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1991–After an eight-month closure, the new Cavern Club on Mathew Street in Liverpool, England, now owned by Cavern City Tours, re-opens its doors for business.


154–Bardaisan, astrologer, scholar, and philosopher, is born in Syria.

472–After being besieged in Rome by his own generals, Western Roman Emperor Anthemius is captured in the St. Peter's Basilica and put to death.

813–Byzantine Emperor Michael I, under threat by conspiracies, abdicates in favor of his general, Leo the Armenian, and becomes a monk (under the name of Athanasius).

911–The signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy, takes place.

937–Rudolph II of Burgundy dies.

969–Olga of Kiev dies.

1174–Amalric I of Jerusalem dies.

1174–Amalric I of Jerusalem dies. Baldwin IV, at age 13, becomes King of Jerusalem, with Raymond III, Count of Tripoli, as Regent and William of Tyre as Chancellor.

1174–At age 13, Baldwin IV becomes King of Jerusalem, with Raymond III, Count of Tripoli as regent, and William of Tyre as chancellor.

1183–Otto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria, dies.

1274–Scottish King, Robert the Bruce, is born at Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire, Scotland. Robert was one of the most famous warriors of his generation, and eventually led Scotland during the Wars of Scottish Independence against England. He fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotland's place as an independent nation and is today remembered in Scotland as a national hero.

1302–In the Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag), a coalition around the Flemish cities defeats the King of France's royal army.

1346–Charles IV, Count of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia, is elected King of the Romans.

1405–Ming Admiral Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time.

1576–Explorer, Martin Frobisher, sights Greenland.

1576–Martin Frobisher sights Greenland.

1603–Kenelm Digby, astrologer, courtier, and diplomat, is born in England.

1657–Frederick I of Prussia is born in Königsberg, Prussia. He was the paternal grandfather of Frederick the Great.

1688–King Narai of Thailand dies.

1735–Mathematical calculations suggest that on this day that the planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.

1740–Jews are expelled from Little Russia.

1750–Halifax, Nova Scotia, is almost completely destroyed by fire.

1767–John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States (1825-1829), is born in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay (present-day Quincy, Massachusetts). He was the son of President John Adams and Abigail Adams.

1789–Jacques Necker is dismissed as France's Finance Minister, sparking the storming of the Bastille.

1796–The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.

1798–The U.S. Marine Corps is re-established. They had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.

1801–French astronomer, Jean-Louis Pons, makes his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years, he will discover another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.

1804–A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr, mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton.

1833–Noongar Australian aboriginal warrior, Yagan, wanted for the murder of white colonists in Western Australia, is killed.

1844–Peter I of Serbia is born in Belgrade, Principality of Serbia.

1848–Waterloo Railway Station opens in London, England.

1850–Missionary, Annie Armstrong, is born.

1851–Conjoined twins, Millie and Christine McKoy, are born.

1864–During the American Civil War, in the Battle of Fort Stevens, Confederate forces attempt to invade Washington, D.C.

1882–The British Mediterranean Fleet begins the Bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt, as part of the Anglo-Egyptian War.

1882–Old West outlaw, Johnny Ringo, dies of a gunshot wound. Ringo was found leaning against a tree in the Chiricahua range of Cochise County, Arizona, shot through the head with one bullet missing from his gun. The coroner ruled the death as suicide, but numerous theories have Ringo dying at the hands of one of five gunman, including Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Johnny Ringo was a member of The Cowboys gang in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.

1889–Tijuana, Mexico, is founded.

1893–The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.

1893–A revolution led by the liberal politician, General José Santos Zelaya, takes over state power in Nicaragua.

1895–Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology to scientists.

1897–Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen, Norway, in an attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon.

1899–Essayist and author, E.B. White, is born Elwyn Brooks "E.B." White in Mount Vernon, New York. He is best known for his children's books Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little. White was co-author of the language style guide The Elements of Style. He also wrote the little fillers for The New Yorker that noted strange phrasing, bloopers, and grammatical oddities in print in other publications.

1914–Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball.

1914–The USS Nevada (BB-36) is launched.

1916–Politician, (Edward) Gough Whitlam, is born in Kew, Melbourne, Australia. He was the 21st Prime Minister of Australia.

1919–The eight-hour day with Sunday off becomes law for workers in the Netherlands.

1920–In the East Prussian plebiscite the local populace decides to remain with Weimar Germany.

1921–A truce in the Irish War of Independence comes into effect.

1921–The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic.

1921–Former U.S. President, William Howard Taft, is sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices.

1922–The Hollywood Bowl opens in Hollywood, California.

1924–Actress, Brett Somers, is born Audrey Johnston in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. She is best known as a panelist on the 1970s game show Match Game. She appeared on many TV shows, including Naked City, Ben Casey, Have Gun Will Travel, The Defenders, The Fugitive, Love, American Style, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Odd Couple, The Love Boat, and Barney Miller. She was married to actor, Jack Klugman.

1927–Physicist, Theodore (Harold) Maiman, is born in Los Angeles, California. He created the first working laser. Maiman’s laser led to the subsequent development of many other types of lasers. He was granted a patent for his invention and he received many awards and honors for his work.

1929–Actor, Yul Brynner, is born Yuliy Borisovich Briner in Vladivostok, Far Eastern Republic (present-day Russia). He is best known for the role of King Mongkut of Siam in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King and I, for which he won two Tony Awards and an Academy Award for the film version. He played the role 4,625 times on stage. He appeared in the films The Ten Commmandments, Anastasia, The Brothers Karamazov, The Buccaneer, The Sound and the Fury, Solomon and Sheba, The Magnificent Seven, Taras Bulba, Invitation to a Gunfighter, Cast a Giant Shadow, The Poppy Is Also a Flower, and Westworld.

1930–Critic, Harold Bloom, is born in New York, New York. He was the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Bloom's first language was Yiddish, yet he taught himself to read English before he had reached the age of five. He holds the title of Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale, where he has taught for almost 40 years. His book, The Western Canon, published in 1994, contained his list of the most important books and authors of Western literature.

1931–Actor, Tab Hunter, is born Arthur Andrew Kelm in New York, New York. He appeared in the films Return to Treasure Island, Track of the Cat, Battle Cry, The Burning Hills, The Girl He Left Behind, Damn Yankees, They Came to Cordura, That Kind of Woman, The Pleasure of His Company, Ride the Wild Surf, City Under the Sea, The Loved One, Birds Do It, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Polyester, Pandemonium, Grease 2, and Lust in the Dust.

1934–Engelbert Zaschka of Germany flies his large human-powered aircraft, the Zaschka Human-Power Aircraft, at Berlin Tempelhof Airport without assisted take-off.

1934–Fashion designer, Giorgio Armani is born in Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is known for his clean, tailored designs. He was the first designer to ban models with a body mass index of less than 18, after model Ana Carolina Reston starved herself to death.

1936–The Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.

1937–Composer, George Gershwin, dies from a brain tumor in Beverly Hills, California, at age 38. Although he is known for Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, he also composed many popular songs, as well as the modern opera Porgy and Bess. He is considered the greatest American composer of the 20th century. His popular songs include Bidin' My Time, But Not for Me, Embraceable You, Fascinating Rhythm, A Foggy Day, Funny Face, He Loves and She Loves, How Long Has This Been Going On?, I Got Rhythm, I've Got a Crush on You, Love Is Here to Stay, The Man I Love, 'S Wonderful, Someone to Watch Over Me, Strike Up the Band, Summertime, Swanee, That Certain Feeling, They All Laughed, and They Can't Take That Away from Me.

1940–The Vichy France regime is formally established and Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France.

1941–The Northern Rhodesian Labour Party holds its first congress in Nkana.

1943–Massacres of Poles take place in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

1943–During World War II, German and Italian troops launch a counter-attack on Allied forces in Sicily.

1947–The (SS) Exodus 1947 heads to Palestine from France. It carries Jewish emigrants from France to British Mandatory Palestine. Most of the emigrants were Holocaust survivors who had no legal immigration certificates for Palestine. Following wide media coverage, the British Royal Navy seized the ship and deported all its passengers back to Europe.

1950–Pakistan joins the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank.

1950–Actor, Bruce Travis McGill, is born in San Antonio, Texas. He is best known for the role of Detective Vince Korsak in the TV series Rizzoli and Isles. He has appeared in the films National Lampoon's Animal House, Silkwood, and Runaway Jury.

1950–Bonnie Pointer, of The Pointer Sisters, is born.

1955–The U.S. Congress authorizes the use of the phrase "In God We Trust" on all American currency.

1956–Actress, Sela Ward, is born.

1957–Prince Karim Husseini Aga Khan IV inherits the office of Imamat as the 49th Imam of Shia Imami Ismai'li worldwide, after the death of Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah Aga Khan III.

1958–Child actor, Mark Lester, is born in England.

1959–Richie Sambora, of Bon Jovi, is born.

1959–Singer-songwriter, Suzanne Vega, is born.

1960–The State of Katanga breaks away from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

1960–To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published in the U.S.

1962–The first transatlantic satellite television transmission takes place.

1962–At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon and return them to Earth.

1963–Actress, Lisa Rinna, is born.

1964–18-year-old Millie Small hit #2 on the pop music charts with My Boy Lollipop. She was known as the “Blue Beat Girl” in her homeland of Jamaica.

1969–Rocker, David Bowie, releases the album Space Oddity.

1971–Copper mines in Chile are nationalized.

1972–The first game of the World Chess Championship between challenger, Bobby Fischer, and defending champion, Boris Spassky, begins.

1973–Varig Flight 820 crashes near Paris, France, on approach to Orly Airport, killing 123 of the 134 people on board.

1975–Rapper and actress, Lil' Kim, is born.

1977–The Medal of Freedom is awarded posthumously to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

1978–A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain, killing 216 tourists.

1979–America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.

1981–EMI's Abbey Road Studio announces the discovery of the supposedly lost Beatles recordings How Do You Do It, That Means a Lot, If You've Got Trouble, and Leave My Kitten Alone.

1988–The John Lennon interview CD, The Last Word, is released on the Baktabak label in the U.K. It contains 55 minutes of the 150-minute interview with Lennon for RKO Radio that was taped on December 8, 1980, only hours before he was murdered. A shorter version of this interview had been previously released in the U.S. on the vinyl Reflections and Poetry LP.

1989–Actor, Laurence Olivier, dies at age 82.

1990–The First Nations land dispute begins in Quebec, Canada.

1991–After an eight-month closure, the new Cavern Club on Mathew Street in Liverpool, England, now owned by Cavern City Tours, re-opens its doors for business.

1991–Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 crashes in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 261 passengers and crew who are on board.

1995–Full diplomatic relations are established between the United States and Vietnam.

1995–The Srebrenica massacre is carried out. It is the genocidal killing of more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks, mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica, during the Bosnian War.

2005–Singer, Frances Langford, dies of congestive heart failure in Jensen Beach, Florida, at age 92. She appeared in the films Palm Springs, Born to Dance, Hollywood Hotel, Too Many Girls, Yankee Doodle Dandy, This is the Army, Never a Dull Moment, and The Glenn Miller Story.

2006–A series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India, kills 209 people.

2006–Actor, Barnard Hughes, dies in New York, New York, at age 90. He appeared in the films The Young Doctors, Hamlet, Midnight Cowboy, Where’s Poppa, Cold Turkey, The Hospital, Oh, God!, First Monday in October, Tron, Best Friend, The Lost Boys, and Doc Hollywood.

2007–Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon Johnson and 43rd First Lady of the United States, dies of natural causes in West Lake Hills, Texas, at age 94.

2010–At least 74 people are killed in twin suicide bombings at two locations in Kampala, Uganda.

2011–In Zygi, Cyprus, 98 containers of explosives self-detonate, killing 13 people.

2011–Rob Grill, of The Grass Roots, dies from complications after a stroke in Mt. Dora, Florida, at age 67. The band’s hits include Let’s Live for Today, Midnight Confessions, I’d Wait a Million Years, Temptation Eyes, and Sooner or Later.

2011–Hairdresser, Frank Stallone, Sr., dies of prostate cancer in Wellington, Florida, at age 91. He was the father of actor, Sylvester Stallone, and actor-singer, Frank Stallone. He was married to Jackie Stallone.

2012–Astronomers announce the discovery of Styx, the fifth moon of Pluto.

2012–Publisher and journalist, Richard Scudder, dies. He co-founded MediaNews Group.

2014–Drummer, Tommy Ramone, of The Ramones, dies of bile duct cancer in Ridgewood, Queens, New York, at age 65.

2015–A rare “thundersnow” storm hits the Blue Mountains near Austin, Texas. It happens when the atmosphere is so cold that instead of getting rain, the bulk of the precipitation is snow. Snow continued to fall in parts of the Blue Mountains into the next day.

2015–A driver makes their way from curvy Mulholland Drive for more than two miles along Laurel Canyon Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, driving in reverse. The LAPD calls the incident some of the most reckless driving ever seen by investigators. Cell phone video captures the Audi vehicle going backward.

2015–Entrepreneur, Satoru Iwata, dies from a bile duct tumor at age 55. He was a programmer and CEO of Nintendo. He worked on The Legend of Zelda, Mario, and Animal Crossing series of games.

2016–A recent ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals deems sharing passwords (for subscription services such as Netflix or HBO Go) a federal crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

2016–A Washington Post-ABC News poll says that a majority of Americans reject the FBI's recommendation against charging Hillary Clinton with a crime for her State Department e-mail practices, indicating that the issue raises concerns about how she might perform her presidential duties if elected.

2016–Coleen Burns of Orlando, Florida, accidentally steps off the edge of the Grand Canyon, plummeting hundreds of feet to her death. Park rangers find her body about 400 feet from where she had been standing.

2017–Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully teleport a photon from a ground station in Tibet to a satellite orbiting Earth at a distance of 500km. It is the first time an object has been teleported from the Earth into space.

2017–The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says ISIL leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is confirmed dead, according to information from tribal leaders close to ISIL in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate.

2017–The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to restrict student visa holders, mostly from China, from staying in the United States for over a year.


PHOTOS TOP TO BOTTOM: Bardaisan; Robert the Bruce; John Quincy Adams; Johnny Ringo; Yul Brynner; Tab Hunter; The Pointer Sisters; Lisa Rinna; John Lennon; Lady Bird Johnson; The Ramones.
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