1554 - Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez Coronado died without ever finding the fabled cities of gold that he had sought for decades

1598 - British playwright Ben Jonson is indicted for manslaughter after a duel in which he killed an actor

1692 - Last person hanged for witchcraft in US after the famous Salem Witch Trials, where the last 8 "witches" were hanged in Massachusetts

1756 - Nassau Hall opens at Princeton University

1776 - Nathan Hale executed as a spy by the British in NY City

1827 - The angel Moroni reportedly revealed the golden tablets (containing the "Book of Mormon") to Joseph Smith. They were hidden near the family farm, in Palmyra, NY. Smith's English translation of their strange hieroglyphics became the literary foundation for the new Mormon religion

1851 - Province of Canada capital moves in rotation to Quebec City from Toronto

1883 - Grand Trunk Railway acquires the 452 mile Midland Railway to Collingwood, Ontario and points north

1892 - Thetford-Mines, Quebec was incorporated

1911 - Pitcher Cy Young at 44, wins his 511th & final game

1929 - First vehicle traffic across the new Quebec Bridge at Ste-Foy, Quebec

1930 �?Parliament passed the Unemployment Relief Bill

1935 - The last episode of Will Rogers' radio show "Gulf Headliners" airs. Rogers had died in a plane crash several weeks earlier, but the show continued without him

1939 - Federal government sets up censorship bureau under War Measures Act; to examine all political speeches

1949 - USSR detonates its first atomic bomb

1960 - Mali gains independence from France

1961 - Argentinian Antonio Albertondo at 42, completes the first "double" crossing swim of the English Channel in 43 hrs. 10 min

1961 - US President John F. Kennedy signs legislation establishing the Peace Corps

1964 - "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." premiers on NBC-TV

1967 - Montreal's Expo 67 breaks attendance record of 42,973,561 set at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels

1968 - First Player's Grand Prix held at Mont Tremblant Quebec

1975 - Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate US President Ford in San Francisco

1976 - Premier Peter Lougheed opened the new Glenbow Centre in Calgary, housing the Glenbow Museum, Art Gallery, Library, and Archives

1980 - President Saddam Hussein of Iraq launched an invasion of Iran's oil-producing province of Khuzestan to start a war that would last 8 years

1982 - Vancouver actor Michael J. Fox debuts in the NBC comedy, Family Ties

1985 - Canadian performers Neil Young and Joni Mitchell join Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, John Fogerty and John Mellencamp in Champaign Illinois for the first Farm Aid concert

1986 - LA Dodger Fernando Valenzuela becomes the first Mexican to win 20 major league baseball games

1987 - Quintuplets born to Kim and Lauren Forgie of Orleans Ont; Canada's first quints since the Dionnes of 1934

1988 - Royal Canadian Mint starts production of a $5 silver Maple Leaf bullion coin

1990 - Andre Dawson steals his 300th base & is only player other than Willie Mays to have 300 HRs, 300 steals & 2,000 hits

1994 - Ottawa actor Matthew Perry appears in premiere of TV Comedy Friends on NBC-TV

1995 - Opening of first Montreal Chamber Music Festival

 

Birthdays

1694 - Lord Chesterfield - letter writer; introduced Gregorian calendar (1752)
1791 - Michael Faraday, Surrey England - chemist: discovered principle of electric motor
1868 - Louise McKinney [Louise Crummy] Frankville, Ont - women's rights activist: elected to the Alberta Legislature in 1917, as the first women legislator in the British Commonwealth
1885 - Erich von Stroheim - early film director/actor (Grand Illusion)
1895 - Paul Muni - actor: Angel on My Shoulder, Juarez
1901 - Charles B. Huggins, Halifax NS - surgeon, cancer researcher: received (with Michael E. De Bakey) the 1963 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Research and (with Peyton Rous) the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1966
1901 - Allan "Rocky" Lane, Mishawaka Ind - actor: voice of Mr Ed, Red Ryder
1902 - John Houseman [Jacques Haussman] Bucharest Romania - actor: Kingsfield-Paper Chase
1910 - Gyorgy Faludy, Budapest Hungary - poet: lived in Toronto, taught at UofT and Columbia; Love Poems To Her, Dying
1914 - Martha Scott, Jamesport Mo - actress: Dallas, Bionic Woman, Our Town
1920 - Bob Lemon - baseball player/manager: Cleveland Indians)/NY Yankees
1927 - Tom Lasorda, Norristown, Pennsylvania - baseball manager: LA Dodgers
1928 - Eugene Roche - actor: Foul Play, Slaughterhouse Five
1932 - Ingemar Johansson, Sweden - world heavyweight boxing champ (1952)
1936 - Art Metrano, Brooklyn NY - actor: Amy Prentiss, Joanie Loves Chachi
1939 - Junko Tabei, Japan - first woman to climb Mount Everest
1940 - Anna Karina - actress: Alphaville
1949 - David Coverdale - singer: Whitesnake-Here We Go Again
1954 - Shari Belafonte Harper, NY City - actress: Julie-Hotel
1956 - Debby Boone, Hackensack NJ - singer: You Light Up My Life
1957 - Lynn Herring, Enid Oklahoma - actress: Lucy-General Hospital
1957 - Mark Johnson, Madison WI - NHL player: Pittsburgh, New Jersey
1958 - Andrea Bocelli, Tuscany Italy - singer: Time To Say Goodbye
1960 - Joan Jett, Philadelphia - singer: Blackhearts-I Love Rock 'n Roll
1960 - Scott Baio, Brooklyn NY - actor: Joanie loves Chachi, Charles in Charge, Zapped
1961 - Catherine Oxenberg - actress: Dallas
1962 - Rob Stone, Chicago Ill - actor: Kevin-Mr Belvedere

 

 

 

Mind Boggler

 

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand.

Your foot will change direction!!!

I told you so... and there is nothing you can do about it.