- 475 Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological position
- 715 Catholic Pope Constantine dies after seven years in office
Louis the Pious' Close Shave
817 Louis the Pious, King of the Franks, barely survives when wooden gallery collapses in Aachen, prompts him to later name his succession
- 1241 Battle of Liegnitz - Mongolian armies inflict one of the largest defeats in Polish history on Polish and Germans force led by Henry of Silesia with 20-25,000 killed or massacred, including Henry
- 1388 Battle of Näfels: Swiss canton of Glarus and its allied Old Swiss Confederation defeat the Habsburg forces of the Duchy of Austria
Coronation of Henry V
1413 Henry V crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey
- 1440 Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark (1440-48)
- 1454 Milan and Venice sign peace of Lodi
- 1474 Breisach land guardian Peter von Hagenbach throws out Walloon and Italians
Princes in the Tower
1483 Edward V, aged 12, succeeds his father Edward IV as King of England. He is never crowned and disappears, presumed murdered, after being incarcerated in the Tower of London with his younger brother Richard (the "Princes in the Tower")
- 1555 Marcello Cervini is elected Pope Marcellus II
- 1595 Spanish Mendaña and Queirós Expedition departs Callao, Peru, led by Alvaro de Mendan accompanied by 378 men, women and children in four ships to colonise the Solomon Islands (find Marquesas instead) [1]
- 1609 Spain and the Netherlands sign a twelve year Resistant Pact
- 1621 End of the Twelve Years' Truce between Spain and the Netherlands
- 1667 First public art exhibition at the Palais-Royal in Paris
- 1682 French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claims lower Mississippi (Louisiana) for France [1]
- 1691 French troops occupy Mons in the Spanish Netherlands after a siege during the Nine Years' War
- 1731 British mariner Robert Jenkins' ear is cut off by Spanish Guarde Costa in the Caribbean, catalyst for a later war between Britain and Spain
1st Resistance to the British
1768 John Hancock refuses to allow two British customs agents to go below deck of his ship, considered by some to be the first act of physical resistance to British authority in the colonies
- 1783 Tippu Sahib drives out British from Bednore, India
- 1784 Great Britain ratifies the Treaty of Paris, signed September 3, 1783, ending the American Revolutionary War
- 1808 Mayor Wolters offers French King Louis Napoleon townhall as a palace
- 1816 African Methodist Episcopal Church organizes (Philadelphia)
- 1829 Danzig (Gdańsk) dike break flood kills 1,200
- 1833 First US tax-supported public library opens in Peterborough, New Hampshire
- 1838 UK National Gallery re-opens in its new dedicated building in Trafalgar Square, London
- 1860 Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville uses his phonautograph to make a 10-second recording of "Au Clair de la Lune"
- 1864 Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, Confederate assault repulsed by Union side with high cost of estimated 3,100 causalities
- 1864 Union surgeon Mary Edwards Walker is captured by Confederate troops and arrested as a spy during US Civil War
The South Surrenders
1865 Confederate General Robert E. Lee and 26,765 troops surrender at Appomattox Court House to U.S. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, ending the Civil War in Northern Virginia
Civil Rights Bill Passes
1866 Civil Rights Bill passes over President Andrew Johnson's veto
- 1869 Hudson's Bay Company cedes its territory to Canada
- 1870 American Anti-Slavery Society dissolves
- 1872 Samuel R Percy patents dried milk
Bruckner's 5th Symphony
1894 1st performance of Anton Bruckner's 5th Symphony in B in Graz, Austria-Hungary, abridged and re-orchestrated by conductor Franz Schauk without the composer's approval
Flack Wins the Double
1896 Australian athlete Edwin Flack claims the middle distance double at the Athens Olympics winning the 800m final in 2:11.0; his 2nd victory of the Games after success in the 1500m
- 1896 Greek shooter Pantelis Karasevdas scores a perfect 40 hits to win the military rifle event at the Athens Olympics; Greek 1-2-3 with Pavlos Pavlidis and Nicolaos Trikupis taking out the minor placings
- 1909 The US Congress pass the Payne-Aldrich bill, raising certain tariffs on goods entering the United States
- 1910 First recorded sighting in 1910 of Halley's Comet, seen in Gore, New Zealand
- 1912 1st exhibition baseball game at Fenway Park (Red Sox vs Harvard)
- 1913 Brooklyn Superbas' (later Dodgers) Ebbets Field opens; visiting Philadelphia Phillies win, 1-0
- 1914 "World, the Flesh & the Devil," the first color film, is shown in London
- 1914 Tampico incident - US ship crew arrested in Mexico
US Refuses to Recognize Huerta
1914 US President Woodrow Wilson refuses to recognize Victoriano Huerta as President of Mexico on the ground that the dictator has not been elected by the people
1916 The Libau sets sail from Germany with a cargo of 20,000 rifles to assist Irish republicans; Captain Karl Spindler changes the name of the vessel to the Aud to avoid British detection
- 1917 Battle of Arras begins
- 1923 In 'Adkins vs Children's Hospital', the US Supreme Court finds that the minimum wage law for women and children, adopted by the District of Columbia, is unconstitutional
- 1923 Sean O'Casey's "Shadow of a Gunman" premieres in Dublin
Bellyache Heard Round the World
1925 At the height of his fame Babe Ruth rushed to hospital with a mysterious condition labelled “the bellyache heard round the world". Ruth reported dead by some newspapers. [1]
Lazarus Laughed
1928 Eugene O'Neill's play "Lazarus Laughed" premieres in Pasadena, with a masked chorus of over 100
Diamond Lil
1928 Mae West's NYC debut in a daring new play "Diamond Lil"
- 1928 Top-Oss soccer team forms in Oss
- 1928 Turkey passes separation of church & state
1931 Stanley Cup Final Game Three: Chicago Black Hawks defeat Montreal Canadiens 3-2 (Canadians eventually win in best of five series)
Event of Interest
1932 German banking regulator Hans Luther is shot and suffers a shoulder wound at the Potsdam, Germany train station by an assailant who disliked his fiscal policies
- 1932 Stanley Cup Final, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON: Toronto Maple Leafs beat New York Rangers, 6-4 for 3-0 series sweep; Toronto's first SC as the Maple Leafs
- 1935 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Maroons beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 for 3-0 series sweep; Maroons last defunct team to win the Cup
Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial
1939 American contralto Marian Anderson sings before 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C; appearance organized after Anderson was denied permission to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall [1] [2]
- 1940 German cruiser Blucher torpedoed and capsizes in Oslofjord, 1,000 die
- 1940 Nazi Germany invades Denmark and Norway, and Denmark surrenders after a six-hour battle
- 1941 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Dorothy Kirby wins comfortably by 16 strokes ahead of Helen Sigel
- 1941 PGA establishes Golf Hall of Fame
Gretchaninov's 4th Symphony
1942 Alexander Gretchaninov's 4th Symphony premieres at Carnegie Hall, NYC, with John Barbirolli conducting the New York Philharmonic
- 1942 Battle of Bataan; US-Filipino forces overwhelmed by Japanese at Bataan
Orientals Ecclesiae
1944 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Orientals Ecclesiae
- 1945 Battleship Admiral Scheer sunk by RAF bombing in Kiel
- 1945 Liberty ship at Bari Italy carrying aerial bombs explodes, kills 360
- 1945 NFL requires players to wear long stockings
- 1945 World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, East Prussia, ends.
- 1946 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 6-3 for a 4-1 series victory
- 1947 Atomic Energy Commission confirmed
Leo Durocher Suspended
1947 Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler suspends Brooklyn Dodger Leo Durocher for 1 year for "association with known gamblers"
- 1947 Tornadoes striking West Texas and Oklahoma kill 169, and injure 1,300
- 1948 Massacre at Deir Yassin.
- 1949 UN International Court of Justice holds Albania responsible for incidents in Corfu Channel and awards Britain damages
- 1950 4th Tony Awards: "The Cocktail Party" (play) & "South Pacific" (musical) win
- 1952 Hugo Ballivian's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalisation of tin mines
- 1954 7th Cannes Film Festival: "Gate of Hell" directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
- 1954 WECT TV channel 6 in Wilmington, NC (NBC/CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1955 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1959 13th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics sweep Minneapolis Lakers in 4 games, first of Boston Celtics' record 8 straight titles
- 1959 Baltimore Orioles pull their 2nd triple play (3-6-3 vs Washington Senators)
- 1959 NASA names 1st 7 astronauts for Project Mercury
- 1960 South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd survives an assassination attempt by David Pratt despite being twice shot in the face
Event of Interest
1962 US President JohnF. Kennedy throws out 1st ball at Washington's new DC Stadium
Baseball Record
1965 1st baseball game at Houston Astrodome, Astros beat NY Yankees 2-1 in exhibition as Mickey Mantle hits MLB's 1st indoor homerun; US President Lyndon Johnson and wife Lady Bird attend
- 1965 Beatles "Ticket to Ride" single is released in UK
- 1966 Anaheim Stadium for California Angels opens
- 1967 First Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight
- 1967 Shortwave broadcaster Radio NY Worldwide's transmitter burns down
- 1968 German DR adopts constitution
- 1968 Minn's Wayne Connelly is 1st to score on a Stanley Cup penalty shot
- 1968 Ralph Aberbathy elected to head So Christian Leadership Conference
- 1969 1st flight of Concorde 002 (Filton-Bristol)
- 1969 MLB Chicago Cubs Billy Williams hits 4 consecutive doubles in 11-3 win over the Philadelphia , at Wrigley Field in Chicago
- 1972 USSR & Iraq sign friendship treaty
Paper Moon
1973 "Paper Moon" film starring Ryan O'Neal and his daughter, Tatum O'Neal, directed by Peter Bogdanovich premieres in Hollywood, California; Tatum O'Neal becomes youngest (age 10) Academy Award winner (Supporting Actress)
- 1973 Netherlands recognizes North Vietnam
- 1973 Otto Kerner, former governor of Illinois, convicted for his role in an illegal racetrack scheme
I Suffer With You...
1974 San Diego Padres owner Ray Kroc addresses fans, "Ladies and gentlemen, I suffer with you... I've never seen such stupid ball playing in my life!"
- 1975 24 OECD members sign an agreement to establish a $25 billion lending facility to provide assistance to industrial nations hurt by high oil prices
- 1975 First appearance of sports mascot, the San Diego Chicken
- 1976 US & Russia agreed on size of nuclear tests for peaceful use
- 1977 Communist party in Spain allowed legally after 40 years
- 1978 Brewers sweep Orioles 11-3, 16-3, & 13-5 (each with a grand slam)
Sports History
1978 In separate NBA games Denver's David Thompson scores 73 points & San Antonio's George Gervin scores 63 points (33 in 1 quarter)
- 1980 Belgium's Marten's government resigns
- 1980 Los Angeles Kings tie NHL record with two shorthanded playoff goals (vs NY Islanders)
- 1980 Soyuz 35 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6
Sports History
1981 Los Angeles Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela makes MLB debut as opening day starter due to pitching staff injuries, beats Astros 2-0; goes on to win both Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards
- 1981 US Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington rams Japanese freighter Nisso Maru, sinking the civilian ship in the South China Sea
- 1982 LA Lakers block 21 Denver shots setting NBA regulation game record
- 1983 6th NASA Space Shuttle Mission: Challenger 1 returns to Earth
#1 in the Charts
1983 David Bowie's single "Let's Dance" becomes his 1st song to hit #1 in both the US and the UK
1984 56th Academy Awards: Linda Hunt becomes the first person to win an Oscar for portraying a character of the opposite sex, Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
- 1984 Canada Health Act, the country's public funded heath insurance scheme (Medicare), passed by the Canadian House of Commons [1]
Sports History
1985 White Sox pitcher Tom Seaver starts a record 15th opening day game
Film & TV History
1986 TV show "Dallas" announces it will revive killed Bobby Ewing character
1987 For 3rd time, Wayne Gretzky, scores 7 points (1 goal, 6 assists) in a Stanley Cup game and passes Jean Béliveau as all time playoff scoring champ
- 1988 NHL New Jersey Devils win 3-0 over New York Islanders; Devils lead 2-1 in playoff 1st round
- 1988 US imposes economic sanctions on Panama
Sports History
1989 Mike Tyson strikes a parking attendant when asked to move his car
Baseball Record
1989 MLB New York Yankees outfielder Rickey Henderson steals his 800th career base in 4-3 loss to Cleveland Indians
- 1989 Washington, D.C. march supporting 1973 Roe vs Wade decision (allow abortions)
- 1990 "Capital News" starring Lloyd Bridges premieres on ABC-TV
Contract of Interest
1990 Don Mattingly signs a $19.7 million 5-year contract extension with New York Yankees
- 1990 NY Islanders beat NY Rangers 4-3 in double overtime-Rangers lead 2-1
- 1990 World's largest bunny hop at Radio City Music Hall, New York City; record eclipsed in 2007
- 1991 Georgia SSR votes to secede from USSR
- 1992 Florida drops rape charges against NY Mets Gooden, Boston & Coleman
Election of Interest
1992 John Major is elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after his Conservative Party wins the most votes in British electoral history
- 1992 Record 18 golfers shoot in 60s in Masters round 1 (old record 12)
Event of Interest
1992 US Fed court finds Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of 8 out of 10 drug and racketeering charges
- 1992 William O Studeman, becomes deputy director of CIA
- 1993 Colorado Rockies 1st home game & 1st victory, 11-4 over Mont Expos
- 1994 BPAA US Open by Justin Hromek
- 1994 STS-59 (Endeavour) launches into orbit
- 1997 Cleveland Indians pitcher Jose Mesa is acquitted of rape
- 1997 Major League Soccer announces Miami & Chicago expansion
- 1997 NFL announces it will give $3M to CFL & possible "World Classic Bowl"
- 1999 Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, President of Niger, is assassinated at the airport in Niamey, Niger
2003 Baghdad falls to US forces, ending the invasion of Iraq, resulting in widespread looting
- 2011 Gunman murders five people, injures eleven, and commits suicide in a mall in the Netherlands
- 2012 "The Lion King" becomes highest grossing Broadway show, overtaking "The Phantom of the Opera"
- 2013 12 civilians and UN peacekeepers are killed in an ambush in Jonglei, Sudan
- 2013 13 people are killed and 3 are injured from a shooting spree in Velika Ivanča, Serbia
- 2013 37 people are killed and 850 are injured after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes Iran
- 2013 The French Senate approves a bill for same-sex marriage
Sports History
2014 Joel Embiid declares for the 2014 NBA draft, forgoing his final three years of college eligibility
- 2014 Stuart Parkin is awarded the Millennium Technology Prize for his work on magnetic storage
- 2016 HBO premieres Liz Garbus' documentary "Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper", a two-hour film of conversations between the mother and her youngest son
- 2017 Suicide car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia kills at least 17, Al-Shabaab group claim responsibility
- 2017 Twitter footage of passenger forcibly removed from United Airlines flight in Chicago after flight overbooked causes outrage
- 2017 Two Egyptian coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria attacked by suicide bombers leaving at least 44 dead
Music History
2018 Fleetwood Mac announce new members Neil Finn and Mike Campbell after firing long-standing member Lindsey Buckingham
Event of Interest
2018 US Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois becomes the first senator to give birth while in office
- 2019 Nine prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters found guilty on public nuisance charges for their part in 2014 "Umbrella Movement"
- 2019 Wolves have returned to the Netherlands after 140 years claim ecologists
- 2021 La Soufrière volcano begins erupting on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent with a plume of ash 20,000 feet into the sky
- 2021 San Diego Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove no-hits the Texas Rangers, 3-0 at Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX
Music History
2021 Uganda opposition party National Unity Platform Party, headed by Bobi Wine, claims 623 people have been abducted and tortured by the government of President Yoweri Museveni [1]
- 2022 Joel Embiid is named the NBA scoring champion, averaging 30.6 points per game
- 2023 Joel Embiid is named the NBA scoring champion for the second straight season, averaging 33.1 points per game
Sports History
2023 Kawhi Leonard leads the Los Angeles Clippers to a win over the Phoenix Suns, securing the fifth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket
- 2023 Kuwaiti media outlet, Kuwaiti News unveils virtual news presenter on Twitter speaking Arabic, using artificial intelligence (although China was the 1st in 2018) [1]
- 2024 A group of older Swiss women win a landmark climate change case at the European Court of Human Rights, ruling the women's rights had been violated by not fully addressing climate change [1]
- 2024 Arizona Supreme Court upholds a 1864 law banning all abortions except to save a woman's life [1]
- 2024 James and Jennifer Crumbley, the first parents held criminally responsible for a US mass school shooting committed by their child, are sentenced to 10-15 years for manslaughter in Michigan [1]
- 2024 Simon Harris becomes Ireland's youngest taoiseach at 37 after the resignation of Leo Varadkar [1]
Trump Pauses Tariffs
2025 US President Donald Trump announces reversal on global tariffs, proposing a 90-day pause–excluding China [1]
