Born On This Day:

• John Paul Jones, 1747
• Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, 1832
• Roger W. Babson, 1875
• Frida Kahlo, 1907
• George Cukor, 1907
• Dorothy Kirsten, 1910
• Nancy Reagan, 1921
• Merv Griffin, 1925
• Bill Haley, 1925
• Pat Paulsen, 1927
• Janet Leigh, 1927
• Della Reese, 1932
• Dave Allen, 1936
• Vladimir Ashkenazy, 1937
• Ned Beatty, 1937
• George W. Bush, 1946
• Sylvester Stallone, 1946
• Shelley Hack, 1949
• Allyce Beasley, 1954
• Jennifer Saunders, 1958

Died On This Day:

• King Henry II, 1189
• Jan Hus burned at stake, 1415
• Sir Thomas More beheaded, 1535
• King Edward VI, 1553
• Guy de Maupassant, 1893
• Kenneth Grahame, 1932
• Aneurin Bevan, 1960
• J. P. Marquand, 1960
• William Faulkner, 1962
• Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong, 1971
• Brandon De Wilde killed, 1972
• Otto Klemperer, 1973
• Janos Kadar, 1989
• Jim Samuels, 1990
• Roy Rogers, 1998
• John Frankenheimer, 2002
• Buddy Ebsen, 2003
• Robert McNamara, 2009

Today's Events:

• 1439 - Decree of Union unites Latin and Greek churches.
• 1483 - Coronation of Richard III.
• 1785 - Continental Congress decrees that decimal system of money be adopted - dollar is first decimal money anywhere.
• 1827 - Treaty of London recognizes autonomy of Greece.
• 1854 - Republican Party formally established at Jackson, Mississippi by former Whigs and Free-Soilers.
• 1858 - Shoe manufacturing machine patented by Lyman Reed Blake of Abington, Mass.
• 1885 - Louis Pasteur gave the first human anti-rabies shot.
• 1917 - T.E. Lawrence takes Aqaba with his Arab forces.
• 1923 - USSR formally constituted as Russia, White Russia, Transcaucasia and the Ukraine merge.
• 1928 - Warner Brothers' 'Lights of New York' first all-talking picture opens at Strand Theatre, N.Y.
• 1933 - American League defeats National League in first All-Star baseball game at Comiskey Park.
• 1944 - Ringling Brothers tent catches fire in Hartford killing 168 as 'Stars and Stripes Forever' plays on.
• 1957 - Althea Gibson becomes the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating fellow American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2.
• 1967 - Civil War in Nigeria.

Feast Day of Saint:

• Mary Goretti
• Moninne
• Sexburga
• Godelive

Holiday:

• Independence for Malawi (1964), Comoros (1975)
• Feast of St. Thomas More
• Martyrdom of Jan Hus day in Czechoslovakia

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