240 BC - 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
804 - Liudger becomes 1st bishop of Munster
988 - Boudouin IV with the Beard becomes earl of Flanders
1282 - Furious inhabitants of Palermo attack French occupation force
1282 - The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.
1296 - Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.
1422 - Ketsugan, Zen teacher, performs exorcisms to free aizoji temple
1456 - Prince Louis of Bourbon elected bishop of Liege
1474 - Duke Sigismund van Tirol ends contacts with Switzerland
1492 - King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella sign decree expelling Jews from Spain
1533 - Henry VIII divorces his 1st wife, Catherine of Aragon
1533 - Thomas Cranmer becomes archbishop of Canterbury
1603 - Battle at Mellifont: English army under Lord Mountjoy beats Irish
1778 - Playwright Voltaire crowned with laurel wreath
1814 - Britain & allies march into Paris after defeating Napoleon
1814 - Napoleonic Wars: Sixth Coalition forces march into Paris.
1814 - Murat issues the Rimini Declaration which would later inspire Italian Unification.
1822 - Congress combined East & West Florida into Florida Territory
1842 - Ether was used as an anaesthetic for 1st time by Dr Crawford Long (Ga)
1856 - Russia signs Peace of Paris, ending the Crimean War
1858 - Pencil with attached eraser patented (Hyman L Lipman of Phila)
1863 - Danish prince Wilhelm Georg of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg chosen as king George of Greece
1864 - Skirmish at Mount Elba, Arkansas
1865 - -4] Battle at 5 Forks Virginia
1866 - Bedrich Smetana's "Verkaufte Braut" (Sold Bride), premieres
1867 - US buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 (2 cents an acre - Seward's Folly)
1870 - 15th Amendment passes, guarantees right to vote regardless of race
1870 - Texas becomes last confederate state readmitted to Union
1870 - Florida territorial government established.
1885 - The Battle for Kushka triggers the Pandjeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.
1889 - John T Reid opens 1st US golf course (Yonkers, NY)
1893 - Thomas F Bayard becomes 1st US ambassador in Great Britain
1895 - British inventor Birt Acres films Oxford-Cambridge
1900 - Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts Compulsory education law
1909 - Queensboro Bridge opens, linking Manhattan & Queens
1910 - Mississippi Legislature founded The University of Southern Mississippi.
1911 - Lötschberg tunnel in Switzerland (13,735 m) completed
1912 - French protectorate in Morocco established
1916 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens (NHA) beat Portland Rosebuds (PCHA), 3 games to 2
1918 - Stanley Cup: Toronto Arenas (NHL) beat Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA), 3 games to 2
1919 - Belgian Army occupies Dusseldorf
1919 - Gandhi announces resistance against Rowlatt Act
1919 - Paul Claudel's "Tête d'Or," premieres in Paris
1922 - KGY-AM in Olympia WA begins radio transmissions
1922 - WWL-AM in New Orleans LA begins radio transmissions
1923 - Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, formed at Howard U in 1920, incorporates
1925 - Stalin supports rights of non-Serbian Yugoslavians
1925 - Stanley Cup: Vict Cougars (WCHL) beat Canadiens (NHL), 3 games to 1
1930 - Babberich-H soccer team forms
1935 - Newfoundland changes time to 3½ hrs W of Greenwich, repeats 44 sec
1939 - The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets the world airspeed record of 463 mph.
1939 - First flight of the Australian C.A.C. CA-16 Wirraway.
1940 - 2nd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Indiana U beats Kansas 60-42
1941 - German counter offensive in North-Africa
1942 - 1st RSHA-transport from France arrives in camp Birkenau
1942 - SS murders 200 inmates of Trawniki labor camp
1943 - 5th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: U of Wyoming beat Georgetown 46-34
1943 - British 1st army recaptures Sejenane
1943 - Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!," premieres in NYC
1944 - 781 British bombers attack Neurenberg
1945 - 289 anti-fascists murdered by nazis in Rombergpark Dortmund
1945 - USSR invades Austria during WW II
1945 - World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 to Americans.
1946 - "St Louis Woman" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 113 performances
1946 - Australia beats NZ in cricket at 3 30pm on 2nd day
1946 - Last Test Cricket appearance of Bill O'Reilly (5-14 & 3-19)
1949 - Riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joined NATO.
1950 - Phototransistor invention announced, Murray Hill, NJ
1952 - 6th Tony Awards: Fourposter & King & I win
1952 - Patty Berg wins LPGA New Orleans Women's Golf Open
1953 - Einstein announces revised unified field theory
1954 - Test Cricket debut of Garry Sobers v England at Kingston
1955 - 27th Academy Awards - "On the Waterfront," Brando & Grace Kelly win
1956 - USSR performs nuclear test
1957 - 1st performance of Walter Piston's 4th Symphony
1959 - WNED TV channel 17 in Buffalo, NY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1961 - NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 169,600' (51,690 m)
1961 - The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed at New York.
1963 - France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria
1964 - Astronaut John Glenn withdraws from Ohio senate race
1965 - Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
1967 - Cover picture of Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's" is photographed
1968 - General Ludvik Svoboda elected president of Czechoslovakia
1969 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Port Malabar Golf Invitational
1970 - "Applause" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 900 performances
1970 - Miles Davis Bitches Brew released
1970 - Soap opera "Somerset" premieres
1970 - Strouse, Adams, Comden & Green's musical "Applause," premieres in NYC
1970 - USSR wins its 8th straight world hockey championship
1972 - "Funny Thing Happened..." opens at Lunt-Fontanne NYC for 156 perfs
1972 - North Vietnamese troops enter South Vietnam
1972 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1973 - Ellsworth Bunker resigns as US ambassador to South Vietnam
1975 - Ron Lalonde scores the 1st hat trick by a Washington Capital
1976 - Israel kills 6 Palestinians protesting land confiscation
1978 - "History of the American Film" opens at ANTA Theater NYC for 21 perfs
1979 - Airey Neave, a British politician, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
1980 - Mark Medoff's "Children of a Lesser God," premieres in NYC
1980 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Women's Kemper Golf Open
1981 - 43rd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Indiana beats North Carolina 63-50
1981 - Pres Reagan shot & wounded by John W Hinckley III
1982 - 3rd space shuttle mission-Columbia 3 lands at White Sands, NM
1982 - John Pielmeier's "Agnes of God," premieres in NYC
1983 - Ray Cooney's "Run for your Wives," premieres in London
1983 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1984 - US ends participation in multinational Lebanon peace force
1986 - "Tango Argentino" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 198 perfs
1986 - 5th NCAA Women Basketball Championship: Texas beats Southern Cal 97-81
1987 - 59th Academy Awards - "Platoon," Paul Newman & Marlee Matlin win
1987 - Vincent van Goghs "Sunflowers" sells for record 22.5M pounds ($39.7 million)
1988 - 2nd Soul Train Music Awards
1988 - Tamil Nadu beat Railways by inns & 144 to win Ranji Trophy
1990 - Jack Nicklaus made his debut in the "Seniors" golf tournament
1991 - "Speed of Darkness" closes at Belasco Theater NYC after 36 perfs
1991 - 1st exhibition baseball games at Joe Robbie Stadium (Yanks-Orioles)
1991 - Last issue of Dutch Newspaper "Vr˜e Folk" (Free People)
1991 - Northern Michigan wins its 1st NCAA hockey title
1991 - PBA National Championship Won by Mike Miller
1991 - William Kennedy Smith allegedly rapes a woman (found not guilty)
1992 - 64th Academy Awards - "Silence of Lamb," A Hopkins & Jodie Foster win
1992 - CBS TV premieres overnight news program "Up To The Minute"
1992 - Man accidentally backs in A's Jose Canseco's $225,000 Lamborghini
1992 - P J Patterson, resigns as 6th PM of Jamaica
1992 - WNSR-FM (105.1) changes callsign to WMXV-FM (NYC)
1993 - "Redwood Curtain" opens at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC for 40 perfs
1993 - French government of Balladur forms
1993 - Jamaican premier Percival Patterson wins parliamentary election
1993 - Lanford Wilson's "Redwood Curtain," premieres in NYC
1993 - New South Wales beat Qld by eight wkts to win Sheffield Shield
1993 - Punjab beat Maharashtra by 120 runs to win Cricket's Ranji Trophy
1994 - ABC Masters Tournament won by Hobo Boothe
1994 - Bombay beat Bengal by 8 wickets to win Cricket's Ranji Trophy
1994 - England Cricket all out for 46 at Port-of-Spain
1995 - "Arcadia" opens at Vivian Beaumont Theater NYC for 204 performances
1996 - Lara hits 146 cricket not out in ODI vs NZ at Port-Of-Spain
1996 - NY Mets beats NY Yankees 5-3 in an exhibition game
Earl of Wessex Prince Edward 1996 - Prince Edward & girl-friend Sophie visited Graystoke Castle
1997 - 16th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Tenn beats Old Dominion 68-59
1997 - 26th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Betsy King
1997 - Southwestern Bell Dominion Senior Golf
1997 - Steve Elkington wins Golf's Players Championship
1997 - Five (channel) Begins broadcasting in the UK
1998 - 60th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: at Alamodome San Antonio
2006 - Marcos Pontes is the first Brazilian astronaut in space.