On this date in

1066 The forces of William the Conqueror defeated the Saxon army and killed King Harold II of England in the Battle of Hastings.

1322 Scotland gained its independence from England when Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeated King Edward II of England at Byland.

1586 Mary I of Scotland went on trial on charges of conspiring against Elizabeth I of England.

1789 George Washington proclaimed the first Thanksgiving Day.

1884 George Eastman patented paper-strip photographic film.

1912 Saloonkeeper John Schrank shot and wounded President Theodore Roosevelt.

1926 A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh was published.

1947 Chuck Yeager became the first person to pilot a plane at a speed faster than sound.

1962 A U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba took pictures of Soviet nuclear weapons being in installed, triggering the Cuban Missile Crisis.

1964 Leonid Brezhnev ousted Nikita Khruschev to become the leader of the Soviet Union; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1967 Joan Baez was arrested in a blockade of a military induction center in Oakland, Calif.

1968 Jim Hines became the first runner in history to break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters during the Olympics in Mexico City; Apollo 7 featured the first live telecast from a manned space capsule.

1979 Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers scored the first of his National Hockey League record 894 goals in a game against Vancouver.

Born on this date
William Penn (1644-1718)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)
Lillian Gish (1893-1993)
E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)
Agustin Lara (1900-1970)
Bill Justis (1926-1982)

Died on this date:
John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911)
Erwin Rommel (1891-1944)
Errol Flynn (1909-1959)
Dame Edith Evans (1888-1976)
Bing Crosby (1903-1977)
Keenan Wynn (1916-1986)
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Harold Robbins (1916-1997)
Cleveland Amory (1917-1998)
Patrick Dalzel-Job (1913-2003)
Freddy Fender (1937-2006)