Category: On This Day

Historical Events

836 – Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples
1817 – Chief Engineer James Geddes begins construction on the Erie Canal, (Rome, New York), one of the first great engineering works in North America
1863 – Boise, Idaho founded (now capital of Idaho)
1876 – Batholdi visits Bedloe Island, future home of his Statue of Liberty
1991 – 24th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Pan Pacific Hotel
2015 – Unesco grants World Heritage Status to vineyards in Champagne, France along with Singapore’s Botanical Gardens, Diyarbakir Fortress (Turkey) and Maymand Caves (Iran)

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Famous Birthdays

1847 – James Anthony Bailey, American circus ringmaster and showman (Barnum and Bailey), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1906)
1883 – Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist (who made the easy outrageously difficult) Pulitzer Prize 1948, born in San Francisco, California (d. 1970)
1898 – Gertrude Lawrence, English actress (Mimi, Rembrandt) and musical performer, born in London (d. 1952)
1909 – Alec Templeton, Welsh pianist and composer (Concertino Lirico), born in Cardiff, Wales (d. 1963)
1952 – Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Colombian politician (31st President of Colombia), born in Medellín, Colombia
1983 – Andy Mrotek, American musician

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Famous Deaths

1307 – Rudolf III, Duke of Austria/King of Bohemia dies
1789 – Cláudio Manuel da Costa, Brazilian poet, dies at 59
1882 – Joseph Brackett, American religious leader (Shakers) and composer (Simple Gifts), dies at 85
1938 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (French C’ships 1925-26, Wimbledon 1919-23, 25), dies of anemia at 39
2003 – Barry White, American singer (Love’s Theme), dies at 58
2009 – Drake Levin, American rock musician (b. 1946)

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Historical Events

324 – Battle of Adrianople: Roman Emperor Constantine I defeats his co-emperor Licinius, who flees to Byzantium
1970 – British aircraft crashes at Barcelona, 112 killed
1972 – Themba Sono is forced to resign as president of South African Student Organisation (SASO)
1988 – Gene Nelson of the Oakland A’s becomes first AL pitcher to steal a base since 1973 in 9-8 win over Toronto Blue Jays
1994 – The deadliest day in Texas traffic history, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Forty six people killed in crashes.
2018 – French President Emmanuel Macron visits the New Afrika Shrine nightclub in Lagos during his two-day tour of Nigeria

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Famous Birthdays

1908 – M. F. K. Fisher, American cook book author, born in Albion, Michigan (d. 1992)
1913 – Hugh Stirling Mackenzie, British Royal Navy officer, born in Inverness, Scotland (d. 1996)
1939 – Jay Tarses, actor/writer (Open All Night, Duck Factory), born in Baltimore, Maryland
1956 – Don Vito, American Viva La Bam castmember
1963 – Don August, baseball player
1965 – Arno Hofstede, Dutch soccer player (Willem II, Go Ahead Eagles)

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Famous Deaths

1910 – Mordecai Sherwin, English cricket wicket-keeper (Aust 1886-88), dies
1966 – Kees Boeke, Dutch reformist educator (Cosmic View), dies at 81
1974 – John Crowe Ransom, American poet and critic (God Without Thunder), dies at 86
1994 – Harry Ebbeling, PC-corrector, dies at 54
1998 – Duncan White, Ceylonese hurdler (first Olympic medallist from Ceylon, silver 400m hurdles 1948), dies at 80
2001 – Johnny Russell, American country singer and songwriter (b. 1940)

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Historical Events

1823 – Bahia Independence Day: the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia
1862 – Lincoln signs act granting land for state agricultural colleges
1949 – “High Button Shoes” closes at Century Theater NYC after 727 performances
1966 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: American Billie Jean King beats Maria Bueno of Brazil 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 for the first of her 12 Grand Slam singles titles
1970 – 1st Boeing 747 to land in Amsterdam and Brussels
2001 – Bush Administration announce that it will seek to let oil companies drill on about 1,500,000 acres of the Gulf of Mexico

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Famous Birthdays

1822 – Douglas Strutt Galton, English engineer (rails/trains)
1857 – Francesco Spetrino, composer
1882 – Edgar Mayne, cricketer (Australian batsman, prolific for Victoria)
1888 – Selman Waksman, Russ/US microbiologist (Nobel 1951)
1964 – Dave Parsons, rocker (Transvision Vamp, Sham 69-That’s Life)
1973 – Peter Kay, British comedian

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Famous Deaths

1591 – Vincenzo Galilei, Italian composer (b. 1520)
1700 – Lambert Doomer, painter/cartoonist, dies at about 77
1951 – Earnest F Sauerbruch, German nazi/surgeon, dies at 75
1963 – Seth Barnes Nicholson, American astronomer who discovered four satellites of Jupiter, dies at 71
1999 – Mario Puzo, American author, dies at 78
2010 – Beryl Bainbridge, Author (b. 1932)

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Historical Events

1600 – Prince Maurits’ army occupies Newport Flanders Netherlands
1877 – 1st edition of “Amsterdammer” published
1963 – The Beatles record “She Loves You” and “I’ll Get You”
1984 – “Baby” closes at Barrymore Theater NYC after 241 performances
1996 – In a tour match v India, Hampshire’s Kevan James becomes the only 1st class cricketer to take 4 wickets in 4 balls – and then score a century (103)
2012 – 17 people are killed and 45 injured in an attack on two churches in Garissa, Kenya

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Famous Birthdays

1861 – John Clarkson, American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (Triple Crown 1889), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 1909)
1899 – Charles Laughton, English actor (Mutiny on Bounty, Spartacus), born in Scarborough, England (d. 1962)
1954 – Chip Hanauer, American hydroplane racer (world champion 1982), born in Seattle, Washington
1955 – Li Keqiang, Chinese Premier of the State Council and China’s head of government, born in Dingyuan County, Anhui Province
1956 – Brian Sabean, American MLB executive (SF Giants World Series 2010, 12, 14), born in Concord, New Hampshire
1963 – Edward Tsang Lu, astronaut (STS 84), born in Springfield, Massachusetts

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Famous Deaths

1589 – Christophe Plantin, French/Belgian book publisher, dies
1847 – George F Kersting, German painter, dies at 61
1896 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author (Uncle Tom’s Cabin), dies at 85
1973 – Mario La Broca, composer, dies at 76
2014 – Walter Dean Myers, African-American author, dies at 76
2015 – Val Doonican [Michael Valentine], Irish singer and entertainer, dies at 88

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Historical Events

1758 – Seven Years’ War: The Battle of Domstadtl takes place
1925 – Charles Jenkins is granted the U.S. patent for Transmitting Pictures over Wireless (early television)
1930 – 1st round-the-world radio broadcast Schenectady, NY
1975 – University of California reports galaxy 3C123 at 8 billion light years distance
1990 – East and West Germany merge their economies
1994 – Giants outfielder Darren Lewis errors after record 392 flawless games

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Famous Birthdays

1847 – Jacob Theodoor Cremer, Dutch tobacco magnate and administrator for the Deli Company in Sumatra, born in Zwolle, Netherlands (d. 1923)
1904 – Glenda Farrell, American actress (Golddiggers of 1935), born in Enid, Oklahoma (d. 1971)
1906 – Tribhuwan Bir Bikram Shah, King of Nepal (1911-55), born in Kathmandu, Nepal (d. 1955)
1930 – Mac Benson, Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame trainer, born in Wilmington, Delaware
1958 – Esa-Pekka Salonen, Helsinki Finland, conductor (Giro)
1969 – Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lankan cricket opening batsmen (MVP-1996 World Cup), born in Matara, Sri Lanka

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Famous Deaths

1538 – Charles of Egmond, Duke of Guelder and Earl of Zutphen, dies at 70
1785 – James Oglethorpe, English general and founder of the state of Georgia (b. 1696)
1904 – Tom Emmett, England cricketer, dies at 62
1934 – Ernst Rohm, German staff member, executed at 46
1979 – Alfons Vranckx, Belgian politician, dies at 72
2010 – Park Yong-ha, Korean actor and singer (b. 1977)

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Historical Events

1540 – Former Lord Privy Seal and Chancellor of the Exchequer of England Thomas Cromwell indicted as a heretic
1867 – Pope Pius IX declares Gorcumse holy martyrs
1903 – British government protests against abuses in Belgian Congo
1922 – France grants 1 km² at Vimy Ridge “freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes.”
1931 – Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical on Nun abbiamo bisogno (We do not need fascism and Mussolini)
2006 – Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush’s plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law.

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Famous Birthdays

1893 – Antoon Schweigmann, Dutch religious poet and resistance fighter, born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands (d. 1945)
1939 – Ron Headley, West Indian cricketer (son of George, 2 Tests WI v England 1973), born in Kingston, Jamaica
1949 – Dan Dierdorf, American football offensive lineman and sportscaster (Monday Night Football), born in Canton, Ohio
1953 – Billy Hinsche, American musician (Dino, Desi and Billy), born in Manila, the Philippines
1961 – Sharon Lawrence [Sharon Elizabeth], American actress (NYPD Blue, Fired Up), born in Charlotte, North Carolina
1962 – Amanda Donohoe, English actress (CJ Lamb-LA Law), born in London, England

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Famous Deaths

1818 – Carl Philipp Fohr, German painter and cartoonist, dies at 22
1873 – Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Bengali poet (b. 1824)
1923 – J C Gomez, General/Venezuela’s 1st VP, assassinated
1946 – Frank Hadow, British tennis player (Wimbledon 1878; first exponent of the lob), dies at 91
1964 – Eric Dolphy, American jazz musician (b. 1928)
2002 – François Périer [Pillu], French actor (Gervaise, Fantasia, Les Mains Sales), dies at 82

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Historical Events

1675 – Battle at Fehrbellin: Brandenburg army beats Sweden
1956 – Riots break out in Poznan, Poland, 38 die
1979 – OPEC raises oil prices 24%
1992 – Italian government of Amato forms
1995 – NBA draft: Maryland power forward Joe Smith first pick by Golden State Warriors
2013 – Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole’s final “Sportscentre” broadcast on TSN

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Famous Birthdays

1888 – George Challenor, West Indian cricketer (pioneering West Indian batsman), born in St. Michael, Barbados (d. 1947)
1938 – John Byner, American actor (Transylvania 6-5000) and comedian, born in NYC, New York
1941 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist (professor of Computer Science at the University of California and University of Oxford) (d. 2006)
1954 – Ava Barber, American country singer (Lawrence Welk Show), born in Knoxville, Tennessee
1964 – Tommy Lynn Sells, American serial killer, born in Oakland, California (d. 2014)
1970 – Mike White, American filmmaker and actor, born in Pasadena, California

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Famous Deaths

548 – Theodora, Byzantine Empress, becomes ill, dying suddenly a few days later, without children to succeed the throne, ending the Macedonian dynasty
1716 – George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general (b. 1665)
1742 – Johann Joseph Ignaz Brentner, composer, dies at 52
1963 – Frank “Home Run” Baker, (hit 2 HRs in 1911 world series) dies at 77
1975 – Serge Reding, Belgian weightlifter (b. 1941)
2010 – Robert Byrd, US Senator (Democrat-WV, 1959-2010), majority leader and once the longest-serving Senator in history, dies at 92

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Historical Events

1957 – The British Medical Research Council publishes a report suggesting a direct link between smoking and lung cancer.
1959 – Players vote Henry Aaron unanimously for the All-Star Game
1983 – Mariners bat out of order against White Sox in 2nd inning
1988 – Mike Tyson KOs Michael Spink in 91 seconds, in Atlantic City ($67m)
2001 – NBA Draft: Glynn Academy center Kwame Brown first pick by Washington Wizards
2007 – Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

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Famous Birthdays

1717 – Louis Guillaume Lemonnier, French botanist and contributor to the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, born in Paris (d. 1799)
1859 – Mildred J. Hill, American composer and musician (Happy Birthday To You), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1916)
1900 – Otto Passman, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana (1947-77), born in Franklinton, Washington Parish Louisiana (d. 1988)
1946 – Janice Giteck, American composer (Thunder, Like a White Bear Dancing), born in New York
1949 – Vera Wang, American fashion designer (Vera Wang Fashions), born in New York City
1975 – Bianca del Rio [Roy Haylock], American drag queen , comedian, actor and costume designer (RuPaul’s Drag Race season 6 winner), born in New Orleans, Louisiana

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Famous Deaths

1627 – John Hayward, English historian
2005 – Shelby Foote, American author and historian (b. 1917)
2009 – Fayette Pinkney, African American singer (The Three Degrees) (b. 1948)
2011 – Betty Callaway, figure skating trainer (coached Torvill and Dean), dies at 83
2013 – Alain Mimoun, Algerian/French distance runner (Olympic marathon gold 1956), dies at 92
2016 – Bud Spencer, Italian actor (Aladdin, Extralarge, Go For It), dies at 86

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Historical Events

1924 – Ziegfeld Follies opens on Broadway
1962 – WSEC (now WLRN) TV channel 17 in Miami, FL (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 – 14th Berlin International Film Festival: “Dry Summer” wins the Golden Bear
1972 – IRA proclaims resistant in North-Ireland
1973 – On Plesetsk Cosmodrome, USSR, 9 people are killed in an explosion of a Cosmos 3-M rocket.
2003 – NBA Draft: St. Vincent–St. Mary HS (Akron, Ohio) small forward LeBron James first pick by Cleveland Cavaliers

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Famous Birthdays

1901 – William Busch, British composer, born in London (d. 1945)
1911 – Edward H. Levi, American law professor (Intro to Legal Reasoning), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2000)
1922 – Eleanor Parker, American actress (Caged, Detective Story, Hans Brinker), born in Cedarville, Ohio (d. 2013)
1974 – Dieter Kalt, Austrian ice hockey forward (Team Austria 1998), born in Klagenfurt, Austria
1980 – Jason Schwartzman, American actor (The Darjeeling Limited), born in Los Angeles, California
2005 – Alexia Juliana Marcela Laurentien, Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, second daughter of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, born in HMC Bronovo, The Hague, Netherlands

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Famous Deaths

1856 – Max Stirner [Johann Kaspar Schmidt], German philosopher (Der Einzige), dies at 49
1965 – Johan C T Kikkert, painter/etcher/critic, dies at 82
1965 – Reginald Beckwith, actor/writer (39 Steps, Dr in Love), dies at 56
1982 – Andre Tchaikowsy, pianist/composer, dies
1997 – Don Hutson, American College, Pro Football Halls of Fame wide receiver (Green Bay Packers), dies at 84
2000 – Logan Ramsey, American actor (Head, Joy Sticks, Say Yes), dies of a heart attack at 79

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Historical Events

1903 – Yanks and White Sox end deadlocked at 6-6 in 18
1925 – Military putsch under General Theodorus Pangulos in Greece
1941 – Germans invade Dubno Poland, giving permission to Ukrainians to do whatever they want to 12,000 Jews living there
1960 – South Africa beats New Zealand 13-0 in the first rugby test of the series in Johannesburg
1984 – Prince releases his “Purple Rain” album
1990 – Anti-government riots break out in Lusaka, Zambia

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Famous Birthdays

1878 – Jean Gallon, French composer, born in Paris (d. 1959)
1893 – Charlotte Greenwood, American actress (Oklahoma, Moon over Miami), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1978)
1935 – Kurt Schwertsik, Austrian composer, born in Vienna, Austria
1942 – Michel Tremblay, Canadian novelist and playwright (Les Belles-Sœurs), born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
1943 – Chris Huston, British-born record engineer and guitarist, born in North Wales
1973 – Milan Hnilicka, Czech hockey goaltender (Team Czech Olympic gold 1998), born in Litoměřice, Czechoslovakia

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Famous Deaths

1830 – Ephraim McDowell, American Physician (pioneered abdominal surgery), dies at 58
1912 – Louis Antoine, Belgian miner/sect leader, dies at about 65
1916 – Thomas Eakins, American artist, dies at 71
1961 – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy, Canadian aviator, dies at 74
2011 – Goff Richards, British brass band music composer/arranger
2016 – Jim Hickman, American baseball player (Mets, Dodgers, Cubs), dies at 79

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