today.nukz.net: Almanac April 12

Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor (April 12, 1915 - December 17, 1975) Chicago blues guitarist and singer.

Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 (although some sources say 1917). He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20. He moved to Chicago in 1942. He became a full-time musician around 1957 but remained unknown outside of the Chicago area where he played small clubs in the black neighborhoods and also at the open-air Maxwell Street Market. He was known for his electrified slide guitar playing roughly styled after that of Elmore James, his cheap Japanese Teisco guitars, and his raucous boogie beats. He was also famed among guitar players for having six fingers on his left hand

Events

238 – Gordian II loses the Battle of Carthage against the Numidian forces loyal to Maximinus Thrax and is killed. Gordian I, his father, commits suicide.
467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
1204 – The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.
1557 – Cuenca is founded in Ecuador.
1606 – The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of Great Britain.
1633 – The formal inquest of Galileo Galilei by the Inquisition begins.
1776 – American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.
1820 – Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece.
1831 – Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England cause it to collapse.
1861 – American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
1862 – American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurred, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw).
1864 – American Civil War: The Fort Pillow massacre: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
1865 – American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
1877 – The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
1910 – The SMS Zrinyi, one of the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched.
1917 – World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.
1927 – April 12 Incident: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Communist Party of China members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.
1934 – The strongest surface wind gust in the world at 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire.
1934 – The U.S. Auto-Lite Strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.
1935 – First flight of the Bristol Blenheim.
1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.
1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office; vice-president Harry Truman is sworn in as the 33rd President.
1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
1961 – The Russian (Soviet) cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, in Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1).
1963 – The Soviet nuclear powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.
1968 – Nerve gas accident at Skull Valley, Utah.
1970 – Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.
1980 – Samuel Doe takes control of Liberia in a coup d'état, ending over 130 years of minority Americo-Liberian rule over the country.
1980 – Terry Fox begins his "Marathon of Hope" at St. John's, Newfoundland.
1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) launches on the STS-1 mission.
1990 – Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
1992 – The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland. The resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris.
1994 – Canter & Siegel post the first commercial mass Usenet spam.
1998 – An earthquake in Slovenia, measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale occurs near the town of Bovec.
1999 – US President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a sexual harassment civil lawsuit.
2002 – A female suicide bomber detonated at the entrance to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda open-air market, killing 7 and wounding 104.
2007 – A suicide bomber penetrated the Green Zone and detonated in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.
2009 – Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwe Dollar as their official currency.
2010 – A train derails near Merano, Italy, after running into a landslide, causing nine deaths and injuring 28 people.

Births

599 BC – Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism (d. 527 BC)
812 – Muhammad at-Taqi, Muslim Shia Imam (d. 835)
1484 – Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect (d. 1546)
1500 – Joachim Camerarius, German classical scholar (d. 1574)
1526 – Muretus, French humanist (d. 1585)
1550 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English politician (d. 1604)
1577 – King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway (d. 1648)
1705 – William Cookworthy, English chemist (d. 1780)
1710 – Caffarelli, Italian castrato and opera singer (d. 1783)
1713 – Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French writer (d. 1796)
1716 – Felice Giardini, Italian composer and violinist (d. 1796)
1722 – Pietro Nardini, Italian composer (d. 1793)
1724 – Lyman Hall, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1790)
1726 – Charles Burney, English music historian (d. 1814)
1748 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (d. 1836)
1760 – Juan Manuel Olivares, Venezuelan composer (d. 1797)
1777 – Henry Clay, American statesman (d. 1852)
1792 – John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, Governor General of British North America (d. 1840)
1794 – Germinal Pierre Dandelin, Belgian mathematician (d. 1847)
1796 – George N. Briggs, 19th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1861)
1799 – Henri Druey, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1855)
1801 – Joseph Lanner, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1843)
1823 – Alexander Ostrovsky, Russian dramatist (d. 1886)
1839 – Nikolai Przhevalsky, Russian explorer (d. 1888)
1848 – José Gautier Benítez, Puerto Rican poet (d. 1880)
1851 – Edward Walter Maunder, English astronomer (d. 1928)
1852 – Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician (d. 1939)
1856 – William Martin Conway, English art critic and mountaineer (d. 1937)
1866 – Princess Viktoria of Prussia (d. 1929)
1868 – Akiyama Saneyuki, Japanese naval commander (d. 1918)
1869 – Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (d. 1922)
1871 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and dictator (d. 1941)
1874 – William B. Bankhead, American politician, 47th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1940)
1883 – Dally Messenger, Australian rugby league footballer (d. 1959)
1884 – Otto Meyerhof, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (d. 1951)
1884 – Tenby Davies, Welsh runner (d. 1932)
1887 – Harold Lockwood, American actor (d. 1918)
1888 – Heinrich Neuhaus, Soviet musician (d. 1964)
1892 – Johnny Dodds, American musician (d. 1940)
1893 – Robert Harron, American actor (d. 1920)
1894 – Francisco Craveiro Lopes, 13th President of Portugal (d. 1964)
1898 – Lily Pons, American soprano (d. 1976)
1901 – Lowell Stockman, American representative (d. 1962)
1902 – Louis Beel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
1903 – Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
1907 – Felix de Weldon, Austrian-born sculptor (d. 2003)
1907 – Hardie Gramatky, American author and animator (d. 1979)
1908 – Robert Lee Scott, Jr., American pilot (d. 2006)
1908 – Ida Crowe Pollock, English writer
1911 – Mahmoud Younis, Suez Canal engineer (d. 1976)
1912 – Frank Dilio, Canadian ice hockey administrator (d. 1997)
1912 – Walt Gorney, American actor (d. 2004)
1912 – Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, Second Vice President of Indonesia (d. 1988)
1912 – Hound Dog Taylor, American Chicago blues guitarist and singer (d. 1975)
1913 – Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-born American martial artist
1914 – Armen Alchian, American economist
1916 – Beverly Cleary, American writer
1916 – Russell Garcia, American composer for screen, stage and broadcast (d. 2011)
1916 – Benjamin Libet, American scientist (d. 2007)
1917 – Helen Forrest, American singer (d. 1999)
1919 – István Anhalt, Hungarian-Canadian composer (d. 2012)
1919 – Billy Vaughn, American musician and bandleader (d. 1991)
1921 – Robert Cliche, Quebec politician and magistrate (d. 1978)
1923 – Ann Miller, American actor and dancer (d. 2004)
1924 – Raymond Barre, French politician and Prime Minister (d. 2007)
1924 – Peter Safar, Austrian physician (d. 2003)
1925 – Joe Bowman, American sharpshooter, Hollywood consultant, bootmaker & master showman (d. 2009)
1925 – Ned Miller, American singer and songwriter
1928 – Hardy Krüger, German actor
1928 – Jean-François Paillard, French conductor
1929 – Mukhran Machavariani, Georgian poet (d. 2010)
1930 – Manuel Neri, American artist
1930 – Michal Zyczkowski, Polish technician (d. 2006)
1931 – Leonid Derbenyov, Russian poet-songwriter (d. 1995)
1932 – Dennis Banks, American Indian activist
1932 – Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lankan politician (d. 2005)
1932 – Jean-Pierre Marielle, French actor
1932 – Tiny Tim, American musician (d. 1996)
1933 – Montserrat Caballé, Spanish soprano
1934 – Heinz Schneiter, Swiss footballer
1935 – Jimmy Makulis, Greek singer (d. 2007)
1936 – Charles Napier, American actor (d. 2011)
1937 – Igor Volk, Soviet astronaut
1939 – Alan Ayckbourn, English writer
1939 – Johnny Raper, Australian rugby league footballer
1940 – John Hagee, American pastor and televangelist
1940 – Herbie Hancock, American musician and composer
1941 – Bobby Moore, English footballer (d. 1993)
1942 – Carlos Reutemann, Argentine racing driver and politician
1942 – Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa
1944 – Georgios Balanos, Greek translator, author and publisher
1944 – John Kay, German-born musician
1945 – Lee Jong-wook, Korean Director-General of the WHO (d. 2006)
1946 – Ed O'Neill, American actor
1946 – George Robertson, British politician
1947 – Alex Briley, American singer (Village People)
1947 – Tom Clancy, American author
1947 – Woody Johnson, sports team owner
1947 – Antonin Kratochvil, Czech-born American photographer
1947 – Dan Lauria, American actor
1947 – David Letterman, American talk show host
1947 – Wayne Northrop, American actor
1948 – Marcello Lippi, Italian football coach
1948 – Jeremy Beadle, English television presenter (d. 2008)
1948 – Joschka Fischer, Foreign Minister of Germany 1998-2005
1948 – Sandra "Lois" Reeves, American singer
1949 – Scott Turow, American writer
1950 – Flavio Briatore, Italian businessman and F1 team principal (Renault F1)
1950 – David Cassidy, American singer and actor
1951 – Tom Noonan, American actor
1952 – Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d. 2004)
1952 – Reuben Gant, American professional football player
1954 – Jon Krakauer, American author
1954 – Pat Travers, Canadian musician
1956 – Andy García, Cuban-born actor
1956 – Herbert Grönemeyer, German singer
1957 – Greg Child, Australian mountaineer
1957 – Vince Gill, American musician
1958 – Will Sergeant, English musician
1958 – Howard Stableford, English actor and host
1960 – Ron MacLean, Canadian sportscaster
1961 – Lisa Gerrard, Australian musician
1961 – Charles Mann, American football player
1961 – Magda Szubanski, Australian actress
1962 – Art Alexakis, American musician
1962 – Takada Nobuhiko, Japanese wrestler
1963 – Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, Mexican journalist
1964 – Amy Ray, American musician
1965 – Kim Bodnia, Danish actor
1965 – Tom O'Brien, American actor-producer
1967 – Sarah Cracknell, English singer
1967 – Mellow Man Ace, Afro-Cuban rapper
1968 – Alicia Coppola, American actress
1968 – Adam Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Jörn Lenz, German footballer
1969 – Lucas Radebe, South African footballer
1970 – Sylvain Bouchard, Canadian speed skater
1971 – Nick Hexum, American musician
1971 – Nicholas Brendon, American actor
1971 – Shannen Doherty, American actor
1972 – Sebnem Ferah, Turkish singer
1972 – Dimitrios Kokotis, Greek high jumper
1972 – Paul Lo Duca, American baseball player
1973 – J. Scott Campbell, American comic book artist
1973 – Claudia Jordan, American model
1973 – Antonio Osuna, Mexican baseball player
1974 – Belinda Emmett, Australian actor (d. 2006)
1974 – Roman Hamrlík, Czech ice hockey player
1974 – Marley Shelton, American actor
1974 – Sylvinho, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Brad Miller, American basketball player
1977 – Giovanny Espinoza, Ecuadorian footballer
1977 – Sarah Jane Morris, American actor
1977 – Jason Price, Welsh footballer
1977 – Glenn Rogers, Scottish cricketer
1977 – Jordana Spiro, American actor
1978 – Guy Berryman, Scottish musician (Coldplay)
1978 – Riley Smith, American actor
1979 – Claire Danes, American actress
1979 – Jordan De Jong, American baseball player
1979 – Elena Grosheva, Russian gymnast
1979 – Mateja Kežman, Serbian footballer
1979 – Jennifer Morrison, American actress and model
1979 – Paul Nicholls, English actor
1979 – Cristian Ranalli, Italian footballer
1980 – Brian McFadden, Irish singer
1980 – Erik Mongrain, Canadian musician
1981 – Nicolás Burdisso, Argentine footballer
1981 – Grant Holt, English footballer
1981 – Brian Vandborg, Danish cyclist
1982 – Deen, Bosnian singer
1983 – Jelena Dokic, Serbian/Australian tennis player
1983 – Dwayne Smith, West Indian cricketer
1985 – Jeísa Chiminazzo, Brazilian model
1985 – Ted Ginn, Jr., American football player
1985 – Anna-Katharina Samsel, German actress
1985 – Olga Seryabkina, Russian singer
1985 – Hitomi Yoshizawa, Japanese singer
1986 – Blerim Džemaili, Swiss footballer
1986 – Marcel Granollers, Spanish tennis player
1987 – Brooklyn Decker, American model and actress
1987 – Shawn Gore, Canadian football player
1987 – Brendon Urie, American musician (Panic at the Disco)
1988 – Amedeo Calliari, Italian footballer
1993 – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Canadian ice hockey player
1993 – Dorial Green-Beckham, American football player
1994 – Saoirse Ronan, Irish actress
1994 – Airi Suzuki, Japanese actress and singer (C-ute)
2000 – Suzanna von Nathusius, Polish actress

Deaths

45 BC – Gnaeus Pompeius, Roman general
65 – Seneca the Younger, Roman philosopher, statesman, and dramatist
238 – Gordian I, Roman Emperor
238 – Gordian II, heir to the Roman Empire
352 – St. Julius I, 35th Pope
434 – Archbishop Maximianus of Constantinople
1125 – Vladislaus I of Bohemia (b. 1065)
1443 – Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury
1550 – Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (b. 1496)
1555 – Joanna of Castile, wife of Philip I of Castile (b. 1479)
1675 – Richard Bennett, British Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1609)
1684 – Nicolò Amati, Italian luthier and member of the Amati family (b. 1596)
1687 – Ambrose Dixon, British-born American settler (b. c. 1619)
1704 – Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French bishop and writer (b. 1627)
1748 – William Kent, English architect (b. c. 1685)
1782 – Metastasio, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1698)
1788 – Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-born composer (b. 1719)
1795 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (b. 1710)
1814 – Charles Burney, English music historian (b. 1726)
1817 – Charles Messier, French astronomer (b. 1730)
1850 – Adoniram Judson, American missionary (b. 1788)
1866 – Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, English Member of Parliament and developer (b. 1801)
1872 – Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer (b. 1795)
1878 – William Magear "Boss" Tweed, American politician (b. 1823)
1898 – Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau, Roman Catholic archbishop of Quebec (b. 1820)
1902 – Marie Alfred Cornu, French physicist (b. 1842)
1912 – Clara Barton, American nurse and Red Cross advocate (b. 1821)
1933 – Adelbert Ames, American general and politician (b. 1835)
1938 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (b. 1873)
1945 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)
1953 – Lionel Logue, speech therapist who worked with King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1880)

1962 – Ron Flockhart, Scottish racing driver (b. 1923)
1968 – Heinrich Nordhoff, German automobile engineer (b. 1899)
1971 – Wynton Kelly, American jazz pianist (b. 1931)
1971 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player (b. 1871)
1973 – Arthur Freed, American lyricist and producer (b. 1894)
1975 – Josephine Baker, American dancer (b. 1906)
1977 – Phil Wrigley, American manufacturer and baseball executive (b. 1894)
1980 – Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards and snooker player (b. 1895)
1980 – William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberian politician (b. 1913)
1981 – Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
1983 – Carl Morton, American baseball player (b. 1944)
1984 – Edwin T. Layton, American naval officer (b. 1903)
1986 – Valentin Kataev, Russian writer (b. 1897)
1987 – Mike Von Erich, American wrestler (b. 1964)
1988 – Colette Deréal, French singer and actress (b. 1927)
1988 – Alan Paton, South African writer (b. 1903)
1989 – Gerald Flood, British actor (b. 1927)
1989 – Abbie Hoffman, American political activist (b. 1936)
1989 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921)
1996 – Gabriel Gomez, Future professional basketball player.
1997 – George Wald, Americn scientist (b. 1906)
1998 – Robert Ford, Canadian poet and diplomat (b. 1815)
1999 – Marion Pruett, American spree killer (b. 1949)
1999 – Boxcar Willie, American singer (b. 1931)
2001 – Harvey Ball, American inventor (b. 1921)
2002 – George Shevelov, Ukrainian-born American linguist and academic (b. 1908)
2003 – Sydney Lassick, American actor (b. 1922)
2005 – Ehud Manor, Israeli songwriter, translator, and radio and TV personality (b. 1941)
2006 – William Sloane Coffin, American clergyman (b. 1924)
2006 – Puggy Pearson, American poker player (b. 1929)
2006 – Rajkumar, Indian film actor/singer (b. 1929)
2007 – Kevin Crease, Australian TV anchor (b. 1936)
2008 – Cecilia Colledge, British ice skater (b. 1920)
2008 – Patrick Hillery, Irish politician (b. 1923)
2008 – Jerry Zucker, Israeli-born American businessman (b. 1949)
2009 – Marilyn Chambers, American pornographic actress (b. 1952)
2010 – Michel Chartrand, Canadian union leader (b. 1916)
2010 – Palito, Filipino comedian (b. 1934)