A Day In History

October

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In 1321 Death of Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy.
In 1583 Dante Alighieri Day.
In 1755 Oliver Evans, pioneered the high-pressure steam engine, born.
In 1759 Wolfe defeats Montcalm on Plains of Abraham; Canada becomes English.
In 1788 New York City becomes the capitol of the United States.
In 1819 Clara Wieck Schumann, German pianist, composer, born.
In 1851 Walter Reed, who proved mosquitoes transmit yellow fever, born.
In 1857 Milton S. Hershey, US chocolate manufacturer, philanthropist, born.
In 1874 Arnold Schoenberg, composer, born.
In 1882 Britain invades Egypt.
In 1906 First airplane flight in Europe.
In 1934 Barbara Bain (in Chicago, IL), actor (Mission Impossible, Space: 1999), born.
In 1938 Judith Martin, etiquette authority, "Miss Manners", born.
In 1941 Jaqueline Bisset (in England), actor (Deep), born.
In 1941 Oscar Arias Sanchez, president of Costa Rica (1986- ) (Nobel 1987), born.
In 1959 Soviet Lunik 2 becomes first human-made object to crash on moon.
In 1961 "Car 54 Where are You?" premieres.
In 1963 "The Outer Limits" premieres.
In 1965 Beatles release "Yesterday."
In 1970 IBM announces System 370 computer.
In 1971 9 hostages and 28 prisoners die in take over a Attica State Prison.
In 1977 First TV viewer discretion warning - "Soap".
In 1977 Second test of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
In 1979 According to South Africa, Venda gains independence. Not recognized as an independent country outside of South Africa.
In 1982 Princess Grace of Monaco dies at 52 in a car crash.
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2nd

In -322 BC Aristotle dies of indigestion
In 1608 Hans Lippershey offers the Dutch government a new invention -- the telescope.
In 1836 Darwin returns to England aboard the HMS Beagle.
In 1851 Ferdinand Foch, believed to be the leader responsible for Allies winning World War I
In 1869 Mahatma K. Ghandi (at Porbandar, Kathiawad, India), pacifist
In 1870 Italy annexes Rome and the Papal States; Rome made Italian capital.
In 1895 Groucho Marx, comedian
In 1904 Graham Greene, prolific English novelist (Brighton Rock)
In 1921 Robert Runcie, archbishop of Canterbury
In 1928 Spanky McFarland, actor, little rascal
In 1939 Yuri N. Glazkov, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz 24)
In 1945 Don McLean, singer, songwriter (American Pie, Vincent)
In 1942 First self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction demonstrated in one of the squash court under Stagg Field, University of Chicago.
In 1950 First "Peanuts" Comic Strip featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy appears, in 9 newspapers
In 1951 Sting, musician (Police), actor (Dune)
In 1955 "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" premiers.
In 1956 First atomic power clock exhibited -- New York City.
In 1958 Guinea gains independence from France (National Day).
In 1959 Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone" premieres on CBS.

3rd

In 54 Claudius Roman Emperor, dies.
In 1974 Ed Sullivan TV host (Ed Sullivan Show), dies at 73.
In 1792 Washington lays cornerstone of the Executive Mansion (White House).
In 1921 Yves Montand, France, actor/singer (Z, Napoleon), born.
In 1925 Lenny Bruce comedian, arrested on obscenity charges, born.
In 1925 Margaret Thatcher, (Tory) British PM (1979-90), Iron Lady, born.
In 1941 Chubby Check (musician) born.
In 1942 Paul Simon, singer (Kodachrome, Graceland), born.
In 1943 Italy declares war on former ally Germany.
In 1944 US 1st army begins battle of Aachen.
In 1963 "Beatlemania" is coined after the Beatles appear at the Palladium.
In 1969 Soyuz 8 is launched.
In 1987 1st military use of trained dolphins (US Navy in Persian Gulf).
In 1988 John Lennon's "Imagine" documentary premieres.

4th

In 1289 Louis X (the Stubborn), king of France (1314-16)
In 1626 Richard Cromwell, lord protector of England (1658-59)
In 1824 Mexico becomes a republic.
In 1862 Battle of Corinth ends.
In 1883 The 'Orient Express' begins its first run, linking Turkey to Europe by rail.
In 1895 Buster Keaton, silent movie actor (The Navigator, Steamboat Bill)
In 1923 Charlton Heston, actor (Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Planet of the Apes)
In 1931 The comic strip "Dick Tracy" debuts.
In 1944 Patty LaBelle, singer
In 1946 Susan Sarandon (in New York City), actor (Great Waldo Pepper)
In 1949 Armand Assante, actor (Q&A, Judge Dredd)
In 1957 "Leave It to Beaver" debuts on CBS.
In 1957 USSR launches Sputnik I, the first artificial earth satellite.
In 1959 USSR Luna 3 sent back first photos of Moon's far side.
In 1966 Lesotho (Basutoland) gains independence from Britain (National Day).
In 1970 Janis Joplin dies at age 27.
In 1985 21st Space Shuttle Mission - Atlantis 1 is launched.
In 1989 Graham Chapman, member of the Monty Python team, dies from cancer.

5th

In 1582 Gregorian calendar introduced in Italy, other Catholic countries.
In 1864 Louis Lumiere with brother Auguste made 1st motion picture in 1895, born.
In 1867 Last day of Julian calendar in Alaska.
In 1902 Ray Kroc Illinois, founder of MacDonalds and San Diego Padres baseball team, born.
In 1908 Bulgaria declares independence from Turkey, Ferdinand I becomes Tsar.
In 1910 Portugal overthrows monarchy, proclaims republic.
In 1921 Present constitution of Liechtenstein comes into effect.
In 1951 Sir Bob Geldof pop musician (Boomtown Rats, Band Aid), born.
In 1952 Clive Barker, novelist (Hell Raiser)
In 1962 Michael Andretti Indy-car racer/Auto Hall of Fame (elected 1986), born.
In 1983 Lech Walesa wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1990 Cincinnati jury acquits art gallery of obscenity (Mappelthorpe photos).

6th

In 1888 Li Ta Chao cofounder with Mao Tse Tung of Chinese Communist Party, born.
In 1889 Thomas Edison shows his 1st motion picture.
In 1908 Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 1914 Thor Heyerdahl Norway, anthropologist/explorer (Kon Tiki, Aku-Aku), born.
In 1923 USSR adopts experimental calendar.
In 1928 Chiang Kai-Shek becomes president of China.
In 1939 Hitler announces he has no intention of war with Britain and France.
In 1956 Stephanie Zimbalist NYC, actress (Remington Steele, Centennial), born.
In 1959 Soviet Luna 3, 1st successful photographic spacecraft, impacts Moon.
In 1973 Yom Kippur War begins as Syria and Egypt attack Israel.
In 1976 John Hathaway completes a bicycle tour of every continent in the world and cycling 50,600 miles.
In 1976 Pres Ford says there is "no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe".
In 1979 Pope John Paul II is 1st Pope to visit the White House.
In 1981 Anwar Sadat assassinated.
In 1989 Bette Davis dies at 81.
In 1991 Elizabeth Taylor weds for the 8th time (Larry Fortensky).

7th

In 1571 Turkish fleet defeated by Spanish and Italians in Battle of Lepanto.
In 1849 Edgar Allen Poe dies in Baltimore at 40.
In 1885 Niels Bohr, physicist, expanded quantum physics (Nobel 1922), born.
In 1886 Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba.
In 1908 Crete unites with Greece.
In 1915 Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland College 222-0 in gridiron (record).
In 1927 Al Martino, singer, born.
In 1931 First infra-red photograph, Rochester, NY.
In 1931 Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop of South Africa (Nobel Peace Prize 1982), born.
In 1943 Oliver North, arms dealer, born.
In 1949 Dem. Rep of Germany (East) formed (National Day).
In 1950 U.S. forces invade Korea by crossing the 38th parallel.
In 1951 John Cougar Mellencamp, singer, born.
In 1955 Yo-Yo Ma, cellist, born.
In 1960 "Route 66" premiers.
In 1968 Motion Picture Association of America adopts film rating system.
In 1985 21st Space Shuttle Mission - Atlantis 1 returns to Earth.

8th

In 1604 The supernova called "Kepler's nova" is first sighted.
In 1869 J. Frank Duryea, with his brother, invented first auto built and operated in the US.
In 1873 Ejnar Hertzsprung, Danish astronomer (Hertzsprung-Russell diagram), born.
In 1890 Eddie Rickenbacker, aviator, born.
In 1895 Juan Peron, president of Argentina (1946-55, 1973-74), born.
In 1897 Rouben Mamoulian, movie director, born.
In 1906 Karl Nessler demonstrates the first 'permanent wave' for hair, in London.
In 1918 Sgt. Alvin York single-handedly kills 25, captures 132 Germans.
In 1920 Frank Herbert, sci-fi writer (Dune), born.
In 1935 Ozzie and Harriet Nelson married.
In 1940 David Carradine, actor (Kung fu, Death Race 2000), born.
In 1943 Chevy Chase, comedian, actor (SNL, Vacation, Fletch, Caddyshack), born.
In 1944 "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" debut on CBS radio.
In 1945 President Truman announced atomic bomb secret shared with Britain and Canada.
In 1949 Sigourney Weaver (in Los Angeles), actor (Aliens, GhostBusters), born.
In 1951 Johnny Ramone, rock guitarist, born.
In 1962 N. Korea reports 100% election turnout, 100% vote for Workers' Party.
In 1970 Soviet author Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn awarded Nobel Prize for Lit.
In 1978 Kenneth Warby sets world speed record on water (514 kph).
In 1981 Pres. Reagan greeted predecessors Jimmy Carter, Gerald R. Ford and Richard Nixon before their trip to Egypt for Anwar Sadat's funeral.
In 1995 O J Simpson acquitted for double murder of his Ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

9th

In 680 Husain ibn 'Ali, Shi'i religious leader, enters martyrdom.
In 1000 Leif Ericson discovers "Vinland" (possibly America).
In 1446 Korean Hangual alphabet devised.
In 1547 Miguel de Cervantes, novelist (Don Quixote), born.
In 1757 Charles X, king of France (1824-30); deposed, born.
In 1908 Jacques Tati, director (Traffic, Playtime, My Uncle), born.
In 1940 John Lennon, rocker/Beatle, born.
In 1944 John Entwistle, rocker (The Who), born.
In 1944 Peter Tosh, Jamaica, reggae musician, born.
In 1946 1st electric blanket manufactured; sold for US$39.50.
In 1954 Scott Bakula, actor (Quantum Leap, The Invaders), born.
In 1961 Tanganyika becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
In 1961 Volcano eruptions on Tristan de Cunha (South Atlantic).
In 1963 Uganda becomes a republic within the British Commonwealth.
In 1967 Che Guevara executed in Bolivia.
In 1970 Khmer Republic (Cambodia) declares independence.
In 1973 Elvis and Priscilla Presley divorce after 6 years.
In 1990 Saddam threatens to hit Israel with a new missile

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10th

In 1731 Henry Cavendish, English physicist, chemist
In 1813 Giuseppe Verdi, composer of operas (Rigoletto, Aida, Otello), born.
In 1830 Emily Dickinson, poet, born.
In 1846 Neptune's moon Triton discovered by William Lassell.
In 1861 Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian Arctic explorer, humanitarian (Nobel 1922), born.
In 1886 Griswold Lorillard wears the first dinner jacket to the Autumn Ball in Tuxedo Park. Thus the name 'tuxedo.'
In 1892 Ivo Andric, Yugoslav novelist (Bridge on the Drina) (Nobel '61), born.
In 1895 Lin Yi-t'ang, Chinese writer (My Country and My People), born.
In 1911 China Revolutionaries under Sun Yat Sen overthrew Manchu dynasty.
In 1913 Pacific and Atlantic mix as engineers blow Gamboa Dam, opening the Panama Canal.
In 1924 James Clavell, author (Shogun, Tai Pan, King Rat, Noble House, Whirlwind), born.
In 1930 Harold Pinter, playwright, born.
In 1933 First synthetic detergent for home use marketed.
In 1935 George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" opened in New York City.
In 1938 Germany completed annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
In 1943 Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as president of China.
In 1946 Ben Vereen, dancer, actor, singer, born.
In 1955 David Lee Roth, rocker, born.
In 1957 President Eisenhower apologized to finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he was refused service in a Dover, Delaware, restaurant.
In 1963 Treaty banning atmospheric nuclear tests signed by US, UK, USSR.
In 1964 18th Summer Olympic Games opened in Tokyo.
In 1970 Fiji gains independence from Britain (National Day).
In 1975 Israel formally signs Sinai accord with Egypt.
In 1980 4,500 people die when a pair of earthquakes struck NW Algeria.
In 1980 Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope network dedicated.
In 1982 Pope John Paul II proclaimed Rev. M. Kolbe, who volunteered to die in place of another inmate at Auschwitz concentration camp, a saint.
In 1985 U.S. fighter jets force Egyptian plane carrying hijackers of Italian ship Achille Lauro to land in Italy, gunmen were placed in custody.

11th

In 1758 Wilhelm Olbers, discoverer of asteroids Pallas and Vesta, born.
In 1811 The Juliana, the first steam-powered ferryboat, begins operation.
In 1844 Henry John Heinz, founded a prepared-foods company, born.
In 1919 Art Blakey, jazz drummer (Jazz Messengers), born.
In 1958 Pioneer 1 launched; first spacecraft launched by NASA.
In 1962 Pope John XXIII convenes 21st Roman Catholic ecumenical council, Vatican II, in Rome.
In 1975 "Saturday Night Live" premiers.
In 1977 Soyuz 25 returns to Earth.
In 1980 Cosmonauts Popov and Ryumin set space endurance record of 184 days.
In 1987 200,000 gays march for civil rights in Washington.

12th

In 1537 Edward VI king of England (1547-53), born.
In 1798 Pedro I 1st emperor of Brazil (1822-31), king of Portugal, born.
In 1860 Elmer A Sperry inventor (gyrocompass), born.
In 1694 Matsuo Basho greatest Japanese haiku poet, dies.
In 1823 Charles Macintosh of Scotland begins selling raincoats (Macs).
In 1870 Robert E Lee General of the Confederate Army, dies at 63.
In 1935 Luciano Pavarotti Moderna Italy, operatic tenor (Oh Giorgio), born.
In 1964 Launch of Voskhod 1, 1st 3 man crew (Komarov, Feokistov, Yegorov).
In 1968 19th modern Olympic games opens in Mexico City.
In 1968 Equatorial Guinea gains independence from Spain (National Day).
In 1976 Hua Guo Feng succeeds Mao Tse Tung as chairman of Communist Party.
In 1978 Representatives of Israel and Egypt open talks in Washington.
In 1984 IRA bombs hotel where Margaret Thatcher is staying.

13th

In 54 Claudius Roman Emperor, dies.
In 1974 Ed Sullivan TV host (Ed Sullivan Show), dies at 73.
In 1792 Washington lays cornerstone of the Executive Mansion (White House).
In 1921 Yves Montand, France, actor/singer (Z, Napoleon), born.
In 1925 Lenny Bruce comedian, arrested on obscenity charges, born.
In 1925 Margaret Thatcher, (Tory) British PM (1979-90), Iron Lady, born.
In 1942 Paul Simon, singer (Kodachrome, Graceland), born.
In 1943 Italy declares war on former ally Germany.
In 1944 US 1st army begins battle of Aachen.
In 1963 "Beatlemania" is coined after the Beatles appear at the Palladium.
In 1969 Soyuz 8 is launched.
In 1987 1st military use of trained dolphins (US Navy in Persian Gulf).

14th

In 1066 Battle of Hastings, in which William the Conqueror wins England.
In 1586 Trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, for conspiracy against Queen Elizabeth I, begins.
In 1633 James II, king of England (1685-88), born.
In 1712 George Grenville, British prime minister (1763-65), born.
In 1843 British arrest Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell for conspiracy.
In 1884 George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film.
In 1894 e e cummings, poet, born.
In 1896 Lillian Gish, silent film and stage actor (Birth of a Nation), born.
In 1912 Theodore Roosevelt is shot in the chest in Milwaukee while campaigning for President with the Bull Moose Party.
In 1926 Roger Moore, actor, (The Saint, numerous James Bond movies), born.
In 1944 German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commits suicide rather than face trial for his part in an attempt to overthrow Hitler.
In 1947 Chuck Yeager pilots the world's first supersonic flight (Mach 1.015 at 12,800 m) at Muroc, CA.
In 1949 14 US Communist Party leaders convicted of sedition.
In 1965 Joe Engle in X-15 reaches 80 km.
In 1976 Soyuz 23 launched to Salyut 6, but return without docking.
In 1977 Bing Crosby dies in Madrid, Spain.
In 1978 First TV movie from a TV series - "Rescue from Gilligan's Island".
In 1990 Conductor, composer, and pianist Leonard Bernstein died of cardiac arrest (brought on by chronic lung failure) less than a week after announcing his retirement from conducting.

15th

In 70 BC Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) (Mantua, Italy), poet (Aeneid), born.
In 1520 King Henry VIII of England orders bowling lanes to be built at Whitehall, in London.
In 1542 Akbar, Indian Mughal emperor (1556-1605), born.
In 1582 Catholic countries switch to Gregorian calendar cut 10 prior days.
In 1783 Jean Pilftre de Rozier makes captive-balloon ascent.
In 1785 Jose Miguel Carrera, president of Chile (1811-14), born.
In 1829 Asaph Hall, astronomer, discovered the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, born.
In 1844 Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher, Ubermensch, born.
In 1908 John Kenneth Galbraith, economist, born.
In 1917 Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., historian, born.
In 1917 Mata Hari executed by firing squad outside of Paris.
In 1921 Mario Puzo, author (Godfather), born.
In 1939 LaGuardia Airport opened in New York City.
In 1943 Penny Marshall (in New York City), actor (Laverne and Shirley), born.
In 1946 Richard Carpenter, musician (Carpenters), born.
In 1946 Nazi Hermann Goering poisons himself in prison.
In 1951 "I Love Lucy" premiers.
In 1959 Princess Sarah 'Fergie' Ferguson, the Duchess of York, born.
In 1959 "The Untouchables" premiers.
In 1964 Kosygin and Brezhnev replace Soviet premier Nikita Krushchev.

16th

In 1708 Albrecht von Haller, the father of experimental physiology
In 1758 Noah Webster, lexicographer
In 1793 Marie Antoinette beheaded in France.
In 1846 Dentist William T. Morton demonstrated the effectiveness of ether.
In 1854 Oscar (Fingal O'Flahertie Wills) Wilde (Dublin, Ireland), author (Picture of Dorian Gray), wit, dandy.
In 1863 Sir Austen Chamberlain, British foreign secretary (Nobel 1925)
In 1869 A hotel in Boston becomes the first to have indoor plumbing.
In 1888 Eugene O'Neill, playwright (Desire Under the Elms) (Nobel 1936)
In 1908 Enver Hoxha, post-war leader of Albania
In 1916 Margaret Sanger opens the first public birth control clinic (Brooklyn, NY).
In 1923 Disney Co. founded.
In 1925 Angela Lansbury, actor (Sweeney Todd; Murder, She Wrote)
In 1927 Gunter Grass, German novelist, poet (The Tin Drum)
In 1945 World Food Day.
In 1946 Ten Nazi leaders hanged as war criminals after Nuremberg trials.
In 1962 Cuban missile crisis began as JFK becomes aware of missiles in Cuba.
In 1964 China becomes world's 5th nuclear power.
In 1970 Anwar Sadat elected president of Egypt, succeeding Gamal Abdel Nasser.
In 1973 Kissinger and Le Duc Tho jointly awarded Nobel peace prize.
In 1976 Soyuz 23 returns to Earth.
In 1978 Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla elected supreme pontiff-Pope John Paul II.
In 1981 Israel's General Moshe Dayan dies at 66.
In 1982 Mt Palomar Observatory first to detect Halley's comet on 13th return.
In 1982 Shultz warns US will withdraw from UN if they vote to exclude Israel.
In 1984 Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu named Nobel Peace Prize winner.
In 1985 Intel introduces 32-bit 80386 microcomputer chip.
In 1987 18-month-old Jessica McClure is rescued 58 hours after she fell 22 feet into a well shaft in Midland, TX.
In 1987 175-kph winds cause blackout in London, much of southern England.
In 1990 Jazz drummer Art Blakey dies.

17th

In 1492 Columbus sights the isle of San Salvador.
In 1793 Marie Antoinette executed.
In 1835 Alexandrine-Pieternella-Fran�oise Tinn, explored the White Nile, born.
In 1887 Gustav Kirchoff, discoverer of the laws of spectroscopy, dies.
In 1915 Arthur Miller, playwright (Death of a Salesman, The Crucible), born.
In 1919 Rita Hayworth (in New York), actor, Alzheimer victim, born.
In 1921 Tom Poston, comedian, actor (Newhart), born.
In 1931 Al Capone convicted of tax evasion, sentenced to 11 years in prison.
In 1933 Albert Einstein arrives in the US, a refugee from Nazi Germany.
In 1933 William A. Anders, astronaut (Apollo 8), born.
In 1938 Robert 'Evel' Knievel, motorcycle daredevil, born.
In 1945 Juan Peron becomes dictator of Argentina.
In 1948 Margot Kidder (in Yellowknife), actor (Superman), born.
In 1949 George Wendt, actor (Cheers), born.
In 1957 Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visit the White House.
In 1967 Pete Knight in X-15 reaches 85 km about Earth.
In 1969 Soyuz 7 returns to Earth.
In 1973 The Arab oil embargo begins. It will last until March, 1974.
In 1977 West German commandos storm a hijacked Lufthansa airliner in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages aboard and killing three of the four hijackers.
In 1979 Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1989 San Francisco is hit by an earthquake (Richter 6.9) at 5:05 p.m. Over 1/2 mile of the upper deck of the Nimitz freeway collapses crushing hundreds of cars. When it was over, 62 people had died and $6 billion in damage had occurred.

18th

In 1016 Danes defeat Saxons at Battle of Assandun (Ashingdon).
In 1685 Louis XIV revokes Edict of Nantes, outlaws Protestantism, hastens onset of French Revolution.
In 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, ends War of Austrian Succession.
In 1776 In a NY bar decorated with bird tail, customer orders "cock tail".
In 1867 US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia ($7.2 million).
In 1908 Belgium annexes Congo Free State.
In 1909 Comte de Lambert of France sets airplane altitude record of 300 m.
In 1922 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) established.
In 1926 Chuck Berry, St Louis, USA, rocker (Roll over Beethoven), born.
In 1931 Thomas Alva Edison inventor, dies in West Orange, NJ, at 84.
In 1939 Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK's assassin, born.
In 1944 Soviet troops invade Czechoslovakia during WW II.
In 1951 Pam Dawber Detroit, actress (Mindy-Mork and Mindy), born.
In 1956 Martina Navratilova, Prague, Czech Republic, tennis champion (Wimbledon 1989, 79, 82-87), born.
In 1958 Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgium, actor (Kickboxer, No Retreat)
In 1961 Wynton Marsalis, New Orleans La, jazz trumpeter (Grammy 1983), born.
In 1963 I.O.C. votes Mexico City to host 1968 Olympics.
In 1967 Soviet Venera 4 becomes the 1st probe to send data back from Venus.
In 1967 Walt Disney's "Jungle Book" is released.
In 1968 Police find 219 grains of cannabis resin in John and Yoko's apartment.
In 1968 US Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving "black power" salute as a protest during victory ceremony.

19th

In 1812 Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow.
In 1845 Wagner's opera Tannhauser performed for 1st time.
In 1862 Auguste Lumiere, made 1st movie (Workers Leaving Lumiere Factory), born.
In 1872 World's largest gold nugget (215 kg) found in New South Wales.
In 1912 Tripoli (Libya) passes from Turkish to Italian control.
In 1945 Divine (Harris Glenn Milstead) film actor, born.
In 1945 John Lithgow, actor (Harry and the Hendersons, 3rd Rock From The Sun), born.
In 1950 UN forces entered Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.
In 1951 Pres Harry S Truman formally ends state of war with Germany.
In 1960 France grants Mauritania independence.
In 1960 Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested in Atlanta sit-in.
In 1960 The US imposes an embargo on exports to Cuba.
In 1962 Evander Hollyfield, 2-time Heavyweight boxing champ, born.
In 1963 Beatles record "I Want to Hold Your Hand".
In 1967 Mariner 5 makes fly-by of Venus.
In 1987 US warships destroy 2 Iranian oil platforms in Persian Gulf.
In 1988 Britain bans broadcast interviews with IRA members.

20th

In 1600 Battle of Sekigahara sets Tokugawa clan as Japan's rulers (shoguns).
In 1632 Sir Christopher Wren, England, astronomer/great architect, born.
In 1740 Maria Theresa became ruler of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia.
In 1813 German Kingdom of Westphalia abolished.
In 1854 Arthur Rimbaud, France, poet/adventurer (Illuminations), born.
In 1889 Margaret Dumont, actress-Marx Brothers' foil, born.
In 1931 Mickey Mantle, NY Yankee home run slugger, born.
In 1932 William Christopher, actor (Father Mulcahy-M*A*S*H), born.
In 1934 Martin Landau, actor (Mission Impossible, Space 1999, Tucker), born.
In 1944 Revolution by workers and students in Guatemala.
In 1953 Tom Petty, Florida, USA, singer, born.
In 1963 South Africa begins trial of Nelson Mandela and 8 others on conspiracy.
In 1964 Herbert Hoover 31st president of US, dies in NY at 90.
In 1968 Jacqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis.
In 1972 Harlow Shapley discoverer of the Sun's position in the galaxy, dies.
In 1988 Britain ends suspects right to remain silent in crackdown on IRA.
In 1990 3 members of 2 Live Crew acquitted on obsenity charges in Florida.
In 1990 Antiwar protest marches begin in 20 US cities (US-Iraq).

21st

In 1772 Samuel Taylor Coleridge (in England), poet, born.
In 1797 U.S. Navy frigate USS Constitution, Old Ironsides, launched in Boston.
In 1805 Battle of Trefalgar, although killed in this battle, Nelson established British naval supremacy for the next century, beating both French and Spanish.
In 1833 Alfred Bernhard Nobel (in Stockholm, Sweden), created dynamite and Peace Prizes, born.
In 1868 Severe earthquake at 7:53 a.m., centered in Hayward, Calif.
In 1879 Thomas Edison commercially perfects the light bulb.
In 1912 Sir Georg Solti, conductor, born.
In 1914 Martin Gardner, Scientific American math and puzzles columnist, born.
In 1917 Dizzy Gillespie, trumpeter, a creator of modern jazz, born.
In 1918 Margaret Owen sets world typing speed record of 170 wpm for 1 min.
In 1923 Deutsches Museum, Munich, first Walther Bauersfeld's Zeiss Planetarium.
In 1940 Manfred Mann, musician, born.
In 1944 US troops captured Aachen, first large German city to fall (WW II).
In 1945 Women in France allowed to vote for the first time.
In 1948 Facsimile high-speed radio transmission demonstrated, Washington DC.
In 1956 Carrie Fisher (in Beverly Hills), actor (Star Wars, Blues Brothers), born.
In 1959 Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens in New York.
In 1960 JFK and Nixon clashed in 4th and final pres debate.
In 1967 Ejnar Hertzsprung, Danish astrophysicist dies at 94.
In 1967 Thousands opposing Vietnam War tried to storm the Pentagon.
In 1975 Venera 9, first craft to orbit the planet Venus launched.
In 1977 US recalls William Bowdler, ambassador to South Africa.
In 1984 Steve Jones runs Chicago Marathon in world record 2 hours, 8 minutes, 5 seconds.

22nd

In 4004 B.C. Universe created at 8:00 PM, according to the 1650 pronouncement of Anglican archbishop James Usher.
In 1797 Andre-Jacques Garnerin makes the first parachute jump from a balloon (Paris, France).
In 1811 Franz Liszt (in Hungary), Romantic composer, virtuoso pianist, born.
In 1887 John Reed, journalist who reported on Mexican, Russian revolutions, born.
In 1920 Timothy Leary, psychologist, drug testing advocate, born.
In 1934 Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd shot dead by FBI in Ohio.
In 1938 Christopher Lloyd, actor (Taxi, Star Trek III, Back to the Future, Addams Family), born.
In 1942 Annette Funichello (in Utica, NY), Mouseketeer, actor, born.
In 1943 Catherine Deneuve (in Paris, France), (Repulsion), born.
In 1952 Jeff Goldblum, actor (The Fly, Silverado, Buckaroo Bonzai, ID4), born.
In 1953 Laos gains full independence from France.
In 1954 West Germany joins North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
In 1962 JFK imposes naval blockade on Cuba, beginning missile crisis.
In 1968 Apollo 7 returns to Earth.
In 1973 Security Council Resol 338 - a cease fire to the Yom Kippur War.
In 1975 Soviet spacecraft Venera 9 lands on Venus.
In 1979 Deposed Shah of Iran arrived in NY for medical treatment.
In 1979 Walt Disney World's 100-millionth guest.

23rd

In 1752 Nicolas Appert, inventor of food canning, bouillon tablet, born.
In 1790 Slaves revolt in Haiti (later suppressed).
In 1844 Robert Bridges, poet laureate of England (The Testament of Beauty), born.
In 1905 Felix Bloch, U.S. physicist (Nobel 1952), born.
In 1905 Karl Jansky, discoverer of cosmic radio emissions in 1932, born.
In 1915 25,000 women marched in NYC, demanding the right to vote.
In 1925 Johnny Carson, pundit (Tonight Show), born.
In 1940 Edison Pele, soccer player extraordinaire, born.
In 1941 Walt Disney's "Dumbo" is released.
In 1942 Michael Crichton, author (Andromeda Strain, Jurrasic Park, Rising Sun), born.
In 1942 During WW II, Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt.
In 1946 United Nations General Assembly convenes in New York for first time in Flushing Meadow.
In 1956 First video recording on magnetic tape televised coast-to-coast.
In 1956 The ill-fated revolt in Communist Hungary starts -- The Prague Spring. It was later crushed by Soviet tanks.
In 1958 Soviet novelist Boris Pasternak, wins Nobel Prize for Literature.
In 1973 President Nixon agrees to turn over White House tape recordings.
In 1977 By 2/3 majority, Panamanians vote to approve the new Canal treaties.
In 1980 Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin resigns, due to illness.
In 1983 241 US Marines and sailors die in a terrorist suicide attack on their barracks in Beriut.
In 1989 33 years after Soviet tanks crushed the Prague Spring, Hungary declares itself a republic.

24th

In 1537 Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII, dies.
In 1795 Third partition of Poland, between Austria, Prussia and Russia.
In 1836 The match is patented.
In 1851 William Lassell discovers Ariel and Umbriel, satellites of Unranus.
In 1861 First transcontinental telegram sent.
In 1901 Anna Taylor, first to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and live.
In 1904 Moss Hart, playwright, born.
In 1929 "Black Thursday", the beginning of the stock market crash.
In 1940 F. Murray Abraham, actor (Amadeus, Name of the Rose), born.
In 1945 United Nations Charter goes into effect.
In 1947 Kevin Kline, actor, born.
In 1960 Disaster on USSR launch pad killed missile expert Nedelin and team (unconfirmed); USSR claims he was killed in plane crash.
In 1964 Zambia (N. Rhodesia) gains independence from Britain (National Day).
In 1970 Salvador Allende Gossens elected president of Chile.
In 1973 Yom Kippur War ends - Israel 65 miles from Cairo, 26 from Damascus.
In 1976 The first Jewish film and TV festival.

25th

In 1400 Author Geoffrey Chaucer dies in London.
In 1415 Battle of Agincourt, Welsh longbow defeats the armored knight.
In 1671 Giovanni Cassini discovers Iapetus, satellite of Saturn.
In 1760 George III ascends the British throne.
In 1825 Johann Strauss the Younger, composer, Waltz King
In 1838 Georges Bizet, composer
In 1877 Henry Norris Russell, astronomer (Hertzsprung-Russell diagram)
In 1881 Pablo Picasso, doodler (Guernica) (or 10-05)
In 1884 Eduardo Barrios, Chilean novelist (The Love-Crazed Boy)
In 1888 Richard E. Byrd, polar explorer
In 1928 Marion Ross (in Minnesota), actor (Played Mrs. Cunningham in Happy Days)
In 1935 Russell L. (Rusty) Schweickart, astronaut (Apollo 9)
In 1939 Nylon stockings go on sale in the U.S. for the first time.
In 1941 Helen Reddy (in Melbourne, Australia), singer (I am Woman)
In 1960 First electronic wrist watch placed on sale, NY city.
In 1962 Stevenson demands USSR ambassador Zorin answer regarding Cuban missle bases saying, "I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over."
In 1971 UN General Assembly admits Mainland China and expels Taiwan.
In 1975 USSR Venera 10 made day Venus landing.
In 1983 US invades Grenada, a country with 1/2000 its population.
In 1854 The Light Brigade charges -- Battle of Balaklava (Crimean War).

26th

In 901 King Alfred the Great, dies.
In 1863 Worldwide Red Cross organized in Geneva.
In 1863 Football Association forms in England, standardizing soccer.
In 1879 Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (pres of 1st Soviet), born.
In 1909 Prince Ito of Japan is assassinated by a Korean.
In 1917 Felix the Cat, cartoon character, born.
In 1919 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Aryamehr, Shah of Iran (1941-79), born.
In 1942 Bob Hoskins, Suffolk, England, actor (Brazil, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), born.
In 1947 Jaclyn Smith, actress (Charlie's Angel, Nightkill), born.
In 1955 Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as president.
In 1957 USSR fires defense minister, Marshal Georgi Zhukov (Zhukov lead USSR into Berlin during WW2).
In 1962 Cary Elwes, actor (Glory, Princess Bride, Robin Hood - Men In Tights), born.
In 1967 Shah of Iran crowns himself after 26 years on Peacock Throne.
In 1972 Guided tours of Alcatraz (by Park Service) begin.
In 1975 Anwar Sadat became 1st Egyptian president to officially visit the US.
In 1976 Transkei gains independence, not recognized outside of South Africa.
In 1976 Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic.
In 1979 Park Chung-hee South Korean President is assassinated.
In 1987 Head of El Salvadoran Human Rights Committee assassinated by death squads.
In 1988 US-Soviet effort free 2 grey whales from frozen Arctic.

27th

In 1728 James Cook, captain/explorer, discovered Sandwich Islands and led First Fleet to Australia, born.
In 1782 Niccolo Paganini, Genoa, Italy, composer/violin virtuoso (Princess Lucca), born.
In 1858 Theodore Roosevelt 26th President of US (1901-09) (Nobel 1906), born.
In 1872 Emily Post authority on social behavior, writer (Etiquette), born.
In 1914 Dylan Thomas, Swansea, Wales, poet (Child's Christmas in Wales), born.
In 1923 Roy Lichtenstein, Pop art painter; painted comic book panels, born.
In 1924 The Uzbek SSR forms.
In 1938 DuPont announces its new synthetic fiber will be called "nylon".
In 1939 John Cleese comedian/actor (Monty Python, Fawlty Towers), born.
In 1947 "You Bet Your Life", with Groucho Marx, premieres on American ABC radio.
In 1958 Simon Le Bon, rocker (Duran Duran), born.
In 1961 Outer Mongolia and Mauritania become the 102nd and 103rd members of UN.
In 1969 St Vincent and the Grenadines gains associated status with Britain.
In 1971 Republic of the Congo becomes Republic of Zaire.
In 1979 St Vincent and the Grenadines becomes independent of UK (Nat'l Day).
In 1979 Voluntary Euthanasia Society publishes how-to-do-it suicide guide.
In 1982 China announces its population at 1 billion people plus.
In 1987 South Korean voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution.
In 1988 Larry Flynt paid hitman $1M to kill Hefner, Guccione and Sinatra.

28th

In 1017 Henry III, Holy Roman emperor (1046-56)
In 1492 Columbus arrives in Cuba.
In 1585 Cornelius Otto Jansen of France, Roman Catholic reform leader
In 1636 Harvard College, first US college founded.
In 1793 Eli Whitney applies for patent for the cotton gin.
In 1585 Cornelius Otto Jansen of France, Roman Catholic reform leader
In 1904 St. Louis Police try a new investigation method - fingerprints.
In 1914 Dr. Jonas Salk, who made polio a fear of the past
In 1918 Czechoslovakia declares independence from Austria.
In 1919 Walther Bauersfeld, invented first modern projection planetarium
In 1919 Volstead Act passed by U.S. Congress, starting Prohibition.
In 1922 Benito Mussolini takes control of Italy's government.
In 1929 First child born in aircraft, Miami, Fl.
In 1940 Gennadi M. Strekalov, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz T-3, T-8, T-11)
In 1946 German rocket engineers begin work in USSR.
In 1948 The flag of Israel is adopted.
In 1962 Krushchev orders withdrawal of Cuban missiles.
In 1965 Pope Paul VI proclaims Jews not collectively guilty for crucifixion.
In 1970 US/USSR signed an agreement to discuss joint space efforts.
In 1971 England becomes 6th nation to have a satellite (Prospero) in orbit.

29th

In 539 BC Babylon falls to Cyrus the Great of Persia.
In 1618 Sir Walter Raleigh is executed in London.
In 1656 Edmund Halley (in London), sky watcher, namesake of Halley's Comet, born.
In 1682 Pennsylvania granted to William Penn by King Charles II.
In 1727 Severe earthquake in New England.
In 1740 James Boswell (in Scotland), Samuel Johnson's biographer, born.
In 1863 International Committee of the Red Cross is founded (Nobel 1917, 1944, 1963).
In 1873 Guillermo Valencia, Colombian poet, translator, statesman, born.
In 1875 Marie, queen consort of Ferdinand I of Rumania, born.
In 1884 Bela Lugosi, horror actor (Dracula, Body Snatcher), born.
In 1897 Paul Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propagandist, born.
In 1923 Turkey is proclaimed to have a republican government.
In 1929 "Black Tuesday", the Stock Market crash.
In 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition closes (first closure).
In 1956 Israeli paratroopers drop into the Sinai to open Straits of Tiran.
In 1947 Richard Dreyfuss, actor (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), born.
In 1948 Kate Jackson (in Alabama), actor (Charley's Angels, Making Love), born.
In 1964 Star of India and other jewels are stolen in NY.

30th

In 1270 8th and last crusade is launched.
In 1632 Richard Brinsley Sheridan, playwright (Rivals, School for Scandal)
In 1775 US Navy is created.
In 1873 Francisco Madero, Mexican revolutionary, president (1911-13)
In 1885 Ezra Pound (in Hailey, Idaho)
In 1896 Ruth Gordon (in Mass.), actor (Rosemary's Baby, Harold and Maude)
In 1905 Tsar Nicholas II grants Russia a constitution.
In 1918 Fyodor Dostoevsky, author
In 1922 Mussolini forms cabinet in Italy.
In 1938 Orson Welles panics a nation with his broadcast of H. G. Wells' "War of the Worlds".
In 1939 Grace Slick (in Chicago, IL), singer (Jefferson Airplane/Starship)
In 1943 Talia Shire, actor (Rocky (as Adrian))
In 1945 Henry Winkler, actor (Happy Days as the Fonz)
In 1953 Dr. Albert Schweitzer received Nobel Peace Prize for 1952.
In 1961 Soviet Party Congress unanimously approves a resolution removing Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb in Red Square.
In 1967 USSR Kosmos 186 and 188 make first automatic docking. Also, Venera 13 is launched.
In 1974 Muhammad Ali KOs George Foreman in 8th round in Kinshasa, Zaire.
In 1985 22nd Space Shuttle Mission, Challenger 9, is launched carrying eight crewmen (2 Germans, 1 Dutch).

31st

In 1517 Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses, begins Protestant Reformation.
In 1632 Jan Vermeer (in Holland), painter (Procuress, The Astronomer)
In 1795 John Keats, Romantic poet
In 1815 Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents the miner's safety lamp.
In 1865 William Parson, third Earl of Rosse and maker of large telescopes dies.
In 1922 Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier of Italy.
In 1926 Erich Weiss, better known as Magician Harry Houdini, dies.
In 1930 Michael Collins, astronaut (Gemini 10, Apollo 11)
In 1936 Michael Landon, actor
In 1950 Jane Pauley (in Indianapolis, IN), newscaster, born.
In 1950 John Candy, actor (Second City TV, Splash, Blues Brothers)
In 1952 First thermonuclear bomb detonated - Marshall Islands.
In 1959 Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow he will never return to U.S.
In 1968 U.S. President Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam.
In 1980 Julian Nott sets world hot-air balloon altitude record (16,806 m).

This page last revised: May 2005

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