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467 - Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire 1606 - The Union Jack is adopted as the national flag of Great Britain. 1633 - The formal inquest of Galileo Galilei by the Inquisition begins. 1776 - North Carolina's Provincial Congress authorized its delegates to the Second Continental Congress to vote for independence by issuing the Halifax Resolves. 1861 - American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. 1864 - American Civil War: Fort Pillow massacre -- Confederate forces under General Nathan Bedford Forrest kill most of the African American soldiers who had surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee. 1865 - American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army. 1877 - The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal. 1937 - Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England. 1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office; vice-president Harry S. Truman is inaugurated as the 33rd President of the United States. 1954 - Bill Haley & His Comets record "Rock Around the Clock" in New York City. Initially unsuccessful, the recording would help launch the rock and roll revolution a year later. 1955 - The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective. 1961 - Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space. 1968 - Nerve gas accident at Skull Valley, Utah. 1980 - Samuel Doe takes control of Liberia in a coup d'etat, ending over 130 years of democratic presidential succession in that country. 1980 - Terry Fox begins his "Marathon of Hope" by dipping his artificial leg into the Atlantic at St. John's, Newfoundland. 1981 - The first launch of a Space Shuttle: ''Columbia'' launches on the STS-1 mission. 1994 - Canter & Siegel post the first commercial mass Usenet spam. 1996 - Yahoo! has its initial public offering, selling 2.6 million shares at $13 each. 1998 - An earthquake in Slovenia, measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale near the town of Bovec. 1999 - American President Bill Clinton was cited for contempt of court by federal district judge Susan Webber Wright for giving "intentionally false statements" in sworn testimony during his deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment civil lawsuit. Clinton was fined $90,000.* 2002 - Pedro Carmona becomes interim President of Venezuela during the Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002, a military coup against Hugo Chávez.

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599 BC - Mahavira, founder of Jainism (d. 527 BC)

812 - Muhammad at-Taqi, Arabian Shia Imam (d. 835)

1484 - Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect (d. 1546)

1500 - Joachim Camerarius, German classical scholar (d. 1574)

1526 - Muretus, French humanist (d. 1585)

1550 - Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English politician (d. 1604)

1577 - Christian IV of Denmark (d. 1648)

1713 - Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French writer (d. 1796)

1722 - Pietro Nardini, Italian composer (d. 1793)

1724 - Lyman Hall, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1790)

1726 - Charles Burney, English music historian (d. 1814)

1748 - Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (d. 1836)

1777 - Henry Clay, American statesman (d. 1852)

1794 - Germinal Pierre Dandelin, Belgian mathematician (d. 1847)

1799 - Henri Druey, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1855)

1823 - Alexandr Ostrovsky, Russian dramatist (d. 1886)

1839 - Nikolai Przhevalsky, Russian explorer (d. 1888)

1848 - José Gautier Benítez, Puerto Rican poet

1852 - Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician (d. 1939)

1856 - William Martin Conway, English art critic and mountaineer (d. 1937)

1868 - Akiyama Saneyuki, Japanese naval commander (d. 1918)

1869 - Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (d. 1922)

1883 - Dally Messenger, Australian rugby league player (d. 1959)

1884 - Otto Meyerhof, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (d. 1951)

1887 - Harold Lockwood, American silent film actor (d. 1918)

1888 - Heinrich Neuhaus, Soviet pianist (d. 1964)

1892 - Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1940)

1893 - Robert Harron, American actor (d. 1920)

1898 - Lily Pons, American soprano (d. 1976)

1901 - Lowell Stockman, American representative

1902 - Louis Beel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)

1903 - Jan Tinbergen, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (d. 1994)

1907 - Felix de Weldon, Austrian-born sculptor (d. 2003)

1907 - Hardie Gramatky, American author and animator (d. 1979)

1908 - Robert Lee Scott, Jr., American Air Force pilot (d. 2006)

1912 - Walt Gorney, American actor (d. 2004)

1916 - Beverly Cleary, American writer

1916 - Benjamin Libet, American scientist

1917 - Helen Forrest, American singer (d. 1999)

1922 - Tiny Tim, American musician (d. 1996)

1923 - Ann Miller, American actress and dancer (d. 2004)

1924 - Peter Safar, Austrian physician (d. 2003)

1928 - Hardy Krüger, German actor

1928 - Jean-François Paillard, French conductor

1932 - Dennis Banks, American activist

1932 - Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lankan Politician (d. 2005)

1933 - Montserrat Caballé, Catalan soprano

1935 - Johnny Bucyk, Canadian ice hockey player

1939 - Alan Ayckbourn, English writer

1940 - Herbie Hancock, American pianist and composer

1941 - Bobby Moore, English footballer (d. 1993)

1944 - John Kay, German-born musician (Steppenwolf)

1945 - Lee Jong-wook, Korean Director-General of the WHO (d. 2006)

1946 - Ed O'Neill, American actor

1947 - Tom Clancy, American author

1947 - David Letterman, American talk show host

1947 - Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets

1948 - Jeremy Beadle, British television presenter

1948 - Joschka Fischer, Foreign Minister of Germany

1948 - Sandra "Lois" Reeves, American singer (Martha & the Vandellas)

1949 - Scott Turow, American writer

1950 - David Cassidy, American singer and actor

1950 - Kari Palaste, Finnish architect

1952 - Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d. 2004)

1954 - Pat Travers, Canadian musician

1956 - Andy Garcia, Cuban-born actor

1956 - Herbert Grönemeyer, German singer

1957 - Vince Gill, American musician

1958 - Will Sergeant, English guitarist of Echo & the Bunnymen

1960 - Ron MacLean, Canadian sportscaster

1961 - Lisa Gerrard, Australian singer

1961 - D.D. Verni, American musician, (Overkill)

1962 - Art Alexakis, American musician (Everclear)

1962 - Takada Nobuhiko, Japanese professional wrestler

1964 - Amy Ray, American musician (Indigo Girls)

1970 - Nick Hexum, American musician (311)

1971 - Nicholas Brendon, actor

1971 - Shannen Doherty, American actress

1973 - J. Scott Campbell, American comic book artist

1974 - Marley Shelton, American actress

1974 - Sylvinho, Brazilian footballer

1976 - Brad Miller, American basketball player

1977 - Giovanny Espinoza, Ecuadorian footballer

1978 - Guy Berryman, British musician (Coldplay)

1978 - Riley Smith, American actor

1979 - Claire Danes, American actress

1979 - Mateja Kežman, Serbian footballer

1981 - Nicolás Burdisso, Argentine footballer

1982 - Deen, Bosnian singer

1985 - Hitomi Yoshizawa, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)

1985 - Jeisa Chiminazzo, Brazilian supermodel

1987 - Brendon Urie, American singer (Panic! At the Disco)

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65 - Seneca the Younger, Roman philosopher, statesman and dramatist

238 - Gordian I, Roman Emperor (suicide)

238 - Gordian II, heir to the Roman Empire (killed in battle)

352 - St. Julius I, 35th Pope

434 - Archbishop Maximianus of Constantinople

1125 - Vladislaus I of Bohemia

1443 - Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury

1550 - Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (b. 1496)

1555 - Juana of Castile, wife of Philip I of Castile (b. 1479)

1687 - Ambrose Dixon, Virginia Colony pioneer

1704 - Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French bishop and writer (b. 1627)

1748 - William Kent, English architect

1782 - Metastasio, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1698)

1788 - Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-born composer (b. 1719)

1795 - Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (b. 1710)

1814 - Charles Burney, English music historian (b. 1726)

1850 - Adoniram Judson, American Baptist missionary (b. 1788)

1878 - William Marcy Tweed, aka Boss Tweed, American politician (b. 1823)

1902 - Marie Alfred Cornu, French physicist (b. 1842)

1912 - Clara Barton, American nurse and Red Cross advocate (b. 1821)

1938 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (b. 1873)

1945 - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)

1962 - Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, Indian politician and engineer (b. 1861)

1968 - Heinrich Nordhoff, German automobile engineer, first managing director of Volkswagen (b. 1899)

1971 - Igor Tamm, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)

1971 - Ed Lafitte, American baseball player (b. 1871)

1975 - Josephine Baker, American dancer (b. 1906)

1980 - Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards and snooker player (b. 1895)

1980 - William R. Tolbert, Jr., President of Liberia (b. 1913)

1981 - Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)

1986 - Valentin Kataev, Russian writer (b. 1897)

1987 - Mike Von Erich, American wrestler

1988 - Alan Paton, South African novelist (b. 1903)

1989 - Gerald Flood, British actor (b. 1927)

1989 - Abbie Hoffman, American radical leader (b. 1936)

1989 - Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921)

1997 - George Wald, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)

1999 - Boxcar Willie, American singer (b. 1931)

2003 - Cecil H. Green, American manufacturer (b. 1900)

2006 - Dr. Rajkumar, Kannada language film actor/singer (b. 1992)

2006 - Puggy Pearson, American professional poker player (b. 1929)

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The Roman holiday of Cerealia begins.

Yuri's Night, an international celebration of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin; in Russia (and formerly in USSR), the Cosmonautics Day.

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Liturgical Feast Days
The Feast of St. Basil the Confessor in the Greek Orthodox Church.

Saint Damian

Saint Erkembode

Saint Julius I

Saint Zeno of Verona