1553
Lady Jane Grey, the 15-year-old great-granddaughter of Henry VII, became queen of England, but her reign lasted only nine days, and she was executed by Mary Tudor the following year.
1584
William I, first of the hereditary stadtholders of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, was assassinated.
1609
The Catholic League was formed by Maximilian I, duke of Bavaria, and the Catholic powers in Germany.
1871
French novelist Marcel Proust—who wrote À la recherche du temps perdu (1913–27; In Search of Lost Time), a seven-volume novel based on his life—was born.
1875
Mary McLeod Bethune, an African American educator who was active in national black affairs and a special adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was born in Mayesville, South Carolina.
1925
The Scopes Trial began in Dayton, Tennessee, with William Jennings Bryan arguing for the prosecution and Clarence Darrow for the defense.
1952
The constitution of Eritrea, prepared by the United Nations in consultation with Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, was adopted.
1965
British rock band the Rolling Stones topped U.S. charts for the first time with the single (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.
1973
The Bahamas gained independence from Britain within the Commonwealth.
1985
The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was sunk by two bomb explosions while berthed in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand; it was later revealed that French intelligence agents had planted the explosives.
1991
Russian politician Boris Yeltsin was sworn into office as the country’s first elected president.
2015
Egyptian actor Omar Sharif, who garnered international acclaim for his roles in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965), died in Cairo.
2019
German automaker Volkswagen ended production of the Beetle, the first model of which had been introduced in 1938.
