1993 Youngest girl to fly across the U.S 11-year-old Vicki Van Meter takes off from Maine, landing in San Diego three days later.

1989 The Night Stalker Richard Ramirez is convicted in Los Angeles for 13 murders.

1984 Bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut A terrorist drives a car loaded with explosives into the compound, killing at least 23 people, including two Americans.

1984 The Cosby Show debuts on NBC. It became the highest-rated series in 20 years.

1977 Jumping the Shark The Fonz jumps a shark in this episode of Happy Days. The phrase "jumping the shark" has become a metaphor for when something has passed its peak and is desperately trying to hang on.

1976 The Captain and Tennille debuts on ABC.

1973 Battle of the Sexes 29-year-old Billie Jean King beats 55-year-old Bobby Riggs in three straight sets in this highly publicized tennis match.

1967 Queen Elizabeth II The famous ocean liner is christened at Clydebank, Scotland.

1955 You'll Never Get Rich (The Phil Silvers Show) debuts on CBS.

1952 The Jackie Gleason Show debuts on CBS.

1934 Lindbergh kidnapping Bruno Hauptmann is arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's 20-month-old son. He was found guilty and executed.

1873 Panic of 1873 The New York Stock Exchange is forced to close for the first time in its history. It reopened 10 days later.

1859 Electric range George B. Simpson of Washington D.C. receives a patent for the first electric range. Heat was created by passing electric current through coils of wire.

1565 Pedro Menéndes de Avilés massacres the French settlers at Fort Caroline, not because they were French, but because they were Lutherans.

1519 First circumnavigation of the globe Magellan sets sail from Spain. The trip was completed in September of 1522, although Magellan was killed in a battle with the natives of the Philippines in 1521.

1934 Sophia Loren (Sophia Scicoloni), Italian Oscar-winning actress. Film: The Millionairess (1960) and Two Women (1960, Oscar).

1929 Anne Meara American actress. TV: Archie Bunker's Place (Veronica) and Alf (Dorothy).

1924 James Galanos American fashion designer. Famous for his chiffons, he is considered one today's greatest American fashion designers.

1917 Fernando Rey d. 1994 (Fernando Casado Arambillet, Spanish actor. He was one of Spain's best-known actors. Film: The French Connection (1971, the French drug king) and Elisa, Vida mia (1977, Cannes Best Actor).

1917 Arnold "Red" Auerbach American basketball coach, manager. His 938 wins with the Boston Celtics makes him the NBA all-time win leader.

1901 Gus Edson d. 1966 cartoonist, creator of Dondi (1955).

1885 Jelly Roll Morton d. 1941 (Ferdinand Joseph Morton), American jazz musician, the first great composer in jazz.

1878 Upton Sinclair d. 1968 American author. Writings: The Jungle (1906).

1842 Sir James Dewar d. 1923 British chemist, physicist, inventor of the Dewar flask (the vacuum thermos bottle).

1994 Jule Styne b. 1905 American Tony-Oscar-winning composer. Broadway: Gypsy (1959) and Funny Girl (1964). Film: Three Coins in a Fountain (1954, Oscar).

1973 Jim Croce b. 1943 American singer. Music: You Don't Mess Around With Jim (1972) Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (1973, #1), and Time In A Bottle (1973, #1). He died in a plane crash.

1863 Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm b. 1785 German author. He and his brother wrote Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812-15).

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