A lot of History today

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1065
Westminster Abbey consecrated.

Westminster Abbey, originally the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery (closed in 1539) in London. One of England's most important Gothic structures, it is also a national shrine. The first church on the site is believed to date from early in the 7th cent. It was erected by Æthelbert, king of Kent. Edward the Confessor began c.1050 the building of a Norman church, consecrated in 1065. In 1245, Henry III began to demolish the edifice and to build a new eastern portion, thus initiating centuries of construction. The fine octagonal chapter house was built in 1250, and in the 14th cent. the cloisters, abbot's house, and principal monastic buildings were added. The nave was completed in the 16th cent. Early in the 16th cent. Henry VIII finished the Lady Chapel, dedicated to Henry VII. This chapel, in Perpendicular style, is noted for its superb fan vaulting. The two western towers were built (1722–40) by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor. In the late 19th cent. Sir George Gilbert Scott supervised extensive restoration. From that time memorial statues by many academic Victorian sculptors have been added to the decor. The present church is cruciform in plan; both nave and transept have side aisles. The choir is apsidal in plan, and its ring of chapels exhibits the only complete chevet in England. French influence is also seen in the height of the nave, the loftiest in England, and in the strongly emphasized flying buttresses. Nearly every English king and queen since William I has been crowned in Westminster, and it is the burial place of 18 monarchs. England's most notable statesmen and distinguished subjects have been given burial in the Abbey since the 14th cent. In the Poets' Corner in the south transept rest the tombs of Chaucer, Browning, Tennyson, and other great English poets.


1832
John C. Calhoun became the first vice president in U.S. history to resign from office.

1846
Iowa became the 29th state in the United States.

1869
William F. Semple patented chewing gum.

1895
The Lumiere Brothers gave the first commercial movie show at the Grand Cafe in Paris.

1937
Composer Maurice Ravel died in Paris at age 62.

1945
Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.


The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag1
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,2 indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

1. The original pledge was published in the Sept. 8, 1892, issue of The Youth's Companion in Boston. For years, the authorship was in dispute between James B. Upham and Francis Bellamy of the magazine's staff. In 1939, after a study of the controversy, the United States Flag Association decided that authorship be credited to Bellamy.
2. The phrase "under God" was added to the pledge on June 14, 1954.


1981
Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, Va.