380 – Theodosius I makes his adventus, or first formal entry, into Constantinople. 1639 – 1st observation of the transit of Venus by Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree – helped establish size of the Solar System. 1531 – The second Peace of Kappel brought an end to the Kappel Wars during the Swiss Reformation. 1642 – Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discovers Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). 1700 – Louis XIV of France proclaimed his grandson Philip to be king of Spain, beginning the War of the Spanish Succession. 1832 – A special state convention in South Carolina adopted the Ordinance of Nullification, which declared two federal tariffs null and voids within the state; it sparked the nullification crisis, which ended in favour of the federal government. 1859 – English naturalist Charles Darwin publishes “On the Origin of Species” radically changing the view of evolution and laying the foundation for evolutionary biology. 1947 – The Hollywood Ten, a group of motion-picture producers, directors, and screenwriters who appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee in October 1947, were found in contempt of Congress. 1950 – UN troops begin an assault intending to end the Korean War by Christmas. 1954 – France sends 20,000 soldiers to Algeria. 1963 – Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. 1998 – Queen Elizabeth II, speaking at the annual ceremonies opening the British Parliament, announced that the right of hereditary peers to vote in the House of Lords would end, though compromise legislation later allowed 92 hereditary peers to remain in the Lords. 2001 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ratified changes to the country’s legal code that made women equal to men before the law and no longer subject to their husbands.
Sport: 1989 – Sachin Tendulkar scores a Test Cricket fifty aged 16 years 214 days, a record.
Music: 1950 – “Guys & Dolls” opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 1200 performances.
TV & Film: 1947 – The US House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities finds “Hollywood 10” in contempt because of their refusal to reveal whether they were communists.
