4 – Augustus adopts Tiberius.
1284 – Pied Piper lures 130 children of Hamelin away (actually happened)
1409 – Council of Pisa selects Petros Philargi as 3rd Pope: Alexander V
1483 – Richard III becomes King of England. – Duke of Gloucester appoints himself King Richard III of England
1541 – Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire is (Justifiably) assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego Almagro the younger. Almagro is later caught and executed.
1718 – Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia, Peter the Great’s son, mysteriously dies after being sentenced to death by his father for plotting against him.
1797 – Charles Newbold patents 1st cast-iron plow. He can’t sell it to farmers, though, they fear effects of iron on soil!
1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Fleurus marked the first successful military use of aircraft. (reconnaissance balloon)
1819 – Abner Doubleday, Mjr Gen (Union)/inventor (baseball) [or 1/26] Born
1857 – The first 62 recipients are awarded the Victoria Cross for valour in the Crimean war by Queen Victoria (the battle continues to this day!)
1870 – Wagner’s opera “Valkyrie” premieres in Munich
1896 – 1st movie theater in US opens, charging 10 cents for admission
1900 – Japan mobilizes 20,000 troops to help put down the Boxer uprising – but also advance long-term interest in gaining land and power in mainland Asia
1902 – Aga Khan III is appointed Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
1904 – Peter Lorre, Hungarian/US, actor (M, Casablanca, Beast with 5 Fingers) Born
1906 – The first Grand Prix motor racing event held.
1909 – The Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity.
1909 – “Col Tom” Parker, [Dries Van Kruijk], Neth, rock mgr (Elvis Presley) Birthed
1914 – The Indian Relief Act, passes after a protracted period of Passive Resistance led by Gandhi; it abolishes a £3 tax imposed on Indians who had not renewed their indentures and recognizes “the validity of Indian customary marriages”
1917 – The first U.S. troops arrive in France to fight alongside Britain and France against Germany in World War I.
1918 – World War I, Western Front: Battle for Belleau Wood: Allied Forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord defeat Imperial German Forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince.
1922 – The emergency decrees under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution are invoked by the government to deal with deteriorating economic conditions
1924 – After 8 years of occupation, US troops leave Dominican Republic
1927 – The Cyclone roller coaster opens on Coney Island (Still operating today!)
1934 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Federal Credit Union Act, which establishes credit unions.
1935 – Work service for recent graduates becomes obligatory in Germany
1938 – Billy Davis, Jr., American singer (The 5th Dimension) was born.
1938 – James Weldon Johnson, African American leader (NAACP), dies in a car crash at 67
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Osuchy in Osuchy, Poland, one of the largest battles between Nazi Germany and Polish resistance forces, ends with the defeat of the latter.
1945 – United Nations Charter signed by 50 nations in San Francisco
1948 – The Western allies begin an airlift to Berlin after the Soviet Union blockades West Berlin.
1948 – William Shockley files the original patent for the grown junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.
1948 – Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery is published in The New Yorker magazine.
1952 – Greg Palast, American journalist and author was born.
1955 – Mick Jones, rock vocalist/guitarist (Clash-Havana 3 AM), born in London, England
1956 – Chris Isaak, Stockton Ca, rock singer/songwriter (Wicked Game), actor (Twin Peaks) Born
1960 – Madagascar (formerly Malagasy Rep) declares independence from France
1961 – Terri Nunn, American singer (Berlin-Takes My Breath Away), born in Los Angeles, California
1961 – Kenneth F Fearing, US, poet (Afternoon of a pawnbroker), dies at 58
1962 – Blacks begin passive resistance in Cairo Ill
1963 – Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, Russian oligarch, Birthed
1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall.
1963 – Dutch 2nd Chamber condemns commercial TV
1964 – Beatles release “A Hard Day’s Night” album
1964 – Blacks & Whites riot over racial segregation in St Augustine
1970 – Chris O’Donnell, American actor and producer was born.
1970 – Irv Gotti, American record producer, born
1973 – Gretchen Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist was born.
1974 – Derek Jeter, Pequanock NJ, shortstop (NY Yankees, Rookie of Year 1996) Born
1974 – The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio
1975 – U.S. Supreme Court’s rules unanimously in “O’Connor v. Donaldson” that non-dangerous people can’t be confined to psychiatric facilities without adequate treatment if able to live viably in outside society
1975 – Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial.
1977 – The Yorkshire Ripper kills 16-year-old shop assistant Jayne MacDonald in Leeds, changing public perception of the killer as she is the first victim who is not a prostitute.
1977 – Elvis Presley performs the final concert of his life in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1979 – Rocker Nigel Olsson (Elton John band, Uriah Heep) runs a stop sign, crashes & kills a driver
1985 – Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Tibetan spiritual leader, 17th Karmapa Lama was born.
1989 – Supreme Court rules 16 year olds can receive death penalty
1991 – Ky medical examiner announces Zachary Taylor died of (ahem) natural causes
1992 – Supreme Court rules fund soliciting can be banned at airports
1993 – The U.S. launches a cruise missile attack targeting Baghdad intelligence headquarters in retaliation for a (alleged) thwarted assassination attempt against former President George H.W. Bush in April in Kuwait.
1995 – Gunmen ambush Egyptian pres Hosni Mubarak, escapes unharmed
1995 – Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani deposes his father Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in a bloodless coup.
1996 – Irish Journalist Veronica Guerin is shot in her car while in traffic in the outskirts of Dublin
1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Communications Decency Act violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Internet indecency law
1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds doctor-assisted suicide ban
1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Communications Decency Act violates the First Amendment
2000 – President Clinton announces the completion of the first survey of the entire human genome.
2000 – John Paul II reveals the third secret of Fátima.
2003 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
2003 – Strom Thurmond, U.S. Senator (b. 1902) Dies goes straight to HELL
2005 – Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, birthed
2008 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. Heller that the ban on handguns in the District of Columbia is unconstitutional.
2007 – Benedict XVI reinstates the traditional laws of papal election in which a successful candidate must receive 2/3 of the votes.
2013 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
2014 – Following a military coup in Thailand, people have been warned that anyone calling for protest on social media will be prosecuted for sedition