April 26

Birthdays:

 

1983 ~ Jessica Lynch (née Jessica Dawn Lynch), American soldier and who served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.  Her convoy was ambushed by Iraqi forces, and she was serious injured.  She was a POW but was successfully rescued by Special Forces.  She was born in Palestine, West Virginia.

 

1980 ~ Channing Tatum (né Channing Matthew Tatum), American actor.  He was born in Cullman, Alabama.

 

1972 ~ Sylvain Tesson, French writer, and traveler.  He was born in Paris, France.

 

1970 ~Melania Trump (née Melanija Knavs), First Lady of the United States.  She was a Slovenian-American model and third wife of President Donald Trump.  She was born in Yugoslavia, currently Slovenia.

 

1965 ~ Kevin James (né Kevin George Knipfing), American comedian and actor.  He was bornin Mineola, New York.

 

1962 ~ Matteo Messina Denaro (d. Sept. 25, 2023), Italian brutal mobster who spent 30 years in hiding.  He was considered one of the new leaders of the Sicilian mob.  He became a fugitive in 1993.  After 30 years on the run, he was arrested on 16 January 2023 near a private clinic in Palermo, where he was receiving medical treatment under a false name.  He was born in Castelvetrano, Sicily, Italy.  He died at age 61 in prison of complications of colon cancer in L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy.

 

1958 ~ Giancarlo Esposito (né Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito), American actor.  He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

1956 ~ Koo Stark (née Kathleen Norris Stark), American actress and photographer.  She is best known for being the former girlfriend of Prince Andrew.  She was born in New York, New York.

 

1942 ~ Bobby Rydell (né Robert Louis Ridarelli; d. Apr. 5, 2022), American teen singer who set young hearts aflame.  He was the heartthrob of the bobby-soxers.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He died of complications of pneumonia 21 days before his 80^th birthday in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.

 

1938 ~ Leonid Plyushch (d. June 4, 2015), Ukrainian mathematician and Soviet dissident.  He was born in Naryn, Kirghiz, Soviet Union.  He died at age 77 in Bessèges, France.

 

1938 ~ Duane Eddy, American guitarist.  He was born in Corning, New York.

 

1933 ~ Arno Allan Penzias (d. Jan. 22, 2024), German-American physicist and recipient of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was a co-discoverer of the cosmic microwave background radiation which helped establish the Big Bang Theory of cosmology.  He escaped Nazi Germany in 1939 as part of the Kindertransport rescue operation.  He ultimately made his way to the United States and became a citizen.  He was born in Munich, Germany.  He died at age 90 in San Francisco, California.

 

1933 ~ Carol Burnett (née Carol Creighton Burnett), American comedian.  She was born in San Antonio, Texas.

 

1932 ~ Michael Smith (d. Oct. 4, 2000), British-born Canadian biochemist and recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in developing site-directed mutagenesis.  He was born in Blackpool, England.  He died at age 68 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

 

1930 ~ Bruce Jay Friedman (d. June 3, 2020), American novelist who found laughs in male neurosis.  He was a trailblazer in the style of American black humor.  He was born in The Bronx, New York.  He died at age 90 in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1927 ~ Eugene Foster (d. July 21, 2008), American pathologist who linked President Thomas Jefferson to his slave, Sally Hemmings.  He died of renal failure at age 81.

 

1925 ~ Vladimir Boltyansky (d. Apr. 16, 2019), Russian mathematician.  He is best known for writing mathematical books on such topics as topology and combinatorial geometry.  He was born in Moscow, Russia.  He died 10 days before his 94^th birthday in Guanajuato, Mexico.

 

1917 ~ I.M. Pei (né Ieoh Ming Pei; d. May 16, 2019), Chinese-American architect who designed modernist icons.  He was the chief architect for the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts.  He is best known for creating the Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris.  He was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, Republic of China.  He died less than a month after his 102^nd birthday in New York, New York.

 

1916 ~ Morris West (né Morris Langlo West; d. Oct. 9, 1999), Australian writer.  He is best known for his novels The Shoes of the Fisherman and The Devil’s Advocate.  He died at age 83.

 

1914 ~ Bernard Malamud (d. Mar. 18, 1986), American novelist.  He is best known for his novel The Fixer about anti-Semitism in Czarist Russia, and The Natural.  He was born and died in New York, New York.  He died at age 71.

 

1900 ~ Charles Francis Richter (d. Sept. 30, 1985), American geophysicist and creator of the Richter magnitude scale that measures the strength of earthquakes.  He was born in Overpeck, Ohio.  He died at age 85 in Pasadena, California.

 

1898 ~ Vincente Aleixandre (d. Dec. 14, 1984), Spanish writer and recipient of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was born in Seville, Spain.  He died at age 86 in Madrid, Spain.

 

1894 ~ Rudolf Hess (né Rudolf Walter Richard Heß; d. Aug. 17, 1987), Nazi official and convicted war criminal.  He hanged himself in prison at age 93.

 

1889 ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein (né Ludwig Joseph Johann Wittgenstein; d. Apr. 29, 1951), Austrian-born philosopher who worked in logic and mathematical philosophy.  He was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary.  He died 3 days after his 62^ndbirthday in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.

 

1889 ~ Anita Loos (née Corinne Anita Loos; d. Aug. 18, 1981), American writer.  She is best known for her comic novel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.  She was born in Sisson, California.  She died at age 93 in New York, New York.

 

1879 ~ Sir Owen Richardson (né Owen Willams Richardson; d. Feb. 15, 1959), English physicist and recipient of the 1928 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on thermionic emission.  He died at age 79.

 

1822 ~ Frederick Law Olmsted (d. Aug. 28, 1903), American landscape architect, best known for his planning and designing of Central Park in New York City.  He was born in Hartford, Connecticut and died at age 81 in Belmont, Massachusetts.

 

1798 ~ Eugène Delacroix (né Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix; d. Aug. 13, 1863), French painter.  He died at age 65 in Paris, France.

 

1785 ~ John James Audubon (né Jean-Jacques Rabin; d. Jan. 27, 1851), American ornithologist and painter.  He identified 25 new species of birds.  He was born in Les Cayes, Haiti.  He died at age 65 in New York, New York.

 

1782 ~ Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (d. Mar. 24, 1866), Queen consort of France and wife of Louis Philippe I, King of France.  They married in 1809.  They had 10 children together.  She was of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.  She was the daughter of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies and Maria Carolia of Austria.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died about a month after her 83^rd birthday.

 

1765 ~ Emma, Lady Hamilton (née Amy Lyon; d. Jan. 15, 1815), English mistress of Horatio Nelson.  She died of liver failure at age 49 in Calais, France.

 

1648 ~ Peter II, King of Portugal (d. Dec. 9, 1706).  He reigned as King from September 12, 1682 until his death in December 1706.  He was known as The Pacific because he reigned during a time of peace.  He was married twice.  First to Maria Francisca of Savoy (1646 ~ 1683).  They married in 1668.  They had one daughter, Isabel Luisa.  Peter was her 2^nd husband.  She had previously been married to his brother, Afonso VI, King of Portugal.  She died in 1683.  In 1687, he married Maria Sofia of Neuberg (1666 ~ 1699).  They had 7 children together.  He also had 3 illegitimate children with 3 different mistresses.  He was of the House of Braganza.  He was the son of John VI, King of Portugal and Luisa de Guzmán.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died at age 58.  He was succeeded by his son, John IV, King of Portugal.

 

1575 ~ Marie de’Medici (d. July 3, 1642), Queen consort of France and second wife of Henry IV, King of France (1553 ~ 1610).  They married in 1600.  They had 6 children, including Louis XIII, King of France.  She was of the House of Medici.  She was the daughter of Francesco I, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Joanna of Austria.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died at age 67.

 

1319 ~ John II, King of France (d. Apr. 8, 1364).  He reigned France from August 22, 1350 until his death in April 1364.  He was known as John the Good.  He was married twice.  His first wife, whom he married in 1332, was Bonne of Bohemia (1315 ~ 1349).  She was also known as Bonne of Luxembourg.  They had 9 children together.  After her death, he married Joan I, Countess of Auvergne (1326 ~ 1360).  They married in 1350.  John was her 2^nd husband.  They had 3 children together.  He was of the House of Valais.  He was the son of Philip VI, King of France and Joan of Burgundy.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died 18 days before his 45^th birthday.  He was succeeded by his son, Charles V, King of France.

 

570 ~ Muhammed (d. June 8, 632), founder and prophet of Islam.  This is the traditional date according to the Shi’a sect.  He is believed to have been about 62 at the time of his death.

 

121 ~ Marcus Aurelius (d. Mar. 17, 180), this is the traditional date ascribed to the birth of this Roman emperor.  He ruled the Roman Empire from March 161 until his death in March 180.  He died about the age of 58.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2018 ~ Comedian and actor Bill Cosby (b. 1937) was found guilty of 3 counts of aggravated indecent sexual assault.  He was later sentenced to prison and is classified as a sexually violent predator.  In 2021, his conviction was overturned on a technicality.

 

1991 ~ Over 70 tornadoes broke out over the central United States.

 

1986 ~ The Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident occurred in the Ukraine, the worst nuclear accident to date.

 

1981 ~ Dr. Michael Harrison (b. 1943) performed the world’s first human open fetal surgery at the San Francisco Medical Center.  The surgery was to correct an advanced urinary tract obstruction in the fetus.

 

1964 ~ The countries of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania.

 

1954 ~ The Salk polio vaccine field trials began.  Over 1.8 million school children in the United States, Canada, and Finland participated in the trials.

 

1937 ~Guernica was bombed by German Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War.

 

1933 ~ The Gestapo, the official secret police of Nazi Germany, was established.

 

1923 ~ George, Duke of York, who later became George VI, King of the United Kingdom (1895 ~ 1952), married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900 ~ 2002) at Westminster Abbey.

 

1865 ~ Confederate General Joseph Johnston (1807 ~ 1891) surrendered his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820 ~ 1891) at Bennett Place, near Durham, North Carolina.

 

1777 ~ Sibyl Ludington (1761 ~ 1839), at age 16, rode her horse 40 miles from Carmel to Mahopac, New York to warn the militia men under her Colonel Henry Ludington, her father, that the British were poised to take control over Danbury, Connecticut.

 

1721 ~ A massive earthquake devastated the city of Tabriz in modern-day Iran.

 

1564 ~ William Shakespeare (1564 ~ 1616) was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, thereby estimating his actual birth date to be 1 or 2 days earlier.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2021 ~ Arthur Staats (d. Jan. 17, 1924), American child psychologist who popularized the “time-out” for children’s discipline.  He was an opponent of spinking and believed a “time-out” was a more effective response to youthful misbehavior.  He was born in Greenburgh, New York.  He died of heart failure at age 97 in Oahu, Hawaii.

 

2017 ~ Jonathan Demme (né Robert Jonathan Demme; b. Feb. 22, 1944), American director who made The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won an Academy War.  He died of complications from esophageal cancer and heart disease.  He was born in Baldwin, New York.  He died at age 73 in New York, New York.

 

2015 ~ Jayne Meadows (née Jane Cotter; b. Sept. 27, 1919), American actress.  She was born in Wuhan, China.  She died at age 95 in Los Angeles, California.

 

2014 ~ Jacqueline Ferrand (b. Feb. 17, 1918), French mathematician.  She is best known for her work on conformal representation theory and Riemannian manifolds.  She was born in Alès, France.  She died at age 95 in Sceaux, France.

 

2014 ~ Bill Ash (né William Franklin Ash; b. Nov. 30, 1917), Texas-born British writer who served as a fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II.  He was the POW who wouldn’t stop escaping.  He made 13 escape attempts from prisoner-of-war camps during World War II.  He was born in Dallas, Texas.  He died at age 96 in London, England.

 

2013 ~ George Jones (né George Glenn Jones; b. Sept. 12, 1931), American country singer who became the voice of heartbreak.  He had such hits as He Stopped Loving Her Today.  He was born in Saratoga, Texas.  He died of respiratory failure at age 81 in Nashville, Tennessee.

 

2011 ~ Phoebe Snow (née Pheobe Ann Laub; b. July 17, 1950), American singer and songwriter.  She was born in New York, New York.  She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 60 in Edison, New Jersey.

 

2009 ~ Salamo Arouch (b. Jan. 1, 1923), Greek Sephardic Jew who was a boxer who survived Auschwitz with his boxing skills, which entertained Nazi officers.  His story was portrayed in the 1989 film Triumph of the Spirit.  He was born in Thessaloniki, Greece.  He died in Tel Aviv, Israel at age 86.

 

2005 ~ Hasil Adkins (b. Apr. 29, 1937), American musician from an Appalachian County in West Virginia who influenced the creation of rock ‘n roll.  He was born and died in Boone County, West Virginia.  He died 3 days before his 68^th birthday.

 

1989 ~ Lucille Ball (née Lucille Désirée Ball, b. Aug. 6, 1911), American actress and comedian.  She was born in Jamestown, New York.  She died at age 77 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1988 ~ Guillermo Haro Barraza (b. Mar. 21, 1913), Mexican astronomer.  He was very influential in the development of astronomy in Mexico.  He was born and died in Mexico City, Mexico.  He died just a month after his 75^th birthday.

 

1986 ~ Broderick Crawford (né William Broderick Crawford; b. Dec. 9, 1911), American actor.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 74 in Rancho Mirage, California.

 

1984 ~ Count Basie (né William James Basie; b. Aug. 21, 1904), American jazz musician, bandleader and composer.  He was born in Red Bank, New Jersey.  He died at age 79 in Hollywood, Florida.

 

1981 ~ Jim Davis (né Marlin Davis, b. Aug. 26, 1909), American actor best known for his role as the patriarch, Jock Ewing, on the television drama, Dallas.  He was born in Edgerton, Missouri.  He died of multiple myeloma at age 71 in Northridge, California.

 

1973 ~ Irene Ryan (née Jessie Irene Noblett; b. Oct. 17, 1902), American actress, best known for her role as Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies.  She was born in El Paso, Texas.  She died of a heart attack at age 70 in Santa Monica, California.

 

1970 ~ Gypsy Rose Lee (née Rose Louise Hovick; b. Jan. 8, 1911), American burlesque entertainer famous for her striptease act.  She was born in Seattle, Washington.  She died of lung cancer at age 59 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1946 ~ Jim White (né James Larkin White; b. July 11, 1882), American miner, explorer, and park ranger.  He discovered the Carlsbad Caverns.  He was born in Mason County, Texas.  He died at age 63 in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

 

1940 ~ Carl Bosch (b. Aug. 27, 1874), German chemist and recipient of the 1931 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was a pioneer in the field of high-pressure industrial chemistry.  He was born in Cologne, Germany Empire.  He died at age 65 in Heidelberg, Germany.

 

1920 ~ Srinivasa Ramanujan (b. Dec. 22, 1887), Indian mathematician.  He was the subject of the 2015 movie The Man Who Knew Infinity.  He died at age 32 of tuberculosis.

 

1910 ~ Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (né Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson; b. Dec. 8, 1832), Norwegian author and recipient of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 77 in Paris, France.

 

1865 ~ John Wilkes Booth (b. May 10, 1838), American assassin who killed President Abraham Lincoln.  He was shot by Union Calvary troopers in Virginia.  He was born in Bel Air, Maryland.  He was killed 14 days before his 27^th birthday in Port Royal, Virginia.

 

1826 ~ Lucia Migliaccio (b. July 19, 1770), second wife of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies (1751 ~ 1825).  He was her second husband.  They married in 1814.  Theirs was a morganatic marriage so she was never the queen consort.  She had previously been married to Don Benedetto Maria III Grifeo, 8º Principe di Partanna.  She was Roman Catholic.  She was born in Syracuse, Kingdom of Sicily.  She died at age 55 in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

 

1810 ~ Blind Jack (né John Metcalf; b. Aug. 15, 1717), British civil engineer.  He was the first professional road builder.  Despite being blind, he was able to build over 180 miles of turnpike roads in England.  He died at age 92.

 

1776 ~ Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna of Russia (née Princess Wilhelmina Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt; b. June 25, 1755), Tsarevna of Russia and first wife of Paul Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia (1754 ~ 1801).  She died before he became Tsar, thus was never the Tsarina.  She was of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt.  She was the daughter of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken.  She died of complications of childbirth at age 20.

 

1478 ~ Giuliano de’Medici (b. Mar. 25, 1453), co-ruler of Florence, Italy with his brother, Lorenzo the Magnificant.  He was murdered by members of the Pazzi family, who had conspired to kill both Guiliano and Lorenzo de’Medici during High Mass in the Duomo of Florence.  Lorenzo was not killed in this attack.  Giuliano de’Medici was of the Medici Family.  He was the son of Piero the Gouty and Lucrezia Tornabouni.  He had an illegitimate son who became Pope Clement VII.  Giuliano was killed a month after his 26^th birthday.

 

1395 ~ Catherine of Bohemia (b. Aug. 19, 1342), Duchess consort of Austria and wife of Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria (1339 ~ 1365).  He was her first husband.  After his death, she married Otto I, Duke of Bavaria (1340 ~ 1379) and became the Duchess consort of Bavaria.  She was of the House of Luxembourg.  She was the daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Blanche of Valois.  She died at age 52.

 

757 ~ Pope Stephen II (b. 715).  He was Pope from March 752 until his death 5 years later.  The date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been 43 at the time of his death.

 

499 ~ Emperor Xiaowen (b. Oct. 13, 467), Chinese Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty.  He ruled from September 471 until his death in April 499.  He died at age 31.

April 25

Birthdays:

 

1970 ~ Jason Lee (né Jason Michael Lee), American actor and comedian.  He was born in Santa Ana, California

 

1969 ~ Renée Zellweger (née Renée Kathleen Zellweger), American actress.  She was born in Katy, Texas.

 

1964 ~ Hank Azaria (né Henry Albert Azaria), American actor.  He was born in New York, New York.

 

1949 ~ Dominique Strauss-Kahn (né Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn), French economist.  He was the managing director of the International Monetary Fund from November 2007 until he was forced to resign in May 2011 due to his involvement in many financial and sexual scandals.  He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Seine, France.

 

1946 ~ Talia Shire (né Talia Rose Coppola), American actress.  She is the sister of film director Francis Ford Coppola.  She was born in Lake Success, New York.

 

1944 ~ Len Goodman (né Leonard Gordan Goodman; d. Apr. 22, 2023), British dance judge who charmed two countries. In England, he was a judge for Strictly Come Dancing.  This show inspired the American version, Dancing with the Stars, which he also served as a judge.  He was a professional dancer and dance teacher.  He died of bone cancer 3 days before his 79^th birthday.

 

1940 ~ Al Pacino (né Alfredo James Pacino), American actor.  He was born in New York, New York.

 

1938 ~ Phil Harvey (d. Dec. 2, 2021), American sex mogul who helped the world’s poor.  He was the president of a company called Adam & Eve that specialized in sex toys.  He later founded the charity DKT International that subsidized the sale of contraceptives in developing countries.  He was born in Evanston, Illinois.  He died at age 83 in Bethesda, Maryland.

 

1933 ~ Jerry Leiber (né Jerome Leiber; d. Aug. 22, 2011), American lyricist of the rock ‘n’ roll revolution.  He was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  He died of heart failure at age 78 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1932 ~ Meadowlark Lemon (né Meadow Lemon, III; d. Dec. 27, 2015), American professional basketball player and prankster who led the Harlem Globetrotters.  He was born in Wilmington, North Carolina.  He died at age 83 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

 

1931 ~ Felix Berezin (d. July 14, 1980), Russian mathematician.  He was born in Moscow, Russia.  He drowned at age 49.

 

1930~ Paul Mazursky (né Irwin Lawrence Mazursky; d. June 30, 2014), American film director.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died of cardiac arrest at age 84 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1917 ~ Ella Fitzgerald (née Ella Jane Fitzgerald; d. June 15, 1996), African-American jazz singer.  She was born in Newport News, Virginia.  She died of diabetes at age 79 in Beverly Hills, California.

 

1911 ~ Jack Ruby (né Jacob Leonard Rubenstein; d. Jan. 3, 1967), American assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald.  Ruby shot Oswald while the news cameras were rolling while Oswald was being transported from a prison in Dallas.  Ruby was convicted of murder.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He died in Dallas, Texas of lung cancer at age 55 while still incarcerated.

 

1911 ~ Connie Marrero (né Conrado Eugenio Marrero Ramos; d. Apr. 23, 2014), Cuban baseball pitcher who bamboozled batters.  He played for the Washington Senators.  He died 2 days before his 103^rd birthday.

 

1909 ~ William Pereira (né William Leonard Pereira; d. Nov. 13, 1985), American architect.  He is best known for the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He died of cancer at age 76 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1908 ~ Edward R. Murrow (né Egbert Roscoe Murrow; b. Apr. 27, 1965), American journalist.  He was born in Guilford County, North Carolina.  He died of lung cancer 2 days after his 57^th birthday in Pawling, New York.

 

1906 ~ William Brennan, Jr. (né William Joseph Brennan, Jr.; d. July 24, 1997), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Dwight David Eisenhower.  He replaced Sherman Minton on the Court.  He served on the Court from October 1956 until July 1990.  He was succeeded by David Souter.  He was born in Newark, New Jersey.  He died at age 91 in Arlington, Virginia.

 

1903 ~ Andrey Kolmogorov (né Andrey Nikolayevich Kolmogorov; d. Oct. 20, 1987), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 84 in Moscow, Soviet Union.

 

1900 ~ Wolfgang Pauli (né Wolfgang Ernst Pauli; d. Dec. 15, 1958), Austrian theoretical physicist and recipient of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in quantum physics.  He was born in Vienna, Austria.  He died of pancreatic cancer at age 58 in Zurich, Switzerland.

 

1900 ~ Gladwyn Jebb (né Hubert Miles Gladwyn Jebb, 1^st Baron Gladwynd; d. Oct. 24, 1996), English politician and acting Secretary-General of the United Nations.  He took the job until the appointment of the first Secretary-General.  He was in that position from October 1945 until February 1946.  He died at age 96.

 

1897 ~ Mary, Princess Royal (née Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary; d. Mar. 28, 1965), member of the British royal family.  In 1922 she married Henry Lascelles, 6^th Earl of Harewood (1882 ~ 1947) and became known as the Countess of Harewood.  They had 2 sons.  She was of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1917 when the family became known as Windsor.  She was the 3^rd child and only daughter of George V, King of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck.  She died of a heart attack about a month before her 68^th birthday.

 

1874 ~ Guglielmo Marconi, 1^st Marquis of Marconi (né Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi; d. July 20, 1937), Italian physicist and inventor of the wireless telegraph and radio.  He was the recipient of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was born in Bologna, Kingdom of Italy.  He died at age 63 in Rome, Kingdom of Italy.

 

1873 ~ Walter de la Mare (né Walter John de la Mare; d. June 22, 1956), English poet.  He died at age 83.

 

1849 ~ Felix Klein (né Christian Felix Klein; d. June 22, 1925), German mathematician.  He died at age 76.

 

1843 ~ Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (née Princess Alice Maud Mary; d. Dec. 14, 1878), member of the British royal family.  Upon her marriage to Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1837 ~ 1892) in 1862, she became the Grand Duchess consort of Hesse and by Rhine.  She was his first wife.  They had seven children.  She was of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.  She was the third child and second daughter of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert.  She died of diphtheria at age 35.  She was the first child of Queen Victoria to die.

 

1776 ~ Princess Mary, Duchess consort of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. Apr. 30, 1857), member of the British royal family.  In 1816, at age 40, she married her 1^st cousin, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1776 ~ 1834).  There were no children of their marriage.  She was of the House of Hanover.  She was the 11^th child and 4^th daughter of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.  She died 5 days after her 81^st birthday.

 

1599 ~ Oliver Cromwell (d. Sept. 3, 1658), Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland; British general and politician.  He died at age 59.

 

1284 ~ Edward II, King of England (d. Sept. 21, 1327).  He reigned as King of England from July 1307 until he was deposed on January 20, 1237.  He was also known as Edward of Caernarfon.  He was the Prince of Wales from February 1301 until he acceded to the throne in 1307.  In 1308, he married Princess Isabella of France (1295 ~ 1358).  They had 4 children.  He was of the House of Plantagenet.  He was the 4^th son of Edward I, King of England and Eleanor, Countess of Ponthieu.  He died, or was probably murdered, at age 43.  He had been forced to relinquish his crown and was succeeded by his son, Edward III.

 

1214 ~ Louis IX, King of France (d. Aug. 25, 1270).  He reigned as King of France from November 8, 1226 until his death in August 1270.  He was also known as Saint Louis.  He was crown as King at age 12, following the death of his father, Louis VIII, King of France.  In 1234, he married to Margaret of Provence (1221 ~ 1295).  They had 11 children, two of whom died in infancy.  He was of the House of Capet.  He was the son of Louis VIII, King of France and Infanta Blanche of Castile.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died of dysentery at age 56 while on the Eighth Crusade in Tunis, North Africa.  He was succeeded by his son, Philip III, King of France.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2015 ~ A 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal killing over 9000 people.

 

2014 ~ The Flint, Michigan water crisis began when city officials, in a cost cutting measure, switched the water supply to the Flint River.  The change pumped toxic water into homes.

 

2003 ~ The Human Genome Project was declared completed.

 

1990 ~ Violeta Chamorro (b. 1929) became the first woman President of Nicaragua.  She served as President until January 1997.

 

1988 ~ John Demjanuk (1920 ~ 2012) was sentenced to death in Israel for war crimes committed during World War II. He would ultimately die of old age.

 

1983 ~ Samantha Smith (1972 ~ 1985), a young schoolgirl from Maine, was invited by Yuri Andropov (1914 ~ 1984) to visit the Soviet Union after he read her letter where she expressed her fears about nuclear war.

 

1982 ~ Israel completed its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in accordance with the Camp David Accords.

 

1980 ~ A plane crashed into the side of a mountain in Tenerife, Canary Islands, killing all 146 crew and passengers, most of whom were British tourists.

 

1967 ~ Colorado became the first State in the Union to legalize abortion.

 

1961 ~ Robert Noyce (1927 ~ 1990) was issued a patent for an integrated circuit.

 

1959 ~ The St. Lawrence Seaway, which linked the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, officially opened to shipping.

 

1953 ~ Francis Crick (1916 ~ 2004) and James Watson (b. 1928) published a paper describing the double helix structure of DNA.

 

1916 ~ The United Kingdom declared martial law in Ireland in response to the Easter Rising.

 

1915 ~ The Battle of Gallipoli began with the invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian, British, French and New Zealand troops during World War I.

 

1901 ~ New York State became the first State in the United States to require license plates on automobiles.

 

1898 ~ The United States declared war on Spain, beginning the Spanish-American War.

 

1862 ~ Union Admiral David Farragut (1801 ~ 1870) demanded the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana during the American Civil War.

 

1859 ~ Ground was broken for the Suez Canal by British and French engineers.  It was completed just over 10 years later.

 

1792 ~ The French national anthem, La Marseillaise, was composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760 ~ 1836).

 

1792 ~ Nicholas Pelletier (1756 ~ 1792), a French highwayman, became the first person executed by the guillotine.

 

1719 ~ Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1660 ~ Apr. 24, 1731) was first published.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2023 ~ Harry Balafonte (né Harold George Bellanfanti, Jr.; b. Mar. 1, 1927), African-American actor, musician, and calypso king who fought for civil rights.  He is known as the King of Calypso.  He was born in Harlem, New York.  He died at age 96 in New York, New York.

 

2020 ~ Madeline Kripke (née Madeline Faith Fripke; b. Sept. 9, 1943), American bibliophile who assembled one of the world’s largest collections of dictionaries in her Manhattan apartment.  She had approximately 20,000 volumes that ranged from a Latin dictionary printed in 1502 to a tome of Greenlandic slang.  She was born in New London, Connecticut.  She died at age 76 in Manhattan, New York of Covid-19.

 

2020 ~ Peter J. Brancazio (né Peter John Brancazio; b. Mar. 22, 1939), American physics professor at Brooklyn College. He is best known for using science to debunk sports myths such as the rising fastball (not physically possible), and Michael Jordan’s seemingly endless hang time.  He was born in Astoria, New York.  He died of complications from Covid-19 at age 81 in Flushing, New York.

 

2019 ~ John Havlicek (né John Joseph Havlicek; b. Apr. 8, 1940), American NBA ironman who anchored the Celtics.  He played professional basketball for the Boston Celtics for 16 seasons.  He was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio.  He died of Parkinson’s disease 16 days after his 79^th birthday in Jupiter, Florida.

 

2016 ~ Remo Belli (né Remo Delmo Belli; b. June 22, 1927), American drummer who gave rock ‘n roll its distinctive beat.  He was an American jazz drummer who developed and marketed the first successful synthetic drumheads.  He was born in Mishawka, Indiana.  He died of pneumonia at age 88 in Pasadena, California.

 

2014 ~ Earl Morrall (né Earl Edwin Morrall; b. May 17, 1934), American backup professional football player who played a starring role.  He was born in Muskegon, Michigan.  He died 22 days before his 80^th birthday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

 

2009 ~ Bea Arthur (née Bernice Frankel; b. May 13, 1922), American actress.  She was born in Brooklyn, New York.  She died in Los Angeles, California, just 18 days before her 87^th birthday.

 

2002 ~ Athanasios Papoulis (b. 1921), Greek engineer and applied mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is not known.  He was 80 or 81 at the time of his death.

 

2000 ~ Lucien Le Cam (né Lucien Marie Le Cam; b. Nov. 18, 1924), French mathematician.  He died at age 75.

 

2000 ~ David Merrick (né David Lee Margoulis; b. Nov. 27, 1911), American theater producer.  He was born in St. Louis, Missouri.  He died at age 88 in London, England.

 

1995 ~ Art Fleming (né Arthur Fleming Fazzin; b. May 1, 1925), American television game show host, best known for hosting Jeopardy!  He was born in New York, New York.  He died in Crystal River, Florida of pancreatic cancer 6 days before his 71^st birthday.

 

1995 ~ Ginger Rogers (née Virginia Katherine McMath; b. July 16, 1911), American actress and dancer.  She was born in Independence, Missouri.  She died at age 83 in Rancho Mirage, California.

 

1990 ~ Dexter Gordon (b. Feb. 27, 1923), African-American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader.  He was born in Los Angeles, California.  He died of kidney failure at age 67 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

1976 ~ Markus Reiner (b. Jan. 5, 1886), Austrian-born Israeli civil engineer.  He died at age 90 in Israel.

 

1944 ~ William Stephens (né William Dennison Stephens; b. Dec. 26, 1859), 24^th Governor of California.  He was Governor from March 1917 until January 1923.  He had previously served as a United States Representative from California.  He was born in Eaton, Ohio.  He died at age 84 in Los Angeles.

 

1921 ~ Emmeline B. Wells (née Emmeline Blanche Woodward; b. Feb. 29, 1828), American journalist and women’s rights activist.  She was active in the Church of the Latter Day Saints.  She was married several times.  Her first husband was James Harris.  After he left her, she entered into a plural marriage with Newel Whitney, a man significantly older.  After his death, she became the 7^th wife of Daniel Wells.  She was born in Petersham, Massachusetts.  She died of a stroke in Salt Lake City, Utah at age 93.

 

1919 ~ Augustus D. Juilliard (b. Apr. 19, 1839), American business and philanthropist.  He built the Juilliard School, the conservatory of music, dance, and theater in New York City.  He died 6 days after his 83^rd birthday.

 

1885 ~ Emma, Queen of Hawaii (b. Jan. 2, 1836), Queen consort of Hawaii and wife of Kamehameha IV, King of Hawaii.  She was born and died in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii.  She died at age 49.

 

1878 ~ Anna Sewell (b. Mar. 30, 1820), English novelist, who is best known for her novel, Black Beauty.  She died of tuberculosis just 26 days before her 59^th birthday.

 

1875 ~ 12^th Dalai Lama (né Trinley Gyatso; b. Jan. 26, 1857).  He died of a mysterious illness at age 18.

 

1853 ~ William Beaumont (b. Nov. 21, 1785), American surgeon in the United States Army.  He is considered the Father of Gastric Physiology for his research on human digestion.  He was born in Lebanon, Connecticut.  He died at age 67 in St. Louis, Missouri following a fall on ice-covered steps.

 

1840 ~ Baron Siméon Denis Poisson (b. June 21, 1781), French mathematician.  His name is one of 72 inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.  He died at age 58.

 

1744 ~ Anders Celsius (b. Nov. 27, 1701), Swedish astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He is best known for the Celsius thermometer, which bears his name.  He was born and died in Uppsala, Sweden.  He died of tuberculosis at age 42.

 

1644 ~ Chongzhen Emperor (b. Feb. 6, 1611), 17^th and last Chinese Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.  He ruled from October 1627 until his death 1644.  He died by suicide at age 33 during a peasant rebellion.

 

1604 ~ Pietro de’Medici (b. June 3, 1554), Italian nobleman.  He married his 1^st cousin, Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo (1553 ~ 1576), whom he later accused of adultery.  He strangled his wife with a dog leash in July 1576.  He later married Beatriz de Lara.  He was the youngest son of Cosimo I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo.  He died deeply in debt at age 49.

 

1595 ~ Torquato Tasso (b. Mar. 11, 1544), Italian poet.  He is best known for his poems depicting imaginative combats between Christians and Muslims during the Crusades.  He died at age 51 in Rome, Italy.

 

1566 ~ Diane de Poitiers (b. Jan. 9, 1500), French noblewoman and royal mistress of Henry II, King of France.  At age 15, she was married to Louis the Brézé (1460 ~ 1531),  the grandson of Charles VII, King of France.  Her husband was 39 years older.  They had 2 daughters.  After her husband’s death, she became the chief mistress to Henry II, where she was able to wield considerable influence.  She died at age 66, possible from injuries suffered from a fall from a horse 2 years earlier.

 

1342 ~ Pope Benedict XII (né Jacques Fournier; b. 1280).  He was Pope from December 1334 until his death on this date just over 7 years later.  He is best known for reforming monastic orders and opposing nepotism.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

 

1295 ~ Sancho IV, King of Castile and León (b. May 12, 1258).  He was King from April 4, 1284 until his death 11 years later.  He was known as Sancho the Brave.  In 1282, he married María de Molina (1265 ~ 1321).  They had 7 children.  He also had 3 illegitimate children.  He was of the Castilian House of Ivrea.  He was the son of Alfonso X, King of Castile and Violant of Aragon.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died of an illness, probably tuberculosis, at age 36.  He was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand IV, King of Castile.

 

1196 ~ Alfonso, King of Aragon (b. Mar. 1157).  He ruled over Aragon from July 1164 until his death 32 years later.  He was known as Alfonso the Chaste.  In 1174, he married Infanta Sancha of Castile (1154 ~ 1208).  They were the parents of Peter II, King of Aragon.  He was of the House of Barcelona.  He was the son of Ramon Bereguer IV, Count of Barcelona and Petronilla, Queen of Aragon.  He was Roman Catholic.  The exact date of his birth is not known.  He died at age 39.

 

1074 ~ Géza I, King of Hungary (b. 1040).  He was King from 1074 until his death in April 1077, although his right to the throne was contested by his cousin Solomon.  He was married twice.  He married is first wife Sophia of Loon (1040s ~ 1075) in the late 1060s.  Little is known of her although they had several children, none of whom reach adulthood.  His second wife was Synadene, a Byzantine Greek woman.  He had may have had several children, but it is unknown which wife was the mother of his children.  He was of the House of Árpád.  He was the oldest son of Béla I, King of Hungary and Richeza (also known as Adelaide) of Poland.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died at about age 36 or 37. 

April 24

Birthdays:

 

1952 ~ Jean-Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer.  He was born in France.

 

1948 ~ Paul Cellucci (né Argeo Paul Cellucci; d. June 8, 2013), 69^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He was Governor from April 2001 until March 2005.  He was born and died in Hudson, Massachusetts.  He died of ALS at age 65.

 

1947 ~ Roger Kornberg (né Roger David Kornberg), American chemist and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

1942 ~ Richard Daley (né Richard Michael Daley), 54^th Mayor of Chicago.  He served as Mayor from April 1989 until May 2011.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1942 ~ Barbra Streisand (née Barbara Joan Streisand), American singer.  She was born in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1941 ~ Richard Holbrooke (né Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke; d. Dec. 13, 2010), American diplomat and 22^ndAmbassador to the United Nations.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died in Washington, D.C., at age 69 from complications of a torn aorta.

 

1940 ~ Sue Grafton (née Sue Taylor Grafton; d. Dec. 28, 2017), American crime writer who went from A to Y.  In the early 1980s she began writing about Kinsey Milhone, a private investigator, in the book A is for Alibi.  She continued the series through the letter Y before dying of cancer at age 77.  She was born in Louisville, Kentucky.  She died in Santa Barbara, California.

 

1936 ~ Jill Ireland (née Jill Dorothy Ireland; d. May 18, 1990), British actress.  She was born in London, England.  She died of breast cancer 24 days after her 54^th birthday in Malibu, California.

 

1934 ~ Shirley MacLaine (née Shirley MacLean Beaty), American actress.  Her brother is actor Warren Beatty.  She was born in Richmond, Virginia.

 

1933 ~ Patricia Bosworth (née Patricia Crum; d. Apr. 2, 2020), American actress, biographer, and memoirist.  She was born in Oakland, California.  She died in New York, New York 22 days before her 87^th birthday of complications of Covid-19.

 

1930 ~ Richard Donner (né Richard Donald Schwartzberg; d. July 5, 2021), American prolific Hollywood film director who brought Superman to the big screen.  He also directed such popular movies as The Omen and Lethal Weapon.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 91 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1924 ~ Sir Clement Freud (né Clement Raphael Freud; d. Apr. 15, 2009), British bon vivant and broadcaster.  He was the grandson of Sigmund Freud and brother of Lucian Freud.  He was born in Berlin, Weimar Germany.  He died 9 days before his 85^th birthday in London, England.

 

1921 ~ Louis Lenart (né Layos Lenovitz; d. July 20, 2015), Hungarian-born Israeli fighter pilot who saved Tel Aviv during the 1948 war.  He died in Israel at age 94.

 

1919 ~ David Blackwell (né David Harold Blackwell; d. July 8, 2010), American mathematician.  He was the first African-American inducted into the National Academy of Science.  He was born in Centralia, Illinois.  He died in Berkley, California at age 91.

 

1914 ~ Justin E. Wilson (d. Sept. 5, 2001), American Cajun chef and humorist.  He was born in Roseland, Louisiana He died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at age 87.

 

1905 ~ Robert Penn Warren (d. Sept. 15, 1989), Southern American novelist, best known for All the King’s Men, which is a fictional account of Louisiana’s Huey P. Long.  He was born in Guthrie, Kentucky.  He died at age 84 in Stratton, Vermont.

 

1904 ~ Willem de Kooning (d. Mar. 19, 1997), Dutch artist and painter.  He was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands.  He died just over a month before his 93^rd birthday in East Hampton, New York.

 

1899 ~ Oscar Zariski (d. July 4, 1986), Russian-born mathematician.  He died in Brookline, Massachusetts at age 87.

 

1897 ~ Manuel Ávila Camacho (d. Oct. 13, 1955), President of Mexico.  He served as President from December 1940 until November 1946.  He died at age 58.

 

1880 ~ Gideon Sundbäck (né Otto Fredrik Gideon Sundbäck; d. June 21, 1954), Swedish-American engineer and inventor of the zipper.  He died at age 74 in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

 

1862 ~ A.C. Benson (né Arthur Christopher Benson; d. June 17, 1925), British essayist, poet, and author.  He died at age 63 in Cambridge, England.

 

1856 ~ Philippe Pétain (né Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain; d. July 23, 1951), Prime Minister of France.  He was considered a Nazi collaborator.  After World War II, he was tried and convicted of treason.  He was sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment. He died at age 95.

 

1845 ~ Carl Spitteler (né Carl Friedrich George Spitteler; d. Dec. 29, 1924), Swiss poet and recipient of the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 79.

 

1815 ~ Anthony Trollope (d. Dec. 6, 1882), English novelist.  He was born and died in London, England.  He died at age 67.

 

1784 ~ Peter Vivian Daniel (d. May 31, 1860), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Martin Van Buren.  He replaced Philip Barbour on the Court.  He was succeeded by Samuel Miller.  He served on the Court from March 1841 until his death in May 19 years later.  He was born in Stafford County, Virginia.  He died in Richmond, Virginia.  He was 76 years old.

 

1743 ~ Edmund Cartwright (d. Oct. 30, 1823), English clergyman and inventor of the power loom.  He died at age 80.

 

1608 ~ Gaston, Duke of Orléans (d. Feb. 2, 1660), member of the French royal family.  He was married twice.  His first wife was Marie de Bourbon (1605 ~ 1627).  They married in 1626.  She died a year later, shortly after giving birth to a daughter.  After her death, he married Marguerite of Lorraine (1615 ~ 1672).  They had married in secret.  When Gaston’s brother, Louis XIII, King of France learned of the marriage, he had the marriage annulled.  They remarried in 1643 when the king, on his deathbed, finally approved of the marriage.  Gaston was of the House of Bourbon.  He was the third son of Henry IV, King of France and Marie de’Medici.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died at age 51.

 

1581 ~ Vincent de Paul (d. Sept. 27, 1660), French saint who dedicated his life to tending the poor.  Numerous Catholic charities still use his name.  He died at age 79 in Paris, France.

 

1533 ~ William I, Prince of Orange (d. July 10, 1584).  He was also known as William the Silent.  He was instrumental in the creation of the country of the Netherlands.  He was married several times.  His first wife was Anna van Egmond (1533 ~ 1558).  They married in 1551.  After her death, he married Anna of Saxony (1544 ~ 1577).  They married in 1561 and divorced after 10 years of marriage.  His third wife was Charlotte of Bourbon (1540s ~ 1582).  They married in 1575.  After her death, he married Louise de Coligny (1555 ~ 1620) in 1583.  He was of the House of Orange.  He was the son of William, Count of Nassau and Juliana of Stolberg-Werningerode.  He was assassinated at age 51.

 

1086 ~ Ramiro II, King of Aragon (d. Aug. 16, 1157).  He ruled over Aragon from 1134 until 1157, however, he was king in name only for the last 20 years of his life.  He married Agnes of Aquitaine (d. 1159).  His reign was tumultuous.  In 1137, he ceded the throne to his daughter, Petronilla so he could return to the monastery.  He was a monk and was known as Ramiro the Monk.  He was of the House of Jiménez.  He was the son of Sancho Ramírez, King of Aragon and Felicia of Roucy.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died at age 71.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2023 ~ Fox New terminated its employment with Tucker Carlson (b. 1969), a conservative political commentator.

 

2005 ~ Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (1927 ~ 2022) was inaugurated as the 265^th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.  From hence forth, he was known as Pope Benedict XVI.  He resigned in February 2013.

 

1990 ~ NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope.

 

1967 ~ Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov (1927 ~ 1967) died in when the parachute on the Soyuz I capsule failed to open upon the entry to Earth.  He became the first known human to die during a space mission.

 

1957 ~ The Suez Canal, which had been closed during the Suez Canal Crisis, was reopened on orders of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF).

 

1953 ~ Winston Churchill (1874 ~ 1965) was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II (1926 ~ 2022).

 

1933 ~ Nazi Germany began its persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

 

1923 ~ Sigmund Freud’s paper The Ego and the Id, which outlined his theories of the id, the ego and the super-ego, was published in Vienna.

 

1916 ~ The Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization of Irish nationals, led by Patrick Pearse (1789 ~ 1816), James Connolly (1868 ~ 1916) and Joseph Plunkett (1887 ~ 1916), began a rebellion in Ireland against British rule.  This occurred on Easter Monday and became known as the Easter Rising.  Following the uprising the 15 of the leaders were executed for their participation in the uprising.

 

1915 ~ The beginning of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey began with the arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders.

 

1913 ~ The Woolworth Building opened in New York City.  At the time, it was the tallest building in the world and was considered a skyscraper.  It stood 792 feet in height.

 

1885 ~ Annie Oakley (1860 ~ 1926) joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show.

 

1863 ~ The United States Army issued General Orders No. 100, which outlined a code of conduct for Federal soldiers and officers when dealing with Confederate prisoners and civilians.  It was considered many years later in the Geneva Convention.

 

1800 ~ The American Library of Congress was established when President John Adams (1835 ~ 1826) signed legislation appropriated funds to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.”

 

1704 ~ The first regular newspaper, the Boston News-Letter, in the United States was published in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1558 ~ Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 ~ 1587) married François, Dauphon of France (1544 ~ 1560).

 

1184 BCE ~ The traditional date for the fall of Troy.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2017 ~ Nicholas Sand (né Nicholas Francis Hiskey; b. May 10; 1941), American chemist who spread the gospel of LSD.  He was a strong advocate for using LSD throughout his life.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died 16 days before his 76^th birthday in Lagunitas, California.

 

2017 ~ Robert Pirsig (né Robert Maynard Pirsig; b. Sept. 6, 1928), American author who philosophized about the open road.  He is best known for his first novel, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He died at age 88 in South Berwick, Maine.

 

2016 ~ Tommy Kono (né Tamio Kono; b. June 27, 1930), Japanese-American weight lifter who was raised in an internment camp during World War II.  He was born in Sacramento, California.  He died at age 85 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

 

2012 ~ George Vujnovich (né George Mane Vujnovich; b. May 31, 1915), American mastermind of a daring World War II rescue.  He is known for organizing Operation Halyard, which rescued over 500 downed Allied airmen from Serbia in August 1944.  He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 96 in New York, New York.

 

2010 ~ W. Willard Wirtz (né William Willard Wirtz, Jr.; b. Mar. 14, 1912), 10^th United States Secretary of Labor.  He served under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from September 1962 until January 1969.  He was born in DeKalb, Illinois.  He died at age 98 in Washington, D.C.

 

2007 ~ Warren Avis (né Warren Edward Avis; b. Aug. 4, 1915), American businessman and founder of Avis Rent-a-Car.  He was born in Bay City, Michigan.  He died at age 91 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

 

2006 ~ Moshe Teitelbaum (b. Nov. 1, 1914), Romanian-American rabbi and leader of Satmar Hasidim.  He died at age 91 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.

 

2005 ~ Ezer Weizman (b. June 15, 1924), 7^th President of Israel.  He served in that Office from May 1993 until July 2000.  He was born in Tel Aviv before the creation of the State of Israel.  He died of respiratory failure at age 80 in Caesarea, Israel.

 

2004 ~ Estée Lauder (née Josephine Esther Mentzer; b. July 1, 1906), American cosmetics entrepreneur and founder of Estée Lauder Cosmetics Company.  She was born and died in New York, New York.  She died at age 97.

 

1997 ~ Pat Paulsen (né Patrick Layton Paulsen; b. July 6, 1927), American comedian and sometimes politician.  He was born in South Bend, Washington.  He died of cancer at age 69 in Tijuana, Mexico.

 

1986 ~ Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (née Bessie Wallis Warfield, b. June 19, 1896), American wife of Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly Edward VIII, King of England (1894 ~ 1972), who gave up the throne of England to become her third husband.  They married in 1937.  Upon her marriage, she became known as the Duchess of Windsor.  Her first husband, whom she married in 1916, was Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr. (1888 ~ 1950).  She was his first wife.  They divorced in 1927.  Her second husband was Ernest Simpson (1897 ~ 1958).  She was his second wife.  They divorced in 1937 so she could marry into the British royal family.  She was born in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania.  She died at age 89 in Paris, France.

 

1974 ~ Bud Abbott (né William Alexander Abbott; b. Oct. 2, 1895), American comedian and half of the comedy team Abbot and Costello.  He was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey.  He died of cancer at age 76 in Woodland Hills, California.

 

1964 ~ Gerhard Domagk (né Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk; b. Oct. 30, 1895), German bacteriologist and recipient of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in antibiotics.  The Nazis forced him to refuse to accept the Nobel Prize.  In 1947, he was finally able to accept the medal, however, he due to the lapse in time, he was unable to receive the monetary award.  He died of a heart attack at age 68.

 

1960 ~ Max von Laue (b. Oct. 9, 1879), German physicist and recipient of the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals.  He died at age 80 in West Berlin, West Germany.

 

1955 ~ Alfred Polgar (b. Oct. 17, 1873), Austrian-born journalist and drama critic.  He left Austria in 1938 and moved to Hollywood.  He was born in Vienna, Austria.  He died at age 82 in Zürich, Switzerland.

 

1947 ~ Willa Cather (née Wilella Sibert Cather; b. Dec. 7, 1873), American novelist.  She is best known for her novels of the American frontier, such as O Pioneers! and My Ántonia.  She was born in Gore, Virginia.  She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 73 in New York, New York.

 

1942 ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery (b. Nov. 30, 1874), Canadian author, best known for Anne of Green Gables.  She was born in Clifton, Prince Edward, Canada.  She died at age 67 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 

1933 ~ Felix Adler (b. Aug. 13, 1851), German-born American educator and social reformer.  He was born in Alzey, Germany.  He died at age 81 in New York, New York.

 

1779 ~ Eleazar Wheelock (b. Apr. 22, 1711), American Congregational minister and educator.  He was the founder and first president of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.  He was born in Windham, Connecticut Colony, British America.  He died 2 days after his 68^th birthday in Hanover, New Hampshire.

 

1731 ~ Daniel Defoe (né Daniel Foe; b. Sept. 13, 1660), English writer, best known for his novel, Robinson Crusoe.  He died at about age 71.  The exact date of his birth is unknown; but is believed to have been September 13, 1660.  He was born and died in London, England.

 

1656 ~ Thomas Fincke (b. Jan. 6, 1561), Danish mathematician and physicist.  He died at age 95.

 

1580 ~ Philippine Weiser (b. 1527), morganatic wife of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria (1529 ~ 1595).  She was his first wife.  They married in secret 1557.  They had several children, but because she was not of royal blood, their children were not entitled to an inheritance.  She was of the Noble of Weiser.  She was the daughter of Franz Weiser and Anna Adler.  The exact date of her birth is not known.  She died at about age 52 or 53.