1. 2020

    California wildfires: A pyrotechnic device at a gender reveal party ignited the El Dorado Fire (pictured), burning for 71 days and killing one firefighter.

  2. 1977

    NASA launched the space probe Voyager 1, currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth, from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

  3. 1975

    Squeaky Fromme (pictured), a devotee of Charles Manson, attempted to assassinate U.S. president Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California.

  4. 1972

    The Palestinian militant group Black September took hostage eleven Israeli athletes and coaches at the Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany; all of the hostages were killed less than 24 hours later.

  5. 1970

    During the practice session of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza Circuit, Jochen Rindt was killed and subsequently became motor racing's only posthumous world champion.

  6. 1964

    Hurricane Cleo dissipated after causing 156 deaths, mainly in Haiti, and causing roughly US$187 million in damages across the Caribbean and southeastern United States.

  7. 1943

    World War II: American and Australian airborne forces landed at Nadzab as part of the New Guinea campaign against Japan.

  8. 1926

    Forty-eight people died in a fire in a makeshift cinema in Dromcolliher, Ireland.

  9. 1915

    The Zimmerwald Conference, the first of three international socialist conferences forming the Zimmerwald movement, opened in Switzerland.

  10. 1915

    The Casablanca Fair (poster pictured) opened in the French protectorate in Morocco.

  11. 1905

    Under the mediation of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt, the Russo-Japanese War officially ended with the signing of a treaty at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

  12. 1887

    A fire that killed 186 people broke out at the Theatre Royal, Exeter, England.

  13. 1882

    A group of London schoolboys led by Bobby Buckle founded Hotspur Football Club to continue to play sports during the winter months.

  14. 1816

    Facing rising discontent in France, Louis XVIII was forced to dissolve the Chambre introuvable, the legislature dominated by Ultra-royalists.

  15. 1781

    American Revolutionary War: French naval forces handed Britain a major strategic defeat at the Battle of the Chesapeake (depicted).

  16. 1774

    In response to the British Parliament's enactment of the so-called Intolerable Acts, representatives from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies convened the First Continental Congress at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia.

  17. 1367

    Swa Saw Ke was crowned the ruler of the Kingdom of Ava in Upper Myanmar.

  18. 917

    Liu Yan declared himself emperor, establishing the state of Southern Han at his capital of Panyu (present-day Guangzhou) in southern China.

Photo archive

24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.

What was life like?

Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.

Sources & fact check

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