EVENTS
- 1806 –Lewis and Clark return from their exploration of the western US.
- 1846 -Discovery of the planet Neptune.
- 1889 -Nintendo is Founded. The Japanese gaming company was created by entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi as a card company called Nintendo Koppai, which was based in Kyoto. The company originally produced and sold playing cards called Hanafuda. The release of Donkey Kong, an arcade game in 1981, brought Nintendo to the forefront of electronic and video games industry.
- 1909 -‘Phantom of the Opera’ makes its Literary Debut. The novel about a disfigured musical genius was written by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a series in the French newspaper, Le Gaulois. The novel was later adapted as a popular musical and as a film.
- 1932 -The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is Founded. The Middle Eastern country was created by merging the kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd by Ibn Saud, the king of the House of Saud. The day is celebrated as Saudi National Day in the Kingdom.
- 1952 -Rocky Marciano becomes the new Heavyweight Champion.
- 1952 – Vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon delivered his Checkers Speech on television and radio to address accusations of financial misdeeds.
- 1962 -The cartoon the ‘Jetsons’ airs for the first time.
- 1965 -The Indo-Pakistani War comes to an end after a UN-mandated ceasefire. Also known as the Second Kashmiri War, the war was fought between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
- 1973 -Juan Peron regains power in Argentina.
- 1991 – Armenia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
BIRTHDAYS
- 63 BC – Augustus Caesar (Roman Emperor)
- 1215 –Kublai Khan (Mongol Emperor)
- 1889 -American journalist and influential commentator, Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) was born in New York. “Without criticism and reliable and intelligent reporting, the government cannot govern,” he once stated.
- 1890 – Friedrich von Paulus (1890-1957) was born in Breitenau, Germany. In 1942, Adolf Hitler chose Paulus, a desk officer, to lead the German 6th Army in an all-out attack against Stalingrad, deep inside Russia. Although his troops captured most of Stalingrad, they became trapped within the city. On January 31, 1943, the day Hitler made him a field marshal, Paulus surrendered to the Russians, marking the first big defeat of Hitler’s armies. After the war, Paulus appeared as a witness for the Russian prosecution at the Nuremberg war crime trials.
- 1926 – John Coltrane (American saxophonist, composer)
- 1930 – Ray Charles (Singer)
- 1949 – Bruce Springsteen (Singer)
- 1959 – Jason Alexander (Actor)
- 1961 – William McCool (Astronaut)
DEATHS
- 1939 -Sigmund Freud (Austrian neurologist)
- 1968 -Pio of Pietrelcina (Italian priest, saint)
- 1973 –Pablo Neruda (Chilean poet, Nobel Prize laureate)
- 1988 -Tibor Sekelj (Hungarian explorer, author)
- 1994 -Robert Bloch (American author)