EVENTS
- 1797 – The Bank of England issues the first one-pound note.
- 1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
- 1848 – The Communist Manifesto pamphlet was published by two young socialists, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It advocated the abolition of all private property and a system in which workers own all means of production, land, factories and machinery.
- 1909 – A color motion picture is shown to the general public for the first time. A series of 21 short Kinemacolor films were presented at the Palace Theatre in London.
- 1917 – The world’s first jazz record is created. The “Original Dixieland Jass Band” recorded “Livery Stable Blues” for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.
- 1920 – The first German Expressionist film is premiered. “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” by Robert Wiene is considered one of the best silent film of the horror genre.
- 1929 – The Grand Teton National Park is created.
- 1935 – Robert-Watson Watt first demonstrates RADAR.
- 1991 – The world’s first web browser is presented to the public. The browser “WorldWideWeb” (later renamed “Nexus”) was developed by Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist best known as the inventor of the Internet.
- 1993 – A car bomb explodes below the World Trade Center in New York. The attack was carried out by a group of Islamist militants. 6 people died in the blast.
- 1994 – Political foes of Russian President Boris Yeltsin were freed by a general amnesty granted by the new Russian Parliament.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1802 – Victor Hugo (French author, poet, playwright)
- 1829 – Levi Strauss (Levi’s Jeans)
- 1846 – Buffalo Bill (Cowboy)
- 1852 – John Harvey Kellogg (American surgeon, co-created Corn flakes)
- 1916 – Jackie Gleason (Actor)
- 1928 – Ariel Sharon (Israeli general, politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel)
- 1928 – Fats Domino (Singer)
- 1932 – Johnny Cash (Singer)
- 1953 – Micheal Boltan (Singer)
- 1954 – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkish politician, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey)
- 1972 – Erykah Badu (Singer)
- 1982 – Li Na (Tennis player)
DEATHS
- 1821 – Joseph de Maistre (French diplomat)
- 1966 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (Indian politician)
- 1981 – Robert Aickman (English author)
- 1989 – Roy Eldridge (American trumpet player)
- 1994 – Bill Hicks (American comedian)