the day in the history

July 25th - Canada

1990 BOUCHARD FOUNDS BLOC QUEBECOIS
Montreal Quebec - Lucien Bouchard announces formation of the Bloc Quebecois, a federal political party consisting of himself, five other ex-Conservative MPs and ex-Liberal Jean Lapierre; all of whom left their parties after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord; Bouchard is a former Environment Minister in the Mulroney Government and Canadian Ambassador to Paris.

1814 Also On This Day...
Niagara Falls, Ontario -
Gordon Drummond 1771-1854 arrives with reinforcements for a retreating General Riall at Lundy's Lane, 2 km below the falls, and takes the battle to Jacob Brown's Americans at 6 pm; Americans stalemated in a bitter all night battle, one of the bloodiest in the War of 1812; British and Canadians have 878 casualties, 84 killed, out of 3000 men; General Riall taken prisoner; Americans withdraw the following day to Fort Erie with 853 casualties, including 171 killed.

1996 Atlanta Georgia - Canada's Curtis Myden wins his second bronze medal of the Olympics, placing third in the 200m individual medley.
1996 Chicoutimi Quebec - Flood losses in the Saguenay region top $500 million.
1994 Montreal Quebec - Figure skating couple Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler turn professional.
1992 Barcelona Spain - Canadian team attends the opening of the 25th Olympic Games; to Aug. 9.
1990 Montreal Quebec - Lucien Bouchard announces formation of Bloc Quebecois; himself, 5 other ex-Conservative MPs & ex-Lib Jean Lapierre; left their parties after Meech Lake failure; former Environment Minister.
1989 London England - Canadian War Museum pays $79,000 at auction to acquire Victoria Cross awarded posthumously to Private Willam Milne of Saskatchewan; assisted by public donations; medal one of the five awarded to Canadians for the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917.
1982 Archambault Quebec - Bloody riot erupts at Archambault maximum-security prison near Montreal; inmates trying to escape kill three guards; two convicts commit suicide.
1981 Ottawa Ontario - McDonald Royal Commission condemns illegal RCMP activities against Quebec separatists and other dissidents; recommends civilian agency to take over security work.
1975 Montreal Quebec - Henry Morgentaler 1923- sentenced to 18 months in jail; serves 10 months before a retrial ordered.
1974 Ottawa Ontario - Government increases the Canadian contingent of the UN peacekeeping force on Cyprus from 486 to 950; at request of United Nations.
1973 Quebec Quebec - Louis St-Laurent 1882-1973 dies in Quebec at age 91; born Feb. 1, 1882, at Compton, Quebec; educated at St. Charles Seminary, Sherbrooke and Laval University; Professor of Law, Laval University 1914; President of the Canadian Bar Association 1930-1932; Counsel to Rowell-Sirois Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations 1937-1940; MP Quebec East 1942-1958; Liberal Party Leader 1948-1958; Canada's 12th Prime Minister Nov. 15, 1948-June 21, 1957; Leader of the Opposition 1957-1958.
1969 Ottawa Ontario - Parliament amends Official Languages Act to declare English and French the official languages of Canada.
1969 New York City - Toronto native Neil Young joins rock group Crosby, Stills and Nash for the first time at a concert at the Fillmore East; former Buffalo Springfield member with Stephen Stills; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young will perform at Woodstock a month later; they break up in 1971.
1966 Charlottetown PEI - Charlottetown Festival premieres the musical Turvey, based on Earle Birney's novel about the comic adventures of a Canadian soldier during World War II; revised and restaged in 1970 as Private Turvey's War.
1966 Sofia Bulgaria - Martine van Hamel 1945- wins junior class of international competition in Bulgaria; Toronto ballerina.
1960 Ottawa Ontario - Premiers meet for 3-day federal-provincial conference on constitutional amendments and tax issues.
1958 Hollywood, California - Harry Warner dies at 76; born Dec 12, 1881; film executive, one of Warner Brothers born at London, Ontario.
1952 Montreal Quebec - CBC/Radio Canada TV covers Montreal Royals baseball game; first experimental Canadian telecast; regular programming begins in September.
1950 Montreal Quebec - RCAF Squadron 426 leaves Dorval for the Far east as the Korean War begins.
1944 Normandy France - The 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions around Caen are ordered by Montgomery to push the entrenched German army off the Verrières ridge, take the heat of the Americans at St-Lô, and clear the main road through Falaise to Paris. Operation Spring begins with six infantry divisions and three tank squadrons attacking separately along an 8 km front against entrenched 1st SS Division panzer positions well sited on commanding high ground. In the early hours, German snipers ambush the advancing Canadians from cellars, tunnels and mine shafts, while Guy Simonds' plan to guide the assault troops toward Tilly-la-Campagne by bouncing searchlights off the clouds to produce artificial moonlight fails when someone orders the lights dropped to ground level, silhouetting the men to German fire; only about 100 men and just four tanks of the 3rd Division's North Nova Scotia Highlanders, the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, and the 2nd Armoured Brigade's Fort Garry Horse make it back to their lines; later that morning the lead company of The Royal Regiment of Canada succumbs to the fire of 30 enemy tanks, and the Cameron Highlanders of Canada, the Calgary Highlanders, and the Le Régiment de Maisonneuve are mauled when they tried to secure May-sur-Orne and Verrières village. The 5th Brigade's Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada cross the Orne, but are virtually wiped out when they are trapped on Verrières Ridge in heavy rain; only 60 out of 325 men make it to the top, and only 15 of the Black Watch live to tell about it. Before nightfall, a German counterattack leaves 2 companies of Fusiliers Mont-Royal virtually wiped out, and nearly breaks the 2nd Division's Royal Hamilton Light Infantry under J.L. Rockingham, but they clear Verrières village and dig in with anti-tank defenses to withstand three days of assaults. Except for Aug. 19, 1942 at Dieppe, this is the bloodiest day of the war for Canada, with over 1,500 wounded, and 450 dead. In total, Canadian divisions in Normandy will suffer 18,444 casualties, with 5,021 killed.
1937 Ottawa Ontario - Edward Saunders 1867-1937 dies; Dominion Experimental Farm scientist developed the superior Marquis strain of wheat which helped open the Prairies to farming.
1920 St. John's, Newfoundland - Canadian Marconi Company makes first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast from Signal Hill to the SS Victoria.
1917 Ottawa Ontario - Finance Minister Sir Thomas White introduces the Income Tax War Bill; proposal to levy the first national tax on personal income on Canadians; as a wartime measure only.
1911 Niagara Falls, Ontario - Bobby Leach survives drop over Niagara Falls in a steel barrel; spends 23 weeks in hospital recovering from injuries.
1911 Hawkesbury, Ontario - Carillon and Grenville Railway abandoned; portage railway opened Oct. 25, 1854; last remaining broad gauge (5'6") line in North America; later acquired by the Canadian Northern Railway as part of its new Montreal to Ottawa line.
1908 Quebec Quebec - Prince of Wales Revue inspects naval review at Quebec; to celebrate 300th anniversary.
1905 Ottawa Ontario - Parliament passes Northwest Territories Act; sets new boundaries; headed by a Commissioner.
1899 Toronto Ontario - Theodore August Heintzman dies at age 82; started making pianos in Toronto before 1860, founded the Heintzman and Company piano manufacturing company in Toronto in 1866; moved operations to Hanover, Ontario in 1978.
1879 Quebec Quebec - Letellier de St-Just loses his position of Lieutenant Governor of Quebec.
1874 Newmarket Ontario - Alexander Muir conducts a choir of schoolchildren singing his song, 'The Maple Leaf Forever', at the laying of the foundation stone for the Christian Baptist Church; not the first time; the 1871 sheet music says it had already been 'sung with great applause by J.F. Hardy, Esquire, in his popular entertainments.'
1873 Victoria BC - BC government protests Canada's failure to build railroad connection to fulfill terms of union.
1871 Old Fort Garry Manitoba - Lt. Governor Adams G. Archibald 1814-1892 negotiates Treaty #1 in Southern Manitoba with Swampy Cree and Chippewa (Ojibway); 26,875 sq km; $3 per Indian, acreage.
1850 Montreal Quebec - Francis Fulford 1803-1868 consecrated first Anglican Bishop of Montreal.
1837 Montreal Quebec - Abbé Ignace Bourget consecrated Roman Catholic Bishop of Montreal.
1787 Queen Charlotte BC - George Dixon dc1800 names Queen Charlotte Islands; trader with the King George's Sound Company.
1779 Castine Maine - Francis McLean c1717-1781 drives off American attack on Castine.
1759 Toronto Ontario - French abandon Fort Rouillé when they hear that Johnson has captured Fort Niagara.
1759 Youngstown New York - William Johnson and Brigadier General John Prideaux get surrender of Fort Niagara from outnumbered and outgunned French Commander Pouchot; he insists upon a solemn promise that Sir William Johnson will protect them from his Iroquois allies.
1758 Louisbourg, Nova Scotia - James Wolfe's troops silence Louisbourg's Island battery, and an exploding shell lands on the deck of the French warship Célèbre, setting off barrels of gunpowder; the fire jumps from ship to ship, destroying all but two of the French warships, the Prudent and Bienfaisant; at midnight, Amherst sends 25 boatloads of Marines into the harbour and takes the last two French ships.
1755 Halifax, Nova Scotia - Charles Lawrence meets with Acadians and orders them to take oath of allegiance to British Crown; they refuse.
1722 Maine - Beginning of Three Years War along Maine and Massachusetts border; mostly guerrilla raids by Indians along the Kennebec River.
1686 Churchill Manitoba - Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville captures the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Albany after a two-week siege.
1629 La Malbaie Quebec - David & Lewis Kirke defeat Emery De Caen and capture his supply ship; first naval combat on the St. Lawrence between the English privateers and French merchants.
1534 Quebec - Jacques Cartier 1491-1557 leaves Gaspé with Domagaya and Taignoagny, two sons of Iroquois Chief Donnacona; promises to return them following year.

July 25th - Black History

In 1946, During the late afternoon of the 25th of July 1946 four African-Americans were shot dead by a lynch mob at Moore's Ford, Walton county, Georgia, about eight miles from the town of Monroe. "The grotesquely sprawled bodies of the victims--the Coroner said at least sixty bullets were pumped into them--were found in a clump of bushes beside a little used side road...The uper parts of the bodies were scarcely recognizable from the mass of bullet holes." The victims were Roger Malcom, aged 24, Dorothy Malcom, aged 20, George Dorsey, a World War II hero, aged 28, and Mae Murray Dorsey, aged 23. Four factors contributed greatly to the Moore's Ford lynching. The first and most important of these was a wide-spread, accepted ideology that members of the white race were better than African-Americans; indeed, that African-Americans were subhuman. The second factor was the threat of competition. In 1846, for the first time, African-Americans could vote in the formerly all-white, Georgia Democratic primary. The third factor was the white racist Eugene Talmadge. His rabid 1946 campaign for governor undoubtedly set the stage for the lynching at Moore's Ford. The fourth factor was the "triggering event"; namely, Roger Malcom's fight with a white man named Barney Hester. And, of course, there were other pernicious forces at work in this case, forces of a more personal nature. Dorothy Malcom's unborn child was also lynched at Moore's Ford.

1956: Egypt seizes Suez Canal

Egypt's president, Colonel Nasser, announces the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company to provide funding for the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

Rescuers dig through the rubble
1963: Thousands killed in Yugoslav earthquake
Thousands of people are feared dead as a massive earthquake rocks the Yugoslavian city of Skopje.

British Prime Minister Clement Attlee (1883 - 1967) and his wife waving to crowds on their arrival at Transport House, London.
1945: Churchill loses general election
The Conservative party is heavily defeated in the General Election giving the Labour party its first majority ever.

Photograph of ambulance taking the injured to Charing Cross Hospital
1994: Israel's London embassy bombed
A car bomb explodes outside the Israeli embassy in London injuring 14 people.

Eva Peron
1952: Eva Peron is dead
Senora Eva Peron wife of the president of the Argentine Republic, dies from cancer, aged 33.

1983: Mother loses contraception test case
A mother of 10 fails to prevent doctors prescribing contraception to under-16s without parental consent.

1775 - A postal system was established by the 2nd Continental Congress of the United States. The first Postmaster General was Benjamin Franklin.

1788 - New York became the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1881 - Thomas Edison and Patrick Kenny execute a patent application for a facsimile telegraph (U.S. Pat. 479,184).

1893 - Commercial production of the Addressograph started in Chicago, IL.

1907 - The Chester was launched. It was the first turbine-propelled ship.

1908 - U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte issued an order that created an investigative agency that was a forerunner of the FBI.

1945 - Winston Churchill resigned as Britain's prime minister.

1947 - U.S. President Truman signed The National Security Act. The act created The National Security Council, the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

1948 - Babe Ruth was seen by the public for the last time, when he attended the New York City premiere of the motion picture, "The Babe Ruth Story".

1948 - U.S. President Truman signed executive orders that prohibited discrimination in the U.S. armed forces and federal employment.

1952 - King Farouk I of Egypt abdicated in the wake of a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.

1953 - Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. Castro eventually ousted Batista six years later.

1956 - Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal.

1964 - Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa and six others were convicted of fraud and conspiracy in the handling of a union pension fund.

1971 - Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy, FL.

1998 - AT&T and British Telecommunications PLC announced they were forming a joint venture to combine international operations and develop a new Internet system.

1999 - 1,500 pieces of Marilyn Monroe's personal items went on display at Christie's in New York, NY. The items went on sale later in 1999.

1996: Bomb rocks Atlanta Olympics

A bomb explodes in Atlanta, Georgia, the city hosting this year's Olympic Games leaving two people dead and many more injured.

Edward Heath
1965: Heath is new Tory leader
Shadow Chancellor Edward Heath beats off his rivals in the Conservative leadership contest.


1978: Transatlantic balloonists in trouble
Two British balloonists battling to be the first to cross the Atlantic are in difficulties half way across the ocean.

Mercenary leader Colonel 'Mad Mike' Hoare 1
1982: Seychelles coup leader guilty of hijack
Mercenary leader Colonel 'Mad Mike' Hoare is found guilty of hijacking a plane to escape from a failed coup in the Seychelles.

Bob Hope
2003: Comic legend Bob Hope dies
American icon and legendary comedian Bob Hope dies just two months after celebrating his 100th birthday.

Photograph of an NHS patient on a hospital trolley
2000: Labour publishes plans to revolutionise NHS
The Labour Government announces the most radical re-organisation of the NHS since it was founded in 1948.

1214 - At the Battle of Bouvines in France, Philip Augustus of France defeated John of England.

1245 - Frederick II of France was deposed by a council at Lyons, which found him guilty of sacrilege.

1663 - The British Parliament passed a second Navigation Act, which required all goods bound for the colonies be sent in British ships from British ports.

1689 - Government forces defeated the Scottish Jacobites at the Battle of Killiecrankie.

1694 - The Bank of England received a royal charter as a commercial institution.

1775 - Benjamin Rush began his service as the first Surgeon General of the Continental Army.

1784 - "Courier De L'Amerique" became the first French newspaper to be published in the United States. It was printed in Philadelphia, PA.

1777 - The marquis of Lafayette arrived in New England to help the rebellious American colonists fight the British.

1778 - The British and French fleets fought to a standoff in the first Battle of Ushant.

1789 - The Department of Foreign Affairs was established by the U.S. Congress. The agency was later known as the Department of State.

1866 - Cyrus Field successfully completed the Atlantic Cable. It was an underwater telegraph from North America to Europe.

1909 - Orville Wright set a record for the longest airplane flight. He was testing the first Army airplane and kept it in the air for 1 hour 12 minutes and 40 seconds.

1914 - British troops invaded the streets of Dublin, Ireland, and began to disarm Irish rebels.

1918 - The Socony 200 was launched. It was the first concrete barge and was used to carry oil.

1921 - Canadian biochemist Frederick Banting and associates announced the discovery of the hormone insulin.

1940 - Bugs Bunny made his official debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon "A Wild Hare."

1944 - U.S. troops completed the liberation of Guam.

1947 - The World Water Ski Organization was founded in Geneva, Switzerland.

1953 - The armistice agreement that ended the Korean War was signed at Panmunjon, Korea.

1955 - The Allied occupation of Austria ended.

1964 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson sent an additional 5,000 advisers to South Vietnam.

1965 - In the U.S., the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act was signed into law. The law required health warnings on all cigarette packages.

1967 - In the wake of urban rioting, U.S. President Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to assess the causes of the violence.

1974 - NBC-TV took "Dinah's Place" off of its daytime programming roster.

1974 - The U.S. Congress asked for impeachment procedures against President Richard Nixon.

1980 - The deposed shah of Iran, Muhammad Riza Pahlavi, died in a hospital near Cairo, Egypt.

1984 - Pete Rose passed Ty Cobb's record for most singles in a career when he got his 3,503rd base hit.

1992 - Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis died after collapsing on a Brandeis University basketball court during practice. He was 27 years old.

1993 - IBM's new chairman, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., announced an $8.9 billion plan to cut the company's costs.

1995 - The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC, by U.S. President Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young-sam.

1996 - At the Atlanta Olympics a pipe bomb exploded at the public Centennial Olympic Park. One person was killed and more than 100 were injured.

1998 - Robert Vaughn received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - The U.S. space shuttle Discovery completed a five-day mission commanded by Air Force Col. Eileen Collins. It was the first shuttle mission to be commanded by a woman.

2001 - The ribbon cutting ceremony was held for American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX. The event set two new world records, one for the 3 mile long ribbon and one for the 2,000 people that cut it.

2003 - It was reported by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.) that there was no monster in Loch Ness. The investigation used 600 separate sonar beams and satellite navigation technology to trawl the loch. Reports of sightings of the "Loch Ness Monster" began in the 6th century.

July 26th

1790 US passes Assumption bill making US responsible for state debts
1835 1st sugar cane plantation started in Hawaii
1847 Liberia declares independence from American Colonization Society
1848 1st Woman's Rights Convention (Senecca Falls NY)
1863 At Salineville, OH John Hunt Morgan & 364 troops surrender
1865 Patrick Francis Healy is 1st black awarded PhD (Louvain Belgium)
1866 Canoe Club opens in England
1887 1st Esperanto book published
1905 P Gotz discovers asteroid #568 Cheruskia
1908 Federal Bureau of Investigation established
1918 Race riot in Philadelphia (3 whites & 1 black killed)
1923 James Hoyt Wilhelm, pitcher
1926 National Bar Association incorporates
1928 Yanks score 11 runs in 12th beating Tigers 12-1
1933 Joe Dimaggio ends 61 game hitting streak in Pacific Coast League
1939 Yankee catcher Bill Dickey hits 3 consecutive HRs
1943 120ø F (49ø C), Tishmoningo, Oklahoma (state record)
1945 Churchill resigns as Britain's PM
1947 Department of Defense established
1947 National Security Act establishes the CIA
1948 1st black host of a network show-CBS' Bob Howard Show
1948 Pres Truman issues Executive Order No. 9981 directing "equality of
treatment & opportunity" in the armed forces
1949 C A Wirtanen discovers asteroid #1951 Lick
1952 Mickey Mantle hits his 1st grand-slammer
1953 Cuban pirate radio station's 1st transmission at Santiago de Cuba
1953 Fidel Castro leads attack on Moncada Barracks, begins Cuban rev
1955 Ted Allen throws a record 72 consecutive horseshoe ringers
1956 Egypt seizes Suez Canal
1957 Mickey Mantle hits career HR # 200
1957 USSR launches 1st intercontinental multistage ballistic missile
1958 Army launches 4th US successful satellite, Explorer IV
1959 C Hoffmeister discovers asteroid #2183
1963 US Syncom 2, 1st geosynchronous communications satellite, launched
1964 Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa convicted of fraud & conspiracy
1964 Train from Povoa de Varzin, Portugal derails near Oporto, 94 die
1965 Republic of Maldives gains independence from Britain (Nat'l Day)
1967 Twins beat Yanks 3-2 in 18
1969 Sharon Sites Adams, 39, becomes 1st lady to solo sail the Pacific
1971 Apollo 15 launched to the Moon
1971 N Chernykh discovers asteroid #1836 Komarov
1974 USSR's Soyuz fails to dock with Salyut 3
1975 Soyuz 18B returns to Earth
1979 Estimated 109 cm (43") of rain falls in Alvin, TX (national record)
1981 2 climbers rappell 550 m down cliff near Angel Falls, Venezuela
1981 E Bowell discovers asteroids #2845 Franklinken & #2882 Tedesco
1981 NY Mayor Ed Koch is given Heimlich maneuver in a Chinese restaurant
1982 Canada's Anik D1 Comsat launched by US Delta rocket
1983 Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating for STS-8
1983 Jarmila Kratochvilova of Czech sets 800m woman's record (1:53.28)
1986 Lebanese kidnappers released Rev Lawrence Martin Jenco
1988 Mike Schmidt sets NL record appearing in 2,155 games at 3rd base, as
Phillies & NY Mets end that game at 2:13 AM
1990 General Hospital tapes its 7,000th episode
1990 US beats the Soviet Union 17-0 in baseball at the Goodwill Games
1991 Expo's Mark Gardner no hits Dodgers for 9 innings, but loses in 10th
1991 Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) is arrested in Florida, for exposing
himself at an adult movie theater

July 26th

1603 James VI of Scotland was crowned King James I of England. He then 'authorized'an English translation of the Scriptures, first published in 1611 and known since as the'King James Version' of the Bible.
1741 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'Venture daily uponChrist, go out in His strength, and He will enable you to do wonders.'
1869 In England, the Disestablishment Bill was passed, officially dissolving the Churchof Ireland. (Organized opposition to this legislation coined one of longest words in theEnglish language: antidisestablishmentarianism.)
1926 The sanctuary of Our Lady of Victory, in Lackawanna, NY, became the first RomanCatholic church in the U.S. to be consecrated a basilica.
1935 The Open Bible Standard Churches was formed when two smaller revival movementswith similar objectives merged. OBSCI is headquartered today in Des Moines.

July 26th

1859 - The first intercollegiate regatta began in Worcester, MA. Harvard University defeated both Yale and Brown on Lake Quinsigamond.

1893 - Commercial production of the Addressograph started in Chicago, Illinois.

1939 - Sixteen-year-old singer Kay Starr got a big break. She recorded Baby Me with Glenn Miller and his orchestra on Victor Records. Starr was filling in for Marion Hutton who, at the last minute, was unable to attend the recording session.

1942 - Judy Garland joined Gene Kelly to record For Me and My Gal for Decca Records. The song is featured in the movie of the same name.

1947 - The National Security Act of July 26, 1947 was passed into law. It established the National Security Council and provided for all armed forces in the U.S. to be under the control of the National Military Establishment. That office is now called the Department of Defense.

1947 - The Abe Burrows Show premiered on CBS radio.

1948 - Babe Ruth was seen by the public for the last time as he attended the New York City premiere of the the motion picture, The Babe Ruth Story.

1969 - Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones, celebrated his 26th birthday with the release of the album, Beggar's Banquet. It was the first time that Jagger's guitar playing had been featured on any of the Stone's records.

1970 - Home runs came in triplicate. Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds belted three home runs against the St. Louis Cardinals, and Orlando Cepeda of the Atlanta Braves launched a trio of homers in a game with the Chicago Cubs.

1975 - Van McCoy and The Soul City Symphony reached the top spot on the Billboard record chart for the first -- and only -- time. The disco hit The Hustle became the top record in the U.S. The instrumental remained in the reflection of the disco mirror ball for only one week ... though plenty of other disco hits followed. Keep that white suit handy. Disco may just come back!

1984 - Purple Rain, the film creation of Prince, premiered in Hollywood. Attending the gala at the Palace Theatre were Eddie Murphy, Lionel Richie and Stevie Nicks. MTV presented live coverage of the events.

1984 - NBC took a giant step back to the way things were done in the 1950s. NBC started shooting 15-minute episodes of Punky Brewster to use when football games spilled over into the Punky time.

1987 - Robert Wrenn set a record for the Buick Open. He won the golf tourney with a 26-under-par 262, a seven-stroke victory. Wrenn just missed the PGA Tour record of 27-under-par at the tourney, which was held at Grand Blanc, MI.

1992 - Patty Sheehan defeated Juli Inkster in a playoff to win the 47th U. S. Women's Open at the Oakmont (PA) Country Club.

1998 - Hale Irwin birdied the 18th hole for a 69 to win the U.S. Senior Open by one stroke over Argentina's Vicente Fernandez at Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades CA.

2000 - U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel (in federal court, San Francisco CA) issued a preliminary injunction against online music service Napster. The judge ordered Napster to stop distributing copyrighted songs on the Web. Although Napster fought the ruling for months, this was the beginnning of the end for the Internet music distribution site.

July 26th - Canada

1874 THAT RINGS A BELL
Brantford Ontario - Alexander Graham Bell first describes his idea for the telephone to his father in Brantford.

1758 Also On This Day...
Niagara Falls, Ontario -
Louisbourg Nova Scotia - Jeffery Amherst 1717-1797 captures Louisbourg after siege of nearly 2 months; with Admiral Edward Boscawen and Brigadier James Wolfe. French commander Augustin Boschenry de Drucour 1703-1762 surrenders with 3,500 soldiers and about 4,000 sailors and militia. Amherst promises the French regulars their lives, but will offer no terms to the Canadians or Indians; if captured they will be treated the same as the garrison at Fort William Henry. Drucour forced to accept these conditions, and the Canadians and Indians flee in their canoes. English send French troops to England as prisoners of war for five years, deport civilian population to France.

1996 Montreal Quebec - Howard Galganov's Political Action Committee says it will start a boycott campaign against businesses in the west island of Montreal who post signs in French and not in English as well. Louise Beaudoin, minister responsible for la Charte de la langue franaise, has noted at least 142 infractions in the Fairview, Cavendish and Rockland shopping centres.
1995 Ottawa Ontario - Creation of the Information Highway Secretariat.
1995 Toronto Ontario - John Labatt Ltd. sold to Belgian brewer lnterbrew SA, completing a takeover valued at C$2.7 billion; deal makes lnterbrew the world's third-largest brewery.
1995 Ottawa Ontario - Sweden's Trelleborg AB sells its 28.3% interest in Falconbridge Ltd. to a syndicate of 15 brokerage firms for $1.4 billion.
1991 Ottawa Ontario - Canadian Football League assumes ownership of the nearly bankrupt Ottawa Rough Riders CFL football team.
1991 New York City - Bryan Adams' single '(Everything I Do) I Do It for You' stays at #1 on the Billboard pop chart for the second week in a row.
1991 Montreal Quebec - Expos pitcher Mark Gardner the first to hurl nine no-hit innings against a Dodger home team since Johnny Vander Meer beat Brooklyn at Ebbets Field on June 15, 1938, for his second straight gem; Dodgers win in 10th on two singles off Gardner and Darryl Strawberry's RBI single off Jeff Fassero.
1990 Ottawa Ontario - Federal government offers $3,840,000 to acquire the Oka lands claimed by the Mohawks as a burial ground and sacred site.
1984 Montreal Quebec - Pete Rose of the Expos ties Ty Cobb all-time career singles mark of 3,052, with a base hit in the eighth inning in a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1984 Ottawa Ontario - Supreme Court of Canada says that the obligation of parents from other provinces moving to Quebec to register their children in French schools is unconstitutional.
1983 Toronto Ontario - Cookie Gilchrist first player to refuse induction into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame; former CFL star with the Argonauts.
1982 Cape Canaveral, Florida - NASA launches Canada's Anik D1 Comsat on a Delta rocket.
1982 Archambault Quebec - Prisoners kill 3 guards during escape attempt at Archambault maximum security prison near Montreal; two inmates commit suicide.
1982 Lima Peru - Karen Baldwin of London, Ontario, chosen first Canadian Miss Universe; age 18.
1980 New York City - Blues Brothers single 'Gimme Some Lovin' peaks at #18 on the Billboard pop singles chart; featuring John Belushi and Ottawa's Dan Ackroyd.
1978 Edmonton Alberta - Queen Elizabeth II 1926- starts 10-day visit to Canada to open the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton.
1967 Montreal Quebec - French President Charles de Gaulle ends controversial Canadian tour, flies home to France, after rebuke from Canada for his 'Vive le Quebec libre' statement.
1966 Vancouver BC - George Victor Spencer found guilty of gross misconduct in supplying information to Soviet Union; former postal clerk.
1959 New York City - Ottawa pop singer Paul Anka's single 'Lonely Boy' hits #1 on the Billboard charts.
1953 Pamnunjon Korea - UN signs Korean Armistice in Pamnunjon.
1950 Toronto Ontario - Funeral services for former Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.
1944 Tilly France - Canadians reportedly capture Tilly before dawn, but they only control half the village, and the German panzers counter-attack, destroying most Canadian tanks and cutting off the North Nova Scotia Highlanders.
1936 Arras France - King Edward VIII 1894-1972 dedicates Vimy Memorial, designed by Canadian sculptor Walter Allward, commemorating those Canadians who took Vimy Ridge in 1917.
1923 Vancouver BC - Warren Harding 1865-1923 visits Vancouver on way back from Alaska; first US President to visit Canada during his term of office.
1923 PEI - James David Stewart 1874-1933 leads Conservatives back to power in Prince Edward Island elections.
1881 Winnipeg Manitoba - Canadian Pacific Railway completed to Winnipeg.
1889 Lac Ste-Anne, - Group of over 100 people make a pilgrimage to the church at Lac Ste-Anne, 50 km NW of Edmonton; built to commemorate the vision of a parish priest from St. Albert, who saw a vision of the Saint on a visit to Ste. Anne's shrine in France in 1889; tradition continues today.
1885 Calgary Alberta - Father Lacombe welcomes five teaching sisters from the Sisters Faithful Companions of Jesus who had been trapped in Batoche during the Riel Rebellion; that September, the sisters enroll 22 pupils in what will become Roman Catholic School District Number One.
1880 Ottawa Ontario - John A. Macdonald leaves for London to discuss the CPR and Canadian finances.
1879 Quebec Quebec - Theodore Robitaille 1834-1897 new Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec; former incumbent Letellier de St. Just dismissed by John A. Macdonald.
1852 Toronto Ontario - Toronto business leaders Bloor, Gzowski, McMaster, Barrow & Frazer form an Association of Brokers to promote local securities; membership cost $6; a false start to a stock exchange.
1837 Yamachiche Quebec - Patriotes hold a protest meeting at Yamachiche, in the county of Saint-Maurice.
1814 Fort Erie Ontario - Major General Jacob Brown withdraws to Fort Erie with General Eleazor Ripley after mauling at Lundy's Lane; 853 US casualties, including 171 killed; end of American offensive in Niagara.
1786 Charlottetown PEI - Edmund Fanning 1737-1818 appointed Lieutenant-Governor of St. John Island; incumbent Walter Patterson at first refuses to give up office; Fanning serves May 1787 until May 9, 1804.
1759 Ticonderoga New York - Jeffery Amherst 1717-1797 captures Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga); and Fort St-Frederic (Crown Point) five days later; French retreat to Montreal.
1757 Lake George New York - Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm 1712-1759 and François de Lévis, Duc de Lévis 1719-1787 defeated by British troops led by Colonel Parker at Sabbath Day Point.
1704 Quebec - Mgr. de St-Vallier captured by the English.
1673 Kingston Ontario - Fort Frontenac completed by the French.
1664 Quebec Quebec - Sovereign Council fixes commodity and shipping prices; requires price tags on goods.
1651 Montreal Quebec - Band of 200 Iroquois attack l'hôpital de Montréal.
1615 Trois-Rivières Quebec - Establishment of the first mission at Three Rivers.

July 26th - Black History

1847 President Joseph Jenkins Roberts
President Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a native of Virginia, declared Liberia an independent republic.
1848 Frederick Douglass was the only male to play a
Frederick Douglass was the only male to play a prominent role at the first Woman's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York. He seconded the woman's suffrage motion introduced by Elizabeth Cady St ...
(MORE)
1865 Patrick Francis Healy, first Black awarded Ph.D
Patrick Francis Healy, first Black awarded Ph.D. degree, passed final examination at Louvain in Belgium.
1916 Spottiswood W. Robinson
Spottiswood W. Robinson, representative of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, dean of the Howard University Law School, member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and appointed by President Lyndon B. J ...
(MORE)
1918 Race riot, Philadelphia
Race riot, Philadelphia. Three whites and one Black were killed.
1926 Spingarn Medal: Carter G. Woodson
Spingarn Medal awarded to Carter G. Woodson for "ten years devoted service in collecting and publishing the records of the Negro in America."
1926 National Bar Association incorporated
National Bar Association incorporated.
1948 President Truman
President Truman issued Executive Order No. 9981 directing "equality of treatment and opportunity" in the armed forces.
1997
Independence Day for the Republic of Liberia

July 27th

432 St Celestine I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1501 Copernicus formally installed as canon of Frauenberg Cathedral
1586 Sir Walter Raleigh brings 1st tobacco to England from Virginia
1661 Parliament confirms the Navigation Act
1689 Jacobite Scottish Highlanders defeat royal force at Killiecrankie
1694 Bank of England chartered
1789 Congress establishes Dept of Foreign Affairs (State dept)
1816 Fort Blount on Apalachicola Bay Fla, attacked by US Troops
1836 Adelaide, South Australia founded
1837 US Mint opens in Charlotte, NC
1844 Fire destroys the US mint at Charlotte, NC
1861 Union Gen George McClellan took command of Potamic Army
1862 Steamer "Golden Gate" burns & sinks off west coast of Mexico
1866 Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid (1,686 miles long)
1879 C H F Peters discovers asteroid #200 Dynamene
1880 Battle of Maiwand, at which Dr Watson was wounded, breaks out
1897 37.5 cm (14.75") of rainfall, Jewell, Maryland (state 24-hr record)
1898 Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of The Dancing Men" (BG)
1905 J Palisa discovers asteroid #569 Misa
1908 A Kopff discovers asteroid #668 Dora
1909 Orville Wright tests 1st US Army airplane, flying 1h12m
1918 Socony 200, 1st concrete barge in US, launched to carry oil, NY
1919 Chicago race riot (15 whites & 23 blacks killed, 500 injured)
1920 Resolute beats Shamrock IV (England) in 14th running of America's Cup
1924 8th Olympic games closes in Paris
1933 G Van Biesbroeck discovers asteroid #1312 Vassar
1933 K Reinmuth discovers asteroid #1284 Latvia
1940 Billboard magazine starts publishing bestseller charts
1941 Japanese forces land in Indo-China
1944 1st British jet fighter used in combat (Gloster Meteor)
1944 US regains possession of Guam from Japanese
1946 Red Sox Rudy York hits 2 grand slams in 1 game
1947 Yogi Berri starts record 148 game errorless streak
1949 Havilland Comet 40-passenger airliner makes maiden flight
1953 Armistice signed ending Korean War
1954 Armistice divides Vietnam into two countries
1955 Austria regains full independence after 4-power occupation
1955 Goethe Link Observatory discovers asteroid #1751 Herget
1960 VP Nixon nominated for pres at Republican convention in Chicago
1962 Mariner 2 launched to Venus; flyby mission
1962 Martin Luther King Jr jailed in Albany Georgia
1968 Race Riot in Gary Indiana
1969 Pioneer 10 launched
1972 NHL star Maurice "Rocket" Richard signs with WHL Quebec Nordiques
1973 Walter Blum becomes 6th jockey to ride 4,000 winners
1974 House Judiciary Committee votes 27-11 recommends Nixon impeachment
1976 8.2 Tangshan earthquake kills estimated 240,000 Chinese
1977 John Lennon is granted a green card for permanent residence in US
1982 Indian PM Indira Gandhi 1st visit to US in almost 11 years
1987 John Demjanjuk, accused Nazi "Ivan the Terrible" testifies in Israel
1988 Boston's worst traffic jam in 30 years
1988 Radio Shack announces the Tandy 1000 SL computer
1989 Atlanta Brave Dale Murphy is 10th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (6th)
1990 Zsa Zsa Gabor begins a 3 day jail sentence for slapping a cop
1991 Rocker Jani Lane, (Warrant-Cherry Pie) marries model Bobbie Brown
1991 TV Guide publishes it's 2000th edition

July 27th

1741 Birth of Fran‡ois H. Barth‚l‚mon, French Swedenborgian composer. Two of his manyworks later became hymn tunes: AUTUMN (Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus) and BALERMA (Oh, fora Closer Walk with God).
1861 Birth of Cyrus H. Nusbaum, an American Methodist clergyman who penned the hymn,'Would You Live for Jesus, and Be Always Pure and Good?' (aka 'His Way With Thee').
1901 Death of B.F. Westcott, 76, English N.T. scholar. In 1881, he and colleague F.J.A.Hort published the most precise critical text of the Greek New Testament ever compiled --still in use today.
1903 Death of Caroline (Lina) V. Sandell Berg, 71. Known as the 'Fanny Crosby ofSweden,' her most beloved hymns (in their English translation) include 'Day by Day' and'Children of the Heavenly Father.'
1913 In Oxford, PA, the first Victorious Life Conference closed. Founder Robert C.McQuilkin, inspired by England's Keswick Movement, emphasized in these meetings anattainment of spiritual freedom from the power of every known sin.

July 27th

1816 Fort Blount on Apalachicola Bay, Fla. was attacked
Fort Blount on Apalachicola Bay, Fla., attacked by U.S. troops. The Fort, which was held by fugitive slaves and Indians, was taken after siege of several days.
1847 Alexandre Pierre Dumas born
Birthday of Alexandre Pierre Dumas, auhtor of "Camille" and son of novelist Alexandre Dumas.
1847 FIRST REPUBLIC SET UP BY FREED SLAVES
After departing New York Port in 1820 the first group of freed blacks landed first in Sherbro Island in Sierra Leone and later moved on to Bushrod Island in what is today in Monrovia and established a ...
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1919 Troops were mobilized to put down Chicago riot
Troops were mobilized to put down Chicago riot which erupted on July 27, and continued for several days. Fifteen whites and twenty-three Blacks were killed and more than five hundred were injured.
1962 Martin Luther King Jr. jailed
Martin Luther King Jr. jailed in Albany, Georgia
1968 Riot, Gary, Indiana
Riot, Gary, Indiana.
1980
Inventor, AP Abourne was awarded patent for refining coconut oil, 1880
1980 Coconut Oil Refined
A. P. Abourne invented the process to refine
coconut oil on this day.
1816 Garcia And Fort Negro: After the War of 1812, over three hundred African Americans occupied an abandoned British fort on the banks of the Apalachicola River in what is now Florida. Known as Fort Negro, it was headed by an African American man named Garcia. The heavily armed fort became a symbol of Black independence and a threat to the southern slave system. The United States Government made destruction of the fort one of its highest priorities after the war of 1812. In the summer of 1816, the U.S. Navy and Army under Colonel Clinch surrounded Fort Negro and called on the community to surrender, Garcia refused. On July 27, 1816, an attack was launched, but the heavily fortified garrison repelled it. But a second attack succeeded in hitting the ammunition supply, and the fort exploded. Only sixty four of the three hundred African Americans survived the blast, and only three of the sixty four were uninjured. Garcia, unhurt was executed by firing squad. The remaining survivors were returned to slavery.

July 27th - Asia

1982 Commercial whaling banned in Australia
On this day in Australia, the International Whaling Commission phased out commercial whaling.


1980 Death of former Shah of Iran
The former Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlevi, died on this day in exile in Egypt. The Shah had left the country in January of 1979 as the Islamic socialist revolution of Iran was sweeping the country.


1953 North Korea & UN sign armistice
On this day, a cease-fire was signed by Lieutenant General Nam il and Lieutenant General William K. Harrison at Panmunjom. Twelve hours later, the fighting between North and South Korea ended after more than three years of fighting. The negotiating teams were made up of the United Nations Command (representing UN, U.S., and South Korean forces) on one side and the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army with the commander of the Chinese People's Volunteers on the other. The purpose of the agreement was to stop the fighting and prevent outbreaks of hostilities "until a peaceful settlement is achieved." The agreement established the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ is an area of two kilometers on both sides of the Military Demarcation Line, 155 miles long, that forms the border between North and South Korea. The country remains divided and has yet to negotiate a permanent peace treaty replacing this supposed temporary truce.

July 27th - Canada

1996 BAILEY THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE; 3RD GOLD FOR MCBEAN & HEDDLE
Atlanta Georgia - Canada's Donovan Bailey wins Olympic gold, running the 100 m sprint in 9.84, setting a new world record; competition held beneath flags at half-mast to honour the one person killed and 100 injured by a pipe bomb. At Lake Lanier, Canadian rowers Marnie McBean and Kathleen Heddle also win gold in the double sculls, becoming Canada's first and only three-time Olympic gold medalists. Both Silken Laumann and Derek Porter row to silver in their single sculls. Canada now has 2 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze medals in the games.

1921 Also On This Day...
Toronto Ontario -
Frederick Banting first isolates insulin from the pancreatic duct of a dog; assisted by colleagues J. J. R. Macleod, Charles Best [left in the picture], and Bertram Collip at the University of Toronto; in January 1922, they administer insulin to 14 year old Leonard Thompson, and prove it an effective lifesaving treatment for diabetes in humans; in 1923, Banting and Macleod will be the first Canadians to win a Nobel Prize (they will share the award with Best and Collip); Banting does not patent the process, but assigns the rights to the University of Toronto, who will manufacture it through Connaught Laboratories.

1866 Also On This Day...
Heart's Content, Newfoundland -
Cyrus W. Field and his Anglo-American Telegraph Company finally succeed, after two failures, in laying the first workable underwater telegraph cable 1,686 miles long across the Atlantic Ocean to Wales; had set up operations in Newfoundland, and the steamship Great Eastern successfully retrieved and mended the broken cable from earlier attempts
In Other Events....
1995 Toronto Ontario - Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc. buys 19 of 21 small newspapers in Ontario and Saskatchewan that Thomson Corp. put up for sale as part of a reorganization.
1992 Ottawa Ontario - Kim Campbell unveils new firearms regulations; 60 military-type weapons banned; magazines limited to 5, 10 shot; Justice Minister; guns must be stored away from ammunition, and kept locked.
1991 Penticton BC - 2,000 youths riot after a concert by rap star MC Hammer; smash and loot downtown stores, and wreck tourist establishments along the beach; 90 jailed, 60 treated for injuries.
1991 New York City - Bryan Adams' single '(Everything I Do) I Do It For You' peaks at #1 on the Billboard pop singles chart and will stay there for seven weeks.
1984 New York City - Anne Murray's single 'Just Another Woman in Love' peaks at #1 on the Billboard pop singles chart.
1984 Montreal Quebec - Expos' Pete Rose passes Ty Cobb for the most career singles with #3,503, getting the hit against his former team, the Philadelphia Phillies.
1982 Montreal Quebec - Expos win their 1,000th game with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs.
1981 Ottawa Ontario - Federal government announces 20% cut in Via Rail passenger service.
1972 Quebec Quebec - NHL star Maurice 'Rocket' Richard jumps leagues and signs with the WHA Quebec Nordiques.
1965 Charlottetown PEI - Alan Lunt premieres musical play 'Anne of Green Gables,' based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery, at the Charlottetown Festival.
1964 Ottawa Ontario - Tunku Abdul Rahman Prime Minister of Malaysia, starts three-day visit to Canada.
1962 Toronto Ontario - Canadian Talent Library begins operations.
1960 Ottawa Ontario - Canadian army units were formed for service in the Congo on behalf of the United Nations.
1959 New York City - Toronto joins New York, Houston, Denver, and Minneapolis-St. Paul as one of the five cities named as part of the new Continental Baseball League; Branch Rickey was named League president.
1953 Panmunjon Korea - armistice ends Korean War; 21,940 Canadians in Korea in Army, 3,621 in Navy, and 1,104 in Air Force; 7,000 Canadians serve in Korea with UN forces after end of war, until November.
1952 Ottawa Ontario - Opening of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa.
1935 New Brunswick - A. Allison Dysart 1887-1957 leads Liberals to victory in NB provincial elections.
1934 Saskatchewan - Saskatchewan Farmer Labor Party becomes the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation - CCF; later the NDP.
1926 Arvida Quebec - Smelting of the first aluminum ingot at Arvida.
1924 Paris France - Closing of the eighth Olympic games in Paris. Canada won no gold medals, but silver in the Rowing Eights: Arthur Bell, Ivor Campbell, Robert Hunter, William Langford, Harold Little, John Smith, Warren Snyder, Norm Taylor, William Wallace; silver in the Coxless Fours: Archie Black, Colin Finlayson, George MacKay, William Wood; silver in Team Clay Pigeon: William Barnes, George Beattie, John Black, James Montgomery, Sam Newton, Sam Vance; bronze in Boxing 66.68 kilograms: Doug Lewis.
1913 Ottawa Ontario - First issue of the newspaper 'Le Droit' published at Ottawa; today part of Southam/Hollinger chain.
1898 Skagway Alaska - Michael J. Heney operates first locomotive on his White Pass & Yukon Railway.
1897 Toronto Ontario - Toronto has its greatest one-day rainfall, a torrent amounting to 98.6 mm.
1891 Strathcona Alberta - Last spike driven on the Calgary and Edmonton Railway; begun July 21, 1890; five-day stagecoach journey reduced to a train trip of only a few hours; C&E taken over by CPR in 1903.
1880 Montreal Quebec - Old Hotel Donnagona becomes a hospital.
1853 Sherbrooke Quebec - Grand Trunk Railroad completed from Sherbrooke to the US border.
1865 Montreal Quebec - Death of Augustin-Norbert Morin, lawyer, port, former co-Premier of the Province of Canada.
1812 Toronto Ontario - Fifth session of sixth Parliament of Upper Canada meets until Aug. 5; passes Act for defence of province.
1762 St. John's Newfoundland - Charles-Henri-Louis d'Arsac de Ternay 1723-1780 captures Fort William Henry at St. John's.
1636 Quebec Quebec - Signature of the first marriage contract in New France; such notarized family agreements often predated Church weddings.
1606 Annapolis, Nova Scotia - Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt 1557-1615 arrives at Port-Royal on the Jonas with Louis Hébert; the expedition sows grain and other foods successfully; the first permanent French colony in Canada.

2000: Last batch of prisoners leave the Maze

Nearly 80 men imprisoned for terrorist offences are freed from the Maze prison in Northern Ireland.

Photo of US troops preparing for an offensive in Vietnam
1965: US orders 50,000 troops to Vietnam
President Johnson commits a further 50,000 US troops to the conflict in Vietnam.

Ship in a dock
1972: National dock strike begins
Thousands of British dockers begin an official strike to safeguard jobs.

Photograph of Paddy Ashdown at the SLD party conference
1988: Paddy Ashdown to lead third party in Britain
The MP for Yeovil, Paddy Ashdown, is elected the first leader of the new Social and Liberal Democrat Party.

1214 - At the Battle of Bouvines in France, Philip Augustus of France defeated John of England.

1245 - Frederick II of France was deposed by a council at Lyons, which found him guilty of sacrilege.

1663 - The British Parliament passed a second Navigation Act, which required all goods bound for the colonies be sent in British ships from British ports.

1689 - Government forces defeated the Scottish Jacobites at the Battle of Killiecrankie.

1694 - The Bank of England received a royal charter as a commercial institution.

1775 - Benjamin Rush began his service as the first Surgeon General of the Continental Army.

1784 - "Courier De L'Amerique" became the first French newspaper to be published in the United States. It was printed in Philadelphia, PA.

1777 - The marquis of Lafayette arrived in New England to help the rebellious American colonists fight the British.

1778 - The British and French fleets fought to a standoff in the first Battle of Ushant.

1789 - The Department of Foreign Affairs was established by the U.S. Congress. The agency was later known as the Department of State.

1866 - Cyrus Field successfully completed the Atlantic Cable. It was an underwater telegraph from North America to Europe.

1909 - Orville Wright set a record for the longest airplane flight. He was testing the first Army airplane and kept it in the air for 1 hour 12 minutes and 40 seconds.

1914 - British troops invaded the streets of Dublin, Ireland, and began to disarm Irish rebels.

1918 - The Socony 200 was launched. It was the first concrete barge and was used to carry oil.

1921 - Canadian biochemist Frederick Banting and associates announced the discovery of the hormone insulin.

1940 - Bugs Bunny made his official debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon "A Wild Hare."

1944 - U.S. troops completed the liberation of Guam.

1947 - The World Water Ski Organization was founded in Geneva, Switzerland.

1953 - The armistice agreement that ended the Korean War was signed at Panmunjon, Korea.

1955 - The Allied occupation of Austria ended.

1964 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson sent an additional 5,000 advisers to South Vietnam.

1965 - In the U.S., the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act was signed into law. The law required health warnings on all cigarette packages.

1967 - In the wake of urban rioting, U.S. President Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to assess the causes of the violence.

1974 - NBC-TV took "Dinah's Place" off of its daytime programming roster.

1974 - The U.S. Congress asked for impeachment procedures against President Richard Nixon.

1980 - The deposed shah of Iran, Muhammad Riza Pahlavi, died in a hospital near Cairo, Egypt.

1984 - Pete Rose passed Ty Cobb's record for most singles in a career when he got his 3,503rd base hit.

1992 - Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis died after collapsing on a Brandeis University basketball court during practice. He was 27 years old.

1993 - IBM's new chairman, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., announced an $8.9 billion plan to cut the company's costs.

1995 - The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC, by U.S. President Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young-sam.

1996 - At the Atlanta Olympics a pipe bomb exploded at the public Centennial Olympic Park. One person was killed and more than 100 were injured.

1998 - Robert Vaughn received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - The U.S. space shuttle Discovery completed a five-day mission commanded by Air Force Col. Eileen Collins. It was the first shuttle mission to be commanded by a woman.

2001 - The ribbon cutting ceremony was held for American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX. The event set two new world records, one for the 3 mile long ribbon and one for the 2,000 people that cut it.

2003 - It was reported by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.) that there was no monster in Loch Ness. The investigation used 600 separate sonar beams and satellite navigation technology to trawl the loch. Reports of sightings of the "Loch Ness Monster" began in the 6th century.