1815 Edward John Eyre – British explorer of Australia. Lake Eyre and the Eyre Peninsula are named after him
1850 Guy DeMaupassant – French author (A Life, The Rondoli Sisters, Le Horla, The Diamond Necklace, The Umbrella, The Piece of String, Bel-Ami, Peter and John) He began studying law in 1869 but interrupted his studies to volunteer for the army during the Franco-Prussian War. In 1871, following the war, he went to Paris where Gustave Flaubert, a good friend of Maupassant's mother, agreed to keep an eye on the young man. When Maupassant showed an interest in writing, Flaubert became his mentor, introducing him to the most prominent writers of the time, including Emile Zola and Henry James. Maupassant contracted syphilis in his 20s, and the disease resulted in hallucinations, suicidal impulses, and insanity in his 40s
1887 Reginald Owen – British actor (Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins, National Velvet, Mrs. Miniver, A Christmas Carol) He was one of the few actors to portray both Dr. John H. Watson and Sherlock Holmes
1889 Conrad Aiken – US poet, short-story writer and novelist (Earth Triumphant and Other Tales in Verse, The Jig of Forslin, And In the Human Heart, Among the Lost People)
1906 Joan Hickson – British stage and screen actress (The Thirty-Nine Steps, Carry On Constable, Theatre of Blood) She is best remembered for her portrayal of Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple In 1946, Agatha Christie saw Joan Hickson in the play of the Christie novel "Appointment With Death." Agatha sent Joan a note that read, "I hope one day you will play my dear Miss Marple"
1906 John Huston - Director (Treasure of Sierra Madre, The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, The Misfits, Prizzi's Honor) He was the father of actress Angelica Huston, and the son of Walter Huston
1911 Robert Taylor - Actor (Magnificent Obsession, Ivanhoe, Quo Vadis, Billy the Kid, Bataan, Knights of the Round Table, Death Valley Days)
1914 David Brian - Actor (Pocketful of Miracles, Intruder in the Dust, Flamingo Road, Mr. District Attorney, The Immortal)
1920 Selma Diamond – Canadian-born comedienne and actress (Night Court, Too Close For Comfort, All of Me)
1926 Jeri Southern - Singer (You Better Go Now, When I Fall in Love, Fire Down Below)
1930 Neil Armstrong - NASA astronaut who was the first to walk on the moon
1935 John Saxon - Actor (Raid on Entebbe, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Beverly Hills Cop 3, Death of a Gunfighter, The Unforgiven, The Bold Ones, Enter the Dragon)
1942 Rick Huxley – Bass guitarist with the Dave Clark Five (Glad All Over, Bits and Pieces, Good Old Rock & Roll)
1943 Sammi Smith - Singer (Help Me Make It Through the Night, So Long Charlie Brown, What a Lie, You Just Hurt My Last Feeling)
1945 Ja'net DuBois – Actress (Good Times, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Wayans Bros, Roots: The Next Generations) She co-wrote and sang the theme to the TV series The Jeffersons
1946 Loni Anderson - Actress (WKRP in Cincinnati, The Jayne Mansfield Story, Easy Street, Necessity, Nurses)
1946 Jimmy Webb - Songwriter (Up Up and Away, MacArthur Park, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Wichita Lineman, Galveston)
1948 Barbara Flynn – British actress (Malice Aforethought, The Forsyte Saga, Wives and Daughters, Chandler & Co, Cracker, Maigret, The Barchester Chronicles) She played Monica Height in the Inspector Morse episode The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn
1953 Samantha Sang - Singer (Emotion)
1956 Maureen McCormick - Actress (The Brady Bunch)
Died this Day
1888 Anna Swan – Canadian-born circus entertainer with P.T. Barnum's circus. She died of tuberculosis in Seville, Ohio, two days before her 42nd birthday
1913 John Bryant - US barnstormer who was killed when he crashed his Curtiss seaplane near Victoria, BC. He was Canada's first air fatality
1953 Ira Aten, age 89 - Texas Ranger who was one of the last survivors of the days of the Wild West. He died at his home in Burlingame, California. Aten was among the final generation to come of age on a wilderness frontier, and was introduced to the frontier at the age of 13, when his family moved to a farm near the isolated central Texas town of Round Rock. Not long after, he learned about the hard justice of the frontier when his father, a minister, provided the last rites for a mortally wounded outlaw. Aten was determined to survive in a violent world, and honed his skills with a pistol and became a crack shot with a rifle. At age 20, he joined the Texas Rangers, and had the hazardous job of patrolling the Rio Grande, where many bands of cattle thieves and other outlaws crossed to hide in Mexico. In May 1884, Aten and six other Rangers spotted two presumed cattle thieves near the Rio Grande. When the Rangers tried to apprehend the men, a gun battle broke out. Several of the Rangers were wounded, one fatally, but Aten was able to injure the two outlaws and take them prisoner. He was then promoted to corporal. In 1889, Aten left the Rangers to become sheriff of Fort Ben County, Texas. During six years as a sheriff, he continued to track down outlaws and fight more than a few gun battles. In 1895, he left law enforcement to become the superintendent of the Escarbada Division of the giant XIT Ranch. Nine years later, he finally left the wilds of Texas and settled in California with his wife and five children
1960 Arthur Meighen, age 86 – Ninth Canadian prime minister. While Minister of the Interior, he introduced legislation that would create the Canadian National Railways in 1919
1962 Marilyn Monroe, age 36 – Actress (Gentleman Prefer Blondes, The Seven-Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, The Asphalt Jungle, Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, The Misfits, Bus Stop) She was found dead in her home in Los Angeles, lying on her bed, face down, with a telephone in one hand. Empty bottles of pills, prescribed to treat her depression, were littered around the room. After a brief investigation, Los Angeles police concluded that her death was "caused by a self-administered overdose of sedative drugs and that the mode of death is probable suicide." In recent decades, there have been a number of conspiracy theories about her death
1984 Richard Burton, age 58 - Welsh-born actor (Camelot, Hamlet, Anne of a Thousand Days, Becket, The Desert Rats, The Robe, The Sandpiper, The Taming of the Shrew, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) He died of a cerebral haemorrhage at a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland
2000 Sir Alec Guinness, age 86 – British actor (Star Wars, Little Dorrit, A Passage to India, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley's People, Murder by Death, Scrooge, Doctor Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Ladykillers, The Lavender Hill Mob)
On this Day
1689 Iroquois Indians sought revenge at Lachine, Québec. The origins of the attack went back two years, when 50 Iroquois were captured and sent to France as galley slaves. Fifteen-hundred Iroquois descended on Lachine in the early hours, killing dozens of settlers and taking about 100 prisoners, who were tortured to death. Troops were not dispatched because they were needed to guard Montréal
1822 The British Parliament passed the Imperial Trade Act, which regulated the trade battle between Upper and Lower Canada, and forbade Lower Canada from imposing new duties without Upper Canada’s approval
1858 The first telegraph line across the Atlantic Ocean was completed, a feat accomplished largely through the efforts of US merchant Cyrus West Field. The cable, which stretched more than 1,950 miles between Ireland and Newfoundland, was laid as deep as two miles under the ocean and established transatlantic telegraph communication. President James Buchanan and Queen Victoria exchanged an initial message on August 16, however, the cable's weak signal was insufficient for regular communication, and service ended on September 1. In July, 1866 a second line was put down using a thicker and better shielded cable
1861 The US federal government levied an income tax for the first time
1864 During the Civil War, Union Admiral David G. Farragut is said to have given his famous order, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” as he led his fleet against Mobile Bay, Alabama
1882 The Standard Oil Company of New Jersey was established as part of the giant Standard Oil Trust. The trust had been organised earlier in the year, bringing together John D. Rockefeller’s oil empire under one central management, run by Rockefeller and an “inner circle.” The Standard Oil Trust became the first great monopoly in US history, eventually acquiring ninety percent of the world’s oil refining capacity before it was ordered to dissolve in 1892. Rockefeller was infamous for his ruthless business tactics, and it was rumoured that he often threatened to put local merchants out of business unless they bought from Standard Oil
1884 The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbour
1886 The first parcel post service from Canada to Britain began
1914 The first electric traffic lights were installed, in Cleveland, Ohio, at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street. Early roads, shared by horses, cars, and streetcars, were chaotic, and as accidents and traffic increased it became apparent that some rules of the road were required. The traffic light was only one of several improvements to arrive in this period: the traffic island was introduced in 1907, dividing lines appeared in 1911, and the No Left Turn sign debuted in 1916
1924 The comic strip Little Orphan Annie, by Harold Gray, made its debut
1942 US president Franklin Roosevelt accepted an honorary membership in the Baker Street Irregulars
1981 President Ronald Reagan began firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers. Two days earlier, they began striking in violation of his order for them to return to work. The executive action, regarded as extreme by many, significantly slowed air travel for months
1982 A Chicago woman burst into flames and died. She was the eighth recorded victim of human spontaneous combustion, based on records dating back to the 18th century
1993 Canada and the US signed a pact to end a long-running dispute over beer. The pact gave US brewers better access to the Canadian market
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