On this day...

0772 Stephen III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0817 Stephen IV ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0817 St Paschal I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Stephen IV
1076 Synod of Worms German King Henry IV fires Pope Gregory VII
1118 Giovanni Caetani elected Pope Gelasius II
1328 King Edward III of England marries Philippa of Henegouwen
1458 Matthias I Corvinus chosen king of Hungary
1534 François I signs classified treaty with evangelical German monarchy
1568 In the Netherlands, Duke of Alva declares William of Orange an outlaw
1568 Abdij Church in Middelburg destroyed by fire
1613 Amsterdam merchant Hans Bontemantel baptized
1616 Jacques Le Maire discovers Street Lemaire/Cape Receiver
1634 Emperor Ferdinand II declares Albrecht von Wallenstein a traitor
1639 Connecticut colony organizes under Fundamental Orders
1644 Battle at Nantwich Cheshire Parliamentary armies win
1652 Duke of Orléans joins Fronde rebels
1656 1st Jewish doctor in US, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland
1659 Pierre Corneille's "Oedipe" premieres in Paris
1679 King Charles II disbands English parliament
1722 Edward Wigglesworth appointed 1st US divinity professor (Harvard)
1722 Czar Peter the Great begins civil system
1742 German leaders elect Charles VII Albert Emperor
1764 Governor Winthrop Telescope, is destroyed in a Harvard fire
1839 Charles Darwin elected member of Royal Society
1847 1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Colonel Price
1848 James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma CA
1861 Arsenal at Augusta GA seized by Confederacy
1861 Federal troops from Fort Monroe are sent to Fort Pikens
1862 Romania principality arises under King Alexander Cuza
1874 General J van Swieten conquers Kraton Atjeh, after 1000's die
1874 Mussorgsky's opera "Boris Godunov" premieres in St Petersburg Russia
1875 Camille Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre" premieres
1892 Battle at Mengo, Uganda French missionaries attack British missionaries
1899 Rubber heel patented by Humphrey O'Sullivan
1899 Belgium government of Vandenpeereboom forms
1900 Newcastle Badminton Club, world's oldest, formed in England
1900 Battle at Tugela-Spionkop, South Africa (Boers vs British army)
1901 1st games played in baseball's American League
1901 Emily Hobhouse views Lord Kitchener's concentration camp at Bloemfontein
1902 Denmark sells Virgin Islands to USA
1908 General Baden-Powell starts Boy-Scouts
1913 Franz Kafka stops working on "Amerika"; it will never be finished
1914 The opera "Madeleine" is produced (New York City NY)
1915 German-British sea battle at Doggersbank & Helgoland
1922 -54ºF (-48ºC), Danbury WI (state record)
1922 Eskimo Pie patented by Christian K Nelson of Iowa (not an Eskimo)
1922 Lehman Caves National Monument established
1923 Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico established
1924 Mussolini disallows non-fascists work union
1924 Russian city of St Petersburg renamed Leningrad
1925 Moving picture of a solar eclipse taken from dirigible over Long Island
1925 Sandler follows Branting as premier of Sweden
1930 J E Mills scores 117 on Test Cricket debut, New Zealand vs England, Wellington
1930 Stewie Dempster scores New Zealand's 1st Test century
1933 Noël Coward's "Design for Living" premieres in New York City NY
1935 1st canned beer, "Krueger Cream Ale", is sold by Kruger Brewing Co in Richmond VA
1936 Benny Goodman & orchestra record "Stompin' at the Savoy" on Victor Records
1939 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile
1939 Eddie Collins, Willie Keeler & George Sisler elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1939 Spanish government moves to Figueras
1941 British troops march into Abyssinia
1942 Musical "Star & Garter" premieres in New York City NY
1943 Hitler orders nazi troops at Stalingrad to fight to death
1943 Jewish patients/nurses/doctors incinerated at Auschwitz-Birkenau
1944 Allied troops occupy Nettuno Italy
1945 Scottish 52nd Lowland division occupies Heinsberg
1947 NFL adds 5th official (back judge) & allows sudden death in playoffs
1948 "Music in My Heart" closes at Adelphi Theater New York City NY after 124 performances
1948 Australia all out 674 vs India (Bradman 201, Hassett 198*)
1948 Dutch Liberal Party forms-People's party for Freedom & Democracy (VVD)
1950 Jackie Robinson signs highest contract ($35,000) in Dodger history
1951 Dutch government Drees-van Schaik resigns
1952 Fire in main building of French Port Martin Antarctic base
1952 1st NFL team in Texas, Dallas Texans formerly New York Yankees
1954 Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Tampa Women's Golf Open
1954 BPAA All-Star Tournament won by Don Carter
1956 96.5 cm precipitation at Kilauea Plantation, Hawaii (state record)
1958 After warming to 100,000,000º, 2 light atoms are bashed together to create a heavier atom, resulting in 1st man-made nuclear fusion
1959 "Party with Comden & Green" closes at John Golden New York City NY after 38 performances
1959 Dmitri Shostakovich's comedy "Cheryomushk" premieres in Moscow
1959 WHCT TV channel 18 in Hartford CT (IND) begins broadcasting
1960 Algeria uprises against French President De Gaulle
1961 Lazard Brithers Ltd draw a check for $334,867,807.68
1961 Edward Albee's "American Dream" premieres in New York City NY
1962 28 refugees escape from East to West Germany
1962 Brian Epstein signs management contract with the Beatles
1962 Jackie Robinson is 1st Black elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1962 Mickey Wright/Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Naples Pro-Am Golf Tournament
1963 Buddy Rogers & Lou Thesz wrestle in Toronto, Rogers becomes WWF wrestling champ & Thesz becomes NWA champ
1964 CBS purchases 1964 & 1965 NFL TV rights for $28.2 million
1964 24th Amendment to US Constitution goes into effect & states voting rights could not be denied due to failure to pay taxes
1964 Martin Kresses final comic strip of Eric the Viking
1966 WDIO TV channel 10 in Duluth MN (ABC) begins broadcasting
1969 Queen Juliana appointed honorary citizen of Addis Ababa
1969 Spanish General Franco announces state of emergency
1970 3rd ABA All-Star Game West 128 beats East 98 at Indiana
1970 Valeri Muratov skates world record 500m (38.99 seconds)
1971 NFL Pro Bowl NFC beats AFC 27-6 (1st Pro Bowl after NFL-AFL merger)
1972 WRIP (now WDSI) TV channel 61 in Chattanooga TN (IND) 1st broadcast
1973 Warren Spahn is elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1975 "Hot l Baltimore" situation comedy premieres on ABC TV
1975 Fastest Earth-bound object, 7200 kph, in vacuum centrifuge, England
1976 Cleveland Cavaliers biggest margin victory-43 points (beat Milwaukee 132-89)
1976 George Foreman KOs Ron Lyle in 5th round of a real slugfest
1977 5 lawyers murdered by fascist in Madrid
1978 31st NHL All-Star Game Wales beat Campbell 3-2 (OT) at Buffalo
1978 Carter Executive Order on Intelligence (#12036)
1979 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981 Islanders scored 5 power play goals against Nordiques
1981 Kim Hughes scores 213 vs India at Adelaide
1982 Super Bowl XVI San Francisco 49ers beat Cincinnati Bengals, 26-21 in Pontiac MI; Super Bowl MVP Joe Montana, San Francisco, Quarterback
1983 Hulk Hogan pins the Iron Sheik for World Wrestling Federation title
1984 Apple Computer Inc unveils its Macintosh personal computer
1985 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 is launched
1986 New York Islander Mike Bossy scores his 1,000th point
1986 Voyager 2 makes 1st fly-by of Uranus (81,593 km), finds new moons
1986 43rd Golden Globes Whoopi Goldberg, Color Purple win
1986 South Yemen Premier Haydar Bakr al-Attas becomes interim-president
1987 61st Australian Women's Tennis H Mandlikova beat M Navratilova (75 76)
1988 1st WWF Royal Rumble - Jim Duggan wins
1988 76th Australian Men's Tennis M Wilander beats P Cash (63 67 36 61 86)
1988 9th ACE Cable Awards
1988 Australia beat New Zealand 2-0 to win the World Series Cup
1988 Cerebral Palsy telethon
1989 1st reported case of AIDS transmitted by heterosexual oral sex
1990 Japanese MUSES-A (Hiten) launched towards moon
1991 "Les Miserables" opens at Theatre St Denis, Montréal
1993 14th annual star-athon $24,000,000
1993 Polish ferry boat John Heweliusz sinks, 52 killed
1993 Soyuz TM-16 launches
1993 US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Davis
1994 Dow Jones closes above 3,900 for 1st time (3,914.48)

0041 Caligula [G C Germanicus], Roman emperor (37-41), assassinated at 28
0661 Ali ibn Abu Talib kalief of Islam (656-61), murdered
0772 Stefanus III/IV pope (768-72), dies
0817 Stefanus IV [V/Colonna], pope (816-17), dies
1336 Alfonso IV the Benignant, king of Aragon (1327-36), dies at 36
1473 Conrad Paumann German blind organist/composer, dies
1547 Henry Howard Earl of Surrey, executed for treason
1639 George Jenatsch Grisons leader, assassinated
1666 Johann Andreas Herbst composer, dies at 77
1678 Joan Maetsuyker Governor-General of Netherlands East-Indies, dies at 72
1805 Giacomo Conti composer, dies at 50
1812 Eligio Celestino composer, dies at 72
1851 Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini Italian composer, dies at 76
1862 James McIntosh US confederate Brigadier General, dies in battle at about 33
1864 Otto Jonas Lindblad composer, dies at 54
1864 Stephen Gardner Champlin Brigadier General (Union), dies at about 36
1883 Friedrich von Flotow German baron/composer, dies at 70
1884 Johann Christian Gebauer composer, dies at 75
1885 Martin R Delany politician & black nationalist, dies at 72
1901 Simon Hassler composer, dies at 68
1904 Franz Coenen composer, dies at 77
1911 Carl Eilhardt composer, dies at 67
1913 Gustav Luders composer, dies at 47
1924 Thephilo Braga Portuguese poet/politician, dies at 80
1929 Willem Royaards theater director (Adam in Ballingschap), dies
1940 Emile van Bosch revue/operetta-artist, dies at 52
1943 John Burns English minister of Local Government (1905-14), dies
1947 Felix Timmermans writer/painter (Gift from St Nicholas), dies at 60
1950 Bull Montana actor (Son of Sheik), dies at 62
1953 [Karl R] Gerd von Rundstedt General-field marshal (Normandy), dies at 77
1957 Daniel Taylor cricketer (brother of Herbie, 2 Tests for South Africa 1914), dies
1960 John Miljan actor (Charlie Chan in Paris, Yankee Clipper), dies at 66
1960 Rutland Boughton composer, dies at 82
1961 Willem J M van Eysinga people rights scholar, dies at 82
1962 Tom Shirley actor/TV announcer (They're Off), dies at 62
1964 Joseph Schildkraut actor (Joseph Schildkraut Presents), dies at 68
1965 Winston Churchill PM of Britain (C) (1940-45, 51-55), dies at 90
1967 Howard Charles Shaiffer entertainer, dies at 49
1969 Pauline Hall composer, dies at 78
1969 Tom Zachary baseball pitcher (Washington Senators), dies at 72
1970 James "Shep" Shepherd rocker (Shep & Limelites), beaten to death
1972 Jerome Cowan actor (Mr Dithers-Blondie), dies at 74
1973 J Carrol Naish actor (Charlie Chan-Adventures of Charlie Chan), dies at 72
1973 Alan Lisette cricketer (took 3 wickets in 2 Tests for New Zealand 1956), dies
1975 Larry Fine actor (3 Stooges), dies at 72
1979 Jerry Damon comedian (That Was The Week That Was), dies at 51
1979 Mabel Taliaferro actress (My Love Come Back), dies at 91
1983 George Cukor director, dies of stroke & heart attack at 83
1986 Gordon MacRae singer (Oklahoma, Carousel), dies at 64
1986 L[aFayette] Ron[ald] Hubbard author/founder of Scientology (Dianetics,Death Quest), dies at 74
1988 Charles Glenn King biochemist (discovered vitamin C), dies at 91
1989 Ted Bundy serial killer of up to 100 women, executed in Florida at 42
1990 Madge Bellamy actress (White Zombie), dies at 87
1991 George Gobel comedian, dies of a heart attack at 71
1991 Lawrence Lott actor (Real Men, Philadelphia Experiment), dies of AIDS at 40
1992 Charles Moulin French actor (French Tarzan), dies
1992 John Bleifer actor (Highway to Heaven), dies at 90
1992 Tina Chow model, dies of AIDs at 41
1993 Thurgood Marshall 1st black supreme court justice (1967-91), dies 84
1993 Ugur Mumcu Turkish journalist (Cumhuriyet Murder), dies
1994 Michalis Vranopoulos head of Greek state bank, murdered at 48
1995 Ian Prestt English ornithologist, dies at 65
1995 Victor Reinganum artist, dies at 87
1995 Wim H Sinnige Amsterdam PvdA alderman of Finance, dies at 60
1996 Sandor Iharos athlete, dies at 65
1996 Ursula Heathcote Nicholls campaigner, dies at 75
1997 Callum Alexander MacDonald historian, dies at 49
1998 Jay Monahan husband of Katie Couric, dies of cancer at 42

Thought for the day :