today.nukz.net: Almanac March 19

Jackie "Moms" Mabley, née Loretta Mary Aiken, (March 19, 1894 – May 23, 1975) Pioneer of the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit" of African-American vaudeville

Events

1279 – A Mongolian victory Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China.
1649 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it "useless and dangerous to the people of England".
1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
1812 – The Cádiz Cortes promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
1853 – The Taiping reform movement occupies and makes Nanjing its capital until 1864.
1861 – The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
1863 – The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.
1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.
1885 – Louis Riel declares a Provisional Government in Saskatchewan, beginning the North-West Rebellion.
1895 – Auguste and Louis Lumière record their first footage using their newly patented cinematograph.
1918 – The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
1920 – The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919).
1921 – Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.
1921 – Italian Fascists shoot from the Parenzana train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia): two children are killed, two mangled and three wounded.
1931 – Gambling is legalized in Nevada.
1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
1941 – World War II: The 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, is activated.
1943 – Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.
1944 – World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.
1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.
1946 – French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France.
1954 – Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in colour.
1954 – Willie Mosconi sets a world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss during a straight pool exhibition at East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio. The record still stands today.
1958 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.
1965 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.
1966 – Texas Western becomes the first college basketball team to win the Final Four with an all-black starting lineup.
1969 – The 385 metres (1,263 ft) tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up.
1979 – The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
1982 – Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom.
1987 – Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club due to a brewing sex scandal; he hands over control to Jerry Falwell.
1989 – The Egyptian Flag is raised on Taba, Egypt announcing the end of the Israeli occupation after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the peace negotiations in 1979.
1990 – The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mures begin four days after the anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas.
2002 – Zimbabwe is suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election.
2003 – United States President George W. Bush orders the start of war against Iraq.
2004 – Konginkangas bus disaster: A semi-trailer truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people are killed and 13 injured.
2004 – A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea is finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the three crewmen are left in place, pending further investigations.
2004 – 3-19 Shooting Incident: Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.
2008 – GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.
2011 – Libyan civil war: After the failure of Muammar Gaddafi's forces to take Benghazi, French Air Force launches Opération Harmattan, beginning Foreign Military Intervention in Libya.

Births

1434 – Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1443)
1488 – Johannes Magnus, Swedish religious figure (d. 1544)
1534 – José de Anchieta, Spanish missionary (d. 1597)
1590 – William Bradford, English colonial settler and politician (d. 1657)
1593 – Georges de la Tour, French artist (d. 1652)
1661 – Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer and teacher (d. 1727)
1684 – Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (d. 1766)
1721 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish novelist (d. 1771)
1734 – Thomas McKean, American lawyer and signatory (d. 1817)
1739 – Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance, French statesman (d. 1824)
1742 – Túpac Amaru II, Incan revolutionary (d. 1781)
1749 – Princess Louisa of Great Britain (d. 1768)
1778 – Edward Pakenham, British general (d. 1815)
1813 – David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (d. 1873)
1821 – Richard Francis Burton, British explorer, diplomat and author (d. 1890)
1823 – Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria (d. 1914)
1824 – William Allingham, Irish author (d. 1889)
1829 – Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish financier and industrialist (d. 1901)
1848 – Wyatt Earp, American marshall (d. 1929)
1849 – Alfred von Tirpitz, German admiral (d. 1930)
1851 – William Henry Stark, American business leader (d. 1936)
1860 – William Jennings Bryan, American statesman (d. 1925)
1861 – Lomer Gouin, Canadian politician (d. 1929)
1864 – Charles Marion Russell, American artist (d. 1926)
1865 – William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist and myrmecologist (d. 1937)
1871 – Schofield Haigh, British cricketer (d. 1921)
1873 – Max Reger, German composer (d. 1916)
1881 – Edith Nourse Rogers, American politician (d. 1960)
1883 – Walter Haworth, British chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1950)
1883 – Joseph Stilwell, American general (d. 1946)
1888 – Josef Albers, German artist (d. 1976)
1888 – Léon Scieur, Belgian cyclist (d. 1969)
1891 – Earl Warren, American politician (d. 1974)
1892 – James Van Fleet, American general (d. 1992)
1894 – Moms Mabley, American comedian (d. 1975)
1898 – Karl Theodor Bleek, German politician (d. 1969)
1900 – Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1958)
1902 – Louisa Ghijs, Belgian stage actress (d. 1985)
1904 – John Sirica, American judge (d. 1992)
1905 – Joe Rollino, American weightlifter and boxer (d. 2010)
1905 – Albert Speer, German architect (d. 1981)
1906 – Adolf Eichmann, German nazi officer and war criminal (d. 1962)
1909 – Attilio Demaría, Argentinian footballer (d. 1990)
1909 – Louis Hayward, British actor (d. 1985)
1910 – Joseph Carroll, American general (d. 1991)
1911 – Simone Renant, French actress (d. 2004)
1914 – Leonidas Alaoglu, Greek-Canadian mathematician (d. 1981)
1914 – Jay Berwanger, American football player (d. 2002)
1914 – Fred Clark, American film actor (d. 1968)
1915 – Robert G. Cole, American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1944)
1915 – Patricia Morison, American actress
1916 – Eric Christmas, British actor (d. 2000)
1916 – Irving Wallace, American novelist (d. 1990)
1917 – Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (d. 1950)
1917 – Laszlo Szabo, Hungarian chess player (d. 1998)
1920 – Tige Andrews, American actor (d. 2007)
1920 – Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author (d. 2002)
1920 – Paul Hagen, Danish actor (d. 2003)
1920 – Laurent Noël, French Canadian Roman Catholic bishop
1921 – Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedy magician (d. 1984)
1923 – Pamela Britton, American actress (d. 1974)
1923 – Betty Goodwin, Canadian sculpter and painter (d. 2008)
1923 – Benito Jacovitti, Italian comic artist (d. 1997)
1923 – Henry Morgentaler, Canadian gynecologist
1923 – Giuseppe Rotunno, Italian cinematographer
1924 – Joe Gaetjens, Haitian-American footballer (d. c. 1964)
1924 – Mary Wimbush, British actress (d. 2005)
1925 – Brent Scowcroft, American military officer and diplomat
1927 – Richie Ashburn, American baseball player (d. 1997)
1928 – Hans Küng, Swiss theologian
1928 – Patrick McGoohan, American actor (d. 2009)
1929 – Miquel Martí i Pol, Catalan poet (d. 2003)
1930 – Gualtiero Marchesi, Italian chef
1930 – Eugene Selznick, American volleyball player
1932 – Gay Brewer, American golfer (d. 2007)
1933 – Philip Roth, American author
1933 – Renée Taylor, American actress
1933 –Richard Williams, Canadian animator
1935 – Nancy Malone, American actress
1936 – Ursula Andress, Swiss actress
1936 – Birthe Wilke, Danish singer
1937 – Clarence "Frogman" Henry, American musician
1937 – Egon Krenz, last President of East Germany
1939 – Joe Kapp, American football player
1942 – Richard Dobson, American singer and songwriter
1943 – Mario J. Molina, Mexican chemist, Nobel laureate
1943 – Mario Monti, Italian politician
1943 – Vern Schuppan, Australian racing driver
1944 – Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
1944 – Sirhan Sirhan, Palestinian-born assassin
1945 – Stefanos Kiriakidis, Greek actor
1946 – Paul Atkinson, English guitarist (The Zombies) (d. 2004)
1946 – Bigas Luna, Spanish film director
1946 – Ruth Pointer, American musician and producer (Pointer Sisters)
1946 – Jack Schaeffer, American singer (Royale Monarchs)
1947 – Glenn Close, American actress
1947 – Marinho Peres, Brazilian football player
1948 – Vincent van der Bijl, South African cricketer
1949 – Valery Leontiev, Russian pop singer
1949 – Hirofumi Hirano, Japanese politician
1952 – Wolfgang Ambros, Austrian singer-songwriter
1952 – Warren Lees, New Zealand Test wicket-keeper
1952 – Harvey Weinstein, American film producer
1953 – Billy Sheehan, American bassist (Mr. Big)
1953 – Ricky Wilson, American musician (The B-52's) (d. 1985)
1954 – Jill Abramson, American journalist
1954 – Cho Kwang-Rae, South Korean football manager
1954 – Indu Shahani, Indian educator
1955 – Bruce Willis, American actor
1955 – Simon Yam, Hong Kong actor
1956 – Yegor Gaidar, Russian politician and economist.
1958 – Andy Reid, American pro football coach
1959 – Terry Hall, British singer
1960 – Simo Aalto, Finnish magician
1960 – Eliane Elias, Brazilian jazz musician and composer
1961 – Jos Lansink, Dutch-Belgian equestrian
1962 – Iván Calderón, Puerto Rican baseball player (d. 2003)
1962 – Jim Korderas, American wrestling referee
1963 – Neil LaBute, American playwright and filmmaker
1964 – Yoko Kanno, Japanese composer
1964 – Jake Weber, British actor
1965 – Kevin F. Harris, American composer and graphic artist
1966 – Andy Sinton, English footballer
1967 – Michael Bletsas, Greek engineer
1967 – Vladimir Konstantinov, Russian ice hockey player
1967 – Mary Scheer, American actress and comedian
1967 – Katia Tiutiunnik, Australian violist and composer
1968 – Mots'eoa Senyane, Lesotho diplomat
1968 – Tyrone Hill, American basketball player
1969 – Gary Jules, American singer and songwriter
1969 – Connor Trinneer, American actor
1969 – Tom McRae, British singer and songwriter
1970 – Michael Krumm, German race car driver
1971 – Nadja Auermann, German supermodel
1971 – Sébastien Godefroid, Belgian sailor
1973 – Bun B, American rapper (UGK)
1973 – Brant Bjork, American musician (Kyuss and Fu Manchu)
1973 – Simmone Jade Mackinnon, Australian actress
1974 – Vida Guerra, Cuban-American swimsuit model
1974 – Marcel Tiemann, German racing driver
1975 – Brann Dailor, American drummer
1975 – Antonio Daniels, American basketball player
1975 – Vivian Hsu, Taiwanese singer, actress and model
1975 – Lucie Laurier, French Canadian actress
1975 – Matthew Richardson, Australian rules footballer
1976 – Rachel Blanchard, Canadian actress
1976 – Andre Miller, American basketball player
1976 – Alessandro Nesta, Italian footballer
1976 – Stelios Sfakianakis, Greek footballer
1977 – Jorma Taccone, American writer and comedian
1979 – Sheldon Brown, American football player
1979 – Hee-Seop Choi, Korean baseball player
1979 – Ivan Ljubicic, Croatian tennis player
1979 – Christos Patsatzoglou, Greek footballer
1979 – Hedo Türkoglu, Turkish basketball player
1980 – Luca Ferri, Italian footballer
1980 – Mikuni Shimokawa, Japanese singer
1980 – Don Sparrow, Canadian illustrator
1981 – Kim Rae Won, South Korean actor and model
1981 – Kolo Touré, Ivorian footballer
1982 – Jonathan Fanene, American football player
1982 – Brad Jones, Australian footballer
1982 – Matt Littler, British actor
1982 – Eduardo Saverin, Brazilian entrepreneur
1983 – Ana Rezende, Brazilian film director and musician (CSS)
1983 – Matt Sydal, American wrestler
1984 – Tanushree Dutta, Indian actress
1985 – E. J. Viso, Venezuelan racing driver
1986 – Tyler Bozak, Canadian-Ukrainian ice hockey player
1987 – Lee Jooyeon, South Korean idol singer and actress
1987 – Alexander Metz, German rugby player
1987 – Michal Švec, Czech footballer
1987 – Milos Teodosic, Serbian basketball player
1987 – April Jeanette, American wrestler
1987 – Josie Lopez, American actress
1988 – Clayton Kershaw, American baseball player
1989 – Craig Lamar Traylor, American actor
1999 – Tatum McCann, American actress
2007 – Prince Abdullah bin Ali of Jordan

Deaths

1238 – Duke Henry I of Poland (b. 1163)
1263 – Hugh of St Cher, French cardinal
1279 – Emperor Bing of Song China (b. 1271)
1286 – King Alexander III of Scotland (b. 1241)
1330 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1301)
1406 – Ibn Khaldun, Arab historian (b. 1332)
1612 – Sophia Olelkovich Radziwill, Belarusian saint (b. 1585)
1623 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1556)
1637 – Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal and statesman (b. 1570)
1649 – Gerhard Johann Vossius, German classical scholar and theologian (b. 1577)
1683 – Thomas Killigrew, English dramatist (b. 1612)
1687 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle, French explorer (b. 1643)
1697 – Nicolaus Bruhns, German organist and composer (b. 1665)
1711 – Thomas Ken, English bishop and hymn-writer (b. 1637)
1717 – John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, Scottish royalist (b. 1636)
1721 – Pope Clement XI (b. 1649)
1783 – Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1713)
1796 – Hugh Palliser, British naval officer and administrator (b. 1722)
1816 – Philip Mazzei, Italian physician (b. 1730)
1871 – Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist (b. 1795)
1897 – Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, French geographer (b. 1810)
1900 – John Bingham, American politician and lawyer (b. 1815)
1900 – Charles-Louis Hanon, French composer (b. 1819)
1914 – Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (b. 1850)
1916 – Vasily Surikov, Russian painter (b. 1848)
1930 – Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1848)
1939 – Lloyd L. Gaines, American civil rights activist (b. 1911)
1942 – Clinton Hart Merriam, American zoologist (b. 1855)
1943 – Frank Nitti, American gangster (b. 1883)
1944 – William Hale Thompson, American mayor of Chicago (b. 1869)
1950 – Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (b. 1875)
1950 – Walter Haworth, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1883)
1974 – Anne Klein, American fashion designer (b. 1923)
1974 – Edward Platt, American actor (b. 1916)
1976 – Albert Dieudonné, French actor and novelist (b. 1889)
1976 – Paul Kossoff, English guitarist (Free) (b. 1950)
1978 – Gaston Julia, French mathematician (b. 1893)
1979 – Richard Beckinsale, English actor (b. 1947)
1981 – Marcel Cadieux, Canadian civil servant and diplomat (b. 1915)
1982 – Alan Badel, British actor (b. 1923)
1982 – Randy Rhoads, American guitarist (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne) (b. 1956)
1984 – Garry Winogrand, American photographer (b. 1928)
1987 – Louis, 7th duc de Broglie, French physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1892)
1988 – Bun Cook, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1904)
1989 – Alan Civil, English French horn player (b. 1929)
1990 – Andrew Wood, American singer (Mother Love Bone) (b. 1966)
1992 – Cesare Danova, American television and film actor (b. 1926)
1995 – Yasuo Yamada, Japanese voice actor (b. 1932)
1997 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch-born painter (b. 1904)
1997 – Eugène Guillevic, French poet (b. 1907)
1998 – E.M.S. Namboodiripad, Indian Communist politician, former Chief Minister of Kerala (b. 1909)
1999 – Tofilau Eti Alesana, former Prime Minister of Samoa (b. 1924)
1999 – Jaime Sabines, Mexican poet (b. 1926)
2000 – Joanne Weaver, American baseball player (b. 1935)
2001 – Charles K. Johnson, President of the Flat Earth Society (b. 1924)
2003 – Émile Genest, Canadian actor (b. 1921)
2003 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator (b. 1926)
2004 – Mitchell Sharp, Canadian politician (b. 1911)
2005 – John DeLorean, American automobile engineer (b. 1925)
2007 – Calvert DeForest, American actor (b. 1921)
2007 – Luther Ingram, American soul singer and songwriter (b. 1937)
2008 – Sir Arthur C. Clarke, English science fiction author and inventor (b. 1917)
2008 – Hugo Claus, Belgian writer (b. 1929)
2008 – Raghuvaran, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam actor (b. 1948)
2008 – Paul Scofield, English actor (b. 1922)
2009 – Ion Dolanescu, Romanian singer and politician (b. 1944)
2011 – Kym Bonython, Australian radio broadcaster, jazz musician, speedway promoter (b. 1920)