Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1184 BC - According to the calculations of Eratosthenes, the date that Troy was sacked and burned
1509 - Marriage of King Henry VIII of England and Katherine of Aragon
1534 - Jacques Cartier and crew celebrate the first recorded Catholic mass in North America
1770 - Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef
1788 - Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska
1838 - Iowa Territory is organized
1899 - Pope Leo XIII dedicates the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
1955 - Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healy and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the Le Mans Grand Prix
1962 - Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin apparently escape from Alcatraz
1970 - After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays officially receives her rank as a U.S. Army General, becoming the first female to do so
1977 - Seattle Slew wins the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
1985 - A Fabergé Egg Was sold for £1,375,00 in New York
2002 - Antonio Meucci was recognised as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress
2004 - Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe

Births
1519 - Cosimo I de Medici, Duke of Florence (d. 1574)
1572 - Ben Jonson, English dramatist (d. 1637)
1672 - Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (d. 1749)
1776 - John Constable, English painter (d. 1837)
1842 - Carl von Linde, German engineer and industrialist (d. 1934)
1847 - Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (d. 1929)
1864 - Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (d. 1949)
1867 - Charles Fabry, physicist (d. 1945)
1876 - Alfred L. Kroeber, anthropologist
1910 - Jacques Cousteau, explorer, inventor (d. 1997)
1918 - Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, Nobel Peace prize winner
1928 - Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen-Dowager of the Belgians
1933 - Gene Wilder, actor
1939 - Jackie Stewart, race car driver
1956 - Joe Montana, American football player

Deaths
1216 - Henry of Flanders, emperor of the Latin Empire (b. c. 1174)
1882 - Louis Maigret, ss.cc., Roman Catholic prelate
1911 - James Curtis Hepburn, missionary and linguist (b. 1815)
1924 - Théodore Dubois, composer and teacher (b. 1837)
1979 - John Wayne, actor (b. 1907)
1999 - DeForest Kelley, actor (b. 1920)
2003 - David Brinkley, television reporter (b. 1920)

Holidays and Observances
Kamehameha Day, official state holiday of Hawai'i, United States, in honor of its first monarch, celebrated with floral parades, hula competition and festivals

Feast of St Barnabas