Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1548 – La Paz, Bolivia, is founded
1945 – Australian Services win third Victory Test Cricket by four wickets
1967 – LPGA Championship Women’s Golf, Pleasant Valley CC: Kathy Whitworth wins by 1 stroke from Shirley Englehorn
1990 – Bridgette LeAnn Wilson, 17, of Oregon, 8th crowned Miss Teen USA
2004 – Martha Stewart is sentenced to five months in prison plus five months in home confinement for lying to federal investigators

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Famous Birthdays

1715 – Charles de Rohan, Prince de Soubise, Marshal of France, born in Paris (d. 1787)
1919 – Choi Kyu-hah, President of South Korea, born in Wŏnju, South Korea (d. 2006)
1950 – Dennis Priestley, English darts player (PDC World Champion 1994), born in Mexborough, England
1967 – Roger Duffy, American NFL guard and center (NY Jets), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1977 – Jamie Kern Lima, American entrepreneur, co-founder of IT Cosmetics, and first female chief executive officer of a L’Oréal brand (Forbes’ list of “America’s Richest Self-Made Women”), born in Seattle, Washington

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Famous Deaths

1342 – King Charles I of Hungary and Croatia, dies at about 53 (exact birth date unknown, 1288)
1879 – Edward Deas Thomson, British-Australian politician, chancellor of the University of Sydney, and member of the Legislative Council of NSW, dies at 79
1981 – Harry Chapin, American folk-rock singer-songwriter (“Taxi”; “Cat’s In The Cradle”), dies in car crash at 38
1991 – Frank Rizzo, American politician (Mayor-D-Philadelphia, 1972-80), dies of a heart attack at 70
2025 – Barrie Robran, Australian Football HOF forward (AFL Legend Status; North Adelaide FC 201 games; Magarey Medal 1968, 70, 73), dies at 77

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Historical Events

1939 – Clara Adams is the first woman to complete a commercial round-the-world flight from New York, lasting 16 days and 19 hours
1945 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Moraine CC: Byron Nelson wins his fifth and final major title and second PGA title; he defeats former MLB player Sam Byrd 4 and 3
1974 – American TV news reporter Christine Chubbuck shoots herself live on WXLT-TV in Sarasota, Florida; first person to commit suicide in a live broadcast
1994 – Gyula Horn sworn in as premier of Hungary
2018 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Novak Đoković wins his fourth Wimbledon title beating South African Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-2, 7-6

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Famous Birthdays

1837 – Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, German-born Queen of Portugal (1858-59), born in Krauchenwies Castle, Sigmaringen (d. 1859)
1904 – Dorothy Fields, American lyricist (“I’m In The Mood For Love”; “The Way You Look Tonight”), born in Allenhurst, New Jersey (d. 1974)
1959 – Vincent Lindon, French actor (The Measure of a Man), born in Paris, France
1961 – Lolita Davidovich, Canadian actress (Blaze, Jungle2Jungle), born in London, Ontario
1968 – Eddie Griffin, American comedian (Black Dynamite), born in Kansas City, Missouri

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Famous Deaths

1411 – Johannes Parvus [Jean Petit], French theologist, dies
1798 – Gaetano Pugnani, Italian violinist and composer, dies at 66
1959 – Ernest Bloch, Swiss-American composer (Schelomo; Israel; Avodath Hakodesh), and educator (UC Berkeley, 1941-52), dies of cancer at 78
1992 – Hammer DeRoburt, First President of Nauru, dies at 69
2022 – Herbert W. Franke, Austrian scientist, writer, and computer art pioneer, dies at 95

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Historical Events

1914 – NL’s Boston Braves start their climb from last place to a World Series sweep
1948 – Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, is shot near to the Italian Parliament in an assassination attempt
1963 – 50th Tour de France: French cyclist Jacques Anquetil wins his 3rd consecutive general classification event; first rider to win Tour 4 times
1969 – A 67-year-old Catholic civilian dies after being attacked by RUC officers in Dungiven; many consider this the first death of “The Troubles”
1986 – US Open Women’s Golf, NCR CC: Jane Geddes wins by two strokes in an 18-hole Monday playoff with South African-born Sally Little

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Famous Birthdays

924 – Murakami, 62nd Emperor of Japan (946-67) who fathered 19 Imperial sons and daughters, born in Heian Kyō, Japan (d. 967)
1893 – Spencer Williams, American director, writer and actor (The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show), born in Vidalia, Louisiana (d. 1969)
1952 – George E. Lewis, American trombonist avant-garde jazz, electronic and contemporary classical composer, born in Chicago, Illinois
1970 – Mark Brandenburg, American baseball pitcher (Texas Rangers), born in Houston, Texas
1977 – Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, born in Solna, Sweden

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Famous Deaths

1614 – Camillus de Lellis, Italian Roman Catholic saint (founder of the Ministers of the Sick), dies at 64
1789 – Bernard-René de Launay, French governor of the Bastille prison, murdered during the storming of the Bastille (b.1740)
1923 – Louis Ganne, French conductor and operetta composer (Les saltimbanques (The Acrobats)), dies at 61
2008 – Henki Kolstad, Norwegian actor (b. 1915)
2023 – Nick Benedict, American actor (Days of Our Lives, 1993-2001 – “Curtis”; The Pistol: Birth of a Legend; All My Children – “Phillip”), dies from complications of spinal surgery on his 77th birthday

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Historical Events

1657 – Oliver Cromwell constrains English army leader John Lambert
1934 – Babe Ruth hits 700th career home run against Detroit
1985 – Doctors at Bethesda Naval hospital remove two small benign polyps from US President Ronald Reagan’s colon
2003 – Senior Players Championship Men’s Golf, TPC of Michigan: Craig Stadler wins his first of two Champions Tour major titles by three strokes over Tom Kite, Jim Thorpe, and Tom Watson
2021 – Violent protests and looting following the jailing of Jacob Zuma leave 337 dead in South Africa, with more than 200 shopping malls set on fire

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Famous Birthdays

1770 – Alexander Balashov, Russian general and statesman, born in Moscow (d. 1837)
1946 – Andrew Pryce Jackman, British progressive rock keyboardist, arranger, and composer (The Syn), born in England (d. 2003)
1949 – Helena Fibingerová, Czech athlete (World C’ship gold shot put 1983; Olympic bronze 1976; 3 x WR), born in Víceměřice, Czechoslovakia
1953 – Violeta Dinescu, Romanian pianist, composer (Tabar), and music professor, born in Bucharest, Romania
1994 – Ridge Canipe, American actor (Walk the Line; A Single Man; Music Within), born in Laguna Beach, California

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Famous Deaths

1842 – Jesse Bennett, American physician who performed 1st successful US Caesarean (1794), dies at 72
1860 – John Ackersdijk, Dutch state house builder, dies at 69
1863 – John S. Bowen, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 32
1955 – Beulah Ecton Woodard, African-American sculptor, dies at 59
1960 – Joy Davidman, American poet, writer and wife of C. S. Lewis, dies at 45

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Historical Events

1192 – Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Taishōgun, the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan and de facto ruler
1862 – Federal troops occupy Helena, Arkansas
1940 – Frederick McKinley Jones receives a patent for an air conditioning unit for trucks, helping to change long-haul carriage of food and blood
1979 – “Disco Demolition Night” at Comiskey Park: fans go wild destroying disco records and cause the White Sox to forfeit the second game of a doubleheader to the Detroit Tigers
2018 – World’s longest fingernails are cut off; Indian man Shridhar Chillal’s left-hand nails measured a combined total of 909.6 cm (358.1 inches) after growing for 66 years

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Famous Birthdays

1928 – Barbara Cowsill, American singer and rock band mother (The Cowsills – “Hair”; “We Can Fly”), born in Cranston, Rhode Island (d. 1985)
1933 – Brian Cant, British stage and screen actor and children’s television presenter (Play School, 1964-85), born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England (d. 2017)
1935 – Hans Tilkowski, German soccer goalkeeper (39 caps, West Germany; Westfalia Herne, Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt), born in Husen, Germany (d. 2020)
1956 – Mel Harris [Mary Ellen], American actress (Hope-30 Something), born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
1978 – (Christopher) “Topher” Grace, American stage and screen actor (That ’70s Show -“Eric”; In Good Company; Home Economics), born in New York City

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Famous Deaths

1073 – Johannes Gualbertus, Italian monk/saint, dies
1441 – Ashikaga Yoshinori, 6th Japanese shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate (1428-41), assassinated during an evening play by the Akamatsu family at 47
1946 – Ray Stannard Baker, American journalist (Puliter Prize 1940), dies at 76
1975 – Carl Snavely, American College Football Hall of Fame coach (Bucknell, North Carolina, Cornell 180–96–16), dies at 80
2020 – Rod Bernard, American “swamp pop” singer (“Allons Danser Colinda”), dies at 79

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Historical Events

1740 – Jews are expelled from Little Russia by order of Tsarina Anne
1982 – US Senior Open Men’s Golf, Portland GC: Miller Barber wins by four strokes from Dan Sykes and Gene Littler, his first of three Senior Open titles
1984 – Lucas Mangope re-elected president of Bophuthatswana
2001 – Iraq resumes oil exports, ending a 5-week halt in protest of a US and British-sponsored UN Security Council resolution
2022 – New study suggests dogs can “see” with their noses, the first documentation of a direct connection between the olfactory bulb and occipital lobe in any species

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Famous Birthdays

1836 – Antônio Carlos Gomes, Brazilian opera composer, first from outside of Europe with successful career in Italy, born in Campinas, São Paulo, Empire of Brazil (d. 1896)
1915 – George Ivan Smith, Australian radio correspondent, UN diplomat and spokesman, born in Sydney, Australia (d. 1995)
1925 – Charles Chaynes, French composer (Et l’homme se vit les portes rouvrir; Ode for a Tragic Death), and radio broadcaster, born in Toulouse, France (d. 2016)
1960 – David Baerwald, American singer/songwriter (David + David – “Welcome To The Boomtown”: “Swallowed By The Cracks”), born in Oxford, Ohio
1974 – Hermann Hreiðarsson, Icelandic footballer, born in Reykjavík, Iceland

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Famous Deaths

1962 – Owen D. Young, American industrialist (RCA) and diplomat (Young Plan), dies at 87
1983 – Ross Macdonald [Kenneth Millar], American-Canadian detective novelist (Goodbye Look), dies at 67
1993 – Denis Tomlinson, South African cricket leg-spinner, dies
2007 – Rod Lauren, American rocker (“If I Had a Girl”), commits suicide at 66
2014 – Tommy Ramone [Tamás Erdélyi], Hungarian-American rock drummer and bassist (Ramones), dies of bile duct cancer at 65

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Historical Events

518 – Former peasant Justin I proclaimed Byzantine emperor in the Hippodrome, Constantinople
1775 – Horatio Gates issues order excluding Blacks from Continental Army
1971 – National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) founded in US by women, including Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Myrlie Evers-Williams, and Gloria Steinem
1992 – Spaceship Giotto (Halley 1986) approaches comet Grigg-Skjellerup
2006 – Pakistan International Flight PK-688 crashes in Multan, Pakistan shortly after takeoff, killing all 45 people on board

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Famous Birthdays

1625 – Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer, born in La Rochefoucauld, France (d. 1703)
1888 – Giorgio De Chirico, Italian painter (founded the scuola metafisica art movement), born in Volos, Greece (d. 1978)
1914 – Joe Shuster, Canadian-American cartoonist (co-creator, with Jerry Siegel, of “Superman”), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1992)
1933 – Ivan Passer, Czech film director (Born to Win, Cutter’s Way), born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (d. 2020)
1982 – Alex Arrowsmith, American pop-rock singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (The Shaky Hands), born in Hood River, Oregon

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Famous Deaths

1594 – Paulo Bellasio, Italian organist and late Renaissance composer, dies at 40
1868 – Carlo Conti, Italian composer, dies at 71
1970 – Félix Gaillard, French Radical Party politician (Prime Minister, 1957-58), dies in a yacht accident at 50
2000 – Justin Pierce, English-American actor and skateboarder (b. 1975)
2020 – Corra Dirksen, South African rugby union winger (10 caps; Northern Transvaal), dies from COVID-19 complications at 82

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Historical Events

1932 – Yankees’ Ben Chapman hits two inside-the-park home runs, tying the record
1991 – South Africa re-admitted to Olympics
1992 – Kim Basinger gets 1,959th star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame
2002 – The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as African leaders replace the Organization of African Unity. South African President Thabo Mbeki serves as its first chair.
2022 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan claims her first Grand Slam title with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur; first Kazakhstani player to win a major title

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Famous Birthdays

1753 – William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, Governor of Newfoundland, born in England (d. 1825)
1941 – Takehide Nakatani, Japanese lightweight judoka (Olympic gold 1964), born in Hiroshima, Japan
1951 – Eugeniusz Knapik, Polish pianist and classical music composer (Islands; Up Into The Silence), born in Ruda Śląska, Poland
1955 – Lisa Banes, American actress (Cocktail; Look Back in Anger), born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio
1965 – Frank Bello, American heavy metal bassist (Anthrax), born in The Bronx, New York

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Famous Deaths

1386 – Leopold III, Duke of Austria (1365-68), dies at 34
1668 – Jacob Balde, German poet (Jephthe), dies at 64
1922 – Mori Ōgai, Japanese novelist (The Wild Geese), poet and surgeon, dies at 60
1981 – Wilhelm H C Tenhaeff, para-psychologist, dies at 87
2011 – Würzel [Michael Burston], English guitarist (Motörhead, 1984-95), dies of ventricular fibrillation at 61

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Historical Events

1943 – British air raid sinks U-232
1956 – US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enewetak Atoll
1961 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: In an all-British final Angela Mortimer wins her 3rd Grand Slam singles title; beats Christine Truman 4–6, 6–4, 7–5
1988 – American rockers and brothers Chico DeBarge and Bobby DeBarge indicted on drug trafficking charges
2021 – Japan says the Olympics will be held without spectators as Tokyo announces state of emergency due to a surge in COVID-19

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Famous Birthdays

1830 – Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Altenburg, German-born Russian princess married to Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, born in Altenburg (d. 1911)
1928 – Norma Donaldson, American stage and screen singer and actress (Across 110th Street; Poetic Justice; The Young and the Restless), born in Harlem, New York City (d. 1994)
1928 – Jane Tehira, New Zealand sportsperson (triple international: basketball, softball, hockey), born in Kaikohe, New Zealand (d. 2023)
1942 – Phil Gramm, American economist and politician (US Representative for Texas, 1979-85; US Senator from Texas, 1985-2002), born in Fort Benning, Georgia
1960 – Valarie Pettiford, American actress (One Life to Live, Half and Half), born in Queens, New York

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Famous Deaths

1496 – Benedetto Bonfiglio, Italian painter, dies
1941 – Philippe Gaubert, French flautist, conductor (Paris Opéra, 1919-41), composer, and teacher (Paris Conservatoire), dies of a stroke at 62
1988 – Ray Barbuti, American athlete (Olympic gold 400m, 400m relay 1928), dies at 83
1996 – Amschel Rothschild, British banker (executive chairman of Rothschild Asset Management of the Rothschild banking family of England), dies at 41
2011 – Mary Fenech Adami, First Lady of Malta (b. 1933)

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Historical Events

1498 – Emperor Maximilian I orders appointment of a conductor, two bass singers and six choir boys, establishing the Vienna Court Music Ensemble; later includes Vienna Boys Choir
1799 – Ranjit Singh’s men take up their positions outside Lahore
1862 – Land Grant Act endows state colleges with federal land
1957 – Heavy storm ravages Belgian coast
1969 – Canada’s House of Commons approves equality of French-English language

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Famous Birthdays

1929 – Hasan Abidi, Pakistani journalist and Urdu poet, born in Zafarabad, British India (d. 2005)
1931 – David Eddings, American sci-fi author (Belgariad, Malloreon), born in Spokane, Washington (d. 2009)
1943 – (Salvatore) “Toto” Cutugno, Italian pop singer-songwriter (“L’Italiano”, Eurovision, 1990; “Insieme: 1992”), born in Tendola, Tuscany, Italy (d. 2023)
1944 – Jürgen Grabowski, German footballer (44 caps West Germany; Eintracht Frankfurt 441 games), born in Wiesbaden, Germany (d. 2022)
1966 – Gundula Krause, German folk violinist, born in Göttingen, Germany

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Famous Deaths

1348 – John Andreae, Italian canonist, dies
1572 – Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland (1548-72), dies at 51
1930 – Arthur Conan Doyle, British author who brought Sherlock Holmes to life twice, dies at 71
1970 – Allen Lane, English publisher and founder of Penguin Books, dies at 67
2021 – Dilip Kumar [Muhammad Yusuf Khan], Indian Bollywood actor known as the “Tragedy King” and one of the greatest actors in Indian cinema (Jwar Bhata), dies at 98

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