Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1095 - On the last day of the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II appointed bishop Adhemar of Le Puy and Count Raymond IV of Toulouse to lead the First Crusade to the Holy Land
1520 - After navigating through the South American strait, three ships under the command of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reach the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first Europeans to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific
1582 - In Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway pay a 40-pound bond for their marriage license
1660 - At Gresham College, 12 men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society
1895 - First American Automobile race. 54 miles from Chicago's Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea wins in about 10 hours
1905 - Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founds Sinn Féin as a political party whose goal is the independence for all of Ireland
1907 - In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater
1912 - Albania declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire
1914 - World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York Stock Exchange re-opens for bond trading
1920 - The Mask of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. opens.
1925 - Country-variety show Grand Ole Opry makes its radio debut on station WSM
1964 - Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 4 probe toward Mars
1984 - Over 250 years after their deaths, William Penn and his wife Hannah Callowhill Penn are made Honorary Citizens of the United States
1995 - US President Bill Clinton signs a highway bill that ends the federal 55 mph speed limit

Births
1628 - John Bunyan, cleric, author (Pilgrim’s Progress) (d. 1688)
1632 - Jean-Baptiste Lully, composer (d. 1687)
1757 - William Blake, poet, painter (d. 1827)
1943 - Randy Newman, composer, musician
1949 - Alexander Godunov, composer, ballet dancer (d. 1995)
1988 - Scarlett Pomers, actress (Star Trek: Voyager, Reba)

Deaths
741 - St. Gregory III, Pope
1170 - Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd
1939 - James A Naismith, creator of basketball
1945 - Dwight Davis, donator of the Davis cup
1954 - Enrico Fermi, physicist
1962 - Queen Mother Wilhelmina of the Netherlands