Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1850 – A Papal bull is issued, establishing the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England
1951 – USSR performs a nuclear test
1975 – OPEC announces a 15% increase in government revenue per barrel
2019 – Nancy Pelosi announces a formal impeachment inquiry into US President Donald Trump, arguing that he tried to enlist a foreign power for his own political gain
2024 – Former US retail giant Kmart confirms it is closing its last full-scale store in mainland US in Bridgehampton, New York

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Famous Birthdays

1801 – Mikhail Ostrogradsky, Russian physicist and mathematician, born in Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1862)
1833 – Henry Alanson Barnum, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Jamesville, New York (d. 1892)
1912 – Donald “Don” Porter, American actor (Gidget, The Ann Sothern Show), born in Miami, Oklahoma (d. 1997)
1939 – Sonny Turner, American singer (The Platters, 1959-70 – “With This Ring”, The Metrotones), born in Fairmont, West Virginia (d. 2022)
1959 – Denis “Piggy” D’Amour, Canadian heavy metal guitarist and songwriter (Voivod), born in Quebec (d. 2005)

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Famous Deaths

768 – Pepin III, the short, King of France, dies at 53
1621 – Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Polish military commander (b. 1560)
1875 – William Walker, American composer (The Southern Harmony), dies at 66
2001 – Sir Ruthven Wade, British Air Chief marshal (Royal Air Force), dies at 81
2017 – Albert Innaurato, American playwright and stage director (Age in Soho; Gemini), dies at 70

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Historical Events

1821 – Fall of Tripolitsa: Greek forces massacre 6,000 to 15,000 Muslim and Jewish civilians during the Greek War of Independence
1982 – Columbia Records releases “The Nylon Curtain,” singer-songwriter Billy Joel’s eighth studio album
1990 – PBS begins an 11-hour miniseries on the Civil War
2017 – US President Donald Trump withdraws invitation to the White House for NBA champions Golden State Warriors after Stephen Curry says he doesn’t want to attend
2024 – Israel launches airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, killing more than 490 people

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Famous Birthdays

1771 – Kōkaku [Morohito], 119th Emperor of Japan (1779-1817), born in Kyōto, Japan (d. 1840)
1897 – Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (Mrs Miniver, Madame Curie), born in Saint John, New Brunswick (d. 1984)
1916 – Aldo Moro, Italian Prime Minister (1963-68 and 1974-76), born in Maglie, Italy (d. 1978)
1984 – Nathan Jendrick, American fitness trainer, health instructor, and author, born in Tacoma, Washington
2002 – Maleah Joi Moon, American Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning singer and stage actress known for “Hell’s Kitchen”, born in Franklin Township, New Jersey

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Famous Deaths

1764 – Robert Dodsley, English writer (b. 1703)
1835 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian opera composer (La Sonnambula, Norma), dies at 33
1987 – O. B. McClinton, American country singer (Man needs a woman), dies at 47
2010 – Malcolm Douglas, Australian conservationist (b. 1941)
2017 – Charles Bradley, American RandB and funk singer, known as ‘The Screaming Eagle of Soul’, dies of stomach cancer at 68

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Historical Events

1905 – US Open Men’s Golf, Myopia Hunt GC: Willie Anderson wins his third consecutive Open title, and his record fourth overall, two strokes ahead of runner-up Alex Smith
1968 – KMTC (now KDEB) TV channel 27 in Springfield, MO (IND) begins broadcasting
1987 – US TV series “Full House,” starring Bob Saget and John Stamos, premieres
1993 – A Transair Georgian Airlines Tu-154 is shot down by a missile in Sukhumi, Georgia
2013 – Angela Merkel and the Christian Democrats win a third term with their best result since 1990 in the German federal elections

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Famous Birthdays

1601 – Anna of Austria, Spanish princess, Austrian archduchess, Queen of France as wife of Louis XIII and regent of France (1643-51) for her son Louis XIV, born in Benavente Palace, Valladolid, Spain (d. 1666)
1822 – Eppa Hunton, American representative and Brigadier-General who fought in most ANV campaigns, born in Warrenton, Virginia (d. 1908)
1931 – Fay Weldon [Franklin Birkinshaw], British feminist, novelist (Praxis; The Lives and Loves of a She-Devil), playwright, and screenwriter, born in Birmingham, England (d. 2023)
1958 – Neil Cavuto, American television commentator (Fox), born in Westbury, New York
1961 – Kofi Burbridge, American blues-rock keyboardist and flute player (Derek Trucks Band, 1999-2019; Tedeschi Trucks Band, 2010-2019), born in The Bronx, New York (d. 2019)

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Famous Deaths

1345 – Henry Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Leicester (b. 1281)
1978 – Lina Carstens, German actress (Homeland, Broken Jug), dies at 85
1993 – Margaret MacDonald ‘Bobo’, Scot-born maid to Queen Elizabeth II, dies at 89
1994 – (John Edward) “Teddy” Buckner, American Dixieland jazz trumpeter, dies at 85
2025 – Henry Jaglom, American actor, screenwriter and director (Last Summer in the Hamptons, Always), dies at 87

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Historical Events

1823 – Moroni first appears to Joseph Smith, according to Smith
1971 – AL OKs Washington Senator move to Arlington (Texas Rangers)
1988 – Mike Tyson smashes TV camera outside his Bernardsville, New Jersey home
2001 – Deep Space 1 flies within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly
2018 – American singer-songwriter Paul Simon closes his “Homeward Bound – The Farewell Tour” at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, NYC

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Famous Birthdays

1809 – Sophia Hawthorne, American writer, painter and illustrator, born in Salem, Massachusetts (d. 1871)
1868 – Olga Knipper, Russian-Soviet stage actress, and wife of Anton Chekhov, born in Glazov, Russian Empire (d. 1959)
1938 – Atli Heimir Sveinsson, Icelandic composer (Time and Water), born in Reykjavik, Iceland (d. 2019)
1970 – Michael O’Shea, Canadian CFL linebacker (Toronto Argonauts), born in North Bay, Ontario
1988 – Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistani politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs, son of PM Benazir Bhutto, born in Karachi, Pakistan

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Famous Deaths

1629 – John Pieterszoon Coen, Dutch merchant and Governor-General of the East Indies, dies at 42
1748 – John Balguy, English clergyman and moral philosopher, dies at 62
1974 – Jacqueline Susann, American author (Valley of the Dolls), dies of cancer at 56
2010 – Geoffrey Burgon, British jazz trumpeter, and film, television and concert composer (City Adventures), dies at 69
2017 – Liliane de Bettencourt, French heir to L’Oreal and richest woman in the world from 2016, dies at 94

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Historical Events

1688 – French troops occupy Palts
1975 – David Bowie’s single “Fame” goes #1 for two weeks
1984 – Suicide car bomb attacks US Embassy annex in Beirut, killing 23
2011 – United States ends its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the armed forces
2014 – New Zealand’s National Government wins a third term in the elections despite allegations of corruption and revelations about state surveillance

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Famous Birthdays

1833 – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian journalist, soldier and pacifist (Nobel Peace Prize 1907), born in Milan, Lombardy (d. 1918)
1922 – Frank Comstock, American big band and pop orchestral arranger (Les Brown; Doris Day; Warner Bros; Brian Setzer), film and television composer (Rocky and His Friends; Adam-12), and recording artist (Project: Comstock – Music from Outer Space), born in San Diego, California (d. 2013)
1967 – Gunnar Nelson, American rock vocalist and guitarist (Nelson – “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection”), born in Santa Monica, California
1968 – Norah Vincent, American journalist and author (Self-Made Man, Voluntary Madness), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 2022)
1990 – John Tavares, Canadian ice hockey player (New York Islanders), born in Mississauga, Ontario

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Famous Deaths

1648 – Ivan Lukačić, Croatian composer, dies at 61
1863 – Benjamin Hardin Helm, American attorney and Confederate brigadier general and Abraham Lincoln’s brother-in-law, dies at the Battle of Chickamauga at 33
1896 – Johan Gottfried Conradi, Norwegian composer, choral conductor, musicologist, and pedagogue (Christiania Borgerskolen, 1860-90), dies at 76
2005 – Tobias Schneebaum, American writer, anthropologist and explorer dies at 83
2025 – Jim Mitchum, American actor (Thunder Road, Blackout), dies at 84

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Historical Events

1870 – Siege of Paris by Prussian forces begins (lasts until January 28, 1871)
1893 – New Zealand becomes the first country to grant all women the right to vote
1912 – Pius X encyclical Singular quadam, against interconfess unions
1981 – Simon and Garfunkel reunite for a concert in Central Park, NYC,
2022 – Banks in Lebanon close for three days after a series of hold-ups by people trying to obtain their own money, frozen amid the country’s economic crisis

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Famous Birthdays

1770 – Johann Georg Repsold, German scientific instrument maker, astronomer, and fireman, born in Wremen, Duchy of Bremen, Holy Roman Empire (now Germany) (d. 1830)
1910 – Arthur Mullard, English actor, comedian and singer (Romany Jones), born in London (d. 1995)
1913 – Helen Ward [Wiltschek], American jazz singer (Benny Goodman Orchestra, 1934-36; Bob Crosby; Harry James), born in New York City (d. 1998)
1959 – Marshall Jefferson, American musician ‘father of house music’ (Move your Body), born in Chicago, Illinois
1998 – Trae Young, American NBA player (Atlanta Hawks), born in Lubbock, Texas

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Famous Deaths

1736 – Feofan Prokopovich, Russian Orthodox theologian and Archbishop of Novgorod, dies at 55
1930 – Hendrik Zwaardemaker, Dutch physiologist (invented the olfactometer), dies at 73
1952 – Giuseppe Zoppi, Swiss writer (Presento il mio Ticino), dies at 56
1986 – Vivian Duncan, American vaudevillian (Duncan Sisters), actress (Topsy and Eva), dies of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at 89
2023 – Buddy Teevens, American college football coach (Dartmouth College 1987-91, 2005-23; Uni of Maine, Tulane Uni, Stanford University), dies from injuries sustained in road accident at 66

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Historical Events

1810 – Chile declares independence from Spain, celebrated today as Chile’s National Day
1990 – A 500-pound, 6-foot Hershey’s Kiss is displayed at 1 Times Square, New York City
1993 – 18th Toronto International Film Festival: “The Snapper,” directed by Stephen Frears, wins the People’s Choice Award
2014 – Eight people (including two children) are shot dead in Bell, Florida
2022 – Hurricane Fiona makes landfall near Punta Tocón on Puerto Rico’s southwest coast as a Category 1 storm with 85 km/h winds, causing catastrophic flooding

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Famous Birthdays

1912 – Sarah Palfrey Cooke, American tennis player (US Nat C’ship 1941, 45), born in Sharon, Massachusetts (d. 1996)
1932 – Nikolay Rukavishnikov, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz 10, 16, 33), born in Tomsk, Russia (d. 2002)
1949 – Kerry Livgren, American progressive rock guitarist and songwriter (Kansas – “Carry On Wayward Son”; “Dust in the Wind”), born in Topeka, Kansas
1953 – Betsy Boze, American academic (9th president of The College of The Bahamas), born in Shreveport, Louisiana
1956 – Chris Hedges, American journalist and author (War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning), born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont

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Famous Deaths

1783 – Benjamin Kennicott, English churchman and Hebrew scholar, dies at 65
1904 – Herbert von Bismarck, German politician, son of Otto, dies at 54
1997 – Harry Boyne, British parliamentary journalist, dies at 87
2017 – Zurab Sotkilava, Soviet Georgian operatic tenor (the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, 1965-74), and pedagogue (Moscow Conservatory), dies of pancreatic cancer at 80
2024 – Rolf Wolfshohl, German road cyclist (Vuelta a España 1965; World Cyclo-cross C’ship 1960, 61, 63), dies at 85

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Historical Events

1961 – Minnesota Vikings’ first NFL game; beat Chicago Bears 37-13
1977 – Dave Kingman hits his first Yankee home run, and Reggie hits two more
1994 – 19th Toronto International Film Festival: “Priest,” directed by Antonia Bird, wins the People’s Choice Award
2004 – Tamil is declared the first classical language of India
2010 – Final episode of soap opera “As the World Turns” is broadcast, ending a 54-year run

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Famous Birthdays

1853 – Clemens Baeumker, German historian (Patristischen Philosophie), born in Paderborn, Germany (d. 1924)
1909 – Kenneth Darling, British Army Commander-in-chief Allied Forces, born in Bengal Presidency, British India (d. 1998)
1923 – John Rigby Hale, British linguist and historian, born in Ashford, Kent (d. 1999)
1965 – Yuji Naka, Japanese video game programmer (Sonic the Hedgehog), born in Hirakata, Japan
1983 – Jennifer Peña, American Tejano/Latin pop singer, born in San Antonio, Texas

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Famous Deaths

1862 – William Edwin Starke, Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at about 48
1984 – Richard Basehart, American actor (Voyage to Bottom of Sea, Rage), dies following several strokes at 70
1994 – Iris Adrian, American actress (Blue Hawaii, Bluebeard), dies at 82
2006 – Al Casey, American rock and session guitarist (Duane Eddy; The Wrecking Crew), dies at 69
2015 – Everett C. Parker, American activist, communications director and founder of the United Church of Christ, dies at 102

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Historical Events

1926 – Hurricane in Florida and Alabama kills 372
1940 – Leo Durocher is suspended from Ebbets Field for “inciting a riot”
1940 – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Selective Training and Service Act, the first US peacetime draft
1996 – Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Panama City, Florida, on WTBB 97.7 FM
1999 – First-ever season of “Big Brother” reality show begins on the Veronica channel in the Netherlands

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Famous Birthdays

1812 – Robert Fortune, Scottish botanist and plant hunter (established East India tea company in India), born in Kelloe, Scotland (d. 1880)
1832 – George Washington Custis Lee, American Major General (Confederate Army), born in Fort Monroe, Virginia (d. 1913)
1940 – Hamiet Bluiett, American jazz baritone saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer (World Saxophone Quartet – “Hattie Wall’), born in Brooklyn, Illinois (d. 2018)
1953 – Alan Barton, English musician (Black Lace, Smokie), born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England (d. 1995)
1973 – Alexander Vinokourov, Russian-Kazakhtani road cyclist, born in Petropavl, Kazakh S.S.R.

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Famous Deaths

1736 – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Dutch-German-Polish physicist, inventor and scientific instrument maker, who invented the thermometer and the Fahrenheit scale, dies at 50
1983 – Roy Andries de Groot, Dutch-British-American culinary writer and wine critic, takes his own life at 73
1984 – Richard Brautigan, American novelist and poet (Trout Fishing in America), takes his own life at 49 [exact date estimated based on forensic investigation]
1992 – Millicent Fenwick, American politician (Rep-R-NJ 1975-82), dies at 82
2016 – Dorothy Cann Hamilton, American businesswoman and founder of the French Culinary Institute, dies in a car accident at 67

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Historical Events

1882 – British General Garnet Wolseley occupies Cairo, Egypt
1902 – Chicago Cubs infielders Tinker, Evers, and Chance turn their first double play together in a 6-3 win over Cincinnati
1983 – The first Costco store opens in Seattle, Washington
1984 – Sharlene Wells (20) of Utah is crowned 58th Miss America 1985
1995 – St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith sets record of 1,554 double plays

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Famous Birthdays

1909 – Carlos Estrada, Uruguayan composer and conductor, born in Montevideo, Uruguay (d. 1970)
1912 – Gisela Hernández [Gonzalo], Cuban composer (Diálogo), and music educator, born in Cardenas, Cuba (d. 1971)
1923 – David Kraehenbuehl, American composer (March of the Trolls), pianist, teacher (Yale), and music theorist (Journal of Music Theory), born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (d. 1997)
1925 – Erika Köth, German operatic coloratura soprano (Salzburg Festival, 1955–64), born in Darmstadt, Germany (d. 1989)
1925 – Gösta Jonsson, Swedish saxophonist, accordion player and bandleader, born in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1984)

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Famous Deaths

1893 – Thomas Hawksley, English civil engineer (Nottingham Gas Light and Coke Company; Nottingham Waterworks Company), dies at 86
1984 – Jack Ikin, English cricketer (England opener 1946-55), dies at 66
2001 – Fred de Cordova, American film and TV producer (Tonight Show), dies at 90
2010 – Arrow [Alphonsus Cassell], Montserratian soca singer-songwriter (“Hot, Hot, Hot”), dies of cerebral cancer at 60
2025 – Marilyn Knowlden, American child actress (A Woman Rebels, David Copperfield), dies at 99

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