1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr – Physician, author and poet (The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, Elsie Venner, Old Ironsides, The Chambered Nautilus) He was Professor of anatomy and physiology at Harvard, and Dean of Harvard Medical School. His son was Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, the Supreme Court Justice. Holmes Sr was much admired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and it is widely believed that Doyle named his detective Sherlock after him
1876 Charles Kettering – US automotive engineer and one of the 20th centuries most prolific inventors. He was delayed twice in his college studies by his failing eyesight, but finally earned an engineering degree in 1904. His inventions included the electric starting system for automobiles, which replaced the crank starter, quick-drying automotive lacquer finishes, improvements to lighting and ignition systems, electric cash registers, high-octane gasoline, an incubator for premature infants, and a lightweight diesel engine that would allow streamliner trains to dominate the rails. He was also a pioneer in the application of magnetism to medical diagnostics, and he developed coolants for refrigerators and air conditioners. Kettering's Dayton home was the first in the US to be air-conditioned. Along with Edward A. Deeds, he founded the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, or Delco. Two years before his retirement from General Motors, Kettering joined GM president Alfred Sloan in establishing the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York City. Kettering University also bears his name
1912 Barry Sullivan - Actor (The Bad and the Beautiful, The Road West, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid) He played Ken Kramer in the Perry Mason episode The Case of the Thermal Thief
1915 Ingrid Bergman – Swedish actress (Gaslight, Anastasia, Murder on the Orient Express, Casablanca, A Woman Called Golda, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Joan of Arc) She died of cancer in London, in 1982, on her 67th birthday, and was the mother of Isabella Rossellini
1916 George Montgomery - Actor (Battle of the Bulge, The Texas Rangers, Cimarron City)
1920 Charlie Parker Jr. – US jazz saxophonist and composer known as The Bird (Now's the Time, Yardbird Suite Confirmation, Relaxin' at Camarillo)
1923 Sir Richard Attenborough – British director (Grey Owl, Ghandi, Shadowlands, A Bridge Too Far) and actor (Jurassic Park, Miracle on 34th Street, Dr. Dolittle, The Great Escape, In Which We Serve, The Guinea Pig, The Railway Children) He also directed the movies Cry Freedom and Chaplin, both with John Thaw
1924 Dinah Washington – US blues singer (What A Diff'rence a Day Makes, It Could Happen to You, For All We Know)
1928 Charles Gray – British actor (Diamonds Are Forever, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Mirror Crack'd, Longitude) He also played Sherlock Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, in both the movie The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and in the Granada TV series with Jeremy Brett
1928 Dick O'Neill – Actor (Cagney & Lacey, Falcon Crest, The Mosquito Coast, Prizzi's Honor, Turk 182!, The Jerk, A Man Called Intrepid, The Buddy Holly Story)
1935 William Friedkin - Director (The French Connection, To Live & Die in LA, The Night They Raided Minsky's)
1938 Elliott Gould - Actor (Bob & Carol, Ted & Alice, M*A*S*H, The Long Good-Bye, The Night They Raided Minsky's, Capricorn One, Friends)
1941 Robin Leach - TV host (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous)
1944 Rajiv Gandhi – Prime Minister of India, and former airline pilot, who took over as India’s Prime Minister on the assassination of this mother, Indira
1958 Lenny Henry – British comedian and actor (Chef!, True Identity, Bernard and the Genie, Hope and Glory, Alive and Kicking, The Lenny Henry Show, Three of a Kind, Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban)
1958 Michael Jackson – Singer (ABC, I’ll Be There, Never Can Say Goodbye, Thriller, Beat It)
1962 Rebecca DeMornay - Actress (Risky Business, The Three Musketeers, Backdraft)
Died this Day
1533 Atahuallpa - The 13th and last emperor of the Incas, died at the hands of Francisco Pizarro's Spanish conquistadors. The execution of Atahuallpa, the last free reigning emperor, marked the end of 300 years of Inca civilisation. High in the Andes Mountains of Peru, the Inca built a dazzling empire that governed a population of 12 million people. Although they had no writing system, they had an elaborate government, great public works, and a brilliant agricultural system. In the five years before the Spanish arrival, a devastating war of succession gripped the empire. In 1532, Atahuallpa's army defeated the forces of his half-brother Huáscar in a battle near Cuzco. Atahuallpa was consolidating his rule when Pizarro and his 180 soldiers appeared in 1532. Atahuallpa accepted Pizarro’s invitation to attend a feast to be held in his honour. Having just won one of the largest battles in Inca history, and with an army of 30,000 men at his disposal, Atahuallpa thought he had nothing to fear from the bearded white stranger and his 180 men. Pizarro, however, planned an ambush. When Atahuallpa arrived at the meeting place with an escort of several thousand men, Pizarro ordered an attack. Thousands of Incas buckled under the assault by the terrifying Spanish artillery, guns, and cavalry, all of which were alien to the Incas. The captured Atahuallpa offered to fill a room with treasure as ransom for his release, and Pizarro accepted. Some 24 tons of gold and silver were brought to the Spanish from throughout the Inca empire. Atahuallpa had provided the richest ransom in the history of the world, but Pizarro treacherously put him on trial for plotting to overthrow the Spanish, for having his half-brother murdered, and for several other lesser charges. A Spanish tribunal convicted Atahuallpa and sentenced him to die. On this day in 1533, the emperor was tied to a stake and offered the choice of being burned alive or strangled by garrote if he converted to Christianity. In the hope of preserving his body for mummification, Atahuallpa chose the latter, and an iron collar was tightened around his neck until he died
1671 Edmond Hoyle, age 97 – British writer of books which codified the rules of card and indoor games
1877 Brigham Young - The second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
1917 Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl, age 65 – British diplomat and Governor General of Canada. He donated the Grey Cup for Canadian football championship, as well as inaugurating many music and drama festivals. He died at Howick, England
1930 Reverend William Archibald Spooner - Anglican clergyman and Warden of New College, Oxford who was the originator of “spoonerisms”. As a result of nervousness, he sometimes transposed the initial letters or syllables of a word, so “a half-formed wish” would become a “half-warmed fish”. He died just over a month after his 86th birthday
1975 Eamon de Valera, age 92 – Irish Prime Minister who is considered the most dominant Irish political figure of the 20th century. He was born in New York City, the son of a Spanish father and Irish mother. When he was two, his father died, and he was sent to be raised by his mother's family in County Limerick, Ireland
1981 Lowell Thomas, age 89 – US broadcaster and world traveller, died in Pawling, NY
1987 Lee Marvin, age 63 – Actor (Cat Ballou, The Caine Mutiny, The Dirty Dozen, Delta Force, Ship of Fools, Paint Your Wagon, Gorky Park)
On this Day
1756 Prussian Emperor Frederick II attacked Saxony. It was the beginning of the Seven Years War that would eventually see the English capture Canada
1758 The first US Indian reserve was established in New Jersey
1831 Michael Faraday successfully demonstrated the first electrical transformer at the Royal Institute, London
1842 The Treaty of Nanking was signed by the British and Chinese to end the Opium War
1885 The first motor cycle was patented by Gottlieb Daimler, in Germany
1892 Thomas Ahearn, head of the Ottawa Street Railway Company, presided over a demonstration of his pioneering electric stove at the Windsor Hotel in Ottawa. Guests at the hotel ate the first dinner cooked on an all-electric stove, which included Saginaw Trout with Potato Croquettes and Sauce Tartare and Strawberry Puffs. The Ottawa Journal called it “cooking by the agency of chained lightning”
1896 The Chinese-American dish chop suey was invented in New York City by the chef to visiting Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-Chang
1898 The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. was incorporated in Ohio. Originally founded as a rubber company by the Seiberling brothers, the company began manufacturing tires shortly after its establishment
1897 Jews adopted the Star of David as their official emblem
1907 The south cantilever arm of the Québec Bridge on the St. Lawrence River collapsed during construction and carried 75 workmen to their deaths. When the bridge was rebuilt in 1916, the centre span fell into the river, killing another 13 people. When it was finally completed in September 1917, the Québec Bridge was the largest bridge in the world. Some engineers wear a ring on their baby finger in memory of those who died building the Québec Bridge
1919 Prince Edward Island lifted its ban on automobiles
1929 The airship Graf Zeppelin flew around the world
1943 Responding to a clampdown by Nazi occupiers, Denmark managed to scuttle most of its naval ships
1966 The Beatles played their last live concert, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco
2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the US Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. Particularly hard hit was the city of New Orleans
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