MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY

2014: American spy John Walker, a U.S. Navy communications specialist who passed classified documents to Soviet agents for nearly two decades (1967–85) before being caught, died in prison. [Read our list of 10 famous names in the espionage game.]

1996: The 15-year marriage of Charles, prince of Wales, and Diana, princess of Wales, ended as a final divorce decree was issued. [ How much do you know about Princess Diana?]

1952: Writer and teacher Rita Dove, poet laureate of the United States (1993–95) and winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Thomas and Beulah (1986), was born in Akron, Ohio. [ Take our quiz about poets and poetic form.]

1946: The Killers, starring Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster in his breakthrough role, had its world premiere in New York City, and it became a film noir classic. [ Test your knowledge of women in classic cinema.]

1938: Liberal politician Paul Martin—who, as prime minister of Canada (2003–06), fostered economic growth and introduced progressive social policies but lost power amid a financial scandal in his party—was born. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Canada.]

1993: The spacecraft Galileo took pictures of the asteroid Ida