Nothingandall: On this day in History

0009 - Vespasian was born (d. 0079). Roman Emperor.
0326 - The old St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated.
1095 - The Council of Clermont began. The council was called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land.
1105 - Maginulf elected anti-Pope Silvester I.
1154 - Adélaide de Maurienne dies (b. 1092). Queen of Louis VI of France.
1302 - Pope Boniface VIII issued the Papal bull Unam sanctam ("The One Holy"), which historians consider one of the most extreme statements of Papal spiritual supremacy ever made.
1305 - John II, Duke of Brittany dies (b. 1239).
1307 - According to legend, William Tell shoots an apple off his son's head.
1313 - Constança dies. Dauhgher of Isabel, Queen of Portugal.
1421 - A seawall at the Zuider Zee dike breaks, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people in the Netherlands.
1477 - William Caxton produces "Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres", the first English book printed on a printing press.
1493 - Christopher Columbus first sights what is now Puerto Rico.
1497 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama reached the Cape of Good Hope.
1493 - Christopher Columbus first sights what is now Puerto Rico. He will land on it the following day and name it San Juan Batista.
1522 - Lamoral, Count of Egmont was born (d. 1568). Flemish general and statesman.
1559 - Cuthbert Tunstall dies (b. 1474). English churchman.
1590 - George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury dies (b. 1528). English statesman.
1626 - St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated.
1630 - Eleanor Gonzaga was born (d. 1686). Empress of the Holy Roman Empire.
1647 - Pierre Bayle was born (d. 1706). French philosopher.
1686 - Charles Francois Felix operates on King of France Louis XIV's anal fistula after practicing the surgery on several peasants.
1724 - Bartolomeu de Gusmão dies (b. 1685). Portuguese naturalist.
1727 - Philibert Commerçon was born (d. 1773). French naturalist.

1772 - Louis Ferdinand of Prussia was born (d. 1806). German prince.

1774 - Wilhelmine of Prussia was born (d. 1837). Queen of the Netherlands.

1785 - David Wilkie was born (d. 1841). Scottish artist.

1785 - Louis Philip I, Duke of Orléans dies (b. 1725). French soldier and writer.

1786 - Carl Maria von Weber was born (d. 1826). German composer.

1787 - Louis-Jacques Daguerre was born (d. 1851). French inventor and photographer.

1796 - Catharina II, "The Great" dies. Tsarina of Russia (1762-96).

1797 - Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat dies (b. 1719). French shipbuilder and merchant.

1803 - the Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.

1804 - Alfonso Ferrero la Marmora was born (d. 1878). Italian general and statesman.

1810 - Asa Gray was born. American botanist and writer of Grays Anatomy of Plants.

1814 - William Jessop dies (b. 1745). English civil engineer.

1814 - Aleijadinho (Francisco Antonio Lisboa) dies in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais (b. 1730). Brazilian sculptor and architect, known for his beautiful Rococo statues and his churches.

1820 - Captain Nathaniel Palmer becomes the first American to sight the continent of Antarctica.

1832 - Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld was born (d. 1901). Swedish explorer.

1835 - Portugal: José Jorge Loureiro becomes Prime-Minister.

1836 - Sir William S. Gilbert was born (d. 1911). English dramatist (HMS Pinafore; The Pirates of Penzance).

1836 - Cesare Lombroso was born (d. 1909). Italian psychiatrist and founder of criminology.

1839 - August Kundt was born (d. 1894). German physicist.

1841 - Manuel Menéndez becomes President of Peru.

1852 - Rose Philippine Duchesne dies in St. Charles Missouri - Canonized 3 July 1988 by Pope John Paul II.

1856 - Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov was born (d. 1929). Grand Duke of Russia.

1860 - Ignace Paderewski was born. Polish pianist and composer.

1861 - Dorothea Dix was born (d. 1887). American activist (not to be confused with journalist, Dorothy Dix).

1863 - King Christian IX of Denmark decided to sign the november constitution, which declared Schleswig as part of Denmark, what was seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and lead to the German–Danish war of 1864.

1865 - Mark Twain's story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is published in the New York Saturday Press.

1870 - Dorothy Dix, pseudonym of US journalist Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer was born (d. 1951)

1874 - Clarence Day was born (d. 1935). American author.

1877 - Arthur Cecil Pigou was born. English economist.

1882 - Amelita Galli-Curci was born (d. 1963). Italian soprano.

1882 - Jacques Maritain was born (d. 1973). French philosopher.

1882 - Wyndham Lewis was born. English artist and writer who founded the abstract porticist movement, which, in painting and literature before World War I, sought to relate art to the industrial process.

1883 - American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.

1883 - Carl Vinson was born (d. 1981). U.S. Congressman.

1886 - Máximo Tajes becomes President of Uruguay.

1886 - Chester A. Arthur dies (b. 1829). 21st President of the United States.

1889 - William Allingham dies. Irish author.

1897 - Patrick Blackett was born (d. 1974). English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.

1898 - Joris Ivens was born (d. 1989). Dutch filmmaker.

1899 - Eugene Ormandy was born in Budapest (d. 1985). Hungarian-born, American conductor.

1901 - George Gallup was born (d. 1984). American statistician and opinion pollster.

1903 - The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the Americans exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.

1904 - General Esteban Huertas steps down after the government of Panama fears he wants to stage a coup. The Panamanian army is disbanded the next day.

1904 - Jean Paul Lemieux was born (d. 1990). Quebec painter.

1905 - Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.

1906 - Alec Issigonis was born (d. 1988). Greek-British car designer, developer of the Mini

1906 - Klaus Mann was born (d. 1949). German writer.

1906 - George Wald was born (d. 1997). American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1907 - Compay Segundo was born (d. 2003). Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club).

1908 - Imogene Coca was born (d. 2001). American actress and comedienne.

1909 - Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries. (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya.

1909 - Johnny Mercer was born (d. 1976). American lyricist.

1911 - Attilio Bertolucci was born (d. 2000). Italian poet and writer.

1913 - Endre Rozsda ws born (d. 1999). French surrealist painter.

1914 - Iberê Camargo was born in Restinga Seca-RS (d. 1994). Brazilian painter.

1915 - Ken Burkhart was born (d. 2004). Baseball player.

1916 - Amelita Galli-Curci, was born (d. 1963).Italian soprano.

1916 - World War I: First Battle of the Somme ends - In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.

1917 - Sigma Alpha Rho, a Jewish high school fraternity, is founded in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1917 - Pedro Infante was born (d. 1957). Mexican actor and singer.

1918 - Latvia declares its independence from Russia.

1918 - Tasker Watkins was born (d. 2007). Welsh World War II hero.

1919 - Jocelyn Brando was born (d. 2005). American actress.

1920 -Mustafa Khalil was born (d. 2008). Prime Minister of Egypt.

1921 - National football Portuguese team played the first official match / Estréia oficial da Selecção Portuguesa de Futebol.

1921 - Natália Nunes was born in Lisbon. Portuguese writer.

1922 - Al Dvorin was born (d. 2004). American Elvis Presley concert announcer.

1922 - Luis Somoza Debayle was born (d. 1967). Nicaraguan president.

1922 - Marcel Proust dies (b. 1871). French novelist.

1923 - Alan Shepard was born (d. 21 Jul 1998). Astronaut who was the first American to travel in space.

1923 - Ted Stevens was born. American politician.

1924 - Alexander Mackenzie Stuart, Baron Mackenzie-Stuart was born (d. 2000). President of the European Court of Justice.

1925 - Gene Mauch was born (d. 2005). American baseball manager.

1925 - Ênio Silveira was born (d. 1996). Brazilian sociologist.

1926 - George Bernard Shaw refuses to accept the money for his Nobel Prize, saying, "I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize."

1927 - Hank Ballard was born (d. 2003). American musician.

1928 - Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the second appearances of Cartoon stars Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

1928 - Otar Gordeli was born. Georgian composer.

1929 - D. Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira is nominated Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal.

1929 - 1929 Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake centered on Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula area.

1930 - Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai, a Buddhist association later renamed Soka Gakkai, is founded by Japanese educators Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda.

1932 - "Flowers and Trees" receives 1st Academy Award for a cartoon.

1932 - Nasif Estéfano was born (d. 1973). Argentine racing driver.

1934 - Vassilis Vassilikos was born. Greek writer, Greece's ambassador to UNESCO.

1935 - Rodney Hall was born. Australian author.

1935 - Rudolf Bahro was born (d. 1997). German dissident.

1936 - Don Cherry was born (d. 1995). American jazz trumpeter.

1938 - Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

1939 - Brenda Vaccaro was born. American actress.

1939 - Margaret Atwood was born. Canadian writer.

1940 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.

1940 - New York City's Mad Bomber places his first bomb at a Manhattan office building used by Consolidated Edison.

1940 - Qaboos ibn Sa’id was born. Sultan of Oman.

1941 - David Hemmings was born (d. 2003). English actor.

1941 - John Christian Watson dies in Sydney.The first Labour prime minister of Australia.

1941 - Chris Watson dies (b. 1867). Third Prime Minister of Australia.

1941 - Émile Nelligan dies (b. 1879). Quebec poet.

1941 - Walther Nernst dies (b. 1864). German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.

1942 - Holocaust: German SS carry out selection of Jewish ghetto in Lviv, western Ukraine, arresting 5.000 "unproductive Jews". All get deported to Belzec death camp.

1942 - Linda Evans was born. American actress.

1942 - Susan Sullivan was born. American actress.

1943 - Holocaust: Aktion Emtefest: Nazis liquidate Janowska concentration camp in Lviv, western Ukraine, murdering at least 6.000 surviving Jews. German SS leader Fritz Katzman declares Lviv (Lemberg) to be Judenfrei (free from the Jews).

1943 - World War II: Battle of Berlin (air), 440 Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 air crew.

1943 - Manuel António Pina was born in Sabugal. Portuguese journalist and poet.

1944 - Wolfgang Joop was born. German artist, fashion designer and art collector.

1945 - Wilma Mankiller was born. First female chief of the Cherokee Nation.

1946 - Alan Dean Foster was born. American author.

1947 - Ballantyne's Department Store fire, Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41 (New Zealand's worst ever fire).

1947 - Jameson Parker was born. American actor.

1948 - Andrea Marcovicci was born. American singer and actress.

1948 - Jack Tatum was born. American football player.

1950 - Eric Pierpoint was born. American actor.

1950 - Graham Parker was born. English singer.

1950 - Rudy Sarzo was born. Cuban bass guitarist (Quiet Riot).

1951 - Justin Raimondo was born. American author.

1952 - Delroy Lindo was born in London. English actor.

1952 - Peter Beattie was born. Australian politician.

1952 - Paul Eluard dies (b. 1895). French poet.

1952 - Peter Beattie was born. 36th Premier of Queensland.

1953 - Alan Moore was born. British comic book writer and novelist.

1953 - Kevin Nealon was born. American comedian and actor.

1953 - Frank Olson dies (suicide). American scientist.

1954 - Evan Gray was born. New Zealand cricketer.

1954 - John Parr was born. British pop singer.

1955 - Carter Burwell was born. American composer.

1956 - Noel Brotherston was born (d. 1995). Northern Irish footballer.

1956 - Warren Moon was born. American football player.

1957 - Seán Mac Falls was born. Irish-born poet.

1958 - Laura Miller was born. Mayor of Dallas, Texas.

1958 - Claudia Jimenez was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian actress.

1958 - Daniel Brailovsky was born. Argentine football manager.

1958 - Oscar Nunez was born. Cuban American actor.

1959 - William Wyler's film Ben-Hur premieres at Loew's Theater in New York City.

1959 - Jimmy Quinn was born. Northern Irish footballer and football manager.

1960 - Elizabeth Perkins was born in Queens, New York. American actress.

1960 - Kim Wilde was born. English singer.

1962 - Kirk Hammett was born. American guitarist (Metallica).

1962 - Jamie Moyer was born. American baseball player.

1962 - Niels Bohr dies (b. 1885). Danish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate in 1922.

1963 - Dante Bichette was born. American baseball player.

1963 - Len Bias was born (d. 1986). American basketball player.

1963 - Peter Schmeichel was born. Danish football player.

1965 - Henry A. Wallace dies (b. 1888). Vice President of the United States.

1966 - Sandy Koufax announced his retirement from baseball.

1966 - Jorge Camacho was born. Spanish poet.

1966 - Jean Peugeot dies. French auto manufacturer.

1967 - Jocelyn Lemieux was born. Canadian ice hockey player.

1967 - Luis Somoza Debayle dies (b. 1922). Nicaraguan president.

1968 - Barry Hunter was born. Northern Irish footballer and manager.

1968 - Gary Sheffield was born. American baseball player.

1968 - Owen Wilson was born in Dallas, Texas. American actor.

1968 - Romany Malco was born. American actor and music producer.

1969 - Ahmed Helmi was born. Egyptian actor.

1969 - Duncan Sheik was born. American singer and songwriter.

1969 - Sam Cassell was born. American basketball player

1969 - Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. dies (b. 1888). American politician

1969 - Ted Heath dies (b. 1902). British musician and bandleader.

1970 - US President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for US$155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government (US$85 million was for military assistance in order to help prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier Lon Nol by the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam).

1970 - Joe Frazier KOs Bob Foster in 2 for heavyweight boxing title.

1970 - Elizabeth Anne Allen was born. American actress.

1970 - Johan Liiva was born. Sweden vocalist (Arch Enemy).

1970 - Megyn Kelly was born. American television news anchor.

1970 - Mike Epps was born. American actor.

1970 - Peta Wilson was born. Australian actress (See here Peta Wilson wallpapers).

1971 - Hard rock band Led Zeppelin release an untitled album, often dubbed "Led Zeppelin IV," featuring "Rock & Roll," "Stairway to Heaven" and other classic songs.

1972 - Jessi Alexander was born. American country music singer/songwriter.

1972 - Robert Shapiro was born. American politician/humorist.

1972 - Danny Whitten dies (b. 1943). American musician and songwriter.

1973 - Nic Pothas was born. South African/English Wicket-keeper.

1974 - Chloë Sevigny was born in Darien, Connecticut. American actress.

1975 - Anthony McPartlin was born. British actor and television presenter.

1975 - David Ortiz was born. Dominican baseball player.

1975 - Jason Williams was born. American basketball player.

1975 - Shawn Camp was born. American baseball player.

1976 - Spain's parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.

1976 - Martin Bertram was born. Author of Vanity of Vanities.

1976 - Shagrath was born. Norwegian singer (Dimmu Borgir).

1976 - Mona Zaki was born. Egyptian actress.

1976 - Man Ray dies (b. 1890). American artist.

1977 - Trent Barrett was born. Australian rugby league player.

1977 - Fabolous was born. American rapper.

1977 - Kurt Schuschnigg dies (b. 1897). Austrian politician.

1977 - Victor Francen dies (b. 1888). Belgian actor.

1978 - Jonestown mass suicide: In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his People's Temple in a mass murder-suicide; 913 die, including 276 children.

1978 - The Blues Brothers appear for the first time on Saturday Night Live.

1978 - Damien Johnson was born. Northern Irish footballer.

1978 - Jim Jones dies suicide (b. 1931). American cult leader.

1978 - Leo Ryan dies (b. 1905). U.S. Congressman.

1979 - Elizabeth Anne Allen was born. American actress.

1979 - Freddie Fitzsimmons dies (b. 1901). American baseball player.

1980 - Okada Junichi was born. Singer and actor (member of V6).

1980 - Dustin Kensrue was born. American Singer/Songwriter (Thrice).

1980 - François Duval was born. Belgian rally driver.

1980 - Junichi Okada was born. Japanese singer (V6).

1980 - Luke Chadwick was born. English footballer.

1980 - Minori Chihara was born. Japanese voice actress/singer.

1980 - Conn Smythe dies (b. 1895). NHL coach 1927-1931.

1981 - Christina Vidal was born. American actress.

1981 - Gian Magdangal was born. Filipino singer and actor.

1982 - Mariasela Alvarez of Dominican Republic, crowned 32nd Miss World.

1982 - Duk Koo Kim dies unexpectedly from injuries sustained during a 14-round match against Ray Mancini in Las Vegas, prompting reforms in the sport of boxing (b. 1959). Korean boxeur.

1983 - Jon Johansen was born. Norwegian software developer.

1983 - Travis Buck was born. American baseball player.

1984 - South Central Los Angeles:The birth of Michael Obando took place at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

1984 - Aurelia Gliwski was born in Perth. Australian supermodel.

1984 - Ferrari (Wrestler) was born. Female American independent professional wrestler.

1984 - Nayanthara was born. Indian actress.

1984 - Jonathan "Johnny Christ" Seward was born. American musician (Avenged Sevenfold)

1984 - Ryohei Chiba was born. Japanese singer and dancer (member of the boy band w-inds).

1984 - Mary Hamman dies (b. 1907). American writer and editor, modern living editor LIFE and editor in chief Bride & Home.

1985 - The comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, created by Bill Waterson, first appears in 30 newspapers across the U.S.

1985 - Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann's playing career comes to an end when a sack by the Giants' Lawrence Taylor snaps Theismann's legs, this was seen by a national audience on Monday Night Football.

1985 - Christian Siriano was born. American fashion designer.

1985 - Rex Goudie was born. Canadian singer.

1986 - Nic Sampson was born. New Zealand actor.

1986 - Gia Carangi dies (b. 1960). American model.

1987 - Iran-Contra scandal: The U.S. Congress issues its final report on the Iran-Contra affair, stating that US President Ronald Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides and his administration exhibited "secrecy, deception, and disdain for the law."

1987 - King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station at King's Cross St Pancras.

1987 - Jacques Anquetil dies (b. 1934). French cyclist.

1988 - War on Drugs: US President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers.

1988 - Jeffrey Jordan was born. American college basketball player, son of Michael Jordan.

1988 - Montanna Thompson was born. English actress.

1990 - Chris Eubank defeats Nigel Benn in arguably the greatest British boxing match ever.

1991 - Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon set Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland free.

1991 - After three months of siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulates to besieging Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces.

1991 - Gustáv Husák dies (b. 1913). President of Czechoslovakia.

1992 - Nathan Kress was born. American actor.

1993 - In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution.

1994 - Cab Calloway dies (b. 1907). American bandleader.

1994 - Peter Ledger dies (b. 1945). Australian artist.

1995 - Jacqueline Aguilera Marcano, 19, of Venezuela, crowned 45th Miss World

1996 - World-renowned bird expert Tony Silva is sentenced to seven years in prison without parole for leading an illegal parrot smuggling ring.

1996 - A fire occurs in the Channel Tunnel soon after it opened.

1997 - Gary Glitter is arrested in the United Kingdom on child porn charges.

1998 - Alice McDermott wins the National Book Award with her novel Charming Billy.

1999 - In College Station, Texas, 12 are killed and 28 injured at Texas A&M University when a huge bonfire under construction collapses.

1999 - In Jasper, Texas, 24-year old Shawn Allen Berry is sentenced to life in prison, becoming the third person convicted in the racially-motivated dragging death of James Byrd, Jr..

1999 - Doug Sahm dies (b. 1941). American musician.

1999 - Paul Bowles dies (b. 1910). American novelist.

2001 - The Nintendo GameCube is released in North America.

2001 - Georgi Parvanov os elected President of Bulgaria.

2002 - Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.

2002 - The state of New Jersey banned the game Dodgeball from public schools.

2002 - James Coburn dies (b. 1928). American actor.

2003 - The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the right to same sex marriage was guaranteed by the state constitution.

2003 - In the UK the Local Government Act 2003, repealing the controversial anti-gay amendment Section 28, becomes effective.

2003 - The congress of the Communist Party of Indian Union (Marxist-Leninist) decides to merge the party into Kanu Sanyal's CPI(ML).

2003 - Michael Kamen dies (b. 1948). American composer.

2004 - The UN Security Council held a two-day session in Nairobi. This was the first time it had convened outside of New York headquarters.