Today in History

• Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet reaches the Pacific Ocean (1520)
• William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway get a marriage license (1582)
• The Times of London becomes the first newspaper printed on steam-powered presses, beginning the mass availability of newspapers (1814)
• New Zealand becomes the first country in which women vote in a national election (1893)
• Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater (1907)
• Lady Astor becomes the first woman to sit in the House of Commons (1919)
• The Grand Ole Opry begins broadcasting (1925)
• FDR, Churchill, and Stalin meet in Tehran (1943)

Birthdays

• John Bunyan, progressive pilgrim (1628)
• William Blake, poet and painter (1757)
• Friedrich Engels, political philosopher (1820)
• Nancy Mitford, writer (1904)
• Claude Lévi-Strauss, anthropologist (1908)
• Berry Gordy Jr., Motown founder (1929)
• Hope Lange, actress (1933)
• Gary Hart, politician (1936)
• Manolo Blahnik, shoe designer (1942)
• Randy Newman, singer-songwriter (1943)
• Rita Mae Brown, lesbian author (1944)
• Alexander Godunov, actor and dancer (1949)
• Paul Shaffer, bandleader (1949)
• Ed Harris, actor (1950)
• Judd Nelson, actor (1959)
• Jon Stewart, comedian and newscaster (1962)
• Anna Nicole Smith, reality star (1969)
• Chamillionaire, rapper (1979)

Deaths

• 松尾 芭蕉 (Matsuo Bashō), poet (1694)
• Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian-American general (1794)
• Washington Irving, author (1859)
• James Naismith, creator of basketball (1939)
• Enrico Fermi, physicist (1954)
• Richard Wright, author (1960)
• Rosalind Russell, actress (1976)
• Garry Moore, game show host (1993)
• Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer (1994)
• Jerry Rubin, yippie (1994)
• Leslie Nielsen, actor (2010)
• Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker (2012)

Holidays and Celebrations