1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon lands in Florida, claiming it for his homeland.

1725 - Giovanni Casanova is born in Italy. Author of History of My Life and infamous as a philanderer, his name would become synonymous with womanizer or rogue in the English language.

1805 - The future author of 150 fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen is born in Denmark.

1834 - French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bertholdi, best known for the Statue of Liberty, is born.

1912 - Herbert Mills, of the trailblazing vocal group the Mills Brothers, is born in Piqua, Ohio.

1840 - French novelist Émile Zola is born.

1845 - H. L. Fizeau & J. Leon Foucault take the first photograph of the Sun.

1870 - Victoria Woodhull is the first woman to be nominated for US President.

1876 - The Philadelphia A's & Boston Red Caps play the first National League Baseball game in Philadelphia.

1891 - Painter, sculptor and founder of the Surrealist movement, Max Ernst is born in Germany.

1902 - The first motion picture theatre opens in Los Angeles. The Electric Theatre charged a dime to view an hour’s entertainment, including the films, The Capture of the Biddle Brothers and New York in a Blizzard.

1912 - The Titanic undergoes sea trials under its own power.

1914 - British actor and Academy Award winner, Sir Alec Guinness is born in London. He would go on to have a distinguished career, including such roles as Colonel Nicholson in Bridge on River Kwai, Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy and George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

1917 - President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany.

1917 - Jeannette Rankin becomes the first woman member of US House of Representatives.

1921- Professor Albert Einstein lectures in New York City on his new theory of relativity.

1931 - A teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, TN.

1932 - Charles Lindbergh turns over $50,000 as ransom for his kidnapped son. His son would not be recovered alive, nor would the case ever be solved.

1939 - Soul singer Marvin Pentz Gaye, Jr. is born in Washington DC.

1941 - Leon Russell, who collaborated with Joe Cocker on the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, is born in Lawton, OK.

1942 - Glenn Miller and his orchestra record American Patrol for Victor Records. The jitterbug tune would become one of Miller’s most requested hits.

1943 - Jazz musician Larry Coryell is born in Galveston, TX.

1944 - Dmitri Shostakovitch's Eighth Symphony premieres in New York.

1946 - The Guess Who's Kurt Winter is born.

1947 - Country singer/songwriter Emmylou Harris is born in Birmingham, AL.

1954 - Plans to build Disneyland are first announced.

1960 - Elvis Presley is named the Best-Selling Male Artist at the first annual National Association of Recording Merchandisers Awards in Las Vegas. Best-Selling Female Artist is Connie Francis.

1964 - The Beach Boys record I Get Around.

1966 The Soviet Union's Luna 10 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon.

1967 - The Beatles wrap up recording their acclaimed album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

1967 - Steve Winwood leaves the Spencer Davis Group to form his own band, Traffic.

1968 - Senator Eugene McCarthy wins Democratic primaries in Wisconsin.

1969 - Frank Sinatra cuts his classic anthem My Way.

1970 - The London Magistrate's Court hears arguments on John Lennon's indecency summons for his exhibition of erotic lithographs in January.

1970 - Janis Joplin decides to get a tattoo on her wrist and another over her heart reading One for the Boys.

1972 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold a news conference in New York to discuss their appeal of the Immigration Department's decision to deport John.

1972 - Actor Burt Reynolds appears nude in Cosmopolitan magazine. This issue of Cosmo becomes an instant collector’s item and an additional 700,000 copies are printed.

1974 - At the 46th Academy Awards The Sting, Glenda Jackson and Jack Lemmon win top honors.

1977 - Fleetwood Mac's Rumors album goes to #1 holds top position for 31 weeks.

1978 - Velcro is first marketed.

1985 - A day after its release, the album, We are the World is certified gold with sales in excess of 500,000 copies.

1987 - Jazz drummer Buddy Rich dies in Los Angeles due to complications caused by a brain tumor. The self-taught prodigy started drumming when he was only 18 months old, and his incredible rhythmic sense influenced just about everyone who picked up a pair of drumsticks afterward.

1997 - Singer Joni Mitchell is reunited with Kilauren Gibb, the daughter she gave up for adoption 32 years earlier. Mitchell gave Kilauren up for adoption when she was just starting her pop career.

For more day-by-day history go to HistoryUnlimited.net