Events
558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately orders the dome rebuilt.
1274 - In France, the Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
1429 - Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning wounded to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.
1664 - Louis XIV of France inaugurates The Palace of Versailles.
1697 - Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed in a huge fire (in the 18th century, it is replaced with the current Royal Palace).
1763 - Indian Wars: Pontiac's Rebellion begins - Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.
1824 - World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. Work was conducted by Michael Umlauf, under the deaf composer's supervision.
1832 - Greece is recognised independent by the Treaty of London. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.
1836 - The settlement of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico is elevated to the royal status of villa by the government of Spain.
1840 - The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi, killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
1847 - In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.
1864 - American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
1895 - In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention - the first in the world radio receiver. In the former Soviet Union this day is celebrated as Day of Radio.
1915 - World War I: a German submarine U-20 sinks the RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turned many formerly pro-Germans in the United States of America against the German Empire.
1920 - Kiev Offensive (1920): Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force captured Kiev only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.
1920 - Treaty of Moscow (1920): Soviet Russia recognizes independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.
1927 - Angelos Sikelianos organizes the first Delphic Festival in Delphi to celebrate the ancient Greek Delphic ideal.
1937 - Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrive in Spain to assist Franco's forces.
1945 - World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day.
1946 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with about 20 employees.
1947 - Kraft Television Theater debuts, running for the next 11 years.
1948 - The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.
1952 - The concept for the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.
1954 - Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
1960 - Cold War: U-2 Crisis - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.
1964 - Pacific Air Lines Flight 773, a Fairchild F-27 airliner, crashes near San Ramon, California, killing all 44 aboard; the FBI later reports that a cockpit recorder tape indicates that the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.
1974 - West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns.
1992 - Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
1992 - Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its maiden voyage (STS-49).
The STS-49 mission logo.1992 - Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first fast-food murder in Canada.
1998 - Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
1999 - Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope that had visited a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
1999 - A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode. Schmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure's family US$25 million.
1999 - Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
1999 - In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
2002 - A China Southern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
2005 - Former Lebanese Prime Minister, General Michel Aoun returns to Lebanon after 15 years in exile.
2007 - The tomb of Herod the Great is discovered.
Births
1943 - Harvey Andrews, English singer and songwriter
1944 - Eva Norvind, Mexican actress (d. 2006)
1944 - Richard O'Sullivan, British actor
1945 - Christy Moore, Irish folk artist
1945 - Robin Strasser, American TV soap opera actress
1946 - Thelma Houston, American singer
1946 - Bill Kreutzmann, American drummer (Grateful Dead)
1946 - Brian Turner, English celebrity chef
1950 - Randall 'Tex' Cobb, American boxer and actor
1950 - Tim Russert, American television host
1951 - Robert Hegyes, American actor
1953 - Pat McInally, former National Football League player
1953 - Ian McKay, British soldier (VC recipient) (d. 1982)
1954 - Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
1954 - Amy Heckerling, American director
1955 - Ben Poquette, American basketball player
1955 - Kevin Reed, American theologian
1956 - Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1956 - Anne Dudley, British composer
1956 - Jean Lapierre, Canadian politician and television host
1957 - Ray Fernandez, wrestler (d. 2004)
1959 - Barbara Yung Mei-ling, Hong Kong actress (d. 1985)
1959 - Michael E. Knight, American actor
1960 - Almudena Grandes, Spanish novelist
1961 - Phil Campbell, British musician (Motörhead)
1963 - Johnny Lee Middleton, American musician (Savatage & Trans-Siberian Orchestra)
1965 - Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1999)
1965 - Norman Whiteside, Northern Irish Footballer
1967 - Joe Rice, legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado
1968 - Traci Lords, American actress
1969 - Eagle Eye Cherry, Swedish musician
1969 - Rick Porras, American co-producer
1971 - Horgh, (Reidar Horghagen) Norwegian drummer (Immortal/Hypocrisy)
1972 - Felix Da Housecat, a House music DJ and record producer
1972 - Frank Trigg, Mixed Martial Arts Fighter
1973 - Kristian Lundin, Swedish songwriter
1973 - Paolo Savoldelli, Italian cyclist
1974 - Breckin Meyer, American actor
1974 - Ian Pearce, English footballer
1975 - Jason Tunks, Canadian track & field athlete
1975 - Nicole Sheridan, American porn star
1975 - Zee, American hip hop artist
1977 - Lisa Kelly, Irish singer
1978 - Brian Clevinger, American author
1978 - Stian Arnesen (Nagash/Lex Icon), Norwegian Black Metal musician
1978 - Shawn Marion, American basketball player
1979 - Katie Douglas, American basketball player
1980 - Johan Kenkhuis, Dutch swimmer
1980 - Kate Lawler, English reality television personality and disc jockey
1982 - Akos Buzsaky, Hungarian Football player
1984 - Alex Smith, American football player
1984 - Drew Stanton, American football player
1984 - James Loney, American baseball player
1985 - Drew Neitzel, American college basketball player
1986 - Mark Furze, Australian actor
1986 - Matt Helders, Musician, Drummer for Arctic Monkeys
1987 - Michael Maidens, English footballer (d. 2007)
Deaths
1967 - Lorenzo Bandini, Italian Formula One driver (b. 1935
1986 - Jeffrey Mylett, American actor (b. 1949
1987 - Colin Blakely, British actor (b. 1930)
1989 - Guy Williams, American actor (b. 1924)
1995 - Ray McKinley, American jazz drummer, singer and bandleader (b. 1910)
1998 - Allan McLeod Cormack, South African physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1924)
1998 - Eddie Rabbitt, American musician (b. 1941)
2000 - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (b. 1909)
2002 - Seattle Slew, American racehorse (b. 1974)
2002 - Kevyn Aucoin, Makeup Artist and Photographer (b. 1962)
2004 - Waldemar Milewicz, Polish reporter (b. 1956)
2005 - Tristan Egolf, American writer (b. 1971)
2005 - Peter W. Rodino, American politician (b. 1909)
2005 - Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer (b. 1980)
2006 - Richard Carleton, Australian news reporter (b.1943)
2006 - Joan C. Edwards, American philanthropist (b. 1918)
2006 - Machiko Soga, Japanese actress, singer, and tokusatsu legend (b. 1943)
2007 - Diego Corrales, American boxer (b. 1977)
2007 - Octavian Paler, Romanian writer and journalist (b. 1926)
2007 - Yahweh ben Yahweh, American cult leader (b. 1935)
558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately orders the dome rebuilt.
1274 - In France, the Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
1429 - Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning wounded to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.
1664 - Louis XIV of France inaugurates The Palace of Versailles.
1697 - Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed in a huge fire (in the 18th century, it is replaced with the current Royal Palace).
1763 - Indian Wars: Pontiac's Rebellion begins - Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.
1824 - World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. Work was conducted by Michael Umlauf, under the deaf composer's supervision.
1832 - Greece is recognised independent by the Treaty of London. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.
1836 - The settlement of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico is elevated to the royal status of villa by the government of Spain.
1840 - The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi, killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
1847 - In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.
1864 - American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
1895 - In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention - the first in the world radio receiver. In the former Soviet Union this day is celebrated as Day of Radio.
1915 - World War I: a German submarine U-20 sinks the RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turned many formerly pro-Germans in the United States of America against the German Empire.
1920 - Kiev Offensive (1920): Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force captured Kiev only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.
1920 - Treaty of Moscow (1920): Soviet Russia recognizes independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.
1927 - Angelos Sikelianos organizes the first Delphic Festival in Delphi to celebrate the ancient Greek Delphic ideal.
1937 - Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrive in Spain to assist Franco's forces.
1945 - World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day.
1946 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with about 20 employees.
1947 - Kraft Television Theater debuts, running for the next 11 years.
1948 - The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.
1952 - The concept for the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.
1954 - Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
1960 - Cold War: U-2 Crisis - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.
1964 - Pacific Air Lines Flight 773, a Fairchild F-27 airliner, crashes near San Ramon, California, killing all 44 aboard; the FBI later reports that a cockpit recorder tape indicates that the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.
1974 - West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns.
1992 - Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
1992 - Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its maiden voyage (STS-49).
The STS-49 mission logo.1992 - Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first fast-food murder in Canada.
1998 - Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
1999 - Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope that had visited a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
1999 - A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode. Schmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure's family US$25 million.
1999 - Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
1999 - In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
2002 - A China Southern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
2005 - Former Lebanese Prime Minister, General Michel Aoun returns to Lebanon after 15 years in exile.
2007 - The tomb of Herod the Great is discovered.
Births
1943 - Harvey Andrews, English singer and songwriter
1944 - Eva Norvind, Mexican actress (d. 2006)
1944 - Richard O'Sullivan, British actor
1945 - Christy Moore, Irish folk artist
1945 - Robin Strasser, American TV soap opera actress
1946 - Thelma Houston, American singer
1946 - Bill Kreutzmann, American drummer (Grateful Dead)
1946 - Brian Turner, English celebrity chef
1950 - Randall 'Tex' Cobb, American boxer and actor
1950 - Tim Russert, American television host
1951 - Robert Hegyes, American actor
1953 - Pat McInally, former National Football League player
1953 - Ian McKay, British soldier (VC recipient) (d. 1982)
1954 - Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
1954 - Amy Heckerling, American director
1955 - Ben Poquette, American basketball player
1955 - Kevin Reed, American theologian
1956 - Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1956 - Anne Dudley, British composer
1956 - Jean Lapierre, Canadian politician and television host
1957 - Ray Fernandez, wrestler (d. 2004)
1959 - Barbara Yung Mei-ling, Hong Kong actress (d. 1985)
1959 - Michael E. Knight, American actor
1960 - Almudena Grandes, Spanish novelist
1961 - Phil Campbell, British musician (Motörhead)
1963 - Johnny Lee Middleton, American musician (Savatage & Trans-Siberian Orchestra)
1965 - Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1999)
1965 - Norman Whiteside, Northern Irish Footballer
1967 - Joe Rice, legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado
1968 - Traci Lords, American actress
1969 - Eagle Eye Cherry, Swedish musician
1969 - Rick Porras, American co-producer
1971 - Horgh, (Reidar Horghagen) Norwegian drummer (Immortal/Hypocrisy)
1972 - Felix Da Housecat, a House music DJ and record producer
1972 - Frank Trigg, Mixed Martial Arts Fighter
1973 - Kristian Lundin, Swedish songwriter
1973 - Paolo Savoldelli, Italian cyclist
1974 - Breckin Meyer, American actor
1974 - Ian Pearce, English footballer
1975 - Jason Tunks, Canadian track & field athlete
1975 - Nicole Sheridan, American porn star
1975 - Zee, American hip hop artist
1977 - Lisa Kelly, Irish singer
1978 - Brian Clevinger, American author
1978 - Stian Arnesen (Nagash/Lex Icon), Norwegian Black Metal musician
1978 - Shawn Marion, American basketball player
1979 - Katie Douglas, American basketball player
1980 - Johan Kenkhuis, Dutch swimmer
1980 - Kate Lawler, English reality television personality and disc jockey
1982 - Akos Buzsaky, Hungarian Football player
1984 - Alex Smith, American football player
1984 - Drew Stanton, American football player
1984 - James Loney, American baseball player
1985 - Drew Neitzel, American college basketball player
1986 - Mark Furze, Australian actor
1986 - Matt Helders, Musician, Drummer for Arctic Monkeys
1987 - Michael Maidens, English footballer (d. 2007)
Deaths
1967 - Lorenzo Bandini, Italian Formula One driver (b. 1935
1986 - Jeffrey Mylett, American actor (b. 1949
1987 - Colin Blakely, British actor (b. 1930)
1989 - Guy Williams, American actor (b. 1924)
1995 - Ray McKinley, American jazz drummer, singer and bandleader (b. 1910)
1998 - Allan McLeod Cormack, South African physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1924)
1998 - Eddie Rabbitt, American musician (b. 1941)
2000 - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (b. 1909)
2002 - Seattle Slew, American racehorse (b. 1974)
2002 - Kevyn Aucoin, Makeup Artist and Photographer (b. 1962)
2004 - Waldemar Milewicz, Polish reporter (b. 1956)
2005 - Tristan Egolf, American writer (b. 1971)
2005 - Peter W. Rodino, American politician (b. 1909)
2005 - Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer (b. 1980)
2006 - Richard Carleton, Australian news reporter (b.1943)
2006 - Joan C. Edwards, American philanthropist (b. 1918)
2006 - Machiko Soga, Japanese actress, singer, and tokusatsu legend (b. 1943)
2007 - Diego Corrales, American boxer (b. 1977)
2007 - Octavian Paler, Romanian writer and journalist (b. 1926)
2007 - Yahweh ben Yahweh, American cult leader (b. 1935)
