Today:
534 BC: Thespis of Icaria is recorded as the first actor to portray a character on stage, an event often cited in the history of Greek theatre.
1499: Perkin Warbeck, a Flemish pretender to the English throne, is executed for treason after attempting to escape the Tower of London.
1644: John Milton publishes his influential pamphlet, Areopagitica, arguing passionately against censorship and for freedom of the press.
1765: Frederick County, Maryland, repudiates the British Stamp Act, marking one of the earliest official acts of resistance to the tax in the American colonies.
1863: The Battle of Chattanooga begins during the American Civil War, with Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant reinforcing and counter-attacking Confederate troops in Tennessee.
1889: The first-ever jukebox is debuted at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.
1924: Edwin Hubble’s discovery that the Andromeda “nebula” is actually a separate galaxy, far outside the Milky Way, is first published in The New York Times.
1936: The first issue of Life magazine, the weekly American photojournalism publication created by Henry Luce, is published and hits newsstands.
1963: The BBC airs “An Unearthly Child,” the first episode of the long-running British science-fiction television series, Doctor Who.
1971: The People’s Republic of China is officially seated in the United Nations Security Council, replacing the Republic of China (Taiwan).