1991 Dead Sea Scrolls Photographs of the scrolls are made public by the Huntington Library in California.

1989 Woman wins custody of her frozen embryos Her husband had filed for divorce saying he no longer wanted to be a father.

1982 Pro Football's first mid-season strike The 57-day strike begins, the longest strike in professional sports.

1976 Baa Baa Black Sheep debuts on NBC.

1970 First game of N.F.L. Monday Night Football The Cleveland Browns beat the New York Jets (31-21).

1969 First NFL 98-Yard Punt Steve O'Neal of the New York Jets boots one against the Denver Broncos.

1968 Adam 12 debuts on NBC.

1965 First American to swim the English Channel round trip 37-year-old Ted Erikson makes the swim in 30 hours and three minutes.

1897 Is There a Santa Claus? Francis Pharcellus Church's famous New York Sun response to 8-year-old Virginia O' Hanlon's letter, is published.

1823 Mormons According to Mormon founder Joseph Smith, he has a vision telling him the hiding place of the plates of gold on which the Book of Mormon was written. He would receive the plates from an angel four years later.

1784 First successful U.S. daily newspaper The Pennsylvania Packet & General Advertiser begins publication. The U.S. Constitution was first published in this paper.

1776 American Revolution Nathan Hale is captured by the British and accused of spying. As he was being hanged the next day he proclaimed: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

1962 Rob Morrow American actor. TV: Northern Exposure.

1950 Bill Murray American Emmy-winning comedian. TV: Saturday Night Live.

1947 Stephen Edwin King American horror writer. Writings: Carrie (1974) and The Shining (1976).

1935 Henry Gibson American comedian. TV: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (known for his verse).

1934 Birger Pellas Swedish man. He grew the world's longest mustache: 10 ft. as measured in 1991. Source: Guinness Book of World Records

1931 Larry Hagman American actor. TV: I Dream of Jeanie (Master) and Dallas (J.R. Ewing).

1918 Rand Brooks d. 2003 American actor. TV: The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (Corporal Boone). Film: Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Lucky Jenkins in 12 movies.

1912 Chuck Jones d. 2002 (Charles M. Jones), American animator, helped create Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Speedy Gonzalez, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Pepé LePew, Porky Pig, and Tweetie Pie.  Cartoons: One Froggy Evening (1955, with the reluctant singing frog), What's Opera Doc? (1957, voted #1 greatest cartoon of all time), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966).

1902 Sir Allen Lane d. 1970 British publisher. He founded Penguin Books (1935), which introduced low-priced paperbacks to the world.

1874 Gustav Holst d. 1934 English composer. Music: The Planets (1919) and The Perfect Fool (1923).

1866 H.G. Wells d. 1946 (Herbert George Wells), English novelist, The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).

1863 John Bunny d. 1915 American actor, comedian, the first comic star of the American screen (1910). This 300-pound actor made over 200 comic shorts during his brief five-year film career.

1853 Heike Onnes d. 1956 Dutch Nobel-winning physicist, first to liquefy helium (1908), and coined the term "super-conductivity" after discovering the drop in electrical resistance exhibited by solids at extremely low temperatures.

1756 John Loudon McAdam d. 1836 Scottish engineer, creator of asphalt.

2007 Rex Humbard b. 1919 American televangelist, founder of the Cathedral of Tomorrow (1952). He was the first televangelist to have a nationally-broadcast TV show (1952). Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church

1998 Florence Griffith Joyner b. 1959 (Flo Jo), American athlete, "World's Fastest Woman." She was the first U.S. female athlete to win four medals at a single Olympics (1988, three gold and a silver), and was the co-chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness. She died of epilepsy at age 38.

1974 Walter Brennan b. 1894 American Oscar-winning actor. TV: The Real McCoys (Amos McCoy). He was the first actor to win three Oscars (1936, 38, 40).

1974 Jacqueline Susann b. 1921 American actress, author, wrote Valley of the Dolls (1966), selling 17,000,000 copies and becoming the all-time best-selling novel.

1965 John A. Larson b. 1892 American criminologist. He developed the modern lie detector (1921).

1836 John Stafford Smith b. 1750 English composer, To Anacreon in Heaven, which is the melody to The Star-Spangled Banner.

1832 Sir Walter Scott b. 1771 Scottish poet, novelist. Writings: Waverley (1814) and Ivanhoe (1819).

1820 Joseph Rodman Drake b. 1795 American poet. Writings: The Culprit Fay (1816) and The American Flag (1819).

1798 George Read b. 1733 American lawyer, politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

1558 Charles V b. 1500 King of Spain (1516-56) and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1519-56). He declared Martin Luther an outlaw and a heretic. Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church

1327 Edward II b. 1284 King of England (1307-1327). He decreed that an inch was equal to three average barleycorns laid end to end (1324).

687 Conon b. ???? religious leader, 83rd Pope (686-687).

19 B.C. Virgil b. 70 B.C. Roman epic poet, teacher. He is considered the greatest poet of Rome's Golden Age. Writings: Aeneid.

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