1346 Battle of Crécy: Edward III's English longbows defeat Philip VI's army south of Calais in northern France, cannons are used for the first time in battle
1682 English astronomer Edmond Halley first observes the comet named after him
1691 Charles Perrault's poem "The Marquise of Salusses or the Patience of Griselidis" read aloud at the French Academy, later attached to his "Tales of Mother Goose" (1697)
1748 First Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1791 John Fitch granted US patent for his working steamboat
1843 American inventor Charles Thurber patents a typewriter
1863 Battle of Rocky Gap, West Virginia (White Sulphur Springs): Colonel George S. Patton's Confederate forces defeat Union brigade advance
1895 Electric generator at Niagara Falls produces first power
1898 - Cleveland plays its final home game of the season and only the fourth at League Park since July ninth. With 83 of its final 87 games on the road, the Spiders have earned nicknames such as the Nomads, Exiles, Misfits and Wanderers
1916 Philadelphia Athletic's Bullet Joe Bush no-hits Cleveland, 5-0

1939 - Ebbets Field is the site of the first telecast of a major league baseball game. The Reds play the Dodgers in a doubleheader. Red Barber handles the broadcasts over W2XBS. The Dodgers take the first game 6-2, and the Reds take the second 5-1.
1942 Japanese troops land on Milne Bay, New Guinea
1942 Soviet counter offensive begins in Moscow
1944 US 12nd Army Corps crosses river Seine East of Paris
1945 Japanese diplomats board USS Missouri to receive instructions on Japan's surrender at the end of WWII
1968 "Hey Jude" single released by the Beatles in US (Billboard Song of the Year 1968, Billboard 10th biggest song of all time 2013)
1972 - Leo Durocher, formerly of the Cubs, replaces Harry Walker as manager of the Astros. It is only the second time someone has managed two National League teams in the same season. The first was in 1948, when Durocher piloted the Dodgers and the Giants.
1973 University of Texas (Arlington) is first accredited school to offer belly dancing
1977 Ian Dury releases the single "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"
1985 French government denies knowledge of bombing of the Greenpeace flagship the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland New Zealand
1990 - In his first game after six weeks on the disabled list, Bo Jackson homers in his first at-bat to tie a major league record with four consecutive homers.
1992 - In the first matchup of National League knuckleballers in ten years, Pittsburgh's Tim Wakefield outduels Tom Candiotti of the Dodgers. The last time knuckleballs floated to batters on both teams came when Phil and Joe Niekro squared off in 1982
2023 Longest alligator ever recorded in Mississippi at 14ft, 3in, captured in Sunflower River, weighing 802.5 pounds
2023 Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa "The Crocodile" elected to a second term amid claims of vote-rigging