Category: On This Day

Historical Events

756 – Abd-al-Rahman I becomes emir of Cordova, Spain
1886 – British sailor David Beatty is promoted to midshipman
1972 – The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.
1993 – Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas opens
2020 – Germany, Europe’s largest economy, officially in recession due to COVID-19, as figures show economy shrank 2.2% 1st 3 months of 2020

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Famous Birthdays

1819 – Thomas Leonidas Crittenden, American lawyer, politician, and Major General (Union Army), born in Russellville, Kentucky (d. 1893)
1920 – Hugh Henry Home Popham, British aviator, writer and poet, born in Beer, England (d. 1996)
1934 – David Greville, 8th Earl of Warwick who sold his castle to Madame Tussauds, born in Warwick Castle, Warwick, England (d. 1996)
1970 – Cory Philpot, CFL running back (BC Lions)
1974 – Jennifer Rizzotti, Basketball Hall of Fame point guard (Uni of Connecticut) and coach (George Washington), born in White Plains, New York

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Famous Deaths

1821 – John Wall Calcott, English composer, dies at 54
1940 – Willem Adriaan Bonger, Dutch criminologist (Race and Crime), suicide at 63
1952 – Italo Montemezzi, Italian composer (L’amore dei tre re), dies at 76
1992 – Bruce Hopkins, performer/director, dies at 44
2003 – Desmond Dreyer, British admiral (battle of the River Plate), dies at 93

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Historical Events

1888 – 14th Kentucky Derby: George Covington aboard MacBeth II wins in 2:38.00
1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt visits San Francisco
1944 – British troops occupy Kohima
1972 – In Willie Mays’ 1st game as New York Met, his homer beats San Francisco Giants, 5-4 (his former team of over 20 years), at Shea Stadium, New York
1986 – Reggie Jackson hit his 537th HR passing Mickey Mantle into 6th place

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Famous Birthdays

1930 – Edward Regan, American Republican politician and Comptroller of New York (1979-93), born in Plainfield, New Jersey (d. 2014)
1959 – Patrick Bruel [Benguigui], Algerian-French actor (Coup of Sirocco), rock vocalist (“Marre de cette nana-là” – “Fed Up With That Chick”), and world class poker player, born in Tlemcen, Algeria
1964 – Nancy Sorel, Canadian-American actress (Less Than Kind, Black Fox), born in Fall River, Massachusetts
1967 – Tony Siragusa, American football defensive tackle (Super Bowl 2000 Baltimore Ravens; Indianapolis Colts) and broadcaster (Fox, The Sopranos, Man Caves), born in Kenilworth, New Jersey (d. 2022)
1977 – Jayna Hefford, ice hockey forward (Canada, Olympics 1998)

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Famous Deaths

1947 – John Ray Sinnock, US chief engraver (1925-47), dies at 59
1969 – Walter Pitts, American logician (“A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity” with Warren McCulloch), dies at 46
1996 – Edward Gurney, American attorney and politician (US Senator for Florida, 1969-74; US Representative for Florida, 1963-69), dies at 82
1998 – Frank Sinatra, American singer (“Strangers in the Night”; “My Way”; “The Summer Wind”) and actor (From Here to Eternity; Guys and Dolls, The Manchurian Candidate), known as the “Chairman of the Board” and “Ol’ Blue Eyes”, dies at 82
2006 – Stanley Kunitz, American poet, 10th US Poet Laureate, dies at 100

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Historical Events

1588 – King Henri III flees Paris
1777 – University library at Vienna opens
1960 – Phillies lose 3rd consecutive 1-0 game
1960 – WOLE TV channel 12 in Aguadillo, PR
2012 – Manchester City win the English Premier League for the first time

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Famous Birthdays

1903 – Jim Sims, English cricket spin bowler (4 Tests, 11 wickets; Middlesex), born in Leyton, England (d. 1973)
1944 – Armistead Maupin, American author (Tales of the City series), born in Washington D.C.
1967 – Melanie Thornton, American pop-dance singer (La Bouche – “Be My Lover”), born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 2001)
1978 – Barry Zito, American baseball player (Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants), born in Las Vegas, Nevada
1980 – Waka Inoue, Japanese gravure idol, TV personality, and actress, born in Tokyo, Japan

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Famous Deaths

1839 – Joseph Fesch, French cardinal (Archbishop of Lyon, 1802-39), diplomat, art collector (Musée Fesch), and uncle of Napoleon, dies at 76
1901 – Leopoldo Alas, Spanish novelist (La Regenta), dies at 49
1967 – Frank McGrath, American actor (The Reluctant Astronaut, Wagon Train), dies from a heart attack at 64
1999 – Gene Sarazen, American golfer (7 x major titles including Career Grand Slam; 38 PGA Tour event wins), dies of pneumonia at 97
1999 – Meg Greenfield, American Pulitzer Prize winning editorial writer (Washington Post; Newsweek), dies of cancer at 68

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Historical Events

1784 – Ratified copies of the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War exchanged between US and Great Britain, in Paris
1888 – Crouching start first used in track and field by Charles Sherrill of Yale
1972 – Paul McCartney and Wings release single “Mary Had a Little Lamb”
2010 – An Afriqiyah Airways Flight crashes and kills everyone but one person on board
2017 – Former One Direction singer Harry Styles releases his self-titled debut solo album

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Famous Birthdays

1850 – Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman, born in Beverly, Massachusetts (d. 1924)
1900 – Helene Weigel, Austrian-German actress (Metropolis, Mutter Courage), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1971)
1926 – Earl Hutto, American politician (Rep-D-Florida, 1979-95), born in Panama City, Florida (d. 2020)
1931 – Johan Fleerackers, Flemish civil servant and cultural attaché (Minister of Cutlure, 1965-77), born in Mortsel, Belgium (d. 1989)
1971 – Doug Basham, American professional wrestler, born in Louisville, Kentucky

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Famous Deaths

1641 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of Strafford and Viceroy of Ireland, beheaded at 48
1737 – Cornelis van Alkemade, Dutch historian, collector of antiquities and author (Coinage of the Counts of Holland), dies at 83
1852 – John Richardson, Canadian writer (War of 1812), dies at 55
1856 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician, physicist and astronomer, dies at 70
2008 – Irena Sendler [née Krzyżanowska], Polish nurse, social worker, and WWII heroine who helped smuggle Jewish ghetto children to safety, dies at 98

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Historical Events

1862 – Confederates scuttle CSS Virginia off Norfolk, Virginia
1958 – US performs its second atmospheric nuclear test of the day, this one at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands
1972 – Stanley Cup Final, Madison Square Garden, NYC: Wayne Cashman scores twice as Boston Bruins beat NY Rangers, 3-0 to take title, 4-2
1977 – Ted Turner manages an Atlanta Braves game
2014 – Thousands protest against the construction of a waste incineration plant in Hangzhou, China

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Famous Birthdays

1827 – Septimus Winner, American songwriter (Listen To The Mockingbird), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1902)
1917 – Montague Woodhouse, British military officer and politician (organized the resistance forces in Crete WWII, MI6 agent), born in England (d. 2001)
1925 – Edward J. King, American politician, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (1979-83), born in Chelsea, Massachusetts (d. 2006)
1971 – Corey Fuller, NFL cornerback (Minnesota Vikings)
1977 – Victor Matfield, South African rugby union footballer

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Famous Deaths

1923 – Henry Martyn Robert, American soldier and parliamentarian (Robert’s Rules of Order), dies at 86
1935 – Edward Herbert Thompson, American archaeologist (Mayan civilization), dies at 78
1976 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (Finlandia House) and designer, dies at 78
1981 – Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae musician (“Exodus”; “One Love”; “No Woman No Cry”; “Three Little Birds”), dies of brain and lung cancer at 36
2022 – Shireen Abu Akleh, Palestinian-American journalist (Al Jazeera), shot and killed by Israeli forces at 51

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Historical Events

1876 – Centennial Fair opens in Philadelphia
1945 – Allies capture Rangoon from the Japanese
1983 – Lee Chin Yong performs 170 continuous chin-ups in Seoul
1998 – Viktor Orbán elected Prime Minister of Hungary after his Fidesz party forms a centre-right coalition the Independent Smallholders Party and Hungarian Democratic Forum
2017 – Apple becomes the first company to be worth more than $800 billion

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Famous Birthdays

1697 – Jean-Marie Leclair l’aîné (the elder), French violinist and Baroque composer, born in Lyon, France (d. 1764)
1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American stage actor and assassin of US President Abraham Lincoln, born in Bel Air, Maryland (d. 1865)
1918 – Dr. T Berry Brazelton, American child development paediatrician, author, TV host (What Every Baby Knows), who developed the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), born in Waco, Texas (d. 2018)
1959 – Cindy Hyde-Smith, American politician (Senator-R-Mississippi 2018-), born in Brookhaven, Mississippi
1970 – Perry Blake, Irish singer-songwriter (The Hunchback of San Francisco), born in Sligo, Ireland

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Famous Deaths

1034 – Mieszko II, King of Poland (1025-34), dies
1641 – Johan Banér, Swedish Field Marshal, led Swedish armies during Thirty Years’ War, dies at 44
1696 – Jean de La Bruyère, French writer (The Characters, or the Manners of the Age, with The Characters of Theophrastus), dies at 50
1770 – Charles Avison, English composer, dies at 61
1820 – Matthäus Stegmayer, Austrian composer, dies at 49

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Historical Events

1914 – US President Woodrow Wilson proclaims Mother’s Day
1956 – War Reparations and Peace Settlement between Philippines and Japan was finally signed at Malacañang Palace under Magsaysay administration
2006 – George Preca is canonized as the first Maltese saint in history
2018 – Nicaraguan anti-government protests involving tens of thousands take place in Managua and Matagalpa y Chinandega
2019 – New Australian $50 bank note misspells responsibility as “responsibilty” on 46 million notes

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Famous Birthdays

1938 – Charles Simic, Serbian-American poet (The World Doesn’t End) and the 15th US poet laureate (2007-08), born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (d. 2023)
1939 – Jim Dent, American golfer on PGA and Seniors tours, born in Augusta, Georgia (d. 2025)
1940 – Dick Morrissey, British jazz saxophonist, born in Horley, Surrey, England (d. 2000)
1948 – Calvin Murphy, American basketball player
1962 – John Corbett, American actor (Northern Exposure – “Chris Stevens”; Sex and the City – “Aidan”; My Big Fat Greek Wedding), and country music singer, born in Wheeling, West Virginia

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Famous Deaths

1919 – James Reese Europe, American ragtime and early jazz arranger, composer, and bandleader in New York, and with the military in France during WWI, dies of a stab wound (received during an argument with one of his drummers), at 38
1937 – Walter Mittelholzer, Swiss aviation pioneer (Swiss Air) and aerial photographer, dies in a climbing accident on an expedition in Styria at 43
2001 – James E. Myers, American songwriter (Rock Around the Clock) and producer, dies at 81
2018 – Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Australian heroin smuggler (Bali Nine), dies of stomach cancer at 34
2023 – Jackie Zeman, American actress (General Hospital – “Bobbie Spencer”), dies of cancer at 70

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Historical Events

1862 – Valley Campaign: Federals repulsed at Battle of McDowell, Virginia
1949 – West German constitution approved
1959 – Three-deck Nile River excursion steamer springs a leak, panicking passengers who capsize the ship; 200 drown just yards from shore
1980 – Sabres take only 15 shots, Islanders 22, in a playoff game
1993 – Lennox Lewis beats Tony Tucker in 12 for heavyweight boxing title

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Famous Birthdays

1750 – Elias Mann, American composer, born in Weymouth, Massachusetts (d. 1825)
1895 – Fulton J. Sheen, America bishop (Life is Worth Living), born in El Paso, Illinois (d. 1979)
1930 – Alex Shigo, American Biologist and Plant Pathologist known for his study of tree decay and contributions to modern arboricultural practices, born in Duquesne, Pennsylvania (d. 2006)
1935 – Lucius Cary, 15th Viscount Falkland, British peer (Lib-Dem), born in UK
1982 – Anthony Roth Costanzo, American operatic countertenor (Akhnaten), actor, and educator, born in Durham, North Carolina

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Famous Deaths

1688 – Pierre de Troyes, French officer and explorer in North America (re-took James Bay forts from the English), dies at Fort Niagara
1818 – Franz Ignaz Kaa, German composer, dies at 78
1842 – Jules Dumont d’Urville, French explorer and naval officer, dies at 51
1984 – Gino Bianco, Brazilian racing driver (b. 1916)
2020 – Roy Horn [Uwe Ludwig Horn], German-American Las Vegas entertainer (Siegfried and Roy), dies of COVID-19 at 75

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Historical Events

1697 – Stockholm’s medieval royal castle is destroyed by fire, the Codex Gigas (world’s largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript) survives by being thrown out a window
1930 – Duleepsinhji scores 333 for Sussex v Northants in 330 mins
1987 – 105°F in Sacramento, California
1989 – Panamanian voters reject dictator Manuel Noriega’s bid for presidency
2019 – Hackers seize control of the computer system of the US city of Baltimore, demanding a ransom in Bitcoins to unlock them

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Famous Birthdays

1868 – Władysław Reymont [Rejment], Polish novelist (Chłopi (The Peasants) – Nobel Prize for Literature, 1924), born in Kobiele Wielkie, Petrokov Governorate, Congress Poland, Russian Empire (now Poland) (d. 1925)
1923 – Anne Baxter, American actress, (The Razor’s Edge; All About Eve), and singer, born in Michigan City, Indiana (d. 1985)
1950 – Tim Russert, American television journalist and host of NBC’s Meet the Press, born in Buffalo, New York (d. 2008)
1953 – Ian McKay, British soldier (VC recipient), born in Wortley, South Yorkshire, England (d. 1982)
1979 – Nikki Hayes [Eimear O’ Keeffe], Irish radio personality, born in Bray, Ireland

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Famous Deaths

685 – Marwan I, 4th Umayyad Caliph (684-85), dies (date disputed)
1868 – Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, English statesman (Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, 1830-34; Slavery Abolition Act 1833). and carriage designer, dies at 89
1941 – David Wijnkoop, Dutch socialist, and later communist politician, and journalist, dies of a heart attack at 65
1990 – Berta Waterstradt, German writer and actress, dies at 82
1995 – Maria Luisa Bemberg, Argentine filmmaker, dies at 73

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Historical Events

1915 – The Allies on Cape Helles launch three attacks to enlarge their beachheads; after terrible losses, they advance about three miles
1935 – British King George V and Queen Mary celebrate their Silver Jubilee
1979 – Louis LaRusso II’s stage drama “Knockout”, starring Danny Aiello, opens at the Helen Hayes Theater, NYC: runs for 154 performances
1984 – Jose Napoleon Duarte wins El Salvador presidential election
2013 – Brazilian neobank Nubank founded in Brazil by David Vélez, Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible

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Famous Birthdays

1861 – Motilal Nehru, Indian lawyer and freedom fighter, born in Agra, British India (d. 1931)
1890 – Claire Whitney, American silent film actress (Blind Fools, Haunted Mine), born in New York City (d. 1969)
1922 – Pat Harder, American NFL fullback (Cardinals, Lions), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 1992)
1927 – Ettore Manni, Italian actor (Street People, Divine Nymph, Fatal Desire, Heroes in Hell), born in Rome, Italy (d. 1979)
1946 – David Avshalomov, American classical composer, vocalist, and conductor, born in New York City

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Famous Deaths

1727 – Catharine I of Russia [Marta Samuilovna], wife of Peter the Great, dies at about 42
1951 – Henri Carton de Wiart, Belgian count and politician (Prime Minister of Belgium 1920-21), dies at 82
1951 – Élie Cartan, French mathematician (b. 1869)
1989 – Earl Blaik, American College Football coach (NCAA C’ship 1944–46; AFCA Coach of the Year 1946; Army) and executive (AD Army 1948–59, dies at 92
2007 – Đorđe Novković, Croatian pop singer-songwriter (Pro Arte), and television personality (Hrvatski Idol), dies at 63

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