1099 The first Crusaders began their siege of Hosn-el-Akrad in Syria.
1547 Henry VIII (b. 1491) known for his role in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church and his six marriages, died at the age of 55.
1807 London’s fashionable Pall Mall street became the first street to be lit by gaslight.
1865 Lala Lajpat Rai (d. 1928), freedom fighter popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab was born in Punjab.
1928 Christopher Hornsrud was chosen Prime Minister of Norway at the age of 101.
1986 The US Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after lift-off, killing all seven astronauts on board.
1998 Michelangelo’s painting 'Christ and the Woman of Samaria' was sold for a record $7.4 million.
2007 Actress Shilpa Shetty was voted the winner of the reality television show Celebrity Big Brother 2007.
2010 Five ex-Army officers convicted of assassinating the founder of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, were executed.
2010 J. D. Salinger (b. 1919), reclusive author of the novel The Catcher in the Rye, died at the age of 91.