Fun Archive

Historical Day

• 1600 - Giordano Bruno burned in Rome as a heretic
• 1854 - British recognize independence of Orange Free State (South Africa)
• 1870 - Mississippi readmitted to U.S. after Civil War
• 1876 - Sardines were 1st canned - in Eastport - Maine
• 1878 - 1st telephone exchange in SF opens with 18 phones
• 1908 - Geronimo - Apache hero - dies (birth date unknown)

Famous Birthday

• 1723 - Tobias Mayer, "method of lunars" for longitude determination
• 1774 - Raphael Peale, American painter
• 1781 - Ren‚-Th‚ophile-Hyacinthe Laennec, invented stethoscope
• 1844 - A Montgomery Ward, found mail-order a nice business
• 1857 - Samuel Sidney McClure, Irish-American newspaper editor & publisher
• 1874 - Thomas J. Watson Sr., founder of IBM
• 1888 - Otto Stern, physicist (Nobel 1943)
• 1902 - Marian Anderson, operatic contralto
• 1908 - Red (Walter L) Barber, sports announcer
• 1924 - Margaret Truman, daughter of Harry S
• 1925 - Hal Holbrook, actor
• 1929 - Chaim Potok, novelist
• 1934 - Alan Bates, actor (Zorba the Greek)
• 1936 - Jim Brown, NFL fullback (Cleveland Browns)
• 1942 - Huey Newton, Black Panther leader
• 1945 - Pat Morrow, in Los Angeles - Peyton Place
• 1947 - Dodie Stevens,