1187 Louis VIII of France (born) (died 1226)
1548 Catherine Parr (born), English wife of Henry VIII of England (born 1512)
1568 Tommaso Campanella (born), Italian theologian, philosopher, and poet (died 1639)
1590 Alexander Farnese’s army forces Henry IV of France to lift the siege of Paris.
1638 Louis XIV of France (born) (died 1715)
1661 Fall of Nicolas Fouquet: Louis XIV Superintendent of Finances is arrested in Nantes by D’Artagnan, captain of the king’s musketeers.
1666 Gottfried Arnold (born), German historian and theologian (died 1714)
1666 Great Fire of London ends: 10,000 buildings including St Paul’s Cathedral are destroyed, but only 6 people are known to have died.
1698 In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
1725 Jean-Étienne Montucla (born), French mathematician (died 1799)
1725 Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska.
1734 Nicolas Bernier (born), French composer (born 1664)
1735 Johann Christian Bach (born), German composer (died 1782)
1750 Robert Fergusson (born), Scottish poet (died 1774)
1774 First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.
1781 Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War : the British Navy is repelled by the French Navy, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown.
1793 French Revolution: the French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror.
1798 Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan law.
1812 War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Wayne begins when Chief Winamac’s forces attack two soldiers returning from the fort’s outhouses.
1818 Edmund Kennedy (born), Australian explorer and surveyor (died 1848)
1836 Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
1840 Premiere of Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Giorno di Regno at La Scala of Milan.
1846 Jack Daniel (born), American businessman, founded Jack Daniel’s (died 1911)
1847 Jesse James (born), American criminal and murderer (died 1882)
1857 Auguste Comte (born), French sociologist and philosopher (born 1798)
1862 American Civil War: the Potomac River is crossed at White’s Ford in the Maryland Campaign.
1862 James Glaisher, pioneering meteorologist and Henry Tracey Coxwell break world record for altitude whilst collecting data in their balloon.
1873 Cornelius Vanderbilt III (born), American general and engineer (died 1942)
1877 American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.
1877 Crazy Horse (born), American tribal leader (born 1849)
1882 The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.
1897 Arthur Nielsen (born), American market analyst, founded ACNielsen (died 1980)
1902 Darryl F. Zanuck (born), American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1979)
1902 Rudolf Virchow (born), German anthropologist, pathologist, and biologist (born 1821)
1905 Arthur Koestler (born), Hungarian-English journalist and author (died 1983)
1905 Russo-Japanese War: In New Hampshire, United States, the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, ends the war.
1906 Ludwig Boltzmann (born), Austrian physicist and philosopher (born 1844)
1906 The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin).
1907 Layne Britton (born), American makeup artist and actor (died 1993)
1907 Sunnyland Slim (born), American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1995)
1908 Josué de Castro (born), Brazilian physician, geographer, and activist (died 1973)
1912 John Cage (born), American composer and theorist (died 1992)
1912 Kristina Söderbaum (born), Swedish-German actress and photographer (died 2001)
1914 Stuart Freeborn (born), English makeup artist (died 2013)
1916 Frank Shuster (born), Canadian comedian, actor, and screenwriter (died 2002)
1921 Jack Valenti (born), American businessman, created the MPAA film rating system (died 2007)
1921 Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle party in San Francisco ends with the death of the young actress Virginia Rappe: one of the first scandals of the Hollywood community.
1927 Paul Volcker (born), American economist
1927 The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures.
1929 Andriyan Nikolayev (born), Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (died 2004)
1929 Bob Newhart (born) American comedian, actor, singer, and screenwriter
1932 The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger.
1934 Carol Lawrence (born), American actress and singer
1936 Gustave Kahn (born), French poet and critic (born 1859)
1936 Jonathan Kozol (born), American sociologist, author, and educator
1937 William Devane (born), American actor, director, and screenwriter
1939 Claudette Colvin (born), American nurse and activist
1939 Clay Regazzoni (born), Swiss race car driver (died 2006)
1939 George Lazenby (born), Australian actor
1939 John Stewart (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Kingston Trio) (died 2008)
1940 Raquel Welch (born), American actress and singer
1942 Denise Fabre (born), French television host
1942 World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War.
1943 World War II: The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment lands and occupies Lae_Nadzab_Airport, near Lae in the Salamaua–Lae campaign.
1944 Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux.
1945 Al Stewart (born), Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War.
1945 Iva Toguri D’Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.
1946 Dennis Dugan (born), American actor and director
1946 Freddie Mercury (born), Tanzanian-English singer-songwriter and producer (Queen and Ibex) (died 1991)
1947 Buddy Miles (born), American singer-songwriter and drummer (The Electric Flag and The California Raisins) (died 2008)
1947 Chip Davis (born), American pianist, songwriter, and producer (Mannheim Steamroller)
1948 Richard C. Tolman (born), American physicist and chemist (born 1881)
1949 Clem Clempson (born), English guitarist and songwriter (Humble Pie, Colosseum, and Bakerloo)
1950 Cathy Guisewite (born), American cartoonist, created Cathy
1951 Michael Keaton (born), American actor
1953 Richard Walther Darré (born), Argentinian-German agronomist and politician (born 1895)
1960 The boxer Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) is awarded the gold medal for his first place in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.
1965 David Brabham (born), Australian race car driver
1966 Dezső Lauber (born), Hungarian architect (born 1879)
1968 Brad Wilk (born), American singer-songwriter and drummer (Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine, and Greta)
1969 Dweezil Zappa (born), American singer, guitarist, and actor (Zappa Plays Zappa)
1969 My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lt. William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
1970 Jochen Rindt (born 1942) become the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship (in 1970), after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix.
1970 Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins — the United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province.
1972 Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called “Black September” attack and take hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. 2 die in the attack and 9 die the following day.
1975 Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.
1977 Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany by the Red Army Faction and is later murdered.
1977 Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.
1978 Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace process at Camp David, Maryland.
1979 Stewart Holden (born), English scrabble player
1980 The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world’s longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.224 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.
1981 Daniel Moreno (born), Spanish cyclist
1984 STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.
1984 Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.
1988 Gert Fröbe (born), German actor and singer (born 1913)
1991 The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force.
1997 Georg Solti (born), Hungarian conductor (born 1912)
1997 Mother Teresa (born), Albanian-Indian missionary, and saint, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1910)
1999 Alan Clark (born), English historian and politician (born 1928)
1999 Allen Funt (born), American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1914)
2002 David Todd Wilkinson (born), American cosmologist and astronomer (born 1935)
2012 Joe South (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1940)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017