Today in History for 14th February 2024

[CoM Moderators]

Historical Events

1076 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (for the 1st time)
1872 - 1st US state bird refuge authorized (Lake Merritt, California)
1929 - St Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago, 7 gangsters killed, allegedly on Al Capone's orders
1968 - WHKY TV channel 14 in Hickory, NC (IND) begins broadcasting
1980 - US launches Solar Maximum Mission Observatory to study solar flares
2002 - Fishing vessel Tullaghmurray Lass sinks off the coast of Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland killing three members of the same family on board

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1895 - Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (Dialectic of Enlightenment, Eclipse of Reason), born in Zuffenhausen, Stuttgart, Germany (d. 1973)
1926 - (Alexander) "Bobby" Kok, Boer-British classical and session cellist (BBC Symphony; George Harrison - "When We Was Fab"), born in Brakpan, Union of South Africa, (d. 2015)
1943 - Griselda Blanco 'Cocaine Godmother', Colombian drug lord, born in Cartagena, Colombia (d. 2012)
1958 - Perry Stephens, German actor (Loving, All My Children), born in Frankfurt, Germany
1972 - Erika Rachael Schwarz, Miss America (Louisiana-2nd-1997), born in Folsom, Louisiana
1983 - Rhydian Roberts, Welsh Singer (X Factor runner up), born in Sennybridge, United Kingdom

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1760 - François Colin de Blamont, French composer, dies at 69
1870 - St. John Richardson Liddell, American Civil War Confederate General, dies at 54
1884 - Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, 1st wife of Theodore Roosevelt, dies of Bright's disease at 22
1955 - Charles Cuvillier, French composer of operetta (The Naughty Princess), dies at 77
1994 - Andrei Chikatilo, Soviet-Russian serial killer who murdered at least 52 women and children between 1978 and 1990, executed by a single gunshot at 57
2010 - Dick Francis, British jockey and detective writer (Whip Hand, High Stakes), dies at 89

More Famous Deaths »