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Events
- 668 - Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is assassinated in his bath at Syracuse, Italy.
- 921 - Saint Ludmila is murdered at the command of
her daughter-in-law at Tetin.
- 1556 - Vlissingen ex-emperor Charles V returns to Spain.
- 1584 - San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace in Madrid is finished.
- 1616 - The first non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy.
- 1656 - England and France sign
a peace treaty.
- 1683 - Germantown, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania is founded by 13 immigrant families.
- 1762 - Battle of Signal Hill
- 1776 - American Revolutionary War:
British land at Kip's Bay during
the New York Campaign.
- 1789 - The United States Department of
State is established (formerly known as Department of Foreign
Affairs).
- 1812 - The French army under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow.
- 1820 - Constitutionalist revolution in
Lisbon, Portugal; (see Portugal's crises of the Nineteenth Century.
- 1821 - Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua jointly declare independence from Spain.
- 1830 - The Liverpool to Manchester
railway line opens (see also deaths, below).
- 1831 - The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on
the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
- 1835 - The HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands.
- 1851 - Saint Joseph's University is founded
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry,
Virginia.
- 1873 - Franco-Prussian War: The last
German troops leave France upon completion of payment of
indemnity.
- 1883 - The Bombay Natural History
Society is founded in Bombay (now Mumbai),
India.
- 1894 - First Sino-Japanese War:
Japan defeats China in the Battle of Pyongyang.
- 1914 - World War I: The Battle of Aisne begins between Germany and France.
- 1916 - World War I: Tanks
are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.
- 1928 - Sir Alexander Fleming notices a
bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what
later became known as penicillin.
- 1928 - Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler to take 300 wickets in an English cricket season.
- 1931 - In Scotland, the two-day Invergordon Mutiny against Royal Navy pay cuts begins.
- 1935 - Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship.
- 1935 - Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag
with the swastika.
- 1940 - World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air Force shoot down large
numbers of Luftwaffe.
- 1941 - The U.S. Attorney General rules
that the Neutrality Act is not violated when U.S. ships carry war materiel to British territories,
opening the door for the Lend-Lease Act.
- 1942 - World War II: The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Wasp is torpedoed at
Guadalcanal.
- 1944 - Franklin D. Roosevelt and
Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the
Octagon Conference to discuss strategy.
- 1945 - A hurricane in southern Florida and the
Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS
Richmond.
- 1946 - The Brooklyn Dodgers are beating the
Chicago Cubs, 2-0, in the 5th inning when a swarm of gnats causes the game to be
postponed.
- 1947 - The U.S. Air Force is separated from
the US Army to become a separate branch.
- 1947 - RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube.
- 1948 - The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record
at 1080 km/h.
- 1950 - Korean War: United
States forces land at Incheon, Korea.
- 1952 - United Nations gives Eritrea to Ethiopia.
- 1955 - Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press.
- 1957 - West Germany holds its third parliamentary
election. Konrad Adenauer remains chancellor.
- 1958 - A Central Railroad of New Jersey
commuter train runs through an open drawbridge at the Newark Bay, killing 58.
- 1959 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first
Soviet leader to visit the United States.
- 1961 - Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 miles per hour.
- 1962 - The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the
Cuban Missile Crisis.
- 1963 - The 16th Street Baptist Church
bombing kills four children at an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.
- 1966 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to the United States Congress urging the enactment of gun control
legislation.
- 1968 - The Soviet Zond
5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and
re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
- 1972 - A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Northern
Illinois.
- 1972 - An SAS domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm was hijacked and flown to Malmö-Bulltofta Airport.
- 1974 - Air Vietnam flight 727 is hijacked, then crashes
while attempting to land with 75 on board.
- 1975 - The French department of Corse (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.
- 1975 - Progressive Rock artists Pink Floyd
release Wish You Were Here.
- 1978 - Muhammad Ali defeats Leon Spinks for the WBA heavywight championship becoming the first
man to win the heavyweight title three times.
- 1981 - The United States Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day
O'Connor to become the first female justice on the United States
Supreme Court.
- 1981 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the
world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside
Washington, DC.
- 1981 - Vanuatu becomes a member of the United
Nations.
- 1983 - Israeli premier
Menachem Begin resigns.
- 1987 - U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze sign a treaty to establish centers to reduce the risk of nuclear war.
- 1989 - The U.S. Congress recognizes
Terry Anderson's continued captivity in Beirut.
- 1990 - France announces it will send 4,000 troops to the
Persian Gulf
- 1993 - Liechtenstein Prince Hans-Adam II disbands parliament.
- 1998 - WorldCom and MCI
Communications finish their landmark merger, forming MCI WorldCom which would later be
renamed WorldCom and become the largest bankruptcy in
United States history.
- 2004 - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced a lockout of the players union and cessation of operations by the NHL head office.
- 2007 - Over 3000 Taiwanese Americans and their
supporters rallied in front of UN in New York City
to demonstrate the dedication that UN should accept Taiwan. At the same time, over 300,000
Taiwanese people rally in Taiwan to make the same plea.
Births
- 973 - Al-Biruni, mathematician (d.
1048)
- 1254 - Marco Polo, Italian explorer (d. 1324)
- 1580 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer
(d. 1659)
- 1613 - François de La
Rochefoucauld, French writer (d. 1680)
- 1649 - Titus Oates, English minister and plotter (d.
1705)
- 1715 - Jean Baptiste Vaquette de
Gribeauval, French artillery specialist (d. 1789)
- 1789 - James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist
(d. 1851)
- 1828 - Aleksandr Mikhailovich Butlerov, Russian
chemist (d. 1886)
- 1830 - Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico (d. 1915)
- 1852 - Edward Bouchet, American physicist (d.
1918)
- 1857 - William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States (d. 1930)
- 1858 - Jenő Hubay, Hungarian violinist (d. 1937)
- 1860 - Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya,
Indian engineer (d. 1962)
- 1863 - Horatio Parker, American composer (d.
1919)
- 1867 - Vladimir May-Mayevsky, Russian
counter-revolutionary (d. 1920)
- 1876 - Bruno Walter, German conductor (d.
1962)
- 1876 - Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian novelist (d.
1938)
- 1877 - Jakob Ehrlich, Austrian politician and zionist
(d. 1938)
- 1879 - Joseph Lyons, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1939)
- 1881 - Ettore Bugatti, Italian automobile engineer and
designer (d. 1947)
- 1883 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Spanish
mathematician and engineer (d. 1950)
- 1887 - Carlos Dávila, former President of Chile (d. 1955)
- 1888 - Antonio Ascari, Italian racing driver (d.
1925)
- 1889 - Robert Benchley, American author (d.
1945)
- 1890 - Agatha Christie, English writer (d.
1976)
- 1890 - Frank Martin, Swiss composer (d. 1974)
- 1892 - Silpa Bhirasri, Italian sculptor (d.
1962)
- 1894 - Jean Renoir, French film director (d.
1979)
- 1894 - Oskar Klein, Swedish physicist (d. 1977)
- 1895 - Magda Lupescu, consort of King Carol II of Romania (d. 1977)
- 1898 - J. Slauerhoff, Dutch poet and novelist (d.
1936)
- 1901 - Sir Donald Bailey, British engineer (d.
1985)
- 1903 - Roy Acuff, American musician (d. 1992)
- 1904 - King Umberto II of Italy (d.
1983)
- 1906 - Jacques Becker, French screenwriter and director
(d. 1960)
- 1907 - Gunnar Ekelöf, Swedish poet and writer (d.
1968)
- 1907 - Fay Wray, Canadian-born American actress (d. 2004)
- 1908 - Penny Singleton, American actress (d.
2003)
- 1909 - C.N.Annadurai, Former Chief Minnister of
Tamilnadu
- 1911 - Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-born American golf
entrepreneur (d. 2000)
- 1913 - John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General and Watergate
figure (d. 1988)
- 1914 - Creighton Abrams, American Army general (d.
1974)
- 1914 - Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine writer (d. 1999)
- 1915 - Albert Whitlock, English motion picture matte
artist (d. 1999)
- 1916 - Margaret Lockwood, English actress (d.
1990)
- 1918 - Nipsey Russell, American comedian (d.
2005)
- 1919 - Fausto Coppi, Italian racing cyclist (d.
1960)
- 1919 - Nelson Gidding, American screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 1921 - Norma MacMillan, Canadian actress (d.
2001)
- 1922 - Jackie Cooper, American actor and director
- 1922 - Bob Anderson (fencer), English sword-master
- 1923 - Anton Heiller, Austrian organist (d.
1979)
- 1924 - Bobby Short, American musician (d. 2005)
- 1926 - Jean-Pierre Serre, French mathematician
- 1926 - Shohei Imamura, Japanese film director (d. 2006)
- 1928 - Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist
and bandleader (d. 1975)
- 1929 - Eva Burrows, the 13th General of The Salvation Army
- 1929 - Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1933 - Henry Darrow, American actor
- 1933 - Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Spanish conductor
- 1934 - Fred Nile, Australian politician
- 1937 - Robert Lucas, Jr., American economist,
Nobel laureate
- 1937 - Fernando de la Rúa, 51st President of Argentina
- 1938 - Gaylord Perry, baseball player
- 1940 - Merlin Olsen, American football player and
actor
- 1940 - Norman Spinrad, American science fiction author
- 1941 - Flórián Albert, Hungarian footballer
- 1941 - Signe Toly Anderson, American singer
- 1941 - Mirosław Hermaszewski, Polish cosmonaut
- 1941 - Yuri Norstein, Russian animator
- 1941 - Viktor Zubkov, Russian government official
- 1945 - Carmen Maura, Spanish actress
- 1945 - Jessye Norman, American opera singer
- 1945 - Ron Shelton, American film director
- 1946 - Tommy Lee Jones, American actor
- 1946 - Oliver Stone, American film director
- 1946 - Howard Waldrop, American science fiction author
- 1948 - Suzyn Waldman, American Sportscaster
- 1949 - Joe Barton, American politician
- 1951 - Pete Carroll, American football coach
- 1951 - Johan Neeskens, Dutch footballer
- 1954 - Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor (d.
2007)
- 1955 - Željka Antunović, Croatian politician
- 1955 - Theodore Long, American professional wrestling executive
- 1956 - Maggie Reilly, Scottish folk singer
- 1958 - Dr. Know, American guitarist
(Bad Brains)
- 1958 - Joel Quenneville, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1958 - Wendie Jo Sperber, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1960 - Kevin Allen, Welsh actor
- 1961 - Terry Lamb, Australian rugby league footballer
- 1961 - Dan Marino, American football player
- 1964 - Róbert Fico, Slovak Prime minister
- 1968 - Danny Nucci, American actor
- 1969 - Jim Curtiss, American writer
- 1971 - Nathan Astle, New Zealand cricketer
- 1971 - Josh Charles, American actor
- 1971 - Ben Wallers, English musician and songwriter (Country Teasers)
- 1972 - Jimmy Carr, English comedian
- 1972 - Kit Chan, Singaporean singer
- 1972 - Princess Letizia of Spain
- 1973 - Julie Cox, English actress
- 1975 - Jamie Stevens, German singer
- 1976 - Paul Thomson, Scottish drummer (Franz Ferdinand)
- 1976 - Matt Thornton, American baseball player
- 1977 - Angela Aki, Japanese singer-songwriter
- 1977 - Sophie Dahl, English model
- 1977 - Marisa Ramirez, American actress
- 1977 - Jason Terry, American basketball player
- 1978 - Eiður Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer
- 1979 - Dave Annable, American actor
- 1979 - Amy Davidson, American actress
- 1979 - Carlos Ruiz, Guatemalan soccer player
- 1979 - Patrick Marleau, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 - David Diehl, American football player
- 1980 - Jolin Tsai, Taiwanese pop singer
- 1980 - Mike Dunleavy, Jr., American basketball player
- 1984 - Prince Henry of Wales
- 1986 - Heidi Montag, American reality television
star
- 1987 - Vova Galchenko, Russian juggler
Deaths
- 866 - Robert the Strong, Margrave of Neustria
- 1231 - Louis I, Duke of Bavaria (b.
1173)
- 1352 - Ewostatewos, Ethiopian monk and religious leader
(b. 1273)
- 1500 - John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1596 - Leonhard Rauwolf, German physician and
botanist (b. 1535 or 1540)
- 1613 - Thomas Overbury, English writer (b.
1581)
- 1643 - Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of
Cork, Irish politician (b. 1566)
- 1649 - John Floyd, English Jesuit preacher (b.
1572)
- 1700 - André Le Nôtre, French landscape architect (b.
1613)
- 1701 - Edmé Boursault, French writer (b.
1638)
- 1707 - George Stepney, English poet and diplomat (b.
1663)
- 1712 - Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of
Godolphin, English politician
- 1750 - Charles Theodore Pachelbel, German
composer (b. 1690)
- 1794 - Abraham Clark, American signer of the Declaration
of Independence (b. 1725)
- 1803 - Gian Francesco Albani, Italian Catholic
cardinal (b. 1719)
- 1830 - William Huskisson, first rail fatality (b.
1770)
- 1835 - Sarah Knox Taylor, wife of Jefferson Davis (b. 1814)
- 1842 - Pierre Baillot, French violinist and composer
(b. 1771)
- 1859 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British
engineer (b. 1806)
- 1864 - John Hanning Speke, British explorer (b.
1827)
- 1883 - Joseph Plateau, Belgian physicist (b.
1801)
- 1885 - Jumbo, P. T.
Barnum's circus elephant (hit by a train)
- 1893 - Thomas Hawksley, English civil engineer (b.
1807)
- 1921 - Roman Ungern von Sternberg, Russian
counter-revolutionary (b. 1886)
- 1926 - Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1846)
- 1930 - Milton Sills, American actor (b. 1882)
- 1945 - André Tardieu, Prime Minister of France (b. 1876)
- 1945 - Anton Webern, Austrian composer (b. 1883)
- 1965 - Steve Brown, American musician (b.
1890)
- 1972 - Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1887)
- 1973 - Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden (b.
1882)
- 1973 - Victor Jara, Chilean musician (b. 1941)
- 1978 - Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft
designer (b. 1898)
- 1978 - Robert Cliche, French Canadian politician and judge (b. 1921)
- 1980 - Bill Evans, American jazz pianist (b.
1929)
- 1985 - Cootie Williams, American jazz trumpeter (b.
1910)
- 1987 - Steven Tuomi, murder victim of Jeffery Dahmer
(b. 1963)
- 1989 - Robert Penn Warren, American writer (b.
1905)
- 1991 - John Hoyt, American actor (b. 1904)
- 1993 - Ethan Allen, American baseball player
(b. 1903)
- 1995 - Harry Calder, South African cricketer (b.
1901)
- 2000 - Vincent Canby, American movie critic (b.
1924)
- 2003 - Jack Brymer, English clarinetist (b.
1915)
- 2003 - Josef Hirsal, Czech novelist (b. 1920)
- 2004 - Johnny Ramone, American guitarist
(The Ramones) (b. 1948)
- 2004 - Walter Stewart, Canadian journalist (b. 1931)
- 2005 - Sidney Luft, American film director (b.
1915)
- 2006 - Raymond Baxter, British television presenter (b.
1922)
- 2006 - Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist and writer (b. 1929)
- 2006 - Pablo Santos, Mexican actor (b. 1987)
- 2006 - Rob Levin, Freenode IRC Network Founder (b. 1955)
- 2007 - Colin McRae, Scottish rally driver (b.
1968)
- 2007 - Aldemaro Romero, Venezuelan musician (b. 1928)
- 2007 - Brett Somers, Canadian-born American actress and Match Game panelist (b. 1924)
Holidays and observances
