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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 174

49 BC - Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River by the Numidians under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba of Numidia. Curio commits suicide to avoid capture.
79 - Mt Vesuvius erupts, buries Pompeii & Herculaneum, 15,000 die
410 - Rome overrun by Visigoths, symbolized fall of Western Roman Empire
1200 - John of England, famous for issuing the first Magna Carta, married Isabella of Angouleme at the Bordeaux Cathedral.
1215 - Pope Innocent III declares Magna Carta invalid
1217 - Battle at South Foreland: English fleet beats France
1349 - 6,000 Jews, blamed for the Plague, are killed in Mainz
1349 - Jews of Cologne Germany set themselves on fire to avoid baptism
1391 - Jews of Palma Majorca massacred
1456 - The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.
1511 - Portugese troops under Afonso the Albuquerque occupy Malakka
1511 - Alfonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Sultanate of Malacca.
1516 - Battle at Aleppo: Turks beat Syria
1542 - Conquistador Francisco de Orellana returns to Spain
1561 - Willem of Orange marries duchess Anna of Saxon
1572 - King Charles IX orders massacre of thousands of French Protestants
1608 - 1st English convoy lands at Surat India
1654 - Louis II Condé disbands ends of Atrecht
1658 - Battle at Grevelingen: English fleet beats Spanish
1662 - Act of Uniformity requires English to accept book of Common Prayer
1682 - Duke James of York gives Delaware to William Penn
1690 - Job Charnock founds Calcutta India
1704 - Sea battle at Malaga
1751 - Thomas Colley executed in England for drowning supposed witch
1787 - Wolfgang A Mozart completes his viola sonata in A, K526
1814 - British forces captured Washington, DC, & burned down many landmarks
1816 - The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.
1820 - Constitutionalist insurrection at Oporto, Portugal; see Portugal's crises of the Nineteenth Century.
1826 - Netherland's South Willems Port (Bosch-Luik) opens
1828 - Dutch army takes Fort Du Bus in New Guinea
1831 - John Henslow asks Charles Darwin to travel with him on HMS Beagle
1833 - HMS Beagle reaches Bahia Blanca, Argentina
1847 - Charlotte Bronte finishes manuscript of "Jane Eyre"
1853 - 1st potato chips prepared by Chef George Crum (Saratoga Springs NY)
1854 - National emigration convention meets in Cleveland
1857 - The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in U.S. history.
1858 - Richmond "Daily Dispatch" reports 90 blacks arrested for learning
1869 - Cornelius Swarthout patents waffle iron
1870 - The Wolseley Expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River Rebellion.
1876 - Riot abolishes fairs in Amsterdam, 2 killed
1891 - Thomas Edison patents motion picture camera
1893 - Tornado destroys coast of Savannah & Charleston, about 1000 die
1904 - 24th US Mens Tennis: Holcombe Ward beats William Clothier (108 64 97)
1904 - Field battle at Liao-Yang-200,000 Japanese against 150,000 Russian
1905 - Chicago Cubs beat Phillies 2-1 in 20 innings
1906 - Cincinnati Red John Weimer no-hits Dodgers, 1-0 in 7 inning game
1908 - Tommy Burns KOs Bill Squires in 13 for heavyweight boxing title
1908 - NY Giants scores shown on electric diamonds known as "Compton's Baseball Bulletin" at MSG
1909 - Workers start pouring concrete for Panama Canal
1911 - Manuel d'Arriaga elected 1st president of Portugal
1912 - NYC ticker tape parade for Jim Thorpe & victorious US olympians
1912 - Territory of Alaska organizes
1912 - US passes Anti-gag law, federal employees right to petition govt
1914 - Battle at Bergen: Germans defeat Belgian/British troops
1914 - German troops occupy Namur Belgium
1914 - Jerome Kern & Michael E Rourles musical premieres in NYC
1918 - Chicago Cubs, win earliest pennent ever (season ended Sept 2)
1918 - Sect Baker grants extended exemption to World Series players
1919 - Cleveland pitcher Ray Caldwell is flattened by a bolt of lightning
1921 - Battle of Sakaray Valley begins between Turkey & Greece
1921 - British airship R-38 crashes in Humber, 44 die
1922 - 1st Phillie to hit for cycle (Cy Williams)
1923 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 3 mile (14:11.2)
1925 - 39th US Womens Tennis: Helen Wills Moody beats K McKane (36 60 62)
1929 - 43rd US Womens Tennis: Helen Wills Moody beats Phoebe H Watson (64 62)
1929 - Palestinians attack orthodox Jews in Jerusalem
1929 - Turkey & Persia signs friendship treaty
1931 - France & USSR sign neutrality/no attack treaty
1932 - 1st transcontinental non-stop flight by a woman, Amelia Earhart
1936 - Australian Antarctic Territory created
1936 - FDR gives FBI authority to pursuit fascists & communists
1937 - Republican offensive near Belchite Spain
1937 - In the Spanish Civil War, the Basque Army surrenders to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie following the Santoña Agreement.
1938 - England beat Australia by an innings & 579 runs at The Oval
1938 - Virgil Trucks strikes out his 418th batter, highest season total in organized ball-for Andalusia in an Alabama-Florida League game
1939 - Germany & USSR sign 10-year non-aggression pact
1940 - Luftwaffe bombs London
1940 - Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams pitches the last 2 innings in a 12-1 loss to Detroit Tigers, Williams allows 3 hits & 1 run
1942 - Sea battle off Eastern Solomon Islands
1942 - Transport nr 23 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1943 - Phila A's drop AL record tying 20th game in a row, win the 2nd game
1944 - Gen LeClercs troops open assault on Paris
1945 - Cleveland ace Bob Feller returns from Navy & strike out 12
1949 - North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) goes into effect
1950 - 1st US Negro delegate to UN appointed-ES Sampson
1950 - Edith Sampson named 1st black US delegate to UN
1950 - Operation Magic Carpet concludes transporting 45,000 Yemenite Jews
1951 - Bill Veeck's "Fans Managers' Night," Browns defeat A's 5-3; Browns coaches hold up placards for fans to vote on
1954 - Communist Control Act passed, at height of McCarthyism
1954 - Eisenhower signs Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party
1954 - International Amateur Athletic Federation recognizes Red China
1954 - William Heatherton's "Reluctant Debutante," premieres in London
1956 - 1st non-stop transcontinental helicopter flight arrived Wash DC
1957 - British soccer player Jimmy Greaves' (17) 1st game for Chelsea
1958 - Fay Crocker wins LPGA Waterloo Golf Open
1958 - Sergei Popov wins Stockholm marathon (2:15:17.0) (WR)
1959 - England complete 5-0 series drubbing of India
1959 - Hiram L Fong sworn in as 1st Chinese-American senator while Daniel K Inouye sworn in as 1st Japanese-American Rep (Both from Hawaii)
1960 - -127°F (-88°C), Vostok, Antarctica (world record)
1960 - 60 people die when bus plunges off bridge into Turvo River, Brazil

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 238

1113 - Geoffrey Plantagenet, France, conquered Normandy
1113 - Geoffrey of Anjou, Count of Anjou (d. 1151)
1198 - King Alexander II of Scotland (d. 1249)
1210 - Floris IV, Count of Holland
1358 - King John I of Castile (d. 1390)
1393 - Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (d. 1458)
1420 - Albrecht van Eyb, German humanist/parson (Bamberg & Eichstattt)
1531 - Ercole Bottrigari, composer
1552 - Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter (d. 1614)
1579 - John Amner, composer
1580 - John Taylor, English poet (d. 1654)
1591 - Robert Herrick, England, poet (Gather ye rosebuds) (baptized)
1635 - Peder Griffenfeld, Danish statesman (d. 1699)
1669 - Alessandro Marcello, composer
1683 - Meinrad Spiess, composer
1694 - Theodor A Freiherr von Neuhoff, German adventurer/king [or 8/25]
1707 - Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, English Evangelical Revivalist (d. 1791)
1712 - Cornelis Douwes, Dutch mathematician/astronomer
1725 - Johann Balthasar Kehl, composer
1733 - David Traugott Nicolai, composer
1750 - Letizia Ramolino, mother of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1836)
1758 - Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1794)
1759 - William Wilberforce, British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade
1772 - Willem I Frederik, grand duke of Luxembourg/king of Neth (1814-40)
1772 - King William I of the Netherlands (d. 1840)
1787 - James Weddell, Ostend England, Antarctic explorer (Weddell Sea)
1808 - Benjamin Grubb Humphreys, Brig General (Confederate Army)
1808 - Thomas Fenwick Drayton, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1891
1816 - Daniel Gooch, laid 1st successful transatlantic cables
1817 - Aleksei K Tolstoi, [Kozjma Prutkov], Russian poet/writer [OS]
1817 - Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (d. 1875)
1820 - Jacopo Tomadini, composer
1821 - Emmanuele Muzio, composer
1827 - Walter Husted Stevens, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1867
1828 - George Hume "Maryland" Steuart, Brig General (Confederate Army)
1837 - Theodore Dubois, composer
1839 - Eduard Napravnik, composer
1842 - Edouard J A Agneessens, Flemish painter (Slave Market)
1845 - James C. Calhoun, American soldier, brother-in-law of George Armstrong Custer (d. 1876)
1851 - Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer (d. 1924)
1852 - Deacon White, American baseball player (d. 1919)
1854 - Nikolay Vladimirovich Scherbachov, composer
1856 - Felix Mottl, composer
1863 - Dragutin Lerman, Croatian explorer (d. 1918)
1865 - Ferdinand I VAM, king of Romania
1872 - Max Beerbohm, England, caricaturist/writer/wit (Saturday Review)
1879 - Rentaro Taki, composer
1880 - Joshua L Cowen, inventor (electric train)
1880 - Miles W L Killearn of Killearn, Scotish baron/diplomat
1886 - William Francis Gibbs, naval architect, designed Liberty ships
1887 - Harry Hooper, American baseball player (d. 1974)
1889 - Simon Kimbangu/Kibangu, Congo prophet
1890 - Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaii, swimmer (Olympics-3 gold/2 silver-12, 20, 24)
1890 - Franz Philipp, composer
1890 - Jean Rhys, British writer (d. 1979)
1891 - Alexander Mikhaylovich Dzegelyonok, composer
1891 - Germaine Loosveldt, Flemish actress (Kniertje in On hope)
1894 - Jean Rhys, [Ella Williams], Dominica, writer (Voyage in the Dark)
1895 - Richard Cardinal Cushing, archbishop of Boston (d. 1970)
1896 - Phil Baker, Phila, comedian (Who's Whose)
1897 - Fred Rose, American songwriter and publishing executive (d. 1954)
1898 - Albert Claude, Belgium, biologist/physician (Nobel 1974)
1898 - Malcolm Cowley, Belsano Penn, author (Flowering of New England)
1898 - Marie J Hugenholtz, [Doctor Grandi], surgeon on Curacao
1899 - Johan J Fabricius, Dutch novelist (Island of Demons)
1899 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina, writer of fiction, essays (Labyrinths)
1899 - Ruth Schaumann, German painter/writer (Rose, Black King)
1900 - Preston Foster, Ocean City NJ, actor (Waterfront, Gunslinger)
1902 - Fernand Braudel, French historian (Civililization & Capitalism)
1902 - Carlo Gambino, Sicilian-born American mafioso (d. 1976)
1903 - Karl Hanke, Nazi official (d. 1945)
1904 - Rod Redwing, NY, actor (Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory)
1905 - Donald Douglas, Scotland, actor (I Love You Again)
1905 - Arthur Crudup, American singer and guitarist (d. 1976)
1905 - Siaka Stevens, President of Sierra Leone (d. 1988)
1909 - Ronnie Grieveson, S Afr cricket keeper/batsman (2 Tests v Eng 1939)
1910 - Bernhard Heiden, composer
1911 - Karl AF Schiller, West German economist/SPD-minister
1912 - Durward Kirby, Indianapolis Ind, TV announcer (Garry Moore Show)
1913 - Dorothy Comingore, [Linda Winters], LA CA, actress (Citizen Kane)
1915 - Alice B[radley] Sheldon, US, sci-fi author (Byte Beautiful)
1915 - Wynonie Harris, rocker
1915 - James Tiptree, Jr., American writer (d. 1987)
1916 - Anita V Figueredo, physician/humanitarian
1916 - Peter Crichton Kirkpatrick, oarsman
1916 - Léo Ferré, French composer and singer (d. 1993)
1916 - Hal Smith, American actor (d. 1994)
1917 - Dennis James, Jersey City NJ, wrestling announcer/TV host (PDQ)
1918 - Ray McIntire, chemical engineer
1918 - Sikander Bakht, Governor of Kerala (d. 2004)
1919 - "Drs P" [Heinz H Polzer], Swiss/Dutch songwriter/singer
1919 - Nils Viggo Bentzon, composer
1919 - Enrique Llanes, Mexican professional wrestler (d. 2004)
1921 - Sam Tingle, Zimbabwean racing driver
1922 - René Lévesque, Premier of Quebec (d. 1987)
1922 - Howard Zinn, American historian and activist
1923 - Helena Carter, [Helen Rickerts], US model/actress (River Lady)
1923 - Arthur Jensen, American psychologist
1924 - Louis Teicher, pianist (Ferante & Teicher-Exodus)
1927 - Roger Danneels, Flemish accordionist

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 103

79 - Pliny the Elder, Roman writer and naturalist (b. 23)
1103 - Magnus III Berbein, [Blootbeen], King of Norway (1093-1103), dies
1217 - Eustace "the Monk", French buccaneer, dies in battle
1313 - Henry VII, Roman Catholic German King/emperor (1308/12-13), dies
1371 - Eduard, duke of Gelre (1361-71), assasinated
1540 - Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, Italian painter (b. 1503)
1542 - Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (b. 1483)
1572 - Gaspard de Châtillon, Count the Coligny, French gen/admiral, beheaded
1572 - Victims of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massa
1572 - Pierre de la Ramée, French humanist (b. 1515)
1572 - Charles de Téligny, French Huguenot soldier (bc. 1535)
1595 - Thomas Digges, English astronomer (Universe Infinite), dies
1647 - Nicholas Stone "Elder", English sculptor/architect, dies at about 61
1664 - Maria Cunitz, Silesian astronomer (bc. 1610)
1666 - Francisco M the Melo, Portuguese author (Obras Morales), dies at 57
1679 - Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz, French churchman and agitator (b. 1614)
1680 - Ferdinand Bulb, Dutch painter/etcher, buried
1680 - Thomas Blood, Irish-born thief of the British crown jewels (b. 1618)
1683 - John Owen, English non-conformist theologian (b. 1616)
1712 - Thomas Bullis, composer, dies at 54
1724 - Andreas Kneller, composer, dies at 75
1759 - Ewald C von Kleist, German poet, dies at 44
1770 - Thomas Chatterton, English poet (Revenge), dies
1779 - Saint Cosmas of Aetolia, Greek Orthodox martyr (b. 1714)
1798 - Thomas Alcock, English clergyman (b. 1709)
1801 - Jacques-Denis Antoine, French builder (La Monnaie Paris), dies at 68
1832 - Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French mathematician (b. 1796)
1833 - Adrian H Haworth, English entomologist/botanist, dies at 65
1840 - Joseph Waast Aubert Nonot, composer, dies at 89
1841 - Karl Friedrich Curschmann, composer, dies at 36
1841 - Theodore Edward Hook, English author (b. 1788)
1888 - Rudolph J E Clausius, German physicist (thermodynamics), dies
1889 - Jan E Matzeliger, Suriname inventor (shoe lacing machine), dies
1895 - John F Loudon, entrepreneur/colonial director, dies at 74
1906 - Alfred Stevens, Belgian painter, dies
1907 - Pieter Louis Tak, writer (Chronicle), dies at 58
1921 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (b. 1886)
1923 - Kate Douglas Wiggin, author (US kindergarten movement), dies at 66
1939 - W H Moule, cricketer (Australia v England 1880)/High Court judge, dies
1940 - Paul G Nipkow, German TV pioneer (Nipkow disk), dies at 80
1943 - Ernst Ottwalt, writer, dies
1943 - Simone Weil, French philosopher and social activist (b. 1909)
1950 - Ernst Wiechert, writer, dies at 63
1954 - Getulio D Vargas, pres/dictator Brazil: 1930-45, 51-54, suicide at 71
1956 - Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese film director (b. 1898)
1957 - Albert Edward Sammons, composer, dies at 71
1958 - John G Strijdom, premier of South Africa (1954-58), dies at 65
1958 - Kenneth Leighton, composer, dies at 28
1958 - Leo Blech, composer, dies at 87
1958 - Paul Henry, Northern Irish artist (b. 1876)
1962 - Henry George Ley, composer, dies at 74
1964 - Maurice Schoemaker, composer, dies at 73
1967 - Amanda Randolph, actress (Danny Thomas, Amos n Andy), dies at 65
1967 - Henry J Kaiser, industrialist (Boulder Dam, Liberty ship), dies at 85
1968 - Cyril Vincent, cricketer (84 wkts slow lefty for S Af 1927-35), dies
1972 - Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas, US jazz saxophonist, dies at 59
1973 - Billy Greene, actor (Burton-One Man's Family), dies at 76
1973 - Slava Vorlova, composer, dies at 79
1974 - Alexander de Seversky, Russian-American aviation pioneer (b. 1894)
1975 - Charles H Revson, US cosmetic magnate, dies at 69
1976 - Michael Dewar Head, composer, dies at 76
1977 - Buddy O'Connor, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1916)
1978 - Louis Prima, singer, dies at 66
1979 - Hanna Reitsch, German test pilot (b. 1912)
1979 - Sampson Sievers, Russian Orthodox Christian monk and wonder-worker (b. 1898)
1980 - Yootha Joyce, British actress (b. 1927)
1982 - Jack Siedle, cricketer (batted in 18 Tests for S Africa), dies
1983 - Jack Somack, actor (Ball Four, Stockard Channing Show), dies at 64
1983 - Shawn Lewis, 5th wife of Jerry Lee Lewis, dies of methadone OD
1985 - Paul Creston [Giuseppe/Joseph Guttoveggio], US composer, dies at 78
1987 - Bayard Rustin, US civil rights activist, dies at 77
1987 - Malcolm Kirk, English wrestler (b. 1936)
1988 - Leonard Frey, actor (Tattoo, Magic Christian), dies of AIDS at 49
1988 - Max Shulman, author (Dobie Gillis, Tender Trap), dies at 69
1990 - Sergei Dovlatov, Russian writer (b. 1941)
1990 - Gailli AbedElrhman, Sudanese writer (b. 1931)
1991 - Abel Kivlat, US 1500m runner (Olympic-silver-1912), dies at 99
1991 - Beb [Elizabeth] Vuyk, Neth/Indon writer (Camp Diary), dies at 86
1991 - Bernard Castro, patented convertible couch, dies at 87
1991 - Mike Sokoll, cowboy actor, dies at 97
1992 - Andreas M Donner, Dutch state leader/jurist (Constitution), dies at 74
1992 - Larrie Londin, jazz drummer, dies at 48
1993 - Professor D B Deodhar, cricketer (Ind non-Test bat o 30s), dies at 101
1994 - Jason McRoy, downhill MTB racer, dies at 23
1994 - Wijnanda MC "Nan" Aberson, friend of Gerard Van de Reve Sr, dies at 82
1995 - Erich Geiringer, general Practitioner campaigner, dies at 78
1995 - Gary Crosby, singer/actor (Operation Bikini, Mardi Gras), dies at 61
1996 - Ahmed Bahauddin, journalist, dies at 69
1996 - Emile Noel, international civil servant, dies at 73
1996 - John Christopherson, artist/collector, dies at 75
1996 - Robert Louis Tewdwr Moss, journalist/travel writer, dies at 42
1997 - Phillip Humphrey Vellacott, classicist, dies at 90
1998 - E.G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1910)
1999 - Alexandre Lagoya, Greek-Italian classical guitarist (b. 1929)
2001 - Jane Greer, American actress (b. 1924)
2002 - Nikolay Guryanov Russian Orthodox Christian mystic and priest (b. 1909)
2003 - Sir Wilfred Thesiger, British explorer (b. 1910)
2004 - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (b. 1926)
2005 - Kaleth Morales, Colombian Vallenato singer (b. 1984)
2006 - Léopold Simoneau, French Canadian tenor (b. 1916)