Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1828 – Gioachino Rossini’s opera “Le Comte Ory” premieres in Paris
1951 – 12th Venice Film Festival: “Rashomon” directed by Akira Kurosawa wins the Golden Lion
1953 – Russia publicly acknowledges hydrogen bomb test detonation
1959 – Belgium shortens military conscription to 12 months
1994 – Archbishop Quarracino wants all homosexuals to leave Argentina
2023 – Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon according to Roscosmos, the country’s space agency

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Famous Birthdays

1926 – Frank Rosolino, American jazz trombonist (The Frank Rosolino Sextet), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1978)
1931 – Don King, American boxing promoter best known for his association with Mike Tyson and for his unusual hairstyles, born in Cleveland, Ohio
1956 – Joan Allen, American actress (Peggy Sue Got Married, Tucker, In Country), born in Rochelle, Illinois
1966 – Steven Finn, Canadian NHL defenseman (LA Kings), born in Laval, Quebec, Canada
1971 – Steve Stone, English footballer, born in Gateshead, England
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

1914 – Pius X [Giuseppe Sarto], 257th Italian Roman Catholic Pope (1903-14 – lowered age of Communion from 12 to 7,) and saint, dies at 79
1932 – Paul Keller, German writer (Vergrabenes Gut), dies at 59
1959 – Alfred Kubin, Austrian writer and illustrator, dies at 82
1978 – Ivan Jirko, Czech composer, music critic and psychiatrist, dies at 51
1996 – Rio Reiser, German rock singer (“Ton Steine Scherben”), dies at 46
2017 – Jerry Lewis [Joseph Levitch], American comedian (Martin and Lewis, MDA Telethon), dies at 91

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Historical Events

1796 – Spain and France sign anti-British alliance
1839 – Louis Daguerre’s daguerreotype photographic process with complete working instructions is published “free to the world” in Paris as a gift to the world from the French government
1913 – Frenchman Adolphe Célestin Pégoud makes 1st parachute jump in Europe
1936 – Trial against Ljev Kamenev and Grigori Zinovjev because of “Trotskyism” opens in Moscow
1965 – The Yardbirds launch their first US tour
1970 – The Chinese Community in South Africa is granted ‘White’ status

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Famous Birthdays

1875 – Stjepan Seljan, Croatian explorer (Ethiopia, South America), born in Karlovac, Croatia (d. 1936)
1916 – Marie Wilson, American actress (The Story of Mankind, My Friend Irma), born in Anaheim, California (d. 1972)
1944 – Eddy Raven [Futch], American country singer (“Right Hand Man”), born in Lafayette, Louisiana
1946 – Charles F. Bolden Jr, American astronaut (STS 61C, 31, 45, 60), born in Columbia, South Carolina
1947 – Dave Dutton, English actor (Coronation Street), born in Atherton, England
1967 – Tabitha Soren, American MTV reporter (This Week in Rock), born in San Antonio, Texas

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Famous Deaths

1954 – Alcide de Gasperi, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (1945-53), dies at 73
1975 – Ima Hogg, American society leader, Texas arts patron, and founder of Houston Symphony, dies at 93
1991 – Richard Maltby Sr., American musician and orchestra leader (“(Themes from) The Man with the Golden Arm”; Vaughn Monroe Show), dies at 77
1992 – Norvel Lee, American boxer (Olympic gold 1952), dies at 67
1994 – Linus Pauling, American chemist, engineer and peace activist (1954 Nobel prize for Chemistry, 1962 Nobel Peace Prize), dies at 93
1995 – Danny Arnold, British TV producer, dies at 70

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Historical Events

1943 – Otto Skorzeny’s Heinkel-111 shot down at Sardinia
1944 – Chartres freed by US 3rd Army forces during WWII led by General George S. Patton
1983 – Hurricane Alicia battered Houston and Galveston, Texas
1989 – Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
2016 – Jamaica’s Usain Bolt wins the gold medal in the men’s 200m for the 3rd successive Summer Olympics, recording a time of 19.78 in Rio de Janeiro
2020 – Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta resigns amid a military coup condemned by the UN Security Council

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Famous Birthdays

1745 – Vaclav Josef Bartolomej Praupner, Bohemian composer, born in Litoměřice (d. 1807)
1805 – Josef Danhauser, Austrian painter (Mutterliebe), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1845)
1930 – Gene Bartow, American College Basketball Hall of Fame coach (US National Team 1974; Valparaiso, Memphis State, Illinois, UCLA), born in Browning, Missouri (d. 2012)
1958 – Reginald “Reg” E. Cathey, American actor (The Wire, Oz, House of Cards), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 2018)
1970 – Robert Higginson, American baseball outfielder (Detroit Tigers), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1981 – Jon Schneck, American rock guitarist (Relient K, 2005-present), born in Eustis, Florida

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Famous Deaths

1276 – Adrian V [Ottobono Fieschi], Italian Pope (7/11-8/18/1276), dies
1994 – Judy Ann Scott-Fox, literary agent, dies at 56
2001 – David Peakall, British scientist (b. 1931)
2018 – Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat and 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997-2006), dies at 80
2018 – Peter Tapsell, British Conservative Party politician (Member of Parliament, 1959-64 and 1966-2015), dies at 88
2020 – Glenn Bassett, American tennis coach (UCLA 1967-93; 7 x NCAA C’ships), dies at 93

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Historical Events

682 – Leo II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1858 – 1st bank in Hawaii opens
1959 – 7.1 quake strikes Yellowstone National Park
1988 – US Republicans nominate George H. W. Bush for President
2008 – Jamaica dominates the 100m at the Beijing Olympics with Shelly-Ann Fraser taking the gold medal in 10.78; her teammates Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart dead-heat for silver in 10.98
2015 – Bomb blast in Bangkok at Erawan Shrine kills at least 19, injures over 100

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Famous Birthdays

1913 – Rudy York, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers), born in Ragland, Alabama (d. 1970)
1932 – V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian-British writer (In a Free State, Middle Passage), born in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2018)
1938 – Abu Bakar Bashir, Indonesian Muslim cleric, born in Jombang, Dutch East Indies
1947 – Francine Hughes Wilson, American domestic abuse victim “The Burning Bed” who changed pubic perceptions, born in Stockbridge, Michigan (d. 2017)
1984 – Dee Brown, American basketball player (2005 Sporting News National Player of the Year), born in Jackson, Mississippi
2003 – The Kid Laroi [Charlton Howard], Australian singer-songwriter (Without You), born in Waterloo, Australia

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Famous Deaths

1153 – Eustace IV of Boulogne, son of Stephen of England (b. 1130)
1838 – Lorenzo Da Ponte [Emanuele Conegliano], Italian-American librettist (Don Giovanni; Cosi Fan Tutti), poet, and libertine priest, dies at 89
1976 – Murvyn Vye [Marvin], American actor (Road to Bali, Bob Cummings Show), dies of natural causes at 63
2004 – Gérard Souzay, French baritone, dies at 85
2007 – Bill Deedes, British journalist and politician (b. 1913)
2023 – Gary Young, American rock drummer (Pavement), dies at 70

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Historical Events

1864 – Federal assault on 4th day of battle at Deep Bottom Run, Virginia
1890 – Alexander Clark, journalist and lawyer, named minister to Liberia
1921 – Members of the Dail (parliament) swear allegiance to the Irish Republic at their first meeting, held at Dublin House
1993 – The Debian distribution first announced by Ian Murdock, a student at Purdue University (Murdock initially called his system the “Debian Linux Release”)
2017 – Philippine police kill 32 in raids near Manilia, most deadly night in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs
2023 – The Northwest Territories in Canada declare a state of emergency due to wildfires and order an evacuation of the city of Yellowknife, affecting 22,000 people

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Famous Birthdays

1860 – Lord Hawke [Martin Hawke], English cricket batsman (5 Tests; Yorkshire CCC, Cambridge Uni CC, MCC), born in Willingham by Stow, England (d. 1938)
1862 – Amos Alonzo Stagg, American athlete and American football pioneer, born in West Orange, New Jersey (d. 1965)
1937 – David Behrman, American composer (On The Other Ocean), born in Salzburg, Austria
1946 – Lesley Ann Warren, American actress (Cinderella, Mission Impossible), born in New York City
1952 – Mahes Goonatillake, cricketer (Sri Lankan keeper in their 1st 5 Tests)
1985 – Agnes Bruckner, American actress, born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

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Famous Deaths

1445 – Margaret of Scotland (Dauphine of France), wife of the future King Louis XI (b. 1424)
1938 – Andrej Hlinka, Slovak politician and Catholic priest, dies at 1938
1952 – Lydia Field Emmet, American painter (b. 1866)
1991 – Stuart Karl, CEO (Karl Home Video), dies at 38 of skin cancer
2015 – Jacob Bekenstein, American-Israeli theoretical physicist (Bekenstein-Hawking radiation), dies of a heart attack at 68
2017 – David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort, British aristocrat, art dealer, and peer, dies at 89

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Historical Events

1858 – Regular US mail to the Pacific coast begins
1964 – WEWS-TV in Cleveland, Ohio first airs “The Big 5 Show”, a teen dance and music program later syndicated as “Upbeat”
1968 – Pirate Radio Free London begins transmitting
1974 – Hurricane and floods ravage Bangladesh, 4,000 killed
1975 – Army officers in Bangladesh stage a military coup d’état, assassinate elected President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most members of his family and install Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad as President
1979 – Andrew Young resigns as US ambassador to the United Nations

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Famous Birthdays

1780 – Marie-Anne Gaboury, French-Canadian settler (first white woman to settle in Western Canada), born in Maskinongé, Quebec (d. 1875)
1879 – Ethel Barrymore [Blythe], American classic film and stage actress (Constant Wife, Corn is Green), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1959)
1934 – Georgy Garanian, Armenian-Russian jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer, born in Moscow, USSR (d. 2010)
1943 – Eni Faleomavaega, American-Samoan politician (3rd Lieutenant Governor of American Samoa), born in Vailoatai, American Samoa (d. 2017)
1954 – Mary Jo Salter, American poet and co-editor of The Norton Anthology of Poetry, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan
1969 – James Black, Canadian NHL center, 1989-2001 (Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Capitals, and 4 other teams), born in Regina, Saskatchewan

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Famous Deaths

423 – Flavius Honorius, Western Roman Republic emperor (395-423), dies at 38
1118 – Alexius I Comnenus [Alexios I Komnenos], Emperor of Byzantium (1081-1118), dies
1552 – Hermann of Wied, German Catholic archbishop (b. 1477)
1967 – René Magritte, Belgian surrealist painter (This is Not a Pipe), dies at 68
1971 – Thomas Wayne, American rockabilly singer (“Tragedy”), dies in a car accident at 31
1991 – Marietta Tree, American diplomat and ambassador (1st woman to serve as chief U.S. delegate to the UN in 1961), dies at 74

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Historical Events

1183 – Taira no Munemori and Taira clan take young Emperor Antoku and 3 sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape Minamoto clan (Traditional Japanese date: 25th Day of the 7th Month of the 2nd Year of Juei).
1813 – British warship Pelican attacks and captures US war brigantine Argus
1825 – Dutch King William I expels foreign students
1976 – 10,000 Northern Ireland women demonstrate for peace in Belfast
1980 – Democratic Convention in NYC nominates Jimmy Carter for president and Walter Mondale for vice president
2015 – Most extensive face transplant surgery ever performed on Patrick Hardison by Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez at New York University Langone Medical Center

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Famous Birthdays

1626 – Daniel Elsevier, Dutch book publisher, born in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherland (d. 1680)
1836 – Walter Besant, English writer and philanthropist (Rebel Queen), born in Portsmouth, Hampshire (d. 1901)
1868 – Leone Sinigaglia, Italian composer, born in Turin, Italy (d. 1944)
1928 – Lina Wertmüller [Arcangela Braueich], Italian screenwriter, film director, and 1st woman nominated for an Academy Award for Directing (Seven Beauties), born in Rome, Italy
1968 – Adrian Lester, English actor, born in Birmingham, United Kingdom
1971 – Pramodaya Wickremasinhghe, Sri Lankan cricketer (Sri Lankan fast-medium bowler), born in Matara, Sri Lanka

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Famous Deaths

1390 – John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, English soldier, dies at 26
1913 – Josephine Cochrane, American inventor (automatic dishwasher), dies of a stroke at 74
1954 – Hugo Eckener, German inventor and commander of the famous Graf Zeppelin during its record-setting flights, dies at 86
1974 – Raymond Budd, South African trade unionist
1994 – Alice Childress, American playwright, actress and writer, dies at 77
1995 – Joseph Fattorini, businessman, dies at 82

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Historical Events

1908 – King Edward VII of Great Britain meets with Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria at Ischl; the King tries to persuade the Emperor to advise Germany against aggressive (anti-British) policies
1944 – British 8th Army occupies Florence
1987 – Jackie Joyner-Kersee ties world record with 24’5½” jump
1992 – Revival of Tom Stoppard’s play “The Real Inspector Hound” opens at Criterion Center Stage Right, New York, NYC; runs for 61 performances
2015 – 76 people are killed and 212 are wounded by an ISIL truck bomb in Baghdad, Iraq
2020 – Israel strikes historic deal with the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations, Israel suspends plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank

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Famous Birthdays

1898 – Jean Borotra, French tennis player (Wimbledon 1924, 26), born in Biarritz, France (d. 1994)
1902 – Felix Wankel, German inventor (Wankel rotary-piston engine), born in Lahr, Germany (d. 1988)
1912 – Rita Johnson, American actress (Honolulu, All Mine to Give), born in Worcester, Massachusetts (d. 1965)
1949 – Sheralee, American vocalist (Your Hit Parade, 1974-75), born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
1971 – Vernell Brown Jr., American jazz and RandB pianist, composer, arranger (Kenny Garrett Quintet), born in Las Angeles, California
1982 – Sarah Huckabee Sanders, American political operative and politician (Trump White House Press Secretary 2017-19, 1st Female Governor of Arkansas 2023-), born in Hope, Arkansas

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Famous Deaths

1860 – Danillo II, ruler of Montenegro, dies
1918 – Luther Gulick, American Basketball Hall of Fame contributor (basketball pioneer; international official), dies at 53
1948 – Edwin Maxwell, Irish actor (Taming of the Shrew), dies at 62
1958 – Otto Witte, acrobat and, purportedly, King of Albania (b. 1868)
1959 – Henri Garat [Garascu], French actor (Congress Dances), and singer (“Les dieux s’amusent”), dies at 57
2008 – Jack Weil, American oldest working CEO (Rockmount Ranch Wear), dies at 107

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Historical Events

1553 – Pope Julius III orders confiscation and burning of Jewish Talmud
1973 – WPBA National Championship won by Betty Morris
1979 – “Whoopee!” closes at ANTA Theater NYC after 204 performances
1980 – Signature of the Montevideo Treaty establishing the Latin American Integration Association.
2021 – US Census reveal country grown more diverse, growth in Hispanic (+23%) and Asian (+36%) populations, 1st ever decline in white population (-2.6%)
2022 – British author Salman Rushdie attacked and repeatedly stabbed on stage prior to giving a lecture at Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York

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Famous Birthdays

1751 – Johann Baptist Lasser, German composer, born in Steinkirchen, Electorate of Bavaria (d. 1805)
1915 – Alex Wojciechowicz, American College/Pro Football HOF center, linebacker (Fordham Uni; NFL C’ship 1948, 49; First-team All-Pro 1939, 44; NFL 1940s All-Decade Team; Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles), born in South River, New Jersey (d. 1992)
1915 – Michael Kidd, American choreographer and dancer, born in New York City (d. 2007)
1977 – Iva Majoli, Croatian tennis player (1996 Pan Pacific), born in Zagreb, Croatia
1983 – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Dutch footballer
1999 – Matthijs de Ligt, Dutch football player (Bayern Munich, Netherlands), born in Leiderdorp, Netherlands

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Famous Deaths

1546 – Francisco de Vitoria, Spanish theologian and lawyer, dies
1689 – Innocent XI [Benedetto Odescalchi], Italian, Pope (1676-89), dies at 78
1864 – Sakuma Shōzan, Japanese reformer (b. 1811)
1943 – Georges Martin Witkowski, composer, dies at 76
1973 – Karl Ziegler, German chemist and Nobel Laureate (polymers), dies at 74
2021 – Una Stubbs, English actress (Till Death Us Do Part; Sherlock – “Mrs. Hudson”), dies at 84

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Historical Events

1940 – German air raid on British ports Portland and Weymouth
1944 – British premier Winston Churchill arrives in Italy
1950 – King Boudouin I takes oath as royal prince of Belgium
1971 – Harmon Killebrew hits HRs #500 and 501
1985 – Challenger flies to Kennedy Space Center via Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz
2009 – “Need You Now” album released by Lady Antebellum (Billboard Album of the Year 2010)

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Famous Birthdays

1833 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American writer, orator and agnostic, born in Dresden, New York (d. 1899)
1929 – Cora de Man-Canne Meyer, Dutch mezzo-soprano (Figaro, Carmen), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 2020)
1933 – Justin Connolly [D’Arcy-Dawson], British classical and electro-acoustic composer (Diaphony; The Garden of Forking Paths), and educator, born in London, England (d. 2020)
1936 – Jim Thompson, English Bishop of Bath and Wells and “Thought for the Day” contributor, born in Birmingham, England (d. 2003)
1938 – Rainer Boesch, Swiss pianist, composer, improviser, and teacher, born in Männedorf, Switzerland (d. 2014)
1968 – Veda Hille, Canadian experimental pop singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and accordionist, born in Vancouver, British Columbia

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Famous Deaths

1578 – Pedro Nunes [Nonius], Port mathematician/astronomer (nonius), dies
1857 – Marshall Hall, English physician, physiologist and early neurologist (physiology of reflex function), dies of a throat infection at 67
1984 – Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian-German chess player, dies at 67
1995 – Douglas John Gorman, British businessman (Chairman of CMG (Computer Management Group)), dies at 58
2008 – George Furth, American actor and director (Tammy, Good Guys, Dumplings), dies at 75
2023 – Tom Jones, American musical theatre lyricist (The Fantasticks; 110 In the Shade), dies of cancer at 95

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