Historical Events on July 7

1456 A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death

1495 King Ferdinand II returns to Naples

1520 Battle of Otumba, Mexico: Hernán Cortés and the Tlaxcalans defeat a numerically superior Aztec force

1668 Isaac Newton receives MA from Trinity College, Cambridge

1801 Toussaint Louverture declares Haitian independence

1863 Orders barring Jews from serving under US General Ulysses S. Grant are revoked

1875 Jesse James robs train in Otterville, Missouri

1892 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Lottie Dod beats Blanche Bingley-Hillyard for a 4th time in a Wimbledon final 6-1, 6-1

1908 The Democratic Party meets in Denver at the start of their convention; William Jennings Bryan is nominated as presidential nominee

1912 American athlete Jim Thorpe wins 4 of 5 events to win the Pentathlon gold medal at the Stockholm Olympics, medal stripped 1913 (played pro baseball), reinstated 1982

1914 Baltimore Orioles owner Jack Dunn offers future baseball legend Babe Ruth, Ernie Shore & Ben Egan for $10k to Connie Mack (Philadelphia A's); refuses pleading lack of finance

1919 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: In the first all-Australian final Gerald Patterson beats Norman Brookes 6-3, 7-5, 6-2

1928 Sliced bread sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company, Missouri, using a machine invented by Otto Frederick Rohwedder. Described as the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.

1930 Construction begins on Boulder (Hoover) Dam

1932 Australian cricket batsman supreme Don Bradman scores a double century during a Goodwill Tour in Montreal, Canada

1937 5th MLB All Star Game, Griffin Stadium, Washington: AL wins 8-3, Lou Gehrig drives in 4 runs with HR & double

1939 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Bobby Riggs beats fellow American Elwood Cooke 2-6, 8-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 for Wimbledon sweep, also won doubles & mixed doubles titles

1942 John Maynard Keynes takes his seat in the British House Of Lords as Baron Keynes of Tilton after being knighted

1942 Milt all star team (including Bob Feller) loses to AL all stars 5-0

1943 -10] Japanese premier Hideki Tojo visits Java

1948 Cleveland Indians stun MLB by signing 42 year old veteran Negro Leagues pitcher Satchel Paige

1951 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Doris Hart outclasses fellow American Shirley Fry 6-1, 6-0 for her only Wimbledon singles title

1953 Che Guevara sets out on a trip through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador

1954 British runner Jim Peters, 17 minutes ahead of any rival, collapses on the final stadium lap of the Commonwealth Games marathon in Vancouver

1956 "Hancock's Half Hour" premieres as a TV show starring Tony Hancock and Sid James, written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson

1958 President Eisenhower signed a bill approving Alaskan statehood

1959 26th MLB All Star Game, Forbes Field, Pittsburgh: Willy Mays triples to score Hank Aaron as NL wins 5-4

1961 75th Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Rod Laver of Australia beats American Chuck McKinley 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 for his 1st of 4 Wimbledon singles titles

1965 Otis Redding records "Respect"

1966 Obscenity ban for "Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs overturned by the Massachusetts Supreme Court after testimony by Allen Ginsberg and Norman Mailer

1968 US Open Women's Golf, Moselem Springs GC: Susie Maxwell Berning beats Mickey Wright by 3 strokes

1971 MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces that Negro League players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame to be given full membership in the Museum

1972 Secret Talks Between IRA and British Government: Gerry Adams is part of a delegation to London for talks with the British Government

1972 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Billie Jean King earns her 8th Grand Slam singles title beating Evonne Goolagong of Australia 6-3, 6-3

1974 FIFA World Cup Final, Olympiastadion, Munich, Germany: Striker Gerd Müller scores 43rd minute winner as West Germany beats the Netherlands, 2-1

1977 "The Spy Who Loved Me", 10th James Bond film starring Roger Moore and Barbara Bach, premieres in London

1978 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Martina Navratilova wins her first Grand Slam singles title beating Chris Evert 2-6, 6-4, 7-5

1979 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Björn Borg beats American Roscoe Tanner 6-7, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 for his 4th consecutive Wimbledon title

1980 American boxer Larry Holmes scores a 7th round TKO of Scott LeDoux in Bloomington, Minnesota in defence of his WBC heavyweight title

1981 England cricket captain Ian Botham resigned after no wins in 12 matches under his reign and a pair in the 2nd Test v Australia at Lord's

1981 Sandra Day O'Connor nominated for the Supreme Court, 1st female Supreme Court justice

1986 It is reported that Boy George is being treated for heroin addiction

1986 Soviet General and spy for the US Dmitri Polyakov arrested in retirement in Russia (executed 1988)

1987 Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North begins public testimony at Iran-Contra hearing

1988 Hungarian state funeral for composer Béla Bartók in Budapest, 42 years after his death with his remains relocated from New York

1990 1st 'Three Tenors' concert featuring Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti at Baths of Caracalla in Rome; recording becomes world's best-selling classical record

1992 After undergoing the traditional five-year waiting procedure, Czech tennis star Ivan Lendl officially becomes a US citizen

1996 Nelson Mandela steps down as President of South Africa

1996 US Open Senior Golf, Canterbury GC: Dave Stockton wins by 2 strokes from Hale Irwin for his 3rd Champions Tour major title

2001 In his first appearance at Daytona since the death of father Dale Earnhardt Sr., Dale Jr. wins Pepsi 400 coming from 7th with 9 laps remaining to beat teammate Michael Waltrip