1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is ritually executed after having been dead for two years. 1667 – The Truce of Andrusovo ended the Thirteen Years’ War between Russia and Poland. 1815 – Burned US Library of Congress re-established with Thomas Jefferson’s 6,500 volumes. 1902 – Britain and Japan sign a treaty after months of negotiating which commits each country to support an independent China and Korea, although it acknowledges Japan’s ‘special interest’ in Korea. 1933 – President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor of Germany who forms a government with Franz von Papen. 1939 – Adolf Hitler threatens Jews during his speech to the German Reichstag (Parliament). 1945 – The greatest maritime disaster in history occurred as the German ocean liner Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk by a Soviet submarine, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 people. 1948 – Mahatma Gandhi assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse. 1965 – State Funeral of Winston Churchill at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Then world’s largest-ever state funeral. 1972 – Bloody Sunday: 27 unarmed civilians are shot (14 are killed) by the British Army during a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland; this is the highest death toll from a single shooting incident during ‘the Troubles’
Births & Deaths:1911 – American trumpeter Roy Eldridge, one of the great creative musicians of the 1930s, was born in Pittsburgh. 1912 – Barbara Tuchman, one of the foremost popular historians in the United States in the second half of the 20th century and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, was born.
Sport: 1994 – Kapil Dev takes 2/41 as India beats Sri Lanka by an innings and 95 runs in 2nd Cricket Test in Bengaluru; equals Sir Richard Hadlee’s world record of 431 Test wickets.
Music: 1961 – “I Fall to Pieces” single released by Patsy Cline (Billboard Song of the Year 1961).
TV & Film: 1931 – “City Lights”, American silent romantic comedy film directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring himself and Virginia Cherrill, premieres at Los Angeles Theater.
