Wimbledon Men's Tennis
Jul 3 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: American-based Peruvian Alex Olmedo wins his only Wimbledon title beating Rod Laver of Australia 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
British Golf Open
Jul 3 British Open Men's Golf, Muirfield: 23 year old South African Gary Player wins the first of his 9 major titles, 2 strokes clear of runners-up Fred Bullock and Flory Van Donck
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
Jul 4 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Maria Bueno of Brazil wins her first of 3 Wimbledon singles titles beating Darlene Hard 6-4, 6-3
Historic Event
Jul 5 Ben-Gurion's Israeli government resigns
LPGA Championship
Jul 6 LPGA Championship Women's Golf, Sheraton Hotel CC: Betsy Rawls wins her second title in the event by 1 stroke from Patty Berg
Sports History
Jul 7 26th MLB All Star Game, Forbes Field, Pittsburgh: Willy Mays triples to score Hank Aaron as NL wins 5-4
- Jul 12 NBC uses cameras to show catchers signals during Yankee-Red Sox game
- Jul 14 USS Long Beach, first nuclear powered cruiser launched at Quincy, Massachusetts
- Jul 15 The US steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history.
- Jul 17 2,000 ft long by 1,300 foot wide section of ridge falls into Madis
- Jul 17 Tibet abolishes serfdom
- Jul 17 River Canyon extending man-made Lake Hebgen by 5 miles. (Montana)
Scientific Discovery
Jul 17 Paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey discovers partial skull of a new species of early human ancestor, Zinjanthropus boisei or 'Zinj' (now called Paranthropus boisei) lived in Africa almost 2 million years ago
Film Premiere
Jul 17 "North by Northwest" directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint premieres in Los Angeles
- Jul 18 William 'Bill' Wright becomes the 1st African American to win a major golf tournament (U.S. Amateur Public Links Championships)
Film Premiere
Jul 18 "The Nun's Story" based on the novel by Kathryn Hulme, starring Audrey Hepburn premieres in Los Angeles
The Worst Movie Ever
Jul 22 Ed Wood's cult classic "Plan 9 From Outer Space", called one of the worse films ever, premieres
Music History
Jul 22 Benjamin Britten's "Missa Brevis" in D premieres
- Jul 22 Natural gas found at Slochteren, Groningen, Netherlands
Historic Event
Jul 23 US Vice President Richard Nixon begins visit to the USSR
- Jul 24 500,000th Dutch TV set registered
Kitchen Debate
Jul 24 US Vice President Richard Nixon argues with Nikita Khrushchev, known as "Kitchen Debate"
- Jul 25 SR-N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours.
- Jul 26 Chicago White Sox Larry Doby plays final MLB game; retires in 1962 after playing for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan
- Jul 27 Abbas Ali Baig scores 112 for India v England on debut
- Jul 27 William Shea announces plans to have a baseball team in NYC in 1961
- Jul 28 United Kingdom starts using postal codes
- Jul 28 Hawaii's 1st US election sends 1st Asian-Americans to Congress
- Jul 29 First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
Sports History
Jul 30 In his MLB debut, SF Giants future Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman Willie McCovey goes 4-for-4 in a 7-2 win over Philadelphia Phillies at Seal Stadium
- Jul 31 1st exhibit of bongos at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo opens (Cleveland, Ohio)
Music History
Jul 31 Cliff Richard and the Shadows have their 1st British No. 1 single with "Living' Doll" (biggest British single of 1959)