Category: On This Day

Historical Events

936 – German king Otto I the Great crowned
1900 – 1st Davis Cup tennis competition, named after Dwight Filley Davis, began at Longwood Cricket Club in Mass, and won by US 2 days later
1911 – Public Law 62-5 sets the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives at 435. The law would come into effect in 1913.
1938 – 6th Venice Film Festival opens
1946 – Dreyfuss family, owners of Pittsburgh Pirates since 1900, sells club to Frank McKinney and John Galbreath for $25 million
1983 – Jury in KC, Mo, awards TV anchorwoman Christine Craft $500,000 in sex discrimination suit against KMBC-TV (later overturned)

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Famous Birthdays

1653 – Jacques Basnage, French/Neth historian/vicar
1819 – Charles Anderson Dana, Asst Secy War, (Union) (d. 1897)
1823 – Theodule Augustin Ribot, painter
1939 – Philip E Baisley, Augusta Va, singer (Statler Bros-Class of ’57)
1957 – Nancy Glass, TV broadcaster (American Journal)
1965 – Akitoshi Saito, wrestler (NJPW)

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Famous Deaths

1705 – Willem Roukens, mayor (Nimegen ort Nimeguen), beheaded
1747 – Madeleine de Verchères, New France heroine (b. 1678)
1788 – Louis FAD Duke the Richelieu, French marshal, dies at 92
1940 – Johnny Dodds, American early jazz clarinetist, dies at 48
1965 – Olga Fastrová, Czech writer and editor (National Policy), dies at 89
1975 – Julian “Cannonball” Alderly, saxophonist/bandleader, dies of a stroke at 46

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Historical Events

1948 – American swimmer Jimmy McLane wins the 1,500m for his 2nd gold medal at the London Olympics (4 x 200m freestyle relay); marks a US clean sweep of every men’s swimming gold medal at the Games
1948 – 1st Dutch government of Beel resigns
1955 – KSTF TV channel 10 in Scottsbluff-Gering, NB (CBS/NBC) begins
1959 – The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny goes into circulation. It replaces the “sheaves of wheat” design
1981 – “The Washington Star” ceases all operations after 128 years of publication
2004 – Cubs pitcher Greg Maddux enters the history books with his 300th career win in the Chicago’s 8-4 triumph v San Francisco at SBC Park

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Famous Birthdays

1867 – Emil Nolde, [Hansen], German painter and graphic artist
1876 – Mata Hari [Margaretha Geertruida Zelle], Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan and convicted German WWI spy, born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands (d. 1917)
1929 – Don Larsen, American MLB pitcher (NY Yankees), born on what must have been a perfect day in Michigan City, Indiana
1939 – Anjanette Comer, American actress (Baby, Lepke), born in Dawson, Texas
1955 – Wayne Knight, American actor
1983 – Tina O’Brien, British actress, born in Manchester, England

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Famous Deaths

1916 – Charles E Manning, Australian judge/major, dies in battle at 36
1943 – Gustav Schmidt, German lt-general, dies in battle
1967 – Max Tak, Dutch violinist/radio commentator, dies at 75
1990 – Eva Sully Block, actress (Kid Millions), dies of heart failure at 88
1992 – John Anderson, American actor (Psycho, Ride the High Country, Legend of Wyatt Earp), dies of heart attack at 69
2007 – Hal Fishman, Los Angeles based local news anchor. (b. 1931)

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Historical Events

1774 – Founder of the Shaker Movement, Mother Ann Lee, arrives in NY
1914 – WWI: French cavalry enters Belgium
1926 – “Don Juan” starring John Barrymore is released, the 1st feature-length film to utilize the Vitaphone sound-on-disc sound system with a synchronized musical score and sound effects
1929 – Young Plan, which sought to settle German reparations debts after World War I, is agreed
1979 – Marcus Hooper, 12, becomes then youngest person to swim English Channel
1996 – US President Bill Clinton signs a new bill imposing sanctions on non-US companies which invest over $40 million a year in the energy sectors of Iran or Libya

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Famous Birthdays

1664 – Johann Christoph Schmidt, composer
1811 – Judah Philip Benjamin, Secy War/Secy State (Confederacy) [or Aug 11]
1919 – Pauline Betz Addie, American tennis player (5 Grand Slam singles titles), born in Dayton, Ohio (d. 2011)
1950 – Dorian Harewood, American actor (Earl-Glitter, Trauma Center), born in Dayton, Ohio
1973 – Mike Sheldon, WLAF Guard (Rhein Fire)
1975 – Rik Platvoet, Dutch soccer player, (FC Twente, MVV)

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Famous Deaths

1686 – Paul Hainlein, German composer, dies at 60
1914 – Ellen Axson Wilson, US 1st Lady (1913-14), dies during Woodrow Wilson’s 1st term of Bright’s Disease at 54
1935 – Alexander Gustav Adolfovich Winkler, composer, dies at 70
1946 – Blanche Bingley, British tennis player (6-time Wimbledon champion), dies at 82
1954 – Theo[by] Van Reijn, sculptor/drawer/lithograph, dies at 70 [or 8/10]
2002 – Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)

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Historical Events

1264 – Anti-Jewish riots break out in Arnstadt Germany
1884 – Cornerstone for Statue of Liberty laid on Bedloe’s Island (NYC)
1943 – Soviet forces reconquer Orel and Bjelgorod
1986 – Giants left-handed pitcher Steve Carlton becomes 2nd to reach 4,000 strikeout milestone when he gets center-fielder Eric Davis in 11-5 loss v Reds
1989 – First ever dead heat in harness racing’s Hambletonian; Park Avenue Joe and Probe tie the 3rd and final heat; Park Avenue Joe wins series on count back
2005 – St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman Albert Pujols becomes the first player to connect for 30 home runs in each of his first 5 MLB seasons

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Famous Birthdays

1301 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician (d. 1330)
1930 – Michal Kováč, President of Slovakia
1933 – Joan Weldon, actress (So This is Love, Them), born in San Francisco, California
1957 – Clayton Rohner, American actor
1966 – Jonathan Silverman, actor (Brighton Beach Memoirs, Single Guy), born in Los Angeles, California
1981 – Cory Williams, American internet celebrity

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Famous Deaths

1891 – Henry Charles Litolff, French pianist/componist, dies at 73
1946 – Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1863)
1955 – Suzan (Susan) Ball, American actress, of cancer aged 21
1994 – Amy Sacks, producer (ABC sports, Disney), dies of Lupus at 39
2002 – Josh Ryan Evans, American actor (b. 1982)
2014 – Chapman Pincher, British journalist and author (about secret service), dies at 100

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Historical Events

1636 – Johan Mauritius appointed governor of Dutch Brazil
1830 – Plans for city of Chicago laid out
1943 – British premier Winston Churchill travels on the Queen Mary to Canada
1953 – Black families move into Trumbull Park housing project in Chicago
1976 – England beats Australia by 8 wickets in the limited overs cricket international at Lord’s; first time women are permitted to play on the main square at ‘the home of cricket’
2010 – California’s Proposition 8, the ballot initiative prohibiting same-sex marriage passed by the state’s voters in 2008, is overturned by Judge Vaughn Walker in the case Perry v. Schwarzenegger

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Famous Birthdays

1897 – Joseph Calleia, Maltese-American actor (Jungle Book, Gilda, Touch of Evil), born in Mdina, Malta (d. 1975)
1908 – Osbert Lancaster, English cartoonist and author (Daily Express), born in London (d. 1986)
1965 – Dennis Lehane, American crime writer
1967 – Michael Lawrence Marsh, American sprinter (Olympic 200m gold 1992, silver 1996), born in Los Angeles, California
1979 – Robin Peterson, South African cricketer
1992 – Tiffany Evans, American singer

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Famous Deaths

1778 – Pierre de Rigaud, French colonial governor in North America (b. 1698)
1904 – Arnold Krug, German composer, dies at 54
1914 – Jules Lemaître, French critic and dramatist, dies at 61
1982 – Bruce Goff, American Architect (b. 1904)
1991 – Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet (Hodyne), dies at 80
2012 – Arnie Risen, Basketball Hall of Fame center (4-time NBA All Star), dies at 87

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Historical Events

1956 – American sprinter Willie Williams sets 100m world record at 10.1 in Berlin, Germany
1958 – The Billboard Hot 100 is founded
1960 – Niger gains independence from France
1969 – Cincinnati Reds with 25 hits and 10 runs in 5th edge Philadelphia Phillies 19-17 at Connie Mack Stadium
1972 – Chozen-ji/Intl Zen Dojo founded by Omori Sogen Roshi, in Hawaii
1985 – Train crash at Flaujac, France: 35 killed

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Famous Birthdays

1902 – Regina Jonas, German first woman rabbi (d. 1944)
1905 – Maggie Kuhn, activist/co-founder (Gray Panthers)
1918 – James MacGregor Burns, political writer (The Lion and the Fox)
1923 – Roger Foulon, French/Belgian poet
1924 – Max van der Stoel, Dutch Foreign minister (PvdA)
1956 – Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai politician

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Famous Deaths

1929 – Thorstein Veblen, American economist (Theory of the Leisure Class-1899), dies at 72
1996 – Guido Alberti, Italian film actor (Marco the Magnificent), dies at 87
2003 – Roger Voudouris, American singer and songwriter (b. 1954)
2006 – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, singer (b. 1915)
2008 – Skip Caray, American TV and radio broadcaster (b. 1939)
2017 – Theodore “Ted” Stanley, American anesthesiologist and medical entrepreneur (created the fentanyl lollipop), dies at 77

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Historical Events

1931 – Spanish Catalonia agrees (99+%) for autonomous status
1936 – Tour de France: Sylvère Maes of Belgium wins his second title from Frenchman Antone Magne
1938 – MLB conducts the first test of bright yellow baseballs during Dodgers vs Cardinals doubleheader
1940 – Clermont-Ferrand sentences General Charles de Gaulle to death
1992 – Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus becomes the first gymnast to win 6 gold medals at one Olympics in Barcelona, also first to win 4 gold in one day’s competition (pommel, vault, rings and parallel bars)
2012 – 23 people are killed after two blasts in a fruit market in Lahore, Pakistan

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Famous Birthdays

1867 – Frank Alvord Perret, American volcanologist renowned for his research at Vesuvius, Etna, Stromboli and Kilauea, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1882 – Johannes Tralow, writer
1907 – Mary Hamman, American writer (d. 1984)
1922 – Lord Murray of Epping Forest [Lionel], British labour politician and union leader (General Secretary TUC), born in Hadley, Telford (d. 1984)
1969 – Jan Axel Blomberg Norwegian musician (Dimmu Borgir, Winds, Mayhem)
1988 – Brittany Hargest, American singer (Jump5)

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Famous Deaths

1511 – Andrew Barton, Scottish naval leader
1799 – Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier, French inventor, dies at 54
1873 – Frank Mori, English composer, dies at 53
1942 – Friedrich Aereboe, German landlord and agricultural economist, dies at 77
1959 – Prospero Bisquertt, Chilean composer, dies at 78
1992 – Michel Berges, French composer, dies of a heart attack at 44

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Historical Events

1789 – US Customs begins enforcing Tariff Act
1883 – Amsterdam’s Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky gets electric lights
1925 – Shortwave-radio link between Kootwijk and Netherland East-Indies
1954 – Tour de France: Louison Bobet of France wins by 15′ 49″ from Ferdinand Kübler, for the second of his 3 consecutive wins
1985 – Russian KGB officer Vitaly Yurchenko defects to the US in Rome, naming Americans Ronald Pelton and Edward Lee Howard as KGB agents
1986 – Twins pitcher Bert Blyleven becomes 10th to reach 3,000 MLB strikeout milestone, 2-hits A’s, 10-1

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Famous Birthdays

1808 – Henry Darwin Rogers, American Geologist (theory of mountain building, first geological mapping of Pennsylvania), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1912 – Henry Jones, American actor (Vertigo, Phyllis, Falcon Crest, Gun Shy), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1999)
1924 – Frank Worrell, cricketer (one of the three W’s, inspiring WI captain)
1952 – C L Whittington, WLAF defensive coach (Frankfurt Galaxy)
1976 – Ivan Duque Márquez, Colombian politician, President of Colombia (2018-), born in Bogotá, Colombia
1977 – Marc Denis, Canadian ice hockey player, born in Montreal, Quebec

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Famous Deaths

1227 – Shimazu Tadahisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1179)
1464 – Cosimo de Medici, Italian de facto ruler of Florence, dies at 74
1911 – Konrad Duden, German linguist (Das, grosse Duden Lexicon), dies
1963 – Theodore Roethke, US poet (Praise to the end!), dies
2003 – Guy Thys, Belgian football coach (b. 1922)
2005 – Al Aronowitz, American music journalist (b. 1928)

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Historical Events

1653 – Fronde-leaders surrender in Bordeaux
1899 – Albert Trott hits Monty Noble over the Pavilion at Lord’s
1944 – US troops occupy Sansapor, New-Guinea
1944 – Last deportation train out Mechelen departs to Auschwitz
1975 – The Miami Showband killings: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, shoot dead three members of an Irish showband at Buskhill, County Down, Ireland
1980 – Soyuz 37 crew returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 36

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Famous Birthdays

1597 – Sebastian Stosskopf, Elzassisch painter, baptized
1830 – Frantisek Zdenek Xavier Alois Skuhersky, composer
1843 – Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet and Nobel Prize laureate, born in Krieglach, Austria (d. 1918)
1945 – William Floyd Weld, (Gov-R-Mass)
1946 – Karen Zerby, American religious leader, born in Camden, New Jersey
1959 – Stanley Jordan, American jazz guitarist, born in Chicago, Illinois

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Famous Deaths

1508 – Na’od, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1494)
1917 – Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (b. 1881)
1953 – Robert Taft, (Sen-R-Oh) “Mr Republican”, dies in NY at 63
1990 – Albert Leduc, French Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
1993 – George Keyt, Sri Lankan painter, dies at 92
1996 – Joan Warburton, Scottish painter, dies at 76

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Historical Events

1653 – Johan de Witt sworn in as pension advisor of Holland
1914 – John French appointed British supreme commander
1914 – Austrian-Hungary and Russia proclaim general mobilization
1930 – FIFA World Cup Final: Uruguay beats Argentina 4-2 in the inaugural event in Montevideo, Uruguay
1941 – German occupiers forbid SDAP, VDB, ARP, RKSP, CHU and SGP in Netherlands
1991 – Heavy metal band Metallica release their single “Enter Sandman”

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Famous Birthdays

1910 – Edgar de Evia, American photographer (d. 2003)
1961 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor (The Matrix, CSI, Apocalypse Now), born in Augusta, Georgia
1971 – Tom Green, Canadian comedian and actor
1972 – Clif Groce, NFL running back (Indianapolis Colts)
1981 – Hope Solo, American soccer player (US women’s national team goalkeeper), born in Richland, Washington
1982 – Yvonne Strahovski, Australian actress

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Famous Deaths

1566 – Guillaume Rondelet, French Naturalist famous for his study of marine animals, dies at 58
1718 – William Penn, English Philosopher, Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania (No cross, no crown), dies at 73
1970 – Louis Lomax, African-American author and journalist, dies in a car accident 47
1994 – Enid Balint-Edmonds, British psychoanalyst, dies at 90
1997 – Bảo Đại, last Emperor of Vietnam (1926-45) and Chief of State of South Vietnam (1949-55), dies at 85
2006 – Al Balding, Canadian golfer (b. 1924)

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