Category: On This Day in History

January 22 – On This Day In History

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22 January

What happened today in history?

  • 1901 – Edward VII is proclaimed King of England following the death of Queen Victoria, his mother.

  • 1924 – Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the UK.
  • 1927 – The first ever radio commentary of a football (soccer) match is broadcast on radio. The match was Arsenal against Sheffiled United and the commentator was Teddy Wakelam.
  • 2006 – Kobe Bryant scores 81 points in a single NBA basketball match, playing for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Toronto Raptors.

Who was born today?

  • 1552 – Walter Raleigh – English explorer and soldier.
  • 1561 – Francis Bacon – English philosopher.
  • 1645 – William Kidd – Scottish sailor and privateer.
  • 1788 – Lord Byron – English poet.
  • 1907 – Dixie Dean – English footballer.
  • 1920 – Alf Ramsey – English footballer and manager.

Who died today?

  • 1901 – Queen Victoria – Queen of the United Kingdom.
  • 1973 – Lyndon B. Johnson – 36th President of the United States.
  • 2008 – Heath Ledger – Australian actor (The Dark Knight, Brokeback Mountain)

January 23 – On This Day In History

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23 January

What happened today in history?

  • 1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi Earthquake, hits China.
  • 1855 –  The first bridge over the Mississippi River is opened in Minnesota.
  • 1967 – Milton Keynes in England is founded as a new town.

Who was born today?

  • 1745 – William Jessop – English enginner
  • 1832 – Edouard Manet – French painter.
  • 1984 – Arjen Robben – Dutch footballer.

 

Who died today?

  • 1806 – William Pitt the Younger – Prime Minister of UK.
  • 1875 – Charles Kingsley – English author (The Water-Babies, Alton Locke).
  • 1931 – Anna Pavlova – Russian ballerina.
  • 1944 – Edvard Munch – Norwegian painter.
  • 1989 – Salvador Dali – Spanish painter.

September 2 – On This Day In History

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2 September

What happened today in history?

  • 1666 – The Great Fire of London starts, and it continues to burn for three days.
  • 1945 – World War 2 combat in the Pacific ends as Mamoru Shigemitsu (the Japanese Foreign Minister) signs surrender documents.
  • 2013 – A new portion of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is opened. At the time, it is the widest bridge in the world.

Who was born today?

  • 1952 – Jimmy Connors –  American tennis player.
  • 1964 – Keanu Reeves – Canadian actor (The Matrix, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Speed)
  • 1965 – Lennox Lewis – English-Canadian heavyweight boxing champion.

 

Who died today?

  • 1910 – Henri Rousseau –  French painter.
  • 1973 – J. R. R. Tolkien – English author (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings).
  • 2005 – Bob Denver – American singer.

September 1 – On This Day In History

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1 September

What happened today in history?

  • 1914 – Martha, the world’s last passenger pigeon, dies in the Cincinnati Zoo.
  • 1939 – Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War 2.
  • 1952 – Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea is first published.
  • 1997 – Buckingham Palace announces the death Diana, Princess of Wales.

Who was born today?

  • 1875 – Edgar Rice Burroughs –  American author (Tarzan)
  • 1962 – Ruud Gullit – Dutch footballer and manager.
  • 1966 – Tim Hardaway – American basketball player and coach.
  • 1989 – Daniel Sturridge – English footballer.

 

Who died today?

August 21 – On This Day In History

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21 August

What happened today in history?

  • 1770 – James Cook claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, calling it New South Wales.
  • 1959 – Hawaii is admitted to the United States as the 50th state of the union.

Who was born today?

  • 1936 – Wilt Chamberlain –  American basketball player.
  • 1952 – Joe Strummer – English singer-songwriter (The Clash).
  • 1986 – Usain Bolt – Jamaican sprinter.

 

Who died today?

  • 1940 – Leon Trotsky –  Russian politician.
  • 1988 – Ray Eames – American architect (the Eames House).

August 17 – On This Day In History

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17 August

What happened today in history?

  • 1668 – 8000 are killed by an earthquake in Anatolia, Ottoman Empire.
  • 1771 – The first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis is completed by James Robertson, a Scottish botanist.
  • 1982 – First compact discs (CDs) are released to the public.
  • 2008 – Michael Phelps becomes the first winner of 8 gold medals in one Olympic Games.

Who was born today?

  • 1786 – Davy Crockett –  American soldier and folk hero.
  • 1893 – Mae West – American actress.
  • 1930 – Ted Hughes – English poet and author.
  • 1943 – Robert De Niro – American actor (Taxi Driver, The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas).
  • 1960 – Sean Penn – American actor and director.
  • 1970 – Jim Courier – American tennis player.
  • 1977 – Thierry Henry – French footballer.

 

Who died today?

  • 1983 – Ira Gershwin –  American songwriter.
  • 2007 – Bill Deedes – Engllish journalist.

August 16 – On This Day In Hisotry

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16 August

What happened today in history?

  • 1513 – Battle of the Spurs (Battle of Guinegate). King Henry VIII  and his allies defeat French forces.
  • 1819 – Peretloo Massacre -17 people are killed and hundreds injured when cavalry charge at a public meeting at St Peter’s Field in Manchester, England.
  • 1960 – Cyprus gains its independence form the United Kingdom.

Who was born today?

  • 1769 – T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) – Welsh colonel.
  • 1934 – Diana Wynne Jones – English author (Howl’s Moving Castle)
  • 1954 – James Cameron – Canadian director (Titanic, Aliens, The Terminator, Avatar)
  • 1958 – Madonna – American singer-songwriter.

 

Who died today?

  • 1888 – John Pemberton – .American inventor of Coca-Cola.
  • 1938 – Robert Johnson – American singer-songwriter.
  • 1948 – Babe Ruth – American baseball player.
  • 1949 – Margaret Mitchell – American author (Gone with the Wind)
  • 1977 – Elvis Presley – American singer and actor.

August 15 – On This Day In History

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15 August

What happened today in history?

  • 1519 – Panama City is founded in Panama.
  • 1843 – Tivoli Gardens, one of the world’s oldest amusement parks, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • 1914 – The first ship (SS Ancon) passes through the Panama Canal.
  • 1914 – Battle of Cer starts (the first Allied victory of World War 1).
  • 1952 – A flood in Lynmouth, England, kills 34 people.
  • 2013 – The olinguito, a member of the racoon family, is announced as the first new carnivore to be discovered in the Americas in more than 30 years.

Who was born today?

  • 1769 – Napoleon – French general and emperor.
  • 1771 – Walter Scott – Scottish author ( Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Lady of the Lake).
  • 1858 – Edith Nesbitt – English author (The Railway Children, Five Children and It)
  • 1904 – George Klein – Canadian inventor of the electric wheelchair.
  • 1912 – Julia Child – American chef.
  • 1946 – Tony Robinson – English actor and presenter (Blackadder and Time Team).
  • 1972 – Ben Affleck – American actor (Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare in Love, Dogma, Batman v Superman)
  • 1990 – Jennifer Lawrence – American actress (Winter’s Bone, X-Men: First Class, The Hunger Games)

 

Who died today?

  • 1057 – Macbeth – King of Scotland
  • 1935 – Will Rogers – American actor and singer.
  • 1935 – Paul Signac – French artist.

March 29 – On This Day In History

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29 March

What happened today in history?

Who was born today?

  • 1957 – Christopher Lambert – American-French actor.
  • 1959 – Perry Farrell – American singer-songwriter (Jane’s Addiction).
  • 1973 – Marc Overmars – Dutch footballer.

 

Who died today?

March 28 – On This Day in History

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28 March

What happened today in history?

  • 845 – Paris is attacked by Viking raiders.
  • 1930 – Constantinople changes its name to Istanbul.

Who was born today?

  • 1921 – Dirk Bogarde – English actor and writer.
  • 1981 – Julia Stiles – American actress.
  • 1986 – Lady Gaga – American singer-songwriter.

 

Who died today?

  • 1584 – Ivan the Terrible – Russian king.
  • 1969 – Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th President of the United States).
  • 1985 – Marc Chagall – Russian artist.
  • 2004 – Peter Ustinov – English-Swiss actor, writer and director.