- 1520: Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan passed through the
                   strait which now bears his name to the Pacific Ocean.
                - 1582: Playwright and poet William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway.
                - 1775: The Second Continental Congress formally established the
                  American Navy.
                - 1776: Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River.
                - 1820: Friedrich Engels, German socialist and associate of Karl
                  Marx, was born.
                - 1853: Olympia was established as the capital of the Washington
                  Territory.
                - 1861: Confederate congress officially admitted Missouri to
                  Confederate States of America.
                - 1895: The first automobile race was held over 52 miles of snowy
                  roads from Chicago to Waukegan, Ill. The average speed was 7 mph.
                - 1916: The Germans launched their first air attack on London.
                - 1919: Lady Nancy Astor was elected as first woman to sit in the
                  British House of Commons.
                - 1922: Capt. Cyril Turner of the Royal Air Force gave the first
                  public skywriting exhibition.
                - 1932: Groucho Marx performed on radio for the first time.
                - 1934: U.S. bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson was killed near
                  Barrington, Ill., by FBI agents.
                - 1948: The Polaroid Land Camera was marketed.
                - 1958: The U.S. reported the first full-range firing of an ICBM.
                - 1961: Ernest Davis became the first black football player to win the
                  Heisman Trophy.
                - 1964: The United States launched the space probe Mariner 4 from Cape
                  Kennedy on a course to Mars.
                - 1967: The first pulsating radio source (pulsar) was detected.
                - 1974: John Lennon made his last concert appearance at an Elton John
                  concert at New York's Madison Square Garden.
                - 1981: Actress Natalie Wood ("West Side Story") drowned off Santa
                  Catalina Island, Calif., at 43.
                - 1986: NBC's Ahmad Rashad heard the acceptance of his marriage
                  proposal from Phylicia Ayers-Allen during halftime of the Detroit
                  Lions-New York Jets football game.
                - 1989: Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, who captivated the world
                  with the first-ever perfect 10 score at the Montreal Olympics, fled
                  to Hungary.
                - 1990: Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister of Britain
                  during an audience with Queen Elizabeth II, who conferred the
                  premiership on John Major.
                - 1994: Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed 17 young men in a 13-year spree of
                  dismemberment and cannibalism, was clubbed to death in prison as he
                  cleaned a toilet.

                *Happy Birthday*
                ----------------
                - Joe Dante, 52, film director, "Gremlins"
                - Berry Gordy Jr., 69, Motown Records founder
                - Ed Harris, 48,actor, "Apollo 13," "The Abyss"
                - Gary Hart, 62, former U.S. senator
                - S. Epatha Merkerson, 46, actress, "Law & Order"
                - Judd Nelson, 39, actor, "The Breakfast Club," "Suddenly Susan"
                - Randy Newman, 55, musician/songwriter
                - Paul Shaffer, 49, "Late Show with David Letterman" bandleader
                - Jane Sibbett, 37, actress, "Friends"
                - Anna Nicole Smith, 31, model
                - Matt Cameron, 36, musician, Soundgarden