This Day in History
1576: English navigator Sir Martin Frobisher sets sail from England with three small ships to search for the Northwest Passage to Asia. He eventually reaches Baffin Island in Canada.
1776: Speaking to the Continental Congress, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moves "that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states."
1975: Sony introduces the VCR, selling the Betamax for $995.
1988: Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis wins primaries in California and New Jersey, clinching the Democratic presidential nomination.
2000: U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson orders Microsoft Corp. split into two separate companies.
Today's Birthdays
1778: George Bryan Beau Brummell, fashion leader/dandy/wit (London, England; died 1840)
1848: Paul Gauguin, painter (Paris, France; died 1903)
1868: Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect and designer (Glasgow, Scotland; died 1928)
1899: Elizabeth Bowen, novelist/short-story writer (Dublin, Ireland; died 1973)
1909: Jessica Tandy, actress (London, England; died 1994). Virginia Apgar, physician who invented the Apgar score to evaluate newborns (Westfield, NJ; died 1974)
1917: Gwendolyn Brooks, poet (Topeka, KS; died 2000). Joshua Nkomo, African nationalist leader in Zimbabwe (Tshimale, South Rhodesia; died 1999)
1922: Rocky Graziano, champion boxer (New York, NY; died 1990)
1928: James Ivory, filmmaker (Berkeley, CA)
1940: Tom Jones, singer (Pontypridd, Wales)
1946: Jenny Jones, TV personality (London, Ontario, Canada)
1952: Liam Neeson, actor (Ballymena, Northern Ireland)
1958: Prince (The Artist), musician/singer (Minneapolis, MN)
1967: Dave Navarro, musician (Santa Monica, CA)
1975: Allen Iverson, basketball player (Hampton, VA)
