Today is the 145th day of 2026. There are 220 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1720: The ship Le Grand St Antoine reaches Marseille, France, bringing Europe’s last major plague outbreak which kills around 100,000.

OTHER EVENTS

1611: Mughal Emperor Jahangir marries his 20th, last and most influential wife Mehr-un-Nisa, awarding her the title Nur Jahan “Light of the World”.

1891: David Butler, American politician (first governor of Nebraska, 1867-71) impeached for misuse of funds, dies at 61.

1895: The trial of acclaimed Irish writer Oscar Wilde ends with him being found guilty of “committing acts of gross indecency with certain male persons”; he is sentenced to two years at hard labour.

1898: Chocolatier Milton S Hershey (Hershey’s chocolate) weds Catherine Sweeney at St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, United States.

1919: African American entrepreneur and first American female self-made millionaire, Madame C J Walker dies of kidney failure complications at 51.

1923: The Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd (JPS) is registered.

1924: Ashutosh Mukherjee, Bengali educator, jurist, barrister, and mathematician described as the Banglar Bagh (Tiger of Bengal), dies abruptly at 59.

1935: Legendary American athlete Jesse Owens equals or breaks four world records in 45 minutes at a Big Ten meet at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; the feat is referred to as “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport”.

1941: In the Ganges Delta region in India 5,000 drown in a storm.

1946: Songwriter of Happy Birthday To You, American composer and teacher Patty Smith Hill dies at 78.

1953: The first non-commercial educational television station is established in Houston, Texas, USA.

1959: The US Supreme Court rules Louisiana prohibiting black-white boxing is unconstitutional.

1961: King Hussein of Jordan, at 25, weds his second wife, British film production assistant Toni Gardiner, who becomes Princess Muna al-Hussein; they divorce in 1972.

1964: The US Supreme Court rules closing schools to avoid desegregation is unconstitutional.

1969: Midnight Cowboy is released in cinemas, and the drama — starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman — goes on to become the only X-rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

1977: George Lucas’s space opera film Star Wars (later known as Star Wars: Episode IV — New Hope) is released, launching one of the most successful and influential franchises in motion picture history.

1983: The first US National Missing Children’s Day is proclaimed.

1986: An estimated seven million Americans participate in ‘Hands Across America’, forming a line across the country to raise money for the nation’s hungry and homeless.

2000: The Chinese Army begins removing British names from military buildings in Hong Kong.

2001: Malcom McLean, American trucking fleet owner of SeaLand and who invented containerised shipping, dies at 87.

2003: Sloan Wilson, American novelist of A Summer Place, et al, dies at 83.

2006: Desmond Dekker [born Desmond Dacres], Jamaican reggae pioneer of Desmond Dekker and The Aces and hit songs by the trio such as 007 (Shanty Town), Israelites, dies of a heart attack at 64.

2011: After a 25-year run the last episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show airs; the long-running TV programme helped make Winfrey one of the richest and most influential women in the United States.

2012: Up to 116 people are massacred, including women and children, by the Syrian army in Houla, in the Homs province

2013: Some 17 children are killed by a gas cylinder explosion on a school bus in Gujrat, Pakistan.

2017: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg receives an honorary degree from Harvard University, after dropping out in 2004.

2020: Video footage of African American George Floyd’s arrest and murder while restrained in Minneapolis police custody, showing he was pinned to the ground by police officer Derek Chauvin’s knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds, ignites widespread condemnation and nationwide protestsin the USA.

2023: Stewart Rhodes, a leader of American militia group the Oath Keepers, is sentenced to 18 years in prison following his conviction on charges of seditious conspiracy related to his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol; on January 20, 2025 American President Donald Trump commutes Rhodes’ sentence to time served.

2024: Richard Sherman, American Grammy and Academy Award-winning composer and lyricist, with his brother Robert (Mary Poppins; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; It’s a Small World (After All), dies at 95.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Igor Sikorsky, Russian aircraft designer, and developer of the helicopter (1889-1972); Arthur Wint, first Jamaican to win an Olympic gold medal (1920-1992); Lincoln Barrington “Sugar” Minott, Jamaican reggae singer, producer, and sound system operator (1956-2010);

— AP/Jamaica Observer /Britannica.com/OnThisDay.com

Desmond Dekker (centre) is flanked by The Aces: James Samuels (left) and Easton Howard. Dekker, Jamaican reggae pioneer, dies of a heart attack at 64 today in 2006.

“Sugar” Minott, Jamaican reggae singer, was born 70 years ago today and passed away in 2010.

The Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd (JPS) is registered today in 1923.