Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1868 – 1st African American cabinet member in South Carolina, Francis L Cardozo as Secretary of State
1963 – All star MVP: Willie Mays (SF Giants)
1967 – 13th LPGA Championship won by Kathy Whitworth
1978 – American Nazi Party holds a rally at Marquette Park, Chicago
2009 – Joe Sakic retires after 21 NHL seasons with the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise, finishing with 625 goals and 1,641 points
2014 – Joko Widodo is elected President of Indonesia

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Famous Birthdays

1898 – Marcel Delannoy, composer
1919 – Peggy Braithwaite, lighthouse-keeper
1938 – Brian Dennehy, Ct, actor (Check is in the Mail, F/X, Cocoon, Ants)
1947 – Haruomi Hosono, Japanese musician
1959 – Clive Stafford Smith, British human-rights lawyer
1971 – Danalee Bragado, WPVA volleyballer (Best of Beach-9th-1995), born in Honolulu, Hawaii

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Famous Deaths

1654 – Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary, dies of smallpox (b. 1633)
1845 – Jacob earl of Rechteren/Appeltern, gov of Gelderland, dies at 57
1875 – Francis Preston Blair Jr, famed St Louis lawyer, dies at 54
1937 – Oliver Law, first African-American commander of U.S. troops (b. 1899)
1979 – Janardhan Gnanoba Navle, cricketer (2 Tests for India), dies
1996 – Douglas G Chapman, biomathematical statistician, dies at 76

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Historical Events

1953 – US stops aid to Persia
1958 – 25th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 4-3 at Memorial Stadium, Balt
1967 – Helen Weston of Detroit rolls a record 4,585 in 24 games
1973 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Czech Jan Kodeš beats Alex Metreveli of Russia 6-1, 9-8, 6-3 for his 3rd Grand Slam singles success
1985 – Marge Schott becomes CEO of Cincinnati Red
1992 – Florida Marlins unveil their uniform

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Famous Birthdays

1819 – Alexander Hays, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Franklin, Pennsylvania (d. 1864)
1826 – Robert Kingston Scott, American governor of South Carolina (1868-1872) and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania (d. 1900)
1938 – Marian Ackerman, women’s rights advocacy administrator
1968 – C B Washington, NFLer (Jacksonville Jaguars)
1972 – Karl Dykhuis, Sept-iles, NHL defenseman (Philadelphia Flyers)
1974 – Zhanna Friske, Russian actress and singer

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Famous Deaths

1859 – Oscar I, King of Sweden and Norway (1844-59), dies at 60
1939 – [Henry] Havelock Ellis, English sexologist (Man and Woman), dies at 80
1941 – Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, senator, historian and orientalist (b. 1874)
1957 – Grace Goodhue Coolidge, American First Lady (1923-29), dies at 78
1979 – Robert B. Woodward, American organic chemist (Nobel 1965), dies at 62
2017 – Nelsan Ellis, American actor (True Blood), dies of complications from heart failure at 39

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Historical Events

1829 – Royal Military Chapel forms
1878 – Social-Democratic United forms in Amsterdam
1939 – “The Rules of the Game”, French film directed by Jean Renoir, starring Nora Gregor and Paulette Dubost, premieres in Paris
1960 – US cemetery officially opens at Margraten, Netherlands
1980 – American boxer Larry Holmes scores a 7th round TKO of Scott LeDoux in Bloomington, Minnesota in defence of his WBC heavyweight title
2005 – Coordinated terrorist bomb blasts strike London’s public transport system during the morning rush hour killing 52 and injuring 700

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Famous Birthdays

1879 – Jacob Weinberg, Rusian-born Jewish composer, born in Odessa, Ukraine (d. 1956)
1911 – Gian-Carlo Menotti, Italian composer (Amahl and Night Visitors)
1929 – Marcel Liebman, Belgian historian
1948 – Fred Brown, NBAer (Seattle SuperSonic)
1973 – Matt Mantei, American baseball player
1974 – Patrick Lalime, St Bonaventure, NHL goalie (Pitts Penguins)

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Famous Deaths

1794 – Pascal Boyer, composer, dies at 51
1903 – Jose Augusto da Ferreira Veiga, composer, dies at 64
1944 – Georges Mandel [Louis Rothschild], French politician and resistance leader, is executed by the Milice at 59
1981 – Mildred Lisette Norman a.k.a. Peace Pilgrim, American pacifist and activist
1983 – Vicki Morgan, mistress (Beautiful Bad Girl), murdered at 30
1994 – Carlo Chiti, Italian race car engineer (b. 1924)

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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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