| 64:
|
The Great Fire of Rome began. The cause of the fire was blamed on the Christians
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| 390:
|
Gauls defeat Romans and sack Rome
|
| 641:
|
Death of St. Arnulf of Metz
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| 1100:
|
Death of Godfrey de Boullion; Baldwin becomes King of Jerusalem
|
| 1216:
|
Election of Honorius III as Pope
|
| 1289:
|
Death of Alfonso, King of Aragon
|
| 1290:
|
A treaty safeguarding liberties of Scots against the English
|
| 1290:
|
Edward I, King of England, expels the Jews from England
|
| 1374:
|
Death of Petrarch
|
| 1536:
|
The authority of the pope was declared void in England
|
| 1552:
|
Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor born
|
| 1610:
|
Death of Caravaggio, painter
|
| 1627:
|
French explorers noted oil seeping out of the ground near Cuba, New York, and described the phenomenon in a letter to Joseph de la Roche de Allion back in France
|
| 1635:
|
Birth of Robert Hooke
|
| 1639:
|
Death of Bernard of Saxe-Weimar
|
| 1723:
|
Johann Sebastian Bach, still settling in as the music director of Leipzig, produced the motet "Jesu, meine Freunde" for a memorial service for the widow of the Leipzig postmaster
|
| 1753:
|
Lemuel Haynes, colonial American Congregational clergyman. In 1785, Haynes, then 32, was ordained to a church in Torrington, Connecticut, making him the first African-American to pastor a white church. born
|
| 1792:
|
American naval hero John Paul Jones died in Paris at age 45
|
| 1811:
|
English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. Victorian novelist, wrote 'Vanity Fair'. born
|
| 1817:
|
Author Jane Austen died
|
| 1870:
|
The Vatican I Ecumenical Council issued the proclamation 'Pastor Aeternus,'declaring the pope's primacy and infallibility in deciding faith and moral matters. (Few Protestants agree with this doctrine.)
|
| 1872:
|
Britain introduced the concept of voting by secret ballot
|
| 1894:
|
The composer Bernard Wagenaar was born.
|
| 1906:
|
S. I. Hayakawa born
|
| 1909:
|
Harriet Nelson (born Peggy Louise Snyder). She performed under the name Harriet Hilliard. born
|
| 1911:
|
Actor Hume Cronyn born
|
| 1913:
|
Comedian Red Skelton born
|
| 1918:
|
Former South African President Nelson Mandela born
|
| 1921:
|
Former astronaut and senator from Ohio John Glenn. born
|
| 1927:
|
Ty Cobb hit safely for the 4000th time in his career
|
| 1927:
|
"Mahagonny," by Kurt Weill, premiered at the Baden-Baden Festival to cheers and catcalls
|
| 1929:
|
Skating champion and commentator Dick Button born
|
| 1929:
|
Singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins born
|
| 1932:
|
The United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway
|
| 1933:
|
The Russian poet Yevgeni Yevtushenko was born in Irkutsk in Siberian Russia. born
|
| 1936:
|
The Spanish Civil War began as General Francisco Franco led an uprising of army troops based in Spanish North Africa
|
| 1937:
|
Author-journalist Hunter S. Thompson, the founder of gonzo journalism. born
|
| 1938:
|
Movie director Paul Verhoeven ("Basic Instinct") born
|
| 1939:
|
Singer Dion DiMucci born
|
| 1939:
|
Singer Brian Auge born
|
| 1940:
|
Actor James Brolin born
|
| 1941:
|
Singer Martha Reeves born
|
| 1941:
|
Blues guitarist Lonnie Mack born
|
| 1944:
|
Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War Two
|
| 1947:
|
Actor Kurt Mann born
|
| 1947:
|
President Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act, which placed the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the vice president
|
| 1954:
|
Country singer Ricky Skaggs born
|
| 1958:
|
Rock musician Nigel Twist (The Alarm) born
|
| 1959:
|
Actress Audrey Landers born
|
| 1961:
|
Actress Elizabeth McGovern born
|
| 1962:
|
Rock musician John Hermann (Widespread Panic) born
|
| 1962:
|
Rock musician Jack Irons (Pearl Jam) is 35. born
|
| 1967:
|
Actor Vin Diesel ("Saving Private Ryan") born
|
| 1968:
|
Intel Corporation is incorporated
|
| 1969:
|
A car driven by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard. His passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, died
|
| 1971:
|
Brazilian soccer player Pel played his last game, in a match in Rio de Janiero with the Yugoslavian team. It was a tie game
|
| 1976:
|
The serious, potentially fatal arthritic condition called Lyme disease was named on this day. It is contacted from deer ticks. Its name comes from the Connecticut town near which the disease was first observed
|
| 1977:
|
Vietnam was admitted to the United Nations
|
| 1978:
|
Rock musician Tony Fagenson (Eve 6) born
|
| 1979:
|
Actor Jason Weaver born
|
| 1984:
|
Walter F. Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco
|
| 1984:
|
A gunman opened fire at a McDonald's fast food restaurant in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 people before being shot dead by police
|
| 1985:
|
Appearing publicly for the first time since his cancer surgery, President Reagan waved to photographers from a window at Bethesda Naval Hospital, flashing an "OK" sign when asked how he felt
|
| 1986:
|
The world got its first look at the remains of the Titanic as videotapes of the British luxury liner, which sank in 1912, were released by researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
|
| 1987:
|
President Reagan used his weekly radio address to call on Congress to give more aid to the Nicaraguan Contras. Molly Yard was elected the new president of the National Organization for Women, succeeding Eleanor Smeal
|
| 1988:
|
Texas Treasurer Ann Richards delivered the keynote address at the Democratic national convention in Atlanta, needling Republican nominee-apparent George Bush as having been "born with a silver foot in his mouth."
|
| 1989:
|
Reversing an earlier decision, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski declared his candidacy for Poland's presidency, which he won the following day
|
| 1989:
|
Actress Rebecca Schaeffer, 21, was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by obsessed fan Robert Bardo, who was later sentenced to life in prison
|
| 1990:
|
Baseball great Pete Rose was sentenced to five months in prison for tax evasion
|
| 1990:
|
Dr. Karl Menninger, the dominant figure in American psychiatry for six decades, died in Topeka, Kan., four days short of his 97th birthday
|
| 1991:
|
Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon demanded the release of two Lebanese brothers being held in Germany, warning there could be "grave consequences."
|
| 1991:
|
The first Ibero-American Summit Conference opened in Guadalajara, Mexico
|
| 1992:
|
Britain's opposition Labor Party chose John Smith as its leader, replacing Neil Kinnock
|
| 1993:
|
FBI Director William Sessions continued to resist White House suggestions he step down, saying he would resign only if President Clinton asked him to
|
| 1994:
|
Bosnia-Herzegovina's Muslim-dominated parliament endorsed a peace plan, but later withdrew its support after Bosnian Serbs rejected it
|
| 1994:
|
A car bomb destroyed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 95
|
| 1994:
|
Tutsi rebels declared an end to Rwanda's 14-week-old civil war
|
| 1995:
|
Senate Republicans opened a new round of Whitewater hearings
|
| 1995:
|
Opening statements were presented in the trial of Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman charged with drowning her two young sons.
|
| 1996:
|
Recovery efforts continued off Long Island, New York, for the bodies of the 230 people who died in the fiery crash of TWA Flight 800; President Clinton, meanwhile, urged Americans not to immediately assume the crash was the work of terrorists
|
| 1997:
|
German businessman Thomas Kramer was slapped with a record $323,000 penalty by the Federal Election Commission for making illegal US political contributions
|
| 1997:
|
All key systems on the Russian space station "Mir" returned to near-normal, about 24 hours after the already disabled spacecraft had lost power
|
| 1998:
|
Residents along the northern coast of Papua, New Guinea were left reeling after a 23-foot-high tidal wave hit the night before, killing an estimated three-thousand people
|
| 1999:
|
David Cone of the New York Yankees pitched a perfect game against the Montreal Expos, leading his team to a 6-0 victory
|
| 1999:
|
Authorities looking into the disappearance of the plane carrying John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife and sister-in-law announced that the search and rescue operation had become search and recovery
|
| 1999:
|
Paul Lawrie won the British Open after Jean Van de Velde triple-bogeyed on the 72nd hole
|
| 2000:
|
Shrugging off a veto threat from President Clinton, the Senate voted 61-to-38 in favor of eliminating the so-called "marriage penalty" by cutting taxes for virtually every married couple
|
| 2000:
|
Senator Paul Coverdell (Republican, Georgia) died in Atlanta at age 61
|
| 2005:
|
Yankees win 3 in 4 game series with Red Sox
|
| 2005:
|
Cooper claims he learned of Plame through Rove
|
| 2005:
|
11-year-old California girl charged for throwing stone in defense
|
| 2005:
|
Six people arrested under immigration laws in Leeds, England
|
| 2005:
|
Utah bill requiring divine design education withdrawn by Senator Chris Buttars
|
| 2005:
|
Afghan warlord convicted by British court of torture
|
| 2005:
|
Hurricane Emily is second strike for Jamaica
|
| 2005:
|
Governor of Tokyo is sued for insulting French language
|
| 2005:
|
Report: invasion of Iraq provided boost for Al-Qaeda
|
| 2005:
|
UEFA CL: Second leg of first qualifying round starts tomorrow
|
| 2006:
|
Harvard lawyer who advises IDF asked about "rules of engagement" in 2004
|
| 2006:
|
Commerce Commission fines BNZ $5 million
|
| 2006:
|
Light aircraft makes emergency landing in major industrial estate
|
| 2006:
|
Heatwave sweeps USA, many struggling to keep cool
|
| 2006:
|
Day 7 of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict
|
| 2006:
|
Discovery lands at Kennedy Space Center
|
| 2006:
|
Poll finds support for Australian PM
|
| 2007:
|
US Senate to vote on troop pullout from Iraq today
|
| 2007:
|
TAM Linhas Aéreas plane crashes at São Paulo airport in Brazil
|
| 2007:
|
UK tube company Metronet goes into administration
|
| 2007:
|
US Senate says no to pullout of US troops from Iraq
|
| 2007:
|
Driver dies after truck falls onto railway line in County Durham, England
|
| 2007:
|
Toxic air from Ukraine train derailment continues to make people sick
|
| 2007:
|
Explosion, steam eruption near Grand Central Terminal in New York City
|
| 2007:
|
Tour de France: Cédric Vasseur wins stage 10
|
| 2008:
|
MUFON releases report on UFO sighting in Stephenville, Texas
|
| 2008:
|
Searching for asteroids, extraterrestrial life a little more rocky: Budget cuts threaten to close Arecibo, world's largest radio telescope
|
| 2008:
|
Three firefighters killed in blaze at Chinese plastics factory
|
| 2008:
|
Cuba to receive high speed internet connection from Venezuela
|
| 2009:
|
Blob off Alaskan coast identified
|
| 2009:
|
Swine flu cases in Fiji reach 97
|
| 2009:
|
Australian and New Zealander freemasons arrested for sorcery in Fiji
|
| 2009:
|
Iceland makes application for membership of the European Union
|
| 2009:
|
Iconic American newscaster Walter Cronkite dies at 92
|
| 2009:
|
U.S. investigators probe in-flight hole in passenger jet
|
| 2010:
|
Australian federal election announced for August 21
|
| 2010:
|
Jonathan Ross departs from BBC
|
History
Icons
Circus clown, painter, radio comedian and television star, Red Skelton born in Vincennes, Indiana
The original 'Gonzo' journalist, Hunter S. Thompson born in Louisville, Kentucky
Entrepreneur, explorer and humanitarian, Sir Richard Branson born in London, England
Film maker and actor, Vin Diesel born Mark Sinclair Vincent in New York City