Articles tagged with: Music

Today in History, April 9th

Date: April 9, 2013 Author: Today in History Comments: Leave a reply
1241 In the Battle of Liegnitz, Mongol armies defeat Poles and Germans.
1454 The city states of Venice, Milan and Florence sign a peace agreement at Lodi, Italy.
1682 Robert La Salle claims lower Mississippi River and all lands that touch it for France.

Robert-La-Salle

Robert La Salle
1731 British Captain Robert Jenkins loses an ear to a band of Spanish brigands, starting a war between Britain and Spain: The War of Jenkins’ Ear.
1770 Captain James Cook discovers Botany Bay on the Australian continent.
1859 Realizing that France has encouraged the Piedmontese forces to mobilize for invading Italy, Austria begins mobilizing its army.
1865 General Robert E. Lee surrenders his rebel forces to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Va.
1900 British forces route Boers at Kroonstadt, South Africa.
1916 The German army launches its third offensive during the Battle of Verdun.
1917 The Battle of Arras begins as Canadian troops begin a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.
1921 Russo-Polish conflict ends with signing of the Riga Treaty.
1939 Black singer Marian Anderson performed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after she was denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution because of her race.

Marian-Anderson-1939-Lincoln

Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial (1939)
1940 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway during World War II.
1942 In the Battle of Bataan, American and Filipino forces are overwhelmed by the Japanese Army.
1950 Comedian Bob Hope makes his first television appearance.
1959 NASA announced the selection of America’s first seven astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton.
1963 Winston Churchill becomes the first honorary U.S. citizen.
1966 The statue of Winston Churchill is dedicated at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Winston-Churchill-Statue-Washington

Winston Churchill Statue in Washington, D.C.
1969 The album “Nashville Skyline” by Bob Dylan was released.
1970 Paul McCartney announces the official break-up of the Beatles.
1992 Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was convicted in Miami of eight drug and racketeering charges.
2001 American Airlines’ parent company acquired bankrupt Trans World Airlines.
2003 Jubilant Iraqis celebrated the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, beheading a toppled statue of their longtime ruler in downtown Baghdad.
2005 Britain’s Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles, who took the title Duchess of Cornwall.

Today in History facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.

Today in History, April 6th

Date: April 6, 2013 Author: Today in History Comments: Leave a reply
1199 English King Richard I is killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.
1789 The First U.S. Congress begins regular sessions at Federal Hall in New York City.
1814 Granted sovereignty in the island of Elba and a pension from the French government, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates at Fountainebleau. He is allowed to keep the title of emperor.
1830 Joseph Smith and five others organize the Church of Latter-Day Saints.

Joseph-Smith

Joseph Smith
1862 Confederate forces attack General Ulysses S. Grant at Shiloh, Tennessee.
1865 At the Battle of Sailer’s Creek, a third of Lee’s army is cut off by Union troops pursuing him to Appomattox.
1896 The Modern Olympics begin in Athens with eight nations participating.
1896 The first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece.
1903 French Army Nationalists are revealed to have forged documents to guarantee a conviction for Alfred Dryfus.
1909 Explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson purportedly became the first men to reach the North Pole. (The exact location they reached has since been called into question.)

Robert-Peary-and-Matthew-A-Henson

Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson
1917 The United States declares war on Germany and enters World War I on Allied side.
1924 Four planes leave Seattle on the first successful flight around the world.
1938 The United States recognizes Nazi Germany’s conquest of Austria.
1941 German forces invade Greece and Yugoslavia.
1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson authorizes the use of ground troops in combat operations.
1971 Composer Igor Stravinsky died at age 88.
1983 Interior Secretary James Watt banned the Beach Boys from the 4th of July celebration on the Washington Mall, saying rock ‘n’ roll bands attract the “wrong element.”
1992 Science fiction author Isaac Asimov died at age 72.

Isaac-Asimov

Isaac Asimov
1998 The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 9,000 points for the first time.
1998 Pakistan successfully tested a medium-range missile capable of striking neighboring India.
2001 Algerian national Ahmed Ressam, accused of bringing explosives into the United States days before the millennium celebrations, was convicted on terror charges.
2004 Jordan’s military court convicted eight Muslim militants and sentenced them to death for the 2002 killing of U.S. aid official Laurence Foley in a terror conspiracy linked to al-Qaida.
2004 The University of Connecticut became the first school to win the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball titles in the same season as the women’s team beat Tennessee 70-61 for their third consecutive championship.
2005 Prince Rainier III of Monaco died at age 81.

Today in History facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.

Today in History, March 24th

Date: March 24, 2013 Author: Today in History Comments: Leave a reply
1208 King John of England opposes Innocent III on his nomination for archbishop of Canterbury.
1603 Queen Elizabeth I dies which will bring into power James VI of Scotland.

James-VI-of-Scotland

James VI of Scotland
1663 Charles II of England awards lands known as Carolina in North America to eight members of the nobility who assisted in his restoration.
1664 In London, Roger Williams is granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island.
1720 The banking houses of Paris close in the wake of financial crisis.
1721 In Germany, the supremely talented Johann Sebastian Bach publishes the Six Brandenburg Concertos.
1765 Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers.
1862 Abolitionist Wendell Phillips speaks to a crowd about emancipation in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is pelted by eggs.

Wendell-Phillips

Wendell Phillips
1882 German scientist Robert Koch announced in Berlin that he had discovered the bacillus responsible for tuberculosis.
1883 Long-distance telephone service was inaugurated between Chicago and New York City.
1900 Mayor Van Wyck of New York breaks ground for the New York subway tunnel that will link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
1904 Vice Admiral Togo sinks seven Russian ships as the Japanese strengthen their blockade of Port Arthur.
1913 The home of vaudeville, the Palace Theatre, opened in New York City.
1938 The United States asks that all powers help refugees fleeing from the Nazis.
1944 The Gestapo rounds up innocent Italians in Rome and shoot them to death in reprisal for a bomb attack that killed 33 German policemen.
1947 Congress proposes limiting the presidency to two terms.
1951 General Douglas MacArthur threatens the Chinese with an extension of the Korean War if the proposed truce is not accepted.
1954 Great Britain opens trade talks with Hungary.
1955 “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway.
1958 Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in Memphis, Tenn.

Elvis-Presley-Army

Elvis Presley
1965 The Freedom Marchers, citizens for civil rights, reach Montgomery, Alabama.
1967 Viet Cong ambush a truck convoy in South Vietnam damaging 82 of the 121 trucks.
1972 Great Britain imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland.
1973 The album “Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd was released.
1977 Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was named archbishop of Munich and Freising in Germany.
1985 Thousands demonstrate in Madrid against the NATO presence in Spain.
1998 A 13-year-old boy and his 11-year-old cousin opened fire outside their school in Jonesboro, Ark., killing four students and a teacher and injuring 10.
2001 Apple Computer Inc.’s operating system Mac OS X went on sale.
2002 Halle Berry became the first African-American performer to win a best actress Oscar, for “Monster’s Ball.”
2005 The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal from the parents of Terri Schiavo to have a feeding tube reinserted into the severely brain-damaged woman.

Today in History facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.

Today in History, February 13th

Date: February 13, 2013 Author: Today in History Comments: Leave a reply

A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, February 13th!

1542 The fifth wife of England’s King Henry VIII, Catherine Howard, was executed for adultery.
1635 The Boston Public Latin School, the first public school in what is now the United States, was founded.
1689 British Parliament adopts the Bill of Rights.
1692 In the Glen Coe highlands of Scotland, thirty-eight members of the MacDonald clan are murdered by soldiers of the neighboring Campbell clan for not pledging allegiance to William of Orange. Ironically the pledge had been made but not communicated to the clans. The event is remembered as the Massacre of Glencoe.
1862 The four day Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, begins.
1865 The Confederacy approves the recruitment of slaves as soldiers, as long as the approval of their owners is gained.
1866 Jesse James holds up his first bank.
1914 The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is founded.

American-Society-Composers-Authors-Publishers

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
1920 The League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
1936 First social security checks are put in the mail.
1945 The Royal Air Force Bomber Command devastates the German city of Dresden with night raids by 873 heavy bombers. The attacks are joined by 521 American heavy bombers flying daylight raids.
1949 A mob burns a radio station in Ecuador after the broadcast of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds.”
1951 At the Battle of Chipyong-ni, in Korea, U.N. troops contain the Chinese forces’ offensive in a two-day battle.
1953 The Pope asks the United States to grant clemency to convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.

Ethel-and-Julius-Rosenberg

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
1960 France exploded its first atomic bomb.
1968 The United States sends 10,500 more combat troops to Vietnam.
1970 General Motors is reportedly redesigning automobiles to run on unleaded fuel.
1972 Enemy attacks in Vietnam decline for the third day as the United States continues its intensive bombing strategy.
1984 Konstantin Chernenko is selected to succeed Yuri Andropov as Party General Secretary in the Soviet Union.
1991 During Operation Desert Storm, allied warplanes destroyed an underground shelter in Baghdad that had been identified as a military command center; Iraqi officials said 500 civilians were killed.
1997 The Dow Jones industrial average broke through the 7,000 barrier for the first time, closing at 7,022.44.
2000 Charles Schulz’s final “Peanuts” comic strip ran in Sunday newspapers, the day after the cartoonist died at age 77.
2002 John Walker Lindh pleaded not guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Va., to conspiring to kill Americans and supporting the Taliban and terrorist organizations. (Lindh later pleaded guilty to lesser offenses and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.).
2005 Ray Charles won eight posthumous Grammy awards for his final album, “Genius Loves Company.”

Ray-Charles-2005

Ray Charles’ “Genius Loves Company.”
2008 Seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens denied having taken performance-enhancing drugs in testimony before Congress.
2011 Egypt’s military leaders dissolved parliament, suspended the constitution and promised elections in moves cautiously welcomed by protesters who’d helped topple President Hosni Mubarak.
2012 Washington became the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Today in History facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.

Today in History, January 27th

Date: January 27, 2013 Author: Today in History Comments: Leave a reply

A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, January 27th!

1756 Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.
1825 Congress approves Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the “Trail of Tears.”
1832 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” under the pen name Lewis Carroll, was born in Cheshire, England.

Charles-Lutwidge-Dodgson

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
1862 President Abraham Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1, setting in motion the Union armies.
1885 Broadway composer Jerome Kern was born in New York City.
1900 Foreign diplomats in Peking fear revolt and demand that the Imperial Government discipline the Boxer Rebels.
1905 Russian General Kuropatkin takes the offensive in Manchuria. The Japanese under General Oyama suffer heavy casualties.

General-Alexei-Kuropatkin

General Alexei N. Kuropatkin
1916 President Woodrow Wilson opens preparedness program.
1918 Communists attempt to seize power in Finland.
1924 Lenin’s body is laid in a marble tomb on Red Square near the Kremlin.
1935 A League of Nations majority favors depriving Japan of mandates.
1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves the sale of U.S. war planes to France.
1943 The first U.S. raids on the Reich blast Wilhelmshaven base and Emden.
1944 The Soviet Union announced the end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.
1951 The era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began.
1959 NASA selects 110 candidates for the first U.S. space flight.
1965 Military leaders oust the civilian government of Tran Van Huong in Saigon.
1967 Astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo 1 spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla. chaffee-grissom-white
1967 More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons.
1973 A cease fire in Vietnam is called as the Paris peace accords are signed by the United States and North Vietnam.
1978 The State Supreme Court rules that Nazis can display the Swastika in a march in Skokie, Illinois.
1985 Pope John Paul says mass to one million in Venezuela.
1998 First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, appearing on NBC’s “Today” show, said that allegations against her husband were the work of a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”
2010 Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet computer during a presentation in San Francisco.
2010 J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” died in Cornish, N.H. at age 91.

Today in History facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.