Born this Day

1854 Edward Wyllis Scripps – US newspaper publisher
1897 Kay Kyser - Bandleader of Kay Kyser and His Kollege of Musical Knowledge (Three Little Fishes, Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition)
1903 Jeanette MacDonald - Singer with Nelson Eddy, and actress (Love Me Tonight, The Cat and the Fiddle, The Merry Widow, Naughty Marietta, Rose Marie, Maytime)
1904 Keye Luke - Actor (Kung Fu, The Good Earth, Harry O, Gremlins, The Green Hornet, Dead Heat) and artist. He painted many Hollywood movie posters, illustrated books and painted the Chinese murals in the lobby of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. He was Charlie Chan's #1 son in numerous Charlie Chan movies. He also appeared in the Perry Mason episodes The Case of the Weary Watchdog, and the Case of the Feather Cloak
1908 Bud Collyer – Radio actor (Superman) and TV host (To Tell the Truth, Beat the Clock, Winner Take All)
1913 Sammy Cahn - Composer (Love and Marriage, A Touch of Class, Three Coins in the Fountain, High Hopes, Call Me Irresponsible, The Ballad of Johnny Cool, Keep Your Powder Dry)
1914 E.G. Marshall - Actor (The Defenders, Chicago Hope, Twelve Angry Men, The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre)
1917 Richard Boone - Actor (Have Gun Will Travel, The Robe, Rio Conchos, Ten Wanted Men, The War Lord)
1920 Ian Carmichael – British actor (Wives and Daughters, Bramwell, Bachelor Father, The World of Wooster, The Lady Vanishes)
1925 Robert Arthur - Actor (Naked Youth, Hellcats of the Navy, The Ring)
1927 Paul Eddington – British actor (Yes Minister, The Good Neighbours, Miss Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage)
1937 Gail Godwin – US professor and author (The Perfectionists, A Mother and Two Daughters, A Southern Family, Father Melancholy's Daughter)
1942 Nick Tate – Australian actor (Space: 1999, Killer Elite, Hook, Open House, Dolphin Cove, A Cry in the Dark, Cry Freedom, Sons and Daughters, Destination Moonbase-Alpha, East of Everything)
1942 Paul McCartney - British musician, songwriter, singer with The Beatles (She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band) and with Wings (Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Live and Let Die, Band on the Run, Listen to What the Man Said, Silly Love Songs) and actor (Yellow Submarine, A Hard Day's Night, Help, Magical Mystery Tour, Give My Regards to Broad Street)
1942 Roger Ebert – Movie critic (Siskel & Ebert, Ebert & Roeper, At the Movies, Sneak Previews)
1947 Linda Thorson – Canadian actress (The Avengers, Emily of New Moon, Marblehead Manor, Emmerdale Farm)
1948 Philip Jackson – British actor (Crime and Punishment, Little Voice, Touching Evil, Brassed Off, Last of the Summer Wine, Pete Versus Life) He portrays Inspector Japp in the Poirot series
1952 Carol Kane - Actress (Taxi, The Princess Bride, Addams Family Values, Carnal Knowledge, Dog Day Afternoon, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Gotham, Scrooged)
1952 Isabella Rossellini – Italian born actress (Fearless, Blue Velvet, White Nights, Death Becomes Her, Wyatt Earp, The Saddest Music in the World) She is the daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini
1965 Kim Dickens – Actress (Deadwood, The Blind Side, Friday Night Lights, Treme, Lost, Hollow Man, Zero Effect)
1976 Alana De La Garza – Actress (Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Mr. Fix It, The Book of Daniel, Forever)
1978 Garfield – Cartoon fat cat created by Jim Davis. He is named after Davis’ grandfather, James A. Garfield Davis
1980 David Giuntoli – Actor (Grimm, Caroline and Jackie, The Quinn-tuplets, Weathergirl, Privileged)


Died this Day

1928 Roald Amundsen, age 56 – Norwegian polar explorer who beat Scott to the South Pole. He died in the North Sea after his plane crashed while attempting to rescue Umberto Nobile, with whom he had previously made the first flight over the North Pole in a dirigible
1959 Ethel Barrymore – US actress who has a Broadway theatre named after her. She was the sister of John and Lionel Barrymore, and the great-aunt of Drew Barrymore
1984 Alan Berg - Denver radio talk show host, shot to death outside his home. Two white supremacists were convicted of civil rights violations in the slaying
2000 Nancy Marchand – Actress (The Sopranos, Lou Grant, The Naked Gun, Sabrina) She died the day before her 72nd birthday


On this Day

1583 The first life insurance policy was sold, according to records in London. It was also the first to be disputed by the insurance company, who refused to pay out on the death of the insured. The court ruled against the company, and payment was eventually made
1784 New Brunswick became a separate British colony when King George III partitioned Nova Scotia to create the province of New Brunswick
1778 The British abandoned Philadelphia after almost nine months of occupation, when the 15,000 British troops under Sir Henry Clinton evacuated the former US capital. The British position in Philadelphia had become untenable after France's entrance into the war on the side of the US. To avoid the French fleet, General Clinton was forced to lead his British-Hessian force to New York City by land. Loyalists in the city sailed down the Delaware River to escape the Patriots, who returned to Philadelphia the day after the British departure. US General Benedict Arnold, who led the force that reclaimed the city without bloodshed, was appointed military governor. Six days later, the Continental Congress returned from its temporary capital of York, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia had been captured by the British the previous September, following Patriot General George Washington's defeats at the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of the Clouds. British General William Howe had made Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress, the focus of his campaign, but the Patriot government had deprived him of the decisive victory he hoped for by moving its operations to the more secure site of York one week before
1812 The second Anglo-American War began as the US declared war on Britain in response to the British economic blockade of France, and the British support of Indian resistance to US westward expansion. It was the only major war, other than native wars, fought on Canadian soil. A faction of Congress known as the "War Hawks" had been advocating war with Britain for several years and had not hidden their hopes that a US invasion of Canada might result in significant territorial land gains for the US. In the months after proclamation of war, US forces launched a three-point invasion of Canada, all of which were decisively unsuccessful. In 1814, with Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire collapsing, the British were able to allocate more military resources to the US war. Washington, DC, fell to the British in August, where British troops burned the White House, the Capitol, and other buildings in retaliation for the earlier burning of government buildings in Canada by US soldiers. In September, Thomas Macdonough's US naval force won a victory at the Battle of Plattsburg Bay on Lake Champlain, which led to the conclusion of the US-British peace negotiations in Belgium. In December 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, formally ending the War of 1812. By the terms of the agreement, all conquered territory was to be returned, and a commission would be established to settle the boundary of the US and Canada. News of the peace treaty did not reach the Gulf Coast quickly, and in January 1815, Andrew Jackson’s forces achieved the greatest US victory of the war at the Battle of New Orleans, a month after the war ended
1815 At Waterloo in Belgium, Napoleon Bonaparte suffered defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington, bringing an end to the Napoleonic era of European history. Exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean, he escaped to France in early 1815 and set up a new regime, raising a new Grand Army. He marched into Belgium, intending to defeat the allied armies one by one before they could launch a united attack. On June 16th he defeated the Prussians under Gebhard von Blücher at Ligny, and sent 33,000 men, one-third of his total force, in pursuit of the retreating Prussians. On June 18th, Napoleon led his remaining 72,000 troops against the Duke of Wellington's 68,000-man allied army, which had taken up a strong position 12 miles south of Brussels near the village of Waterloo. In a fatal blunder, Napoleon waited until mid-day to give the command to attack in order to let the ground dry. The delay in fighting gave Blücher's troops, who had eluded their pursuers, time to march to Waterloo and join the battle by the late afternoon. In repeated attacks, Napoleon failed to break the allies. French casualties in the Battle of Waterloo were 25,000 men killed and wounded and 9,000 captured, while the allies lost about 23,000. Napoleon returned to Paris, and on June 22nd abdicated in favour of his son. He decided to leave France, before counterrevolutionary forces could rally against him, and surrendered to British protection in July. He hoped to travel to the US, but the British instead sent him to Saint Helena, a remote island in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa. Napoleon lived quietly in exile on St. Helena for six years, until his death in May 1821
1817 London’s Waterloo Bridge was opened, on the second anniversary of the famous battle
1855 The Sault Ste. Marie Canal was rebuilt
1873 US suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election
1923 The first Checker cab was produced by the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. By 1925 Checker, with a production of over one thousand cabs per year, was the largest exclusive cab maker in the US
1928 Aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as she and her two male companions completed a flight from Newfoundland to Wales in about 21 hours
1940 As the Battle of Britain loomed during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged his countrymen to persevere so that future generations would say, “This was their finest hour”
1961 The western radio drama, Gunsmoke, went off the air. The show debuted in 1952 and won a large following. When the show switched to television in 1955, it launched the era of the TV western
1983 Astronaut Sally Ride became the first US woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger
1986 Twenty-five people were killed when a small plane and a helicopter carrying sightseers collided above the Grand Canyon