This Day in History
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7th July 1941
U.S. occupies Iceland
The neutral United States moves closer to war with Germany when U.S. forces land on Iceland to take over its garrisoning from the British. From thereon, the U.S. Navy had the responsibility of protecting convoys in the nearby sea routes from attack by German submarines. With Iceland and its nearby sea routes under U.S. protection, the British Royal Navy was more free to defend its embattled Mediterranean positions. -
8th July 1950
MacArthur named Korean commander
The day after the U.N. Security Council recommended that all U.N. forces in Korea be placed under the command of the U.S. military, General Douglas MacArthur, the hero of the war against Japan, is appointed head of the United Nations Command by President Harry S. Truman. -
9th July 1956
Tom Hanks is born
Actor Tom Hanks is born this day in Concord, California. After his parents divorced when he was a toddler, Hanks lived with his father, a cook. He began studying acting in high school, played with a Shakespeare festival for three years, and launched his television career in 1980 with Bosom Buddies, an offbeat sitcom about two men forced to disguise themselves as women.
He made a splash with Splash in 1984, followed by a huge success with Big in 1988, for which he received an Oscar nomination. After several quiet years, his career took off again with Sleepless in Seattle (1993); he is now considered one of the biggest box office draws alive. He won the Best Actor Oscar twice, for Philadelphia in 1993 and Forrest Gump in 1994. He was also nominated for his role in Saving Private Ryan in 1998.
He began directing in 1996 with That Thing You Do and co-produced Cast Away (2000), for which he received another Best Actor Oscar nomination. -
10th july 1989
voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck dies
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and countless other Warner Bros. cartoon characters, dies from complications of heart disease. -
11th July 1979
Skylab crashes to Earth
Parts of Skylab, America's first space station, come crashing down on Australia and into the Indian Ocean five years after the last manned Skylab mission ended. No one was injured. -
12th july 1862
Medal of Honor created
President Abraham Lincoln signs into law a measure calling for the awarding of a U.S. Army Medal of Honor, in the name of Congress, "to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities during the present insurrection."
The first U.S. Army soldiers to receive what would become the nation's highest military honor were six members of a Union raiding party who in 1862 penetrated deep into Confederate territory to destroy bridges and railroad tracks between Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia. -
13th July 1960
Kennedy nominated for presidency
In Los Angeles, California, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts is nominated for the presidency by the Democratic Party Convention, defeating Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. The next day, Johnson was named Kennedy's running mate by a unanimous vote of the convention. -
14th July 1963
Rupture between USSR and China grows worse
Relations between the Soviet Union and China reach the breaking point as the two governments engage in an angry ideological debate about the future of communism. The United States, for its part, was delighted to see a wedge being driven between the two communist superpowers. -
15th July 1845
First issue of The Straits Times
The first issue of The Straits Times is published. It is priced at 10 cnets and has a cirulation of 200 copies. 15th july 1997
Versace murdered
World-renowned Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace is shot dead on the steps outside his Miami mansion. Versace was shot twice in the head by Andrew Cunanan, who shot himself 8 days later when he was cornered by the police. -
16th july 1945
United States conducts first test of the atomic bomb
The United States conducts the first test of the atomic bomb at its research facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The terrifying new weapon would quickly become a focal point in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. -
17th July 1955
Disneyland opens
Disneyland, Walt Disney's metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy, and futurism, opens on July 17, 1955. The $17 million theme park was built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California, and soon brought in staggering profits. -
18th Juky 64AD
Fire of Rome
A fire erupts in Rome, spreading rapidly throughout the market area in the center of the city. When the flames finally died out more than a week later, nearly two-thirds of Rome had been destroyed.
Emperor Nero used the fire as an opportunity to rebuild Rome in a more orderly Greek style and began construction on a massive palace called the Domus Aureus. Some speculated that the emperor had ordered the burning of Rome to indulge his architectural tastes, but he was away in Antium when the conflagration began. According to later Roman historians, Nero blamed members of the mysterious Christian cult for the fire and launched the first Roman persecution of Christians in response. -
19th July 1943
America bombs Rome
On this day in 1943, the United States bombs railway yards in Rome in an attempt to break the will of the Italian people to resist-as Hitler lectures their leader, Benito Mussolini, on how to prosecute the war further. -
20th July 1973
Bruce Lee dies
Martial Arts legend Bruce Lee dies from a result of an abnormal reaction to painkillers he took for severe back pain, possibly in combination with the analgesic for a headache. he was 32 years old. 20th July 1969
Armstrong walks on the moon
At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to more than a billion people listening at home: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." A moment later, he stepped off the lunar landing module Eagle and became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon. -
21th July 1964
Racial riots in Singapore
Riots break out during a procession to celebrate the Prophet Muhammad's birthday. In 10 days of fighting, 23 people are killed and 454 injured. -
22th July 1933
Wiley Post flies solo around the world
American aviator Wiley Post returns to Floyd Bennett Field in New York, having flown solo around the world in 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes. He was the first aviator to accomplish the feat. -
23th july 1952
Military seizes power in Egypt
In Egypt, the Society of Free Officers seizes control of the government in a military coup d'etat staged by Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser's Free Officers. King Farouk, whose rule had been criticized for its corruption and failures in the first Arab-Israeli war, was forced to abdicate and relinquish power to General Muhammad Naguib, the figurehead leader of the coup. -
24th July 1969
Apollo 11 returns to Earth
Apollo 11, the U.S. spacecraft that had taken the first astronauts to the surface of the moon, safely returns to Earth. -
26th July 1884
Tan Tock Seng Hospital
The foundation stone of Tan Tock Seng Pauper Hospital is laid. It is named after a Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist who donated $5,000 to build the hospital. 26th July 1992
Launch of the Newpaper
For the first time in modern history, the Olympic Games opens in Barcelona with all 169 elligible countries present. it is the first Olympiad in mordern history that no country has boycotted, with serveral long-standing bans being lifted. -
26th July 1978
first test tude baby born
The world first test tude baby, Lunige brown, was born by caesarean section in Manchester. She weighed 2.2kg. 26th July 1988
Launch of the Newpaper
The first edition of the Newpaper rolls off the presses with a circulation of about 40,000. -
27th July 1940
Bugs Bunny's debut
On this day in 1940, Bugs Bunny first appears on the silver screen in "A Wild Hare." The wisecracking rabbit had evolved through several earlier short films. As in many future installments of Bugs Bunny cartoons, "A Wild Hare" featured Bugs as the would-be dinner for frustrated hunter Elmer Fudd. -
28 July 1976
Worst modern earthquake
At 3:42 a.m., an earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude on the Richter scale flattens Tangshan, a Chinese industrial city with a population of about one million people. As almost everyone was asleep in their beds, instead of outside in the relative safety of the streets, the quake was especially costly in terms of human life.
An estimated 242,000 people in Tangshan and surrounding areas were killed, making the earthquake one of the deadliest in recorded history, surpassed only by the 300,000 who died in the Calcutta earthquake in 1737, and the 830,000 thought to have perished in China's Shaanxi province in 1556. -
29th July 1981
Prince Charles marries Lady Diana
Nearly one billion television viewers in 74 countries tune in to witness the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to Lady Diana Spencer, a young English schoolteacher. Married in a grand ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral in the presence of 2,650 guests, the couple's romance was for the moment the envy of the world. Their first child, Prince William, was born in 1982, and their second, Prince Henry, in 1984. -
30th July 1966
England wins World Cup
In the first televised World Cup soccer match, host-nation England beats Germany 4 to 2 to win the tournament final at Wembley Stadium. In overtime play, England's Geoff Hurst scored his second of three match goals to give Britain a 3 to 2 lead. In the dying seconds of overtime play, he scored his third goal, making the score 4 to 2 and handing England the Jules Rimet Trophy for the first time in the World Cup's 36-year history. -
31th July 1930
First World Cup
The first World Cup soccer tournament is won by Uruguay, which beat Argentina 4 - 1. Only 13 countries participated, as most European terms opted to stay home instead of travel to Uruguay. 31th July 1964
Ranger 7 photographs moon
Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, takes the first close-up images of the moon--4,308 in total--before it impacts with the lunar surface northwest of the Sea of the Clouds. The images were 1,000 times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes.