Yuri_Gagarin

Yuri's Night is the "international" celebration of the first human to travel into space and orbit the earth an this day in 1961.  It is not, of course, a completely international holiday, because, alas poor Yuri, he did that on behalf of and in the employ of The Evil Empire(tm), which is not to be confused with The Axis of Evil(tm), which is an entirely different, though not necessarily lesser, evil.

Boss Tweed died on this day in 1878.  An astonishingly powerful, corrupt, and crooked individual who managed to do it all without so much as a single foundation to his name.

On this day in history:

1204 – Besieging Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade broke into Constantinople which they then entered and sacked for 3 days because wrong sect of xtians.

1831 – Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, caused it to collapse, leading to a change in British marching orders.

1861 – Confederate forces began firing on Fort Sumter, starting the US Civil War
1864 – Confederate forces killed most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

1917 – Canadian forces successfully took Vimy Ridge from the Germans.

1927 – Chiang Kai-shek ordered the massacre of Chinese Communists in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.

1928 – The Bremen, a Junkers W 33 aircraft, took off on the first successful east to west transatlantic airplane flight

1934 – The U.S. Auto-Lite strike began, leading to a five-day fight between strikers and picketers and National Guard troops

1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tested the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft,

1945 – FDR died in office and Vice President Harry S. Truman became President

1955 – Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was declared safe and effective.

1961 – Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into outer space and orbit the earth.

1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle took place.

1990 – Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opened at the Smithsonian

1999 – US President Bill Clinton was cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit

Born this day in:

there was complicity between the churches and the state in taking care of the 'Indian problem,' solving the 'Indian problem,' and trying to change who we were.

~~ Dennis Banks

1484 – Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, architect
1612 – Simone Cantarini, painter and engraver
1639 – Martin Lister, naturalist and physician
1851 – Edward Walter Maunder, astronomer and author
1852 – Ferdinand von Lindemann, mathematician and academic
1883 – Imogen Cunningham, photographer and educator
1884 – Otto Meyerhof, physician and biochemist
1885 – Robert Delaunay, painter
1888 – Cecil Kimber, automobile engineer
1898 – Lily Pons, soprano and actress
1912 – Hound Dog Taylor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1916 – Beverly Cleary,  author
1917 – Helen Forrest, singer and actress
1919 – Billy Vaughn, musician and bandleader
1923 – Ann Miller, actress, singer, and dancer
1925 – Evelyn Berezin, computer scientist and engineer
1925 – Ned Miller, country music singer and songwriter
1930 – Manuel Neri, sculptor and painter
1932 – Tiny Tim, singer and ukulele player
1933 – Montserrat Caballé, soprano and actress
1937 – Dennis Banks, author and activist
1940 – Herbie Hancock, pianist, composer, and bandleader
1944 – John Kay, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1947 – Roy M. Anderson, epidemiologist, zoologist, and academic
1947 – Alex Briley, disco singer
1947 – Tom Clancy, historian and author
1954 – Pat Travers, singer, songwriter ,and guitarist
1957 – Vince Gill, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1958 – Will Sergeant, guitarist
1962 – Art Alexakis, singer, songwriter ,and musician
1965 – Amy Ray, folk-rock singer, songwriter, musician, and music producer
1966 – Nils-Olav Johansen, guitarist and singer
1967 – Sarah Cracknell, singer and songwriter
1973 – Ryan Kisor, trumpet player and composer
1978 – Guy Berryman, bass player and producer
1980 – Brian McFadden, singer and songwriter
1987 – Brendon Urie, singer, songwriter, musician and multi-instrumentalist
1988 – Jessie James Decker, singer and songwriter

Died this day in:

You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.

~~  Abbie Hoffman

1684 – Nicola Amati, instrument maker
1788 – Carlo Antonio Campioni, composer
1814 – Charles Burney, composer and historian
1817 – Charles Messier, astronomer and academic
1878 – William M. Tweed, Boss Tweed, politician, crook and criminal, etc.
1912 – Clara Barton,  nurse and humanitarian, founded the American Red Cross 
1968 – Heinrich Nordhoff, engineer
1973 – Arthur Freed, songwriter and producer
1975 – Josephine Baker, dancer, actress, activist, and humanitarian
1989 – Abbie Hoffman, author and activist,
1997 – George Wald, neurologist and academic,
1999 – Boxcar Willie, singer and songwriter
2001 – Harvey Ball, illustrator, created the smiley 
2004 – Moran Campbell, physician and academic, invented the venturi mask
2012 – Rodgers Grant, pianist and composer

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:

Cosmonautics Day (Russia)
International Day of Human Space Flight
Yuri's Night (International observance)
National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

National Licorice Day

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies

Yuri's Night

Auto-Lite Strike

Hound Dog Taylor

Billy Vaughn

Tiny Tim

Herbie Hancock

John Kay

Alex Briley

Vince Gill

Ryan Kisor

Boxcar Willie

It's an open thread, so do your thing, got it? Below this point this is a public forum, your forum, nothing is off topic, so go for it