1603 – Scottish King James VI son of Mary Queen of Scots, becomes King James I of England in succession to Elizabeth I, thus joining the English and Scottish crowns. 1837 – Canada gives its black citizens the right to vote. 1882 – German scientist Robert Koch discovers and describes the tubercle bacillus which causes tuberculosis ( Mycobacterium tuberculosis). 1976 – Argentine President Isabel Martínez de Perón is deposed in a military coup. 1989 – The oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling some 11 million gallons (41 million litres) of oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska and creating the largest oil spill in U.S. history up to that time. 1999 – A fire began in the Mont Blanc Tunnel, a major Alpine automotive tunnel connecting France and Italy; it took two days to put out the blaze, and 39 people were killed. 2008 – Bhutan held elections for the National Assembly, thereby completing the country’s transition to a democracy. 2016 – Serbian politician Radovan Karadžić was found guilty of committing war crimes, including genocide, during the civil war that followed Bosnia and Herzegovina’s split from Yugoslavia in 1992; he was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Births & Deaths: 1603 – Queen Elizabeth I, best known for the defeat of the great Spanish Armada, which is regarded as one of the greatest military victories in English history; and the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, which provided a long lasting middle way between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, died. 1874 – Harry Houdini, an American magician who earned an international reputation for his daring feats of self-extrication from shackles and locked containers, was born.
Sport: 2018 – Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft is caught on camera rubbing match ball with an object during 3rd Cricket Test in Cape Town, resulting in an infamous ball tampering scandal.
Music: 1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach dedicates his Brandenburg Concertos to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. 1945 – With the debut of the Billboard magazine pop album chart, American pianist and singer Nat King Cole’s King Cole Trio became the first record album to appear at No. 1.
TV & Film: 1939 – “Wuthering Heights” based on the novel by Emily Brontë, directed by William Wyler and starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier, premieres in Los Angeles. 2002 – Film stars Denzel Washington and Halle Berry became the second and third African Americans to win Academy Awards for performances in leading roles.
