1941 – US and Britain declare war on Japan, US enters World War II
1955 – Black Ealing comedy “The Ladykillers”, directed by Alexander Mackendrick and starring Alec Guinness is released in the UK
1961 – Larry Costello scores 32 consecutive pts without a miss (NBA rec)
1970 – Head of the Catholic Church in Ireland Cardinal William Conway publishes a pamphlet on the topic of segregation in education in Northern Ireland
1973 – Romanian tennis star Ilie Năstase wins his 3rd consecutive season-ending ATP Masters Grand Prix title with a 6–3, 7–5, 4–6, 6–3 win over Dutchman Tom Okker in Boston, Massachusetts
1978 – Commencement of the 1st day/night World Series Cricket supertest at VFL Park, Melbourne
1982 – “Herman Van Veen: All of Him” opens at Ambassador NYC for 6 performances
1987 – US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles
1992 – Spacecraft Galileo makes its second and closest flyby of Earth at a minimum distance of 305 km for a gravity assist on its way to Jupiter
2019 – Vienna State Opera stages its first show by a female composer in 150 years – Olga Neuwirth’s opera, “Orlando”