1553 – Lady Jane Grey was replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after having been Queen for just nine days.
1692 – Five women were hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, USA.
1799 – A group of Napoleon Bonaparte's soldiers discovered what is now known as The Rosetta Stone, enabling the translation of hieroglyphics for the first time.
1843 – Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain was launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and also becoming the largest vessel afloat in the world.
1870 – France declared war on Prussia.
1947 – Bogyoke Aung San, Prime minister of the shadow Burma government, and 6 of his cabinet along with 2 non-cabinet members were assassinated.
1963 – Joe Walker flew a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 metres (347,800 feet). Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualified as human spaceflight under international convention.
1996 - Bosnian Serb President and wanted war criminal Radovan Karadzic was forced out of office.
1997 - The IRA made a surprise announcement of a ceasefire in Northern Ireland. It was the second in three years.
2009 - Francis "Frank" McCourt died.
