1997
Andy Green (RAF) breaks land speed record
1994
President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, returned to complete his term in office after three years in exile in South Africa
1993
South African leaders Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1978
Pope John Paul II elected – a Pole, and first non-Italian for 450 years.
1969
Two million Americans took part in protests against the war in Vietnam
1964

1939
New York Municipal Airport was officially opened by mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. (It was renamed LaGuardia Airport in his honour in 1947)
1934
Death of Raymond Poincaré, President of France (191320)
1928
The German airship ‘Graf Zeppelin’ made its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA.
1917
Execution of Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, better know as Mata Hari.

1908
Birth of John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-born American economist .
1881
Birth of P G Woodhouse, British author, creator of Jeeves, Bertie Wooster, Psmith, the Earl of Emsworth etc.

1858
Birth of John Lawrence Sullivan, American boxer, the first modern world heavyweight champion.
1783
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier made the first balloon ascent in the Montgolfier's hot air balloon, which was tethered.

1608
Birth of Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician who invented the barometer.