2021
A Texas resident narrowly avoided a felony after forgetting to return a VHS rental tape after 22 years.
Caron McBride unknowingly had a copy of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” since 1999. Even though the store had since closed, her record still stated she was guilty of “felony embezzlement.” The case was since dropped, but McBride suspected her record was the reason for difficulty acquiring jobs.
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2017
The Handmaid’s Tale debuted on Hulu.
It starred Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, and Yvonne Strahovski and is based on the book by Margaret Atwood.
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2011
The Voice, a reality singing competition television show, premiered on NBC.
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1992
Rapper Ice Cube married Kimberly Woodruff.
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1986
The Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine exploded, killing 31 people and spreading contamination across Western Europe.
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1982
Great Britain claimed South Georgia Island after Argentina surrendered following the Falklands War.
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1982
Singer Rod Stewart was robbed at gunpoint.
He was on Sunset Boulevard, doing some shopping when a gunman asked him for the keys to his 1977 Porsche Turbo-Carrera car.
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1962
Ariel 1, the first British-American satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, US.
The launch of Ariel 1 made the UK the third nation to operate a satellite, joining the US and the Soviet Union. Ariel 1 was used to measure X-ray energy from solar flares.
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1954
The first major mass trials of polio vaccines began.
Around 443,000 children received their shots within the first three months.
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1933
The official secret police force of Nazi Germany, the Gestapo, was established.
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1915
The Treaty of London was signed by Italy, Britain, France, and Russia.
The treaty was to continue an alliance proceeding World War I.
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1803
A meteorite shower caused thousands of meteor fragments to fall in L’Aigle, France.
This event convinced European scientists that meteors actually existed.
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1564
William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
The date of Shakespeare’s birth is unknown; however, historians believe it was shortly before this day.
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1514
Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus made his first observation of Saturn.
Copernicus later proposed that the sun is stationary and that the Earth and the planets move in circular orbits around it.
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