Historical Events
1913 – Great Dayton Flood: winter rains cause Great Miami River to flood, Ohio’s greatest natural disaster
1947 – Coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois kills 111
1971 – James Callaghan speaks at a rally of the Northern Ireland labour movement, but rejects calls for the Labour Party to open membership to those living in N. Ireland
1979 – Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova retains her WTA Tour Championship with a 6–3, 3–6, 6–2 win over American teenager Tracey Austin in NYC
2006 – Capitol Hill massacre: A gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood
2013 – Golfer Tiger Woods returns to his world number one ranking
Famous Birthdays
1820 – Xavier de Merode, Earl of Merode, Belgian minister to Pope in Rome (d. 1874)
1886 – Athenagoras, Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 1972)
1906 – A.J.P Taylor [Alan John Percival], English historian (The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1848–1918, Origins of the Second World War), born in Southport, England (d. 1990)
1908 – David Lean, English director (Doctor Zhivago, Ryan’s Daughter), born in Croydon, England
1937 – Tom Monaghan, American founder of Dominos pizza, born in Ann Arbor, Michigan
1967 – Doug Stanhope, American comedian
Famous Deaths
1766 – Johannes Ritschel, German composer, dies at 26
1873 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter (b. 1810)
1880 – Ludmilla Assing, German writer, dies at 59
1937 – John Drinkwater, English poet and playwright (Bird in Hand), dies at 54
2001 – Brian Trubshaw, British test pilot, first to fly Concorde. dies at 77
2019 – Cal Ramsey, American basketball broadcaster, small forward (NY Knicks), dies of cardiac arrest at 81