Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1912 – Eleftherios Venizelos, leader of the Liberal Party, wins the Greek elections again.
1927 – 1st armored commercial car hold-up in US, Pittsburgh
1981 – Johnny Mize and Rube Foster are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
1986 – Japanese probe Sakigake flies by Halley’s Comet at 6.8 million km
1994 – Eduardo Frei succeeds Patricio Aylwin as President of Chile
2013 – Laureus World Sports Awards, Municipal Theater, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Sportsman: Usain Bolt; Sportswoman: Missy Franklin; Team: FC Bayern Munich

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Famous Birthdays

1887 – Raoul Walsh, American film director (Thief of Baghdad, Battle Cry), (d. 1980)
1916 – Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister (Labour: 1964-70, 1974-76), born in Huddersfield, England (d. 1995)
1920 – Kenneth Dover, chancellor (St Andrews University)
1956 – Curtis L Brown Jr, NC, astronaut (STS 47, STS 66, 77, 85, sk:95)
1960 – Christophe Gans, French film director
1975 – Shawn Springs, cornerback (Seattle Seahawks)

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Famous Deaths

222 – Elagabalus, Roman Emperor (218-22), murdered by the Praetorian Guard at 18
1897 – Henry Drummond, Scottish geologist, evangelist, dies at 45
1900 – Edmund Peate, cricketer (9 Tests for England 1881-86), dies
1925 – Andreas Hallen, composer, dies at 78
1960 – Roy Chapman Andrews, US biologist/explorer, dies at 76
1995 – Ernest Kabushemeye, Burundese minister of Mijnbouw, murdered

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Historical Events

1893 – New Mexico State University cancels its 1st graduation ceremony; its only graduand Sam Steele was robbed and killed the night before
1949 – Detroit Tiger pitcher Art Houtteman is critically injured in an auto accident but recovers to win 15 games in 1949
1964 – Simon and Garfunkel record the first version of “The Sound of Silence” at Columbia Studios in New York City
1966 – North Vietnamese capture US Green Beret Camp at Ashau Valley
1990 – Ladies Figure Skating Champions in Halifax won by Jill Trenary (USA)
2018 – 16 people die after being struck by lightening at a church in Nyaruguru District, Rwanda

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Famous Birthdays

1771 – Georg F Creuzer, German philological/historian (Idea und Probe)
1941 – Piotr Warzecha, composer
1955 – Youssra, Egyptian actress and singer
1962 – Seiko Matsuda, Japanese pop singer
1977 – Peter Enckelman, Finnish footballer
1985 – Casey Dienel, American singer-songwriter

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Famous Deaths

1922 – Arthur Hervey, composer, dies at 67
1949 – James Rector, American athlete (b. 1884)
1993 – C. Northcote Parkinson, English historian (Pursuit of Progress) and author (Parkinson’s Law), dies at 83
2012 – Jean Giraud, French comic artist (Alien, Tron), dies at 73
2016 – Keith Emerson, English rock musician (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), commits suicide at 71
2017 – Robert James Waller, American author (Bridges of Madison County), dies at 77

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Historical Events

1562 – Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death)
1820 – -11) Philippines chases out foreigners; about 125 die
1870 – 32nd Grand National: George Stevens wins consecutive GN’s aboard 7/2 favourite The Colonel; his 5th and final GN victory
1889 – Kansas passes 1st general antitrust law in US
1924 – South Slavia aproves Italy’s annexation of Fiume (Rijeka)
1988 – Actress Audrey Hepburn is appointed a UNICEF Special Ambassador (Goodwill Ambassador 1989)

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Famous Birthdays

1213 – Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader, born in Villaines-en-Duesmois, France (d. 1271)
1918 – Marguerite Chapman, American actress (The Seven Year Itch, Spy Smasher, Flight to Mars), born in Chatham, New York (d. 1999)
1930 – Taina Elg, Finnish-American actress (Hercules in NY, Les Girls), born in Impilahti, Finland
1930 – Thomas Schippers, American conductor (Amahl and Night Visitors), born in Kalamazoo, Michigan (d. 1977)
1936 – Mickey Gilley, American country singer (Urban Cowboy), born in Natchez, Mississippi
1954 – Kevin Wade, American screen writer (Working Girls), born in Chappaqua, New York

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Famous Deaths

1877 – Mark Prager Lindo, English Dutch author (Neth Spectator), dies at 58
1969 – Richard Crane, American character actor (Surfside 6, Rocky Jones, Space Ranger), dies of a heart attack at 50
1979 – Barbara Mullen, American actress (Thunder Rock, Innocent Sinners), dies of a heart attack at 64
2004 – John Mayer, Indian composer (Indo-Jazz Fusion), dies at 74
2012 – Lord Wedderton of Charlton, British academic and politician, dies at 84
2012 – Peter Bergman, American Comedian, dies from leukemia at 72

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Historical Events

1950 – 1st woman medical officer assigned to naval vessel (BR Walters)
1961 – Jean Kerr’s “Mary, Mary” premieres in NYC
1968 – Bill Graham’s New York rock venue Fillmore East opens in Manhattan
1979 – China withdraws invasion troops from Vietnam
1980 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1987 – “A Team” last aired on NBC-TV after 4 years

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Famous Birthdays

1659 – Isaac de Beausobre, French Protestant pastor, born in Niort, France (d. 1738)
1814 – Ede Szigligeti [József Szathmáry], Hungarian dramatist, born in Nagyvárad-Olaszi (d. 1878)
1909 – Anthony Donato, composer
1925 – Francisco Rabal, Aguilas Spain, actor (Holy Innocents, Camorra)
1954 – Karl Schnabl, 90m ski jumper (Olympic gold 1976)
1976 – Freddie Prinze Jr, actor (I Know What You Did Last Summer)

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Famous Deaths

1638 – Jacob C van Neck, admiral/mayor of Amsterdam, dies at about 73
1862 – Adrien de La Fage, composer, dies at 56
1889 – John Ericsson, Swedish-American inventor (screw propeller, rotating turret), dies at 85
1942 – José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban world chess champion (1921-27), dies at 53
1992 – Red Callender, US jazz bassist (Unfinished dream), dies at 76
1994 – John Ewart, Sydney Australia, dies of cancer at 55

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Historical Events

1854 – Charles Miller patents 1st US sewing machine to stitch buttonholes
1935 – Saar incorporated into Germany
1939 – Guy Lombardo and Royal Canadians 1st record “Auld Lang Syne”
1962 – Launch of OSO 1, 1st astronomy satellite (solar flare data)
1979 – Warren Giles and Hack Wilson selected to baseball Hall of Fame
1987 – Gavaskar becomes 1st cricket batsman to score 10,000 Test runs

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Famous Birthdays

1693 – Clement XIII [Carlo Rezzonico], Pope (1758-69), born in Venice (d. 1769)
1841 – Olegario Victor Andrade, Argentine, journalist and poet (El nido de condores), born in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (d. 1882)
1939 – Panajot Pano, Albania’s most outstanding football player of the past 50 years born in Durres
1943 – Leon Sylvers III, American rocker and producer (The Sylers), born in Memphis, Tennessee
1965 – Jack Armstrong, American baseball player, born in Englewood, New Jersey
1973 – Ray Parlour, English footballer

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Famous Deaths

1833 – Rahel Varnhagen von Ense-Levin, German literary hostess, dies at 61
1945 – Adolf Bartels, German journalist and poet, dies at 82
1967 – Alice B. Toklas, American-Parisian avant-garde and companion to Gertrude Stein, dies at 89
1983 – Robert Bray, actor (Corey-Lassie, Simon-Stagecoach West), dies at 65
1993 – Earl Wrightson, American actor and singer (Pinafore, Paul Whiteman’s Goodyear Revue), dies of heart failure at 77
1996 – Aled Eames, Welsh maritime historian, dies at 74

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Historical Events

1945 – Erich Honnecker and Erich Hanke flee nazis
1959 – 11th Emmy Awards: Playhouse 90, Jack Benny Show, Raymond Burr win
1975 – Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute.
1987 – Belgium ferry “Herald of Free Enterprise” sinks; 192 die
1999 – 20th Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament: Connecticut beats St. John’s, 82-63
2018 – “Highest overdose death rates ever recorded in the US”, 142,000 overdoses in 2016-17 period according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Famous Birthdays

1936 – A “Bram” Stemerdink, Dutch minister of Defense (PvdA)
1940 – Willie Stargell, American Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder/1st baseman (7-time All Star), born in Earlsboro, Oklahoma (d. 2001)
1946 – Richard Noble, Scottish businessman (land speed record 1983-97), born in Edinburgh
1957 – Edward “Eddie” Deezen, American actor (Grease, I Wanna Hold Your Hand), born in Cumberland, Maryland
1967 – Bennie Dekker, Dutch football player (NEC/AZ/De Graafschap), born in Ermelo, Netherlands
1976 – Ken Anderson, American professional wrestler

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Famous Deaths

1842 – Constanze Mozart, wife of W.A. Mozart (b. 1763)
1854 – Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, British soldier and politician (b. 1778)
1967 – Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer (b. 1882)
1969 – Nadya Rusheva, Russian painter (b. 1952)
1994 – Leighton Noble, singer/Bandleader, dies at 81
1996 – Simon Cadell, English actor (Enemy at the Door), dies at 45

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Historical Events

1046 – Persian scholar Naser Khosrow begins the 7 year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama
1910 – Stanley Cup, Dey’s Arena, Ottawa, ON: Montreal Wanderers beat Ottawa Senators, 3-1
1956 – “King Kong” 1st televised
1966 – 11th Eurovision Song Contest: Udo Jurgens for Austria wins singing “Merci, Cherie” in Luxembourg
1977 – 24th ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament: North Carolina beats Virginia, 75-69
2012 – 27 members of Iraq’s security force are killed by gunmen disguised as police in Haditha

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Famous Birthdays

1899 – Patrick Hadley, composer
1905 – Gilroy Roberts, US chief engraver (1948-64)
1918 – Halsey S Colchester, British SAS/spy (MI6)/priest
1920 – Virginia Christine [Ricketts], American actress (Mrs Olson, Tales of Wells Fargo), born in Stanton, Iowa (d. 1996)
1985 – Whitney Port, Cast member of The Hills TV series
1988 – Bjarni Viðarsson, Icelandic footballer

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Famous Deaths

1539 – Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese governor in India (b. 1487)
1732 – Joseph François Salomon, French composer, dies at 82
1829 – John Adams, last surviving HMS Bounty mutineer (b. 1766)
1873 – Marie-Alexis Castillon de Saint-Victor, French composer, dies at 34
1988 – Alberto Olmedo, Argentine comedian (b. 1933)
2000 – Lolo Ferrari [Eve Valois], French adult actress and dancer, dies from an overdose of prescription drugs at 37

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Historical Events

1570 – King Philip II bans foreign Dutch students
1835 – HMS Beagle moves into Bay of Concepcion
1881 – South African president Kruger accepts ceasefire
1897 – William McKinley inaugurated as 25th president of USA
1933 – Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated as 32nd US President, pledges to pull US out of the Depression, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”
2018 – Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal are poisoned by nerve agent in Salisbury, England

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Famous Birthdays

1826 – John Buford, American Major General (Union Army), born in Woodford County, Kentucky (d. 1863)
1877 – Alexander Fyodorovich Gedike, composer
1906 – Meindert DeJong American author (d. 1991)
1934 – Janez Strnad, Slovenian physicist
1984 – Kevin O’Brien, Irish cricket batsman (3 Tests; 142 ODIs; 89 T20I; fastest century ever in ODI World Cup, off 50 balls v England 2011), born in Dublin, Republic of Ireland
1993 – Jenna Boyd, American actress

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Famous Deaths

1852 – Nikolai Gogol [Nikolay], Ukrainian-born Russian novelist, humorist, and dramatist (Dead Souls, The Inspector-General), dies at 43
1944 – Louis Capone, New York organized crime figure (b. 1896) (executed)
1994 – John Candy, actor (SCTV, Uncle Buck), dies from a heart attack at 43
2002 – Elyne Mitchell, Australian author (b. 1913)
2005 – Yuriy Kravchenko, Ukrainian statesman (b. 1951)
2009 – George McAfee, American football player, NFL halfback (Chicago Bears), dies at 90

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Historical Events

1794 – 1st performance of Joseph Haydn’s 101st Symphony in D
1853 – US Assay Office in NYC authorized
1869 – 31st Grand National: George Stevens wins his 4th GN aboard 100/7 outsider The Colonel; repeats with back-to-back victories the following year
1905 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to summon a ‘consultative assembly’ and concedes other points including an edict of religious toleration, relief for Jews, and the cancellation of certain debts
1991 – Switzerland votes on lowering voting age from 20 to 18
2013 – A 2 year old US girl becomes the first child born with HIV to be cured

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Famous Birthdays

1906 – Krishnarao Shiva Shelvankar, journalist/diplomat
1926 – James Ingram Merrill, American poet/author (Scripts for the Pageant)
1953 – Aleksandr Viktorovich Borodin, Russian cosmonaut
1970 – Scott Keswick, Nevada, gymnast (Coca-Cola-1st-94, Olympics 1996)
1971 – Tyler Florence, American chef, Food Network personality and cookbook author, born in Greenville, South Carolina
1972 – Darren Anderton, English footballer

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Famous Deaths

1920 – Theodor Philipsen, Danish painter, dies at 79
1945 – Koos Speenhoff, Dutch singer, killed in bombing raid at 75
1991 – Johnny Revolta, American golfer (PGA C’ship 1935; 18 PGA Tour titles), dies at 79
1996 – Ludwig Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord, German journalist, dies at 76
2001 – Louis Edmonds, American actor (b. 1923)
2003 – Luis Marden, American photojournalist (b. 1913)

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Historical Events

1925 – SDAP-Second-Faction of parliament demands drastic disarmament
1934 – Union Pacific tests light-weight high-speed passenger train, Omaha
1938 – Landslides and floods cause over 200 deaths (Los Angeles California)
1940 – Soviet armies conquer Tuppura Island, Finland
2002 – 40-year old South African boxer ‘Baby Jake’ Matlala ends his 22-year career with a 7th-round TKO win over Columbia’s Juan Herrera to retain his WBU junior flyweight title in Johannesburg
2016 – Longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight by distance, Emirates A380 flies 14,200km (8,824 miles) Dubai to Auckland in 17 hours, 15 minutes

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Famous Birthdays

1481 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight
1844 – Dr. Schaepman [Herman Schaepman], Dutch poet, Roman Catholic priest, theologian, and politician
1966 – Judith Wiesner, Austrian tennis player (World #12 1997; captain Austria’s Federation Cup team 2001), born in Hallein Austria
1972 – Richard Ruccolo, American actor
1975 – Daryl Gibson, New Zealand rugby union centre (19 caps; Canterbury Crusaders) and coach (NSW Waratahs), born in Lumsden, New Zealand
1984 – Elizabeth Jagger, English model and actress

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Famous Deaths

1729 – Francesco Bianchini, Italian philosopher and scientist, dies at 66
1800 – Christian Friedrich Schale, composer, dies at 86
1868 – Carl Eberwein, German composer and violinist, dies at 81
1887 – August W. Eichler, German botanist (developed a new system of classification of plants to reflect the concept of evolution), dies at 47
1938 – Ben Harney, American composer and “Father of Ragtime Piano” (You’ve Been a Good Old Wagon, But You Done Broke Down), dies of a heart attack at 66
2012 – James Wilson, American criminologist, dies at 80

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