This Day in History

[Gravdigr]

April 7

451 – Attila the Hun sacks the town of Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul.

1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.

1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.

1827 – John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match that he had invented the previous year.

1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.

1948 – The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.

1949 – The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific opened on Broadway; it would run for 1,925 performances and win ten Tony Awards.

1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.

1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.

1964 – IBM announces the System/360.

1969 – The Internet's symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.

1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.

1983 – During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first Space Shuttle spacewalk.

2001 – Mars Odyssey is launched.

2003 – U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later.

Births

1506 – Francis Xavier, 1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, 1891 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, 1893 – Allen Dulles, 1897 – Walter Winchell, 1908 – Percy Faith, 1915 – Billie Holiday, 1916 – Anthony Caruso, 1917 – R. G. Armstrong, 1920 – Ravi Shankar, 1928 – James Garner, 1928 – Alan J. Pakula, 1933 – Wayne Rogers, 1935 – Bobby Bare, 1935 – Hodding Carter III, 1938 – Jerry Brown, 1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, 1939 – David Frost, 1943 – Mick Abrahams, 1949 – John Oates, 1954 – Jackie Chan, 1954 – Tony Dorsett, 1960 – Buster Douglas, 1964 – Russell Crowe

Deaths

1614 – El Greco, 1739 – Dick Turpin, 1891 – P. T. Barnum, 1947 – Henry Ford, 1950 – Walter Huston, 1955 – Theda Bara, 2002 – John Agar, 2007 – Johnny Hart, 2012 – Mike Wallace, 2015 – Stan Freberg, 2015 – Geoffrey Lewis, 2016 – Blackjack Mulligan

[xoxoxoBruce]

1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.

That pussy, we could have killed everyone in the world by now, and wouldn't have all this strife.

[Gravdigr]

April 8

Today is International Romani Day, bringing awareness to the issues facing the Romani people.

Japan celebrates Buddha's Birthday on this date.


Events

632 – King Charibert II is assassinated at Blaye (Gironde), along with his infant son Chilperic.

1093 – The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by Walkelin.

1665 – English colonial patents are granted for the establishment of the Monmouth Tract, for what would eventually become Monmouth County in northeastern New Jersey.

1730 – Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.

1740 – War of Jenkins' Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate Princesa, taken into service as HMS Princess.

1820 – The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.

1904 – British mystic Aleister Crowley transcribes the first chapter of The Book of the Law.

1904 – Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, was renamed Times Square (pictured) after The New York Times building.

1906 – Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies.

1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.

1913 – The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.

1935 – The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.

1942 – World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.

1945 – World War II: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis.

1953 – Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by British Kenya's rulers.

1959 – A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.

1968 – BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after take off. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only one awarded to a woman in peacetime.

1974 – At Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run to surpass Babe Ruth's 39-year-old record.

1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.

1994 - Electrician Gary Smith who was working at Kurt Cobain's house in Seattle discovered Cobain's body lying on the floor in the greenhouse. Local radio station KXRX broke the news at 9.40am that the Nirvana singer and guitarist was dead. A shotgun was found next to Cobain's body. A suicide note was found that said, "I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now". A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were also found in Cobain's body.

1994 - The Recording Industry Association of America announced that Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side of The Moon had become the fourth biggest-selling album in US history and had passed the 13 million mark in sales. The album has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.

2006 – Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

2008 – The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain. Some handsome Dwellar posted this one year ago.

2012 - It was reported that organizers for the 2012 Olympics opening ceremonies had recently asked the manager of The Who if legendary drummer Keith Moon would be able to perform at the forthcoming London Olympics Games. Who manager Bill Curbishley, told The Times how he responded to the request. "I emailed back saying Keith now resides in Golders Green crematorium, having lived up to The Who's anthemic line 'I hope I die before I get old,'" he said. "If they have a round table, some glasses and candles, we might contact him."

2013 – Two Sunni Muslim Islamic extremist groups, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Al-Nusra Front, merged to become the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS.

Births

1842 – Elizabeth Bacon Custer (wife of George Armstrong Custer), 1892 – Mary Pickford, 1912 – Sonja Henie, 1914 – María Félix, 1918 – Betty Ford (40th FLOTUS, co-founder Betty Ford Center), 1938 – Kofi Annan, 1941 – J. J. Jackson♪ ♫, 1946 – Catfish Hunter, 1947 – Tom DeLay, 1947 – Steve Howe(Yes), 1949 – K. C. Kamalasabayson (Kamalasabayson is Sri Lankan for "& The Sunshine Band"), 1951 – Mel Schacher(Grand Funk Railroad), 1955 – Barbara Kingsolver, 1960 – John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard), 1961 – Richard Hatch (big, gay Survivor), 1962 – Izzy Stradlin♪ ♫, 1963 – Julian Lennon♪ ♫, 1966 – Robin Wright, 1968 – Patricia Arquette, 1971 – Darren Jessee♪ ♫(Ben Folds Five), 1972 – Paul Gray(Slipknot), 1978 – Rachel Roberts (Simone), 1980 – Katee Sackhoff ('Starbuck' on Battlestar Galactica (2003), 1984 – Taran Noah Smith (Home Improvement)

Deaths

1861 – Elisha Otis (elevator dude), 1941 – Marcel Prévost, 1973 – Pablo Picasso, 1981 – Omar Bradley (commanded forty-three divisions and 1.3 million men, the largest body of American soldiers ever to serve under a single U.S. field commander; America's last five star general), 1990 – Ryan White, 1996 – Ben Johnson, 2000 – Claire Trevor, 2002 – María Félix, 2010 – Malcolm McLaren, 2013 – Annette Funicello, 2013 – Margaret 'The Iron Lady' Thatcher

[xoxoxoBruce]

Today is International Romani Day, bringing awareness to the issues facing the Romani people.

Gypsys, tramps, and thieves
We'd hear it from the people of the town
They'd call us Gypsys, tramps, and thieves
But every night all the men would come around
And lay their money down



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