today.nukz.net: Almanac

Steve Irwin 1962-2006

Events

1371 – Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.
1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.
1632 – Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.
1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon begins.
1797 – The Last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.
1819 – By the Adams-Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
1847 – Mexican-American War: The Battle of Buena Vista – 5,000 American troops defeat 15,000 Mexicans.
1848 – The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins.
1853 – Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
1855 – The Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania)
1856 – The Republican Party opens its first national meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1862 – Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.
1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and dime Woolworth stores.
1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
1904 – The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina, the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
1915 – World War I: Germany institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.
1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.
1943 – World War II: Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.
1944 – World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
1948 – Communist revolution in Czechoslovakia.
1957 – Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Ban Me Thuot.
1958 – Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
1972 – The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others.
1973 – Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.
1974 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.
1974 – Samuel Byck tries and fails to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon.
1979 – Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.
1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3.
1983 – The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
1986 – Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
1995 – The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
1997 – In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.
2002 – Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
2006 – At least six men stage Britain's biggest robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
2011 – An earthquake measuring 6.3 in magnitude strikes Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 185 people.

Births

1040 – Rashi, French rabbi (d. 1105)
1403 – Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
1440 – Ladislaus the Posthumous, Bohemian and Hungarian monarch (d. 1457)
1500 – Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian humanist (d. 1564)
1612 – George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (d. 1677)
1645 – Johann Ambrosius Bach, German composer, father to Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1695)
1645 – Johann Christoph Bach, German musician (d. 1693)
1705 – Peter Artedi, Swedish naturalist (d. 1735)
1714 – Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (d. 1795)
1732 – George Washington, First President of the United States (d. 1799)
1756 – Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat (d. 1821)
1761 – Erik Tulindberg, Finnish composer (d. 1814)
1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American artist (d. 1860)
1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)
1796 – Alexis Bachelot, French missionary (d. 1837)
1796 – Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian mathematician (d. 1874)
1806 – Józef Kremer, Polish messianistic philosopher (d. 1875)
1817 – Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician (d. 1880)
1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and essayist (d. 1891)
1824 – Pierre Janssen, French astronomer (d. 1907)
1825 – Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, second Archbishop of Santa Fe (d. 1898)
1839 – Francis Pharcellus Church, American editor and publisher (d. 1906)
1840 – August Bebel, German politician (d. 1913)
1849 – Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician (d. 1915)
1857 – Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, British soldier, author, and founder of the Scout movement (d. 1941)
1857 – Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, German physicist (d. 1894)
1864 – Jules Renard, French author (d. 1910)
1874 – Bill Klem, American baseball umpire (d. 1951)
1878 – Walter Ritz, Swiss physicist (d. 1909)
1879 – Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, Danish physical chemist (d. 1947)
1880 – Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1956)
1881 – Joseph B. Ely, American politician (d. 1956)
1881 – Albin Prepeluh, Slovenian author and politician (d. 1937)
1882 – Eric Gill, British sculptor (d. 1940)
1883 – Marguerite Clark, American actress (d. 1940)
1886 – Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
1887 – Ksawery Tartakower, Polish chess player (d. 1956)
1888 – Owen Brewster, American politician (d. 1961)
1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, English founder of the Girl Guide (d. 1977)
1890 – Beatriz Michelena, Latin-American silent movie star (d. 1942)
1891 – Vlas Chubar, Soviet politician (d. 1939)
1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet (d. 1950)
1895 – Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician (d. 1979)
1897 – Karol Swierczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
1898 – Thillaiaadi Valliammai, a Tamil satyagrahi from South Africa (d. 1914)
1899 – Dwight Frye, American actor (d. 1943)
1899 – George O'Hara, American actor (d. 1966)
1899 – Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (d. 1986)
1900 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish-born film director (d. 1983)
1900 – Seán Ó Faoláin, Irish author (d. 1991)
1902 – Fritz Strassmann, German physicist (d. 1980)
1903 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer (d. 1990)
1903 – Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi (d. 1969)
1903 – Robert Weede, American baritone (d. 1972)
1906 – Humayun Kabir, Indian educationist and politician (d. 1969)
1906 – Helge Kjærulff-Schmidt, Danish actor (d. 1982)
1907 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor (d. 1997)
1907 – Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
1908 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan president (d. 1981)
1908 – Sir John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)
1911 – Bill Baker, American baseball player (d. 2006)
1913 – George Holmes "Buddy" Tate, American jazz musician (d. 2001)
1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Nobel laureate
1914 – Henry Reed, English poet (d. 1986)
1917 – Jane Bowles, American playwright (d. 1973)
1918 – Sid Abel, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2000)
1918 – Charlie Finley, American sports entrepreneur (d. 1996)
1918 – Don Pardo, American announcer
1918 – Robert Wadlow, World's tallest ever human (d. 1940)
1921 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Central African Republic leader (d. 1996)
1921 – Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
1921 – David Greene, British director (d. 2003)
1921 – Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
1922 – Jesús Iglesias, Argentine racing driver (d. 2005)
1922 – Apostolos Santas, Greek resistance veteran (d. 2011)
1922 – Marshall Teague, American race car driver (d. 1959)
1923 – Norman Smith (record producer), English singer and record producer (d. 2008)
1923 – Bleddyn Williams, Welsh rugby player (d. 2009)
1925 – Edward Gorey, American illustrator (d. 2000)
1926 – Kenneth Williams, English actor (d. 1988)
1926 – Bud Yorkin, American film director
1927 – Florencio Campomanes, Filipino political scientist (d. 2010)
1928 – Paul Dooley, American actor
1928 – Bruce Forsyth, British entertainer
1928 – Axel Strøbye, Danish actor (d. 2005)
1928 – Clarence 13X, American religious leader (d. 1969)
1929 – James Hong, American actor
1929 – Donald May, American actor
1929 – Rebecca Schull, American actress
1930 – James McGarrell, American painter
1930 – Marni Nixon, American singer
1932 – Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, American politician (d. 2009)
1933 – Katharine, Duchess of Kent
1933 – Bobby Smith, English footballer
1934 – Sparky Anderson, American baseball manager (d. 2010)
1935 – Sven Inge, Swedish artist (d. 2008)
1936 – J. Michael Bishop, American immunologist and microbiologist; Nobel laureate
1936 – Ádám Bodor, Hungarian writer from Transylvania
1936 – Ernie K-Doe, American singer (d. 2001)
1937 – Joanna Russ, American author and feminist (d. 2011)
1938 – Steve Barber, American baseball player (d. 2007)
1938 – Ishmael Reed, American writer
1938 – Pierre Vallières, Canadian politician (d. 1995)
1940 – Judy Cornwell, English actress
1940 – Johnson Mlambo, South African politician
1940 – Billy Name, American photographer
1940 – Chet Walker, American basketball player
1941 – Giorgos Arvanitis, Greek cinematographer
1941 – Hipólito Mejía, Dominican politician
1942 – Christine Keeler, English model and showgirl
1943 – Terry Eagleton, British literary critic and philosopher
1943 – Horst Köhler, President of Germany
1944 – Jonathan Demme, American director
1944 – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer (d. 2003)
1944 – Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player
1945 – Leslie Charleson, American actress
1945 – Oliver, American singer (d. 2000)
1947 – Carol Burns, Australian actress
1947 – Maurizio De Angelis, Italian musician
1947 – Harvey Mason, Jazz drummer
1947 – Richard North Patterson, American author
1947 – Frank P. Tomasulo, American film professor and critic
1948 – John Ashton, American actor
1948 – Dennis Awtrey, American basketball player
1948 – Linda de Suza, Portuguese and French singer
1949 – Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver and entrepreneur
1949 – Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player
1950 – Julius Erving, American basketball player
1950 – Ellen Greene, American actress
1950 – Lenny Kuhr, Dutch singer
1950 – Miou-Miou, French actress
1950 – Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, English musician and performer
1950 – Julie Walters, English actress
1951 – Ellen Greene, American singer and actress
1952 – Cyrinda Foxe, American model (d. 2002)
1952 – Bill Frist, American politician
1953 – Graham Lewis, English musician (Wire)
1953 – Nigel Planer, British actor
1955 – David Axelrod, American political consultant
1955 – Gordon Banks, American guitarist
1955 – Tim Young, Canadian ice hockey player
1956 – Hugh Hewitt, American religious leader
1959 – Jirí Cunek, Czech politician
1959 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
1960 – Charles Cullen, American serial killer
1961 – Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist
1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian herpetologist (d. 2006)
1962 – Lenda Murray, American bodybuilder
1962 – Les Wallace, Scottish darts player
1963 – Donald Braswell II, American classical crossover singer
1963 – Devon Malcolm, English Cricketer
1963 – Vijay Singh, Fijian golfer
1964 – Ed Boon, American video game programmer
1964 – Gigi Fernandez, Puerto Rican tennis player
1965 – Chris Dudley, American basketball player
1965 – Dean Karr, American director and photographer
1965 – Pat LaFontaine, American ice hockey player
1966 – Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedienne
1966 – Brian Greig, Australian politician
1966 – Thorsten Kaye, German actor
1966 – Aiden Shaw, English pornographic actor
1967 – Alf Poier, Austrian comedian
1968 – Shawn Graham, Canadian politician
1968 – Bradley Nowell, American musician (d. 1996)
1968 – Elna Reinach, South African tennis player
1968 – Jeri Ryan, American actress
1968 – Jayson Williams, American basketball player
1969 – Joaquín Cortés, Spanish dancer
1969 – Thomas Jane, American actor
1969 – Clinton Kelly, American TV personality
1969 – Hans Klok, Dutch illusionist
1969 – Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer
1970 – Dominic Roussel, Canadian ice hockey player
1970 – Ravi Vakil, Canadian-American mathematician
1971 – Lea Salonga, Filipina actress and singer
1972 – Michael Chang, American tennis player
1972 – Laurence Leboucher, French cyclist
1972 – Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
1973 – Claus Lundekvam, Norwegian footballer
1973 – Juninho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
1973 – Scott Phillips, American drummer (Creed)
1973 – Einar Kristian Tveitå, Norwegian athlete
1974 – James Blunt, English musician
1974 – Chris Moyles, English DJ
1975 – Alun Armstrong, English footballer
1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress
1976 – Faan Rautenbach, South African rugby player
1977 – Timo Rose, German filmmaker
1977 – Hakan Yakin, Swiss footballer
1978 – Jenny Frost, British singer/presenter/model/DJ (Atomic Kitten)
1979 – Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
1979 – Lee Na-young, South Korean actress
1980 – Kang Sung Hoon, South Korean singer (Sechs Kies)
1981 – Jeanette Biedermann, German pop singer
1981 – Fredson Camara, Brazilian footballer
1982 – Jenna Haze, American pornographic actress
1982 – Dichen Lachman, Australian Actress
1982 – Shawntae Spencer, American football player
1982 – Robert Weiner, Jr., American water polo player
1983 – Penny Flame, American pornographic actress
1983 – Shaun Tait, Australian cricketer
1984 – Tommy Bowe, Irish rugby player
1984 – Branislav Ivanovic, Serbian footballer
1984 – Giorgos Printezis, Greek basketball player
1985 – Hamer Bouazza, Algerian footballer
1985 – Sean Garballey, American politician
1985 – Larissa Riquelme, Paraguayan model
1986 – Miko Hughes, American actor
1986 – Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
1987 – Han Hyo-joo, South Korean actress and model
1987 – Sergio Romero, Argentine footballer
1988 – Kévin Borlée, Belgian athlete
1988 – Ximena Navarrete, Mexican beauty queen, Miss Universe 2010
1988 – Sebastian Tyrala, Polish footballer
1989 – Alia Sabur, American college educator
1989 – Anna Sundstrand, Swedish singer(Play)
1990 – Luca Profeta, Italian footballer
1992 – Melissa H, American Artist

Deaths

965 – Otto, Duke of Burgundy (b. 944)
1071 – Arnulf III, Count of Flanders (killed in battle) (b. c. 1055)
1111 – Roger Borsa, King of Sicily
1371 – King David II of Scotland (b. 1324)
1511 – Henry, Duke of Cornwall, son of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon
1512 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian merchant and explorer (b. 1454)
1627 – Olivier van Noort, Dutch navigator (b. 1558)
1674 – Jean Chapelain, French writer (b. 1595)
1680 – Catherine Monvoisin, French sorceress (b. c. 1640)
1690 – Charles Le Brun, French artist (b. 1619)
1727 – Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer (b. 1661)
1731 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
1732 – Francis Atterbury, English bishop and man of letters (b. 1663)
1742 – Charles Rivington, English publisher (b. 1688)
1797 – Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German officer and adventurer (b. 1720)
1799 – Heshen, infamous Qing Dynasty Chinese official at court (b. 1750)
1816 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (b. 1723)
1875 – Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (b. 1796)
1875 – Sir Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (b. 1797)
1888 – Anna Kingsford, English doctor, seer and women's rights campaigner (b. 1846)
1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (b. 1822)
1890 – Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (b. 1834)
1892 – Herman Koeckemann, German Catholic prelate (b. 1828)
1897 – Charles Blondin, French tightrope walker and acrobat (b. 1824)
1903 – Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
1904 – Leslie Stephen, English writer and critic (b. 1832)
1913 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist (b. 1857)
1914 – Thillaiaadi Valliammai, a Tamil satyagrahi from South Africa (b. 1898)
1921 – Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1864)
1923 – Théophile Delcassé, French statesman (b. 1852)
1934 – Willem Kes, Dutch conductor (b. 1856)
1939 – Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)
1942 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian writer (b. 1881)
1943 – Christoph Probst, German resistance fighter (b. 1919)
1943 – Hans Scholl, German resistance fighter (b. 1918)
1943 – Sophie Scholl, German resistance fighter (b. 1921)
1944 – Kasturba Gandhi, wife of Mohandas Gandhi (b. 1869)
1945 – Osip Brik, Russian writer (b. 1888)
1956 – Alexandros Svolos, Greek legal expert and politician (b. 1892)
1958 – Abul Kalam Azad, Indian independence movement leader (b. 1888)
1960 – Paul-Émile Borduas, Canadian painter (b. 1905)
1961 – Nick LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889)
1965 – Felix Frankfurter, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (b. 1882)
1968 – Peter Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904)
1973 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian politician, Premier of Quebec (b. 1916)
1973 – Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (b. 1900)
1974 – Samuel Byck, American attempted assassin of Richard Nixon (b. 1930)
1976 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)
1976 – Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (b. 1943)
1979 – Sigrid Schauman, Finnish painter (b. 1877)
1980 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian artist (b. 1886)
1981 – Michael Maltese, American screenwriter (b. 1908)
1982 – Josh Malihabadi, Urdu poet of India and Pakistan (b. 1898)
1983 – Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
1983 – Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)
1984 – David Vetter, The Boy in the Bubble (b. 1971)
1985 – Salvador Espriu, Spanish poet (b. 1913)
1985 – Alexander Scourby, American actor (b. 1913)
1985 – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (b. 1889)
1987 – Andy Warhol, American artist, director, and writer (b. 1928)
1989 – Moisés da Costa Amaral, East Timorese leader, UDT President in the exterior (b. 1938)
1994 – Papa John Creach, American musician (b. 1917)
1995 – Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
1997 – Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
1998 – Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (b. 1910)
1999 – Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (b. 1964)
2000 – Fernando Buesa, Spanish politician (b. 1946)
2001 – Les Medley, English footballer (b.1920)
2002 – Roden Cutler, Australian diplomat and war hero (b. 1916)
2002 – Chuck Jones, American cartoonist (b. 1912)
2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist (b. 1963)
2002 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel and political leader (b. 1934)
2003 – Daniel Taradash, American screenwriter (b. 1913)
2004 – Roque Máspoli, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1917)
2004 – Andy Seminick, American baseball player (b. 1920)
2005 – Zdzislaw Beksinski, Polish artist (b. 1929)
2005 – Lee Eun Ju, Korean actress (b. 1980)
2005 – Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
2006 – Atwar Bahjat, Iraqi journalist (b. 1976)
2006 – Anthony Burger, American musician and singer (b. 1961)
2007 – George Jellicoe, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords & Special Boat Service veteran (b. 1918)
2007 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (b. 1954)
2007 – Samuel Hinga Norman, Sierra Leonean alleged war criminal (b. 1940)
2007 – Howard Verne Ramsey, oldest U.S. veteran of WWI (b. 1898)
2011 – Nicholas Courtney, British actor (b. 1929)