1660

Under invitation by leaders of the English Commonwealth, Charles II, the exiled king of England, lands at Dover to assume the throne.

1659

In England, Lord Protector Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver, resigns.

1787

In Philadelphia, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States.

1793

In Baltimore, Maryland Father Stephen Theodore Badin becomes the first Catholic priest to be ordained in the America

1914

In Britain, the House of Commons passes the Government of Ireland Act giving home rule to Ireland.

1977

The film Star Wars opens in America. 

1961

American President John Kennedy pledges to get the first man on the Moon by 1970.

1895: Wilde guilty of indecency

At the end of a sensational trial, Irish writer Oscar Wilde is convicted of gross indecency in his relations with the son of the Marquess of Queensberry. He was sentenced to two years hard labour. Wilde, whose wit and flamboyance placed him at the centre of London social and literary circles, is best remembered for his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere's Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest. In his writing and conduct, he often tested the bounds of the prudish Victorian society of his day, which led to his imprisonment for homosexuality in 1895 at the height of his career. After his release in 1897, he moved to Paris, where he died two and a half years later.