Born On This Day:

• A.J. Balfour, 1848
• David Belasco, 1853
• Maxfield Parrish, 1870
• Francois Coty, 1875
• Elizabeth Queen of Belgians, 1876
• Walter Brennan, 1894
• Eric Hoffer, 1902
• Jack Gilford, 1907
• Woody Strode, 1914
• Estelle Getty, 1924
• Adnan Khashoggi, 1935
• Iman, 1955
• Matt LeBlanc, 1967

Died On This Day:

• James the Greater, AD 44
• Emperor Constantius I of Rome, AD 306
• Pope Innocent VIII, 1492
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1834
• Francois Coty, 1934
• Vincente Minnelli, 1986
• Mildred Dunnock, 1991
• Alfred Drake, 1992
• Charlie Rich, 1995
• Ben Hogan, 1997
• John Schlesinger, 2003
• Michael Cacoyannis, 2011

Today's Events:

• 1139 - Moors defeated by Alfonso I of Portugal.
• 1554 - Queen Mary I of England marries Philip II of Spain in Winchester.
• 1775 - Captain Cook returns to England after second voyage-Sandwich Islands discovered.
• 1799 - Napoleon's last victory during occupation of Egypt kills 12,000 at Battle of Abouker.
• 1814 - First steam locomotive built by George Stevenson.
• 1832 - First railroad accident in America occurs in Quincy, Mass.
• 1854 - Walter Hunt of New York receives patent on the paper collar.
• 1866 - David Farragut becomes the first naval officer to become an admiral.
• 1866 - Ulysses S. Grant appointed first General of the U.S. Army (as opposed to Continental, etc.)
• 1888 - World's first typing contest held in Cincinnati; court stenographer Frank McGurrin wins on QWERTY.
• 1909 - Louis Bleriot first to fly across English Channel in airplane; flies Calais to Dover at 1,000 feet.
• 1917 - Mata Hari sentenced to death for espionage.
• 1943 - Mussolini removed from office and arrested; new Italian government formed.
• 1956 - Italian liner Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with Swedish ship Stockholm off New England Coast. 51 dead.
• 1959 - First Hovercraft crosses English Channel.
• 1960 - Woolworth lunch counters opened to all races following 2/1/60 sit-in by four Black college students.
• 1975 - 'A Chorus Line' opens record 6,137 performance run on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre.
• 1978 - World's first test-tube baby engineered by Dr. Patrick Steptoe, Louise Brown, born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England.
• 1984 - Svetlana Savitskaya becomes first woman to walk in space.
• 1994 - 46 year state of war between Israel and Jordan ends in White House ceremony with Hussein & Rabin.
• 2000 - First Concorde air disaster; charter flight crashes on take-off from Charles de Gaulle airport.
• 2007 - Pratibha Patil, formerly first woman Governor of Rajasthan, becomes first woman President of India.

Feast Day of Saint:

• James the Greater
• Christopher

Holiday:

• Pardon of Saint Anne d'Auray in France
• Constitution Day in Puerto Rico (1952)

Non-Specific Holiday:

• JAGANNATH, RATHA YATRA, Hindu Festival of Car Procession of Vishnu
• CHI HSI, Festival of the Milky Way in China (seventh day of the seventh moon)
• CHUNG YÜAN, Festival of the Dead in China (fifteenth day of the seventh moon)
• NAGA PANCHAMI, Hindu Festival of the Serpent God
• RAKHI, Hindu Festival to Pledge Protection
• CHUNG-CH'IU, Mid-autumn festival, Harvest or Moon Festival (fifteenth day of the eighth moon)
• TISH'AH B'AB (Jewish) Anniversary of fall of Jerusalem and destruction of first & 2nd temples Ab 9
• NEBUTA, Japanese Festival at peak of summer to drive off lethargy
• SOMA NOMAOI, Japanese Festival of samurai equestrian displays