Epígrafe Março 4, 2005

Murmúrio de água na clepsidra gotejante,
Lentas gotas de som no relógio da torre,
Fio de areia na ampulheta vigilante,
Leve sombra azulando a pedra do quadrante,
Assim se escoa a hora, assim se vive e morre…

Homem, que fazes tu? Para quê tanta lida,
Tão doidas ambições, tanto ódio e tanta ameaça?
Procuremos somente a Beleza, que a vida
É um punhado infantil de areia ressequida,
Um som de água ou de bronze e uma sombra que passa…

Eugénio de Castro

in Antologia Pessoal da Poesia Portuguesa,de Eugénio de Andrade
Porto, Campo das Letras

Presságios – Eugénio de Castro

Quando eu nasci, tocava o fogo
Na minha freguesia,
E um meu vizinho, que perdera ao jogo,
Golpeava as veias, quando eu nascia.

Chegando ao mundo, comigo vinha
Uma irmãzinha,
Pó que, mudado em flor, voltou logo a ser pó…
E eu comecei, chegando ao mundo, a ver-me só…

A linda gémea, que Deus me dera,
Logo morria, mal nascera,
Morria logo…
Na freguesia, tocava a fogo…

Com tais avisos, com tais presságios,
Breve me afiz a padecer, sem protestar,
Ódios, tormentos, decepções, lutos, naufrágios,
Os idos, os de agora e os mais que hão-de chegar.

Eugénio de Castro (1869-1944)

(in «Antologia», Introdução, Selecção e bibliografia de
Albano Martins, Imprensa – Nacional Casa da Moeda,
Lisboa, 1987)

On this day in History – Mar 04

• 303 or 304 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
• 1152 – Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of the Germans.
• 1193 – Muere el sultán de Egipto, Saladino.
• 1394 – Infante D. Henrique, nascimento do, príncipe português e impulsionador dos Descobrimentos († 1460). [Prince Henry the Navigator, was born, Portuguese explorer (d. 1460) ] .
• 1461 – Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his Yorkist cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV.
• 1492 – Franceso de Layolle was born in Florence (d. 1540), composer.
• 1493 – Cristóbal Colón, de vuelta de su primer viaje a América, llega a Lisboa, donde es recibido por el rey de Portugal.
• 1496 – Sigismund of Austria -dies, Regent of Tyrol and Further Austria
• 1611 – George Abbot appointed archbishop of Canterbury.
• 1615 – Muere el pintor Hans von Aachen.
• 1619 – Anne of Denmark, dies,consort of James I of England, (b. 1574) .
• 1665 – Start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
• 1678 – Antonio (Lucio) Vivaldi, was born in Veneza- Italy (d. 1741). Composer (Four Seasons) .
• 1681 – Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
• 1707 – O Ato da União agrupa os reinos da Inglaterra e Escócia no Reino da Grã-Bretanha.
• 1768 – August Friedrich Wilhelm Holtzhausen, was born, engineer (d. 1827) .
• 1777 – O Marquês de Pombal foi destituído de todos os seus cargos e desterrado .
• 1784 – Nace en Barcelona la que luego sería Agustina de Aragón.
• 1789 – In New York City, the first U.S. Congress meets and declares the new Constitution of the United States is in effect.
• 1790 – France is divided into 83 départements, which cut across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on noble ownership of land.
• 1791- Vermont is admitted as the 14th U.S. state.
• 1793 – Karl Lachmann, was born, philologist (d. 1851) .
• 1797 – John Adams inaugurated as 2nd President of US .
• 1804 – The Battle of Vinegar Hill, colony of New South Wales (Australia) .
• 1811 – Muere en alta mar Mariano Moreno, estadista y escritor argentino.
• 1825 – John Quincy Adams inaugurated as 6th President .
• 1826 – El Congreso argentino acuerda que Buenos Aires sea la capital de la República.
• 1832 – Muere el egiptólogo Jean-François Champollion
• 1837 – Chicago, Illinois is granted a city charter by Illinois.
• 1849 – David Rice Atchison becomes President of the United States for one day (it is believed by some) due to a gap between the expiration of James K. Polk‘s term and the swearing-in of Zachary Taylor.
• 1852 – Nikolay (Vasilyevich) Gogol, writer, dies (b. 31 March 1809 in Sorochintsy, near Poltava, Ukraine, Russian Empire [now in Ukraine]). Ukrainian-born Russian humorist, dramatist, and novelist, whose novel Myortvye dushi (Dead Souls) and whose short story “Shinel” (“The Overcoat”) are considered the foundations of the great 19th-century tradition of Russian realism.
• 1858 – Matthew Perry, dies, (b. 1794) .
• 1868 – Jesse Chisholm, dies, Old West pioneer .
• 1853 – Reconocimiento de la independencia de Paraguay por Francia, Gran Bretaña y Estados Unidos.
• 1857 – El demócrata James Buchanam asume la presidencia de Estados Unidos.
• 1857 – Terminou a guerra anglo-persa.
• 1861 – España acepta el ofrecimiento de la que había sido colonia de Santo Domingo para reincorporarse a la Monarquía.
• 1865 – La Catedral de Buenos Aires es elevada al rango de Iglesia Metropolitana.
• 1861 – Abraham Lincoln becomes the 16th President of the United States
• 1861 – The “Stars and Bars” is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
• 1869 – Nascimento de Eugenio de Castro, poeta e escritor português.
• 1875 – Nace Enrique Rodríguez Larreta, escritor y político argentino.
• 1876 – Léon-Paul Fargue, was born, poet (d. 1947) .
• 1877 – Garrett Morgan, was born, inventor (d. 1963).
• 1877 – Emile Berliner invents the microphone.
• 1877 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky‘s ballet Swan Lake debuts.
• 1879 – Josip Murn – Aleksandrov,was born, Slovene poet (d. 1901) .
• 1881 – A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story, begins.
• 1881 – James A Garfield inaugurated as 20th president .
• 1885 – Guatemala decide anexionarse El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica y Honduras y constituir una República Federal.
• 1888 – Knute Rockne, was born, American football star, coach (d. 1931) .
• 1897 – Lefty O’Doul, was orn, baseball star, restaurateur (d. 1969) .
• 1894 – Great fire in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings destroyed .
• 1901 – Publicación del primer número del periódico “La Discusión”, de La Habana, de tendencia nacionalista.
• 1901 – President William McKinley inaugurated for 2nd term as president .
• 1901 – Charles Goren, was born, bridge expert .
• 1902 – In Chicago, Illinois, the American Automobile Association is established.
• 1903 – Luis Carrero Blanco, was born, Spanish statesman (d. 1973) .
• 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria followed by 100,000 Japanese troops.
• 1906 – El tifus causa 4.000 muertos en México.
• 1909 – Harry Helmsley, was born, real estate entrepreneur (d. 1997) .
• 1910 – Nascimento de Tancredo Neves (Tancredo de Almeida Neves), 43° Presidente do Brasil (1985/1990, embora não empossado), em São João Del Rei-MG. Faleceu vitimado por doença, em circunstâncias bastante estranhas, um dia antes de sua posse.
• 1911 – Nasceu o escritor português Fialho de Almeida.
• 1913 – The United States Department of Commerce and United States Department of Labor are established by splitting the duties of the 10-year-old Dept. of Commerce and Labor.
• 1913 – John Garfield, was born, (d. 21 May1952) . Actor (Destination Tokyo, Gentlemmen’s Agreement, The Postman Always Rings Twice)
• 1914 – Éxito médico en Francia: separación de dos hermanas siamesas .
• 1916 – Hans Eysenck, was born, psychologist (d. 1997) .
• 1917 – Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.
• 1925 – Nascimento de Inezita Barroso (Inês Madalena Aranha de Lima), cantora da MPB, em São Paulo-SP.
• 1926 – Iñigo Sanz, was born, professor of Law .
• 1927 – Ira Remsen, dies (b. 10 Feb 1846) . American scientist.
• 1928 – Samuel Adler was born in Manheim, Composer .
• 1928 – Se inaugura el estadio del club Independiente, el primero de cemento en Argentina.
• 1928 -Nace el naturalista Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente.
• 1929 – Herbert Hoover inaugurated as 31st President .
• 1929 – Bernard Haitink, was born Dutch conductor.
• 1931 – O Vice-Rei britânico da Índia põe fim ao monopólio estatal do sal com o objetivo de evitar a continuação de um movimento de desobediência civil liderado por Gandhi.
• 1932 – Miriam Makeba, was born in Johannesburg South Africa, singer (Grammy 1965) .
• 1933 – Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, first female member of the United States Cabinet.
• 1934 – Janez Strnad, was born, Slovene physicist.
• 1936 – Jim Clark, was born, racing driver (d. 1968) .
• 1937 – George Jessel, is the host in the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, for the 9th Annual Academy Awards show. The awards for the films of 1936 went : Outstanding Production/Best Picture: The Great Ziegfeld (from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer); Best Director: Frank Capra for Mr. Deeds Goes To Town; Actor: Paul Muni (The Story Of Louis Pasteur); Actor in a Supporting Role: Walter Brennan (Come and Get It); Best Actress: Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld); Actress in a Supporting Role: Gale Sondergaard (Anthony Adverse); Best Song: Dorothy Fields & Jerome Kern for The Way You Look Tonight from the movie, Swing Time.
• 1938 – Don Perkins, was born, American football player .
• 1941 – Great Britain launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands, during World War II.
• 1941 – Ludwig Quidde, muere, historiador y pacifista alemán, premio Nobel de la Paz en 1927.
• 1941 – Adrian Lyne, was born, director .
• 1942 – Charles C. Krulak, was born, 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps .
• 1943 – The 15th Academy Awards presentation drew Hollywood luminaries to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles to celebrate the great work done during the year 1942. Everybody seemed to like Mrs. Miniver (from Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer) better than any other movie that year. That movie was so good that it won William Wyler the Best Director Oscar; Greer Garson the Best Actress statuette; Teresa Wright the Best Actress in a Supporting Role prize; Joseph Ruttenberg the Cinematography/black-and-white Oscar; and George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West and Arthur Wimperis the Writing/Screenplay award. James Cagney was presented the Best Actor Oscar for Yankee Doodle Dandy and Van Heflin was voted Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Johnny Eager. And one other award is worth mentioning: a guy named Irving Berlin picked up the Best Song Oscar for a little ditty he had written for the film, Holiday Inn: White Christmas.
• 1944 – In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing.
• 1947 – Jan Garbarek, was born, Norwegian musician.
• 1948 – Acuerdo entre Argentina y Chile sobre la Antártida.
• 1949 – Se da a conocer el procedimiento del radiocarbo.
• 1950 – Rick Perry, was born , Governor of Texas .
• 1951 – Kenny Dalglish was born, footballer (soccer) and football manager .
• 1951 – Chris Rea, was born, British singer and musician.
• 1953 – James Smith, was born, boxer .
  1952 – Charles Scott Sherrington, muere fisiólogo británico, premio Nobel de Medicina en 1932.
• 1954 – Willie Thorne, was born, English snooker player .
• 1954 – Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston announces the first successful kidney transplant.
• 1958 – Patricia Heaton, was born, actress (Everybody Loves Raymond) .
• 1959 – Maxey Long, dies, American athlete .
• 1959 – Pioneer 4 becomes the first American spacecraft to flyby the Moon .
• 1960 – Mykelti Williamson, was born, actor .
• 1961 – Ray Mancini, was born, boxer .
• 1961 – Paul-Henri Spaak resigns as Secretary-General of NATO .
• 1962 – Friðrik Erlingsson, nace, músico y escritor islandés.
• 1963 – Jason Newsted, was born, former bassist of Metallica .
• 1963 – In Paris six people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.
• 1963 – William Carlos Williams, dies, writer, (b. 1883) .
• 1965 – Gary Helms, was born, Kickboxer .
• 1966 – Kevin Johnson, was born, basketball player .
• 1966 – John Lennon says, “We (The Beatles) are more popular than Jesus” which sparks controversy in the United States.
• 1967 – Evan Dando, was born, musician .
• 1968 – Patsy Kensit, was born, actress .
• 1968 – Joe Frazier TKOs Buster Mathis in 11 for heavyweight boxing title .
• 1972 – Libya & USSR signs cooperation treaty .
• 1973 – 15th Grammy Awards: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, America
• 1974 – Inauguração da construção da Ponte Rio-Niterói (Brasil), com 12.9 quilómetros de extensão e vão central de 300 metros.
• 1975 – Charlie Chaplin is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of England.
• 1977 – The 1977 Bucharest Earthquake in southern and eastern Europe kills more than 1,500.
• 1977 – Anna Baitchik was born, Miss Russia-Universe (1997 )
• 1977- Andrés Caicedo, Colombian dies, writer (b. 1951) .
• 1980 – Robert Mugabe ZANU-PF wins parliamentary election in Zimbabwe and forms Zimbabwe’s first black government .
• 1982 – La NASA lanza el Intelsat V.
• 1983 – Hergé [Georges Rémi], Belgian cartoonist (Rin-Tin-Tin), dies at 75 .
• 1987 – Ding Junhui, was born, Chinese snooker player .
• 1989 – Time, Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger forming Time-Warner.
• 1989 – Javier Sotomayor high jumps indoor world record (2.43 meter) .
• 1993 – Authorities announce the capture of suspected World Trade Center bombing conspirator Mohammad Salameh.
• 1994 – Four terrorists are convicted for their roles in the World Trade Center bombing which killed six and injured more than a thousand.
• 1994 -España: Vitoria abre el primer registro de parejas no oficiales y homosexuales
• 1994 – John Candy, dies, comedian and actor, (b. 1950) .
• 1995 – George Foreman loses WBA boxing title, refusing to fight Tony Tucker .
• 1995 – Michael Johnson runs world record 400 meter indoor (44.63 seconds) .
• 1995 – The World Summit on Social Development begins in Copenhagen.
• 1996 – Minnie Pearl, dies, country music performer .
• 1997 – United States President Bill Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning.
• 1998 – Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
• 1998 – O príncipe do Nepal, Dipendra, visitou a Alemanha .
• 1999 – Monica Lewinsky‘s book detailing her affair with Bill Clinton goes on sale in the United States.
• 1999 – In a military court, Captain Richard Ashby of the United States Marines is acquitted of the charge of reckless flying which resulted in the deaths of 20 skiers in the Italian Alps when his low-flying jet hit a gondola cable.
• 1999 – El director general de la UNESCO, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, y varios Premios Nóbel de la Paz presentan en París el “Manifiesto 2000”, destinado a promover la paz en el mundo .
• 1999 – Harry Blackmun, dies, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, (b. 1908) .
• 1999 – Karel van het Reve, dies, Dutch writer, (b. 1921) .
• 2001 – Portugal: desastre com a queda de um autocarro de passageiros e alguns automóveis ao Rio Douro na sequência da queda da ponte Hintze Ribeiro, que ligava Entre-os-Rios e Castelo de Paiva. Cinquenta e nove pessoas morreram.
• 2001 – Glenn Hughes, dies, leather dude of popular music group The Village People .
• 2001 – Harold Stassen, dies, politician, (b. 1907) .
• 2003 – Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn redebuts on Comedy Central .
• 2003 – Dschaba Iosseliani, dies, politician .
• 2004 – The files of Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun are released to the public five years after his death.
• 2004 – FIFA reveals its list of 100 Greatest Living Footballers (otherwise known as the “FIFA 100”) .
• 2004 – Fernando Lázaro Carreter, muere, filólogo español.

On this day in History – Mar 04

• 303 or 304 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
• 1152 – Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of the Germans.
• 1193 – Muere el sultán de Egipto, Saladino.
• 1394 – Infante D. Henrique, nascimento do, príncipe português e impulsionador dos Descobrimentos († 1460). [Prince Henry the Navigator, was born, Portuguese explorer (d. 1460) ] .
• 1461 – Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his Yorkist cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV.
• 1492 – Franceso de Layolle was born in Florence (d. 1540), composer.
• 1493 – Cristóbal Colón, de vuelta de su primer viaje a América, llega a Lisboa, donde es recibido por el rey de Portugal.
• 1496 – Sigismund of Austria -dies, Regent of Tyrol and Further Austria
• 1611 – George Abbot appointed archbishop of Canterbury.
• 1615 – Muere el pintor Hans von Aachen.
• 1619 – Anne of Denmark, dies,consort of James I of England, (b. 1574) .
• 1665 – Start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
• 1678 – Antonio (Lucio) Vivaldi, was born in Veneza- Italy (d. 1741). Composer (Four Seasons) .
• 1681 – Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
• 1707 – O Ato da União agrupa os reinos da Inglaterra e Escócia no Reino da Grã-Bretanha.
• 1768 – August Friedrich Wilhelm Holtzhausen, was born, engineer (d. 1827) .
• 1777 – O Marquês de Pombal foi destituído de todos os seus cargos e desterrado .
• 1784 – Nace en Barcelona la que luego sería Agustina de Aragón.
• 1789 – In New York City, the first U.S. Congress meets and declares the new Constitution of the United States is in effect.
• 1790 – France is divided into 83 départements, which cut across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on noble ownership of land.
• 1791- Vermont is admitted as the 14th U.S. state.
• 1793 – Karl Lachmann, was born, philologist (d. 1851) .
• 1797 – John Adams inaugurated as 2nd President of US .
• 1804 – The Battle of Vinegar Hill, colony of New South Wales (Australia) .
• 1811 – Muere en alta mar Mariano Moreno, estadista y escritor argentino.
• 1825 – John Quincy Adams inaugurated as 6th President .
• 1826 – El Congreso argentino acuerda que Buenos Aires sea la capital de la República.
• 1832 – Muere el egiptólogo Jean-François Champollion
• 1837 – Chicago, Illinois is granted a city charter by Illinois.
• 1849 – David Rice Atchison becomes President of the United States for one day (it is believed by some) due to a gap between the expiration of James K. Polk‘s term and the swearing-in of Zachary Taylor.
• 1852 – Nikolay (Vasilyevich) Gogol, writer, dies (b. 31 March 1809 in Sorochintsy, near Poltava, Ukraine, Russian Empire [now in Ukraine]). Ukrainian-born Russian humorist, dramatist, and novelist, whose novel Myortvye dushi (Dead Souls) and whose short story “Shinel” (“The Overcoat”) are considered the foundations of the great 19th-century tradition of Russian realism.
• 1858 – Matthew Perry, dies, (b. 1794) .
• 1868 – Jesse Chisholm, dies, Old West pioneer .
• 1853 – Reconocimiento de la independencia de Paraguay por Francia, Gran Bretaña y Estados Unidos.
• 1857 – El demócrata James Buchanam asume la presidencia de Estados Unidos.
• 1857 – Terminou a guerra anglo-persa.
• 1861 – España acepta el ofrecimiento de la que había sido colonia de Santo Domingo para reincorporarse a la Monarquía.
• 1865 – La Catedral de Buenos Aires es elevada al rango de Iglesia Metropolitana.
• 1861 – Abraham Lincoln becomes the 16th President of the United States
• 1861 – The “Stars and Bars” is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
• 1869 – Nascimento de Eugenio de Castro, poeta e escritor português.
• 1875 – Nace Enrique Rodríguez Larreta, escritor y político argentino.
• 1876 – Léon-Paul Fargue, was born, poet (d. 1947) .
• 1877 – Garrett Morgan, was born, inventor (d. 1963).
• 1877 – Emile Berliner invents the microphone.
• 1877 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky‘s ballet Swan Lake debuts.
• 1879 – Josip Murn – Aleksandrov,was born, Slovene poet (d. 1901) .
• 1881 – A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story, begins.
• 1881 – James A Garfield inaugurated as 20th president .
• 1885 – Guatemala decide anexionarse El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica y Honduras y constituir una República Federal.
• 1888 – Knute Rockne, was born, American football star, coach (d. 1931) .
• 1897 – Lefty O’Doul, was orn, baseball star, restaurateur (d. 1969) .
• 1894 – Great fire in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings destroyed .
• 1901 – Publicación del primer número del periódico “La Discusión”, de La Habana, de tendencia nacionalista.
• 1901 – President William McKinley inaugurated for 2nd term as president .
• 1901 – Charles Goren, was born, bridge expert .
• 1902 – In Chicago, Illinois, the American Automobile Association is established.
• 1903 – Luis Carrero Blanco, was born, Spanish statesman (d. 1973) .
• 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria followed by 100,000 Japanese troops.
• 1906 – El tifus causa 4.000 muertos en México.
• 1909 – Harry Helmsley, was born, real estate entrepreneur (d. 1997) .
• 1910 – Nascimento de Tancredo Neves (Tancredo de Almeida Neves), 43° Presidente do Brasil (1985/1990, embora não empossado), em São João Del Rei-MG. Faleceu vitimado por doença, em circunstâncias bastante estranhas, um dia antes de sua posse.
• 1911 – Nasceu o escritor português Fialho de Almeida.
• 1913 – The United States Department of Commerce and United States Department of Labor are established by splitting the duties of the 10-year-old Dept. of Commerce and Labor.
• 1913 – John Garfield, was born, (d. 21 May1952) . Actor (Destination Tokyo, Gentlemmen’s Agreement, The Postman Always Rings Twice)
• 1914 – Éxito médico en Francia: separación de dos hermanas siamesas .
• 1916 – Hans Eysenck, was born, psychologist (d. 1997) .
• 1917 – Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.
• 1925 – Nascimento de Inezita Barroso (Inês Madalena Aranha de Lima), cantora da MPB, em São Paulo-SP.
• 1926 – Iñigo Sanz, was born, professor of Law .
• 1927 – Ira Remsen, dies (b. 10 Feb 1846) . American scientist.
• 1928 – Samuel Adler was born in Manheim, Composer .
• 1928 – Se inaugura el estadio del club Independiente, el primero de cemento en Argentina.
• 1928 -Nace el naturalista Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente.
• 1929 – Herbert Hoover inaugurated as 31st President .
• 1929 – Bernard Haitink, was born Dutch conductor.
• 1931 – O Vice-Rei britânico da Índia põe fim ao monopólio estatal do sal com o objetivo de evitar a continuação de um movimento de desobediência civil liderado por Gandhi.
• 1932 – Miriam Makeba, was born in Johannesburg South Africa, singer (Grammy 1965) .
• 1933 – Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, first female member of the United States Cabinet.
• 1934 – Janez Strnad, was born, Slovene physicist.
• 1936 – Jim Clark, was born, racing driver (d. 1968) .
• 1937 – George Jessel, is the host in the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, for the 9th Annual Academy Awards show. The awards for the films of 1936 went : Outstanding Production/Best Picture: The Great Ziegfeld (from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer); Best Director: Frank Capra for Mr. Deeds Goes To Town; Actor: Paul Muni (The Story Of Louis Pasteur); Actor in a Supporting Role: Walter Brennan (Come and Get It); Best Actress: Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld); Actress in a Supporting Role: Gale Sondergaard (Anthony Adverse); Best Song: Dorothy Fields & Jerome Kern for The Way You Look Tonight from the movie, Swing Time.
• 1938 – Don Perkins, was born, American football player .
• 1941 – Great Britain launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands, during World War II.
• 1941 – Ludwig Quidde, muere, historiador y pacifista alemán, premio Nobel de la Paz en 1927.
• 1941 – Adrian Lyne, was born, director .
• 1942 – Charles C. Krulak, was born, 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps .
• 1943 – The 15th Academy Awards presentation drew Hollywood luminaries to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles to celebrate the great work done during the year 1942. Everybody seemed to like Mrs. Miniver (from Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer) better than any other movie that year. That movie was so good that it won William Wyler the Best Director Oscar; Greer Garson the Best Actress statuette; Teresa Wright the Best Actress in a Supporting Role prize; Joseph Ruttenberg the Cinematography/black-and-white Oscar; and George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West and Arthur Wimperis the Writing/Screenplay award. James Cagney was presented the Best Actor Oscar for Yankee Doodle Dandy and Van Heflin was voted Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Johnny Eager. And one other award is worth mentioning: a guy named Irving Berlin picked up the Best Song Oscar for a little ditty he had written for the film, Holiday Inn: White Christmas.
• 1944 – In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing.
• 1947 – Jan Garbarek, was born, Norwegian musician.
• 1948 – Acuerdo entre Argentina y Chile sobre la Antártida.
• 1949 – Se da a conocer el procedimiento del radiocarbo.
• 1950 – Rick Perry, was born , Governor of Texas .
• 1951 – Kenny Dalglish was born, footballer (soccer) and football manager .
• 1951 – Chris Rea, was born, British singer and musician.
• 1953 – James Smith, was born, boxer .
  1952 – Charles Scott Sherrington, muere fisiólogo británico, premio Nobel de Medicina en 1932.
• 1954 – Willie Thorne, was born, English snooker player .
• 1954 – Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston announces the first successful kidney transplant.
• 1958 – Patricia Heaton, was born, actress (Everybody Loves Raymond) .
• 1959 – Maxey Long, dies, American athlete .
• 1959 – Pioneer 4 becomes the first American spacecraft to flyby the Moon .
• 1960 – Mykelti Williamson, was born, actor .
• 1961 – Ray Mancini, was born, boxer .
• 1961 – Paul-Henri Spaak resigns as Secretary-General of NATO .
• 1962 – Friðrik Erlingsson, nace, músico y escritor islandés.
• 1963 – Jason Newsted, was born, former bassist of Metallica .
• 1963 – In Paris six people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.
• 1963 – William Carlos Williams, dies, writer, (b. 1883) .
• 1965 – Gary Helms, was born, Kickboxer .
• 1966 – Kevin Johnson, was born, basketball player .
• 1966 – John Lennon says, “We (The Beatles) are more popular than Jesus” which sparks controversy in the United States.
• 1967 – Evan Dando, was born, musician .
• 1968 – Patsy Kensit, was born, actress .
• 1968 – Joe Frazier TKOs Buster Mathis in 11 for heavyweight boxing title .
• 1972 – Libya & USSR signs cooperation treaty .
• 1973 – 15th Grammy Awards: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, America
• 1974 – Inauguração da construção da Ponte Rio-Niterói (Brasil), com 12.9 quilómetros de extensão e vão central de 300 metros.
• 1975 – Charlie Chaplin is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of England.
• 1977 – The 1977 Bucharest Earthquake in southern and eastern Europe kills more than 1,500.
• 1977 – Anna Baitchik was born, Miss Russia-Universe (1997 )
• 1977- Andrés Caicedo, Colombian dies, writer (b. 1951) .
• 1980 – Robert Mugabe ZANU-PF wins parliamentary election in Zimbabwe and forms Zimbabwe’s first black government .
• 1982 – La NASA lanza el Intelsat V.
• 1983 – Hergé [Georges Rémi], Belgian cartoonist (Rin-Tin-Tin), dies at 75 .
• 1987 – Ding Junhui, was born, Chinese snooker player .
• 1989 – Time, Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger forming Time-Warner.
• 1989 – Javier Sotomayor high jumps indoor world record (2.43 meter) .
• 1993 – Authorities announce the capture of suspected World Trade Center bombing conspirator Mohammad Salameh.
• 1994 – Four terrorists are convicted for their roles in the World Trade Center bombing which killed six and injured more than a thousand.
• 1994 -España: Vitoria abre el primer registro de parejas no oficiales y homosexuales
• 1994 – John Candy, dies, comedian and actor, (b. 1950) .
• 1995 – George Foreman loses WBA boxing title, refusing to fight Tony Tucker .
• 1995 – Michael Johnson runs world record 400 meter indoor (44.63 seconds) .
• 1995 – The World Summit on Social Development begins in Copenhagen.
• 1996 – Minnie Pearl, dies, country music performer .
• 1997 – United States President Bill Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning.
• 1998 – Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
• 1998 – O príncipe do Nepal, Dipendra, visitou a Alemanha .
• 1999 – Monica Lewinsky‘s book detailing her affair with Bill Clinton goes on sale in the United States.
• 1999 – In a military court, Captain Richard Ashby of the United States Marines is acquitted of the charge of reckless flying which resulted in the deaths of 20 skiers in the Italian Alps when his low-flying jet hit a gondola cable.
• 1999 – El director general de la UNESCO, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, y varios Premios Nóbel de la Paz presentan en París el “Manifiesto 2000”, destinado a promover la paz en el mundo .
• 1999 – Harry Blackmun, dies, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, (b. 1908) .
• 1999 – Karel van het Reve, dies, Dutch writer, (b. 1921) .
• 2001 – Portugal: desastre com a queda de um autocarro de passageiros e alguns automóveis ao Rio Douro na sequência da queda da ponte Hintze Ribeiro, que ligava Entre-os-Rios e Castelo de Paiva. Cinquenta e nove pessoas morreram.
• 2001 – Glenn Hughes, dies, leather dude of popular music group The Village People .
• 2001 – Harold Stassen, dies, politician, (b. 1907) .
• 2003 – Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn redebuts on Comedy Central .
• 2003 – Dschaba Iosseliani, dies, politician .
• 2004 – The files of Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun are released to the public five years after his death.
• 2004 – FIFA reveals its list of 100 Greatest Living Footballers (otherwise known as the “FIFA 100”) .
• 2004 – Fernando Lázaro Carreter, muere, filólogo español.