0421 Flavius Constantine becomes emperor Constantine III of West Roman empire
1526 Heavy storm strikes Dutch coast, many die
1575 University of Leiden Netherlands opens
1587 Mary, Queen of Scots beheaded
1600 Vatican convicts scholar Giordano Bruno to death
1601 Earl Robert Devereux of Essex armies draws into London
1622 King James I disbands the English parliament
1672 Isaac Newton reads 1st optics paper before Royal Society in London
1690 French & Indian troops set Schenectady settlement New York on fire
1690 Lord Halifax resigns as Lord Privy Seal
1693 William & Mary college is 2nd college chartered in US
1735 1st opera in US, “Flora”, opens in Charleston SC
1743 Comet C/1743 C1 approaches within 0.0390 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth
1744 French/Spanish fleet leaves Toulon
1750 Minor earthquake in London
1775 Leidse University 400th anniversary dinner
1776 Wolfgang von Goethes’ “Stella” premieres in Hamburg
1802 Simon Willard patents banjo clock
1807 Napoleon defeats Russians in battle of Eylau
1809 Franz I of Austria declares war on France
1837 1st Vice President chosen by the Senate, Richard Johnson (Van Buren administration)
1861 Confederate States of America organizes in Montgomery AL
1862 Dion Boucicault’s opera “The Lily of Killarney” is produced (London)
1862 Battle of Roanoke Island NC, Federals gain control of Pamlico Sound
1865 1st black major in US army, Martin Robinson Delany
1883 Louis Waterman begins experiments to invent the fountain pen
1887 Dawes Act passed (Indians living apart from tribe granted citizenship)
1887 Aurora Ski Club of Red Wing MN became the 1st US ski club
1889 Flood ravages Dutch coast
1894 Enforcement Act repealed, making it easier to disenfranchise blacks
1895 Tchaikovsky/Petipa’s “Swan Lake” premieres in Petersburg
1896 Georges Feydeaus’ “Le Dindon” premieres in Paris
1896 Western Conference forms of Midwestern U, later renamed Big 10 Conference
1898 John Ames Sherman patents 1st envelope folding & gumming machine (Massachusetts)
1904 Outbreak of hostilities in Russo-Japanese war
1905 Cyclone hit Tahiti & adjacent islands, killing some 10,000 people
1908 Wilhelmina ‘08 soccer team forms in Weert Netherlands
1909 France & Germany sign treaty about Morocco
1910 Boy Scouts of America incorporated & chartered (William D Boyce-Chicago)
1911 US helps overthrow President Miguel Dávila of Honduras
1911 Victor Herbert’s opera “Natoma” premieres in New York NY
1912 1st eastbound US transcontinental flight lands in Jacksonville FL
1914 General Zamon becomes President of Haiti
1915 “Birth of a Nation” opens at Clune’s Auditorium in Los Angeles CA
1916 French cruiser “Admiral Charner” torpedoed off Syrian coast, kills 374
1916 NL votes down Charlie Ebbets proposal to limit 25¢ seats
1918 “Stars & Stripes”, weekly US armed forces newspaper, 1st published
1920 Swiss men vote against women’s suffrage
1922 Radio arrives in the White House
1923 Coal mine explosion at Dawson NM kills 120
1923 German NSDAP Volkischer Beobachter newspaper becomes a daily
1924 1st coast-to-coast radio hookup General John Joseph Carty speech in Chicago
1925 Marcus Garvey enters federal prison in Atlanta GA
1925 Kaufman & Berlin’s “Coconuts” premieres in New York NY
1926 Sean O'Casey’s “The Plough & the Stars” opens at Abbey Theatre Dublin
1926 Walt Disney Studios is formed
1926 German Reichstag decides to apply for League of Nations membership
1927 Belgian-Swiss treaty signed
1928 1st transatlantic TV image received, Hartsdale NY
1928 Scottish inventor J Blaird demonstrates color-TV
1929 KOY-AM in Phoenix AZ begins radio transmissions
1930 “Happy Days Are Here Again” by Benny Mereoff hits #1
1931 Gas explosion Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000
1933 -23ºF (-31ºC), Seminole TX (state record)
1933 1st flight of all-metal Boeing 247
1934 Export-Import Bank organizes in Washington DC
1934 Gaston Doumergue forms new French government
1935 1st NFL draft; Jay Berwanger of University of Chicago is 1st pick (by Eagles); He never plays in the NFL
1936 1st ski jumping tournament, Red Wing MN
1936 1st successful Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, Conacher vs Rangers
1936 Pandit Jawaharlal follows Gandhi as chairman of India Congress Party
1937 Maxwell Anderson’s “Masque of Kings” premieres in New York NY
1940 Lewis & Hamilton’s musical “Two for the Show” premieres in New York NY
1940 Lodtz, 1st large ghetto established by Nazis in Poland
1941 Japanese armored barges cross Strait of Johore to attack Singapore
1941 NSB'er Max Blokzijl begins Nazi propaganda on Dutch radio
1942 Congress advises FDR that, Americans of Japanese descent should be locked up en masse so they wouldn’t oppose the US war effort
1942 Stravinsky’s “Danses Concertantes” premieres in Los Angeles
1943 Red Army recaptures Kursk
1944 1st black reporter accredited to the White House, Harry McAlpin
1944 U-762 sunk off Ireland
1945 Allied air attack on Goch/Kleef/Kalkar/Reichswald
1946 Béla Bartòks 3rd Concert for piano/orchestra premieres in Philadelphia PA
1946 Premier Salazar of Portugal forbids opposition parties
1947 Jan van der Hoorn wins 8th Dutch 11-cities skating race (10:51)
1947 KSD (now KSDK) TV channel 5 in St Louis MO (NBC) begins broadcasting
1948 5th Winter Olympics games close at St Moritz, Switzerland
1949 Hungarian Cardinal Mindszenty sentenced to life in prison
1952 “RCA Victor Show Starring Dennis Day” debuts on NBC TV
1953 Betty Jameson wins LPGA Serbin Golf Open
1953 WLVA (now WSET) TV channel 13 in Lynchburg-Roanoke VA (ABC) begins
1955 Malenkov resigns as USSR premier, Bulganin replaces him
1956 Mine disaster in Quaregnon Belgium, 8 die
1957 San Francisco Public Library’s bookmobile initiated in front of City Hall
1958 Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia
1958 French planes bomb Sakiet Tunisia, 75 die
1958 KIRO TV channel 7 in Seattle WA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1960 Boston Celtic Bill Russell becomes 1st NBAer with 50 rebounds (51)
1960 Congress opens hearings looking into payola
1962 KACB TV channel 3 in San Angelo TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1963 1st transmission of Clandestine Voice of Iraqi People (Communist)
1963 AFL’s Dallas Texans become Kansas City Chiefs
1963 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1964 Peter Shaffer’s “Royal Hunt of the Sun” premieres in London
1964 Representative Martha Griffiths address gets civil rights protection for women being added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
1965 Eastern DC-7B crashes into Atlantic off Jones Beach NJ, kills 84
1965 Supremes release “Stop In the Name of Love”
1967 French Diadème D-1C satellite launches into Earth orbit
1967 Longest losing streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (10 games)
1967 Pirate Radio UKGM (England) closes down
1967 Peter (Asher) & Gordon (Waller) discontinue their singing partnership
1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1968 Officers kill 3 students demonstrating in South Carolina State (Orangeburg)
1969 Meteorite weighing over 1 ton falls in Chihuahua, México
1969 Last edition of Saturday Evening Post
1971 Pedro Morales beats Ivan Koloff in New York, to become WWF wrestling champion
1971 South Vietnamese troops invade Laos
1972 Josh Gibson & Buck Leonard selected to Hall of Fame
1973 Jean Kerrs “Finishing Touches” premieres in New York NY
1973 Mushtaq & Asif Iqbal make 350 stand for 4th wicket vs New Zealand
1973 Senate names 7 members to investigate Watergate scandal
1974 Ringo Starr releases “You’re 16”
1974 Skylab 4’s astronauts land
1974 Soap opera “The Secret Storm” ends a 20 year run
1974 “Good Times” debuts on CBS TV
1975 1800 Unification church couples’ wed in Korea
1975 Capitals only got one shot in a period against the Islanders
1976 Largest crowd at Cleveland Coliseum (Cavaliers vs Washington-21,130)
1976 Hua Guofeng becomes premier of China PR
1976 Jan Stephens wins LPGA Sarah Coventry Naples Golf Classic
1977 Earthquake in San Francisco CA, at 5.0, strongest since 1966
1977 Hustler publisher Larry Flynt sentenced
1978 Crown Prince Sad Abdallah al-Salim Al Sabah becomes PM of Kuwait
1979 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981 “5 O'Clock Girl” closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 12 performances
1981 “Brigadoon” closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 133 performances
1981 Sally Little wins LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic
1981 US female Figure Skating championship won by Elaine Zayak
1981 US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Hamilton
1982 Dodgers trade Davey Lopes to A’s breaking up the longest-playing infield (Cey-Russell-Lopes-Garvey)
1983 Champion thoroughbred Shergar kidnapped in Ireland; never found Lloyds of London pays $10.6 million insurance
1983 Eric Peters sets transatlantic sailboat record (E-W)-46 days
1983 Wayne Gretzky sets NHL all star record of 4 goals in 1 period
1983 35th NHL All-Star Game Campbell beat Wales 9-3 at New York Islander
1983 Baseball orders Mickey Mantle to sever ties with Claridge Casino
1983 Tina Howe’s “Painting Churches” premieres in New York NY
1984 14th Winter Olympics games opens in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
1984 Soyuz T-10 launches with crew of 3 to Salyut 7
1984 1st time 8 people in space
1984 A’s take Yankees pitcher Tim Belcher as Type A free agent compensation
1985 Bruce Morris, Marshall University, makes a 92’ 5¼" basketball shot
1985 1st-class cricket debut of Jimmy Adams (age 17), Jamaica vs Barbados
1985 Michael Gross swims world record 800 meter freestyle (7:38.75)
1985 Opposition leader Kim Dae Jung returns to South-Korea
1986 5’ 7" Spud Webb of Atlanta Hawks wins NBA Slam Dunk Competition
1986 US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
1987 37th NBA All-Star Game West beats East 154-149 (OT) at Seattle
1987 Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic
1988 NASA launches DOD-2
1989 5 cm of snow falls in outskirts of Los Angeles
1989 Jockey Chris Antley begins record of 64 consecutive winning days
1989 US Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145 die
1990 “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney suspended by CBS for racial remarks attributed to him by a gay magazine
1990 David Hares “Racing Demon” premieres in London
1991 Roger Clemens signs record $5,380,250 per year Red Sox contract
1992 Ulysses spacecraft passes Jupiter
1992 “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred peaks at #1
1992 16th Winter Olympics games open in Albertville, France
1993 GM sues NBC, alleging that “Dateline NBC” program had rigged 2 car-truck crashes to show that 1973-87 GM pickups were prone to fires
1993 Suchoi-24 crashes into Tupolev passenger flight, 134 die
1994 Jack Nicholson uses a golf club to attack a car
1994 Kapil Dev sets world record for Test Cricket wickets with 432
1994 Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee charge with possession of loaded firearm
1995 6.4 earthquake at Trujillo, Colombia (46+ killed)
1996 NFL & Cleveland allows Art Modell to move his NFL franchise to Baltimore but he had to leave the Browns’ name behind
1998 1st female ice hockey game in Olympics history Finland beats Sweden 6-0
1998 48th NBA All-Star Game East beats West 135-114 at NYC
1998 NHL stops season until Feb 24th to accommodate the Olympics