1328 Philip VI is crowned King of France.
1453 Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih captures Constantinople after a 53-daysiege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
1500 Bartolomeu Dias (died), Portuguese explorer (born 1451)
1630 Charles II of England (born) (died 1685)
1660 English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1660 Frans van Schooten (died), Dutch mathematician (born 1615)
1716 Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton (born), French botanist (died 1800)
1727 Peter II becomes Czar of Russia.
1730 Jackson of Exeter (born), English organist and composer (died 1803)
1733 The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City.
1736 Patrick Henry (born), American lawyer, planter, and politician, 1st Governor of Virginia (died 1799)
1780 Henri Braconnot (born), French chemist and pharmacist (died 1855)
1790 Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States’ colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S. state.
1814 Joséphine de Beauharnais (died), French wife of Napoleon (born 1763)
1823 John H. Balsley (born), American carpenter and inventor (died 1895)
1829 Humphry Davy (died), English chemist (born 1778)
1848 Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
1874 G. K. Chesterton (born), English journalist, author, and playwright (died 1936)
1880 Oswald Spengler (born), German historian and philosopher (died 1936)
1886 Pharmacist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in The Atlanta Journal.
1892 Bahá’u’lláh (died), Persian religious leader, founded the Bahá’í Faith (born 1817)
1896 Gabriel Auguste Daubrée (died), French geologist (born 1814)
1900 N’Djamena Sudan is founded as Fort-Lamy by the French commander Émile Gentil.
1903 Bob Hope (born), English-American actor, singer, and producer (died 2003)
1903 Bruce Price (died), American architect, designed the Château Frontenac and American Surety Building (born 1845)
1913 Igor Stravinsky’s ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, France, provoking a riot.
1914 Stacy Keach, Sr. (born), American actor (died 2003)
1914 The Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with the loss of 1,024 lives.
1917 John F. Kennedy (born), American lieutenant and politician, 35th President of the United States (died 1963)
1919 Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.
1931 Michele Schirru, a citizen of the United States, is executed by Italian military firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini.
1932 Paul R. Ehrlich (born), American biologist and author
1932 World War I Veterans begin to assemble in Washington, D.C., in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.
1939 Al Unser (born), American race car driver
1942 Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas“, the best-selling Christmas single in history.
1942 John Barrymore (died), American actor (born 1882)
1945 Gary Brooker (born), English singer-songwriter and pianist (Procol Harum and The Paramounts)
1951 Fanny Brice (died), American singer and actress (born 1891)
1953 Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay’s (adopted) 39th birthday.
1953 Man Mountain Dean (died), American wrestler (born 1891)
1961 Melissa Etheridge (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist
1964 The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
1967 Iñaki Ochoa de Olza (born), Spanish mountaineer (died 2008)
1973 Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.
1975 Daniel Tosh (born), American comedian and actor
1975 Melanie Brown (born), English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress (Spice Girls)
1979 Mary Pickford (died), Canadian-American actress, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded United Artists (born 1892)
1982 Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
1982 Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral.
1988 The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
1989 George C. Homans (died), American sociologist (born 1910)
1989 John Cipollina (died), American guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Dinosaurs, and Man) (born 1943)
1990 The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
1998 Barry Goldwater (died), American general and politician (born 1909)
2001 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments.
2004 The National World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
2006 Steve Mizerak (died), American pool player (born 1944)
2010 Dennis Hopper (died), American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1936)
2012 Doc Watson (died), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1923)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017