This is what was happening on this day all those years ago ...and quite recently. (note to self: I should open that database and put a few of my own entries in there... ;) )

• 0418 - Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire
• 1526 - Emperor Charles V marries princess Isabella of Portugal
• 1535 - Bishop Tom s de Berlanga discovers Gal pagos Islands
• 1578 - Queen Elizabeth I gives Johan Casimir œ20,000 to aid Dutch rebellion
• 1624 - England declares war on Spain
• 1629 - King Charles I dissolved Parliament; he called it back 11 years later
• 1661 - French King Louis XIV ends office of premier
• 1681 - English Quaker William Penn receives charter from Charles II, making him sole proprietor of colonial American territory Pennsylvania
• 1734 - Spanish army under Don Carlos (III) draws into Naples
• 1789 - Franklin College founded (1787?)
• 1791 - John Stone, Concord, Mass, patents a pile driver
• 1791 - Pope condemns France's Civil Constitution of the clergy
• 1847 - 1st money minted in Hawaii
• 1849 - Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent; only US president to do so
• 1862 - Great Britain & France recognizes independence of Zanzibar
• 1862 - US issues 1st paper money ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 & $1000)
• 1864 - Grant is named commander of the Union armies
• 1864 - Red River campaign LA
• 1865 - Battle of Monroe's Crossroads, NC
• 1874 - Purdue University (Indiana) admits it's 1st student
• 1876 - 1st telephone call made (Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson)
• 1880 - General Wolseley opens new legislative council in Pretoria
• 1880 - Salvation Army of England sets up US welfare & religious activity
• 1888 - 1st performance of C‚sar Franck's "Psyche"
• 1888 - HW Boxing champ John L Sullivan draws Charlie Mitchell in 30 rounds
• 1893 - Ivory Coast becomes a French colony
• 1893 - New Mexico State University cancels it's 1st graduation ceremony, its only graduate Sam Steele was robbed & killed the night before
• 1896 - Bronx acquires O'Brien Square
• 1896 - Charilaos Vasilakos of Greece wins 1st modern marathon in 3:18 [OS]
• 1896 - After Bob Fitzsimmons KOs much larger Jim Corbett to win world HW championship he says, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall"
• 1900 - Battle at Driefontein, South-Africa (Boers vs British army)
• 1902 - Earthquake destroys Turkish city of Tochangri
• 1903 - Harry Gammeter, Cleveland, patents multigraph duplicating machine
• 1903 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Montreal AAA in 2 games
• 1905 - Japanese Army captures Mukden (Shenyang)
• 1906 - 1st performance of Maurice Ravel's "Sonatine"
• 1906 - Coal dust explosion kills 1,060 at Courrieres France
• 1906 - London Underground opens Bakeroo line (Baker Street to Waterloo Line)
• 1909 - Jack Johnson fights Victor McLaglen to no decision in 6 for box title
• 1910 - China ends slavery
• 1910 - Pittsburgh Courier, begins publishing
• 1913 - Stanley Cup: Quebec Bulldogs sweep Sydney (NS) Millionaires in 2 games
• 1913 - William Knox, becomes 1st in American Bowling Congress to bowl 300
• 1914 - Suffragettes in London damages painter Rokeby's Venus of Velasquez
• 1915 - British expedition Army in Belgium captures Neuve Chapelle
• 1920 - NHL's Quebec Bulldog Jim Malone scores 6 goals vs Ottawa Senators
• 1922 - KLZ-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions
• 1922 - state of siege proclaimed during mine strike Johannesburg S Africa
• 1925 - Walter Mittelholzer is 1st to flies over Demawend mountain, Iran
• 1926 - Run on Belgian banks
• 1927 - Albania mobilize by threat of Serbian, Croatian & Slovenes
• 1927 - Bavaria lifts ban on Hitler's speeches
• 1931 - British Labour party removes fascist sir Oswald Mosley
• 1933 - Major earthquake in Long Beach, Calif
• 1933 - Nevada becomes 1st US state to regulate narcotics
• 1934 - Longest undefeated streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (18 games)
• 1934 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Suzanne Davis
• 1934 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner
• 1939 - 17 villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad India
• 1940 - 1st US opera telecast, W2XBS, NYC, I Pagliacci
• 1941 - Lee MacPhail, Dodger GM predicts all players will wear batting helmets
• 1945 - Germany blows-up Wessel Bridge on Rhine
• 1945 - Japan declares Vietnam Independence
• 1945 - Patton's 3rd Army makes contact with Hodge's 1st Army
• 1945 - Tokyo in fire after night time B-29 bombing
• 1945 - US troops lands on Mindanao
• 1946 - Train derailment kills 185 near Aracaju Brazil
• 1948 - 1st civilian to exceed speed of sound-Herb H Hoover, Edwards AFB Ca
• 1949 - Detroit Tiger pitcher Art Houtteman is critically injured in an auto accident but recovers to win 15 games in 1949
• 1951 - "Where's Charley?" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 56 perfs
• 1951 - FBI director J Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner
• 1952 - Military coup by general Fulgencio Batista in Cuba
• 1956 - General strike in Cyprus protesting exile of archbishop Makarios
• 1956 - Peter Twiss sets new world air record 1,132 mph (1,823 kph)
• 1957 - Thousands of soccer fans riot in Italy
• 1959 - Dorothy Comiskey Rigney, sells 54% of White Sox to Bill Veeck
• 1959 - Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth," premieres in NYC
• 1959 - Uprising against Chinese occupation force in Lhasa Tibet
• 1960 - USSR agrees to stop nuclear testing
• 1962 - Due to it's no black policy, Phillies leave Jack Tar Harrison Hotel & move to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles outside Clearwater, Florida
• 1963 - Pete Rose debuts with hits in his 2 1st at bats in spring training
• 1963 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA SF Warriors scores 70 points vs Syracuse
• 1964 - US reconnaissance plane shot down over East Germany
• 1965 - Dutch Princess Margriet & Pieter van Vollenhoven, get engaged
• 1966 - 5 time Horse of the Year, Kelso, retires
• 1966 - Dutch crown princess Beatrix marries Claus von Amsberg
• 1966 - North Vietnamese capture US Green Beret Camp at Ashau Valley
• 1968 - Ferry boat sinks in harbor of Wellington NZ (200 killed)
• 1969 - James Earl Ray pleads guilty in murder of Martin Luther King Jr
• 1970 - Barbra Streisand records "The Singer" & "I Can Do It"
• 1970 - South Africa complete 4-0 series drubbing of Australia
• 1971 - Senate approves amendment lowering voting age to 18
• 1972 - 1st black US political convention opens (Gary Indiana)
• 1972 - Gen Lon Nol becomes pres & prince Sirik Matak premier of Cambodia
• 1972 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1973 - BPAA US Open by Mike McGrath
• 1973 - Morocco adopts constitution
• 1974 - "Sextet" closes at Bijou Theater NYC after 9 performances
• 1974 - Carol Mann wins LPGA S&H Green Stamp Golf Classic
• 1974 - Christian Democrats win Belgium parliamentary election
• 1974 - Lawrence Rowe completes 302 v Eng Bridgetown, 36 fours 1 six
• 1975 - "Rocky Horror Show" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 45 performances
• 1975 - Dog spectacles patented in England
• 1977 - Rings of Uranus discovered during occulation of SAO
• 1978 - Soyuz 28 returns to Earth
• 1980 - Willard Scott becomes the weather forcaster on the Today Show
• 1982 - Pres Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya
• 1982 - Salim Malik scores 100 in 2nd inning of Test Cricket debut (v SL)
• 1982 - Sygyzy: all 9 planets aligned on same side of Sun
• 1982 - Travis Jackson & Happy Chandler elected to Hall of Fame
• 1983 - Walter Alston, Dodgers manager, elected to Hall of Fame
• 1984 - Heavyweight Tim Witherspoon KOs Greg Page
• 1985 - Bonnie Lauer wins Uniden LPGA Golf Invitational
• 1985 - Dallas Maverick coach Dick Motta is 4th NBA coach to win 700 games
• 1985 - French socialists lose election (National Front 9%)
• 1985 - Ice Pairs Championship at Tokyo won by Elena Valova & O Vasiliev (URS)
• 1985 - India beat Pakistan to win "World Championship of Cricket"
• 1985 - Mens Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo won by Alexandr Fadeev (URS)
• 1986 - Ernie Lombardi, NL MVP in 1938, & Bobby Doerr, elected to Hall of Fame
• 1987 - Vatican formal opposition to test-tube fertilization & embryo transfer
• 1988 - Avalanche at Swiss Ski resort "Klosters" nearly kills Prince Charles
• 1988 - NY Islanders celebrate Mike Bossy night
• 1990 - 4th American Comedy Award: When Harry Met Sally
• 1990 - Ice Dance Championship at Halifax won by Klimova & Ponomarenko (URS)
• 1990 - Ice Pairs Championship at Halifax won by Gordeeva & Grinkov (URS)
• 1990 - Ladies Figure Skating Champions in Halifax won by Jill Trenary (USA)
• 1990 - Lt Gen Avril resigns as pres of Haiti
• 1990 - Mens Figure Skating Championship in Halifax won by Kurt Browning (CAN)
• 1990 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1991 - Eddie Sutton is 1st NCAA coach to lead 4 schools into playoffs
• 1991 - Laura Davies wins LPGA Inamori Golf Classic
• 1991 - Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg clinches his 4th slalom World Cup
• 1991 - Merlene Ottey runs world record 200 m indoor (22.24 sec)
• 1991 - Rico Lieder/Jens Carlowitz/Karsten Just/Thomas Sch”nlebe walk 4x400m indoor world record (3:03.05)
• 1992 - 6th Soul Train Music Awards: Natalie Cole & Color Me Badd win
• 1992 - Sandra Seuser/Katrin Schreiter/Annet Hesselbarth/Grit Breuer walk female indoor world record 4x400m (3:27.22)
• 1994 - 1 million Greeks attend Melina Mercouri's funeral
• 1995 - Car bomb explodes in Karachi at shite mosque, 17+ killed
• 1995 - Chiel Meijering's "St Louis Blues," premieres in Arnhem
• 1995 - Dow-Jones hits record 4035.64
• 1996 - 22nd People's Choice Awards: Apollo 13, Tom Hanks wins
• 1996 - NYC Mayor Guiliani visits Israel
• 1998 - 4th Blockbuster Entertainment Awards