1277 – Walter Of Merton gave England Its Education System
1775 Phillis Wheatley, a slave in Boston who has written Christian poems, sends George Washington a few lines in which she describes him as “first in peace and honors.”
1850 Robert McClure sights the fabled Northwest Passage for the first time (from Banks Island towards Melville Island)
1861 Pony Express (Missouri to California) ends after 19 months
1863 International conference begins in Geneva aimed at improving medical conditions on battlefields – beginning of the Red Cross
1977 Last natural case of smallpox discovered in Merca district, Somalia. Considered the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination
2019 Raid by US Special Forces kills ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria
Today’s Historical Events
Today in Film & TV
1984 “The Terminator” directed by James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton is released in the US
Today in Music
1919 Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, premieres in Queen’s Hall London
Today in Sport
1863 Football Association forms in England, standardizing soccer, splitting with rugby
Do you know this fact about today? Did You Know?
Gunfight at the OK Corral: The most famous shootout in the Wild West occurs, between lawmen (including Wyatt Earp) and the Cowboys, with Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton killed, on this day in 1881
Would you believe this fact about today? Would You Believe?
First recorded use of “getaway car” occurs after holding up a shop in Paris, on this day in 1901
