Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1908 – Booth Tarkington and Harry Leon Wilson’s play “Man from Home” premieres in New York
1961 – Kennedy administration establishes Alliance for Progress
1982 – LA Dodgers beat Chicago Cubs, 6-5, in 21 innings (game completed 8/18)
1988 – LIRR says Penn station will get air conditioning in 1991
1991 – Royals Warren Cromartie’s 1st major league HR since 1983
2016 – German pair Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst upsets Brazilian hometown favourites Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas 21–18, 21–14 to win the Olympic women’s beach volleyball gold in Rio de Janeiro

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Famous Birthdays

1870 – Frederick Russell, developed 1st successful typhoid fever vaccine
1880 – Leo Ascher, Austrian-born composer who moved to the US, born in Vienna (d. 1942)
1890 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (d. 1920)
1903 – Abram Chasins, composer
1959 – Jonathan Franzen, American author
1960 – Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer

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Famous Deaths

1927 – Horace Alderman, American murderer, hanged
1961 – Carlos Leon Salzedo, composer, dies at 76
1979 – Vivian Vance, American actress (Ethel Mertz-I Love Lucy), dies of cancer at 70
2008 – Franco Sensi, Italian oil tycoon and president of A.S. Roma
2008 – František Zvarík, Slovakian stage actor (Slovak National Theatre), dies at 87
2012 – Patrick Ricard, French businessman and CEO of Pernod Ricard, dies from cardiac arrest at 67

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Historical Events

1780 – British decisively defeat Americans in Battle of Camden, South Carolina
1944 – First flight of the Junkers Ju 287.
1972 – Morocco King Hassan II’s B727 shot during failed coup attempt by General Mohamed Oufkir. Reportedly, King Hassan grabbed the radio and told the rebel pilots “Stop firing! The tyrant is dead!”, fooling pilots to break off attack
1976 – St. Louis Cardinals beat San Diego Chargers, 20-10 in Tokyo, Japan (NFL Expo)
1987 – Bon Jovi release their 3rd album “Slippery When Wet” (Billboard’s top selling album of 1987)
1992 – British Williams driver Nigel Mansell finishes second in Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring to clinch his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship

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Famous Birthdays

1645 – Jean de La Bruyère, French writer (The Characters, or the Manners of the Age, with The Characters of Theophrastus), born in Paris (d. 1696)
1650 – Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian cartographer and encylopedist, born in Venice, Italy (d. 1718)
1820 – Andrew Rainsford Wetmore, Canadian politician, born in Fredericton, Canada (d. 1892)
1932 – Jon Lindbergh, 2nd son of aviator Charles Lindbergh
1933 – Julie Newmar, actress (Catwoman-Batman, Living Doll), born in Hollywood, California
1972 – Stan Lazaridis, Australian footballer, born in Perth, Australia

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Famous Deaths

1339 – Azzone Visconti, Lord of Milan (1329-39), dies at 36
1831 – Eduard Brendler, composer, dies at 30
1968 – Luis Gianneo, composer, dies at 71
1973 – Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-American microbiologist (Nobel 1951-ingenious, systematic and successful studies of the soil microbes that led to the discovery of streptomycin), dies at 85
2005 – William Corlett, English children’s writer(b. 1938)
2016 – John McLaughlin, American TV commentator (McLaughlin Group) and Nixon aide, dies at 89

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Historical Events

1843 – Tivoli Gardens amusement park opens in Copenhagen, world’s 2nd oldest
1914 – The first large public gathering of Boers in South Africa who do not want to support Britain in a war against Germany; British authorities will try to repress this movement, but discontent spreads
1964 – Mayor Daley declares “Ernie Banks Day” in Chicago
1998 – Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland, the worst terrorist incident of The Troubles, kills 29 people and injures about 220
2006 – Der Spiegel, Spiegel Online, publishes documents confirming German writer Günter Grass’ membership of the Waffen-SS in World War II
2009 – Portugal leaves recession after three consecutive quarters of negative growth having its GDP recover by 0.3% in the second quarter of 2009

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Famous Birthdays

1740 – Matthias Claudius, German poet, born in Reinfeld, Duchy of Holstein (d. 1815)
1788 – Carel SW van Hogendorp, Dutch colonial director
1910 – Josef Klaus, Chancellor of Austria (1966-70), born in Kötschach-Mauthen, Austria (d. 1964)
1963 – Greg Adams, Nelson, NHL left wing (Dallas Stars)
1975 – Vijay Bharadwaj, Indian cricketer
1976 – Boudewijn Send, soccer player (PSV)

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Famous Deaths

1907 – Joseph Joachim, German violinist (Hungarian Concerto), dies at 76
1968 – Edward Kilenyi, Sr. [Ede Kilényi], composer and teacher (Clipped Wings, Outside the Law), dies at 84
1988 – Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, President of Pakistan, killed in plane crash
2004 – Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician, dies at 63
2007 – Richard Bradshaw, British opera conductor, (b. 1944)
2007 – Dave Hassinger, American recording engineer and record producer, dies at 80

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Historical Events

1824 – General Lafayette returns to US
1861 – Martial Law is declared at St Louis, Missouri, due to pro-secession sentiment which surged throughout Missouri after the Battle of Wilson’s Creek
1897 – The town of Anosimena is captured by French troops from Menabe defenders in Madagascar.
1908 – Race riot in Springfield Illinois
1919 – White Sox Happy Felsch ties record of 4 outfield assists in a game
2018 – Pennsylvania grand jury alleges 300 “predator priests” abused over 1000 children over 30 years and Catholic leaders covered it, up after 2-year investigation

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Famous Birthdays

1908 – Manos Katrakis, Greek actor (Antigone, Marinos Kontaras), born in Kastelli Kissamou, Crete (d. 1984)
1941 – Connie Smith, Elkhart, Indiana, singer (Dream Painter, New Horizons)
1951 – Peter Blegvad, American musician (Slapp Happy), born in New York City, New York
1973 – Wayne Chrebet, American NFL wide receiver (NY Jets), born in Garfield, New Jersey
1978 – Anastasios Kyriakos, Greek footballer, born in Giannouli, Greece
1983 – Leo Núñez, Dominican baseball player, born in Bonao, Dominican Republic

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Famous Deaths

1652 – Abraham Elsevier, Dutch book publisher, dies at 60
1955 – Herbert Putnam, American Librarian of Congress, dies at 93
1958 – Big Bill Broonzy, American blues singer and guitarist (Blues by Broonzy), dies of cancer at 65
1991 – Alberto Crespo, Argentine racing driver (b. 1920)
2003 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
2012 – John Herbert “Jonathan” Frid, Canadian actor (Barnabas Collins-Dark Shadows), dies of pneumonia at 87

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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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