- 1018 The Holy Roman Empire and Poland conclude the Peace of Bautzen
Constitutions of Clarendon
1164 English King Henry II passes the Constitutions of Clarendon, attempting to restrict power of the papal clergy in England - only Thomas Beckett objects, the beginning of their quarrel
- 1349 Gunther of Schwarzburg chosen German anti-king
- 1349 Jews of Freilsburg Germany are massacred
- 1467 Battle at Velke Kostolany: Hungarian 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
Keichō Embassy
1615 Japanese Keichō embassy, the first to travel to Europe, headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga meets with Spanish King Philip III in Madrid
- 1648 Spain & Netherlands sign Peace of Munster, ending the Thirty Years' War
Cromwell Ritually Executed
1661 Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is ritually executed after having been dead for two years
Historic Expedition
1774 Captain James Cook reaches 71°10' south, 1820km from south pole (record)
- 1790 Lifeboat 1st tested at sea, by Mr Greathead, the inventor
French Revolution
1791 Comte de Mirabeau is elected President of the French National Assembly
- 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.
Library of Congress
1815 Burned US Library of Congress re-established with Thomas Jefferson's 6,500 volumes
When I Have Fears
1818 John Keats composes his sonnet "When I Have Fears"
Assassination Attempt
1835 Richard Lawrence misfires at President Andrew Jackson in Washington, D.C. in 1st attempted assassination of a US President
- 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
Around the World in 80 Days
1873 "Around the World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne is published in France by Pierre-Jules Hetzel
Lovesick Prince in Suicide Pact
1889 Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in Mayerling in an apparent suicide pact
- 1889 Victoria beat NSW after following on (NSW all out 63 needed 76)
- 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
- 1907 Korean National Debt Redemption Movement started by Seo Sang-dong of Daegu, attempt by the Korean public to repay debt to Japan to avoid further colonization [1]
- 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
- 1921 French rapist-murderer Henri-Desire Landru sentenced to death
- 1922 World Law Day 1st celebrated
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
- 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
- 1924 Ponsford scores second 110 of the game in Vic win over NSW
- 1925 Turkish government throws out Constantine VI of Constantinople
- 1927 Left wins national election in Thuringen
- 1928 1st radio telephone connection between Netherlands & US
Australian Men's Tennis Open
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
- 1928 Australian Championships Women's Tennis, Sydney: Daphne Akhurst wins 3rd title; beats Esna Boyd 7-5, 6-2
Theater Premiere
1928 Eugene O'Neill's play "Strange Interlude" premieres in NYC
- 1930 Russia launches their 1st radiosonde - a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere to measure various parameters and transmit them by radio to a ground receiver- from Pavlovsk, USSR.
Film & TV History
1930 Vladimir Mayakovsky's drama "The Bathhouse (Bunya)" premieres in Leningrad
Film Premiere
1931 "City Lights", American silent romantic comedy film directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring himself and Virginia Cherrill, premieres at Los Angeles Theater
Historic Event
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"
- 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
- 1933 Australian Championships Women's Tennis, Melbourne: Joan Hartigan Bathurst beats Coral McInnes Buttsworth 6-4, 6-3
- 1933 Grimmett takes 7-86 for SA in Qld 2nd inn, 13-135 for match
Historic Event
1933 President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor of Germany who forms a government with Franz von Papen
- 1934 1st theatrical presentation sponsored by US government, NYC
- 1934 Adolf Hitler's proclamation on German unified states
- 1934 Former Australian cricket spin bowler Bert Ironmonger ends Sheffield Shield career age 51 years 298 days as Victoria draws with NSW at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Meeting of Interest
1935 Ezra Pound meets Benito Mussolini, reads from a draft of "Cantos"
- 1936 New owners of baseball's Boston Braves survey newspaper journalists to pick a new team nickname; known as 'Bees' in 1940 but return to 'Braves' in 1941
- 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
- 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
- 1939 Adolf Hitler threatens Jews during his speech to the German Reichstag (Parliament)
- 1939 Heavy aftershocks destroy some of Chile
Music History
1940 Benjamin Britten's "Lesson Illuminations" premieres in London
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
- 1943 German assault on French in Tunisia
- 1943 German under officers shot down in Haarlem Neth
- 1943 Illegal opposition newspaper Loyal begins publishing
- 1943 USS Chicago sinks in Pacific Ocean
- 1944 The Battle of Cisterna begins in central Italy
- 1944 World War II: United States troops land on Majuro, Marshall Islands
- 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
Assassination
1948 Mahatma Gandhi assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse
- 1948 V Winter Olympic Games open in St Moritz, Switzerland
- 1950 "Robert Montgomery Presents" dramatic anthology premieres on NBC TV
- 1950 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Frank Sedgman retains title; beats fellow Australian Ken McGregor 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
Australian Open Women's Tennis
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
- 1951 Belgium refuses to allow communists to make speeches on radio
- 1952 Korean War truce talks deadlock
- 1952 Lehmer verifies: 2^521-1 & 2^607-1 (183 ciphers) Mersenne-prime #
- 1952 Paul Creston's 4th Symphony premieres
- 1954 Belgium ends trade agreement with USSR
- 1954 Fanfani government of Italy resigns
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
- 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
Music Recording
1956 Elvis Presley records his cover version of Carl Perkins' song "Blue Suede Shoes"
- 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)
Civil Rights History
1956 Home of Martin Luther King Jr. is bombed
- 1956 KRMA TV channel 6 in Denver, CO (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1956 KTXS TV channel 12 in Sweetwater-Abilene, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1956 Soviet 500m speed skating champion Yevgeni Grishin wins 2nd gold medal of the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics when he dead heats teammate Yuri Mikhatlov in the 1,500m in world record 2:08.6
US History
1957 US Congress accepts "Eisenhower-doctrine"
- 1958 1st 2-way moving sidewalk goes into service in Dallas, Texas
- 1958 Dore Schary's "Sunrise at Campobello" premieres in NYC
- 1958 MLB Commissioner Ford Frick announces that players and coaches, rather than fans, will vote on selections for the All-Star Game; vote returns to the fans in 1970
- 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 Danish ocean liner MS Hans Hedtoft sinks on maiden voyage after striking an iceberg off the coast of Greenland;, 95 die
Music Premiere
1959 Paul Hindemith's symphony "Pittsburgh" premieres
- 1960 African National Party is founded in Chad
- 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
Music Single
1961 "I Fall to Pieces" single released by Patsy Cline (Billboard Song of the Year 1961)
- 1961 Bobby Darin is youngest performer to headline a TV special on NBC
- 1961 KAET TV channel 8 in Phoenix, AZ (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1961 Outstanding West Indian spin bowler Lance Gibbs takes hat-trick (Ken Mackay, Wally Grout, Frank Misson) in drawn 4th Test v Australia in Adelaide
- 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
Historic Event
1962 UN General Assembly censures Portugal over Angola
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Historic Event
1963 Ivan Sutherland submits a thesis containing his Sketchpad program, a forerunner to modern-day graphic user interfaces and computer-aided design programs
Funeral of Winston Churchill
1965 State funeral for Winston Churchill at St Paul's Cathedral in London; at the time, the world's largest ever state funeral
- 1966 -19°F (-28°C), Corinth, Mississippi (state record)
- 1966 -27°F (-33°C), New Market, Alabama (state record)
World Record
1966 Ard Schenk skates world record 1500m (2:05.2)
Music History
1966 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 11th string quartet
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
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
- 1968 1968 NFL Draft: Ron Yary from USC first pick by Minnesota Vikings
- 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
- 1969 The Beatles perform their last live gig, a 42 minute concert on the roof of Apple Corps HQ in London, England
- 1969 US/Canada ISIS 1 launched to study ionosphere
- 1971 Dennis Lillee takes 5-84 in his 1st Test bowl, v England
- 1971 UCLA starts 88 basketball game winning streak
- 1971 Walt Smith and Leon Uris' musical "Ari", based on Uris' novel "Exodus", closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 19 performances
- 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'
- 1972 Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations
- 1973 1973 NFL Draft: John Matuszak from University of Tampa first pick by Houston Oilers
- 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 of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping
- 1973 Rock band Kiss plays their 1st show at the Coventry Club in Queens, NY
- 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
Sports History
1977 Allan Border scores 36 in his 1st-class innings (NSW vs Qld)
- 1977 Edward W Stack replaces Paul Kerr president of Hall of Fame
- 1978 Addie Joss & Larry MacPhail elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Radio Premiere
1978 Mutual Broadcasting Network begins airing the late-night "Larry King Show" on radio, from Miami, Florida
- 1979 Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) agrees to new constitution
- 1979 Varig 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
Historic Event
1980 Edward Albee's "Lady from Dubuque" premieres in NYC
American Music Awards
1981 8th American Music Awards: Barbra Streisand & Kenny Rogers win
Golden Globes
1982 39th Golden Globes: On Golden Pond, Henry Fonda & Meryl Streep win
- 1982 Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner".
- 1982 US female Figure Skating championship won by Rosalynn Sumners
Boxing Title Fight
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)
American Music Awards
1989 16th American Music Awards: Randy Travis and George Michael win
- 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
