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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 195

1026 - Koenraad II crowns himself king of Italy
1066 - 18th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1153 - Treaty of Konstanz between Frederik I "Barbarossa" & Pope Eugene III
1174 - Jocelin, abbot of Melrose, is elected bishop of Glasgow.
1490 - 1st dated edition of Maimonides "Mishna Torah" published
1490 - Maimonides Mishneh Torah published
1534 - Aragonese legal code formally recognised
1568 - Treaty of Longjumeau: French huguenots go on strike
1579 - Friesland joins Union of Utrecht
1593 - English Congressionalist Henry Barrow accused of slander
1630 - French troops occupy Pinerolo Piedmont
1657 - France & England form alliance against Spain; England gets Dunkirk
1708 - English pretender to the throne James III lands at Firth of Forth
1743 - English premiere of Handel's "Messiah"
1743 - George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" premieres in London
1752 - Pope Stephen II elected to succeed Zacharias, died 2 days later
1775 - Patrick Henry proclaims "Give me liberty or give me death"
1794 - 1st US patent (Joseph G Pierson for a riveting machine)
1794 - Josiah Pierson patents a "cold-header" (rivet) machine
1794 - Lt-general Tadeusz Kosciuszko returns to Poland
1808 - Napoleon's brother Joseph takes the throne of Spain
1821 - Battle and fall of city of Kalamata, Greek War of Independence.
1832 - British Parliament passes reform bill
1835 - Charles Darwin reaches Los Arenales, in the Andes
1836 - Coin Press invented by Franklin Beale
1839 - 1st known use of term OK (Boston)
1839 - 1st recorded use of "OK" [oll korrect] (Boston's Morning Post)
1840 - Draper takes 1st successful photo of the Moon (daguerrotype)
1848 - The ship John Wickliffe arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.
1849 - Battle of Novara (King Charles Albert vs Italian republic)
1857 - Elisha Otis' 1st elevator installed (488 Broadway, NYC)
1858 - Streetcar patented (E A Gardner of Phila)
1861 - London's 1st tramcars, designed by Mr Train of NY, begins operating
1862 - Battle of Kernstown VA-Jackson begins his Valley Campaign
1864 - Encounter at Camden AR
1865 - General Sherman/Cox' troops reach Goldsboro NC
1867 - Congress passes 2nd Reconstruction Act over Pres Johnson's veto
1868 - U of Calif founded (Oakland Calif)
1873 - Slavery abolished in Puerto Rico
1879 - War of the Pacific was fought between Chile and the joints forces of Bolivia and Peru. Chile successfully took over Arica and Tarapacá which left Bolivia as a landlocked country.
1880 - Flour rolling mill patented (John Stevens of Wisc)
1881 - Boers & Britain sign peace accord; end 1st Boer war
1881 - Gas lamp sets fire to Nice France opera house; 70 die
1889 - Pres Harrison opens Oklahoma for white colonization
1889 - The free Woolwich Ferry officially opens in east London.
1889 - The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian India.
1891 - 1st jazz concert was held at Carnegie Hall
1896 - Umberto Giordano's opera "Andrea Chénier," premieres in Milan
1896 - The Raines Law is passed by the New York State Legislature, restricting Sunday sale of alcohol to hotels.
1901 - Dame Nellie Melba, reveals secret of her now famous toast
1903 - Wright brothers obtain airplane patent
1908 - American diplomat Durham Stevens is attacked by Korean assassins Jeon Myeong-un and Jang In-hwan, leading to his death in a hospital two days later.
1910 - 1st race at Los Angeles Motordrome (1st US auto speedway)
1912 - Dixie Cup invented
1915 - Zion Mule Corp forms
1917 - Tornadoes kills 211 over 4 days in Midwest US
1918 - Alick Wickham dives 200' into Australia's Yarra River
1918 - Crépy-en-Laonnoise: German artillery shells Paris, 256 killed
1918 - Lithuania proclaims independence
1918 - Paris bombs "Thick Bertha's Dike" (nickname for the widow Krupp)
1919 - Bashkir ASSR, in RSFSR, constituted
1919 - Benito Mussolini forms Fascist movement in Milan Italy
1919 - Moscow's Politburo/Central Committee forms
1920 - Perserikatan Communist of India (PKI) political party forms
1922 - 1st airplane lands at the US Capitol in Washington, DC
1922 - KMJ-AM in Fresno CA begins radio transmissions
1922 - WEW-AM in Saint Louis MO begins radio transmissions
1923 - Frank Silver & Irving Conn release "Yes, We Have No Bananas"
1925 - Tennessee becomes 1st state to outlaw teaching theory of evolution
1926 - NHL Championship: Mont Canadiens outscore Pitt Pirates, 6-4 in 2 games
1929 - 1st telephone installed in White House
1930 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson
1930 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner
1931 - Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev embrace the gallows during the Indian struggle for independence. Their request to be shot by a firing squad is refused.
1933 - Enabling Act: German Reichstag grants Adolph Hitler dictatorial powers
1933 - Kroll Opera in Berlin opens
1934 - US Congress accepts Philippines independence in 1945
1936 - Italy, Austria & Hungary sign Pact of Rome
1937 - LA Railway Co starts using PCC streetcars
1938 - Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis frees 74 St L Cardinals minor leaguers
1940 - 1st radio broadcast of "Truth or Consequences" on CBS
1940 - All-India-Moslem League calls for a Moslem homeland
1940 - The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or the then Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All India Muslim League.
1942 - 2,500 Jews of Lublin massacred or deported
1942 - Japanese forces occupy Andaman Islands in Indian Ocean
1942 - US move native-born of Japanese ancestry into detention centers
1943 - German counter attack on US lines in Tunisia
1944 - Bomb assassination against Southern Tirol congregation in Rome, 33 die
1944 - Nicholas Alkemade falls 5,500 m without a parachute & lives
1945 - British 7th Black Watch crosses the Rhine
1945 - Largest operation in Pacific war, 1,500 US Navy ships bomb Okinawa
1945 - Premier Churchill visits Montgomery's headquarter in Straelen
1946 - 8th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Oklahoma State beats NC 43-40
1948 - John Cunningham sets world altitude record (54,492' (18,133 m))
1949 - Sidney Kingsley's "Detective Story," premieres in NYC
1950 - "Great to Be Alive" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 52 perfs
1950 - 22rd Academy Awards - "All King's Men," Crawford & De Havilland win
1950 - Sophocles Venizelos forms liberal Greeks government
1950 - UN World Meteorological Org established
1951 - Wages in France increase 11%

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 269

1429 - Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI of England (d. 1482)
1599 - Thomas Selle, composer
1638 - Frederik Ruysch, Dutch anatomist
1645 - William Kidd, Pirate Legend From Scotland (d. 1701)
1699 - John Bartram, naturalist/explorer, father of American botany
1723 - Agha Mohammad Khan Ghajar, King of Iran (d. 1771)
1732 - Marie Adélaïde of France, daughter of Louis XV (d. 1800)
1736 - Iman Willem Falck, Dutch governor of Ceylon (1765-83)
1749 - Hugo Franz Karl Alexander von Kerpen, composer
1749 - Pierre-Simon Laplace, mathematician/astronomer/physicist
1750 - Johannes Matthias Sperger, composer
1754 - Baron Jurij Vega, Slovenian mathematician, physicist, and artillery officer (d. 1802)
1761 - John W de Winter, Dutch vice-admiral (Battle at Kamperduin)
1769 - William Smith, geologist (Strata Identified by Organized Fossils)
1769 - Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (d. 1832)
1795 - Leopold Jansa, composer
1801 - Peterus D Regout, Dutch industrialist (Sphinx, Maastricht)
1808 - Jeronimo de Bosch Kemper, sociologist/historian (Statistic yearbook)
1811 - Camille Marie Stamaty, composer
1811 - Carl Gottfried Wilhelm Taubert, composer
1818 - Don Carlos Buell, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1898
1821 - Aleksej F Pisemski, Russian writer (Clodhopper)
1823 - Schuyler Colfax, (R) 17th VP (1869-73)
1825 - Edward Lloyd Thomas, Brig General (Confederate Army) died in 1898
1826 - Leon Minkus, composer
1831 - Eduard Schlagintweit, German writer (d. 1866)
1834 - Julius Reubke, composer
1837 - Joseph Wieniawski, composer
1844 - Eugene Gigout, composer
1847 - Alexandru D Xenopol, Romania, historian
1854 - Alfred Milner, Giessen Germany, British governor (Cape colony)
1857 - Fannie Farmer, actress (namesake of a candy company)
1858 - Ludwig Quidde, German historian/politician (Nobel prize 1927)
1862 - Nathaniel Reed, American outlaw turned evangelist (d.1950)
1863 - Godfried CE van Daalen, Dutch general/governor of Atjeh
1864 - Hjalmar Borgstrom, composer
1868 - Dietrich Eckart, early supporter of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party and member of Thule Society (d. 1923)
1876 - Muirhead Bone, Glasgow Scotland, etcher/engraver of architecture
1878 - Franz Schrecker, composer
1878 - Franz Schreker, Austrian composer (d. 1934)
1880 - Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish politician (d. 1922)
1881 - Hermann Staudinger, Germany, chemist/plastics researcher (Nobel '53)
1881 - Roger Martin du Guard, France, novelist (Les Thibault-Nobel 1937)
1882 - C Montague Shaw, Adelaide Australia
1882 - Emmy Noether, German mathematician (d. 1935)
1883 - Faisal I ibn Hussein ibn Ali, 1st king of Iraq/Syria
1884 - Glauco Velasquez, composer
1887 - Anthony van Hoboken, Dutch musicologist (Haydn-catalog)
1887 - Felix F Yussupov, Russian monarch
1887 - Juan Gris, Spain, cubist painter (Still Life Before an Open Window)
1887 - Sidney Hillman, union leader (Sidney Hillman Foundation)
1891 - Catherine Murphy Urner, composer
1893 - Cedric Gibbons, American art director (d. 1960)
1895 - Dane Rudhyar, composer
1895 - Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian (d. 2001)
1898 - Georgios Grivas, Greek general/opposition leader on Cyprus
1898 - Hazel Dawn, [LaTout], Utah, actress (Niobe, Under Cover, Feud Girl)
1899 - Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (d. 1943)
1900 - Erich Fromm, Frankfurt Germany, psychologist (Sane Society)
1900 - Jose Antonio Calcano, composer
1901 - Edmund Rubbra, composer [or May 23]
1901 - Jan H de Groot, Dutch resistance fighter/co-founder (Free Netherlands)
1902 - Philip Ober, Fort Payne Ala, actor (Gen Stone-I Dream of Jeannie)
1905 - Paul Grimault, animator
1905 - Ralph Perring, Lord Mayor (London)
1905 - Lale Andersen, German singer and cabaretist (d. 1972)
1905 - Joan Crawford, American actress (d. 1977)
1906 - George Posford, composer
1907 - Daniel Bovet, Switzerland, pharmacologist (Nobel 1957)
1907 - Douglas Patrick Thomas Jay, politician
1908 - Dominique de Menil, arts patron/human rights advocate
1908 - Joan Crawford, [Lucille Le Sueur], Texas, actress (Mildred Pierce)
1910 - Akira Kurosawa, Tokyo Japan, director (7 Samurai, Living)
1910 - Lale [Liselotte H] Anderson, German singer/actress (Der Pott)
1911 - Augustus John "Gus" Risman, rugby league player
1911 - Charles Joseph A Russhon, USAF lt col/liaison (James Bond films)
1911 - Denis Wright, diplomat
1911 - Edward Warner, diplomat
1911 - Richard Chapman, golfer (1940 US amateur, 1951 British amateur)
1912 - Alfred Schwarzmann, Germany, gymnist (Olympic-2 golds-1936)
1912 - John Payne, Roanoke Va, actor (Dodsworth, Razor's Edge)
1912 - Werner von Braun, Wirsitz Germany, rocket expert (I Aim at the Stars)
1914 - Robert Gross, composer
1915 - Francis Berry, poet/Shakespearean scholar
1915 - Vasily Zaitsev, Soviet World War II hero (d. 1991)
1917 - H C Allen, American historian
1917 - Johnny Guarnieri, NYC, jazz pianist (Morey Amsterdam Show)
1917 - Kenneth Tobey, actor (The Thing, Strange Invaders) [or Feb 23]
1917 - Patricia Burke, Milan Italy, actress (Forbidden)
1919 - Michael Lyne, British air Vice-marshal
1919 - Carl Graffunder, mid-century modernist architect
1920 - Alexander Grigori Harut'unyan, composer
1920 - Geoffrey Bush, composer
1920 - James Brown, Desdemona Tx, actor (Lt Rip Masters-Rin Tin Tin)
1920 - Jimmy Edwards, comedy actor (Barnes)
1920 - Neal Smith, (Rep-D-IA, 1959- )
1920 - Tetsuharu Kawakami, Japanese baseball player and coach
1921 - Donald Malcome Campbell, Surrey UK, boat racer (1955 speed records)
1921 - Ian Todd, pres (Royal College of Surgeons)
1921 - Wolfgang Altendorfer, writer

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 117

1103 - Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1058)
1169 - Shirkuh, Kurd general/vizier of Cairo/Saladin's uncle, dies
1237 - Jan of Brienne, King of Jerusalem/Emperor of Constantinople, dies
1361 - Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster (b. c.1310)
1369 - Pedro, the Cruel, King/tyrant of Castile & Leon, murdered
1548 - Itagaki Nobukata, retainer of Takeda Shingen
1555 - Julius III, [Giovanni M del Monte], Pope (1550-55), dies at 67
1559 - Emperor Gelawdewos of Ethiopia (killed in battle) (b. 1521/1522)
1596 - Henry Unton, English diplomat
1606 - Justus Lipsius, [Joost Lips], Dutch classic philologist, dies at 58
1618 - James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, Scottish politician
1653 - Johan van Galen, Dutch admiral (Dunes Monte Christo), dies at about 48
1658 - Valentin Dretzel, composer, dies at 79
1669 - Philipp Buchner, composer, dies at 54
1680 - Nicolas Fouquet, French statesman (b. 1615)
1742 - Jean-Baptiste Dubos, French writer (b. 1670)
1747 - Claude Alexandre de Bonneval, French soldier (b. 1675)
1748 - Johann Gottfried Walther, German composer/musicologist, dies at 63
1754 - Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian (b. 1693)
1756 - Georg Gottfried Wagner, composer, dies at 57
1783 - Gaspard Fritz, composer, dies at 67
1786 - Patience Wright, 1st US woman pro artist, dies (birth date unknown)
1801 - Tsar Paul I of Russia (1796-1801) is struck with a sword, strangled, and trampled to death in his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle aged 46
1806 - George Frederic Pinto, composer, dies at 20
1809 - Ferdinand-Philippe-Joseph Staes, composer, dies at 60
1816 - Ignaz Vitzthumb, composer, dies at 95
1818 - Nicolas Isouard, composer, dies at 42
1819 - August v Kotzebue, writer, dies
1821 - Bernhard Anselm Weber, pianist/conductor/composer, dies at 56
1832 - Vaclav Vilem Wurfel, composer, dies at 41
1842 - Stendhal, [Marie-Henri Beyle], French author (Lamiel), dies at 59
1862 - Karl Robert von Nesselrode, German chancellor, dies at 81
1869 - Charles Lucas, composer, dies at 60
1880 - Gustav Adolf Mankell, composer, dies at 67
1881 - Nikolay Rubinstein, composer, dies at 45
1906 - Victor Barton, cricketer (scored 23 in Test Eng v S Afr 1892), dies
1907 - Constantine P Pobedonostsev, Russian reactionary senator, dies at 79
1914 - Teunis Stoel, actor, dies at 62
1914 - Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès (Saint Rebecca) Lebanese saint (b. 1832)
1918 - Cesar Cortinas, composer, dies at 27
1919 - Jean HL Bossard, actor/impresario (2 Orphans), dies at 45
1925 - Aleksei Kuropatkin, Russian general/minister of War, dies at 76
1927 - Paul César Helleu, French artist (b. 1859)
1931 - Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev Indian freedom fighters
1935 - Florence Moore, American actress (b. 1886)
1937 - Helge Rode, Danish poet/essayist, dies at 66
1943 - Andre Lichtenberger, French Sudan writer (Le Petit Roi), dies at 72
1943 - Joseph Moiseyevich Schillinger, composer, dies at 47
1944 - O C Wingate, British general-major (Burma), dies in air crash
1946 - Alexandru Zirra, composer, dies at 62
1947 - Archduchess Luise of Austria, Princess of Tuscany (b. 1870)
1950 - Douglas Carr, England cricket leg-spinner (Test 1909), dies
1952 - Klaas Schilder, Dutch vicar/theologist/antifascist, dies at 61
1953 - Raoul Dufy, painter, Forcalquier, France
1955 - Artur da Silva Bernardes, President of Brazil (b. 1875)
1957 - L Patrick Abercrombie, English architect, dies at 77
1958 - Florian Znaniecki, Polish/US sociologist/philosopher, dies at 76
1960 - Franklin P Adams, columnist (Information Please), dies at 78
1961 - A C Russell, cricketer (10 Tests for England 910 runs), dies
1961 - James Edward Murray, (Sen-D-Montana) (1935-61), dies
1961 - Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko, cosmonaut, dies in accident at 24
1962 - Josephus RH van Schaik, lawyer/vice-premier of Neth, dies at 80
1962 - Val Paul, producer (F-Man), dies at 73
1963 - Davey Moore, dies seconds after KOed in feather-weight championship
1964 - Peter Lorre, actor (Casino Royale), dies at 59
1964 - Vassily Vainonen, Russian ballet choreographer (Gayaneh), dies at 66
1965 - Mae Murray, actress (Bachelor Apartment), dies of heart ailment at 75
1966 - Johannes W Elsensohn, Dutch actor/writer (Arie), dies at 82
1967 - Duncan Macrae, actor (Casino Royale, Kidnapped), dies at 61
1968 - Edwin O'Connor, US writer, dies at 49
1969 - Rudolf Pannwitz, German author/philosopher (Urblik), dies at 87
1970 - Del Lord, Canadian director (b. 1894)
1971 - Armin Loos, composer, dies at 67
1971 - Simon Vestdijk, Dutch author/poet (Brass Garden), dies at 72
1973 - Ken Maynard, actor (Phantom Rancher, $50,000 Reward), dies at 77
1979 - Philip Bourneuf, actor (Big Night, Frankenstein), dies at 71
1979 - Ted Anderson, English footballer (b. 1911)
1980 - Arthur Melvin Okun, American economist (b. 1928)
1982 - Mario Praz, Italian author (Casa della vita), dies at 85
1983 - Barney Clark, 1st artifical heart recipient, dies after 112 days at 62
1985 - Anton Constandse, Dutch anarchist/writer, dies at 85
1985 - Patricia Roberts Harris, (Rep-D), dies at 60
1985 - Singing Nun, commits suicide in Belgium at 52
1985 - Richard Beeching, chairman of British Railways (b. 1913)
1985 - Peter Charanis, Greek-American scholar and professor (b. 1908)
1987 - Dean Paul Martin, musician/tennis pro, killed in plane crash at 29
1991 - Dominic Bellissimo, created buffalo chicken wings, dies at 68
1991 - Fons Jansen, Dutch night club performer, dies at 65
1991 - Mona Maris, actress (Camila, Berlin Correspondent), dies at 88
1991 - Parkash Singh, Indian soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (b. 1913)
1992 - Friedrich A von Hayek, British economist (Road to Serfdom), dies at 92
1993 - Hans Werner Richter, German writer/founder (Gruppe 47), dies at 84
1994 - Alvara del Portillo, Spanish Opus Dei bishop, dies at 80
1994 - Giulietta Masina, wife of Federico Felini/(La Strada), dies at 74
1994 - Jim Moloney, dies of Parkinson's disease
1994 - Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican pres candidate, assassinated at 44
1995 - Alan Barton, singer (Smokie, Black Lace), dies in a bus crash
1995 - Daniel George "Danny" Apolinar, composer/songwriter, dies at 61
1995 - Davie Cooper, soccer star, dies at 39
1995 - Irving Shulman, author/screenwriter, dies at 81