Today in History
Historical Events
Home Box Office launched. The premium TV channel, informally known as HBO, is the oldest paid TV channel in the United States. The first program to screen on the channel was Sometimes a Great Notion, a movie starring Paul Newman and Henry Fonda.
Coup in Thailand. Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn staged a coup against his own government and dismissed the parliament citing increasing communist influence.
Assassination attempt on Hitler. Johann Georg Elser, a German woodworker, attempted to kill Adolf Hilter and other high ranking members of the Nazi party during the 16th anniversary observances of the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed coup attempt by Hitler in 1923. The time bomb Elser used in a beer hall called Bürgerbräukeller in Munich went off but failed to kill Hitler. Elser was caught and imprisoned in Dachau for 5 years.
Beer Hall Putsch. On this day, Adolf Hitler and other members of the Nazi party attempted to overthrow current government by marching to Berlin. They started the march at the Bürgerbräu Keller in Munich. The coup attempt was eventually unsuccessful and Hitler was captured and imprisoned for 2 years.
First person to observe X-rays. German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen accidentally discovered X-rays, also sometimes called Röntgen rays while working on cathode rays. X-rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation that are often used today in medicine. Röntgen was awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 for his discovery.
Famous Births
Born on this day

Aaron Swartz
1986
American computer programmer, activist

Gordon Ramsay
1966
Scottish chef, television host

Micky Adams
1961
English footballer, manager

Nguyen Khanh
1927
Vietnamese general, politician, 3rd President of South Vietnam

Margaret Mitchell
1900
American author
Famous Deaths
Died on this day

Vyacheslav Molotov
1986
Soviet politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs fr the Soviet Union

Dorothy Kilgallen
1965
American journalist

Ivan Bunin
1953
Russian author, poet, Nobel Prize laureate

Doc Holliday
1887
American gambler, dentist

John Milton
1674
English poet