today.nukz.net: Almanac January 5

Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003), better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s. He was a producer, label owner, and talent scout throughout the 1940s and 1950s. He most notably founded Sun Studios and Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Through Sun, Phillips discovered such recording talent as Howlin' Wolf, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. The height of his success culminated in his launching of Elvis Presley's career in 1954. He is also associated with several other noteworthy rhythm and blues and rock and roll stars of the period. Phillips sold Sun in 1969. He was an early investor in the Holiday Inn chain of hotels. He also advocated racial equality and helped break down racial music industry barriers.

Events

1066 – Edward the Confessor dies childless, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
1477 – Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is killed and Burgundy becomes part of France.
1500 – Duke Ludovico Sforza conquers Milan.
1527 – Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zurich, Switzerland, is executed by drowning.
1554 – A great fire occurs in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
1675 – Battle of Colmar: the French army beats Brandenburg.
1757 – Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering, the traditional and gruesome form of capital punishment used for regicides.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: French troops begin a siege of a British garrison on Brimstone Hill in Saint Kitts.
1846 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
1854 – The San Francisco steamer sinks, killing 300 people.
1895 – Dreyfus affair: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.
1896 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Röntgen has discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.
1900 – Irish leader John Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
1909 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
1911 – Kappa Alpha Psi, the world's second oldest and largest black fraternity, is founded at Indiana University.
1912 – The Prague Party Conference takes place.
1913 – First Balkan War: During the Naval Battle of Lemnos, Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it did not venture for the rest of the war.
1914 – The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor.
1919 – The German Workers' Party, which would become the Nazi Party, is founded.
1925 – Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming becomes the first female governor in the United States.
1933 – Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
1940 – FM radio is demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission for the first time.
1944 – The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.
1945 – The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.
1949 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
1957 – In a speech given to the United States Congress, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the establishment of what will later be called the Eisenhower Doctrine.
1968 – Alexander Dubcek comes to power: "Prague Spring" begins in Czechoslovakia.
1969 – The Troubles: The Royal Ulster Constabulary raid the Bogside area of Derry, damaging property and beating residents. In response, residents erect barricades and establish Free Derry.
1971 – The first One Day International cricket match is held between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the development of a Space Shuttle program.
1974 – An earthquake in Lima, Peru, kills six people, and damages hundreds of houses.
1974 – Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antarctica of +59°F (+15°C) recorded at Vanda Station
1975 – The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
1976 – The Khmer Rouge proclaim the Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea.
1976 – The Troubles: In response to the killing of six Catholics the night before, gunmen shoot dead ten Protestant civilians after stopping their minibus at Kingsmill in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
1991 – Georgian forces enter Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, Georgia, opening the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War.
1993 – The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.
1993 – Washington state executes Westley Allan Dodd by hanging (the last judicial hanging in America).
1996 – Hamas bombmaker Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone.
2005 – Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, is discovered by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.

Births

1209 – Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans (d. 1272)
1548 – Francisco Suarez, Spanish theologian (d. 1617)
1587 – Xu Xiake, Chinese geographer (d. 1641)
1592 – Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor of India (d. 1666)
1614 – Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (d. 1662)
1640 – Paolo Lorenzani, Italian composer (d. 1713)
1667 – Antonio Lotti, Italian composer (d. 1740)
1679 – Pietro Filippo Scarlatti, Italian composer, organist and choirmaster (d. 1750)
1696 – Giuseppe Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/painter (d. 1757)
1717 – William Wildman Shute Barrington, British statesman (d. 1793)
1762 – Constanze Mozart, wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (d. 1842)
1767 – Jean-Baptiste Say, French economist, originator of Say's Law (d. 1832)
1778 – Zebulon Pike, American explorer (d. 1813)
1779 – Stephen Decatur, American naval officer (d. 1820)
1808 – Anton Füster, Austrian priest and revolutionary activist (d. 1881)
1829 – Sir Roger Ichborne, British heir (d. c. 1854)
1834 – William John Wills, English explorer (d. 1861)
1838 – Camille Jordan, French mathematician (d. 1922)
1846 – Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1926)
1855 – King Camp Gillette, American inventor (d. 1932)
1864 – Bob Caruthers, American baseball player (d. 1911)
1864 – Ban Johnson, American baseball executive (d. 1931)
1865 – Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (d. 1920)
1866 – Dimitrios Gounaris, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1922)
1871 – Frederick Converse, American composer (d. 1940)
1874 – Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)
1876 – Konrad Adenauer, German statesman (d. 1967)
1879 – Hans Eppinger, Austrian physician (d. 1946)
1879 – Marcel Tournier, French harpist and composer (d. 1951)
1880 – Nikolay Medtner, Russian composer (d. 1951)
1881 – David Hammond, American freestyle swimmer and water polo player (death date unknown)
1882 – Herbert Bayard Swope, American journalist (d. 1958)
1885 – Humbert Wolfe, Italian-born British poet (d. 1940)
1886 – Markus Reiner, Israeli scientist (d. 1976)
1893 – Zoltán Böszörmény, Hungarian Nazi politician (d. unknown)
1893 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (d. 1952)
1895 – Elizabeth Cotten, American musician (d. 1987)
1895 – Jeannette Piccard, American priest, and aeronaut (d. 1981)
1900 – Yves Tanguy, French painter (d. 1955)
1902 – Stella Gibbons, English novelist (d. 1989)
1902 – Hubert Beuve-Méry, French journalist (d. 1989)
1903 – Harold Gatty, Australian aviator (d. 1957)
1904 – Erica Morini, Austrian violinist (d. 1995)
1904 – Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (d. 1997)
1906 – Kathleen Kenyon, English archaeologist (d. 1978)
1908 – George Dolenz, American actor (d. 1963)
1909 – Lucienne Bloch, Swiss-born American sculptor, muralist, photographer (d. 1995)
1909 – Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician (d. 1994)
1910 – Hugh Brannum, American actor (d. 1987)
1910 – Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (d. 1949)
1911 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, French actor (d. 2001)
1914 – Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter (d. 1955)
1914 – George Reeves, American actor (d. 1959)
1915 – Arthur H. Robinson, Canadian cartographer (d. 2004)
1917 – Lucienne Day, British textile designer (d. 2010)
1917 – Francis L. Kellogg, American diplomat and socialite (d. 2006)
1917 – Wieland Wagner, German stage director (d. 1966)
1917 – Jane Wyman, American actress (d. 2007)
1919 – Hector Abhayavardhana, Sri Lankan theorist (d. 2012)
1919 – Severino Gazzelloni, Italian flautist (d. 1992)
1920 – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist (d. 1995)
1921 – Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d. 1990)
1921 – Paul Governali, American professional football player (d. 1978)
1921 – Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
1922 – Sir Anthony Synnot, Australian naval officer (d. 2001)
1923 – Sam Phillips, American music producer (d. 2003)
1924 – Gilbert Bogle, Australian scientist (d. 1963)
1924 – Hamzah Abu Samah, Malaysian politician (d. 2012)
1926 – William De Witt Snodgrass, American poet
1926 – Hosea Williams, American activist (d. 2000)
1928 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani statesman (d. 1979)
1928 – Walter Mondale, American politician, former United States Senator from Minnesota and 42nd Vice President of the United States
1929 – Wilbert Harrison, American singer (d. 1994)
1930 – Alfred Masini, American television producer (d. 2010)
1931 – Alvin Ailey, American choreographer (d. 1989)
1931 – Alfred Brendel, Austrian pianist
1931 – Joan Coxsedge, Australian politician
1931 – Robert Duvall, American actor
1932 – Umberto Eco, Italian philosopher and writer
1932 – Raisa Gorbachova, wife of Mikhail Gorbachev (d. 1999)
1932 – Chuck Noll, American football coach
1934 – William Bendeck, Bolivian rally driver (d. 1971)
1936 – Florence King, American humorist
1938 – King Juan Carlos I of Spain
1938 – Jim Otto, American football player
1938 – Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Kenyan writer
1940 – Michael O'Donoghue, American writer (d. 1994)
1940 – Yuri Ershov, Russian mathematician
1940 – Athol Guy, Australian singer (The Seekers)
1940 – Sir Michael Rose, British military officer
1941 – Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese film maker
1941 – Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Indian cricketer (d. 2011)
1941 – Bruno Schettino, Italian archbishop (d. 2012)
1942 – Jan Leeming, English television presenter and newsreader
1942 – Terenci Moix, Spanish writer (d. 2003)
1942 – Maurizio Pollini, Italian pianist
1942 – Charlie Rose, American talk show host
1943 – Mary Gaudron, Australian jurist
1944 – Ed Rendell, American politician and 45th Governor of Pennsylvania
1945 – Chuck McKinley, American tennis player (d. 1986)
1945 – Roger Spottiswoode, Canadian-born film director
1946 – Diane Keaton, American actress
1947 – Mike Dewine, American politician
1947 – Mercury Morris, American football player
1948 – Ted Lange, American actor
1949 – George Brown, American drummer (Kool & The Gang)
1950 – Ioan Petru Culianu, Romanian educator (d. 1991)
1950 – John Manley, Canadian politician
1950 – Charlie Richmond, Canadian entrepreneur
1950 – Chris Stein, American guitarist (Blondie)
1950 – Krzysztof Wielicki, Polish mountaineer
1951 – Steve Arnold, English footballer
1952 – Uli Hoeneß, German footballer/manager
1953 – Steve Archer, American singer (The Archers)
1953 – Pamela Sue Martin, American actress
1953 – Mike Rann, Australian politician
1953 – George Tenet, American civil servant, university professor and 18th Director of Central Intelligence
1954 – Alex English, American basketball player
1954 – László Krasznahorkai, Hungarian writer
1955 – Mohsen Sazegara, Iranian dissident journalist
1956 – Chen Kenichi, Japanese-born chef
1956 – Tim Macartney-Snape, Australian mountaineer
1957 – Kevin Hastings, Australian rugby league footballer
1958 – Nancy Delahunt, Canadian athlete
1958 – Ron Kittle, American baseball player
1958 – Marvin Lee Wilson, American convicted murderer (d. 2012)
1959 – Clancy Brown, American actor
1960 – Steve Jones, British aviator (Red Bull Air Race World Series)
1960 – Glenn Strömberg, Swedish footballer
1960 – Phil Thornalley, English bass guitarist (The Cure and Johnny Hates Jazz)
1961 – Iris DeMent, American songwriter and singer
1962 – Suzy Amis, American actress and model
1962 – Perry Fenwick, English actor
1962 – Danny Jackson, American baseball player
1963 – Jeff Fassero, American baseball player
1964 – Grant Young (musician), American drummer (Soul Asylum)
1965 – Vinnie Jones, British footballer-turned-actor
1966 – Kate Schellenbach, American drummer (Luscious Jackson)
1966 – Steve Tuttle, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Joe Flanigan, American actor
1968 – DJ Bobo, Swiss singer
1968 – Ricky Paull Goldin, American actor
1968 – Andrew Golota, Polish boxer
1968 – Carrie Ann Inaba, American dancer and choreographer
1968 – Joé Juneau, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Marilyn Manson, American singer
1969 – Paul McGillion, Scottish actor
1970 – Rick Campanelli, Canadian TV presenter
1971 – Jayne Middlemiss, British TV presenter and celebrity chef
1971 – Mayuko Takata, Japanese actress
1972 – Sakis Rouvas, Greek singer
1972 – Nikki Nova (Born Jennifer Nichole Italiano), Adult model & B-movie starlet
1973 – Phil Joel, New Zealand bassist (Newsboys)
1974 – Sarah Jane Honeywell, British television presenter
1975 – Kylie Bax, New Zealand model
1975 – Bradley Cooper, American actor
1975 – Warrick Dunn, American football player
1975 – Mike Grier, American ice hockey player
1976 – Diego Tristán, Spanish footballer
1976 – Matt Wachter, American bassist (30 Seconds to Mars and Angels & Airwaves)
1978 – Sabrina Harman, American military figure and accused torturer
1978 – January Jones, American actress
1978 – Franck Montagny, French Formula One driver
1978 – Marcus Trick, German rugby player
1979 – Kyle Calder, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Ronnie O'Brien, Irish footballer
1979 – Masami Tanaka, Japanese swimmer
1980 – Bennie Joppru, American football player
1981 – Corey Flynn, New Zealand rugby union footballer
1981 – Brooklyn Sudano, American actress
1981 – Joel Thomas Zimmerman, Canadian musician (deadmau5)
1982 – Norichika Aoki, Japanese baseball player
1982 – Janica Kostelic, Croatian skier
1982 – Darren Mackie, Scottish footballer
1982 – Benoît Vaugrenard, French cyclist
1983 – Sean Dockery, American basketball player
1984 – Amanda Hearst, American heiress and model
1985 – Michael Cuccione, Canadian actor (d. 2001)
1985 – Fabienne Suter, Swiss alpine skier
1985 – Yoon So-Yi, South Korean actress
1985 – Diego Vera, Uruguayan footballer
1986 – J. P. Arencibia, American baseball player
1986 – Teppei Koike, Japanese actor and singer (WaT)
1986 – Deepika Padukone, Indian model and actress
1987 – Kristin Cavallari, American actress
1988 – Pauline, French singer
1988 – Mario de Luna, Mexican footballer
1989 – Krisztián Németh, Hungarian footballer
1990 – Yang Yo-seob, South Korean idol pop singer and dancer (Beast (South Korean band))
1991 – Denis Alibec, Romanian footballer
1991 – Daniel Pacheco, Spanish footballer
1992 – Julian Derstroff, German footballer
1993 – De'Anthony Thomas, American football player
1996 – Max Baldry, English actor
1999 – Marc Yu, American musician
2000 – Patricia Gayod, Filipina child actress

Deaths

842 – Al-Mu'tasim, Abbasid caliph (b. 794)
1066 – Edward the Confessor, King of England (b. 1004)
1387 – King Peter IV of Aragon (b. 1319)
1400 – John Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English politician (b. c. 1350)
1448 – Christopher of Bavaria (b. 1416)
1465 – Charles, Duke of Orléans, French poet (b. 1394)
1477 – Charles, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1433)
1524 – Marko Marulic, Croatian poet (b. 1450)
1527 – Felix Manz, Swiss leader (executed) (b. 1498)
1588 – Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (b. 1528)
1589 – Catherine de' Medici, queen of Henry II of France (b. 1519)
1713 – Jean Chardin, French explorer (b. 1643)
1740 – Antonio Lotti, Italian composer (b. 1667)
1762 – Empress Elizabeth of Russia (b. 1709)
1771 – John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, British statesman (b. 1710)
1796 – Samuel Huntington,(statesman) (b. 1731)
1823 – Major George Johnston, Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales (b. 1764)
1846 – Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (b. 1812)
1858 – Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal (b. 1766)
1860 – Saint John Nepomucene Neumann, first American bishop to be canonized (b. 1811)
1883 – Charles Tompson, first Australian published poet (b. 1806)
1888 – Henri Herz, Austrian pianist (b. 1803)
1891 – Emma Abbott, American soprano (b. 1849)
1904 – Karl Alfred von Zittel, German palaeontologist (b. 1839)
1910 – Léon Walras, French economist (b. 1834)
1919 – Sumako Matsui, Japanese actress and singer (b. 1886)
1922 – Sir Ernest Shackleton, Irish explorer (b. 1874)
1933 – Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (b. 1872)
1937 – Marie Booth, child of William and Catherine Booth (b. 1864)
1939 – Amelia Earhart, American aviator declared dead after disappearance in 1937 (b. 1897)
1940 – Humbert Wolfe, Italian-British poet (b. 1885)
1941 – Amy Johnson, English aviator (b. 1903)
1942 – Tina Modotti, Italian photographer, model, actress, and revolutionary political activist (b. 1896)
1943 – George Washington Carver, American educator (b. 1864)
1946 – Kitty Cheatham, American singer (b. 1864)
1947 – Charles Schlee, Danish-born American racing cyclist (b. 1873)
1951 – Andrei Platonov, Russian writer (b. 1899)
1952 – Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow, Viceroy of India (b. 1887)
1952 – Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1869)
1954 – Rabbit Maranville, American baseball player (b. 1891)
1956 – Mistinguett, French singer (b. 1875)
1957 – Jerome Steever, American water polo player (b. 1880)
1963 – Rogers Hornsby, American baseball player (b. 1896)
1970 – Max Born, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)
1970 – Cyril Fagan, Irish astrologer (b. 1896)
1970 – Roberto Gerhard, Catalan composer (b. 1896)
1971 – Douglas Shearer, Canadian film engineer (b. 1899)
1974 – Lev Oborin, Russian pianist (b. 1907)
1976 – John A. Costello, Taoiseach of Ireland (b. 1891)
1976 – Mal Evans, Beatles' "roadie" (b. 1935)
1978 – Wyatt Cooper, American screenwriter (b. 1927)
1979 – Charles Mingus, American musician (b. 1922)
1979 – Billy Bletcher, American actor, comedian and voice actor (b. 1894)
1981 – Harold C. Urey, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1893)
1981 – Lanza del Vasto, Italian philosopher (b. 1901)
1982 – Hans Conried, American actor (b. 1917)
1982 – Sir Edmund Herring, Australian military commander, Lieutenant Governor of Victoria (b. 1892)
1982 – Harvey Lembeck, American actor (b. 1923)
1985 – Robert L. Surtees, American Oscar-winning cinematographer (Ben-Hur) (b. 1906)
1987 – Herman Smith-Johannsen, Norwegian-born Canadian cross-country skier (b. 1875)
1987 – Margaret Laurence, Canadian author (b. 1926)
1988 – Pete Maravich, American basketball player (b. 1947)
1990 – Arthur Kennedy, American actor (b. 1914)
1991 – Vasko Popa, Yugoslav poet (b. 1922)
1994 – Brian Johnston, English cricket commentator (b. 1912)
1994 – Tip O'Neill, American politician (b. 1912)
1996 – Yahya Ayyash, Palestinian Hamas member (b. 1966)
1996 – Lincoln Kirstein, American writer, impresario, art connoisseur (b. 1907)
1997 – André Franquin, Belgian cartoonist (Gaston Lagaffe) (b. 1924)
1997 – Burton Lane, American composer and lyricist (b. 1912)
1998 – Sonny Bono, American entertainer and politician (b. 1935)
1998 – Ken Forssi, American musician (Love) (b. 1943)
2001 – Nancy Parsons, American actress (b. 1942)
2003 – Doreen Carwithen, British composer, widow of William Alwyn (b. 1922)
2003 – Massimo Girotti, Italian film actor (b. 1918)
2003 – Roy Jenkins, British politician (b. 1920)
2003 – Jean Kerr, American author (b. 1923)
2004 – Norman Heatley, member of the team of Oxford University scientists who developed penicillin (b. 1911)
2004 – Tug McGraw, American baseball player, father of Tim McGraw (b. 1944)
2005 – Danny Sugerman, American music manager (The Doors) (b. 1954)
2006 – Lord Merlyn-Rees, British politician (b. 1920)
2007 – Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant noodles and cup noodles (b. 1910)
2007 – Chih Ree Sun, Chinese-American physicist and poet (b. 1923)
2008 – Clinton Grybas, Australian sports commentator (b. 1975)
2009 – Griffin Bell, American lawyer (b. 1918)
2009 – Ned Tanen, American movie executive (b. 1931)
2010 – Murray Saltzman, Reform Jewish rabbi and civil rights leader (b. 1929)
2011 – Malangatana Ngwenya, a Mozambican painter and poet(b. 1936)
2012 – Selwyn Baptiste, Trinidadian steelband educator (b. 1936)
2012 – Frederica Sagor Maas, American silent film screenwriter), playwright, memoirist and author (b. 1900)
2012 – Alexander Sizonenko, Russian basketball player, world's tallest person (b. 1959)