49 BC Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war.
9 The Western Han Dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the beginning of his own, the Xin Dynasty.
1628 George Villiers (born), 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English politician (died 1687)
1654 Nicholas Culpeper (died), English botanist, physician, and astrologer (born 1616)
1729 Lazzaro Spallanzani (born), Italian biologist (died 1799)
1741 Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain (born) (died 1759)
1754 Edward Cave (died), English publisher, founded the The Gentleman’s Magazine (born 1691)
1776 Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense.
1778 Carolus Linnaeus (died), Swedish botanist (born 1707)
1794 Georg Forster (died), German-Polish ethnologist and journalist (died 1754)
1806 Dutch settlers in Cape Town surrender to the British.
1810 Napoleon Bonaparte divorces his first wife Joséphine.
1842 Luigi Pigorini (born), Italian palaeontologist, archaeologist, and ethnographer (died 1925)
1843 Frank James (born), American soldier and outlaw (died 1915)
1861 American Civil War: Florida secedes from the Union.
1862 Samuel Colt (died), American businessman, founded the Colt’s Manufacturing Company (born 1814)
1863 The London Underground, the world’s oldest underground railway, opens between London Paddington stationand Farringdon station.
1863 Lyman Beecher (died), American minister, co-founded the American Temperance Society (born 1775)
1870 John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.
1883 Francis X. Bushman (born), American actor (died 1966)
1883 Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (born), Russian author (died 1945)
1883 Samuel Mudd (died), American physician (born 1833)
1895 Eli Whitney Blake, Jr. (died), American scientist (born 1836)
1901 The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.
1904 Ray Bolger (born), American actor and dancer (died 1987)
1916 World War I: In the Erzurum Offensive, Russia defeats the Ottoman Empire.
1917 Buffalo Bill (died), American soldier and hunter (born 1846)
1919 Terukuni Manzō (born), Japanese sumo wrestler, the 38th Yokozuna (died 1977)
1919 Milton Parker (born), American businessman, co-founded the Carnegie Deli (died 2009)
1920 The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I.
1921 Rodger Ward (born), American race car driver (died 2004)
1924 Max Roach (born), American drummer and composer (M’Boom) (died 2007)
1925 Billie Sol Estes (born), American businessman (died 2013)
1927 Fritz Lang’s futuristic film Metropolis is released in Germany.
1927 Gisele MacKenzie (born), Canadian-American singer and actress (died 2003)
1930 Roy E. Disney (born), American businessman (died 2009)
1936 Stephen E. Ambrose (born), American historian and author (died 2002)
1936 Robert Woodrow Wilson (born), American physicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate
1937 Thomas Penfield Jackson (born), American judge
1939 Sal Mineo (born), American actor (died 1976)
1939 Bill Toomey (born), American decathlete
1940 Harry Gant (born), American race car driver
1940 Godfrey Hewitt (born), English geneticist (died 2013)
1943 Jim Croce (born), American singer-songwriter (died 1973)
1944 Frank Sinatra, Jr. (born), American singer-songwriter and actor
1945 Rod Stewart (born), English-Scottish singer-songwriter (The Jeff Beck Group, Faces, Shotgun Express, and The Steampacket)
1946 The first General Assembly of the United Nations opens in London. Fifty-one nations are represented.
1946 The United States Army Signal Corps successfully conducts Project Diana, bouncing radio waves off the moon and receiving the reflected signals.
1946 Aynsley Dunbar (born), English drummer and songwriter (The Jeff Beck Group, Journey, Jefferson Starship, UFO, The Mojos, and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers)
1949 George Foreman (born), American boxer
1949 Linda Lovelace (born), American porn actress (died 2002)
1950 Roy Blunt (born), American politician
1951 Sinclair Lewis (died), American author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1885)
1952 Scott Thurston (born), American guitarist and songwriter (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and The Stooges)
1953 Pat Benatar (born), American singer-songwriter
1953 Bobby Rahal (born), American race car driver
1958 Eddie Cheever (born), American race car driver
1959 Chris Van Hollen (born), American politician
1961 Dashiell Hammett (died), American author and screenwriter (born 1894)
1962 Apollo program: NASA announces plans to build the C-5 rocket launch vehicle. It became better known as the Saturn V Moon rocket, which launched every Apollo Moon mission.
1965 Frederick Fleet (died), English crewman, survivor of the Sinking of the RMS Titanic (born 1887)
1971 Coco Chanel (died), French fashion designer, founded Chanel (born 1883)
1976 Howlin’ Wolf (died), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1910)
1980 George Meany (died), American union leader (born 1894)
1981 Richard Boone (died), American actor (born 1917)
1981 Fawn M. Brodie (died), American historian and author (born 1915)
1982 Paul Lynde (died), American comedian and actor (born 1926)
1984 The United States and Holy See (Vatican City) re-establish full diplomatic relations after almost 117 years, overturning Congress’s 1867 ban on public funding for such a diplomatic envoy.
1985 Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba; American policy continues to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government.
1990 Time Warner is formed by the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications.
1997 Elspeth Huxle (died)y, Kenyan-English journalist and author (born 1907)
1997 Sheldon Leonard (died), American actor, producer, and director (born 1907)
2000 Sam Jaffe (died), American film producer (born 1901)
2007 Carlo Ponti (died), Italian film producer (born 1912)
2007 Bradford Washburn (died), American explorer, photographer, and cartographer (born 1910)
2008 Maila Nurmi (died), Finnish-American actress (born 1921)
2011 2010–2011 Queensland floods: Torrential rain in the Lockyer Valley region of South East Queensland, Australia causes severe flash flooding, killing 9 people.
2013 More than 100 people are killed and 270 injured in several bomb blasts in Pakistan.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017