Today in History for 14th March 2025
Historical Events
1794 – Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin, revolutionizing the cotton industry in the southern US states
1956 – 50-year-old baseball pitching star Satchel Paige signs a contract to play for and manage the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro National League
1966 – British film “Born Free” based on the book “Born Free” by Joy Adamson released starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers
1972 – Two IRA members shot dead by British soldiers in the Bogside area of Derry
1973 – Liam Cosgrave (52) appointed President of Ireland
2022 – PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Australian Cameron Smith wins $3.6m, biggest individual event purse in golf history; beats Anirban Lahiri of India by 1 stroke
Famous Birthdays
1623 – Adam-Nicolas Gascon, Dutch-Walloon composer and kapellmeister (Saint Paul Collegiate Church, 1659-68), born in Liège, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1668)
1815 – Josephine Lang, German composer, born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria (d. 1880)
1831 – Leon Leopold Lewandoski, Polish composer, born in Kalisz, Poland (d. 1896)
1920 – Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (Dennis the Menace), born in Seattle, Washington (d. 2001)
1921 – Frank Ottersen, Norwegian jazz violinist and saxophonist (Ding, Dong, Dang), born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1971)
1989 – Colby O’Donis [Colón] American singer (Lady Gaga -“Just Dance”), songwriter, and record producer, born in Queens, New York
Famous Deaths
1490 – Charles I, Duke of Savoy (1482-90), dies at 21
1903 – Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch, Dutch landscape painter, dies at 88
1933 – Balto, Siberian husky dog who led the sled team delivering diphtheria antitoxin from to Nenana, Alaska to Nome, Alaska in 1925, dies at 14
1961 – Akiba Rubinstein, Polish chess player (openings theorist), dies at 80
2003 – Jean-Luc Lagardère, French publisher (b. 1928)
2007 – Lucie Aubrac, French history teacher and member of the French Resistance (b. 1912)
