Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz in 1646; French novelist George Sand, a pseudonym for Amandine Dupin, in 1804; grammarian William Strunk Jr. in 1869; pioneer aviator Louis Bleriot in 1872; French Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leon Jouhaux in 1879; actor Charles Laughton and blues, gospel musician, composer Thomas Dorsey in 1899; film director William Wyler in 1902; cosmetics executive Estee Lauder in 1906; blues musician Willie Dixon in 1915; actors Olivia de Havilland in 1916 (age 98) and Leslie Caron in 1931 (age 83); filmmaker/actor Sydney Pollack in 1934; actor/writer Jean Marsh and actor Jamie Farr, also in 1934 (age 80); choreographer Twyla Tharp in 1941 (age 73); actors Karen Black in 1939 and Genevieve Bujold in 1942 (age 72); singer Deborah Harry in 1945 (age 69); actor/comedian Dan Aykroyd in 1952 (age 62); Britain's Princess Diana in 1961; nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, also in 1961 (age 53); actors Andre Braugher in 1962 (age 52), Pamela Anderson in 1967 (age 47) and Liv Tyler in 1977 (age 37); and rapper Missy Elliott in 1971 (age 43).
On this date in history:
In 1847, the first U.S. postage stamps were issued.
In 1859, the first intercollegiate baseball game was played in Pittsfield, Mass. Amherst beat Williams, 66-32.
In 1867, Canada was granted its independence by Great Britain. It consisted at the time of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and future provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
In 1874, the Philadelphia Zoological Society, the first U.S. zoo, opened to the public.
In 1898, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders led a charge up Cuba's heavily fortified San Juan Hill in a key Spanish-American War battle.
In 1916, in the worst single day of casualties in British military history, 20,000 soldiers were killed and 40,000 wounded in a massive offense against German forces in France's Somme River region during World War I.
In 1932, Democrats nominated Franklin Delano Roosevelt for president. (FDR eventually was elected to four consecutive terms.)
In 1941, NBC broadcast the first FCC-sanctioned TV commercial, a spot for Bulova watches shown during a Dodgers-Phillies game. It cost Bulova $9.
In 1946, the United States conducted its first post-war test of the atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
In 1979, Sony introduced the Walkman, known as the Soundabout, in U.S. stores. It sold for about $200.
In 1990, the West and East German economies were united, with the deutsche mark replacing the mark as currency in East Germany.
In 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China after 99 years as a British territory.
In 2002, in a rare high-altitude accident, a passenger airliner collided with a cargo plane over Germany, killing all 71 people on the two planes -- 69 on the airliner and two on the cargo aircraft.
In 2004, Hollywood legend Marlon Brando died of lung failure. He was 80.
In 2005, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, announced she planned to retire.
In 2007, Moshe Katsav stepped down as president of Israel, a post he had held since 2000. Rape charges against him were dropped in exchange for a guilty plea to sexual harassment.
In 2011, Rhode Island became the latest state to allow same-sex civil unions.
In 2012, a military court in Israel sentenced a former Hamas commander, Ibrahim Hamed, to 54 life prison terms for his role in 2001-03 terror attacks that killed scores of Israelis. In 2013, a year after Mohamed Morsi became president of Egypt, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in cities across the country, calling for him to step down. (Morsi was ousted by the military two days later.)
A thought for the day: H.L. Mencken wrote, "It is the dull man who is always sure and the sure man who is always dull."
