1381– John Ball, a leader in the Peasants’ Revolt, is hung, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard II of England
1410 – Battle of Grunwald (First Battle of Tannenburg, Battle of Žalgiris), one of Medieval Europe’s largest battles during Poland-Lithuanian Teutonic War. Polish King WładysławJagiełło and Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas defeat Teutonic Ulrich von Jungingen
1799– The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign
1955– 18 Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by 34 more laureates
1978 – American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan performed in England before 200,000 people.
2006 – The online microblogging service Twitter was publicly launched, and within the following decade it had more than 300 million users.
Births & Deaths:
1883 – Circus performer Charles Stratton, known to the world as General Tom Thumb, died. 1922 – Leon Max Lederman, who was a corecipient of the 1988 Nobel Prize for Physics for research on neutrinos, was born in New York City.
1997 -Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was murdered by serial killer Andrew Cunanan.
Film & TV: 1988– “Die Hard” directed by John McTiernan and starring Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman is released in the US
Music: 1972– “Honky Chateau” becomes Elton John’s first No. 1 album in the US, includes hit “Rocket Man”
Sport: 1922 – American Jim Thorpe won a gold medal for the decathlon at the Olympics in Stockholm; he also captured a gold medal for the pentathlon.
1978 – British Open Men’s Golf, St Andrews: Jack Nicklaus completes 3rd career grand slam; wins by 2 strokes from Ben Crenshaw & Ray Floyd
