1775 - Dr Samuel Johnson's Dictionary - A book that is generally accepted to be the first authentic dictionary - went on sale in London at a price of £4.10.00.
1777 - The Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the Stars and Stripes as the United States national flag to replace the Grand Union flag, which was a Union Jack in the top left-hand corner and red and white stripes elsewhere. Today is Flag Day in the United States - first observed in 1877 on the 100th anniversary of the flag's adoption and first observed as a national holiday in 1916.
1800 - French forces led by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeated a superior Austrian force at Marengo in the Italian province of Piedmont. After 14 hours of confused battle, "Kellerman's Charge" so unnerved the Austrians that 6,000 Austrians surrendered to 600 French. Napoleon never ate before battle, but when it was over he always wanted his dinner immediately. However, the rapid manoeuvrers on this occasion meant that his cook had nothing to work with. Foragers went out to the surrounding countryside and came up with a scrawny chicken, four tomatoes, three eggs, a few freshwater crayfish, garlic and olive oil and a frypan. Napoleon's cook, Dunand, with no cooking utensils, cut up the chicken with a sabre, browned it with garlic, added tomatoes and some cognac from Napoleon's flask, and served it with crayfish on top and fried eggs on the side. The scratch meal would have been forgotten except that Napoleon, who was highly superstitious, associated the crayfish and chicken dish with victory and demanded it after every battle. Today the dish is called Chicken Marengo.
1864 - A date not to forget! Dr Alois Alzheimer was born on this day.
1899 - The paper clip was patented by Norwegian Johan Vaaler, who patented it in Germany because Norway had no patent law at the time. It received a patent in the US in 1901. Prior to the paper clip, pages were held together by a variety of methods. Originally, slits were made in pages with a knife and ribbon or string was threaded through and tied or sealed with wax. Later, straight pins were used although these were handmade and costly. (During the Middle Ages in Britain, pins were so scarce that pinmakers were only allowed to sell them on certain days. "Pin money" was set aside to purchase them). But pins left holes and corners of papers could get pretty chewed up after being pinned and unpinned a number of times. So, after the invention of spring steel and machines to shape it, Vaaler came up with his invention which became highly popular. And the Norwegians were so proud of their countryman's invention that, during the second World War, they fastened paper clips to their lapels to show their defiance of the Nazi occupation.
1951- UNIVAC 1 was unveiled in Washington. Billed as the world's first commercial computer, it was designed for the United States Census Bureau. The memory called up data by transmitting sonic pulses through tubes of mercury. The massive computer was 8 feet high, 7-1/2 feet wide and 14-1/2 feet long. It had some 5,200 tubes that dimmed lights all over Washington when it cranked out information
1953 - Eighteen-year-old Elvis Presley graduated from L C Humes High School in Memphis and the next day started work in Parker's Machinists Shop.
1966 - The Vatican abolished its Index of Prohibited Books after 409 years. It had been created by Pope Paul IV in 1557.
1988 - Students at a school in New Jersey were kept in an extra 45 minutes by a 6 foot tall black bear which had wandered into the playground. They kept it happy by tossing out peanut butter sandwiches until a game warden arrived.
2003 - A father of 63 children in the United Arab Emirates married for the 12th time in a bid to ensure his place in the Guinness Book of Records with 100 offspring. The 53-year-old's latest bride was 18. Dad's name is Dad. Dad Mohammad Murad already had 30 sons and 33 daughters.
2005 - A woman searching for aluminium cans in a trash bin in Framingham, Massachusetts, was dumped into the back of a garbage truck after the driver emptied the bin without realizing she was inside. The 38-year-old woman avoided major injury after a worker installing carpet nearby heard her screams and alerted the truck driver, who was about to press the compacting button.
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