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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 182

455 - Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
711 - Berbers under Tarik-ibn Ziyad occupies North Spain
1357 - Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor assists laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague.
1371 - Pope Gregory XI names Arnold II of Horne as bishop of Utrecht
1386 - Battle at Sempach: Swiss beat duke Leopold III of Austria
1401 - Mongol monarch Timur Lenk destroys Baghdad
1517 - Gelderse crowd robber murders population of Asperen
1536 - French navigator Jacques Cartier returns to Saint-Malo from Canada
1540 - England's King Henry VIII 6-mo marriage to Anne of Cleves annulled
1541 - Estevão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Christovão da Gama, with orders to help the Emperor of Ethiopia defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi who has invaded his Empire.
1553 - Battle at Sievershausen Solingen: van Saksen beats Alcibiades
1572 - 19 Catholic priests hanged in Gorcum
1595 - Johannes Kepler inscribes geometric solid construction of universe
1609 - Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemian protestants freedom of religion
1672 - Prince Willem III inaugurated as viceroy of Holland/Zealand
1686 - Germany, Sweden & Spain signs anti-French League of Augsburg
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlies "Elisabeth" battles with HMS Lion
1755 - Battle at Duquesne (Pittsburgh): French troops beat British
1755 - Brit Gen E Braddock mortally wounded during French & Indian War
1766 - English premier Rockingham resigns
1776 - Declaration of Independence is read to George Washington's troops (NY)
1780 - Denmark declares neutrality
1790 - Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund - in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet.
1795 - James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt
1800 - Mt Vernon Gardens becomes site of 1st summer theater in US
1807 - Treaties of Tilsit signed by Napoleon I and Alexander I.
1810 - Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the First French Empire.
1815 - 1st natural gas well in US is discovered
1815 - King Louis XVIII leaves Ghent for France
1815 - Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Prince de Benevente becomes Prime Minister of France.
1816 - Argentina declares independence from Spain
1835 - St Etienne-Lyons railway opens in France
1842 - Notary Stamp Law passes
1846 - Capt Montgomery claims Yerba Buena (SF) for US
1846 - The territory of the District of Columbia south of the Potomac River (39 mi² or about 100 km²) is returned to Virginia through an Act of Congress.
1852 - Fire destroys 1,100 construction sites in Montreal Canada & no one die
1853 - Adm Perry & US Navy visit Japan
1860 - Temperature hits 115°F in Ft Scott & 112°F in Topeka Kansas
1862 - Gen John Hunt Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Ky
1863 - R Morgan's: Indiana [->JUL 13]
1863 - Union troops enter Port Hudson
1864 - Battle of Monocacy, MD US1959 CS400
1867 - An unsuccessful expedition led by E.D Young sets out to search for Dr David Livingstone (Scottish missionary and explorer).
1868 - 1st black cabinet member in SC (Francis L Cardozo-sect of state)
1869 - Concord pipe, made from small corn kernels, invented
1872 - Doughnut cutter patents by John Blondel, Thomaston, Me
1876 - Black landowner murdered in Hamburg SC
1877 - 1st Wimbledon tennis championship is held
1878 - An improved corncob pipe patents by Henry Tibbe, Washington, Mo
1891 - Irene Coit is 1st woman admitted to Yale University
1893 - Dr Daniel Hale Williams performs 1st successful open heart surgery without anesthesia
1900 - Australia accepts its constitution
1904 - 10th US Golf Open: Willie Anderson shoots a 303 at Glen View Club IL
1908 - CHU (Christian Historic Union) Dutch political party forms
1910 - Walter Brookins becomes 1st to pilot an airplane to 1 mile altitude
1914 - 1st US duplicate auction bridge championship held, Lake Placid, NY
1915 - Germany surrenders South West Africa to Union of South Africa
1916 - 1st cargo submarine to cross Atlantic arrives in US from Germany
1917 - British warship "Vanguard" explodes at Scapa Flow killing 804
1918 - 101 killed & 171 injured in worst US train wreck, Nashville, Tenn
1918 - Congress creates Distinguished Service Medal
1922 - Johnny Weissmuller swims 1st 100 m free style under 1 minute
1926 - Chiang Kai-shek appointed to national-revolutionary supreme commander
1926 - Coup under Gen Sinel de Cordes in Portugal
1927 - Atty William T Francis named minister to Liberia
1932 - Washington Redskins (then Boston Braves) forms
1932 - Yanks' Ben Chapman hits 2 inside-the-park HRs, tying record
1932 - The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution
1933 - Frankford Yellowjackets sold, rechristened Philadelphia Eagles
1934 - SS-Reichs Fuhrer Himmler takes command of German Concentration Camps
1940 - 8th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 4-0 at Sportsman's Park, St Louis
1940 - German Evangelist Church protests against euthanasia pogroms
1940 - RAF bombs Germany
1942 - Anne Frank, 13, goes into hiding with her family & 4 other Jews
1943 - 5th day of battle at Kursk: Germans occupy Verchopenje
1943 - British air raid sinks U-435
1944 - In World War II, US troops secure Saipan as Japan fell
1944 - U-740 sinks
1944 - World's largest circus tent catches fire at Ringling Brother's - Barnum & Bailey 2nd performance, 168 die (Hartford Conn)
1946 - 13th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 12-0 at Fenway Park, Boston
1947 - Britain's Princess Elizabeth & Lt Philip Mountbatten's engagement
1947 - Spain votes for Franco monarchy
1948 - Satchel Paige, 42, debuts in majors pitching 2 scoreless inn for Cleve
1949 - Benjamin Britten's Jump Symphony, premieres
1950 - 13.15" (33.40 cm) of rainfall, York, Nebraska (state 24-hour record)
1951 - Pres Truman asked Congress to formally end state of war with Germany
1953 - 1st helicopter passenger service (NYC)
1953 - Phillies Robin Roberts ends streak of 28 consecutive complete games
1955 - "Rock Around Clock" hits #1 on Top 100 chart
1955 - 1st black executive on White House staff (E Frederic Morrow)
1955 - Bill Haley & Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" tops billboards chart
1955 - Strike in Belgium for 5 day work week
1955 - The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London.
1956 - Dick Clark's 1st appearance as host of American Bandstand
1957 - 24th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 6-6 at Sportsman's Park, St Louis
1957 - Discovery of element 102 (Nobelium) announced
1958 - Giant splash caused by fall of 90 million tons of rock & ice into Lituya Bay, Alaska washes 1,800 feet up the mountain
1959 - Marlene Hagge wins LPGA Hoosier Golf Open
1959 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Hoosier Celebrity Golf Tournament
1962 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 210

1511 - Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1571)
1513 - John van Hembyze, Flemish calvinist
1535 - Emanuel van Meteren, Southern Neth, merchant/historian
1577 - Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English Jamestown colonist (d. 1618)
1578 - Ferdinand II, King of Bohemia/Hungary/German Emperor (1619-37)
1589 - Johannes a Sancto Thoma, [Poinset], Portuguese theologist
1654 - Emperor Reigen of Japan (d. 1732)
1686 - Philip Livingston, American politician (d. 1749)
1689 - Alexis Piron, French writer (d. 1773)
1721 - Johann Nikolaus Götz, German poet (d. 1781)
1753 - William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1825)
1764 - Ann Ward Radcliffe, English Gothic novelist (Italian)
1766 - J Schopenhauer, writer
1775 - Matthew Lewis, English novelist (d. 1818)
1777 - Henry Hallam, British lawyer/historian
1786 - Sophie Hélène Béatrix, Princess of France (d. 1787)
1791 - Nicolas Ledesma, composer
1800 - Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician (d. 1885)
1802 - Thomas Davenport, invented 1st coml electric motor
1805 - Henry John Gauntlett, composer
1808 - Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier (d. 1887)
1809 - Frederick Henle, Germany, pathologist
1819 - Elias Howe, Spencer Mass, invented sewing machine
1825 - Jules Oppert, German Assyriologist (decodes characters)
1828 - Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Italian Catholic churchman (d. 1913)
1831 - Johan P van der Kellen, Dutch stamp cutter/lithographer/writer
1836 - Camille de Renesse, Belgian count (d. 1904)
1839 - Carl Baermann, composer
1841 - Carl Christian Lumbye, composer
1848 - Robert I, Duke of Parma, last ruling Duke of Parma (d. 1907)
1855 - Johann P Zilcher, German composer
1856 - Daniel Guggenheim, US (Guggenheim Museum)
1857 - Frederik II W, grandduke of Baden (1907-18)
1858 - Franz Boas, anthropologist/linguist (Mind of Primitive Man)
1864 - Franz Miller, becomes first Train Murderer
1879 - Friedrich Adler, Austria social-democrat/murderer of premier Storgkh
1879 - Ottorino Respighi, Bologna Italy, composer (Pines of Rome)
1879 - Carlos Chagas, Brazilian physician (d. 1934)
1882 - Richard Hageman, Dutch/US pianist/composer/conductor (Caponsacchi)
1887 - Samuel Eliot Morison, historian (Admiral of the Ocean Sea)
1889 - Leo Dandurand, American-born Canadian hockey executive (d. 1964)
1893 - George Geary, cricketer (sturdy pace bowler for England 1924-34)
1894 - Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
1895 - Cullen Landis, Nashville TN, actor (Soul of the Beast)
1898 - Gerard Walschap, Flemish writer/journalist (Mary, Revolt in Congo)
1898 - Marcel Delannoy, composer
1900 - Robert Oboussier, composer
1901 - Barbara Cartland, romance author (Camfield #69)
1901 - Jester Hairston, NC, actor (Thats My Mama, Rolly-Amen)
1902 - Gerhard Pohl, German writer (Crazy Ferdinand)
1905 - Clarence Campbell, Saskatchewan, 3rd NHL pres (1946-77)
1906 - Beene Dubbelboer, Dutch writer (Secret Resistance)
1906 - Walter Sande, Denver CO, actor (Navy vs Night Monsters)
1908 - Allama Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani scholar, orator and philosopher (d. 1973)
1910 - Harold C Fox, fashion designer/musician
1911 - Clan Fraser of Lovat, soldier/landowner
1911 - Lord Lovat, [Shimi], Scottish cattle breeder/leader of clan Fraser
1911 - Mervyn Peake, British writer and illustrator (d. 1968)
1911 - John A. Wheeler, American physicist (d. 2008)
1914 - Bill Tallon, cricketer (brother of Don, Queensland leggie)
1914 - Willi Stoph, president German DR
1915 - David Leo Diamond, Rochester NY, composer (Paderewski Prize-1943)
1916 - Edward Heath, (C) British PM (1970-74)
1916 - Joe Liggins, US composer (Pink Champagne)
1916 - Sir Dean Goffin, New Zealand composer (d. 1984)
1917 - Ted Steele, Hartford Ct, orch leader (Cavalcade of Stars)
1918 - Herbert Brun, composer
1918 - Rowley I Arenstein, S African attorney/communist/ANC'er
1919 - Peggy Braithwaite, lighthouse-keeper
1921 - Jacob J Hage, Dutch farmer/WW II resistance fighter
1922 - Rey Hassan, Morroco, King of Morocco (1961- )
1924 - Leonard Pennario, Buffalo NY, pianist (LA Philharmonic)
1924 - Pierre Cochereau, composer
1925 - Alan Dale, Bkln NY, singer (Alan Dale Show)
1925 - Peter Ludwig, businessman/art collector
1925 - Thomas A Luken, (Rep-D-OH, 1973-74, 77- )
1926 - Ben Roy Mottelson, American-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1927 - Ed Ames, Malden Mass, actor (Mingo-Daniel Boone)
1927 - Leonard Patrick "Red" Kelly, NHL hall of famer (Norris trophy)
1927 - Red Kelly, Canadian ice hockey player
1928 - Vince Edwards, Bkln NY, actor (Ben Casey, Matt Lincoln, Firehouse)
1928 - Federico Bahamontes, Spanish cyclist
1929 - Lee Hazelwood, Ok, country singer/songwriter (Summer Wine, Jackson)
1929 - Mawlai al-Hassan II, King of Morocco (1961- )
1929 - Jesse McReynolds, American singer and mandolinist
1930 - Buddy Bregman, Chicago, orch leader (Eddie Fisher Show)
1930 - Roy McLean, cricketer (prolific S African batsman played 40 Tests)
1932 - Donald Rumsfeld, politician (involved in Watergate)
1932 - John Paul Getty II, US/British oil magnate/billionaire (Getty Oil)
1933 - Nodar Kalistratovich Gabuniya, composer
1934 - Michael Graves, American architect
1935 - Mercedes Sosa, [La Negra], Argentina, singer
1935 - Ronnie Burns, Evanston Ill, adopted son of George Burns
1935 - Willem Duisenberg, minister of Finance (PvdA)/pres (Nethche Bank)
1936 - David Joel Zinman, NYC, composer/conductor (Balt Symphony-1983)
1936 - James Hampton, Okla City OK, actor (Bugler Dobbs-F Troop, Teen Wolf)
1936 - June Jordan, US playwright/poet (His Own Where)
1937 - Clemon Daniels, AFL player of year 1963, halfback (Oak, Dallas SF)
1937 - David Hockney, Bradford England, artist (Pop Art)
1937 - Richard Roundtree, New Rochelle NY, actor (Getting Even, Shaft)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 122

1228 - Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury
1386 - Leopold III of Austria (b. 1351)
1441 - Jan/Johannes van Eyck, Flemish painter (Lamb Gods), dies
1553 - Maurice, Elector of Saxony (b. 1521)
1639 - Entonius Walaeus, calvinist theologist, dies at 65
1654 - Ferdinand, son of RC emperor Ferdinand III, dies
1654 - Ferdinand IV of Germany (b. 1633)
1677 - Angelus Silesius [Johann Scheffer], German medical/mystic poet, dies
1696 - Waclaw Potocki, Polish poet (Wojna Chocimska), dies
1706 - Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, French Canadian sailor and explorer (b. 1661)
1716 - Joseph Sauveur, French sound engineer, dies at 63
1737 - de' Medici, last Medici-grand duke of Toscane, dies
1742 - John Oldmixon, English historian (b. 1673)
1746 - Philip V, French King of Spain (1700-24, 24-46), dies at 62
1747 - Giovanni Battista Bononcini, Italian opera-composer, dies at 76
1755 - E Braddock, British Gen, mortally wounded during French & Indian War
1755 - Gottlob Harrer, composer, dies at 52
1755 - James Braddock, English general, dies in battle at Fort Duquesne
1756 - Pieter Langendijk, painter/etcher/playwright, dies at 72
1766 - Jonathan Mayhew, American minister (b. 1720)
1795 - Henry Seymour Conway, British general and statesman (b. 1721)
1797 - Edmund Burke, British author/parliament leader (Reflections), dies at 68
1805 - Georg W "Franz" Panzer, German vicar/librarian, dies at 76
1821 - Tommaso Sogner, composer, dies at 58
1843 - Washington Allston, US painter/author, dies at 63
1845 - Jacob earl of Rechteren/Appeltern, gov of Gelderland, dies at 57
1850 - Sajjid Ali Mohammed Bab, Persian founder of Babism
1850 - Zachary Taylor, 12th pres (1849-50), dies in White House at 65
1852 - Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan, American politician (b. 1794)
1855 - Lord Raglan Commander of the British forces during the Crimean War
1856 - Amedeo Avogadro, Italian chemist (b. 1776)
1856 - James Strang, Mormon splinter group leader (b. 1813)
1875 - Francis Preston Blair Jr, famed St Louis lawyer, dies at 54
1880 - Paul Broca, French physician and anatomist (b. 1824)
1882 - Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Chilean war hero(b. 1848)
1883 - Adrien Louis Victor Boieldieu, composer, dies at 67
1893 - William Scotton, cricketer (wicket in 15 Tests for Eng), suicide
1903 - Alphonse François Renard, Belgian geologist (b. 1842)
1909 - Kasimir Felix Badeni, Premier of Polish/Austria (1895-97), dies at 62
1927 - John Drew Jr., American actor (b. 1853)
1932 - Henry Howell, English cricket fast bowler (5 Tests 1920-24), dies
1932 - King C. Gillette, American inventor (b. 1885)
1934 - Otakar Zich, composer, dies at 55
1937 - Oliver Law, first African-American commander of U.S. troops (b. 1899)
1938 - Benjamin Cardozo, American jurist (b. 1870)
1947 - Lucjan Żeligowski, Polish general (b. 1865)
1949 - Fritz Bennicke Hart, composer, dies at 75
1951 - Harry Heilmann, baseball hall of famer outfielder (Det), dies at 56
1951 - Jorgen Bentzon, composer, dies at 54
1955 - Don Beauman, British racing driver (b. 1928)
1957 - Alexander Fyodorovich Gedike, composer, dies at 80
1957 - Manfred Julius Susskind, S African cricketer (1924 Test series), dies
1960 - Edward Burlingame Hill, composer, dies at 86
1960 - Vallance Jupp, cricketer (28 wkts in 8 Tests for England 1921-28), dies
1961 - Alan Marshal, actor (Lydia, Irene, Exile Express), dies at 52
1962 - Louis A van Gasteren, Dutch actor (Willem van Oranje), dies at 74
1963 - Frank Mayo, actor (Santa Fe Trail), dies of heart attack at 74
1967 - Douglas MacLean, silent film comedian turned producer, dies at 77
1967 - Eugen Fischer, Nazi physician (b. 1874)
1968 - Allyn Edwards, host (One Minute Please, Mr Citizen), dies at 53
1968 - John Indrisano, actor (OK Crackerby), dies at 62
1968 - Vardis A Fisher, US writer (Passion Spin the Plot), dies at 73
1969 - Gertrude Dixon, compiler of Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, dies
1969 - Gladys Swarthout, US mezzo-soprano/alt (La Gioconda), dies at 64
1969 - Pierre Capdevielle, composer, dies at 63
1969 - Rob de Vries, actor/director (Ciske de Rat, Silent Raid), dies at 51
1972 - Kwame Nkrumah, re-buried in Nkroful Ghana
1972 - Robert Weede, American baritone (b. 1903)
1974 - Sonia Gaskell, Russian/Neth choreographer (Diaghilev), dies at 70
1974 - Ted Bowley, cricketer (England batsman in 5 Tests 1929-30), dies
1977 - Loren C Eiseley, US anthropologist/writer (Animal Secrets), dies at 69
1978 - Abdul Razak al-Naif, premier of Iraq, murdered
1978 - Aladar Zoltan, composer, dies at 49
1979 - Betty Evans Grayson, softball pitcher (Hall of Fame 1959), dies at 53
1979 - Cornelia Otis Skinner, dies at 78
1979 - Janardhan Gnanoba Navle, cricketer (2 Tests for India), dies
1980 - Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet and lyricist (b. 1913)
1981 - Allen Ludden, TV show host (Password), dies at 61
1981 - Oscar van Hemel, composer, dies at 88
1981 - Wilhelm H C Tenhaeff, para-psychologist, dies at 87
1983 - Keith Wickenden, British Politician (b. 1932)
1984 - Randall Thompson, US composer (Trip to Nahant), dies at 85
1985 - Rafael Campos, actor (Ramon-Rhoda, Sancho-V), dies of cancer at 49
1985 - Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1896)
1985 - Jimmy Kinnon, Scottish founder of Narcotics Anonymous (b. 1911)
1986 - Karl-Heinz Beckurts, West german Siemens manager, murdered
1986 - Le Duan, Vietnamese politician, dies at 78
1988 - Anthony Holland, AIDS sufferer committed suicide at 60
1988 - Barbara Woodhouse, dog trainer, dies at 78 of a stroke
1990 - Brigitte D'Ortschy, Zen teacher Sanbo Kyodan line, dies in Japan at 69
1990 - Howard Duff, actor (Kramer vs Kramer), dies at 76 of a heart attack
1992 - Eric Savareid, News correspondent (CBS), dies at 79
1992 - Kelvin Coe, Australian ballerina (A'sch Ballet/Bolshoi Ballet), dies
1992 - Eric Sevareid, American reporter (b. 1912)
1993 - Cut Meijer, [Saul Messel], historian/rabbi to Paramaribo, dies at 80
1993 - Will Rogers Jr, (Rep-D)/actor (Boy from Okla), commits suicide at 81
1994 - Cornelius Boyson, bassist, dies at 57
1994 - William "Sabby" Lewis, jazz Pianist/Arranger, dies at 79
1994 - Bill Mosienko, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1921)
1995 - Jacques Molicard, translator/Navigator, dies at 62