1990 Terri Schiavo Terri Schiavo collapses in her home after suffering a cardiac arrest, which resulted in severe brain damage.  A lengthy legal battle would ensue over the right of her husband to have Terri's feeding tube removed.  It was eventually removed in 2005 resulting in her death.

1987 Iran-Contra Affair Fawn Hall admits to destroying papers for her boss Lt. Col. Oliver North.

1981 9-year-old bank robber A boy robs a New York bank at gunpoint. He got away with $118, but later surrendered to the FBI.

1972 Love, American Style airs a segment called Love and the Happy Day starring Ron Howard and Anson Williams. Happy Days was a spin-off of this segment.

1964 Muhammad Ali The boxing legend wins his first of three heavyweight titles by beating Sonny Liston.

1940 First televised hockey game W2XBS of New York broadcast a game between the New York Dodgers and the Montreal Canadians.

1913 16th Amendment goes into effect It gave Congress the power to lay and collect income taxes.

1837 First practical electric motor is patented, by Thomas Davenport.

1836 Samuel Colt patents his revolver.

1791 Bank of the U.S is chartered.

1751 First performing monkey in the U.S A New York City man charged a schilling to watch a two-foot tall monkey walk a tightrope and dance. Source: Famous First Facts

1961 Davey Allison d. 1993 (David Carl Allison), American race car driver, NASCAR 1987 Rookie of the Year. He died from injuries received from a crash while trying to land his newly-purchased helicopter at Talladega Superspeedway.

1943 George Harrison d. 2001 British singer, one of the Beatles.

1938 Diane Baker actress, director, writer.

1937 Tom Courtenay English actor. Film: Doctor Zhivago (1965) and The Dresser (1983).

1928 Paul Elvstrom Danish yachtsman. He tied the record for longest span of Olympic competition (1948-88). He also pioneering the technique of "hiking" (aka "sitting out."). He was the first to use toe-straps in the bottom of his dinghy to enable him to get more of his body weight outside the boat. Source: Guinness Book of World Records

1918 Bobby Riggs American tennis player. He lost to Billy Jean King in "The match of the century" (1973).

1917 Anthony Burgess d. 1993 (John Anthony Burgess Wilson), British author. Writings: A Clockwork Orange (1962).

1913 Jim Backus d. 1989 (James Gilmore Backus), American actor. TV: Gilligan's Island (Thurston Howell III) and Mr. Magoo (voice of Magoo).

1913 Gert Frobe d. 1988 (Karl-Gerhard Frobe), actor. Film: Goldfinger (1964, Auric Goldfinger).

1907 Mary Coyle Chase d. 1981 American Pulitzer-winning playwright. Plays: Harvey (1944, about an oversized imaginary rabbit).

1901 Zeppo Marx d. 1979 (Herbert Marx), American comedian, one of the Marx Brothers.

1873 Enrico Caruso d. 1921 Italian tenor, known for his power and control in performances such as Rigoletto and Pagliacci.

2006 Henry Morris b. 1918 American young earth creationist, considered the father of modern creation science.  Co-wrote The Genesis Flood (1961) which used the great flood to explain many geological formations.

2006 Darren McGavin b. 1922 (William Lyle Richardson), American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Mike Hammer (1957, title role), The Night Stalker (Carl Kolchak) and Murphy Brown (Murphy's dad). Film: A Christmas Story (1983, Father)

1999 Glenn Theodore Seaborg b. 1912 American Nobel-winning chemist. He was the co-discoverer of plutonium (1940), for which he shared a 1951 Nobel Prize, the isotope plutonium 239 (1941), americium (1944), curium (1944), berkelium (1949), and californium (1950).

1985 Rudd Weatherwax b. 1907 American actor, animal trainer.  Lassie's trainer for the film Lassie Come Home (1943) and the TV series.  He is also the uncle of Ken Weatherwax who played Pugsley in The Addams Family.

1983 Tennessee Williams b. 1911 (Thomas Lanier Williams), American Pulitzer-winning playwright. Writings: The Glass Menagerie (1944), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947, Pulitzer), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955, Pulitzer).

1914 Sir John Tenniel b. 1820 English illustrator. He illustrated Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

1895 Royal Earl House b. 1814 American inventor. He patented a printing telegraph (1846), and was the first to use stranded wire for telegraph lines.

1799 William Dawes b. 1745 American patriot. He rode with Paul Revere on his famous ride (1775) warning of the British advancement.

1723 Sir Christopher Wren b. 1632 English architect, designed and built St. Paul's Cathedral in London (1675-1710) and designed the towers of Westminster Abbey (1713).

1713 Frederick I b. 1657 first King of Prussia (1701-13).

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