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474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

1555 - Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake.

1621 - Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.

1788 - The Habsburg Empire joins the Russo-Turkish War in the Russian camp.

1822 - Haiti invades the Dominican Republic.

1825 - After no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams President of the United States.

1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.

1870 - The U.S. Weather Bureau was established.

1885 - The first Japanese arrive in Hawaii.

1889 - The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is established as a Cabinet-level agency.

1895 - William G. Morgan invents volleyball.

1900 - Davis Cup competition is established.

1904 - Battle of Port Arthur

1920 - By the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized.

1922 - Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

1934 - The Balkan Entente is formed.

1942 - World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.

1942 - World War II: The Guadalcanal Campaign ends with Allied forces declaring Guadalcanal secured after the withdrawal of Japanese forces.

1942 - Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States.

1943 - World War II: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal.

1950 - Red scare: Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States State Department of being filled with Communists.

1960 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1962 - Jamaica becomes independent nation within the Commonwealth of Nations.

1964 - Olympic Games: Winter Olympic Games - The IX Olympic Winter Games close in Innsbruck, Austria.

1964 - The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a "record-busting" audience of 73 million viewers.

1965 - Vietnam War: The first United States combat troops are sent to South Vietnam.

1969 - First test flight of the Boeing 747.

1971 - The 6.4 on the Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.

1971 - Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned moon landing.

1973 - Biju Patnaik of the Pragati Legislature Party elected leader of opposition in the state assembly in Orissa, India.

1975 - The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.

1986 - Comet Halley reaches perihelion, its closest approach to the sun, during its second visit to the solar system in the 20th century.

1991 - Voters in Lithuania vote for independence.

1994 - Vance-Owen peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina is announced.

1996 - The Irish Republican Army declares the end of its 18 month ceasefire shortly followed by a large bomb in London's Canary Wharf.

2001 - The American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks the Ehime-Maru, a Japanese training vessel operated by the Uwajima Fishery High School.

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1404 - Constantine XI, last Byzantine Emperor (d. 1453)

1533 - Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese samurai (d. 1611)

1666 - George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (d. 1737)

1748 - Luther Martin, American patriot (d. 1826)

1773 - William Henry Harrison, President of the United States (d. 1841)

1775 - Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1856)

1783 - Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet (d. 1852)

1800 - Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (d. 1844)

1830 - Abd-ul-Aziz, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1876)

1834 - Felix Dahn, German author (d. 1912)

1846 - Wilhelm Maybach, German automotive designer (d. 1929)

1865 - Mrs. Patrick Campbell, British actress (d. 1940)

1874 - Amy Lowell, American poet (d. 1925)

1880 - Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1959})

1885 - Alban Berg, Austrian composer (d. 1935)

1891 - Ronald Colman, English actor (d. 1958)

1892 - Peggy Wood, American actress (d. 1978)

1895 - Hermann Brill, German politician (d. 1959)

1897 - Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, Australian pilot (d. 1935)

1901 - Brian Donlevy, Irish actor (d. 1972)

1901 - James Murray, American actor (d. 1936)

1902 - Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German women's leader (d. 1999)

1909 - Heather Angel, British actress (d. 1986)

1909 - Carmen Miranda, Portuguese actress (d. 1955)

1909 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)

1910 - Jacques Monod, French biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1976)

1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee, American dancer (d. 1970)

1914 - Ernest Tubb, American singer (d. 1984)

1914 - Bill Veeck, American baseball executive (d. 1986)

1916 - Tex Hughson, American baseball player (d. 1993)

1922 - Kathryn Grayson, American actress

1923 - Brendan Behan, Irish author (d. 1964)

1925 - Burkhard Heim, German physicist (d. 2001)

1926 - Garret FitzGerald, seventh Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland

1928 - Frank Frazetta, American illustrator

1928 - Roger Mudd, American journalist

1930 - Garner Ted Armstrong, American evangelist (d. 2003)

1932 - Gerhard Richter, German painter

1936 - Clive Swift, British actor

1939 - Barry Mann, American singer

1939 - Janet Suzman, South African actress

1940 - J. M. Coetzee, South African author, Nobel laureate

1941 - Sheila Kuehl, American actress

1942 - Carole King, American singer

1943 - Joe Pesci, American actor

1943 - Joseph E. Stiglitz, American economist, Nobel laureate

1944 - Alice Walker, American writer

1944 - Derryn Hinch, Australian media personality

1945 - Mia Farrow, American actress

1946 - Séan Neeson, Northern Irish politician

1947 - Carla Del Ponte, Swiss UN prosecutor

1949 - Judith Light, American actress

1949 - Jim Sheridan, Irish film director

1952 - Mookie Wilson, American baseball player

1953 - Ciarán Hinds, Northern Irish actor

1955 - JM J. Bullock, American actor

1955 - Charles Shaughnessy, British actor

1960 - Holly Johnson, British singer (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)

1961 - John Kruk, American baseball player

1963 - Brian Greene, American physicist

1963 - Travis Tritt, American singer

1966 - Ellen van Langen, Dutch athlete

1967 - Todd Pratt, American baseball player

1969 - Jimmy Smith, American football player

1970 - Glenn McGrath, Australian cricketer

1971 - Sharon Case, American actress

1971 - Johan Mjällby, Swedish footballer

1973 - Svetlana Boginskaya, Soviet gymnast

1974 - Amber Valletta, American model

1976 - Charlie Day, American actor

1976 - Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican baseball player

1979 - David Gray, English snooker player

1979 - Irina Slutskaya, Russian figure skater

1979 - Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress

1980 - Shelly Martinez, American wrestler

1981 - John Walker Lindh, American Taliban fighter

1982 - Ami Suzuki, Japanese singer

1985 - David Gallagher, American actor

1996 - Jimmy Bennett, American actor

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1199 - Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shogun (b. 1147)

1450 - Agnès Sorel, mistress of King Charles VII of France (b. 1421)

1555 - Rowland Taylor, English pastor (executed) (b. 1510)

1619 - Lucilio Vanini, Italian philosopher (b. 1585)

1640 - Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1612)

1675 - Gerhard Douw, Dutch painter (b. 1613)

1709 - François Louis, Prince of Conti, French general (b. 1664)

1751 - Henri François d'Aguesseau, Chancellor of France (b. 1668)

1752 - Fredric Hasselquist, Swedish naturalist (b. 1722)

1777 - Seth Pomeroy, American gunsmith and soldier (b. 1706)

1782 - Joseph Aloysius Assemani, Syrian orientalist (b. 1710)

1803 - Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French poet (b. 1716)

1881 - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist (b. 1821)

1891 - Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (b. 1819)

1906 - Paul Laurence Dunbar, American poet (b. 1872)

1940 - Eugene Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1857)

1951 - Eddy Duchin, American musician (b. 1910)

1957 - Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral (b. 1868)

1960 - Alexandre Benois, Russian artist (b. 1870)

1966 - Sophie Tucker, Russian-born actress (b. 1884)

1969 - Gabby Hayes, American actor (b. 1885)

1976 - Percy Faith, Canadian musician (b. 1908)

1978 - Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist (b. 1893)

1979 - Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1900)

1981 - Bill Haley, American musician (Bill Haley and the Comets) (b. 1925)

1984 - Yuri Andropov, Soviet politician (b. 1914)

1989 - Osamu Tezuka, Japanese manga artist (b. 1928)

1994 - Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (b. 1934)

1995 - J. William Fulbright, American politician (b. 1905)

1997 - Brian Connolly, English singer (Sweet (band) (b. 1945)

1999 - Bryan Mosley, British actor (b. 1931)

2001 - Herbert Simon, American economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1916)

2002 - Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom (b. 1930)

2006 - Freddie Laker, British airline entrepreneur (b. 1922)

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Saint Ansbert of Rouen

Saint Maroon's Day - Lebanon

Saint Apollonia, patron saint of dentists and dental technicians