This day in history

► Today’s birthdays: Pianist Arthur Ferrante is 88. Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) is 85. Jazz musician Sonny Rollins is 79. Singer Alfa Anderson (Chic) is 63. Singer Gloria Gaynor is 60. Rock singer Chrissie Hynde is 58. Actress Julie Kavner is 58. Rock musician Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 56. Actor Corbin Bernsen is 55. Actor Michael Emerson (“Lost’’) is 55. Pianist Michael Feinstein is 53. Singer Margot Chapman is 52. Actor W. Earl Brown is 46. Actor Toby Jones is 43. Actress Angie Everhart is 40. Actor Tom Everett Scott is 39. Rock musician Chad Sexton (311) is 39. Actress Diane Farr is 38. Actress Shannon Elizabeth is 36. Actor Oliver Hudson is 33. Actor Devon Sawa is 31. Singer Wes Willis (Rush of Fools) is 23. Actress Evan Rachel Wood is 22.

► In 1533, England’s Queen Elizabeth I was born in Greenwich.

► In 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette bade farewell to President John Quincy Adams at the White House.

► In 1907, the British liner RMS Lusitania set out from Liverpool, England, on its maiden voyage, arriving six days later in New York.

► In 1909, film and theater director Elia Kazan was born in Constantinople (now Istanbul).

► In 1927, American television pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth, 21, succeeded in transmitting the image of a line through purely electronic means with a device called an “image dissector.’’

► In 1940, Germany began its eight-month blitz of Britain with the first air attack on London.

► In 1977, the Panama Canal treaties, calling for the US to eventually turn over control of the waterway to Panama, were signed by President Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos.

► In 1979, cable TV’s Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) made its debut.

► In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was shot on the Las Vegas Strip; he died six days later.

► In 1999, Indonesia imposed martial law in East Timor, promising to crack down on rampaging pro-Indonesian militias after the territory’s vote for independence. An earthquake in Athens claimed 143 lives. It was announced that Viacom Inc. was buying CBS Corp. for $36 billion.

► In 2008, troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed in government conservatorship. Astroland, New York City’s world famous amusement park at Coney Island, closed after 46 years.