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
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
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