- 1294 Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.
- 1355 The greatest traveller of his age, Ibn Battuta of Tangier completes his work "The Travels" detailing his 29 years spent travelling the Islamic world and beyond, including to India, China and Indonesia
Event of Interest
1545 Council of Trent (19th ecumenical council) opened by Pope Paul III
Francis Drake's Circumnavigation
1577 Francis Drake sets sail from England on an epic three year circumnavigation of the world aboard the 'Pelican' (later renamed the 'Golden Hind')
Event of Interest
1621 Emperor Ferdinand II delegates 1st anti-Reformation decree
- 1636 The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. Recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.
Historic Discovery
1642 Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sights the South Island of present day New Zealand; initially he calls it Staten Landt and changes it a year later to Nieuw Zeeland [1]
- 1643 English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
Event of Interest
1668 Jean Racine's "Britannicus" premieres in Paris
- 1732 Prussia joins Austria and Russia in signing the Treaty of Berlin, a secret treaty regarding succession to the Polish throne
- 1734 Britain and Russia sign trade agreement
- 1742 William IV Prince of Orange tests his mothers potatoes
- 1759 First music store in America opens (Philadelphia)
- 1769 Dartmouth College in New Hampshire receives its charter
Event of Interest
1774 Paul Revere and Wentworth Cheswell ride to warn Portsmouth of the approach of British warships
- 1816 Patent for a dry dock issued to John Adamson, Boston
Rossini Arrives in London
1823 Italian opera composer Gioachino Rossini arrives in London
Declaration of War
1864 War of the Triple Alliance: Paraguay officially declares war on Brazil, invades the next day
Music Concert
1895 First complete performance of Gustav Mahler's 2nd Symphony ("Resurrection"), in Berlin, Germany, conducted by the composer
- 1901 Test debut of English cricketer Sydney Barnes vs Australia at the SCG, took 5-65 in 1st innings
Event of Interest
1902 British and German ships bombard Venezuelan forts after President Castro refuses to comply with ultimatum demanding damages caused during his takeover of the government in 1899; Castro asks US President Theodore Roosevelt to arbitrate
Event of Interest
1906 German chancellor Bernhard von Bülow disbands the Parliament
- 1907 George Gunn scores 119 on Test debut v Australia SCG
Event of Interest
1907 German Emperor Wilhelm II visits Amsterdam
Event of Interest
1913 British foreign minister Sir Edward Grey proposes that southern Albania be divided between Greece and Albania with compensation to Greece in the Aegean islands
- 1916 Avalanche kills 10,000 Austrian and Italian troops in 24 hrs in Tyrol
- 1916 Esme Stuart Lennox Robinsons premieres in Dublin
- 1916 French chief of staff Joffre replaced by Nivelle
- 1918 US army of occupation crosses Rhine, enters Germany
- 1919 Ross & Smith land in Australia from a flight from London
- 1920 Francis G. Pease's interferometer at Mount Wilson Observatory is the first to measure the diameter of a star - the Betelgeuse
- 1920 Hans Riegel founds sweet company HARIBO ((HAns RIegel BOnn) in Bonn, Germany [1]
- 1920 League of Nations establishes the International Court of Justice in The Hague
- 1920 Netherland breaks contact with Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slavia
- 1922 Charles Ebbets proposes putting numbers on players' sleeves or caps
- 1924 KOA-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions
- 1928 Clip-on tie designed
Music History
1928 George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" premieres at Carnegie Hall, NYC, performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Walter Damrosch
- 1930 French government of André Tardieu falls for the second time
- 1930 George Sisler's career ends when Boston Braves release him
- 1930 Theodore Steeg forms French government
- 1931 National Football League Championship: Green Bay Packers (12-2-0) win 3rd straight first past the post title
- 1934 Mark Hellinger Theater (Warner Bros) opens at 237 W 51st St NYC
NFL Championship
1936 National Football League Championship, Polo Grounds, NYC: Green Bay Packers beat Boston Redskins, 21-6; Packers 4th title; Redskins move to Washington, D.C. for 1937 season
- 1937 Japanese troops conquer and plunder Nanjing (Nanjing Massacre)
- 1938 Los Angeles freezes at 28°F
- 1939 Battle of the River Plate - 3 British cruisers vs German pocket battleship Graf Spee
- 1941 German occupiers forbid National Front and Netherland Union
- 1941 Lawine battlers destroy Haaraz, Peru; about 3,000 die
- 1942 National Football League Championship, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.: Washington Redskins upset Chicago Bears, 14-6
- 1942 Seyss-Inquart allows Dutch Nazi Anton Mussert to call himself Leader
- 1943 150 US Marauders bomb Schiphol
- 1944 Japanese kamikaze crashes into US cruiser Nashville, kills 138
- 1944 Norman Krasna's "Dear Ruth" premieres in NYC
- 1947 Maine Turnpike opens to traffic
- 1947 Samuel L. Manning and Adolph Thenstead's musical revue "Caribbean Carnival" closes at International Theatre, NYC, after 11 performances
- 1949 AL votes down proposal to revive spitball
- 1949 Knesset votes to transfer Israel's capital to Jerusalem
- 1950 "Let's Make an Opera" opens at John Golden Theater, NYC; runs for 5 performances
Film & TV History
1950 James Dean begins his career with an appearance in a Pepsi commercial
Event of Interest
1954 Elsa Schiaparelli's House of Schiaparelli at Place Vendôme in Paris closes
Film Release
1956 "Anastasia" comeback film for Ingrid Bergman is released in the US, role wins Bergman Academy Award for Best Actress.
Sports History
1956 Dodgers trade Jackie Robinson to Giants for pitcher Dick Littlefield & $35,000. Robinson will retire rather than be traded.
Film Release
1957 "Peyton Place" film based on the novel by Grace Metalious, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lana Turner and Hope Lange is released
- 1959 Archbishop Makarios elected 1st president of Cyprus
Ballon d'Or
1960 Ballon d'Or: Barcelona midfielder Luis Suárez is named best football player in Europe ahead of Real Madrid's Hungarian forward Ferenc Puskás and Hamburg striker Uwe Seeler
- 1960 Italy beats US in Davis cup (1st time in 24 years US not in finals)
- 1960 Laos General Fumi Nosavang occupies Vientiane
Film Premiere
1961 "The Young Ones" directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Cliff Richard, Robert Morley and Carole Gray premieres in London
'The Banality of Evil'
1961 Gideon Hausner in Jerusalem demands death penalty for Adolf Eichmann
Agreement of Interest
1961 The Beatles sign a formal agreement to be managed by Brian Epstein
- 1965 Algerian president Boumedienne visits Moscow
- 1966 1st battle for Bijlmer flats, Amsterdam
- 1966 Test debut of Clive Lloyd, v India Bombay, 82 & 78
- 1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1967 San Diego, CA records snow at a zero elevation after temperatures plunge 19 degrees (F) in eight hours.
- 1967 United Soccer Association & National Pro Soccer League merge into NASL
- 1967 Unsuccessful coup against Greek King Constantine II
- 1968 Brazilian President Da Costa e Silva issues Ato Institucional Número Cinco degree
Sports History
1969 MLB manager Billy Martin fired by the Minnesota Twins
Sports History
1970 Greg Chappell scores 108 on Test debut v England at the WACA
Film & TV History
1970 Neil Simon's "Gingerbread Lady" premieres in NYC
Film & TV History
1975 1st time "Saturday Night Live" uses a time delay, Richard Pryor hosts
Election of Interest
1975 Australian Federal Election - Liberals with coalition under Malcolm Fraser win largest ever parliamentary majority
- 1975 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1975 West Indian cricket opener Roy Fredericks smashes 169 in 2nd Test win v Australia in Perth; hundred in 71 balls
- 1976 Golden Gate Bridge District starts ferry service to Larkspur
- 1976 Longest non-stop passenger airflight (Sydney to San Francisco 13h 14m)
- 1977 14 University of Evansville basketball players die in plane crash
Album Release
1977 Asylum Records releases "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter", Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell's 9th studio album;
- 1978 CBS' premiere of "Lovey: A Circle of Children Part II", sequel to "A Circle of Children", which is also based on Mary Mac Cracken
- 1979 Revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "Oklahoma!" opens at Palace Theater, NYC; runs for 301 performances
- 1979 Saudi Arabia raises marker crude price to $24 per barrel
- 1979 Strikes against price increases in Gdańsk, Poland
- 1980 Musical revue "Perfectly Frank", featuring songs by Frank Loesser, closes at Helen Hayes Theater, NYC, after 16 performances
- 1981 70th Davis Cup: USA beats Argentina in Cincinnati (3-1)
- 1981 Poland's authoritarian communist government declares martial law and arrests Solidarity activists in a failed attempt to crush the opposition
- 1982 Australian Open Men's Tennis: South African Johan Kriek wins 2nd straight Australian title; repeats previous year's win over American Steve Denton 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
- 1982 Earthquake hits Northern Yemen; 2,000 die
- 1983 9,655 see highest-scoring NBA game: Detroit 186, Denver 184 (3 OT)
- 1983 Islander's Butch Goring scorings 4 goals against Oilers
- 1983 KYA-AM in San Francisco CA changes call letters to KOIT
- 1983 Martha Layne Collins inaugurated as Kentucky's 1st female governor
- 1984 Artificial heart recipient William Schroeder suffers 1st stroke
Cricket History
1985 Australian cricketer David Boon's 1st Test century, 123 v India at Adelaide
- 1985 Test debut of cricketers Merv Hughes, Geoff Marsh and Bruce Reid (v India)
- 1987 Belgium Christian Democrats (CVP) loses parliamentary election
- 1987 Browns set club record for most points scored in a quarter, 28
- 1987 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1988 3 men end 29-hr all-466-station subway ride in NYC
Event of Interest
1988 Yasser Arafat addresses UN in Geneva
Film Release
1989 "Driving Miss Daisy" directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy is released (Best Picture 1990)
- 1989 The last issue of Gnistan (The Spark), the organ of the Solidaritetspartiet, is published in Sweden
- 1989 Walter Davis (Denver) ends NBA free throw streak of 53 games
- 1990 Heavy earthquake strikes Sicily, 18 die
- 1990 Revival of Leigh, Charlap, Styne, Comden and Green's musical "Peter Pan", starring Cathy Rigby, opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater, NYC; runs for 45 performances
Meeting of Interest
1990 South African President F. W. de Klerk meets with Nelson Mandela to talk of end of apartheid
- 1990 US Secretary of State Baker questions Iraq's seriousness about Middle East peace
- 1991 Both North and South Korea sign an accord calling for reconciliation
- 1991 NY assembly speaker Mel Miller is convicted of federal mail fraud
- 1991 Ricky Pierce (Seattle) ends NBA free throw streak of 75 games
- 1992 FCC fines Infinity Broadcasting $600,000
- 1992 Revival of George Kelly's comedy "The Show Off", starring Boyd Gaines and Pat Carroll, closes at Criterion Theater, NYC, after 45 performances
- 1993 "I Swear" single released by John Michael Montgomery (Billboard Song of the Year 1994)
- 1993 Deadline for Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, they don't
- 1993 Dow Jones hits record 3764.43
- 1993 Fire in textile factory in Fuzjou China, 60 killed
- 1993 Space shuttle STS-61 (Endeavour 5), lands
Album Release
1994 "The Hits" 2nd compilation album by Garth Brooks is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1995)
- 1994 American Eagle commuter plane crashes in NC, killing 15
Film & TV History
1995 Christopher Reeve released from physical rehab center after his fall from his horse in a riding competition
- 1995 US Federal Court votes that Cable companies must carry local stations
Sports History
1996 Free agent Roger Clemens signs with Toronto Blue Jays
Election of Interest
1996 Kofi Annan is elected Secretary-General of the United Nations
- 1997 63rd Heisman Trophy Award: Charles Woodson, Michigan (CB)
President's Cup
1998 Presidents Cup Golf, Royal Melbourne GC: International team wins for first time; Shigeki Maruyama and Steve Elkington unbeaten as Internationals beat US 20½–11½
- 1999 65th Heisman Trophy Award: Ron Dayne, Wisconsin (RB)
- 2000 The "Texas 7" escape from the John Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas later going on a crime spree and killing police officer Aubrey Hawkins
Film Premiere
2001 "A Beautiful Mind" based on the bio by Sylvia Nasar, directed by Ron Howard and starring Russell Crowe premieres in Los Angeles (Best Picture 2002)
- 2001 Biopic "A Beautiful Mind" starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly, directed by Ron Howard premieres (wins four Academy Awards including Best Picture)
- 2001 Indian Parliament Sansad attacked by terrorists. 15 people killed, including all terrorists
- 2002 The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004
- 2003 69th Heisman Trophy Award: Jason White, Oklahoma (QB)
Event of Interest
2003 Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit, during Operation Red Dawn by US forces
Ballon d'Or
2004 Ballon d'Or: Milan's Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko is named best football player in Europe ahead of Deco (Porto/FC Barcelona) and Barcelona midfielder Ronaldinho
Event of Interest
2004 Former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest, after being sued under accusations over 9 kidnapping actions and manslaughter. The house arrest is lifted the same day on appeal.
- 2006 The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, announced as extinct.
- 2007 The Mitchell Report is publicly released listing the names of 89 Major League Baseball players that have presumably used anabolic steroids and human growth hormones. Notable players named include Roger Clemens and Miguel Tejada.
- 2010 76th Heisman Trophy Award: Cam Newton, Auburn (QB)
- 2012 A car bombing in Qatana, outside Damascus, kills 16 people and injures 12
- 2012 Japan scrambles fighter jets in response to a Chinese plane in the Senkaku Islands dispute
- 2012 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, London, England: Team Europe win for 3rd consecutive year beating US, 11-9; MVP: Chris Melling (England)
- 2014 80th Heisman Trophy Award: Marcus Mariota, Oregon (QB)
- 2014 A civil rights protest march in Washington, D.C. takes place, against the police killing of unarmed black men
- 2014 Divisions emerge between rich and poor nations at the UN climate change talks in Peru
- 2014 Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, criticizes UN Security Council for its lack of action over war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan
- 2014 The British Government announces it will send hundreds of troops to Iraq, to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the conflict with Islamic State
- 2014 Two US soldiers killed in a Taliban bombing of a NATO convoy in Kabul
Heisman Trophy
2015 81st Heisman Trophy Award: Derrick Henry, Alabama (RB)
Sports History
2015 Irishman Conor McGregor knocks out Brazilian Jose Aldo in 13 seconds to win his 1st featherweight title in Las Vegas
- 2016 UN claims 82 civilians have been summary executed in Aleppo by pro-government forces
- 2017 Democratic Republic of Congo jails for life 11 militiamen for raping 40 children, including a local MP
- 2017 Online dictionary Merriam-Webster's most searched word of the year is Feminism
- 2017 Prehistoric bones of a penguin as tall as a human (1.77m) found on Otago beach, New Zealand, reported in "Nature Communications"
Important Vote
2017 Prime Minister Theresa May's UK Conservative government loses key vote in Parliament for an amendment to allow MPs to vote on Brexit
Film & TV History
2017 Salma Hayek accuses Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment and threatening to kill her
- 2017 Scientists begin checking interstellar asteroid Oumuamua for signs of alien technology through radio signals (later studies conclude it a piece of sliced off planet)
- 2018 Actress Eliza Dushku revealed received $9.5 million settlement from CBS after sexual harassment on set of "Bull" from actor Michael Weatherley
- 2018 Apple announces new $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas and expansion in other US cities
- 2018 Cease-fire in port city of Hudaydah, Yemen, by Houthi rebels and Saudi-led coalition announced by the UN
- 2018 German basketball forward Dirk Nowitzki takes the court for his record 21st NBA season with the Dallas Mavericks, surpassing Kobe Bryant's 20 seasons with the LA Lakers
- 2018 Passenger train collides with maintenance locomotive in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 9 and injuring 47
- 2018 US Senate passes non-binding "war powers resolution" against long-term ally Saudi Arabia
Sports History
2020 British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton finishes 3rd in season-ending Abu Dhabi GP to claim record equalling 7th F1 World Drivers C'ship by 124 points from teammate Valtteri Bottas; Mercedes' 7th straight Constructors title
- 2020 Germany announces a strict lockdown till Jan 10 after looser restrictions failed to prevent COVID-19 numbers surging
- 2021 1 in a 100 Americans aged over 65 has now died of COVID-19, or 75% of total deaths, according to the CDC [1]
- 2021 70th Miss Universe Contest won by Miss India's Harnaaz Sandhu in Eilat, Israel
COVID-19 Pandemic
2021 First COVID-19 Omicron death in the UK reported by PM Boris Johnson
Film Premiere
2021 Marvel superhero film "Spider-Man: No Way Home" starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Benedict Cumberbatch, directed by Jon Watts, premieres in Los Angeles
