1564 Christopher Marlowe - British poet and playwright (Tamburlaine the Great, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Dido Queen of Carthage, Hero and Leander) Marlowe was baptised in Canterbury, England, at the end of that February, two months before the birth of his fellow playwright William Shakespeare. Marlowe, the son of a Canterbury shoemaker, was a bright student, winning scholarships to prestigious schools. In 1584 he earned his BA from Cambridge. Historians believe Marlowe served as a spy for Queen Elizabeth while at Cambridge. He was nearly denied his master's degree in 1587, until the queen's advisers intervened, recommending he receive the degree and referring obliquely to his services for the state. In May of 1593, Marlowe's former roommate, playwright Thomas Kyd, was arrested and tortured for treason. He told authorities that "heretical" papers found in his room belonged to Marlowe, who was subsequently arrested. While out on bail, Marlowe became involved in a fight over a tavern bill and was stabbed to death
1665 Queen Anne of Britain and Ireland - She was the last Stuart monarch and second daughter of James II. She had 17 children, 16 of whom died in infancy, the remaining child at the age of 12. Her desire for national unity led to the union of the English and Scottish parliaments in 1707
1721 Christian Heinecker - Linguistic child genius. At age 10 months, Heinecker was reported to have been capable of repeating every word said to him. At age three, he began to speak Latin and French. Before he died in 1725, he was proclaimed a "wonder" by the court of Copenhagen
1756 Aaron Burr - 3rd US Vice President who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel and was known as a traitor although never convicted
1802 Charles Wheatstone - British physicist who popularised the Wheatstone bridge, a device that accurately measured electrical resistance and became widely used in laboratories. He also invented the concertina and the stereoscope, as well as a chronoscope to determine the velocity of projectiles at an English gunnery
1838 Sir Henry Irving - British actor. He was the first actor to be knighted, in 1895
1895 George Herman "Babe" Ruth - Baseball legend and left-handed pitcher, born in Baltimore, Maryland
1911 Ronald Reagan - 40th US President and former actor (Hellcats of the Navy, Knute Rockne All American, Bedtime for Bonzo, Kings Row)
1913 John Lund - Actor (My Friend Irma, The Wackiest Ship in the Army, High Society, Five Guns West)
1917 Zsa Zsa (Sari) Gabor - Hungarian born actress (Boy's Night Out, The Naked Truth, Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie) She’s Eva Gabor's sister. She played Minerva in the Batman episodes Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires, and The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra
1922 Patrick MacNee - British actor (The Avengers, Battlestar Gallactica, A View to a Kill) He played Dr. Watson in both Sherlock Holmes in New York and Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady, and he played Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of London
1929 Keith Waterhouse - British author and playwright (Billy Liar, Maggie Muggins, All Things Bright and Beautiful, Celebration)
1931 Rip (Elmore) Torn - Actor (Extreme Prejudice, Men in Black, Canadian Bacon, The Larry Sanders Show, The Cincinnati Kid, Summer Rental)
1931 Mamie Van Doren - Actress and pinup model (Teacher's Pet, Ain't Misbehavin', The Girl in the Black Stockings, The Beat Generation)
1932 François Truffaut – French director (Fahrenheit 451, The Bride Wore Black, Day for Night) and actor (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
1939 Mike Farrell - Actor (M*A*S*H, The Interns, Incident at Dark River)
1940 Tom Brokaw - News anchor (NBC Nightly News, Today)
1943 Fabian (Fabian Forte) - Singer (Turn Me Loose, Tiger) and actor (Hound Dog Man, The Longest Day)
1943 Gayle Hunnicutt - Texas born actress (Scorpio, Dream Lover, Dallas, Turnaround, A Man Called Intrepid) She played Irene Adler, The Woman, in the Sherlock Holmes episode A Scandal in Bohemia
1944 Michael Tucker - Actor (L.A. Law, The Eyes of Laura Mars, Tin Men)
1945 Bob Marley - Jamaican reggae writer and performer with his group the Wailers (No Woman No Cry, Stir it Up, Jammin')
1946 Kate McGarrigle - Canadian singer, songwriter, who performs with her sister Anna (Dancer With Bruised Knees, Song For Gaby, Heart Like A Wheel, Tell My Sister)
1950 Natalie Cole - Singer (Sophisticated Lady, Our Love, Miss You Like Crazy) Her father was Nat King Cole
1951 Kevin Whately - British actor (Peak Practice, Trip Trap, The English Patient, What Katy Did, The Broker's Man, Lewis) He was in the Miss Marple episode A Murder is Announced And, of course, played Sergeant Robbie Lewis in the Inspector Morse series
1957 Kathy Najimy - Actress (Soapdish, King of the Hill, Veronica's Closet, Hope Floats, Sister Act, Numb3rs)
1957 Robert Townsend - Actor (A Soldier's Story, The Meteor Man, The Mighty Quinn, Hollywood Shuffle)
1960 Megan Gallagher – Actress (Millennium, 24, Contagion, The Larry Sanders Show, China Beach, Hill Street Blues)
1962 Axl Rose - Rock singer with the group Guns N' Roses (Sweet Child o' Mine, Welcome to the Jungle, You Could Be Mine)
Died this Day
1685 Charles II - King of Great Britain and Ireland. He died after several days of revelry with his concubines and favourite mistresses. There were rumours that he was poisoned
1894 Christian Albert Theodor Billroth, age 64 - Viennese surgeon, generally considered to be the founder of modern abdominal surgery. He perfected many procedures, including gastric resections still used in general surgery. He helped establish the foundations of academic training and university direction of surgical sciences
1952 George VI - King of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. He died peacefully in his sleep, at Sandringham. He was the father of Queen Elizabeth II
1985 Walter L. Jacobs - Car rental pioneer who founded the first car rental company. His car rental business became the Hertz Corporation after it was purchased by John Hertz in 1923
1991 Danny Thomas - Actor and philanthropist (Make Room for Daddy, The Jazz Singer, One Big Family) He was the father of actress Marlo Thomas. In 1962 he founded the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles one month after his 77th birthday
1993 Arthur Ashe, age 49 - Tennis Hall of Famer and human rights advocate
On this Day
1519 Sir Walter Raleigh left England to explore South America
1722 In Québec City, the Council of New France made abandoning children a death penalty offence. Parish Priests were asked to publicise the law every few months
1778 The US won official recognition from France as the nations signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, and the Treaty of Alliance in Paris, France. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce recognised the US as an independent nation and promoted trade between France and the US. The Treaty of Alliance created a military alliance against Great Britain, stipulating US independence as a condition of peace. The treaty also required France and the US to concur in any peace agreement
1788 Massachusetts became the 6th state of the union and ratified the US Constitution
1813 US Captain Benjamin Forsyth from Ogdensburg, New York crossed the frozen St. Lawrence River with 52 riflemen and attacked Brockville the next day. He took 52 hostages in the War of 1812 skirmish
1840 In New Zealand, the Maori people signed the Treaty of Waitangi, accepting Queen Victoria's sovereignty in their lands
1891 The Dalton Gang attempted its first train robbery. The unsuccessful train robbery, near Alila, California, was an inauspicious beginning to their careers as serious criminals
1894 Ontario residents voted for the prohibition of alcohol
1899 A peace treaty between the US and Spain was ratified by the US Senate. It ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the US for 20-million dollars
1918 British Parliament granted women over 30 the right to vote. Their first opportunity would come in December of that year
1928 A 35 year old woman arrived in New York claiming that she was Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the Tsar of Russia, and that she had managed to survive the massacre of her family. Many years later and after her death, DNA samples (some from the Commonwealth’s Prince Philip) were used to disprove her claim
1937 John Steinbeck's book, Of Mice and Men was published. He adapted his story of the bond between two migrant workers into a three-act play, which was produced the same year. The story brought national attention to Steinbeck's work
1952 Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne of Britain and the Commonwealth at the age of 25, upon the death of her father, King George VI. When her father died she and her husband were in Kenya, Africa in the midst of a goodwill tour. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was held on June 2, 1953, and millions witnessed it on live television
1958 Seven Manchester United footballers, known as the Busby Babes, were among those killed in an air crash in Munich. The British European Airways plane caught fire shortly after take off in bad weather. Twenty-three of the forty-four people on board the aircraft died as a result of the crash
1971 Astronaut Alan Shepard used a 6-iron to hit golf balls on the Moon. Shepard, an avid golfer, attached a 6-iron golf club to the end of a sample collecting tool. Despite thick gloves and a stiff suit that forced him to swing the club with one hand only, he hit two golf balls. The first landed in a nearby crater. The second was hit squarely, and in the much lighter gravity of the moon, Shepard said it travelled "miles and miles and miles." The golf club is on display at the US Golf Association headquarters in Far Hills, NJ
1977 Then-Québec Premier René Lévesque drove over a man lying on a Montréal street. A coroner later ruled there was no criminal responsibility in the death, and calls for a public inquiry were rejected. Lévesque was fined $25 for not wearing his glasses at the time of the accident
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