Royal Coronation
1306 Robert the Bruce crowned Robert I, King of Scots, having killed his rival John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch
Robert the Bruce
- 1409 Council of Pisa opens - elects Antipope Alexander V
- 1436 Florentine cathedral Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore with dome by Filippo Brunelleschi consecrated by Pope Eugene IV (begun 1296)
- 1571 Catholic Italian businessman Roberto Ridolfi leaves England
- 1581 Portuguese Cortes calls Philip II king of Portugal
Historic Invention
1584 English explorer Walter Raleigh renews Humphrey Gilbert's patent to explore North America
Walter Raleigh
Event of Interest
1609 Henry Hudson embarks on an exploration for Dutch East India Company to find a passage to Asia
Henry Hudson
- 1634 Under charter granted to Lord Baltimore and led by his brother Leonard Calvert first settlers found Catholic colony of Maryland
- 1647 Cape of Good Hope: tour ship Haerlem stranded in Tafel Bay
- 1655 Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan (Saturn's largest satellite)
- 1668 1st horse race in America takes place
- 1669 Mount Etna in Sicily erupts, destroying Nicolosi, killing 20,000
Event of Interest
1740 Construction begins on evangelist George Whitefield's Bethesda Orphanage in Georgia
George Whitefield
Event of Interest
1776 Continental Congress authorized a medal for George Washington
George Washington
Britain Abolishes the Slave Trade
1807 British Parliament abolishes slave trade throughout the British Empire; penalty of £120 per slave introduced for ship captains
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Event of Interest
1807 George Canning becomes British Foreign Secretary
George Canning
- 1811 Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for his publication of the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism
- 1813 1st US flag flown in battle on the Pacific, frigate Essex
- 1814 Netherlands Bank established
- 1817 Tsar Alexander I recommends formation of Society of Israeli Christians
- 1820 Greece freedom revolt against anti Ottoman attack
- 1821 The Greek revolution against the Ottoman Turks is officially declared, with hostilities having started two months earlier
Event of Interest
1846 German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt arrives in Sydney to a hero's welcome after completing his exploration of Australia's Northern Territory
Ludwig Leichhardt
- 1847 Pope Pius IX encyclical "On aid for Ireland"
- 1851 Yosemite Valley discovered in California
- 1852 Friedrich Hebbel's "Agnes Bernauer" premieres in Munich
- 1856 A E Burnside patents Burnside carbine
- 1857 Frederick Laggenheim takes 1st photo of a solar eclipse
- 1857 Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville receives a patent for his phonautograph, a device which created visual images of sound
- 1863 1st US Army Medal of Honor awarded
- 1863 Skirmish at Brentwood Tennessee
- 1864 Battle of Paducah, Kentucky (Forrest's raid)
- 1865 Battle of Bluff Spring, Florida
- 1865 Battle of Petersburg: In an unsuccessful counter attack, Confederate forces attack Fort Stedman
- 1865 Battle of Mobile, Alabama (Spanish Fort, Fort Morgan, Fort Blakely)
- 1865 SS General Lyon at Cape Hatteras catches fire & sinks, killing 400
- 1876 Glasgow 1st soccer match Scotland-Wales (4-0)
- 1881 43rd Grand National: Irish jockey Tommy Beasley wins his second consecutive GN aboard 11/2 co-favourite Woodbrook
- 1882 1st demonstration of pancake making, held at a department store in NYC
- 1887 49th Grand National: Bill Daniels aboard 20/1 chance Gamecock wins by 3 lengths from Savoyard
- 1888 Socialist leader Domela Nieuwenhuis elected to Dutch 2nd chamber
- 1889 1st Test Cricket match played at Newlands, Cape Town v England
- 1894 Coxey's Army of the unemployed sets out from Massillon, Ohio, for Washington, D.C.
- 1895 Italian troops invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
- 1898 Intercollegiate Trapshooting Association formed in NYC
- 1898 60th Grand National: John Gourley wins aboard 25/1 shot Drogheda
- 1898 Swami Vivekananda initiates Margaret Noble (Sister Nivedita) into vow of Brahmacharya, first western woman received into Indian monastic order
The Story of Writer O. Henry’s Short Life
1898 Writer O. Henry sentenced to 5 years in prison for embezzling $854 from a bank reportedly to pay for his sick wife's medical bills. Goes on to write many classics while in jail including "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking".
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- 1900 US Socialist Party forms in Indianapolis
- 1901 55 die as Rock Island train derailed near Marshalltown, Iowa
- 1902 Irving W Colburn patents sheet glass drawing machine
- 1902 In Russia, 567 students are tried for rioting and 'political disaffection' are found guilty; 95 are banished to Siberia
- 1903 Racing Club de Avellaneda, one of the big five of Argentina, is founded.
- 1904 66th Grand National: Arthur Birch wins aboard 25/1 New Zealand bred Moifaa; horse survives shipwreck off Ireland a year earlier
- 1905 Confederate battle flags captured during the American Civil War are returned to South
- 1907 Stanley Cup, Winnipeg Auditorium, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Montreal Wanderers lose to Kenora Thistles, 6-5 but win on 2 game aggregate, 12-8
- 1908 Clube Atletico Mineiro, Founded in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
- 1910 Chalmers Auto Co offers a new car to each leagues' batting champ
- 1911 L D Swamikannu publishes "Manual of Indian Chronology" in Bombay
- 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory catches fire 145 die, all but 13 girls
- 1913 Great Dayton Flood: winter rains cause Great Miami River to flood, Ohio's greatest natural disaster
- 1913 Home of vaudeville, Palace Theatre, opens (NYC) starring Ed Wynn
- 1915 1st submarine disaster; a US F-4 sank off Hawaii, killing 21
- 1915 German U boat torpedoes Netherlands merchant ship Medea
- 1916 Jess Willard fights Frank Moran to no decision in 10 for heavyweight boxing title in NYC
Event of Interest
1917 Canadian ace Billy Bishop claims his first victory, shooting down and mortally wounding German Leutnant Theiller
Billy Bishop
- 1918 The Belarusian People's Republic is established.
Conference of Interest
1919 Woodrow Wilson's dream of a League of Nations becomes a reality after the League Covenant is adopted at the Paris Peace Conference
Woodrow Wilson
- 1920 Greek Independence Day
- 1923 British government grants Trans-Jordan autonomy
- 1924 Greek parliament selects admiral Paul Koundouriotis as premier
- 1924 Stanley Cup Final, Ottawa Auditorium, Ottawa, ON: Montreal Canadiens (NHL) beat Calgary Tigers (WCHL), 3-0 for a 2-0 series sweep
- 1927 86th Grand National: 8/1 favourite Sprig wins; ridden by jockey Ted Leader, trained by his father Tom Leader
- 1931 Hal Kemp & his orchestra record Whistles, with Skinnay Ennis
- 1931 Scottsboro Boys (accused of raping a white woman) arrested in Alabama
- 1934 1st Augusta National Invitation Tournament (Masters) Golf: Horton Smith wins with 20-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole, 1 stroke ahead of Craig Wood
- 1935 1st Belgium government of Van Zealand resigns
- 1936 200-inch mirror blank leaves for California to be ground
- 1936 Detroit Red Wings beat Montreal Maroons in NHL longest game (2h56m30s)
- 1937 Italy & Yugoslavia sign non-aggression treaty (Pact of Belgrade)
- 1937 Lionel Conacher misses on 1st Stanley Cup penalty shot
- 1937 Washington Daily News is 1st US newspaper with perfumed advertising page
- 1938 97th Grand National: 17 year old jockey Bruce Hobbs wins aboard 40/1 Battleship; first US bred and owned winner; only horse to win GN and American Grand National (1934)
- 1939 Billboard Magazine introduces hillbilly (country) music chart
- 1941 Carolina Paprika Mills in Dillon, South Carolina, incorporated
- 1942 1st 700 Jews from Polish Lvov district reach the Bełżec Concentration camp
- 1943 97% of all Dutch physicians strike against Nazi registration
- 1943 Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore premiere on radio
- 1944 Germany troop executes 335 residents of Rome
- 1945 US 1st army breaks out bridgehead near Remagen
- 1945 US 4th Armored div arrives at Hanau & Aschaffenburg
- 1945 US Northern Tractor Flotilla departs Ulithi to Okinawa
Music Premiere
1946 1st performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Ebony Concerto"
Igor Stravinsky
- 1947 9th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Holy Cross beats Oklahoma, 58-47; Crusaders' first victory in first title game
- 1947 Agreement of Linggadjati ratified in Batavia
- 1947 Coal mine explosion in Centralia, Ill, claims 111
- 1947 Last day of Test cricket for Walter Hammond (v NZ, Christchurch)
- 1949 The Soviet Union begins Operation Pribioi, the mass deportation of 90,000 Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians to inhospitable areas in the Soviet Union
- 1950 104th Grand National: Jimmy Power wins aboard 10/1 Irish co-favourite Freebooter; estimated 500,00 in attendance including Royal Family
- 1950 Wales outclasses France, 21-0 at the National Stadium, Cardiff to clinch the Five Nations Rugby Championship, Grand Slam and Triple Crown
- 1951 5th Tony Awards: "Guys & Dolls" (musical) and "Rose Tattoo" (play) win
- 1951 E Purcell & EM Ewen detect 21-cm radiation at Harvard physics lab
Academy Awards
1954 26th Academy Awards: "From Here to Eternity" best film, William Holden & Audrey Hepburn best actor, actress
Audrey Hepburn
William Holden
Event of Interest
1955 United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" as obscene.
Allen Ginsberg
Event of Interest
1958 Sugar Ray Robinson is 1st boxing champ to win 5 times
Sugar Ray Robinson
Event of Interest
1960 DH Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover" ruled not obscene (NYC)
D. H. Lawrence
Event of Interest
1961 23rd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Cincinnati beats Ohio State, 70-65 (OT); Buckeyes' future Hall of Fame forward Jerry Lucas is MOP for 2nd straight year
Jerry Lucas
Event of Interest
1961 Elvis Presley performs live on the USS Arizona
Elvis Presley
- 1961 Explorer 10 launched into elongated Earth orbit (177/181,000 km)
- 1961 Sputnik 10 carries a dog into Earth orbit; later recovered
- 1961 3rd place game is one of the wildest contests in NCAA Tournament history as St Joseph's defeats Utah, 127-120 in quadruple overtime
- 1961 115th Grand National: Bobby Beasley wins aboard Nicolaus Silver, 5 lengths ahead of defending champion Merryman II; first grey winner for 90 years
- 1962 "Family Affair" closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC after 65 performances
- 1962 French OAS-leader ex-general Jouhaud arrested
- 1963 KWHY TV channel 22 in Los Angeles, CA (IND) begins broadcasting
Event of Interest
1964 Britain sets memorial for the late President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
- 1964 Egypt ends state of siege (1952-64)
Event of Interest
1965 Martin Luther King Jr. leads 25,000 to state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama
Martin Luther King Jr.
Event of Interest
1967 29th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Dayton, 79-64; Bruins center Lew Alcindor (later named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) tournament MOP
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- 1967 The Turtle's "Happy Together" goes #1
- 1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1967 Who & Cream make US debut at Murray the K's Easter Show
- 1968 KLVX TV channel 10 in Las Vegas, NV (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1968 Members of the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) disrupt a meeting of Londonderry Corporation to protest at the lack of housing provision in the city, Northern Ireland
- 1969 Andes Pact signed in Peru
Event of Interest
1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono stage their 1st bed-in for peace (Amsterdam)
John Lennon
Yoko Ono
- 1969 Pakistan General Agha Mohammed Jagja Khan succeeds Ayub Chan as president
Event of Interest
1969 Ian Paisley and Ronald Bunting, loyalists in Northern Ireland are jailed for organising an illegal counter demonstration in Armagh on 30 November 1968
Ian Paisley
Event of Interest
1971 James Callaghan speaks at a rally of the Northern Ireland labour movement, but rejects calls for the Labour Party to open membership to those living in N. Ireland
James Callaghan
- 1972 "Selling of the President" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 5 performances
Event of Interest
1972 34th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Florida, 81-76; 6th straight title for Bruins; future Hall of Fame center Bill Walton tournament MOP
Bill Walton
- 1972 America's LP "America" goes #1
Event of Interest
1972 Bobby Hull becomes the 2nd NHLer to score 600 goals
Bobby Hull
- 1972 UCLA wins its 6th consecutive national basketball title
- 1972 17th Eurovision Song Contest: Vicky Leandros for Luxembourg wins singing "Apres toi" in Edinburgh
- 1973 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Immaculata beats Queens College, 59-52, Immaculata 1st undefeated team in New York
- 1973 27th Tony Awards: "That Championship Season" and "Little Night Music" win
Music Recording
1974 Barbra Streisand records the album "Butterfly"
Barbra Streisand
Music Awards
1974 9th Academy of Country Music Awards: Charlie Rich and Loretta Lynn win
Loretta Lynn
- 1976 "My Fair Lady" opens at St James Theater NYC for 384 performances
- 1976 "Rex" opens at Lunt-Fontaine Theater NYC for 48 performances
- 1976 Argentine military junta bans leftist political parties
- 1978 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, UCLA beat Maryland 90-74 in Los Angeles
- 1979 Space Shuttle Columbia arrives at Kennedy Space Centre to prepare for its first launch, which would eventually happen in 1981
- 1979 Major riot at Bourda prevents day's play in WSC Supertest
- 1979 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Old Dominion beat Louisiana Tech 75-65 in Greensboro
Event of Interest
1979 Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova retains her WTA Tour Championship with a 6–3, 3–6, 6–2 win over American teenager Tracey Austin in NYC
Martina Navratilova
PGA Players Championship
1979 PGA Tournament Players Championship, Sawgrass CC: Lanny Wadkins wins in windy conditions, 5 strokes ahead of runner-up Tom Watson
Tom Watson
Event of Interest
1982 Wayne Gretzky becomes 1st NHL to score 200 points in a season
Wayne Gretzky
Academy Awards
1985 57th Academy Awards: "Amadeus", F. Murray Abraham & Sally Field win
F. Murray Abraham
Sally Field
- 1985 Edwin Meese III takes office as US Attorney General
- 1986 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Geneva won by Brian Boitano (USA)
- 1986 Supreme Court rules Air Force could ban wearing of yarmulkes
- 1986 Kurt Browning (Canada) becomes 1st skater to land a quadruple jump
- 1987 The US Supreme Court rules that gender-based workplace affirmative action plans do not constitute discrimination on the basis of sex under the Civil Rights Act 1964
- 1988 "Les Miserables" opens at Chunichi Theatre, Nagoya, Japan
- 1988 NASA launches space vehicle S-206
Event of Interest
1988 Robin Givens demands full access to husband Mike Tyson's money
Mike Tyson
Film Release
1988 "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas is released
Antonio Banderas
Academy Awards
1991 63rd Academy Awards: "Dances with Wolves", Kathy Bates & Jeremy Irons win
Kathy Bates
Jeremy Irons
