Today in History for 15th August 2015

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 215

778 - Battle of Roncevaux Pass: Roland,commander of the rearguard ofCharlemagne's army is defeated by theBasques

927 - The Saracens conquer and destroyTaranto.

1040 - King Duncan I of Scotland killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth (notmurdered in his sleep as per Shakespeare's play). The latter does succeed him as King.

1185 - The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia.

1248 - Construction of Cologne Cathedral begun

1308 - Johannieter knights conquer Rhodos on the Greece

1457 - Earliest dated book, "Mainz Psalter," completed

1461 - The Empire of Trebizond surrenders to the forces of Sultan Mehmet II. This is regarded bysome historians as the real end of the Byzantine Empire. Emperor David is exiled and latermurdered.

1517 - Seven Portuguese armed vessels led by Fernão Pires de Andrade meet Chinese officials at thePearl River estuary.

1519 - Panama City founded

1534 - Ignatius of Loyola forms society of Jesus/Jesuits

1537 - Asunción, Paraguay, is founded.

1540 - Arequipa, Peru, is founded.

1548 - Mary queen of Scotland (6) arrives in France

King of Scotland Macbeth

1549 - Jesuit priest Saint Francis Xavier comes ashore at Kagoshima (Traditional Japanese date: July22, 1549).

1599 - Nine Years War: Battle of Curlew Pass - Irish forces led by Hugh Roe O'Donnell successfullyambush English forces, led by Sir Conyers Clifford, sent to relieve Collooney Castle.

1620 - Mayflower sets sail from Southampton with 102 Pilgrims

1635 - 1st recorded US hurricane hit the Plymouth Colony

1653 - -16] Dutch ship "Sperwer" stranded at Tsjedzjoe Korea

1658 - France/Sweden/Bavarian/Brunswick/Munster/Hessen-Kassel form Confederation of the Rhine

1668 - Confederation of the Rhine disbands

1684 - Spain & Germany sign cease fire with France

1741 - French troops attack the Rhine

1748 - United Lutheran Church the American colonies organized

1760 - Battle at Leignitz: Prussia beats Austria & Russia

1785 - French cardinal De Rohan arrested

1795 - Joseph Haydn leaves England forever

1824 - Freed American slaves establish Liberia on the West African coast through the AmericanColonization Society (ACS)

1832 - Gregory XVI encyclical On liberalism & religious indifferentism

1843 - National black convention meets (Buffalo NY)

1843 - Tivoli Park in Copenhagen opens

1848 - M Waldo Hanchett patents dental chair

1858 - Regular mail to Pacific coast begins

1861 - Lincoln directs reinforcements to be sent to MO

1863 - Submarine "HL Hunley" arrives in Charleston on railroad cars

1863 - The Anglo-Satsuma War begins between the Satsuma Domain of Japan and the UnitedKingdom (Traditional Japanese date: July 2, 1863).

1864 - Off New England coast, CSS Tallahassee captures 6 yankee schooners

1865 - Battle of Lone Jack, Missouri

1867 - 2nd Reform Bill extends suffrage in England

1869 - The Meiji government in Japan establishes six new ministries, including one for Shinto.

1870 - Transcontinental Railway actually completed in Colorado

1876 - US law removes Indians from Black Hills after gold find

1886 - Guy Hecker scores 7 runs in 1 game

1891 - San Sebastian Church in Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated andblessed.

British Prime Minister William Gladstone

1892 - 4th & last British government of William Gladstone forms

1893 - US no longer allowed exclusive rights in Bering Sea

1899 - Louisville's Henry Dowling struck out 5 times in a game

1900 - Russian troops advance further unto Manchuria

1900 - In China, the Empress and some of her family, the court, and retainers flee while foreigntroops move through Peking in an attempt to put down the Boxer Rebellion

1901 - Arch Rock, danger to Bay shipping, blasted with 30 tons of nitro

1901 - Great Britain issues a proclamation calling on the Boers to surrender by 15 September or facebanishment and confiscation of their property

1903 - New Zealand's All Blacks play their first Rugby Test Match against Australia's Wallabies atthe Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney; New Zealand win 22-3

1905 - Phila A's Rube Waddell no-hits St Louis Browns, 2-0 in 5 innings

1906 - 1st freight delivery tunnel system begins, underneath Chicago

1906 - Kind Edward VII of Britain visits Emperor Wilhelm in Germany to discuss the escalatingrivalry between their nations' naval forces

1911 - Procter & Gamble unveils its Crisco shortening

1912 - Yankee Guy Zinn sets record by stealing home twice in a game

1914 - 13th Davis Cup: Australasia beats USA in New York (3-2)

1914 - Dinant Belgium destroyed by German bombs

French President Charles de Gaulle

1914 - German assault at Dinant: Lt Charles de Gaulle (24), injured

1914 - Japan joins side of allies

1914 - Panama Canal opens (under cost)

1914 - A male servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living quarters of thearchitect's Wisconsin home, Taliesin, murders seven people and burns the living quarters to theground.

1914 - The first large public gathering of Boers in South Africa who do not want to support Britain ina war against Germany; British authorities will try to repress this movement, but discontent spreads

1914 - US Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, in a letter to J P Morgan, declares that loans toany of the belligerents go against US neutrality

1915 - Journalist Albert Siegfried Bettelheim, convicted of murder in Georgia

1918 - 1st full length cartoon (Sinking of Lusitania)

1920 - With the strategic help of the French, Polish troops defeat the Russian/Soviets at the Battle ofWarsaw (Vistula)

Politician William Jennings Bryan

1923 - Eamon de Valera arrested in Irish Free State

1923 - Mexico & US reaches accord over oil concession of 1917

1925 - Norway annexes Spitsbergen

1925 - White Sox Dickie Kerr, 1st appearance since winning 2 world series games in 1919

1931 - Ernest Lassy completes longest canoe journey without port (6,102 mi)

1931 - Roy Wilkins joined NAACP as asst secretary

1931 - Spakenburg soccer team forms

1939 - First night game at baseball's Comiskey Park, Sox beat Browns 5-2

1939 - 13 Stukas dive into the ground during a disastrous air-practice at Neuhammer. No survivors.

1939 - "The Wizard of Oz", premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, starring JudyGarland (Dorothy), Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), Jack Haley (Tin Man), Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion), FrankMorgan (Wizard), Billie Burke (Glinda), and Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch)

Actress Margaret Hamilton

1940 - 1st edition of Jewish Weekly newspaper in Amsterdam (under Nazis)

1940 - Heavy dogfights above England: 75 German aircraft damaged

1941 - Kovono Lithuanian Jews are herded into Slobodka ghetto

1942 - 5 hostages executed by Nazis in St-Michielsgestel

1943 - Allies land on Kiska Aleutians

1944 - Allied air raid on train in North Netherlands, 32 killed

1944 - German field marshal von Kluge vanishes for one day

1944 - Operation Anvil: Allies land on French Mediterranean sea coast

1944 - Operation Dragoon: Allied troops land in Provence

1944 - US 12 Army corp enters Le Mans through Orleans

1944 - US 7th Armour division reaches Chartres

1945 - A riot ensued in SF while the city was celebrating the end of WW II

1945 - US wartime rationing of gasoline & fuel oil ends

1945 - Chandler sells World Series radio rights for $150,000 to Gillette, Ford had been World Seriessponsor since 1934, pay $100,000 annually

1945 - World War II: Korean Liberation Day.

Kissing theWar Goodbye on VJ Day

1945 - Victory over Japan Day, the Japanese surrender and the end of WWII is announced in Japan(due to time zones 14th Aug in the Americas)

1947 - India gains independence from Great Britain, remains a dominion until 1950

1948 - 3rd US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Babe Didrikson-Zaharias

1948 - Republic of Korea (South Korea) proclaimed (National Day)

1949 - WOTV TV channel 8 in Grand Rapids, MI (NBC) begins broadcasting

1950 - 8.6 earthquake in India kills 20,000 to 30,000

Boxer and World Heavyweight Champion Ezzard Charles

1950 - Ezzard Charles TKOs Freddie Beshore in 14 for heavyweight boxing title

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 252

1171 - King Alfonso IX of Leon (d. 1230)

1195 - Anthony of Padua, Portuguese saint (d. 1231)

1432 - Luigi Pulci, Italy, poet (Morgante)

1575 - Bartol Ka?i?, Croatian writer and linguist (d. 1650)

1613 - Gilles Ménage, French scholar (d. 1692)

1619 - Hubertus Quellinus, [Quellien], Flemish cartoonist/copper plate

1688 - Frederick-William I, king of Prussia (1713-1740)

1702 - Francesco Zuccarelli, Italian rococo painter/etcher

1717 - Blind Jack, English roadbuilder (d. 1810)

1725 - Ferdinando Bertoni, composer

1727 - Johann Georg Holzbogen, composer

1736 - Johann Christoph Kellner, composer

1740 - Matthias Claudius, German poet (d. 1815)

1741 - Thomas Norris, composer

French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte (1769)

1769 - Napoleon Bonaparte, Corsica, resident of Elba (emperor of France 1804-13, 1814-15), (d.1821)

1771 - Walter Scott, Scotland, novelist/poet (Lady of Lake)

1776 - Gottlieb Schick, German painter (Apollo under the Hirten)

1776 - Ignaz Xaver von Seyfried, composer

1782 - Henri MG earl the Merode, Belgian revolutionary (Souvenirs)

1785 - Thomas De Quincey, England, writer (Confessions of English Opium Eater)

1787 - Alexander Aliabiev, composer

1788 - Carel SW van Hogendorp, Dutch colonial director

1794 - Elias M Fries, Swedish botanist (System mycologicum)

1803 - James Douglas, father of British Columbia

1813 - Jules Grévy, 2nd President of the French Third Republic (d. 1891)

1822 - Wilhelm Rust, composer

1823 - Orris Sanford Ferry, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)

1829 - Eduard de Hartog, composer

1839 - Hugh Archibald Clarke, composer

1845 - Walter Crane, England, painter/illustrator (Beauty & Beast)

1851 - [Georgette A] Helena Amelung, Dutch actress (Scapegoat)

1856 - J Keir Hardie, 1st Labour representative in British Parliament

1857 - Albert Ballin, German shipping tycoon (d. 1918)

1860 - Florence Harding [DeWolfe], US 1st lady (1921-23), born in Marion, Ohio (d. 1924)

1860 - Roosje Vos, Dutch union organizer

1860 - Henrietta Vinton Davis, American elocutionist (d. 1941)

1863 - Alexei Krylov, Russian engineer and mathematician (d. 1945)

1865 - Johan[nes] B Schepers, Frisian writer (Braga)

1865 - Usui Mikao, Japanese founder of Reiki (d. 1926)

1872 - Harold Fraser-Simson, composer

1872 - Rubin Goldmark, composer

1874 - Joseph Klausner, Polish/Israeli new testament expert

1875 - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer (Hiawatha's Wedding Feast), born in London, England

1876 - Aleksandar Belic, Serb linguist

1878 - Pjotr N Wrangel, Russian baron/general (White Armies, WW II)

1879 - Ethel Barrymore, American classic film & stage actress (Constant Wife, Corn is Green), bornin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1881 - Alfred Wagenknecht, German-born American activist (d. 1956)

1883 - Ivan Me?trovi?, Croatian sculptor (d. 1962)

1885 - Andrey Filippovich Pashchenko, composer

1885 - Edna Ferber, American author & playwright (American Beauty, Cimarron) (d. 1968)

1885 - Mary Nash, Troy NY, actress (Phila Story, Till the Clouds Roll By)

1886 - Bill Whitty, cricketer (Australian left-arm bowler 1909-12)

1888 - Albert Spalding, composer

1890 - Jacques Ibert, Paris France, composer (Escales)

1890 - Elizabeth Bolden, American Supercentenarian (d. 2006)

1890 - Elvin M. Jellinek, New York City, American Physiologist and pioneer in the study of alcoholism

1892 - Knud Christian Jeppesen, composer

1892 - Louis-Victor prince of Broglie, France, physicist (Nobel 1929)

1893 - Alexander Vasil'yevich Gauk, composer

1893 - Harlow H Curtice, pres of General Motors (1953-8)

1893 - Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer and computing pioneer (d. 1950)

1896 - Catherine Doherty, Russian-born Canadian activist (d. 1985)

1897 - Marion Eugene Bauer, composer

1898 - Lillian Carter, Pres Carter's (1977-1981) mom

1898 - Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (d. 1966)

1900 - Estelle Brody, actress (Safari, Kitty, Plaything), born in NYC, New York

1901 - Arias Arnulfo, 3 time president of Panama (1940-41, 49-51, 68)

1901 - Byron Arnold, composer

1901 - Hans Lorbeer, writer

1901 - Sulho Ranta, composer

1901 - Pyotr Sergeyevich Novikov, Russian mathematician (d. 1975)

1902 - Jan RT Campert, writer (Song the 18 dead)

1904 - Bill Baird, Grand Is Nebr, puppeteer (Kukla Fran & Ollie, Muppet Show)

1906 - Finn Videro, composer

1907 - Paul Vincze, medallist

1909 - Raymond O'Malley, teacher

1910 - Hugo Winterhalter, composer

1910 - Josef Klaus, Chancellor of Austria (1966-70)

1910 - Signe Hasso, actress (QB VII, Taxi 13, Black Bird, Crisis)

1912 - Julia Child, Pasadena California, chef (French Chef)

1912 - Wendy Hiller, England, actress (Major Barbara, David Copperfield)

1912 - Wijnanda M C "Nan" Aberson, friend of Gerard Reve Sr

1914 - Peter Nicholson Gunn, writer

1915 - Alma Gardeslan, Surinamese/Dutch folklorist

1915 - Kamiel van Baelen, Flemish author/resistance fighter (Mensch op Weg)

1915 - Signe Hasso, Stockholm Sweden, actress (Johnny Angel, Double Life)

1916 - Aleks Çaçi, Albanian writer

1917 - Jack Lynch, Irish politician, fourth Taoiseach (d. 1999)

1917 - Oscar Romero, El Salvador Roman catholic priest (d. 1980)

1918 - Florian Zabach, American musician and TV personality (Hot Canary, Club Embassy), born inChicago, Illinois

1918 - Fay Honey Knopp, activist

1918 - Raymond Gallois-Montbrun, composer

1919 - Huntz Hall, actor (Cyclone, Gas Pump Girls, The Rating Game), born in NYC, New York

1919 - Benedict Kiely, Irish author

1922 - Lukas Foss, [Fuchs], composer (Prairie), born in Berlin, Germany

1923 - Rose Marie, actress (Sally Rogers-Dick Van Dyke Show), born in NYC, New York

Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly (1924)

1924 - Phyllis Schlafly, St Louis, right-winger/Eagle Forum president

1924 - Robert Oxton Bolt, playwright (A Man for All Seasons, Doctor Zhivago)

1925 - Billy Pinkney, Sumter NC, rock bassist/vocalist (Drifters)

1925 - Gertrude Shope, South African head (ANC female section)

Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 6 of 6

Singer-songwriter Buddy Holly (1958)

1958 - Singer Buddy Holly weds receptionist Maria Santiago

1985 - Anti-apartheid lawyer Bulelani Ngcuka marries in South Africa

1992 - Actress Susan Anton marries actor Jeff Lester

2004 - Fashion designer and socialite Nicky Hilton (21) weds businessman Todd Andrew Meister(33) at The Vegas Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada

2009 - Charmed actress Alyssa Milano (39) weds CAA agent David Bugliari in Bernardsville, NewJersey

2009 - Actor Joseph Fiennes (39) weds model María Dolores Diéguez in Tuscany, Italy

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 115

69 - Servius Sulpicius Galba, 6th emperor of Rome (68-69), murdered

423 - Flavius Honorius, emperor East Roman Republic (395-423), dies

778 - Roland, Frankish commander

1038 - Stefanus I, [Arpad], 1st king of Hungary, dies

1040 - King Duncan I of Scotland killed in battle at ca. 39 years

1057 - Macbeth, King of Scots, slain by son of King Duncan

1118 - Alexius I Comnenus, Emperor of Byzantium (1081-1118), dies

1196 - Conrad II, Duke of Swabia (b. 1173)

King of Scotland Macbeth (1057)

1274 - Robert de Sorbon, French theologian and founder of the Sorbonne (b. 1201)

1369 - Philippa of Hainault, Queen consort of Edward III of England

1464 - Pius II, [Aenea S Piccolomini], Italian Pope (1458-64), dies at 58

1528 - Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, French military leader (b. 1485)

1552 - Hermann of Wied, German Catholic archbishop (b. 1477)

1576 - Baliny Valentin Bakfark, composer, dies

1600 - Johann Baptista Serranus, composer, dies at 60

1615 - Cornelis C Vrancx, Flemish poet/writer (Comfort of Soles), dies

1619 - Miriam Bella, head of Jewish community of Kraków, dies

1621 - John Barclay, Scottish writer (b. 1582)

1666 - Johann A Schall von Bell, German missionary/astronomer, dies

1714 - Constantin Brâncoveanu, Prince of Wallachia (b. 1654)

1725 - Gerard Noodt, lawyer, dies at 77

1728 - Marin Marais, composer, dies at 72

1729 - Benjamin Neukirch, German poet (Herrn von Hofmannswaldau), dies at 64

1758 - Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician (fotometrie), dies at 60

1798 - Felice Alessandri, composer, dies at 50

1799 - Giuseppe Parini, Italian poet (b. 1729)

1807 - Johann N Tetens, German/Danish philosopher/mathematician, dies at 70

1848 - Timothy Olmstead, composer, dies at 88

1852 - Johan Gadolin, Finnish chemist (discovered yttrium), dies at 92

1853 - Giovanni Battista Polledro, composer, dies at 72

1864 - Daniel Phineas Woodbury, US engineer/Union general-major, dies

1880 - Adelaide Neilson, English Actress (b. 1848)

1901 - Karl Weinhold, Germany, sociologist, dies at 77

1907 - Joseph Joachim, German violinist/composer, dies at 76

1909 - Euclides da Cunha, Brazilian writer and sociologist (b. 1866)

1914 - Anatol K Liadov, Russian composer (Baba yaga), dies at 59 [NS=Aug 28]

1915 - Albert Siegfried Bettelheim, Jew convicted of murder, lynched

1917 - Thomas J. Higgins, decorated Union Army soldier (b. 1831)

1918 - Peter Gast, composer, dies at 64

1925 - Konrad Mägi, Estonian artist (b. 1878)

1935 - Gerard Brucken Fock, composer, dies at 75

1935 - Wiley Post, aviation pioneer, killed in plane crash in Alaska at 36

Humorist Will Rogers (1935)

1935 - Will Rogers, humorist, killed in plane crash in Alaska at 55

1936 - Grazia Deledda, Sardina/Italian author (Nobel 1926), dies at 64

1936 - Stanislaw Niewiadomski, composer, dies at 76

1945 - Korechika Anami, Japanese War Minister (b. 1887)

1951 - Artur Schnabel, Austria/US pianist (Reflections on Music), dies at 69

1953 - Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (b. 1875)

1956 - Constantine Freiherr von Neurath, German foreign minister, dies at 83

1958 - William L C "Big Bill" Broonzy, US blues singer/guitarist, dies at 65

1959 - Blind Willie McTell, American ragtime singer and guitarist (b. 1901)

1962 - Lei Feng, Chinese revolutionary (b. 1940)

1963 - John Powell, composer, dies at 80

1966 - Gerhard/Gerhart Pohl, German writer (Battle of Kolbenau), dies at 64

1966 - Jan Kiepura, actor (Give Us this Night), dies of heart attack at 64

1966 - Seena Owen, actress/writer (Queen Kelly), dies at 71

1967 - René Magritte, Belgian surrealist painter, dies at 68

1968 - Edward Kilenyi, composer, dies at 84

1969 - Stijn Streuvels, [F Lateur], Flemish writer (Vlaschard), dies at 97

1970 - Karl August Andersen, composer, dies at 66

1971 - Paul Lukas, actor (Kim, Berlin Express), dies of heart failure at 76

1972 - Alf Thorbald Hurum, composer, dies at 89

1974 - Edmund Cobb, actor (Motorcycle Gang), dies at 82

1974 - Mrs Park Chung Hi, wife of South Korean president, murdered

1975 - Mujibur Rahiman, Pakistani sheik, killed in a military coup at 53

1975 - Clay Shaw, alleged John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracist & businessman (b. 1913)

1976 - Jean P J C Haesaert, Flemish lawyer/sociologist, dies at 84

1978 - Harrison Kerr, composer, dies at 80

1982 - Hugo Theorell, Swedish scientist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1903)

1983 - Anthony Costello, actor (Blue), dies at 42

1983 - Benjamin V Cohen, US author of New Deal-legislation, dies at 88

1985 - Richard Yardumian, US composer (Creator Spirit), dies at 68

1988 - Barry Bingham Sr, US daily newspaper publisher, dies at 82

1988 - Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, President of Pakistan, killed in plane crash

1989 - F de Jong Edz, Dutch historian/director (IISG), dies

1990 - Nina Bara, actress (Missile to the Moon), dies of cancer at 66

1990 - Viktor Tsoi, Russian musician (b. 1962)

1991 - Marietta Tree, ambassador (UN Comm of Human Rights), dies at 74

1992 - Evelyn Wesler Zemel, US author (American Glass Animals), dies

1992 - Giorgio Perlasca, Italian anti-fascist (saved 5,200 Jews), dies

1992 - Marie Paxton, entertainer, dies after brief illness

1992 - Martha Blackburn, Canada newspaper publisher (London Free Press), dies

1992 - Osamu Inaba, Japanese min of justice, dies

1993 - Robert W Kempner, German officer of justice in Prussia, dies at 93

1994 - Shepherd Mead, London England, dies of stroke at 80

1994 - Simon R Naoli, Tanzanian marathoner, dies in an accident at 28

1994 - Wout Wagtmans, cyclist (Rome-Naples-Rome 1957), dies at 64

1995 - Erbie Bowser, pianist, dies at 77

1995 - Humphrey Sims Moore, pacifist/journalist, dies at 86

1995 - Ismay Thomas, teacher, dies at 74

1996 - Agnes Beatrice Read, medical social worker, dies at 86

1996 - Ernest Leslie Bouts, motor-racing driver, dies at 93

1996 - Masao Maruyama, social scientist, dies at 82

1999 - Sir Hugh Casson, British architect and artist (b. 1910)

2001 - Richard Chelimo, Kenyan athlete (b. 1972)

2003 - Gösta Sundqvist, Finnish songwriter and singer (heart attack) (b. 1957)

2004 - Semiha Berksoy, first Turkish opera singer (b. 1910)

2004 - Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician (b. 1941)

2004 - Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1916)

2006 - Te Atairangi Kaahu, M?ori queen (b. 1931)

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