1398 – Timur (Tamerlane) captures and sacks Delhi, defeating Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud’s armies by setting camels loaded with hay alight and charging them at the Sultans armoured elephants. 1526 – Pope Clemens VII publishes degree Cum ad zero – forms Inquisition. 1788 – Russian army of Grigory Potemkin occupies Ocharov. 1807 – With Napoleon’s decree of Milan, all neutral countries and allies of France were forbidden to trade with Britain. 1892 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker was first presented at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. 1903 – The Wright brothers make the first sustained motorized aircraft flight at 10:35 AM, piloted by Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 1986 – Mrs Davina Thompson makes medical history by having the 1st heart, lung & liver transplant at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England. 1992 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed by the leaders of Mexico, Canada, and the United States. 2014 – The United States and Cuba re-established diplomatic relations that had been in abeyance for more than 50 years.
Births & Deaths: 1760 – American Revolutionary soldier Deborah Sampson, who assumed a man’s identity in order to join the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, was born. 1853 – Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, one of the great figures of the English theatre and the most successful actor-manager of his time, was born in London. 1874 – W.L. Mackenzie King, former Prime Minister of Canada, was born. 1910 – American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Sy Oliver was born in Battle Creek, Michigan. 2011 – North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il died; he was succeeded by his youngest son, Kim Jong-Eun.
Sport: 1927 – Bradman scores 118 on 1st-class cricket debut, 188 mins 8 fours.
Music: 1865 – Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished Symphony” premieres in Vienna with Johann von Herbeck conducting.
TV & Film: 1989 – “The Simpsons” created by Matt Groening, premieres on Fox TV as a full animated series with the episode, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”.
