A massive earthquake devastates parts of Java, Indonesia
With 5 million people living within 50 km of the quake’s epicenter, about 6000 died, and 1.5 million were left homeless.
Czech resistance fighters kill Reinhard Heydrich
The high-ranking German Nazi official was one of the main architects of the Holocaust. In retaliation, the Nazis murdered all male inhabitants over 15 years of age in the Czech village of Lidice and deported most of the remaining people to concentration camps.
Walt Disney’s cartoon Three Little Pigs is released
The animated short film is one of the best-known cartoons of all time. In 1934, it was awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The world’s first chess tournament is held in London
Adolf Anderssen, a maths teacher from Wrocław, won the tournament, which was held parallel to the 1851 Great Exhibition.
- 1975 Jamie Oliver
English chef, author - 1934 Harlan Ellison
American author, screenwriter - 1923 Henry Kissinger
German/American politician, 56th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate - 1922 Christopher LeeEnglish actor
- 1907 Rachel Carson
American biologist, author
- 2011 Gil Scott-Heron
American singer-songwriter, author - 1964 Jawaharlal Nehru
Indian politician, 1st Prime Minister of India - 1840 Niccolò Paganini
Italian violinist, composer - 1564 John Calvin
French theologian, pastor - 927 Simeon I of Bulgaria
