EVENTS:
- 1718 – War of the Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain declares war on Spain.
- 1777 – American Revolution: France formally recognizes the United States.
- 1903 – The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
- 1927 – Indian revolutionary Rajendra Lahiri is hanged in Gonda jail, Uttar Pradesh, India, two days before the scheduled date.
- 1928 – Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru assassinate British police officer James Saunders in Lahore, Punjab, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police. The three were executed in 1931.
- 1973 – Thirty passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport.
- 2003 – SpaceShipOne, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first powered and first supersonic flight.
- 2005 – Anti-World Trade Organization protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
- 2014 – The United States and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations after severing them 55 years ago.
BIRTHS:
- 1556 – Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, Pakistani-Indian poet (d. 1627)
- 1881 – Aubrey Faulkner, South African-English cricketer and coach (d. 1930)
- 1905 – Mohammad Hidayatullah, Indian lawyer, judge, and politician, 6th Vice President of India (d. 1992)
- 1908 – Willard Libby, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
- 1932 – John Bond, English footballer and manager (d. 2012)
- 1934 – Ray Wilson, English footballer and manager
- 1935 – Brian Langford, English cricketer (d. 2013)
- 1951 – Pat Hill, American football player and coach
- 1962 – Paul Dobson, English footballer
- 1972 – John Abraham, Indian actor and producer
- 1974 – Charl Langeveldt, South African cricketer
- 1978 – Riteish Deshmukh, Indian actor and producer
- 1979 – Charlotte Edwards, English cricketer
- 1979 – Paul Smith, English footballer
- 1984 – Andrew Davies, English footballer
- 1991 – James Hurst, American football player
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
