This Day in History July 12

1174 Death of King Amalric I of Jerusalem (b. 1136)

1274 Birth of Robert the Bruce Scotland, King (1328-1329).

1302 Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch) – a coalition around the Flemish cities defeats the king of France’s huge knightly army.

1302 Death of Robert II of Artois, French soldier (b. 1250)

1346 Charles IV of Luxembourg elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

1366 Birth of Anne of Bohemia, queen of Richard II of England (d. 1394)

1405 Chinese fleet commander Zheng He set sail to explore the world for the first time.

1533 Pope Clement VII excommunicates England’s King Henry VIII.

1535 Death of Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg (b. 1484)

1558 Birth of Robert Greene Elizabethan dramatist (Friar Bacon).

1561 Birth of Luis de G=ngora, Spanish poet (d. 1627)

1576 Martin Frobisher sights Greenland.

1581 Death of Peder Skram, Danish senator and naval hero

1593 Giuseppe Arcimboldo first surrealist painter, dies (birth date unkn).

1603 Birth of Kenelm Digby, English privateer (d. 1665)

1616 Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec.

1628 Birth of Tokugawa Mitsukuni, Japanese warlord (d. 1701)

1657 Birth of King Frederick I of Prussia (d. 1713)

1662 Birth of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1726)

1665 Death of Kenelm Digby, English privateer (b. 1603)

1679 Death of William Chamberlayne, English poet (b. 1619)

1688 Death of Narai, King of Siam

1723 Birth of Jean-Frantois Marmontel, French historian and writer (d. 1799)

1735 Mathematical calculations suggest it was on this day that Pluto moved from the ninth to the eighth most distant planet from the Sun for the last time before 1979.

1740 Jews are expelled from Little Russia by order of Czarina Anne.

1740 Pogrom: Jews are expelled from Little Russia.

1750 Halifax, Nova Scotia almost completely destroyed by fire.

1754 Birth of Thomas Bowdler famous prude, bowdlerized Shakespeare.

1766 Death of Elizabeth Farnese, wife of Philip V of Spain (b. 1692)

1767 Birth of John Quincy Adams in Braintree, Massachusetts, USA; US Senator (1803-1808), Secretary of State (1817-1825), 6th US President (1825-1829) (died 1848).

1774 Death of Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, Irish-born New York pioneer

1775 Death of Simon Boerum, American Continental Congressman (b. 1724)

1776 Captain James Cook begins third voyage.

1781 Thomas Hutchins designated Geographer of the US.

1789 Jacques Necker dismissed as Finance Minister for France sparking the storming of the Bastille.

1789 Marquis de Lafayette introduces Declaration of Rights of Man in France.

1792 Prussia army moves into French territory.

1796 The U.S. takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.

1797 Death of Ien?chi?? V?c?rescu, Wallachian writer (b. 1740)

1798 The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.

1798 US President John Adams signs a bill into law creating the U.S. Marines.

1804 Death of Alexander Hamilton, United States Secretary of the Treasury (duel) (b. 1757)

1804 Vice President Aaron Burr kills Alex Hamilton in a pistol duel near Weehawken.

1804 Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr kills Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

1806 Death of James Smith, American signer of the Declaration of Indpendence

1811 Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro publishes his memoir about molecular content of gases.

1811 Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro publishes his memoir about molecular content of gases.

1812 US invades Canada (Detroit frontier).

1818 Keats writes “In the Cottage Where Burns Was Born,” “Lines Written.

1826 Birth of Alexander Afanasyev, Russian folklorist (d. 1871)

1838 Birth of John Wanamaker merchant (Wanamakers Department Store).

1844 Death of Evgeny Baratynsky, Russian poet (b. 1800)

1848 The Waterloo railway station in London opens.

1857 Birth of Alfred Binet, French psychologist (d. 1911)

1859 A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is published.

1861 Birth of George William Norris (Republican-Nebraska).

1862 US Congress authorizes another US$150 million in United States Notes.

1864 Birth of Petar Danov, Bulgarian spiritual teacher (d. 1944)

1864 Confederate forces attempt an invasion of Washington, D.C.

1868 J C Watson discovers asteroid #100 Hekate.

1886 Birth of Boris Grigoriev, Russian painter (d. 1939)

1888 118 degrees F (48 degrees C), Bennett, Colorado (state record).

1888 Birth of Dr Lyman Bryson Valentine Nebraska, educator (UN Casebook).

1888 Pennsylvania’s Monongehela River rises 32 feet after 24 hour rainfall.

1889 Tijuana, Mexico was founded

1892 Birth of Thomas Mitchell New Jersey, academy award winning actor (Outlaw, Adventures).

1893 The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.

1893 The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.

1895 The brothers Lumière show film for scientists.

1895 The brothers LumiFre show a film for scientists.

1897 Birth of Eugene “Bull” Connor, sheriff of Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1973)

1897 Salomon August AndrTe leaves Spitsbergen to try to reach the North pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.

1899 Birth of E. B. White, American writer (d. 1985)

1901 L Carnera discovers asteroid #472 Roma.

1905 Black intellectuals and activists organize Niagara movement.

1906 Birth of Harry Von Zell Indianapolis Indiana, USA; TV announcer (Burns and Allen).

1909 Simon Newcomb celestial mechanics authority, dies.

1910 Birth of Irene Hervey Los Angeles California, actress (Aunt Meg-Honey West).

1913 Birth of Cordwainer Smith, American writer (d. 1966)

1914 Babe Ruth debuts in Major league baseball.

1915 Birth of Colin Purdie Kelly US, first US air hero during WW II.

1916 Birth of Gough Whitlam (ALP) Australia, Prime Minister (1972-75).

1916 First federal grant-in-aid for state roads enacted.

1918 M Wolf discovers asteroid #895 Helio.

1919 Eight-hour working day and free Sunday made into law in the Netherlands.

1920 Death of Empress EugTnie de Montijo of France (b. 1826)

1921 Birth of Ilse Werner, Dutch-born actress

1921 Former US President William Howard Taft sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, becoming the only person to ever be both President and Chief Justice.

1921 Mongolia becomes independent (from China).

1921 Mongolia gains independence from China (National Day).

1921 Truce called in the Irish War of Independence; see Irish calendar.

1922 Birth of Gene Evans Hollbrook Arizona; actor (My Friend Flicka, Matt Helm, Alamo).

1924 Birth of Brett Somers, Canadian actress

1925 Birth of Nicolai Gedda, Swedish tenor

1926 Birth of Frederick Buechner, American author

1927 Birth of Herbert Blomstedt in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA; conductor (Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra 1954-61).

1929 Birth of Hermann Prey in Berlin, Germany; baritone (Wolfram-Tannhanser).

1930 Birth of Harold Bloom, American literary critic

1931 Birth of Thurston Harris in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; vocalist (“Little Bitty Pretty One”).

1931 New York Giants beat Philadelphia Phillies 23-8.

1934 Birth of Giorgio Armani, Italian fashion designer

1934 Franklin Roosevelt becomes first US president to travel through Panama Canal.

1935 Birth of Oliver Napier, Northern Irish politician

1936 Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.

1936 Triborough Bridge linking Manhattan, Bronx and Queens opens.

1937 Death of George Gershwin, American composer (b. 1898)

1939 New York Yankees host 7th All Star Game, McCarthy starts 6 New York Yankees, American League wins 3-1.

1940 World War II: Vichy France regime formally established. Henri Philippe PTtain becomes Prime Minister of France.

1943 World War II: Allied invasion of Sicily – German troops launch a counter-attack on Allied forces in Sicily.

1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt says he will run for a fourth term as President of the United States.

1944 National League beats American League 7-1 in 12th All Star Game (Pittsburgh’ Forbes Field).

1945 Birth of Patrick Joseph McGrath, Catholic bishop

1946 A war crimes trial convicts Joachim Peiper, Sepp Dietrich, and 71 other former German SS officers and soldiers. Peiper and 42 others are sentenced to death.

1947 Birth of Jeff Hanna; rock vocalist (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – “Mr Bojangles”).

1949 Birth of Liona Boyd, English-born guitarist

1950 Birth of Bonnie Pointer; singer (Pointer Sisters).

1950 National League beats American League 4-3 (14 innings) in 17th All Star Game (Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois).

1950 Pakistan joins the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank.

1953 Birth of Leon Spinks; American heavyweight boxing champion (1978, Olympic-gold-1976).

1954 First White Citizens Council organizes in Indianola, Mississippi.

1955 Birth of Sergey Babinov in the USSR; ice hockey star (Olympic-gold-1972).

1955 New US Air Force Academy dedicated at Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado with 300 cadets.

1955 The phrase In God We Trust is added to all US currency.

1956 Birth of Sela Ward, American actress

1957 Birth of Michael Rose; rocker (Black Uhuru – “Brutal”, “Positive”).

1957 Prince Karim Husseini Aga Khan IV inherites the office of Imamat as the 49th Imam of Shia Imami Ismaili worldwide, after the passing away of Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah Aga Khan III

1958 Birth of Ray Dodds; rocker (Fairground Attraction – “You Send Me”).

1959 Birth of Richie Sambora; guitarist (Bon Jovi – “You Give Love a Bad Name”).

1959 Death of Charlie Parker, English cricketer (b. 1882)

1960 National League beats American League 5-3 in 28th All Star Game (Municipal Stadium, Kansas City).

1960 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published.

1962 Cosmonaut Micolaev sets record longest space flight – four days.

1962 First transatlantic satellite television transmission.

1962 Fred Baldasare is first to swim English Channel underwater (scuba).

1963 Birth of Al MacInnis, Canadian ice hockey player

1965 Birth of Ernesto Hoost, Dutch kickboxer

1966 Birth of Mel Appleby; rocker (Mel and Kim – “Coming to America”).

1966 Death of Delmore Schwartz, American Poet (b. 1913)

1967 In Denver, Colorado, USA a building is struck by a falling meteorite.

1967 Longest All Star Game, National League beats American League 2-1 (15 innings) (Anaheim Stadium, California).

1967 Revolution on Anguilla.

1968 Birth of Esera Tuaolo, American football player

1969 David Bowie’s single, “Space Oddity” is released to coincide with the first lunar landing.

1971 Copper mines in Chile nationalised.

1971 Death of John W. Campbell, American writer and editor (b. 1910)

1971 Philadelphia Phillies’ Deron Johnson’s three home runs caps his four in a row.

1972 Birth of Michael Rosenbaum, American actor

1973 A Brazilian Boeing 707 crashes near Paris on approach to Orly Airport, killing 123 people of the 134 on-board.

1973 Birth of Konstantinos Kenteris, Greek athlete

1974 Birth of Hermann Hreidarsson, Icelandic footballer

1974 Death of PSr Lagerkvist, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)

1974 US House Judiciary Committee releases evidence on Watergate inquiry.

1974 World Football League plays first games.

1975 Birth of Lil’ Kim, American rapper

1975 Chinese archeologists discover a large burial site with 6,000 clay statutes of warriors from 221 BC.

1975 L Chernykh discovers asteroid #2489 Suvorov.

1976 Birth of Eduardo N�jera, Mexican-born basketball player

1976 In the Panama-Colombia border region, magnitude 6.7 and 7.0 earthquakes occur, four hours apart.

1977 Martin Luther King is posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom.

1977 US Medal of Freedom awarded posthumously to Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

1978 A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain killing 216 tourists.

1978 National League beats American League 7-3 in 49th All Star Game (San Diego Stadium).

1979 The space station Skylab returns to Earth.

1981 Birth of Andre Johnson, NFL Wide Receiver

1981 Sebastian Coe of United Kingdom sets record for 1000 metre, 2:12.18.

1982 Birth of Chris Cooley, American football player; Lil Zane, American rapper/actor

1982 Italy beats West Germany 3-1 for soccer’s 12th World Cup in Madrid, Spain.

1983 A Boeing 727 crashes into hilly terrain after a tail strike in Cuenca, Ecuador, claiming 119 lives.

1983 Birth of Marie Eleonor Serneholt; Swedish singer (A*Teens).

1983 Death of Ross Macdonald, American-Canadian writer (born 1915).

1983 E Bowell discovers asteroid #3485 Barucci.

1984 Birth of Rachael Taylor, Australian actress.

1984 England’s MusicBox begins satellite transmission to Europe.

1984 National League beats American League 3-1 in 55th All Star Game (Candlestick Park San Francisco, California).

1985 Houston Astros’ Nolan Ryan is first to strike out 4000 (New York Mets’ Danny Heep).

1986 Death of Frances Griffiths, Cotingley Fairies girl (born 1907).

1986 Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway runs 10,000 m in world record 30:13.74.

1986 Maricica Puica of Romania runs 2,000 m in 5:28.69 (record for women).

1987 According to the United Nations, the world population crosses the 5,000,000,000 mark.

1987 Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke’s government is re-elected for a third term.

1987 Death of Avi Ran, Israeli footballer (b. 1963)

1987 Thomas F Waddell, founder of Gay Olympics, dies of AIDS at age 50.

1987 World population reaches 5 billion people, according to the United Nations.

1989 American League beats National League 5-3, (third of last four All Star Games) in California.

1989 Birth of David Henrie, American actor.

1989 Death of Sir Laurence Olivier, English actor (b. 1907)

1989 Sir Laurence Olivier, English stage and screen actor and director, dies at age 82 (born 1907).

1989 US President Ronald Reagan sportscasts the All Star Game.

1990 New York City police arrest “Dartman” (stabbed over 50 women with darts).

1991 A Nationair DC-8 crashed during an emergency landing at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing 261. The Canadian charter was ferrying Hajj pilgrims on behalf of Nigeria Airways.

1991 A total solar eclipse is seen in Hawaii and Mexico.

1991 Total solar eclipse in Hawaii.

1994 Death of Gary Kildall, American computer programmer (b. 1942)

1994 Gary Kildall dies in a bar brawl, at age 52. He was an American microcomputer industry visionary and pioneer, most well-known for creating the CP/M operating system.

1995 A Cubana de Aviacion Antonov An-24 crashes into the Caribbean off southeast Cuba killing 44 people.

1995 Bosnian Serbs march into Srebrenica while United Nations Dutch peacekeepers leave. Large numbers of Bosniak men and boys are killed in the Srebrenica massacre.

1995 Full diplomatic relations are established between the United States and Vietnam.

1995 In the Myanmar-China border region, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. Six people killed, 99 injured, more than 100,000 houses destroyed and 42,000 damaged.

1995 Srebrenica Genocide: Serb army from Yugoslavia and Bosnia, capture the Bosniak town of Srebrenica. More than eight thousands inhabitants are murdered. It is generally regarded to be the most horrific event in recent European history.

1997 90 die in Thailand’s worst hotel fire at Pattaya.

1999 Death of Helen Forrest, American jazz singer (born 1917).

1999 India recaptures Kargil, forcing the Pakistan Army to retreat. India announces victory ending the two-month conflict.

1999 In Honduras, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurs. Few injuries, damage to houses, bridges, and highways. Felt throughout most of Honduras and in eastern Guatemala. Felt in Belize, El Salvador and at Villahermosa, Mexico.

2000 Death of Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1921).

2000 (to July 25) Israel’s prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Liberation Organization head Yasser Arafat meet at Camp David, but fail to reach a peace agreement.

2001 Death of Herman Brood, Dutch musician and painter (suicide) (born 1946).

2003 Lahore-Delhi bus service resumed after suspension of 18 months.

2004 CIA Director George Tenet leaves his position at the CIA.

2004 Death of Laurance Rockefeller, American conservationist and philanthropist (b. 1910)

2005 Death of Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese professional wrestler (born 1965).

2006 A series of coordinated bomb attacks strikes several commuter trains in Mumbai, India during the evening rush hour.

2006 Death of Ross M. Lence, American political scientist (born 1943).

2006 Microsoft’s official support of Windows 98 and Windows Me ends.

2007 Death of Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson, former First Lady of the United States, environmentalist, at age 94 (born 1912).

2007 The ninth All Africa Games kick off in Algiers, Algeria.

2008 At Bonhams’ Goodwood Sale, a 1934 ERA RIA race car sells for US$720,237. A 1955 Jaguar D-Type XKD 509, first customer car, sells for US$4,416,676.

2008 Crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange hits a record high of US$147.27 per barrel.

2008 Death of Michael E. DeBakey, American surgeon and inventor (born 1908).

2008 In California, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp takes over mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp, second largest banking failure (US$32 billion in assets) in U.S. history, and the fifth U.S. bank to fail this year. The insurance firm estimates the cost of the failure at between $4 billion and $8 billion.

2008 Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva breaks her own world record in the women’s pole vault at Rome’s Golden Gala meet, jumping 5.03 metres.

2009 (to July 19) The 2009 Lusophony Games take place, with athletes from 12 Portuguese-speaking nations taking part.

2010 At the Potocari Memorial Centre in the suburbs of Srebrenica, Bosnia, 775 mainly Muslim Srebrenica massacre victims are buried on the 15th anniversary of the worst crime of genocide in Europe since World War II; about 60,000 attend the memorial, including Serbian president Boris Tadic.

2010 Spain defeats Netherlands 1-0 winning the FIFA World Cup of soccer.

2010 Two bombs explode in Ugandan capital of Kampala, killing 74 people and injuring 70 in a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant; the bombings targeted football fans watching the World Cup final.