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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 180

1227 - Count Ugolino of Segna elected Pope Gregory IX
1279 - A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China.
1452 - Frederick III of Hapsburg crowned Roman German Emperor
1524 - Giovanni de Varrazano of France sights land around area of Carolinas
1540 - Court of Holland names Amsterdam sheriff John Hubrechtsz a "heretic"
1563 - Peace of Amboise: Rights for Huguenots
1571 - Spanish troops occupy Manila
1628 - Massachusetts colony founded by Englishmen
1644 - 200 members of Peking imperial family/court commit suicide
1682 - Nationally Council accept independence of French church
1687 - Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
1702 - James II's daughter Anne Stuart becomes queen of England
1748 - English Naturalization Act passes granting Jews right to colonize US
1775 - 4 people buried by avalanche for 37 days, 3 survive (Italy)
1775 - Poland & Prussia sign trade agreement
1799 - Joseph Haydn's "Die Schopfung," premieres in Vienna
1803 - Johann von Schillers "Die Braut von Messina," premieres in Weimar
1822 - Boston, Mass incorporated as a city
1831 - 1st US bank robbery (City Bank, NY/$245,000)
1859 - Opera "Faust" by Charles Gounod premieres in Paris
1861 - The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
1863 - The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000. The wreck was discovered on the same day and month, exactly 102 years later by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence.
1864 - Opera "Mireille" premieres in Paris
1865 - Battle of Bentonville-Confederates retreat from Greenville NC
1866 - Immigrant ship Monarch of the Seas sinks in Liverpool; 738 die
1870 - The opera "Guarany," premieres in Milan
1877 - Australia beat England by 45 runs in very 1st Test match
1883 - Jan Matzeliger invents 1st machine to manufacture entire shoes
1885 - Louis Riel returns to Canada, proclaims provisional govt, Sask
1892 - 3 brothers Hearne play in same Test Cricket Eng v SA (Cape Town)
1895 - Los Angeles Railway established to provide streetcar service
1897 - Yale defeated Penn, 30-10 in 1st major college basketball game
1906 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's "Quattro Rusteghi," premieres in Munich
1907 - 18.8 cm precipitation at Lewer's Ranch, Nevada (state record)
1914 - Stanley Cup: Tor Blueshirts (NHA) sweep Vict Capitals (PCHA) in 3 game
1915 - Pluto photographed for 1st time (although unknown at the time)
1917 - US Supreme Court upheld 8-hr work day for railroad employees
1918 - Congress authorizes time zones & approves daylight saving time
1918 - S Potter becomes 1st US pilot to shoot down a German seaplane
1920 - US Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles for 2nd time refusing to ratify League of Nations' covenant (maintaining isolation policy)
1921 - Italian Fascists shoot from the Parenzana train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia): two children are killed, two mangled and three wounded.
1925 - Angelo G Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) becomes a bishop
1927 - Bloody battles between communists & nazis in Berlin
1928 - "Amos & Andy" debuts on radio (NBC Blue Network-WMAQ Chicago)
1930 - Nakagawa Soen accepted as a student of Katsube Keigaku Roshi
1931 - Nevada legalizes gambling
1932 - The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
1937 - Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini redemptoris against communism
1938 - Toronto Maple Leafs score 8 goals in 5 minutes
1940 - Failed British air raid on German base at Sylt
1940 - French govt of Daladier, falls
1941 - Jimmy Dorsey & Orch record "Green Eyes" & "Maria Elena"
1942 - FDR orders men between 45 & 64 to register for non military duty
1942 - Thoroughbred Racing Assn of US formed in Chicago
1943 - Airship Canadian Star torpedoed & sinks
1943 - Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.
1944 - Tippett's oratorium "Child of Our Time," premieres in London
1945 - 800 killed as Kamikaze attacked USS Franklin off Japan
1945 - Adolf Hitler issues Nero Decree to destroy all German factories
1945 - British 36th division conquers Mogok (ruby mine)
1945 - US Task Force 58 attacks ships near Kobe/Kure
1946 - Fr Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique & Reunion become overseas depts
1946 - Nicolai Schwernik succeeds Kalinin as president of USSR
1947 - Belgian govt of Spaak, forms
1947 - Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek conquers Jenan
1948 - Lee Savold KOs Gino Buonvino in 54 seconds at MSG, NYC
1949 - 1st museum devoted exclusively to atomic energy, Oak Ridge, Tn
1950 - 5th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Babe Didrikson-Zaharias
1950 - City College of NY defeats Bradley to win the NIT
1951 - Herman Wouk's "Caine Mutiny," published
1953 - Tennessee Williams' "Camino Real," premieres in NYC
1953 - 25th Academy Awards - "Greatest Show on Earth," Gary Cooper & Shirley Booth win (1st time televised)
1954 - 1st color telecast of a prize fight, Giardello vs Troy in MSG, NYC
1954 - 1st rocket-driven sled on rails was tested in Alamogordo, NM
1954 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Tenley Albright
1954 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A Jenkins
1954 - Weekes, Worrell & Walcott complete tons in innings v England
1955 - 17th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: SF beats La Salle 77-63
1956 - Biggest NBA margin of victory - Minn Lakers-133, St Louis Hawks-75
1957 - Indians reject Boston's offer of $1 million for Herb Score
1958 - Britain's 1st planetarium opens at Madame Tussaud's in London
1958 - Sobers completes a century in each innings v Pakistan
1959 - "1st Impressions" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 84 performances
1960 - "Redhead" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 455 performances
1960 - 22nd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Ohio State beats Calif 75-55
1962 - "All American" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 80 performances
1962 - Archbishop Suenens of Mechelen-Brussels appointed cardinal
1964 - Sean Connery's 1st day of shooting on "Goldfinger"
1965 - Indonesia nationalizes all foreign oil companies
1965 - Rembrandt's "Titus" sells for then record 7,770,000 gulden
1965 - Stoica becomes president & Ceausescu party leader of Romania
1965 - The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, was discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after its destruction.
1966 - "Pousse Cafe" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 3 performances
1966 - 28th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Texas Western beats Ky 72-65
1966 - Belgium government of Vanden Boeynants begins
1967 - Fr Somaliland (Djibouti) votes to continue association with France
1967 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA St Petersburg Orange Golf Classic
1968 - Howard University students seize administration building
1969 - British invade Anguilla
1969 - Chicago 8 indicted in aftermath of Chicago Democratic convention

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 242

1434 - Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1443)
1488 - Johannes Magnus, last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden (d. 1544)
1503 - Benedetto Varchi, Ital humanist/historian (Storia Fiorentina)
1589 - William Bradford, gov of Plymouth colony for 30 years (baptized)
1593 - Georges de la Tour, French painter
1601 - Alonzo Cano, Spanish painter/sculptor (Cathedral Granada)
1604 - Johan IV, composer/king of Portugal (1640-56)
1610 - Hasegawa Tohaku, Japanese painter
1629 - Aleksei M Romanov, 1st Romanov tsar of Russia
1673 - Pedro Vaz Rego, composer
1684 - Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (d. 1766)
1715 - Charles-Joseph van Helmont, composer
1721 - Tobias Smollett, Scottish writer, baptized
1728 - Pieter-Jozef Verhaghen, Flemish (court)painter
1734 - Thomas McKean, US attorney (signed Decl of Independence) [or Apr 19]
1739 - Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance, Third Consul of France (d. 1824)
1740 - Johann Georg Roser, composer
1740 - Joseph F Weigl, German/Austrian(?), violin cellist
1742 - Zacharias H Alewijn, Dutch literary/poet
1742 - Tupac Amaru II, Incan revolutionary (d. 1781)
1745 - Nicolas Sejan, composer
1749 - Princess Louisa Anne of Wales (d. 1768)
1752 - Jose Mauricio, composer
1767 - Leonhard von Call, composer
1777 - Anton R Falck, Dutch minister of Education/diplomat
1778 - Edward Pakenham, British general (d. 1815)
1785 - Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann, composer
1809 - Fredrik Pacius, composer
1813 - David Livingstone, Scotland, explorer (found by Stanley in Africa)
1816 - Johannes Josephus Hermanus Verhulst, composer
1817 - Lewis Henry Little, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1862
1819 - David Henry Williams, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1891
1821 - Francis Barretto Spinola, Brig General (Union volunteers)
1821 - Richard Burton, explorer/translator (Arabian Nights)
1821 - William Allingham, Irish poet (Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland)
1823 - Cornelis A van Sypesteyn, Dutch governor of Surinam (1873-82)
1823 - Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria d. 1914
1824 - William Allingham, Irish author (d. 1889)
1827 - Alexander Shaler, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1911
1829 - Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish financier and industrialist (d. 1901)
1837 - Robert Daniel Johnston, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1919
1844 - Ulrika "Minna" Cant-Johnstown, Finnish playwright (Kovan onnen lapsia)
1845 - Willem H de Beaufort, Dutch historian/politician
1847 - Constantin Dimitrescu, composer
1848 - Wyatt Earp, Monmouth Ill, sheriff (OK Corral)
1849 - Alfred von Tirpitz, German World War I Admiral (d. 1930)
1851 - Roque Saenz Pena, pres of Argentina (1910-14)
1851 - William Henry Stark, American business leader (d. 1936)
1860 - William Jennings Bryan, "The Great Commoner" orator/statesman
1861 - Lomer Gouin, Quebec politician (d. 1929)
1864 - Charles Marion Russell, American artist (d. 1926)
1865 - William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist, myrmecologist, pioneer in ethology (d. 1937)
1871 - Joseph McGinnity, Rock Island Ill, baseball pitcher (NY Giants)
1871 - Schofield Haigh, cricketer ("Sunshine of the Yorkshire 11")
1872 - Sergei Diaghilev, Gruzino Novgorod Russia, ballet director
1873 - Max Reger, Brand Bavaria, composer/pianist/prof (Leipzig Univ)
1874 - Arthur Hoyt, Georgetown CO, actor (Gold Dust Gertie, Goldie Get Along)
1879 - Joseph Haas, German (opera)composer (Tobias Wunderlich)
1882 - Gaston Lachaise, US sculptor (Standing Woman)
1883 - Josef Matthais Hauer, composer
1883 - Joseph W Stilwell, US general (China)
1888 - Josef Albers, German/US graphic artist/painter/writer (Bauhaus)
1888 - Léon Scieur, Belgian cyclist (d. 1969)
1889 - Manoel II, last king of Portugal (1908-10)
1891 - Earl Warren, Ca, (Gov-R-Ca)/14th supreme court chief justice (1953-69)
1892 - Robert Denzler, composer
1892 - Siegfried T Bok, neurobiologist/anatomist (Cybernetica)
1892 - James Van Fleet, American general (d. 1992)
1894 - Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Brevard SC, comedienne (Merv Griffin Show)
1897 - Betty Compson, Beaver UT, actress (Millionaire Kid, Mad Youth)
1897 - L O'Flaherty, writer
1900 - Roy Roberts, Tampa Fla, actor (Petticoat Junction, Lucy Show)
1900 - [Jean] Frederic Joliot-Curie, French physicist (Nobel 1935)
1901 - Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart, Dutch Min of Justice (Nobel 1954)
1901 - Jo Mielziner, Paris, set designer (Carousel, Death of a Salesman)
1903 - Benjamin M Telders, president of Dutch Liberal States Party
1903 - James Bullock, colliery manager
1904 - John J Sirica, US federal judge (Watergate hearings)
1904 - Tadeusz Zygfryd Kassern, composer
1905 - Albert Speer, German architect/minister of Armament (NSDAP)
1906 - Adolf Eichmann, Ruhr Germany, Nazi Gestapo officer
1906 - Normand Lockwood, composer
1907 - Cor Treslem, [Cornelis L Melsert], actor/director (Willem van Oranje)
1907 - Elizabeh LeFanu Maconochy, composer
1907 - Kent Smith, NYC, actor (Peyton Place, Invaders)
1907 - Marc Vaubourgoin, composer
1907 - Nakagawa Soen, Formosa, Zen teacher (Rinzai line)
1909 - Louis Hayward, Johannesburg S Africa, actor (Lone Wolf, Survivors)
1909 - Attilio Demaria, Argentinian footballer (d. 1990)
1910 - Sergei Nikolayevich Anokhin, cosmonaut
1910 - Joseph F. Carroll, US Air Force Lt. Gen. and Founding Director, Defense Intelligence Agency (d. 1991)
1911 - Kenneth Robinson, politician/businessman
1912 - Adolf Galland, fighter Pilot
1912 - Russ Case, Hamburg Iowa, orch leader (Julius La Rosa Show)
1913 - William Chatterton, cricketer (48 in only Test for England 1892)
1914 - J Jay Berwanger, 1st Heisman Trophy winner (1935)
1914 - Patricia Morison, actress (Peyton Place, Dressed to Kill)
1914 - Leonidas Alaoglu, Greek-Canadian mathematician (d. 1981)
1915 - Norman Yardley, English cricket captain (late 40's)
1915 - Robert G. Cole, American Paratrooper of the 101st, 502nd division (d. 1944)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 111

1238 - Duke Henry I of Poland (b. 1163)
1263 - Hugo of St-Cher/a S Caro, French cardinal, dies
1279 - Emperor Bing of Song China (b. 1271)
1286 - King Alexander III of Scotland (b. 1241)
1330 - Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1301)
1406 - Ibn Khaldun, Arab historian (b. 1332)
1556 - Lieven van der Maude, [Ammonius], South Netherlands poet, dies at 70
1623 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1556)
1635 - Pieter Christiaensz Bor, Dutch historian, dies
1637 - Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal and statesman (b. 1570)
1638 - Paul Moreelse, Dutch painter/master builder, dies at about 66
1644 - Si Sang, last Ming-emperor of China, commits suicide
1649 - Gerhard Johann Vossius, German classical scholar and theologian (b. 1577)
1683 - Thomas Killigrew, English dramatist (b. 1612)
1687 - Rene-Robert Cavelier La Salle, Fren explorer (Louisiana), killed at 43
1702 - Willem III Henry, [Dutch William], king of England/Scot, dies at 51
1711 - Thomas Ken, English bishop and hymn-writer (b. 1637)
1717 - John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, Scottish royalist
1721 - Clement XI, [Giovanni F Albani], Italian Pope (1700-21), dies at 71
1782 - Adrien Trudo Sale, composer, dies at 59
1782 - Louis-Henry Paisible, composer, dies at 33
1796 - Stephen Storace, composer, dies at 33
1796 - Hugh Palliser, British naval officer and administrator (b. 1722)
1797 - Philip Hayes, composer, dies at 58
1811 - Frantisek Adam Mica, composer, dies at 65
1816 - Philip Mazzei, Italian physician (b. 1730)
1845 - George Augustus Kollmann, composer, dies at 56
1850 - Adalbert Gyrowetz, composer, dies at 87
1862 - F Wilhelm von Schadow, German painter (Modern Vasari), dies at 73
1866 - Louis Clapisson, composer, dies at 57
1869 - Guillaume Nerenburger, Belgian general (triangulatie), dies at 64
1871 - Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist (b. 1795)
1876 - Jozef Stefani, composer, dies at 75
1884 - Alfonse Charles Renaud de Vilback, composer, dies at 54
1893 - Karel Komzak, composer, dies at 69
1897 - Antoine T d'Abbadie, French explorer (Ethiopia), dies at 87
1898 - Joao da Cruz, Brazilian poet, dies at 26
1900 - John Bingham, American politician and lawyer (b. 1815)
1900 - Charles-Louis Hanon, French composer (b. 1819)
1905 - Makar Grigori Ekmalyan, composer, dies at 49
1907 - Thomas Bailey Aldrich, US writer (Stillwater Tragedy), dies at 70
1913 - John Thomas, composer, dies at 87
1914 - Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (b. 1850)
1916 - Vasily Surikov, Russian painter (b. 1848)
1918 - Willem H de Beaufort, Dutch historian/liberal politician, dies at 73
1924 - Charles Villiers Stanford, Irish composer/author, dies at 71
1930 - Arthur J Balfour, British theologist/premier (1902-05), dies at 81
1934 - Anthony J Block, lawyer (Dutch strafproces), dies at 66
1936 - John Larkin IV, actor/writer (Charlie Chan in Panama), dies at 63
1937 - Horacio Quiroga, Uruguayan author/poet, commits suicide at 58
1939 - Lloyd L. Gaines, American civil rights activist
1940 - Gustaaf Sap, Belgian minister of Economic Affairs, dies at 54
1942 - Clinton Hart Merriam, American zoologist (b. 1855)
1943 - Vicente Ripolles, composer, dies at 75
1943 - Frank Nitti, American gangster (b. 1883)
1944 - William Hale Thompson, American mayor of Chicago (b. 1869)
1945 - Fritz Fromm, German supreme commander of Reserve army, executed
1946 - Amir Hamzah, Indonesian poet (Buah Rindu), dies at 35
1947 - Willem F J Pijper, Dutch composer/critic, dies at 52
1950 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, sci-fi author (Tarzan of the Apes), dies at 74
1954 - Walter Braunfels, composer, dies at 71
1958 - Vernon Ransford, cricketer (20 Tests for Australia, 1211 runs), dies
1961 - Edric Cundell, composer, dies at 68
1969 - Theodor Schaefer, composer, dies at 65
1971 - Jan Greshoff, Dutch poet/author/journalist (Last Things), dies at 82
1971 - Mary Dorna, Dutch author, dies at 79
1974 - Anne Klien, fashion designer, dies at 51
1974 - Edward Platt, actor (Chief-Get Smart), dies at 58
1974 - Hertha Kuusinen, Finnish communist/daughter of Otto K, dies at 70
1975 - John A DeMott, dies at 63
1976 - George Sklavos, composer, dies at 87
1976 - Paul Kossoff, rock guitarist (Free), dies of heart failure at 25
1976 - Albert Dieudonné, French actor and novelist (b. 1889)
1978 - Gaston Julia, French mathematician (b. 1893)
1979 - Al Hodge, actor (Capt Video), dies at 65
1979 - Richard Beckinsale, actor (Doing Time, Porridge, Lovers), dies at 31
1982 - Randy Rhoads, heavy metal guitarist (Ozzy Osbourne), air crash at 25
1984 - Garry Winogrand, American photographer (b. 1928)
1987 - Arch Oboler, radio writer (Lights Out), dies at 77
1987 - Emile Meyer, actor (Young Jesse James, Lineup), dies
1987 - Louis Broglie, French physicist (Nobel 1929), dies at 94
1987 - Tony Stratton-Smith, journalist/record co CEO (Charisma), dies at 53
1989 - Alan Civil, English French horn player (b. 1929)
1990 - Andrew Wood, American singer (Mother Love Bone) (b. 1966)
1991 - John Russell Thomas, NFL general manager (Detroit Lions), dies
1991 - Ron Pagano, dies after lengthy illness at 37
1991 - Sunday Wilshin, actor (Murder by Rope), dies at 86
1992 - Cesare Danova, actor (Tentacles, Viva Las Vegas), dies at 66
1993 - Barend P Tammeling, journalist (Trouw, Peek on the North), dies at 58
1993 - Jeff Ward, drummer (9 Inch Nails), commits suicide at 30
1994 - Giuseppe Diana, Italian anti-mafia priest, murdered
1994 - Jose Coronel Urtecho, poet, dies at 87
1995 - Fernand Lodewick, literature historian (Literature), dies at 85
1995 - Gerard Tebroke, 5/10 km-dasher, dies at 45
1995 - Kenneth Norman Joseph Loveless, priest folk musician, dies at 83
1996 - Christopher John Magenis Headington, musician, dies at 65
1996 - William Hutchinson Murray, mountaineer/author, dies at 83
1997 - Willem De Kooning, artists (Abstract), dies of Alzheimer at 92
1999 - Jaime Sabines, Mexican poet (b. 1926)
1999 - Tofilau Eti Alesana, former Prime Minister of Samoa (b. 1924)