Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1877 – Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph (gramophone) to the editors of “Scientific American”
1949 – Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan
1953 – Israel’s PM Ben-Gurion retires
1954 – Japanese government of Joshida resigns
1956 – Australian swimmer Murray Rose claims his 3rd gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics when he wins the 1,500m in 17:58.9; also wins 400m and 4 x 200m relay
1982 – In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr. becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the US.

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Famous Birthdays

1545 – Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, King consort of Mary I of Scotland, born in Temple Newsam, Yorkshire, England (d. 1567)
1604 – Ambrosius Reiner, German composer, born in Altdorf, Weingarten, Württemberg (d. 1672)
1754 – Jack Jouett, American politician and patriot (warn Thomas Jefferson of British attack), born in Albemarle County, Virginia (d. 1822)
1948 – Gary Morris, country singer/actor (Colbys), born in Fort Worth, Texas
1972 – Hermann Maier, Austrian skier
1979 – Jennifer Carpenter, American actress

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Famous Deaths

1899 – Antoni de Kontski, Polish pianist and composer, dies at 82
1947 – Tristan Bernard, French playwright and novelist, dies at 81
1947 – Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher, diplomat (Nobel Peace Prize 1931), educator (Columbia University President), dies at 85
1979 – Prince Chahryar Shafik, Shah of Iran’s nephew, murdered in Paris
1985 – Robert Graves, English writer and poet (King Jesus), dies at 90
1993 – Félix Houphouet-Boigny, President of Ivory Coast (1960-93), dies at 88

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Historical Events

1534 – Quito, Ecuador, founded by Spanish
1876 – 1st crematorium in US begins operation, Washington, Pennsylvania
1971 – Lewis Franklin Powell confirmed as US Supreme Court justice
1973 – Gerald Ford sworn-in as first unelected Vice President, succeeds Spiro Agnew who resigned over corruption allegations
1981 – Rob de Castella of Australia sets Marathon record at 2:08:18
1988 – STS-27 Atlantis lands in California after secret mission

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Famous Birthdays

1835 – Wilhelm Rudolf Fittig, Hamburg, German Chemist (synthesizing organic compounds)
1914 – Cyril Washbrook, cricketer (stalwart Lancs and England opener)
1916 – Hugo Peretti, American songwriter and record producer (d. 1986)
1929 – Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Austrian conductor (Early Music Movement), born in Berlin (d. 2016)
1976 – Lindsay Price, Arcadia CA, actress (Bold and Beautiful, All My Children)
1995 – Joy Gruttmann, German singer

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Famous Deaths

1889 – Jozef Neuhuys [Joseph Hendrikus Neuhuys], Dutch painter, dies at 48
1892 – [Ernst] Werner von Siemens, German inventor and industrialist (siemens electrical conductance unit and Siemens corporation), dies at 75
1924 – Gene Stratton-Porter, American author, screenwriter and naturalist (b. 1863)
1989 – John Payne, American actor (The Restless Gun, Miracle on 34th Street), dies aged 77
1989 – Sammy Fain, composer, dies at 87
2011 – Dobie Gray [Lawrence Brown], American musician and singer (Drift Away), dies of cancer at 71

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Historical Events

1881 – 47th Congress (1881-83) convenes
1892 – Anti-semite Hermann Ahlwardt elected to Germany’s Reichstag
1944 – German troops steal all the silver coin in Utrecht
1982 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1998 – 3rd Big 12 Championship Game: #10 Texas AandM beats #2 Kansas State, 36-33 (2 OT)
1999 – 88th Davis Cup: Australia beats France in Nice (3-2)

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Famous Birthdays

1927 – Bhumibol Adulyadej [Rama IX], King of Thailand (1946-2016), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 2016)
1933 – Edward Daly, Irish Bishop “Bloody Sunday” priest, born in Belleek, County Fermanagh (d. 2016)
1940 – Boris Ignatyev, Russian footballer and manager
1949 – Bruce E Melnick, American Cmdr USCG/astronaut (STS 41, STS 49), born in NYC, New York
1962 – José Cura, Argentine tenor
1979 – Niklas Hagman, Finnish ice hockey player

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Famous Deaths

1758 – Johann Friedrich Fasch, composer, dies at 70
1971 – Hugh Wakefield, British actor (The Man Who Knew Too Much, Blithe Spirit), dies at 83
1991 – Aad Mansfield, soccer player/trainer (ADO/Feyenoord/FC Utrecht), dies
1995 – Victor Collin Matthews, businessman, dies on 76th birthday
1996 – Wilf Carter, country singer, dies at 91
2008 – Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu, Romanian politician and president of the Association of Romanian Former Political Prisoners. (b. 1928)

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Historical Events

1534 – Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent occupies Baghdad
1932 – Kurt von Schleicher succeeds Franz von Papen as Reich Chancellor of Germany
1951 – Mir Waiz Maulvi Muhammad Yusouf is appointed President of Azad Kashmir Government
1975 – 6 South Molukkans occupy Indonesian consulate in The Hague, 1 dead
1994 – Marta Figueras-Dottie and Brad Bryant wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1999 – 8th SEC Championship Game: #7 Alabama beats #5 Florida, 34-7

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Famous Birthdays

1818 – William Wing “Old Blizzards” Loring, American Major General (Confederate Army), born in Wilmington, North Carolina (d. 1886)
1892 – Francisco Franco, Spanish general and dictator (1936-75), born in Ferrol, Galicia, Spain (d. 1975)
1938 – Lynn Blessing, vibes Player
1962 – Arnold Scholten, soccer player (Feyenoord)
1967 – Martha O’Kelley, US softball infielder (Olympic gold 1996)
1972 – Damien Covington, NFL linebacker (Buffalo Bills)

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Famous Deaths

1334 – Pope John XXII (1316-1334) (b. 1249)
1649 – Outgert Arisz Akersloot, Dutch silversmith, dies at about 73
1696 – Empress Meishō, Japan (b. 1624)
1884 – Alice Mary Smith, composer, dies at 45
1994 – Julio Ramon Ribeyro, Peruvian playwright, dies at 66
2016 – Margaret Whitton, American actress (Good and Evil, Major League), dies of cancer at 67

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Historical Events

1868 – 1st blacks on US trial jury appointed for Jefferson Davis trial
1967 – Australian Derek Clayton runs world marathon record 2:09:36.4 at the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan
1995 – Davis Cup Tennis, Moscow: Pete Sampras beats Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 for an unassailable 3-1 American lead (ends 3-2)
1999 – Worcester cold storage and warehouse fire in Worcester, Massachusetts claims lives of 6 firefighters
2011 – 20th SEC Championship Game: #1 LSU beats #16 Georgia, 42-10
2011 – 7th ACC Championship Game: #21 Clemson beats #5 Virginia Tech, 38-10

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Famous Birthdays

1829 – Green Berry Raum, American lawyer, politician, author, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Golconda, Illinois (d. 1909)
1937 – Binod Bihari Verma, Indian linguist
1938 – Jose Serebrier, Uruguayan conductor and composer (Star Wagon), born in Montevideo, Uruguay
1941 – Mary Alice, Indianola MS, newscaster (CBS, Lettie-Different World)
1965 – Steve Harris, American actor
1977 – Chad Durbin, American baseball player

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Famous Deaths

450 – Petrus Chrysologus, 1st archbishop of Ravenna, dies
1676 – Daniel Stalpaert, Amsterdams master builder, buried
1975 – Hugh Thurlow, cricketer (one Test for Australia 1932), dies
1998 – Pierre Hétu, Quebec conductor and pianist (b. 1936)
2004 – Shiing-Shen Chern, Chinese mathematician (b. 1911)
2010 – Abdumalik Bahori, Tajik poet and fiction writer (b.1927)

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Historical Events

1907 – Association of Football Players’ and Trainers’ Union (English Professional Football Players’ Association) is formed by Charlie Roberts and Billy Meredith in Manchester, England
1971 – Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is appointed President of the United Arab Emirates
1972 – USC tailback Anthony Davis becomes first to score 6 touchdowns against Notre Dame; in a 45-23 victory over the Fighting Irish Davis at the LA Coliseum he scores on runs of 1, 4, 5 and 8 yards and 2 kickoff returns
1987 – Jennifer Steele, 17, of Colorado becomes Miss Teen of America [Approx]
1994 – Cruise liner Achille Lauro (Willem Ruys) sinks off the coast of Somalia
2015 – Attack on a social services centre in San Bernardino, California kills 14 and wounds 17

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Famous Birthdays

1847 – Deacon White, American baseball player and a star during the first two decades of the sport’s professional era, born in Caton, New York (d. 1939)
1908 – Robert F. Simon, American actor (Man who shot Liberty Valance, Operation Petticoat, M*A*S*H), born in Mansfield, Ohio (d. 1992)
1949 – Ron Raines, Teax City, Texas, actor (Guiding Light)
1968 – Mark Harding, Bath England, keeper of Internet biographies
1972 – Chris Burns, Canadian CFL tackle (Calgary Stampeders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Ottawa Renegades), born in Greenwich, Connecticut
1976 – Eddy Garabito, professional baseball player

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Famous Deaths

1348 – Emperor Hanazono of Japan (b. 1297)
1919 – Henry Clay Frick, built largest coke and steel operation, dies at 69
1985 – Aniello Dellacroce, American gangster (b. 1914)
1995 – Roxie Roker, Bahamian-American actress (The Jeffersons- Helen Willis), dies of breast cancer at 66
2006 – Dave Mount, English rocker (Mud), dies at 59
2009 – Maggie Jones, English actress (b. 1934)

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Historical Events

1941 – US Civil Air Patrol (CAP) organizes
1945 – CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Toronto Argonauts win their 6th title with a 35-0 shutout of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers
1948 – Piet Roozenburg becomes world champion checker player
1953 – WAIM (now WAXA) TV channel 40 in Anderson, SC (IND) 1st broadcast
1981 – Yugoslavian charter flight crashes into Mont San-Pietro in Corsica, 180 killed
2012 – 21st SEC Championship Game: #2 Alabama beats #3 Georgia, 32-28

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Famous Birthdays

1832 – Archibald Gracie Jr, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1864)
1917 – Marty Marion, baseball player (NL MVP 1944)
1919 – Ike Isaacs, Burnese-born jazz guitarist, born in born in Rangoon, Burma (d. 1996)
1929 – Emily McLaughlin, American actress (Jessie Brewer- General Hospital), born in White Plains, New York (d. 1991)
1940 – Matthias Habich, actor (Straight to the Heart, A Corps Perdu)
1966 – Matthew Laborteaux, actor (Killing Stone, Deadly Friend)

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Famous Deaths

1530 – Margaretha of Austria, governess of the Netherlands, dies at 51
1700 – Willem ten Rhijne, Dutch physician in Batavia, dies at about 53
1928 – José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (b. 1888)
1941 – Horace Chapman, cricketer (2 Tests for South Africa, 39 runs, 1 wkt), dies
1986 – [Irving] Lee Dorsey, American pop and RandB singer (Working in the Coal Mine), dies at 61
2004 – Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (b. 1911)

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Historical Events

1735 – States of Holland forbid Free Masonry
1939 – USSR invades Finland, bombs Helsinki
1942 – German supply vessel Uckermark (formerly called the Altmark) explodes and sinks off Yokohama
1963 – 28th Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 10-8 in Birmingham, Auburn’s first points in the series in five years
1979 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1981 – Porn star John Holmes arrested on fugitive charges

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Famous Birthdays

1855 – Marie WF Treub, Dutch economist/minister of Agriculture/Finance
1930 – James Felton Boyd, Rocky Mount NC, light HW boxer (Olympic gold 1956)
1960 – Rich Fields, American television personality
1966 – David Nicholls, English novelist and screenwriter
1976 – Cypher Zero, American circus innovator (New York Circus Arts)
1987 – Dougie Poynter, British singer and bassist (McFly)

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Famous Deaths

1761 – John Dollond, British optician and owner of 1st patent for achromatic lens, dies at 55
1900 – Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright and novelist (Importance of Being Earnest), dies in Paris at 46
1931 – Marc-Jean-Baptiste Delmas, French composer, dies at 46
1972 – Hans-Erich Apostel, Austrian composer (Kubiniana, Requiem), dies at 71
2000 – Scott Smith, Canadian rock bassist (Loverboy), drowns in a sailing accident at 45
2015 – Shigeru Mizuki, Japanese soldier and Manga artist (GeGeGe no Kitarō), dies at 93

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Historical Events

1760 – French commandant Beletre surrenders Detroit to Maj R Rogers
1877 – US inventor Thomas Edison demonstrates his hand-cranked phonograph for the first time
1944 – The first surgery (on a human) to correct blue baby syndrome is performed by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
1958 – 23rd Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 14-8 in Birmingham
1962 – Baseball decides to revert back to 1 all star game per year
1981 – Major Iranian offensive mounted on central front

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Famous Birthdays

1797 – Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti, composer
1929 – Don January, American golfer (PGA C’ship 1967), born in Plainview, Texas
1931 – André Noyelle, Belgian cyclist (d. 2003)
1949 – Stan Rogers, Canadian folk musician and songwriter (d. 1983)
1968 – Dee Brown, NBA guard (Boston Celtics), born in Jacksonville, Florida
1982 – Lucas Black, American film and television actor (Sling Blade), born in Decatur, Alabama

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Famous Deaths

1268 – Clement IV, [Guido Fulcodi], Pope (1265-68), dies
1843 – Marco Santucci, Italian composer, dies at 81
1974 – Haroldson L Hunt, US multi-millionaire, dies at 85
1976 – Godfrey Cambridge, actor (Watermelon Man), dies at 43
2006 – Allen Carr, English anti-smoking campaigner (b. 1934)
2007 – Ralph Beard, American basketball player (b. 1927)

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Historical Events

1775 – Second Continental Congress formally establishes US Navy
1861 – Confederate congress officially admits Missouri to Confederacy
1953 – “Wish You Were Here” closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 597 performances
1964 – 1965 NFL Draft: Tucker Frederickson from Auburn University first pick by New York Giants
1973 – Arab League summit in Algiers recognizes Palestine
1986 – Hilbert van der Duim skates 1 hour world record 39.4928 km

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Famous Birthdays

1757 – William Blake, English poet and artist (Songs of Innocence and Experience), born in London, England (d. 1827)
1887 – Ernst Rohm, German staff member/Bolivian leader/SA
1952 – Jeff Fahey, actor (Darkman III, Crossover, Serpent’s Lair)
1960 – Deneice Lewis, model, born in Lynchburg, Virginia
1974 – Jason Ferguson, defensive tackle (NY Jets)
1978 – Mehdi Nafti, Tunisian footballer

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Famous Deaths

1585 – Hernando Franco, Spanish composer (b. 1532)
1878 – Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti, composer, dies at 78
1978 – André Morell [Cecil André Mesritz], British actor (Ben-Hur, The Message, Hound of the Baskervilles), dies from a heart attack at 69
1992 – Roland Smeenk, Dutch cabaret performer, dies in a car accident at 35
2009 – Takeo Kajiwara, Japanese Go player (b. 1923)
2015 – Marjorie Lord [Wollenberg], American actress (Make Room for Daddy, Sherlock Holmes in Washington), dies of natural causes at 97

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