Who was born on this date?

871 - The Danes were defeated by the West Saxons under Ethelred and Alfred the Great at the battle of Ashdown.

1066 - Harold was crowned king of England following the death of his brother-in-law Edward the Confessor, and immediately was threatened by rival claimants to the throne. He was England's last Anglo-Saxon king.

1099 - Henry V, second son of Henry IV and his first wife, Bertha of Turin, was crowned king of Germany.

1169 - England and France agreed to a peace when Louis VII and Henry II met at Montmirail.

1540 - Henry VIII of England married Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife.

1838 - Samuel F.B. Morse gave the first public demonstration of his invention, the telegraph, at the Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, New Jersey.

1896 - Following accusations that he engineered the Jameson Raid on Johannesburg, Cecil Rhodes resigned as prime minister of Cape Colony.

1896 - The first American women’s six-day bicycle race was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1912 - New Mexico became the 47th U.S. state.

1929 - King Alexander of Yugoslavia abolished the constitution, dissolved the government and established a royal dictatorship.

1930 - The first trip by a diesel-engine automobile was completed. It went 792 miles, from Indianapolis, Indiana to New York City.

1938 - At Decca Records in New York City, Trummy Young played trombone and sang with the Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra on "Margie".

1941 - On CBS radio, a young actor, Richard Widmark, debuted in "The Home of the Brave".

1941 - Alice Marble made her professional tennis debut at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where she defeated Ruth Hardwick of Great Britain.

1941 - President Franklin Roosevelt addressed Congress offering support for all who strove for four essential freedoms -- freedom of speech and religion and freedom from want and fear.

1942 - Pan American Airlines gave the first, commercial, around-the-world airline flight.

1942 - The National Collegiate Football Rules Committee did away with the Y formation saying too many linemen shouted "Get yer butt out of my face" because of it. Today it is not thought a play in which the center FACES his own backfield would work well.

1950 - Ronald Coleman starred as Ivy College's president in the radio presentation, "Halls of Ivy".

1950 - Britain formally recognized China's communist government.

1952 - "Peanuts," Charles Schulz's comic strip debuted. As the most successful syndicated comic strip in history, it continues to be popular worldwide.

1966 - CBS-TV broadcast Duke Ellington’s concert of sacred music, recorded at 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City.

1967 - The first Super Bowl was televised by both NBC and CBS. Featuring the Green Bay Packers vs the Kansas City Raiders, it was one of the highest-rated single programs in the history of television to this time. Green Bay, led by quarterback Bart Starr, beat Kansas City by a score of 35 - 10.

1969 - President Charles de Gaulle imposed a total ban on French arms supplies to Israel.

1974 - CBS radio returned to night time dramatic programming with the first broadcast of "Radio Mystery Theatre", hosted by E.G. Marshall. The started out on 218 CBS network stations, and even in syndication today, it is still a mainstay for some stations.

1975 - The Broadway premiere of "The Wiz" opened to favorable reviews. The show, a black version of "The Wizard of Oz", was hugely popular, running for 1,672 shows at the Majestic Theatre. However, moviegoers, were not in favor of the later cinema version of the musical starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. One song from the show is "Ease on Down the Road".

1975 - ABC-TV debuted "A.M. America," as their attempt to join the early morning news and information race. Long time WABC-TV news anchor, Bill Beautel, teamed up with Los Angeles, California's Stephanie Edwards for the show's ten month run. ABC then debuted David Hartman in "Good Morning America", which for 20 years has competed with NBC’s "Today".

1979 - Soul Man, recorded by comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as the fictitious singing team, The Blues Brothers, debuted on Billboard's pop charts. The Blues Brothers had originally been created for television's Saturday Night Live, and had been so popular that it prompted several records and a movie with Jake and Elwood Blues. Soul Man peaked at Number 14 on the charts.

1981 - Gaston Thorn succeeded Roy Jenkins as president of the European Commission.

1984 - Getty Oil put in an estimated $9.9 billion bid to take over Texaco Oil. The offer topped Dupont's previous record takeover bid for Conoco Oil in 1981 for $7.8 billion. Recently, 440 International rejected a $16.2 billion takeover bid by Acme Banana.

1987 - After a 29-years, the Ford Thunderbird was presented with the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award once again, making it the first repeat winner of the award.

1990 - Poland's Communist Party leaders gave the green light to its dissolution and replacement by a non-Marxist party.

1992 - A judge in San Fernando, California, sentenced Adam Rich, the former child actor who portrayed Nicholas Bradford in the 1980's hit television series Eight is Enough, to 30 days in jail after he was kicked out of a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program. Rich, age 23, was expelled from the program after he jumped down a flight of stairs the previous week and then asked for painkilling drugs for his injuries.

1992 - President Zviad Gamsakhurdia fled Georgia after a bloody two-week power struggle, leaving his parliament burning and in the hands of jubilant rebel gunmen.