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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 195

325 - 1st Christian ecumenical council opens at Nicaea, Asia Minor
526 - Earthquake kills 250,000 in Antioch, Syria
1217 - The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
1293 - Earthquake strikes Kamakura Japan, 30,000 killed
1293 - King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcalá.
1303 - Treaty of Paris restores Gascony to British in Hundred Years War
1310 - Shoes were made for both right & left feet
1347 - Rienzo calls Rome for people's tribunal
1495 - French King Charles VIII leaves Naples
1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Calcutta India
1501 - Joao da Nova Castell discovers Ascension Islands
1521 - Ignatius Loyola seriously wounded by a cannon ball
1524 - Duke of Albany leaves Scotland
1570 - Egidius Coppens publishes Abraham Ortelius' "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum"
1571 - Venice, Spain & Pope Pius form anti-Turkish Saint League
1591 - Spanish troops in Zutphen surrenders to Willem Louis/Mauritius
1609 - Shakespeare's Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
1631 - German army under earl Johann Tilly conquerors Maagdenburg
1631 - The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
1639 - Dorchester Mass, forms 1st school funded by local taxes
1690 - England passes Act of Grace, forgiving followers of James II
1704 - Elias Neau forms school for slaves in NY
1734 - 1st Jockey Club forms in SC
1774 - Britain gives Quebec, Labrador & territory north of Ohio
1775 - Citizens of Mecklenburg County, NC declare independence of Britain
1784 - England & Netherlands signs peace treaty (Peace of Paris)
1825 - Charles X becomes King of France
1830 - 1st railroad timetable published in newspaper (Baltimore American)
1830 - D Hyde patents fountain pen
1835 - Otto is named the first modern king of Greece.
1840 - York Minster was badly damaged by fire
1845 - 1st legislative assembly convenes in Hawaii
1845 - HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost.
1861 - Cornerstone of University of Washington laid in Seattle
1861 - Kentucky proclaims its neutrality in Civil War
1861 - North Carolina becomes 11th & last state to secede from Union
1861 - US marshals appropriate previous year's telegraph dispatches, to reveal prosecessionist evidence
1862 - Homestead Act provides cheap land for settlement of West
1864 - Battle at Ware Bottom Church, Virginia, 1,400 killed or injured
1864 - Spotsylvania-campaign ends after 10,920 killed/injured person
1867 - Brit parliament rejects John Stuart Mills law on women suffrage
1867 - Royal Albert Hall foundation laid by Queen Victoria
1868 - Republican National Convention, meets in Chicago, nominates Grant
1870 - Second Chamber abolishes capital punishment
1874 - Levi Strauss markets blue jeans with copper rivets, price $13.50 doz
1875 - Intl Bureau of Weights & Measures forms by treaty
1879 - 5th Kentucky Derby: Charlie Shauer aboard Lord Murphy wins in 2:37
1882 - Germany/Austria-Hungary/France sign Triple Alliance
1882 - Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" (Gengangere) premieres in Chicago
1882 - St Gotthard-railroad tunnel between Switzerland & Italy opens
1891 - History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
1892 - George Sampson patents clothes dryer
1892 - Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy & Austria forms
1895 - 1st commercial movie performance (153 Broadway, NYC)
1896 - The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others.
1900 - 2nd modern Olympic games opens in Paris (lasted 5 months)
1902 - Cuba gains independence from Spain
1902 - US military occupation of Cuba (since Jan 1, 1899) ends
1910 - Funeral for Britain's King Edward VII
1911 - Edwin Boaler Alletson hits 189 in 90 mins Notts v Sussex
1913 - 38th Preakness: James Butwell aboard Buskin wins in 1:53.4
1915 - Bataafsche Petroleum Me begins oil extraction of Maracaibo
1916 - Codell, Kansas hit by tornado (also on same date in 1917 & 1918)
1916 - Saturday Evening Post cover features Norman Rockwell painting
1917 - Turkish govt authorizes Jews to return to Tel Aviv & Jaffa
1918 - 1st electrically propelled warship (New Mexico)
1919 - Volcano Keluit on Java, erupts killing 550
1920 - Policemen raid the Cubs' bleachers & arrest 24 fans for gambling
1922 - "Egypt" sinks off Ushant after colliding with "Seine," killing 90
1922 - Babe Ruth & Bob Meusel, suspended on October 16, 1921, by Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, return to the NY lineup & go hitless
1923 - Stanley Baldwin, becomes PM of UK
1926 - Belgian govt of Jaspar takes power
1926 - Congress passes Air Commerce Act, licensing of pilots & planes
1926 - Railway Labor Act became law
1926 - Thomas Edison says Americans prefer silent movies over talkies
1927 - At 7:40 AM, Lindbergh takes off from NY to cross Atlantic for Paris
1927 - Saudi Arabia becomes independent of Great Britain (Treaty of Jedda)
1930 - 1st airplane catapulted from a dirigible, Charles Nicholson, pilot
1930 - University of California dedicates $1,500 to research on prevention & cure of athlete's foot
1932 - Amelia Earhart leaves Newfoundland 1st woman fly solo across Atlantic
1932 - Engelbert Dollfuss becomes chancellor of Austria
1939 - "3 Little Fishies," by Kay Kyser hits #1
1939 - Pan Am begins transatlantic passenger & air mail service
1939 - 1st regular transatlantic airmail (NY to Marsseille France)
1940 - Gen Guderians tanks reach The Channel (British expeditionary army)
1940 - Igor Sikorsky unveils his helicopter invention
1940 - Soccer team HZVV forms in Hoogeveen
1940 - Trailing 7-1 in 9th to Pitts, Phils win 8-7
1941 - Archer's "Christian Calendar & Gregorian Reform" published
1941 - Former Dutch PM Colijn says Neth Indies not ready for independence
1941 - Germany invades Crete
1941 - White Sox Taft Wright sets AL record of RBIs in 13 consecutive games
1942 - US Navy 1st permitted black recruits to serve
1943 - French, British & US victory parade in Tunis Tunisia
1944 - US Communist Party dissolves
1945 - Keith Miller scores 105 in the 1st Victory Test Cricket at Lord's
1946 - Cubs Claude Passeau makes his 1st error since September 21, 1941, ending pitcher's fielding record of 273 consecutive errorless chances
1948 - 1st use of Israeli Air Force & 1st war victory, defeating Syrian army
1948 - Cleve Indians tie AL record of 18 walks (beat Red Sox 13-4)
1950 - 76th Preakness: Eddie Arcaro aboard Hill Prince wins in 1:59.2

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 268

1315 - Bonne of Luxembourg, wife of John II of France (d. 1349)
1364 - Henry Percy, [Harry Hotspur], British soldier/politican
1470 - Pietro Bembo, cardinal/theologian
1537 - Hieronymus Fabricius Ab, Aquapend Italy, physician (De Formato Foetu)
1547 - Melchior Bischoff, composer
1554 - Paulo Bellasio, composer
1593 - Jacob Jordaens, Flemish barok artist
1593 - Salomo Glassius, German theologian (d. 1656)
1660 - Andreas Schlüter, German sculptor (d. 1714)
1663 - William Bradford, British-born printer (d. 1752)
1706 - Seth Pomeroy, American gunsmith and soldier (d. 1777)
1726 - Francis Cotes, English painter (d. 1770)
1737 - William Petty Fitzmaurice, British statesman (d. 1805)
1750 - Stephen Girard, bailed out US bonds during War of 1812
1754 - Hans Gram, composer
1759 - William Thornton, architect (Capitol building, Wash DC)
1764 - J Gottfried Schadow, German sculptor/cartoonist/lithographer
1768 - Dolley Dandridge Payne Madison, 1st lady (1809-17)
1769 - Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, Greek admiral and politician (d. 1835)
1772 - William Congreve, English officer (design fire rocket)
1799 - Honoré de Balzac, French novelist (d. 1850)
1806 - John Stuart Mill, UK, philosopher/political economist/Utilitarian
1812 - Gustav Adolf Mankell, composer
1818 - William George Fargo, founder (Wells Fargo)
1822 - Emile Erckmann, [E-Chatrian], French writer (Waterloo)
1822 - Frederic Passy, French economist/pacifist (Nobel 1901)
1825 - Antoinette Brown Blackwell, clergy (1st ordained US female minister)
1828 - James William Reilly, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1905
1830 - Amalia MdGA, princess of Saxon-Weimar-Eisenach/wife of prince Henry
1830 - Hector H Malot, French writer (Without Family)
1838 - Jules Méline, French statesman (d. 1925)
1841 - Sara Louisa Oberholtz, social reformer, anti-smoking advocate
1844 - Henri Julien Felix Rousseau, French ambassador/painter (Dream)
1850 - Eaton Faning, composer
1851 - Emile Berliner, Germany, inventor (flat phonograph record)
1851 - Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, US, nun/daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne
1856 - Henri E Cross [Delacroix], French painter
1860 - Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1917)
1874 - Folkert E Posthuma, Dutch minister of Agriculture/Industry
1876 - John Owen Jones, composer
1881 - Wladyslaw Sikorski, premier Poland (WW II general)
1882 - Sigrid Undset, Norway, novelist (Kristin Lavransdatter, Nobel 1928)
1883 - Paul Arntzenius, painter/graphic artist/etcher
1889 - Felix Arndt, composer
1889 - Margery Allingham, detective story writer
1889 - William Lawther, union leader
1890 - Beniamino Gigli, Italy, tenor (Enzo-La Gioconde)
1894 - Adela Rogers St John, journalist/author (Foreign Correspondent)
1894 - Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Indian Hindu sage, Jivanmukta (d. 1994)
1895 - Reginald J "R" Mitchell, English aviation manufacturer (Spitfire)
1897 - Diego Abad de Santillán, Spanish anarchist (d. 1983)
1899 - Estelle Taylor, Delaware, actress (8 Commandments)
1899 - John M Harlan, Chicago, 91st Supreme Court justice (1955-71)
1899 - Alexander Deyneka, Ukrainian painter (d. 1969)
1901 - Max Euwe, Netherlands, world chess champion (1935-37)
1901 - Otto Waldis, Austria, actor (Port of Hell, Unknown World)
1902 - Hans Sahl, writer
1903 - Jerzy Fitelberg, composer
1904 - Russell Hardie, Buffalo NY, actor (Sequoia, In Old Kentucky)
1905 - Gerrit Achterberg, Dutch poet (Sailing)
1905 - Harry Campion, statistician/founder (Brit Central Statistical Office)
1906 - Giuseppe Siri, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1989)
1908 - Jimmy Stewart, PA, actor (Mr Smith Goes to Wash, Wonderful Life)
1908 - James Stewart, American actor (d. 1997)
1909 - Edward Moss Hutchinson, educationalist
1909 - John Arkell, director of administration (BBC)
1911 - Annie M G Schmidt, writer (Fam Doorsnee, Jip & Janneke)
1911 - Gardner F[rancis] Fox, US, sci-fi author (Kothar-Barbarian Swordsman)
1911 - Gardner Fox, American writer (d. 1986)
1912 - Joseph Proce, 3rd victim of NYC's Zodiac killer (survives)
1913 - Henry Cadbury Brown, architect
1913 - Ion Dumitrescu, composer
1913 - William Hewlett, cofounder (Hewlett-Packard Co)
1914 - Corneliu Coposu, Romanian politician (d. 1995)
1914 - Hideko Maehata, Japanese swimmer (d. 1995)
1915 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general/minister of Defense
1915 - Peter Copley, actor (Victim, King & Country)
1916 - Cornelie Coposu, politician
1916 - John McIntyre, theologian
1916 - Owen Chadwick, chancellor (U of East Anglia)
1916 - Trebisonda Valla, Italian athlete (d. 2006)
1916 - Alexei Petrovich Maresiev, Russian flying ace (d. 2001)
1917 - Enyss Djemil, composer
1917 - Richard Charles Cobb, historian
1917 - Guy Favreau, French Canadian lawyer (d. 1967)
1917 - Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
1918 - Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)
1919 - George Gobel, Chicago Ill, comedian/TV personality (I Love My Wife)
1920 - Betty Driver, actress (Penny Paradise)
1920 - John Cruickshank, banker
1920 - William Simpson, British trade union leader
1921 - John Harrison, British vice admiral/surgeon
1921 - John Marchi, (Rep-R-NY)
1921 - W Borchert, writer
1921 - Hal Newhouser, American baseball player (d. 1998)
1922 - Clifford Butler, vice chancellor (Loughborough Univ of Technology)
1923 - Edith Fellows, Boston, actress (Pennies From Heaven, City Streets)
1923 - Hugh Beach, British General
1923 - Samuel Selvon, author
1924 - Betty Driver, actress (Coronation St, Pardon the Expression)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 105

685 - King Ecgfrith of Northumbria (b. 645)
1277 - John XXI, [Petrus Juliani/Hispanus], Port Pope (1276-77), dies
1277 - Pope John XXI (b. 1215)
1285 - John II of Jerusalem, King of Cyprus (b. 1259)
1444 - Bernardinus van Siena, Italian saint, dies at 63
1449 - Peter, Prince/regent of Portugal/writer (Virtuosa Benfeitoria), dies
1471 - Henry VI, king of England (1422-61, 70-71)/France (1431-71), dies
1503 - Lorenzo de Medici, Italian patron (b. 1463)
1506 - Christopher Columbus, explorer, dies in poverty, in Spain at 55
1509 - Catharina Sforza, Italian duchess of Forli, dies at 45
1550 - Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shogun (b. 1510)
1597 - Matthijs Heldt, dies in battle
1622 - Osman II, sultan of Turkey (1618-22), dies
1648 - Wladyslaw IV Wasa, King of Poland, dies
1650 - Francesco Sacrati, composer, dies at 44
1669 - Joris van der Hagen, landscape painter, dies
1677 - George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, British statesman (b. 1612)
1713 - Thomas Sprat, English writer (b. 1635)
1717 - John Trevor, British statesman (b. 1637)
1722 - Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist (b. 1669)
1732 - Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (b. 1676)
1751 - Domingo Miguel Bernaube Terradellas, composer, dies at 38
1782 - Carlo Giovanni Testori, composer, dies at 68
1782 - Christoph Gottlieb Schroter, composer, dies at 82
1782 - William Emerson, British mathematician (b. 1701)
1793 - Charles Bonnet, Swiss naturalist (b. 1720)
1795 - Ignác Martinovics, Hungarian physicist/revolutionary, beheaded
1825 - Papaflessas, Greek priest and government official (b. 1788)
1834 - Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert de Motier, nobleman, dies
1834 - Marquis de Lafayette, French general, dies
1841 - Joseph Blanco White, theological writert, dies
1847 - Mary Lamb, writer, dies
1864 - John Clare, English poet (Little Trotty Wagtail), dies at 70
1873 - Sir George-Étienne Cartier, French-Canadian statesman (b. 1814)
1875 - Amalia, wife of King Otto of Greece, dies at 58
1876 - Harold, grandson of English queen Victoria, dies at 8 days old
1876 - Khristo Botev, Bulgarian poet, dies
1880 - Eugene LFC prince the Ligne, Belgian prince of Ambise, dies at 76
1883 - William Chambers, author/publisher, dies
1896 - Clara Josephine Wieck Schumann, composer/pianist, dies at 76
1900 - Gustav Heinrich Graben-Hoffman, composer, dies at 80
1909 - Ernest Hogan, blackface comedian and musician (b. 1859)
1910 - Jean-Baptiste Theodore Weckerlin, composer, dies at 88
1911 - E M Grace, cricketer (one Test v Australia 1880, 36 & 0), dies
1917 - Philipp von Ferrary, Italian philatelist (b. 1850)
1917 - Valentine Fleming, Scottish politician (b. 1887)
1919 - Jacob Verdam, philosopher, dies
1923 - Hans Goldschmidt, German chemist, dies
1926 - Dick Pougher, cricketer (17 & 3-26 in only Test for Engld 1892), dies
1935 - Ivans, [Jacob van Schevichaven], lawyer/detective writer, dies at 68
1939 - Joe Carr, NFL hall of famer/NFL president (1921-39), dies at 59
1940 - Amar Singh, cricketer (of pneumonia Indian pace bowler 1932-36), dies
1940 - Joris [Georges] van Severen, Flem fascist/Member of parliament, dies
1946 - Jacob Ellehammer, Danish inventor (b. 1871)
1947 - Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1862)
1949 - Randolph West, American biochemist, known for the Dakin-West reaction (b. 1890)
1956 - Andre Eugene Maurice Charlot, actor (Summer Storm), dies
1956 - Max Beerbohm, caricturist/writer (Yet Again), dies
1959 - Alfred Schutz, Austrian/US architect/philosopher, dies at 60
1961 - Josef "Pips" Priller, German fighter ace (b. 1915)
1968 - Albert Hartkopf, cricketer (one Test for Australia), dies
1968 - Kees van Dongen, Dutch/French painter, dies at 91
1969 - Fred Sherman, actor (Chain Lightning), dies after a stroke at 64
1969 - Royal Beal, actor (Death of a Salesman), dies of cancer, at 69
1971 - Waldo Williams, Welsh poet (b. 1904)
1972 - Cornelis J van der Klauw, Dutch biologist/zoologist, dies at 78
1972 - Walter Winchell, columnist/narrator (Untouchables), dies at 75
1973 - Jarno Saarinen, Finnish motorcycle racer (b. 1945)
1975 - Barbara Hepworth, sculptor, dies
1975 - Dame Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor, dies in fire at 72
1975 - Jacques Stehman, composer, dies at 62
1976 - Syd Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1911)
1976 - Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan politician, member of the Christian-Democrat party, and Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz "disappeared"
1980 - Jack Walsh, cricketer (at Wallsend)/commentator (NBN), dies
1984 - Peter Bull, British actor (Dr Doolittle), dies of a heart attack at 72
1985 - George Memmoli, actor (Earl-Hello Larry), dies at 46
1986 - Bernard Naylor, composer, dies at 78
1986 - Willem Pee, Belgian linguistic, dies at 83
1989 - Anton Diffring, actor (Zeppelin, Fahrenheit 451), dies at 70
1989 - Gilda Radner, comedienne (SNL, Haunted Honeymoon), dies at 42
1989 - John R Hicks, English economist (Nobel 1972), dies
1991 - Julian Orbon De Soto, composer, dies at 65
1992 - Roger Keith Coleman, American convict
1993 - Max Klein, inventor (paint by numbers), dies at 77
1994 - Dallas Pratt, collector, dies at 79
1994 - Ronald Russell, actor/manager (We Are Angels), dies at 83
1994 - Vivien John, artist, dies at 79
1996 - Eric Davidson, comedy scriptwriter, dies at 65
1996 - George Malcolm Thomson, journalist, dies at 96
1996 - Jack Wyngaard, dancer, dies at 37
1996 - Janaki Ramachandran, PM of Indian state of Tamil Nadu (1988), dies
1996 - John Pertwee, actor (Dr Who), dies at 76
1996 - Julius Marmur, biochemist/geneticist, dies at 70
1996 - Lewis B Combs, naval commander/civil engineer, dies at 101
1997 - Virgilio Boat, president of Colombia (1986-90), dies
2000 - Jean Pierre Rampal, French flutist (b. 1922)
2000 - Malik Sealy, American basketball player (b. 1970)
2001 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician (b. 1920)
2002 - Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist (b. 1941)
2005 - Paul Ricoeur, French philosopher (b. 1913)