On this day in history —

• Rome defeats Carthage in the Battle of the Aegates Islands (241 BCE)
• Charles I dissolves Parliament, beginning the “Personal Rule” (1629 CE)
• The French Foreign Legion is founded (1831 CE)
• The Mexican-American War ends with the ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848 CE)
• Alexander Graham Bell makes the first two-way clear speech telephone call, saying “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” (1876 CE)
• The Courrières Mine Disaster, the worst mining accident in European history (and the second-worst in world history), kills 1,100 miners, including numerous children (1906 CE)
• Gandhi is arrested for sedition by British authorities in India (1922 CE)
• Fulgencio Batista becomes President of Cuba (1952 CE)
• The Tibetan Uprising begins (1959 CE)
• James Earl Ray confesses to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1969 CE)
• The rings around Uranus are discovered, giving rise to innumerable grade school jokes (1977 CE)
• The Scarsdale Diet Doctor is murdered (1980 CE)
• The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reaches the Red Planet (2006 CE)

It’s the birthday of —

• Carrie Underwood, country singer (1983)
• Danny Pudi, “Abed” on Community (1979)
• Shannon Miller, Olympic gymnast (1977)
• Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter (1974)
• Eva Herzigová, supermodel (1973)
• Jon Hamm, mad man (1971)
• Edie Brickell, singer (1966)
• Neneh Cherry, singer (1964)
• Laurel Clark, Space Shuttle Columbia astronaut (1961)
• Bobby Petrino, football coach (1961)
• Mitch Gaylord, gymnast (1961)
• Sharon Stone, actress (1958)
• Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida leader (1957)
• Johanna Lindsey, romance novelist (1952)
• Chuck Norris, Internet meme (1940)
• James Earl Ray, assassin (who confessed on his birthday) (1928)
• Günther Rall, third most successful fighter ace in history (1918)
• Bix Beiderbecke, young man with a horn (1903)
• Barry Fitzgerald, actor (1888)

Deaths —

• Cory Haim, lost boy (2010)
• Lloyd Bridges, actor (1998)
• LaVerne Baker, singer (1997)
• Andy Gibb, teen idol (1988)
• Konstantin Chernenko (Константин Черненк), Soviet premier (1985)
• Ray Milland, actor (1984)
• E. Power Biggs, organist (1977)
• Bull Connor, bigot (1973)
• Zelda Fitzgerald, flapper (1948)
• Jan Masaryk, diplomat (1948)
• Mikhail Bulgakov (Михаи́л Булга́ков), novelist and playwright (1940)
• Harriet Tubman, abolitionist (1913)
• Jack Slade, archetype of the Western gunslinger (1864)

Holidays —

• Hote Matsuri (Sail-Cord Festival), Shiogama Shrine, Japan
• Tibetan Uprising Day (Tibet)
• Feast of Pope Simplicius (Catholicism)