1648 - The Larger and the Shorter Catechisms -- both prepared by the Westminster Assembly the previous year -- were approved by the British Parliament. These two documents have been in regular use among various Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Baptists ever since

1663 - Mgr. de Laval arrives in Quebec City with the colony's first church organ

1821 - The colony of Guatemala, including the present-day nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, declares its independence from Spain

1830 - The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opens. The first railroad to carry both passengers and freight

1830 - First person to be run-over by a railroad train - William Huskisson, England

1884 - Frederick Charles Denison 1846-1896 sails for Egypt with 386 Canadian Voyageurs to help Lord Kitchener ascend the Nile, mount a resistance to Sudan revolutionary leader Mahdi, and rescue General Gordon, besieged in Khartoum; Canada's first official participants in an overseas war

1885 - P.T. Barnum's famous circus elephant Jumbo charges and is killed by a Grand Trunk train in the St, Thomas, Ontario railway yard; weighed over 3,900 lbs. and was probably the largest pachyderm ever in captivity

1903 - Alfred Larose made the first fully recorded claim in the Cobalt, Ontario silver camp

1904 - Wilbur Wright makes his first airplane flight

1909 - Charles F. Kettering of Detroit, Michigan, applies for a patent on his automobile ignition system; founded Delco (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company)

1916 - During the Battle of the Somme, the British launch a major offensive against the Germans, employing tanks for the first time in history

1917 - Russia proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky

1938 - Only time brothers hit back-to-back HRs - Lloyd & Paul Waner, Pittsburgh

1949 - Canadian Mohawk actor Jay Silverheels stars as Tonto, with Clayton Moore as the masked hero, in first episode of ABC-TV's The Lone Ranger

1954 - The famous picture of Marilyn Monroe, laughing as her skirt is blown up by the blast from a subway vent, is shot on this day during the filming of The Seven Year Itch. The scene infuriated her husband, Joe DiMaggio, who felt it was exhibitionist. The couple divorced shortly after

1957 - "Bachelor Father" with John Forsythe premiers

1962 - Bobby (Boris) Pickett releases The Monster Mash

1965 - "Lost in Space" premiers

1965 - "I Spy" with Bill Cosby debuts on NBC-TV

1971 - Twelve members of the Vancouver-based Don't Make a Wave Committee found the Greenpeace environmental organization on board a chartered 24 metre halibut seiner, the Phyllis Cormack

1973 - Gladys Knight & The Pips release Midnight Train To Georgia

1978 - American boxer Muhammad Ali becomes the first man to win the world heavyweight title three times when he defeats Leon Spinks, who had taken his title earlier in the year

1980 - David Bowie debuts on Broadway in "The Elephant Man"

1982 - First issue of "USA Today" published by Gannett Co Inc

1984 - Rod Stewart releases Some Guys Have All The Luck

Birthdays

1789 - James Fenimore Cooper, Burlington, N.J - first major American novelist: Prairie, Last of the Mohicans, The Spy, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer
1833 - Alexander Dunn VC, Toronto [York] - soldier: first Canadian winner of the Victoria Cross, for his bravery in the Crimean War
1881 - Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti, Milan - race car builder
1889 - Robert Benchley - author: My 10 Years in a Quandary, Jaws
1890 - Dame Agatha Christie, Torquay England - mystery author: Murder on the Orient Express, The Mousetrap
1894 - Jean Renoir, Paris - film director/actor: Madame Bovary, The Rules of the Game, The Southerner; son of impressionist painter Pierre Auguste Renoir
1903 - Roy Acuff, Maynardville Tennessee - country musician: Hee Haw
1904 - Umberto II - King of Italy
1906 - Penny Singleton, Philadelphia Pa - voice: Jane - Jetsons / actress: Blondie
1907 - Fay Wray, Cardston, Alberta - actress: King Kong, The Wedding March
1921 - Jackie Cooper, LA California - actor/director: Hennesey, People's Choice, Treasure Island
1925 - Forrest Compton, Reading Pa - actor: Gomer Pyle USMC, Edge of Night
1927 - Norm Crosby, Boston Mass - comedian/double talker: Liar's Club
1932 - Harry Sinden - NHL player/coach: Boston Bruins; coached the victorious Team Canada in their 8-game summit with the USSR in 1972
1938 - Gaylord Perry - baseball player: 1972 AL Cy Young winner
1940 - Merlin Olsen, Utah - NFL player: LA Rams / sportscaster / actor: Father Murphy
1941 - Miroslaw Hermaszewski - first Polish space traveler on Soyuz 30
1946 - Oliver Stone, NY City - director: Wall St, Good Morning Vietnam, Platoon
1946 - Tommy Lee Jones, San Saba, Texas - actor: Executioner's Song, Bloody Monday, Men in Black, The Fugitive
1961 - Dan [Daniel Constantine] Marino, Pittsburgh, Pa - NFL player: Miami Dolphins; first quarterback to pass for more than 5,000 yards in a single season

 

 

Prayers

 

A young man visited his sister who was married to a farmer in a poor district of the country. Since there were limited accommodations, he was required to sleep with his young nephew. When the young man came into the bedroom, he saw the little boy kneeling at the side of the bed with his head bowed.
 
Thinking this was the child's religious upbringing, he decided to present a good example and kneeled at the other side of the bed with his head bowed.
 
The child looked up and said, "Whatcha doin'?"
 
"Why, the same thing you're doing", replied the uncle.
 
"Ma's gonna be mad", said the boy. "The pot's on this side".