Category: On This Day

Historical Events

1908 – The Republican Party convenes in Chicago where President Theodore Roosevelt picks William Howard Taft as his successor
1922 – Irish republicans are beaten in a national election; the vote is in favor of the Treaty of London, which leaves the Irish Free State as a dominion within the British Commonwealth
1989 – “Ghostbusters II”, American supernatural comedy film sequel, directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd premieres
1997 – The Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; 50 people are killed
2013 – 20 people are killed by a series of car bombings across Iraq

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Famous Birthdays

1754 – Salawat Yulayev, Bashkir poet and national hero who led the Pugachev’s Rebellion, born in Tekeyevo, Russian Empire (d. 1800)
1953 – Valerie Mahaffey, American Emmy Award-winning character actress (Eve on “Northern Exposure”; The Doctors; Desperate Housewives), born in Sumatra, Indonesia (d. 2025)
1965 – Mike Lynch, English tech entrepreneur (Autonomy Corporation), Director of the BBC, born in London (d. 2024)
1966 – Jan Železný, Czech athlete (Olympic gold men’s javelin 1992, 96, 2000; World C’ship gold 1993, 95, 2001), born in Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia
1982 – May Andersen, Danish model (Victoria’s Secret), born in Copenhagen, Denmark

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Famous Deaths

1885 – Wilhelm Camphausen, German painter (b. 1818)
1981 – John S Knight, American journalist and publisher (Knight Newspapers), dies at 86
2017 – John G. Avildsen, American film director (Rocky, The Karate Kid), dies of cancer at 81
2021 – Janet Malcolm [Jana Klara Wienerová], American journalist (The New Yorker, 1963-2021) and writer (The Journalist and the Murderer), dies of cancer at 86
2023 – Daniel Ellsberg, American military analyst, whistleblower (The Pentagon Papers), and anti-war advocate, dies of pancreatic cancer at 92

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Historical Events

1846 – Oregon Treaty signed, setting US-British boundary at 49°N
1918 – 1″ of snow falls in Northern Pennsylvania
1966 – Mexican record temperature of 52.5 °C (126.5 °F) in the shade is recorded in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora
1974 – Novelty song “The Streak” by Ray Stevens hits #1 on UK pop chart
1991 – Birth of the first federal political party in Canada that supports Quebec nationalism, le Bloc Québécois

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Famous Birthdays

1763 – Franz Danzi, German composer and cellist, born in Schwetzingen, Electorate of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1826)
1870 – Maud Barger-Wallach, American tennis player (US Nat C’ship 1908), born at New York, NY (d. 1954)
1890 – Georg Wüst, German Oceanographer (provided first complete understanding of the temperature, salinity and deep-current structure of the Atlantic Ocean), born in Posen, Germany (d. 1977)
1935 – Belinda Lee, English actress (Who Done It, Runaway Bus), born in Devon, England (d. 1961)
1981 – Billy Martin, American guitarist and songwriter (Good Charlotte – The Young and the Hopeless), born in Annapolis, Maryland,

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Famous Deaths

1246 – Frederick II “the Warlike”, duke of Austria and Styria (1230-46), dies at the Battle of Leitha at 35
1962 – Alfred Cortot, French-Swiss pianist and teacher, dies at 84
1990 – George Nakashima, American furniture maker and architect (American Craft Movement), dies at 85
2016 – Lois Duncan, American young adult novelist (I Know What You Did Last Summer), dies at 82
2018 – Joe DeNardo, American meteorologist and television weatherman (KDKA and WTAE in Pittsburgh, 1957-2009), dies at 87

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Historical Events

1965 – Beatles release album “Beatles VI”
1988 – “Guy” debut album by Guy is released
2001 – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan form the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
2015 – “Jurassic World” is the first film to make $500 million worldwide in its opening weekend
2016 – First mammal made extinct by human-induced climate change announced – the Bramble Cay melomys from Torres Strait

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Famous Birthdays

1736 – Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist (formulated Coulomb’s Law), born in Angoulême, France (d. 1806)
1796 – Nikolai Brashman, Russian mathematician, born in Neu-Raußnitz, Austrian Empire (d. 1866)
1949 – Alan White, British rock drummer (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band; Yes, 1972-2022; solo – Ramshackled), born in Pelton, County Durham, England (d. 2022)
1974 – Jang Jin-young, South Korean actress (Sorum; Singles), born in Imsil, South Korea (d. 2009)
1976 – Massimo Oddo, Italian soccer defender (34 caps; Lazio 135 games, AC Milan) and manager (Pescara, Udinese), born in Città Sant’Angelo, Italy

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Famous Deaths

1544 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine and military leader (freed the Duchy of Lorraine from the Holy Roman Empire), dies at 55
1948 – Ernst Henrik Ellberg, Swedish composer, dies at 79
1982 – Marie Rambert, Polish-British ballerina, teacher and director (Ballet Rambert), dies at 94
2000 – Attilio Bertolucci, Italian poet and writer, dies at 88
2006 – Jean Roba, Belgian comics author (Boule et Bill), dies at 75

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Historical Events

1922 – Longest recorded attack of hiccups begins when Charles Osborne gets the hiccups and continues for 68 years; he dies 11 months after they stop
1947 – First night game at Fenway Park (Red Sox 5, White Sox 3)
1979 – Sioux nation receives $100 million in compensation for Black Hills, South Dakota
2001 – TNN/CMT Country Weekly Music Awards: George Strait, Faith Hill, and Alan Jackson win
2018 – FIFA Congress votes to award 2026 World Cup to joint bid by US, Canada and Mexico

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Famous Birthdays

1827 – Alberto Henschel, German-Brazilian photographer and businessman, born in Berlin, Germany (d. 1882)
1966 – Thyme Lewis, American actor (Jonah Carver in “Days of Our Lives”), born in San Francisco, California
1973 – Kasia Kowalska, Polish pop rock singer (“A to co mam”; “Nobody”), born in Sulejówek, Poland
1987 – Charlotte Wells, Scottish director (Aftersun), born in Edinburgh, Scotland
1992 – Violet Chachki [Paul Jason Dardo], American drag queen, dancer, model and TV personality (RuPaul’s Drag Race season 7 winner), born in Atlanta, Georgia

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Famous Deaths

1036 – Ali az-Zahir, 7th Caliph of the Fātimids (1021-36), dies at 30
1881 – Joseph Škoda, Bohemian physician, dies at 75
1920 – Essad Pasja, Albanian military man/minister, murdered at the Versailles Peace Conference
1952 – Max Pulver, writer, dies
1973 – Alvin Derold Etler, American oboist, and composer, dies at 60

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Historical Events

1875 – 9th Belmont: Bobby Swim aboard Calvin wins in 2:42.25
1916 – US National Championship Women’s Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Defending champion Molla Bjurstedt outclasses Louise Hammond Raymond 6-0, 6-1
1950 – The first of two Air France DC-4 aircraft flying the same route from Saigon to Paris crashes near Bahrain, killing 46 passengers and crew, while 6 survive; a second DC-4 on the same route crashes two days later a few miles away under similar circumstances
1990 – Orioles Cal Ripken plays in his 1,308th consecutive game to move past Everett Scott into 2nd place on the all-time list
2007 – Russian novelist and historian Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn receives the State Prize of the Russian Federation from President Putin for his humanitarian work

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Famous Birthdays

1861 – William Attewell, English cricket bowler (England in 10 Tests 1884-1891), born in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, England (d. 1927)
1911 – Milovan Djilas, Yugoslavian politician and writer (The New Class), born in Podbišće, Montenegro (d. 1995)
1941 – Roy Harper, British folk-rock singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Folkjokeopus; Work of Heart), born in Rusholme, Manchester, England
1947 – Ron Freeman, American athlete (Olympic gold 4x400m, bronze 400m 1968), born in Elizabeth, New Jersey
1979 – Robyn [Robin Carlsson], Swedish pop and dance music singer-songwriter, and record producer (“Show Me Love”; “Dancing On My Own”), born in Stockholm, Sweden

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Famous Deaths

1020 – Lyfing, Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Wells and Archbishop of Canterbury during the Viking raids on England (1013-20), dies and is buried in Canterbury Cathedral
1878 – William Cullen Bryant, American poet (Thanatopsis), dies at 83
1883 – John Randolph Tucker, American naval officer (Confederate Navy), dies at 71
2015 – Ernest Tomlinson, English light classical music composer, dies at 90
2024 – Tony Lo Bianco, American stage and screen actor (The French Connection; A View From the Bridge; Hizzoner!), dies of prostate cancer at 87

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Historical Events

1927 – Noël Coward’s stage comedy “The Marquise”, starring Marie Tempest, closes at the Criterion Theatre, London, after 129 performances
1982 – Israel and Syria stop fighting in Lebanon
2001 – Saudi Arabia seizes ownership, effective June 7, of the 1.6-million-barrels-per-day IPSA pipeline that had carried Iraqi crude oil to the Saudi Red Sea port of Mu’jiz prior to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait
2006 – French Open Men’s Tennis: Rafael Nadal of Spain wins his 2nd straight French title; beats Roger Federer 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6
2018 – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accepts migrant rescue ship Aquarius with 629 people on board after Italy refuses it

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Famous Birthdays

1924 – Ed Farhat, American professional wrestler, born in Detroit (d. 2003)
1927 – Beryl Grey [Groom], English prima ballerina (Sadler’s Wells/Royal Ballet, 1941-57), artistic director, and dance teacher, born in Highgate, London, England (d. 2022)
1932 – Athol Fugard, South African playwright known for his anti-apartheid themes (The Blood Knot), born in Middelburg, South Africa (d. 2025)
1948 – Anthony Nelson, British Labour politician, born in Hamburg, Germany
1950 – Palhinha, Brazilian soccer forward (16 caps; Cruzeiro, Corinthians, Atlético Mineiro) and manager (SC Corinthians, União São João, Al-Tai), born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil (d. 2023)

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Famous Deaths

1183 – Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England, crowned aged 15 during his father’s lifetime, dies as the result of dysentery at 28
1937 – R. J. [Reginald Joseph] Mitchell, British aircraft designer (Supermarine Spitfire), dies of cancer at 42
1987 – Ralph Guldahl, American golfer (US Masters 1939, US Open 1937-38), dies at 75
1992 – Scotty Sachs, actor (Hanoi Hilton), dies of gunshot wounds at 39
2025 – John Robbins, American advocate for vegetarianism and author of “Diet for a New America”, dies of complications of post-polio syndrome at 77

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Historical Events

1955 – KWEX TV channel 41 in San Antonio, TX (IND) begins broadcasting
1967 – USSR drops diplomatic relations with Israel
1973 – LPGA Championship Women’s Golf, Pleasant Valley CC: 1964 champion Mary Mills wins by 1 stroke ahead of runner-up Betty Burfeindt
2000 – Stanley Cup Final, Reunion Arena, Dallas, TX: New Jersey Devils defeat Dallas Stars, 2-1 in double OT for a 4-2 series victory
2006 – French Open Women’s Tennis: Justine Henin-Hardenne retains her title; beats Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4, 6-4 for 5th Grand Slam singles crown

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Famous Birthdays

1825 – Sondre Norheim, Norwegian skier and pioneer of modern skiing, born in Øverbø, Norway (d. 1897)
1840 – Theodor Philipsen, Danish painter, born in Copenhagen (d. 1920)
1911 – Terence Rattigan, British playwright (Winslow Boy, Browning Version), born in London (d. 1977)
1931 – Jim Ferree, American golfer (1 x PGA Tour win; 2 x Senior PGA Tour wins), born in Pinebluff, North Carolina (d. 2023)
1956 – Georg Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg, head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1996-present), born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

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Famous Deaths

1883 – Carl Grädener, German cellist, conductor, teacher, and composer, dies at 71
1934 – Frederick Delius, British composer (A Mass of Life, Brigg Fair; In a Summer Garden), dies at 72
1970 – Earl Grant, American pop pianist, organist, and singer (“Ebb Tide”; “Winter Wonderland”), dies in a car crash in New Mexico at 39
1988 – Louis L’Amour, American western writer (Bowdrie), dies of cancer at 80
2008 – Dieuwke de Graaff-Nauta, Dutch politician (State Secretary for the Interior 1986-94), dies at 78

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Historical Events

1534 – French explorer Jacques Cartier is the 1st European to sail into mouth of St Lawrence River
1572 – William of Orange leads his army into Gelderland and occupies the province during the Dutch Revolt, expanding rebel control in the Low Countries
1970 – Harry Blackmun is sworn in as a US Supreme Court Justice
1985 – French Open Men’s Tennis: Sweden’s Mats Wilander wins 4th career Grand Slam title; beats Czech star Ivan Lendl 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
2007 – French Open Women’s Tennis: Justine Henin wins her 3rd consecutive French singles crown; beats Ana Ivanović of Serbia 6-1, 6-2

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Famous Birthdays

1916 – Robert McNamara, American United States Secretary of Defense (1961-68), played major role in US escalation in Vietnam, born in San Francisco, California (d. 2009)
1922 – Peter Beazley, British politician (C) (European Parliament), born in Chale, Isle of Wight (d. 2004)
1922 – John Gillespie Magee Jr., Anglo-American Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot and war poet, born in Shanghai, Republic of China (d. 1941)
1938 – Charles Wuorinen, American contemporary classical pianist, conductor, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer (Time’s Encomium; Marimba Variations; Brokeback Mountain), born in New York City (d. 2020)
1939 – Ileana Cotrubaş, Romanian soprano, born in Galați, Romania

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Famous Deaths

1716 – Banda Bahadur, Sikh military commander, executed in Delhi by Mughal forces at 45
1870 – Erik Drake, Swedish composer (Royal Swedish Academy of Music), dies at 82
1954 – Alain LeRoy Locke, African-American writer and philosopher “Father of the Harlem Renaissance”, dies at 68
1973 – Erich von Manstein, German Nazi-military commander convicted of war crimes, dies from stroke at 85
2022 – Julee Cruise, American singer (Falling) and stage actress, takes her own life at 65

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Historical Events

1892 – US shoemaker Homer A. Plessy refuses to go to in a segregated RR car (US Supreme Court Plessy v Ferguson)
1944 – Deportation of 70,000 Jews from Łódź, Poland, to Auschwitz and other extermination camp begins
1949 – Siam changes name to Thailand
1991 – 123rd Belmont Stakes: Jerry Bailey aboard Hansel wins in 2:28
2020 – Lockdowns for COVID-19 in Europe saved 3 million lives according to study by Imperial College London

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Famous Birthdays

1926 – Cranley Onslow, British politician (C), born in Bexhill (d. 2001)
1928 – Kate Wilhelm, American fiction author (Hugo Award: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang), born in Toledo, Ohio (d. 2018)
1929 – Earl Ferrers, 13th Earl Ferrers, British minister of state (Department of Environment), born in England (d. 2012)
1952 – Lindka Cierach, British couturier and fashion designer for European royals, born in British Crown colony of Basutoland
1960 – Mick Hucknall, English singer-songwriter (Simply Red – “Hodling Back the Years”, “If You Don’t Know Me by Now”), born in Manchester, England

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Famous Deaths

1768 – Johann Winckelmann, German archaeologist (History of Ancient Art), dies at 50
1803 – Jean Noel Paquot, Belgian theologian and historian, dies at 80
1998 – Maria Reiche, German-Peruvian mathematician and archaeologist specializing in Nazca lines, dies of cancer at 95
2021 – John Angus, English soccer defender (1 cap; Burnley 439 games), dies at 82
2023 – Rale Rasic, Australian soccer coach (Australia 1969-74; Marconi Stallions FC) and broadcaster (SBS), dies at 87

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Historical Events

1633 – 14-year-old Mughal prince Aurangzeb, the future Emperor Alamgir I, survives an elephant attack
1958 – Battles between Turkish and Greeks Cypriots break out
1993 – 27th Music City News Country Awards: Alan Jackson and Vince Gill win
2016 – Iris Apfel is awarded the Women Together Special Award of the Year at the 12th Annual Women Together Gala in New York City
2018 – Mars Curiosity Rover finds organic matter, including methane, on Mars in studies published in journal “Science”

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Famous Birthdays

1920 – Georges Marchais, French political leader (French Communist Party), born in La Hoguette, France (d. 1997)
1955 – William Forsythe, American actor (Raising Arizona; Once Upon a Time in America; Boardwalk Empire), born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
1960 – Jim Hartung, American gymnast (Olympic gold Team 1984), born in Omaha, Nebraska (d. 2026)
1976 – Cassidy Rae, American actress (Sarah-Models Inc, Clarissa), born in Clermont, Florida
1981 – Larisa Oleynik, American actress (10 Things I Hate About You, The Secret World of Alex Mack), born in Santa Clara County, California

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Famous Deaths

1697 – John Aubrey, English antiquary, natural philosopher, and writer, dies from apoplexy at 71
1711 – Henry Dodwell, Irish theologian (b. 1641)
1936 – Stjepan Seljan, Croatian explorer, dies at 60
1945 – Nishida Kitaro, Japanese philosopher (Kyoto School), dies at 74
1965 – Judy Holliday, American comedienne and actress (Born Yesterday, Adam’s Rib), dies of cancer at 43

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