12 Caligula (born), Roman emperor (died 41)
1422 Henry V of England (died) (born 1386)
1422 King Henry V of England dies of dysentery while in France. His son, Henry VI becomes King of England at the age of 9 months.
1654 Ole Worm (died), Danish physician (born 1588)
1748 Jean-Étienne Despréaux (born), French ballet dancer, choreographer, composer, and playwright (died 1820)
1772 William Borlase (died), English geologist and historian (born 1695)
1803 Lewis and Clark start their expedition to the west by leaving Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at 11 in the morning.
1811 Louis Antoine de Bougainville (died), French admiral and explorer (born 1729)
1864 During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
1869 Mary Ward (died), Irish scientist (born 1827)
1878 Frank Jarvis (born), American sprinter (died 1933)
1886 An earthquake kills 100 in Charleston, South Carolina.
1888 Mary Ann Nichols (born 1845) is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper’s confirmed victims.
1895 German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his Navigable Balloon.
1897 Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.
1900 Gino Lucetti (born), Italian anarchist, attempted assassin of Benito Mussolini (died 1943)
1903 Arthur Godfrey (born), American radio and television host (died 1983)
1903 Vladimir Jankélévitch (born), French musicologist and philosopher (died 1985)
1908 William Saroyan (born), American author and playwright (died 1981)
1914 Richard Basehart (born), American actor (died 1984)
1916 Daniel Schorr (born), American journalist (died 2010)
1918 Alan Jay Lerner (born), American songwriter and composer (died 1986)
1920 The first radio news program is broadcast by 8MK in Detroit, Michigan.
1920 Wilhelm Wundt (died), German physician, psychologist, and philosopher (born 1832)
1924 Buddy Hackett (born), American actor and singer (died 2003)
1925 Moran Campbell (born), English-Canadian physician and academic, invented the venturi mask (died 2004)
1928 James Coburn (born), American actor (died 2002)
1935 Eldridge Cleaver (born), American activist and author (died 1998)
1935 Frank Robinson (born), American baseball player and manager
1939 J.I. Allison (born), American drummer and songwriter (The Crickets)
1943 The USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned.
1945 Bob Welch (born), American singer and guitarist (Fleetwood Mac and Paris) (died 2012)
1945 Itzhak Perlman (born), Israeli-American violinist and conductor
1945 Van Morrison (born), Irish singer-songwriter (Them)
1946 Jerome Corsi (born), American theorist and author
1949 Richard Gere (born), American actor, singer, and producer
1957 Gina Schock (born), American drummer, songwriter, and actress (The Go-Go’s and Edie and the Eggs)
1957 The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1962 Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.
1963 Reb Beach (born), American guitarist (Winger, Whitesnake, Night Ranger, and Dokken)
1969 Rocky Marciano (died), American boxer (born 1923)
1970 Amy Stein (born), American photographer
1973 John Ford (died), American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1894)
1979 Sally Rand (died), American actress and dancer (born 1904)
1980 After two weeks of nationwide strikes, the Polish government was forced to sign the Gdańsk Agreement, allowing for the creation of the trade union Solidarity.
1982 Anti-government demonstrations are held in 66 Polish cities to commemorate the second anniversary of the Gdańsk Agreement.
1984 Ted Ligety (born), American skier
1991 Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 Pascal Lissouba is inaugurated as the President of the Republic of the Congo.
1994 The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.
1996 Saddam Hussein’s troops seized Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK.
1997 Diana, Princess of Wales (born 1961), her companion Dodi Fayed (born 1955) and driver Henri Paul (born 1956) die in a car crash in Paris.
1998 North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, its first satellite.
2002 Lionel Hampton (died), American pianist, composer, bandleader, and actor (born 1908)
2004 Carl Wayne (died), English singer and actor (The Move, The Hollies, and The Vikings) (born 1943)
2005 The record for the most number of penalty kicks (40) taken in a Penalty shootout in a football match was set during an FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay match between Tunbridge Wells and Littlehampton Town at the Culverden Stadium in England.
2006 Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.
2008 Ike Pappas (died), American journalist (born 1933)
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