Who was born on this date?

1122 - Holy Roman Emperor Henry V renounced the right of investiture in the Concordat of Worms, a struggle between the empire and the papacy over the control of church offices.

1459 - In the English Wars of the Roses, the Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Blore Heath.

1719 - Liechtenstein became an independent principality within the Holy Roman Empire.

1779 - John Paul Jones proclaimed “I have not yet begun to fight.” He spoke these words during a battle for the Revolutionary War when, as commander of the American warship "Bonhomme Richard", he led his troops to a victory over British warship, "H.M.S. Serapis".

1780 - British agent John Andre was captured by the Americans while carrying information that Benedict Arnold was about to surrender West Point. Andre was hanged in October.

1803 - British forces under Arthur Wellesley routed the army of the Sindhia of Gwalior at Assaye, India, in the second British-Mahratta War.

1806 - Meriwether Lewis and William Clark arrived back from the first return expedition to the U.S. Pacific coast; their journey lasted two years and four months.

1817 - Spain signs treaty with Britain to end slave trade.

1819 - French physicist Armand Fizeau born. He was the first to measure the speed of light successfully without using astronomical calculations.

1845 - Standardized rules were established for baseball.

1846 - The planet Neptune was discovered by astronomers Johann Gottfried Galle and Louis d'Arrest. The existence of Neptune, however, had been predicted earlier by Jean Joseph Le Verrier and John Adams Couch who, working independently, used mathematical calculations. Neptune is about 60 times the size of planet Earth.

1848 - John Curtis produced the first commercially available chewing-gum, which he called State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.

1868 - In a revolt known as the Lares Cry ("Grito de Lares"), the Republic of Puerto Rico was first proclaimed. The uprising used a plantation in the town of Lares belonging to Manuel Rojas as headquarters. The revolt failed because of lack of popular support and because the Spanish authorities knew about the revolt in advance.

1908 - Baseball term, “Merkle’s Boner”, and the expression, “You’re a bonehead,” began at the final game of the National League pennant between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Giants. The Giants were at bat, two men were on base and the score was tied 1-1. The batter safely hit, scoring the winning run, but, Chicago claimed Fred Merkle, formerly on first, never advanced to second, that instead he went straight to the dugout when he saw the winning run come in. Johnny Evers of the Chicago Cubs tried to tag Merkle but was prevented by fans pouring on to the field. Fans termed the play a ‘boner’. Later, the game was called a tie, and the teams met again for a playoff, a 4-2 Cubs win.

1912 - Released to audiences today was the first Mack Sennett "Keystone Kops" comedy movie.

1914 - Dusseldorf is target of first British Air Command in Germany in World War I.

1923 - On Decca records, Jan Savitt and his orchestra recorded "720 in the Books".

1930 - Johannes Ostermeier of Athegnenber, Germany, patented flashbulbs.

1940 - The George Cross, the highest British civilian award for acts of courage, was instituted.

1951 - Broadcast from New York was the CBS-TV show, "Crusade for Freedom". It was the first transcontinental telecast received on the United States west coast.

1951 - United Nations forces capture "Heartbreak Ridge" in Korea from Communists.

1952 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rocky Marciano became the world heavyweight boxing champion when he knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round, for his 43rd consecutive victory.

1952 - Pay Television for sporting events got its start with the Marciano-Walcott fight, seen coast to coast in the United States, in 49 theatres in 31 cities.

1956 - Britain and France referred the Suez Canal dispute to the United Nations Security Council.

1957 - Romania's request to join Balkan Pact is refused by Greece.

1962 - Twelve-year-old Steveland Morris Judkins, stage name Little Stevie Wonder, recorded his first single, Thank You for Loving Me All the Way, for Motown on this date. Blind from birth, but proficient on piano, organ, drums, and harmonica, and an ebullient gospel-styled singer, Wonder was billed as "The Twelve-Year-Old Genius," in an attempt to identify him with blind singer and pianist Ray Charles.

1962 - The Jetsons debuted on ABC's Sunday night prime time lineup on this date. The comedy cartoon series about a 21st century family marked the debut of color television on the ABC network.

1967 - Memphis, Tennessee's The Box Tops hit #1 with their record, "The Letter". The song was stayed at #1 for four weeks, and spent 13 weeks on the charts, but The Box Tops reorganized right after their first hit and never again reached #1.

1969 - The Northern Star printed the first of many rumors that Beatle singer Paul McCartney was dead. Its first alarming headline, published on this date, read, "Clues Hint at Beatle Death," and it started many speculative opinions, most of which were derived from interpretations of Beatle album covers and song lyrics.

1971 - "Stick-Up" gave the Honey Cone their second gold record on the Hot Wax label. It followed-up their #1 hit, "Want Ads" from June 12, 1971.

1972 - Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, aimed at tackling corruption, violence and inflation.

1973 - In a remarkable comeback, Juan Domingo Peron was reelected Argentinean president after having been deposed in 1955. Peron was an army general who became president of Argentina in 1946, and was greatly aided by his popular wife Evita (Maria Duarte Eva Peron). Peron was ousted by the military in 1955, and went into exile to Spain. Peron died in 1974.

1976 - South Africa decided to allow multi-racial teams to represent the country in international sport.

1978 - Egypt's President Anwar Sadat returns home to hero's welcome after Camp David summit resulting in agreement on framework for peace with Israel.

1982 - Amin Gemayel was sworn in as Lebanon's new president, to replace his brother Bashir, who was killed in a bomb explosion.

1986 - For the 52-week season from 1985-1986, NBC-TV won the ratings race. "The Cosby Show" and "Family Ties" respectively rated #1 and #2 that year. NBC would repeat their success the following year. "The Cosby Show" remained number one through the 1989-1990 season.

1990 - Swiss citizens voted to ban the construction of nuclear power plants for the rest of the century but not to abandon nuclear power altogether.

1990 - Iraq publicly threatened to destroy Middle East oil fields and to attack Israel if any nation tried to force it from Kuwait.

1991 - Armenia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

1991 - United Nations weapons inspectors find documents detailing Iraq's secret nuclear weapons program. The find in Baghdad triggered a standoff with authorities in Iraq.

1992 - General Le Duc Anh, Vietnam's top military man and a powerful communist party official, was elected state president by the national assembly.

1992 - Frances's deadliest storm in 34 years kills at least 32 people.

1993 - Sydney, Australia, picked over Beijing as site for 2000 Summer Olympics.

1993 - Blacks were allowed a role in the South African government after a parlimentary vote.

1993 - The Israeli parliament ratified the Israel-PLO accord.