Catherine the Great overthrew Peter III on this day in 1762 and began her reign as empress of Russia, leading her country into full participation in the political and cultural life of Europe and extending Russian territory. 1762. 

The British TV series The Office, created and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, debuted and became a huge hit, spawning a popular American version and making Gervais a star. 2001

The Thresher, the first of a class of U.S. nuclear-powered attack submarines, was launched; it sank in 1963 in the worst submarine accident in history. 1960.

American actor Tom Hanks, who was perhaps best known for his cheerful everyman persona, was born.

Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets became the first rock-and-roll single to hit number one on Billboard’s pop charts. 1955. 

Nikola Tesla—a Serbian American inventor and researcher who discovered the rotating magnetic field, the basis of most alternating-current machinery—was born this day or the next in Smiljan, Croatia. 1856. 

The Congress of Tucumán declared Argentina‘s independence from Spain. 1816.