Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1944 – British 8th Army occupies Florence
1953 – 4-5 million French go on strike against economizations
1993 – 4th Athletics World Championships open at Stuttgart, Germany
1998 – 31st San Diego Comic-Con International opens at San Diego Convention Center
2004 – Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm, strikes Punta Gorda, Florida and devastates the surrounding area.
2015 – Swedish Prosecutors announce they are dropping allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange of sexual molestation and coercion

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Famous Birthdays

1817 – Károly Thern, Hungarian composer, born in Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia (d. 1886)
1918 – Frederick Sanger, British biochemist (Sanger sequencing, Nobel Prize 1958, 1980), born in Rendcomb, Gloucestershire, England (d. 2013)
1947 – John Stocker, Canadian actor
1967 – Quinn Cummings, actress (Annie-Family, Goodbye Girl), born in Los Angeles, California
1970 – Matt Hyson, American professional wrestler
1986 – Joseph Lapira, American soccer player

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Famous Deaths

900 – Zwentibold, king of Lutherans (895-900), dies in battle at 29
1937 – Arthur Plunkett, English civil engineer (b. 1890)
1959 – Henri Garat, French actor and singer (Les dieux s’amusent, Congress Dances), dies at 57
1988 – Edward Bennett Williams, American lawyer, team owner (Washington Redskins, Baltimore Orioles), dies of colon cancer at 68
1992 – Bill Elverman, playwright/actor (After Hours), dies at 40
2008 – Sandy Allen, American second-tallest woman in the world (b. 1955)

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Historical Events

1553 – Pope Julius III orders confiscation and burning of Jewish Talmud
1948 – Indian maestro Balbir Singh Dosanjh scores twice as India beats Great Britain 4-0 for the field hockey gold medal at the London Olympics; India’s 4th consecutive Olympic hockey title
1959 – 1st ship firing of a Polaris missile, Observation Island
1974 – Yankees Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford become 1st team mates inducted to hall of fame on same day
1978 – International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft launched – to study solar wind
1985 – 520 people die when Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes in Ueno, Japan, the second-deadliest aviation disaster of all time

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Famous Birthdays

1853 – Jean Louis Nicode, composer
1885 – Marion Lorne, American actress (The Graduata, Mister Peepers), born in West Pittston, Pennsylvania (d. 1968)
1887 – Erwin Schrodinger, Austrian physicist and Nobel Prize Laureate (wave mechanics), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1961)
1897 – Ramon Gonzalez Barron, composer
1921 – Patrick Howard-Dobson, president (Royal British Legion)
1930 – Ronald James Herron, architect

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Famous Deaths

1809 – Mikhail Kamensky, Russian field marshal, dies at 71
1900 – James E Keeler, US astronomer (rings of Saturn), dies at 42
1955 – James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1887)
1968 – Esther Forbes, American novelist (Johnny Tremain), dies at 76
1985 – Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (b. 1951)
2010 – Guido de Marco, 6th president of Malta, 45th President of the United Nations General Assembly (b. 1931)

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Historical Events

1695 – English and Dutch fleet capture Dunkerk
1942 – – Sept 30] SS begins exterminating 3,500 Jews in Zelov Lodz Poland
1992 – Oakland A’s rip Jose Canseco for leaving stadium before end of game
1999 – The Salt Lake City Tornado tears through the downtown district of the city, killing one.
2012 – 153 people are killed and 1300 injured in Tabriz and Ahar, Iran after two earthquakes of up to 6.4 magnitude
2016 – A Greenland shark declared oldest vertebrate animal in the world at 392 years by international team of scientists

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Famous Birthdays

1720 – Martin Gerbert, German composer, music historian and abbot, born in Horb am Neckar (d. 1793)
1832 – Thomas Ogden Osbord, American lawyer, diplomat and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Licking County, Ohio (d. 1904)
1833 – Robert Green Ingersoll, NY, author/politician/agnostic (Att Gen-R-Ill)
1836 – Cato M. Guldberg, Norwegian mathematician and chemist (law of mass action), born in Christiania, Norway (d. 1902)
1962 – Uvais Karnain, cricketer (Sri Lankan ODI bowler in mid 1980’s)
1975 – Chris Kelly, [Mack Daddy], Teaneck NJ, rapper (Kris Kross-Warm it Up)

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Famous Deaths

1778 – Augustus Montague Toplady, hymn writer (Rock of Ages), dies
1854 – Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist (radiant light), dies at 56
1908 – Khudiram Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1889)
1919 – Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American industrialist, steel tycoon, philanthropist and one of the richest Americans ever, dies of bronchial pneumonia at 83
1995 – Phil Harris [Wonga Philip], American actor and singer (Anything Goes, Robin Hood), dies of heart failure at 91
2005 – James Booth [David Geeves], British actor and screenwriter (Zulu, Keeping Mum), dies at 77

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Historical Events

1821 – Missouri admitted as 24th US state
1887 – Excursion train crashes killing 101. (Chatsworth, Illinois)
1911 – Parliament Act reduces power of UK’s House of Lords
1970 – British Home Secretary Reginald Maulding threatens to impose direct rule on Northern Ireland if the agreed reform measures are not carried out
1994 – Last British troops leave Hong Kong (been there since Sept 1841)
1996 – Bob Dole picks Jack Kemp as his Republican VP running mate

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Famous Birthdays

1654 – Bernard Nieuwentyt, Dutch physician/theologist
1845 – Abai Qunanbaiuli, Kazakh poet, composer and philosopher (d. 1904)
1895 – Hammy Love, Former Australian cricketer (d. 1969)
1909 – Claude Thornhill, composer
1912 – Richard Reeves, American actor (Suerman, Date With an Angel), born in NYC, New York (d. 1967)
1971 – Sal Fasano, catcher (KC Royals), born in Chicago, Illinois

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Famous Deaths

1730 – Sebastien de Brossard, French composer and music theorist, dies at 74
1784 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish painter, dies at 70
1859 – George Staunton, writer
1948 – Montague Summers, English clergyman and writer (Malleus Maleficarum), dies at 68
1973 – Douglas Kennedy, American actor (Dark Passage, The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold), dies of cancer at 57
2017 – Kim Wall, Swedish journalist killed investigating Danish inventor Peter Madsen, dies at 30 [or 11th Aug]

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Historical Events

1905 – Mistaking her husband for a burglar, Ty Cobb’s mother kills him
1979 – English seaside resort Brighton gets 1st British nude beach
1988 – Cubs beat Mets 6-4 in their 1st official night game at Wrigley Field
1988 – Just 1 day after 8/8/88 NY’s daily number is 888
1997 – Security guard Abner Louima, attacked by NYC police
2017 – North Korea says it plans to fire rockets on US territory Guam in continuing escalation of tension between it and the US

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Famous Birthdays

1696 – Jozef Wenceslas, monarch of Liechtenstein/general
1910 – Robert H van Gulik, Dutch diplomat/writer (Judge Ti)
1921 – J James Exon, (Sen-D-Nebraska, 1979- )
1938 – Rod Laver, Australian tennis player (1962, 1969 Grand Slam), born in Rockhampton, Queensland
1943 – Ken Norton, American heavyweight boxer, born in Jacksonville, Illinois (d. 2013)
1970 – Thomas Lennon, American actor and producer (Night at the Museum, Memento), born in Chicago, Illinois

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Famous Deaths

1652 – John Both, landscape painter/etcher, dies at about 37
1957 – Carl Clauberg, Nazi doctor (b. 1898)
1961 – Walter Bedell Smith, U.S. Army general (WWII) and head of CIA (1950-52), dies at 75
1972 – Richard Elsasser, American composer and organist , dies at 45
1987 – Kees de Galan, Dutch economist, dies at 55
1994 – Aartje W “Mien” van It Sant-van Bommel, author, dies at 93

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Historical Events

1673 – Dutch battle fleet of 23 ships demands surrender of NYC
1786 – US Congress unanimously chooses the dollar as the money unit for the United States
1854 – Smith and Wesson patents metal bullet cartridges
1978 – Pioneer-Venus 2 with 5 atmospheric probes launched toward Venus
1991 – The Warsaw radio mast, at one time the tallest construction ever built, collapses.
2013 – 28 people are killed by a suicide bombing in Quetta, Pakistan

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Famous Birthdays

1617 – Adriaan W “Joris” van Geel, Flemish missionary (Bantu Dictionary)
1921 – Esther Williams, American swimmer and actress (Dangerous when Wet), born in Inglewood California (d. 2013)
1935 – Donald P. Bellisario, American television producer
1962 – Charmaine Crooks, Canadian 800m runner (Olympics 1984, 88, 92, 96), born in Mandeville, Jamaica
1977 – Kurt Bernard, Costa Rican footballer
1979 – Paris Latsis, Greek shipping heir

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Famous Deaths

1828 – Carl Peter Thunberg, Swedish naturalist (b. 1743)
1834 – Silvestro Palma, composer, dies at 80
1934 – Wilbert Robinson, baseball manager (Bkln Dodgers), dies
1991 – Julissa Gomez, American gymnast (b. 1972)
2013 – Karen Black, American actress (5 Easy Pieces, Pyx), dies from ampullary cancer at 74
2017 – Barbara Cook, American stage singer and actress (Music Man), dies at 89

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Historical Events

626 – Battle at Constantinople: Slavic/Persians/Avarenvloot defeated
1820 – 1st potatoes planted in Hawaii
1944 – IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I)
1957 – Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1957
1991 – Manhattan Cable final day of amnesty to return illegal cable boxes
1994 – “Hedda Gabler” closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 33 performances

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Famous Birthdays

1751 – Wilhelmina FS, Princess of Prussia/Orange/wife of Willem V
1826 – Carl AE Ahlqvist, [A Oksanen], Finnish poet (Suomalainen Runousoppi)
1932 – Edward Hardwicke, British actor (Sherlock Holmes), born in London, England (d. 2011)
1941 – Thomas F Hartnett, American politician (Rep-R-SC, 1981-86), born in Charleston, South Carolina
1958 – Larisa Karlova, Ukrainian team handball player (Olympic gold 1976, 80), born in Kyiv, Ukraine
1973 – Kevin Muscat, Australian soccer defender (Olyroos, Olympics 1996), born in Crawley, United Kingdom

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Famous Deaths

1798 – Johann Gottlieb Sollner, composer, dies at 65
1943 – Gustav Schmidt, German lt-general, dies in battle
1953 – Abner Powell, American baseball player, dies at 92
1978 – Franz Alphons Wolpert, German composer, dies at 60
1992 – Titti Sotto, Cuban composer (La Esquina Habanera), dies
2004 – Colin Bibby, English ornithologist (b. 1948)

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Historical Events

258 – St Sixtus II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1941 – Detroit Tigers pitcher Al Benton collects 2 sacrifices in an inning, a MLB record; wins 11-2 vs Cleveland Indians
1967 – Pope Paul VI publishes constitution Pro comperto sane
1973 – Roberto Clemente, Warren Spahn, Billy Evans, Monty Irvin, Mickey Welch and High Pockets Kelly are inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY
1979 – Marcus Hooper, 12, becomes then youngest person to swim English Channel
2015 – Republican Presidental nomination race begins with debate between 7 lesser ranked candidates in Cleveland, Ohio

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Famous Birthdays

1875 – Marcel Labey, composer
1934 – Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob, UK, sci-fi author (Chthon, Phthor)
1937 – Charlie [Charles Edward] Haden, American jazz double-bassist (Liberation Music Orchestra), born in Shenandoah, Iowa (d. 2014)
1938 – Carry Tefsen, Dutch actress (Say A)
1940 – Mukhu Aliyev, Russian politician, President of Dagestan
1969 – Roberto Lanckohr, soccer player (MVV)

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Famous Deaths

1853 – Josif Josifovich Genishta, composer, dies at 57
1886 – Wilhelm Scherer, German literature historian, dies at 45
1893 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1811)
1946 – Blanche Bingley-Hillyard, British tennis player (Wimbledon 1886, 89, 94, 97, 99-1900), dies at 82
1965 – Nancy Carroll, actress (Alice-Aldrich Family), dies at 60
1993 – Milt Thompson, American astronaut (Dynasoar, X-15), NASA test pilot and chief-engineer, dies at 67

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Historical Events

1420 – Duke John VI of Bavaria visits Dutch mystic Lidwina (Christ’s bride)
1837 – 1st ascent of Mt Marcy (5,344′) highest in Adirondack, NY
1948 – A Swedish sweep of the medals in the 3000m steeplechase at the London Olympics with Tore Sjöstrand taking gold ahead of team mates Erik Elmsäter and Göte Hagström
1964 – Beatles record “Leave My Kitten Alone”
1982 – PGA Championship, Southern Hills CC: Raymond Floyd fires an opening round 9-under-par 63, tying the tournament 18-hole record
2001 – Cleveland Indians tie a MLB record in erasing a 12 run Seattle lead to win 15-14, also preventing the Mariners from reaching a record 117 season wins

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Famous Birthdays

1623 – Antonio Cesti, Italian composer, singer and musician, born in Arezzo (d. 1669) baptismal date
1866 – Alfred Holy, Czech composer and harpist, born in Oporto (d. 1948)
1960 – Mike Nocito, American rocker (Johnny Hates Jazz), born in Wiesbaden, West Germany
1974 – Frankie Hejduk, soccer defender (Olympic gold 1996), born in La Mesa, California
1986 – Paula Creamer, American golfer (US Open 2010), born in Mountain View, California
1993 – Suzuka Ōgo, Japanese actress

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Famous Deaths

1964 – Art Ross, Canadian hockey player and executive (b. 1886)
1972 – Frederic Tozere, actor (Mr Phillips-Stanley), dies at 71
1992 – Jeff Porcaro, drummer (Toto-Africa), dies of cardiac arrest at 38
2005 – Jim O’Hora, American football coach (b. 1915)
2006 – Susan Butcher, American sled dog champion (b. 1954)
2018 – Charlotte Rae, American character actress, comedian, singer and dancer (Edna-Facts of Life), dies at 92

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Historical Events

1855 – John Bartlett publishes “Familiar Quotations”
1956 – Indonesia says it will not pay debts to the Netherlands
1967 – British pirate radio station Radio 355 resigns air
1973 – NY Yankees pitcher Lindy McDaniel puts in one of the best relief stints in MLB history, entering in 2nd inning, allows only 1 run in 13 innings in 3-2 win v Detroit Tigers
1994 – 27th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Hyatt Regency
2014 – Hamas and Israel agree to another 72 hour ceasefire

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Famous Birthdays

1776 – Wenzel Sedlak, Bohemian clarinetist and composer, born in Jezbořice, Bohemia (d. 1851)
1873 – Damaso Berenguer, Spanish soldier and politician (122nd Prime Minister of Spain), born in San Juan de los Remedios, Cuba (d. 1953)
1902 – Wild Bill Hallahan, American baseball player, born in Binghamton, New York (d. 1981)
1904 – Theodore Newton, American actor (Ace of Aces, Voltaire), born in Lawrenceville, New Jersey (d. 1963)
1938 – Ellen Schrecker, American college professor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1963 – Andrew Bartlett, Australian politician

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Famous Deaths

1060 – Henry I, King of the Franks (1031-60), dies at 52
1895 – Marcellus Augustus Stovall, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 76
1920 – Vladimir Rebikov, Russian pianist and composer, dies at 54
2003 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist and Nobel Prize laureate 1954, dies at 86
2004 – Sir Kenneth Couzens, British Deputy Chairman of British Coal Board and significant figure during Miners Strike, dies at 79
2011 – Mark Duggan is shot by police in London at 29, sparking widespread riots

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