Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1685 – Battle at Sedgemoor: King James II beats Duke of Monmouth
1945 – Washington Senator Rick Ferrell catches a record 1,722 games
1974 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Jimmy Connors wins his first of 2 Wimbledon singles titles beating Ken Rosewall of Australia 6-1, 6-1, 6-4
1997 – Montreal Expos retire Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Andre Dawson’s uniform #10
2006 – The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years
2013 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Bob and Mike Bryan beat Ivan Dogic and Marcelo Melo to be the only pair to hold all 4 majors and Olympic gold medal at same time

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Famous Birthdays

1755 – John Flaxman, English sculptor (Westminster Abbey tomb stones)
1832 – Maximilian I of Mexico and Archduke of Austria, first and only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire, born in Vienna, Austria
1940 – Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan
1981 – Nicole Kantek, NSW Australia, gymnast (Olympics 1996)
1984 – James Henderson, American model
1987 – Matt O’Leary, American actor

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Famous Deaths

1568 – Johann Oporinus, Swiss book publisher/publisher, dies at 61
1971 – Thomas C Heart, US admiral/commander (Asiatic fleet), dies
1979 – Van McCoy, US musician (The Hustle), dies at 35
1982 – Bob Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1905)
1995 – Ivor Keys, musician/teacher, dies at 76
2002 – John Frankenheimer, American film director (b. 1930)

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Historical Events

1450 – Pope Nicolas V names Walraven van Meurs bishop of Munster
1770 – Battles of Chesma and Larga between the Russian and Ottoman Empires
1863 – Battle of Jackson, Mississippi and Battle of Birdsong Ferry, Mississippi
1906 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Dorothea Chambers beats May Sutton 6-3, 9-7 for her 3rd of 7 Wimbledon singles titles
1973 – Isle of Man begins issuing its own postage stamps
1984 – Supreme Court weakens 70-year-old “exclusionary rule”-evidence seized with defective court warrants can now be used in criminal trials

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Famous Birthdays

1841 – William C. Whitney, American financier (d. 1904)
1874 – Eugen Fischer, Nazi physician (Kaiser Wilhelm Institute), born in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany (d. 1967)
1965 – Eyran Katsenelenbogen, Israeli jazz pianist
1968 – John Ruskin a.k.a. Nardwuar the Human Serviette, Canadian journalist
1968 – Alex Zülle, Swiss cyclist
1985 – Stephanie McIntosh, Australian pop singer and actress

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Famous Deaths

1375 – Charles III of Alençon, French archbishop (b. 1337)
1833 – Nicéphore Niépce, French inventor (b. 1765)
1957 – Charles Sherwood Noble, American-born inventor
1980 – Archibald James Potter, composer, dies at 61
2007 – George Melly, British jazz and blues musician (b. 1926)
2007 – Kerwin Mathews, American actor (b. 1926)

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Historical Events

1863 – Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Union forces
1892 – James Keir Hardie chosen 1st socialist in British Lower house
1930 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Helen Moody wins 4th straight Wimbledon singles beating fellow American Elizabeth Ryan 6-2, 6-2
1944 – Gestapo arrests German Social Democrat Julius Leber
1996 – Hot Mail, a free internet E-mail service begins
2004 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Roger Federer wins the second of 5 straight Wimbledon singles titles beating Andy Roddick 4-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-4

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Famous Birthdays

1886 – Heinrich Kaminski, composer
1927 – Neil Simon, playwright (Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, Biloxi Blues), born in The Bronx, New York
1929 – Al Davis, American businessman and NFL team owner (Oakland Raiders), born in Brockton, Massachusetts (d. 2011)
1943 – Konrad “Conny” Bauer, German musician
1966 – Lee Reherman, American actor
1973 – Michael Johnson, English-born Jamaican footballer

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Famous Deaths

1627 – Thomas Middleton, English playwright (A Game at Chess), dies at 47
1850 – William Kirby, English entomologist (b. 1759)
1889 – Auguste Mermet, composer, dies at 79
1916 – Alan Seeger, American war poet (b. 1888)
1962 – Rex Bell [George Francis Beldam], American cowboy actor (Cowboys and Injuns) and 21st Lieutenant Governor of Nevada, dies from a heart attack at 58
1994 – Arthur Berry, English artist and playwright, dies at 69

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Historical Events

1767 – Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret
1890 – Idaho admitted as 43rd US state
1953 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: American Vic Seixas wins his only Wimbledon singles title with a 9-7, 6-3, 6-4 over Dane Kurt Nielsen
1965 – USSR and Persia sign dam building and economic aid pact
1970 – British aircraft crashes at Barcelona, 112 killed
1973 – Brothers Jim and Gaylord Perry face each other for only time, Tigers beat Indians 5-4, as Gaylord loses

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Famous Birthdays

1731 – Samuel Huntington, (Gov-Ct), Continental Congress pres
1846 – Achilles Alferaki, composer
1861 – Peter Jackson, heavyweight boxer (hall of famer)
1961 – Tim Smith, English musician (Cardiacs)
1964 – Gary Ryan, rocker (Blackhearts)
1965 – Vinson Smith, NFL linebacker (Chicago Bears)

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Famous Deaths

1862 – William Barksdale, Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at 40
1929 – Dustin Farnum, American actor (Squaw Man, Virginian, The Flaming Frontier), dies at 55
1957 – Dolf Luque, Cuban baseball player, dies at 66
1973 – Charles Ancerl, Czech conductor (Prague/Toronto), dies at 63
1995 – Gil Wolman, situationist, dies at 65
2001 – Johnny Russell, American country singer and songwriter (b. 1940)

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Historical Events

706 – Remains of Chinese Emperor Gaozong, his wife Empress Wu Zetian and family members interred in Qianling Mausoleum by Emperor Zhongzong, outside Chang’an on Mount Liangshan
1946 – Dutch Beel government forms
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
1971 – USSR performs underground nuclear test
1987 – Nilde Iotti is named as the first female President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.
1988 – Lester Dumakude, commander of an Umkhonto we Sizwe special operations unit, detonate a car bomb by remote control outside Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa

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Famous Birthdays

1890 – Earl Roy Curry, religious thinker and Kirtland Temple overseer (d. 1980)
1942 – Georgi Ivanov, Bulgaria, cosmonaut (Soyuz 33)
1964 – Joe Magrane, baseball player
1972 – Darren Shan, Irish children’s author
1972 – Towanna Stone, Miss USA-Tennessee (1997, 3rd)
1975 – Daniel Kowalski, Australian swimmer (Olympics-bronze/silver-96), born in Singapore

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Famous Deaths

1663 – Thomas Selle, German composer, dies at 64
1915 – Gen Porfirio [Jose de la Cruz] Diaz, president Mexico, dies
1919 – Anna Howard Shaw, American suffragette, dies at 72
1973 – Ferdinand Schörner, German field marshal (b. 1892)
1999 – Mario Puzo, American author, dies at 78
2010 – Laurent Terzieff, French actor (Head Over Heels, Milky Way), dies at 75

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Historical Events

1859 – 1st intercollegiate baseball game, Amherst beats Williams 66-32 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
1932 – NY newspaper Evening Standard goes bankrupt
1953 – KTVH (now KWCH) TV channel 12 in Hutchinson-Wichita, KS (CBS) begins
1972 – “Hair” closes at Biltmore Theater NYC after 1750 performances
1992 – Ali Kafi becomes president of Algeria
2005 – Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers is suspended for 20 games and fined $50k for shoving a cameraman – sentence later overturned

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Famous Birthdays

1869 – William Strunk Jr., American grammarian (d. 1946)
1872 – Louis Bleriot, 1st man to fly an airplane across English Channel
1888 – Ben Taylor, American Baseball Hall of Fame 1st baseman/manager (Negro Leagues), born in Anderson, South Carolina (d. 1953)
1910 – Glen Hardin, American athlete (Olympic gold 1936 400m hurdles), born in Derma, Mississippi (d. 1975)
1921 – Seretse Khama, 1st President of Botswana (1966-80), born in Serowe, Botswana (d. 1980)
1976 – Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch soccer striker (Netherlands 70 caps, Man U), born in Oss, Netherlands

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Famous Deaths

868 – Ali al-Hadi, Shia Imam (b. 828)
1622 – William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, English peer and politician (helped stop Gunpowder Plot) (b. 1575)
1991 – Joost Baljeu, painter/founder-editor Structure, dies
1995 – Ronald Farrow, radio producer and priest, dies at 49
2001 – Nicolay G. Basov, Soviet physicist who specialized in quantum electronics (laser, maser) and 1964 Nobel laureate, dies at 78
2013 – John Stanford, American college baseball coach/administrator (Middle Tennessee), dies at 77

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Historical Events

1596 – English and Dutch fleet reach Cadiz
1607 – Annales Ecclesiastici (Scientific History of Catholicism) published
1758 – Seven Years’ War: The Battle of Domstadtl takes place
1944 – Allies land on Vogelkop, New Guinea
1967 – Phillies Cookie Rojas pitches, plays 9th position since joining Phils
2016 – The Ikea Museum opens in the former very first Ikea store in Älmhult, Sweden

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Famous Birthdays

1901 – Willie Sutton, American bank robber, born in Brooklyn, New York
1912 – Dan Reeves, NFL team owner (Cleveland/LA Rams)
1954 – Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)
1958 – Esa-Pekka Salonen, Helsinki Finland, conductor (Giro)
1968 – Peter Miller, CFL linebacker (BC Lions)
1972 – Tyrone Davis, NFL tight end (NY Jets, Green Bay Packers-Super Bowl 31)

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Famous Deaths

1919 – John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist and discoverer of argon (Nobel Prize 1904), dies at 76
1965 – Bessie Barriscale, actress (Plain Jane, Show Folks), dies
1974 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer and politician (b. 1890)
1976 – Firpo Marberry, baseball player (b. 1898)
1983 – Bo Gentry, songwriter/producer, dies
1993 – George “Spanky” McFarland, child actor (Our Gang), dies at age 65

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Historical Events

1867 – Pope Pius IX declares Gorcumse holy martyrs
1913 – The attack by Bulgarian General Michael Savov on Greek and Serbian positions leads to beginning of the second Balkan War
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.”
2002 – Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel.
2009 – Financier Bernard Madoff sentenced to 150 years in prison, US maximum, for conducting massive Ponzi scheme
2014 – Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announces establishment of worldwide “caliphate” at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraq

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Famous Birthdays

1901 – Frieda Inescort, Scottish actress (Pride and Prejudice), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1976)
1902 – Ellen Clara Pollock, British-German actress (Wicked Lady, Horror Hospital), born in Heidelberg, Germany (d. 1997)
1919 – Lloyd Richards, American director (d. 2006)
1926 – Rex Hunt, British diplomat and Governor of the Falkland Islands (1982-1985), born in Redcar, North Yorkshire, England (d. 2012)
1956 – Pedro Guerrero, baseball player
1972 – Nawal Al Zoghbi, Lebanese singer

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Famous Deaths

1293 – Hendrik van Gent, Flemish neo-Augustian philosopher/theologist, dies
1798 – Kaat Mussel [Catharina Mulder], exerciser, dies
1855 – John Gorrie, American scientist (b. 1802)
1875 – Ferdinand I, Emperor of Austria (1835-48), dies at 82
1967 – Oskar Maria Graf, German writer, dies at 72
2007 – Joel Siegel, American film critic (b. 1943)

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Historical Events

1928 – Alfred E Smith (NY-Governor) nominated for US President at Democratic Convention
1957 – Reds’ fans stuff ballot box, electing 8 Reds as All Star starters
1973 – Black Sports Hall of Fame forms: Paul Robeson, Elgin Baylor, Jesse Owens, Jim Brown, Wilma Rudolph, Joe Louis and Althea Gibson elected
1973 – Lawsuit in Detroit challenges Little League’s “no girls” rule
2000 – Cuban exile Elián González returns to Cuba following a Supreme Court order.
2017 – China’s president, Xi Jinping begins 3 day trip to Hong Kong to mark 20 years since the territory handed back to China

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Famous Birthdays

1806 – Napoleon Coste, composer
1867 – Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer (6 Characters-Nobel 1934)
1885 – Berthold Viertel, writer
1935 – John Inman, English actor (d. 2007)
1964 – Stephanie Maynor, Chester England, golfer (1995 PING Welch’s-13th)
1966 – Mary Stuart Masterson, American actress (Some Kind of Wonderful), born in Houston, Texas

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Famous Deaths

1916 – Ştefan Luchian, Romanian painter (b. 1868)
1957 – Ede Poldini, Hungarian composer (La poupée valsante), dies at 88
1971 – Joseph Colombo, mobster, shot dead at 48
1982 – Gerard[us M] Rutten, director (Sterren stralen overal), dies
2006 – Lennie “Len” Weinrib, American comedian and actor (H.R. Pufnstuf, Bedknobs and Broomsticks), dies from a stroke at 71
2006 – Jim Baen, American sci-fi publisher and editor (b. 1943)

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Historical Events

1890 – George Dixon becomes 1st black boxing champ (Bantam weight)
1939 – Headley scores a cricket century in each innings v England at Lord’s
1942 – PQ-17 convoy leaves Iceland for Archangelsk
1978 – Soyuz 30 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Polish) to Salyut 6 space station
1979 – Heavyweight Muhammad Ali confirms that his 3rd retirement is final (it isn’t)
1995 – Holland’s debut in English domestic comp (v Northants, NatWest)

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Famous Birthdays

1916 – Arthur Walter Lucas, picture restorer
1930 – Tommy [Tamio] Kono, weightlifter (Olympic gold 1952, 60), born in Sacramento, California (d. 2016)
1938 – Bruce E Babbitt, (Gov-D-AZ)/secretary of interior
1950 – Benjamin Peterson, American heavyweight boxer (Olympic gold 1972)
1985 – Nico Rosberg, German Finnish race car driver (F1 Champion 2016), born in Wiesbaden, West Germany
1990 – Aselin Debison, Canadian singer

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Famous Deaths

1458 – Alfonso V, King of Aragon/Sicily/Naples (Alfonso I), dies
1543 – Agnolo Firenzuola, Italian poet and litterateur, dies at 49
1864 – Charles Garrison Harker, US Union-brigadier general, dies in battle at 26
1944 – Vera Menchik, Russian 1st official women’s world chess champion (1927), dies in a London air raid at 38
2003 – David Newman, American filmmaker (b. 1937)
2005 – Domino Harvey, English-born bounty hunter (b. 1969)

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