27 Julus.social.s-msn.com/s/images/emoticons/beer_mug.gif [/img]Good evening to my fellow history buffs from Tuxy and me.
Today is 208th day of 2011 with 157 days left in the year
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Today in History:
1054—Seward of Northumbria & Malcolm defeated Macbeth of Scotland at Dunsinane.
1214—at the Battle of Bouvines in France, Philip Augustus of France defeated John of England.
1245—Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, was excommunicated and deposed by the first Council of Lyon (They also proclaimed the Seventh Crusade.)
1276—James I “the Conqueror”, King of Aragon (1213-1276), died 1276 at age 62 at Valencia
1563—the French regained Le Havre and the returning English soldiers brought home the plague.
1586—Sir Walter Raleigh returned to England from Virginia, bringing tobacco with him.
1656—the Jewish elders of Amsterdam excommunicated Spinoza.
1663—the British Parliament passed a second Navigation Act, which required all goods bound for the colonies be sent in British ships from British ports.
1689—government forces defeated the Scottish Jacobites at the Battle of Killiecrankie.
1694—the Bank of England received a royal charter as a commercial institution.
1775—Benjamin Rush began his service as the first Surgeon General of the Continental Army.
1777—the Marquis of Lafayette arrived in New England to help the rebellious American colonists fight the British.
1778—the British and French fleets fought to a standoff in the first Battle of Ushant.
1784—
Courier De L’Amerique became the first French newspaper to be published in the US, printed in Philadelphia, Pa. for all the many Philadelphians who spoke French.
1789—Pres. Washington signed a measure establishing the Department of Foreign Affairs, forerunner of the Department of State.
1793—Robespierre became a member of the Committee of Public Safety.
1794—French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown and placed under arrest; she was executed the following day.
1804—the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. With the amendment Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for two choices for President.
1861—Union Maj. Gen. McClellan took command of the Army of the Potomac from Gen. Irwin McDowell at Pres. Lincoln’s orders. (McClellan later became general-in-chief of the Union Army as well, but ended up being relieved of his commands by Pres. Lincoln, who was dissatisfied with his performance.)
1866—after two failures, Cyrus W. Field finished laying out the first successful underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe (a previous cable in 1858 burned out after only a few weeks' use).
1909—during the first official test of the US Army's first airplane, Orville Wright flew himself and a passenger, Lt. Frank Lahm, above Fort Myer, Va., for one hour and 12 minutes.
1914—British troops invaded the streets of Dublin, Ireland, and began to disarm Irish rebels.
1918—the
Socony 200 was launched, the first concrete barge and was used to carry oil.
1921—Canadian researcher Frederick Banting and his assistant, Charles Best, succeeded in isolating the hormone insulin at the University of Toronto.
1940—Bugs Bunny made his "official" debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon
A Wild Hare.
1942—Peggy Lee recorded her first hit record, “Why Don’t You Do Right” with the Benny Goodman band for Columbia Records.
1944—US troops completed the liberation of Guam.
1950—during a match in Chicago, Ill, professional wrestler Gorgeous George completely missed a flying tackle on Lou Thesem. George took off like a rocket, flew right out of the ring and landed on top of a newspaper reporter’s typewriter.
1953—the Korean War armistice was signed by representatives of the UN, North and South Korea (represented by the US) and China at Panmunjom, ending three years of fighting.
1960—Vice Pres. Nixon was nominated for president on the first ballot at the Republican national convention in Chicago.
1964—Pres. Johnson sent an additional 5,000 advisers to South Vietnam.
1965—in the US, the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act was signed into law. The law required health warnings on all cigarette packages.
1967—in the wake of urban rioting, Pres. Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to assess the causes of urban rioting, the same day black militant H. Rap Brown said in Washington that violence was "as American as cherry pie.”
1973—Secretariat broke two records while practicing at Saratoga Springs, NY. The legendary horse covered a mile in a speedy 1 minute, 34 seconds and ran a 1-1/8 mile distance in 1 minute, 47-4/5 seconds.
1974—the US House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to adopt the first of three articles of impeachment against Pres. Nixon, charging he had personally engaged in a course of conduct designed to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.
1974—NBC-TV removed
Dinah’s Place from its daytime programming roster. The move brought Dinah Shore’s 23-year association with the Peacock Network to a close.
1976—John Lennon finally had his request for permanent residency in the US approved. Lennon’s immigration card number was A-17-597-321. The decision to allow Lennon to stay in the country ended a long struggle between the former Beatle and the U.S. Government.
1979—Alice Cooper's Indian art store in Scottsdale, Arizona was hit by a firebomb.
1980—the deposed Shah of Iran, Muhammad Riza Pahlavi, died at age 60 of cancer in a hospital in Cairo, Egypt.
1981—6-year-old Adam Walsh was abducted from a department store in Hollywood, Fla., and was later murdered. (His father, John Walsh, became a well-known crime victims' advocate.)
1981—William Wyler, 3-time Oscar movie director (
Mrs. Miniver [1943],
The Best Years of Our Lives [1947],
Ben-Hur [1960],
Dodsworth, Jezebel, Wuthering Heights, The Heiress, Roman Holiday, The Big Country, How to Steal a Million, Funny Girl), 3-time Oscar-winning producer & screenwriter, died at age 79 of a heart attack in Los Angeles
1984—Pete Rose passed Ty Cobb’s record for most singles in a career when he got his 3,503rd base hit. The baseball great was playing for the Montreal Expos at the time and led them to a win over one of his former teams, the Philadelphia Phillies.
1987—Freeway shooting incidents were the talk of Los Angeles with nine incidents since June 18th. Two motorists were actually shot to death and four others were injured. Police psychologists blamed “self-centered attitudes, violence in films and even the breakdown of family...” for the ‘road rage’. Authorities recommended that drivers avoid confrontation. In other words, don’t honk your horn, flash your headlights or wave your middle finger at that S.O.B.! It could be fatal.
1992—Reggie Lewis, Boston Celtics star, died at age 27 after collapsing on a Brandeis University basketball court during practice.
1993—Israeli and aircraft pound southern Lebanon in reprisal for rocket attacks by Hezbollah guerrillas.
1995—the Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C. by Pres. Clinton and South Korean Pres. Kim Young-sam. A plaque at the flagstaff reads, “Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered a call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met.”
1996—a pipe bomb exploded at the public Centennial Olympic Park during the games in Atlanta, Ga., killing one person and injuring more than 100. Eric Robert Rudolph, who eluded police until his capture 31 May 2003, pleaded guilty to the bombing on 13 April 2005.
1999—the US space shuttle
Discovery completed a five-day mission commanded by Air Force Col. Eileen Collins, the first shuttle mission to be commanded by a woman.
2001—a judge in West Palm Beach, Fla., sentenced 14-year-old Nathaniel Brazill to 28 years in prison for second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of teacher Barry Grunow at Lake Worth Middle School.
2001—the ribbon cutting ceremony was held for American Airlines Center in Dallas, Tex. The event set two new world records, one for the 3 mile long ribbon and one for the 2,000 people that cut it.
2003—Lance Armstrong won a record-tying 5th straight Tour de France.
2003—Bob Hope, English-born stand-up comedian & actor (
Road series,
Paleface),died at age 100 at home in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles. He was famous for his work with the USO entering American military personnel, especially overseas, in 199 known shows.
2003—it was reported by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.) that there was no monster in Loch Ness. The investigation used 600 separate sonar beams and satellite navigation technology to trawl the loch. Reports of sightings of the "Loch Ness Monster" began in the 6th century.
2004—Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia rescinded his resignation after a 10-day political standoff with Yasser Arafat. Qureia had resigned earlier in the month after Arafat refused to let him restructure the security forces and deal with the growing unrest in the Palestinian areas.
2005—Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian who'd plotted to bomb the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium, was sentenced to 22 years in prison
2006—Floyd Landis' stunning Tour de France victory just four days earlier was thrown into doubt when he tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race. (Landis was stripped of his title for doping.)
2007—UN aid convoys faced increasing attacks in Darfur.
2008—the European Union kept its ban on Indonesian airlines amid accusations of political motivation.
2009—heavy rainfall created huge traffic jams across Delhi, India.
2010—BP announced that its much-criticized chief executive, Tony Hayward, would be replaced by Robert Dudley as the company reported a record quarterly loss and set aside $32.2 billion to cover the costs of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
2010—twin car bomb killed 20 in Iraq.
2010—Seychelles sentenced Somali pirates to ten years in prison.