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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 183

41 - After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate.
844 - Gregory IV begins & ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1139 - Godfried II the Young becomes duke of Brabant
1327 - King Edward III accedes to British throne
1348 - Earthquake destroys Villach, killing 5,000
1494 - Alfonso II replaces his father as king of Naples
1533 - England's King Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn (approximate date)
1554 - Sir Thomas Wyatt gathers an army in Kent, rebels against Queen Mary
1554 - Founding of São Paulo city, Brazil.
1565 - Battle at Talikota India: Moslems destroy Vijayanagar's army
1573 - Battle of Mikatagahara, in Japan; Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.
1579 - Treaty of Utrecht signed, marks beginning of Dutch Republic
1721 - Czar Peter the Great ends Russian-orthodox patriarchy
1755 - Moscow University established on Tatiana Day.
1775 - Americans drag cannon up hill to fight British (Gun Hill Road, Bronx)
1787 - Shays' Rebellion suffers a setback when debt-ridden farmers, led by Capt Daniel Shays, fail to capture an arsenal at Springfield, Mass
1792 - The London Corresponding Society is founded.
1799 - 1st US patent for a seeding machine, Eliakim Spooner, Vermont
1802 - Napoleon elected president of Italian (Cisalpine) Republic
1817 - Rossini's opera "La Cenerentola" premieres in Rome
1825 - 1st US engineering college opens, Rensselaer Polytechnic, Troy, NY
1835 - Opera "I Puritani," premieres in Paris
1835 - Vincenzo Bellini's opera "I Puritani," premieres in Paris
1844 - Recontre between Reps Weller & Shriver, US House of Representative
1851 - Sojourner Truth addresses 1st Black Women's Rights Convention (Akron)
1854 - Aleksandr Ostrovsky's "Bednost ne Porok," premieres in Moscow
1856 - Battle of Seattle; skirmish between settlers & Indians
1858 - Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" 1st played, at wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Victoria, to crown prince of Prussia
1863 - Battle of Kinston, NC
1863 - General Joseph Hooker replaces Burnside as head of Army of Potomac
1865 - CSS Shenandoah arrives in Melbourne, Australia
1870 - Soda fountain patented by Gustavus Dows
1875 - Anti-slavery society forms (NY)
1877 - Congress determines presidential election between Hayes-Tilden
1879 - The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.
1881 - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
1882 - Bilu, a Russian Zionist organization, forms
1885 - Vincent d'Indy's "Saugefleurie," premieres
1890 - National Afro-American League forms in Chicago
1890 - Nellie Bly beats Phileas Fogg's time around world by 8 days (72 days)
1890 - United Mine Workers of America forms
1894 - James J Corbett KOs Charley Mitchell in 3 for heavyweight boxing title
1902 - Aleksandr Skriabin's 2nd Symphony in C premieres in St Petersburg
1904 - 179 die in coal mine explosion at Cheswick, Pennsylvania
1904 - J M Synge's "Ruders to the Sea," premieres in Dublin
1905 - Largest diamond, Cullinan (3106 carets), found in South Africa
1906 - Del Valle Inclans "El Marqués de Bradomin," premieres in Madrid
1907 - Julia Ward Howe is 1st woman elected to Natl Inst of Arts & Letters
1908 - John Blockx' opera "Baldie" premieres in Antwerp
1909 - Richard Strauss' premier of "Elektra" in Dresden
1910 - 1st stumping by a 12th man in Tests (N C Tufnell, SAf v Eng)
1910 - Children initiate idea of planting trees in Jerusalem
1915 - Alexander Graham Bell in NY calls Thomas Watson in SF
1915 - Giordano, Sardou & Moreau's opera "Madame Sans Gêne" premieres in NYC
1915 - Transcontinental telephone service inaugurated (NY to SF)
1916 - Montenegro surrenders to Austria-Hungary
1918 - Russia declared a republic of Soviets
1919 - Founding of League of Nations, 1st meeting 1 year later
1921 - Karel Capék's "RUR," premieres in Prague
1923 - NVV donates 100,000 gulden to mine workers of Ruhrgebied
1924 - 1st Winter Olympic games open in Chamonix, France
1929 - Bradman scores 340* for NSW v Victoria, 488 mins, 38 fours
1932 - 1st commencement exercises at Hebrew U in Jerusalem
1932 - Bradman scores 167 NSW v Victoria, 224 mins, 22 fours
1937 - 1st broadcast of "Guiding Light" on NBC radio
1937 - Miami-to-Tampa bus overturned in a canal, kills 13
1937 - Soap Opera "Guiding Light" premieres on radio
1938 - Ian Hay's "Bachelor Born," premieres in NYC
1939 - Earthquake hits Chillan Chile, 10,000 killed
1939 - Joe Louis KOs John Henry Lewis in 1 for heavyweight boxing title
1940 - Nazi decrees establishment of Jewish ghetto in Lodz Poland
1941 - Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
1942 - Lt General Rommels African corps reaches Msus
1945 - Dan Topping, Del Webb & Larry MacPhail purchase NY Yanks for $2.8 mil
1945 - Grand Rapids, Michigan becomes 1st US city to fluoridate its water
1945 - Japanese occupiers of Batavia arrest Indo-European youths
1945 - NY Yankees sold by Ruppert estate to Larry MacPhail, Dan Topping, &
1945 - West Africa 82nd division occupies Myohaung, Burma
1946 - Richard Strauss' "Metamorphosis," premieres in Zurich
1946 - United Mine Workers union rejoins American Federation of Labor
1949 - 1st Emmy Awards: Shirley Dinsdale & Pantomime Quiz (KTLA) win
1949 - 1st Israeli election - Ben-Gurion's Mapai party wins
1950 - 73°F (23°C) highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in January
1951 - UN begins counter offensive in Korea
1952 - Test debut of Richie Benaud, v West Indies at the SCG
1953 - WABI TV channel 5 in Bangor, ME (CBS) begins broadcasting
1953 - Yuri Sergejev skates world record 500m in 40.9 sec
1955 - Jill Kinmont hits a tree & breaks her back in Snow Cup Ski Race
1955 - Russia ends state of war with Germany
1955 - US & Panama sign canal treaty
1955 - Columbia U scientists develope an atomic clock accurate to within one second in 300 years
1956 - 96.5 cm (38.0") of rainfall, Kilauea Plantation, HI (state record)
1957 - FBI arrests Jack & Myra Sobel, charged with spying for USSR
1959 - 1st transcontinental coml jet flight (American) (LA to NY for $301)
1959 - Pope John XXIII proclaims 2nd Vatican council
1961 - 1st live, nationally televised presidential news conference (JFK)
1961 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Naples Pro-Am Golf Tournament
1961 - Military coup in El Salvador
1961 - Walt Disney's "101 Dalmations" released
1964 - Beatles 1st US #1, "I Want to Hold your Hand" (Cashbox)

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 235

749 - Leo IV, the Khazar, Byzantine emperor (775-80)
1037 - Su Tung-p'o, [J Sotoba], China, layman/poet/administrator [or Dec 19]
1477 - Anna de Bretagne, wife of Maximilian of Austria & Louis XII
1509 - Giovanni Morone, Italian theologist/diplomat/cardinal/"heretic"
1540 - Edmund Campion, London, saint/Jesuit martyr (Decem Rationes)
1615 - Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (Isaac blesses Jacob)
1626 - John van de Cappelle, Amsterdam, landscape painter
1627 - Robert Boyle, Ireld, physicist/chemist/author (experiments with color)
1634 - Gaspar Fagel, lawyer/pension advisor of Holland (1672-88)
1640 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (d. 1707)
1688 - Juraj Jánošík, famous Slovak outlaw (d. 1713)
1708 - Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, Italian painter
1736 - Joseph-Louis, comte de Lagrange, Turin, French mathematician
1739 - Charles François Dumouriez, French general (d. 1823)
1741 - Benedict Arnold, general/traitor (US revolution)
1750 - Johann Gottfried Vierling, composer
1759 - Robert Burns, Alloway Scotland, poet (Auld Lang Syne)
1766 - Hans CE Freiherr von Gagern, German advisor to Dutch king Willem I
1770 - Francis Burdett, British politician
1777 - Elias Canneman, Dutch liberal minister of Finance (1813-14)
1794 - François-Vincent Raspail, French chemist (d. 1878)
1796 - William McGillivray, Old Aberdeen, naturalist
1806 - Daniel Maclise, Irish painter
1814 - Francis Harrison Pierpont, governor (Union), died in 1899
1826 - Rembt T H P L A van Boneval Faure, Dutch MP
1834 - Pablo Hernandez Salces, composer
1839 - Seldon Connor, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1917
1841 - John Arbuthnot Fisher, Ceylon, 1st Baron Fisher/admiral of the fleet
1844 - Frederick E Kitziger, composer
1851 - Arne Garborg, Norwegian playwright (Bondestudentar)
1851 - Jan Blockx, Belgium, opera composer (Sea Bride princess of Herberg)
1858 - Giuseppi Radiciotti, composer
1858 - Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (d. 1954)
1860 - Charles Curtis, (R) 31st US VP (1929-33)
1864 - Julije Kempf, Croatian historian and writer (d. 1934)
1866 - Emile Vandervelde, leader of Belgian BWP party
1874 - Hewlett Johnson, [Red Dean of Canterbury], English bishop
1874 - [William] Somerset Maugham, Paris, novelist/poet (Of Human Bondage)
1878 - Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d. 1975)
1880 - Francis George Scott, composer
1881 - Emil Ludwig, German biographer (Diana, Son of Man)
1881 - Gustave Frederic Soderlund, composer
1882 - Virginia [Adeline] Woolf, London, author (Jacob's Room, To Lighthouse)
1884 - Edward Kilenyi, composer
1885 - A J Else Mauhs, German/Dutch actress (Eline Vere, L'aiglon)
1885 - Kitahara Hakushū, Japanese poets and children's writers (d. 1942)
1886 - Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (d. 1954)
1887 - Diego Valeri, Italian author/poet (Le Gaie Tristezze)
1889 - Vladimir Vladimirovich Scherbachov, composer
1891 - Dame Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, Britian, actress (Cleopatra)
1891 - William C Bullitt, 1st US ambassador to USSR
1896 - John Moores, British gambling magnate/multi-millionaire
1898 - Joachim Wach, German/US philosopher/sociologist (Understanding)
1899 - Ace Goodman, KC Mo, comedian (Easy Aces)
1900 - Mildred Dunnock, Balt, actress (Baby Doll, Nun's Story)
1900 - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukraine, genetist/writer (Mankind Evolving)
1900 - Yojiro Ishizaka, Japanese writer (d. 1986)
1901 - Eric Brown, architect
1901 - Martin De Alzaga, Argentine racing driver (d. 1982)
1902 - Gerard P M Knuvelder, Dutch literature historian (Vocation, Kitty)
1902 - Pablo Antonio, Filipino modernist architect (d. 1975)
1903 - "Sleepy" John Estes, rocker
1904 - Frans Goedhart, Dutch journalist/founder (Het Parool)
1908 - Lord Iliffe, English publisher (Coventry Evening Telegraph/Autocar)
1908 - W H V "Hopper" Levett, cricket keeper (England in 1 Test in Calcutta)
1910 - Harold Watkinson, politician/businessman
1910 - Hendrik Willem Hans Osieck, composer
1911 - Julia Frances Smith, composer
1912 - Lucius E Burch Jr, US lawyer/civil rights leader
1913 - Luis Marden, American photojournalist (d. 2003)
1915 - Michael Duane, educationalist
1917 - Ilya Prigogine, Russian scientist Nobel Laureate (d. 2003)
1917 - Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician (d. 1992)
1918 - Ken Mayers, actor (Robbie Robertson-Space Patrol)
1918 - Ernie Harwell, American baseball sportscaster
1919 - Edwin Newman, NYC, newscaster/journalist/author (NBC-TV, Comment)
1919 - Patricia Louise Dalton, chair (Sherlock Holmes Society of London)
1921 - Alfred Reed, composer
1921 - Russell Reading Braddon, Australian author
1922 - Jules P de Palm, Antilles writer
1922 - Raymond Baxter, British TV host/author (Fast Lady)
1923 - Eva Zeller, writer
1923 - Rusty Draper, American country and pop singer (d. 2003)
1923 - Shirley Mason, American psychiatric patient (Commonly known as "Sybil") (d. 1998)
1924 - Lou "The Toe" Groza, AAFC, NFL tackle, kicker (Cleve Browns)
1925 - Eric Dempster, cricketer (NZ slow bowl of mid-50's, bowling avg 109.5)
1925 - Giorgos Zampetas, Greek musician and songwriter (d. 1992)
1927 - Antonio Carlos Jobim, composer
1927 - Gregg Palmer, SF, actor (Scream, To Hell & Back)
1927 - Seung Sahn, zen teacher (Korean line)
1928 - Eduard Shevardnadze, Soviet Georgia, foreign minister of USSR (-91)
1928 - Jérôme Choquette, Quebec lawyer and politician
1930 - Tanya Savicheva, Russian diarist (d. 1944)
1931 - Dean Jones, Decatur Ala, actor (Ensign O'Toole, Company, Love Bug)
1931 - Harold Lloyd Jr, actor (Frankenstein's Daughter)
1931 - Paavo J Haavikko, finnish writer/poet/husband of Marja-Liisa Vartio
1931 - Stikkan, Stig Anderson, music entrepreneur
1933 - Corazon Aquino, 11th President of the Philippines
1934 - Elizabeth Allen, Jersey City NJ, actress (Laura-Bracken's World)
1935 - António Ramalho Eanes, 17th President of Portugal

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 108

389 - Gregory Nazianzus, theologian and Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 329)
477 - Geiseric, King of the Vandals and Alans
844 - Pope Gregory IV
1067 - Emperor Yingzong of China (b. 1032)
1138 - Anacletus II, [Pietro Pierleone], Jewish anti-pope (1130-38), dies
1139 - Godfried I, with the Beard, duke of Brabant/earl of Leuven, dies
1366 - Henry Suso, German mystic
1431 - Charles II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1364)
1494 - Ferdinand I, cruel king of Naples, dies
1547 - Lieven Algoet, Flemish humanist, dies
1573 - Hirate Hirohide, Japanese samurai (b. 1553)
1586 - Lucas Cranach "the Young", German painter, dies at 70
1640 - Robert Burton, author (Anatomy of Melancholy), dies
1670 - Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1612)
1726 - Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1675)
1733 - Reinier V van Hompech, Dutch gen-maj cavalry, dies
1733 - Gilbert Heathcote, Mayor of London (b. 1652)
1744 - Domenico Natale Sarro, Italian opera composer, dies at 64
1751 - Paul Dudley, Attorney-General of Massachusetts (b. 1675)
1820 - Joseph F Weigl, German/Austria violin cellist, dies at 79
1821 - Johan Valckenier, Dutch politician/patriot, dies at 62
1829 - William Shield, composer, dies at 80
1852 - Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian explorer (b. 1778)
1855 - Dorothy Wordsworth, writer, dies at 83
1875 - Leopold Jansa, composer, dies at 79
1881 - Konstantin Thon, Russian architect (b. 1794)
1882 - Peter Singer, composer, dies at 71
1896 - Frans C Baeckelmans, Flemish architect (Court of Justice), dies at 68
1896 - Frederic Leighton, President of the Royal Academy (1878-96), dies
1899 - Alfredo d'Escragnolle, French/Brazilian writer (Innocencia), dies
1906 - Joseph Wheeler II, Confederate General, dies at 70
1906 - Pierre L Goossens, Belgian archbishop of Malines/Cardinal, dies at 78
1907 - René Pottier, French cyclist (b. 1879)
1908 - Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (b. 1850)
1908 - Ouida, English writer (b. 1839)
1910 - Leon Walras, French economist (School of Lausanne), dies at 75
1917 - Edwin Tyler, cricketer (slow-lefty played once for England 1896), dies
1920 - Amadeo Modigliani, Italian sculptor/painter, dies at 35
1921 - Mykola Dmytrovich Leontovych, composer, dies at 43
1925 - Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (b. 1858)
1940 - Elias Simojoki, Finnish clergyman and politician (b. 1899)
1942 - Eugene Samuel-Holeman, composer, dies at 78
1947 - Al Capone, Chicago gangster, dies of syphilis at 48
1947 - Grace Moore, soprano/actress (One Night of Love), dies at 45
1949 - Emil Axman, composer, dies at 61
1949 - Makino Nobuaki, Japanese statesman　(b. 1861)
1952 - Sveinn Bjornsson, Danish 1st pres of Iceland (1944-52), dies at 70
1957 - Kiyoshi Shiga, Japanese physician and bacteriologist (b. 1871)
1957 - Ichizo Kobayashi, Japanese industrialist and Minister of Commerce and Industry (b. 1873)
1960 - Diana Barrymore, actress (Ladies Courageous), dies at 38
1960 - Rutland Boughton, composer, dies at 82
1963 - Wilson Kettle, Nfld, dies at 102, leaving 582 living descendents
1965 - Staff Nees, Flemish composer (Maria-oratorio), dies at 63
1968 - Virginia Maskell, actress (Only Two Can Play), dies at 31
1969 - Irene Castle, English dancer (b. 1887)
1970 - Eunice Hunton Carter, 1st black female DA in NY, dies at 70
1970 - Marie Benavente, actress (Paradise), dies at 84
1970 - Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese television writer and producer (Ultraman) (b. 1901)
1972 - Erhard Milch, German field marshal (b. 1892)
1975 - Vivien Kellems, TV hostess (The Power of Women), dies at 78
1975 - Charlotte Whitton, Canadian politician, mayor of Ottawa (b. 1896)
1977 - Donald Kerr, actor (Devil Bat, Killer Bats), dies at 85
1978 - Tango Duke, dies in Australia at 42; oldest known thoroughbred horse
1979 - J Robertson Hare, actor (Fighting Stock), dies at 87
1980 - David Newell, actor (Dangerous Curves, White Heat), dies at 75
1980 - Queenie Watts, English actress (b. 1926)
1981 - Adele Marie Astaire, sister of Fred Astaire, dies at 82
1981 - Richard Talmadge, actor (Speed Reporter), dies
1981 - [Adele] Marie Astaire, actress (Last Man on Earth, Millie), dies at 82
1982 - Mihail A Suslov, Soviet party ideologist, dies at 79
1986 - Ernst Schnabel, writer, dies at 72
1986 - Horace Smith, cricketer (1 Test NZ v Eng 1933, one wkt at 113), dies
1987 - Emil Hlobil, composer, dies at 85
1988 - Colleen Moore, actress (These Girls Won't Talk), dies at 87
1990 - Alexander Lockwood, actor (Duel), dies
1990 - Ava Gardner, actress (Barefoot Contessa), dies of pneumonia at 67
1990 - Ian Dudley Hardy, entertainer, dies
1991 - Stanley Brock, actor (Tin Men), dies of heart attack at 59
1992 - John Touchstone, actor (Across Five Aprils), dies of cirrhosis at 59
1992 - Mahmoud Riad, sec-gen of Arab League (1972-79), dies
1992 - Nico Schuyt, Dutch composer, dies at 70
1992 - Vernon William Reed Sr, singer, dies after a long illness at 73
1994 - Stephen Cole Kleene, mathematician (Regular Expressions), dies at 85
1995 - Peter Black, TV critic, dies at 82
1995 - Tom Brugman, Dutch puppeteer (Brave Dodo), dies at 62
1995 - William Sylvester, actor (2001, Devil Doll, Blind Corner), dies at 72
1996 - Jonathan Larson, composer, dead Aortic aneurysm at 35
1996 - Ruth Berghaus, choreographer/director, dies at 68
1997 - Herbert Eugene Caen, columnist, dies at 80
1997 - Jean Dixon, psychic (Gift of Prophecy), dies of a heart attack at 79
1998 - Mohammad Yusuf Khan, prime minister of Afganistan in (1963-65), dies
1998 - Shinichi Suzuki, music teacher, dies at 99
1999 - Sarah "Sadie" Delany, American author (b. 1889)
1999 - Ted Mallie, American radio and television announcer (b. 1924)
1999 - Robert Shaw, American conductor (b. 1916)
2003 - Samuel Weems, Arkansas judge (b. 1936)
2004 - Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (b. 1918)
2004 - Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1979)
2005 - Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (b. 1923)
2005 - William Augustus Bootle, American judge (b. 1902)