1396 Walter Hilton (died), English mystic (born 1340)
1455 Pope Nicholas V (died) (born 1397)
1494 Georgius Agricola (born), German scientist and scholar (died 1555)
1558 Anna van Egmont (died), Dutch wife of William the Silent (born 1533)
1603 Elizabeth I of England (died) (born 1533)
1603 James VI of Scotland also becomes James I of England, upon the death of Elizabeth I.
1663 The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne.
1693 John Harrison (born), English carpenter and clockmaker, invented the Marine chronometer (died 1776)
1707 The Acts of Union 1707 is signed, officially uniting the Kingdoms of England and Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1721 Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Christian Ludwig, margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos.
1765 The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
1776 John Harrison (died), English carpenter and clockmaker, invented the Marine chronometer (born 1693)
1820 A. E. Becquerel (born), French physicist (died 1891)
1832 In Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat, tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith.
1834 John Wesley Powell (born), American soldier, geologist, and explorer (died 1902)
1837 Canada gives African Canadian men the right to vote.
1855 Andrew W. Mellon (born), American banker, financier, and diplomat, 49th United States Secretary of the Treasury (died 1937)
1874 Harry Houdini (born), Hungarian-American magician and actor (died 1926)
1882 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (died), American poet and educator (born 1807)
1882 Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.
1886 Edward Weston (born), American photographer (died 1958)
1887 Roscoe Arbuckle (born), American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1933)
1892 Marston Morse (born), American mathematician (died 1977)
1893 Walter Baade (born), German astronomer (died 1960)
1896 A. S. Popov makes the first radio signal transmission in history.
1900 Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground “Rapid Transit Railroad” that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
1902 Thomas E. Dewey (born), American politician, 47th Governor of New York (died 1971)
1905 Jules Verne (died), French author (born 1828)
1907 The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published.
1911 Joseph Barbera (born), American animator, director, and producer, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (died 2006)
1919 Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born), American poet and publisher, co-founded City Lights Bookstore
1919 Robert Heilbroner (born), American economist and historian (died 2005)
1924 Norman Fell (born), American actor (died 1998)
1927 Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defense of the foreign citizens within the city.
1930 Steve McQueen (born), American actor (died 1980)
1934 U.S. Congress passes the Tydings–McDuffie Act allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.
1936 David Suzuki (born), Canadian academic and environmentalist
1944 World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.
1950 James Rudolph Garfield (died), American lawyer and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1865)
1951 Dougie Thomson (born), Scottish bass player (Supertramp and The Alan Bown Set)
1951 Tommy Hilfiger (born), American fashion designer, founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation
1958 Elvis Presley is drafted in the U.S. Army.
1960 Scott Pruett (born), American race car driver
1965 NASA spacecraft Ranger 9, equipped to convert its signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic television, brings images of the Moon into ordinary homes before crash landing.
1972 The United Kingdom imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland.
1973 Kenyan athlete Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles.
1976 Bernard Montgomery (died), 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, English field marshal (born 1887)
1976 In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a 7-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process. Since 2006, a public holiday known as Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice is held on this day.
1976 Peyton Manning (born), American football player
1984 Sam Jaffe (died), American actor, singer, and engineer (born 1891)
1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of petroleum after running aground.
1993 Discovery of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9.
1998 Jonesboro massacre: Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.
1999 Mont Blanc Tunnel fire kills 38 people
1999 NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
2000 S&P 500 index reaches an intraday high of 1,552.87, a peak that, due to the collapse of the dot-com bubble, it will not reach again for another seven-and-a-half years.
2003 The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
2008 Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.
2008 Richard Widmark (died), American actor (born 1914)
2010 Robert Culp (died), American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1930)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017