Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1827 – José de La Mar becomes President of Peru
1914 – Battle of Charleroi begins as General von Bülow’s troops defeat the French
1943 – Soviet troops free Kharkov
1968 – Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogota for the first papal visit to Latin America to open a Eucharistic Congress
2008 – Russia wins the women’s 4 × 100 m relay ahead of Belgium and Nigeria at the Beijing Olympics; disqualified in 2016 when reanalysis of Yulia Chermoshanskaya’s samples result in positive test for prohibited substances

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Famous Birthdays

1888 – Du Yuesheng, Chinese mob boss, born in Gaoqiao, Shanghai (d. 1951)
1888 – Violet Farebrother, English actress (Downhill, Easy Virtue), born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England (d. 1969)
1928 – Tinga Seisay, Sierra Leonean diplomat and pro-democracy advocate, born in Moyamba, Sierra Leone (d. 2015)
1955 – Chiranjeevi [Konidela Siva Sankara Vara Prasad], Telugu film actor, dancer and producer, born in Mogalthur, India
1973 – Kristen Wiig, American comedian and actress (Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters), born in Canandaigua, New York

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Famous Deaths

1831 – John White, English organist and violinist, dies at 52
1993 – Don Getz, American filmmaker (Playpoint), dies at 50
2003 – Generosa Ammon, American widow of Ted Ammon (b. 1956)
2004 – Daniel Petrie, Canadian television and movie director, dies at 83
2009 – Elmer Kelton, American Western novelist (b. 1926)

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Historical Events

1912 – Francis Carter-Cotton is chosen as the first chancellor of the University of British Columbia
1929 – Chicago Cardinals become the first professional football team to train out of town
1963 – Jerry Lynch’s record 15th pinch-hit home run gives Pirates a 7-6 victory
1985 – American Mary Decker Slaney runs a mile in a world record time of 4:16.71 in Zurich, Switzerland; it is the third time she holds the record
1991 – Latvia declares its independence from USSR

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Famous Birthdays

1789 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician and physicist, born in Paris (d. 1857)
1932 – Melvin Van Peebles, American stage and screen actor, director (Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song; Sophisticated Gent), composer, and novelist, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2021)
1941 – Tom Coster, American rock and jazz keyboard player and accordionist (Santana; Billy Cobham), born in Detroit Michigan
1956 – Kim Cattrall, British Canadian actress (Mannequin, Sex and the City), born in Liverpool, England
1978 – Jason Marquis, American baseball pitcher, born in Manhasset, NY

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Famous Deaths

1245 – Alexander of Hales, English Scholastic philosopher at Paris, founder of the Franciscan theological school, dies
1888 – Simon Vissering, Dutch economist (Minister of Finance 1879-81), dies at 70
1994 – Anita Lizana, Chilean tennis player (US Nat C’ships 1937; first Latin American major winner), dies at 78
2004 – Arthur Hockaday, British civil servant (Defence Ministry; Director-General of Commonwealth War Graves Commission. 1982-89), dies after a fall at 78
2020 – Mohamed Ben Rehaiem, Tunisian soccer midfielder (35 caps; CS Sfaxien), dies at 69

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Historical Events

1879 – Government Kappeijne of Coppello resigns
1930 – A week before his 22nd birthday, Australian cricket’s batting genius Don Bradman scores 232 in a fifth Test win over England at The Oval in London
1957 – Chicago White Sox Bob Keegan no-hits Washington Senators, 6-0
2008 – Spanair Flight 5022 from Madrid to Gran Canaria skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport, killing 146 people in the crash and 8 more afterward. Only 18 people survive
2015 – Thirty students at West Point Military Academy are injured in a mass pillow fight

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Famous Birthdays

1824 – Absalom Baird, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Rockland, Maine (d. 1905)
1904 – Jaap [Jacobus Albertus Wilhelmus] Burger, Dutch politician and chairman (PvdA), born in Willemstad, Netherlands (d. 1986)
1937 – Sky Saxon [Richard Marsh], American rocker (The Seeds – “Pushin’ To Hard”), born in Salt Lake City, Utah (d. 2009)
1966 – Courtney Gibbs, American actress (Baywatch) and Miss USA 1988, born in Dallas, Texas
2003 – Prince Gabriel of Belgium, second child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, born in Erasmus Hospital, Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium

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Famous Deaths

1384 – Geert Groote, Dutch founder of the Brethren of the Common Life, dies at 43
1707 – Nicolas Gigault, French Baroque organist and composer, dies at about 80
2007 – Larry Hartsell, American martial artist, bodyguard, trainer, student of Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto, dies at 65
2009 – Larry Knechtel, American session piano and bass player (Simon and Garfunkel; Johnny Rivers), dies of a heart attack at 69
2015 – Piotr Warzecha, Polish composer, dies at 74

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Historical Events

1493 – Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I becomes Archduke of Austria on the death of his father and co-ruler Frederick III
1912 – Percy Grainger’s orchestral piece “Shepherd’s Hey” premieres
1981 – Two US Navy F-14 jet fighters shoot down two Soviet-built Libyan SU-22s
1987 – Hungerford Massacre, England: Michael Ryan kills 16 people with an assault rifle and then commits suicide
1993 – Dow Jones Industrial Average hits record high of 3612.13

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Famous Birthdays

1899 – Charlie Hall, English comedic actor (Tit for Tat, A Chump at Oxford), born in Birmingham, England (d. 1959)
1902 – Ogden Nash, American humorous poet (I’m a Stranger Here Myself, Masquerade Party), born in Rye, New York (d. 1971)
1971 – Mary Joe Fernández, American tennis player, broadcaster (Olympic gold 1992, 96), born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
1971 – João Pinto, Portuguese football player, born in Porto, Portugal
1987 – Patrick Chung, Jamaican-American NFL player (New England Patriots), born in Kingston, Jamaica

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Famous Deaths

1601 – Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia and Moldovia (Romanian national hero), assassinated at 42 or 43
1856 – Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, French chemist, dies at 39
1892 – František Zdeněk Skuherský, Czech composer, dies at 62
1957 – David Bomberg, English painter, dies at 66
2023 – Gloria Coates, American post-minimalist composer (“Music on Open Strings”), dies of pancreatic cancer at 89

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Historical Events

1418 – Competition is announced to design the dome of Florence Cathedral, with main competitors Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi (supported by Cosimo de’ Medici)
1858 – Netherlands and Japan sign a trade agreement
1965 – Orioles’ Brooks Robinson hits into his third career triple play, tying George Sisler, Deacon McGuire, and Joe Start
1989 – ArenaBowl III takes place at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit: Detroit Drive defeats Pittsburgh Gladiators 39-26, with George LaFrance as MVP
2019 – 1.7 million people participate in a peaceful pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong, representing a quarter of the population

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Famous Birthdays

1657 – Ferdinando Galli Bibiena, Italian architect and designer, born in Bologna, Italy (d. 1743)
1954 – Umberto Guidoni, Italian astrophysicist and writer (STS 75), born in Rome, Italy
1964 – Andi Deris, German heavy metal vocalist (Helloween, 1994-present), born in Karlsruhe, West Germany
1966 – Kang Soo-yeon, South Korean actress (The Surrogate Woman, Come Come Come Upward), born in Seoul, South Korea (d. 2022)
1981 – Jon Schneck, American rock guitarist (Relient K, 2005-present), born in Eustis, Florida

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Famous Deaths

440 – Sixtus III, Italian Pope (432-40), dies
1652 – Benjamin G Cuyp, historical painter, dies at about 40
1942 – Erwin Schulhoff, Czech-Russian composer and pianist (Ogelala), dies of tuberculosis at 48 in a German concentration camp in Wülzburg, Bavaria
1981 – Anita Loos, American screenwriter, novelist (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) and playwright, dies at 88
2006 – Fernand Gignac, Canadian singer and actor (b. 1934)

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Historical Events

1870 – First ascent of Mount Rainier, Washington, by Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump
1945 – Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare Indonesia (formerly the Dutch East Indies) independent from the Netherlands
1977 – USSR performs a nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
1988 – First case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in NYC (9-year-old Bronx boy)
1991 – Royals’ Warren Cromartie’s first major league home run since 1983

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Famous Birthdays

1863 – Gene Stratton-Porter, American author “A Girl of the Limberlost,” and naturalist, born in Lagro, Indiana (d. 1924)
1890 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish pioneering aviator, first flight in independent Poland, born in Ulanów, Poland (d. 1920)
1942 – Tommy West [Picardo], American record producer (Jim Croce; Anne Murray), and singer-songwriter, born in Jersey City, New Jersey (d. 2021)
1953 – Robert Thirsk, Canadian astronaut (STS 78), born in New Westminster, British Columbia
1970 – Øyvind Leonhardsen, Norwegian footballer, born in Kristiansund, Norway

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Famous Deaths

1916 – Umberto Boccioni, Italian painter and sculptor (Unique Forms of Continuity in Space), dies in a military training mishap at 33
1955 – Fernand Léger, French painter, sculptor and filmmaker, dies at 74
1969 – Philip Blaiberg, South African dentist, third person to receive an artificial heart, dies after 19 days at 59
1987 – Charles Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet (Claro Enigma), dies at 84
2021 – Sheila Bromberg, British orchestral and session harpist (The Beatles – “She’s Leaving Home”; Heatwave -“Boogie Nights”), dies at 92

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Historical Events

1691 – Yorktown, Virginia founded
1959 – LPGA Western Open Women’s Golf, Rainier GandCC: Betsy Rawls wins her second WO by 6 strokes over JoAnne Gunderson and Patty Berg
1969 – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young perform their first public show at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago with singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell as their opening act
1990 – South African President F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela hold emergency talks in Pretoria about increasing violence in Soweto
2021 – First official water shortage declared at Lake Mead, a major reservoir on the Colorado River supplying 40 million people, with cuts mandated mainly for Arizona

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Famous Birthdays

1916 – Iggy Katona, American race car driver, born in Toledo, Ohio (d. 2003)
1945 – Suzanne Farrell, American ballerina (Don Quioxote), born in Cincinnati, Ohio
1952 – Reginald Veljohnson, actor (Carl Winslow-Family Matters, Die Hard), born in New York City
1962 – Steve Carell, American actor and comedian (The Office), born in Concord, Massachusetts
1978 – Eddie Gill, American basketball player, born in Aurora, Colorado

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Famous Deaths

1945 – Takijiro Ohnishi, led Japanese kamikaze pilots (harakiri), dies
1993 – Irene Sharaff, US costume designer (Cleopatra, Can-can), dies at 83
1996 – Robert Lynn, Scottish anarchist, dies at 72
2006 – Jon Nödtveidt, Swedish musician (Dissection), dies at 31
2021 – Sean Lock, British comedian (British Comedy Award, 2000), and television personality, dies of cancer at 58

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Historical Events

1461 – Empire of Trebizond surrenders to forces of Sultan Mehmed II, the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire to fall; Emperor David is exiled and later executed
1653 – Dutch ship “Sperwer” strands on Jeju, Korea
1905 – Philadelphia A’s future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Waddell no-hits the St. Louis Browns, 2-0, in 5 innings
1950 – Indians make their first triple play at Cleveland Stadium
1990 – Phillies’ Terry Mulholland no-hits Giants 6-0 (8th no-hitter of 1990)

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Famous Birthdays

1785 – Thomas De Quincey, English writer (Confessions of English Opium Eater), born in Manchester (d. 1859)
1949 – Kate Taylor, American singer and songwriter (“It’s In His Kiss”), born in Boston, Massachusetts
1951 – Bobby Caldwell, American jazz and pop singer (“What You Won’t Do for Love”), and songwriter (“The Next Time I Fall”), born in New York City (d. 2023)
1951 – Ann Biderman, American television writer and producer (Ray Donovan, Southland), born in Miami, Florida
1985 – Nipsey Hussle [Ermias Asghedom], American rapper and activist, born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2019)

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Famous Deaths

1974 – Edmund Cobb, American silent and sound screen actor, specializing in western film (A Final Reckoning; Motorcycle Gang; Comanche Territory), dies of a heart attack at 82
2006 – Te Atairangikaahu, New Zealand Māori Queen for 40 years, dies at 75
2012 – Bob Birch, American session and touring bassist (Elton John), commits suicide at 56
2015 – Julian Bond, American civil rights leader and politician (D-Ga), dies at 75
2016 – Bobby Hutcherson, American jazz vibraphone and marimba player (“Little B’s Poem”; SFJAZZ Collective), dies of emphysema at 75

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Historical Events

1642 – Abel Tasman’s ships, Heemskerck and Zeehaen, depart from Batavia to search for Terra Australis, becoming the first Europeans to reach Tasmania and New Zealand
1782 – Suriname forbids selling enslaved mothers without their babies
1962 – A US mail truck in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is robbed of more than $1.5 million
1997 – Revival of Sherman Edwards’ historical musical “1776,” featuring Brent Spiner, opens at the Criterion Theatre, NYC, and runs for 333 performances
2010 – First Summer Youth Olympic Games open in Singapore

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Famous Birthdays

1727 – Louise Élisabeth of France, twin daughter of king Louis XV, born in Palace of Versailles, France (d. 1759)
1938 – Niara Sudarkasa [Gloria Albertha Marshall], American educator and anthropologist (Lincoln College), born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (d. 2019)
1946 – Alexander Curly [Harm Breemer], Dutch artist, born in Haarlem, Netherlands (d. 2012)
1969 – DJ Uncle Al, American hip-hop DJ, born in Miami, Florida (d. 2001)
1978 – Anastasios Kyriakos, Greek footballer, born in Giannouli, Greece

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Famous Deaths

1794 – George Colman the Elder, English playwright, dies at 62
1863 – Colin Campbell, British officer (Cawnpore), dies at 70
1888 – Charles Crocker, American business tycoon and railroad executive (Central Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Railroad), dies at 65
1955 – Herbert Putnam, American Librarian of Congress, dies at 93
1994 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-British author (Crowds and Power) and winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Literature, dies at 89

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Historical Events

1889 – William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut patents the coin-operated telephone
1907 – First taxicabs, imported by Harry N. Allen, operate in New York City
1981 – Test cricket debut of Mike Whitney for Australia against England at Old Trafford
1985 – South African Defence Force soldiers, traveling in a convoy of more than ten armored vehicles, surround the Thaba-Jabula High School in Soweto and arrest 200 students during a clampdown on school boycotts
1989 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Kemper Lakes GC: Payne Stewart wins first of 3 major titles by 1 from Andy Bean, Mike Reid, and Curtis Strange

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Famous Birthdays

1887 – Julius Freed [Fried], American namesake and co-founder of Orange Julius fast food chain, born in Montana (d. 1952)
1898 – Regis Toomey, American actor (Burke’s Law, Petticoat Junction), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1991)
1902 – Bartoes [Albertus J. Wijstma], Dutch singer and cabaret performer, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1976)
1913 – Liesbeth Askonas, concert agent, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1996)
1955 – Hideo Fukuyama, Japanese racing driver (first Japanese to compete in NASCAR’s top series), born in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan

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Famous Deaths

1637 – Dirck Bas, Dutch merchant, regent, government leader (OIC), dies
1896 – John Everett Millais, English painter (Order of Release), dies at 67
1986 – Helen Mack, American actress (Son of Kong, Milky Way), dies of cancer at 72
1992 – Jan Elburg, Dutch poet (Through the Night), dies at 72
2024 – George Leotsakos, Greek composer and musicologist, dies at 89

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