1961 - Motown releases what would be its first number one hit, “Please Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes.

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2003 - Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing approximately 34,646,416 miles (55,758,006 kilometers) from Earth.

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1498 - Michelangelo commissioned to carve the Pietà.

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1609 - Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.

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1456 - The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.

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79 - Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

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1932 - The BBC first experiments with television broadcasting. See also Timeline of the BBC.

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1879 - The Virgin Mary, along with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist reportedly appear to the people of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland.

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1882 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.

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1692 - Salem witch trials: In Salem, Massachusetts, Province of Massachusetts Bay five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.

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