Karol Wojtyła elected as Pope John Paul II (1978), and Taft and Díaz hold first US-Mexico presidential summit, narrowly escape assassination (1909). Born on this day: Oscar Wilde, Günter Grass and David Ben-Gurion. Died: Marie-Antoinette, Martti Ahtisaari and George C. Marshall.
33 events, 59 births and 58 deaths on this date.
Karol Wojtyła, a Polish cardinal, became the first non-Italian pope in over four centuries and one of the youngest in a century. He took the name John Paul II to honour his predecessor, who had died after just 33 days in office.
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY 3.0 plWilliam Howard Taft met Mexican president Porfirio Díaz at El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, the first meeting between sitting presidents of the two countries. Both men survived a planned assassination attempt, and the talks went ahead anyway.
Walt and Roy Disney set up a small animation outfit in Hollywood that would grow into a vast entertainment business. Its later reach, spanning films, television and theme parks, traces back to this modest start.
The colonial authorities split Bengal into eastern, largely Muslim areas and western, largely Hindu areas. The move angered many Bengalis, who saw it as a way to divide and weaken their political opposition.
He wrote plays that brought realism into American theatre, including Long Day's Journey into Night, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936. Four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama made him the only playwright to win that many.
Nobel Foundation · Public domain
Urban V arrived in Rome, the first pope to live there in over half a century, after the papacy had sat in Avignon. He had made the move to revive the city's standing, though he returned to France within a few years.
Sailko · Public domain
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Irish writer whose wit and flamboyance made him one of London's best-known figures in the 1890s. He is remembered for The Picture of Dorian Gray, his society comedies and his fairy tales for children.
Napoleon Sarony / Adam Cuerden · Public domain
Günter Grass was a German novelist whose debut, The Tin Drum, became a landmark of European magic realism. He also won the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature, and he was born in Danzig, now Gdańsk, in Poland.
Blaues Sofa from Berlin, Deutschland · CC BY 2.0
Israel's first prime minister and the main founder of the state, he led the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine and proclaimed Israel's independence in May 1948. Born David Grün in Płońsk, he later took the Hebrew name Ben-Gurion.
Fritz Cohen · Public domain
Marie-Antoinette, the last queen of France before the Revolution, was executed by guillotine in Paris. She had been widely mocked in pamphlets, and was blamed for the country's debts despite the many causes behind them.
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun · Public domain
Finnish president from 1994 to 2000, Ahtisaari later became a peace mediator, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for resolving conflicts across several continents. He led the Kosovo status talks that helped shape the territory's path away from Serbia.
Johannes Jansson · CC BY 2.5 dk
Marshall led the US Army as Chief of Staff in the Second World War, then served as Secretary of State and Defense under Truman. He is best remembered for the Marshall Plan, which helped rebuild post-war Europe, and won the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize.
NASA on The Commons · No restrictions
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