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January 5th |
Pope Paul VI met with Greek patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem. it was the first meeting of Catholic and Orthodox leaders in 525 years. |
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January 11th |
The United States Surgeon General issued the first ever government report that indicated that smoking may be hazardous. |
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January 12th |
American entrepreneur, Jeff Bezos, was born in New Mexico. He is the founder, president and CEO of Amazon.com. |
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January 13th |
American actress, Penelope Ann Miller, was born in Los Angeles. |
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January 27th |
American actress, Bridget Fonda, was born in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of actor Peter Fonda and the niece of actress Jane Fonda. |
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January 29th |
The ninth winter Olympic Games opened in Innsbruck, Austria. |
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February 11th |
The Beatles music band performed their first live concert in the United States. |
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March 6th |
American boxing champion, Cassius Clay, officially changed his name to Muhammad Ali. The name means, beloved of Allah. |
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March 6th |
Constantine II ascended to the throne of Greece. He was the last king of Greece who reigned between 1964 and 1974 when the monarchy was abolished. |
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March 9th |
French actress, Juliette Binoche, was born in Paris. She got her big break in movies when she was cast in Philip Kaufman's film The Unbearable Lightness of Being. |
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March 9th |
Production of the first Ford Mustang was completed by the Ford Motor Company. Still in production (2006), it is one of the company's best selling models of all time. |
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March 17th |
American actor, Rob Lowe, was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. He became famous at an early age after starring in several successful teen films of the 1980's, the most notable of which was the hit movie, St. Elmo's Fire. |
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March 20th |
The European Space Research Organization was established. |
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March 24th |
American actress, Annabella Sciorra, was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut. |
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March 27th |
An earthquake, measuring 9.2 on the Rochter scale hit South Central Alaska, killing 125 people as well as causing tremendous damage on the city of Anchorage. |
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March 28th |
The first unsanctioned (pirate) radio station was established in England. The station broadcast its signal from a ship that was anchored off the coast of Southern England. |
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March 30th |
One of the most popular TV shows on American television history, Jeopardy, debuted. It aired for 20 years on the NBC channel. The creator of Jeopardy, Merv Griffin, also created the hit show, Wheel of Fortune. |
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April 7th |
New Zealand born actor, Russell Crowe, was born in Wellington, New Zealand. His first major success came in 2000 with the highly successful film, Gladiator. |
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May 27th |
Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru died while in office. He was a follower of Ghandi's ideals and one of the most influential persons in 20th century India. |
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May 28th |
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed. |
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June 11th |
French Formula One driver, Jean Alesi, was born in Avignon. Although his career spanned an impressive 11 years throughout which he was a very popular driver, he only won one of the 200 races he attended, the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. |
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June 11th |
Eight children and two teachers were murdered at an elementary school in Cologne, Germany. The murders were committed by a schizophrenic World War II veteran, Walter Seifert. |
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June 12th |
Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison by the South African authorities. |
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June 15th |
Danish footballer, Michael Laudrup, was born in Copenhagen. He is widely considered as the most successful Danish football player of all time. |
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June 16th |
Leonid Brezhnev became president of the Soviet Union. |
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June 17th |
German swimmer, Michael Gross, was born in Frankfurt. Nicknamed, The Albatross, he is widely acknowledged as the greatest swimmer of the 1980's. who won 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze metals in two Olympiads. |
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June 22nd |
American author, Dan Brown, was born in Exeter, New Hampshire. He is best known for writing the controversial 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. |
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July 6th |
Malawi declared its independence from the rule of the United Kingdom. |
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July 26th |
American actress, Sandra Bullock, was born in Arlington County, Virginia. |
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July 30th |
German footballer, Jurgen Klinsmann, was born in Goppingen. He is considered as one of the great German footballers of the late 20th century. |
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August 4th |
Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were found dead in Mississippi. |
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September 2nd |
American actor, Keanu Reeves, was born in Beirut, Lebanon. |
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September 18th |
King of Greece, Constantine II, married Danish princess Anne-Marie. |
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September 21st |
Malta gained its independent from the United Kingdom. It had been part of the British Empire since 1814. |
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September 27th |
The Warren Commission released its report in regards to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The commission's report concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone and that no conspiracy existed. Over the years there have been countless rumours and speculations in regards to the veracity of the report. |
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September 30th |
Italian actress and model, Monica Bellucci, was born in Umbria, Italy. She began her modelling career as a way of earning money which would help her pursue her law school studies, but was subsequently lured to the entertainment industry full time. |
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October 10th |
The 1964 Summer Olympics opened in Tokyo, Japan. |
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October 12th |
The Soviet Union launched the Voskhod 1 into orbit. It was the first multi person spacecraft in history and the first space flight where the crew did not have to wear space suits. |
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October 14th |
Leonid Brezhnev became general secretary of the communist party and leader of the Soviet Union, succeeding Nikita Khrushchev. |
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October 22nd |
Croatian basketball player, Drazen Petrovic, was born in Sibenik Croatia. He was a star European basketball player and one of the first Europeans to achieve a dominant role in the NBA. Tragically, he had established himself, as the star of the New York Nets team the year he died in a car accident while vacationing in Germany. |
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October 22nd |
French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, refused to accept the Nobel Prize for Literature after stating that he never accepted official honors and that he did not want to align himself with any particular institution. |
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October 26th |
The last execution took place in Australia. |
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November 2nd |
King Saud of Saudi Arabia was deposed after a coup led by his half-brother Faisal who replaced him as King. |
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December 4th |
American actress, Marisa Tomei, was born in New York. She was one of the stars of the soap opera As the World Turns and got her break into movies with her performance in 1992's 'My Cousin Vinny', for which she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. |
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December 8th |
American actress, Teri Hatcher, was born in Sunnyvale, California. She became famous for her role as Lois Lane in the television series Lois and Clark. She achieved stardom for starring in the highly successful television show, Desperate Housewives. |
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December 19th |
Lithuanian basketball player, Arvydas Sabonis, was born in Kaunas. He is widely considered as one of the most talented centers in the history of basketball. |