1513: At the Battle of Guinegate (aka Battle of the Spurs), King Henry VIII of England defeats French forces who are forced to retreat.
1920: Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit in the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. To date, Chapman is the only player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game. At the time, during baseball's "dead ball era" the same ball would be used throughout the game an it was considered the pitcher's duty to spit on it, scuff it up and even stick foreign objects into it. As a result, by the time the fifth inning rolled around, the ball looked like a potato you find at the back of the cabinet under the sink. Chapman's death brought about a rule that the ball must be replaced if it gets dirty and contributed to the end of the dead ball era.
1924: Fess Parker is born. He is best known for playing Davey Crockett (king of the wild frontier) in the old TV show.1930: The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks (or maybe Flip the Frog), is made by Ub Iwerks.
1930: Robert Culp is born.
1930: Frank Gifford is born.1933: Julie Newmar, aka Catwoman, is born.
1942: The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crash-lands in Daly City, California.1946: Lesley Ann Warren is born.
1950: Marshall Maneesh is born. He played the wicked Middle-Eastern stereotype in True Lies.
1952: Reginald Vel Johnson is born. He played the cop who befriends Bruce Willis in Die Hard.
1953: Kathy Lee Gifford is born. Hey, she and Frank have the same birthday! Just 23 years apart.
1953: J.T. Taylor, singer for Kool & The Gang, is born.
1958: Angela Bassett is born.
1958: Madonna is born.
1960: Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet, setting three records that still stand today: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and fastest speed by a human without an aircraft.
1962: Pete Best is replaced by Ringo Starr as the drummer for The Beatles.
1962: Steve Carell is born.
1966: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.1977: Elvis Presley dies under mysterious circumstances. Well, it was a heart attack on the toilet caused by way too many drugs and fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, but the Presley estate doesn't like to talk about it. Let's just remember the virile young Elvis who made women swoon and censors sweat.
Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.
