Today’s Important Historical Events

1689 Matsuo Basho, zen poet, leaves for 150 days journey on Honshu, Japan

1858 The joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace‘s papers on evolution to the Linnean Society

1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Lee’s northward advance halted

1867 The Dominion of Canada is formed, comprising the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario & Quebec, with John A. Macdonald serving as the first Prime Minister

1916 First day of the Battle of the Somme: the British Army suffers its worst day, losing 19,240 men (WWI)

1921 The Communist Party of China is founded and Chen Duxiu elected its leader

1941 Bulova Watch Co pays $9 for 1st ever network TV commercial

1997 United Kingdom returns Hong Kong and the New Territories to the People’s Republic of China

Today’s Historical Events

69 Batavian nobleman Gaius Julius Civilis proclaimed emperor of Syria

69 Roman General Vespasian is first proclaimed Emperor by troops in Egypt, during year of the four emperors

70 Roman General Titus and his forces set up battering rams to assault the walls of Jerusalem

251 The Battle of Abrittus in the Balkans won by the Goths against the Romans. Roman Emperors Decius and Herennius Etruscus are killed

649 Pope Martinus I elected to succeed Theodore I

1097 1st Crusaders defeat Sultan Kilidj Arslan of Nicea

1200 In China, sunglasses are invented

1233 Earl Otto II van Gelre grants Arnhem state justice

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1941 WCBW (now WCBS) TV channel 2 in NY, NY (CBS) begins broadcasting

1941 WNBT TV (W2XBS, Now WNBC) channel 4 in NYC (NBC) begins broadcasting

1949 WBRC TV channel 6 in Birmingham, AL (ABC) begins broadcasting

1949 WCCO TV channel 4 in Minneapolis-St Paul, MN (CBS) begins broadcasting

1950 WHBF TV channel 4 in Rock Island, IL (CBS) begins broadcasting

1952 English architect Michael Ventris says he has solved one of the 20th century’s greatest linguistic riddles, by deciphering Linear B in BBC interview. Is an ancient form of Greek on clay tablets from Minoan palace of Knossos. [1]

1953 KLAS TV channel 8 in Las Vegas, NV (CBS) begins broadcasting

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1933 Strauss & von Hofmannsthal’s opera “Arabella,” premieres at the Semperoper Opera House in Dresden, Germany

1950 Maxwell Anderson and Kurt Weill’s “Lost in the Stars”, based on Alan Paton‘s novel “Cry the Beloved Country”, closes at Music Box Theater, NYC, after 281 performances

1960 Benjamin Britten‘s cantate “Carmen Baseliense” premieres in Basel

1963 The Beatles record “She Loves You” and “I’ll Get You”

1967 “Funny Girl” closes at Winter Garden Theater, NYC, after 1348 performances

1967 The Beatles’ album “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” goes #1 in the United States, where it would stay for 15 weeks

1968 John Lennon‘s 1st full art exhibition (You Are Here) opens at Robert Fraser Gallery in London

1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono are admitted to hospital after he crashes his car near Durness in the Scottish Highlands

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1859 1st intercollegiate baseball game, Amherst beats Williams 66-32 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts

1893 San Francisco Bay City Club opens 1st US bicycle race track, made of wood

1901 Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Arthur Gore beats defending 4-time champion R.F. Doherty 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 for his 1st of 3 Wimbledon singles titles

1903 Tour de France: Inaugural race begins in Montgeron, a south-eastern suburb of Paris

1904 III Summer (Modern) Olympic Games open in St Louis, the first held in the United States

1904 Willie Anderson becomes the first 2-time Western Open golf champion, beating fellow Scot Alex Smith by 4 strokes at Michigan’s Kent CC

1910 Chicago’s White Sox Park (later Comiskey Park) opens – St Louis Browns beat White Sox, 2-0

1916 Pittsburgh shortstop Honus Wagner, at 42 and 4 months, connects at Cincinnati to become the oldest to hit an inside-the-park HR; Pirates beat Reds, 2-1

Today’s Important Historical Events

1520 Spanish conquistadors are expelled from Tenochtitlan following an Aztec revolt against their rule under Hernán Cortés during “La Noche Triste” (the Night of Sadness). Many soldiers drown in the escape, and Aztec emperor Moctezuma II dies in the struggle

1860 Famous debate on Charles Darwin‘s theory of evolution held at the Oxford University Museum and dominated by arguments between Thomas Henry Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce

1905 In Russia, the “Potemkin” arrives at Odessa, where sailors take the bodies of dead crewman ashore; sailors join civilians in revolutionary actions of the ‘1905 Revolution’

1908 A giant fireball, most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet flattens 80 million trees near the Stony Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate, Russia, in the largest impact event in recorded history

1934 “Night of Long Knives” – Adolf Hitler stages a bloody purge of the Nazi party

1938 Superman 1st appears in DC Comics’ Action Comics Series issue #1

1992 South African ANC President Nelson Mandela meets with UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at Dakar

1997 British lease on the New Territories in Hong Kong, established by the Second Convention of Peking, expires

Today’s Historical Events

296 St Marcellinus begins his reign as Catholic Pope

350 Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, is defeated and killed by troops of the usurper Magnentius, in Rome

833 Louis crowned King of Austria

949 Otto I the Great gives away bishopric of Utrecht “foreestrecht”

1294 Jews are expelled from Berne, Switzerland

1371 Arnold II of Horne chosen bishop of Utrecht

1377 Foundation stone laid for Ulm Minster, in Ulm, Germany. Will not be completed until 1890, when it becomes the tallest church in the world.

1397 Denmark, Norway and Sweden sign Union of Kalmar under Queen Margaretha

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1925 Charles Jenkins is granted the U.S. patent for Transmitting Pictures over Wireless (early television)

1940 “Brenda Starr, Reporter”, 1st cartoon strip by a woman, Dale [Dalia] Messick, begins as a comic-book supplement to Chicago’s Sunday Tribune

1951 “Victor Borge Show” last airs on NBC-TV

1952 “Guiding Light” soap opera moves from radio to TV

1955 “Johnny Carson Show” debuts on CBS-TV

1973 “Burns & Schreiber Comedy Hour” TV Variety; debut on ABC

1979 johnny rotten and Joan Collins appear together on BBC TV’s “Juke Box Jury”

1982 “Lena Horne: Lady, Music” closes at Nederlander NYC after 333 performances

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1956 “Pipe Dream” closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 245 performances

1956 “Shangri-La” closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 21 performances

1958 “No Chemise, Please” by Gerry Grenahan peaks at #24

1966 The Beatles land in Tokyo for a concert tour

1977 Marvel Comics publish “Kiss book” tributing rock group Kiss

1979 “Got To Go Disco” closes at Minskoff Theater NYC after 8 performances

1979 “Good Times” single released by Chic (Billboard Song of the Year 1979)

1985 Revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “The King & I” closes at Broadway Theater, NYC, after 191 performances

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1897 Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: R.F. Doherty beats Harold Mahony 6-4 6-4 6-3 for the first of 4 titles

1899 Spin bowler Jack Hearne takes England cricket’s first Test hat-trick vs Australia in drawn 3rd Test at Headingley; dismisses champion middle order trio Clem Hill, Syd Gregory and Monty Noble

1902 Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Laurence Doherty wins his first Wimbledon singles title beating defending champion Arthur Gore 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0

1903 Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Dorothea Chambers beats Ethel Larcombe 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, the first of 7 titles

1903 Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Laurence Doherty beats Frank Riseley 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 for his second consecutive title

1908 At 41 years, 3 months future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young becomes oldest player to record a third career no-hitter as Boston Red Sox beat NY Highlanders, 8-0

1908 Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Charlotte Cooper Sterry wins her 5th and final Wimbledon title with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Agnes Morton

1908 Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Arthur Gore takes his 2nd of 3 Wimbledon titles beating Herbert Roper-Barrett 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4

Today’s Important Historical Events

1613 Shakespeare‘s Globe Theatre in London, burns down during a performance of “Henry VIII”

1900 The Imperial Chinese Court issues what is essentially a declaration of war against foreigners in China blaming them for hostilities and giving license to the Boxers for even greater ferocity

1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964 passes after an 83-day filibuster in the US Senate

1966 Vietnam War: US planes bomb the North Vietnamese capital Hanoi and the port city of Haiphong for the first time

1994 US reopens Guantanamo Naval Base to process refugees

Today’s Historical Events

512 A solar eclipse is recorded by a monastic chronicler in Ireland

922 Kingdom of the West Franks crowns Robert I as King of West Francia, after deposing Charles the Simple (Charles III)

1072 Former Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes blinded by rivals and exiled

1149 Raymond of Antioch is defeated and killed at the Battle of Inab by Nur ad-Din.

1194 Sverre is crowned King of Norway

1312 Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII crowned

1377 French raid at Rye, England

1428 Jacoba of Bavaria signs cease fire with Philip the Good

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1936 George M. Cohan is the first artist to be presented with a US Congressional Gold Medal, by Franklin D. Roosevelt (for raising war morale)

1940 Batman Comics, mobsters rubbed out a circus highwire team known as the Flying Graysons, leaving their son Dick (Robin) an orphan

1953 XETV TV channel 6 in Tijuana-San Diego, CA (IND) begins broadcasting

1964 1st draft of Star Trek’s pilot “Cage” released

1966 KBSC (now KVEA) TV channel 52 in Corona-Los Angeles, CA begins

1988 Emmy 15th Daytime Award presentation – Susan Lucci loses for 9th time

1989 Emmy 16th Daytime Award presentation – Susan Lucci loses for 10th time

1990 Marla Maples father sues National Enquirer for $12M

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1888 First (known) recording of classical music made, Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” on wax cylinder

1946 “Are You with It?” closes at Century Theater NYC after 264 performances

1946 “Billion Dollar Baby” closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 219 performances

1963 “Little Me” closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC after 257 performances

1963 Beatles’ 1st song “From Me to You” hits UK charts

1967 Keith Richards is sentenced to 1 year in jail on drugs charge

1968 “Tip-Toe Thru’ The Tulips With Me” by Tiny Tim peaks at #17

1971 Rolling Stones Mick Jagger & Keith Richards sentenced on drug offense

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1895 US National Championship Women’s Tennis: Juliette Atkinson beats defending champion Helen Hellwig 6-4, 6-2, 6-1

1897 Chicago Colts establish MLB record for most runs scored in a game by one team as they maul Louisville Colonels, 36 – 7 at the West Side Grounds, Chicago

1901 US National Championship Women’s Tennis, Philadelphia CC: Elisabeth Moore beats defending champion Myrtle McAteer 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 for her second of 4 US singles titles

1903 US Open Men’s Golf, Baltusrol GC: Willie Anderson of Scotland first to win the Open twice; beats countryman David Brown by 2 strokes in an 18-hole playoff

1906 US Open Men’s Golf, Onwentsia GC: Scotsman Alex Smith wins first of his 2 Open titles, 7 strokes ahead of runner-up and younger brother Willie Smith

1910 Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: In an all-British final, Dorothea Chambers beats Dora Boothby 6-2, 6-2 for her 4th of 7 Wimbledon singles titles

1933 Italian boxer Primo Carnera KOs American defending champion Jack Sharkey in round 6 at Madison Square Garden, NYC to become third European to win the lineal world heavyweight title

1934 British Open Men’s Golf, Royal St. George’s GC: Henry Cotton of England wins wire-to-wire by 5 shots from South African Sid Brews