1170 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church.
1678 – Gotthard Wagner, composer – Born
1778 – American Revolutionary War: 3,000 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia.
1786 – French Revolution: The Assembly of Notables is convened.
1808 – Andrew Johnson, American general and politician, 17th President of the United States (d. 1875) was born.
1812 – The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.
1813 – British burn Buffalo, NY during War of 1812
1835 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.
1837 – Canadian militia destroy Caroline, a US steamboat docked at Buffalo
1845 – In accordance with International Boundary delimitation, United States annexes the Republic of Texas, following the manifest destiny doctrine. The Republic of Texas, which had been independent since the Texas Revolution of 1836, is thereupon admitted as the 28th U.S. state.
1848 – Gas lights 1st installed at White House (Polk’s administration)
1851 – The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
1852 – Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants
1860 – The first British seagoing ironclad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.
1862 – Bowling ball invented
1876 – The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 300 Lakota killed by the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment. (Big Foot, Sioux Indian chief, dies at Wounded Knee)
1896 – David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexico, painter/muralist (Lib of Chile) Born
1897 – William James Linton, English-American painter, author, and activist (b. 1812) died.
1914 – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the first novel by James Joyce, is serialized in The Egoist.
1916 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian faith healer/intriguer, murdered at 45
1921 – Robert C. Baker, American chef, invented the chicken nugget (d. 2006) was born.
1929 – Matt Murphy, American guitarist (The Blues Brothers) was born.
1930 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal’s presidential address in Allahabad introduces the two-nation theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.
1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
1935 – Virgil Johnson, American singer (The Velvets) (d. 2013) was born.
1937 – Mary Tyler Moore, Bkln, actress (Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People) Born
1937 – The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.
1938 – Construction on Lake Washington Floating Bridge, Seattle, begins
1938 – Jon Voight, Yonkers, NY, actor (Deliverance, Midnight Cowboy, Ali) Born
1940 – World War II: In the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England, UK, killing almost 200 civilians.
1941 – Ray Thomas, English singer-songwriter and flute player (The Moody Blues) was born.
1942 – Rick Danko, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Band) (d. 1999) was born.
1946 – Marianne Faithfull, Hampstead England, vocalist (Money) Born
1947 – Ship carrying Jewish immigrants driven away from Palestine
1947 – Ted Danson, American actor and producer was born.
1947 – Cozy Powell, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (Emerson, Lake & Powell, The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Whitesnake, and Black Sabbath) (d. 1998) was born.
1948 – Canada recognizes Israel
1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
1953 – Stanley (Tookie) Williams, American gang leader, co-founded the Crips (d. 2005) was born.
1954 – Kingdom of Netherlands, with Netherlands & Netherlands Antilles as autonomous parts, comes into being
1955 – Neil Giraldo, rocker (Pat Benatar Band) Born
1959 – Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”, which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology.
1961 – Jim Reid, Scottish singer (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Freeheat) Born
1965 – Dexter Holland, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Offspring) was born.
1966 – Pirate Radio Phoenix, 1st transmission (Worcester, Mass)
1967 – Andy Wachowski (The Matrix), American director, Born
1969 – NY Times reports Curt Flood will sue baseball & challenge the reserve clause
1972 – Jude Law, British actor, Born
1972 – Evan Seinfeld, American musician (Biohazard) and actor, Born
1972 – Eastern Tristar Jumbo Jet crashes near Everglades killing 101
1972 – Life magazine ceases publication
1972 – President of Sinn Féin Ruairi O Bradaigh is arrested and held under new legislation in Republic of Ireland
1973 – Theo Epstein, American baseball general manager (Red Sox , Cubs) Born
1975 – A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring 74.
1983 – US announced withdrawal from UNESCO (Bush jr rejoins)
1988 – Soviet Red Army Team edges NY Islanders, 3-2 at Nassau Coliseum
1989 – Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
1993 – Courtney Love sues doctors for leaking news of her methadone treatment
1993 – Todd Bridges arrested for transporting methamphetamine (speed)
1997 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation’s 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
1997 – Orville Lynn Majors, 36, arrested for many deaths under his care
1997 – Russia signs agreement to build a $3B nuclear power plant in China
1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million.
2007 – Tom Brady sets a then-NFL record, throwing his 50th TD pass, and the New England Patriots become the first team in NFL history to finish the regular season 16-0.
2008 – Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1938) Dies
2009 – “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, American former professional wrestler and football player (b. 1960) Dies
2009 – Akmal Shaikh, British drug trafficker, executed by lethal injection in the People’s Republic of China (b. 1956)
2013 – 16 people are killed and 40 are wounded by a suicide bomb attack at Volgograd-1 railway station, Russia