Today In The Past
Events
753 BC – Romulus and Remus found Rome (traditional date).
43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.
953 – Otto I the Great gives Utrecht fishing rights
1420 – Treaty of Saint Maartens Dike
1453 – Turkish fleet sinks ships Golden Receiver in Constantinople
1509 – Henry the VIII becomes King of England
1521 – Battle at Villalar: Emperor Charles I beats Communards
1526 – Battle at Panipat: Mogol Emperor Babur beats sultan Ibrahim Lodi
1572 – France & England sign anti-Spanish military covenant
1649 – Maryland Toleration Act passed, allowing all freedom of worship
1689 – William III & Mary Stuart proclaimed king & queen of England
1789 – John Adams sworn in as 1st US VP (9 days before Washington)
1792 – Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading movement for Brazil’s independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.
1794 – NYC formally declares coast of Ellis Island publically owned, so they can build forts to protect NYC from British
1828 – Noah Webster publishes 1st American dictionary
1836 – Battle of San Jacinto, in which Texas wins independence from Mexico
1855 – 1st train crosses Miss River’s 1st bridge, Rock Is Ill-Davenport Ia
1857 – Alexander Douglas patents the bustle
1862 – Congress establishes US Mint in Denver, Co
1865 – Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train leaves Washington
1878 – First Lady Lucy Hayes begins egg rolling contest on White House lawn
1878 – NY installs 1st firehouse pole
1878 – Ship Azor leaves Charleston with 206 blacks for Liberia
1898 – Spanish-American War: The U.S. Congress, on April 25, recognizes that a state of war exists between the United States and Spain as of this date.
1904 – Ty Cobb makes his pro debut for Augusta (South Atlantic League)
1913 – Gideon Sundback of Sweden patents the zipper
1914 – US marines occupy Vera Cruz, Mexico, stay 6 months
1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as “The Red Baron”, is shot down and killed over Vaux sur Somme in France.
1922 – The first Aggie Muster is held as a remembrance for fellow Aggies who had died in the previous year.
1930 – Fire at Ohio State Penitentiary kills 322
1934 – Moe Berg, Senators catcher, plays AL record 117th cons errorless game
1945 – Allied troops occupy German nuclear laboratory
1945 – He Shima Okinawa conquered in 5 days, 5,000 die
1945 – Russia army arrives at outskirts of Berlin
1945 – US 7th Army occupies Neurenberg
1948 – 1st Polaroid camera was sold in US
1952 – BOAC begins 1st passenger service with jets (London-Rome route)
1952 – Secretary’s Day (now Administrative Professionals’ Day) is first celebrated.
1954 – Gregori Malenkov becomes premier of USSR
1954 – USAF flies French battalion to Vietnam
1955 – Minas Gerais Argentina tunnel caves in; 30 die
1956 – Elvis Presley’s 1st hit record, “Heartbreak Hotel,” becomes #1
1959 – 1211-kg great white shark becomes largest fish ever caught on a rod
1959 – Alf Dean using a rod & reel hooks a 2,664lb, 16′ 10″ white shark
1961 – French army revolts in Algeria
1961 – USAF Maj Robert M White takes X-15 to 32,000 m
1963 – Beatles meet Rolling Stones for 1st time
1965 – New York World’s Fair reopens for 2nd & final season
1967 – Dodgers 1st rain out in Los Angeles (after 737 consecutive games)
1967 – Josef Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, defects to US
1967 – Military coup in Greece, Konstantinos Kollias becomes premier
1970 – Reds clout 7 HRs by 6 batters, Braves counter with 3 HRs, 6 for one team & 9 different batters for two teams, all tie or set records
1972 – John Young & Charles Duke explores Moon (Apollo 16)
1972 – Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 4 (Copernicus) launched
1981 – US furnish $1 billion in arms to Saudi-Arabia
1983 – 1 pound coin introduced in United Kingdom
1984 – “Nightline” reverts back from 1 hour to ½ hour
1984 – Centers for Disease Cont says virus discovered in France causes AIDS
1984 – Franz Weber of Austria skis downhill at a record 209.8 kph
1986 – Bob Hering sets Formula One power boat record (165.338 mph, Ariz)
1986 – Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone’s vault on TV & finds nothing
1987 – Tamil bomb attack in Colombo Sri Lanka, 115 killed
1989 – George W Bush & Edward W Rose become CEO of Texas Rangers
1989 – Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom
1990 – “Cartoon All Stars to Rescue” shown on all 4 TV networks
1992 – Mobil Oil tug with 12,000 gallons of oil run aground in Arthur Kill
1995 – FBI arrested Timothy McVeigh & charge him with Oklahoma City bombing
1996 – Chicago Bulls win NBA record 72 games (72-8)
1997 – Ashes of Timothy Leary & Gene Roddenberry launched into orbit
2008 – The United States Air Force retires the F-117 Nighthawk.
Births
1488 – Ulrich von Hutten, German poet/humanist/patriot
1546 – Arcangelo Crivelli, composer
1555 – Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter (d. 1619)
1619 – John A van Riebeeck, colonial director/founder (Cape Colony)
1652 – Michel Rolle, French mathematician (d. 1719)
1671 – John Law, Scottish economist (d. 1729)
1774 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist/astronomer (balloonist)
1775 – Alexander Anderson, US, engraver/illustrator (Shakespeare)
1803 – Levin Minn Powell, Commander (Union Navy), died in 1885
1809 – Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter, Secy State (Confederacy)
1816 – Charlotte Bronte, Tornton England, novelist (Jane Eyre)
1834 – William Rufus Terrill, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1838 – John Muir, US, naturalist/discoverer (glaciers in High Seirras)
1849 – Oskar Hertwig, Germany, embryologist, discovered fertilization
1851 – Charles Barrois, French geologist (d. 1939)
1864 – Max Weber, German sociologist/economist/historian (Ancient Judaism)
1870 – Edwin S. Porter, American film pioneer (d. 1941)
1872 – GW Bitzer, [Johann Gottlob Wilhelm Bitzer], Roxbury MA
1882 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1961)
1889 – Paul Karrer, Swiss chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1971)
1896 – Henry M de Montherlant, French novelist and stage author (La Reine Morte)
1905 – Edmund G “Pat” Brown, (Gov-D-California)
1911 – Leonard Warren, NYC, baritone, Met 1939-60) died on stage
1911 – Ivan Combe, American inventor (d. 2000)
1912 – Eve Arnold, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, photojournalist (Marilyn Monroe) (d. 2012)
1913 – Choh Hao Li, bio-chemist professor, isolated growth hormones)
1913 – Norman Parkinson, England, fashion photographer, Harper’s Bazaar)
1915 – Anthony Quinn, Mexico, actor, Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia)
1919 – Don Cornell, American singer (d. 2004)
1924 – Daniel Melnick, NYC, producer, Get Smart)
1927 – Gerald Flood, British actor (d. 1989)
1930 – Don Tyson, founder, Tyson Foods)
1930 – Silvana Mangano, Rome Italy, actress (Death in Venice, Barabbas)
1932 – Elaine May, Phila Pa, comedienne/writer/actress, New Leaf)
1936 – Bob Cleary, US, ice hockey player (Olympic-gold-1960)
1936 – James Dobson, American evangelist
1937 – Charles Lee Herron, Ky, FBI most wanted fugitive (Jan 1 1986)
1942 – Bobby McClure, US gospel singer (Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing)
1947 – Alan Warner, rocker (Foundations)
1947 – Iggy Pop, [James Osterberg], Mich, rocker (Zombie Birdhouse)
1949 – Patti LuPone, Northport NY, actress/singer (Evita, Life Goes On)
1951 – Tony Danza, Brooklyn, (Tony Banta-Taxi, Tony Micelli-Who’s the Boss)
1958 – Andie MacDowell, [Rosali Anderson], SC, actress (Green Card) [or 2/12]
1959 – Jerry Only, American musician (The Misfits)
1959 – Michael Timmins, Canadian musician (Cowboy Junkies)
1960 – Julius Korir, Kenya, 3K steeplechaser (Olympic-gold-1984)
1962 – Sergei Viktorovich Zalyotin, Russia, major/cosmonaut
1971 – Samantha Druce, youngest woman to swim English Channel
1971 – Alexander Kravchenko, Russian professional poker player
1971 – Hasan Akbar, American convicted murderer
1975 – Danyon Joseph Loader, Dunedin NZ, 200m/400m swimmer (Olymp-2 gold-96)
1978 – Branden Steineckert, American drummer (Rancid), (The Used)
1980 – Tony Romo, American football player
Deaths
1073 – Alexander II, [Anselmo da Baggio], Pope (1061-73), dies
1109 – Anselmus, philosopher/archbishop of Canterbury, dies
1142 – Pierre Abélard, French writer (b. 1079)
1329 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1282)
1509 – Henry VII, 1st Tudor king of England (1485-1509), dies at 52
1551 – Oda Nobuhide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510)
1552 – Peter Apianus, [Bennewitz/Bienewitz], German astronomer, dies at 50
1557 – Petrus Apianus, German mathematician (b. 1495)
1574 – Cosimo de Medici, Italian duke of Toscane, dies at about 54
1699 – Jean Racine, French dramatist (b. 1639)
1701 – Asano Naganori, Japanese warlord (b. 1667)
1722 – Robert Beverley, Jr., historian of Colonial Virginia (b. 1673)
1730 – Jan Palfijn, Flemish physician/inventor (forceps), dies at 79
1792 – Tiradentes, Brazilian revolutionary (b. 1746)
1825 – Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathemattician (b. 1765)
1852 – Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (b. 1787)
1910 – Mark Twain, [Samuel Clemens], author (Huckleberry Finn), dies at 74
1918 – “Red Baron”, [Manfred von Richtofen], shot down in WW I at 25
1938 – Muhammad Iqbal, Brt E Indies lawyer/Pakistan national hero, dies at 65
1946 – John Maynard Keynes, English economist (b. 1883)
1962 – Frederick Handley Page, designer of 1st big airplane (40 seats), dies
1965 – Edward V Appleton, English physicist (Nobel Prize 1947), dies at 72
1967 – Andre L Danjon, French astronomer, dies at 77
1968 – Toby Halicki, car-crash film producer 48, killed shooting stunt
1971 – Francois “Doc” Duvalier, dictator of Haiti, dies at 64
1977 – Gummo [Milton] Marx, US comic (Marx Brothers), dies at 84
1980 – Aleksandr Oparin, Russian biochemist (b. 1894)
1985 – Rudi Gernreich, US designer (miniskirt), dies at 62
1990 – Erté, French artist (b. 1892)
1992 – Robert Harris, murderer, executed in Calif’s gas chamber at 39
1996 – Dzhokhar Dudayev, separatist leader and President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (1991), dies at 52
1996 – Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, oddsmaker/sportscaster (CBS), dies at 76
2003 – Nina Simone, American singer and pianist (b. 1933)
2004 – Mary McGrory, American journalist (b. 1918)
2005 – Gerry Marshall, British racing driver (b. 1941)
2008 – Al Wilson, American singer (b. 1939)
2012 – Charles Colson, Nixon adviser (Watergate), dies from a brain hemorrhage at 80
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