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1603 - James VI of Scotland also becomes James I King of England.

1765 - American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the 13 American colonies to house British troops.

1832 - In Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat, tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Jr..

1837 - Canada gives African men the right to vote.

1868 - Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is formed.

1878 - The UK frigate Eurydice sinks, killing 300.

1882 - Robert Koch announces the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis).

1898 - Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania becomes the first person to buy an American-built automobile when he buys a Winton automobile that was advertised in Scientific American.

1900 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.

1923 - Greece becomes a republic.

1934 - U.S. Congress passes Tydings-McDuffie Act.

1944 - In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.

1959 - The Party of the African Federation (PFA) is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keita.

1965 - NASA spacecraft Ranger 9, equipped to convert its signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic television, brings images of the Moon into ordinary homes before crash-landing.

1972 - The United Kingdom imposes "Direct Rule" over Northern Ireland.

1973 - Kenyan track runner Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles, sanctioned by the International Track Association.

1973 - Rock band Pink Floyd releases The Dark Side of the Moon

1976 - Argentina's military forces depose president Isabel Perón and start the National Reorganization Process.

1980 - Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed by right-wing terrorists while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.

1989 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaska's Prince William Sound the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (42,000 m³) of petroleum after running aground.

1990 - Bob Hawke and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) defeat Andrew Peacock and the Liberal Party of Australia in his final election as Prime Minister of Australia.

1998 - Jonesboro massacre: In Jonesboro, Arkansas, two boys (aged 11 and 13 years) fire upon students at Westside Middle School; four students and one teacher are killed and 10 injured.

1998 - Tornado sweeps through Dantan in India killing 250 people and injuring 3000 others.

1999 - Kosovo War: NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.

2000 - The S&P 500 reaches an all-time high of 1527.46.

2003 - The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.

2005 - The Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) is released in North America.

2006 - Long-term protests in Belarus are broken by police. More than 400 detained.

2006 - Pope Benedict XVI adds 15 men to the College of Cardinals, in the first consistory of his Pontificate.

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1490 - Georg Agricola, German scientist (d. 1555)

1607 - Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (d. 1667)

1657 - Arai Hakuseki, Japanese writer and politician (d. 1725)

1693 - John Harrison, British clockmaker (d. 1776)

1725 - Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (d. 1813)

1725 - Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (d. 1788)

1782 - Orest Kiprensky, Russian painter (d. 1836)

1796 - John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian politician (d. 1878)

1809 - Joseph Liouville, French mathematician (d. 1882)

1820 - A. E. Becquerel, French physicist (d. 1891)

1830 - Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet (d. 1889)

1834 - William Morris, English writer and designer (d. 1896)

1834 - John Wesley Powell, American explorer and environmentalist (d. 1902)

1835 - Jožef Stefan, Slovenian physicist (d. 1893)

1855 - Andrew Mellon, American financier (d. 1937)

1855 - Olive Schreiner, South African writer (d. 1920)

1874 - Harry Houdini, Hungarian-born magician (d. 1926)

1884 - Peter Debye, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)

1886 - Edward Weston, American photographer (d. 1958)

1887 - Roscoe Arbuckle, American actor (d. 1933)

1888 - Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian Bolshevik politician (d. 1922)

1889 - Albert Hill, British athlete (d. 1969)

1893 - Walter Baade, German astronomer (d. 1960)

1897 - Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-born psychotherapist (d. 1957)

1901 - Ub Iwerks, American cartoonist (d. 1971)

1902 - Thomas Dewey, American politician (d. 1971)

1903 - Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)

1906 - Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Soviet singer (d. 1984)

1909 - Clyde Barrow, American crime figure (d. 1934)

1910 - Richard Conte, American actor (d. 1975)

1911 - Joseph Barbera, American cartoonist

1915 - Gorgeous George, American professional wrestler (d. 1963)

1916 - Donald Hamilton, Swedish-American novelist

1917 - John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)

1919 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American author and publisher

1919 - Robert Heilbroner, American economist (d. 2005)

1923 - Murray Hamilton, American actor (d. 1986)

1924 - Norman Fell, American actor (d. 1998)

1926 - Dario Fo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate

1927 - Martin Walser, German author

1928 - Byron Janis, American pianist

1930 - David Dacko, 1st President of the Central African Republic (d. 2003)

1930 - Steve McQueen, American actor (d. 1980)

1935 - Peter Bichsel, Swiss writer

1936 - David Suzuki, Canadian environmentalist

1938 - Holger Czukay, German musician (Can)

1938 - David Irving, British historian

1944 - R. Lee Ermey, American actor

1944 - Vojislav Koštunica, Serbian Prime Minister

1945 - Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist

1945 - Curtis Hanson, American film director

1947 - Alan Sugar, English businessman

1951 - Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer

1953 - Louie Anderson, American comedian

1954 - Robert Carradine, American actor

1954 - Donna Pescow, American actress

1960 - Kelly LeBrock, American actress

1960 - Nena, German singer

1960 - Barry Horowitz, jobber in the WWF

1962 - Star Jones Reynolds, American television personality

1964 - Annabella Sciorra, American actress

1965 - The Undertaker, American professional wrestler

1970 - Lara Flynn Boyle, American actress

1970 - Sharon Corr, Irish musician (The Corrs)

1972 - Steve Karsay, American baseball player

1973 - Jacek Bąk, Polish footballer

1974 - Chad Butler, American drummer (Switchfoot)

1974 - Alyson Hannigan, American actress

1975 - Thomas Johansson, Swedish tennis player

1976 - Aaron Brooks, American football player

1976 - Peyton Manning, American football player

1976 - Aliou Cissé, Senegalese footballer

1977 - Darren Lockyer, Australian Rugby League Player

1979 - Graeme Swann, English Cricket player

1981 - Patrick Kisnorbo, Australian footballer

1984 - Chris Bosh, American basketball player

1985 - Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and model

1988 - Ryan Higgins, Zimbabwean Legspinner

1990 - Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian-born New Zealand actress

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809 - Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph (b. 763)

1284 - King Hugh III of Cyprus

1361 - Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, English soldier and diplomat

1381 - Catherine of Sweden, Swedish saint

1455 - Pope Nicholas V (b. 1397)

1563 - Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese military leader (b. 1514)

1575 - Yosef Karo, Spanish-born rabbi (b. 1488)

1603 - Queen Elizabeth I of England (b. 1533)

1653 - Samuel Scheidt, German composer (b. 1587)

1773 - Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English statesman and man of letters (b. 1694)

1776 - John Harrison, English clockmaker (b. 1693)

1869 - Antoine-Henri Jomini, French general (b. 1779)

1881 - Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist (b. 1817)

1882 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American author (b. 1807)

1887 - Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter and art critic (b. 1837)

1905 - Jules Verne, French author (b. 1828)

1909 - John Millington Synge, Irish playwright (b. 1871)

1915 - Karol Olszewski, Polish scientist (b. 1846)

1916 - Enrique Granados, Spanish composer (drowned) (b. 1867)

1921 - Larry McLean, baseball player (b. 1881)

1944 - Orde Wingate, British soldier (b. 1903)

1946 - Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player (b. 1892)

1948 - Sigrid Hjertén, Swedish modernist painter (b. 1885)

1950 - James Rudolph Garfield, American politician (b. 1865)

1953 - Mary of Teck, queen consort to George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)

1962 - Jean Goldkette, Greek-born musician (b. 1899)

1962 - Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (b. 1884)

1972 - Cristobal Balenciaga, Spanish couturier (b. 1895)

1976 - Bernard Montgomery, British field marshal (b. 1887)

1980 - Óscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador (b. 1917)

1984 - Sam Jaffe, American actor (b. 1891)

1990 - Ray Goulding, American comedian (b. 1922)

1990 - An Wang, Chinese-born computer pioneer (b. 1920)

1991 - Sir John Kerr, 18th Governor General of Australia (b. 1914)

1993 - John Hersey, American author (b. 1914)

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

1999 - Birdie Tebbetts, baseball player and manager (b. 1912)

2002 - César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)

2003 - Hans Hermann Groër, Austrian Catholic archbishop (b. 1919)

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Ancient Latvia - Kazimiras Diena observed.

World Tuberculosis Day.

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Liturgical feasts

Saint Simeon (died 1475)
Saint Catharine of Sweden (died 1381)