TODAY in HISTORY

1735 — First opera in U.S., “Flora”, opens in Charleston, S.C.

1776 — Wolfgang von Goethes’ “Stella” premieres in Hamburg

1802 — Simon Willard patents banjo clock 1807 — Napoleon defeats Russians in battle of Eylau

1895 — Tchaikovsky/Petipa’s “Swan Lake” premieres in Petersburg

1905 — Cyclone hit Tahiti &adjacent islands, killing some 10,000 people

1926 — Walt Disney Studios is formed 1933 — First flight of all-metal Boeing 247

1934 — Gaston Doumergue forms new French government

1971 — South Vietnamese troops invade Laos

1976 — Hua Guofeng becomes premier of China PR

1989 — U.S. Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145 die