1184 BC Traditional date of the fall of Troy.
624 Mellitus (died), English archbishop
1533 William the Silent (born), German son of William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg (died 1584)
1558 Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
1620 John Graunt (born), English statistician (died 1674)
1704 The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, the News-Letter, is published in Boston, Massachusetts.
1706 Giovanni Battista Martini (born), Italian pianist (died 1780)
1718 Nathaniel Hone the Elder (born), Irish-English painter (died 1784)
1731 Daniel Defoe (died), English journalist and spy (born 1660)
1743 Edmund Cartwright (born), English clergyman, invented the power loom (died 1823)
1779 Eleazar Wheelock (died), American minister and academic, founded Dartmouth College (born 1711)
1800 The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress”.
1815 Anthony Trollope (born), English author (died 1882)
1877 Russo-Turkish War: Russian Empire declares war on Ottoman Empire.
1878 Jean Crotti (born), Swiss painter (died 1958)
1880 Gideon Sundback (born), Swedish-American engineer and businessman, developed the zipper (died 1954)
1885 American sharpshooter Annie Oakley was hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.
1887 Denys Finch Hatton (born), English hunter (died 1931)
1889 Lyubov Popova (born), Russian painter (died 1924)
1897 Benjamin Lee Whorf (born), American linguist (died 1941)
1899 Oscar Zariski (born), Russian-American mathematician (died 1986)
1903 José Antonio Primo de Rivera (born), Spanish lawyer and politician, founded the Falange (died 1936)
1904 Willem de Kooning (born), Dutch-American painter (died 1997)
1905 Robert Penn Warren (born), American author and poet (died 1989)
1906 Mimi Smith (born), English nurse and secretary (died 1991)
1906 William Joyce (born), American-English politician and broadcaster (died 1946)
1907 Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, is opened.
1907 William Sargant (born), English psychiatrist (died 1988)
1913 The Woolworth Building skyscraper in New York City is opened.
1914 Justin Wilson (born), American chef (died 2001)
1916 Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the ice-trapped ship Endurance.
1918 First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.
1922 Marc-Adélard Tremblay (born), Canadian anthropologist
1922 The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.
1923 In Vienna, the paper Das Ich und das Es (The Ego and the Id) by Sigmund Freud is published, which outlines Freud’s theories of the id, ego, and super-ego.
1924 G. Stanley Hall (died), American psychologist and educator (born 1844)
1930 Jerome Callet (born), American instrument designer, educator, and author
1933 Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.
1934 Shirley MacLaine (born), American actress, singer, and dancer
1936 Jill Ireland (born), English-American actress and author (died 1990)
1938 George Grey Barnard (died), American sculptor (born 1863)
1940 Sue Grafton (born), American author
1941 John Williams (born), Australian-English guitarist
1941 Richard Holbrooke (born), American journalist, banker, and diplomat, 22nd United States Ambassador to the United Nations (died 2010)
1942 Barbra Streisand (born), American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
1942 Richard M. Daley (born), American politician, 54th Mayor of Chicago
1943 Richard Sterban (born), American singer (The Oak Ridge Boys)
1945 Dick Rivers (born), French singer and actor (Les Chats Sauvages)
1945 Doug Clifford (born), American drummer and songwriter (Creedence Clearwater Revival, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, and Don Harrison Band)
1945 Doug Riley (born), Canadian keyboard player and producer (Dr. Music) (died 2007)
1947 Willa Cather (died), American author (born 1873)
1951 Nigel Harrison (born), English bass player and songwriter (Blondie and Silverhead)
1952 Jean Paul Gaultier (born), French fashion designer
1953 Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1954 Captain Sensible (born), English singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Damned and Dead Men Walking)
1954 Jack Blades (born), American bass player and songwriter (Night Ranger, Rubicon, Damn Yankees, and Tak Matsumoto Group)
1955 Michael O’Keefe (born), American actor
1957 Boris Williams (born), French-English drummer (The Cure, Thompson Twins, and Babacar)
1957 Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
1957 The BBC first broadcast The Sky at Night presented by Patrick Moore
1963 Marriage of HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent to the Hon Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
1964 Cedric the Entertainer (born), American comedian, actor, and producer
1967 Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
1967 Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had “gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily.”
1967 Vladimir Komarov (died), Russian pilot, engineer, and astronaut (born 1927)
1968 Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations.
1968 Walter Tewksbury (died), American runner (born 1876)
1970 The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched.
1974 Bud Abbott (died), American actor and producer (born 1895)
1975 Pete Ham (died), Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (Badfinger) (born 1947)
1980 Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
1983 Rolf Stommelen (died), German race car driver (born 1943)
1990 Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
1990 STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
1993 An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.
1996 In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law.
1997 Pat Paulsen (died), American comedian and politician (born 1927)
2004 Estée Lauder (died), American businesswoman, co-founded Estée Lauder Companies (born 1906)
2005 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
2013 A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,500 others.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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