On this date in

935 Saint Wenceslas was murdered.

1066 William the Conqueror began the Norman conquest of England.

1542 Portuguese navigator Joao Rodrigues Cabrilho arrived in what is now San Diego, Calif.

1781 American forces began the siege of Yorktown.

1787 Congress approved the U.S. Constitution and sent it to the states for ratification.

1867 Toronto became the capital of Ontario.

1928 Biologist Alexander Fleming discovered a bacteria-killing mold that later became known as penicillin.

1939 Germany and Russia agree on a division of Poland.

1941 Ted Williams finished the baseball season with a batting average of .406, becoming the last player in major league history to finish a season with an average over .400.

1978 Pope John Paul I died 33 days after his papal election.

1989 Former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos died.

1991 Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis died.

1994 The MS Estonia sank killing 852 people.

2000 Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau died.

Born on this date:
Philospher Confucius (551-479 BCE)
Inventor Thomas Crapper (1836-1910)
Politician Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929)
Sports official Avery Brundage (1887-1975)
Playwright Elmer Rice (1892-1967)
Radio and television executive William S. Paley (1901-1990)
Television show host Ed Sullivan (1901-1974)
Boxer Max Schmeling (1905-2005)
Cartoonist Al Capp (1909-1979)
Tennis player Alice Marble (1913-1990)
Actor Peter Finch (1919-1977)
Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon (1919-1990)
Actor Marcello Mastroianni (1924-1996)