457 Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
1074 Pandulf IV of Benevento is killed battling the invading Normans at the Battle of Montesarchio.
1478 Thomas More (born), English politician and author (died 1535)
1497 The bonfire of the vanities occurs in which supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy.
1560 Bartolommeo Bandinelli (died), Italian sculptor and painter (born 1493)
1603 Hermann Wilken (died), German mathematician (born 1522)
1736 Stephen Gray (died), English astronomer (born 1666)
1795 The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
1804 John Deere (born), American businessman, founded Deere & Company (died 1886)
1812 Charles Dickens (born), English author (died 1870)
1819 Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore after just taking it over, leaving it in the hands of William Farquhar.
1837 James Murray (born), Scottish lexicographer and philologist (died 1915)
1867 Laura Ingalls Wilder (born), American author (died 1957)
1870 Alfred Adler (born), Austrian psychologist (died 1937)
1871 Henry E. Steinway (died), German-American businessman, founded Steinway & Sons (born 1797)
1877 G. H. Hardy (born), English mathematician (died 1947)
1878 Pope Pius IX (died) (born 1792)
1885 Sinclair Lewis (born), American author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1951)
1887 Eubie Blake (born), American pianist and composer (died 1983)
1894 The Cripple Creek miner’s strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado.
1898 Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J’Accuse.
1904 A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
1906 Oleg Antonov (born), Soviet aircraft designer, founded the Antonov Aircraft Company (died 1984)
1907 The Mud March is the first large procession organized by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
1908 Buster Crabb (born), American swimmer and actor (died 1983)
1914 Ramón Mercader (born), Spanish assassin of Leon Trotsky (died 1978)
1920 An Wang (born), Chinese-American engineer and businessman, founded Wang Laboratories (died 1990)
1932 Gay Talese (born), American author
1934 Earl King (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2003)
1934 King Curtis (born), American saxophonist (died 1971)
1935 The classic board game Monopoly is invented.
1937 Elihu Root (died), American lawyer and politician, 38th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1845)
1938 Harvey Samuel Firestone (died), American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (born 1868)
1940 The second full length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.
1943 Imperial Japanese naval forces complete the evacuation of Imperial Japanese Army troops from Guadalcanal during Operation Ke, ending Japanese attempts to retake the island from Allied forces in the Guadalcanal Campaign.
1944 World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle.
1949 Joe English (born), American drummer (Wings and Sea Level)
1958 Matt Ridley (born), English scientist, journalist, and author
1959 Guitar Slim (died), American guitarist (born 1926)
1960 James Spader (born), American actor
1962 David Bryan (born), American keyboard player and songwriter (Bon Jovi)
1962 Eddie Izzard (born), Yemeni-English actor and comedian
1962 Garth Brooks (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.
1964 The Beatles first arrived in the United States. Their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show two days later would mark the beginning of the British Invasion.
1965 Chris Rock (born), American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer
1974 Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1979 Josef Mengele (died), German SS officer and physician (born 1911)
1979 Pluto moves inside Neptune’s orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
1984 Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walkusing the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
1986 Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
1990 Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.
1991 Haiti’s first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
1992 The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.
1995 Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
1999 Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
1999 Hussein of Jordan (died) (born 1935)
1999 José Silva (died), American parapsychologist (born 1914)
2000 Doug Henning (died), Canadian magician (born 1947)
2013 At least 53 people are killed when a bus and truck collide near Chibombo, Zambia.
2014 The Winter Olympic Games start in Sochi, Russia.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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