39 Titus (Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus), Roman emperor, is born; he went down in history for the capture of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the destruction of the Temple of Solomon.
1066 The day of the Granada massacre, when an enraged Muslim mob kills most of the city’s Jewish population.
1865 Rudyard Kipling, English writer, is born; he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907.
1880 The British colony of Transvaal in Africa declares independence, triggering the Boer War.
1922 The USSR is founded.
1944 French writer Romain Rolland dies at the age of 78.
1946 Patti Smith, American singer and poet, is born.
1957 Singer-songwriter Nikos Portokaloglou is born.
1961 A group of 83 young people - Friends of the Music of Mikis Theodorakis - send a letter of protest to the press over the “unjust and anti-intellectual stance of radio stations”, citing the exclusion of his songs from broadcasts; the name Manolis Loizos (Manos Loizos) appears second on the list.
1963 Nicosia is divided in two following the creation of the “Green Line” after intercommunal unrest.
1968 Baron Julius de Reuter, founder of the Reuters news agency, dies of pneumonia.
1972 After two weeks of heavy bombing, US President Nixon agrees to the start of talks with the government in Hanoi.
1974 The Beatles officially disband following a court ruling.
1975 The Polytechnic Trial concludes; Ioannidis, Varnavas and Dertilis are sentenced to life imprisonment, seventeen defendants receive prison sentences including former dictator Papadopoulos, and thirteen are acquitted.
1981 To tackle smog in central Athens, staggered shop opening hours are introduced along with alternating traffic circulation based on odd and even number plates.
1990 The National Bank of Greece in Cyprus is privatised.
1993 Israel and the Vatican restore diplomatic relations.
1994 Yasser Arafat states that the Palestinian state will extend to the West Bank and have Jerusalem as its capital.
1997 In Algeria, political parties claim the election results were rigged; this is followed by a mass killing in two villages leaving 400 dead.
2006 Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging.
2009 In China, an oil pipeline ruptures, releasing 150,000 gallons into the Wei River, which then flows into the Yellow River.
2010 Bobby Farrell, singer of Boney M, dies at the age of 61.
2011 A day is “lost” due to a change in the time zone in Samoa and Tokelau.
This article was originally published on Polignosi.