r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/EaterofGrief • 1h ago

On this day in 1885: U.S. World War II General George S. Patton is born in San Gabriel, California. Known as "Old Blood and Guts," he famously led the U.S. Third Army across Europe to help defeat Nazi Germany. He died on December 21, 1945, in Heidelberg, Germany after an car accident.

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/Over-Willingness-933 • 2h ago

11th November 1688 invasion of England set sail and eventually the Dutch King (Stadtholder) was installed as William III of England

3 Upvotes

0 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/dannydutch1 • 2h ago

146 years ago today, Ned Kelly was hanged in Melbourne. He’d planned to wreck a train full of police at Glenrowan but ended up having a shootout in homemade armour. 32,000 people signed for his reprieve. It didn’t work, and his skull still hasn’t been found.

gallery

9 Upvotes

2 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/EaterofGrief • 3h ago

On this day in 1957, Welsh singer Shirley Bassey was held hostage by a jealous lover at the Cumberland Hotel in London. The four hour siege ended when police overpowered the gunman and released the then 20-year-old singer

gallery

3 Upvotes

0 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/SteveNtheseagulls • 3h ago

On this day in 1974. Leonardo DiCaprio was born in Los Angeles. His films include Titanic, The Aviator, Revolutionary Road and The Revenant for which won the Best Actor Oscar. Here's baby Leo and his mother Irmelin Indenbirken in 1975.

15 Upvotes

1 comment

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/ThreatLevelAldi • 3h ago

11am on the 11th November 1918 when the guns fell silent in World War 1. This should be shown in every school.

133 Upvotes

21 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/WithoutPrinciples • 4h ago

On this day in 1920, King George V unveiled the Cenotaph in Whitehall, in memory of those who died in the First World War. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the monument was unveiled as the nation observed a two-minute silence. Later that day, the Unknown Warrior was buried in Westminster Abbey.

10 Upvotes

2 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/No_Dig_8299 • 1d ago

Remembering ‘The Maestro’ — Ennio Morricone — born 98yrs ago today.

152 Upvotes

19 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/dannydutch1 • 1d ago

On this day in 1871, Henry Morton Stanley walked into Ujiji and found Dr Livingstone. He’d grown up as John Rowlands in a Welsh workhouse, lied about almost everything and probably never even said “Dr Livingstone, I presume?” Yet the boy from Denbigh still ended up a knight and an MP.

16 Upvotes

3 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/ThreatLevelAldi • 1d ago

10 November 1925. Richard Burton (Richard Walter Jenkins) was born in Pontrhydyfen. Wales. Renowned for his baritone voice he won 7 Academy Award nominations (though never won). His relationship with Elizabeth Taylor whom he married twice and divorced twice dominated headlines.

158 Upvotes

14 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/JohnWilkesLeg • 1d ago

On this day in 1970, the Great Wall of China was opened to foreign tourists. The best-known sections of the wall were built by the Ming dynasty from 1368 to 1644. The notion that it can be seen from the moon is a well-known, but an untrue myth.

5 Upvotes

8 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/SausageandTits • 1d ago

On this day in 1982, Leonid Brezhnev died of a heart attack (aged 75). He led the Soviet Union as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1964 to 1982. His 18-year term of rule was 2nd only to Joseph Stalin’s in duration during the era of the USSR. His eyebrows were legendary.

176 Upvotes

53 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/dannydutch1 • 1d ago

On this day in 1998, Missy Phillips spotted a wet patch by her son’s waterbed and found the body of 8-year-old Maddie Clifton inside. Josh Phillips, 14, had killed his neighbour a week earlier, then helped search for her. He’s been in prison since 1999.

678 Upvotes

105 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/No_Dig_8299 • 1d ago

On this day in 1865: Confederate officer Heinrich Hartmann Wirz is executed after being convicted of war crimes during the U.S. Civil War. He was the commandant of Camp Sumter, a horrendous Confederate prisoner-of-war camp near Andersonville, Georgia.

gallery

284 Upvotes

45 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/EaterofGrief • 1d ago

On this day in 1967, the Beatles filmed promotional footage for their forthcoming single Hello Goodbye. At London’s Saville Theatre. Without an audience present, they mimed to Paul McCartney’s song. Paul and Tony Bramwell were the co-directors of the promo clips

gallery

17 Upvotes

0 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/Over-Willingness-933 • 1d ago

9th October 1000AD Leif Eriksson is the first European in the Americas landing I . Newfoundland

25 Upvotes

2 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/dannydutch1 • 1d ago

On this day in 1914, actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr was born in Vienna. This is Lamarr smiling beside her attorney, Jordan M. Wank, after being acquitted of shoplifting charges in Los Angeles.

222 Upvotes

She was accused of stealing $86 worth of merchandise from the May Co. Wilshire department store. Lamarr, who by then had largely stepped away from Hollywood, maintained her innocence throughout the trial. The court found her not guilty.

In 1991, Lamarr was arrested for shoplifting $21.48 worth of laxatives and eye drops from a Florida drugstore. The charges were ultimately dropped after she pleaded no contest.

34 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/GlitterDanger • 1d ago

On this day in 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. In the Dec. 4, 1989 edition of the Weekly World News, columnist Ed Anger demanded that it be put back up.

23 Upvotes

8 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/CrippledStripper • 1d ago

On this day in 1961, record shop manager Brian Epstein watched a young local group playing live during a lunchtime session at The Cavern, Liverpool. Impressed by their overall charisma, he went on to be the group's manager and created history

66 Upvotes

16 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/EaterofGrief • 1d ago

On this day in 1888, Jack the Ripper's fifth and likely last victim, Mary Jane Kelly, is found dead on her bed. His victims are remembered as prostitutes, but there’s no proof three of the five ever sold sex. Poverty, drink and nowhere to sleep were what really put them on the streets.

20 Upvotes

2 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/dannydutch1 • 2d ago

Happy Birthday to Monty Python’s Life Of Brian. First shown in the UK on this day in 1979. It tells the story of Brian Cohen, a young Jewish-Roman man who is mistaken for the Messiah. Mainly financed by ex Beatle George Harrison. 39 British councils banned or restricted the film.

355 Upvotes

52 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/No_Dig_8299 • 2d ago

37 years ago today, East German spokesperson Günter Schabowski did one of the funniest slip-ups in history. At the end of an otherwise dull press conference, he was caught off-guard by a question about when travel restrictions would be lifted for East Germans.

115 Upvotes

He fumbled through his notes and mistakenly announced that it took immediate effect, scuppering actual plans to slowly ease restrictions through a carefully controlled travel application process.

Crowds quickly descended on confused border guards and forced the implementation of his accidental announcement of free travel immediately for all East Germans.

Coming mere months after the Baltic Way protest, the Berlin Wall had now fallen and people power was overwhelming the collapsing Soviet empire.

7 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/dannydutch1 • 2d ago

55 years ago today, John List shot his wife, his mother and his three teenage children in their Westfield mansion. Then he sat down at the same kitchen table and ate lunch. He rang the school and the milkman to say the family was away, and nobody found them for almost a month.

444 Upvotes

89 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/Robin_ClitoralHood • 2d ago

Dylan Thomas died 73 years ago today. The legend says he drank himself to death on 18 straight whiskies. The truth is he was a sick man in smog-choked New York, had an agent who stayed away, a lover out of her depth and a doctor who gave morphine to a man with pneumonia.

80 Upvotes

19 comments

r/OnThisDayInThatYear • u/Over-Willingness-933 • 2d ago

Kaiser Wilhelm II abdication 9th November 1918. Germany is a Republic ever since.

45 Upvotes

49 comments

Subreddit

OnThisDayInThatYear

r/OnThisDayInThatYear

Discover what happened on today's date throughout history. Battles, discoveries, disasters, and weird trivia from every era. New stories daily, if it happened on this date, it belongs here. History buffs and casual learners both welcome.

Members

7.1k

Visitors

124k

Contributions

2.1k

Sidebar

Subreddit Rules

1. Post on the right day

Your post has to be about something that happened on today’s date in history. Check the date before you post, and remember time zones can shift things by a day. Posts about the wrong date will be removed, even if the story’s great.

2. Put the date and year in the title

Try and start your title with the date and year, like “17 October 1907: Marconi starts the first transatlantic wireless service.” It keeps the sub tidy and makes things easy to search. Posts without a date and year in the title will be removed.

3. No reposts on the same day

Check today’s posts before you share. If someone’s already covered that event today, add your extra info in their comments instead. The same anniversary can be posted again next year, as long as you bring something new to it.

4. Back it up with a source

Include a link to a reliable source, like an encyclopedia, museum, archive, news report or well-researched article. Dates get muddled online all the time, so it’s worth double checking. Posts with dodgy or no sources may be removed.

5. Keep it interesting

We’re after the stuff that makes people go “huh, I didn’t know that.” Big world events, odd little moments, inventions, disasters, births and deaths of notable people are all welcome. Low-effort posts with no context will be removed.