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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 213

1294 - John II becomes duke of Brabant/Limburg
1342 - Count Hartmann II becomes ruler of Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
1382 - Battle on Beverhoutsfield near Brugge
1455 - Jews flee Spain
1491 - Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
1494 - Jamaica discovered by Columbus; he names it "St Iago"
1512 - 5th Lateran Council (18th ecumenical council) opens in Rome
1512 - Pope Julius II opens 5th Council of Lateranen
1515 - Persian Gulf: Portugese fleet occupies Ormuz
1616 - Treaty of Loudun kills French civil war
1621 - Francis Bacon accused of bribery
1624 - Spanish silver fleet sails to Panama
1629 - French huguenot leader duke De Rohan signs accord with Spain
1640 - English Upper house accept Act of Attainder
1654 - Bridge at Rowley Mass begins charging tolls for animals
1660 - Sweden, Poland, Brandenburg & Austria sign Peace of Oliva
1661 - Johannes Hevelius observes 3rd transit of Mercury ever to be seen
1662 - Royal charter granted Connecticut
1678 - French conquering fleet at Curacao, 1200 die
1715 - Edmund Halley observes total eclipse phenomenon "Baily's Beads"
1722 - Pierre de Marivaux' "La Double Inconstance," premieres in Paris
1747 - Willem IV appointed viceroy of Holland/Utrecht
1765 - 1st US medical college opens in Philadelphia
1791 - The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1802 - Washington DC incorporates as a city
1802 - Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city.
1808 - Goya's "Executions of 3rd of May"
1808 - Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
1808 - Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are fired upon near Príncipe Pío hill.
1810 - Lord Byron swims Hellespont
1815 - Battle at Tolentino: Austria beats king Joachim of Naples
1822 - Society for Propagation of Faith starts (Lyon, France)
1830 - 1st regular steam train passenger service starts
1837 - The University of Athens is founded.
1845 - 1st black lawyer (Macon B Allen) admitted to bar (Mass)
1845 - Fire kills 1,600 in popular theater in Canton China
1846 - Mexican army surrounds fort in Texas
1849 - The May Uprising in Dresden begins - the last of the German revolutions of 1848.
1851 - Most of SF destroyed by fire; 30 die
1855 - Antwerp-Rotterdam railway opens
1860 - Charles XV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
1861 - Gen Winfield Scott presents his Anaconda Plan
1861 - Lincoln asks for 42,000 Army Volunteers & another 18,000 seamen
1863 - Battle of Chancellorsville-Beaten Union army withdraws
1863 - Battle of Fredricksburg, VA (Marye's Heights)
1863 - Battle of Salem Church, VA
1864 - 3rd day in Battle at Alexandria Louisiana: Confederate assault
1867 - The Hudson's Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
1886 - M A Maclean elected 1st mayor of Vancouver, BC
1898 - Camp Merriman forms at Presidio (SF) (see 0517)
1900 - 26th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Boland aboard Lieut Gibson wins in 2:06.25
1901 - Fire destroyed 1,700 buildings in Jacksonville, Florida
1902 - 28th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Winkfield on Alan-a-Dale wins in 2:08.75
1903 - AVC Heracles (SC Heracles '74) soccer team forms in Almelo
1906 - British-controlled Egypt takes Sinai peninsula from Turkey
1909 - 35th Kentucky Derby: Vincent Powers on Wintergreen wins in 2:08.2
1916 - The leaders of the Easter Rising are executed in Dublin.
1917 - 1st performance of Ernest Bloch's symphony "Israel"
1919 - Afghanistan Emir Amanoellah begins war against Great Britain
1919 - America's 1st passenger flight (NY-Atlantic City)
1921 - West Virginia imposes 1st state sales tax
1922 - Mayor Hylan closes streets for building of Yankee Stadium
1922 - Salt layer find at Winterswijk
1923 - 1st nonstop transcontinental flight (NY-San Diego) completed
1924 - Aleph Zadik Aleph is formed in Omaha, Nebraska by Sam Beber.
1926 - British general strike-3 million workers support miners
1926 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Sinclair Lewis (Arrowsmith)
1926 - US marines land in Nicaragua (9-mo after leaving), stay until 1933
1928 - Japanese atrocities in Jinan, China.
1929 - Prussia bans anti-fascists
1932 - 24 tourists begin 1st air-charter holiday (London-Basle, Switz)
1933 - 1st female director (Nellie T Ross) of US Mint takes office
1934 - Bradman scores 206 Aust v Worcestershire, 210 mins, 27 fours
1936 - French People's Front wins elections
1936 - NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio makes his major-league debut, gets 3 hits
1937 - Margaret Mitchell wins Pulitzer Prize for "Gone With the Wind"
1938 - Concentration camp at Flossenburg goes into use
1938 - Lefty Grove defeats Tigers 4-3 for 1st of record 20 consecutive wins at his home field Fenway Park; he doesn't lose there until May 12 1941
1938 - Vatican recognizes Franco-Spain
1939 - The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
1941 - -4] German air raid on Liverpool
1941 - 67th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Whirlaway wins in 2:01.4
1942 - Japanese troop attack Tulagi, Gavutu & Tanambogo, Solomon Islands
1942 - Luftwaffe bombs Exeter
1942 - Nazi's execute 72 OD'ers in reprisial in Sachsenhausen, Netherlands
1942 - Nazi's require Dutch Jews to wear a Jewish star
1943 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Upton Sinclair (Dragon's Teeth)
1943 - Strike against obligatory labor camps ends, after 200 killed
1943 - US 1st armour division occupies Mateur Tunisia
1944 - "Meet Me in St Louis" opens on Broadway
1944 - Meat rationing ends in US
1945 - 1st Polish armour brigade occupies Wilhelmshafen
1945 - Allies arrests German nuclear physics Werner Heisenberg
1945 - British troop join in Rangoon
1945 - German ship "Cap Arcona" sinks in East Sea, 5,800 killed
1946 - International military tribunal in Tokyo begins
1947 - 73rd Kentucky Derby: Eric Guerin aboard Jet Pilot wins in 2:06.8
1947 - Japan forms a constitutional democracy
1947 - New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
1948 - Pulitzer prize awarded to James Michener & Tennessee Williams

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 220

612 - Constantine III, Byzantine Emperor (d. 641)
1415 - Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (d. 1495)
1428 - Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (d. 1495)
1446 - Margaretha, English princess/duchess of Bourgondie
1446 - Margaret of York, wife of Charles I, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1503)
1469 - Niccolo Machiavelli, Italy, politician/writer (Prince)
1514 - Bartholomaeus a Martyribus, [Fernandez], primate of Portugal
1535 - Alessandro "Agnolo" Allori, Italian painter/carpet designer
1647 - John A "Joannes" Antonides van der Goes, poet (Bellone aen bant)
1649 - Johann Valentin Meder, composer
1662 - Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (d. 1736)
1692 - Jan J Mauricius, Dutch governor-general of Suriname (1742-51)
1695 - Henri Pitot, Italian-born French engineer (d. 1771)
1708 - Johann Adolph Scheibe, German music theroist/composer
1713 - Alexis Clairault, French mathematician (d. 1765)
1729 - Florian Leopold Gassmann, composer
1737 - Friedrich Schwindl, composer
1742 - Jean-Baptiste Krumphultz, composer
1744 - Freidrich Wilhelm Weis, composer
1752 - Braz Francisco de Lima, composer
1761 - August von Kotzebue, German dramatist (d. 1819)
1764 - Elisabeth PMH, princess of France/son of king Louis XVI
1768 - Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and industrialist (d. 1838)
1773 - Giuseppe Acerbi, Italian traveller/nature investigator/diplomat
1815 - Hermanus W Witteveen, Dutch theologist
1816 - Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, Bvt Mjr Gen (Union Army), died in 1892
1819 - Nicola De Giosa, composer
1826 - Charles XV Louis E, King of Sweden/Norway (1859-72)/poet
1844 - Edouard A Drumont, French anti-semitic journalist
1844 - Richard D'Oyly Carte, England, opera impresario (Ivanhoe)
1849 - Jacob Riis, Denmark, reporter (NY Tribune, NY Evening Sun)
1849 - Bernhard von Bülow, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
1857 - George Gore, American baseball player (d. 1933)
1859 - Andy Adams, US writer (Log of a Cowboy)
1860 - John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist (d. 1936)
1860 - Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician (d. 1940)
1861 - Emmett Dalton, American outlaw (d. 1937)
1867 - Jack Hearne, cricketer (cousin of George & Alec 12 Tests for Eng)
1870 - Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1948)
1873 - Nikolay N Tcherepnin, St Petersburg, composer of ballets, songs [OS]
1873 - [Nicoline] Magdalene Anchor-Roll, Norwegian author (Kvinnen og Den)
1873 - Pavlo Skoropadsky, Ukrainian general (d. 1945)
1874 - Francois Coty, Corsica, Corsican senator/perfume maker
1874 - V. Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer (d. 1954)
1876 - Bert Hopkins, cricketer (Australian pace bowler of the 1900's)
1876 - John Elicius Benedict B P Quick Carrington Dwyer, cricketer (Sussex)
1877 - Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (d. 1925)
1879 - Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman (d. 1950)
1886 - Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (d. 1971)
1888 - Beulah Bondi, American actress (d. 1981)
1890 - B Traven, writer
1891 - Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet (d. 1969)
1892 - Beulah Bondi, Chicago, actress (It's a Wonderful Life)
1892 - George Thomson, demonstrated electron diffraction (Nobel 1937)
1893 - Hope Landin, Minneapolis MN
1893 - Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (d. 1975)
1895 - Earnest Kantorowicz, German/US historian (Laudes regiae)
1895 - Zoltan Korda, Hungarian/British director (Jungle Book, 4 Feathers)
1895 - Cornelius Van Til, philosopher and Christian apologist (d. 1987)
1896 - Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright (d. 1990)
1896 - Karl Allmenroder, German World War I Ace (d. 1917)
1897 - V K Krishna Menon, India, minister of defense
1898 - Golda Meir, [Meyerson], Kiev Ukraine, 4th Israeli PM (1969-74)
1898 - Septima Poinsette Clark, civil rights activist/educator
1899 - Aline MacMahon, McKeesport Pa, actress (Backdoor to Heaven)
1901 - Gino Cervi, Bologna Italy, actor (Les Miserables, Naked Maja)
1902 - Hugo Friedhofer, composer
1902 - Jack Larue, NYC, actor (Lights Out, Mouthpiece, My Favorite Brunette)
1902 - Seton I Miller, Chehalis WA, writer (Pete's Dragon, Istanbul)
1902 - Walter Slezak, Vienna, actor (Bedtime for Bonzo, Inspector General)
1903 - Bing Crosby, Tacoma Wash, singer (White Christmas, Going My Way)
1904 - Charles "Red" Ruffing, NY Yankee pitcher, hitter (1930-46)
1904 - John Breeden, SF CA, actor (Salute, Madame Racketeer, Joy Street)
1905 - Albrecht Luitpold G Ferdinand Michael Wittelsbach, duke of Bavaria
1905 - Sebastian Lewis Shaw, actor (High Season, Ace of Spades, Caste)
1906 - Mary Astor, Quincy IL, actress (Maltese Falcon, Dinky)
1907 - Earl Wilson, Rockford Ohio, columnist (Midnight Earl)
1910 - Alceo Galliera, composer
1910 - Norman Corwin, American radio pioneer
1911 - John Rhea "Yank" Lawson, trumpeter
1912 - Virgil Fox, American organist (d. 1980)
1913 - Earl Blackwell, Atlanta Ga, author (Celebrity Register)
1913 - William M Inge, US playwright (Picnic-Pulitzer 1953)
1915 - Evencio Castellanos, composer
1915 - Stu Hart, Canadian professional wrestler and trainer (d. 2003)
1916 - Henry Barbosa Gonzalez, San Antonio Tx, (Rep-D-Tx, 1961- )
1916 - Pierre Emmanuel, French poet (Sodome)
1916 - Léopold Simoneau, French Canadian tenor (d. 2006)
1917 - James Penberthy, composer
1917 - Betty Comden, American lyricist (d. 2006)
1918 - Ted Bates, English former footballer (d. 2003)
1919 - Betty Comden, Bkln, song writer (Comden & Green-Bells are Ringing)
1919 - Pete Seeger, NYC, folk singer (Weaver, Goodnight Irene)
1919 - John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (d. 2004)
1920 - Sugar Ray Robinson, [Walter Smith], middle/welterweight boxer (champ)
1921 - Vasco dos Santos Goncalves, Portuguese leftist colonel
1921 - Joe Ames, American singer (d. 2007)
1922 - Marina Svetlova, ballerina/choreographer (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo)
1922 - Len Shackleton, English former footballer (d. 2000)
1923 - Ralph M Hall, (Rep-D-TX, 1981- )

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 114

1010 - Ansfried, 9th bishop of Utrecht (995-1010)/saint, dies at about 69
1152 - Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England (b. 1105)
1160 - Peter Lombard, Italian scholar and bishop (b. c.1100)
1270 - King Béla IV of Hungary (b. 1206)
1294 - Jan I, duke of Brabant/Limburg/poet, dies
1410 - Alexander V, [Petros Philargi], Kreta's Pope (1409-10), dies
1442 - Engelbert I, Earl of Nassau-Dillenburg, dies
1481 - Mehmed II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1432)
1567 - Leonhard Paminger, composer, dies at 72
1598 - Anna Guarini, Italian singer (b. 1563)
1606 - Henry Garnet, English Jesuit (executed) (b. 1555)
1614 - Sasbout Vosmeer, RC theologist/apostole vicar, dies at 66
1622 - Pedro Páez, Spanish Jesuit missionary (b. 1564)
1654 - Francois van Kinschot, treasurer-gen/chancellor of Brabant, dies at 77
1679 - James Sharp, English archbishop (assassinated) (b. 1613)
1693 - Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (b. 1607)
1703 - Eglon van de Down, still-life painter, dies
1704 - Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Austrian violist/composer, dies at 59
1707 - Michiel de Swaen, South Netherlands physician/poet, dies at 53
1724 - John Leverett the Younger, American President of Harvard (b. 1662)
1737 - Abraham Patras, gov-gen of East-Indies (1735-37), dies at 65
1750 - John Willison, Scottish minister and writer (b. 1680)
1752 - Samuel Ogle, British provincial Governor of Maryland (b. c. 1692)
1758 - Benedict XIV, [Prospero L Lambertini], Pope (1740-58), dies at 83
1763 - George Psalmanazar, British impostor (b. 1679)
1764 - Francesco Algarotti, Italian earl/encyclopedist, dies at 53
1779 - John Winthrop, American astronomer (b. 1714)
1783 - Pieter Valck(x), South Netherlands sculptor, dies at 49
1792 - Carlo Zuccari, composer, dies at 87
1839 - Ferdinando Paer, composer, dies at 67
1841 - Cornelis T Elout, Dutch minister of Finance/Navy/Colonies, dies at 74
1854 - William Beale, composer, dies at 70
1856 - Adolfo Fumagalli, composer, dies at 27
1856 - Adolphe Charles Adam, French composer/critic (Giselle), dies at 52
1861 - Anthony Philip Heinrich, composer, dies at 80
1863 - Elisha Franklin "Bull" Paxton, US Confederate brig-gen, dies at 35
1868 - Olof Wilhelm Udden, composer, dies at 68
1881 - Josip Jurcic, Slovic writer (Schone Vida), dies
1893 - Josef Rudolf Zavrtal, composer, dies at 73
1902 - David R Capriles, Curacaos director of psychiatric, dies at 64
1910 - Artie Shaw, bandleader
1917 - Norman Callaway, NSW bat, cricketer (207 in only FC innings), dies
1918 - Charlie Soong, Christian Missionary
1921 - Théodore Pilette, Belgian racing driver (b. 1883)
1926 - Napoleon V Bonaparte, French pretender to the throne, dies at 63
1931 - Frank Hoyt Losey, composer, dies at 59
1931 - Otto Winter-Hjelm, composer, dies at 93
1932 - Anton Wildgans, Austr writer (Dies Irae)/dir Burgtheater, dies at 51
1939 - [Karl Eduard] Wilhelm Groener, German general, dies at 71
1942 - Johan H Westerveld, lt-col/leader Order Service, executed
1942 - Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
1943 - Leslie Heward, composer, dies at 45
1945 - Louis L H de Visser, Dutch MP (CPN), dies at 66
1955 - Philips C Visser, explorer/ambassador to Moscow, dies
1958 - Frank Foster, cricketer (England all-rounder, 11 Tests 1911-12), dies
1961 - Maurice [Jean Jacques] Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher, dies at 53
1964 - Diana Wynyard, dies at 58
1965 - Howard Spring, British author (Heaven Lies About Us), dies at 76
1965 - Otto Forst de Battaglia, Austrian diplomat/genealogist, dies at 75
1966 - Wylie Watson, dies at 77
1968 - Leonid Leonidovich Sabaneyev, composer, dies at 86
1969 - Imre Vincze, composer, dies at 42
1969 - Zakir Hussain, 3rd President of India, (b. 1897)
1970 - Candelario Huizar, composer, dies at 82
1972 - Bruce Cabot, actor (Diamonds are Forever), dies at 68
1972 - Les Harvey, rocker, dies
1975 - Samuel Gonard, chairman (International Red Cross), dies at 78
1976 - David Bruce, dies at 62
1976 - Ernie Nevers, college fullback (Stanford), dies at 72
1978 - Wim van Doorne, Dutch auto manufacturer (DAF), dies at 71
1979 - Erin O'Brien-Moore, actress (Nurse Choate-Peyton Place), dies at 76
1982 - Helmut Dantine, actor (Shadow of the Cloak), dies at 64
1983 - Vaughn Taylor, act (Jailhouse Rock), dies of cerebal hemmorrhage at 72
1986 - Robert Alda, actor (Dan Lewis-Supertrain), dies at 72
1987 - Dicky Fuller, cricketer (one Test for WI 1935, one run, 0-12), dies
1987 - Yolande Christina Dalida, dies at 54
1988 - Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)
1989 - Christine Jorgensen, 1st transsexual, dies at 62
1989 - Muriel Ostriche, dies
1989 - Edward Ochab, Polish Communist politician (b. 1906)
1990 - Pimen, [Sergei Irzyekov], patriarch of Rus-orthodox church, dies at 79
1991 - Gerrit Mik, child psychiatrist/Dutch MP (D66), dies
1991 - Jersy Kosinski, author (Being There), dies at 57
1991 - Margaret Tallichet, actress (Stranger on the 3rd Floor), dies
1991 - Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer and composer (b. 1907)
1992 - Elizabeth Lennox, radio singer, dies of heart seizure at 98
1992 - George Murphy, (Sen-R-Ca, 1965-71)/actor, dies of Leukemia at 89
1992 - Peter Bruni, dies of heart failure at 60
1994 - Gustaaf AWC baron van Hemert Dingshof, mayor of Maarn, dies at 78
1994 - Haty Tegelaar-Boonacker, Dutch MP (CDA), dies at 63
1994 - Milford Dolliole, pioneer jazz drummer, dies at 90
1994 - Richard Scarry, author/illustrator of children's books, dies at 74
1995 - Michael Horden, actor (Fool, Green Man, Scoop), dies at 83
1996 - Jack Weston, actor (Ishtar, Rad, Cuba), dies of lymphoma at 71
1996 - Timothy Gullikson, tennis player/coach, dies at 45
1997 - Narciso Yepes, Spanish classical guitarist (b. 1927)
1999 - Joe Adcock, American baseball player (b. 1927)
1999 - Steve Chiasson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1967)
2000 - John Joseph Cardinal O'Connor, Catholic Archbishop of New York (b. 1920)
2001 - Billy Higgins, American drummer (b. 1936)