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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 166

999 - Gerbert of Aurillac elected as 1st French Pope
1416 - Alfonso V succeeds his father as king of Aragon
1453 - Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (İstanbul), which would fall on May 29.
1513 - Florida discovered, claimed for Spain by Ponce de Leon
1550 - Jews are expelled from Genoa Italy
1559 - England/France signs 1st Treaty of Le Cateau-Cambrésis
1559 - Genoa Italy, expels Jews
1590 - States-General appoints earl Mauritius, viceroy of Utrecht
1595 - Cornelis de Houtman's ships depart to Asia through Cape of Good Hope
1645 - Robert Devereux resigns as parliament supreme commander
1745 - Austria & Bavaria sign peace
1755 - Commodore William James captures the pirate fortress of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India.
1792 - Congress establishes Philadelphia mint
1792 - US authorizes $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar, ½ dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime
1792 - The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint.
1800 - 1st performance of Ludwig von Beethoven's 1st Symphony in C
1801 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Copenhagen - The British destroy the Danish fleet.
1804 - Forty merchantmen are wrecked when a convoy led by HMS Apollo runs aground off Portugal.
1819 - 1st successful agricultural journal ("American Farmer") begins
1827 - Joseph Dixon begins manufacturing lead pencils
1845 - H L Fizeau & J Leon Foucault take 1st photo of Sun
1860 - 1st Italian Parliament met at Turin
1863 - Bread revolt in Richmond Virginia
1864 - Skirmish at Crump's Hill (Piney Woods), Louisiana
1864 - Skirmish at Spoonville/Antoine, Arkansas
1865 - Battle of Petersburg, VA (Ft Gregg, Sutherland's Station)
1865 - CSA Pres Jefferson Davis flees Confederate capital of Richmond, VA
1865 - Battle of Ft Blakely AL & Selma AL
1866 - Pres Johnson ends war in Ala, Ark, Fla, Ga, Miss, La, NC, SC, Tn & Va
1870 - Victoria Woodhull is 1st woman to be nominated for US pres
1872 - George B Brayton patents gasoline powered engine
1876 - Philadelphia A's & Boston Red Caps play 1st NL game, in Phila
1877 - 1st Easter egg roll held on White House lawn
1878 - 1st issue of Rotterdam's Newspaper
1883 - Battle at Bamako: French assault on Fabous arm forces attack
1884 - London prison for debtors closed
1900 - 1st edition of The Volk published (Amsterdam)
1900 - The Foraker Act passes through Congress, giving Puerto Ricans limited self-rule.
1902 - 1st motion picture theater opens (LA)
1902 - Country singer Wynonna Judd's 1st appearance as a single act
1902 - Soccer team MVV '02 forms in Maastricht
1902 - Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated by a terrorist in the Marie Palace, St Petersburg.
1902 - "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California.
1905 - Cairo-Capetown railway opens
1906 - South Africa complete a 4-1 series drubbing of England
1908 - Mills Committee declares baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday
1912 - Sun Yet Sen forms Guomindang-Party in China
1912 - Titanic undergoes sea trials under its own power
1916 - German troops overtake Bois de Caillette
1917 - Jeannette Rankin becomes 1st women member of US House of Reps
1917 - Pres Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany
1921 - Prof Albert Einstein lectures in New York City on his new theory of relativity
1926 - Riots between Moslems & Hindus in Calcutta
1930 - 1st NY-Bermuda airplane flight lands in Bermuda
1931 - Teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee
1932 - Charles Lindbergh turns over $50,000 as ransom for kidnapped son
1935 - Mary Hirsch, becomes 1st woman licensed as a horse trainer
1935 - Sir Watson-Watt patents RADAR
1939 - 6th Golf Masters Championship: Ralph Guldahl wins, shooting a 279
1941 - German occupier disallows Dutch scouting assn
1941 - USS Hornet with Jimmy Doolittles B-25 departs from SF
1944 - CPI-leader Palmiro Togliatti returns to Italy
1944 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' 8th Symphony, premieres in NY
1944 - Soviet Army marches into pro-German Romania
1945 - 1st US units reach east coast of Okinawa
1945 - Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Brazil are established.
1947 - Carlo Terron's "Il diamente del profeta," premieres in Rome
1950 - WTAR (now WTKR) TV channel 3 in Norfolk, VA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1953 - Raab forms his 1st government in Austria
1954 - Plans to build Disneyland 1st announced [see Jan 26]
1955 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Tenley Albright
1955 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A Jenkins
1955 - Pancho Gonzales retains tennis title by winning a tournament playing under table tennis rules
1956 - Peter Ustinovs' "Romanoff & Juliet," premieres in Manchester
1956 - Soap operas "As the World Turns" & "Edge of Night" premieres on TV
1958 - Antillean Brewery (Amstel beer) opens
1958 - National Advisory Council on Aeronautics renamed NASA
1958 - Wind speed reaches 450 kph in tornado, Wichita Falls, TX (record)
1960 - Cuba buys oil from USSR
1960 - KPEC TV channel 56 in Lakewood Center-Tacoma, WA (PBS) 1st broadcast
1962 - The first official Panda crossing is opened outside Waterloo station, London.
1963 - Explorer 17 attains Earth orbit (254/914 km)
1963 - USSR launches Luna 4; missed Moon by 8,500 km
1964 - Josef Klaus succeeds Alfons Gorbach as chancellor of Austria
1964 - Military coup in Brazil by Gen Castello Branco, Pres Goulart ousted
1964 - USSR launches Zond 1 to Venus; no data returned
1965 - Hochhuths play "Stellvertreter" banned in Italy
1966 - Soviet Union's Luna 10 becomes 1st spacecraft to orbit Moon
1966 - WJET TV channel 24 in Erie, PA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1967 - Actress Lynn Redgrave marries John Clark
1967 - Susie Maxwell wins LPGA Louise Suggs Golf Invitational
1968 - Beatles form Python Music Ltd
1968 - Chad creates Union of Central African States
1968 - Senator E Mccarthy wins Democratic primaries in Wisconsin
1969 - Milwaukee Bucks sign (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor)
1970 - Meghalaya becomes autonomous state within India's Assam state
1970 - Qatar gains independence from Britain
1970 - 2 men begin ascent of south face of Annapurna I, highest final stage in a wall climb in world
1971 - Sci-fi soap opera "Dark Shadows" concludes an almost 5 year run
1972 - 44th Academy Awards - "French Connection," G Hackman & Jane Fonda win

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 207

742 - Charlemagne, 1st Holy Roman emperor (800-14)
1348 - Andronikos IV Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1385)
1565 - Cornelis de Houtman, Dutch explorer (d. 1599)
1602 - Maria de Jesus de Agreda, [Maria Coronel], Spanish franciscan
1618 - Francesco M Grimaldi, mathematician/physicist (light defraction)
1628 - Constantin Christian Dedekind, composer
1632 - Georg Caspar Weckler, composer
1653 - Prince George of Denmark, prince consort of Anne of England (d. 1708)
1711 - Jan Punt, Dutch engraver/illustrator/actor (Gideonschool)
1713 - Onno Zwier van Haren, Frisian poet (Fatherland)
1725 - Casanova, writer
1728 - Franz Asplmayr, composer
1733 - Giacomo Tritto, composer
1735 - Christian Gotthilf Tag, composer
1735 - Franz Volrath Buttstett, composer
1740 - Armand-Gaston Camus, French CEO (Council of 500)
1763 - Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari, composer
1781 - Bhagwan Swaminarayan, religious leader (d. 1830)
1788 - Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet (d. 1862)
1798 - H v Fallersleben, writer
1803 - Franz Paul Lachner, composer
1805 - Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark, author of 150 fairy tales
1806 - Giacomo Antonelli, Italian cardinal/asst sec of state for Pius IX
1812 - Louise-Marie of France, queen of Belgium (d. 1850)
1814 - Henry Lewis "Old Rock" Benning, Brig General (Confederate Army
1814 - Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American inventor (d. 1879)
1817 - Teodulo Mabellini, composer
1826 - Philip Dale Roddey, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1897
1827 - William Holdman Hunt, English painter (Light of the World)
1833 - Thomas Howard Ruger, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1840 - Émile Zola, French novelist and critic (d. 1902)
1862 - Nicholas Murray Butler, US, Columbia U pres/pacifist (Nobel 1931)
1863 - Henry C Van de Velde, Flemish painter/architect (Art Nouveau)
1867 - Eugen Sandow, German bodybuilder and circus performer (d. 1925)
1868 - Eduard Jacobs, singer/pianist (Dutch cabaret)
1875 - Walter Chrysler, Wamego, Kansas, founder of car company Chrysler
1877 - Arnold Schering, German musicologist (Humor, Heldentum, Tragik)
1884 - Sir John Squire, British poet, writer, and historian (d. 1958))
1891 - Max Ernst, Germany, painter/sculptor (founded surrealism)
1894 - Rudolph P Cleveringa, Dutch anti-nazi lawyer
1894 - Walter Mittelholzer, Swiss aviation pioneer (Swiss Air)
1900 - Heinrich Besseler, German musicologist
1900 - Roberto Arlt, Argentine writer (d. 1942)
1901 - Anis Fuleihan, composer
1902 - Danilo Svara, composer
1902 - Jan Tschichold, German typographer (d. 1974)
1903 - Lionel Chevrier, Canadian politician (d. 1987)
1905 - Edmond Jouhaud, general
1905 - Kurt Adler, therapist/writer
1905 - Serge Lifar, Kiev, dancer, choreographer (Paris Opera Ballet)
1907 - Luke Appling, American baseball player (d. 1991)
1908 - Buddy Ebsen, Belleville Il, actor (Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones)
1909 - Jean Kurt Forest, composer
1910 - Arnie Herber, NFL QB (Green Bay Packers, NY Giants)
1910 - Irene Mayer Selznick, producer (Street Car Named Desire)
1910 - Joeri German, Russian writer
1910 - Paul Triquet, Canadian military officer (d. 1980)
1911 - Charles "Honi" Coles, tap dancer (Tap)
1914 - Alec Guinness, London England, British actor (Bridge on River Kwai)
1915 - Antony Dornhorst, professor of medicine
1915 - Arthur Ballard, artist
1917 - Dabbs Greer, Fairview Mo, actor (Gunsmoke, Little House on Prairie)
1917 - Lou Monte, NJ, singer (Peppino the Italian Mouse)
1919 - Antoon J Hubben, Dutch mayor (Maasbree)/trade union leader
1919 - Ian Hunter, impresario
1920 - Jack Webb, Santa Monica Calif, actor (Joe Friday-Dragnet)
1922 - Nikolaj G Bassov, Russia, atomic physicist (laser, Nobel 1964)
1923 - Hugh Overton, British diplomat
1923 - Jacob "Jaap" Firet, Dutch theologist (Agogisch Moment)
1923 - Clifford Scott Green, American Federal Judge (d. 2007)
1923 - Gloria Henry, American actress
1924 - Denis Rooke, CEO (British Gas)
1925 - George MacDonald Fraser, poet/author (Flashman at the Charge)
1926 - Elena Verdugo, Hollywood Calif, actress (Consuelo-Marcus Welby MD)
1926 - Michael Rizzello, sculpter/coin designer
1927 - Billy Pierce, pitcher (Chicago White Sox) seven time all star
1927 - Carmen Basilio, American boxer
1927 - Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer (d. 2006)
1928 - Joseph "Cardinal" Bernardin, of Chicago
1928 - Rita Gam, Pittsburgh, actress (Distortions, Hannibal, Sierra Baron)
1928 - Serge Gainsbourg, [Ginsburg], Russian/French singer (Ford Mustang)
1929 - Catherine Gaskin, romantic novelist (Fiona, Coporation Wife)
1929 - Frans H J J Andriessen, Dutch MP (KVP/CDA)
1930 - Girolamo Arriego, composer
1930 - W Hambleden Smith, English newspaper magnate
1931 - Imre Olsvai, composer
1932 - Mahmood Hussain, Pakistani cricket swing bowler (68 wkts in 27 Tests)
1934 - Brian Glover, actor (McGuffin)
1934 - Christopher France, British permanent secretary (Dept of Health)
1934 - Diane Cilento, Rabaul
1934 - Peter Middleton, British permanent secretary (Treasury)
1934 - Paul Joseph Cohen, American mathematician (d. 2007)
1935 - Sharon Acker, Toronto Canada, actress (Della Street-Perry Mason 1973)
1936 - Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver (world champ 1966)
1937 - Paul E Kanjorski, (Rep-D-PA, 1985- )
1938 - John Larsson, 17th General of The Salvation Army
1938 - Whirlaway, American thoroughbred racehorse, 1941 Triple Crown Winner (d. 1953)
1939 - Marvin P Gaye Jr, Wash DC, singer (Sexual Healing)
1939 - Lise Thibault, Lieutenant-governor of Quebec
1940 - Penelope Keith, British actress (Norman Conquests, Priest of Love)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 88 of 88

1118 - Boudouin I, of Bologne/Edessa, 1st crusader/king of Jerusalem, dies
1272 - Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1209)
1335 - Duke Henry of Carinthia (b. circa 1265)
1412 - Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo, Spanish traveler and writer (b. ????)
1416 - Ferdinand I, the Justified, king of Aragon/Sicily, dies at 52
1502 - Arthur, English crown prince/husband of Catharina of Aragon, dies
1507 - Francis of Paola, Italian founder of the Order of the Minims (b. 1416)
1640 - Matthias C Sarbiewski, [Sarbievius], Polish jesuit/poet, dies at 45
1657 - Ferdinand III, King of Hungarian/Bohemia/German Emperor, dies at 48
1657 - Jean-Jacques Olier - French catholic priest, founder of the Society of Saint-Sulpice (b. 1608)
1705 - Johann Lohner, composer, dies at 59
1720 - Joseph Dudley, colonial Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1647)
1742 - James Douglas, Scottish physician and anatomist (b. 1675)
1747 - Johann J Dillenius, German botanist, dies at 63
1754 - Thomas Carte, English historian (b. 1686)
1758 - Johann Balthasar Konig, composer, dies at 67
1784 - Pierre Leclair, composer, dies at 74
1787 - Thomas Gage, British general (b. 1719)
1791 - Mirabeau, French statesman (b. 1749)
1801 - Thomas Dadford Junior, British canal engineer (b. circa 1761)
1803 - Hieronymus van Alphen, Dutch attorney/poet (church hymns), dies at 56
1817 - Johann Heinrich Jung, German author (b. 1740)
1827 - Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus, German physician and naturalist (b. 1776)
1831 - Charles Felix, blind King of Sardina (1821-31), dies at 74
1845 - Philip Charles Durham, Royal Navy Admiral (b. 1763)
1852 - Theodor Althaus, writer, dies
1865 - Ambrose Powell Hill, Confederate general, killed in action at 39
1865 - Richard Cobden, founder Anti-Corn-Law League, dies at 60
1872 - Samuel F B Morse developer of electric telegraph, dies at 80
1876 - Paul van Vlissingen, Dutch ship owner, dies at 78
1890 - Marinus FAG Campbell, bibliographer, dies at 70
1892 - Willem J d'Ablaing van Giessenburg, Dut baron/genealogist, dies at 79
1902 - Esther Morris, suffragist and first female American judge (b. 1814)
1910 - Boyd Alexander, English explorer (Niger to the Nile), murdered at 37
1910 - Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, German theologist, dies at 79
1914 - Paul von Heyse, German writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1830)
1922 - Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychologist (b. 1884)
1928 - Theodore Richards, US chemist (atomic weight, Nobel 1914), dies
1930 - Empress Zauditu of Ethiopia (b. 1876)
1932 - Hugo Kaun, composer, dies at 69
1933 - K S Ranjitsinhji, cricketer (989 Test runs, 1st-class avg 56), dies
1936 - Jean-Baptiste Eugène Estienne, French general (b. 1860)
1937 - Nathan Birnbaum, Austria philosopher (Zionism), dies at about 72
1938 - Alice Berend, writer, dies
1941 - Paul Teleki, premier Hungary, dies
1944 - Mikulas Moyzes, composer, dies at 71
1947 - Joseph Hardstaff, cricket (311 runs in 5 Tests for Eng 1907-08), dies
1951 - Simon Barere, pianist, dies while perfoming at Carnegie Hall
1952 - Bernard F Lyot, Fren astronomer (chronograph, Lyot-filter), dies at 55
1953 - Jean Epstein, French director (Vive la Vie), dies at 56
1956 - Albert MLA de Bassompierre, Belgium ambassador to Tokyo, dies at 82
1956 - Chester Clute, actor (Niagara Falls), dies at 65
1956 - Philippo de Pisis, Italian painter, dies at 59
1958 - Josei Toda, Japanese second president of the Buddhist association Soka Gakkai (b. 1900)
1959 - Benjamin Christensen, Danish actor (Barnet, Mockery), dies at 79
1961 - August Defresne, Dutch director (Anno Christi 969), dies at 67
1961 - Wallingford Riegger, US composer (Bacchangle), dies at 75
1965 - Renzo Bossi, composer, dies at 81
1966 - Cecil Scott Forester, English author (Horatio Hornblower), dies at 66
1969 - Fortunio Bonanova, actor (My Best Gal, Havana Rose), dies at 74
1972 - Gil Hodges, manager (NY Mets), dies of heart attack at 57
1972 - Franz Halder, German general (b. 1884)
1972 - Toshitsugu Takamatsu, Japanese Martial Arts Grandmaster (b. 1887)
1974 - Douglass Dumbrille, actor (Mr Deed Goes to Town), dies at 84
1974 - Georges Pompidou, French president, dies in Paris at 62
1976 - Ray Teal, actor (Sheriff Roy Coffee-Bonanza), dies at 74
1979 - Carroll D Rosenbloom, LA Rams president, dies at 72
1979 - Ivan Barrow, cricketer (11 Tests for West Indies 1930-39), dies
1980 - Dick Howorth, cricketer (Engld slow lefty all-rounder late 40's), dies
1987 - Buddy Rich, drummer/orchestra leader (Away We Go), dies at 69
1990 - Aldo Fabrizi, actor (Postman Goes to War, Open City), dies at 85
1992 - Paula Kelly, singer/actress (Sweet Charity), dies at 72
1992 - Tomisaburo Wakayama, Japanese actor (b. 1929)
1993 - Eugenie Leontovitch, actress (4 Sons, Homicidal), dies at 93
1993 - Klaas Schenk, Dutch speed skater/coach/father of Ard, dies at 86
1994 - Richard Davies, actor (Pvt Buckaroo), dies of heart attack at 79
1995 - Hannes Alfven, physicist (Nobel prize), dies at 86
1995 - Harvey Penick, premier golf instructor/author, dies at 90
1995 - Julius Arthur Hemphill, saxophonist, dies at 57
1997 - Tomoyuki Tanaka, producer (Godzilla), dies of a stroke at 86
1998 - Rob Pilatus, American model and entertainer (Milli Vanilli) (b. 1965)
2000 - Tommaso Buscetta, Sicilian mafioso and pentito (b. 1928)
2001 - Charles Daudelin, Canadian artist (b. 1920)
2001 - Jennifer Syme, American actress (b. 1972)
2003 - Edwin Starr, American singer (b. 1942)
2004 - John Argyris, Greek aeronautical engineer (b. 1913)
2005 - Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)
2006 - Nina Schenk von Stauffenberg, German wife of Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg (b. 1913)