2005 London Transport Bombings Four terrorist bombings are targeted at the London Underground and a public bus. The only casualty was from an asthma attack.

2002 WorldCom The American telecommunications giant files for bankruptcy protection. It was the largest such filing in U.S. history.

1983 Coldest Recorded Day -128.6º F (-89º C) in Vostok, Antarctica (It'll be a cold day in July before I…) Source: Guinness Book of World Records

1976 Legionnaire's disease An outbreak of the disease at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia kills 29 people.

1972 George Carlin Arrested The comedian is arrested in Milwaukee for performing his Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television routine.  The charges were later dismissed.

1959 First atomic-powered merchant ship The N.S. Savannah is launched.

1949 North Atlantic Treaty is ratified by Congress.

1946 First Jet Fighter to Land and Take Off from a Ship An FD-1 Phantom lands and then takes off again from the USS Roosevelt (CVB-42).

1931 First regularly scheduled TV program It was hosted by New York Mayor Jimmy Walker.

1925 Monkey Trial John Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in Tennessee and fined $100. The conviction was later overturned.

1923 John Dillinger (age 20) commits his first criminal offense, car theft in Indiana for which he was never caught. He had abandoned it 17 miles away.

1921 First ship sunk by aircraft in a demonstration by Brig. Gen. William S. Mitchell.

1873 Frank and Jesse James rob their first train, in Iowa.

1861 Civil War - First Battle of Bull Run The first major battle of the war, and from which Stonewall Jackson received his nickname for delaying his attack.

1586 Thomas Cavendish starts his voyage around the world. He completed the voyage in September, 1588, making him the second Englishman to lead an expedition around the world.

1957 Jon Lovitz American comic. TV: Saturday Night Live.

1951 Robin Williams American actor. Film: The World According to Garp (1982), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), and Aladdin (1992, the voice of the genie). TV: Mork & Mindy (Mork from Ork).

1948 Gary Trudeau American Oscar-Pulitzer-winning cartoonist, creator of Doonesbury. He was the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning (1975, prior winners were single-panel cartoonists).

1948 Cat Stevens (Steven Demitri Georgiou), British singer. Music: Wild World (1971) and Oh Very Young (1974). In 1979 he converted to Muslim, disposed of his worldly goods, and changed his name to Yusif Islam.

1946 Kenneth Starr American lawyer. He investigated the death of the deputy White House counsel Vince Foster, the Whitewater land transactions by President Bill Clinton, and submitted the Starr Report to Congress, which led to Clinton's impeachment on charges arising from the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

1946 Barry "Bean" Whitham English drummer, with Herman's Hermits. Music: I'm Into Something Good (1964, #1 in UK), Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1965, #1), I'm Henry VII, I Am (1965, #1), and There's a Kind of Hush (1967).

1938 Les Aspin d. 1995 American politician, U.S. Congressman (1971-93, Wisconsin), U.S. Secretary of Defense (1993-94). He established the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuality in the military.

1938 Janet Reno U.S. Attorney General (1993-2001, the first woman to hold the office). Known for her controversial handling of the Waco disaster and Elian Gonzalez incident.

1926 Paul Burke American actor. TV: Naked City (Adam Flint), Twelve O'Clock High (Joe Gallagher), and Dynasty (Congressman Neal McVane).

1924 Don Knotts d. 2006 American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Search For Tomorrow (the mute Wilbur Peabody), The Andy Griffith Show (Deputy Barney Fife), and Three's Company (Mr. Furley). Film: The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975).

1899 Ernest Hemingway d. 1961 American Nobel and Pulitzer-winning author. Writings: The Sun Also Rises (1926), To Have and Have Not (1937), For Whom the Bell Tolls (194), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952, Pulitzer).

1881 George Frederick Dick d. 1967 American physician. He and wife determined the cause of scarlet fever (1924) and developed an immunization for it.

1620 Jean Picard d. 1682 French astronomer, regarded as the founder of modern astronomy in France. He was the first to measure the diameter of the Earth to a reasonable degree of accuracy. He calculated the diameter to be 3,959 miles (6372 km) as opposed to the current value of 3,950 miles (6357 km).

1414 Sixtus IV d. 1484 Italian religious leader, 212th Pope (1471-84).

1999 David Ogilvy b. 1911 English advertising genius, called "The Father of Advertising." His slogan, "Only Dove is one-quarter moisturizing cream" helped Dove become the top-selling soap in the U.S. Writings: Confessions of an Advertising Man.

1998 Alan B. Shepard Jr b. 1923 American astronaut. He was one of the seven original Project Mercury astronauts and the first American in space.

1994 Dorothy Collins b. 1926 (Marjorie Chandler), Canadian-born actress. TV: Your Hit Parade (the Lucky Strikes Lady) and Candid Camera (practical joker).

1938 Owen Wister b. 1860 American author. Writings: The Virginian (1902, which has been made into movies and a TV series).

1796 Robert Burns b. 1759 Scottish poet. He penned the words to Auld Lang Syne (c1789).

1758 Thomas Fleet b. 1685 American printer, he published (1719) a book of nursery rhymes that his mother-in-law sang to his son. Since her name was Goose, they became Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes.

<< Previous | Today | Pick a Day | My Birthday | Surprise Me | Next >>

Celebritize Yourself
Add YOURSELF
or Someone You Love
to THIS Trivia List

Amaze Your Friends with
Your/Their Celebrity Status

Add Trivia to Your Website