Today in history

In 1613, London’s original Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a cannon shot during a performance of “Henry VIII.”

In 1767, Britain approved the Townshend Revenue Act, which imposed import duties on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper and tea shipped to the American colonies. In 1880, France annexed Tahiti, which became a French colony on December 30, 1880.

In 1936, entertainer and songwriter George M. Cohan was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his contributions to building U.S. morale during World War I.

In 1967, actress Jayne Mansfield, 34, was killed along with her boyfriend, Sam Brody, and their driver, Ronnie Harrison, when their car slammed into the rear of a tractortrailer on a highway in Slidell, Louisiana; three children riding in the back, including Mansfield's 3-year-old daughter, Mariska Hargitay, survived. Jerusalem was re-unified as Israel removed barriers separating the Old City from the Israeli sector.

In 1978, actor Bob Crane of “Hogan's Heroes” fame was found bludgeoned to death in an apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he was appearing in a play; he was 49.

In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Morrison v. Olson, upheld the independent counsel law in a 7-1 decision (the sole dissenter was Justice Antonin Scalia). In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian Mir space station linked in orbit, beginning a five-day voyage as a single ship.Actress Lana Turner died in Century City, California, at age 74.

In 2003, actress Katharine Hepburn died in Old Saybrook, Conn., at the age of 96.