Louis XVI attempts escape from Paris disguised as a valet (1791), and West Virginia becomes the 35th state of the United States (1863). Born on this day: Nicole Kidman, Jacques Offenbach and John Goodman. Died: Clara Zetkin, William IV and Donald Sutherland.
31 events, 69 births and 50 deaths on this date.
Louis XVI slipped out of the Tuileries Palace in disguise, hoping to reach loyal troops on the border and reverse the Revolution. He and his family were recognised at Varennes and brought back to Paris, a failure that badly damaged the monarchy's standing.
Antoine-François Callet · Public domainThe French RevolutionHear the story in ChunksWest Virginia was carved out of Virginia after its western counties refused to join the Confederacy in 1861. It was the only state formed by breaking away from a state that had seceded, and it entered the Union in the middle of the Civil War.
At eighteen, Victoria became queen after her uncle William IV died without a surviving legitimate heir. Her long reign, lasting until 1901, gave its name to the Victorian era.
Bell sets up the first telephone service offered commercially, in the Ontario town. It showed the telephone could be a business rather than a curiosity, a turning point for the device he had patented in 1876.
Morse, already known as a portrait painter, had built on European telegraph designs to create a single-wire system. The Morse code he co-developed became its signalling language, and his work helped bring telegraphy into commercial use.
Mathew Benjamin Brady · Public domain
A mafia hitman shot gangster Bugsy Siegel dead in Beverly Hills, California. Siegel had been a key figure in building the Las Vegas Strip, and his killing shows how violently organised crime fought over the city's gambling money.
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Australian-American actor and producer known for films such as The Hours, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and for Big Little Lies on television. She has ranked among the world's best-paid actresses for decades.
Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 4.0
Offenbach was a German-born composer who settled in Paris and became the master of the comic operetta. His sparkling works, including Orpheus in the Underworld with its famous can-can, influenced later composers such as Johann Strauss II and Arthur Sullivan.
Nadar · Public domain
Best known as Dan Conner, the patriarch of the sitcom Roseanne, Goodman went on to become a prominent film actor, working often with the Coen brothers. He has also lent his voice to Pixar's Monsters, Inc. films.
Georges Biard · CC BY-SA 3.0
Clara Zetkin was a German Marxist and communist who campaigned for women's suffrage and rights. She spent much of her career in the Reichstag, representing the Communist Party from 1920 until her death.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
William IV was the last king of the House of Hanover in Britain, nicknamed the Sailor King after his years in the Royal Navy. He reigned from 1830 and was succeeded by his niece Victoria.
Martin Archer Shee · Public domain
Canadian actor who rose to fame in war films like The Dirty Dozen and M*A*S*H, and played President Snow in The Hunger Games. Despite a six-decade career and an Honorary Academy Award, he never won a competitive Oscar.
Festival TV Monte-Carlo · CC BY-SA 3.0
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