1611 – Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, oldest existing university in Asia and largest Catholic university in the world 1770– British Captain James Cook, aboard the endeavour, lands at Botany Bay in Australia 1789– Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny on HMS Bounty against its captain William Bligh in the South Pacific 1910– First night air flight by Claude Grahame-White in England 1937 – 1st commercial flight across Pacific operated by Pan Am 1952 – The Allied occupation of Japan came to an end after seven years of rapid social and economic change following the country’s surrender in World War II. 1969 – French leader Charles de Gaulle resigned his presidency. 1977– Andreas Baader and members of terrorist group the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang) jailed for life after a trial lasting nearly 2 years in Stuttgart, Germany 2003 – Apple launched the iTunes Store, which gave users the ability to purchase and download music from the Internet directly to their iTunes library; in 2010 the store sold its 10 billionth song. 2004 – American television network CBS broadcast photographs depicting harsh treatment of Iraqi inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison in U.S.-occupied Iraq, initiating a national debate on torture and the Geneva Conventions.
Births & Deaths: 1926 – American author Harper Lee—who won national acclaim for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)—was born. 1945 – Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, “Il Duce,” who, after a series of military misadventures, became unpopular even among his fellow Fascists, was captured while trying to flee Italy and was executed on this day in 1945. 1996 – Australian gunman Martin Bryant began a killing spree that left 35 people dead and some 18 others wounded in the Port Arthur area of Tasmania, Australia; it was the country’s worst mass shooting and led to stricter gun controls.
Film: 1965– Barbra Streisand stars on “My Name is Barbra” special on CBS
Music: 1940– Glenn Miller records “Pennsylvania 6-5000”
