there are now 4 different history gadgets
| 578: |
Death of St. Brendan the Voyager |
| 1160: |
Death of St. Ubaldo |
| 1164: |
Death of Hloise, at about 63 |
| 1265: |
Death of St. Simon Stock |
| 1291: |
Moslems take the Maudite Tower of Acre |
| 1527: |
The Medici government in Florence is overthrown; the Republic is re-established |
| 1532: |
Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England |
| 1605: |
Death of Pope Paul V |
| 1620: |
Death of William Adams, "Anjin-sama", the first Englishman in Japan |
| 1661: |
Delivery of the lead ballast for Charles II's yacht, the first built in England in the 'modern' fashion |
| 1763: |
The English lexicographer, author and wit Samuel Johnson first met his future biographer, James Boswell |
| 1770: |
Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis the 16th of France, who was 15 |
| 1792: |
Venice, already a cultural center in the 18th century, opened a new opera house. The first performance at the "Teatro La Fenice" was an opera by Paisiello |
| 1804: |
The French Senate declared Napoleon Bonaparte emperor |
| 1824: |
Banker Levi Morton, U.S. vice president under Benjamin Harrison born |
| 1831: |
David Hughes, inventor of the microphone born |
| 1849: |
Richard Wagner was in some serious trouble, when a warrant was issued for his arrest. The authorities in Dresden had gotten wind of the fact that Wagner, then running the local opera house, was hanging out with revolutionaries. Wagner fled |
| 1866: |
Congress authorized minting of the 5-cent piece. On its face was a shield, while on the reverse was the number 5. (the silver half-dime was used up to this point) |
| 1867: |
William Seward, secretary of state whose purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million was called "Seward's Folly" born |
| 1868: |
The US Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on one of eleven articles of impeachment against him |
| 1871: |
U.S. Marines landed in Korea in an unsuccessful attempt to open the country to foreign trade |
| 1881: |
The first electric tram went into public service in German, near Berlin |
| 1888: |
Emile Berliner gave the first demonstration of flat disc recording and reproduction before the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia |
| 1903: |
George Wyman of San Francisco became the first person to cross the United States in a motorized vehicle -- a 1.5 horsepower motorcycle (most lawn mowers have more power than that.) |
| 1905: |
Actor Henry Fonda in Grand Island, Nebraska. Fonda won an Oscar for best actor in "On Golden Pond." In 1940, he was nominated for his performance in "Grapes of Wrath."" born |
| 1910: |
U.S. Bureau of Mines was authorized by Congress |
| 1912: |
Author Studs Terkel born |
| 1913: |
Band leader Woody Herman born |
| 1917: |
Actor George Gaynes born |
| 1919: |
Entertainer Liberace born |
| 1920: |
Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome |
| 1921: |
Actor Harry Carey Junior born |
| 1929: |
The first Academy Awards were presented during a banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The movie "Wings" won "best production" while Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were named best actor and best actress |
| 1930: |
Jazz singer Betty Carter born |
| 1944: |
Jazz musician Billy Cobham born |
| 1946: |
The musical "Annie Get Your Gun" opened on Broadway |
| 1948: |
The body of CBS News correspondent George Polk was found in Solonika Bay in Greece, a week after he'd disappeared |
| 1953: |
Actor Pierce Brosnan born |
| 1955: |
Actress Debra Winger born |
| 1955: |
Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut born |
| 1955: |
American author and critic James Agee died in New York |
| 1959: |
Actress Mare Winningham born |
| 1960: |
A Big Four summit conference in Paris collapsed on its opening day as the Soviet Union leveled spy charges against the United States in the wake of the U-2 incident |
| 1961: |
Tennis star Yannick Noah born |
| 1963: |
U.S. astronaut Gordon Cooper in his Mercury-Atlas craft splashed down near Midway in the Pacific after orbiting the Earth 22 times in a mission lasting just over 34 hours |
| 1965: |
The musical play "The Roar of the Greasepaint -- the Smell of the Crowd," by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, opened on Broadway |
| 1966: |
Singer Janet Jackson born |
| 1968: |
Rhythm-and-blues singer Ralph Tresvant (New Edition) born |
| 1969: |
Actress Tracey Gold born |
| 1969: |
The unmanned Soviet spacecraft Venus-5 landed on the surface of Venus |
| 1970: |
Tennis player Gabriela Sabatini born |
| 1971: |
Country singer Rick Trevino born |
| 1971: |
Actor David Boreanaz ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") born |
| 1971: |
Musician Simon Katz (Jamiroquai) born |
| 1971: |
First Class Mail raised from 6 cents to 8 cents |
| 1973: |
Actress Tori Spelling born |
| 1974: |
Helmut Schmidt was sworn in as the new chancellor of West Germany, after the resignation of Willy Brandt |
| 1975: |
Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest |
| 1977: |
Five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling atop the Pan Am Building in midtown Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying |
| 1980: |
"Keep Music Live!" With that slogan, musicians boycotted the British Broadcast Corporation. The BBC scaled back plans to disband several regional orchestras after two months of broadcasting only records. Europe still has a lot of state-sponsored radio orchestras |
| 1983: |
The Lebanese Parliament and the Israeli Knesset voted to approve a U.S.-sponsored accord calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops, including Israeli forces, from Lebanon. (Agreement signed the next day.) |
| 1984: |
The U.S. House of representatives approved a compromise allowing production of only 15 of the 40 MX missiles which President Reagan had called for -- and only if the Soviet Union failed to return to arms talks by the following April |
| 1985: |
The president of El Salvador, Jose Napoleon Duarte, visited President Reagan at the White House to talk about attempts to negotiate peace with leftist rebels |
| 1985: |
Michael Jordan was named Rookie of the Year in the National Basketball Association. Jordan, of the Chicago Bulls, had been chosen as the number three draft pick |
| 1986: |
The Labor Department reported that the Producer Price Index fell six-tenths of 1 percent in April 1986, to its lowest level in nearly two-and-a-half years |
| 1987: |
Kentucky Derby winner "Alysheba" captured the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. (However, Alysheba fell short in the Belmont Stakes, failing to become the first Triple Crown champion since "Affirmed.") |
| 1988: |
Surgeon General C. Everett Koop released a report declaring nicotine was addictive in ways similar to heroin and cocaine. |
| 1988: |
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled police can search discarded garbage without a search warrant |
| 1989: |
During his visit to Beijing, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, formally ending a 30-year rift between the two Communist powers |
| 1990: |
Death claimed entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. in Los Angeles at age 64 |
| 1990: |
Muppets creator Jim Henson died at the age of 53 |
| 1990: |
Hungarian prime minister-designate Jozsef Antall named a center-right coalition cabinet after 40 years of Communist rule |
| 1991: |
Secretary of State James A. Baker III wrapped up his latest Mideast visit in Israel without an agreement for Arab-Israeli peace talks |
| 1991: |
Queen Elizabeth the Second became the first British monarch to address the United States Congress |
| 1992: |
The space shuttle "Endeavour" completed its maiden voyage with a safe landing in the California desert. |
| 1992: |
Actress Marlene Dietrich, who had died in Paris at age 90, was buried in Berlin. |
| 1992: |
"America3" ("America Cubed"), skippered by Bill Koch, won the 28th defense of the America's Cup |
| 1993: |
A two-day Bosnian Serb referendum on a UN-backed peace plan ended, with voters rejecting the proposai by a wide margin |
| 1994: |
Israel began its final withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, shutting down the prison and military headquarters where Israeli soldiers had been in charge since the 1967 Middle East War |
| 1995: |
The Clinton administration threatened punitive tariffs that would double the prices for Japan's most popular luxury cars |
| 1995: |
Japanese police arrested doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara, holding him in connection with the nerve-gas attack on Tokyo's subways two months earlier |
| 1996: |
Admiral Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, the nation's top Navy officer, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after some of his military awards were called into question |
| 1997: |
President Clinton publicly apologized for the notorious Tuskegee experiment, in which government scientists deliberately allowed black men to weaken and die of treatable syphilis. |
| 1997: |
The space shuttle "Atlantis" docked with Russia's "Mir" station |
| 1997: |
In Zaire, President Mobutu Sese Seko ended 32 years of autocratic rule, giving control of the country to rebel forces |
| 1998: |
"Silver Charm" won the Preakness, two weeks after winning the Kentucky Derby. (However, Silver Charm subsequently lost the Belmont Stakes to "Touch Gold.") |
| 1999: |
The Justice Department said preliminary figures from the FBI indicated a decline in serious crime in 1998 for the seventh consecutive year |
| 2000: |
The Federal Reserve raised its federal funds rate by one-half point, the biggest increase in five years |
| 2000: |
The New York Democratic Party, meeting in Albany, nominated first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for the US Senate |
| 2000: |
A large study in Finland found evidence that people who ate fish less than once a week ran a 31% higher chance of mild to severe depression than people who ate it more often. According to psychiatrist Dr. Antti Tanskanen of the University of Kuopio in Finland, it is possibly because fish contains omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, or PUFA |
| 2000: |
Veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas resigned from United Press International, a day after the wire service was sold to the parent firm of The Washington Times |
| 2003: |
In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks |
| 2004: |
The Day of Mourning at Bykivnia forest, just outside of Kiev, Ukraine. Here during 1930s and early 1940s communist bolsheviks executed over 100.000 Ukrainian civilians |
| 2005: |
Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote |
| 2006: |
A large magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurs near New Zealand |
| 2007: |
The Senate on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly against withdrawing all combat troops from Iraq by March 31 as a majority of senators embraced an alternative plan tying U.S. reconstruction funds to Baghdad's progress in stabilizing the country |
| 2007: |
At least 16 Palestinians were killed in fierce factional fighting in Gaza on Wednesday and Israel launched an air strike on a Hamas compound that killed at least four gunmen |
| 2007: |
The White House on Wednesday said it still supports Paul Wolfowitz, who is fighting for his job as World Bank president |
| 2007: |
The U.S. military is offering a $200,000 reward for information about the location of three missing American soldiers, or the identity of their kidnappers, a senior U.S. military official at the Pentagon told CNN's Barbara Starr. The military is dropping approximately 150,000 leaflets from helicopters in the area where the soldiers were ambushed Saturday |
| 2007: |
Britain's Prince Harry will not serve in Iraq as a troop commander because of "a number of specific threats" against him, the UK's top general says |
| 2007: |
A flare dropped from an F-16 fighter jet during a training exercise may have caused a wildfire that has burned more than 20 square miles in New Jersey, according to the state's National Guard. Strong winds pushed the fire toward the Garden State Parkway in southern New Jersey today |
| 2007: |
A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Wednesday said it was time to step up the fight against commercial bribery |
| 2007: |
A Chinese mainland official says the time is right to establish weekend and more regular charter flights between the mainland and Taiwan, in addition to the charter flights offered during major festivals |
| 2007: |
A mainland official on Wednesday urged Taiwan authorities to accept the itinerary for the 2008 Olympic torch relay and allow the torch to pass through Taipei |
Today in History
Pianist, actor and entertainer, Liberace born Wladziu Valentino Liberace in West Allis, Wisconsin
Golden Globe Award winning actor, Pierce Brosnan, OBE, born in Drogheda, Ireland
Soldier and Academy Award nominated actress, Debra Winger born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Four time Olympic Gold Medalist, gymnast Olga Korbut born in Hrodna, Belarus
Gong Show contestant, singer and Emmy Award winning actress Mare Winningham born in Phoenix, Arizona
Dancer, songwriter and Grammy Award winning singer, Janet Jackson born in Gary, Indiana