On this day

July 14th

1910 - London: Police launch a manhunt for Dr Harley Harvey Crippen after a woman's remains are found in his cellar.

1917 - Berlin: Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg resigns as Chancellor, to be succeeded by Dr Georg Michaelis the first non-aristocrat to hold the post.

1925 - Germany: French and Belgium troops begin their evacuation of the Ruhr.

1931 - Spain: The first Republican Cortes (Spanish Parliament) opens.

1936 - Britain: The mass production of gas masks begins, with the target being one for every citizen.

1938 - Rome: Italy officially adopts Nazi-style anti Semitism.

1939 - London: The government announces that all infants and nursing mothers will get fresh milk free or at no more than two pence a pint.

1942 - Yugoslavia: The Germans slaughter 700 people in reprisal for the killing of their Gestapo chief in Zagreb.

1943 - New York: The movie "For Whom The Bell Tolls" starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman opens across the city.

1945 - Germany: The ban on Allied troops fraternising with German woman is lifted.

1949 - Britain: Rationing begins to bite, as sugar is lowered to eight ounces a week, and sweets to four ounces a head.

1952 - Jamaica: 700 arrests are made during a major crackdown on marijuana trafficking.

1958 - Baghdad: King Feisal, the Crown Prince and Iraq's prime minister are murdered in a Nasserite army coup.

1961 - Britain: Major Yuri Gagarin, Russia's first man in space receives an ecstatic welcome on a visit to the country which is judged a landmark in building East-West relations.

1963 - Britain: The BBC announces it is to scrap the TV panel show "What's My Line".

1965 - London: US statesman and ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson collapses and dies from a heart attack in the street.

1971 - Jordan: The Jordanian Army launches an all-out attack on Palestinian guerrillas in the country.

1978 - USSR: The Soviet government's crackdown on human rights campaigners intensifies when heavy sentences are passed on three dissidents for "treason and anti-Soviet agitation".

1980 - London: Transport secretary Norman Fowler unveils plans to sell off Sealink, and British Rail hotels.

1989 - Paris: Lavish pageants are held to mark the bicentenary of the French Revolution.

1991 - Britain: Britain's Nigel Mansell wins the British Grand Prix to become the leading British driver with 17 GP victories.

2004 - USA: President George W. Bush announces the Vision For Space Exploration at NASA HQ in which he calls for humans to return to the moon by the year 2020.

2010: Britain: UK Athletics request changes to the UK's tax laws after sprinter Usain Bolt declines to appear at a meeting in London for financial reasons.

July 15th

1904 - Germany: Writer Anton Chekhov dies of tuberculosis aged 44.

1909 - Paris: Dr Alexis Carrel demonstrates organ transplants he has carried out on animals.

1910 - Poland: Ceremonies to commemorate the battle of Tannenberg are marred by anti-Russian demonstrations.

1915 - Britain: 200,000 South Wales miners go on strike for more pay.

1916 - USA: The Pacific Aero Products Company is founded by William Edward Boeing.

1919 - London: US General Pershing arrives to lead the Peace Celebration Parade through the capital.

1920 - London: The Fuel Research Board, looking into alternatives to petrol, announce by their figures that the UK will have 0.75 million cars by the end of the following year.

1933 - Germany: All Protestant Churches merge to become the German Evangelical Church.

1938 - London: The government puts in an order for 1,000 Spitfire fighter aircraft.

1942 - Germany: The RAF carries out it's first daylight raid on the Rhur industrial area.

1945 - Britain: After more than 2,000 nights of blackout and dim-out
people up and down the country rejoice as street lights are switched back on, in civic ceremonies.

1951 - Iran: Nine people die in anti-British riots.

1953 - New York: "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell has it's premiere in the city.

1962 - France: Jacques Anquetil wins his third Tour de France title.

1963 - London: Nuclear physicist Giuseppe Martelli is aquitted of spying for Russia.

1964 - Moscow: Anastas Mikoyan succeeds Leonid Brezhnev as Soviet President.

1973 - USA: Paul Getty III, grandson of Paul Getty is kidnapped.

1975 - Britain: Stable-boys end an 11 week strike, accepting a pay rise of 19% to give them a weekly wage of £37.

1981 - London: Violence erupts in Brixton following a series of police raids.

1990 - Pakistan: More than 38 people are killed by a bomb blast in Hyderabad.

1992 - London: MPs give themselves a 40% raise on their expense accounts.

1994 - Brussels: Luxembourg's Premier, Jacques Santer is appointed President of the European Commission.

1996 - London: A legal battle begins in the High Court between Imran Khan and Ian Botham, with Botham accusing Khan of libel after Khan called him a cheat.

1998 - Sudan: The government of Sudan and the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Army announce a cease-fire in the on-going civil war to allow aid supplies through.

2007 - Israel: Shimon Peres is sworn in as President.

2009 - Ireland: The Catholic church praises "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" after previously accusing the book of promoting witchcraft and the occult.

What about Saint Swithin?!?

July 16th

1910 - Spain: Rioting breaks out in Bilbao as miners go on strike.

1913 - London: Robert Bridges is appointed the new Poet Laureate.

1919 - Washington: Plans are announced for a National Guard consisting of 440,000 men.

1923 - Rome: Benito Mussolini bans gambling throughout Italy.

1925 - Britain: Scientists claim they have successfully inoculated animals against cancer.

1936 - London: George Andrew McMahon is arrested with "being in possession of a revolver with intent to endanger life, in a failed assassination attempt on the King.

1941 - USSR: German troops advance on Leningrad, after Smolensk falls.

1943 - London: A white paper on post-war education advocates free schooling for all children up to the age of 16.

1945 - USA: The first atomic bomb tests take place in the New Mexico desert.

1948 - Britain: The world's first turbine-propeller aircraft, the Vickers Viscount, makes its maiden flight.

1951 - Brussels: King Leopold III abdicates, with his son swearing the oath as King Baudouin I.

1957 - Britain: Doctors express their concerns at the increased use of tranquillisers.

1961 - Britain: Six people are killed and 116 are injured after a train full of holidaymakers crashes near Blackpool.

1965 - France: Charles De Gaulle and Italy's President Saragat officially open the Mont Blanc tunnel.

1967 - London: 5,000 people attend a "Legalise Pot" rally in Hyde Park.

1969 - USA: Apollo 11 is launched from Cape Kennedy.

1970 - London: The government declares a state of emergency as dockers stage their first national strike since 1926.

1977 - Mogadishu: The Somali government expels all Soviet advisors.

1983 - Britain: 20 people die in Britain's worst helicopter crash, off the Scilly Isles.

1987 - London: British Airways announces it is buying British Caledonian for £237 million.

1988 - London: Michael Jackson plays to a sell out crowd at Wembley Stadium on the start of his British tour.

1990 - Baghdad: British Nurse Daphne Parish who was sentenced to 15 years in jail for spying, is released.

1992 - India: Shanker Dayal Sharma is appointed President.

1993 - Britain: Stella Rimington, the first woman head of MI5, breaks new ground by meeting the press, and revealing details of her organisation's work.

1995 - Chicago: A heatwave with temperatures of 106 degrees F claims around 300 lives.

2007 - Iraq: Around 86 people are killed and 136 are injured in car and truck bomb attacks in Kurkuk.

July 17th

1908 - London: The first criminal appeal against a murder conviction is turned down at the Central Criminal Court.

1915 - London: 40,000 women demonstrate for the right to help in the war effort.

1916 - Eastern Front: Russian forces drive Austro-German troops under General Alexander von Linsingen across the River Lipa.

1917 - London: Winston Churchill is appointed Minister of Munitions.

1922 - London: King George V opens County Hall, the new headquarters of London County Council.

1928 - Mexico City: President Obregon is assassinated at a lunch to celebrate his election earlier in the month.

1929 - Moscow: The USSR breaks off relations with China and begins to mobilize it's forces along the Chinese border.

1932 - Berlin: 15 people die in clashes between Communists and Nazis.

1933 - Britain: Cricketer Jack Hobbs scores his 194th century.

1936 - Spanish Morocco: General Francisco Franco heads an uprising against the government at Melilla.

1940 - Chicago: The Democrats choose Roosevelt to run for a third term as President.

1944 - London: The government unveils plans for new rented houses costing 13/ 1d a week.

1946 - Egypt: 25 people are injured when five bombs explode at the British Services Club at Alexandria.

1959 - Belgian Congo: The Congolese National Movement splits into factions.

1961 - London: The government announces that a 43-letter phonetics alphabet will be taught to 1,000 children as an experiment.

1966 - California: 19 year-old Wichita student Jim Ryun breaks the world mile record athletic record by slicing 2.3 seconds off the record held by Michael Jazy in a time of 3mins 51.3 seconds.

1967 - UK: The "Keep Britain Tidy" group launces Britain's first Anti-Litter Week.

1969 - Cape Town: Dr Philip Blaiberg dies a record 19 months and 15
days after receiving a heart transplant.

1973: Washington: Alexander Butterfield a middle-level White House aide testifies that President Nixon installed listening devices in the Oval office.

1976 - Montreal: The Queen and Prince Philip open the Olympic Games.

1979 - Oslo: Sebastian Coe wins the Golden Mile in a record time of 3mins 48.95 seconds.

1981 - Lebanon: Israeli jets launch a ferocious attack on Lebanon in reprisal against Palestinian guerrillas.

1985 - Britain: Proceeds to The Live Aid Appeal reach £50million.

1994 - California: Brazil win their fourth World Cup final in Pasadena beating Italy in a penalty shootout after Robert Baggio's missed effort.

1995 - Brussels: The European Union signs a far-reaching trade pact with Russia.

1997 - Outer Space: The US Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the troubled Mir space station delivering equipment and supplies and to relieve astronaut Jerry Linenger, who had been on board Mir since January 15th.

2005 - Britain: Former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath dies at his home in Salisbury aged 89 from pneumonia.

2010: Baltic Sea: 30 bottles of what is to be believed the world's oldest drinkable champagne, pre-dating the French Revolution are found on the seabed off the coast of Finland.

July 18th

1902 - St Petersburg: Russia announces it's intention to restore Manchuria to China.

1911 - King George V arrives in Edinburgh on a Coronation visit.

1919 - Berlin: The Reichstag votes against the separation of Church and State.

1920 - Germany: Kaiser Wilhelm's youngest son commits suicide.

1922 - Britain: Lord Louis Mountbatten marries Edwina Ashley.

1927 - Edinburgh: The British Medical Association expresses its concern at the "Threat" of a possible state medical service.

1932 - Geneva: Turkey becomes the 56th member of the League of Nations.

1933 - Berlin: German citizenship is declared conditional on Nazi Party Membership.

1947 - London: The National Parks Committee propose plans for a coastal path around the English and Welsh Coasts.

1949 - Hong Kong: 3,800 more British troops are sent over, boosting garrison numbers by 50%.

1950 - London: Britain bans the sale of oil to China.

1956 - Budapest: Pro-Stalinist premier Matyas Rakosi resigns.

1958 - Wales: Prince Philip opens the Empire Games in Cardiff.

1959 - Havana: Fidel Castro ousts President Urrutia to take over the presidency.

1960 - Britain: Donald Campbell takes his new £1 million "Bluebird" car for its first test run.

1962 - Peru: The army seizes power, arresting President Prado.

1972 - Egypt: Anwar Sadat orders the USSR to withdraw it's advisors from Egypt.

1975 - Britain: Graham Hill announces his retirement from motor racing.

1978 - South Africa: The authorities refuse to give Nelson Mandela the thousands of 60th birthday cards he has received.

1981 - Dublin: 120 people are hurt during demonstrations in support of the IRA.

1984 - Westminster: A report by the Commons public accounts committee slams the misuse of public funds by the De Lorean car company in Ulster.

1987 - Oxford: The university refuses Margaret Thatcher an honorary degree for the second time.

1992 - Britain: John Smith scores a decisive victory over his only challenger Bryan Gould to become the 14th leader of the Labour Party.

1993 - Durham: Ian Botham announces his retirement from cricket.

1994 - Buenos Aries: 96 people die when a bomb levels two buildings housing Jewish organisations.

1995 - Los Angeles: Prostitute Divine Brown who was arrested engaging in a sex act with actor Hugh Grant, pleads not guilty to lewd conduct and demands a trial.

1997 - Outer Space: The beleaguered space station Mir spins out of control for a day after a crew member accidently unplugs a power cable.

2005 - South Carolina: General William Westmoreland the commander of US forces in Vietnam, passes away peacefully aged 91 at Bishop Gadsden retirement home in Charleston.

2009: France: A woman is killed and two people are seriously injured in an accident involving a motorcycle during the Tour de France.

July 19th

1903 - France: The First Tour de France is won by Maurice Garin, arriving back in Paris 2hrs 49mins ahead of his nearest rival.

1915 - London: The Football Association decides that no internationals or cup-ties will be played the following season.

1918 - Washington: Baseball is declared a "non-essential occupation" under the "Work or Fight" law.

1919 - Britain: Peace parades take place across the country.

1921 - USA: Over 8,000,000 woman are in paid employment with 87% as teachers or secretaries.

1928 - Egypt: King Fuad, in a royal decree, ends parliamentary government, intending to rule by decree.

1931 - India: Three people die and 50 are injured when police open fire on a mob in Bangalore.

1932 - London: King George V opens Lambeth Bridge.

1935 - Berlin: Anti-Semite Wolf von Helldorf is made chief of police to purge the city of Jews and Communists.

1937 - Munich: An exhibition of "Degenerate Art" opens with works by Germanys best modern artists.

1939 - London: General Sir Archibald Wavell is appointed Commander-in-Chief of British forces in the Middle East.

1942 - USSR: German forces capture Voroshilovgrad.

1947 - Rangoon: Burmese Premier U Aung San and six ministers of the Burmese Executive Council are assassinated when six gunmen burst into the council chamber spraying it with Sten gunfire.

1949 - Indochina: Laos gains it's independence.

1952 - Washington: Charlie Chaplin is investigated under the suspicion of being a "subversive."

1957 - London: Derek Ibbotson breaks the world mile record at White City, beating Olympic champion Ron Delany, in a time of 3mins 57.2 secs.

1963 - Syria: 20 rebels are executed after government troops crush a coup attempt.

1966 - USA: Frank Sinatra marries Mia Farrow in Las Vegas.

1971 - London: A mini-budget slashes purchase tax and abolishes all hire-purchase controls.

1973 - USA: President Nixon refuses to hand over White House tapes to Senate investigators.

1974 - Spain: Franco hands over power to Prince Juan Carlos as his health deteriorates.

1977 - Britain: The TUC refuses to set any levels regarding wage claims.

1979 - Lisbon: Maria Pintassilgo becomes Portugal's first woman prime minister.

1980 - Moscow: Leonid Brezhnev opens the 22nd Olympic Games.

1982 - London: The Queen's bodyguard Michael Trestrail resigns after admitting to an homosexual affair.

1985 - Austria: Large quantities of Austrian wine are revealed to contain a toxic substance similar to anti-freeze.

1990 - Bangkok: Two teenage British girls Patricia Cahill (17) and Karyn Smith (19) are arrested for trying to smuggle £4million worth of heroin out of Thailand.

1996 - Sarajevo: Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadjic resigns from public office after tough negotiations with US envoy Richard Holbrooke and Serb leaders in Belgrade.

2007 - Britain: The largest discovery of Viking treasure since the 19th century is discovered near Harrogate, Yorkshire.

2010 - Queensland: Fossil hunters uncover a cave of 15millon year-old prehistoric marsupials.

July 20th

1910 - London: Winston Churchill announces prison reforms, including lectures on various subjects for inmates.

1915 - Britain: Figures shoe the total UK casualties in the great war stand at 330,995.

1923 - London: Stanley Baldwin proposes a committee of experts to investigate Germanys ability to pay war reparations.

1924 - USA: The National Council of Catholic Women start a campaign for modesty in women's dress.

1930 - Moscow: Maxim Litvinov becomes foreign minister in succession to Georgy Chicherin.

1933 - London: 30,000 Jews march on Hyde Park to protest against Nazi anti-Semitism.

1936 - Switzerland: The Montreux Conference recognises Turkish sovereignty of the Dardenelles.

1938 - Britain: New summer men's clothing includes slacks for 30 shillings and shorts for 17/6d

1941 - Moscow: Stalin takes over as Soviet defence commissar.

1945 - London: The government gives local authorities the power to requisition empty houses.

1946 - Washington: A congressional committee exonerates Roosevelt of any blame for the attack on Pearl Harbour.

1950 - Brussels: Amid strikes and protests, Belgium's parliament authorises King Leopold III's return from exile.

1954 - Britain: A public enquiry approves the expansion of Gatwick Airport.

1957 - Bradford: Tory Prime minister Harold Macmillan delivers his famous quote telling a cheering Conservative Rally "Let us be frank about it. Most of our people have never had it so good"

1962 - Britain: The world's first passenger hovercraft service makes its first trip across the estuary of the River Dee between Rhyl and Wallasey, carrying 24 passengers.

1964 - USA: NASA tests its first successful rocket engine.

1965 - London: The House of Lords unexpectedly approves a bill to abolish hanging by a majority of 100.

1969 - Cairo: The UAR claim to have shot down 19 Israeli planes in clashes along the Suez Canal and in Sinai.

1970 - London: Chancellor of the Exchequer Iain Macleod, dies from a heart attack aged 56 at his Downing Street residence.

1977 - London: A report recommends splitting the Post Office into separate postal and telecommunication companies.

1981 - Liverpool: Michael Heseltine begins a fact-finding tour of Merseyside to examine the city's problems.

1989 - USA: A United Airlines DC-10 crashes in Iowa killing 107 people.

1990 - Britain: The NUM sues Arthur Scargill for £I.4 million in allegedly missing funds.

1993 - Washington: Mafia-busting federal judge Louis Freeh is appointed director of the FBI.

1994 - London: South Africa is welcomed back into the Commonwealth.

2008 - USA: The Dark Knight sets a new record for opening weekend box office takings making $158.4million.

2010 - Russia: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announces $800 million is to be invested in a new spaceport near Uglegorsk in the far east of the country.

July 21st

1904 - USSR: The long awaited Trans-Siberian railway - stretching 4,607 miles from Chelyabinsk to Vladivostock is completed after 13 years of construction.

1909 - France: The French cabinet led by Georges Clemenceau, resigns after being defeated in the Chamber of Deputies by 36 votes.

1922 - Irish Free State: Government troops capture Waterford and Limerick from the rebels.

1925 - USA: Biology teacher John Scopes is found guilty by a Tennessee jury (rejecting Darwinism) of teaching evolution in a state school and is fined $100.

1927 - Bucharest: Five year old Prince Mihai, succeeds to the throne after the death of King Ferdinand.

1929 - USA: The German liner Bremen crosses the Atlantic from east to west in a record 4 days and 18 hours.

1933 - Geneva: World Jewish organisations appeal for League aid in curbing Nazi excesses.

1934 - USA: A heat wave across the Mid-West kills 206 people in three days.

1940 - Baltic: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia vote to become part of the USSR.

1944 - Pacific: US troops land on the island of Guam.

1947 - East Indies: Dutch troops launch a drive against Indonesian nationalists in Eastern Java.

1948 - London: The Duke of Edinburgh takes his seat in the house of lords.

1956 - Cairo: The World Bank follows Britain and the US in refusing to help fund the Aswan Dam.

1958 - London: The government announces a big expansion in polio vaccination.

1960 - Ceylon: Sri Lankan Freedom Party leader Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike is sworn in as the world's first woman prime minister.

1973 - South Pacific: France tests an H-bomb close to the Mururoa Atoll.

1976 - Ireland: British Ambassador Christopher Ewart-Biggs is killed when his car is wrecked by a landmine.

1978 - London: The government announces a new pay increase guideline of 5%, which the unions reject as unrealistic.

1983 - Britain: Sir Harold Wilson is given a life peerage.

1984 - Warsaw: Poland's parliament approves an amnesty for 652 political prisoners to mark 40 years of Communism.

1989 - Britain: The comedian Ken Dodd is acquitted of defrauding the Inland Revenue.

1994 - Britain: Tony Blair becomes the youngest elected leader of the Labour Party by a landslide, winning more than half of the votes.

2009 - USA: NASA scientists confirm an impact event on Jupiter.

2010: China: The death toll from floods in China rises to 700.

July 22nd

1904 - London: The Royal Horticultural Society opens new headquarters in Vincent Square, Westminster.

1912 - Britain: The Admiralty recalls its battleships from the Mediterranean, placing them on patrol in the North Sea in response to continuing German Naval build-up in the area.

1919 - London: MP's approve a bill to ratify the Versailles Treaty.

1925 - Berlin: To mark the election of Hindenberg, an amnesty is granted to prisoners jailed before June 15 1915.

1928 - Tokyo: Japan breaks off relations with China.

1930 - Italy: An earthquake in the Naples area leaves up to 3,000 dead and 6,000 injured.

1938 - Germany: Jews are ordered to carry special identity cards.

1942 - London: Winston Churchill rejects the US idea of a second front before the end of 1942.

1953 - London: The government announces it wants to cut London's airports from seven to three and expand Gatwick.

1954 - New York: The musical film "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" has it's premiere in the city.

1957 - Israel: Shell and BP decide to quit Israel after being put under pressure from Arab states.

1965 - London: Sir Alec Douglas Home resigns as Tory Leader.

1968 - Moscow: Soviet Leaders invite Czech leader Alexander Dubcek to "friendly bilateral talks" at Cierna in Eastern Czechoslovakia over claims that American Spies are in the country preparing for an invasion.

1971 - Khartoum: General Gaafar al-Numeiry is restored to power in a counter-coup, four days after being overthrown.

1974 - Belfast: The Harland and Wolff shipyard is taken over by the government.

1979 - Indonesia: 750 are feared dead after a tidal wave hits the island of Lomblen.

1980 - Britain: Unemployment figures stand at 1,896,634, the highest since 1936.

1981 - Rome: Mehmet Ali Agca is jailed for life for his attempt on trying to kill the Pope.

1982 - Falklands: Britain lifts the 200-mile exclusion zone.

1986 - Prague: Martina Navratilova plays tennis in Czechoslovakia for the first time since her defection in 1975.

1989 - Britain: An intense heat wave with temperatures hitting 93F at Heathrow, dries up water supplies in south east London and Kent.

1991 - Britain: John Major launches a " Citizen's Charter" to improve public services.

1992 - Columbia: South American Drug Lord Pablo Escobar escapes from his luxury prision just outside Medellin, the HQ of his cocaine cartel.

1997 - Italy: Nazi officer Erich Priebke is found guilty, and sentenced to five years in prison for the involvement in the mass execution of 335 Italian citizens at the Ardeatine Caves outside Rome in 1944.

2004 - USA: The 9/11 commission releases its unanimous final report, in which it severely criticises American Intelligence Agencies.

2007 - Carnoustie: Ireland's Padraig Harrington wins the Open Golf Championship beating Spain's Sergio Garcia in a play-off.