Chester A. Arthur sworn in as US president after Garfield's death (1881), and Edward, Prince of Wales, begins first North American tour by a Prince of Wales (1860). Born on this day: Sophia Loren, George R.R. Martin and Asō Tarō. Died: Jean Sibelius, George Seferis and Saint-John Perse.
30 events, 59 births and 51 deaths on this date.
Arthur took the oath a day after James Garfield died from an assassin's bullet, a sudden change at the top of the American government. He was a machine politician from New York who surprised many by later pushing for civil service reform.
Abraham Bogardus / Adam Cuerden · Public domainThe heir to the British throne set sail for Canada and the United States, the first royal tour of its kind there. Crowds turned out in large numbers, and the trip was counted a popular success.
After months of fighting, British-led forces retook Delhi, the Mughal capital that rebel sepoys had seized and proclaimed as the centre of their revolt. The recapture broke the rebels' main stronghold and pushed the uprising toward its collapse.
Scientology's founder recorded a lecture on tape and sent it to every Scientologist, setting out his account of Xenu. Hubbard, a former pulp fiction writer, had started Scientology in 1952 and led it until his death in 1986.
Adam Cuerden · CC BY 4.0
Saladin's Ayyubid army opened the siege with a city crowded with refugees but short of fighters. Within two weeks, Balian of Ibelin negotiated its surrender, and Saladin's terms let many people leave safely.
Public domain
Frustrated cardinals chose Robert of Geneva as Clement VII, a rival to Urban VI in Rome. His election split the Western Church, with two and later three claimants competing for allegiance across Europe for nearly four decades.
Henri Auguste César Serrur · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Sophia Loren is an Italian actress who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Two Women, the first performance in a non-English-language film to win an Oscar. Across more than seven decades she has worked in both Italian and American cinema, and she is still performing today.
Unknown. Photo by Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images · Public domain
American novelist best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, the epic fantasy series adapted by HBO as Game of Thrones. He also helped shape the Wild Cards anthology and contributed worldbuilding to the video game Elden Ring.
Henry Söderlund · CC BY 4.0
Tarō Asō is a Japanese politician and former diplomat, best known for leading the government as Prime Minister from 2008 to 2009. He also spent years as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, the longest anyone has held that combined post.
Cabinet Public Relations Office of the Cabinet Secretariat · CC BY 4.0
Finnish composer whose music helped shape a national identity for Finland during Russification. He is best known for his seven symphonies, Finlandia and Valse triste, and stopped composing major works in the 1920s.
Paul Heckscher · Public domain
Greek poet and career diplomat who wrote in Greek and drew on classical myth and the modern Mediterranean. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963 and served as Greece's ambassador to Britain from 1957 to 1962.
Nobel Foundation · Public domain
Saint-John Perse was the pen name of Alexis Leger, a French poet who also served as a senior diplomat. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1960, honoured for the sweeping imagery of his verse.
Unknown Unknown · Public domain
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