EVENTS
- 1066 – The Norman Conquest began with the Battle of Hastings in which King Harold II of England, the last of the Saxon kings, was defeated and killed by William of Normandy’s troops.
- 1912 – President Theodore Roosevelt is shot. He still delivers his speech with the bullet still inside him.
- 1913 – Senghenydd Colliery Disaster. In what is considered to be one of the worst mine disasters in recorded history, 440 people were killed when an explosion ripped through the Senghenydd coal mine in Wales.
- 1926 – The children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh is first published.
- 1933 – Nazi Germany announced its withdrawal from the League of Nations and stated it would take no further part in the Geneva Disarmament Conference.
- 1947 – Chuck Yeager pilots the first level flight faster than the speed of sound.
- 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis begins when photos are taken of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed in Cuba.
- 1964 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1968 – James Hines is the first man to break the ten second barrier in the 100 meters
- 1984 – Joseph Kittinger Starts on his Solo Gas Balloon Flight Across the Atlantic. 4 days later, on September 18, Kittinger became the first person to traverse the Atlantic in a balloon called the Balloon of Peace. As a member of the US Armed Forces, Kittinger jumped from a height of 102,800 feet on August 16, 1960, becoming the first person in ever to jump from that height.
- 1994 – Two Israelis and a Palestinian Share the Nobel Peace Prize. The Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres shared the Nobel Peace Prize, which is annually awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee based in Oslo, with the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Yasser Arafat. The Award was given out to the two parties for their efforts and work on the Oslo Accords, a series of agreements between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel. The Accords created the Palestinian Authority and made it the official governing body to interact with Israel on issues that effect the lives of Palestinians in Israel.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1542 – Akbar (Mughal emperor)
- 1644 – William Penn (Founder of Pennsylvania)
- 1890 – Dwight D (Eisenhower (34th US President)
- 1906 – Hannah Arendt (German/American theorist, philosopher)
- 1910 – John Wooden (UCLA Basketball Coach)
- 1927 – Roger Moore (Actor – James Bond)
- 1930 – Mobutu Sese Seko (Congolese politician, President of Zaire)
- 1939 – Ralph Lauren (Fashion Designer)
- 1978 – Usher (Singer)