the day in the history

1981: Charles and Diana marry

Thousands line the streets of London to glimpse Prince Charles and Lady Diana on their wedding day.

Stephen Lawrence
1993: Lawrence murder suspects freed
Charges are dropped against two youths accused of murdering black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

Pope Paul VI
1968: Pope renews birth control ban
Pope Paul VI has confirmed a ban on the use of contraceptives by Roman Catholics in spite of a Church commission's recommendation for change.

Photograph of Southend Pier on fire
1976: Fire engulfs Southend Pier
Fire has destroyed the famous pierhead at the end of the world's longest pier, in Southend on the UK's south-east coast

1588 - The English defeated the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Gravelines.

1754 - The first international boxing match was held. The 25-minute match was won when Jack Slack of Britain knocked out Jean Petit from France.

1773 - The first schoolhouse to be located west of the Allegheny Mountains was built in Schoenbrunn, OH.

1786 - "The Pittsburgh Gazette" became the first newspaper west of the Alleghenies to be published. The paper's name was later changed to "The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette".

1874 - Major Walter Copton Winfield of England received U.S. patent for the lawn-tennis court.

1890 - Artist Vincent van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers, France.

1914 - The first transcontinental telephone service was inaugurated when two people held a conversation between New York, NY and San Francisco, CA.

1940 - John Sigmund of St. Louis, MO completed a 292-mile swim down the Mississippi River. The swim from St. Louis to Caruthersville, MO took him 89 hours and 48 minutes.

1950 - Disney's adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" was released.

1957 - Jack Paar began hosting the "Tonight" show on NBC-TV. The name of the show was changed to "The Jack Paar Show". Paar was host for five years.

1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency was established.

1958 - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was authorized by the U.S. Congress.

1967 - Fire swept the USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin. 134 U.S. servicemen were killed.

1968 - Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's stance against artificial methods of birth control.

1975 - OAS (Organization of American States) members voted to lift collective sanctions against Cuba. The U.S. government welcomed the action and announced its intention to open serious discussions with Cuba on normalization.

1981 - England's Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married.

1983 - Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers set the National League consecutive game record at 1,207.

1985 - General Motors announced that Spring Hill, TN, would be the home of the Saturn automobile assembly plant.

1993 - The Israeli Supreme Court acquitted retired Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk of being Nazi death camp guard "Ivan the Terrible." His death sentence was thrown out and he was set free.

1997 - Minamata Bay in Japan was declared free of mercury 40 years after contaminated food fish were blamed for deaths and birth defects.

1998 - The United Auto Workers union ended a 54-day strike against General Motors. The strike caused $2.8 billion in lost revenues.

1999 - Mark O. Barton killed nine people and wounded 13 others in a shooting rampage in Atlanta, GA. He wife and two children had been found bludgeoned to death earlier in the day.

July 28th

1586 Sir Thomas Harriot introduces potatoes to Europe
1588 Spanish Armada sails to overthrow England's Queen Elizabeth I
1609 Admiral George Somers settles in Bermuda
1821 Peru declares independence from Spain (National Day)
1830 Revolution in France replaces Charles X with Louis Philippe
1849 Memmon is 1st clipper to reach SF, 120 days out of NY
1851 Total solar eclipse captured on a daguerreotype photograph
1862 Confederate forces defeated at More's Hill, Mo
1864 Atlanta Campaign-Battle of Ezra Church
1866 Metric system becomes a legal measurement system in US
1868 14th Amendment ratified, citizenship to exslaves
1882 The opera "Parsifal" is produced (Bayreuth)
1883 Shocks triggered by the volcano Epomeo (Isle of Ischia, Italy)
destroyed 1,200 houses at Casamicciola killing 2,000
1896 City of Miami incorporated
1898 Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of the Retired Colourman"(BG)
1900 Hamburger created by Louis Lassing in Connecticut
1906 Yankees turn triple-play, beat Cleveland 6-4
1913 US wins its 1st Davis Cup since 1902, beating England, 3-2
1914 Austria-Hungary attacks Serbia-WW I begins
1914 Foxtrot 1st danced at New Amsterdam Roof Garden (NYC, by Harry Fox)
1915 10,000 blacks march on 5th Ave (NYC) protesting lynchings
1915 US forces invade Haiti, stays until 1924
1928 Olympics open at Amsterdam
1929 Chicago Cardinals become 1st NFL team to train out of state (Mich)
1930 114ø F (46ø C), Greensburg, Kentucky (state record)
1931 Congress makes "The Star-Spangled Banner" our 2nd national anthem
1931 White Sox score 11 in 8th to beat Yankees 14-12
1932 Pres Hoover evicts bonus marchers from their encampment
1933 1st singing telegram delivered (to Rudy Vallee), NYC
1933 NFL divides into 2, 5 team divisions
1934 118ø F (48ø C), Orofino, Idaho (state record)
1935 G Neujmin discovers asteroid #1386 Storeria
1938 K Reinmuth discovers asteroid #1485 Isa
1940 Yankee Charle Keller hits 3 HRs to beat White Sox 10-9
1942 Nazis liquidate 10,000 Jews in Minsk Russia
1943 Italian Facist dictator Benito Mussolini resigns
1943 Pres FDR announces end of coffee rationing in US
1945 US Army bomber crashes into 79th floor of Empire State Bldg, 14 die
1945 US Senate ratifies UN charter 89-2
1948 I.G. Farben chemical plant explodes in Ludwigshafen, Germany, 182 die
1951 Walt Disney's "Alice In Wonderland" released
1957 White Sox' James Landis struck out 5 times in a game
1959 Hawaii's 1st US election sends 1st Asian-Americans to Congress
1960 Republican National convention selects Richard Nixon
1962 19 die in a train crash in Steelton Pa
1962 Mariner I launched to Mars falls into Atlantic Ocean
1964 Ranger 7 launched toward the Moon; sent back 4308 TV pictures
1967 Pirate Radio Station 390 (Radio Invicta) (England) closes down
1971 16 time gold glover Brook Robinson commits 3 errors in 6th inning
1973 Skylab 3's astronauts (Bean, Garriott & Lousma) launched
1974 69 die when packed bus strikes heavy truck (Belem, Brazil)
1976 242,000 die in Tientsin-Tangshan (China) 8.2 earthquake
1976 Eldon Joersz & Geo Morgan set world air speed record of 3,530 kph
1976 White Sox John Odom (5 inn) & Francisco Barrios (4 inn) no-hits A's
1977 1st oil flow through the Alaska pipeline
1977 Roy Wilkins turn over NAACP leadership to Benjamin L Hooks
1978 600,000 attend Watkins Glen Summer Jam in NY
1978 At Old Timer's Game it's announced Martin will again manage Yankees
1978 Perth Observatory discovers asteroid #3188 & #3422
1978 Price of gold tops $200-an-oz level for 1st time
1979 Dave Kingman becomes 6th to have a 2nd 3 HR game
1980 Fernando Bela£nde Terry becomes president of Peru
1983 AL Pres Lee MacPhail threw out umpire's decision & allows
George Brett's 2 run HR against Yanks on July 24 (pine tar game)
NASA launches Telstar-3A
1984 23rd modern Olympic games opens in Los Angeles
1986 NASA releases transcript from doomed Challenger, pilot Michael Smith
could be heard saying, "Uh-oh!" as spacecraft disintegrated
1987 Angel Cordero Jr becomes the 4th jockey to win 6,000 races
1988 IBM announces price hike on older models
1988 Israeli diplomats arrive in Moscow for 1st visit in 21 years
1988 Jordan cancels $1.3 billion development plan in West Bank
1988 Winnie Mandella's home in Soweto, South Africa destroyed by arson
1988 Yanks' Tommy John makes 3 errors on 1 play yet beats Brewers 16-3
1989 Braves Dale Murphy, hits 2 3-run HRs in an inning, 14th man to hit
2 HRs in an inning. Also ties record of 6 RBIs in an inning
NASA's Lewis Research Center, Cleve, announce new high-temperature
superconductors able to operate at 33 to 37 Gigahertz
1990 Blackout hits Chicago
1991 Buffalo Bills beat Phila Eagles, 17-13 in American Bowl in Wembley
1991 Expo's Dennis Martinez pitches baseball's 15th perfect game (Dodgers)
1991 Miguel Indurain of Spain wins the Tour de France bicycle race
2061 31st recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet

July 28th

1675 Death of Bulstrode Whitelocke 69, an influential English lawyer during theCommonwealth of Oliver Cromwell. Among Whitelocke's last words: 'There has been one truereligion in the world; and that is the work of the Spirit of God in the hearts and soulsof men.'
1881 Birth of J. Gresham Machen, an American Presbyterian theologian who taught atPrinceton and Westminster seminaries. Two of his writings still endure: 'New Testament Greekfor Beginners' (1923) and 'The Virgin Birth of Christ' (1932).
1889 The first Divine Liturgy (worship service) of the Armenian Church in America wascelebrated in Worcester, MA. It was led by Rev. Hovsep Sarajian, himself the first Armenianclergyman to come to America.
1942 Death of W.M. Flinders Petrie, 89, English archaeologist. He was regarded bycolleague William Foxwell Albright as 'the greatest genius among biblical archaeologists.'
1960 American Trappist Thomas Merton wrote in a letter: 'I can depend less and lesson my own power and sense of direction... It is so strange to advance backwards and getwhere you are going in a totally unexpected way.'

July 28th - Black Facts

1868
The 14th Amendment, making Blacks citizens was passed, 1868
1915 Silent Parade in protest of lynchings
Ten thousand Blacks marched down Fifth Avenue, New York City, in silent parade protesting lynchings and racial indignities.
1915 U.S. Marines landed in Haiti
U.S. Marines landed in Haiti and the country became a de facto protectorate of the United States.
1917
Thousands of Blacks marched in The New City Fifth Avenue March to put an end to lynchings and racial inequalities, 1917

July 28th - Canada

1914 CANADA AUTOMATICALLY AT WAR
London England - Britain declares war on Germany and Austro-Hungary after Austria declares war on Serbia, beginning the First World War; Britain's declaration automatically includes Canada, as part of the British Empire.

1930 Also On This Day...
Canada -
Richard Bedford (R. B.) Bennett 1870-1947 wins 17th Canadian general election 137 seats to 91 Liberals; 12 Progressive; United farmers 10, 5 other; defeats WLM King with 48.8% of popular vote; Agnes MacPhail the only woman elected.

In Other Events....
1996 Atlanta Georgia - Canadian rowers win medals at Lake Lanier: Dave Boyes, Jeff Lay, Gavin Hassett and Brian Peaker take Olympic silver in the men's four; Marnie McBean, Kathleen Heddle, Laryssa Biesenthal and Diane O'Grady come away with bronze in the women's four; Emma Robinson, Anna van der Kamp, Theresa Luke, Tosha Tsang, Alison Korn, Heather McDermid, Maria Maunder, Jessica Monroe and Lesley Thompson have a silver-medal performance in the women's eight with coxswain.
1996 Atlanta Georgia - Canadian Brian Walton wins Olympic silver in the cycling points race; Curt Harnett earns the bronze medal in the men's sprint on the track near Stone Mountain; Canada's men's doubles team of John Child and Mark Heese take the bronze at the inaugural Olympic beach volleyball tournament.
1994 Ottawa Ontario - Supreme Court of Canada refuses appeal of lower court ruling awarding the NHL oldtimers estimated $45 million from the League in surplus pension funds.
1994 Barrie Ontario - Crowd of 35,000 people attend the first Lollapalooza festival in Molson Park, featuring Smashing Pumpkins, the Beastie Boys and George Clinton; rain turns the park into a sea of mud.
1993 Havre-St-Pierre, Quebec - Plane crash kills five at Havre-St-Pierre.
1991 Montreal Quebec - Expos' Dennis Martinez pitches 15th perfect game in major league history (96 pitches, 66 strikes); as the Expos shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0.
1989 Springhill, Nova Scotia - Anne Murray returns to her home town of Springhill to open the Anne Murray Centre, a museum devoted to her career that officials hope will attract up to 90,000 visitors a year; Murray first hit the charts in 1970 with her ballad Snowbird.
1988 Ottawa Ontario - The House of Commons in a free vote turns down a government resolution and five amendments on an abortion bill.
1984 Los Angeles California - Canadians attend opening of 23rd Olympiad; Los Angeles Olympics boycotted by 15 Russian and Eastern countries, who stayed away in a Soviet-led withdrawal in response to Western boycott of the Moscow games
1984 Montreal Quebec - Expos' Pete Rose passes Ty Cobb for the most singles in a career with #3,503 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
1982 Canada - Last issue of Today magazine, distributed in 18 Canadian newspapers.
1981 Saint John New Brunswick - St. Paul's Anglican Church in Saint John destroyed by fire; built in 1871.
1981 Calgary Alberta - Hailstorm lasting 15 minutes pounds Calgary and vicinity, causing $100 million in damage.
1979 Toronto Ontario - Grade A egg dropped from the CN Tower observation deck lands unbroken in a net; cushioned by shaving cream and cotton.
1973 Watkins Glen, New York - Canadian group The Band performs before 600,000 fans at the Watkins Glen Summer Jam, along with the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band; biggest rock festival since Woodstock four years earlier.
1964 Ottawa Ontario - Senate Banking Committee recommends charters for Bank of Western Canada and Laurentide Bank.
1964 Ottawa Ontario - Parliament passes Canada Student Loans Act providing interest-free loans to university students through the banks.
1955 Ottawa Ontario - Hartland Molson appointed to the Senate.
1954 Vietnam - Canada agrees to serve with India and Poland on special commission to supervise Indo-China armistice.
1950 Ottawa Ontario - Dominion Bureau of Statistics says Canada has 13,845,000 inhabitants.
1948 Quebec - Maurice Duplessis reelected as Premier of Quebec, as his Union Nationale Party wins 82 seats, against 7 for the Liberals.
1945 Niagara Falls, Ontario - Section of Prospect Point overlooking the US Falls breaks off and slides into the Niagara River Gorge.
1943 Agira Italy - Canadians take the town of Agira after five days of hard fighting at heavy cost against heavily dug in German troops.
1934 Los Angeles California - Marie Dressler dies at age 64; vaudeville and film star known for her Tugboat Annie role, born Leila Marie Koerber in Cobourg, Ontario.
1914 Alberta - A.W. Dingman gives Governor General the Duke of Connaught and Lady Connaught a tour of his oil discovery in southern Alberta, lighting a 40 foot jet of gasoline from the well.
1914 Ontario/Quebec - Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges close for three months; brokers fear financial panic due to war; in concert with New York; shut down till Spring of 1915.
1897 Ottawa Ontario - Canada imposes new 2% royalty on minerals from Canadian mines; primarily a tax on Klondike gold to pay for law enforcement.
1891 Toronto Ontario - First annual Harvest Excursion leaves for Western Canada with 1,300 farm workers.
1890 Trois-Rivières Quebec - First electric street lighting in Trois-Rivières.
1883 Alberta - CPR sets track laying record: 10.9 km in one day.
1863 London England - Imperial Statute defines boundaries of British Columbia.
1858 Canada - John A. Macdonald & George-Etienne Cartier resign after defeat on motion that Ottawa should not be the capital of Canada; they resign the next day.
1847 Montreal Quebec - Several new businesses incorporated in Lower Canada - the Montreal Mining Company, the British North America Company, the British & Canadian Mining Company of Lake Superior, the St. Lawrence & Industry Railroad, and the Canada, Nova Scotia & New Brunswick Railroad.
1847 London, Ontario - London incorporated as a city.
1847 Brantford Ontario - Brantford incorporated as a city.
1839 NWT - Simpson & Dease round Cape Alexander and find Simpson Strait separating King William Island from mainland; explore NE of Cape John Ross to Castor & Pollux River, named after ship.
1838 Hamilton Bermuda - Eight exiled Lower Canada Patriotes arrive in Bermuda.
1824 Quebec Quebec - Ile d'Orléans shipyard launches the steamboat 'Columbus'.
1819 Halifax, Nova Scotia - Son of Nova Scotia Attorney-General John Uniacke goes on trial for murder after duel In Halifax.
1812 Toronto Ontario - Isaac Brock asks sixth Parliament of Upper Canada to repeal Habeas Corpus and impose martial law; Legislature uncooperative; doesn't take threat of US invasion seriously.
1786 Montreal Quebec - John Molson proclaims that 'good ale is all I want;' says he wants to brew beer 'on the grand stage of the world.'.
1755 Halifax Nova Scotia - Charles Lawrence gets approval of Council to deport those Acadians who refuse to take oath of allegiance.
1642 Montreal Quebec - Priest baptizes a 4 year old Algonquin boy.
1633 Quebec Quebec - Flotilla of 140 Huron canoes arrives at Quebec.
1615 French River Ontario - Samuel de Champlain discovers Lake Huron.

July 29th

1715 10 Spanish treasure galleons sunk off Florida coast by hurricane
1751 1st international world title prize fight-Jack Stack of England,
beats challenger M Petit of France in 29 mins in England
1773 1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny Mtns completed, Schoenbrunn, OH
1786 1st newspaper published west of Alleghenies, Pitts Gazette
1835 1st sugar plantation in Hawaii begins
1844 New York Yacht Club forms
1851 A De Gasparis discovers asteroid #15 Eunomia
1858 1st commercial treaty between US & Japan signed
1858 US citizens allowed to live anywhere in Japan
1874 Major Walter Copton Wingfield patents a portable tennis court
1899 1st motorcycle race, Manhattan Beach, NY
1899 Southern Calif Golf Assn formed
1908 St Louis Browns Rube Waddell strikes out 16 Phila Athletics
1911 Boston Red Sox Joe Wood no-hits St Louis Browns, 5-0
1914 1st transcontinental phone link made between NYC & SF
1915 US marines land in Haiti, stay until 1924
1920 1st transcontinental airmail flight from NY to SF
1924 Paul Runyan wins the PGA golf championship
1928 Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie" is released
Cleve Indians score 17 in 1st 2 inns to beat Yanks 24-6 at Dunn Field
they also set a record with 24 singles in 1 game
1930 115ø F (46ø C), Holly Springs, Mississippi (state record)
1936 RCA shows the 1st real TV program (dancing, film on locomotives,
Bonwit Teller fashion show & monologue from Tobacco Road & comedy)
1937 C Jackson discovers asteroid #1431 Luanda
1938 Olympic National Park established
1942 Eastern Blvd in the Bronx renamed Bruckner Blvd
1947 Gas leak explodes in a beauty parlor, 10 women die in Harrisonburg Va
1948 King George VI opens 14th modern Olympic games in London
1952 1st nonstop transpacific flight by a jet
1955 Smokey Burgess hits 3 HRS to help Pirates beat Reds 16-5
1956 Cathy Cornelius wins the US Women's Golf Open in a playoff
1956 Jacques Cousteau's Calypso anchors in 7,500 m of water (record)
1957 International Atomic Energy Agency established by UN
1957 Jack Paar's Tonight show premiers
1958 Pres Eisenhower signs NASA & Space Act of 1958
1958 Southern Pacific Bay ferries stop running
1960 J Schubart discovers asteroid #2000 Herschel
1961 Phillies lose 1st of 23 straight games
1961 Wallis & Futuna Islands become a French overseas territory
1965 Beatles movie "Help" premiers, Queen Elizabeth attends
1965 Gemini 5 returned after 12d 7h 11m 53s
1965 Major league record 26 strikeouts, Phillies (16), Pirates (10)
1967 Explosion & Fire aboard carrier USS Forrestal in Gulf of Tonkin kills 134, $100 million in damage
1967 Moderate quake (6.5) strikes Caracas Venezuela causing severe damage
1968 Cincinnati Red George Culver no hits Phillies, 6-1
1968 Mount Arenal, Costa Rica kills 80 in Pelee-type eruption
1968 Pope Paul VI reaffirms stand against artificial birth control
1969 Mariner 6 begins transmitting far-encounter photos of Mars
1970 6 days of race rioting in Hartford Ct
1973 Greek plebiscite chooses republic over monarchy
1974 2nd impeachment vote against Nixon by the House Judiciary Committee
1974 St Louis Card Lou Brock steals his 700th base
1975 Ford became 1st US pres to visit Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz
1978 600,000 attend "Summer Jam" rock festival, Watkins Glen, NY
1978 Penny Dean swims English Channel in record 7h40m
1978 Pioneer 11 transmits images of Saturn & its rings
1981 Prince Charles of England weds Lady Diana Spencer
1982 Andy Taylor of rock group Duran Duran weds Tracie Wilson
1983 "Friday Night Videos" premiers on NBC TV
1983 Steve Garvey ends his NL record 1,207 consecutive game streak
1984 Summer Olympics opens in LA
1985 19th Space Shuttle Mission (51-F)-Challenger 8-launched
1986 NY jury rules NFL violated antitrust laws, awards USFL $1 in damages
1987 Ben & Jerry's & Jerry Garcia agree on a new flavor Cherry Garcia
1988 FDIC bails out 1st Republic Bank, Dallas, with $4 billion
1988 Gorbachev pushes plan electing president & parliament in March, 1989
1988 Judge orders NASA to release unedited tape from Challenger cockpit
1988 Last US Playboy Club (Lansing Mich) closes
1988 South African govt bans anti-apartheid film "Cry Freedom"
1989 Javier Sotomayor of Cuba sets high jump record (8'0") in San Juan
1989 Phillies retire Steve Carltons # 32
1989 Vince Coleman, record streak stopped at 50 straight stolen bases
1990 Boston Red Sox set major league record with 12 doubles in a game
1991 1st Sunday Night game at Shea Stadium (Mets beat Cubs 6-0)
1991 Donald Trump gives Marla Maples a 7+ carat engagement ring

July 29th

1775 The U.S. Army Chaplaincy was founded, making it the second oldest branch of thatservice, after the Infantry.
1776 Pioneer Methodist bishop Francis Asbury remarked in his journal: 'My present modeof conduct is...to read about 100 pages a day; usually to pray in public five times aday.... If it were in my power, I would do a thousand times as much for such a gracious andblessed Master.'
1866 Birth of Thomas O. Chisholm, American Methodist pastor, teacher, editor and poet.Of the 1,200 sacred verses he penned, one later became the popular hymn: 'Great Is ThyFaithfulness.'
1905 Birth of Dag Hammarskj"ld, Swedish diplomat and Secretary-General of the U.N.(1953-61). His spiritual journal 'Markings' was published in 1964, three years after hisuntimely death in a plane crash.
1974 The first eleven women priests in the Episcopal Church were ordained inPhiladelphia's Church of the Advocate.

July 29th

1754 - The first international boxing match was held. Jack Slack, the champion from Great Britain, knocked out the French challenger, Jean Petit. Everybody got home at a decent hour, too -- the bout lasted only 25 minutes.
1773 - The first schoolhouse to be located west of the Allegheny Mountains was built in Schoenbrunn, OH.

1786 - The first newspaper west of the Alleghenies was published. Originally called The Pittsburgh Gazette, it is still being published, but is now The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

1874 - Major Walter Copton Winfield of England received U.S. patent number 685 for the lawn-tennis court.

1914 - The first transcontinental telephone service was inaugurated when two people held a conversation between New York and San Francisco.

1931 - Helen Wills Moody mentioned that she favored short skirts and no stockings when she played tennis. However, she said that shorts would never be popular with top women tennis players. By gosh, she was right.

1940 - John Sigmund of St. Louis, MO completed a 292-mile swim down the Mississippi River. It took him 89 hours, 48 minutes to swim from St. Louis to Caruthersville, Missouri.

1950 - RKO pictures released the Walt Disney adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson literary classic, Treasure Island.

1958 - The United States space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was authorized by Congress this day.

1965 - The Queen of England attended the premiere of the motion picture, Help!, starring The Beatles. The command performance was held at the London Pavilion. The film later earned first prize at the Rio De Janeiro Film Festival in Brazil.

1974 - Jim Hartz was named to join Barbara Walters as co-host of the Today show on NBC. Hartz had been the original host of the popular morning TV show. Others who have hosted the show which has aired since 1952 include Dave Garroway, John Chancellor, Hugh Downs, Frank McGee, Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, Katie Couric and Matt Lauer.

1981 - Millions of people around the world watched on television as England's Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer took center stage amidst the pomp and splendor of their royal wedding at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The ceremony took place in the wee small hours of the morning in America, but was still a ratings success, with coverage on all networks. 2,500 guests were in actual attendance.

1983 - Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers was injured in the first game of a doubleheader. Because he was unable to play in the second game, his National League consecutive game record ended at 1,207.

1985 - Spring Hill, Tennessee was selected as the new home of the Saturn automobile assembly plant. General Motors announced that it expected to produce up to 500,000 Saturns a year beginning in 1989. Some 14,000 jobs were created to operate the new auto plant.

1996 - Carl Lewis won his ninth Olympic gold medal by winning the long jump competition at the 1996 games. Lewis tied swimmer Mark Spitz for most golds by an American athlete. Lewis also was only the second athlete (the other was discus thrower Al Oerter) to win the same track event in four straight Olympics.

July 29th - Black Facts

1870 George Dixon's Birthday
George was born in Africville, (Halifax), Nova Scotia.

In 1887 @ 17 years of age he left for Boston to embark on what would end up being the MOST significant careers in Boxing.
George was th ...
(MORE)
1885 The First National Convention of Black Women
The First National Convention of Black Women held in Boston, MA
1909 Chester Himes, crime novelist, born
Chester Himes, crime novelist, born
1918 Congress asked to make lynching a federal crime
The National Liberty Congress of Colored Americans asked Congress to make lynching a federal crime.
1919 First convention of the National Association
First convention of the National Association of Negro Musicians; held in Chicago. It awarded its first scholarship to the young Marian Anderson.
1970 Six days of rioting
One person was killed in six days of rioting in Hartford, Connecticut.
2002 Physician Bernard A. Harris, Jr.
Physician Bernard A. Harris, Jr. becomes an astronaut

July 29th - Asia

1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Agreement signed
The signing of an agreement between Rajiv Gandhi of India and Jayewarden of Sri Lanka on this day led to India taking over the task of seeking to disarm and subdue the opposition Tamil Tigers who opposed Sri Lankan rule. This came after the fighting in Sri Lanka between the Tamil opposition (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and the government escalated, and a resolution acceptable to the leaders of the Tamil Tigers could not be reached.

July 29th - Canada

Today's Canadian Headline....
1992 CANADIANS HOLD SARAJEVO AIRPORT FOR HUMANITARIAN FLIGHTS
Sarajevo Bosnia - General Lewis Mackenzie's Canadian UN peacekeepers hand over Sarajevo Airport to French relief force; 800 return to base in Croatia.

1981 Also On This Day...
La Prairie, Quebec -
Alex Baumann sets his first world swimming record, in the 200 Metre Individual Medley (butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle). Three years later, Baumann will win two Gold Medals at the Los Angeles Olympics, scoring world records in both the 200 and 400 IM.

In Other Events....
1994 Hollywood California - Canadian comedian Jim Carrey's film The Mask opens in theatres.
1988 Ottawa Ontario - External Affairs Minister Joe Clark says Canada will deny visas to all South African athletes, amateur and professional, wishing to compete in events in Canada; action consistent with the 1977 Gleneagles agreement which encouraged Commonwealth countries to combat apartheid in this way.
1985 Montreal Quebec - Jacques Lemaire resigns as coach of the Montreal: Canadiens.
1983 Los Angeles, California - Raymond Massey 1896-1983 dies at age 86; born in Toronto Aug. 30, 1896. The brother of Governor General Vincent Massey, Raymond was a stage, film and TV actor and movie producer whose most popular roles were Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), and TV's Anton the spymaster in I Spy and Dr. Kildare's Dr. Leonard Gillespie (1961-66).
1977 Toronto Ontario - Emanuel Jacques tortured and murdered in apartment above Toronto body-rub parlour; 12-year-old's death leads to police crackdown on Yonge Street 'Strip'.
1971 Halifax Nova Scotia - Sydney Oland and the Oland family present Bluenose II to the province of Nova Scotia as a floating museum; replica of original.
1964 Ottawa Ontario - Canada increases aid to Malaysia under Colombo Plan by $4.5 million.
1948 London England - Canadian team watches as King George VI opens the 14th Olympic Games at Wembley Stadium; with 59 nations and 4,099 competitors; to Aug. 4.
1941 Ottawa Ontario - William Lyon Mackenzie King tells war cabinet he'd rather resign than support conscription; Prime Minister.
1924 Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec - Dollard-des-Ormeaux incorporated as a city.
1916 Matheson Ontario - Forest fire near Matheson kills 223 people.
1912 Quebec Quebec - Captain Joseph-Elzéar Bernier 1852-1934 leaves for a private Arctic trading expedition on the Minnie Maid.
1912 London England - Privy Council upholds power of provinces to make marriage laws.
1911 Thunder Bay Ontario - Canadian Northern Railroad completed between Montreal and Port Arthur.
1907 London England - Sir Robert Baden-Powell forms the Boy Scout movement, with assistance from Canadian financier Lord Strathcona.
1900 Carcross Yukon - Last spike driven on the White Pass & Yukon Railway from Skagway to Whitehorse; started in 1898, at the height of the Klondike gold rush; 35 men were killed during construction; summit of White Pass reached in February, 1899; ceased operations October, 1982.
1886 Ottawa Ontario - Joseph Thomas Duhamel appointed first Archbishop of Ottawa.
1885 Savona's Ferry BC - CPR completes BC leg from Port Moody to Savona's Ferry.
1882 Quebec Quebec - Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau 1840-1898 resigns as Premier of Quebec to become Secretary of State in John A. Macdonald's government.
1873 Quebec Quebec - First party of 285 Icelandic settlers bound for Manitoba reach Canada.
1848 Niagara Falls, Ontario - Completion of first suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge.
1837 L'Assomption Quebec - Patriotes hold protest meeting at l'Assomption.
1830 Trois-Rivières Quebec - Samuel Benjamin Hart named to a judgeship in Trois-Rivières.
1812 London England - Word of the US declaration of war arrives in England 41 days after it is declared.
1793 Toronto Ontario - John Graves Simcoe sails into Toronto Bay by the western gap and decides that the site will be a good place for a fort and a settlement.
1792 Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario - William Osgoode 1754-1824 elected first Speaker of Legislative Council of Upper Canada.
1756 Kingston Ontario - Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm 1712-1759 arrives at Fort Frontenac to join François-Charles de Bourlamaque 1716-1764 and his 3,000 men in an attack on the English.
1744 Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia - Joseph Du Pont Duvivier 1707-1760 besieges Paul Mascarene and his 50 men at Annapolis Royal; on Oct. 2 he will abandon the siege and move to winter quarters at Minas.
1658 Quebec Quebec - Pierre de Voyer arrives at Quebec to take up his duties as Governor.
1657 Quebec Quebec - Gabriel de Queylus 1612-1677 arrives in Quebec as Vicar General of New France with 3 other priests of the Sulpician Order in a party with de Maisonneuve; on the way to found the Seminary of Montreal; sent by Société des Prêtres de Ste-Sulpice.
1633 Quebec Quebec - Holding of the great Franco-Huron Council.
1609 Ticonderoga New York - Samuel de Champlain c1570-1635 met large war party of Iroquois heading north near Ticonderoga.

1966: Football glory for England

England win football's World Cup for the first time since the tournament began in 1930.

Photograph of the elected President of Cyprus Archbishop Makarios 1974: Peace deal for Cyprus
Greek, Turkish and UK foreign ministers sign a peace agreement for Cyprus.

Suzy Lamplugh 1986: Parents appeal for missing agent
The parents of missing London estate agent Suzy Lamplugh make an emotional appeal for her safe return.

Photograph of a delighted Pavarotti 1991: Pavarotti sings in the British rain
Italian tenor Pavorotti celebrates 30 years in opera with a huge, free concert in Hyde Park.

1619 - The first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown, VA. (House of Burgesses)

1729 - The city of Baltimore was founded in Maryland.

1889 - Vladimir Zworykin, called the "Father of Television" was born in Russia. He invented the iconoscope.

1898 - "Scientific America" carried the first magazine automobile ad. The ad was for the Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, OH.

1937 - The American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA) was organized as a part of the American Federation of Labor.

1942 - The WAVES were created by legislation signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The members of the Women's Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service were a part of the U.S. Navy.

1945 - The USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian. Only 316 out of 1,196 men aboard survived the attack.

1956 - The phrase "In God We Trust" was adopted as the U.S. national motto.

1965 - U.S. President Johnson signed into law Social Security Act that established Medicare and Medicaid. It went into effect the following year.

1968 - Ron Hansen of the Washington Senators made the first unassisted triple play in the major leagues in 41 years.

1974 - The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted to impeach President Nixon for blocking the Watergate investigation and for abuse of power.

1975 - Jimmy Hoffa, former Teamsters union president, disappeared in Michigan. His remains were never found.

1996 - A federal law enforcement source said that security guard Richard Jewell had become the focus of the investigation into the bombing at Centennial Olympic Park. Jewell was later cleared as a suspect.

1997 - 14 Israelis were killed in a double suicide bombing in a Jerusalem marketplace. The Islamist group Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombings.

1998 - A group of Ohio machine-shop workers (who call themselves the Lucky 13) won the $295.7 million Powerball jackpot. It was the largest-ever American lottery.

2000 - Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt were married.

2001 - Lance Armstrong became the first American to win three consecutive Tours de France.

2003 - In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagon Beetle rolled off an assembly line.

1998: UK imposes total ban on landmines

The British Government announces a total ban on landmines, a month before the first anniversary of the death of Princess Diana.

Photo of Sir Oswald Mosley in 1936 1962: Violence flares at right-wing rally
Former fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley is assaulted at a rally in London's east end.

Aerial photograph of Stormont Castle, near Belfast 1973: Chaotic meeting of Belfast Assembly
Loyalists disrupt the new Northern Ireland Assembly, the first elected body since the British imposed direct rule in March.

Photograph of Peter Wright's Spycatcher memoirs 1987: Newspaper caught in Spycatcher row
The Government sues the Sunday Telegraph over secret service memoirs.

1498 - Christopher Columbus, on his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, arrived at the island of Trinidad.

1790 - The first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins for his process for making potash and pearl ashes. The substance was used in fertilizer.

1792 - The cornerstone of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, PA, was laid. It was the first building to be used only as a U.S. government building.

1919 - Germany's Weimar Constitution was adopted.

1928 - MGM's Leo the lion roared for the first time. He introduced MGM's first talking picture, "White Shadows on the South Seas."

1932 - Enzo Ferrari retired from racing. In 1950 he launched a series of cars under his name.

1945 - Pierre Laval of France surrendered to Americans in Austria.

1948 - U.S. President Truman helped dedicate New York International Airport (later John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild Field.

1955 - Marilyn Bell of Toronto, Canada, at age 17, became the youngest person to swim the English Channel.

1961 - The first tie in All-Star Game major league baseball history was recorded when it was stopped in the 9th inning due to rain at Boston's Fenway Park.

1964 - The American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the moon's surface.

1971 - Men rode in a vehicle on the moon for the first time in a lunar rover vehicle (LRV).

1981 - The seven-week baseball players' strike came to an end when the players and owners agreed on the issue of free agent compensation.

1989 - A pro-Iranian group in Lebanon released a videotape reportedly showing the hanged body of American hostage William R. Higgins.

1991 - U.S. President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

1995 - The Walt Disney Company agreed to acquire Capital Cities/ABC in a $19 billion deal.

1997 - In New York City, NY, police seized five bombs believed to be bound for terrorist attacks on city subways.

1998 - More than 50 people died in Kashmir due to crossfire between India and Pakistan.

1998 - Nicolas Cage received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - The spacecraft Lunar Prospect crashed into the moon. It was a mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface. The craft had been launched on January 6, 1998.

1944: Uprising to free Warsaw begins

The Polish Underground Army begins battle to liberate Warsaw, the first European city to fall to the Germans five years ago.

Crash scene
1976: Lauda fights for life after Grand Prix crash
F1 racing driver Niki Lauda is in a critical condition in hospital after crashing at the German Grand Prix.

Lord Hutton (copyright: PA)
2003: Hutton inquiry begins
The judge investigating the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly says his first task is to flesh out "a fuller picture of the facts".

Firemen rescue documents
1994: Library fire wipes out historic records
Thousands of historic documents and more than 100,000 books have been destroyed in a blaze which ripped through Norwich Central Library early today.

Charlotte Hughes
1989: Britain's oldest person turns 112
Charlotte Marion Hughes from Cleveland celebrates her birthday - and enters the record books.

2001: Boy 'held prisoner for eight years'
Officers from Scotland Yard's Child Protection Team are investigating a boy's claims he was held captive in his own home for eight years.

1498 - Christopher Columbus landed on "Isla Santa" (Venezuela).

1619 - The first black Americans (20) land at Jamestown, VA.

1774 - Oxygen was isolated from air successfully by chemist Carl Wilhelm and scientist Joseph Priestly.

1779 - Francis Scott Key was born. He was an American composer, attorney, poet, and social worker. He was the composer of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

1790 - The first U.S. census was completed. The population of the 17 states was 3,929,214.

1818 - Maria Mitchell was born. She was the first female professional astronomer and the first women to be elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

1819 - Herman Melville was born, the author of "Moby Dick."

1834 - Slavery was outlawed in the British empire with an emancipation bill.

1873 - Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car. The design was done for San Francisco, CA.

1876 - Colorado became the 38th united state.

1893 - Shredded wheat was patented by Henry Perky and William Ford.

1894 - The first Sino-Japanese War erupted. The dispute was over control of Korea.

1907 - The U.S. Army established an aeronautical division that later became the U.S. Air Force.

1914 - Germany declared war on Russia at the beginning of World War I.

1936 - Adolf Hitler presided over the Olympic games as they opened in Berlin.

1943 - Several deaths occurred in a race-related riot in Harlem, New York City.

1944 - In Warsaw, Poland, an uprising against Nazi occupation began. The revolt only lasted two months.

1946 - In the U.S., the Atomic Energy Commission was established.

1953 - The first aluminum-faced building was completed. It was the first of this type in America.

1957 - The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) was created by the United States and Canada.

1966 - Fifteen people were shot and killed and 31 others were injured by Charles Joseph Whitman from a tower at the University of Texas at Austin. Whitman was killed in the tower.

1973 - The movie "American Graffiti" opened.

1975 - The Helsinki accords pledged the signatory nations to respect human rights.

1976 - The Seattle Seahawks played their first (preseason) game. The Seahawks lost 27-20 to San Francisco.

1978 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds ended his streak of hitting in 44 consecutive games.

1986 - John McEnroe and Tatum O'Neal were married.

1986 - Bert Blyleven became only the 10th pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters in his career.

1988 - Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" opened.

1991 - Actress Hedy Lamar, 77, was arrested for shoplifting in Florida.

1993 - Reggie Jackson was admitted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

1995 - Westinghouse Electric Corporation announced a deal to buy CBS for $5.4 billion.

1998 - The U.S. books and music chain Borders opens its first European outlet with a 40,000-square-foot store on London's Oxford Street.

1990: Iraq invades Kuwait

More than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers backed up by 700 tanks invaded the Gulf state of Kuwait in the early hours of this morning.

Victim's body is carried to ambulance 1973: Dozens die in resort fire
More than 30 people have died in a fire which gutted the Summerland leisure resort on the Isle of Man.

Riviera fires 1965: Riviera fires force campers to flee
Thousands of British holiday makers abandon their tents as forest fires devastate the south of France

James Malone 1984: Euro Court condemns phone-tapping
A Surrey businessman who accused the police of illegally tapping his phone is celebrating after a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.