In 742 Charlemagne, emperor (Holy Roman Empire), born.
In 1805 Hans Christian Andersen, danish storyteller, born.
In 1834 Frederic A. Bartholdi, sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty, born.
In 1860 First Italian Parliament met at Turin.
In 1872 Samuel F.B. Morse, the developer of the electric telegraph, died.
In 1875 Walter Chrysler, founded a car company, born.
In 1908 Buddy Ebsen, actor (Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones), born.
In 1914 Sir Alec Guiness, thespian (credits-too-numerous-to-mention), born.
In 1917 Pres. Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany.
In 1920 Jack Webb, actor (Dragnet, The D.I.), born.
In 1924 Doris Day (in Cincinnatti, Ohio), actor, girl next door, born.
In 1932 Lindbergh turned over $50,000 as ransom for kidnapped son.
In 1935 Sir Watson-Watt granted a patent for RADAR.
In 1948 Emmylou Harris (in Alabama), singer, born.
In 1961 Yuri A. Gagarin, first man in orbit.
In 1974 Arganat Comm publishes report concerning the Yom Kippur War.
In 1974 French president Georges Pompidou died in Paris.
In 1982 Argentina seized the disputed Falkland (Malvinas) Islands from Britain.
In 1982 TV show "Dallas" premiers.
In 1984 Soyuz T-11 is launched.

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In 1783 Washington Irving, writer (Rip Van Winkle, Legend of Sleepy Hollow), born.
In 1837 John Burroughs, founded what later became the Burroughs Corporation, born.
In 1882 Jesse James shot dead in St. Joseph Mo. by Robert Ford.
In 1924 Marlon Brando, actor (The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris), born.
In 1936 Bruno Hauptmann, convicted Lindbergh baby killer, executed.
In 1942 Wayne Newton, singer, born.
In 1961 Eddie Murphy, comedian, actor, born.
In 1964 US and Panama agree to resume diplomatic relations.
In 1966 Luna 10, first lunar orbiter.
In 1968 N. Vietnam agreed to meet US reps to set up preliminary peace talks.
In 1974 Soyuz 14 is launched.
In 1977 Egyptian Pres Anwar Sadat first meeting with President Jimmy Carter.
In 1982 UN Security Council demanded Argentina withdraw from Falkland Islands.

In 188 Caracalla Roman emperor (211-17), born.
In 896 Formosus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
In 1284 Alfonso X Spanish king (Castile & Leon), dies at 62
In 1581 Frances Drake completres circumnavigation of the world
In 1588 Frederick II king of Denmark, dies
In 1818 Congress decided US flag is 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars.
In 1823 Karl Wilhelm Siemens inventor (laid undersea cables), born.
In 1841 William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia and becomes the first U.S. president to die in office.
In 1858 Asteroid 54, Kalypso discovered (named for goddess of silence)
In 1860 Pony Express begins service, from St. Joseph, Missouri.
In 1895 Arthur Murray, dance instructor, born.
In 1899 Duke Ellington bandleader (Take the A Train), born.
In 1912 Chinese republic proclaimed in Tibet
In 1914 The movie "The Perils of Pauline" is shown for the first time, in Los Angeles.
In 1915 Muddy Waters [McKinley Morganfield], guitarist (Hoochie Coochie Man), born.
In 1918 Battle of Somme, ends
In 1918 Margaret Dupont tennis champion, born.
In 1929 Karl Freidrich Benz automobile engineer (Mercedes), dies
In 1944 British troops capture Addis Ababa Ethiopia
In 1945 Hungarian National Day.
In 1945 Hungary liberated from Nazi occupation (National Day)
In 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization founded (NATO -- "OTAN" in French).
In 1960 Senegalese National Day begins
In 1964 Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 5 weeks
In 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1969 Dr. Denton Cooley implants first temporary artificial heart.
In 1974 Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's home-run record by hitting his 714th.
In 1979 Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto former Pakistani president, hanged in Pakistan
In 1983 6th space shuttle mission, Challenger 1 launched
In 1984 Winston Smith in Orwell's "1984" begins his secret diary
In 1990 Gloria Estefan released from the hospital after her accident

In 2348 B.C. Noah's ark grounded, Mt Ararat (calculated date)
In 1242 Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeats Teutonic Knights
In 1531 Richard Roose boiled to death for trying to poison an archbishop
In 1614 Indian princess Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe
In 1795 Sir Henry Havelock British soldier (War in Afghanistan 1838-39), born.
In 1847 The opera "Die Fledermaus" is produced (Vienna)
In 1895 Writer Oscar Wilde is arrested
In 1896 1st modern Olympic Games officially opens in Athens
In 1900 Spencer Tracy actor (Father's Little Dividend, Adam's Rib), born.
In 1908 Bette Davis Lowell Mass, famous eyes (Of Human Bondage, Jezebel), born.
In 1909 Alberto Romero "Cubby" Broccoli film producer, born.
In 1916 Gregory Peck La Jolla Calif, actor (To Kill a Mockingbird, MacArthur), born.
In 1923 Nguyen Van Thieu president of South Vietnam, born.
In 1929 Nigel Hawthorne actor (Tartuffe, Pope John Paul II (Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes Minister), Richard III), born.
In 1941 Eric Burdon rocker (Animals-House of the Rising Sun), born.
In 1943 Poon Lim found after being adrift 133 days
In 1951 Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, atomic spies, sentenced to death
In 1954 Elvis Presley records his debut single, "That's All Right"
In 1955 Winston Churchill resigns as British PM, Anthony Eden succeeds him
In 1958 Cammie Lusko LA Calif, Guinness' World Strongest Woman, born.
In 1962 NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to 54,600 m
In 1963 Beatles receive their 1st silver disc (Please Please Me)
In 1964 Douglas MacArthur US general (Pacific theater-WW II), dies at 84
In 1971 Mount Etna erupts in Sicily Italy
In 1975 Chai Kai-shek leader (Taiwan), dies
In 1976 Harold Wilson resigns as British PM.
In 1976 Howard Hughes reclusive billionaire, dies at 72
In 1986 Record for a throw-and-return boomerang toss is set (121m)
In 1987 Fox TV network premiers showing Married With Children & Tracey Ullman
In 1989 Solidarity grants legal status in Poland
In 1991 Space Shuttle STS 37 (Atlantis 8) launched
In 1991 US begins air drops to Kurdish refugees in Northern Iraq

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In 1866 Butch Cassidy, famous entrepreneur
In 1868 Brigham Young marries number 27, his final wife.
In 1874 Erich Weiss (aka Harry Houdini), escapist
In 1890 Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker, Dutch aircraft pioneer
In 1892 Donald Wills Douglas, founded an aircraft company
In 1896 Modern Olympics Anniversary. (First modern Olympiad)
In 1906 First animated cartoon is copyrighted.
In 1917 US declares war on Germany (WWI).
In 1926 Four planes take off on first successful around-the-world flight.
In 1937 Merle Haggard, musician
In 1937 Billy Dee Williams, actor (Star Wars, Batman)
In 1965 Intelsat 1 ("Early Bird") first commercial geosynchronous communication satellite.
In 1973 Pioneer 11 launched. First spacecraft to flyby Saturn.
In 1975 Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek died at the age of 87.
In 1984 Eleventh Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 5 is launched.

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In 30 Scholars' calculate this as the date that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by Roman troops in Jerusalem.
In 1506 St. Francis Xavier, missionary
In 1770 William Wordsworth (in England), poet
In 1860 W. K. Kellogg, founded a cereal company
In 1915 Billie Holiday, blues singer
In 1927 Using phone lines TV was sent from Washington DC to New York City.
In 1928 James Garner, actor (Maverick movies and series, etc.)
In 1939 Francis Ford Coppola, director
In 1939 David Frost, pundit
In 1948 World Health Organization is established.
In 1959 First astronauts - selection announced by NASA.
In 1959 Radar first bounced off sun, Stanford California.
In 1983 Challenger crew perform a spacewalk - first by US in 9 years.

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In 563 B.C. Gautama Buddha (as celebrated in Japan-Kambutsue), born.
In 217 Caracalla [Marcus Aureiius Antoniius], Roman emperor, dies.
In 1143 John II Byzantine emperor, dies in an accident.
In 1605 Philip IV king of Spain & Portugal (1621-65), born.
In 1766 The first patent is granted for a fire escape ... a wicker basket on a pully and a chain, designed by a London watchmaker.
In 1946 League of Nations assembles for last time.
In 1952 President Harry Truman seizes steel industry to avoid a strike.
In 1963 Julian Lennon, musician, son of John Lennon, born.
In 1964 Unmanned Gemini 1 launched.
In 1966 OAO 1, the 1st orbiting astronomical observatory, launched.
In 1968 New socialist constitution of East Germany takes effect.
In 1971 1st legal off-track betting system begins (OTB-New York).
In 1973 Pablo Picasso artist, dies near Mougins, France, at 91.
In 1976 Phil Ochs rock producer, dies.
In 1981 Gen Omar Bradley last 5-star general, dies in NY at 88.
In 1985 India files suit against Union Carbide over Bhopal disaster.
In 1986 Clint Eastwood elected mayor of Carmel, California. It made his day.
In 1990 "Twin Peaks" with Peggy Lipton premiers on ABC-TV.

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In 1830 Eadweard Muybridge, pioneered study of motion in photography, born.
In 1865 Charles Proteus Steinmetz, electronics pioneer, born.
In 1879 W. C. Fields, actor, Philadelphian, born.
In 1895 Mance Lipscomb, blues musician, born.
In 1919 John Presper Eckert, co-inventor of first electronic computer (ENIAC), born.
In 1926 Hugh Hefner, publisher of Playboy, made bunnies famous, born.
In 1928 Mae West makes her New York City debut in a daring new play, "Diamond Lil".
In 1942 American and Filipino forces overwhelmed by Japanese at Bataan.
In 1947 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission confirmed.
In 1950 Bob Hope makes his first TV appearance.
In 1954 Dennis Quaid, actor, born.
In 1955 United Nations Charter hearing.
In 1957 Seve Ballesteros, golfer, born.
In 1959 NASA announces first seven astronauts with The Right Stuff.
In 1965 Paulina Porizkova, Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl, actress, born.
In 1967 First Boeing 737 rolls out.
In 1980 Soyuz 35 is launched.
In 1983 Sixth Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 1 returns to Earth.

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In 1790 U.S. Patent system established
In 1829 William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, born.
In 1847 Joseph Pulitzer, awarded newspaper prizes, born.
In 1883 Kahlil Gibran, philosopher, born.
In 1849 Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt of New York City. He immediately sells the patent rights for $100.
In 1864 Austrian Archduke Maximilian became emperor of Mexico.
In 1866 American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals organized.
In 1912 RMS Titanic sets sail for its first and last voyage.
In 1915 Harry Morgan (in Detroit, MI), actor (Dragnet, M*A*S*H), born.
In 1916 First professional golf tournament held.
In 1924 Chuck Connors, actor (The Rifleman), born.
In 1929 Max von Sydow, actor, born.
In 1930 Synthetic rubber first produced.
In 1932 Paul von Hindenburg elected first German president (Hitler was the second).
In 1932 Omar Sharif, actor (Tamarind Seed, Dr. Zhivago), born.
In 1945 Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald liberated by US 80th Division.
In 1953 House of Wax, first feature-length 3-D movie, released in New York.
In 1974 Yitzhak Rabin replaces resigning Prime Minister Golda Meir.
In 1979 Soyuz 33 is launched.
In 1990 The Hubble space telescope is brought on-line. Unfortunately, its mirror is slightly warped.

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In 672 Deusdedit III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
In 678 Donus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
In 1370 Frederick I the Warlike, elector of Saxony, born.
In 1713 Peace of Utrecht; France cedes Maritime provinces to Britain
In 1770 George Canning (C) British PM (1827), born.
In 1814 1st abdication of Napoleon; he is exiled to Elba
In 1875 Heinrich Schwabe discoverer of 11-year sunspot cycle, dies
In 1898 President McKinley asks for Spanish-American War declaration
In 1899 Treaty of Paris ratifies; Spain cedes Puerto Rico to US
In 1906 James A Bailey circus showman (Barnum & Bailey), dies at 58
In 1911 Bob Dylan's 1st appearance at Folk City, Greenwich Village
In 1913 Oleg Cassini Paris France, fashion designer for Jackie Kennedy, born.
In 1914 George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion," premieres
In 1921 Turkestan ASSR established in Russian SFSR
In 1941 Germany blitzes Conventry, England
In 1956 Singer Nat Cole attacked on stage of Birmingham theater by whites
In 1963 John XXIII encyclical On peace in truth, justice, charity & liberty
In 1970 Apollo 13 launched to Moon; unable to land, returns in 6 days
In 1970 Beatles' "Let It Be," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 2 weeks
In 1979 Ugandan dictator Idi Amin overthrown; Tanzania takes Kampala
In 1980 Paul McCartney releases "Coming Up"
In 1984 Challenger astronauts complete 1st in space satellite repair
In 1986 Dodge Morgan sailed solo nonstop around the world in 150 days
In 1986 Halley's Comet makes closest approach to Earth this trip, 63 M km
In 1991 UN Security Council issues formal cease fire with Iraq declaration

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In 1861 Fort Sumter, SC, shelled by Confederate troops under General Beauregard. The American Civil War begins.
In 1930 Tiny Tim, singer, born.
In 1934 Highest velocity wind ever recorded on Mt Washington, 231 mph.
In 1940 Herbie Hancock, musician, born.
In 1945 Franklin D. Rooseveldt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga.
In 1947 David Letterman, late night television talk show host, born.
In 1950 David Cassidy, Shirley Jones' kid on TV and real life, born.
In 1955 Salk polio vaccine safe and effective; four billion dimes marched.
In 1961 Yuri A. Gagarin becomes first man to orbit Earth aboard Vostok 1.
In 1979 Soyuz 33 returns to Earth.
In 1981 First launch of the space shuttle "Columbia" with John Young and Bob Crippen at the controls.

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1899 -- Alfred Butts, inventor of the game 'Scrabble', born.
1906 -- Samuel Beckett, playwright, born.
1950 -- Ron Perlman, actor, born.
1951 -- Peabo Bryson, singer, born.
1961 -- UN General Assembly condemns South Africa for apartheid.
1964 -- Sidney Poitier became first black man to win Oscar for best actor.
1966 -- Pan Am places $525,000,000 order for 25 Boeing 747's.
1970 -- Apollo 13's Beech-built oxygen tank explodes.
1984 -- Christopher Wilder, FBI's 'most wanted man' accidentally killed self.
1984 -- Eleventh Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 5 returns to Earth.
1986 -- Pope John Paul II met Rome's Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff at Rome synagogue.

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1817 -- First American school for the deaf (Hartford, Connecticut)
1865 -- President Abraham Lincoln shot in Ford's Theatre by J.W. Booth.
1889 -- Arnold Toynbee, historian, born.
1894 -- First motion picture shown in NY City
1904 -- Sir John Gielgud, actor, singer, born.
1912 -- The RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg at 11:40 p.m.
1925 -- Rod Steiger, actor, born.
1935 -- Loretta Lynn (in Kentucky), Ms. Country Music, coal miner's daughter, born.
1945 -- Tokyo incendiary raids, using B-29's, damage Imperial Palace.
1956 -- Ampex Corporation demonstrates first commercial videotape recorder. It's a unit the size of a deep-freeze, with an additional 5 6-foot racks of circuitry.
1981 -- First Space Shuttle - Columbia 1 returns to Earth.

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1840 -- John Boyd Dunlop, developed the pneumatic rubber tire, born.
1848 -- Belle Starr, entertainer of the wild west, born.
1878 -- Andre-Gustave Citroen, French automaker, born.
1887 -- Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Otello" premiers.
1919 -- Red Buttons, comedian, actor, born.
1946 -- Charlotte Rampling (in England), born.
1948 -- Barbara Hershey (in Atlanta, Georgia), born.
1969 -- Bobby Brown, singer, born.
1983 ---After being expelled from Bolivia, former Nazi Gestapo official Klaus Barbie was brought to Lyon, France to stand trial for alleged war crimes.

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1867 -- Wilbur Wright, of aero plane fame, born.
1889 -- Charlie Chaplin, actor, comedian, movie director, born.
1921 -- Peter Ustinov, actor (Fiddler on the Roof, Death on the Nile), born.
1924 -- Henry Mancini, composer, flutist, born.
1912 -- Harriet Quimby flies the English Channel, first woman to do so.
1917 -- Lenin returns to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution.
1972 -- Apollo 16 takes off for the Moon.

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1492 -- Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find the Indies. 

1875 -- The game of "snooker" -- a variation of pool -- is invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain, while on duty in India. 

1895 -- Treaty of Shimonoseki signed, ends first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). 

1961 -- U.S. backed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. Ended in failure. 

1970 -- Apollo 13 limps back safely, Beech-built oxygen tank no help. 

1970 -- Paul McCartney's first solo album "McCartney"

1857 -- Clarence Darrow, lawyer, born. 

1922 -- Barbara Hale, actor (Perry Mason), born. 

1946 -- Hayley Mills (in London, England), actor, born. 

1775 -- "The British are Coming!" declares Paul Revere from horseback. 

1934 -- First "Washateria" (laundromat) is opened, in Fort Worth, Texas. 

1946 -- League of Nations went out of business, replaced by the U.N. 

1949 -- Irish Republic comes into existence. 

1950 -- First transatlantic jet passenger trip. 

1956 -- Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco (civil ceremony). 

1980 -- Nation of Zimbabwe founded (formerly Rhodesia).

1529 -- In Germany at the Diet of Spires (Speyer), a document signed by Lutheran leaders in fourteen cities lodged a "protest" which demanded a freedom of conscience and the right of minorities. Henceforth, the German Lutheran Reformers were known as "Protestants."
1775 -- Minutemen Capt John Parker orders not to fire unless fired upon Revolution begins-Lexington Common, shot "heard round the world"
1782 -- Netherlands recognizes US
1839 -- Treaty of London constitutes Belgium an independent kingdom
1877 -- Ole Evinrude inventor (outboard marine engine), born
1892 -- Charles Duryea takes 1st American-made auto out for a spin
1897 -- First American marathon ran, John J McDermott wins in 2:55:10 (Boston)
1903 -- Eliot Ness untouchable (FBI agent-Chicago), born
1926 -- Don Adams actor, secret agent 86 (Get Smart), born
1932 -- Jayne Mansfield Bryn Mawr Pa, actress (Guide for the Married Man), born
1933 -- Dick Sargent, Carmel, California, actor (Darrin-Bewitched), born
1934 -- Shirley Temple appears in her 1st movie, "Stand Up & Cheer"
1935 -- Dudley Moore actor (10, Arthur, Bedazzled, 6 Weeks), born
1943 -- Jews attack Nazi occupation forces at Warsaw Ghetto
1951 -- Shigeki Tanaka, survivor of Hiroshima A-bomb, wins Boston Marathon
1956 -- US actress Grace Kelly marries Monaco's Prince Rainier III
1957 -- Charles Funk of Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopaedias, dies at 76
1958 -- Michelle Pfeiffer Calif, actress (Batman Returns, Married to the Mob), born
1967 -- US Surveyor III lands on Moon
1969 -- "Oliver," Cliff Robertson & Katharine Hepburn win 51st Acadamy Awards
1971 -- Sierra Leone becomes a republic (Natl Day)
1980 -- Alfred Hitchcock dies in Calif at 80
1989 -- Republic Day in Sierra Leone
1991 -- Battle of the Ages -- Heavyweight champ Evander Hollyfield beats 42 year old George Foreman

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0121 -- Marcus Aurelius 16th Roman emperor (161-80), philosopher, born.
0295 -- 8th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1314 -- Clement V pope (1305-14) who moved papacy to Avignon, dies
1770 -- Capt Cook arrives in New South Wales
1792 -- France declares war on Austria, Prussia & Sardinia
1809 -- Napolean I defeats Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria
1841 -- First detective story (Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue") published
1879 -- The first "mobile home" (horse drawn) is used for a journey between London and Cyprus.
1889 -- Adolf Hitler (in Braunau, Austria), dictator of Nazi Germany, born.
1902 -- Marie and Pierre Curie isolated the radioactive element radium.
1906 -- Australian wombat dies in London Zoo at 26; oldest known marsupial
1910 -- Halley's Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km
1919 -- Polish Army captures Vilno, Lithuania from Soviet Army
1920 -- 7th modern Olympic games opens in Antwerp
1938 -- Betty Cuthbert Australia 100m/200m/400m dash (Olympic-gold-1956, 64) , born.
1941 -- Ryan O'Neal, actor, born.
1943 -- In Poland, Germans Nazi troops massacred the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
1945 -- Soviet troops enter Berlin
1945 -- US 7th army captured German city of Nuremberg
1949 -- Jessica Lange Cloquet Minnesota, actress (King Kong, Tootsie) , born.
1962 -- NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to 63,250 m
1974 -- Agnes Moorehead actress (Endora-Bewitched), dies at 67
1974 -- Paul McCartney releases "Band on the Run"
1976 -- George Harrison sings the lumberjack song with Monty Python

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0753 -- BC- Traditional date of the foundation of Rome. 

1816 -- Charlotte Bronte, Tornton England, novelist (Jane Eyre), born. 

1836 -- Battle of San Jacinto, in which Texas wins independence from Mexico. 

1898 -- Spanish-American War begins. 

1910 -- Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens], author, dies in Redding Conn. 

1913 -- Norman Parkinson, England, fashion photographer (Harper's Bazaar), born. 

1915 -- Anthony Quinn, Mexico, actor (Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia), born. 

1918 -- "Red" Baron Manfred von Richtofen, killed in WW I. 

1926 -- Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor II, queen of England (1952- ), born. 

1947 -- Iggy Pop [James Osterberg], Mich, rocker (Lust For Life, Search and Destroy), born. 

1951 -- Paul Carrack rocker (Squeeze/Ace-How Long), born. 

1958 -- Andie MacDowell Gaffney SC, actress (Greystroke, Green Card), born. 

1959 -- Robert Smith rock guitarist/vocalist (Cure), born. 

1959 -- 1211-kg great white shark becomes largest fish ever caught on a rod. 

1960 -- Brasilia becomes the capital of Brazil. 

1961 -- French army revolts in Algeria. 1963 Beatles meet Rolling Stones for 1st time. 

1965 -- Karen Foster Lufkin Tx, playmate (Oct, 1989), born. 

1966 -- Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopia) visits Kingston Jamaica. 

1967 -- Svetlana Alliluyeva (Josef Stalin's daughter) defects in NYC. 

1972 -- John Young & Charles Duke explores Moon (Apollo 16). 

1983 -- £1 coin introduced in United Kingdom. 

1986 -- Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on TV & finds nothing.

1451 -- Queen Isabella I, funded Christopher Columbus 

1509 -- Henry VIII ascended to the throne of England. 

1904 -- J. Robert Oppenheimer, Manhattan Project physicist 

1916 -- Yehudi Menuhin, violinist 

1937 -- Jack Nicholson, actor (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining)

1547 -- Miguel DeCervantes Saavedra, author (The Man Of LaMancha), born
1564 -- William Shakespeare, bard, born.
1753 -- St. George's Day
1928 -- Shirley Temple (in Santa Monica, CA), child actor, born.
1936 -- Roy Orbison, musician, born.
1962 -- First American satellite to reach moon launched from Cape Canaveral.
1967 -- Russia launches first Soyuz mission.
1972 -- Apollo 16 astronauts explore the surface of the moon.

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1792 -- "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem, is composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1898 -- Spain declares war on U.S., rejecting ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
1934 -- Shirley MacLaine (in Richmond, Virginia), actor (in this life), born
1936 -- Jill Ireland (in London, England), actor, born
1942 -- Barbra Streisand (in Brooklyn, NY), singer, actress, profile, born
1944 -- First Boeing B-29 arrives in China "over the Hump".
1953 -- Winston Churchill knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1961 -- JFK accepts "sole responsibility" following the Bay of Pigs.
1967 -- Cosmonaut Komarov is first to die in space aboard Soyuz 1.

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1214 -- Louis IX, king of France (1226-70), born.
1284 -- Edward II, king of England (1307-27), born.
1599 -- Oliver Cromwell, Puritan lord protector of England (1653-58), born.
1684 -- Patent granted for the thimble.
1792 -- Guillotine 1st used, executes highwayman Nicolas J Pelletier.
1825 -- Charles Ferdinand Dowd US, standardized time zones, born.
1840 -- Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (1812 Overture), born.
1859 -- Ground broken for Suez Canal.
1867 -- Tokyo is opened for foreign trade.
1874 -- Guglielmo Marconi Bologna Italy, inventor (radio) (Nobel 1909), born.
1915 -- ANZAC troops land at Gallipoli (Now observed in Australia, New Zealand, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Western Samoa).
1918 -- Ella Fitzgerald, singer, born.
1925 -- Hindenburg takes office as president of Germany.
1938 -- First use of seeing eye dog.
1940 -- Al Pacino NYC, actor (Godfather, Carlito's Way), born.
1945 -- Bjorn Ulvaeus, rock vocalist/guitarist (ABBA), born.
1945 -- United Nations founded at San Francisco.
1954 -- Bell labs announces 1st solar battery (NYC).
1956 -- Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" goes #1.
1958 -- Fish, rock vocalist (Marillon), born.
1960 -- Hope Emerson, actress (I Married Joan, Peter Gunn), dies at 62.
1961 -- Unmanned Mercury test explodes on launch pad.
1964 -- Andy Bell, rocker (Erasure), born.
1967 -- Britain grants internal self-government to Swaziland.
1972 -- George Sanders, actor (Mr. Freeze-Batman TV series), dies at 65.
1982 -- In accordance with Camp David, Israel completes Sinai withdrawal.
1990 -- Hubble space telescope is placed into orbit by shuttle Discovery.

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0757 -- Stephen II ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
1514 -- Copernicus makes his 1st observations of Saturn.
1711 -- David Hume England, empiricists (Treatise of Human Nature), born.
1803 -- Meteorites fall in L'Aigle, France.
1812 -- Alfred Krupp, German arms merchant, born.
1865 -- John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin, is shot dead.
1895 -- Rudolf Hess, Hitler's Deputy Fuhrer, only prisoner at Spandau, born.
1900 -- Charles Richter, Earthquakes seismologist (Richter scale), born.
1904 -- William "Count" Basie jazz pianist, born.
1948 -- Stevie Nicks, rocker (Fleetwood Mac), born.
1960 -- Roger Taylor rock drummer (Duran Duran), born.
1962 -- US/UK launch of Ariel satellite; 1st international payload.
1964 -- Tanganyika & Zanzibar unite to form Tanzania (Tanzanian Union Day).
1968 -- US underground nuclear test, "Boxcar", 1 megaton device.
1970 -- Gypsy Rose Lee stripper/actress, dies at 56.
1974 -- Landslide in Huancavelica Province Peru creates a natural dam.
1982 -- Argentina surrenders to Britain on S Georgia near Falkland Island.
1984 -- Liverpool's Cavern Club, the home of the Beatles, reopens.
1984 -- Count Basie jazz piano great, dies at 79.
1986 -- Maria Shriver & Arnold Schwarzenegger marry.
1986 -- Worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl USSR, 31 die.
1989 -- Lucille Ball comedienne/actress dies at 78 of a massive heart attack.

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4977 BC -- Johannes Kepler's date for creation of universe.
1509 -- Pope Julius II excommunicates Italian state of Venice.
1521 -- Ferdinand Magellan world traveler, killed by Filipino natives.
1565 -- First Spanish settlement in Philippines, Cebu City, forms.
1737 -- Edward Gibson England, historian (Decline & Fall of the Roman Emp), born.
1805 -- US Marines attack shores of Tripoli.
1908 -- Fourth modern Olympic games opens in London.
1909 -- Sultan of Turkey Abdul Hamid II is overthrown.
1922 -- Yakut ASSR formed in Russian SFSR.
1922 -- Jack Klugman Phila (Oscar-Odd Couple, Quincy, Goodbye Columbus), born.
1932 -- Casey Kasem Detroit, radio personality (American Top 40), born.
1944 -- Michael Fish British TV weatherman, born.
1945 -- 2nd Republic of Austria forms.
1947 -- Ann Peebles Missouri, soul singer (I Can't Stand the Rain), born.
1948 -- Katie Pierson vocals/guitarist (B-52's-Rock Lobster, Love Shack), born.
1951 -- Ace Frehley Bronx NY, heavy metal rocker (Kiss), born.
1950 -- South Africa passes Group Areas Act segregating races.
1953 -- Wrestler Freddie Blassie coins the term "Pencil neck geek".
1956 -- Heavyweight champ, Rocky Marciano, retires undefeated from boxing.
1957 -- Mario A Gianini creator of the maraschino cherry, dies.
1959 -- Sheena Easton Glasgow Scotland, singer/Jack LaLane spokesperson, born.
1967 -- Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, heir apparent, born.
1960 -- France grants Togo independence (Natl Day).
1961 -- UK grants Sierra Leone independence.
1964 -- John Lennon's, In His Own Write, is published in the US.
1972 -- Kwame Nkrumah president of Ghana, dies at 62.
1978 -- Afghanistan revolution (National Day).
1981 -- Beatle Ringo Starr marries actress Barbara Bach.
1987 -- US Justice Dept bars Austrian Chancellor Kurt Waldheim from entering US, due to his aid of Nazi Germany during WW II.
1989 -- Beijing students take over Tiananmen Square in China.

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1442 -- Edward IV, King of England (1461-70, 1471-83), born.
1686 -- First volume of Isaac Newton's "Principia" published.
1789 -- Mutiny on HMS Bounty.
1795 -- Charles Stuart, England, explored Australia, born.
1878 -- Lionel Barrymore actor (A Free Soul, David Cooperfield, Dr Kildaire), born.
1920 -- Azerbaijan SSR joins the USSR (1st time).
1923 -- Wembley Stadium opens-Bolton Wanderers vs West Ham United (FA Cup).
1926 -- Harper Lee author (To Kill a Mockingbird), born.
1929 -- Carolyn Jones, Amarillo Texas, actress (Morticia-Addams Family), born.
1932 -- Yellow fever vaccine for humans announced.
1937 -- First commercial flight across the Pacific, Pan Am.
1937 -- Saddam Hussein president of Iraq, born.
1938 -- King Zog of Albania marries Countess Geraldine of Hungary.
1940 -- Glenn Miller records "Pennsylvania 6-5000".
1942 -- "WW II" titled so, as result of Gallup Poll.
1945 -- Benito Mussolini Fascist leader & mistress captured, tried, & shot.
1947 -- Thor Heyerdahl & "Kon-Tiki" sail from Peru to Polynesia.
1950 -- Jay Leno New Rochelle, comedian (Tonight Show host), born.
1952 -- WW II Pacific peace treaty takes effect.
1971 -- Chris Young Penn, actor (Bryce Lynch-Max Headroom, Great Outdoors), born.
1974 -- Last Americans evacuated from Saigon.

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1429 -- Joan of Arc leads Orleans, France, to victory over English.
1553 -- Flemish woman introduces practice of starching linen into England.
1661 -- Chinese Ming dynasty occupies Taiwan.
1667 -- John Arbuthnot Scottish writer (Alexander Pope), born.
1715 -- John Flamsteed observes Uranus for 6th time.
1813 -- Rubber is patented.
1818 -- Alexander II Tsar of Russia (1855-81), born.
1830 -- Adolph Sutro SF mayor, built Cliff House, railways, tunnels, born.
1852 -- First Edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus published.
1879 -- Sir Thomas Beecham, English composer, founded London Philharmonic, born.
1899 -- Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, bandleader (Take the "A" Train), born.
1901 -- Emperor Hirohito of Japan (1926-89), born.
1945 -- US liberates Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Germany.
1946 -- Twenty-eight former Jap leaders indicted in Tokyo as war criminals.
1954 -- Jerry Seinfeld comedian (Seinfeld), born.
1958 -- Michelle Pfeiffer, U.S. actress (Batman Returns), born.
1967 -- Aretha Franklin releases "Respect".
1970 -- Andre Agassi U.S., tennis pro (US & French Open finalist-1990), born.
1980 -- Alfred Hitchcock director (Psycho), dies at 80, born.

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1777 -- Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of the greatest mathematician of all time 

1808 -- The first practical typewriter is finished by Italian Pellegrini Turri. He built it for a blind friend. 

1933 -- Willie Nelson, singer, actor 

1942 -- First submarine built on Great Lakes launched, "Peto", Manitowoc, Wi. 

1945 -- Adolf Hitler and wife Eva Braun commit suicide. 

1955 -- Element mendelevium announced - element 101. 

1973 -- Nixon announces resignation of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, et al. 

1980 -- Terrorists seize Iranian Embassy in London.