irish-American tenor (Irish folksongs), dies at 61
1957 – Qi Baishi, Chinese artist, dies at 93
1993 – Willie Mosconi, American world billiards champ, dies of heart attack at 80
2005 – Harry Freedman (Henryk Frydmann), Canadian composer, dies at 83

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