Born On This Day:

• Emperor Joseph I, 1678
• George Bernard Shaw, 1856
• Carl Gustav Jung, 1875
• André Maurois, 1885
• Emil Jannings, 1886
• Aldous Huxley, 1894
• Robert Graves, 1895
• Paul Gallico, 1897
• Gracie Allen, 1906
• Salvador Allende, 1908
• Vivian Vance, 1912
• Blake Edwards, 1922
• Danny La Rue, 1927
• Stanley Kubrick, 1928
• Mick Jagger, 1943
• Helen Mirren, 1946
• Susan George, 1950
• Vitas Gerulaitis, 1954
• Kevin Spacey, 1959
• Sandra Bullock, 1964

Died On This Day:

• Pope Paul II, 1471
• Sam Houston, 1863
• King Otto I Greece, 1867
• William Jennings Bryan, 1925
• Evita Peron, 1952
• Frank Loesser , 1969
• Diane Arbus suicide, 1971
• Kenneth Tynan, 1980
• George Gallop, 1984
• Averell Harriman, 1986
• Jim Bishop, 1987
• Gen. Matthew Ridgway, 1993
• Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, 1993

Today's Events:

• 1386 - King Richard II signs decree and that signature survives today-the oldest dated signature in history.
• 1469 - Yorkists beaten by Lancastrians at the Battle of Banbury (Edgecote).
• 1499 - Island of Curaçao discovered by Alonso de Ojeda who sails into Santa Ana Bay.
• 1581 - The Netherlands declared its independence from Spain.
• 1609 - Four months before Galileo's astronomical recordings, Thomas Harriot, an English nobleman, observes and maps moon through a telescope.
• 1775 - U.S. Post Office established-Benjamin Franklin named first postmaster; salary to be $1,000 per year.
• 1788 - New York becomes 11th State admitted to Union.
• 1805 - Huge earthquake in Naples kills 6,000.
• 1847 - Independence of Liberia.
• 1881 - London Evening News first published.
• 1882 - Richard Wagner's 'Parsifal,' his last musical drama, premieres at Bayreuth.
• 1908 - Bureau of Investigation, later FBI, set up by Attorney Gen. Charles Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon.
• 1943 - Regime of Benito Mussolini collapses in Italy. Pietro Badoglio becomes PM.
• 1947 - National Security Act sets up Dept. of Defense, Security Council, CIA and Joint Chiefs of Staff in USA.
• 1948 - President Harry S. Truman issues order stipulating that races be treated equally in U.S. military.
• 1951 - Last segregated U.S. Army unit disbanded - the all-Black 24th Infantry Regiment.
• 1963 - Earthquake in Skoplje Yugoslavia kills 1,100.
• 1963 - Syncon 2, Hughes Space & Communications' first geosynchronous communications satellite, is successfully launched and goes into orbit over the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1971 - Apollo 15 launched.
• 1986 - Shortest fight on TV. Mike Tyson creams Marvin Frazier in 30 seconds.

Feast Day of Saint:

• Bartholomea Capitanio
• Joachim
• Simeon the Armenian
• Ann

Holiday:

• Independence Day Maldives (1965), Liberia (1847)
• National Day in Cuba

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