Select a day
  • 418 Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire
  • 1526 Emperor Charles V marries princess Isabella of Portugal
  • 1535 Bishop Tomás de Berlanga discovers Galápagos Islands
  • 1578 Queen Elizabeth I gives Johan Casimir £20,000 to aid Dutch rebellion
  • 1624 England declares war on Spain
  • 1629 King Charles I dissolved Parliament; he called it back 11 years later
  • 1661 French King Louis XIV ends office of premier
  • 1681 English Quaker William Penn receives charter from Charles II, making him sole proprietor of colonial American territory Pennsylvania
  • 1734 Spanish army under Don Carlos (III) draws into Naples
  • 1789 Franklin College founded (1787?)
  • 1791 John Stone, Concord, Mass, patents a pile driver
  • 1791 Pope condemns France's Civil Constitution of the clergy
  • 1847 1st money minted in Hawaii
  • 1849 Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent; only US president to do so
  • 1862 Great Britain & France recognizes independence of Zanzibar
  • 1862 US issues 1st paper money ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 & $1000)
  • 1864 Grant is named commander of the Union armies
  • 1864 Red River campaign LA
  • 1865 Battle of Monroe's Crossroads, NC
  • 1874 Purdue University (Indiana) admits it's 1st student
  • 1876 1st telephone call made (Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson)
  • 1880 General Wolseley opens new legislative council in Pretoria
  • 1880 Salvation Army of England sets up US welfare & religious activity
  • 1888 1st performance of César Franck's "Psyche"
  • 1888 HW Boxing champ John L Sullivan draws Charlie Mitchell in 30 rounds
  • 1893 Ivory Coast becomes a French colony
  • 1893 New Mexico State University cancels it's 1st graduation ceremony, its only graduate Sam Steele was robbed & killed the night before
  • 1896 Bronx acquires O'Brien Square
  • 1896 Charilaos Vasilakos of Greece wins 1st modern marathon in 3:18 [OS]
  • 1896 After Bob Fitzsimmons KOs much larger Jim Corbett to win world HW championship he says, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall"
  • 1900 Battle at Driefontein, South-Africa (Boers vs British army)
  • 1902 Earthquake destroys Turkish city of Tochangri
  • 1903 Harry Gammeter, Cleveland, patents multigraph duplicating machine
  • 1903 Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Montreal AAA in 2 games
  • 1905 Japanese Army captures Mukden (Shenyang)
  • 1906 1st performance of Maurice Ravel's "Sonatine"
  • 1906 Coal dust explosion kills 1,060 at Courrieres France
  • 1906 London Underground opens Bakeroo line (Baker Street to Waterloo Line)
  • 1909 Jack Johnson fights Victor McLaglen to no decision in 6 for box title
  • 1910 China ends slavery
  • 1910 Pittsburgh Courier, begins publishing
  • 1913 Stanley Cup: Quebec Bulldogs sweep Sydney (NS) Millionaires in 2 games
  • 1913 William Knox, becomes 1st in American Bowling Congress to bowl 300
  • 1914 Suffragettes in London damages painter Rokeby's Venus of Velasquez
  • 1915 British expedition Army in Belgium captures Neuve Chapelle
  • 1920 NHL's Quebec Bulldog Jim Malone scores 6 goals vs Ottawa Senators
  • 1922 KLZ-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions
  • 1922 state of siege proclaimed during mine strike Johannesburg S Africa
  • 1925 Walter Mittelholzer is 1st to flies over Demawend mountain, Iran
  • 1926 Run on Belgian banks
  • 1927 Albania mobilize by threat of Serbian, Croatian & Slovenes
  • 1927 Bavaria lifts ban on Hitler's speeches
  • 1931 British Labour party removes fascist sir Oswald Mosley
  • 1933 Major earthquake in Long Beach, Calif
  • 1933 Nevada becomes 1st US state to regulate narcotics
  • 1934 Longest undefeated streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (18 games)
  • 1934 US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Suzanne Davis
  • 1934 US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner
  • 1939 17 villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad India
  • 1940 1st US opera telecast, W2XBS, NYC, I Pagliacci
  • 1941 Lee MacPhail, Dodger GM predicts all players will wear batting helmets
  • 1945 Germany blows-up Wessel Bridge on Rhine
  • 1945 Japan declares Vietnam Independence
  • 1945 Patton's 3rd Army makes contact with Hodge's 1st Army
  • 1945 Tokyo in fire after night time B-29 bombing
  • 1945 US troops lands on Mindanao
  • 1946 Train derailment kills 185 near Aracaju Brazil
  • 1948 1st civilian to exceed speed of sound-Herb H Hoover, Edwards AFB Ca
  • 1949 Detroit Tiger pitcher Art Houtteman is critically injured in an auto accident but recovers to win 15 games in 1949
  • 1951 "Where's Charley?" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 56 perfs
  • 1951 FBI director J Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner
  • 1952 Military coup by general Fulgencio Batista in Cuba
  • 1956 General strike in Cyprus protesting exile of archbishop Makarios
  • 1956 Peter Twiss sets new world air record 1,132 mph (1,823 kph)
  • 1957 Thousands of soccer fans riot in Italy
  • 1959 Dorothy Comiskey Rigney, sells 54% of White Sox to Bill Veeck
  • 1959 Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth," premieres in NYC
  • 1959 Uprising against Chinese occupation force in Lhasa Tibet
  • 1960 USSR agrees to stop nuclear testing
  • 1962 Due to it's no black policy, Phillies leave Jack Tar Harrison Hotel & move to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles outside Clearwater, Florida
  • 1963 Pete Rose debuts with hits in his 2 1st at bats in spring training
  • 1963 Wilt Chamberlain of NBA SF Warriors scores 70 points vs Syracuse
  • 1964 US reconnaissance plane shot down over East Germany
  • 1965 Dutch Princess Margriet & Pieter van Vollenhoven, get engaged
  • 1966 5 time Horse of the Year, Kelso, retires
  • 1966 Dutch crown princess Beatrix marries Claus von Amsberg
  • 1966 North Vietnamese capture US Green Beret Camp at Ashau Valley
  • 1968 Ferry boat sinks in harbor of Wellington NZ (200 killed)
  • 1969 James Earl Ray pleads guilty in murder of Martin Luther King Jr
  • 1970 Barbra Streisand records "The Singer" & "I Can Do It"
  • 1970 South Africa complete 4-0 series drubbing of Australia
  • 1971 Senate approves amendment lowering voting age to 18
  • 1972 1st black US political convention opens (Gary Indiana)
  • 1972 Gen Lon Nol becomes pres & prince Sirik Matak premier of Cambodia
  • 1972 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
  • 1973 BPAA US Open by Mike McGrath
  • 1973 Morocco adopts constitution
  • 1974 "Sextet" closes at Bijou Theater NYC after 9 performances
  • 1974 Carol Mann wins LPGA S&H Green Stamp Golf Classic
  • 1974 Christian Democrats win Belgium parliamentary election
  • 1974 Lawrence Rowe completes 302 v Eng Bridgetown, 36 fours 1 six
  • 1975 "Rocky Horror Show" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 45 performances
  • 1975 Dog spectacles patented in England
  • 1977 Rings of Uranus discovered during occulation of SAO
  • 1978 Soyuz 28 returns to Earth
  • 1980 Willard Scott becomes the weather forcaster on the Today Show
  • 1982 Pres Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya
  • 1982 Salim Malik scores 100 in 2nd inning of Test Cricket debut (v SL)
  • 1982 Sygyzy: all 9 planets aligned on same side of Sun
  • 1982 Travis Jackson & Happy Chandler elected to Hall of Fame
  • 1983 Walter Alston, Dodgers manager, elected to Hall of Fame
  • 1984 Heavyweight Tim Witherspoon KOs Greg Page
  • 1985 Bonnie Lauer wins Uniden LPGA Golf Invitational
  • 1985 Dallas Maverick coach Dick Motta is 4th NBA coach to win 700 games
  • 1985 French socialists lose election (National Front 9%)
  • 1985 Ice Pairs Championship at Tokyo won by Elena Valova & O Vasiliev (URS)
  • 1985 India beat Pakistan to win "World Championship of Cricket"
  • 1985 Mens Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo won by Alexandr Fadeev (URS)
  • 1986 Ernie Lombardi, NL MVP in 1938, & Bobby Doerr, elected to Hall of Fame
  • 1987 Vatican formal opposition to test-tube fertilization & embryo transfer
  • 1988 Avalanche at Swiss Ski resort "Klosters" nearly kills Prince Charles
  • 1988 NY Islanders celebrate Mike Bossy night
  • 1990 4th American Comedy Award: When Harry Met Sally
  • 1990 Ice Dance Championship at Halifax won by Klimova & Ponomarenko (URS)
  • 1990 Ice Pairs Championship at Halifax won by Gordeeva & Grinkov (URS)
  • 1990 Ladies Figure Skating Champions in Halifax won by Jill Trenary (USA)
  • 1990 Lt Gen Avril resigns as pres of Haiti
  • 1990 Mens Figure Skating Championship in Halifax won by Kurt Browning (CAN)
  • 1990 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • 1991 Eddie Sutton is 1st NCAA coach to lead 4 schools into playoffs
  • 1991 Laura Davies wins LPGA Inamori Golf Classic
  • 1991 Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg clinches his 4th slalom World Cup
  • 1991 Merlene Ottey runs world record 200 m indoor (22.24 sec)
  • 1991 Rico Lieder/Jens Carlowitz/Karsten Just/Thomas Schönlebe walk 4x400m indoor world record (3:03.05)
  • 1992 6th Soul Train Music Awards: Natalie Cole & Color Me Badd win
  • 1992 Sandra Seuser/Katrin Schreiter/Annet Hesselbarth/Grit Breuer walk female indoor world record 4x400m (3:27.22)
  • 1994 1 million Greeks attend Melina Mercouri's funeral
  • 1995 Car bomb explodes in Karachi at shite mosque, 17+ killed
  • 1995 Chiel Meijering's "St Louis Blues," premieres in Arnhem
  • 1995 Dow-Jones hits record 4035.64
  • 1996 22nd People's Choice Awards: Apollo 13, Tom Hanks wins
  • 1996 NYC Mayor Guiliani visits Israel
  • 1998 4th Blockbuster Entertainment Awards