Birthdays:
1964 ~ Robert Wilson, Irish writer and novelist. He was born in Waco, Texas.
1968 ~ Mitch Hedberg (né Mitchell Lee Hedberg; d. Mar. 30, 2005), American stand-up comedian. He died at age 37 of a drug overdose.
1967 ~ Brian Schmidt (né Brian Paul Schmidt), Australian astrophysicist and recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. He has dual citizenship in both Australia and the United States. He was born in Missoula, Montana.
1965 ~ Jane Swift (née Jane Maria Swift), Governor of Massachusetts. She served as Acting Governor from 2001 to 2003. She began her tenure as governor at age 36, making her the youngest female governor in the United States. She stepped into this Office when the governor, Paul Cellucci, was appointed United States Ambassador to Canada. She was born in North Adams, Massachusetts.
1956 ~ Paula Zahn (né Paula Ann Zahn), American journalist. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska.
1955 ~ Steve Jobs (né Steven Paul Jobs; d. Oct. 5, 2011), American visionary who transformed modern technology. He was a co-founder of Apple, Inc. He died of pancreatic cancer at age 56.
1950 ~ George Thorogood (né George Lawrence Thorogood), American singer and guitarist. He was born in Wilmington, Delaware.
1947 ~ Edward James Olmos, American actor. He was born in East Los Angeles, California.
1946 ~ Grigory Margulis, Russian-born American mathematician. He is best known for his work on lattices in Lie groups. He was born in Moscow, Russia.
1945 ~ Barry Bostwick (né Barry Knapp Bostwick), American actor, best known for his role as Brad in Rocky Horror Picture Show. He was born in San Mateo, California.
1942 ~ Joe Lieberman (né Joseph Isadore Lieberman), American United States Senator from Connecticut. He was the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee in the 2000 election, running with potential Presidential candidate Al Gore. He was born in Stanford, Connecticut.
1932 ~ John Vernon (né Adolphus Raymondus Vernon, d. Feb. 1, 2005), Canadian classically trained actor who found fame as Dean Wormer in the movie Animal House. He died 23 days before his 73rd birthday of complications following heart surgery.
1932 ~ Zell Miller (né Zell Bryan Miller, d. Mar. 23, 2018), American Georgia United States Senator who bucked the Democratic party. In 2004, he supported George W. Bush for President. He died a month after his 86th birthday.
1932 ~ Michel Legrand (né Michel Jean Legrand; d. Jan. 26, 2019), French prolific composer and jazz pianist who wrote hit soundtracks. He composed scores of music for over 200 films and television shows. He died a month before his 87th birthday.
1925 ~ Bud Day (né George Everette Day; d. July 27, 2013), American war hero who was imprisoned in Vietnam for five years. He was a Colonel in the United States Air Force and served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He died in Fort Walton Beach, Florida at age 88.
1924 ~ Simcha Rotem (né Szymon Rathajzer; d. Dec. 22, 2018), Polish-Israeli veteran. He was the last survivor of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising during World War II. He died in Jerusalem at age 94.
1923 ~ Samuel Glazer (né Samuel Lewis Glazer; d. Mar. 12, 2012), American businessman and founder of Mr. Coffee. He died of leukemia 16 days after his 89th birthday.
1922 ~ Steven Hill (né Solomon Krakovsky; d. Aug. 23, 2016), American actor. He is best known for his role as Adam Schiff, District Attorney on Law and Order. He died at age 94.
1921 ~ Abe Vigoda (né Abraham Charles Vigoda, d. Jan. 26, 2016), American actor. He died about a month before his 95th birthday.
1908 ~ Telford Taylor (d. May 23, 1998), American attorney best known for his role in the Counsel for the Prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials and his opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare. He died at age 90.
1885 ~ Chester W. Nimitz, Sr. (né Chester William Nimitz; d. Feb. 20, 1966), American admiral. He was a leading authority on submarines. He died 4 days before his 81st birthday.
1874 ~ Honus Wagner (né Johannas Peter Wagner, d. Dec. 6, 1955), American baseball player. He played for the Pittsburg Pirates nearly his entire career. He died at age 81.
1836 ~ Winslow Homer (d. Sept. 29, 1910), American illustrator and painter. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Prouts Neck, Maine. He was 74 years old at the time of his death.
1786 ~ Wilhelm Grimm (né Wilhelm Carl Grimm; d. Dec. 16, 1859), German writer and folklorist who, along with his brother, Jacob (1785 ~ 1863), collected folk and fairy tales. He died at age 73.
1774 ~ Prince Adolphus (d. July 8, 1850), Duke of Cambridge, 10th child and 7th son of King George III of England and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He died at age 76.
1722 ~ General John Burgoyne (d. Aug. 4, 1792), British General who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He died at age 70.
1557 ~ Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (d. Mar. 20, 1619). He reigned as Holy Roman Emperor from June 1612 until March 20, 1619. He also reigned as the King of Bohemia from March 1611 until May 1617. He died about a month after his 62nd birthday.
1545 ~ John of Austria (d. Oct. 1, 1578), illegitimate son of Charles V and his mistress Barbara Blomberg. He was born on his father’s 45 birthday. Soon after his birth, he was taken from his mother and raised in the family of Charles V. He died of fever at age 31.
1536 ~ Pope Clement VIII (né Ippolito Aldobrandini; d. Mar. 3, 1605). He was Pope from February 1592 until his death 13 years later. He died a week after his 69th birthday.
1500 ~ Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. Sept. 21, 1558). He ruled both Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. He died at age 58.
1122 ~ Wanyan Liang (d. Dec. 15, 1161), 4th Emperor of the Jin Dynasty. He ruled from January 1150 until his assassination 11 years later. He died at age 39.
Events that Changed the World:
2008 ~ Fidel Castro (1926 ~ 2016) retired as President of Cuba after ruling for nearly 50 years.
1989 ~ United Airlines Flight 811 ripped open during a flight between Honolulu, Hawaii and New Zealand. Nine passengers were blown out of the business-class section of the plane.
1989 ~ The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902 ~ 1989) offered a $3M bounty for the death of Salman Rushdie (b. 1947) after his book, The Satanic Verses, was published.
1981 ~ A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Athens, Greece. Over 20 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured.
1980 ~ The United State Olympic Hockey team defeated Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal in completing the “Miracle on Ice”.
1920 ~ American-born Nancy Astor (1878 ~ 1964) became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election to Parliament in November 1919.
1920 ~ The Nazi party was founded.
1918 ~ Estonia declared its Independence.
1868 ~ Andrew Johnson (1808 ~ 1875) became the first United States President to be impeached by the House of Representatives. He was impeached for allegedly intentionally violating the Tenure of Office Act. He was ultimately acquitted in the Senate.
1854 ~ The British stamp, the Penny Red, became the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution and use.
1803 ~ The United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review. Chief Justice John Marshall authored the decision.
1711 ~ Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel (1685 ~ 1759), the first Italian opera written for the London stage, premiered in London.
1582 ~ Pope Gregory XIII (1502 ~ 1583) announced the usage of the Gregorian calendar. The rationale for the reform was to bring the date for the Easter celebration to coincide with the time of year that the First Council of Nicaea had agreed upon in 325. Easter celebration was tied to the spring equinox, hence the drift of the date for Easter under the Julian calendar cause problems for the Roman Catholic Church. The first countries to adopt the Gregorian calendar were the Catholic countries. The Gregorian calendar was adopted over the next few centuries by Protestant and Eastern Orthodox countries. In 1923, Greece became the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar.
Good-Byes:
2018 ~ Kalman Aron (b. Sept. 14, 1923), Latvian-born artist who drew to survive the Holocaust. He began drawing at age 3 and at age 13, he had painted the official portrait of the Latvian prime minister. He died at age 94.
2016 ~ George C. Nichopoulos (né George Constantine Nichopoulos; b. Oct. 29, 1927), American doctor who enabled Elvis Presley’s drug habit. His medical license was revoked in 1993. He died at age 88.
2015 ~ Bertrice Small (b. Dec. 9, 1937), American novelist who sexed up romantic fiction. She died at age 77.
2014 ~ Harold Ramis (né Harold Allen Ramis; b. Nov. 21, 1944), American filmmaker who made comedy smart. He died at age 69.
2013 ~ Frank Polozola (né Frank Joseph Polozola; b. Jan. 15, 1942) American Federal District Court Judge in the Middle District of Louisiana. He was born and died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He died just over a month after his 71st birthday.
2012 ~ Jan Berenstain (née Janice Marian Grant; b. July 26, 1923), American author, who along with her husband Stan Berenstain (1923 ~ 2005), wrote and illustrated the children’s book series, The Berenstain Bears. Jan died at age 88; Stan died at age 82.
2012 ~ Erland Josephson (b. June 15, 1923), Swedish actor who stood for Ingmar Bergman. He and Bergman collaborated on more than 40 plays and films over 60 years. In Bergman’s films, he often became something of a Bergman surrogate and a thinly veiled stand-in for the director in many of the movies. He died at age 88.
2006 ~ Octavia Butler (née Octavia Estelle Butler; b. June 22, 1947), African-American science fiction writer. She was the first science fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. She died at age 58.
2006 ~ Don Knotts (né Jesse Donald Knotts; b. July 21, 1924), American actor best known for his role as Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show. He died of lung cancer at age 81.
2006 ~ Dennis Weaver (né William Dennis Weaver; b. June 4, 1924), American actor. He died of cancer at age 81.
2001 ~ Claude Shannon (né Claude Elwood Shannon; b. Apr. 30, 1916), American mathematician and engineer. He died in Medford, Massachusetts at age 84.
1999 ~ Andre Dubus (né Andre Jules Dubus, III; b. Aug. 11, 1936), American writer who was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana. His son, Andre Dubus, III, is the author of the novel, House of Sand and Fog. Andre Dubus, II died of a heart attack at age 62 in Havehill, Massachusetts.
1998 ~ Henny Youngman (né Henry Youngman; b. Mar. 16, 1906), English-born American comedian, best known for his one-liners. He died less than 3 weeks before his 91st birthday.
1994 ~ Dinah Shore (née Francis Rose Shore; b. Feb. 29, 1916), American actress and singer. She was a leapling and died of ovarian cancer 5 days before her 78th birthday.
1991 ~ George Goebel (né George Leslie Goebel, b. May 20, 1919), American actor and panelist on Hollywood Squares. He died following heart surgery at age 71.
1990 ~ Malcolm Forbes (né Malcolm Stevenson Forbes; b. Aug. 19, 1919), American publisher and businessman. He died of a heart attack at age 70.
1988 ~ James Douglas, Jr. (né James Henderson Douglas, Jr.; b. Mar. 11, 1899), 5th Secretary of the Air Force. He served in this position under President Dwight David Eisenhower from May 1957 until December 1959. He died 15 days before his 89th birthday.
1925 ~ Hjalmar Branting (né Karl Hjalmar Branting; b. Nov. 23, 1860), Swedish diplomat and 16th Prime Minister of Sweden. He was the recipient of the 1921 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the League of Nations. He died at age 64.
1914 ~ Joshua Chamberlain (né Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain; b. Sept. 8, 1828), 32nd Governor of Maine. He served as Governor from January 1867 until January 1871. Following his term as Governor, he served as the 6thPresident of Bowdoin College. He was born in Brewer, Maine. He died at age 85 in Portland, Maine.
1856 ~ Nikolai Lobachevsky (b. Dec. 1, 1792), Russian mathematician. He is best known for his work on hyperbolic geometry. He died at age 63.
1815 ~ Robert Fulton (b. Nov. 14, 1765), American inventor and engineer who created the first successful steam ship. He died of consumption at age 49.
1812 ~ Étienne-Louis Malus (b. July 23, 1775), French physicist and mathematician. He participated in Napoleon’s expedition into Egypt. His name is one of 72 that is inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. He died at age 36.
1810 ~ Henry Cavendish (b. Oct. 10, 1731), English chemist. He died at age 78.
1799 ~ Georg C. Lichtenberg (né Georg Christoph Lichtenberg; b. July 1, 1742), German physicist and satirist. He died at age 56 following a short illness.
1777 ~ Joseph I of Portugal (b. June 6, 1714), King of Portugal from July 1750 until his death 27 years later. He died at age 62.
616 ~ Æthelbert of Kent (b. 550). He was the King of Kent from about 589 until his death in February 616. The date of his birth is not known.
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