Today in History
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:50 pm
1516 - Ferdinand II of Aragon died and was succeeded as King of Spain by his grandson Charles V.
1570 - James Stewart, the Earl of Moray, who was appointed Regent of Scotland on the abdication of Mary Queen of Scots, was assassinated by the Hamiltons at Linlithgow.
1668 - Holland, Britain and Sweden signed the Alliance of the Hague, known as the Triple Alliance, under which they agreed to aid one another if attacked.
1719 - The Principality of Liechtenstein was formed by the amalgamation of Vaduz and Schellenberg.
1789 - Georgetown College, in Washington, D.C., was established as the first Catholic college in the United States.
1793 - Russia and Prussia agreed to a second partition of Poland.
1806 - William Pitt the Younger, British prime minister, died. At the age of 24, he became Britain's youngest prime minister.
1900 - In the second British-Boer War, the British attempted to break through the Boer lines to relieve Ladysmith but were thwarted at the Battle of Spion Kop.
1907 - Charles Curtis, of Kansas, began his term serving in the United States Senate, making him the first American Indian to become a United States Senator. In March of 1929, he resigned to become United States President Herbert Hoover’s Vice President.
1937 - An article in "Literary Digest", by Edgar Bergen, mentioned he made his dummy pal, Charlie McCarthy, the beneficiary of a $10,000 trust fund so the puppet would remain in serviceable condition and repair.
1937 - The trial of 17 leading Communists began in Moscow after they were accused of involvement in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow the regime and assassinate its leaders.
1941 - For the start of 388 performances, the play, "Lady in the Dark", premiered. The show’s star, Danny Kaye, gained popularity as a result of his appearance in the play.
1941 - On Victor Records, Artie Shaw and his orchestra recorded "Moonglow". In the band were Johnny Guarnieri, Jack Jenney, Billy Butterfield and Ray Conniff on trombone.
1942 - Educational television began when NBC started a training program for air raid wardens in the New York area.
1943 - Duke Ellington and the band played a New York's Carnegie Hall for a black-tie crowd. The performance became an annual series of concerts featuring the the Duke.
1943 - British forces under Field Marshal Montgomery captured Tripoli, Libya.
1943 - After nine days of talks in Casablanca, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to put an invasion of Italy ahead of opening a second front in northwestern Europe.
1960 - The United States navy bathyscaphe Trieste dived to a record depth of 35,810 feet (10,916 meters) in the Pacific Ocean.
1963 - Harold "Kim" Philby, British journalist in Beirut, disappeared. Later in the year it was revealed that he was the third man in the Burgess-Maclean espionage affair and had been granted asylum in Moscow.
1964 - Legendary Milwaukee Braves pitcher, Warren Spahn, signed an $85,000 contract, making him the highest paid baseball pitcher at that time.
1968 - North Koreans seized the American ship USS Pueblo, claiming it was spying. The crew were held until December.
1971 - In Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska the lowest temperature ever recorded in the United States was reported when the termometer fell to minus 80 degrees.
1973 - In Kingston, Jamaica, George Foreman won the heavyweight boxing title away from ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier.
1974 - The movie "The Exorcist", based on William Peter Blatty's novel, opened with Mike Oldfield’s "Tubular Bells" playing over the movie's credits. The song was awarded a gold record.
1975 - The first episode of the television comedy hit, Barney Miller, starring Hal Linden, debuted on ABC-TV. The show was polled among police as the most accurate television portrayal of their jobs, and it later won an Emmy and two Golden Globe awards for Best Comedy Show. The talented cast made the show a hit for eight seasons.
1977 - When Carole King’s landmark album, "Tapestry", hit its 302nd week on the album charts, it became the longest-running album to hit the charts in history.
1978 - Terry Kath, member of the rock group Chicago, died on this date in Los Angeles, California, while trying to prove a gun was not loaded. He pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger, killing himself instantly. The gruesome accident was witnessed by his horrified wife and a member of the band's sound crew.
1978 - Baron Edouard-Jean Empain, one of Europe's most powerful industrialists, was kidnapped in Paris; he was freed on March 26.
1983 - "The A-Team", began it's run on television, full of action and drama, starrring, Mr. T. Wearing a ton of gold jewelry, he played the not so mild-mannered Sergeant Bosco B.A. Baracus, under the command of George Peppard as John Hannibal Smith.
1983 - Soviet satellite Cosmos 1402 entered Earth's atmosphere and crashed into the Indian Ocean.
1985 - O.J. Simpson became the first Heisman Trophy winner elected to pro football’s Hall of Fame. The Dallas Cowboys' Roger Staubach, also a Heisman winner, was elected too; but ‘the Juice’ got to be first because his name alphabetically comes before Staubach’s.
1989 - The Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali died. He was buried in a crypt under a glass dome in the Dali museum in Figueras, in Catalonia.
1995 - Jacques Delors formally stepped down as European Commission president, handing over to Jacques Santer after 10 years of steering Europe towards closer union.
1996 - South Korean prosecutors formally charged ex-presidents Roh Tae-woo and Chun Doo Hwan with sedition over events surrounding the 1980 army massacre of pro-democracy activists in Kwangju.
1998 - A Bakersfield, California judge ordered the eldest son of country crooner Merle Haggard to stay away from his father. The restraining order against Marty Haggard, who allegedly threatened to kill his famous father, stated that he must stay 100 yards away from the singer and his family. The singer contended he had received a " continuous barrage of threats" over the phone from his son, all of which threatened his safety and health. Marty Haggard also reportedly told others that he would see his father "dead within a year." Merle Haggard was known for such country hits as Workin' Man Blues and Okie From Muskogee.
1570 - James Stewart, the Earl of Moray, who was appointed Regent of Scotland on the abdication of Mary Queen of Scots, was assassinated by the Hamiltons at Linlithgow.
1668 - Holland, Britain and Sweden signed the Alliance of the Hague, known as the Triple Alliance, under which they agreed to aid one another if attacked.
1719 - The Principality of Liechtenstein was formed by the amalgamation of Vaduz and Schellenberg.
1789 - Georgetown College, in Washington, D.C., was established as the first Catholic college in the United States.
1793 - Russia and Prussia agreed to a second partition of Poland.
1806 - William Pitt the Younger, British prime minister, died. At the age of 24, he became Britain's youngest prime minister.
1900 - In the second British-Boer War, the British attempted to break through the Boer lines to relieve Ladysmith but were thwarted at the Battle of Spion Kop.
1907 - Charles Curtis, of Kansas, began his term serving in the United States Senate, making him the first American Indian to become a United States Senator. In March of 1929, he resigned to become United States President Herbert Hoover’s Vice President.
1937 - An article in "Literary Digest", by Edgar Bergen, mentioned he made his dummy pal, Charlie McCarthy, the beneficiary of a $10,000 trust fund so the puppet would remain in serviceable condition and repair.
1937 - The trial of 17 leading Communists began in Moscow after they were accused of involvement in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow the regime and assassinate its leaders.
1941 - For the start of 388 performances, the play, "Lady in the Dark", premiered. The show’s star, Danny Kaye, gained popularity as a result of his appearance in the play.
1941 - On Victor Records, Artie Shaw and his orchestra recorded "Moonglow". In the band were Johnny Guarnieri, Jack Jenney, Billy Butterfield and Ray Conniff on trombone.
1942 - Educational television began when NBC started a training program for air raid wardens in the New York area.
1943 - Duke Ellington and the band played a New York's Carnegie Hall for a black-tie crowd. The performance became an annual series of concerts featuring the the Duke.
1943 - British forces under Field Marshal Montgomery captured Tripoli, Libya.
1943 - After nine days of talks in Casablanca, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to put an invasion of Italy ahead of opening a second front in northwestern Europe.
1960 - The United States navy bathyscaphe Trieste dived to a record depth of 35,810 feet (10,916 meters) in the Pacific Ocean.
1963 - Harold "Kim" Philby, British journalist in Beirut, disappeared. Later in the year it was revealed that he was the third man in the Burgess-Maclean espionage affair and had been granted asylum in Moscow.
1964 - Legendary Milwaukee Braves pitcher, Warren Spahn, signed an $85,000 contract, making him the highest paid baseball pitcher at that time.
1968 - North Koreans seized the American ship USS Pueblo, claiming it was spying. The crew were held until December.
1971 - In Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska the lowest temperature ever recorded in the United States was reported when the termometer fell to minus 80 degrees.
1973 - In Kingston, Jamaica, George Foreman won the heavyweight boxing title away from ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier.
1974 - The movie "The Exorcist", based on William Peter Blatty's novel, opened with Mike Oldfield’s "Tubular Bells" playing over the movie's credits. The song was awarded a gold record.
1975 - The first episode of the television comedy hit, Barney Miller, starring Hal Linden, debuted on ABC-TV. The show was polled among police as the most accurate television portrayal of their jobs, and it later won an Emmy and two Golden Globe awards for Best Comedy Show. The talented cast made the show a hit for eight seasons.
1977 - When Carole King’s landmark album, "Tapestry", hit its 302nd week on the album charts, it became the longest-running album to hit the charts in history.
1978 - Terry Kath, member of the rock group Chicago, died on this date in Los Angeles, California, while trying to prove a gun was not loaded. He pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger, killing himself instantly. The gruesome accident was witnessed by his horrified wife and a member of the band's sound crew.
1978 - Baron Edouard-Jean Empain, one of Europe's most powerful industrialists, was kidnapped in Paris; he was freed on March 26.
1983 - "The A-Team", began it's run on television, full of action and drama, starrring, Mr. T. Wearing a ton of gold jewelry, he played the not so mild-mannered Sergeant Bosco B.A. Baracus, under the command of George Peppard as John Hannibal Smith.
1983 - Soviet satellite Cosmos 1402 entered Earth's atmosphere and crashed into the Indian Ocean.
1985 - O.J. Simpson became the first Heisman Trophy winner elected to pro football’s Hall of Fame. The Dallas Cowboys' Roger Staubach, also a Heisman winner, was elected too; but ‘the Juice’ got to be first because his name alphabetically comes before Staubach’s.
1989 - The Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali died. He was buried in a crypt under a glass dome in the Dali museum in Figueras, in Catalonia.
1995 - Jacques Delors formally stepped down as European Commission president, handing over to Jacques Santer after 10 years of steering Europe towards closer union.
1996 - South Korean prosecutors formally charged ex-presidents Roh Tae-woo and Chun Doo Hwan with sedition over events surrounding the 1980 army massacre of pro-democracy activists in Kwangju.
1998 - A Bakersfield, California judge ordered the eldest son of country crooner Merle Haggard to stay away from his father. The restraining order against Marty Haggard, who allegedly threatened to kill his famous father, stated that he must stay 100 yards away from the singer and his family. The singer contended he had received a " continuous barrage of threats" over the phone from his son, all of which threatened his safety and health. Marty Haggard also reportedly told others that he would see his father "dead within a year." Merle Haggard was known for such country hits as Workin' Man Blues and Okie From Muskogee.