EVENTS:
- 1844 – The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers commences business at its cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement.
- 1861 – Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
- 1913 – Arthur Wynne’s “word-cross”, the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.
- 1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world’s first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre.
- 1946 – An 8.1 Mw earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Nankaidō, Japan, kills over 1,300 people and destroys over 38,000 homes.
- 1951 – Libya becomes an independent country.
- 1962 – Rondane National Park is established as Norway’s first national park.
- 1994 – Mexican volcano Popocatépetl, dormant for 47 years, erupts gases and ash.
- 1988 – A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.
- 1992 – A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport, killing 56.
- 2004 – Iraq War: A suicide bomber killed 22 at the forward operating base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers.
BIRTHS:
- 1850 – William Wallace Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1862)
- 1890 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
- 1917 – Heinrich Böll, German soldier and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- 1926 – Joe Paterno, American football player and coach (d. 2012)
- 1932 – U. R. Ananthamurthy, Indian author, poet, and critic (d. 2014)
- 1944 – Bill Atkinson, English footballer and referee (d. 2013)
- 1951 – Steve Perryman, English footballer and manager
- 1960 – Tim Rucks, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1963 – Govinda, Indian actor, singer, and politician
- 1964 – Rob Kelly, English footballer and manager
- 1972 – Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Indian journalist and politician
- 1973 – Mike Alstott, American football player
- 1981 – Sajid Mahmood, English cricketer
- 1984 – Andrea Jeremiah, Indian actress and singer
- 1987 – Brad Howard, Australian footballer
- 1989 – Mark Ingram, Jr., American football player
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
