EVENTS
- 1537 – The first printing of a complete English-language Bible
- 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. This calendar is used by most of the world today.
- 1830 – Belgium gained its independence, after having been a part of the Netherlands since 1815.
- 1883 – First run of the Orient Express train.
- 1895 – The first U.S. Open Men’s Golf Championship
- 1927 – Sculpting begins on Mt. Rushmore.
- 1943 – The Island of Corsica became the first French territory in Europe freed from Nazi control as Free French troops liberated the city of Bastia.
- 1957 – The television show ‘Leave it to Beaver’ first airs on TV.
- 1957 – The Space Age began as the Russians launched the first satellite into orbit. Sputnik I weighed just 184 lbs. and transmitted a beeping radio signal for 21 days. The remarkable accomplishment by Soviet Russia sent a shockwave through the American political leadership resulting in U.S. efforts to be the first on the moon.
- 1965 – Pope Paul VI became the first Pope to visit the U.S. and the first to address the United Nations.
- 1966 – Lesotho independence. Lesotho gained independence from British rule.
- 1992 – End of the Mozambican Civil War. The 15-year long civil war was fought between the Mozambique Resistance Movement and the Mozambican government. The conflict, which began in 1977, just a couple of years after the War of Independence against the Portuguese, resulted in massive losses of human life and property. The civil war ended with the signing of the Rome General Peace Accords by both of the warring parties.
- 1993 – Russian tank-soldiers loyal to President Boris Yeltsin shelled the Russian White House, crushing a hard-line Communist rebellion. Yeltsin then fired Vice-president Alexander Rutskoi and jailed other opposition leaders.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1181 – St Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) was born in Assisi, Umbria, Italy (as Giovanni Francesco Bernardone). He renounced his family’s wealth and founded the Friars Minor (Franciscan Order).
- 1822 – Rutherford B Hayes (19th US President)
- 1861 – Artist Frederic Remington (1861-1909) was born in Canton, New York. He studied at Yale Art School then traveled extensively throughout the American West in the late 1800s sketching cowboys, Native Americans, frontiersmen, and soldiers. He also created lively sculptures featuring bucking broncos.
- 1895 – Buster Keaton (American actor, director, producer)
- 1924 – Charlton Heston (Actor)
- 1941 – Anne Rice (Author)
- 1946 – Chuck Hagel (American politician)
- 1946 – Susan Sarandon (Actress)
- 1973 – Abyss (American wrestler)
- 1976 – Alicia Silverstone (Actress)
- 1981 – Justin Williams (NHL Player)
- 1988 – Derrick Rose (Basketball Player)
DEATHS
- 1669 – Rembrandt (Dutch painter)
- 1951 – Henrietta Lacks (American patient, HeLa cells derived from her cervical cancer)
- 1970 – Janis Joplin (American singer-songwriter)
- 1974 – Anne Sexton (American poet)
- 1982 – Glenn Gould (Canadian pianist, composer)