Feast Day of St. Bernadette celebrated especially at Lourdes, France where the location of healing waters was revealed to him.

1996 Mad Cow Poke Disease Oprah does a segment on her show about mad cow disease, in which she states, "It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger." She was then sued by Texas cattleman claiming the show made false and disparaging remarks about beef. Oprah eventually won the lawsuit.

1994 First Woman Inducted into the National Comedy Hall of Fame Minnie Pearl, known for her trademark "Howdeeeee!" is inducted in.

1987 The U.S. government announces that new forms of animal life created through gene splicing are patentable.

1986 First U.S. birth of a surrogate test-tube baby at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Ohio.

1972 Lightning Strikes Roy C. Sullivan struck by lightning for the 4th of his record-breaking 7 times.  Source: Guinness Book of World Records

1955 Polio Nationwide vaccinations against the disease begin, using the Salk vaccine.

1947 A French ship loaded with nitrate explodes in Texas City, Texas, leading to a series of fires and explosions, including a chemical plant, killing over 500 people and virtually destroying the town.

1943 First LSD trip Swiss chemist, and co-discoverer of lysergic acid diethylamide (1938), Albert Hofmann accidently rubs against it and experiences "an uninterrupted stream of fantastic images."

1926 The Book-of-the-Month Club is founded. Their first selection was Lolly Willowes, or the Loving Huntsman by Sylvia Townsend Warner.

1900 First Book Stamps Issued by the U.S. Post Office.  They contained 12, 24, or 48 2¢ stamps.

1862 Slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia by act of Congress. Money was allocated to compensate slave owners and to provide passage for former slaves wishing to emigrate to other countries.

1971 Selena d. 1995 (Selena Quintanilla Pérez), Mexican-American singer.  She was murdered by the president of her fan club.

1963 Jimmy Osmond American singer, the youngest of The Osmonds.

1947 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.), American basketball player. He appeared in the movies Airplane (1980) and Fletch (1985).  He was also Bruce Lee's ultimate opponent in Game of Death (1978).

1944 Greg Howard attorney, cartoonist, created Sally Forth (1982).

1935 Bobby Vinton American singer. Music: Roses Are Red (1962, #1) and Blue Velvet (1963, #1).

1929 Edie Adams (Elizabeth Edith Enke), American actress, singer. TV: The '60s Muriel cigar commercials - Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?

1927 Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger), 265th Pope (2005-).

1924 Henry Mancini d. 1994 American Oscar-Grammy-winning composer. Music: Moon River (1961) and The Pink Panther (1964).

1921 Peter Ustinov British Oscar-Emmy-winning actor. Film: Spartacus (1960, Oscar) and Topkapi (1964, Oscar).

1920 Barry Nelson (Robert Nielsen), American actor. TV: My Favorite Husband (George Cooper). He also played 007 in the 1954 live TV-version of Casino Royale making him the first James Bond.

1890 Billy De Beck d. 1942 (William Morgan De Beck), American cartoonist, created Barney Google (1919) and Snuffy Smith (1934).

1889 Sir Charles Chaplin d. 1977 British silent film actor who endeared audiences with his "little tramp" character. He also co-founded United Artists (1919).

1867 Wilbur Wright d. 1912 American aviator. He and his brother Orville built and flew the first manned heavier-than-air flying machine (1903).

1844 Anatole France d. 1924 (Jacques Anatole Thibault), French Nobel-winning author, Penguin Island (1908), The Gods Are Athirst (1912), and Revolt of the Angels (1913).

1660 Sir Hans Sloane d. 1753 English physician. Upon his death, he gave a collection of items which formed the nucleus of the British Museum.

2002 Robert Urich b. 1946 American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Vega$ (Dan Tanna) and Spencer: For Hire (title role).

1994 Ralph Waldo Ellison b. 1914 American author. Writings: Invisible Man (1952, winner of the National Book Award, it chronicled a black man's humiliations in the South and Harlem).

1992 Neville Brand b. 1921 actor. TV: Laredo (Ranger Reese Bennett) and The Untouchables (Al Capone).

1850 Madame Tussaud b. 1761 (Marie Grosholtz ), French wax sculptor. Her wax museum (founded 1835) is one of the major tourist attractions in London, and now has branches in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Copenhagen and New York City. She was imprisoned for being a royalist during the French Revolution and sentenced to execution by guillotine. However, she was saved for her talents in wax and employed to make death masks of the victims of the guillotine, including Marie Antoinette, Marat, and Robespierre.

1828 Self-portrait. Francisco Goya b. 1746 (Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes), Spanish painter.

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