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1902–Inventor, John L. Mason, dies in poverty in a tenement house in New York, New York, at age 70. He patented the metal screw-on lid for glass jars that are used for canning, commonly known as Mason jars. Mason's easy and re-usable jars made home canning popular among American settlers, homesteaders, and even in urban homes; but most “Mason” jars were manufactured by competitors after his patent expired in 1879. He also invented the first screw top salt shaker in 1858.


BC 747–Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era.

364–Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.

943–Muirchertach mac Néill, King of Ailech (Ireland), dies in battle.

1154–Roger II of Sicily dies in Palermo, Kingdom of Sicily, at age 58.

1233–The Mongols capture Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin Dynasty, after besieging it for months.

1266–Manfred, King of Sicily, dies during battle in Benevento, Kingdom of Sicily, at age 34.

1275–Margaret of England, Queen consort of Scots, dies at Cupar Castle in Cupar, Fife, Scotland, at age 34. No vestiges of the castle remain above ground.

1361–Wenceslas IV, King of Bohemia, is born in Nuremberg, Holy Roman Empire. He was the third Bohemian and German monarch of the Luxembourg dynasty.

1416–Christopher of Bavaria is born in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany. His full title was: By the Grace of God, King of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, the Wends and the Goths, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria.

1531–An earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal, kills 20,000 people.

1564–Poet and dramatist, Christopher Marlowe, is born in Canterbury, Kent, England. He greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe, and who rose to become the preeminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe's mysterious early death. Some believe that Marlowe actually was Shakespeare. His works include Tamburlaine Parts 1 & 2, The Jew of Malta, Doctor Faustus, Edward II, and The Massacre at Paris.

1577–Eric XIV of Sweden dies of arsenic poisoning at Orbyhus Castle, Orbyhus, at age 43.

1584–Albert VI, Duke of Bavaria, is born in Munich, Germany.

1603–Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, dies at the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, Spain.

1616–Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the Earth orbits the Sun.

1746–Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria is born at Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, Austria. She was a daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. Maria was younger sister to Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor; older sister to Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, and Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.

1777–Matija Nenadovic, first Prime Minister of Serbia, is born in Brankovina, Ottoman Empire (present-day Serbia).

1786–François Arago, 25th Prime Minister of France, is born in Estagel, France.

1794–The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark, burns down.

1797–The Bank of England issues £1 notes for the first time.

1802–Poet, playwright, and novelist, Victor (Marie) Hugo, is born in Besançon, France. He was the leader of the French Romantic movement. Hugo began planning a major novel about social misery and injustice as early as the 1830s, but it would take a full 17 years for Les Misérables to be completed and published in 1862. His other works include The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Napoleon the Little, and The Legend of the Ages.

1802–Esek Hopkins, the first Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy, dies on his farm in Providence, Rhode Island, at age 83. Before the Revolutionary War, he had sailed to nearly every quarter of the Earth, commanded a privateer in the French and Indian War, and served as a deputy to the Rhode Island General Assembly.

1815–Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from the island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.

1829–Clothing manufacturer, Levi Strauss, is born Löb Strauß in Buttenheim, Germany. He came to America when he was 18 years old to work as a peddler, then made his way to San Francisco, California, during the Gold Rush of 1849. He started making clothing for the miners, including the blue jeans which would be named for him. He founded Levi Strauss & Co.

1839–Sybil Ludington dies in Catskill, New York, at age 77. The daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington, she was a heroine of the American Revolutionary War who, mounted on her horse, Star, became famous for her 40-mile night ride on April 26, 1777, to alert rebel forces to the approach of the British forces. Her action was similar to that of Paul Revere, although she rode more than twice the distance of Revere, and was only 16 years old at the time.

1842–Camille Flammarion, Mars researcher and supporter of astronomy, is born in Montigny-le-Roi, Haute-Marne, France. He was a prolific author of more than 50 titles, including popular astronomy works, several early science fiction novels, and works on psychical research and related topics. Beginning in 1882, he published the magazine L'Astronomie. He was also a member of the Theosophical Society.

1845–Russian Tsar, Alexander III, is born in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1846–"Buffalo Bill" Cody, is born William Frederick Cody in Le Claire, Iowa. He got his nickname from killing 4,282 buffaloes in 18 months. Buffalo Bill became famous for the Wild West shows he organized with cowboy themes, which he toured to much success in Great Britain and Europe, as well as in America. In 1895, Cody was instrumental in the founding of Cody, Wyoming, the seat of Park County. Today, the Old Trail Town Museum is at the center of the community and honors the traditions of Western life.

1848–German philosopher, Karl Marx, publishes The Communist Manifesto, at the age of 29. Marx lived in London, England, and did much of his writing in the reading room of the British Museum.

1852–Doctor, John Harvey Kellogg, is born in Tyrone, Michigan. He was a surgeon, vegetarian, and health food pioneer, who developed the breakfast cereals Granose (flaked wheat) and toasted corn flakes. But it was his brother, William K. Kellogg who founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, producing corn flakes for sale to the public.

1857–Psychologist, Emile Coué, is born Emile Coué de la Châtaigneraie in the Brittany region of France. An advocate of autosuggestion, he claimed benefits could be derived by repeating the following sentence 15 to 20 times in the morning and evening: "Every day, and in every way, I am becoming better and better." His book Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion was published in England in 1920, and in the United States in 1922.

1861–Ferdinand I of Bulgaria is born Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in Vienna, Austrian Empire. He was an author, botanist, entomologist, and philatelist.

1866–Herbert Henry Dow, pioneer in the U.S. chemical industry with Dow Chemical Company, is born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada.

1870–The first pneumatic powered subway line opens in New York City. The tunnel is only a block long.

1876–Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extra-territoriality rights and the opening of three ports to Japanese trade.

1879–American writer, Mabel Dodge Luhan, is born in Buffalo, New York. Her candid autobiographical volumes, collectively known as “Intimate Memories,” contain much information about well-known Americans of her era. She spearheaded a group of the foremost writers and artists of her day through her artists’ colony in Taos, New Mexico.

1887–Actor, William (Clement) Frawley, is born in Burlington, Iowa. He is best known for the role of Fred Mertz on the popular 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy. He appeared in the films St. Louis Blues, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Wildcat, The Fighting Seabees, Going My Way, Miracle on 34th Street, The Babe Ruth Story, The Lemon Drop Kid, and Rancho Notorious.

1891–The first buffalo is purchased for Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, California.

1893–Religious leader, Wallace Fard Muhammad, is born Wallace D. Fard, birthplace unknown. He founded the Nation of Islam. In 1930, he arrived in Detroit, Michigan, with an obscure background and several aliases, where he taught a distinctive form of Islam to members of the city's African-American population. Fard’s followers grew to approximately 8,000. Within three years the prophet not only began the movement, but organized it so well that he was able to recede into the background, appearing almost never to his followers during the final months of his residence in Detroit. Fard himself said: “My name is W.D. Fard and I came from the Holy City of Mecca. More about myself I will not tell you yet, for the time has not yet come. I am your brother. You have not yet seen me in my royal robes.” He disappeared in 1934.

1895–Michael Owens, of Toledo, Ohio, patents a glassblowing machine.

1902–Inventor, John L. Mason, dies in poverty in a tenement house in New York, New York, at age 70. He patented the metal screw-on lid for glass jars that are used for canning, commonly known as Mason jars. Mason's easy and re-usable jars made home canning popular among American settlers, homesteaders, and even in urban homes; but most “Mason” jars were manufactured by competitors after his patent expired in 1879. He also invented the first screw top salt shaker in 1858.

1903–Richard Jordan Gatling, dies in New York, New York, at age 84. He invented the rapid-firing Gatling gun, which was the first machine gun. He also invented a motor-driven plow (the first tractor).

1907–Royal Oil & Shell merge to form British Petroleum (BP).

1907–The U.S. Congress vote to raise their own salaries to $7,500.

1907–Character actor, Dub Taylor, is born Walter Clarence Taylor, Jr. in Richmond, Virginia. The name Walter was shortened to "W" by his friends, and then further to "Dub." He appeared in the films Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Them!, No Time for Sergeants, Auntie Mame, A Hole in the Head, Parrish, Sweet Bird of Youth, Spencer’s Mountain, The Cincinnati Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, The Wild Bunch, Junior Bonner, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and Falling from Grace.

1909–Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London, England.

1912–Coal miners strike in England.

1914–The New York Museum of Science & Industry is incorporated.

1914–HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland.

1914–Actor, Robert Alda, is born Alphonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo in New York, New York. A talented singer and dancer, Alda was featured in a number of Broadway productions before moving to Italy in the early 1960s, where he began to work in films. He appeared in the films Rhapsody in Blue, The Beast with Five Fingers, Cloak and Dagger, The Man I Love, Imitation of Life, and The Devil’s Hand. His son is actor, Alan Alda.

1916–The word “Dada” (meaning radical art) first appears in print, following an art show in Zürich, Switzerland.

1916–Comedian and actor, Jackie Gleason, is born John Herbert Gleason in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for the role of bus driver, Ralph Kramden, in the sitcom, The Honeymooners, as well as for his series, The Jackie Gleason Show. Gleason was one of TV’s biggest stars in the 1950s and 1960s. He started on the DuMont Television Network, became a celebrated fixture on CBS-TV, and later worked in film. He appeared in the films Navy Blues, All Through the Night, Larceny, Inc., Orchestra Wives, Springtime in the Rockies, The Hustler, Gigot, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Papa’s Delicate Condition, Soldier in the Rain, Skidoo, Smokey and the Bandit, The Toy, and Nothing in Common. His grandson is actor, Jason Patric.

1917–The Original Dixieland Jazz Band records the first jazz record for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.

1919–U.S. Congress establishes Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

1920–The first German Expressionist film and early horror movie, Robert Wiene's, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, has its premiere in Berlin.

1920–Actor, Tony Randall, is born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is best known for the role of Felix Unger in the TV series The Odd Couple. He appeared in the films Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, No Down Payment, The Mating Game, Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, Boy’s Night Out, The Brass Bottle, Send Me No Flowers, Hello Down There, and Down with Love.

1921–Actress, Betty Hutton, is born Elizabeth June Thornburg in Battle Creek, Michigan. She appeared in the films The Miracle at Morgan Creek, Incendiary Blonde, The Perils of Pauline, Annie Get Your Gun, and The Greatest Show on Earth.

1922–Dancing to jazz music and tango bands is criticized in Paris, France. It seems that dancing detracts the French from their postwar reconstruction, according to La Revue Mondiale.

1922–Actress, Margaret Leighton, is born in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, England. She appeared in the films The Winslow Boy, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Under Capricorn, The Tempest, The Holly and the Ivy, The Sound and the Fury, The Best Man, The Loved One, The Go-Between, and Zee and Co.

1927–TV game show host, Tom Kennedy, is born James Edward Narz in Louisville, Kentucky. Kennedy hosted many game shows in the 1960s, including You Don't Say!, Split Second, and Name That Tune. He is the younger brother of TV host, Jack Narz.

1928–Singer, Fats Domino, is born Antoine Domino, Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana. His biggest hit on the pop charts was the 1956 song Blueberry Hill. He had nine #1 singles on the R&B charts, including Ain't That a Shame, My Blue Heaven, Blue Monday, I’m Walkin’, Whole Lotta Loving, I Want to Walk You Home, I’m Gonna Be a Wheel Someday, Be My Guest, and Walking to New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005, Domino chose to stay at home with his family. Later that day, CNN reported that they had been rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. By January 2006, work to gut and repair Domino's home and office had begun, but in the meantime, the Domino family resided in Harvey, Louisiana. The singer’s gold records were replaced by the RIAA and Imperial Records catalog owner, Capitol Records.

1928–Ariel Sharon, the 11th Prime Minister of Israel, is born Ariel Scheinermann in Kfar Malal, British Palestine. After suffering a stroke on January 4, 2006, Sharon remained in a permanent vegetative state (coma) until his death in January 2014.

1929–President Calvin Coolidge signs an Executive Order establishing the 96,000-acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

1930–The first red and green traffic lights are installed in Manhattan, New York.

1932–Johnny Cash is born J.R. Cash in Kingsland, Arkansas. As the "Elder Statesman" of American popular music, he bridged the gaps between country, gospel, and rock and roll, and had unparalleled success in all three styles during his lengthy musical career. Some of his biggest hits are Get Rhythm, I Walk the Line, Ballad of a Teenage Queen, Guess Things Happen That Way, Don't Take Your Guns to Town, Ring of Fire, Understand Your Man, Folsom Prison Blues, Daddy Sang Bass, and A Boy Named Sue. In 1968, Cash married June Carter, a member of the legendary Carter Family. Country singer, Roseanne Cash, is his daughter from his first marriage.

1933–A groundbreaking ceremony for Golden Gate Bridge is held at Crissy Field in San Francisco, California.

1933–Actor, Godfrey (MacArthur) Cambridge, is born in New York, New York. Cambridge had major success as a standup comedian, in all respects a headliner, working the best places, such as San Francisco's hungry i and Hollywood's Crescendo. His routines were imbued with biting sarcasm and topical humor that was common in comedic circles at the time. He appeared in the films Gone Are the Days!, The Troublemaker, The Busy Body, The President’s Analyst, Bye Bye Braverman, Watermelon Man, Cotton Comes to Harlem, and The Biscuit Eater.

1935–In the Daventry Experiment, in the U.K., radar (Radio Detection & Ranging) is demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt.

1936–Adolf Hitler opens the first factory for the production of the “People's Car,” the Volkswagen (also known as The Beetle), in Saxony. The car is designed by Ferdinand Porsche.

1936–Young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup d'état against the government.

1938–The first passenger ship is equipped with radar.

1940–The U.S. Air Defense Command is established.

1942–The Canadian government starts evacuating 21,000 Japanese Canadians from coastal regions of British Columbia to interior work camps, under the War Measures Act.

1942–The 14th Annual Academy Awards announces its winners. Best Picture: How Green Was My Valley; Best Actor: Gary Cooper for Sergeant York; Best Actress: Joan Fontaine for Suspicion; Best Director: John Ford for How Green Was My Valley. The ceremonies were held at the Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, California. The host is Bob Hope.

1943–Bob "Bear" Hite, of Canned Heat, is born Robert Ernest Hite in Torrance, California. The band’s hits include On the Road Again, Goin’ Up the Country, and Let’s Work Together. Hite performed with Canned Heat at Woodstock in August 1969. The performances were not included in the original film, but they are in the 1994 "Director's Cut" version.

1945–Detroit rocker, Mitch Ryder, is born William Levise, Jr. in Hamtramck, Michigan. As Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, he had the hits Jenny Take a Ride, Little Latin Lupe Lou, Devil with a Blue Dress, and Too Many Fish in the Sea.

1946–Finnish observers report the first of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets.

1947–The 4th Annual Golden Globe Awards announces its winners. Best Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives; Best Actor: Gregory Peck for The Yearling; Best Actress: Rosalind Russell for Sister Kenny; Best Director: Frank Capra for It's a Wonderful Life; Best International Film: The Last Chance.

1947–Pop singer, Sandie Shaw, best remembered for performing barefoot, is born Sandra Goodrich in Dagenham, Essex, England. Her hits include (There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me, Girl Don't Come, I’ll Stop at Nothing, Long Live Love, Message Understood, and Puppet on a String. Sandie Shaw announced her retirement from music in April 2013.

1951–The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, limiting the President to two terms of office.

1952–Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, announces that Britain has developed its own atomic bomb.

1952–Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.

1952–Theodoros Pangalos, President of Greece (1925-1926), dies in Athens, Greece, at age 74.

1953–The 10th Annual Golden Globe Awards announces its winners. Best Picture: The Greatest Show on Earth; Best Actor: Gary Cooper for High Noon; Best Actress: Shirley Booth for Come Back, Little Sheba; Best Director: Cecil B. DeMille for The Greatest Show on Earth; Best Musical: With a Song in My Heart; Best International Film: The Greatest Show On Earth.

1953–Singer, Michael Bolton, is born Michael Bolotin in New Haven, Connecticut. Since 1975, Bolton has released 17 studio albums and 35 singles. He has sold over 75 million albums and singles worldwide. His biggest hit was How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?

1954–Michigan Republican Representative, Ruth Thompson, introduces legislation to ban mailing "obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy" (rock and roll) phonograph records.

1954–The first typesetting machine (photo engraving) is used in Quincy, Massachusetts.

1955–New York jukeboxes are now charging 10 cents a play. It had been a nickel.

1960–A full-size model of a do-it-yourself fallout shelter goes on display in a bank in New York. It is priced at $105.

1960–A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.

1961–Mohammed V, King of Morocco (1957-1961), dies from complications of surgery in Rabat, Morocco, at age 51. There were many who suspected that the King's son, Hassan II, had a hand in his father's sudden death.

1966–The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam.

1966–AS-201 is launched as the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket.

1967–The USSR conducts a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh.

1969–Existentialist philosopher, Karl Jaspers, dies in Basel, Switzerland, at age 86. He had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy.

1971–U.N. Secretary General, U Thant, signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.

1971–Singer, Erykah Badu, is born Erica Abi Wright in Dallas, Texas. She is known as the "First Lady of Neo-Soul" or the "Queen of Neo-Soul." Musically her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop, and jazz.

1972–The Buffalo Creek flood, caused by a burst dam, kills 125 people in West Virginia.

1973–The Triple Crown race horse, Secretariat, is sold for $5.7 million.

1976–The U.S. conducts a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1979–The Superliner railcar begins service with Amtrak.

1979–A total eclipse of the sun casts a huge shadow across Canada, and from Oregon to North Dakota in the U.S.

1980–Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.

1984–Reverend Jesse Jackson acknowledges that he called New York City “Hymietown.”

1985–The 27th Annual Grammy Awards announces its winners. Record of the Year: Tina Turner for What's Love Got to Do with It; Album of the Year: Lionel Richie for Can't Slow Down; Song of the Year: Terry Britten and Graham Lyle (songwriters) for What's Love Got to Do with It; Best Vocal Performance, Male: Phil Collins for Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now); Best Vocal Performance, Female: Tina Turner for What's Love Got to Do with It; Best Performance by a Vocal Group: The Pointer Sisters for Jump (For My Love); Best Country & Western Performance: Merle Haggard for That's the Way Love Goes; Best Rhythm & Blues Performance: Chaka Khan for I Feel for You; Best Rock Performance: Bruce Springsteen for Dancing in the Dark; Best Instrumental Performance: Ray Parker, Jr. for Ghostbusters (Instrumental); Best New Artist: Cyndi Lauper. The ceremonies are held at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. There is no host. Chuck Berry is awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

1986–Rock singer, Juliet (Nicole) Simms, is born in San Francisco, California. She was the vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter for the American rock band Automatic Loveletter. Simms was a contestant on the 2012 season of the reality talent show The Voice.

1987–The USSR conducts a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan.

1987–During the Iran-Contra affair, the Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.

1987–The first batch of The Beatles CDs are released on Capitol and EMI, as part of a year-long campaign that will return all the group’s original albums to the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The CDs are Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, and Beatles For Sale. These initial releases on CD are in mono, which causes quite an unpleasant reaction among fans.

1990–Cornell Gunter, former lead tenor for The Coasters, is murdered in Las Vegas, Nevada, at age 53.

1991–Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, announces on Baghdad Radio that he has ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait.

1991–Tim Berners-Lee introduces WorldWideWeb, the first web browser.

1991–Bill Veeck and Tony Lazzeri are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1992–Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly, killing hundreds of people.

1993–Six people are killed and more than 1,000 injured in New York, New York, when a van packed with a 1,210-pound bomb explodes in the parking garage underneath the World Trade Center. The explosion left a gigantic crater 200 feet wide and caused over $591 million in damage. Dr. Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman and 14 of his followers were accused of the terrorist bombing.

1993–Actress, Constance Ford, dies of cancer in Manhattan, New York, at age 69. She was cast in dozens of TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s, including The Phil Silvers Show, Bat Masterson, Thriller, and Gunsmoke. She appeared in the films A Summer Place, Home from the Hill, Rome Adventure, All Fall Down, The Caretakers, and 99 and 44/100% Dead.

1994–Avery Fisher, audio manufacturer, dies from complications of a stroke in New York, New York, at age 87. In 1957, the Fisher Radio Company produced their first FM/AM receiver that would be considered high fidelity, the Fisher 500 (TA500). Fisher put out their first true stereo receiver, the Fisher 600 (TA600), in 1959.

1995–The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after securities broker, Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.

1996–Keddies, the department store in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, closes it doors after 104 years.

1997–The 39th Annual Grammy Awards announces its winners. Record of the Year: Eric Clapton for Change the World; Album of the Year: Celine Dion for Falling Into You; Song of the Year: Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick and Tommy Sims (songwriters) for Change the World; Best Vocal Performance, Male: Eric Clapton for Change the World; Best Vocal Performance, Female: Toni Braxton for Unbreak My Heart; Best Performance by a Vocal Group: The Beatles for Free as a Bird; Best Country & Western Performance: LeAnn Rimes for Blue; Best Rhythm & Blues Performance: Luther Vandross for Your Secret Love; Best Rock Performance: Sheryl Crow for If It Makes You Happy; Best Instrumental Performance: Béla Fleck and the Flecktones for The Sinister Minister; Best Rap Performance: LL Cool J for Hey Lover; Best New Artist: LeAnn Rimes. The ceremonies are held at Madison Square Garden, New York. The host is Ellen DeGeneres. The Beatles are awarded two other Grammy Awards: "Best Music Video: Short Form" (for Free As A Bird); and "Best Music Video: Long Form" (for The Beatles Anthology). George Harrison comments, "What a nice surprise! It's good to know that people still like The Beatles."

1997–Car designer, Giuseppe Bertone, dies in Turin, Italy, at age 82. He took over Carrozzeria Bertone from his father after World War II, growing the small business into a car building and designing dynasty. The Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, was the company's main product, along with the Fiat 850 Spider, the Fiat Dino, the Simca 1200S Coupe, the Alfa Romeo Montreal, and Lamborghinis. He also designed the famous Lambretta GP/DL range of scooters.

1997–Actor, David Doyle, dies of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California, at age 67. He is best known for the role of detective John Bosley on the TV series Charlie's Angels, appearing in all 110 episodes of the series (1976-1981). He appeared in the films No Way to Treat a Lady, Coogan’s Bluff, Paper Lion, The April Fools, Some Kind of a Nut, Loving, Ginger in the Morning, and Capricorn One.

1998–Multiple personality, Shirley Ardell Mason, dies of breast cancer in Lexington, Kentucky. Flora Rheta Schreiber's novel, Sybil, told a fictionalized version of Mason's story. The book stated that Mason had multiple personalities as a result of severe child sexual abuse at the hands of her mother, whom her psychiatrist, Cornelia Wilbur, believed had been schizophrenic. The book was made into a TV-movie in 1976, starring Sally Field and Joanne Woodward.

2001–The Taliban destroy two giant statues of Buddha in Bamyan, Afghanistan.

2004–The U.S. lifts a 23-year-old ban on Americans traveling to Libya.

2004–Comedienne, Rosie O'Donnell, marries marketing executive, Kelli O'Donnell, in San Francisco, California.

2005–Computer scientist, Jef Raskin, dies of pancreatic cancer in Pacifica, California, at age 61. He was a human-computer interface expert best known for conceiving and starting the Macintosh project for Apple in the late 1970s.

2006–Musician, Edwin Duhon, dies in Westlake, Louisiana, at age 95. He was a co-founder of the Hackberry Ramblers, a band that played a combination of Cajun, Western swing, and country music. In 2002, Duhon and his partner, Luderin Darbone, received a National Heritage Fellowship from the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts.

2008–The Global Seed Vault (“doomsday seed vault”) opens deep within an Arctic mountain in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. It has the capacity to store 4.5 million seed samples from around the world, shielding them from man-made and natural disasters.

2008–The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea. This is the first event of its kind to take place in North Korea.

2008–Drummer, Buddy Miles, dies of congestive heart failure in Austin, Texas, at age 60. He was a founding member of The Electric Flag, a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys, founder and leader of the Buddy Miles Express and later, the Buddy Miles Band.

2012–A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, killing at least three people and injuring 45 others.

2012–Trayvon (Benjamin) Martin, a 17-year-old African American from Miami Gardens, Florida, is fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman was eventually charged and tried in Martin's death and a jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and manslaughter in July 2013.

2012–The 84th Annual Academy Awards announces its winners. Best Picture: The Artist; Best Actor: Jean Dujardin for The Artist; Best Actress: Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady; Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist; Best Foreign Film: A Separation (Iran). The ceremonies are held at the Hollywood and Highland Center Theatre, Hollywood, California. The host is Billy Crystal. Academy President, Tom Sherak, announced at a press conference, that in an attempt to further revitalize interest surrounding the awards, the 2012 ceremony would feature between five and 10 Best Picture nominees depending on voting results, as opposed to a set number of nominees. The Artist is the second silent feature to win Best Picture; the 1927 film Wings was the first such film to achieve this distinction at the first awards ceremony in 1929. It is also the first black-and-white feature to win Best Picture since Schindler's List in 1993.

2013–A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.

2015–Astronaut, F. Curtis Michel, dies at age 80. He was an astrophysicist, and a former professor of astrophysics at Rice University in Houston, Texas. During his three years of military service, he flew F-86D Interceptors in the United States and in Europe: he had accumulated 1,000 hours flying time and 900 hours in jet aircraft. Michel was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in June 1965. He resigned in September 1969, prior to being assigned to any missions, in order to return to teaching and research.

2016–Tech giants, Google, Facebook, and Twitter, are part of a coalition that will file unsolicited amicus briefs on behalf of Apple and its ongoing battle with the U.S. government over iPhone encryption. Microsoft is also supporting Apple. The FBI wants Apple to create a back-door entrance to the iPhone of one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attack. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, says the creating encryption-breaking code “is bad for America.”

2016–The United States Air Force unveils the Northrop Grumman B-21 long-range strategic bomber at the Air Force Association’s annual Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida. The B-21 is designed to replace the aging fleet of B-1 Lancer and B-52 bombers.

2016–Yoko Ono, the Japanese-born singer, artist, and widow of John Lennon, is hospitalized in New York with advanced flu-like symptoms. The 83-year-old went to the hospital on her doctor's recommendation. She will be released the next day.

2017–Tens of thousands of people march through Moscow, Russia, to commemorate the two-year anniversary of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov's assassination.

2017–The 89th Annual Academy Awards announces its winners. Best Picture: Moonlight; Best Actor: Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea; Best Actress: Emma Stone for La La Land; Best Director: Damien Chazelle for La La Land; Best Foreign Film: The Salesman (Iran). The ceremonies are held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. The host is Jimmy Kimmel. For the first time in Academy Award history the wrong card was given to a presenter: La La Land was incorrectly announced as the Best Picture, before Moonlight was announced as the actual winner.

2017–Judge Joseph Wapner, who starred in the TV series The People’s Court, dies of respiatory failure at his home in Los Angeles, California, at age 97. The show's first run in syndication, with Wapner presiding as judge, lasted from 1981 to 1993, for 12 seasons, and 2,484 episodes.


PHOTOS TOP TO BOTTOM: Valentinian I coin; Christopher Marlowe; the first £1 notes issued by The Bank of England; Camille Flammarion; John Harvey Kellogg; Mabel Dodge Luhan; Mason jars; Dub Taylor; Jackie Gleason on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine; the Grand Canyon; Margaret Leighton; Johnny Cash; an early Volkswagen "Beetle"; Sandie Shaw; Come Back, Little Sheba poster; a jukebox circa 1955; Secretariat on the cover of Time magazine; Tina Turner; The Beatles CD Beatles for Sale; an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint; David Doyle; Edwin Duhon; Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady; and Judge Joseph Wapner.
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