Historic Event
1324 Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire, arrives in Cairo on his way to Mecca, with a procession of 600,000 men, 12,000 slaves and 80 camels carrying 136 kg (300 pounds) of gold each
- 1380 Thomas of Buckingham's invasion army lands on Calais
Historic Event
1425 Duke John VI of Brabant pledges Holland/Zealand to Philip the Good
Historic Event
1545 King Henry VIII's flagship Mary Rose sinks at Portsmouth; 73 die
- 1551 Treaty of Karlsburg: arch duke Ferdinand of Austria recognized as King of Hungary/Transsylvania
Historic Event
1569 Albert Frederick becomes Duke of Prussia
Historic Event
1595 Astronomer Johannes Kepler has an epiphany and develops his theory of the geometrical basis of the universe while teaching in Graz
Historic Event
1674 Court of Holland bans books of Hobbes, Spinoza and Meyer
- 1688 Soldiers killed governor of Aerssen in Paramaribo
Salem Witch Trials
1692 5 more people are hanged for witchcraft (19 in all) in Salem, Massachusetts
Historic Event
1702 Great Northern War: Swedish troops under King Charles XII occupy Krakow, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Historic Event
1836 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin arrives in Ascension Island
SS Great Britain
1843 The steamship SS Great Britain is launched, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and the largest vessel afloat in the world
- 1845 Fire in NYC destroys 1,000 homes and kills many
American Women Demand Their Rights
1848 1st US women's rights convention held in Seneca Falls NY, organised by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott
- 1848 German Parliament demands Dutch province of Limburg
- 1850 Airship Elizabeth leaves in storm for Fire Island, crashes (42 die)
- 1860 1st railroad reaches Kansas
- 1863 Battle of Buffington's Island (St George Creek), Ohio
- 1864 Third Battle of Winchester, Virginia (Stephenson's Depot) [->JUL 20]
- 1867 Dutch Red Cross forms
Historic Event
1867 US Congress passes 3rd Reconstruction Act over President Andrew Johnson's veto
Historic Event
1869 Louis Riel speaks at a meeting of Metis residents about rights, setting in motion the events now referred to as the Red River Rebellion
- 1870 France declares war on Prussia; Franco-Prussian war begins
- 1875 Emma Abbott, a floating hospital for sick children, makes trial trip, NYC
- 1877 1st Wimbledon Men's Tennis: 27-year-old English rackets player Spencer Gore wins inaugural event; beats William Marshall 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
- 1880 San Francisco Public Library starts lending books
- 1884 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Maud Watson becomes inaugural female champion by beating her sister Lillian Watson 6–8, 6–3, 6–3
- 1899 National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers forms
- 1900 Luxembourg born Michel Théato representing France wins Paris Olympics marathon in 2:59:45 ahead of another French athlete Émile Champion
- 1903 1st Tour de France: French rider Maurice Garin wins inaugural event
- 1904 Dutch Premier Kuypers disbands 1st Chamber
- 1905 Llamas war party attacks group of 60, fleeing French mission at Tzekou, (Chinese-Tibetan border) murdering most with Scottish botanist George Forrest escaping by hiding for nine days [1]
- 1907 Under pressure from the Japanese, the Emperor of Korea abdicates in favor of his son, a figurehead
- 1908 Dutch football club Feyenoord is established in Rotterdam as Wilhelmina; reverts to SC Feijenoord 1912; updated to SC Feyenoord 1974 and to Feyenoord Rotterdam 1978
- 1909 Cleveland shortstop Neal Ball completes the first modern MLB unassisted triple play in the Indians' 6-1 win over the Boston Red Sox
- 1912 A meteorite of estimated 190kg mass explodes over Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona, causing approximately 16,000 pieces of debris to rain down on the town
- 1913 Billboard publishes earliest known "Last Week's 10 Best Sellers Among Popular Songs"; "Malinda's Wedding Day" by singers Byron Harlan and Arthur Collins is #1 (recorded in Camden, New Jersey)
- 1914 Boston Braves begin drive from last to the NL pennant with a 3-2 win against the 2nd placed Cincinnati Reds
- 1915 Dutch accidents at sea law enforced
- 1915 The Washington Senators set a MLB record 8 stolen bases in an innings (1st) in 11-4 win v Cleveland
- 1918 Washington Senators catcher Eddie Ainsmith applies for draft deferment; Secretary of War, Newton D Baker rules baseball players not draft exempt but later moves date to 1 September; both leagues end regular season 2 September
- 1918 World War I: German armies retreat across Marne River in France
- 1919 Following Peace Day celebrations marking the end of World War I, ex-servicemen rioted and burnt down Luton Town Hall.
World Record
1922 American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller first to break 1 minute barrier for 100m freestyle; swims 58.6s at Alameda, CA
- 1923 WRC-AM in Washington, D.C. begins radio transmissions
- 1925 19th Tour de France won by Ottavio Bottecchia of Italy
- 1926 2nd French government of Herriot, forms
- 1928 King Fuad of Egypt seizes power and disbands parliament
- 1930 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Acacia CC: Lucia Mida beats June Beebe 6 & 5 to win the inaugural event and first women's major championship ever played
Historic Expedition
1930 Richard E. Byrd, Laurence McKinley Gould, and their polar expedition team return to the United States following the first exploration of the interior of Antarctica
- 1933 1st time in MLB 2 brothers on opposite teams hit homers in same game - Rick Ferrell (Red Sox) and Wes Ferrell (Cleveland Indians)
Sports History
1936 17 year old Cleveland Indians future Baseball HOF pitcher Bob Feller makes his MLB debut in relief in 9-5 loss to Senators at Griffith Stadium, Washington
Historic Event
1940 Adolf Hitler orders Great Britain to surrender - they decline
- 1940 Nazi occupiers imprison 231 prominent Dutch citizens in Buchenwald
- 1940 Nazi occupiers in Netherlands forbid anti-nazi films
- 1941 1st US Army flying school for black cadets dedicated (Tuskegee, Alabama)
Music History
1941 BBC World Service begins playing V(ictory) ("...-" in Morse code) (opening of Ludwig van Beethoven's 5th symphony)
Historic Event
1941 British PM Winston Churchill launches his "V for Victory" campaign
Film & TV History
1941 Tom and Jerry first appear under their own names in cartoon "The Midnight Snack" by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Historic Event
1941 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints the Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC)
- 1942 German occupiers confiscate bicycles in Rotterdam and The Hague
Music Premiere
1942 US première of Dmitri Shostakovich' 7th Symphony in NYC by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in a concert broadcast nationwide on NBC radio
- 1943 500 allied air forces raid Rome during WW II
- 1944 1,200+ 8th US Air Force bombers bomb targets in SW Germany
- 1944 500 15th US Air Force Liberators/Flying Fortresses bomb Munich vicinity
- 1944 Allied troops occupy Faubourg de Vaucelles, at Caen
- 1944 Claus von Stauffenberg visits RC church in Berlin-Dahlem
- 1944 Danish resistance fails in assault on Taarbaek Fort near Copenhagen
- 1944 Democratic convention opens in Chicago, goes on to nominate President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 1944 Japanese aircraft carriers Taiho and Shokaku sink in Marianas
- 1944 NY archbishop Spellman flies to Europe
Meeting of Interest
1944 Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg 1st meets Adolf Eichmann
Historic Event
1944 US general Omar Bradley flies to England
- 1945 USS Cod saves 51 sailors from Dutch sub in only sub-to-sub rescue
- 1951 "2 in the Aisle" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 276 performances
- 1952 "Paint Your Wagon" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 289 performances
- 1952 39th Tour de France won by Fausto Coppi of Italy
- 1952 Freddie Trueman takes 8-31, India all out 58 at Old Trafford
- 1952 India all out 82 in 2nd innings after making 52 earlier in the day
- 1952 XV Summer Olympic Games open in Helsinki, Finland
- 1953 KIMA TV channel 29 in Yakima, WA (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 WAKR (now WAKC) TV channel 23 in Akron, OH (ABC) begins broadcasting
Music Single
1954 Elvis Presley's debut single, a cover of Arthur Cruddup's "That's All Right" is released
- 1955 Balclutha ties up at Pier 43 & becomes a floating museum
- 1955 Yarkon Water Project opens to supply water to Negev desert in Israel
- 1956 US refuse to lend Egypt money to build Aswan Dam
- 1957 1st rocket with nuclear warhead fired, Yucca Flat, Nevada
- 1957 US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
- 1958 "Oh, Captain!" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 192 performances
- 1958 45th Tour de France won by Charly Gaul of Luxembourg
- 1960 Italian government of Tambroni resigns
- 1961 1st in-flight movie shown on TWA
- 1962 Hungarian communist party expels Rákosi & Gero
- 1963 NASA civilian Test pilot Joe Walker in X-15 reaches 105 km
PGA Championship
1964 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Columbus CC: Bobby Nichols wins his only major title by 3 strokes from 'Big-2' Jack Nicklaus & Arnold Palmer; leads wire-to-wire
- 1964 USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1965 Shooting begins on Star Trek 2nd pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
- 1966 France performs nuclear Test at Fangataufa Island
- 1966 Governor James Rhodes declares state of emergency in Cleveland (race riot)
- 1967 1st air conditioned NYC subway car (R-38 on the F line)
- 1967 Race riots in Durham, North Carolina
- 1967 US launches Explorer 35 for lunar orbit (800/7400 km)
Apollo 11 Bootprint
1969 Apollo 11 goes into Moon orbit
Sports History
1970 57th Tour de France: Defending champion Eddy Merckx of Belgium wins general, mountains and combination categories
- 1971 Sudan military coup under maj Hashem al-Atta, Numeiry flees
Sports History
1973 NY Mets future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Mays is named to NL All Star team for 24th time (ties Stan Musial)
- 1974 Cleveland Indians pitcher Dick Bosman no-hits Oakland A's, 4-0
Music History
1974 David Bowie's "Diamond Dog" tour ends in NYC
- 1974 Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 14 lands back on earth
- 1975 Apollo and Soyuz linked in orbit for 2 days, separate
- 1975 New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson's 1st-inning single & RBI are nullified because tar on his bat handle exceeds 18" limit; Minnesota Twins win, 2-1
- 1976 Allman Brother's roadie Scooter Herring sentenced to 75 years for providing drugs for the group, based on Gregg Allman's testimony
- 1976 British rock group Deep Purple disbands
- 1976 Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
- 1977 48th MLB All Star Game, Yankee Stadium, NYC, NY: NL wins, 7-5; MVP: Don Sutton, LA Dodgers, P
- 1977 Floods in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, kill 76
- 1978 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1978 New York Yankees start historic 14 game comeback with 2-0 win over the Minnesota Twins at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, MN
- 1979 2 supertankers collide off Tobago-260,000 tons of oil spill
- 1979 Maritza Sayalero, 18, of Venezuela, crowned 28th Miss Universe
Historic Event
1979 Nicaragua Liberation Day; Sandinistas take over from Anastasio Somoza Debayle
- 1979 Patricia Harris becomes sect of HEW
- 1980 USSR's Walter Polovchak is placed in US custody at 12 after his asylum application
- 1980 XXII Summer Olympic Games open in Moscow, Russia; led by United States, 66 nations boycott event because of Soviet-Afghan war
Sports History
1981 68th Tour de France won by Bernard Hinault of France
British Golf Open
1981 British Open Men's Golf, Royal St George's GC: American Bill Rogers wins his only major title, 4 strokes ahead of runner-up Bernhard Langer of Germany
- 1981 South African Springbok rugby team arrives in New Zealand beginning 56 days of 'near civil war' in the country between anti-apartheid protesters and tour supporters [1]
Sports History
1982 1st annual Cracker Jack Old-Timers Baseball Classic: 75-year-old Luke Appling hits a 275-foot HR off Warren Spahn, as AL beats NL 7-2; participants included Hank Aaron, Lou Brock, Bert Campaneris, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Don Newcombe, and Early Wynn (RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.)
Historic Event
1984 Geraldine Ferraro (US Representative, New York), becomes the 1st US female major-party vice-presidential nominee, officially joining Walter Mondale's Democratic Party ticket
- 1985 Christa McAuliffe chosen as 1st school teacher to fly aboard the space shuttle
- 1985 The Val di Stava Dam collapse killing 268 people in Val di Stava, Italy.
Boxing Title Fight
1986 Tim Witherspoon KOs Frank Bruno in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
- 1987 British Open Men's Golf, Muirfield: Briton Nick Faldo wins his first major title, by 1 shot from Paul Azinger and Rodger Davis
Baseball Record
1987 Don Mattingly sets AL record of extra base hits in 10 cons games
Sports History
1989 Cleveland Indians Joe Carter has his 4th 3 HR game
- 1989 NFL owners vote unanimously to form World League of American Football - operated 1991-2007
- 1989 United Airlines DC-10 crashes at Sioux City Iowa, kills 112
- 1990 BASF plant in Cincinnati explodes in flames, 1 dies
Sports History
1990 Dave Righetti pitches in his 499th game as a NY Yankee, passing Whitey Ford in most appearances as a NY Yankee
- 1990 Richard Nixon library opens in Yorba Linda, California
Sports History
1991 Cal Ripken plays in his 1,500th consecutive game
Sports History
1991 Mike Tyson rapes a Miss Black America contestant (Desiree Washington)
- 1991 With NY Yankee victory, 10 of 14 AL teams are at .500 or better
- 1992 "Price" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 47 performances
- 1992 30th Tennis Fed Cup: Germany beats Spain in Frankfurt Germany (2-1)
- 1992 British Open Men's Golf, Muirfield: Englishman Nick Faldo wins his 3rd Open title, by 1 stroke from American John Cook
- 1992 Ebony P Warren, crowned 24th Miss Black America
Federation Cup
1992 Federation Cup Women's Tennis, Frankfurt, Germany: Germany wins 2nd title with 2-1 win over Spain; Steffi Graf clinches final 6-4, 6-2 against Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
- 1992 NYC ballet dancer Peter Martins is arrested for beating his wife
- 1993 Glen Chapple (Lancs) scores fastest F-C century, 21 minutes
Cricket History
1993 Last day of 1st-class cricket for Ian Botham
Historic Event
1993 President Clinton fires FBI director William s. Sessions
- 1994 1st game ever cancelled at Seattle Kingdome (falling tiles)
- 1994 Bomb explosion in Alas Airlines at Colon Panama, 21 killed
- 1994 Leonid Kvetjsma sworn in as Ukraine president
- 1996 Jason Gallian scores 312 in 683 mins for Lancashire v Derbyshire
- 1996 XXVI Summer Olympic Games open in Atlanta, Georgia
Sports History
1998 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Birkdale GC: Mark O'Meara wins his 2nd major championship of the year (Masters) and first Open title by 2 in a 4-hole aggregate playoff with fellow American Brian Watts
- 2001 34th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at San Diego Convention Center
- 2001 Michael Brunet discovers the skull of Sahelanthropus tchadensis in the Djurab Desert, Chad. One of the oldest known species in the human family tree, 6-7 million years ago years old
Television Debut
2007 TV drama "Mad Men" debuts starring Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones and Vincent Kartheiser on cable network AMC
ESPY Awards
2009 17th ESPY Awards: Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin wins
- 2009 British Open Men's Golf, Turnberry: American Stewart Cink wins his only major championship by 6 strokes in a 4-hole playoff with 5-time champion Tom Watson
- 2009 The Wesley Impact: black spot the size of Earth discovered on Jupiter after unknown object crashed onto the planet
Film Premiere
2011 "Captain America: The First Avenger", directed by Joe Johnston, starring Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell, premieres in Los Angeles