1598 Gian Lorenzo Bernini – Italian sculptor, architect and painter who did much of the work for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, including the colonnade enclosing the piazza
1873 Willa Cather - Author (O Pioneers!, My Antonia, April Twilights, The Troll Garden, Shadows on the Rock, The Song of the Lark, Alexander's Bridge, Death Comes for the Archbishop) Born in Winchester, Virginia, Cather was the first of seven children born to an old Virginia family dating back to colonial times. Her maternal grandfather served several terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, and her grandmother was a strong, courageous woman who had a powerful influence on Cather and served as the model for several of her characters. Cather's family moved to Red Cloud, Nebraska, when she was a child, and for the rest of her life she wrote about the deep conflict she felt between East and West
1879 Rudolf Friml – Musician and composer (Rose Marie, Indian Love Call)
1888 Arthur Joyce Cary – Irish author and poet (The Horse’s Mouth, Castle Corner, To Be A Pilgrim, Marching Soldier, The Drunken Sailor)
1915 Eli Wallach - Actor (Baby Doll, The Misfits, The Magnificent Seven, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, Mackenna’s Gold) He was married to Anne Jackson for 66 years until the time of his death. He also played Mr. Freeze in the Batman episodes Ice Spy and The Duo Defy
1923 Ted Knight - Actor (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Caddyshack)
1928 Noam Chomsky – US linguist and professor who revolutionised the study of linguistics
1932 Ellen Burstyn - Actress (The Last Picture Show, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The Same Time Next Year)
1942 Harry Chapin - Songwriter, singer (Taxi, W-O-L-D, Cat's in the Cradle)
1945 Clive Russell – British actor (Coronation Street, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Being April, The Railway Children, Hope & Glory, Oscar and Lucinda, Cracker, Margaret's Museum)
1947 Vincent Baggetta – Actor (The Eddie Capra Mysteries, The Colbys, Chicago Story, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing)
1947 James Keach – Actor (The New Swiss Family Robinson, Murder in High Places, The Razor's Edge, Comes a Horseman, Cannonball!, The Hatfields and the McCoys, Walk the Line) He is the brother of Stacy Keach, and the husband of Jane Seymour
1949 Tom Waits - Singer-songwriter (Black Rider, Blue Valentine, Small Change)
1965 Jeffrey Wright – Actor (Angels in America, Syriana, Shaft, Ali, The Manchurian Candidate, Basquiat)
1966 C. Thomas Howell - Actor (ET The Extraterrestrial, The Hitcher, Southland, Animal Kingdom)
1979 Jennifer Carpenter – Actress (Dexter, Quarantine, Battle in Seattle, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, White Chicks)
Died this Day
43BC Cicero – Great Roman orator who was a strong opponent of Mark Anthony. He was executed when Mark Anthony came to power
1815 Marshal Ney – French soldier and Napoleon’s most famous general. He was executed in Paris for high treason after supporting Napoleon at Waterloo, when he was originally instructed to arrest him
1817 William Bligh, age 63 – British rear-Admiral who was the captain of the HMS Bounty at the time of the famous mutiny in 1789. He died in London
1894 Ferdinand de Lesseps – French diplomat and the man behind the building of the Suez Canal. He died two weeks after his 89th birthday
1983 Harry Jerome - Canadian sprinter who was the first man to hold both the world 100-yard and 100-metre records
1985 Robert Graves – British poet and author (I Claudius, Goodbye To All That, Over the Brazier, Fairies and Fusiliers, The Penny Fiddle)
1990 Joan Bennett, age 80 – US stage and screen actress (Bulldog Drummond, Man Hunt, The Woman in the Window, The Secret Behind the Door, Little Women, Father of the Bride, Dark Shadows)
On this Day
1678 Louis Hennepin was the first European to describe Niagara Falls, along with Dominique La Motte de Lucière
1729 Three-million acres, including Norfolk, Wentworth and Haldimand counties of Ontario, were surrendered by the Mississauga Indians
1770 Samuel Hearne left Hudson's Bay on an expedition that would make him the first European to see the Arctic Ocean
1783 William Pitt, the Younger, aged 24, became Britain’s youngest Prime Minister
1787 In Dover, Delaware, the US Constitution was unanimously ratified by all 30 delegates to the Delaware Constitutional Convention, making Delaware the first state of the modern United States. Less than four months before, the Constitution was signed by 37 of the original 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention meeting in Philadelphia. The Constitution was sent to the states for ratification, and, by the terms of the document, the Constitution would become binding once nine of the former 13 colonies had ratified it. Delaware led the process, and in June 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, making federal democracy the law of the land. Government under the US Constitution took effect in March 1789
1796 Electors chose John Adams to be the second president of the US
1805 Having spied the Pacific Ocean for the first time a few weeks earlier, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark crossed to the south shore of the Columbia River near modern-day Portland and began building the small fort that would be their winter home. For their fort, Lewis and Clark picked a site three miles up Netul Creek, now Lewis and Clark River, because it had a ready supply of elk and deer and convenient access to the ocean, which the men used to make salt. The men finished building a small log fortress by Christmas Eve. They named their new home Fort Clatsop, in honour of the local Indian tribe. During the three months they spent at Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark reworked their journals and began preparing the scientific information they had gathered. Clark laboured long hours drawing meticulous maps that proved to be among the most valuable fruits of the expedition. After talking with local Indians, the two men determined that they had taken an unnecessarily difficult path through the Rockies, and planned alternate routes for the return journey. Meanwhile, the enlisted men and fellow travellers hunted and trapped, killing and eating more than 100 elk and 20 deer during their stay. While the stay at Fort Clatsop was peaceful, it was not entirely pleasant. The Clatsop Indian tribe was friendly, but Clark noted that the Indians were hard bargainers, which caused the expedition party to rapidly deplete its supply of gifts and trading goods, and eventually caused some resentment on both sides. Most vexing, though, was the damp coastal weather. Rain fell all but twelve days of the expedition's three-month stay. The men found it impossible to keep dry, and their damp furs and hides rotted and became infested with vermin. Nearly everyone suffered from persistent colds and rheumatism. The expedition departed for home from soggy Fort Clatsop on March 23, 1806. The region they had explored later became the state of Oregon
1827 Canada's first steam engine started operating on the Albion Railway at Stellarton, Nova Scotia
1842 The New York Philharmonic Orchestra gave its first concert
1876 The Canadian steamship Northern Light began the first regular service from Prince Edward Island to the mainland
1877 The first successful gramophone was demonstrated. It was invented by Thomas Edison and built by his mechanic, John Kruesi
1899 Sir Hugh John MacDonald became Premier of Manitoba when he led his Conservative Party to an election victory. He was the son of Canada’s first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald
1907 Eugene Corri became the first referee to officiate inside a boxing ring at the Tommy Burns/Gunner Moir fight at the National Sporting Club in London
1941 At 7:55 am Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appeared out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes from six Japanese carriers followed, descending on the US naval base at Pearl Harbour in a ferocious assault, freely bombing the harbour and airfield. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the US Pacific fleet and drew the US irrevocably into World War II. With diplomatic negotiations with Japan breaking down, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisers knew that an imminent Japanese attack was probable, but nothing had been done to increase security at the important naval base at Pearl Harbour. It was Sunday morning, and many military personnel had been given passes to attend religious services off base. At 7:02 am, two radio operators spotted large groups of aircraft in flight toward the island from the north, but, with a flight of B-17s expected from the US at the time, they were told to sound no alarm. Thus, the Japanese air assault came as a horrible surprise to the naval base. Losses were devastating, and much of the Pacific fleet was rendered useless: six of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded, many while valiantly attempting to repulse the attack. Japan's losses were 29 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men. Fortunately for the US, all three Pacific fleet carriers were out at sea on training manoeuvres. The following day, President Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress and declared December 7, 1941 “a date which will live in infamy,” and Congress almost unanimously declared war against Japan
1941 Canada declared war on Japan. The Canadian action came only hours after Japanese aircraft bombed US air and naval bases at Pearl Harbour. The prompt declaration made Canada the first of the Western allies to officially enter a state of war against Japan. The United States, Britain and other allied countries followed the next day
1961 The name United Kingdom was discarded in favour of Britain
1965 Pope Paul VI and Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously lifted the mutual excommunications that had led to the split of the two churches in 1054
1972 The US’s last manned moon mission to date was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral
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