622 The beginning of the Islamic calendar.
1194 Clare of Assisi (born), Italian saint (died 1253)
1216 Pope Innocent III (died) (born 1160)
1377 Coronation of Richard II of England.
1546 Anne Askew (died), English poet (born 1520)
1557 Anne of Cleves (died) (born 1515)
1611 Cecilia Renata of Austria (born) (died 1644)
1661 Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville (born), Canadian captain, explorer and politician (died 1706)
1661 The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
1714 Marc René (born), marquis de Montalembert, French engineer and author (died 1800)
1722 Joseph Wilton (born), English sculptor (died 1803)
1723 Joshua Reynolds (born), English painter (died 1792)
1747 Giuseppe Crespi (died), Italian painter (born 1665)
1769 Father Junípero Serra founds California’s first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, California.
1770 Francis Cotes (died), English painter (born 1726)
1779 American Revolutionary War: light infantry of the Continental Army seize a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.
1782 First performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio; also known as Il Seraglio).
1790 The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act.
1796 Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (born), French painter (died 1875)
1821 Mary Baker Eddy (born), American religious leader and author, founded Christian Science (died 1910)
1861 American Civil War: at the order of President Abraham Lincoln, Union troops begin a 25 mile march into Virginia for what will become the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle of the war.
1862 American Civil War: David Farragut is promoted to rear admiral, becoming the first officer in United States Navy to hold an admiral rank.
1872 Roald Amundsen (born), Norwegian explorer (died 1928)
1882 Mary Todd Lincoln (died), American wife of Abraham Lincoln, 19th First Lady of the United States (born 1818)
1883 Charles Sheeler (born), American photographer and painter (died 1965)
1896 Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer (born), German biologist and eugenicist (died 1969)
1902 Alexander Luria (born), Russian psychologist (died 1977)
1902 Mary Philbin (born), American actress (died 1993)
1903 Carmen Lombardo (born), Canadian singer-songwriter (died 1971)
1904 Goffredo Petrassi (born), Italian composer and conductor (died 2003)
1907 Barbara Stanwyck (born), American actress and singer (died 1990)
1907 Orville Redenbacher (born), American farmer and businessman, founded Orville Redenbacher’s (died 1995)
1910 John Robertson Duigan makes the first flight of the Duigan pusher biplane, the first aircraft built in Australia.
1911 Ginger Rogers (born), American actress, singer, and dancer (died 1995)
1915 First Order of the Arrow ceremony takes place and the Order of the Arrow is founded.
1916 Élie Metchnikoff (died), Russian microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1845)
1924 Bess Myerson (born), American model, Miss America 1945
1925 Cal Tjader (born), American vibraphone player and composer (died 1982)
1926 Irwin Rose (born), American biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1931 Emperor Haile Selassie I signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
1935 The world’s first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1938 Tony Jackson (born), English singer and bass player (The Searchers) (died 2003)
1939 Corin Redgrave (born), English actor and activist (died 2010)
1941 Joe DiMaggio hits safely for the 56th consecutive game, a streak that still stands as a MLB record.
1945 Manhattan Project: the Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
1945 World War II: The heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis leaves San Francisco with parts for the atomic bomb “Little Boy” bound for Tinian Island.
1946 Richard LeParmentier (born), American-English actor (died 2013)
1948 The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.
1950 Dennis Priestley (born), English darts player
1951 The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is published for the first time by Little, Brown and Company.
1952 Stewart Copeland (born), American drummer (The Police, Animal Logic, Curved Air and Oysterhead)
1956 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its very last “Big Tent” show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, due to changing economics all subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas.
1960 John P. Marquand (died), American author (born 1893)
1960 USS George Washington a modified Skipjack class submarine successfully test fires the first ballistic missile while submerged.
1963 Phoebe Cates (born), American actress
1965 The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
1967 Will Ferrell (born), American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1968 Larry Sanger (born), American philosopher, co-founded Wikipedia and Citizendium
1969 Apollo program: Apollo 11, the first mission to land astronauts on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Kennedy, Florida.
1971 Corey Feldman (born), American actor and singer
1973 Watergate scandal: former White House aide Alexander Butterfield informs the United States Senate that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
1979 Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
1981 Harry Chapin (died), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1942)
1990 The Parliament of the Ukrainian SSR declares state sovereignty over the territory of the Ukrainian SSR.
1994 Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 collides with Jupiter. Impacts continue until July 22.
1999 Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy (died), American publicist (born 1966)
1999 John F. Kennedy, Jr. (died), American lawyer and publisher, co-founded George Magazine (born 1960)
1999 John F. Kennedy, Jr., piloting a Piper Saratoga aircraft, dies when his plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. His wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are also killed.
2004 Millennium Park, considered Chicago, Illinois’s first and most ambitious early 21st-century architectural project, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
2008 Sixteen infants in Gansu Province, China, who had been fed on tainted milk powder, are diagnosed with kidney stones; in total an estimated 300,000 infants are affected.
2012 Bob Babbitt (died), American bass player (The Funk Brothers) (born 1937)
2012 Jon Lord (died), English keyboard player and songwriter (Deep Purple, The Artwoods, The Flower Pot Men, and Paice Ashton Lord) (born 1941)
2012 Kitty Wells (died), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1919)
2012 Masaharu Matsushita (died), Japanese businessman (born 1913)
2013 At least 23 children die at a school in Bihar, India, after consuming food tainted with organophosphorus compounds.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017