EVENTS
- 1885 – “Good Housekeeping” magazine goes on sale for the first time.
- 1933 – The first modern sighting of the Loch Ness monster is reported.
- 1952 – The jet age begins with the first scheduled flight of the De Havilland Comet 1. Precisely one year after the maiden flight from London to Johannesburg, a Comet 1 crashed due to structural problems, killing 43 people. A series of similar accidents soon led to the grounding of the entire Comet fleet.
- 1953 – Hussein is crowned King of Jordan.
- 1982 – The British Royal Navy sinks the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano. 323 lives were lost in the attack, more than half of the total number of Argentinian casualties during the Falklands War. The British Sun tabloid newspaper commented the controversial attack with one of its most notorious headlines: “Gotcha”.
Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano - 1989 – The Iron Curtain begins to crumble as Hungary dismantles its border fence. By gradually opening its border to Austria, Hungary facilitated the escape of hundreds of East Germans in the months before the Berlin Wall fell.
- 1997 – Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 2011 – Osama bin Laden is killed by a U.S. commando. Bin Laden was the founder of al-Qaeda, a militant group that claimed responsibility for a series of terrorist attacks on U.S. targets on September 11, 2001.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1360 – Yongle Emperor (Ruler of China)
- 1729 – Catherine the Great (Russian Leader)
Catherine the Great - 1810 – Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) was born in Carpino, Italy
- 1892 – Baron Von Richthofen (The Red Baron WWI German fighter pilot)
- 1902 – Benjamin Spock (Author and Baby Doctor)
- 1904 – Bing Crosby (Singer)
- 1921 – Satyajit Ray (Indian director, producer, screenwriter)
- 1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson (Boxer)
- 1972 – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Wrestler and Actor)
- 1975 – David Beckham (Soccer player)
- 1975 – Sarah Hughes (Gold medal ice skater)
- 1985 – Lily Allen (English singer-songwriter)
DEATHS
- 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci (Italian painter, sculptor, architect)
- 1864 – Giacomo Meyerbeer (German composer)
- 1957 – Joseph McCarthy (American politician)
- 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover (American 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation)
J. Edgar Hoover - 2011 – Osama bin Laden (Saudi Arabian terrorist, founded al-Qaeda)
