215 BC – A temple, built on the Capitoline Hill, is dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene. 1014 – King Brian Boru of Ireland defeats Viking forces at Battle of Clontarf, freeing Ireland from foreign control. 1597 – William Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance. 1861 – Robert E. Lee named commander of Virginia Confederate forces (US Civil War). 1968 – 1st decimal coins issued in Britain (5 & 10 new pence, replacing shilling and two-shilling pieces). 1984 – AIDS-virus identified as HTLV-III (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). 1985 – The Coca-Cola Company introduced New Coke, a reformulated soft drink meant to replace its flagship beverage; due to public outrage, however, the previous version of Coke was brought back as “Coca-Cola Classic” less than three months later. 1993 – After a long history of foreign rule and decades of war, the small East African country of Eritrea began three days of voting on a referendum to make official its independence from Ethiopia. 2005 – The first video—which was of YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim’s visit to the San Diego Zoo—was uploaded on the YouTube Web site; approximately one year later the site had some 100 million videos.
Births & Deaths: 1616 – William Shakespeare, a British author best known for writing the four greatest tragedies of all time- Macbeth , Othello, Hamlet and King Lear, was born.
Sport: 2013 – West Indian cricketer, Chris Gayle, smashes the fastest century in history (30 balls).
Music: 2016 – Beyoncé releases her 6th album “Lemonade” with a 1 hour film on HBO.
TV & Film: 1896 – Vitascope system of movie projection 1st shown at Koster & Bial’s Music Hall (NYC).
