Important Events

1497 Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope on way to first voyage from Europe to reach India

1926 Imperial Conference ends, giving autonomy inside British Commonwealth

1935 Flying boat “China Clipper” takes off from Alameda, California, carrying 100,000 pieces of mail on 1st trans-Pacific airmail flight

1963 US President John F. Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in an open-topped motorcade in Dallas, Texas

1969 Isolation of a single gene announced by scientists at Harvard University

2005 Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany

Today In Film & TV

1995 “Toy Story”, the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery, directed by John Lasseter and starring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, is released

Today In Music

1955 RCA Records make its best investment paying $35,000 to Sun Records for Elvis Presley’s contract

Today In Sports

1910 Arthur Knight patents steel shaft golf clubs