On This Day in History

Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale was published as the first work to feature the British spy character James Bond.

The CIA began Project MKUltra, an illegal, covert human research program into mind control.

The Vietnamese National Army captured Ba Cụt, a military commander of the religious sect Hòa Hảo, which ran a de facto state in South Vietnam in opposition to Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm.

In the midst of the Cold War, American pianist Van Cliburn won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

Catch a Fire, the landmark reggae album by Bob Marley and the Wailers, was released.

Forty people died in an explosion at an ammunition factory in Lapua, Finland.

An Israel Defense Forces helicopter fired rockets at an ambulance, killing two women and four children in Mansouri, Lebanon.

In golf, 21-year-old Tiger Woods became the youngest player to win the Masters Tournament, breaking the record for the lowest four-round score.

Twenty-three people died in a fire at a homeless hostel in Kamień Pomorski; it was Poland's deadliest fire since 1980.

Andrew Hussie's webcomic Homestuck debuted, and later concluded on the same day in 2016.

The board of Rosendale, New York, voted 3–2 to approve the purchase of Joppenbergh Mountain.

War in Afghanistan: In an airstrike in Nangarhar Province, the U.S. military dropped the most powerful conventional bomb used in combat.