- 1018 The Holy Roman Empire and Poland conclude the Peace of Bautzen
- 1349 Gunther of Schwarzburg chosen German anti-king
- 1349 Jews of Freilsburg Germany are massacred
- 1467 Battle at Velke Kostolany: Hung king Mátyás Corvinus beats Bratrici
- 1487 Bell chimes invented
- 1522 Duke of Albany takes captured French back to Scotland
- 1544 Adrian van Goes becomes land advocate of Holland
- 1592 Ippolito Aldobrandini elected Pope Clement VIII
- 1607 Massive flooding in England destroys around 200 square miles of coastline and results in approximately 2,000 casualties
- 1648 Spain & Netherlands sign Peace of Munster, ending the Thirty Years War
Execution
1661 Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is ritually executed after having been dead for two years
Oliver Cromwell
Event of Interest
1774 Captain James Cook reaches 71°10' south, 1820km from south pole (record)
James Cook
- 1790 Lifeboat 1st tested at sea, by Mr Greathead, the inventor
Election of Interest
1791 Comte de Mirabeau is elected President of the French National Assembly
Comte de Mirabeau
- 1797 US Congress refuses to accept 1st petition from African American
- 1798 Rep Matthew Lyon (Vt) spits in face of Rep Roger Griswold (Ct) in US House of Representatives, after an argument
- 1800 US population: 5,308,483; African American population 1,002,037 (18.9%)
- 1804 Scottish explorer Mungo Park leaves England seeking source of Niger River
- 1806 Prussia takes possession of Hanover
- 1806 The original Lower Trenton Toll Bridge, which spans the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey, is opened. A later bridge opened in 1935 is also known as the Trenton Makes - the World Takes Bridge.
Event of Interest
1815 Burned US Library of Congress re-established with Thomas Jefferson's 6,500 volumes
Thomas Jefferson
Event of Interest
1818 John Keats composes his sonnet "When I Have Fears"
John Keats
Assassination Attempt
1835 Richard Lawrence misfires at President Andrew Jackson in Washington, D.C. in 1st attempted assassination of a US President
Andrew Jackson
- 1841 A fire destroys two-thirds of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
- 1847 Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco
- 1854 1st election in Washington Territory; 1,682 votes cast
- 1858 Charles Hallé founds Halle Orchestra in Manchester, England
- 1858 William Wells Brown published 1st Black drama, "Leap to Freedom"
- 1862 USS Monitor, the US Navy's 1st ironclad warship launched
Historic Publication
1873 "Around the World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne is published in France by Pierre-Jules Hetzel
Jules Verne
- 1877 Storm flood ravages Dutch coastal provinces
- 1879 French President Patrice de Mac-Mahon resigns
- 1883 England team presented with ashes of a bail after Sydney Test
- 1888 Harry Moses 297 not out for NSW against Victoria
- 1889 John Herschel uses camera obscura to photograph 48" (120cm) telescope
- 1889 Victoria beat NSW after following on (NSW all out 63 needed 76)
- 1889 Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in Mayerling.
- 1892 Bobby Abel carries his bat for 132* for England in SCG Test
- 1892 Capt Lugard occupies Uganda's King Mwanga's hide out
- 1894 Pneumatic hammer patented by Charles King of Detroit
- 1894 US flag fired on in Rio; prompt satisfaction exacted by Adm Benham
- 1895 C J Eady (Tas) 1st Australian to score twin centuries (v Vic)
- 1895 SS Elbe sinks after collision in North Sea, 332 killed
- 1895 Tasmania beat Victoria for 1st F-C victory in 41 years
- 1902 Britain and Japan sign a treaty after months of negotiating which commits each country to supporting an independent China and Korea, although it acknowledges Japan's 'special interest' in Korea
- 1911 1st rescue of an air passenger by a ship, near Havana, Cuba
- 1911 The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy
- 1913 UK House of Lords rejects Irish Home Rule Bill
- 1915 German submarine attack on Le Havre
- 1915 No 10 batsman F W Hyett scores century on debut, Vic v Tas
- 1919 Reds hire Pat Moran as manager as Christy Mathewson, is still in France with US Army
- 1921 French rapist-murderer Henri-Desire Landru sentenced to death
- 1922 Ted McDonald takes 8-58 in big Victorian win over NSW
- 1922 World Law Day 1st celebrated
- 1924 Ponsford scores second 110 of the game in Vic win over NSW
1st Winter Olympics
1924 Gillis Grafström of Sweden wins men's figure skating gold medal at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; first to successfully defend his Summer Olympic title (1920) at the Winter Games
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- 1924 Great Britain clinch inaugural Olympic curling gold medal with a 46-4 win over France at the Chamonix Games
- 1924 Norway’s Thorleif Haug claims first of 3 gold medals at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; wins 50k cross country in a Norwegian sweep of the medals; also 18k and Nordic combined champion
- 1925 Turkish government throws out Constantine VI of Constantinople
- 1927 Left wins national election in Thuringen
- 1928 1st radio telephone connection between Netherlands & US
- 1928 Eugene O'Neill's "Strange Interlude" premieres in NYC
- 1928 Australian Championships Women's Tennis, Sydney: Daphne Akhurst wins 3rd title; beats Esna Boyd 7-5, 6-2
- 1928 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Frenchman Jean Borotra wins his only Australian title; beats Jack Cummings of Australia 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3
- 1930 Vladimir Mayakovsky's "Banya" premieres in Leningrad
- 1930 The world's first radiosonde is launched in Pavlovsk, USSR.
Film Premier
1931 "City Lights", American silent romantic comedy film directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring himself and Virginia Cherrill, premieres at Los Angeles Theater
Charlie Chaplin
- 1932 Grimmett 7-116 in South Africa 1st innings at Adelaide Oval
Event of Interest
1933 President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor of Germany who forms a government with Franz von Papen
Adolf Hitler
Paul von Hindenburg
- 1933 "Lone Ranger" begins a 21-year run on ABC radio
- 1933 Grimmett takes 7-86 for SA in Qld 2nd inn, 13-135 for match
- 1933 Australian Championships Women's Tennis, Melbourne: Joan Hartigan Bathurst beats Coral McInnes Buttsworth 6-4, 6-3
- 1933 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Jack Crawford wins his 3rd straight Australian title; beats Keith Gledhill of the US 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-2
Event of Interest
1933 After Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, his former WWI colleague General Erich Ludendorff sends a letter to him stating "this accursed man will cast our Reich into the abyss and bring our nation to inconceivable misery"
Erich Ludendorff
Adolf Hitler
Paul von Hindenburg
Meeting of Interest
1935 Ezra Pound meets Benito Mussolini, reads from a draft of "Cantos"
Ezra Pound
- 1936 New owners of Boston Braves ask newspapermen to pick a new nickname
- 1937 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Nancye Wynne Bolton wins her first of 6 Australian singles titles; beats Emily Hood Westacott 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
- 1937 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Vivian McGrath wins his only Grand Slam singles event; beats fellow Australian John Bromwich 6-3, 1-6, 6-0, 2-6, 6-1
- 1939 Adolf Hitler threatens Jews during his speech to the German Reichstag (Parliament)
- 1939 Heavy aftershocks destroy some of Chile
- 1940 Benjamin Britten's "Lesson Illuminations" premieres in London
- 1940 Cor Jongert wins 6th Dutch 11 Cities Skating Race
- 1940 Hassett's second 122 of the game for Vic can't stop a NSW win
- 1941 Australian troops conquer Derna, Libya
- 1942 Japanese troops land on Ambon
- 1943 6 British Mosquitos bomb Berlin in daylight
- 1943 German assault on French in Tunisia
- 1943 German under officers shot down in Haarlem Neth
Nazi General Friedrich Paulus Surrenders
1943 Adolf Hitler promotes Friedrich Paulus, commander of the 6th Army, to Field Marshal in the hope that he will not surrender
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- 1943 Illegal opposition newspaper Loyal begins publishing
- 1943 USS Chicago sinks in Pacific Ocean
- 1944 World War II: United States troops land on Majuro, Marshall Islands
- 1944 The Battle of Cisterna begins in central Italy
- 1945 "Wilhelm Gustloff" torpedoed off Danzig by Soviet sub-c 9,400 die
- 1945 American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied POWs from Japanese at Cabanatuan
- 1946 1st issue of Franklin Roosevelt dime
- 1948 V Winter Olympic Games open in St Moritz, Switzerland
Assassination
1948 Mahatma Gandhi assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse
Mahatma Gandhi
- 1950 "Robert Montgomery Presents" dramatic anthology premieres on NBC TV
- 1950 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: In an all-American final Louise Brough beats Doris Hart 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 for her only Australian singles title
- 1950 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Frank Sedgman retains title; beats fellow Australian Ken McGregor 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
- 1951 Belgium refuses to allow communists to make speeches on radio
- 1952 Lehmer verifies: 2^521-1 & 2^607-1 (183 ciphers) Mersenne-prime #
- 1952 Paul Creston's 4th Symphony, premieres
- 1952 Korean War truce talks deadlock
- 1954 Belgium ends trade agreement with USSR
- 1954 Fanfani government of Italy resigns
Music Recording
1956 Elvis Presley records his version of "Blue Suede Shoes"
Elvis Presley
Event of Interest
1956 Martin Luther King Jr.s home bombed
Martin Luther King Jr.
- 1956 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Mary Carter Reitano beats fellow Australian Thelma Coyne Long 3-6, 6-2, 9-7 for her 1st Australian singles title
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1956 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Lew Hoad beats fellow Australian Ken Rosewall 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 for his first Grand Slam title
Lew Hoad
Ken Rosewall
- 1956 Hallgeir Brenden of Norway wins Olympic 15k cross country gold medal at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games; his 2nd career Olympic title after taking out the 18k event in Oslo (1952)
- 1956 Soviet 500m speed skating champion Yevgeni Grishin wins 2nd gold medal of the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics when he dead heats team mate Yuri Mikhatlov in the 1,500m in world record 2:08.6
Event of Interest
1957 US Congress accepts "Eisenhower-doctrine"
Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1958 1st 2-way moving sidewalk in service, Dallas Tx
- 1958 Baseball announces players & coaches rather than fans pick all stars
- 1958 Dore Schary's "Sunrise at Campobello" premieres in NYC
- 1958 UK House of Lords passes bill allowing women to take seats
- 1959 Australia 1-200 1st day 4th Test v England, Adelaide Oval
- 1959 Paul Hindemith's symphony "Pittsburgh" premieres
- 1959 MS Hans Hedtoft sinks, 95 die
- 1960 CIA OKs Lockheed to produce a new U-2 aircraft (Oxcart)
- 1960 Dutch communist trade union EVC'58 disbands
- 1960 Riot curtails third days play at Port-Of-Spain WI v England
- 1960 US female Figure Skating championship won by Carol Heiss
- 1960 US male Figure Skating championship won by David Jenkins
- 1960 African National Party is founded in Chad
- 1961 Bobby Darin is youngest performer to headline a TV special on NBC
John F. Kennedy
Music Single
1961 "I Fall to Pieces" single released by Patsy Cline (Billboard Song of the Year 1961)
Patsy Cline
- 1962 UN General Assembly censures Portugal over Angola
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1962 2 members of Flying Wallendas' high-wire act killed when their 7-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit
- 1962 Laughter epidemic begins at a girls' mission school in Kashasha, Tanganyika, goes on to affect 14 schools and over 1000 people
Event of Interest
1963 Ivan Sutherland submits a thesis containing his Sketchpad program, a forerunner to modern-day graphic user interfaces and computer-aided design programs
Ivan Sutherland
Funeral of Winston Churchill
1965 State funeral of Winston Churchill at St Paul's Cathedral in London. Then world's largest ever state funeral.
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Event of Interest
1966 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 11th string quartet
Dmitri Shostakovich
Australian Open Women's Tennis
1967 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: American Nancy Richey wins her first and only Australian title; beats home favourite Lesley Turner Bowrey 6-1, 6-4
Nancy Richey
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1967 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Roy Emerson repeats previous year's result; beats American Arthur Ashe 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 for his 5th straight Australian title
Roy Emerson
Arthur Ashe
- 1968 Bobby Goldsboro records his biggest hit, "Honey"
- 1968 Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese launch the Tet offensive against South Vietnames and US forces
- 1968 1968 NFL Draft: Ron Yary from USC first pick by Minnesota Vikings
- 1969 US/Canada ISIS 1 launched to study ionosphere
- 1969 The Beatles perform their last live gig, a 42 minute concert on the roof of Apple Corps HQ in London
- 1971 "Ari" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 19 performances
- 1971 Dennis Lillee takes 5-84 in his 1st Test bowl, v England
- 1971 UCLA starts 88 basketball game winning streak
- 1972 Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations
- 1972 Bloody Sunday: 27 unarmed civilians are shot (14 are killed) by the British Army during a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland; this is the highest death toll from a single shooting incident during 'the Troubles'
- 1973 26th NHL All-Star Game, Madison Square Garden, NYC: Eastern Division beats Western Division, 5-4; MVP: Greg Polis, Pittsburgh Penguins, LW
- 1973 Jury finds Watergate defendants Liddy & McCord guilty on all counts
- 1973 Rock band Kiss plays their 1st show at the Coventry Club in Queens, NY
- 1973 1973 NFL Draft: John Matuszak from University of Tampa first pick by Houston Oilers
- 1974 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
Historic Invention
1975 Ernő Rubik applies for a patent for his "Magic Cube" invention, later to be known as a Rubik's cube
Ernő Rubik
- 1976 1st-class debut of Dav Whatmore, in Johannesburg
- 1976 George H. W. Bush becomes 11th director of CIA (until 1977)
- 1976 William E Colby, ends term as 10th director of CIA
- 1977 8th (final) part of "Roots" is most-watched US entertainment show ever (100 million)
- 1977 Allan Border scores 36 in his 1st-class innings (NSW v Qld)
- 1977 Edward W Stack replaces Paul Kerr president of Hall of Fame
- 1978 Addie Joss & Larry MacPhail elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Event of Interest
1978 Mutual Broadcasting Network begins airing Larry King Show on radio
Larry King
Event of Interest
1980 Edward Albee's "Lady from Dubuque" premieres in NYC
Edward Albee
Music Awards
1981 8th American Music Awards: Barbra Streisand & Kenny Rogers win
Barbra Streisand
Kenny Rogers
Golden Globes
1982 39th Golden Globes: On Golden Pond, Henry Fonda & Meryl Streep win
Meryl Streep
Henry Fonda
- 1982 WBC super welterweight champion Wilfred Benitez of Puerto Rico defeats boxing legend Roberto Durán of Panama in a 15-round unanimous decision at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas
- 1983 Hilbert van Thumb becomes European skating champ
- 1983 Super Bowl XVII, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA: Washington Redskins beat Miami Dolphins, 27-17; MVP: John Riggins, Washington, RB
- 1988 Hansie Cronje gets a pair in 2nd 1st-class game (OFS v N Tvl)
Music Awards
1989 16th American Music Awards: Randy Travis and George Michael win
George Michael
- 1989 Five Pharaoh sculptures from 1470 BC found at temple of Luxor
- 1989 Joel Steinberg found guilty of 1st degree manslaughter of daughter
- 1989 Last day of 1st class cricket for Dav Whatmore
- 1989 Olympian, Bruce Kimball, is sentenced to 17 years in prison for killing 2 teenagers in a drunk driving accident
- 1989 The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan closes.
NHL Record
1990 LA center Wayne Gretzky sets NHL record by scoring his 100th point of the season for the 11th straight season; milestone comes with an assist in a 5-2 Kings' win over visiting New Jersey Devils
Wayne Gretzky
