On this day in 1986 Diego Maradona coins the phrase “Hand of God”

1986: The Argentinian football star had scored a goal with his hand during the FIFA World Cup quarter-final against England. The referee allowed the goal, the Argentinian team were later crowned world champions. After the game, Maradona said that the goal was scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”.

Other anniversaries

In 1990 Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled – The crossing point on the sector border between East Berlin and West Berlin had become obsolete with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today, the former checkpoint, including the famous sign stating “You are leaving the American sector”, is a tourist attraction.

In 1941 Germany launches Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of Russia – The initially successful attack soon proved a disaster for the Germans as wintry conditions and fierce Soviet resistance caused massive losses and ultimately forced them to retreat.

In 1633 the Catholic Church forces Galileo Galilei to renounce his eliocentrico world view
The Holy Office concluded that the Italian scientist, by stating that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe, was “vehemently suspect of heresy”. Galileo spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

In 2001, “The Fast and the Furious,” a crime drama based in the underground world of street racing in Southern California, debuts in theaters across the United States.

In 1981, a man has pleaded guilty to shooting dead former Beatle John Lennon in New York. The court heard Mark Chapman dramatically change his plea to admit responsibility for the murder, saying God had told him to do so.

CD via The History Channel/Time and Date/Brittanica / BBC