- 1825: The first public railroad using steam locomotive was
                        completed in England.
                      - 1831: Naturalist Charles Darwin set out on a voyage to the Pacific
                        aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin's discoveries during the voyage
                        helped form the basis of his theories on evolution.
                      - 1845: Ether was first used in childbirth by Dr. Crawford Long in
                        Jefferson, Ga., who gave it to his wife, who successfully gave
                        birth to a baby girl.
                      - 1900: Militant prohibitionist Carry Nation carried out her first
                        public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kan.
                      - 1927: Joseph Stalin's faction won at the All-Union Congress in the
                        Soviet Union and Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist party.
                      - 1932: The Radio City Music Hall opened in New York.
                      - 1937: Mae West performed the Adam & Eve skit that got her banned
                        from NBC radio.
                      - 1945: The International Monetary Fund was established in
                        Washington; 28 nations signed an agreement creating the World Bank.
                      - 1947: "Howdy Doody," hosted by Buffalo Bob Smith, made its debut on
                        NBC.
                      - 1968: Frank Borman, Jim Lovell Jr. and W.A. Anders became the
                        first U.S. astronauts to land at night when Apollo 8 made a safe
                        nighttime splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
                      - 1978: King Juan Carlos ratified Spain's first democratic
                        constitution.
                      - 1979: Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan; "Knots Landing,"
                        a spinoff from "Dallas," debuted on CBS.
                      - 1981: Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky became the fastest NHLer to get
                        100 pts (38th game).
                      - 1988: Bulgaria stopped jamming Radio Free Europe after more than
                        three decades.
                      - 1991: "The Carol Burnett Show" last aired on CBS.

                      *Happy Birthday*
                      ----------------
                      - Terry Bozzio, 48, singer/musician, Missing Persons
                      - Wilson Cruz, 25, actor, "My So Called Life," "Ally McBeal"
                      - Maryam D'Abo, 38, actress, "The Living Daylights"
                      - Gerard Depardieu, 50, actor, "The Return of Martin Guerre"
                      - Mick Jones, 54, singer/musician, Foreigner
                      - Arthur Kent, 45, news correspondent
                      - William Howell Masters, 83, sex author/physician
                      - Cokie Roberts, 55, news correspondent