Historical Events
1867 – Work begins on the covering of the Senne, burying Brussels’s primary river and creating the modern central boulevards
1881 – The feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is first published in Paris by activist Hubertine Auclert
1934 – Soviet steamship SS Chelyuskin sinks in the Arctic Ocean after being crushed by ice packs near Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea
1979 – Formation of Guardian Angels crime fighters in New York City
1990 – 50 killed at Inkatha-UDF battle in Natal, South Africa
Famous Birthdays
1879 – Sarojini Naidu, Indian freedom fighter and poet, born in Hyperbad, India (d. 1949)
1909 – M. Vasalis [Margaretha Droogleever Fortuyn-Leenmans], Dutch poet (Phoenix), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1998)
1910 – William Shockley, American physicist who helped invent the transistor (1956 Nobel), who was also known for his racist eugenics views, born in London, England (d. 1989)
1912 – Margaretta Scott, British actress (Crescendo, Where’s Charley, Counterblast), born in Westminster, London (d. 2005)
1970 – Ruben Brown, American football guard (9 × Pro Bowl; Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears), born in Englewood, New Jersey
Famous Deaths
1130 – Honorius II [Lamberto], Pope (1124-30), dies
1897 – Joseph O. Shelby, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 66
1958 – Dame Christabel Pankhurst, a leading suffragette (English) “Queen of the mob” (b.1880)
1991 – Ron Pickering, British athletics coach (GB 1964 Summer Olympics) and broadcaster (BBC), dies after a heart bypass operation at 60
2025 – Jim Guy Tucker, American attorney, businessman, and politician (Governor of Arkansas, 1992-96; US Representative form Arkansas, 1977-79), convicted of conspiracy and mail fraud in Whitewater Scandal (1996), dies of complications of colitis at 81