1170 - Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
1778 - American Revolutionary War: 3,500 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia without firing a shot.
1786 - French Revolution: The Assembly of Notables is convoked
1812 - The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.
1813 - British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York during the War of 1812.
1835 - The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.
1845 - Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.
1851 - The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
1860 - The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.
1876 - The Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
1890 - United States soldiers kill more than 200 Oglala Lakota men, women, and children with 4 Hotchkiss guns in the Wounded Knee Massacre.
1911 - Sun Yat-sen becomes the provisional President of the Republic of China; he took office on January 1, 1912.
1911 - Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty.
1930 - Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the Two-Nation Theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.
1934 - Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
1937 - The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with
the adoption of a new constitution.
1939 - First flight of the Consolidated B-24.
1940 - World War II: In The Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 200 civilians.
1949 - KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
1972 - An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed "Tristar") crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101.
1975 - A bomb exploded at La Guardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring 74.
1989 - Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
1989 - Václav Havel is elected president of Czechoslovakia. He became the first non-Communist to attain the post in more than four decades.
1992 - Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached.
1996 - Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.
1997 - Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's chickens (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
1998 - Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million.
2001 - Mesa Redonda shopping center fire, Lima, Peru, at least 291 killed.
These People were born:
1709 - Empress Elizabeth of Russia (d. 1762)
1721 - Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France (d. 1764)
1796 - Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist (d. 1877)
1800 - Charles Goodyear, American inventor (d. 1860)
1808 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (d. 1875)
1809 - William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1898)
1816 - Carl Ludwig, German physician (d. 1895)
1843 - Elisabeth of Wied (pen name was Carmen Sylva), queen of Romania and writer (d. 1916)
1856 - Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (d. 1894)
1859 - Venustiano Carranza, 54th President of Mexico (d. 1920)
1876 - Pablo Casals, Catalan musician (d. 1973)
1881 - Jess Willard, American boxer (d. 1968)
1896 - David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican painter (d. 1974)
1899 - Nie Rongzhen, People's Liberation Army Chief of General Staff (d. 1992)
1902 - Nels Stewart, National Hockey League player (d. 1957)
1908 - Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian (d. 1993)
1910 - Ronald Coase, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1914 - Billy Tipton, American musician (d. 1989)
1914 - Albert Tucker, Australian artist (d. 1999)
1915 - Bill Osmanski, American football player (d. 1996)
1917 - Tom Bradley, American politician (d. 1998)
1917 - Ramanand Sagar, Indian film director (d. 2005)
1920 - Viveca Lindfors, Swedish-American actress (d. 1995)
1921 - Robert C. Baker, Inventor of the chicken nugget (d. 2006)
1922 - William Gaddis, American writer (d. 1998)
1925 - Pete Dye, American golf course architect
1927 - Andy Stanfield, American athlete (d. 1985)
1928 - Bernard Cribbins, British actor
1931 - Prince Gu of Korea, Korean royalty (d. 2005)
1932 - Inga Swenson, American actress
1934 - Ed Flanders, American actor (d. 1995)
1936 - Mary Tyler Moore, American actress
1936 - Ray Nitschke, American football player (d. 1998)
1937 - Wayne Huizenga, American football team owner
1937 - Barbara Steele, British actress
1938 - Harvey Smith, English showjumper
1938 - Jon Voight, American actor
1941 - Ray Thomas, British musician (The Moody Blues)
1942 - Rick Danko, Canadian musician (The Band) (d. 1999)
1942 - Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor
1946 - Marianne Faithfull, British singer
1947 - Ted Danson, American actor
1947 - Cozy Powell, English rock drummer (d. 1998)
1947 - Vincent Winter, British actor (d. 1998)
1949 - Syed Kirmani, Indian cricket player
1949 - David Topliss, rugby league player
1950 - Jon Polito, American actor
1951 - Yvonne Elliman, American disco singer
1951 - Georges Thurston, Canadian singer (d. 2007)
1952 - Gelsey Kirkland, American dancer
1953 - Stanley Tookie Williams, American author/murderer (d. 2005)
1953 - Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress
1954 - Roger Voudouris, American singer (d. 2003)
1954 - Prince Takamado of Japan (d. 2002)
1956 - Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian
1957 - Brad Grey, American film producer
1957 - Paul Rudnick, American screenwriter/playwright
1958 - Nancy J. Currie, American astronaut
1959 - Patricia Clarkson, American actress
1959 - Paula Poundstone, American comedian
1960 - David Boon, Australian Cricketer
1960 - Thomas Lubanga, founder and leader of Union of Congolese Patriots
1961 - Kevin Granata, American associate professor at Virginia Tech, victim of the Virginia Tech massacre (d. 2007)
1961 - Jim Reid, Scottish singer (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Freeheat)
1962 - Blake Mitchell, American adult actress
1962 - Devon White, Jamaican baseball player
1963 - Francisco Bustamante, Filipino billiard player
1963 - Des Foy, British rugby league player
1963 - Dave McKean, British artist and filmmaker
1963 - Sean Payton, American football coach
1965 - Dexter Holland, American musician (The Offspring)
1966 - Stefano Eranio, Italian footballer
1967 - Ashleigh Banfield, Canadian journalist
1967 - Chris Barnes, American singer
1967 - Andy Wachowski, American director
1969 - Jennifer Ehle, American actress
1969 - Allan McNish, Scottish race car driver
1970 - Aled Jones, Welsh singer
1970 - Hidetoshi Mitsusada, Japanese racing driver
1970 - Glen Phillips, American musician (Toad The Wet Sprocket)
1970 - Kevin Weisman, American actor
1972 - Asheru, American rapper
1972 - Jason Kreis, American soccer player
1972 - Jude Law, British actor
1972 - Evan Seinfeld, American musician (Biohazard) and actor
1973 - Pimp C, American rapper (UGK) (d. 2007)
1973 - Theo Epstein, American baseball general manager
1974 - Mekhi Phifer, American actor
1974 - Richie Sexson, American baseball player
1975 - Jaret Wright, American baseball player
1976 - Danny R. McBride, American actor, writer, and producer
1976 - Filip Kuba, Czech hockey player, defenseman for the Ottawa Senators
1977 - Katherine Moennig, American actress
1977 - Jimmy Journell, American baseball player
1978 - Alexis Amore, Peruvian pornographic actress
1978 - Kieron Dyer, English footballer
1978 - LaToya London, American singer
1979 - Diego Luna, Mexican actor
1979 - Mitsuhiro Ishida, Japanese mixed-martial arts fighter
1979 - Ariel Schrag, American Cartoonist
1981 - Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
1982 - Gabrielle Destroismaisons, Quebec singer
1983 - Jessica Andrews, American country/pop singer
1986 - FAKKU's very own Angelus Lapsus
1986 - Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and model
1987 - Yuhi Sekiguchi, Japanese racing driver
1988 - Agnes Szavay, Hungarian tennis player
1989 - Nathan Forbes, British footballer
1994 - Princess Kako of Akishino of Japan
And these people Died.
721 - Empress Gemmei of Japan (b. 661)
1170 - Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (assassinated) (b. 1118)
1563 - Sebastian Castellio, French theologian (b. 1515)
1634 - John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop (b. 1612)
1661 - Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b. 1594)
1689 - Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624)
1731 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b. 1685)
1737 - Joseph Saurin, French mathematician (b. 1659)
1785 - Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742)
1825 - Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b. 1748)
1891 - Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (b. 1823)
1894 - Christina Rossetti, English poet (b. 1830)
1897 - William James Linton, American wood engraver and political reformer. (b. 1812)
1916 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869)
1924 - Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
1926 - Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian writer (b. 1875)
1929 - Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (b. 1846)
1937 - Don Marquis, American author (b. 1878)
1953 - Violet MacMillan, American Broadway theatre actress(b. 1887)
1960 - Eden Phillpotts, British writer (b. 1862)
1960 - Philippe Panneton, Quebec physician, diplomat and writer (b. 1895)
1967 - Paul Whiteman, American musician and conductor (b. 1890)
1968 - Austin Farrer, English theologian and philosopher (b. 1904)
1970 - Marie Menken, American experimental filmmaker and socialite (b. 1909)
1976 - Ivo Van Damme, Belgian athlete (b. 1954)
1980 - Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941)
1980 - Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b. 1899)
1981 - Miroslav Krleža, Croatian writer (b. 1893)
1986 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
1986 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director (b. 1392)
1988 - Mike Beuttler, British racing driver (b. 1940)
1993 - Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Soviet Armenian actor (b. 1930)
1995 - Lita Grey, American actress (b. 1908)
1996 - Mireille Hartuch, French singer and actress (b. 1906)
1998 - Jean-Claude Forest, writer and illustrator of comics (Barbarella) (b. 1930)
1999 - Leon Radzinowicz, British criminologist (b. 1906)
2001 - Takashi Asahina, Japanese conductor (b. 1908)
2003 - Earl Hindman, American actor (b. 1942)
2003 - Dinsdale Landen, English actor (b. 1932)
2003 - Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (b. 1928)
2004 - Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)
2004 - Liddy Holloway, New Zealand actress (b. 1947)
2004 - Ken Burkhart, American baseball player (b. 1915)
2005 - Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-born body psychotherapist (b. 1922)
2007 - Phil O'Donnell, Scottish footballer (b. 1972)
2007 - Kevin Greening, British radio presenter (b. 1962)
If you don't get why I did this to day is my 22nd B-Day