Historical Events
1798 – Dutch emperor accepts new Constitution
1919 – US Major League Baseball opens a reduced 140-game season
1959 – 1st heliport in Britain opens in London
1967 – Soyuz 1 launched; Vladimir Komarov becomes 1st in-flight casualty
1969 – ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Jim Chestney
1997 – 32nd Academy of Country Music Awards: Brooks and Dunn, George Strait, and Patty Loveless win
Famous Birthdays
1629 – Jan Commelin, Dutch botanist and director of Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, born in Leiden, Netherlands (d. 1692)
1747 – Abbé Alexandre-Auguste Robineau, French composer and painter, born in Paris (d. 1828)
1908 – Myron Waldman, American animator (Fleischer Studio), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2006)
1948 – Pascal Quignard, French author (Les Ombres), born in Verneuil-sur-Avre, Eure, France
1949 – Joyce DeWitt, American actress (Janet Wood-Three’s Company), born in Wheeling, West Virginia
1988 – Alistair Brownlee, British triathlete (Olympic gold 2012, 16), born in Dewsbury, England
Famous Deaths
1014 – Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, dies in battle at Clontarf
1728 – Tomas de Torrejon y Velasco, Spanish composer based in Peru, dies at 83
1880 – Raden Saleh [Raden Saleh Sjarif Boestaman], Indonesian romantic painter, dies at about 69
1915 – Rupert Brooke, British WW I poet (Lithuania, The Soldier), dies at 27
1929 – Rudolf Nilsen, Norwegian poet (Hverdagen), dies of tuberculosis at 28
2006 – Susan Browning, American actress (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman – “Pat”), dies at 65