Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1875 – English FA Cup Final, Kennington Oval, London: Royal Engineers and Old Etonians draw 1-1; replay won by Engineers, 2-0
1938 – In a process known as Anschluss, Austria is annexed into Nazi Germany
1986 – Microsoft has its Initial public offering.
1992 – An earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter scale kills over 500 in Erzincan, eastern Turkey.
2005 – 52nd ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament: #3 Duke beats Georgia Tech, 69-64
2019 – Home of civil rights activists Medgar and Myrlie Evers established as a national monument in Jackson, Mississippi, by President Donald Trump

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Famous Birthdays

1955 – John Hackett, British rock, classical, and new age flautist, born in Pimlico, London, England
1959 – Ronnie Rogers, British guitarist (T’Pau-Heart and Soul), born in Shrewsbury, England
1963 – Vance Johnson, American NFL wide receiver (Denver Broncos), born in Trenton, New Jersey
1970 – Tim Story, American film director and producer (The Story Company), born in Los Angeles, California
1972 – Trent Dilfer, American football quarterback (Super Bowl XXXV Baltimore Ravens; Pro Bowl 1997 TB Bucs), born in Santa Cruz, California
1979 – Cedric Van Branteghem, Belgian athlete, born in Ghent, Belgium

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Famous Deaths

1925 – Lucille Ricksen [Ingeborg Ericksen], American silent-film actress, dies of tuberculosis 14
1941 – Elizabeth Madox Roberts, American poet and novelist (The Time of Man), dies at 54
1946 – Abraham Bredius, Dutch art historian (Rembrandt), dies at 90
1992 – Clarence Wright, English actor and singer, dies at 84
1994 – Joop Swart, Dutch journalist, photographer, and publisher (founder of World Press Photo), dies at 69
2001 – John A. Alonzo, American cinematographer (pioneered handheld work, lighting techniques and HD video development), dies at 66

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Historical Events

1976 – South African troops leave Angola
1981 – Stephen Sondheim’s musical revue “Marry Me a Little” premieres in NYC
1985 – Larry Bird scores Boston Celtic record 60 points
1987 – David Robinson scores 50 points in a NCAA basketball game
1995 – 36th SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament: Kentucky beats Arkansas, 95-93 (OT)
2012 – “The Hunger Games” directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Jennifer Lawrence premieres in Los Angeles

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Famous Birthdays

1647 – Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (d. 1727)
1911 – Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, Mexican politician (President of Mexico 1964-70), born in San Andrés Chalchicomula, Mexico (d. 1979)
1922 – Jack Kerouac, American novelist and poet of the Beat Generation (On the Road, Mexico Blues), born in Lowell, Massachusetts (d. 1969)
1929 – Francisco Pulgar Vidal, Peruvian musicologist and composer, born in Huánuco, Peru (d. 2012)
1948 – Dana Walden, American RandB keyboardist (Champaign – “How ‘Bout Us”), born in Champaign, Illinois
1952 – Naomi Shihab Nye, Arab-American poet (Yellow Glove; Red Suitcase), novelist (Habibi), and songwriter, born in St. Louis, Missouri

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Famous Deaths

1608 – Koriki Kiyonaga, Japanese warlord (b. 1530)
1721 – Jan Luyts, Dutch physicist and mathematician, dies at 65
1989 – Maurice Evans, British actor (Planet of the Apes; Bewitched), dies at 87
1992 – Barbara Morrison, British actress (Project Moonbase; From Here To Eternity), dies of heart failure at 84
1992 – Salvatore “Salvo” Lima, Italian politician (Mayor of Palermo, 1958-63 and 65-66; Member of European Parliament, 1979-92) assassinated by the Mafia at 64
1992 – Ida Oosterbaan, Dutch founder (Women Action Committee), dies

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Historical Events

1865 – Battle of Kingston, North Carolina (Wilcox’s ridge, Wise’s Forks)
1904 – Australian cricket spin bowler Hugh Trumble dismisses England batsmen Bernard Bosanquet, Plum Warner and Dick Lilley for his second Test hat-trick in 5th Test victory in Melbourne; Trumble’s final Test
1936 – The first stock car race is held in Daytona Beach, Florida.
1942 – Japanese forces capture Rangoon, Burma
1953 – Census indicates 239,000 farmers gave up farming in last 2 years in US
1987 – Nelli Cooman becomes world champion 60m indoor

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Famous Birthdays

1783 – Gottfied Wilhelm Fink, German Protestant clergyman, composer, music theorist, and poet, born in Sulza, Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1846)
1945 – Bruce Broughton, American Emmy Award-winning television and film score composer (Hawaii Five-0; Dallas), born in Los Angeles, California
1954 – Karl Schnabl, 90m ski jumper (Olympic gold 1976)
1974 – Toran James, linebacker (San Diego Chargers)
1979 – Tom Chaplin, British rock singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (Keane), born in Hastings, East Sussex, England
1991 – Devon Werkheiser, American actor

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Famous Deaths

1757 – Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar, dies at 55
1901 – Peter Benoit, Flemish composer (De Leie; Rubens Cantata: Requiem), and conductor, dies at 66
1973 – Gordon Leggat, New Zealand cricket batsman (9 Tests, 2 x 50; Canterbury), dies at 46
2008 – Carol Barnes, British television news journalist (ITN; ITV), dies a few days after suffering a stroke at 63
2020 – Max Von Sydow, Swedish actor (Hawaii, Exorcist, Dune, Game of Thrones), dies at 90
2021 – Julien-François Zbinden, Swiss jazz pianist, and jazz and classical composer (Monophrases), dies at 103

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Historical Events

1832 – Charles Darwin, aboard HMS Beagle, arrives in the town of Salvador in the Brazilian state of Bahia
1847 – US forces numbering less than 1,000 defeat a larger Mexico force in the Battle of the Sacramento River
1944 – Arrests of the ten-Boom family in Nazi occupied Netherlands (Haarlem) through a Dutch collaborator on charges of hiding Jews
1959 – Ice Pairs Championship at Colorado Springs won by Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul of Canada, their 3rd title
1967 – A West German court rules that impostor Anna Anderson failed to prove that she was missing Russian duchess Anastasia Romanov, ending a legal case that lasted almost 30 years
1969 – Ice Dance Championship at Colorado Springs won by Towler and Ford of Great Britain

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Famous Birthdays

1155 – Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England, crowned aged 15 during his father’s lifetime, born in London (d. 1183)
1786 – François Arago, French astronomer, physicist and politician, born in Estagel, France (d. 1853)
1882 – Jose Vasconcelos, politician, essayist, philosopher, born in Oaxaca, Mexico (d. 1959)
1953 – Osmo Vänskä, Finnish clarinetist, conductor (Lahti Symphony, 1988-2008; Minnesota Orchestra, 2003-2022), and composer, born in Sääminki, Finland
1967 – Marcus Lillington, British pop guitarist and keyboard player (Breathe – “Hands to Heaven”), born in Bideford, Devon, England
1978 – Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player, born in Brooklyn, New York

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Famous Deaths

1737 – Hercule Brehy, Flemish composer and organist, dies at 63
1968 – Doretta Morrow, American actress (Because You’re Mine), dies from cancer at 41
1979 – Paul Alverdes, German writer (Pfeiferstube), dies at 81
1994 – Leopoldina Poldi Feichtegger Gerhard, dies at 90
2004 – Gene Allison, American RandB singer (“You Can Make It If You Try”), dies at 69
2023 – Grant Turner, New Zealand soccer midfielder (42 caps; SC Stop Out, Gisborne City AFC), dies from cancer at 64

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Historical Events

1667 – Abraham Crijnssen conquers Fort Willoughby (Zeelandia), Suriname
1901 – National League Rules Committee for baseball decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes except after two strikes
1965 – France performs Underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria
1984 – Carl Lewis jumps world record indoor (8.675 m)
2015 – 70’s glam rocker Gary Glitter (real name Paul Gadd) sentenced to 16 years in prison for various child sex convictions
2018 – Barbra Streisand reveals she has cloned her dog twice

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Famous Birthdays

1858 – Adelaide Hoodless, Canadian educational reformer (founder of the Women’s Institute), born in St George, Canada West (d. 1910)
1904 – André Leducq, French cyclist (Tour de France 1930, 32; Olympic gold road race 1924), born in Saint-Ouen, France (d. 1980)
1910 – Peter De Vries, American author (Reuben, Reuben; The Prick of Noon) and editor (New Yorker), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1993)
1920 – Bob Talley, American jazz and blues pianist and composer (Blues Alley All-Star Band), born in Little Rock, Arkansas (d. 1995)
1947 – Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist (Tchaikovsky Prize, 1970), born in Riga, Latvia
1963 – Pär Nuder, Swedish politician, born in Täby, Sweden

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Famous Deaths

1699 – Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton, English politician (b. c. 1625)
1977 – Allison Hayes, American model and actress (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman), dies of leukemia or lead poisoning at 47
1996 – Sylvia Williams, American museum director and curator (National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution), dies from the effects of a brain aneurysm at 60
1998 – George H. Hitchings, American medical doctor (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1988), dies at 92
2008 – William F. Buckley Jr, American conservative author and commentator (National Review, Firing Line), dies of a heart attack at 82
2019 – Nathaniel Taylor, American actor (Rollo-Sanford and Sons), dies at 80

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Historical Events

1947 – US General Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170M in aid for European Jews
1963 – Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti makes his debut at the Vienna State Opera in Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata”
1971 – US army officer William Calley confesses and implicates Captain Medina during his trial for the My Lai Massacre
1979 – George Harrison releases “George Harrison” album, featuring the single “Blow Away”
1992 – Cricketer Andy Flower scores 115* on ODI debut as Zimbabwe lose to Sri Lanka
2003 – 45th Grammy Awards: “Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones wins

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Famous Birthdays

1881 – Titus Brandsma, Dutch Roman Catholic priest, philosopher (spoke out against Nazi ideology), martyr, and saint, born in Oegeklooster, Netherlands (d. 1942)
1913 – Charles Leonard, American pentathlete (Olympic silver medal 1936), born in Fort Snelling, Minnesota (d. 2006)
1955 – Howard Jones, British rock pianist, and singer-songwriter (Things Can Only Get Better), born in Southampton, England
1958 – David Sylvian [Batt], British songwriter, vocalist, new wave and improvisational rock guitarist (Japan; Rain Tree Crow), born in Beckenham, England
1965 – Kristin Davis, American actress (Melrose Place; Sex and the City), born in Boulder, Colorado
1983 – Aziz Ansari, Indian-American comedian and actor (Parks and Recreation, Master of None), born in Columbia, South Carolina

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Famous Deaths

1507 – Gentile Bellini, Venetian painter (Sultan Mohammed II), dies at about 78 (burial date)
1904 – Mahendralal Sarkar, Indian homeopath doctor and founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, dies at 70
1996 – Joseph W. Barr, American banker and politician (Secretary of the Treasury), dies at 78
1997 – Oscar Lewenstein, British theater impresario (Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera), and film producer (The Knack …and How to Get It), dies of heart failure at 80
2017 – Derek Ibbotson, English 5K runner (Olympic bronze 1956), dies at 84
2023 – John Motson, British football broadcaster (10 x FIFA World Cups; 10 x UEFA European C’ships; 29 x FA Cup finals; BBC, Talksport), dies at 77

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Historical Events

1804 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general who plotted to overthrow Napoleon in the Pichegru Conspiracy, arrested, and exiled to the United States
1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt signs bill into law establishing US Department of Commerce and Labor
1973 – Muhammad Ali beats British heavyweight boxing champion Joe Bugner by unanimous points decision in 12 rounds at Las Vegas Convention Centre
1989 – World’s 1st satellite Skyphone opens
1991 – NL Cy Young winner Doug Drabek wins record $3 mil salary arbitration
1993 – 35th Daytona 500: Dale Jarrett, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, wins from Dale Earnhardt and Geoff Bodine

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Famous Birthdays

1515 – Frederick III, the Pious, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, born in Simmern, Germany (d. 1576)
1941 – Paul Tsongas, American politician (Sen-D-Mass), born in Lowell, Massachusetts (d. 1997)
1945 – Vic Briggs, British guitarist (The Animals, 1966-68), and producer; later known as Antion Vikram Singh, he created Sikhi devotional and Hawaiian music, born in Twickenham, England (d. 2021)
1972 – Drew Bledsoe, American football quarterback (4 × Pro Bowl; NFL passing yards leader 1994 NE Patriots), born in Ellensburg, Washington
1978 – Dean Gaffney, British actor, born in Hammersmith, London
1994 – Paul Butcher, American actor, born in Los Angeles, California

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Famous Deaths

1929 – Tom Burke, American athlete (Olympic gold 100m, 400m 1896), dies at 53
1990 – Graeme Hole, Australian cricket batsman (18 Tests, 6 x 50; NSW CA), dies from cancer at 59
1996 – Lady Caroline Blackwood, British journalist and writer (The Last of the Duchess), dies at 64
1996 – Eva Hart, British Titanic passenger, one of last living survivors, dies at 91
2014 – Ferry Hoogendijk, Dutch politician and editor-in-chief of “Elsevier”, dies at 80
2021 – Ion Mihai Pacepa, Romanian three-star general in the Securitate, who defected to the US, dies of Covid-19 at 92

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Historical Events

1238 – Mongolian forces led by General Batu capture and burn the important Russian city of Vladimir, after an eight-day siege
1839 – Henry Clay declares in Senate “I had rather be right than president”
1907 – The Mud March, first large procession organized by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS)
1950 – United States formally recognizes the State of Vietnam as the legitimate government of Vietnam, with Bảo Đại as leader
2006 – Uma Thurman is named a knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France for outstanding achievement in the field of art and literature
2023 – LeBron James scores 38 points to become NBA’s all-time leading scorer as the Lakers go down 133-130 to Oklahoma City Thunder in Los Angeles; surpasses Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 career points

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Famous Birthdays

1707 – Carl August Thielo, Danish composer, opera director, and court organist, born in Høsterkøb, Denmark (d. 1763)
1812 – Charles Dickens, English writer (“Oliver Twist”; “A Tale of Two Cities”; “A Christmas Carol”), born in Portsmouth, Hampshire (d. 1870)
1920 – Oscar Brand, Canadian-born American folk vocalist (Draw Me A Laugh), born in Winnipeg, Manitoba (d. 2016)
1924 – Johnny Jordaan [Johannes van Musscher], Dutch pop and levenslied singer, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1989)
1953 – Bruce Gaitsch, American session guitarist, songwriter, and record producer (Chicago; Richard Marx; Peter Cetera; Madonna), born in Chicago, Illinois
1983 – Christian Klien, Austrian racing driver

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Famous Deaths

1839 – Karl August Nicander, Swedish poet (b. 1799)
1933 – Albert Apponyi, Hungarian politician (Minister of Religion and Education of Hungary), dies at 86
1938 – Harvey Firestone, American manufacturer and founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, dies at 69
1960 – Igor Kurchatov, Soviet-Russian nuclear physicist who directed the Soviet atomic bomb project, dies of a cardiac embolism at 57 likely caused by radiation poisoning during the catastrophe at Chelyabinsk-40
1991 – Dick Winslow, American actor (Tom Sawyer, Mutiny on the Bounty), dies at 75
2020 – Li Wenliang, Chinese doctor who tried to raise the alarm over COVID-19, dies of COVID-19 in Wuhan at 34

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Historical Events

1922 – Cardinal Achille Ratti elected Pope Pius XI
1973 – Bernice Fekete skips her curling rink to 2nd straight 8-ender, Edmonton, Alberta
1979 – Pakistan Supreme Court affirms the Lahore High Court’s death sentence against former Former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
1988 – USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
2018 – UN calls for ceasefire in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area by Syrian government troops after 40 people reportedly killed
2018 – Maldives President Abdulla Yameen declares state of emergency ordering arrest of two judges

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Famous Birthdays

1897 – Louis Buchalter, Jewish-American mobster (Murder, Inc.), born in New York City (d. 1944)
1911 – Ronald Reagan, 40th US President (Republican: 1981-89) and actor (Bedtime for Bonzo), born in Tampico, Illinois (d. 2004)
1933 – Walter Fauntroy, American pastor and politician (Rep-D-DC, 1971-91), born in Washington, D.C.
1942 – John London, American songwriter and bassist (Michael Nesmith band), born in Brazos County, Texas
1963 – Mike Hough, Canadian NHL left wing (Florida Panthers), born in Montreal, Quebec
1976 – Tanja Frieden, Swiss snowboarder, born in Bern, Switzerland

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Famous Deaths

1859 – Johannes Josephus Viotta, Dutch composer, dies at 45
1958 – Billy Whelan, Irish soccer forward (4 caps, Republic of Ireland; Manchester United 79 games), dies Munich air disaster at 22
1979 – Arthur van Schendel, Dutch art historian, and museum director (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1959-75), dies at 68
1990 – Jane Novak, American silent screen actress (Ghost Town), dies of stroke at 94
1995 – Art Taylor, American jazz drummer (Bud Powell, Red Garland, John Coltrane, Donald Byrd), bandleader (Taylor’s Wailers), and writer (Notes and Tones), dies at 65
2008 – Dieter Noll, German writer (Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt), dies at 80

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Historical Events

702 – Military triumph of Wak Jalam Chan (Lady Six Sky), female ruler of the Maya city of Sa’aal (Naranjo) as depicted on Stela 24 Naranjo
1371 – King Robert II of Scotland (1371-90) is crowned, becoming the first monarch of the House of Stewart
1895 – National Association of Manufacturers organized in Cincinnati
1995 – Palestinian bomb attack in Beit Lid Israel, 21-22 killed
2017 – Jared Kushner is sworn in as Senior Advisor to US President, Donald Trump
2018 – Netflix becomes the largest digital media and entertainment company in the world worth $100 billion

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Famous Birthdays

1893 – Conrad Veidt, German actor (Casablanca, Cabinet of Dr Calgary), born in Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany (d. 1943)
1906 – Willa Brown, American air pioneer (NAAA) and civil rights activist (1st African American woman to hold a pilot’s license), born in Glasgow, Kentucky (d. 1992)
1938 – Corra Dirksen, South African rugby union winger (10 caps; Northern Transvaal), born in Vereeniging, South Africa (d. 2020)
1949 – Mike Caldwell, American baseball player
1968 – Heath [Hiroshi Morie], Japanese rock bassist, singer and songwriter (X Japan), born in Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan (d. 2023)
1969 – Olivia d’Abo, English-American actress (Wonder Years, Single Guy), born in London, England

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Famous Deaths

1552 – Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, English Lord Protector (1547-49) beheaded for treason at 51 or 52
1599 – Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian composer, dies at 51
1982 – Eduardo Frei Montalva, president of Chile (1964-70), dies at 71
1984 – Mikiel Gonzi, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Malta (1944-76), dies at 98
2021 – Luton Shelton, Jamaican soccer striker (75 caps; Vålerenga, Karabükspor, Sheffield United), dies from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at 35
2023 – Nikos Xanthopoulos, Greek actor, dies at 88

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