Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1783 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Symphony No. 36” premieres in Linz, Austria
1931 – Jean Genet’s play “Judith” premieres in Paris
1964 – American pianist and composer Terry Riley and musicians premiere his work “In C” at Tape Music Center, San Francisco; the piece is often cited as the first minimalist masterpiece
1984 – Nicaragua holds first free elections in 56 years; Sandinistas win 63%
2018 – Camila Cabello wins four awards at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Bilbao, Janet Jackson accepts the Global Icon award

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Famous Birthdays

1904 – Walter Bauer, German Canadian writer, born in Merseburg (d. 1976)
1956 – James Honeyman-Scott, British rock guitarist (The Pretenders – “Brass in Pocket”), born in Hereford, Herefordshire, England (d. 1982)
1960 – Kathy Griffin, American comedienne (Suddenly Susan, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List), born in Chicago, Illinois
1974 – Kaws [Brian Donnelly], American artist and designer, born in Jersey City, New Jersey
1985 – Marcell Jansen, German soccer left-back (45 caps; Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bayern Munich, Hamburger SV), born in Mönchengladbach, Germany

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Famous Deaths

1411 – Khalil Sultan, ruler of Transoxonia (b. 1384)
1698 – Rasmus Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician and physicist, dies at 73
1986 – Kurt Hirsch, German mathematician (b. 1906)
2008 – Juan Camilo Mouriño, Mexican politician (Secretary of the Interior, January-November, 2008), dies in a Mexico City plane crash at 37
2015 – Melissa Mathison, American screenwriter (E.T.), dies of cancer at 65

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Historical Events

1991 – Ayrton Senna wins Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide; shortest F1 race ever run (14 laps) because of wet conditions; Senna retains his 3rd World Drivers Championship by 24 points from Nigel Mansell
1996 – San Francisco 49ers receiver Jerry Rice grabs 3 passes for 45 yards and a TD to become 1st player in NFL history to reach 1,000 career receptions in 24-17 win over New Orleans Saints; finishes career with 1,549
1997 – British TV comedy “I’m Alan Partridge” starring Steve Coogan premieres on BBC Two
2014 – New York’s 104-storey One World Trade Center officially opens 13 years after the September 11 attacks
2020 – Australia’s Melbourne Cup won by Twilight Payment

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Famous Birthdays

1801 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian opera composer (La Sonnambula, Norma), born in Catania, Sicily (d. 1835)
1948 – Hugh Moffatt, American country music singer-songwriter (“Just in Case”), and opera composer (King of the Clouds), born in Fort Worth, Texas
1984 – Ryo Nishikido, Japanese Idol (member of the band NEWS ad Kanjani8), born in Kadoma, Japan
1988 – Angus McLaren, Australian actor known for “Packed to the Rafters”, born in Wonthaggi, Victoria, Australia
1994 – Kandy Muse [Kevin Candelario], American drag artist (RuPaul’s Drag Race), born in New York City

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Famous Deaths

1914 – Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (Totentag), dies of a cocaine overdose at 27
1949 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and art collector (Guggenheim Museum New York), dies at 88
1993 – William Lanteau, actor (On Golden Pond), dies at 70
2002 – Jonathan Harris [Charasuchin], American stage and screen character actor (The Bill Dana Show – “Mr. Phillips”; Lost In Space – “Dr Zachary Smith”), dies at 87
2019 – Louis Eppolito, American police officer, hitman for the Mafia and actor (Goodfellas, Lost Highway), dies at 71

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Historical Events

1898 – Austro-Hungarian Jewish activist Theodor Herzl arrives in Jerusalem
1949 – The Netherlands recognizes its former colony Indonesia as a sovereign state at conclusion of the Round Table Conference at the Hague, Netherlands
1974 – USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1995 – Spanish Broadcasting System buys NY radio station WPAT-FM for $83.5M
2017 – Jerome Powell nominated by US President Donald Trump to be next Chair of the Federal Reserve

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Famous Birthdays

1734 – Daniel Boone, American frontiersman and explorer (US Hall of Fame 1915), born in Reading, Pennsylvania (d. 1820)
1919 – Warren Stevens, American actor (Richard Boone Show), born in Clark’s Summit, Pennsylvania (d. 2012)
1932 – Romano Mazzoli, American politician (Rep-D-KY, 1971-95), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 2022)
1932 – Melvin Schwartz, American Physicist and Nobel Laureate (neutrinos – subatomic particles with no electric charge and virtually no mass), born in New York City (d. 2006)
1942 – (Roberta) “Bobbi” Gibb, American runner (unsanctioned era female winner of Boston Marathon, 1966-68), lawyer, writer, and sculptor, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts

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Famous Deaths

1981 – Kenneth Oakley, English Anthropologist, paleontologist and geologist whose method for the relative dating of fossils using fluorine content was instrumental in exposing the Piltdown Man hoax, dies at 70
2000 – Robert Cormier, American author known for “The Chocolate War” and “I Am the Cheese”, dies at 75
2000 – Sue Ryder, Baroness Ryder of Warsaw and Cavendish, British volunteer with Special Operations Executive in the Second World War, dies at 76
2002 – Charles Sheffield, American author and physicist (b. 1935)
2004 – Gerrie Knetemann, Dutch road cyclist (World Road Race Champion 1978; Amstel Gold Race 1974, 85), dies from a heart attack at 53

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Historical Events

1914 – Pope Benedictus Xv’s encyclical Ad beatissimi, against integrity
1914 – German-British naval battle at Coronel, Chile
1937 – Stalinists execute by shooting Pastor Paul Hamberg and seven members of Azerbaijan’s Lutheran community (including three women).
1959 – WOV-AM in NYC changes call letters to WADO
2012 – Scientists detect evidence of light from the universe’s first stars, estimated to have formed 500 million years after the Big Bang

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Famous Birthdays

1871 – Stephen Crane, American novelist (Red Badge of Courage), born in Newark, New Jersey (d. 1900)
1945 – Rick Grech, British rock musician (Blind Faith; Traffic), born in Bordeaux, France (d. 1990)
1967 – Tina Arena, Australian pop singer and songwriter (“Don’t Ask”), born in Melbourne, Australia
1971 – Harutyun Arzumanyan, Armenian orchestral and opera conductor, born in Yerevan, Armenian SSR
1975 – Scott “Skippy” Chapman, American musician (Code of Ethics), born in Memphis, Tennessee

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Famous Deaths

1817 – Giovanni Zanotti, Italian composer, dies at 79
1835 – William Motherwell, Scottish poet and civil servant, dies at 38
1978 – Giuseppe Berto, Italian writer (Heaven Sees Red), dies at 63
2001 – Warren Amling, American College Football Hall of Fame guard (Ohio State), dies at 76
2003 – Joji “George” Kawaguchi Japanese jazz drummer and bandleader, dies at 76

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Historical Events

1587 – Leiden University Library opens its doors after its founding in 1575
1867 – Australia’s first royal tour begins as Prince Albert, son of Queen Victoria, arrives in Adelaide, South Australia
1950 – “The Big Cat” Earl Lloyd becomes the first African-American to play a game in the NBA, scoring 6 points on debut for the Washington Capitols
1967 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu takes oath of office to become the first President of the Second Republic of South Vietnam
1982 – Musical revue “Rock ‘n Roll!: The First 5,000 Years” closes at St James Theatre in New York City after 9 performances

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Famous Birthdays

1945 – Brian Doyle-Murray, American comedian and actor (Groundhog Day), born in Chicago, Illinois
1950 – Jane Pauley, American newscaster (Today, NBC Weekend), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
1961 – Alonzo Babers, American athlete (Olympic gold 400m, 4x400m relay 1984), born in Montgomery, Alabama
1966 – Koji Kanemoto, Japanese wrestler (NJPW/AAA/UWA, Tiger Mask, King Lee), born in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
1981 – Selina (Jiaxuan) Ren, member of Taiwanese girl-group S.H.E, born in Shilin, Taipei, Taiwan

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Famous Deaths

1733 – Eberhard Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg, dies at 57
1941 – Herwarth Walden, German art writer and critic, dies in a Soviet prison at 63
1986 – Robert S. Mulliken, American chemist and physicist (Nobel 1966), dies at 90
2007 – Edgar Ngoyi, South African anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader who spent 17 years in Robben Island Prison, dies at 81
2018 – Lord Skelmersdale [Roger Bootle-Wilbraham], British politician and horticulturalist who created Britain’s first toad tunnel, dies of a stroke at 73

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Historical Events

1953 – Dr Albert Schweitzer and US Army General George Marshall win the Nobel Peace Prize
1963 – Sandy Koufax wins the National League MVP award
1967 – USSR Kosmos 186 and 188 make the first automatic docking and Venera 13 launches
1970 – KVEW TV channel 42 in Kennewick, Washington (ABC), begins broadcasting
2023 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects calls for a ceasefire with Hamas, saying “this is a time for war” amid Israeli ground forces moving into the Gaza strip

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Famous Birthdays

1934 – Keith Barnes, Australian rugby league fullback (17 Tests, 10 as captain; Balmain RLFC), born in Port Talbot, Wales (d. 2024)
1935 – Michael Winner, English film producer and director (Big Sleep, Death Wish), born in London, England (d. 2013)
1967 – Leonidas Kavakos, Greek concert violinist and conductor, born in Athens, Greece
1970 – James Pedro, American lightweight judoka (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Danvers, Massachusetts
1975 – Maria Thayer, American actress (Accepted; Strangers With Candy), born in Portland, Oregon

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Famous Deaths

1883 – Johann Vesque von Püttlingen, Austrian lawyer and composer, dies at 80
1914 – Ernst Stadler, German poet (Der Aufbruch), dies fighting in WWI at 31
1928 – Oscar Sonneck, American editor (The Musical Quarterly), musicologist, and librarian (Library of Congress, 1902-17), dies at 55
1996 – Leon Lewis, US radio talk show host (WMCA, 1970-80), dies at 81
2006 – Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist (symbolic anthropology), dies at 80

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Historical Events

1913 – Floods in El Salvador kill thousands
1936 – Ella Fitzgerald and the Chick Webb Orchestra record “(If You Can’t Sing It) You’ll Have To Swing It (Mr. Paganini)”; it becomes a staple in her repertoire as a launching point for scat vocals
1963 – Edgar Kaufmann Jr. deeds his family property Fallingwater (1935), designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
1989 – NYC MTA opens 63rd street extension to subway
2020 – India records more than 8 million COVID-19 cases, the second country after the US, with a death toll of 120,527

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Famous Birthdays

1815 – Ľudovít Štúr, Slovak politician and author of Slovak language, born in Uhrovec, Austrian Empire (d. 1856)
1940 – Connie Mack III, American politician (US Senator from Florida, 1989-2001; US Representative from Florida, 1983-89), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1951 – Guy Gelso, American rock drummer (Zebra), born in Oakland, California
1967 – Rufus Sewell, English actor (A Knight’s Tale, Middlemarch), born in London, England
1978 – Kelly Smith, English football player (Arsenal Ladies), born in Watford, England

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Famous Deaths

1853 – Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann, French pianist, music teacher, and composer, dies at 68
1950 – Gustav V, King of Sweden (1907-1950), dies at 92
1991 – Maria Monica, silent film actress, dies
2015 – Murphy Anderson, American comic artist (DC Comics), dies at 89
2020 – J. J. Williams, Welsh rugby union winger (30 caps Wales, 7 British and Irish Lions; Grand Slam 1976, 78), dies at 72

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Historical Events

1864 – Second Battle of Newtonia (American Civil War), Newton County, Missouri
1906 – Belgian-British “Union Minière du Haut Katanga” mining company created in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo
1948 – Flag of Israel is adopted
1975 – Venezuela and foreign oil companies agree on nationalization as of January 1, 1976
2020 – Global COVID-19 cases increased by a record 500,000 for the first time, rising 25% in less than two weeks, according to Reuters

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Famous Birthdays

1718 – Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian Jesuit missionary and geographer, born in Kottori, Kingdom of Hungary (d. 1793)
1909 – Josef Gingold, Russian-American violinist (Primrose Quartet; Cleveland Orchestra, 1947-60) and pedagogue (Indiana University, 1960-95), born in Brest-Litovsk, Russian Empire (now Brest, Belarus) (d. 1995)
1949 – Caitlyn Jenner [born Bruce Jenner], American athlete (Olympic gold decathlon 1976), TV personality (‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’) and prominent transgender figure, born in Mt Kisco, New York
1967 – Kevin Macdonald, Scottish film director, known for “Touching the Void”, born in Glasgow, Scotland
1974 – Braden Looper, American baseball pitcher (Olympic bronze 1996), born in Weatherford, Oklahoma

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Famous Deaths

1627 – Jahangir, 4th Mughal Emperor of India (1605-27), dies at 58
1708 – Prince George of Denmark, Prince Consort of Anne of England, dies at 55
1973 – Taha Hussein, Egyptian writer (b. 1889)
1996 – William Downie Forrest, Scottish foreign correspondent (Spanish Civil War, WWII), dies at 94
1997 – Toni Carabillo, writer (Feminist Chronicles), dies of lymphoma at 71

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Historical Events

1931 – Chuhei Numbu of Japan, sets then long jump record at 26′ 2½”
1957 – WPTA TV channel 21 in Fort Wayne, IN (ABC) begins broadcasting
1986 – Paul McCartney releases single “Pretty Little Head”
1992 – Tipper Gore, wife of future Vice President Al Gore, admits to covering the clock on her VCR with black tape so she doesn’t have to watch it blink
2024 – A long-lost waltz by Frédéric Chopin is reportedly rediscovered after 200 years at the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan

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Famous Birthdays

1842 – Giovanni Giolitti, 5x Prime Minister of Italy (1892-93, 1903-05, 1906-09, 1911-14, 1920-21), born in Mondovì, Kingdom of Sardinia (d. 1928)
1944 – Bob Flick, American folk musician (The Brother Four – “Greenfields”), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
1951 – K. K. Downing, British rock guitarist (Judas Priest – “Breakin’ The Law”), born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England
1964 – Mary T. Meagher, American swimmer (3 x Olympic gold 100/200m butterfly, 4x100m medley 1984; WR 100/200m butterfly 1981), born in Louisville, Kentucky
1986 – Matty Pattison, South African footballer (Whickham), born in Johannesburg, South Africa

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Famous Deaths

1617 – Ralph Winwood, English politician (b. 1563)
1789 – John Cook, American farmer and Governor of Delaware (b. 1730)
1935 – Ernest Eldridge, British auto racer (world land speed record 1924 at Arpajon, France; 1 mile −145.89 mph), dies from pneumonia at 40
1999 – Charlotte Perriand, French architect and furniture designer (Unité d’habitation), dies at 96
2006 – Joe Niekro, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1979; NL wins leader 1979; Houston Astros; World Series 1987; NY Yankees), dies from a brain aneurysm at 61

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Historical Events

740 – An earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing damage to city walls and buildings
1926 – Belgium stabilizes current value of franc (5 franc becomes 1 “Belga”)
1968 – KMIR TV channel 36 in Palm Springs, CA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1972 – Edwin Land introduces the first truly instant camera the Polaroid SX-70 camera at an event in Miami, Florida
1981 – British rock band Queen and David Bowie release their serendipitous collaborative single “Under Pressure”

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Famous Birthdays

1886 – Hermann Unger, German composer, music journalist, pedagogue and administrator (Rheinische Musikschule), born in Kamenz, Germany (d. 1958)
1930 – John Arden, English novelist and playwright (Left Handed Liberty), born in Barnsley, England (d. 2012)
1965 – Kelly Rowan, Canadian actress (Kirsten Cohen in “The O.C.”), born in Ottawa, Ontario
1967 – Shelly Stokes, American softball catcher (Olympic gold 1996), born in Sacramento, California
1981 – Sam Brown, American comedian (The Whitest Kid U’Know), born in Sandwich, Massachusetts

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Famous Deaths

1902 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American women’s rights activist, abolitionist and writer, dies of heart failure at 86
1975 – Herman van San, Belgian classical and electro-acoustic composer, dies at 46
1990 – Guus Jansen, Dutch pianist, Hammond organist, and popular song composer (“Net als Toen” – Eurovison, 1957), dies at 79
2004 – Bobby Ávila, Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman (MLB All-Star 1952, 54, 55; AL batting champion 1954; Cleveland Indians), dies of diabetes and lung ailment at 80
2005 – David Townsend, American session and touring RandB guitarist (Isley Brothers; Port Authority; Surface – “Shower Me With Your Love”), and songwriter, dies at 50

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