English King Henry VIII becomes head of the Anglican Church, feminist playwright Olympe de Gouges meets a sticky end for pointing out that women are equal to men, and the U.S. Congress moves a proposed airport by creating the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Happy birthday to Ludovic Kennedy - with a reading from "Wuthering Heights," by Emily Bronte.

Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenities for publishing "Lady Chatterly's Lover," and the U.S. top brass decides the public should get more optimistic reports on the progress of the Vietnam War. Happy birthdays to Moa Martinson and Isobel Andrews - with a reading from Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self Reliance."

Shakespeare's "Othello" premiers, "The Tempest," too, Edmund Burke publishes his polemic "Reflections on the Revolution in France," and the U.S. Library of Congress opens. Happy birthdays to Stephen Crane and Susanna Clarke - with a reading from Crane's "Red Badge of Courage."

Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door, the Netherlands Leiden University Library opens, and the birthday club includes Marie Louise Andrews, Tom Paxton, Ali Farka Touré, and Susan Orlean - with a reading from W. E. B. DuBois' "The Souls of Black Folk."

Slave rebellion leader Nat Turner is arrested, the October Manifesto gives Russia a parliamentary monarchy, Orson Welles broadcasts H. G. Well's "The War of the Worlds," and Jackie Robinson breaks the MLB's color barrier. And the birthday club includes Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Zoe Akins, Ruth Gordon, and Jean Chapman - with a reading from Roberts' "The Time of Man."

The opera Don Giovanni premiers, the International Red Cross is established, and this is Black Tuesday. Happy birthday to David Remnick - with a reading from Jane Austen's "Emma."

Columbus lands in what is now Cuba, but he thought he was in Japan. Some of the first institutions of higher ed in new world are established. Jonathan Swift publishes "Gulliver's Travels, and the birthday club includes Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Held, and Susan Harris - with a reading from Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray."

Missouri's Governor issues the Extermination Order targeting Mormons, Vasily Arkhipov refuses to launch a Soviet nuclear weapon and spares humanity, and happy birthday to Sylvia Plath - with a reading from her journal.

Wyatt Earp is caught up in the gunfight that made Tombstone, Arizona famous and Ida B. Wells publishes her pamphlet "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases." Happy birthdays to Hilary Clinton and Marisha Pessl - with a reading from Wells' "Red Record."

The Charge of the Light Brigade, the Zinoviev letter, and happy birthdays to Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, Anne Tyler, Zadie Smith, and Katy Perry - with a reading from Alexandre Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo."