1515 Anne of Cleves (born), (died 1557)
1547 Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin (born), German philologist, mathematician, astronomer, and poet (died 1590)
1554 Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (died), Spanish explorer (born 1510)
1566 Johannes Agricola (died), German religious reformer (born 1494)
1593 Matthäus Merian (born), Swiss-German engraver (died 1650)
1598 English playwright Ben Jonson kills an actor in a duel and is indicted for manslaughter.
1601 Anne of Austria (born) (died 1666)
1662 John Biddle (died), English theologian (born 1615)
1692 Martha Corey (died), American woman accused of witchcraft (born 1620)
1703 Vincenzo Viviani (died), Italian mathematician and physicist (born 1622)
1711 The Tuscarora War begins in present-day North Carolina.
1715 Jean-Étienne Guettard (born), French mineralogist and botanist (died 1786)
1741 Peter Simon Pallas (born), German zoologist and botanist (died 1811)
1761 George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz are crowned King and Queen, respectively, of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1765 Paolo Ruffini (born), Italian mathematician and philosopher (died 1822)
1776 Nathan Hale (died), American soldier
1776 Nathan Hale (born 1755) is hanged for spying during American Revolution.
1777 John Bartram (died), American botanist and explorer (born 1699)
1789 The office of United States Postmaster General is established.
1791 Michael Faraday (born), English physicist and chemist (died 1867)
1819 Wilhelm Wattenbach (born), German historian (died 1897)
1823 Joseph Smith, Jr. states he found the Golden plates on this date after being directed by God through the Angel Moroni to the place where they were buried.
1828 Shaka (died), Zulu leader (born 1787)
1852 William Tierney Clark (died), English engineer, designed the Hammersmith Bridge (born 1783)
1862 A preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation is released.
1869 Richard Wagner’s opera Das Rheingold premieres in Munich.
1872 Vladimir Dal (died), Russian lexicographer (born 1801)
1880 Christabel Pankhurst (born), English activist, co-founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (died 1958)
1885 Gunnar Asplund (born), Swedish architect (died 1940)
1888 The first issue of National Geographic Magazine is published.
1896 Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.
1898 Katharine Alexander (born), American actress and singer (died 1981)
1900 Paul Hugh Emmett (born), American chemist and engineer (died 1985)
1900 Sergey Ozhegov (born), Russian lexicographer (died 1964)
1900 William Spratling (born), American-Mexican designer (died 1967)
1902 John Houseman (born), Romanian-American actor and producer (died 1988)
1903 Joseph Valachi (born), American gangster (died 1971)
1907 Maurice Blanchot (born), French philosopher and author (died 2003)
1908 The Bulgarian Declaration of Independence is proclaimed.
1910 The Duke of York’s Picture House opens in Brighton, now the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain.
1912 Martha Scott (born), American actress (died 2003)
1914 German submarine SM U-9 torpedoes and sinks the British cruisers, HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy on the Broad Fourteens off the Dutch coast with the loss of over 1,400 men.
1919 The steel strike of 1919, led by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, begins in Pennsylvania before spreading across the United States.
1920 Bob Lemon (born), American baseball player and manager (died 2000)
1920 Eric Baker (born), English activist, co-founded Amnesty International (died 1976)
1924 Rosamunde Pilcher (born), English author
1926 Bill Smith (born), American clarinet player and composer
1926 Leila Hadley (born), American author (died 2009)
1927 Jack Dempsey loses the “Long Count” boxing match to Gene Tunney.
1927 Tommy Lasorda (born), American baseball player and manager
1928 Eric Broadley (born), English engineer and businessman, founded Lola Cars
1932 Ingemar Johansson (born), Swedish boxer (died 2009)
1940 Anna Karina (born), Danish-French actress, director, and screenwriter
1941 Jeremiah Wright (born), American pastor
1942 George Erik Rupp (born), American theologian and academic
1951 David Coverdale (born), English singer-songwriter (Whitesnake, Deep Purple, and Coverdale and Page)
1955 In the United Kingdom, the television channel ITV goes live for the first time.
1956 Debby Boone (born), American singer, actress, and author
1957 In Haiti, François Duvalier is elected president.
1958 Andrea Bocelli (born), Italian singer-songwriter, and producer
1958 Joan Jett (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actress (The Runaways)
1958 Neil Cavuto (born), American journalist
1959 Saul Perlmutter (born), American astrophysicist, Nobel Prize Laureate
1959 Tai Babilonia (born), American figure skater
1960 The Sudanese Republic is renamed Mali after the withdrawal of Senegal from the Mali Federation.
1961 Bonnie Hunt (born), American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1961 Diane Lemieux (born), Canadian politician
1961 Scott Baio (born), American actor, director, and producer
1965 Robert Satcher (born), American physician, engineer, and astronaut
1975 Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford, but is foiled by Oliver Sipple.
1979 The Vela Incident (also known as the South Atlantic Flash) is observed near Bouvet Island, thought to be a nuclear weapons test.
1980 Iraq invades Iran.
1987 Dan Rowan (died), American actor and producer (born 1922)
1988 Rais Amrohvi (died), Pakistani psychoanalyst, scholar, and poet (born 1914)
1989 Irving Berlin (died), Russian-American composer and songwriter (born 1888)
1991 The Dead Sea Scrolls are made available to the public for the first time by the Huntington Library.
1993 A barge strikes a railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama, causing the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak history. 47 passengers are killed.
1993 A Transair Georgian Airlines Tu-154 is shot down by a missile in Sukhumi, Georgia.
1994 Friends, an American sitcom television show, debuts.
1995 Bruno Junk (died), Estonian race walker (born 1929)
1996 Dorothy Lamour (died), American actress and singer (born 1914)
1999 George C. Scott (died), American actor, director, and producer (born 1927)
2001 Isaac Stern (died), Polish-Ukrainian violinist and conductor (born 1920)
2003 Gordon Jump (died), American actor (born 1932)
2004 Pete Schoening (died), American mountaineer (born 1927)
2007 Marcel Marceau (died), French actor (born 1923)
2008 Thomas Dörflein (died), German zookeeper (born 1963)
2010 Eddie Fisher (died), American singer and actor (born 1928)
2011 Peter E. Berger (died), American film editor (born 1944)
2012 Jan Hendrik van den Berg (died), Dutch psychiatrist (born 1914)
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