On This Day...

Legendary Director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)

History
1813 - Rubber was patented by J.F. Hummel.

1852 - The first edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus was published.

1916 - Irish nationalists surrendered to British authorities in Dublin, ending the Easter Rising.

1918 - Germany's Western Front offensive ended in World War I. For the sake of posterity, though, the war would continue until 11am on the 11th day of November.

1945 - The German Army in Italy surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, leading to the end of the World War II. Meanwhile, in a bunker in Berlin, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were married. Hitler designated Admiral Karl Doenitz his successor.

1945 - The Nazi death camp, Dachau, was liberated.

1952 - IBM President Thomas J. Watson, Jr., informed his company's stockholders that IBM was building "the most advanced, most flexible high-speed computer in the world." The computer was unveiled April 7, 1953, as the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine. The Computer Age was upon us.

1974 - U.S. President Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of secretly made White House tape recordings related to the Watergate scandal.

1975 - The U.S. embassy in Vietnam was evacuated as North Vietnamese forces fought their way into Saigon.

1980 - British-born film director Alfred Hitchcock dies in his Los Angeles home from renal failure.

1990 - The destruction of the Berlin Wall began.

Happy Birthday
Duke Ellington (b. Edward Kennedy), Jazz Musician and Composer: 1899 - 1974
Francis Rossi, one half of the dreadfully talentless Status Quo: b.1949
Kate Mulgrew, Actress, best known for her role as Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager: b.1955
Jerry Seinfeld, Comedian and Actor, best known for portraying the semi-fictional version of himself in the sitcom of the same name: b.1955
Daniel Day-Lewis, Oscar-winning British Actor, best known for films My Beautiful Launderette, A Room With a View, My Left Foot, Gangs of New York and There Will Be Blood: b.1957
Michelle Pfeiffer, Actress, best known for films Dangerous Liasons, The Witches of Eastwick Batman Returns and the 2007 musical adaptation of Hairspray: b.1957
Uma Thurman, Actress, best known for films Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and the 2006 musical adaptation of The Producers: b.1970
Andre Agassi, Tennis Player: b.1970