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1959–Actor, Errol Flynn, dies of a pulmonary embolism in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at age 50. Considered one of Hollywood's most notorious stars, he was the screen's most famous Robin Hood. He appeared in the films Captain Blood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Prince and the Pauper, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, They Died with Their Boots On, Gentleman Jim, Adventures of Don Juan, That Forsyte Woman, Montana, Against All Flags, The Sun Also Rises, and Too Much, Too Soon.


1066–During the Norman Conquest, in England, on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, the Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeat the English army and kill King Harold II of England.

1257–Przemysal II of Poland is born in Poznan, Kingdom of Poland. After a long period of Polish High Dukes and two nominal kings, he was the first to obtain the hereditary title of King, returning Poland to the rank of Kingdom.

1318–Edward Bruce, High King of Ireland, dies in battle at age 38.

1322–Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence.

1582–Due to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.

1586–Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for conspiracy against Elizabeth I of England.

1618–Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, is born Abul Muzaffar Muhi-ud-Din Mohammad Aurangzeb in Dahod, Mughal Empire. He was the sixth Mughal Emperor and ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent during some parts of his reign.

1631–Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow dies in Nyköping, Södermanland County, Sweden, at age 74. At the time of her death, she was the richest woman in Northern Europe. She was a German noble and Queen of Denmark and Norway.

1632–Francis II, Duke of Lorraine, dies in Badonviller, France, at age 60.

1633–James II of England is born at St. James's Palace in London, England. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1644–Businessman, William Penn, is born in London, England. He was a real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony, and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed.

1656–Massachusetts enacts the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The marriage of church-and-state in Puritanism makes them regard the Quakers as spiritually apostate and politically subversive.

1711–Tewoflos, Ethiopian Emperor, dies under suspicious circumstances.

1758–During the Seven Years' War, Austria defeats Prussia at the Battle of Hochkirch.

1773–The first recorded Ministry of Education, the Commission of National Education, is formed in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1773–Just before the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, several of the British East India Company's tea ships are set ablaze at the old seaport of Annapolis, Maryland.

1784–Ferdinand VII of Spain is born Fernando Francisco de Paula Domingo Vincente Ferrer Antonio José Joaquín Pascual Diego Juan Nepomuceno Januario Francisco Javier Rafael Miguel Gabriel Calisto Cayetano Fausto Luis Raimundo Gregorio Lorenzo Jerónimo in El Escorial, Spain. Under his rule, Spain lost nearly all of its American possessions, and the country entered into civil war on his death.

1803–Mystic and philosopher, Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, dies at Aulnay (present-day Châtenay-Malabry), France. He was the first to translate the writings of Jakob Böhme from German into French. His later years were devoted almost entirely to the composition of his chief works and to the translation of Böhme. His published letters show that he was interested in spiritualism, magnetic treatments, magical evocation, and the works of Emanuel Swedenborg.

1808–The Republic of Ragusa is annexed by France.

1812–Work on Regent's Canal begins in London, England.

1840–The Maronite leader, Bashir II, surrenders to the British Army and is sent into exile on the islands of Malta.

1843–The British arrest Irish nationalist, Daniel O'Connell, for conspiracy to commit crimes.

1863–In the American Civil War, Confederate troops, under the command of General Robert E. Lee, fail to drive the Union Army completely out of Virginia, during the Battle of Bristoe Station.

1880–Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.

1882–The University of the Punjab is founded in a part of India that later will become West Pakistan.

1882–Irish leader, Éamon De Valera, is born in New York, New York. Éamon was taken to Ireland by his uncle Ned at the age of two. In 1904, he graduated in mathematics from the Royal University of Ireland. He then studied for a year at Trinity College Dublin. When his erstwhile ally, Michael Collins, negotiated the establishment of the Irish Free State, De Valera pulled his party out. Eventually, when the new constitution was established for the new country of Eire in 1937, he assumed the office of Prime Minister. He eventually became President of the Republic of Ireland, leaving office at age 91.

1884–George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film.

1888–Louis Le Prince films the first motion picture, called Roundhay Garden Scene.

1898–The steamer ship SS Mohegan sinks after impacting the Manacles near Cornwall, United Kingdom, killing 106 people.

1890–Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States, is born Dwight David Eisenhower in Denison, Texas. During World War II, he was a five-star general in the U.S. Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe. In 1952, Eisenhower entered the presidential race as a Republican in order to block the foreign policies of Senator Robert A. Taft. He won that election and the 1956 election in landslides, when he defeated Adlai Stevenson. He became the first Republican winner to accomplish this since 1928. Eisenhower's main goals in office were to contain the expansion of the Soviet Union and reduce federal deficits. Since the late 20th century, consensus among Western scholars has consistently held Eisenhower as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

1893–Actress, Lillian (Diana) Gish, is born in Springfield, Ohio. Her film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 (in silent film shorts) to 1987. Gish was called the First Lady of American Cinema, and she is credited with pioneering fundamental film performing techniques. She appeared in the films Duel in the Sun, Portrait of Jennie, The Trip to Bountiful, The Cobweb, The Night of the Hunter, The Unforgiven, Follow Me, Boys!, Warning Shot, The Comedians, A Wedding, Hambone and Hillie, Sweet Liberty, and The Whales of August.

1894–Poet, e.e. cummings, is born Edward Estlin Cummings in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He became one of the most popular and most frequently anthologized poets of the 20th century. His poetry was known not only for its biting sarcasm and satire, but also for its experimentation with form, punctuation, spelling, and syntax. Cummings was a painter as well as a poet, and he included elements of visual arts in his writing.

1898–The steamer ship, SS Mohegan, sinks after impacting the Manacles near Cornwall, England, killing 106 people.

1908–The Chicago Cubs defeat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0, clinching the World Series.

1910–English aviator, Claude Grahame-White, lands his Farman Aircraft biplane on Executive Avenue near the White House in Washington, D.C.

1912–While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carries out his scheduled public speech.

1913–The Senghenydd colliery disaster, the United Kingdom's worst coal mining accident, claims the lives of 439 miners.

1915–During World War I, Bulgaria joins the Central Powers.

1916–Architect, William Lightfoot Price, dies at age 55. He played an important role in Modernist architecture, developing the vertical designs which would become the model for both the skyscrapers and the mid-highrise buildings that would later populate city skylines. He pioneered the use of reinforced concrete. A Quaker, Price was one of the founders of the utopian communities of Arden, Delaware, and Rose Valley, Pennsylvania.

1919–Forbidden by Vanity Fair to discuss how much money they are making, Robert Benchley, Robert Sherwood, and Dorothy Parker wear signs around their necks that reveal their salaries.

1920–Part of Petsamo Province is ceded to Finland by the Soviet Union.

1924–Biologist and cancer researcher, Leo Sachs, is born in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. Focusing on blood stem cells (a small group of bone marrow cells that produce some 200 billion new blood cells every day), in 1963, Sachs designed the first cell culture system able to grow, clone, and induce the development of different types of normal blood cells. He also demonstrated, for the first time, that malignancy can be reversed.

1926–Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, makes its debut.

1927–Scribner's publishes Ernest Hemingway's short-story collection Men Without Women.

1927–Actor, Roger (George) Moore, is born in Stockwell, London, England. He is best known for the role of the British secret agent, James Bond, in seven feature films between 1973 and 1985. He is also known for the role of Simon Templar in the TV series The Saint. He appeared in the films The Last Time I Saw Paris, Ivanhoe, The Sins of Rachel Cade, Shout at the Devil, and The Cannonball Run.

1933–Nazi Germany withdraws from the League of Nations and World Disarmament Conference.

1938–The first flight of the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter plane takes place.

1939–The German submarine, U-47, sinks the British battleship, HMS Royal Oak, within her harbor at Scapa Flow, Scotland.

1939–BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) is formed.

1939–Fashion designer, philanthropist, and business executive, Ralph Lauren, is born Ralph Lifshitz in the Bronx, New York. He is best known for the Ralph Lauren design collections. Lauren began his design business with a line of ties made out of rags: he ran the startup out of a drawer in the Empire State Building. He sold the ties himself to small shops, until Neiman Marcus bought 1,200 of them. His necktie store followed in 1967, where Lauren first used the name Polo for his label. By 1970, Lauren had established a menswear line and a line of suits for women. He received recognition for his designs after providing costumes for the film, The Great Gatsby, and for Diane Keaton's character in Annie Hall. By 2007, Lauren had 35 boutiques in America, and in 2010, it was reported that the Ralph Lauren Co. had revenues of $5 billion for the fiscal year 2009.

1940–The Balham underground station disaster in London, England, kills 66 people in the station during the Nazi Luftwaffe air raids on Great Britain.

1940–British pop singer, Cliff Richard, is born Harry Rodger Webb in Lucknow, United Provinces, British India. Richard has sold more than 250 million records worldwide. He has total sales of over 21 million singles in the United Kingdom and is the third-top-selling artist in U.K. Singles Chart history, only behind The Beatles and Elvis Presley. With his backing group, The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the pre-Beatles period of the late 1950s to early 1960s.

1943–Prisoners at the Nazi German Sobibór extermination camp in Poland, revolt against the Germans, killing 11 SS guards, and wounding many more. About 300 of the Sobibor Camp's 600 prisoners escape, and about 50 of these survive the end of the war.

1943–José P. Laurel takes the oath of office as President of the Philippines.

1944–Linked to a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is forced to commit suicide.

1946–Justin (David) Hayward, of The Moody Blues, is born in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. He wrote the hit songs Tuesday Afternoon and Nights in White Satin.

1947–U.S. Air Force Captain, Chuck Yeager, rides the X-1 (attached to the belly of a B-29 bomber) to an altitude of 25,000 feet over dry Rogers Lake in California. After releasing from the B-29, he rocketed to an altitude of 40,000 feet and became the first person to break the sound barrier. Thus begins the era in America of the “sonic boom.”

1949–Eleven leaders of the American Communist Party are convicted of conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. Federal Government, after a nine-month trial in a Federal District Court.

1949–During the Chinese Civil War, Chinese Communist forces occupy the city of Guangzhou (Canton), in Guangdong, China.

1952–During the Korean War, United Nations and South Korean forces launch Operation Showdown against Chinese strongholds at the Iron Triangle. The resulting Battle of Triangle Hill is the biggest and bloodiest battle of 1952.

1954–With a cast of 25,000, the C.B. DeMille epic, The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston, begins filming in Egypt.

1955–Buddy Holly opens for Bill Haley & His Comets in Lubbock, Texas. His performance is seen by Nashville talent scout, Eddie Crandell, who sets up a demo session for Holly and his band.

1955–Chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author, Thomas Keller, is born at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California. Keller's much acclaimed Napa Valley Restaurant, The French Laundry, is a staple on the Restaurant Magazine list of the "Top 50 Restaurants of the World." He has won numerous James Beard Foundation awards, including Best California Chef in 1996, and Best Chef in America in 1997. Keller is the only American chef to have earned simultaneous three star Michelin ratings for two different restaurants, the French Laundry and his New York City restaurant Per Se.

1956–Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Indian Untouchable caste leader, converts to Buddhism, along with 385,000 of his followers.

1957–Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first Canadian monarch to open up an annual session of the Canadian Parliament, presenting her speech from the throne in Ottawa, Canada.

1957–At least 81 people are killed in a devastating flood in Valencia, Spain.

1957–The Elvis Presley single, Jailhouse Rock, is released.

1958–The District of Columbia's Bar Association votes to accept African-Americans as member attorneys.

1959–Actor, Errol Flynn, dies of a pulmonary embolism in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at age 50. Considered one of Hollywood's most notorious stars, he was the screen's most famous Robin Hood. He appeared in the films Captain Blood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Prince and the Pauper, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, They Died with Their Boots On, Gentleman Jim, Adventures of Don Juan, That Forsyte Woman, Montana, Against All Flags, The Sun Also Rises, and Too Much, Too Soon.

1961–Fashion designer and TV personality, Isaac Mizrahi, is born in Brooklyn, New York. He presented his first collection at a Bergdorf Goodman trunk show in 1987. The line garnered immediate success, with orders from numerous retailers. In 1992, Chanel bought a stake in Mizrahi's line, but despite continued critical praise, sales were up and down year to year. This was attributed by many to the fact that Mizrahi was known for changing styles each year, never developing a "Mizrahi look." He has appeared on numerous television shows, and has a fashion line sold exclusively on QVC. He has also designed costumes for Broadway revivals: The Women in 2001, and Barefoot in the Park and The Threepenny Opera in 2006.

1962–The Cuban Missile Crisis begins, as a U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane and its pilot fly over Cuba, taking photographs of Soviet SS-4 Sandal missiles being installed and erected on the island.

1963–Photographs of The Beatles’ London Palladium performance are published on the front pages of every newspaper in London, England.

1964–Martin Luther King, Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize. He donated the $54,000 to support civil rights in the U.S.

1964–Leonid Brezhnev becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and along with his allies, such as Alexei Kosygin, the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), ousts the former monolithic leader, Nikita Khrushchev, sending him into retirement as a nonperson in the USSR.

1966–The city of Montreal, Canada, begins the operation of its underground Montreal Metro rapid transit system.

1966–The first issue of International Times hits the news stands. It is the first British underground newspaper.

1966–Grace Slick makes her first appearance with Jefferson Airplane.

1967–Folk singer, Joan Baez, is arrested concerning a physical blockade of the U.S. Army's induction center in Oakland, California.

1968–Twenty-seven soldiers are arrested at the Presidio of San Francisco, California, for their peaceful protest of stockade conditions and the Vietnam War.

1968–The U.S. Department of Defense announces that the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps will send about 24,000 soldiers and Marines back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours of duty in the combat zone.

1968–The first live TV broadcast by American astronauts in orbit is performed by the crew of Apollo 7.

1968–American Jim Hines becomes the first man ever to break the so-called "ten-second barrier" in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 9.95 seconds in the Summer Olympic Games held in Mexico City, Mexico.

1968–A 6.8 earthquake destroys Meckering, Australia.

1969–The United Kingdom introduces the 50p (fifty-pence) coin, replacing the 10-shilling note, in anticipation of the decimalization of the currency in 1971.

1970–Actor and amateur boxer, Jon Seda, is born Jonathan Seda in New York, New York. He has appeared in the films Gladiator, Selena, and The Pacific. Seda has had many recurring television roles, but he is best known for the role of Paul Falsone on Homicide: Life on the Street.

1972–British rocker, Joe Cocker, is arrested with his band in Adelaide, Australia. The police claim to have confiscated marijuana, heroin, and hypodermic syringes.

1973–In the Thammasat student uprising, over 100,000 people protest in Thailand against the Thanom military government: 77 are killed and 857 others are injured by soldiers.

1976–Actress, Dame Edith Evans, dies in Kent, England, at age 88. She was best known for her work on the stage, but also worked in films at the beginning and towards the end of her career. She appeared in the films The Importance of Being Earnest, Look Back in Anger, The Nun’s Story, Tom Jones, The Chalk Garden, Young Cassidy, The Whisperers, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Scrooge, and A Doll’s House.

1977–At a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa, Anita Bryant is "pied" on camera by gay-rights activist, Tom Higgins.

1977–Singer-actor, Bing Crosby, dies of a heart attack in Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain, at age 74. Crosby's trademark warm bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, having sold over one billion records, tapes, compact discs, and digital downloads around the world. He starred in the “Road” movies with Bob Hope and also appeared in the films Anything Goes, Pennies from Heaven, Birth of the Blues, Holiday Inn, Going My Way, The Bells of St. Mary's, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Country Girl, High Society, and High Time. He recorded dozens of songs over his long career, but is best known for the classic holiday song White Christmas.

1978–Singer, Usher, is born Usher Raymond IV in Dallas, Texas.

1979–The first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C., the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, demands "an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people." The march draws approximately 100,000 people.

1981–Citing official misconduct in the investigation and trial, Amnesty International charges the U.S. Federal Government with holding Richard Marshall of the American Indian Movement as a political prisoner.

1981–Vice President, Hosni Mubarak, is elected as the President of Egypt one week after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat.

1982–President Ronald Reagan proclaims a War on Drugs.

1983–Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, is overthrown and later executed in a military coup d'état led by Bernard Coard.

1984–"Baby Fae" receives a heart transplant from a baboon.

1990–Composer and conductor, Leonard Bernstein, dies of a heart attack brought on by mesothelioma in New York, New York, at age 72. He had announced his retirement less than a week earlier. A longtime heavy smoker, he had battled emphysema from his mid-1950s. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the U.S. to receive worldwide acclaim. His fame derived from his long tenure as the music director of the New York Philharmonic, from his conducting of concerts with most of the world's leading orchestras, and from his music for West Side Story, Peter Pan, Candide, Wonderful Town, On the Town, On the Waterfront, and a range of other compositions, including three symphonies and many shorter chamber and solo works.

1991–Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1994–Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat; Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin; and Foreign Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in the establishment of the Oslo Accords and the framing of the future Palestinian Self Government.

1997–Sir Paul McCartney’s classical symphony, Standing Stone, is given its premiere performance at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. Critical reaction is mixed.

1998–Eric Rudolph is charged with six bombings, including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia.

1990–Composer and conductor, Leonard Bernstein, dies at age 72. He had announced his retirement less than a week earlier.

1997–Sir Paul McCartney’s classical symphony, Standing Stone, is given its premiere performance at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. Critical reaction is mixed.

1998–Writer and critic, Cleveland Amory, dies in Mantattan, New York, at age 81. From the 1950s through the 1990s, he had a long career as a reporter and writer for national magazines, and as a television and radio commentator. Amory is also known for his work on behalf of animal rights, particularly protection of animals from hunting and vivisection: the executive director of the Humane Society of the United States described Amory as "the founding father of the modern animal protection movement."

2000–The Beatles Anthology book is #1 on The New York Times non-fiction best seller list.

2006–The college football brawl between University of Miami and Florida International University leads to the suspensions of 31 players on both teams.

2006–Country singer, Freddie Fender, dies of lung cancer in Corpus Christi, Texas, at age 69. On March 13, 2001, Fender was erroneously reported to be dead by Billboard magazine. He laughed off the the mistake. He had hits with Before the Next Teardrop Falls and Wasted Days and Wasted Nights. He was also a part of the group The Texas Tornadoes.

2009–Wrestler, Lou Albano, dies of a heart attack in Westchester County, New York, at age 76. Over the course of his 42-year career, Albano guided 15 different tag teams and four singles competitors to championship gold.

2012–Felix Baumgartner successfully jumps to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere during the Red Bull Stratos project.

2014–A snowstorm and avalanche in the Nepalese Himalayas, triggered by the remnants of Cyclone Hudhud, kills 43 people.

2014–Bertha George Harris, American tribal elder and potter, dies at age 101. She was the oldest member of the Catawba people. The Catawba number approximately 2,800 people, presently based in York County, South Carolina, and in the surrounding region. Frances Wade, 92 years old in October 2014, became the oldest Catawba elder following Harris' death.

2014–Actress, Elizabeth Peña, dies of cirrhosis of the liver in Los Angeles, California, at age 55. She appeared in the films They All Laughed, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, La Bamba, Blue Steel, Jacob's Ladder, and Rush Hour.

2015–A suicide bomb attack in Pakistan, kills at least seven people and injures 13 others.

2016–President Barack Obama issues an executive action on Cuba, lifting monetary limits on the amount of Cuban products (including cigars and rum) that Americans can bring back for personal use; allowing Cubans and Americans to engage in joint medical research; and allowing Cubans to buy certain U.S. consumer goods online.


PHOTOS TOP TO BOTTOM: Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb; Louis Claude de Saint-Martin; President Dwight D. Eisenhower; Winnie the Pooh; Cliff Richard; Elvis Presley in Jailhouse Rock; Grace Slick; Bing Crosby; Leonard Bernstein; Cleveland Amory; and Freddy Fender.
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