World Events Today
- Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia today in 1954, she was the first reigning monarch to set foot on Australian soil
- The Soviet Union Luna 9 spacecraft, made the first ever successful soft landing on the moon today in 1966
- The death certificate of Richard John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, was finally issued today in 2016, he was better known as Lord Lucan, who disappeared in 1974
Entertainment Events Today
- Samuel Clemens used his famous pen name Mark Twain, for the first time today in 1863, he would go on to use it for the novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- Switzerland, won the bobsleigh gold medal at the inaugural Winter Olympic games today in 1924
- The American jockey Billy Shoemaker retired today in 1990, after competing in 40,350 horse races
Family Events Today
- Johannes Gutenberg, who introduced mechanical movable type printing to Europe, died today in 1468
- The musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Jiles Perry Richardson Junior, better known as The Big Bopper, all died in a deadly plane crash today in 1959
- Tallulah Belle Willis, the third daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, was born today in 1994 in Los Angeles
Main Event Today
- The South African President, F W de Klerk, lifted the ban on the ANC, the African National Congress, today in 1990, it resulted in the release of Nelson Mandela and the beginning of the end of apartheid
National Day Today
- Today, it’s National Day the Music Died Day