Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1861 – Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis
1935 – Clifford Odets’ “Waiting for Lefty” premieres in NYC
1971 – Aswan Dam official opens in Egypt
1985 – CBS’ premiere of TV made teen drug abuse drama, “Not My Kid”, based on the previous year’s book by Beth Polson
1989 – Cerberal Palsy telethon raises 22,600,000
1992 – Supreme Court rules 5-3 that Joseph Doherty isn’t entitled to asylum

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Famous Birthdays

1845 – Heinrich Vogl, German operatic heldentenor, born in Munich, Germany (d. 1900)
1900 – Caesar Domela, Dutch painter (Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis son), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1992)
1908 – Roberta Bitgood, American organist and composer, born in New London, Connecticut (d. 2007)
1920 – Steve Gromek, American baseball player, born in Hamtramck, Michigan (d. 2002)
1949 – Howard Twitty, American golfer, course designer (3 PGA Tour titles), born in Phoenix, Arizona
1960 – Tim Curtis, English cricketer (England righty batsman in 5 Tests 1988-89), born in Chislehurst, United Kingdom

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Famous Deaths

1781 – Marianne Victoria of Borbón, queen regent of Portugal (b. 1718)
1788 – Gaetano Latilla, composer, dies at 77
1911 – Wilhelm Berger, German composer, pianist and conductor, dies at 49
1950 – Gen Henry “Hap” Arnold, U.S. General of the Air Force (b. 1886)
1962 – Kenneth MacKenna, American actor and director (Judgment at Nuremberg, Those We Love), dies of cancer at 62
1987 – Ray Bolger, American actor and dancer (The Wizard of Oz), dies at 83

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Historical Events

1911 – Roald Amundsen’s South Pole expedition lands on the Ross Ice Shelf
1924 – Allies direct Fiume (Rijeka) in Italy
1943 – World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke, withdrawal of its troops from Guadalcanal
1963 – George Wallace sworn in as Governor of Alabama, his address states “segregation now; segregation tomorrow; segregation forever!”
1971 – John Snow takes 7-40 for England to beat Australia by 299 runs
1974 – World Football League founded

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Famous Birthdays

1798 – Isaac da Costa, Jewish poet, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1860)
1804 – John Park, Scottish composer and minister, born in Greenock, Renfrewshire (d. 1865)
1806 – Sir Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria, born in Dennington, United Kingdom (d. 1855)
1857 – Alice Pike Barney, American painter, born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1931)
1963 – Steven Soderbergh, American producer, director, writer (Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic), born in Atlanta, Georgia
1994 – Samir Patel, American spelling bee winner

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Famous Deaths

1819 – John Wolcot, English satirist (Peter Pindar), dies at 80
1929 – Cornelis W Lely, Dutch Governor of Suriname (1902-05), dies at 74
1948 – Anna “Ans” van Dike, Dutch Jewish Nazi-collaborator, executed at 42
1977 – Peter Finch, actor (Network, The Nun’s Story, Judith), dies at 60
1978 – Harold Abrahams, British athlete (Olympic gold and silver 1924), dies at 78
1996 – Eric Briault, educationalist, dies at 84

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Historical Events

1893 – British Independent Labour Party forms (Keir Hardie as its leader)
1895 – Oscar Wilde’s “Ideal Husband” premieres in London
1976 – American inventor Ray Kurzweil and the National Federation of the Blind unveil the Kurzweil Reading Machine, the first omni-font optical character recognition system
1985 – Playing in his 436th career game, Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky scores his 400th career NHL goal and adds 2 assists in a 5-4 Oilers’ win over the Sabres in Buffalo
2001 – Earthquake measuring magnitude 7.6 strikes El Salvador, killing more than 840 people
2004 – Harold Shipman, a British GP who is believed to have killed more than 200 of his patients in Manchester, is found hanged in his prison cell

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Famous Birthdays

1734 – Luca Sorkocevic, composer
1749 – Friedrich Müller, painter and dramatist (d. 1825)
1805 – Thomas Dyer, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1862)
1898 – Pedro DE Teixeira de Mattos, Dutch diplomat
1909 – Marinus van der Lubbe, Dutch communist
1963 – Felita Carr, dance skater (and Komarov-1995 Pac Champ), born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

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Famous Deaths

1924 – Georg Hermann Quincke, German physicist (Test of Quincke), dies at 89
1930 – Auguste Rateau, French mining engineer and inventor (Rateau steam turbine), dies at 66
1996 – Willian Myuon Bany Guerrilla leader, dies
2008 – Johnny Podres, American baseball player (b. 1932)
2010 – Theodore “Teddy” Pendergrass, American singer (Turn Off the Lights), dies of respiratory failure at 59
2015 – Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies ‘Dozy’, English musician (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich), dies at 70

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Historical Events

1806 – French evacuate Vienna
1820 – Astronomical Society of London (now the Royal Astronomical Society) founded in England
1899 – Lynmouth Lifeboat rescues 18 people from the stricken schooner Forest Hall off the coast of Devon
1908 – A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
2001 – Downtown Disney opens to the public in Anaheim
2006 – During an emotional ceremony, Mark Messier’s #11 jersey is retired by the New York Rangers

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Famous Birthdays

1591 – José Ribera/Jusepe de Ribera, Spanish painter and printmaker, nicknamed Lo Spagnoletto (d. 1652)
1821 – Nikolai Afanisev, composer
1910 – Patsy Kelly, American actress (Rosemary’s Baby, North Ave Irregulars), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1981)
1920 – Prof Jerzy Zubrzycki, Polish-born Australian sociologist, born in Kraków, Poland (d. 2009)
1972 – Dominique Ross, American NFL running back (Dallas Cowboys), born in Jacksonville, Florida
1987 – Naya Rivera, American actress (Glee), born in Santa Clarita, California

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Famous Deaths

689 – Benedict Biscop, English saint, dies
1962 – Richard de Guide, composer, dies at 52
1962 – Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, Russian writer and feminist, dies at 92
1992 – Walt Morey, US children’s book writer (Gentle Ben), dies at 84
1999 – Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1961)
1999 – Betty Lou Gerson, American voice actress (101 Dalmatians, Cinderella), dies of a stroke at 84

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Historical Events

1753 – Ferdinand VI of Spain and Pope Benedictus XIV sign concord
1758 – Russian troops occupy Königsberg, East-Prussia [NS=Jan 22]
1759 – 1st American life insurance company incorporated, Philadelphia
1879 – Anglo-Zulu War begins as British Lt-General Chelmsford invades Zululand in South Africa
1892 – Hawaiian Historical Society founded
1976 – US male Figure Skating championship won by Terry Kubicka

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Famous Birthdays

1755 – Alexander Hamilton, US Founding Father and 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (1789-95), born in Charlestown, Nevis, West Indies (d. 1804)
1930 – Rod Taylor, Australian actor (The Birds, Time Machine), born in Sydney, New South Wales (d. 2015)
1943 – William Albert Penn, composer
1946 – Naomi Judd, [Diana Ellen], Ashland Ky, singer (Judds-Why Not Me)
1951 – Willie Maddren, English former footballer (d. 2000)
1974 – Jens Nowotny, German footballer, born in Malsch, Germany

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Famous Deaths

844 – Michael I Rhangabes, Byzantine Emperor
1494 – Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian artist (b. 1449)
1943 – Agustín Pedro Justo, President of Argentina (1932-38) during the Infamous Decade, dies at 66
1988 – Florence Knapp, American, one-time oldest person in the world (b. 1873)
1994 – Roger “Ram” Ramirez, jazz piano player/composer, dies at 80
2010 – Miep Gies, Dutch Humanitarian, discoverer of Anne Frank’s diary (b. 1909)

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Historical Events

1920 – Silver reaches record $1.37 an ounce
1928 – Soviet Union orders exile of Leon Trotsky
1932 – “Mickey Mouse” and “Silly Symphony” comics syndicated
1964 – “Introducing the Beatles” released 1st Beatles album released in the US
1973 – For the first time graduates studying from home with ‘the Open University’ receive their degrees
1996 – Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners

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Famous Birthdays

1916 – Bob Hamilton, American golfer (PGA C’ship 1944), born in Evansville, Indiana (d. 1990)
1916 – Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist and Nobel laureate, born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 2004)
1937 – Thomas Penfield Jackson, American judge, born in Washington, D.C. (d. 2013)
1955 – Luci Martin, American vocalist (Chic), born in the Bronx, New York
1956 – Antonio Muñoz Molina, Spanish writer (Royal Spanish Academy), born in Úbeda, Jaén, Spain
1974 – Jemaine Clement, New Zealand actor and musician (Flight of the Conchords), born in Masterton, New Zealand

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Famous Deaths

1542 – Gerardus Noviomagus, [Gerrit Geldenhauer], Dutch theologist, die at 59
1698 – Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, French ecclesiastical historian, dies at 60
1883 – Dr Samuel A. Mudd, American medical doctor (b. 1833)
1997 – Alvinio Misciano, Italian tenor, killed in a fall from a window
2000 – Sam Jaffe, American music and film producer (Born Free, The Fighting Sullivans), dies at 98
2017 – Tony Rosato, Italian-born Canadian comedian (SCTV, Saturday Night Live), dies at 63

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Historical Events

1957 – Dutch Newspaper Society expels communist daily paper “Truth”
1977 – Super Bowl XI, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA: Oakland Raiders beat Minnesota Vikings, 32-14; MVP: Fred Biletnikoff, Oakland, WR
1979 – Bobby Orr’s #4 jersey is retired by the Boston Bruins
1990 – US Supreme Court strikes down Dallas’ ordinance imposing strict zoning on sexually oriented businesses
1995 – Ecuador and Peru involved in boundary fight
1996 – First episode of “Third Rock from the Sun” screened on NBC

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Famous Birthdays

1894 – Henryk Stazewski, Polish abstract painter and graphic artist
1940 – Barbara Buczek, Polish composer, born in Kraków, Poland (d. 1993)
1948 – Bill Cowsill, American singer and musician (The Cowsills – We Can Fly), born in Newport, Rhode Island
1959 – Cristi Minculescu, Romanian musician, born in Pitești, Romania
1967 – Dave Matthews, South African singer and musician (Dave Matthews Band), born in Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa
1972 – Angie Martinez, American radio and television personality, born in Brooklyn, New York

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Famous Deaths

1863 – Ferdinand Huber, Swiss composer, dies at 71
1971 – Elmer Flick, baseball player (b. 1876)
1979 – Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian engineer and architect (Nuove Struttura), dies at 87
2008 – Mehran Ghassemi, Iranian journalist (b. 1977)
2016 – Ed Stewart, British DJ and broadcaster (Crackerjack), dies of a stroke at 74
2018 – Odvar Nordli, 21st Prime Minister of Norway (Labour: 1976-81), dies at 90

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Historical Events

1610 – Simon Marius. a German astronomer, independently discovers the first three moons of Jupiter one day after Galileo
1968 – Jacques Cousteau’s 1st undersea special on US network TV
1972 – Dmitri Shostakovich’ 15th Symphony premieres in Moscow
1984 – NCAA announces that basketball tournament will have 64 teams
1989 – Boeing 737-400 crashes at Kegworth, England, 46 die
2018 – US record year for cost of natural disasters announced – $306 billion in 2017

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Famous Birthdays

1556 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
1836 – Lawrence Alma Tadema, Dutch/British painter/husband of Laura Epps
1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter (d. 1941)
1906 – Jan A H J S Bruins Slot, Dutch founder illegal Trouw/MP (ARP)
1965 – Eric Wohlberg, Canadian cyclist (Olympics 1996), born in Greater Sudbury, Canada
1980 – Rachel Nichols, American actress, born in Phoenix, Arizona

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Famous Deaths

1713 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer and violinist (Concerti Grossi), dies at 59
1811 – Samuel Story, Dutch rear admiral (Battle of Kamperduin), dies at 58
1858 – Friedrich Karl Kuhmstedt, composer, dies at 48
1975 – John Gregson, British actor (Gideon CID, The Longest Day, Shirley’s World), dies from a heart attack at 55
1981 – Woody Chamblis, actor (Mr Lathrop-Gunsmoke), dies at 66
2017 – Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 4th President of Iran (1989-97) and de facto commander-in-chief of the Iranian military during the Iran-Iraq War, dies of a heart attack at 82

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Historical Events

1842 – Gioacchino Rossini’s cantata “Stabat Mater” premieres in Paris
1868 – Mississippi constitutional convention meets in Jackson
1903 – Vincent d’Indy’s opera “L’etranger” premieres in Brussells
1940 – Winter War: The Finish 9th Division defeats the Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road despite being significantly outnumbered
1993 – Bosnian War: Bosnian Army launches a surprise attack on Kravica, a village in Srebrenica
2003 – “In Da Club” single is released by 50 Cent (MTV Video Music Award Best Rap Video and Best New Artist 2003, Billboard Song of the Year 2003)

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Famous Birthdays

1612 – Paul de La Pierre, composer
1718 – Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (d. 1790)
1892 – Rudolf Moser, composer
1910 – Alain JG de Rothschild, French banker/baron
1929 – Terry Moore [Helen Luella Koford], American actress (Little Sheba), born in Los Angeles, California
1967 – Mark Lamarr, British comedian and broadcaster, born in Swindon, United Kingdom

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Famous Deaths

1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist (tesla motor), dies at 86
1957 – Al White, choreographer (NBC Comedy Hour), dies
1964 – Cyril Davies, American musician (b. 1932)
1970 – Robert [Harriot] Barrat, American actor (Bad Lands, Go West, Distant Drums), dies at 80
1992 – Jhean Burton, entertainer, dies
2015 – Rod Taylor, Australian actor (Time Machine, The Birds), dies at 84

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Historical Events

1896 – 1st US women’s 6-day bicycle race starts, Madison Square Garden
1938 – Bronze memorial statue of Henry Hudson erected in Bronx
1972 – US female Figure Skating championship won by Janet Lynn
1984 – Last day of Test cricket for Chappell, Marsh and Lillee
1992 – Sachin Tendulkar completes 148* v Australia at the SCG
1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.

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Famous Birthdays

1868 – Vittorio Monti, Italian composer, born in Naples, Italy (d. 1922)
1870 – Gustav Bauer, Chancellor of Germany, born in Ozyorsk, Russia (d. 1944)
1911 – Billy Sands, American actor (Phil Silvers Show, McHale’s Navy), born in Bergen, New York (d. 1984)
1921 – Lou Harris, American pollster (Lou Harris Poll), born in New Haven, Connecticut (d. 2016)
1934 – Tassos Papadopoulos, Cypriot politician and barrister (President, 2003–2008), born in Nicosia, Cyprus (d. 2008)
1953 – Malcolm Young, Scottish guitarist (AC/DC-Highway to Hell), born in Glasgow, Scotland

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Famous Deaths

664 – Amr ibn al-A’as, Arab general (bc. 583)
1275 – Raymundus of Penafort, Spanish church law scholar, dies
1541 – Bernard van Orley, Flemish royal painter of Hungary, dies at about 52
1693 – Mehmed IV, sultan (Turkey), dies at 51
2012 – Ellen Pence, social activist, dies from cancer at 63
2014 – H. Owen Reed, American composer, dies at 103

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