Who was born on this date?

1715 - Thomas Masters became the first American granted an English patent. He was the first to master cleaning and curing Indian corn.

1783 - The last British troops left New York City at the end of the American War of Independence.

1837 - The silk power loom was patented by William Crompton of Taunton, Massachusetts.

1882 - Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta "Iolanthe" opened simultaneously in New York and London.

1884 - J.B. Meyenberg, of St. Louis, Missouri patented evaporated milk.

1894 - The Boston Globe issued the first color newspaper supplement for the Harvard vs Yale football game.

1901 - Gustav Mahler conducted the world premiere of his "Fourth Symphony" in Munich.

1903 - "Sunny" Bob Fitzsimmons beat George Gardner in a bareknuckle boxing match in San Francisco, California. Sunny Bob became the first boxer win three different championships. This time he won the light heavyweight crown; in 1891 he won the middleweight crown and, in 1897, he won the heavyweight crown.

1920 - WTAW radio in College Station, Texas broadcast the first play-by-play coverage of a football game; in which Texas University beat the Aggies of Texas A&M, 7-3.

1935 - King George II returned to Greece after 12 years of exile, restored to his throne by a referendum.

1936 - The Anti-Comintern Pact, an agreement between Japan and Germany to collaborate in opposition to the spread of Communism, was signed.

1940 - Football great Tom Harmon's uniform, number 98, was retired by athletic officials at the University of Michigan.

1941 - The British battleship Barham was sunk by a German U-boat off Sollum killing 848.

1944 - For the first time CBS radio presented "The FBI in Peace and War". It became one of radio's longest-running crime shows, lasting 14 years.

1944 - At age 87, the first commissioner of baseball, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis died after serving as czar of baseball for 24 years. While his appointment and terms were questioned early on, he is considered one who helped save the game.

1945 - A parody of Gilbert and Sullivan's classic, "H.M.S. Pinafore", was broadcast on radio's "The Fred Allen Show". The spoof was called, "The Brooklyn Pinafore". Shirley Booth and baseball great Leo ‘The Lip’ Durocher acted in the skit.

1947 - The American Motion Picture industry voted on this date to blacklist ten professionals who were held in contempt of Congress. They would not declare under oath about not being Communists. The barring was an unprecedented act of self-censorship. The blacklisted members, referred to as the Unfriendly Ten, were among the most talented and creative writers, directors and actors in the industry. They were deprived of the right to work, though they were found guilty of nothing. A group of Hollywood's top celebrities banded together to protest the unfair blacklisting, among them John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Burt Lancaster, William Wyler, Sterling Hayden, Billy Wilder, Philip Dunne, Ira Gershwin, and Jane Wyatt. A petition with 500 signatures was sent to Washington.

1949 - "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" hit the music charts, becoming THE musical hit for the Christmas season. Gene Autry’s rendition is the most popular, but 80 different versions of the song have been recorded, with almost 20,000,000 copies sold.

1952 - In London, England, Agatha Christie's play, "The Mousetrap" opened at the Ambassadors’ Theatre.

1952 - England suffered their first ever soccer defeat at Wembley stadium, losing 6-3 to Hungary.

1955 - After spending the summer at the top of the United State's pop charts, "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets hit #1 in Great Britain.

1960 - Radio actors lost their jobs when CBS radio cancelled five serials (soap operas). Gone from the airwaves were: "The Second Mrs. Burton" after 14 years, "Young Doctor Malone", "Whispering Streets" after 8 years, "Right to Happiness" after 21 years, and "Ma Perkins" after 27 years. Radio soaps' heyday was in 1940, when there were as many as 45 on the air each day.

1961 - The Boston Celtics' Bob Cousy, scored his 15,000th career point in the NBA. Only one other player scored more, Dolph Schayes.

1963 - United States President John F. Kennedy was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, three days after his assassination.

1969 - Beatle John Lennon returned his MBE, awarded in 1965, to the queen to protest Britain's policy in Biafra -- now incorporated into Nigeria -- and its support of the United States in Vietnam.

1970 - Japanese writer Yukio Mishima committed public ritual suicide in Tokyo, a protest against the westernization of Japan and the weakness of its post-World War II constitution.

1971 - Denmark and Norway became the first NATO members to establish full diplomatic relations with North Vietnam.

1972 - New Zealand's Labour Party swept to power with a huge majority.

1973 - In Greece, military dictator George Papadopoulos was overthrown by rival officers in a bloodless coup.

1973 - The United States' maximum speed limits were reduced to 55 miles and hour by an act of Congress as a form of energy conservation. It was also intended to save an estimated 9,000 lives each year.

1974 - The Irish Republican Army was outlawed in Britain following the deaths of 21 people in a pub bombing in Birmingham three days previously.

1975 - Suriname achieved independence from the Netherlands.

1984 - "Golden Bear", Jack Nicklaus, sunk an 8-foot birdie putt on the last hole to win the $240,000 second Skins Game. He beat Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer and 1983 winner Gary Player.

1985 - A California judge ordered Cathy Smith, the woman who gave comedian John Belushi heroin before his untimely drug-induced death, to stand trial for murder.

1986 - The Miami Dolphin's Don Shula ended rumors about his possible move to another NFL franchise when he signed with the Dolphins again.

1986 - John Poindexter resigned as United States national security adviser and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was dismissed from the National Security Council after the Iran-Contra scandal broke.

1992 - The Czech parliament voted to split the country into separate Czech and Slovak republics from January 1, 1993.