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BTS becomes the first K-Pop band to perform on Saturday Night Live in the US

BTS is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010. In 2020, BTS became one of the few groups since the Beatles to chart four US number-one albums in less than two years, with 'Love Yourself'. They were also the first South-Korean musical guest to appear on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The group performed their newly-released single 'Boy With Luv' and revisited their 2017 release 'Mic Drop.' As a result, the hashtag 'BTSxSNL' trended in the top spot worldwide on Twitter for numerous hours.

Director Miloš Forman dies

Legendary Czech director and two-time Oscar-winner Miloš Forman has passed away at the age of 86. The director died unexpectedly at his home in Connecticut following a short illness. Born Jan Tomáš Forman in Čáslav, Forman studied filmmaking at Prague’s FAMU film academy before becoming an integral part of the Czech New Wave during the 1960s.

Drake is at #1 on the UK singles chart with 'Nice for What'

'Nice for What' is a song recorded by Canadian rapper Drake from his fifth studio album Scorpion. It was released by Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records as the second single from the album along with its music video. It topped the UK Singles Chart and ARIA Singles Chart, becoming his second number-one song of 2018 in the two countries after 'God's Plan'.

The US drops the largest ever non-nuclear weapon

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast is a large-yield bomb, developed for the United States military by Albert L. Weimorts, Jr. of the Air Force Research Laboratory. The MOAB was first dropped in combat in the April 2017 airstrike against an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province tunnel complex in Achin District, Afghanistan.

'Oslo' opens on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater

Oslo is a Tony award-winning play by J. T. Rogers, recounting the true-life, previously secret, back-channel negotiations in the development of the pivotal 1990s Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Oslo transferred to Broadway and opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in 2017, directed by Bartlett Sher.

NASA announces alien life could exist on moon Enceladus

NASA announced the discovery of possible hydrothermal activity on Enceladus' sub-surface ocean floor. The presence of ample hydrogen in Enceladus's ocean means that microbes – if any exist there – could use it to obtain energy by combining the hydrogen with carbon dioxide dissolved in the water.

2016

Kobe Bryant plays his last game for the Los Angeles Lakers

In the season finale, Bryant scored an NBA season-high 60 points against Utah in his last NBA game, outscoring the entire Jazz team 23–21 in the fourth quarter, in the Lakers' 101–96 victory. He became the oldest player to score 60 or more points in a game at 37 years and 234 days old.

Myanmar earthquake

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Myanmar 135 km north-west of Mandalay with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI. The estimated depth was 134 km. It lasted for around one minute according to Xinhua reporters. There were no reports of major damage or loss of life as a result of the tremor in Myanmar.

'Avengers: Age of Ultron' premieres in Los Angeles

'Avengers: Age of Ultron' is an American superhero movie based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2012's 'The Avengers' and the eleventh movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie was written and directed by Joss Whedon.

Novelist Günter Grass dies

Grass was a German novelist and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is best known for his first novel, The Tin Drum, a key text in European magic realism. He was an active supporter of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Grass died of a lung infection in a Lübeck hospital at the age of 87.

2014

Manny Pacquiao defeats Timothy Bradley to regain his WBO

Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley II is a boxing welterweight championship fight for the WBO Welterweight Championship. The bout was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Pacquiao won by unanimous decision and took the WBO Welterweight title, ending Bradley's undefeated streak.

Lion Air Flight 904 crashes into water

The Boeing 737-800 operating the flight crashed into water short of runway while on final approach to land. All 101 passengers and 7 crew on board survived the accident. The aircraft crashed approximately 0.6 nautical miles short of the seawall protecting the threshold of Runway 09.

The world-premiere of 'Betty Blue Eyes'

Betty Blue Eyes is a 2011 stage musical comedy based on the 1984 film A Private Function, and features music by George Stiles, with lyrics by Anthony Drewe. Betty Blue Eyes opened at the Novello Theatre in the West End, London. The production was directed by Richard Eyre and starred Sarah Lancashire, Reece Shearsmith, and David Bamber.

'A Year with Frog and Toad' opens on Broadway

A Year With Frog and Toad is a musical written by brothers Robert and Willie Reale, based on the Frog and Toad children's stories written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. The musical opened on Broadway at the Cort Theatre in 2013 but after the jump from a $30 ticket to a $90 Broadway ticket, the show closed after 73 performances and 15 previews.

Heavy metal band Metallica sues Napster

Metallica sued Napster in a case that focused on copyright infringement, racketeering, and unlawful use of digital audio interface devices. As a result, Napster was forced to search through its system and remove all copyrighted songs by Metallica.

'The Wild Party' opens at the Virginia Theatre

The Wild Party is a musical with a book by Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe and music and lyrics by LaChiusa. It is based on the 1928 Joseph Moncure March narrative poem of the same name. The Broadway production coincidentally opened during the same theatrical season as an off-Broadway musical with the same title and source material.

1997

Tiger Woods wins the 61st Masters Tournament at 21

Tiger Woods wins the prestigious Masters Tournament by a record 12 strokes in Augusta, Georgia and became the tournament's youngest-ever winner at age 21. It was Woods’ first victory in one of golf’s four major championships and the greatest performance by a professional golfer in more than a century.

'Three Tall Women' opens at the Promenade Theatre

Three Tall Women is a play by Edward Albee, which won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Albee's third. The production opened at the Promenade Theatre in 1994. During the run, Seldes assumed the role of "A," with Joan Van Ark and Frances Conroy assuming the role of "B."

Tom Stoppard's 'Arcadia' premieres in London

Arcadia is play concerning the relationship between past and present, order and disorder, certainty and uncertainty. The first New York production was nominated for the 1995 Tony Award for Best Play. It returned to Broadway in 2011 and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

Chicago flood

The Chicago flood occurred in 1992, when the damaged wall of a utility tunnel beneath the Chicago River opened into a breach which flooded basements, facilities and the underground Chicago Pedway throughout the Chicago Loop with an estimated 250 million US gallons of water.

1980

The US boycotts the summer Olympic games in Moscow

The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics, and other countries would later boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

U.S. reintroduce two-dollar bill

The Treasury Department reintroduced the $2 bill as a cost-saving measure. $2 bills were redesigned and issued as a Federal Reserve Note. The obverse of the banknote features the portrait of Thomas Jefferson. The reverse features an engraving of the painting The Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull.

Apollo 13 accident

Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, but the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the Service Module upon which the Command Module had depended.

'Casino Royale' premieres in London

'Casino Royale' is a 1967 British-American spy comedy movie originally produced by Columbia Pictures featuring an ensemble cast. The movie held its premiere at the London's Odeon Leicester Square breaking many opening records in the theatre's history.

The first black wins Academy Award for Best Actor

Sydney Poitier becomes the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his role as a construction worker who helps build a chapel in Lilies of the Field. He received a tremendous ovation. This accolade helped make Poitier cinema's first Caribbean-American superstar.

The U.S. launches Transit 1-B

Transit 1B was successfully launched by a Thor-Ablestar rocket. The first successful tests of the system were made in 1960, and the system entered Naval service in 1964. The Transit system was made obsolete by the GPS and ceased navigation service in 1996.

'12 Angry Men' is released

12 Angry Men is an American courtroom drama movie adapted from a teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. This trial movie tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt on the basis of reasonable doubt, forcing the jurors to question their morals and values.

1954

Hank Aaron made his major league debut with the Milwaukee Braves

Baseball Hall of Famer was one of the best baseball players of all time. He joined the Milwaukee Braves of the major leagues. Aaron was the last Negro League player to compete in the majors. He played his first game with the Braves and went hitless in his five times at bat.

CIA mind control program

CIA director Allen Welsh Dulles ordered a new project codenamed MKUltra. It was a program of experiments on human subjects, at times illegal. They were intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations and torture to weaken the individual to force confessions through mind control.

FDR dedicates Jefferson Memorial

The Jefferson Memorial was officially dedicated by President Roosevelt on the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birthday. At that time, Evans' statue had not yet been finished. Due to material shortages during World War II, the statue that was installed at the time was a plaster cast of Evans' work painted to look like bronze.

1940

Cornelious Warmerdam became 1st man to pole vault 15 ft

Vaulting throughout his career with a bamboo pole, Warmerdam was the first vaulter to clear 15 feet, accomplishing that feat at UC Berkeley in 1940. However, that achievement was not ratified for a world record, and his later vault of 4.60 m was the first ratified jump over 15 feet.

Transatlantic flight from East to West

Aviators Günther von Hünefeld, Hermann Köhl, and James Fitzmaurice flew from Dublin to Greenly Island in the Strait of Belle Isle, missing their intended destination, New York. They used Junkers W 33 aircraft named Bremen. Flying across the Atlantic Ocean from East to West is more is more difficult because of the prevailing winds.

John Philip Sousa's 'El Capitan' premieres

El Capitan is an operetta in three acts by John Philip Sousa and has a libretto by Charles Klein. The piece was Sousa's first successful operetta and his most successful stage work. The march "El Capitan" became a standard work both for brass bands and a crossover into other genres. El Capitan was first produced at the Tremont Theatre in Boston.

Metropolitan Museum of Art is established

The New York State Legislature granted the Metropolitan Museum of Art an Act of Incorporation "for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in said City a Museum and Library of Art, of encouraging and developing the Study of the Fine Arts, and the application of Art to manufacture and natural life, of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects, and to that end of furnishing popular instruction and recreations".

British inventor Richard Trevithick is born

Trevithick designed the first functional steam locomotive, for which he invented high-pressure steam engine. His locomotive was called the Puffing Devil. Trevithick tested her on Christmas Eve 1801 by carrying six passengers. Also, he worked as a mining consultant in Peru and explored parts of Costa Rica.

U. S. president and scientist Thomas Jefferson is born

Jefferson is known as the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as President of the United States. His interests were wider than just politics. He was an astronomer, scholar, and inventor. Jefferson was interested in all natural sciences. He collected and classified fossils and conducted experiments with scientific farming.

George Frideric Handel's oratorio 'Messiah' performed for the 1st time

Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin and received its London premiere nearly a year later.

Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes is born

Guy Fawkes was presumably born in Stonegate in York, England. His baptism took place in the church of St Michael le Belfrey. He joined the military and later traveled to Spain, seeking support for a Catholic rebellion in England. He became a member of a group which planned to assassinate the Protestant King James VI.

Anniversaries of the (in)famous