86 Antoninus Pius (born), Roman emperor (died 161)
1356 Battle of Poitiers: An English army under the command of Edward, the Black Prince defeats a French army and captures the French king, John II.
1551 Henry III of France (born) (died 1589)
1668 William Waller (died), English general (born 1597)
1676 Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon’s Rebellion.
1692 Giles Corey is pressed to death by placing stones on his supine body after refusing to plead in the Salem witch trials.
1710 Ole Rømer (died), Danish astronomer (born 1644)
1749 Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre (born), French mathematician and astronomer (died 1822)
1759 William Kirby (born), English entomologist (died 1850)
1778 The Continental Congress passes the first United States federal budget.
1796 George Washington’s Farewell Address is printed across America as an open letter to the public.
1811 Orson Pratt (born), American religious leader (died 1881)
1846 Two French shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, experience a Marian apparition on a mountaintop near La Salette, France, now known as Our Lady of La Salette.
1863 American Civil War: Battle of Chickamauga.
1870 Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Paris begins, which will result on January 28, 1871 in the surrender of Paris and a decisive Prussian victory.
1871 Frederick Ruple (born), American painter (died 1938)
1881 U.S. President James A. Garfield (born 1831) dies of wounds suffered in a July 2 shooting.
1888 James Waddell Alexander II (born), American mathematician and topologist (died 1971)
1893 Women’s suffrage: in New Zealand, the Electoral Act of 1893 is consented to by the governor giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote.
1901 Joe Pasternak (born), Hungarian-American production manager and producer (died 1991)
1905 Leon Jaworski (born), American lawyer, co-founded Fulbright & Jaworski (died 1982)
1911 William Golding (born), English author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1993)
1926 Duke Snider (born), American baseball player and sportscaster (died 2011)
1926 James Lipton (born), American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1927 Helen Carter (born), American singer (Carter Family and The Carter Sisters) (died 1998)
1927 Nick Massi (born), American singer and bass player (The Four Seasons and Four Lovers) (died 2000)
1928 Adam West (born), American actor
1933 David McCallum (born), Scottish actor and singer
1933 Gilles Archambault (born), Canadian author
1934 Brian Epstein (born), English talent manager (died 1967)
1934 Bruno Hauptmann is arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr.
1940 Bill Medley (born), American singer-songwriter (The Righteous Brothers)
1940 Paul Williams (born), American singer-songwriter and actor
1940 Sylvia Tyson (born), Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Quartette, Ian & Sylvia, and Great Speckled Bird)
1940 Witold Pilecki is voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in order to smuggle out information and start a resistance.
1941 Cass Elliot (born), American singer (The Mamas & the Papas, The Mugwumps, and The Big 3) (died 1974)
1945 Lord Haw-Haw (William Joyce) is sentenced to death in London convicted of high treason.
1948 Jeremy Irons (born), English actor and singer
1949 Barry Scheck (born), American lawyer, co-founded the Innocence Project
1949 Twiggy (born), English model, actress, and singer
1949 Will Cuppy (died), American author and critic (born 1884)
1950 Joan Lunden (born), American journalist and author
1952 The United States bars Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England.
1956 Juan Manuel Fangio II (born), Argentinian race car driver
1957 First American underground nuclear bomb test (part of Operation Plumbbob).
1959 Nikita Khrushchev is barred from visiting Disneyland due to security concerns.
1960 Mario Batali (born), American chef and author
1964 Trisha Yearwood (born), American singer-songwriter and actress
1965 Lionel Terray (died), French mountaineer (born 1921)
1966 Eric Rudolph (born), American terrorist
1966 Soledad O’Brien (born), American journalist and producer
1970 The first Glastonbury Festival is held at Michael Eavis’s farm in Glastonbury, United Kingdom.
1971 Montagnard troops of South Vietnam revolt against the rule of Nguyễn Khánh, killing 70 ethnic Vietnamese soldiers.
1972 A parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London kills one diplomat.
1973 Gram Parsons (died), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (International Submarine Band, The Byrds, and The Flying Burrito Brothers) (born 1946)
1974 Jimmy Fallon (born), American actor, singer, and talk show host
1976 Two Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom II jets fly out to investigate an unidentified flying object when both independently lose instrumentation and communications as they approach, only to have them restored upon withdrawal.
1978 The Solomon Islands join the United Nations.
1981 Simon & Garfunkel reunite for a free concert in New York’s Central Park.
1982 Scott Fahlman posts the first documented emoticons 🙂 and 🙁 on the Carnegie Mellon University Bulletin Board System.
1983 Saint Kitts and Nevis gains its independence.
1985 Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music.
1991 Ötzi the Iceman is discovered by German tourists.
1995 Orville Redenbacher (died), American businessman, founded the Orville Redenbacher’s Company (born 1907)
1995 The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber’s manifesto.
1997 Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria; 53 killed.
2001 Rhys Jones (died), Welsh-Australian archaeologist (born 1941)
2006 The Thai military stages a coup in Bangkok. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.
2010 The leaking oil well in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is sealed.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017