2022
During the Oscar’s ceremony, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock following a joke directed towards Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Chris Rock was on the stage to present an award for best documentary when he made a joke about Jada’s lack of hair, Calling her “G.I. Jane,” referring to a movie that featured Demi Moore with closely cropped hair. Will Smith took offense to this and walked up to the stage and slapped the comedian.
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2020
North Macedonia officially joined NATO, becoming the 30th member of the military alliance.
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2008
The Gordon Ramsay Plane Food restaurant opened within terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport.
The one-off airport restaurant cost a staggering $3.4 million (£2.5 million) to build.
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2005
ABC debuted the first season of “Gray’s Anatomy.”
The TV medical drama was created by Shonda Rhimes, and stars included Ellen Pompeo and Sandra Oh.
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1997
Martin Luther King’s son met the man convicted of killing his father, James Earl Ray.
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1989
The soap opera “Generations” aired on NBC-TV, making it the first US African-American show of its kind.
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1979
US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that police can’t stop cars just to check the driver and their registration.
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1977
Two Boeing 747 planes collided in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
Five hundred and eighty-three people lost their lives. One craft had no survivors, while the other had 61 survivors.
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1969
NASA launched its Mariner 7 space probe from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket.
The Mariner 7 probe was launched 31 days after its identical counterpart, Mariner 6. The two probes conducted the first dual fly-by of Mars, with Mariner 7 reaching Mars just five days after Mariner 6 despite launching a month later. Mariner 7 took 23 near and 93 far encounter images of Mars, with the pair transmitting 100MB of data back to Earth.
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1964
A 9.2 magnitude earthquake occurred in Alaska.
The Great Alaskan earthquake was the strongest in US history and the second strongest ever to happen on Earth. The quake caused a tsunami, and 131 lives were lost.
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1952
The musical “Singing in The Rain,” directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, had its first theatrical run.
The first production was at Radio Music Hall in New York City, US.
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1951
Frank Sinatra recorded his hit “I’m a Fool to Want You.”
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1790
Harvey Kennedy patented the modern shoelace, which included aglet reinforced tips.
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1513
Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León accidentally discovered Florida.
He held a royal contract that granted him the right to settle and govern the island of Bimini. Ponce’s fleet of three ships sailed from Puerto Rico, passing northwest through the Bahamas, and was surprised to find Florida’s southeastern shore.
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