138 Emperor Hadrian (born 76) dies after a heart failure at Baiae; he is buried at Rome in the Tomb of Hadrian beside his late wife, Vibia Sabina.
1212 The most severe of several early fires of London burns most of the city to the ground.
1460 Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, defeats the king’s Lancastrian forces and takes King Henry VI prisoner in the Battle of Northampton.
1499 The Portuguese explorer Nicolau Coelho returns to Lisbon, after discovering the sea route to India as a companion of Vasco da Gama.
1509 John Calvin (born), French pastor and theologian (died 1564)
1553 Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England.
1584 William I of Orange is assassinated in his home in Delft, Holland, by Balthasar Gérard.
1584 William the Silent (died), French prince (born 1533)
1592 Pierre d’Hozier (born), French genealogist (died 1660)
1638 David Teniers III (born), Flemish painter (died 1685)
1682 Roger Cotes (born), English mathematician (died 1716)
1723 William Blackstone (born), English jurist and politician (died 1780)
1778 American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1789 Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Mackenzie River delta.
1802 Robert Chambers (born), Scottish geologist and publisher, co-founded Chambers Harrap (died 1871)
1804 Emma Smith (born), American religious leader (died 1879)
1806 The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company.
1809 Friedrich August von Quenstedt (born), German geologist and palaeontologist (died 1889)
1821 The United States takes possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain.
1830 Camille Pissarro (born), French painter (died 1903)
1832 Alvan Graham Clark (born), American astronomer (died 1897)
1832 The U.S. President Andrew Jackson vetoes a bill that would re-charter the Second Bank of the United States.
1839 Adolphus Busch (born), German brewer, co-founded Anheuser-Busch (died 1913)
1850 Millard Fillmore is inaugurated as the 13th President of the United States upon the death of President Zachary Taylor, 16 months into his term.
1851 Louis Daguerre (died), French photographer and physicist, invented the daguerreotype (born 1787)
1856 Nikola Tesla (born), Serbian-American physicist and engineer (died 1943)
1871 Marcel Proust (born), French author and critic (died 1922)
1890 Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.
1897 Jack Diamond (born), American gangster (died 1931)
1913 Death Valley, California, hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), the highest temperature recorded in the United States.
1920 David Brinkley (born), American journalist (died 2003)
1921 Belfast’s Bloody Sunday: 16 people are killed and 161 houses destroyed during rioting and gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1921 Eunice Kennedy Shriver (born), American activist, co-founded the Special Olympics (died 2009)
1921 Harvey Ball (born), American illustrator, created the Smiley (died 2001)
1925 Meher Baba begins his silence of 44 years. His followers observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration.
1925 Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called “Monkey Trial” begins with John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
1928 Alejandro de Tomaso (born), Argentinian-Italian race car driver and businessman, founded De Tomaso (died 2003)
1931 Alice Munro (born), Canadian author
1934 Jerry Nelson (born), American “Muppeteer” for Jim Henson’s Muppets and voice actor (died 2012)
1938 Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world.
1938 Paul Andreu (born), French architect, designed the Osaka Maritime Museum and the National Grand Theater of China
1940 World War II: Battle of Britain The German Luftwaffe begins attacking British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though).
1940 World War II: the Vichy government is established in France.
1941 Jelly Roll Morton (died), American pianist, composer, and bandleader (Red Hot Peppers) (born 1890)
1942 Ronnie James Dio (born), American singer-songwriter and producer (Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, Heaven & Hell, and Elf) (died 2010)
1942 World War II: An American pilot spots a downed, intact Mitsubishi A6M Zero on Akutan Island (the “Akutan Zero”) that the US Navy uses to learn the aircraft’s flight characteristics.
1943 Arthur Ashe (born), American tennis player (died 1993)
1946 Hungarian hyperinflation sets a record with inflation of 348.46 percent per day, or prices doubling every eleven hours.
1947 Arlo Guthrie (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1949 Greg Kihn (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Greg Kihn Band)
1951 Korean War: Armistice negotiations begin at Kaesong.
1962 Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.
1966 The Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., holds a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. As many as 60,000 people come to hear Dr. King as well as Mahalia Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Peter Paul and Mary.
1973 John Paul Getty III, a grandson of the oil magnate J. Paul Getty, is kidnapped in Rome, Italy.
1973 National Assembly of Pakistan passes a resolution on the recognition of Bangladesh.
1973 The Bahamas gain full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations.
1978 Joe Davis (died), English snooker player (born 1901)
1978 John D. Rockefeller III (died), American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Asia Society (born 1906)
1978 World News Tonight premieres on ABC.
1979 Arthur Fiedler (died), American conductor (born 1894)
1980 Adam Petty (born), American race car driver (died 2000)
1985 The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents, killing Fernando Pereira.
1989 Mel Blanc (died), American voice actor and singer (born 1908)
1991 Boris Yeltsin takes office as the first elected President of Russia.
1991 The South African cricket team is readmitted into the International Cricket Council following the end of Apartheid.
1992 In Miami, Florida, the former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations.
1997 In London scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supports the “out of Africa theory” of human evolution placing an “African Eve” at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
1998 Roman Catholic sex abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were sexually abused by Rudolph Kos, a former priest.
2000 A leaking southern Nigerian petroleum pipeline explodes, killing about 250 villagers scavenging gasoline.
2000 EADS, the world’s second-largest aerospace group is formed by the merger of Aérospatiale-Matra, DASA, and CASA.
2002 At a Sotheby’s auction, Peter Paul Rubens’ painting The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £49.5million (US$76.2 million) to Lord Thomson.
2005 Hurricane Dennis slams into the Florida Panhandle, causing billions of dollars in damage.
2007 Doug Marlette (died), American cartoonist and author (born 1949)
2007 Erden Eruç begins the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017