Today in History

On This Day - 21st July

1897London's Tate Gallery, built on the site of the Millbank Prison, was opened, with 67 paintings.

1909Six suffragettes, jailed for breaking windows in Whitehall, were released for insubordination, for kicking and biting female wardens, and for going on strike.

1925Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first man to break the 150 mph land barrier, at Pendine Sands in Wales when he drove a Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of 150.33 mph. His son, Donald Campbell, carried on the family tradition by later holding both land speed and water speed records.

1931A Bill proposing the sterilisation of the mentally defective was defeated in the House of Commons.


1960English yachtsman Francis Chichester docked in New York in his boat Gypsy Moth II - setting a new record of 40 days for a solo crossing of the Atlantic.


1972'Bloody Friday' bombings by the Provisional IRA around Belfast in Northern Ireland killed 9 and seriously injuring 130. In all, 22 bombs were detonated.

1982The flagship of the British task force to the Falklands, HMS Hermes, arrived back in Portsmouth.


1994Tony Blair, was confirmed as the new leader of the Labour Party following the unexpected death of John Smith.


2000Downing Street insisted they would not intervene after Home Secretary Jack Straw's car was stopped by the police for speeding.

 

Today in History July 22

1934 John Dillinger was killed by the FBI outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago

Note: Minutes after Dillinger was shot people were dipping their clothing into his blood as a souvenir

Note: Dillinger was set up by his companion and brothel owner Anna Sage.

Note: The 'woman in red', was actually the 'woman in orange', she was wearing an orange dress which looked red under the street lights.

Note: For her trouble she given a new fur coat, and was deported back to her home country of Romania

 

On This Day - 22nd July

1298The English used longbows for the first time, when they defeated the Scots at the Battle of Falkirk. The Scottish pikemen were cut to pieces by Edward I's archers.


1706The 'Acts of Union' were agreed by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by the countries' Parliaments, led to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.


1812The Duke of Wellington defeated the French in the Battle of Salamanca, in Spain.

889The birth of James Whale, film director of horror classics such as Frankenstein (1931) and The Invisible Man (1933).


1939Terence Stamp, actor, was born, in Stepney, London. He had an off-screen romance with Julie Christie, while they were filming Far from the Madding Crowd.


1946More than a year after the end of World War II, bread was rationed in Britain. The shortage was blamed on a poor harvest and drought.



1972Paul and Linda McCartney were arrested in Sweden for possession of drugs.


1986MPs voted to abolish corporal punishment in state schools.


1991British prime minister John Major unveiled the government's Citizen's Charter aimed at improving public services.

 

This Day in History July 26th

Disco was born

1975 "The Hustle" by songwriter/arranger Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony goes to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at No. 9 in Australia, and No. 3 in the UK.

Note: It would eventually sell over one million copies.

 

Today in history July 27th

1890 Vincent van Gogh commits suicide. The Dutch post-Impressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh allegedly shot himself in the abdomen and died two days later in the early morning hours of July 29, 1890

Note: Van Gogh died at the age of 37, leaving behind 1,300 pieces of art on paper and 900 paintings

Note: Historians still debate whether it was murder or suicide. Van Gogh was shot in the abdomen below the ribs, which is a seemingly odd position to take if he had been aiming to shoot himself in the heart. In addition, the bullet used to shoot van Gogh did not pass through his body, which suggests that he was shot at a distance,

Note: In the wheat field he allegedly shot himself there was no gun found, and his art supplies including his easel were never found.

 

Today in History July 28th

1976 The Tangshan Earthquake

At 3:24 AM an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 levels the city Tangshan, the industrial center in northeastern China. The quake causes over 240,000 deaths and more than 160,000 serious injuries.

Note: China's government will turn down offers of help from outside nations.

Note: One year earlier in 1975 a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit Haicheng, China. It was known for being one of the few earthquakes to be successfully predicted throughout history.

Note: The difference between the Tangshan Earthquake which killed 240,000, and the Haicheng earthquake which killed relatively few people was the Haicheng earthquake was preceded by dozens of foreshocks which warned seismologists of the impeding quake.

 

This day in Musical history:
1964:
On their second visit to Sweden, The Beatles played two shows at an ice hockey arena, the Johanneshovs Isstadion, Stockholm.
During the first show, both Paul McCartney and John Lennon received mild electrical shocks from ungrounded microphones.

Supporting acts included The Kays, The Moonlighters, and The Streaplers.

1969:
Police in Moscow reported that thousands of public phone booths had been vandalised after thieves were stealing parts of the phones to convert their acoustic guitars to electric. A feature in a Russian youth magazine had shown details on how to do this.

 

This day in Musical history:
1973:
The Watkins Glen outdoor summer jam was held outside of Watkins Glen, New York with The Allman Brothers Band, the Grateful Dead and The Band. Over 600,000 rock fans attended. Many historians claimed the event was the largest gathering of people in the history of the United States. 150,000 tickets were sold for $10 each, but for all the other people it was a free concert. The crowd was so huge that a large part of the audience was not able to see the stage.
. . .

1979:
'I Don't Like Mondays' gave The Boomtown Rats their second UK No.1 single. Bob Geldof wrote the song after reading a report on the shooting spree of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who fired at children playing in a school playground across the street from her home in San Diego, California. She killed two adults and injured eight children and one police officer. Spencer showed no remorse for her crime, and her full explanation for her actions was "I don't like Mondays, this livens up the day."

 

This day in Musical history:
2011:
63-year-old singer Meat Loaf, passed out onstage at Pittsburgh's Trib Amphitheater during an apparent asthma attack.
After about ten minutes he regained his composure and finished the show.

2014:
Linda Ronstadt was honored with a National Medal of Arts at the White House in Washington, D.C.
The honor was a particularly special moment for Ronstadt, who didn't make it to her induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in April of this year), since Parkinson's disease limited her ability to travel. The singer was brought into the East Room by wheelchair, but she walked onto the stage to receive her award.

 

Today in History July 30th

1945 The USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by a Japanese sub and sinks

Note: Only 317 of 1,196 sailors survive. Many died from injury, exposure, and from frequent shark attacks after drifting in the open ocean for four days and five nights.

Note: The USS Indianapolis was returning from a top secret mission to deliver A-bomb parts to Tinian Island

Note: Captain Charles B. McVay III, who had commanded Indianapolis was court-martialed on two charges: failing to order his men to abandon ship and hazarding the ship (failing to zigzag) in enemy waters.

Note: After years of mental health problems, Captain Charles B. McVay III committed suicide at his home in Connecticut

Like most people I first learned of the USS Indianapolis from the movie Jaws

 

Today in History August 4th

1944 Anne Frank was captured by the Nazi Gestapo in Amsterdam.

After two years of hiding, the Nazi Gestapo was tipped off to the Franks' location and the entire family was captured.

The Franks were arrested along with two Christians who had helped hide them and were all sent to a concentration camp in Holland Then, in the fall of 1944, Anne and her sister Margot were sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. It was there that the two sisters caught typhus and died in early 1945.

Note: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated just two weeks after Anne and her sister had succumb to typhus

 

Today in History August 5th

1944 The Cowra prisoner of war camp breakout in New South Wales, Australia.

1,104 Japanese prisoners of war attempted to escape making it the largest prison escape of World War II, as well as one of the bloodiest. During the escape and ensuing manhunt,4 Australian soldiers and 231 Japanese soldiers were killed. The remaining escapees were re-capture

 

Hundreds of Jews are freed from forced labor in Warsaw

On August 5, 1944, Polish insurgents liberate a German forced-labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners, who join in a general uprising against the German occupiers of the city.

 

First electric traffic signal installed

The world’s first electric traffic signal is put into place on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 5, 1914.

 

Today in History August 6th

1945 Hiroshima destroyed by American atomic bomb

At 8:15 AM, a US B-29 drops a single bomb over Hiroshima, and the first atomic weapon used in warfare detonates with a 13-kiloton blast, destroying nearly 5 square miles of the Japanese city. Upwards of 70,000 die instantly, and tens of thousands will later perish from injury and radiation sickness.

 

First execution by electric chair
Old Sparky - Wikipedia

At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electrocution in history is carried out against William Kemmler, who had been convicted of murdering his lover, Matilda Ziegler, with an axe.

 

Today in History August 9th


1945 US drops second atomic bomb "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Japan, destroying part of the city

Note: Fat Man detonated at an altitude of 1,650 feet over Nagasaki with a yield of 21 kilotons, about 40 percent more powerful than Little Boy had been.

Note: People close to the blast were vaporized; those unlucky enough to be just outside that radius received horrific burns and, there and further out, radiation poisoning that would eventually kill them. 40,000 people were killed by the initial detonation. By the beginning of 1946, 30,000 more people were dead. And within the next five years, well over 100,000 deaths were directly attributable to the bombing of Nagasaki

1974 Richard Nixon resigns as President of the United States and Vice President Gerald Ford swears the oath of office to take his place as the 38th US President

1930 Animated character Betty Boop debuts in Max Fleischer's cartoon "Dizzy Dishes"