The h2g2 Calendar - 7 - July Content from the guide to life, the universe and everything

The h2g2 Calendar - 7 - July

1 Conversation

Return to Calendar Main Page.

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

1

  • Every year - Canada Day.

  • 1644 - Rupert relieves York during the English Civil War. Also relieved is York Castle.

  • 1863 - The PS Chancellor runs aground at Ventnor Piers, Isle of Wight, UK.

  • 1863 - The first day of the Battle of Gettysburg; the fallen are later commemorated in The Gettysburg Address.

  • 1912 - Harriet Quimby, the first woman to die in an air crash, falls out of the cockpit of her Bleriot monoplane during a maneuver in an air show in Massachusetts, reportedly because she didn't put on seatbelts.

  • 1941 - Joe DiMaggio hits his way into the record books in another Great Moment in Baseball.

  • 1950 - Nobody is badly hurt in a highly original accident in the London Underground Edgware Road station, when the first part of a District line train is directed to platform 2 and the last part is directed to platform 1.

  • 1960 - The George C Marshall Space Flight Centre is formed, later playing a role in the Apollo Missions.

  • 1964 - President Johnson appoints General Maxwell D Taylor as ambassador to South Vietnam, during the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.

  • 1967 - Do you ever wonder What it Was Like in the 1960s? On this date, a limited service of certain colour TV programmes begins in the UK.

  • 1969 - Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales.

  • 2001 - Celebrated as Cal Ripken Jr Day in the USA.

  • 2006 - The Qinghai-Tibet railway opens in China.

  • 2007 - Smoking is banned in all public indoor spaces in England.

2

  • 1644 - The Battle of Marston Moor, the bloodiest of the Civil War, occurred near York Castle. On the way to battle, Prince Rupert's troops muster at Didsbury, South Manchester.

  • 1863 - Second day of the Battle of Gettysburg; the fallen are later commemorated in The Gettysburg Address.

  • 1874 - Dr Galati's lemon grove warden is shot near Palermo, an event marking the birth of the Sicilian Mafia.

  • 1925 - Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo's first and only elected Prime Minister is born.

  • 1940 - Hitler orders an update of invasion plans for the Battle of Britain.

  • 1971 - Evonne Goolagong becomes the first Aborigine to win the Wimbledon singles tennis title.

  • 1982 - 'Lawn Chair' Larry Walters turns himself into a legend when he starts his balloon flight strapped to a lawn chair.

  • 2002 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world non-stop in a balloon.

  • 2005 - The biggest rock concert in history, Live 8, takes place. Shows take place almost simultaneously in London, Philadelphia, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Barrie (near Toronto), Tokyo, Moscow and Johannesburg.

3

  • 1814 - Fort Erie is captured during the War of 1812.

  • 1863 - Third day of the Battle of Gettysburg; the fallen are later commemorated in The Gettysburg Address.

  • 1938 - In England, the Mallard sets the world speed record for a steam railway locomotive: 126mph (203km/h).

  • 1960 - Vince Clarke, a songwriter for the bands Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure, is born.

  • 1966 - The highest temperature ever recorded in south-central Pennsylvania.

  • 2000 - The single 'Sunday Morning Call' is released by the band Oasis.

4

5

6

  • Every year - The week-long Running of the Bulls begins in Pamplona, Spain.

  • 1469 - Warwick, Isabel and Clarence crossed to Calais in the prelude to 'The Second War of the Roses'.

  • 1545 - The Carraquon, part of the French Armada that would later attack the Mary Rose off the Isle of Wight, explodes when the cook accidentally sets fire to the vessel.

  • 1775 - The Declaration of Arms is signed in America, approving armed resistance to the policies of Parliament, and leading to The Declaration of Independence one year later.

  • 1854 - The first official Republican meeting in Jackson, Michigan USA takes place.

  • 1885 - Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.

  • 1917 - During World War I, Arabian troops led by Lawrence of Arabia and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Turks.

  • 1935 - Birthday of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso.

  • 1942 - My Gal Sal, one of the B-17 Flying Fortresses is rescued.

7

  • 1798 - American Congress cancels all existing treaties with France, triggering the 'Quasi-War'.

  • 1865 - Four conspirators in the assassination of US president Abraham Lincoln are hanged.

  • 1940 - The Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr is born Richard Starkey in Liverpool, England.

  • 1955 - Disneyland opens its gates for the first time, a fantastical world designed by Disney animator John Hench.

  • 1996 - The Stonehenge Julia Set, one of the most famous crop circles, is first reported.

  • 1997 - The band Oasis release the single 'D'You Know What I Mean'.

  • 2005 - Three bombs explode almost simultaneously on the London Underground, with a fourth following on a bus an hour later.

  • 2005 - Influenced by Live 8, leaders of the G8 group of nations pledge to double 2004 levels of aid to Africa from $25 billion to $50 billion by 2010.

  • 2006 - Syd Barrett, original songwriter, guitarist and vocalist in the band Pink Floyd, dies (b. 1946).

8

  • 975 - Edgar the Peaceful dies.

  • 1648 - The Scots cross the border in the English Civil War.

  • 1680 - The first confirmed tornado in 'America' since the arrival of Europeans kills a servant in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

  • 1709 - In the Great Northern War, Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava, effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe.

  • 1776 - The Liberty bell is rung to summon people to a public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

  • 1822 - Shelley makes an ill-fated boat trip in Byron's Don Juan.

  • 1947 - Reports are broadcast that a UFO has crashed landed in Roswell, New Mexico, USA.

  • 1978 - Martina Navratilova wins the Wimbledon Ladies Singles for the first time.

  • 1991 - David Beckham signs as a trainee for Manchester United FC.

  • 1994 - John Valentin makes a Triple Play. Good for him!

9

  • 1867 - An expedition led by ED Young sets out to search (unsuccessfully) for the Scottish missionary and explorer Dr David Livingstone.

  • 1937 - British painter David Hockney is born.

  • 1868 - The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified, defining United States citizenship and providing that no State should have the right to curtail the rights of any citizen without due process and equal protection under the law.

  • 1980 - A London Underground train sitting at Holborn station is hit by the following train, but nobody except the driver is badly injured.

  • 1991 - South Africa is re-admitted into the Olympic movement after being excluded for 30 years.

10

  • 1809 - Byron and Hobhouse watch the British troops in Lisbon while sightseeing.

  • 1925 - In Dayton, Tennessee, USA, the so-called 'Monkey Trial' begins, with high school science teacher John T Scopes accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.

  • 1941 - The German forces cross the River Dnieper during their invasion of the USSR.

  • 1941 - Jazz legend Jelly Roll Morton dies in Los Angeles, aged 50.

  • 1954 - Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys is born.

  • 1947 - The bull Semillero kills two people on the same run during the running of the bulls.

  • 1964 - The Beatles' first album that contained entirely original material, A Hard Day's Night, is released in Great Britain.

  • 1976 - Actor Mike Pratt, star of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), dies of lung cancer.

  • 1997 - In London, scientists report their DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton. This supports the 'Out of Africa' theory of human evolution, placing an 'African Eve' at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

  • 1999 - A ceasefire is signed in the the Congolese Civil War, but fighting continues.

  • 2031 - Birthdate of Edward Wilkie - aka Doctor Fawn - of the TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.

11

12

  • Every year - Loyalist communities celebrate the defeat of James II at the Battle of the Boyne, another Great Date in History. It's also celebrated in the Irish workers holiday, The Twelfth Week of July.

  • Circa 100 BC - Julius Caesar the Roman dictator is believed to have been born on either 12 or 13 July.

  • 1782 - Wayne and his troops march into Savannah.

  • 1804 - Alexander Hamilton, the first US secretary of the treasury, dies (b. 1755).

  • 1912 - Charles Steward Rolls, known from the luxury car firm he founded with his companion Frederick Henry Royce, dies in an air crash during an air show in Bournemouth.

  • 1943 - In the 'Battle of Prokhorovka', German and Soviet forces engage in the largest tank battle of all time.

13

14

15

  • Every year - St Swithins Day; rain on this day is said to foretell rain for another 40 days, according to Weather Wisdom.

  • 1381 - With the execution of rebel priest Kent Jack Ball in the marketplace of St Albans, the Peasant's Revolt ends.

  • 1545 - Henry and his Privy Council move to Portsmouth to await the invading army, in the events leading up to the shipwreck of the Mary Rose.

  • 1799 - The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French captain Pierre-François Bouchard.

  • 1942 - Groucho Marx divorces Ruth Johnson.

  • 1947 - The SR.A1, the world's only jet-flying boat, makes its maiden flight at Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

  • 1956 - Ian Curtis, lead singer with the band Joy Division, is born (d. 1980).

  • 1965 - The world premiere of Chichester Psalms.

  • 1975 - Soyuz 19 launches.

  • 1975 - Antone's Blues Club opens its doors for the first time in Austin, Texas.

16

  • 622 - Start of the Muslim calendar; the day that Mohammed fled from Mecca to Medina.

  • 1769 - Father Junipero Serra founds Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first in California. It evolves into the city of San Diego.

  • 1779 - The Battle of Stony Point, the most famous exploit of General 'Mad' Anthony Wayne, is fought in New York, USA.

  • 1812 - The American Fort on Michilimackinac Island is taken without a fight during The War of 1812.

  • 1921 - Australian Harry Hawker dies in an air crash while practising for the round-London Aerial Derby race when his plane catches fire for reasons that remain unknown.

  • 1958 - Michael Flatley, Irish-born US dancer of Riverdance fame, is born.

  • 1969 - It's lift-off for Apollo 11.

  • 1981 - Singer/Songwriter Harry Chapin dies in a car crash on the Long Island Expressway.

  • 2001 - Glasgow City Council comes out in defence of ruddy ducks.

17

18

  • 1545 - The French Armada drops anchor off St Helens, in the events leading up to the shipwreck of the Mary Rose.

  • 1823 - Byron sails from Genoa.

  • 1918 - Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is born.

  • 1921 - John Glenn is born.

  • 1936 - The Spanish Civil War begins with an attempted coup on the Spanish Republic by Spanish officers led by Franco.

  • 1966 - Gemini X, one of the Apollo Pathfinders, launches.

  • 1970 - Gruff Rhys, lead singer of the welsh band Super Furry Animals, is born in Haverfordwest.

  • 1972 - Some 118 people are killed when a plane crashes two minutes after taking off from London's Heathrow Airport.

19

20

21

  • 1796 - Death of Robert (Rabbie) Burns, National Poet of Scotland, at the age of just 37.

  • 1825 - Construction of the Miami Canal in Ohio begins.

  • 1861 - The Battle of Bull Run - at Manassas Junction, Virginia - begins, marking the first major battle of the American Civil War. The Confederacy wins.

  • 1921 - Groucho Marx marries Ruth Johnson.

  • 1945 - Groucho Marx marries Kay Gorcey. Sources believe he just likes wedding cake.

  • 1951 - Gus Grissom becomes the second Amercian in space, during the early Apollo missions.

  • 1966 - Gemini X, one of the Apollo Pathfinders, re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.

  • 1967 - Actor Basil Rathbone dies.

  • 1969 - Neil Armstrong and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission mission.

  • 1976 - The fateful US Bicentennial Convention of the American Legion after which Legionnaires' Disease is named.

  • 1981 - Martina Navratilova becomes an American citizen.

  • 2000 - The band Oasis give a live performance at Wembley Stadium, which later (mostly) spawned a live album.

22

  • 1469 - Warwick and Clarence agree to return to England and depose Edward IV in favour of Henry VI, in the Second War of the Roses.

  • 1793 - Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first Euro-American to complete a transcontinental crossing of Canada.

  • 1796 - Surveyor Moses Cleaveland meet the mouth of the Cuyahoga River at Lake Erie, decides that this area would be a perfect capital city of the Connecticut Western Reserve, and named the new town after himself.

  • 1847 - WE Gladstone returns as a member of Parliament.

  • 1963 - Sonny Liston meets Floyd Patterson in a rematch, as mentioned in the song, 'We Didn't Start the Fire'.

  • 1968 - The first Arab plane hijacking occurs.

  • 1969 - The death of the tallest ever giraffe is recorded in The Guinness Book of Records.

  • 1973 - Daniel Jones, founding member of the band Savage Garden is born on this day.

  • 1992 - Wayne McLaren, who portrayed the Marlboro Man in ads for the cigarette brand, dies (b. 1940).

23

  • Every year - The last day of the Cancer horoscope.

  • 1415 - 200 ships set sail from Tagus, destination unknown, less than a week after the death of Philippa of Lancaster.

  • 1903 - The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.

  • 1909 - The Derfflinger runs into the shingle bank off the Needles, near the Isle of Wight.

  • 1914 - Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia demanding it allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia rejects this demand, so Austria declares war on July 28.

  • 1945 - Marilyn Monroe signs a contract with 20th Century Fox Studios.

  • 1956 - Floyd Wilson makes the 11th escape attempt from Alcatraz.

  • 1989 - Actor Daniel Radcliffe is born. He later beats hundreds of other young boys to become the screen version of Harry Potter.

24

  • Every year - The first day of the Leo horoscope.

  • 1487 - Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, strike against a ban on foreign beer.

  • 1588 - The Spanish force appear off the coast of the Isle of Wight.

  • 1689 - William, Duke of Gloucester and son of Queen Anne is born.

  • 1908 - Italian pastry cook Dorando Pietri almost wins the marathon race of the fourth Olympic Games of the modern era, held in London.

  • 1936 - 'At the third stoke it will be one... thirty-two... and twenty seconds...' The Speaking Clock ticked into life.

  • 1949 - Luckily nobody is killed and only a few people are injured in a London rail disaster when a train passed a red signal after leaving London Bridge station.

  • 1962 - British Comedienne Cleo Rocos is born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

  • 1983 - The pine tar incident occurs, one of the Great Moments in Baseball.

  • 1999 - The world population is estimated to have reached 6 billion people.

  • 2005 - Lance Armstrong wins his seventh consecutive Tour de France title.

25

  • 1645 - Scarborough Castle surrenders.

  • 1755 - British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians. Thousands are sent to the USA, France and England.

  • 1814 - Heavy casualties are inflicted on both sides at Lundy's Lane during The War of 1812.

  • 1839 - WE Gladstone marries Catherine Glynne.

  • 1907 - Sir Robert Baden-Powell takes 22 young boys to a camping trip - this is regarded as the beginning of the scouting movement.

  • 1915 - In an incident of early air-to-air combat, Major Lanoe G Hawker attacks three enemy scouts and is later awarded the Victoria Cross.

  • 1959 - The SR.N1 hovercraft crosses the channel between Calais and Dover in two hours and three minutes.

  • 1961 - John F Kennedy re-emphasises in a speech that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO.

  • 2000 - Air France Concorde F-BTSC crashes upon take off.

26

  • 1845 - Captain Dannert sees the two ships of the Franklin Expedition for the last time.

  • 1936 - The Axis Powers - including Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan - decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.

  • 1945 - Dame Helen Mirren is born in Chiswick, London, as Ilyena Lydia Mironoff.

  • 1949 - Roger Taylor of Queen is born.

  • 1953 - Castro leads an attack on the Moncada Barracks.

  • 1971 - Apollo 15 is launched.

  • 1977 - The National Assembly of Quebec imposes French as the official language of the provincial government.

  • 2001 - The Brass Eye Paedophile Special is broadcast today. Hundreds of complaints miss the point of the programme entirely, but Channel 4 still feels compelled to apologise.

27

  • 1648 - Scarborough Castle is used as a tactical player in the English Civil War.

  • 1921 - Insulin was isolated by Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best in their laboratory at the University of Toronto. This became the treatment for diabetes.

  • 1938 - Antarctic hero Tom Crean dies.

  • 1944 - The HMS Prince Leopold is torpedoed, in another Isle of Wight shipwreck.

  • 1953 - The Korean War ends. The film MASH, set during the war, inspires a show that lasts longer than the war itself.

  • 1976 - The first death due to Legionnaires' Disease is recorded.

  • 1981 - The marriage of Ken Barlow and Deirdre Langton in UK soap opera Coronation Street proves to be a national event.

  • 1994 - South African photojournalist Kevin Carter commits suicide.

  • 1996 - In Atlanta, Georgia, USA, a pipe bomb explodes at the Centennial Olympic Park during the Olympic Games.

  • 1997 - The TV show Stargate SG-1 first airs.

  • 2001 - The Brass Eye Paedophile Special is repeated the day after its first airing, despite hundreds of complaints.

28

  • 1545 - The French fleet withdraws, soon after the sinking of the Mary Rose.

  • 1586 - The first potato arrives in Britain.

  • 1683 - Queen Anne marries Prince George of Denmark.

  • 1866 - Children's author Beatrix Potter is born.

  • 1935 - The Boeing Model 299, which would become known as the B-17, makes its maiden flight.

  • 1958 - A fire starts in a London Underground train between Shepherd's Bush and Holland Park, with most of the passengers suffering from smoke inhalation and one person later dying.

  • 1986 - The last time Suzy Lamplugh is seen.

  • 2004 - Francis Crick, the English molecular biologist and co-discoverer of the DNA molecule, dies (b. 1916).

29

30

  • 1390 - Dom Afonso, the second child of Philipa of Lancaster is born.

  • 1700 - William, Duke of Gloucester and son of Queen Anne, dies.

  • 1700 - Queen Anne has a stroke.

  • 1792 - The Marseilles militia march into Paris to a rousing rendition of 'La Marseillaise'.

  • 1946 - A London Underground train crashes into the terminus at Edgware staion of the Northern line due to the driver suffering from a coronary thrombosis.

  • 1954 - Elvis Presley makes his first public performance.

  • 1958 - British Singer/Songwriter Kate Bush is born as Catherine Bush in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  • 1968 - Sean Moore, drummer with the band the Manic Street Preachers, is born.

  • 1968 - Ron Hansen accomplishes the first Triple Play in 40 years.

  • 1971 - Apollo 15 splashes down.

  • 1976 - Madagascar's Prime Minister Joël Rakotomalala dies in an air crash at Ankazomiriotra (which is in central Madagascar, btw).

  • 2002 - A report is released asserting that the US Government is violating human rights of the Western Shoshone Indians.

  • 2003 - UK motorcyclist Steve Hislop dies in an air crash on remote moorland near Teviothead.

  • 2005 - Sudans's former rebel leader Dr John Garang dies in an air crash just three weeks after he is sworn in as Vice President and President of the South Sudanese Government.

31

  • 1800 - Friedrich Wohler, the German chemist and first person to synthesise an organic compound (urea) from an inorganic source, is born.

  • 1945 - John Giles makes the ninth escape attempt from Alcatraz.

  • 1962 - Wesley Snipes, star of the film Blade, among others, is born.

  • 1964 - Ranger 7, one of the Apollo Pathfinders, returns to Earth with close-up photos of the lunar surface.

  • 1964 - Soft-voiced Country and Western singer Jim Reeves dies in an air crash ten miles south of Nashville, Tennessee.

  • 1965 - Chichester Psalms is performed with an all-male choir for the first time.

  • 1965 - Author JK Rowling is born.

  • 1968 - Elvis Presley plays his first live gig in eight years, in Las Vegas. It's the first event of a four-week residency at the International Hotel in Las Vegas.

  • 1970 - Black Tot Day: the last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the British Royal Navy.

Next Month


Bookmark on your Personal Space


Edited Entry

A3392237

Infinite Improbability Drive

Infinite Improbability Drive

Read a random Edited Entry

Categorised In:


References

h2g2 Entries

Write an Entry

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."

Write an entry
Read more