1909 – The Great White Fleet was the nickname for the US Navy. They completed their first circumnavigation of the globe after leaving on 16th December 1909.
1966 – The Soviets launch Kosmos 110, the spacecraft was built for re-entry and contained scientific equipment along with the first two dog crew called Veterok and Ugolek, they were in orbit for 22 days and landed safely upon return.
2011 – Christchurch, New Zealand suffers a powerful earthquake. It is considered the second worst peace disaster since the earthquake in Hawke’s Bay in 1931. The disaster killed 185 people.
Birthdays
1732 – George Washington was born in Virginia. He became the first American President from 1789 to 1797. He led the victory of the US over Great Britain in the American Revolution.
1857 – Heinrich Hertz was born in Hamburg, Germany. He became a physicist and was the first to prove electromagnetic waves by transmitting and receiving radio pulses.
1928 – Bruce Forsyth was born in Edmonton, Surrey. He became a comedian and is best known for his hosting skills on many game shows such as the Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right and the hit show Strictly Come Dancing.
1804 – The world’s first locomotive hauled along a tramway in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. It was designed by inventor Richard Trevithick, he did not name the steam locomotive.
1947 – Edwin H Land demonstrated the first instant camera and film. Within two years it was commercially available with Polaroid manufacturing sixty of the first cameras.
1972 – Richard Nixon becomes the first US President to visit China. The President and the First Lady were greeted by the Chinese Premiere Zhou Enlai.
Birthdays
1933 – Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tyron, North Carolina. She became a singer and pianist. Her music was influential in the civil rights movement.
1946 – Alan Rickman was born in London. He became an actor and has starred in many films from Dogma to Harry Potter where he played Severus Snape.
1979 – Jennifer Love Hewitt was born in Waco, Texas. She became an actress and has had roles in films from The Audrey Hepburn Story to I Know What You Did Last Summer.
1547 – King Edward VI of England was crowned at the age of nine years old, he was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. He reigned until his 15th birthday when he became ill and it was discovered to be terminal.
1935 – Caroline Mikkelson became the first woman to set foot onto the Antarctic; she was accompanying her husband and has a small coastal mountain in her name of Mount Caroline Mickkelson, also known with the ID number of 117379.
1943 – A new volcano named as Paracutin erupts in farmer’s Dionisio Pulido corn patch in Mexico. The erupting volcano grew to five stories within 1 week and was witnessed by the famer and his wife. The volcano is unique in the fact its formation was witnessed.
Birthdays
1927 – Sidney Poitier was born in Miami, Florida. He became an actor and was the first black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. He starred in many films including Porgy & Bess, A Raisin in the Sun and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
1949 - Ivana Trump was born in Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia as Ivana Marie Zelníčková. She became an athlete for the Olympic Ski Team, gained a masters degree in physical education, she then became a model and is famed for her marriage to Donald Trump.
1966 – Cindy Crawford was born as Cynthia Anne Crawford in Dekalb, Illinois. She became a super model, her success as a model led to film and TV work.
1674 – Netherlands & England sign Peace of Westminster Treaty, it was signed by Charles II. England was forced to sign the treaty as parliament was not allowing anymore more money to be spent on the war.
1884 – Tornadoes hit in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky & Indiana. The tornadoes kill around 800 people.
1938 – Soviet arctic ice research station North Pole 1 was evacuated, they boarded ice-breakers Taimyr and Murman. It was the Soviets first manned drifting station.
Birthdays
1943 – “Mama” Cass Elliot was born as Ellen Naomi Cohen in Maryland, US. She became a singer in the group the Mamas & the Papas.
1955 – Jeff Daniels was born in Georgia, US. He became an actor and starred in Something Wild, Dumb & Dumber and Speed.
1960 – Prince Andrew, Duke of York was born at Buckingham Palace, London. He has served active duty in the Falklands war.
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