This day in history. Read about what happened today. A short and interesting account of historical events and facts about this day as well as any other day of the year. Find historical birthdays, deaths, tragedies, war events, disasters and sports events.

This year in history
In the year 1936

	January 4th	Billboard magazine published its first pop music charts. The charts remain today as one of the most respectable sources for music ratings.
	January 18th	British writer, Rudyard Kipling, died at the age of 71. He was a writer who was one of the most celebrated of the start of the 20th century, and is best known for his children's book, The Jungle Book. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, becoming both the youngest person and the first English language writer to ever receive the award.
	February 5th	Charlie Chaplin released the movie, Modern Times. It was the last movie of the silent film era.
	February 11th	American actor, Burt Reynolds, was born in Georgia, USA. He was an all star American football athlete in college, whose career in football was cut short due to a car accident. He started taking acting lessons while he was recuperating from the accident.
	March 1st	Construction of the Hoover Dam was completed. Construction had began in 1931 and was actually scheduled to be completed in 1938.
	March 18th	Greek politician, Eleutherios Venizelos, died at the age of 71. He was one of the most influential political figures of modern Greece.
	March 19th	Swiss actress, Ursula Andress, was born in Berne, Switzerland. She is most remembered for her participation in the first James Bond movie, Dr. No, a role which cast her as the sex symbol of the 1960's.
	April 5th	One of the strongest tornados ever recorded hits the town of Tupelo, Mississippi, killing 233 people.
	April 14th	American policeman, Frank Serpico, was born in Brooklyn, New York. He became famous when he was the first policeman to publicly speak against police corruption. He was setup, shot in the face and left for dead by his partners and constantly harassed for years after he retired from police work because the mafia had put out a contract on his life. His story was later made into a film, starring Al PAccino, with his name for its title.
	April 23th	American musician, Roy Orbison, was born in Vernon, Texas. In 1964, his single "Oh, Pretty Woman" became the highest selling record of its time, an amazing feat considering that it was the time that the music scene was dominated by the Beatles phenomenon.
	May 9th	British actor, Albert Finney, was born in Manchester, England.
	May 17th	American actor and director, Dennis Hopper, was born in Dodge City, Kansas. His first movie appearance was opposite legendary figure, James Dean, in the movie Rebel without a cause.
	June 23th	Greek politician, Costas Simitis, was born in Piraeus. He was Prime Minister of Greece and leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) from 1996 to 2004.
	June 30th	The book, Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell was published.
	July 20th	The Montreux Convention was signed in Switzerland. Under the terms of the convention Turkey was granted the right to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus as long as it guaranteed free passage to ships of all nations during times of peace.
	August 1st	The 11th Olympic Games opened in Berlin. The 11th games were the last to be held before the Second World War, and the next were held 12 years later in London.
	August 1st	French, fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent, was born in Oran, Algeria.
	August 18th	American actor, Robert Redford, was born in Santa Monica, California. Apart from being one of the most successful actors of his generation, he is also the founder founded the Sundance Film Festival, which caters to independent filmmakers. He is also a staunch environmental activist.
	August 19th	Spanish author, Federico Garcia Lorca, died at the age of 38. He was one of the most influential Spanish speaking authors of his generation who was killed by Nationalist partisans at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. The Franco regime later placed an all out ban on his work, which was not rescinded until 1953.
	August 21st	American basketball player, Wilt Chamberlain, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is considered as one of the best basketball players of all time and one that revolutionized the game. Oddly enough he made far more money from his investments in real estate than he did when he was a basketball superstar.
	September 6th	The last surviving Thylacine (Tazmanian Tiger) died in her cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. In 1999 the Australian Museum in Sydney began a project with the purpose of cloning a Tazmanian Tiger using genetic material from specimens taken and preserved in the early 20th century. In 2005 the project was discontinued after tests showed that the preserved DNA had degraded by the ethanol in which it was preserved.
	September 7th	American singer, Buddy Holly, was born in Lubbock, Texas. He was born Charles Hardin Holley and was one of the pioneers of the Rock and Roll music movement.
	September 29th	Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, was born in Milan, Italy. He is the leader of the Forza Italia political movement, a centre-right party which he founded in 1993. He has held the office of prime minister of Italy twice.
	October 5th	Czech writer and President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He is considered as one of the most influential thinkers and proponents of freedom in the modern history of Czechoslovakia and is one of the most revered persons in his country.
	October 23th	American film director, Philip Kaufman, was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is a famous director / screenwriter who has directed such movies as "The Right Stuff" and "Rising Sun". He is also credited with writing the story of the original Indiana Jones movie.
	October 25th	Dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini agreed on the creation of the Rome-Berlin Axis.
	October 30th	Soviet (Ukrainian) gymnast, Polina Astakhova, was born in the Ukraine. She was one of the greatest gymnasts of the 20th century, who won 10 medals in 3 different Olympic games. She was also the captain of the Soviet Women's gymnastics team. In 1960 the Soviet government rewarded her achievements with a small three-room apartment.
	November 23th	The Life magazine was published for the first time. Previously there had existed a weekly humour publication under the name of Life, but it was discontinued amidst the Great Depression.
	November 30th	In London, the Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire. It was erected in Hyde Park to host the Great Exhibition of 1851.
	December 8th	American actor, David Carradine, was born in Hollywood, California. He is best known for starring in the television series 'Kung Fu '.

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