Cook makes first landing in Australia at Botany Bay (1770), and Nancy Wake parachutes into Auvergne to link SOE with the Maquis (1944). Born on this day: Henri Poincaré, Daniel Day-Lewis and Alexander II. Died: Alfred Hitchcock, Ludwig Wittgenstein and St. Catherine of Siena.
33 events, 56 births and 59 deaths on this date.
Cook, commanding HMS Endeavour on his first voyage, came ashore at Botany Bay on the east coast of Australia. It was the first recorded European visit to Australia's east coast, which Cook went on to chart in detail.
Nathaniel Dance-Holland · Public domainWake, a British agent working for the Special Operations Executive, was dropped into the Auvergne region of central France. Her job was to act as a go-between for the SOE and the local Maquis resistance fighters, helping coordinate their work against the German occupiers.
Joan of Arc, a young peasant who said visions had guided her, rode into besieged Orléans with a banner and lifted a demoralised French army. Within days the English gave up the siege, a turn that helped Charles VII reach his coronation.
Clément de Fauquembergue · Public domain
On this day, The Simpsons overtook Gunsmoke to become the longest-running scripted American prime-time series, measured by episodes. Matt Groening's animated sitcom about a dysfunctional Springfield family had by then been on air for nearly three decades.
NordhornerII · CC BY-SA 3.0
Santa Cruz, a Brazilian football club, came home from its ill-fated trip after trains derailed, players defected and sickness killed two members. Dysentery, an intestinal infection that causes bloody diarrhoea, and typhoid were among the illnesses that struck the squad.
Castilian forces took control of Gran Canaria, one of the main islands of the Canaries, which had long been inhabited by the Guanche people. The conquest put the island under Castilian rule and marked a step in Spain's takeover of the wider archipelago.
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Poincaré was a French polymath often called the last universalist, who excelled across nearly every branch of mathematics of his era. He is remembered for founding algebraic topology and for uncovering chaotic behaviour in the three-body problem.
Manuel (artist) (designer) · Public domain
English actor known for total immersion in his roles, and the only performer to win three Best Actor Oscars. He is remembered for films such as My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood and Lincoln.
Raph_PH · CC BY 4.0
Alexander II freed Russia's serfs in 1861 with his Edict of Emancipation, earning him the nickname Alexander the Liberator. He pursued many other reforms, though several were later reversed after his conservative turn following an 1866 assassination attempt.
Attributed to W. & D. Downey · Public domain
Hitchcock was an English filmmaker who became known as the Master of Suspense, directing thrillers such as Psycho, Rear Window and The 39 Steps. He spent his later career in Hollywood and, through his television anthology, became nearly as famous as his actors.
Ante Brkan · Public domain
Wittgenstein was an Austro-British philosopher whose early Tractatus shaped modern logic and the philosophy of language. Later, he overturned much of his own thinking in lectures and in Philosophical Investigations, published after his death.
Moritz Nähr · Public domain
Catherine of Siena was a mystic who wrote many letters to popes and princes, helping to persuade Gregory XI to return the papacy to Rome. She died in Rome in 1380, worn out by severe fasting, and was later named a Doctor of the Church.
Jl FilpoC · CC BY-SA 4.0
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