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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 150

218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic.
1118 - Alfonso van Aragon occupies Saragossa on Almoraviden
1271 - Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China.
1352 - Etienne Aubert elected as Pope Innocentius VI
1406 - Anton van Bourgondies becomes duke of Brabant
1603 - Admiral Steven van der Haghens fleet departs to East-Indies
1621 - English parliament accept unanimously, Protestation
1719 - Thomas Fleet publishes "Mother Goose's Melodies For Children"
1774 - Empress Maria Theresa expels Jews from Prague, Bohemia & Moravia
1777 - 1st national Thanksgiving Day, commemorating Burgoyne's surrender
1783 - English king George III fires govt of Portland
1787 - New Jersey becomes 3rd state to ratify constitution
1793 - Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French royalists to Lord Hood; renamed HMS Lutine, she later becomes a famous treasure wreck.
1796 - 1st US newspaper to appear on Sunday (Baltimore Monitor)
1799 - George Washington's body interred at Mount Vernon
1813 - British take Ft Niagara in War of 1812
1832 - Charles Darwins visits Vurland
1839 - 1st celestial photograph (of Moon) made in US, John Draper, NYC
1849 - William Bond obtains 1st photograph of Moon through a telescope
1858 - Passy, at Paris: 1st "Samedi soir" i/d villa of lovers Rossini
1859 - South Carolina declared an "independent commonwealth"
1862 - Battle at Lexington, Tennessee (Forrest's Second Raid)
1865 - 13th Amendment ratified, slavery abolished
1865 - 1st US cattle importation law passed
1869 - Canada's Hamilton Foot Ball Club plays its 1st game
1878 - French SS Byzantin sinks after collision in Dardanellen, 210 killed
1878 - John Kehoe, the last of the Molly Maguires is executed in Pennsylvania.
1888 - Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the ancient Indian ruins of Mesa Verde.
1890 - Lugards expedition to Mengo/Kampala, Uganda
1892 - "Nutcracker Suite," Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet, premieres
1892 - Anton Bruckner's 8th Symphony, premieres
1894 - Cricket day 4 1T Aus v Eng England following on 4-268, 7 in front
1898 - Automobile speed record set-63 kph (39 mph)
1899 - Fieldmarshal Lord Roberts appointed Brit supreme commander in S Africa
1900 - The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia is opened for traffic.
1905 - H V Hordern takes 8-81 in 2nd innings of F-C debut (NSW v Qld)
1912 - he Piltdown Man, later discovered to be a hoax, is supposedly found in the Piltdown Gravel Pit, by Charles Dawson.
1915 - Pres Wilson, widowed the year before, marries Edith Bolling Galt
1917 - Soviet regiment (Stalin/Lenin) declares Finland Independent
1920 - 1st US postage stamps printed without the words United States or US
1923 - International zone of Tangier set up in Morocco
1930 - Bradman scores 258 NSW v South Aust, 289 mins, 37 fours
1932 - Chicago Bears beat Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in 1st NFL playoff game
1935 - Bradman scores 117 in his 1st Shield cricket match for South Australia
1935 - Edward Benes becomes president of Czechoslovakia
1935 - The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Ceylon.
1936 - 1st giant panda imported into US
1936 - Queensland cricket all out for 49 v Vic, Fleetwood-Smith 7-17
1936 - Su-Lin, 1st giant panda to come to US from China, arrives in SF
1939 - Finnish army recaptures Agläjärvi
1941 - German submarine U-434 sinks
1941 - Japanse troops land on Hong Kong
1944 - Destroyers "Hull," "Spence" & "Monaghan" sink in typhoon (Philippines)
1944 - Nazi occupiers of Amsterdam destroy electricity plants
1945 - Uruguay joins UN
1946 - TV's 1st network dramatic serial "Faraway Hill" ends 2 month run
1947 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Optissima Pax
1948 - Indonesia begins it's 2nd political election
1948 - WDSU TV channel 6 in New Orleans, LA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1949 - Phila Eagles beat LA Rams 14-0 in NFL championship game
1952 - Ellis W Ryan resigns as Cleve Indians president
1953 - KATV TV channel 7 in Little Rock, AR (ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - KMID TV channel 2 in Midland & Odessa, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
1956 - "To Tell the Truth" debuts on CBS-TV
1956 - Israeli flag hoisted on Mount Sinai
1956 - Japan admitted to UN
1956 - Phil Rizzuto signs as NY Yankee radio-TV announcer
1957 - Shippingport Atomic Power Stn, 1st nuke plant to generate electricity
1958 - 1st test project of Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equip
1958 - 1st voice from space: recorded Christmas message by Eisenhower
1958 - Niger gains autonomy within French Community (National Day)
1959 - Sammy Baugh named 1st coach of NY Titans (AFL)
1960 - General Meeting of UN condemns apartheid
1961 - Britain's EMI Records originally rejects the Beatles
1961 - For 2nd cons year, AP names Wilma Rudolph female athlete of year
1961 - India annexes Portuguese colonies of Goa, Damao & Diu
1961 - KAIL TV channel 53 in Fresno, CA (IND) begins broadcasting
1961 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Phila Warriors scores 78 points vs LA
1962 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' 13th Symphony, premieres in Moscow
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - WAIQ TV channel 26 in Montgomery, AL (PBS) begins broadcasting
1963 - Clarke runs world record 10k (28:15.6)
1963 - Muskegon, Michigan gets 3' of snow
1964 - "I Had a BaIl" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 199 performances
1964 - "The Pink Panther" cartoon series premieres (Pink Phink)
1964 - During services held for Sam Cooke fans caused damage to Funeral Home
1964 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1965 - "La Grusse Valise" closes at 54th St Theater NYC after 7 performances
1965 - Borman & Lovell Splash down in Atlantic ends 2 week Gemini VII mission
1965 - Kenneth LeBel jumps 17 barrels on ice skates
1966 - Dr Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" airs for 1st time on CBS
1966 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1966 - Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker.
1968 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1969 - "Coco" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 333 performances
1969 - Britain abolishes death penalty
1969 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1970 - "Me Nobody Knows" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 587 perfs
1970 - Polish uprising fails
1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 232

1507 - Ōuchi Yoshitaka, Japanese warlord (d. 1551)
1562 - Philipp Dulichius, composer
1569 - Jakob Hassler, composer
1602 - Simonds d'Ewes, English antiquarian and politician (d. 1650)
1610 - Charles Du Fresne Du Cange, French scholar/philologist
1620 - Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (d. 1668)
1633 - Adriaen Melar, Flemish engraver, baptised
1633 - Willem van de Velde the Young, Dutch seascape painter, baptised
1635 - Antonius Matthaeus, Dutch lawyer/historian
1661 - Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (d. 1751)
1662 - James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, Scottish politician (d. 1711)
1667 - Wenzel Ludwig von Radolt, composer
1707 - Charles Wesley, co-founder (Methodist movement)
1709 - Elizabeth, empress of Russia (to Peter the Great & Catherine I)
1725 - Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and Bible commentator (d. 1791)
1734 - Jean-Baptiste Rey, composer
1760 - Knud L Rahbek, Danish literary (Om sku skuespillerkunsten)
1779 - Joseph Grimaldi, England, pantomimist ("greatest clown in history")
1786 - Carl Maria von Weber, Germany, romantic composer (Der Freischutz)
1788 - Camille Pleyel, Austria, piano builder/composer
1803 - William Allen, (Rep/Gov-Oh)
1811 - Alexander Sandor Asboth, Bvt Mjr Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1868
1812 - Wiktor Kazynski, composer
1816 - Alfred Elzey Jones, Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1871
1819 - Jakov P Polonski, Russian poet (Stichotvorenija)
1825 - Charles Griffin, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1867
1826 - Charles-A Chatrian, [Erckmann-C], French writer (L'ami Fritz)
1826 - Mercer Brooke John, (Confederate Navy), died in 1906
1835 - George Dashiell Bayard, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1835 - Lyman Abbott, American author (d. 1922)
1837 - A Adolf Daens, Belgian priest/Dutch party founder (CVP)
1844 - Lujo [Ludwig J von] Brentano, German economist
1848 - Karl Schroder, composer
1851 - Graciano Lopez Jaena, Filipino hero, orator and satirist (d. 1896)
1852 - Gaetano Coronaro, composer
1856 - Joseph John Thomson, Eng, physicist discovered electron (Nobel 1906)
1860 - Edward Alexander MacDowell, US, composer (Indian Suite)
1861 - Lionel Monckton, composer
1863 - French Ferdinand, archduke of Austria (Sarajevo/WW I)
1867 - Antoon van Welie, Dutch painter
1870 - Andres Randolf, Denmark, actor (The Kiss)
1870 - D T Suzuki, Kanazawa Japan, Zen Buddhist scholar
1870 - Saki, [Hector Hugo Munro], Burma, author (Reginald, When William Came)
1873 - Adolf Vogl, composer
1873 - Francis Burton Harrison, American political figure (d. 1957)
1877 - Max Pallenberg, Austria, actor (Brave Suender)/husb of Fritzi Massary
1879 - Paul Klee, Switzerland, abstract painter (Twittering Machine) [NS]
1884 - Philippe van Isacker, Belgian minister
1886 - Ty Cobb, Colo, batted .367, stole 892 bases (Det Tigers)
1886 - Ty Cobb, American baseball player (d. 1961)
1888 - Gladys Cooper, Lewisham England, actress (My Fair Lady)
1888 - Robert Moses, power broker (built Long Island & NYC parks & roads)
1890 - Edwin Howard Armstrong, NYC, radio pioneer inventor (FM)
1897 - Fernand J Collin, Belgian economist/banker
1897 - Fletcher Henderson, American arranger and composer (d. 1952)
1898 - Jacob Kruijt, Dutch sociologist
1904 - George Stevens, US director (Alice Adams, Penny Serenade)
1904 - Wilf Carter, country singer
1905 - Richard Sturzenegger, composer
1906 - Edwin H "Buddy" Morris, music publisher
1906 - Kam Tong, actor (Across the Pacific, Flower Drum Song)
1907 - Christopher Fry, Bristol England, playwright (Ring Around the Moon)
1907 - Bill Holland, American auto racer (d. 1984)
1908 - Celia Johnson, England, actress (Happy Breed, Brief encounter)
1909 - Mona Barrie, [Smith], London England, actress (Dawn on Great Divide)
1910 - Abe Burrows, Bkln NY, Broadway composer (Guys & Dolls 1951 TONY)
1910 - Eric Tindall, cricketer (All Black rep who kept wicket in 5 Tests)
1911 - Helen Vlachos, journalist
1911 - Jules Dassin, Middletown CT, director (Circle of Two, Never on Sunday)
1912 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American General (d. 2002)
1913 - Alfred Bester, US, science fiction author (Decievers, Starlight)
1913 - Donald Phillips, pianist/composer
1913 - Lynn Bari, Roanoke Va, actress (Connie-Detective Wife, Earthbound)
1913 - Saburo Takata, composer
1913 - Willy Brandt, [Herbert Frahm], German chancellor (1969-74, Nobel 1971)
1913 - Ray Meyer, American basketball coach (d. 2006)
1914 - Jerry Zipkin, socialite
1915 - Dario Mangiarotti, Italy, fencing, gold, 2 silver (Olympic-1948, 52)
1916 - Betty Grable, St Louis, great legs/actress (Gay Divorcee)
1917 - Ossie Davis, Cogdell GA, actor/playwright (Hot Stuff, Man Called Adam)
1919 - Anita O'Day, Chicago, big band jazz singer (Gene Krupa, Stan Kanton)
1920 - Rita Streich, German singer
1920 - Willis Conover, broadcaster
1922 - Larry D Mann, Toronto Canada, actor (Marty-Accidental Family)
1923 - Lotti [Charlotte] van der Gaag, Dutch sculptor/painter
1926 - Peggy Cummins, North Wales, actress (Curse of the Demon)
1927 - Ramsey Clark, US attorney General (1967-69)
1927 - Sterling Lanier, US, writer (Hiero's Journey)
1927 - Roméo LeBlanc, 25th Governor General of Canada
1928 - Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal
1929 - Gino Cimoli, American baseball player
1930 - Moose Skowron, American baseball player
1931 - Gunnel Lindblom, Goeteborg Sweden, actor (Hunger, Virgin Spring)
1931 - Noel McGregor, cricketer (batted in 25 Tests for NZ 1955-65)
1931 - Allen Klein, American rock and roll business manager
1931 - Alison Plowden, English historian (d. 2007)
1932 - Roger Smith, South Gate Calif, actor (77 Sunset Strip)
1933 - Arthur Leigh Allen, Suspected Zodiac serial killer (d. 1992)
1934 - Boris Valentinovich Volynov, USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 5, 21)
1935 - Jacques Pépin, French chef

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 110

468 - Huna Mari bar Mar Zutra, rabbi, executed in Pumpedita
821 - Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans
1133 - Hildebert, French writer
1290 - King Magnus I of Sweden (b. 1240)
1442 - Pierre Cauchon, French Catholic bishop (b. 1371)
1495 - King Alphonso II of Naples (b. 1448)
1505 - John IX van Horne, prince-bishop of Lieges, executed
1565 - Benedetto Varchi, Italian humanist/historian (L'Ercolano), dies at 62
1577 - Anna, duchess of Saxon/wife of prince Willem of Orange, dies at 32
1597 - Barbara Blomberg, German mistress of emperor Karel, dies at 67
1633 - Theodoor Galle, Flemish engraver, buried at 62
1638 - Le Pere Joseph, French mystic, dies
1651 - Francisco the Melo, Portuguese/Spanish earl of Assumar, dies at 54
1692 - Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (b. 1626)
1710 - Peter Codde, apostile vicar (1688-1704), dies at 62
1732 - Johann Valentin Eckelt, composer, dies at 59
1737 - Antonio Stradivari, renowned violin-maker, dies in Cremona Italy at 93
1751 - Kilian I von Dientzenhofer, builder (Nepomukkerk, Prague), dies at 62
1779 - Jan Punt, engraver/illustrator/actor (Gideonschool), dies at 68
1787 - Francis William Drake, British Admiral and Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1724)
1787 - Soame Jenyns, English writer (b. 1704)
1799 - Jean-Étienne Montucla, French mathematician (b. 1725)
1803 - Johann G von Herder, German philosopher/theologist/poet, dies at 59
1829 - Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, French nature investigator, dies at about 85
1831 - Willem Bilderdijk, Dutch poet/literary (My Relief), dies at 75
1835 - Johann Georg Anton Mederitsch-Gallus, composer, dies at 82
1839 - Charles-Henri Plantade, composer, dies at 75
1841 - Felice Blangini, composer, dies at 60
1843 - Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, British Viceroy of India (b. 1748)
1848 - Bernard Bolzano, Bohemian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1781)
1858 - Joseph-Henri-Ignace Mees, composer, dies at 81
1862 - Johnson Kelly Duncan, architect/Confederate brig-generaal, dies at 35
1865 - Francisco Manuel da Silva, composer, dies at 70
1869 - Louis Moreau Gottschalk, composer, dies at 40
1892 - Richard Owen, English zoologist (Dinosaurus), dies at 88
1897 - Carlo A Alfieri, Italian Member of parliament, dies at 70
1899 - John William Glover, composer, dies at 84
1911 - Alberto Randegger, composer, dies at 79
1918 - Henryk Jarecki, composer, dies at 72
1919 - Horatio William Parker, composer, dies at 56
1919 - John Alcock, pilot (1st non-stop over Atlantic), dies in crash at 27
1928 - Lucien Capet, composer, dies at 55
1931 - John T "Legs" Diamond, US gangster, murdered at 35
1932 - Eduard "Ede" Bernstein, German marxist/revisionist, dies at 82
1935 - Juan V Gomez, general/dictator of Venezuela (1908-35), dies
1936 - Andrija Mohorovičić, Austro-Hungarian-born Yugoslav seismologist (b. 1857)
1937 - S S Schultz, cricketer (one Test England v Australia 1879), dies
1939 - Matthew Brown, Journalist, dies at 51
1942 - Charlie Walker, cricketer (Aust tourist to England 1930, 1938), dies
1948 - Janet Fay, hammered to death by Honeymoon Killers
1959 - Dorothy L Sayers, writer, dies at 66
1963 - Winifried P I Zillig, German composer/conductor (Opfer), dies at 58
1966 - Gene Gauntier, dies in Cuernavaca Mexico
1971 - Aleksandr T Tvardovski, Russ editor in chief (Novyj Mir), dies at 61
1971 - Bobby Jones Jr, PGA golfer (Grand Slam 1930), dies at 69
1971 - Diana Lynn, actress (Annapolis Story, Easy Come Easy Go), dies at 45
1973 - Giulio Cesare Brero, composer, dies at 64
1973 - Allama Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani scholar, orator and philosopher (b. 1908)
1974 - Harry Hooper, American baseball player (b. 1887)
1975 - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian geneticist (b. 1900)
1976 - George Emmett, cricketer (Engld opener v Aust Old Trafford 1948), dies
1977 - Cyril Ritchard, actor (Peter Pan), dies at 80
1977 - Louis Untermeyer, poet/critic/TV panelist (What's My Line), dies at 92
1980 - Alexei N Kosygin, Soviet PM (1964-80), suffers heart attack at 76
1981 - Mehmet Shehu, PM Albania (1954-81)/"US-Russ spy", commits suicide
1982 - Raymond Emery, cricketer (2 Tests NZ v WI 1952, 46 runs, 2 wkts), dies
1982 - Tibor de Machula, Hungary/Neth cellist, dies at 70
1982 - Hans-Ulrich Rudel, German pilot (b. 1916)
1985 - Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese poet (b. 1916)
1986 - Mamo Clark, actor (1 Million BC, Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island), dies
1987 - Conny Plank, German record producer and musician (b. 1940)
1990 - Anne Revere, actress (National Velvet), dies of pneumonia at 87
1990 - Paul Tortelier, composer, dies at 76
1991 - June Storey, actress (South of the Border), dies of cancer at 73
1991 - George Abecassis, English Formula 1 driver (b. 1913)
1992 - Dana Andrews, actor (Best Years of Our Lifes), dies at 83
1992 - Mark Goodson, TV game show producer (Goodson-Toddman), dies at 77
1992 - Mother Clare Hale, cared for NYC AIDS babies (Hale House), dies at 87
1992 - Richard H Ichord, US leader of House Un-American Act Comm, dies
1993 - Sam Wanamaker, actor (Pvt Benjamin), dies of prostate cancer at 74
1993 - Charizma, American rapper (b. 1973)
1994 - Heinz Bernard Lowenstein, actor/director, dies at 71
1994 - Lilia Skala, Austrian/US actress (Ship of Fools, Caprice), dies at 98
1994 - Peter Hebblethwaite, English editor-in-chief (The Month), dies at 64
1994 - Roger Apéry, Greek-French mathematician (b. 1916)
1995 - Chaim Pearl, rabbi, dies at 76
1995 - Georgio Fini, restaurateur, dies at 70
1995 - Ross Thomas, author, dies at 69
1995 - Konrad Zuse, German engineer and computing pioneer (b. 1910)
1995 - Brian Brockless, English organist (b. 1926)
1996 - Arthur Jacobs, musicologist, dies at 74
1997 - Chris Farley, comedian (SNL, Tommy Boy), dies at 33
1998 - Lev Demin, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1926)
1999 - Robert Bresson, French film director (b. 1907)
2000 - Stan Fox, American race car driver (b. 1952)
2000 - Randolph Apperson Hearst, son of W. Randolph Hearst and father of Patty (b. 1915)
2000 - Kirsty MacColl, English singer and songwriter (b. 1959)
2001 - Gilbert Bécaud, French singer (b. 1927)
2001 - Dimitris Dragatakis, Greek composer (b. 1914)
2002 - Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1934)