1099 – Crusaders set fire to Mara, Syria (Not much has changed in 916 yrs)
1404 – The Act of Multipliers is passed by the English Parliament forbidding alchemists to use their knowledge to create precious metals (it was feared that if any alchemist should succeed it would bring ruin upon the state)
1435 – Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands by the Spanish, is promulgated by Pope Eugene IV.
1559 – Elizabeth I crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey
1605 – The controversial play Eastward Hoe by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston is performed, landing two of the authors in prison. (Eastward Ho offended King James I with its anti-Scottish comedy, which caused Jonson and Chapman to be arrested for a time, and which made their play one of the famous dramatic scandals of its era.)
1607 – The Bank of Genoa fails after announcement of national bankruptcy in Spain.
1610 – Galileo Galilei discovers Callisto, 4th satellite of Jupiter
1691 – George Fox, founder of Quakers, dies at 66
1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: A naval battle between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany ends with the French vessel running aground, resulting in over 900 deaths.
1815 – War of 1812: British troops capture Fort Peter in St. Marys, Georgia, the only battle of the war to take place in the state.
1830 – Great fire in New Orleans thought to be set by rebel slaves
1832 – Horatio Alger, Jr., American minister and author (Lost at Sea, Work & Win), born in Chelsea, Massachusetts Born
1833 – President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina’s defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis. (John C. Calhoun of South Carolina Forcefully Argued Against Federal Power)
1842 – Dr. William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 4,500 men and 12,000 camp followers when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
1847 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican–American War in California.
1864 – Stephen Foster, American composer (My Old Kentucky Home), dies at 37 in New York
1869 – National convention of black leaders meets in Washington, D.C.
1874 – Battle between jobless & police in NYC, 100s injuried
1883 – Henrik Ibsen’s “En Folkefiende” premieres in Oslo
1893 – U.S. Marines land in Honolulu, Hawaii from the USS Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.
1894 – Revolution in Sicily crushed by government troops
1895 – Oscar Wilde’s “Ideal Husband” premieres in London
1898 – Emile Zola publishes his open letter (J’accuse) in defense of Alfred Dreyfus
1910 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; a live performance of the opera Cavalleria rusticana is sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, New York
1922 – Buck Weaver, a Black Sox, applies unsuccessfully for reinstatement
1927 – US & Mexico battle over oil interests
1929 – Wyatt Earp, US marshal (OK Corral), dies at 80
1934 – Rip Taylor, American actor was born.
1934 – The Candidate of Sciences degree is established in the Soviet Union.
1935 – A plebiscite in Saarland shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to join Nazi Germany.
1938 – The Church of England accepts the theory of evolution.
1938 – Cabu, French cartoonist (d. 2015) was born.
1941 – James Joyce, novelist (Ulysses), dies in Zurich Switzerland, at 58
1942 – Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car.
1953 – An article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership
1954 – Trevor Rabin, South African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Yes, Rabbitt, and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band) was born.
1954 – Military rule in Egypt; 318 Muslim Brotherhood members arrested
1956 – Malcolm Foster, rock bassist (Pretenders-Mystery Achievement) Born
1957 – “All that Fall”, first radio play by Samuel Beckett, aired on BBC Third Programme
1959 – James LoMenzo, American bass player (Megadeth, White Lion, Pride and Glory, Slash’s Snakepit, and Black Label Society) was born.
1959 – French President Charles de Gaulle grants amnesty to 130 Algerians sentenced to death
1960 – The Gulag system of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union is “officially” abolished.
1961 – Graham “Suggs” McPherson, Sussex, rock vocalist (Madness-Our House) Born
1961 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, comedienne (SNL, Seinfeld, Soul Man, Troll), born in NYC, New York, born
1962 – Ernie Kovacs, comedian, dies in a car crash in West LA, at 42
1964 – Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, resulting in 100 deaths.
1966 – 1st black selected for pres cabinet (LBJ selects Robert C Weaver-HUD)
1967 – Rolling Stones appear on Ed Sullivan Show
1968 – Bill Masterson, NHL player for the Minnesota Northstars checked into the boards, dies two days later
1968 – Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison
1975 – Henry Kissinger hints at military action against oil countries in case of “actual strangulation of the industrialized world” in the wake of oil shock
1977 – Orlando Bloom, Kent England, English actor (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lord of the Rings) Born
1978 – Hubert Humphrey, (Sen-D-Minn, VP), dies at 66 in Waverly, Minn
1978 – Nate Silver, American journalist and statistician, developed PECOTA was born.
1978 – NASA select its first American women astronauts
1978 – U.S. Food & Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled “paid” or “volunteer” donors.
1979 – Donny Hathaway, Chicago Ill, rocker (Ghetto), commits suicide at 33
1980 – Head of narcotic brigade arrested for drug smuggling in Belgium
1981 – Jason James, Welsh musician (Bullet for My Valentine) Born
1982 – Air Florida 737 took off in a snowstorm, crashes into 14th St Bridge in Washington, DC, & falls into Potomac River, killing 78
1983 – William Hung, American Idol contestant born
1988 – Supreme Court rules (5-3) public school officials have broad powers to censor school newspapers, plays & other expressive activities
1989 – Subway gunman Bernhard Goetz begins 1-year jail sentence
1991 – 42 killed in exhibition soccer match in Johannesburg, South Africa
1992 – US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer pleads guilty but insane
1992 – Japan apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
1994 – Tonya Harding’s bodyguard, Shawn Eric Eckardt & Derrick Brian Smith arrested & charged with conspiracy in attack of skater Nancy Kerrigan
1995 – Ruby Starr, vocalist (Grey Ghost), dies of brain tumor at 44
1997 – William Mills, painter, dies at 74
2000 – Microsoft chairman Bill Gates steps aside as chief executive and promotes company president Steve Ballmer to the position
2002 – Ted Demme, American film director (b. 1963) Dies
2002 – Gregorio Fuentes, Cuban fisherman, reputed model for Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (b. 1897) Dies
2003 – Rock musician Pete Townshend of The Who was arrested in London on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children. He was later cleared.
2004 – Harold Shipman, a British GP who is believed to have killed more than 200 of his patients in Manchester, is found hanged in his prison cell
2007 – Two thirds of the Venus’s southern hemisphere suddenly brightened as something triggered aerosols to form at a furious rate.
2009 – Patrick McGoohan, American actor (b. 1928) Dies
2010 – Teddy Pendergrass, American R&B singer (b. 1950) Dies
2010 – Jay Reatard, American garage punk musician (b. 1980) Dies
2012 – The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy. There are 32 confirmed deaths amongst the 4232 passengers and crew.