the day in the history

1989: River crash 'kills 30'

At least 30 people have died after a pleasure cruiser and a barge collided on the River Thames.

Duke and Duchess of York with Princess Beatrice 1992: Duchess of York in photos row
Intimate photographs of the Duchess of York and a Texan businessman have been published in a tabloid newspaper.

El Al jet 1978: Two dead after El Al crew ambushed
Two people have died after an attack on a bus carrying Israeli airline staff in central London.

Paul Ride 1992: Iraq jails 'lost' Briton
Iraq has sentenced a British man to seven years in jail for what it called "illegal entry" into the country.

1641 - Scotland and Britain signed the Treaty of Pacification.

1741 - Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering discovered Alaska.

1862 - Horace Greeley's "The Prayer of Twenty Millions" was published.

1866 - The National Labor Union in the U.S. advocated an eight-hour workday.

1866 - It was formally declared by U.S. President Andrew Johnson that the American Civil War was over. The fighting had stopped months earlier.

1882 - Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuted in Moscow.

1885 - "The Mikado", by Gilbert and Sullivan, opened at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City.

1914 - German forces occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War I.

1918 - The British opened its Western Front offensive during World War I.

1923 - The first American dirigible, the "Shenandoah," was launched in Lakehurst, NJ.

1939 - Johnny Weissmuller married Beryl Scott.

1939 - The National Bowling Association was founded in Detroit, MI. It was the first bowling association in the U.S. for African-Americans.

1940 - France fell to the Germans during World War II.

1945 - Tommy Brown of the Brooklyn Dodgers became the youngest player to hit a home run in a major league ball game. Brown was 17 years, 8 months and 14 days old.

1949 - Cleveland's Indians and Chicago's White Sox played at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland before the largest crowd, 78,382 people, to see a nighttime major-league baseball game.

1953 - It was announced by the Soviet Union that they had detonated a hydrogen bomb.

1955 - In Morocco and Algeria hundreds of people were killed in anti-French rioting.

1955 - Col. Horace A. Hanes, a U.S. Air Force pilot, flew to an altitude of 40,000 feet. Hanes reached a speed of 822.135 miles per hour in a Super Sabrejet.

1955 - Bo Diddley made his first appearance at the Apollo Theater in New York City.

1964 - A $1 billion anti-poverty measure was signed by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.

1967 - The New York Times reported about a noise reduction system for album and tape recording developed by technicians R. and D.W. Dolby. Elektra Record's subsidiary, Checkmate Records became the first label to use the new Dolby process in its recordings.

1968 - The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations began invading Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague Spring" liberalization.

1977 - Voyager 2 was launched by the United States. The spacecraft was carrying a 12 inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature.

1985 - The original Xerox 914 copier was presented to the Smithsonian Institute's Museum of American History. Chester Carlson was the man who invented the machine.

1986 - Patrick Henry Sherril, postal employee, killed 14 co-workers in a shooting spree at the post office in Edmon, OK.

1988 - Eight British soldiers were killed by a landmine while in a military bus in Northern Ireland. The mine belonged to the Irish Republican Army.

1989 - Jose and Kitty Menendez were shot to death by their sons Lyle and Erik. The first trials ended in hung juries.

1989 - British conservationist George Adamson was killed by bandits in Kenya. Adamson was 83.

1989 - In London, a pleasure boat sank in the Thames River killing 51 people.

1991 - A rally of more that 100,000 people occurred outside the Russian parliament building to protest the coup that removed Gorbachev from power.

1995 - 348 people were killed in a train incident in northern India.

1997 - NATO troops seized six police stations in Banja Luka that had been held by troops controlled by former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic.

1997 - Britain began voluntary evacuation of its Caribbean island of Montserrat due to the volcanic activity of the Soufriere Hills.

1998 - Canada's Supreme Court announced that Quebec could not secede without the federal government's consent.

1998 - U.S. military forces attacked a terrorist camp in Afghanistan and a chemical plant in Sudan. Both targets were chosen for cruise missile strikes due to their connection with Osama bin Laden.

1998 - The U.N. Security Council extended trade sanctions against Iraq for blocking arms inspections.

1968: Russia brings winter to 'Prague Spring'

Dozens are killed in a massive Soviet military clampdown in Czechoslovakia.

Bloody Sunday civil rights march 1973: 'Bloody Sunday' inquest accuses Army
The coroner presiding over the 'Bloody Sunday' inquest has accused the British army of 'sheer unadulterated murder'.

Lake Nyos 1986: Hundreds gassed in Cameroon lake disaster
At least 1,200 people are feared dead after volcanic gases escape from a lake in Cameroon.

Benigno Aquino on flight back to Philippines 1983: Filipino opposition leader shot dead
Philippines opposition leader Benigno Aquino has been assassinated minutes after returning home from exile.

1986: Giant glacier threatens eco disaster
A huge glacier in Alaska is threatening to cause an ecological disaster in the region.

1680 - The Pueblo Indians drove the Spanish out and took possession of Santa Fe, NM.

1831 - Nat Turner, a former slave, led a violent insurrection in Virginia. He was later executed.

1841 - A patent for venetian blinds was issued to John Hampton.

1878 - The American Bar Association was formed by a group of lawyers, judges and law professors in Saratoga, NY.

1888 - The adding machine was patented by William Burroughs.

1912 - Arthur R. Eldred became the first American boy to become an Eagle Scout. It is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America.

1929 - The Chicago Cardinals traveled out of town for training camp. They were the first professional football team to do this.

1940 - Exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died in Mexico City from wounds that had inflicted by an assassin.

1943 - Japan evacuated the Aleutian island of Kiaska. Kiaska had been the last North American foothold held by the Japanese.

1945 - U.S. President Truman ended the Lend-Lease program that had shipped about $50 billion in aid to America's Allies during World War II.

1959 - Hawaii became the 50th state. U.S. President Eisenhower also issued the order for the 50 star flag.

1963 - In South Vietnam, martial law was declared. Army troops and police began to crackdown on the Buddhist anti-government protesters.

1971 - Laura Baugh, at the age of 16, won the United State's Women's Amateur Golf tournament. She was the youngest winner in the history of the tournament.

1983 - Philippine politician Benigno Simeon Aquino was assassinated as he deplaned in Manila.

1984 - Victoria Roche, a reserve outfielder, became the first girl to ever compete in a Little League World Series game.

1984 - Clint Eastwood was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1986 - In Cameroon, a nation in West Africa, toxic gas erupted from a volcanic lake. The gas killed more than 1,700 people.

1987 - A U.S. Marine was convicted for spying for the first time. Sergeant Clayton Lonetree was giving secrets to the KGB while working as a guard at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. He served eight years in a military prison.

1988 - An earthquake on the Nepal-India border killed over 1,000 people.

1989 - Voyager 2, a U.S. space probe, got close to the Neptune moon called Tritan.

1989 - In Columbia, The estates of drug lords were raided in a crackdown that occurred after the killing of a presidential candidate.

1991 - The hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev ended. The uprising that led to the collapse was led by Russian federation President Boris Yeltsin.

1992 - Randall Weaver, a neo-Nazi leader, opened fire on U.S. marshals from his home in Idaho. Weaver surrendered 11 days later ending the standoff. During the standoff a deputy marshal, Weaver's wife and his son were killed.

1992 - NBC News fired Authur Kent two weeks after he refused an assignment to war-torn Croatia.

1993 - NASA lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft. The fate of the spacecraft was unknown. The mission cost $980 million.

1994 - Ernesto Zedillo won the Mexican presidential election.

1995 - A suicide bomber killed himself and five others when he set off an explosion that effected to Israeli commuter buses.

1995 - Nine people died in a plane crash in Georgia.

1996 - The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 was signed by U.S. President Clinton. The act made it easier to obtain and keep health insurance.

1997 - Hudson Foods Inc. closed a plant in Nebraska after it had recalled 25 million pounds of ground beef that was potentially contaminated with E. coli 01557:H7. It was the largest food recall in U.S. history.

1997 - Afghanistan suspended its embassy operations in the United States.

1997 - Cicely Tyson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - Samuel Bowers, a 73-year-old former Ku Klux Klan leader, was convicted in Hattiesburg, MS, of ordering a firebombing that killed civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer in 1966.

1998 - Wesley Snipes received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2002 - In Pakistan, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf unilaterally amended the Pakistani constitution. He extended his term in office and granted himself powers that included the right to dissolve parliament.

2003 - In Ghana, businessman Gyude Bryant was selected to oversee the two-year power-sharing accord between Liberia's rebels and the government. The accord was planned to guide the country our of 14 years of civil war.

1972: Rhodesia out of Olympics

Rhodesia is thrown out of the Olympic Games with just four days to go before the opening ceremony in the German city of Munich.

Jomo Kenyatta speaking in Nairobi, 1962 1978: Kenya's founding father dies
The Kenyan president, Jomo Kenyatta, has died at his home in Mombasa.

John Stalker 1986: Police chief cleared of misconduct
Deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester police John Stalker has been cleared of misconduct.

Bleak House, the home of Tony Martin 1999: Man in custody after burglary shooting
A 54-year-old farmer has been arrested after a suspected burglar was killed at a farmhouse in Norfolk.

Harold Wilson 1966: ICI announces big nylon job losses
Britain's largest manufacturing company Imperial Chemical Industries announces 1,000 redundancies at its nylon-fibre producing factories.

1485 - The War of the Roses ended with the death of England's King Richard III. He was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field. His successor was Henry V II.

1567 - The "Council of Blood" was established by the Duke of Alba. This was the beginning of his reign of terror in the Netherlands.

1572 - Earl of Northumberland was executed for treason in York, England.

1582 - King James VI was captured in the Ruthven raid while he was hunting. He was held captive until June of 1583.

1642 - The English Civil War began when Charles I called Parliament and its soldiers traitors.

1762 - Ann Franklin became the editor of the Mercury of Newport in Rhode Island. She was the first female editor of an American newspaper.

1770 - Australia was claimed under the British crown when Captain James Cook landed there.

1775 - The American colonies were proclaimed to be in a state of open rebellion by England's King George III.

1846 - The U.S. annexed New Mexico.

1851 - The schooner America outraced the Aurora off the English coast to win a trophy that became known as the America's Cup.

1865 - A patent for liquid soap was received by William Sheppard.

1902 - In Hartford, CT, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first president of the United States to ride in an automobile.

1906 - The Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, NJ began to manufacture the Victrola. The hand-cranked unit, with horn cabinet, sold for $200.

1910 - Japan formally annexed Korea.

1911 - It was announced that Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" had been stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. The painting reappeared two years later in Italy.

1932 - The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) began its first TV broadcast in England.

1938 - Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appeared on the cover of "LIFE" magazine.

1941 - Nazi troops reached the outskirts of Leningrad during World War II.

1950 - Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to be accepted into a national competition.

1951 - 75,052 people watched the Harlem Globetrotters perform. It was the largest crowd to see a basketball game.

1959 - Stephen Rockefeller married Anne Marie Rasmussen. Anne had once been a maid for the powerful and wealthy Rockefeller family.

1968 - Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogota, Colombia, for the start of the first papal visit to Latin America.

1972 - Due to its racial policies, Rhodesia was asked to withdraw from the 20th Olympic Summer Games.

1973 - Henry Kissinger was named Secretary of State by U.S. President Nixon. Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year.

1984 - The last Volkswagen Rabbit rolled off the assembly line in Westmoreland, PA.

1985 - 55 people were killed in a fire aboard a British Airtours charter jet on a runway in England.

1986 - Kerr-McGee Corp. agreed to pay the estate of the late Karen Silkwood $1.38 million to settle a 10-year-old nuclear contamination lawsuit.

1989 - Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panthers, was shot to death in Oakland, CA. Tyrone Robinson was later convicted and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison for the killing.

1989 - Nolan Ryan became the first major league pitcher to strike out 5000 batters. (MLB)

1990 - U.S. President Bush signed an order for calling reservists to aid in the build up of troops in the Persian Gulf.

1990 - The U.S. State Department announced that the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait would not be closed under President Saddam Hussein's demand.

1990 - Angry smokers blocked a street in Moscow to protest the summer-long cigarette shortage.

1991 - It was announced by Yugoslavia that a truce ordered on August 7th with Croatia had collapsed.

1991 - Mikhail S. Gorbachev returned to Moscow after the collapse of the hard-liners' coup. On the same day he purged the men that had tried to oust him.

1992 - In Rostock, Germany, neo-Nazi violence broke out against foreigners.

1995 - Congressman Mel Reynolds of Illinois was convicted in Chicago of criminal sexual assault, sexual abuse, child pornography and obstruction of justice for having sex with a former campaign worker who had been underage at the time.

1996 - U.S. President Clinton signed legislation that ended guaranteed cash payments to the poor and demanded work from recipients.

1998 - "The Howard Stern Radio Show" premiered on CBS to about 70% of the U.S.

1998 - Mark David Chapman said that he did not want any of the money that would be made from the sale of the signed "Double Fantasy" album that John Lennon signed for him the same day he was killed. Chapman was currently serving sentence for the December 8, 1980 murder.

2000 - It was announced that all 118 crewmembers aboard the Kursk submarine were dead. The Russian vessel had sunk on August 4.

1990: Outrage at Iraqi TV hostage show

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has appeared on state television with western hostages, provoking a storm of outrage.

The abandoned car 1961: Couple found shot in A6 lay-by
Police launch a murder hunt after a man is found shot dead and his companion seriously wounded in a lay-by in Bedfordshire.

West German flag 1985: West German spy chief defects to East
The head of West German counter-intelligence has been unmasked as an East German spy.

Kurdish fighter 1979: Kurdish revolt grows in Iran
Kurds in Iran have ousted government troops from a large area near the Iraqi border.

1838 - The first class was graduated from Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, MA. It was one of the first colleges for women.

1839 - Hong Kong was taken by the British in a war with China.

1858 - "Ten Nights in a Barroom" opened in New York City at the National Theater. It was a melodrama about the evils of drinking.

1877 - The Texas outlaw Wes Hardin was captured in near Pensacola, FL.

1892 - The printed streetcar transfer was patented by John H. Stedman.

1902 - Fannie Merrit Farmer opened her cooking school, Miss Farmer's School of Cookery, in Boston, MA.

1904 - Hard D. Weed patented the grip-tread tire chain for cars.

1914 - Tsingtao, China, was bombarded as Japan declared war on Germany in World War I.

1926 - Rudolph Valentino died. He was 31 and had been a silent film star.

1927 - Nicola Sacco and Bartolemeo Vanzetti were executed in Boston, MA, for the murder of two men during a 1920 robbery.

1939 - Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty.

1944 - During World War II, Romanian prime minister Ion Antonescue was dismissed. Soon after the country would abandon the Axis and join the Allies.

1944 - Marseilles was captured by Allied troops during World War II.

1947 - Margaret Truman, U.S. President Truman's daughter, gave her first public performance as a singer. The event was at the Hollywood Bowl and had an audience of 15,000.

1952 - The security pact of the Arab League went into effect.

1959 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Sally debuted as an infant.

1962 - The first live TV program was relayed between the U.S. and Europe through the U.S. Telstar satellite.

1970 - U.S. swimmer Gary Hall broke three world records at the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) outdoor swimming meet, held in Los Angeles, CA.

1979 - Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defected while the Bolshoi Ballet was on tour in New York City.

1982 - The parliament of Lebanon elected Bashir Bemayel president. He was assassinated three weeks later.

1982 - Gaylord Perry (Seattle Mariners) was tossed out of a game for throwing an illegal spitball.

1984 - South Fork Ranch, the home of the fictitious Ewing clan of the CBS-TV show, "Dallas," was sold. The ranch was to be transformed from a tourist site into a hotel.

1986 - Gennady Zakharov was arrested by the FBI and charged with espionage. Zakharov was a physicist that had been assigned by the United Nations.

1987 - Robert Jarvik and Marilyn Mach vos Savant were married. The event was called the "Union of Great Minds" since Savant had an IQ of 228 and Jarvik was the inventor of the artificial heart.

1990 - President Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi state television with a group of Western detainees that he referred to as "guests." He told the group that they were being held "to prevent the scourge of war."

1992 - Hurricane Andrew hit the Bahamas with 120 mile per hour winds.

1992 - An Amtrak passenger train in Wallingford, CT, hit a truck at a crossing. Three people were killed in the accident.

1993 - Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn were convicted in the beating death of Malice Green. Both former Detroit police officers received prison terms.

1993 - It was confirmed by Los Angeles police that Michael Jackson was the subject of a criminal investigation.

1996 - U.S. President Clinton imposed limits on peddling cigarettes to children.

1998 - Protestors in Sudan carried a sign that bore the resemblance of Monica Lewinsky and the words "No War for Monika." The anti-U.S. demonstration was in Khartoum, Sudan.

1998 - Michael Jones, a 16-year old boy, was shot when he refused to drop a water gun that appeared real to police officers. In New York City it was illegal to carry to possess a toy gun that looks real or is painted black.

1998 - Boris Yeltsin dismissed the Russian government again.

1998 - Kathryn Schoonover was arrested when she was caught stuffing envelopes with cyanide and preparing to send them to people around the U.S.

1999 - Rescuers in Turkey found a young boy that had been buried in rubble from an earthquake for about a week.

1999 - Robert Bogucki was rescued after getting lost in the Great Sandy Desert of Australia on July 11. During the 43 day ordeal Bogucki lost 44 pounds.

2000 - Richard Hatch was revealed as the winning castaway on CBS' "Survivor." Hatch won $1,000,000 for his stay on the island of Pulau Tida in the South China Sea.

2001 - California Congressman Gary Condit gave an interview to ABC's Connie Chung. Condit denied involvement in Chandra Levy's disappearance and avoided directly answering questions about whether they had an affair.

"SURVIVUR"???????


is it really important?

all details,as it actually also a garbage show, are mentionable :-)

1993: Michael Jackson accused of child abuse

Police in Los Angeles are investigating allegations of child abuse made against singer Michael Jackson.

John Shorthouse 1985: Sleeping boy killed in police raid
A five-year-old boy is shot dead in a police raid on his home in Birmingham.

Brian Keenan 1990: Irish hostage released in Lebanon
The Irish hostage, Brian Keenan, is released in Beirut after more than four years in captivity.

Rocky and his mate 1967: Penguins cool off in heat wave
Two penguins from Chessington Zoo are taken on a day trip to a local ice-rink to cool off during sweltering London temperatures.

0079 - Mount Vesuvius erupted killing approximately 20,000 people. The cities of Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum were buried in volcanic ash.

0410 - The Visigoths overran Rome. This event symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

1456 - The printing of the Gutenberg Bible was completed.

1572 - The Catholics began their slaughter of the French Protestants in Paris. The killings claimed about 70,000 people.

1680 - Colonel Thomas Blood died. He was the Irish adventurer that had stolen the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London in 1671.

1814 - Washington, DC, was invaded by British forces that set fire to the White House and Capitol.

1853 - The first convention of the American Pharmaceutical Association was held.

1867 - Johns Hopkins died. The railroad millionaire left $7.5 million in his will for the founding of a new medical school in his name.

1869 - A patent for the waffle iron was received by Cornelius Swarthout.

1880 - Joshua Lionel Cowen was born. He was the inventor of the toy electric train.

1891 - Thomas Edison applied patents for the kinetoscope and kinetograph (U.S. Pats. 493,426 and 589,168).

1912 - A four-pound limit was set for parcels sent through the U.S. Post Office mail system.

1932 - Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the U.S. non-stop. The trip from Los Angeles, CA to Newark, NJ, took about 19 hours.

1939 - The leader of "Murder, Incorporated", Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, gave himself up to columnist Walter Winchell. Winchell then turned him over to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

1949 - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) went into effect. The agreement was that an attack against on one of the parties would be considered "an attack against them all."

1954 - The Communist Party was virtually outlawed in the U.S. when the Communist Control Act went into effect.

1959 - Three days after Hawaiian statehood, Hiram L. Fong was sworn in as the first Chinese-American U.S. senator while Daniel K. Inouye was sworn in as the first Japanese-American U.S. representative.

1963 - John Pennel pole-vaulted 17 feet and 3/4 inches becoming the first to break the 17-foot barrier.

1968 - France became the 5th thermonuclear power when they exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.

1970 - A bomb went off at the University of Wisconsin's Army Math Research Center in Madison, WI. The bomb that killed Robert Fassnacht was set by anti-war extremists.

1975 - Davey Lopes of the Los Angeles Dodgers set a major league baseball record when he stole his 38th consecutive base.

1981 - Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of John Lennon.

1985 - 27 anti-apartheid leaders were arrested in South Africa as racial violence rocked the country.

1986 - Frontier Airlines shut down. Thousands of people were left stranded.

1987 - Sergeant Clayton Lonetree was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a military jury for giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union.

1989 - Pete Rose, the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, was banned from baseball for life after being accused of gambling on baseball.

1989 - "Total war" was declared by Columbian drug lords on their government.

1989 - The U.S. space probe, Voyager 2, sent back photographs of Neptune.

1990 - Iraqi troops surrounded foreign missions in Kuwait.

1990 - Irish hostage Brian Keenan was released. He had been held in Lebanon for 1,597 days.

1991 - Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the head of the Communist Party.

1992 - Hurricane Andrew hit southern Florida causing 55 deaths in the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana.

1992 - China and South Korea established diplomatic relations.

1995 - Harry Wu, human rights activist, was expelled by China after he was convicted of spying.

1995 - Microsoft's "Windows 95" went on sale.

1998 - U.S. officials cited a soil sample as part of the evidence that a Sudan plant was producing precursors to the VX nerve gas. And, therefore made it a target for U.S. missiles on August 20, 1998.

1998 - A donation of 24 beads was made, from three parties, to the Indian Museum of North America at the Crazy Horse Memorial. The beads are said to be those that were used in 1626 to buy Manhattan from the Indians.

1998 - The U.S. and Britain agreed on the Netherlands as site for the trial of two Libyan suspects for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

2001 - In McAllen, TX, Bridgestone/Firestone agreed to settle out of court and pay a reported $7.5 million to a family in a rollover accident in their Ford Explorer.

2001 - The remains of nine American servicemen killed in the Korean War were returned to the U.S. The bodies were found about 60 miles north of Pyongyang. It was estimated that it would be a year before the identies of the soldiers would be known.

2001 - U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly was randomly picked to take over the Microsoft monopoly case. The judge was to decide how Microsoft should be punished for illegally trying to squelch its competitors.

2001 - NASA announced that operation of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite would end by September 30th due to budget restrictions. Though the satellite is best known for monitoring a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, it was designed to provide information about the upper atmosphere by measuring its winds, temperatures, chemistry and energy received from the sun.

1944: Paris is liberated as Germans surrender

General Charles de Gaulle enters the capital of France after French and US troops force a German surrender.

Security guards (copyright: AP) 2003: Bombay rocked by twin car bombs
Two powerful bomb blasts hit the Indian city of Bombay within minutes of each other, killing at least 44 and injuring nearly 150.

Egon Krenz 1997: East German leader guilty of Berlin Wall deaths
A court in Berlin sentences the former East German leader, Egon Krenz, to six-and-a-half years in prison.

1989: Voyager spacecraft reaches Neptune
The unmanned Voyager 2 spacecraft sends back the first close-up pictures of Neptune and its satellite planets.

George Lincoln Rockwell 1967: 'American Hitler' shot dead
The leader of the American Nazi party, George Lincoln Rockwell, is shot and killed by a sniper at a shopping centre in Arlington, Virginia.

1974: Human cannonball misses target
A woman fired from a cannon in Bristol fails to break the English record for the second tim

1718 - Hundreds of colonists from France arrived in Louisiana. Some settled in present-day New Orleans.

1814 - The U.S. Library of Congress was destroyed by British forces.

1825 - Uruguay declared independence from Brazil.

1840 - Joseph Gibbons received a patent for the seeding machine.

1875 - Capt. Matthew Webb swam from Dover, England, to Calais, France making him the first person to swim the English Channel. The feat took about 22 hours.

1902 - "Al-Hoda" began publication in New York City making it the first Arabic daily newspaper in the U.S.

1916 - The National Park Service was established as part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

1920 - Ethelda Bleibtrey won the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition in Antwerp, Belgium. She was the first woman to win an Olympic competition for the U.S.

1920 - The first airplane to fly from New York to Alaska arrived in Nome.

1921 - The U.S. signed a peace treaty with Germany.

1940 - Arno Rudolphi and Ann Hayward were married while suspended in parachutes at the World's Fair in New York City.

1941 - Soviet and British troops invaded Iran. This was in reaction to the Shah's refusal to reduce the number of German residents.

1941 - Allied forces invaded Iran. Within four days the Soviet Union and England controlled Iran.

1944 - Paris, France, was liberated by Allied forces ending four years of German occupation.

1944 - Romania declared war on Germany.

1946 - Ben Hogan won the PGA in Portland, OR. It was his first major golf title.

1949 - NBC Radio debuted "Father Knows Best." The show went to TV in 1954.

1950 - U.S. President Truman ordered the seizure of U.S. railroads to avert a strike.

1967 - American Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell was assassinated by a sniper.

1972 - In Great Britain, computerized axial tomography (CAT scan) was introduced.

1978 - The Turin shroud believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ went on display for the first time in 45 years.

1981 - The U.S. Voyager 2 sent back pictures and data about Saturn.

1984 - Truman Capote was found dead in his home. He was 59.

1985 - Samantha Smith was killed with her father in an airplane crash in Maine. Smith was the schoolgirl whose letter to Yuri V. Andropov resulted in her famous peace tour of the Soviet Union.

1987 - Saudi Arabia denounced the "group of terrorists" that ran the Iranian government.

1988 - Iran and Iraq began talks in Geneva after ending their eight years of war.

1990 - Military action was authorized by the United Nations to enforce the trade embargo that had been placed on Iraq after their invasion of Kuwait.

1991 - Byelorussia declared independence from the Soviet Union.

1992 - It was reported by researchers that cigarette smoking significantly increased the risk of developing cataracts.

1993 - Amy Biehl was killed in South Africa by a mob.

1993 - Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman was indicted by a federal grand jury for terrorist activities, one of which was the World Trade Center bombing.

1993 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 3,652.09, an all-time high.

1995 - Harry Wu, human rights activist, returned to the United States. He said the spying case against him in China was "all lies."

1997 - The tobacco industry agreed to an $11.3 billion settlement with the state of Florida.

1998 - A survey released said that 1/3 of Americans use the Internet.

1998 - Gary Coleman plead innocent to the charge that he hit a woman in a mall after she had sought his autograph. Coleman was working at the mall as a security guard.

1998 - A High Court judge sentenced 16 civilians to be hanged for their role in a coup in Sierra Leone in May of 1998. The restored government had treason cases against 40 more civilians and 38 soldiers.

1998 - Seven Cuban-Americans were indicted by federal grand jury in Puerto Rico on charges of conspiracy to murder Cuban President Fidel Castro.

1994: Man gets 'bionic' heart

A man is given the world's first battery-operated heart in a pioneering operation in Britain.

Ian Smtih 1975: Rhodesia peace talks fail
Talks between the Rhodesian Government and the African National Council collapse acrimoniously.

Sherri Finkbine and her husband Robert 1962: Abortion mother returns home
An American mother-of-four is on her way home amid a storm of controversy after having an abortion in Sweden.

Zola Budd 1985: Budd smashes 5,000 metre record
Controversial athlete Zola Budd breaks the world 5,000 metres record.

55 B.C. - Britain was invaded by Roman forces under Julius Caesar.

1498 - Michelangelo was commissioned to make the "Pieta."

1743 - Antoine Lavoisier was born. He was the chemist that proved that the union of oxygen and other chemicals is used in burning, rusting of metals and breathing.

1842 - The first fiscal year was established by the U.S. Congress to start on July 1st.

1847 - Liberia was proclaimed as an independent republic.

1873 - Dr. Lee DeForest was born. He was the inventor of the Audion tube. The tube makes the broadcasting of sound possible.

1873 - The school board of St. Louis, MO, authorized the first U.S. public kindergarten.

1883 - A two-day eruption of the volcanic island Krakatoa began. The tidal waves that were associated with the eruption killed 36,000 people when they destroyed the island.

1896 - In the Philippines, and insurrection began against the Spanish government.

1920 - The 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. The amendment prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in the voting booth.

1934 - Adolf Hitler demanded that France turn over their Saar region to Germany.

1937 - All Chinese shipping was blockaded by Japan.

1939 - The first televised major league baseball games were shown. The event was a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1939 - The radio program, "Arch Oboler's Plays", presented the NBC Symphony for the first time.

1945 - The Japanese were given surrender instructions on the U.S. battleship Missouri at the end of World War II.

1947 - Don Bankhead became the first black pitcher in major league baseball.

1957 - It was announced that an intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully tested by the Soviet Union.

1957 - The first Edsel made by the Ford Motor Company rolled out.

1961 - The International Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto opened.

1974 - Charles Lindberg died at the age of 72.

1973 - A U.S. Presidential Proclamation was declared that made August 26th Women's Equality Day.

1978 - Sigmund Jahn blasted off aboard the Russian Soyuz 31 and became the first German in space.

1986 - Jennifer Levin was found strangled in New York City's Central Park. In the case called the "preppie murder" case Robert Chambers eventually plead guilty.

1987 - The Fuller Brush Company announced plans to open two retail stores in Dallas, TX. The company that had sold its products door to door for 81 years.

1990 - In Gainesville, FL, two slain college students were found in their apartment. Three more bodies would be found in the few days that followed.

1990 - The 55 Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait left Baghdad by car and headed for the Turkish border.

1991 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev promised that national elections would be held.

1992 - A mistrial was declared in the Iran-Contra cover-up trial of CIA spy Clair George.

1992 - A "no-fly zone" was imposed on the southern 1/3 of Iraq. The move by the U.S., France and Britain was aimed at protecting Iraqi Shiite Muslims.

1993 - Dorothea Puente was convicted of murdering three people that had been tenants in her boarding house. She was sentenced to life without parole.

1996 - Barbara Jewell asked U.S. President Clinton to clear her son's name in connection with the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. Richard Jewell was later cleared by the Justice Department.

1996 - Rober Vesco, a U.S. financier, was convicted in a Cuban court of economic crimes.

1996 - Chun Doo-hwan, the former military leader of South Korea, was sentenced to death. His crimes were mutiny, treason and embezzlement.

1998 - The U.S. government announced that they were investigating Microsoft in an attempt to discover if they "bullied" Intel into delaying new technology.

1998 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno ordered a review of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

1998 - Sudan filed a criminal lawsuit against U.S. President Clinton and the United States for the bombing of the El-Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries Company. The Sudanese claimed that the plant was strictly civilian.

1979: IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten

The Queen's cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, is killed by a bomb blast on his boat in Ireland.

Wreckage of lorry 1979: Soldiers die in Warrenpoint massacre
At least 18 British soldiers are killed in two booby-trap bomb attacks at Warrenpoint, South Down, close to the border with the Irish Republic.

Ernest Saunders walking into court 1990: 'Guinness Four' guilty
All four defendants in the marathon Guinness trial are found guilty.

Brian Epstein 1967: Beatles' manager Epstein dies
The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, is found dead at his Belgravia home in London.

Hotel de Ville, Calais 1950: Television crosses the Channel
The BBC transmits the first ever live television pictures across the Channel.

1987: Maclennan replaces Owen in SDP
Robert Maclennan MP succeeds David Owen as leader of the SDP party.

1660 - The books of John Milton were burned in London due to his attacks on King Charles II.

1789 - The Declaration of the Rights of Man was adopted by the French National Assembly.

1828 - Uruguay was formally proclaimed to be independent during preliminary talks between Brazil and Argentina.

1858 - The first cabled news dispatch was sent and was published by "The New York Sun" newspaper. The story was about the peace demands of England and France being met by China.

1859 - The first oil well was successfully drilled in the U.S. by Colonel Edwin L. Drake near Titusville, PA.

1889 - Charles G. Conn received a patent for the metal clarinet.

1889 - Boxer Jack Dempsey was defeated for the first time of his career by George LaBlanche.

1892 - The original Metropolitan Opera House in New York was seriously damaged by fire.

1894 - The Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act was passed by the U.S. Congress. The provision within for a graduated income tax was later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

1912 - The Edgar Rice Burroughs book "Tarzan of the Apes" was published for the first time.

1921 - The owner of Acme Packing Company bought a pro football team for Green Bay, WI. J.E. Clair paid tribute to those who worked in his plant by naming the team the Green Bay Packers. (NFL)

1928 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed by 15 countries in Paris. Later, 47 other nations would sign the pact.

1938 - Robert Frost, in a fit of jealousy, set fire to some papers to disrupt a poetry recital by another poet, Archibald MacLeish.

1939 - Nazi Germany demanded the Polish corridor and Danzig.

1945 - American troops landed in Japan after the surrender of the Japanese government at the end of World War II.

1962 - Mariner 2 was launched by the United States. In December of the same year the spacecraft flew past Venus. It was the first space probe to reach the vicinity of another planet.

1972 - North Vietnam's major port at Haiphong saw the first bombings from U.S. warplanes.

1979 - Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed in a boat explosion off the coast of Ireland. The Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility.

1981 - Work began on recovering a safe from the Andrea Doria. The Andrea Doria was a luxury liner that had sank in 1956 in the waters off of Massachusetts.

1984 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that the first citizen to go into space would be a teacher. The teacher that was eventually chosen was Christa McAuliffe. She died in the Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986.

1984 - Diane Sawyer became the fifth reporter on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes."

1984 - The Menetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village opened. It was the first new off-Broadway theater to be built in 50 years in New York City.

1985 - The Space Shuttle Discovery left for a seven-day mission in which three satellites were launched and another was repaired and redeployed.

1986 - Nolan Ryan, while with the Houston Astros, earned his 250th career win against the Chicago Cubs.

1989 - The first U.S. commercial satellite rocket was launched. A British communications satellite was onboard.

1990 - 52 Americans reached Turkey after leaving Iraq. Three young American men were detained by the Iraqis.

1990 - The U.S. State Department ordered the expulsion of 36 Iraqi diplomats.

1991 - The Soviet republic of Moldavia declared its independence.

1992 - Federal troops were ordered to Florida for emergency relief due to Hurricane Andrew.

1996 - California Governor Pete Wilson signed an order that would halt state benefits to illegal immigrants.

1998 - In New York city, Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali appeared in a U.S. Federal Court to face charges of bombing attacks at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He was one of two suspects released to the U.S. by Kenya.

1998 - In a Florida boot camp for teens, two boys killed a counselor and used his car to escape. The boys, 16 and 17 years old, would be tried as adults for the pickax murder.

1998 - James Brolin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - The final crew of the Russian space station Mir departed the station to return to Earth. Russia was forced to abandon Mir for financial reasons.

2001 - The U.S. military announced that an Air Force RQ-1B "Predator" aircraft was lost over Iraq. It was reported that the unmanned aircraft "may have crashed or been shot down."

2001 - A complaint was filed against California Congressman Gary Condit and two others for their efforts to obstruct justice in the disappearance of intern Chandra Levy. Condit was accused of conspiring to secure Anne Marie Smith's silence about an affair in their past.

2001 - Work began on the future site of a World War II memorial on the U.S. capital's historic national Mall. The site is between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

1963: King's dream for racial harmony

The fight for racial equality moves a step closer to victory as Dr Martin Luther King tells thousands of Americans his dream for freedom.

Tony Blair returns to Downing Street 2003: Blair gives evidence to Hutton
The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, appears before the Hutton inquiry and speaks of the "raging storm" which followed a controversial BBC report.

1994: Sunday trading legalised
Thousands of shops in England and Wales open legally for the first time following a change in the Sunday trading laws.

Prince William of Gloucester 1972: Prince William killed in plane crash
Prince William of Gloucester is killed after his light aircraft crashed and burst into flames.

Policeman guards Schulzes' house 1985: East Germans charged with espionage
An East German couple appear before Horseferry Road magistrates court in London charged under the Official Secrets Act.

1609 - Delaware Bay was discovered by Henry Hudson.

1619 - Ferdinand II was elected Holy Roman Emperor. His policy of "One church, one king" was his way of trying to outlaw Protestantism.

1774 - The first American-born saint was born in New York City. Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized in 1975.

1811 - Percy Bysshe Shelley and Harriet Westbrook eloped.

1830 - "The Tom Thumb" was demonstrated in Baltimore, MD. It was the first passenger-carrying train of its kind to be built in America.

1883 - Slavery was banned by the British Parliament throughout the British Empire.

1907 - "American Messenger Company" was started by two teenagers Jim Casey and Claude Ryan. The companies name was later changed to "United Parcel Service."

1916 - Italy's declaration of war against Germany took effect during World War I.

1917 - Ten suffragists were arrested as they picketed the White House.

1922 - The first radio commercial aired on WEAF in New York City. The Queensboro Realty Company bought 10 minutes of time for $100.

1922 - The Walker Cup was held for the first time at Southampton, NY. It is the oldest international team golf match in America.

1939 - The first successful flight of a jet-propelled airplane took place. The plane was a German Heinkel He 178.

1941 - The Football Writers Association of America was organized.

1947 - Manolete was mortally wounded by a bull during a fight in Linares, Spain. He died the following day at age 30.

1955 - Emmett Till was abducted from his uncle's home in Mississippi. Two white men had brutally murdered the black teen-ager after he supposedly whistled at a white woman.

1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech at a civil rights rally in Washington, DC. More than 200,000 people attended.

1972 - Mark Spitz captured the first of his seven gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He set a world record when he completed the 200-meter butterfly in 2 minutes and 7/10ths of a second.

1973 - An earthquake hit an area southwest of Mexico City killing 520 people and injuring 1,000 more.

1981 - John Hinckley, Jr. pled innocent to the charge of attempting to kill U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Hinckley was later acquitted by reason of insanity.

1981 - "The New York Daily News" published its final afternoon edition.

1986 - Jerry Whitworth, a retired Navy warrant officer, was convicted for his role in a Soviet spy ring. He was sentenced to 365 years in prison and fined $410,000.

1988 - At an air show in Ramstein, West Germany, an Italian Air Force jet collided with 2 other jets and then plunged into a crowd. 70 people were killed.

1988 - An unsuccessful coup attempt in the Philippines resulted in the death of 50 people. The coup was against President Corazon Aquino.

1989 - Jim Bakker's fraud and conspiracy trial opened.

1990 - Iraq declared Kuwait to be its 19th province and renamed Kuwait City al-Kadhima.

1990 - 27 people were killed and 350 injured when a tornado struck in Will County in Chicago.

1990 - Two college students were found and believed to be the fourth and fifth victims in an apparent serial killing near the University of Florida at Gainesville.

1991 - A subway operator in New York was charged with manslaughter after his train derailed, killing 5 people and injuring 133.

1994 - A DEA plane crashed in Peru killing 5 U.S. agents.

1995 - The biggest bank in the U.S. was created when Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank announced their $10 billion deal.

1995 - A mortar shell killed 38 people in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The act triggered NATO airstrikes against the Bosnian Serbs.

1996 - A divorce decree was issued for Britain's Charles and Princess Diana. This was the official end to the 15-year marriage.

1997 - In Algeria, nearly 300 people were killed in a single late-night incident between the government and Islamic militants.

1998 - The Pakistani prime minister created new Islamic order and legal system based on the Koran.