Strange Days

[Oldfart]

"The first telegram was sent by Samuel Morse, from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C."

Was the return message a sign of remorse?

[jseal]

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

1889 ~ Birthday of Igor Sikorsky (http://www.sikorskyarchives.com/), 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.

1962 ~ The Old Bay Line, the last overnight steamboat service in the United States, went out of business.

1977 ~ Star Wars (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6679425.stm) was released.

[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.

1940 ~ Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.

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) 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.

1937 ~ The Golden Gate Bridge (http://www.factmonster.com/spot/goldengate.html) opened to pedestrian traffic.

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 Blond, Hungarian Porn actress.

1995 ~ Actor Christopher Reeve (Superman (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078346/)) was paralyzed when he was thrown from his horse during a jumping event.

[jseal]

1908 ~ Birthday of Ian Fleming (http://www.ianfleming.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=96), author of James Bond books.

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

1934 ~ Birthday of The Dionne quintuplets, 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.

1972 ~ Death of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom.

1982 ~ British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green (http://www.thenewscentre.co.uk/falklands/goose.htm) during the Falklands War.

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.

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://www.firstscience.com/site/articles/coles.asp).

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.

1979 ~ Death of Mary Pickford (http://www.marypickford.com/library/about-mary-pickford), Canadian-born Actress and studio founder.

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.

[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).

1640 ~ Death of Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rubens/earth-water.jpg).

1778 ~ Death of Voltaire, French philosopher & Author.

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]

1669 ~ Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys made the last entry in his diary.

1678 ~ The first Godiva Procession, in commemoration of the legendary ride (http://www.parsons55.net/godiva/).

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.

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

1942 ~ Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin attacks on Sydney, Australia (http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/sydharbour.html).

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).

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.

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.

2008 ~ Death of Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer.

2009 ~ General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

[Oldfart]

One of those monumental moments,

1494 ~ Friar John Cor recorded the first known batch of scotch whisky.

See, Friars were good for things other than supporting Robin Hood.

[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’s circus’ first tour of the U.S.

1840 ~ Birthday of Thomas Hardy (http://www.yale.edu/hardysoc/Welcome/welcomet.htm), Poet & Novelist.

1897 ~ Mark Twain, responding to rumors that he was dead, was quoted (http://www.twainquotes.com/Death.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 (http://www.thegoldenyears.org/harrison.html), English actor.

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

1857 ~ Death of Chloe Jones, Model and Porn actress.

[Oldfart]

1857 ~ Death of Chloe Jones, Model and Porn actress.

She started early.

[jseal]

LOL!

Sorry 'bout that.

s/b 2005 ~ Death of Chloe Jones, Model and Porn actress.

[jseal]

1888 ~ The poem Casey at the Bat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reY68mDYFKk&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.

1925 ~ Birthday of Tony Curtis, Actor.

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/recap.html?tag=episode_recap;recap) 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.

2001 ~ Death of Anthony Quinn, Mexican-born actor.

[jseal]

1919 ~ Birthday of Robert Merrill, American Baritone.

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 (http://angelinafans.com/), Actress.

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

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.

1984 ~ Birthday of Jenaveve Jolie (http://www.clubjenaveve.com/tour1.php), Porn actress.

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.

1910 ~ Death of O. Henry, American author.

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 (http://www.marshallfoundation.org/).

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, Estonian chess player.

2004 ~ Death of Ronald Reagan (http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rr40.html).

[jseal]

1683 ~ Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum (http://www.ashmolean.org/) opened to the public as the world's first university museum.

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.

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.

1961 ~ Death of Carl Jung (http://www.cgjungpage.org/), Swiss psychologist.

1983 ~ Birthday of Gianna Michaels, 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://www.auschwitz.dk/mengele.htm), the Nazi doctor who conducted medical experiments on inmates at Auschwitz.

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/gauguin34.html), French Post-Impressionist Painter.

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)

2006 ~ British Houses of Parliament were temporarily shut down due to anthrax alert.

2008 ~ Death of Jim McKay, American sportscaster.

[jseal]

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

1810 ~ Birthday of Robert Schumann (http://www.last.fm/music/Robert+Schumann), Composer.

1876 ~ Death of George Sand (http://www.amybrown.net/women/george.html), Author.

1887 ~ Herman Hollerith 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, 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.

1916 ~ Birthday of Robert McNamara, U.S. Secretary of Defense, former president of the World Bank.

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://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/man/uswpns/navy/submarines/ssbn598gw.html) launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles ("Boomers").

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://news.wickedpictures.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=620&Itemid=134), 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/ThecurrentRoyalFamily/TheDukeofEdinburgh/TheDukeofEdinburgh.aspx), 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) began 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/the_man_biography.html), Singer & Musician.

[Oldfart]

jseal asked me to post this, as he's AFK. It almost formatted.

June 11th

1776 ~ The Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence from Britain.

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 ~ Death of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc (http://www.quangduc.com/) by self-imolation in Saigon (http://www.archive.worldpressphoto.org/search/layout/result/indeling/detailwpp/form/wpp/q/ishoofdafbeelding/true/trefwoord/year/1963) to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.

1979 ~ Death of John Wayne (http://www.johnwayne.com/), 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.

[Oldfart]

Continuing jseal's AFK.

June 12th

1924 ~ Birthday of George Bush senior (http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgehwbush), 41st President of the U.S.

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

1963 ~ Death of Medgar Evers, 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.

1997 ~ Major league baseball began interleague play.

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

[Oldfart]

The last AFK cos jseal's back tomorrow.

June 13th

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

1892 ~ Birthday of Basil Rathbone, Actor.

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).

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

1982 ~ Fahd became King of Saudi Arabia (http://www.kingfahdbinabdulaziz.com/main/b.htm) upon the death of his brother, Khalid.

1985 ~ Birthday of Lela Star (http://www.lelastar.com/tour/?w=102622&s=4&p=1&t=0&rfr=http://www.lelastar.com/&original_program=1&program=1&ref=16&referrer=16&site=4&webmaster=102622&ipv4=1213540029&tour=0&campaign=0&console=0&mpa3id=0&ip=72.85.38.189), Porn actress.

[Oldfart]

Hey, PantyFanatic, who was the world's second largest producer of Buzz Bombs?

[jseal]

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

1736 ~ Birthday of Charles Augustin de Coulomb, French mathematician. The unit of electrical charge, the coulomb, and Coulomb's law are named after him.

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).

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

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]

Many thanks to Oldfart for the postings in my absence! :thumb:

[Oldfart]

Gotta keep your high standards running. :nod:

[jseal]

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

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.kinghusseinfoundation.org/index.php?pager=end&task=view&type=content&pageid=61).

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

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).

1996 ~ Death of Ella Fitzgerald (http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=28), Jazz singer.

2002 ~ Near earth asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km).

[jseal]

1829 ~ Birthday of Geronimo, 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.

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.

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

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 (http://www.tajmahal.org.uk/mumtaz-mahal.html) died during childbirth. Her husband, Shah Jahan I (http://islamicart.com/library/empires/india/shahjahan.html), build her a tomb, the Taj Mahal (http://judypat.com/india/tajmahal.htm).

1882 ~ Birthday of Igor Stravinsky, Russian Composer.

1885 ~ The Statue of Liberty (http://www.nps.gov/stli/historyculture/index.htm) 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).

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).

1994 ~ After a televised low-speed highway chase (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcyyCi2b2AY), O.J. Simpson was arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

[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.

1873 ~ Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for trying to vote in the 1872 presidential election.

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

1942 ~ Birthday of Paul McCartney, Singer & Songwriter.

1945 ~ William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw (http://www.heretical.com/British/joyce.html)) was charged with treason.

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.

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.

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.

1993 ~ Death of William Golding, English writer (Lord of the Flies, etc.), awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1983 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1983/golding-bio.html).

[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.

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.

2005 ~ Death of Jack Kilby (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2000/kilby.html), awarded the The 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for "for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit"

[jseal]

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

1788 ~ The U.S. Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.

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.

1985 ~ Birthday of Jujubee (http://jujubeeonline.com/), drag queen.

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]

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

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 (http://themave.com/Astaire/), Dancer & Actor.

1978 ~ Discovery of the first satellite of Pluto, Charon (http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/pluto/).

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

2008 ~ Death ofGeorge Carlin, Comedian, Actor.

[jseal]

1894 ~ Birthday of Alfred Kinsey, Sexologist.

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

1927 ~ Birthday of Bob Fosse (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/fosse/fosse.html), Choreographer.

1940 ~ Adolf Hitler toured Paris (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrrcOB8yYUE) 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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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, developer of the Salk polio vaccine.

[jseal]

1314 ~ Scotland regained its independence in the Battle of Bannockburn, when Scotland's King Robert I defeated the English.

1519 ~ Death of Lucrezia Borgia (http://www.dragonrest.net/histories/lucrezia.html), 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/FH/Home.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).

1949 ~ The first episode of Hopalong Cassidy was aired on NBC.

1957 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment (http://supreme.justia.com/us/354/476/case.html).

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.

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

2009 ~ Death of Michael Jackson, Pop Icon (http://www.michaeljackson.com/us/home).

[jseal]

1824 ~ Birthday of Lord Kelvin (http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Thomson.html), Physicist.

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 (http://militaryguns.net.au/content/view/58/82/), Weapon Designer. (by popular demand. :) )

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

1893 ~ Crash of the New York Stock Exchange.

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.

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

[Oldfart]

1838 ~ Birthday of Paul von Mauser, Weapon Designer. (by popular demand. )

Yep.

[jseal]

1577 ~ Birthday of Peter Paul Rubens, 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 (http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1914/ferddead.html).

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.

1978 ~ In 'Regents of the University of California v. Bakke', the U.S. Supreme Court barred quota systems in college admissions.

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

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).

2006 ~ Death of George Unwin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBdJyLx4aqI), British WWII fighter ace.

[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 (http://www.anne-sophie-mutter.de/me_artist.php), 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 disaster.

2003 ~ Death of Katharine Hepburn (http://katehepburn.tripod.com/faq-1.html), Actress.

2007 ~ Apple released the iPhone.

[jseal]

1817 ~ Birthday of Joseph Dalton Hooker, Botanist & Champion of Charles Darwin.

1905 ~ During his annus mirabilis, Albert Einstein published the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies (http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/specrel.pdf) (PDF) in which he introduced special relativity.

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.

1985 ~ Birthday of Mike Tyson, American boxer.

1990 ~ East and West Germany (http://www.germanplaces.com/about-germany/history-germany/history-east-and-west.html) 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.

[jseal]

1646 ~ Birthday of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German Mathematician & Philosopher.

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

1906 ~ Birthday of Estée Lauder (http://www.no1-in-beauty.com/Articles/estee_lauder.htm), 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" became the national anthem of Canada.

2000 ~ Death of Walter Matthau (http://www.matthau.com/), 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 (http://www.marlonbrando.com/), Actor.

[jseal]

1906 ~ Birthday of Hans Bethe, 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, 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 (http://www.jimmy.org/biography), Actor.

1999 ~ Death of Mario Puzo, Author (The Godfather (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/)).

2007 ~ Death of Beverly Sills (http://www.beverlysillsonline.com/), Opera Soprano.

[jseal]

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

1935 ~ Death of André Citroën, 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 after 132 years of French rule.

1962 ~ Birthday of Birthday of Kate Asabuki, a former Japanese Porn actress.

1965 ~ Death of Trigger (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1042), Roy Rogers's horse.

1969 ~ Death of Brian Jones (http://www.brianjonesfanclub.com/), 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.

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 ~ American writer Henry David Thoreau (http://thoreau.eserver.org/) began a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (http://www.concord.org/~kathy/Walden/WaldenPond.html) near Concord, Mass.

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.

1964 ~ Birthday of Rachel Ashley, a former Porn Actress.

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/tour1/main.php?nats=MTUuMy40Ny40Ny4xLjAuMC4wLjA), English 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.

1937 ~ Spam (http://www.spam.com/) 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.

1961 ~ Birthday of Isabelle Poulenard, French soprano.

1972 ~ Birthday of Letha Weapons, 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.

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.

1962 ~ Death of William Faulkner, American Novelist.

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/louie_armstrong/overview.htm), 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 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 (http://www.royrogers.com/), 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.

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.

2006 ~ The Western Black Rhinoceros (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article684547.ece) was declared extinct.

[jseal]

1822 ~ Death of Percy Shelley (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRshelley.htm), English poet (http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/).

1838 ~ Birthday of Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, German Inventor.

1882 ~ Birthday of Percy Grainger (http://www.percygrainger.org/), Australian Composer.

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.

1979 ~ Death of Sin-Itiro Tomonaga (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1965/tomonaga-bio.html) , Japanese physicist, awarded a third of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1986 ~ Kurt Waldheim was inaugurated as president of Austria (http://www.bookrags.com/biography/kurt-waldheim/) 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. (Sic transit Warsaw Pact! Whoda 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]

1797 ~ Death of Edmund Burke (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/burke/), British philosopher and statesman.

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.pm.gov.uk/output/Page128.asp), P.M. of the UK

1989 ~ Two bombs exploded in Mecca, killing one pilgrim and wounding 16 others.

1995 ~ The Grateful Dead (http://www.dead.net/) played their last concert, at Soldier Field in Chicago.

1997 ~ Mike Tyson's boxing license was suspended and he was fined $3 million for biting Evander Holyfield's ear (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqJismbklDY&feature=related) 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.

1895 ~ Birthday of Carl Orff, German Composer.

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, Telstar (http://www.porticus.org/bell/pdf/nat_geo_telstar_ocr.pdf), and first privately sponsored space launch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRHpl2gZOo0).

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.

198 ~ Death of Mel Blanc (http://www.toonopedia.com/blanc.htm), Voice actor.

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/main/index/new_marines_commercial) was re-created by an act of Congress.

1859 ~ Charles Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities (http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/twocities/1/)" was published.

1899 ~ Birthday of E. B. White, American Writer. (Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, The Trumpet of the Swan.)

1914 ~ Babe Ruth (http://www.baberuth.com/about/biography.html) made his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox.

1920 ~ Birthday of Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor.

1937 ~ Death of George Gershwin (http://www.gershwin.com/) , American Composer.

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.

1995 ~ Bosnian Serbs capture the city of Srebrenica (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/11/newsid_4080000/4080690.stm).

[jseal]

1536 ~ Death of Erasmus, Dutch Writer & Philosopher.

1690 ~ William of Orange's army won the Battle of the Boyne.

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 (http://www.fleetwoodmac.com/)).

1943 ~ Turning point of CITADEL (http://www.uni.edu/~licari/citadel.htm) (Battle of Kursk).

1962~ The Rolling Stones (http://www.rollingstones.com/) 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://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)).

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.

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.

1995 ~ Death of Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Danish toy manufacturer. The man who brought us Legos.

[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.

1911 ~ Birthday of Terry-Thomas, British comic actor.

1912 ~ Birthday of Woody Guthrie (http://www.woodyguthrie.org/), American folk singer.

1918 ~ Birthday of Ingmar Bergman, Swedish film and theatre director.

1933 ~ Gleichschaltung (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,746923,00.html): All German political parties except the Nazi Party were outlawed.

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.).

[jseal]

1099 ~ The Crusaders of the First Crusade took Jerusalem (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cde-jlem.html#raymond2).

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).

1796 ~ Birthday of Thomas Bulfinch, American Mythologist.

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.

1954 ~ First flight of the Boeing 707, the first American jet passenger airliner.

1965 ~ Birthday of David Miliband, British politician (http://www.davidmiliband.net/).

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.

[Oldfart]

The plane that flew on the 15th July 1954 was the Boeing 367-80 (dash-80), the precurser of the 707. The first 707 did not fly till 1957.

[jseal]

622 ~ Start of the Islamic calendar (http://webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-islamic.html).

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 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 Justine Joli (http://www.justinejoli.com/), Porn actress.

1980 ~ Birthday of Jesse Jane (http://www.jessejane.com/home.php?nats=MDowOjM), Porn actress.

1989 ~ Death of Herbert von Karajan, Austrian Conductor.

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.

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.

1997 ~ The F.W. Woolworth Company went out of business after 117 years.

2003 ~ Death of Dr. David Kelly, U.N. Weapons Inspector.

2005 ~ Death of Edward Heath (http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/jul/18/guardianobituaries.conservatives), UK PM.

2009 ~ Death of Walter Cronkite, Broadcast journalist.

[jseal]

1817 ~ Death of Jane Austen (http://www.jasna.org/info/about_austen.html), English Novelist.

1887 ~ Birthday of Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian Politician & Traitor.

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.

1968 ~ The Intel Corporation (http://www.intel.com/?en_US_01) was founded in Santa Clara, California.

1969 ~ After a party, Senator Ted Kennedy drove his car off a wooden bridge (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/tedkennedychappaquiddick.htm) into, into a pond, and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, died.

2001 ~ In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derailment occurred in a tunnel, 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.

[jseal]

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.

1898 ~ Birthday of Herbert Marcuse (http://www.marcuse.org/), Communist Philosopher.

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.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1991/kyi.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, Porn actress.

[jseal]

1938 ~ Birthday of Dame Diana Rigg, Actress (The Avengers (http://theavengers.tv/forever/), In This House of Brede (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073160/)).

1938 ~ Birthday of Natalie Wood, 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://www.bookrags.com/biography/sirimavo-bandaranaike/).

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.

2005 ~ Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

[jseal]

1796 ~ Death of Robert Burns (http://www.robertburns.org/), Scottish Poet.

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.

2006 ~ Death Ta Mok, Khmer Rouge war criminal.

2008 ~ Radovan Karadžić was arrested in Serbia and indicted by the UN's ICTY (http://www.icty.org/) tribunal for War Crimes.

[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 becomes 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 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/22/newsid_2516000/2516339.stm), 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.

[jseal]

1757 ~ Death of Domenico Scarlatti, Italian Composer.

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.

1929 ~ The Italian government banned the use of "foreign" words.

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, Australian actor (http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=rumpoleofth).

[jseal]

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.

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 actress.

1980 ~ Death of Peter Sellers, Actor.

1985 ~ Birthday of Teagan Presley, Porn actress.

2005 ~ Lance Armstrong (http://www.lancearmstrong.com/) closed out his effective cycling career with a seventh consecutive Tour de France victory.

[jseal]

1834 ~ Death of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet. (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (http://poetry.eserver.org/ancient-mariner.html) & Kubla Khan (http://poetry.eserver.org/kubla-khan.html) )

1909 ~ Louis Bleriot (http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/bleriot.html) made the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine. Calais to Dover in 37 minutes.

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/en?s=1), Porn actress.

1978 ~ Louise Brown, the first baby conceived by in-vitro fertilization, 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, Swiss Psychiatrist.

1882 ~ Richard Parsifal" 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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 (http://www.peewee.com/), was arrested for allegedly masturbating at a Sarasota, Florida adult theatre.

[Oldfart]

Hmmmm, Sarasota eh?

[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.

1921 ~ Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1923/index.html) announced the discovery of the hormone insulin. He shared the 1923 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this.

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.

2003 ~ Death of Bob Hope (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/27/newsid_3818000/3818693.stm), English-born Entertainer.

2002 ~ A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine; the largest ever air show disaster (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATahHZ-r26I&feature=related).

[jseal]

1741 ~ Death of Antonio Vivaldi (http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxvivaldi.html), 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 (http://www.beatrixpottersociety.org.uk/), 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, was discovered near Kennewick, Washington.

1998 ~ Monica Lewinsky 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), OM FRS, awarded one third the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962.

[jseal]

1890 ~ Death of Vincent van Gogh (http://www.vangoghgallery.com/), Dutch painter.

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.

[jseal]

1729 ~ The city of Baltimore was founded.

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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Beetle#End_of_production) 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 (http://www.ingmarbergman.com/), Swedish director.

[jseal]

1556 ~ Death of Ignatius Loyola, Spanish priest, founder of the Jesuits.

1886 ~ Death of Franz Liszt, 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.thenausea.com/elements/germany/germany-document1.html)."

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 (http://www.ministryofrum.com/index.php) 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.

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.

2009 ~ Death of Corazon Aquino (http://www.coryaquino.ph/), Former President of the Philippines.

[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, 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 (http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/pdfs/docsworldwar.pdf) to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.

1943 ~ PT-109 (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0709_020710_kennedyPT109.html), commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy rammed and sunk.

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.

[dicksbro]

Sure doesn't seem like 20 years have passed since the first Gulf War started as a result of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, does it?

[jseal]

Too true!

[jseal]

1900 ~ Birthday of John T. Scopes, defendant in the “Monkey Trial (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm)”.

1924 ~ Death of Joseph Conrad (http://www.online-literature.com/conrad/), Author. (Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim)

1924 ~ Birthday of Leon Uris, American Writer. (Exodus, QB VII)

1941 ~ Birthday of Martha Stewart, Media personality (http://www.marthastewart.com/).

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, Russian writer.

[PantyFanatic]

Far too many of these listing are 'events' for me rather than 'history'. :mad:

[Oldfart]

No, PF, anything before 1850 is definitely "history".

[jseal]

I find them interesting.

[dicksbro]

I just remember we had to memorize facts like these when I took history classes. :boink:

[Oldfart]

Understanding what happened and why gives context to today's "history in the making".

[jseal]

Everyone is invited to prepare their own posts to this thread. :thumb:

[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 Barack Obama, American politician (http://www.whitehouse.gov/).

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.

1983 ~ New York Yankee Dave Winfield accidentally killed a seagull during a baseball game and was charged by police for his "act of cruelty to animals".

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.

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, Singaporean/American 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.

1987 ~ Birthday of Lexi Belle (http://www.lexibelle.com/home.php), Porn actress.

2000 ~ Death of Sir Alec Guinness (http://www.murphsplace.com/guinness/entry.html), 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.

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 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)".

2002 ~ Death of Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (http://userweb.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD02xx/EWD215.html).

[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.

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.

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.

1999 ~ The start of the Second Chechen War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Chechen_War).

2005 ~ Death of Peter Jennings, Canadian-born news anchor.

[jseal]

1879 ~ Birthday of Emiliano Zapata, 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 (http://www.answers.com/topic/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.towerofpisa.info/) 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 (http://www.dead.net/).

2006 ~ Death of James van Allen, American physicist.

[jseal]

610 ~ In Islamic tradition, this is when Muhammad began to receive the Quran.

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 (http://www.lilienthal-museum.de/olma/eotto.htm), 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.

[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, biochemist.

1919 ~ Death of Andrew Carnegie (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/), Industrialist & Philanthropist.

1929 ~ Babe Ruth (http://www.baberuth.com/about/achievements.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.

1974 ~ Birthday of Kira Kener, Porn actress.

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.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv13ZnkpWos)''

2003 ~ NATO (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/index.htm) 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.

1928 ~ Death of Leos Janacek, Czech Composer.

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.

2002 ~ The Russian submarine Kursk (http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/KURSK/kursk.html?q=KURSK/kursk.html) 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).

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.

1973 ~ Birthday of Brittany Andrews, former Porno actress & Foot Fetishist (http://www.exquisitefeet.com/tour2.htm).

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).

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.

1960 ~ Birthday of Sarah Brightman (http://sarah-brightman.com/), English soprano.

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, Porn Actress (http://www.ashlynnbrooke.com/tour1/)

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.

1951 ~ Death of Artur Schnabel, Pianist.

1967 ~ Death of René Magritte, Surrealist painter (http://www.magritte.com/5_1.cfm?img=04).

1969 ~ First day of Woodstock (http://www.woodstock.com/1969-festival/) Music and Art Festival.

[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).

1930 ~ First color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, was made by Ub Iwerks.

1954 ~ Birthday of James Cameron, Canadian film director (The Terminator, Aliens, True Lies, The Abyss, Titanic, and Avatar).

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 (http://www.clubtaylorrain.com/index.php).

1991 ~ Death of Shamu, one of the famous whales of SeaWorld.

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.

[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.

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.

1992 ~ Woody Allen (http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-ContextMenu&biw=1161&bih=739&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=woody+allen&aq=1&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=woody+&gs_rfai=) admitted being "romantically involved" with Soon-Yi Previn (http://www.google.com/images?q=Soon-Yi+Previn&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-ContextMenu&oe=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=Cs9pTLSmNsGqlAeor4SgBQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CC8QsAQwAA&biw=1161&bih=739), the adopted daughter of his longtime companion, actress Mia Farrow (http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-ContextMenu&biw=1161&bih=739&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=mia+farrow&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=Mia+Farrow&gs_rfai=).

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.

[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.

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).

1966 ~ 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment engaged the Viet Cong in the Battle of Long Tần (http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/vietnam/longtan.html).

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.

[jseal]

1881 ~ Birthday of George Enescu, Romanian composer.

1921 ~ Birthday of Gene Roddenberry (http://www.roddenberry.com/corporate-gene-biography), creator of Star Trek

1934 ~ The creation of the position Führer was approved in a German plebiscite (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0819.html#article).

1939 ~ Birthday of Ginger Baker, English musician (Cream).

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.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?page=search&docid=3f4348c34&query= Sergio Vieira de Mello.).

[jseal]

1882 ~ Piotr Tchaikovsky's “1812 Overture” 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 paid tribute to the RAF, saying, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. (http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/1940-finest-hour/113-the-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 (http://www.coldwar.org/articles/90s/fall_of_the_soviet_union.asp): 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/FH/Home.html), Astronomer, Science Fiction Writer.

[jseal]

1858 ~ The first of seven debates (http://www.bartleby.com/251/) between U.S. Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas was held.

1872 ~ Birthday of Aubrey Beardsley, English Illustrator (http://www.artsycraftsy.com/beardsley/monkey.jpg).

1904 ~ Birthday of Count Basie (http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_basie_count.htm), Bandleader.

1923 ~ Birthday of Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister of Israel.

1936 ~ Birthday of Wilt Chamberlain, Basketball Hall of Famer.

1959 ~ Hawaii was admitted as the 50th U.S. state (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0821.html#article).

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.

2007 ~ Death of Haley Paige, Porn actress (http://www.haleyxxx.com/haley_paige_freetour.html).

[dicksbro]

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.
Hard to believe that it's been 19 years since that happened.

[Oldfart]

The vision of the military directing tank fire into the "white house' is still a surreal image.

[jseal]

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.

1996 ~ Preident Clinton signed welfare reform (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14096483/site/newsweek/) into law.

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]

1754 ~ Birthday of King Louis XVI (http://wsu.edu/~dee/REV/LOUISXVI.HTM) of France.

1806 ~ Death of Charles Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist.

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, Porn actress (http://www.clubcarmen.com/tour.php?nats=MDowOjc).

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 (http://www.ameliaearhart.com/) became the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop.

1939 ~ The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (also known as Nazi-Soviet Pact) was signed.

1960 ~ Birthday of Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball player.

1979 ~ Death of Hanna Reitsch (http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/reitsch.html), German test pilot.

1993 ~ Michael Jackson was accused of child abuse (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/24/newsid_2512000/2512077.stm).

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).

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.

1987 ~ Birthday of Whitney Stevens, Porn actress.

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 (http://www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-index2.html) commissioned to carve the Pieta.

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 actress.

1988 ~ Birthday of Tori Black (http://www.toriblack.com/toriblackbio.php), Porn actress.

[dicksbro]

Did you know that today would have been Mother Teresa's 100th Birthday!

:hb: to a very special lady. The world needs more like you.

[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, 36th U.S. president.

1939 ~ First jet aircraft flight; a Heinkel He 178 (http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/he178.html), 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.

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, Philosopher, Theologian.

1749 ~ Birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (http://www.theatrehistory.com/german/goethe013.html), 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 (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ku.html) to be a province of Iraq.

1996 ~ Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales were divorced.

[jseal]

1632 ~ Birthday of John Locke (http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Locke.htm), Philosopher.

1885 ~ Gottlieb Daimler patented the world's first motorcycle.

1896 ~ Chop suey was invented (http://www.snopes.com/food/origins/chopsuey.asp) 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/).

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.

[jseal]

1797 ~ Birthday of Mary Shelley (http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/shelleybio.html), Author (Frankenstein (http://www.literature.org/authors/shelley-mary/frankenstein/chapter-01.html)).

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.

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 (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/guy_burgess.htm), English-born Soviet spy.

1987 ~ Thurgood Marshall 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.

[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, American composer ( Brigadoon (http://www.durham.net/~neilmac/brigdoon.htm), Paint Your Wagon (http://www.broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/paintwagon.htm), My Fair Lady (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVmU3iANbgk)).

1945 ~ Birthday of Itzhak Perlman, Violinist.

1945 ~ Birthday of Van Morrison (http://www.van-morrison.com/), Irish musician (“Brown-Eyed Girl", "Moondance" and "Domino").

1962 ~ Trinidad and Tobago 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.

1998 ~ North Korea reportedly launched its first satellite.

2006 ~ Edvard Munch (http://www.edvardmunch.info/biography/)'s famous painting (http://www.edvardmunch.info/paintings/) The Scream is recovered.

[jseal]

1653 ~ Birthday of Johann Pachelbel, Composer. Remember the theme music of “Ordinary People”? That’s “Pachelbel's Canon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wpPk8qk3uQ)” (which is not really a Canon).

1875 ~ Birthday of Edgar Rice Burroughs (http://www.tarzan.org/official_biography_part1.html), Writer, creator of Tarzan.

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 Siegfried Sassoon, 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]

1653 ~ Birthday of Johann Pachelbel, Composer. Remember the theme music of “Ordinary People”? That’s “Pachelbel's Canon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wpPk8qk3uQ)” (which is not really a Canon).

1875 ~ Birthday of Edgar Rice Burroughs (http://www.tarzan.org/official_biography_part1.html), Writer, creator of Tarzan.

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 Siegfried Sassoon, 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, 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 (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/VNhochiminh.htm), Vietmamese Revolutionary, President & Prime Minister.

1973 ~ Death of J. R. R. Tolkien (http://www.tolkiensociety.org/), British writer.

1991 ~ The U.S. recognizes 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 (http://www.olivercromwell.org/), 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, 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 (http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~magnus/ief248a/eBay/history.html). (with a little help from Oldfart :) )

2004 ~ More than 200 people die at the end of a three-day siege at a school in Beslan, Russia came to a bloody end.

[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).

1824 ~ Birthday of Anton Bruckner (http://www.bruckner.org/), Composer.

1888 ~ George Eastman (http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/kodakHistory/eastmanTheMan.shtml) registered the trademark Kodak.

1891 ~ Birthday of Fritz Todt, developer of the German autobahn, the archtype for the limited access highway.

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 (http://www.google.com/) founded.

[jseal]

1793 ~ The French National Convention voted to implement terror measures to enforce the principles 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.informatics.org/museum/tsiol.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 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MjPtem6ZbE)” 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.

1981 ~ Birthday of AnnMarie, Porn actress (http://www.annmarierios.com/annmarieriosvideos.php).

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.

[jseal]

1620 ~ The Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower (http://www.plymouthdata.info/Pilgrim%20Fathers.htm) 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/) 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).

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 Star.

1995 ~ Cal Ripken Jr. (http://baseballhall.org/node/9261) broke Lou Gehrig's record of playing 2,131 consecutive baseball games.

1996 ~ Eddie Murray (http://baseballhall.org/node/9260) 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.

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 (http://www.pancanal.com/eng/index.html) 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.

2008 ~ The US Government takes control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

[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.poemhunter.com/poem/arms-and-the-man/).

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, 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.

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).

2003 ~ Death of Leni Riefenstahl, German film director (Triumph of the Will (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcFuHGHfYwE)).

[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, Russian novelist (Anna Karenina, War and Peace).

1941 ~ Birthday of Otis Redding, Soul Singer.

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.

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 (https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/teller_edward/index.php), Hungarian-born physicist, "father of the hydrogen bomb".

[jseal]

1939 ~ World War II: The submarine HMS Oxley was sunk by mistake by the submarine HMS Trition off the coast of Norway and became the first loss of the Royal Navy.

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).

1914 ~ In one of the earlier military engagements of WWI (http://www.answers.com/topic/new-britain-1#1700-1914), Australian forces defeat Germans in New Britain.

1922 ~ British Mandate of Palestine began.

1948 ~ Death of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, 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.

1981 ~ Birthday of Luscious Lopez (http://www.lusciouslopez.com/visitors/tour/tour2.htm), Porn actress.

1987 ~ CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather (http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/13/nyregion/rather-walked-off-set-of-cbs-news.html), angry over being preempted for a tennis match, marched 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.

[jseal]

490 B.C. ~ The Athenians defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.

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.

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 (http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/), 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 (http://abimael-guzman.epik.com/), 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.

[Oldfart]

Marathon exactly 2500 years ago.

Seems like just yesterday.

[jseal]

Marathon exactly 2500 years ago.

Seems like just yesterday.
You'd know? Hell! I'd know! :roflmao:

[Oldfart]

I was told in Vegas.

[dicksbro]

Don't you know ... what you're told in Vegas is suppose to stay in Vegas?

Oh well ...


What else were you told? :)

[Oldfart]

The surveillance tape will be with you later today, I hope.

[jseal]

1819 ~ Birthday of Clara Schumann, 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.

1948 ~ Margaret Chase Smith (http://www.mcslibrary.org/) was elected senator, and became the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

1971 ~ Frank Robinson 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 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QVKU_izuRY), Conductor.

1981 ~ Birthday of August, a Porn actress.

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.[/QUOTE]

[jseal]

1737 ~ Birthday of Michael Haydn (http://www.haydn.dk/mh_biog.php), Austrian composer.

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.

1959 ~ Birthday of Ashlyn Gere (http://www.ashlyngereonline.com/ashlyn_gere_tour.html), former Porn actress.

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.

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 (http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/15/us/juliet-prowse-is-dead-at-59-leggy-star-of-musicals-clubs.html), British actress & dancer.

2005 ~ A federal judge in San Francisco ruled the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools unconstitutional.

[jseal]

1789 ~ Birthday of James Fenimore Cooper (http://external.oneonta.edu/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).

1935 ~ The Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship and made the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany.

1940 ~ Birthday of Norman Spinrad, Science Fiction author.

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.

[jseal]

1736 ~ Death of Gabriel Fahrenheit, German Physicist.

1795 ~ British captured Capetown South Africa.

1940 ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act (http://www.sss.gov/backgr.htm).

1956 ~ Play-Doh (http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/playdoh.htm) was first introduced.

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.

1996 ~ The Howard Stern Radio Show (http://www.howardstern.com/) premiered.

2009 ~ Death of Mary Travers, American singer (Peter, Paul, and Mary (http://www.vocalgroup.org/inductees/peter_paul_mary.html)).

[jseal]

1394 ~ King Charles VI of France ordered all Jews expelled from France.

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.

1976 ~ Birthday of Daniella Rush (http://www.wickedpictures.com/bio/a-e/Daniella_Rush.html), Czech Pornographic Star.

1978 ~ The Camp David Accords (http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/campdavid/accords.phtml) were signed by Israeli and Egyptian representatives.

1979 ~ Birthday of Julie Robbins (http://www.xxxjulierobbins.com/2009/main.php), a former Porn actress.

1994 ~ Death of Karl Popper (http://elm.eeng.dcu.ie/~tkpw/), Austrian philosopher.

[jseal]

1709 ~ Birthday of Samuel Johnson, Essayist & Critic.

1759 ~ The British capture Quebec (http://www.philaprintshop.com/frchintx.html) City.

1819 ~ Birthday of Leon Foucault, Physicist.

1927 ~ Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) 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.

1976 ~ Birthday of Kikki Daire (http://www.dickievirgin.com/interviews/bruce55.html), Porn actress.

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 robbed the First National Bank of $32,640.

1934 ~ Bruno Hauptmann (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hauptmann/bruno.html) 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 (http://www.casselliot.com/biography.htm), musician.

1984 ~ Birthday of Amber Rayne (http://clubamberrayne.com/mainpage.php?nats=MDowOjcy), Porn actress.

1989 ~ A terrorist bomb exploded in a UTA DC-10 above Niger killing 171.

1991 ~ Ötzi the Iceman (http://www.mummytombs.com/main.otzi.htm) ws discovered by German tourists.

2004 ~ Death of Skeeter Davis, Country Music star.

[jseal]

1934 ~ Birthday of Sophia Loren (http://www.lorenarchives.com/), Italian actress.

1948 ~ Birthday of George R. R. Martin, Science Fiction Writer.

1970 ~ The Soviet probe Luna 16 collected moon soil samples (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1970-072A) 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.

1993 ~ Death of Erich Hartmann (http://www.acesofww2.com/germany/aces/Hartmann.htm), German, world's most successful fighter pilot (352 'kills') .

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, Nazi hunter.

[jseal]

19 BC ~ Death of Virgil, Roman poet. (Aeneid, etc.)

1756 ~ Birthday of John MacAdam, 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.online-literature.com/wellshg/), science fiction author.

1874 ~ Birthday of Gustav Holst, Composer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZWOGcdC_PI&feature=fvw).

1896 ~ British force under Horatio Kitchener (http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/kitchener_h/kitchener_h.html) took Dongola in the Sudan.

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 ~ J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit.

1947 ~ Birthday of Stephen King (http://www.stephenking.com/index.html), Author.

2003 ~ The Galileo mission was terminated (http://www.nasa.gov/news/mission/galileo_dies.html) by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere.

[jseal]

1791 ~ Birthday of Michael Faraday (http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Biographies/FaradayBio.htm), 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.

1964 ~ ”Fiddler on the Roof (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdfX7ut8gw)”, the first musical to surpass 3,000 performances, opened at the Imperial Theatre.

1975 ~ Sara Jane Moore’s assassination attempt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFUQkXanj0c&feature=related) 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, porn actress.

1999 ~ Death of George C. Scott, Actor.

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.

1930 ~ Birthday of Ray Charles (http://www.history-of-rock.com/ray_charles.htm), U.S. R&B and jazz musician, singer.

1932 ~ The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd were renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (http://www.saudiembassy.net/).

1949 ~ Birthday of Bruce Springsteen, Singer & Songwriter.

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.shylaxxx.com/tour/index.php?nats=MC4wLjEzLjE2LjAuMC4wLjAuMA), Canadian Porn actress.

[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, 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.

1976 ~ The Rhodesian Government agreed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/24/newsid_2537000/2537969.stm) 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://tour.katjakassin.com/home.html?nats=MDowOjM5,0,0,0,0), 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]

1066 ~ Battle of Stamford Bridge, which marked the end of the Viking era.

1683 ~ Birthday of Jean-Philippe Rameau, Composer.

1890 ~ Yosemite National Park 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 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB76jxBq_gQ).

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.

[jseal]

1687 ~ The Parthenon in Athens (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Athens, Parthenon&object=Building) was partially destroyed after an explosion caused by the bombing from the Venetian forces besieging the Ottoman Turks.

1820 ~ Death of Daniel Boone, American icon.

1888 ~ Birthday of T. S. Eliot (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1948/eliot-bio.html), 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).

1945 ~ Death of Béla Bartók, Composer.

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).

1983 ~ Australia II (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1948/eliot-bio.html) 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 (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/adams_s.htm), Patriot & Brewer.

1917 ~ Death of Edgar Degas (http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/degas/html/index1.html), Impressionist painter.

1918 ~ Birthday of Sir Martin Ryle, English physicist and astronomer.

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.

2009 ~ Death of William Safire, Wordsmith.

[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 (http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/tef/cray/tribute.html), Computer Scientist.

1928 ~ Alexander Fleming (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html) discovered what later became known as penicillin, for which he shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

1953 ~ Death of Edwin Hubble, Astronomer.

1976 ~ Stevie Wonder released Songs in the Key of Life.

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 (http://www.pixies-place.com:81/forums/member.php?u=9551)!)

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.

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.

1973 ~ Death of W. H. Auden, English poet.

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.

1882 ~ Birthday of Hans Geiger, German physicist & co-inventor of the Geiger counter.

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/)).

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.ussnautilus.org/nautilus/index.shtml) 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]

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''.

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" 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 U.S. returned sovereignty of the Panama canal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_canal) to Panama. The Canal is a truly remarkable engineering achievement.

1986 ~ Former President Jimmy Carter's presidential library and museum were dedicated in Atlanta.

2009 ~ The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/), assumed the last judicial functions of the House of Lords.

[jseal]

1187 ~ Saladin captured Jerusalem (http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/saladin.htm) after 88 years of Crusader rule.

1836 ~ Charles Darwin returned to England 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, American comedian and actor.

1935 ~ Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

1951 ~ Birthday of Sting (http://www.sting.com/), English musician & actor.

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/about/biography.htm), Actor.

1987 ~ Death of Peter Medawar (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1960/medawar-bio.html), Brazilian-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1993 ~ Hardline Communists riot in Moscow (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/2/newsid_2486000/2486383.stm).

[jseal]

1873 ~ Birthday of Emily Post, etiquette advisor.

1900 ~ Birthday of Thomas Wolfe (http://library.uncwil.edu/wolfe/wolfe.html), 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 was named major league baseball's first black manager when 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.

1941 ~ Birthday of Anne Rice, 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.

1982 ~ Death of Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist.

1983 ~ The first Hooters (http://www.hooters.com/About.aspx) restaurant opened in Clearwater, Florida.

1989 ~ Death of Secretariat, Triple Crown Winner (http://www.secretariat.com/index.html).

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 (http://www.bookrags.com/biography/charles-cornwallis/), British general.

1813 ~ Death of Tecumseh (http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=373), American Indian leader.

1882 ~ Birthday of Robert Goddard, rocket scientist.

1902 ~ Birthday of Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's Corporation.

1936 ~ Birthday of Václav Havel, playwright, president of the Czech Republic.

1947 ~ President Harry Truman gave the first televised White House address (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1005.html#article).

1994 ~ Forty eight members of a Swiss cult die in a mass suicide (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9407EEDB123DF935A35753C1A962958260).

1969 ~ “Monty Python's Flying Circus (http://www.pythonline.com/)” made its debut on BBC Television.

1972 ~ Montreal, Quebec: British Trade Commissioner James Cross was kidnapped (http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/readings/october.htm) by members of the FLQ terrorist group.

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”, the earliest surviving opera, premiered in Florence.

1846 ~ Birthday of George Westinghouse (http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/westinghouse.htm), Engineer & Inventor.

1892 ~ Death of Alfred Tennyson, British poet laureate.

1914 ~ Birthday of Thor Heyerdahl (http://www.mnc.net/norway/torheyer.htm), Norwegian explorer, leader of the “Kon-Tiki” 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 (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000012/), Actress.

1995 ~ The first extrasolar planet (http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/extrasolar/) was discovered orbiting 51 Pegasi, in the constellation of Pegasus.

[Oldfart]

1887 ~ Death of Bette Davis, Actress.

I knew she'd been gone for a while.

[jseal]

1989 ~ Death of Bette Davis (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000012/), Actress.

I knew she'd been gone for a while.
Ooops! :o

[Oldfart]

:starwars:

[jseal]

1571 ~ The Ottoman Empire was defeated at the battle of Lepanto.

1849 ~ Death of Edgar Allan Poe, 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.

1908 ~ Crete revolts against the Ottoman Empire and aligns with Greece.

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.

1955 ~ Birthday of Yo-Yo Ma (http://www.yo-yoma.com/), Cellist.

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.

[dicksbro]

1849 ~ Death of Edgar Allan Poe, American writer.
Quote the raven, "Nevermore." :(

[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.

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.

2004 ~ Death of Jacques Derrida (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Derrida), French philosopher.

[jseal]

1804 ~ Hobart, Tasmania, was founded.

1835 ~ Birthday of Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer.

1940 ~ Birthday of John Lennon (http://www.john-lennon.com/index_john_lennon.html), Musician & Songwriter.

1942 ~ The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act (http://www.statusquo.org/aru_constitution/index.html) formalized Australian autonomy.

1948 ~ Birthday of Jackson Brown (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.

1999 ~ The last flight of the SR-71 (http://www.habu.org/), "Blackbird".

[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.

1966 ~ Simon and Garfunkel released the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (http://ilike.myspacecdn.com/play#Simon+%26+Garfunkel:Scarborough+Fair%2FCanticle:14638:s4918427.13333232.4658026.0.2.194%2Cstd_e8827a59bbc141bca023f1b0993af9ce).

1970 ~ A crisis hit Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier Pierre Laporte became the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.

1971 ~ London Bridge reopens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_Havasu_City_London_Bridge.jpg) in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

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 (http://hubpages.com/hub/Elizabeth_Taylor__Pics_and_Movies).

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.heinz.com/our-company/about-heinz/history.aspx), food manufacturer.

1896 ~ Death of Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer.

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.

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.

1971 ~ Death of Chesty Puller, the most decorated U.S. Marine.

1975 ~ Saturday Night Live debuted (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Saturday_Night_Live_(1975%E2%80%931980)#Season_1_.281975.E2.80.931976.29) with George Carlin as the host.

1976 ~ China's "Gang of Four (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/11/newsid_4712000/4712306.stm)" was arrested.

2002 ~ The U.S. Senate joined the House in approving the use of America's military against Iraq.

[jseal]

1864 ~ Death of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, author of the Dred Scott (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2932.html) decision.

1870 ~ Death of Gen. Robert E. Lee (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1012.html#article), Leader.

1968 ~ Summer Olympics open in Mexico City.

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.

1970 ~ Birthday of Julian, Porn actor.

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.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/tag/wilton-n-wilt-chamberlain), 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, Roman Emperor.

1307 ~ All Knights Templar in France were arrested by agents of the French king, to be later tortured into admitting heresy.

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).

1954 ~ Birthday of Mordechai Vanunu (http://www.vanunu.com/), Israeli nuclear technician.

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 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1973/).

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 killed King Harold II of England.

1894 ~ Birthday of E. E. Cummings, American poet.

1944 ~ Given the choice between a public treason trial and a certain 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.

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 ( http://www.leonardbernstein.com/lb.htm), 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 (http://www.online-literature.com/virgil/), Roman poet.

1844 ~ Birthday of Friedrich Nietzsche (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/), Philosopher.

1917 ~ Mata Hari was executed (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/matahari.htm) by firing squad for spying for Germany.

1946 ~ Death of Hermann Göring, German air force commander.

1964 ~ Death of Cole Porter, Composer.

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)

1970 ~ Anwar Sadat was elected President of Egypt.

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 (http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Famous-Zionist-Quotes/Story649.html), Israeli general.

1984 ~ Birthday of Melissa Lauren (http://www.melissalaurenxxx.com/Melissa-Lauren-Online.html), French Porn Actress.

[jseal]

1777 ~ British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to American troops in Saratoga, N.Y.

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.

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 ~ Loma Prieta earthquake (http://www.vibrationdata.com/earthquakes/lomaprieta.htm) 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, mathematician and inventor of computing machines.

1919 ~ Birthday of Pierre Trudeau, fifteenth PM of Canada.

1922 ~ The British Broadcasting Company (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC) wass founded.

1939 ~ Birthday of Lee Harvey Oswald (http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/oswald.htm), 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.azlea.net/), 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 (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2421794.html), English music satirist.

[jseal]

1745 ~ Death of Jonathan Swift (http://www.online-literature.com/swift/), Author.

1781 ~ Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown (http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle_yorktown1781.html), effectively ending the American War of Independence.

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 (http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/Edna_St_Vincent_Millay/edna_st_vincent_millay_contents.htm), 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.”

1983 ~ Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, was overthrown and executed in a military coup d'état led by Bernard Coard. He had become Prime Minister of Grenada by staging a revolution and deposing Prime Minister Eric Gairy, who was out of the country addressing the United Nations at the time.

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]

1740 ~ Maria Theresa (http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/mariatheres.html) took the throne of Austria.

1803 ~ The U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase (http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/louisiana/).

1891 ~ Birthday of Jomo Kenyatta, 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.

1989 ~ Death of Anthony Quayle, English Actor.

1992 ~ The Toronto Blue Jays win the first World Series game outside the U.S. (http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Oct&day=20)

1994 ~ Death of Burt Lancaster, American actor.

[jseal]

1772 ~ Birthday of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (http://incompetech.com/authors/coleridge/), Poet (http://poetry.eserver.org/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, 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 (http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/cms/) 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://experts.about.com/e/h/hm/HMAS_Australia_(1927).htm): HMAS Australia was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg bomb.

1983 ~ The meter was defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

[jseal]

1746 ~ Princeton University 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.sarahbernhardt.com/bio.html), Actress.

1906 ~ Death of Paul Cezanne, Painter (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/sl/cezanne.cherries.jpg).

1920 ~ Birthday of Timothy Leary (http://deoxy.org/leary.htm), writer, psychedelic drug advocate.

1943 ~ The RAF air raid on Kassel (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=9mmpmke4ht9ms?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Bombing+of+Kassel+in+World+War+II&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc05a&linktext=Bombing%20of%20Kassel%20in%20World%20War%20II), 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, 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).

2009 ~ Death of Don Lane, American-born Australian television personality.

[jseal]

4004 BC ~ The start of the universe, according to the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar (http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Ussher-Lightfoot_Calendar).

1892 ~ Birthday of Gummo Marx, actor, comedian (Marx Brothers (http://www.marx-brothers.org/)).

1940 ~ Birthday of Pelé, soccer player Extraordinaire.

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.clubjasminstclaire.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.

1993 ~ Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter became the second player to end a World Series with a home run - three-run shot that gave Toronto an 8-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6.

1998 ~ Death of Dr. Barnett Slepian, physician.

2001 ~ Apple introduced the iPod (http://www.apple.com/itunes/).

2004 ~ Death of Robert Merrill, Baritone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PYt2HlBuyI).

[jseal]

1632 ~ Birthday of Anton van Leeuwenhoek, the “Father of Microbiology".

1799 ~ Death of Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Composer.

1929 ~ Death of George Cadbury (http://www.birminghamuk.com/georgecadbury.htm), 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.

2002 ~ John Muhammad and Lee Malvo were arrested in connection with the Washington D.C. area sniper attacks.

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.

[jseal]

1400 ~ Death of Geoffrey Chaucer ( http://geoffreychaucer.org/), Poet.

1825 ~ Birthday of Johann Strauss II, Composer.

1838 ~ Birthday of Georges Bizet, Composer.

1854 ~ Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War. “The Charge of the Light Brigade (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3944699.stm)”.

1881 ~ Birthday of Pablo Picasso (http://www.artchive.com/artchive/P/picasso.html), Painter & Sculptor.

1924 ~ First appearance of "Little Orphan Annie”.

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 (http://www.vincentprice.org/), Actor.

[jseal]

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.

1905 ~ Norway became independent from Sweden.

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.

1965 ~ The Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE (http://www.honours.gov.uk/)s).

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.

[jseal]

1466 ~ Birthday of Erasmus of Rotterdam (http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/erasmus.html), 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.

1932 ~ Birthday of Sylvia Plath (http://www.sylviaplath.de/), American poet.

1991 ~ Turkmenistan achieved independence from the Soviet Union.

2002 ~ Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5346744.stm) was elected President of Brazil.

2005 ~ Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers.

[jseal]

1485 ~ Le Morte D'Arthur (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart000.htm) was published.

1492 ~ Christopher Columbus landed in Cuba (http://www.athenapub.com/coluvoy1.htm).

1726 ~ Gulliver's Travels published.

1886 ~ The Statue of Liberty was dedicated (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1028.html#article).

1903 ~ Birthday of Evelyn Waugh (http://www.doubtinghall.com/), Novelist.

1914 ~ Birthday of Dr. Jonas Salk, 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).

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 (http://www.iowagreatapes.org/about-the-trust/meet-our-apes/kanzi), most literate non-human Earthling (http://www.iowagreatapes.org/science/history-of-ape-language/use-of-human-languages-by-captive-great-apes/).

[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”.

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.

1982 ~ Lindy Chamberlain was found guilty (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/29/newsid_2467000/2467665.stm) of the murder of her nine-week-old daughter.

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 (http://www.abcgallery.com/S/sisley/sisley.html), one of the creators of French Impressionism.

1885 ~ Birthday of Ezra Pound (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/161), Poet.

1939 ~ Birthday of Grace Slick, singer with Jefferson Airplane.

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 signed 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.

1975 ~ Death of Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.

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.

[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/)".

1926 ~ Death of Harry Houdini, Magician.

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.

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).

1986 ~ Birthday of Brent Corrigan (http://thenewbrentcorrigan.com/main/), Porn actor

1987 ~ Death of Joseph Campbell (http://www.jcf.org/new/index.php?categoryid=11), Author and expert on mythology.

[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 (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/inte_19441112.html), Soviet Spy.

2007 ~ Death of Paul Tibbets (http://www.theenolagay.com/), US Air Force, ret.

[jseal]

1739 ~ Birthday of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (http://www.mozartforum.com/Contemporary%20Pages/Dittersdorf%20Contemp.htm), Composer.

1815 ~ Birthday of George Boole, Mathematician & Philosopher.

1930 ~ Haile Selassie was crowned emperor of Ethiopia.

1936 ~ The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/history/1920-1939_details.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, French artist.

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 (http://www.thereminvox.com/story/495/), 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.

1900 ~ Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams (http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Freud/Dreams/) 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.

[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://susanbanthonyhouse.org/her-story/biography.php) 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.

1913 ~ Birthday of Vivien Leigh (http://vivien-leigh.com/), English actress.

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.

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, Pianist (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhnRIuGZ_dc).

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 (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03381b.htm).

1854 ~ Birthday of John Philip Sousa (http://www.dws.org/sousa/bio.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 (http://americancivilwar.com/south/jeffdavi.html) 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.

1893 ~ Death of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 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 and called for all member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.

1975 ~ Birthday of Anastasia Blue (http://www.anastasiablue.com/home.asp), 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 (http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/), 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.

1926 ~ Birthday of Dame Joan Sutherland, Opera singer.

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.

1981 ~ Birthday of Lily Thai, Porn Star.

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]

"1934 ~ Premiere of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" at Baltimore, Maryland."

I love that piece of music, especially #18.

[jseal]

Using the weak segue that they are both Russian composers, I was again struck by how lyrical Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is. (After 1:21)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATK_pj2iMqg

[jseal]

1674 ~ Death of John Milton, English poet.

1847 ~ Birthday of Bram Stoker, Irish novelist.

1884 ~ Birthday of Hermann Rorschach, psychiatrist.

1895 ~ Wilhelm Röntgen (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1901/rontgen-bio.html) 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/).

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)

2008 ~ John Key (http://www.facebook.com/pmjohnkey) is voted the new New Zealand Prime Minister.

[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.

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.

1995 ~ Garry Kasparov beat Anatoly Karpov to become the world chess champion.

2006 ~ Death of Markus Wolf (http://web.mac.com/guywalters/Site/Journalism/Entries/2006/11/10_Superspy.html), East German intelligence director.

[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?"

1925 ~ Birthday of Richard Burton, 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=lvKGz4s3kuU)" is a song about the tragedy.

1978 ~ Birthday of Kyla Cole, Slovak Porn actress (http://www.kylacolemodel.net/).

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.sammierhodes.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, 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).

1904 ~ Birthday of Alger Hiss (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAhiss.htm), Spy.

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.

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, President of the Palestinian Authority.

[jseal]

1035 ~ Death of King Canute.

1833 ~ Birthday of Alexander Borodin, Russian composer.

1840 ~ Birthday of Auguste Rodin, 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).

1955 ~ Hovercraft patented by British engineer Christopher Cockerell (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blhovercraft.htm).

1970 ~ The famous exploding whale incident (http://www.perp.com/whale/video.html).

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.

[Oldfart]

King Canute. A whole life distilled to a bloke on a beach delusionally ordering an incoming tide to retreat.

[jseal]

...

"Give the order, O great king, and it will obey," one of then assured him.

"Very well. Sea," cried Canute, "I command you to come no further! Waves, stop your rolling!. Surf, stop your pounding! Do not dare touch my feet!"

He waited a moment, quietly, and a tiny wave rushed up the sand and lapped at his feet.

"How dare you!" Canute shouted. "Ocean, turn back now! I have ordered you to retreat before me, and now you must obey! Go back!"

And in answer another wave swept forward and curled around the king's feet. The tide came in, just as it always did. The water rose higher and higher. It came up around the king's chair, and wet not only his feet, but also his robe. His officers stood before him, alarmed, and wondering whether he was not mad.

"Well, my friends," Canute said, "it seems I do not have quite so much power as you would have me believe. Perhaps you have learned something today. Perhaps now you will remember there is only one King who is all-powerful, and it is he who rules the sea, and holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand. I suggest you reserve your praises for him."

The royal officers and courtiers hung their heads and looked foolish. And some say Canute took off his crown soon afterward, and never wore it again.

[jseal]

1850 ~ Birthday of Robert Louis Stevenson (http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/stevensonbio.html), Novelist.

1868 ~ Death of Gioacchino Rossini, Composer.

1940 ~ The animated film Fantasia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XChxLGnIwCU) was released.

1955 ~ Birthday of 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).

1971 ~ Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet (http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?Sort=Target&Target=Mars&MCode=Mariner_09).

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 ( http://www.colonialhall.com/carroll/carroll.php), Declaration of Independence signer.

1851 ~ Herman Melville's novel “Moby-Dick” was first published in the U.S.

1922 ~ The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began radio service in the UK.

1954 ~ Birthday of Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State.

1968 ~ Birthday of Janine Lindemulder (http://www.freejanine.com/), 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.

1977 ~ Birthday of Sara Jay (http://www.sarajay.com/tour1.html), Porn actress.

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]

1787 ~ Death of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Composer.

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.

1942 ~ Birthday of Daniel Barenboim, Pianist & Conductor.

1960 ~ The Polaris missile became operational (http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-27.html) on the USS George Washington (SSBN-598).

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.

1998 ~ Death of Stokely Carmichael (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcarmichael.htm), American Black Power activist.

[jseal]

1885 ~ Louis Riel, Canadian rebel leader and "Father of Manitoba", executed for high treason.

1895 ~ Birthday of Paul Hindemith, Composer.

1920 ~ Qantas (http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/history/global/en) was registered under the name of “Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited”.

1922 ~ Birthday of Gene Amdahl, computer scientist (http://coverclock.blogspot.com/2006/10/gene-amdahl-and-albert-einstein.html).

1933 ~ The U.S. and the USSR (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1116.html#article) established diplomatic relations.

1938 ~ LSD was synthesized by Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann (http://www.hofmann.org/).

1959 ~ The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music)" opened on Broadway.

1960 ~ Death of Clark Gable, Actor.

1979 ~ Sir Anthony Blunt (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/16/newsid_3907000/3907233.stm), a former security service officer, identified as the fourth man in the "Philby affair (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SSphilby.htm)".

2006 ~ Death of Milton Friedman (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1976/friedman-autobio.html), American economist.

[jseal]

1871 ~ The National Rifle Association is granted a charter by the state of New York.

1887 ~ Birthday of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-leaders/ww2/montgomery.htm).

1917 ~ Death of Auguste Rodin, Sculptor.

1929 ~ Death of Herman Hollerith (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blhollerith.htm), Statistician.

1959 ~ Death of Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian Composer.

1968 ~ Birthday of Amber Michaels (http://www.ambermichaels.com/), German Porn Star.

1970 ~ In one of the greatest successes of the Soviet lunar exploration program (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunarussr.html), The USSR landed an unmanned, remote-controlled vehicle on the moon, the Lunokhod 1 (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990109.html).

1970 ~ Douglas Engelbart received a patent for the first computer mouse (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_computer_mouse_patent.htm).

1997 ~ An Islamic extremist group killed 60 tourists (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/17/newsid_2519000/2519581.stm) at Luxor, Egypt.

2003 ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as the 38th governor of California (http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/press-release/3333/).

[jseal]

1786 ~ Birthday of Carl Maria von Weber, Composer.

1836 ~ Birthday of Sir William S. Gilbert (http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/html/gilbert.html), Dramatist.

1916 ~ World War I (http://www.firstworldwar.com/): First Battle of the Somme, (http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/somme.htm) which started on July 1, ended in stalemate – Approx. 1,120,000 casualties, 310,000 killed or missing.

1945 ~ Operation Paperclip (http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/P/Paperclip.html): The first of more than 700 German scientists arrived in the U.S. to help the development of rocket technology.

1968 ~ Death of Niels Bohr (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1922/bohr-bio.html), Danish physicist, awarded the The Nobel Prize in Physics 1922.

1976 ~ Spain's parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1118.html#article) after the dictatorship of General Franco.

1978 ~ Jonestown, Guyana mass suicide (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_2540000/2540209.stm): 914 die, including 276 children.

2002 ~ UN weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.

2003 ~ The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 that the state constitution guarantees gay couples the right to marry (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2003/11/18/sjc_gay_marriage_legal_in_mass/).

2004 ~ Fox hunting outlawed in England and Wales.

[jseal]

1493 ~ Christopher Columbus became the first European to go ashore on what would become Puerto Rico.

1805 ~ Birthday of Ferdinand de Lesseps, Suez Canal engineer.

1828 ~ Death of Franz Schubert (http://home.swipnet.se/~w-18046/schub.html), Austrian Composer.

1863 ~ U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/gadrft.html) at the military cemetery dedication ceremony (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1119.html#article) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

1884 ~ Birthday of José Raúl Capablanca (http://www.chesscorner.com/worldchamps/capablanca/capablanca.htm), Cuban Chess Grand Master.

1917 ~ Birthday of Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India.

1941 ~ World War II: The Royal Australian Navy cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran sank each other (http://www.hmassydney.com.au/) off the coast of Western Australia.

1969 ~ The second Apollo mission, Apollo 12 (http://www.astronomytoday.com/exploration/apollo.html), landed on the Moon – in “the Ocean of Storms”.

1977 ~ Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/19/newsid_2520000/2520467.stm) and spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.

1998 ~ Lewinsky scandal (http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/resources/lewinsky/timeline/): The U.S. House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee began impeachment hearings against President Clinton.

[jseal]

1889 ~ Birthday of Edwin Hubble (http://www.edwinhubble.com/), Astronomer.

1908 ~ Birthday of Alistair Cooke, Journalist.

1910 ~ Death of Leo Tolstoy, Novelist.

1924 ~ Birthday of Benoît Mandelbrot (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Mandelbrot.html), Mathematician.

1945 ~ Nuremberg Trials (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1120.html#article) began: Trials of 20 German Nazi leaders charged with war crimes during World War II started at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.

1947 ~ The Princess Elizabeth (http://www.britainexpress.com/royals/queen.htm) married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten (http://www.britainexpress.com/royals/philip.htm) at Westminster Abbey in London.

1995 ~ Diana, Princess of Wales, admitted to adultery (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/20/newsid_4341000/4341436.stm) during a television interview.

1998 ~ The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html), was launched.

1998 ~ A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declared accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin (http://mideastnews.com/laden20.htm)" in regards to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

2003 ~ Michael Jackson was arrested charges of child molestation.

[jseal]

1695 ~ Death of Henry Purcell, Composer.

1787 ~ Birthday of Samuel Cunard (http://www.thecunarders.co.uk/Sir%20Samuel%20Cunard.html), Shipping Magnate.

1898 ~ Birthday of René Magritte (http://www.magritte.com/), Belgian painter.

1905 ~ Albert Einstein's paper, Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?, is published in the journal "Annalen der Physik". This paper reveals the relationship between energy and mass. This leads to the mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc².

1953 ~ Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announced that the skull of the "Piltdown Man (http://home.tiac.net/~cri_a/piltdown/piltdown.html)" was a hoax.

1964 ~ Verrazano Narrows Bridge (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1121.html#article) opened.

1969 ~ The first ARPANET link was established.

1979 ~ The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/21/newsid_4187000/4187184.stm) was attacked by a mob and razed.

1980 ~ Lake Peigneur drained (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHol4ICeDoo) into an underlying salt deposit.

1995 ~ Toy Story (http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/ts/) was released as the first feature-length film created using only computer-generated imagery.

[jseal]

1718 ~ English pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard was killed in battle off the coast of Virginia.

1890 ~ Birthday of Charles de Gaulle, General, President of France.

1900 ~ Death of Arthur S. Sullivan (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/sullivan.htm), Composer.

1913 ~ Birthday of Benjamin Britten, Composer.

1963 ~ Death of C. S. Lewis (http://cslewis.drzeus.net/bio/), Author.

1963 ~ Death of Aldous Huxley, Author. (Brave New World (http://www.huxley.net/))

1963 ~ President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1122.html#article).

1968 ~ The Beatles released The White Album (http://www.beatletracks.com/btwhite.html).

1977 ~ British Airways began London to New York City supersonic Concorde service (http://www.concordesst.com/).

1990 ~ UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_2549000/2549189.stm).

[jseal]

1860 ~ Birthday of Billy the Kid (http://www.aboutbillythekid.com/), Outlaw.

1869 ~ The "Cutty Sark (http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm)" was launched. It is the last example of a Clipper ship.

1887 ~ Birthday of Boris Karloff, Actor.

1888 ~ Birthday of Harpo Marx (http://www.harpomarx.net/), Comedian.

1936 ~ The first edition of Life was published.

1943 ~ U.S. Marines seized control of the Tarawa and Makin atolls (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1123.html#article) from the Japanese.

1955 ~ Death of Shemp Howard, actor, comedian (The Three Stooges)

1963 ~ The first episode of the science fiction TV series "Doctor Who (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056751/)" aired on the BBC.

1993 ~ Rachel Whiteread won both the Turner Prize award for best British modern artist (http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/) and the K Foundation art award for the worst artist (http://www.websters-dictionary-online.com/definition/K+FOUNDATION+ART+AWARD) of the year.

2002 ~ Sectarian violence force the Miss World contest to move to London from Nigeria (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/23/newsid_3226000/3226740.stm).

[jseal]

1642 ~ Abel Tasman (http://gutenberg.net.au/pages/tasman.html) became the first European to discover the island of Tasmania.

1853 ~ Birthday of Bat Masterson, Gunslinger, Policeman, Sports Reporter.

1859 ~ British naturalist Charles Darwin published "The Origin of Species (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1228)", a book which argues that organisms gradually evolve through natural selection.

1868 ~ Birthday of Scott Joplin (http://www.scottjoplin.org/biography.htm), Musician.

1941 ~ Birthday of Pete Best, original drummer of The Beatles.

1947 ~ The U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve citations of contempt of Congress against the so-called Hollywood 10 (http://www.answers.com/topic/hollywood-ten) after they refused to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee.

1963 ~ Death of Lee Harvey Oswald (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1124.html#article), assassination suspect.

1991 ~ Death of Freddie Mercury (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/24/newsid_2546000/2546945.stm), musician (Queen).

1993 ~ Robert Thompson and Jon Venables were convicted of the murder of 2-year-old James Bulger.

1998 ~ America Online announced it would acquire Netscape Communications (http://news.com.com/2100-1023-218360.html?legacy=cnet).

[jseal]

1844 ~ Birthday of Karl Benz (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbenz.htm), Engineer.

1867 ~ Alfred Nobel patented dynamite.

1913 ~ Birthday of Lewis Thomas, Physician & Essayist.

1926 ~ Birthday of Poul Anderson (http://www.catch22.com/SF/ARB/SFA/Anderson,Poul.php3), Science Fiction writer.

1940 ~ Woody Woodpecker first appeared in the film "Knock Knock (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146967/)"

1968 ~ Death of Upton Sinclair, Journalist, Politician, Writer.

1974 ~ Death of U Thant (http://www.un.org/Overview/SG/sg3bio.html), Burmese UN Secretary-General.

1986 ~ The Iran-Contra affair (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1125.html#article) became public knowledge.

1998 ~ The Turkish government led by PM Mesut Yilmaz (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/25/newsid_4141000/4141566.stm) collapsed after losing a no-confidence motion over corruption allegations.

1999 ~ Six-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez was rescued (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/elian/etc/eliancron.html) by a pair of sport fishermen off the coast of Florida.

[jseal]

1862 ~ Lewis Carroll sent the handwritten manuscript of “Alice's Adventures Underground” to 10-year-old Alice Liddell.

1922 ~ Birthday of Charles M. Schulz, Cartoonist.

1939 ~ Birthday of Tina Turner (http://www.tinaturnerfanclub.eu/), the Queen of Rock & Roll.

1942 ~ President Roosevelt ordered nationwide gasoline rationing (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1126.html#article), beginning in December.

1968 ~ Cream (http://www.popmatters.com/books/reviews/c/cream-worlds-first.shtml) played their farewell concert.

1976 ~ The Band (http://theband.hiof.no/history/part_0.html) played their farewell concert.

1981 ~ Birthday of Aurora Snow, Porn Actress.

1981 ~ Death of Max Euwe (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Euwe.html), World Chess Master.

1983 ~ £25m in gold was stolen (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/26/newsid_2529000/2529235.stm) from a warehouse near Heathrow airport.

2003 ~ Last ever flight (http://www.concordeatfilton.org.uk/history/) by Concorde.

[jseal]

8 BC ~ Death of Horace (http://www.crystalinks.com/horace.html), poet. Remembered for, among other things, “Carpe Diem” (seize the day).

1095 ~ Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html) at the Council of Clermont.

1895 ~ Alfred Nobel (http://nobelprize.org/nobel/alfred-nobel/) signed his last will and testament, setting aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after he died.

1921 ~ Birthday of Alexander Dubcèk, Czech politician.

1942 ~ Birthday of Jimi Hendrix (http://www.jimihendrix.com/us/home), musician.

1946 ~ Indian P.M. Jawaharlal Nehru (http://www.indianchild.com/jawaharlal_nehru.htm) appealed to the U.S. and the USSR to start nuclear disarmament, stating that such an action would "save humanity from the ultimate disaster".

1973 ~ The U.S. Senate confirmed President-to-be Gerald Ford (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1127.html#article) as vice president, succeeding Spiro Agnew, who'd resigned.

1977 ~ Birthday of Mika Tan, American Porn Star.

1978 ~ Birthday of Shy Love, Porn Star.

1990 ~ John Major (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/27/newsid_2528000/2528847.stm) followed Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of the UK.

[jseal]

1520 ~ Ferdinand Magellan became the first to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

1632 ~ Birthday of Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer.

1820 ~ Birthday of Friedrich Engels (http://www.indepthinfo.com/communist-manifesto/engels.shtml), social philosopher.

1859 ~ Death of Washington Irving, writer.

1943 ~ President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin met in Tehran during World War II (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1128.html#article).

1954 ~ Death of Enrico Fermi (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1938/fermi-bio.html), Physicist.

1969 ~ The Rolling Stones (http://www.rollingstones.com/home.php) released the classic album Let It Bleed (http://album.lyricsfreak.com/r/rolling+stones/let+it+bleed_20009171.html).

1969 ~ Birthday of Lexington Steele (http://www.lexsteele.com/home.php), Porn Actor.

1989 ~ Velvet Revolution (http://www.prague-life.com/prague/velvet-revolution) – The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced it would give up its monopoly on political power.

1994 ~ Norway voted to reject membership (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/28/newsid_4208000/4208314.stm) in the European Union for the second time.

[jseal]

1643 ~ Death of Claudio Monteverdi, Composer.

1832 ~ Birthday of Louisa May Alcott (http://www.louisamayalcott.org/), Writer.

1898 ~ Birthday of C. S. Lewis (http://cslewis.drzeus.net/), Writer.

1947 ~ The UN passed a resolution calling for Palestine to be partitioned between Arabs and Jews (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1129.html#article).

1975 ~ The name "Micro-soft" (for "microcomputer software") is first used in a letter from Bill Gates to Paul Allen.

1981 ~ Natalie Wood (http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-08/justice/grace.coldcase.natalie.wood_1_lana-wood-cnn-drowning?_s=PM:CRIME) drowned in a boating accident off Santa Catalina Island, California.

1982 ~ The UN General Assembly passed Resolution 37/37, stating that the Soviet Union forces should withdraw from Afghanistan.

1982 ~ Birthday of Krystal Steal (http://www.krystalstealclub.com/main.php), Porn Actress.

1990 ~ The UN Security Council passed Security Council Resolution 678 (http://www.fas.org/news/un/iraq/sres/sres0678.htm), authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that nation did not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by January 15, 1991.

2001 ~ Death of George Harrison (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7qpfGVUd8c), musician.

[jseal]

1667 ~ Birthday of Jonathan Swift (http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/swift.htm), Writer & Satirist.

1804 ~ The impeachment trial of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase began.

1835 ~ Birthday of Mark Twain, Writer (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (http://www.geocities.com/swaisman/huckfinn.htm), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (http://www.geocities.com/swaisman/sawyer.htm), The Prince and the Pauper (http://www.geocities.com/swaisman/princepauper.html), and A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court (http://www.geocities.com/swaisman/yankee.htm)).

1872 ~ First international soccer match played at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland.

1874 ~ Birthday of Sir Winston Churchill (http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/biography), British political leader & Writer.

1936 ~ In London, the Crystal Palace (http://www.victorianstation.com/palace.html) was destroyed in a fire. It had been built for the 1851 Great Exhibition.

1900 ~ Death of Oscar Wilde (http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/), Writer.

1994 ~ the burning Achille Lauro abandoned (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/30/newsid_2525000/2525643.stm) off east Africa.

1995 ~ President Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1130.html#article).

1999 ~ The anti-globalization movement caught police unprepared and forced the cancellation of opening ceremonies of a WTO meeting.

[jseal]

1083 ~ Birthday of Anna Comnena (http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine5.html), Byzantine historian.

1824 ~ U.S. presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the House of Representatives was given the task to decide the winner, as stipulated by the Twelfth Amendment.

1835 ~ Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales.

1919 ~ Lady Astor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Astor,_Viscountess_Astor) became the first woman to serve as a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons.

1935 ~ Birthday of Woody Allen, Film Director & Actor & Comedian (http://www.woodyallen.com/).

1955 ~ Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/1/newsid_4398000/4398912.stm) to a white man and was arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws.

1959 ~ The Antarctic Treaty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1201.html#article) signed, which set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and banned military activity.

1964 ~ Death of J. B. S. Haldane (http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/causes-of-evolution/), Scottish geneticist.

1990 ~ English and French Channel Tunnel workers met (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/1/newsid_2516000/2516473.stm) beneath the English Channel.

1991 ~ Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.

[jseal]

1547 ~ Death of Hernán Cortés, Spanish explorer and conqueror.

1814 ~ Death of Marquis de Sade (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/desade.htm), Writer.

1859 ~ Militant abolitionist leader John Brown was hanged (http://www.wvculture.org/History/jnobrown.html) for his October 16th raid on Harper's Ferry.

1923 ~ Birthday of Maria Callas, Opera Singer.

1942 ~ Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiate the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/manhattanproject.cfm).

1954 ~ Senator McCarthy was censured (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1202.html#article) for conduct unbecoming to a senator.

1961 ~ Cuban leader Fidel Castro (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/244974.stm) declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism.

1981 ~ Birthday of Isabella Soprano, Porn Actress.

1990 ~ War on Drugs: Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar (http://cocaine.org/colombia/pablo-escobar.html) was shot and killed in Medellín.

1991 ~ Apple release the first version of QuickTime (http://developer.apple.com/quicktime/).

[jseal]

1815 ~ Death of John Carroll (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03381b.htm) - First Roman Catholic Archbishop in the U.S.

1857 ~ Birthday of Joseph Conrad, Writer.

1894 ~ Death of Robert Louis Stevenson, Writer.

1919 ~ Death of Pierre-Auguste Renoir (http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/renoir.html), Painter.

1947 ~ ''A Streetcar Named Desire (http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/streetcar/index.html)'' by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway.

1967 ~ At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, Lewis Washkansky became the first human to receive a heart transplant. The transplant team was headed by Christiaan Barnard (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bmbarn.html).

1984 ~ Bhopal Disaster (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1203.html#article): A leak from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, killed nearly 3,000 people in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.

1989 ~ Formal end of the Cold War (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_4119000/4119950.stm).

1999 ~ NASA lost contact with the Mars Polar Lander just before it entered the Martian atmosphere.

1999 ~ Death of Madeline Kahn (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001404/), Actress & Comedian.

[jseal]

1642 ~ Death of Cardinal Richelieu, French statesman.

1674 ~ Father Jacques Marquette founded a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan which would later grow into the city of Chicago, Illinois.

1679 ~ Death of Thomas Hobbes (http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/hobbes.html), political philosopher.

1849 ~ Birthday of Crazy Horse (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/crazyhorse.htm), American Indian leader.

1872 ~ The Mary Celeste (http://www.fortogden.com/maryceleste.html) was found by the British brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged.

1945 ~ The U.S. Senate approved United States participation in the United Nations (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1204.html#article).

1976 ~ Death of Benjamin Britten (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/4/newsid_2519000/2519877.stm), Composer.

1980 ~ Led Zeppelin (http://www.led-zeppelin.com/) announced its breakup.

1981 ~ Birthday of Courtney Cummz, Porn actress (http://www.courtneycummz.com/tour1/?nats=MTAuMi4xLjEuMC4wLjAuMC4w).

1991 ~ Pan American World Airways ceased operations.

[jseal]

1791 ~ Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (http://www.mozartproject.org/), Composer.

1839 ~ Birthday of George Armstrong Custer, American general.

1847 ~ Jefferson Davis was elected to the U.S. Senate.

1890 ~ Birthday of Fritz Lang (http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/lang/filmography.html), film director. It was in his film "Frau im Mond" that the countdown (10, 9, 8 ...) was first used; in this instance, for dramatic effect.

1901 ~ Birthday of Werner Heisenberg (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1932/heisenberg-bio.html), awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1932.

1901 ~ Birthday of Walt Disney, film producer.

1926 ~ Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Potemkin.html), debuted.

1933 ~ Prohibition ended (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1205.html#article): The Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified. This overturned the 18th Amendment, which had outlawed the inter-state sale of alcohol.

1969 ~ Time Magazine reported the My Lai Massacre (http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19691205,00.html).

1995 ~ The Sri Lankan armed forces took Jaffna (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/5/newsid_4618000/4618661.stm) from the Tamil Tigers.

[jseal]

1768 ~ First edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was published.

1884 ~ The Thirteenth Amendment (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment13/) to the U. S. Constitution, banning slavery, was ratified.

1889 ~ Death of Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America (http://www.civilwarhome.com/csa.htm).

1917 ~ A munitions explosion (http://www.halifaxexplosion.org/intro.html) kills more than 1,900 people and destroys part of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1920 ~ Birthday of Dave Brubeck, jazz musician.

1929 ~ Birthday of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Conductor.

1947 ~ Everglades National Park (http://www.nps.gov/ever/) in Florida was dedicated by President Truman.

1989 ~ Marc Lépine killed 14 women (http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-70-398/disasters_tragedies/montreal_massacre/) in Montreal, Quebec.

1992 ~ In Ayodhya, India, Hindus demolished the Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/6/newsid_3712000/3712777.stm).

2002 ~ Death of Philip Berrigan (http://www.jonahhouse.org/danProfile.htm), civil rights activist.

[jseal]

43 BC ~ Death of Cicero, Roman politician and author.

1787 ~ Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1928 ~ Birthday of Noam Chomsky (http://www.chomsky.info/), Linguist.

1941 ~ The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1207.html#article) brought the U.S. into World War II.

1965 ~ Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/speeches/1965/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19651207_common-declaration_en.html) simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.

1970 ~ Death of Rube Goldberg, best known for his cartoons depicting Rube Goldberg machines (http://www.rubegoldberg.com/).

1971 ~ Birthday of Chasey Lain, Porn Actress (http://www.chaseylain.org/).

1972 ~ Launch of Apollo 17 (http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/imagery/apollo/AS17/a17.htm), the last manned lunar landing mission.

1975 ~ Indonesia invaded East Timor (http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/EastTimor_KH.html).

1988 ~ Yasser Arafat recognized the right of Israel to exist.

[jseal]

1542 ~ Birthday of Mary, Queen of Scots (http://englishhistory.net/tudor/relative/maryqos.html).

1864 ~ Death of George Boole, Mathematician.

1925 ~ Birthday of Sammy Davis Jr., Actor & Singer.

1939 ~ Birthday of James Galway, Irish flutist.

1941 ~ The U.S. entered World War II when Congress declared war against Japan (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1208.html#article).

1953 ~ President Eisenhower gave the "Atoms for Peace (http://web.archive.org/web/20070524054513/http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/atoms.htm)" speech.

1978 ~ Death of Golda Meir (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/meir.html), former Prime Minister of Israel.

1980 ~ Mark Chapman murdered former Beatle John Lennon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/8/newsid_2536000/2536321.stm).

1991 ~ Leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement ending the U.S.S.R. and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0813056.html).

1993 ~ U.S. participation in The North American Free Trade Agreement (http://www.naftaworks.org/) (NAFTA) was signed into law by President Clinton.

[jseal]

1608 ~ Birthday of John Milton, Poet & Writer.

1868 ~ Birthday of Fritz Haber, German chemist, Nobel prize winner in 1918.

1906 ~ Birthday of Grace Murray Hopper (http://gracehopper.org/2008/about/about-grace-hopper/), American computer pioneer.

1937 ~ Battle of Nanjing began. The Rape of Nanjing (http://www.historywiz.com/nanjing.htm) followed.

1968 ~ First demonstration of the computer mouse. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7768481.stm)

1992 ~ Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1209.html#article).

1993 ~ The Hubble Space Telescope was repaired (http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/) by astronauts of STS-61.

1996 ~ Death of Mary Leakey (http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/klmno/leakey_mary.html), Archeologist & Anthropologist.

2000 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court stayed the sixth Florida recount.

2004 ~ Canada's Supreme Court (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/samesexrights/2004scc079.wpd.txt) ruled that homosexual marriage was constitutional.

[jseal]

1815 ~ Birthday of Ada Lovelace (http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/lovelace.html), first computer programmer.

1830 ~ Birthday of Emily Dickinson, Poet.

1896 ~ Death of Alfred Nobel (http://nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/), chemist, founder of the Nobel Prize.

1907 ~ President Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1941 ~ Japanese forces landed in the Philippines, captured Guam and sank the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse (http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/).

1948 ~ the U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1210.html#article).

1953 ~ Dr. Albert Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1978 ~ Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat (http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1978/index.html) were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1999 ~ Death of Rick Danko, Canadian bassist and singer (The Band (http://theband.hiof.no/)).

2002 ~ The High Court of Australia handed down its judgment in the internet defamation case of Gutnick v Dow Jones (http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v8n4/nicholson84.html).

[jseal]

1725 ~ Birthday of George Mason (http://www.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/gmason/mason.htm), "Father of the Bill of Rights (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html)".

1803 ~ Birthday of Hector Berlioz, Composer.

1882 ~ Birthday of Max Born, physicist and 1954 Nobel laureate.

1931 ~ The Statute of Westminster (http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/StatuteofWestminster.html) gave legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and Newfoundland.

1941 ~ Germany and Italy declared war on the United States (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1211.html#article).

1969 ~ Birthday of Vishwanathan Anand (http://latestchess.com/showInterview.php?id=1), former World Chess Champion.

1981 ~ Birthday of Nikki Benz (http://www.nikkibenz.com/main.php), Porn Actress.

1994 ~ Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered Russian troops into Chechnya (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/11/newsid_2801000/2801807.stm).

1997 ~ The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (http://unfccc.int/not_assigned/b/items/1417.php) was made available for signature.

2001 ~ The People's Republic of China joined the World Trade Organization.

[jseal]

1531 ~ Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City.

1911 ~ The capital of India moved from Calcutta to New Delhi.

1915 ~ Birthday of Frank Sinatra (http://www.franksinatra.com/), Singer & Actor.

1927 ~ Birthday of Robert Noyce (http://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/addlbios/noyce.html), one of the men credited with the invention of the integrated circuit.

1963 ~ Kenya gained its independence (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1212.html#article) from the UK. Uhuru!

1967 ~ Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones avoided a prison term (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/12/newsid_3237000/3237849.stm) for narcotics.

1979 ~ Rhodesia changed its name to Zimbabwe.

1984 ~ birthday of Andy O'Neill, Brazilian Porn Actor (http://www.andyoneill.co.uk/about.htm).

1999 ~ Death of Joseph Heller (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/heller.htm), Author.

2000 ~ The U.S.Supreme Court released its decision in Bush v. Gore (http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2000/2000_00_949/).

[jseal]

1577 ~ Sir Francis Drake began his circumnavigation from Plymouth, England.

1642 ~ Abel Janszoon Tasman (http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/tasman.htm) reached New Zealand.

1784 ~ Death of Samuel Johnson (http://www.samueljohnson.com/briefbio.html), Essayist.

1818 ~ Birthday of Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady.

1925 ~ Birthday of Dick Van Dyke (http://dick-van-dyke.fantribute.com/bio.html), Actor & Comedian.

1939 ~ The Admiral Graf Spee engaged Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles in the Battle of the River Plate (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_the_river_plate.htm).

1945 ~ Execution of Irma Grese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irma_Grese), Nazi war criminal.

1981 ~ Martial law imposed in Poland (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1213.html#article) to try to control the Solidarity labor movement.

1996 ~ Kofi Annan elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations.

2003 ~ Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3317429.stm) near Tikrit.

[jseal]

1546 ~ Birthday of Tycho Brahe (http://www.nada.kth.se/~fred/tycho/index.html), Astronomer.

1900 ~ Max Planck published his study of the quantum theory (http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Physics-Max-Planck.htm).

1911 ~ First expedition reached the South Pole (http://www.south-pole.com/p0000101.htm), led by Roald Amundsen.

1939 ~ USSR was expelled (http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1939/391214a.html) from the League of Nations.

1946 ~ The United Nations General Assembly voted to establish the U.N. headquarters in New York City.

1962 ~ Birthday of Ginger Lynn Allen, Porn Actress (http://www.gingerlynn.com/).

1981 ~ Israel annexed the Golan Heights (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1214.html#article).

1985 ~ Death of Roger Maris (http://www.rogermarismuseum.com/), NYY Home Run King.

1989 ~ Death of Andrei D. Sakharov, Russian physicist, awarded the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize.

1995 ~ The Dayton Agreement (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/14/newsid_2559000/2559699.stm) was signed in Paris to end the Yugoslav wars.

[jseal]

37 ~ Birthday of Nero, Roman emperor.

1791 ~ The U.S. Bill of Rights (http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/document.html?doc=4) ratified.

1852 ~ Birthday of Antoine Henri Becquerel, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics.

1890 ~ Death of Sitting Bull (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/sittingbull.htm), leader of Lakota tribe.

1916 ~ France defeated Germany (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1215.html#article) in Battle of Verdun.

1958 ~ Death of Wolfgang Pauli (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1945/pauli-bio.html), Physicist.

1961 ~ An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentenced Adolph Eichmann to death.

1966 ~ Death of Walt Disney (http://www.norsknettskole.no/fag/ressurser/itstud/fuv/gunnargrodal/bio.htm), Animator & Cartoonist.

1982 ~ Spain reopened the border with Gibraltar (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/15/newsid_2559000/2559887.stm).

1994 ~ Netscape Navigator 1.0 (http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/history/netscape.htm) first released.

[jseal]

1689 ~ The English Bill of Rights (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/england.asp) adopted.

1770 ~ Birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beethoven), Composer.

1775 ~ Birthday of Jane Austen (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jausten.htm), Writer.

1893 ~ World premiere of Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony".

1917 ~ Birthday of Sir Arthur C. Clarke (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/aclarke.htm), Science Fiction Writer.

1944 ~ The Battle of the Bulge (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/17/newsid_3515000/3515538.stm) began.

1944 ~ A V-2 rocket hit the Rex Cinema (http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/antwerp.html) in Antwerp killing 567 people.

1950 ~ President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1216.html#article) in order to fight “Communist imperialism”.

1980 ~ Death of Colonel Sanders, fast food entrepreneur.

1998 ~ President Clinton ordered a sustained series of air strikes against Iraq by American and British forces in response to Saddam Hussein's continued defiance of UN weapons inspectors.

2007 ~ Death of Dan Fogelberg, singer/songwriter.

[jseal]

1778 ~ Birthday of Sir Humphry Davy, English chemist & physicist.

1830 ~ Death of Simón Bolívar, Latin American politician & Activist.

1843 ~ A Christmas Carol (http://www.stormfax.com/1dickens.htm), by Charles Dickens, was first published.

1903 ~ The first controlled, powered heavier-than-air flight (http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2002-000128.html) occurred when the Wright brothers took to the air, both of them twice at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1961 ~ India seized Goa from Portugal. (http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/1960s/Goa01.html)

1969 ~ The USAF, in closing Project Blue Book (http://www.ufoevidence.org/topics/projectbluebook.htm), announced that its UFO investigations found no evidence of extraterrestrial spacecraft.

1973 ~ The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

1976 ~ Birthday of Zsanett Égerházi, Hungarian-born Porn Actress (http://www.mademan.com/chickipedia/zsanett-%c3%89gerh%c3%a1zi/).

1979 ~ Birthday of Jaimee Foxworth, mainstrean & Porn Actress (http://www.tube8.com/ebony/jaimee-foxworth(aka.-crave)/3922/).

1982 ~ ”Tootsie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084805/)” opened in theaters.

[jseal]

1737 ~ Death of Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker.

1786 ~ Birthday of Carl Maria von Weber, Composer.

1892 ~ Premier or Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker (http://www.nutcrackerballet.net/html/nutcracker_story.html)".

1912 ~ Official presentation of the discovery of Piltdown Man (http://home.tiac.net/~cri_a/piltdown/piltdown.html).

1913 ~ Birthday of Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971.

1936 ~ Death of Andrija Mohorovičić (http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/seismology/people/mohorovicic.html), Croatian seismologist.

1957 ~ The first U.S. civilian nuclear facility to generate electricity (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1218.html#article) went online.

1989 ~ The British Labour Party (http://www.labour.org.uk/home) under Neil Kinnock dropped its policy on trade union closed shops (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/18/newsid_2538000/2538439.stm).

1996 ~ "Ebonics" was declared a language or dialect by the outgoing school board of Oakland, California, whose vote was overturned by the incoming board. The Clinton administration declared "black English" a form of slang that did not belong in the classroom (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/stories/riley122596.htm).

2002 ~ California Governor Grey Davis announced that the state would face a budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier. The budget issue was used to support his 2003 recall from office (http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/07/recall.main/).

[jseal]

1733 ~ Benjamin Franklin first published Poor Richard's Almanack.

1848 ~ Death of Emily Brontë (http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/wuthering/index.html), Author.

1888 ~ Birthday of Fritz Reiner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHUHFLnRNwM), Conductor.

1906 ~ Birthday of Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet politician.

1971 ~ Birthday of Tiffany Towers, Porn Actress.

1979 ~ ”Kramer vs. Kramer (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079417/)”, starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, opened in theaters.

1984 ~ The UK and People's Republic of China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1219.html#article), which returned Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

1997 ~ "Titanic (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/)" the highest-grossing movie of all-time, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, opened in theaters.

1988 ~ The House of Representatives passed articles of impeachment against President Clinton (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/housevote/housevote.htm) over the Lewinsky scandal.

2003 ~ Libya announced that it would begin to destroy its weapons of mass destruction (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/19/newsid_4002000/4002441.stm).

[jseal]

1833 ~ Birthday of Samuel Mudd (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWmudd.htm), physician, convicted conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

1860 ~ South Carolina became the first state to secede (http://www.civilwarhome.com/scordinance.htm) from the US.

1901 ~ Birthday of Robert Van de Graaff (http://www.jemisonmansion.com/index.php?page=3), Physicist & Inventor.

1968 ~ Death of John Steinbeck (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-bio.html), awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1962.

1989 ~ American troops invaded Panama to remove dictator Manuel Noriega (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1220.html#article).

1991 ~ Paul Keating became the 24th Prime Minister of Australia.

1995 ~ IFOR (Implementation Force), a NATO-led multinational force, began peacekeeping in Bosnia. The task of IFOR was transfered to SFOR (http://www.nato.int/sfor/index.htm) (Stabilisation Force) on 21-DEC-96, and transfered to EUFOR on 02-DEC-05.

1996 ~ Death of Carl Sagan (http://www.planetary.org/about/founders/carl_sagan.html), Astronomer & Writer.

1999 ~ Vermont's Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples are entitled to the same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.

1999 ~ Macau was returned to the People's Republic of China (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/7066.htm) by Portugal.

[jseal]

1804 ~ Birthday of Benjamin Disraeli, Politician & Writer.

1898 ~ Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium (http://nobelprize.org/physics/articles/curie/).

1913 ~ The first crossword puzzle (http://www.crosswordtournament.com/more/wynne.html) was published, in the New York World.

1918 ~ Birthday of Kurt Waldheim, U.N. Secretary-General & Federal President of Austria.

1940 ~ Death of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Writer.

1942 ~ Birthday of Hu Jintao (http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66102/7235933.html), Chinese president.

1945 ~ Death of George S. Patton (http://www.generalpatton.com/biography.html), U.S. General.

1958 ~ Charles de Gaulle became the first leader of the Fifth Republic (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/21/newsid_3285000/3285109.stm).

1979 ~ Apollo 8 (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8info.html) was launched on a mission to orbit the moon.

1988 ~ A terrorist bomb exploded in Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1221.html#article) killing 270, including 11 on the ground.

[jseal]

1858 ~ Birthday of Giacomo Puccini, Composer.

1864 ~ Savannah, Georgia fell to the Union (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1222.html#article) army of General Sherman.

1880 ~ Death of George Eliot, Writer.

1942 ~ Adolf Hitler signed the order to develop the V-2 (Vergeltungswaffe 2 (http://www.v2rocket.com/index.html))rocket as a weapon.

1989 ~ Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opened (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/22/newsid_2539000/2539765.stm), ending the division of East and West Germany.

1990 ~ Lech Wałęsa sworn in as President of Poland.

1975 ~ Birthday of Crissy Moran, former (http://www.myspace.com/yourfriendcrissy) Porn Actress (http://www.porneskimo.com/crissy%20moran.htm).

2001 ~ The Afghan Northern Alliance (http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/northern_alliance.htm), handed over power in Afghanistan to the government headed by President Hamid Karzai.

2001 ~ Richard Reid (http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/31/reid.transcript/) tried to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes.

2001 ~ Cc the cat (http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SU/copycat.php), the first cloned pet, was born.

[jseal]

1790 ~ Birthday of Jean François Champollion, Egyptologist. He deciphered the Rosetta Stone (http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/writing/rosetta.html).

1823 ~ “A Visit From St. Nicholas (http://holyjoe.net/poetry/moore.htm)”, by Clement Clarke Moore, was first published.

1834 ~ Death of Thomas Malthus, Demographer and Economist.

1888 ~ Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear.

1947 ~ The transistor was first demonstrated (http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/miraclemo.html) at Bell Laboratories.

1953 ~ Death of Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader.

1956 ~ British and French forces withdrawn from Suez (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/23/newsid_3294000/3294305.stm), Egypt.

1972 ~ Death of Andrei Tupolev, Soviet aircraft designer (http://www.tupolev.ru/english/Show.asp?SectionID=47).

1986 ~ Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1223.html#article).


Feastdays & Holidays

Fans of Seinfeld - Festivus (http://www.festivusbook.com/) (for the restofus) held.

[jseal]

1818 ~ "Silent Night (http://www.carols.org.uk/silent_night.htm)" composed by Franz Xaver Gruber.

1873 ~ Death of Johns Hopkins (http://www.library.jhu.edu/collections/specialcollections/archives/jacob.html/), Baltimore philanthropist and businessman.

1910 ~ Birthday of Fritz Leiber, Science Fiction writer.

1914 ~ World War I: The "Christmas truce (http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/christmastruce.htm)" begins.

1914 ~ Death of John Muir, Naturalist.

1951 ~ Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors (http://www.nauticom.net/www/planet/files/singersAmahl1.htm)", the first opera written specifically for TV, was first broadcast

1955 ~ NORAD tracked Santa (http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html) for the first time.

1957 ~ Birthday of Hamid Karzai, first democratically elected President of Afghanistan.

1968 ~ The Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/24/newsid_4083000/4083587.stm), read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve TV broadcast.

1974 ~ Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin (http://www.ntlib.nt.gov.au/tracy/advanced/cyc_tracy.html), Australia.

[jseal]

800 ~ Coronation of Charlemagne (http://www.chronique.com/Library/MedHistory/charlemagne.htm) as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.

1066 ~ Coronation of William the Conqueror (http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon22.html) as king of England, at Westminster Abbey (http://www.westminster-abbey.org/), London.

1223 ~ Saint Francis of Assisi assembled the first Nativity scene (http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0238.html).

1821 ~ Birthday of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross.

1868 ~ President Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.

1918 ~ Birthday of Anwar Sadat, Egyptian president, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 1978.

1938 ~ Birthday of Karel Čapek (http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/notebooks/capek.html), Czech author, inventor of the word robot.

1977 ~ Deathof Charlie Chaplin (http://www.charliechaplin.com/en/infos), Entertainer.

1989 ~ Death of Nicolae Ceauşescu (http://www.ceausescu.org/), Romanian dictator (executed).

1991 ~ Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on TV to announce his resignation (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1225.html#article) as the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day).

Feastdays & Holidays

The Nativity of Jesus (http://www.christmasarchives.com/quran.html).