1633– Galileo Galilei forced to recant his Copernican views that the Earth orbits the Sun by the Pope (Vatican only admits it was wrong on Oct 31, 1992!)
1675– Royal Greenwich Observatory established in England by Charles II
1772 – Somerset v Stewart court case finds slavery unsupported by English common law, encouraging the abolitionist movement
1848– Beginning of the June Days uprising in Paris by French workers
1865 – The CSS Shenandoah fires the last shot of the American Civil War in the Bering Strait to indicate surrender
1941 – Germany violated the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of 1939 and attacked the Soviet Union during World War II.
2011 – After hiding for 16 years, Boston gangster Whitey Bulger is arrested outside an apartment in Santa Monica, California
2017 – Prince Harry claims no one in UK royal family wants to be King or Queen in article published in Newsweek
2019– Russian volcano Raikoke erupts from 700m-wide-crater, seen from International Space Station. Turns sunsets purple across the Northern Hemisphere all summer.
Births & Deaths:
1906 – American motion-picture director and producer Billy Wilder was born in Sucha, Austria (now in Poland).
1910 – Katherine Dunham, an African American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist noted for her innovative interpretations of primitive, ritualistic, and ethnic dances, was born.
Film & TV:
1977– Walt Disney’s “Rescuers” released, first Disney film to get a sequel
Music:
1963– “Little” Stevie Wonder aged 13 releases his first single “Fingertips” (first live non-studio recording to go to No. 1 on Billboard) Sport:
1937– Joe Louis KOs James J Braddock in 18 for his first heavyweight boxing title in significant moment in African American sporting history
1986 – Argentine football (soccer) player Diego Maradona scored his memorable “Hand of God” goal (the ball struck his hand, but the referee mistakenly thought it had hit his head) to help Argentina defeat England in a World Cup quarterfinal game; Argentina went on to win the tournament.
