History On This Day

 

    661 Rashidun Caliphate ends
    904 Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
    1258 Mongols defeated by Dai Viet at the battle of Dong Bo Dau
    1523 Sermon of Constanz: Zwingli defends 67 Schlussreden
    1574 Sea battle of Reimerswaal - Admiral Boisot beats Spanish fleet
    1587 Deventer & Zutphen surrender to Spain
    1856 Victoria Cross established to acknowledge valour in the face of the enemy (United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries)
    1860 American College established in Rome by Pope Pius IX
    1861 US state of Kansas admitted to the Union as the 34th state
    1863 Bear River Massacre: American soldiers slaughter hundreds of Native Americans at the confluence of the Bear River and Beaver Creek in present day Idaho
    1872 Francis L Cardoza elected State Treasurer of South Carolina
    1891 Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch.
    1895 King Koko's Kopermannen assault on Akassa Niger, 100's killed
    1896 Emile Grubbe is the first doctor to use radiation treatment for breast cancer
    1900 Boers under Joubert beat British at Spionkop Natal, 2,000 killed
    1900 American League organized in Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee & Minneapolis
    1906 Coen de King skates world record time: 32,370 km
    1907 Charles Curtis becomes U.S. Senator from Kansas, first Native American to become a Senator
    1908 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, at Cornell University, incorporates
    1912 Martial law declared in textile strike in Lawrence, MA
    1913 Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, at Howard University, incorporates
    1916 1st bombing of Paris by German Zeppelins takes place
    1917 British submarine K13 sank in Gaire Loch, Scotland; 32 of her crew died
    1918 Ukrainian-Soviet War: Battle of Kruty
    1940 33rd Women's Australian Championships: Nancye Wynne beats Thelma Coyne (5-7, 6-4, 6-0)
    1940 33rd Men's Australian Championships: Adrian Quist beats Jack Crawford (6-3, 6-1, 6-2)
    1941 Alexandros Koryzis becomes Prime Minister of Greece
    1942 1st broadcast of Roy Plomley's "Desert Island Discs" on BBC radio
    1942 German & Italian troops occupy Benghazi, Libya
    1942 Peru & Ecuador sign Protocol of Rio (boundary determiniation)
    1943 New Zealand cruiser Kiwi collides with Japanese submarine I-1 at Guadalcanal
    1943 Sidney Kingsley's "Patriots" premieres in NYC
    1943 U.S. cruiser "Chicago" is heavily damaged by Japanese bombers on the first day of the Battle of Rennell Island
    1944 285 German bombers attack London
    1944 USS Missouri, the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy, is launched.
    1944 World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy.
    1944 World War II: About 38 men, women, and children die in the Koniuchy massacre in Poland.
    1946 34th Women's Australian Championships: Nancye Wynne Bolton beats Joyce Fitch (6-4, 6-4)
    1946 34th Men's Australian Championships: John Bromwich beats Dinny Pails (5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2)
    1947 35th Women's Australian Championships: Nancye Wynne Bolton beats Nell Hall Hopman (6-3, 6-2)
    1947 35th Men's Australian Championships: Dinny Pails beats John Bromwich (4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 8-6)
    1948 "Look Ma, I'm Dancin'" opens at Adelphi Theater NYC for 188 performances
    1948 Commissioner Happy Chandler fines the Yankees, Cubs, & Phillies $500 each for signing high school players
    1948 Pakistan Socialist Party is founded
    1949 Great Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand & Switzerland recognize Israel
    1951 "Where's Charley?" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 56 performances
    1951 Baseball signs 6 year All-Star pact for TV-radio rights for $6 million
    1958 Murderer, Charles Starkweather, captured by police in Wyoming
    1959 Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" released
    1959 'The Great Smog' hits London, many die of chest and lung-related illnesses
    1961 US female Figure Skating championship won by Laurence Owen
    1961 US male Figure Skating championship won by Bradley Lord
    1964 9th Winter Olympic games open in Innsbruck, Austria
    1964 Beatles record in German "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" & "Sie Liebt Dich"
    1964 Most lopsided high-school basketball score 211-29 (Louisiana)
    1964 NBC purchases AFL 5 year (1965-69) TV rights for $36 million
    1964 Unmanned Apollo 1 Saturn launcher test attains Earth orbit
    1966 "Sweet Charity" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 608 performances
    1966 Lawry & Simpson complete 244 opening stand v England, Adelaide
    1966 Snow storm in north east US kills 165
    1966 US female Figure Skating championship won by Peggy Fleming
    1966 US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Allen
    1967 "Let's Sing Yiddish" closes at Brooks Atkinson NYC after 107 performances
    1967 Branch Rickey & Lloyd Waner elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
    1967 Kees Verkerk becomes European skating champ
    1967 WDAZ TV channel 8 in Devils Lake, ND (ABC) begins broadcasting
    1968 Nauru (formerly Pleasant Island) adopts constitution
    1969 Sheahan & Connolly hang on for exciting draw Australia v West Indies
    1970 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
    1971 Test debut of Dennis Keith Lillee, v England at Adelaide
    1972 5th ABA All-Star Game: East 142 beats West 115 at Louisville
    1974 27th NHL All-Star Game: West beat East 6-4 at Chicago
    1974 Kuwait announces 60 percent government participation in BP-Gulf concession
    1974 1974 NFL Draft: Ed Jones from Tennessee State first pick by Dallas Cowboys
    1975 "Men on the Moon" opens at Little Theater NYC for 5 performances
    1975 First American Annual Comedy Awards, hosted by Alan King
    1975 West Indies win fifth test against India to take exciting series 3-2
    1976 Zeiss planetarium in Hague destroyed by fire
    1976 Bombs set off in London's West End by the IRA; 1 person is injured
        1980 6 Iranian-held US hostages escape with help of Canadians
        1980 Cleveland Cavaliers beat LA Lakers 154-153 in quadruple OT
        1981 AL approves sale of White Sox to Jerry Reinsdorf & Eddie Einhorn for $20 million, & 80% of Mariners to George Argyros for $104 million
        1982 Old Dominion ends Louisiana Tech's women's basketball rec 54-game win streak
        1982 Wayne Garland, baseball 1st millionaire free agent, waived by Indians
        1983 "Down Under" by Men At Work hits #1 on UK pop chart
        1987 The president of the Philippines puts down a rebellion against their government in Manila
        1988 Canadian Ben Johnson breaks own 50-yard dash world record at 5.15
        1988 Detroit's Kirk Gibson signs a 3-year contract with Dodgers
        1988 Largest NBA crowd-Boston Celtics at Detroit (61,938)
        1988 United Airlines Boeing 747SP, circles world in 36h54m15s
        1989 Cleveland's Chris Dudley misses 5 free throws during 1 foul attempt
        1989 Dottie Mochrie wins Oldsmobile LPGA Golf Classic
        1989 Dow jumps 38.06 recoups 508-pt loss since Oct 1987; index at 2,256.43
        1989 Episcopal Church of the United States appoints Barbara Harris as its first female bishop
        1989 L I preacher Gene Profeta pleads guilty to tax-evasion
        1989 NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 34-3
        1989 Orlando Arena opens in Orlando, Florida
        1989 USSR's Phobos II enters Martian orbit
        1991 Gulf War: The Battle of Kahfji begins (first major ground engagement of the war)
        1993 Test debut of Vinod Kambli, prolific Indian batsman
        1995 Greg Blewett scores century on Test debut vs England, Adelaide
        1995 Super Bowl XXIX: SF 49ers beat San Diego Chargers, 49-26 in Miami, MVP: Steve Young, San Francisco, QB
        1996 Last day of Test cricket for David Boon
        1996 6,138th performance of "Cats" is held in London, surpassing record of Broadway's longest-running musical, "A Chorus Line"
        1996 La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire.
        1996 France will no longer test nuclear weapons, its president Jacques Chirac says, following international outcry over tests in the Pacific
        1998 "Capeman," opens at Marquis Theater NYC
        1998 Singers Bobby Brown found guiilty of DWI in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
        1998 Soyuz TM-27 launches to MIR
        1998 Thick Fog causes highway carnage in Belgium & Netherlands, 6 die
        1998 Woman's Clinic in Birmingham Ala bombed, 1 killed
        2001 Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.
        2003 Sally Clark cleared of murdering her 2 sons after more than 3 years of prison in what was a life sentence
        2005 The first direct commercial flights from the mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines carrier landed in Beijing.
        2012 59th NHL All-Star Game: Team Chara beats Team Alfredsson 12-9 at Ottawa, Ontario
        2012 28th Sundance Film Festival: "The House I Live In", directed by Eugene Jarecki, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
        2014 Archaeologists discover the oldest Roman Temple (6th C BC) at Sant’Omobono
        2014 Scientists discover how to convert normal cells into stem cells in mice
        2014 Bohuslav Sobotka becomes Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
        2015 Malaysia officially declares the disappearance of missing flight MH370 an accident