Apr 09, 2006 02:37
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Events
* 1302 - Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch) - a coalition around the Flemish cities defeats the king of France's huge knightly army.
* 1346 - Charles IV of Luxembourg elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
* 1405 - Chinese fleet commander Zheng He set sail to explore the world for the first time.
* 1576 - Martin Frobisher sights Greenland.
* 1616 - Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec.
* 1735 - Mathematical calculations suggest it was on this day that Pluto moved from the ninth to the eighth most distant planet from the Sun for the last time before 1979.
* 1740 - Pogrom: Jews are expelled from Little Russia.
* 1750 - Halifax, Nova Scotia almost completely destroyed by fire.
* 1776 - Captain James Cook begins third voyage.
* 1789 - Jacques Necker dismissed as Finance Minister for France sparking the storming of the Bastille.
* 1796 - The U.S. takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.
* 1798 - The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.
* 1804 - Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr kills Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
* 1811 - Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro publishes his memoir about molecular content of gases.
* 1848 - The Waterloo railway station in London opens.
* 1859 - A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is published.
* 1864 - Confederate forces attempt an invasion of Washington, D.C.
* 1893 - The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.
* 1895 - The brothers Lumière show film for scientists.
* 1897 - Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to try to reach the North pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.
* 1914 - Babe Ruth debuts in Major league baseball.
* 1919 - Eight-hour working day and free Sunday made into law in the Netherlands.
* 1921 - Truce called in the Irish War of Independence; see Irish calendar.
* 1921 - Former US President William Howard Taft sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, becoming the only person to ever be both President and Chief Justice.
* 1921 - Mongolia becomes independent (from China).
* 1936 - Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.
* 1940 - World War II: Vichy France regime formally established. Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France.
* 1943 - World War II: Allied invasion of Sicily - German troops launch a counter-attack on Allied forces in Sicily.
* 1944 - Franklin D. Roosevelt says he will run for a fourth term as President of the United States.
* 1955 - The phrase In God We Trust is added to all US currency.
* 1957 - Prince Karim Husseini Aga Khan IV inherites the office of Imamat as the 49th Imam of Shia Imami Ismaili worlwide, after the passing away of Sir Sultam Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III
* 1960 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published.
* 1961 - Stu Miller was famously "blown off the mound" by a gust of wind at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. He was charged with a balk.
* 1962 - First transatlantic satellite television transmission.
* 1971 - Copper mines in Chile nationalised.
* 1973 - A Brazilian Boeing 707 crashes near Paris on approach to Orly Airport, killing 123 people of the 134 on-board.
* 1975 - Chinese archeologists discover a large burial site with 6,000 clay statutes of warriors from 221 BC.
* 1977 - Martin Luther King is posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom.
* 1978 - A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain killing 216 tourists.
* 1979 - The space station Skylab returns to Earth.
* 1982 - Football World Cup 1982: Italy defeats West Germany 3-1 at Santiago Bernabéu stadium, Spain to win the Football World Cup.
* 1983 - A Boeing 727 crashes into hilly terrain after a tail strike in Cuenca, Ecuador, claiming 119 lives.
* 1987 - According to the United Nations, the world population crosses the 5,000,000,000 mark.
* 1991 - A Nationair DC-8 crashed during an emergency landing at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing 261. The Canadian charter was ferrying Hajj pilgrims on behalf of Nigeria Airways.
* 1991 - Total solar eclipse in Hawaii.
* 1995 - Full diplomatic relations are established between the United States and Vietnam.
* 1995 - Srebrenica Genocide: Serb army from Yugoslavia and Bosnia, capture the Bosniak town of Srebrenica. More than eight thousands inhabitants are murdered. It is generally regarded to be the most horrific event in recent European history.
* 1995 - A Cubana de Aviacion Antonov An-24 crashes into the Caribbean off southeast Cuba killing 44 people.
* 1998 - The world's first ESPN Zone opens in the Power Plant on Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
* 2004 - CIA Director George Tenet leaves his position at the CIA.
* 2005 - The 1st Episode of Poland's version of TRL (music video show) airs.
[edit]
Births
* 1274 - Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland (d. 1329)
* 1366 - Anne of Bohemia, queen of Richard II of England (d. 1394)
* 1561 - Luis de Góngora, Spanish poet (d. 1627)
* 1603 - Kenelm Digby, English privateer (d. 1665)
* 1628 - Tokugawa Mitsukuni, Japanese warlord (d. 1701)
* 1657 - King Frederick I of Prussia (d. 1713)
* 1662 - Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1726)
* 1723 - Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and writer (d. 1799)
* 1754 - Thomas Bowdler, English physican and censor (d. 1825)
* 1767 - John Quincy Adams, President of the United States (d. 1848)
* 1826 - Alexander Afanasyev, Russian folklorist (d. 1871)
* 1857 - Alfred Binet, French psychologist (d. 1911)
* 1864 - Peter Deunov, Bulgarian spiritual teacher (d. 1944)
* 1897 - Eugene "Bull" Connor, sheriff of Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1973)
* 1899 - E. B. White, American writer (d. 1985)
* 1906 - Herbert Wehner, German politician (d. 1990)
* 1910 - Irene Hervey, American actress (d. 1998)
* 1913 - Cordwainer Smith, American writer (d. 1966)
* 1916 - Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
* 1916 - Gough Whitlam, twenty-first Prime Minister of Australia
* 1921 - Ilse Werner, Dutch-born actress
* 1924 - Brett Somers, Canadian actor
* 1924 - César Lattes, Brazilian physicist (d. 2005)
* 1924 - Charlie Tully, Northern Irish footballer (d. 1971)
* 1925 - Nicolai Gedda, Swedish tenor
* 1926 - Frederick Buechner, American author
* 1929 - Hermann Prey, German baritone (d. 1998)
* 1930 - Harold Bloom, American literary critic
* 1931 - Tab Hunter, American actor
* 1931 - Tullio Regge, Italian physicist
* 1934 - Giorgio Armani, Italian fashion designer
* 1935 - Oliver Napier, Northern Irish politician
* 1949 - Liona Boyd, English-born guitarist
* 1950 - Bruce McGill, American actor
* 1956 - Sela Ward, American actress
* 1957 - Peter Murphy, British musician (Bauhaus)
* 1957 - Michael Rose, Jamaican musician (Black Uhuru)
* 1958 - Hugo Sánchez, Mexican footballer
* 1959 - Richie Sambora, American guitarist (Bon Jovi)
* 1959 - Suzanne Vega, American singer
* 1963 - Al MacInnis, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1965 - Ernesto Hoost, Dutch kickboxer
* 1968 - Esera Tuaolo, American football player
* 1972 - Michael Rosenbaum, American actor
* 1973 - Konstantinos Kenteris, Greek athlete
* 1974 - Hermann Hreidarsson, Icelandic footballer
* 1975 - Lil' Kim, American rapper
* 1976 - Eduardo Nájera, Mexican-born basketball player
* 1982 - Chris Cooley, American football player
* 1983 - Marie Eleonor Serneholt, Swedish musician (A-Teens)
* 1983 - Kelly Poon, Singapore singer
* 1984 - Tanith Belbin, Canadian figure skater
* 1985 - Rob Fenner, Son of Pat Cadigan, noise artist
[edit]
Deaths
* 472 - Anthemius, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire
* 937 - King Rudolph II of Burgundy
* 969 - Olga of Kiev
* 1174 - King Amalric I of Jerusalem (b. 1136)
* 1320 - Robert II of Artois, French soldier (b. 1250)
* 1535 - Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg (b. 1484)
* 1581 - Peder Skram, Danish senator and naval hero
* 1665 - Kenelm Digby, English privateer (b. 1603)
* 1679 - William Chamberlayne, English poet (b. 1619)
* 1688 - Narai, King of Siam
* 1766 - Elizabeth Farnese, wife of Philip V of Spain (b. 1692)
* 1774 - Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, Irish-born New York pioneer
* 1775 - Simon Boerum, American Continental Congressman (b. 1724)
* 1804 - Alexander Hamilton, United States Secretary of the Treasury (duel) (b. 1757)
* 1806 - James Smith, American signer of the Declaration of Indpendence
* 1844 - Evgeny Baratynsky, Russian poet (b. 1800)
* 1937 - George Gershwin, American composer (b. 1898)
* 1959 - Charlie Parker, English cricketer (b. 1882)
* 1966 - Delmore Schwartz, American Poet (b. 1913)
* 1971 - John W. Campbell, American writer and editor (b. 1910)
* 1974 - Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
* 1987 - Avi Ran, Israeli footballer (b. 1963)
* 1989 - Sir Laurence Olivier, English actor (b. 1907)
* 1994 - Gary Kildall, American computer programmer (b. 1942)
* 1994 - Savannah American actress (b. 1970
* 1999 - Helen Forrest, American singer (b. 1917)
* 2000 - Pedro Mir, Dominican poet (b. 1913)
* 2000 - Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1921)
* 2001 - Herman Brood, Dutch singer and artist (suicide) (b. 1946)
* 2004 - Laurance Rockefeller, American conservationist and philanthropist (b. 1910)
* 2005 - Gretchen Franklin, English actress (b. 1911)
* 2005 - Frances Langford, American actress and singer (b. 1914)
[edit]
Holidays and observances
* United Nations - World Population Day
* Flanders, region in Belgium (not a public holiday) - Flemish Day (1302 Battle of the Golden Spurs)
* Ireland - National Day of Commemoration held on nearest Sunday to this date (see Irish calendar).
* Mongolia - Naadam Holiday
* China - China National Maritime Day
* Feast Day of Saint Olga (first Russian Saint)
* Feast Day of Saint Benedict (founder of the Benedictine Order)
* United States: Free Slurpee at 7-Eleven (most locations do this - get a free 7.11oz Slurpee on 7-11).