Historical Events
1852 – Uncle Sam cartoon figure made its debut in the New York Lantern weekly
1888 – Great Blizzard of 1888 rages across the east coast of the USA and Canada
1918 – Leon Trotsky gains control of the Red Army
1949 – US Ladies’ Figure Skating championship won by Yvonne C Sherman
1954 – Viet Minh General Võ Nguyên Giáp opens the assault on French forces at Dien Bien Phu, northwest Vietnam
2018 – National Geographic magazine admits its past coverage was racist in issue to mark 50 years since death of Martin Luther King Jr.
Famous Birthdays
1822 – Moritz von Strachwitz, German poet, born in Peterwitz, Silesia (d. 1847)
1959 – Kathy Hilton, American socialite-Hilton Hotels, mother of Nikki Hilton and Paris Hilton, born in NYC, New York
1960 – Yuri Andrukhovych, Ukrainian writer, poet and political essayist, born in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
1970 – Michael Arrington, American founder of blog TechCrunch, born in Orange, California
1979 – Cedric Van Branteghem, Belgian athlete, born in Ghent, Belgium
1981 – Stephen Maguire, Scottish snooker player, born in Glasgow, Scotland
Famous Deaths
1569 – Louis, Prince of Condé (1530-69), dies in Battle of Jarnac at 39
1778 – Charles le Beau, French historian (b. 1701)
1879 – Adolf Anderssen, German world chess champion (1851-66), dies at 60
1976 – Willy Alfredo [Willem Jue], Dutch comedian/poet, dies at 77
1994 – Sandra Paretti, German romantic novelist, dies at 59
2001 – Cranley Onslow, British politician (C, dies at 74