1258 – Baghdad falls to the Mongols as the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed. 1542 – King Henry VIII of England had Catherine Howard, his fifth wife, beheaded on charges of adultery. 1601 – 1st British East India Company voyage departs from London, lead by John Lancaster. 1689 – British Parliament adopts the Bill of Rights which establishes the rights of parliament and places limits on the crown. 1942 – Hitler’s Operation Sealion, the invasion of England, is cancelled. 1945 – Allied planes begin bombing Dresden, Germany; firestorm results and over 22,000 die. 1945 – USSR captures Budapest, after a 49-day battle with Germany; 159,000 die. 1960 – France detonated its first atomic bomb in the Sahara desert. 2000 – The last Peanuts comic strip was published in newspapers, just hours after the death of creator Charles Schulz. 2002 – The Scottish Parliament passed the Protection of Wild Mammals Bill, which made it illegal to hunt wild mammals with dogs, effectively outlawing foxhunting in Scotland.
Births & Deaths:1950 – British musician Peter Gabriel, who was the lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis before launching a successful solo career, was born. 1891 – Grant Wood,was an American painter best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest, particularly American Gothic, was born.
Music: 1996 – Rapper Tupac Shakur releases his 4th studio album ‘All Eyez on Me’.
TV & Film: 1972 – “Cabaret”, directed by Bob Fosse, based on the musical of the same name and starring Liza Minnelli and Michael York, is released.
