Vision of the Cross
312 Roman Emperor Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross
Conquest of Hormuz
1507 Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque captures the Persian fortress of Ormuz on Hormuz Island
Invasion of Île de Ré
1627 English invasion force under Duke of Buckingham abandons assault on French fortress of Saint Martin on Île de Ré, returning with just 2989 troops out of nearly 7000
Philadelphia Founded
1682 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is founded by Englishman William Penn
Federalist Papers Published
1787 Federalist Papers start appearing in New York newspapers under pseudonym "Publius" (written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay)
- 1795 Pinckney's Treaty [Treaty of San Lorenzo] signed by Spain and US, establishing the southern boundary of the US and giving Americans right to navigate the Mississippi River
- 1806 The French Army enters in Berlin
- 1810 United States annexes West Florida from Spain
- 1830 Major-General Baron D Chasse bombs Antwerp (Belgium revolution)
- 1838 Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated
- 1854 Chatham Rail disaster: gravel train hit by an express train at Baptiste Creek killing 52 people - then North America's worst rail disaster [1]
- 1863 Dutch railway to Harlingen opens
- 1863 First Sanitation Fair to raise funds for US Civil War relief opens in Chicago organized by Mary Ashton Livermore
- 1864 Battle of Boydton Plank Road, VA (Burgess' Mill, Southside Railroad)
Sinking of the CSS Albemarle
1864 Confederate ship CSS Albemarle torpedoed and sunk by a spar torpedo mounted on a steam launch commanded by William B. Cushing
- 1864 Second Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia near Richmond
March on Rome
1867 Giuseppe Garibaldi marches on Rome for the second time
Boss Tweed Arrested
1871 Democratic leader of Tammany Hall NY, Boss Tweed is arrested after the NY Times exposes his corruption
Nocturnes
1901 1st complete performance of Claude Debussy's orchestral composition "Nocturnes" by the Lamoureux Orchestra conducted by Camille Chevillard, in Paris, France
Woodrow Wilson's Vow
1913 In a speech in Mobile, Alabama, President Woodrow Wilson vows the US will "will never again seek one additional foot of territory by conquest" [1]
- 1914 British battleship Audacious sunk by mine
PM Billy Hughes
1915 Andrew Fisher is replaced as Labour Prime Minister by William 'Billy' Hughes, who will advocate a more active role for Australians in the war
- 1916 Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasus V, is defeated by Fitawrari abte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zauditu.
- 1917 20,000 women march in a suffrage parade in New York, US
- 1919 Axeman of New Orleans claims last victim
- 1920 League of Nations moves headquarters in Geneva
- 1920 Westinghouse radio station in East Pittsburgh, KDKA is granted a Limited Commercial license by the Department of Commerce
- 1922 1st commemoration of Navy Day (USA)
- 1922 Dutch 2nd Chamber votes for child labor laws
Maas–Waal Canal
1927 Queen Wilhelmina opens the Maas–Waal Canal between Nijmegen and Heumen
- 1931 Chuhei Numbu of Japan, sets then long jump record at 26' 2½"
- 1935 SDAP and NVV launches "Plan for Work" in Utrect, Netherlands
- 1938 DuPont announces its new synthetic polyamide fiber will be called "nylon"
- 1941 Chicago Daily Tribune editorialize there will not be war with Japan
- 1942 5th day of battle at El Alamein: heavy battles/Australian advance
- 1942 US aircraft carrier Hornet sinks off Santa Cruz
- 1944 Hertogenbosch & Tilburg freed from nazi occupation
You Bet Your Life
1947 "You Bet Your Life" with Groucho Marx premieres on ABC radio
- 1947 WMAR TV channel 2 in Baltimore, MD (NBC) begins broadcasting
The State of Siege
1948 Albert Camus' play "The State of Siege (L'État de siège)" premieres in Paris
- 1948 Israel recaptures Nizzanim in Negev
Senegalese Democratic Bloc
1948 Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS).
Disneyland
1954 Walt Disney's 1st TV show, "Disneyland", premieres on ABC
- 1954 WISN TV channel 12 in Milwaukee, WI (ABC) begins broadcasting
Rebel Without a Cause
1955 "Rebel Without a Cause", directed by Nicholas Ray, starring James Dean and Natalie Wood, is released
- 1955 Argentine peso devalued
Halldór Laxness
1955 Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
- 1955 Satomi Myodo, renews Zen nun vows & takes Buddhist name of Daien Myodo
- 1957 Celal Bayar re-elected president of Turkey
- 1957 WOWL TV channel 15 in Florence, AL (NBC/CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1957 WPTA TV channel 21 in Fort Wayne, IN (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1958 General Ayub Khan succeeds Iskander Mirza as President of Pakistan
- 1958 WEDU TV channel 3 in Tampa-St Petersburg, FL (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1959 Rare Pacific hurricane kills 2,000 in Western Mexico
- 1960 AL admits LA & Washington to the league
- 1960 American pop and soul singer Ben E. King records "Spanish Harlem" & "Stand By Me" in NYC
- 1961 1st Saturn launch vehicle makes an unmanned flight test
- 1961 American Basketball League starts play
Music Premiere
1961 David Diamond's 8th Symphony premieres with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein
- 1961 Outer Mongolia & Mauritania become 102nd & 103rd members of United Nations
- 1961 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya & Sary Shagan USSR
The Man Who Saved The World
1962 Black Saturday during the Cuban Missile Crisis: An American spy plane is shot down over Cuba and the navy drops warning depth charges on Soviet submarines
- 1962 The plane of Enrico Mattei, Italian oil industry's most powerful figure, crashes in mysterious circumstances
- 1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
NHL Record
1963 Detroit Red Wings right wing Gordie Howe scores 544th career goal in 6-4 loss to Montreal Canadiens, tying Maurice Richard's all-time NHL regular season record
- 1964 Congo rebel leader Christopher Gbenye holds 60 Americans & 800 Belgians
- 1965 WCFT-TV channel 33 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1966 China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
- 1966 UN deprives South Africa of Namibia
- 1966 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1967 4 people from Baltimore pour blood on selective service records
- 1969 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to John Tinbergen
Event of Interest
1969 Ralph Nader sets up a consumer organization known as Nader's Raiders
- 1969 St Vincent & Grenadines gains associated status with Britain
- 1971 Gerard Newe becomes the first Catholic to serve in any Northern Ireland government since 1920; Newe was appointed to try to improve community relations
- 1971 Republic of Congo-Kinshasa becomes Republic of Zaire
- 1972 Golden Gate National Recreation Area created
- 1972 OPEC approves plan providing for 25 percent government ownership of all Western oil interests operating within Kuwait, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia
- 1973 1st time Islanders beat Rangers-3-2
- 1973 Alabama sets offensive record (828 yds), beats Virginia Tech 77-6
- 1974 French runner Chantal Langlacé sets female world marathon record (2:46:24) in Neuf-Brisach, France
Music History
1975 Covers of both Time (“Rock’s New Sensation”) and Newsweek (“Making of a Rock Star”) magazines feature rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen
- 1977 Amsterdam businessman M Caransa kidnapped
- 1977 NASA launches space vehicle S-200
Event of Interest
1978 US President Jimmy Carter signs Hawkins-Humphrey full employment bill
- 1979 Islanders score 2 goals within 6 seconds 3 goals within 44 seconds
- 1979 St Vincent & Grenadines becomes independent of UK (National Day)
- 1979 Voluntary Euthanasia Society publishes how-to-do-it suicide guide
- 1980 American Dave Gryllis sets world bicycle speed record of 94.37 kph
- 1980 MLB Houston Astros owner John McMullen replaces GM Tal Smith with Al Rosen
The Ayatollah Votes
1980 William Safire’s column entitled "The Ayatollah Votes" is published in the New York Times, and was later quoted in a campaign ad for Ronald Reagan in that year's presidential election
- 1981 Andrew Young, former UN Ambassador, elected mayor of Atlanta, Georgia
Wrack My Brain
1981 Ringo Starr releases single "Wrack My Brain", written and produced by George Harrison, and album "Stop and Smell the Roses" in the US
- 1981 The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
- 1982 China announces its population has reached 1 billion plus people
- 1982 IBM ROM is capable of EGA graphics
Music History
1983 Larry Flynt pays hitman $1M to kill Hugh Hefner, Bob Guccione, Walter Annenberg, and Frank Sinatra; Flynt's business manager immediately stops payment; Flynt claims he was just joking
- 1984 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1984 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- 1984 Washington State University's running back Rueben Mayes sets collegiate football record of 357 yards rushing in one game (at Oregon)
- 1985 Anthony Carter begins NFL streak of 100+ consecutive game receptions
Sports History
1985 Billy Martin is fired by Yankees for 4th time
- 1985 Hurricane Juan ravages US Gulf states & east coast, 49 die
- 1986 British government deregulates financial markets in a "Big Bang", enhancing London's status as a financial capital while increasing income inequality
Pretty Little Head
1986 Paul McCartney releases single "Pretty Little Head"
- 1987 Lucas Mangopes Democratic Party wins Bophuthatswana elections
Lettice & Lovage
1987 Peter Shaffer's musical "Lettice & Lovage" premieres in London
- 1987 South Korean voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution
- 1988 "ET" released to home video (14 million presold)
- 1990 Supreme Soviet of Kirghiz SSR chooses Askar Akayev as republic's first president.
- 1992 Don Baylor appointed 1st manager of Colorado Rockies
- 1992 Fox is to launch Tuesday night network TV, rescheduled to Decemeber
- 1992 Great Britain issues postage stamp on 100th anniversary of JRR Tolkien
- 1992 Tipper Gore (wife of future VP) admits to covering clock on her VCR with black tape so she wouldn't have to watch it blink
- 1993 Howard Stern's radio show begins broadcasting in El Paso Texas
- 1995 Contract finalizing Cleveland Browns' move to Baltimore is signed
Leaving Las Vegas
1995 Dramatic film "Leaving Las Vegas" directed by Mike Figgis and starring Nicolas Cage (Oscar for Best Actor) and Elisabeth Shue premieres
- 1995 Latvia applies for membership in the European Union.
- 1995 South African fast bowler Meyrick Pringle takes cricket hat-trick in England tour game at Soweto
- 1996 US beats Japan, 21½-14½, at Nichirei International Golf Tournament
- 1997 Dow Jones crashes 554.26 points (7.18%) to close at 7,161.15; tenth largest percentage decline in the index since 1915
- 1997 Microsoft argues it should be "free from government interference"
- 1997 US releases a redesigned $50 bill; anti-counterfeit measures include color shifting ink, embedded security thread, and microprint
Election of Interest
1998 Helmut Kohl resigns as Chancellor of Germany after 16 years, following a landslide defeat in elections
Music History
1998 The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act is signed into law by US President Bill Clinton
Sports History
2004 Pedro Martínez wins Game 3 of the World Series, helping the Red Sox secure their first championship in 86 years
- 2005 Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers.
- 2006 Amy Winehouse releases her second and final studio album "Back to Black"
- 2008 The banking group BNP Paribas states that Australia is in a risky position with regards to the global financial crisis as foreign liabilities accounted for 60% of the nation's GDP
- 2011 Royal Australian Navy announces discovery of wreck of a World War II submarine (likely Japanese) in Simpson Harbour, Papua New Guinea during Operation RENDER SAFE
- 2012 46 people are killed and 123 injured in Iraq after a series of attacks and bombs
- 2012 Thousands demonstrate in Madrid against proposed budget cuts
- 2013 18 people are killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan
- 2013 38 people are killed in a series of car bombings in Bagdhad, Iraq
Sports History
2013 American Serena Williams wins her 4th season ending tennis title; beats Li Na of China 2–6, 6–3, 6–0 in the WTA Championship final in Istanbul, Turkey
F1 World Champion
2013 German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel wins the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit to clinch his 4th straight F1 World Drivers Championship; 6th consecutive GP victory
- 2013 Giorgi Margvelashvili wins the Georgian Presidential election in a landslide victory
- 2014 "Montevallo" debut album by Sam Hunt is released (American Country Countdown Award Digital Album of the Year 2016, Billboard Album of the Year 2015)
1989
2014 Taylor Swift releases her 5th studio album "1989" (2015 Billboard Album of the Year, Grammy Award for Album of the Year 2016)
Sports History
2015 American soccer star Abby Wambach announces her retirement
Event of Interest
2017 Catalan parliament meets and unilaterally declares independence from Spain
- 2017 First operation to separate conjoined twins joined at the head in India completed in New Delhi
- 2018 Australian 7-year old mare Winx wins unprecedented fourth consecutive Cox Plate at Moonee Valley in Melbourne; her record 29th-straight win and her 22nd Group 1 racing success
- 2018 EPL club Leicester City’s billionaire Thai owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha dies in a helicopter crash in the carpark outside the club’s King Power Stadium following 1-1 draw against West Ham United
- 2018 Gunman shoots and kills 11 people and injures six at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in an anti-Semitic attack
- 2019 Argentine presidential election won by Alberto Fernandez, defeating sitting President Mauricio Macri
- 2019 California Governor Gavin Newson declares state of emergency with multiple fires across the state, including Sonomoa County's Kincade Fire burning over 30,000 acres
Sports History
2019 Tiger Woods scores a wire-to-wire 3-stroke win over Hideki Matsuyama at the inaugural Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf & Country Club to tie Sam Snead's record of 82 PGA victories
- 2019 Wes Studi is the first Native American actor to receive an Oscar, an honorary award for career achievement
- 2020 A record 69.5 million Americans have already voted, a week before election day, 50.4% of 2016 total vote [1]
- 2020 Leader of the NXIVM cult Keith Raniere (60) sentenced to 120 years in prison for sex trafficking, racketeering, fraud and other crimes
- 2020 Organizers of 96th East-West Shrine Bowl college football all-star game, benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children, announce cancellation of game scheduled for January 23, 2021, in St. Petersburg, Florida, due to COVID-19 issues. The
- 2020 WHO confirms Europe is in the midst of a 2nd COVID-19 wave with cases rising rapidly, 30% in a week, deaths rising 40%
- 2021 Cleveland Guardians men's roller derby team files lawsuit seeking to block MLB baseball Cleveland Indians name change
- 2021 More than one million people in southern Madagascar are on the brink of famine according to Amnesty International, who urges world to provide relief
- 2023 Alliance of rebel armies begin Operation 1027, an offensive against the ruling military junta in Myanmar [1]
- 2023 Gaza plunged into a total communications blackout as Israel launches one of its biggest nights of bombing so far [1]
- 2023 Lewiston, Maine mass shooter who killed 18 people is found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his former place of employment [1]
- 2023 Taylor Swift releases her “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” album, beating her own Spotify record for most streams in a day [1]
