On this day in the year 1077 of the common era (CE) the Norman monk Gundulf is anointed as the Bishop of Rochester, and who goes on to build Rochester Castle and the White Tower (the Tower of London) as engineer to William the Conqueror.
On this day in the year 1279 CE the Mongolian victory at the naval Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China; five hundred and sixty-five years later, two hundred members of the Peking imperial family and court commit suicide out of loyalty to the last Ming Emperor, Chongzhen. Six hundred and three years after that, in 1947 CE, Chinese Nationalist General Chiang Kai-shek conquers Jinan.
On this day in 1452 CE, Frederick III of Hapsburg is crowned holy-roman-emperor by pope Nicholas V at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome…he is the last roman emperor to be crowned in Rome; eighty-eight years later, a Court in Holland names Amsterdam sheriff John Hubrechtsz a "heretic." Twenty-three years after that, in 1563 CE, the Peace of Amboise is enacted, granting rights to Huguenots; one hundred and nineteen years after that, an assembly of the French clergy issues a declaration stating, among other things, that the power of the King is not subject to papal authority. Three hundred and five years after that, in 1987 CE, American televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the Praise the Lord (People that Love) television network amid rape accusations made by his secretary, Jessica Hahn; these events ended his marriage to Tammy Faye Bakker, but not his career as a swindler. Jessica Hahn went on to pose nude for Playboy Magazine.
In 1687 CE, Explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men in Texas. After missing the river's mouth and being stranded in Matagorda Bay, he attempted to lead a group north to find it which ended in mutiny near the Trinity River, where he was shot by one of his followers; fifty-three years later, British Parliament passes the Plantation Act, naturalizing foreign Protestants and others residing for seven years or more in any of Britain's American colonies. Seventy-two years after that, in 1812 CE, the first Spanish constitution is enacted.
In 1863 CE the Confederate cruiser Georgiana is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions and medicines valued at over one million dollars; three years later the immigrant ship Monarch of the Seas, Bound for Boston, catches fire and sinks off Colwyn Bay shortly after leaving Liverpool, one hundred and seventy-eight people die, Ninety-nine years after, in 1965 CE, the wreck of the Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to be the most powerful cruiser in the treasonous Confederate fleet, is discovered exactly one hundred and two years after it sank.
In 1885 CE the Canadian revolutionary Louis Riel returns to Canada after his exile in St. Paul Minnesota, and proclaims a provisional government in Saskatchewan; fifty-eight years later, Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, is killed by Treasury Agent Elliot Ness of the Untouchables at the Chicago Central Railyard, his death was ruled a suicide.
In 1895 CE the Los Angeles Railway is established to provide streetcar service; ninety-nine years later, two thousand, five hundred kilograms of cocaine are intercepted in Zeewolde, Netherlands.
In 1911 CE the first International Women's Day sees over one million men and women attend rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The issues discussed included women's right to vote and to hold public office, the right to work, to vocational training and an end to discrimination on the job…we are still working on those things world-wide, let the struggle continue; one hundred and eight years later, American Karen Uhlenbeck becomes the first woman to win Abel Prize in mathematics. Two years after, in 2021 CE, the vice-president of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan (age 61) becomes the country's first female chief executive after the death of John Magufuli.
In 1917 CE the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court up holds the constitutionality of the eight-hour-work-day for railroad employees; one year later, the U.S. adopts the Standard Time Act of 1918, also known as the Calder Act, a federal law implementing standard time (and daylight saving time) while in the same stroke, defining five time zones for the United States. Two years after that, in 1920 CE, the U.S. Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time, refusing to ratify the League of Nations' covenant, and maintaining a policy of isolation; fifty-nine years later, the U.S. House of Representatives begins live television broadcasts via C-SPAN.
In 1919 CE the literary magazine Littérature, edited by André Breton, Philippe Soupault, and Louis Aragon publishes its first issue; sixty-six years later, Spin Magazine begins publishing
In 1921 CE a group of Italian Fascists shoot from the Parenzana train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia). Two children are killed, two mangled and three wounded; six years later bloody battles take place on the streets of Berlin between communists & Nazis. Thirteen years after that, in 1940 CE, a British air raid on the German base at Sylt fails on the same day the French government of Édouard Daladier falls; two years later, United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt orders men between forty-five and sixty-four register for non-military duty. Three years after that, in 1945 CE, the British 36th Division takes the ruby min at Mogok, on this same day, U.S. Task Force 58 attacks ships near Kobe/Kure, and Adolf Hitler issues the "Nero Decree" ordering the destruction of all German factories.
In 1925 CE Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli is anointed as a bishop of the church and appointed as the Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria, later he becomes pope-saint John XXIII, and convenes the Second Vatican Council; twelve years after his appointment to the bishopric, pope Pius XI publishes encyclical against communism, Divini Redemptoris.
In 1943 CE, Jake LaMotta finally defeats Jimmy Reeves by knocking him out in the sixth round at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan; it is their third match. Five years later, Lee Savold knocks-out Gino Buonvino in fifty-four seconds at Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York; nine years after that, in 1954 CE, again at Madison Square Garden, the first color telecast of a prize fight takes place: Giardello vs. Troy.
In 1949 CE, the first museum devoted exclusively to atomic energy open in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; twenty-eight years later, France performs nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll. One year after that, in 1978 CE, fifty-thousand people in Amsterdam demonstrate against the neutron bomb; seven years later, the U.S. Senate votes 55-45 to authorize production of the MX "Peacekeeper" intercontinental ballistic missile.
In 1953 CE at the Twenty-fifth Academy Awards, The Greatest Show on Earth, starring Gary Cooper and Shirley Booth wins Best Picture; my mother who was living in St. Augustine, Florida at the time, appeared as an extra in the films cast of thousands. It is the first time the Academy Awards are televised.
In 1962 CE, Columbia Records releases the self-titled debut album of American folk singer Bob Dylan, the quickly recorded collection of mostly cover-tunes (only two original songs) is largely ignored; fifteen years later, the last episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show premieres on CBS.
In 1970 CE, West German chancellor Willy Brandt and East German premier Willi Stoph meet in Erfurt, East Germany, for the first time since the division of Germany in 1949 CE.
In 1982 CE, Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, in the Falklands, precipitating war with the United Kingdom; six years later, two British Army corporals are attacked during a funeral procession, beaten and shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Belfast, North Ireland. Four years after that, in 1992 CE, the man formerly known as Britain's prince Andrew and his wife Sarah, the former duchess of York, announce their separation.
In 1991 CE the National Football League owners strip Phoenix of the 1993 Super Bowl, because Arizona does not recognize the federal holiday in honor of the reverend doctor Martin Luther King Jr..
In 1995 CE the Social Democratic Party wins parliamentary elections in Finland; on this day nine years later, Finland is ranked the happiest country in the world by the United Nations, for the seventh year in a row (Afghanistan is the least happy place on Earth); they win the rankings again in 2025 and 2026 CE.
In 1995 CE in the NBA, the New York Knickerbockers beat the New York Nets in their one hundredth meeting; the score: Knicks 53, Nets 47.
In 2002 CE during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda, which began on March 2, comes to an end after the killing of five-hundred Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with eleven killed among the allied forces; one year later, airstrikes by an American and British-led coalition signal the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, which takes place without United Nations support and in defiance of world opinion.
In 2014 CE the Russian Federation captures the Ukrainian naval base in Sevastopol.
In 2018 the State of Mississippi enacts a fifteen-week abortion ban.
In 2020 CE the Italian death toll from COVID-19 is at 3,405 surpassing China's official total of 3,245 making it then the worst-affected country in the world on this day when professional football in England is further postponed until “no earlier than 30 April” due to the COVID-19 pandemic; also on this day the State of California reports a total nine hundred and ten cases of COVID-19. The State goes into lockdown and orders people to "stay at home."
