- 1234 Mongol army takes the Jin city of Caizhou, last holdout of Jin Emperor Ai-Tsung, who commits suicide rather than be captured
- 1267 Synod of Breslau orders Jews of Silesia to wear special caps
- 1287 Massive storm across south-east England hits Cinque Ports realines the coastline, New Romney port now a mile inland [1]
- 1499 France & Venice sign treaty against Milan
- 1537 Pope Paul III routes Cardinal Pole to England
- 1540 The first recorded race meet in England (Roodee Fields, Chester)
- 1554 Battle at London: Sir Thomas Wyatt defeated and his rebellion against Queen Mary crushed
- 1555 Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake for heresy
Siege of Maastricht
1574 Louis of Nassau ends siege of Maastricht
Robert Walpole Ennobled
1742 Sir Robert Walpole, often referred to as the first British Prime Minister, ennobled as 1st Earl of Orford
- 1822 American Indian Society organizes
- 1822 Haiti invades the newly founded Dominican Republic.
John Quincy Adams Elected
1825 House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams 6th US president
- 1849 Roman Republic declared in Rome replacing following flight of Pope Pius IX
Constitution of the United States
1861 Confederate Provisional Congress declares all laws under the US Constitution were consistent with constitution of Confederate states (US Civil War)
Election of Interest
1861 Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens elected President and VP of the Confederate States of America (US Civil War)
State of Emergency in Seattle
1886 US President Grover Cleveland declares a state of emergency in Seattle because of anti-Chinese violence
Premiere of Falstaff
1893 Giuseppe Verdi's comic opera "Falstaff" premieres at La Scala in Milan, Italy
The Benin Pendant Mask
1897 Invasion of Benin City by British Expedition force, the city is burnt and looted, marks the end of Nigerian Kingdom of Benin formed in the 11th century
- 1900 Dwight Davis establishes a new tennis trophy, the Davis Cup
A Humorous Diplomatic Atlas of Europe and Asia
1904 Japanese torpedo boats make a surprise attack on Russian ships Port Arthur naval base, Manchuria, beginning the Russo-Japanese War. Japanese also land troops at Chemulpo (Inchon), near Seoul, Korea; in 3 weeks they advance to the Yalu River, the border of Manchuria.
- 1906 Natal proclaims state of siege in Zulu uprising
- 1909 1st US federal legislation on narcotics prohibits importation, possession, and use of "smoking opium"
- 1912 US Tennis Association amends rule taking bye away from defending champion
- 1913 Beginning of the Ten Tragic Days in Mexico City, with revolts leading to 3,000 deaths
- 1916 Britain's military service act enforced (conscription)
- 1916 NL votes down a proposal by Giants, Braves, & Cubs to increase club player limit from 21 to 22 (The Reds want to decrease to 20)
- 1918 Sacha Guitry's "Deburan" premieres in Paris
- 1918 US Army chaplain school organizes at Ft Monroe, Virginia
- 1920 International treaty recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard
- 1920 Joint Rules Com bans foreign substances & alterations to baseballs
- 1922 Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty
- 1922 Italian government of Bonomi falls
- 1922 Snow on Mauna Loa, Hawaii
- 1922 World War Foreign Debt Commission is established by Congress to settle the problem of Allied war and postwar loans
- 1923 Soviet Aeroflot airlines forms
- 1924 Nakhichevan ASSR constituted within Azerbaijan SSR
Treaty of Interest
1925 German Minister Gustav Stresemann proposes security treaty with France
- 1925 Haifa Technion (Israel) opens
- 1926 Teaching theory of evolution forbidden in Atlanta, Georgia schools
- 1929 USSR, Estonia, Latvia, Poland & Romania sign Litvinov's Pact, providing for renunciation of war among its signatories
- 1932 US airship Columbia crashes during storm (Flushing, NY)
- 1932 USA enters Olympic 2-man bobsled competition for 1st time
- 1933 -63°F (-53°C), Moran, Wyoming (state record)
- 1934 -14.3°F (-25.7°C), coldest day in New York City
- 1934 -51°F (-46°C), Vanderbilt, Michigan (state record)
- 1934 Balkan Entente alliance forms (Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey & Romania)
- 1935 US female Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson
- 1935 US male Figure Skating championship won by Robin Lee
- 1936 German skier Franz Pfnür wins the inaugural Olympic men’s combined gold medal at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games ahead of teammate Gustav Lantschner
- 1939 Belgian Spaak government falls
- 1941 British troops conquer El Agheila
- 1941 Nazi collaborators destroy pro-Jewish café Alcazar Amsterdam (Alcazar refused to hang "No Entry for Jews" signs in front of cafe)
- 1942 Daylight Savings War Time goes into effect in US
- 1942 Japanese troops land near Makassar, South Celebes
- 1942 Philadelphia "Phillies" change nickname (temporarily) to "Phils"
- 1943 Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal, ending the epic World War II battle on the Solomon Islands in the Pacific
- 1943 National League of Baseball seeks a buyer for the Philadelphia Phillies as owner Gerry Nugent falls in arrears
48-hour Work Week
1943 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order setting a minimum 48-hour work week in a number of critical war industries
Willie Sutton Escapes
1947 Bank robber Willie Sutton escapes jail in Philadelphia
- 1948 WLWT TV channel 5 in Cincinnati, OH (NBC) begins broadcasting
McCarthy's Red Scare
1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy charges State Department infested with 205 communists
Baseball History
1951 St Louis Browns sign pitcher Satchel Paige, 45
Dulles Appointed CIA Director
1953 General Walter Bedell Smith ends term as 4th Director of Central Intelligence Agency; Allen Dulles becomes Acting Director
- 1953 WNEP TV channel 16 in Scranton Wilkes-Barre, PA (ABC) 1st broadcast
- 1954 Mario Scelba forms new government in Italy
- 1955 Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts crematory law
- 1955 US federations of trade unions merge into AFL/CIO
- 1956 -5°F (-20.6°C) in Sicily
- 1956 KHPL (now KWNB) TV channel 6 in Hayes Center, NB (ABC) 1st broadcast
- 1956 R Lacoste follows Catroux as premier of Algeria
- 1960 AFL & NFL agree verbally to a no tampering pact
- 1961 Joseph Ileo appointed Premier of Congo
- 1961 The Beatles first gig at Liverpool's Cavern Club; they would play there nearly 300 times over the next two years
- 1962 Jamaica signs agreement to become independent
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1963 1st flight of Boeing 727 jet
- 1963 7th largest snowfall in NYC history (42.4 cm, 16.7")
The Beatles on Ed Sullivan
1964 1st appearance of the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show", live from New York; broadcast draws 73.7 million television viewers
- 1964 GI Joe character created
- 1964 Hanumant Singh scores 105 India v England on debut at Delhi
- 1964 IX Winter Olympic Games close in Innsbruck, Austria
- 1964 NYC news anchor Jim Jenson's 1st appearance on WCBS-TV
- 1966 Dow-Jones Index hits record 995 points
- 1966 UK Government announces construction of a nuclear reactor on the North coast of Scotland
- 1968 A rare 3-way tie for silver in the women's 500m speed skating at the Grenoble Winter Olympics; Soviet Lyudmila Titova wins from American trio of Jenny Fish, Mary Meyers and Dianne Holum
- 1968 Rotterdam metro opened by Princess Beatrix
- 1968 World champion Jean-Claude Killy of France wins the downhill at the Grenoble Winter Olympics; first of 3-event clean sweep of the alpine skiing events at the Games
- 1969 1st flight of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet
- 1969 KGTO TV channel 36 in Fayetteville, AR (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1971 5 men are killed near a BBC transmitter on Brougher Mountain, County Tyrone, in a landmine attack carried out by the Irish Republican Army
- 1971 Apollo 14 returns to Earth
- 1971 Elektra Records releases eponymous debut album of American singer-songwriter Carly Simon; garners two Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist
- 1971 Probably 1st gay theme TV episode - All in the Family
- 1971 Quake in San Fernando Valley kills 64 & causes over $½B damage
- 1971 Satchel Paige becomes 1st Negro League player elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1972 British government declares state of emergency after month-long coal miners' strike
- 1972 William Craig, who had been Northern Ireland Minister for Home Affairs, launches 'Ulster Vanguard' as an umbrella movement for the right-ring of Unionism
Paul Williams on The Tonight Show
1973 American singer-songwriter and actor Paul Williams sings the torch song "Here's That Rainy Day" in full Planet of the Apes make-up and costume on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show"
- 1973 Pragati Legislature Party elects Patnaik as leader of opposition in the state assembly in Orissa, India
- 1974 "Daddy What If" by Bobby Bare peaks at #41
- 1974 "The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion)" by Gordon Sinclair peaks at #24
Figure Skating History
1974 US female Figure Skating championship won by Dorothy Hamill
- 1974 US male Figure Skating championship won by Gordon McKellen Jr
- 1975 Soyuz 17 returns to Earth
- 1976 Oscar Charleston selected to baseball's Hall of Fame
- 1979 ABC airs "Heroes of Rock N Roll" special, featuring archival performances of 62 artists
- 1979 Beginning of James Clavell's novel "Whirlwind"
- 1979 New York City premiere of Paul Schrader's allegedly fact based film "Hardcore"
- 1979 Nigeria amends constitution
- 1979 UK Football club Nottingham Forest makes £1m transfer deal
- 1979 Walter Hill's drama film "The Warriors" is released in the United States, sparking gang violence at many theaters and a halt to the film's marketing campaign
NBA Record
1980 Rick Barry of the Houston Rockets is the 1st in NBA history to score eight 3-pointers in a game
NHL All-Star Game
1982 34th NHL All-Star Game, Capital Centre, Landover: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 4-2; MVP: Mike Bossy, NY Islanders, RW
- 1983 Belgium buys 44 F-16s
- 1984 "Rink" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 204 performances
- 1984 East German ski jumper Jens Weißflog wins first of 3 career Olympic gold medals in the Normal Hill individual event at the Sarajevo Winter Games
- 1984 East German speed skater Karin Enke wins the 1,500m in world record 2:03.42 at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins 1,000m gold
- 1984 Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 10k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; first of 3 individual medal sweep, also winning 5k and 20k events
NBA All-Star Game
1986 36th NBA All-Star Game, Reunion Arena, Dallas, TX: East beats West, 139-132; MVP: Isiah Thomas, Detroit Pistons, G
- 1986 Halley's Comet reaches 30th perihelion (closest approach to Sun)
- 1986 Haydar Bakr al-Attas appointed president of South Yemen
- 1986 Marvin Johnson stops Leslie Stewart in 7 rounds in Indianapolis to win WBA light heavyweight boxing title; record 3rd time he regains a version of light heavyweight crown
- 1986 Tomb of Tutanchamon's treasurer Maya found in Egypt
- 1986 West German team swims world record 4x200 m freestyle (7:05.17)
- 1987 Former US national security adviser Robert McFarlane attempts suicide by overdosing on Valium hours before scheduled testimony before panel investigating illegal arms-for-hostages "Iran-Contra" affair
- 1987 NY Stock Exch installs ladies restroom in the Exchange Luncheon Club
NHL All-Star Game
1988 39th NHL All-Star Game, St. Louis Arena: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 6-5 (OT); MVP: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins, C
- 1988 NH begins a NCAA record 32-game losing streak at home (ends Feb 1991)
- 1989 Kevin Johnson (Phoenix) ends NBA free throw streak of 57 games
- 1989 Michael Manley's Socialist Party wins Jamaica parliamentary election
- 1990 "Bradys" return to TV for 6 episodes on CBS TV
- 1990 40th Berlin International Film Festival: "Music Box" and "Larks on a String" win the Golden Bear (tie)
- 1990 Doina Melinte runs world indoor record 1.5k (4:00:27) & mile (4:17:13)
- 1990 Namibia's constitution ratified
- 1990 Spacecraft Galileo flies by Venus at an altitude of 10,000 miles (16,000 km) in a gravity assist maneuver to gain speed on its way to Jupiter [1]
- 1991 "This Is Ponderous" by 2nu peaks at #46
- 1991 Johann Olav Koss skates world record 5k (6:41:73)
Boxing Title Fight
1991 Terry Norris knocks down Sugar Ray Leonard twice and beats him to defend his WBC Super Welterweight title
- 1991 US Supreme Court agrees to hear Joseph Doherty case
- 1992 "2 Shakespearean Actors" closes at Cort Theater NYC after 29 performances
NBA All-Star Game
1992 42nd NBA All-Star Game, Orlando Arena, Orlando, FL: West beats East, 153-113; MVP: Magic Johnson, LA Lakers, F
- 1992 Fastest yodeler-22 tones/15 falsetto in 1 sec by Thomas School of Germany
- 1992 Heike Henkel high jumps female indoor world record (2.07m)
- 1992 Jani Sievinen swims world record 400m medley (4:07.10)
- 1993 Army of opium king Khun Sa kills 60 in NE Burma
Israeli History
1994 Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres signs accord with PLO's Yasser Arafat
- 1995 45th Berlin International Film Festival: "The Bait" wins the Golden Bear
- 1995 Augustus and Ruth Goetz' stage drama "The Heiress" opens at Cort Theater, NYC; runs for 340 performances
- 1995 Irina Privalova runs female world record 50m (5.96 sec)
Riverdance Premieres
1995 Irish music and dance show "Riverdance" first opens in Dublin, Ireland with lead dancer Michael Flatley
- 1995 STS-63 - 2nd mission of US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program goes into space
- 1996 The Irish Republican Army declares the end of its 18 month ceasefire shortly followed by a large bomb in London's Canary Wharf.
- 1996 WYNY-FM in NYC changes calls to WKTU-FM
Music History
1997 11th American Comedy Award: Debbie Reynolds wins
- 1997 47th NBA All-Star Game, Gund Arena, Cleveland, OH: East beats West, 132-120; MVP: Glen Rice, Charlotte Hornets, F
The Simpsons Record Run
1997 Fox cartoon series "The Simpsons" airs 167th episode; longest-running animated series in cartoon history
ESPY Awards
1998 6th ESPY Awards: Ken Griffey Jr, Mia Hamm win
Assassination Attempt
1998 Failed assassination attempt on Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze
- 2000 50th Berlin International Film Festival: "Magnolia" wins the Golden Bear
- 2001 American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks the Ehime-Maru, a Japanese training vessel operated by the Uwajima Fishery High School; nine the Ehime-Maru's crew members were killed, including four high school students.
- 2002 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 38-30; MVP: Rich Gannon, Oakland Raiders, QB
- 2003 52nd NBA All-Star Game, Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA: West beats East, 155-145 (2 OT); MVP: Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves, F
- 2006 56th Berlin International Film Festival: "Grbavica" wins the Golden Bear
NFL History
2006 Al Michaels joins NBC's "Sunday Night Football" broadcast with John Madden
- 2011 Latvia leaves deep recession with an annualised growth of 3.7% in the last quarter of 2010, it is reported today
#1 in the Charts
2011 Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday" album reaches number one on the Billboard 200 in its eleventh week on the chart
- 2012 62nd Berlin International Film Festival: "Caesar Must Die" wins the Golden Bear
- 2013 5 people are killed after Cessna plane crashes on a Brussels runway
- 2014 Australian National University scientists discover the oldest known star at 13.6 billion years old
- 2014 Olympic teams figure skating event debuts in Sochi with Russia taking the gold medal; pairs champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov win first of 2 gold at the Games
- 2014 Protest erupt in Sarajevo and other cities in Bosnia-Herzegovina; the unemployment rate remains at 40% (57% for youth)
- 2014 Slopestyle snowboarding event makes Olympic debut at Sochi Winter Games; American Jamie Anderson is inaugural women's gold medallist
- 2014 Slovak biathlete Anastasiya Kuzmina retains her Olympic 7.5k sprint title (Vancouver 2010) at the Sochi Winter Games
- 2014 Switzerland votes to return immigration quotas
