Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1923 – John Harwood patents self-winding watch (Switzerland)
1939 – George Kaufman and Moss Hart’s “The Man Who Came to Dinner” premieres in NYC, running until 1941 for 739 performances
1962 – KTXT TV channel 5 in Lubbock, TX (PBS) begins broadcasting
1978 – Test debut of Kapil Dev, India v Pakistan at Faisalabad
1979 – First global telenovela Mexican “Los ricos también lloran” (The Rich Also Cry) premieres, second foreign series to be screened in the Soviet Union
2001 – The US Coast Guard lifts a ban on liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers entering Boston Harbor to make deliveries to Distrigas’ Everett LNG terminal that had been imposed on September 26 in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1758 – Noah Webster, lexicographer (Webster’s Dictionary), born in West Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1843)
1937 – Tony Anthony, Clarksburg WV, actor (Treasure of 4 Crowns)
1955 – Ellen Dolan, Monticello IO, actress (Guiding Light, Margo Hughes-ATWT)
1956 – Melissa Belote, American 100m/200m swimmer (Olympics 3 gold-1972), born in Washington, D.C.
1959 – Gary Kemp, English rock guitarist (Spandau Ballet-True), born in London
1980 – Jeremy Jackson, actor (Shout, Baywatch), born in Newport Beach, California

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1594 – William Allen, English cardinal/founder seminary of Douai, dies at 62
1867 – Salomon J Rappoport, Czech rabbi (Ereg miliem), dies
1877 – John Zwijsen, archbishop of Utrecht, dies at 83
1946 – Alfred Rosenberg, German war criminal, hanged
2003 – László Papp, Hungarian boxer (b. 1926)
2003 – Avni Arbas, Turkish artist (b. 1919)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1641 – Paul de Chomedy de Maisonneuve claims Montreal
1897 – Aaron and Samuel Bloch carry 1st Mail Pouch
1904 – The Russians are driven back by the Japanese in the Battle of Shaho; both sides suffer high casualties: Japanese (16,000) and Russians (60,000)
1952 – “Charlotte’s Web” by E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams is published by Harper and Brothers
1959 – “Untouchables” premieres
1974 – National Guard mobilizes to restore order in Boston school busing

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1910 – Xenophon Balaskas, South Africa cricketer (South African leg-spinner of 30’s), born in Kimberley, Cape Province (d. 1994)
1920 – Henri Verneuil, French-Armenian playwright and film director (Mélodie en sous-sol), born in Rodosto, Ottoman Turkey (d. 2002)
1951 – Frank Dimino, American rock vocalist (Angel), born in Washington, D.C.
1966 – Douglas Vipond, Scottish pop drummer (Deacon Blue) and broadcaster, born in Elderslie, Scotland
1971 – Bernardo Harris, American NFL linebacker (Green Bay Packers-Super Bowl 31), born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
1987 – Jesse Levine, American Canadian tennis player, born in Boca Raton, Florida

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1715 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician, dies at 40
1811 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter (b. 1735)
1837 – Ivan Dmitriev, Russian statesman and poet, dies at 77
2003 – Ben Metcalfe, Canadian environmental activist (b. 1919)
2005 – Matti Wuori, Finnish politician (b. 1945)
2013 – Peter Miles, British Army officer, businessman and courtier in the Household of Elizabeth II, dies at 89

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1812 – Work on London’s Regent’s Canal starts.
1939 – BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) formed
1952 – UN General Assembly first meets at its new headquarters in New York
1964 – Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle hit HRs runs on back-to-back pitches
1988 – Crude oil prices jump in anticipation of possible production accord at Gulf Cooperation Council meeting set for October 16
1989 – Dave Stewart is 1st since 1976 to start consecutive World Series openers

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1764 – Charles-Henri Plantade, French composer, born in Pontoise, France (d. 1839)
1855 – George Edwardes, British composer (Gaiety Girl), born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England (d. 1915)
1911 – Lê Ðức Thọ, Vietnamese revolutionary general, politician and negotiator in Paris (1975), born in Nam Định Province, French Indochina (d. 1990)
1913 – Ginty Lush, Australian cricketer (NSW quick of the 30’s who didn’t play for Aust), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 1985)
1986 – Skyler Shaye, American actress
1996 – Lourdes Marie Ciccone Leon, daughter of singer Madonna

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1857 – Ignacy Marceli Komorowski, composer, dies at 33
1959 – Errol Flynn, Australian actor (Captain Blood, Robin Hood), dies of a heart attack at 50
1983 – Willard Price, Canadian author and naturalist
1996 – Laura La Plante, American actress (Show Boat, Scandal) known for her work in the silent film era, dies at 91
2007 – Big Moe [Kenneth Doniell Moore], American rapper (Screwed Up Click), dies of a heart attack at 33
2012 – Kyle Bennett, American BMX racer, dies in a traffic collision at 33

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1953 – Burglar alarm-ultrasonic or radio waves patented by Samuel Bagno
1967 – First American Basketball Association (ABA) game is played with Oakland Oaks beating Anaheim Amigos, 132-129; red, white and blue ball and 3-point field goal introduced
1971 – 1st World Series night game (Pittsburgh 4-Baltimore 3)
1976 – First electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle obtained by Dr. F.A. Murphy, working at the C.D.C.
1982 – IOC Executive Committee approves the reinstatement of Jim Thorpe’s gold medals from the 1912 Olympics
1993 – Greek government of Papandreou forms

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1826 – Lafayette Curry Baker, American investigator spy and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Stafford, New York (d. 1868)
1942 – Jerry Jones, American businessman and owner of the Dallas Cowboys(1989-present), born in Los Angeles, California
1948 – Ted Poe, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas), born in Temple, Texas
1960 – Joey Belladonna, American heavy metal vocalist (Anthrax-Protest), born in Oswego, New York
1974 – Hawick Lau, Hong Kong Chinese actor (Sealed with a Kiss) and singer, born in Hong Kong
1982 – Ian Thorpe, Australian swimmer (5 Olympic gold medals), born in Sydney, Australia

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1605 – Theodore Beza, French Reformed Protestant theologian, dies at 86
1904 – Pavlos Melas, Greek officer who organized and participated in the Greek Struggle for Macedonia (b. 1870)
1953 – Millard Mitchell, Cuban actor (12 O’Clock High, Gunfighter), dies from lung cancer at 50
1996 – Henri Nannen, journalist, dies at 82
2000 – Jean Peters, American actress (Viva Zapata!, Apache, Deep Waters), dies at 73
2016 – Dario Fo, Italian playwright and performer (Nobel Prize Literature 1997), dies at 90

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1459 – Battle at Ludford Bridge: Richard of York defeated
1862 – Skirmish at Monocacy, Maryland
1899 – South Africa Boer Republic declares war on Britain
1928 – 1st use of iron lung (Boston’s Children Hospital)
1957 – Canadian Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson wins Nobel Peace Prize
1977 – “Throwaway Game” Catfish Hunter loses WS 6-1 resting Yank pitchers

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1840 – Helena Modjeska [Modrzejewska], Polish Shakespearian actress (Hamlet), born in Kraków, Poland (d. 1909)
1855 – Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor (Berlin Philharmonic), born in Mosonszentmiklós, Hungary (d. 1922)
1902 – Dick Binnendijk, Dutch poet and literary critic (Authoritarian Regimes in Transistion), born in Leiden, Netherlands (d. 1984)
1938 – Bob Miller, American NHL broadcaster, born in Chicago, Illinois
1968 – Leon Lett, American NFL defensive tackle and coach (Dallas Cowboys), born in Mobile, Alabama
1981 – Sneha, Indian actress (Aanandham), born in Mumbai, India

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1176 – William d’Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, English politician
1491 – Fritz Herlen, German artist
1672 – Frederik of Nassau, count of Buren, slain in battle
1797 – Pierre Jélyotte, French composer, dies at 84
1926 – Edwin Abbott Abbott, English schoolmaster, theologian, and author (Flatland), dies at 87
2011 – Patricia Breslin, American actress (b. 1931)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1521 – Pope Leo X titles King Henry VIII of England “Defender of the Faith”
1863 – Skirmish at Rheatown/Henderson’s Mill, Tennessee
1913 – Philadelphia A’s beat NY Giants, 4 games to 1 in 10th World Series
1961 – USAF Major Robert M White takes X-15 to 66,100m
1973 – Héctor José Cámpora is elected President of Argentina
1981 – Yanks beat Brewers 7-3 and win only Eastern Championship Series

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1820 – Alfred Washington Ellet, American civil engineer and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (d. 1895)
1925 – Elmore Leonard, American writer (Glitz, Mr Majestyk, Touch, 52 Pick-Up), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 2013)
1937 – Georgi Vladimirovich Machinski, Russian cosmonaut, born in Moscow, Russia
1939 – Franklin Sonn, South African union leader (South African workers), born in Vosburg, South Africa
1944 – Mike Fiore, American baseball player (Kansas City Royals), born in Brooklyn, New York
1972 – Cherokee Parks, American NBA center (Dallas Mavericks, Minn Timberwolves), born in Huntington Beach, California

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

965 – Bruno I, archbishop of Cologne/duke of Lutheran, dies at about 40
1705 – Guillaume Amontons, French physicist, dies at 42
1993 – Jess Thomas, American tenor known for his singing in Richard Wagner operas, dies at 66
1996 – Arthur Walter Lucas, first Chief Restorer of the National Gallery, London, dies at 80
2003 – Franklyn Perring, English botanist (co-author of Atlas of the British Flora, 1962), dies of cancer at 76
2008 – Jörg Haider, Austrian far-right politician (b. 1950)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1937 – NY Yankees beat Giants 4 games to 1 in 34th World Series
1957 – US President Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a restaurant in Dover, Delaware
1960 – “Laughs and Other Events” opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 8 performances
1971 – Rain washes out Game 2, 1st World Series postponement since 1962
1980 – 4,500 die when a pair of earthquakes strikes NW Algeria
1987 – Garfield Park Nature Center opens, latest in Cleveland Metroparks

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1684 – Jean-Antoine Watteau, French Rococo painter (fêtes galantes), born in Valenciennes, France (d. 1721)
1713 – Johann Ludwig Krebs, German musician and composer, born in Buttelstedt, Germany (d. 1780)
1829 – Dandridge McRae, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Baldwin County, Alabama (d. 1899)
1925 – Ivan Sviták, Czech philosopher and poet, born in Hranice na Moravě, Czechoslovakia (d. 1994)
1946 – John Prine, American country singer (Hello in There), born in Maywood, Illinois
1970 – Matthew Pinsent, English rower (4 Olympic gold medals), born in Holt, Norfolk, England

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1708 – David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (b. 1659)
1745 – Jacobus Nozeman, Dutch composer and organist, dies at 52
1975 – Lillian Walker, American silent era actress, dies at 88
1978 – Ralph Marterie, American big band leader (b. 1914)
2001 – Eddie Futch, American boxing trainer, dies at 90
2009 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer (Boyzone) (b. 1976)

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1926 – NBC (National Broadcasting Corporation) forms
1938 – Aaron Copland’s and Eugene Loring’s ballet “Billy the Kid” premieres in Chicago
1944 – St Louis Cards beat St Louis Browns, 4 games to 2 in 41st World Series
1947 – First telephone conversation between a moving car and a plane
1968 – 2,000 students from Queen’s University Belfast try to march to Belfast City Hall in protest against ‘police brutality’, but blocked by loyalists led by Ian Paisley; leads for formation of student civil rights group People’s Democracy
1974 – MLB American League Championship: Oakland Athletics beat Baltimore Orioles, 3 games to 1

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1884 – Martin Elmer Johnson, American adventurer and filmmaker, born in Rockford, Illinois (d. 1937)
1893 – Heinrich George [Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz], German actor (Hitlerjunge Quex), born in Stettin, Pomerania, Germany (d. 1946)
1934 – Jill Ker Conway, Australian-American author, first female president of Smith College, born in Hillston, Australia (d. 2018)
1951 – Richard Chaves, American actor (Cease Fire, Predator), born in Jacksonville, Florida
1969 – P.J. Harvey, English musician, singer and songwriter, born in Bridport, Dorset, England
1979 – Todd Kelly, Australian racing driver, born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1691 – William Sacheverell, English statesman (b. 1638)
1967 – Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Argentine Marxist revolutionary and physician, executed in Bolivia at 39
1967 – Gordon Allport, US Psychologist (personalities), dies at 69
1990 – Richard Murdoch, actor (Lilli Marlene), dies of heart attack at 83
1991 – Thalmus Rasulala, actor (Blacula), dies of heart attack at 51
1994 – James Hill, English director/screenwriter (Born Free), dies at 75

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1690 – Siege of Belgrade, Ottoman troops capture Belgrade
1909 – Chicago Cubs beat NY Giants 4-2 in a playoff to win NL pennant
1953 – Birmingham, Alabama, bars Jackie Robinson’s Negro-White All-Stars from playing there Robinson gives in and drops white players from his group
1961 – American Phil Hill’s Ferrari team does not participate in season ending US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen having already clinched World Drivers Championship; English driver Innes Ireland wins Lotus’ first ever Grand Prix
1966 – Wyoming’s Jerry DePoyster kicks 3 field goals over 50 yds (54, 54, 52)
1986 – RUN DMC calls for a day of peace among LA street gangs

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1837 – Otto Winter-Hjelm, Norwegian musician and composer, born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1931)
1868 – Max Slevogt, German painter, born in Landshut, Germany (d. 1932)
1895 – Zog I, King of Albania (1928-39), born in Burgajet Castle, Ottoman Empire (d. 1961)
1913 – Walter Schumann, American choral director (Ford Show) and composer (Rhenish), born in NYC, New York (d. 1958)
1945 – Ray Royer, English rock guitarist (Procol Harum), born in The Pinewoods, Essex
1953 – Ricky Lee Phelps, American singer (Ky Headhunters-Davy Crockett), born in Paragould, Arkansas

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1659 – Jean de Quen, French Jesuit missionary
1793 – John Hancock, American merchant and statesman who was 1st to sign the Declaration of Independence, dies at 56
1834 – Francois-Adrien Boieldieu, composer, dies at 58
1912 – Wilhelm Kuhe, German composer, dies at 88
1993 – Manke Nelis, [Cornelis Pieters], singer (Aunt Saar), dies at 73
2015 – Paul Prudhomme, American cajun chef (K-Paul), dies at 75

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1882 – 1st World Series (game 2), Chicago (NL) beats Cincinnati (AA) 2-0
1916 – The German submarine U-53 arrives off Newport, Rhode Island, and sinks 9 British merchant ships in international waters
1926 – Italian Great Fascist Council forms
1935 – Detroit Tigers beat Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 2 in 32nd World Series
1935 – Himmler, Hess and Heydrich inspect the concentration camp at Dachau
2014 – Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura win the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing blue light emitting diodes

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1917 – June Allyson, actress (Till the Clouds Roll By, Vegas), born in The Bronx, New York
1926 – Marcello Abbado, composer
1934 – Willie Naulls, NBA star (NY Knicks)
1953 – Christopher Norris, American actress (Summer of ’42, Eat My Dust), born in NYC, New York
1960 – Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese singer
1977 – Meighan Desmond, New Zealand actress

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1620 – Stanisław Żółkiewski, Polish military leader (b. 1547)
1944 – Helmut Lent, German night-fighter ace in World War II, dies at 26
1991 – Leo Durocher, baseball player and manager (Dodgers, Giants), dies at 86
1995 – Gérard de Vaucouleurs, French astronomer, dies at 77
2009 – Shelby Singleton, American record label owner and producer (Smash Records, Mercury Records), dies of brain cancer at 77
2012 – John Tchicai, Danish jazz saxophonist and composer, dies at 76

More Famous Deaths »