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1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I.

1660 - Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of England.

1721 - Sir Robert Walpole enters office as the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under King George I.

1812 - U.S. President James Madison enacted a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.

1814 - Napoleon abdicates for the first time.

1818 - The United States Congress adopts the flag of the United States as having 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 stars) with additional stars to be added whenever a new state is added to the Union.

1841 - President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and at one month, the elected president with the shortest term served.

1850 - Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.

1859 - Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.

1865 - American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.

1866 - Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in the city of Kiev. A design for a city gate to commemorate his escape was the inspiration for Mussorgsky's The Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition.

1887 - Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.

1905 - In India, an earthquake near Kangra kills 370,000.

1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme ends.

1939 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.

1945 - World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.

1945 - World War II: Soviet Army liberates Hungary.

1949 - Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

1964 - The Beatles occupy all of the top five positions on the Billboard singles chart in the United States.

1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.

1969 - Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.

1973 - The World Trade Center in New York is officially dedicated.

1975 - Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico

1975 - Vietnam War: Operation Baby Lift - A United States Air Force C-5A Galaxy crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, transporting orphans. 172 people are killed.

1976 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.

1979 - President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.

1983 - Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space (STS-6).

1984 - President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.

1988 - Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.

1991 - Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.

1994 - Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name "Mosaic Communications Corporation".

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186 - Caracalla, Roman emperor (d. 217)

1492 - Ambrosius Blarer, German reformer (d. 1564)

1593 - Edward Nicholas, English statesman (d. 1669)

1646 - Antoine Galland, French archaeologist (d. 1715)

1648 - Grinling Gibbons Dutch-born woodcarver (d. 1721)

1688 - Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, French astronomer (d. 1768)

1718 - Benjamin Kennicott, English churchman and Hebrew scholar (d. 1783)

1772 - Nachman of Breslov, founder of Breslov Hasidut (d. 1810)

1785 - Bettina von Arnim, German writer (d. 1859)

1802 - Dorothea Dix, American social activist (d. 1887)

1819 - Queen Maria II of Portugal (d. 1853)

1826 - Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer (d. 1901)

1842 - Edouard Lucas, French mathematician (d. 1891)

1846 - Comte de Lautréamont, French writer (d. 1870)

1875 - Pierre Monteux, French conductor (d. 1964)

1876 - Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter (d. 1958)

1882 - Kurt von Schleicher, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1934)

1884 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese naval commander (d. 1943)

1888 - Tris Speaker, American baseball player (d. 1958)

1895 - Arthur Murray, American dance teacher (d. 1991)

1896 - Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright (d. 1955)

1898 - Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940)

1902 - Louise Leveque de Vilmorin, French actress (d. 1969)

1906 - Bea Benaderet, American actress (d. 1968)

1906 - John Cameron Swayze, American journalist (d. 1995)

1911 - Max Dupain, Australian photographer (d. 1992)

1913 - Frances Langford, American actress (d. 2005)

1914 - Marguerite Duras, French writer (d. 1996)

1915 - Muddy Waters, American musician (d. 1983)

1916 - David White, American actor (d. 1990)

1920 - Éric Rohmer, French film director

1922 - Elmer Bernstein, American composer (d. 2004)

1924 - Gil Hodges, American baseball player (d. 1972)

1928 - Maya Angelou, American writer

1931 - Bobby Ray Inman, American admiral and intelligence director

1932 - Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1992)

1932 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian film director (d. 1986)

1932 - Richard Lugar, American politician

1932 - Estelle Harris, American actress

1932 - Clive Davis, American record producer

1938 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, American university president (d. 1989)

1939 - Hugh Masekela, South African musician

1940 - Sharon Sheeley, American songwriter

1942 - Kitty Kelley, American writer

1944 - Magda Aelvoet, Belgian politician

1944 - Craig T. Nelson, American actor

1945 - Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French political activist

1946 - Dave Hill, English guitarist (Slade)

1946 - Katsuaki Sato, Japanese martial artist

1947 - Luke Halpin, American actor

1947 - Wiranto, Indonesian general

1948 - Dan Simmons, American writer

1948 - Abdullah Öcalan, Kurdish leader

1948 - Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor

1949 - Shing-Tung Yau, Chinese mathematician

1950 - Christine Lahti, American actress

1951 - Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia

1952 - Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete

1952 - Gary Moore, Irish guitarist (Thin Lizzy)

1953 - Robert Bertrand, Canadian politician

1956 - David E. Kelley, American writer and television producer

1956 - Tom Herr, former Major League Baseball player

1957 - Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film director

1957 - Nobuyoshi Kuwano, Japanese musician (Rats & Star)

1957 - Kelso, American racehorse (d. 1983)

1957 - Graeme Kelling, Scottish musician (Deacon Blue) (d. 2004)

1958 - Mary-Margaret Humes, American actress

1960 - Jane Eaglin, English soprano

1960 - Hugo Weaving, Australian actor

1963 - Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach

1963 - Graham Norton, Irish talk show host

1963 - Dale Hawerchuk, Canadian ice hockey player

1964 - David Cross, American actor and comedian

1964 - Robbie Rist, American actor

1965 - Robert Downey Jr., American actor

1966 - Nancy McKeon, American actor

1968 - Jennifer Lynch, American director

1970 - Barry Pepper, Canadian actor

1973 - David Blaine, American illusionist

1974 - Dave Mirra, American athlete

1975 - Thobias Fredriksson, Sweedish cross-country skier

1975 - Scott Rolen, American baseball player

1975 - Delphine Arnault, French billionaire businesswoman

1976 - Emerson, Brazilian footballer

1978 - Alan Mahon, Irish footballer

1979 - Heath Ledger, Australian actor

1979 - Natasha Lyonne, American actress

1980 - Björn Wirdheim, Swedish race car driver

1980 - Johnny Borrell, Razorlight singer

1991 - Jamie Lynn Spears, American actress

1992 - Alexa Nikolas, American actress

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397 - St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

636 - Saint Isidore of Seville, Church Father and the proposed patron of Internet

896 - Pope Formosus (b. 816)

1284 - King Alfonso X of Castile (b. 1221)

1292 - Pope Nicholas IV (b. 1227)

1305 - Jeanne of Navarre, wife of Philip IV of France

1536 - Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1460)

1588 - King Frederick II of Denmark (b. 1534)

1609 - Charles de L'Ecluse, Flemish botanist (b. 1526)

1617 - John Napier, Scottish mathematician (b. 1550)

1643 - Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (b. 1583)

1661 - Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, Scottish soldier

1701 - Joseph Haines, entertainer and author

1743 - Daniel Neal, English historian (b. 1678)

1761 - Theodore Gardelle, Swiss painter and enameler (b. 1722)

1766 - John Taylor, English classical scholar (b. 1704)

1774 - Oliver Goldsmith, English writer (b. 1728)

1792 - James Sykes, American politician (b. 1725)

1807 - Joseph Jérôme Lefrançais de Lalande, French astronomer (b. 1732)

1817 - André Masséna, French marshal (b. 1758)

1841 - William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (b. 1773)

1842 - Jean Moufot, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1784)

1846 - Solomon Sibley, Senator from Michigan Territory (b. 1769)

1861 - John McLean, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1785)

1870 - Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (b. 1802)

1874 - Charles Ernest Beulé, French archaeologist and politician (b. 1826)

1879 - Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist (b. 1803)

1884 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian artist and diarist (b. 1860)

1890 - Edmond Hébert, French geologist (b. 1812)

1919 - William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (b. 1832)

1923 - John Venn, British mathematician (b. 1834)

1932 - Wilhelm Ostwald, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)

1951 - Al Christie, Canadian film director and producer (b. 1881)

1951 - George Albert Smith, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or Mormon Church) (b. 1870)

1953 - King Carol II of Romania (b. 1893)

1957 - E. Herbert Norman, Canadian diplomat (b. 1909)

1958 - Johnny Stompanato, American organized crime figure (b. 1925)

1967 - Kenneth R Davis, Senior Master Sergeant, USAF

1967 - Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1898)

1968 - Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1929)

1972 - Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American politician (b. 1908)

1972 - Stefan Wolpe, German-born composer (b. 1902)

1976 - Harry Nyquist, contributor to information theory (b. 1889)

1979 - Ali Bhutto, President and Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1928)

1979 - Edgar Buchanan, American actor (b. 1903)

1983 - Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1897)

1984 - Oleg Antonov, Russian airplane engineer (b. 1906)

1987 - C.L. Moore, American writer (b. 1911)

1991 - Max Frisch, Swiss writer (b. 1911)

1991 - H. John Heinz III, U.S. Senator (b. 1938)

1991 - Forrest Towns, American hurdler (b. 1914)

1991 - Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (b. 1920)

1992 - Arthur Russell, American cellist (b. 1951)

1995 - Priscilla Lane, American singer, actress (b. 1915)

1995 - Kenny Everett, British radio DJ and television entertainer (b. 1944)

1996 - Barney Ewell, American athlete (b. 1918)

1996 - Larry LaPrise, American songwriter (b. 1913)

1999 - Early Wynn, baseball player (b. 1920)

1999 - Faith Domergue American actor (b. 1924)

2000 - Tommaso Buscetta, Sicilian mafioso and pentito (b. 1928)

2001 - Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, American custom car designer (b. 1932)

2002 - Harry L. O'Connor, Czech-born film stuntman

2003 - Resortes, Mexican comedian (b. 1916)

2004 - Casey Sheehan, American soldier, son of Cindy Sheehan (b. 1979)

2004 - Alberic Schotte, Belgian cyclist (b. 1919)

2005 - Edward Bronfman, Canadian businessman (b. 1924)

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International Day for Landmine Awareness and Assistance

Lesotho - Heroes' Day

Taiwan and Hong Kong - Children's Day

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Saint Isidore of Seville, patron saint of the internauts

Saint Hildebert of Ghent (died 752)

Blessed Alice (d. 1105)