1797
The U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, also known as “Old Ironsides,” was christened in Boston’s harbor.
1940
Ernest Hemingway’s novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” was first published.
1944
U.S. troops captured the German city of Aachen (AH’-kuhn) — the first German city to fall to American forces in World War II.
1966
144 people, 116 of them children, were killed when a coal waste landslide engulfed a school and some 20 houses in Aberfan, Wales.
2013
A seventh grader at Sparks Middle School in Sparks, Nevada, shot and killed a teacher and wounded two classmates before taking his own life.
2014
Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide for shooting and killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The conviction was later upgraded to murder; Pistorius was released on parole in January 2024.
Birthdays
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is 75. Former first daughter Patti Davis is 72. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian (kahr-DASH’-ee-uhn) is 44. MLB pitcher Zack Greinke is 41. Actor Glenn Powell is 36. Country singer Kane Brown is 31. Singer Doja Cat is 29.