Born this Day

1239 Edward I – King of England from 1272 to 1307. He invaded Wales in 1277, ending the autonomy of the principality
1703 John Wesley – British Anglican clergyman and evangelist. He initiated the Methodist societies and brought about an evangelical revival, not only in England, but also in North America
1867 John Robert Gregg – Irish-born US inventor of a shorthand system named for him
1882 Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky - Composer (The Firebird, Petrouchka, The Rite of Spring, The Wedding, The Soldier's Tale)
1898 M.C. Escher - Dutch graphic artist known for his enigmatic drawings
1902 Sammy Fain - Musician, composer (Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, Tender is the Night, I'll Be Seeing You, I Can Dream Can't I, Let a Smile be Your Umbrella) Most of his work was with Irving Kahal
1904 Ralph Bellamy - Actor (The Awful Truth, Trading Places, The Winds of War, Oh, God!, Man Against Crime, The Eleventh Hour, Pretty Woman) He also portrayed the detective, Ellery Queen in numerous movies in the 1940s
1907 Charles Eames – US designer and architect
1910 Red Foley - Songwriter, singer (Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy, Just a Closer Walk with Thee, Blues in My Heart, Tennessee Saturday Night, Tennessee Polka, Peace in the Valley, Goodnight Irene) TV host (Ozark Jubilee) and actor (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
1914 John Hersey - Author (A Bell for Adano, Hiroshima, The Wall, The War Lover)
1920 Beryl Reid – British actress (The Killing of Sister George, Father Dear Father, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley’s People, The Irish RM)
1933 James Shigeta – Actor (Die Hard, Flower Drum Song, Mulan, Tomorrow’s Child, Enola Gay: The Men the Mission the Atomic Bomb, Midway, Lost Horizon) He played Ward Toyama in the Perry Mason episode The Case of the Wrongful Writ
1939 Dickie Doo (Gerry Granahan) – Singer with the group Dickie Doo and The Don'ts (Click Clack, No Chemise Please)
1941 William Lucking – Actor (Sons of Anarchy, The World’s Fastest Indian, Erin Brockovich, The River Wild, The Last Best Sunday, Outlaws, Shannon)
1943 Barry Manilow – Singer/songwriter (Mandy, Looks Like We Made It, Can't Smile Without You, Copacabana)
1951 Joe Piscopo - Comedian, actor (Saturday Night Live, Wise Guys, Johnny Dangerously)
1961 Thomas Haden Church – (Sideways, Spanglish, George of the Jungle, Ned and Stacey, Wings)
1963 Greg Kinnear – Actor (As Good As It Gets, Stuck On You, Nurse Betty, You've Got Mail, Murder in Mississippi, The Kennedys, Thin Ice, Little Miss Sunshine)
1964 Erin Murphy – Child actress (Bewitched)
1966 Jason Patric – Actor (The Alamo, Speed 2: Cruise Control, Sleepers, Geronimo: An American Legend, The Lost Boys) His grandfather was Jackie Gleason


Died this Day

1719 Joseph Addison – British poet (The Campaign, The Drummer)
1986 Kate Smith, age 79 – US singer (God Bless America, One Sweet Letter from You, When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain) She died in Raleigh, NC


On this Day

1579 During his circumnavigation of the world, British seaman Sir Francis Drake anchored in a harbour just north of present-day San Francisco, California, and claimed the territory for Queen Elizabeth I. Calling the land Nova Albion, Drake remained on the California coast for a month to make repairs to his ship, the Golden Hind, and prepare for his westward crossing of the Pacific Ocean
1605 Samuel de Champlain departed Annapolis, Nova Scotia, to hunt for a better site for the colony. He sailed south to Cape Cod Massachusetts, and drew the first charts of the New England coastline
1775 The revolutionary war battle of Bunker Hill was fought as more than 3,000 British troops defeated more than 1,000 Patriot soldiers near Boston. British General William Howe landed his troops on the Charlestown peninsula overlooking Boston and led them against Breed's Hill, a fortified Patriot position just below Bunker Hill. As the British advanced in columns against them, Patriot General William Prescott reportedly told his men, "Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" When the Redcoats were within 40 yards, the Patriots let loose with a lethal barrage of musket fire, cutting down nearly 100 enemy troops and throwing the British into retreat. After reforming his lines, Howe attacked again, with much the same result. However, Prescott's men were now low on ammunition, and when Howe led his men up the hill for a third time, they reached the redoubts and engaged the Patriots in hand-to-hand combat. The outnumbered Patriots were forced to retreat. The British had won the Battle of Bunker Hill, and Breed's Hill and the Charlestown peninsula fell firmly under British control. It was one of the earliest battles of the war, and despite losing their strategic positions, the battle was a morale-builder for the Patriots, who had suffered far fewer casualties than their enemy while demonstrating that they could conduct war effectively against the British
1823 Charles Macintosh patented the waterproof cloth he was to use in making raincoats
1856 In Philadelphia, the Republican Party opened its first convention
1867 Joseph Lister amputated a cancerous breast from his sister, Isabella, using carbolic acid as an antiseptic. The operation, in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, was the first under antiseptic conditions
1871 Seven-foot-five Anne Swan of Nova Scotia married seven-foot-two Martin Buren of Kentucky. They were the world’s tallest couple, and worked for Barnum Circus
1876 The Sioux and Cheyenne Indians scored a tactical victory over General George Crook's forces at the Battle of the Rosebud, foreshadowing the disaster of the Battle of Little Big Horn eight days later. General Crook was in command of one of three columns of soldiers converging on the Big Horn country of southern Montana that June. A large band of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians under the direction of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and several other chiefs had congregated in the area in defiance of US demands that the Indians confine themselves to reservations. The army viewed the Indians' refusal as an opportunity to dispatch a massive three-pronged attack and win a decisive victory over them. As Crook approached the Big Horn, his Indian scouts informed him they had found signs of a major Sioux force that must still be nearby. Crook was convinced that the Sioux were encamped in a large village somewhere along the Rosebud Creek just east of the Big Horn, and like most of his fellow officers, he believed that Indians were more likely to flee than stand and fight. Crook was determined to find the village and attack before the Sioux could escape into the wilderness, but his Indian allies, comprising 262 Crow and Shoshone warriors, were less certain. They suspected the Sioux force was under the command of the brilliant war chief Crazy Horse, and warned Crook that he was too shrewd to give Crook an opportunity to attack a stationary village. Crook soon learned that his allies were right. Around 8am on this day in 1876, Crook halted his force of about 1,300 men in the bowl of a small valley along the Rosebud Creek in order to allow the rear of the column to catch up. Crook's soldiers unsaddled and let their horses graze while they relaxed in the grass and enjoyed the cool morning air. The US soldiers were out in the open, divided, and unprepared. Suddenly, a mass of Sioux warriors began to converge on the army. A force of at least 1,500 mounted Sioux warriors initially caught Crook's soldiers by surprise, with another 2,500 warriors that Crazy Horse had kept in reserve to finish the attack. Fortunately for Crook, one segment of his army was not caught unprepared, as his 262 Crow and Shoshone allies had taken up advanced positions about 500 yards from the main body of soldiers. With astonishing courage, the Crook’s Indian warriors boldly counter-charged the much larger invading force. They managed to blunt the initial attack long enough for Crook to regroup his men and send soldiers forward to support his Indian allies. The fighting continued until noon, when the Sioux retreated from the field. The combined force of 4,000 Sioux warriors had outnumbered Crook's divided and unprepared army by more than three to one, and Crook had no choice but to withdraw and regroup. Crazy Horse had lost only 13 men, while Crook's team lost 28 men, and 56 were seriously wounded. Had it not been for the wisdom and courage of Crook's Indian allies, the Battle of the Rosebud might well remembered today alongside the subsequent Battle of the Little Big Horn
1944 Iceland gained their independence from Denmark and became a republic
1946 The first mobile telephone service was inaugurated in St. Louis, Missouri. The Southwestern Bell Telephone Company installed mobile phones in the automobiles of two customers
1963 The US Supreme Court struck down rules requiring the recitation of the Lord's Prayer or reading of Biblical verses in public schools
1972 James McCord, Frank Sturgis, Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzales, and Eugenio Martinez were apprehended in the early morning after a security guard at the Watergate office and apartment complex in Washington, DC noticed that several doors leading from the stairwell to various hallways had been taped to prevent them from locking. The intruders were wearing surgical gloves and carrying walkie-talkies, cameras, and almost $2,300 in sequential $100 bills. A subsequent search of their rooms at the Watergate turned up an additional $4,200, burglary tools, and electronic bugging equipment. The five men had been attempting to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters. It was the beginning of a series of arrests that would eventually force Richard Nixon from the White House
1974 Irish terrorists exploded a bomb in an annex of Britain's House of Commons, the first such attack since the Guy Fawkes bomb plot 370 years earlier
1994 US football legend OJ Simpson surrendered to police after a bizarre chase along a Los Angeles highway that was broadcast live throughout North America. Simpson was charged with the June 12th murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman