Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1859 – A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of the USA, Europe, and even as far afield as Japan
1884 – MLB pitcher Mickey Welch sets a record for most consecutive batters struck out to begin a game, striking out the first nine men he faces
1942 – Swedish runner Gunder Hägg sets a world record of 8:01.2 in the 3000 m
1950 – Earle and Roy Mack purchase 54% of the Philadelphia A’s from Connie Mack Jr.
1986 – Bolivian President Víctor Paz Estenssoro calls a state of siege

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1829 – Albert Dietrich, German composer and conductor, born in Meissen, Kingdom of Saxony (d. 1908)
1952 – Guy Nadon, Canadian actor (L’ange gardien), born in Montréal, Québec
1961 – Jennifer Coolidge, American actress and comedian (Legally Blonde film series; Christopher Guest films), born in Boston, Massachusetts
1965 – Satoshi Tajiri, Japanese video game designer (Game Freak, creator of the Pokémon franchise), born in Setagaya, Japan
1982 – (Margaret) LeAnn Rimes [Cibrian], American country singer (“Blue”; “How Do I Live”), born in Jackson, Mississippi

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1677 – Wallerant Vaillant, French painter and engraver, dies at 54
1963 – Bernard Silver, American co-inventor of the barcode, dies of leukemia at 38
1978 – Bruce Catton, American historian and writer (Civil War), dies at 78
1987 – John Huston, US/Irish actor and director (Maltese Falcon), dies at 81
2024 – (Herman) “Pete” Wade, American country and pop session guitarist (Nashville A-Team; Lynn Anderson – “Rose Garden”; Crystal Gayle – “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”), dies of complications after hip surgery at 89

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1828 – Uruguay gains independence during Brazil-Argentina peace talks
1917 – Indians set club record by stealing eight bases in a game
1942 – Soviet woman sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko arrives in Washington D.C., the first Soviet citizen welcomed at the White House by Eleanor Roosevelt
1979 – Warrenpoint ambush: 18 British Army soldiers are killed when the Provisional IRA explodes two roadside bombs as a British convoy passes Narrow Water Castle
2012 – First interplanetary human voice recording broadcast from Mars Rover Curiosity

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1630 – Maria van Oosterwijck, Dutch flower painter, born in Nootdorp, Netherlands (d. 1693)
1669 – Anne Marie of Orléans, Queen of Italy, born in Château de Saint-Cloud, France (d. 1728)
1896 – Leon Theremin, Russian-Soviet electronic musical instruments inventor, born in St. Petersburg, Russia (d. 1993)
1941 – Harrison Page, American character actor (Sledge Hammer!; C.P.O. Sharkey), born in Atlanta, Georgia
1971 – Julian Cheung Chi-Lam, singer (A Modern Love Story) and actor (Return Of The Cuckoo), born in North Point, British Hong Kong

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1910 – Clement of Maasdijk, 1st Dutch aircraft death
1965 – Le Corbusier [Charles Jeanneret], Swiss French architect, city planner and artist (Urbanisme), dies at 77
2009 – Virgilio Savona, Italian jazz singer and composer (Quartetto Cetra – “Un bacio a mezzanotte”; “Crapa pelada”), dies of complications from Parkinson’s disease at 89
2020 – Dick Ritger, American ten-pin bowler (Tournament of Champions 1970, 79 runner-up; 20 career PBA Tour titles), dies at 81
2020 – Lute Olson, American Basketball Hall of Fame coach (Uni of Iowa 1974-83; NCAA Division I Tournament 1997, Uni of Arizona 1983-2008), dies from stroke complications at 85

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1987 – Paul Molitor goes 0-for-4, ending his hitting streak at 39 consecutive games
1991 – Royal Brett Saberhagen no-hits White Sox 7-0
2011 – The 787 Dreamliner, Boeing’s all-new composite airliner, receives certification from the EASA and the FAA
2014 – Israel and Hamas accept another ceasefire
2021 – Two bomb blasts from suicide bombers at Kabul Airport, Afghanistan, kill at least 60 civilians and 13 US soldiers amid international efforts to evacuate citizens from the country

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1596 – Frederick V, Elector Palentine (1610-23), King of Bohemia (1619-20), defeated at Battle of White Mountain, born in Deinschwang, Palatinate (d. 1632)
1885 – Gene Gauntier [Liggett], American silent film screenwriter and actress, born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1966)
1925 – Jack Hirshleifer, American economist, educator, and author, born in Brooklyn, NYC (d. 2005)
1946 – Chantal Renaud, Québécoise yé-yé singer, songwriter, actress and writer, born in Quebec, Canada
1951 – Robert Torricelli, American politician (Rep-D-New Jersey, 1983-97, Senator-New Jersey 1997-2003), born in Paterson, New Jersey

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1956 – Alfred Wagenknecht, German-American Marxist activist who helped establish the American Communist Party, dies at 75
2000 – Akbar Adibi, Iranian engineer and professor (electronics and VLSI technology), dies at 61
2003 – Wayne Andre, American jazz and session trombonist, dies at 72
2015 – P J Kavanagh [Patrick Joeseph], British poet, actor and journalist (The Perfect Stranger), dies at 84
2023 – Tony Roberts, American College Football HOF broadcaster (play-by-play announcer Notre Dame Fighting Irish football 1980-2006), dies at 94

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1908 – National Association of Colored Nurses forms in New York City, and Martha Minerva Franklin of Connecticut is elected president
1914 – German troops in occupied Belgium begin the six-week “Sack of Louvain,” destroying historical buildings and killing hundreds of civilians
1917 – US National Championship Men’s Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Robert Lindley Murray beats Nathaniel W. Niles 5-7, 8-6, 6-3, 6-3 for first of 2 straight US singles titles
1921 – Yankees pitcher Harry Harper hits three batters in an inning, tying the record
1967 – Paraguay adopts its constitution

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1934 – Valery Bykovsky, USSR cosmonaut (Vostok V; Soyuz 22; Soyuz 31), born in Pavlovsky Posad, Soviet Union (d. 2019)
1941 – Mario Corso, Italian soccer winger (23 caps; Inter Milan 413 games) and coach (Lecce, Inter), born in Verona, Italy (d. 2020)
1956 – Matt Aitken, English songwriter and rocker (Stock Aitken and Waterman-Road Block), born in Coventry, England
1962 – Shahid Mahboob, Pakistani cricketer (batted in one Test for Pakistan 1989), born in Karachi, Pakistan
1994 – Josh Flitter, American actor (Air Buddies movies), born in Ridgewood, New Jersey

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1967 – George Lincoln Rockwell, American far-right political activist. founder and leader of the American Nazi Party, assassinated by former party member John Patler at 49
1979 – Alberto Ruz Lhuillier, Mexican archaeologist who excavated Palenque, dies at 73
1996 – Sylvia Fisher, Australian operatic soprano (Albert Herring Opera), dies at 86
2001 – Ken Tyrrell, English race driver and founder of Tyrrell Racing, dies at 77
2006 – Vijay Mehra, Indian cricket batsman (8 Tests, 2 x 50; Delhi, Eastern Punjab, Railways), dies at 68

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1751 – Thomas Colley is executed in England for drowning a supposed witch
1858 – Richmond “Daily Dispatch” reports 90 Black individuals arrested for learning
1912 – District of Alaska becomes an organized incorporated territory of the United States
1997 – 97th US Amateur Golf Championship won by Joel Kribel
2019 – Britain’s Prince Andrew denies knowing his friend Jeffrey Epstein was involved in sexual trafficking of underage girls after public accusations made against him

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1890 – Franz Philipp, German composer, born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany (d. 1972)
1890 – Jean Rhys [Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams], British writer (Voyage in the Dark), born in Roseau, Dominica (d. 1979)
1951 – Oscar Hijuelos, American novelist (The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love), born in New York City (d. 2013)
1977 – Jürgen Macho, Austrian footballer, born in Vienna, Austria
1986 – Arian Foster, American football running back (First-team All-Pro 2010, 12; 4 × Pro Bowl; NFL rushing TD leader 2010, 12; Houston Texans, Miami Dolphins), born in Albuquerque, New Mexico

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1540 – Parmigianino [Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola,], Italian painter (Madonna of the Long Neck), dies at 37
1982 – Jack Siedle, South African cricketer (batted in 18 Tests for South Africa), dies at 79
1987 – Malcolm Kirk “King Kong Kirk”, English professional wrestler, dies of a heart attack in the ring at 51
1996 – Robert Tewdwr Moss, English journalist and travel writer, found dead at 34
2020 – Pascal Lissouba, Congo politician, 1st democratically-elected President of the Republic of the Congo (1992-97), dies at 88

More Famous Deaths »

Historical Events

1938 – England scores 7-903 declared against Australia, with Len Hutton scoring 364
1957 – US performs a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site
1982 – USSR performs a nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
2004 – Winning pitcher Lisa Fernandez (4-0) leads the US to the softball gold medal at the Athens Olympics, beating Australia 5-1
2017 – India’s toll from swine flu rises above 1,000 for the year, with 22,186 cases reported

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1754 – Louis XVI, King of France (1774-93) eventually guillotined, born in Versailles, Yvelines, France (d. 1793)
1917 – Tex Williams, American country-western singer, born in Ramsey, Illinois (d. 1985)
1949 – Shelley Long, American actress (Diane in Cheers, Money Pit), born in Fort Wayne, Indiana
1954 – Halimah Yacob, Singaporean politician (1st female President of Singapore (2017-), born in Singapore
1964 – Kong Hee, Singaporean founder and Senior Pastor of the City Harvest movement in Asia, born in Singapore

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1927 – Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, executed in Massachusetts
1957 – Eugène Schueller, French chemist, founder of L’Oréal, dies at 76
1989 – Yusef Hawkins, shot by 30 whites in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn NY in a racially motivated attack
2006 – Jacques Wildberger, Swiss composer (In My End is My Beginning), dies at 84
2015 – Jean Darling, American child actress (Our Gang), dies at 93

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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)

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »

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

More Historical Events »

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

More Famous Birthdays »

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

More Famous Deaths »