Some interesting historical events that happened today include:
1305 - King Edward I of England had Scottish revolutionary William Wallace executed. He was hung then disemboweled, beheaded and quartered. That's what I call overkill!
1617 - London established the first one-way street
1859 - the Fifth Avenue Hotel in NYC opened and was the first American hotel to include a passenger elevator
1889 - the message "Sherman is sighted" was the first ship-to-shore message sent by wireless
1902 - Fanny Farmer opened the Miss Farmer's School of Cookery. She was also a cookbook author and proponent of standard measures in cooking
1904 - Harry D. Weed patented "Grip-Tread for Pneumatic Tires" making traveling icy roads less hazardous. The same year he established the Weed Chain Tire Grip Co.
1918 - Frank King's comic strip Gasoline Alley premiered in the Chicago Tribune
1929 - Anne Morrow flew solo for the first time, only months after marrying Charles Lindbergh
1946 - The Big Sleep starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall was released
1955 - hail pummeled the small town of Rushmore, MN. The thunderstorm dumped hail a foot deep on the Nobels County town
1963 - the Beatles released their single "She Loves You" from their Twist and Shout album in the UK
1966 - NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1 captured the first photo of Earth from the Moon's orbit
1973 - a bank robbery went wrong in Stockholm, Sweden leading to a 5 day hostage crisis. During that time, the hostages began sympathizing with their jailers. This phenomenon became known as "Stockholm syndrome"
1977 - the Gossamer Condor 2 flew the first man-powered flight for at least 1 mi.
1998 - the sitcom That 70s Show premiered it's first episode. I still like it despite the actors personal lives and failings
Some interesting birthdays include:
Louis XVI (1774)
Sarah Frances Whiting (1847) - the first director of the Whitin Observatory, she taught astronomy and physics at Wellesley College
Edgar Lee Masters (1869) - best known for his Spoon River Anthology
Will Cuppy (1884)
Grace Chu (1899) - known as Madame Chu, she began hosting cooking classes in her home while her husband was posted at the US Embassy. She continued the courses and became a US citizen. She published 2 popular books on Chinese cooking
Ernie Bushmiller (1905) - best known for his comic strip Nancy
Hannah Frank (1908)
Gene Kelly (1912) - I'm a big fan. My mom even met him once while she was flying for PanAm. He was super nice.
Barbara Eden (1931) - best known for I Dreak of Jeannie, she's made more than 90 appearances on film and TV. I really liked her as evil aunt Irma on Sabrina
Keith Moon (1946) - drummer for The Who
Shelley Long (1949)
River Phoenix (1970)
Kobe Bryant (1978)
Natalie Coughlin (1982)