Historical Events
1724 – Spanish King Philip V abdicates throne
1813 – Gideon Hawley becomes 1st state school superintendent in US (NY)
1945 – In Greece, Communists and the British agree to a cease-fire in the struggle to control Athens (and with it Greece)
1976 – “The Bionic Woman” with Lindsay Wagner debuts on ABC (later NBC)
2008 – MESSENGER spacecraft performs a Mercury flyby
2019 – Americans chance of dying from an accidental opioid overdose higher than a car accident for the first time, according to US National Safety Council
Famous Birthdays
1722 – Friedrich Gottlob Fleischer, German organist and composer, born in Köthen, Germany (d. 1806)
1863 – Pieter Oosterlee, Dutch educator, born in Valkenburg, Netherlands (d. 1930)
1931 – Caterina Valente, Italian singer, dancer, and actress (Bon soir, Kathrin!, The Entertainers), born in Paris, France
1957 – Anchee Min, Chinese writer, born in Shanghai, China
1980 – Ossama Haidar, Lebanese soccer player
1990 – Grant Gustin, American actor and singer (The Flash), born in Norfolk, Virginia
Famous Deaths
1872 – Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye-Terrier who spent 14 years guarding the grave of his owner John Gray, dies at 16
1937 – Jaishankar Prasad, Hindi poet, dramatist and novelist, dies at 47
1970 – William Feller, Croatian mathematician (b. 1906)
1987 – Douglas Sirk, German American film director (All That Heaven Allows), dies at 86
1996 – Pamelo Mounk’a, Congolese musician, dies at 50
2006 – Henri Colpi, French New Wave film editor and director, dies at 84