Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1804 – British vice-admiral William Blighs fleet reaches Curacao
1955 – Australian Championships Women’s Tennis: Beryl Penrose wins her only Australian singles title; beats Thelma Coyne Long 6-4, 6-3
1970 – Grateful Dead members busted on LSD charges
1988 – Super Bowl XXII, Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, CA: Washington Redskins beat Denver Broncos, 42-10; MVP: Doug Williams, Washington, QB
2015 – Pr-Football Hall of Fame inductees: Junior Seau, Jerome Bettis, Charles Haley, Will Shields, Tim Brown, and Mick Tingelhoff
2019 – Blockbuster NBA trade: NY Knicks send Kristaps Porziņģis, Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee and Trey Burke to Dallas Mavericks for Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews and 2 future 1st-round picks

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Famous Birthdays

1686 – Hans Egede, Norwegian Lutheran missionary (d. 1758)
1820 – William B. Washburn, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
1909 – Foley Newns, British colonial administrator
1961 – Lloyd Cole, English rocker (Lloyd Cole and the Commotions), born in Buxton, Derbyshire
1971 – Lee Young Ae, South Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian actress, born in Horsham, Australia

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Famous Deaths

1561 – Bairam Khan, Great Mughal General, regent for Akbar
1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist, dies at 57
1973 – Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist (Nobel 1969), dies at 77
1974 – Roger Pryor, American actor (Lady by Choice, Belle of the Nineties, Identity Unknown), dies at 72
1996 – Gustave Solomon, mathematician, dies at 65
2015 – Richard von Weizsacker, German politician and 1st president of reunited Germany (1990-94), dies at 94

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Historical Events

1933 – “Lone Ranger” begins a 21-year run on ABC radio
1940 – Cor Jongert wins 6th Dutch 11 Cities Skating Race
1944 – The Battle of Cisterna begins in central Italy
1964 – Ranger 6 launched; makes perfect flight to Moon, but cameras fail
1977 – Allan Border scores 36 in his 1st-class innings (NSW v Qld)
1979 – Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) agrees to new constitution

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Famous Birthdays

1922 – Pal Jardanyi, Hungarian composer, born in Budapest, Hungary (d. 1966)
1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player (world champion 1969-72, born in Leningrad, Russia
1941 – Dick Cheney, American politician (Vice President: 2001-2009), born in Lincoln, Nebraska
1953 – Fred Hembeck, American cartoonist, born in Yaphank, New York
1967 – Jay Gordon, American musician, born in San Francisco, California
1974 – Martina Jerant, Canadian basketball player (Olympics 1996), born in Windsor, Ontario

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Famous Deaths

1816 – Reinier Vinkeles, Dutch engraver and art collector, dies at 74
1976 – Percy Tyson “Plum” Lewis, cricketer (pair in only Test for S Af), dies
1987 – Angelo Rutherford, actor (Willie-Gentle Ben), dies at 32
1991 – John McIntire, American actor (Naked City, Wagon Train, Virginian), dies of emphysema at 83
1998 – Ricky Sanderson, stabbed 16-year old girl in NC, executed at 38
2018 – Mark Salling, American actor and musician (Glee), commits suicide at 35

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Historical Events

1781 – Mozart’s opera “Idomeneo” premieres in Munich
1861 – US state of Kansas admitted to the Union as the 34th state
1936 – 1st players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson
1964 – Beatles record in German “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” and “Sie Liebt Dich”
1964 – Most lopsided high-school basketball score 211-29 (Louisiana)
1989 – Game-winning RBI, official statistic dropped after 9 years of use NY Mets Keith Hernandez is the all-time leader with 129

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Famous Birthdays

1908 – Adam Clayton Powell, (Rep-D-NY, 1945-70)
1940 – Katharine Ross, American actress (Graduate, Francesca-Colbys), born in Hollywood, California
1964 – John Gallagher, rugby league player
1968 – John Hudson, American football center (NY Jets, Philadelphia Eagles), born in Memphis, Tennessee
1972 – Hessley Hempstead, American NFL guard (Detroit Lions), born in Upland, California
1987 – Spencer Clark, American race car driver, born in Las Vegas, Nevada (d. 2006)

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Famous Deaths

969 – Peter, tsar of Bulgaria (927-69), dies
1941 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and dictator (1936-41), commits suicide at 69
1973 – Johannes Paul Thilman, composer, dies at 67
1988 – James R. Killian Jr., 10th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1948-59), dies at 83
2005 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli author, dramatist, screenwriter, and Oscar-nominated film director, dies at 80
2012 – Goody Petronelli, American boxing trainer and manager, dies at 88

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Historical Events

1918 – Finnish Civil War: Rebels seized control of the capital, Helsinki, and members of the Senate of Finland go underground.
1969 – 2nd ABA All-Star Game: West 133 beats East 127 at Louisville
1979 – “The Wiz” closes at Majestic Theater in NYC after 1,672 performances
1985 – 12th American Music Awards: Cyndi Lauper and Lionel Richie win
1989 – David Boon completes 7th Test century, 149 v WI at SCG
1991 – Dictator Siad Barre flees Somalia ending 22 year rule

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Famous Birthdays

1722 – Johann Ernst Bach, composer
1865 – Lala Lajpat Rai, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1928)
1907 – Henry Cotton, English golfer (British Open 1934, 1937, 1948), born in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire (d. 1987)
1934 – Mitr Chaibancha, Thai actor (d. 1970)
1959 – Dave Sharp, rock guitarist (Alarm-In the Summertime)
1969 – Giorgio Lamberti, Italian free style swimmer (world record 200m)

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Famous Deaths

1393 – Earl of Joigny, burned at royal ball in Paris
1898 – Alexandru Flechtenmacher, composer, dies at 74
1930 – Clarence Skelton Wimble, cricket (score pair in Test for S Af), dies
1965 – Maxime Weygand, French soldier (b. 1867)
1995 – George Woodcock, author, dies at 82
2007 – Karel Svoboda, Czech composer of popular music (b. 1938)

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Historical Events

1924 – Clas Thunberg of Finland claims 3 gold medals in one day when he wins the 1,500m, 10,000m and all-round speed skating events at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; won 5,000m the day before
1961 – “Sing Along with Mitch” [Miller] premieres on NBC TV
1963 – Yevgeni Grishin skates world record 500m in 39.6 sec
1982 – Roberto S. Cordova installed as President of Honduras
1985 – 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 returns to Earth
2013 – Magnus Carlsen wins the 2013 Tata Steel Chess Tournament

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Famous Birthdays

1918 – Elmore James, musician (Dust My Broom)
1944 – Peter Akinola, Nigerian religious leader
1961 – Martin Degville, rocker (Sigue Sigue Sputnik-Love Missile F-111)
1969 – Michael Kulas, Canadian singer (James)
1987 – Lily Donaldson, British model
1987 – Katy Rose, American pop singer

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Famous Deaths

1802 – Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg, composer, dies at 42
1851 – Karl Moser, German composer, dies at 77
1956 – Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor, dies
1986 – Lilli Palmer [Peiser], German actress (Cloak and Dagger, Anastasia: The Czar’s Last Daughter), dies from abdominal cancer at 71
1987 – Norman McLaren, Scottish-Canadian film animator and director, dies at 72
1996 – Julian W. Hill, American research chemist (developed nylon), dies at 91

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Historical Events

1850 – 1st German language daily newspaper in US published, NYC
1857 – Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville delivers his design for a phonautograph, which created visual images of sound, to the French Academy
1900 – Henrik Ibsen’s “Naar vi Dode Vaaguer” premieres in Stuttgart
1907 – 1st US federal corrupt election practices law passed
1948 – Australian Championships Women’s Tennis: Nancye Wynne Bolton beats Marie Toomey 6-3, 6-1 for 4th straight Australian single title
2013 – 10 people are killed and 20 are injured by a suicide bombing in Kunduz, Afghanistan

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Famous Birthdays

1541 – Florent Chrestien, French writer (d. 1596)
1786 – Benjamin Robert Haydon, Plymouth, painter (Waiting for The Times)
1852 – Frederick Corder, composer
1921 – Frantisek Chaun, composer
1949 – Jonathan Carroll, American author, born in New York
1977 – Vince Carter [Vinsanity], American basketball player who famously made “Le dunk de la mort” (the Dunk of Death), born in Daytona Beach, Florida

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Famous Deaths

1885 – Edward Davy, English inventor (b. 1806)
1950 – Betsy van den Arend, Dutch [Betje], actress (Miss Hobbs), dies at 78
1967 – Kenneth Thomson, American character actor (Broadway Melody, Little Giant), dies of emphysema at 68
1968 – Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher (b. 1883)
1990 – Bob Gerard, British racing driver (b. 1914)
2000 – Don Budge, American tennis player (6 Grand Slam singles titles, Grand Slam 1938), dies of cardiac arrest at 84

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Historical Events

1579 – Treaty of Utrecht signed, marks beginning of Dutch Republic
1861 – Arsenal Augustaseized by Confederacy in Georgia (US Civil War)
1956 – 96.5 cm (38.0″) of rainfall, Kilauea Plantation, Hawaii (state record)
1961 – Walt Disney’s animated film “101 Dalmatians”, based on the novel by Dodie Smith and directed by Clyde Geronimi and Hamilton Luske is released in the US
1991 – Soap opera “Generation’s” last episode after a 2½ year run
2013 – Islamist forces are driven out of Hombori by the Malian army

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Famous Birthdays

1917 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian scientist and Nobel laureate, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 2003)
1933 – Corazon Aquino, 11th President of the Philippines (1986-92), born in Paniqui, Tarlac, Philippines (d. 2009)
1935 – António Ramalho Eanes, 17th President of Portugal, born in Castelo Branco Municipality, Portugal
1953 – The Honky Tonk Man [Wayne Farris], American professional wrestler, born in Bolivar, Tennessee
1957 – Jeff Gossett, American football punter (Oakland Raiders), born in Charleston, Illinois
1964 – Bob Sweeney, American NHL center (NY Islanders, Calgary Flames), born in Concord, Massachusetts

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Famous Deaths

1844 – Horace H. Hayden, 1st American licensed dentist and cofounds 1st dental college, dies at 74
1896 – Frederic Leighton, President of the Royal Academy (1878-96), dies
1907 – René Pottier, French racing cyclist (Tour de France 1906), dies at 27
1943 – Spencer Charters, American actor (3 Faces West, Big Town Girl, St Louis Kid), dies at 67
1957 – Kiyoshi Shiga, Japanese physician and bacteriologist (b. 1871)
1988 – Colleen Moore, actress (These Girls Won’t Talk), dies at 87

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Historical Events

1644 – Parliamentary army wins battle of Nantwich, Cheshire, English Civil War
1848 – James Marshall finds gold in Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California
1862 – Romanian principality arises under King Alexander Cuza. Bucharest proclaimed its capital.
1924 – Russian city of St Petersburg renamed Leningrad (changed back in 1991)
1956 – 6th NBA All Star Game, Rochester War Memorial Coliseum, NY: West beats East, 108-94; MVP: Bob Pettit, St. Louis Hawks, C
2009 – Pope Benedict XVI rescinds the excommunications of four bishops consecrated without papal consent in 1988 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

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Famous Birthdays

1779 – Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden), Russian tsarina (d. 1826)
1907 – Alfonse Vranckx, Belgian lawyer/politician
1921 – Bernard J. Dwyer, American politician (Rep-D-NJ, 1981- 93), born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey (d. 1998)
1928 – Michel Serrault, French actor (Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud, La Cage aux Folles), born in Brunoy, France (d. 2007)
1943 – Subhash Ghai, Indian film director, born in Nagpur, India
1968 – Mark Burmester, Zimbabwean cricketer (Zimbabwe Test all-rounder in 3 Tests 1992), born in Durban, South Africa

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Famous Deaths

772 – Stephen III/IV, Catholic Pope (768-72), dies. (b. 720)
1666 – Johann Andreas Herbst, composer, dies at 77
1904 – Franz Coenen, composer, dies at 77
1930 – Rebecca Latimer Felton, American writer and politician (first woman to serve as U.S. Senator (Georgia)), dies at 94
1962 – Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Turkish poet, novelist, recognized as one of the most important representatives of modernism in Turkish literature (A Mind at Peace, The Time Regulation Institute), dies of a heart attack at 60
2005 – June Bronhill, Australian singer (b. 1929)

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Historical Events

1912 – The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague
1942 – Battle of Rabaul: Japanese attack Australian air base in Rabaul, New Britain
1967 – Stan Musial is named GM of Cards
1968 – Spy ship USS Pueblo and 83-man crew seized in Sea of Japan by North Korea
1970 – Australia’s 1st amateur radio satellite (Oscar 5) launched (California)
1987 – Japan 1st exceeds military spending cap of 1% of GNP ($23 billion)

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Famous Birthdays

1719 – John Landen, English mathematician, born in England, United Kingdom (d. 1790)
1905 – Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, Polish poet (Zielona Ges), born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1953)
1971 – Lorne Spicer, British TV presenter, born in Upminster, United Kingdom
1974 – Tiffani Theissen, American actress (Saved by Bell, 90210), born in Long Beach, California
1974 – Yosvani Pérez, Cuban baseball player, born in Rodas, Cuba
1986 – Steven Taylor, English footballer, born in Greenwich, London

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Famous Deaths

1199 – Yaqub, Almohad Caliph (b. 1160)
1648 – Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla, Spanish playwright (Del Rey Abajo Ninguno), dies at 40
1976 – Paul Robeson, American singer (Old Man River), actor and civil rights activist, dies in Philadelphia at 77
1981 – Samuel Barber, American composer (School for Scandal), dies of cancer at 70
1993 – Keith Laumer [Anthony LeBaron], American sci-fi author (Retief’s War), dies at 67
2005 – Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare, British politician (b. 1921)

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Historical Events

1837 – Earthquake in southern Syria kills thousands
1905 – Dutchman Coen de Koning wins the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m at World Allround Speed Skating Championships in Groningen, Netherlands to become 2nd Dutchman to win a world title
1924 – KGO-AM in San Francisco CA begins radio transmissions
1968 – “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” premieres on NBC
1992 – Sarah, Duchess of York (aka Fergie) wears paper bag over her head on airline ride
2006 – Kobe Bryant scores 81 points in a 122-104 Lakers victory over the Toronto Raptors; second-highest game total in NBA history, behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game (1962)

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Famous Birthdays

1649 – Pascal Collasse, composer
1894 – Matt McHugh, American actor (Taxi, Freaks, Barbary Coast, Innocent Affair), born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania (d. 1971)
1898 – Alexander Abramsky, composer
1898 – Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director (Battleship Potemkin), born in Riga, Latvia [NS] (d. 1948)
1917 – Herwig Hensen, [Flor Mielants], Flemish poet/playwright
1969 – Vinnie Clark, American NFL cornerback (Jacksonville Jaguars), born in Cincinnati, Ohio

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Famous Deaths

1750 – Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (b. 1675)
1919 – Carl Larsson, Swedish painter (Midwinter Sacrifice – Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts), dies at 65
1981 – Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani historian and educationist, dies at 77
1996 – Edward Thomas, historian/intelligence expert, dies at 77
1997 – Mollie Panter-Downes, British writer and columnist (The Shoreless Sea), dies at 90
2016 – Anthony Simmons, British writer and film director (The Optimists of Nine Elms), dies at 93

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