1513 – Spaniard Juan Ponce de León and his expedition first sight Florida
1625 – Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland ascends the English throne
1914 – 1st successful non-direct blood transfusion is performed by Dr. Albert Hustin in Brussels
1958 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet Premier as well as First Secretary of the Communist Party
1977 – 583 die in aviation’s worst ever disaster when two Boeing 747s collide at Tenerife airport in Spain
1980 – Mount St Helens becomes active after 123 years
1994 – The Eurofighter takes its first flight in Manching, Germany
2002 – Passover Massacre: A suicide bomber kills 29 people in Netanya, Israel.
2006 – The United Nations Commission on Human Rights holds its final meeting.
2016 – Suicide bomb kills more than 70 people at a park in Lahore, Pakistan, Taliban connected Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claim responsibility
2019 – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country is now a “space power” after successfully shooting down a satellite from space in a ballistic missile test
2019 – UK Prime Minister Theresa May promises to stand down if parliament accepts her Brexit plan
2019 – Facebook bans white nationalism and white supremacy following criticism that Christchurch terrorist able to live-stream his attack
2020 – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces he has contracted COVID-19 but will continue to lead the country “thanks to the wizardry of modern technology” while in self-isolation
2020 – $2.2 trillion stimulus package, largest in US history, signed into law by President Donald Trump saying “I never signed anything with a ‘T’ on it”
2134 – 32nd predicted perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet
Film & TV:
1952 – “Singin’ in the Rain”, musical comedy directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in NYC
Music:
1948 – Just 11 days after being released from prison, Billie Holiday plays in front of a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall
Sport:
1871 – 1st international rugby union match – Scotland 1, England 0 at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh
