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1124 - David I becomes King of Scotland.

1296 - Battle of Dunbar: The Scots are defeated by Edward I of England.

1509 - Pope Julius II places the Italian state of Venice under interdict.

1521 - Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu.

1565 - Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.

1650 - The Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army invades mainland Scotland from Orkney Island but is defeated by a Covenanter army.

1667 - The blind, impoverished John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.

1773 - The British Parliament passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.

1805 - First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The "shores of Tripoli" part of the Marines' hymn).

1810 - Beethoven composes his famous piano piece, Für Elise.

1813 - War of 1812: United States troops capture the capital of Ontario, York (present day Toronto, Ontario).

1827 - The Petrel, Australian Coal carrying ship sinks in stormy seas, off Hope Bay, Tasmania.

1840 - Foundation stone for new Palace of Westminster, London, laid by wife of Sir Charles Barry.

1861 - President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.

1865 - The New York State Senate creates Cornell University as the state's land grant institution.

1865 - The steamboat Sultana, carrying 2,300 passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River, killing 1,700, most of whom were Union survivors of the Andersonville Prison.

1904 - The Australian Labor Party becomes the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson.

1909 - Sultan of Turkey Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.

1911 - Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate.

1914 - Honduras becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1936 - The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.

1941 - World War II: German troops enter Athens.

1945 - World War II: Last German troops are expelled from Finnish Lapland (the last day of World War II going on in Finland). The day is the national war veteran day in Finland.

1945 - World War II: The Völkischer Beobachter, the newspaper of the Nazi Party, ceases publication.

1950 - Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed formally segregating races.

1959 - The last Canadian missionary leaves the People's Republic of China.

1960 - Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.

1961 - Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister.

1972 - Constructive Vote of No Confidence against German Chancellor Willy Brandt fails under obscure circumstances.

1974 - 10,000 march in Washington, D.C., calling for impeachment of US President Nixon

1977 - 28 people are killed in the Guatemala City air disaster.

1981 - Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.

1992 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is proclaimed, comprising of Serbia and Montenegro.

1994 - South African general election, 1994: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote.

1996 - The Israeli military operation in Lebanon, Operation Grapes of Wrath, ends after 16 days of heavy bombing.

2005 - The Superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus 380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, France.

2006 - Construction begins on the Freedom Tower for the new World Trade Center in New York City.

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1623 - Johann Adam Reinken, German organist (d. 1722)

1701 - King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (d. 1773)

1718 - Thomas Lewis, Irish-born Virginia settler (d. 1790)

1737 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (d. 1794)

1755 - Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician (d. 1836)

1759 - Mary Wollstonecraft, English author (d. 1797)

1791 - Samuel F. B. Morse, American inventor (d. 1872)

1812 - Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (d. 1883)

1820 - Herbert Spencer, English philosopher (d. 1903)

1822 - Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885)

1840 - Edward Whymper, English mountain climber (d. 1911)

1850 - Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general (d. 1921)

1878 - Frank Alvin Gotch, American professional wrestler (d. 1917)

1888 - Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)

1891 - Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer (d. 1953)

1893 - Dragoljub Mihailović, commandant of the Yugoslav Royal Army in the Fatherland (d. 1946)

1893 - Allen Sothoron, American baseball player (d. 1939)

1894 - Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian-born musicologist and composer (d.1995)

1896 - Rogers Hornsby, baseball player (d. 1963)

1899 - Walter Lantz, American cartoonist (d. 1994)

1904 - Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet and writer (d. 1972)

1913 - Philip Hauge Abelson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)

1916 - Enos Slaughter, baseball player (d. 2002)

1920 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)

1920 - Edwin Morgan, Scottish poet

1920 - Mark Krasnosel'skii, Russian-Ukrainian mathematician (d. 1997)

1922 - Jack Klugman, American actor

1927 - Coretta Scott King, American civil rights activist and wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. (d. 2006)

1931 - Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist

1932 - Anouk Aimée, French actress

1932 - Pik Botha, South African politician

1932 - Casey Kasem, American disc jockey

1932 - Gian-Carlo Rota, Italian-born mathematician and philosopher (d. 1999)

1937 - Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992)

1937 - Robin Eames, Northern Irish clergyman

1938 - Earl Anthony, American bowler (d. 2001)

1939 - Judy Carne, British actress and comedian

1941 - Lee Roy Jordan, American football player

1942 - Jim Keltner, American drummer

1944 - Cuba Gooding, Sr., American musician (The Main Ingredient)

1945 - August Wilson, American playwright (d. 2005)

1947 - Ann Peebles, American singer

1948 - Kate Pierson, American singer (The B-52's)

1951 - Ace Frehley, American musician (KISS)

1952 - George Gervin, American basketball player

1952 - Ari Vatanen, Finnish rally driver

1959 - Sheena Easton, Scottish singer

1963 - Cali Timmins, Canadian actress

1967 - Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands

1967 - Jason Whitlock, American sportswriter

1969 - Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey

1969 - Darcey Bussell, British ballerina

1969 - Mica Paris, British singer and presenter

1970 - Kylie Travis, English actress and model

1974 - Johnny Devine, Canadian professional wrestler

1975 - Chris Carpenter, baseball player

1976 - Isobel Campbell, Scottish singer and composer

1976 - Walter Pandiani, Uruguayan footballer

1979 - Will Boyd, American musician

1980 - Zayed Khan, Indian actor

1980 - Christian Lara, Ecuadorian footballer

1980 - Ananda Mikola, Indonesian racing driver

1981 - Fabrizio Faniello, Maltese singer

1981 - Patrik Gerrbrand, Swedish footballer

1984 - Patrick Stump, American musician (Fall Out Boy)

1986 - Elena Risteska, Macedonian singer

1987 - William Moseley, British actor

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630 - King Ardashir III of Persia

1404 - Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1342)

1521 - Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer (b. 1480)

1530 - Jacopo Sannazaro, Italian poet (b. 1458)

1599 - Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (b. 1538)

1605 - Pope Leo XI (b. 1535)

1613 - Robert Abercromby, Scottish Jesuit (b. 1532)

1625 - Mori Terumoto, Japanese warrior (b. 1553)

1656 - Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter (b. 1596)

1694 - John George IV, Elector of Saxony (b. 1668)

1695 - John Trenchard, English statesman (b. 1640)

1702 - Jean Bart, French admiral (b. 1651)

1782 - William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician (b. 1710)

1813 - Zebulon Pike, American frontiersman and explorer (b. 1779)

1882 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist (b. 1803)

1915 - Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (b. 1872)

1921 - Arthur Mold, English cricketer (b. 1863)

1932 - Hart Crane, American writer (suicide) (b. 1899)

1936 - Karl Pearson, English statistician (b. 1857)

1952 - Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician (b. 1865)

1965 - Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (b. 1908)

1970 - Arthur Shields, Irish actor (b. 1896)

1972 - Kwame Nkrumah, leader of Ghana (b. 1909)

1977 - Stanley Adams, American actor (b. 1915)

1988 - David Scarboro, actor (b. 1968)

1992 - Olivier Messiaen, French composer (b. 1908)

1995 - Willem Frederik Hermans, Dutch writer (b. 1921)

1996 - William Colby, American director of the Central Intelligence Agency (b. 1920)

1998 - Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-born writer (b. 1925)

1999 - Al Hirt, American trumpeter (b. 1922)

2000 - Vicki Sue Robinson, American singer (b. 1954)

2002 - George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)

2002 - Ruth Handler, American toy manufacturer (b. 1916)

2002 - Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Swiss industrialist and art collector (b. 1921)

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Slovenia: Day of Uprising Against Occupation.

South Africa: Freedom day.

Sierra Leone: Republic Day.

Catalonia: Montserrat's Day (see Montserrat).

Rochester, NY: Al Franken Day.

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Liturgical feasts

Nuestra Señora de Monserrat
Saint Floribert
Saint Liberalis
Saint Mariana
Saint Zita