^{Portrait of Charlemagne, by Albrecht Dürer}

Today in History

• Ponce de León sights Florida (1513)
• The first United States Mint is established (1792)
• Food shortages inspire riots against the Confederate government in Richmond (1863)
• The first full-time movie theater in the US opens (1902)
• The RMS Titanic begins sea trials (1912)
• ቀዳማዊ ኃይለ ሥላሴ (Haile Selassie) becomes emperor of Ethiopia (1930)
• As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premier on CBS (1956)
• Construction begins on the CN Tower in Toronto, which becomes the world’s tallest free-standing structure (1975)
• Children’s network Nickelodeon premiers (1979)
• Argentina invades the Falklands (1982)

Birthdays

• Charlemagne, emperor (either 742, 747, or 748)
• Giacomo Casanova, adventurer and womanizer (1725)
• Hans Christian Andersen, fairy tale author (1805)
• Erastus Bigelow, weaving machine inventor (1814)
• William Holman Hunt, painter (1827)
• Émile Zola, author (1840)
• Clément Ader, aircraft designer and inventor (1841)
• Nicholas Murray Butler, Nobel Prize for Peace winner (1862)
• Eugen Sandow, “father of modern bodybuilding (1867)
• Hughie Jennings, baseball player and manager (1869)
• Walter Chrysler, car manufacturer (1875)
• Jack Buchanan, actor, singer, producer, director (1891)
• Max Ernst, surrealist (1891)
• Buddy Ebsen, actor and dancer (1908)
• Alec Guinness, actor (1914)
• Dabbs Greer, actor (1917)
• Lou Monte, novelty recording artist (1917)
• Jack Stokes, animation director (1920)
• Jack Webb, actor, director, screenwriter, producer (1920)
• Gloria Henry, actress (1923)
• George MacDonald Fraser, author (1925)
• Carmen Basilio, boxer,
• Kenneth Tynan, critic (1927)
• Carl Kassell, NPR journalist and judge of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! (1934)
• Dick Radatz, baseball player (1937)
• Al Weis, baseball player (1938)
• Marvin Gaye, singer-songwriter (1939)
• Penelope Keith, actress (1940)
• Dr. Demento, radio host (1941)
• Leon Russell, singer-songwriter (1942)
• 坂井 宏行 (Hiroyuki Sakai), “King of the Iron Chefs” (1942)
• Linda Hunt, actress (1945)
• Reggie Smith, baseball player (1945)
• Don Sutton, baseball player (1945)
• Emmylou Harris, singer-songwriter
• Camille Paglia, author and critic (1947)
• Joan D. Vinge, science fiction author (1948)
• Ron Palillo, actor (1949)
• Pamela Reed, actress (1949)
• 岡本 綾子 (Ayato Okamoto), golfer (1951)
• Debralee Scott, actress (1953)
• Larry Drew, basketball player and coach (1958)
• Christopher Meloni, actor (1961)
• Billy Dean, country singer-songwriter (1962)
• Clark Gregg, actor, director, and screenwriter (1962)
• Shane and Sia Barbi, twin models (1963)
• Pete Incaviglia, baseball player (1964)
• Jonathan Sharkey, wrestler (1964)
• Rodney King, police brutality victim (1965)
• Adam Rodríguez, actor (1975)
• Jaime Ray Newman, actress (1978)
• Jeremy Bloom, skier (1982)
• Jesse Plemons, actor (1968)

Deaths

• Philip Charles Durham, admiral (1845)
• A. P. Hill, Confederate general (1865)
• Samuel Morse, code developer (1872)
• Esther Hobart Morris, first female Justice of the Peace in the US (1902)
• Paul Heyse, won the Nobel Prize for Literature (1914)
• Theodore Richards, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1928)
• Hugo Sperrle, Luftwaffe field marshal (1953)
• 戸田 城聖 (Jōsei Toda), leader of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism (1958)
• C. S. Forester, author (1966)
• Franz Halder, German general and diarist (1972)
• Gil Hodges, baseball player and manager (1972)
• Georges Pompidou, French president (1974)
• Buddy Rich, drummer (1987)
• Betty Furness, actress (1994)
• Harvey Penick, golfer and coach (1995)
• Hannes Alfvén, won the Nobel Prize in Physics (1995)
• Rob Pilatus, Milli Vanilli “singer” (1998)
• John R. Pierce, engineer and science fiction writer (2002)
• Edwin Starr, singer-songwriter (2003)
• John Paul II, pontiff (2005)
• Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, conspirator spoiuse (2006)
• Paul Reed, actor (2007)
• Mike Cuellar, baseball player (2010)
• Elizabeth Catlett, sculptor (2012)
• Chuck Fairbanks, football coach (2013)
• Jesús Franco, director, writer, actor (2013)
• Jane Henson, puppeteer and voice actress (2013)
• Milo O’Shea, actor (2013)

Holidays and Celebrations