1853 André Michelin - French tire manufacturer who was the first to mass-produce tires
1874 Robert W. Service - British born Canadian known as the Poet of the Yukon (Songs of a Sourdough, The Spell of the Yukon, Ballads of a Cheechako, The Roughneck, The Cremation of Sam McGee, Rhymes of a Red-Cross Man) He worked as a reporter for the Canadian Army Intelligence during the end of World War I
1906 Diana Wynyard - British actress (Cavalcade, Gaslight, Island in the Sun)
1907 Alexander Knox - Canadian actor (Wilson, Reach for the Sky, The Longest Day, Gorky Park, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Oppenheimer)
1908 Ethel Merman - Singer, stage and screen actress (Call Me Madam, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, There's No Business Like Show Business, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Annie Get Your Gun, Airplane!)
1910 Jerome “Dizzy” Dean – Baseball player who is regarded as one of the best pitchers ever. His brother was baseball player Paul “Daffy” Dean
1920 Elliott Reid - Actor (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, A Woman's World, Follow Me Boys)
1924 Katy Jurado - Actress (High Noon, One-Eyed Jacks, Trapeze)
1929 G.T. Hogan - Jazz drummer
1932 Dian Fossey - US zoologist and author (Gorillas in the Mist) She became the world's leading authority on the mountain gorillas of central Africa. In 1963, she met Louis and Mary Leakey, who encouraged her initial interest. With Jane Goodall's encouragement, she set up and directed the Karisoke Research Centre in Rwanda. Living a solitary life for many years, she observed the gorillas' habits and gradually gained their acceptance
1934 Marilyn Horne - Opera singer (Carmen Jones)
1935 A.J. Foyt - Race car driver (Indianapolis 500 Winner 1961, 1964, 1967, 1977; Daytona 500 Winner 1972)
1946 Ronnie Milsap - Singer (There's No Gettin' Over Me, Never Had It So Good) Blind since birth, he learned to play several instruments by the age of 12
1948 John Carpenter - Film director (Christine, The Thing, Halloween, The Fog, Starman, Escape from New York)
1950 Debbie Allen - Actress-dancer-choreographer (Fame, Ragtime, Stompin' at the Savoy)
1956 Jennifer Dale – Canadian actress (Once a Thief, Grand Larceny, Dick Francis: Blood Sport, Bizarre)
1959 Sade - Singer (Smooth Operator, Hang On To Your Love, The Sweetest Taboo)
1986 Mason Gamble – Actor (Dennis the Menace, Groundhog Day, Gattica, Rushmore, Bad Moon, Spy Hard)
Died this Day
1794 Edward Gibbon, age 56 - British historian and author (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire)
1806 Nicolas Leblanc - French surgeon and chemist who, in 1790, developed the process for making sodium carbonate, or soda ash, from common salt. This process, which bears his name, became one of the most important industrial chemical processes of the 19th century. In the Leblanc Process, salt was treated with sulphuric acid to obtain salt cake, which was then roasted with limestone or chalk and coal to produce black ash, which consisted primarily of sodium carbonate and calcium sulphide. The sodium carbonate was dissolved in water and then crystallised. The Leblanc Process was simple, cheap, and direct, but because of the disruption of the French Revolution, he profited little from it
1809 Sir John Moore - British general and MP who was killed at the Battle of Corunna in Spain, during the Peninsular War against Napoleon
1899 William Judge - The Jesuit who built the first hospital at the site of the Dawson gold rush
1906 Marshall Field - US retail magnate
1935 Ma Barker - Infamous gangster, died with one of her four sons when FBI agents riddled her Florida hideout with bullets
1942 Carole Lombard, age 33 - Actress (My Man Godfrey, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Made for Each Other) She and her mother were among those killed when their plane crashed near Las Vegas during a tour to promote war bonds. Her death greatly affected her second husband, Clark Gable
1957 Arturo Toscanini, age 89 - Italian conductor
1967 Robert Van de Graaf - US physicist and inventor of the particle accelerator
On this Day
1547 Ivan the Terrible was crowned the first Tsar of Russia
1769 A conjuror who claimed he would get into a quart tavern bottle "and there sing several songs" failed to turn up at the packed Haymarket Theatre, London, causing one of the worst riots in theatre history
1777 Vermont declared independence from New York
1866 Clamp-on roller skates were patented by Everett Hosmer Barney. His all-metal screw clamp skates attached to normal shoes and were tightened with a key
1868 Detroit fish dealer William Davis patented the refrigerator railway car
1877 The first US patent for a carpet power loom was issued to Halcyon Skinner for weaving Axminster carpets
1883 The US Civil Service Commission was established as the Pendleton Act took effect
1906 Britain turned over control of its naval bases at Halifax, Nova Scotia and Esquimault, BC, to Canada
1909 British explorer Ernest Shackleton found the magnetic south pole
1919 Prohibition began as the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution took effect, outlawing the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes." The movement for the prohibition of alcohol began in the early 19th century, when people concerned about the adverse effects of drinking began forming temperance societies. By the late 19th century, these groups had become a powerful political force, campaigning on the state level and calling for total national abstinence. In December 1917, the 18th Amendment, also known as the Prohibition Amendment, was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. Achieving its required two-thirds majority, prohibition took effect in January 1919. Nine months later, Congress passed the Volstead Act, or National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. The Volstead Act provided for the enforcement of prohibition, including the creation of a special unit of the Treasury Department. Despite a vigorous effort by law-enforcement agencies, the Volstead Act failed to prevent the large-scale distribution of alcoholic beverages. Organised crime flourished in the US and bootleg spirits, which were often distributed by leading gangsters, enabled people to drink more alcohol during the 13 years of prohibition than ever before. In 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was passed and ratified, repealing prohibition
1928 British writer Thomas Hardy's funeral took place. His heart was buried in the village cemetery in Stinsford, Dorset, England, and his ashes in Westminster Abbey
1932 "It Don't Mean A Thing" was recorded by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra in New York
1936 The first photofinish camera was installed at a US racetrack. The electric eye was used for races at Hialeah, Florida
1939 The first Superman comic strip appeared
1953 The Chevrolet Corvette was introduced at a car show at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The car became a classic almost instantly. Its sporty fibreglass body didn't look like anything else on the road, and although some car buffs criticised the sportscar for being underpowered, that didn't stop Corvettes from speeding off the showroom floors
1957 The Cavern Club opened in Liverpool, England. It would become a major showcase for young rock'n'roll talent, including the Beatles
1964 The musical Hello, Dolly!, starring Carol Channing, opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances
1965 Canada and the US signed the Auto Pact, which provided a large measure of free trade in motor vehicles and parts between Canada and the US
1969 Two manned Soviet Soyuz spaceships became the first vehicles to dock in space and transfer personnel
1970 A federal policy paper recommended Canada convert to the metric system
1970 Moammar Gadhafi became ruler of Libya
1973 The 440th and final episode of Bonanza aired on NBC
1974 The book Jaws, by Peter Benchley, was published
1979 The Shah of Iran and his wife fled their country
1991 At 7:00pm EST, the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. The United Nations deadline for the Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait had expired at midnight, beginning the Persian Gulf War
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