Today in History

Historical Events

1926 - Hurricane in Florida and Alabama kills 372
1940 - Leo Durocher is suspended from Ebbets Field for "inciting a riot"
1940 - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Selective Training and Service Act, the first US peacetime draft
1996 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Panama City, Florida, on WTBB 97.7 FM
1999 - First-ever season of "Big Brother" reality show begins on the Veronica channel in the Netherlands

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Famous Birthdays

1812 - Robert Fortune, Scottish botanist and plant hunter (established East India tea company in India), born in Kelloe, Scotland (d. 1880)
1832 - George Washington Custis Lee, American Major General (Confederate Army), born in Fort Monroe, Virginia (d. 1913)
1940 - Hamiet Bluiett, American jazz baritone saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer (World Saxophone Quartet - "Hattie Wall'), born in Brooklyn, Illinois (d. 2018)
1953 - Alan Barton, English musician (Black Lace, Smokie), born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England (d. 1995)