Nothingandall: On this day in History

650 BC - Gabriel appears to Daniel, and teaches him to interpret dreams (according to legend).
0809 - Harun al-Rashid dies at the age of 44. Caliph of the Abbasid empire from 786 to 809.
1284 - King Hugh III of Cyprus dies.
1361 - Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster dies. English soldier and diplomat.
1381 - Catherine of Sweden dies. Swedish saint.
1396 - Walter Hilton dies. English mystic.
1401 - Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.
1455 - Pope Nicholas V [Tommaso Parentucelli] dies (b. 1397). The first Renaissance pope.
1494 - Georg Agricola was born (d. 1555). Scientist ("The Father of Mineralogy").
1550 - France and England sign Peace of Boulogne.
1558 - Anna of Egmond dies (b. 1533). Countess of Egmond and Buren.
1563 - Hosokawa Harumoto dies (b. 1514). Japanese military leader.
1575 - Yosef Karo dies (b. 1488). Spanish-born rabbi.
1603 - King James VI of Scotland ascended the Engklish throne as James I following the death of Elizabeth I.
1603 - Queen Elizabeth I of England dies (b. 1533).
1607 - Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter was born (d. 1667). Dutch admiral.
1628 - Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg was born (d. 1685). Queen of Denmark and Norway.
1630 - José Saenz d'Aguirre was born. Spanish cardinal.
1644 - Cecilia Renata dies. Arch duchess of Austria.
1645 - Battle at Jankov Bohemia: Sweden beat SRC emperor Ferdinand III.
1653 - Samuel Scheidt dies (b. 1587). German composer.
1657 - Arai Hakuseki was born (d. 1725). Japanese Confucianist, poet, politician and writer.
1661 - Florence Newton was arrested for witchcraft in Ireland.
1668 - O casamento de D. Afonso VI com D. Maria Francisca de Sabóia é considerado nulo.
1693 - John Harrison was born (d. 1776). British clockmaker.

1703 - José F de Isla [Francisco de Salazar] was born. Spanish Jesuit, writer.

1725 - Samuel Ashe was born (d. 1813). Governor of North Carolina.

1725 - Thomas Cushing was born (d. 1788). American Continental Congressman.

1731 - Naturalization of Hieronimus de Salis Parliamentary Act is passed.

1755 - Rufus King was born (d. 1827). American politician.

1762 - Marcos Portugal was born (d. 1830). Portuguese opera composer.

1765 - American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the 13 American colonies to house British troops.

1773 - Philip Dormer Stanhope dies (b. 1694). English statesman.

1776 - John Harrison dies (b. 1693). English clockmaker.

1782 - Orest Kiprensky was born (d. 1836). Russian painter.

1792 - Benjamin West became the first American artist to be selected president of the Royal Academy of London.

1794 - In Cracow a revolutionary manifesto was proclaimed. The Lithuanian and Polish nobility under the leadership of Tadas Kasciuska revolted against Russian control.

1796 - John Corry Wilson Daly was born (d. 1878). Canadian politician.

1797 - Antonio Rosmini-Serbati was born (d. 01 Jul 1855). Philosopher: founded Institute of Charity aka the Rosminians.

1808 - Maria Malibran was born (d. 1836). Spanish-French singer.

1809 - Joseph Liouville was born (d. 1882). French mathematician.

1809 - Mariano José de Larra was born (d. 1937). Spanish journalist and writer.

1816 - Se constituye el Congreso de Tucumán que declara la independencia argentina el 9 de julio de 1816.

1820 - A. E. Becquerel was born (d. 1891). French physicist.

1820 - Fanny Crosby was born (d. 1915). American hymnist.

1828 - Horace Gray was born (d. 1902). Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1829 - George Francis was born (d. 1904). American businessman.

1829 - Ignacio Zaragoza was born (d. 1862). Mexican general.

1830 - Robert Hamerling was born (d. 1889). Austrian poet.

1832 - In Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Jr..

1834 - John Wesley Powell was born (d. 1902). American explorer and environmentalist.

1834 - William Morris was born. (d. 03 Oct 1896). English writer and designer.

1835 - Jožef Stefan was born (d. 07 Jan 1893). Slovenian physicist, mathematician and poet.

1837 - Canada gives Africans the right to vote.

1844 - Nascimento do místico, político, religioso e benemérito brasileiro, Padre Cícero Romão Batista, em Crato-CE, muito querido e respeitado pelo povo nordestino.

1848 - Honoré Beaugrand was born (d. 1906). American journalist and newspaper publisher (La Patrie).

1850 - Silas Hocking was born (d. 1935). British novelist and preacher.

1855 - Andrew Mellon was born (d. 1937). American financier.

1855 - Olive Schreiner was born (d. 1920). South African writer.

1866 - Joaquim Ferreira dos Santos dies in Porto (b. 1782). Portuguese comerciant and philanthropist, 1st Count of Ferreira

1868 - Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is formed.

1869 - Antoine-Henri Jomini dies (b. 1779). French general.

1874 - Harry Houdini (Ehrich Weiss) was born in Budapest (d. 1926). Magician who earned an international reputation for his daring feats of extrication from shackles, ropes, and handcuffs and from locked containers such as coffins and prison cells.

1875 - Henry Hallett Dale, fisiólogo inglés, premio Nobel de Medicina en 1936.

1878 - The UK frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing 300.

1881 - Joseph Delesse dies (b. 1817). French geologist.

1882 - Robert Koch announces the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis).

1882 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow dies (b. 1807). American author.

1884 - Eugène Cardinal Tisserant was born. French Cardinal and Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals.

1884 - Peter Debye was born (d. 1966). Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate in 1936.

1886 - Athenagoras I was born (d. 1972). Greek Patriarch of Constantinople.

1886 - Edward Weston was born (d. 1958). American photographer.

1887 - Fatty Arbuckle was born (d. 1933). American actor.

1887 - Roscoe Arbuckle was born (d. 1933). American actor.

1887 - Ivan Kramskoi dies (b. 1837). Russian painter and art critic.

1888 - Viktor Kingissepp was born (d. 1922). Estonian Bolshevik politician.

1888 - Vsevolod Garshin dies (b. 1855). Russian author.

1889 - Albert Hill was born (d. 1969). British athlete.

1889 - Olegário Mariano was born in Recife (d. 28 Nov 1958). Brazilian poet and diplomat.

1891 - John Knittel was born in India (d. 1970). Swiss dramatist.

1891 - Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov was born (d. 1951). Soviet physicist.

1893 - George Sisler was born (d. 1973). American baseball player.

1893 - Walter Baade was born (d. 25 Jun 1960). German astronomer.

1897 - Wilhelm Reich was born (d. 1957). Austrian-born psychotherapist.

1898 - Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania becomes the first person to buy an American-built automobile when he buys a Winton automobile that was advertised in Scientific American.

1900 - June (Algeria Junius) Clark was born (d. 23 Feb 1963). Musician, trumpet.

1900 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.

1901 - Ub Iwerks was born (d. 1971). Dutch cartoonist.

1902 - Thomas Dewey was born (d. 1971). American politician.

1903 - Adolf Butenandt was born (d. 1995). German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate in 1939.

1903 - Malcolm Muggeridge was born (d. 1990). British author and scholar.

1905 - River Plate se afilia a la Asociación Argentina de Fútbol.

1905 - Pura Santillan-Castrence wasd born (d. 2007). Filipino writer and diplomat.

1905 - Jules Verne dies in Amiens, France. (b.1828). French sci-fi author (Around the World in 80 Days).

1906 - Klavdiya Shulzhenko was born (d. 1984). Soviet singer.

1907 - The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published.

1907 - Paul Sauvé was born (d. 1960). Quebec politician.

1909 - John Millington Synge dies (b. 1871). Irish playwright.

1909 - Clyde Barrow was born (d. 1934). Notorious bank robber.

1910 - Richard Conte was born (d. 1975). American actor.

1911 - In Denmark, penal code reform abolished corporal punishment.

1911 - Joseph Barbera was born. American cartoonist.

1915 - Gorgeous George was born (d. 1963). American professional wrestler.

1915 - Karol Olszewski dies (b. 1846). Polish scientist.

1916 - Donald Hamilton was born (d. 2006). Swedish-American novelist.

1916 - Enrique Granados dies (b. 1867). Spanish composer.

1917 - John Kendrew was born (d. 1997). British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1917 - Constantine Andreou was born. Greek-Brazilian artist.

1917 - Nascimento de Krafft Arnold Ehricke (morreu em 11 Dez 1984). Físico alemão-americano foi um dos principais teoristas que criaram os foguetes para viajar no espaço.

1919 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born. American author and publisher.

1919 - Robert Heilbroner was born (d. 2005). American economist.

1920 - Gene Nelson was born (d. 1996). American actor.

1921 - Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho dies (b. 1847). Portuguese writer / Morreu a escritora portuguesa Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho (n. 1 Feb. 1847).

1921 - Vassily Vassilievich Smyslov was born in Moscow. Russian Chess player (World Champion in 1957).

1921 - Larry McLean dies (b. 1881). Canadian baseball player.

1922 - Onna White was born (d. 2005). Canadian choreographer.

1923 - Greece becomes a republic.

1923 - Kermit Schafer was born (d. 1979). Humorist.

1923 - Murray Hamilton was born (d. 1986). American actor

1924 - Norman Fell was born (d. 1998). American actor.

1925 - Puig Aubert was born (d. 1994). French rugby league footballer.

1926 - Dario Fo was born in Lago Maggiore, Italy. Author, 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature.

1926 - Desmond Cardinal Connell was born. Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus of Dublin.

1927 - Martin Walser was born. German author.

1928 - Byron Janis was born. American pianist.

1929 - Italy: National Fascist Party (Gran Consiglio del Fascismo) wins elections (simple referendum withs, with the voters only given the options to say yes or no to a single party list composed (98,3% voters said yes) .

1930 - Agustín González was born (d. 2005). Spanish actor.

1930 - David Dacko was born (d. 2003). First President of the Central African Republic.

1930 - Steve McQueen was born (d. 1980). American actor, director and producer.

1934 - U.S. Congress passes Tydings-McDuffie Act.

1934 - William Smith was born. American actor.

1935 - Peter Bichsel was born. Swiss writer.

1936 - The longest game in NHL history was played between Detroit and Montreal. Detroit scored at 16:30 of the sixth overtime and won the game 1-0.

1936 - David Suzuki was born. Canadian environmentalist.

1937 - Billy Stewart was born (d. 1970). American singer.

1938 - David Irving was born. British historian.

1938 - Holger Czukay was born. German musician (Can).

1940 - Bob Mackie was born. American fashion designer.

1940 - Don Jardine was born (d. 2006). Canadian professional wrestler.

1940 - Muere en Buenos Aires el educador Pablo A. Pizzurno. Es autor de "La educación en la Capital", "Deficiencias de la educación argentina", "Ciencias naturales" y del libro de lectura "Pininos" para la enseñanza primaria. Nació en Buenos Aires el 11 de julio de 1865.

1941 - Nascimento de Joseph H. Taylor Jr.- Radioastrônomo e físico americano que, com Russell A. Hulse recebeu o Prêmio Nobel para Física em 1993 pela descoberta em comum do primeiro pulsar binário (1974).

1942 - Carlos Cruz was born. Portuguese journalist and TV presenter.

1942 - Muere el doctor Manuel Balado, iniciador de la neurocirugía argentina.

1944 - Ardeatine Massacre : In occupied Rome, the Nazis executed more than 300 civilians in reprisal for an attack by Italian partisans, who the day before killed 32 [33] German soldiers [policemen].

1944 - Tragedy in the Polish village Markowa.

1944 - In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin to break out of Stalag Luft III.

1944 - R. Lee Ermey was born. American actor.

1944 - Vojislav Kostunica was born. Serbian Prime Minister.

1944 - Orde Wingat dies (b. 1903). British soldier.

1945 - With the debut of the Billboard magazine pop album chart, American pianist and singer Nat King Cole's King Cole Trio became the first record album to appear at No. 1.

1945 - Curtis Hanson was born. American film director.

1945 - Robert T. Bakker was born. American paleontologist.

1946 - Klaus Dinger was born. German musician (Neu!, Kraftwerk).

1946 - Alexander Alekhine dies (b. 1892). Russian Chess champion.

1947 - Alan Sugar was born. English businessman.

1947 - Christine Gregoire was born. American politician, 22nd and current governor of the state of Washington.

1947 - Meiko Kaji was born. Japanese singer and actress.

1948 - Jerzy Kukuczka was born (d. 1989). Polish mountaineer, second person to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders.

1948 - Sigrid Hjerten dies (b. 1885). Swedish modernist painter.

1949 - The 21st Academy Awards. "Hamlet", produced by Lawrence Olivier, won Best Picture of 1948. Olivier also was pronounced Best Actor for his portrayal of Hamlet. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" won three Oscars and was the first time a father and son both won Academy Awards on the same night. Walter Huston was awarded an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and his son, John, received honors for Best Director and for Best Screenplay (based on a B. Traven story). Other winners that night: Jane Wyman for Best Actress (film: "Johnny Belinda"); Claire Trevor for Best Supporting Actress (film: "Key Largo"); Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for Best Music/Song ("Buttons and Bows" from the Bob Hope/Jane Russell flick, "The Paleface").

1949 - Nick Lowe was born. English musician.

1949 - Ruud Krol was born. Dutch footballer.

1950 - James Rudolph Garfield dies (b. 1865). American politician.

1951 - Dougie Thomson was born. British bassist (Supertramp).

1951 - Pat Bradley was born. American golfer.

1951 - Tommy Hilfiger was born. American fashion designer.

1953 - Louie Anderson was born. American comedian.

1953 - Mary of Teck dies (b. 1867). Wife of King George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1867).

1954 - Irina Ratushinskaya was born in Odessa, Ukraine. Dissident poet (Beyond the Limit).

1954 - Robert Carradine was born. American actor (Revenge of the Nerds Lizzie McGuire).

1954 - Donna Pescow was born. American actress.

1955 - Tennessee Williams, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" opens on Broadway for 694 performances.

1955 - Doug Jarvis was born. Canadian ice hockey player.

1956 - Rui Pereira was born. Portuguese politician.

1957 - Pierre Harvey was born. Quebec cyclist and cross-country skier.

1958 - Elvis Presley is officially inducted into the U.S.Army.

1958 - El Duce was born (d. 1997). American drummer/singer The Mentors.

1958 - Mike Woodson was born. American basketball player and head coach.

1959 - The Party of the African Federation (PFA) is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keita.

1959 - Iraqi leader Abd-al-Karim announced that his country was withdrawing from the Baghdad Pact.

1960 - Nascimento de João Moura (João António Romão de Moura) em Monforte. Cavaleiro Tauromáquico português.

1960 - Barry Horowitz was born. American professional wrestler.

1960 - Kelly LeBrock was born. American actress.

1960 - Nena was born. German singer.

1960 - Scott Pruett was born. American race car driver.

1961 - Dean Jones was born. Australian cricketer.

1962 - Angèle Dubeau was born. Quebec violinist.

1962 - Star Jones Reynolds was born. American television personality.

1962 - Auguste Piccard dies (b. 28 Jan 1884). Swiss physicist and explorer.

1962 - Jean Goldkette dies (b.1899). Jazz musician.

1963 - Pedro de Freitas Branco dies (b. 1896). Portuguese conductor.

1964 - Annabella Sciorra was born. American actress.

1965 - NASA spacecraft Ranger 9, equipped to convert its signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic television, brought images of the Moon into ordinary homes before crash-landing.

1965 - The Undertaker was born. American professional wrestler.

1965 - Gurmit Singh was born. Singaporean actor.

1965 - Peter Jacobson was born. American actor.

1968 - Alice Guy-Blaché dies. American film director.

1969 - Fallecimiento de Renato Cesarini. Mitolológico jugador de Chacarita Juniors, que desarrolló gran parte de su campaña en su Italia natal. Como entrenador hizo escuela en River, creando la famosa "Máquina" junto a Carlos Peucelle.

1969 - Houston was born. American pornographic actress.

1970 - Judith Draxler was born. Austrian swimmer.

1970 - Lara Flynn Boyle was born. American actress (The Practice).

1970 - Mike Vanderjagt was born. Canadian football player.

1970 - Sharon Corr was born. Irish musician ("The Corrs").

1971 - Megyn Price was born. American actress.

1972 - The United Kingdom imposes "Direct Rule" over Northern Ireland.

1972 - Steve Karsay was born. American baseball player.

1972 - Cristobal Balenciaga dies. Spanish couturier.

1973 - Kenyan track runner Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles, sanctioned by the International Track Association.

1973 - Rock band Pink Floyd releases Dark Side of the Moon, which will go on to become one of the most influential and commercially successful albums of all-time. [Note from Nothingandall postmaster: This was the first music record i have ever bought].

1973 - Jacek Bąk was born. Polish footballer.

1973 - Steve Corica was born. Australian soccer player.

1973 - Philippe Boucher was born. Canadian ice hockey player.

1973 - Steve Corica was born Australian soccer player.

1974 - Alyson Hannigan was born. American actress.

1974 - Chad Butler was born. American drummer (Switchfoot).

1975 - Muhammad Ali TKOs Chuck Wepner in 15 to retain the heavyweight boxing title.

1975 - Krisdayanti was born. Indonesian singer, actress and diva.

1975 - Thomas Johansson was born. Swedish tennis player.

1975 - Ivo Andric dies (b. 1892). Croatian writer.

1976 - Argentina's military forces depose president Isabel Perón and start the National Reorganization Process.

1976 - Aaron Brooks was born. American football player.

1976 - Aliou Cissé was born. Senegalese footballer.

1976 - Athanasios Kostoulas was born. Greek footballer.

1976 - Peyton Manning was born. American football player.

1976 - Bernard Montgomery dies (b. 1887). British Field Marshal.

1976 - Argentina's military forces depose president Isabel Perón.

1977 - Rodolfo Walsh escribe una carta abierta a la Junta Militar que gobierna a la Argentina; un día después, la dictadura lo asesina.

1977 - Darren Lockyer was born. Australian rugby league footballer.

1977 - César Ramírez was born. Paraguyan football player.

1977 - Corneille was born. Canadian-Rwandan singer.

1978 - Michael Braun was born. Australian Football League player (West Coast Eagles).

1979 - Graeme Swann was born. English cricketer.

1979 - Periklis Iakovakis was born. Greek athlete.

1980 - Tassos Venetis was born. Greek footballer.

1980 - Archbishop of El Salvador Óscar Romero (b. 1917) is killed by gunmen while celebrating Mass in San Salvador. Thirty people were killed by bombs and snipers during his funeral six days later.

1981 - Colombia drops diplomatic relations with Cuba.

1981 - Ron Hainsey was born. American hockey player.

1982 - Corey Hart was born. American baseball player.

1982 - Dustin McGowan was born. American baseball player.

1982 - Nivea was born. American singer.

1983 - Kelvin Kwan was born. Hong Kong singer.

1983 - T.J. Ford was born. American basketball player.

1984 - Adrian D'Souza was born. Indian Field Hockey player.

1984 - Chris Bosh was born. American basketball player.

1984 - Benoît Assou-Ekotto was born. Cameroonian footballer.

1984 - Sam Jaffe dies (b. 1891). American actor.

1985 - Carlos Lopes, Portuguese athlete, wins for the third time World Championship in cross / Carlos Lopes, atleta português, vence pela terceira vez o Campeonato Mundial de Corta-Mato.

1985 - The Golden Raspberry Awards were presented to parody the Oscar Awards. The movie, "Bolero", won the big award, for John and Bo (I’m a 10!) Derek; winning honors for worst director and worst actress, respectively.

1985 - Norwich City F.C. won the Milk Cup (English Football League Cup) at Wembley Stadium, beating Sunderland F.C. 1-0.

1985 - Frederico Gil was born. Portuguese tennis player.

1985 - Haruka Ayase was born. Japanese actress and model.

1986 - Van Halen releases 5150 (album). This was their first album with Sammy Hagar as lead singer.

1986 - The 58th Academy Awards show was held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los ngeles. It took three hosts (Alan Alda, Jane Fonda and Robin Williams) to handle the MC duties this time. The Best Picture was "Out of Africa" (Sydney Pollack, producer). It also won Best Director (Sydney Pollack); Best Writing/Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Kurt Luedtke); Best Cinematography (David Watkin); Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Stephen B. Grimes, Josie MacAvin); Best Sound (Chris Jenkins, Gary Alexander, Larry Stensvold, Peter Handford); and Best Music/Original Score (John Barry). Other Oscars went to "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (Best Actor: William Hurt); "The Trip to Bountiful" (Best Actress: Geraldine Page); "Cocoon" (Best Supporting Actor: Don Ameche - his first Oscar) and "Prizzi’s Honor" (Best Supporting Actress: Anjelica Huston). The award for Best Music/Song was given to Lionel Richie for "Say You, Say Me" from "White Nights".

1986 - Loscoe gas explosion- started UK law on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.

1986 - Anthony McMahon was born. English footballer.

1986 - Kohei Hirate was born. Japanese racing driver.

1987 - 1st Soul Train Music Awards: Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross win.

1987 - Ramires was born in Barra do Piraí, Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian football player (Benfica)

1988 - Ryan Higgins was born. Zimbabwean cricketer.

1989 - Em Portugal o governo concede 79 alvarás de rádio, começando o movimento de legalização das rádios locais.

1989 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaska's Prince William Sound the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (42,000 m³) of oil after running aground.

1990 - Bob Hawke and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) defeat Andrew Peacock and the Liberal Party of Australia in his final election as Prime Minister of Australia.

1990 - Keisha Castle-Hughes was born. New Zealand-born actress.

1990 - Ray Goulding dies (b. 1922). American comedian.

1990 - An Wang dies (b. 1920). Chinese-born computer innovator.

1991 - 11th Golden Raspberry Awards: Ford Fairlane and Ghosts Can't Do It wins.

1991 - The World Wrestling Federation presents the stars and stripes WrestleMania VII in Los Angeles, California, renacting the Gulf War in a wrestling ring.

1991 - Ayrton Senna wins for the first time Brazil Grand Prix in Formula 1.

1991 - Sir John Kerr dies (b. 1914). 18th Governor General of Australia.

1992 - Space Shuttle STS-45 (Atlantis 11) launches into space.

1993 - Ezer Weizman elected President of Israel.

1993 - John Hersey dies (b. 1914). American author.

1993 - José dos Santos Ferreira (Adé) dies (b. 1919). Macauese writer.

1994 - Luis Donaldo Colosio dies assassinated. Mexican politician.

1994 - F-16 collides with C-130 Hercules above AFB in North Carolina, 120 die.

1994 - O vírus da Hepatite C foi identificado por um grupo de cientistas japoneses.

1995 - Portugal: O Governo e a Lusoponte assinam um contrato para a construção da nova onte sobre o Tejo — Ponte Vasco da Gama — entre as localidades de Sacavém e Montijo.

1995 - O filme O Paciente Inglês, de Anthony Minghella, é premiado com nove óscares, incluindo os de melhor filme e melhor realizador.

1997 - The Australian parliament overturned the world's first euthanasia law.

1997 - Harold Melvin dies (b. 1939). American singer (Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes).

1997 - Martin Caidin dies (b. 1927). American writer noted for his focus on aviation.

1998 - Jonesboro massacre: In Jonesboro, Arkansas, two boys (aged 11 and 13 years) fire upon students at Westside Middle School. Four students and one teacher are killed and 10 injured.

1998 - Tornado sweeps through Dantan in India killing 250 people and injuring 3000 others.

1998 - D. António Ribeiro dies (b. 1928). Portuguese cardinal, 15th Patriarch Cardinal of Lisbon.

1999 - Kosovo War: NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia. This marks the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.

1999 - In Kenya, at least 31 people were killed when a passenger train derailed. Hundreds were injured.

1999 - In Congo a massacre of 250 people in the Kivu region was reported. The slayings by Rwandan troops appeared to be in retaliation for earlier attacks by Congolese Mai Mai tribesmen.

1999 - Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire: 39 people died when a Belgian transport truck carrying flour and margarine caught fire in Mont Blanc Tunnel.

1999 - Gertrud Scholtz-Klink dies (b. 1902). German Women's leader during Germany's Third Reich.

1999 - Birdie Tebbetts dies (b. 1912). Major League Baseball catcher and manager.

2000 - The S&P 500 reaches an all-time high of 1527.46.

2000 - Marinho de Oliveira Franco dies (b. 1912). Brazilian musician.

2001 - Apple Computer releases Mac OS X version 10.0.

2001 - Muriel Young dies (b. 1928). English TV entertainer.

2002 - Film stars Denzel Washington and Halle Berry became the second and third African Americans to win Academy Awards for performances in leading roles.

2002 - Thieves stole five 17th century paintings from the Frans Hals Museum in the Dutch city of Haarlem. The paintings were worth about $2.6 million. The paintings were works by Jan Steen, Cornelis Bega, Adriaan van Ostade and Cornelis Dusart.

2002 - César Milstein dies (b. 1927). Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

2003 - Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi TV telling his nation that "victory is soon".

2003 - The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of US and British soldiers from Iraq.

2003 - Hans Hermann Groër dies (b. 1919). Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vienna (1986 - 1995).

2005 - Lord's Memorial of Jehovah's Witnesses - meeting for celebrating Jesus' death after sunset.

2005 - American Release of Sony PlayStation Portable.

2006 - Long-term protests in Belarus are broken by police.

2006 - Pope Benedict XVI adds 15 men to the College of Cardinals, in the first consistory of his Pontificate.

2006 - Lynne Perrie dies (b. 1931). English actress.

2007 - The Australian Labor Party is reinstated after the NSW state elections.

2008 - Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.

2008 - Chalmers "Spanky" Alford‎ dies (b. 1955). American guitarist.