Norman Invasion of England
1066 William the Conqueror's troops set sail from Normandy for conquest of England
- 1290 Earthquake in the Gulf of Chihli (Bohai Sea) near China, reportedly kills 100,000 people
- 1312 Duke John II of Brabant ends Charter of Kortenberg
- 1331 The Battle of Płowce between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order is fought.
- 1509 Storm ravages Flemish/Dutch/Friese coast, thousands killed
- 1540 Pope Paul III officially recognizes the Society of Jesus (Jesuit) co-founded by Ignatius of Loyola as a religious order of the Catholic church
- 1590 Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history.
- 1605 The armies of Sweden are utterly defeated by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kircholm.
- 1694 Hurricane hits Carlisle Bay Barbados; 27 British ships sink & 3,000 die
Historic Event
1779 John Adams negotiates Revolutionary War peace terms with Great Britain
- 1794 French troops conquer Crèvecoeur
Historic Event
1821 Mexican revolutionary forces led by Agustín de Iturbide occupy Mexico City as Spanish withdraw, bringing an end to the Mexican War of Independence
Rosetta Stone
1822 French scholar Jean-François Champollion announces he has deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone
Historic Event
1825 George Stephenson's "Locomotion No. 1" becomes the 1st steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in England
- 1830 Dutch army leaves Brussels, after hundreds killed
- 1852 George L Aiken's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" premieres in Troy, NY
- 1854 Steamship "Arctic" collides with "vesta" off Newfoundland coast due to heavy fog, killing 322
- 1855 George Frederick Bristow's "Rip Van Winkle", 2nd American opera, opens in NYC
- 1863 Jo Shelby's cavalry in action at Moffat's Station, Arkansas
- 1864 Battle at Pilot Knob (Ft Davidson) American Civil War, Missouri: 1700 killed/injured
- 1864 Centralia Massacre (Missouri): 24 unarmed Union soldiers captured and executed by "Bloody Bill" Anderson/Frank
Historic Event
1864 Jesse James' gang surprise attack train: 150 killed
- 1865 James Cooke walks tightrope 150 yards from Cliff House to Seal Rocks, San Francisco
- 1877 John Mercer Langston named minister of Haiti
- 1879 British Open Men's Golf, St Andrews: Scotsman Jamie Anderson wins by 3 shots from countrymen Jamie Allen & Andrew Kirkaldy; 3rd consecutive title
- 1881 Chicago Cubs beat Troy 10-8 before record small "crowd" of 12
- 1892 Book matches are patented by Diamond Match Company
- 1894 Aqueduct racetrack opens in NY
- 1900 Victory Theater (Republic, Belasco) opens at 207 W 42nd St NYC
- 1903 Wreck of the Old 97, a train crash made famous by the song of the same name.
- 1905 Boston's Bill Dinneen no-hits Chicago White Sox, 2-0
Historic Publication
1905 The physics journal Annalen der Physik publishes Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².
Model T
1908 Henry Ford's first Ford Model T automobile leaves the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan
Historic Event
1909 US President William Howard Taft sets aside some 3 million acres of oil-rich public land (including Teapot Dome, Wyoming) for conservation purposes
- 1910 1st test flight of a twin-engined airplane (France)
Historic Publication
1912 W. C. Handy publishes "Memphis Blues", considered the 1st blues song
- 1914 Cleveland 2nd baseman Nap Lajoie collects his 3,000th hit
- 1916 1st Native American Day celebrated, honoring American Indians
- 1916 Emperor Lidj Jasu of Ethiopia flees a palace coup by his aunt Zauditu
- 1917 Broadhurst Theater opens at 235 W 44th St NYC
- 1917 EHC soccer team forms in Hoensbroek Neth
- 1919 British troops withdraw from the North Russian town of Archangelsk after fighting Bolsheviks/Soviets
- 1919 Democratic National Committee votes to allow female members
- 1919 Pitcher Bob Shawkey sets then Yank record with 15 strike-outs
Historic Event
1922 King Constantine I of Greece abdicates
- 1923 Italian troops leave occupied Corfu
Baseball Record
1923 NY Yankee Lou Gehrig hits 1st of his 493 HRs
- 1924 Giants clinch their 4th straight pennant, beating Phils 5-1
- 1928 The Nationalist Republic of China is recognised by the United States.
- 1930 US Amateur Championship Men's Golf, Merion GC: Bobby Jones scores an 8 & 7 win over Eugene V. Homans to win his 5th National Amateur title and clinch golf's Grand Slam
- 1930 Chicago Cub's Hack Wilson's 2 HRs give him NL record 56 HRs
- 1931 MLB's Lou Gehrig completes his 6th straight season, playing in every game (.3486) Jim Bottomley (.3481)
- 1931 Closest NL batting race ends St. Louis Cardinals Chick Hafey's .34889 beats N.Y. Giants Bill Terry's .34861 [1]
- 1935 Chicago Cubs win 21st consecutive game & clinch NL pennant
- 1936 First baseman Walter Alston plays in his only major league game for the St. Louis Cardinals; manages Brooklyn/LA Dodgers for 23 years
Victory in Battle
1936 Franco troops conquer Toledo
- 1936 Netherlands leave Gold Standard/devaluate guilder
- 1936 Boston Redskins and Brooklyn Dodgers play one of only 4 penalty free games in NFL history; Boston wins 14-3 at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn
- 1937 1st Santa Claus Training School opens (Albion NY)
- 1937 Balinese Tiger declared extinct.
- 1938 British ocean liner "Queen Elizabeth" launches at Clydebank, Scotland
- 1938 Jewish lawyers forbidden to practise in Germany
- 1938 League of Nations declares Japan the aggressor against China
- 1939 Warsaw surrenders to Germans after 19 days of resistance
- 1939 White Sox host 1st "day-night" doubleheader, lose to Cleve, 5-2 & 7-5
- 1940 55 German aircraft shot down above England
- 1940 Black leaders protest discrimination in US armed forces
- 1940 Floyd Giebells, 1st game, 2-0 pennant clinching beating Bob Feller
- 1940 Nazi Germany, Italy & Japan sign 10 year formal alliance (Axis)
- 1940 Yankees, lose to A's & eliminated from pennant for 1st time since 1935
Historic Event
1941 US President Roosevelt launches the 1st Liberty ship, freighter SS Patrick Henry
Appointment of Interest
1941 Reinhard Heydrich, "butcher of Prague," appointed SS-general (Gruppenfuehrer)
- 1942 Heavy German assault in Stalingrad
- 1942 NY Giants beat Wash Redskins 14-7 without making a 1st down
- 1942 St Louis Cards win NL pennant on last day of season
- 1943 Anti-fascism opposition begins in Naples
- 1943 Dutch opposition newspaper "The Slogan" publishes KZ-Lower letter
- 1944 Helmond & Oss Neth liberated
MacArthur Meets Hirohito
1945 US General and head of the Allied occupation of Japan, Douglas MacArthur, meets Emperor Hirohito in Tokyo for the first time
Boxing Title Fight
1950 Heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles defeats Joe Louis in 15 in Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
- 1951 Persian troops occupy oil refinery at Abadan
- 1953 Baltimore Colt Bert Rechichar kicks a 56-yard field goal
- 1953 KCMO (now KCTV) TV channel 5 in Kansas City, MO (CBS) begins
- 1953 KNOE TV channel 8 in Monroe-West Monroe, LA (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 KOLO TV channel 8 in Reno, NV (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 KQTV TV channel 2 in Saint Joseph, MO (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 St Louis Browns play last game in Sportsman's Park, losing 100th game
- 1953 Typhoon destroys one third of Nagoya, Japan
- 1953 WHBQ TV channel 13 in Memphis, Tennessee (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 WMAZ TV channel 13 in Macon, GA (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 WTOK TV channel 11 in Meridian, MS (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1954 1st African American Supreme Court page is CV Bush
- 1954 School integration begins in Washington, D.C. & Baltimore Md public schools
Television Premiere
1954 "The Tonight Show" 1st premieres on NBC hosted by Steve Allen
Historic Event
1959 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev concludes his US visit
- 1960 Europe's 1st "moving pavement" (travelator), opens at Bank station on the London Underground
Baseball Record
1961 Sandy Koufax sets NL strikeout season record at 269
Historic Publication
1962 Rachel Carson publishes 'Silent Spring' about the deleterious impacts of pesticide use in the US on the environment
- 1963 At 10:59 AM census clock, records US population at 190,000,000
Historic Event
1963 Lee Harvey Oswald visits Cuban consulate in Mexico City, seeking a visa
- 1964 Despite 3 HRs by Johnny Callison, Phils are 14-8 losers to Braves
- 1964 Phillies 7th straight loses sends them into 2nd place
- 1964 Findings of the Warren Commission into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy released, finds Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone
Baseball Record
1967 Phillies Jim Bunning ties NL record of 5, 1-0 losses in a year
- 1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1968 "Hair" opens in London
- 1968 Cardinals' super pitcher Bob Gibson's 13th shutout of year
- 1968 France denies UK entry into common market
- 1970 Ken Boswell sets 2nd baseman record of 85 games without an error
- 1971 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1971 Tripartite talks involving the prime ministers of Northern Ireland, Britain, and the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland take place at Chequers, England
- 1972 1st game at Nassau Coliseum, Rangers beat Islanders 6-4 (exhibition)
Baseball Record
1973 Nolan Ryan strikes out 16 in 11 innings, for record 383 of season
Music Single
1973 “The Way We Were” single released by Barbra Streisand (Billboard Song of the Year, 1974)
- 1974 -10/26] Rome: 4th bishop synod
- 1974 Australian National Gallery buys W de Kooning's "Woman V" for $850,000
- 1975 Government De Uyl recalls Dutch ambassador from Spain
- 1976 TV drama “Dawn: Portrait of A Teenage Runaway", starring Eve Plumb premieres on US network NBC
- 1977 Phillies clinch 2nd straight NL East Division title
- 1978 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1978 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1979 US Congress' final approval to create Department of Education
Music History
1979 Elton John, sick with flu, collapses in the Hollywood Universal Amphitheater
- 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1980 WHOT (Brooklyn New York pirate radio station) begins on 1620 AM & 92.5 FM
- 1980 Marvin Hagler defeats Alan Minter to claim boxing's world Middleweight championship in London. They have to be escorted away by police after a riot forms.
- 1981 "Day in Hollywood, A Night.." closes at John Golden NY after 588 performances
- 1981 Iran defends its besieged port of Abadan, driving back Iraqi forces
- 1982 Cards clinching NL East title
Film & TV History
1982 Filming begins on "Never Say Never Again" with Sean Connery playing James Bond for the final time
Sports History
1983 Tim Raines is 1st since Ty Cobb to steal 70 & drive in 70 runs
- 1985 8 killed as roof collapses in Brussel's supermarket
- 1985 Hurricane Gloria's 130 MPH wind hits Atlantic coast
- 1986 Senate joins House of Reps voting for sweeping tax reforms
- 1986 "Give Me Wings" single released by Michael Johnson (Billboard Song of the Year 1987)
- 1987 Ryder Cup Golf, Muirfield Village GC: Europe beats US, 15-13; after 13-0 unbeaten record spanning 60 years, US loses for first time on home soil
- 1987 NFL players' strike begins in the US
- 1987 Atlanta Braves Phil Niekro's final MLB appearance, he surrenders for 5 runs in 3 innings against the San Francisco Giants
- 1988 Grand jury evidence shows Tawana Brawley fabricated rape story
- 1988 Senate votes for major federal tax code changes
Historic Event
1988 The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi is founded in Burma (Myanmar)
World Record
1988 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson is disqualified from the Seoul Olympics 100m after his urine sample found to contain steroid stanozolol; American Carl Lewis awarded gold medal and world record 9.92
- 1988 Canadian Finn class sailor Lawrence Lemieux abandons race 5 to assist injured competitor after being in 2nd place; selfless act is awarded with the Pierre de Coubertin medal
Olympic Gold
1988 American diver Greg Louganis wins the 10m platform gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; wraps up diving double after also taking out the 3m springboard gold
- 1988 East German cyclist Olaf Ludwig wins the men's road race in 4:32:22 at the Seoul Olympics; beats West German pair Bernd Gröne & Christian Henn
- 1989 Oakland wins AL West & SF wins NL West title
- 1989 Sony purchases Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion cash
- 1990 Dee Dee Ramone arrested on marijuana possession
- 1990 Deposed emir of Kuwait address UN General Assembly
- 1990 Gunman holds 33 people (killing 1) hostage in Berkeley Calif
- 1990 Senate Judiciary committee approves Souter's Supreme Court
- 1990 Tour de France champion Greg LeMond visits White House
- 1990 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1991 "Princesses" premieres on CBS TV
Historic Event
1991 US President George H. W. Bush decides to end full-time B-52 bombers alert
- 1991 1st scheduled NHL exhibition game in St Petersburg Fla, is cancelled due to poor ice conditions (NY Islanders vs Boston Bruins)
- 1992 ASPCA stops Santeria ceremony in Bronx halts sacrifice of 42 animals
- 1992 LA Dodgers for 1st time in history clinch last place
- 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates win their 3rd straight NL East title
- 1992 Seattle's Randy Johnson ties AL record for lefties with 18 strike outs
- 1993 Actor Daniel Day-Lewis pleads guilty to speeding charges
- 1993 The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
Television Debut
1993 British crime series "Cracker" created by Jimmy McGovern starring Robbie Coltrane debuts on ITV in the UK
- 1996 Baltimore Oriole Roberto Alomar spits in face of umpire John Hirschbeck
- 1996 In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.
- 1996 The Julie N. tanker skip crashes into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine spilling thousands of gallons of oil.
Election of Interest
1998 German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's CDU/CSU party suffers a heavy defeat in federal elections to Gerard Schroder's SPD party
Olympic Gold
2000 United States baseball team, managed by Tommy Lasorda, wins Olympic Gold Medal in Sydney, Australia
- 2001 At its two-day meeting in Vienna, OPEC decides to keep its production quotas unchanged at 23.2 million barrels per day, despite crude oil being at its lowest price levels since 1999
- 2002 Timor-Leste (East Timor) joins the United Nations.
- 2003 Smart 1 satellite is launched by the European Space Agency from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, for a moon orbit.
- 2005 Atlanta Braves clinch their 14th straight division title thanks to Philadelphia's loss to the New York Mets
- 2008 CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7.
Sports History
2008 Greg Maddux wins his final start of his career (#355)
Election of Interest
2009 German Federal elections return Angela Merkel for her second term as Chancellor at head of centre-right coalition government
