On this day thread

[Muteswan]

23rd July
1868 All England Lawn Tennis Club is founded as The All England Croquet Club; 1877 name changed to The All England Croquet & Lawn Tennis Club.
1888 John Boyd Dunlop applies to patent pneumatic tyre.
1913 Michael Foot, British politician (L) and writer, Leader of the Opposition (1980-83), born in Plymouth, Devon (d. 2010).
1934 Australian cricket batting legend Don Bradman completes 304 in drawn 4th Test vs England at Leeds; 430 minutes, 43 x fours, 2 x sixes.
1942 Myra Hindley, English murderess (murdered 5 small children with Ian Brady), born in Manchester, England (d. 2002).
1947 David Essex [Cook], English rock vocalist ("Rock On"), and actor (That'll Be The Day), born in Plaistow, Essex (now part of Greater London), England.
1949 Test Cricket debut of England's Brian Close aged 18 years 149 days.
1953 Graham Gooch, English cricketer, captain of England, opening batsman and prolific run scorer, born in London.
1955 English speed ace Donald Campbell drives Bluebird K7 to new water speed record at Ullswater in English Lakes District; first boat past 200 mph: 202.32 mph (325.60 km/h).
1958 1st 4 women named to peerage in House of Lords (UK).
1964 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'A Hard Day's Night', the group's fifth UK No.1.
1965 Slash [Saul Hudson], English-American rock guitarist & songwriter (Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child o' Mine"), born in London.
1967 First successful liver transplant, on 19 month old Julie Rodriguez by Dr Starzl at the University of Colorado.
1969 The Rolling Stones were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Honky Tonk Women,' the group's eighth and last UK No.1.
1973 US President Richard Nixon refuses to release Watergate tapes of conversations in the White House relevant to the Watergate investigation.
1973 Monica Lewinsky, American White House intern (improper relationship with Bill Clinton), born in San Francisco, California.
1982 International Whaling Commission votes for total ban on commercial whaling (starting 1985).
1986 Prince Andrew, the second son, and third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey. Their divorce in May 1996 attracted a high level of media coverage.
1989 Daniel Radcliffe, English actor (Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series of movies), born in London, England.
1994 The International Astronomical Union named an asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter after Frank Zappa who had died the previous December.
1997 Tony Blair's Labour Government announced that students would have to pay tuition fees and that maintenance grants would be abolished.
2000 87th Tour de France: no winner (Lance Armstrong disqualified).
2005 Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people.
2008 'Back-from-the-dead' canoeist John Darwin and his wife Anne were jailed for more than six years for fraudulently claiming £250,000.
2010 One Direction is formed during the X Factor show as Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson join together.
2011 Amy Winehouse, British singer songwriter ("Stronger Than Me"; "Rehab"), dies from alcohol poisoning at 27.
2019 Boris Johnson is chosen as the new British Prime Minister by the ruling Conservative Party to replace Theresa May.

 

[Muteswan]

24th July
1567 Mary Queen of Scots, imprisoned at Lochlevan Castle, was forced to abdicate her throne to her 1 year old son, James VI of Scotland - (James I of England).
1802 Alexandre Dumas, French author (The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo), born in Aisne, France (d. 1870).
1851 Window tax abolished in Britain.
1883 Matthew Webb, English long distance swimmer who was first to swim unassisted across the English Channel, drowns in the Niagara Falls whirlpool at 35.
1897 Amelia Earhart, American aviator (1st woman to fly solo across the Atlantic), born in Atchison, Kansas (d. 1939).
1902 Victor Trumper scores a century for Australia before lunch 4th Test Cricket v England.
1911 American explorer Hiram Bingham discovers Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas.
1917 Trial of Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari begins in Paris for allegedly spying for Germany and thus causing the deaths of 50,000 soldiers.
1936 The GPO (General Post Office) introduced TIM - the automated speaking clock using the voice of Miss Ethel Cain - a telephonist at the GPO's Victoria telephone exchange in London.
1941 Nazis kill entire Jewish population of Grodz, Lithuania.
1943 World War II: The start of Operation Gomorrah saw British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, and the Americans bombed by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives had killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
1952 "High Noon", American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Gary Cooper and Thomas Mitchell, is released.
1965 The Byrds were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Bob Dylan song 'Mr Tambourine Man'.
1967 The Beatles sign a petition in The Times to legalize marijuana.
1967 First modern hospice St Christopher's founded by Dr. Cicely Saunders in London, England, beginning of modern palliative care and the hospice movement.
1969 Paul McCartney recorded a demo of his new song ‘Come and Get It’ at Abbey Road studios in London. McCartney gave the song to The Iveys, (soon to become known as Badfinger).
1974 Supreme Court unanimously rules Nixon must turn over Watergate tapes.
1980 Peter Sellers, English actor and comedian (The Goon Show, Pink Panther), dies at 54.
1982 Heavy rain causes a mudslide that destroys a bridge at Nagasaki, Japan, killing 299.
1982 Single "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor from "Rocky III" soundtrack starts 6-week run at No. 1 on US charts.
1985 French DGSE officers Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart are arrested and charged with murder over the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.
1998 "Saving Private Ryan", directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks, Edward Burns and Matt Damon, is released.
2010 Alex Higgins, Northern Irish snooker player (b. 1949), died today in Belfast.
2017 Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner says he did not collude with Russia after meeting with Senate investigators.
2019 New UK PM Boris Johnson drastically reshapes cabinet in his first day in office, appointing Dominic Raab as Foreign Secretary, Priti Patel as Home Secretary and Sajid Javid as Chancellor.
2019 10th million Mini car produced during its 60th anniversary year in Oxford, England.
2019 Queen's iconic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ video reached one billion views on YouTube, a new record for one of the band’s videos. The milestone made it the first pre-1990s video to reach one billion views on the platform. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was also named as the most Googled song of 2018.
2021 British and Irish Lions beat South Africa 17-22 in first test in Cape Town.

 

[Muteswan]

25th July
1795 The first stone of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was laid. The aqueduct carries the Llangollen Canal over the valley of the River Dee in Wrexham in north east Wales. It is a Grade I Listed Building, a World Heritage Site and is the longest and highest aqueduct in Britain.
1797 Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain).
1814 The chief engineer at the Killingworth colliery, George Stephenson, unveiled Blücher, his steam powered locomotive that could haul eight carriages loaded with 30 tons of coal at the break-neck speed of 4 mph.
1843 The death of Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and inventor. He invented waterproof clothing, hence the term macintosh or mac. 🌧
1865 The death of Dr. James (Jane) Barry, the first woman doctor (because she masqueraded as a man).
1871 Carousel patented by Wilhelm Schneider, Davenport, Iowa.
1909 France's Louis Bleriot, makes 1st airplane flight across English Channel.
1914 Last day of club cricket for English legend W. G. Grace at age 66: makes unbeaten 69 runs for Eltham against Grove Park.
1920 Rosalind Franklin, English chemist and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, born in London (d. 1958).
1933 1st Dutch live radio concert: Duke Ellington.
1944 1st jet fighter used in combat (Messerschmitt 262).
1946 At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team.
1959 A hovercraft, the SR.N1, designed by Christopher Cockerell, made its first English Channel crossing from Dover to Calais. The acronym SR.N1 stood for Saunders-Roe Nautical 1.
1960 Roy Orbison reached No.2 on the US singles chart with ‘Only the Lonely,’ his first hit.
1964 Australian cricket captain and opening batsman Bob Simpson hits 311 v England in the drawn 4th Test in Manchester.
1964 The Beatles third album 'A Hard Day's Night' started a twenty-one week run at the top of the UK charts.
1967 Matt LeBlanc, American actor (Joey Tribbiani-Friends), born in Newton, Massachusetts.
1969 Edward Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving scene of an accident a week after the Chappaquiddick car accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne.
1970 The Carpenters started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with '(They Long To Be) Close To You'.
1971 T Rex were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Get It On', the group's second UK No.1.
1974 Born on this day in Sarn near Bridgend, Gareth Thomas, former captain of Wales and the Lions in rugby union and Wales in rugby league.During his career, Thomas earned 100 caps for Wales and scored 40 tries. He played club rugby for Bridgend, Cardiff and Toulouse with whom he won the Heineken Cup in 2005. In 2009, Thomas announced that he is gay and was subsequently voted the most influential gay person in the UK . He also received Stonewall’s Hero of the Year award.
1978 Louise Joy Brown, the first test-tube baby in Britain, was born at Oldham Hospital in Greater Manchester. It had taken 12 years of research by gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe and Dr Robert Edwards to make the birth possible. Louise weighed 5lb 12 oz and was delivered by caesarean section.
1980 AC/DC released their sixth internationally released studio album Back In Black.
1983 Metallica's debut album Kill 'Em All is released on Megaforce Records.
1985 Steve Cram runs world record mile (3:46.32).
1997 Scientists announce the first human stem cells to be cultured in a laboratory using tissue taken from aborted human embryos.
2000 Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde supersonic passenger jet, F-BTSC, crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 4 on the ground.
2009 Harry Patch, the last surviving soldier to have served in the trenches in World War I, dies at 111 (b. 1898).
2017 Sperm counts have halved in last 40 years says research published in "Human Reproduction Update" journal.
2017 Hywel Bennett, Welsh, actor (Family Way, Shelley), dies at 73.
2020 Peter Green [Greenbaum], English guitarist (Fleetwood Mac -"Albatross"), dies at 73.
2020 Olivia de Havilland, American actress (All the King's Men, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Gone with the Wind), dies at 104.

 

[Muteswan]

26th July
1609 English mathematician Thomas Harriot is the first person to draw a map of the Moon by looking through a telescope.
1745 The first recorded women's cricket match was played near Guildford, Surrey, between teams from Hambledon and Bramley.
1755 Giacomo Casanova is arrested in Venice for affront to religion and common decency and imprisoned in the Doge's Palace.
1805 Naples/Calabria struck by Earthquake; about 26,000 die.
1847 Moses Gerrish Farmer builds 1st miniature train for children to ride.
1856 George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist (Pygmalion, Nobel Prize for Literature 1925), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1950).
1865 The capital of New Zealand moves from Auckland to Wellington.
1890 From the roof of the General Post Office in Aldersgate, Marconi made the first public transmission of wireless (radio) signals.
1895 Jane Bunford, Britain's tallest-ever person measuring 2.41 metres (7 ft 11 in) at the time of her death, born in Bartley Green, Northfield, Birmingham (d. 1922).
1928 Stanley Kubrick, American director (2001 A Space Odyssey, Dr Strangelove, Lolita), born in The Bronx NY (d. 1999).
1943 Mick Jagger, British rock singer with the Rolling Stones, was born.
1943 World War II: The Allies mounted one of the largest raids of the war – sending more than 1,000 aircraft to bomb the German industrial city of Hamburg. An estimated 60,000 people were killed.
1944 The first German V-2 rocket hits Great Britain (nicknamed "gasometer").
1945 Helen Mirren [Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironoff], English actress (The Queen, The Madness of King George), born in London.
1947 President Truman signs National Security Act (1947), establishing Department of Defense, CIA, National Security Council and Joint Chiefs of Staff.
1949 Roger Taylor, English rock drummer (Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"), born in Norfolk, England.
1956 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announces plan to nationalize Suez Canal, initiating the "Suez Crisis".
1957 USSR launches 1st intercontinental multistage ballistic missile.
1959 Kevin Spacey, American actor (American Beauty, House of Cards), born in South Orange, New Jersey.
1962 Frank Ifield was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'I Remember You'.
1964 Sandra Bullock, American actress (Speed, The Blind Side), born in Washington, D.C.
1969 Johnny Cash released the single, 'A Boy Named Sue', a song written by Shel Silverstein.
1969 Born this day in Cardiff, Tanni Grey (Baroness Carys Davina Grey-Thompson) who was christened Carys Davina Grey, but her sister referred to her as "tiny" when she first saw her, pronouncing it "tanni" and the name stuck.Born wth spina bifida, Tanni is Britain's most successful Paralympian ever, winning 11 Paralympic gold medals, as well as six London Marathons.
1971 Apollo 15 launched (Scott and Irwin) to 4th manned landing on Moon.
1972 Rockwell receives NASA contract to construct Space Shuttle.
1977 Led Zeppelin cut short their 11th North American tour after Robert Plant's five-year-old-son Karac died unexpectedly of a virus at their home in England, UK.
1978 Eve Myles born today in Ystradgynlais is an award-winning Welsh actress.Myles’s best known role is as Gwen Cooper in the Doctor Who inspired drama Torchwood. She also played Ceri Owen in the BBC Wales drama Belonging and was Lady Helen of Mora in the BBC fantasy series Merlin. She starred in the TV drama Frankie, and the popular television drama series Broadchurch. In 2017, Eve learnt to speak Welsh for the drama 'Un Bore Mercher' which was later filmed in English by BBC One Wales as 'Keeping Faith'.
1983 Light flashes seen on Jupiter moon Io.
1984 George Gallup, American survey sampling pioneer and inventor of the Gallup poll, dies of a heart attack at 82.
1990 It was announced that the Fraud Squad would investigate the National Union of Mineworkers' accounts over Soviet miners' untraced donations.
1993 The first of four photos of Mars is taken by the Mars Observer, just under a month before the spacecraft failed in flight.
2005 Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission - Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.
2006 The final edition of Top Of The Pops was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London.
2014 The Chinese government suspends a Shanghai meat dealer and makes arrests after the company sold out-of-date meat to fast food chains, including McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
2017 Great Britain announces it will ban petrol and diesel cars by 2040.
2018 Facebook has the single worst day of any public company on the stock market - losing 19% or $119 billion market value.
2021 Dominant British breaststroke swimmer Adam Peaty successfully defends his 100m title at the Tokyo Olympics .

 

[Muteswan]

27th July
1377 First example of quarantine in Rugusa (now Dubroknik); city council passes law saying newcomers from plague areas must isolation for 30 days (later 40 days, quaranta in Italian).
1566 Tribunal convicts Agnes Waterhouse of witchcraft, and sentences her to be first British woman executed for the crime (Chelmsford, England).
1586 Walter Raleigh brings the 1st tobacco to England from Virginia.
1643 Oliver Cromwell defeats Royalists at Battle of Gainsborough.
1694 The Bank of England was founded by act of Parliament.
1830 Revolution breaks out in Paris, opposing laws of Charles X.
1866 Transatlantic telegraph cable successfully, at second attempt, comes ashore at Heart's Content, Newfoundland laid out by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Eastern steamship (1,686 miles long).
1890 Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh shoots himself in Auvers-sur-Oise, dies of injuries 2 days later.
1920 Radio compass used for 1st time for aircraft navigation.
1929 Jack Higgins [Harry Patterson], British novelist (The Eagle Has Landed), born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
1940 Billboard magazine starts publishing bestseller charts.
1940 Bugs Bunny, Warner Bros. cartoon character created by Tex Avery, Bob Givens (Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series), first debuts in "Wild Hare".
1944 1st British jet fighter used in combat (Gloster Meteor).
1949 1st jet-propelled airline (De Havilland Comet) flies.
1953 North Korea and the United Nations sign armistice to stop fighting and divide Korea at the 38th parallel.
1955 Allan Border, Australian cricketer (captain of Australia team), born in Cremorne, New South Wales, Australia.
1956 England cricket spin bowler Jim Laker takes 9-37 in Australia's 1st innings in 4th Test at Manchester; best return ever in Test cricket; bettered in 2nd innings 10-53.
1958 Christopher Dean, English ice dancer (Torvill & Dean; Olympic gold 1984), born in Calverton, Nottinghamshire, England
1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs a bill requiring cigarette makers to print health warnings on all cigarette packages about the effects of smoking.
1974 Kanhai & Jameson add 465 for 2nd wicket, Warwickshire v Gloucs.
1974 Wings started a seven-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Band On The Run.
1990 Graham Gooch scores 333 v India at Lord's.
1993 Jordan Spieth, American golfer (US Masters, US Open 2015; British Open 2017), born in Dallas, Texas.
2002 Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 85, injuring more than 100, largest air show disaster in history.
2003 Bob Hope [Leslie Townes Hope], English-born American actor, comedian and entertainer, dies at 100.
2012 Queen Elizabeth II opens the 30th Olympics in London, United Kingdom (with some help from 007).
2020 WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus states that COVID-19 is "easily the most severe" global health emergency the WHO has faced.

 

[Muteswan]

28th July
1586 Thomas Harriot was credited with bringing the first potato to Britain, (from Colombia) ahead of Sir Walter Raleigh.
1741 Antonio Vivaldi, Italian Baroque composer (The Four Seasons), dies at 63.
1750 Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (Art of the Fugue, Mattheus-Passion), dies at 65.
1858 First use of fingerprints as a means of identification is made by Sir William James Herschel of the Indian Civil Service.
1866 Beatrix Potter, English children's author and illustrator (The Tale of Peter Rabbit), born in London (d. 1943).
1929 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American First Lady (1961-63), born in Southampton, New York (d. 1994).
1935 The birth of Simon Dee (Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd) pirate radio disc jockey for Radio Caroline and later television interviewer and BBC radio disc jockey.
1936 1936 Sir Garfield (Gary) Sobers, West Indian cricket all-rounder, captain (93 Tests, 57.78 batting average), born in Bridgetown, Barbados.
1938 34,000-ton Cunard-White Star liner Mauretania launched at Birkenhead.
1942 Nazis liquidate 10,000 Jews in Minsk Belorussia Ghetto.
1943 The worst British bombing raid on Hamburg so far during World War II virtually set the city on fire. In just 43 minutes, 2,326 tons of bombs killed 42,000 German civilians.
1943 Richard Wright, English singer-songwriter (Pink Floyd-Time, Echoes), born in Hatch End, Middlesex (d. 2008).
1951 Walt Disney's animated musical film "Alice In Wonderland" released.
1954 "On the Waterfront", directed by Elia Kazan starring Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint, is released.
1959 United Kingdom starts using postal codes.
1964 England all out 611 in reply to Australia's 8-656 Match a draw.
1965 LBJ sends 50,000 more soldiers to Vietnam (total of 125,000).
1966 Born this day in Neath, Andy Legg, former Wales football international, who was known for having the longest throw-in in football, being able to regularly throw the ball over 30 metres and once held the world record with a distance of 44.6m.
1977 Legendary England cricket all-rounder Ian Botham on debut takes 5 for 74 in the Australian 1st innings in a 7 wicket 3rd Test win at Trent Bridge.
1986 NASA releases transcript from doomed Challenger, pilot Michael Smith could be heard saying, "Uh-oh!" as spacecraft disintegrated.
2004 The University of Wales admitted four new institutions as full members of the university;
* Glyndŵr University, formerly known as North East Wales Institute of Higher Education.
* Swansea Institute of Higher Education, later known as Swansea Metropolitan University.
* Trinity College, Carmarthen, later known as Trinity University College.
* Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff.
2005 The Provisional Irish Republican Army call an end to their thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
2005 A tornado touches down in a residential area in south Birmingham, England, causing £4,000,000 worth of damages and injuring 39 people.
2015 Clive Rice, South African cricket all-rounder (WSC 1978-79, ODI 1991; Nottinghamshire), dies from a brain tumour at 66.
2019 Meghan Duchess of Sussex, revealed as the first guest editor for UK Vogue in 103 years for its September 2019 issue.
2020 The British music magazine Q published its last issue, ending a 34-year run.

 

[Muteswan]

29th July
1588 The Spanish Armada was sighted off the coast of Cornwall. The English fleet under the command of Charles Howard and Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth, to establish the birth of British naval supremacy.
1751 1st international world title prize fight: Jack Stack of England, beats challenger M. Petit of France in 29 mins in England.
1836 Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
1883 Benito Mussolini [Il Duce], Fascist Italian dictator (1922-43), born in Predappio, Forlì, Italy (d. 1945).
1890 Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (Sunflowers), dies 2 days after shooting himself at 37.
1921 Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1927 1st iron lung installed (Bellevue hospital, NY).
1948 King George VI opens the XIV Summer Olympic Games at Wembley Stadium in London.
1952 Joe Johnson, English snooker player (World Champion, 1986: Senior Masters, 2019), born in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
1953 Geddy Lee, Canadian rock vocalist, and bassist (Rush - "Tom Sawyer"), born in Toronto, Ontario.
1954 Publication of "Fellowship of the Ring" 1st volume of "Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien published by George Allen and Unwin in London.
1963 Elvis Presley was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with '(You're The) Devil In Disguise'.
1964 The Brook Advisory Clinic opened to give family planning advice to unmarried couples.
1965 The Beatles second feature film Help! had its UK premiere at The Pavilion in London.
1966 Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker made their live debut as Cream at The Twisted Wheel, Manchester, England.
1969 Mariner 6 begins transmitting far-encounter photos of Mars.
1974 "Mama" Cass Elliot, American rock vocalist (Mamas & The Papas - "California Dreaming"), dies from a heart attack in London at 32.
1978 The film soundtrack to Grease featuring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John went to No.1 on the US album chart.
1981 The Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer at London's St Paul's Cathedral. The televised ceremony was watched by over 700 million viewers around the world.
1981 Fernando Alonso, Spanish auto racer (World Formula 1 Drivers Champion 2005-06; 24 Hours of Le Mans 2018-19; FIA World Endurance C'ship 2018-19), born in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain.
1983 David Niven, British actor (Around the World in 80 Days, Rugues), dies in Switzerland of Lou Gehrig's disease at 73.
1993 Charges were dropped against two youths accused of murdering black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
2013 €103 million of diamonds is stolen from the Carton Intercontinental Hotel, Cannes, France.
2014 Clifford Hartland, aged 101, a Second World War prisoner camp survivor and his wife Marjorie, aged 97, died within hours of each other on their 76th wedding anniversary.
2015 Peter O'Sullevan, British horse racing commentator 'the voice of racing', dies at 97.
2015 Over 3,500 immigrants over 2 days attempt to enter the Channel Tunnel at Calais, to cross into Britain.
2015 Microsoft launches Windows 10.
2018 Tour de France: Geraint Thomas becomes the first Welshman and only 3rd Briton to win the Tour; beats Dutchman Tom Dumoulin by 1' 51"; Peter Sagan wins green points jersey.
2020 Scaled back Hajj pilgrimage begins in Saudi Arabia with no foreigners.

 

[Muteswan]

30th July
1733 Society of Freemasons opens 1st American lodge in Boston.
1818 Emily Brontë, English novelist (Wuthering Heights), born in Thornton, West Yorkshire (d. 1848).
1863 President Abraham Lincoln issues "eye-for-eye" order to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot.
1863 Henry Ford, American industrialist and auto maker (Ford Model T), born in Dearborn Township, Michigan (d. 1947).
1878 German anti-semitism begins during the Reichstag election.
1900 British Parliament passes several progressive social acts: a Mines Act, a Workmen's Compensation Act and a Railway Act.
1909 French chemist Eugène Schueller founds L'Oréal with his new range of hair dyes.
1928 George Eastman shows first amateur color motion pictures to guests at his New York house including Thomas Edison.
1930 1st FIFA World Cup Final, Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay: Uruguay beats Argentina, 4-2 in the inaugural event.
1935 1st Penguin book is published, starting the paperback revolution.
1936 Buddy [George] Guy, American blues guitarist (Stone Crazy), born in Lettsworth, Louisiana.
1938 The first edition of The Beano was published. It is the longest running British children's comic magazine, published by DC Thomson in Dundee. By April 1950 the weekly circulation was almost 2,000,000. The Beano reached its 4,000th issue on 28th August 2019.
1940 Clive Sinclair, British computer inventor (ZX Spectrum), born in Richmond, Surrey.
1942 German SS kills 25,000 Jews in Minsk, Belorussia.
1945 After delivering the Atomic Bomb across the Pacific, the cruiser USS Indianapolis is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-58. 880 of the crew died, many after being attacked by sharks, the inspiration for the movie Jaws.
1947 Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American body builder, actor (Terminator) and politician (38th Governor of California), born in Thal, Austria.
1954 Ken Olin, American actor (Thirtysomething; Brothers & Sisters), and director (Alias; This Is Us), born in Chicago, Illinois.
1958 Daley Thompson, British decathlete (Olympic gold 1980, 84), born in London, England.
1958 Kate Bush, English singer-songwriter (Running Up That Hill, Wuthering Heights), born in Bexleyheath, Kent, England.
1963 Lisa Kudrow, American actress (Phoebe Buffay on Friends), born in Los Angeles, California.
1966 FIFA World Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London, England: Striker Geoff Hurst scores a hat trick as England beats West Germany, 4-2 after extra time.
1968 Sean Moore, Welsh drummer (Manic Street Preachers), born in Pontypool, Wales.
1973 British victims of the drug Thalidomide were awarded £20 million compensation as their 11 year case against the Distillers company ended in victory.
1982 Jimmy Anderson, English cricket fast bowler (most wickets for England in both Test and ODI cricket), born in Burnley, Lancashire.
1990 Graham Gooch scores 123 v India to follow up 1st innings 333.
1995 Dominic Cork takes hat-trick in England Test Cricket win v WI.
2003 The last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line in Mexico.
2008 "Slumdog Millionaire" based on the novel "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup, directed by Danny Boyle and starring Dev Patel premieres at the Telluride Film Festival .
2018 Australian Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson resigns after being convicted of concealing sexual abuse.

 

[Muteswan]

31st July
1886 Franz Liszt, Hungarian romantic composer and virtuoso pianist (Faust Symphony), dies of heart disease at 74.
1917 The third Battle of Ypres (World War I) commenced as the British attacked the German lines.
1931 Kenny Burrell, American guitarist (Organ Grinder Swing), born in Detroit, Michigan.
1937 Charles E. Hires, American pharmacist, inventor and manufacturer of the Hires Root Beer beverage, dies at 85.
1937 The Tryweryn Bill became law, despite the fervent opposition of Welsh MPs. It gave Liverpool City Council permission to build a reservoir which would drown the Welsh speaking village of Capel Celyn near Bala.
1942 German SS gases 1,000 Jews in Minsk, Belorussia.
1942 The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (later called Oxfam) was founded.
1944 Last deportation train out Mechelen departs to Auschwitz.
1956 England cricket spin bowler Jim Laker takes 10-53 in Australia's 2nd innings; match figures 19-90 in 4th Test at Old Trafford; England win by innings & 170 runs.
1959 Cliff Richard and the Shadows have their 1st British No. 1 single with "Living' Doll" (biggest British single of 1959).
1964 Jim Reeves, American country singer and actor (Gun Fury, Kimberley Jim), dies in air crash at 39.
1965 Cigarette advertising on British television was banned.
1965 J. K. Rowling, English writer (Harry Potter novels), born in Yate, Gloucestershire.
1968 The first episode (entitled The Man and the Hour) of Dad's Army, a British comedy about the Home Guard in the Second World War.
1969 The pre-decimal half penny ceased being legal tender. It had been a regular feature of British coinage since the 13th century.
1970 Black Tot Day: the last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy (started 1740).
1990 In the England v India Test Match at Lords, a total of 1603 runs were scored, in exactly 1603 minutes.
2009 Sir Bobby Robson, English coach (20 caps; England manager 1982-90), dies of lung cancer at 76.
2017 England cricket spin bowler Moeen Ali takes a hat-trick in 239 run 3rd Test win over South Africa; 100th Test match played at The Oval, London.
2018 Facebook discloses and removes Russian-linked network of sites attempting to interfere in American politics.
2019 American officials announce Osama bin Laden's son, Hamza bin Laden and potential successor has been killed in US air strikes in Pakistan.

 

[Muteswan]

1st August
10BC Claudius, Roman Emperor (41-54), born in Lugdunum, Gaul (d. 54AD).
30BC Mark Antony [Marcus Antonius], Roman politician and general, commits suicide after he is defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Actium at 53.
1086 Results of the Domesday inquiry presented to William the Conqueror in Salisbury (the date of compilation and the Great Domesday are historically contestable).
1732 Foundations laid for Bank of England.
1740 Rule Britannia was sung for the first time, for the then Prince of Wales's daughter's third birthday.
1774 English chemist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen by isolating it in its gaseous state, which he called 'a new species of air'.
1793 France becomes 1st country to use the metric system.
1800 The Act of Union 1800 was passed which merged the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1831 New London Bridge was opened by King William IV. It lasted for 140 years and was sold and rebuilt in Arizona.
1834 Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into effect, abolishes slavery throughout the British Empire,and an estimated 770,000 slaves were freed.
1848 The opening of the Irish Mail railway service from London to Holyhead, connecting with ferry services to Dublin on 1st August 1848, resulted in the name of the village station of Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll being changed to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
1883 Inland postal service begins in Great Britain.
1900 The 1st Michelin Guide is published by the brothers Édouard and André Michelin as a hotel and restaurant reference guide to encourage more road travel and thus boost tyre sales.
1903 Calamity Jane [Martha Jane Canary], American frontierswoman, dies at 51.
1907 Bank of Italy (later Bank of America) opens 1st branch at 3433 Mission Street, San Francisco.
1914 World War I began with Germany's invasion of Luxembourg. The same day, Germany and Russia declared war against each other.
1941 The first Jeep is produced.
1942 Jerry Garcia, American rock and bluegrass guitarist, singer-songwriter (Grateful Dead - "Uncle John's Band"; "Ripple"; "Brokedown Palace"), and painter, born in San Francisco, California (d. 1995).
1944 Anne Frank's last diary entry; 3 days later she is arrested.
1959 Joe Elliott, English heavy metal vocalist (Def Leppard - "Hysteria"; "Rock of Ages"), born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
1960 Aretha Franklin's 1st recording session for Columbia Records in NYC.
1964 The Beatles scored their fifth US No.1 single in seven months when 'A Hard Day's Night' went to the top of the charts.
1966 The British Empire officially came to an end as the Colonial Office closed its doors and lowered its flag, giving way to the Commonwealth.
1969 Mariner 6 sends close-up photos of Mars.
1972 1st article exposing Watergate scandal by Bernstein and Woodward in "The Washington Post".
1975 In Britain, cigarette advertising was banned on television.
1976 Reigning world F1 champion Niki Lauda of Austria suffers a near fatal crash during the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
1979 Jason Momoa, American actor (Game of Thrones, Aquaman), born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
1983 Despite a brave 112no by David Gower, New Zealand wins 2nd Test at Headingley by 5 wickets, first ever NZ Test cricket victory in England.
1984 Commercial peat-cutters discovered the preserved body of a man they called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss in Cheshire. It is thought that he was deposited some time between 2 BC and 119 AD.
1987 MTV Europe was launched, the first video played being 'Money For Nothing' by Dire Straits which contained the appropriate line 'I Want My MTV'.
1989 Australia beats England by 9 wickets in the 4th cricket Test at Old Trafford, taking an unassailable 3-0 series lead to regain the Ashes.
1992 British athlete Linford Christie (32) becomes the oldest man to win an Olympic 100m gold medal edging Frankie Fredericks in Barcelona.
1993 England wins the women's cricket World Cup for the first time since the inaugural event in 1973 with a 67 run victory over New Zealand at Lord's.
1996 George R.R. Martin publishes the epic fantasy novel "A Game of Thrones", the first in his series "A Song of Ice and Fire".
1999 Petronas Towers officially opened in Kuala Lumpur as the world's tallest building by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at 451.9 m (1483 ft).
2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins and the women's rowing duo (Helen Glover and Heather Stanning) scooped Britain's first gold medals of the Olympic Games.
2015 The death (aged 72) of the English singer and television presenter Priscilla White, known by her stage name Cilla Black.
2020 Egypt tells Elon Musk its pyramids were not built by aliens, after Musk tweets in support of a conspiracy theory that they did.
2021 Swansea City announced that Russell Martin was to be their new Head Coach. At last!

 

[Muteswan]

2nd August
1610 English explorer Henry Hudson enters the bay later named after him, the Hudson Bay.
1776 The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place. On 4th July earlier that year the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.
1788 The death of Thomas Gainsborough, English portrait and landscape painter.
1790 1st US census conducted, the population was 3,939,214 including 697,624 slaves.
1798 Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson further decimates the French fleet.
1834 Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor (designed the Statue of Liberty), born in Colmar, France (d. 1904).
1865 Lewis Carroll publishes "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".
1876 Wild Bill" Hickok [James Butler], American cowboy and scout, shot dead from behind by Jack McCall while playing poker (he held a pair of Aces and a pair of 8's), dies at 39.
1880 British Parliament officially adopts Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
1894 Death duties, now known as inheritance tax, were introduced in Britain.
1921 Enrico Caruso, Italian operatic tenor (Faust), dies at 48.
1922 Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born British American inventor (telephone), dies of diabetes complications at 75.
1932 Peter O'Toole, Irish actor (Lord Jim, Beckett, Lawrence of Arabia), born in Leeds (d. 2013).
1934 Adolf Hitler becomes commander-in-chief of German armed forces.
1945 After 3½ days suffering exhaustion, lack of water and shark attacks in the Philippine Sea, the surviving crew of USS Indianapolis are spotted by Wilbur “Chuck” Gwinn, a PV-1 Ventura pilot on a routine sector search. 316 had survived.
1948 Andy Fairweather Low, British guitarist (Amen Corner), born in Ystrad Mynach, Wales.
1950 Ted Turner, English rock guitarist and vocalist (Wishbone Ash), born in Birmingham, England.
1960 Johnny Kidd and The Pirates were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Shakin' All Over'.
1970 The British army used rubber bullets for the first time to quell a riot in Northern Ireland.
1970 Elvis Presley was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of 'The Wonder Of You' his sixteenth No.1.
1975 The Eagles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'One Of These Nights'.
1977 In his comeback Test, England cricket batsman Geoff Boycott is unbeaten on 80 after a 1st innings 107 as England beats Australia by 7 wickets in the 3rd Test at Trent Bridge.
1981 England cricket all-rounder Ian Botham takes 5 for 11 to end Australia's chase of 151 target, all out 121 for 29 run defeat in 4th Test at Edgbaston.
1985 England captain David Gower scores his 5,000th run in Test cricket during the drawn 4th Test v Australia at Old Trafford.
2017 Great Britain's Prince Philip aged 96 makes his final solo public appearance before retiring from public engagements.
2018 Apple becomes the first American public listed company to reach $1 trillion in value.
2019 Saudi Arabia announces news rules for women including allowing them to travel independently abroad without a male guardian's permission.
2019 Seven-year-old boy operated on after 526 teeth found inside his mouth in Chennai, India
2020 SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken splashes down in the Gulf of Mexico, 1st commercial crewed mission.

 

[Muteswan]

3rd August
8 AD Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats Dalmatians on the river Bathinus. He “spotted” them bathing maybe.
1460 James II, King of Scotland, died after being injured by an exploding cannon at Kelso, in the Scottish Borders. Kelso Abbey was the venue for the hasty coronation of the infant king, James III, which quickly followed.
1492 Christopher Columbus sets sail on his first voyage with three ships, Santa María, Pinta and Niña from Palos de la Frontera, Spain for the "Indies".
1778 Teatro alla Scala opens in Milan.
1792 The death, at Cromford, of Richard Arkwright, one of the central figures of the Industrial Revolution.
1798 Battle of the Nile: British Admiral Horatio Nelson forces the remnants of the French fleet to surrender, concluding a decisive victory for the British who capture or destroy 11 French ships of the line and 2 frigates.
1805 The first recorded cricket match between English public schools Eton and Harrow.
1811 Elisha Otis, American founder of the Otis Elevator Company and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails, born in Halifax, Vermont (d. 1861).
1829 Gioachino Rossini's last and greatest opera "Guillaume Tell" (William Tell) premieres at Salle Le Peletier in Paris.
1856 London was divided into postal districts, in order to speed up letter deliveries.
1858 Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile, was discovered by the explorer John Speke.
1900 Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company founded.
1904 The first Royal Welsh Show was held on 'Vicarage Fields' Aberystwyth.It is now the biggest agricultural show in Europe, attracting more than 200,000 visitors annually. Since 1963 it has been held at a permanent site at Llanelwedd near Builth Wells.
1926 Britain installed its first traffic lights - at Piccadilly Circus, in London.
1926 Tony Bennett [Benedetto], American singer (I Left My Heart in San Francisco), born in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York.
1932 Official automatic timing & photo-finish camera for track events is used for the 1st time at Los Angeles Olympics, instrumental in changing 110m hurdles final, review gives Donald Finley bronze ahead of American Jack Keller.
1934 Adolf Hitler merges the offices of German Chancellor and President, declaring himself "Führer" (leader).
1936 American sprinter Jesse Owens wins the 100m (10.3 seconds) in front of Adolf Hitler in a famous race at the Berlin Olympics, first of 4 gold medals at the Games.
1938 Terry Wogan, British broadcaster (Eurovision Song Contest, Blankety Blank), born in Limerick, Ireland (d. 2016).
1940 Martin Sheen [Ramon Estevez], American actor (Badlands, The West Wing), born in Dayton, Ohio.
1944 Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp gases 4,000 gypsies.
1952 Italian Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari clinches Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by winning German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
1957 Swansea-born Wales international John Charles moved from Leeds to Juventus for £65,000, which at the time was a British record transfer deal. Charles was dubbed as ‘Il Gigante Buono’ (The Gentle Giant) during his five seasons with Juventus. The respect the Juventus fans had for Charles was evident, when he was voted the best-ever foreign player to play for the club.
1963 The Beatles performed at The Cavern Club (on 10, Mathew Street, Liverpool), for the 292nd, and last time.
1967 45,000 US soldiers sent to Vietnam.
1970 Mairiam Hargrave of Yorkshire passes her driving test on 40th try.
1971 Paul McCartney announced the formation of his new group Wings with his wife Linda and former Moody Blues guitarist and singer Denny Laine.
1974 Guitarist Jeff Baxter quits Steely Dan and joins the Doobie Brothers.
1986 First NFL 'American Bowl' exhibition game at London's Wembley Stadium, Chicago Bears beat Dallas Cowboys 17-6.
1987 Def Leppard released their fourth studio album Hysteria.
1998 The Oval stages first competitive cricket match played under floodlights in London when home team Surrey loses to Sussex by 8 wickets in the day/night 40-over fixture.
2000 England cricket wicket-keeper Alec Stewart becomes only the 4th batsman to score a century (105) in his 100th Test, during the 3rd Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford.
2007 Queen guitarist Brian May handed in his astronomy PhD thesis - 36 years after abandoning it to join the band.
2008 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer, Nobel Prize for Literature 1970, dies at 89.
2011 Allan Watkins, Welsh cricket all-rounder, (15 Tests, England @ 40.15, 11 wickets; Glamorgan), dies at 89.
2021 Karsten Warholm of Norway runs first ever sub-46 second 400m hurdles 45.94 WR to claim gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

 

[Muteswan]

4th August
1693 Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Pérignon's invention of Champagne.
1870 The British Red Cross Society was founded, by Lord Wantage.
1875 Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author of 150 fairy tales (The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen), dies at 70.
1892 Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother are murdered with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts; Borden is later arrested, tried and acquitted.
1900 Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, British consort of King George VI and Queen Mother after his death, born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England (d. 2002).
1901 Louis Armstrong, American jazz trumpeter and singer ("Hello, Dolly!"; "What A Wonderful World"), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1971).
1914 Britain declared war on Germany after the Germans had violated the Treaty of London by invading Belgium, and so began 'the war to end all wars'. The United States declared their neutrality.
1914 WWI: Field Marshal Lord Kitchener becomes British Minister of War after British declaration of war on Germany.
1918 Adolf Hitler receives the Iron Cross first class for bravery on the recommendation of his Jewish superior, Lieutenant Hugo Gutmann.
1923 The BBC began using the 'pips' as a time signal in its broadcasts.
1942 1st train with Jews departs Mechelen Belgium to Auschwitz.
1944 Anne Frank arrested in Amsterdam by German Security Police (Grüne Polizei) following a tip-off from an informer who was never identified.
1954 Britain's first supersonic fighter plane, the English Electric Lightning P-1, made its maiden flight.
1956 Elvis Presley releases "Hound Dog", a cover of Big Mama Thorton's original, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
1961 Barack Obama, 44th United States President (Democrat: 2009-17) and first African-American president, born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
1962 Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society) was established on at Pontarddulais. It was at least partly inspired by the annual BBC Wales Radio Lecture given in 1962 by Saunders Lewis, entitled ‘Tynged yr iaith’ (The fate of the language).
1967 Pink Floyd released their debut album The Piper At the Gates of Dawn on which most songs were penned by Syd Barrett.
1972 Uganda dictator Idi Amin orders the expulsion of 50,000 Asians with British passport from Uganda.
1975 Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant and his wife were both badly injured when the hire car he was driving spun off the road and crashed on the Greek island of Rhodes.
1976 England beats Australia by 8 wickets in the limited overs cricket international at Lord's; first time women are permitted to play on the main square at 'the home of cricket'.
1981 [Rachel] Meghan Markle, American former actress, Duchess of Sussex and wife of Prince Harry, born in Los Angeles, California.
1984 Prince's "Purple Rain" album goes #1 & stays #1 for 24 weeks.
1987 Moors murderer Ian Brady claimed that he was involved in another five killings.
2001 Australian cricket spinner Shane Warne skittles England (162) with 6/33 to guide tourists to a 7 wicket 3rd Test victory at Trent Bridge; Aussies regain Ashes with record 7th straight Test win v England.
2002 Police in Soham, Cambridgeshire were 'extremely concerned' over the disappearance of two 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Their school caretaker Ian Huntley was later found guilty of their murder.
2012 Great Britain enjoyed its most successful day at an Olympics in 104 years by winning six gold medals on day eight of the London Games.
2014 People in the UK were encouraged to turn off their lights between 10pm and 11pm, leaving only a single light or candle for a symbolic act of reflection and hope in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of World War 1. On the eve of Britain officially entering the war, Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign Secretary, uttered the words "The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."
2015 Muppets Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog announce the end to their relationship on Twitter.
2020 Huge explosions at the port of Beirut, Lebanon, kill more than 200 and leaves over 6,000 thousand people injured.

 

[Muteswan]

5th August
910 The last major Viking army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and Earl Aethelred.
1305 William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance to England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.
1620 The Mayflower departed from Southampton on its first attempt to reach North America.
1862 Joseph Merrick, "The Elephant Man", born in Leicester, England (d. 1890).
1891 World's 1st traveler's cheques issued by American Express.
1901 Britain's first cinema, the Mohawk, opened in Islington, north London. Films were accompanied by the 16-piece Fonobian Orchestra.
1925 The political party Plaid Cymru was formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language which was, at the time, in danger of dying out.
1926 Harry Houdini stays in a coffin under water for 1½ hrs before escaping.
1930 Neil Armstrong, American X-15 pilot and astronaut - 1st man on the Moon (Gemini 8, Apollo 11), born in Wapakoneta Ohio, (d. 2012).
1944 German forces begin the mass killing of between 40,000 and 50,000 Polish civilians in the Wola district of Warsaw during the uprising.
1944 Maurice Turnbull, Welsh cricketer (England) rugby player (Wales), dies fighting in WWII at 38.
1953 "From Here to Eternity" based on book by James Jones, directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra is released.
1956 Doris Day was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Whatever Will Be Will Be', the singer actress' second UK No.1 single.
1957 Comic strip "Andy Capp" makes its debut.
1962 Marilyn Monroe [Norma Jean Mortenson], American actress (Some Like It Hot), found dead of an apparent self-inflicted drug overdose at 36.
1962 Nelson Mandela arrested for incitement and for illegally leaving South Africa.
1963 Britain, USA and USSR sign nuclear test ban treaty.
1965 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Help!' the group's eighth consecutive UK No.1 single.
1966 The Beatles album Revolver was released in the UK.
1966 West Indies cricket captain Gary Sobers scores 174 including a century between lunch & tea to set up a 4th Test win v England at Headingley.
1967 Bobby Gentry releases her only hit "Ode to Billy Joe".
1972 Moody Blues re-issue their 1967 single "Nights in White Satin", and it reaches #2 on US charts, higher than the initial release.
1974 US President Richard Nixon admits he withheld information about Watergate break-in.
1978 The first all-seater stadium is opened in Aberdeen, Scotland; Aberdeen & London club Tottenham Hotspurs play a friendly to inaugurate the Pittodrie Stadium.
1984 American super-hurdler Edwin Moses wins the 400m hurdles gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics, his 105th consecutive race victory.
1984 Richard Burton died aged 58 in Switzerland. He was born, Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.in a house at 2 Dan-y-bont in Pontrhydyfen, Glamorgan, Wales.
1992 4 officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, acquitted on charges of beating Rodney King, are indicted on civil rights charges.
2000 Alec Guinness, British actor (The Ladykillers, The Bridge on the River Kwai), dies of liver cancer at 86.
2017 Jamaican sprint super-star Usain Bolt finishes 3rd behind Justin Gatlin and Christian Coleman in his final individual race, the 100m at IAAF World Championships in London.
2019 July 2019 confirmed as world's hottest-ever month recorded according to Europe's Copernicus Programme.
2019 Widespread strike in Hong Kong and demonstrations against Chinese policy towards the territory bring huge disruption, including cancelling 200 flights.

 

[Muteswan]

6th August
1504 Matthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury was born. He had an extremely long nose and was extremely inquisitive, hence the expression 'Nosey Parker'.
1623 Anne Hathaway, wife of English playwright William Shakespeare, dies aged 66 or 67.
1675 Russian Tsar Alexis bans foreign hair styles to those below the nobility.
1809 Alfred Tennyson, British Poet Laureate of Great Britain (Charge of the Light Brigade), born in Somersby, Lincolnshire (d. 1892).
1844 The first UK press telegram was sent, to The Times, announcing the birth of Prince Alfred to Queen Victoria.
1856 The Great Bell is cast for the Great Clock of Westminster, London (Big Ben).
1881 Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist (invented penicillin; Nobel Prize 1945), born in Lochfield, Scotland (d. 1955).
1889 The Savoy Hotel in London was opened.
1911 Lucille Ball, American comedienne and actress (I Love Lucy; Mame), born in Jamestown, New York (d. 1989).
1922 The birth of Sir Freddie Laker, British airline entrepreneur, best known for founding Laker Airways in 1966. He was one of the first airline owners to adopt the 'no-frills' airline business model.
1928 Andy Warhol, American pop artist and film producer (Frankenstein, Bad), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1987).
1932 1st Venice Film Festival opens, the world's oldest film festival.
1944 Deportation of 70,000 Jews from Lodz Poland to Auschwitz begins.
1945 Atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the US B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay".
1946 Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) was initiated into the Circle of Bards at the National Eisteddfod at Mountain Ash by Archdruid Crwys Williams.
1948 Allan Holdsworth, British guitarist and composer who was a member of Soft Machine, and played a variety of musical styles in a career spanning more than four decades, but is best known for his work in jazz fusion. Holdsworth died on 15 April 2017 at his home in Vista, California, at the age of 70.
1960 Chubby Checker performs his version of "The Twist" on "The Dick Clark Show" starting a worldwide dance craze.
1961 British auto racer Sterling Moss scores his 16th and final Formula 1 victory in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
1962 Jamaica became independent, after being a British colony for 300 years.
1966 Muhammad Ali knocks out English boxer Brian London in round 3 at Earl's Court in London to retain his undisputed world heavyweight title.
1970 "Festival for Peace" concert helad at Shea Stadium, NYC to mark 25th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing; performers included Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steppenwolf, Miles Davis, Johnny Winter, Herbie Hancock, Dionne Warwick, John Sebastian, The Rascals, and the Broadway cast of "Hair".
1972 Geri Horner [Halliwell], British pop singer "Ginger Spice" (Spice Girls), born in Watford, England.
1978 Pope Paul VI [Giovanni Montini], 262nd Roman Catholic pope (1963-78), dies of a heart attack at 80.
1989 Born on this day in Trebanos, Justin Tipuric, Wales and Lions rugby international.
1991 Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet.
1994 Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards booked into a private clinic to be treated for nervous exhaustion.
1996 Punk rock band the Ramones perform for the last time at the Palace in Hollywood.
1997 Sri Lanka slams world record 952 for 6 in the 1st cricket Test against India in Colombo; Sanath Jayasuriya 340, Roshan Mahanama 225 - record partnership 576.
2012 Pioneering astronomer and physicist Sir Bernard Lovell, the founder of University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory died, aged 98. The main telescope at Jodrell Bank is known as the Lovell Telescope.
2018 Chicago police appeal for more help after 66 people shot in the city in one weekend.
2018 Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify remove conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their platforms.
2020 Wayne Fontana [Glyn Geoffrey Ellis], British rocker (The Mindbenders - "The Game Of Love"), dies at 74.