Today in History

Mick86

1731

The Irish Parliament met in College Green for the first time.

1916

Cpl Adolf Hitler was wounded in action.

1930

A British Airship, en route from England to Egypt, hit a hill side near Beauvais, France and exploded, killing 48 of the 55 people on board. Amongst the passengers on board was the Secretary of State for Air, Lord Thompson.

1969

Major embarrassment for the USAF when a Cuban defector landed his MiG-17 at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida. Air Force One was waiting there to return President Nixon to Washington. The entry of the potentially hostile Mig had gone undetected.

1995

Seamus Heaney won the Nobel Prize for literature.

Happy Birthday to...

Flann O’Brien in 1911. He wrote under the names of Myles na Gopaleen and Brian O’Nolan.

Frank Patterson was born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary in 1938.

Bob Geldof was born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin in 1954.

arbeitsscheuer

1989

Dalai Lama, exiled leader of Tibet, wins Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent campaign to end Chinese domination and suppression of Tibet and its religion.


1974

5 people killed and a further 65 injured when the IRA bombs two pubs in Guildford, Surrey.


1914

The world's first air battle takes place between French and German Aircraft in the early months of the Great War.

Mick86

1175

The Treaty of Windsor was signed by which Rory O'Connor, High King of Ireland, recognized Henry II as his overlord.

1536

William Tyndale was burnt at the stake for heresy in France.

1649

Owen Roe O'Neill died.

1769

Captain Cook landed in New Zealand.

1857

L/Cpl John Sinnott, from Wexford, earned a Victoria Cross in the Indian Mutiny with the 84th Foot when he was wounded twice while helping recover the body of a mortally wounded Captain.

1879

Maj George White, from Antrim, a company commander in the Gordon Highlanders, earned a VC when attacking a superior number of enemy during the Second Afghan War. In the face of withering fire his company hesitated but Maj. White charged alone and killed the leader of the Afghans, inspiring his own troops to continue the assault. George made it to General and commanded the garrison of Ladysmith against the Boers.

1891

Charles Stewart Parnell died.

1902

Lt Col Alexander Cobbe, born in India of Irish parents, earned a VC by manning a Maxim Gun alone against attacking Somalis and rescuing a wounded Private. He was attached to the King’s African Rifles at the time.

1903

Ernest Walton was born in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. He and Sir John Douglas Cockcroft were awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles.

1908

The Austrian Empire annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1917

Another German attack on Polygon Wood in the Ypres Salient.

1918

British took Fresnoy,north of Arras.

The Second Battle of Le Cateau began.

1946

Gerry Adams was born.

1951

PFC Patrick White, 25th Inf Div, from Louth and PFC Thomas Quinn, 1st Cav Div, from Roscommon were killed in Korea.


1973

Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan had another go at annihilating Israel, attacking on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, beginning the Yom Kippur War. They lost again.

1981

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists during a ceremony commemorating the Egyptian crossing of the Suez Canal during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. He was succeeded by Hosni Mubarak.

Happy Birthday to...

Britt Ekland. She's 64 today. Nice pistol.



Deaths...

Ben Johnson. 1637

Alfred Tennyson. 1892

Mick86

1571

The Battle of Lepanto was fought between Christian allied naval forces and the Ottoman Turks attempting to capture Cyprus from the Venetians. It was the last great clash of galley ships.

1806

Ralph Wedgwood patented the first carbon paper.

1900

Heinrich Himmler was born.

1913

The Ford Motor Company started operation of the first assembly line. It could turn out a car in three hours.

1916

Le Sars was captured by the British on the Somme.

1919
The Dutch airline KLM, the oldest existing airline, was established.

1928

Herbert Hoover was elected 31st President of the United States of America.

1985

The cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked in the Mediterranean by the PLO. One man, an American Jew was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair. The four hijackers surrendered in Italy and were extradited to Egypt where they were allowed escape. The leader of the group was captured in Baghdad last year.

Mick86

1858

In Oudh, during the Indian Mutiny, Pte Charles Anderson of the 2nd Dragoon Guards and another man rescued their Colonel from attack bya large group of rebels. Both men were awarded a VC. Charles was a Liverpudlian of Irish descent.

1871

The Great Chicago Fire started after a cow reportedly kicked over a lantern in the barn of Mrs. O'Leary. Damage was estimated at $200 million, 90,000 Chicagoans were made homeless, and at least 300 people died.


1999

A statue dedicated to James Magennis, winner of the Victoria Cross in 1945 was unveiled outside Belfast City Hall.

Happy Birthday to...

1895 - Juan Perón, President of Argentina (1946-1955 and 1973-74).
1941 - Rev. Jesse Jackson, American civil rights leader.

And In Memoriam
1869 - Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States of America (1853-1857).

Mick86

1000

Leif Erikson landed on North American mainland near Newfoundland. It's actually Leif Erikson Day in Iceland and Norway.

1781

American and French armies under General George Washington started bombarding Lord Cornwallis's British forces at Yorktown, Virginia in the closing stages of the American Revolution.

1914

The Germans captured Antwerp, Belgium after a 12-day siege.

1915

There was heavy fighting in the Loos sector of the Western Front as the Germans go on the offensive.

1917

The third phase of the Battle of Paschendaele-The Battle of Poelcapelle- began. Both battalions of the Irish Guards fought in this phase as part of the Guards Division. In the 29th Division, the 1st Bn Royal Dublin Fusiliers and 1st Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers also participated.

1918

Cambrai was captured by the British Army. Since August 21st the Allies have captured 110,000 Germans.

1930

Laura Ingalls landed in Glendale, California, in her Moth biplane, completing the first solo transcontinental flight by a woman.

1934

King Alexander of Yugoslavia was assassinated by a Croatian terrorist during a state visit to France. The French foreign minister, Louis Barthou, also bought it.

1940

A German blitz destroyed the altar of St. Paul's Cathedral in London and left much of the city in flames.

Happy Birthday to....
John Lennon born 1940

And Goodbye to....

Pope Pius XII after 19 years in papacy (1958)

"Che" Guevara, Argentinian-born guerilla leader and revolutionary, murdered in Bolivia.(1967)

Oskar Schindler, the German businessman credited with saving 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust, died at the age of 66. (1974)

Cpl George Murray died in Lebanon (1984).

Mick86

1918

The RMS. Leinster was sunk by U-123, commanded by Captain Robert Ramm, an hour out of Kingstown bound for Holyhead. There were 771 passengers aboard, 492 of whom were soldiers returning from, or going on, leave. She was hit by two torpedos and sank in 13 minutes with the loss of 501 lives. A family named Gould from Limerick was virtually wiped out in the sinking. The mother and five children died, one daughter survived. The man of the family was working in a munitions factory in England. 145 bodies of military personnel recovered are buried in Grangegorman Military cemetery. 142 persons whose bodies were not recovered are commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton. The 39 crew members are commemorated on the Merchant Navy Memorial at Tower Hill, London. The Leinster remains on the seabed 12 miles from shore and 100ft down. One of her anchors was raised in 1990 and it stands in Dún Laoghaire, a memorial to one of Ireland’s worst maritime tragedies.

Mick86

1492

Christopher Columbus sighted land on the horizon.

1521

Pope Leo X granted the title “Fidei Defensor” to King Henry VIII.

1649

Wexford fell to Cromwell’s troops, who promptly massacred the inhabitants.

1727

George II was crowned King of England and Ireland.

1891

Charles Stewart Parnell was buried. His followers named the day, Ivy Day.

1899

The Boers of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, declared war on Great Britain.

1915

Edith Cavell, an English nurse, was executed by the Germans, in Belgium, for aiding the escape of Allied prisoners.

1921

The Anglo-Irish negotiations open with Griffith and Collins leading the Irish delegation.

1922

The Irish Free State Constitution was adopted. It was drafted by Thomas Cosgrove.

Mick86

1537

Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour had a baby boy, the future Edward IV, King of England from 1547 to 1553. Jane died shortly after the birth.

1798

A French fleet was intercepted off Donegal. Wolfe Tone was captured aboard the Hoche.

1914

The First Battle of Ypres began.

1975

Oliver Plunkett became the first Irish saint in 700 years.

1984

The IRA bombed the hotel where Margaret Thatcher was staying in Brighton. Five people were killed. Patrick McGee was sentenced to 8 life sentences for his role in the bombing. McGee was freed in 1999 under the GFA. The victims, however, remain dead and crippled.

2000

The USS Cole was attacked in Yemen. 17 sailors died.

SpitfireIV

16th October 1890 - Michael Collins born at 'Woodfield', near Sams Cross, Clonakilty.

InFront

On this day in 1973 Ireland, Britain and Denmark entered the EEC,

And on this day 2052 years ago, "Julian Time" began, and with it, the birth of the years as we know them (after a few alterations by dear old Greg).

SpitfireIV

On this day - Bank Holiday Monday, 24th April 1916 the Easter Rising began, and the rest, they say, is history......

csk

On this day - 5th May - Bobby Sands died after 66 days on hunger strike.
Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam.

csk

1940 - Winston Churchill becomes PM

1980 - Tito is buried.

SpitfireIV

August 22nd 1922,

Michael Collins killed in action at Beal na Blath, Co. Cork.

navalus

August 24th 1942, the Duke of Kent, youngest brother of King George VI, died when his sunderland flying boat crashed en route to Iceland.

SpitfireIV

Michael Collins birthday, 16th October.

PDN

4th December 1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is officially crowned Emperor of France

Cato

wait i thought it was "today in history" not "list random dates in history"

Fratton Fred

August 6th 1945

The Japanese city of Hiroshima is devastated after the USAAF B-29 "Enola Gay" drops "Little Boy" on the city.

Belfast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_19

navalus

1792 France was declared a republic and the monarchy was abolished.

spurious

11th November, 1918.
First World War hostilities end.

nacl

24 12 08

Zavvi - UK's biggest music retailer goes into administration.


same date 1968

Apollo 8 astronauts become the first people from Earth to begin orbiting the Moon

Pride Fighter

February 12th, I'm a little late:)

Handel's first ever performance of his Oratorio the Messiah was today in Fishamble street Dublin, 1741.
Charles Darwin is born in 1809.

Queen-Mise

399 BC - Socrates sentenced to death

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

those crazy nazis

FiSe

The South Moravian town of Znojmo was liberated too

conchubhar1

first rollercoaster in america - 1884

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do