- 1717 The Loves of Mars and Venus becomes the first ballet performed in England
- 1825 First grand opera in the US sung in English, NYC
1933 "King Kong" film directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Fay Wray premieres at Radio City Music Hall and RKO Roxy in NYC
1959 Ceremony to mark the start of construction of the Sydney Opera House at Bennelong Point in Sydney, Australia; estimates of $7M and four years to complete project balloon to $102M and 14 years
The Sound of Music
1965 One of the most popular musical films of all time, "The Sound of Music," starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, premieres (Academy Award for Best Picture - 1966)
- 1972 NASA launches its Pioneer 10 space probe to Jupiter, NASA's first mission to the outer planets
Film & TV History
1977 Bette Davis is the first woman to receive the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award
Scientific Discovery
1981 Discovery of minor planet 5020 Asimov, named after sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov
Sports History
1986 The first million dollar purse for a handicap race is won by British bred 5-year old Greinton with Laffit Pincay Jr. aboard taking out the $1,359,500 Santa Anita Handicap
- 1998 Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice
- 2016 Oldest known land fossil (Tortotubus - 440 million years old) from Gotland, Sweden, is revealed by British scientists
Event of Interest
2016 US astronauts Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to earth after nearly a year (340 days), setting an ISS record
2021 Dolly Parton receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine she gave $1 million to help develop
LeBron 1st to 40,000
2024 LeBron James becomes the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 regular-season points as his LA Lakers slip to a 124-114 defeat to Denver Nuggets in Los Angeles
