1756: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg. He composed 20 operas, 17 Masses, 41 symphonies, 27 string quartets and 21 piano concertos - and still died a pauper in 1791, aged 35.
1778: Joseph Bramah patented the valved flush toilet.
1832: Children's author Lewis Carroll was born in Daresbury, near Warrington, as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.
1859: Kaiser Wilhelm II, third German emperor and grandson of Queen Victoria, was born. He was forced to abdicate after the First World War.
1879: Edison patented his electric lamp.
1885: Jerome Kern, the US composer regarded as the father of the modern musical, was born in New York. His major work was Show Boat.
1901: Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, whose operas include Rigoletto, Traviata and Aida, died aged 87.
1926: John Logie Baird gave a public demonstration of television to members of the Royal Institution in London.
1944: The 900-day siege of Leningrad ended.
1945: The Auschwitz death camp is liberated by the Soviet Red Army.
1967: Round-the-world yachtsman Francis Chichester was knighted by the Queen at Greenwich with a sword which once belonged to Sir Francis Drake.
1973: America signed a ceasefire to end its military action in Vietnam.
1992: Gennifer Flowers accused Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton of being a liar after he denied having a 12-year affair with her.
2010: American novelist JD Salinger, the author of The Catcher In The Rye, died aged 91.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Actor Jude Law learned that a member of his family allegedly sold stories about him to the News of the World.
FROM THE ARGUS ARCHIVE:
On this day a year ago:
A NEWPORT student's mash-up of Newport car-park demolition and Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball became a YouTube sensation
On this day five years ago:
Wales used e-mail to keep working in snow - Minister
THERE was a big increase in email traffic on Wales's broadband network during the winter freeze when people carried on working from home, Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones said today. read more
