Historical Events 1566 - Antonio "Michele" Ghislieri is elected Pope Pius V 1894 - William K.L. Dickson captures "Fred Ott's Sneeze" as a motion picture at Thomas Edison's Black Mariah Studio‚ West Orange‚ New Jersey 1915 - World War I: Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm approves strategic bombing of Britain‚ but forbids bombing London‚ fearing his relatives in the royal family might be killed 1966 - Gene Kiniski beats Lou Thesz in St Louis‚ to become NWA wrestling champion 1991 - Saddam Hussein prepares his troops for what he says will be a long violent war against the US 1991 - "Nia Peeples Party Machine" premieres on TV More Historical Events » Famous Birthdays 1502 - Gregory XIII [Ugo Boncompagni]‚ Italian pope (1572-85) who introduced the Gregorian (New Style) calendar in 1582‚ born in Bologna‚ Papal States (d. 1585) 1903 - Alan Napier‚ British actor (The Sword in the Stone‚ Batman)‚ born in Birmingham‚ England (d. 1988) 1907 - Nicanor Zabaleta‚ Spanish harpist‚ born in San Sebastián‚ Spain (d. 1993) 1921 - John Lanigan‚ Australian operatic tenor (Covent Garden)‚ born in Seddon‚ Victoria (d. 1996) 1958 - Linda Kozlowski‚ American actress (Crocodile Dundee)‚ born in Fairfield‚ Connecticut 1958 - Donna Rice Hughes‚ American author and speaker‚ born in New Orleans‚ Louisiana More Famous Birthdays » Famous Deaths 1537 - Alessandro de' Medici‚ Duke of Florence‚ Italian ruler of Florence (1532-37)‚ assassinated by his friend and cousin at 26 1901 - James Dunwoody Bulloch‚ Confederacy's chief foreign agent in Great Britain during the American Civil War‚ dies at 77 1943 - Nikola Tesla‚ Serbian-American physicist‚ electrical engineer and inventor who developed alternating current and the Tesla Coil‚ dies at 86 1984 - Alfred Kastler‚ French physicist (Nobel 1966 - Hertzian resonances within atoms)‚ dies at 81 2001 - James Carr‚ American soul singer ("To Love Somebody"; "Dark End of the Street")‚ dies of lung cancer at 58 2021 - Tommy Lasorda‚ American Baseball Hall of Fame manager (World Series 1981‚ 88; NL Manager of the Year 1983‚ 88; LA Dodgers 1976-96)‚ dies of a heart attack at 93 More Famous Deaths »