1697 – Scottish student Thomas Aikenhead became the last person in Britain to be executed for blasphemy.
1889 – Statistician Herman Hollerith received a patent for his electric tabulating machine, the precursor to modern computers.
1936 – Reza Shah issued the Kashf-e hijab decree in Iran, ordering police to physically remove hijab from any woman in public.
1978 – Harvey Milk (pictured) was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man elected into public office in the United States.
2010 – Gunmen from an offshoot of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda attacked the bus transporting the Togo national football team to the Africa Cup of Nations, killing three.
