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 1940

	January 21st	American golfer, Jack Nicklaus, was born in Ohio. He was one of the major golf players in the 1980's and 1990's and is widely regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time.
	January 22nd	British actor, John Hurt, was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. He is on of Britain's best-known character actors.
	February 4th	American director, George Romero, was born in New York City. In 1968, along with a few of his friends, he produced one of the most successful horror films of all time, the 'Night of the Living Dead'.
	February 23th	American actor, Peter Fonda, was born in New York. Although he was closely associated with western themed movies he is best known for writing, starring and producing the cult classic movie, Easy Rider.
	February 28th	American race car driver, Mario Andretti, was born in Montona d'Istria, Italy. He was one of the most successful Americans in the history of auto racing. He is the only race car driver to have ever won the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, and the Formula One World Championship.
	February 29th	American actress, Hattie McDaniel, became the first African American to win an Academy Award for her role as Mammy in the classic film, Gone with the Wind.
	February 29th	The film, Gone with the Wind, was awarded eight Oscars during the 12th Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
	March 2nd	The cartoon character, Elmer Fudd, made his debut in the Elmer's Candid Camera. He is one of the most famous Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies characters along with his prey, Bugz Bunny.
	March 9th	Puerto Rican actor, Raul Julia, was born in San Juan. He was one of the most popular Puerto Riccan actors of all time and was hailed as one of the most diverse and entertaining actors of his generation. Although he had a highly acclaimed career in both theatre and cinema, he is most of all remembered for his performances in the blockbuster films, The Adams Family.
	March 10th	American actor and martial arts master, Chuck Norris, was born in Oklahoma. He was one of the most successful martial artists of the 20th century who later became a popular action movies actor. His first appearance in movies was in Bruce Lee's, Way of the Dragon.
	March 16th	Italian film director, Bernardo Bertolucci, was born in Parma. He is considered as one of the most talented directors of the 20th and 21st centuries, having directed such classics as, Last Tango in Paris, 1900 and The Last Emperor.
	March 26th	Greek athlete, Spyros Louis, died at the age of 67. He won the Marathon run of the first modern-day Olympic Games.
	April 9th	Nazi Germany simultaneously invaded Denmark and Norway.
	April 25th	American actor, Al Pacino, was born in The Bronx, New York. He was a relative unknown when he was selected to play Michael Corleone in the hit movie "The Godfather". His grandparents originate from Corleone, Sicily.
	May 1st	The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due the second world war.
	May 13th	Germany began its invasion of France with German forces crossing the Meuse River.
	May 24th	Russian-born poet, Joseph Brodsky, was born in Leningrad. He is considered as one of the most influential poets of the 20th century and was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987.
	June 3rd	German planes began bombing the city of Paris.
	June 8th	American singer, Nancy Sinatra, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. She was the daughter of the popular singer Frank Sinatra. Her most popular piece of work was the hit song, These Boots Are Made for Walking.
	June 9th	Norway surrendered to Nazi Germany during the 2nd World War.
	June 12th	During the course of the 2d World War, 13000 British and French troops surrendered to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.
	June 22nd	France was forced to sign armistice with Nazi Germany.
	July 7th	British musician, Ringo Starr, was born in Liverpool. He was born Richard Starkey and is best known as the drummer of legendary rock band, The Beatles.
	July 10th	The Vichy France government was established. It was a government that had been established in collaboration with the Nazis after the invasion of France.
	July 13th	English actor, Patrick Stewart, was born in Yorkshire. Though he is generally acknowledged as one of the most talented Shakespearean and theatrical actors of his generation, he is most known for his portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek the Next Generation television series.
	July 19th	The Intelligence Corps of the British Army was formed. It is better known as the Military Intelligence unit.
	July 23th	The United States announced that it did not recognize the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
	August 3rd	American actor, Martin Sheen, was born in Dayton, Ohio. He was born Ramon Gerardo Antonio Estevez but adopted his stage name in honour of Catholic archbishop and theologian Fulton J. Sheen.
	August 18th	American businessman, Walter P. Chrysler, died at the age of 64. He was the founder of the Chrysler Corporation.
	August 20th	Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky, was fatally wounded by a Soviet assassin in Mexico City. He had been living in exile since 1933.
	September 7th	The air force of Nazi Germany commenced with the bombing of London, the bombing continued for 275 consecutive nights. Over 40000 people died as a result of the bombing and over a million buildings were destroyed.
	September 11th	American film director, Brian de Palma, was born in Newark, New Jersey. He is one of the most successful and respected directors in American cinema, having directed over 30 movie hits.
	September 12th	The cave paintings of Lascaux, France were discovered. The painting found there date back to 15,000 BC.
	September 13th	During the course of the World War II, Italy invaded Egypt.
	October 7th	Nazi Germany invaded Romania.
	October 9th	British musician, John Lennon, was born in Liverpool, England. He is best known as the founding member of music band, The Beatles.
	October 16th	The Warsaw Ghetto was established by the Nazi forces that occupied Poland at the time. The ghetto was the designated residential area that Jewish people were forced to live in. From an estimated four hundred thousand Jewish people who occupied the ghetto at the time of its establishment only thirty seven thousand survived.
	October 23th	Brazilian footballer, Pele, was born in the city of Tres Coracoes, Brazil. He was born, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, but has been known throughout the world by his nickname. He is considered as one of the greatest footballers of all time and is the only one to ever win three World Cups.
	October 26th	The first P-51 Mustang plane made its maiden flight. It was one of the 2nd World War's most successful and recognizable aircraft. Some aircraft had remained in service around the world up until the early 1980's.
	October 28th	Italy invaded Greece through Albania. The day is a national holiday in Greece, as a celebration of Greece's entrance to the second world war and the heroic efforts of the Greek army that was able to resist the much bigger and better equipped Italian army.
	November 11th	An extremely strong blizzard struck the American Midwest, it caused the death of 144 people.
	November 20th	The countries of Romania, Hungary and Slovakia joined the Axis Powers.
	November 21st	Soviet ballerina, Natalia Makarova, was born in Leningrad. She is considered as one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century.
	November 22nd	American born comedian, Terry Gilliam, was born in Minnesota. He is best known as being part of the Monty Python group. He is the only American to ever be part of the otherwise entirely British group.
	November 25th	The cartoon character of Woody Woodpecker appeared for the first time in the animated short film 'Knock Knock'.
	December 1st	American comedian, Richard Pryor, was born in Illinois. He is most remembered for his numerous collaborations with fellow comedian Gene Wilder.
	December 21st	American musician, Frank Zappa, was born in Maryland, USA. He released more than sixty albums in his 33 year career in music and is widely considered as one of the most influential musicians of the rock era of music.
	December 21st	American writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald, died at the age of 44. he is widely considered as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century and is best remembered for his novels, The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise.
	December 29th	German Luftwaffe aircraft bombarded the city of London with firebombs causing massive fires and killing more than 200 civilians.

Click here to return to the Home page.

  Also Visit :
  Mixer
  Greek Recipes
  Greek Wine
  BiG
  Ecofind
  Start
  Free
  Hello
  Starbuzz
  Art.gr
  Evresi

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.