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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 171

657 - Battle of Siffin.
811 - Battle at Pliska: Bulgarian under monarch Krum beat Byzantine
920 - Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at Pamplona.
1267 - Inquistion forms in Rome under pope Clement IV
1309 - Henry VII is recognized King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.
1469 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Edgecote Moor - Pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of King Edward IV.
1497 - "Edward IV's son" Perkin Warbecks army lands in Cork
1499 - Alonso dhe Ojeda discovers Curacao Island
1519 - Pizarro receives royal charter for S American west coast
1524 - James I (12) becomes king of Scotland
1529 - Francisco Pizarro appointed governor of Peru
1576 - Muitende Spanish troops conquer Aalst
1579 - Francis Drake leaves SF to cross Pacific Ocean
1588 - John Hawkins becomes a knight
1656 - Rembrandt declares he is insolvent
1663 - France annexes Venaissin
1678 - England & Netherlands signs treaty: sending ultimatum to France
1757 - Battle at Hastenbeck: French army beats duke of Cumberland
1758 - British battle fleet under gen James Wolfe conquerors Louisbourg
1759 - French troops vacate Ticonderoga NY
1760 - Austrian troops occupy Fort Glatz Silezie
1775 - United States Post Office (U.S.P.O.) created in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin
1788 - NY becomes 11th state to ratify constitution
1788 - Sydney, Australia settled by British colonists
1790 - US passes Assumption bill making US responsible for state debts
1803 - The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London.
1805 - Naples/Calabria struck by Earthquake; about 26,000 die
1822 - Secret meeting of Simon Bolivar & Jose de San Martin
1826 - Vilnus Lithuanian riots cause death of many Jews
1832 - HMS Beagle anchors in Montevideo
1835 - 1st sugar cane plantation started in Hawaii
1847 - Liberia declares independence from American Colonization Society
1847 - Moses Garrish Farmer builds 1st miniature train for children to ride
1848 - 1st Woman's Rights Convention (Senecca Falls NY)
1858 - Baron Lionel de Rothschild is 1st Jew elected to British Parliament
1863 - Battle of Salineville OH, John Hunt Morgan & 364 troops surrender
1864 - -31] Riot at McCook's to Lovejoy Station GA, US600 CS---
1864 - -31] Riot at Stoneman's to Macon GA, US1000 CS---
1864 - Battle at Ezra Chapel (Church), Georgia [Hood's Third Sortie]
1865 - Patrick Francis Healy is 1st black awarded PhD (Louvain Belgium)
1866 - Canoe Club opens in England
1878 - In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.
1881 - French marines occupy Tunisian harbor city Sfax
1882 - Richard Wagner's opera "Parsifal," premieres in Beirut
1887 - 1st Esperanto book published
1891 - Henry James' "American," premieres in London
1891 - France annexes Tahiti.
1897 - 37.5 cm rainfall at Jewell, Maryland (state record)
1902 - Australia beat England by 3 runs at Old Trafford
1908 - Predecessor of the FBI is created by the Department of Justice
1908 - United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).
1914 - Austrian-Hungary condemns Serbian ultimatum
1914 - British Min of Navy Winston Churchill orders British fleet to remain
1914 - German chief of staff/gen von Moltke states ultimatum on Belgium
1915 - International School for Wijsbegeerte forms
1917 - J Edgar Hoover gets job on ministry of Justice
1918 - Race riot in Philadelphia (3 whites & 1 black killed)
1926 - National Bar Association incorporates
1926 - Philippines govt asks US to plebiscite for independence
1928 - Gene Tunney TKOs Tom Heeney in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1928 - Yanks score 11 runs in 12th beating Tigers 12-1
1933 - Joe Dimaggio ends 61 game hitting streak in Pacific Coast League
1936 - The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.
1937 - End of the Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War.
1938 - 1st radio broadcast of "Young Widder Brown" on NBC
1939 - Yankee catcher Bill Dickey hits 3 consecutive HRs
1941 - "Camp Amersfoort" opened by Germany occupiers
1941 - 1st Dutch Austrians depart Hague
1941 - US embargo on oil-export to Japan
1942 - RAF bombs Hamburg
1942 - RC churches protest, Dutch bishops stand against spread of Judaism
1943 - 120°F (49°C), Tishmoningo, Oklahoma (state record)
1943 - Otto Skorzeny's commando group arrives in Rome
1944 - Japanese suicide attack on US lines in Guam
1944 - Russian troops arrive in Weichsel
1944 - US offensive at St-Lo/2nd Armour div occupies St Gilles
1944 - The first German V-2 rocket hits Great Britain.
1945 - After Labour landslide in general election, Clement Attlee becomes PM
1945 - Declaration of Potsdam: US/Brit/China demands Japanese surrender
1945 - Japanese govt disregards US ultimatum
1945 - US cruiser Indianapolis reaches Tinian with atom bomb
1945 - Winston Churchill resigns as Britain's PM
1946 - President Truman orders desegregation of all US forces
1946 - Aloha Airlines began service from Honolulu International Airport
1947 - Department of Defense forms
1947 - National Security Act establishes CIA
1948 - "Babe Ruth Story," premieres, Babe Ruth's last public appearance
1948 - 1st black host of a network show-CBS' Bob Howard Show
1948 - Leo Durocher returns to Ebbets Field as a NY Giant
1948 - Pres Truman issues Executive Order No. 9981 directing "equality of treatment & opportunity" in armed forces
1949 - WCPO TV channel 9 in Cincinnati, OH (CBS) begins broadcasting
1950 - Dodgers' Jim Russell is 1st to switch-hits HRs twice in a game
1950 - KNIL (Royal Dutch East Indies Army) unites
1951 - Netherlands ends state of war with Germany
1952 - King Farouk I of Egypt abdicates [Black Saturday]
1952 - Mickey Mantle hits his 1st grand-slammer
1953 - Cuban pirate radio station's 1st transmission at Santiago de Cuba
1953 - Fidel Castro begins rebellion, the "26th of July Movement," against Fulgenico Batista's regime
1953 - Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle orders an anti-polygamy law enforcement crackdown on residents of Short Creek, Arizona, which becomes known as the Short Creek Raid.
1954 - WCET TV channel 48 in Cincinnati, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 224

1030 - Stanislaus of Szczepanów, St. Stanislaw (d. 1079)
1467 - Ferdinand II, King of Naples
1678 - Joseph I Habsburg, German king/Roman catholic emperor (1705-11)
1694 - Johann Samuel Endler, composer
1739 - George Clinton, NY, (D-R) 4th VP (1805-12)
1782 - John Field, Dublin Ireland, pianist/composer (Nocturnes)
1791 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, 6th child of Austrian composer WAM
1796 - George Catlin, US, author/painter (American Indian scenes)
1799 - Isaac Babbitt, invented babbitt's metal for bearings
1801 - John Drake Sloat, Ret Major General Comm (Union Navy), died in 1867
1802 - Winthrop Mackworth Praed, London, poet/politician
1802 - Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (d. 1855)
1805 - Constantine Brumidi, artist (Myrtle Murdock)
1820 - John Marshall Jones, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1864
1829 - August Beernaert, Belgian premier (1884-94) (Nobel-1909)
1842 - Alfred Marshall, London, economist
1846 - Texas Jack Omohundro, American frontier scout, actor, and cowboy (d. 1880)
1855 - Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist (d. 1936)
1856 - George Bernard Shaw, Dublin Ire, dramatist (Pygmalion-Nobel 1925)
1858 - Tommy Garrett, cricketer (original Australian Test player)
1860 - Philippe J Bunau-Varilla, French engineer (Colombia-Panama)
1863 - Jazeps Witols, composer
1865 - Philipp Scheidemann, German Parliament (SPD)/mayor of Kassel
1866 - Francesco Cilea, composer
1872 - George Louis Beer, historian (authority on British colonies)
1874 - Serge Koussevitzky, Vishny-Volotchok, Russia conductor (Boston Symp)
1875 - Carl Gustav Jung, Switzerland, doctor (founded analytic psychology)
1875 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (d. 1939)
1876 - Ernest Schelling, Belvidere NJ, composer/conductor (Victory Ball)
1877 - Hubert Ahaus, missionary (Harvest Fields)
1880 - Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukrainian statesman (d. 1951)
1881 - Alexander J Kropholler, architect
1885 - Andre Maurois, Elbeuf, France, novelist/biographer
1886 - Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (d. 1965)
1888 - M Jouhandeau, writer
1891 - Jacques Pirenne, Belgian historian
1892 - Pearl Buck, prize winning novelist
1892 - Philipp Jarnach, composer
1892 - Sam Jones, American baseball player (d. 1966)
1893 - George Grosz, German painter (Gott mit uns)
1894 - Aldous L Huxley, Surrey England, author (Brave New World)
1894 - Ludovicus J Rogier, Dutch historian (Henric van Veldeken)
1895 - Jerry Verno, London England, actor (River of Unrest, Sweeney Todd)
1895 - Robert Graves, London England, writer/poet (I Claudius) [or 6/26]
1895 - Jane Bunford, Britain's tallest-ever person (d. 1922)
1896 - Charles Butterworth, US, lawyer/actor (Mad Genius)
1896 - Evelyn Preer, US actress (Homesteader, Spider's Webs)
1896 - Henry Birkin, British racing driver (d. 1933)
1897 - Paul Gallico, NY, novelist
1899 - Carel C van Essen, Dutch archaeologist (Italian & Roman art)
1899 - Danton Walker, Mariette Ga, columnist (Broadway Spotlight)
1901 - John Bleifer, Zawiercie Poland, actor (Highway to Heaven)
1902 - Gracie Allen, SF Calif, Mrs George Burns/comedian (Burns & Allen)
1903 - Donald Voorhees, Allentown Pa, conductor (Bell Telephone Hour)
1904 - Jack Allan Westrup, composer
1906 - Armando Jose Fernandes, composer
1906 - Irena Iłłakowicz, Polish agent of Intelligence (d. 1943)
1907 - Gioconda de Vito, violinist
1907 - Istvan Pelle, Hungary, gymnist (Olympic-gold-1932)
1908 - Salvador Allende Gossens, Chile's last elected president (1970-73)
1909 - Gerardina I "Diny" van Amstel, Dutch actress (Dijntje & Trijntje)
1909 - Peter Thorneycroft, British politician (d. 1994)
1909 - Vivian Vance, Cherryvale Kansas, American actress (Ethel Mertz-I Love Lucy) (d. 1979)
1912 - Derek Riches, diplomat
1913 - Lou Salica, US, flyweight boxer (Olympic-bronze-1932)
1914 - Ralph Hunsecker Blane, songwriter
1914 - Erskine Hawkins, American musician and bandleader (d. 1993)
1914 - Ellis Kinder, American baseball player (d. 1968)
1917 - Bertil Nordahl, Sweden, soccer player (Olympic-gold-1948)
1917 - Richard Desborough Burnell, England, double sculls (Olympic-gold-1948)
1918 - Marjorie Lord, American actress
1919 - James Lovelock, scientist
1919 - Kenneth Snowman, antiquarian
1919 - Virginia Gilmore, American actress (d. 1986)
1920 - Bob Waterfield, NFL QB (Rams)
1921 - Jean Shepherd, American writer (d. 1999)
1922 - Andrzej Koszewski, composer
1922 - Blake Edwards, OK, writer/director (10, SOB, Breakfast at Tiffany's)
1922 - Frank Price, CEO (British Waterways Board)
1922 - Jason Robards Jr, Chicago, actor (A Thousand Clowns, Any Wednesday)
1922 - Marjorie Lord, SF Calif, actress (Kathy-Danny Thomas Show)
1923 - Peter Carey, permanent secretary (DTI)
1923 - [James] Hoyt Wilhelm, knuckleball pitcher (Orioles)
1923 - Jan Berenstain, American author
1924 - Elias Motsoaledi, South African Umkhonto we Sizwe-commandant
1924 - John Kilgour, director of prison medical services (Home Office)
1924 - Louis Bellson, Rock Falls Ill, orch leader (Pearl Bailey Show)
1925 - Jerzy Einhorn, Polish-Swedish doctor, researcher and politician (d. 2000)
1926 - Barbara Jefford, actress (Saint, Reunion, Ulysses)
1926 - Don Carter, bowling great (1st PBA president)
1926 - James Best, Corydon Ind, actor (Savages, Sounder, Rolling Thunder)
1926 - James Best, American actor
1926 - Ana María Matute, Spanish author
1927 - G S Ramchand, cricketer (valuable all-rounder in 33 Tests for India)
1927 - M H W Wells, CEO (Charterhouse Japhet)
1928 - Hans Haselbock, composer
1928 - Stanley Kubrick, Bronx NY, director (2001, Dr Strangelove, Lolita)
1928 - Tadeusz Baird, Polish composer (Giocosa)
1928 - Don Beauman, British racing driver (d. 1955)
1928 - Ibn-e-Safi, Pakistani fiction writer and Urdu poet (d. 1980)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 96 of 96

796 - Offa, king of Mercia (75.-796)
811 - Nicephorus I, Byzantine Emperor (802-11), dies in battle
1342 - Charles I Robert van Anjou, King of Hungary (1307-42), dies
1380 - Emperor Komyo of Japan (b. 1322)
1471 - Paul II, [Pietro Barbo], Italian Pope (1464-71), dies at 54
1471 - Pope Paul II (b. 1417)
1533 - Atahualpo, Inca ruler, dies
1541 - Francisco Pizarro, Spanish explorer, murdered in Lima
1592 - Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron, French soldier (b. 1524)
1611 - Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1542)
1630 - Charles Emanuel I, the Great, Duke of Savoy (Peace of Lyon), dies
1677 - Michael Franck, composer, dies at 68
1680 - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, poet/courtier, dies
1684 - Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician (b. 1646)
1712 - Thomas Osborne, English PM (1690-94), dies at 80
1719 - Johann Georg Christian Storl, composer, dies at 43
1723 - Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (b. 1660)
1728 - John Friend, physician/politician, dies
1770 - Michael Schevenstuhl, composer, dies at 65
1801 - Daniel Dal Barba, composer, dies at 86
1826 - Freidrich Wilhelm Weis, composer, dies at 82
1836 - Jose Melchor Gomiz y Colomer, composer, dies at 45
1863 - Samuel Houston, 1st Pres of Rep of Texas (1836-38, 41-44), dies at 70
1867 - King Otto of Greece (b. 1815)
1872 - Michele Carafa, composer, dies at 84
1881 - George Borrow, writer, dies
1910 - Philipus J Hoedemaker, theologist, dies at 71
1915 - James Murray, philologist, dies
1916 - Gellio Benevenuto Coronaro, composer, dies at 52
1918 - Eduard "Mick" Mannock, British WW I flyer (Victoria Cross), dies
1919 - Sir Edward Poynter, British painter (b. 1836)
1920 - Carlos Troyer, composer, dies at 83
1925 - William Jennings Bryan, lawyer (Scopes-monkey trial), dies at 65
1925 - Antonio Ascari, Italian racing driver (b. 1888)
1935 - Winsor McCay, American cartoonist (b. 1871)
1941 - Benjamin Whorf, anthropologist, dies
1941 - Marx Dormoy, French socialist, killed by a time bomb
1942 - Titus, [Anno S] Brandsma, philosopher (Dachau), dies
1942 - Roberto Arlt, Argentinian writer (b. 1900)
1944 - Reza Sjah Pahlawi, [Reza Chan], cossack officer/shah of Persia, dies
1946 - Morris Hirshfield, Polish/US painter, dies
1948 - Charles Mills, S Afr cricketer (Test v England 1891-92), dies
1952 - Maria Eva "Evita" Duarte Peron, Argentina's 1st lady, dies at 33
1953 - Nikolaos Plastiras, Greece premier (1945-50, 51-2), dies
1954 - Hans Lodeizen, [Johan Frederik], poet (Travel to Congo), dies at 26
1956 - Miguel Bernal Jiminez, composer, dies at 46
1957 - Carlos Castillo Armas, president of Guatemala, murdered
1959 - Manuel Altolaguirre, Spanish poet/publisher (Amor), dies at 54
1960 - Maud Menten, Canadian biochemist (b. 1879)
1960 - Cedric Gibbons, American art director (b. 1893)
1964 - Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, British politician, naval officer and racing driver (b. 1884)
1967 - Matthijs Vermeulen, Dutch composer/critic, dies at 79
1968 - Lilian Harvey, British actress (Congress Dances), dies
1969 - Raymond Walburn, actor (Spoilers, Dixie), dies after illness at 81
1970 - Claud Allister, actor (Kiss Me Kate, Quartet), dies at 81
1970 - Robert Taschereau, French Canadian lawyer and Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1896)
1973 - Mike Burke, Pres (NY Yankees)/dir (Madison Sq Garden), dies
1974 - Arthur K Watson, US businessman (IBM), dies at 55
1974 - Charlotte MT "Lotte" Bartschart, actress (Dolle Lola), dies at 82
1975 - Leigh Whipper, actor (Hidden Eye, Jungle Queen), dies at 98
1977 - Gena Branscombe, composer, dies at 95
1977 - Hans-Otto Borgmann, composer, dies at 75
1977 - Karac Plant, son of Robert Plant, dies of respratory failure at 6
1980 - Alan Hoskins, dies
1980 - Ibn-e-Safi, Pakistani fiction writer and Urdu poet (b. 1928)
1981 - Donald Lybbert, composer, dies at 58
1982 - Betty Walker, actress (Steve Lawrence Show), dies at 54
1984 - Ed "Psycho" Gein, mass murderer (Psycho based on him), dies at 78
1984 - George Gallup, pioneer of public opinion polls, dies
1986 - Averell Harriman, statesman, dies in Yorktown Heights, NY at 94
1987 - Joe Liggins, US composer (I've a Right to Cry), dies at 71
1988 - Fazlur Rahman Malik, Pakistani scholar (b. 1919)
1990 - Brent Mydland, rock keyboardist/vocalist (Grass Roots), dies at 38
1992 - Mary Wells, US soul singer (My Guy), dies at 49
1992 - Ron Webber, dies of cancer at 60
1993 - Daniel Fuchs, US, screenwriter (Hard Way), dies at 84
1993 - Matthew B Ridgway, US Army Chief of Staff (1953-55), dies at 98
1994 - Marino Iandioro, canned tomato pioneer, dies at 64
1994 - Thomas Davis, US movie editor/son of MGM-chief Frank D, dies at 26
1995 - Eleanore Griffin, screenwriter, dies
1995 - George Romney, politician, dead Heart attack, dies at 88
1995 - Jaime de Mora y Aragon, actor/publicist (Last Judgement), dies at 70
1995 - Laurindo Almeida, composer/guitarist, dies at 76
1995 - Raymond Mailloux, Quebec politician (b. 1918)
1996 - Arthur William Raynes McDonald, radar Pioneer/pilot, dies at 93
1996 - Evelyn Levine, composer, dies at 94
2000 - John Tukey, American statistician (b. 1915)
2001 - Rex Barber, American WWII aviator (b. 1917)
2001 - Peter von Zahn, German journalist (b. 1913)
2005 - Betty Astell, British actress (b. 1912)
2005 - Alexander Golitzen, American art director (b. 1908)
2005 - Jack Hirshleifer, American economist (b. 1925)
2005 - Gilles Marotte, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1945)
2007 - Lars Forssell, Swedish writer, member of the Swedish Academy (b. 1928)
2007 - John Normington, English actor (b. 1937)
2007 - Skip Prosser, American basketball coach (b. 1950)