1698 Pierre-Louis Maupertuis - French mathematician, biologist and astronomer
1856 Kate Smith-Wiggin Author (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Timothy's Quest, The Bird's Christmas Carol) She organised the first free kindergarten in San Francisco
1888 Herman Cyril McNeile (aka Sapper) British novelist (Bulldog Drummond) His pen name is the army word for an engineer, which he was from 1917 to 1919
1902 Ed Sullivan - TV host (The Ed Sullivan Show)
1909 Al Capp US cartoonist (Lil Abner)
1916 Peter Finch - Actor (Network, Flight of the Phoenix, Raid on Entebbe, A Town Like Alice, Sunday Bloody Sunday)
1923 William Windom - Actor (My World and Welcome to It, Murder She Wrote, The Farmer's Daughter, The Girl with Something Extra, Planes Trains & Automobiles, To Kill a Mockingbird)
1924 Marcello Mastroianni Actor (White Nights, Yesterday Today and Tomorrow, Used People, Divorce Italian Style, La Dolce Vita)
1925 Arnold Stang Comedian and actor (Broadside, The Milton Berle Show, Dennis the Menace)
1930 Tommy Collins - Singer (You Better Not Do That It Tickles, If You Can't Bite Don't Growl, I Made the Prison Band) and songwriter (If You Ain't Lovin' then You Ain't Livin', You Gotta Have a License)
1934 Brigitte Bardot - Actress (And God Created Woman, Viva Maria, A Very Private Affair)
1938 Ben E. King Singer (Stand By Me, Spanish Harlem, This Magic Moment, Save the Last Dance for Me) He sang with The Drifters under his real name, Benjamin Earl Nelson
1943 J.T. Walsh Actor (Pleasantville, The Negotiator, A Few Good Men, Nixon, The Client, Hoffa, The Russia House)
1946 Peter Egan British actor (Ever Decreasing Circles, Lillie, Reilly: Ace of Spies, Bean, The Cater Street Hangman)
1964 Janeane Garofalo Actress/comedienne (The Larry Sanders Show, Saturday Night Live, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, The Truth About Cats & Dogs)
1967 Mira Sorvino - Actress (The Bucaneers, Mighty Aphrodite, Romy and Micheles High School Reunion) She is the daughter of actor Paul Sorvino
1968 Naomi Watts British born Australian actress (The Ring Two, Ned Kelly,
Mulholland Dr, The Wyvern Mystery, Brides of Christ)
1987 Hilary Duff Actress (Lizzie McGuire, Agent Cody Banks, Cadet Kelly)
Died this Day
48BC Pompey the Great Roman statesman and General. Upon landing in Egypt, Roman general and politician Pompey was murdered on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt, one day before his 58th birthday. During his long career, Pompey the Great displayed exceptional military talents on the battlefield. He fought in Africa and Spain, quelled the slave revolt of Spartacus, cleared the Mediterranean of pirates, and conquered Armenia, Syria, and Palestine. Appointed to organise the newly won Roman territories in the East, he proved a brilliant administrator. He joined with his rivals Julius Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus to form the First Triumvirate, and together the trio ruled Rome for seven years. Caesar's successes aroused Pompey's jealousy, however, leading to the collapse of the political alliance. The Roman Senate supported Pompey and asked Caesar to give up his army, which he refused to do. In January 49 BC, Caesar led his legions across the Rubicon River from Cisalpine Gaul to Italy, thus declaring war against Pompey and his forces. Caesar made early gains in the subsequent civil war, but he was later forced into retreat in Greece. In August 48 BC, with Pompey in pursuit, Caesar paused near Pharsalus, setting up camp at a strategic location. When Pompey's senatorial forces fell upon Caesar's smaller army, they were entirely routed, and Pompey fled to Egypt. Pompey hoped that King Ptolemy, his former client, would assist him, but the Egyptian king feared offending the victorious Caesar. On September 28, Pompey was invited to leave his ships and come ashore at Pelusium. As he prepared to step onto Egyptian soil, he was treacherously struck down and killed by an officer of Ptolemy
1891 Herman Melville, age 72 US author and poet (Moby-Dick, White-Jacket, The Piazza Tales, The Confidence Man, John Marr and Other Sailors, Timoleon, Clarel, Bartleby the Scrivener, Billy Budd) Born in New York City, a childhood bout of scarlet fever permanently weakened his eyesight. He went to sea at age 19, as a cabin boy on a ship bound for Liverpool, and two years later, he sailed for the South Seas. Melville took part in a mutiny in Polynesia, and was thrown in jail in Tahiti. He escaped, and wandered around the South Sea islands for two years. In 1846, he published his first novel, Typee, based on his Polynesian adventures. In 1851, Harper & Brothers published Moby-Dick, but the book flopped and was not recognised as a classic for many years. Meanwhile, Melville bought a farm near Nathaniel Hawthorne's house in Massachusetts, and the two became close friends. Melville continued writing novels and highly acclaimed short stories. In 1866, Melville won appointment as a customs inspector in New York, which brought him a stable income. He published several volumes of poetry, and continued to write until his death
1895 Louis Pasteur, age 72 - French chemist and bacteriologist who discovered that micro-organisms cause fermentation and infection. He developed the pasteurisation process and a vaccination for rabies
1953 Edwin Powell Hubble, age 63 US astronomer, died in San Marino, California. Hubble changed our view of the Universe with his revolutionary theory that the Universe is expanding, when in 1929 he was able to show that galaxies are moving away from us. The Hubble Space Telescope is named after him
1964 Harpo Marx, age 75 Curly headed, silent member of the Marx Brothers (Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera, Animal Crackers)
1973 W.H. Auden, age 66 British-born US poet and playwright (The Shield of Achilles, Homage to Clio, The Dyers Hand)
1989 Ferdinand Marcos Deposed President of the Philippines from 1966 to 1986. He died in exile in Hawaii, two and a half weeks after his 72nd birthday
1991 Miles Davis, age 65 - Jazz trumpet and flugelhorn musician (Blue 'n' Boogie, Walkin', Round Midnight) He combined be-bop, modal chord progressions and rock rhythms to create "cool jazz." The son of a St. Louis dentist, Davis began playing trumpet at age 13 and moved to New York to study at Julliard
2000 Pierre Elliot Trudeau Prime Minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to his retirement in 1984. He died 3 weeks before his 81st birthday
On this Day
1066 William the Conqueror invaded England. Claiming his right to the English throne, William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England at Pevensey on Britain's southeast coast. His subsequent defeat of King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings marked the beginning of a new era in British history. William was the illegitimate son of Robert I, Duke of Normandy, by his concubine Arlette, a tanner's daughter from the town of Falaise. The Duke, who had no other sons, designated William his heir, and with his death in 1036 William became Duke of Normandy at age seven. In 1051, William is believed to have visited England and met with his cousin Edward the Confessor, the childless English king. According to Norman historians, Edward promised to make William his heir. On his deathbed, however, Edward granted the kingdom to Harold Godwine, head of the leading noble family in England and more powerful than the king himself. In January 1066, King Edward died, and Harold Godwine was proclaimed King Harold II. William immediately disputed his claim. In addition, King Harald III Hardraade of Norway had designs on England, as did Tostig, brother of Harold. King Harold rallied his forces for an expected invasion by William, but Tostig launched a series of raids instead, forcing the king to leave the English Channel unprotected. In September, Tostig joined forces with King Harald III and invaded England from Scotland. On September 25, Harold met them at Stamford Bridge and defeated and killed them both. Three days later, William landed in England at Pevensey. With approximately 7,000 troops and cavalry, William seized Pevensey and marched to Hastings, where he paused to organise his forces. On October 13, Harold arrived near Hastings with his army, and the next day William led his forces out to give battle. At the end of a bloody, all-day battle, King Harold II was killed, shot in the eye with an arrow, according to legend, and his forces were defeated. William then marched on London and received the city's submission. On Christmas Day, 1066, William the Conqueror was crowned the first Norman king of England, in Westminster Abbey, and the Anglo-Saxon phase of English history came to an end. French became the language of the king's court and gradually blended with the Anglo-Saxon tongue to give birth to modern English. William I proved an effective king of England, and the "Domesday Book," a great census of the lands and people of England, was among his notable achievements
1542 Portuguese explorer Juan Rodrνguez Cabrillo sailed into present-day San Diego Bay during the course of his explorations of the northwest shores of Mexico on behalf of Spain
1745 At a public performance at Drury Theatre, London, God Save the King was sung for the first time. It was in response to the threat from the Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charles
1793 The Upper Canada legislature decreed that all slave children born in Canada after this date would become free at age 25
1850 Flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the US Navy
1867 Toronto officially became the capital of Ontario
1885 Rioting broke out in Montreal against compulsory smallpox vaccination
1894 Simon Marks and Tom Spencer opened their Penny Bazaar in Manchester. In 1887 Marks had started in business with a £5 loan. The new partnership required £300 from Spencer. From this venture grew the Marks and Spencer chain
1924 Two US Army planes landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days
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