1585 Cardinal de Richelieu – French statesman and Louis XIII’s Chief Minister, who crushed all opposition to the monarchy
1737 Luigi Galvani – Italian physiologist who discovered animal (or galvanic) electricity produced by the contractions of dead frogs legs connected to different metals. He opened the way for Volta to develop the electric battery
1754 William Bligh – British rear-Admiral who was the captain of the HMS Bounty at the time of the famous mutiny in 1789. He sailed around the world on Captain Cook’s second voyage before taking command of his own ship in 1787. He became Governor of New South Wales in 1805
1890 Colonel Harland Sanders - Businessman, cook, and restaurateur who developed the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain. He was probably the world's best-known human trademark
1900 James Hilton – British novelist (Goodbye Mr. Chips, Lost Horizon)
1905 Joseph E. Levine - Movie producer (The Graduate, Carnal Knowledge, The Lion in Winter)
1918 Jimmy 'The Greek' Snyder – Oddsmaker and broadcaster (The NFL Today)
1920 Michael Aldridge – British stage and screen actor (The Last of the Summer Wine, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Bullshot, Reilly: The Ace of Spies, Game Set and Match) He played Arthur Drysdale in the Inspector Morse episode, The Last Enemy
1925 Cliff Robertson - Actor (Charly, PT 109, Days of Wine and Roses, The Devil's Brigade, Midway, Gidget, Three Days of the Condor, Brainstorm, Falcon Crest, Spider-man)
1935 (Chaim) Topol – Israeli stage and screen actor (Fiddler on the Roof, Galileo, The House on Garibaldi Street, Flash Gordon, The Winds of War, Queenie, For Your Eyes Only)
1941 Otis Redding – US soul singer and musician (Sittin' on The Dock of the Bay, Try A Little Tenderness)
1946 Billy Preston - Singer-musician (Will It Go Round In Circles, Nothing From Nothing)
1951 Tom Wopat - Actor (The Dukes of Hazzard, A Peaceable Kingdom, Blue Skies)
1952 Angela Cartwright – British-born actress (Make Room for Daddy, Lost in Space, The Sound of Music) She is the younger sister of actress Veronica Cartwright
1952 David Stewart – Musician with the duo the Eurythmics (Sweet Dreams, Who's That Girl, Here Comes the Rain Again)
1960 Hugh Grant – British actor (Sense and Sensibility, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Remains of the Day, The Dawning, Notting Hill, The Lair of the White Worm)
1966 Adam Sandler – Comedian and actor (Saturday Night Live, Happy Gilmore, Coneheads, The Wedding Singer)
1968 Julia Sawalha – British actress (Absolutely Fabulous, Second Thoughts, Pride and Prejudice, Jonathan Creek, Press Gang) She played Rachel in the Inspector Morse episode Last Seen Wearing
1971 Henry Thomas - Actor (Riders of the Purple Sage, Legends of the Fall, Fire in the Sky, The Quest, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Raggedy Man)
Died this Day
1087 William the Conqueror – King of England, died in France from injuries sustained when his horse stumbled
1513 James IV – King of Scotland, died at the Battle of Flodden Field, Northumberland, when English troops under the Earl of Surrey defeated his troops
1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert – British explorer who established a colony on Newfoundland. He drowned while on his way home to England when the frigate Squirrel was wrecked in a storm off the Azores with all on board. His reputed last words 'We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!'
1901 Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, age 36 – French painter and lithographer. He died from a paralytic stroke brought on by venereal disease
1976 Mao Tse-tung, age 82 - Communist Chinese leader, died in Beijing. In 1934, during his long civil war with the Nationalists, he broke through enemy lines and led his followers on the Long March to northern China. There, he built up his Red Army and fought against the Japanese invaders. In 1945, civil war resumed, and in 1949 the Nationalists were defeated and Mao proclaimed the People's Republic of China. As leader of Communist China, Chairman Mao launched the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, programs that reformed the Chinese economy and society at the cost of millions of lives. Nevertheless, he maintained fanatical followers all across China and was one of the most influential figures of the 20th century
1978 Jack Leonard Warner - Movie mogul, born in London, Ontario. He was one of Hollywood's famed Warner Brothers, and with his brothers Harry, Albert and Sam, founded Warner Brothers Pictures in 1923
1996 Bill Monroe – Country singer with The Bluegrass Band (Blue Moon of Kentucky) and songwriter (Kentucky Waltz, A Letter from My Darling) He was known as The Father of Bluegrass Music. He died four days before his 85th birthday
1997 Burgess Meredith, age 89 - Actor (Of Mice and Men, MacKenna’s Gold, Rocky, Grumpy Old Men) He died in Malibu, California. He played Henry Bemis in the Twilight Zone episode Time Enough At Last, the one where he survived the nuclear shockwave, and could finally read uninterrupted, but his glasses broke. Also, it is said that his character of The Penguin in the Batman series was so popular that the producers always had a script ready for him in case he was available at the last minute to appear as a guest star
On this Day
1776 The Continental Congress adopted the name United States of America instead of United Colonies
1825 Composer Ludwig van Beethoven made his final public appearance
1835 Modern local government came into being when the British Municipal Corporations Act came into force
1850 California became the 31st state of the Union, in record time, without ever even having been a territory. It had only been a part of the US for less than two years. Most newly acquired regions of the US went through long periods as territories before they had the 60,000 inhabitants needed to achieve statehood. The Gold Rush swelled California’s population, and more than 60,000 people from around the globe came to California in 1849 alone. Faced with such rapid growth, Congress allowed California to jump straight to full statehood without ever passing through the formal territorial stage
1860 The Canadian steamship Lady Elgin and the schooner Augusta collided in Lake Michigan, killing 330 people
1911 The first airmail service in Britain began between Hendon and Windsor
1926 The National Broadcasting Co., NBC, was created by the Radio Corporation of America, RCA
1942 A Japanese floatplane dropped incendiary bombs on an Oregon state forest in the first and only attack on the US mainland during World War II. The president immediately called for a news blackout for the sake of morale
1954 16-year-old Marilyn Bell of Toronto became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario. The feat captured the imagination of the country. Her gruelling swim covered more than 31 miles, from Youngstown, New York to Toronto's waterfront. The public was charmed by the intelligence and modesty of Bell, who left the spotlight as quickly as she had entered it
1963 A giant panda was born in captivity for the first time in China
1971 Prisoners rioted and seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York. Inmates on the way to breakfast overpowered their guards and stormed down a prison gallery in a spontaneous riot. They broke through a faulty gate and into a central area known as Times Square, which gave them access to all the cellblocks. Many of the prison's 2,200 inmates then joined in the rioting, and prisoners rampaged through the facility beating guards, acquiring makeshift weapons, and burning down the prison chapel. One guard, William Quinn, was severely beaten and thrown out a second-story window. Two days later, he died in a hospital from his injuries. Using tear gas and submachine guns, state police regained control of three of the four cellblocks held by the rioters without loss of life. By 10:30 a.m., the inmates were only in control of D Yard, a large, open exercise field surrounded by 35-foot walls and overlooked by gun towers. Thirty-nine hostages, mostly guards and a few other prison employees, were blindfolded and held in a tight circle. Inmates armed with clubs and knives guarded the hostages closely. After negotiations stalled, state police and prison officers launched a disastrous raid on September 13. Helicopters flew over the yard, dropping tear gas as state police and correction officers stormed in with guns blazing. The police fired 3,000 rounds into the tear gas haze, killing 29 inmates and 10 of the hostages and wounding 89. Most were shot in the initial indiscriminate barrage of gunfire, but other prisoners were shot or killed after they surrendered. An emergency medical technician recalled seeing a wounded prisoner, lying on the ground, shot several times in the head by a state trooper. Another prisoner was shot seven times and then ordered to crawl along the ground. When he didn't move fast enough, an officer kicked him. Many others were savagely beaten. In the aftermath of the bloody raid, authorities said the inmates had killed the slain hostages by slitting their throats. However, autopsies showed that these charges were false and that all 10 hostages had been shot to death by police. The attempted cover-up increased public condemnation of the raid and prompted a Congressional investigation. The Attica riot was the worst prison riot in US history. A total of 43 people were killed, including the 39 killed in the raid, guard William Quinn, and three inmates killed by other prisoners early in the riot
1984 Pope John Paul II became the first pope to visit Canada when he arrived at Québec City for a 12-day tour across the country
43
Responses