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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 193

535 - St Agapitus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
609 - Pope Boniface I turns Pantheon into Catholic church
641 - Eligius (Saint Eloy) becomes bishop of Doornik-Noyon
1106 - Henry I of Limburg becomes duke of Neth-Lutherans
1110 - Crusaders march into Beirut causing a bloodbath
1364 - Peter Coutherel banished from Leuven
1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola
1559 - Excavated corpse of heretic David Jorisz burned in Basel
1568 - Mary Queen of Scots is defeated by English at battle of Langside
1588 - King Henri III flees Paris
1607 - English colonists (John Smith) lands near James River in VA
1624 - Admiral Hermites fleet blockade Lima Peru
1637 - Cardinal Richelieu of France creates the table knife
1643 - Battle at Grantham: English parliamentary armies beat royalists
1643 - Heavy earthquake strikes Santiago Chile; kills 1/3 of population
1648 - Construction of the Red Fort at Delhi is completed.
1652 - Ingen Ryuki invited to become the abbot of Sofokuji temple in Nagasaki
1654 - Venetian fleet under Adm Adeler beats Turkish
1767 - Mozart's opera "Apollo et Hyacinthus," premieres in Salzburg
1777 - University library at Vienna opens
1779 - War of Bavarian Succession ends
1787 - Arthur Phillip sets sails with 11 ships of criminals to Botany Bay
1820 - Opera "Die Jagarsbrautt" is completed
1828 - US passes Tariff of Abominations
1830 - Republic of Ecuador is founded, with Juan Jose Flores as president
1835 - 1st foreign embassy in Hawaii forms
1846 - US declares war on Mexico, 2 months after fighting begins
1848 - First performance of Finland's national anthem.
1861 - Queen Victoria announces England's position of neutrality
1861 - The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
1864 - -16] Atlanta Campaign-Battle of Resaca Georgia
1865 - S Brownsville, TX (Palmito Ranch) Final engagement of Civil War PVT John J Williams of 34th Indiana is last man killed
1874 - Pope Pius IX encyclical "On Greek-Ruthenian rite"
1876 - Amersfoort-Zutphen railway opens
1877 - Caesar Franck's "Lesson Eolides," premieres
1882 - Toba-indians killed 20 members of French expedition
1884 - Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) forms
1887 - 15th Preakness: William Donohue aboard Dunboyne wins in 2:39.25
1888 - DeWolf Hooper 1st recited "Casey at Bat"
1888 - Princess Isabel of Brazil signs "Lei Auréa" abolishing slavery
1890 - 18th Preakness: W Martin aboard Montague wins in 2:36.75
1890 - Lord Salisbury offers Germany Helgoland in exchange for Zanzibar, Uganda & Equatoria
1891 - 17th Kentucky Derby: Isaac Murphy aboard Kingman wins in 2:52.25
1905 - James J Jeffries retires as boxing champ
1906 - Bezalel Art School opens in Jerusalem
1909 - Christian National Labor Workers (CNV) party begins in Netherlands
1909 - The first Giro d'Italia takes place in Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna is the winner.
1911 - 37th Kentucky Derby: George Archibald aboard Meridian wins in 2:05
1911 - NY Giant Fred Merkle is 1st to get 6 RBIs in an inning (1st)
1912 - Royal Flying Corps forms in England
1913 - 1st 4 engine aircraft built & flown (Igor Sikorsky-Russia)
1916 - 1st observance of Indian (Native American) Day
1916 - 42nd Kentucky Derby: Johnny Loftus aboard George Smith wins in 2:04
1916 - Native American Day is 1st observed
1917 - 1st appearance of Mary to 3 shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal
1917 - Ernest Bloch's "Schelomo," premieres
1918 - 1st US airmail stamps issued (24 cents)
1922 - 48th Kentucky Derby: Albert Johnson aboard Morvich wins in 2:04.6
1922 - 48th Preakness: L Morris aboard Pillory wins in 1:51.6
1923 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Willa Carter (One of Ours)
1926 - German govt of Luther falls
1927 - "Black Friday" on Berlin Stock Exchange
1927 - VVOG soccer team forms in Harderwijk
1930 - Farmer killed by hail in Lubbock, Texas
1930 - Only known fatality due to hail
1931 - Paul Doumer elected president of France
1932 - Russian composer Dmitri Sjostakovitch marries Nina Varsar
1933 - 59th Preakness: Charley Kurtsinger aboard Head Play wins in 2:02
1934 - Great dustbowl storm
1936 - Quiroga govt takes office in Spain
1939 - 65th Preakness: George Seabo aboard Challedon wins in 1:59.8
1939 - SS St Louis departs Hamburg with 937 Jews fugitives
1940 - British bomb factory at Breda
1940 - Churchill says I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears & sweat
1940 - Dutch Queen Wilhelmina flees to England
1940 - German breakthrough at Grebbelinie
1941 - Martin Bormann is named head of Nazi Party Chancellery in Germany
1941 - Trial against resistance fighter comte d'Estienne d'Orves begins
1941 - Willy Lewis' US jazz band performs in Switzerland
1942 - Helicopter makes its 1st cross-country flight
1942 - Pitcher Jim Tobin belts 3 HRs in a game
1943 - German & Italian forces in Africa surrender
1943 - German occupiers confiscate all radios
1944 - 70th Preakness: Conn McCreary aboard Pensive wins in 1:59.2
1945 - US troops conquer Dakeshi Okinawa
1946 - Sarwate & Banerjee add 249 for 10th wkt for Indians v Surrey
1946 - US convicts 58 camp guard of Mauthausen concentration camp to death
1946 - Winston Churchill welcomed in Rotterdam
1947 - Senate approved the Taft-Hartley Act limiting the power of unions
1949 - 1st British-produced jet bomber, Canberra, makes its 1st test flight
1950 - Diner's Club issues its 1st credit cards
1950 - The first round of the Formula 1 World Championship is held at Silverstone.
1952 - Minor-league Bristol pitcher Ron Necciai strikes out 27 in 9-innings
1952 - Pandit Nehru becomes premier of India
1952 - The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, holds its first sitting.
1953 - NY Giants Willie Mays & Darryl Spencer each hit 2 HRs & a triple
1954 - "Pajama Game" opens at St James Theater NYC for 1063 performances
1954 - Labour Party wins British municipal elections
1954 - Robin Roberts gives up a HR then retires next 27 men in a row
1954 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 256

1024 - Hugh of Cluny, French saint (d. 1109)
1254 - Maria of Brabant, queen of France (d. 1321)
1314 - Sergius of Radonesh, Russian saint
1588 - Ole Worm, Danish physician (d. 1654)
1592 - John Cloppenburg, vicar/theologist
1638 - Richard Simon, French Biblical critic (d. 1712)
1655 - Innocent XIII, [Michelangiolo dei Conti], Italy, 244th Pope (1721-24)
1699 - Marquis of Pombal, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1782)
1707 - Carl von Linné, Swedish scientist (d. 1778)
1712 - Johann Hartwig Ernst, Count von Bernstorff, Danish statesman (d. 1772)
1717 - Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria (Wife of emperor Franz I)
1729 - Henry William (Baron) Stiegel, early American glassmaker
1730 - Charles Watson-Wentworth 2nd marquis of Rockingham, Engl PM (1765-76)
1730 - Marquess of Rockingham, (Whig), British PM (1765-66, 1782)
1735 - Horace Coignet, composer
1742 - Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen (d. 1798)
1746 - Oliver Brownson, composer
1753 - Lazare Carnot, French general, politician, and mathematician (d. 1823)
1756 - Wojciech Zywny, composer
1761 - Adrian Loosjes Pzn, publisher/writer (Mauritius Lijnslager)
1776 - Charles Ots, composer
1776 - Rodrigo Ferreira da Costa, composer
1792 - Pius IX "Pio Nono", [Giovanni-Maria Mastai-Ferretti], Pope (1846-78)
1794 - Louis-Leopold Robert, French painter (d. 1835)
1795 - Joshua Ratoon Sands, Commander (Union Navy), died in 1883
1795 - Gérard Paul Deshayes, French geologist (d. 1875)
1822 - Francis of Assisi of Bourbon, King Consort of Spain (d. 1902)
1828 - Josephine Elizabeth Butler, social reformer
1830 - Zebulon Baird Vance, Governor (Confederacy), died in 1894
1831 - Willem baron of Goltstein of Oldenaller, Dutch minister of Colonies
1840 - Alphonse Daudet, writer
1840 - L-M Alphonse Daudet, French writer (Tartarin of Tarascon)
1842 - Arthur Seymour Sullivan, London England, composer (Gilbert & Sullivan)
1843 - Count Paul J Smet de Naeyer, Belgian politician
1847 - Johannes Haarklou, composer
1854 - Louis H Chrispijn, Dutch director (Lost & Found, Silvia Silombra)
1854 - Paul Klengel, composer
1856 - Peter Henry Emerson, 1st to promote photography as an independent art
1856 - Tom O'Rourke, American boxing manager (d. 1938)
1857 - Ronald Ross, England, pathologist (Nobel 1902)
1859 - Eugust Enna, composer
1866 - Ottokar Eugen Novacek, composer
1867 - Frank Brangwyn, Wales, painter/muralist/cartoonist (Willam Morris)
1868 - Paolo Gallico, composer
1874 - Henry Clough-Leiter, composer
1876 - Raoul Laparra, composer
1881 - Ilona Durigo, Hungarian singer
1882 - Georges F Broque, French cubist painter (Bike)
1883 - Henk JFM Sneevliet, leader RSAP/editor Spartacus (Dutch-Indies)
1883 - Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek doctor, inventor of the Pap smear (d. 1962)
1886 - Joseph Achron, Latvia/US violinist/composer (Golem suite)
1891 - Fritz Rasp, Bayreuth Germany, actor (Diary of a Lost Girl)
1894 - Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, 2nd President of Iceland (d. 1972)
1896 - Charles F Pahud de Mortanges, Dutch equestrian (Olympic-gold-1928, 32)
1898 - Justin Tuveri, Italian veteran of the First World War (d. 2007)
1900 - Jos Panhuysen, author (Pornographer)
1903 - Alfred Pugsley, civil engineer
1903 - Paul Page, Birmingham AL, actor (Girl From Havana, Moth)
1904 - Alfred Earle Birney, poet
1904 - Tim Wall, cricketer (18 Tests for Australia 1928-34)
1906 - Thomas Mitchell, architect/engineer
1907 - Austin Whitaker, schoolmaster classical scholar/archivist
1907 - Daphne du Maurier, English writer (Rebecca, Parasites)
1907 - Laurence Kirwan, archaeologist
1908 - Michael Richardson, commandant (Home for Disabled Sailors)
1911 - Maxine Sullivan, [Marietta Williams], US singer/actress (Going Places)
1911 - Robert Middleman, Cin Oh, actor (Barney-Monroes)
1911 - Robert Middleton, American film and television actor (d. 1977)
1912 - Helen Craig, San Antonio TX, actress (Snake Pit, They Live by Night)
1912 - Gil Evans, Canadian musician (d. 1988)
1912 - Judah Nadich, American rabbi (d. 2007)
1913 - Sanjiva Reddy, president (India)
1913 - William R Tolbert, president Liberia (1971-80)
1913 - Lambros Konstantaras, Greek actor (d. 1985)
1914 - Joe Louis, world heavyweight boxing champion (1937-49)
1914 - Joe Louis, American boxer (d. 1981)
1915 - John Habakkuk, principal (Jesus College in Oxford)
1917 - Paul Osmond, British senior civil servant
1917 - Wilhelmus C Wijen, [Broeder Pius], social worker (Curacao)
1918 - John Johnston, British diplomat (Rhodesia, Malaysia)
1918 - T. Balasaraswati, Bharatanatyam dancer (d.1984)
1920 - Ratu Kasmisere Mara, PM of Fiji (1960-70, 70- )/pres (1994- )
1920 - Gareth Morris, British flautist (d. 2007)
1921 - Syd[ney G] Vincent, British mine workers leader
1922 - Michael Ainsworth, British cricketer (d. 1978)
1922 - Beatrice Arthur, American actress
1924 - Harry Schwarz, South African MP and Ambassador to the US
1924 - Theodore Mann, American theatre producer and director
1926 - Beatrice Arthur, [Frankel], NY, actress (Maude, Dorothy-Golden Girls)
1926 - Wallace Breem, British author
1927 - Clive Barnes, drama critic (NY Times, NY Post)
1927 - Herbert Ross, director/choreographer (Footloose)
1927 - Archie Scott-Brown, English race car driver (d. 1958)
1928 - Édouard Molinaro, French film actor, director and screenwriter
1928 - Enrique Bolaños, President of Nicaragua
1928 - Jim Shoulders, Champion rodeo cowboy (d. 2007)
1930 - Mike Gravel, (Sen-R-Alaska)
1930 - Vernon Shaw, former president of Dominica
1931 - Eileen Diss, theatrical designer (August, Secret Places, Betrayal)
1931 - Jim Jones, reverend, poisoned over 100 in Guyana (Jonestown Massacre)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 95 of 95

384 - Servatius/Aravatius, bishop of Tongeren, dies at 65+
1162 - Géza II of Hungary
1176 - Matthias I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1119)
1312 - Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1263)
1381 - John of Chatillon, governor/viceroy of Holland, dies
1390 - Robert II the Steward, King of Scotland (1371-90), dies
1573 - Takeda Shingen, Japanese warlord (b. 1521)
1619 - Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, lands advocate, beheaded
1704 - Louis Bourdaloue, French Jesuit preacher (b. 1632)
1732 - Theodor Schwartzkopff, composer, dies at 72
1742 - Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)
1776 - Anton de Haen, medical Ratio medendi, dies at 71
1787 - Johann Michael Malzat, composer, dies at 38
1793 - Martin Gerbert, composer, dies at 72
1807 - Eliphalet Dyer, American statesman and judge (b. 1721)
1812 - Johann Matthias Sperger, composer, dies at 62
1831 - Christian G Korner, German lawyer, dies at 74
1832 - Georges Cuvier, French naturalist (b. 1769)
1835 - John Nash, British town planner/architect (Regent's Park), dies
1839 - Israel Ashkenazi of Shklov, found Ashkenazic community (1815), dies
1839 - Joseph Fesch, French cardinal/war commission/earl/senator, dies
1864 - Junius Daniel, Confederate brig-general, dies at 35
1866 - Nikolai Brashman, Russian mathematician (b. 1796)
1873 - Kaspar Masek, composer, dies at 79
1882 - Jules-Nicolas Crevaux, French explorer, murdered at 35
1884 - Cyrus Hall McCormick, inventor, dies
1885 - Juliana Horatia [Gatty] Ewing, author (Lob Lie-by-the-Fire), dies
1885 - Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician (b. 1809)
1892 - Jean Alexander Ferdinand Poise, composer, dies at 63
1896 - Nora Perry, writer, dies
1901 - Leopoldo Alas y Ureña, a.k.a. "Clarín", Spanish novelist and literary critic (b. 1851)
1904 - Jan Boissevain, ship owner/politician, dies
1914 - R E Foster, only dual England captain at cricket & soccer, dies
1916 - Sholem Aleichem, yiddish writer (Fiddler on the Roof), dies
1921 - Jean Aicard, French poet and novelist (b. 1848)
1925 - Boris V Savinkov, Russian writer/terrorist, dies
1926 - Libert H. Boeynaems, Belgian Catholic prelate (b. 1857)
1930 - Fridtjof Nansen, diplomat (Nobel 1922), dies
1930 - Helena Lange, German feminist, dies
1931 - Josif Marinkovic, composer, dies at 79
1933 - Paul Ernst, writer, dies at 67
1937 - Ekaterina Geladze, mother of Joseph Stalin (b. 1858)
1938 - Charles Edouard Guillaume, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
1942 - Hyam Greenbaum, composer, dies at 41
1945 - Tubby Hall, American musician (b. 1895)
1951 - Marianne [Goudeket-]Philips, author (Issue Beukennoot), dies at 65
1956 - Aleksandr A Fadejev, Russ author (Young Guard), commits suicide at 54
1961 - Gary Cooper, 2 time Acad award winning actor (High Noon), dies at 60
1962 - Frank Jenks, actor (Colonel Flack), dies of cancer at 60
1962 - Franz Jozef Kline, US expressionist painter, dies at 51
1962 - H Trendley Dean, doctor (introduced fluoridation into water)
1963 - Alois Hudal, bishop, helped Nazi war criminals escape (b. 1885)
1966 - Henk [Hendrik M] of Randwijk, poet/editor in chief (illegal), dies
1967 - Frank McGrath, actor (Wagon Train), dies at 64
1971 - Valerian Mikhaylovich Bogdanov-Berezovsky, composer, dies 67
1972 - Dan Blocker, American actor (Hoss-Bonanza), dies at 43
1974 - Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican writer (b. 1902)
1975 - Bob Wills, actor (Lone Prairie), dies at 69
1975 - Bob Wills, American musician (b. 1905)
1978 - Albert Roberts, cricketer (5 Tests for NZ, 7 wickets), dies
1979 - Nelly Aenders, actress (In Pyama), dies at 65
1981 - Carl Weinrich, composer, dies at 76
1982 - Kara Abulfazogli Karayev, composer, dies at 64
1982 - Renzo Rossellini, Italian composer, dies at 74
1985 - Leatrice Joy, silent screen star, dies in Riverdale (Bronx) NYC at 91
1985 - Selma Diamond, comedienne (Selma-Night Court), dies of cancer at 64
1988 - Chet Baker, jazz trumpeter, fell to death out of a hotel window at 59
1990 - Venedikt Jerofejev, Russian writer, dies
1991 - Jimmy McPartland, jazz cornetist, dies of cancer at 83
1992 - Floyd Arceneaux, trumpeter, dies at 58
1992 - Gisela Elsner, writer, dies at 55
1992 - F. E. McWilliam, Northern Irish sculptor (b. 1909)
1993 - Borolas, [Joaquin Garcia], Mexican comedian (Santa Sangre), dies at 71
1993 - Evert "Eef" Dolman, Dutch cyclist (Olympic-gold-1964), dies at 47
1993 - Joaquin Garcia, Mexican comic actor, dies of heart attack at 71
1994 - Arthur Basil Cotle, medievalist, dies at 77
1994 - Duncan Hamilton, driver, dies at 74
1994 - Ruth Gillette, actress (Wild Gold), dies of cancer at 88
1995 - Cecil Marley, cricketer (WICBC pres 1971-74, Jamaican capt 1946), dies
1996 - John "Jack" Baines, mountaineering publisher, dies at 57
1999 - Gene Sarazen, American golfer (b. 1902)
2000 - Paul Bartel, American actor (b. 1938)
2001 - R.K. Narayan, Indian novelist (b. 1906)
2001 - Jason Miller, American playwright (b. 1939)
2002 - Valeri Lobanovsky, Ukrainian footballer and manager (b. 1939)
2002 - Ruth Cracknell, Australian actress (b. 1925)
2005 - George Dantzig, American mathematician (b. 1914)
2005 - Michael Ross, American serial killer (b. 1959)
2005 - Eddie Barclay, French record producer (b. 1921)
2006 - Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian (b. 1923)
2006 - Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (b. 1949)
2008 - Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Sheikh of Kuwait (b. 1930)
2008 - Ron Stone, American television reporter (b. 1936)
2009 - Rabbi Meir Brandsdorfer, member of the Rabbinical Court of the Edah HaChareidis, Jerusalem
2009 - Frank Aletter, American character actor (b. 1926)