1497 – Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope on way to the first voyage from Europe to reach India. 1718 – The pirate Blackbeard was killed off the coast of North Carolina. 1926 – Imperial Conference ends, giving autonomy inside the British Commonwealth. 1935 – Flying boat “China Clipper” takes off from Alameda, California, carrying 100,000 pieces of mail on 1st trans-Pacific airmail flight. 1943 – Lebanon proclaimed its independence from France; however, it did not become wholly independent until 1946. 1963 – US President John F. Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas. 1969 – Isolation of a single gene announced by scientists at Harvard University. 1975 – Juan Carlos became king of Spain, two days after the death of Francisco Franco. 1990 – Margaret Thatcher announced her resignation as British prime minister after a split occurred in the ranks of the Conservative Party. 2005 – Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany
Sport: 1910 Arthur Knight patents steel shaft golf clubs.
Music: 1955 RCA Records make its best investment paying $35,000 to Sun Records for Elvis Presley’s contract.
TV & Film: 1995 “Toy Story”, the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery, directed by John Lasseter and starring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, is released.
