On this date in . . .

1564: Astronomer Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy.

1764: In Missouri, the city of St. Louis was established.

1927: The U.S. issued a patent (#1,661,036) for the Grapefruit Squirt Shield, a shell-shaped grapefruit holder that protected others at the table from being squirted.

1946: The Philadelphia Phillies signed 33-year-old Edith Houghton to a baseball scouting contract, the first female scout in the major leagues.

1951: The movie "Bedtime for Bonzo" premiered in Indianapolis. It starred Ronald Reagan as a monkey’s father.

1958: The "Dick Clark Show" debuted on ABC-TV in prime-time. Guests on the first show were Connie Francis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnnie Ray, Pat Boone, and Chuck Willis. The show lasted three seasons.

1965: Singer Nat "King" Cole died of cancer at age 45. His first band was called The Royal Dukes. He had 50 charted singles, including "Mona Lisa," "When I Fall In Love," and "Ramblin’ Rose."

1969: Vickie Jones was arrested in Florida for impersonating Aretha Franklin during a paid concert. She was so convincing, no one asked for a refund.

1989: The Soviet Union announced that the last of its troops had left Afghanistan after more than nine years of military intervention.

1998: A two-ton elephant named Tonya escaped from a circus at the high school in Mentor, Ohio, and ambled a quarter mile with police in hot pursuit. She was captured a few minutes later at the Big Lots store. No one was injured.

1999: Governor Jesse Ventura proclaimed Rolling Stones Day in Minnesota, and congratulated 55-year-old Keith Richards for being "still alive." Ventura once worked as a Rolling Stones bodyguard.

2001: A drummer in Kagel, Germany, was practicing so loudly in his bedroom that he did not notice burglars smash a downstairs window, empty the house of valuables, and drive off in his car.

2003: Millions of protesters around the world demonstrated against a possible U.S. attack against Iraq.

2004: Race driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500 on the same track where his father was killed three years earlier.