Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1902 – Most knock downs in a fight, Oscar Nelson (5) and Christy Williams (42)
1925 – The Communist Party of India is founded
1975 – Crowd of 85,661 attend the 1st day of the Australia vs West Indies MCG cricket test
1996 – The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification goes into force
2001 – Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) record one of their largest 1-day jumps of the year as traders become convinced that OPEC will follow through on production cuts
2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.

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Famous Birthdays

1771 – Heinrich J von Collin, Austria dramatist/poet (Regulus)
1809 – William Nelson Pendleton, American Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 1883)
1826 – Franz Coenen, composer
1883 – Carl Oscar Ahues, German International Chess Master (1950)
1939 – [Harvey] Phil Spector, American record producer (Wall of Sound), born in The Bronx, New York
1972 – Esteban Fuertes, Argentine footballer, born in Coronel Dorrego Partido, Argentina

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Famous Deaths

1942 – Chris ‘Red’ Cagle, College Football Hall of Fame halfback, dies of a fractured skull from a fall at 37
1958 – Harry Redman, American composer, writer, and artist, dies on 89th birthday
1969 – Josef Hromádka, Czech theologist (Lenin prize 1957), dies at 80
1981 – Amber Reeves, feminist writer (b. 1887)
1991 – Sam Cresson, dies at 73
2011 – Sam Rivers, American jazz musician (exponent of free jazz), dies of pneumonia at 88

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Historical Events

1830 – Hector Berlioz’s “Symphony Fantastic” premieres
1934 – Samson Raphaelson’s “Accent on Youth” premieres in NYC
1959 – A synagogue in Cologne Germany desecrated with swatstikas
1965 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson orders a halt to bombing operations in North Vietnam, hoping to spur peace talks
1976 – Egyptian SS Patria sinks in Red Sea, about 100 killed
2013 – “The Wolf of Wall Street”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill, is released

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Famous Birthdays

1461 – Christina of Saxony, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1521)
1765 – Joseph Mazzinghi, composer
1811 – Wilhelm E Freiherr von Ketteler, German politician/bishop of Mainz
1899 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (Casablanca – “Here’s looking at you, kid”), born in NYC, New York (d. 1957)
1963 – Joop Gall, Dutch soccer player (FC Groningen)
1978 – Simon Jones, English cricketer, born in Morriston, United Kingdom

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Famous Deaths

1249 – Peter Nolascus, Spanish monastery founder/St, dies
1976 – Arthur Mitchell, cricketer (batted in 6 Tests for Eng 1933-36), dies
1979 – Joan Blondell, American actress (Real McCoys), dies of leukemia at 73
1991 – Sal Provenza, entertainer, dies of lymphoma at 45
1992 – Monica Dickens, English/American journalist/author, dies at 77
1998 – Hugh Martell, British Vice Admiral, dies at 86

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Historical Events

1877 – Thomas Edison files a patents for the phonograph
1933 – Paris express train derails and kills 160, injures 300 (France)
1963 – Greek and Turks riot in Cyprus
1966 – USAF C144 military charter aircraft crashes near Binh Thai, Vietnam, killing 129
1970 – 9 Jews are convicted in Leningrad of hijacking a plane
1986 – French hostage Aurel Cornea, held in Lebanon for 9 months, released

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Famous Birthdays

1881 – Juan Ramon Jiménez, Spanish poet (Distant Gardens, Nobel 1956), born in Moguer, Spain (d. 1958)
1923 – George Patton IV, American general, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2004)
1926 – Paul Buissonneau, French-born Quebec theatre director, born in Paris, France (d. 2014)
1940 – Anthony S. Fauci, American immunologist, born in Brooklyn, New York City
1966 – Deidrich Bader, American actor (Drew Carey Show), born in Washington, D.C.
1986 – Riyo Mori, Japanese actress and model (Miss Universe 2007), born in Shizuoka, Japan

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Famous Deaths

1935 – Alban Maria Johannes Berg, composer, dies at 50
1984 – Ian Hendry, British actor (The Avengers, The Lotus Eaters), dies of a stomach haemorrhage at 53
1994 – John Eastburn Boswell, medievalist, dies at 47
1996 – Nguyen Huu Tho, President of Vietnam (1980-81), dies
1997 – Toshiro Mifune, Japanese writer and actor (Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Shogun), dies at 77
2009 – Rafael Caldera, lawyer, sociologist, writer, speaker, politician, and ex-president of Venezuela (b. 1916)

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Historical Events

1620 – French huguenots declare war on King Louis XIII
1920 – Government of Ireland Act / Home Rule Act passed partitioning Ireland
1933 – Train crash in Eastern Paris; 230 die
1942 – Allies air attack on Den Helder
1943 – Gen Bernard Montgomery told he is appointed commandant for D-day
1972 – 16 plane crash survivors rescued after 70d, survived by cannabalism

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Famous Birthdays

1582 – Severo Bonini, Italian composer and monk, born in Florence (d. 1663)
1943 – Roelof den Ambtman, Dutch actor and director (One Evening at Eva), born in Maurik, Netherlands
1952 – Hans Abrahamsen, Danish composer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark
1964 – Petr Klíma, NHL right wing (Tampa Bay Lightning), born in Chomutov, Czech Republic
1969 – Martha Byrne, American actress (Lily-As the World Turns), born in Ridgewood, New Jersey
1971 – Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, British socialite, born in Hampshire (d. 2017)

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Famous Deaths

1930 – Johannes H Been, Brielle archivist, dies at 71
1962 – George Saiko, Austrian writer, dies at 70
1969 – Donald Foster, American actor (Hazel, Lord Love A Duck), dies after long illness at 80
1976 – Walter Bauer, German Canadian writer, dies at 72
1996 – Rina Ketty, singer, dies at 85
2007 – Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist and composer, dies of kidney failure at 82

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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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