Events

• 324 – Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium.

• 987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France till the French Revolution in 1792.

• 1608 – Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.

• 1754 – French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.

• 1767 – Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.

• 1767 – Norway's oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded and the first edition is published.

• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces massacre 360 people in the Wyoming Valley massacre.

• 1819 – The Bank of Savings in New York City, the first savings bank in the United States, opens.

• 1839 – The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today's Framingham State College, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with 3 students.

• 1844 – The last pair of Great Auks is killed.

• 1848 – Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) by Peter von Scholten in the culmination of a year-long plot by enslaved Africans.

• 1849 – The French enter Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification.

• 1852 – Congress establishes the United States' 2nd mint in San Francisco, California.

• 1863 – U.S. Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett's Charge.

• 1866 – Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.

• 1884 – Dow Jones and Company publishes its first stock average.

• 1886 – Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen – the first purpose-built automobile.

• 1886 – The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.

• 1890 – Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.

• 1898 – Spanish-American War: The Spanish fleet, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, is destroyed by the U.S. Navy in Santiago, Cuba.

• 1913 – Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors.

• 1938 – World speed record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of .

• 1938 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield.

• 1940 – World War II: the French fleet of the Atlantic based at Mers el Kébir, is bombarded by the British fleet, coming from Gibraltar, causing the loss of three battleships: Dunkerque, Provence and Bretagne. One thousand two hundred sailors perish.

• 1944 – World War II: Minsk is liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.

• 1952 – Puerto Rico's Constitution is approved by the Congress of the United States.

• 1952 – The sets sail on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During this voyage, the SS United States takes the Blue Riband away from the

• 1962 – The Algerian War of Independence against the French ends.

• 1969 – The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad.

• 1970 – A British Dan-Air De Havilland Comet chartered jetliner crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 113 people.

• 1977 – The Senegalese Republican Movement is founded.

• 1979 – US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.

• 1986 – US President Ronald Reagan presides over the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.

• 1988 – United States Navy warship shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.

• 1988 – The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus.

• 1994 – The deadliest day in Texas traffic history, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Forty six people are killed in crashes.

• 1996 – Stone of Scone is returned to Scotland.

• 2001 – A Vladivostok Avia Tupolev TU-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia killing 145 people.

• 2004 – Official opening of Bangkok's subway system.

• 2005 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in Spain.

• 2006 – Valencia metro accident leaves 43 dead in Valencia, Spain.

• 2006 – Asteroid 2004 XP14 flies within of Earth.

• 2009 – Mark II.5 Skytrain cars enter service in Metro Vancouver.

Births

• 1423 – King Louis XI of France (d. 1483)

• 1442 – Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1500)

• 1530 – Claude Fauchet, French historian (d. 1601)

• 1676 – Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1747)

• 1683 – Edward Young, English poet (d. 1765)

• 1685 – Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (d. 1768)

• 1728 – Robert Adam, Scottish architect (d. 1792)

• 1738 – John Singleton Copley, American painter (d. 1815)

• 1743 – Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, queen consort of Sweden (d. 1813)

• 1851 – Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer (d. 1930)

• 1854 – Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (d. 1928)

• 1866 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (d. 1907)

• 1870 – Richard Bedford Bennett, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1947)

• 1875 – Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon (d. 1951)

• 1878 – George M. Cohan, American actor, director, singer and dancer (d. 1942)

• 1879 – Alfred Korzybski, Polish linguist (d. 1950)

• 1880 – Carl Schuricht, Polish-born German conductor (d. 1967)

• 1883 – Franz Kafka, Czech-German writer (d. 1924)

• 1886 – Raymond Spruance, American Navy admiral (d. 1969)

• 1888 – Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Spanish writer (d. 1963)

• 1900 – Alessandro Blasetti, Italian film director (d. 1987)

• 1903 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1992)

• 1906 – George Sanders, British actor (d. 1972)

• 1906 – Jack Earle, American actor and sideshow performer (d. 1952)

• 1908 – M. F. K. Fisher, American writer (d. 1992)

• 1908 – Robert B. Meyner, American politician (d. 1990)

• 1913 – Dorothy Kilgallen, American columnist (d. 1965)

• 1917 – João Saldanha, Brazilian journalist and football manager (d. 1990)

• 1918 – S. V. Ranga Rao, South Indian actor (d. 1974)

• 1920 – Paul O'Dea, American baseball player (d. 1978)

• 1921 – Susan Peters, American actress (d. 1952)

• 1922 – Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, Belgian painter, called Corneille

• 1924 – S. R. Nathan, 6th president of Singapore

• 1927 – Ken Russell, British director

• 1930 – Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 2004)

• 1930 – Tommy Tedesco, American musician (d. 1997)

• 1930 – Pete Fountain, American clarinetist

• 1931 – Frits Helmuth, Danish actor (d. 2004)

• 1933 – Edward Brandt, American doctor and public health official (d. 2007)

• 1935 – Harrison Schmitt, American astronaut and politician

• 1936 – Baard Owe, Norwegian-born Danish actor

• 1937 – Tom Stoppard, Czech-born, British playwright

• 1938 – Bolo Yeung, Hong Kong actor

• 1939 – László Kovács, Hungarian politician and diplomat

• 1939 – Brigitte Fassbaender, German mezzo-soprano

• 1940 – César Tovar, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1994)

• 1940 – Lamar Alexander, American politician

• 1940 – Jerzy Buzek, Prime Minister of Poland

• 1940 – Fontella Bass, American soul singer

• 1942 – Eddy Mitchell, French singer and actor

• 1942 – Paco Stanley, Mexican TV personality (d. 1999)

• 1943 – Kurtwood Smith, American actor

• 1944 – Michel Polnareff, French singer and songwriter

• 1945 – Michael Cole, American TV actor

• 1946 – Johnny Lee, American country-and-western singer

• 1946 – Leszek Miller, Prime Minister of Poland

• 1947 – Dave Barry, American humorist and author

• 1947 – Betty Buckley, American actress

• 1948 – Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish comics artist

• 1949 – Jan Smithers, American actress

• 1949 – Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (Heatwave) (d. 2006)

• 1950 – James Hahn, American politician

• 1950 – Ewen Chatfield, New Zealand cricketer

• 1951 – Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer

• 1951 – Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician

• 1952 – Amit Kumar, Indian singer

• 1955 – Sanma Akashiya, Japanese television performer

• 1956 – Montel Williams, American talk show host

• 1956 – Don Vito, American Viva La Bam castmember

• 1957 – Laura Branigan, American singer (d. 2004)

• 1957 – Ken Ober, American game show host

• 1958 – Matthew Fraser, Canadian-British journalist

• 1958 – Siân Lloyd, Welsh weather presenter

• 1958 – Aaron Tippin, American singer

• 1958 – Charlie Higson, English author and actor

• 1959 – Julie Burchill, British journalist and author

• 1959 – David Shore, Canadian-born writer

• 1959 – Stephen Pearcy, American singer (Ratt)

• 1960 – Vince Clarke, British songwriter (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure)

• 1961 – Pedro Romeiras, Portuguese dancer

• 1961 – Tim Smith, English musician (Cardiacs)

• 1962 – Tom Cruise, American actor

• 1962 – Hunter Tylo, American actress

• 1962 – Thomas Gibson, American actor

• 1962 – Hugh Page, former South African cricketer

• 1964 – Joanne Harris, British author

• 1964 – Yeardley Smith, French-born American actress

• 1965 – Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese wrestler (d. 2005)

• 1965 – Connie Nielsen, Danish actress

• 1966 – Moisés Alou, Dominican baseball player

• 1967 – Brian Cashman, American major league baseball executive

• 1968 – Aku Louhimies, Finnish film director and screenwriter

• 1969 – Kevin Hearn, Canadian musician (Barenaked Ladies)

• 1970 – Teemu Selänne, Finnish ice hockey player

• 1970 – Shawnee Smith, American actress

• 1970 – Serhiy Honchar, Ukrainian cyclist

• 1972 – Warren Furman, British television personality

• 1973 – Johnny Terris, Canadian actor and director

• 1973 – Patrick Wilson, American actor

• 1973 – Emma Cunniffe, British actress

• 1976 – Andrea Barber, American actress

• 1976 – Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1976 – Henry Olonga, Zimbabwean cricketer

• 1976 – Wanderlei Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist

• 1976 – Bobby Skinstad, Springbok Rugby player

• 1978 – Mizuki Noguchi, Japanese long-distance runner

• 1979 – Ludivine Sagnier, French actress

• 1979 – Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Greek footballer

• 1979 – David Bacani, American baseball player

• 1980 – Roland Mark Schoeman, South African swimmer

• 1980 – Kevin Boyle, American basketballer

• 1980 – Trae, American rapper from Houston, Texas

• 1980 – Bostjan Nachbar, Slovenian basketball player

• 1980 – Harbhajan Singh, Indian cricketer

• 1981 – Justin Torkildsen, American actor

• 1982 – Kanika, Indian actress

• 1982 – Olivia Munn, American television hostess

• 1983 – Steph Jones, American singer and model

• 1984 – Syed Rasel, Bangladeshi cricketer

• 1984 – Corey Sevier, Canadian actor

• 1984 – Manny Lawson, American Football player

• 1985 – Minami Keisuke, Japanese singer and actor.

• 1987 – Sebastian Vettel, German racing driver

Deaths

• 72 – Thomas the Apostle

• 1570 – Aonio Paleario, Italian humanist

• 1642 – Maria de' Medici, wife of Henry IV of France (b. 1573)

• 1672 – Francis Willughby, English biologist (b. 1635)

• 1704 – Sophia Alekseyevna, regent of Russia (b. 1657)

• 1749 – William Jones, Welsh mathematician (b. 1675)

• 1778 – Anna Maria Pertl Mozart, mother of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. 1720)

• 1790 – Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, French chemist (b. 1736)

• 1795 – Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (b. 1714)

• 1795 – Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and governor of Louisiana (b. 1716)

• 1809 – Joseph Quesnel, French-Canadian composer and playwright (b. 1746)

• 1858 – Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, Russian painter (b. 1806)

• 1863 – George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826)

• 1904 – Theodor Herzl, Austrian Zionist (b. 1860)

• 1904 – Edouard Beaupré, Canadian giant and strongman (b. 1881)

• 1908 – Joel Chandler Harris, American Writer (b. 1845)

• 1914 – Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (b. 1836)

• 1916 – Hetty Green, American businesswoman (b. 1834)

• 1918 – Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1844)

• 1933 – Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina (b. 1852)

• 1935 – André Citroën, French automobile pioneer (b. 1878)

• 1942 – Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, French general (b. 1856)

• 1954 – Siegfried Handloser, German physician (b. 1895)

• 1957 – Dolf Luque, baseball player (b. 1890)

• 1965 – Trigger, Roy Rogers's horse (b. 1932)

• 1969 – Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (b. 1942)

• 1971 – Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (b. 1943)

• 1977 – Alexander M. Volkov, Russian novelist and mathematician (b. 1891)

• 1978 – James Daly, American actor (b. 1918)

• 1979 – Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1888)

• 1981 – Ross Martin, Polish-American actor (b. 1920)

• 1985 – Frank Selke, Canadian ice hockey manager (b. 1893)

• 1986 – Rudy Vallee, American singer (b. 1901)

• 1989 – Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)

• 1993 – Joe DeRita, American actor and comedian (b. 1909)

• 1993 – Don Drysdale, American baseball player (b. 1936)

• 1994 – Lew Hoad, Australian tennis player (b. 1934)

• 1995 – Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (b. 1928)

• 1995 – Eddie Mazur, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)

• 1998 – Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b. 1949)

• 1999 – Mark Sandman, American musician (b. 1952)

• 2000 – Kemal Sunal, Turkish actor (b. 1944)

• 2001 – Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (b. 1931)

• 2001 – Johnny Russell, American country singer and songwriter (b. 1940)

• 2003 – Gaetano Alibrandi, Papal diplomat (b. 1914)

• 2004 – Andrian Nikolayev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1929)

• 2005 – Alberto Lattuada, Italian film director (b. 1914)

• 2005 – Gaylord Nelson, American politician (b. 1916)

• 2006 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist (b. 1941)

• 2006 – Benjamin Hendrickson, American actor (b. 1950)

• 2007 – Alice Timander, Swedish dentist (b. 1915)

• 2007 – Boots Randolph, American saxophonist (b. 1927)

• 2008 – Ernie Cooksey, English Footballer (b. 1980)

• 2008 – Larry Harmon, American entertainer and TV producer (b. 1925)

• 2008 – Clive Hornby, English soap actor – Emmerdale (b. 1944)

• 2008 – Oliver Schroer, Canadian fiddler and composer (b. 1956)

• 2009 – John A. Keel, American Fortean, television scriptwriter, author of The Mothman Prophecies (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances

• Belarus: Independence Day

• United States Virgin Islands: Emancipation Day

• Start of the Dog Days according to The Old Farmer's Almanac but not according to established meaning in most European cultures.

• Christian saints and martyrs:

• *Aaron and Julius

• *Saint Leo II (d. 683)

• *Saint Heliodorus

• *Saint Marinus, bishop, martyr

• *Saint Mucian

• *Saint Phocas, martyr

• *Saint Raymond, confessor at Toulouse

• *Translation of Saint Thomas

• *Saint Tryphon