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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 235

335 - St Silvester I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
406 - 80,000 Vandels attack the Rhine at Mainz
406 - Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia.
535 - Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.
765 - Coffin of Ho-tse Shen-hui interred in a stupa built in China
870 - Skirmish at Englefield: Ethelred of Wessex beats Danish invasion army
1229 - James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca.
1492 - 100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily
1502 - Cesare Borgia (son of pope Alexander VI) occupies Urbino
1564 - Willem van Orange demands freedom of conscience/religion
1600 - British East India Company chartered
1604 - Admiral Steven van der Haghen's fleet reaches Bantam
1621 - Hungarian King Bethlen Gabor/Ferdinand II sign Treaty of Mikulov
1660 - James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
1669 - France & Brandenburg sign secret treaty
1670 - France & England sign Boyne-treaty
1680 - Amsterdam opera at Leidsegracht opens
1687 - 1st Huguenots depart France to Cape of Good Hope
1688 - Pro-James II-earl of Devonshire occupies Nottingham [OS=Dec 21]
1695 - A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.
1700 - Frisia/Groningen adopt Gregorian calendar, tomorrow is 1/12/1701
1708 - Great Alliance captures Bridge
1711 - Duke of Marlborough fired as English army commander
1744 - James Bradley announces discovery of Earth's nutation motion (wobble)
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlies army meets with de Esk
1756 - Russia joins the Alliance of Versailles
1758 - British expeditionary army occupies Goree (Dakar) Senegal
1762 - Mozart family moves from Vienna to Salzburg
1775 - Battle of Quebec; Americans unable to take British stronghold
1776 - Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation: Limit is 70 cents a day for carpenters, 42 cents for tailors
1779 - English fleet beat Dutch Merchant vessels
1781 - Bank of North America, 1st US bank opens
1783 - Import of African slaves banned by all of the Northern states
1805 - End of French Republican calendar; France returns to Gregorianism
1831 - Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
1841 - Alabama becomes 1st state to license dental surgeons
1852 - Future president & Mrs Rutherford B Hayes marry
1857 - Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada
1859 - Dutch colony in Dutch Indies counts 4,800 slaves
1861 - 22,990 mm of rain falls in Cherrapunji Assam in 1861, world record
1862 - -Jan 20th) Battle of Stone's River, TN (Stone River, Monfreesboro)
1862 - Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee
1862 - Pres Lincoln signs act admitting West Virginia to Union
1862 - Skirmish at Parker Cross Roads, Tennessee
1862 - Union ironclad ship "Monitor" sank off Cape Hatteras, NC
1870 - J D Schneiter patents rocket mail in France, (not done)
1879 - Cornerstone laid for Iolani Palace (only royal palace in US)
1879 - Cornerstone laid for Honolulu's Iolani Palace
1879 - Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp
1879 - Gilbert/Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," premieres in NYC
1879 - Opera "Pirates of Penzance" is produced (NYC)
1890 - Ellis Island (NYC) opens as a US immigration depot
1896 - 25th auto built in US
1897 - Brooklyn's last day as a city, it incorporates into NYC (1/1/1898)
1902 - Boers & British army sign peace treaty
1904 - The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York.
1906 - French/British/Italian treaty concerning rights on Abyssinia
1907 - For 1st time a ball drops at Times Square to signal new year
1907 - G Mahler conducts the Metropolitan Opera
1910 - US tobacco industry produced 9 billion cigarettes in 1910
1911 - Marie Curie receives her 2nd Nobel Prize
1914 - Colonel Jacob Ruppert & Cap Huston purchase NY Yankees for $460,000
1917 - Dutch Social-democratic trade union NVV counts 159,450 members
1918 - Kid Gleason replaces Pants Rowland as White Sox manager
1920 - Roy Park makes 1st-ball duck in only Test Cricket inn, v Eng at MCG
1921 - Last San Francisco firehorses retired
1923 - 1st transatlantic radio broadcast of a voice, Pittsburgh-Manchester
1923 - BBC begins using Big Ben chime ID
1923 - H Tierney/J McCarthy's musical "Kid Boots," premieres in NYC
1924 - Hubble announces existence of distant galaxies
1925 - 14th congress of CPSU decides to accelerate industry
1927 - Ponsford scores 336 against SA, giving him 1146 for month
1929 - Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini illius magistri
1930 - Pontifical encyclical Casti connubii against mixed marriages
1930 - US tobacco industry produced 123 billion cigarettes in 1930
1932 - John P O'Brien sworn-in as mayor of NYC
1934 - Helen Richey becomes 1st woman to pilot an airmail transport
1935 - CPH becomes Dutch Communist Party
1935 - Charles Darrow patents Monopoly
1938 - Dr R N Harger's "drunkometer," 1st breath test, introduced in Indiana
1938 - Dutch national debt hits ƒ3,986,629,805.70
1939 - 25 U boats sunk this month (81,000 ton)
1939 - Dutch national debt hits ƒ4,218,553,180.99
1940 - 37 U boats sunk this month (213,000 ton)
1941 - Young Park (2) in the Bronx named in honor of Samuel Young
1942 - 60 U boats sunk this month (330,000 ton)
1942 - Battle in Barents Sea
1942 - Potatoes rationed in Holland
1943 - NYC's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theater
1944 - 48 people die in a train accident in Ogden, Utah
1944 - Japanese army evacuates harbor city Akyab
1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany.
1945 - Bradman scores 112, his 1st post-War century, SA v Aust Services
1945 - Ratification of UN Charter completed
1946 - French troops leave Lebanon
1946 - Pres Truman officially proclaims end of WW II
1948 - Dutch police actions up Java gone on strike
1949 - 18 countries recognize Republic Indonesia
1950 - Jockeys W Shoemaker & Joe Culmone set record of 388 wins in a year
1951 - 1st battery to convert radioactive energy to electrical announced

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 211

695 - Muhammad bin Qasim, Syrian general (d. 715)
1378 - Callistus III, [Alfonso the Borja], Pope (1455-58)
1378 - Pope Callixtus III (d. 1458)
1491 - Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)
1514 - Andreas Vesalius, Brussels Belgium, anatomist (Fabrica)
1540 - Silvio Antoniano, Italian cardinal/theologist (Tre libri)
1572 - Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan, (d. 1617)
1668 - Hermannus Boerhaave, Dutch medical/botanist
1720 - [Bonnie Prince] Charles Edward Stuart, English pretender to throne
1724 - Franz Joseph Oehlschlagel, composer
1738 - Charles Lord Cornwallis, soldier/statesman "fire when ready Gridley"
1741 - Isabella Maria of Parma, wife of future Holy Roman emperor (d. 1763)
1763 - Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (d. 1806)
1799 - Thomas Taglichsbeck, composer
1805 - Marie-C-S de Flavigny Agoult, [Daniel Stern], French author (Knife)
1815 - George Gordon Meade, Major General (Union Army), died in 1872
1818 - Maria J Small-Gartmann, actress
1825 - Francis Trowbridge Sherman, Brig Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1905
1826 - Henry Hiles, composer
1830 - Ismail Pasha, kedive of Egypt (1863-79)
1838 - Emile Loubet, premier/president of France (1892, 1899-1906)
1846 - Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, vicar/Dutch anarchist (Right for all)
1846 - Richard Kleinmichel, composer
1855 - Giovanni Pascoli, Italian classicist/poet
1857 - King Kelly, American baseball player (d. 1894)
1859 - Max Fiedler, composer
1860 - Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist (d. 1937)
1863 - Alfredo Panzini, Italian author (Dizionario Moderno)
1864 - Robert G Aitken, US astronomer (Binary Stars)
1869 - Henri Matisse, France, impressionist painter (Odalisque)
1870 - Thomas Connolly, baseball's major league umpire for 50 years
1874 - Ernest Austin, composer
1877 - Lawrence Beesley, English journalist and author (d. 1967)
1878 - Horacio Quiroga, Uruguayan author/poet (El Crimen del Otro)
1878 - Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (d. 1966)
1880 - George C Marshall, Uniontown Pa, authored Marshall Plan (Nobel 1953)
1880 - Fred Beebe, American baseball player (d. 1957)
1881 - Colin G Fink, US chemist (electro chemistry)
1881 - Jacob Israel de Haan, Dutch poet/writer (Pipelines, Jewish Song)
1881 - Max Pechstein, German "entartet" painter/graphic artist (The Bridge)
1882 - Ben Jones, Missouri, horse trainer (Citation, Whirlaway)
1882 - David Cohen, Dutch historian/chairman (Jewish Council)
1882 - Martin O'Meara, Australian soldier (d. 1935)
1884 - Bobby Byrne, American baseball player (d. 1964)
1885 - Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1970)
1892 - Jason Robards Sr, Hillsdale Mich, actor (Acapulco)
1893 - J M Blankenberg, cricketer (60 wkts in 18 Tests for South Africa)
1893 - Max Lamberty, Flemish sociologist/author (Flemish Resurrection)
1894 - Ernest John Moeran, British composer
1894 - Pola Negri, [Barbara A Chalupiec], Polish/US actress (Madame Dubarry)
1896 - Ronald Adam, Herefordshire England, actor (Phantom Shot)
1897 - Rhys Williams, Wales, actor (Nightmare, Okinawa, Cross My Heart)
1899 - Gaston Glass, Paris France, film executive
1899 - Silvestre Revueltas, Santiago Papasquiaro Mexico, composer (Sensemaya)
1902 - Lionel Daunais, Quebec singer and composer (d. 1982)
1904 - Chuck Gardiner, UK, NHL goalie (Vezina winner)
1904 - Nathan Milstein, Odessa Russia, concert violinist (Phila Orch 1942)
1904 - Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer and actress (d. 1975)
1905 - Guy Mollet, French socialist premier (1956-57)
1905 - Jule Styne, England, songwriter/composer (1954 Acad Award, 1968 Tony)
1905 - Tadeusz Breza, writer
1906 - Erna Bogen, Hungary, foils (Olympic-bronze-1932)
1908 - Marko Rothmuller, composer
1908 - Simon Wiesenthal, Polish/Austrian nazi hunter (Wiesenthal Center)
1910 - Dick Kollmar, Rigewood NJ, actor (Broadway Spotlight, Guess What)
1910 - Roy Rowland, film director
1911 - Dal Stivens, Australian novelist (d. 1997)
1912 - Maj-Gen John Frost, British para commander (d. 1993)
1914 - Pat Brady, Toledo Ohio, actor (Roy Rodgers Show)
1916 - Suzy Delair, Paris France, actress (Utopia, White Paws)
1919 - Tommy Byrne, American baseball player
1920 - Rex Allen, American actor, singer, and songwriter (d. 1999)
1921 - Rocky Graziano, NYC, boxer (MW champ)/actor (Miami Undercover)[or 6/7]
1922 - Joan McCracken, Phila Pa, actress (Claudie Story of a Marriage)
1922 - Rex Allen, Wilcox Az, cowboy singer (Dr Baxter-Frontier Doctor)
1924 - Victoria Draves, US, platform/springboard diver (Olympic-gold-1948)
1924 - Taylor Mead, American actor
1927 - Dieter Noll, writer
1928 - Hugh McElhenny, NFL halfback (SF, Minnesota, Giants, Detroit)
1928 - Ross Barbour, Columbus Ind, singer (4 Freshmen)
1928 - Veijo Meri, writer
1928 - Siné, French cartoonist
1929 - Mies Bouman, Dutch TV hostess (Open the Village)
1929 - Peter Barker Howard, cricketer
1929 - Peter May, cricketer (dashing English batsman of 50's)
1929 - Sidney Greenbaum, grammarian
1930 - Ala Odetta, [Odetta Holmes], Birmingham, folk singer/actress
1930 - Odetta, [Holmes], Birmingham Ala, folk singer (Sanctuary)
1931 - Bob Shaw, UK, sci-fi author (Orbitsville, Ragged Astronauts, Vertigo)
1931 - Bob Shaw, Irish writer (d. 1996)
1932 - George Schlatter, TV producer (Laugh-in)
1933 - Edward Bunker, American author and actor (d. 2005)
1934 - Akram Awan, Islamic scholar
1935 - Peter Allan, cricketer (1 Test Australia v England 1965, 2-58 & 0-25)
1935 - Rolf Haufs, writer
1937 - Anthony Hopkins, Wales, actor (Elephant Man, QB VII, Magic, Bounty)
1937 - Nicolas Born, writer
1937 - Avram Hershko, Israeli biologist, Nobel laureate
1938 - Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Holland, speed skater (world champ)
1938 - Henricus G Wijmans, Dutch graphic artist

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 149

192 - Lucius AA Commodus, Emperor of Rome (180-192), murdered at 31
335 - St. Silvester, Pope
406 - Godagisel, king of the Vandals, dies in battle
439 - Melania the Younger, Roman monastery founder/saint, dies at about 56
1164 - Margrave Ottokar III of Styria (b. 1124)
1194 - Duke Leopold V of Austria (killed at a tournament) (b. 1157)
1297 - Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1249)
1302 - Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238)
1382 - Daigaku, Zen teacher/46th head of Engakuji, dies in Kamakura Japan
1384 - John Wycliffe, English religious reformer/bible translator, dies
1424 - Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, English military leader
1460 - Edmund, Earl of Rutland, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (executed) (b. 1443)
1460 - Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, English politician (b. 1400)
1510 - Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1472)
1535 - William Skeffington, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1465)
1568 - Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (b. 1493)
1575 - Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (b. 1502)
1583 - Thomas Erastus, Switz, theologist, dies
1610 - Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician (b. 1540)
1616 - Jacques Le Maire, pirate/explorer (Lemaire Strait), dies at 31
1647 - Giovanni Maria Trabaci, composer, dies
1650 - Dorgon, Chinese emperor (b. 1612)
1652 - Frances Cecil, 2nd wife of English earl of Shaftesbury, dies
1673 - Oliver St John, English statesman and judge
1679 - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)
1691 - Dudley North, English economist (b. 1641)
1719 - John Flamsteed, 1st Astronomer Royal, dies at 73
1733 - Hubert K Poot, Dutch poet (Akkerleven), dies at 44
1742 - Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1661)
1775 - Richard Montgomery, General, dies fighting British
1799 - Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and writer (b. 1723)
1802 - Francis Lewis, Welsh/US merchant/signer (Decl of Ind), dies at 89
1802 - Hugo Franz Karl Alexander von Kerpen, composer, dies at 53
1809 - Franz Ignaz Beck, composer, dies at 75
1818 - Jean-Pierre Duport, composer, dies at 77
1848 - Oliver Shaw, composer, dies at 69
1859 - Luigi Ricci, composer, dies at 54
1862 - James Edward Rains, lawyer/Confederate brig-gen, dies in battle at 29
1862 - Joshua Woodrow Sill, US Union brig-general, dies in battle at 31
1872 - Aleksis Kivi, [Stenvall], Finnish writer/poet (Kanervala), dies at 38
1877 - Alberto Mazzucato, composer, dies at 64
1877 - JD Gustave Courbet, French painter (Baigneuses), dies at 58
1882 - Leon Michel Gambetta, French attorney/premier (1881-82), dies at 44
1888 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)
1889 - Ion Creanga, Romanian (fairy tales) author, dies at 52
1890 - Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican war heroine (b. 1826)
1893 - Jacob G de Scheffer, Dutch vicar/theologist, dies at 74
1894 - Thomas J Stieltjes, mathematician (Stieltjes-integral), dies at 38
1896 - Leland Hone, cricketer (scored 7 & 6 in only England Test 1879), dies
1907 - Jules de Trooz, Belgium PM, dies at 63
1910 - John Moisant, American aviator (b. 1868)
1910 - Arch Hoxsey, American aviator (b. 1884)
1916 - Ernst Rudorff, composer, dies at 76
1920 - Albert Roelofs, Dutch painter/etcher, dies at 43
1921 - Boies Penrose, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)
1936 - Miguel de Unamuno Jugo, Span philosopher/poet (Cancionero), dies at 72
1936 - William FA Ellison, Irish clergyman/astronomer, dies at 72
1938 - Richard N Roland Holst, Dutch artist/painter, dies at 70
1941 - Sigwart Aspestrand, composer, dies at 85
1945 - Donald Douglas II, dies at 40
1946 - Frits [Frederik H] Tartaud, Dutch actor, dies at 89
1947 - Franz X Ritter von Epp, German General (SW Africa), dies at 79
1948 - Malcolm Campbell, English race driver, dies at 63
1950 - Charles Koechlin, French composer (Jungle Book), dies at 83
1950 - Karl Renner, Austrian Chancellor/pres (1918-20, 45-50), dies at 80
1951 - Maxim M Litvinov, [Meyer H Wallach], Russian diplomat, dies at 75
1951 - Philipp A Kohnstamm, Dutch philosopher/physicist, dies at 76
1953 - Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer/founder (KLM), dies at 64
1954 - Peter Van Anrooy, conductor/composer (Piet Hein Rhapsodie), dies at 75
1958 - Gustav Hermann Unger, composer, dies at 72
1960 - Germaine Loosveldt, Flemish actress (Trees die Upright), dies at 69
1960 - Semyon Semyonovich Bogatiryov, composer, dies at 70
1964 - Ólafur Thors, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1892)
1964 - Bobby Byrne, baseball player (b. 1884)
1966 - Chief Nipo Strongheart, Native Amer actor (Pony Soldier), dies at 75
1966 - Pieter C A Geyl, historian (History of Dutch Race), dies
1967 - Arthur Mailey, cricketer (10-66 & Aust v Gloucestershire 1921), dies
1968 - Carl Oscar Ahues, German International Chess Master (1950), dies at 85
1968 - George Louis Francis Lewis, composer, dies at 16
1968 - Sabin V Dragoi, composer, dies at 74
1969 - Salvatore Baccaloni, opera singer/actor (Full of Life), dies at 69
1970 - Cyril M Scott, English composer/author (Alchemist), dies at 91
1971 - Peter Deuel, actor (Gidget, Love on a Rooftop), commits suicide at 31
1971 - Pete Duel American actor (b. 1940)
1971 - Marin Sais, American actress (b. 1890)
1971 - Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (b. 1919)
1972 - Roberto Clemente, slugger (Pitts Pirate), dies in a plane crash at 38
1975 - Donal Michalsky, composer, dies at 47
1977 - Nora Marlowe, actress (Sara-Gov & JJ), dies at 62
1977 - Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah, ruler of Kuwait (b. 1924)
1980 - Arthur Wellard, cricketer (2 Tests for Eng, legendary 6-hitter), dies
1980 - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian cultural philosopher, dies at 69
1980 - Raoul Walsh, US director (High Sierra), dies at about 88
1981 - Frantisek Chaun, composer, dies at 60
1983 - Bill Hunt, cricketer (Test for Aust, out 0, took 0-25 & 0-14), dies
1983 - Frank Link, actor (Burns & Schreiber Comedy Show), dies at 46
1985 - Alexander Matheson, cricketer (2 wickets/2 Tests for NZ 1930-31), dies
1985 - Rick Nelson, singer/actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet), dies at 45
1985 - Sam Spiegel, Academy Award winning producer (Betrayal), dies at 84
1986 - Lester Albert Trimble, composer, dies at 63