1992 - In recognition of a lifetime of excellence, both on the court and off, former tennis star Arthur Ashe was honoured as Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year. “It was not just for this year, but for his career,” Mark Mulvoy, the magazine’s managing editor, said. Ashe, 49, the most prominent black male tennis player in history, has also distinguished himself by his commitment to ideals and his courage in the face of two life threatening illnesses - AIDS and heart disease. In accepting the award, Ashe hailed Jackie Robinson and Bill Bradley among his inspirations for his commitment to political and social causes. He was inducted into the tennis Hall of Fame in 1985, six years after a heart-attack forced his retirement.
Other important events
1640 - Duke of Braganca is crowned John IV, the first king of Portugal after 60 years of Spanish rule.
1806 - Napoleon Bonaparte enters Warsaw, Poland.
1916 - French defeat Germans in Battle of Verdun during the First World War.
1914 - A gas explosion at the Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine in Kyushu, Japan, kills 687 miners.
1952 - China rejects India’s plan for Korean armistice.
1957 - UN rejects Greece’s proposal that Cyprus is entitled to self-determination.
1960 - King Baudouin of Belgium marries Dona Fabiola de Mora y Aragon.
1961 - Former Nazi Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death in Jerusalem.
1970 - Soviet spacecraft starts sending messages from planet Venus.
1979 - The deposed Shah of Iran goes into temporary exile in Panama.
1982 - Spain reopens border with Gibraltar.
1986 - Rival ethnic groups battle in Karachi and kill 150 people.
1991 - A ferry sinks off the Egyptian port of Safaga, killing 470 people.
1993 - British Prime Minister John Major and his Irish counterpart Albert Reynolds sign Downing Street Declaration.
1994 - John Bruton becomes prime minister of Ireland.
1997 - Eighty-five people are killed as a Tajik Air chartered flight crashes near Sharjah Airport.
1999 - After half a century of bitter conflict, Israel and Syria open their highest-level talks ever.
2000 - Ukraine shuts down the last nuclear reactor at Chernobyl.
2001 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa re-opens to the public. It had been closed since 1990.
2005 - Iraqis vote in historic election to choose a new government.
2008 - Abhisit Vejjajiva is elected Thailand’s Prime Minister.
2011 - 143 die after consuming tainted liquor in West Bengal, India.
2013 - Former South African president Nelson Mandela is buried in Qunu, South Africa.
2015 - European Parliament votes to allow Emirati citizens visa-free access to Schengen states.
