Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1904 - First New York City subway line opens; system becomes biggest in United States of America, and one of biggest in world
1946 - First commercially-sponsored television program airs (Geographically Speaking, sponsored by Bristol-Myers)
1981 - The Soviet submarine U 137 ran aground on the east coast of Sweden.
1986 - The London Stock Exchange is deregulated and computerisation is introduced for the first time
1993 - Fires in five counties in southern California destroy more than 500 homes and cause an estimate 1 billion USD of damage within a week

Births
1466 (assumed) - Erasmus of Rotterdam, Dutch writer and philosopher
1728 - James Cook, British naval captain and explorer. (d. 1779)
1744 - Mary Moser, English painter and one of only two female founder members of the Royal Academy (d. 1819)
1782 - Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1840)
1811 - Isaac Singer, inventor of the sewing machine (d. 1875)
1914 - Dylan Thomas, British poet and writer (d. 1953)
1932 - Sylvia Plath, American poet (d. 1963)
1953 - Robert Picardo, actor (Star Trek: Voyager)
1966 - Matt Drudge, Internet personality

Deaths
939 - King Athelstan I of England
1271 - Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy
1439 - Albert II of Habsburg, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
1449 - Ulugh Beg, Timurid astronomer
1505 - Ivan III of Russia
1968 - Lise Meitner, German physicist
1975 - Rex Stout, novelist
1980 - Steve Peregrin Took, singer/song writer
1990 - Xavier Cugat, musician

Holidays
Feast day of Saint Frumentius, who introduced Christianity into Ethiopia
Independence Day in Turkmenistan (1991)
Independence Day in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1979)