Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1349 – Margaretha of Bavaria names her son Willem V Earl of Holland and Zealand
1896 – Isaac Albéniz’ opera “Pepita Jiminez” premieres in Barcelona
1949 – US President Harry Truman labels his administration the “Fair Deal”
1968 – Alexander Dubček succeeds Antonín Novotný as communist party leader of Czechoslovakia
1969 – Bollingen prize for poetry presented to John Berryman and Karl Shapiro
1994 – Aleksandr Popov swims world record 100m free style (47.82)

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Famous Birthdays

1885 – Humbert Wolfe, Italian-born British poet, born in Milan, Italy (d. 1940)
1910 – Ed Widseth, American College Football Hall of Fame tackle (University of Minnesota; Pro Bowl 1938; NY Giants), born in Gonvick, Minnesota (d. 1998)
1910 – Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (Olympic gold 1,500m 1936), born in Crushington, New Zealand (d. 1949)
1928 – Imtiaz Ahmed, Pakistani cricketer (Pakistan wicket-keeper in 41 Tests 1952-62), born in Lahore, Pakistan (d. 2016)
1947 – Mercury Morris, American football player, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1950 – Ioan Petru Culianu, Romanian historian, born in Iași, Romania (d. 1991)

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Famous Deaths

1960 – Pavel P Parenago, Russian cosmonaut, dies at 53
1979 – Charles Mingus, American jazz bassist (Pithecanthropus Erectus), dies at 56
1990 – Bart LaRue, entertainer, dies
1991 – Vasko Popa, Yugoslavia-Serbian poet (Heaven is a Side Issue), dies at 68
1995 – Somerset de Chair, British writer, politician and poet, dies at 83
2007 – Chih Ree Sun, Chinese-American physicist and poet (b. 1923)

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Historical Events

274 – St Eutychian begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1884 – The Fabian Society is founded in London.
1903 – Topsy the elephant is electrocuted by her owners at Luna Park, Coney Island and filmed by Edison Manufacturing movie company
1907 – George Bernard Shaw’s “Don Juan in Hell” premieres in London
1976 – “Candide” closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 740 performances
1976 – AFC Championship, Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Oakland Raiders, 16-10

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Famous Birthdays

1805 – Stephan Hale Alonzo Marsh, composer
1869 – Tommy Corcoran, American baseball shortstop (MLB shortstop game assist record 14), born in New Haven, Connecticut (d. 1960)
1893 – Manuel Palau Boix, composer
1930 – Don Shula, American NFL coach (Miami Dolphins), born in Grand River Ohio
1942 – Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Prime Minister of Kuwait (2011-present), born in Kuwait City, Kuwait
1979 – Jeph Howard, American musician (The Used), born in Orem, Utah

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Famous Deaths

1891 – Antoine Labelle, Quebec catholic priest (b. 1833)
1908 – Antony Winkler Prins, writer (Groiller Encyclopaedia), dies at 70
1955 – G. G. van der Hoeven, Dutch editor-in-chief (NRC newspaper), dies at 82
1991 – Leo Wright, American saxophonist (I Left My Heart in San Francisco), dies at 57
1995 – Eduardo Mata, Mexican conductor (Improvisaciones), dies in air crash at 52
2004 – Jeff Nuttall, English writer (b. 1933)

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Historical Events

1777 – General George Washington’s revolutionary army defeats British forces at Battle of Princeton, New Jersey
1852 – 1st Chinese arrive in Hawaii
1900 – Gerhart Hauptmann’s play “Schluck und Jau,” premieres in Berlin
1943 – 1st missing persons telecast (NYC)
1947 – William Dawson becomes 1st black to head congressional committee
2014 – Cambodian garment workers go on strike demanding a wage increase

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Famous Birthdays

1828 – Karl Collan, Finnish composer
1886 – Arthur Mailey, Australian cricket spin bowler (21 Tests, 99 wickets; 10/66 v Gloucestershire 1921), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 1967)
1904 – Boris Kochno, Russian ballet dancer (La Chatte)
1939 – Janice Crosio, Australian politician
1970 – Matt Ross, American actor
1980 – Liya Kebede, Ethiopian model

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Famous Deaths

1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, English pottery designer and manufacturer (Wedgwood), dies at 64
1931 – Joseph J C Joffre, French marshal, dies at 78
1943 – Sir Walter James, Premier of Western Australia (b. 1863)
1956 – Joseph Wirth, 5th Chancellor of the Weimar Republic, Germany (Stalin Peace Prize), dies at 76
1972 – Frans Masereel, Flem WWII resistance fighter (Le Soleil), dies at 82
2011 – Fadil Hadžić, Croatian film director (b. 23 April 1922)

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Historical Events

1918 – Montreal Arena in Westmount, Quebec, the home rink of 4-time NHL Stanley Cup winners the Montreal Wanderers burns down leading to the club disbanding
1943 – University of Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team begins 129 home game winning streak that only ends in 1955; incorporates NCAA titles in 1948, 1949 and 1951
1945 – Radio Orange ends cooperation at Liese-Aktion
1972 – AFC Championship, Miami Orange Bowl: Miami Dolphins beat Baltimore Colts, 21-0
2014 – 80th Sugar Bowl: #11 Oklahoma beats #3 Alabama, 45-31
2019 – Two women become the first to ever enter India’s Sabarimala shrine in Kerala State, after law change, prompting protests

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Famous Birthdays

1866 – Prof Gilbert Murray, Australian classical scholar (d. 1957)
1904 – James Melton, Moultrie Ga, opera tenor (Ford Festival)
1915 – John Hope Franklin, historian
1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist
1959 – Kirti Azad, Indian cricket all-rounder (7 Tests; 25 ODIs) and politician, born in Darbhanga, India
1981 – Maxi Rodríguez, soccer midfielder (57 caps; Atlético Madrid, Newell’s Old Boys), born in Rosario, Argentina

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Famous Deaths

1921 – Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, Chancellor of the German Empire (1909-17), dies at 64
1946 – Joe Darling, Australian cricket batsman and captain (34 Tests, 21 as captain), dies following a gall bladder operation at 75
1971 – Richard Maxwell (Dick) Haldane, South African trade unionist, dies at 62
1980 – Larry Williams, rocker, dies at 44
2006 – Osa Massen [Aase Madsen Iversen], Dutch actress (Jack London, Rocketship X-M), dies at 91
2007 – Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, American historian (b. 1941)

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Historical Events

1891 – French troops occupy Nioro, West-Sudan, 3000 killed
1952 – 18th Sugar Bowl: #3 Maryland beats #1 Tennessee, 28-13
1972 – 38th Orange Bowl: #1 Nebraska beats #2 Alabama, 38-6
1975 – U.S. Federal oil depletion allowance eliminated for large producers
1994 – 80th Rose Bowl: #9 Wisconsin beats #14 UCLA, 21-16
1994 – North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect

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Famous Birthdays

1723 – Christian Friedrich Gregor, composer
1853 – Hans Koessler, composer
1878 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish scientist and engineer (d. 1929)
1896 – Yitzhak Edel, composer
1915 – Lewis Bingham Keeble, town planner
1932 – Arnfried G D P, Dutch manufacturer (breadcrumbs)/drugs dealer

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Famous Deaths

1905 – Mabel Cahill, Irish tennis player (US National C’ship 1891-92), dies at 41
1944 – Charles Turner, Australian cricket fast bowler (17 Tests; 101 wickets @ 16.53; fastest to 50 Test wickets), dies at 81
1988 – Marcel Hillaire, German actor (Take the Money and Run, Seven Thieves), dies from surgery complications at 79
1995 – Eugene Wigner, physicist (Nobel prize for physics-1963), dies at 92
2008 – Harold Corsini, American photographer, dies from a stroke at 88
2012 – Fred Milano, American doo-wop singer, member of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, dies from lung cancer at 72

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Historical Events

1921 – Last San Francisco firehorses retired
1957 – AAU awards Bobby Morrow, James Sullivan Memorial Trophy
1974 – Popular Electronics displays Altair 8800 computer
1977 – Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with Vietnam
1982 – TV soap “Doctors” ends 19 year run
1999 – Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as acting President

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Famous Birthdays

1880 – Fred Beebe, American baseball player, born in Lincoln, Nebraska (d. 1957)
1934 – Akram Awan, Islamic scholar and spiritual leader, born in Chakwal, Pakistan (d. 2017)
1938 – Henricus G Wijmans, Dutch graphic artist
1949 – Ellen Datlow, American editor, born in NYC, New York
1953 – Yahya Ould Hademine, Mauritanian politician and 13th Prime Minister of Mauritania (2014-present), born in Timbédra, French West Africa
1961 – Rick Aguilera, American baseball pitcher (Minnesota Twins), born in San Gabriel, California

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Famous Deaths

1799 – Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and writer, dies at 76
1921 – Boies Penrose, American politician (U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1897-1921)), dies at 61
1950 – Charles Koechlin, French composer (The Jungle Book), dies at 83
1977 – Nora Marlowe, actress (Sara-Gov and JJ), dies at 62
1993 – Brandon Teena, American trans man and hate crime victim, murdered at 21
1996 – Michael Roberts, English historian, dies at 88

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Historical Events

1813 – Danzig surrenders to allied armies
1905 – Former Governor Frank Steunenberg is assassinated near his home in Caldwell, Idaho
1933 – Government disallows NSB-membership for civil service
1963 – Congress authorizes Kennedy half dollar
1975 – “Boccaccio” closes at Edison Theater NYC after 7 performances
1979 – Togo adopts constitution

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Famous Birthdays

1644 – Philips van Almonde, Dutch Zeeuws lt-admiral
1917 – Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)
1931 – Richard Christ, writer
1945 – Preston Andrew Trombly, composer
1985 – Lars Boom, Dutch cyclist
1992 – Carson Wentz, American NFL quarterback (Philadelphia Eagles), born in Raleigh, North Carolina

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Famous Deaths

274 – St Felix I, dies and ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1662 – Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria and Regent of the Tyrol, dies at 34
1865 – Henry Winter Davis, American politician and unionist, dies at 48
1995 – Doris Grau, American script supervisor, actress and voice artist (Point Blank, King Kong), dies from respiratory failure at 71
2003 – John Gregory Dunne, American writer, dies of heart attack at 71
2010 – Bobby Farrell, Aruban singer (Boney M) (b. 1949)

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Historical Events

1782 – 1st nautical almanac in US published by Samuel Stearns, Boston
1848 – Gas lights 1st installed at White House (Polk’s administration)
1920 – Yugoslav government bans communist party
1955 – NHL officials wear new vertically striped black-and-white sweaters for the first time in Montreal Canadiens’ 5-2 win over Toronto Maple Leafs
1968 – NFL Championship, Cleveland Municipal Stadium: Baltimore Colts shutout Cleveland Browns, 34-0
2018 – 85th Orange Bowl: #1 Alabama beats #4 Oklahoma, 45-34

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Famous Birthdays

1833 – John James Ingalls, US politician (Rep-Ks), born in Middleton, Massachusetts (d. 1900)
1866 – Joseph Limburg, Dutch lawyer and politician, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1940)
1917 – Tom Bradley, Mayor of Los Angeles (D-1973-93), born in Calvert, Texas (d. 1998)
1953 – Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress, born in Rehovot, Israel
1959 – Ritsuko Okazaki, Japanese singer-songwriter (Kanashii Jiyū / Koi ga, Kiete Yuku), born in Hashima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan (d. 2004)
1965 – Dexter Holland, American musician (The Offspring), born in Garden Grove, California

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Famous Deaths

1141 – Yue Fei, Chinese general, executed
1847 – William Crotch, English composer, dies at 72
1975 – Euell Gibbons, American outdoorsman and proponent of natural diets (b. 1911).
1996 – Willaim Brown, British TV executive, dies at 67
1996 – Mireille Hartuch, singer/songwriter, dies at 90
1998 – Jean-Claude Forest, writer and illustrator of comics (Barbarella) (b. 1930)

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Historical Events

1902 – Trans-Pacific cable links Hawaii to US
1950 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom’s 1st National Park
1993 – Ballon d’Or: Juventus’ Italian striker Roberto Baggio is named Europe’s best football player ahead of Inter forward Dennis Bergkamp and Manchester United striker Eric Cantona
2001 – OPEC oil ministers meeting in Cairo agree to reduce their crude oil output quotas by a combined 1.5 million barrels per day
2009 – 43 people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims were observing the Day of Ashura.
2017 – Protests in Mashhad, Iran against price rises and corruption

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Famous Birthdays

1859 – John W Fortescue, military historian
1910 – John “Jack” Kerr, New Zealand cricketer (opening batsman in 1930s), born in Dannevirke, New Zealand (d. 2007)
1911 – Phani Majumdar, filmmaker
1954 – Denzel Washington, American actor (Dr Chandler-St Elsewhere), born in Mount Vernon, New York
1956 – Kenneth Grant, bass/vocalist (Midnight Star-No Parking, Operator)
1960 – Zane Smith, American baseball pitcher (Pittsburgh Pirates), born in Madison, Wisconsin

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Famous Deaths

1935 – Clarence Day, American author (Life with Father), dies at 61
1952 – Fletcher Henderson, American musician (b. 1897)
1969 – Henry Oscar, English stage and film actor (Saint in London), dies at 78
1971 – Max Steiner, Austrian composer (Gone With the Wind), dies at 83
1992 – Sal Maglie, American MLB pitcher (NY Giants, 8th best won-lost pct), dies at 75
1993 – Joop Vervoort, Dutch soccer referee, dies at 61

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Historical Events

1867 – Ontario and Quebec legislatures hold 1st meeting
1924 – Albania is declared a dictatorship under Ahmed Beg Zofu
1937 – Mae West performs Adam and Eve skit that gets her banned from NBC radio
1960 – 1961 NFL Draft: Tommy Mason from University of Tulane first pick by Minnesota Vikings
1974 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1974 – 40th Heisman Trophy Award: Archie Griffin, Ohio State (RB)

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Famous Birthdays

1715 – Philippe de Noailles, duc de Mouchy, French soldier (d. 1794)
1888 – Tito Schipa [Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa], Italian tenor and composer (La Rondine), born in Lecce, Italy (d. 1965)
1908 – Louis JHCA de Bourbon, Dutch writer/poet (Black Banners)
1918 – John Celardo, American comic strip artist
1962 – Bill Self, American basketball coach
1963 – Mark Pike, NFL defensive end (Buffalo Bills)

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Famous Deaths

1641 – Francois van d’Aerssen, ruler of Sommelsdijk/diplomat, dies at 69
1952 – Henri G Winkelman, Dutch supreme commander army/navy 1940, dies at 76
1997 – Tom Hudson, British artist and teacher, dies at 75
1997 – Buxton Orr, Anglo-Scottish composer, dies at 73
2003 – Alan Bates, English actor (b. 1934)
2008 – Delaney Bramlett, American rocker (Shindogs, Delaney and Bonnie), dies at 69

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