• 1961: Jomo Kenyatta is freed after serving nine years in prison for his part in the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya.
• 1993: NASA loses contact with Mars Observer.
• 2017: Next total solar eclipse visible from North America.
• 2012: 20 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo die from the Ebola virus.


• 1980: Linda Ronstadt opens in "Pirates of Penzance" on Broadway.
• 1956: Kim Cattrall, Liverpool England, actress (Mannequin, Star Trek VI) is born.
• 1986: "Rags" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 4 performances.
• 2010: Actor and director Stephen Moyer (41) weds actress Anna Paquin (28) at a private estate in Malibu.

Sports:
• 1980: John Erskine (Jack) Cheetham (60), SA cricket player in 24 test matches, dies in Johannesburg.
• 2004: SA wins the 2004 Tri-Nations rugby championship by beating Australia 23-19 in Durban.
• 2004: Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele claims the Olympic men's 10,000 metres gold in the Athens Olympic Games. His mentor Haile Gebrselassie finishes fifth.
• 1986: Usain Bolt, Trelawny Jamaica, sprinter (3x Olympic Gold 2008) is born.