Strange Days

[jseal]

1884 ~ Birthday of Florence Blanchfield, the first woman to receive a regular commission in the U.S. Army.

1873 ~ Birthday of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Composer, Pianist & Conductor.

1917 ~ Death of Scott Joplin (http://www.scottjoplin.org/biography.htm), Musician & Composer.

1918 ~ The Royal Flying Corps was replaced by the Royal Air Force.

1945 ~ World War II: U.S. forces invaded Okinawa (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0401.html#article).

1970 ~ President Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising (http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/nc/nc2b_10.htm) on radio and TV.

1973 ~ Birthday of Joe Francis, Girls Gone Wild (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1256270/) Producer.

1976 ~ Apple Computer Company was formed (http://www.apple-history.com/?page=history&section=h1) by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

2001 ~ Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/1/newsid_2464000/2464667.stm) was arrested and taken to prison.

2001 ~ A U.S. intelligence gathering plane collided with a PRC Army fighter jet. The Navy crew made an emergency landing in Hainan, PRC and was detained.

Feastdays & Holidays

April Fools Day (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/1/newsid_2819000/2819261.stm)

[jseal]

1725 ~ Birthday of Giacomo Casanova (http://web.archive.org/web/20080207194442/http://users.dickinson.edu/~emery/Casanova.htm), adventurer and writer.

1805 ~ Birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer.

1875 ~ Birthday of Walter Chrysler (http://www.chryslerheritage.com/pg500chron.php), automobile pioneer.

1917 ~ President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0402.html#article).

1917 ~ The first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin, took her seat as a representative from Montana.

1966 ~ Death of C.S. Forester, Author.

1978 ~ Dallas premiered (http://www.ultimatedallas.com/) on CBS, beginning a 13-year run.

1982 ~ Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands (http://www.naval-history.net/F15invasion.htm), starting the war.

1986 ~ A grandmother, her daughter and her granddaughter were sucked out of a TWA jet (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/2/newsid_4357000/4357159.stm) when it was bombed by a group calling itself the Ezzedine Kassam Unit of the Arab Revolutionary Cells

2005 ~ Death of Pope John Paul II (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pope/).

[jseal]

1895 ~ The libel trial started by Oscar Wilde (http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/oscar_wilde/6.html) against the Marquess of Queensbury began, eventually resulting in Wilde's arrest, trial and imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.

1901 ~ Death of Richard D'Oyly Carte (http://math.boisestate.edu/GaS/carte/index.html), Impresario.

1934 ~ Birthday of Jane Goodall (http://www.janegoodall.org/default.asp), Zoologist.

1946 ~ Masaharu Homma, the Japanese general responsible for the Bataan Death March (http://home.comcast.net/~rgrokett/POW/index.htm), was executed in the Philippines.

1948 ~ President Truman signed the Marshall Plan (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0403.html#article).

1975 ~ GM Anatoly Karpov was awarded the title of World Champion by default when Bobby Fischer refused to play.

1981 ~ Death of Juan Trippe (http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/trippe.html), Airline & Hotel (Pan Am & InterContinental) founder .

1991 ~ Death of Graham Greene, English writer.

1996 ~ Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/3/newsid_2460000/2460423.stm) at his Montana cabin.

2000 ~ Microsoft was ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws.

[jseal]

1884 ~ Birthday of Isoroku Yamamoto, naval commander.

1885 ~ Birthday of Arthur Murray, dancer.

1902 ~ British financier Cecil Rhodes (http://www.britishempire.co.uk/biography/rhodes.htm) left £6 million in his will to provide scholarships for Americans at Oxford University in England.

1949 ~ Twelve nations signed The North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/treaty.htm).

1964 ~ The Beatles occupied all of the top five positions on the Billboard singles chart in the United States.

1968 ~ Martin Luther King Jr. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0404.html#article) was assassinated.

1979 ~ Death of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/4/newsid_2459000/2459507.stm), Pakistan Prime Minister (hanged).

1975 ~ Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/worldwide/) was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

1984 ~ Winston Smith, the main character of George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four (http://www.george-orwell.org/1984/0.html), began writing in his secret diary.

1994 ~ Netscape (http://browser.netscape.com/) Communications Corporation was founded by Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark.

[jseal]

1588 ~ Birthday of Thomas Hobbes (http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/hobbes.html), English philosopher.

1614 ~ In Virginia, Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe.

1792 ~ President Washington cast the first presidential veto (http://www.thirty-thousand.org/pages/first_veto.htm), rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states.

1908 ~ Birthday of Herbert von Karajan (http://www.karajan.co.uk/), Austrian conductor.

1930 ~ In an act of civil disobedience, Mahatma Gandhi (http://www.mibazaar.com/2007/03/today-in-history-mahatma-gandhis-salt.html) breaks British law after marching to the sea and making salt.

1942 ~ The Japanese Imperial Navy attacked Colombo, Sri Lanka, and sank the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire southwest of the island.

1951 ~ Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0405.html#article) were sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union.

1976 ~ Death of Howard Hughes (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/5/newsid_4739000/4739940.stm), aviation pioneer.

1997 ~ Death of Allen Ginsberg, Poet.

2008 ~ Death of Charlton Heston (http://www.lastingtribute.co.uk/tribute/heston/2769726), Actor.

[jseal]

1528 ~ Death of Albrecht Dürer (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/durer/), Artist.

1909 ~ Robert Peary and Matthew Henson became the first men to reach the North Pole (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0406.html#article).

1917 ~ The United States declared war on Germany.

1928 ~ Birthday of James D. Watson (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/watson-bio.html), Geneticist, co-discoverer of structure of DNA, awarded 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1933 ~ Hostess Twinkies (http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/twinkie.htm) were invented.

1941 ~ Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia & Greece in WWII.

1971 ~ Death of Igor Stravinsky (http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/stravinsky.html), Composer.

1992 ~ Death of Isaac Asimov (http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_FAQ.html), Science-fiction author.

1994 ~ The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were killed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/6/newsid_2472000/2472195.stm) in a plane crash near Rwanda's capital.

2001 ~ Algerian national Ahmed Ressam, accused of bringing explosives into the U.S. days before the millennium celebrations, was convicted twice in the same day - first in France for belonging to a group supporting Islamic militants, then in Los Angeles on terror charges.

...a bad day for Ahmed.

[jseal]

1614 ~ Death of El Greco (Domenikos Theotocopoulos), artist.

1770 ~ Birthday of William Wordsworth (http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/ww/bio.html), English poet.

1795 ~ France adopted the meter as the unit of length.

1862 ~ Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the battle of Shiloh (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0407.html#article) in Tennessee.

1891 ~ Death of P. T. Barnum, Circus Impresario.

1947 ~ Death of Henry Ford (http://www.hfha.org/), automobile manufacturer and industrialist.

1953 ~ Dag Hammarskjöld (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1961/hammarskjold-bio.html) was elected United Nations Secretary General.

1964 ~ IBM announced the System/360 (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Bistro/8502/360a.html).

1968 ~ Death of Jim Clark (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/7/newsid_2837000/2837559.stm), racing driver.

1969 ~ The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of First Request for Comment (http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/) (RFC).

[jseal]

1820 ~ The Venus de Milo was discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.

1889 ~ Birthday of Sir Adrien Boult, English Conductor.

1945 ~ Pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (http://www.dbonhoeffer.org/) was executed at the POW camp at Flossenbürg.

1953 ~ Jomo Kenyatta was convicted (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/8/newsid_2887000/2887641.stm) of being a member of the Mau Mau.

1973 ~ Death of Pablo Picasso (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0408.html#article), artist.

1974 ~ Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth's record.

1975 ~ Frank Robinson managed his first game (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/robinfr02.php) as major league baseball's first African American manager.

1982 ~ Birthday of Judy Star (http://www.judystarxxx.com/), Porn Actress.

1983 ~ Death of Omar Bradley (http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/omarnels.htm), general.

2005 ~ The funeral of Pope John Paul II (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3305285/).

[jseal]

1865 ~ Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0409.html#article).

1940 ~ Operation Weserübung (http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=93): Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.

1942 ~ HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire (http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/remembering1942/vampire/index.htm) were sunk off Ceylon’s (Sri Lanka) east coast by Japanese naval aircraft.

1926 ~ Birthday of Hugh Hefner, Editor & Publisher.

1928 ~ Birthday of Tom Lehrer, Musician & Satirist (http://www.iankitching.me.uk/humour/lehrer/).

1945 ~ The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission was formed.

1974 ~ Birthday of Jenna Jameson (http://www.jennajameson.com/), Porn Actress.

1979 ~ Birthday of Katsuni (http://www.clubkatsuni.com/home.php), Porn Actress.

1991 ~ Georgia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

2003 ~ Iraqis celebrated the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/9/newsid_3502000/3502633.stm), beheading a toppled statue of the dictator in downtown Baghdad.

[jseal]

1847 ~ Birthday of Joseph Pulitzer, Journalist & Publisher.

1912 ~ The RMS Titanic (http://www.hants.gov.uk/titanic.html) left port in Southampton, England.

1919 ~ Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata was ambushed and killed by government forces.

1932 ~ Birthday of Omar Sharif (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001725/bio), Egyptian actor (Doctor Zhivago, anad many others).

1947 ~ Jackie Robinson (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0410.html#article) broke the color barrier in MLB.

1954 ~ Death of Auguste Lumière (http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/LUMIERE_BIO.html), Cinema Pioneer.

1963 ~ The American submarine USS Thresher (http://navysite.de/ssn/ssn593.htm) and its crew was lost off Cape Cod, Mass.

1966 ~ Death of Evelyn Waugh, Writer.

1970 ~ Paul McCartney announced that The Beatles (http://www.popstarsplus.com/music_beatles_history.htm) had broken up.

1998 ~ The Belfast Agreement (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/10/newsid_2450000/2450823.stm) was signed.

[jseal]

1814 ~ Napoleon abdicated (http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110901/standard/downfall.html) and was exiled to Elba.

1906 ~ Death of James Bailey, co-founder with Phineas Barnum of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus (http://www.ringling.com/).

1932 ~ Birthday of Joel Grey, American singer and actor.

1945 ~ U.S. forces liberated Buchenwald concentration camp (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005198).

1951 ~ President Truman replaced General MacArthur (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0411.html#article) with Lieutenant-General Ridgway.

1961 ~ Bob Dylan (http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bobdylan/biography) made his singing début in New York City.

1961 ~ Start of war crimes trial of Adolf Eichmann (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/11/newsid_2476000/2476225.stm).

1979 ~ Idi Amin (http://www.cbv.ns.ca/dictator/Amin.html) deposed as president of Uganda.

1986 ~ Birthday of Roman Heart, Porn Actor.

2007 ~ Death of Kurt Vonnegut, American author.

[jseal]

65 ~ Death of Lucius Annaeus Seneca (http://www.theatredatabase.com/ancient/seneca_001.html), Philosopher, Dramatist & Statesman.

1861 ~ The American Civil War began when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter (http://www.civilwarhome.com/ftsumter.htm) in South Carolina.

1895 ~ Birthday of Lily Pons, Opera Soprano.

1937 ~ Frank Whittle ground-tested the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft (http://www.aircraftenginedesign.com/custom.html3.html).

1940 ~ Birthday of Herbie Hancock, Musician.

1944 ~ Birthday of John Kay, of Steppenwolf (http://www.steppenwolf.com/).

1945 ~ President Franklin Roosevelt died (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0412.html#article).

1961 ~ Yuri Gagarin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin) became the first man in space aboard Vostok 1.

1981 ~ The first launch of a Space Shuttle: the STS-1 mission.

1984 ~ Arthur Scargill, the man who led the destruction of the National Union of Mineworkers ruled out a national ballot of miners (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/12/newsid_2843000/2843003.stm) on whether to continue their strike.

[jseal]

1570 ~ Birthday of Guy Fawkes (http://www.guyfawkes.me.uk/), Gunpowder Plot conspirator.

1598 ~ Henry IV of France granted freedom of religion to Hguenots.

1742 ~ George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah (http://gfhandel.org/messiah.htm) premiered in Dublin, Ireland.

1743 ~ Birthday of Thomas Jefferson (http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/tj3.html), 3rd U.S. President.

1829 ~ The British Parliament granted freedom of religion to Roman Catholics.

1964 ~ Sidney Poitier broke the color barrier (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/13/newsid_2524000/2524235.stm) when he was awarded the “Best Actor” Oscar.

1970 ~ Apollo 13 was almost lost (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0413.html#article) when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst.

1980 ~ Birthday of Jana Cova (http://www.clubjanacova.com/), Porn Actress.

1990 ~ The Soviet Union admitted committing the Katyn Massacre (http://www.katyn.org.au/index.html).

2008 ~ Death of John Wheeler, Theoretical Physicist (Black & Worm Holes) & Educator (Richard Feynman, Kip Thorne, & Hugh Everett, among others).

[jseal]

1759 ~ Death of Georg Friedrich Handel (http://gfhandel.org/), Composer.

1865 ~ President Lincoln was shot (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0414.html#article) by John Wilkes Booth.

1904 ~ Birthday of Sir John Gielgud, Actor.

1912 ~ RMS Titanic (http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/) struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage.

1935 ~ Death of Emmy Noether (http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Noether_Emmy.html), Mathematician.

1939 ~ ''The Grapes of Wrath'' by John Steinbeck was published.

1964 ~ Death of Rachel Carson (http://www.rachelcarson.org/), Writer & Ecologist.

1988 ~ The USSR pledged to leave Afghanistan (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/14/newsid_4419000/4419833.stm).

1995 ~ Death of Burl Ives, Singer & Actor.

1999 ~ A hailstorm in Sydney, Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sydney_hailstorm) caused at least A$1.7 billion damages.

[jseal]

1707 ~ Birthday of Leonhard Euler (http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Euler/RouseBall/RB_Euler.html), Mathematician.

1912 ~ The RMS Titanic sank (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0415.html#article).

1912 ~ Birthday of Kim Il-sung, "Great Leader" & President of North Korea .

1924 ~ Birthday of Sir Neville Marriner, Conductor.

1945 ~ British & Canadian troops liberate Bergen-Belsen (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005224)

1947 ~ Jackie Robinson (http://www.jackierobinson.com/home.html) broke MLB's racial segregation by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1955 ~ The first McDonald's restaurant (http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/museums/first_store_museum.html) opened in Des Plaines, Illinois.

1971 ~ Birthday of Sarah Jane Hamilton, Porn Actress.

1994 ~ Representatives of 124 countries signed the Marrakesh Agreements which replaced the GATT with the WTO (http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/tif_e.htm).

1998 ~ Death of Pol Pot (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/15/newsid_2491000/2491333.stm), Cambodian Dictator.

[jseal]

1867 ~ Birthday of Wilbur Wright (http://wright.nasa.gov/wilbur.htm), Pioneer Pilot.

1889 ~ Birthday of Charlie Chaplin, Actor, Writer & Film Producer.

1912 ~ Harriett Quimby (http://www.harrietquimby.org/) became the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.

1921 ~ Birthday of Peter Ustinov, Writer, Actor & Film Director.

1927 ~ Birthday of Joseph Ratzinger (http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bratz.html), German Shepard.

1943 ~ Dr. Albert Hofmann discovered the psychedelic effects of LSD (http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/LSD.html).

1947 ~ The explosive nature of ammonium nitrate fertilizer (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0416.html#article) first tested in the wild.

1963 ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail (http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/dos/mlk/letter.html)" while locked up for protesting against segregation.

1991 ~ Death of David Lean, British film director (Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter, A Passage to India).

1993 ~ The UN voted to make Srebrenica a 'safe haven' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/16/newsid_4253000/4253441.stm).

[jseal]

1521 ~ Martin Luther appeared before the Holy Roman Emperor at Worms (http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/martin-luther.html), Germany, and was cross-examined about his thoughts on religious reform.

1741 ~ Birthday of Samuel Chase (http://colonialhall.com/chase/chase.php), Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1790 ~ Death of Benjamin Franklin, Politician, Inventor, Diplomat, & Printer.

1837 ~ Birthday of J.P. Morgan (http://www.financial-inspiration.com/JP-Morgan-biography.html), Financier, Art Collector, & Philanthropist.

1861 ~ The Virginia State Convention voted to secede from the Union (http://www.janus.umd.edu/Feb2002/Cote/01.html).

1894 ~ Birthday of Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet politician & Premier 1958-1964.

1903 ~ Birthday of Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist.

1961 ~ Cuba was invaded at the “Bay of Pigs (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0417.html#article)” by a U.S. supported invasion force of 1,500 Cuban exiles, who were defeated by Fidel Castro's forces.

1984 ~ Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher was killed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_2488000/2488369.stm) by gunfire coming from the Libyan People's Bureau in central London.

2003 ~ Death of Dr. Robert Atkins (http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/04/17/obit.atkins/), noted for the Atkin's Diet.

[jseal]

1480 ~ Birthday of Lucrezia Borgia (http://www.nndb.com/people/160/000092881/), Renaissance ruler and daughter of Pope Alexander VI.

1772 ~ Birthday of David Ricardo (http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/ricardo.htm), Economist.

1775 ~ Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott (http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/oth1/revere_paul.htm) rode to warn of impending arrests of Samuel Adams and John Hancock and seizure of weapons.

1819 ~ Birthday of Franz von Suppé (http://www.johann-strauss.org.uk/composers/index.php3?content=suppe), Croatian /Austrian composer.

1955 ~ Death of Albert Einstein (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html), Physicist.

1958 ~ A federal court ruled that poet Ezra Pound should be released from an insane asylum.

1980 ~ Independence Day in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia).

1978 ~ The U.S. Senate narrowly backed President Carter's (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/18/newsid_2525000/2525147.stm) controversial Panama Canal treaty.

1992 ~ General Dostum rebelled against President Najibullah of Afghanistan & allied with Ahmed Massoud of the Northern Alliance to capture Kabul.

1999 ~ Wayne Gretzky (http://www.gretzky.com/) played his last National Hockey League game, at Madison Square Garden in New York.

[jseal]

1861 ~ The first bloodshed of the American Civil War (http://www.mdoe.org/riots_balt_1861.html). A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore, Maryland attacked Federal Army troops marching through the city.

1881 ~ Death of Benjamin Disraeli, former Prime Minister of the U.K.

1882 ~ Death of Charles Darwin, Biologist & Author.

1912 ~ Birthday of Glenn Seaborg (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1951/seaborg-bio.html), Chemist and Nobel Prize winner.

1956 ~ Actress Grace Kelly married Rainier III (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/19/newsid_2720000/2720723.stm) of Monaco.

1975 ~ Aryabhata (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/aryabhata.html) was launched - India's first satellite.

1989 ~ Death of Daphne du Maurier, Author.

1993 ~ A siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended when fire destroyed the structure after federal agents smashed their way in (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/waco/keystories.htm).

1995 ~ Oklahoma City bombing (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0419.html#article): The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was bombed, killing 168.

2005 ~ Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope; he took the name Benedict XVI (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7523254/).

[jseal]

1657 ~ The Jews of New York City (then New Amsterdam) were granted freedom of religion.

1889 ~ Birthday of Adolf Hitler (http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/index.htm), German dictator, "Der Führer".

1912 ~ Death of Bram Stoker, Author (Dracula).

1918 ~ Manfred von Richthofen (http://www.acepilots.com/wwi/ger_richthofen.html) shot down his 79th and 80th victims - his final victories.

1968 ~ Pierre Trudeau (http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/trudeau-pierre.html) first became Prime Minister of Canada.

1968 ~ English politician Enoch Powell made his controversial Rivers of Blood (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/20/newsid_2489000/2489357.stm) speech.

1971 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of busing to achieve racial desegregation in schools (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0420.html#article).

1972 ~ Apollo 16 landed on the Moon.

1979 ~ U.S. President Carter was attacked by a Swamp Rabbit (http://www.narsil.org/index/peopl/jimmycarter/killerrabbit).

1999 ~ Columbine High School Massacre (http://history1900s.about.com/od/famouscrimesscandals/a/columbine.htm)

[jseal]

1649 ~ The Maryland Toleration Act (http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/D/1601-1650/maryland/mta_i.htm), which provided for freedom of worship for all Christians, was passed by the Maryland assembly.

1816 ~ Birthday of Charlotte Brontë (http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/brontbio.html), Author.

1838 ~ Birthday of John Muir (http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/), Environmentalist.

1910 ~ Death of Mark Twain (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0421.html#article), author.

1912 ~ The New York Giants and New York Yankees played an exhibition game to benefit survivors of the RMS Titanic.

1918 ~ "The Red Baron", Manfred von Richthofen, was shot down and killed over France.

1926 ~ Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II (http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/HMTheQueen.aspx) of the United Kingdom.

1944 ~ Women in France were enfranchised.

1960 ~ Brazil inaugurated its new capital, Brasilia (http://www.geocities.com/thetropics/3416/), transferring the seat of national government from Rio de Janeiro.

1992 ~ The first extrasolar planets (http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/alex/pulsar_planets.htm) were announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan.

[jseal]

1870 ~ Birthday of Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary.

1889 ~ The Oklahoma Land Rush (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0422.html#article) began.

1904 ~ Birthday of Robert Oppenheimer (http://www.atomicarchive.com/Bios/Oppenheimer.shtml), American physicist.

1937 ~ Birthday of Jack Nicholson, Actor.

1943 ~ Albert Hofmann wrote his first report about the hallucinogenic properties of LSD.

1984 ~ Death of Ansel Adams (http://www.anseladams.com/), Photographer.

1997 ~ A four-month siege of the Japanese embassy in Peru ended (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/22/newsid_4297000/4297347.stm) when commandos stormed and captured the building, rescuing 71 hostages. Interestingly, all 14 rebels died.

2000 ~ In a pre-dawn raid, armed immigration agents seized Elian Gonzalez (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/22/newsid_2489000/2489485.stm) from his relatives' home in Miami; the 6-year-old boy was reunited with his father.

2002 ~ Death of Linda Lovelace (http://www.linda-lovelace.com/), Porn Actress.

2008 ~ The last F-117 Nighthawk (http://www.f-117a.com/) aircraft were retired.


Feastdays & Holidays

Earth Day : Canada (http://www.earthday.ca/pub/index.php), U.S. (http://earthday.gov/)

[jseal]

1564 ~ Birthday of William Shakespeare (http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/content/view/12/12), Playwright.

1858 ~ Birthday of Max Planck (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1918/planck-bio.html), Physicist. Awarded the Nobel Prize in physics 1918.

1891 ~ Birthday of Sergei Prokofiev, Soviet Composer.

1954 ~ Hank Aaron (http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=110001) hit his first major league home run.

1968 ~ Birthday of Timothy McVeigh, American Terrorist.

1969 ~ Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0423.html#article) for assassinating Sen. Robert Kennedy.

1985 ~ The Coca-Cola Co. introduced New Coke (http://web.archive.org/web/20060515214006/http://members.lycos.co.uk/thomassheils/newcoke.htm).

1998 ~ Death of James Earl Ray (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/23/newsid_2914000/2914267.stm), Assassin.

2004 ~ President Bush eased Reagan-era sanctions against Libya in return for Moammar Gadhafi's giving up weapons of mass destruction.

2007 ~ Death of Boris Yeltsin (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/23/russia.guardianobituaries), architect of the dismantling of the USSR.

[jseal]

1898 ~ Spain declared war on the U.S. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0424.html#article) over Cuba.

1905 ~ Birthday of Robert Penn Warren, Writer, Pulitzer Prize winner, first American Poet Laureate.

1916 ~ The Easter uprising began (http://users.bigpond.net.au/kirwilli/1916/) when some 1,600 Irish nationalists seized several key sites in Dublin.

1942 ~ Birthday of Barbra Streisand, American Singer & Actress.

1967 ~ Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died (http://www.astronautix.com/astros/komarov.htm) in Soyuz 1.

1974 ~ Death of Bud Abbott, Actor & Comedian (Abbott and Costello (http://www.abbottandcostello.net/)).

1986 ~ Death of Wallis Simpson (http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/R/real_lives/wallis.html), Mistress & Wife of The Duke of Windsor.

1990 ~ The Hubble Space Telescope was launched (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/24/newsid_4098000/4098760.stm) by Space Shuttle Discovery.

1996 ~ The main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted to revoke clauses in its charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy Israel.

2004 ~ Death of Estée Lauder (http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/lauder.html), Cosmetics pioneer.

[jseal]

1719 ~ Robinson Crusoe (http://www.deadmentellnotales.com/onlinetexts/robinson/crusoe.shtml) by Daniel Defoe was published.

1792 ~ The French national anthem, “La Marseillaise” was composed.

1900 ~ Birthday of Wolfgang Pauli (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1945/pauli-bio.html), Physicist. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1945.

1906 ~ Birthday of William J. Brennan, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice.

1915 ~ Allied soldiers invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to remove the Ottoman Turkish Empire from WWI.

1917 ~ Birthday of Ella Fitzgerald (http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/), Jazz Singer.

1945 ~ The United Nations was organized (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0425.html#article) in San Francisco, California, by 50 nations.

1953 ~ Francis Crick and James Watson (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/25/newsid_2932000/2932793.stm) published MOLECULAR STRUCTURE OF NUCLEIC ACIDS (http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/watsoncrick.pdf): A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid describing the double helix structure of DNA.

1974 ~ Birthday of Dean Phoenix, Porn Actor.

1980 ~ Tehran hostage rescue mission failed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/25/newsid_2503000/2503899.stm).

Feastdays & Holidays

Australia, New Zealand ~ ANZAC Day (http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.htm)

[jseal]

1711 ~ Birthday of David Hume (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/), Philosopher & Historian.

1785 ~ Birthday of John Audubon, Naturalist & Illustrator.

1865 ~ Death of John Wilkes Booth, Actor & Assassin. Buried in Green Mount Cemetery (http://www.greenmountcemetery.com/greenmount-cemetery-features-mvg.html).

1935 ~ Birthday of Carol Burnett (http://www.carolburnettfan.com/), Singer, Actress & Comedienne.

1937 ~ Planes from the Condor Legion, an adjunct of the Luftwaffe, bombed the Basque town of Guernica (http://www.mala.bc.ca/~lanes/english/hemngway/picasso/guernica.htm) during the Spanish Civil War.

1945 ~ The Battle of Bautzen: The last successful German armoured offensive of WWII.

1986 ~ The world's worst nuclear accident (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0426.html#article) occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union.

1989 ~ Death of Lucille Ball (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/ball_l.html), Actress & Comedienne.

1994 ~ South Africa held its first multiracial elections.

2005 ~ Syria's 29-year military presence in Lebanon ended (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/26/newsid_4918000/4918584.stm).

[jseal]

1521 ~ Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1519magellan.html) was killed in the Philippines.

1667 ~ John Milton sold the copyright of Paradise Lost (http://www.uwm.edu/Library/special/exhibits/clastext/clspg117.htm) for £10.

1791 ~ Birthday of Samuel Morse, inventor of Morse code.

1822 ~ Birthday of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th U.S. President (http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ug18.html).

1891 ~ Birthdayof Sergei Prokofiev, Soviet composer.

1904 ~ The Australian Labor Party became the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson (http://www.alp.org.au/people/watson_john.php).

1945 ~ Soviet and American armies link up (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/27/newsid_3563000/3563723.stm) at the Elbe.

1981 ~ Xerox PARC introduced the first commercially available computer mouse (http://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/xerox/star8010.shtml).

1999 ~ Death of Al Hirt (http://www.spaceagepop.com/hirt.htm), Musician.

2007 ~ Death of Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor.

[jseal]

1789 ~ Mutiny on the HMS Bounty (http://www.lareau.org/bounty.html). Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift.

1906 ~ Birthday of Kurt Gödel (http://kgs.logic.at/index.php?id=23), mathematician.

1937 ~ Birthday of Saddam Hussein (http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9347918), former leader of Iraq.

1941 ~ Birthday of Ann-Margret, Swedish-born actress.

1945 ~ Benito Mussolini (http://www.comandosupremo.com/Mussolini.html) and his mistress Clara Petacci were killed by members of the Italian resistance movement while trying to flee Italy (http://www.custermen.com/ItalyWW2/ILDUCE/Mussolini.htm).

1947 ~ Thor Heyerdahl and five crewmates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0428.html#article).

1952 ~ The U.S. occupation of Japan ended.

1994 ~ C.I.A. official Aldrich Ames (http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/ames/ames.htm) pleaded guilty to selling U.S. secrets to the USSR.

2001 ~ Dennis Tito became the world's first space tourist (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/28/newsid_2501000/2501015.stm).

2003 ~ Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store launched.

[jseal]

1893 ~ Birthday of Harold Urey (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1934/urey-bio.html), American chemist, awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

1945 ~ Start of Operation Manna (http://www.heureka.clara.net/lincolnshire/operation-manna.htm).

1945 ~ American soldiers liberated the Dachau concentration camp (http://www.humanitas-international.org/archive/dachau-liberation/) in Germany.

1951 ~ Death of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-born philosopher.

1958 ~ The Broadway musical, My Fair Lady (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/29/newsid_2500000/2500351.stm), opened in London.

1980 ~ Death of Alfred Hitchcock, director.

1992 ~ Rioting broke out in Los Angeles following the acquittal of four police officers accused of beating Rodney King (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0429.html#article).

1997 ~ The Chemical Weapons Convention (http://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/), a worldwide treaty to ban chemical weapons, went into effect.

1936 ~ Death of John Kenneth Galbraith (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/30/AR2006043000422.html), Economist.

2008 ~ Death of Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who first synthesized LSD.

[jseal]

1877 ~ Birthday of Alice B. Toklas (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/toklas.htm), Muse and Brownie Chef.

1883 ~ Death of Édouard Manet, Impressionist Painter.

1916 ~ Birthday of Claude Shannon, the "Father of Information Theory”.

1938 ~ Birthday of Larry Niven, Science Fiction author.

1945 ~ Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun (http://www.auschwitz.dk/Braun.htm) committed suicide after being married for one day.

1948 ~ The Land Rover was introduced (http://www.allisons.org/ll/4/LandRover/S1/).

1973 ~ President Nixon took responsibility for the Watergate scandal (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/30/newsid_2933000/2933155.stm).

1975 ~ The South Vietnamese government in Saigon fell (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0430.html#article) to Communist forces.

1985 ~ Birthday of Ashley Alexandra Dupré (http://www.myspace.com/ashleydupre), Singer & Call Girl.

1993 ~ CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free (http://tenyears-www.web.cern.ch/tenyears-www/Welcome.html) to everyone.

[jseal]

1840 ~ The Penny Black postage stamp put on sale (http://www.geocities.com/dakshina_kan_pa/art11/penny.htm) in the UK.

1869 ~ The Folies Bergères (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHDtVfSdY0s) opened in Paris. Edouard Manet’s “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (http://www.abcgallery.com/M/manet/manet46.html)” recalls the lot of one of the employees.

1904 ~ Death of Antonín Dvořák, Czech Composer.

1939 ~ Birthday of Judy Collins, American folk singer.

1941 ~ Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kane2/) premiered in New York City.

1944 ~ Birthday of Rita Coolidge (http://ritacoolidge.com/index.shtml), Singer.

1960 ~ Gary Powers was shot down (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0501.html#article) in a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union.

1978 ~ Death of Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer.

1982 ~ RAF aircraft attack two airstrips near Port Stanley (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/1/newsid_2480000/2480155.stm) in the Falkland Islands.

2004 ~ Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined the European Union (http://europa.eu/).

[jseal]

1519 ~ Death of Leonardo da Vinci, inventor, painter.

1729 ~ Birthday of Empress Catherine II (http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/catherine.html) of Russia.

1892 ~ Birthday of "The Red Baron", Manfred von Richthofen (http://www.briggsenterprises.com/bluemax/).

1933 ~ The first modern sighting of the Loch Ness monster (http://www.nessie.co.uk/) was reported.

1945 ~ The Soviet Union announced the capture of Berlin (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0502.html#article).

1952 ~ The De Havilland Comet 1 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/2/newsid_2480000/2480339.stm), the world's first jet airliner, launched the jet age.

1955 ~ Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (http://bookreviews.nabou.com/reviews/catonahottinroof.html).

1972 ~ Death of J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI.

1982 ~ The British submarine HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/2/newsid_2480000/2480241.stm).

1997 ~ The Tony Blair became Prime Minister of the UK.

[jseal]

1469 ~ Birthday of Niccolò Machiavelli (http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/macv.htm), Italian Historian & Political Author.

1844 ~ Birthday of Richard D'Oyly Carte (http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~melbear/richard.htm), English Impresario.

1898 ~ Birthday of Golda Meir (http://www.mscd.edu/~golda/), Prime Minister of Israel.

1937 ~ Gone With the Wind (http://www.gwtw.org/gonewiththewind.html), a novel by Margaret Mitchell, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

1945 ~ Indian forces captured Rangoon, Burma, from the Japanese.

1946 ~ The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (http://www.cnd.org/mirror/nanjing/NMTT.html) began in Tokyo against Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

1971 ~ Anti-war protesters began four days of demonstrations intended to shutting down Washington, D.C. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0503.html#article)

1972 ~ Birthday of Suzi Suzuki, Japanese Porn Actress.

1990 ~ The Latvian parliament met to declare independence (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/3/newsid_2481000/2481337.stm) from the USSR.

2006 ~ Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison.

[jseal]

1825 ~ Birthday of Thomas Henry Huxley (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/thuxley.html), "Darwin's Bulldog", English Scientist.

1852 ~ Birthday of Alice Liddell, for whom Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland.

1929 ~ Birthday of Audrey Hepburn (http://www.audreyhepburn.com/), Film & Stage Actress Extraordinaire.

1942 ~ The Battle of the Coral Sea (http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww2/bfa/coralsea.html), the first naval clash fought with carrier aircraft, began during World War II.

1953 ~ Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for "The Old Man and the Sea".

1970 ~ The Ohio National Guard opened fire on Kent State (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0504.html#article) University students protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia.

1975 ~ Death of Moe Howard, actor, comedian; member of the Three Stooges.

1979 ~ Margaret Thatcher became the UK’s first female Prime Minister (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/4/newsid_2503000/2503195.stm).

1980 ~ Death of Josip Tito (http://www.titoville.com/), President of Yugoslavia.

1982 ~ The HMS Sheffield was sunk by an Exocet missile (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/4/newsid_2504000/2504155.stm) during the Falklands War.

[jseal]

1807 ~ Death of P.D.Q. Bach (http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/4458/pdqbach.html), fictitious Composer.

1818 ~ Birthday of Karl Marx (http://www.marxists.org/), Political Philosopher.

1925 ~ Biology teacher John Scopes was arrested (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm) for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution in Dayton, Tennessee.

1944 ~ Birthday of John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor (Gimli).

1948 ~ Birthday of Bill Ward, British Musician (Black Sabbath).

1961 ~ Alan Shepard (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0505.html#article) became the first American to travel into space.

1967 ~ First all-British satellite 'Ariel 3 (http://www.tbs-satellite.com/tse/online/sat_ariel_3.html)' launched into orbit.

1980 ~ Great Britain’s SAS stormed the Iranian embassy (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/5/newsid_2510000/2510873.stm) in London after a six day siege.

1992 ~ Wolfenstein 3D (http://www.3drealms.com/wolf3d/) was released, the first-ever first-person shooter computer game.

1995 ~ Death of Mikhail Botvinnik, world chess champion.

[jseal]

1856 ~ Birthday of Sigmund Freud (http://www.freudfile.org/), psychiatrist, founder of Psychoanalysis.

1915 ~ Birthday of T.H. White, Writer.

1915 ~ Birthday of Orson Welles, Director.

1931 ~ Birthday of Willie Mays, baseball player.

1937 ~ The German zeppelin Hindenburg (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0506.html#article) caught fire and was destroyed while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey.

1940 ~ John Steinbeck (http://www.steinbeck.org/MainFrame.html) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.

1953 ~ Birthday of Tony Blair (http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/), ex-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1954 ~ Roger Bannister (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/6/newsid_2511000/2511575.stm) became the first man to run the mile in under four minutes.

1994 ~ Queen Elizabeth and French President François Mitterrand (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/6/newsid_2511000/2511653.stm) opened the Chunnel.

1994 ~ Paula Jones (http://www.nndb.com/people/923/000023854/) filed suit against President Clinton, alleging he'd sexually harassed her in 1991.

[jseal]

1825 ~ Death of Antonio Salieri, Composer.

1840 ~ Birthday of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer.

1915 ~ World War I: A German U-boat sank the RMS Lusitania (http://www.lusitania.net/), killing 1,198 people.

1919 ~ Birthday of Eva Peron (http://www.evitaperon.org/), wife of Argentine President Juan Peron.

1933 ~ Birthday of Johnny Unitas (http://www.johnnyunitas.com/), American football star.

1945 ~ General Alfred Jodl signed unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in World War II (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0507.html#article).

1954 ~ The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (http://www.dienbienphu.org/english/index.htm) ended in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).

1975 ~ Birthday of Nicole Sheridan (http://www.nicolesheridan.com/main.php), Porn Actress.

1999 ~ Kosovo War: Three Chinese embassy workers were killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft “mistakenly” bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. President Clinton called the attack a “tragic mistake”.

2007 ~ The tomb of Herod the Great (http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodians/herod_the_great01.html) was discovered.

[jseal]

1794 ~ French chemist Antoine Lavoisier was tried, convicted, and guillotined all on one day in Paris.

1873 ~ Death of John Stuart Mill (http://www.iep.utm.edu/m/milljs.htm), Empiricist Philosopher.

1895 ~ Birthday of Fulton J. Sheen (http://www.allendrake.com/elpasohistory/sheen/index.htm), bishop and television personality.

1968 ~ Birthday of Jamie Summers (http://www.jamiesummersxxx.com/), American porn star.

1973 ~ The Second Battle of Wounded Knee (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0508.html#article) ended.

1978 ~ David Berkowitz pleaded guilty to the ''Son of Sam'' killings.

1984 ~ The Soviet Union announced that it would boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/8/newsid_2518000/2518931.stm).

1985 ~ Death of Theodore Sturgeon (http://www.physics.emory.edu/~weeks/sturgeon/), Science Fiction writer.

1988 ~ Death of Robert Heinlein, Science Fiction writer.

1999 ~ The Citadel (http://www.citadel.edu/), South Carolina's formerly all-male military school, graduated its first female cadet (http://www.nancymace.net/).

[jseal]

1874 ~ Birthday of Howard Carter (http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/carter_howard.html), British archaeologist.

1901 ~ Australia opened its first parliament in Melbourne.

1903 ~ Death of Paul Gauguin (http://www.abcgallery.com/G/gauguin/gauguin.html), French Post-Impressionist painter.

1931 ~ Death of Albert Michelson (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1907/michelson-bio.html), Physicist, awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1949 ~ Birthday of Billy Joel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F-nt7aC_JQ), American musician.

1961 ~ Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles became the first player in baseball history to hit grand slams in consecutive innings.

1972 ~ Israeli commandos liberated a hijacked Sabena airliner (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9/newsid_4326000/4326707.stm) at Lod airport in Tel Aviv.

1974 ~ The U.S. Congress’s House Judiciary Committee opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.

1986 ~ Death of Tenzing Norgay (http://www.tenzing-norgay.com/pages/tenzingnorgaysherpa.html), Mountaineer.

1994 ~ Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's first black president (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0509.html#article).

[jseal]

1818 ~ Death of Paul Revere, engraver, American Patriot.

1838 ~ Birthday of John Wilkes Booth, Actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln.

1857 ~ The Indian Mutiny began (http://www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/1857/1857.html) when the Sepoys revolted against the British Army.

1869 ~ The first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. was completed (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0510.html#article) at Promontory, Utah.

1899 ~ Birthday of Fred Astaire, Singer, Dancer & Actor.

1924 ~ J. Edgar Hoover (http://www.fbi.gov/libref/directors/hoover.htm) became director of the FBI.

1940 ~ British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill formed a new government (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/10/newsid_3497000/3497115.stm).

1960 ~ The USS Triton (http://garrygray.tripod.com/) completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.

1981 ~ François Mitterrand (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FRmitterrand.htm) became the first Socialist President of France..

2002 ~ FBI agent Robert Hanssen was given a life sentence (http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/05/10/hanssen.sentenced/index.html) without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Russia.

[jseal]

1904 ~ Birthday of Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter.

1918 ~ Birthday of Richard Feynman (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1965/feynman-bio.html), American Physicist.

1973 ~ Charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the Pentagon Papers case were dismissed (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0511.html#article).

1981 ~ Death of Bob Marley (http://www.bobmarley.com/), Reggae musician.

1987 ~ The first heart-lung transplant took place in Baltimore, Maryland.

1988 ~ Death of Kim Philby (http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/362/11934_philby.html), Spy.

1997 ~ IBM's Deep Blue chess-playing supercomputer defeated Garry Kasparov (http://www.research.ibm.com/deepblue/games/game6/html/c.2.shtml) in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player.

1998 ~ India announced that it had tested a group of nuclear weapons (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/11/newsid_3664000/3664259.stm).

2001 ~ Death of Douglas Adams (http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/1233876/), Science Fiction author.

2003 ~ Death of Noel Redding, the bass guitarist for The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

[jseal]

1820 ~ Birthday of Florence Nightingale (http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/cms/index.php/florence-introduction), Nurse.

1845 ~ Birthday of Gabriel Fauré, Composer.

1884 ~ Death of Bedrich Smetana (http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/composer/smetana.html), Composer.

1889 ~ Death of John Cadbury, Chocolate Entrepreneur.

1918 ~ Birthday of Julius Rosenberg (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/rosenb/ROS_BJRO.HTM), Spy.

1942 ~ The start of Second Battle of Kharkov: During the battle the Soviets recapture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, then were encircled and destroyed.

1943 ~ Axis forces in North Africa surrendered (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0512.html#article).

1962 ~ Douglas MacArthur delivered his famous "Duty, Honor, Country (http://www.nationalcenter.org/MacArthurFarewell.html)" valedictory speech at West Point.

1971 ~ Mick Jagger married Bianca Perez Morena de Macias (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/12/newsid_2884000/2884833.stm) in St Tropez.

2003 ~ Al Qaeda killed 26 people in the Riyadh compound bombings (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/14/attack/main553938.shtml).

[jseal]

1787 ~ Captain Arthur Phillip left Portsmouth, England with eleven ships of convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia (http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020292b.htm).

1842 ~ Birthday of Sir Arthur Sullivan (http://www.britnett.net/sirarthursullivansociety/aboutus.html) of Gilbert & Sullivan, Composer.

1861 ~ Queen Victoria issued a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognized the breakaway Confederate states as having belligerent rights.

1888 ~ Brazil abolished slavery.

1912 ~ The Royal Flying Corps (http://www.army.mod.uk/4118.aspx) (now the Royal Air Force) was established in the U.K.

1937 ~ Birthday of Roger Zelazny (http://www.fantasy-fan.org/roger_zelazny), Science Fiction author.

1940 ~ Winston Churchill made his "blood, tears, toil and sweat (http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/churchill.htm)" speech to the House of Commons.

1979 ~ Birthday of Lauren Phoenix, Canadian Porn Actress.

1981 ~ Mehmet Ali Agca attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0513.html#article) at St. Peter's Square in Rome.

1995 ~ Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to climb Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/13/newsid_2843000/2843951.stm).

[jseal]

1787 ~ Delegates began gathering in Philadelphia for a convention to draw up the U.S. Constitution (http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/).

1925 ~ Death of H. Rider Haggard, Author.

1948 ~ The independent state of Israel was proclaimed (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0514.html#article).

1955 ~ The USSR and seven other communist bloc countries signed a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/14/newsid_3771000/3771065.stm).

1969 ~ Birthday of Cate Blanchett, Australian actress (Galadriel (http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/g/galadriel.html)).

1973 ~ Skylab 1 (http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/skylab/skylab.htm), the first American space station, was launched.

1978 ~ Death of Robert Menzies (http://www.menziesvirtualmuseum.org.au/), twelfth Prime Minister of Australia.

1987 ~ Death of Rita Hayworth, American actress.

1998 ~ Death of Frank Sinatra (http://www.franksinatra.com/), Singer & Actor.

2004 ~ Piers Morgan was fired as editor of the Daily Mirror for publishing photographs of alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers that were shown to be fake.

[jseal]

1868 ~ The U.S. Senate failed to convict President Andrew Johnson (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0516.html#article) of the articles of impeachment against him.

1943 ~ The Jewish Warsaw ghetto uprising (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/16/newsid_3501000/3501730.stm) ended.

1955 ~ Birthday of Olga Korbut (http://www.olgakorbut.com/), gymnast.

1966 ~ Birthday of Janet Jackson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Jackson#2004.E2.80.932005:_Super_Bowl_XXXVIII_and_Damita_Jo), Super Bowl Half Time Flasher.

1966 ~ The Chinese Cultural Revolution (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/05/19/2003309005) started when The Communist Party issued the "May 16 Notice".

1969 ~ The Soviet space probe Venera 5 (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1969-001A) landed on Venus.

1990 ~ Death of Sammy Davis, Jr., Entertainer.

1990 ~ Death of Jim Henson, Puppeteer.

2002 ~ Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121765/) opened in theaters.

2005 ~ Newsweek magazine retracted its Koran abuse story that started protests in Afghanistan.

[Oldfart]

I seem to remember once before the question was raised, Were Sammy Davis jr and Jim Henson the same person? You never saw them together, makeup can do wonders AND the both "died" on the same day. Jim made funny little people, probably drawn from his Sammy experiences as a funny little person. It's compelling.

[jseal]

1749 ~ Birthday of Edward Jenner (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/edward_jenner.htm), inventor of vaccination.

1838 ~ Death of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French diplomat.

1935 ~ Death of Paul Dukas (http://www.naxos.com/composerinfo/289.htm), French composer.

1936 ~ Birthday of Dennis Hopper, Actor & Director.

1943 ~ The RAF carried out the Dambusters raid (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/17/newsid_3623000/3623223.stm).

1954 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court issued their decision in Brown v. Board of Education (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0517.html#article).

1974 ~ Thirty-three people were killed by terrorist bombings in Ireland (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/17/newsid_4311000/4311459.stm).

1992 ~ Death of Lawrence Welk (http://www.spaceagepop.com/welk.htm), American musician.

1996 ~ President Bill Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in - Megan's Law (http://meganslaw.com/).

2004 ~ Same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts.

[jseal]

1872 ~ Birthday of Bertrand Russell (http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1950/russell-bio.html), Logician & Philosopher, awarded The Nobel Prize in Literature 1950.

1910 ~ The Earth passed through the tail of Halley’s Comet.

1911 ~ Death of Gustav Mahler (http://www.gustav-mahler.org/english/), Austrian Composer.

1919 ~ Birthday of Dame Margot Fonteyn (http://www.ballet.co.uk/old/legend_js_margot_fonteyn.htm), Ballet dancer.

1937 ~ Birthday of Brooks Robinson, Baseball Hall of Famer (http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=121301).

1944 ~ Monte Cassino fell to the Allies (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/18/newsid_3544000/3544047.stm).

1974 ~ India became the sixth nuclear nation (http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/IndiaSmiling.html) by successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon.

1975 ~ Death of Leroy Anderson, American Composer.

1980 ~ Mount St. Helens in Washington state exploded (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0518.html#article), leaving 57 people dead or missing.

2004 ~ Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

[jseal]

1536 ~ Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England was beheaded for adultery.

1795 ~ Birthday of Johns Hopkins (http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/photos/philanthropy/html/hopkins.htm), Philanthropist.

1890 ~ Birthday of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese leader.

1921 ~ The U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act (http://tucnak.fsv.cuni.cz/~calda/Documents/1920s/QuotaAct1918.html), which established national quotas for immigrants.

1925 ~ Birthday of Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge leader.

1935 ~ Death of T. E. Lawrence, English soldier ("Lawrence of Arabia (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0519.html#article)").

1965 ~ Tui Malila, the longest living animal known (http://www.extremescience.com/OldestLivingcreature.htm), died in Tonga at the age of either 188 or 192.

1983 ~ Birthday of Eve Angel (http://www.eveangel.com/preview/aboutme/), Hungarian Porn Actress.

2001 ~ Sun Zhonghua (http://www.indopedia.org/Zhonghua_Sun.html) was killed by People's Republic of China government officials because she refused to be sterilized under the "One child" policy.

2004 ~ PM Blair hit with a purple flour filled condom (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/19/newsid_4516000/4516355.stm).

[jseal]

1806 ~ Birthday of John Stuart Mill (http://utilitarianism.com/jsmill.htm), English philosopher.

1873 ~ Levi Strauss (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Strauss.html) and Jacob Davis received a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.

1883 ~ The eruption of Krakatoa began (http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Krakatau.html), leading ultimately to the volcano's destruction three months later.

1896 ~ Death of Clara Schumann (http://www.geneva.edu/~dksmith/clara/schumann.html), German Pianist and Composer.

1901 ~ Birthday of Max Euwe, Dutch world chess champion.

1927 ~ Charles Lindbergh took off from Long Island, New York, (http://www.charleslindbergh.com/history/paris.asp) on the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving in Paris the next day.

1940 ~ The first prisoners arrive at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

1961 ~ U.S. marshals were sent to restore order in Montgomery, Alabama (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0520.html#article).

2000 ~ Death of Jean Pierre Rampal (http://www.ffaire.com/rampal/), French flutist.

2002 ~ Death of Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist.

[jseal]

1881 ~ Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org/museum/history/brief.asp).

1921 ~ Birthday of Andrei Sakharov (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1975/sakharov-autobio.html), physicist and human rights activist, awarded the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize.

1924 ~ Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing".

1933 ~ Birthday of Maurice André, trumpeter.

1956 ~ The U.S. detonated the first airborne hydrogen bomb (http://www.shundahai.org/US_Atmospheric_Nuclear_Tests_Database.htm#Redwing) over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

1978 ~ Birthday of Briana Banks (http://www.brianabanks.com/main.php), Porn Actress.

1979 ~ Birthday of Jesse Capelli (http://www.jessecapelli.com/t1-nats/?nats=MC4wLjkuOS4wLjAuMC4w), Canadian Porn Actress.

1991 ~ Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/21/newsid_2504000/2504739.stm) by a female suicide bomber.

2000 ~ Death of Sir John Gielgud, British actor.

2004 ~ Stanislav Petrov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov) was awarded the World Citizen Award for averting a potential World War III in 1983.

[jseal]

1813 ~ Birthday of Richard Wagner (http://www.trell.org/wagner/), Composer.

1840 ~ Transporting British convicts to the New South Wales colony was abolished.

1856 ~ In one of the more impressive expressions of American democracy, Congressman Preston Brooks (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000885) of South Carolina beat Senator Charles Sumner (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S001068) with a cane in the hall of the U.S. Senate because of a speech Sumner had made which attacked Southerners (http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Caning_of_Senator_Charles_Sumner.htm) who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas.

1859 ~ Birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (http://www.sherlockholmesonline.org/), Physician & Writer.

1885 ~ Death of Victor Hugo, French author.

1907 ~ Birthday of Sir Laurence Olivier (http://www.laurenceolivier.com/), Actor & Director.

1907 ~ Birthday of Hergé (http://lambiek.net/artists/h/herge.htm), comic book creator.

1947 ~ The Truman Doctrine (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0522.html#article) was enacted.

1969 ~ The lunar module of Apollo 10 separated from the command module and flew to within nine miles of the moon's surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/22/newsid_3034000/3034569.stm).

1972 ~ Ceylon became the republic of Sri Lanka, adopted a new constitution, and joined the British Commonwealth.

[jseal]

1430 ~ Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English.

1701 ~ Captain William Kidd (http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Scotland-History/CaptainKidd.htm) was hanged in London after being convicted of piracy and murder.

1848 ~ Birthday of Otto Lilienthal, aviation pioneer.

1873 ~ Canada's North West Mounted Police (http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/hist/index-eng.htm) force was established.

1906 ~ Death of Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer.

1908 ~ Birthday of John Bardeen, the only man to have been awarded the Nobel prize in Physics twice; 1956 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/bardeen-bio.html) & 1972 (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1972/bardeen-bio.html).

1934 ~ Death of Bonnie and Clyde (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0523.html#article), Outlaws.

1951 ~ The Tibetan government is forced to sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet (http://www.tibet.com/whitepaper/white2.html) with the People's Republic of China.

1951 ~ Birthday of Anatoly Karpov (http://www.chesscorner.com/worldchamps/karpov/karpov.htm), Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion.

1962 ~ Raoul Salan, the leader of the Secret Army Organisation (OAS) was sentenced to life imprisonment (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/23/newsid_4340000/4340769.stm).

[jseal]

1819 ~ Birthday of Queen Victoria (http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensoftheUnitedKingdom/TheHanoverians/Victoria.aspx).

1844 ~ The first telegram was sent by Samuel Morse, from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C., saying "What hath God wrought? (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mmorse&fileName=071/071009/071009page.db)".

1883 ~ The Brooklyn Bridge (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0524.html#article) was opened.

1941 ~ The German battleship Bismarck sank the battlecruiser HMS Hood (http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-atl/batlt-41/bismk-c3.htm) in the North Atlantic, killing all but three crewmen.

1941 ~ Death of Lancelot Holland, British admiral, died in sinking of the HMS Hood.

1941 ~ Birthday of Bob Dylan, Singer and Songwriter.

1969 ~ Death of Willy Ley (http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/L/Ley.html), rocket scientist.

1976 ~ BOAC and Air France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde (http://www.concordesst.com/) service to Washington.

2001 ~ 23 people were killed and hundreds injured at a wedding party in Jerusalem when the floor collapsed.

2001 ~ Democrats gained control of the U.S. Senate for when Sen. Jeffords of Vermont (http://www.npr.org/blogs/politicaljunkie/2009/04/on_this_day_in_2005_vermonts_s.html) declared himself an independent.

[jseal]

1803 ~ Birthday of Ralph Waldo Emerson, a Quotable Individual (http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson/).

1889 ~ Birthday of Igor Sikorsky, developer of the helicopter.

1895 ~ Playwright Oscar Wilde was convicted (http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/oscar_wilde/13.html) of a morals charge in London and sentenced to prison.

1925 ~ John T. Scopes was indicted (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0525.html#article) in Tennessee for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.

1926 ~ Birthday of Miles Davis, Jazz Musician

1929 ~ Birthday of Beverly Sills, Soprano.

1953 ~ The U.S. conducted its only nuclear artillery test (http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Upshotk.html).

1961 ~ President Kennedy set the US goal to put the first man on the moon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/25/newsid_4369000/4369187.stm) by the end of that decade.

1963 ~ The Organisation of African Unity (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/25/newsid_2502000/2502771.stm) was set up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1982 ~ HMS Coventry was sunk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca8vmvP4nxE) during the Falklands War.

[jseal]

1703 ~ Death of Samuel Pepys, English civil servant, famous for his diary (http://www.pepysdiary.com/).

1868 ~ The Senate impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0526.html#article) with his acquittal.

1896 ~ The first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (http://www.mdleasing.com/djia.htm) published

1897 ~ Bram Stoker's novel Dracula (http://www.balletmet.org/Notes/Bloodline.html) went on sale in London.

1907 ~ Birthday of Rachel Carson (http://www.rachelcarson.org/), Environmental writer.

1908 ~ The first commercial oil strike in the Middle East was made at Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Iran.

1928 ~ Birthday of Jack Kevorkian, Physician.

1948 ~ Birthday of Stevie Nicks (http://www.nicksfix.com/), Songwriter.

1951 ~ Birthday of Sally Ride (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ride-sk.html), Astronaut.

2002 ~ The Mars Odyssey found signs of water ice (http://www.daviddarling.info/archive/2002/archiveMay02.html#Marsice2) deposits on the planet Mars.

[jseal]

1877 ~ Birthday of Isadora Duncan (http://www.sfmuseum.org/bio/isadora.html), Dancer.

1923 ~ Birthday of Henry Kissinger (http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1973/kissinger-bio.html), American diplomat, recipient of The Nobel Peace Prize 1973.

1933 ~ The Walt Disney Co. released the cartoon The Three Little Pigs (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/badwolf.htm), with its hit song Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

1934 ~ Birthday of Harlan Ellison, Science Fiction author.

1941 ~ The German battleship Bismarck was sunk.

1963 ~ Jomo Kenyatta led his party, Kenya African Nation Union, to victory in the Kenya’s first general election (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/27/newsid_2496000/2496069.stm).

1964 ~ Death of Jawaharlal Nehru (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0527.html#article), independent India’s first PM.

1976 ~ Birthday of Anita Blonde (http://anitablondonline.com/anita_blond_biography.html), Hungarian Porn Actress.

1995 ~ Actor Christopher Reeve (Superman (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001659/)) was paralyzed when he was thrown from his horse during a jumping event.

1997 ~ The Supreme Court ruled that Paula Jones could pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton while he was in office.

[jseal]

1908 ~ Birthday of Ian Fleming (http://www.ianflemingcentre.com/Default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1), author of James Bond books.

1925 ~ Birthday of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German baritone.

1934 ~ Birthday of The Dionne quintuplets (http://www.quintland.com/), the world's first surviving quintuplets.

1936 ~ Alan Turing submitted On Computable Numbers (http://abelard.org/turpap2/tp2-ie.asp#section-1) for publication.

1964 ~ The Palestine Liberation Organization (http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1948to1967_plo_backgd.php) was formed.

1971 ~ Death of Audie Murphy, American actor & war hero.

1987 ~ Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old West German pilot, landed a private plane in Moscow's Red Square (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,819972,00.html) after evading Soviet air defenses.

1984 ~ President Reagan led a state funeral (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0528.html#article) at Arlington National Cemetery for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam War.

1996 ~ President Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, James & Susan McDougal, and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker, were convicted of fraud.

1998 ~ Pakistan matched India (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/28/newsid_2495000/2495045.stm) with five nuclear test blasts.

[jseal]

1903 ~ Birthday of Bob Hope (http://www.bobhope.com/), British-born Comedian & Actor.

1906 ~ Birthday of T.H. White (http://www2.netdoor.com/~moulder/thwhite/), English author.

1913 ~ Igor Stravinsky's ballet score “The Rite of Spring” premiered in Paris.

1917 ~ Birthday of John Kennedy, U.S. President.

1919 ~ Arthur Eddington's observation of shifted star positions during a solar eclipse confirmed Albert Einstein's theory of relativity (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8061449.stm).

1953 ~ Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0529.html#article) became the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1972 ~ Three Japanese Red Army gunmen opened fire on crowds (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/29/newsid_2542000/2542263.stm) at Lod (now Ben Gurion) International Airport, Israel, killing 26 people and injuring dozens more.

1998 ~ Death of Barry Goldwater, U.S. senator & presidential candidate.

1999 ~ The Discovery Space Shuttle completed the first docking with the International Space Station (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html).

2005 ~ French voters rejected the European Union's proposed constitution (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/29/AR2005052900644.html).

[jseal]

1431 ~ Death of Joan of Arc (http://archive.joan-of-arc.org/joanofarc_short_biography.html), Condemned Heretic (burned at the stake in Rouen, France).

1778 ~ Death of Voltaire, French philosopher & Author.

1912 ~ Death of Wilbur Wright (http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1912-05-31-06-008&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1912-05-31-06), aviation pioneer, the elder of the Wright Brothers.

1926 ~ Birthday of Christine Jorgensen (http://www.transgenderzone.com/features/ChristineJorgensen.htm), transsexual activist.

1942 ~ 1,047 British bombers launched a 90-minute attack (http://www.answers.com/topic/bombing-of-cologne-in-world-war-ii) on Cologne, Germany.

1964 ~ Death of Leó Szilárd, Hungarian-American nuclear physicist.

1982 ~ Baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr played the first of 2,632 consecutive games. His streak ended on September 20, 1998.

1989 ~ The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tiananmen_Square_protests.jpg)" statue was unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.

1997 ~ Child molester Jesse K. Timmendequas was convicted in Trenton, N.J., of raping and strangling a 7-year-old neighbor, Megan Kanka - a case that inspired ''Megan's Law (http://www.megans-law.net/)',' which requires that communities be notified when sex offenders move in.

2001 ~ Former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/30/newsid_2542000/2542475.stm) was convicted of corruption.

[jseal]

1678 ~ The first Godiva Procession, in commemoration of the legendary ride (http://www.godivafestival.co.uk/the-festival/carnival-procession/history-of-the-carnival/).

1819 ~ Birthday of Walt Whitman (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/poet/whitman.html), American Poet.

1889 ~ A dam broke near Johnstown, Pa (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0531.html#article), drowning more than 2,000.

1916 ~ British and German fleets fought the Battle of Jutland (http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/jutland.htm) off Denmark.

1923 ~ Birthday of Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

1927 ~ The Ford Model T (http://www.modelt.ca/background-fs.html) assembly line shut down after a production run of 15,007,003.

1938 ~ Birthday of Peter Yarrow, American folk singer ("Peter, Paul and Mary").

1957 ~ Playwright Arthur Miller was convicted of contempt of Congress (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/31/newsid_4417000/4417523.stm).

1993 ~ Death of Spuds Mackenzie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7t7qT-R_10&feature=related), the original party animal.

1996 ~ Death of Timothy Leary (http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/sixties/leary.html), LSD advocate.

[jseal]

1494 ~ :angel: Friar John Cor (http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/s2.cfm?id=87282004) :angel: recorded the first known batch of scotch whisky.

1801 ~ Birthday of Brigham Young, Mormon Church leader.

1804 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer.

1918 ~ The Battle for Belleau Wood (http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/ct_bw.htm) began, during which came forth the famous phrase "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?" Heroes indeed!

1926 ~ Birthday of Marilyn Monroe (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000054/bio), Actress.

1938 ~ Action Comics issued the first Superman comic (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG02/yeung/actioncomics/cover.html).

1958 ~ Charles de Gaulle (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/1/newsid_2995000/2995283.stm) became premier of France.

1968 ~ Death of Helen Keller (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0601.html#article), American humanitarian.

1967 ~ The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (http://www.beatletracks.com/btsgtppr.html) was released.

1990 ~ President Bush and General Secretary Gorbachev signed a treaty to end chemical weapon production.

[jseal]

1740 ~ Birthday of Marquis de Sade (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/sade/index_1.html), Famous French Pervert.

1835 ~ Start of P.T. Barnum (http://www.ptbarnum.org/)’s circus’ first tour of the U.S.

1840 ~ Birthday of Thomas Hardy, Poet & Novelist.

1897 ~ Mark Twain, responding to rumors that he was dead, was quoted (http://www.twainquotes.com/quotesatoz.html) as saying, "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

1946 ~ Italians voted to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic.

1953 ~ Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0602.html#article) of the United Kingdom.

1966 ~ First U.S. Lunar soft landing (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/2/newsid_4081000/4081677.stm), by Surveyor 1.

1990 ~ Death of Rex Harrison, English actor.

2003 ~ ESA’s Mars Express (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/index.html) was launched.

2005 ~ Death of Chloe Jones (http://business.avn.com/articles/21522.html), Model & Porn Actress.

[jseal]

1875 ~ Death of Georges Bizet, French composer.

1888 ~ The poem Casey at the Bat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PgfWd3Fyuo&feature=related), by Ernest Thayer, was published in the SF Examiner.

1899 ~ Death of Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer.

1924 ~ Death of Franz Kafka (http://www.kafka-franz.com/kafka-Biography.htm), Austrian novelist.

1926 ~ Birthday of Allen Ginsberg (http://www.allenginsberg.org/), American poet.

1937 ~ The Duke of Windsor (http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9542031) married American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson (http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19370104,00.html), for whom he had abdicated the British throne.

1965 ~ Edward White became the first American astronaut to walk in space (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0603.html#article).

1969 ~ The science fiction television series Star Trek aired its final new episode (http://www.tv.com/star-trek/turnabout-intruder/episode/24962/summary.html?tag=episodes;title;0) after being canceled by NBC.

1982 ~ The Israeli ambassador to Britain was shot (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/3/newsid_2496000/2496109.stm) on a London street.

1989 ~ Death of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian Shi'ite leader.

[jseal]

1798 ~ Death of Giacomo Casanova (http://www.lifeinitaly.com/heroes-villains/giacomo-casanova.asp), Italian Lover.

1928 ~ Birthday of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, German-American Sex Therapist.

1940 ~ The Allies completed the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/4/newsid_3500000/3500865.stm), France.

1944 ~ Birthday of Michelle Phillips, American Singer (The Mamas & the Papas (http://www.classicbands.com/mamas.html)).

1975 ~ Birthday of Angelina Jolie, American Actress.

1984 ~ The album ''Born in the U.S.A. (http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/BornInTheUSA.html)'' by Bruce Springsteen was released.

1919 ~ Birthday of Jenaveve Jolie (http://www.clubjenaveve.com/tour1.html), Mexican-American Porn Actress .

1986 ~ Jonathan Pollard pleaded guilty to espionage (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/dece_pollard.html) for selling top secret U.S. military intelligence to Israel.

1989 ~ The Tiananmen Square Massacre (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0604.html#article).

1998 ~ Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

[jseal]

1723 ~ Birthday of Adam Smith (http://www.econlib.org/Library/Enc/bios/Smith.html), Scottish Economist.

1883 ~ Birthday of John Keynes (http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/keynes.htm), English Economist.

1944 ~ The first of the three Axis capitals, Rome, was liberated.

1947 ~ At a speech at Harvard University, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall called for economic aid to Europe.

1963 ~ UK Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, resigned over a sex scandal (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/5/newsid_2660000/2660375.stm).

1967 ~ Israel began the “Six Day War (http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1948to1967_sixday_backgd.php)” with a pre-emptive attack on Egypt.

1968 ~ Sen. Robert Kennedy was shot (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0605.html#article) in Los Angeles, CA.

1975 ~ Death of Paul Keres (http://www.phileo.demon.co.uk/uk_files.htm#PK), Estonian chess player.

1977 ~ The first practical personal computer, the Apple II (http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/06/dayintech_0605), went on sale.

2004 ~ Death of Ronald Reagan.

[jseal]

1832 ~ Death of Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher.

1844 ~ The Young Men's Christian Association (http://www.ymca.net/about_the_ymca/history_of_the_ymca.html) (YMCA) was founded in London.

1868 ~ Birthday of Robert Falcon Scott, English Explorer.

1901 ~ Birthday of Sukarno, first President of Indonesia.

1944 ~ D-Day began (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0606.html#article) with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France.

1983 ~ Birthday of Gianna Michaels (http://www.giannamichaelsxxx.com/gianna_main.html), Porn Actress.

1984 ~ Indian troops stormed the Golden Temple (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/6/newsid_2499000/2499341.stm) in Amritsar.

1985 ~ Authorities in Brazil exhumed a body later identified as that of Dr. Josef Mengele (http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blmengele.htm), the Nazi doctor who conducted medical experiments on inmates at Auschwitz.

2002 ~ A Near Earth Object (NEO), estimated at 10 metres diameter, exploded over the Mediterranean Sea. (http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=8834) The explosion is estimated to have been roughly equal to that used at Nagasaki.

2002 ~ The Wye Oak (http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/eastern/wyeoak.html), Maryland's honorary state tree, was destroyed in a thunderstorm.

[jseal]

1099 ~ Beginning of Siege of Jerusalem (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/fulk2.html).

1848 ~ Birthday of Paul Gauguin (http://www.abcgallery.com/G/gauguin/gauguin.html), French Post-Impressionist Painter.

1897 ~ Birthday of George Szell, Hungarian Conductor.

1917 ~ Birthday of Dean Martin, Singer & Actor.

1929 ~ Vatican City (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0607.html#article) became a sovereign state.

1942 ~ The U.S. beat the Japanese in the Battle of Midway (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/7/newsid_3499000/3499378.stm).

1954 ~ Death of Alan Turing (http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/), Mathematician, Computer Scientist.

1981 ~ The Israeli Air Force destroyed Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor (http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/facility/osiraq.htm).

2000 ~ U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered the breakup of Microsoft. (http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f3800/msjudgex.htm)

2008 ~ Death of Jim McKay, Sports Announcer.

[jseal]

632 ~ Death of Muhammad (http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/timeline_flash.shtml), founder of Islam.

1810 ~ Birthday of Robert Schumann, Composer.

1874 ~ Death of Cochise, Apache leader.

1887 ~ Herman Hollerith (http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/hollerith.html) received a patent for his punch card calculator.

1916 ~ Birthday of Professor Francis Harry Compton Crick (http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1962/crick-bio.html), OM FRS, most noted for being one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule. Awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1962.

1910 ~ Death of George Mallory (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/lost/), English mountain climber.

1949 ~ Nineteen Eighty-Four (http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/site/work/summaries/1984.html) by George Orwell was published.

1968 ~ James Earl Ray was arrested in London (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0608.html#article) in connection with the murder of Martin Luther King.

1982 ~ An Argentine air attack sank the Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram supply ships (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/8/newsid_2500000/2500607.stm) in the Falklands.

1998 ~ Charlton Heston assumed the presidency of the National Rifle Association.

[jseal]

1870 ~ Death of Charles Dickens, English author.

1891 ~ Birthday of Cole Porter (http://www.coleporter.org/), Composer.

1934 ~ Donald Duck debuted (http://disney.go.com/vault/archives/characterstandard/donald/debut/debut.html) in The Wise Little Hen.

1954 ~ Beginning of the end of the McCarthy Era (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0609.html#article).

1959 ~ The USS George Washington (http://navysite.de/ssbn/ssbn598.htm) launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles ("Boomers").

1963 ~ Birthday of Johnny Depp, Actor (Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean++).

1970 ~ Assassination attempt on King Hussein (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/9/newsid_4461000/4461735.stm) of Jordan.

1973 ~ Secretariat won the Triple Crown.

1983 ~ Birthday of Alektra Blue (http://www.clubalektrablue.com/main.php?), Porn Actress.

2004 ~ The FCC (http://www.fcc.gov/) agreed to a $1.75 million settlement with Clear Channel (http://www.clearchannel.com/) to resolve indecency complaints against Howard Stern (http://www.howardstern.com/) and other radio personalities.

[jseal]

1829 ~ First Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge (http://www.theboatrace.org/article/introduction/history).

1846 ~ The California Republic declared independence from Mexico.

1915 ~ Birthday of Saul Bellow, Canadian-born American author, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1921 ~ Birthday of Prince Philip (http://www.royal.gov.uk/OutPut/Page5551.asp), Duke of Edinburgh.

1922 ~ Birthday of Judy Garland (http://www.jgdb.com/), Singer & Actress.

1967 ~ End of the Six-Day War (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0610.html#article).

1971 ~ Death of Michael Rennie, English actor (Klaatu in the classic science fiction film "The Day the Earth Stood Still").

1977 ~ The Apple II personal computer (http://oldcomputers.net/byteappleII.html) started shipping.

1999 ~ Yugoslav troops departed Kosovo (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/10/newsid_4482000/4482403.stm), prompting NATO to suspend its air war.

2004 ~ Death of Ray Charles (http://www.raycharles.com), Singer & Musician.

[Neige]

2009 - Nova Scotia elects its first New Democratic Party government!!!!!!!!!! (And it's a majority government, at that!!!!!!!!!) :thumbs:

[jseal]

1892 ~ The Limelight Department, one of the world's first film studios, opened in Melbourne.

1937 ~ Death of R. J. Mitchell, British aircraft designer, developer of the Spitfire (http://www.deltaweb.co.uk/spitfire/).

1939 ~ Birthday of Jackie Stewart (http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/stew_bio.htm), Race car driver.

1942 ~ The U.S. and the USSR signed a lend lease agreement (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0611.html#article) to aid the Soviet war effort in WWII.

1963 ~ Alabama Governor George Wallace stood at the door of Foster Auditorium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_in_the_Schoolhouse_Door) at the University of Alabama in an attempt to prevent two black students from attending that school.

1963 ~ Death of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc (http://www.quangduc.com/) by self-imolation in Saigon (http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=view&id=170&Itemid=115&bandwidth=high) to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.

1979 ~ Death of John Wayne, Actor.

1987 ~ Margaret Thatcher became the first British PM in 160 years to win a third consecutive term in office (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/11/newsid_2511000/2511095.stm).

2001 ~ Death of Timothy McVeigh, terrorist (executed).

2004 ~ Cassini-Huygens (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm) made its closest flyby of Phoebe.

[jseal]

1924 ~ Birthday of George Bush senior, 41st President of the U.S.

1942 ~ Anne Frank received a diary for her thirteenth birthday.

1963 ~ Death of Medgar Evers (http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/evers_medgar/), American civil rights activist.

1967 ~ In Loving v. Virginia (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=388&invol=1), the U.S. Supreme Court declared all state laws which prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional.

1975 ~ Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was convicted (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/12/newsid_2511000/2511691.stm) on electoral corruption charges.

1979 ~ Bryan Allen flew the man powered Gossamer Albatross (http://www.donaldmonroe.com/gossamer_albatross_photography) across the English Channel.

1987 ~ Ronald Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0612.html#article).

1991 ~ Boris Yeltsin (http://youtube.com/watch?v=t98Eq0c9Gus&feature=user) was elected the first President of the Russian Federation.

1994 ~ Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered outside her home in Los Angeles, California.

2003 ~ Death of Gregory Peck (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/peck_g.html), Actor.

[jseal]

1865 ~ Birthday of William Butler Yeats (http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1923/yeats-bio.html), Poet, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1923.

1944 ~ Germany launched the first V1 “Buzz Bomb (http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/v1.html)” attack on England.

1966 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0613.html#article) them (Miranda v. Arizona).

1967 ~ Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall (http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/marshall.htm) was nominated as the first black Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1970 ~ "The Long and Winding Road" became the Beatles' last #1 song.

1977 ~ Birthday of Alaura Eden, Porn Actress

1985 ~ Birthday of Lela Star (http://www.lelastar.com/t1/revscf=lsenter/home.html), Porn Actress.

1986 ~ Death of Benny Goodman (http://www.bennygoodman.com/), the ''King of Swing,'.

1995 ~ French president Jacques Chirac announced the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia.

2005 ~ A jury acquitted Michael Jackson (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/13/newsid_4939000/4939536.stm) of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor at his Neverland ranch.

[jseal]

1671 ~ Birthday of Tomaso Albinoni (http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxalb.html), Italian Composer.

1775 ~ The U.S. Army (http://www.army.mil/) was founded.

1909 ~ Birthday of Burl Ives (http://www.burlives.com/burlmain.htm), American Folk Singer, Author & Actor.

1919 ~ John Alcock and Arthur Brown (http://www.aviation-history.com/airmen/alcock.htm) depart St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.

1940 ~ WWII: German troops enter Paris (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/14/newsid_4485000/4485727.stm).

1942 ~ Anne Frank began her diary.

1952 ~ The keel was laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus (http://www.ussnautilus.org/history.html).

1982 ~ Argentine forces in the capital Port Stanley unconditionally surrender to British forces, bringing the Falklands War to an end (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0614.html#article).

1991 ~ Death of Dame Peggy Ashcroft, British actress.

1994 ~ Death of Henry Mancini, American composer.

[jseal]

1215 ~ King John put his seal to the Magna Carta at Runnymede (http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/magna.html), England.

1836 ~ Arkansas became the 25th state.

1844 ~ Charles Goodyear received a patent for a process to strengthen rubber.

1843 ~ Birthday of Edvard Grieg, Norwegian Composer.

1904 ~ More than 1,000 people died in a fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0615.html#article).

1916 ~ President Wilson signed a bill granting a federal charter (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode36/usc_sup_01_36_06_II_08_B_10_309.html) to the Boy Scouts of America, stating that their purpose is to:

"... promote, through organization, and cooperation with other agencies, the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others, to train them in scoutcraft, and to teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues ..."

1978 ~ King Hussein of Jordan married Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor (http://www.nooralhusseinfoundation.org/).

1995 ~ Death of John Vincent Atanasoff (http://www.angelfire.com/ma/kilenm/2k03ppl.html), computer pioneer.

1980 ~ Birthday Mary Carey (http://marycareyproductions.com/home.php), Candidate for Governor of California in 2003 & Porn Actress.

1996 ~ In Manchester, U.K., a terrorist bomb injured over 200 people (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/15/newsid_2527000/2527009.stm).

[jseal]

1829 ~ Birthday of Geronimo (http://www.indigenouspeople.net/geronimo.htm), Apache Warrior & Leader.

1858 ~ Abraham Lincoln gave his “House Divided (http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/house.htm)” speach in Springfield, Illinois. A brilliant piece of argument!

1890 ~ Birthday of Stan Laurel, Comedian.

1903 ~ The Ford Motor Company was incorporated.

1912 ~ Birthday of Enoch Powell, British politician.

1933 ~ Start of President Roosevelt’s New Deal (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0616.html#article).

1938 ~ Birthday of Joyce Carol Oates (http://jco.usfca.edu/), novelist.

1963 ~ Valentina Tereshkova (http://www.gale.com/free_resources/whm/bio/tereshkova_v.htm) became the first woman in space.

1976 ~ Riots broke out in the black South African township of Soweto (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/16/newsid_2514000/2514467.stm).

1977 ~ Death of Wernher von Braun (http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/bio.html), rocket scientist.

[jseal]

1631 ~ Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth. Her husband, Shah Jahan I, build her a tomb, the Taj Mahal (http://judypat.com/india/tajmahal.htm).

1885 ~ The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York.

1898 ~ Birthday of M.C. Escher (http://www.mcescher.com/), Dutch Artist.

1928 ~ Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0617.html#article).

1929 ~ Birthday of Tigran Petrosian, Georgian chess player.

1945 ~ Birthday of Eddy Merckx (http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/8230.0.html), Belgian Cycling Champion.

1818 ~ Birthday of Ken Livingstone, English politician (first Mayor of London).

1961 ~ Rudolf Nureyev (http://www.nureyev.org/index.php) defected at Le Bourget airport in Paris.

1974 ~ The Irish Republican Army bombed the UK’s House of Parliament (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/17/newsid_2514000/2514827.stm).

1996 ~ Death of Thomas Kuhn (http://tech.mit.edu/V116/N28/kuhn.28n.html), Philosopher of science (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (http://des.emory.edu/mfp/Kuhn.html)).

[jseal]

1178 ~ Five Canterbury monks saw what was possibly the Giordano Bruno crater being formed (http://www.weblore.com/richard/june_18_1178_impact_crater.htm) on the Moon.

1815 ~ British and Prussian troops defeated the French under Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/waterloo.htm) in Belgium.

1928 ~ Death of Roald Amundsen, Explorer, first to the South Pole.

1942 ~ Birthday of Paul McCartney, Singer & Songwriter.

1942 ~ Birthday of Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.

1948 ~ The UN Commission on Human Rights adopted its International Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0618.html#article).

1967 ~ Jimi Hendrix burned his guitar (http://members.tripod.com/Yelnats_Yarkled/Monterey/page7.html) on stage at the Monterey Pop Festival.

1974 ~ Death of Georgy Zhukov (http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=2708&p=02.05.2005), Marshal of the Soviet Union.

1979 ~ Presidents Carter and Brezhnev signed the SALT II (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/18/newsid_4508000/4508409.stm) strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.

1983 ~ Sally Ride became the first American woman in space (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ride-sk.html).

[jseal]

1623 ~ Birthday of Blaise Pascal, Mathematician.

1865 ~ More two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas were finally informed of their freedom (http://www.juneteenth.com/).

1896 ~ Birthday of Wallis Warfield, the future Duchess of Windsor.

1934 ~ The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/federalcommu/federalcommu.htm) (FCC) was established.

1937 ~ Death of J.M. Barrie, Author, creator of the character Peter Pan.

1944 ~ First day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_the_philippine_sea.htm).

1945 ~ Birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1991/kyi-bio.html), Politician, recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.

1953 ~ Death of Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, convicted spies (http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/atom/atom.htm).

1964 ~ The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0619.html#article) after surviving a filibuster in the Senate.

1982 ~ An Italian banker, Roberto Calvi, was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/19/newsid_3092000/3092625.stm) in London.

[jseal]

1819 ~ Birthday of Jacques Offenbach, Composer.

1837 ~ Queen Victoria (http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensoftheUnitedKingdom/TheHanoverians/Victoria.aspx) ascended to the British throne.

1877 ~ Alexander Graham Bell installed the first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario.

1899 ~ Birthday of Jean Moulin (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWmoulin.htm), leader of the French Resistance in WW II.

1909 ~ Birthday of Errol Flynn, Actor.

1942 ~ Birthday of Brian Wilson, one of The Beach Boys (http://www.thebeachboys.com/home.aspx).

1948 ~ The Ed Sullivan Show (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/E/htmlE/edsullivans/edsullivans.htm), (née Toast of the Town) debuted.

1967 ~ Muhammad Ali was convicted (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0620.html#article) of violating Selective Service laws.

1995 ~ Shell Oil abandoned plans to dump (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/20/newsid_4509000/4509527.stm) its Brent Spar oil rig at sea.

2002 ~ Death of Erwin Chargaff (http://post.queensu.ca/~forsdyke/bioinfo1.htm), biochemist.

[jseal]

1527 ~ Death of Niccolò Machiavelli (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/), Italian Historian & Political Author.

1905 ~ Birthday of Jean-Paul Sartre (http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1964/sartre-bio.html), Philosopher & Playwright, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1964.

1908 ~ Death of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian Composer.

1919 ~ Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttled the German fleet (http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/scuttle.html) in Scapa Flow, Orkney.

1945 ~ The battle for Okinawa ended (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/21/newsid_3564000/3564489.stm); 12,520 Americans and 110,000 Japanese were killed in the 83-day campaign.

1964 ~ Three civil rights workers disappeared in Philadelphia, Miss. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0621.html#article) Their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later.

1970 ~ Birthday of Sindee Coxx, Porn Actress.

1989 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that flag burning is protected speech (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=491&page=397) under the Constitution.

2004 ~ SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded space plane to achieve spaceflight (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/SS1_touchdown_040621.html).

2005 ~ Death of Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila.

[jseal]

1856 ~ Birthday of H. Rider Haggard (http://kirjasto.sci.fi/haggard.htm), Author.

1874 ~ Death of Howard Staunton, English chess master, and inspiration for the standard for tournament chess pieces (http://www.houseofstaunton.com/history.html).

1940 ~ WWII: France forced to sign armistice with Germany (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0622.html#article).

1941 ~ WWII: Germany invaded the USSR (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/22/newsid_3526000/3526691.stm).

1969 ~ Death of Judy Garland, Singer & Actress.

1976 ~ Canadian House of Commons voted to abolish capital punishment.

1986 ~ Diego Maradona scored both the Hand of God goal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbbsytHDp2o) and the Goal of the Century (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk-kXwjASEE&feature=related) against England during the FIFA World Cup in Mexico City.

1987 ~ Death of Fred Astaire, Dancer & Actor.

1978 ~ Discovery of the first satellite of Pluto, Charon (http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Plu_Charon).

2002 ~ Death of Ann Landers (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Landers.html), Columnist.

[jseal]

1894 ~ Birthday of Alfred Kinsey (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kinsey/), Sexologist.

1912 ~ Birthday of Alan Turing (http://www.alanturing.net/), Mathematician.

1927 ~ Birthday of Bob Fosse, Choreographer.

1940 ~ Adolf Hitler toured Paris (http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/paris.htm) in now occupied France.

1943 ~ Birthday of Vint Cerf, co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and one of the “Fathers of the Internet".

1947 ~ President Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act overridden (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0623.html#article).

1956 ~ Gamal Abdel Nasser elected president of Egypt.

1985 ~ An Air India Boeing 747 was blown apart off the coast of Ireland (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/23/newsid_2518000/2518857.stm) by Sikh extremists.

1993 ~ Lorena Bobbitt sexually mutilated her husband (http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/sexual_assault/severed_penis/index.html) after he allegedly raped her.

1995 ~ Death of Jonas Salk (http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/salk.html), developer of the Salk polio vaccine.

[jseal]

1314 ~ Scotland regained its independence in the Battle of Bannockburn (http://www.braveheart.co.uk/macbrave/history/bruce/banseq.htm), when Scotland's King Robert I defeated the English.

1519 ~ Death of Lucrezia Borgia, duchess of Ferrara.

1896 ~ Birthday of Jack Dempsey (http://www.cmgww.com/sports/dempsey/biography.htm), Heavyweight boxer.

1910 ~ Japan invaded Korea (http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/webcourse/key_points/kp_11.htm).

1915 ~ Birthday of Fred Hoyle (http://www.hoyle.org.uk/index.html), cosmologist and science fiction author.

1948 ~ Communist forces cut off all land and water routes between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the U.S. to organize the Berlin Airlift (http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/berlin_airlift/large/docs.php).

1947 ~ Birthday of Mick Fleetwood, Musician (Fleetwood Mac (http://www.fleetwoodmac.com/)).

1957 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.

1985 ~ STS-51-G Discovery completed its mission, with Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as the Payload Specialist.

1997 ~ The Roswell Incident debunked (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0624.html#article) by the USAF.

[jseal]

1876 ~ Col. George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry were wiped out in the Battle of Little Big Horn (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0625.html#article).

1894 ~ Birthday of Hermann Oberth (http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/SPACEFLIGHT/oberth/SP2.htm), Physicist & one of the founding fathers of Rocketry and Astronautics.

1903 ~ Birthday of George Orwell, Writer.

1950 ~ The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/25/newsid_2699000/2699641.stm).

1975 ~ Birthday of Vladimir Kramnik (http://www.kramnik.com/), Russian chess player.

1991 ~ Croatia (http://www.atlapedia.com/online/countries/croatia.htm) and Slovenia (http://www.atlapedia.com/online/countries/slovenia.htm) declared their independence from Yugoslavia.

1993 ~ Kim Campbell (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/primeministers/h4-3481-e.html) became the first female Prime Minister of Canada.

1997 ~ An unmanned cargo ship crashed into Russia's Mir space station, knocking out half of the station's power and rupturing a pressurized laboratory.

1997 ~ Death of Jacques-Yves Cousteau (http://www.nndb.com/people/250/000085992/), French Explorer, Scientist & Inventor.

1998 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 unconstitutional.

[jseal]

1824 ~ Birthday of Lord Kelvin (http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/Physics3/Kelvin_online/), Physicist. In 1900, he gave a lecture titled Nineteenth-Century Clouds over the Dynamical Theory of Heat and Light (http://www.iafe.uba.ar/e2e/phys230/history/clouds.html). Talk about prescient!

1898 ~ Birthday of Willy Messerschmitt (http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/bf109/Bf109WMBio.html), Aircraft Designer.

1933 ~ Birthday of Claudio Abbado, Conductor.

1934 ~ Initial flight of the first practical helicopter (http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/reitsch.html), the Focke-Wulf 61. You must scroll down a bit through the Hanna Reitsch page to get to the FW-61 entry, but her write up of her experience it is an interesting read.

1959 ~ Queen Elizabeth and President Eisenhower (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/26/newsid_2988000/2988148.stm) inaugurated the St Lawrence Seaway.

1963 ~ President Kennedy visited West Berlin (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0626.html#article), where he offered American solidarity to the citizens of West Germany: "Ich bin ein Berliner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH6nQhss4Yc)".

1964 ~ The Beatles released the album A Hard Day's Night (http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=39).

1997 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Communications Decency Act violated the First Amendment, and thus unconstitutional.

2003 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas (http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-102.ZS.html).

2007 ~ Liz Claiborne, Belgian born fashion designer.

[jseal]

1829 ~ Death of James Smithson, English scientist and philanthropist.

1838 ~ Birthday of Paul von Mauser, Weapon Designer.

1880 ~ Birthday of Helen Keller (http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_keller.hcsp), spokeswoman for the Deaf and Blind.

1905 ~ Mutiny on the battleship Potemkin (http://flot.sevastopol.info/eng/ship/predreadnoughts/potemkin.htm).

1950 ~ The U.S. decided to send armed forces to fight in the Korean War (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0627.html#article).

1954 ~ The world's first nuclear power station went on line (http://bellona.no/bellona.org/english_import_area/international/russia/npps/24072) in Obninsk, near Moscow.

1957 ~ First British Smoking Causes Lung Cancer (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/27/newsid_2956000/2956618.stm) report released.

1967 ~ The world's first ATM installed in Enfield (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6230194.stm), London.

1984 ~ Pierre Trudeau (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008141) won the Albert Einstein Peace Prize.

2001 ~ Death of Jack Lemmon, Actor & Film Director.

[jseal]

1577 ~ Birthday of Peter Paul Rubens (http://www.peterpaulrubens.org/), Flemish Baroque Painter.

1712 ~ Birthday of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/ROUSSEAU.HTM), Franco-Swiss Philosopher.

1880 ~ The Australian bushranger Ned Kelly was captured (http://www.glenrowan1880.com/) at Glenrowan.

1914 ~ Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophia were killed by a Serbian nationalist, the casus belli of World War I.

1919 ~ The Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending World War I (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0628.html#article).

1926 ~ Birthday of Mel Brooks, Filmmaker.

1992 ~ Death of Mikhail Tal (http://www.geocities.com/lifemasteraj/m_tal.html), eighth World Chess Champion.

1996 ~ The Citadel voted to admit women, ending a 153-year-old men-only policy at the South Carolina military school.

2001 ~ Death of Mortimer Adler, Philosopher & co-founder of Great Books of the Western World (http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/12/how-now-great-books/).

2004 ~ The U.S.-led coalition transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/28/newsid_4517000/4517865.stm).

[jseal]

1861 ~ Death of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Poet. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways… (http://www.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/literature/elizabethbarrettbrowning/poems/sonnetsfromtheportuguese/howdoilovetheeletmecounttheways.html)”

1895 ~ Death of Thomas Henry Huxley, Scientist. "Darwin's Bulldog (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/02/2/l_022_09.html)"

1922 ~ France granted 1 km² at Vimy Ridge (http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=memorials/ww1mem/vimy/vmemory&CFID=16246983&CFTOKEN=55502061) "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes".

1963 ~ Birthday of Anne-Sophie Mutter, Violinist.

1971 ~ Birthday of Kaitlyn Ashley, Porn Actress.

1974 ~ Isabel Peron is sworn in as first female president for Argentina (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/29/newsid_2857000/2857121.stm).

1995 ~ U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with Russian space station Mir (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0629.html#article).

1995 ~ The Sampoong Department Store collapse (http://www.hazardcards.com/card.php?id=8) disaster.

2003 ~ Death of Katharine Hepburn, Actress.

2007 ~ Apple released the iPhone (http://www.apple.com/iphone/).

[jseal]

1905 ~ During his annus mirabilis, Albert Einstein published the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies (http://lorentz.phl.jhu.edu/AnnusMirabilis/AeReserveArticles/specrel.pdf) (PDF) in which he introduced special relativity.

That must have been an exciting period to be a physicist!

1908 ~ Tunguska impact (http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/) event occurred in Siberia.

1934 ~ Night of the Long Knives (http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/roehm.htm), Adolf Hitler's violent purge of his political rivals in Germany took place.

1936 ~ ''Gone with the Wind'' by Margaret Mitchell published.

1943 ~ Birthday of Florence Ballard, American Singer (The Supremes (http://www.history-of-rock.com/supremes.htm)).

1971 ~ The crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft died (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/30/newsid_2523000/2523365.stm) when the landing capsule depressurized after separating from the main craft.

1990 ~ East and West Germany merged their economies.

1997 ~ The UK returns sovereignty over Hong Kong (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0630.html#article) to the PRC.

2003 ~ Death of Buddy Hackett, American comic.

2007 ~ Death of Ingmar Bergman (http://www.ingmarbergman.com/), Swedish Film-maker.

[jseal]

1646 ~ Birthday of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (http://www.friesian.com/leibniz.htm), German Mathematician & Philosopher.

1863 ~ The American Civil War battle of Gettysburg began (http://www.civilwarhome.com/gettyscampaign.htm).

1906 ~ Birthday of Estée Lauder, Cosmetics Pioneer.

1916 ~ On the first day of the Battle of the Somme (http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/somme.htm) 18,000 British soldiers were killed, and 40,000 wounded.

1925 ~ Death of Erik Satie, French Composer.

1963 ~ The British Government admitted that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/dece_philby.html).

1980 ~ "O Canada (http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10175)" became the national anthem of Canada.

2000 ~ Death of Walter Matthau (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000527/), Actor.

2004 ~ Cassini-Huygens was successfully inserted into orbit (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_4640000/4640793.stm) around Saturn.

2004 ~ Death of Marlon Brando, Actor.

[jseal]

1906 ~ Birthday of Hans Bethe (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1967/bethe-bio.html), German-born Physicist., awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1967.

1937 ~ Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0702.html#article) over the Pacific Ocean.

1947 ~ Something the Army Air Force later said was a weather balloon crashed near Roswell, N.M. (http://www.coverups.com/roswell/index.htm) Eyewitness accounts gave rise to speculation it might have been an alien spacecraft.

1961 ~ Death of Ernest Hemingway (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1954/hemingway-bio.html), Author, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1954.

1964 ~ President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/2/newsid_3787000/3787809.stm).

1966 ~ France began nuclear weapons testing at Moruroa in the South Pacific.

1982 ~ Larry Walters attached 45 helium balloons to a lawn chair (http://www.snopes.com/travel/airline/walters.asp) and ascended into history and to a height of 11,000 feet.

1997 ~ Death of Jimmy Stewart, Actor.

1999 ~ Death of Mario Puzo, Author (The Godfather).

2007 ~ Death of Beverly Sills (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/arts/music/03sills.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin), Opera Soprano.

[scotzoidman]

1937 ~ Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0702.html#article) over the Pacific Ocean.

1947 ~ Something the Army Air Force later said was a weather balloon crashed near Roswell, N.M. (http://www.coverups.com/roswell/index.htm) Eyewitness accounts gave rise to speculation it might have been an alien spacecraft.

Coincidence? I don't think so...pass the tinfoil hats, please...

:wink:

[jseal]

1863 ~ The final day of the battle of Gettysburg (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0703.html#article).

1883 ~ Birthday of Franz Kafka, Czech-born German author.

1935 ~ Death of André Citroën (http://www.citroenet.org.uk/), Automobile Pioneer.

1938 ~ World speed record, 126 mph, set for a steam railway locomotive, by the Mallard (http://www.wandleys.demon.co.uk/mallard.htm).

1962 ~ Algeria became independent (http://www.algeria.com/) after 132 years of French rule.

1969 ~ Death of Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones).

1969 ~ A test flight of the Soviet N1 rocket ended in a spectactular failure (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/239925/russian_moon_rocket_disaster/).

1971 ~ Death of Jim Morrison (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/3/newsid_3776000/3776701.stm), lead singer of The Doors.

1986 ~ Death of Rudy Vallee, Singer, Actor, Bandleader, & Entertainer.

1988 ~ USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/flight801/stories/july88crash.htm) over the Persian Gulf.

[jseal]

1776 ~ The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence (http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration.html).

1845 ~ Henry David Thoreau began a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond near Concord, Mass.

1855 ~ The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems Leaves of Grass (http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/logr/log_029.html) was published.

1885 ~ Birthday of Louis B. Mayer, Movie Executive (one of the M’s in MGM).

1934 ~ Death of Marie Curie (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-bio.html), Polish-born scientist, recipient of he Nobel Prize in Physics 1903.

1971 ~ Birthday of Koko, the sign-language gorilla (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/koko/).

1976 ~ The U.S. celebrated its Bicentennial (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0704.html#article).

1976 ~ Israeli commandos rescued 100 hostages at Entebbe (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/4/newsid_2786000/2786967.stm) Airport, Uganda.

1982 ~ Birthday of Hannah Harper (http://www.xxxhannahharper.com/), Porn Actress.

2006 ~ North Korea tested four short-range, one medium-range, and a long-range missle over the Sea of Japan.

[jseal]

1810 ~ Birthday of Phineas Taylor "P. T." Barnum (http://www.ptbarnum.org/), Circus Owner.

1853 ~ Birthday of Cecil Rhodes (http://www.cusd.chico.k12.ca.us/~bsilva/projects/scramble/rhodes.htm), South African Politician.

1911 ~ Birthday of Georges Pompidou, President of France.

1937 ~ Spam was introduced the Hormel Foods Corporation.

1948 ~ British National Health Service (NHS) Act enacted.

1951 ~ William Shockley (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/shockley-bio.html) invented the junction transistor.

1972 ~ Birthday of Letha Weapons (http://www.lovelethaweapons.com/), Porn Actress.

1975 ~ Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles' championship (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0705.html#article).

1989 ~ Oliver North received a $150,000 fine and a suspended prison term (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2772000/2772471.stm) for his part in the Iran-Contra affair.

1996 ~ Birthday of Dolly the sheep (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/dolly/index.asp), first cloned mammal.

[jseal]

1935 ~ Birthday of Tenzin Gyatso (http://www.dalailama.com/), 14th and current Dalai Lama.

1946 ~ Birthday of Sylvester Stallone, Actor, The Italian Stallion.

1957 ~ Althea Gibson (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0706.html#article) became the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title.

1964 ~ A Hard Day's Night (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058182/), the first Beatles film, premiered.

1971 ~ Death of Louis Armstrong (http://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/), Jazz Musician.

1973 ~ Death of Otto Klemperer, German Conductor.

1974 ~ The radio program A Prairie Home Companion (http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/) was first broadcast.

1989 ~ The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea was destroyed (http://www.exponent.com/Piper_Alpha_Disaster/) by explosions and fires killing 167 oil workers.

1997 ~ The rover Sojourner rolled onto the Martian landscape (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/6/newsid_4105000/4105727.stm) to begin inspecting soil and rocks.

1998 ~ Death of Roy Rogers, Cowboy Actor & Singer.

[jseal]

1860 ~ Birthday of Gustav Mahler, Austrian Composer.

1887 ~ Birthday of Marc Chagall, Russian-born Painter.

1898 ~ The U.S. annexed Hawaii as a territory.

1907 ~ Birthday of Robert Heinlein (http://www.heinleinsociety.org/), Science Fiction Writer.

1930 ~ Death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (http://www.ash-tree.bc.ca/acdsocy.html), Scottish Writer.

1940 ~ Birthday of Ringo Starr (http://www.ringostarr.com/), Beatle.

1947 ~ The Roswell UFO incident (http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/roswell.html).

1980 ~ Sharia law (http://www.zikr.co.uk/content/view/32/52/) established in Iran.

1981 ~ President Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0707.html#article) to become the first female justice on the Supreme Court.

2005 ~ Terrorist bombings in London (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/7/newsid_4942000/4942238.stm) killed 52 victims and four suicide bombers.

[jseal]

1822 ~ Death of Percy Shelley (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRshelley.htm), English poet (http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/).

1882 ~ Birthday of Percy Grainger (http://www.percygrainger.net/), Australian Composer.

1889 ~ In the last championship bare-knuckle boxing match, John L. Sullivan defeated Jake Kilrain.

1889 ~ The first issue of the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/public/us) published.

1950 ~ General Douglas MacArthur was named commander-in-chief of UN forces (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0708.html#article) in Korea.

1983 ~ Birthday of Elizabeth Del Mar (http://www.elizabethdelmar.com/pictures.html), Porn Actress.

1986 ~ Kurt Waldheim was inaugurated as president of Austria (http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9359005&sa_campaign=blog_referral/guardian/obits/wroe) despite a controversy over his alleged ties to Nazi war crimes.

1994 ~ Death of Kim Il-sung, North Korean despot.

1997 ~ The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland were invited to join NATO. (How times change! Whoda ever thunk it!)

1997 ~ Mayo Clinic researchers warned that the dieting-drug "fen-phen" could cause severe heart and lung damage (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/prescription/hazard/fenphen.html).

[jseal]

1896 ~ William Jennings Bryan delivered his “Cross of Gold (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0709.html#article)” speech.

1879 ~ Birthday of Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer (Pines of Rome, Ancient Airs and Dances).

1900 ~ Queen Victoria gave royal assent to an act creating the Commonwealth of Australia (http://www.dfat.gov.au/aib/history.html), uniting separate colonies under one federal government.

1911 ~ Birthday of John A. Wheeler, American physicist (coined the terms black hole and wormhole).

1916 ~ Birthday of Edward Heath (http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/edward-heath), P.M. of the UK

1973 ~ The Bahamas' last day as a British colony.

1974 ~ Death of Earl Warren (http://www.landmarkcases.org/brown/warren.html), Governor of California, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1995 ~ The Grateful Dead (http://www.dead.net/) played their last concert, at Soldier Field in Chicago.

1997 ~ Mike Tyson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9EjHpAtYUc&feature=related)'s boxing license was suspended and he was fined $3 million for biting Evander Holyfield's ear in a televised match.

2001 ~ The Big Bang Theory (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/9/newsid_2498000/2498637.stm) of the origin of the universe received substantial support.

[jseal]

1839 ~ Birthday of Adolphus Busch, German-born Brewer.

1856 ~ Birthday of Nikola Tesla (http://www.pbs.org/tesla/), Croatian physicist.

1925 ~ The "Monkey Trial" of John Scopes began in Dayton, Tennessee.

1940 ~ The Luftwaffe began the Battle of Britain (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0710.html#article).

1962 ~ The world's first active communications satellite (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/satcomhistory.html), Telstar (http://www.cedmagic.com/history/telstar.html), and first privately sponsored space launch.

1985 ~ The Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior was sunk (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/10/newsid_2499000/2499283.stm) in Auckland Harbor by French agents.

1989 ~ Death of Mel Blanc, Voice Actor ( Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Beaky Buzzard, Tweety Bird, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, Barney Rubble, Mr. Spacely).

1997 ~ Scientists reported their DNA analysis findings which support the Out of Africa (https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/atlas.html) hypothesis of human evolution.

2002 ~ At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting The Massacre of the Innocents was sold for $76.2 million (http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,753262,00.html).

2003 ~ Death of Lord Shawcross (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartley_Shawcross), U.K. chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.

[jseal]

1798 ~ The U.S. Marine Corps (http://www.marines.com/page/usmc.jsp?flashRedirect=true) was re-created by an act of Congress.

1859 ~ Charles Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities (http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/twocities/)" was published.

1899 ~ Birthday of E. B. White (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ebwhite.htm), American Writer. (Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, The Trumpet of the Swan.)

1914 ~ Babe Ruth (http://www.baberuth.com/) made his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox.

1920 ~ Birthday of Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor.

1937 ~ Death of George Gershwin, American Composer.

1977 ~ The Gay News and its editor Denis Lemon were found guilty of blasphemous libel (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/11/newsid_2499000/2499721.stm).

1994 ~ Death of Savannah (http://adultoutlook.com/nsmith/savannah/index.html), Porn Star.

1979 ~ Skylab deorbited (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0711.html#article).

1989 ~ Death of Sir Laurence Olivier, Actor.

[jseal]

1536 ~ Death of Erasmus (http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/erasmus.html), Dutch Writer & Philosopher.

1690 ~ William of Orange's army won the Battle of the Boyne (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,342562,00.html).

1730 ~ Birthday of Josiah Wedgwood (http://www.wedgwoodusa.com/about/history.asp), English Potter.

1773 ~ Death of Johann Joachim Quantz, German Flutist & Composer.

1862 ~ Medal of Honor (http://www.cmohs.org/) authorized by the U.S. Congress.

1943~ Birthday of Christine McVie, British singer, musician, & songwriter (Fleetwood Mac).

1943 ~ Turning point of CITADEL (http://www.uni.edu/~licari/citadel.htm) (Battle of Kursk).

1962~ The Rolling Stones perform their first public concert.

1984 ~ Walter Mondale named Geraldine Ferraro (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0712.html#article) his Vice Presidential running mate.

1990~ Russian republic president Boris Yeltsin resigned from the Communist Party (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/12/newsid_4493000/4493177.stm).

[jseal]

100 BC ~ Birthday of Julius Caesar (http://www.roman-empire.net/republic/caesar-index.html), Soldier & Politician.

1837 ~ Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace (http://www.britainexpress.com/London/buckingham-palace.htm) – the first monarch to live there.

1908 ~ Women first included in modern Olympic competition.

1923 ~ The first Hollywood Sign (http://www.hollywoodsign.org/history.html) was dedicated. It read "HOLLYWOODLAND".

1940 ~ Birthday of Patrick Stewart, English actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation (http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TNG/)).

1955 ~ Ruth Ellis became the last woman in England to be executed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/13/newsid_2745000/2745023.stm).

1960 ~ John F. Kennedy won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Los Angeles.

1973 ~ Alexander Butterfield revealed the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in.

1977 ~ A 25-hour blackout hit New York City (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0713.html#article).

1985 ~ Live Aid (http://www.herald.co.uk/local_info/live_aid.html), an international rock concert in London, Philadelphia, Moscow and Sydney, Australia, was held to raise money for Africa's starving people.

[jseal]

1789 ~ Citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille ( http://www.essortment.com/all/historyofbas_rffz.htm). Generally recognized as the beginning of the French Revolution.

1798 ~ The Sedition Act (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/sedact.asp) made it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the U.S. government.

1862 ~ Birthday of Gustav Klimt (http://www.expo-klimt.com/), Austrian Painter & Graphic Artist.

1881 ~ Billy the Kid (http://www.aboutbillythekid.com/) was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett.

1887 ~ Death of Alfred Krupp, German munitions manufacturer.

1912 ~ Birthday of Woody Guthrie (http://www.woodyguthrie.org/), American folk singer.

1913 ~ Birthday of Gerald Ford, U.S. President.

1965 ~ Mariner 4 flyby of Mars took the first close-up photos of another planet (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0714.html#article).

2000 ~ A Florida jury ordered five major tobacco companies to pay smokers $145 billion in punitive damages. (The verdict was later overturned by the Florida Supreme Court.).

2007 ~ Russia withdrew from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/treaties/cfe.html).

[jseal]

1099 ~ The Crusaders of the First Crusade took Jerusalem (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cde-jlem.html).

1606 ~ Birthday of Rembrandt Van Rijn (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rembrandt/), Dutch artist (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rembrandt/1650/aristotle-homer.jpg).

1799 ~ French Captain Pierre Bouchard found the Rosetta Stone (http://www.kingtutshop.com/freeinfo/rosetta-stone.htm).

1870 ~ Georgia became the last of the Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.

1918 ~ WWI: Second Battle of the Marne (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0715.html#article) began.

1926 ~ Birthday of Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine Dictator.

1954 ~ First flight of the Boeing 707, the first American jet passenger airliner.

1995 ~ Bosnian Serbs force Muslims out of Srebrenica (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/15/newsid_3736000/3736438.stm).

2002 ~ John Walker Lindh (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/lindh_07-15-02.html), the "American Taliban", pleaded guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony.

2006 ~ Death of Robert H. Brooks, founder of Hooters of America (http://www.hooters.com/home.aspx).

[jseal]

622 ~ Start of the Islamic calendar.

1872 ~ Birthday of Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who led the expedition which was the first to reach the South Pole.

1918 ~ IAt Ekaterinburg, Russia, Bolsheviks executed Czar Nicholas II and his family (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0716.html#article).

1945 ~ Allied leaders Winston Churchill, Harry Truman Josef Stalin meet at Potsdam (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/16/newsid_4685000/4685683.stm).

1945 ~ The U.S. detonated the first nuclear weapon (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/atomictest.htm) at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

1955 ~ The original Disneyland park opened.

1969 ~ Apollo 11 was launched from Cape Kennedy (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/frame.html) to become the first manned mission to land on the moon.

1980 ~ Birthday of Jesse Jane (http://www.jessejane.com/bio.php), Porn Actress.

1980 ~ Birthday of Justine Joli (http://www.justinejoli.com/), Porn Actress.

1994 ~ Death of Julian Schwinger (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1965/schwinger-bio.html), American physicist, Nobel laureate.

[jseal]

1790 ~ Death of Adam Smith (http://www.adamsmith.org/), Scottish Economist.

1899 ~ Birthday of James Cagney (http://themave.com/Cagney/), Actor.

1947 ~ Birthday of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/royals/camilla.html) (formerly Parker Bowles), former British royal mistress and now wife of Prince Charles.

1961 ~ Death of Baseball hall-of-famer Ty Cobb.

1962 ~ Tha nuclear test shot Little Feller I (http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Storax.html) became the last American atmospheric detonation at the Nevada Test Site.

1975 ~ An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0717.html#article) in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.

1979 ~ Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza resigned and fled into exile (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/17/newsid_3870000/3870281.stm) in Miami.

1989 ~ First flight of the B-2 Spirit (http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=82) Stealth Bomber.

2003 ~ Death of Dr. David Kelly, U.N. Weapons Inspector.

2005 ~ Death of Edward Heath, UK PM.

[jseal]

1887 ~ Birthday of Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian Politician & Traitor.

1909 ~ Birthday of Andrei Gromyko, Soviet Diplomat & President.

1918 ~ Birthday of Nelson Mandela (http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1993/mandela-bio.html), former President of SA, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 1993.

1922 ~ Birthday of Thomas Kuhn (http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/Kuhnsnap.html), Philosopher of Science.

1925 ~ Adolf Hitler’s "Mein Kampf (http://www.crusader.net/texts/mk/)" was published.

1927 ~ Birthday of Kurt Masur, Conductor.

1942 ~ The Messerschmitt Me-262 (http://www.vectorsite.net/avme262.html#m2) was test flown using only its jets for the first time.

1969 ~ After a party, Senator Ted Kennedy drove his car off a wooden bridge (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/tedkennedychappaquiddick.htm) into a pond, and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, died.

1973 ~ Death of Jack Hawkins (http://www.britishcinemagreats.com/Actors_page/jack_hawkins/jack_hawkins_page_1.htm), English film actor.

2001 ~ In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derailment occurred in a tunnel (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-trainfire,0,6380020.special), sparking a fire that lasted days and virtually shut down downtown.

2005 ~ Eric Rudolph was sentenced to life in prison for an abortion clinic bombing that killed an off-duty police officer.[/QUOTE]

[jseal]

1374 ~ Death of Petrarch, Italian Poet & early Humanist.

1692 ~ Five women were hanged following the Salem Witch Trials (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM) for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.

1834 ~ Birthday of Edgar Degas (http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/Degas/html/index.html), Impressionist Painter (http://images.google.com/images?q=Edgar+Degas&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7ADBF&um=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title).

1848 ~ America’s first women's rights convention convened in Seneca Falls, N.Y. and "Bloomers (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr040.html)" were introduced.

1870 ~ The Franco-Prussian war began.

1941 ~ Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0719.html#article)" campaign in Europe.

1947 ~ Death of Aung San, Burmese nationalist. Aung San's daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi (http://nobelprize.virtual.museum/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1991/kyi-bio.html), is now the leader of the Burmese opposition to the current military regime.

1996 ~ Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic was forced out of office (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/19/newsid_4521000/4521063.stm).

2003 ~ Death of Bill Bright, evangelist, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ.

2008 ~ Death of Anastasia Blue (http://www.genesisonline.com/26/anastasia-blue-1980-2008/), Porn Actress.

[jseal]

1933 ~ In London, 500,000 marched against anti-Semitism.

1938 ~ Birthday of Dame Diana Rigg (http://www.dianarigg.net/), Actress (The Avengers (http://theavengers.tv/forever/), In This House of Brede (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073160/)).

1938 ~ Birthday of Natalie Wood (http://www.starpulse.com/Actresses/Wood,_Natalie/), Actress (Rebel Without a Cause (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048545/), West Side Story (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055614/)).

1944 ~ Adolf Hitler was slightly wounded (http://www.gdw-berlin.de/b12/b12-3-e.php) when a bomb exploded at his Rastenburg headquarters.

1946 ~ The U.S. House of Representatives voted 265-79 to put control of atomic energy in the hands of a civilian body, the Atomic Energy Commission, rather than leave the military in control.

1960 ~ Ceylon elected Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first female head of government (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761556320/Bandaranaike_Sirimavo_Ratwatte_Dias.html).

1969 ~ Neil Armstrong and "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0720.html#article).

1974 ~ Turkey invaded Cyprus (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/20/newsid_3866000/3866521.stm).

1999 ~ After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was lifted to the surface (http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9907/20/grissom.capsule.01/).

2004 ~ The UN General Assembly passed a resolution demanding that Israel tear down the barrier it was building to seal off the West Bank.

[Oldfart]

Bandaranaike was the first woman to hold the title of Prime Minister.

People such as Cleopatra and Ranavalona 1 and 2 were heads of State earlier.

[jseal]

1899 ~ Birthday of Ernest Hemingway (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1954/hemingway-bio.html) , American Author.

1861 ~ First Battle of Bull Run (http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/va005.htm) - the first major battle of the American Civil War began.

1911 ~ Birthday of Marshall McLuhan (http://www.marshallmcluhan.com/main.html), Canadian Communications Theorist.

1925 ~ In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John Scopes was found guilty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0721.html#article) of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.

1948 ~ Birthday of Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), English Singer.

1954 ~ France surrendered North Vietnam (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/21/newsid_3894000/3894175.stm) to the Viet Minh.

1970 ~ The Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed at the end of eleven years of construction

1994 ~ Tony Blair was declared the winner (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/21/newsid_2515000/2515825.stm) of the leadership election of the British Labour Party.

1998 ~ Death of Alan Shepard (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/shepard-alan.html) , Astronaut.

2006 ~ Death Ta Mok, Khmer Rouge war criminal.

[jseal]

1822 ~ Birthday of Br. Gregor Mendel (http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/Gregor_Mendel.html), Austrian Geneticist.

1887 ~ Birthday of Gustav Hertz (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1925/hertz-bio.html), German Physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1925.

1898 ~ Birthday of Alexander Calder, American Artist.

1933 ~ Wiley Post (http://www.acepilots.com/post.html) became the first man to fly solo around the world.

1934 ~ John Dillinger was shot to death (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0722.html#article) by FBI agents in Chicago.

1967 ~ Death of Carl Sandburg, Poet.

1977 ~ Deng Xiaoping returned to Chinese Government.

1992 ~ Pablo Escobar (http://www.cocaine.org/colombia/pablo-escobar.html), fearing extradition to the U.S., escaped from his luxury prison.

1998 ~ Death of Alan Shepard (http://www.cnn.com/US/9807/22/obit.shepard.02/), Astronaut.

2003 ~ Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai were killed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/22/newsid_3808000/3808659.stm) when U.S. forces stormed a villa in Mosul, Iraq.

[Oldfart]

NASA puts Shepard's death as July 21.

[jseal]

1757 ~ Death of Domenico Scarlatti, Italian Composer.

1892 ~ Birthday of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia.

1914 ~ Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0723.html#article) following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand.

1942 ~ The Treblinka (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shtetl/treblinka/) extermination camp opened.

1952 ~ Creation of the European Coal and Steel community. This gave birth to European Economic Community (EEC), which itself later became the European Union.

1962 ~ Telstar relayed the first live trans-Atlantic television signal (http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/2006/07/23-july-1962-telstar-relays-first-live.html).

1982 ~ The International Whaling Commission voted a moratorium on commercial whaling (http://www.hsus.org/about_us/humane_society_international_hsi/international_policy/treaties/international_whaling_commission/whaling_and_the_international_whaling_commission.html) by 1985-86.

1984 ~ Vanessa Williams (http://www.vanessawilliams.de/indexengl.htm) became the first Miss America to resign her title, because of nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine.

1986 ~ Prince Andrew, Duke of York married Sarah Ferguson (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/23/newsid_2516000/2516203.stm) at Westminster Abbey.

2002 ~ Death of Leo McKern (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0571674/) , Australian actor, and one of my favorites.

[jseal]

1783 ~ Birthday of Simón Bolívar, South American liberator.

1898 ~ Birthday of Amelia Earhart, American Aviatrix.

1924 ~ The World Chess Federation, FIDE (http://www.fide.com/), was founded in Paris.

1943 ~ The RAF Bomber Command bombed Hamburg by night, USAAF 8th Air Force Bomber Command by day (http://experts.about.com/e/b/bo/Bombing_of_Hamburg_in_World_War_II.htm). By the end of the operation, 9,000 tons of explosive & incendiary bombs created a firestorm which killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.

1948 ~ Marvin the Martian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_the_Martian) made his first appearance.

1959 ~ Khrushchev and Nixon had a war of words in the “Kitchen Debate (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0724.html#article)”.

1967 ~ During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declared in Montreal "Vive le Québec libre! (http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/07/24/1132/)" (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians.

1974 ~ Death of James Chadwick (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1935/chadwick-bio.html), English physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1935.

1980 ~ Birthday of Gauge (http://www.ilovegauge.com/), Porn Star.

1980 ~ Death of Peter Sellers, Actor.

[Oldfart]

Marvin is Mars-vellous.

Does this mean that Gauge may be Peter Sellars re-incarnated?

[Lord Snow]

But he has to blow up the Earth. It blocks his view of Venus.

[Oldfart]

But he has to blow up the Earth. It blocks his view of Venus.

It goes like this . . .

[jseal]

1834 ~ Death of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet. (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html) & Kubla Khan (http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Kubla_Khan.html) )

1907 ~ Korea became a protectorate of Japan.

1917 ~ Sir Thomas Whyte introduced the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).

1848 ~ Birthday of Arthur Balfour, UK PM, remembered for issuing the British declaration of support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

1946 ~ Crossroads Baker (http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/films/film.aspx?ID=66), a 21-kiloton nuclear weapon was detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini atoll.

1956 ~ 51 people died when the Italian liner Andrea Doria (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0725.html#article) collided with the Swedish ship Stockholm.

1976 ~ Birthday of Tera Patrick (http://www.terapatrick.com/?adv_id=1000&campaign=&origin=promo&program_id=8&subprogram_id=1&site_id=109&gallery_id=0&second_click=1&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.terapatrick.com%2F), Porn Actress.

1978 ~ Louise Brown, the first baby conceived by in-vitro fertilization (http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-75-610-3415/science_technology/infertility/clip2), was born in Oldham, England.

1984 ~ Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya (http://great.russian-women.net/Svetlana_Savitskaya.shtml) became the first woman to walk in space.

2000 ~ An Air France Concorde crashed just after takeoff (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/25/newsid_2797000/2797965.stm) from Paris, killing 113.

[jseal]

1856 ~ Birthday of George Bernard Shaw (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1925/shaw-bio.html), Author, Playwright, awarded t he Nobel Prize in Literature 1925.

1875 ~ Birthday of Carl Jung (http://www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/carljung.html), Swiss Psychiatrist.

1882 ~ Richard Wagner's "Parsifal (http://www.monsalvat.no/index.htm)" premiered at Bayreuth.

1898 ~ Birthday of Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft engineer and designer.

1928 ~ Birthday of Stanley Kubrick (http://kubrickfilms.warnerbros.com/), Movie Director.

1943 ~ Birthday of Mick Jagger, English Musician. (Rolling Stones)

1947 ~ U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0726.html#article) into law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.

1953 ~ Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution (http://www.cubaverdad.net/revolution.htm) began.

1956 ~ Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26/newsid_2701000/2701603.stm) sparking international condemnation.

1991 ~ Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman, was arrested for allegedly masturbating at a Sarasota, Florida adult theatre.

[jseal]

1904 ~ Birthday of Isaac Bashevis Singer (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1978/singer-bio.html), Writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1946 ~ Death of Gertrude Stein (http://www.tenderbuttons.com/gsonline/index_2.html), American Writer & Cult Figure.

1949 ~ Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet (http://www.dh-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/DH-106/index.html), the first jet-powered airliner.

1953 ~ The Korean War stopped (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0727.html#article). The U.S., People's Republic of China, North Korea, and South Korea signed an armistice agreement.

1974 ~ The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted to recommend the first article of impeachment against President Nixon: Obstruction of Justice.

1980 ~ Death of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran.

1984 ~ Death of James Mason, English actor.

1990 ~ Belarus (http://www.belarusguide.com/main/index.html) declared independence from the Soviet Union.

2002 ~ Ukraine airshow disaster (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2136241946237981827).

2003 ~ Death of Bob Hope (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/27/newsid_3818000/3818693.stm), English-born Entertainer.

[jseal]

1741 ~ Death of Antonio Vivaldi, Italian Composer.

1750 ~ Death of Johann Sebastian Bach (http://www.jsbach.org/), German Composer.

1794 ~ Maximilien Robespierre, a leading figure of the French Revolution, was sent to the guillotine.

1866 ~ Birthday of Beatrix Potter, English Author. (The Tale of Peter Rabbit)

1868 ~ The 14th Amendment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution) to the U.S. Constitution passed Congress, which integrated Due Process & Equal Protection into the constitution.

1904 ~ Birthday of Pavel Cherenkov (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1958/cerenkov-bio.html), Soviet Physicist, awarded one third the Nobel Prize in Physics 1958.

1914 ~ World War I began (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0728.html#article) as Austria declared war on Serbia.

1996 ~ The remains of a prehistoric man, Kennewick Man (http://www.kennewick-man.com/), was discovered near Kennewick, Washington.

1998 ~ Monica Lewinsky (http://www.coffeeshoptimes.com/monica.html) was given blanket immunity from prosecution in exchange for grand jury testimony in the investigation of her relationship with President Bill Clinton.

2004 ~ Death of Professor Francis Harry Compton Crick (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/crick-bio.html), awarded one third the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962 for his contributions towards understanding the role of DNA in genetics.

[jseal]

1905 ~ Birthday of Dag Hammarskjöld (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1961/hammarskjold-bio.html), UN Secretary-General. Awarded the The Nobel Peace Prize 1961.

1907 ~ Sir Robert Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scouts movement with the first scout camp at Brownsea Island (http://www.thescoutingpages.org.uk/first_camp.html). :thumb:

1958 ~ The U.S. Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html) (NASA).

1969 ~ Birthday of Adele Stevens (http://www.adele-stevens.com/inside.htm), English porn star.

1974 ~ Death of Mama Cass Elliot, Musician.

1975 ~ Death of James Blish, Science Fiction Writer.

1981 ~ Lady Diana Spencer married Charles, Prince of Wales (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0729.html#article).

1993 ~ The Israeli Supreme Court acquitted Nazi camp guard John Demjanjuk (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/29/newsid_4561000/4561917.stm) of all charges.

1996 ~ The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act was struck down as too broad in U.S. federal court.

2005 ~ Astronomers Brown, Trujillo, and Rabinowitz announced their discovery of Eris (http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/).

[jseal]

1729 ~ The city of Baltimore was founded (http://baltimore.org//about-baltimore).

1792 ~ The French national anthem ''La Marseillaise (http://hymne-national.ifrance.com/)'' by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris.

1818 ~ Birthday of Emily Brontë (http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/ebronte/bio.html), English Novelist.

1898 ~ Birthday of Henry Moore (http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/moore.html), Sculptor.

1941 ~ Birthday of Paul Anka, Singer and Composer.

1945 ~ World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sank the USS Indianapolis (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0730.html#article).

1966 ~ England won the first televised Football World Cup (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/30/newsid_2644000/2644065.stm), beating Germany 4 to 2.

2003 ~ The last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle (http://money.cnn.com/2003/07/30/pf/autos/bc.autos.vw.beetle/) manufactured in Mexico.

2006 ~ After 42 years, the BBC show "Top of the Pops" was broadcast for the last time.

2007 ~ Death of Ingmar Bergman, Swedish director.

[jseal]

1556 ~ Death of Ignatius Loyola, Spanish priest, founder of the Jesuits.

1886 ~ Death of Franz Liszt (http://www.d-vista.com/OTHER/franzliszt.html), Hungarian Composer.

1912 ~ Birthday of Milton Friedman (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1976/friedman-autobio.html), awarded the Nobel Prize in economics, 1976.

1917 ~ The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele (http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/ypres3.htm)) started in Flanders. With casualties from both sides exceeding 550,000, the name Passcheddaele has come to be used as a synonym for pointless slaughter.

"...I died in Hell
(they called it Passchendaele) my wound was slight
and I was hobbling back; and then a shell
burst slick upon the duckboards; so I fell
into the bottomless mud, and lost the light"

Siegfried Sassoon

1941 ~ Hermann Göring ordered SS general Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question (http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/order-bio.htm)."

1964 ~ Ranger program: Ranger 7 sent back the first close-up photographs of the moon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0731.html#article).

1965 ~ Birthday of J. K. Rowling, Author.

1970 ~ The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.

1991 ~ Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/31/newsid_4582000/4582773.stm) (START) signed in Moscow.

1999 ~ NASA intentionally crashed the Lunar Prospector (http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/history/index.htm) spacecraft into the Moon, ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.

[jseal]

10 B.C. ~ Birthday of Claudius (http://www.roman-emperors.org/claudius.htm), Roman Emperor.

1774 ~ The element oxygen was discovered by Joseph Priestley (http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/priestley.html).

1779 ~ Birthday of Birthday of Francis Scott Key, Composer of “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

1834 ~ Slavery was abolished in the British Empire.

1932 ~ Birthday of Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League (http://www.jdl.org/).

1936 ~ The Summer Olympic Games opened in Berlin (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0801.html#article).

1944 ~ Anne Frank made the last entry in her diary (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/annefran.htm).

1957 ~ The United States and Canada formed the North American Air Defense Command (http://www.norad.mil/) (NORAD).

1977 ~ Death of Gary Powers, Spy Plane Pilot (http://www.foia.cia.gov/powers.asp).

2005 ~ Death of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.

[jseal]

216 B.C. ~ Hannibal destroyed the double Consular Roman army of Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Publius Terentius Varro in the Battle of Cannae (http://www.unrv.com/empire/battle-of-cannae.php).

1776 ~ Delegates to the Continental Congress began to sign the Declaration of Independence (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/).

1876 ~ Death of James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok (http://www.doncollier.com/historic10.htm), Gunfighter.

1921 ~ Death of Enrico Caruso (http://www.gmmy.com/tenors/caruso/), Italian Tenor.

1932 ~ Birthday of Peter O'Toole, Actor. (Lawrence of Arabia, The Lion in Winter).

1934 ~ Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.

1939 ~ Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.

1964 ~ Gulf of Tonkin Incident (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB132/index.htm) – North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fire on U.S. destroyers.

1976 ~ Death of Fritz Lang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Lang), Film Director (Metropolis (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/synopsis), M, Frau im Mond (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019901/plotsummary)).

1990 ~ Iraq invaded Kuwait (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/2/newsid_2526000/2526937.stm), leading to the Gulf War.

[jseal]

1900 ~ Birthday of John T. Scopes, defendant in the “Monkey Trial (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm)”.

1904 ~ Birthday of Clifford D. Simak (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/clifford-d-simak/), Science Fiction Author.

1924 ~ Death of Joseph Conrad, Author. (Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim)

1924 ~ Birthday of Leon Uris, American Writer. (Exodus, QB VII)

1943 ~ Gen. George S. Patton slapped a private (http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Patton_George.html) at an army hospital in Sicily, accusing him of cowardice.

1948 ~ Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist, publicly accused former State Department official Alger Hiss of having been part of a Communist underground (http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/hiss-chambers-nyt.html).

1958 ~ The USS Nautilus (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0803.html#article) traveled beneath the Arctic ice cap.

1972 ~ U.S. Senate ratified the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

2003 ~ The U.S. Anglican Church approved the appointment of an openly homosexual bishop (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/3/newsid_3909000/3909559.stm).

2008 ~ Death of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/), Russian writer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1970.

[jseal]

1782 ~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (http://www.mozartproject.org/) married Constanze Weber (http://themozartcafe.homestead.com/Constanze.html).

1840 ~ Birthday of Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Sexologist.

1875 ~ Death of Hans Christian Andersen (http://hca.gilead.org.il/), Writer.

1901 ~ Birthday of Louis Armstrong (http://www.satchmo.net/), Jazz Musician.

1914 ~ The UK declared war on Germany (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0804.html#article).

1961 ~ Birthday of President Obama (http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/President_Obama/).

1964 ~ The bodies of three missing civil rights workers were found (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/4/newsid_2962000/2962638.stm) buried in an earthen dam in Mississippi.

1977 ~ President Carter signed legislation creating the U.S. Department of Energy.

1991 ~ The cruise ship Oceanos sinks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BFux2AAMso) off the coast of South Africa.

2000 ~ Death of Leslie Glass, Porn Actress.

[jseal]

1885 ~ The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty (http://www.nps.gov/archive/stli/mainmenu.htm) was laid.

1895 ~ Death of Friedrich Engels, Socialist Philosopher.

1962 ~ Death of Marilyn Monroe (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/5/newsid_2657000/2657289.stm), Actress.

1962 ~ Nelson Mandela imprisoned, not to be released until 1990.

1963 ~ The U.S., UK, and U.S.S.R. signed a nuclear test ban treaty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0805.html#article).

1973 ~ Arab gunmen opened fire and threw grenades (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/5/newsid_4533000/4533763.stm) into a passenger lounge at Athens airport.

1980 ~ Birthday of Kaylani Lei (http://www.clubkaylanilei.com/tour1/), Porn Actress.

1981 ~ The federal government began firing air traffic controllers who had gone on strike.

1984 ~ Death of Richard Burton (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000009/bio), Actor.

2000 ~ Death of Sir Alec Guinness (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000027/bio), Actor.

[jseal]

1809 ~ Birthday of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poet (http://poetry.eserver.org/light-brigade.html).

1881 ~ Birthday of Alexander Fleming (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html), awarded he Nobel Prize in Medicine 1945.

1911 ~ Birthday of Lucille Ball, Actress, Comedienne.

1943 ~ Birthday of Jon Postel, creator of DNS (http://www.brainbliss.com/cat02/art05.html).

1945 ~ A nuclear bomb codenamed Little Boy was dropped on the city of Hiroshima (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0806.html#article).

1961 ~ Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/6/newsid_2944000/2944638.stm) spent a day in orbit.

1965 ~ U.S. release of the Beatles’ album "Help!".

1972 ~ Birthday of Geri Halliwell, British Pop Singer (Spice Girls (http://www.thespicegirls.com/)).

1990 ~ The UN Security Council ordered a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

1991 ~ Tim Berners-Lee released his idea for the "World Wide Web (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5242252.stm)".

[jseal]

1560 ~ Birthday of Elizabeth Bathory (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_131.html), serial killer.

1867 ~ Birthday of Mata Hari (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hari/1.html) (Margaretha Zelle), spy.

1942 ~ Birthday of Garrison Keillor (http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/), radio host.

1947 ~ Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft "Kon-Tiki (http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/kontiki.htm)", arrived at the Tuamotu Islands after a 101 day 4,300 mile journey across the Pacific Ocean, proving that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.

1949 ~ Birthday of Walid Jumblatt, Lebanese political leader.

1957 ~ Death of Oliver Hardy, Comedian & Actor.

1964 ~ U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0807.html#article), giving President Johnson broad powers to deal with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.

1974 ~ French stuntman Philippe Petit walked a tightrope strung between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center.

1978 ~ President Carter declared a federal emergency at Love Canal (http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/specialcollections/lovecanal/).

1998 ~ Bombing of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/7/newsid_3131000/3131709.stm) that killed 224 people and injured over 4,500.

[jseal]

1879 ~ Birthday of Emiliano Zapata (http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/316-emiliano-zapata-1879-1919), Mexican Revolutionary.

1902 ~ Birthday of P.A.M. Dirac (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/dirac-bio.html), Physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1933.

1931 ~ Birthday of Roger Penrose (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Penrose.html), British physicist .

1937 ~ Birthday of Dustin Hoffman, Actor (The Graduate, Tootsie, Kramer vs. Kramer).

1945 ~ The U.S. ratified the United Nations Charter.

1963 ~ Britain's ''Great Train Robbery (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/8/newsid_2714000/2714055.stm)'' took place when thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.

1966 ~ The Beatles' released "Revolver”

1974 ~ U.S. President Nixon announced his resignation (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0808.html#article) effective August 9.

1988 ~ U.N. Secretary-General Cuellar announced a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/iraniraq.htm).

1996 ~ Death of Frank A Whittle (http://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/innovators/fwhittle.html), inventor of the Jet engine.

[jseal]

1173 ~ Construction of the (Leaning) Tower of Pisa (http://www.italyguides.it/us/pisa/leaning_tower.htm) began.

1483 ~ Opening of the Sistine Chapel (http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Main.html).

1842 ~ The U.S.-Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains was defined.

1945 ~ A nuclear bomb codenamed Fat Man was dropped on the city of Nagasaki (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0809.html#article).

1962 ~ Death of Hermann Hesse (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1946/hesse-autobio.html), German-born writer, awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature.

1969 ~ Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murdered five people (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/9/newsid_2998000/2998214.stm) including Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and, Abigail Folger.

1975 ~ Death of Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer.

1986 ~ The Headington Shark (http://www.headington.org.uk/shark/) was erected in Oxford.

1995 ~ Death of Jerry Garcia, guitarist: Grateful Dead.

2006 ~ Death of James van Allen (http://www.agu.org/inside/awards/vanallen.html), American physicist.

[jseal]

1519 ~ Ferdinand Magellan's 5 ships set sail from Seville (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1519magellan.html) to circumnavigate the globe.

1675 ~ Foundation stone set of the Royal Observatory (http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.13496), Greenwich.

1846 ~ The Smithsonian Institution (http://www.si.edu/) was chartered following a $500,000 donation by scientist Joseph Smithson.

1896 ~ Death of Otto Lilienthal, Aviation Pioneer.

1945 ~ Death of Robert Goddard, Rocket Scientist.

1988 ~ A distressing reminder of my mortality (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/10/newsid_2528000/2528665.stm).

1990 ~ The Magellan space probe (http://www.solarviews.com/eng/magellan.htm) arrived at Venus.

1995 ~ Norma McCorvey (http://www.leaderu.com/common/roev.html), '”Jane Roe” in the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling which legalized abortion, announced she had joined the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.

2003 ~ Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko became the first man to marry in space. (http://www.spacetoday.org/SpcStns/ISSwedding.html)

2008 ~ Death of Isaac Hayes, Musician & Actor.

[jseal]

480 B.C. ~ Persians under Xerxes defeated Spartans under King Leonidas in the Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans fight to the last man.

The Battle of Thermopylae has served as an example to officers and soldiers alike of what courage and self-sacrifice could achieve. It is still remembered, almost 2,500 years later, as a classic example of virtue. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6BDHGa4CEY)

1253 ~ Death of Saint Clare of Assisi, Patron Saint of television (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_of_Assisi).

1905 ~ Birthday of Erwin Chargaff (http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/news/journal/journal-o/fall-2003/dna.html), biochemist.

1919 ~ Death of Andrew Carnegie (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/), Industrialist & Philanthropist.

1929 ~ Babe Ruth (http://www.baberuth.com/biograph.html) became the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs.

1950 ~ Birthday of Steve Wozniak (http://www.woz.org/), Computer Pioneer.

1972 ~ The last U.S. ground combat unit left South Vietnam.

1984 ~ U.S. President Reagan joked during a voice test for a paid political radio address that he had ''signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes. (http://www.jeremygilby.com/Stuff/bombing.au)''

1994 ~ Death of Peter Cushing, British actor.

2003 ~ NATO took over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe.

[jseal]

1859 ~ Birthday of Katherine Lee Bates, Poet (America the Beautiful (http://www.brownielocks.com/americathebeautifulWAVE.html) [arranged & performed by Ray Charles]).

1887 ~ Birthday of Erwin Schrödinger (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/schrodinger-bio.html), Physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1933.

1927 ~ Birthday of Mstislav Rostropovich, Cellist.

1953 ~ The Soviet Union detonated its first hydrogen bomb (http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/Sovatmtest.html).

1960 ~ The first communications satellite, “Echo I (http://www.astronautix.com/craft/echo.htm)”, was launched.

1964 ~ Death of Ian Fleming (http://www.klast.net/bond/flem_bio.html), Novelist.

1981 ~ The IBM PC (http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa031599.htm) was introduced.

1982 ~ Death of Henry Fonda, Actor.

2002 ~ The Russian submarine Kursk (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/k-141-kursk.htm) sank in the Barents Sea.

2004 ~ New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey came out of the closet at the press conference when he announced his resignation from the office.

[jseal]

1521 ~ Tenochtitlán, present day Mexico City, fell to conquistador Hernán Cortés (http://library.thinkquest.org/J002678F/cortez.htm).

1860 ~ Birthday of Annie Oakley (http://www.lkwdpl.org/WIHOHIO/oakl-ann.htm), Sharpshooter.

1899 ~ Birthday of Alfred Hitchcock (http://hitchcock.tv/), Director.

1910 ~ Death of Florence Nightingale (http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/index.php), English nurse.

1942 ~ Walt Disney's animated cartoon "Bambi (http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/18-Bambi.html)" premiered.

1946 ~ Death of H. G. Wells, Writer.

1961 ~ The Berlin Wall (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0813.html#article) began to be built.

1966 ~ Beginning of China’s Cultural Revolution.

1984 ~ Death of Tigran Petrosian, Soviet chess player.

1997 ~ The popular, controversial animated series "South Park (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121955/)" debuted.

[jseal]

1862 ~ Birthday of Ernest Thayer, Poet (Casey at the Bat (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_case.shtml)).

1880 ~ After 632 years, Cologne Cathedral was completed (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/cologne-cathedral.htm).

1945 ~ Japan surrendered (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0814.html#article), ending World War II.

1947 ~ Birthday of Maddy Prior (http://www.maddyprior.co.uk/), English folk singer.

1971 ~ Rod Stewart released "Maggie May".

1980 ~ Workers went on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, in a job action that resulted in the creation of the Solidarity labor movement (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_2802000/2802553.stm).

1985 ~ Birthday of Ashlynn Brooke (http://www.ashlynnbrooke.com/tour1/), Porn Actress.

1988 ~ Death of Enzo Ferrari, Automobile Designer.

1994 ~ Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, the terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/terrorists/jackal/1.html), was captured.

2003 ~ A blackout hit the northeastern U.S. and part of Canada; 50 million people lost power.

[jseal]

778 ~ The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/roland-ohag.html), in which Roland was killed.

1769 ~ Birthday of Napoleon Bonaparte (http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95aug/napoleon.html), general and politician.

1877 ~ Thomas Edison made the first-ever recording - "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

1890 ~ Birthday of Jacques Ibert, French Composer.

1945 ~ The Allies proclaimed V-J Day (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/15/newsid_3581000/3581971.stm), one day after Japan agreed to surrender unconditionally.

1947 ~ India and Pakistan became independent (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0815.html#article) from British rule.

1948 ~ Republic of Korea (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/korea.html) established south of 38th Parallel.

1964 ~ Birthday of Melinda French Gates, wife of Bill Gates.

1967 ~ Death of René Magritte, Surrealist painter (http://www.magritte.com/5_1.cfm?img=04).

1969 ~ First day of Woodstock (http://www.geocities.com/Beatlefreak1/) Music and Art Festival.

I was able to talk my cousin out of going to this. :yikes: She had called me a month or so earlier and said she could get a couple of tickets if we wanted to go. It was inconvenient to get to, and when I said so, she agreed, and so…. :rolleyes:

[Oldfart]

'S OK. If she'd gone, she wouldn't have remembered it anyway. Saves on wear and tear.

[jseal]

I was to get the other ticket.

[jseal]

1858 ~ President Buchanan inaugurated the new transatlantic telegraph cable (http://atlantic-cable.com/) by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria.

1888 ~ Birthday of Lawrence of Arabia (http://telawrence.info/telawrenceinfo/index.htm).

1899 ~ Death of Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, chemist (Bunsen Burner).

1930 ~ First color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, was made by Ub Iwerks.

1954 ~ The first edition of Sports Illustrated (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/swimsuit/home/index.htm) was published.

1962 ~ The Beatles fired Pete Best (http://www.petebest.com/) and replaced him with Ringo Starr (http://www.ringostarr.com/).

1977 ~ Death of Elvis Presley (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0816.html#article), Singer, Actor.

1981 ~ Birthday of Taylor Rain, Porn Actress.

2000 ~ Delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles nominated Vice President Al Gore for president.

2003 ~ Death of Idi Amin (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/16/newsid_3921000/3921361.stm), Ugandan dictator.

[Oldfart]

I was to get the other ticket.

Two amnesias are better than one?

[jseal]

I'll never know.

[Oldfart]

Did you actually go and just forgot?

Do you have any other memories of the week?

[jseal]

1601 ~ Birthday of Pierre de Fermat (http://www.simonsingh.net/Pierre_de_Fermat.html), Mathematician.

1943 ~ The US Army Air Force had its wrist slapped smartly with the loss of 147 B-17's shot down or damaged beyond repair during the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission (http://home.att.net/~ww2aircraft/Schweinfurt.html)

1882 ~ Birthday of Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer.

1911 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Botvinnik (http://www.chesscorner.com/worldchamps/botvinnik/botvinnik.htm), World Chess Champion.

1962 ~ East German border guards shot and mortally wounded 18-year-old Peter Fechter (http://www.videofact.com/cold_war/berlin/berlin10e_1.html), who had attempted to cross over the Berlin Wall into the western sector.

1970 ~ Venera 7 was launched (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1970-060A). It became the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet, Venus.

1972 ~ Birthday of Ken Ryker, Porn Actor.

1992 ~ Death of Al Parker (http://gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/reviews/112000re.htm), Porn Actor.

1998 ~ President Clinton admitted having an affair (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/17/newsid_4537000/4537597.stm) with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

2008 ~ Michael Phelps became the first Olympian to win eight gold medals in the same Olympics.

[jseal]

1227 ~ Death of Genghis Khan (http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/vexhibit/genghis/intro.htm), Mongol leader.

1587 ~ Birthday of Virginia Dare (http://www.outerbanks.com/manteo/history/vadare.htm); the first English child born in the Americas.

1774 ~ Birthday of Meriwether Lewis, Explorer.

1877 ~ Asaph Hall discovered Phobos, the moon of Pluto.

1920 ~ The 19th Amendment to US constitution was ratified (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment19/), guaranteeing women's right to vote.

1958 ~ Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita (http://books.google.com/books?id=utvB0I_0SZsC&dq=Lolita&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=dveJSvyRJYzCMKrdmbgP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#v=onepage&q=&f=false) was published in the U.S.

1963 ~ James Meredith became the first black to graduate from the University of Mississippi (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0818.html#article).

1969 ~ Jimi Hendrix played the unofficial last day of Woodstock (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/18/newsid_2760000/2760911.stm).

1979 ~ Birthday of Selena Silver (http://www.rogreviews.com/interviews/selena_silver.asp?), Porn actress.

1991 ~ Downfall of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was put under house arrest while he was vacationing in the Crimea.

[Oldfart]

1877 ~ Asaph Hall discovered Phobos, the moon of Mars.

[jseal]

1881 ~ Birthday of George Enescu (http://www.enescusociety.org/), Romanian composer.

1921 ~ Birthday of Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek.

1934 ~ The creation of the position Führer approved in a German plebiscite (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0819.html#article).

1967 ~ Death of Hugo Gernsback, "The Father of Magazine Science Fiction". The annual Science Fiction Achievement awards are named the "Hugos" in his honor.

1942 ~ About 6,000 Canadian and British soldiers launched a disastrous raid against the Germans at Dieppe (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/19/newsid_3560000/3560309.stm), France, suffering about 50 percent casualties.

1960 ~ A tribunal in Moscow convicted American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage (http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2000/5/2000_5_36.shtml).

1977 ~ Death of Groucho Marx, Comedian & Actor.

1981 ~ Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi sent two Sukoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept two U.S. F-14 Tomcats over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets shot down the Libyan fighters (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1386573).

1994 ~ Death of Linus Pauling (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1962/pauling-bio.html), Scientist & Peace Activist.

He was a physical chemist, among the most influential chemists of the twentieth century, and one of the most important scientists of all time. He was one of the first quantum chemists, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 for his work describing the nature of chemical bonds. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for his campaign against above-ground nuclear testing, becoming one of only two people to receive the Nobel Prize in more than one field, the other being Marie Curie.

2003 ~ A suicide truck bomb struck U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22, including the top U.N. envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello (http://www.sergiovdmfoundation.org/en/home.html).

[jseal]

1882 ~ Piotr Tchaikovsky's “1812 Overture (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzMGzBKRttU)” debuted in Moscow.

1890 ~ Birthday of H. P. Lovecraft (http://www.hplovecraft.com/), Horror Writer.

1923 ~ Birthday of Jim Reeves, country and western singer.

1940 ~ UK PM Winston Churchill (http://www.winstonchurchill.org/) paid tribute to the RAF, saying, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

1941 ~ Birthday of Slobodan Milosevic (http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/milosevic.html), former president of Serbia and Yugoslavia.

1968 ~ Warsaw Pact troops and tanks invaded Czechoslovakia (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0820.html#top) to end the Prague Spring of political liberalization.

1991 ~ Downfall of the Soviet Union: Estonia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

1998 ~ The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec could not legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval (http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1998/1998rcs2-217/1998rcs2-217.html).

1998 ~ The U.S. launched cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

2001 ~ Death of Sir Fred Hoyle (http://www.hoyle.org.uk/), Astronomer, Science Fiction Writer.

[jseal]

1858 ~ The first of seven debates (http://www.nps.gov/liho/historyculture/debates.htm) between U.S. Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas was held.

1872 ~ Birthday of Aubrey Beardsley, English Illustrator (http://www.artpassions.net/cgi-bin/show_image.pl?../galleries/beardsleye/examherald_e.jpg).

1904 ~ Birthday of Count Basie (http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_basie_count.htm), Bandleader.

1936 ~ Birthday of Wilt Chamberlain, Basketball Hall of Famer.

1940 ~ Death of Leon Trotsky (http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/index.htm), exiled Russian revolutionary.

1959 ~ Hawaii was admitted as the 50th U.S. state (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0821.html#article).

1973 ~ Birthday of Sergey Brin, Co-founder of Google.

1983 ~ Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. was murdered (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/21/newsid_2534000/2534945.stm) moments after stepping off a plane at Manila International Airport.

1986 ~ Suffocating gas erupted from volcanic Lake Nyos (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/mhalb/nyos/) in Cameroon, killing more than 1,700.

1991 ~ A hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian federation President Boris N. Yeltsin.

[jseal]

1485 ~ The Battle of Bosworth Field (http://www.pomian.demon.co.uk/bosworth.htm) ended the Wars of the Roses.

1770 ~ James Cook 's expedition arrived on the east coast of Australia.

1862 ~ Birthday of Claude Debussy, Composer.

1893 ~ Birthday of Dorothy Parker (http://www.dorothyparker.com/), Writer & Wit .

1902 ~ Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to ride in an automobile (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0822.html#article).

1920 ~ Birthday of Ray Bradbury (http://www.raybradbury.com/), science fiction author and fantasy author (Fahrenheit 451).

1962 ~ The Savannah (http://www.atomicinsights.com/jul95/failure.html), the world's first nuclear-powered ship, completed its maiden voyage.

1978 ~ Death of Jomo Kenyatta (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/22/newsid_2500000/2500553.stm), Kenya's founding father.

2001 ~ For the Geeks among us, a sad day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_room_coffee_pot). The Trojan room coffee pot is switched off for the last time.

2007 ~ On a day that will live in MLB infamy, the Baltimore Orioles were whomped by the Texas Rangers, 30 – 3! :yikes:

[jseal]

1305 ~ Execution of William Wallace (http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-vision_reflections/wallace_2774.jsp).

1754 ~ Birthday of King Louis XVI of France.

1833 ~ Slavery was abolished (http://www.anti-slaverysociety.addr.com/huk-1833act.htm) in the English colonies.

1912 ~ Birthday of Gene Kelly (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/kelly_g_homepage.html), Dancer & Actor.

1926 ~ Death of Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor.

1927 ~ Italian-born anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti were executed (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0823.html#article) in Boston.

1962 ~ First live television connection between the United States and Europe, via the Telstar satellite.

1981 ~ Birthday of Carmen Luvana (http://www.clubcarmen.com/), Porn Actress.

1990 ~ Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/23/newsid_2512000/2512289.stm).

1996 ~ Osama bin Laden's fatwa entitled "A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html)" was published in Al Quds Al Arabi.

[jseal]

1456 ~ The printing of the Gutenberg Bible (http://www.ideafinder.com/features/everwonder/won-printbook.htm) was completed.

1880 ~ Birthday of Joshua Lionel Cowen (http://www.lionel.com/), inventor of the toy electric train.

1929 ~ Birthday of Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader.

1932 ~ Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop.

1939 ~ The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8214391.stm) (also known as Nazi-Soviet Pact) was signed.

1960 ~ Birthday of Cal Ripken, Jr. (http://www.ripkenbaseball.com/calripken/bio/), baseball player.

1979 ~ Death of Hanna Reitsch (http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/reitsch.html), German test pilot.

1981 ~ Mark Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.

1992 ~ Hurricane Andrew (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0824.html#article) hit South Florida.

2006 ~ "Planet" was redefined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) such that Pluto is no longer considered a planet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto#IAU_decision_and_the_.22Great_Pluto_War.22).

[jseal]

1835 ~ The New York Sun printed The Great Moon Hoax (http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/moonhoax.html).

1867 ~ Death of Michael Faraday, Scientist.

1875 ~ Matthew Webb became the first man to swim the English Channel (http://www.trivia-library.com/a/first-man-to-swim-the-english-channel-capt-matthew-webb-part-1.htm).

1894 ~ Shibasaburo Kitasato discovered the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and published his findings in The Lancet.

1900 ~ Birthday of Sir Hans Adolf Krebs (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1953/krebs-bio.html), Scientist. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953.

1900 ~ Death of Friedrich Nietzsche (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/), Philosopher.

1918 ~ Birthday of Leonard Bernstein, Conductor & Composer.

1944 ~ Paris was liberated by Allied forces (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0825.html#article) after four years of Nazi occupation.

1982 ~ Voyager 2 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/25/newsid_2535000/2535545.stm) spacecraft flew by Neptune.

1991 ~ Linus Torvalds sent the email announcing his project to create the Linux (http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/Main_Page) operating system.

[jseal]

55 B.C. ~ Julius Caesar invaded Britain.

1071 ~ The Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire at Manzikert (http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/markham.htm).

1498 ~ Michelangelo commissioned to carve the Pieta (http://www.stpetersbasilica.org/Altars/Pieta/Pieta.htm).

1839 ~ The ship Amistad was captured off Long Island.

1847 ~ Liberia was proclaimed an independent republic.

1910 ~ Birthday of Mother Teresa (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html) of Calcutta, Blessed.

1920 ~ The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment19/), guaranteeing women the right to vote, was declared in effect (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0826.html#article).

1961 ~ The International Hockey Hall of Fame opened in Toronto (http://www.hhof.com/html/gi20300.shtml).

1967 ~ Birthday of Kelly Madison (http://www.kellymadison.com/), porn star.

1996 ~ President Clinton signed welfare reform into law (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=104_cong_bills&docid=f:h3734enr.txt.pdf) under his promise to "end welfare as we know it".

[jseal]

1776 ~ British forces under General William Howe defeated the Americans under General George Washington in the Battle of Long Island (http://www.britishbattles.com/long-island.htm).

1813 ~ Napoleon defeated the Austrians, Russians and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.

1828 ~ Krakatoa erupted (http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Krakatau.html); approximately 36,000 people on the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra drowned.

1896 ~ Anglo-Zanzibar War (http://www.neatorama.com/2007/02/21/the-worlds-shortest-and-longest-wars/). With a duration of only 45 minutes, it holds the record of being the shortest war in recorded history.

1908 ~ Birthday of Lyndon B. Johnson (http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/biographys.hom/lbj_bio.asp), 36th U.S. president.

1939 ~ First jet aircraft flight; a Heinkel He 178, piloted by Erich Warsitz.

1945 ~ American troops began landing in Japan following the surrender of the Japanese government in World War II.

1947 ~ Birthday of Harry Reems (http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/feature.jsp?id=146685&page=1), Porn Star (Deep Throat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Throat_(film)), The Devil in Miss Jones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_in_Miss_Jones), etc.).

1962 ~ The Mariner 2 space probe launched (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0827.html#article) to Venus.

1967 ~ Death of Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/27/newsid_3767000/3767499.stm).

[jseal]

430 ~ Death of Augustine of Hippo (http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/augustine/), Philosopher, Theologian.

1749 ~ Birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Philosopher, Scientist.

1828 ~ Birthday of Leo Tolstoy, Author. His “The Law of Love and the Law of Violence” influenced Martin Luther King, Jr.

1845 ~ First issue of Scientific American (http://www.sciam.com/) magazine published.

1850 ~ Richard Wagner's opera “Lohengrin” premiered, from which comes the Bridal Chorus, traditionally played at Western weddings, and commonly known as "Here Comes the Bride (http://www.trivia-library.com/b/story-and-origins-of-famous-songs-here-comes-the-bride.htm)".

1897 ~ Birthday of Charles Boyer (http://www.themave.com/Boyer/), Actor.

1963 ~ During a civil rights rally in at the Lincoln Memorial (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0828.html#article) in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm)” speech.

1988 ~ Ramstein airshow disaster (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ5gMoKlqpI&feature=related): 75 people were killed and 346 seriously injured.

1990 ~ Iraq declared Kuwait to be a province of Iraq.

1991 ~ The collapse of the USSR: Mikhail Gorbachev (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1990/gorbachev-lecture.html) resigned as Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

[dicksbro]

Filling in for jseal for a couple of days while he's busy. Here's today's "Strange Days" for your enjoyment. :thumbs:

1632 ~ Birthday of John Locke (http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Locke.htm), Philosopher.

1896 ~ Chop suey was invented in New York City.

1949 ~ The Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon (http://www.sonicbomb.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=50) at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.

1952 ~ Premiere of John Cage's 4'33" (http://interglacial.com/~sburke/stuff/cage_433.html) in Woodstock, New York.

1957 ~ Sen. Strom Thurmond, D-S.C., ended the longest filibuster in Senate history after talking for 24 hours, 18 minutes against a civil rights bill.

1966 ~ The Beatles performed their last concert, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

1981 ~ Birthday of Lanny Barbie, Canadian Porn actress (http://www.lanniebarby.com/).

1982 ~ Death of Ingrid Bergman (http://www.ingridbergman.com/), Swedish actress.

1991 ~ The Downfall of the Soviet Union: The Supreme Soviet suspended all activities of the Soviet Communist Party (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0829.html#article).

2005 ~ Hurricane Katrina made landfall (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/29/newsid_4947000/4947378.stm) along the Louisiana coast, overwhelming the levees protecting New Orleans and causing massive flooding.

[dicksbro]

1862 ~ Union forces were defeated by the Confederates at the Second Battle of Bull Run (http://www.civilwarhome.com/2manassa.htm) in Manassas, Va..

1871 ~ Birthday of Ernest Rutherford (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1908/rutherford-bio.html), Physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1908.

1909 ~ Burgess Shale fossils (http://paleobiology.si.edu/burgess/) discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott.

1918 ~ Birthday of Baseball hall-of-famer Ted Williams.

1940 ~ Death of J.J. Thomson (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1906/thomson-bio.html), English physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics 1906. Prof. Thomson identified the electron as a subatomic particle, the first one to be discovered. In one of the greatest ironies of modern physics his son, G.P. Thomson (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1937/thomson-bio.html) later received the prize for proving that the electron was also, in fact, a wave.

1963 ~ Hotline between U.S. and Soviet leaders (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0830.html#article) went into operation.

1963 ~ Death of Guy Burgess, English-born Soviet spy.

1987 ~ Thurgood Marshall (http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/marshall.htm) confirmed as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1999 ~ East Timorese voted for independence in a referendum.

2006 ~ Death of Glenn Ford (http://www.glennford.com/), Canadian-born actor.

Tomorrow, jseal will be back! :thumbs:

[jseal]

1879 ~ Birthday of Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel (http://www.alma-mahler.at/engl/almas_life/almas_life.html). This woman knew how to live!

1888 ~ Mary Ann Nichols murdered. She was perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper (http://www.jack-the-ripper-walk.co.uk/jack_the_ripper_history.htm)'s victims.

1918 ~ Birthday of Alan Jay Lerner (http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C42), American composer ( Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady).

1935 ~ Birthday of Frank Robinson (http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-frankrobinson-storygallery,0,6870416.storygallery?coll=bal_sports_baseball_xpromo), Baseball Player, Manager.

1945 ~ Birthday of Itzhak Perlman, Violinist.

1945 ~ Birthday of Van Morrison, Irish musician (“Brown-Eyed Girl", "Moondance" and "Domino").

1962 ~ Trinidad and Tobago (http://www.visittnt.com/) became independent.

1980 ~ Solidarity labor union formed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4194204.stm) in Poland.

1997 ~ Death of Diana, Princess of Wales (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0831.html#article), in a car crash in Paris.

2006 ~ Edvard Munch's stolen painting "The Scream" was recovered.

[jseal]

1653 ~ Birthday of Johann Pachelbel, Composer. Remember the theme music of “Ordinary People”? That’s “Pachelbel's Canon (http://www.helander.se/stefan/pachelbel/files/canonstr.mid)” (which is not really a Canon).

1914 ~ The last Passenger Pigeon died (http://www.eco-action.org/dt/pigeon.html) in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.

1939 ~ Germany attacked Poland (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0901.html#article), beginning World War II.

1946 ~ Birthday of Barry Gibb, English singer (Bee Gees).

1967 ~ Death of Ilse Koch, "The Bitch of Buchenwald", Nazi war criminal.

1967 ~ Death of Siegfried Sassoon (http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/sassoon.htm), English poet.

1972 ~ Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky (http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/7072$wix.htm) to become the world chess champion.

1976 ~ Birthday of Jada Fire (http://www.clubjadafire.com/), Porn actress.

1983 ~ Korean Air Flight KAL-007 was shot down (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/1/newsid_2493000/2493469.stm) by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft entered Soviet airspace.

1985 ~ A joint American-French expedition located the wreck of the RMS Titanic (http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/titanic/technology/technology.html).

[jseal]

31 B.C. ~ Battle of Actium (http://luna.cas.usf.edu/~murray/actium/brochure.html): Off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra. This date is often used for the beginning of the Roman Empire.

1666 ~ The Great Fire of London (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/londonfire.htm) started in Pudding Lane at the house of Thomas Farrinor near London Bridge. Samuel Pepys, a neighbor, was woken by the fire at around 1 AM. The fire burned for three days destroying 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral, but only 16 people are known to have died.

1752 ~ The UK adopted the Gregorian Calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe.

1898 ~ The Battle of Omdurman (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/empire/episodes/episode_68.shtml): British and Egyptian troops led by Horatio Kitchener defeated Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi, establishing British dominance in the Sudan.

1945 ~ The official surrender of Japan was accepted by General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0902.html#article) from a delegation led by Mamoru Shigemitsu, aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, bringing World War II to an end.

1948 ~ Birthday of Christa McAuliffe (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/mcauliffe.html), schoolteacher & astronaut.

1964 ~ Death of Alvin York (http://www.worldwar1.com/heritage/sgtayork.htm), Hero. He was the most decorated American soldier of World War I.

1969 ~ Death of Ho Chi Minh, Vietmamese Revolutionary, President & Prime Minister.

1973 ~ Death of J. R. R. Tolkien (http://www.tolkiensociety.org/), British writer.

1991 ~ The U.S. recognized the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

[jseal]

301 ~ San Marino, the world's oldest republic still in existence, was founded by Saint Marinus.

1658 ~ Death of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England.

1875 ~ Birthday of Ferdinand Porsche (http://www.autohistory.org/feature_6.html), German automotive engineer.

1893 ~ Death of James Harrison (http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/089.html#366), Australian pioneer of mechanical refrigeration.

1939 ~ World War II: France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/3/newsid_3493000/3493279.stm).

1954 ~ The last new episode of The Lone Ranger (http://www.radiohof.org/adventuredrama/loneranger.html) was aired on radio after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years.

1962 ~ Death of e. e. cummings (http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/), poet.

1976 ~ The Viking 2 spacecraft landed on Mars (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0903.html#article) and took the first close-up, color photos of the planet's surface.

1995 ~ eBay founded. (with a little help from Oldfart :) )

2004 ~ More than 300 people die at the end of a three-day siege at a school in Beslan, Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_hostage_crisis).

[Oldfart]

1995 ~ eBay founded. (despite a little help from Oldfart )

[jseal]

476 ~ Romulus Augustus (http://www.roman-empire.net/collapse/romulus.html), the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed.

1781 ~ Los Angeles was founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula (The City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula (http://www.lasangelitas.org/articles/city_of_angels_name.htm)).

1824 ~ Birthday of Anton Bruckner, Composer.

1888 ~ George Eastman registered the trademark Kodak.

1907 ~ Death of Edvard Grieg (http://www.mnc.net/norway/EHG.htm), Norwegian Composer.

1957 ~ The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel (http://www.edsel.com/).

1957 ~ The Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution in Great Britain came to the conclusion that outlawing homosexuality impinged upon civil liberties (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/4/newsid_3007000/3007686.stm).

1965 ~ Death of Albert Schweitzer (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1952/schweitzer-bio.html), Physician, J.S. Bach interpreter, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 1952.

1995 ~ Death of William Kunstler, Attorney.

1998 ~ Google was founded (http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C2119530) by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

[dicksbro]

El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula? Can you imagine how big the envelopes would have to be just to write down your return address? Whew! That's a mouthful.

[jseal]

1735 ~ Birthday of Johann Christian Bach (http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/bachjc.html), Composer, son of Johann Sebastian Bach.

1793 ~ The French National Convention voted to implement terror measures to enforce the principles (http://britannia.com/history/euro/1/2_2.html) of the French Revolution.

1847 ~ Birthday of Jesse James (http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/james/1.html), outlaw.

1857 ~ Birthday of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (http://www.spaceline.org/history/21.html), Visionary & Pioneer of Astronautics.

1882 ~ The first Labor Day parade in the U.S. was held in New York City.

1939 ~ The U.S. declared its neutrality in World War II.

1957 ~ “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac was published.

1972 ~ A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacked Israeli athletes (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0905.html#article) at the Munich Olympic Games.

1982 ~ Death of Douglas Bader (http://www.acesofww2.com/UK/aces/bader.htm), World War II RAF fighter pilot.

1997 ~ Death of Mother Teresa (http://www.ewtn.com/motherteresa/), Inspiration.

[Oldfart]

Tsiolkovskiy ande James only 10 years apart in birth. Vandal versus Visionary.

[jseal]

Each an example of the opposing ends of the societal bell curve distribution?

[jseal]

1620 ~ The Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower[/URL] from Plymouth, England, to settle in North America.

1766 ~ Birthday of John Dalton (http://dl.clackamas.cc.or.us/ch104-04/dalton's.htm), British chemist and physicist. He was one of the earlier proponents of the atomic theory.

1847 ~ Henry Thoreau (http://www.transcendentalists.com/1thorea.html) left Walden Pond (http://www.walden.org/Map_WW.htm) and moved in with Ralph Waldo Emerson (http://www.transcendentalists.com/1emerson.html) and his family in Concord, Massachusetts.

1928 ~ Birthday of Robert Pirsig, Author (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (http://www.ram.org/ramblings/books/zen_and_the_art_of_motorcycle_maintenance.html)).

1941 ~ The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word "Jew" inscribed, was extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas.

1965 ~ India invaded West Pakistan. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/6/newsid_3632000/3632092.stm)

1986 ~ Birthday of Raven Riley (http://tour4.ravenriley.com/?nats=NjM6Mzox&p=1), Porn Actress.

1995 ~ Cal Ripken Jr. (http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=121222) broke Lou Gehrig's record of playing 2,131 consecutive baseball games.

1996 ~ Eddie Murray (http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=119579) became the 15th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Oriole Park in Baltimore, Maryland.

2005 ~ The California Legislature became the first legislative body in the U.S. to approve same-sex marriages.

[jseal]

1776 ~ World's first submarine attack (http://www.submarine-history.com/NOVAone.htm). American submersible craft Turtle attempted to attach a bomb to the hull of the British flagship Eagle in New York Harbor.

1907 ~ RMS Lusitania set sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.

1908 ~ Birthday of Dr. Michael DeBakey, Heart Surgeon and inventor of the MASH.

1912 ~ Birthday of David Packard (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/bios/packard.html), Electrical Engineer.

1940 ~ The Blitz (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0907.html#article) – Under orders from Adolf Hitler, the Luftwaffe began to bomb London. This was the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing.

1977 ~ The U.S. agreed to transfer control of the Panama Canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.

1986 ~ Desmond Tutu (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1984/tutu-bio.html) becomes the first black to lead the Anglican Church in South Africa.

1992 ~ Ciskei soldiers kill 24 at political rally (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/7/newsid_2502000/2502607.stm).

1994 ~ Death of James Clavell, Author (Shogun) & Screenwriter (To Sir, with Love (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062376/); The Great Escape (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/)).

1997 ~ Death of Mobutu Sese Seko (http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9709/07/mobutu.wrap/), dictator of Zaire.

[jseal]

1636 ~ Harvard College founded as the first college in the Americas.

1886 ~ Birthday of Siegfried Sassoon (http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/sassoon.htm), Poet (http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/8103/Sassoon1.html).

1925 ~ Birthday of Peter Sellers, Actor (A Shot in the Dark, Dr. Strangelove, The Pink Panther, etc.).

1930 ~ 3M began marketing Scotch transparent tape.

1941 ~ Siege of Leningrad (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/leningrad.htm) began.

1944 ~ London was hit by a V2 rocket (http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=71652) for the first time.

1949 ~ Death of Richard Strauss (http://www.richard-strauss.com/biography.html), Composer.

1966 ~ The first episode of the science fiction television series “Star Trek (http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/episode/68672.html)” aired.

1970 ~ Death of Percy Spencer, inventor of the microwave oven.

1974 ~ President Ford granted an unconditional pardon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0908.html#article) to former President Nixon.

1981 ~ Death of Hideki Yukawa, the Japanese physicist who proposed the meson elementary particle, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1949 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1949/yukawa-bio.html).

[jseal]

1585 ~ Birthday of Cardinal Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu (http://www2.lucidcafe.com/lucidcafe/library/95sep/richelieu.html), French statesman.

1776 ~ The Continental Congress officially named their new country the United States.

1828 ~ Birthday of Leo Tolstoy (http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/), Russian novelist (Anna Karenina, War and Peace).

1945 ~ Admiral Grace Hopper discovered the first computer bug (http://www.waterholes.com/~dennette/1996/hopper/bug.htm).

1967 ~ Birthday of Anna Malle, Porn Star (http://www.annamalle.com/).

1976 ~ Death of Mao Zedong (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0909.html#article), chief architect of the Chinese Communist Revolution.

1987 ~ Extradition to Belgium of twenty-five English football fans (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/9/newsid_2503000/2503885.stm) involved in the Heysel stadium disaster.

1993 ~ The Palestine Liberation Organization (P.L.O.) officially recognized Israel as a legitimate state.

2001 ~ The leader of the Northern Alliance, Ahmed Shah Massoud, was assassinated (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0110/junger.html) in Afghanistan.

2003 ~ Death of Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist, "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb".

[jseal]

1846 ~ Elias Howe was granted a patent for the sewing machine.

1942 ~ Birthday of Stephen Jay Gould (http://www.stephenjaygould.org/), American paleontologist.

1943 ~ World War II: German forces began their occupation of Rome.

1945 ~ Vidkun Quisling sentenced to death for collaboration with Nazi Germany.

1960 ~ Birthday of Colin Firth (http://www.firth.com/), Actor (Shakespeare in Love, Bridget Jones's Diary, Love Actually).

1971 ~ Death of Nikita Khrushchev (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSkhrushchev.htm), Premier of the Soviet Union.

1977 ~ Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of murder, became the last person to be executed by the guillotine (http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/guillotine.html) in France.

1990 ~ The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro (http://www.answers.com/topic/basilica-of-our-lady-of-peace-of-yamoussoukro), the largest church in Africa and perhaps the world, consecrated by Pope John Paul II.

2000 ~ British paratroopers rescued (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/10/newsid_2504000/2504535.stm) six held hostage by the "West Side Boys".

2008 ~ CERN (http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/Welcome.html)'s Large Hadron Collider (http://dvice.com/archives/2008/09/exploring_the_l.php) (LHC) is finally powered up.

[jseal]

1297 ~ William Wallace led a Scottish army to defeat the English in the Battle of Stirling Bridge (http://www.scotclans.com/history/1297_stirling.html).

1711 ~ Birthday of William Boyce (http://www.geocities.com/vienna/strasse/4475/boyce.html), Composer.

1914 ~ In one of the earlier military engagements of WWI, Australian forces defeat Germans in New Britain.

1948 ~ Death of Muhammad Ali Jinnah ( http://www.storyofpakistan.com/person.asp?perid=P009&Pg=1), first Governor-General of Pakistan.

1973 ~ A military coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/11/newsid_3199000/3199155.stm) toppled elected Marxist President Salvador Allende.

1987 ~ CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather, angry over being preempted for a tennis match, walked off the set, leaving affiliates with six minutes of an empty news desk.

1987 ~ Death of Lorne Greene, Canadian actor.

2001 ~ The September 11 terrorist attacks (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0911.html#article) destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City, part of The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and crashed a passenger airliner in Pennsylvania. In total, almost 3,000 were killed.

2002 ~ Death of Johnny Unitas (http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=219), Football Hall of Famer.

2007 ~ Russia tests the largest conventional weapon ever, the "Father of All Bombs (http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003720.html)".

[jseal]

490 B.C. ~ The Athenians defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/marathon.htm).

1683 ~ The Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Battle of Vienna.

1814 ~ War of 1812: An American detachment halted the British land advance to Baltimore in the Battle of North Point (http://battlenorthpoint.org/).

1880 ~ Birthday of H.L. Mencken (http://www.io.com/gibbonsb/mencken.html), Journalist, Author.

1913 ~ Birthday of Jesse Owens (http://www.jesseowens.com/), American track and field athlete.

1940 ~ Cave paintings discovered in Lascaux, France.

1959 ~ First episode of Bonanza (http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=Bonanza+). First regularly-scheduled TV program presented in color.

1977 ~ Death of Steve Biko (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0912.html#article), South African anti-apartheid activist.

1992 ~ Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Shining Path, was captured.

2003 ~ Death of Johnny Cash (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/12/newsid_3595000/3595300.stm), Country Music Great.

[jseal]

1819 ~ Birthday of Clara Schumann (http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/1945/WSB/clara.html), Pianist, Composer.

1857 ~ Birthday of Milton S. Hershey (http://www.hersheys.com/discover/milton/milton.asp), chocolate entrepreneur and founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company.

1899 ~ Death of Henry Bliss, the first man in the U.S. to be killed in an automobile accident.

1948 ~ Margaret Chase Smith was elected senator, and became the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

1971 ~ Frank Robinson (http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=121311) became the 11th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.

1977 ~ Death of Leopold Stokowski, Conductor.

1982 ~ Lindy Chamberlain's "dingo baby trial (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/13/newsid_3638000/3638248.stm)" opened in Australia.

1979 ~ Birthday of Catalina Cruz (http://www.sweetspicy.com/catalina-cruz.html), Porn Actress (http://www.catalinacruz.com/t1/revscf=marcym25/home.html).

1993 ~ Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shake hands on a peace deal (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0913.html#article).

2006 ~ Kimveer Gill kills one student and wounds 19 others (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/dawson-college/) at Dawson College in Montreal.

[jseal]

1752 ~ The British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar (http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa041301c.htm), skipping eleven days (September 2 was followed directly by September 14 that year).

1760 ~ Birthday of Luigi Cherubini, Composer.

1814 ~ Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner (http://americanhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/).

1927 ~ Death of Isadora Duncan (http://www.isadoraduncan.org/about_isadora.html), Dancer.

1959 ~ The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashed onto the Moon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0914.html#article), becoming the first man-made object to reach it.

1967 ~ Birthday of Ashlyn Gere (http://www.ashlyngere.com/bio.html), Porn actress.

1982 ~ Death of Princess Grace of Monaco (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/14/newsid_2516000/2516601.stm).

1994 ~ The Major League Baseball season was canceled (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Major_League_Baseball_strike) because of a players’ strike.

1996 ~ Death of Juliet Prowse, British actress & dancer.

2005 ~ A federal judge in San Francisco ruled the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools unconstitutional.

[jseal]

1254 ~ Birthday of Marco Polo, Italian explorer.

1789 ~ Birthday of James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist.

1928 ~ Alexander Fleming (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html) noticed a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.

1929 ~ Birthday of Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1969 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1969/gell-mann-bio.html).

1950 ~ The U.N. staged its fist offensive operation in the Korean War; an amphibious assault at Inchon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/15/newsid_3633000/3633301.stm).

1963 ~ The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0915.html#article) kills four children in Birmingham, Alabama.

1975 ~ Papua New Guinea gained independence from Australia.

1977 ~ Death of Maria Callas (http://www.serendipity.li/callas.html), Opera Diva.

1981 ~ The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved Sandra Day O'Connor (http://www.oyez.org/justices/sandra_day_oconnor/) to the U.S. Supreme Court.[/QUOTE]

2008 ~ Lehman Brothers (http://www.lehman.com/) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

[jseal]

1736 ~ Death of Gabriel Fahrenheit (http://www.bookrags.com/biography/gabriel-daniel-fahrenheit/), German Physicist.

1810 ~ Fr. Miguel Hidalgo proclaimed Mexico's independence from Spain.

1940 ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act (http://www.sss.gov/backgr.htm).

1959 ~ French President De Gaulle recognized Algerian right of self determination.

1968 ~ Candidate Richard Nixon appeared on Laugh-in (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/R/htmlR/rowanandmar/rowanandmar.htm).

1974 ~ U.S. President Ford announced a conditional amnesty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0916.html#article) program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.

1987 ~ The Montreal Protocol (http://www.afeas.org/montreal_protocol.html) was signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion.

1991 ~ The trial of Manuel Noriega began.

1992 ~ The Pound Sterling was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/16/newsid_2519000/2519013.stm) by currency speculators and devalued against the Deutschmark.

1996 ~ The Howard Stern Radio Show (http://www.howardstern.com/) premiered.

[jseal]

1862 ~ Union forces repelled a Confederate invasion of Maryland in the Civil War Battle of Antietam (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0917.html#article).

1908 ~ Death of Lt. Thomas Selfridge, first to die in an airplane crash.

1929 ~ Birthday of Sir Stirling Moss (http://www.stirlingmoss.com/), Formula One racer.

1939 ~ The Soviet Union joined Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland.

1970 ~ Civil war (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/17/newsid_4575000/4575159.stm) broke out in Jordan.

1972 ~ "M.A.S.H. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068098/)" premiered on CBS.

1976 ~ Birthday of Daniella Rush, Czech Pornographic Star.

1978 ~ The Camp David Accords (http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/campdavid/accords.phtml) were signed by Israeli and Egyptian representatives.

1980 ~ The first independent Polish trade union, Solidarity (http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl/en/index.htm), was established after weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk.

1994 ~ Death of Karl Popper (http://elm.eeng.dcu.ie/~tkpw/), Austrian philosopher.

[jseal]

1709 ~ Birthday of Samuel Johnson (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8255720.stm), Essayist & Critic.

1733 ~ Birthday of George Read, signer of the American Declaration of Independence.

1759 ~ The British capture Quebec City.

1819 ~ Birthday of Leon Foucault, Physicist.

1927 ~ Columbia Broadcasting System (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/columbiabroa/columbiabroa.htm) went on the air.

1947 ~ The U.S. Air Force became an independent service (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0918.html#article).

1961 ~ Death of Dag Hammarskjöld (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1961/hammarskjold-bio.html), Secretary General of the UN.

1970 ~ Death of Jimi Hendrix (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/18/newsid_3528000/3528692.stm), Rock Musician.

1971 ~ Birthday of Lance Armstrong (http://www.lancearmstrong.com/), Cyclist Extraordinaire.

1998 ~ ICANN (http://www.icann.org/) was formed.

[jseal]

1737 ~ Birthday of Charles Carroll of Carrollton (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/carroll.htm), Declaration of Independence Signer, Senator.

1796 ~ George Washington made his farewell address (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp).

1900 ~ Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (http://www.bolivia.freehosting.net/Butch.htm) robbed the First National Bank of $32,640.

1934 ~ Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Junior.

1935 ~ Death of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (http://www.informatics.org/museum/tsiol.html), rocket scientist, physicist.

1941 ~ Birthday of Mama Cass Elliott, musician.

1945 ~ Lord Haw Haw (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/entertainers/radio/lord-haw-haw/) (William Joyce) sentenced to death in London.

1949 ~ Birthday of Twiggy (http://www.twiggylawson.co.uk/), English model.

1989 ~ A terrorist bomb exploded in a UTA DC-10 above Niger killing 171.

1991 ~ Ötzi the Iceman (http://www.iceman.it/) ws discovered by German tourists.

[jseal]

1519 ~ Ferdinand Magellan set out from Spain on a voyage to find a western passage to the Spice Islands in Indonesia.

1934 ~ Birthday of Sophia Loren (http://www.sophialoren.org/), Italian actress.

1948 ~ Birthday of George R. R. Martin, Science Fiction Writer.

1970 ~ The Soviet probe Luna 16 collected moon soil samples (http://www.zarya.info/Diaries/Luna/Luna16.php) for return to earth.

1973 ~ Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0920.html#article) in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a $100,000 winner-take-all “Battle of the Sexes“ tennis match.

1984 ~ A suicide car bomber attacked the U.S. Embassy (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/20/newsid_2525000/2525197.stm) annex in north Beirut, killing 20 people.

2000 ~ After playing 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles, Cal Ripken, Jr took a day off.

2000 ~ Death of Gherman Titov (http://www.space.com/peopleinterviews/titov_obit_000921.html), cosmonaut.

2004 ~ CBS News apologized for a "mistake in judgment (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/20/politics/main644546.shtml)" in its story questioning President George W. Bush's National Guard service, saying it could not vouch for the authenticity of documents featured in the report.

2005 ~ Death of Simon Wiesenthal (http://www.kintera.org/site/pp.asp?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=242921), Nazi hunter.

[jseal]

19 BC ~ Death of Virgil, Roman poet. (Aeneid, etc.)

1756 ~ Birthday of John MacAdam (http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/macadam_john.htm), road builder.

1780 ~ Benedict Arnold (http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/arnold.html) gave the British the plans to West Point.

1866 ~ Birthday of H. G. Wells (http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/), science fiction author.

1874 ~ Birthday of Gustav Holst (http://www.gustavholst.info/), Composer.

1897 ~ The Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus (http://beebo.org/smackerels/yes-virginia.html) letter was published in the New York Sun.

1937 ~ The Hobbit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit), by J.R.R. Tolkien first published.

1947 ~ Birthday of Stephen King, Author.

2003 ~ The Galileo mission was terminated (http://www.nasa.gov/news/mission/galileo_dies.html) by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere.

2008 ~ And then there were none: The last two independent Wall Street investment banks, Goldman Sachs & Morgan Stanley, become bank holding companies as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.

[jseal]

1791 ~ Birthday of Michael Faraday, Scientist.

1828 ~ Death of Shaka Zulu (http://www.carpenoctem.tv/military/shaka.html), Zulu leader.

1862 ~ President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0922.html#article).

1869 ~ Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold (http://www.rwagner.net/opere/e-t-rheingold.html) opened in Munich.

1910 ~ The Duke of York's Cinema (http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema_history.aspx?venueId=doyb), the oldest continually operating cinema in the UK, opened in Brighton.

1964 ~ ”Fiddler on the Roof”, the first musical to surpass 3,000 performances, opened at the Imperial Theatre.

1975 ~ Sara Jane Moore’s assassination attempt (http://www.geocities.com/proprioter/y_moore.html) on U.S. President Gerald Ford was foiled by Oliver Sipple (http://www.randomhouse.com/features/americancentury/imperialpres.html).

1980 ~ Iraq invaded Iran (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/22/newsid_4242000/4242336.stm).

1972 ~ Birthday of Dana Vespoli (http://www.clubdanavespoli.com/), porn actress.

2001 ~ Death of Isaac Stern, Violinist.

[jseal]

63 B.C. ~ Birthday of Caesar Augustus (http://www.roman-emperors.org/auggie.htm), 1st Roman Emperor.

1642 ~ First commencement at Harvard College.

1806 ~ Discovery of Neptune (http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Neptune_and_Pluto.html) by French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier.

1884 ~ Herman Hollerith applied for a patent on his mechanical adding machine.

1920 ~ Birthday of Mickey Rooney (http://www.mickeyrooney.com/), actor.

1930 ~ Birthday of Ray Charles (http://www.history-of-rock.com/ray_charles.htm), U.S. R&B and jazz musician, singer.

1952 ~ Richard Nixon made his “Checkers speech (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0923.html#article)".

1972 ~ Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/philippines/philippines.html) introduced a dictatorial government.

1982 ~ Birthday of Shyla Stylez (http://www.shylastylezvip.com/), Porn Actress.

2002 ~ The first public version of the Firefox web browser was released.

[jseal]

622 ~ Muhammad (http://www.muhammad.net/biographies-mainmenu-38/23-short-biographies-and-commentaries.html) completed his hegira from Mecca to Medina.

1755 ~ Birthday of John Marshall (http://www.oyez.org/justices/john_marshall), the fourth and longest-serving Chief Justice of the American Supreme Court.

1890 ~ As a pre-condition to Utah being admitted to the U.S., the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons (http://www.lds.org/site_main_menu/frameset-global.html)) officially renounced polygamy.

1957 ~ President Eisenhower sent Army troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.

1976 ~ The Rhodesian Government agreed to introduce black majority rule to the country within two years.

1979 ~ Birthday of Sabrine Maui, Filipina Porn Actress.

1979 ~ Birthday of Katja Kassin (http://www.meetkatja.com/home.php), German Porn Actress.

1988 ~ Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson beat Carl Lewis in the 100 Meters sprint (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/24/newsid_2529000/2529005.stm) at the Seoul Olympics. Mr. Johnson was later disqualified for using performance enhancing drugs.

1991 ~ Death of Dr. Seuss (http://www.catinthehat.org/history.htm), Writer.

1996 ~ President Clinton signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0924.html#article) at the United Nations.

[jseal]

1683 ~ Birthday of Jean-Philippe Rameau, Composer.

1890 ~ Yosemite National Park (http://www.yosemitepark.com/) established.

1897 ~ Birthday of William Faulkner, American writer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-speech.html).

1932 ~ Birthday of Glenn Gould, Pianist.

1950 ~ UN forces recaptured Seoul (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/25/newsid_4606000/4606807.stm), the South Korean capital.

1957 ~ U.S. Army paratroopers ended the Little Rock school crisis (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0925.html#article).

1981 ~ Sandra Day O'Connor (http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96mar/oconnor.html) was sworn in as the 102nd Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the first woman to hold the office.

1983 ~ Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov averted World War III (http://www.brightstarsound.com/world_hero/article.html) by refusing to accept - despite the (erroneous) alert given by the Soviet early warning system - that the U.S. had launched missiles against the USSR.

2002 ~ The Vitim event (http://www.meteorites.com.au/odds&ends/russia.html), a possible NEO impact in Siberia, Russia.

2008 ~ China launched its third human spaceflight, Shenzhou 7.

[jseal]

1687 ~ The Parthenon in Athens (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=Perseus:image:1987.09.0276) was partially destroyed after an explosion caused by the bombing from the Venetian forces besieging the Ottoman Turks.

1888 ~ Birthday of T. S. Eliot, Poet.

1898 ~ Birthday of George Gershwin (http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/gershwin.html), Composer.

1944 ~ Allied troops began a retreat from Arnhem (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/26/newsid_3523000/3523972.stm).

1948 ~ Birthday of Olivia Newton-John, Singer.

1957 ~ ”West Side Story (http://www.westsidestory.com/news.php)” opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre.

1960 ~ Kennedy and Nixon met in the first nationally televised debate between presidential candidates (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0926.html#article).

1977 ~ Birthday of Kaylynn (http://www.kaylynn.com/), Porn Actress.

1980 ~ Birthday of Jane Darling (http://www.janedarling.com/), Porn Actress

1983 ~ Australia II won the “America’s Cup”.

[jseal]

1389 ~ Birthday of Cosimo de Medici, Florentine ruler.

1540 ~ The Jesuit Order (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14081a.htm) received its charter from Pope Paul III.

1722 ~ Birthday of Samuel Adams, Patriot & Brewer.

1917 ~ Death of Edgar Degas (http://www.expo-degas.com/), Impressionist painter.

1918 ~ Birthday of Sir Martin Ryle (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1974/ryle-autobio.html), English physicist and astronomer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1974 .

1921 ~ Death of Engelbert Humperdinck, Composer.

1964 ~ The Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0927.html#article) in assassinating President Kennedy.

1996 ~ The Taliban drove the government of Afghani President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of the capital Kabul. They then dragged former leader Mohammad Najibullah out of the U.N. compound and hanged him from a traffic light pole (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/27/newsid_2539000/2539973.stm).

1998 ~ The Google (http://www.google.com/tenthbirthday/) web search engine was launched.

2001 ~ An armed man went on a shooting rampage in Zug, Switzerland (http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/09/27/switzerland.shooting/index.html), killing 14 people before taking his own life.

[jseal]

1066 ~ William the Conqueror invaded England, landing at Pevensey, Sussex (http://www.essentialnormanconquest.com/timeline/timeline_28_sep.htm).

1915 ~ Birthday of Ethel Rosenberg, Spy (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040806.html).

1924 ~ The first round-the-world flight (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0928.html#article) completed. It took 175 days.

1925 ~ Birthday of Seymour Cray, Computer Scientist.

1928 ~ Alexander Fleming discovered what later became known as penicillin, for which he shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html).

1953 ~ Death of Edwin Hubble, Astronomer.

1976 ~ Stevie Wonder released Songs in the Key of Life (http://steviewonder.free.fr/html/album22.html).

1995 ~ Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat signed an accord to transfer much of the West Bank to the control of its Arab residents (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/28/newsid_4187000/4187582.stm).

1988 ~ Death of Charles Addams, Cartoonist, creator of The Adams Family (http://www.addamsfamily.com/).

2000 ~ Death of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada.

[jseal]

1547 ~ Birthday of Miguel de Cervantes (http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/cervantes/biography/new_english_cerv_bio.html), Author (Don Quixote (http://quixote.mse.jhu.edu/)).

1714 ~ George, Elector of Hanover (http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon53.html), arrived in Greenwich to assume the British throne as King George I. (Thanks dm383!)

1758 ~ Birthday of Horatio Nelson, English icon.

1901 ~ Birthday of Enrico Fermi (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1938/fermi-bio.html), Italian physicist. Awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1916 ~ John D. Rockefeller became the first billionaire.

1957 ~ The New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds.

1960 ~ Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupted a meeting of the UN (http://halldor2.wordpress.com/2006/09/21/429/) General Assembly.

1962 ~ Alouette 1 (http://www.spaceref.ca/news/viewpr.html?pid=9361), the first Canadian satellite was launched.

1978 ~ Death of Pope John Paul (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/29/newsid_2542000/2542375.stm), who reigned just 33 days.

2004 ~ The asteroid 4179 Toutatis (http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/4179_Toutatis/toutatis.html) passed within 964,000 miles of Earth.

[jseal]

1791 ~ Mozart's opera “The Magic Flute (http://www.magicflutefilm.com/#main)” premiered in Vienna, Austria.

1913 ~ Death of Rudolf Diesel (http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1435.htm), German inventor.

1924 ~ Birthday of Truman Capote (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/capote_t.html), Author (In Cold Blood (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061809/)).

1927 ~ Babe Ruth became the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season.

1938 ~ British, French, German and Italian leaders agreed that Nazi Germany would be allowed to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0930.html#article).

1954 ~ The submarine USS Nautilus (http://www.subguru.com/nautilus571.htm) was commissioned as the first nuclear reactor powered vessel.

1955 ~ Death of James Dean (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/30/newsid_3722000/3722463.stm), American actor.

1982 ~ Birthday of Tory Lane (http://www.torylanexxx.net/), Porn Actress.

1991 ~ President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti was forced from office.

1999 ~ Japan's worst nuclear accident occurred at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tokai-mura, northeast of Tokyo.

[jseal]

1903 ~ The visiting Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Boston Americans 7-3 in the first World Series game (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/wsmenu.shtml).

1905 ~ The Julliard School of Music (http://www.juilliard.edu/about/history.html) was founded in New York City.

1939 ~ British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during a radio broadcast described the Soviet Union as ''a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma''.

1943 ~ The International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremburg sentenced 12 Nazi leaders to death.

1949 ~ The People's Republic of China was formed with Mao Zedong (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/) as its head.

1961 ~ The New York Yankees' Roger Maris hit his 61st home run (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1001.html#article) of the season.

1968 ~ The cult horror movie "Night of the Living Dead (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063350/)" had its world premiere in Pittsburgh.

1971 ~ Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/parkLanding?id=MKLandingPage). Eventually it would become the largest, man-made, tourist attraction in the world.

1976 ~ Birthday of Dora Venter (http://www.doraventer.hu/home.html), Hungarian Porn Actress.

1979 ~ The United States returned sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.

[jseal]

1187 ~ Saladin captured Jerusalem (http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/saladin.htm) after 88 years of Crusader rule.

1800 ~ Birthday of Nat Turner, leader of an American slave uprising.

1836 ~ Charles Darwin returned to England (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/darwin.htm) after a 5-year journey aboard the HMS Beagle collecting data he will later use to develop his theory of evolution.

1869 ~ Birthday of Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (http://www.mkgandhi.org/), Indian political leader.

1890 ~ Birthday of Groucho Marx (http://www.groucho-marx.com/), American comedian and actor.

1904 ~ Birthday of Graham Greene, British novelist.

1935 ~ Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

1967 ~ Thurgood Marshall sworn in (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1002.html#article) as the first African-American justice of United States Supreme Court.

1985 ~ Death of Rock Hudson (http://www.cmgww.com/stars/hudson/), Actor.

1993 ~ Hardline Communists riot in Moscow (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/2/newsid_2486000/2486383.stm).

[dicksbro]

1869 ~ Birthday of Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (http://www.mkgandhi.org/), Indian political leader.

I always love the quote when asked by a reporter about "Western Civilization" ... his reply, "I think it's a good idea. :)"

[jseal]

1873 ~ Birthday of Emily Post, etiquette advisor.

1900 ~ Birthday of Thomas Wolfe, American novelist.

1916 ~ Birthday of James Herriot (http://www.jamesherriot.org/life.php), veterinarian, author.

1922 ~ Rebecca L. Felton (http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Speeches_Felton.htm), D-Ga., became the first woman to be seated in the U.S. Senate. She was appointed to serve out the remaining term of Sen. Thomas E. Watson.

1925 ~ Birthday of Gore Vidal (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/vidal_g.html), author.

1967 ~ Death of Woody Guthrie (http://www.woodyguthrie.org/), folk musician.

1973 ~ Frank Robinson (http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=121311) was named major league baseball's first black manager as he was put in charge of the Cleveland Indians.

1990 ~ The re-unification of Germany. East Germany ceased to exist (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1003.html#article).

1995 ~ A jury found O.J. Simpson not guilty of murder (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/3/newsid_2486000/2486673.stm) in the 1994 slayings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman.

1997 ~ Attorney General Janet Reno said she had found no evidence that President Bill Clinton broke the law with White House coffees and overnight stays for big contributors.

[jseal]

1903 ~ Birthday of John Vincent Atanasoff (http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/do_Atanasoff.html), inventor of the digital electronic computer.

1924 ~ Birthday of Charlton Heston, Actor.

1941 ~ Birthday of Anne Rice (http://www.annerice.com/), Author.

1943 ~ Birthday of H. Rap Brown (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/13/national/main503687.shtml), civil rights activist & murderer.

1957 ~ Launch of Sputnik I (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1004.html#article), the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

1983 ~ The first Hooters restaurant opened in Clearwater, Florida.

1985 ~ Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org/) founded.

1993 ~ Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered the army to begin storming the Russian parliament building.

2002 ~ John Walker Lindh, the “American Taliban (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/terrorists/john-walker-lindh/)”, received a 20-year sentence.

2004 ~ The SpaceShipOne rocket plane (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6167761/) broke through Earth's atmosphere for the second time in five days to capture a $10 million prize.

[jseal]

1805 ~ Death of Charles Cornwallis, British general.

1813 ~ Death of Tecumseh, American Indian leader.

1882 ~ Birthday of Robert Goddard (http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/service/gallery/fact_sheets/general/goddard/goddard.htm), rocket scientist.

1902 ~ Birthday of Ray Kroc (http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/kroc.html), founder of McDonald's Corporation.

1947 ~ President Harry Truman gave the first televised White House address (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1005.html#article).

1968 ~ The beginning of The Troubles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles) of Northern Ireland.

1969 ~ “Monty Python's Flying Circus (http://www.pythonline.com/)” made its debut on BBC Television.

1970 ~ Montreal, Quebec: British Trade Commissioner James Cross was kidnapped (http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/readings/october.htm) by members of the FLQ terrorist group.

1994 ~ Forty eight members of a Swiss cult die in a mass suicide.

2000 ~ Mass demonstrations in Belgrade (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/5/newsid_2493000/2493021.stm) led to the resignation of Slobodan Milosevic.

[jseal]

1600 ~ Jacopo Peri's “Euridice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euridice_(opera))”, the earliest surviving opera, premiered in Florence.

1846 ~ Birthday of George Westinghouse, Engineer & Inventor.

1892 ~ Death of Alfred Tennyson (http://incompetech.com/authors/tennyson/), British poet laureate.

1914 ~ Birthday of Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer, leader of the “Kon-Tiki (http://www.kon-tiki.no/Ny/e_aapning.php)” expedition.

1927 ~ Opening of “The Jazz Singer (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018037/)”, the first talking movie.

1948 ~ Birthday of Gerry Adams, Irish politician.

1973 ~ Egyptian troops cross the Suez Canal, starting the Yom Kippur War (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/6/newsid_2514000/2514317.stm).

1981 ~ Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1006.html#article).

1887 ~ Death of Bette Davis, Actress.

1995 ~ The first extrasolar planet (http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/extrasolar/) was discovered orbiting 51 Pegasi, in the constellation of Pegasus.

[jseal]

1571 ~ The Ottoman Empire was defeated at the battle of Lepanto.

1796 ~ Death of Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher.

1849 ~ Death of Edgar Allan Poe (http://www.eapoe.org/), American writer.

1885 ~ Birthday of Niels Bohr (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1922/bohr-bio.html), Physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1922.

1931 ~ Birthday of Desmond Tutu (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1984/tutu-bio.html), South African archbishop and anti-apartheid activist, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

1982 ~ "Cats" opened on Broadway.

1985 ~ The “Achille Lauro (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1007.html#article)” was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.

1986 ~ Birthday of Bree Olson (http://breeolson.com/MCE/bree/0/home), Porn Actress.

2001 ~ The U.S. began its air offensive against al-Qaeda (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/7/newsid_2519000/2519353.stm) and the Taleban in Afghanistan.

2003 ~ California governor Gray Davis was recalled (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/09/18/MN253560.DTL) from office and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[jseal]

1871 ~ The Great Chicago Fire (http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/intro/gcf-index.html) destroyed about 17,450 buildings, killed about 250 people and left another 90,000 homeless.

1920 ~ Birthday of Frank Herbert, Science Fiction writer (http://www.dunenovels.com/).

1949 ~ Birthday of Sigourney Weaver, Actress.

1952 ~ The UK suffered its worst peacetime rail accident (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/8/newsid_3075000/3075197.stm).

1961 ~ In London, the Post Office Tower opened (http://www.lightstraw.co.uk/ate/main/postofficetower/).

1969 ~ Birthday of Julia Ann (http://www.julia-ann.com/home.html), Porn Actress.

1982 ~ Solidarity, and all other labor organizations in Poland, were banned (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1008.html#article).

1992 ~ Death of Willy Brandt, German politician.

2003 ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/8/newsid_3659000/3659108.stm) of California.

2004 ~ Martha Stewart went to jail.

[jseal]

1804 ~ Hobart, Tasmania (http://www.discovertasmania.com/us/), was founded.

1835 ~ Birthday of Camille Saint-Saëns (http://www.saintsaens.com/ssbio/), Composer.

1859 ~ Birthday of Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer.

1940 ~ Birthday of John Lennon, Musician & Songwriter.

1942 ~ The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act (http://www.statusquo.org/aru_constitution/index.html) formalized Australian autonomy.

1948 ~ Birthday of Jackson Browne (Doctor My Eyes, The Pretender, Running On Empty).

1961 ~ Ray Charles' "Hit the Road Jack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Tiz6INF7I)" reached #1.

1967 ~ Guerrilla leader Che Guevara was executed (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1009.html#article) in Bolivia.

1970 ~ Birthday of Savannah (http://adultoutlook.com/nsmith/savannah/index.html), Porn Actress.

1974 ~ Death of Oskar Schindler (http://www.oskarschindler.com/), businessman.

[jseal]

1813 ~ Birthday of Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer.

1845 ~ In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy (http://www.usna.edu///homepage.php)) opened with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors.

1875 ~ Death of Aleksey Tolstoy, Novelist & Poet.

1938 ~ The Sudetenland was ceded to Nazi Germany by the terms of the Munich Agreement (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/munich1.asp).

1966 ~ Simon and Garfunkel released the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (http://www.rhapsody.com/simonandgarfunkel/parsleysagerosemarythyme).

1970 ~ A crisis hit Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier Pierre Laporte became the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group (http://www.uni.ca/sep_origins.html).

1973 ~ Vice President Spiro T. Agnew pleaded no contest (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1010.html#article) to one count of federal income tax evasion and resigned.

1975 ~ Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor remarried.

1980 ~ UK PM Margaret Thatcher gave a defiant speech at the Tory party conference "… I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning! (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/10/newsid_2541000/2541071.stm)"

1985 ~ U.S. Navy F-14s intercepted the plane carrying the “Achille Lauro” cruise ship hijackers (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f-14-combat.htm) and forced it to land at a NATO base in Sicily where they were arrested.

[jseal]

1844 ~ Birthday of Henry Heinz (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/4547/heinz.html), food manufacturer.

1899 ~ In South Africa, a war between the UK and the Boers (http://www.anglo-boer.co.za/) of the Transvaal and Orange Free State began.

1958 ~ Pioneer 1 was launched; it failed to go as far as planned, fell back to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.

1961 ~ Death of Chico Marx (http://www.clown-ministry.com/index_1.php?/site/articles/chico_marx_biography_marx_brothers_i_give_up_why_a_duck/), comedian.

1962 ~ Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council (http://vatican2.org/).

1968 ~ Launch of Apollo 7 (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1011.html#article), the first manned Apollo mission.

1975 ~ The debut of Saturday Night Live (http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/).

1976 ~ China's "Gang of Four (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/11/newsid_4712000/4712306.stm)" was arrested.

1991 ~ Death of Redd Foxx, Comedian & actor.

2002 ~ The U.S. Senate joined the House in approving the use of America's military against Iraq.

[jseal]

1870 ~ Death of Gen. Robert E. Lee (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1012.html#article), Leader.

1872 ~ Birthday of Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer.

1968 ~ Summer Olympics open in Mexico City.

1970 ~ Birthday of Julian (http://www.julianxxx.com/), Porn actor.

1977 ~ Four Palestinians hijacked a Lufthansa Airlines flight to Somalia and demanded release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.

1984 ~ UK PM Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped (http://republican-news.org/archive/2000/August31/31brig.html) an IRA bomb attack.

1986 ~ Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev failed to agree on Star Wars (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/12/newsid_3732000/3732902.stm) at a disarmament summit in Reykjavik.

1999 ~ Death of Wilt Chamberlain (http://www.nba.com/history/players/chamberlain_bio.html), American basketball player.

2000 ~ Terrorists attacked the USS Cole (http://www.pianoladynancy.com/recovery_usscole.htm) in the Yemeni port of Aden.

2002 ~ A terrorist bomb at a Bali nightclub killed 202 people (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/13/1034222664046.html), mainly Australians.

[jseal]

54 ~ Death of Claudius (http://www.roman-emperors.org/claudius.htm), Roman Emperor.

1307 ~ All Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of the French king, to be later tortured into admitting heresy.

1773 ~ Charles Messier (http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/history/biograph.html) discovered the Whirlpool Galaxy (http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/screen/heic0506a.jpg).

1812 ~ Death of Sir Isaac Brock (http://www.warof1812.ca/brock.htm), British general (killed in the Battle of Queenston Heights).

1925 ~ Birthday of Margaret Thatcher (http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/margaret-thatcher), UK PM.

1943 ~ Italy changes alliances from the Axis to the Allies (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1013.html#article).

1982 ~ Birthday of Ian Thorpe, Australian swimmer.

1988 ~ The UK government lost the Spycatcher (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/13/newsid_2532000/2532583.stm) battle

1990 ~ Death of Lê Ðức Thọ, Vietnamese general & politician, awarded one half of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize.

1992 ~ The UK government announced plans to close one third of the coal mines (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199293/cmhansrd/1992-10-19/Debate-1.html).

[jseal]

1066 ~ Battle of Hastings (http://www.regia.org/hastings.htm): The Norman army of William the Conqueror defeated the Saxon army and kill King Harold II of England.

1944 ~ Given the choice between a public treason trial followed by death by firing squad or suicide with honor, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/rommel.htm) chose the latter.

1947 ~ Chuck Yeager flew a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound (http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/bellX1.html), the first man to do so in level flight.

1964 ~ Civil Rights movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1014.html#article) became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1966 ~ Birthday of Savanna Samson (http://www.clubsavannasamson.com/main.php?), Porn Actress.

1977 ~ Death of Bing Crosby, Actor & Singer.

1983 ~ Birthday of Vanessa Lane (http://www.vanessalanevip.com/tour1/?nats=NDozOjg3,0,0,0,0), Porn Actress.

1990 ~ Death of Leonard Bernstein, Composer & Conductor.

1991 ~ Aung San Suu Kyi was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1994 ~ PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shared the Nobel Peace Prize (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/14/newsid_3694000/3694744.stm).

[jseal]

70 BC ~ Birthday of Virgil, Roman poet.

1844 ~ Birthday of Friedrich Nietzsche (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/), Philosopher.

1964 ~ Birthday of P. G. Wodehouse (http://www.pgwodehousesociety.org.uk/), British novelist.

1908 ~ Birthday of John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist.

1917 ~ Mata Hari was executed (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/matahari.htm) by firing squad for spying for Germany.

1964 ~ Nikita Khrushchev “retired” (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1015.html#article) as head of USSR.

1990 ~ Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1990/press.html) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1991 ~ The Senate confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.

1993 ~ Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1993/) were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

2003 ~ China launched its first manned spacecraft (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/15/newsid_3699000/3699842.stm) into orbit, becoming the third country to do so.

[jseal]

1793 ~ Death of Marie Antoinette – guillotined.

1854 ~ Birthday of Oscar Wilde (http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/), Irish writer.

1859 ~ In one of the developments towards the American Civil War, John Brown (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1550.html) led a raid of the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

1916 ~ Planned Parenthood ( http://www.plannedparenthood.org/) founded by Margaret Sanger.

1925 ~ Birthday of Angela Lansbury, actress.

1964 ~ China detonated its first nuclear weapon. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1016.html#article)

1978 ~ Karol Józef Wojtyła became Pope John Paul II (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/16/newsid_3170000/3170452.stm). He was the first non Italian to be elevated to the position since 1522.

1981 ~ Death of Moshe Dayan, Israeli general.

1984 ~ Desmond Tutu (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1984/tutu-bio.html) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1984 ~ Birthday of Melissa Lauren (http://www.melissalauren.fr/main.php), French Porn Actress. Bon appétit!

[jseal]

1915 ~ Birthday of Arthur Miller, Playwright.

1931 ~ Al Capone convicted (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1017.html#article) of income tax evasion.

1935 ~ Death of Santiago Ramón y Cajal (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/articles/cajal/), Spanish neuroscientist.

1956 ~ Queen Elizabeth opened the first commercial nuclear power station (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_3147000/3147145.stm), at Calder Hall.

1968 ~ Olympic protest (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_3535000/3535348.stm) against racial discrimination.

1972 ~ Birthday of Eminem, rap music performer.

1973 ~ Arab oil-producing nations announced they would cut back oil exports to Western nations and Japan; the result was a total embargo that lasted until March 1974 (http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2002/arab.html).

1977 ~ West German commandos stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,945802,00.html) on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the four hijackers.

1979 ~ Mother Teresa of India (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on behalf of the destitute in Calcutta.

1989 ~ The Loma Prieta earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area.

[jseal]

1851 ~ Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville, was first published as The Whale.

1871 ~ Death of Charles Babbage (http://www.charlesbabbage.net/), mathematician and inventor of computing machines.

1919 ~ Birthday of Pierre Trudeau (http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/trudeau-pierre.html), fifteenth PM of Canada.

1922 ~ The British Broadcasting Company (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC) was founded.

1939 ~ Birthday of Lee Harvey Oswald, Assassin.

1954 ~ The Regency Division of Industrial Development Engineering Associates announced the first Transistor radio (http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/tradio.html).

1962 ~ Dr. Watson of the United States, and Drs. Crick and Wilkins of the UK (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/), were named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.

1976 ~ Birthday of Azlea Antistia (http://www.azleaantistiaxxx.com/azlea_antistia_main.asp), Porn Actress.

1989 ~ Erich Honecker was forced to step down (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/18/newsid_2450000/2450783.stm) as leader of East Germany after 18 years in power.

2006 ~ Death of Anna Russell, English music satirist.

[jseal]

1745 ~ Death of Jonathan Swift, Author.

1781 ~ Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown (http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle_yorktown1781.html), effectively ending the American War of Independence.

1812 ~ French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte (http://www.napoleonguide.com/leaders_napoleon.htm) began a retreat from Moscow.

1931 ~ Birthday of John Le Carré (http://www.johnlecarre.com/biography.html), Author.

1937 ~ Death of Ernest Rutherford (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1908/rutherford-bio.html), New Zealand physicist, father of nuclear physics.

1950 ~ Death of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Poet.

1954 ~ Metal fatigue was identified as the cause of Comet crashes (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/october/19/newsid_3112000/3112466.stm).

1969 ~ U.S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew referred to anti-Vietnam War protesters “an effete corps of impudent snobs. (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,839090,00.html)”

1987 ~ The DJI fell by 22% (Black Monday (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1019.html#article)).

2005 ~ The trial of Saddam Hussein began.

[jseal]

1632 ~ Birthday of Sir Christopher Wren, Architect.

1740 ~ Maria Theresa took the throne of Austria.

1803 ~ The U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase (http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/louisiana/).

1882 ~ Birthday of Bela Lugosi (http://www.lugosi.com/biography.html), Actor.

1893 ~ Birthday of Jomo Kenyatta (http://www.africawithin.com/kenyatta/kenyatta_bio.htm), President of Kenya.

1983 ~ Grenada's Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/20/newsid_3720000/3720608.stm), was assassinated.

1973 ~ In the “Saturday Night Massacre (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1020.html#article)”, President Nixon abolished the office of special Watergate prosecutor, accepted the resignation of the Attorney General, and fired Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus.

1973 ~ The Sydney Opera House (http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Sydney_Opera.html) opened.

1984 ~ Death of Paul Dirac (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/dirac-bio.html), awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1933.

1992 ~ The Toronto Blue Jays win the first World Series game outside the U.S.

[jseal]

1772 ~ Birthday of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (http://incompetech.com/authors/coleridge/), Poet (http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html).

1805 ~ A British fleet led by Admiral Lord Nelson defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar (http://www.nelsonsnavy.co.uk/battle-of-trafalgar.html) off the coast of Spain.

1805 ~ Death of Horatio Nelson (http://www.geographia.com/stkitts-nevis/nelson1.htm), 1st Viscount Nelson.

1833 ~ Birthday of Alfred Nobel (http://nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/index.html), Swedish inventor and benefactor of the Nobel Prize.

1854 ~ Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were sent to the Crimean War.

1879 ~ Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1021.html#article).

1917 ~ Birthday of Dizzy Gillespie, Jazz Musician.

1929 ~ Birthday of Ursula K. Le Guin (http://www.ursulakleguin.com/), Science Fiction Author.

1944 ~ The first kamikaze attack (http://www.gunplot.net/aussie/hmasaussie.html): HMAS Australia was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg bomb.

1994 ~ North Korea and the United States signed an agreement requiring North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.

[jseal]

1746 ~ Princeton University (http://www.princeton.edu/main/) in New Jersey received its charter.

1836 ~ Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas (http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/republic/index.html).

1844 ~ Birthday of Sarah Bernhardt (http://www.sarah-bernhardt.com/), Actress.

1906 ~ Death of Paul Cezanne, Painter.

1920 ~ Birthday of Timothy Leary (http://deoxy.org/leary.htm), writer, psychedelic drug advocate.

1943 ~ Birthday of Catherine Deneuve, Actress.

1943 ~ The RAF air raid on Kassel, a city of 236,000 people, killed 10,000, and left 150,000 homeless.

1962 ~ US President Kennedy announced that American spy planes had discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1022.html#article), and that he had ordered a naval "quarantine" of the island nation.

1973 ~ Death of Pablo Casals (http://www.cello.org/casals/casals.htm), Cellist & Conductor.

1990 ~ The region around the Aral Sea assessed as the world’s worst ecological disaster (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/22/newsid_3756000/3756134.stm).

[jseal]

4004 BC ~ The start of the universe, according to the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.

1892 ~ Birthday of Gummo Marx, actor, comedian (Marx Brothers (http://www.marx-brothers.org/)).

1940 ~ Birthday of Pelé, soccer player Extraordinaire.

1942 ~ In Egypt, British forces begin a major offensive against Axis forces by initiating the Second Battle of El Alamein (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWelalamein.htm).

1956 ~ Hungarians took to the streets in to demand an end to Soviet rule. Thousands died (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/23/newsid_3140000/3140400.stm).

1974 ~ Birthday of Jasmin St. Claire (http://www.jasminstclaire.com/), Porn Actress.

1983 ~ U.S. & French barracks in Beirut hit by truck bombs (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1023.html#article), killing 241 U.S. servicemen and 58 French.

1998 ~ Death of Dr. Barnett Slepian, physician.

2001 ~ Apple introduced the iPod (http://www.apple.com/itunes/).

2002 ~ Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/24/60minutes/main579840.shtml) in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.

[jseal]

1632 ~ Birthday of Anton van Leeuwenhoek, the “Father of Microbiology".

1799 ~ Death of Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Composer.

1929 ~ Death of George Cadbury, Chocolate Manufacturer & Philanthropist.

1929 ~ "Black Thursday (http://bss.sfsu.edu/tygiel/Hist427/texts/crashheadlines.htm)" crash of the New York Stock Exchange.

1945 ~ Founding of the United Nations (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1024.html#article) Organisation.

1947 ~ The expression “Cold War (http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide20/part05c.html)” was first used by Bernard Baruch to the U.S. Senate War Investigation Committee.

1992 ~ In the first real "World" Series (http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws_recaps.jsp?feature=1992), the Toronto Blue Jays became the first non-US team to win the World Series.

2003 ~ The Concorde completed its last commercial flight (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/24/newsid_3701000/3701490.stm).

2006 ~ Death of William Watt, Islamic studies scholar (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/watt.html) & historian.

2008 ~ "Bloody Friday (http://www.complinet.com/connected/news-and-events/webcasts/great-crash/)" stock market crash on the world's stock exchanges.

[jseal]

1415 ~ England defeated France at the Battle of Agincourt.

1825 ~ Birthday of Johann Strauss II (http://bobjanuary.com/johann2.htm), Composer.

1838 ~ Birthday of Georges Bizet (http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/composer/bizet.html), Composer.

1854 ~ Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War. You can listen and follow along (http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/tennyson.shtml) to Lord Tennyson as he reads his poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3944699.stm)”.

1881 ~ Birthday of Pablo Picasso, Painter & Sculptor.

1924 ~ First appearance of "Little Orphan Annie (http://www.liss.olm.net/loahp/)”.

1943 ~ Battle of Leyte Gulf (http://www.battle-of-leyte-gulf.com/), the largest naval battle in history, and the last battleship to battleship firefight.

1971 ~ The UN General Assembly (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1025.html#article) seated the People's Republic of China and expelled the Republic of China.

1983 ~ U.S. troops invade Grenada (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/25/newsid_3207000/3207509.stm).

1993 ~ Death of Vincent Price, Actor.

[jseal]

899 ~ Death of Alfred the Great, king of Wessex.

1685 ~ Birthday of Domenico Scarlatti (http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxdscarl.html), Composer.

1881 ~ The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (http://clantongang.com/oldwest/gunfight.html) took place at Tombstone, Arizona.

1918 ~ Erich von Ludendorff was dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilhelm_kaiser_ii.shtml) of Germany for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.

1947 ~ The Maharaja of Kashmir agreed to allow his kingdom to join India.

1947 ~ Birthday of Hillary Rodham Clinton, 67th United States Secretary of State.

1972 ~ Death of Igor Sikorsky (http://www.sikorskyarchives.com/), helicopter pioneer.

1994 ~ Announcement of Andrew Wiles’ correct proof of Fermat's Last Theorem (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/proof/wiles.html).

1994 ~ Israel and Jordan made peace (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/26/newsid_3764000/3764162.stm).

2001 ~ The USA Patriot Act (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:HR03162:%5D) passed into law.

[Oldfart]

Those Clantons just won't let things go.

jseal,

What's the interest in 2Bat AIF (WW1)?

[jseal]

Oldfart,

None in particular, only in the involvement in The Great War. I have just completed an all-too-brief course on WWI, and was taken aback by the enormity of the conflict, and its lingering influence upon our times.

[jseal]

1466 ~ Birthday of Erasmus of Rotterdam (www.studyworld.com/desiderius_erasmus.htm), Dutch writer and philosopher.

1728 ~ Birthday of James Cook, British Captain and explorer.

1787 ~ The first of the Federalist Papers (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdox/fedpapers.html), a series of essays calling for ratification of the U.S. Constitution, was published.

1811 ~ Birthday of Isaac Singer (http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyrensse/bio206.htm), inventor of the sewing machine.

1904 ~ New York’s first rapid transit subway (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1027.html#article) opened.

1914 ~ Birthday of Dylan Thomas (http://www.dylanthomas.com/), British poet and writer.

1968 ~ Death of Lise Meitner, German physicist.

1968 ~ Major anti-war riot in London (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/27/newsid_2478000/2478197.stm).

1991 ~ Turkmenistan (http://www.turkmenistanembassy.org/turkmen/history/hist_cult.html) achieved independence from the Soviet Union.

2005 ~ Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers.

[jseal]

1485 ~ Le Morte D'Arthur was published.

1492 ~ Christopher Columbus landed in Cuba (http://www.athenapub.com/coluvoy1.htm).

1886 ~ The Statue of Liberty was dedicated (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1028.html#article).

1903 ~ Birthday of Evelyn Waugh, Novelist.

1914 ~ Birthday of Dr. Jonas Salk (http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95oct/jesalk.html), developer of the first effective polio vaccine.

1955 ~ Birthday of Bill Gates, co-founder and Chairman of Microsoft.

1962 ~ Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the U.S. that he had ordered the dismantling of Soviet missile bases in Cuba (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/28/newsid_2621000/2621915.stm).

1971 ~ The UK launched its first and only satellite, Prospero, atop a Black Arrow rocket (http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~woomera/bkarrow.htm).

1980 ~ Ronald Reagan asked voters during a debate with Jimmy Carter in Cleveland ''are you better off than you were four years ago?' (http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2008/01/17/the-actor-and-the-detail-man.html)'.

1980 ~ Birthday of Kanzi, most literate non-human Earthling (http://www.iowagreatapes.org/bonobo/meet/kanzi.php).

[jseal]

1911 ~ Death of Joseph Pulitzer (http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Biographies/MainBiographies/P/pultzer/pulitzerbio.htm), newspaper publisher and journalist.

1923 ~ The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (http://www.theottomans.org/english/history/index.asp).

1929 ~ New York Stock Exchange stock prices collapsed (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1029.html#article) amid panic selling.

1947 ~ Birthday of Richard Dreyfuss (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000377/), American actor.

1948 ~ Birthday of Kate Jackson, American actress.

1957 ~ Death of Louis B. Mayer, film producer. The second “M” in “MGM”.

1966 ~ The National Organization For Women (http://www.now.org/) was founded.

1969 ~ The first computer-to-computer link (http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/) was established on ARPANET.

1975 ~ General Franco’s dictatorship of Spain came to an end.

2004 ~ In a videotaped statement, Osama bin Laden directly admitted (http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2004/10/29/binladen_message041029.html) for the first time that he'd ordered the Sept. 11 attacks.

[jseal]

1831 ~ Nat Turner was arrested for leading the bloodiest slave revolt in U.S. history (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1518.html).

1839 ~ Birthday of Alfred Sisley, one of the creators of French Impressionism.

1885 ~ Birthday of Ezra Pound (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/161), Poet.

1961 ~ The Soviet Union detonated the 58 megaton hydrogen bomb "Tsar Bomba (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/30/newsid_3666000/3666785.stm)".

1945 ~ Jackie Robinson signs with the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier.

1974 ~ Muhammad Ali beat George Foreman (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1030.html#article) to regain the World Heavyweight Boxing championship.

1987 ~ Death of Joseph Campbell, Comparative Mythologist.

2003 ~ Wicked (http://www.wickedthemusical.com/#) opened on Broadway.

2005 ~ The reconsecration of the Dresden Frauenkirche (http://www.frauenkirche-dresden.de/startseite+M5d637b1e38d.html), which was destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II.

2007 ~ Death of Washoe (http://www.friendsofwashoe.org/), chimpanzee trained in American Sign Language.

[jseal]

1517 ~ Protestant Reformation got under way: Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. For a unique insight to this happening, click here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3944549.stm).

1795 ~ Birthday of John Keats (http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/songoftheindianmaid.html), Poet.

1892 ~ Arthur Conan Doyle published "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Arthur_Conan_Doyle/The_Adventures_of_Sherlock_Holmes/)".

1930 ~ Birthday of Michael Collins, the 3rd astronaut of Apollo 11.

1956 ~ Suez Crisis: The UK and France began bombing Egypt (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/suez.htm) to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.

1973 ~ Birthday of Beverly Lynne (http://www.beverlylynne.com/join.html), Porn Star

1984 ~ Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1031.html#article) by two Sikh security guards (riots soon broke out in New Delhi and nearly 2,000 innocent Sikhs were killed).

1988 ~ Death of John Houseman, Romanian-born actor and director.

1993 ~ Death of Federico Fellini (http://simplycharly.com/fellini/peter_bondanella_interview.htm), Italian director.

[jseal]

1512 ~ The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (http://www.christusrex.org/www1/sistine/0-Tour.html), painted by Michelangelo, was exhibited to the public for the first time.

1604 ~ At Whitehall Palace in London, the William Shakespeare tragedy Othello was presented for the first time.

1755 ~ Lisbon, Portugal was destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between sixty and ninety thousand people.

1923 ~ Birthday of Gordon R. Dickson, Science Fiction author.

1935 ~ Birthday of Gary Player (http://garyplayer.com/legend/the_man/biography), South African golfer.

1952 ~ The U.S. successfully detonated the first hydrogen bomb (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1101.html#article), codenamed Mike, at Eniwetok island in the Bikini atoll.

1963 ~ The Arecibo Observatory (http://www.naic.edu/) in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, with the largest radio telescope ever constructed, officially opened.

1993 ~ The Maastricht Treaty (http://www.eurotreaties.com/maastrichtext.html) took effect, formally establishing the European Union.

1999 ~ Death of Theodore Alvin Hall, Soviet Spy (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/inte_19441112.html).

2007 ~ Death of Paul Tibbets (http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_tibbets.html), US Air Force, ret.

[jseal]

1739 ~ Birthday of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Composer.

1815 ~ Birthday of George Boole (http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Printonly/Boole.html), Mathematician & Philosopher.

1930 ~ Haile Selassie was crowned emperor of Ethiopia.

1936 ~ The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/history/1901-1939.shtml) was established.

1950 ~ Death of George Bernard Shaw (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1925/shaw-bio.html), Playwright.

1976 ~ Former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter defeated incumbent Gerald R. Ford (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1102.html#article).

1964 ~ In a family coup, King Saud of Saudi Arabia was deposed, and replaced by his half-brother Faisal.

1981 ~ Birthday of Avy Scott (http://www.avyscottvip.com/tour1/?nats=NDozOjc4,0,0,0,0), Porn Star.

1983 ~ President Reagan signed a bill establishing a federal holiday in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode05/usc_sec_05_00006103----000-.html)

1988 ~ The Morris worm (http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/articles/morris-worm.html) was launched from MIT.

[jseal]

1801 ~ Birthday of Vincenzo Bellini, Italian opera composer.

1838 ~ The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/), the world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper was founded.

1903 ~ Panama proclaimed itself independent from Colombia.

1936 ~ Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1103.html#article) in a landslide over Republican Alfred M. ''Alf'' Landon.

1954 ~ Death of Henri Matisse (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/matisse/), French artist (http://www.fairiesworld.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/henri-matisse_the_dance1910.jpg).

1957 ~ Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter space - a dog named Laika (http://www.space.com/news/laika_anniversary_991103.html).

1964 ~ Incumbent President Lyndon Johnson defeated challenger Barry Goldwater (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/3/newsid_3641000/3641464.stm) with over 60 percent of the popular vote.

1978 ~ Birthday of Julia Taylor (http://www.julia-taylor.com/), European Porn Star.

1986 ~ Iran-Contra Affair (http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/) : The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reported that the United States had been selling weapons to Iran in secret in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

1992 ~ U.S. presidential election: Challenger Bill Clinton defeated incumbent Republican George H.W. Bush & independent candidate Ross Perot.

1993 ~ Death of Leon Theremin, Russian inventor.

[jseal]

1847 ~ Death of Felix Mendelssohn, German composer.

1869 ~ The first issue of scientific journal Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html) was published.

1922 ~ British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men found the entrance to King Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

1924 ~ Death of Gabriel Fauré, French composer.

1948 ~ T.S. Eliot (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1948/eliot-bio.html) won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1956 ~ Soviet troops invaded Hungary (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/4/newsid_2739000/2739039.stm) to crush the Hungarian revolution that started on October 23. Thousands were killed, more were wounded, and nearly a quarter million left the country.

1979 ~ Students storm the US embassy in Tehran (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1104.html#article) and took 90 hostages.

1979 ~ Birthday of Audrey Hollander (http://www.audreyhollanderonline.com/audrey_index.html), Porn Actress

1995 ~ The Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated (http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9511/rabin/funeral/wrap/index.html) at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

2008 ~ Death of Michael Crichton, Author (http://michaelcrichton.sweb.cz/).

[jseal]

1605 ~ A plot to blow up the English Houses of Parliament (http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/) was foiled when Guy Fawkes was discovered in a cellar below the building.

1872 ~ Suffragist Susan B. Anthony (http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/sba/first.htm) voted for the first time. She was fined $100 for the privilege.

1892 ~ Birthday of J. B. S. Haldane, Geneticist.

1911 ~ Birthday of Roy Rogers, American actor.

1930 ~ Sinclair Lewis (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1930/lewis-autobio.html) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1942 ~ The Second Battle of El Alamein (http://www.btinternet.com/~ian.a.paterson/battles1942.htm#Alamein) was won by the British in El Alamein, Egypt.

1977 ~ Birthday of Brittney Skye (http://www.brittneyskyexxx.com/tours/?nats=MTUuMy4xLjEuMS4wLjAuMC4w), Porn actress.

1979 ~ Ayatollah Khomeini (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/religion/ayatollah-khomeni/) declares the USA to be "the great Satan".

1989 ~ Death of Vladimir Horowitz (http://w1.854.telia.com/~u85420275/), Pianist.

1999 ~ Federal Judge Thomas Jackson declared Microsoft Corp. a monopoly, saying the software giant's aggressive actions were ''stifling innovation'' and hurting consumers.

[jseal]

1789 ~ Pope Pius VI appointed Father John Carroll as the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States.

1854 ~ Birthday of John Philip Sousa (http://www.dws.org/sousa/about.htm), composer of the official march of the U.S., The Stars and Stripes Forever (http://www.dws.org/sousa/ra/dws-ssf1.ram) (requires RealPlayer (http://www.real.com/player/index.html?))

1861 ~ Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.

1869 ~ Rutgers University (http://ruweb.rutgers.edu/about-the-university.shtml) defeats Princeton University (http://www.princeton.edu/main/), 6-4, in the first official intercollegiate American football game (http://www.answers.com/topic/football).

1893 ~ Death of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (http://www.balletmet.org/Notes/Tchaikovsky.html), Composer.

1913 ~ Mahatma Gandhi (http://www.mkgandhi.org/) was arrested while leading a march of Indian miners in South Africa.

1962 ~ The UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies (http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2007/issue3/0307p07.html) and called for all member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.

1975 ~ Birthday of Anastasia Blue (http://www.anastasiablue.com/), former Porn Actress.

1999 ~ Australians voted to keep the British queen as their head of state (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/6/newsid_2514000/2514833.stm).

2000 ~ Death of L. Sprague De Camp, Science Fiction writer.

[jseal]

1665 ~ The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English language journal, was first published.

1867 ~ Birthday of Marie Curie, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1903 (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-bio.html), and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911 (http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1911/).

1886 ~ Birthday of Aron Nimzowitsch (http://nimzowitsch.com/), chess grandmaster.

1913 ~ Birthday of Albert Camus (http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1957/camus-bio.html), writer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1957.

1917 ~ Bolshevik leaders Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky lead revolutionaries (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1107.html#article) in overthrowing the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky.

1934 ~ Premiere of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" at Baltimore, Maryland.

1940 ~ The middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed (http://www.ketchum.org/tacomacollapse.html) in a windstorm.

1980 ~ Death of Steve McQueen, Actor.

1981 ~ Birthday of Lily Thai (http://www.myspace.com/lilythai), Porn Actress.

1989 ~ Protests force the resignation (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/7/newsid_2539000/2539301.stm) of East Germany’s Communist government.

[Oldfart]

Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" is one of the most beautiful, emotionally evocative pieces of music I know. It's right up there with Nessun Dorma.

[jseal]

1674 ~ Death of John Milton, English poet.

1847 ~ Birthday of Bram Stoker (http://www.geocities.com/psmcalduff/), Irish novelist.

1884 ~ Birthday of Hermann Rorschach (http://www.crystalinks.com/rorschach.html), psychiatrist.

1895 ~ Wilhelm Röntgen discovered x-rays.

1942 ~ World War II: Operation Torch (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWtorch.htm) – U.S. and UK forces landed in French North Africa.

1950 ~ The first dog fight between jet aircraft (http://cnnews.wordpress.com/2007/10/08/fighter-planes-mig-15/).

1957 ~ The UK conducted its first successful hydrogen bomb test.

1986 ~ Death of Vyacheslav Molotov (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSmolotov.htm), Soviet politician.

1987 ~ An IRA bomb killed 11 people (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/8/newsid_2515000/2515113.stm) during a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

2002 ~ Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 (http://www.undemocracy.com/securitycouncil/meeting_4644) – The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Iraq, requiring Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences". (requires Adobe Acrobat)

[jseal]

1888 ~ Jack the Ripper killed Mary Jane Kelly (http://www.casebook.org/victims/), his last known victim.

1921 ~ Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

1934 ~ Birthday of Carl Sagan (http://www.planetary.org/about/founders/carl_sagan.html), American Astronomer & Writer.

1936 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Tal (http://www.chessbase.com/columns/column.asp?pid=134), World Chess Champion.

1938 ~ Nazi Germany's first large-scale act of physical anti-Jewish violence, Kristallnacht (http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/knacht.htm), began.

1953 ~ Death of Dylan Thomas (http://www.dylanthomas.com/), Welsh poet.

1953 ~ Death of Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, first King of Saudi Arabia.

1965 ~ Several U.S. states and parts of Canada were hit by blackouts (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1109.html#article).

1970 ~ Death of Charles de Gaulle (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/9/newsid_4275000/4275206.stm), French general and politician.

1989 ~ Fall of the Berlin Wall. East Germany opened checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany.

[jseal]

1775 ~ The Continental Congress passed a resolution creating the Continental Marines, later renamed the United States Marine Corps (http://www.marines.com/page/usmc.jsp).

1871 ~ Henry Morton Stanley (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/stanley_sir_henry_morton.shtml) located missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/livingstone_david.shtml) in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

1919 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Kalashnikov, Soviet inventor, AK-47.

1925 ~ Birthday of Richard Burton (http://www.richardburton.com/life.htm), Actor.

1951 ~ Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service began in the United States.

1975 ~ The SS Edmund Fitzgerald (http://www.ssefo.com/) sank during a storm on Lake Superior. Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04exd0BkcQY&feature=related)" is a song about the tragedy.

1982 ~ The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1110.html#article) in Washington D.C. opened to public.

1983 ~ Birthday of Sammie Rhodes, Porn Actress (http://www.clubsammierhodes.com/).

1995 ~ Execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/10/newsid_2539000/2539561.stm), writer and human rights activist.

2007 ~ Death of Norman Mailer (http://www.normanmailersociety.com/), American author.

[jseal]

1880 ~ Australian bushranger and bank robber Ned Kelly was hung in Melbourne (http://www.ripefruit.com/melbourne/sights/old_melbourne_gaol.htm).

1918 ~ Death of Henry Gunther (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16204809), the last American to die in World War I.

1918 ~ The end of World War I (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1111.html#article): Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies.

1922 ~ Birthday of Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist.

1938 ~ Death of Mary Mallon, aka "Typhoid Mary", carrier of the typhoid disease.

1965 ~ Rhodesia proclaimed its independence (http://www.rhodesia.nl/mztosm.html) from Britain.

1976 ~ Death of Alexander Calder, Artist.

1992 ~ The Church of England (http://www.cofe.anglican.org/) voted to allow women to become priests (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/11/newsid_2518000/2518183.stm).

2000 ~ A cable car full of skiers and snowboarders (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/11/newsid_4418000/4418498.stm), many of them children, caught fire in Austria, killing 155 people.

2004 ~ Death of Yasser Arafat (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1994/arafat-bio.html), President of the Palestinian Authority.

[jseal]

1035 ~ Death of King Canute.

1833 ~ Birthday of Alexander Borodin, Russian composer.

1840 ~ Birthday of Auguste Rodin (http://www.rodinmuseum.org/), French sculptor.

1942 ~ The Battle of Guadalcanal began (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1112.html#article).

1944 ~ The German battleship Tirpitz was sunk (http://www.kbismarck.com/tirpitz.html) off the coast of Norway.

1954 ~ Ellis Island closed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/12/newsid_3963000/3963251.stm).

1970 ~ The famous exploding whale incident (http://www.perp.com/whale/video.html).

1982 ~ Birthday of Anne Hathaway, Actress.

1990 ~ Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for the World Wide Web (http://www.w3.org/Proposal.html).

2001 ~ Taliban forces abandoned Kabul ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance (http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/northern_alliance.htm) troops.

[jseal]

1850 ~ Birthday of Robert Louis Stevenson, Novelist.

1868 ~ Death of Gioacchino Rossini, Composer.

1940 ~ The animated film Fantasia (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4qq30_fantasia_fun) was released.

1955 ~ Birthday of Whoopi Goldberg (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberg), American actress.

1956 ~ U.S. Supreme Court declared Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1113.html#article).

1982 ~ The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated.

1985 ~ A mudslide triggered by the Nevado del Ruiz volcano buried the city of Armero, Colombia (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/13/newsid_2539000/2539731.stm), killing some 23,000 people.

1990 ~ Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first known World Wide Web page (http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html#Examples).

1998 ~ President Bill Clinton agreed to pay Paula Jones $850,000 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/pjones/pjones.htm), ending the four-year legal battle over her sexual harassment lawsuit that spurred impeachment proceedings against him. Clinton did not admit guilt or apologize.

2002 ~ Saddam Hussein's government agreed to the return of international weapons inspectors to Iraq.

[jseal]

1719 ~ Birthday of Leopold Mozart (http://www.mozartproject.org/biography/mozart_l.html), Austrian musician, father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (http://www.mozartproject.org/).

1832 ~ Death of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Declaration of Independence signer.

1851 ~ Herman Melville's novel “Moby-Dick” was first published in the U.S.

1922 ~ The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/)) began radio service in the UK.

1948 ~ Birthday of Charles, Prince of Wales (http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/).

1954 ~ Birthday of Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State.

1968 ~ Birthday of Janine Lindemulder (http://www.realjanine.com/tour1.php), Porn Actress.

1972 ~ The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 1,000 mark (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1114.html#article) yesterday for the first time.

1991 ~ Indictments handed down against two Libyan intelligence officials (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/14/newsid_2518000/2518895.stm) in connection with the downing of the Pan Am Flight 103.

2001 ~ Northern Alliance fighters (http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,,592758,00.html) entered Kabul.

[jseal]

1887 ~ Birthday of Georgia O'Keeffe (http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/her-life.aspx), Painter.

1920 ~ First assembly of the League of Nations (http://www.indiana.edu/~league/index.htm) was held in Geneva.

1940 ~ The Luftwaffe destroyed most of the English city of Coventry (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/15/newsid_3522000/3522785.stm) during World War II.

1960 ~ The Polaris missile became operational (http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-27.html) on the USS George Washington (SSBN-598).

1963 ~ Death of Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor.

1969 ~ The Soviet submarine K-19 collided with the American submarine USS Gato.

1971 ~ Intel released the first commercial single-chip microprocessor (http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa092998.htm), the 4004.

1978 ~ Death of Margaret Mead (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/expeditions/treasure_fossil/Treasures/Margaret_Mead/mead.html), American anthropologist.

1996 ~ Death of Alger Hiss, American government official & convicted spy.

1998 ~ Death of Stokely Carmichael (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcarmichael.htm), American Black Power activist.