1660 Sir Hans Sloane - Irish-born British physician and naturalist whose home and library was the basis for the British Museum and Library. He succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as president of the Royal Society of London
1661 Charles Montague - First Earl of Halifax, he founded the Bank of England
1786 Sir John Franklin - British rear admiral and explorer. Franklin and his entire crew perished on an ill-fated 1845 expedition to prove the existence of the Northwest Passage
1867 Wilbur Wright - US inventor and aviation pioneer, who with his brother Orville, developed the first real powered aircraft while running their cycle business in Dayton, Ohio
1889 Sir Charles Spencer (Charlie) Chaplin - British-born comedy actor known as the Little Tramp (The Gold Rush, The Tramp, City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Limelight) In 1903 and 1904 he toured England portraying Billy the Pageboy in William Gillette’s play about Sherlock Holmes
1895 Sir Ove Arup - Danish-British structural engineer who built the Sydney Opera House and worked with Sir Basil Spence on Coventry Cathedral
1897 Frederick William Winterbotham – British secret service official. He played a decisive role in the World War II Ultra code-breaking project
1913 Les Tremayne - Actor (The War of the Worlds, Francis Goes to West Point, The Slime People, I Love Melvin)
1918 Terence Alan (Spike) Milligan – Irish comedian, actor (Gormenghast, Yellowbeard, History of the World: Part I, The Life of Brian, The Last Remake of Beau Geste) and author (Depression and How to Survive It, Adolph Hitler: My Part In His Downfall, Monty: My Part In His Victory, Peace Work, Where Have All the Bullets Gone?, Goodbye Soldier, Puckoon: a Novel, A Book of Bits) He has been called “the godfather of alternative comedy”, and is credited with transforming modern British comedy. He was a founding father of BBC radio’s Goon Show, with Peter Sellers, Michael Bentine and Harry Secombe. Milligan also played a policemen in the 1978 comedy version of The Hound of the Baskervilles He celebrated his 80th birthday with a special edition of his book, The Hound of the Baskervilles According To Spike Milligan He was born in India, to Irish parents. The family returned to Britain upon his father’s retirement from the British Army in 1933. Milligan, an Irish national, received an honorary Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1992, and an honorary knighthood in the 2000/2001 New Year Honours List
1920 Barry Nelson - Actor (Airport, The Shining, Pete 'n' Tillie, The Human Comedy, Island Claw, Shadow of the Thin Man)
1921 Sir Peter Ustinov - British actor (Spartacus, Topkapi, Quo Vadis, Beau Brummel, Logan's Run) He has played Hercule Poirot in numerous movies (Death on the Nile, Appointment with Death, Evil Under the Sun, Thirteen at Dinner…) During WWII Private Peter Ustinov was batman to Lieutenant Colonel David Niven
1922 Sir Kingsley Amis - British novelist, poet and critic (The Crime of the Century, Lucky Jim, The Old Devils)
1924 Henry Mancini - Composer, musician (Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Victor/Victoria, The Pink Panther, Mr. Lucky, Peter Gunn, Charade, Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet)
1927 Peter Mark Richman – Actor (Dynasty, Blind Ambition, Longstreet, Naked Gun 2-½)
1927 Edie Adams - Actress (The Apartment, The Oscar, Love with the Proper Stranger, The Ernie Kovacs Show) She was also the spokesperson for Muriel Cigars: "Hey big spender, spend a little time with me"
1929 Roy Hamilton - Singer (You'll Never Walk Alone, If I Loved You, Ebb Tide, Unchained Melody, Don't Let Go, You Can Have Her)
1935 Bobby Vinton - Singer (Roses are Red My Love, Blue on Blue, Blue Velvet, Mr. Lonely, There! I've Said It Again, My Melody of Love)
1939 Dusty Springfield - British singer (Wishin' and Hopin', You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, The Look of Love, Son-of-a-Preacher Man, The Windmills of Your Mind, A Brand New Me)
1947 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) - Basketball player with the LA Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks. He also had a role in the movie Airplane!
1947 Gerry Rafferty – Scottish singer (Right Down the Line, Baker Street )
1953 Jay O. Sanders – Actor (Along Came a Spider, Kiss the Girls, Angels in the Outfield, JFK, V.I. Warshawski, Glory, Crime Story, After MASH, Green Lantern, The Day After Tomorrow)
1954 Ellen Barkin - Actress (The Big Easy, Diner, Tender Mercies, Wild Bill, Bad Company, Daniel, Sea of Love, Eddie and the Cruisers, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzia Across the 8th Dimension, Ocean’s Thirteen, Wild Bill)
1965 Martin Lawrence – German-born actor/comedian (Martin, Do the Right Thing, Nothing to Lose, Bad Boys, National Security, Rebound, Big Momma’s House)
1965 Jon Cryer – Actor (Two and a Half Men, Hot Shots!, The Famous Teddy Z, Pretty in Pink)
1971 Peter Billingsley - Actor (A Christmas Story , Iron Man, Massarati and the Brain, The Break-Up)
1975 Sean Maher – Actor (Firefly, Serenity, Brian’s Song, Make It or Break It, Party of Five, The $treet)
1976 Lukas Haas – Actor (Witness, Lathe of Heaven, Mars Attacks!, The Ryan White Story, Inception)
Died this Day
1850 Marie Tussaud, age 88 - Swiss wax modeller who, during the French Revolution made death masks from severed heads. She toured her exhibition around Britain before setting up a permanent site in London in 1835, on Marylebone - just around the corner from Baker Street
1946 Arthur Chevrolet, age 60 – Car racer and designer, with his brother, Louis. The brothers worked closely together for their entire careers, designing aircraft engines, car engines, and racing
1991 Sir David Lean, age 83 - British director (Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Dr. Zhivago, A Passage to India, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations) He died in London
2002 Robert Urich, age 55 - Actor (Vega$, Spencer for Hire, Soap, Magnum Force, Turk 182!, Lonesome Dove)
On this Day
1542 The Sieur de Roberval, France's first viceroy in Canada, sailed for the New World with three ships and 200 colonists. He explored the St. Lawrence as far as Montréal Island, searching for the legendary kingdom of Saguenay. The expedition was a failure and its survivors returned to France in 1543
1739 In Manitoba, François de Varennes de La Vérendrye set out to find a river flowing westward from Lake Winnipeg
1787 The first production of a US playwright to be successfully mounted by a professional company debuted in New York. The Contrast, by Royall Tyler, was performed at the John Street Theatre and glorified US simplicity and idealism
1789 President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for his inauguration in New York
1874 William Johnston founded an agricultural college at Guelph, Ontario. It would later become the Ontario Agricultural College, which is today part of The University of Guelph
1874 Canada’s House of Commons expelled elected Member of Parliament, Louis Riel as a fugitive, as there was an arrest warrant for him, for the shooting of Thomas Scott in Red River
1881 On the streets of Dodge City, famous western lawman and gunfighter Bat Masterson fought his last gun battle. Early in 1881, news that his younger brother, Jim, was in trouble back in Dodge City reached Masterson in Tombstone, Arizona. Jim's dispute with a business partner and an employee, A.J. Peacock and Al Updegraff respectively, had led to an exchange of gunfire. Though no one had yet been hurt, Jim feared for his life. Masterson immediately took a train to Dodge City. When his train pulled into town, Masterson wasted no time. He quickly spotted Peacock and Updegraff and aggressively shouldered his way through the crowded street to confront them. All three men immediately drew their guns. Masterson took cover behind the railway bed, while Peacock and Updegraff darted around the corner of the city jail. Several other men joined in the gunplay. One bullet meant for Masterson ricocheted and wounded a bystander. Updegraff took a bullet in his right lung. The mayor and sheriff arrived with shotguns to stop the battle when a brief lull settled over the scene. Updegraff and the wounded bystander were taken to the doctor and both eventually recovered. No one was mortally injured in the melee, and since the shootout had been fought fairly by the Dodge City standards of the day, no serious charges were imposed against Masterson. He paid an $8 fine and took the train out of Dodge City that evening. Masterson never again fought a gun battle in his life, but the story of the Dodge City shootout and his other exploits ensured Masterson's lasting fame as an icon of the Old West. He spent the next four decades of his life working as sheriff, operating saloons, and eventually trying his hand as a newspaperman in New York City, where he died of a heart attack at his desk in 1921
1887 The rebuilt and enlarged Welland Canal was opened for navigation. It joins Lakes Erie and Ontario, bypassing the Niagara River and Niagara Falls
1894 Three-thousand cab drivers went on strike in London, inconveniencing citizens until June 6th
1912 Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel, using a Bleriot monoplane to travel from Dover, England to Hardelot, France
1926 The first Book-of-the-Month Club selection was distributed. The selection, Lolly Willows, or, The Loving Huntsman by Sylvia Townsend Warner, went to nearly 5,000 members who had joined the Club, which was established in New York City
1935 The long-running radio comedy program, Fibber McGee and Molly, starring Jim and Marian Jordan, premiered on the NBC Blue Network
1945 The Royal Canadian Navy minesweeper, HMCS Esquimalt, was sunk by a German U-boat just outside Halifax, Nova Scotia. Thirty-nine of the 65 men aboard were killed when the torpedo struck on the vessel's starboard side. The vessel went down so quickly that there was not enough time for the crew to send distress signals or launch a lifeboat
1947 The US's worst harbour explosion occurred in Texas City, Texas, when the French ship Grandcamp caught fire and blew up, devastating the town. Twenty-seven members of the Texas City Volunteer Fire Department were called to the port to douse the flames, but the ship was so hot that the water from their fire hoses was instantly vaporised. At twelve minutes past nine, the fire caught the freighter's stores of ammonium nitrate, a compound used to make dynamite, and a tremendous explosion occurred. Another ship, the Highflyer, exploded the following day. The Grandcamp explosion was the most devastating industrial accident in US history, killing 576 people and wounding over three thousand
1953 The Royal yacht, Britannia, was launched
1962 Walter Cronkite made his debut as anchor of The CBS Evening News, succeeding Douglas Edwards
1972 Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was the fifth of six US lunar landing missions
1996 Britain's Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, announced they were in the process of getting a divorce
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