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Today in History ********************

- 1356: An English army led by The Black Prince defeated King John II of France in the Battle of Poitiers at the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years War. - 1777: In the Revolutionary War the colonists defeated the British in the first Battle of Saratoga. - 1838: Ephraim Morris patented the railroad brake. - 1846: Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning eloped. - 1854: Henry Meyer patented the sleeping rail car. - 1876: The first carpet sweeper was patented by inventor Melville Bissell, of Grand Rapids, Mich. - 1881: James Garfield, 20th president, died after being shot July 2. - 1888: The world's first beauty contest took place at Spa, Belgium. - 1893: New Zealand became the first country to grant all its women the right to vote. - 1928: Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie," the first animated cartoon talking picture starring Mickey Mouse, was shown at the Colony Theater in New York. - 1934: Bruno Hauptmann was arrested and charged with kidnaping and murdering the infant son of Charles Lindbergh. - 1941: "Mama" Cass Elliot, singer with The Mamas and the Papas, was born in Balitmore (d: 1974). - 1955: Encircled by revolutionary forces, President Juan Peron of Argentina resigned and fled into exile. - 1957: The first underground nuclear tests began in Nevada. - 1984: Britain and China completed a proposed agreement to transfer Hong Kong to China by 1997. - 1985: About12,000 people were estimated killed and 40,000 people injured when an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale hit Mexico City.

*Happy Birthday* ---------------- - Jim Abbott, 30, MLB pitcher, born without a right hand, won Sullivan Award in 1987 - Larry Brown, 50, NFL runningback, third NFL player to rush over 4,000 yards in his first four seasons - Jeremy Irons, 49, actor, "French Lieutenant's Woman," "Reversal of Fortune," "Damage" - Joan Lunden, 47, former talk show host on "Good Morning America" - Randolph Mantooth, 52, actor, "Emergency," "Loving" - David McCallum, 64, actor, "The Man from UNCLE's" Illya Kuryakin, "The Invisible Man" - Joe Leonard Morgan, 54, MLB second baseman/ESPN commentator, led NL in walks four times, led Cincinnati Reds to two World Series titles - Alfred "Al" Oerter, 61, track & field, record four discus gold medals in consecutive Olympics 1956-68

- Ard Schenk, 53, speed skater, 1972 won three gold medals Winter Olympics, first skater to win 500-, 1,500-, 5,000-and 10,000-meter races at world championships - Twiggy Lawson (real name: Leslie Hornby), 48, actress/model, "Princesses," "The Boy Friend," "The Blues Brothers" - Adam West, 69, actor, Batman/Bruce Wayne on TV - Trisha Yearwood, 33, country music performer