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1995–Michael Jackson and Sony Corporation of America join forces to create the world’s third-largest music publishing company with more than 100,000 titles. Jackson’s ATV Music catalog, which includes most of the classic Beatles songs, is estimated to be worth $300 million.


960–Byzantines, under Leo Phokas the Younger, score a crushing victory over the Hamdanid Emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla.

1226–King Louis VIII of France dies of dysentery at the Château de Montpensier, Auvergne, France, at age 39. He also claimed the title King of England from 1216 to 1217.

1278–Tran Thanh Tong, the second emperor of the Tran dynasty, decides to pass the throne to his crown prince, Tran Kham, and take up the post of Retired Emperor.

1519–Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler, Moctezuma, welcomes him with a great celebration.

1520–The Stockholm Bloodbath begins, as a successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces results in the execution of around 100 people.

1576–In the Eighty Years' War, the States General of the Netherlands meet and unite to oppose Spanish occupation.

1602–The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford is opened to the public in England.

1605–Robert Catesby, ringleader of the Gunpowder Plotters, is killed.

1614–Japanese daimyo, Dom Justo Takayama, is exiled to the Philippines for being Christian by shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu.

1620–The Battle of White Mountain takes place near Prague, ending in a decisive Catholic victory in only two hours.

1644–The Shunzhi Emperor, the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, is enthroned in Beijing after the collapse of the Ming dynasty, as the first Qing Emperor to rule over China.

1674–Poet and philosopher, John Milton, dies of kidney failure in London, England, at age 65. His best known works are the epic poems “Paradise Lost” and “Paradise Regained,” both written after he went blind in 1652.

1745–Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of 5,000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden.

1793–The Louvre Museum opens in Paris, France.

1837–Mary Lyon founds Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which later becomes Mount Holyoke College.

1861–In the American Civil War, the USS San Jacinto stops the British mail ship, Trent, and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the U.K. and the U.S.

1864–Abraham Lincoln is re-elected the 16th President of the United States.

1880–Actress, Sarah Bernhardt, makes her American debut at New York's Booth Theater playing the leading role in Adrienne Lecouvreur.

1884–Psychologist and author, Hermann Rorschach, is born in Zürich, Switzerland. He was a Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, best known for developing a projective test known as the “Rorschach inkblot test.” In the test, individuals are shown 10 inkblots, in succsession, and asked to report what objects or figures they see in each of them.

1885–Super-centenarian, Eva Morris, is born Eva Sharpe in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. She will live to the age of 114 (and 360 days).

1889–Montana becomes the 41st state of the Unites States of America.

1892–The New Orleans general strike begins, uniting black and white American trade unionists in a successful four-day general strike action for the first time.

1895–While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the x-ray.

1901–Bloody clashes take place in Athens, Creece, following the translation of the Gospels into demotic Greek.

1904–Theodore Roosevelt is elected the 26th President of the United States.

1914–Winemaker, Peter Mondavi, is born in Minnesota. His parents bought the Charles Krug winery in Napa Valley, California, in 1943, and on his father's death 16 years later, the business was split between Peter Mondavi and his brother, Robert. Mondavi was recognised by Wine Spectator as one of the "Napa Mavericks" who pioneered the industry in the valley.

1917–The first Council of People's Commissars is formed, including Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin.

1918–Typeface designer and calligrapher, Hermann Zapf, is born in Nuremberg, German Empire. His career in type design spanned the three most recent stages of printing: hot metal composition, phototypesetting (also called cold type), and digital typesetting. Zapf's typefaces include Melior, Optima, Palatino, Zapf Book, Zapf Chancery, and Zapf Dingbats. He was married to calligrapher and typeface designer, Gudrun Zapf von Hesse.

1920–Actress, Esther (Elizabeth) Rolle, is born in Pompano Beach, Florida. She is best known for the role of Florida Evans on the TV sitcoms Maude and Good Times. She appeared in the films Nothing But a Man, Cleopatra Jones, The Mighty Quinn, Driving Miss Daisy, and How to Make an American Quilt.

1921–Actor-director, Gene Saks, is born Jean Michael Saks in New York, New York. His films include Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Cactus Flower, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Mame, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and A Fine Romance. He was married to actress, Bea Arthur.

1922–Surgeon and academic, Christiaan (Neething) Barnard, is born in Beaufort West, Cape Province, Union of South Africa. He performed the world's first successful human-to-human heart transplant.

1923–In Munich, Germany, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government.

1929–The Museum of Modern Art opens in New York City. It is founded by three private citizens, Lillie P. Bliss, Mary Quinn Sullivan, and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, who are determined to make modern and contemporary art available to the public. It is the first museum to devote its programs and collections entirely to the modern movement. Its initial collection consists of eight prints and one drawing.

1929–Brill Building songwriter, Bert Berns, is born Bertrand Russell Berns in the Bronx, New York. His songs include Twist and Shout, Piece of My Heart, Brown Eyed Girl, Hang on Sloopy, and Under the Boardwalk.

1931–Child actress, Darla (Jean) Hood, is born in Leedey, Oklahoma. She appeared in the Our Gang and The Little Rascals comedy series. Just after her third birthday, she was taken to New York City, where she was seen by Joe Rivkin, a casting director for Hal Roach Studios, who arranged a screen test. She was then taken to Culver City, California, to appear in the Our Gang movies.

1931–Newsman, Morley Safer, is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a Canadian-American broadcast journalist, reporter, and correspondent for CBS News. He was best known for his long tenure on the news magazine 60 Minutes, which he joined in December 1970, during the third season of the series.

1932–Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected the 32nd President of the United States.

1933–President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than four million unemployed Americans.

1936–In the Spanish Civil War, Francoist troops fail in their effort to capture Madrid, but afterwards begin the three-year Siege of Madrid.

1937–The Nazi exhibition, Der ewige Jude ("The Eternal Jew"), opens in Munich, Germany.

1938–Politician, Murtala (Rufai) Mohammed, is born in Kano, Nigeria. He was the fourth President of Nigeria.

1939–Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.

1939–In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes the assassination attempt of Georg Elser while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.

1940–The Italian invasion of Greece fails as outnumbered Greek units repulse the Italians in the Battle of Elaia-Kalamas.

1944–Singer, Bonnie (Lynne) Bramlett, of Delaney & Bonnie, is born in Pontotoc County, Mississippi.

1945–Don Murray, drummer for The Turtles, is born in Glendale, California.

1948–Astronaut, Dale (Allan) Gardner, is born in Fairmont, Minnesota. He was a NASA astronaut who flew two Space Shuttle missions during the early 1980s.

1948–Singer-songwriter, Bonnie Raitt, is born in Los Angeles, California. She will develop a life-long love of the blues, being taught bottleneck guitar by some of the greatest bluesmen. He father is singer-actor, John Raitt.

1950–U.S. Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown, while piloting an F-80 Shooting Star, shoots down two North Korean MiG-15s in the first jet aircraft-to-jet aircraft dogfight in history.

1954–Ricky Lawson, drummer for the Yellowjackets, is born Richard David Lawson in Detroit, Michigan. He worked extensively as a session musician, collaborating with Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, and Steely Dan.

1957–Pan Am Flight 7 disappears between San Francisco, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii. Wreckage and bodies are discovered a week later.

1957–In Operation Grapple X, Round C1, the United Kingdom conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test over Kiritimati in the Pacific.

1960–John F. Kennedy is elected the 35th President of the United States, narrowly defeating Republican Vice-President Richard Nixon.

1964–The Beatles perform back in their home town, at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, England. It is their first Liverpool concert since December 22, 1963.

1964–Judy Garland and her daughter, Liza Minnelli, appear together in concert at the London Palladium in London, England.

1965–The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar, and Des Roches islands.

1965–The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom.

1965–The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump during the Vietnam War, while the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment fight one of the first set-piece engagements of the war between Australian forces and the Viet Cong at the Battle of Gang Toi.

1966–Former Massachusetts Attorney General, Edward Brooke, becomes the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.

1966–President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law an antitrust exemption allowing the National Football League to merge with the upstart American Football League.

1965–Journalist and TV personality, Dorothy Kilgallen, dies of a fatal combination of alcohol and barbiturates at her townhouse in New York, New York, at age 52. In 1938, she began her newspaper column, "The Voice of Broadway," which eventually was syndicated to more than 146 papers. She became a regular panelist on the TV game show, What's My Line?, in 1950.

1966–Celebrity chef and restaurateur, Gordon (James) Ramsey, is born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Ramsey is well known for his TV shows in Great Britain and America, including Hell's Kitchen, The F Word, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, MasterChef, MasterChef Junior, and Hotel Hell. His Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, London, has held three Michelin stars since 2001.

1967–The Richard Lester movie, How I Won the War, featuring John Lennon in the role of Private Gripweed, opens in New York City. Critic, Leonard Maltin, says the film is “a deliciously cynical parody of the lunacy of war.”

1968–The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic is signed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by standardising the uniform traffic rules among the signatories.

1968–Cynthia Lennon is granted a divorce from John Lennon, following an uncontested suit. It is announced that John has made “generous and proper provision” for Cynthia and their son, Julian. John Lennon is not in court, having rushed to Yoko Ono’s bedside at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, where Ono suffers a miscarriage shortly afterward.

1971–At the Empire Ballroom in London, England, Paul McCartney throws a party to launch his new group, Wings.

1972–HBO launches its programing, with the broadcast of the 1971 movie, Sometimes a Great Notion, starring Paul Newman and Henry Fonda.

1973–The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper, together with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay $2.9 million.

1977–Manolis Andronikos, a Greek archaeologist and professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.

1978–Artist, Norman Rockwell, dies of emphysema in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, at age 84. He is best known for his Saturday Evening Post cover illustrations. His funeral was attended by members of his literary club and First Lady, Rosalynn Carter.

1984–The first attempt to rescue two crippled satellites takes place as the space shuttle “Discovery” lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission was accomplished on November 14th.

1987–A Provisional IRA bomb explodes in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, during a ceremony honoring those who had died in wars involving British forces. Twelve people are killed and 63 are wounded.

1988–George H.W. Bush is elected the 41st President of the United States.

1989–A long-standing suit (of 20 years) between The Beatles and EMI/Capitol Records is resolved. Although details are not revealed, it is widely reported that EMI/Capitol will pay The Beatles approximately £100 million in back royalties.

1994–On the night of the 1994 U.S. midterm elections, Republicans make historic electoral gains by securing massive majorities in both houses of Congress (54 seats in the House and eight seats in the Senate). This brings a close to four decades of Democratic domination.

1995–Michael Jackson and Sony Corporation of America join forces to create the world’s third-largest music publishing company with more than 100,000 titles. Jackson’s ATV Music catalog, which includes most of the classic Beatles songs, is estimated to be worth $300 million.

2002–In the UN Security Council Resolution 1441, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences."

2004–More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

2002–In the UN Security Council Resolution 1441, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences"

2011–The potentially hazardous asteroid, 2005 YU55, passes 0.85 lunar distances from Earth (about 201,700 miles), the closest known approach by an asteroid of its brightness since asteroid, 2010 XC15, in 1976.

2011–Cartoonist, Bil Keane, dies of congestive heart failure in Paradise Valley, Arizona, at agd 89. He was the creator of the comic strip “The Family Circus.” It began in 1960, and has continued in syndication, drawn by his son Jeff Keane.

2013–Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, strikes the Visayas region of the Philippines. The storm leaves at least 6,340 people dead, over 1,000 still missing, and causes $2.86 billion in damage.

2016–In one of the biggest upsets in American political history, Republican Party nominee, Donald J. Trump, is elected President of the United States by a landslide, defeating Democratic Party nominee, Hillary Clinton.

2016–India abolishes larger banknotes in a bold and unexpected move to curb circulation of counterfeit notes and to fight black money.

2016–Gunmen kill at least 30 people in an attack on a gold mine in a remote area of Zamfara State, northwestern Nigeria.


PHOTOS TOP TO BOTTOM: King Louis VIII of France; the Louvre Museum in Paris, France; Hermann Rorschach; Esther Rolle; Darla Hood; Bonnie Raitt; the LP Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli Live at the London Palladium; Gordon Ramsay; Norman Rockwell's self portrait; and Bil Keane.
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