780 Chinese astronomers record a solar eclipse for the first time in history.
1456 Ottoman forces capture Athens.
1783 Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier stage the first public demonstration of an unmanned hot-air balloon, which reaches an altitude of 500 metres.
1798 Death of Giovanni Casanova, the celebrated Italian adventurer, at the age of 73.
1833 Birth of Garnet Wolseley, British soldier who became the first British High Commissioner in Cyprus.
1878 Under the Convention of Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to Britain.
1912 A great fire sweeps through Constantinople, destroying 1,000 homes.
1917 Columbia University and the Pulitzer Prize Board award the Pulitzer Prizes for the first time.
1929 Birth of Karolos Papoulias, who would later serve as President of Greece.
1943 A military coup in Argentina deposes President Ramón Castillo.
1951 The United States Supreme Court upholds the right of individual states to require proof of non-communist affiliation from job applicants.
1956 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev delivers a speech denouncing the practices of Stalin.
1975 Birth of Angelina Jolie, American actress.
1984 Bruce Springsteen releases Born in the USA.
1989 Chinese troops move into Tiananmen Square in Beijing to crush pro-democracy demonstrations. Around one million people, the majority of them young students, had filled the square on that day. The army detained 10,000 civilians; official figures put the death toll at 300, though unofficial estimates suggest as many as 3,600 were killed.
1991 After 20 days of general strikes, Albania's communist government under Fatos Nano resigns.
1997 Konstantinos Mitsotakis and deputy foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou are among those honoured with the Abdi İpekçi Prize for Greek-Turkish friendship.
2001 King Dipendra of Nepal dies, three days after killing most members of his own family.
2001 Death of Greek actor Dinos Iliopoulos, at the age of 88.
2004 In Granby, Colorado, Marvin John Heemeyer destroys 13 buildings with a specially armoured bulldozer before taking his own life. The rampage stemmed from a long-running legal dispute with local authorities.
2007 Death of Greek actor Sotiris Moustakas, at the age of 67.
2008 Greek actor Nikos Sergianopoulos is found murdered in his home.
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