Heraclius arrives at Constantinople and kills Emperor Phocas (610), and The Beatles release their first single, Love Me Do (1962). Born on this day: Chester A. Arthur, Kate Winslet and Denis Diderot. Died: Steve Jobs, Jacques Offenbach and Maurice Wilkins.
32 events, 63 births and 72 deaths on this date.
Heraclius, son of the governor of Africa, reached Constantinople and killed the unpopular emperor Phocas, taking the throne himself. His long reign would be dominated by wars against Persia and then the rising Arab armies.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainLove Me Do came out in Britain as the band's debut single, a modest start that would soon lead to a run of hits. It was the first step towards the group becoming one of the most influential acts in popular music.
Louis, son of Charlemagne, took the imperial title from the Pope, a step that confirmed his authority over the Frankish lands. His later reign was overshadowed by civil wars among his own sons.
Public domain
Louis XI, forced by rebel nobles who resented his centralising policies, signed the peace at Conflans, near Paris. The settlement brought an end to the War of the Public Weal, a revolt by princes that had threatened his crown.
Jacob de Litemont · Public domain
Sean Connery starred as MI6 agent James Bond, sent to Jamaica to investigate a missing colleague, in the film that opened the series. Made on a modest budget, it earned money for its backers and helped start a wave of 1960s spy films.
Кинокомпания «United Artists» · Public domain
The nonprofit network started distributing its educational and children's programmes to member stations that day, giving them a shared source of shows. Today it is based in Arlington, Virginia, and is known for series such as Nature and Sesame Street.
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Chester A. Arthur became the 21st US president after James Garfield was assassinated in 1881, having previously served as Garfield's vice president. His administration oversaw the biggest expansion of the US Navy and an end to the spoils system of federal jobs.
Abraham Bogardus / Adam Cuerden · Public domain
English actress known for headstrong heroines in period dramas and for starring in Titanic, the highest-grossing film of its time. She won an Academy Award for The Reader, and remains a leading figure in British film.
Colleen Sturtevant · CC BY-SA 4.0
Diderot was the French writer and philosopher who, with d'Alembert, helped found and edit the Encyclopédie, a multi-volume reference work that angered both church and state. He also wrote novels and art criticism, but the encyclopedia made him a leading voice of the Enlightenment.
Pierre-Michel Alix · Public domain
Co-founder of Apple, Jobs helped turn the personal computer into a mass-market product, from the Apple II to the Macintosh. He later returned to lead Apple and oversaw the iPod, iPhone and iPad before resigning in 2011.
MetalGearLiquid , based on File:Steve_Jobs_Headshot_2010-CROP.jpg made by Matt Yohe · CC BY-SA 3.0
Jacques Offenbach was a German-born composer who settled in Paris and wrote nearly a hundred operettas, including Orphée aux enfers with its famous can-can. His unfinished opera The Tales of Hoffmann remains a staple of the standard repertory.
Nadar · Public domain
Wilkins was a New Zealand-born British biophysicist whose X-ray images of DNA helped lead James Watson and Francis Crick to the double helix. He shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with them for that work.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
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