Birthdays:
1969 ~ Naveen Andrews (né Naveen William Sidney Andrews), British actor. He was born in London, England.
1964 ~ Michelle Obama (née Michelle LaVaughn Robinson), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Barack Obama. She was born in Chicago, Illinois.
1962 ~ Sebastian Junger, American author and journalist. He is best known for his 1997 book, The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea. He was born in Belmont, Massachusetts.
1957 ~ Steve Harvey (né Broderick Stephen Harvey), American comedian and game show host. He was born in Welch, West Virginia.
1956 ~ Damian Green (né Damian Howard Green), British politician. He was born in Barry, England.
1955 ~ Steve Earle (né Stephen Fain Earle), American country and folk-singer. He was born in Hampton, Virginia.
1942 ~ Muhammad Ali (né Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; d. June 3, 2016), African-American heavyweight boxing champion who shook up the wall. He died at age 74.
1934 ~ Sydney Schanberg (né Sydney Hillel Schanberg; d. July 9, 2016) American journalist who covered Cambodia during the period known as The Killing Fields in the 1970s. He was born in Clinton, Massachusetts. He died at age 82 of a heart attack.
1933 ~ Shari Lewis (née Sonia Phyllis Hurwitz; d. Aug. 2, 1998), American puppeteer and ventriloquist. She was known for creating her sock puppets, Lamb Chops and Charlie Horse. She died at age 65 of uterine cancer.
1931 ~ Don Zimmer (né Donald William Zimmer; d. June 4, 2014), American baseball player and long-time coach of the Boston Red Sox. He was the journeyman who became the face of baseball. He died at age 83.
1931 ~ James Earl Jones, African-American actor. He was the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies. He was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi.
1931 ~ Douglas Wilder (né Lawrence Douglas Wilder), Governor of Virginia. He was the first African-American elected governor of Virginia. He served in that Office from January 2005 until January 2009. He was born in Richmond, Virginia.
1928 ~ Vidal Sassoon (d. May 9, 2012), English cosmetologist and hair stylist. He died of leukemia at age 84.
1927 ~ Eartha Kitt (née Eartha Mae Keith; d. Dec. 25, 2008), American singer and actress. She died 23 days before her 82nd birthday.
1924 ~ Jewell Plummer Cobb (d. Jan. 1, 2017), African-American biologist and cancer researcher. She specialized in the study and cure for melanoma. She was born in Chicago, Illinois. She died 16 days before her 93rd birthday.
1922 ~ Nicholas Katzenbach (né Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach; d. May 8, 2012), 65th Attorney General. He served under President Lyndon B. Johnson from February 1965 until October 1966. He died at age 90.
1922 ~ Betty White (née Betty Marion White), American actress. She was born in Oak Park, Illinois.
1914 ~ Irving S. Brecher (d. Nov. 17, 2008), American quick wit who wrote for the Marx Brothers. He died at age 94.
1911 ~ George Stigler (né George Joseph Stigler; d. Dec. 1, 1991), American economist and recipient of the 1982 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He died at age 80.
1905 ~ Peggy Gilbert (née Margaret Fern Knechtges; d. Feb. 12, 2007), American saxophonist and bandleader. She died less than a month after her 102nd birthday.
1899 ~ Al Capone (né Alphonse Gabriel Capone; d. Jan. 25, 1947), American gangster. He was ultimately arrested on tax evasion. He died 8 days after his 48th birthday of cardiac arrest following a stroke.
1899 ~ Nevil Shute (né Nevil Shute Norway; d. Jan. 12, 1960), British-born Australian author best known for his novel On the Beach, about a nuclear holocaust and A Town Like Alice. He died 5 days before his 61st birthday.
1882 ~ Arnold Rothstein (d. Nov. 6, 1928), American gangster. He was known as “The Brain.” He is believed to have been the mastermind of the fixing of the 1919 Baseball World Series. He was murdered at age 46.
1881 ~ Antoni Łomnicki (né Antoni Marian Łomnicki, d. July 4, 1941), Polish mathematician. He was murdered at age 60 by the Nazis during the Massacre of the Lwów professors during World War II.
1877 ~ Marie Zdeňka Baborová-Čiháková (d. Sept. 29, 1937), Czech botanist and zoologist. She was the first Czech woman to earn a Ph.D. in this field of science. She was born in Prague. At the time, the city was under the Austria-Hungary regime. She died at age 60.
1871 ~ Nicolae Iorga (d. Nov. 27, 1940), Prime Minister of Romania. He served in that Office from April 1931 until June 1932. He died at age 69.
1867 ~ Carl Laemmle (né Karl Lämmle; d. Sept. 24, 1939). German-born American film producer and founder of Universal Studios. He died of heart disease at age 72.
1863 ~ David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (d. Mar. 26, 1945), Welsh attorney and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the reign of King George V. He served as Prime Minister from December 1916 until October 1922. He died at age 82.
1853 ~ Alva Belmont (née Alva Erskine Smith; d. Jan. 26, 1933), American suffragist and socialite. She was born in Mobile, Alabama. She died 9 days after her 80th birthday.
1829 ~ Catherine Booth (née Catherine Mumford; d. Oct. 4, 1890), British theologian and co-founder of The Salvation Army along with her husband, William Booth (1829 ~ 1912). She died of breast cancer at age 61.
1820 ~ Anne Brontë (b. May 28, 1849), English novelist and poet. She was the youngest member of the Brontë family. She died of tuberculosis at age 29.
1814 ~ Ellen Wood (née Ellen Price; d. Feb. 10, 1887), English author. She died 24 days after her 73rd birthday.
1768 ~ Smith Thompson (d. Dec. 18, 1843), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President James Monroe. He replaced Henry Brockholst Livingston on the Court. He was succeeded by Samuel Nelson. He had previously served as the 6th United States Secretary of the Navy. He served in that Office during the Monroe Administration from January 1819 until August 1823. He was born in Amenia, New York when it was under British rule. He died in Poughkeepsie, New York a month before his 76thbirthday.
1706 ~ Benjamin Franklin (d. Apr. 17, 1790), American statesman, inventor, diplomat, and printer. He served as the 1st United States Postmaster General, an Office he held from July 1775 until November 1776. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He died at age 84.
1640 ~ Jonathan Singletary Dunham (d. Sept. 6, 1724), Early American settler. Although born in what is now Massachusetts, he settled with his family in what is now New Jersey. He was the 8th great-grandfather of President Barack Obama. He died at age 84.
1574 ~ Robert Fludd (d. Sept. 8, 1637), British physician, astrologer, and mathematician. He died at age 63.
1504 ~ Pope Saint Pius V (né Antonio Ghislieri, d. May 1, 1572). He was Pope from January 1566 until his death 6 years later. He is best known for his role in the Council of Trent and the standardization of the rituals within the Latin Church. He died at age 68.
1492 ~ Adam Ries (d. Mar. 30, 1559), German mathematician. He died at age 66.
Events that Changed the World:
2002 ~ Mount Nyiragongo erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There had been an increase in seismic activity, so people had been warned. Approximately 400,000 people were evacuated, however, nearly 250 people were killed in the eruption.
1998 ~ The Drudge Report first reported on the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair.
1995 ~ The Great Hanshin earthquake of 7.3 magnitude hit near Kobe, Japan, killing nearly 6,500 people.
1994 ~ Northridge, California was struck by a 6.7 magnitude earthquake. Nearly 60 people were killed and over 8700 people were injured.
1991 ~ Crown Prince Harald V (b. 1937) became King Harald V of Norway upon the death of his father, King Olav V (1903 ~ 1991).
1991 ~ Operation Desert Storm began after Iraq fired 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful attempt to provoke Israeli retaliation.
1977 ~ Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore (1940 ~ 1977) was executed by a firing squad in Utah. His was the first execution in the United States in over 10 years, following a moratorium on capital punishment. The United States Supreme Court deemed that States’ death-penalty statutes were constitutional. Norman Mailer wrote an account of the Gilmore case in Executioner’s Song.
1950 ~ The Great Brinks Bank Robbery occurred when 11 thieves stole over $2M from a Brink’s armored car outside the Brinks offices in Boston, Massachusetts. All of the perpetrators were eventually arrested.
1946 ~ The United Nations Security Council held its first session.
1945 ~ Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg (1912 ~ 1947) was taken into custody in Hungary by the Soviets. He was never seen again and was presumed killed. In 1947 he was officially declared dead.
1945 ~ The Nazis began to evacuate the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces began to close in.
1929 ~ The cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man, created by E.C. Segar (1894 ~ 1938) was first published in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
1917 ~ The United States purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25M.
1912 ~ Captain Robert Scott (1868 ~ 1912) reached the South Pole one month after Roald Amundsen’s expedition.
1899 ~ The United States took possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
1893 ~ The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom began when American businessmen, aided by United States troops, instigated a coup d’état against Queen Lili’uokalani (1838 ~ 1917). A new provisional government was established setting Sanford Ballard Dole (1844 ~ 1926), a sugar plantation owner, as president.
1773 ~ Captain James Cook (1728 ~ 1799) and his crew became the first known Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle.
1648 ~ England’s Long Parliament passed the Vote of No Addresses, which broke off negotiations with King Charles I (1600 ~ 1649) setting the stage for the second phase of the English Civil War, a dispute between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians.
1595 ~ King Henry IV (1553 ~ 1610) of France declared war on Spain.
1562 ~ The Edict of Saint-Germain was executed granting the Huguenots limited tolerance in France.
1377 ~ Pope Gregory XI (1329 ~ 1378) moved the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon, France.
395 ~ Roman Emperor Theodosius I (347 ~ 395) died, causing the Roman Empire to be re-divided into an eastern and western portion.
Good-Byes:
2019 ~ Mary Oliver (née Mary Jane Oliver; b. Sept. 10, 1935), American popular poet who found refuge in nature. She died of lymphoma at age 83.
2017 ~ Colo (b. Dec. 22, 1956), the first gorilla bred in captivity, was born at the Columbus Zoo in Columbus, Ohio. On December 22, 2016, Colo celebrated her 60th birthday. She died on January 17, 2017, just 25 days after her 60thbirthday.
2010 ~ Erich Segal (né Erich Wolf Segal, b. June 16, 1937), American author, best known for his novel, Love Story. He was a classical scholar. He died of a heart attack at age 72.
2008 ~ Bobby Fischer (né Robert James Fischer; b. Mar. 9, 1943), American chess player. He died of renal failure at age 64.
2007 ~ Art Buchwald (né Arthur Buchwald; b. Oct. 20, 1925), American columnist and humorist. He died of kidney failure at age 81.
2003 ~ Richard Crenna (né Richard Donald Crenna; b. Nov. 30, 1926), American actor. He died of congestive heart failure at age 76.
2002 ~ Camilo José Cela (b. May 11, 1916), Spanish writer and recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature. He died at age 85.
1997 ~ Clyde Tombaugh (né Clyde William Tombaugh; b. Feb. 4, 1906), American astronomer who first cited the dwarf planet, Pluto. He died 18 days before his 91st birthday.
1996 ~ Barbara Jordan (née Barbara Charline Jordan; b. Feb. 21, 1936), African-American politician from Texas. She served as the United States House of Representatives from the State of Texas January 1973 until January 1979. She died of pneumonia at age 59.
1991 ~ King Olav V of Norway (né Prince Alexander of Denmark; b. July 2, 1903). He reigned as King from September 1957 until his death in January 1991. He became heir apparent to the Norwegian throne when his father, King Haalon VII was elected King of Norway in 1905. He was of the House of Glücksburg. He died at age 87.
1977 ~ Gary Gilmore (né Faye Robert Coffman; b. Dec. 4, 1940), American murderer who is known for being the first person to be executed after the United States Supreme Court deemed that the states’ death-penalty statutes were constitutional. Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Utah. Norman Mailer wrote an account of Gilmore’s story in the novel, Executioner’s Song. He was 36 years old at the time of his execution.
1972 ~ Betty Smith (née Elizabeth Lillian Wehner; d. Dec. 15, 1896), American author best known for her novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. She died of pneumonia about a month after her 75th birthday.
1967 ~ Evelyn Nesbit (née Florence Evelyn Nesbit; b. Dec. 25, 1884), American actress. She is best known for her relationship with the much older architect, Stanford White. In 1906, her jealous husband, Harry Kendall Thaw, murdered White. She died 23 days after her 82nd birthday.
1964 ~ T.H. White (né Terence Hanbury White; b. May 29, 1906), English author best known for his novel The Once and Future King about the King Arthur legend. He died of heart failure at age 57.
1961 ~ Patrice Lumumba (né Élias Okit’Asomvo; b. July 2, 1925), 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was executed by firing squad at age 35 in a military coup.
1933 ~ Louis Comfort Tiffany (b. Feb. 18, 1848), American artist and glass designer. He died about a month before his 85th birthday.
1927 ~ Juliette Gordon Low (née Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon; d. Oct. 31, 1860), American founder of the Girl Scouts. She died of breast cancer at age 66.
1911 ~ Sir Francis Galton (b. Feb. 16, 1822), British polymath, geographer, inventor, and meteorologist. He died a month before his 89th birthday.
1893 ~ Rutherford B. Hayes (né Rutherford Birchard Hayes; b. Oct. 4, 1822), 19th President of the United States. He served as President from March 1877 until March 1881. He previously served as Governor of Ohio for two non-consecutive terms. He died at age 70.
1891 ~ George Bancroft (b. Oct. 3, 1800), 17th United States Secretary of the Navy. He served in that capacity from March 1845 until September 1846. During his tenure as Secretary of the Navy, in 1845 he established the United States Navy Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He died at age 90.
1882 ~ Alexander Bullock (né Alexander Hamilton Bullock; b. Mar. 2, 1816), 26th Governor of Massachusetts. He was Governor from January 1866 until January 1869. He had previously served as the Mayor of Worcester, Massachusetts. He died at age 65.
1874 ~ Chang and Eng Bunker (b. May 11, 1811), Thai-American conjoined twins. Because they were from Thailand, then called Siam, co-joined twins became known as Siamese Twins. Each brother married and collectively they had a total of 21 children. They were 62 at the time of their death.
1833 ~ Friedrich Koenig (né Friedrich Gottlob Koenig; b. Apr. 17, 1774), German inventor best known for the invention of the high-speed steam-powered printing press. He died at age 58.
1705 ~ John Ray (b. Nov. 29, 1627), English naturalist. He died at age 77.
1456 ~ Elisabeth of Lorraine-Vaudémont (b. 1395), French translator. She was a pioneer in translation. She translated several French romances into German. The exact date of her birth is not known. She is believed to have been 60 or 61 at the time of her death.
395 ~ Theodosius I (b. Jan. 11, 347), Roman emperor from January 379 until his death in January 395. He was known as Theodosius the Great. He was the last Roman emperor to have ruled both the eastern and western portions of the Roman Empire. He is believed to have died 6 days after his 48th birthday.
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