293 BC – The oldest known Roman temple to Venus is founded, starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica.

1289 – Pope Nicolaus IV publishes degree “Supra montem”

1591 – Governor of Roanoke Island colony returns from England & found everyone in the colony had disappeared

1634 – Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, is burned alive in Loudun, France.

1686 – Cassini reports seeing a satellite orbiting Venus

1735 – Evening Post begins publishing (Boston Mass)

1759 – 2nd sea battle of Lagos: England vs France

1769 – Gunpowder in Brescia Italy church explodes, killing 3,000

1817 – Gloucester, Mass, newspapers tells of wild sea serpent seen offshore

1834 – Mt Vesuvius erupts

1835 – Last Pottawatomie Indians leave Chicago

1858 – Netherlands & Japan sign trade agreement

1862 – Sioux Indians begin uprising in Minnesota (it is later crushed)

1868 – Pierre Janssan discovers helium in solar spectrum during eclipse

1872 – 1st mail-order catalog issued by A M Ward

1894 – Congress creates Bureau of Immigration

1896 – Adolph Ochs (39) buys NY Times

1909 – Mayor of Tokyo Yukio Ozaki presents Washington, D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees, which President Taft decides to plant near the Potomac River.

1917 – A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.

1919 – Anti-Cigarette League of America forms in Chicago Illinois

1920 – 19th Amendment on women’s suffrage ratified

1926 – Weather map televised for 1st time

1930 – Eastern Airlines begins passenger service

1932 – Auguste Piccard/Max Cosijns reach 16,201m in a balloon

1932 – Englishman James Mollisson is 1st to fly east to west over Atlantic

1936 – 106.5°F-Hottest afternoon ever in Iowa

1937 – 1st FM radio construction permit issued (W1X0J (WGTR) in Boston MA)

1938 – FDR dedicates Thousand Islands Bridge connecting US & Canada

1941 – German concentration camp Amersfoort opens

1943 – Final convoy of Jews from Salonika Greece arrive at Auschwitz

1944 – Paris railroad workers strike against nazi occupiers

1947 – Naval torpedo & mine factory explodes at Cadiz, Spain killing 300

1954 – James E Wilkins is 1st black to attend a US cabinet meeting

1955 – Hurricane Diane, kills 400 in US

1955 – Sjukri al-Quwatli re-elected president of Syria

1956 – Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog/Don’t Be Cruel” reaches number 1 in the charts

1957 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1958 – “Lolita,” by Vladimir Nabokov, published

1958 – Fidel Castro makes a speech on Cuban pirate radio Rebelde

1958 – Great Britain issues regional stamps (N Ireland, Scotland & Wales)

1958 – Perez Prado “Mambo King,” receives one of the 1st gold records

1958 – TV game show scandal investigation starts

1958 – US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak

1960 – 1st commercial oral contraceptive, Enovid 10 debuts

1960 – 1st photograph bounced off a satellite, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

1960 – Beatles give their 1st public performance (Kaiserkeller in Hamburg)

1963 – James Meredith becomes 1st black graduate from University of Mississippi

1964 – Beatles arrive in San Francisco, their 2nd US visit

1964 – South Africa banned from Olympic Games because of apartheid policies

1964 – USSR launch 3 Kosmos satellites

1967 – Rolling Stones release “We Love You”

1969 – Mick Jagger accidentally shot while filming “Ned Kelly”

1972 – Police fine Paul & Linda McCartney in Sweden for cannabis possession

1976 – USSR’s Luna 24 soft-lands on Moon

1976 – In the Korean Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjeom, the Axe Murder Incident results in the death of two US soldiers.

1977 – 2 girls are killed by a runaway car outside of Graceland

1981 – “My Fair Lady” opens at Uris Theater in New York City for 119 performances

1981 – Jerry Lewis appears on “Donahue” to defend Telethons

1982 – NYSE sets trading record of 132,690,000 shares traded

1982 – Japanese election law is amended to allow for proportional representation.

1983 – Hurricane Alicia battered Houston & Galveston, Texas

1983 – Samantha Druce, aged 12 years 119 days, is youngest woman to swim English Channel

1983 – USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR

1986 – Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Philadelphia PA on WYSP 94.1 FM

1987 – Ohio nurse Donald Harvey sentence to triple life (poisoned 24)

1988 – FDA approves Minoxidil as a hair loss treatment

1988 – Largest house (130 rooms) on Long Island sold for $22 million

1989 – Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.

1991 – Hurricane Bob hits NC with 115 MPH wind

1993 – Historical Kapelbrug in Luzern Switz, destroyed by fire

1994 – 5.6 earthquake in Algeria, kills 171

2000 – A Federal jury finds the US EPA guilty of discrimination against Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, later inspiring passage of the No FEAR Act.

2005 – Dennis Rader is sentenced to 175 years in prison for the BTK serial killings.

2005 – Massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people.

2008 – President Of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf resigned due to pressure from opposition.

2011 – The West Memphis Three are released from prison after 18 years in imprisonment

TODAYS BIRTHDAYS

1587 – 1st English child born in New World (Virginia Dare)

1873 – Otto Harbach, songwriter (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes)

1883 – Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, French fashion designer (Chanel)

1904 – Max Factor Jr, CEO (Max Factor Cosmetics)

1920 – Shelley Winters, actress

1933 – Roman Polanski, Poland, director (Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, Pirates)

1936 – Robert Redford, American actor

1939 – Johnny Preston singer (Running Bear, Cradle of Love)

1939 – Robert Horton, British businessman

1948 – Joseph Marcell, British actor

1950 – Dennis Elliot, London, rock drummer (Foreigner)

1952 – Patrick Swayze, actor/dancer

1957 – Dennis Leary, actor/comic

1957 – Ron Strykert, Australia, rock guitarist (Men At Work-Who Can it Be)

1958 – Madeleine Stowe, actress

1961 – Bob Woodruff, American journalist, anchor

1962 – Felipe Calderón, President of Mexico

1964 – Edith Frost, American singer/songwriter

1964 – Craig Bierko, American actor

1965 – Jim Florentine, American comedian

1967 – Dan Peters, American musician

1968 – Greta Lind, Goshen NY, actress (Katie Kennicott-All My Children)

1968 – Griffin Drew, Hazelhurst Georgia, actress (Dinosaur Island)

1969 – Christian Slater, actor

1969 – Masta Killa, American rapper

1969 – Everlast, American musician

1969 – Edward Norton, American actor

1970 – Malcolm Jamal Warner, actor (Theodore-Cosby Show)

1971 – Jada Pinkett, actress

1971 – Richard D James, Irish-born musician (Aphex Twin)

1971 – Jacob Vargas, American actor

1973 – Alex Pijper, Dutch soccer player (FC Groningen)

1974 – Sekou Soumah, soccer player (Willem II)

1977 – Régine Chassagne, Canadian musician Arcade Fire

1978 – Andy Samberg, American comedian

1980 – Esteban Cambiasso, Argentine footballer

1980 – Rob Nguyen, Australian racing driver

1983 – Kris Boyd, Scottish footballer

1984 – Robert Huth, German footballer

1987 – Mika Boorem, American actress

1992 – Frances Bean Cobain, daughter of Kurt Cobain & Courtney Love

1994 – Jessie Flower, American actress

1995 – Parker Posey, American actress