1533 Mary Tudor (died), Queen of France (born 1496)
1218 Simon de Montfort (died), 5th Earl of Leicester, French crusader (born 1160)
1483 Anthony Woodville (died), 2nd Earl Rivers, English courtier (born 1440)
1560 Wilhelm Fabry (born), German surgeon (d. 1634)
1634 John Marston (died), English poet and playwright (born 1576)
1658 Spanish forces fail to retake Jamaica at the Battle of Rio Nuevo during the Anglo-Spanish War.
1678 Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua.
1767 Georg Philipp Telemann (died), German composer (born 1681)
1786 Gavriil Pribylov discovers St. George Island of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.
1788 Virginia becomes the 10th state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1799 David Douglas (born), Scottish botanist (d. 1834)
1814 Gabriel Auguste Daubrée (born), French geologist (d. 1896)
1852 Antoni Gaudí (born), Spanish architect, designed the Park Güell (d. 1926)
1866 Alexander von Nordmann (died), Finnish biologist (born 1803)
1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (born 1839).
1876 George Armstrong Custer (died), American general
1900 Louis Mountbatten (born), 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, English admiral and politician, 44th Governor-General of India (d. 1979)
1903 George Orwell (born), English author (d. 1950)
1906 Stanford White (died), American architect, designed the Washington Square Arch (born 1853)
1910 Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird is premiered in Paris, bringing him to prominence as a composer.
1910 The United States Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come.
1923 Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. John P. Richter perform the first ever aerial refueling in a DH-4B biplane
1923 Dorothy Gilman (born), American author (d. 2012)
1925 Clifton Chenier (born), American singer-songwriter and accordion player (d. 1987)
1925 June Lockhart (born), American actress
1928 Peyo (born), Belgian author and illustrator, created The Smurfs (d. 1992)
1933 James Meredith (born), American activist
1935 Eddie Floyd (born), American singer-songwriter (The Falcons)
1936 Bert Hölldobler (born), German biologist and author
1940 Clint Warwick (born), English bass player (The Moody Blues) (d. 2004)
1940 World War II: France officially surrenders to Germany at 01:35.
1942 Michel Tremblay (born), Canadian author and playwright
1944 The final page of the comic Krazy Kat was published, exactly two months after its author George Herriman died.
1946 Ian McDonald (born), English guitarist and saxophonist (King Crimson and Foreigner)
1947 Jimmie Walker (born), American actor
1947 The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is published.
1948 The Berlin airlift begins.
1949 Long-Haired Hare, starring Bugs Bunny, is released in theaters.
1949 Patrick Tambay (born), French race car driver
1950 The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.
1952 Martin Gerschwitz (born), German singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Iron Butterfly)
1954 Sonia Sotomayor (born), American jurist
1956 Anthony Bourdain (born), American chef and author
1960 Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union.
1961 Ricky Gervais (born), English comedian, actor, director, and producer
1964 Johnny Herbert (born), English race car driver
1967 Broadcasting of the first live global satellite television program: Our World
1975 Mozambique achieves independence.
1976 Johnny Mercer (died), American singer-songwriter, co-founded Capitol Records (born 1909)
1976 Missouri Governor Kit Bond issues an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, formally apologizing on behalf of the state of Missouri for the suffering it had caused to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
1978 The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
1981 Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.
1982 Greece abolishes the head shaving of recruits in the military.
1984 Michel Foucault (died), French philosopher and historian (born 1926)
1988 Hillel Slovak (died), Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (Red Hot Chili Peppers and What Is This?) (born 1962)
1991 Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia.
1993 Kim Campbell is chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and becomes the first female Prime Minister of Canada.
1996 The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.
1997 An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
1997 Jacques Cousteau (died), French oceanographer and explorer (born 1910)
1997 The Soufrière Hills volcano in Montserrat erupts resulting in the death of 19 people.
1998 In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.
2003 Lester Maddox (died), American politician, 75th Governor of Georgia (born 1915)
2008 Lyall Watson (died), South African anthropologist and ethologist (born 1939)
2009 Farrah Fawcett (died), American actress (born 1947)
2009 Michael Jackson (died), American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actor (The Jackson 5) (born 1958)
2012 George Randolph Hearst, Jr. (died), American businessman (born 1927)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017