EVENTS OF THIS DAY IN THE PAST 3/7

[edit]

• 324 – Battle of Adrianople: Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium.
• 987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Revolution in 1792.
• 1035 – William the Conqueror becomes the Duke of Normandy, reigns until 1087.
• 1608 – Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.
• 1754 – French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
• 1767 – Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.
• 1767 – Norway's oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded and the first edition is published.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces kill 360 people in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
• 1819 – The Bank of Savings in New York City, the first savings bank in the United States, opens.
• 1839 – The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today's Framingham State College, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with three students.
• 1844 – The last pair of great auks is killed.
• 1848 – Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) by Peter von Scholten in the culmination of a year-long plot by enslaved Africans.
• 1849 – The French enter Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification.
• 1852 – Congress establishes the United States' 2nd mint in San Francisco.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett's Charge.
• 1866 – Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
• 1884 – Dow Jones and Company publishes its first stock average.
• 1886 – Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen: The first purpose-built automobile.
• 1886 – The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
• 1890 – Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
• 1898 – Spanish–American War: The Spanish fleet, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, is destroyed by the U.S. Navy in Santiago, Cuba.
• 1913 – Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors.
• 1938 – World speed record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 125.88 miles per hour (202.58 km/h).
• 1938 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield.
• 1940 – World War II: In order to stop the ships from falling into German hands the French fleet of the Atlantic based at Mers El Kébir, is bombarded by the British fleet, coming from Gibraltar, causing the loss of three battleships: Dunkerque, Provence and Bretagne. One thousand two hundred sailors perish.
• 1944 – World War II: Minsk is liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.
• 1952 – The Constitution of Puerto Rico is approved by the Congress of the United States.
• 1952 – The SS United States sets sail on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During the voyage, the ship takes the Blue Riband away from the RMS Queen Mary.
• 1967 – The Aden Emergency: The Battle of the Crater in which the British Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders retake the Crater district following the Arab Police Mutiny.
• 1969 – Space Race: The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N-1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad.
• 1970 – The Troubles: The "Falls Curfew" begins in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
• 1979 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
• 1988 – United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
• 1988 – The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus.
• 1995 – Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party wins the general elections and is restored to power after being in opposition for 15 years.
• 1996 – Stone of Scone is returned to Scotland.
• 2013 – Egyptian coup d'état: President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi is overthrown by the military after four days of protests all over the country calling for Morsi's resignation, to which he didn't respond. President of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt Adly Mansour is declared acting president.

Births[edit]

• 1423 – Louis XI of France (d. 1483)
• 1442 – Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1500)
• 1518 – Li Shizhen, Chinese physician and mineralogist (d. 1593)
• 1530 – Claude Fauchet, French historian (d. 1601)
• 1550 – Jacobus Gallus, Slovenian composer (d. 1591)
• 1590 – Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana, Italian singer, organist, and composer (d. 1662)
• 1676 – Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1747)
• 1685 – Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, English field marshal and politician (d. 1768)
• 1728 – Robert Adam, Scottish architect, designed Culzean Castle (d. 1792)
• 1738 – John Singleton Copley, American-English painter (d. 1815)
• 1743 – Sophia Magdalena of Denmark (d. 1813)
• 1789 – Johann Friedrich Overbeck, German-Italian painter and engraver (d. 1869)
• 1846 – Achilles Alferaki, Russian composer and politician, Governor of Taganrog (d. 1919)
• 1851 – Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer (d. 1930)
• 1854 – Leoš Janáček, Czech composer and theorist (d. 1928)
• 1860 – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American sociologist and author (d. 1935)
• 1866 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (d. 1906)
• 1869 – Svend Kornbeck, Danish actor (d. 1933)
• 1870 – R. B. Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1947)
• 1874 – Jean Collas, French rugby player and tug of war competitor (d. 1928)
• 1875 – Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon and academic (d. 1951)
• 1876 – Ralph Barton Perry, American philosopher and academic (d. 1957)
• 1878 – George M. Cohan, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1942)
• 1879 – Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American mathematician, linguist, and philosopher (d. 1950)
• 1880 – Carl Schuricht, Polish-German conductor (d. 1967)
• 1883 – Franz Kafka, Czech-Austrian author (d. 1924)
• 1886 – Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Philippines (d. 1969)
• 1888 – Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1963)
• 1893 – Sándor Bortnyik, Hungarian painter and graphic designer (d. 1976)
• 1893 – Mississippi John Hurt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1966)
• 1896 – Doris Lloyd, English actress (d. 1968)
• 1900 – Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
• 1901 – Ruth Crawford Seeger, American composer (d. 1953)
• 1903 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1992)
• 1905 – Johnny Gibson, American hurdler and coach (d. 2006)
• 1906 – Jack Earle, American actor (d. 1952)
• 1906 – George Sanders, Russian-English actor and singer (d. 1972)
• 1908 – M. F. K. Fisher, American author (d. 1992)
• 1908 – Robert B. Meyner, American politician, 44th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1990)
• 1910 – Fritz Kasparek, Austrian mountaineer (d. 1954)
• 1911 – Allen Brown, Australian public servant (d. 1999)
• 1913 – Dorothy Kilgallen, American journalist, actress, and author (d. 1965)
• 1916 – John Kundla, American basketball player and coach
• 1917 – João Saldanha, Brazilian footballer, manager, and journalist (d. 1990)
• 1918 – S. V. Ranga Rao, Indian actor, director, and producer (d. 1974)
• 1919 – Gerald W. Thomas, American soldier and academic (d. 2013)
• 1920 – Eddy Paape, Belgian comics artist (d. 2012)
• 1920 – Paul O'Dea, American baseball player and manager (d. 1978)
• 1921 – Susan Peters, American actress (d. 1952)
• 1921 – François Reichenbach, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1993)
• 1922 – Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, Belgian painter and sculptor (d. 2010)
• 1924 – S. R. Nathan, Singaporean politician, 6th president of Singapore
• 1926 – Johnny Coles, American trumpet player (d. 1997)
• 1927 – Ken Russell, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2011)
• 1928 – Evelyn Anthony, English author
• 1928 – Roger Horchow, American producer and publisher
• 1929 – Clément Perron, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
• 1929 – Béatrice Picard, Canadian actress
• 1930 – Pete Fountain, American clarinet player
• 1930 – Carlos Kleiber, German-Austrian conductor (d. 2004)
• 1930 – Tommy Tedesco, American guitarist (d. 1997)
• 1931 – Frits Helmuth, Danish actor (d. 2004)
• 1932 – Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (d. 2014)
• 1933 – Edward Brandt, Jr., American physician and mathematician (d. 2007)
• 1935 – Cheo Feliciano, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter (Fania All-Stars) (d. 2014)
• 1935 – Harrison Schmitt, American geologist, astronaut, and politician
• 1936 – Anthony Lester, Baron Lester of Herne Hill, English lawyer and politician
• 1936 – Baard Owe, Norwegian-Danish actor
• 1937 – Nicholas Maxwell, English philosopher and academic
• 1937 – Tom Stoppard, Czech-English playwright and screenwriter
• 1938 – Jean Aitchison, English linguist and academic
• 1939 – Brigitte Fassbaender, German soprano and director
• 1939 – László Kovács, Hungarian politician and diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Hungary
• 1939 – Coco Laboy, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1940 – Lamar Alexander, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Education
• 1940 – Fontella Bass, American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
• 1940 – Jerzy Buzek, Polish engineer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Poland
• 1940 – César Tovar, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1994)
• 1941 – Gloria Allred, American lawyer and activist
• 1942 – Eddy Mitchell, French singer-songwriter and actor (Les Chaussettes Noires)
• 1942 – Paco Stanley, Mexican actor (d. 1999)
• 1943 – Judith Durham, Australian singer-songwriter (The Seekers)
• 1943 – Kurtwood Smith, American actor
• 1944 – Michel Polnareff, French singer-songwriter
• 1945 – Michael Cole, American actor
• 1945 – Robert Crawford, English historian and curator
• 1945 – Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn, Scottish politician, Speaker of the House of Commons
• 1945 – Saharon Shelah, Israeli mathematician and academic
• 1946 – Johnny Lee, American singer and guitarist
• 1946 – Leszek Miller, Polish political scientist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Poland
• 1946 – Bolo Yeung, Hong Kong bodybuilder and actor
• 1947 – Dave Barry, American journalist and author
• 1947 – Betty Buckley, American actress and singer
• 1948 – Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish author and illustrator
• 1949 – Bo Xilai, Chinese politician
• 1950 – Ewen Chatfield, New Zealand cricketer
• 1950 – James Hahn, American judge and politician, 40th Mayor of Los Angeles
• 1951 – Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician, 41st President of Haiti (d. 2014)
• 1951 – Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
• 1952 – Andy Fraser, English singer-songwriter and bass player (Free, Sharks, and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers) (d. 2015)
• 1952 – Amit Kumar, Indian actor, singer, and director
• 1952 – Rohinton Mistry, Indian-Canadian author
• 1955 – Claude Rajotte, Canadian radio and television host
• 1956 – Vincent Margera, American television personality
• 1956 – Montel Williams, American actor and talk show host
• 1952 – Laura Branigan, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2004)
• 1957 – Ken Ober, American comedian, actor, and game show host (d. 2009)
• 1958 – Lisa De Leeuw, American porn actress (d. 1993)
• 1958 – Matthew Fraser, Canadian-English journalist and academic
• 1958 – Charlie Higson, English actor, comedian, and author
• 1958 – Siân Lloyd, Welsh meteorologist and journalist
• 1958 – Didier Mouron, Swiss-Canadian painter
• 1958 – Aaron Tippin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1959 – Julie Burchill, English journalist and author
• 1959 – Ian Maxtone-Graham, American screenwriter and producer
• 1959 – Stephen Pearcy, American singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Ratt, Arcade, Vertex, and Vicious Delite)
• 1959 – David Shore, Canadian screenwriter and producer
• 1960 – Vince Clarke, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly, Erasure, and VCMG)
• 1961 – Pedro Romeiras, Portuguese dancer and choreographer
• 1962 – Tom Cruise, American actor and producer
• 1962 – Thomas Gibson, American actor and director
• 1962 – Hugh Page, South African cricketer
• 1962 – Hunter Tylo, American actress
• 1963 – Tracey Emin, English painter and photographer
• 1964 – Joanne Harris, English author
• 1964 – Yeardley Smith, French-born American actress
• 1965 – Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese wrestler (d. 2005)
• 1965 – Connie Nielsen, Danish-American actress
• 1965 – Komsan Pohkong, Thai lawyer and academic
• 1966 – Moisés Alou, American baseball player
• 1968 – Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo-Albanian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Kosovo
• 1968 – Aku Louhimies, Finnish director and screenwriter
• 1969 – Kevin Hearn, Canadian singer and keyboard player (Barenaked Ladies, Rheostatics, and Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle)
• 1970 – Serhiy Honchar, Ukrainian cyclist
• 1970 – Audra McDonald, American actress and singer
• 1970 – Teemu Selänne, Finnish-American ice hockey player
• 1970 – Shawnee Smith, American actress and singer (Smith & Pyle)
• 1970 – Aşkın Nur Yengi, Turkish singer and actress
• 1971 – Julian Assange, Australian journalist, publisher, and activist, founded WikiLeaks
• 1973 – Paul Rauhihi, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1973 – Ólafur Stefánsson, Icelandic handball player
• 1973 – Fyodor Tuvin, Russian footballer (d. 2013)
• 1973 – Patrick Wilson, American actor and singer
• 1976 – Andrea Barber, American actress
• 1976 – Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2011)
• 1976 – Shane Lynch, Irish singer-songwriter and actor (Boyzone)
• 1976 – Henry Olonga, Zimbabwean cricketer and sportscaster
• 1976 – Wanderlei Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist
• 1976 – Bobby Skinstad, Zimbabwean-South African rugby player
• 1978 – Mizuki Noguchi, Japanese runner
• 1979 – Jamie Grove, English cricketer
• 1979 – Ludivine Sagnier, French actress and singer
• 1980 – Mazharul Haque, Bangladeshi cricketer (d. 2013)
• 1980 – Jenny Jones, English snowboarder
• 1980 – Olivia Munn, American actress
• 1980 – Boštjan Nachbar, Slovenian basketball player
• 1980 – Roland Schoeman, South African swimmer
• 1980 – Harbhajan Singh, Indian cricketer
• 1980 – Giorgos Theodoridis, Greek footballer
• 1981 – Aoi Tada, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
• 1981 – Justin Torkildsen, American actor
• 1982 – Kanika, Indian actress and singer
• 1983 – Edinson Volquez, Dominican baseball player
• 1984 – Satomi Hanamura, Japanese actress
• 1984 – Churandy Martina, Dutch sprinter
• 1984 – Syed Rasel, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1984 – Nicolas Roche, Irish cyclist
• 1984 – Corey Sevier, Canadian actor
• 1985 – Keisuke Minami, Japanese actor and singer (PureBoys)
• 1986 – Marco Antônio de Mattos Filho, Brazilian footballer
• 1986 – Robina Muqimyar, Afghan Sprinter
• 1987 – Chris Hunter, American actor
• 1987 – Sebastian Vettel, German race car driver
• 1988 – Winston Reid, New Zealand-Danish footballer
• 1988 – Vladislav Sesganov, Russian figure skater
• 1988 – James Troisi, Australian footballer
• 1989 – Godfrey Walusimbi, Ugandan footballer
• 1990 – Lucas Mendes, Brazilian footballer
• 1991 – Tomomi Itano, Japanese actress and singer (AKB48)
• 1991 – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russian tennis player
• 1992 – Nathalia Ramos, Spanish actress and singer
• 1992 – Molly Sandén, Swedish singer and voice actress
• 1992 – Maasa Sudo, Japanese singer (Berryz Kobo and ZYX)
• 1993 – Roy Kim, South Korean singer-songwriter

Deaths[edit]

• 458 – Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople (b. 449)
• 710 – Emperor Zhongzong of Tang (b. 656)
• 1570 – Aonio Paleario, Italian academic and reformer (b. 1500)
• 1642 – Marie de' Medici, Italian-French wife of Henri IV of France (b. 1575)
• 1672 – Francis Willughby, English ornithologist and ichthyologist (b. 1635)
• 1749 – William Jones, Welsh-English mathematician (b. 1675)
• 1778 – Anna Maria Mozart, Austrian wife of Leopold Mozart (b. 1720)
• 1790 – Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, French geologist and mineralogist (b. 1736)
• 1795 – Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French scholar (b. 1714)
• 1795 – Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general, astronomer, and politician, 1st Colonial Governor of Louisiana (b. 1716)
• 1809 – Joseph Quesnel, French-Canadian composer and playwright (b. 1746)
• 1863 – George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826)
• 1863 – Little Crow, American tribal leader (b. 1810)
• 1881 – Hasan Tahsini, Ottoman journalist (b. 1811)
• 1888 – Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Vietnamese poet (b. 1822)
• 1904 – Theodor Herzl, Austrian journalist and playwright (b. 1860)
• 1904 – Edouard Beaupré, Canadian giant and strongman (b. 1881)
• 1908 – Joel Chandler Harris, American journalist and author (b. 1845)
• 1916 – Hetty Green, American businesswoman and financier (b. 1834)
• 1918 – Mehmed V, Ottoman sultan (b. 1844)
• 1921 – James Mitchel, Irish-American weight thrower (b. 1864)
• 1933 – Hipólito Yrigoyen, Argentinian educator and politician, 19th President of Argentina (b. 1852)
• 1935 – André Citroën, French engineer and businessman, founded the Citroën Company (b. 1878)
• 1937 – Jacob Schick, American-Canadian captain and businessman, invented the electric razor (b. 1877)
• 1940 – Nicolae Bivol, Moldovan politician, Mayor of Chișinău (b. 1882)
• 1941 – Friedrich Akel, Estonian physician and politician, Head of State of Estonia (b. 1871)
• 1943 – Walter Thijssen, Dutch rower (b. 1877)
• 1954 – Siegfried Handloser, German physician and general (b. 1895)
• 1954 – Reginald Marsh, American painter (b. 1898)
• 1957 – Dolf Luque, Cuban baseball player and manager (b. 1890)
• 1960 – Noël Bas, French gymnast (b. 1877)
• 1965 – Trigger, American horse (b. 1932)
• 1966 – Leonie Taylor, American archer (b. 1870)
• 1969 – Brian Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (The Rolling Stones) (b. 1942)
• 1971 – Jim Morrison, American singer-songwriter (The Doors and Rick & the Ravens) (b. 1943)
• 1974 – John Crowe Ransom, American poet and critic (b. 1888)
• 1977 – Alexander Melentyevich Volkov, Russian mathematician and author (b. 1891)
• 1978 – James Daly, American actor (b. 1918)
• 1979 – Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1888)
• 1981 – Ross Martin, Polish-American actor and director (b. 1920)
• 1985 – Frank J. Selke, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (b. 1893)
• 1986 – Rudy Vallée, American singer, saxophonist, and actor (b. 1901)
• 1989 – Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)
• 1991 – Lê Văn Thiêm, Vietnamese mathematician and academic (b. 1918)
• 1993 – Joe DeRita, American actor (b. 1909)
• 1993 – Don Drysdale, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1936)
• 1994 – Lew Hoad, Australian tennis player (b. 1934)
• 1995 – Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (b. 1928)
• 1996 – Raaj Kumar, Pakistani-Indian actor (b. 1926)
• 1997 – Amado Carrillo Fuentes, Mexican drug lord (b. 1956)
• 1997 – James Martin Graham, American Roman Catholic priest (b. 1956)
• 1998 – Danielle Bunten Berry, American game designer and programmer (b. 1949)
• 2000 – Kemal Sunal, Turkish actor and producer (b. 1944)
• 2001 – Mordecai Richler, Canadian author and screenwriter (b. 1931)
• 2004 – Andriyan Nikolayev, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1929)
• 2005 – Alberto Lattuada, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1914)
• 2005 – Pierre Michelot, French bassist (b. 1928)
• 2005 – Gaylord Nelson, American lawyer and politician, 35th Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1916)
• 2006 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist, developed the OBJ programming language (b. 1941)
• 2006 – Benjamin Hendrickson, American actor (b. 1950)
• 2007 – Boots Randolph, American saxophonist (b. 1927)
• 2007 – Alice Timander, Swedish dentist and actress (b. 1915)
• 2008 – Larry Harmon, American clown (b. 1925)
• 2008 – Oliver Schroer, Canadian fiddler, composer, and producer (b. 1956)
• 2009 – John Keel, American journalist and author (b. 1930)
• 2010 – Abu Daoud, Palestinian terrorist, planned the Munich massacre (b. 1937)
• 2012 – Nguyễn Hữu Có, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1925)
• 2012 – Andy Griffith, American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1926)
• 2012 – Sergio Pininfarina, Italian automobile designer and politician (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Maria Pasquinelli, Italian murderer (b. 1913)
• 2013 – Radu Vasile, Romanian historian and politician, 57th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1942)
• 2013 – Bernard Vitet, French trumpet player and composer (b. 1934)
• 2014 – Volkmar Groß, German footballer (b. 1948)
• 2015 – Phil Walsh, Australian rules footballer and coach (b. 1960)