1265 - First English Parliament called into session by Earl of Leicester

1648 - Cornerstone of Amsterdam town hall laid

1649 - King Charles I of England was beheaded

1841 - During the First Opium War, China cedes the island of Hong Kong to the British with the signing of the Chuenpi Convention, an agreement seeking an end to the first Anglo-Chinese conflict

1872 - California Stock Exchange Board organized

1880 �?First timetable book used at the Hillsburgh railway station

1885 - LaMarcus A. Thompson of Coney Island patented the roller coaster

1892 - Almonte, Ontario native James Naismith hosts an organized basketball game, the world's first, at the Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA college

1920 - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is formed

1923 - Canadian Government Railways becomes the CNR; takes over the Intercolonial, National Transcontinental & Hudson Bay lines

1945 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only president to be elected to three terms in office, is inaugurated to his fourth term

1948 - Mahatma Gandhi, India's pacifist, assassinated

1953 - CBS Television production of Studio One transmitted from Buffalo NY to CBLT-TV and rebroadcast in Canada; first transmission of a TV show from the US to Canada

1964 - The Beatles released their first album in the U.S., Meet the Beatles

1965 - Opening of "Ed's Warehouse Restaurant" in Toronto

1967 - Arthur Conley records "Sweet Soul Music"

1981 - 52 American hostages seized from the American Embassy in Tehran were released after 444 days in captivity

1981 - President Reagan became the oldest US president to take office (69 years and 349 days).

1986 - Martin Luther King, Jr., day was celebrated as a US federal holiday for the first time

1995 - 1994-95 NHL Season begins after a lengthy strike

1996 - Yasser Arafat is elected president of the Palestinian National Council with 88.1 percent of the popular vote, becoming the first democratically elected leader of the Palestinian people in history

 

 

Birthdays

1775 - Andre-Marie Ampere, Lyon France - discovered electromagnetism
1811 - Samuel Keefer, Thorold Ontario - civil engineer: Canada's first Chief Engineer of Public Works; built the country's first suspension bridge at the Chaudière Falls in Ottawa in 1843, and the Clifton Bridge, the first suspension bridge at Niagara Falls in 1869
1889 - Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, Mooringsport Louisiana - blues 12 string guitarist: Rock Island Line
1894 - Harold L Gray - creator of Little Orphan Annie
1896 - George Burns [Nathan Birnbaum], NY City - actor/comedian: Oh God, The Sunshine Boys
1903 - Leon Ames, Portland Indiana - actor: Mr Ed, Father of the Bride
1910 - Joy Adamson - naturalist/author: Born Free
1918 - Sheila Agnes Egoff, Auburn Maine - librarian/professor: first full-time tenured professor of children's literature at a Canadian university (UBC)
1920 - DeForest Kelley, Atlanta Georgia - actor: Dr McCoy -Star Trek
1920 - Federico Fellini, Rimini Italy - director: 8½, Satyricon, La Dolce Vita
1926 - Patricia Neal, Packard Kentucky - actress: Hud, Subject Was Roses
1926 - Michael Higgins, Brooklyn NY - actor: 1918, Wanda, Black Stallion
1928 - Martin Landau, Brooklyn NY - actor: Mission Impossible, Tucker, Space 1999
1928 - Peter Donat, Kentville NS - actor: Flamingo Road, Different Story
1929 - Arte Johnson, Chicago Illinois - comedian: Laugh-in, Don't Call Me Charlie
1930 - Edwin E "Buzz" Aldrin Jr, Montclair NJ - astronaut; second human being to set foot on the moon
1937 - Dorothy Provine, Deadwood South Dakota - actress: Good Neighbor Sam, Darn Cat
1942 - Slim Whitman - yodeler/country singer: Home on the Range
1946 - David Lynch, Missoula Montana - actor/director: Blue Velvet, Dune, Eraserhead, Twin Peaks
1947 - George Grantham - singer: Poco -Crazy Eyes
1947 - Malcolm McLaren - founded rock group the Sex Pistols: God Save the Queen
1956 - Bill Maher, NY City - comedian: Politically Incorrect
1958 - Lorenzo Lamas, Los Angeles California - actor: Lance -Falcon Crest, California Fever
1964 - Ozzie Guillen, Oculare del Tuy Venezuela - baseball shortstop: Chicago White Sox
1964 - Victoria Sellers, London England - actress: Crime Zone, Warlords
1966 - Tia Carrere, Honolulu Hawaii - actress: Wayne's World, General Hospital
1967 - Stacey Dash, Bronx NY - actress: Dionne -Clueless
1969 - Melissa Rivers, NY City - TV hostess: MTV, CBS Morning News

 

 

Animals

 

A lawyer a Rabbi and a Hindu holy man had car trouble in the countryside and asked to spend the night with a farmer.

 

The farmer said "There might be a problem; you see, I only have room for two to sleep, so one of you must sleep in the barn."

 

"No problem," chimed the Rabbi, "My people wandered in the desert for forty years, I am humble enough to sleep in the barn for an evening. With that he departed to the barn and the others bedded down for the night.

 

Moments later a knock was heard at the door; the farmer opened the door, there stood the Rabbi from the barn. "What's wrong?" asked the farmer.

 

The Rabbi replied, "I am grateful to you, but I can't sleep in the barn. There is a pig in the barn and my faith believes that this is an unclean animal."

 

His Hindu friend agrees to swap places with him. But a few minutes later the same scene reoccurs. There is a knock on the door, "What's wrong, now?" the farmer asks.

 

The Hindu holy man replies, "I too am grateful for your helping us out but there is a cow in the barn and in my country cows are considered sacred. I can't sleep on holy ground!"

 

Well, that leaves only the lawyer to make the change. He grumbled and complained, but went out to the barn.

 

Yep, you guessed it! Moments later there was another knock on the farmer’s door.

 

Frustrated and tired, the farmer opens the door, and there stood the pig and the cow.