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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 170

197 - Lucius Septimius Severus' army beats Clodius Albinus at Lyon
356 - Emperor Constantius II shuts all heathen temples
607 - Boniface III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
842 - Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ends as a council in Constantinople formally reinstated the veneration of icons in the churches
1512 - French troops under Gaston de Foix occupy Brescia
1537 - Weavers of Leiden Neth strike
1539 - Jews of Tyrnau Hungary (then Trnava Czech), expelled
1574 - Spanish troops plunder Krommenie, Wormerveer & Jisp Neth
1582 - Francis of Valois becomes duke of Brabant
1594 - Having already inherited the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth through his mother Catherine Jagellonica of Poland, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa is crowned King of Sweden, succeeding his father John III of Sweden.
1600 - The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America.
1619 - Trial against Johan van Oldenbarnevelt begins in The Hague
1634 - Battle at Smolensk: Polish king Wladyslaw IV beats Russians [NS=Mar 1]
1674 - Netherlands & England sign Peace of Westminster (NYC becomes English)
1700 - Last day of Julian calendar in Denmark
1736 - Georg F Handel's "Alexander's Feast," premieres
1771 - Messier adds M46-M49 to his catalog (galactic clusters in Puppis & Hydra & galaxy in Virgo)
1797 - 1/3 of papal domain ceded to France
1803 - Congress accepts Ohio's constitution, statehood not ratified till 1953
1807 - British squadron under Adm Duckworth forces passage of Dardanelle
1807 - VP Aaron Burr arrested in Alabama for treason; later found innocent
1819 - British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III.
1825 - Franz Grillparzer's "Konig Ottokars Gluck," premieres in Vienna
1831 - 1st practical US coal-burning locomotive makes 1st trial run, Penn
1846 - Texas state govt formally installed in Austin
1852 - The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity is founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
1856 - Tin-type camera patented by Hamilton Smith, Gambier, Ohio
1859 - Dan Sickles is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity 1st time this defense is successfully used
1861 - Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom [NS=Mar 3]
1861 - Serfdom is abolished in Russia.
1864 - Knights of Pythias form 1st lodge in Wash DC (12 members)
1869 - US Assay Office in Boise, Idaho authorized
1878 - Thomas Alva Edison patents gramophone (phonograph)
1881 - Kansas becomes 1st state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages
1884 - Tornadoes in Miss, Ala, NC, SC, Tenn, Ky & In kill 800 people
1900 - British troops occupy Hlangwane Natal
1906 - WK Kellogg & Ch Bolin find Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co
1910 - English premiere of Richard Strauss' "Elektra"
1913 - 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box
1913 - Mexican General V Huerta takes power with US support
1914 - Riccardo Zandonai's opera "Francesco da Rimini," premieres in Turin
1915 - British fleet fire on Dardanellen coast
1919 - Pan-African Congress, organized by W E B Du Bois (Paris)
1920 - Netherlands joins League of Nations
1922 - Ed Wynn becomes 1st talent to sign as a radio entertainer
1923 - Jean Sibelius' 6th Symphony, premieres
1923 - Philip Barry's "You & I," premieres in NYC
1927 - General strike against British occupiers in Shanghai
1928 - 2nd Winter Olympic games close at St Moritz, Switzerland
1928 - Canadian hockey team wins 3rd consecutive gold medal
1929 - Medical diathermy machine 1st used, Schenectady, NY
1932 - William Faulkner completes his novel "Light in August"
1933 - Prussian minister Goering bans all Catholic newspapers
1934 - Bob & Dolores Hope marry
1934 - US contract air mail service canceled, replaced by US army for 6 mos
1935 - Clifford Odets' "Awake & Sing," premieres in NYC
1936 - Manuel Azaña becomes Spanish premier
1938 - Soviet arctic ice research station North Pole 1 evacuated, Denmark
1941 - Nazi police attacks & driven away from Koco Amsterdam (by young Jews)
1941 - Nazi raid Amsterdam & round up 429 young Jews for deportation
1942 - About 150 Japanese warplanes attacked the Australian city of Darwin
1942 - Bill Longson beats Managoff & Sandor Szabo, to become wrestling champ
1942 - Dutch actors protest obligatory membership of Culture Chamber
1942 - FDR orders detention & internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans
1942 - Japanese troop land on Timor
1942 - Tommy Dorsey & his orchestra recorded "I'll Take Tallulah"
1942 - NY Yankees annouce 5,000 uniformed soldiers admitted free at each of their upcoming home games
1943 - German tanks under brig gen Buelowius attack Kasserine Pass Tunesia
1944 - 823 British bombers attack Berlin
1944 - U-264 sinks off Ireland
1945 - 30,000 US Marines land on Iwo Jima
1945 - 900 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in 2 days
1945 - Brotherhood Day-1st celebrated
1945 - US 5th Fleet launches invasion of Iwo Jima against the Japanese
1946 - Giants outfielder Danny Gardella is 1st major leaguer to announce he is jumping to the "outlaw" Mexican League
1947 - CBS radio premiere of Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasilieras No 3"
1949 - "Inside USA" closes at Century Theater NYC after 339 performances
1949 - 1st Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Ezra Pound
1949 - Mass arrests of communists in India
1952 - French offensive at Hanoi
1953 - Georgia approves US 1st literature censorship board
1953 - Ted Williams safely crash-lands his damaged Panther jet
1953 - William Inge's "Picnic," premieres in NYC
1954 - WAST (now WNYT) TV channel 13 in Albany-Troy, NY (NBC) 1st broadcast
1955 - South East Asia Collective Defense Treaty goes into effect
1956 - Kathy Cornelius wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open
1958 - Carl Perkins leaves Sun Records for Columbia Records
1959 - Britain, Turkey & Greece sign agreement granting Cyprus independence
1959 - Gabon adopts its constitution
1959 - USAF rocket-powered rail sled attains Mach 4.1 (4970 kph), NM
1960 - Bil Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuts
1960 - Protest strike in Poznan Poland
1961 - Albania disavows Chinese "Revisionism"
1961 - Henk van der Grift (Neth) becomes world champ all-round skater
1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1963 - Robert Frost wins Bollingen Prize
1963 - USSR informs JFK it's withdrawing several thousand troops from Cuba
1964 - UK flies ½ ton of The Beatles wigs to the US
1965 - NFL adds 6th official
1967 - Stien Kaiser becomes world champion lady's skater

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 239

3 - Sadiq Hidajat, Persian writer (Blind Person Owl)
1473 - Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer (d. 1543)
1526 - Charles de L'Ecluse, Flemish botanist (d. 1609)
1552 - Melchior Klesl, Austrian cardinal and statesman (d. 1630)
1588 - Pieter de Carpentier, Flemish gov-gen of Dutch East-Indies
1611 - Andries de Graeff, mayor of Amsterdam (1657..71)
1616 - Jacques de Saint-Luc, composer
1630 - Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire (d. 1680)
1660 - Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (d. 1742)
1671 - Charles-Hubert Gervais, composer
1683 - Philip V, France, King of Spain (1700-24, 24-46)
1687 - Johann Adam Birkenstock, composer
1717 - David Garrick, actor/producer/writer (Aboan-Oroonoko)
1722 - Tiphaigne de la Roche, French writer (d. 1774)
1743 - [Ridolfo] Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer, cellist (Minuet)
1751 - Cornelis de Gijselaar, Dutch politician/patriot
1754 - Vincenzo Monti, Italian poet/translator (Al Signor di Montgolfier)
1755 - Pieter G van Overstraten, governor-general of Neth-Indies
1762 - Friedrich Franz Hurka, composer
1763 - Adalbert Gyrowetz, composer
1780 - Friedrich H von der Hagen, German germanist (Nibelungenlied)
1780 - Richard McCarty, American politician (d. 1844)
1802 - Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1881)
1804 - Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, German physician (d. 1878)
1804 - David Wark, Canadian politician (d. 1905)
1812 - Lauro Rossi, composer
1817 - Willem III, last male King of Netherlands (1849-90)
1819 - Mark Prager Lindo, English/Dutch author/novelist/writer
1821 - Francis Preston Blair Jr, Lexington Ky, (Rep-Missouri)
1824 - Constantine D Uschinsky, Russian educator [NS=Mar 2]
1827 - Charles Robert Woods, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1855
1828 - Johannes von Miquel, German politician
1841 - Felipe Pedrell, composer
1843 - Adelina Patti, Madrid Spain, opera soprano (Lucio)
1859 - Svante August Arhenius, Swedish physicist/chemist (Nobel 1903)
1863 - Emanuel Moor, composer
1864 - Aritius S Talma, Dutch minister of Agriculture (Work Law of 1911)
1865 - Adrian van Oordt, Dutch writer (neo-romantic)
1865 - Sven Hedin, Sweden, scientist/explorer (Tibet)
1877 - Else Berg, German/Dutch painter
1877 - Louis Francois-Marie Aubert, French composer (Habanera)
1877 - Gabriele Münter, German painter (d. 1962)
1880 - Arthur Shepherd, composer
1881 - Armin Knab, German composer (Eichendorff-cycle)
1881 - Evert Gorter, founder of Dutch medical child care
1881 - Paul Zech, writer
1886 - George Luther Foote, composer
1888 - Aurora Quezon, First Lady of the Philippines (d. 1949)
1889 - Jose Eustasio Rivera, Colombia, poet/novelist (Vortex)
1891 - J C "Farmer" White, cricketer (Somerset slow lefty 1909-37)
1893 - Cedric Hardwicke, Stourbridge England, actor (Peter Pan, Richard III)
1893 - Pietro Pancrazi, Italian critic (Scrittori d'Oggi)
1894 - Herb Pennock, hall of fame pitcher (Yankees, 243 career wins)
1895 - Louis Calhern, NYC, actor (Julius Caesar, Blackboard Jungle)
1896 - André Breton, French poet (d. 1966)
1897 - Alma Rubens, American actress (d. 1931)
1898 - Lauwrens Voorthuyzen, [Lou de Palingboer], Dutch sect leader
1899 - Yury Olesha, Russian novelist (d. 1960)
1900 - Giorgos Seferis, writer
1901 - Cor[nelis RJ] Kieboom, Dutch resistance fighter/chairman (Feyenoord)
1902 - Hugo Haas, Brno Czechoslovakia, actor/director (2 Smart People)
1902 - John Bubbles, Louisville Ky, rhythm tap dancer (No Maps on My Taps)
1902 - Nydia Westman, NYC, actress (Going My Way, Young Mr Bobbins)
1902 - Kay Boyle, American writer (d. 1992)
1903 - Kay Boyle, St Paul Minn, novelist (Plagued by Nightingales)
1904 - Havank, [HF vqan der Kallen], Dutch thriller writer (St Eustache)
1906 - Grace Mary Williams, composer
1906 - Hendrik W C Spruit, Dutch conductor
1909 - Charlie Walker, South Aust cricket wicket-keeper (toured but no Tests)
1911 - Merle Oberon, Calcutta India, actress (Assignment Foreign Legion)
1911 - Nikola Hercigonja, composer
1912 - Adolf Rudnicki, Polish writer (Niekochana)
1912 - Peter Francis de Sautoy, publisher
1912 - Stan Kenton, [Newcomb], Wichita Ks, jazz musician (Music 55)
1912 - Saul Chaplin, American composer (d. 1997)
1913 - Alvin Derold Etler, composer
1914 - Jacques Dufilho, French comedian (d. 2005)
1915 - John Freeman, British politician (Labour)/ambassador/TV host
1916 - Eddie Arcaro, jockey (1958 Racing Hall of Fame, 2 triple crowns)
1917 - Carson McCullers, US, novelist (Heart Is a Lonely Hunter)
1920 - Frances K Bairstow, educator/labor relations consultant
1920 - George Rose, Bicester England, actor (Beacon Hill, Holocaust)
1920 - C. Z. Guest, American socialite (d. 2003)
1920 - Jaan Kross, Estonian writer (d. 2007)
1921 - Andries Treurnicht, [Dr No], founder (S Afr Conservative Party)
1921 - Claude Rene Georges Pascal, composer
1922 - Beant Singh, politiician
1922 - Josef Matej, composer
1923 - Donald Lybbert, composer
1924 - Bruce Norris, NHL owner (Detroit Red Wings)
1924 - Lee Marvin, NYC, actor (Paint Your Wagon, Cat Ballou)
1924 - David Bronstein, Ukrainian chess player (d. 2006)
1925 - Jindrich Feld, composer
1925 - Leslie Laing, Linstead Jamaica, 4X400m relayer (Olympic-gold-1952)
1926 - Gyorgy Kurtag, composer
1927 - Rene Firino-Martell, cognac manufacturer
1929 - Jacques Deray, French film director (d. 2003)
1930 - John Frankenheimer, NYC, director (Birdman of Alcatraz)
1932 - Jean-Pierre Ponnele, Paris France, opera director (Carmina Burana)
1932 - Joseph P Kerwin, Oak Park Ill, Capt Med Corps USN/astro (Skylab 2)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 113

197 - D Clodius Septimus Albinus, Roman bequest in England, dies in battle
440 - Mesrop Mashtots, Armenian monk, theologian and linguist (b. 361/362)
1133 - Irene Ducaena, wife of Alexius I Comnenus (b. 1066)
1260 - Boniface, of Lausanne, Belgian bishop/saint, dies
1401 - William Sawtree, 1st English religious martyr, burned in London
1414 - Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury/chancellor of England, dies
1545 - Pierre Brully, [Peter Brulius], calvinist minister, burned to death
1553 - Erasmus Reinhold, German mathematician, dies at 41
1568 - Miles Coverdale, translator (1st complete English Bible), dies at 80
1589 - Saint Philothei, Orthodox martyr and Patron of Athens (b. 1522)
1602 - Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercoeur, French soldier (b. 1558)
1605 - Orazio Tiberio Vecchi, composer, dies at 54
1620 - Roemer P Visscher, poet, buried in Amsterdam
1622 - Sir Henry Savile, English educator (b. 1549)
1653 - Luigi Rossi, composer, dies
1663 - Adam Adami, German bishop and diplomat (b. 1603)
1670 - King Frederick III of Denmark (b. 1609)
1672 - Charles Chauncy, English-born president of Harvard College (b. 1592)
1709 - Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shogun (b. 1646)
1716 - Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norwegian poet (b. 1634)
1785 - Johann Christoph Richter, composer, dies at 84
1789 - Nicholas Van Dyke, American lawyer and President of Delaware (b. 1738)
1790 - Jean-Baptiste Krumphultz, composer, dies at 47
1799 - Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor (b. 1733)
1806 - Elizabeth Carter, English writer (b. 1717)
1815 - Leonhard von Call, composer, dies at 47
1822 - Jeronymo Francisco de Lima, composer, dies at 78
1837 - Georg Büchner, German playwright (b. 1813)
1858 - Alois Basil Nikolaus Tomasini, composer, dies at 78
1864 - William Edwin Baldwin, US Confederate brig-general, dies
1873 - Vasil Levski, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1837)
1875 - Jean B Vuillaume, French violin maker (octobas), dies at 76
1878 - Charles F Daubigny, French restaurateur/painter, dies at 61
1887 - Eduard Douwes Dekker, Dutch writer (Max Havelaar), dies at 66
1887 - Multatuli, Dutch writer (b. 1820)
1892 - Monty Bowden, cricket Capt (England v S Africa 1889), dies at 26
1894 - Ernesto Camillo Sivori, composer, dies at 78
1897 - Karl T Weierstrass, German mathematician, dies at 81
1915 - Gopal Krishna Gokhale, India's social reformer/politician, dies
1916 - Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist/philosopher/psychologist, dies at 78
1923 - Jeronimo Gimenez y Bellido, composer, dies at 68
1927 - Georg Brandes, [Cohen], Danish literary-historian/critic, dies at 85
1927 - Robert Fuchs, composer, dies at 80
1933 - Arnold Ludwig Mendelssohn, composer, dies at 77
1936 - Charles Harding Firth, British historian (b. 1857)
1941 - Alexander Josiah Webbe, English cricket keeper (v Aus 1879), dies
1941 - Hamilton Hamilton Harty, composer/conductor, dies at 61
1942 - Frank Abbandando, American gangster (executed) (b. 1910)
1944 - Siegfried Garibaldi Kallenberg, composer, dies at 76
1945 - Wim Speelman, Dutch resistance fighter, executed at 26
1949 - Auguste Jean Maria Charles Serieyx, composer, dies at 83
1950 - Edyth Walker, US singer, dies at 82
1951 - Andre[-Paul-Guillaume] Gide, French writer (Nobel 1947), dies at 82
1952 - Knut Hamsun, writer, dies at 92
1952 - Lawrence Grant, actor (Bulldog Drummond), dies at 82
1957 - Maurice Garin, French cyclist (b. 1871)
1962 - Albert Israel Elkus, composer, dies at 77
1962 - Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek doctor, inventor of the Pap smear (b. 1883)
1965 - Forrest Taylor, actor (This is Life, Man Without a Gun), dies at 81
1965 - Gheorge Gheorghiu Dej, Romanian president, dies at 63
1967 - Wilmer King, 1st casuality on Tappan Zee Bridge NY, dies
1968 - Ralph Dunn, actor (Mr Rudge-Norby), dies at 65
1968 - Georg Hackenschmidt, Estonian professional wrestler (b. 1878)
1969 - Madge Blake, American actress (b. 1899)
1970 - Ralph Edward Flanders, (Sen-VT), dies at 89
1972 - John Grierson, Scottish documentary filmmaker (b. 1898)
1972 - Tedd Pierce, American animator (b. 1906)
1975 - Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian 12-tone composer, dies at 71
1977 - Mike González, Cuban baseball player (b. 1890)
1977 - Anthony Crosland, British politician (b. 1918)
1980 - Bon Scott, Aust rock vocalist (AC/DC-Whole Lotta Rosie), dies at 33
1981 - Frank Merrik, composer, dies at 94
1983 - Alice White, actress (Employees' Entrance), dies at 78 of a stroke
1984 - Ina Ray Hutton, orch leader (Ina Ray Hutton Show), dies at 66
1985 - Elizabeth Julesberg, author (Dick & Jane), dies
1985 - George Holmes, actor (Man in the Trunk), dies at 66
1986 - Adolfo Celi, actor (Thunderball), dies at 63
1986 - James O Eastland, (Sen-D-Miss), dies at 81
1986 - Paul Stewart, actor (Top Secret USA, Deadline), dies at 77
1988 - André Frédéric Cournand, French-born physician, Nobel laureate (b. 1895)
1989 - Jaap van de Merwe, Dutch journalist/cabareter (Hadjememaar), dies
1989 - Merwe, journalist/cabaret performer (Hadjememaar), dies
1990 - Michael Powell, Engl director (Life & Death of Col Blimp), dies at 84
1991 - Peggy Mondo, actress (Who's Minding the Store), dies at 50
1992 - Chet Leaming, dies after brief illness at 66
1993 - Gerhard Gesell, judge (Pentagon Papers), dies of liver cancer at 82
1993 - Michael Morrison, actor (Caleb-As the World Turns), dies at 33
1994 - Derek Jarman, actor/director (Tempest), dies of AIDS at 52
1994 - Georges Watin, Algerian/French officer (OAS), dies at 71
1994 - Renske Vellinga, Dutch speed-skater, dies in auto-accident at 19
1995 - Calder Willingham, novelist/Scriptwriter, dies at 72
1995 - Ian Ball, photographer, dies at 80
1995 - Shlomo Averbach, Israeli ultra-orthodox rabbi, dies at 84
1996 - Brenda Bruce, actress (December Bride, Nightmare), dies at 77
1996 - Charles O Finley, baseball owner (Oakland A's), dies at 76
1996 - Grant Sawyer, US politician, dies at 76
1996 - Madhaviah Krishnan, naturalist, dies at 83
1997 - Deng Xiaoping, head (Chinese Communist Party), dies at 92
1997 - Leo Rosten, writer/humourist (Joys of Yiddish), dies at 88
1997 - Stanley Pearson, footballer, dies at 76