1515 Anne of Cleves – The fourth wife of King Henry VIII. Their marriage ended when it was declared null and void
1762 Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe – Diarist and wife of Canadian Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. She was born Northampton, England, and was the orphaned daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gwillim. She married Simcoe in 1782, and came with him to Niagara, Upper Canada in July 1792 when he was appointed Lieutenant Governor. She accompanied him to Toronto, to found a new town in 1794. She left a lively diary and watercolours, and had two sons and seven daughters
1791 Michael Faraday – British chemist and physicist. He was successful in liquefying chlorine and other gases, and isolated benzene. He conducted many early experiments with electricity, formulating many of the principles of electricity, such as Faraday's Laws of Electrolysis and the principle of induction, showing that a magnetic field could produce an electric current, making possible the dynamo, or generator
1895 Paul Muni – Austrian-born actor (The Story of Louis Pasteur, The Last Angry Man, Stage Door Canteen, Angel on My Shoulder, I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang)
1902 John Houseman – Bucharest born actor (The Paper Chase, Three Days of the Condor, The Winds of War, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad, Rollerball, The Cheap Detective)
1909 Allan 'Rocky' Lane – Actor (Red Ryder, El Paso Stampede, Night Nurse) He was the voice Mister Ed, the talking horse
1912 Martha Scott - Actress (Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, Our Town, The Turning Point)
1915 Arthur Lowe, age 66 - British actor (Dad's Army, Bless Me Father, The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as We Know It, Man About the House, Coronation Street)
1928 Eugene Roche - Actor (Soap, Webster, Perfect Strangers, Lenny, The Corner Bar, Slaughterhouse-Five)
1946 Paul Lemat - Actor (American Graffiti, Melvin and Howard, Death Valley)
1948 Captain Mark Phillips – British equestrian, and former husband of Anne, Princess Royal
1948 Jim Byrnes – Actor (Highlander, Drive She Said, Harmony Cats, Neon Rider, Wiseguy) When he was 23 he lost both legs in an automobile accident
1954 Shari Belafonte - Actress (Hotel, General Hospital, Hey Arnold!, If You Could See What I Hear) She is Harry Belafonte's daughter. She was in the Perry Mason episode The Case of the All-Star Assassin
1956 Debby Boone - Singer (You Light Up My Life, With My Song I Will Praise Him) She is the daughter of Pat and Shirley Boone
1958 Andrea Bocelli – Italian operatic singer (Time To Say Goodbye, I Live For Her)
1958 Joan Jett – Singer with the group The Blackhearts (I Love Rock 'n' Roll, I Hate Myself for Loving You)
1961 Bonnie Hunt - Actress (Rain Man, Beethoven, Jumanji, Jerry Maguire, The Green Mile, Life With Bonnie)
1961 Catherine Oxenberg – British actress (Dynasty, The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana, The Lair of the White Worm, Watch Over Me)
1961 Scott Baio - Actor (Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, Charles in Charge, Diagnosis Murder)
1970 Rupert Penry-Jones – British actor (Spooks/MI-5, The 39 Steps, Persuasion, The Four Feathers, Jane Eyre, Hilary and Jackie, A Family Man, Whitechapel, Silk) His mother is the British actress Angela Thorne
1975 Mireille Enos – Actress (The Killing, World War Z, The Catch, Big Love, Gangster Squad, Good Omens, Hanna)
1982 Billie Piper – British actress (Doctor Who, Mansfield Park, The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North, Penny Dreadful)
1984 Laura Vandervoort – Canadian actress (Smallville, V, The Lookout, Falcon Beach, Instant Star, Bitten)
1985 Tatiana Maslany – Canadian actress (Orphan Black, Would Be Kings, An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, Heartland, World Without End, Woman in Gold)
1987 Tom Felton – British actor (Harry Potter movies, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Anna and the King, Second Sight, The Borrowers)
Died this Day
1554 Francisco Vásquez Coronado – Spanish explorer who spent decades searching for the fabled cities of gold in the Americas. His health was badly deteriorated from injuries and the toll of his strenuous travels. A quarter-century earlier Coronado had explored much of the south-western US, leading his force of 300 Spaniards and 800 Indians northward from Mexico in search of the Seven Cities of Cíbola that were rumoured to have walls made of gold and treasure houses filled with priceless gems. Arriving in the region that today straddles the border between New Mexico and Arizona, Coronado did actually find Cíbola, but discovered he had conquered only a modest Zuni village built with walls of adobe mud, not gold. Discouraged, Coronado considered abandoning his search, but while exploring the Rio Grand, he heard of Quivara, far to the northeast, where he could find all the treasures after which he lusted. He set out for Quivara in the spring of 1541, eventually travelling across the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and up into Kansas. When he finally made contact with the Quivara Indians, Coronado was once again disappointed to find that they were living in simple huts and had no gold and silver. Coronado gave up and returned to Mexico where he faced a government furious that he had not brought back the wealth he had promised. He never again mounted another exploratory mission and died believing that he had been a failure. But while he never found the golden cities he sought, Coronado did succeed in giving the Spanish and the rest of the world their first fairly accurate understanding of the inhabitants and geography of the southern half of the present U S
1776 Nathan Hale - Connecticut schoolteacher and captain in the Continental Army, he was hanged in New York City by the British for spying. A graduate of Yale University, Hale joined a Connecticut regiment in 1775 and served in the successful siege of British-occupied Boston. In the summer of 1776, he crossed behind British lines on Long Island in civilian clothes to spy on the British. While returning with the intelligence information, British soldiers captured Hale near the American lines and charged him with espionage. Taken to New York, he was hanged without trial the next day. Before being executed, legend holds that Hale said, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." There is no historical record to prove that Hale actually made this statement, but if he did he may have been inspired by the lines in English author Joseph Addison's 1713 play Cato: "What a pity it is/That we can die but once to serve our country"
1828 Shaka Zulu - Founder of the Zulu Kingdom of southern Africa, was murdered by his two half-brothers, Dingane and Mhlangana, after Shaka's mental illness threatened to destroy the Zulu tribe. When Shaka became chief of the Zulus in 1816, the tribe numbered fewer than 1,500 and was among the smaller of the hundreds of other tribes in southern Africa. However, Shaka proved a brilliant military organiser, forming well-commanded regiments and arming his warriors with assegais, a new type of long-bladed, short spear that was easy to wield, and deadly. The Zulus rapidly conquered neighbouring tribes, incorporating the survivors into their ranks. By 1823, Shaka was in control of all of present-day Natal. The Zulu conquests greatly destabilised the region and resulted in a great wave of migrations by uprooted tribes. In 1827, Shaka's mother, Nandi, died, and the Zulu leader’s mental state deteriorated. In his grief, Shaka had hundreds of Zulus killed, and outlawed the planting of crops and the use of milk for a year. All women found pregnant were murdered along with their husbands. He sent his army on an extensive military operation, and when they returned exhausted he immediately ordered them out again. It was the last straw for the lesser Zulu chiefs, and his half-brothers assassinated him
1989 Irving Berlin, age 101 - Songwriter (White Christmas, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Easter Parade, There’s No Business Like Show Business) He died from cancer in New York City
On this Day
1598 British playwright and actor Ben Jonson was indicted for manslaughter. He had killed another actor in a duel and was very nearly hanged, but his ability to read and write saved him. He claimed "benefit of clergy," which allowed him to be sentenced by the lenient ecclesiastical courts. He was a successful playwright with his comedy Every Man in His Humour, which was performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, featuring William Shakespeare in a leading role
1653 Marguerite Bourgeoys landed at Quebec, intending to start a school in Montreal. However, she found there were not enough children of school age because of heavy infant mortality rates
1735 Sir Robert Walpole became the first British Prime Minister to occupy 10 Downing Street, a five minute walk from the Houses of Parliament
1789 The US Congress authorised the office of Postmaster-General
1792 The French Republic was proclaimed
1862 President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of January 1, 1863
1888 At the Electrical Conference in Paris, the terms “ohm”, “volt”, and “ampere” were agreed upon
1914 In the North Sea, the German U-9 submarine sank three British cruisers, the Aboukir, the Hogue, and the Cressy, in just over one hour. The one-sided battle, during which 1,400 British sailors lost their lives, alerted the British to the deadly effectiveness of the submarine, which had been generally unrecognised up to that time. The German U-boat was a submarine far more sophisticated than those built by other nations at the time. The typical U-boat was 214 feet long, carried 35 men and 12 torpedoes, and could travel underwater for two hours at a time
1920 London’s Metropolitan Police formed the motorised “Flying Squad”
1927 Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler, missed an opportunity to regain the heavyweight boxing title when he failed to return to a neutral corner after knocking down champ Gene Tunney in a title match in Chicago, allowing Tunney to win the bout in a decision after 10 rounds. Jack Dempsey, one of the most formidable and popular boxers of all time, was born in Manassa, Colorado, in 1895, and was one of the great sports stars of the 1920s. He successfully defended his title five times in four years to the refrain of record-breaking ticket sales. He employed a brutally aggressive style that has been appropriated by many champions since. Bobbing and weaving, he remained on the offensive almost continuously, swinging rights and lefts out of his crouching stance with amazing speed and power. Gene Tunney, known as the Fighting Marine, was a scholarly former US Marine with a refined boxing style, was steadily accumulating victories. In September, 1926, in Philadelphia, Tunney defeated Dempsey before 120,000 fans. Tunney never knocked Dempsey down, but he systematically accumulated enough points to win the heavyweight title in a decision after 10 rounds. They met in a rematch the following year. On September 22nd, the Manassa Mauler came to Soldier Field in Chicago to regain his title. More than 100,000 spectators turned up, and there was talk that gangster Al Capone had tried to fix the fight. To avoid any possible charges of a fix, the referee was replaced at the last minute. The new referee, took the boxers aside just before the match began and reminded them of a new rule that required a fighter scoring a knockdown to retreat to a neutral corner. He could not begin his count, he warned them, until the fighter on his feet started backing off to a far corner. As the match got underway, Tunney took charge of the fight, racking up points and keeping Dempsey at bay. In the seventh round, however, the old Dempsey returned, knocking Tunney against the ropes and then felling him with three strong punches. Tunney went down, but Dempsey waited five precious seconds before heading to the neutral corner, at first stepping back to the nearest corner - not a neutral corner. Barry, the referee, rushed over to Dempsey and yelled, "Go to a neutral corner, Jack!" but Dempsey just stood there, glassy-eyed. Finally, Barry grabbed him and shoved him on his way. Dempsey shuffled across the ring, finally remembering the new rule that had been twice told to him before the match. Barry then began the 10-count, and Tunney got up at nine. Tunney's total of 14 seconds on the ground allowed him precious time to recuperate from Dempsey's assault. He ran from his opponent for the rest of the round and then came back to dominate the eighth, even knocking Dempsey down briefly. Tunney won another decision. Dempsey continued to box in exhibition matches until 1940, but he was never a serious contender again. He became a successful restaurateur in New York City and remained a popular figure until his death in 1983. Gene Tunney retired in 1928 after successfully defending his title against Tom Heeney. He became a wealthy business executive, and his son, John V. Tunney, was a US senator
1953 The world’s first four-level interchange structure was opened in Los Angeles, California. The massive concrete structure connected the freeways of Hollywood, Harbor, Santa Ana, and Arroyo Seco
1964 The musical, Fiddler on the Roof, opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 3,242 performances
1972 Idi Amin gave the 8,000 Asians in Uganda 48 hours to leave the country
1975 Sara Jane Moore fired a shot at Gerald Ford outside a San Franciso hotel, but the US president escaped unharmed when a bystander thwarted the woman's aim
59
Responses