Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1974 – Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb home of former UK Prime Minister, Edward Heath, just before announcing Christmas ceasefire
1975 – US President Gerald Ford signs the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA)
1985 – 74th Davis Cup: Sweden beats Germany in Munich (3-2)
1997 – Scotty Bowman’s Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 giving him 200 wins with Detroit, and making him the first NHL coach to record 200 wins with 3 different teams; also Montreal and Buffalo
2006 – Australian archaeologist Sue O’Connor finds first evidence of modern humans in Jerimalai cave, near Lene Hara cave in East Timor
2017 – UN Security Council votes 15 to 0 for additional sanctions on North Korea, including measures to slash the country’s petrol imports by up to 90%

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Famous Birthdays

1702 – Jean-Étienne Liotard, Swiss-French painter, art connoisseur, and dealer (Madame d’Epinay), born in Geneva, Switzerland (d. 1789)
1904 – Louis-Eugene-Felix Neel, French physicist (Nobel 1970), born in Lyon, France (d. 2000)
1913 – Anthony Barber Doncaster, English bookseller, born in Sheffield, England (d. 1995)
1932 – Phil Woosnam, Welsh soccer striker, manager (Wales 17 caps, USA manager 1968), born in Powys, Wales (d. 2013)
1960 – Wakin Chau (Emil Chau), Hong Kong-born singer and actor, born in Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong
1993 – Gabriel Medina, Brazilian professional surfer (World Champion 2014), born in São Sebastião, São Paulo

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Famous Deaths

69 – Aulus Vitellius, Roman Emperor for 8 months, executed by the troops of his successor Vespasian in Rome at 54
1723 – Jacques Basnage, French/Dutch historian/vicar, dies at 70
1875 – Nikolay Alexeyevich Titov, composer, dies at 75
1968 – Louise Granville, entertainer, dies of influenza at 73
1974 – Lorraine Gauguin, entertainer, dies at 50
1987 – Alice Terry, [Taaffe], actress (4 Horsemen of Apocalypse), dies

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Historical Events

1960 – Ornette Coleman records his influential album “Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation”, establishes the name for the Free Jazz sound
1976 – Patricia R Harris named secretary of HUD
1980 – Harold Carmichael ends NFL streak of 127 consecutive game receptions
1987 – 3 white NY teens convicted of manslaughter in death of a black man
1987 – Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov launched
1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.

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Famous Birthdays

1853 – Isolde Kurz, German poet and short-story writer (Meine Mutter), born in Stuttgart, Germany (d. 1944)
1895 – Paul Hoffer, German composer, born in Barmen, Germany (d. 1949)
1919 – Gert Fredriksson, Swedish canoeist (6 Olympic gold 1948, 52, 56, 60), born in Nyköping, Sweden (d. 2006)
1938 – Larry Bryggman, American actor (Dr John Dixon-As the World Turns), born in Concord, California
1961 – Ryuji Sasai, Japanese video game composer, born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan
1964 – Keith Taylor, NFL safety (Washington Redskins), born in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey

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Famous Deaths

1736 – Alessandro Galilei, Italian architect (Cappella Corsini), dies at 45
1824 – James Parkinson, English physician (First description of Parkinson’s disease) and political activist, dies at 69
1873 – Francis Garnier, French explorer, dies at 34
1967 – Stuart “Stu” Erwin, American actor (The Stu Erwin Show), dies of heart attack at 64
1998 – Karl Denver, Scottish singer (b 1931)
2013 – Lars Edlund, Swedish composer, dies at 91

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Historical Events

1957 – Elvis Presley receives his draft notice to join the US Army for National Service
1968 – The People’s Democracy (PD) announce that its members will undertake a protest march from Belfast to Derry beginning 1 January 1969
1973 – Dutch Antillean government of Evertsz forms
1974 – “The Godfather Part II”, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, is released (Academy Awards Best Picture 1975)
1983 – PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and 4,000 loyalists evacuate Lebanon
1990 – The world’s first website and server go live at CERN

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Famous Birthdays

1905 – “Tiger” Bill O’Reilly, Australian cricketer (mighty Australian leg-spinner), born in White Cliffs, Australia
1949 – Claudia Jennings [Mary Ellen Chestrerton], American actress and Playboy playmate (Nov 1969, Playmate of the year 1970), born in Saint Paul, Minnesota (d. 1979)
1960 – Nalo Hopkinson, Jamaican-born Canadian writer, born in Kingston, Jamaica
1963 – Pam Casale, American tennis player (Marco Island finals 1985), born in Camden, New Jersey
1975 – Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer, born in Poznań, Poland
1981 – James Shields, American baseball player, born in Santa Clarita, California

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Famous Deaths

1768 – Carlo Innocenzo Fragoni, Italian poet, dies at 76
1821 – Gian Francesco Fortunati, composer, dies at 75
1921 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German Colonel General, dies at 71
1988 – Max Robinson, 1st African American network TV anchor (ABC), dies of AIDS at 49
1991 – Stephen Birnbaum, US tourism writer, dies at 54
1998 – Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)

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Historical Events

1788 – Chinese troops occupy capital Thang Long Vietnam
1945 – Jean Giraudoux’ “La Folle de Chaillot” premieres in Paris
1960 – Frank Sinatra’s 1st session with Reprise Records (Ring-A-Ding-Ding)
1993 – “Red Shoes” closes at Gershwin Theater NYC after 5 performances
2000 – Ballon d’Or: Real Madrid’s Portuguese midfielder Luís Figo is named best football player in Europe ahead of Juventus midfielder Zinedine Zidane and Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko
2010 – “Miracle at the New Meadowlands”, Philadelphia Eagles trail New York Giants by 21 points with eight minutes to play, before scoring 4 touchdowns in final 7 minutes, including dramatic walk-off punt returned for a touchdown by DeSean Jackson

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Famous Birthdays

1922 – Catherine Hall, British nurse who raised the professional profile of nursing and to establish its central role in health care, born in Sheffield, England (d. 1996)
1944 – Richard Leakey, Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician, born in Nairobi, Kenya
1948 – Ken Brown, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Scott Pearson, Cornwall, NHL left wing (Buffalo Sabres)
1969 – Kristen “Kristy” Swanson, American actress (Knots Landing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), born in Mission Viejo, California
1970 – Jon Cleveland, Canadian 100m/200m swimmer (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Fresno, California

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Famous Deaths

1815 – Robert Hudson, composer, dies at 83
1848 – Emily Brontë, English novelist (Wuthering Heights), dies of tuberculosis at 30
1939 – Karl Wagenfeld, Low German writer (Lucifer, Death and Devil), dies at 70
1944 – Rudolph Karstadt, German entrepreneur (b. 1856)
1994 – Noel Pointer, jazz violinist, dies at 39
2012 – Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Israeli military leader, dies from cancer at 68

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Historical Events

1799 – George Washington’s body interred at Mount Vernon
1932 – National Football League Championship; Playoff, Chicago Stadium: Chicago Bears beat Portsmouth Spartans, 9-0
1936 – Queensland cricket all out for 49 v Vic, Fleetwood-Smith 7-17
1953 – KATV TV channel 7 in Little Rock, AR (ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 – KMID TV channel 2 in Midland and Odessa, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
1980 – IRA’s Sean McKenna becomes critically ill, ends hunger strike

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Famous Birthdays

1913 – Lynn Bari [Margaret Schuyler Fisher], American actress (Shock, Nocturne, 6 Gun Law), born in Roanoke, Virginia (d. 1989)
1931 – André S. Labarthe, French actor, film producer and director (Vivre sa vie, Cinéastes de notre temps), born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, France (d. 2018)
1960 – Kazuhide Uekusa, Japanese economist
1963 – Charles Oakley, NBA forward (NY Knicks)
1966 – Makiko Esumi, Japanese actress
1972 – Raymond Herrera, American drummer (Fear Factory) and businessman

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Famous Deaths

1737 – Antonio Stradivari, renowned violin-maker, dies in Cremona Italy at 93
1894 – Erastus Flaval Beadle, American publisher (Beadle’s Dime Novels), dies at 73
1973 – Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani scholar, orator and philosopher, dies at 65
1977 – Cyril Ritchard, Australian actor (Peter Pan, Hans Brinker), dies at 80
1994 – Heinz Bernhard [Löwenstein], German-born British actor and director (Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof), dies at 71
2006 – Mike Dickin, British radio broadcaster (b. 1943)

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Historical Events

1637 – Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu
1821 – Kentucky abolishes debtors’ prisons
1943 – Transport 63 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1949 – Burma recognizes People’s Republic of China
1958 – Ted Lindsay becomes highest scoring left wing in NHL history, passing Aurel Joliat who retired with 270; scores twice and adds an assist In Chicago Black Hawks’ 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins at Chicago Stadium
1970 – Poland: shipyard workers in Gdańsk strike; soldiers in Gdynia fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.

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Famous Birthdays

1820 – Frederick Tracy Dent, American General (Union Army), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1892)
1894 – Willem Schermerhorn, Neth premier (1945-46)
1970 – Benedictine, [St Bernard]; becomes heaviest known dog (137 kg)
1975 – Nick Farrell, boxer (Olympics 1996), born in East York, Ontario
1982 – Josh Barfield, American baseball player
1982 – Onur Ozsu, Turkish music artist, born in Izmir

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Famous Deaths

1663 – Nzinga Mbandi, Queen of Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms (1626 -1663) (modern Angola), dies at about 82
1933 – Hans Vaihinger, German philosopher (Side-Studies), dies at 81
1956 – Eddie Acuff, actor (Guns of Pecos), dies at 48
1957 – Dorothy L. Sayers, English novelist (The Nine Tailors), dies at 66
1990 – Don Draper, actor (Pepper Agent 00X), dies of AIDS at 61
1991 – Armand Frappier, French-Canadian physician and microbiologist, dies at 87

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Historical Events

1773 – Boston tea party incident – Sons of Liberty protesters throw tea shipments into Boston harbour in protest against British imposed Tea Act
1880 – Transvaal region declares itself as the Republic of South Africa
1912 – 1st US postage stamp picturing an airplane, 20 cent parcel post, issued
1945 – National Football League Championship, Cleveland Stadium: Cleveland Rams beat Washington Redskins, 15-14; last game before Rams move west to Los Angeles
1959 – Snow falling in Lowarai Pass West Pakistan kills 48
1991 – UN reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25 (13 abstain) vote

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Famous Birthdays

1776 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German physicist (d. 1810)
1892 – A “Shon Nene” Morales, Antillean/Neth very old lady
1919 – Manke Nelis, [Cornelis Pieters], Dutch folk vocalist (Small Yodel Boy)
1926 – Alfred Koerppen, composer
1958 – Bart Oates, NFL center (NY Giants, SF 49ers)
1962 – William “The Refrigerator” Perry, NFL defensive back (Chicago Bears)

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Famous Deaths

1669 – Nathaniel Fiennes, English politician (b. circa 1608)
1673 – Juan de Padilla, composer, dies at 68
1927 – Hugh Archibald Clarke, composer, dies at 88
1944 – Don Meyer Basketball coach Northern State, Lipscomb, and Hamline
1989 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (Good, Bad and Ugly), dies at 64
2005 – Ed Hansen, American film director and editor (b. 1937)

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Historical Events

1854 – 1st street-cleaning machine in US 1st used in Philadelphia
1907 – In Persia, the Shah leads a coup de’etat against the liberal Prime Minister Nasir ul-Mulk and imprisons him, but a popular uprising forces the Shah to restore Nasir ul-Mulk soon after
1952 – KHON TV channel 2 in Honolulu, HI (NBC) begins broadcasting
1955 – “Folsom Prison Blues” single released by Johnny Cash (Billboard Song of the Year 1968)
1967 – The Beatles release “Christmas Time is Here Again”
2006 – First flight of the F-35 Lightning II.

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Famous Birthdays

1848 – Edwin Blashfield, American painter who decorated the dome of Library of Congress, born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1936)
1853 – Jean Baptiste August Kessler, Dutch entrepreneur and director of oil on Dutch Indies, born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (d. 1900)
1878 – Hans Carossa, German writer, born in Tölz, Bavaria (d. 1956)
1944 – Chico Mendes, Brazilian environmental activist and rubber tapper, born in Xapuri, Brazil (d. 1988)
1966 – Manos Papayiannis, Greek fashion model and actor
1981 – Thomas Herrion, American football player (d. 2005)

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Famous Deaths

1839 – Matthijs I van Bree, Flemish court-painter, dies at 66
1943 – Fats Waller [Thomas Wright], American jazz singer and composer (Ain’t Misbehavin’, Hot Chocolate), dies at 39
1950 – Robert Müller-Hartmann, German composer, dies at 66
1987 – Septima Poinsette Clark, American educator and civil rights activist, dies at 89
2001 – Rufus Thomas [Mr. Swing], American musician (Do the Funky Chicken), dies at 84
2003 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1947)

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Historical Events

1900 – France and Italy sign a secret agreement by which Italy recognizes France’s right to exploit Morocco in return for France’s conceding her the same right in Tripoli
1901 – 1st table tennis tournament is held (London Royal Aquarium)
1950 – Baseball owners choose Lou Perini (Braves), Phil Wrigley (Cubs), Del Webb (Yankees), and Ellis Ryan (Indians) to select new commissioner
1975 – WCPR (Brooklyn New York pirate radio station) begins broadcasting on 1620 AM
2016 – University of Toronto scientists present findings of the world’s oldest water – 2 billion years old from a mine in Canada
2017 – The Vatican announces it has rediscovered the lost last paintings of Raphael in Vatican Museum, painted 1520

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Famous Birthdays

1904 – Jack Westland, American politician (US House of Representatives 1953-65) and golfer (US Amateur C’ship 1952), born in Everett, Washington (d. 1982)
1911 – Spike Jones [Lindley Armstrong Jones], American bandleader (Der Fueher’s Face, Cocktails For Two), born in Long Beach, California (d. 1965)
1935 – Butch [David William] White, English cricketer (England opening attack Brown and White v Pak 1961), born in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire
1942 – David Band, British banker (BZW) (d. 1996)
1948 – Boudewijn Büch, Dutch writer and TV host, born in The Hague, Netherlands
1963 – Cindy Gibb, American actress (Search for Tomorrow, Youngblood), born in Bennington, Vermont

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Famous Deaths

1417 – John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, English nobleman, hanged and burned
1542 – James V, King of Scotland (1513-42), dies at 30
1651 – Pierre Dupuy, French historian and scholar, dies at 69
1923 – Giuseppi Gallignani, composer, dies at 72
1965 – Hermann Sandby, composer, dies at 84
1998 – Norman Fell, American actor (Three’s Company, The End, Graduate), dies of bone marrow cancer at 74

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Historical Events

1918 – US army of occupation crosses Rhine, enters Germany
1947 – “Caribbean Carnival” closes at International NYC after 11 performances
1954 – Elsa Schiaparelli’s House of Schiaparelli at Place Vendôme in Paris closes
1993 – Space shuttle STS-61 (Endeavour 5), lands
1997 – 63rd Heisman Trophy Award: Charles Woodson, Michigan (CB)
2014 – A civil rights protest march in Washington, D.C. takes place, against the police killing of unarmed black men

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Famous Birthdays

1925 – Albert Paulsen, Ecuadorian-American actor (One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Doctors’ Hospital), born in Guayaquil, Ecuador (d. 2004)
1937 – Rob Houwer, Dutch director and producer and actor (OK, Professor Columbus), born in The Hague, Netherlands
1943 – Margaret “Marti” Webb, British actress and singer (Evita, Tell Me on a Sunday), born in Hampstead, London
1958 – Clark Brandon, American actor (Fast Food), born in NYC, New York
1982 – Tuka Rocha, Brazilian racing driver, born in São Paulo, Brazil
1982 – Ricky Nolasco, American baseball player, born in Corona, California

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Famous Deaths

1650 – Phineas Fletcher, English poet, dies at 68
1909 – Innokenti Annenski, Russian poet and interpreter, dies of heart attack at 54
1940 – Dusty Tapscott, cricket (bro of Doodles, 4and1 in only S Af Test), dies
1945 – Robert van Genechten, Dutch Nazi (NSB), commits suicide
2011 – Russell Hoban, American author (creator of ‘Frances’ series), dies at 86
2016 – Thomas Schelling, American economist, (Nobel Prize 2005 – game-theory analysis), dies at 95

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