This Date In History
1000
Leif Ericsson lands in Vinland, becoming the first European to reach North America.
Pope Clement II dies.
Prominent church leader Roger Williams is banished from Maryland for arguing for separation of church and state.
Yale University is founded in Connecticut, though known at the time as the "Collegiate School of Connecticut."
King Charles X of France is born.
American astronomer and mathematician Benjamin Banneker dies.
Famous Italian composer Guiseppe Verdi ("La Traviata", "Aida") is born.
Camille Saint-Saens, French composer most famous for his "Danse Macabre" symphonic poem and his "Carnival of the Animals" (used in Disney's Fantasia), is born.
Alfred Dreyfus, whose arrest and conviction led to The Dreyfus Affair in the midst of World War I, is born.
The Great Chicago Fire is finally brought under control.
Entrepreneur and founder of Walgreen's Pharmacy Charles Walgreen is born.
The Washington Monument is opened to the public.
Aimee Semple McPherson, evangelist and subject of a famous kidnapping that may or may not have occurred, is born.
The Cincinnati Reds clinch the World Series over the Chicago White Sox. A month later, eight players from the White Sox are banned from baseball for allegedly taking money to throw the series.
Actor Fyvush Finkel ("Picket Fences") is born.
Actor Brian Blessed (I, Claudius, Blackadder) is born.
Legendary and tragic member of The Beatles John Lennon is born. St. Paul's Cathedral is struck by a bomb during the London blitz by Germany.
U.S. Senator and former Majority LeaderTrent Lott is born.
Bassist for The Who John Entwistle is born. Reggae icon Peter Tosh is born.
Member of The Eagles and successful singer/songwriter Jackson Browne is born.
Actor Robert Wuhl (Batman, "Arliss") is born.
Sharon Osbourne, charismatic matriarch of "The Osbournes" fame, is born.
Award-winning actor Tony Shalhoub ("Monk", "Wings") is born.
Actor Scott Bakula ("Quantum Leap", "Enterprise") is born.
Pope Pius XII dies. Hall of Fame Chicago Bear linebacker Mike Singletary is born.
Motley Crue drummer and unwilling porn star Tommy Lee is born.
The Vaiont Dam in southern Italy breaks, killing 2,000 people in the aftermath.
The Rolling Stones, at Gram Parsons' beckoning, refuse to play South Africa as part of an anti-apartheid rally by musicians and artists.
Communist rebel Che Guevara is captured and executed in Argentinia.
Indie balladeer P.J. Harvey is born.
Golfer Annika Sorenstam is born. The Khmer Rouge begins its terrible reign over Cambodia.
Oskar Schindler, the businessman who helped thousands of Jews escape Nazi Germany, dies.
Cibo Matto co-founder Sean Lennon (son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono) is born, on his father's 35th birthday.
Famed Belgian composer and author Jacques Brel dies.
The hijackers of the Achille Lauro surrender to authorities in Egypt.
Clare Booth Luce, wife of Time magazine founder Henry Luce and a Congresswoman, editor, and philanthropist in her own right, dies.
One-time British Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home dies.