1513 : Spaniard Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Florida1599 : Robert Devereux becomes lt-general of Ireland
1625 : Charles I, King Of England, Scotland & Ireland, ascends English throne
1668 : English king Charles II gives Bombay to East India Company
1708 : English pretender to the throne James III flees to Dunkerk
1709 : Dike at Hardinxveld breaks (Alblasserwaard flooded)
1713 : Spain losses Menorca & Gibraltar
1721 : France & Spain sign Treaty of Madrid
1758 : Battle at Emmerich: British army floats around France the Rhine
1790 : The shoelace invented
1794 : US Navy forms
1802 : Treaty of Amiens-French Revolutionary War ends
1808 : Joseph Haydns oratorio "Die Sch"pfung" premieres in Vienna
1814 : Battle at Horseshoe Bend: Gen Andrew Jackson beats Creek-indians
1836 : 1st Mormon temple dedicated (Kirtland Ohio)
1841 : 1st US steam fire engine tested, NYC
1848 : John Parker Paynard originates medicated adhesive plaster
1849 : Joseph Couch patents steam-powered percussion rock drill
1855 : Abraham Gesner patents kerosene
1860 : M L Byrn patents "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" (corkscrew)
1861 : Black demonstrators in Charleston staged ride-ins on street cars
1863 : President Davis calls for this to be a day of fasting & prayer
1865 : Siege of Spanish Fort, AL-captured by Federals
1866 : Andrew Rankin patents the urinal
1866 : Pres Johnson vetoes civil rights bill; it later becomes 14th amend
1871 : 1st international rugby game-Scotland 1, England 0
1879 : Longest championship fight (136 rounds)
1884 : 1st long-distance telephone call, Boston-NY
1912 : 1st Japanese cherry blossom trees planted in Wash DC
1914 : 1st successful blood transfusion (in Brussels)
1920 : Film stars Mary Pickford & Douglas Fairbanks wed
1920 : Hermann Mller becomes German chancellor (SPD)
1924 : Canada recognizes USSR
1924 : New French govt of Poincar begins
1928 : KGB-AM in San Diego CA begins radio transmissions
1928 : US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson
1928 : US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner
1929 : US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson
1929 : US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner
1930 : 1st US radio broadcast from a ship at sea
1931 : Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor
1932 : De Bataven soccer team forms in Gendt
1933 : Farm Credit Administration (US) authorized
1933 : Japan leaves League of Nations
1933 : Polythene discovered by Reginald Gibson & Eric William Fawcett
1936 : WOS-AM in Jefferson City Missouri goes off the air
1937 : Feyenoord-stadium official opens in Rotterdam
1939 : 1st NCAA Men's Basketball Champion: U of Oregon beats OH State 46-33
1940 : Himmler orders building of Auschwitz concentration camp, at Katowice
1941 : Britain leases defense bases in Trinidad to US for 99 years
1941 : Hitler signs Directive 27 (assault on Yugoslavia)
1941 : Yugoslavian coup gets rid of pro-German Prince Paul
1942 : -28] Allies raid German submarine base in St Nazaire
1942 : Japan forces Java to use "Tokyo time" 1« hour forward
1943 : Assassination attempt on Van de Peat at Amsterdams census bureau
1943 : Blue Ribbon Town (with Groucho Marx) 1st heard on CBS Radio
1943 : US begins assault on Fondouk-pass, Tunisia
1944 : 1,000 Jews leave Drancy France for Auschwitz Concentration Camp
1944 : 2,000 Jews are murdered in Kaunas Lithuania
1944 : 40 Jewish policemen in Riga Latvia ghetto are shot by the gestapo
1944 : Children's Aktion-Nazis collect all the Jewish children of Lovno
1945 : 7th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Okla State beats NYU 49-44
1945 : British premier Churchill sails to eastern banks of Rhine
1945 : DePaul beats Bowling Green for NIT title 1945 : Ella Fitzgerald & Delta Rhythm Boys record "It's Only a Paper Moon"
1945 : Gen Eisenhower declares German defenses on Western Front broken
1945 : Iwo Jima occupied, after 22,000 Japanese & 6,000 US killed
1945 : US 20th Army corps captures Wiesbaden
1950 : Jazz pianist, Erroll Garner's solo concert (Cleve OH)
1950 : Netherlands recognizes People's Republic of China
1950 : WHAS TV channel 11 in Louisville, KY (CBS) begins broadcasting
1951 : 13th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kentucky beats Kansas 68-58
1951 : Frank Sinatra recorded "I'm a Fool to Want You"
1952 : Failed assassination attempt of German Chancellor Adenauer
1952 : Sun Records of Memphis begins releasing records
1953 : 21 die in a train crash in Conneaut Ohio
1955 : 9th Tony Awards: Desperate Hours & Pajama Game win
1955 : Steve McQueen makes his network TV debut (Goodyear Playhouse)
1955 : WPRI TV channel 12 in Providence, RI (ABC) begins broadcasting
1956 : French commandos land in Algeria
1956 : US seizes US communist newspaper "Daily Worker"
1957 : 29th Academy Awards - "Around World in 80 Days," Bergman, Brynner win
1958 : CBS Labs announce new stereophonic records
1958 : Havana Hilton opens
1958 : Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet premier & 1st sect of Communist Party
1961 : Belgium govt of Eyskens resigns
1961 : Failed assassination attempt on King Saif al-Islam Achmad of Yemen
1962 : Ann Jellicoe's "Knack," premieres in London
1962 : Archbishop Rummel ends race segregation in New Orlean Catholic school
1964 : 1st true Pirate Radio station, Radio Caroline (England)
1964 : Earthquake strikes Alaska, 8.4 on Richter scale, 118 die
1964 : Great Train Robbers sentenced to a total of 307 years behind bars
1964 : UN troops arrive on Cyprus
1966 : Anit Vietnam war demonstrations in US, Europe & Australia
1968 : Japanese Trade & Cultural Center (Japan Center) dedicated in SF
1968 : Suharto succeeds Sukarno as president of Indonesia
1969 : Black Academy of Arts & Letters forms in Boston
1969 : Launch of Mariner 7, flies 2,190-mi above southern Mars
1970 : Ringo releases his 1st solo album "Sentimental Journey"
1970 : USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1971 : 33rd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Villanova 68-62
1972 : Adolph Rupp retires after 42 years of coaching U of Kentucky 1972 : Venera 8 launched to Venus
1973 : 45th Academy Awards - "Godfather," Marlon Brando & Liza Minnelli win
1973 : Dennis Amiss out for 99 v Pakistan, 3rd 99 in Test Cricket
1973 : Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead) stopped for speeding & LSD possession
1973 : Marlon Brando turns down Oscar for best actor in support of Indians
1976 : Washington DC underground Metro opens
1977 : 583 die in aviation's worst disaster KLM-Pan Am 747 crash on Tenerife
1978 : 40th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kentucky beats Duke 94-88
1978 : Bob Fosse's "Dancin'" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 1,774 perfs
1978 : Rutles "All You Need is Cash" is shown on British TV
1979 : Supreme Court rules, 8-1, cops can't randomly stop cars
1980 : "Happy New Year" opens at Morosco Theater NYC for 17 performances
1980 : "Reggae" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 21 performances
1980 : Elevator in Vaal Reef S Afr gold mine crash 1900m down (23 die)
1980 : Mount St Helens becomes active after 123 years
1981 : John Lennon releases "Watching the Wheels" in UK
1982 : "Best Little Whorehouse..." closes at 46th St NYC after 1577 perfs
1982 : Randy Holt sets Wash Cap record of 34 penalty minutes
1983 : 13th Easter Seal Telethon
1983 : Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs," premieres in NYC
1984 : Andrew Lloyd Webber/Richard Stilgoe's "Starlight Express," premieres
1985 : Billy Dee Williams receives a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
1986 : Disney-MGM Studio Tour ground breaking
1987 : President Habr's troops reconquer Faya Largeau Chad
1988 : Ice Dance Championship at Budapest won by Bestemianova & Bukin (URS)
1988 : Ice Pairs Championship at Budapest won by E Valova & O Vasiliev (URS)
1988 : Ladies Fig Skating Championship in Budapest won by Katarina Witt (GDR)
1988 : Men's Figure Skating Champions in Budapest won by Brian Boitano (USA)
1988 : Wrestlemania IV at Trump Plaza, "Macho Man" Savage pins Ted Dibiase
1989 : 1st half-black soap opera, "Generations," premieres on NBC-TV
1989 : Delhi beat Bengal by innings & 210 to win Cricket's Ranji Trophy
1990 : Bus accidentally touches high voltage wire in Karagpur India; 21 die
1990 : NSW beat Queensland by 345 runs to win Sheffield Shield Final
1991 : NCAA bans U of Minn football team from postseason play in 1992
1991 : New Kid Donnie Wahlberg, arrested on arson charges in Kentucky
1992 : Bruce Springsteen releases "Human Touch" & "Lucky Town"
1994 : Church in Piedmont Alabama collapses in tornado, 19 killed
1994 : Ice Dance Championship at Chiba Japan won by Gritschuk & Platov (RUS)
1994 : Ice Pairs Championship at Chiba won by Shishkova/Vadim Naumov (RUS)
1994 : Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Chiba won by Yuka Sato (JPN)
1994 : Men's Figure Skating Championship in Chiba won by Elvis Stojko (CAN)
1994 : Radio personality Rush Limbaugh weds wife #3, Marta Fitzgerald
1995 : 67th Academy Awards - "Forest Gump," Jessica Lange & Tom Hanks win
1996 : "State Fair," opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 118 performances
1997 : "Young Man From Atlanta," opens at Longacre NYC for 85 performances
1997 : 39 cult memebers in Calif commit mass suicide (Hale-Bopp)
1997 : Martin Luther King's son meets with James Earl Ray
1998 : Soul Train Award 2134 : 32nd recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet Today's Ocassion :
