1667 ~ The blind, impoverished John Milton sold the copyright of “Paradise Lost” for £10.

1737 ~ Birthday of Edward Gibbon, Historian.

1773 ~ The British Parliament passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.

1791 ~ Birthday of Samuel Morse, Inventor.

1820 ~ Birthday of Herbert Spencer, Philosopher, editor of “The Economist”, who coined the phrase "survival of the fittest".

1822 ~ Birthday of Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. General & President.

1908 ~ The 1908 Summer Olympics opened in London.

1960 ~ Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.

1961 ~ Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom.

1981 ~ Xerox PARC introduced the computer mouse.

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Eudaimonia