2005 Rap Music Killer Ronald Ray Howard is executed for the 1992 murder of a state trooper. He claimed the anti-police rap music he was listening to made him to do it.

1991 Anita Hill accuses Supreme Court Judge nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

1965 First black woman U.S. ambassador Patricia Roberts Harris assumes her duties as ambassador to Luxembourg.

1962 James Bond Dr. No world premier in London, first in the James Bond series, it starred Sean Connery as 007.

1961 First black actress nominated for an Emmy Ethel Waters appears in an episode of Route 66, for which she was nominated for the award.

1956 Polio Dr. Albert Sabin announces he will begin testing an oral polio vaccine.

1927 First major "talkie" movie The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson premieres.

1876 American Library Association is founded, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1866 First U.S. robbery of a train in motion the Reno Gang throws two safes off a train as it was leaving the station.

1857 American Chess Association is organized.

1807 Potassium is discovered by English scientist Humphry Davy.

1942 Britt Ekland (Britt Eklund), Swedish actress. Film: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974, Mary Goodnight).

1925 Shana Alexander American journalist, author of The Feminine Eye (1970). She represented the liberal view on TV's "Point/Counterpoint" segment of 60 Minutes.

1918 Henry Morris d. 2006 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.

1914 Gerry Wilmont ice hockey commentator, world's fastest speaking broadcaster.

1908 Carole Lombard d. 1942 (Jane Alice Peters), American actress. Film: Nothing Sacred (1937) and To Be or Not to Be (1942).

1903 Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton Irish nuclear physicist. In 1932, he and John Cockcroft became the first to use a particle accelerator to split an atom; for this they were awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize.

1893 Milton Ager d. 1979 American composer. Music: Ain't She Sweet and Happy Days Are Here Again.

1866 Reginald Fessenden d. 1932 Canadian inventor. He invented the radio transmission method of continuous wave and made the first long-range radio transmission of voice (1906).

1846 George Westinghouse d. 1914 American inventor, railway air brakes (1868) and provided alternating current to the U.S.

1820 Jenny Lind d. 1887 Swedish singer, known as "The Swedish Nightingale." She toured with P.T. Barnum.

2005 Ronald Ray Howard b. 1973 American criminal, "Rap Music Killer." He was executed for the 1992 murder of a state trooper. He claimed the anti-police rap music he was listening to made him to do it.

1992 Denholm Elliott b. 1922 British actor. Film: Trading Places (Eddie Murphy's butler).

1989 Bette Davis b. 1908 (Ruth Elizabeth Davis), American Oscar-winning actress. She turned down the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939). Film: All About Eve (1950) and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

1988 Lois Wilson b. 1891 American founder of Al-Anon, the support group for friends and family of alcoholics. She was the wife of Alcoholics Anonymous cofounder Bill Wilson.

1981 Anwar as-Sadat b. 1918 Egyptian president (1970-81), Time magazine's Man of the Year (1977), and co-winner of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize (with Menachem Begin).

1951 Will Keith Kellogg b. 1860 American breakfast-cereal manufacturer, philanthropist, founded the W.K. Kellogg Company (1906) to sell toasted corn flakes.

1892 Lord Alfred Tennyson b. 1809 English poet, poet laureate of England (1850-92). He wrote Charge of the Light Brigade (1855), inspired by the Crimean War battle.

1867 Henry Timrod b. 1828 American poet, known as the "Poet Laureate of the Confederacy."

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