Historical Events On This Day

 

• 421 Flavius Constantine becomes Co-Emperor as Emperor Constantius III of the Western Roman Empire with Honorius
• 1526 Heavy storm strikes Dutch coast, many die
• 1575 University Leiden founded, and given the motto "Praesidium Libertatis"
• 1600 Vatican convicts scholar Giordano Bruno to death
• 1601 Earl Robert Devereux of Essex armies draws into London
• 1690 French & Indian troops set Schenectady settlement NY on fire
• 1690 Lord Halifax resigns as Lord Privy Seal
• 1693 William & Mary college is chartered in the Dominion and Colony of Virginia (2nd in North America)
• 1726 The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia.
• 1735 First opera in North American colonies "Flora" opens in Charleston, SC
• 1743 Comet C/1743 C1 approaches within 0.0390 AUs of Earth
• 1744 French/Spanish fleet leaves Toulon
• 1750 Minor earthquake in London
• 1775 Leidse U 400th anniversary dinner
• 1776 Wolfgang von Goethe's "Stella" premieres in Hamburg
• 1802 Simon Willard patents banjo clock
• 1809 Franz I of Austria declares war on France
• 1837 1st VP chosen by Senate, Richard Johnson (Van Buren admin)
• 1849 New Roman Republic established.
• 1855 The Devil's Footprints mysteriously appear in southern Devon.
• 1861 Confederate States of America organizes in Montgomery, Alabama (US Civil War)
• 1862 Battle of Roanoke Island NC, Federals gain control of Pamlico Sound
• 1862 Opera "Lily of Killarney" premieres in London
• 1865 1st black major in US Army appointed during US Civil war - Martin Robison Delany
• 1867 The Ausgleich results in the establishment of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary.
• 1879 Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
• 1883 Louis Waterman begins experiment to invent the fountain pen
• 1887 Aurora Ski Club of Red Wing, Minn became the 1st US ski club
• 1887 The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments. Those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe were granted United States citizenship.
• 1889 Flood ravages Dutch coast
• 1894 Enforcement Act repealed, making it easier to disenfranchise blacks
• 1896 Georges Feydeau's "Le Dindon" premieres in Paris
• 1896 Western Conference forms of Midwestern U, later renamed Big 10 Conf
• 1898 John Ames Sherman patents 1st envelope folding & gumming mach (Mass)
• 1905 Cyclone hit Tahiti & adjacent islands, killing some 10,000 people
• 1906 Without warning, Japanese torpedo boats make a night attack on Russian ships near the naval base at Port Arthur, Manchuria; there is confusion because no deceleration of war was given
• 1908 Wilhelmina '08 soccer team forms in Weert, Netherlands
• 1909 France & Germany sign treaty about Morocco
• 1910 The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
• 1911 US helps overthrow Presnt Miguel Devila of Honduras
• 1912 1st eastbound US transcontinental flight lands in Jacksonville, Fla
• 1912 British Emissary journeys to Berlin to suggest that Britain might support German colonial aspirations in Africa if Germany agrees to hold her current naval strength
• 1914 General Zamon becomes president of Haiti
• 1916 French cruiser "Admiral Charner" torpedoed off Syrian coast, kills 374
• 1916 NL votes down Charlie Ebbets proposal to limit 25 cent seats
• 1918 "Stars & Stripes,", weekly US armed forces newspaper, 1st published
• 1920 Swiss men vote against women's suffrage
• 1920 Bolshevik troops capture Odessa, bringing an end to foreign involvement in the resistance against Bolshevik rule
• 1922 Radio arrives at the White House
• 1923 Coal mine explosion at Dawson, New Mexico kills 120
• 1923 German NSDAP Volkischer Beobachter newspaper becomes a daily
• 1924 1st US coast-to-coast radio hookup: Gen John Joseph Carty speech in Chic
• 1925 Kaufman & Berlin's "cocoanuts" premieres in NYC
• 1925 Marcus Garvey enters federal prison in Atlanta
• 1926 German Reichstag decides to apply for League of Nations membership
• 1926 Sean O'Casey's "Plough & Stars" opens at Abbey Theater Dublin
• 1927 Belgian-Swiss treaty signed
• 1928 1st transatlantic TV image received, Hartsdale, NY
• 1929 KOY-AM in Phoenix Arizona begins radio transmissions
• 1930 "Happy Days Are Here Again" by Benny Mereoff hits #1
• 1931 Gas explosion Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000
• 1933 -23°F (-31°C), Seminole, Texas (state record)
• 1933 1st flight of all-metal Boeing 247
• 1934 Export-Import Bank organizes in Washington, D.C.
• 1934 Gaston Doumergue forms new French government
• 1936 1936 NFL Draft (first ever): Jay Berwanger from University of Chicago first pick by Philadelphia Eagles
• 1936 1st ski jumping tournament, Red Wing, Minn
• 1936 1st successful Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, Conacher vs Rangers
• 1936 Pandit Jawaharlal follows Gandhi as chairman of India Congress Party
• 1937 Maxwell Anderson's "Masque of Kings" premieres in NYC
• 1940 Lewis & Hamilton's musical "Two for the Show" premieres in NYC
• 1940 Lodtz, 1st large ghetto established by Nazis in Poland
• 1941 NSB'er Max Blokzijl begins nazi propaganda on Dutch radio
• 1942 Japanese armored barges cross Strait of Johore to attack Singapore (WWII)
• 1942 Stravinsky's "Danses Concertantes" premieres in Los Angeles
• • 1953 Betty Jameson wins LPGA Serbin Golf Open
  • 1953 WLVA (now WSET) TV channel 13 in Lynchburg-Roanoke, VA (ABC) begins
  • 1955 Malenkov resigns as USSR premier, Bulganin replaces him
  • 1955 The Government of Sindh abolished Jagirdari system in the province. One million acres (4000 km²) of land thus acquired is to be distributed among the landless peasants.
  • 1956 Mine disaster in Quaregnon Belgium, 8 die
  • 1957 SF Public Library's bookmobile initiated in front of City Hall
  • 1958 Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia
  • 1958 French planes bomb Sakiet Tunisia, 75 die
  • 1958 KIRO TV channel 7 in Seattle, WA (CBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1960 Congress opens hearings looking into payola
  • 1960 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issued an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name "Mountbatten-Windsor".
  • 1962 KACB TV channel 3 in San Angelo, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
  • 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • 1962 In Paris, 8 people killed at a protest against independence for the French colony Algeria
  • 1963 1st transmission of Clandestine Voice of Iraqi People (Communist)
  • 1963 AFL's Dallas Texans become KC Chiefs
  • 1963 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • 1964 Peter Shaffer's "Royal Hunt of the Sun" premieres in London
  • 1964 Rep Martha Griffiths address gets civil rights protection for women being added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
  • 1965 Eastern DC-7B crashes into Atlantic off Jones Beach NJ, kills 84
  • 1965 Supremes release "Stop In the Name of Love"
  • 1978 Crown Prince Sad Abdallah al-Salim Al Sabah becomes PM of Kuwait
  • 1978 Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
  • 1979 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • 1979 Denis Sassou-Nguesso became the President of the Republic of the Congo for the first time.
  • 1981 "5 O'Clock Girl" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 12 performances
  • 1981 "Brigadoon" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 133 performances
  • 1981 Sally Little wins LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic
  • 1981 US female Figure Skating championship won by Elaine Zayak
  • 1981 US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Hamilton
  • 1982 Dodgers trade Davey Lopes to A's breaking up the longest-playing infield (Cey-Russell-Lopes-Garvey)
  • 1983 35th NHL All-Star Game: Campbell beat Wales 9-3 at NY Islander
  • 1983 Champion thoroughbred Shergar kidnapped in Ireland; never found Lloyds of London pays $10.6 million insurance
  • 1983 Ariel Sharon resigns from Israeli government after an inquiry shows he was indirectly responsible for the killings of hundreds of people in 1982
  • 1983 A prize stallion and Derby winner is kidnapped; a nationwide hunt begins the following day
  • 1984 14th Winter Olympic games opens in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
  • 1984 1st time 8 people in space
  • 1984 A's take Yankees pitcher Tim Belcher as Type A free agent compensation
  • 1984 Soyuz T-10 launches with crew of 3 to Salyut 7
  • 1985 1st-class cricket debut of Jimmy Adams (age 17), Jamaica v Barbados
  • 1985 Bruce Morris, Marshall Univ, makes a 92' 5½" basketball shot
  • 1985 Michael Gross swims world record 800m freestyle (7:38.75)
  • 1985 Opposition leader Kim Dae Jung returns to South-Korea
  • 1986 5' 7" Spud Webb of Atlanta Hawks wins NBA Slam Dunk Competition
  • 1986 US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
  • 1986 1984 Summer Olympics LAPD bomb squad chief Arleigh McCree, and his partner Officer Ronald Ball of the Firearms and explosives unit are killed while trying to dismantle two pipe bombs
  • 1987 37th NBA All-Star Game: West beats East 154-149 (OT) at Seattle
  • 1987 Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic
  • 1988 NASA launches DOD-2
  • 1989 5 cm of snow falls in outskirts of Los Angeles
  • 1989 Jockey Chris Antley begins record of 64 consecutive winning days
  • 1989 US Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145 die
  • 1990 David Hares "Racing Demon" premieres in London
  • 1990 "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney suspended by CBS for racial remarks attributed to him by a gay magazine
  • 1992 "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred peaks at #1
  • 1992 16th Winter Olympic games opens in Albertville, France
  • 1992 Ulysses spacecraft passes Jupiter
  • 1993 Suchoi-24 crashes into Tupolev passenger flight, 134 die
  • 1993 GM sues NBC, alleging that "Dateline NBC" program had rigged 2 car-truck crashes to show that 1973-87 GM pickups were prone to fires
  • 1994 Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee charge with possession of loaded firearm
  • 1995 6.4 earthquake at Trujillo, Colombia (46+ killed)
  • 1996 NFL & Cleveland allows Art Modell to move his NFL franchise to Balt but he had to leave the Browns' name behind
  • 1996 The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act.
  • 1996 The massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in Cyberspace" takes place.
  • 1997 28th NAACP Image Awards: "A Time to Kill" wins Outstanding Motion Picture
  • 1998 1st female ice hockey game in Olympic history Finland beats Sweden 6-0
  • 1998 48th NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 135-114 at NYC
  • 1998 NHL stops season until Feb 24th to accomodate the Olympics
  • 2002 19th Winter Olympic games open at Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
  • 2004 46th Grammy Awards: Clocks, Evanescence wins
  • 2004 NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 55-52
  • 2004 54th NHL All-Star Game: East beats West 6-4 at St. Paul, Minnesota
  • 2005 Israel and Palestinians agree to ceasefire.
  • 2005 Leaders of both Palestine and Israel declare a truce in what many hope will be a "new era of peace"
  • 2006 48th Grammy Awards: Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, John Legend wins
  • 2007 57th Berlin International Film Festival: "Tuya's Marriage" wins the Golden Bear
  • 2008 Nebraska bans electric chair as sole execution method.
  • 2009 NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 30-21
  • 2009 62nd British Film and Television Awards (BAFTAS): "Slumdog Millionaire" Best Film, Danny Boyle Best Director
  • 2013 29 people are killed and 69 are injured in a series of Iraq bombings
  • 2013 16 people are killed and 27 are wounded by a market bombing in Kalaya, Pakistan
  • 2013 100, 000 people march to demand justice for the atrocities of the Bangladesh Liberation War in Dhaka
  • 2013 A massive blizzard begins in the US and Canada that resulted in 15 deaths, 5,300 cancelled flights, and loss of power for 900,000 people
  • 2014 15 people are killed & 130 injured in a hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia
  • 2014 17 people are killed after a truck & bus collide in Mendoza, Argentina
  • 2014 Ole Einar Bjørndalen equals the Winter Olympics medal record with 12
  • 2015 57th Grammy Awards: Best Song "Stay With Me" by Sam Smith, Best Album "Morning Phase" by Beck