This Day in History

[xoxoxoBruce]

1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Malvinas Islands.

[DanaC]

Oy!



:P

[Gravdigr]

April 3

1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England.

1860 – The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins.

1865 – American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America.

1882 – American Old West: The coward Robert Ford murders Jesse James.

1888 – The first of eleven unsolved brutal murders (possibly by Jack The Ripper) of women committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London, occurs.

1895 – The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.

1922 – Joseph Stalin becomes the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1933 – First flight over Mount Everest.

1936 – In a possible miscarriage of justice, Bruno Richard Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the baby son of pilot Charles Lindbergh.

1942 – World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.

1948 – United States President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.

1955 – The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges.

1956 - Elvis Presley appeared on ABC-TV's 'The Milton Berle Show' live from the flight deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego, California. He performed 'Heartbreak Hotel' 'Shake Rattle And Roll' and 'Blue Suede Shoes.' It was estimated that one out of every four Americans saw the show.

1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech.

1973 – Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.

1974 – The 1974 Super Outbreak (<--Interesting read.) occurs, the second biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history (after the 2011 Super Outbreak). From April 3 to April 4, 1974, there were 148 tornadoes confirmed in 13 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario, with 30 F4/F5 tornadoes confirmed. The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.

1975 - Steve Miller was charged with setting fire to the clothes of a friend, Benita Diorio. When police arrived at Miller's house, Diorio was putting out the flames, Miller then got into a fight with some of the policemen and was charged with resisting arrest.

1975 – Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default.

1996 – Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his Montana cabin in the United States.

2010 – Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer.

2016 – The Panama Papers, a leak of legal documents, reveals information on 214,488 offshore companies.

Births

1783 – Washington Irving, 1822 – Edward Everett Hale, 1886 – Dooley Wilson, 1898 – George Jessel, 1898 – Henry Luce, 1907 – Iron Eyes Cody, 1922 – Doris Day, 1924 – Marlon Brando, 1926 – Gus Grissom, 1928 – Don Gibson♪ ♫, 1930 – Helmut Kohl, 1934 – Jane Goodall (monkey girl), 1941 – Jan Berry♪ ♫(Jan & Dean), 1941 – Philippé Wynne♪ ♫(The Spinners), 1942 – Marsha Mason, 1942 – Wayne Newton♪ ♫, 1942 – Billy Joe Royal♪ ♫, 1943 – Richard Manuel(The Band), 1944 – Tony Orlando♪ ♫(Tony Orlando & Dawn), 1946 – Dee Murray(Elton John), 1949 – Lyle Alzado, 1958 – Alec Baldwin, 1959 – David Hyde Pierce (Frasier), 1961 – Eddie Murphy, 1963 – Criss Oliva(Savatage), 1967 – Cat Cora, 1968 – Sebastian Bach♪ ♫(Skid Row), 1971 – Picabo Street, 1972 – Jennie Garth (90210), 1972 – Catherine McCormack (Braveheart), 1982 – Cobie Smulders (HIMYM, The Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), 1985 – Leona Lewis♪ ♫, 1986 – Amanda Bynes

Deaths

1882 – Jesse James, 1897 – Johannes Brahms, 1936 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann, 1943 – Conrad Veidt (Casablanca), 1950 – Kurt Weill, 1971 – Joseph Valachi (subject of the novel and movie The Valachi Papers), 1975 – Mary Ure (Where Eagles Dare), 1982 – Warren Oates, 1988 – Milton Caniff (created Steve Canyon comic strip), 1990 – Sarah Vaughan♪ ♫, 1991 – Graham Greene (the writer, not the actor), 1993 – Pinky Lee, 2012 – Chief Jay Strongbow (wrestler), 2014 – Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, 2015 – Sarah Brady (wife of James Brady), 2015 – Bob Burns(Lynyrd Skynyrd), 2016 – Joe Medicine Crow

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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Malvinas Islands.

Originally Posted by DanaC

Oy!

Oy vey.

[Gravdigr]

April 4

The International Day for Mine Awareness And Assistance in Mine Action is observed today.


Events

1147 – First historical record of Moscow.

1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.

1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister.

1818 – The United States Congress adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (then 20).

1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration, 31 days.

1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city.

1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world.

1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.

1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded in Germany.

1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians.

1949 – Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

1956 - Elvis Presley played the first of two nights in San Diego Arena in San Diego, California. The local police chief issued a statement saying if Elvis ever returned to the city and performed like he did, he would be arrested for disorderly conduct.

1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London.

1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.

1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.

1973 – The World Trade Center in New York is officially dedicated.

1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming.

1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1975 – A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people.

1983 – Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space.

1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.

1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation.

1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.

2007 - A Swedish couple ran into trouble with authorities after trying to name their baby Metallica. Michael and Karolina Tomaro went to court with the country's National Tax Authority about naming their daughter after the rock band. The six-month-old has been baptized Metallica, but tax officials said the name was "inappropriate". Under Swedish law, both first names and surnames need to win the approval of authorities before they can be used.

Births

1802 – Dorothea Dix, 1821 – Linus Yale, Jr. (Yale locks), 1884 – Isoroku Yamamoto, 1888 – Tris Speaker, 1895 – Arthur Murray, 1906 – John Cameron Swayze ("It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.", 1913 – Frances Langford♪ ♫, 1913 – Muddy Waters, 1916 – David White (the husband's boss on Bewitched), 1922 – Elmer Bernstein♪ ♫, 1928 – Maya Angelou, 1932 – Clive Davis♪ ♫, 1932 – Richard Lugar, 1932 – Anthony Perkins (Psycho), 1933 – Bill France, Jr. (former CEO of NASCAR), 1935 – Kenneth Mars, 1938 – A. Bartlett Giamatti (former MLB Commissioner), 1944 – Craig T. Nelson (Coach, The District), 1948 – Berry Oakley(Allman Bros), 1950 – Christine Lahti, 1952 – Gary Moore♪ ♫(Thin Lizzy), 1956 – David E. Kelley, 1959 – Phil Morris (lawyer 'Jackie Chiles' on Seinfeld), 1960 – Hugo Weaving ('Elrond' in The Lord of the Rings movies, 'Agent Smith (all of them) in The Matrix movies), 1964 – Anthony Clark (Yes, Dear), 1964 – David Cross (Mr. Show), 1965 – Robert Downey Jr., 1966 – Nancy McKeon (The Facts Of Life), 1966 – Mike Starr(Alice In Chains), 1970 – Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, Battlefield Earth, The Green Mile), 1972 – Jill Scott♪ ♫, 1973 – David Blaine, 1976 – James Roday (Psych), 1979 – Heath Ledger, 1979 – Natasha Lyonne (American Pie, Slums of Beverly Hills), 1991 – Jamie Lynn Spears♪ ♫

Deaths

1841 – William Henry Harrison (9th POTUS), 1912 – Isaac K. Funk (Funk & Wagnalls), 1923 – John Venn (created the Venn diagram), 1929 – Karl Benz (yeah, that Benz), 1931 – André Michelin (yeah, that Michelin), 1958 – Johnny Stompanato (bodyguard, and mob enforcer), 1967 – Al Lewis♪ ♫(wrote "Blueberry Hill"), 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr., 1979 – Edgar Buchanan, 1980 – Red Sovine♪ ♫, 1983 – Gloria Swanson, 1984 – Oleg Antonov (Antonov aircraft), 1991 – H. John Heinz III, 1993 – Alfred Mosher Butts (created Scrabble), 2001 – Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth(created The Rat Fink), 2003 – Anthony Caruso (The Asphalt Jungle), 2013 – Roger Ebert

[xoxoxoBruce]

1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.

She must have done a good job, the population climbed from 367 in 1890 to 501 in the 2010 census.

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April 5

Today is the tomorrow that we worried about yesterday.


Events

1242 – During the Battle on the Ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.

1536 – Royal Entry of Charles V into Rome: The last Roman triumph.

1614 – In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.

1621 – The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England.

1710 – The Statute of Anne receives the Royal Assent establishing the Copyright law of the United Kingdom.

1722 – The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island.

1792 – United States President George Washington exercises his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power is used in the United States.

1900 – Archaeologists in Knossos, Crete, discover a large cache of clay tablets with hieroglyphic writing in a script they call Linear B.

1915 – Boxing challenger Jess Willard knocks out Jack Johnson in Havana, Cuba to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World.

1933 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens.

1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.

1943 – World War II: American bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1,300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel. Their target was the Erla factory one kilometer from the residential area hit.

1949 – A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, kills 77 people and leads to nationwide fire code improvements in the United States.

1951 – Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union.

1956 – Fidel Castro declares himself at war with Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.

1958 – Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.

1984 - Marvin Gaye's funeral took place at The Forest Lawn Cemetery, Los Angeles.

1994 - Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain committed suicide by shooting himself in the head at his home in Seattle. Cobain's body wasn't discovered until April 8, by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system, who initially believed that Cobain was asleep, until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. 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 found in Cobain's body. His death was officially ruled as suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

1998 - British drummer Cozy Powell (Colin Flooks) was killed when his car smashed into crash barriers on the M4 motorway near Bristol, England.

1998 – In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge opens to traffic, becoming the longest bridge span in the world. The central span is 6,532 feet long, 1.2 miles, with the total length of the bridge being 12,831 ft, or 2.4 miles.

1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.

2006 - Gene Pitney was found dead aged 65 in his bed in a Cardiff hotel. The American singer was on a UK tour and had shown no signs of illness.

2010 – Twenty-nine coal miners are killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.

Births

1649 – Elihu Yale (Yale University), 1769 – Thomas Hardy, 1827 – Joseph Lister (namesake of Listerine), 1856 – Booker T. Washington, 1858 – Washington Atlee Burpee (seeds, not the exercise), 1883 – Walter Huston, 1900 – Spencer Tracy, 1901 – Melvyn Douglas (Hud, Inherit The Wind), 1908 – Bette Davis, 1909 – Albert R. Broccoli (producer James Bond movies), 1916 – Gregory Peck, 1922 – Christopher Hewett ('Mr. Belvedere' on Mr. Belvedere), 1922 – Gale Storm, 1926 – Roger Corman, 1929 – Joe Meek♪ ♫, 1931 – Jack Clement♪ ♫, 1933 – Frank Gorshin ('The Riddler' on Batman), 1937 – Colin Powell, 1939 – Ronald White♪ ♫(The Miracles, discovered Stevie Wonder), 1940 – Tommy Cash♪ ♫(Johnny's younger brother), 1941 – Michael Moriarty (Law & Order, Pale Rider), 1943 – Max Gail ('Wojo' on Barney Miller), 1946 – Jane Asher, 1947 – Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 1948 – Les Binks(Judas Priest), 1948 – Dave Holland(Judas Priest), 1949 – Judith Resnik, 1950 – Agnetha Fältskog♪ ♫(ABBA), 1951 – Dean Kamen (inventor, founded Segway), 1952 – John C. Dvorak, 1952 – Mitch Pileggi ('FBI Assistant Director Skinner' on The X-Files), 1956 – Diamond Dallas Page, 1960 – Larry McCray, 1962 – Lana Clarkson (murdered by Phil Spector), 1966 – Mike McCready(Pearl Jam), 1967 – Troy Gentry♪ ♫(Montgomery Gentry), 1968 – Paula Cole♪ ♫

Deaths

1964 – Douglas MacArthur, 1972 – Brian Donlevy, 1975 – Chiang Kai-shek, 1976 – Howard Hughes, 1982 – Abe Fortas, 1991 – John Tower (chairman of The Tower Commission), 1992 – $am Walton, 1994 – Kurt Cobain♪ ♫(Nirvana), 1997 – Allen Ginsberg, 1998 – Cozy Powell(Jeff beck, Rainbow, Whitesnake, EL&P, Black Sabbath), 2000 – Lee Petty('King Richard' Petty's father), 2002 – Layne Staley♪ ♫(Alice In Chains), 2005 – Saul Bellow, 2006 – Gene Pitney♪ ♫, 2007 – Mark St. John(KISS), 2008 – Charlton Heston ("From my cold, dead hands..."), 2012 – Jim Herr (Herr's snack foods), 2012 – Jim Marshall♪ ♫(Marshall amps), 2015 – Richard Dysart

[xoxoxoBruce]

1722 – The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island.

The head end...

[xoxoxoBruce]

1958 – Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.

You can see Ripple Rock blown up here.

[Gravdigr]

April 6

1199 – King Richard I of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.

1580 – One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.

1652 – At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.

1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire.

1830 – Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.

1841 – U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become President upon William Henry Harrison's death.

1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois.

1869 – Celluloid is patented.

1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London, after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.

1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Germany.

1947 – The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.

1968 – In Richmond, Indiana's downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.

1974 – The Swedish pop band ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Waterloo", launching their international career.

1992 – The Bosnian War begins.

1998 – Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.

Births

1483 – Raphael, 1890 – Anthony Fokker, 1920 – Jack Cover, 1929 – Andre Previn, 1937 – Merle Haggard, 1937 – Billy Dee Williams, 1941 – Don Prudhomme, 1942 – Barry Levinson, 1944 – Anita Pallenberg, 1947 – John Ratzenberger, 1952 – Marilu Henner, 1955 – Michael Rooker, 1969 – Paul Rudd, 1975 – Zach Braff

Deaths

1520 – Raphael, 1862 – Albert Sidney Johnston, 1992 – Isaac Asimov, 1996 – Greer Garson, 1998 – Tammy Wynette, 2012 – Thomas Kinkade, 2014 – Mickey Rooney, 2015 – James Best, 2015 – Ray Charles, 2016 – Merle Haggard, 2017 – Don Rickles

[xoxoxoBruce]

1998 – Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.

They should rot in hell. I got a letter from them this week saying I had won my nine month battle with them but they still refused to accept it was their fault.

[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



How long did it take to put that post together?