- 1517 Gelderse crowd robber murders population of Asperen
Historic Event
1536 French navigator Jacques Cartier returns to Saint-Malo from Canada
- 1541 Estevão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Christovão da Gama, with orders to help the Emperor of Ethiopia defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi who has invaded his Empire
- 1553 Battle at Sievershausen: Saxons-Brunwick alliance led by Elector Maurice defeat forces of Margrave Albert Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Bayreuth in a bloody battle with 4,000 killed
- 1572 19 Catholic priests hanged in Gorcum
- 1609 Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemian protestants freedom of religion
Historic Event
1672 William III inaugurated as viceroy of Holland and Zealand
- 1686 Germany, Sweden and Spain sign anti-French League of Augsburg
Battle of Interest
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's warship Elisabeth battles HMS Lion
United States Declaration of Independence
1776 Declaration of Independence is read to George Washington's troops in New York
- 1780 Denmark declares neutrality, joining First League of Armed Neutrality to protect shipping
- 1789 French Revolution: the National Assembly renames itself the National Constituent Assembly
- 1790 Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund - in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet
- 1795 James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt
- 1800 Mt Vernon Gardens becomes site of 1st summer theater in US
Treaty of Interest
1807 Second Treaty of Tilsit signed by France, Russia and Prussia
Historic Event
1815 King Louis XVIII leaves Ghent for France
Historic Event
1815 Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord takes office as the first Prime Minister of France
Historic Event
1816 Argentina declares independence from Spain at the Congress of Tucumán
- 1846 Captain John B. Montgomery claims Yerba Buena (San Francisco) for US
- 1846 The territory of the District of Columbia south of the Potomac River (39 mi² or about 100 km²) is returned to Virginia through an Act of Congress
- 1852 Fire destroys 1,100 construction sites in Montreal, Canada
- 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry and four US Navy vessels visit Japan to force them to open up to American trade and end their policy of isolation
- 1860 Temperature hits 115°F in Fort Scott and 112°F in Topeka, Kansas
- 1862 General John Hunt Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Kentucky
- 1863 John Hunt Morgan's cavalry aid into Indiana [->JUL 13]
- 1863 Union troops enter Port Hudson
- 1864 Battle of Monocacy, Maryland, confederate forces led by Lieutenant General Jubal Early
Historic Expedition
1867 An unsuccessful expedition led by E.D Young sets out to search for Dr David Livingstone (Scottish missionary and explorer)
- 1868 1st African American cabinet member in South Carolina, Francis L Cardozo as Secretary of State
- 1868 Louisiana and South Carolina are the last states to ratify the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing civil rights
- 1872 Doughnut cutter patents granted to John Blondel, Thomaston, Maine
- 1877 First ever Wimbledon tennis championship begins - first official lawn tennis tournament - men's singles only
- 1878 American inventor Henry Tibbe patents an improved corncob pipe design
- 1891 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Lottie Dod beats Blanche Bingley-Hillyard 6-2, 6-1 in a repeat matchup and result of the 2 previous finals
Historic Event
1893 Daniel Williams repairs the torn pericardium of a knife wound patient, James Cornish, without penicillin or blood transfusion
- 1900 The Commonwealth of Australia is established by the British House of Commons
- 1904 US Open Men's Golf, Glen View GC: defending champion Willie Anderson of Scotland wins the 3rd of his 4 Open titles, 5 strokes ahead of runner-up Gilbert Nicholls
- 1908 CHU (Christian Historic Union) Dutch political party forms
- 1910 Walter Brookins, flying a Wright biplane over Atlantic City, New Jersey, becomes 1st to fly an airplane to an altitude of 1 mile (actually reaching 6,175 feet or 1.169 miles) [1]
- 1914 1st US duplicate auction bridge championship held, Lake Placid, NY
HMS Vanguard Disaster
1917 British battleship HMS Vanguard explodes at Scapa Flow (the result of an internal explosion of faulty cordite), killing 804
Appointment of Interest
1926 Chiang Kai-shek appointed to national-revolutionary supreme commander in China
- 1926 Coup under General Sinel de Cordes in Portugal
- 1927 William T Francis named US minister to Liberia
- 1932 Washington Redskins (then Boston Braves) formed
- 1932 Yanks' Ben Chapman hits 2 inside-the-park HRs, tying record
- 1932 The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian federal government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution
- 1933 Philadelphia-based NFL team Frankford Yellow Jackets sold; rebranded Philadelphia Eagles
Historic Event
1934 SS-Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler takes command of German Concentration Camps
- 1937 British Open Men's Golf, Carnoustie: Henry Cotton wins second of his 3 Open titles, 2 strokes ahead of fellow Englishman Reg Whitcombe
- 1939 A meeting of 6,000 Indians, held at the Indian Sports Ground in Johannesburg South Africa, launch the Passive Resistance Campaign against apartheid and racial policy in South Africa
- 1940 8th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 4-0 at Sportsman's Park, St Louis
- 1940 German Evangelist Church protests against euthanasia pogroms
- 1941 Dutch-American Physicist Abraham Pais is awarded his Ph.D. in Holland five days before a Nazi deadline banning Jews from receiving degrees
- 1943 5th day of battle at Kursk: Germans occupy Verchopenje
- 1943 British air raid sinks U-435
- 1944 In World War II, US troops secure Saipan as Japan falls
- 1944 U-740 sunk by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft
- 1946 13th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 12-0 at Fenway Park, Boston
Engagement of Interest
1947 Engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten
Historic Event
1947 Spain votes for Franco monarchy
Sports History
1948 Satchel Paige, 42, debuts in majors pitching 2 scoreless innings for Cleveland in St. Louis
Music Premiere
1949 Benjamin Britten's Jump Symphony premieres
Historic Event
1951 US President Harry Truman asks Congress to formally end state of war with Germany
- 1953 1st helicopter passenger service (NYC)
- 1953 Phillies Robin Roberts ends streak of 28 consecutive complete games
- 1954 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Birkdale GC: 23 year old Australian Peter Thomson wins first of his 5 Open titles by a stroke from Bobby Locke, Dai Rees, and Syd Scott
- 1955 E. Frederic Morrow is the first African American executive on US White House staff
Music History
1955 Bill Haley & Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" tops the billboards chart, one of the best-selling singles ever
- 1955 Strike in Belgium for 5 day work week
Historic Event
1955 The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London on the need to avoid nuclear war
Film & TV History
1956 Dick Clark's 1st appearance as host of American Bandstand
British Golf Open
1960 British Open Men's Golf, St Andrews: Australian Kel Nagle wins his only major title by 1 stroke from Arnold Palmer in the centenary year of the Open Championship
- 1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island
Historic Event
1962 Andy Warhol's first West Coast gallery exhibition in the Ferus Gallery of Los Angeles
- 1963 34th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 5-3 at Municipal Stadium, Cleveland
Sports History
1963 All star MVP: Willie Mays (SF Giants)
- 1963 Crusher Lisowski beats Verne Gagne in Minneapolis, to become NWA champ
- 1965 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Birkdale GC: Australian Peter Thomson Peter Thomson wins his 5th Claret Jug, 2 strokes clear of runners-up Brian Huggett and Christy O'Connor Snr
- 1965 John Edrich completes 310* v NZ in 532 minutes, 52 fours 5 sixes
- 1965 Senators Frank Howard ties record with 7 strikeouts in DH
- 1966 British Open Men's Golf, Muirfield: Jack Nicklaus beats Doug Sanders & Dave Thomas by 1 stroke to become only 4th in history to win all 4 majors
- 1967 WRET TV channel 36 in Charlotte, North Carolina (NBC/CBS) begins broadcasting
Sports History
1968 Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first reigning NBA MVP to be traded the next season when he moves from Philadelphia 76'ers to LA Lakers
- 1968 15.68" (39.83 cm) of rainfall, Columbus, Mississippi (state 24-hour record)
- 1968 39th MLB All Star Game, Astrodome, Houston, TX: NL beats AL, 1-0; MVP: Willie Mays, SF Giants, CF
- 1968 BBC-TV broadcasts "Farewell", folk-rock band The Seekers final performance, draws 10 million viewers
Sports History
1969 Tom Seaver's no-hit bid against Cubs ends with 1 out in 9th
- 1970 In Atlanta, Chief-No-ka-homa is joined by cousin Chief Round-the-Horn
Historic Event
1971 Henry Kissinger visits the People's Republic of China to negotiate a detente between the US and China
Music History
1972 1st tour of Paul McCartney & Wings (France)
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
1972 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: American Stan Smith beats Ilie Năstase of Romania 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 for his only Wimbledon title
- 1972 USSR performs underground nuclear test
Historic Event
1972 Kwame Nkrumah, re-buried in Nkroful, Ghana
Election of Interest
1974 Pierre Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canadian parliamentary election
- 1975 The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that paves way for a (albeit highly restricted) multi-party system
- 1976 England all out for 71 v WI at Old Trafford, Holding 14 5-7-17-5
- 1976 Houston Astro Larry Dierker no-hits Montreal Expos, 6-0
- 1976 Uganda asks UN to condemn Israeli hostage rescue raid on Entebbe - it does not
- 1977 British Open Men's Golf, Turnberry: Tom Watson wins second of 5 Open titles by a stroke from Jack Nicklaus; pair play together in final 2 rounds; separate themselves from field under rare clear skies, remembered as the "Duel in the Sun"
- 1978 "Hello, Dolly!" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC after 152 performances
- 1978 American Nazi Party holds a rally at Marquette Park, Chicago
- 1978 Nearly 100,000 demonstrators march on Washington, D.C. for ERA
- 1979 Dr Walter Massey named director of Argonne National Laboratory
Voyager 2 Spacecraft
1979 Voyager 2 flies past Jupiter
- 1979 A car bomb destroys a Renault owned by famed "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.
Historic Event
1980 7 die in a stampede to see Pope John Paul II in Brazil
Historic Event
1980 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten sentenced to 10 years
- 1981 Jacksons begin a 36-city tour
- 1981 Nintendo releases arcade game Donkey Kong in Japan (July 31 in the US)
- 1982 Botham scores 208 in 225 balls, England v India at The Oval
- 1982 Pan Am Boeing 727 crashes in Kenner La, killing 153
- 1982 Michael Fagan breaks into Buckingham Palace and enters the Queen's bedroom in Buckingham Palace, London
- 1984 12th Century York Minster damaged in lightning storm
- 1984 Yvonne Ryding of Sweden crowned 33rd Miss Universe
- 1985 South Africa police arrested Dutch ANC'er Klaas de Jong
- 1986 Atlanta's Dale Murphy doesn't play ending consecutive streak at 740
- 1986 Attorney General's Commission on pornography links hard-core porn to sex crimes
- 1986 Padres trade pitcher Tim Stoddard to Yankees for pitcher Ed Whitson
- 1986 The New Zealand parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Bill legalising consensual sex between men aged 16 and older
- 1987 1 million South Koreans demonstrate against Chun Doo Hwan regime
Historic Event
1987 Colonel Oliver North admits to shredding Iran-Contra evidence
- 1988 Chris Speier hits for the cycle & Ernest Riles hits 10,000th Giant HR
Sports History
1988 Nolan Ryan is 7th to win 100 game on 2 teams, as Astro beat Mets 6-3
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
1989 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Boris Becker of Germany beats Sweden's Stefan Edberg 6-0, 7-6, 6-4 for his 3rd and last Wimbledon title
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
1989 Wimbledon Women's Tennis Open: Steffi Graf successfully defends her title beating Martina Navratilova 6-2, 6-7, 6-1
- 1989 Two bombs explode in Mecca, killing one pilgrim and wounding 16 others
Sports History
1990 New Zealand cricket legend Richard Hadlee takes 5-53 in 3rd Test v England at Edgbaston to end Test career with 431 wickets
Sports History
1991 All star MVP: Cal Ripken Jr (Baltimore Orioles)
- 1991 South Africa re-admitted to Olympics
- 1992 Kim Basinger gets 1,959th star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
- 1992 Space Shuttle STS 50 (Columbia 13) lands
- 1994 11,000th HR in NY Yankees history (Matt Nokes)
- 1994 Sonia O'Sullivan runs world record 2k (5:25.36)
- 1994 Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-18 lands after successful trip to Mir spacestation
- 1995 Revival of P. G. Wodehouse's adaptation of Ferenc Molnár' s comic play "The Play's The Thing" opens at Criterion Theater, NYC; runs for 75 performances
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
1995 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: American Pete Sampras wins his 3rd straight Wimbledon title; beats Boris Becker of Germany 6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
- 1995 US international postage rates rise to 60 cents per ounce
Historic Event
1995 Former South African President F. W. de Klerk is implicated of knowing and condoning a 'dirty tricks' campaign that was waged against the ANC between 1990 and the 1994 election in a bid to destabilise the organisation
Music Concert
1995 Jerry Garcia's unexpectedly final concert with The Grateful Dead, at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois
Album Release
1996 "Blue" debut album by LeAnn Rimes is released (Billboard Album of the Year, 1997)
Film Release
1999 Coming of age film "American Pie" is released, directed by Paul Weitz, starring Jason Briggs, Eugene Levy and an ensemble cast
- 2000 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: American Pete Sampras wins 4th straight Wimbledon singles title; beats Patrick Rafter of Australia 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 for his 13th Grand Slams title
- 2000 Police fired tear gas at fans during a World Cup qualifying soccer game between Zimbabwe and South Africa, setting off a stampede that killed twelve people in Harare, Zimbabwe
- 2001 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: 3-time runner-up Goran Ivanišević wins his lone major title beating Patrick Rafter of Australia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7
Film Premiere
2001 "The Office" mockumentary created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, starring Ricky Gervais and Martin Freeman premieres on BBC Two in the UK
Historic Event
2002 The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.
- 2002 73rd All Star Baseball Game: 7-7 tie when both teams ran out of available pitchers at Miller Park, Milwaukee
- 2006 At least 122 people killed after a Sibir Airlines Airbus A310 passenger jet, carrying 200 passengers veers off the runway while landing at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia in wet conditions
- 2006 FIFA World Cup Final, Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany: Italy beats France, 5-3 on penalties; 1-1 after extra time
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
2006 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Roger Federer wins 4th straight Wimbledon title beating Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3
Sports History
2006 US Senior Open Men's Golf, Prairie Dunes GC: Defending champion Allen Doyle wins by 2 strokes ahead of Tom Watson for his 4th Champions Tour major title
Election of Interest
2014 Joko Widodo is elected President of Indonesia
Film & TV History
2015 48th San Diego Comic-Con begins (till 12th) - includes preview of new Star Wars film by J.J. Abrams
- 2015 Chuck Blazer receives a lifetime ban from FIFA and all football related activity due to corruption
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
2016 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Serena Williams beats Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3, equalling Steffi Graf's 22 Grand Slam singles tiles
Sports History
2017 English international footballer Wayne Rooney announces he will leave Manchester United after 13 years to rejoin his original club, Everton
Victory in Battle
2017 Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi proclaims victory over Islamic State forces in Mosul
Appointment of Interest
2018 US President Donald Trump names Brett Kavanaugh as his Supreme Court nominee
