Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1929 – ENKA/Vereinigte Glanzstoff Factory merge AKU (Genl Kunstzijde Union)
1946 – Fred Allen’s last radio show, his guest is Jack Benny
1994 – 107°F (41.6°C) at Albuquerque, New Mexico
2019 – Two US Florida towns pay hackers considerable ransom to unfreeze their computer systems; Riviera Beach $600,00 and Lake City $500,000
2024 – Outgoing Dutch PM Mark Rutte is appointed as the next NATO Secretary General

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Famous Birthdays

1873 – George Walker, American vaudevillian, stage actor, and producer, born in Lawrence, Kansas (d. 1911)
1888 – Paul Niggli, Swiss mineralogist (crystal structures), born in Zonfingen, Switzerland (d. 1953)
1929 – Francesco Cossiga, Italian politician and 8th President of the Italian Republic (1985-92), born in Sassari, Kingdom of Italy (d. 2010)
1945 – Dwight York, Nuwaubian leader (Nuwaubian Nation), born in Boston, Massachusetts
1971 – Carlton Gray, American NFL cornerback (Seattle Seahawks, Indianapolis Colts), born in Cincinnati, Ohio

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Famous Deaths

1960 – Henrik Shipstead, American Senator (1923-1947), who opposed foreign intervention, dies at 79
1994 – Bob den Doolaard, Dutch author and journalist (Inn with the horseshoe), dies at 93
1997 – William Turnbull Jr., American architect who helped design the Sea Ranch, dies of cancer at 62
2000 – Logan Ramsey, American actor (Head, Joy Sticks, Say Yes), dies of a heart attack at 79
2020 – Theo Foley, Irish soccer defender (9 caps, Republic of Ireland; Burnley, Charlton Athletic) and manager (Northampton Town), dies at 83

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Historical Events

1912 – British Open Men’s Golf, Muirfield: Ted Ray wins wire-to-wire by 4 shots from defending champion Harry Vardon
1919 – Revolt of Spartacus in Hamburg
1934 – NY Yankee Lou Gehrig hits for the cycle beating White Sox 11-2
2018 – Californian Governor Jerry Brown declares State of Emergency for wildfire spread over 8,200 acres in Lake County
2023 – Greek voters re-elect Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy Party by a landslide

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Famous Birthdays

1612 – John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1634)
1863 – Émile Francqui, Belgian soldier and diplomat, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1935)
1942 – Joe Chambers, American jazz drummer, vibraphonist, and composer, born in Chester, Pennsylvania
1964 – Dell Curry, American basketball guard and broadcaster (NBA Sixth Man of The Year 1994; Charlotte Hornets all-time points leader [9,839]), born in Harrisonburg, Virginia
2004 – Mikhail Shaidorov, Kazakhstani figure skater (2026 Olympic Champion, World silver medalist, Four Continents champion), second Kazakhstani athlete to win gold at a Winter Olympics, born in Almaty, Kazakhstan

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Famous Deaths

1514 – Berta Jacobsdr [Suster Bertken], Dutch hermit, dies at 87
1960 – Tommy Corcoran, American baseball shortstop (MLB shortstop game assist record 14), dies at 91
1978 – Barry Brown, American actor (Frederick Winterbourne-Daisy Miller), dies at 27
2009 – Michael Jackson, American recording artist, dancer and King of Pop (“Thriller”; “Billie Jean”; “Bad”), dies of cardiac arrest at 50
2022 – Bill Woolsey, American swimmer (Olympic gold men’s 4×200m freestyle relay 1952, silver 1956), dies at 87

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Historical Events

1396 – Crusaders under Earl of Nevers reach Vienna
1472 – Byzantine princess Sophia Palaiologina departs Rome with a large entourage for Moscow to marry Ivan III
1619 – Tsar Michail’s father Filaret becomes patriarch of Moscow
1947 – Flying saucers sighted over Mount Rainier by pilot Ken Arnold
1963 – First demonstration of a home video recorder at BBC Studios in London

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Famous Birthdays

1788 – Thomas Blanchard, American machinist and inventor, born in Sutton, Massachusetts (d. 1864)
1916 – Saloua Raouda Choucair, Lebanese abstract artist (Movement of the Angle; Infinite Module), born in Beirut, Lebanon (d. 2017)
1939 – Brigitte Fontaine, French pop and avant-garde singer-songwriter, playwright, and novelist, born in Morlaix, France
1960 – Juli Inkster, American golfer (7 LPGA major titles; US Open 1999, 2002), born in Santa Cruz, California
1985 – Yukina Shirakawa, Japanese gravure idol, born in Shizuoka, Japan

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Famous Deaths

1572 – Cornelis van Diest, Dutch lay brother of Enkhuizen, hanged
1913 – Frank Lynes, American composer, dies at 55
1962 – Volfgangs Dārziņš, Latvian composer, pianist, folklorist, and music critic, dies at 54
2005 – Paul Winchell (Wilchinsky), American ventriloquist (Jerry Mahoney, Knucklehead Smiff), inventor (mechanical artificial human heart,1963), voice actor (Winnie the Pooh – “Tigger”; Dick Dastardly; The Banana Splits -“Fleegle”), and acupuncturist, dies at 82
2009 – Roméo LeBlanc, Canadian politician, 25th Governor General of Canada (1995-99), dies at 81

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Historical Events

1906 – US National Championship Women’s Tennis, Philadelphia CC: Helen Homans beats Maud Barger-Wallach 6-4, 6-3 for her lone major singles title
1927 – New York future Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman Lou Gehrig hits 3 HRs in Yankees’ 11-4 victory over Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park
1975 – Rocker Alice Cooper falls off the stage in Vancouver and breaks six ribs
1983 – US Supreme Court ruled Congress could not veto presidential decisions
2010 – Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, England opens: Gorillaz, Muse, and Stevie Wonder headline; other performers include Vampire Weekend, Snoop Dogg; Shakira, Willie Nelson, Ray Davies and The Pet Shop Boys

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Famous Birthdays

1668 – Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher and historian (New Science), born in Naples, Kingdom of Naples (d. 1744)
1824 – Carl Reinecke, German pianist, composer and teacher (Undine Sonata), born in Altona, Duchy of Holstein, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1910)
1859 – Florentinus M Wibaut, Amsterdams social alderman (building of houses), born in Vlissingen, Netherlands (d. 1936)
1943 – James Levine, American conductor (Metropolitan Opera, 1976-2017), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 2021)
1972 – Selma Blair, American actress (Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde), born in Southfield, Michigan

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Famous Deaths

1956 – Reinhold Glière, Russian-Soviet composer, dies at 81
1996 – Ray Lindwall, Australian cricket fast bowler (61 Tests, 228 wickets @ 23.03), dies from a stroke at 74
1997 – Betty Shabazz, American educator and civil rights activist who was the widow of Malcolm X, dies from burns suffered in a fire started by her young grandson at 63
2006 – Aaron Spelling, American television producer (Charlie’s Angels, Dynasty), dies at 83
2019 – Dave Bartholomew, American RandB, rock, and jazz musician, composer, producer, and songwriter (“I Hear You Knocking”; “Ain’t That A Shame”; “Walkin’ To New Orleans”), dies at 100

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Historical Events

1812 – Upon learning of plans by the Americans to execute a surprise attack, Laura Secord walks 32 km to warn British troops, results in a British surprise victory at the Battle of Beaver Dams
1936 – Virgin Islands receives a constitution from US (Organic Act)
1959 – Vanguard SLV-6 launched for Earth orbit (fails)
1977 – Walt Disney’s animated film “The Rescuers” is released, first Disney film to get a sequel
2002 – WLAF World Bowl 10, Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf: Berlin Thunder beats Rhein Fire, 26-20

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Famous Birthdays

1888 – Harold Burton, American politician (Rep (R) Ohio 1941-45), U.S. Supreme Court justice, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1964)
1937 – Bernie McGann, Australian jazz alto saxophone player and composer, born in Granville, Australia (d. 2013)
1939 – Don Matthews, American CFL HOF coach (Grey Cup 1985 BC Lions, 1995 Baltimore Stallions, 1996-97 Toronto Argonauts, 2002 Montreal Alouettes), born in Amesbury, Massachusetts (d. 2017)
1944 – Michael Obst, German coxsman (Olympic gold 1960), born in German FR
1952 – Graham Greene, First Nations actor (Dances with Wolves; The Green Mile; Leonard on “Northern Exposure”), born in Ohsweken, Six Nations Reserve, Ontario (d. 2025)

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Famous Deaths

1535 – John Fisher, English Catholic clergyman (Bishop of Rochester, 1504-35; Cardinal, 1535), martyr, and saint, executed and beheaded by order of Henry VIII at about 65
1984 – (Dillwyn) “Dill” Jones, Welsh jazz stride pianist, dies of throat cancer at 60
1992 – Chuck Mitchell, American actor (General Hospital, Porky’s, Better Off Dead), dies at 64
2015 – James Horner, American Academy Award-winning film composer (Titanic; Apollo 13; Avatar), dies in a plane crash at 61
2017 – Hervé Filion, Canadian harness racing driver (World Driving C’ship 1970; Harness Tracks of America Driver of the Year 1969-74, 76, 78, 81, 89), dies of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 77

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Historical Events

1547 – Great fire in Moscow, a third of the largely wooden city destroyed and 2-3,000 killed
1788 – US Constitution comes into effect when New Hampshire is the 9th state to ratify it
1948 – Lord Mountbatten resigns as Governor General of India (formerly the last Viceroy)
2000 – US Senator Daniel K. Inouye and 19 other Japanese-American WWII veterans of the 442nd Regiment belatedly awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton
2001 – Mexican artist Frida Kahlo becomes the first Hispanic woman honored on a US postage stamp

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Famous Birthdays

1823 – Jean Chacornac, French astronomer, born in Lyon, France (d. 1873)
1880 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, British civil servant, industrialist, economist, statistician and banker, born in Hampstead, London (d. 1941)
1916 – Joe Bamford, British manufacturer and multi-millionaire, born in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England (d. 2001)
1947 – Lex van Delden, Dutch actor (Soldier of Orange), born in Amsterdam (d. 2010)
1995 – Andrew Dismukes, American comedian, actor, and writer (Saturday Night Live, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy), born in Houston, Texas

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Famous Deaths

1631 – John Smith, English explorer (Chesapeake Bay, New England) and leader of the Virginia Colony (Jamestown), dies at 51
1865 – Frances Adeline Seward, American First Lady of New York (1839-42) and wife of US Secretary of State William H. Seward, dies of a heart attack at 59
1964 – Andrew Goodman, US civil rights activist, murdered at 20
1995 – Laurence McKinley Gould, American Geologist and Polar Explorer who was chief scientist and second-in-command on the first expedition to the interior of Antarctica in 1929, dies at 98
2023 – Ronnie Nolan, Irish soccer wing-half (33 caps League of Ireland XI, 10 Republic of Ireland; Shamrock Rovers 297 games), dies at 89

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Historical Events

1632 – Britain grants Lord Baltimore rights to Chesapeake Bay area
1895 – First woman to earn a PhD in Physics from an American university, Caroline Willard Baldwin (25), receives her degree from Cornell University
1943 – Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) founded in Chicago
1968 – Austin Currie, then Nationalist Member of Parliament (MP) at Stormont, and other Irish civil rights activists, protest discrimination in the allocation of housing by ‘squatting’ (illegally occupying) in a house in Caledon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
2012 – A Syrian fighter pilot lands in Jordan and defects from the Syrian uprising

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Famous Birthdays

1756 – Joseph Martin Kraus, German-Swedish composer, known as “the Swedish Mozart”, conductor, and pedagogue, born in Miltenberg am Main, Electorate of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1792)
1868 – Helen Miller Shepard, American philanthropist who established Hall of Fame, born in Manhattan, New York (d. 1938)
1894 – George Delacorte, American philanthropist and publisher (Dell Books), born in New York City (d. 1991)
1894 – Lloyd Hall, African-American chemist and pioneer in food chemistry (science of food preservation), born in Elgin, Illinois (d. 1971)
1947 – Candace “Candy” Clark, American actress (Man Who Fell to Earth, Q, American Graffiti), born in Norman, Oklahoma

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Famous Deaths

1846 – Pieter Adams, architect of Rotterdam, dies at about 67
1958 – Kurt Alder, German chemist (Nobel 1950), dies at 55
1960 – Mahlon Hamilton, American actor (Peg O’My Heart, High School Girl), dies at 80 (b. 1880)
2016 – James Victor, Dominican-American actor (Boulevard Night, Streets of LA), dies at 76
2021 – Luis del Sol, Spanish soccer midfielder (16 caps; Betis, Real Madrid, Juventus, Roma) and manager (Betis), dies at 86

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Historical Events

1868 – Major General E. R. S. Canby removes mayor of Columbia, South Carolina
1914 – British Open Men’s Golf, Prestwick GC: Harry Vardon of Jersey wins a record 6th Open Championship, 3 strokes ahead of defending champion J.H. Taylor
1976 – US Viking 1 goes into Martian orbit after 10-month flight from Earth
1977 – Pope Paul VI makes 19th-cen bishop John Neumann 1st US male saint
2017 – Record 65.6 million people displaced around the world in 2016 reported by UN refugee agency

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Famous Birthdays

1919 – Pauline Kael, American film critic (NY Times, For Keeps), born in Petaluma, California (d. 2001)
1925 – Alfred Nzo, South African General Secretary of the ANC (1969-91), born in Benoni, Transvaal, South Africa (d. 2000)
1964 – Bill Barretta, American puppeteer, producer, writer, and actor (Sesame Street; Pepe the King Prawn, The Swedish Chef, and Rowlf the Dog in “The Muppet Show”), born in Yardley, Pennsylvania
1967 – Bjørn Dæhlie, Norwegian cross-country skier and 8x Olympic gold medalist, born in Elverum, Norway
1978 – Garfield, American fictional cat created by Jim Davis (Garfield comic strip), born in Mamma Leoni’s Italian Restaurant

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Famous Deaths

1650 – Matthäus Merian, Swiss engraver (b. 1593)
1820 – Joseph Banks, British botanist and naturalist who accompanied James Cook on board the Endeavour, dies at 77
1984 – Lee Krasner [Lena Krassner], American abstract expressionist painter, dies at 75
1994 – Jocelyn Hambro, British financier (Hambros Bank), dies at 75
1996 – Vivian Ellis, English composer, dies at 91

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Historical Events

1960 – San Francisco Giants hire Tom Sheehan to replace Bill Rigney; baseball’s oldest debuting manager (66) goes 46-50-2 for remainder of season
1963 – 3,000 blacks boycott Boston public school to protest de facto segregation
2006 – US Open Men’s Golf, Winged Foot GC: Geoff Ogilvy of Australia makes clutch pars on the final 2 holes to win by 1, as runners-up Jim Furyk, Colin Montgomerie and Phil Mickelson all fail to par the 72nd hole
2014 – King Juan Carlos I of Spain abdicates the Spanish throne to make way for his son Felipe VI
2019 – England cricket captain Eoin Morgan smashes a ODI world record 17 sixes against Afghanistan in his side’s 150-run World Cup victory at Old Trafford; Morgan, 148 from 71 balls

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Famous Birthdays

1919 – Ted Leadbitter, British politician (Labour), born in Easington, England (d. 1996)
1929 – James Bishop, English editor (deputy editor of The Times), born in London, England (d. 2017)
1946 – Russell Ash, British author (‘the human Google’), born in Surrey, England
1947 – Bernard Giraudeau, French actor (L’Annee des Meduses), screenwriter, and director, born in La Rochelle, France (d. 2010)
1971 – Nigel Owens, Welsh rugby union referee (record holder for most Test matches refereed 100), born in Mynyddcerrig, Wales

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Famous Deaths

1580 – Juliana van Stolberg, German countess, mother of William of Orange and Jan Nassau, dies at 74
1911 – Franjo Ksaver Kuhač, Croatian composer who collected and published 1,600 folk songs, dies at 76
1959 – Ethel Barrymore [Blythe], American classic film and stage actress (Constant Wife, Corn is Green), dies at 79
1961 – Eddie Gaedel, American baseball pinch-hitter (shortest player in MLB history 3′ 7″; St. Louis Browns), dies after mugging at 36
1981 – Richard Goolden, British actor (Two Days to Live, School for Husbands), dies at 86

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Historical Events

1700 – Massachusetts orders priest to leave the colony
1769 – Design of Madonnina statue chosen, symbol of the city of Milan that stands atop spire of the Cathedral, designed by sculptor Giuseppe Perego
1837 – Charles Goodyear obtains his first rubber patent
1950 – 1st kidney transplant (Chicago)
1966 – Peter Green, British blues-rock guitartist joins John Mayall’s Bluebreakers

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Famous Birthdays

1907 – Charles Eames, American designer and architect, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1978)
1920 – Jacob H. Gilbert, American politician (US Representative 1960-1971), born in The Bronx, NYC, New York (d. 1981)
1950 – Susan Damante, American actress (The Adventure of Wilderness Family), born in Palo Alto, California
1969 – Paul Tergat, Kenyan long distance runner, born in Riwo, Baringo District, Kenya
1970 – Ron “Popeye” Jones, American NBA forward, 1992-2004 (Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors, and 4 other teams), and assistant coach, 2013-present (4 teams), born in Dresden, Tennessee

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Famous Deaths

1501 – John I Albert [Jan I Olbracht], Polish sovereign (King of Poland, 1492-1501; Duke of Głogów, 1491-98), dies at 41
1565 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, 13th Japanese shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate (1545-65), dies at 29
1797 – Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, King of Iran (1794-7) and founder of the Qajar dynasty, assassinated at 55
2002 – J. Carter Brown, American art director (Washington National Gallery), dies at 67
2005 – Ronald Winans, American gospel singer (Winans), dies at 48

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