A simple list of what I consider to be the most interesting events, births and deaths on this day in history. If you feel I have missed out anything spectactularly important please tell me in a comment on this post.
Events:
98 - Trajan becomes Roman emperor.
1343 - Pope Clement VI issues the Bull Unigenitus.
1606 - The trial of Guy Fawkes and the other surviving Gunpowder plotters begins.
1785 - The first public university in the United States, the University of Georgia, is founded.
1939 - The first flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
1944 - The two year siege of Leningrad is lifted.
1945 - The first troops from the Red Army arrive at the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp - Today is International Holocaust Rememberance Day.
1967 - Spacecraft Apollo 1 catches fire during pre-launch tests. The three astronauts, Virgil 'Gus' Grisson, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are all killed before they can open the command module hatch.
1967 - Over 60 nations sign the Outer Space Treaty, which bans the use of nuclear weapons in space.
1973 - The Vietnam War officially ends and the last recorded American casualty of that war, Colonel William Nolde, dies.
Births:
1756 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - composer.
1832 - Lewis Carroll - writer.
1850 - Edward Smith - Captain of the Titanic upon sinking. He shares his name with another Edward Smith who was the youngest VC recipient of WWI. He also got the DCM during that conflict and died in action (possibly friendly fire) in 1940.
1859 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany - Kaiser who led Germany during the First World War.
1933 - Mohammd Al-Fayed - Businessman, whose son died in the infamous car crash with Diana, Princess of Wales in Paris, 1997.
1980 - Marat Safin - tennis player.
Deaths:
1901 - Giuseppi Verdi - composer.
1967 - Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee - astronauts (see above).
1973 - William Nolde - last American casualty of Vietnam War (see above).
