In this March 1, 1964, file photo, world heavyweight boxing champion, Muhammad Ali, right, is shown with Black Muslim Leader, Malcolm X, outside the Trans-Lux Newsreel Theater in New York City, after watching a screening of films on Ali’s title fight with Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
1967: Boxer Muhammad Ali is convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. (Ali’s conviction was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court).
OTHER EVENTS
1782: Congress approves the Great Seal of the United States, featuring the emblem of the bald eagle.
1791: King Louis XVI of France and his family attempt to flee in the so-called “Flight to Varennes”, but are caught.
1837: Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.
1893: A jury in New Bedford, Massachusetts, finds Lizzie Borden not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.
1921: US Rep Alice Mary Robertson, an Oklahoma Republican, becomes the first woman to preside over a session of the House of Representatives.
1966: The Beatles album Yesterday and Today is released by Capitol Records, initially with its notorious cover photo featuring the Fab Four dressed in butcher smocks while posing with chunks of meat and parts of dismembered dolls; the resulting outcry prompted Capitol to recall the albums and replace the covers with a more conventional group portrait, making the “butcher cover” a collector’s item.
1990: South African black nationalist Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie, arrive in New York City for a ticker-tape parade in their honour as they began an eight-city US tour.
2001: Houston resident Andrea Yates drowns her five children in the family bathtub, then called police. (Yates was later convicted of murder, but had her conviction overturned; she was acquitted by reason of insanity in a retrial.)
2006: The US military recovers the booby-trapped bodies of two missing soldiers in Iraq. Anchorman Dan Rather reaches an agreement with CBS News to leave the network after 44 years. The Miami Heat wins its first NBA title, beating the Dallas Mavericks 95-92 in game six.
2011: Syrian President Bashar Assad promises a national dialogue to consider political reforms, but his vague overtures to a pro-democracy uprising fell flat as protesters took to the streets shouting “Liar!” and demanding his ouster. The erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey
, by E L James, is published by Vintage Books.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Martin Landau is 88. Actor James Tolkan is 85. Actor John Mahoney is 76. Singer Anne Murray is 71. TV personality Bob Vila is 70. Producer Tina Sinatra is 68. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lionel Richie is 67. Actor John Goodman is 64. Rock musician Murphy Karges (Sugar Ray) is 49. Actress Nicole Kidman is 49. Actress singer Alisan Porter (Curly Sue; The Voice) is 35. Actress Maria Lark is 19.
