MIKE GRACIA

U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq from Kuwait on this day in 2003.

On this day in 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris after his
escape from Elba and began his "Hundred Days" rule.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," subtitled
"Life Among the Lowly," was first published on this day in 1852.

In Tokyo on this day in 1995, 12 people were killed and more than
5,500 others were sickened when packages containing the nerve
gas Sarin was released on five separate subway trains. The
terrorists belonged to a doomsday cult in Japan.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married in Gibraltar on this day
in 1969. Five days after their wedding, the couple staged a couple
of non-violent in-bed protests (below).

Lolly Willowes, or The Loving Huntsman, was the first Book-
of-the-Month Club selection. It was published by Viking Press.

Sylvia Townsend Warner (December 6, 1893 – May 1, 1978)

JOHN BELMONT

Mark Twain’s "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was
published in the United States for the first time on
this day in 1885.

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
(November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)

In Montgomery, AL, on this day in 1861, Jefferson Davis was
inaugurated as the President of the Confederate States.

Jefferson Davis was sworn in as Provisional President
of the Confederate States of America on the steps of
the Alabama State Capitol (above/below).

On this day in 1970, The Chicago Seven defendants were found
innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic
national convention.

Police arrest protesters outside of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

John Joseph Travolta is 64 years old today. Born in Englewood, NJ.

John Travolta starred in the 1970s hit films Saturday Night Fever and 
Grease. He later went on to play Vincent Vega in the critically acclaimed
1994 film Pulp Fiction.

On this day in 2001, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was
killed in a crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500 race. He
died instantly from blunt force trauma to the skull.

      TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1964, Pan Am flight 101 was greeted by over 5,000
Beatles fans as it arrived at New York’s JFK airport, bringing The
Beatles to the U.S. for the first time.

Ramzi Yousef, a Pakistani national who planned and carried out
the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six people
and injured 1,000 others, was arrested on this day in 1995.

Hussein bin Talal (November 14, 1935 – February 7, 1999)

Hussein was King of Jordan from the abdication of his father,
King Talal, on 11 August 1952, until his death from cancer in
1999.

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870)

Charles Dickens was a prolific and highly influential 19th century British
author, who penned such acclaimed works as ‘Oliver Twist,’ ‘A Christmas
Carol,’ ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Great Expectations.’

singer/songwriter Troyal Garth Brooks is 56 years old today.

According to the RIAA, Garth Brooks is the best-selling solo albums artist
in the U.S. with 148 million domestic units sold, ahead of Elvis Presley, and
is second only to the Beatles in total album sales overall. He is also one of 
the world’s best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records. Brooks was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame October
21, 2012. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011. 

CAMILLE BOHANNON

During World War II in this day in 1943, the Soviets announced that
they had broken the Nazi siege of Leningrad, which had began in September of 1941.

Royal Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) and the ill-
fated Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913). On the second venture,
Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on this day
in 1912, four weeks after Amundsen‘s Norwegian expedition. Scott
and his companions perished on the return trip to camp.

Captain Robert Scott (June 6, 1868 – March 29, 1912)

On this day in 1967, Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the "Boston Strangler," was convicted in Cambridge, MA, of armed robbery,
assault and sex offenses. He was sentenced to life in prison where
he was killed in 1973 by a fellow inmate.
 

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) 

Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom. He is
regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story. His children’s
books are classics of children’s literature, and one critic described his
work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift”.