1477 – Battle of Nancy, Burgundy vs Switzerland, 7,000 + killed including their leader Charles Duke of Burgundy
1781 – British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burns Richmond, Virginia
1914 – Industrialist Henry Ford announces his $5 minimum per-day wage, doubled most workers pay
1919 – German Workers’ Party forms, precursor to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi)
1930 – Mao Zedong writes “A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire”
1933 – Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge, a suspension bridge that once boasted the longest main span in the world and that has been celebrated for the magnificence of its setting.
1998 – Daniel arap Moi was sworn in as president of Kenya for his fifth consecutive term.
1949 – US President Harry Truman labels his administration the “Fair Deal”
1952 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes an official visit to the US
1964 – Pope Paul VI visits Jordan & Israel
1973 – Netherlands recognizes German DR
1976 – Cambodia is renamed “Democratic Kampuchea”
1985 – Thousands of Jewish refugees are airlifted from Sudan to Israel
1993 – Washington state executes Westley Allan Dodd by hanging (first legal hanging in America since 1965)
2005 – Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, is discovered by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.
2019 – Chinese government report predicts China’s population will peak at 1.44 billion in 2029 before declining
2020 – Chinese professor Zhang Yongzhen publishes the first SARS-CoV-2 genome map online, allowing health professionals worldwide to identify COVID-19
Births & Deaths:
1863 – Russian actor, director, and producer Konstantin Stanislavsky, who developed a highly influential theory of acting called the Stanislavsky method, was born.
1946 – American actress and director Diane Keaton, who first achieved fame in quirky comic roles before earning acclaim as a dramatic actress, was born
2014 – Eusébio, perhaps the greatest Portuguese football (soccer) player of all time, died in Lisbon.
Film & TV:
1933 – “Cavalcade” based on the play by Noël Coward, directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook premieres in New York (Best Production/Picture 1934)
Music:
1649 – Francesco Cavalli’s opera “Giasone” premieres in Venice (the most popular opera of the 17th century)
1959 – Buddy Holly releases his last record “It Doesn’t Matter”; he was killed in a plane crash 29 days later
1973 – American musician Bruce Springsteen released his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
Sport:
1993 – Brian Lara scores his maiden test century, 277 runs West Indies v Australia at cricket at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Via Britannica / On This Day
