1027 – Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II Holy Roman Emperor, founder of the Salian dynasty. 1812 – Earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale destroys 90% of Caracas, Venezuela and kills an estimated 15,000–20,000 people. 1871 – Municipal elections bring revolutionaries to power in Paris to form Commune government. 1909 – In support of Mohammed Ali Shah’s coup d’etat against the constitutional government in Persia, a Russian military force invades northern Persia to relieve the siege of Tabriz. 1927 – The Mille Miglia, the famed automobile race across Italy, was inaugurated. 1942 – First “Eichmann transport” to Auschwitz & Birkenau concentration camps. 1953 – Dr Jonas Salk announces vaccine to prevent polio. 1966 – Large-scale anti-Vietnam War protests take place in the United States, including in New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago. 1971 – Bangladesh (East Pakistan) under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declares its independence from Pakistan. 1979 – The historic peace accord between Israel and Egypt, agreed to by Menachem Begin and Anwar el-Sādāt and negotiated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, Maryland, in September 1978, was signed. 1997 – Police discovered the bodies of 39 members of Heaven’s Gate, an American religious group that believed in unidentified flying objects; they had committed suicide in the belief that a spaceship was arriving to take them to a better place. 2000 – Russian intelligence officer and politician Vladimir Putin was elected president of Russia.
Births & Deaths: 1944 – Diana Ross, an American pop singer and actress who achieved international stardom, first as leader of the vocal group the Supremes and later as a solo artist, was born.
Sport: 1972 – LA Lakers break NBA wins record by winning 69 of 82 games (69-13), the record will stand for 24 years.
Music: 1982 – Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder released the single “Ebony & Ivory” in the UK.
TV & Film: 1953 – “Ugetsu”, a Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, starring Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyō and Kinuyo Tanaka, is released. 2005 – Sixteen years after being cancelled, the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who returned to television with a new episode, with Christopher Eccleston appearing in the title role.
