1868 Bernarr Macfadden Fitness pioneer and publisher (True Story Magazine, True Romances, True Detective Mysteries Magazine) He was born Bernard McFadden, in Mill Spring, Missouri
1888 Thomas Edward (T.E.) Lawrence - British archaeologist, military strategist and author known as Lawrence of Arabia. He was born in Tremadoc, Wales. His exploits in the Middle East during the First World War were legendary. He led an Arab revolt against Germanys ally, Turkey, which he retold in his book, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom
1913 Menachem Begin - Israeli Prime Minister who signed the peace treaty with Egypt's President Anwar Sadat in 1979
1920 Charles Bukowski German-born US author (Barfly, Post Office)
1924 Fess Parker - Actor (Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Old Yeller, Westward Ho the Wagons!, Annie Oakley, Them!) and singer (The Ballad of Davy Crockett, Wringle Wrangle)
1928 Ann Blyth - Actress (The Helen Morgan Story, Rose Marie, Kismet, The Student Prince, The Great Caruso, Mildred Pierce)
1929 Lois Nettleton - Actress (The Best Little #####house in Texas, You Can't Take It with You, In the Heat of the Night, Centennial)
1930 Robert Culp - Actor (I Spy, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, The Pelican Brief, The Greatest American Hero, Spy Hard) He was in the Perry Mason movie The Case of the Defiant Daughter
1931 Eydie Gormι - Singer (Blame It on The Bossa Nova, I'll Take Romance, Tea for Two, You Need Hands, I Want to Stay Here) She was married to Steve Lawrence from 1957 until her death in 2013
1933 Julie Newmar - Actress (Batman, My Living Doll, Deep Space, Li'L Abner, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, MacKenna's Gold, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) She was born in Los Angeles, has an IQ of 135, and gave the best portrayal of Catwoman ever seen
1936 Anita Gillette - Actress (Quincy, Moonstruck, Marathon, Boys on the Side)
1937 Lorraine Gary Actress (Jaws, 1941, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden)
1945 Bob Balaban Actor (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Gosford Park, The Majestic, Capote, The Mexican, Altered States, Catch-22)
1946 Lesley Ann Warren - Actress (Cinderella, Victor/Victoria, Clue, Colour of Night, Portrait of a Showgirl)
1952 Reginald VelJohnson - Actor (Family Matters, Die Hard, Crocodile Dundee, Turner & Hooch)
1953 Kathie Lee Gifford TV personality and singer (Live With Regis and Kathie Lee)
1954 James Cameron - Canadian screenwriter, producer/director (Titanic, The Abyss, The Terminator, Aliens, True Lies)
1957 Laura Innes Actress (ER, Deep Impact, The Event, The Louie Show)
1958 Angela Bassett - Actress (Boyz N the Hood, Kindergarten Cop, Malcolm X, Contact, How Stella Got Her Groove Back) She was in the Perry Mason movie The Case of the Silenced Singer
1958 Madonna (Ciccone) - Singer (Material Girl, Like a Virgin) and actress (Dick Tracy, Desperately Seeking Susan, Shanghai Surprise, A League of Their Own, Evita)
1959 Laura Innes - Actress (ER, Deep Impact, Torch song, Telling Secrets)
1960 Timothy Hutton - Actor (Taps, Made in Heaven, Ordinary People, Daniel, Iceman, The Falcon and the Snowman, Q & A, Turk 182!, French Kiss, American Crime) He is the son of actor Jim Hutton and was in the Nero Wolf Mysteries
1962 Steve Carell Actor (The Office, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Get Smart, Saturday Night Live, Date Night)
1972 Emily Robison - Country singer with The Dixie Chicks (Goodbye Earl, Ready to Run, Wide Open Spaces)
1982 Cam Gigandet Actor (Twilight, Easy A, The O.C., The Young & the Restless)
Died this Day
1886 Ned Buntline US adventurer, author, and originator of the dime novel
1899 Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, age 88 German chemist who invented the Bunsen burner, the galvanic battery, an ice calorimeter, and shared the discovery of spectrum analysis
1917 Private Harry Brown, age 19 Canadian soldier with the Alberta Regiment of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He died of wounds received at Hill 70, near Loos, France during the First World War. After his company was surrounded, and the signal lines cut, he delivered a message across no-man's land while severely wounded with a shattered arm. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
1920 Sir Joseph Lockyer Astronomer and discoverer of helium
1948 George Herman "Babe" Ruth, age 53 Baseball legend, died of cancer in New York City. For two days following, his body lay in state at the main entrance to Yankee Stadium, called The House that Ruth Built, and tens of thousands of people stood in line to pay their last respects. He was buried in Hawthorne, New York
1949 Margaret Mitchell, age 48 US author (Gone With The Wind) She died after being knocked down by a car, two days previously
1956 Bela Lugosi, age 73 Hungarian actor who is best known for his portrayal of Dracula. He died of a heart attack, and was buried according to his wishes in his full Dracula costume, including his cape
1977 Elvis Presley, age 42 The King of Rock and Roll, died at his home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee. Doctors said he died of a heart attack, largely brought on by his addiction to prescription barbiturates, but some labelled it suicide. When he was 19, he walked into a Memphis recording studio and paid $4 to record a few songs as a present to his mother. He impressed Sam Philips, the owner of the studio, who invited Presley back to practice with some local musicians. After Philips heard Elvis sing the rhythm-and-blues song, That's All Right, he released it as a single on his Sun Records label. The recording went to the top of the local charts, and a legend was born. He was buried on the grounds of Graceland, which continues to attract fans and has been turned into a highly successful tourist attraction
1979 John George Diefenbaker, age 83 Canadian Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963, died in Ottawa
1993 Stewart Granger, age 80 - British actor (The Man in Grey, Beau Brummell, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Virginian) He was born 'James Stewart', but changed his name to avoid confusion with the famous US actor. He played Sherlock Holmes in a 1972 production of The Hound of the Baskervilles
On this Day
1777 Patriot forces won the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington, Vermont
1812 Fort Detroit was surrendered to British General Isaac Brock during the War of 1812, by US General William Hull. Hull, a 59-year-old veteran of the American Revolution, had lost hope of defending the settlement after seeing the large English and Indian force gathering outside Detroit's walls. Brock had 400 troops and 300 militia from York and Niagara, and was aided by Tecumseh and 600 Indians. Hull was also preoccupied with the presence of his daughter and grandchildren inside the fort. Of Hull's 2,000-man army, most were militiamen, and Brock allowed them to return to their homes on the frontier. The regular US Army troops were taken as prisoners to Canada. With the capture of Fort Detroit, Michigan Territory was declared a part of Great Britain and Shawnee chief Tecumseh was able to increase his raids against US positions in the frontier area. Hull's surrender was a severe blow to US morale. In September 1813, US General William H Harrison, the future president, recaptured Detroit. In 1814, William Hull was court-martialled for cowardice and neglect of duty in surrendering the fort, and sentenced to die but his sentence was remitted, because of his service in the revolution. Brock was knighted for this victory, but the news did not reach him before his death October 13, 1812 at the battle of Queenston Heights
1819 British troops, including Waterloo veterans, broke up a crowd, estimated at 60,000, meeting to demand Parliamentary reforms on St Peters Field, in Manchester. Eleven died in what became known as the Peterloo Massacre
1827 Admiral John Franklin laid the first stone of the Rideau Canal locks at Ottawa, Ontario. Franklin was on his return down the Ottawa River from the Arctic
1829 The original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, arrived in Boston aboard the ship Sachem. They would be exhibited to the Western world
1838 In London, the British Parliament passed a Bill of indemnity disavowing the policies of Lord Durham in suggesting assimilation of the French Canadians
1858 In Ottawa, Ontario, the Assembly of the Province of Canada chartered the Bank of Canada, and abolished imprisonment for debt
1858 President James Buchanan and Queen Victoria exchanged greetings via the newly installed Transatlantic Cable, running underwater between Ireland and Newfoundland. The cable, which was completed on August 5, transmitted only a weak signal, and service was discontinued only a few weeks after the initial exchange
1861 President Lincoln prohibited the states of the Union from trading with the seceding states of the Confederacy
1890 After six weeks of counting, the US Census Bureau announced that the current population of the US was about 62.6 million. The public, however, had expected the population to exceed 75 million, and many were outraged and expressed distrust of the new automatic counting machines used for the first time in the 1890 census. However, the results of the system were not revised, and census officials estimated that the new system, invented by Herman Hollerith, had saved some $5 million in labour
1912 The US government sued the Motion Picture Patents Company. A week later, the court ruled that the company could not claim exclusive rights to the machines used in movie cameras. The ruling, along with subsequent court cases, ended the effective monopoly of the company, formed in 1908 by the nine leading film companies. The Patents Company refused to let other companies use their patented film equipment and distributed films only to theatre owners who agreed to their terms. Kodak agreed to sell raw film stock only to members of the company. In 1913, the government continued its anti-trust suits against the company, and within four years the company's power had dissolved
1960 Britain granted independence to the crown colony of Cyprus
1962 Pete Best, original drummer with the Beatles, was fired by Brian Epstein and replaced by Ringo Starr
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