Historical Events
1862 – Ralph Waldo Emerson and Charles Sumner meet with President Abraham Lincoln at The White House, Washington
1937 – Stapleton, Staten Island, becomes a customs-free port
1948 – Important South African anti-apartheid novel “Cry the Beloved Country” by Alan Paton is published in the US
1975 – “Men on the Moon” closes at Little Theater NYC after 5 performances
2009 – Australian Open Men’s Tennis: Spanish ace Rafael Nadal wins his first Australian title; beats Roger Federer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2
2013 – 26 people are killed after a fireworks truck explodes and causes a highway to collapse in Henan, China
Famous Birthdays
1635 – Marquard Gude, German archaeologist and classical scholar famous for his collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions, born in Rendsburg, Holstein (d. 1689)
1801 – Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, Swedish lieder and classical composer, born in Skänninge, Sweden (d. 1878)
1920 – Kenneth Bond, former vice-chairman
1955 – Virginia Leng, British equestrian rider (World C’ship individual 1986; Olympic silver x 2, bronze x 2 1984, 88), born in Malta
1971 – Michael C. Hall, American actor (Dexter, Six Feet Under), born in Raleigh, North Carolina
1984 – Lee Thompson Young, American actor, born in Columbia, South Carolina (d. 2013)
Famous Deaths
1981 – Nils Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer, dies at 72
1986 – Dick James [Leon Vapnick], British dance band vocalist and Beatles’ music publisher (Northern Songs), dies of a heart attack at 65
1992 – Irving Kaufman, American federal judge (Rosenberg Case), dies at 81
2003 – Kalpana Chawla, American astronaut (STS 87) and the first woman of Indian descent to go to space, dies in Space Shuttle Columbia disaster at 40
2003 – Michael P. Anderson, American astronaut and member of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster), dies at 43
2007 – Ahmad Abu Laban, Danish Muslim leader, dies at 60