(1756) Britain declares war on France over North American coloniesNearly two years after skirmishes broke out between the two world powers in the Ohio Territory of North America, Great Britain officially goes to war with France. The Seven Years’ War will expand to include nearly all the major European powers and be fought on almost every continent.The Seven Years’ War was a war fought between 1754 and 1763, the main conflict occurring in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763. It involved every European great power of the time except the Ottoman Empire and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by the Kingdom of Great Britain on one side and the Kingdom of France on the other. Meanwhile, in India, the Mughal Empire, with the support of the French, tried to crush a British attempt to conquer Bengal.
Start date: 1754 End date: Jan 01, 1763
wiki/Seven_Years’_War(1974) ‘Smiling Buddha’ adds another member to the nuclear clubIndia successfully detonates an 8-kiloton atomic bomb in an underground test, joining the US, USSR, UK, France, and China as a nuclear-armed state. The project has been code-named ‘Smiling Buddha,’ with the test taking place on the festival day marking Gautama Buddha’s birthday.Smiling Buddha was the assigned code name of India’s first successful nuclear bomb test on 18 May 1974. The bomb was detonated on the army base, Pokhran Test Range, in Rajasthan by the Indian Army under the supervision of several key Indian generals.
Date: May 18, 1974
wiki/Smiling_Buddha(1980) A mountain explodes in the Pacific Northwest The biggest landslide in recorded history follows a magnitude 5.1 earthquake as the north face of Washington’s Mount St. Helens falls away in a volcanic eruption. The sideways blast of lava and rock devastates a 230- square-mile area, and ash clouds that rise 16 miles will fall over 11 states.On May 18, 1980, a major volcanic eruption occurred at Mount St. Helens, a volcano located in Skamania County, in the state of Washington, United States. The eruption was the only significant volcanic eruption to occur in the contiguous 48 U.S. states since the 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in California. However, it has often been declared as the most disastrous volcanic eruption in United States history. The eruption was preceded by a two-month series of earthquakes and steam-venting episodes, caused by an injection of magma at shallow depth below the volcano that created a large bulge and a fracture system on the mountain’s north slope.
Date: May 18, 1980
wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens(2004) Randy Johnson throws perfect game at age 40Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson, age 40, throws a perfect game against the Atlanta Braves, becoming the oldest player ever to do. Johnson will finish his career in 2010 with more than 300 wins and be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.Randall David Johnson, nicknamed “The Big Unit”, is an American former baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1988 to 2009 for six teams. He played primarily for the Seattle Mariners and the Arizona Diamondbacks. His 303 career victories rank as the fifth-most by a left-hander in MLB history, while his 4,875 strikeouts place him second all-time behind Nolan Ryan and are the most by a left-hander. He holds five of the seven highest single-season strikeout totals by a left-hander in modern history. Johnson won the Cy Young Award five times, second only to Roger Clemens’ seven, and he is one of two pitchers to win the award four consecutive times. In 1999, he joined Pedro Martínez and Gaylord Perry in the rare feat of winning the award in both the American and National Leagues. He is also one of five pitchers to pitch no-hitters in both leagues. With his second no-hitter in 2004, he became the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game. He is one of the few pitchers in history to record a win against all 30 MLB franchises.
Born: Sep 10, 1963 (age 53) · Walnut Creek, CA Height: 6′ 10″ (2.08 m) Net worth: $115 million USD (2017) Spouse: Lisa Wiehoff (m. 1993) Children: Heather Renee Roszel (Daughter) · Alexandria Johnson (Daughter) · Willow Johnson (Daughter) · Tanner Johnson (Son) · Sammi Johnson (Daughter) Education: University of Southern California · Livermore High School
Highlights
1982: In 1982, as a senior, he struck out 121 batters in 66 innings, and threw a perfect game in his last high school start.
1993: Johnson broke out in 1993 with a 19–8 record, 3.24 ERA and his first of six 300-plus strikeout seasons (308).
1993: Randy Johnson married Lisa Wiehoff on November 06, 1993.
1999: In 1999 he joined Pedro Martínez and Gaylord Perry in the rare feat of winning the award in both the American and National Leagues.
2001: On August 23, 2001, Johnson struck out three batters on nine pitches in the 6th inning of a 5–1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, becoming the 30th pitcher in major league history to pitch an immaculate inning.
2004: With his second no-hitter in 2004, he became the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game.
(1093) England’s Winchester Cathedral is consecratedA limestone Norman cathedral is formally dedicated in Winchester, England. In coming centuries, it will be altered from its medieval form with massive Gothic renovations, including the lengthiest nave of any European church.Winchester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the longest nave and greatest overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. Dedicated to the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and before the Reformation, Saint Swithun, it is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and centre of the Diocese of Winchester. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building.
Address: 9 The Close, Winchester SO23 9LS Phone: 01962 857200 Opened: Apr 08, 1093 Burials: Jane Austen · William II of England · Egbert of Wessex · Cnut the Great · Æthelwulf · Harthacnut · Eadwig · Emma of Normandy · Henry Beaufort · William of Wykeham · Cenwalh of Wessex · Cynegils of Wessex Architectural styles: Norman architecture · English Gothic architecture Religion: Anglicanism
wiki/Winchester_Cathedral(1820) Venus de Milo is discoveredA peasant on the Aegean island of Milos uncovers a “fine marble statue” in an underground cave. The find, dating from Ancient Greece, will be dubbed the Venus de Milo, and in spite of, or perhaps partly because of its lack of arms, it will become an art sensation.Aphrodite of Milos, better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created sometime between 130 and 100 BCE, it is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. It is a marble sculpture, slightly larger than life size at 203 cm high. Part of an arm and the original plinth were lost following its discovery. From an inscription that was on its plinth, it is thought to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch; earlier, it was mistakenly attributed to the master sculptor Praxiteles. It is currently on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The statue is named after the Greek island of Milos, where it was discovered.
Artist: Alexandros of Antioch Location: Louvre Subject: Venus Medium: Marble
wiki/Venus_de_Milo(1959) Grace Hopper leads computer programming milestoneMathematician, computer scientist, and rare woman in her field, Grace Hopper consults at a two-day conference with the best brains in the new realm of computer programming. The committee will build on Hopper’s earlier work to develop what will be the groundbreaking programming language COBOL.Grace Brewster Murray Hopper was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral. In 1944, she was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer and invented the first compiler for a computer programming language. She popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first high-level programming languages.
Lived: Dec 09, 1906 – Jan 01, 1992 (age 85) Spouse: Vincent Foster Hopper (m. 1930 – 1945) Inventions: COBOL · FLOW-MATIC · MATH-MATIC Education: Vassar College (1924 – 1928) · Yale University · Wardlaw-Hartridge School Awards: Defense Distinguished Service Medal · American Campaign Medal · National Medal of Technology and Innovation (1991) · IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award (1988) Parents: Mary Campbell Van Horne Murray (Mother) · Walter Fletcher Murray (Father)
Highlights
1930: Grace Hopper married Vincent Foster Hopper in 1930; their marriage lasted 15 years till 1945.
1947: While she was working on a Mark II Computer at a US Navy research lab in Dahlgren, Virginia in 1947, her associates discovered a moth stuck in a relay impeding its operation.
1952: In 1952 she had an operational compiler.
1954: In 1954 Hopper was named the company’s first director of automatic programming, and her department released some of the first compiler-based programming languages, including MATH-MATIC and FLOW-MATIC.
1971: 1971: The annual Grace Murray Hopper Award for Outstanding Young Computer Professionals was established in 1971 by the Association for Computing Machinery.
1992: She was then hired as a senior consultant to Digital Equipment Corporation, a position she retained until her death in 1992, aged 85.
wiki/Grace_Hopper(1974) ‘Hammerin’ Hank’ Aaron breaks a baseball recordThe Atlanta Braves’ Hank Aaron swings on a pitch from the L.A. Dodgers, driving it deep into left center field for his 715th career home run, beating Babe Ruth’s record. Aaron will rack up a total of 755 home runs in his career, a milestone that will stand for more than 30 years.Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron, nicknamed “Hammer”, or “Hammerin’ Hank”, is a retired American Major League Baseball right fielder who is currently the senior vice president of the Atlanta Braves. He played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League and 2 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League, from 1954 through 1976. Aaron held the MLB record for career home runs for 33 years, and he still holds several MLB offensive records. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is one of only two players to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked Aaron fifth on its “100 Greatest Baseball Players” list.
Born: Feb 05, 1934 (age 83) · Mobile, AL Height: 6′ 0″ (1.83 m) Spouse: Billye Aaron (m. 1973) · Barbara Lucas (m. 1953 – 1971) Education: Central High School Children: Dorinda Aaron (Daughter) · Gaile Aaron (Daughter) · Ceci Aaron (Daughter) · Lary Aaron (Son) · Gary Aaron (Son) · Hank Aaron, Jr. (Son) Siblings: Tommie Aaron (Brother) · Alfredia Scott (Sister)
Highlights
1953: Hank Aaron married Barbara Lucas on October 06, 1953; their marriage lasted 18 years till February 01, 1971.
1954: He played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL) and 2 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League (AL), from 1954 through 1976.
1969: On July 31, 1969, Aaron hit his 537th home run, passing Mickey Mantle’s total; this moved Aaron into third place on the career home run list, after Willie Mays and Babe Ruth.
1971: At age 37, he hit a career-high 47 home runs during the season (along with a career-high .669 slugging percentage) and finished third in MVP voting for the sixth time.
1973: He hit home run number 713 on September 29, 1973, and with one day remaining in the season, many expected him to tie the record.
1999: In 1999, MLB created the Hank Aaron Award, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Aaron’s surpassing of Babe Ruth’s career home run mark of 714 home runs and to honor Aaron’s contributions to baseball.
(1865) American Civil War’s last campaign beginsGeneral Ulysses S. Grant sends 12,000 Union troops to outflank Robert E. Lee’s Confederate forces and block their possible withdrawal from Petersburg, Virginia. A series of Union victories will follow and Lee will surrender his army 10 days later at Appomattox.The Appomattox Campaign was a series of American Civil War battles fought March 29 – April 9, 1865 in Virginia that concluded with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia to the Union Army under the overall command of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. In the following eleven weeks after Lee’s surrender, the American Civil War ended as other Confederate armies surrendered and Confederate government leaders were captured or fled the country.
Start date: Mar 29, 1865 End date: Apr 09, 1865
wiki/Appomattox_Campaign(1951) New York City’s ‘Mad Bomber’ strikes againGrand Central Station commuters witness the explosion of a homemade bomb. Authorities will later tie this terrorism to the so-called Mad Bomber after five more explosives are detonated throughout the city in the coming months.George Peter Metesky, better known as the Mad Bomber, terrorized New York City for 16 years in the 1940s and 1950s with explosives that he planted in theaters, terminals, libraries, and offices. Bombs were left in phone booths, storage lockers, and restrooms in public buildings, including Grand Central Terminal, Pennsylvania Station, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Public Library, the Port Authority Bus Terminal and the RCA Building, and in the New York City Subway. Metesky also bombed movie theaters, where he cut into seat upholstery and slipped his explosive devices inside.
Born: Nov 02, 1903 · Connecticut, United States Died: May 23, 1994 · Waterbury, CT
Highlights
1040: He planted his first bomb on November 16, 1940, leaving it on a window sill at the Consolidated Edison power plant at 170 West 64th Street in Manhattan.
1951: His first two bombs drew little attention, but the string of random bombings that began in 1951 frayed the city’s nerves and taxed the resources of the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
1957: Accompanied by Waterbury police, four NYPD detectives arrived at Metesky’s home with a search warrant shortly before midnight on Monday, January 21, 1957.
1957: On April 18, 1957, Judge Liebowitz committed Metesky to the Matteawan Hospital for the Criminally Insane at Beacon, New York.
1973: In 1973, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a mentally ill defendant cannot be committed to a hospital operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services unless a jury finds him dangerous.
1994: George Metesky died on May 23, 1994 in Waterbury, United States.
wiki/George_Metesky(1973) US forces withdraw from VietnamAfter almost a decade of combat, with more than 50,000 Americans dead and over 300,000 wounded, the last US fighting forces leave South Vietnam in agreement with the Paris Peace Accords. The war itself will continue for another two years, until the Fall of Saigon.The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, and known in Vietnam as Resistance War Against America or simply the American War, was a war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies. The war is therefore considered a Cold War-era proxy war.
Start date: Nov 01, 1955 End date: Apr 30, 1975
wiki/Vietnam_War(1974) Farmers uncover ancient ‘Terracotta Army’While digging a well in China’s Shaanxi province, farmers discover the burial site of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, from 210–209 BCE. Excavators will discover an estimated 8,000 life-size clay soldiers, and hundreds of horses and chariots, meant for protection in the afterlife.The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. wiki/Terracotta_Army3.3.f17
(1789) George Washington elected first US presidentIn a unanimous vote, the US Electoral College elects General George Washington to the presidency. He will again be elected unanimously to a second term in 1792, with John Adams serving as vice president both times.George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and later presided over the 1787 convention that drafted the United States Constitution. He is popularly considered the driving force behind the nation’s establishment and came to be known as the “father of the country,” both during his lifetime and to this day.
Lived: Feb 22, 1732 – Dec 14, 1799 (age 67) Height: 6′ 2″ (1.88 m) Spouse: Martha Washington (m. 1759 – 1799) Children: Martha Parke Custis · Daniel Parke Custis, Jr. · Frances Parke Custis · Nellie Davis Vice President: John Adams Parents: Augustine Washington (Father) · Mary Ball Washington (Mother)
Highlights
1759: On January 6, 1759, Washington married wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis, then 28 years old.
1775: Washington assumed command of the Continental Army in the field at Cambridge, Massachusetts in July 1775 during the ongoing siege of Boston.
1784: Prior to these, he had a set made with real human teeth, likely ones that he purchased from “several unnamed ‘Negroes,’ presumably Mount Vernon slaves” in 1784.
1789: Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, taking the first presidential oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City.
1797: Washington retired from the presidency in March 1797 and returned to Mount Vernon with a profound sense of relief.
1799: Washington died at home around 10 p.m. on Saturday, December 14, 1799, aged 67.
wiki/George_Washington(1938) Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ opensWalt Disney’s first full-length animated feature is released and will defy naysayers, winning both critical praise and boffo box office returns, eventually earning more money than any previous film in history.The first, and by far most memorable full-length animated feature from the Disney Studios, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” may have been superseded technically by many of the films that followed it. But its simple story of a charming little princess saved from the evil deeds of her wicked stepmother, the queen, by a group of seven adorable dwarfs made history when it was first released in December, 1937 and has since become an incomparable screen classic.
Release date: Feb 04, 1938 (United States) Directors: David Hand · Wilfred Jackson · Ben Sharpsteen · Larry Morey · William Cottrell · Perce Pearce Gross revenue: $418.20 million USD Awards: Academy Honorary Award · Saturn Award for Best Classic Film DVD Release · DVD Exclusive Award for Best Overall New Extra Features, Library Title · New York Film Critics Circle Special Award Screenwriters: Ted Sears · Earl Hurd · Merrill De Maris · Webb Smith · Richard Creedon · Otto Englander · Dorothy Ann Blank · Dick Rickard Featured songs: Heigh-Ho · Someday My Prince Will Come · The Silly Song
wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_(1937_film)(1945) ‘The Big Three’ meet for Yalta ConferenceLeaders of WWII’s Allied forces, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin Roosevelt, convene in Yalta, a Crimean resort town, to discuss postwar plans for dividing up a war-ravaged Europe. Many will come to believe the meeting lays the foundation of the Cold War.The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held from February 4 to 11, 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Premier Joseph Stalin, respectively, for the purpose of discussing Europe’s post-war reorganization. The conference convened in the Livadia Palace near Yalta in Crimea, USSR.
Start date: Feb 04, 1945 End date: Feb 11, 1945
wiki/Yalta_Conference(1974) Heiress Patty Hearst kidnappedAn obscure radical group, The Symbionese Liberation Army, kidnaps the 19-year-old daughter of Randolph Hearst, heiress to her family’s newspaper fortune. Brainwashed into supporting her captors’ cause, Hearst will later be seen robbing a bank with them before being found 19 months later.Patricia Campbell Hearst, now known as Patricia Hearst Shaw, is the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She became nationally known for events following her 1974 kidnapping while she was a 19-year-old student living in Berkeley, California. Hearst was abducted by a left-wing terrorist group known as the Symbionese Liberation Army. After being isolated and threatened with death, she became supportive of their cause, making propaganda announcements for them and taking part in illegal activities.
Born: Feb 20, 1954 (age 62) · San Francisco, CA Height: 5′ 3″ (1.60 m) Net worth: $45 million USD (2016) Spouse: Bernard Shaw (m. 1979 – 2013) Children: Lydia Hearst (Daughter) · Gillian Hearst-Shaw (Daughter) Parents: Randolph Apperson Hearst (Father) · Catherine Wood Campbell (Mother)
(1951) Chinese forces capture SeoulThe Third Battle of Seoul sees Chinese forces crossing the 38th parallel, forcing the US Eighth Army to evacuate Seoul, but ultimately drawing the United Nation’s support to South Korea’s side.The Third Battle of Seoul, also known as the Chinese New Year’s Offensive, the January–Fourth Retreat or the Third Phase Campaign Western Sector, was a battle of the Korean War, which took place from December 31, 1950 to January 7, 1951 around the South Korean capital of Seoul. In the aftermath of the major Chinese victory at the Battle of the Ch’ongch’on River, the United Nations Command started to contemplate the possibility of evacuation from the Korean Peninsula. Upon learning of this development, China’s Chairman Mao Zedong ordered the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army to cross the 38th parallel in an effort to pressure the United Nations forces to withdraw from South Korea.
Start date: Dec 31, 1950 End date: Jan 07, 1951
wiki/Third_Battle_of_Seoul(1958) Edmund Hillary reaches the South PoleFor the first time since 1912, an overland expedition reaches the South Pole, this time headed by New Zealander Edmund Hillary, who is also the first man to have reached the summit of Mt. Everest.Sir Edmund Percival “Ed” Hillary KG ONZ KBE was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt. TIME magazine named Hillary one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Hillary became interested in mountaineering while in secondary school. He made his first major climb in 1939, reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier. He served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator during World War II. Prior to the 1953 Everest expedition, Hillary had been part of the British reconnaissance expedition to the mountain in 1951 as well as an unsuccessful attempt to climb Cho Oyu in 1952. As part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition he reached the South Pole overland in 1958. He subsequently reached the North Pole, making him the first person to reach both poles and summit Everest. Following his ascent of Everest, Hillary devoted most of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded. Through his efforts, many schools and hospitals were built in Nepal. wiki/Edmund_Hillary(1974) Nixon refuses order to release Watergate tapesUS President Richard Nixon defies the Senate Watergate Committee’s subpoena to turn over recordings he made of Oval Office conversations, but this doesn’t help his cause and he will resign eight months later.The Nixon White House tapes are audio recordings of conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and Nixon administration officials, Nixon family members, and White House staff, produced between 1971 and 1973. In February 1971, a sound-activated taping system was first installed in the Oval Office, using Sony TC-800B open-reel tape recorders to capture audio transmitted by telephone taps and concealed microphones. The system was subsequently expanded to include other rooms within the White House and Camp David. The recording system was turned off on July 18, 1973, two days after they became public knowledge as a result of the Senate Watergate Committee hearings. Nixon was not the first president to record his White House conversations; the practice was initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940. The tapes’ existence came to light during the Watergate scandal of 1973 and 1974, when the system was mentioned during the televised testimony of White House aide Alexander Butterfield before the Senate Watergate Committee. Nixon’s refusal of a congressional subpoena to release the tapes constituted an article of impeachment against Nixon, and led to his subsequent resignation on August 9, 1974. On August 19, 2013, the Nixon Library and the National Archives and Records Administration released the final 340 hours of the tapes that cover the period from April 9 through July 12, 1973. wiki/Watergate_tapes(2010) World’s tallest building opensThe Burj Khalifa officially opens, soaring 2,722 feet over Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It features the world’s highest restaurant at the 122nd floor and the highest nightclub at the 144th.The Burj Khalifa, known as the Burj Dubai before its inauguration, is a megatall skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the tallest structure in the world, standing at 829.8 m.
Address: 1 Emaar Boulevard, Dubai Opened: Jan 04, 2010 Floors: 163 Height: 2,717 feet (828 m) (Architectural) · 2,722 feet (829.80 m) (Tip) Architects: Adrian Smith · Marshall Strabala · George J. Efstathiou Architecture firm: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
(1756) Britain declares war on France over North American colonies
(1974) ‘Smiling Buddha’ adds another member to the nuclear club
(1980) A mountain explodes in the Pacific Northwest 
(2004) Randy Johnson throws perfect game at age 40
