Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1590 – Niccolo Sfondrati chosen as Pope Gregory XIV
1892 – Sir John Thompson becomes the fourth Prime Minister of Canada.
1948 – NY Giant Charley Conerly sets NFL record of 36 pass completions
1964 – Captain Roger Donlon is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the Vietnam War for successfully repelling a large Viet Cong attack
1974 – 1st Wash Cap penalty shot, Tom Williams unsuccessful vs Buff Sabres
1988 – Boris Becker beats defending champion Ivan Lendl 5–7, 7–6, 3–6, 6–2, 7–6 in a classic final to win his first of 3 ATP Masters Grand Prix tennis titles at Madison Square Garden, NYC

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Famous Birthdays

1901 – Walt [Walter Elias] Disney, American animator, (Mickey Mouse), producer and co-founder of Walt Disney Co., born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1966)
1905 – Gus Mancuso, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals), born in Galveston, Texas (d. 1984)
1938 – J. J. Cale, American rock guitarist (After Midnight), born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (d. 2013)
1949 – Lanny Wadkins, American golfer (PGA C’ship 1977), born in Richmond, Virginia
1962 – José Cura, Argentine tenor, born in Rosario, Argentina
1963 – Carrie Hamilton, American actress (Fame), born in NYC, New York (d. 2002)

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Famous Deaths

1886 – Peter Hofstede de Groot, Dutch reformed theologist, dies at 84
1941 – Amrita Sher-Gil, Hungarian-Indian painter described as the “Indian Frida Kahlo” and “one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century,” dies of complications from a failed abortion at 28
1989 – John M Pritchard, British conductor, dies at 68
1995 – Robert Charles Evans, mountaineer/doctor, dies at 77
2002 – Ne Win, Burmese leader (b. 1911)
2010 – Don Meredith, American football player and broadcaster (b. 1938)

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Historical Events

1674 – Father Marquette builds first dwelling in what is now Chicago
1933 – Jack Kirkland’s play “Tobacco Road” premieres in NYC, became the longest-running play of its time
1944 – Germans destroy Rhine dikes, Betuwe flooded
1961 – Smallest NY Knick, 49th St Madison Square Garden crowd-1,300 (snowstorm)
1971 – The UN Security Council calls an emergency session to consider the deteriorating situation between India and Pakistan
1989 – NBC’s premiere of “Howard Beach: Making A Case for Murder”, based on December 1986 murders of black youths by white youths in New York City

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Famous Birthdays

1791 – Johann Gottlob Topfer, German composer, born in Niederroßla (d. 1870)
1866 – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-French abstract painter (Dreamy Inspiration), born in Moscow (d. 1944)
1868 – Richard Nicolaas Roland Holst, Dutch artist and painter, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1938)
1935 – Robert Vesco, American financier and fugitive, born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 2007)
1941 – Humberto Solás, Cuban film director and writer (Lucia), born in Havana, Cuba (d. 2008)
1950 – Jan Rietman, Dutch radio and TV host, born in Doetinchem, Netherlands

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Famous Deaths

765 – Jafar al-Sadiq, Muslim scholar and scientist, dies at 63
1334 – Pope John XXII (1316-1334) (b. 1249)
1893 – John Tyndall, Irish physicist who demonstrated why the sky is blue and proved that the Earth’s atmosphere has a greenhouse effect, dies at 73
1935 – Johan Halvorsen, composer, dies at 71
1983 – Estelle Omens, actress (Effect of Gamma Rays), dies at 55
2017 – Shashi Kapoor [Balbir Raj Kapoor], prominent Indian Bollywood actor (Deewar, The Deceivers, Shalimar, Heat and Dust), dies from a chest infection at 79

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Historical Events

741 – St Zachary begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Gregory III
1953 – “In the Jailhouse Now” single recorded by Webb Pierce (Billboard Song of the Year 1955)
1982 – After losing his world welterweight boxing titles to Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns wins WBC Super Welterweight crown in a majority points decision over Wilfred Benitez at Superdome, New Orleans
1984 – “Do They Know It’s Christmas” single written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure and sung by Band Aid is released in the UK
1991 – Muslim Shi’ites release US hostage Alan Steen
2005 – 10th Big 12 Championship Game: #2 Texas beats Colorado, 70-3

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Famous Birthdays

1750 – Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel, German composer, born in Würzburg, Germany (d. 1817)
1838 – Octavia Hill, British reformer, leader of open-space movement, born in London, England (d. 1912)
1880 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (d. 1945)
1925 – Ken Funston, South African cricket batsman (18 Tests, top score 92), born in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa (d. 2005)
1952 – Benny Hinn, American televangelist
1974 – Charl Willoughby, South African cricket fast bowler (2 Tests; 3 ODIs; Somerset), born in Cape Town, South Africa

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Famous Deaths

1154 – Anastasius IV, Pope (1153-54), dies
1890 – Billy Midwinter, English-Australian cricket all-rounder (8 Tests Australia, 4 England), dies of insanity at 39
1894 – Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist (Treasure Island), dies at 45
1937 – Prosper Poullet, Belgian mayor, dies
1992 – Harry Ellerbe, actor (House of Usher, Magnetic Monster), dies at 91
1994 – Elizabeth Meyer, wife of Paul Michael Glaser, dies of AIDS at 47

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Historical Events

1916 – National Baseball Commission orders that injured players get full pay for duration of their contracts; injury clause previously let clubs suspend players after 15 days’ pay
1954 – “Hit the Trail” opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 4 performances
1970 – Michael Tippett’s opera “The Knot Garden” premieres in London
1978 – Anti-Shah protest in Tehran,protesters chant “Allah is great”
1987 – Chicago City Council elects Eugene Sawyer acting mayor
1988 – ESPN airs its 10,000th edition of ‘Sports Center’, making it the most televised cable program in history

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Famous Birthdays

1897 – Rewi Alley, New Zealand writer (Americans in China)
1929 – Jaap Boersma, Dutch minister for Social Affairs (ARP)
1941 – Tom McGuiness, rocker (McGuiness-Flint)
1958 – George Saunders, American writer (Lincoln in the Bardo), born in Amarillo, Texas
1988 – Edward EMG baron Downpatrick, grandson of English prince Edward
1989 – Matteo Darmian, Italian soccer full-back (36 caps; Torino, Manchester United), born in Legnano, Milan, Italy

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Famous Deaths

1515 – Gonzalo de Cordoba, Spanish general/strategist/viceroy of Naples, dies
1665 – Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, French socialite (b. 1588)
1985 – Alex Courtney, actor (Sword of Justice), dies
1993 – Cal Tinney, American comedian and actor (The Missouri Traveler, Stop Me If You Heard This One), dies at 85
2005 – Kenneth Lee Boyd, American convicted murderer (executed) (b. 1948)
2009 – Foge Fazio, American college football coach (University of Pittsburgh), dies of leukemia at 71

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Historical Events

1954 – Nationalist China and US sign dike agreement
1954 – NY Yankees and Baltimore Orioles complete largest trade in MLB history as 17 players, including Don Larsen, Gene Woodling, Bob Turley change teams; first phase of transaction began November 18 and concludes today after the MLB draft
1986 – Musée d’Orsay opens in Paris
1988 – Benazir Bhutto named 1st female Prime Minister of a Muslim country (Pakistan)
2007 – Davis Cup Tennis, Portland, Oregan: Bob and Mike Bryan team to give US an unassailable 3-0 lead (ends 4-1) over Russia; beat Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev 7-6, 6-4, 6-2; 32nd US title
2017 – President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to the F.B.I.

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Famous Birthdays

1912 – Cookie Lavagetto, American baseball third baseman, manager and coach (MLB All Star 1938-41; Brooklyn Dodgers; Washington Senators), born in Oakland, California (d. 1990)
1934 – Hilly Axwijk, Suriname social worker
1958 – Charlene Tilton, American actress (Lucy Ewing – Dallas), born in San Diego, California
1964 – Salvatore Schillaci [Totò], Italian soccer striker (16 caps; Messina, Juventus), born in Palermo, Italy
1966 – Steve Walsh, American NFL quarterback and CFL coach (Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Toronto Argonauts), born in Saint Paul, Minnesota
1976 – Brently Heilbron, American satirist

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Famous Deaths

1018 – Thietmar, German chronicler and Bishop of Merseburg, dies at 43
1729 – Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer and mathematician, dies at 64
1808 – Anton Fischer, composer, dies at 30
1892 – Joseph Lippens, Belgian lieutenant in Congo, murdered
1939 – Max Fiedler, German composer, dies at 79
1943 – Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince, son of King Mongkut and brother of King Chulalongkorn and historian, dies at 81

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Historical Events

1523 – Amsterdam bans assembly of heretics
1931 – His Master’s Voice and Columbia Records merge into EMI
1967 – Senator Eugene McCarthy announces he will run for the US presidency on an anti-Vietnam war platform
1978 – France performs nuclear test
1980 – Uruguay’s new constitution rejected by referendum
2015 – NBA star Kobe Bryant (LA Lakers) announces his intention to retire at the end of the season

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Famous Birthdays

1817 – Theodor Mommsen, German historian and scholar (Imperial Lives, Nobel Prize in Literature 1902), born in Garding, Duchy of Schleswig (d. 1903)
1911 – Jorge Negrete [Moreno], Mexican singer and actor (The Rebel, La madrina del diablo), born in Guanajuato, Mexico (d. 1953)
1954 – Simonetta Stefanelli, Italian Actress (The Godfather)
1976 – Cypher Zero, American circus innovator (New York Circus Arts)
1977 – Kazumi Saitoh, Japanese baseball player
1977 – Iván Guerrero, Honduran footballer

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Famous Deaths

1761 – John Dollond, British optician and owner of 1st patent for achromatic lens, dies at 55
1792 – Ernst William Wolf, composer, dies at 57
1947 – Ernst Lubitsch, German actor, producer and film director (To Be or Not to Be, Love Parade, Anna Boleyn, Ninotchka), dies from a heart attack at 55
1987 – Simon Carmiggelt, journalist/literary (Kronkel), dies at 74
2006 – Elhadi Adam, Sudanese poet and lyricist (b. 1927)
2015 – Eldar Ryazanov, Russian film director and screenwriter (Carnival Night), dies at 88

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Historical Events

1887 – US receives rights to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, Hawaii
1913 – CFL Grey Cup, AAA Grounds, Hamilton: Hamilton Tigers beat Toronto Parkdale, 44-2; second-largest margin of victory in a Grey Cup final
1924 – CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Queen’s University wins 3rd straight Championship; defeat Toronto Balmy Beach, 11-3
1987 – Joe Montana of SF 49ers completes NFL record of 22 consecutive passes
2008 – 73rd Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 36-0 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s first win in the series in seven years
2009 – CFL Grey Cup, McMahon Stadium, Calgary: Montreal Alouettes come from behind to beat Saskatchewan Roughriders, 28–27 on a 33-yard Damon Duval field goal as time runs out

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Famous Birthdays

1338 – Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, son of Edward III of England, born in Antwerp, Buchy of Brabant (d. 1368)
1894 – Lucille Hegamin, American singer and entertainer (d. 1970)
1916 – Frances “Fran” Ryan, American actress (Stripes, The Long Riders), born n Los Angeles, California (d. 2000)
1939 – Peter Bergman, American comedian, (d. 2012)
1956 – Eric Laakso, American football player
1983 – Pamela Brown, American television reporter and newscaster (CNN, ABC WJLA-TV), born in Lexington, Kentucky

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Famous Deaths

1924 – Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer (Mme Butterfly), dies in Brussels at 65
1967 – Theo Marcuse, American character actor (Mara of Wilderness), dies in auto accident at 47
1980 – Dorothy Day, American journalist, social activist and devout Catholic convert, dies of a heart attack at 83
1985 – Rik Jacobs, Flemish stage manager, dies at 71
2005 – Wendie Jo Sperber, American actress (Back to the Future), dies of breast cancer at 47
2007 – Henry Hyde, American politician (Rep (R) Illinois (1975-2007), dies at 83

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Historical Events

1934 – Winston Churchill tells British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin not to under estimate German air power
1944 – 1st allied ship sails into Schelde Antwerp
1945 – Australian Services draw second Victory Test Cricket v India at Calcutta
1955 – KTHV TV channel 11 in Little Rock, AR (CBS) begins broadcasting
1958 – AL announces Opening Day in 1959 will be earliest ever, April 9
1973 – Baltimore Oriole Al Bumbry wins AL Rookie of Year

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Famous Birthdays

1820 – Freidrich Engels, German social philosopher (Communism), born in Barmen, Germany (d. 1895)
1864 – James Allen English writer (d. 1912)
1864 – Carel A Lion Cachet, lithographer/wood carver
1977 – Greg Somerville, New Zealand rugby union footballer
1987 – Karen Gillan, Scottish actress (Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy), born in Inverness, Scotland
1988 – Scarlett Pomers, American actress

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Famous Deaths

1514 – Hartmann Skull, German physician/historian (Skull’s Liederbuch), dies
1716 – Gisbert Cuper, Dutch classicist and historian, dies at 72
1876 – Karl Earnest Ritter von Baer, Estonian/German embryologist, dies at 84
1994 – Jerry Rubin, US anti-war activist (Youth Party) and businessman, dies at 56
1994 – Al Levitt, American jazz drummer, dies at 63
2011 – Ante Markovic, last Premier of Yugoslavia, dies at 87

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Historical Events

1864 – 2nd day of Battles at Waynesboro, Georgia
1885 – 1st photograph of a meteor taken by Austro-Hungarian photographer Ladislaus Weinek in Prague
1941 – Joe DiMaggio is named AL MVP
1961 – Gordie Howe becomes 1st to play in 1,000 NHL games
1977 – “Comedy with Music (Victor Borge)” closes at Imperial NY after 66 performances
2005 – CFL Grey Cup, BC Place, Vancouver: Edmonton Eskimos beat Montreal Alouettes, 38-35; first time in 44 years Grey Cup goes into overtime

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Famous Birthdays

1801 – Alexander Egorovich Varlamov, composer
1874 – Chaim Weizmann, Israeli statesman (1st President)
1944 – Martin Corbett, English gay rights activist (Gay Liberation Front, OutRage!), born in London (d. 1996)
1952 – Daryl Stuermer, American guitarist (Genesis)
1954 – Kimmy Robertson, American actress best known for her role as Lucy Moran in the TV series Twin Peaks
1970 – Todd Kelly, NFL defensive end (Cin Bengals)

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Famous Deaths

1198 – Queen Constance of Sicily, wife of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1154)
1474 – Guillaume Dufay, French/Flemish composer, dies at about 74
1916 – James Cutler Dunn Parker, composer, dies at 88
1973 – Frank Christian, American jazz trumpeter, dies at 86
1988 – Jan Hein Donner, Dutch chess grand master, dies at 61
2008 – V.P. [Vishwanath Pratap] Singh, Indian politician, 7th Prime Minister of India (1989-90), dies at 77

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Historical Events

1688 – French King Louis XIV declares war on Netherlands
1953 – Yamada Koun, leader of Sanbo Kyodan line of Zen, found 1st awakening
1975 – US Federal jury finds Lynette Fromme guilty of attempted assassination
1989 – Luis Alberto Lacalle becomes President of Uruguay
1995 – Dolphins QB Dan Marino sets NFL record with 343rd touchdown pass
2017 – Presidential elections held in Honduras with allegations of electoral fraud and resulting violent protests

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Famous Birthdays

1703 – Theophilus Cibber, English actor and writer, born in London, England (d. 1758)
1906 – Sandro Fuga, Italian composer and painist, born in Mogliano, Veneto (d. 1994)
1917 – Adele Jergens, American actress (Dark Past, Fuller Brush Man), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2002)
1928 – Don Tregonning, Australian tennis player and coach, born in Melbourne, Victoria
1929 – Slavko Avsenik, Slovenian musician, born in Begunje, Slovenia (d. 2015)
1931 – Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Argentine painter and activist (1980 Nobel Peace Prize), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Famous Deaths

1252 – Blanche of Castile, Queen of Louis VIII of France (b. 1188)
1882 – Otto T Freiherr von Manteuffel, premier of Prussia, dies
1981 – Max Euwe, Dutch world chess champion (1935-37), dies at 80
1987 – Emmanuel Bondeville, French composer, dies at 89
1995 – Terri Jewell, writer, dies at 40
2006 – Isaac Gálvez, Spanish procyclist (b. 1975)

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