Historical Events
- 1770 British explorer Captain James Cook first sights Australia. Writes in his log book that “what we have as yet seen of this land appears rather low, and not very hilly, the face of the Country green and Woody, but the Sea shore is all a white Sand.”
- 1775 American Revolution begins in Lexington, Massachusetts, with the "Shot Heard Round the World" fired later that day in Concord
- 1995 Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh sets a truck bomb at Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168. including 19 children, and injuring 500
- 2011 Fidel Castro resigns his position of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba after 45 years in power [1]
- Historical Events Today Events in 2024
Today in Film & TV
- 1934 Shirley Temple appears in her 1st feature length film, "Stand Up & Cheer"
Today in Music
- 1963 Johnny Cash releases single "Ring of Fire" written by his future wife June Carter and Merle Kilgore
Today in Sport
- 1897 1st Boston Marathon (B.A.A. Road Race), won by John J. McDermott in 2:55:10; the world's oldest annual marathon inspired by success of the first marathon at the 1896 Summer Olympics
Did You Know?
Bicycle Day - Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann deliberately takes LSD for the first time
Famous Birthdays
- Roger Sherman
1721 - 1793 - Getulio Vargas
1883 - 1954 - Fernando Botero
1932 - 2023 - Ali Hosseini Khamenei
85th Birthday - Mukesh Ambani
67th Birthday
Celebrity Birthdays
- Jayne Mansfield
1933 - 1967 - Dudley Moore
1935 - 2002 - Al Unser Jr.
62nd Birthday - Kate Hudson
45th Birthday - Hayden Christensen
43rd Birthday - Maria Sharapova
37th Birthday
Fun Fact About Today
The Beatles sign a contract agreeing to stay together for 10 years (they don't)
Famous Weddings
- 1941 Youngest Mitford sister Deborah Mitford marries Andrew Cavendish, son of the Duke of Devonshire in London
- 1956 American film actress Grace Kelly (26) weds Monaco's Prince Rainier III (33) in a religious ceremony at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Monaco-Ville, Monaco
- 1997 Actor Chris O'Donnell (26) weds high school sweetheart Caroline Fentress (24)