EVENTS
- 1536 – Argentina is founded.
- 1848 – End of the Mexican-American War.
- 1852 – The first public flushing toilet is opened in London. Using the “Public Waiting Room” at 95 Fleet Street cost 2 pence.
- 1876 – Major league baseball is started.
- 1922 – “Ulysses” by James Joyce is published.The novel is considered one of the most important works of modernist literature.
- 1925 – Iditarod race begins.
- 1943 – WWII: the German Sixth Army surrenders at Stalingrad.
- 1989 – Soviet occupation of Afghanistan ends.
- 1990 – In South Africa, the 30-year-old ban on the African National Congress was lifted by President F.W. de Klerk, who also promised to free Nelson Mandela and remove restrictions on political opposition groups.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1859 – Georges Seurat (Artist)
- 1882 – James Joyce (Poet)
- 1897 – Howard Johnson (Hotel Owner)
- 1905 – Ayn Rand (Author)
- 1926 – Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (French politician, 20th President of France)
- 1947 – Farah Fawcett (Actress)
- 1954 – Christy Brinkley (Model)
- 1963 – Eva Cassidy (American singer, guitarist)
- 1977 – Shakira (Singer)
- 1990 – Dan Gosling (English footballer)
DEATHS
- 1945 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (German politician)
- 1970 – Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (English mathematician, historian, philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate)
- 1972 – Natalie Clifford Barney (American poet, playwright)
- 1979 – Sid Vicious (English singer, bass player)
- 1996 – Gene Kelly (American dancer, actor)