Today in History

30 BC Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves minor victory over Octavian, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to Octavian’s invasion of Egypt

1620 Pilgrim Fathers depart Leiden, Netherlands for England on their way to America

1917 World War I: Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) begins, goes on to cause approximately 500,000 casualties

1961 Israel welcomes its one millionth immigrant

2007 Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.

Movies & TV

1912 US government prohibits movies and photos of prize fights (censorship)

1955 KRNT (now KCCI) TV channel 8 in Des Moines, Iowa (CBS) 1st broadcast

Understand car insurance

Ad by Dairyland

1955 WHIS (now WVVA) TV channel 6 in Bluefield, West Virginia (NBC) 1st broadcast

1960 KSOO (now KSFY) TV channel 13 in Sioux Falls, SD (NBC) 1st broadcast

1969 KWIH TV channel 44 in Winona, MN (IND) begins broadcasting

1970 Chet Huntley retires from NBC, ends “Huntley-Brinkley Report”

1974 6th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at El Cortez Hotel

1984 Leeza Gibbon’s 1st appearance on Entertainment Tonight

1986 19th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Hotel San Diego

1995 Walt Disney announces the acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion; network of properties now consists of Disney, ABC Sports, ESPN and ESPN2

2018 Actor Alan Alda reveals he has had Parkinson’s disease for 3 years, in interview with CBS”s “This Morning”

Music

1948 “Brigadoon” closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 581 performances

Sports

1910 8th Tour de France: Octave Lapize of France wins by just 4 points from Team Alcyon team mate François Faber of Luxembourg

1928 Halina Konopacka of Poland hurls discus world record 39.62m to win first gold medal in women’s Olympic athletics at the Amsterdam Games; American Lillian Copeland and Ruth Sveberg of Sweden take minor medals

1928 American sprinter Elizabeth Robinson equals her own world record 12.2s to win 100m gold medal in Amsterdam, first women’s Olympic track event; Canadians Fanny Rosenfeld & Ethel Smith dead-heat (12.3s)

Birthdays

1143 Emperor Nijo of Japan (d. 1165)

1396 Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, born in Dijon, Burgundy (d. 1467)

1443 Albrecht III of Saxon-Meisen, duke of Saxon

1527 Maximilian II, German King/Emperor (1564-76)

1835 Paul du Chaillu, French explorer (d. 1903)

1837 William Quantrill, American guerrilla leader in the Confederate Army, born in Canal Dover, Ohio (d. 1865)

1860 Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1940)

1867 Sebastian S. Kresge, American merchant and philanthropist (Kmart), born in Bald Mountain, Pennsylvania (d. 1966)

1880 Munshi Premchand [Dhanpat Rai], Indian author, born in Lamhi, Benares State, British India (d. 1936)

1882 Grete Gulbransson, Austrian writer and poet (Geliebte Schatten), born in Thüringen, Austria (d. 1934)

1884 Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German Leipzig mayor and Nazi regime opponent (20th July Plot)

1886 Salvatore Maranzano, Sicilian-born American organized crime figure, born in Sicily, Italy (d. 1931)

1886 Constant Permeke, Flemish painter and statues artist (Sow), born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1952)

1887 Hans Freyer, German sociologist and philosopher, born in Leipzig, Germany (d. 1969)

1892 Joseph Charbonneau, French-Canadian Roman Catholic archbishop of Montreal (1940-50), born in Lefaivre, Canada (d. 1959)

1900 Elmo Roper, American pollster (Roper Poll), born in Hebron, Nebraska (d. 1971)

1901 Jean Debuffet, French painter and sculptor (Landscape with 2 Personages), born in Le Havre, France (d. 1985)

1904 Brett Halliday, American writer (Dividend on Death), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1977)

1905 Trenchard Cox, British museum director, born in London (d. 1995)

1912 Milton Friedman, American economist (Nobel Prize Economics 1976), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2006)x

1914 Jose Ignacio Domecq, Spanish wine maker, born in Jerez, Spain (d. 1997)

1914 Raymond Aubrac, French resistance leader, born in Paris, France (d. 2012)

in New Rochelle, New York

1941 Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician, born in Surat, India (d. 2004)

1941 Heather McKay, Australian squash player (British Open 1962-77, inaugural women’s World Open 1976), born in Queanbeyan, NSW

1943 Stephanie Forrester, fictional character (The Bold and the Beautiful)

1943 William Bennett, US Secretary of Education (1985-88)/drug tsar

1944 Robert C. Merton, American economist and Nobel laureate in Economics, born in NYC, New York

1945 Bill Weld, American politician (Governor (R) Masachusetts 1991-97), born in Smithtown, New York

1946 Karen Zerby, American religious leader, born in Camden, New Jersey

1947 Dennis Greenslade, rocker

1947 Ian Beck, British children’s illustrator and author, who illustrated Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” album cover, born in Brighton, East Sussex

1948 Leaveil Degree, rocker (Whispers)

1952 Pritawi Sudarmo, Indonesia, astronaut

1952 João Barreiros, Portuguese writer (Um Dia com Júlia na Necrosfera), born in Portugal

1953 Ted Baillieu, Australian Politician, Premier of Victoria (2010-13), born in Melbourne, Australia

1956 Deval Patrick, 71st Governor of Massachusetts (2007-15), born in Chicago, Illinois

1962 John Chiang, American politician (Democratic Party), born in NYC, New York

1965 J. K. Rowling, English writer (Harry Potter novels), born in Yate, Gloucestershire

1966 Marina V A Mowatt, [Ogilvy], daughter of English princess Alexandra

1969 Kenneth D. Schisler, American politician, born in Baltimore, Maryland

1970 Ahmad Akbarpour, Iranian writer (The Train of That Night), born in Chah Varz, Lamerd, Iran

1975 Simon Hirst, British radio DJ

1990 Olga Galchenko, Russian juggler, born in Penza, Russia