- 676 Donus begins his reign as Catholic Pope replacing Pope Adeodatus II
- 1208 Peace treaty between the Chinese Jin and Song dynasties, the Song resume paying tribute after two years of fighting
- 1327 King Alfonso IV of Aragon crowned
- 1355 English invasion army under King Edward lands at Calais
- 1418 Utrecht conquers Ijsselstein
- 1642 Second Battle of Breitenfeld, aka First Battle of Leipzig; victory for the Swedish army under Field Marshal Lennart Torstenson over Holy Roman Empire army under Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria
- 1648 12,000 Jews massacred by Chmielnicki hordes in Narol Podlia
- 1675 King Philip's War: Plymouth Colony Governor Josiah Winslow leads Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut militias attacks against the Narragansetts, fearing they would join King Philip's cause
- 1698 Scottish settlers make landfall in Panama, establishing the ill-fated 'Darien Venture' colony
- 1712 Suriname government gives French hijacker Jacques Cassard, ƒ682,800
- 1722 Willem IV Prince of Orange (11) appointed Stadtholder Gelderland
- 1749 English Ohio Trade Company forms first trading post
- 1772 Boston: anti-English Committee of Correspondence forms
Washington Bids Farewell
1783 General George Washington, later 1st US President, bids farewell to his army after the American Revolutionary War
Franklin Pierce Elected
1852 Democrat Franklin Pierce elected 14th President of the United States
- 1854 Cobblestone paving of Washington St between Dupont and Kearny starts
John Brown Guilty of Murder
1859 American abolitionist John Brown found guilty of murder, inciting slaves to revolt, and treason against the Virginia Territory during his raid of Harpers Ferry Armory, and sentenced to hang
- 1861 American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Frémont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter
- 1867 Women's fashion magazine "Harper's Bazaar" is 1st published
- 1868 Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally
- 1875 Verney Cameron reaches Benguela in Angola, from Africa's east coast, 1st European to cross equatorial Africa from sea to sea
James A. Garfield Elected
1880 James A. Garfield (R) elected 20th President of the United States
- 1881 Dutch New-Malthusiaanse Union forms
- 1886 German patent granted to inventor Carl Benz for "vehicle with gas engine operation", the first automobile (No. DE37435C)
- 1889 North Dakota becomes 39th & South Dakota becomes 40th state in the United States
- 1892 French poet Paul Verlaine visits Netherlands
- 1895 First organised auto race in the United States is run in Chicago; 6 cars race over 52-mile lakefront course; 2 finish because of blizzard conditions
Theodor Herzl Arrives in Jerusalem
1898 Austro-Hungarian Jewish activist Theodor Herzl arrives in Jerusalem
First Official Cheerleader
1898 Cheerleading begins in the United States as Johnny Campbell leads the crowd cheering on the football team at the University of Minnesota
Bank Panic of 1907
1907 US banker J. P. Morgan locks over 40 bankers in his library to force them to find ways to avert New York banking crisis
- 1913 St. Louis Browns player-manager George Stovall, fired the previous summer, is the first MLB player to jump to the Federal League, signing to manage the Kansas City Packers
- 1914 Great Britain annexes Cyprus
- 1914 Great Britain declares the entire North Sea a military area: neutral ships will transit it at their own risk
- 1914 Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire
- 1915 First US election by proportional representation, Ashtabula, Ohio
- 1916 Battle of Verdun: Fort Vaux reconquered from Germans by French troops without firing a shot
Balfour Declaration
1917 Balfour Declaration proclaims support for a Jewish state in Palestine
- 1917 In WWI the 1st US soldiers are killed in combat: James Gresham, Thomas Enright and Merle Hay
- 1917 Lansing-Ishii Agreement; US recognizes Japan's privileges in China
Harding Elected President
1920 Warren G. Harding is elected President of the United States, defeating Democrat candidate James M. Cox
- 1920 Westinghouse radio station in East Pittsburgh, KDKA begins broadcasting, with presidential and local election returns
Anna Christie
1921 Eugene O'Neill's play "Anna Christie" premieres in NYC
Stresemann Government Collapses
1923 Gustav Stresemann's German coalition Government collapses after Social Democrat ministers step down
- 1924 Sunday Express publishes first British crossword puzzle
Shostakovich's 1st Symphony
1928 Dmitri Shostakovich's 1st Symphony premieres in US with Leopold Stokowski leading the Philadelphia Orchestra at The Academy of Music, Philadelpha
Haile Selassie I
1930 Coronation of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Haile Selassie I, 225th Emperor of Ethiopian Solmonic Dynasty
MLB All-Stars Tour Japan
1934 MLB All-Star team led by Connie Mack and including Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig starts 18-game tour against Japanese Big-Six University League
- 1936 At 3pm the BBC begins the world's first regular high-definition TV broadcast service from specially constructed studios at Alexandra Palace, North London
- 1936 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is established
Jimmie Foxx MVP
1938 Boston Red Sox first baseman Jimmie Foxx is voted Most Valuable Player of the American League for the third time
- 1942 11th day of battle at El Alamein: British assault on Tel el Aqqaqir
- 1943 Jewish ghetto of Riga in Latvia is destroyed
- 1944 Canadian troops occupy Knokke in Belgium
- 1944 US 28th Infantry division opens assault on Schmidt Hurtgenwald
- 1946 New York City's WABC (AM & FM) radio stations change call letters to WCBS
- 1946 New York City's WEAF (AM & FM) radio stations change call letters to WNBC
- 1947 After just 6 games of the season, Chicago Blackhawks trade NHL scoring leader Max Bentley along with Cy Thomas to Toronto Maple Leafs for Gus Bodnar, Bud Poile, Gaye Stewart, Bob Goldham, and Ernie Dickens
Spruce Goose
1947 Howard Hughes flies "Spruce Goose", a huge wooden airplane for the first and last time
Truman Re-elected
1948 US President Harry Truman is re-elected in an upset victory over Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey
- 1948 WJZ TV channel 13 in Baltimore, MD (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1949 Netherlands ends rationing programs started during WWII for distribution of textiles, meat, and cheese
- 1949 The Netherlands recognizes its former colony Indonesia as a sovereign state at conclusion of the Round Table Conference at the Hague, Netherlands
- 1950 The Clover Dairy Company test-market the first concentrated milk (Sealtest) in the U.S. in Wilmington, Delaware
- 1953 Pakistan becomes an Islamic republic
Hancock's Half Hour
1954 BBC radio comedy "Hancock's Half Hour" debuts starring Tony Hancock and Sid James, written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
- 1954 Charles Diggs Jr is elected Michigan's 1st black congressman to the House of Representatives
Election of Interest
1954 Strom Thurmond is the 1st senator elected by write-in vote (South Carolina)
Event of Interest
1955 David Ben-Gurion forms Israeli government
- 1956 Hungary appeals for UN assistance against Soviet invasion
- 1957 1st titanium mill opened at Toronto, Ohio
- 1957 The Levelland UFO Case in Levelland, Texas, generates national publicity, remains one of the most impressive UFO cases in American history
- 1958 Los Angeles Rams beat Chicago Bears, 41-35 before 90,833 fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum; NFL single-game attendance record
- 1959 Charles Van Doren confesses during a congressional investigation that TV quiz show "Twenty-One" was fixed
- 1959 The first section of the M1 motorway, the first inter-urban motorway in the United Kingdom, is opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 motorway and M45 motorway
- 1960 Dmitri Shostakovich's 8th String quartet premieres in Leningrad
Sports History
1960 New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris beats teammate Mickey Mantle for American League MVP Award, 225-222; second-closest vote ever
Lady Chatterley's Lover
1960 Penguin Books cleared of obscenity for publishing DH Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover"
- 1961 Max Frisch's play "Andorra" premieres in Zürich
Coup d'état
1963 Ngô Đình Diệm, the President of South Vietnam, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup by the South Vietnamese Army
- 1964 Columbia Broadcasting System buys 80% share in the New York Yankees Baseball Club for $11.2 million; later purchases club outright
Sports History
1965 Craig Breedlove driving FIA-legal four-wheeler, Sonic I, breaks land speed record with a two-run average of 555.483 mph (893.963 km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah
- 1966 KHSD TV channel 11 in Lead, SD (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1966 The Cuban Adjustment Act comes into force, allowing 123,000 Cubans opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the US
- 1968 A banned march in Derry, North Ireland, by members of the Derry Citizen's Action Committee (DCAC) is joined by thousands; due to the number of people taking part, the Royal Ulster Constabulary is unable to prevent it
Sports History
1969 41-year old Detroit right wing Gordie Howe picks up his 19th and final NHL hat trick as the Red Wings beat Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3; Howe is the oldest player to score an NHL hat-trick
- 1969 Quarterbacks Billy Kilmer of New Orleans and St Louis' Charlie Johnson each pass for 6 touchdowns for combined NFL record of 12 passing TDs in a game; Saints beat Cardinals, 51-42 at Busch Memorial Stadium
- 1971 Baltimore Orioles pitcher Pat Dobson no-hits the Yomiuri Giants, 2 - 0; first no-hitter in history of exhibition play between American and Japanese teams
Election of Interest
1971 Retired boxer Jersey Joe Walcott KO's William Strang in election for Sheriff of Camden County, New Jersey; first African-American to be elected to the position
- 1972 Construction begins on Kingdome, Seattle
- 1972 Government of the Republic of Ireland introduce a bill to remove the special position of the Catholic Church from the Irish Constitution
Sports History
1972 Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton is unanimously selected National League Cy Young Award winner; wins 27 games for Phillies, who as a team win only 59 games
- 1972 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
Streisand & Other Musical Instruments
1973 "Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments" special premieres on CBS TV
Ringo
1973 Apple Records releases "Ringo", Ringo Starr's third studio album, in the US; his biggest commercial and critical success, featuring the singles "Photograph", "You're Sixteen", and "Oh My My"
- 1973 OLADE (Latin American Energy Organization) forms
- 1974 78 die when the Time Go-Go Club in Seoul, South Korea burns down. Six of the victims jumped to their deaths from the seventh floor after a club official barred the doors after the fire started.
Baseball Trade
1974 Atlanta Braves trade then MLB home run king Hank Aaron to Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Dave May
- 1974 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1975 First sports event at The Summit arena in Houston - NBA's Houston Rockets beat Milwaukee Bucks, 104-89; future Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich top scores with 24 points
Election of Interest
1976 Democrat candidate Jimmy Carter is elected President of the United States, defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford; Walter Mondale elected vice president
- 1977 Microbiologist Carl R. Woese and scientists from the University of Illinois announce the identification of methanogens, a form of microbial life (Archaea) dating back some 3.5 billion years
- 1977 Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton wins his second Cy Young Award, outpointing Tommy John of the LA Dodgers; Carlton leads National League with 23 wins and posts 2.64 ERA
- 1978 Arnold Shapiro's TV documentary "Scared Straight", narrated by Peter Falk as a controversial and questionable deterrent to juvenile delinquency, debuts on Los Angeles' KTLA-TV
- 1978 Crew of Soyuz 29 returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 31
- 1978 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1978 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Sports History
1978 Wayne Gretzky is sold to the Edmonton Oilers after just 8 games with the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA (scoring 6 points); scores 104 points in 72 games (both teams combined) and is named WHA rookie of the year
Amadeus
1979 Peter Shaffer's musical "Amadeus" premieres in London
- 1979 Studio 54's owners are arrested for tax evasion
- 1982 Fire in Salung tunnel, Afghanistan, 1,000+ Russians die
Thriller
1983 "Thriller" single released worldwide by Michael Jackson
- 1983 Archbishop Hickey conducts papal investigation of Archbishop Hunthausen of Seattle
Event of Interest
1983 US President Ronald Reagan signs bill establishing Dr Martin Luther King Jr. holiday
- 1984 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll in the Pacific
- 1984 Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962
- 1985 LA Kings score 5 goals in a span of 5:37, the fastest in NHL team history; rout Hartford Whalers, 8-1 at Hartford Civic Center
- 1985 Tulsa's Gordon Brown (214) and Steve Gage (206) set NCAA football record for combined rushing yards in one game for 2 teammates who gained more than 200 yards each in 42-26 win at Wichita State
- 1986 Ayako Okamoto wins Nichirei Ladies Cup US-Japan Team Golf Championship
Sports History
1986 German tennis star Boris Becker wins his third tournament in 3 weeks in different continents; beats Sergio Casal of Spain 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 in the final of the Paris Open after victories in Japan and Australia
- 1987 Entertainer Lola Falona is diagnosed with multiple schlerosis
Cloud 9
1987 George Harrison releases album "Cloud 9" & Paul McCartney releases greatest hits album "All the Best"
Sports History
1988 A's shortstop Walt Weiss wins AL rookie of year; 3rd straight for Oakland; Jose Canseco 1986, Mark McGwire 1987
Radio History
1988 Mexican radio station erroneously reports Mike Tyson had died in car crash
- 1988 The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain mainstream media attention is launched from MIT, strikes Pentagon, SDI research lab and six universities
Television Finale
1989 "Blackadder Goes Forth" final episode "Goodbyeee" airs on BBC-TV starring Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
- 1990 First NBA game at Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Rolando Blackman top scores with 21 points as Timberwolves beat Mavericks, 98-85
- 1990 First regular season game played outside North America by any major professional sports league the NBA's Phoenix Suns beat the Utah Jazz, 119-96 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Japan
- 1990 Golden State Warriors register a 162-158 win over the Denver Nuggets at McNichols Arena, with the 320 total points setting an NBA record for most points scored by 2 teams in a non-overtime game
Rugby World Cup
1991 2nd Rugby World Cup Final, Twickenham: Australia beats England, 12-6 with Wallabies fly-half Michael Lynagh landing 2 penalties and a conversion
- 1991 Bartholomew I becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople, head of 300 million followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church
- 1991 Jermaine Jackson releases "Word to the Badd!!" anti Michael song
- 1991 Nevada makes biggest comeback in NCAA football history, overcoming a 35 point 3rd quarter deficit to rally and beat Weber State, 55-49
- 1992 First test flight of Airbus A330
Film & TV History
1993 Actor Roger Moore (James Bond) has his enlarged prostate removed
- 1993 Christie Todd Whitman (R) elected 1st woman governor of New Jersey
- 1993 Dow Jones hits record 3697.64
- 1993 Ehud Olmert elected mayor of Jerusalem
Sports History
1993 First commemorative bricks are laid at Bob Feller Museum, Van Meter, Iowa
Election of Interest
1993 Rudy Giuliani wins the New York mayoral election, becomes 1st Republican mayor since 1965
- 1994 Benzine explosion in Dronka Egypt, 400+ killed
- 1994 NFL announces the expansion Carolina Panthers would play in the NFC West, while the Jacksonville Jaguars is assigned to the AFC Central
- 1995 "Busker Alley" musical premieres at St James Theatre, NY
- 1995 Spanish Broadcasting System buys NY radio station WPAT-FM for $83.5M
- 1996 Miami Heat’s Pat Riley becomes eighth coach to win 800 games in 97-95 win at Indiana; milestone accomplished 2 weeks shy of his 15th coaching anniversary, faster than any coach in NBA history
- 1997 NFL San Diego Chargers Eric Metcalf returns punts for touchdowns of 85 & 67 yards in 38-31 loss at Cincinnati; joins Hall of Famer Jack Christiansen as only players in NFL history to return punts for TDs twice in a game
Cinderella
1997 Rodgers & Hammerstein's television musical "Cinderella", starring Brandy Norwood, Whitney Houston, and Bernadette Peters premieres on ABC-TV
- 1997 Typhoon Linda kills at least 208 in southern Vietnam
- 2000 The first crew arrives at the International Space Station
Sports History
2002 Mark Messier plays his 1,616th NHL game, a 3-2 Rangers loss against the St. Blues, to move into 2nd place on the all-time games played list; passes Larry Murphy and ends career with 1,756 games, just 11 shy of Gordie Howe
- 2003 New York City Marathon: Margaret Okayo of Kenya wins in 2:22:31 to break her own record; her countryman Martin Lel wins men's race in 2:10:30
Arrested Development
2003 US sitcom "Arrested Development" Premieres created by Mitchell Hurwitz, starring Jason Bateman, Porta de Rossi, Michael Cera and an ensemble cast on Fox
Election of Interest
2004 George W. Bush is re-elected as President of the United States, defeating Democrat candidate John Kerry
- 2005 Philip Glass' Symphony No. 8, premieres with the Bruckner Orchester Linz conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, NYC
Sports History
2007 Patrick Kane is named the NHL Rookie of the Month for October
F1 World Champion
2008 British McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton finishes 4th in season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix at Autódromo José Carlos Pace to clinch his first F1 World Drivers Championship by 1 point from Felipe Massa
Sports History
2011 Prodigious Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo scores his 100th goal for Real Madrid in his 105th game for the club in a 2-0 Champions League win over Olympique Lyon
- 2012 New York City Marathon: cancelled because of the effects of Hurricane Sandy in NYC the week before
Sports History
2013 Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina claims ASP World Junior Title by beating Ramzi Boukhiam of Morocco in a high-scoring final at Joaquina Beach in Florianopolis, Brazil
- 2013 Masahiro Tanaka's record streak of 30 consecutive starts without a loss ends when the Rakuten Golden Eagles' ace is beaten, 4-2, by the Yomiuri Giants in Game 6 of the Japan Baseball Series
- 2014 60 people were killed and 110 injured by a suicide bombing in Lahore, Pakistan
- 2014 New York City Marathon: Wilson Kipsang of Kenya wins in 2:10:59; compatriot Mary Keitany wins first of 3 straight women's titles in 2:25:07
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
2015 "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2" directed by Francis Lawrence, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth premieres in Berlin
Knighthood
2015 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull scraps Knights and Dames from Australia's honours system
- 2016 Baseball World Series: Chicago Cubs beat Cleveland Indians, 8-7 in Game 7 at Progressive Field, Cleveland; first Cubs' title in 108 years; MVP: Chicago utility Ben Zobrist
Event of Interest
2017 Jerome Powell nominated by US President Donald Trump to be next Chair of the Federal Reserve
She Remembers Everything
2018 Blue Note Records releases "She Remembers Everything", the fourteenth studio album by singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, produced by Tucker Martine and Cash's husband John Leventhal
- 2018 Tiger thought to have killed 13 people shot dead after month-long hunt near Pandharkawada, central India
- 2019 9th Rugby World Cup, Yokohama: South African fly-half Handré Pollard lands 6 penalties and 2 conversions as Springboks beat favourites England, 32-12 for their 3rd title
- 2020 Baby Shark by Pinkfong becomes the most-watched video on YouTube with over 7.04 billion views
- 2020 Gunmen storm Kabul University, Afghanistan, shooting at least 22 dead with Islamic State group claiming responsibility
Film & TV History
2020 Johnny Depp loses libel case against UK newspaper "The Sun", which called him a "wife-beater", said he assaulted wife Amber Heard
- 2021 Former police captains Eric Adams elected the second African American mayor of New York
- 2021 Jihadist gunman ambush and kill 69 people, including a local mayor in south-west Niger, adding to the 530 killed in 2021 to date
- 2022 Ethiopia’s government and Tigrayan authorities reach an agreement end fighting after two years at peace talks in South Africa [1]
- 2022 US Federal Reserve hikes interest rates for a fourth straight time to range of between 3.75% and 4.00%, its highest since 2008 in an effort to fight ongoing inflation [1]
Now and Then
2023 Apple Records release the last Beatles song "Now and Then" as a double A-sided single, backed with their first "From Me To You"; the new song was built from an unfinished 1978 John Lennon demo and 1995 attempt to complete it that had been abandoned due to technical issues, resolved by new technology [1]
- 2023 Australian Erin Patterson charged with three counts of murder and five of attempted murder through mushroom poisoning in high profile case [1]
Bletchley Declaration
2023 Bletchley Declaration to assess and manage risks of ‘frontier’ AI signed at AI Safety Summit hosted by Rishi Sunak at Bletchley Park, UK [1]
- 2023 Former cryptocurrency star Sam Bankman-Fried convicted of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy involving his companies FTX and Alameda Research in a New York court [1]
- 2023 Russia carries out its most extensive artillery attack of the year in Ukraine as Ukraine’s commander in chief admits the war has reached a deadlock [1]
- 2023 Storm Ciarán batters Northern Europe and Southern England with hurricane force winds, leaving 1.2 million in France without power and at least four dead [1]
