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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 186

715 - St Gregory II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1506 - Columbus selects his son Diego as sole heir
1515 - George van Saksen-Meissen sells Friesland for 100,000 gold guilders to arch duke Charles
1517 - Philip van Bourgondie installed as bishop of Utrecht
1547 - Monarch Johan Frederik surrenders to Karel
1568 - English queen Elizabeth I arrests Scottish queen Mary
1571 - Miguel Lopez de Lagazpi founded Manilla in the Phillipines
1585 - Spain confisquates English ships
1588 - Spanish Armada sets sail for Lisbon, bound to England
1608 - Matthias von Habsburgs army reaches Lieben, at Prague
1635 - France declares war on Spain
1643 - Battle at Rocroi/Allersheim: French army destroys Spanish army
1643 - Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut & New Harbor form United Colonies of New England
1649 - An Act declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.
1652 - Spanish troops occupy Grevelingen
1662 - Uniformity Act of England goes into effect
1749 - George II grants charter to Ohio Company to settle Ohio Valley
1780 - About midday, near-total darkness descends on much of New England to this day it's cause is still unexplained
1792 - Russian army enters Poland
1793 - Netherlands captures French island of St Maarten (held until 1795)
1796 - Game protection law restricts encroachment on Indian hunting grounds
1802 - French Order of Legion d'Honneur forms
1828 - U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.
1848 - 1st department store opens
1848 - Mexico gives Texas to US, ending the war
1853 - Dutch prince Henry marries princess Amalia of Saxony-Weimar
1856 - Sen Charles Sumner, Mass, spoke out against slavery
1857 - William Francis Channing & Moses G Farmer patents electric fire alarm
1862 - Homestead Act becomes law provides cheap land for settlement of West
1863 - Siege of Vicksburg, investment of city complete
1864 - Battle of Port Walthall Junction, VA (Bermuda Hundred)
1864 - Last engagement in series of battles known as Spotsylvania
1864 - Skirmish at Cassville Georgia
1865 - President Jefferson Davis is captured by Union Cavalry in Georgia
1878 - Blanche Kelso Bruce appointed register of treasury by Pres Garfield
1884 - Ringling Brothers circus premieres
1885 - 1st mass production of shoes (Jan Matzeliger in Lynn, Massachusetts)
1885 - German chancellor Bismarck takes possession of Cameroon & Togoland
1885 - Jan Matzeliger begins 1st mass production of shoes
1886 - Camille Saint-Saëns' 3rd Symphony in C, premieres
1891 - Rice Institute, which became Rice University, is chartered
1892 - Charles Brady King invents pneumatic hammer
1892 - National Society of Colonial Dames of America founded
1893 - Heavy rain wash "quick clay" into a deep valley, kills 111 (Norway)
1896 - 1st auto (Benz) to arrive in Netherlands
1897 - Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.
1898 - Post Office authorizes use of postcards
1900 - Great Britain annexes Tonga archipelago
1900 - World's longest railroad tunnel (Simplon) links Italy & Switz, opens
1902 - Great Britain & Boers resume peace talks in Pretoria
1905 - Tom Jenkins beats Frank Gotcha for heavyweight wrestling champ
1906 - Dutch King Victor Emmanuel & Swiss president open Simplon tunnel
1906 - Federated Boys' Club (Boys' Club of America) organizes
1906 - Italian King Victor Emmanuel & Swiss president open Simplon tunnel
1906 - Portugal's King Carlos I names Joao Franco premier
1909 - Jack Johnson fights Jack O'Brien to no decision in 6 for boxing title
1910 - Cleve Indian Cy Young gets his 500th win, beats Wash 5-4 in 11 innings
1911 - Maurice Ravels opera "L'Heure Espagnole," premieres in Paris
1911 - Phila Athletics are 12½ games back in AL, & will win World Series
1912 - AL Pres Ban Johnson tells Tigers if they continue protest of Ty Cobb's suspension, they will be banned from baseball
1913 - Webb Alien Land-Holding Bill passes, forbidding Japs from owning land
1916 - Escadrille Américaine (Lafayette) transfered to Verdun
1918 - Wash 1st Sunday game, Senators beat Cleveland 1-0 in 18 innings
1919 - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what was later termed the Turkish War of Independence. The anniversary of this event is the official date of commemoration of the Pontic Greek Genocide in Greece and Cyprus.
1921 - Congress sharply curbs immigration, setting a national quota system
1923 - 49th Kentucky Derby: Earl Sande aboard Zev wins in 2:05.4
1923 - KPD (communist revolts) in German Ruhr cities occupied by Allies
1926 - French air force bombs Damascus Syria
1928 - "Firedamp" explodes in Mather Pa coal mine killing 195 of 273 miners
1928 - 51 frogs enter 1st annual "Frog Jumping Jubilee" (Angel's Camp, Cal)
1928 - Explosion in coal mine in Mather, Pennsylvania, 195 die
1929 - Cloudburst causes stampede in Yankee Stadium crushes 2 people to death
1929 - General Feng Yu-Xiang of China declares war on Chiang Kai-Shek govt
1930 - White woman win voting rights in South-Africa
1931 - Ironclad cruiser Germany launched in Kiel
1934 - Military coup by Col Damian Veltsjev in Bulgaria
1934 - Sherlock Holmes crossword puzzle in "Sat Review of Lit" Males who solved puzzle became members of Baker Street Irregulars
1935 - NFL adopts an annual college draft to begin in 1936
1937 - John Murray/Allen Boretz' "Room Service," premieres in NYC
1939 - Churchill signs British-Russian anti-nazi pact
1940 - Amsterdam time becomes MET (Middle European Time)
1940 - French counter attack at Pronne under Gen De Gaulle
1941 - Germany occupiers in Holland forbid bicycle taxis
1941 - New nazi battleship Bismarck leaves Gdynia, Poland
1942 - Braves Paul Waner is 3rd NLer to get 3,000 hits (Anson & Wagner)
1943 - Berlin is declared "Judenrien" (free of Jews)
1943 - Churchill pledges England's full support to US against Japan
1944 - 240 gypsies transported to Auschwitz from Westerbork Neth
1944 - German defense line in Italy collapsed
1945 - Start of the 1st Victory Test Cricket between England & Aust Services
1946 - Dutch Cooperation for Sexual Reform (NVSH) forms in Amsterdam
1950 - NY Times reports of worlds smallest & dumbest mechanical brain
1951 - 77th Preakness: Eddie Arcaro aboard Bold wins in 1:56.4
1951 - UN begins counter offensive in Korea
1953 - Nuclear explosion in Nevada (fall-out in St George, Utah)
1954 - Postmaster General Summerfield approves CIA mail-opening project
1955 - Atkinson & Depeiaza make 347 stand for 7th wkt WI v Australia
1956 - 82nd Preakness: Bill Hartack aboard Fabius wins in 1:58.4
1956 - Pirate Dale Long hits 9th-inning HR, 1st HR in 8 straight games
1957 - Adone Zoli forms Italian govt

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 212

1469 - Giovanni della Robbia, Ital's sculptor
1611 - Innocent XI, [Benedetto Odescalchi], Italy, 240th Pope (1676-89)
1616 - Johann Jacob Froberger, German singer/organist/composer
1700 - José de Escandón, Spanish colonial governor (d. 1770)
1724 - Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral and politician (d. 1779)
1744 - Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1818)
1746 - Johann Friedrich Peter, composer
1755 - Gabriele Prota, composer
1762 - Johann G Fichte German philosopher (Wissenschaftslehre)
1770 - Antoine-Charles Glachant, composer
1773 - Arthur Aikin, English mineralogist (d. 1854)
1795 - Johns Hopkins, philanthropist, founded Johns Hopkins University
1797 - Maria Isabel of Portugal, queen of Spain (d. 1818)
1808 - Samuel Jameson Gholson, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1883
1812 - Felix Kirk Zollicoffer, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1862
1815 - John Gross Barnard, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1882
1827 - Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (d. 1896)
1828 - Adin Ballou Underwood, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1839 - Alice Mary Smith, composer
1858 - Roland Napoleon Bonaparte, French officer/traveller (Surinam)
1859 - Nellie Melba, [Heal Mitchell], Australian soprano (Peach Melba)
1860 - Victor E Orlando, Italy's premier (1917-19)
1861 - Dame Nellie Melba, Australian opera singer (d. 1931)
1862 - Mikhail Nesterov, Russian painter (d. 1942)
1864 - Carl Ethan Akeley, US, naturalist, devoleped animal mount process
1869 - Jules Poncelet, Belgian minister of State
1870 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (d. 1936)
1873 - Federico Gerdes, composer
1874 - Gilbert Laird Jessop, cricketer (The Croucher)
1878 - Adam von Ahn Carse, composer
1879 - Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, US/Eng's feminist/ex of Waldorf Astor
1880 - Allard R Hulshoff, architect of Amsterdam (1924)
1881 - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 1st President of Turkey (d. 1938)
1882 - Mohammed Mosaddeq, Prime Minister of Iran (d. 1967)
1883 - Henricus WJM Keuls, Dutch lawyer/poet (Dancing Lamp)
1884 - Arthur Meulemans, Belgian composer (Adriaan Brouwer) (or 5/10)
1890 - Ho Chi Minh, trail blazer/leader of Vietnam (1946, 1969)
1891 - Oswald Boelcke, German World War I pilot (d. 1916)
1892 - Konstatin G Paustovski, Russian author (Povestj Zjizni) [OS]
1895 - Albert Hay Malotte, composer
1895 - Cecil Gray, composer
1896 - Michael Balcon, Birmingham England, producer/father of Jill Balcon
1897 - Frank Luke, American World War I pilot (d. 1918)
1898 - Julius Evola, Italian philosopher (d. 1974)
1899 - Leonid Maksimovich Leonov, novelist/playwright
1901 - Ivo Cruz, composer
1904 - Anthony Bushell, Kent England, actor (Journey's End)
1904 - Sven Thofelt, Sweden, pentathlete (Olympic-gold-1928)
1906 - Bruce Bennett, American athlete and actor (d. 2007)
1908 - Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982)
1909 - Bruce Bennett, Tacoma Wash, actor (Before I Hang, Sahara)
1909 - Schlomo Joffe, composer
1909 - Nicholas Winton, British Humanitarian
1910 - Alan Melville, cricketer (graceful South African batsman 1938-49)
1913 - Albert Hardy, photographer
1913 - Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, president of India
1914 - Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2002)
1914 - Go Seigen, Japanese Go player
1914 - Alex Shibicky, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
1915 - Pol Pot, dictator/mass murderer
1918 - Florence Chadwick, swimmer (1st to swim English Channel both ways)
1918 - Abraham Pais, Dutch-born American physicist (d. 2000)
1919 - Betty Jameson, Norman OK, LPGA golfer (1947 US Women's Open)
1921 - Charles van de Reve, slavic (Belief of Kameraden)
1921 - Daniel Gelin, Angers France, Maria Schneider's dad, actor (Obsession)
1921 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch Slavist (Comrade's Religion)
1922 - David McLean, Akron Oh, actor (Tate-Tate)
1924 - Sandy Galbraith Wilson, composer
1925 - Malcolm X, [Little], [Detroit Red], Omaha NB, founder (Black Muslims)
1925 - Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (d. 1998)
1925 - Guy Provost, French Canadian actor (d. 2004)
1926 - Paul Cooper, composer
1926 - Swami Kriyananda, Indian teacher and author
1928 - Anthony C B Chapman, England, sports car builder/autoracer (Formula 1)
1928 - Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus Cars (d. 1982)
1929 - Harvey Cox, US theologist (Secular City)
1929 - Michael Adamis, composer
1929 - John Stroger Chicago politician
1930 - Hans Kox, composer
1930 - Lorraine Hansberry, playwright (Raisin in the Sun)
1931 - Eric Davidson, comedy scriptwriter
1931 - Ruben Radica, composer
1931 - Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor
1931 - Bob Anderson, British racing driver (d. 1967)
1932 - Alma Cogan, English singer (d. 1966)
1932 - Paul Erdman, American economist and author (d. 2007)
1932 - Claude Blanchard, Quebec comedian and actor (d. 2006)
1934 - David Sinclair, actor (Love & Hate)
1934 - James Charles Lehrer, Wichita Ks, news anchor (McNeil-Lehrer Report)
1934 - Jan Wijn, Dutch pianist
1934 - Ruskin Bond, Indian author
1935 - David Hartman, Pawtucket RI, TV personality (Good Morning America)
1935 - F R Fries, writer
1936 - Elisabeth Schwartz, Austria, pairs figure skater (Olympic-gold-1956)
1937 - Sanne Sannes, Dutch photographer
1937 - Pat Roach, English actor and wrestler (d. 2004)
1938 - James H Bilbray, (Rep-D-Nevada)
1938 - Moisés da Costa Amaral, East Timorese leader (d. 1989)
1939 - 17th earl of Pembroke, English landowner/director (Emily)
1939 - Francis R Scobee, Wash, USAF/astronaut (STS 41C, 51L-Chal disaster)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 100

804 - Alcuin of York, English scholar, dies in Tours France at 69
988 - Dunstan[us], English archbishop of Canterbury, dies
1102 - Stephen, Count of Blois (b. c. 1045)
1125 - Vladimir Monomakh, Russian prince (b. 1053)
1296 - Celestine V, [Pietro del Murrone], Pope (1294), dies
1319 - Louis d'Évreux, son of Philip III of France (b. 1276)
1389 - Dmitri Donskoi, Grand Prince of Muscovy (b. 1350)
1526 - Emperor Go-Kashiwabara of Japan (b. 1464)
1531 - Jan Łaski, Polish statesman and diplomat (b. 1456)
1536 - Anne Boleyn, Queen of England/wife of Henry VIII, beheaded
1536 - Lord Rochford, English brother of Anna Boleyn, beheaded
1601 - Costanzo Porta, Italian composer
1610 - Thomas Sanchez, Spanish theologian (b. 1550)
1637 - Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (b. 1588)
1647 - Sebastian Vrancx, Flemish painter (captain of vigilante), dies
1653 - Carel Reyniersz, gov-gen of Neth East Indies, dies at 48
1715 - Charles Montagu, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1661)
1786 - John Stanley, composer, dies at 74
1795 - Josiah Bartlett, US physician/judge (signed Decl of Ind), dies at 65
1795 - James Boswell, Scottish biographer (b. 1740)
1798 - William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English dueler (b. 1722)
1800 - French Bosbeeck, veterinarian/robber, hanged
1801 - Herman H Vitringa, politician (National Meetings), dies
1821 - Camille Jordan, French politician (b. 1771)
1825 - Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, French political philosopher (b. 1760)
1845 - Maria EJ Versfelt, mistress of general Moreau/marshal Ney, dies at 68
1864 - Nathaniel Hawthorne, US, writer (Scarlet Letter), dies
1872 - Johan van Dale, schoolmaster (New Dutch Language Wordbook), dies at 44
1876 - Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch historian/politician, dies at 74
1885 - Peter W. Barlow, English engineer (b. 1809)
1890 - Gus Kempis, cricketer (S Africa's 1st Test), dies of fever at 24
1895 - Jose J Marti y Perez, Spanish/Cuban poet (Versos sencillos), dies
1898 - William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1809)
1901 - Marthinus Wessels Pretorius, 1st pres Rep South-Africa, dies at 81
1903 - Arthur Shrewsbury, cricketer (1277 runs at 35 47 in 23 Tests), dies
1904 - Auguste Molinier, French historian (b. 1851)
1907 - Benjamin Baker, English engineer (b. 1840)
1912 - Bolesław Prus, Polish writer (b. 1847)
1915 - John Simpson Kirkpatrick stretcher bearer with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli during World War I (b. 1892)
1918 - Raoul Lufbery, French-American World War I fighter pilot and flying ace (b. 1885)
1922 - Heinrich I Quincke, German internist (postural drainage), dies at 79
1924 - Billy Zulch, cricketer (S Afr batsman scored 2 Test centuries), dies
1928 - Henry Franklin Belknap Gilbert, composer, dies at 59
1928 - Max Scheler, German philosopher, dies at 53
1935 - Charles Martin Tornow Loeffler, French composer, dies at 74
1935 - Thomas E Lawrence (of Arabia), dies in a motorcycle crash
1942 - [Nicoline] Magdalene Anchor-Roll, Norwegian author (Enken), dies at 69
1943 - Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter (b. 1865)
1945 - Philipp Bouhler, German nazi leader (b. 1889)
1946 - Booth Tarkington, American novelist (b. 1869)
1953 - Damasco Berenguer y Fuste, Spanish gen/min of War, dies at 79
1954 - Aart A van Schelven, church historian (Willem of Orange), dies at 73
1954 - Charles Edward Ives, US composer (Unanswered Question), dies at 79
1958 - Bruno Sturmer, composer, dies at 65
1958 - Ronald Colman, British actor (Prisoner of Zenda), dies at 67
1958 - Archie Scott-Brown, English race car driver (b. 1927)
1961 - Joe Howard, singer (Gay Nineties Revue), dies at 94
1965 - Maria Dabrowska, Polish writer (Znaki Zycia), dies
1966 - Tortoise, reportedly given to Tonga's King by Capt Cook (1773), dies
1969 - Coleman Hawkins, US jazz musician/composer, dies
1971 - Bernard Wagenaar, Neth/US composer, dies at 76
1971 - Ogden Nash, poet/TV panelist (Masquerade Party), dies at 68
1978 - George Gladstone, cricketer (one Test WI v England 1930), dies
1983 - Jean Rey, Belgian minister, dies
1983 - Jean Rey, President of the European Commission (b. 1902)
1986 - Jimmy Lyons, American musician (b. 1931)
1987 - Alice B[radley] Sheldon, sci-fi author (Byte Beautiful), dies at 71
1987 - James Tiptree, Jr, American author (b. 1915)
1988 - Virginia Farmer, actresss (Cyrano de Bergerac), dies at 90
1989 - Able J Herzberg, Russ/Neth lawyer (Eichmann in Jerusalem), dies
1989 - E Galgoczi, writer, dies
1989 - Robert Webber, actor (Alex-Moonlighting), dies of ALS at 64
1989 - CLR James, West Indian writer and journalist (b. 1901)
1991 - Douglas L Mays, cartoonist (Punch), dies
1991 - Rini Otte, Dutch actress (Ergens in Nederland), dies at 74
1993 - Nemesio Antunes, Chilean painter, dies at 75
1993 - Richard Murphy, director (3 Stripes in the Sun), dies of stroke at 81
1993 - S W Sohoni, cricketer (4 Tests for India), dies
1994 - Henry Morgan, TV panalist (To Tell the Truth), dies of cancer at 74
1994 - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, 1st lady (1961-63), dies of cancer at 64
1994 - Jacques Cesar Ellul, writer, dies at 82
1994 - Luis Ocana, Span cyclist (Tour de France 1973), commits suicide at 48
1996 - Johnny "Guitar" Watson, musician, dies at 61
1996 - Margaret Rawlings, actress (Roman Holiday), dies at 89
1997 - Millie, dog of President Bush (Millie's Book), dies at 12
1998 - Sōsuke Uno, Japanese prime minister (b. 1922)
1999 - James Blades, English percussionist (b. 1901)
1999 - Candy Candido, American actor (b. 1913)
2000 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut (b. 1933)
2001 - Susannah McCorkle, American singer (b. 1946)
2002 - John Gorton, nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1911)
2002 - Walter Lord, American writer (b. 1917)
2004 - Tony Randall, actor (Felix Unger in The Odd Couple) dies aged 84
2004 - Mary Dresselhuys, Dutch actress (b. 1907)
2005 - Henry Corden, American actor and voice artist (b. 1921)
2006 - Freddie Garrity, English lead singer from the band Freddie and the Dreamers (b. 1940)
2007 - Dean Eyre, New Zealand politician (b. 1914)
2008 - Vijay Tendulkar, Indian playwright, (b. 1928)
2009 - Robert F. Furchgott, American chemist, Nobel Laureate (b. 1916)
2009 - Herbert York, American physicist (b. 1921)