Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1782 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized in the Treaty of Paris (1783))
1803 - At the Cabildo building in New Orleans, Spanish representatives Governor Manuel de Salcedo and the Marqués de Casa Calvo officially transfer Louisiana Territory to French representative Prefect Pierre Clément de Laussat (just 20 days later, France transferred the same land to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase)
1804 - The Jeffersonian Republican-controlled United States Senate begin an impeachment trial against Federalist-partisan Supreme Court of the United States Justice Samuel Chase (he was charged with political bias but was acquitted by the Senate of all charges on March 1, 1805)
1872 - First ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland
1886 - Folies Bergère stages its first revue
1902 - American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch gang, Kid Curry Logan, is sentenced to 20 years hard labor
1936 - In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed in a fire (it had been built for the 1851 Great Exhibition)
1954 - In Sylacauga, Alabama, an 8.5 pound sulfide meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges in her living room after bouncing off her radio, giving her a bad bruise (this is the only unequivocally known case of a human being hit by a space rock)
1960 - Production of the De Soto automobile brand ceases
1979 - Rock band Pink Floyd release the mega-selling rock opera The Wall

Births
539 - Gregory of Tours, bishop and historian (d. 594)
1466 - Andrea Doria, Italian naval leader (d. 1560)
1508 - Andrea Palladio, master builder (d. 1580)
1667 - Jonathan Swift, writer, satirist (d.1745)
1835 - Mark Twain, writer (d. 1910)
1874 - Sir Winston Churchill , British political leader, writer (d. 1965)
1874 - Lucy Maud Montgomery, author (d. 1942)
1915 - Brownie McGhee, musician (d.1996)
1918 - Efrem Zimbalist Jr., actor
1924 - Allan Sherman, comedian (d. 1973)
1927 - Richard Crenna, actor (d. 2003)
1927 - Robert Guillaume, actor
1929 - Dick Clark, television host
1952 - Mandy Patinkin, actor, singer
1962 - Bo Jackson, American football and baseball star

Deaths
1016 - King Ethelred the Unready
1718 - King Charles XII of Sweden
1830 - Pope Pius VIII (b. 1761)
1900 - Oscar Wilde, writer (b. 1854)

Holidays & observances
Saint Andrew’s day