Today In History
August 19

Events

• 1791 - Benjamin Banneker published his 1st Almanac


• 1812 - US warship Constitution defeats British warship Guerriere


• 1849 - New York Herald reports gold discovery in California


• 1888 - 1st beauty contest (Spa, Belgium), 18 yr old West Indian wins


• 1914 - Harris Theater (Candler, Coan & Harris) opens at 226 W 42nd St New York City


• 1947 - J Arens & D van Dorpen synthetise vitamin A


• 1955 - US raises import duty on bicycles 50%


• 1958 - NAACP Youth Council begin sit-ins at Oklahoma City Lunch counters


• 1959 - Doctor X beats Wilber Snyder in Omaha, to become NWA wrestling champ


• 1960 - Francis Gary Powers convicted of spying by USSR (U-2 incident)


• 1961 - US vice-president Lyndon B Johnson visits West Berlin


• 1963 - NAACP Youth Council begins sit-ins at lunch counters, Oklahoma City


• 1976 - President Gerald R Ford won Republican president nomination at Kansas City convention


• 1981 - 2 US Navy F-14 jet fighters shoot down 2 Soviet-built Libyan SU-22


• 1982 - Renaldo Nehemiah of US sets record for 110 m hurdles, 12.93 sec


• 1984 - Republican convention in Houston nominates Ronald Reagan for president


• 1991 - Janel Bishop, 17, of New Hampshire, crowned 9th Miss Teen USA


• 1993 - Dow Jones hits record high of 3612.13


• 1993 - Mattel & Fisher Price toys merge


• 1995 - After 5 days Shannon Faulkner quits as 1st woman at the Citadel

Baseball

• 1903 - Phillies suffer record 9th straight posponed game


• 1911 - New York Giant Christy Mathewson loses after beating Reds 22 straight times


• 1917 - Sunday benefit baseball game at Polo Grounds results in John McGraw & Christy Mathewson's arrest for violating Blue laws


• 1921 - Ty Cobb, is 4th to get 3,000 hits


• 1931 - Lefty Grove wins AL record tying 16th consecutive game


• 1941 - Ump Jocko Conlan ejects Pirate manager Frankie Frisch for coming out on field holding an umbrella to get a rainout


• 1945 - Phillies Jimmie Foxx, 37, pitches 1st 7 innings vs Reds & wins


• 1951 - Bill Veeck (Browns) sends Eddie Gaedel, a 3'7" midget, to pinch-hit


• 1957 - New York Giants vote 8-1 to move their franchise to San Francisco in 1958


• 1965 - Cincinnati Red Jim Maloney 2nd no-hitter of year beats Chicago Cubs, 1-0


• 1969 - Chicago Cub Ken Holtzman no-hits Atlanta Braves, 3-0


• 1975 - Astros hire Bill Virdon to replace Preston Gomez as manager


• 1980 - George Brett ends hitting streak at 30


• 1983 - Dodgers trade Dave Stewart & Ricky Wright to Texas for Rick Honeycut


• 1990 - Dodger Jose Offerman hits HR in his 1st at bat


• 1990 - New York Yankee Kevin Massachusetts is quickest to reach 14 HRs (approx 128 at bat)


• 1997 - New York Yankee 3rd baseman Wade Boggs pitches a scoreless inning vs Anaheim

Football

• 1983 - LSU footballer Billy Cannon sentenced to 5 yrs for counterfeiting

Golf

• 1934 - Paul Runyan wins PGA golf tournament


• 1956 - Fay Crocker wins LPGA St Louis Golf Open


• 1962 - Homer Blancos plays finest round in golf, shooting a 55


• 1962 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Albuquerque Swing Parade Golf Tournament


• 1973 - Sandra Palmer wins LPGA St Paul Golf Open


• 1979 - Sally wins LPGA Barth Golf Classic Little


• 1984 - 66th PGA Championship: Lee Trevino shoots a 273 at Shoal Creek Ala


• 1984 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Chevrolet World Championship of Women's Golf


• 1984 - Sally Quinlan wins LPGA MasterCard Golf International Pro-Am


• 1990 - Betsy King wins LPGA JAL Big Apple Golf Classic

Hockey

• 1988 - New York Rangers sign ex-Canadien great Guy LaFluer

Boxing

• 1995 - Bruce Seldon TKOs Joe Hipp in 10 for heavyweight boxing title


• 1995 - Mike Tyson returns to the ring & DQs Peter McNeeley in 38 seconds

Entertainment

• 1950 - ABC begins Saturday morning kid shows (Animal Clinic & Acrobat Ranch)


• 1955 - WINS radio, announces it will not play "copy" white cover versions of R&B (DJs must play Fats Domino's "Ain't It A Shame," not Pat Boone's)


• 1967 - Beatles' "All You Need is Love," single goes #1


• 1973 - Kris Kristofferson weds Rita Coolidge


• 1979 - "My Sharonna" by the Knack hits #1 (stays for 42 days)


• 1993 - Actress Kim Basinger weds actor Alec Baldwin

Trains Planes and Automobiles

• 1909 - Indianapolis 500 race track opens


• 1957 - US Major David Simons reaches 30,933m in a balloon

Weather

• 1939 - 37.6 cm rainfall at Tuckerton, New Jersey (state record)


• 1955 - 32.4 cm precipitation at Burlington, Connecticut (state record)


• 1955 - Hurricane Diane kills 200 & 1st billion $ damage storm (N.E. US)


• 1991 - Hurricane Bob hits US

Disasters

• 1955 - Hurricane Diane kills 200 & 1st billion $ damage storm (N.E. US)


• 1966 - Earthquake strikes Varko Turkey: 2,400 killed


• 1980 - Saudi Arabian Lockhead Tristar crashes on landing at Riyadh, 301 die

Space

• 1787 - W Herschel discovers Enceladus, a moon of Saturn


• 1891 - William Huggins describes astronomical application of spectrum


• 1959 - Satellite Discoverer 6 launched into polar orbit


• 1964 - Communication satellite Syncom 3 launched


• 1997 - STS 85 (Discovery 23) lands

Weddings

• 1973 - Kris Kristofferson weds Rita Coolidge


• 1993 - Actress Kim Basinger weds actor Alec Baldwin

World War II

• 1942 - The date of the ill-fated Dieppe raid.


• 1942 - 1st American offensive in Pacific in WW2, Guadalcanal, Solomon Is


• 1943 - US air raid on German bases at Gilze-Rijen/Vlissingen


• 1944 - French resistance uprising in Paris. The Vichy government flees, and Petain is arrested by the Gestapo and taken to Germany.


• 1944 - Allied air raid on Maastricht, 80+ killed


• 1944 - General Bradley visits Montgomery


• 1944 - Last Japanese troops driven out of India


• 1944 - US 15th Army corp occupies Mantes-Gassicourt at Paris


• 1944 - US 90th/Polish 1st Division occupy Chambois Normandy


• 1945 - The Japanese Government announces that to surrender is not considered a loss of honour under the Bushido code.

World War I

• 1914 - German army executed 150 Belgians by firing squad


• 1914 - German fleet bombs English coast

Cival War

• 1861 - Confederacy Congress allies with govt of Missouri


• 1864 - 2nd day of battle at Globe Tavern, Virginia

Crime and Criminals

• 1917 - Sunday benefit baseball game at Polo Grounds results in John McGraw & Christy Mathewson's arrest for violating Blue laws


• 1993 - George Tiller, abortion doctor, shot in his arms by Rachelle Shannon

Birthdays

• 1521 - Lodovico Guicciardini, Italian historian (Descrittione di Tutti)


• 1558 - Paulus Merula, Dutch lawyer/historian


• 1596 - Elisabeth Stuart, English daughter of James I


• 1631 - John Dryden, 1st poet laureate of England (All for Love)


• 1646 - John Flamsteed, 1st astronomer royal of England


• 1686 - Antonio Tonelli, composer


• 1689 - Samuel Richardson, English novelist (Pamela) (baptized)


• 1737 - Johann Georg Christoph Schetky, composer


• 1743 - Marie Jeanne Becu comtesse du Barry, last mistress of Louis XV


• 1756 - Anthony FRE Haersolte, member of Executing Regime


• 1785 - Seth Thomas, pioneer in mass production of clocks


• 1813 - William Henry Fry, composer


• 1815 - John Porter McCown, Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1879


• 1816 - Julius PJA van Zuylen van Nyevelt, Dutch minister of Foreign affairs


• 1824 - Georg Goltermann, composer


• 1831 - Stephen Gano Burbridge, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)


• 1839 - Oskar Brefeld, German botanist


• 1844 - Minna Canth, Finland, novelist/playwright (social evils)


• 1848 - Gustave Caillebotte, French shipbuilding design/painter (Rue de Paris)


• 1851 - Frans Schollaert, Belgian premier (1908-11)


• 1858 - Edith Nesbit, England, children books author (Railway Children)


• 1859 - Charles Comiskey, 1st basemen/manager (Chicago White Sox)


• 1859 - Hippolyte Delehaye, Flemish historian/hagiographer


• 1860 - John Kane, Scottish-born US primitivist painter (Self-Portrait)


• 1870 - Bernard Baruch, financier/presidential adviser (Cold War)


• 1871 - Orville Wright, Dayton OH, aviator (Wright Brothers)


• 1873 - Fred Stone, Longmont CO, acrobat/Broadway actor (Alice Adams)


• 1881 - Georges Enesco, [or Enescu], Romania, composer (Romanian Dances)


• 1885 - Elsie Ferguson, NY, actress (Lie, Footlights, Scarlet Pages)


• 1885 - Werner Elert, German luthers theologist


• 1886 - Robert Heger, composer


• 1889 - Arthur Waley, sinologist, translator from Chinese & Japanese


• 1890 - Yves Alix, French painter/graphic artist


• 1893 - Alfred Lunt, Milwaukee WI, Broadway actor (Emmy 1965)


• 1895 - Andrzejewski, writer


• 1895 - Arnoldt Bronnen, writer


• 1896 - Eino Mauno Aleksanteri Linnala, composer


• 1896 - Walter Lang, composer


• 1899 - Kenneth MacKenna, Canterbury NH, actor/director (Those We Love)


• 1899 - Olga Baclanova, Moscow Russia, actress (Freaks, Docks of NY)


• 1900 - Colleen Moore, Port Huron MI, actress (Scarlet Letter)


• 1902 - Ogden Nash, Rye NY, humorous poet (I'm a Stranger Here Myself)


• 1902 - Vladimir M Kirshon, Russian playwright (Ultimatum Factory) [NS]


• 1903 - Claude Dauphin, Corbell France, actor (April in Paris, Deported)


• 1903 - James Gould Cozzens, US, novelist (1949 Pulitzer-Guard of Honor)


• 1903 - Muriel Kirkland, Yonkers NY, actress (Fast Workers, Hold Your Man)


• 1904 - Ted Nightingale, former colonial governor


• 1905 - Fitzhugh Lee, US pilot/vice-admiral (WW II, Navy Cross)


• 1905 - Jacques de Menasce, composer


• 1906 - June Collyer, NYC, actress (Before Midnight, Charley's Aunt)


• 1906 - Philo T Farnsworth, Beaver Utah, inventor (electronic TV)


• 1907 - Thurston Morton, (Sen-Ky, 1957-1969)


• 1907 - Zygmunt Mycielsky, composer


• 1909 - Jerzy Andrzejewski, Warsaw Poland, writer (Ashes & Diamonds)


• 1910 - Quentin Bell, artist author/teacher


• 1913 - Walter B Jones, (Rep-D-NC, 1966-92)


• 1914 - Fumio Hayasaka, composer


• 1915 - Lardner Ring Jr, Chicago, screenwriter (Woman of the Year)


• 1915 - Ring Lardner, jr, writer


• 1916 - Marie Wilson, Anaheim Calif, actress (My Friend Irma)


• 1918 - James George "Jimmy" Rowles, jazz pianist


• 1919 - Malcolm Forbes, publisher (Forbes Magazine)


• 1920 - Paul Kont, composer


• 1921 - Gene Roddenberry, El Paso Texas, executive producer (Star Trek)


• 1921 - Philip A Potter, Dominica sec-gen World council of Churches


• 1922 - Douglas MacKenzie Davey, psychometrist


• 1924 - William Marshall, Gary Ind, actor (Blacula, Something of Value)


• 1927 - James T Broyhill, (Sen-R-NC, 1986)


• 1930 - D[avid] G[uy] Compton, UK, sci-fi author (Synthajoy, Radio Plays)


• 1931 - Willie Shoemaker, jockey (won 8,833 of 40,350 starts)


• 1932 - John James Fenwick, English warehouse owner/multi-millionaire


• 1933 - Debra Paget, [Griffin], Denver, actress (Love Me Tender)


• 1933 - Vladimir Borisovich Alekseyev, Russia, cosmonaut


• 1934 - Bill Cleary, US, ice hockey player (Olympic-gold-1960)


• 1934 - David F Durenberger, Minn, (Sen-R-MN, 1978- )


• 1934 - Renee Richards, [Richard Rankind], trans-sexual tennis player


• 1934 - William Cleary, Cambridge Mass, hockey center, (Oly-gold/silv-56, 60)


• 1935 - Bobby Richardson, SC, 2nd baseman (NY Yankees)


• 1935 - F Story Musgrave, Boston, MD/astronaut (STS 6, 51-F, 33, 44, 61, 80)


• 1936 - Al Oerter, Astoria NY, discus thrower (Olympics-gold-56, 60, 64, 68)


• 1938 - Diana Muldaur, NYC, actress (McCloud, Star Trek Next Gen, LA Law)


• 1938 - Valentin Mankin, USSR, finn class yachtsman (Olympic-gold-1968)


• 1939 - Ginger [Peter] Baker, England, drummer (Cream-White Room)


• 1940 - Jan Claire, actor (American Anthem)


• 1940 - Jill St John, [Oppenheim], LA Calif, actress (Diamonds are Forever)


• 1940 - Johnny Nash, Houston, Tx, rocker (I Can See Clearly Now)


• 1942 - Fred Thompson, senator (R-Tenn)/actor (In the Line of Fire)


• 1942 - Michiel Patijn, Dutch asst sect of state of Foreign affairs (1994- )


• 1943 - Billy J Kramer, Liverpool, rock vocalist (The Dakotas-Bad to Me)


• 1944 - Eddy Raven, Lafayette La, country singer (Right Hand Man)


• 1944 - Samuel J de Beer, S Afr vicar/underminister of Education


• 1945 - Ian Gillian, heavy metal rocker (Deep Purple-Knocking at Backdoor)


• 1945 - Jane Blalock, champion golfer


• 1945 - Lan Gillan, rocker


• 1946 - Charles F Bolden Jr, Columbia SC, astronaut (STS 61C, 31, 45, 60)


• 1946 - Dawn Steel, film maker


• 1946 - William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton, 42nd US Pres (D, 1993-01)


• 1947 - Gerald McRaney, Collins Miss, actor (Simon & Simon, Major Dad)


• 1948 - Tipper Gore, wife of vice president Al Gore (1993-01)


• 1950 - Graeme Beard, cricketer (NSW medium-pace all-rounder 3 Tests 1980)


• 1951 - John Deacon, British pop guitarist (Queen-Somebody to Love)


• 1951 - Randi Oakes, Randalia Iowa, actress (Officer Bonnie Clark-CHiPs)


• 1952 - Jonathan Frakes, actor (Commander William T Riker-Star Trek Next Gen)


• 1953 - Debra Paget, Denver Co, actress (Love Me Tender)


• 1953 - Johan F de Leeuw, Dutch MP (CDA)


• 1955 - Peter Gallagher, Armonk NY, actor (Player, Summer Lovers, Dreamchild)


• 1956 - Adam Arkin, Bkln, actor (Busting Loose, Pearl, Northern Exposure)


• 1956 - Cindy Nelson, US, skier (Olympic-bronze-1976)


• 1957 - Darby Hinton, Santa Monica Calif, actor (Israel-Daniel Boone)


• 1957 - Paul-Jan Bakker, cricketer (Hampshire & Netherlands pace bowler)


• 1958 - Gary Gaetti, Centralia IL, infielder (St Louis Cardinals)


• 1959 - Ricky Pierce, NBA guard/forward (Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks)


• 1959 - Steve Grimmett, heavy metal rocker


• 1960 - Bobby Hebert, NFL quarterback (Atlanta Falcons)


• 1960 - Dan "Woody" Woodgate, rocker


• 1960 - Morten Andersen, NFL kicker (Atlanta Falcons)


• 1960 - Ron Darling, Hawaii, baseball pitcher (NY Mets)


• 1961 - Danuta Bartoszek, Pyrzyce Poland, Canadian marathoner (Olympics-96)


• 1962 - Eric Lutes, Charlestown RI, actor (Del-Caroline in the City)


• 1962 - Kim Shipman, Athens PA, LPGA golfer (1995 LPGA Corning Classic-25th)


• 1962 - Michael J Massimino, Oceanside NY, PhD/astronaut


• 1962 - Nancy Ramsbottom, Birmingham AL, LPGA golfer (1994 McCall's-2nd)


• 1962 - Valerie Kaprisky, Paris France, actress (Breathless, Public Woman)


• 1963 - Joey Tempest, rocker (Europe-The Final Countdown)


• 1963 - John Stamos, Cypress Calif, actor (General Hospital, Full House)


• 1965 - James Tomkins, Australian rower (Olympics-96)


• 1965 - Kevin Dillon, NY, actor (Heaven Help Us, Remote Control, Platoon)


• 1965 - Kyra Sedgwick, actress (Phenomenon, Singles, Julia-Another World)


• 1967 - Jason Starkey, son of Beatle Ringo


• 1967 - Randy Baldwin, NFL running back (Carolina Panthers)


• 1967 - Tabitha Soren, San Antonio Texas, MTV reporter (This Week in Rock)


• 1969 - Christian Slater, NYC, actor (Legend of Billie Jean)


• 1969 - Matthew Perry, Williamstown Mass, actor (Sydney, Chandler-Friends)


• 1969 - Scott Ford, Norbrooke Germany, golfer (1994 Trafalgar CPGA-2nd)


• 1970 - Scott Brumfield, NFL guard (Cin Bengals)


• 1971 - Mary Joe Fernandez, Dom Rep, US tennis star (Olympics-gold-96)


• 1971 - Tricia Ann Luedtke, Oostburg Wisc, Miss Wisc-America-1991


• 1972 - Colleen Thornburn, Toronto Ontario, softball catcher (Olympics-96)


• 1972 - Elizabeth Wolfgramm, rocker (Jets)


• 1972 - Pierre Allard, hockey forward (Team France 1998)


• 1973 - Roy Rogers, NBA forward (Boston Celtics)


• 2335 - William T Riker, Valdez Alaska, character on Star Trek Next Generation

That's all for today. Come back tomorrow or get our RSS feed.