- 1645: William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, was beheaded
for treason.
- 1778: Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, born. He founded
the modern scientific system for naming plants and animals.
- 1861: Florida became the third American state to secede
from the Union and join the Confederacy.
- 1863: The world's first underground train service, London's
Metropolitan line between Paddington and Farringdon, was opened.
- 1912: The first flying boat, designed by Glenn Curtiss,
made its maiden flight at Hammondsport, N.Y.
- 1917: William Frederick Cody, army scout and Indian fighter
known as Buffalo Bill, died.
- 1920: The League of Nations came into being.
- 1934: Marinus van der Lubbe was guillotined in Germany for
allegedly burning down the Reichstag.
- 1946: The League of Nations was officially superseded by
the United Nations when the first meeting of the General
Assembly began in London.
- 1961: Samuel Dashiell Hammett, U.S. crime writer, died. He
wrote the "The Maltese Falcon" and influenced a generation of
crime writers.
- 1964: Panama severed diplomatic relations with the United
States after what it termed "unjustifiable aggression" by U.S.
troops the previous day.
- 1969: Sweden announced it had established diplomatic
relations with North Vietnam, the first Western country to do so.
- 1971: French fashion designer Coco Chanel died.
- 1984: In Bulgaria, 50 people were killed when a Bulgarian
Tupolev 134 crashed as it was about to land at Sofia airport.
- 1990: China lifted martial law, imposed after the June 1989
Tiananmen Square massacre.
- 1994: Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan agreed to abolish trade
tariffs and form a common market.
- 1994: U.S. President Bill Clinton, visiting Kiev, announced
a deal under which Ukraine would give up the world's third
largest nuclear arsenal.
- 1996: Israel freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to
jubilant relatives in the West Bank and Gaza, days before the
first Palestinian national elections.
- 1997: Italian tenor Alvinio Misciano, a singing teacher of
superstar Luciano Pavarotti, was killed in a fall from a window
of his home in Milan. Right-winger Arnoldo Aleman was sworn in as
president of Nicaragua in what was billed as the first democratic,
peaceful transfer of power in the country's modern history.
- 1998: Former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda was formally charged
with backing an attempted coup in October 1997.
*Happy Birthday*
----------------
- Trini Alvarado, 32, actor, "The Frighteners"
- Pat Benatar, 46, musician
- Shawn Colvin, 41, singer/guitarist
- Donald Fagen, 51, musician Steely Dan
- George Foreman, 50, boxer, actor
- Harry Gant, 59, ex-NASCAR driver
- Frank Mahovlich, 61, NHL Hall of Famer
- Willie McCovey, 61 MLB Hall of Famer
- Julie Moran, 37, "Entertainment Tonight"
- Bobby Rahal, 46, auto racer
- Glenn Robinson, 26, NBA forward
- Frank Sinatra Jr., 55, singer, actor, famous son
- Rod Stewart, 54, singer, musician