On this date in history:

In 1666, the first blood transfusion took place in London. Blood from one dog was transfused into another.

In 1832, the first horse-drawn streetcar made its appearance in New York City.

In 1889, newspaper reporter Nellie Bly set off to break the fictional record of voyaging around the world in 80 days set by Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg. She made the trip in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds.

In 1910, pilot Eugene Burton Ely successfully completed the first shipboard take off, paving the way toward the development of aircraft carriers as part of modern naval fleets.

In 1922, the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) radio service began daily broadcasting in the United Kingdom.

In 1940, German planes bombed Coventry, England, killing and injuring hundreds of people and destroying or damaging 69,000 buildings.

In 1960, accompanied by federal marshals, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges became a symbol of the civil rights movement when she walked into William Frantz Elementary School to jeers from protesters. She was the first Black student at the Louisiana school after a court ordered the desegregation of schools. Ten days later, Ruby told a UPI reporter she enjoyed learning to draw pictures in school.

In 1969, Apollo 12 launched from Kennedy Space Center to carry out NASA's second mission to the moon.

In 1970, members of the Marshall University football team were among 75 casualties when Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed outside of Huntington, W.Va.

In 1986, the White House acknowledged the CIA's role in secretly shipping weapons to Iran.

In 1993, residents of Puerto Rico voted in favor of continuing their U.S. commonwealth status.

In 1994, the 31-mile Chunnel Tunnel under the English Channel opened to passenger traffic between England and France.

In 2009, NASA scientists reported finding at least 26 gallons of water on the moon after studying results of their L-cross satellite mission, demonstrating what they called the possibility of sustaining life there.

In 2013, a federal judge sentenced former Boston mobster James Whitey Bulger to two life-in-prison terms plus five years on 11 murder convictions.

In 2022, soul singer Roberta Flack announced she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS and Lou Gehrig's disease, causing her to lose her ability to speak or sing.

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