Today in History for Year 1940 (Part 2)

Months in Year 1940: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 101 - 200 of 557

Apr 14th - Allied troops land in Norway
Apr 14th - RCA demonstrated its new electron microscope in Philadelphia
Apr 15th - British troops land at Narvik, Norway
Apr 16th - 1st televised baseball game, WGN-TV, (White Sox vs Cubs exhibition)
Apr 16th - Cleve Indian Bob Feller hurls an opening day no-hitter vs Chic, 1-0
Apr 16th - Heitor Villa-Lobos' opera "Izaht," premieres in Rio de Janeiro
Apr 19th - "Lake Shore Ltd" derails speed killing 34 near Little Falls NY
Apr 19th - 44th Boston Marathon won by Gerard Cote of Canada in 2:28:28.6
Apr 19th - Dutch prime minister De Geer declares state of siege
Apr 20th - 1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia, Pa
Apr 21st - 1st $64 Question, "Take It or Leave It," on CBS Radio
Apr 21st - Netherlands beats Belgium 4-2 in soccer
Apr 22nd - Rear Adm Joseph Taussig testifies before US Senate Naval Affairs Committee that war with Japan is inevitable (He was right)
Apr 23rd - Dance hall fires kills 198 (Natchez Miss)
Apr 23rd - NY Yankees dedicate a plaque to Jacob Rupert
Apr 27th - Himmler orders establishment of Auschwitz Concentration Camp
Apr 28th - Glenn Miller records "Pennsylvania 6-5000"
Apr 28th - Rudolf Hess becomes commandant of concentration camp Auschwitz
Apr 29th - 1st radio broadcast of "Young Dr Malone" on CBS
Apr 29th - Norwegian King Haakon & government flees to England
Apr 29th - Robert Sherwood's "There Shall be No Night," premieres in NYC
Apr 30th - Bkln Dodger Tex Carleton no-hits Cin Reds, 3-0
May 1st - 140 Palestinian Jews die as German planes bomb their ship
May 1st - The 1940 Olympics are cancelled
May 4th - 21 "not neutral" nazis & communists arrested in Netherlands
May 4th - 66th Kentucky Derby: Carroll Bierman aboard Gallahadion wins in 2:05
May 5th - Norwegian government in exile forms in London
Author John Steinbeck May 6th - Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath)
May 10th - British Local Defense Volunteers (Home Guard) forms
May 10th - Dutch torpedo boat Johan van Galen sinks
May 10th - Dutch-Indies Gov Van Starkenborch proclaims end to state of siege
May 10th - French marines stationed on Aruba
May 10th - French troops arrive in Zealand/Brabant Netherlands
May 10th - Nazi armies attack Netherlands, Belgium & Luxembourg
May 10th - Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister
May 10th - World War II: The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent.
May 11th - 66th Preakness: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 1:58.6
May 11th - NY World's Fair reopens
May 12th - French mariners occupy St Maarten
May 12th - German tanks conquer Moerdijkbrug
May 12th - Nazi blitz conquest of France began by crossing Muese River
May 13th - British bomb factory at Breda
British war time Prime Minister Winston Churchill May 13th - Churchill says I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears & sweat
May 13th - Dutch Queen Wilhelmina flees to England
May 13th - German breakthrough at Grebbelinie
May 14th - Admiral Furstner departs to England
May 14th - Boston's Jimmie Foxx HR goes over Comiskey Park's left field roof
May 14th - German breakthrough at Sedan
May 14th - Lord Beaverbrook appointed British minister of aircraft production
May 14th - Nazi bombs Rotterdam (600-900 dead), Netherlands surrender to Germany
May 14th - World War II: The Netherlands surrenders to Germany.
May 15th - German armour division moves into Northern France
May 15th - German troops occupy Amsterdam, Gen Winkelman surrenders
May 15th - Nazi's capture General Dutch Persbureau (ANP)
May 15th - USS Sailfish (SS-192) recomisioned, origionaly the Squalus.
May 15th - McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
May 16th - Nazi's forbid non-professional auto workers
May 16th - Premier Winston Churchill returns to London from Paris
May 17th - Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium & begins invasion of France
May 17th - Nazi's bombs Middelburg/B IJzerdrat begins illegal defiance
May 18th - German troops conquer Brussels
May 19th - Amsterdam time becomes MET (Middle European Time)
May 19th - French counter attack at Pronne under Gen De Gaulle
May 20th - Gen Guderians tanks reach The Channel (British expeditionary army)
May 20th - Soccer team HZVV forms in Hoogeveen
May 20th - Trailing 7-1 in 9th to Pitts, Phils win 8-7
May 21st - AVRO-chairman Willem Vogt fires all Jewish employees
May 21st - Allied counter attack at Atrecht North-France
May 21st - Reynaud forms French government
May 22nd - Dutch Premier De Geer begins working with nazis
May 22nd - Premier Winston Churchill flies to Paris to decide with General Maxime Weygand a strategy to save the city
May 23rd - 1st great dogfight between Spitfires
May 24th - 1st night game at NY's Polo Grounds (Giants 8, Braves 1)
May 24th - 1st night game at St Louis Sportsman Park (Indians 3, Browns 2)
May 24th - Dutch Queen Wilhelmina speaks on BBC radio
May 24th - Dutch army demobilizes
May 24th - German tanks reach Atrecht France
May 24th - Hitler affirms Gen von Rundstedts "Stopbevel"
May 24th - NY Giants rip Boston Bees 8-1 in 1st night game at Polo Grounds
May 25th - German troops conquer Boulogne
May 25th - Golden Gate Intl Expo reopens
May 26th - 1st successful helicopter flight in US: Vought-Sikorsky US-300 designed by Igor Sikorsky
May 26th - Operation Dynamo begins evacuating defeated Allied troops from Dunkirk
May 27th - British & French begin evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
May 27th - World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 97 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops.
May 28th - Belgium surrenders to Germany, King Leopold III gives himself up
May 28th - British-French troops capture Narvik Norway
May 28th - Irving Berlin's musical "Louisiana Purchase," premieres in NYC
May 29th - Adolf Kiefer swims world record 100 yards backstroke (58.8 sec)
May 29th - Arthur Seyss-Inquart installed as Reich commissar of Hague Neth
May 29th - In WW II, Germans capture Ostend & Ypres in Belgium & Lille in France
May 31st - Gen-major Bernard Montgomery leaves Duinkerken
May 31st - Premier Winston Churchill flies to Paris to meet with Marshal August Pétain who announces he is willing to make a seperate peace with Germany
Jun 1st - Coffee & tea rationed in Holland
Jun 1st - Gen-mjr Bernard Montgomery returns to London
Jun 1st - Nazi occupiers kick Jews out of Dutch air guard
Jun 2nd - Heavy German bombing on Dunkirk beach
Jun 3rd - Last British/French troop leave Dunkirk
Jun 4th - 1st NL night game at Sportsman's Park (Dodgers 10, Cardinals 1)
Jun 4th - 1st night game at Forbes Field (Pirates 14, Braves 2)

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 101 - 200 of 738

Feb 21st - Peter Gethin, British racing driver
Feb 22nd - Chet Walker, NBA all-star forward (Chicago Bulls)
Feb 22nd - Johnson P Mlambo, South African leader (Pan-African Congress)
Feb 22nd - Julian Chagrin, London, mime/actor (Golddiggers)
Feb 22nd - Billy Name, American photographer
Feb 23rd - Jermyn P Brooks, CEO (Price Waterhouse Europe)
Feb 23rd - Peter Fonda, actor (Easy Rider, Lilith, Wild Angels, Trip)
Feb 24th - Denis Law, British(?) soccer player
Feb 24th - Jimmy Ellis, WBA heavyweight boxing champ (1968-70)
Feb 24th - Theo Bosch, Dutch humanist/architect (Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam)
Feb 24th - Pete Duel, American actor (d. 1971)
Feb 24th - Denis Law, Scottish footballer
Feb 25th - Billy Packer, Wellsville NY, basketball sportscaster (CBS)
Feb 25th - George Paul, CEO (Norwich Union Insurance Group)
Feb 25th - Hector MacKenzie, trade unionist
Feb 25th - Jud Taylor, actor (Dr Gerson-Dr Kildare)
Feb 25th - Ron Santo, shortstop (Cubs, 1st baseball player to veto his trade)
Feb 27th - Barbara Kelly, CEO (Scottish Consumer Council)
Feb 27th - Howard Hesseman, Salem Or, actor (Dr Johnny Fever-WKRP, Head of Class)
Feb 27th - Bill Hunter, Australian actor
Feb 28th - Joe South, Atlanta, Georgia, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Games People Play), (d. 2012)
Racing Car Driver Mario Andretti (Feb 28th) Feb 28th - Mario Andretti, Italian American race-car driver (1969 Indianapolis 500, 1978 Formula One World Champion)
Feb 29th - Gretchen Christopher, British(?) pop singer
Feb 29th - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople
Mar 1st - David Broome, Show Jumper (world champ-1970)
Mar 1st - Ralph Towner, rocker (Oregon)
Mar 1st - Robert Grossman, American illustrator
Mar 2nd - Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, chairman (S Afr Prog Fed Party, 1979-86)
Mar 2nd - Tony Croatto, Italian-born composer (d. 2005)
Mar 3rd - Germán Castro Caycedo, Colombian writer and journalist
Mar 3rd - Owen Spencer-Thomas, English broadcaster, journalist and Anglican clergyman
Mar 4th - Kas Garas, Kaunas Lithuania, actor (Hamlyn-Strange Report)
Mar 4th - Volodymyr Morozov, Ukrainian flatwater canoer
Mar 5th - Mary Rose Oakar, (Rep)
Mar 5th - Malcolm Hebden, English actor
Mar 6th - Joanna Miles, Nice France, actress (Cross Creek, Delta County USA)
Mar 6th - Willie Stargell, outfielder/1st baseman (Pirates, 1971 NL HR leader)
Mar 7th - Daniel J Travanti, Kenosha Wisc, actor (Frank Furillo-Hill St Blues)
Mar 7th - Harald Gerlach, writer
Mar 7th - Rudi [Rudolf] Dutschke, German student leader (Glasnost Berlin)
Mar 7th - Viktor Petrovich Savinykh, USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz T-4, T-13, TM-5)
Mar 8th - Leslie Isben Rogge, one of FBI's most wanted
Mar 8th - Susan Clark, Sarnia Ontario, actress (Night Moves, Webster)
Mar 8th - Theo Laseroms, [The Tank], Dutch soccer player (Feyenoord)
Mar 9th - Raul Julia, PR, actor (Addams Family, Kiss of the Spider Woman)
Actor Chuck Norris (Mar 10th) Mar 10th - Chuck Norris, [Carlos Ray], OK, martial arts actor (Missing in Action)
Mar 10th - David Rabe, Dubuque Iowa, playwright (Streamers)
Mar 10th - Dean Torrence, LA Cal, surf music singer (Jan & Dean-Little Old Lady)
Mar 10th - Francis Schwartz, composer
Mar 10th - Wayne Dyer, psychologist (Universe Within You)
Mar 11th - Alberto Cortez, Argentinian singer
Mar 12th - Al Jarreau, Milwaukee WI, jazz singer (Moonlighting)
Mar 12th - Albert Johanneson, soccer star
Mar 12th - M.A. Numminen, Finnish singer and writer
Mar 14th - Eleanor Fount, English actress (Women in Love, Bedazzled)
Mar 14th - Rita Tushingham, Liverpool England, actress (Green Eyes, Dr Zhivago)
Mar 15th - Phil Lesh, [Chapman], California, rock bassist (Grass Roots, Grateful Dead)
Mar 15th - Frank Dobson, British politician
Mar 15th - Margo Coleman, American advice columnist
Mar 16th - Bernardo Bertolucci, Parma Italy, director (Last Tango in Paris)
Mar 16th - Chuck Woolery, Ky, TV game show host (Love Connection)
Mar 16th - Jan P Pronk, Dutch politician (PvdA)
Mar 16th - Jan Schaefer, Dutch asst secretary of state (PvdA)
Mar 16th - Keith Rowe, English guitarist (AMM) and painter
Mar 17th - Vito Picone, rocker (Elegants)
Mar 17th - Mark White, American politician
Mar 18th - Kathy Hutchinson, race horse trainer
Mar 20th - Mickey Preger, horse trainer
Mar 20th - Gianpiero Moretti, Milan, Italy, steering wheel designer (Momo), (d. 2012)
Mar 21st - Solomon Burke, American singer
Mar 22nd - William Ritchie, vice-chancellor (Lancaster U)
Mar 22nd - Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian/American actor (d. 1996)
Mar 22nd - Jorge Ben Jor, Brazilian musician
Mar 23rd - Brian Hastings, cricketer (NZ batsman in 70's)
Mar 23rd - Luis Gasca, rocker
Mar 23rd - Tariq Yunus, actor (Bollywood, Ashanti, Deceivers)
Mar 24th - Bob Mackie, Monterey Parks California, designer (Streisand, Cher)
Mar 24th - Don Jardine, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2006)
Mar 25th - Anita Bryant, Barnsdall Oklahoma, homophobe/singer (George Gobel Show)
Mar 26th - James Caan, Bronx NY, American actor (Misery, Godfather)
Mar 26th - Bill Ind, Bishop-designate (Truro)
Mar 26th - Braulio Baeza, jockey (National Horse Racing Hall of Famer)
Mar 26th - Nancy Pelosi, (Rep-D-California)
Mar 26th - Rod Lauren, rocker (If I Had a Girl)
Mar 26th - Servaes [J S] Huys, Dutch MP (PvdA)
Mar 27th - Austin Pendleton, Warren OH, actor (Short Circuit, Simon, Hello Again)
Mar 27th - June Wilkinson, Eastbourne England, actress (Absolutely Glamarous)
Mar 27th - Janis Martin, American singer (d. 2007)
Mar 28th - J Michael Plumb, Islip NY, equestrian (Oly-2 gold/4 silver-1976,84)
Mar 28th - Kevin Loughery, NBA star/coach (Balt, Phila)
Mar 28th - Tony Barber, Australian television personality
Mar 29th - Raymond Davis, US rock vocalist (Funkadelic-Knee Deep)
Mar 30th - Astrud Gilberto, Brazil, singer (Girl From Ipanema)
Mar 30th - Jerry Lucas, Middletown OH, NBA center (Oly-gold-60, NY Knicks)
Mar 30th - Norman Gifford, cricketer (respected England slow left-armer 1964-73)
Mar 31st - Barney Frank, (Rep-D-MA, 1981- )
Mar 31st - Jim Criner, WLAF head coach (Scottish Claymores)
Mar 31st - Patrick J Leahy, (Sen-D-VT, 1975- )
Apr 1st - Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Apr 2nd - Penelope Keith, British actress (Norman Conquests, Priest of Love)

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Famous Weddings

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Famous Divorces

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Famous Deaths

Deaths 101 - 152 of 152

Sep 3rd - Otto V Ekelund, Swedish poet/writer (Hafvets Stjorna), dies at 59
Sep 7th - Edmund Rumpler, Austria auto/airplane builder, dies
Sep 15th - Dick Ket, painter/cartoonist, dies at 37
Sep 26th - Walter Benjamin, writer, dies at 48
Sep 27th - Walter Benjamin, German/French literature critic/writer, dies at 48
Sep 27th - Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian neuroscientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1857)
Sep 30th - Walter Kollo, composer, dies at 62
Oct 5th - Silvestre Revueltas, Mexican composer: Cuauhnahuac/Planos, dies at 40
Oct 5th - Lincoln Loy McCandless, American cattle rancher (b. 1859)
Oct 5th - Ballington Booth, Salvation Army Officer and co-founder of Volunteers of America (b. 1857)
Oct 6th - Ferdinando Liuzzi, composer, dies at 55
Oct 8th - Robert Emden, Swiss geo/astro physics (Gaskugeln), dies at 78
Oct 9th - Wilfred Grenfell, English medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador (b. 1865).
Oct 10th - Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b. 1876)
Oct 11th - Lluís Companys, President of Generalitat of Catalonia (shot) (b. 1882)
Oct 11th - Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1860)
Oct 12th - Tom Mix, US actor (Texan, Hidden Gold), dies at 60
Oct 12th - Tom Mix, American actor (b. 1880)
Oct 18th - Suze Groeneweg, 1st woman in Dutch 2nd Chamber (1918-37), dies at 65
Oct 20th - Gunnar Asplund, Swedish architect (b. 1885)
Oct 21st - William G. Conley, Governor of West Virginia (b. 1866)
Oct 24th - Victor Hollaender, composer, dies at 74
Oct 27th - Fini Valdemar Henriques, composer, dies at 72
Oct 28th - Andrea d' Angeli, composer, dies at 71
Nov 4th - Manuel Azaña y Diez, Spanish PM (1932..4)/pres (1936-39), dies at 60
Nov 9th - Stephen Peter Alencastre, Portuguese Catholic prelate (b. 1876)
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Nov 10th) Nov 10th - Arthur Neville Chamberlain, British premier (1937-40), dies at 71
Nov 12th - Alejandro Garcia Caturla, composer, dies at 34
Nov 17th - Eric Gill, British sculptor (b. 1882)
Nov 17th - Raymond Pearl, American biologist (b. 1879)
Nov 21st - Geoffrey Legge, cricketer (WWII 196 Eng v NZ Auckland 1930), dies
Nov 22nd - Waclaw Berent, Polish novelist, dies at 67
Nov 23rd - Catherina van Rennes, composer, dies at 82
Nov 28th - Nicolae Iorga, author/president of Romania, murdered by fascist
Nov 30th - Fritz Volbach, German musicologist/conductor/composer, dies at 78
Dec 5th - Jan Kubelik, composer, dies at 60
Dec 5th - Mordechai Frizis, Jewish Greek military officer (b. 1893)
Dec 6th - Charlie Hime, cricketer (one Test for South Africa 1895), dies
Dec 8th - George Exton Lloyd, Anglican Bishop and theologian (b. 1861)
Dec 9th - Maletti, Italian general, dies in battle
Dec 13th - Dusty Tapscott, cricket (bro of Doodles, 4&1 in only S Af Test), dies
Dec 13th - George Macaulay, cricketer (took 24 wkts in 8 Tests, Eng 22-33), dies
Dec 13th - Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval, French physicist (b. 1851)
Dec 13th - George Regas, Greek actor (b. 1890)
Dec 16th - M Eugene F T Dubois, geologist/paleontologist (Wadjakmens), dies
Dec 16th - William Wallace, composer, dies at 80
Dec 16th - Billy Hamilton, American baseball player (b. 1866)
Dec 17th - Alicia Boole Stott, Irish mathematician (b. 1860)
Author F Scott Fitzgerald (Dec 21st) Dec 21st - F Scott Fitzgerald, author (Zelda), dies of a heart attack at 44
Dec 22nd - Nathanael West, [Weinstein], US writer (Cool Million), dies at 37
Dec 25th - Agnes Ayres, actress (Johnny Belinda, Sheik), dies at 42
Dec 30th - Fritz Volbach, composer, dies at 79