649 Goar of Aquitaine (died), French-German priest and bishop (born 585)
1189 Henry II of England (died) (born 1133)
1189 Richard I “the Lionheart” accedes to the English throne.
1249 Alexander II of Scotland (died) (born 1198)
1348 Pope Clement VI issues a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death.
1476 Regiomontanus (died), German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer (born 1436)
1483 Richard III is crowned King of England.
1484 Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of the Congo River.
1535 Sir Thomas More is executed for treason against King Henry VIII of England.
1553 Edward VI of England (died) (born 1537)
1557 King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I of England, sets out from Dover to war with France, which eventually resulted in the loss of the City of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, and Mary I never seeing her husband again.
1560 The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed by Scotland and England.
1573 Córdoba, Argentina, is founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera.
1580 Johann Stobäus (born), German lute player and composer (died 1646)
1609 Bohemia is granted freedom of religion.
1623 Jacopo Melani (born), Italian violinist and composer (died 1676)
1747 John Paul Jones (born), Scottish-American captain (died 1792)
1766 Alexander Wilson (born), Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, and illustrator (died 1813)
1777 American Revolutionary War: Siege of Fort Ticonderoga After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York.
1779 Battle of Grenada: The French defeat British naval forces during the American Revolutionary War.
1781 Stamford Raffles (born), English politician, founded Singapore (died 1826)
1785 The dollar is unanimously chosen as the monetary unit for the United States.
1785 William Hooker (born), English botanist (died 1865)
1789 María Isabella of Spain (born) (died 1846)
1796 Nicholas I of Russia (born) (died 1855)
1817 Albert von Kölliker (born), Swiss anatomist and physiologist (died 1905)
1818 Adolf Anderssen (born), German chess player (died 1879)
1835 John Marshall (died), American captain and politician, 4th United States Secretary of State (born 1755)
1840 José María Velasco Gómez (born), Mexican painter (died 1912)
1854 In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party is held.
1859 Verner von Heidenstam (born), Swedish poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1940)
1863 Ernst Merck (died), German businessman and politician (died 1811)
1868 Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom (born) (died 1935)
1884 Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (born), American businessman and sailor (died 1970)
1885 Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.
1886 Marc Bloch (born), French historian (died 1944)
1887 David Kalakaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is forced at gunpoint by Americans to sign the Bayonet Constitution giving Americans more power in Hawaii while stripping Hawaiian citizens of their rights.
1889 Paul Rinne (born), Estonian chess player (died 1946)
1892 3,800 striking steelworkers engage in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving 10 dead and dozens wounded.
1893 Guy de Maupassant (died), French author (born 1850)
1897 Richard Krautheimer (born), German-American historian and scholar (died 1994)
1907 George Stanley (born), Canadian soldier, historian, and author, designed the flag of Canada (died 2002)
1912 Heinrich Harrer (born), Austrian geographer and mountaineer (died 2006)
1914 Vince McMahon, Sr. (born), American wrestling promoter, founded WWE (died 1984)
1917 World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt.
1918 Sebastian Cabot (born), English-Canadian actor (died 1977)
1919 The British dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship.
1921 Nancy Reagan (born), American actress, 47th First Lady of the United States
1925 Bill Haley (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Bill Haley & His Comets) (died 1981)
1925 Merv Griffin (born), American actor, singer, and producer, created Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! (died 2007)
1927 Alan Freeman (born), Australian-English radio host (died 2006)
1927 Janet Leigh (born), American actress and singer (died 2004)
1927 Pat Paulsen (born), American comedian and actor (died 1997)
1931 Della Reese (born), American actress and singer
1932 Herman Hertzberger (born), Dutch architect and educator
1932 Kenneth Grahame (died), Scottish author (born 1859)
1933 The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. The American League defeated the National League 4–2.
1937 Gene Chandler (born), American singer-songwriter and producer
1937 Ned Beatty (born), American actor
1939 Jet Harris (born), English bass player (The Shadows, The Jeff Beck Group, and The Vipers Skiffle Group) (died 2011)
1940 Storey Bridge, a major landmark in Brisbane, as well as Australia’s longest cantilever bridge is formally opened.
1942 Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the “Secret Annexe” above her father’s office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
1944 Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court martial.
1944 The Hartford Circus Fire, one of America’s worst fire disasters, kills approximately 168 people and injures over 700 in Hartford, Connecticut.
1946 George W. Bush (born), American lieutenant and politician, 43rd President of the United States
1946 Peter Singer (born), Australian philosopher
1946 Sylvester Stallone (born), American actor, director, and screenwriter
1947 The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union.
1957 Althea Gibson wins the Wimbledon championships, becoming the first black athlete to do so.
1957 John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, 3 years before forming the Beatles.
1962 The Late Late Show, the world’s longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster, airs on RTÉ One for the first time.
1962 William Faulkner (died), American author, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1897)
1964 Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
1971 Louis Armstrong (died), American singer and trumpet player (born 1901)
1973 Otto Klemperer (died), German conductor and composer (born 1885)
1975 The Comoros declares independence from France.
1976 Fritz Lenz (died), German geneticist (born 1887)
1977 Craig Handley (born), Welsh director, producer, and screenwriter
1986 Davis Phinney becomes the first American cyclist to win a road stage of the Tour de France.
1988 The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. 167 oil workers are killed, making it the world’s worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life.
1995 In the Bosnian War, under the command of General Ratko Mladić, Serbia begins its attack on the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, and kills more than 8000 Bosniaks, in what then- UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called “the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War”.
1998 Roy Rogers (died), American actor and singer (born 1911)
1999 U.S. Army private Barry Winchell dies from baseball-bat injuries inflicted on him in his sleep the previous day by a fellow soldier, Calvin Glover, for his relationship with transgender showgirl and former Navy Corpsman Calpernia Addams.
2003 Buddy Ebsen (died), American actor, singer, and dancer (born 1908)
2003 The 70-metre Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message (Cosmic Call 2) to 5 stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri (HD 75732), HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris (HD 95128). The messages will arrive to these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044 and 2049 respectively.
2006 The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-openes for trade after 44 years.
2009 Robert McNamara (died), American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Defense (born 1916)
2013 A Boeing 777 operating as Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashes at San Francisco International Airport, killing 3 and injuring 181 of the 307 people on board.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
- The Super Sucker Bowl - 10 February, 2017
- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017