2019
The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire, which destroyed the roof.
Before the fire was fully extinguished, the spire had collapsed.
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2019
Aretha Franklin, who died August 16, 2018, won the Pulitzer Prize.
The Pulitzer board said the award was given to Franklin for “her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades.”
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2005
NASA launched a spacecraft to rendezvous with a small communication satellite.
While there were no issues with the launch, the mission ended when the spacecraft collided with the satellite.
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1989
The Hillsborough disaster occurred.
A crush of football (soccer) fans at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, resulted in 97 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
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1952
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber successfully completed its first flight.
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1942
The island of Malta was awarded the George Cross by King George VI of England.
At the height of World War II, Malta held off Axis forces time and time again until all but the last scraps of fuel and food were left. Malta was awarded the George Cross, the highest non-military honor, for the heroism and devotion of its people during this siege.
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1912
The Titanic sunk at 2:20 am in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland.
The ship struck the iceberg the day before, late in the evening. 1,514 lives were lost.
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1892
The General Electric Company was formed in New York.
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1870
Canada no longer accepted US silver coins as legal tender in the country.
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1865
President Abraham Lincoln died.
The day before, he was shot in the head by actor John Wilkes Booth at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.
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1729
St Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach premiered in Leipzig, Germany.
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1672
Under the command of Gustavus Adolphus, Swedish forces defeated the Holy Roman Empire’s armies in the Battle of Rain.
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1534
The King of England, Henry VIII, appointed Thomas Cromwell as the Chief Secretary.
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1450
The Battle of Formigny came to an end as France defeated the last English forces.
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