This Date In History

1000

Leif Ericsson lands in Vinland, becoming the first European to reach North America.
1047
Pope Clement II dies.
1635
Prominent church leader Roger Williams is banished from Maryland for arguing for separation of church and state.
1701
Yale University is founded in Connecticut, though known at the time as the "Collegiate School of Connecticut."
1757
King Charles X of France is born.
1806
American astronomer and mathematician Benjamin Banneker dies.
1813
Famous Italian composer Guiseppe Verdi ("La Traviata", "Aida") is born.
1835
Camille Saint-Saens, French composer most famous for his "Danse Macabre" symphonic poem and his "Carnival of the Animals" (used in Disney's Fantasia), is born.
1857
Alfred Dreyfus, whose arrest and conviction led to The Dreyfus Affair in the midst of World War I, is born.
1871
The Great Chicago Fire is finally brought under control.
1873
Entrepreneur and founder of Walgreen's Pharmacy Charles Walgreen is born.
1888
The Washington Monument is opened to the public.
1890
Aimee Semple McPherson, evangelist and subject of a famous kidnapping that may or may not have occurred, is born.
1919
The Cincinnati Reds clinch the World Series over the Chicago White Sox. A month later, eight players from the White Sox are banned from baseball for allegedly taking money to throw the series.
1923
Actor Fyvush Finkel ("Picket Fences") is born.
1936
Actor Brian Blessed (I, Claudius, Blackadder) is born.
1940
Legendary and tragic member of The Beatles John Lennon is born.
St. Paul's Cathedral is struck by a bomb during the London blitz by Germany.
1941
U.S. Senator and former Majority LeaderTrent Lott is born.
1944
Bassist for The Who John Entwistle is born.
Reggae icon Peter Tosh is born.
1948
Member of The Eagles and successful singer/songwriter Jackson Browne is born.
1951
Actor Robert Wuhl (Batman, "Arliss") is born.
1952
Sharon Osbourne, charismatic matriarch of "The Osbournes" fame, is born.
1953
Award-winning actor Tony Shalhoub ("Monk", "Wings") is born.
1954
Actor Scott Bakula ("Quantum Leap", "Enterprise") is born.
1958
Pope Pius XII dies.
Hall of Fame Chicago Bear linebacker Mike Singletary is born.
1962
Motley Crue drummer and unwilling porn star Tommy Lee is born.
1963
The Vaiont Dam in southern Italy breaks, killing 2,000 people in the aftermath.
1964
The Rolling Stones, at Gram Parsons' beckoning, refuse to play South Africa as part of an anti-apartheid rally by musicians and artists.
1967
Communist rebel Che Guevara is captured and executed in Argentinia.
1969
Indie balladeer P.J. Harvey is born.
1970
Golfer Annika Sorenstam is born.
The Khmer Rouge begins its terrible reign over Cambodia.
1974
Oskar Schindler, the businessman who helped thousands of Jews escape Nazi Germany, dies.
1975
Cibo Matto co-founder Sean Lennon (son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono) is born, on his father's 35th birthday.
1978
Famed Belgian composer and author Jacques Brel dies.
1985
The hijackers of the Achille Lauro surrender to authorities in Egypt.
1987
Clare Booth Luce, wife of Time magazine founder Henry Luce and a Congresswoman, editor, and philanthropist in her own right, dies.
1995
One-time British Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home dies.