Today in History
1099 First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem
1456 Battle at Nandorfehervar (Belgrade): Hungarian army under Janos Hunyadi beats Sultan Murad II
1515 First Congress of Vienna settles issues between Poland and Holy Roman Empire - rise of the Habsburgs influence
1587 2nd English colony forms on Roanoke Island off North Carolina
1796 Cleveland, Ohio, founded by General Moses Cleaveland. Originally called ‘Cleaveland’, the public adopted the current name after a newspaper editor noticed the name was too long to fit on the page.
1864 Battle of Atlanta: General Sherman’s Union side defeats Confederate troops under General Hood, with 8,449 Confederate and 3,641 US casualties
1893 Katharine Lee Bates writes “America the Beautiful” in Colorado
1916 A bomb explodes during a Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco killing 10
1934 Outside Chicago’s Biograph Theatre, “Public Enemy No. 1” John Dillinger is mortally wounded by FBI agents
1937 US Senate rejects FDR’s proposal to enlarge Supreme Court
1942 Warsaw Ghetto Jews (300,000) are sent to Treblinka Extermination Camp
1943 US forces led by General George Patton liberate Palermo, Sicily
1955 Richard Nixon becomes the first US Vice President to preside over a cabinet meeting
1963 Sarawak achieves independence from British colonial rule
1975 US House of Representives votes to restore citizenship to General Robert E. Lee
1983 Dick Smith makes 1st solo helicopter flight around the world
1986 US House of Representatives impeaches Judge Harry E. Claiborne for tax evasion
1988 500 US scientists pledge to boycott Pentagon germ-warfare research
1991 Jeffrey Dahmer confesses to killing 17 men in 1978
1992 Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes prison
1994 Former NFL running back, broadcaster and actor O.J. Simpson pleads “Absolutely 100% Not Guilty” of murder
2003 Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein’s sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay’s 14-year old son, and a bodyguard
2011 Norway is the victim of twin terror attacks, the first a bomb blast targeting government buildings in central Oslo, second a massacre at a youth camp on island of Utøya
2014 News broadcaster Al Jazeera claim that its office in Gaza is under attack by the Israeli Defence Force
2014 European Union claim that Israel ‘has the right to defend itself’, but say civilian casualties in Gaza are unacceptable
2016 Hillary Clinton announces Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her Vice Presidential running mate
2019 US President Donald Trump says US could win war in Afghanistan in a week “I just don’t want to kill 10 million people. If I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth”
Movies & TV
1959 Ed Wood’s cult classic “Plan 9 from Outer Space”, called one of the worse films ever, premieres
2019 Marvel superhero film “Avengers: Endgame” becomes the world’s highest-grossing film overtaking “Avatar” earning $2.9 billion
Music
1933 Caterina Jarboro sings “Aida” at the New York Hippodrome, becoming the 1st black female opera singer to perform in the US
1963 The Beatles release “Introducing the Beatles”
1969 Aretha Franklin arrested for disturbing the peace in Detroit
1999 Woodstock 99 music festival begins Griffiss Park, Rome NY (till 25th) attended by 200,000. Ended due to violence.
Sports
1923 Walter Johnson becomes 1st to strikeout 3,000 (en route to 3,508)
1997 Greg Maddux throws a complete game with just 76 pitches
2017 South African golfer Branden Grace records lowest round for a men’s major championship - 62 in 3rd round at British Open, Royal Birkdale, England
2018 Seattle basketball guard Sue Bird plays record 500th WNBA game as Storm go down 87-74 to the Atlanta Dream; finishes career on 508 games for Seattle
2019 NFL Dallas Cowboys named most valuable sports team in the world worth $5 billion, MLB New York Yankees 2nd at $4.6 billion, Real Madrid 3rd with $4.2 billion according to Forbes
Birthdays
1849 Emma Lazarus, Americn poet (“New Colossus” - on the base of Statue of Liberty), born in NYC, New York
1890 Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, American matriarch, mother of JFK, RFK & Ted, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1995)
1908 Amy Vanderbilt, American authority on etiquette (Complete Book of Etiquette, Complete Cook Book), born in NYC, New York
1922 Dan Rowan [Daniel Hale Rowan], American comedian (Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In), born in Beggs, Oklahoma (d. 1987)
1923 Bob [Robert] Dole, American politician (Senate Republican leader, 1985-96, Presidential candidate in 1996), born in Russell, Kansas
1928 Orson Bean, American actor and comedian (To Tell the Truth), born in Burlington, Vermont (d. 2020)
1932 Oscar de la Renta, Domincan American fashion designer (Coty Hall of Fame-1973), born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (d. 2014)
1940 Alex Trebek, Canadian-American TV game host (High Rollers, Jeopardy), born in Sudbury, Ontario
1946 Danny Glover, American actor and activist (Lethal Weapon, The Color Purple), born in San Francisco, California
1947 Don Henley, rock drummer/vocalist (Eagles-Desparado), born in Linden, Texas
1949 Alan Menken, American Disney composer (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast - 8 Oscars), born in New Rochelle, New York
1955 Willem Dafoe, Wisc, actor (Platoon, Roadhouse 66, Mississippi Burning)
1964 David Spade, American comedian and actor (SNL, Tommy Boy, Black Sheep), born in Birmingham, Michigan
1972 Keyshawn Johnson, American NFL wide receiver (Super Bowl 2002; Pro Bowl 1998-99, 2001; ESPN), born in Los Angeles, California
1992 Selena Gomez, American actress and singer (Revival, Stars Dance), born in Grand Prairie, Texas
2013 Prince George of Cambridge, son of Prince William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, England (3rd in line to the English throne), born in London.1099 First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem
1456 Battle at Nandorfehervar (Belgrade): Hungarian army under Janos Hunyadi beats Sultan Murad II
1515 First Congress of Vienna settles issues between Poland and Holy Roman Empire - rise of the Habsburgs influence
1587 2nd English colony forms on Roanoke Island off North Carolina
1796 Cleveland, Ohio, founded by General Moses Cleaveland. Originally called ‘Cleaveland’, the public adopted the current name after a newspaper editor noticed the name was too long to fit on the page.
1864 Battle of Atlanta: General Sherman’s Union side defeats Confederate troops under General Hood, with 8,449 Confederate and 3,641 US casualties
1893 Katharine Lee Bates writes “America the Beautiful” in Colorado
1916 A bomb explodes during a Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco killing 10
1934 Outside Chicago’s Biograph Theatre, “Public Enemy No. 1” John Dillinger is mortally wounded by FBI agents
1937 US Senate rejects FDR’s proposal to enlarge Supreme Court
1942 Warsaw Ghetto Jews (300,000) are sent to Treblinka Extermination Camp
1943 US forces led by General George Patton liberate Palermo, Sicily
1955 Richard Nixon becomes the first US Vice President to preside over a cabinet meeting
1963 Sarawak achieves independence from British colonial rule
1975 US House of Representives votes to restore citizenship to General Robert E. Lee
1983 Dick Smith makes 1st solo helicopter flight around the world
1986 US House of Representatives impeaches Judge Harry E. Claiborne for tax evasion
1988 500 US scientists pledge to boycott Pentagon germ-warfare research
1991 Jeffrey Dahmer confesses to killing 17 men in 1978
1992 Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes prison
1994 Former NFL running back, broadcaster and actor O.J. Simpson pleads “Absolutely 100% Not Guilty” of murder
2003 Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein’s sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay’s 14-year old son, and a bodyguard
2011 Norway is the victim of twin terror attacks, the first a bomb blast targeting government buildings in central Oslo, second a massacre at a youth camp on island of Utøya
2014 News broadcaster Al Jazeera claim that its office in Gaza is under attack by the Israeli Defence Force
2014 European Union claim that Israel ‘has the right to defend itself’, but say civilian casualties in Gaza are unacceptable
2016 Hillary Clinton announces Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her Vice Presidential running mate
2019 US President Donald Trump says US could win war in Afghanistan in a week “I just don’t want to kill 10 million people. If I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth”
Movies & TV
1959 Ed Wood’s cult classic “Plan 9 from Outer Space”, called one of the worse films ever, premieres
2019 Marvel superhero film “Avengers: Endgame” becomes the world’s highest-grossing film overtaking “Avatar” earning $2.9 billion
Music
1933 Caterina Jarboro sings “Aida” at the New York Hippodrome, becoming the 1st black female opera singer to perform in the US
1963 The Beatles release “Introducing the Beatles”
1969 Aretha Franklin arrested for disturbing the peace in Detroit
1999 Woodstock 99 music festival begins Griffiss Park, Rome NY (till 25th) attended by 200,000. Ended due to violence.
Sports
1923 Walter Johnson becomes 1st to strikeout 3,000 (en route to 3,508)
1997 Greg Maddux throws a complete game with just 76 pitches
2017 South African golfer Branden Grace records lowest round for a men’s major championship - 62 in 3rd round at British Open, Royal Birkdale, England
2018 Seattle basketball guard Sue Bird plays record 500th WNBA game as Storm go down 87-74 to the Atlanta Dream; finishes career on 508 games for Seattle
2019 NFL Dallas Cowboys named most valuable sports team in the world worth $5 billion, MLB New York Yankees 2nd at $4.6 billion, Real Madrid 3rd with $4.2 billion according to Forbes
Birthdays
1849 Emma Lazarus, Americn poet (“New Colossus” - on the base of Statue of Liberty), born in NYC, New York
1890 Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, American matriarch, mother of JFK, RFK & Ted, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1995)
1908 Amy Vanderbilt, American authority on etiquette (Complete Book of Etiquette, Complete Cook Book), born in NYC, New York
1922 Dan Rowan [Daniel Hale Rowan], American comedian (Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In), born in Beggs, Oklahoma (d. 1987)
1923 Bob [Robert] Dole, American politician (Senate Republican leader, 1985-96, Presidential candidate in 1996), born in Russell, Kansas
1928 Orson Bean, American actor and comedian (To Tell the Truth), born in Burlington, Vermont (d. 2020)
1932 Oscar de la Renta, Domincan American fashion designer (Coty Hall of Fame-1973), born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (d. 2014)
1940 Alex Trebek, Canadian-American TV game host (High Rollers, Jeopardy), born in Sudbury, Ontario
1946 Danny Glover, American actor and activist (Lethal Weapon, The Color Purple), born in San Francisco, California
1947 Don Henley, rock drummer/vocalist (Eagles-Desparado), born in Linden, Texas
1949 Alan Menken, American Disney composer (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast - 8 Oscars), born in New Rochelle, New York
1955 Willem Dafoe, Wisc, actor (Platoon, Roadhouse 66, Mississippi Burning)
1964 David Spade, American comedian and actor (SNL, Tommy Boy, Black Sheep), born in Birmingham, Michigan
1972 Keyshawn Johnson, American NFL wide receiver (Super Bowl 2002; Pro Bowl 1998-99, 2001; ESPN), born in Los Angeles, California
1992 Selena Gomez, American actress and singer (Revival, Stars Dance), born in Grand Prairie, Texas
2013 Prince George of Cambridge, son of Prince William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, England (3rd in line to the English throne), born in London.