| 2003 |
American musician, Nina Simone, died at the age of 70 at Carry-le-Rouet., in the South of France, where she had settled the last 10 years of her life. |
| 1985 |
Formula 1 race driver, Ayrton Senna, won his first Formula One championship race at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril. He won 41 races before his death cut short his career. |
| 1977 |
American comedian, Gummo Marx, died at the age of 85 in in Palm Springs, California. He was part of the Marx Brothers group, which marked the stage with its unique comedy style during the first half of the 20th century. |
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| 1967 |
Colonel George Papadopoulos led a coup d'etat, establishing a military regime in Greece, that lasted for seven years. |
| 1960 |
The city of Brasilia, officially became the capital of Brazil. |
| 1958 |
American actress, Andie MacDowell, was born in Gaffney, South Carolina. She was a top model before becoming an actress. In her first movie appearance in "Greystoke, The legend of tarzan", her lines were voiced over by actress Glenn Close. |
| 1944 |
Women in France received voting rights for the first time. |
| 1935 |
American actor, Charles Grodin, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He did not start acting till his 35th year of age and is one of the few actors to have been banned from the famed comedy show "Saturday Night Live", due to his poor performance in an episode of the show. |
| 1918 |
German airplane pilot, Manfred von Richthofen, died during an aerial engagement of the First World War. He was nicknamed "The Red Baron" and is considered to this day as of the greatest fighter pilots of all time. |
| 1915 |
Mexican-born actor, Anthony Quinn, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. He had dropped out of school and was a prize fighter and painter before becoming an actor. He portrayed more different ethnicities in his various characters than any other actor in history. |
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| 1910 |
American author, Mark Twain, died at the age of 75. His actual name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, and is one of the most read authors of all time, having written such literary classics as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". |
| 1816 |
English author, Charlotte Bronte, was born in Yorkshire, England. She was the author of one of the most famous novels of all time, Jane Eyre, which she had published under the pseudonym Currer Bell. |
| 1729 |
Empress Catherine II of Russia was born in Germany. She is known in history as Catherine the Great, having been one of the greatest and most influential leaders in Russia's history. |
| 753 |
The city of Rome was founded by Romulus. |