This Day in History

[fargon]

What V said twice!

[BigV]

Happy Birthday Ella Fitzgerald!!

It's not really possible to pick *one* favorite track by her, not really. But this one is easy to listen to over and over again... The little combo puts some real swing into it. And Ella, oh man... I agree. Let's just fall in love. Worth listening to the whole track, they let the tape roll and you can hear them talk about the recording. A favorite, among many.

[Gravdigr]

Seeing as I have nothing better to do...Onward.

[Gravdigr]

Today is April 26.

Many of the southern states in the U.S. celebrate Confederate Memorial Day today, commemorating the ~258,000 members of the Confederate States Army, Navy, Marines, and militia who died in combat during the Civil War.

Today is also Hug A Friend Day, so, hug somebody, dammit! Here's how.

As well, today is World Intellectual Property Day.

Russia, and Belarus, commemorate the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster with Memorial Day of Radiation Accidents and Catastrophes, and Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl Tragedy, respectively.

Today is the Feast Day of Aldobrandesca. But don't say that word aloud. I did, and my coffee table disappeared.


Events

1777 – Legend tells that Sybil Ludington, aged 16, rode 40 miles to alert American colonial forces to the approach of the British regular forces.

1803 – Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L'Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist. Yeah, if something's there, it pretty much exists, alright.

1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln, in Virginia.

1956 – SS Ideal X, the world's first successful container ship,



leaves Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas.

1958 – Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue



from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.

1981 – Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery.

1982 - Out on a day's shopping, Rod Stewart was robbed by a gunman of his $50,000 Porsche on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.

1986 – A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.

1989 – The deadliest tornado in world history strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.

1991 – Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak's end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year's only F5 tornado.

2005 – Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country.

2013 - US country singer George Jones who had a string of number one songs between the 1950s and 1990s, died aged 81. Nicknamed 'Possum', his signature song was He Stopped Loving Her Today, a track about love and death.



121 – Marcus Aurelius, 1785 – John James Audubon, 1822 – Frederick Law Olmsted, 1889 – Anita Loos, 1898 – Eddie Eagan, 1917 – I. M. Pei, 1927 - Grandmadigr The Younger, 1933 – Carol Burnett, 1938 – Duane Eddy♪ ♫, 1940 - Uncledigr The Elder, 1942 – Bobby Rydell♪ ♫, 1943 – Gary Wright, 1960 – Roger Taylor(Duran Duran), 1961 – Joan Chen, 1963 – Jet Li, 1965 – Kevin James, 1970 – Melania Trump (47th FLOTUS), 1970 – Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins♪ ♫(TLC), 1978 – Stana Katic (Castle), 1980 – Jordana Brewster (Fast & Furious), 1983 – Jessica Lynch



1865 – John Wilkes Booth, 1956 – Edward Arnold, 1970 – Gypsy Rose Lee, 1981 – Jim Davis (Dallas), 1984 – Count Basie, 1986 – Broderick Crawford, 1989 – Lucille Ball, 1991 – A. B. Guthrie, Jr., 2013 - George Jones, 2015 – Jayne Meadows

[Gravdigr]

Today is April 27.

1521 – Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu.

1667 – John Milton, blind and impoverished, sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.

1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The "shores of Tripoli" part of the Marines' Hymn).

1861 – American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.

1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.

1981 – Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.

1986 – The city of Pripyat as well as the surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl disaster.

2011 – The 2011 Super Outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee, killing 348 and injuring hundreds more. The outbreak spawned 362 confirmed tornadoes. 218 tornadoes touch down on this day. This event was the costliest tornado outbreak, and one of the costliest natural disasters, in United States history (even after adjustments for inflation), with total damages of approximately $11 billion (2011 USD).



1791 – Samuel Morse, 1822 – Ulysses S. Grant (18th POTUS), 1896 – Rogers Hornsby, 1899 – Walter Lantz, 1922 – Jack Klugman (Odd Couple, Quincy M.E.), 1926 – Tim LaHaye, 1927 – Coretta Scott King, 1932 – Casey Kasem, 1938 – Earl Anthony, 1944 – Cuba Gooding Sr., 1947 – Pete Ham♪ ♫(Badfinger), 1951 – Ace Frehley(KISS, Frehley's Comet), 1955 – Eric Schmidt (Executive Chairman of Alphabet, Inc), 1959 – Sheena Easton♪ ♫



1521 – Ferdinand Magellan, 1813 – Zebulon Pike (namesake of Pike's Peak), 1882 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1932 – Hart Crane, 1965 – Edward R. Murrow, 1988 – Fred Bear(American bow hunter), 1996 – William Colby, 1999 – Al Hirt♪ ♫, 2002 – Ruth Handler (created the Barbie doll), 2015 – Verne Gagne

[Gravdigr]

Today is April 29.

This date is observed as a Day of Remembrance For All Victims of Chemical Warfare, and also as International Dance Day.


Events

1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans.

1770 – James Cook arrives in Australia at Botany Bay, which he names.

1834 – Charles Darwin during the second survey voyage of HMS Beagle, ascended the Bell mountain, Cerro La Campana on 17 August 1834, his visit being commemorated by a memorial plaque.

1903 – A 30 million cubic-metre landslide kills 70 people in Frank, in the District of Alberta, Canada.

1944 – World War II: British agent Nancy Wake, a leading figure in the French Resistance and the Gestapo's most wanted person, parachutes back into France to be a liaison between London and the local maquis group.

1945 – World War II: Start of Operation Manna.

1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor; Hitler and Braun both commit suicide the following day. [video link]

1953 – The first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.

1967 – After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.

"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?" ~Muhammad Ali

1968 – The controversial musical Hair, a product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, opens at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway, with some of its songs becoming anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement.

1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.

1986 – A fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.

1992 – Riots in Los Angeles, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 53 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.

2015 – A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox sets the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball. Zero fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests.

2016 - Fifteen of Prince's (<--Wait for it...) albums made it into the UK chart as fans rushed to buy his music following his sudden death. Six were in the top 40 with The Very Best Of, Ultimate and Purple Rain at two, three and four.



1863 – William Randolph Hearst, 1899 – Duke Ellington, 1901 – Hirohito, 1917 – Celeste Holm, 1931 – Lonnie Donegan, 1933 – Rod McKuen, 1933 – Willie Nelson, 1935 – Otis Rush, 1936 – Zubin Mehta, 1938 – Bernard Madoff, 1943 – Duane Allen, 1947 – Tommy James, 1947 – Johnny Miller, 1951 – Dale Earnhardt, 1951 – John Holmes (no, not that one), 1952 – Nora Dunn, 1954 – Jerry Seinfeld, 1955 – Kate Mulgrew, 1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis, 1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer, 1958 – Eve Plumb, 1970 – Andre Agassi, 1970 – Uma Thurman



1967 – J. B. Lenoir, 1980 – Alfred Hitchcock, 1997 – Mike Royko, 2008 – Albert Hofmann, 2014 – Bob Hoskins, 2015 – Calvin Peete

[Gravdigr]

Today is April 30, the last day of April, and the 120th day of the year. One third of the year has passed.

There are 245 days remaining in 2017.

On this date Western Christianity observes a Global Day Of Prayer.

Honesty Day is marked today in the U.S., coinciding with the anniversary of the first inauguration of George Washington.

UNESCO has proclaimed this day as an International Jazz Day, so, if you're a musician, find four buddies and all of ya play a different song at the same time.


Events

1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.

1789 – On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.

1803 – Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for less than three cents per acre, $15 million (~$250,000,000 in 2016 dollars), more than doubling the size of the young nation.

1885 – Governor of New York David B. Hill signs legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York's first state park, ensuring that Niagara Falls will not be devoted solely to industrial and commercial use.

1927 – Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in concrete



at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

1945 – World War II: Stalag Luft I prisoner-of-war camp near Barth, Germany is liberated by Soviet soldiers, freeing nearly 9000 American and British airmen.

1956 – Former Vice President and Democratic Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia.

1963 – The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company's refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.

1975 – Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh.

1993 – CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.

2004 – U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

2008 – Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks.

2009 – Chrysler



files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.



1877 – Alice B. Toklas, 1908 – Eve Arden, 1926 – Cloris Leachman, 1938 – Gary Collins, 1943 – Bobby Vee, 1944 – Jill Clayburgh, 1953 – Merrill Osmond, 1954 – Jane Campion, 1961 – Isiah Thomas, 1963 – Michael Waltrip, 1981 – Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory), 1982 – Kirsten Dunst



65 – Lucan, 1900 – Casey Jones, 1956 – Alben W. Barkley (35th VPOTUS), 1970 – Inger Stevens, 1972 – Gia Scala, 1974 – Agnes Moorehead ('Endora' on Bewitched), 1983 – George Balanchine, 1983 – Muddy Waters, 1989 – Sergio Leone, 1994 – Richard Scarry, 2007 – Tom Poston, 2016 – Daniel Berrigan

[xoxoxoBruce]

1803 – Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for less than three cents per acre, $15 million (~$250,000,000 in 2016 dollars), more than doubling the size of the young nation.

I'd give $250 million for that property.

[Gravdigr]

Holy premiums Bruceman!!

Think of the insurance payments.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Think the rent would cover them? Of course I wouldn't do this for a profit, just to build a better America.

[Gravdigr]

Today is May 1.

There are 237 days until Christmas.

Today is May Day.

Today is also International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day.

In the U.S., today is Loyalty Day. Also observed today is Law Day.

Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Celtic Neopagans, and Wiccans observe this day as Beltane, while the Welsh celebrate Calan Mai.

International Workers' Day falls on this date. As does Lei Day.


Events

1707 – The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain.

1776 – Establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt.

1785 – Kamehameha I, the king of Hawaiʻi, defeats Kalanikūpule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

1786 – In Vienna, Austria, Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro is performed for the first time.

1820 – Execution of the Cato Street Conspirators.

1840 – The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.

1844 – Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second modern police force and Asia's first, is established.

1884 – Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.

1886 – Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries.

1893 – The World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.

1915 – The RMS Lusitania



departs from New York City on her 202nd, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives.

1945 – World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children are also killed by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths by their mother, Magda.

1945 – World War II: Up to 2,500 people die in a mass suicide in Demmin following the advance of the Red Army.

1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.

1956 – A doctor in Japan reports an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.

1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.

1964 - The Beatles received $140,000 dollars for the rights to having their pictures included in packages of bubble gum in the USA.

1966 - The Beatles played live for the last time in the UK when they appeared at the NME Poll Winners concert at Wembley Empire Pool.

1967 – Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu are married in Las Vegas.

1971 – Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service.

1978 – Japan's Naomi Uemura (<--Interesting read.), travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.

1979 - Elton John became the first pop star to perform in Israel.

1994 – Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

1999 – The body of British climber George Mallory is found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924.

2002 – OpenOffice.org released version 1.0, the first stable version of the software.

2003 – Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".

2003 - American soul singer Barry White suffered a stroke while being treated for kidney failure. The singer died two months later on July 4th.

2005 - Matchbox 20 singer Rob Thomas went to No.1 on the US album chart with his first solo album 'Something To Be.' This marked the first time a male artist from a rock group had debuted at number one with his first solo album since the Billboard Top 200 was introduced 50 years ago.

2013 - Chris Kelly, one half of the 1990s rap duo Kris Kross, died in an Atlanta hospital at the age of 34. Kelly had been found "unresponsive" at his home.

2016 – A wildfire starts in Fort McMurray, Alberta, causing a mandatory evacuation and a provincial state of emergency.



1852 – Calamity Jane, 1862 – Marcel Prévost, 1864 – Anna Jarvis (founded Mother's Day), 1895 – Nikolai Yezhov (head of Soviet NKVD), 1907 – Kate Smith, 1913 – Louis Nye, 1916 – Glenn Ford, 1918 – Jack Paar, 1924 – Art Fleming, 1924 – Terry Southern, 1925 – Scott Carpenter, 1934 – Shirley Horn, 1939 – Judy Collins, 1943 – Joe Walsh (no, not that one, this one's an Irish politician), 1945 – Rita Coolidge, 1946 – Joanna Lumley, 1946 – John Woo, 1949 – Paul Teutul, Sr. (American Chopper), 1950 – Dann Florek, 1954 – Ray Parker, Jr., 1960 – Stevie Cauthen, 1967 – Tim McGraw, 1972 – Julie Benz (Dexter), 1982 – Jamie Dornan (Christian Grey' in the Fifty Shades franchise)



1873 – David Livingstone ("Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"), 1945 – Joseph & Magda Goebbels, 1965 – Spike Jones, 1978 – Aram Khachaturian, 1994 – Ayrton Senna, 1998 – Eldridge Cleaver (so not the Beav's uncle), 2015 – Grace Lee Whitney (Star Trek: TOS)

The year was 1979:

U.S. #1 song:



U.K. #1 song:



U.S. #1 movie:



U.K. #1 movie:

Icouldnotfindanumberonemovieforthisperiodin1979intheUKsowhothefuckknows[/youtube]

[xoxoxoBruce]

May first is mighty busy, loyalty and law day has to be in response to the commies May Day. And the commies probably instigated workers day to undermine to poor capitalists who cares not a whit for profit, only to contribute to a better life for mankind.

But I'm green with envy today, thinking of Elspode dancing around the fire with naked and near naked ladies, for Beltane.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

The year was 1979:

I'm diggin this

[Gravdigr]

Today is May 2.


1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.

1611 – The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.

1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.

1829 – After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.

1863 – American Civil War: Confederate General Stonewall Jackson



is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He loses his left arm, and succumbs to pneumonia eight days later. Upon learning of Jackson's injury Robert E. Lee wrote to Jackson, saying "Could I have directed events, I would have chosen for the good of the country to be disabled in your stead." While Jackson lay dying Lee sent him a message via the Chaplain, "Give General Jackson my affectionate regards, and say to him: he has lost his left arm, but, I, my right." Toward the end, and near death, Jackson stated "It is the Lord's Day; my wish is fulfilled. I have always desired to die on Sunday."

Dr McGuire wrote of Jackson's last moments and words:

A few moments before he died he cried out in his delirium, "Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly! Tell Major Hawks"—then stopped, leaving the sentence unfinished. Presently a smile of ineffable sweetness spread itself over his pale face, and he said quietly, and with an expression, as if of relief, "Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees."

1918 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.

1952 – The world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.

1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USS Card while it is docked at Saigon. A North Vietnamese frogman had placed a bomb on the ship. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.

1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2



departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.

1970 - One-hit-wonder Norman Greenbaum was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Spirit In The Sky.'

1972 - Bruce Springsteen auditioned for CBS Records A&R man John Hammond in New York. Springsteen played a short set for him in his office; Hammond was so impressed that he arranged a real audition that night at the Gaslight Club in New York for other Columbia executives. He passed the audition.

1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.

1986 – Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster.

1989 - A security guard alerted the police after a man wearing a wig, fake moustache and false teeth walked into Zales Jewellers, California. Three squad cars arrived and police detained the man, who turned out to be Michael Jackson in disguise.

2000 – President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military. And there was much rejoicing.

2005 - Eric Clapton joined former Cream members drummer Ginger Baker and bass player Jack Bruce for the first of four nights at London's Royal Albert Hall 36 years after they had split up. Tickets were changing hands for more than £500 on eBay and fans had flown over from the USA to witness the reunion, which Clapton aged 60, is said to have agreed to because of the failing health of the other former members of the band.

2011 – Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man, is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. And there was much rejoicing.

2011 – An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak. Not a lot of rejoicing.

2012 – A pastel version of The Scream,



by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.



1729 – Catherine the Great, 1859 – Jerome K. Jerome, 1885 – Hedda Hopper, 1892 – Manfred von Richthofen "The Red Baron", 1903 – Benjamin Spock, 1907 – Pinky Lee, 1922 – Roscoe Lee Browne (The Cowboys), 1925 – John Neville (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen), 1929 – Link Wray, 1936 – Engelbert Humperdinck, 1945 – Bianca Jagger, 1946 – Lesley Gore, 1946 – David Suchet (Agatha Christie's Poirot), 1947 – James Dyson, 1948 – Larry Gatlin, 1950 – Lou Gramm (Foreigner), 1951 – John Glascock (Jethro Tull), 1972 – Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, 1975 – David Beckham, 1980 – Ellie Kemper (The Office), 1985 – Lily Allen, 1985 – Kyle Busch



1519 – Leonardo da Vinci, 1880 – Eberhard Anheuser (of Anheuser-Busch, PBUH), 1957 – Joseph McCarthy, 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover, 1990 – David Rappaport (Time Bandits), 1999 – Oliver Reed, 2009 – Jack Kemp, 2010 – Lynn Redgrave, 2011 – Osama bin Laden, 2014 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., 2015 – Ruth Rendell, 2016 – Afeni Shakur (Black Panther, and Tupac's mother)

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

May 3, 1715

A total solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Edmund Halley to within 4 minutes accuracy.

1802

Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city.

1915

The poem In Flanders Fields is written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.

1937

Gone With The Wind wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

1952

The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time.

1973

The 108-story Sears Tower, in Chicago, is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world's tallest building.

1978

The first spam email is sent .

1987

Bobby Allison crashes at Talladega Superspeedway, leading NASCAR to develop restrictor plates for the Daytona, and Talledega races the next year.

1999

An F5 tornado strikes southwest Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, producing a wind speed of 301 mph (+/- 20 mph), the highest wind speed ever recorded. It is one of 66 tornadoes that day.

2000

Geocaching becomes a thing.

2003

New Hampshire's famous Old Man of the Mountain collapses.

Births

1849 – Jacob Riis; 1874 – François Coty; 1879 – Fergus McMaster; 1903 – Bing Crosby; 1906 – Mary Astor; 1917 – Betty Comden; 1919 – Pete Seeger; 1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson; 1928 – Dave Dudley; 1932 – Robert Osborne; 1933 – James Brown, Brother Stair; 1934 – Frankie Valli; 1935 – Ron Popeil; 1944 – Pete Staples; 1947 – Doug Henning; 1951 – Christopher Cross; 1953 – Bruce Hall; 1975 – Willie Geist; 1975 – Christina Hendricks; 1981 – J. Tillman

Deaths

1972 – Bruce Cabot; 1986 – Robert Alda; 1996 – Jack Weston; 2006 – Earl Woods; 2007 – Wally Schirra; 2011 – Jackie Cooper