On This Day…

1755 – Samuel Johnson’s “A Dictionary of the English Language” published in London

1877 – Boston-Somerville installs the world’s 1st telephone in Massachusetts

1912 – RMS Titanic sinks at 2:27 AM off Newfoundland as the band plays on, with the loss of between 1,490 and 1,635 people

1942 – George VI awards George Cross to people of Malta

1959 – Fidel Castro begins US goodwill tour

1970 – Libyan leader Gadaffi launches “Green Revolution”

1991 – Europe foreign ministers lift most remaining sanctions against South Africa

2002 – An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 128.

2012 – 400 Islamist Militants escape from a Pakistan prison after an insurgent attack

2019 – Measles cases jump 300% in first three months of 2019, according to World Health Organization, largest rise in Africa (700%) with 800 deaths in Madagascar

2019 – Paris cathedral Notre Dame catches fire, toppling its spire and destroying its roof

2020 – US’s deadliest day during COVID-19 pandemic with 2,752 deaths reported

Film & TV:

1990 – “In Living Color” premieres on FOX-TV

Music:

1729 – Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St Matthew Passion” premieres in Leipzig

Sport:

1896 – 1st modern Summer Olympic Games close in Athens, Greece; USA wins gold medal count, 11; Greece wins total medal count, 46; IOC has retroactively assigned gold, silver & bronze medals to 3 best placed athletes in each event

1947 – Jackie Robinson becomes 1st African-American to play in US major league baseball (Dodgers)

1989 – 96 crushed to death and 766 injured at Hillsborough Football Stadium, Sheffield, England, during FA semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest

Via Britannica / On This Day