Strange Days

[jseal]

476 ~ Romulus Augustus (http://www.roman-empire.net/collapse/romulus.html), the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed.

1781 ~ Los Angeles was founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula (The City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula (http://www.lasangelitas.org/articles/city_of_angels_name.htm)).

1824 ~ Birthday of Anton Bruckner, Composer.

1888 ~ George Eastman registered the trademark Kodak.

1907 ~ Death of Edvard Grieg (http://www.mnc.net/norway/EHG.htm), Norwegian Composer.

1957 ~ The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel (http://www.edsel.com/).

1957 ~ The Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution in Great Britain came to the conclusion that outlawing homosexuality impinged upon civil liberties (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/4/newsid_3007000/3007686.stm).

1965 ~ Death of Albert Schweitzer (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1952/schweitzer-bio.html), Physician, J.S. Bach interpreter, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 1952.

1995 ~ Death of William Kunstler, Attorney.

1998 ~ Google was founded (http://www.google.com/about/company/history/) by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

[jseal]

1735 ~ Birthday of Johann Christian Bach (http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/bachjc.html), Composer, son of Johann Sebastian Bach.

1793 ~ The French National Convention voted to implement terror measures to enforce the principles (http://britannia.com/history/euro/1/2_2.html) of the French Revolution.

1847 ~ Birthday of Jesse James (http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/james/1.html), outlaw.

1857 ~ Birthday of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (http://www.spaceline.org/history/21.html), Visionary & Pioneer of Astronautics.

1882 ~ The first Labor Day parade in the U.S. was held in New York City.

1939 ~ The U.S. declared its neutrality in World War II.

1957 ~ “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac was published.

1972 ~ A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacked Israeli athletes (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0905.html#article) at the Munich Olympic Games.

1982 ~ Death of Douglas Bader (http://www.acesofww2.com/UK/aces/bader/), 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.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/mayflower-and-mayflower-compact) 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/Explore/Walden_Woods_Ecosystem/Walden_Pond) and moved in with Ralph Waldo Emerson (http://www.transcendentalists.com/1emerson.html) and his family in Concord, Massachusetts.

1928 ~ Birthday of Robert Pirsig, Author (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (http://www.ram.org/ramblings/books/zen_and_the_art_of_motorcycle_maintenance.html)).

1941 ~ The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word "Jew" inscribed, was extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas.

1965 ~ India invaded West Pakistan. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/6/newsid_3632000/3632092.stm)

1986 ~ Birthday of Raven Riley (http://tour4.ravenriley.com/?nats=NjM6Mzox&p=1), Porn Actress.

1995 ~ Cal Ripken Jr. 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#1776). American submersible craft Turtle attempted to attach a bomb to the hull of the British flagship Eagle in New York Harbor.

1907 ~ RMS Lusitania set sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.

1908 ~ Birthday of Dr. Michael DeBakey, Heart Surgeon and inventor of the MASH.

1912 ~ Birthday of David Packard (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/bios/packard.html), Electrical Engineer.

1940 ~ The Blitz (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0907.html#article) – Under orders from Adolf Hitler, the Luftwaffe began to bomb London. This was the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing.

1977 ~ The U.S. agreed to transfer control of the Panama Canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.

1986 ~ Desmond Tutu (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1984/tutu-bio.html) becomes the first black to lead the Anglican Church in South Africa.

1992 ~ Ciskei soldiers kill 24 at political rally (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/7/newsid_2502000/2502607.stm).

1994 ~ Death of James Clavell, Author (Shogun) & Screenwriter (To Sir, with Love (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062376/); The Great Escape (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/)).

1997 ~ Death of Mobutu Sese Seko (http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9709/07/mobutu.wrap/), dictator of Zaire.

[jseal]

1636 ~ Harvard College founded as the first college in the Americas.

1886 ~ Birthday of Siegfried Sassoon (http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/sassoon.htm), Poet (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/bombardment/).

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://londonist.com/2009/01/london_v2_rocket_sitesmapped.php) for the first time.

1949 ~ Death of Richard Strauss (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/richard-strauss-mn0000307408), Composer.

1966 ~ The first episode of the science fiction television series “Star Trek (http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/episode/68672.html)” aired.

1970 ~ Death of Percy Spencer, inventor of the microwave oven.

1974 ~ President Ford granted an unconditional pardon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0908.html#article) to former President Nixon.

1981 ~ Death of Hideki Yukawa, the Japanese physicist who proposed the meson elementary particle, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1949 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1949/yukawa-bio.html).

[jseal]

1585 ~ Birthday of Cardinal Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu (http://www2.lucidcafe.com/lucidcafe/library/95sep/richelieu.html), French statesman.

1828 ~ Birthday of Leo Tolstoy (http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/), Russian novelist (Anna Karenina, War and Peace).

1945 ~ Admiral Grace Hopper discovered the first computer bug (http://www.waterholes.com/~dennette/1996/hopper/bug.htm).

1967 ~ Birthday of Anna Malle, Porn Star.

1976 ~ Death of Mao Zedong (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0909.html#article), chief architect of the Chinese Communist Revolution.

1987 ~ Extradition to Belgium of twenty-five English football fans (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/9/newsid_2503000/2503885.stm) involved in the Heysel stadium disaster.

1993 ~ The Palestine Liberation Organization (P.L.O.) officially recognized Israel as a legitimate state.

2001 ~ At 01:46:40 UTC, the Unix billenium is reached, marking the beginning of the use of 10-digit decimal Unix timestamps.

2001 ~ The leader of the Northern Alliance, Ahmed Shah Massoud, was assassinated (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0110/junger.html) in Afghanistan.

2003 ~ Death of Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist, "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX73.html)".

[jseal]

1846 ~ Elias Howe was granted a patent for the sewing machine.

1942 ~ Birthday of Stephen Jay Gould (http://www.stephenjaygould.org/), American paleontologist.

1943 ~ World War II: German forces began their occupation of Rome.

1945 ~ Vidkun Quisling sentenced to death for collaboration with Nazi Germany.

1960 ~ Birthday of Colin Firth (http://www.firth.com/), Actor (Shakespeare in Love, Bridget Jones's Diary, Love Actually).

1971 ~ Death of Nikita Khrushchev (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSkhrushchev.htm), Premier of the Soviet Union.

1977 ~ Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of murder, became the last person to be executed by the guillotine (http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/guillotine.html) in France.

1990 ~ The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro (http://www.answers.com/topic/basilica-of-our-lady-of-peace-of-yamoussoukro), the largest church in Africa and perhaps the world, consecrated by Pope John Paul II.

2000 ~ British paratroopers rescued (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/10/newsid_2504000/2504535.stm) six held hostage by the "West Side Boys".

2008 ~ CERN (http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/Welcome.html)'s Large Hadron Collider (http://www.lhc.ac.uk/) (LHC) was finally powered up.

[Oldfart]

1846 ~ Elias Howe was granted a patent for the sewing machine.

It only took Singer 5 years to patent his first sewing machine. His model 15 is still in limited production, a long haul for a pre-1880 machine.

[jseal]

1297 ~ William Wallace led a Scottish army to defeat the English in the Battle of Stirling Bridge (http://www.scotclans.com/history/1297_stirling.html).

1711 ~ Birthday of William Boyce (http://rslade.co.uk/18th-century-music/composers/william-boyce/), Composer.

1914 ~ In one of the earlier military engagements of WWI, Australian forces defeat Germans in New Britain.

1948 ~ Death of Muhammad Ali Jinnah ( http://www.storyofpakistan.com/person.asp?perid=P009&Pg=1), first Governor-General of Pakistan.

1973 ~ A military coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/11/newsid_3199000/3199155.stm) toppled elected Marxist President Salvador Allende.

1987 ~ CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather, angry over being preempted for a tennis match, walked off the set, leaving affiliates with six minutes of an empty news desk.

1987 ~ Death of Lorne Greene, Canadian actor.

2001 ~ The September 11 terrorist attacks (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0911.html#article) destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City, part of The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and crashed a passenger airliner in Pennsylvania. In total, almost 3,000 were killed.

2002 ~ Death of Johnny Unitas (http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=219), Football Hall of Famer.

2007 ~ Russia tests the largest conventional weapon ever, the "Father of All Bombs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_of_all_bombs)".

[jseal]

490 B.C. ~ The Athenians defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/marathon.htm).

1683 ~ The Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Battle of Vienna.

1814 ~ War of 1812: An American detachment halted the British land advance to Baltimore in the Battle of North Point (http://battlenorthpoint.org/).

1880 ~ Birthday of H.L. Mencken (http://www.mencken.org/wordpress/), Journalist, Author.

1913 ~ Birthday of Jesse Owens (http://www.jesseowens.com/), American track and field athlete.

1940 ~ Cave paintings discovered in Lascaux, France.

1959 ~ First episode of Bonanza (http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=Bonanza+). First regularly-scheduled TV program presented in color.

1977 ~ Death of Steve Biko (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0912.html#article), South African anti-apartheid activist.

1992 ~ Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Shining Path, was captured.

2003 ~ Death of Johnny Cash (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/12/newsid_3595000/3595300.stm), Country Music Great.

[jseal]

1819 ~ Birthday of Clara Schumann (http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~eversr/biogra1.html), Pianist, Composer.

1857 ~ Birthday of Milton S. Hershey (http://www.thehersheycompany.com/about-hershey/our-story/milton.aspx), chocolate entrepreneur and founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company.

1899 ~ Death of Henry Bliss (http://www.citystreets.org/plaque.html), the first man in the U.S. to be killed in an automobile accident.

1948 ~ Margaret Chase Smith was elected senator, and became the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

1971 ~ Frank Robinson became the 11th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.

1977 ~ Death of Leopold Stokowski, Conductor.

1982 ~ Lindy Chamberlain's "dingo baby trial (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/13/newsid_3638000/3638248.stm)" opened in Australia.

1979 ~ Birthday of Catalina Cruz (http://www.sweetspicy.com/catalina-cruz.html), Porn Actress (http://www.catalinacruz.com/t1/revscf=marcym25/home.html).

1993 ~ Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shake hands on a peace deal (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0913.html#article).

2006 ~ Kimveer Gill kills one student and wounds 19 others (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/dawson-college/) at Dawson College in Montreal.

[jseal]

1752 ~ The British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar (http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa041301c.htm), skipping eleven days (September 2 was followed directly by September 14 that year).

1814 ~ Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner (http://americanhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/).

1927 ~ Death of Isadora Duncan (http://www.isadoraduncan.org/about_isadora.html), Dancer.

1959 ~ The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashed onto the Moon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0914.html#article), becoming the first man-made object to reach it.

1967 ~ Birthday of Ashlyn Gere (http://www.ashlyngere.com/bio.html), Porn actress.

1982 ~ Death of Princess Grace of Monaco (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/14/newsid_2516000/2516601.stm).

1983 ~ Birthday of Amy Winehouse (http://www.amywinehouse.com/), English singer.

1994 ~ The Major League Baseball season was canceled because of a players’ strike.

1996 ~ Death of Juliet Prowse, British actress & dancer.

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

[jseal]

1254 ~ Birthday of Marco Polo, Italian explorer.

1789 ~ Birthday of James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist.

1928 ~ Alexander Fleming (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html) noticed a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.

1929 ~ Birthday of Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1969 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1969/gell-mann-bio.html).

1950 ~ The U.N. staged its fist offensive operation in the Korean War; an amphibious assault at Inchon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/15/newsid_3633000/3633301.stm).

1963 ~ The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0915.html#article) kills four children in Birmingham, Alabama.

1975 ~ Papua New Guinea gained independence from Australia.

1977 ~ Death of Maria Callas (http://www.serendipity.li/callas.html), Opera Diva.

1981 ~ The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved Sandra Day O'Connor (http://www.oyez.org/justices/sandra_day_oconnor/) to the U.S. Supreme Court.

2008 ~ Lehman Brothers (http://www.lehman.com/) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

[jseal]

1736 ~ Death of Gabriel Fahrenheit (http://www.bookrags.com/biography/gabriel-daniel-fahrenheit/), German Physicist.

1810 ~ Fr. Miguel Hidalgo proclaimed Mexico's independence from Spain.

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

1959 ~ French President De Gaulle recognized Algerian right of self determination.

1968 ~ Candidate Richard Nixon appeared on Laugh-in (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/R/htmlR/rowanandmar/rowanandmar.htm).

1974 ~ U.S. President Ford announced a conditional amnesty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0916.html#article) program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.

1987 ~ The Montreal Protocol (http://www.afeas.org/montreal_protocol.html) was signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion.

1991 ~ The trial of Manuel Noriega began.

1992 ~ The Pound Sterling was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/16/newsid_2519000/2519013.stm) by currency speculators and devalued against the Deutschmark.

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

[jseal]

1862 ~ Union forces repelled a Confederate invasion of Maryland in the Civil War Battle of Antietam (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0917.html#article).

1908 ~ Death of Lt. Thomas Selfridge, first to die in an airplane crash.

1929 ~ Birthday of Sir Stirling Moss (http://www.stirlingmoss.com/), Formula One racer.

1939 ~ The Soviet Union joined Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland.

1970 ~ Civil war (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/17/newsid_4575000/4575159.stm) broke out in Jordan.

1972 ~ "M.A.S.H. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068098/)" premiered on CBS.

1976 ~ Birthday of Daniella Rush, Czech Pornographic Star.

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

1980 ~ The first independent Polish trade union, Solidarity (http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl/en/main-page.html), was established after weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk.

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

[jseal]

1709 ~ Birthday of Samuel Johnson (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8255720.stm), Essayist & Critic.

1733 ~ Birthday of George Read, signer of the American Declaration of Independence.

1759 ~ The British capture Quebec City.

1819 ~ Birthday of Leon Foucault, Physicist.

1927 ~ Columbia Broadcasting System (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/columbiabroa/columbiabroa.htm) went on the air.

1947 ~ The U.S. Air Force became an independent service (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0918.html#article).

1961 ~ Death of Dag Hammarskjöld (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1961/hammarskjold-bio.html), Secretary General of the UN.

1970 ~ Death of Jimi Hendrix (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/18/newsid_3528000/3528692.stm), Rock Musician.

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

1998 ~ ICANN (http://www.icann.org/) was formed.

[jseal]

1737 ~ Birthday of Charles Carroll of Carrollton (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/carroll.htm), Declaration of Independence Signer, Senator.

1796 ~ George Washington made his farewell address (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp).

1900 ~ Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (http://www.bolivia.freehosting.net/Butch.htm) robbed the First National Bank of $32,640.

1935 ~ Death of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, rocket scientist, physicist.

1941 ~ Birthday of Mama Cass Elliott, musician.

1945 ~ Lord Haw Haw (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/entertainers/radio/lord-haw-haw/) (William Joyce) sentenced to death in London.

1949 ~ Birthday of Twiggy (http://www.twiggylawson.co.uk/), English model.

1982 ~ The first documented electronic posting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon#History) of emoticons :-) and :-(

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

1991 ~ Ötzi the Iceman (http://www.iceman.it/) ws discovered by German tourists.

[jseal]

1519 ~ Ferdinand Magellan set out from Spain on a voyage to find a western passage to the Spice Islands in Indonesia.

1934 ~ Birthday of Sophia Loren (http://www.sophialoren.net/bio.html), Italian actress.

1970 ~ The Soviet probe Luna 16 collected moon soil samples (http://www.zarya.info/Diaries/Luna/Luna16.php) for return to earth.

1973 ~ Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0920.html#article) in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a $100,000 winner-take-all “Battle of the Sexes“ tennis match.

1980 ~ Birthday of Madison Young (http://madisonbound.com/), Porn actress.

1984 ~ A suicide car bomber attacked the U.S. Embassy (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/20/newsid_2525000/2525197.stm) annex in north Beirut, killing 20 people.

2000 ~ After playing 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles (http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=bal&sv=1), Cal Ripken, Jr took a day off.

2000 ~ Death of Gherman Titov, 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]

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.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/), science fiction author.

1874 ~ Birthday of Gustav Holst (http://www.gustavholst.info/), Composer.

1897 ~ The Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus (http://beebo.org/smackerels/yes-virginia.html) letter was published in the New York Sun.

1937 ~ The Hobbit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit), by J.R.R. Tolkien first published.

1947 ~ Birthday of Stephen King, Author.

1950 ~ Birthday of Bill Murray, Comedian and Actor

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

2008 ~ And then there were none: The last two independent Wall Street investment banks, Goldman Sachs (http://www.goldmansachs.com/) & Morgan Stanley (http://www.morganstanley.com/about/index.html), become bank holding companies as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.

[jseal]

1791 ~ Birthday of Michael Faraday, Scientist.

1828 ~ Death of Shaka Zulu (http://www.carpenoctem.tv/military-leaders/shaka-zulu/), Zulu leader.

1862 ~ President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0922.html#article).

1910 ~ The Duke of York's Cinema (http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema_history.aspx?venueId=doyb), the oldest continually operating cinema in the UK, opened in Brighton.

1964 ~ ”Fiddler on the Roof”, the first musical to surpass 3,000 performances, opened at the Imperial Theatre.

1972 ~ Birthday of Dana Vespoli (http://www.club-danavespoli.com/), porn actress.

1975 ~ Sara Jane Moore’s assassination attempt on U.S. President Gerald Ford was foiled by Oliver Sipple (http://www.randomhouse.com/features/americancentury/imperialpres.html).

1979 ~ The Vela Incident observed near Bouvet Island. It is thought to be a nuclear weapons test (http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Safrica/Vela.html).

1980 ~ Iraq invaded Iran (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/22/newsid_4242000/4242336.stm).

2001 ~ Death of Isaac Stern, Violinist.

[jseal]

480 B.C. ~ Traditional birthday of Euripides (http://www.theatrehistory.com/ancient/euripides001.html), Greek playwright (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?redirect=true&q=Euripides&x=0&y=0&lookup=Euripides).

63 B.C. ~ Birthday of Caesar Augustus (http://www.roman-emperors.org/auggie.htm), 1st Roman Emperor.

1642 ~ First commencement at Harvard College.

1806 ~ Discovery of Neptune (http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Neptune_and_Pluto.html) by French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier.

1884 ~ Herman Hollerith applied for a patent on his mechanical adding machine.

1920 ~ Birthday of Mickey Rooney (http://www.mickeyrooney.com/), actor.

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

1972 ~ Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/philippines/philippines.html) introduced a dictatorial government.

1999 ~ First observation of Celebrate Bisexuality Day in the U.S.

2002 ~ The first public version of the Firefox web browser (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/) was released.

[jseal]

622 ~ Muhammad (http://www.muhammad.net/biographies-mainmenu-38/23-short-biographies-and-commentaries/56-the-life-of-prophet-muhammad-by-mohammed-marmaduke-pickthall) completed his hegira from Mecca to Medina.

1755 ~ Birthday of John Marshall (http://www.oyez.org/justices/john_marshall), the fourth and longest-serving Chief Justice of the American Supreme Court.

1890 ~ As a pre-condition to Utah being admitted to the U.S., the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Mormons) officially renounced polygamy.

1957 ~ President Eisenhower sent Army troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.

1976 ~ The Rhodesian Government agreed to introduce black majority rule to the country within two years.

1979 ~ Birthday of Sabrine Maui (http://www.sabrinemaui.net/page2.html), Filipina Porn Actress.

1979 ~ Birthday of Katja Kassin (http://tour.katjakassin.com/home.html?nats=MC4wLjM5LjM5LjAuMC4wLjAuMA), German Porn Actress.

1988 ~ Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson beat Carl Lewis in the 100 Meters sprint (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/24/newsid_2529000/2529005.stm) at the Seoul Olympics. Mr. Johnson was later disqualified for using performance enhancing drugs.

1991 ~ Death of Dr. Seuss (http://www.catinthehat.org/history.htm), Writer.

1996 ~ President Clinton signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0924.html#article) at the United Nations.

[jseal]

1683 ~ Birthday of Jean-Philippe Rameau, Composer.

1890 ~ Yosemite National Park (http://www.yosemitepark.com/) established.

1897 ~ Birthday of William Faulkner, American writer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-speech.html).

1932 ~ Birthday of Glenn Gould, Pianist.

1950 ~ UN forces recaptured Seoul (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/25/newsid_4606000/4606807.stm), the South Korean capital.

1957 ~ U.S. Army paratroopers ended the Little Rock school crisis (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0925.html#article).

1981 ~ Sandra Day O'Connor (http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96mar/oconnor.html) was sworn in as the 102nd Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the first woman to hold the office.

1983 ~ Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov averted World War III (http://www.brightstarsound.com/world_hero/article.html) by refusing to accept - despite the (erroneous) alert given by the Soviet early warning system - that the U.S. had launched missiles against the USSR.

2008 ~ China launched its third human spaceflight, Shenzhou 7 (http://www.cctv.com/english/special/Shenzhou7/01/index.shtml).

2009 ~ President Obama, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Sarkozy, in a joint TV appearance for a G-20 summit, accused Iran of building a secret nuclear enrichment facility.

[jseal]

1687 ~ The Parthenon in Athens (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=Perseus:image:1987.09.0276) was partially destroyed after an explosion caused by the bombing from the Venetian forces besieging the Ottoman Turks.

1888 ~ Birthday of T. S. Eliot, Poet.

1898 ~ Birthday of George Gershwin (http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/gershwin.html), Composer.

1944 ~ Allied troops began a retreat from Arnhem (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/26/newsid_3523000/3523972.stm).

1948 ~ Birthday of Olivia Newton-John (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKX9J2ENXTs), Singer.

1957 ~ ”West Side Story” opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre.

1960 ~ Kennedy and Nixon met in the first nationally televised debate between presidential candidates (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0926.html#article).

1977 ~ Birthday of Kaylynn (http://www.kaylynn.com/), Porn Actress.

1980 ~ Birthday of Jane Darling, Porn Actress

1983 ~ Australia II won the “America’s Cup” (http://www.abc.net.au/archives/80days/stories/2012/01/19/3411660.htm).

[jseal]

1540 ~ The Jesuit Order (http://www.jesuit.org/) received its charter from Pope Paul III.

1722 ~ Birthday of Samuel Adams, Patriot & Brewer.

1917 ~ Death of Edgar Degas, Impressionist painter.

1918 ~ Birthday of Sir Martin Ryle (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1974/ryle-autobio.html), English physicist and astronomer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1974 .

1921 ~ Death of Engelbert Humperdinck, Composer.

1964 ~ The Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0927.html#article) in assassinating President Kennedy.

1982 ~ Birthday of Cassandra Cruz (http://www.cassandracruz.com/tour/?s=15&p=1&w=103168&t=0&c=0&mpa3id=18&original_program=1&program=1&ref=5942&referrer=5942&site=15&webmaster=103168&ipv4=1202086792&tour=0&campaign=0&console=0&ip=71.166.99.136&mpa3track=MTAzMTY4fDE1fDF8MHww), Porn Actress.

1996 ~ The Taliban drove the government of Afghani President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of the capital Kabul. They then dragged former leader Mohammad Najibullah out of the U.N. compound and hanged him from a traffic light pole (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/27/newsid_2539000/2539973.stm).

1998 ~ The Google (http://www.google.com/tenthbirthday/) web search engine was launched.

2001 ~ An armed man went on a shooting rampage in Zug, Switzerland (http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/09/27/switzerland.shooting/index.html), killing 14 people before taking his own life.

[jseal]

1066 ~ William the Conqueror invaded England, landing at Pevensey, Sussex (http://www.essentialnormanconquest.com/timeline/timeline_28_sep.htm).

1725 ~ Birthday of Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer, founded Guinness (http://www.guinness.com/en-us/).

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.

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

1953 ~ Death of Edwin Hubble, Astronomer.

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

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.

[Oldfart]

1725 ~ Birthday of Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer, founded Guinness.

Damn, I'd forgotten it was St Arthur's Day.

[dicksbro]

1725 ~ Birthday of Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer, founded Guinness.

Damn, I'd forgotten it was St Arthur's Day.
One too many Guinness'? *hick*

(Not that that's bad, mind you. :D)

[jseal]

1547 ~ Birthday of Miguel de Cervantes (http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/cervantes/biography/new_english_cerv_bio.html), Author (Don Quixote (http://quixote.mse.jhu.edu/)).

1714 ~ George, Elector of Hanover (http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon53.html), arrived in Greenwich to assume the British throne as King George I. (Thanks dm383!)

1758 ~ Birthday of Horatio Nelson, English icon.

1901 ~ Birthday of Enrico Fermi (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1938/fermi-bio.html), Italian physicist. Awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1916 ~ John D. Rockefeller became the first billionaire.

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.crc.gc.ca/en/html/crc/home/alouette/alouette), the first Canadian satellite was launched.

1978 ~ Death of Pope John Paul (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/29/newsid_2542000/2542375.stm), who reigned just 33 days.

2004 ~ The asteroid 4179 Toutatis (http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/4179_Toutatis/toutatis.html) passed within 964,000 miles of Earth.

2008 ~ The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history.

[jseal]

1791 ~ Mozart's opera “The Magic Flute” premiered in Vienna, Austria.

1913 ~ Death of Rudolf Diesel (http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1435.htm), German inventor.

1924 ~ Birthday of Truman Capote (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/capote_t.html), Author (In Cold Blood (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061809/)).

1927 ~ Babe Ruth became the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season.

1938 ~ British, French, German and Italian leaders agreed that Nazi Germany would be allowed to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0930.html#article).

1954 ~ The submarine USS Nautilus (http://www.subguru.com/nautilus571.htm) was commissioned as the first nuclear reactor powered vessel.

1955 ~ Death of James Dean (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/30/newsid_3722000/3722463.stm), American actor.

1982 ~ Birthday of Tory Lane (http://www.torylanexxx.net/), Porn Actress.

1991 ~ President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti was forced from office.

1999 ~ Japan's worst nuclear accident (http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf37.html) occurred at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tokai-mura, northeast of Tokyo.

[jseal]

1903 ~ The visiting Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Boston Americans 7-3 in the first World Series game (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/wsmenu.shtml).

1905 ~ The Julliard School of Music (http://www.juilliard.edu/about/history.html) was founded in New York City.

1939 ~ British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during a radio broadcast described the Soviet Union as ''a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma''.

1943 ~ The International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremburg sentenced 12 Nazi leaders to death.

1949 ~ The People's Republic of China was formed with Mao Zedong (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/) as its head.

1961 ~ The New York Yankees' Roger Maris hit his 61st home run (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1001.html#article) of the season.

1968 ~ The cult horror 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 United States returned sovereignty of the Panama Canal (http://www.pancanal.com/eng/) to Panama.

[jseal]

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

1800 ~ Birthday of Nat Turner, leader of an American slave uprising.

1836 ~ Charles Darwin returned to England (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/darwin.htm) after a 5-year journey aboard the HMS Beagle collecting data he will later use to develop his theory of evolution.

1869 ~ Birthday of Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (http://www.mkgandhi.org/), Indian political leader.

1890 ~ Birthday of Groucho Marx (http://www.groucho-marx.com/), American comedian and actor.

1904 ~ Birthday of Graham Greene, British novelist.

1935 ~ Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

1967 ~ Thurgood Marshall sworn in (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1002.html#article) as the first African-American justice of United States Supreme Court.

1985 ~ Death of Rock Hudson (http://www.cmgww.com/stars/hudson/), Actor.

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

[jseal]

1873 ~ Birthday of Emily Post (http://www.emilypost.com/), etiquette advisor.

1900 ~ Birthday of Thomas Wolfe, American novelist.

1916 ~ Birthday of James Herriot (http://www.jamesherriot.org/life-and-times/), 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/episodes/gore-vidal/about-gore-vidal/2179/), author.

1967 ~ Death of Woody Guthrie (http://www.woodyguthrie.org/), folk musician.

1973 ~ Frank Robinson was named major league baseball's first black manager as he was put in charge of the Cleveland Indians.

1990 ~ The re-unification of Germany. East Germany ceased to exist (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1003.html#article).

1995 ~ A jury found O.J. Simpson not guilty of murder (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/3/newsid_2486000/2486673.stm) in the 1994 slayings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman.

1997 ~ Attorney General Janet Reno said she had found no evidence that President Bill Clinton broke the law with White House coffees and overnight stays for big contributors.

[jseal]

1903 ~ Birthday of John Vincent Atanasoff (http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/do_Atanasoff.html), inventor of the digital electronic computer.

1924 ~ Birthday of Charlton Heston, Actor.

1941 ~ Birthday of Anne Rice (http://www.annerice.com/), Author.

1943 ~ Birthday of H. Rap Brown (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/13/national/main503687.shtml), civil rights activist & murderer.

1957 ~ Launch of Sputnik I (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1004.html#article), the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

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

1985 ~ Free Software Foundation founded.

1993 ~ Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered the army to begin storming the Russian parliament building.

2002 ~ John Walker Lindh, the “American Taliban (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/terrorists/john-walker-lindh/)”, received a 20-year sentence.

2004 ~ The SpaceShipOne rocket plane (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6167761/) broke through Earth's atmosphere for the second time in five days to capture a $10 million prize.

[jseal]

1805 ~ Death of Charles Cornwallis, British general.

1813 ~ Death of Tecumseh, American Indian leader.

1882 ~ Birthday of Robert Goddard (http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/service/gallery/fact_sheets/general/goddard/goddard.htm), rocket scientist.

1902 ~ Birthday of Ray Kroc (http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/kroc.html), founder of McDonald's Corporation.

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

1968 ~ The beginning of The Troubles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles) of Northern Ireland.

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

1970 ~ Montreal, Quebec: British Trade Commissioner James Cross was kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.

1994 ~ Forty eight members of a Swiss cult die in a mass suicide (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/5/newsid_3933000/3933957.stm).

2000 ~ Mass demonstrations in Belgrade (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/5/newsid_2493000/2493021.stm) led to the resignation of Slobodan Milosevic.

[jseal]

1600 ~ Jacopo Peri's “Euridice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euridice_(opera))”, the earliest surviving opera, premiered in Florence.

1846 ~ Birthday of George Westinghouse (http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/Our_Company/history/george_westinghouse.shtm), Engineer & Inventor.

1892 ~ Death of Alfred Tennyson (http://incompetech.com/authors/tennyson/), British poet laureate.

1914 ~ Birthday of Thor Heyerdahl (http://www.kon-tiki.no/E-Heyerdahl.php), Norwegian explorer, leader of the “Kon-Tiki (http://www.kon-tiki.no/e_aapning.php)” expedition.

1927 ~ Opening of “The Jazz Singer", the first talking movie.

1948 ~ Birthday of Gerry Adams, Irish politician.

1973 ~ Egyptian troops cross the Suez Canal, starting the Yom Kippur War (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/6/newsid_2514000/2514317.stm).

1981 ~ Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1006.html#article).

1887 ~ Death of Bette Davis, Actress.

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

[dicksbro]

1995 ~ The first extrasolar planet (http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/extrasolar/) was discovered orbiting 51 Pegasi, in the constellation of Pegasus.
Now, I think they've discovered more than 800 and say they're finding new planets almost everyday. Amazing.

[Oldfart]

1887 ~ Death of Bette Davis, Actress.

I could have sworn she held out longer than that.

[gigi]

1887 ~ Death of Bette Davis, Actress.

I could have sworn she held out longer than that.

*snicker*

[jseal]

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

1796 ~ Death of Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher.

1849 ~ Death of Edgar Allan Poe (http://www.eapoe.org/), American writer.

1885 ~ Birthday of Niels Bohr (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1922/bohr-bio.html), Physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1922.

1931 ~ Birthday of Desmond Tutu (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1984/tutu-bio.html), South African archbishop and anti-apartheid activist, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

1982 ~ "Cats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-L6rEm0rnY)" opened on Broadway.

1985 ~ The “Achille Lauro (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1007.html#article)” was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.

1986 ~ Birthday of Bree Olson (http://breeolson.com/MCE/bree/0/home), Porn Actress.

2001 ~ The U.S. began its air offensive against al-Qaeda (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/7/newsid_2519000/2519353.stm) and the Taleban in Afghanistan.

2003 ~ California governor Gray Davis was recalled from office and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[jseal]

1871 ~ The Great Chicago Fire (http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/intro/gcf-index.html) destroyed about 17,450 buildings, killed about 250 people and left another 90,000 homeless.

1920 ~ Birthday of Frank Herbert, Science Fiction writer (http://www.dunenovels.com/).

1949 ~ Birthday of Sigourney Weaver, Actress.

1952 ~ The UK suffered its worst peacetime rail accident (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/8/newsid_3075000/3075197.stm).

1961 ~ In London, the Post Office Tower opened (http://www.lightstraw.co.uk/ate/main/postofficetower/).

1969 ~ Birthday of Julia Ann (http://www.julia-ann.com/home.html), Porn Actress.

1982 ~ Solidarity, and all other labor organizations in Poland, were banned (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1008.html#article).

1992 ~ Death of Willy Brandt, German politician.

2003 ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/8/newsid_3659000/3659108.stm) of California.

2004 ~ Martha Stewart went to jail.

[jseal]

1804 ~ Hobart, Tasmania (http://www.discovertasmania.com/hobart_and_surrounds), was founded.

1835 ~ Birthday of Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer.

1859 ~ Birthday of Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer.

1940 ~ Birthday of John Lennon, Musician & Songwriter.

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

1948 ~ Birthday of Jackson Browne (Doctor My Eyes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCTYxIsLThA), The Pretender (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY0Pg2Gu5uM&feature=related), Running On Empty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJYRtOPUonA)).

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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMlfJ6mHHPY&feature=endscreen), Porn Actress.

1974 ~ Death of Oskar Schindler (http://www.oskarschindler.com/), businessman.

[jseal]

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.

1938 ~ The Sudetenland was ceded to Nazi Germany by the terms of the Munich Agreement (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/munich1.asp).

1966 ~ Simon and Garfunkel released the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og7JS8mcp3c).

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

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://www.helloonline.com/brides/201004293402/iconic-weddings/elizabeth-taylor/richard-burton/).

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 ~ Death of Orson Welles, Director and Actor.

1985 ~ Death of Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor.

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, food manufacturer.

1899 ~ In South Africa, a war between the UK and the Boers (http://www.anglo-boer.co.za/) of the Transvaal and Orange Free State began.

1958 ~ Pioneer 1 was launched; it failed to go as far as planned, fell back to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.

1961 ~ Death of Chico Marx (http://www.clown-ministry.com/index_1.php?/site/articles/chico_marx_biography_marx_brothers_i_give_up_why_a_duck/), comedian.

1962 ~ Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council (http://vatican2.org/).

1968 ~ Launch of Apollo 7 (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1011.html#article), the first manned Apollo mission.

1975 ~ The debut of Saturday Night Live (http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/).

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

1991 ~ Death of Redd Foxx, Comedian & actor.

2001 ~ The Polaroid Corporation (http://www.polaroid.com/) filed for federal bankruptcy protection.

[jseal]

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

1872 ~ Birthday of Ralph Vaughan Williams (http://www.rvwsociety.com/biography.html), English composer.

1968 ~ Summer Olympics open in Mexico City.

1970 ~ Birthday of Julian, Porn actor.

1977 ~ Four Palestinians hijacked a Lufthansa Airlines flight to Somalia and demanded release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.

1984 ~ UK PM Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped (http://republican-news.org/archive/2000/August31/31brig.html) an IRA bomb attack.

1986 ~ Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev failed to agree on Star Wars (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/12/newsid_3732000/3732902.stm) at a disarmament summit in Reykjavik.

1999 ~ Death of Wilt Chamberlain (http://www.nba.com/history/players/chamberlain_bio.html), American basketball player.

2000 ~ Terrorists attacked the USS Cole (http://www.pianoladynancy.com/recovery_usscole.htm) in the Yemeni port of Aden.

2002 ~ A terrorist bomb at a Bali nightclub killed 202 people (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/13/1034222664046.html), mainly Australians.

[jseal]

54 ~ Death of Claudius (http://www.roman-emperors.org/claudius.htm), Roman Emperor.

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

1773 ~ Charles Messier (http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/history/biograph.html) discovered the Whirlpool Galaxy (http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0110a/).

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, UK PM.

1943 ~ Italy changes alliances from the Axis to the Allies (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1013.html#article).

1982 ~ Birthday of Ian Thorpe, Australian swimmer.

1988 ~ The UK government lost the Spycatcher (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/13/newsid_2532000/2532583.stm) battle

1990 ~ Death of Lê Ðức Thọ, Vietnamese general & politician, awarded one half of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1973/tho.html).

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: The Norman army of William the Conqueror defeated the Saxon army and kill King Harold II of England.

1944 ~ Given the choice between a public treason trial followed by death by firing squad or suicide with honor, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/rommel.htm) chose the latter.

1947 ~ Chuck Yeager flew a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound (http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/bellX1.html), the first man to do so in level flight.

1964 ~ Civil Rights movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1014.html#article) became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1966 ~ Birthday of Savanna Samson (http://www.clubsavannasamson.com/main.php?), Porn Actress.

1977 ~ Death of Bing Crosby, Actor & Singer.

1983 ~ Birthday of Vanessa Lane (http://www.vanessalanevip.com/tour1/?nats=NDozOjg3,0,0,0,0), Porn Actress.

1990 ~ Death of Leonard Bernstein, Composer & Conductor.

1991 ~ Aung San Suu Kyi (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1991/kyi.html) 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).

[Oldfart]

1947 ~ Chuck Yeager flew a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, the first man to do so in level flight.

Dropped from a bomber, riding a rocket with wings. Level flight, himph!

Lightning, Spitfire and Me262 all did it before, albeit in a shallow dive, without the aid of a B-29.

Bah, humbug.

[jseal]

If the rate of descent is unimportant, then Herr Baumgartner, who is attempting to achieve unpowered supersonic speed (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19943191), certainly deserves honorable mention.

[Oldfart]

There is a question whether Herr Baumgartner actually reached the speed of sound, despite exceeding 1300kph. What an amazing thing it would be to fall at mach 1, riding the sonic fold.

[jseal]

70 BC ~ Birthday of Virgil, Roman poet.

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

1964 ~ Birthday of P. G. Wodehouse (http://www.pgwodehousesociety.org.uk/), British novelist.

1908 ~ Birthday of John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist.

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

1964 ~ Nikita Khrushchev “retired” (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1015.html#article) as head of USSR.

1990 ~ Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1990/press.html) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1991 ~ The Senate confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.

1993 ~ Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1993/) were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

2003 ~ China launched its first manned spacecraft (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/15/newsid_3699000/3699842.stm) into orbit, becoming the third country to do so.

[jseal]

There is a question whether Herr Baumgartner actually reached the speed of sound, despite exceeding 1300kph. What an amazing thing it would be to fall at mach 1, riding the sonic fold.
Perhaps not, but it does make for Strange Days (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19943590).

Thanks dm383!

[jseal]

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.

1959 ~ Death of George Marshall, United States Secretary of State, Nobel laureate.

1964 ~ China detonated its first nuclear weapon. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1016.html#article)

1978 ~ Karol Józef Wojtyła became Pope John Paul II (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/16/newsid_3170000/3170452.stm). He was the first non Italian to be elevated to the position since 1522.

1981 ~ Death of Moshe Dayan, Israeli general.

1984 ~ Desmond Tutu (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1984/tutu-bio.html) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1984 ~ Birthday of Melissa Lauren (http://www.clubmelissalauren.com/), French Porn Actress. Bon appétit! [/QUOTE]

[jseal]

1915 ~ Birthday of Arthur Miller (http://www.ibiblio.org/miller/), Playwright.

1931 ~ Al Capone convicted (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1017.html#article) of income tax evasion.

1933 ~ Birthday of Jeanine Deckers, known in English as The Singing Nun

1935 ~ Death of Santiago Ramón y Cajal (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1906/cajal.html), Spanish neuroscientist.

1956 ~ Queen Elizabeth opened the first commercial nuclear power station (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_3147000/3147145.stm), at Calder Hall.

1968 ~ Olympic protest (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_3535000/3535348.stm) against racial discrimination.

1972 ~ Birthday of Eminem, rap music performer.

1973 ~ Arab oil-producing nations announced they would cut back oil exports to Western nations and Japan; the result was a total embargo that lasted until March 1974 (http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2002/arab.html).

1979 ~ Mother Teresa of India (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on behalf of the destitute in Calcutta.

1989 ~ The Loma Prieta earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area.

[jseal]

1851 ~ Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville, was first published as The Whale.

1871 ~ Death of Charles Babbage (http://www.charlesbabbage.net/), mathematician and inventor of computing machines.

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

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

1939 ~ Birthday of Lee Harvey Oswald, Assassin.

1954 ~ The Regency Division of Industrial Development Engineering Associates announced the first Transistor radio (http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/tradio.html).

1962 ~ Dr. Watson of the United States, and Drs. Crick and Wilkins of the UK (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/), were named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.

1976 ~ Birthday of Azlea Antistia (http://www.azleaantistiaxxx.com/azlea_antistia_main.asp), Porn Actress.

1989 ~ Erich Honecker was forced to step down (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/18/newsid_2450000/2450783.stm) as leader of East Germany after 18 years in power.

2006 ~ Death of Anna Russell, English music satirist (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ_D2cE8_eE).

[jseal]

1745 ~ Death of Jonathan Swift, Author.

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

1812 ~ French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte (http://www.napoleonguide.com/leaders_napoleon.htm) began a retreat from Moscow.

1931 ~ Birthday of John Le Carré (http://www.johnlecarre.com/biography.html), Author.

1937 ~ Death of Ernest Rutherford (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1908/rutherford-bio.html), New Zealand physicist, father of nuclear physics.

1950 ~ Death of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Poet.

1954 ~ Metal fatigue was identified as the cause of Comet crashes (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/october/19/newsid_3112000/3112466.stm).

1969 ~ U.S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew referred to anti-Vietnam War protesters “an effete corps of impudent snobs.”

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 (http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/about/show_trial.html) began.

[jseal]

1740 ~ Maria Theresa took the throne of Austria.

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

1882 ~ Birthday of Bela Lugosi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVPxAgy7lBA), Actor.

1893 ~ Birthday of Jomo Kenyatta[/URL], President of Kenya.

1983 ~ Grenada's Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/20/newsid_3720000/3720608.stm), was assassinated.

1973 ~ In the “Saturday Night Massacre (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1020.html#article)”, President Nixon abolished the office of special Watergate prosecutor, accepted the resignation of the Attorney General, and fired Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus.

1973 ~ The Sydney Opera House (http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Sydney_Opera.html) opened.

1984 ~ Death of Paul Dirac (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/dirac-bio.html), awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1933.

1992 ~ The Toronto Blue Jays won the first World Series game outside the U.S.

2011 ~ Death of Muammar Gaddafi (http://world.time.com/2012/10/18/how-did-gaddafi-die-a-year-later-unanswered-questions-and-bad-blood/), Dictator.

[jseal]

1772 ~ Birthday of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (http://incompetech.com/authors/coleridge/), Poet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGH4p4z4s5A). (for Oldfart)

1805 ~ A British fleet led by Admiral Lord Nelson defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar (http://www.nelsonsnavy.co.uk/battle-of-trafalgar.html) off the coast of Spain.

1805 ~ Death of Horatio Nelson (http://www.geographia.com/stkitts-nevis/nelson1.htm), 1st Viscount Nelson.

1833 ~ Birthday of Alfred Nobel (http://nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/index.html), Swedish inventor and benefactor of the Nobel Prize.

1854 ~ Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were sent to the Crimean War.

1879 ~ Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1021.html#article).

1929 ~ Birthday of Ursula K. Le Guin (http://www.ursulakleguin.com/), Science Fiction Author.

1944 ~ The first kamikaze attack (http://www.gunplot.net/aussie/hmasaussie.html): HMAS Australia was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg bomb.

1945 ~ Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time.

1949 ~ Birthday of Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel.

[jseal]

1746 ~ Princeton University (http://www.princeton.edu/main/) in New Jersey received its charter.

1836 ~ Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas (http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/republic/index.html).

1844 ~ Birthday of Sarah Bernhardt (http://www.sarah-bernhardt.com/), Actress.

1906 ~ Death of Paul Cezanne, Painter.

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

1943 ~ Birthday of Catherine Deneuve, Actress.

1943 ~ The RAF air raid on Kassel, a city of 236,000 people, killed 10,000, and left 150,000 homeless.

1962 ~ US President Kennedy announced that American spy planes had discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1022.html#article), and that he had ordered a naval "quarantine" of the island nation.

1973 ~ Death of Pablo Casals (http://www.cello.org/casals/casals.htm), Cellist & Conductor.

1990 ~ The region around the Aral Sea assessed as the world’s worst ecological disaster (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/22/newsid_3756000/3756134.stm).

[jseal]

4004 BC ~ The start of the universe, according to the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.

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

1940 ~ Birthday of Pelé, soccer player Extraordinaire.

1942 ~ In Egypt, British forces begin a major offensive against Axis forces by initiating the Second Battle of El Alamein (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWelalamein.htm).

1956 ~ Hungarians took to the streets in to demand an end to Soviet rule. Thousands died (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/23/newsid_3140000/3140400.stm).

1974 ~ Birthday of Jasmin St. Claire (http://www.jasminstclaire.com/), Porn Actress.

1983 ~ U.S. & French barracks in Beirut hit by truck bombs (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1023.html#article), killing 241 U.S. servicemen and 58 French.

2001 ~ Apple introduced the iPod.

2002 ~ Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/24/60minutes/main579840.shtml) in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.

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, Chocolate Manufacturer & Philanthropist.

1929 ~ "Black Thursday (http://www.socialwelfarehistory.com/eras/the-stock-market-crash-of-october-1929/)" 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.

1960 ~ An R-16 ballistic missile exploded on the launch pad (http://www.russianspaceweb.com/r16_disaster.html) at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing more than 100.

1992 ~ In the first real "World" Series (http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws_recaps.jsp?feature=1992), the Toronto Blue Jays became the first non-US team to win the World Series.

2003 ~ The Concorde completed its last commercial flight (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/24/newsid_3701000/3701490.stm).

2006 ~ Death of William Watt, Islamic studies scholar (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/watt.html) & historian.

2008 ~ "Bloody Friday (http://articles.marketwatch.com/2008-10-24/news/30811402_1_indexes-fall-sensex-shanghai-index)" stock market crash on the world's stock exchanges.

[jseal]

1415 ~ England defeated France at the Battle of Agincourt.

1825 ~ Birthday of Johann Strauss II (http://bobjanuary.com/johann2.htm), Composer.

1838 ~ Birthday of Georges Bizet (http://www.last.fm/music/Georges+Bizet), Composer.

1854 ~ Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War. You can listen and follow along (http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/tennyson.shtml) to Lord Tennyson as he reads his poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3944699.stm)”.

1881 ~ Birthday of Pablo Picasso, Painter & Sculptor.

1924 ~ First appearance of "Little Orphan Annie”.

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).

1983 ~ Birthday of Taylor Vixen (http://www.taylorvixen.com/tour/index.php?nats=MC4wLjI1LjM1LjAuMC4wLjAuMA), Porn actress.

[jseal]

899 ~ Death of Alfred the Great, king of Wessex.

1685 ~ Birthday of Domenico Scarlatti (http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxdscarl.html), Composer.

1881 ~ The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (http://clantongang.com/oldwest/gunfight.html) took place at Tombstone, Arizona.

1918 ~ Erich von Ludendorff was dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilhelm_kaiser_ii.shtml) of Germany for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.

1947 ~ The Maharaja of Kashmir agreed to allow his kingdom to join India.

1947 ~ Birthday of Hillary Rodham Clinton, 67th United States Secretary of State.

1972 ~ Death of Igor Sikorsky (http://www.sikorskyarchives.com/Igor_Sikorsky.php), 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://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erasmus/), 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/index.cfm?articleid=49229), British poet and writer.

1968 ~ Death of Lise Meitner, German physicist.

1968 ~ Major anti-war riot in London (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/27/newsid_2478000/2478197.stm).

1991 ~ Turkmenistan (http://www.turkmenistanembassy.org/turkmen/history/hist_cult.html) achieved independence from the Soviet Union.

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

[Oldfart]

Elias Howe won a case against patent infringement in 1854 and was awarded the right to claim royalties from the manufacturers using ideas covered by his patent, including Singer. Sewing machines go back to the 1790s, the French military had machine sewed uniforms in the 1840s.

[jseal]

Ha! Mere phantasms! A mere Johnny-come-lately, Mr. Howe must have found a compliant judge to have scored a win so late in the day. Isaac is the man!

[jseal]

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

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

1903 ~ Birthday of Evelyn Waugh, Novelist.

1914 ~ Birthday of Dr. Jonas Salk (http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95oct/jesalk.html), developer of the first effective polio vaccine.

1955 ~ Birthday of Bill Gates, co-founder and Chairman of Microsoft.

1962 ~ Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the U.S. that he had ordered the dismantling of Soviet missile bases in Cuba (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/28/newsid_2621000/2621915.stm).

1971 ~ The UK launched its first and only satellite, Prospero, atop a Black Arrow rocket (http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~woomera/bkarrow.htm).

1980 ~ Ronald Reagan asked voters during a debate with Jimmy Carter in Cleveland ''are you better off than you were four years ago?' (http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2008/01/17/the-actor-and-the-detail-man.html)'.

1980 ~ Birthday of Kanzi, most literate non-human Earthling (http://www.greatapetrust.org/about-the-trust/meet-our-apes/kanzi).

2009 ~ The first, and only launch of Ares I-X of NASA's later-cancelled Constellation program.

[Oldfart]

I wonder what a Kanzi flaked flint knife would be worth?

Mind you, he's probably only at the olduvaian stage.

[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.thedreyfussinitiative.org/what-we-do/board-of-directors/18-richard-dreyfuss.html), American actor.

1948 ~ Birthday of Kate Jackson, American actress.

1957 ~ Death of Louis B. Mayer, film producer. The second “M” in “MGM”.

1966 ~ The National Organization For Women (http://www.now.org/) was founded.

1969 ~ The first computer-to-computer link (http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/) was established on ARPANET.

1975 ~ General Franco’s dictatorship of Spain came to an end.

2004 ~ In a videotaped statement, Osama bin Laden directly admitted (http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2004/10/29/binladen_message041029.html) for the first time that he'd ordered the Sept. 11 attacks.

[jseal]

1831 ~ Nat Turner was arrested for leading the bloodiest slave revolt in U.S. history (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1518.html).

1839 ~ Birthday of Alfred Sisley, one of the creators of French Impressionism.

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

1961 ~ The Soviet Union detonated the 58 megaton hydrogen bomb "Tsar Bomba (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/30/newsid_3666000/3666785.stm)".

1945 ~ Jackie Robinson signs with the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier.

1974 ~ Muhammad Ali beat George Foreman (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1030.html#article) to regain the World Heavyweight Boxing championship.

1987 ~ Death of Joseph Campbell, Comparative Mythologist.

2003 ~ Wicked (http://www.wickedthemusical.com/#) opened on Broadway. It is currently here in Baltimore, playing at the Hippodrome. Tonight's performance was cancelled for Sandy.

2005 ~ The reconsecration of the Dresden Frauenkirche (http://www.frauenkirche-dresden.de/startseite+M5d637b1e38d.html), which was destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II.

2007 ~ Death of Washoe (http://www.friendsofwashoe.org/), chimpanzee trained in American Sign Language.

[dicksbro]

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.

What a beautiful church! So much was lost during the war and while the reconsecration is seven years old now, it's really good to see some of what was lost brought back to life.

[jseal]

1517 ~ Protestant Reformation got under way: Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. For a unique insight to this happening, click here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3944549.stm).

1795 ~ Birthday of John Keats (http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/songoftheindianmaid.html), Poet.

1892 ~ Arthur Conan Doyle published "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Arthur_Conan_Doyle/The_Adventures_of_Sherlock_Holmes/)".

1930 ~ Birthday of Michael Collins (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/collins-m.html), the 3rd astronaut of Apollo 11.

1956 ~ Suez Crisis: The UK and France began bombing Egypt (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/suez.htm) to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.

1973 ~ Birthday of Beverly Lynne (http://www.beverlylynne.com/join.html), Porn Actress.

1984 ~ Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1031.html#article) by two Sikh security guards (riots soon broke out in New Delhi and nearly 2,000 innocent Sikhs were killed).

1988 ~ Death of John Houseman, Romanian-born actor and director.

1993 ~ Death of Federico Fellini, Italian 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?"

1919 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Kalashnikov, Soviet inventor, AK-47.

1925 ~ Birthday of Richard Burton (http://www.richardburton.com/life.htm), Actor.

1951 ~ Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service began in the United States.

1975 ~ The SS Edmund Fitzgerald (http://www.ssefo.com/) sank during a storm on Lake Superior. Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A)" is a song about the tragedy.

1982 ~ The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1110.html#article) in Washington D.C. opened to public.

1983 ~ Birthday of Sammie Rhodes, Porn Actress (http://www.clubsammierhodes.com/).

1995 ~ Execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/10/newsid_2539000/2539561.stm), writer and human rights activist.

2007 ~ Death of Norman Mailer (http://www.normanmailersociety.com/), American author.

[jseal]

1739 ~ Birthday of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Composer.

1815 ~ Birthday of George Boole (http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Printonly/Boole.html), Mathematician & Philosopher.

1930 ~ Haile Selassie was crowned emperor of Ethiopia.

1936 ~ The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation[/URL] 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 (http://countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/47.htm), and replaced by his half-brother Faisal.

1981 ~ Birthday of Avy Scott (http://www.avyscottvip.com/tour1/?nats=NDozOjc4,0,0,0,0), Porn Star.

1983 ~ President Reagan signed a bill establishing a federal holiday in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode05/usc_sec_05_00006103----000-.html)

1988 ~ The Morris worm (http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/articles/morris-worm.html) was launched from MIT.

[jseal]

1801 ~ Birthday of Vincenzo Bellini, Italian opera composer.

1838 ~ The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/), the world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper was founded.

1903 ~ Panama proclaimed itself independent from Colombia.

1936 ~ Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1103.html#article) in a landslide over Republican Alfred M. ''Alf'' Landon.

1954 ~ Death of Henri Matisse (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/matisse/), French artist (http://www.fairiesworld.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/henri-matisse_the_dance1910.jpg).

1957 ~ Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter space - a dog named Laika (http://www.space.com/17764-laika-first-animals-in-space.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, 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 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williamjclinton) defeated incumbent Republican George H.W. Bush & independent candidate Ross Perot.

1993 ~ Death of Leon Theremin, Russian inventor.

[jseal]

1847 ~ Death of Felix Mendelssohn, German composer.

1869 ~ The first issue of scientific journal Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html) was published.

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.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/hostages.phtml) and took 90 hostages.

1979 ~ Birthday of Audrey Hollander, Porn Actress

1995 ~ The Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated (http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9511/rabin/funeral/wrap/index.html) at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

2008 ~ Death of Michael Crichton, Author (http://michaelcrichton.sweb.cz/).

2008 ~ Senator Obama was elected President (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1104.html#article).

[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 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 (http://www.royrogers.com/), American actor.

1930 ~ Sinclair Lewis (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1930/lewis-autobio.html) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1942 ~ The Second Battle of El Alamein (http://www.youtube.com/channel/HCMn0K6a33z4s) was won by the British in El Alamein, Egypt.

1977 ~ Birthday of Brittney Skye (http://www.brittneyskyexxx.com/tours/?nats=MTUuMy4xLjEuMS4wLjAuMC4w), Porn actress.

1979 ~ Ayatollah Khomeini (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/religion/ayatollah-khomeni/) declares the USA to be "the great Satan".

1989 ~ Death of Vladimir Horowitz (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Horowitz-Vladimir.htm), Pianist.

1999 ~ Federal Judge Thomas Jackson declared Microsoft Corp. a monopoly, saying the software giant's aggressive actions were ''stifling innovation'' and hurting consumers.

[jseal]

1789 ~ Pope Pius VI appointed Father John Carroll as the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States.

1854 ~ Birthday of John Philip Sousa (http://www.dws.org/sousa/learn/timeline), composer of the official march of the U.S., The Stars and Stripes Forever (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005JI2X/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=jpsousa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B00005JI2X)

1861 ~ Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.

1869 ~ Rutgers University (http://ruweb.rutgers.edu/about-the-university.shtml) defeated Princeton University (http://www.princeton.edu/main/), 6-4, in the first official intercollegiate American football game (http://www.answers.com/topic/football).

1893 ~ Death of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (https://www.balletmet.org/), 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[/URL] and called for all member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.

1975 ~ Birthday of Anastasia Blue (http://www.anastasiablue.com/), former Porn Actress.

1999 ~ Australians voted to keep the British queen as their head of state (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/6/newsid_2514000/2514833.stm).

2000 ~ Death of L. Sprague De Camp (http://www.lspraguedecamp.com/index.php), Science Fiction writer.

[jseal]

1665 ~ The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English language journal, was first published.

1867 ~ Birthday of Marie Curie, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1903 (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-bio.html), and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911 (http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1911/).

1886 ~ Birthday of Aron Nimzowitsch (http://nimzowitsch.com/), chess grandmaster.

1913 ~ Birthday of Albert Camus (http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1957/camus-bio.html), writer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1957.

1917 ~ Bolshevik leaders Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky lead revolutionaries (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1107.html#article) in overthrowing the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky.

1934 ~ Premiere of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZbvluHcNo)" at Baltimore, Maryland.

1940 ~ The middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed (http://www.ketchum.org/tacomacollapse.html) in a windstorm.

1980 ~ Death of Steve McQueen, Actor.

1981 ~ Birthday of Lily Thai, Porn Actress.

1989 ~ Protests force the resignation (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/7/newsid_2539000/2539301.stm) of East Germany’s Communist government.

[Oldfart]

This sort of blows a main story element of "Somewhere in Time", doesn't it?

[jseal]

1674 ~ Death of John Milton, English poet.

1847 ~ Birthday of Bram Stoker (http://bramstoker.org/info.html), Irish novelist.

1884 ~ Birthday of Hermann Rorschach (http://www.crystalinks.com/rorschach.html), psychiatrist.

1895 ~ Wilhelm Röntgen discovered x-rays.

1942 ~ World War II: Operation Torch (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWtorch.htm) – U.S. and UK forces landed in French North Africa.

1950 ~ The first dog fight between jet aircraft (http://cnnews.wordpress.com/2007/10/08/fighter-planes-mig-15/).

1957 ~ The UK conducted its first successful hydrogen bomb test.

1986 ~ Death of Vyacheslav Molotov (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSmolotov.htm), Soviet politician.

1987 ~ An IRA bomb killed 11 people (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/8/newsid_2515000/2515113.stm) during a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

2002 ~ Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 (http://www.undemocracy.com/securitycouncil/meeting_4644) – The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Iraq, requiring Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences". (requires Adobe Acrobat)

[jseal]

1888 ~ Jack the Ripper killed Mary Jane Kelly (http://www.casebook.org/victims/), his last known victim.

1921 ~ Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

1934 ~ Birthday of Carl Sagan (http://www.planetary.org/about/founders/carl_sagan.html), American Astronomer & Writer.

1936 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Tal (http://www.chessbase.com/columns/column.asp?pid=134), World Chess Champion.

1938 ~ Nazi Germany's first large-scale act of physical anti-Jewish violence, Kristallnacht (http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/knacht.htm), began.

1953 ~ Death of Dylan Thomas (http://www.dylanthomas.com/), Welsh poet.

1953 ~ Death of Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, first King of Saudi Arabia.

1965 ~ Several U.S. states and parts of Canada were hit by blackouts (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1109.html#article).

1970 ~ Death of Charles de Gaulle (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/9/newsid_4275000/4275206.stm), French general and politician.

1989 ~ Fall of the Berlin Wall. East Germany opened checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany.

[jseal]

1775 ~ The Continental Congress passed a resolution creating the Continental Marines, later renamed the United States Marine Corps (http://www.marines.com/page/usmc.jsp).

1871 ~ Henry Morton Stanley (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/stanley_sir_henry_morton.shtml) located missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/livingstone_david.shtml) in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

1919 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Kalashnikov (http://kalashnikov.guns.ru/mk.html), Soviet inventor, AK-47.

1925 ~ Birthday of Richard Burton (http://www.richardburton.com/life.htm), Actor.

1951 ~ Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service began in the United States.

1975 ~ The SS Edmund Fitzgerald (http://www.ssefo.com/) sank during a storm on Lake Superior. Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A)" is a song about the tragedy.

1982 ~ The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1110.html#article) in Washington D.C. opened to public.

1983 ~ Birthday of Sammie Rhodes, Porn Actress (http://www.clubsammierhodes.com/).

1995 ~ Execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/10/newsid_2539000/2539561.stm), writer and human rights activist.

2007 ~ Death of Norman Mailer, American author.

[jseal]

1880 ~ Australian bushranger and bank robber Ned Kelly was hung in Melbourne (http://www.ripefruit.com/melbourne/sights/old_melbourne_gaol.htm).

1918 ~ Death of Henry Gunther (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16204809), the last American to die in World War I.

1918 ~ The end of World War I (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1111.html#article): Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies.

1922 ~ Birthday of Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist.

1938 ~ Death of Mary Mallon, aka "Typhoid Mary", carrier of the typhoid disease.

1965 ~ Rhodesia proclaimed its independence (http://www.rhodesia.nl/mztosm.html) from Britain.

1992 ~ The Church of England (http://www.cofe.anglican.org/) voted to allow women to become priests (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/11/newsid_2518000/2518183.stm).

2000 ~ A cable car full of skiers and snowboarders (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/11/newsid_4418000/4418498.stm), many of them children, caught fire in Austria, killing 155 people.

2004 ~ Death of Yasser Arafat (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1994/arafat-bio.html), President of the Palestinian Authority.

2005 ~ Death of Peter Drucker, Management Theorist.

[jseal]

1833 ~ Birthday of Alexander Borodin, Russian composer.

1840 ~ Birthday of Auguste Rodin (http://www.rodinmuseum.org/), French sculptor.

1942 ~ The Battle of Guadalcanal began (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1112.html#article).

1944 ~ The German battleship Tirpitz was sunk (http://www.kbismarck.com/tirpitz.html) off the coast of Norway.

1954 ~ Ellis Island closed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/12/newsid_3963000/3963251.stm).

1961 ~ Birthday of Nadia Comăneci, Romanian gymnast.

1970 ~ The famous exploding whale incident (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_t44siFyb4).

1982 ~ Birthday of Anne Hathaway, Actress.

1990 ~ Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for the World Wide Web (http://www.w3.org/Proposal.html).

2001 ~ Taliban forces abandoned Kabul ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance (http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/northern_alliance.htm) troops.

[jseal]

1850 ~ Birthday of Robert Louis Stevenson, Novelist.

1868 ~ Death of Gioacchino Rossini, Composer.

1940 ~ The animated film Fantasia (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4qq30_fantasia_fun) was released.

1955 ~ Birthday of Whoopi Goldberg (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberg), American actress.

1956 ~ U.S. Supreme Court declared Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1113.html#article).

1982 ~ The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (http://thewall-usa.com/wallpics/tommycanuhearme.htm) is dedicated.

1985 ~ A mudslide triggered by the Nevado del Ruiz volcano buried the city of Armero, Colombia (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/13/newsid_2539000/2539731.stm), killing some 23,000 people.

1990 ~ Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first known World Wide Web page (http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html#Examples).

1998 ~ President Bill Clinton agreed to pay Paula Jones $850,000 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/pjones/pjones.htm), ending the four-year legal battle over her sexual harassment lawsuit that spurred impeachment proceedings against him. Clinton did not admit guilt or apologize.

2002 ~ Saddam Hussein's government agreed to the return of international weapons inspectors to Iraq.

[jseal]

1719 ~ Birthday of Leopold Mozart (http://www.8notes.com/biographies/leopold_mozart.asp), Austrian musician, father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (http://www.biography.com/people/wolfgang-mozart-9417115).

1832 ~ Death of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Declaration of Independence signer.

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

1922 ~ The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/innovation/index.shtml)) began radio service in the UK.

1948 ~ Birthday of Charles, Prince of Wales (http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/).

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

1968 ~ Birthday of Janine Lindemulder (http://tour.realjanine.com/home/), 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) for the first time.

1991 ~ Indictments handed down against two Libyan intelligence officials (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/14/newsid_2518000/2518895.stm) in connection with the downing of the Pan Am Flight 103.

2001 ~ Northern Alliance fighters (http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,,592758,00.html) entered Kabul.

[jseal]

1887 ~ Birthday of Georgia O'Keeffe (http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/biography.html), Painter.

1920 ~ First assembly of the League of Nations (http://www.indiana.edu/~league/index.htm) was held in Geneva.

1940 ~ The Luftwaffe destroyed most of the English city of Coventry (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/15/newsid_3522000/3522785.stm) during World War II.

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

1963 ~ Death of Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor.

1969 ~ The Soviet submarine K-19 collided with the American submarine USS Gato.

1971 ~ Intel released the first commercial single-chip microprocessor (http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa092998.htm), the 4004.

1978 ~ Death of Margaret Mead, American anthropologist.

1996 ~ Death of Alger Hiss (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/dece_hiss.html), American government official & convicted spy.

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

[jseal]

1885 ~ Louis Riel (http://shsb.mb.ca/en/node/1381), Canadian rebel leader and "Father of Manitoba", executed for high treason.

1895 ~ Birthday of Paul Hindemith, Composer.

1920 ~ Qantas 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.

1945 ~ Operation Paperclip (http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/project_paperclip.htm): The U.S. Army secretly admited 88 German scientists and engineers to help in the development of rocket technology.

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 was granted a charter by the state of New York.

1887 ~ Birthday of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (http://www.biographyonline.net/military/bernard-montgomery.html).

1917 ~ Death of Auguste Rodin (http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en), French sculptor.

1944 ~ Birthday of Danny DeVito, American actor.

1960 ~ Birthday of RuPaul (http://www.rupaul.com/), American drag entertainer.

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

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 68 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.

[jseal]

1786 ~ Birthday of Carl Maria von Weber, Composer.

1836 ~ Birthday of Sir William S. Gilbert (http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/gilbert/life/long_bio.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.

1926 ~ George Bernard Shaw refused to accept the money for his Nobel Prize (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1925/shaw-bio.html), saying, "I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize."

1928 ~ The animated short Steamboat Willie (http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=96), the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, was released.

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.

2003 ~ The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 that the state constitution guarantees gay couples the right to marry.

2004 ~ Fox hunting outlawed in England and Wales.

[jseal]

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.

1990 ~ Pop group Milli Vanilli were stripped of their Grammy Award because they did not sing at all on the "Girl You Know It’s True" album.

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.

1924 ~ Birthday of Benoît Mandelbrot, 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.

1975 ~ Death of Francisco Franco, Spanish Head of State (1936-1975).

1976 ~ Death of Trofim Lysenko (http://www.skepdic.com/lysenko.html), Russian biologist.

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.

2007 ~ Death of Ian Smith, Rhodesian politician.

[jseal]

1898 ~ Birthday of René Magritte, Belgian painter (http://www.rene-magritte.org/rene-magritte-paintings.jsp).

1953 ~ Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announced that the skull of the "Piltdown Man" 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.

1976 ~ Birthday of Dasha, Czech Porn actress.

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=ddlrGkeOzsI) into an underlying salt deposit.

1985 ~ U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard was arrested (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/dece_pollard.html) for giving Israel classified information on Arab nations and was eventually sentenced to life in prison.

1995 ~ Toy Story (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hCYihlt1Lk) was released as the first feature-length film created using only computer-generated imagery.

1996 ~ Death of Abdus Salam (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1979/salam-bio.html), awarded one third of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1979.

[jseal]

1718 ~ English pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pirates/bbeard.html), was killed in battle off the coast of Virginia.

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

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.

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

1980 ~ Death of Mae West, Actress and writer.

1981 ~ Death of Hans Adolf Krebs (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1953/krebs-bio.html), German physician and biochemist, awarded one half The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953.

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.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark/history-and-collections/)" was launched. It is the last example of a Clipper ship.

1887 ~ Birthday of Boris Karloff (http://www.karloff.com/), Actor.

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

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" aired on the BBC.

1993 ~ Rachel Whiteread won both the Turner Prize award for best British modern artist and the K Foundation art award for the worst artist of the year.

2001 ~ Convention on Cybercrime (http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/185.htm) is signed in Budapest, Hungary.

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).

[Oldfart]

1963 ~ The first episode of the science fiction TV series "Doctor Who" aired on the BBC.

And a fine show 49 years later.

This show has scared the crap out of 3 generations, in a good way.

[jseal]

I rather liked "The Fires of Pompeii" when it revealed that the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius was caused by aliens called Pyroviles living under it. :thumb:

[jseal]

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

1859 ~ British naturalist Charles Darwin published "The Origin of Species (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1228/1228-h/1228-h.htm)", 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.

1974 ~ Death of U Thant, Burmese diplomat and UN Secretary-General.

1989 ~ The Velvet Revolution: The leadership of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia resigned (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/24/newsid_2546000/2546883.stm).

1991 ~ Death of Freddie Mercury, musician (Queen).

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 (http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Thomas/mahlers-ninth.html).

1952 ~ Birthday of Imran Khan, Pakistani test cricketer.

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.

2009 ~ The 2009 Saudi Arabian Floods (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvCgCJCHwD4): Following freak rains swamp the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia during the Hajj pilgrimage.

[jseal]

1939 ~ Birthday of Tina Turner, 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.

1951 ~ Birthday of Cicciolina (http://www.cicciolinaonline.it/vis_dettaglio.php?id_livello=744), Italian Porn Actress and politician.

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

1976 ~ The Band played their farewell concert.

1981 ~ Birthday of Aurora Snow (http://www.aurorasnow.com/landing/), Porn Actress.

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

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.

2008 ~ Ten coordinated terrorist attacks by Pakistan-based terrorists killed 164 and injured more than 250 people in Mumbai (Bombay), India.

[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.

1942 ~ Birthday of Jimi Hendrix, musician (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mur8lHrlqo&feature=related).

1946 ~ Indian P.M. Jawaharlal Nehru appealed to the U.S. and the USSR to start nuclear disarmament, stating that such an action would "save humanity from the ultimate disaster".

India would later develop its indigenous nuclear WMD.

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, Porn actress.

1978 ~ Birthday of Shy Love, Porn actress.

1979 ~ Birthday of Danielle Foxxx (http://sexchangegirl.com/tour/aboutme.html?nats=), Porn actress.

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]

1811 ~ Beethoven's Piano Concerto #5 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yftk_cnbwKQ&feature=related), the "Emperor Concerto," premiered at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.

1820 ~ Birthday of Friedrich Engels, social philosopher.

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://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/rolling+stones/let+it+bleed_20117892.html).

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

1994 ~ Death of Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer.

1994 ~ Death of Jerry Rubin, social activist.

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.

2000 ~ The eighth tar drop fell in the University of Queensland pitch drop experiment (http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/pitchdrop/pitchdrop.shtml).

[jseal]

1643 ~ Death of Claudio Monteverdi, Composer.

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

1890 ~ At West Point, New York, the U.S. Naval Academy defeated the U.S. Military Academy 24-0 in the first Army–Navy football game (http://www.phillylovesarmynavy.com/).

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

1944 ~ The first surgery (on a human) to correct blue baby syndrome (http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/page1.htm) is performed by Alfred Blalock (http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/blbio.htm) and Vivien Thomas (http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/vthomas.htm).

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.

1982 ~ Birthday of Krystal Steal, 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.georgeharrison.com/#/news), musician.

[jseal]

1667 ~ Birthday of Jonathan Swift (http://www.luminarium.org/eightlit/swift/swiftbio.htm), Writer & Satirist.

1835 ~ Birthday of Mark Twain, Writer (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, and A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court).

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

1874 ~ Birthday of Sir Winston Churchill (http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/biography/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.

1939 ~ Soviet forces crossed the Finnish border in several places and bombed Helsinki and several other Finnish cities, starting the Winter War (http://www.winterwar.com/).

1900 ~ Death of Oscar Wilde (http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/bio1.htm), 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 (http://www.thegreenpapers.com/Hx/ElectoralCollege.html) 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.

1935 ~ Birthday of Woody Allen, Film Director & Actor & Comedian.

1954 ~ Birthday of Annette Haven (http://www.annettehavenonline.com/annette_haven_bio.asp), Porn actress.

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://www.history.co.uk/this-day-in-history/December/01/about.html;jsessionid=A89257236450367A41DF85D2189DD790.public2) beneath the English Channel.

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

[jseal]

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.

1942 ~ Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiate the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (http://www.nuclearmuseum.org/see/online-museum/history/the-manhattan-project/).

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 declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism.

1971 ~ Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain formed the United Arab Emirates.

1981 ~ Birthday of Isabella Soprano (http://www.isabellasoprano.net/), Porn Actress.

1990 ~ 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/).

2001 ~ Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

[jseal]

1815 ~ Death of John Carroll - First Roman Catholic Archbishop in the U.S.

1857 ~ Birthday of Joseph Conrad (http://www.online-literature.com/conrad/), Writer.

1894 ~ Death of Robert Louis Stevenson, Writer.

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

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.findadeath.com/Deceased/k/Madeline_Kahn/death_of_madeline_Kahn.htm), 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 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 (http://www.courtneycummz.net/tour1/?nats=ODozOjM,0,0,0,0), Porn actress.

1998 ~ The second module of the International Space Station (ISS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station)), the Unity Module (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg1AYWifAeo), was launched.

[jseal]

1791 ~ Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer.

1890 ~ Birthday of Fritz Lang (http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2ba17a710d), film director.

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.

1909 ~ Foundation of les Canadiens de Montréal (http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/index.htm).

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 was ratified. This overturned the 18th Amendment, which had outlawed the inter-state sale of alcohol.

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.

2005 ~ The Civil Partnership Act (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/33/enacted) came into effect in the UK.

2006 ~ Death of David Bronstein, Ukrainian-born chess grandmaster.

[jseal]

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.

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

1920 ~ Birthday of Dave Brubeck (http://www.davebrubeck.com/live/), jazz musician.

1929 ~ Birthday of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Conductor.

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

1957 ~ The first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit, Vanguard TV3, was renamed 'Flopnik (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK6a6Hkp94o)'.

1989 ~ Marc Lépine killed 14 women (http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/society/crime-justice/the-montreal-massacre/topic-the-montreal-massacre.html) 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, civil rights activist.

[jseal]

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

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.

1963 ~ Instant replay is used for the first time in a Army-Navy game.

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

1971 ~ Birthday of Chasey Lain (http://www.perfectchasey.com/biography.php), Porn Actress.

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).

1993 ~ Death of Wolfgang Paul (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1989/paul-autobio.html), Physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1989.

1999 ~ The beginning of the end of Napster. The Recording Industry Association of America files a lawsuit against it, alleging copyright infringement.

[jseal]

1864 ~ Death of George Boole, Mathematician.

1925 ~ Birthday of Sammy Davis Jr. (http://www.sammydavis-jr.com/), Actor & Singer.

1939 ~ Birthday of James Galway (http://www.jamesgalway.com/), 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B8R-umE0s0)" 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 marking the end of the U.S.S.R. and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

1993 ~ U.S. participation in The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed into law by President Clinton.

2010 ~ The first operational solar-sail spacecraft, IKAROS (http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/e/activity/ikaros.html), passed the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km.

[jseal]

1868 ~ Birthday of Fritz Haber (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1918/haber-bio.html), German chemist, Nobel prize winner in 1918.

1906 ~ Birthday of Grace Murray Hopper (http://gracehopper.org/2012/about/about-grace-hopper/), American computer pioneer.

1961 ~ Tanganyika became independent from the UK.

1961 ~ Adolf Eichmann found guilty of war crimes in Israel.

1968 ~ First demonstration of the computer mouse. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7768481.stm) The mainframe mouse (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/physical-object/2009/04/102682822.01.01.lg.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102682822&h=500&w=498&sz=157&tbnid=SFmGYt6aMacgBM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=91&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmainframe%2Bmouse%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=mainframe+mouse&usg=__uXlDMejSXQTASHyxZVoPksD7VFI=&docid=1Yth0IqXL8MQDM&sa=X&ei=_tXDUL_YII600QH-xYHQBg&ved=0CD4Q9QEwAQ&dur=186) was developed later.

1979 ~ Death of Archbishop Sheen (http://www.bishopsheen.com/), arguably the first televangelist.

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, Archeologist & Anthropologist.

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

[jseal]

1815 ~ Birthday of Ada Lovelace, first computer programmer.

1830 ~ Birthday of Emily Dickinson, Poet.

1896 ~ Death of Alfred Nobel (http://www.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 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1952/schweitzer-bio.html) 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.

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).

2005 ~ Death of Richard Pryor (http://richardpryor.com/biography.php), comedian & actor.

[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 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1954/born-bio.html), 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship), 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 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 (http://www.viator.com/New-Delhi/d804).

1915 ~ Birthday of Frank Sinatra (http://www.sinatra.com/legacy), 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.

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/).

2006 ~ Death of Peter Boyle, Actor.

[jseal]

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, 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 (http://www.un.org/sg/formersg/annan.shtml) 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.

2006 ~ The Chinese River Dolphin was declared extinct.

[jseal]

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 (http://www.gingerlynn.com/), Porn Actress.

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

1984 ~ Birthday of Krissy Lynn, Porn Actress.

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]

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

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.

1916 ~ Birthday of Maurice Wilkins (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/wilkins-bio.html), New Zealand-born physicist, co-recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his contribution to the elucidation of the structure of DNA.

1919 ~ Birthday of Max Yasgur, owner of the Woodstock Festival site.

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 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".

1901 ~ Birthday of Margaret Mead, Anthropologist.

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”.

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 (http://www.militaryheritage.com/bolivar.htm), 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.

1976 ~ Birthday of Zsanett Égerházi, Hungarian-born Porn Actress.

1979 ~ Birthday of Jaimee Foxworth, mainstrean & Porn Actress.

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

1989 ~ The pilot episode of The Simpsons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson_family) aired in the U.S.

[jseal]

1737 ~ Death of Antonio Stradivari (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/strd/hd_strd.htm), Italian violin maker.

1786 ~ Birthday of Carl Maria von Weber, Composer.

1892 ~ The premiere performance of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" in Saint Petersburg, Russia

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

1936 ~ Death of Andrija Mohorovičić (http://istrianet.org/istria/illustri/mohorovicic/), 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/).

2006 ~ Death of Joseph Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera, creators of The Flintstones, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, and Yogi Bear.

[Oldfart]

2006 ~ Death of Joseph Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera, creators of The Smurfs.

We've had this discussion before.

[jseal]

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

1848 ~ Death of Emily Brontë, Author.

1888 ~ Birthday of Fritz Reiner, Conductor.

1906 ~ Birthday of Leonid Brezhnev (http://www.historyguide.org/europe/brezhnev.html), Soviet politician.

1971 ~ Birthday of Tiffany Towers, Porn Actress (http://www.tnaflix.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ca822d98e539754dae9c).

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/stories/impeachvote121198.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, 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 (http://www.keating.org.au/) 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 (Stabilisation Force) on 21-DEC-96, and transfered to EUFOR (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXbHkkD1jh4) 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 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China), Chinese president.

1945 ~ Death of George S. Patton (http://www.generalpatton.com/biography/index.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.

1944 ~ Battle of the Bulge – German troops under the command of General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Freiherr_von_L%C3%BCttwitz) demand the surrender of U.S. troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_McAuliffe): "Nuts!"

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.

1975 ~ Birthday of Crissy Moran, former Porn Actress.

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.wowzone.com/clonecat.htm), 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

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.vk2ce.com/darwin.htm), Australia.

1992 ~ President Bush pardoned 6 people involved in the Iran-Contra scandal (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1224.html#article).

[jseal]

800 ~ Coronation of Charlemagne (http://pirate.shu.edu/~wisterro/cdi/0800a_coronation_of_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.

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).

2000 ~ Death of Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher.

Feastdays & Holidays

The Nativity of Jesus (http://www.christmasarchives.com/quran.html).

[jseal]

1610 ~ Elizabeth Bathory (http://www.abacom.com/~jkrause/bathory.html)'s crimes were uncovered.

1791 ~ Birthday of Charles Babbage, Mathematician and designer of computing machines.

1792 ~ Final trial of Louis XVI of France began.

1890 ~ Death of Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist.

1893 ~ Birthday of Mao Zedong (http://www.china.org.cn/english/Life/52253.htm), Chinese Politician.

1941 ~ Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1226.html#article).

1948 ~ Cardinal Mindszenty arrested in Hungary.

1966 ~ The first Kwanzaa (http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/origins1.shtml) was celebrated.

1991 ~ Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolved the USSR (http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/index.htm).

2004 ~ A tsunami triggered by an earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/26/newsid_4631000/4631713.stm) left more than 216,000 people dead or missing, mostly in southern Asia.

Feastdays & Holidays

Boxing Day (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/boxingday.asp).

[jseal]

1571 ~ Birthday of Johannes Kepler, astronomer.

1822 ~ Birthday of Louis Pasteur (http://php.pasteur.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=14), Scientist.

1831 ~ Charles Darwin (http://www2.lucidcafe.com/lucidcafe/library/96feb/darwin.html) embarked on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle.

1904 ~ James Barrie's play Peter Pan (http://neverpedia.com/pan/Characters_of_Peter_Pan) premiered in London.

1932 ~ Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.

1945 ~ The World Bank (http://www.worldbank.org/) and International Monetary Fund (http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm) were created with an agreement signed by 28 nations.

1945 ~ Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted Indonesia sovereignty.

1985 ~ Naturalist Dian Fossey (http://gorillafund.org/Page.aspx?pid=378) was found murdered in Rwanda.

2001 ~ The U.S. announced plans to hold Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

2007 ~ Riots erupted in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki (http://www.statehousekenya.go.ke/presidents/kibaki/profile.htm) was declared the winner of the presidential election.

[jseal]

1065 ~ Westminster Abbey (http://www.castles-abbeys.co.uk/Westminster-Abbey.html) consecrated.

1869 ~ William F. Semple patented chewing gum (http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinventions/a/gum.htm).

1895 ~ The Lumiere Brothers gave birth to Cinema at the Grand Cafe in Paris.

1937 ~ Death of Maurice Ravel (http://www.maurice-ravel.net/), French composer.

1951 ~ The Peak District (http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/visits/) became the UK’s first National Park.

1969 ~ Birthday of Linus Torvalds (http://www.linux.org/info/linus.html), Benevolent Dictator for Life of Linux.

1970 ~ Birthday of Francesca Le, Porn Actress.

1973 ~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-autobio.html) published Gulag Archipelago.

1989 ~ Death of Hermann Oberth, German physicist.

2010 ~ Popular protests begin in Algeria against the government. The Arab Spring (http://www.spiegel.de/international/topic/arab_spring/) had begun.

[jseal]

1170 ~ Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by knights acting under the orders of Henry II.

1851 ~ The first Young Men's Christian Association (http://www.ymca.net/about_the_ymca/history_of_the_ymca.html) (YMCA) in the U.S. opened in Boston.

1890 ~ Defeat at the Battle of Wounded Knee (http://ga.essortment.com/woundedkneewha_rqen.htm) effectively ended American Indian resistance to European settlement of the U.S.

1937 ~ The Constitution of Ireland, changing the Irish Free State into Eire (http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=322&HistoryID=aa31), went into effect.

1940 ~ The Luftwaffe began dropping incendiary bombs on London (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1229.html#article).

1951 ~ Birthday of Stanley Tookie Williams (http://crime.about.com/od/deathrow/a/tookie2.htm), Gang Leader, Author, & Racist Murderer.

1975 ~ The UK's Sex Discrimination Act (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/29/newsid_2547000/2547249.stm) went into effect.

1845 ~ Birthday of Alexis Amore (http://www.clubalexisamore.com/), Peruvian Porn Actress.

1986 ~ Death of Harold Macmillan, UK PM.

1989 ~ Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia.

[jseal]

1853 ~ The U.S. bought some 45,000 sq miles of land from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase.

1879 ~ The Pirates of Penzance (http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/pirates/html/index.html) was first performed.

1911 ~ Sun Yat-sen (http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/sunyat.html) was elected the first president of the Republic of China.

1922 ~ The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed by the confederation of Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine, and Transcaucasian Federation.

1924 ~ Edwin Hubble (http://www.edwinhubble.com/hubble_bio_001.htm) announced the existence of other galaxies.

1937 ~ Birthday of Gordon Banks, the best Goalkeeper ever.

1973 ~ Birthday of Nacho Vidal (http://www.nachovidalhardcore.com/en), Spanish Porn Actor.

1981 ~ Birthday of Haley Paige (http://www.haleyxxx.com/haley_paige_bio.asp), Porn Actress.

1993 ~ Israel and the Vatican (http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/30/world/israel-and-vatican-agree-on-diplomatic-relations.html) established diplomatic relations.

2006 ~ Saddam Hussein hanged (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ZkwRyejQc) for crimes committed during his brutal reign.

[jseal]

404 ~ The last gladiatorial contest took place in Rome.

1879 ~ Thomas Edison gave the first public demonstration of an electric incandescent lamp.

1880 ~ Birthday of George Marshall (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1953/marshall-bio.html), U.S. Secretary of State, recipient of 1953 Nobel Peace Prize.

1943 ~ Birthday of John Denver, Singer & Songwriter.

1960 ~ The farthing coin (http://www.britishfarthings.com/) ceased to be legal tender.

1964 ~ One of my boyhood heroes, Donald Campbell set the world water speed record (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/31/newsid_3243000/3243010.stm), the only man to set both the world land and water speed records in the same year.

1980 ~ Death of Marshall McLuhan (http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html), Canadian writer.

1995 ~ The last new Calvin and Hobbes (http://calvinethobbes.free.fr/english/c_der.html) cartoon strip was published.

1999 ~ control of the Panama Canal and the Panama Canal Zone (http://www.pancanal.com/eng/index.html) passed to Panama from the U.S.A.

1999 ~ Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/31/newsid_4102000/4102107.stm). Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was designated acting president.

[jseal]

1752 ~ Birthday of Betsy Ross, American seamstress.

1801 ~ Discovery of 1 Ceres (http://planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2007/1013.html), first known asteroid.

1879 ~ Birthday of E. M. Forster (http://musicandmeaning.com/forster/whois.html), English novelist.

1895 ~ Birthday of J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director.

1901 ~ Establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia (Federation).

1983 ~ The ARPANET (http://www.dei.isep.ipp.pt/docs/arpa.html) officially changed to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.

1985 ~ The Internet's Domain Name System (http://www.livinginternet.com/i/iw_dns_history.htm) created.

1995 ~ The World Trade Organization (http://www.wto.int/) came into existence.

1997 ~ Kofi Annan was appointed Secretary General of the United Nations.

2002 ~ Euro banknotes and coins (http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/cash/index_en.htm) became legal tender.

[jseal]

1727 ~ Birthday of James Wolfe (http://www.militaryheritage.com/wolfe.htm), British general in French and Indian War.

1872 ~ Brigham Young (http://unicomm.byu.edu/about/brigham.aspx) was arrested for bigamy (25 wives).

1882 ~ John D. Rockefeller united his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h957.html).

1904 ~ Death of James Longstreet (http://www.civilwarhome.com/longbio.htm), Confederate general.

1905 ~ The Russian fleet surrender at Port Arthur, China brought the Russo-Japanese War to a close (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0102.html#article).

1920 ~ Birthday of Isaac Asimov (http://www.asimovonline.com/), Russian-born American science fiction author.

1929 ~ Canada and the United States agreed on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.

1974 ~ President Nixon signed a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH.

1994 ~ Death of Dixy Lee Ray, governor of Washington State & chaired the Atomic Energy Commission.

1996 ~ U.S. peacekeepers arrive in Bosnia (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/2/newsid_2547000/2547285.stm).

[jseal]

106 BC ~ Birthday of Cicero (http://www.iep.utm.edu/c/cicero.htm), Roman Statesman & Philosopher.

1521 ~ Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther (http://www.pbs.org/empires/martinluther/).

1777 ~ General George Washington defeated General Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1290.html).

1795 ~ Birthday of Josiah Wedgwood (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REwedgwood.htm), British potter.

1861 ~ Delaware voted to not secede from the United States.

1892 ~ Birthday of J. R. R. Tolkien (http://www.tolkiensociety.org/index.html), South African-born Writer & Philologist.

1956 ~ Birthday of Mel Gibson, Australian Actor & Director.

1979 ~ Death of Conrad Hilton, American hotelier.

1959 ~ Alaska was admitted as the 49th U.S. state (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0103.html#article).

1993 ~ Presidents George Bush and Boris Yeltsin (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/3/newsid_4114000/4114673.stm) signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow. (START).

[jseal]

1785 ~ Birthday of Jakob Grimm, German philologist, elder half of the Grimm Brothers (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm.html).

1948 ~ Burma gained its independence from the UK.

1958 ~ Sputnik 1 burned up on reentry into Earth's atmosphere (launched 4 October, 1957).

1960 ~ Death of Albert Camus, French Philosopher & Writer.

1961 ~ Death of Erwin Schrödinger (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1933/schrodinger-bio.html), Austrian Physicist, awarderd the Nobel Prize in Physics 1933.

1965 ~ Death of T.S. Eliot (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1948/eliot-bio.html), awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1948.

1965 ~ In his State of the Union address, President Johnson outlined his ''Great Society'' goals (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0104.html#article).

1967 ~ Donald Campbell died (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/4/newsid_2728000/2728987.stm) while trying to break the water speed record.

1980 ~ Birthday of Bobbi Eden (http://www.bobbiedenlive.com/tour.html), Dutch Porn Actress.

2004 ~ The first of two NASA Mars Rovers, Spirit, landed successfully on Mars (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20040104a.html).

[jseal]

1914 ~ Ford Motor Company (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0105.html#article) announced a $10,000,000 employee give away, and the eight-hour workday.

1929 ~ Birthday of Walter Mondale, American Politician

1933 ~ Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge (http://goldengatebridge.org/research/dates.php) began in San Francisco Bay.

1952 ~ PM Churchill began his last visit to the U.S. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/5/newsid_3304000/3304505.stm)

1970 ~ Death of Max Born (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1954/born-bio.html), German physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1954.

1972 ~ President Nixon funded the Space Shuttle (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/President_Nixon's_Announcement_on_the_Development_of_the_Space_Shuttle) program development .

1981 ~ Death of Harold C. Urey (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1934/urey-bio.html), American chemist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1934.

1997 ~ Withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya.

2003 ~ Death of Roy Jenkins, British Politician.

2005 ~ Eris (http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/), the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, was discovered using images taken in 2003.

[jseal]

1822 ~ Birthday of Heinrich Schliemann, Archaeologist.

1838 ~ Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, NJ.

1884 ~ Death of Gregor Mendel (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10180b.htm), the father of genetics.

1918 ~ Death of Georg Cantor, German mathematician.

1942 ~ The Pan American Airways “Pacific Clipper (http://www.flyingclippers.com/panam.html)” returned to New York after making the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane.

1946 ~ William Joyce (http://www.heretical.com/British/joyce.html) (Lord Haw-Haw) hanged for treason.

1993 ~ Death of Rudolf Nureyev (http://www.nureyev.org/biographie_russie.php), Russian ballet dancer.

1993 ~ Death of Dizzy Gillespie, jazz trumpet player.

1994 ~ Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/6/newsid_4095000/4095661.stm) at Cobo Arena in Detroit. Four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan's rival, Tonya Harding, were later sentenced to prison.

2006 ~ Death of Lou Rawls, Singer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ijL2tljdI&playnext=1&list=AL94UKMTqg-9B8BR41wMU7CYQinZ1zjtAO).


Feastdays & Holidays

Latin Christianity - Epiphany (http://www.cresourcei.org/cyepiph.html).

[jseal]

1610 ~ The astronomer Galileo Galilei sighted the four moons of Jupiter which are now known as the “Galilean moons (http://www.solarviews.com/eng/galdisc.htm)”.

1899 ~ Birthday of Francis Poulenc, French composer.

1916 ~ Birthday of Paul Keres (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=21922), Estonian chess player.

1922 ~ Birthday of Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flutist.

1943 ~ Death of Nikola Tesla (http://www.teslasociety.com/biography.htm), Inventor & Electrical Engineer.

1953 ~ President Truman, in his State of the Union address, announced that the U.S. had developed a hydrogen bomb (http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Library/Teller.html).

1979 ~ Vietnamese forces captured Phnom Penh (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0107.html#article), the Cambodian capital, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.

1980 ~ The Carter Administration authorized giving a $1.5 billion loan to bail out the Chrysler Corporation (http://www.chrysler.com/en/).

1990 ~ The Leaning Tower of Pisa (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pisa/) was closed to the public.

1999 ~ President Clinton's impeachment trial began in the Senate. (He was later acquitted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.)

[jseal]

1642 ~ Death of Galileo Galilei (http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Galileo.html), Astronomer.

1735 ~ Birthday of John Carroll, first Roman Catholic Archbishop in the U.S.

1918 ~ President Wilson announced his "Fourteen Points (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0108.html#article)" for the aftermath of World War I.

1925 ~ Birthday of Gerald Durrell (http://www.durrellwildlife.org/index.cfm?a=7), Naturalist & Writer.

1942 ~ Birthday of Stephen Hawking (http://www.hawking.org.uk/about-stephen.html), English theoretical physicist.

1958 ~ Bobby Fischer (http://www.bobby-fischer.net/Bobby_Fischer_Biography.html) won the U.S. Chess Championship.

1981 ~ The Trans-en-Provence UFO (http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case110.htm) case.

1994 ~ Valeri Polyakov (http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=132) began his record setting 437 days in space.

1996 ~ Death of Francois Mitterrand, French president.

2002 ~ President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law.

[jseal]

1839 ~ The Daguerreotype photography (http://www.daguerre.org/home.php) process publicly demonstrated.

1861 ~ The "Star of the West" was fired upon as it attempted to deliver supplies to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. This was the "Casus belli" of the American Civil War.

1861 ~ Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union.

1903 ~ Hallam Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, became the second Governor-General of Australia.

1913 ~ Birthday of Richard Nixon (http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/richardnixon), U.S. President.

1941 ~ Birthday of Joan Baez (http://www.joanbaez.com/), Singer & Activist.

1951 ~ United Nations headquarters (http://visit.un.org/wcm/content/) officially opened.

1968 ~ The Surveyor 7 space probe (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0109.html#article) made a soft landing on the moon,.

2005 ~ Mahmoud Abbas won (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/9/newsid_4514000/4514342.stm) the election for a successor to Yasser Arafat.

2007 ~ Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils the original IPhone (http://mashable.com/2012/09/12/watch-steve-jobs-announce-the-original-iphone/).

[jseal]

1776 ~ Thomas Paine published Common Sense (http://www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/).

1862 ~ Death of Samuel Colt (http://www.colt.com/law/history.asp), Inventor.

1927 ~ The film Metropolis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebejt0Pja8c) by Fritz Lang premiered.

1929 ~ Tintin, a comic book character created by Hergé, made his debut.

1945 ~ Birthday of Rod Stewart (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfTGxpTdyN0&feature=related), English Rocker.

1946 ~ The first General Assembly of the United Nations (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0110.html#article) convened in London.

1949 ~ Birthday of Linda Lovelace (http://web.archive.org/web/20060205122958/completelindalovelace.com/html/intro.html), Pornographic Actress.

1951 ~ Death of Sinclair Lewis, Author.

1994 ~ Lorena Bobbitt went on trial (http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/sexual_assault/severed_penis/) for cutting off the penis of her husband, John.

2003 ~ North Korea withdrew from a global treaty barring it from making nuclear weapons.

[jseal]

1693 ~ Eruption of Mt. Etna (http://www.volcanolive.com/etna.html).

1787 ~ William Herschel discovered the first two moons of Uranus, Titania & Oberon (http://www.solarviews.com/eng/uranus.htm).

1801 ~ Death of Domenico Cimarosa, Italian Composer.

1843 ~ Death of Francis Scott Key, Lawyer.

1935 ~ Amelia Earhart (http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html) began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0111.html#article).

1938 ~ Birthday of Arthur Scargill (http://www.minersadvice.co.uk/yourview21_scargill_fantasy.htm), Union Leader.

1962 ~ An avalanche in Peru (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/11/newsid_3306000/3306665.stm) killed some 4,000 people.

1973 ~ American League baseball teams voted to adopt the designated-hitter rule on a trial basis.

1980 ~ Nigel Short (http://www.chessgames.com/player/nigel_short.html) became the youngest chess player, at 14 years old, to be awarded the degree of International Master.

2008 ~ Death of Sir Edmund Hillary, the 1st man to reach the top of Mount Everest (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/).

[jseal]

1893 ~ Birthday of Hermann Göring (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWgoring.htm), Nazi official.

1915 ~ The U.S. House of Representatives defeated (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0112.html#article) a proposal to give women the right to vote.

1951 ~ Birthday of Rush Limbaugh, Radio personality and author.

1969 ~ On a day that will be long remembered in infamy, Joe Namath and the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III, and became the first team from the American Football League to win American Football's championship.

1976 ~ Death of Agatha Christie (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/christie.htm), Mystery Writer.

1991 ~ U.S. Congress authorized the use of military force (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/12/newsid_4534000/4534588.stm) to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.

1992 ~ In the film ”2001: A Space Odyssey”, the computer HAL 9000 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/quotes) was activated on this date.

2003 ~ Death of Maurice Gibb, Bee Gee.

2003 ~ Death of Leopoldo Galtieri (http://www.guardian.co.uk/argentina/story/0,,873601,00.html), Dictator of Argentina.

2006 ~ A stampede broke out during the Hajj pilgrimage (http://www.islam101.com/hajj/index.htm) in Saudi Arabia, killing 363 people.[/QUOTE]

[jseal]

1929 ~ Death of Wyatt Earp.

1939 ~ The Black Friday (http://www.abc.net.au/blackfriday/home/default.htm) bush fires burn 20,000 square kilometres in Australia, killing 71 people.

1941 ~ Death of James Joyce, Irish novelist (Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnegans Wake).

1942 ~ The United States began Japanese American internment (http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/anthropology74/index.htm).

1978 ~ Death of Hubert H. Humphrey, U.S. Vice President & Minnesota Senator.

1990 ~ Douglas Wilder took office as the first elected African American governor (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0113.html#article).

1992 ~ Japan apologized for forcing tens of thousands of Korean women to serve as sex slaves (http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~soh/cw-links.htm) for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

1993 ~ American, British and French (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/13/newsid_2554000/2554275.stm) fighter jets bomb Iraq.

2009 ~ Death of Patrick McGoohan, Actor (The Prisoner (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061287/)).

2012 ~ The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16560050) off the coast of Italy

[jseal]

1784 ~ The Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/parisrat.asp), formally ending the American War of Independence.

1857 ~ Birthday of Albert Schweitzer (http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1952/schweitzer-bio.html), Christian Missionary & winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1952.

1898 ~ Death of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Dodgson.html) - who wrote ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' under the pen name Lewis Carroll, Writer & Mathematician.

1943 ~ President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill opened a wartime conference in Casablanca (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0114.html#article).

1957 ~ Death of Humphrey Bogart (http://humphreybogart.com/biography/), Actor.

1978 ~ Death of Kurt Gödel (http://www.usna.edu/Users/math/meh/godel.html), Mathematician.

1993 ~ Whitewater prosecutors questioned first lady Hillary Clinton at the White House about the gathering of FBI background files on past Republican political appointees.

2005 ~ The Huygens probe (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm) landed on Saturn's moon Titan.

2009 ~ Death of Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican actor.

2010 ~ Yemen declared war against al-Qaeda.

[Oldfart]

1898 ~ Death of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson - who wrote ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' under the pen name Lewis Carroll, Writer & Mathematician.

He was a strange man who may not have passed some of our child protection checks, but he was never accused, and neither shall I.

His stories brought joy to generations.

[jseal]

1908 ~ Birthday of Edward Teller (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0910-03.htm), Physicist.

1918 ~ Birth of Gamal Abdal Nasser, President of Egypt.

1929 ~ Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. (http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html), Civil Rights leader, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 1964.

1953 ~ East German authorities began a purge of senior Jewish officials (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/15/newsid_4094000/4094899.stm).

1967 ~ The first Super Bowl (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0115.html#article) was played.

1972 ~ Birthday of Kobe Tai (http://www.kobetai.com/), Porn actress.

1973 ~ President Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.

1996 ~ Death of Minnesota Fats, American Billiards player.

2001 ~ Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia), a free encyclopedia, formally put online.

2009 ~ US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing in the Hudson River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549) shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York, New York. All passengers and crew members survived.

[jseal]

1605 ~ The first edition of “Don Quixote (http://www.online-literature.com/cervantes/don_quixote/)” by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.

1794 ~ Death of Edward Gibbon, Historian.

1909 ~ Ernest Shackleton's expedition (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/surviving/quest.html) found the magnetic South Pole.

1920 ~ Prohibition began in the U.S. as the 18th Amendment to the Constitution took effect.

1923 ~ Birthday of Dian Fossey, American zoologist.

1970 ~ Muammar al-Qaddafi (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/16/newsid_3359000/3359461.stm) was proclaimed premier of Libya.

1977 ~ The Marx Brothers were inducted into the Motion Picture Hall of Fame (http://www.filmfame.com/).

1991 ~ The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0116.html#article).

2003 ~ The Space Shuttle Columbia took off on its final mission, STS-107 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVoHb_aqw_o).

2009 ~ Birthday of Andrew Wyeth (http://www.andrewwyeth.com/), American realist painter.

[jseal]

1893 ~ Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown when Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0117.html#article).

1899 ~ Birthday of Nevil Shute (http://www.nevilshute.org/index.php), Author.

1929 ~ Popeye the Sailor Man (http://www.math.pitt.edu/~bard/bardware/popeye/popeye.html) first appeared in the "Thimble Theatre" comic strip.

1942 ~ Birthday of Muhammad Ali (http://www.ali.com/), the world's greatest heavyweight Boxer.

1977 ~ Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was executed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/17/newsid_2530000/2530413.stm) at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.

1995 ~ A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the city of Kobe, Japan; more than 6,000 people were killed.

1997 ~ Death of Clyde Tombaugh (http://www.klx.com/clyde/), discoverer of Pluto.

1998 ~ Matt Drudge broke the story of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair on his website The Drudge Report (http://www.drudgereport.com/).

2001 ~ Faced with an electricity crisis, California used rolling blackouts to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of people.

2008 ~ Death of Bobby Fischer, chess player extraordinaire.

[jseal]

1535 ~ Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro (http://www.pbs.org/conquistadors/pizarro/pizarro_flat.html).

1779 ~ Birthday of Peter Roget, Lexicographer.

1882 ~ Birthday of A. A. Milne (http://www.just-pooh.com/milne.html), Author.

1892 ~ Birthday of Oliver Hardy (http://www.oliverhardy.com/), Comedian & Actor.

1936 ~ Death of Rudyard Kipling, Writer & Poet (http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/gunga_din.html)

1944 ~ The New York Met hosted its first jazz concert.Among the performers were Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, and Artie Shaw.

1944 ~ Birthday of Paul Keating (http://www.keating.org.au/), twenty-fourth Prime Minister of Australia.

1967 ~ The “Boston Strangler” was convicted in Cambridge, Mass., of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses.

1990 ~ Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry was arrested for drug possession (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/tours/scandal/barry.htm).

1991 ~ Iraq attacked Tel Aviv and Haifa (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/18/newsid_4588000/4588486.stm) with Scud missiles.

[jseal]

1809 ~ Birthday of Edgar Allan Poe (http://www.eapoe.org/), Poet & short story Author.

1839 ~ Birthday of Paul Cézanne (http://www.abcgallery.com/C/cezanne/cezanne18.html), Painter.

1853 ~ Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore premiered.

1937 ~ Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0119.html#article) by flying from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in just under 7 ½ hours.

1943 ~ Birthday of Janis Joplin, Blues/Rock Singer.

1966 ~ Indira Gandhi (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/19/newsid_3745000/3745625.stm) was elected prime minister of India.

1977 ~ President Gerald Ford pardoned Tokyo Rose.

1983 ~ The Apple Lisa (http://lowendmac.com/orchard/05/apple-lisa-history.html), the first commercial personal computer to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, was announced.

1986 ~ The first IBM PC computer virus was released (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_notable_computer_viruses_and_worms#1986) into the wild.

2008 ~ Death of Suzanne Pleshette, Actress (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012000071.html).

[jseal]

1907 ~ Death of Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian Chemist and inventor of the Periodic table.

1920 ~ Birthday of Federico Fellini, Italian film director.

1930 ~ Birthday of Buzz Aldrin (http://buzzaldrin.com/), Astronaut.

1942 ~ Nazi officials arrived at a ''final solution (http://www.ghwk.de/?lang=gb)'' to Europe's Jewry, during a conference at Lake Wannsee in Berlin.

1961 ~ John F. Kennedy sworn in (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/20/newsid_2506000/2506929.stm) as U.S. President.

1967 ~ The first pulsar (http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/pulsars/pulsars.html) was discovered.

1981 ~ The American hostages held by Iran (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0120.html#article) were released following Ronald Reagan’s inauguration.

1984 ~ Death of Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimming gold medalist & Actor (Tarzan).

1986 ~ Britain and France announced plans to build the Channel Tunnel (http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/tunnel.htm).

1993 ~ Death of Audrey Hepburn (http://www.audreyhepburn.com/), actress.

[jseal]

1793 ~ King Louis XVI of France, condemned for treason, was executed on the guillotine (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/louis.htm).

1911 ~ The first Monte Carlo Rally.

1924 ~ Death of Vladimir Lenin (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0121.html#article), first leader of the U.S.S.R.

1941 ~ Birthday of Plácido Domingo (http://www.placidodomingo.com/index.php?id_kunden=196), tenor Opera Singer.

1950 ~ Death of George Orwell (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/21/newsid_2669000/2669789.stm), Writer.

1954 ~ The USS Nautilus (http://www.ussnautilus.org/virtualTour/index.shtml), the world’s first nuclear powered submarine, was launched.

1959 ~ Death of Cecil B. DeMille, Movie Director.

1968 ~ Start of the Battle of Khe Sanh (http://www.historynet.com/magazines/vietnam/8189002.html?featured=y&c=y).

1998 ~ Pope John Paul II (http://www.zpub.com/un/pope/pope-cuba.html) began his first visit to Cuba.

2003 ~ The U.S. Census Bureau announced that Hispanics had surpassed blacks as America's largest minority group.

[jseal]

1788 ~ Birthday of Lord Byron (http://englishhistory.net/byron/contents.html), Poet.

1840 ~ British colonists reached New Zealand.

1879 ~ Zulu troops defeated British troops at the Battle of Isandlwana (http://www.britishbattles.com/zulu-war/isandlwana.htm).

1909 ~ Birthday of U Thant, 3rd UN Secretary General.

1953 ~ "The Crucible (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_CRU.HTM)", a drama by Arthur Miller, opened on Broadway.

1970 ~ The Boeing 747 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/22/newsid_3725000/3725963.stm) went on its first regularly scheduled commercial flight, from New York to London.

1973 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court, in the Roe vs. Wade (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0122.html#article) decision, legalized abortions, using a trimester approach.

1973 ~ Death of Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th U.S. President.

1984 ~ The Apple Macintosh was introduced with the famous television commercial "1984 (http://www.uriahcarpenter.info/1984.html)" (requires QuickTime and patience [but is generally considered to be one of the better commercials ever made]).

1992 ~ Dr. Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman astronaut (http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=22).

[jseal]

1789 ~ Georgetown College (http://www.georgetown.edu/), founded by Archbishop John Carroll, became the first Catholic, Jesuit college in the U.S. This is the parent institution of Georgetown Medical (http://gumc.georgetown.edu/) where my BIL was readmitted today.

1832 ~ Birthday of Edouard Manet (http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg90/gg90-main1.html), Impressionist artist.

1849 ~ Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive a medical degree, from the Medical Institution of Geneva, N.Y.

1857 ~ Birthday of Andrija Mohorovičić (http://www.istrianet.org/istria/illustri/mohorovicic/), Croatian seismologist.

1862 ~ Birthday of David Hilbert, Mathematician.

1968 ~ North Korea seized the USS Pueblo (http://www.usspueblo.org/), charging it had intruded into the communist nation's territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was held for 11 months.

1973 ~ President Nixon appeared on national television to announce "peace with honor" in Vietnam (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0123.html#article).

1989 ~ Death of Salvador Dalí, Artist.

2002 ~ Daniel Pearl (http://www.danielpearl.org/) was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan.

2004 ~ Death of Bob Keeshan (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/K/htmlK/keeshanbob/keeshanbob.htm), TV's “Captain Kangaroo”.

[jseal]

1776 ~ Birthday of E.T.A. Hoffmann (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hoffman.htm), Poet & Composer.

1888 ~ Birthday of Ernst Heinkel, aircraft designer.

1908 ~ The first Boy Scout troop was organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.

1927 ~ Alfred Hitchcock released his first film, “The Pleasure Garden”.

1945 ~ Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz (http://remember.org/jacobs/).

1961 ~ Marilyn Monroe divorced Arthur Miller (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/24/newsid_4588000/4588212.stm).

1965 ~ Death of Winston Churchill (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0124.html#article), Englishman.

1984 ~ The Apple Macintosh went on sale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Macintosh). 29 years ago! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIB73doaZVc) [Zounds! I'm getting old!]

1993 ~ Death of Thurgood Marshall (http://www.oyez.org/justices/thurgood_marshall), U.S. Supreme Court justice.

2003 ~ The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm) officially began operation.

[jseal]

1627 ~ Birthday of Robert Boyle, Chemist.

1759 ~ Birthday of Robert Burns (http://www.rabbie-burns.com/the_poems/toamouse.cfm.html), Poet.

1882 ~ Birthday of Virginia Woolf, Writer.

1890 ~ Nellie Bly completed her round-the-world journey in 72 days (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/world/).

1919 ~ The League of Nations (http://www.indiana.edu/~league/) was founded.

1947 ~ Death of Al Capone (http://www.chicagohs.org/history/capone.html), Gangster.

1971 ~ General Idi Amin becomes Ugandan President Idi Amin (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/25/newsid_2506000/2506423.stm) after a coup.

1977 ~ Rene Levesque told a Wall Street audience at the Economic Club of New York that “separation is inevitable (http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=25)”.

2004 ~ Opportunity landed on Mars (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/).

2011 ~ The Arab Spring arrives in Egypt, with street demonstrations, marches, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes in Cairo, and Alexandria.

[jseal]

1885 ~ Troops loyal to the Mahdi conquered Khartoum.

1905 ~ The Cullinan Diamond (http://famousdiamonds.tripod.com/cullinandiamonds.html) was found near Pretoria, South Africa.

1905 ~ Birthday of Maria von Trapp, Singer.

1925 ~ Birthday of Paul Newman (http://paulnewman.com/), Actor.

1961 ~ Birthday of Wayne Gretzky (http://www.gretzky.com/), Canadian hockey Player, Coach, Owner.

1972 ~ Death of Mahalia Jackson (http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_saa_mahaliajackson.html), Gospel Music (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4590574.stm) singer.

1988 ~ The musical "Phantom of the Opera (http://www.playbill.com/features/article/97206.html)", by Andrew Lloyd Webber opened at Broadway's Majestic Theater.

1996 ~ First lady Hillary Clinton testified before a grand jury connected to the Whitewater probe (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0852144.html).

1998 ~ U.S. President Clinton denied on television he had "sexual relations" with Monica Lewinsky (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/26/newsid_2672000/2672291.stm).

2005 ~ Following her confirmation by the Senate, Condoleezza Rice was sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State.

Feastdays & Holidays

Australia~ Australia Day (http://www.australiaday.org.au/)

[jseal]

1606 ~ The trial of Guy Fawkes and other Gunpowder Plot (http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/) conspirators began.

1756 ~ Birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer.

1832 ~ Birthday of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (http://www.cs.indiana.edu/metastuff/wonder/ch1.html)” under the pen name Lewis Carroll.

1945 ~ The Red Army liberated the concentration camp at Auschwitz (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/27/newsid_3520000/3520986.stm) in southern Poland.

1967 ~ More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons (http://www.atomicarchive.com/Treaties/Treaty4.shtml).

1967 ~ Astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee were killed (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0127.html#article) in a fire during a test of the Apollo 1 spacecraft.

1977 ~ The Vatican reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's ban on female priests.

1997 ~ It was revealed that French museums had retained nearly 2,000 pieces of art stolen by Nazis.

1998 ~ U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton called the attacks against her husband part of a "vast right-wing conspiracy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=EwtkorQKGFE&NR=1)" on the “Today Show (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/)”.

2009 ~ Death of John Updike, American Novelist (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/remembering-upd/index.html).

[jseal]

1521 ~ The Diet of Worms began.

1547 ~ Death of Henry VIII (http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensofEngland/TheTudors/HenryVIII.aspx), King of England.

1596 ~ Death of Sir Francis Drake, Explorer & Soldier.

1822 ~ Birthday of Alexander Mackenzie (http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=28), Prime Minister of Canada.

1887 ~ Birthday of Artur Rubinstein, Polish Pianist.

1935 ~ Iceland became the first country to legalize abortion.

1939 ~ Death of William Butler Yeats (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1923/yeats-bio.html), awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature.

1986 ~ Space Shuttle Challenger exploded (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0128.html#article) just after takeoff killing all seven astronauts onboard.

2004 ~ Lord Hutton published his report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/uk/03/hutton_inquiry/hutton_report/html/chapter01.stm) into the death of Dr. David Kelly.

2011 ~ Hundreds of thousands of protesters participated in the "Friday of Anger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE0J-ajg-J0)" demonstrations against the Mubarak regime.

Feastdays & Holidays

Catholicism ~ Feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas (http://www.stthomasu.ca/publications/transitions/jan2002/aquinas.htm).

[jseal]

1845 ~ Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven (http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html)" was first published, in the New York Evening Mirror.

1856 ~ Queen Victoria instituted the Victoria Cross (http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/vcross.htm).

1880 ~ Birthday of W.C. Fields, Actor.

1933 ~ Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWhindenburg.htm).

1936 ~ The first members of baseball's Hall of Fame (http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/), including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, N.Y.

1956 ~ Death of H. L. Mencken, Journalist.

1962 ~ Death of Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist.

1963 ~ Death of Robert Frost (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0129.html#article), Poet.

1996 ~ France ended nuclear testing (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29/newsid_4665000/4665676.stm).

2002 ~ In his State of the Union Address, President Bush coined the term "Axis of Evil (http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/print/20020129-11.html)".

[jseal]

1649 ~ King Charles I of England was beheaded.

1862 ~ The first Union ironclad warship, the USS Monitor (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/monitor/) was launched.

1933 ~ The first episode of the ''Lone Ranger'' radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit.

1937 ~ Birthday of Boris Spassky (http://www.chesscorner.com/worldchamps/spassky/spassky.htm), World Chess Champion.

1948 ~ Mahatma Gandhi (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0130.html#article) was assassinated.

1968 ~ Viet Cong guerillas and North Vietnamese soldiers launched the Tet offensive (http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/dialogue/hayward-tet.html#2r).

1969 ~ Last public performance by The Beatles (http://www.thebeatles.com/).

1972 ~ Thirteen Roman Catholic civil rights marchers were shot to death by British soldiers in Northern Ireland on what became known as "Bloody Sunday (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/30/newsid_2452000/2452145.stm)”.

1991 ~ The first major ground battle of the Gulf War (http://militaryphotos.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-29251.html) was fought at the frontier port of Al Khafji in Saudi Arabia.

2003 ~ Richard Reid, the "Shoe bomber" jailed for life.

[Oldfart]

1649 ~ King Charles I of England was beheaded.

For the full story, as told by Monty Python:-


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ1yPz14LrU

[jseal]

1606 ~ Guy Fawkes (http://www.britannia.com/history/g-fawkes.html) was executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot.

1797 ~ Birthday of Franz Schubert, Composer.

1865 ~ The U.S. House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0131.html#article).

1919 ~ Birthday of Jackie Robinson, Baseball Player & Barrier Breaker.

1929 ~ The Soviet Union exiled Leon Trotsky (http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/index.htm).

1956 ~ Death of A. A. Milne, Author (Winnie the Pooh).

1958 ~ James Van Allen discovered the Van Allen radiation belt (http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/FAQs2.html#q16).

1961 ~ Ham (http://life.time.com/history/astrochimps-early-stars-of-the-space-race/#1) became the first chimpanzee in space.

1996 ~ An explosives-filled truck rammed into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/31/newsid_4083000/4083095.stm), Sri Lanka killing 91 and injuring 1,400.

2000 ~ Family doctor Harold Shipman (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/aug/25/health.shipman) was given 15 life sentences at Crown Court after being found guilty of multiple murders.

[jseal]

1851 ~ Death of Mary Shelley (http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/43/frameset.html), English Author (Frankenstein).

1896 ~ Puccini’s opera La Bohème (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/bohem/tlaboheme.html) premiered in Turin.

1920 ~ The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/index-eng.htm) was established.

1929 ~ Frenchman Charles Rigoulet became the first weightlifter to lift over 400 pounds (181 kg) in the "clean and jerk" method.

1960 ~ Four black college students began a sit-in protest against racial segregation at a lunch counter (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0201.html#article) in Greensboro, N.C., where they'd been refused service.

1970 ~ Birthday of Jill Kelly, Porn actress.

1979 ~ Patty Hearst (http://www.answers.com/topic/patty-hearst), whose prison sentence for bank robbery had been commuted by President Jimmy Carter, left a federal prison near San Francisco.

2003 ~ Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_3416000/3416589.stm) upon reentry killing all seven astronauts.

2004 ~ Hundreds of people were killed and injured in a stampede duringthe Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

2004 ~ Super Bowl XXXVIII: One team defeated the other team, 32-29. During the half-time show Janet Jackson's right breast was bared (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npF1lkKEM9o).

[jseal]

1870 ~ The Cardiff Giant (http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_cardiff_giant/) - supposedly the petrified remains of a human discovered in Cardiff, N.Y. - was revealed to be nothing more than carved gypsum.

1882 ~ Birthday of James Joyce (http://jamesjoyce.ie/), Irish author.

1887 ~ In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day was observed.

1905 ~ Birthday of Ayn Rand (http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ayn_rand_aynrand_biography), Writer, Philosopher.

1943 ~ The German 6th Army surrendered at Stalingrad (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0202.html#article).

1969 ~ Death of Boris Karloff, English actor.

1970 ~ Death of Bertrand Russell (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1950/russell-bio.html), Mathematician & Philosopher.

1982 ~ Birthday of Brandy Talore, Porn actress.

1990 ~ At the opening of Parliament in Cape Town, President FW de Klerk announced the dismantling of apartheid (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2/newsid_2524000/2524997.stm) in South Africa..

Feastdays & Holidays

U.S. & Canada – Groundhog Day (http://www.stormfax.com/ghogday.htm)

[Oldfart]

U.S. & Canada – Groundhog Day


Wasn't that tomorrow, or yesterday, or both?

[jseal]

I suppose the answer to that question depends upon when you are.

[jseal]

1809 ~ Birthday of Felix Mendelssohn, Composer.

1870 ~ The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html) was ratified.

1874 ~ Birthday of Gertrude Stein (http://ellensplace.net/gstein1.html), Writer.

1894 ~ Birthday of Norman Rockwell, Illustrator.

1907 ~ Birthday of James Michener, American author.

1917 ~ The U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with Germany (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0203.html#article) after Germany announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

1947 ~ You want winter weather? You want COLD? Snag, Yukon recorded a temperature of -62.8°C, the lowest official temperature ever measured in Canada (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007500).

1959 ~ Rock 'n' Roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash. Don McLean immortalized the tragedy in “American Pie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAsV5-Hv-7U&feature=related)”.

1966 ~ The Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft made the first controlled landing on the Moon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/3/newsid_4063000/4063471.stm).

1974 ~ Birthday of Julie Meadows (http://www.juliemeadows.com/), Porn actress.

[jseal]

1861 ~ In Montgomery, Alabama the Confederate States of America was formed by delegates from six break-away United States.

1902 ~ Birthday of Charles Lindbergh (http://www.lindberghfoundation.org/docs/index.php/about-us/lindbergh-history/charles-lindbergh), U.S. aviator.

1913 ~ Birthday of Rosa Parks (http://rosaparks.org/), U.S. civil rights activist.

1928 ~ Death of Hendrik Lorentz (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1902/lorentz-bio.html), Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate.

1974 ~ The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0204.html#article) in Berkeley, California.

1987 ~ Death of Liberace, "Mr. Showmanship".

1997 ~ O. J. Simpson was found to be civilly liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

1998 ~ A magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit northeast Afghanistan (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/4/newsid_2534000/2534279.stm), killing an estimated 5,000 people.

2004 ~ The online social network Facebook (http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook) was founded

2006 ~ Death of Betty Friedan (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/national/05friedan.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0), American feminist.

[jseal]

1878 ~ Birthday of André-Gustave Citroën (http://www.autonews.com/files/euroauto/inductees/citroen.htm), automobile pioneer.

1897 ~ The Indiana House of Representatives passed a measure redefining the area of a circle and the value of π (http://pi.ytmnd.com/). The bill died in the state Senate.

1917 ~ The U.S. Congress passed, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, a law severely curtailing the immigration of Asians.

1919 ~ Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith created United Artists.

1924 ~ The Royal Greenwich Observatory (http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server.php?show=conWebDoc.13496&navId=005000002) began to broadcast hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the "BBC pips".

1934 ~ Birthday of Hank Aaron (http://www.biography.com/articles/Hank-Aaron-9173497?part=0), Athlete.

1937 ~ President Roosevelt proposed increasing the number of Supreme Court justices (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0205.html#article); critics charged Roosevelt was attempting to "pack" the court.

1958 ~ A hydrogen bomb was lost by the U.S. Air Force (http://www.tybeetyme.com/tb/index.htm) off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.

1962 ~ French President Charles De Gaulle called for Algerian independence.

1982 ~ Laker Airways collapsed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/5/newsid_2535000/2535297.stm) owing £270 million to banks and other creditors.

[jseal]

1840 ~ Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, founding document of New Zealand.

1895 ~ Birthday of Babe Ruth (http://www.baberuth.com/biography/), Athlete.

1913 ~ Birthday of Mary Leakey (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0006E1CC-7860-1C76-9B81809EC588EF21), Anthropologist.

1952 ~ The UK’s King George VI died (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0206.html#article); he was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.

1959 ~ Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed the first patent for an integrated circuit.

1971 ~ Alan Shepard became the first man to hit a golf ball on the Moon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/6/newsid_4093000/4093061.stm).

1983 ~ Former Gestapo commandant Klaus Barbie extradited to France (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/6/newsid_4149000/4149443.stm) from Bolivia to stand trial for war crimes.

1993 ~ Death of Arthur Ashe (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/features/1997/arthurashe/biography.html), Athlete.

2002 ~ Death of Max Perutz (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1962/perutz-bio.html), Austrian molecular biologist, Nobel laureate (Doctoral students James Watson & Francis Crick (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/) ).

2004 ~ An explosion in a Moscow subway car during rush hour killed 41 people in a terrorist attack blamed on Chechen separatists.

[jseal]

1812 ~ Birthday of Charles Dickens, Novelist.

1834 ~ Birthday of Dmitri Mendeleev, chemist and inventor of the Periodic table of the chemical elements.

1883 ~ Birthday of Eubie Blake (http://www.eubieblake.org/), Musician, Composer.

1905 ~ The Great Baltimore Fire (http://www.mdch.org/fire/) destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.

1964 ~ The Beatles arrived in New York (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/7/newsid_4185000/4185201.stm) for their first American tour, touching off rock 'n' roll's “British invasion”.

1971 ~ Women became entitled to vote in Switzerland.

1979 ~ Death of Dr. Josef Mengele (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007060), accused Nazi war criminal.

1984 ~ Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0207.html#article).

1990 ~ The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Committee_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union) agreed to let other political parties compete for control of the country, thereby giving up its monopoly on power.

1992 ~ The European Union (http://europa.eu/) was formed.

[jseal]

1587 ~ Mary, Queen of Scots was executed.

1828 ~ Birthday of Jules Verne, Author.

1855 ~ The Devil's Footprints (http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/fortean/devils_foot.html) mysteriously appeared in southern Devon.

1910 ~ The Boy Scouts of America (http://www.scouting.org/media/anniversary/history.html) was incorporated by William D. Boyce.

1932 ~ Birthday of John Williams (http://www.johnwilliams.org/reference/biography.html), Composer & Conductor.

1952 ~ Princess Elizabeth proclaimed herself Queen (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/8/newsid_2536000/2536619.stm).

1957 ~ Death of John von Neumann (http://www.nas.edu/history/members/neumann.html), Mathematician.

1982 ~ Birthday of Erik Rhodes, Porn Actor.

1993 ~ General Motors sued NBC, alleging that the program "Dateline NBC" had rigged two crashes to show that GM pickups were prone to fires (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,305709,00.html). NBC settled the lawsuit the following day.

1996 ~ President Clinton signed the Communications Decency Act (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0208.html#article) at the Library of Congress.

[dicksbro]

1910 ~ The Boy Scouts of America (http://www.scouting.org/media/anniversary/history.html) was incorporated by William D. Boyce.

http://www.saintcolumbkille.org/groups/boyscouts/images/picScoutSalute06202.jpg
Great organization! :thumbs:

[jseal]

Yes, they are. :)

[jseal]

1825 ~ After no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes, the U.S. House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams President (http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ja6.html).

1881 ~ Death of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Author.

1900 ~ Davis Cup competition established.

1906 ~ Death of Paul Laurence Dunbar (http://www.dunbarsite.org/), Poet.

1910 ~ Birthday of Jacques Monod (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1965/monod-bio.html), biochemist, winner of 1965 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

1943 ~ American authorities declared Guadalcanal secure (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0209.html#article).

1950 ~ Senator Joseph McCarthy (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/9/newsid_3703000/3703305.stm) charged that the U.S. State Department was infested with Communists.

1971 ~ Satchel Paige (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/mlb_negro_leagues_profile.jsp?player=paige_satchel) became the first Negro League player to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1984 ~ Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov died at age 69, less than 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev.

2001 ~ The submarine USS Greeneville (http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/USS_Greeneville_(SSN-772).html) (SSN-772) accidentally strikes and sinks the Ehime-Maru.

[jseal]

1840 ~ Queen Victoria (http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensoftheUnitedKingdom/TheHanoverians/Victoria.aspx) of the United Kingdom married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Albert_of_Saxe_Coburg_Gotha.html).

1890 ~ Birthday of Boris Pasternak (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1958/pasternak-bio.html), Poet, winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize in literature.

1898 ~ Birthday of Bertolt Brecht, Author.

1927 ~ Birthday of Leontyne Price, Soprano.

1933 ~ The first singing telegram was introduced by the Postal Telegram Co. in New York. Sic transit gloria mundi (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4674782.stm).

1962 ~ Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers was exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0210.html#article).

1982 ~ Birthdy of Brent Everett, Porn Actor (http://www.brentxxx.com/be_files/guest.php).

1996 ~ Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov (http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/33_folder/33_articles/33_kasparovibm.html) for the first time. :(

2005 ~ Death of Arthur Miller (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/miller_a.html), playwright .

2007 ~ Sen. Barack Obama announced his bid for president.

[jseal]

1650 ~ Death of René Descartes (http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/descarte.htm), Philosopher.

1898 ~ Birthday of Leó Szilárd, Physicist & Peace Activist.

1938 ~ BBC Television produced the first science fiction television program, an adaptation of the Karel Capek play R.U.R. (http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/RUR-Capek-1920.htm) (This play coined the term 'robot.')

1941 ~ Birthday of Sergio Mendes, Brazilian musician (Brazil '66).

1945 ~ President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0211.html#article).

1961 ~ The trial of Adolf Eichmann (http://www.remember.org/eichmann/) began in Jerusalem.

1978 ~ China lifted a ban on works by Aristotle (http://www.iep.utm.edu/aristotl/), Shakespeare (http://www.shakespeare-online.com/) and Dickens (http://www.dickensmuseum.com/).

1979 ~ Followers of Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran, after the religious leader returned to his home after his exile.

1986 ~ Death of Frank Herbert (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEWM7zIIF9c), Science Fiction author.

1990 ~ South African black activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid_2539000/2539947.stm).

[jseal]

1809 ~ Birthday of Charles Darwin (http://www.aboutdarwin.com/), Naturalist.

1893 ~ Birthday of Omar Bradley, General.

1924 ~ George Gershwin's ''Rhapsody in Blue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xBSz6Dc)'' premiered in New York City.

1938 ~ Anschluss: German troops enter Austria (http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-austria.htm).

1942 ~ Birthday of Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel.

1984 ~ Birthday of Lolly Badcock (http://www.lollybadcock.net/free-lolly-badcock-videos.php), Porn Actress.

1994 ~ Edvard Munch's "The Scream" was stolen (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/12/newsid_3591000/3591994.stm) from a museum in Norway.

1999 ~ The U.S. Senate voted to acquit President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

2000 ~ Death of Charles M. Schulz (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1126.html), creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip.

2002 ~ The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic (http://www.icty.org/x/cases/slobodan_milosevic/ind/en/ind_cro010927.pdf) began in The Hague.

[gigi]

2000 ~ Death of Charles M. Schulz (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1126.html), creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip.




Rats.

[jseal]

1883 ~ Death of Richard Wagner, Composer.

1923 ~ Birthday of Chuck Yeager (http://www.chuckyeager.com/), pilot of first supersonic flight.

1935 ~ A jury found Bruno Hauptmann guilty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0213.html#article) of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.

1945 ~ The RAF & USAAF created a firestorm in Dresden (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWdresden.htm), Germany which killed tens of thousands of civilians.

1960 ~ France tested its first nuclear weapon.

1974 ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-autobio.html), winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in literature, was exiled from the Soviet Union.

1988 ~ Winter Olympic Games opened in Calgary (http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Feb&day=13), Alberta.

1991 ~ Hundreds of Iraqi civilians were killed when a pair of laser-guided bombs destroyed an underground facility in Baghdad (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/13/newsid_2541000/2541107.stm) identified by U.S. officials as a military installation, but which Iraqi officials said was a bomb shelter.

1997 ~ Tune-up and repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope (http://www.cosmiclight.com/galleries/galleries-index.html) performed by astronauts from the Space Shuttle Discovery.

2002 ~ Death of Waylon Jennings, American musician.

[jseal]

1766 ~ Birthday of Thomas Malthus, Economist.

1779 ~ James Cook was killed by the natives of the Sandwich Islands (http://www.sandwichislands.com/).

1895 ~ First performance of Oscar Wilde's last play "The Importance of Being Earnest (http://www.hoboes.com/html/FireBlade/Wilde/earnest/)”.

1929 ~ The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0214.html#article) took place in a Chicago garage.

1966 ~ Australian currency was decimalized.

1989 ~ The first of the 24 Global Positioning System (http://www.gps.gov/) satellites was placed into orbit.

1989 ~ Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/14/newsid_2541000/2541149.stm), author of ''The Satanic Verses,'' a novel Khomeini condemned as blasphemous.

2000 ~ The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker entered orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

2003 ~ Death of Dolly the sheep (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/dolly/index.asp), the world's first cloned mammal.

Feastdays & Holidays

Catholicism ~ Feast day of Saint Valentine (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/valentinesdayhistory.html).

[jseal]

1874 ~ Birthday of Sir Ernest Shackleton, British polar explorer.

1898 ~ The USS Maine exploded and sank (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0215.html#article) in Havana Harbor, killing more than 260.

1942 ~ Sigapore fell to the Japanese. The Sook Ching (http://japanfocus.org/-Hayashi-Hirofumi/3187) massacre followed.

1954 ~ Birthday of Matt Groening (http://archive.salon.com/people/bc/2001/01/30/groening/), Satirist.

1965 ~ Death of Nat “King” Cole, Singer.

1965 ~ A new red and white maple leaf design was adopted as the flag of Canada (http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Feb&day=15) replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

1974 ~ Birthday of Gina Lynn (http://www.ginalynn.com/home.php), Porn actress.

1988 ~ Death of Richard Feynman (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1965/feynman-bio.html), Physicist.

1995 ~ Kevin Mitnick was arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the more "secure" U.S. computer systems.

2005 ~ YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/) was launched.

[dicksbro]

Doesn't seem possible that Nat King Cole has been gone some 50 years now, or that the Canadian Maple Leaf flag has been around that long either. Wow, time flies when you're having fun.

[jseal]

1923 ~ Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0216.html#article).

1935 ~ Birthday of Sonny Bono, Singer & Congressman.

1937 ~ Wallace Carothers (http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa980325.htm) received a patent for nylon.

1942 ~ Birthday of Kim Jong Il, North Korean leader.

1959 ~ Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/16/newsid_2544000/2544431.stm) after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

1978 ~ The first computer bulletin board system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system), CBBS (http://chinet.com/html/cbbs.php), was created in Chicago, Illinois.

1985 ~ Hezbollah founded.

1986 ~ The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov ran aground (http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/lermontov.htm) in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.

2001 ~ Death of William Masters, American gynecologist and sexologist (Masters and Johnson (http://www.answers.com/topic/masters-and-johnson)).

2005 ~ The Kyoto Protocol (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/16/newsid_4930000/4930554.stm) came into effect.

[jseal]

1653 ~ Birthday of Arcangelo Corelli, Composer.

1801 ~ An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel/peopleevents/pande07.html) was resolved when Jefferson was elected President and Burr Vice President by the House of Representatives.

1844 ~ Birthday of Aaron Montgomery Ward, American department store founder.

1867 ~ The first ship passed through the Suez Canal (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-SuezCana.html).

1895 ~ Swan Lake, one of the more famous ballets, with music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, was first completely performed in Saint Petersburg (http://www.petersburg-russia.com/), Russia.

1962 ~ Death of Bruno Walter, Conductor.

1972 ~ President Nixon departed on his historic trip to China (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0217.html#article).

1973 ~ Birthday of SaRenna Lee (http://www.sweetsamples.com/), Porn actress.

1979 ~ China invaded Vietnam (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/17/newsid_2547000/2547811.stm).

1992 ~ Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (http://www.freeinfosociety.com/site.php?postnum=498) was sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison.

[jseal]

1745 ~ Birthday of Alessandro Volta, Physicist, eponym for the unit of the electric potential.

1838 ~ Birthday of Ernst Mach, Austrian Physicist & Philosopher.

1861 ~ In Montgomery, Alabama Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0218.html#article).

1885 ~ Mark Twain's “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (http://etext.virginia.edu/twain/huckfinn.html)” was first published.

1930 ~ While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto (http://www.solarviews.com/eng/pluto.htm).

1933 ~ Birthday of Yoko Ono (http://www.yoko-ono.com/bio.htm), Singer, Artist, wife of John Lennon.

1969 ~ Lulu and Maurice Gibb (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/18/newsid_2550000/2550641.stm) of the Bee Gees marry.

1967 ~ Death of J. Robert Oppenheimer (http://www.atomicarchive.com/Bios/Oppenheimer.shtml), American physicist.

2001 ~ FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union.

2005 ~ The UK law banning fox hunting (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4275753.stm), hare coursing and other sports which kill wild mammals is enforced from this date.

[jseal]

1743 ~ Birthday of Luigi Boccherini, Italian Composer.

1915 ~ The Battle of Gallipoli (http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/dardanelles_feb15.htm) began.

1942 ~ Some 250 Japanese warplanes attacked Darwin, Australia (http://orford.tased.edu.au/bombing%20of%20dawin.htm). The attack killed at least 243 people.

1942 ~ President Franklin Roosevelt signed the order allowing the U.S. military to relocate Japanese-Americans to internment camps (http://www.sfmuseum.org/war/evactxt.html).

1943 ~ Rommel's Afrika Korps began to spank the Allies in the Battle of the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia (Operation Torch).

1945 ~ About 30,000 U.S. Marines land on Iwo Jima (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0219.html#article).

1964 ~ Paul Simon wrote "The Sounds of Silence”, the song which would take him and Art Garfunkel to stardom.

1980 ~ Bon Scott (http://www.trevormarshall.com/bon.htm), the lead singer of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC, died after a night of heavy drinking.

1986 ~ The Soviet Union launched the Mir space station (http://www.satobs.org/mir.html#configuration).

1997 ~ Death of Deng Xiaoping (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/19/newsid_2565000/2565613.stm), the last of China's major Communist revolutionaries.

[jseal]

1792 ~ President Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office (http://about.usps.com/publications/pub100/pub100_005.htm).

1902 ~ Birthday of Ansel Adams (http://www.anseladams.com/), Photographer.

1904 ~ Birthday of Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union.

1927 ~ Birthday of Sidney Poitier (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/poitier_s.html), Actor.

1952 ~ The film The African Queen (http://www.filmsite.org/afri.html) opened in New York City.

1958 ~ An announcement was made that the Sheerness Docks, established the in the 17th century by Samuel Pepys, were to close (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/20/newsid_2552000/2552135.stm).

1962 ~ John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0220.html#article) aboard Friendship 7.

1966 ~ Death of Chester Nimitz (http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq36-4.htm), American admiral.

1989 ~ Part of a British Army barracks in Ternhill, England is destroyed by an IRA bomb.

2009 ~ Two Tamil Tigers aircraft, packed with C4 explosives en route in a kamikaze style attack on the national airforce headquarters, were shot down.

[jseal]

1875 ~ Birthday of Jeanne Calment (http://www.supercentenarian.com/oldest/jeanne-calment.html). She lived for 122 years 164 days, the longest confirmed lifespan for any human being in history.

1893 ~ Birthday of Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9efHwnFAkuA).

1903 ~ Birthday of Anaïs Nin, Writer.

1907 ~ Birthday of W. H. Auden, Poet.

1916 ~ The Battle of Verdun (http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/verdun.htm) began. French casualties during the battle were estimated at 550,000 with German losses set at 434,000, half of the total being fatalities.

1947 ~ Edwin Land demonstrated the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera (http://www.clickondavid.com/index-82.html), to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.

1953 ~ Francis Crick and James Watson (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/crick_and_watson.shtml) discovered the structure of the DNA molecule.

1965 ~ Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0221.html#article) by members of the Nation of Islam.

1988 ~ TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart confessed to his congregation that he was guilty of an unspecified sin (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/21/newsid_2565000/2565197.stm), and said he was leaving the pulpit temporarily. Reports linked Swaggart to a prostitute.

1995 ~ When he landed in Leader, Saskatchewan, Steve Fossett became the first man to make a solo baloon flight across the Pacific Ocean.

[jseal]

1732 ~ Birthday of George Washington (http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gw1.html), 1st U.S. President.

1857 ~ Birthday of Robert Baden-Powell (http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/britishcavalry/13thhussarsbadenpowell.htm), Chief Scout of the World.

1879 ~ Frank Woolworth opened a five-cent store in Utica, N.Y.

1935 ~ Airplanes were no longer permitted to fly over the White House.

1946 ~ George Kennan, the American charge d'affaires in Moscow, sent an 8,000-word telegram - the "Long Telegram (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/documents/episode-1/kennan.htm)" - to the Department of State detailing his views on the Soviet Union, and U.S. policy toward the communist state. Kennan's analysis provided one of the most influential underpinnings for America's Cold War policy of containment.

1980 ~ In the Olympic competition, the U.S. Ice Hockey team defeated the Soviets (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0222.html#article) 4–3 at Lake Placid, NY.

1982 ~ Birthday of Jenna Haze, Porn Actress.

1987 ~ Death of Andy Warhol (http://www.warhol.org/museum/), Celebrity

1994 ~ Double agent Aldrich Ames was arrested (http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/ames/1.html).

1997 ~ Ian Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute announced that a sheep had been successfully cloned, and named the clone Dolly (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/22/newsid_4245000/4245877.stm).

[jseal]

1633 ~ Birthday of Samuel Pepys (http://www.pepys.info/), Diarist.

1685 ~ Birthday of Georg Friederich Händel (http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxhandel.html), Composer.

1836 ~ The siege of the Alamo began (http://members.tripod.com/aries46/alamo13d.htm) in San Antonio , Texas.

1893 ~ Rudolf Diesel received a patent for the diesel engine.

1915 ~ Birthday of Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay.

1927 ~ President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill creating the Federal Radio Commission (http://www.oswego.edu/~messere/FRCpage.html), forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission.

1945 ~ The Stars and Stripes raised over Iwo Jima (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/23/newsid_3564000/3564547.stm). The 28th Regiment of the 5th Marine Division took Mount Suribachi.

1954 ~ Lasting prevention of polio (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0223.html#headlines) reported in vaccine tests.

1965 ~ Death of Stan Laurel (http://www.goldensilents.com/comedy/laurelhardy.html), Actor & Comedian.

1998 ~ Osama bin Laden published a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and "Crusaders" (commonly interpreted to refer to the people of Europe and the United States).

[jseal]

1786 ~ Birthday of Wilhelm Grimm (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/wgrimm.htm), Philologist & Folklorist.

1803 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court, in Marbury v. Madison (http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/landmark/marbury.html), established the principle of judicial review.

1856 ~ Death of Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician.

1868 ~ The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0224.html#article).

1903 ~ The U.S. signed an agreement acquiring a naval station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

1949 ~ At White Sands NM, "Project Bumper (http://www.wsmr-history.org/BumperAction1.htm)” a WAC CORPORAL attached to a German built V-2 rocket, reached a height of 250 miles above sea level, the first rocket to reach outer space. The entire trip took 6-1/2 minutes from firing.

1955 ~ Birthday of Steve Jobs, Computer Pioneer.

1942 ~ Birthday of Teri Weigel (http://www.teriweigel.com/teriweigel.html), Porn Actress.

1981 ~ Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/24/newsid_2516000/2516759.stm).

2001 ~ Death of Claude E. Shannon (http://www.nyu.edu/pages/linguistics/courses/v610003/shan.html), "father of information theory".

2008 ~ After nearly fifty years, Fidel Castro retired as the President of Cuba.

[jseal]

1723 ~ Death of Sir Christopher Wren (http://www.explore-stpauls.net/oct03/textMM/WrensTombN.htm), Architect.

1870 ~ Hiram R. Revels, R-Miss., became the first black member of the U.S. Senate (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0225.html#article).

1901 ~ Incorporation of the United States Steel Corporation (http://www.uss.com/corp/company/profile/history.asp).

1943 ~ Birthday of George Harrison (http://www.georgeharrison.com/), Beatle.

1970 ~ Death of Mark Rothko (http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/intro1.shtm), American painter.

1981 ~ Birthday of Jamie Lynn, Porn actress.

1983 ~ Death of Tennessee Williams, playwright.

1986 ~ Corazon Aquino assumed the Philippine presidency (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/25/newsid_4694000/4694530.stm) after Ferdinand E. Marcos fled.

1994 ~ Baruch Goldstein opened fire inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank, killing 29 Muslims before he was beaten to death.

2004 ~ Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ (http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2004-02-29-1.html)" was released in the U.S., and became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever made.

[jseal]

1797 ~ The Bank of England issued the first one pound note.

1802 ~ Birthday of Victor Hugo, Poet.

1848 ~ Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published “The Communist Manifesto (http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html)” in London.

1918 ~ Birthday of Theodore Sturgeon, Science Fiction writer.

1935 ~ Robert Watson-Watt gave the first demonstration of RADAR (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/radar_and_the_battle_of_britain.htm).

1987 ~ Birthday of Julia Bond (http://www.clubjuliabond.com/index3.html?), Porn actress.

1991 ~ Tim Berners-Lee introduced WorldWideWeb (http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/peopleofpower/bernerslee.html), the first web browser.

1991 ~ On Baghdad Radio, Saddam Hussein announced that he had ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/26/newsid_4716000/4716868.stm).

1993 ~ A van bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0226.html#article) in New York City exploded, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand.

2001 ~ The Taliban destroyed two giant Buddha statues in Bamyan (http://youtube.com/watch?v=RDbrZaoXh4I), Afghanistan.

[jseal]

1807 ~ Birthday of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poet (The Song of Hiawatha (http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/hiawatha.html), The Village Blacksmith (http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/longf02.html), Paul Revere's Ride (http://eserver.org/poetry/paul-revere.html)).

1827 ~ The first Mardi Gras (http://www.mardigras.com/) was celebrated in New Orleans.

1873 ~ Birthday of Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor.

1887 ~ Death of Alexander Borodin, composer.

1900 ~ The British Labour Party (http://www.labour.org.uk/home) was formed.

1902 ~ Birthday of John Steinbeck (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-bio.html), Writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1962.

1912 ~ Birthday of Lawrence Durrell, Writer.

1933 ~ Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, caught fire (http://worldatwar.net/event/reichstagsbrand/). The Nazis, blaming the Communists, used the fire as a pretext for suspending civil liberties.

1951 ~ In a victory for freedom lovers, the Twenty-second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html#22), limiting Presidents to two terms, was ratified.

1991 ~ President Bush declared "Kuwait is liberated, Iraq's army is defeated (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0227.html#article)", and announced a Gulf War ceasefire.

[jseal]

1827 ~ The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was incorporated. It was the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.

1887 ~ Death of Alexander Borodin (http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/borodin.php), Russian composer and chemist.

1901 ~ Birthday of Linus Pauling, double Nobel Prize winner: Chemistry 1954 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1954/pauling-bio.html) and Peace 1962 (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1962/pauling-bio.html).

1953 ~ James Watson and Francis Crick announced that they had determined the chemical structure of DNA. The formal announcement followed in the April 25 publication of Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/archive.html). For those who would like to learn more about this interesting development (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2003/dna_at_50/default.stm). In Crick’s own words (http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/Crick3.pdf).

1967 ~ Death of Henry Luce (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/henry-luce/henry-r-luce-and-the-rise-of-the-american-news-media/650/), Publisher (Time, Fortune, Life, Sports Illustrated).

1979 ~ Death of "Mr. Ed", the talking horse.

1983 ~ The final episode of M*A*S*H was broadcast in the U.S.

1986 ~ Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/28/newsid_2802000/2802181.stm) in central Stockholm.

1993 ~ Four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) agents and six Branch Davidians were killed (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0228.html#article) when the agents tried to serve warrants on the Davidians.

2013 ~ Pope Benedict XVI formally retired (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/index.htm) from the papacy.

[jseal]

1810 ~ Birthday of Frédéric Chopin (http://www.npr.org/2011/07/18/123967818/the-life-and-music-of-frederic-chopin), Composer & Pianist.

1872 ~ U.S. Congress authorized creation of Yellowstone National Park (http://www.nps.gov/yell/).

1910 ~ Birthday of David Niven, English actor.

1927 ~ Birthday of Harry Belafonte (http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=12103211), Musician & Actor.

1932 ~ The infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh was kidnapped (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0301.html#article).

1950 ~ Klaus Fuchs (http://www.atomicarchive.com/Bios/Fuchs.shtml) was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.

1954 ~ The Castle Bravo 15-megaton hydrogen bomb (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/1/newsid_2781000/2781419.stm) was detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. It produced the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the U.S.

1961 ~ The Peace Corps (http://www.peacecorps.gov/) was established.

1975 ~ Birthday of Kami Andrews, Porn actress.

2003 ~ The International Criminal Court held its initial session in The Hague.

[jseal]

1836 ~ The Republic of Texas declared its independence (http://www.lsjunction.com/docs/tdoi.htm) from Mexico.

1877 ~ Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0302.html#article).

1904 ~ Birthday of Dr. Seuss, Author.

1931 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Gorbachev (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1990/gorbachev-bio.html), the eighth and last leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

1939 ~ Death of Howard Carter (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0509.html), British archaeologist.

1963 ~ Release of Please Please Me (http://www.warr.org/beatles.html#PPM) in the U.K., the first LP from The Beatles (http://www.beatles.com/).

1969 ~ The maiden flight of the Concorde (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/2/newsid_2514000/2514535.stm).

1980 ~ Birthday of Sunny Lane (http://www.sunnylanelive.com/tour1.html), Porn actress.

1982 ~ Death of Philip K. Dick, Science Fiction author.

2004 ~ Al Qaeda carried out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500.

[jseal]

1706 ~ Death of Johann Pachelbel (http://www.hoasm.org/VIB/Pachelbel.html), Composer.

1847 ~ Birthday of Alexander Graham Bell (http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-graham-bell-9205497), Scottish inventor.

1923 ~ Birthday of James Doohan (http://www.startrek.com/database_article/doohan), Actor.

1931 ~ ”The Star-Spangled Banner (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0194015.html)” officially became the national anthem of the U.S.

1939 ~ In Bombay, Mahatma Gandhi begins a fast to protest the British rule in India.

1983 ~ Death of Hergé (http://www.lambiek.net/artists/h/herge.htm), Belgian comics creator.

1985 ~ England’s coal miners accept defeat (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/3/newsid_2515000/2515019.stm) and vote to return to work after a year long strike.

1991 ~ An amateur video captured the beating of Rodney King (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0303.html#article) by Los Angeles police officers.

2002 ~ Switzerland voted to become a member of the United Nations.

2005 ~ Steve Fossett became the first man to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling.

[jseal]

1678 ~ Birthday of Antonio Vivaldi (http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxvivaldi.html), Italian Baroque Composer.

1804 ~ The Battle of Vinegar Hill (http://www.hawkesburyhistory.net.au/articles/Battle_of_Vinegar.html), New South Wales.

1861 ~ The "Stars and Bars (http://www.usflag.org/history/confederatestarsandbars.html)" was adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.

1877 ~ Pyotr Tchaikovsky's ballet “Swan Lake” first performed.

1936 ~ First flight of airship Hindenburg (http://www.nlhs.com/interior.htm) (LZ-129), in Germany.

1973 ~ Birthday of Summer Cummings (http://www.summerc.com/tour01.htm), Porn actress.

1975 ~ Charlie Chaplin was knighted (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/4/newsid_2794000/2794107.stm) by Queen Elizabeth.

1994 ~ Four terrorists were convicted for their roles in the World Trade Center bombing which killed six and injured more than a thousand.

1997 ~ U.S. President Clinton prohibited federal funding for any research on human cloning (http://projects.publicintegrity.org/genetics/report.aspx?aid=267).

2005 ~ Death of Nicola Calipari, Italian secret service agent.

[jseal]

1512 ~ Birthday of Gerardus Mercator (http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/projects/renaissance/mercator.html), Flemish Geographer & Cartographer.

1658 ~ Birthday of Antoine Cadillac (http://www.historydetroit.com/people/antoine_cadillac.asp), founder of Detroit.

1908 ~ Birthday of Rex Harrison (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0305.html), English actor.

1946 ~ Winston Churchill delivered his famous Iron Curtain speech (http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/ironcurtain.htm), "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent…”.

1953 ~ Death of Josef Stalin (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1221.html), Soviet dictator.

1970 ~ The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty came into effect.

1993 ~ Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was banned from athletics for life (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/5/newsid_2515000/2515379.stm) after failing a drug test for a second time.

1953 ~ North and South Korean representatives met for the first time in 25 years for peace talks.

2000 ~ Death of Lolo Ferrari, French Porn actress.

2004 ~ Martha Stewart was convicted (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june04/martha.html) of obstructing justice and lying to the government about why she dumped her Imclone Systems Inc. stock just before the price dropped.

[Oldfart]

1953 ~ North and South Korean representatives met for the first time in 25 years for peace talks.

1997 perhaps?

[jseal]

Yup! Sorry 'bout the date!

[jseal]

1475 ~ Birthday of Michelangelo Buonarroti (http://www.michelangelo.com/buonarroti.html), Italian artist.

1806 ~ Birthday of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet.

1836 ~ After a 13 day seige, the Mexican army commanded by General Antonio López de Santa Anna captured the Alamo (http://www.thealamo.org/).

1857 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott, a slave, could not sue for his freedom (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0306.html#headlines) in a federal court.

1869 ~ Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.

1926 ~ Birthday of Alan Greenspan, American economist.

1957 ~ The former UK colonies of the Gold Coast and Togoland became the independent state of Ghana (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6/newsid_2515000/2515459.stm).

1982 ~ Death of Ayn Rand (http://www.friesian.com/rand.htm), Author.

1987 ~ 197 people died when a car ferry capsized (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6/newsid_2515000/2515923.stm) just outside the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

1992 ~ Michelangelo computer virus (http://vmyths.com/column/1/1992/6/1/) began to affect computers.

[jseal]

1274 ~ Death of Thomas Aquinas (http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/aquinas.htm), Philosopher.

1850 ~ U.S. Senator Daniel Webster endorsed the Compromise of 1850 (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html) in order to prevent a possible civil war.

1875 ~ Birthday of Maurice Ravel (http://www.maurice-ravel.net/), Composer.

1867 ~ Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone (patent # 174,464).

1965 ~ In Selma, Alabama (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0307.html#article), State troopers and local law enforcement forcefully broke up a group of 600 civil rights marchers.

1967 ~ Death of Alice B. Toklas, inspiration for a million brownies.

1969 ~ Golda Meir elected Prime Minister (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/7/newsid_4205000/4205843.stm) of Israel.

1999 ~ Death of Stanley Kubrick (http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/030899obit-kubrick.html), Film Director.

2004 ~ An investiture ceremony was held for V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church's first openly homosexual bishop.

2006 ~ Apple was granted the patent to the iPod (http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipod?afid=p219%7CGOUS&cid=AOS-US-KWG).

[jseal]

1714 ~ Birthday of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, Composer. Not to be confused with his father Johann Sebastian Bach.

1862 ~ The iron-clad CSS Virginia (http://cssvirginia.org/) (formerly USS Merrimack) was launched at Hampton Roads, Virginia.

1869 ~ Birthday of Hector Berlioz (http://www.hberlioz.com/), Composer.

1917 ~ Death of Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German aircraft manufacturer.

1917 ~ The first stage of the Russian Revolution, the February Revolution (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0308.html#article) started in St. Petersburg.

1942 ~ Death of José Raúl Capablanca (http://www.chesscorner.com/worldchamps/capablanca/capablanca.htm), Cuban chess player.

1950 ~ The Soviet Union claimed to have an atomic bomb.

1959 ~ George Lincoln Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party (http://www.americannaziparty.com/about/index.php) in Arlington, Virginia.

1983 ~ President Reagan called the Soviet Union an evil empire (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganevilempire.htm).

2001 ~ The wreck of Bluebird (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/8/newsid_2795000/2795085.stm), Donald Campbell's speedboat, was recovered.

[dicksbro]

1714 ~ The iron-clad CSS Virginia (http://cssvirginia.org/) (formerly USS Merrimack) was launched at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
And, together with the Monitor, made most of the navies of the world obsolete. :yikes: Amazing.

[Oldfart]

Not nearly, DB. Neither vessel was capable of surviving real deep-sea storms. The HMS Warrior and the French ship "Gloire" were purpose built iron ocean-going ships, well armoured, with steam and sail. CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor were built later than the European ships.

[jseal]

1934 ~ Birthday of Yuri Gagarin, Cosmonaut, first human in space.

1943 ~ Birthday of Bobby Fischer (http://www.bobby-fischer.net/), chess player.

1945 ~ A fire storm in Tokyo (http://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5229.htm), caused by incendiary bombs from American bombers killed over 100,000 people.

1954 ~ CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow critically reviewed Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy's anti-Communism campaign on "See It Now (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/seeitnow/seeitnow.htm)”.

1959 ~ The debut of the Barbie doll (http://www.dolls4play.com/barbiehistory.html).

1967 ~ Stalin's daughter defected to the West (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/9/newsid_2801000/2801709.stm).

1990 ~ Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Clyde Wells confirmed he would rescind Newfoundland's approval of the Meech Lake Accord, effectively killing the Accord.

1996 ~ Death of George Burns (http://www.georgeburns.com/), Actor.

2005 ~ The final broadcast by Dan Rather (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/08/eveningnews/main678731.shtml) on CBS Evening News.

2006 ~ Death of John Profumo, British cabinet minister.

[dicksbro]

Not nearly, DB. Neither vessel was capable of surviving real deep-sea storms. The HMS Warrior and the French ship "Gloire" were purpose built iron ocean-going ships, well armoured, with steam and sail. CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor were built later than the European ships.
Good point, OF!

[jseal]

1913 ~ Death of Harriet Tubman (http://www.harriettubmanbiography.com/), American abolitionist.

1949 ~ Nazi wartime broadcaster Mildred E. Gillars, also known as “Axis Sally (http://www.historynet.com/culture/womens_history/3032576.html?showAll=y&c=y)”, was convicted in Washington, D.C., of treason.

1957 ~ Birthday of Osama bin Laden (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html), Terrorist.

1965 ~ Neil Simon's play ''The Odd Couple'' opened on Broadway.

1969 ~ James Earl Ray pleaded guilty (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/10/newsid_2516000/2516725.stm) in Memphis, Tenn., to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

1977 ~ Astronomers discovered rings around Uranus (http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Uranus/UranusPlanet.html).

1977 ~ Death of E. Power Biggs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVu0auaZu7s), English-born organist.

1985 ~ Death of Konstantin Chernenko (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0310.html#article), Soviet leader.

1993 ~ Dr. David Gunn was shot to death outside a Pensacola, Fla., abortion clinic.

2008 ~ The New York Times revealed that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer had patronized a prostitution service.

[jseal]

1941 ~ President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Bill (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0311.html#article).

1955 ~ Death of Alexander Fleming (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html), Biologist.

1959 ~ Birthday of Nina Hartley (http://www.nina.com/bio.htm), American porn star.

1968 ~ Death of John Wyndham, Author.

1985 ~ Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet leader (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/11/newsid_2538000/2538327.stm).

1993 ~ Janet Reno was confirmed by the U.S. Senate (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/reno.htm), becoming the first female U.S. Attorney General.

1996 ~ John Howard (http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/howard/) became the twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia.

1997 ~ Paul McCartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

2004 ~ Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain, killed 191 people and wounded at least 1,800 in an attack linked to al-Qaida.

2006 ~ Death of Slobodan Milošević (http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/), President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia.

[Oldfart]

Nina Hartley, the grown man's pornstar.

[jseal]

1912 ~ The Girl Scouts (http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/history/low_biography/) (née Girl Guides) were started in the U.S.

1913 ~ Canberra officially named.

1922 ~ Birthday of Jack Kerouac (http://www.beatmuseum.org/kerouac/JackKerouac.html), Writer.

1925 ~ Birthday of Harry Harrison, Science Fiction author.

1938 ~ Anschluss (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hitler-announces-an-anschluss-with-austria): German troops occupied Austria; annexation declared the following day.

1947 ~ The “Truman Doctrine (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0312.html#article)” established.

1953 ~ Birthday of Ron Jeremy (http://ronjeremy.com/), Porn actor.

1987 ~ ”Les Misérables (http://www.lesmis.com/)” opened on Broadway.

1994 ~ The Church of England ordained its first female priests.

1999 ~ Death of Sir Yehudi Menuhin (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/12/newsid_2540000/2540427.stm), violinist.

[jseal]

1781 ~ The planet Uranus (http://www.solarviews.com/eng/uranus.htm) was discovered by Sir William Herschel (http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/Bios/wherschel.html).

1855 ~ Birthday of Percival Lowell, Astronomer.

1868 ~ The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0313.html#article) began in the U.S. Senate.

1906 ~ Death of Susan B. Anthony, civil rights and women's suffrage activist.

1925 ~ A law in Tennessee, the Butler Act, was passed, prohibiting the teaching of evolution.

1938 ~ Death of Clarence Darrow (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/darrow.htm), Attorney.

1947 ~ The musical “Brigadoon (http://www.durham.net/~neilmac/brigdoon.htm)” opened on Broadway.

1954 ~ Viet Minh forces begin the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ (http://www.dienbienphu.org/english/) against the French.

1964 ~ Kitty Genovese was murdered (http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/kitty_genovese/1.html) in an incident which shocked the world and prompted investigation into the Bystander effect.

1979 ~ The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousted Prime Minister Eric Gairy (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/13/newsid_2804000/2804259.stm) in a nearly bloodless coup d'etat in Grenada.

[jseal]

1681 ~ Birthday of Georg Philipp Telemann (http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxtel.html), German Composer.

1804 ~ Birthday of Johann Strauss Sr (http://www.johann-strauss.org.uk/composers/index.php3?content=johann1).

1879 ~ Birthday of Albert Einstein (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html), physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in physics 1921.

1883 ~ Death of Karl Marx (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/index.htm), political theorist.

1900 ~ The Gold Standard Act was ratified (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0314.html#article), placing U.S. currency on the gold standard.

1942 ~ First successful use of penicillin to treat a patient.

1943 ~ The SS under the command Sturmbannführer Amon Goth began the 'liquidation' of the Kraków Ghetto.

1984 ~ Gerry Adams (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/14/newsid_2543000/2543503.stm), head of Sinn Féin, was wounded in an assassination attempt in central Belfast.

1985 ~ Birthday of Eva Angelina (http://www.evaangelinaonline.com/), Porn actress.

1994 ~ Linux kernel version 1.0.0 was released.

[Oldfart]

Some penicillin stuff.

A mouldy cantaloupe in a Peoria, Illinois, market in 1943 was found to contain the best and highest-quality penicillin after a worldwide search. DB?

In 1930, Cecil George Paine, a pathologist at the Royal Infirmary in Sheffield, attempted to use penicillin to treat sycosis barbae, eruptions in beard follicles, but was unsuccessful, probably because the drug did not penetrate the skin deeply enough. Moving on to ophthalmia neonatorum, a gonococcal infection in infants, he achieved the first recorded cure with penicillin, on November 25, 1930. He then cured four additional patients (one adult and three infants) of eye infections, and failed to cure a fifth.

[scotzoidman]

1681

1879 ~ Birthday of Albert Einstein (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html), physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in physics 1921.
[/I]Speaking of..

[Oldfart]

That was a relatively shocking joke, Scotz.

[jseal]

44 B.C. ~ Julius Caesar was assassinated (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0311_040311_idesmarch.html) by a group of Roman senators.

1877 ~ The first Test cricket match (http://www.abcofcricket.com/cfb1/cfb5/cfb5.htm), between England and Australia.

1898 ~ Death of Henry Bessemer, English metallurgist.

1906 ~ Rolls-Royce Ltd. (http://www.rolls-royce.com/about/heritage/history/) was registered.

1937 ~ Death of H. P. Lovecraft, horror writer.

1966 ~ Addressing a joint session of Congress, President Lyndon Johnson called for new legislation to guarantee every American's right to vote (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0315.html#article).

1975 ~ Birthday of Veselin Topalov (http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=2900084), Bulgarian chess player, FIDE World Chess Champion 2005 - 2006.

1990 ~ British journalist Farzad Bazoft was executed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/15/newsid_2543000/2543475.stm) for spying.

1991 ~ Germany formally regained complete independence after World War II.

2004 ~ Announcement of the discovery of 90377 Sedna (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2638-ssc2004-05d-Orbit-Comparisons), the farthest "planet" in the Solar system so far observed.

[jseal]

1521 ~ Ferdinand Magellan (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1519magellan.asp) reached the Philippines, where he was killed by natives the following month.

1736 ~ Death of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer.

1789 ~ Birthday of Georg Ohm (http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/ohmlawexperiments.html), German physicist and developer of Ohm's Law.

1850 ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter (http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/nh/sl.html)" was first published.

1898 ~ Death of Aubrey Beardsley, British Artist.

1926 ~ Robert Goddard (http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/about/dr_goddard.html) launched the first liquid-fueled rocket (http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/f_goddard.html), at Auburn, Massachusetts.

1968 ~ The My Lai Massacre (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0316.html#article) was carried out by U.S. troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley.

1978 ~ Aldo Moro was kidnapped (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDmoro.htm) by left-wing urban guerrillas in Italy and was later killed by his captors.

1984 ~ William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists; he died in captivity.

1988 ~ The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq was attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/16/newsid_4304000/4304853.stm) killing 5,000.

[jseal]

180 ~ Death of Marcus Aurelius (http://www.roman-emperors.org/marcaur.htm), Roman emperor.

461 ~ Death of Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland.

1673 ~ Jacques Marquette & Louis Jolliet began their exploration of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river.

1834 ~ Birthday of Gottlieb Daimler, Engineer & Inventor.

1845 ~ The rubber band was patented (http://www.versteegde.nl/Bambustic/RubberBands/) by Stephen Perry.

1919 ~ Birthday of Nat King Cole (http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9253026), Singer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxEmnxiUz8w).

1942 ~ Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia to become supreme commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific theater (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0317.html#article) during World War II.

1959 ~ Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama (http://www.dalailama.com/), fled Tibet and traveled to India.

1973 ~ The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Burst_of_Joy.jpg) was taken.

1979 ~ Birthday of Stormy Daniels, Porn actress.

Feastdays & Holidays

Catholicism ~ Feast day of St Patrick (http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/stpatricksday/?page=history): a public holiday in Ireland and Montserrat, widely celebrated in North America.

[jseal]

1844 ~ Birthday of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (http://www.vic.spb.ru/RK/nrklife.htm), Composer.

1850 ~ American Express was founded by Henry Wells & William Fargo.

1869 ~ Birthday of Neville Chamberlain (http://www.number10.gov.uk/past-prime-ministers/neville-chamberlain/), UK PM.

1962 ~ France and Algeria signed an agreement ending the Algerian War.

1965 ~ Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov became the first man to walk in space (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0318.html#article).

1978 ~ Death of Leigh Brackett (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/brackett.htm), Science Fiction author.

1990 ~ In the largest art theft in U.S. history, 12 paintings, collectively worth more than $100 million, were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner_Museum#Art_theft_of_1990), Massachusetts.

1992 ~ Microsoft shipped Windows 3.1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSJDIGiepgU). A blast from the past!

1992 ~ South Africa voted to end apartheid (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/18/newsid_2524000/2524695.stm).

2003 ~ Death of Adam Osborne, British born computer pioneer.

[jseal]

1813 ~ Birthday of David Livingstone, Missionary & Explorer.

1906 ~ Birthday of Adolf Eichmann (http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-eichmann.htm), Nazi official.

1915 ~ The U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0319.html#article) for the second time.

1932 ~ Sydney Harbor Bridge (http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/sydney-harbour-bridge) opened.

1950 ~ Death of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Author.

1953 ~ The Academy Awards were first televised.

1982 ~ Argentines landed on South Georgia Island (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/19/newsid_2543000/2543639.stm), precipitating the Falklands War.

1987 ~ Death of Louis-Victor de Broglie (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1929/broglie-bio.html), Physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1929.

2003 ~ President Bush ordered the start of war against Iraq.

2008 ~ Death of Arthur C. Clarke (http://www.clarkefoundation.org/), Science Fiction author.

Feastdays & Holidays

The swallows return to Mission San Juan Capistrano (http://www.sanjuancapistrano.net/swallows/) in California.

[jseal]

43 B.C. ~ Birthday of Ovid, Roman poet (http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/xeno.ovid1.htm).

1727 ~ Death of Sir Isaac Newton, Physicist.

1815 ~ Napoleon returned to Paris after escaping from Elba, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.

1852 ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin (http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/ecp/10/223/0001/html/00010000.html)" was published.

1916 ~ Albert Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity (http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/NumRel/GenRelativity.html).

1928 ~ Birthday of Fred Rogers, children's television host.

1969 ~ John Lennon married Yoko Ono (http://www.iamthebeatles.com/article1316.html) in Gibraltar.

1995 ~ A sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0320.html#article) killed 12 and wounded 1,300 people.

2000 ~ Former Black Panther Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2000/03/25/brown/index.html), once known as H. Rap Brown, was captured following a shootout in Atlanta.

2003 ~ U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/20/newsid_3495000/3495453.stm) from Kuwait.

[jseal]

1685 ~ Birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (hTTp://www.jsbach.org/), Composer.

1867 ~ Birthday of Florenz Ziegfeld, Broadway Impresario.

1945 ~ UK Troops liberated Mandalay, Burma.

1960 ~ Police fired on demonstrators in Sharpeville (http://www.google.com/images?rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-ContextMenu&oe=&q=Sharpeville,+South+Africa&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&sa=X&ei=H5uGTeKrEeyH0QHUmpzYCA&ved=0CEgQsAQ&biw=1099&bih=717), South Africa, killing 69 and wounding 180.

1963 ~ The federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz (http://www.nps.gov/alca/index.htm), was closed.

1965 ~ Rev. King led 3,200 people on the start of a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery (http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/al4.htm), Alabama.

1980 ~ President Carter announced a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow (http://www.olympic.org/moscow-1980-summer-olympics) to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.

1998 ~ Good Friday Agreement (http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/attached_files/Pdf%20files/NIPeaceAgreement.pdf) signed in Northern Ireland.

2000 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the government lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug.

2010 ~ Death Wolfgang Wagner, German opera director, grandson of Richard Wagner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner), and the great-grandson of Franz Liszt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Liszt).

[jseal]

1683 ~ Anne Hutchinson (http://www.greatwomen.org/component/fabrik/details/2/83) was expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.

1687 ~ Death of Jean Baptiste Lully, French Composer.

1832 ~ Death of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc20.html), Writer & Poet.

1882 ~ U.S. Congress outlawed polygamy.

1923 ~ Birthday of Marcel Marceau (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lF0XMCssG0), Mime.

1963 ~ The British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/22/newsid_4271000/4271221.stm), denied improper involvement with the model Christine Keeler (http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/christine-keeler-photograph-a-modern-icon/).

1963 ~ The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he0B0VMxCsw), was released in the UK.

1972 ~ The Equal Rights Amendment (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0322.html#article) To The U.S. Constitution was sent to the states for ratification.

1993 ~ The Intel Corporation shipped the first Pentium chips (http://www.emery.com/1e/pentium.htm).

2004 ~ Death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and spiritual leader of Hamas.

[jseal]

1749 ~ Birthday of Pierre Simon de Laplace, Mathematician & Astronomer.

1775 ~ Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech - "give me liberty or give me death (http://lexrex.com/enlightened/writings/libertyordeath.htm)" in Williamsburg, Virginia.

1857 ~ Elisha Otis's first elevator was installed at 488 Broadway, New York City.

1882 ~ Birthday of Emmy Noether (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Noether_Emmy.html), Mathematician. Now there's a lady who had a tough row to hoe!

1912 ~ Birthday of Wernher von Braun (http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/bio.html), Engineer.

1923 ~ Birthday of Roger Bannister (http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ban0bio-1), athlete, first man to run the "Miracle Mile"

1983 ~ President Ronald Reagan made his initial proposal (http://www.school-for-champions.com/speeches/reagan_sdi_1983.htm) to develop technology to intercept missiles.

1989 ~ Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announced cold fusion (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/17/60minutes/main4952167.shtml) at the University of Utah.

1989 ~ A 1,000-foot diameter Near-Earth asteroid (4581 Asclepius) missed the Earth by 400,000 miles.

2001 ~ The Russian space station Mir was de-orbited (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast10mar_1.htm), breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.

[jseal]

1874 ~ Birthday of Harry Houdini (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/houdini/), Magician.

1882 ~ Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.

1882 ~ Death of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (http://www.hwlongfellow.org/), Poet.

1893 ~ Birthday of Walter Baade (http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Baade/index.html), Astronomer.

1905 ~ Death of Jules Verne (http://www.julesverne.ca/), Author.

1944 ~ In occupied Rome, the Nazis executed more than 300 civilians in reprisal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardeatine_Massacre) for an attack by Italian partisans the day before that killed 32 German soldiers.

1965 ~ Ranger 9 broadcast live TV (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/24/newsid_4063000/4063187.stm) as it crashed-landed onto the Moon.

1980 ~ Archbishop Óscar Romero was killed by gunmen while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.

1989 ~ The Exxon Valdez spilled 270,000 barrels of oil (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0324.html#article) after running aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound.

1999 ~ NATO launched air strikes against Yugoslavia. This marked the first time NATO attacked a sovereign nation.

[jseal]

1827 ~ Death of Ludwig van Beethoven (http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Bio/BiographyChronology.html), Composer.

1892 ~ Death of Walt Whitman (http://www.whitmanarchive.org/), Poet.

1904 ~ Birthday of Joseph Campbell (http://www.jcf.org/new/index.php?categoryid=11), Author & Mythologist.

1964 ~ The musical “Funny Girl”, starring Barbra Streisand, opened on Broadway.

1973 ~ Birthday of Larry Page, Computer Scientist, Co-Founder of Google.

1979 ~ Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter signed the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0326.html#article) in Washington, DC.

1981 ~ The "Gang of Four", Roy Jenkins, David Owen, William Rodgers and Shirley Williams, founded the Social Democratic Party (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/26/newsid_2531000/2531151.stm).

1984 ~ Birthday of Annette Schwarz (http://www.annetteschwarz.com/as_index-news.htm), Porn Actress.

1997 ~ The 39 Heaven's Gate cult suicides.

1999 ~ The Melissa worm (http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1999-04.html) infected e-mail systems around the world.

[jseal]

1836 ~ Antonio López de Santa Anna ordered the Mexican army to kill about 400 Texans at Goliad, Texas.

1845 ~ Birthday of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1901/rontgen-bio.html), physicist, awarded the first Nobel Prize in physics.

1863 ~ Birthday of Sir Henry Royce (http://www.roycefoundation.com.au/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=104), automobile pioneer.

1871 ~ First international rugby football match, England v. Scotland, played in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.

1886 ~ Birthday of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe.html), Architect.

1958 ~ Nikita Khrushchev became Premier (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0327.html#article) of the USSR.

1968 ~ Death of Yuri Gagarin (http://www.abamedia.com/rao/gallery/gagarin/), the first man in space.

1972 ~ Death of M. C. Escher (http://www.mcescher.com/), Dutch artist.

1977 ~ A KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on the Canary Island of Tenerife (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/27/newsid_2531000/2531063.stm), killing 582 people.

2002 ~ Passover Massacre: A suicide bomber killed 28 people in Netanya, Israel.

[jseal]

1881 ~ Death of Modest Mussorgsky, Russian composer.

1910 ~ Henri Fabre becomes the first man to fly a seaplane (http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0872854.html) after taking off from a water runway near Martigues, France.

1939 ~ Generalissimo Franco entered Madrid, essentially ending the Spanish Civil War (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Spanish-Civil-War.htm).

1943 ~ Death of Sergei Rachmaninoff (http://www.rachmaninoff.org/home/home.php), composer and pianist.

1947 ~ The last episode of the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (http://members.tripod.com/~crozee/buck/) played on radio.

1965 ~ Conclusion of the 'Selma to Montgomey (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/28/newsid_4264000/4264241.stm)' Civil Rights march.

1979 ~ One of the nuclear reactors at Three Mile Island (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0328.html#article) was severely damaged in what remains as the largest nuclear incident in U.S. history.

1980 ~ Birthday of Birthday of Minori Aoi (葵みのり), Japanese Porn actress.

1987 ~ Death of Maria von Trapp, Singer.

2004 ~ Death of Peter Ustinov (http://www.unicef.org/media/media_20193.html), Actor.

[jseal]

1867 ~ Queen Victoria gave Royal Assent to the British North America Act (http://www.canadiana.org/citm/themes/constitution/constitution13_e.html) which established the Dominion of Canada on July 1.

1899 ~ Birthday of Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader.

1912 ~ Death of Robert Falcon Scott, Explorer.

1973 ~ The last U.S. troops left South Vietnam (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0329.html#article), ending America's direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.

1981 ~ First running of the London Marathon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/29/newsid_2530000/2530955.stm).

1982 ~ Queen Elizabeth gave Royal Assent to the Canada Act 1982 (http://www.canadiana.org/citm/themes/constitution/constitution16_e.html), setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.

1984 ~ The Baltimore Colts (http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nfl/balticolts/baltcolts.html) of the NFL moved to Indianapolis in the middle of the night.

1985 ~ Death of Jeanine Deckers, better known as "The Singing Nun" due to her 1963 hit song "Dominique (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHhyyRByuJ0)".

2004 ~ Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO (http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2004/03-march/e0329a.htm) as full members.

2004 ~ Death of Alistair Cook, Journalist.

[jseal]

1746 ~ Birthday of Francisco Goya, Spanish painter (http://www.artinthepicture.com/paintings/Francisco_Goya/The-Nude-Maja/) and engraver.

1842 ~ Anesthesia (ether (http://journals.lww.com/anesthesiology/fulltext/2006/10000/written_in_granite__a_history_of_the_ether.30.aspx)) was used for the first time in an operation.

1853 ~ Birthday of Vincent van Gogh (http://www.vangoghgallery.com/), Painter.

1945 ~ A defecting German pilot delivered a Messerschmitt Me 262A (http://www.stormbirds.com/project/index.html)-1 to the Allies.

1951 ~ Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/30/newsid_3704000/3704209.stm) were convicted of espionage.

1951 ~ Remington Rand delivered the first UNIVAC I computer to the U.S. Census Bureau.

1977 ~ Death of Sergey Ilyushin, Russian aerospace engineer.

1981 ~ President Reagan was shot (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0330.html#article) and seriously injured.

1998 ~ German automaker BMW bought Rolls-Royce for $570 million.

2004 ~ Death of Alistair Cooke, English-born journalist (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f6hbp).

[jseal]

1621 ~ Birthday of Andrew Marvell (http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/marvbib.htm), English poet.

1732 ~ Birthday of Joseph Haydn, Composer.

1837 ~ Death of John Constable, Painter.

1959 ~ The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crossed the border into India (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2788000/2788343.stm) and was granted political asylum.

1968 ~ President Johnson (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0331.html#article) announced he would not run for re-election.

1970 ~ After 12 years in orbit, Explorer 1 (http://www.ispyspace.com/Explorer_1.html) burnt up when it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.

1976 ~ Birthday of Ashton Moore (http://tour.clubashton.com/home/), Porn actress.

1991 ~ The end of the Warsaw Pact.

1992 ~ The last active United States Navy battleship, the USS Missouri (http://www.ussmissouri.com/), was decommissioned .

1995 ~ Latina superstar Selena (http://www.q-productions.com/) was killed by the president of her fan club.

[jseal]

1815 ~ Birthday of Otto von Bismarck (http://www.ssa.gov/history/ottob.html), Politician.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Feastdays & Holidays

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

[jseal]

1725 ~ Birthday of Giacomo Casanova (http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-10-2005-66935.asp), adventurer and writer.

1805 ~ Birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer.

1875 ~ Birthday of Walter Chrysler, automobile pioneer.

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

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

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

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

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

1988 ~ Birthday of Kimber James (http://www.ts-kimberjames.com/tour/), transsexual Porn Actor.

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

[jseal]

1882 ~ Death of Jesse James (shot in the back and killed for the reward).

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

1897 ~ Death of Johannes Brahms (http://www.johannesbrahms.org/), Composer.

1901 ~ Death of Richard D'Oyly Carte (http://www.doylycarte.org.uk/company-history/), Impresario.

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

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

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

1991 ~ Death of Graham Greene, English writer.

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

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

[jseal]

1884 ~ Birthday of Isoroku Yamamoto (http://www.angelfire.com/ia/totalwar/Yamamoto.html), naval commander.

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

1949 ~ Twelve nations signed The North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (http://www.nato.int/history/index.html).

1961 ~ Birthday of Tom Byron, Porn Actor.

1964 ~ The Beatles (http://www.beatles.com/#/history/Introduction) occupied all of the top five positions on the Billboard singles chart in the United States.

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

1975 ~ Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

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

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

1994 ~ Netscape Communications Corporation was founded by Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark.

[Anglosaxon]

It is Tomb Sweeping Day today in China

[jseal]

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

1866 ~ Birthday of Butch Cassidy, Outlaw.

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

1917 ~ The United States declared war on Germany.

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

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

… and they will return (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/hostess-picks-apollo-led-group-as-new-owner-of-twinkies/)!

1971 ~ Death of Igor Stravinsky, Composer.

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

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

2001 ~ Algerian national Ahmed Ressam (http://www.fbi.gov/seattle/press-releases/2012/millennium-bomber-sentenced-to-37-years-in-prison), accused of bringing explosives into the U.S. days before the millennium celebrations, was convicted twice in the same day - first in France for belonging to a group supporting Islamic militants, then in Los Angeles on terror charges.

[jseal]

1614 ~ Death of El Greco (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/greco/greco.5th-seal.jpg) (Domenikos Theotocopoulos), artist.

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

1891 ~ Death of P. T. Barnum (http://www.ringling.com/explore/history/ptbarnum_1.aspx), Circus Impresario.

1945 ~ The Yamato, a 72,000-ton Japanese battleship was sunk off Okinawa due in large part to SIGINT tipoffs (http://www.yamato-museum.com/en/).

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

1964 ~ IBM announced the System/360 (http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PR360.html).

1967 ~ Birthday of Runa Akasaka (赤坂ルナ), Japanese Porn actress.

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

1969 ~ The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of First Request for Comment (http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1.html) (RFC).

1978 ~ Development of the neutron bomb was canceled by President Carter.