Facts

1679: Habeas Corpus is instituted in England, which establishes the protection of citizens against the arbitrariness of power.

1821: The fisher arsonist Dimitrios Papanikolis sets fire to a Turkish ship with 74 guns and 1000 men in the port of Eressos on Lesbos. The Greeks, who until that day had been fearfully contemplating the unequal confrontation with the Turkish fleet, are encouraged and realize their strength. (The Naval Battle of Eressos)

1855: The first Greek-Turkish agreement, the “Trade and Shipping Treaty”, is signed in the Kanlintza suburb of Istanbul. With the same treaty, the status of confessions is granted for Greek citizens in the Ottoman Empire.

1942: Czech and Slovak insurgents ambush central Prague and seriously injure Gestapo chief Reinhardt Heydrich. He will die a few days later. (Operation Humanoid)

1960: Turkish general Cemal Gursel overthrows the country’s president-elect, Celal Bayar, and Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, who is executed. The country would return to democratic legitimacy a year later.

2010: The Papandreou government’s bill for the self-administrative restructuring of the country, also known as the “Kallikratis” Plan, is passed by a majority. 160 MPs vote for the bill (PASOK and three independents) and “against” 124 MPs (ND, KKE, LAOS, SYRIZA). Independent Dora Bakoyannis votes “present”.

Births

1774: Francis Beaufort, British naval admiral, of French origin. He created the Beaufort scale for measuring wind intensity. (D. 17/12/1857)

1923: Henry Kissinger, American politician, US Secretary of State during the Nixon administrations. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973.

1933: Zozo (Zoi) Sapundzakis, Greek actress and singer.

1957: Suxi Sue, stage name of Susan Ballion, English singer. (“Siouxsie and the Banshees”)

Deaths

1840: Niccolo Paganini, Italian composer and violin virtuoso. (Born 27/10/1782)

1910: Robert Koch, German microbiologist, who discovered the bacillus of tuberculosis and cholera. In 1905 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physics. (Born 11/12/1843)

1963: Grigoris Lambrakis, Greek MP and pro-democracy fighter. (Born 3/4/1912)