Today in History

Historical Events

1899 - Battle of Rietfontein, South Africa: Boers vs. British army
1913 - Joe Tinker fired as Cincinnati Reds manager
1956 - Margaret Towner becomes the first woman to be ordained into the Presbyterian Church in the US (PCUSA)
1976 - First Toronto International Film Festival opens
2021 - COVID-19 cases in Eastern Europe surpass 20 million, with Russia, Ukraine, and Romania among the top five countries reporting deaths globally

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Famous Birthdays

1939 - Uri Sharvit, Israeli composer, born in Jerusalem
1954 - Perry Lee "Tiny" Tavares, American rocker, born in Providence, Rhode Island
1960 - Wolfgang Güllich, German rock climber, born in Ludwigshafen, West Germany (d. 1992)
1962 - Jay Novacek, American NFL tight end (Dallas Cowboys), born in Martin, South Dakota
1984 - Kaela Kimura, Japanese model and singer (Rirura Riruha), born in Adachi, Tokyo

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Famous Deaths

1869 - Joseph Jackson Lister, British optician who perfected the optical microscope by designing the achromatic objective lens, dies at 83
1952 - Frederick Jacobi, American composer, dies at 61
1994 - Alexandr Nikolaievich Shelepin, dir of KGB (1958-61), dies