Feast Day of St. Braulio patron saint of Aragon, Spain.

1992 Mike Tyson The boxer is sentenced to six years in prison and fined $30,000 for raping beauty contestant Desiree Washington.

1953 Polio Dr. Jonas Salk announces he has successfully tested an anti-polio vaccine on 90 adults and children.

1911 First black assistant U.S. attorney general William Henry Lewis of Massachusetts begins serving.

1889 First use of the term "fans" The Kansas Times and Star uses the term to describe baseball followers.

1872 Fire Extinguisher The first patent is issued to Thomas J. Martin.

1790 First naturalization act passed by Congress, provided for uniform naturalization based on a two year residency.

1788 Slavery Massachusetts prohibits slave trade.

1973 Larry Page American computer scientist, co-founder of Google (1998).

1957 Leeza Gibbons American reporter. TV: Entertainment Tonight (co-anchor).

1954 Curtis Sliwa American crime fighter, founder of the Guardian Angels (1978), an unarmed anti-crime unit.

1951 Martin Short Canadian Emmy-winning comedian. TV: Saturday Night Live and Ed Grimley on SCTV.

1950 Teddy Pendergrass American singer, Never Knew Love Like This Before (1980).

1949 Vicki Lawrence American actress. TV: Mama's Family (Mama). She also recorded the song The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (1972).

1944 Diana Ross American singer, Supreme.

1943 Bob Woodward (Robert Upshur), American journalist. He and Carl Bernstein uncovered the Watergate scandal while working for the Washington Post.

1939 James Caan American actor. Film: Brian's Song (1971, the dying football player) and The Godfather (1972, Sonny Corleone).

1934 Alan Arkin American Tony-winning actor, director. Stage: Enter Laughing (1963, Tony). Film: Catch 22 (1970).

1931 Leonard Nimoy American actor. TV: Star Trek (Spock). Music: Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space (1967).

1930 Sandra Day O'Connor American lawyer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice. She was the first woman associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1981).

1923 Bob Elliott American Peabody-Emmy-winning comic actor, member of the radio comedy team Bob & Ray. TV: Get a Life (as the bathrobe-wearing father - he is also Chris' real-life father).

1911 Tennessee Williams d. 1983 (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).

1908 Betty MacDonald d. 1958 American author. Writings: The Egg and I (1945), which was made into the 1947 film featuring Ma and Pa Kettle.

1874 Robert Frost d. 1963 American Pulitzer-winning poet. Writings: A Boy's Will and North of Boston.

1753 Sir Benjamin Thompson Rumford d. 1814 American-born British scientist, proved that heat was not a form of liquid matter.  He is also improved stoves and is credited with inventing thermal underwear.

2004 Jan Berry b. 1941 American singer, with Jan and Dean.

1973 Sir Noel Pierce Coward b. 1899 English playwright, composer, actor, director. Writings: Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

1969 John Kennedy Toole b. 1937 American author. Writings: A Confederacy of Dunces (written in 1963, but not published until 11 years after he committed suicide), which won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

1923 Sarah Bernhardt b. 1844 (Rosine Bernard), French actress, called Divine Sarah. She is considered the first great actress to appear in a motion picture (1900). She continued her successful career after her leg was amputated in 1915.

1916 Susan Elizabeth Blow b. 1843 American educator, "Mother of American Kindergartens," established the first American public kindergarten (1873).

1902 Cecil John Rhodes b. 1853 English colonial statesman. He established Rhodesia and Rhodes scholarships. His will declared that his estate should be used to secure British world domination, and that Rhodes scholars should strive to unify English-speaking people.

1892 Walt Whitman b. 1819 American poet. Writings: Leaves of Grass.

1831 Richard Allen b. 1760 American clergyman. Born a slave, he helped establish the first African American U.S. church (1816), the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Philadelphia, of which he was bishop, making him the first African American bishop in the U.S. Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church

1827 Ludwig van Beethoven b. 1770 German composer. He is considered the greatest composer in the history of music; his 5th and 9th symphonies are unequalled.

1814 Joseph Ignace Guillotin b. 1738 French physician. His campaign for the use of a machine to provide humane executions led to the invention of the guillotine by a German mechanic.

1649 John Winthrop b. 1588 English colonizer. He was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630) and the first president of the united colonies of New England (1645).

1378 Gregory XI b. ???? French-born religious leader, 201st Pope (1370-78).

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