1735 - First opera in U.S., "Flora", opens in Charleston, S.C.
1776 - Wolfgang von Goethes' "Stella" premieres in Hamburg
1802 - Simon Willard patents banjo clock
1807 - Napoleon defeats Russians in battle of Eylau
1895 - Tchaikovsky/Petipa's "Swan Lake" premieres in Petersburg
1905 - Cyclone hit Tahiti & adjacent islands, killing some 10,000 people
1926 - Walt Disney Studios is formed
1933 - First flight of all-metal Boeing 247
1934 - Gaston Doumergue forms new French government
1971 - South Vietnamese troops invade Laos
1976 - Hua Guofeng becomes premier of China PR
1989 ― U.S. Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145 die