Today in History for 24th February 2018:
Historical Events
1925 – Thermite explosive 1st used to break up ice jam, Waddington, NY
1948 – Communist Party seizes complete control of Czechoslovakia
1955 – Pact of Baghdad signed between Iraq and Turkey
1960 – 2nd Daytona 500: Junior Johnson wins (124.74 MPH)
1981 – An earthquake registering 6.7 on the Richter scale hits Athens, killing 16 people and destroying buildings in several towns west of the city.
1985 – Yul Brynner reprised his role in “The King and I”
Famous Birthdays
1547 – Jan of Austria, Spanish military man/land guardian of the Netherland
1921 – Ingvar Lidholm, Swedish composer (Toccata e Canto), born in Jönköping, Sweden (d. 2017)
1938 – James Farentino, actor (The Final Countdown), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2012)
1944 – Nicky Hopkins, rock pianist (Stones-Ruby Tuesday, Quicksilver)
1950 – George Thorogood, American singer and guitarist (The Delaware Destroyers-Bad to the Bone), born in Wilmington, Delaware
1951 – Helen Shaver, Ontario Canada, actress (WIOU, Praise of Older Women)
Famous Deaths
1642 – Marco da Gagliano, Italian opera composer, dies at about 66
1732 – Colonel Francis Charteris, known as “The Rape-Master General”. (b. 1675)
1982 – Virginia Bruce, actress (Born to Dance, Great Ziegfield), dies at 71
1991 – George Gobel, Chicago, comedian (George Gobel Show), dies at 71
2008 – Larry Norman, American musician and pioneer of Christian rock music (Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?), dies at 60
2012 – Benedict Freedman, American novelist and mathematician, dies at 92