On this day

**skully** · 14-07-2011 11:29

1099 - During the First Crusade, Christian knights from Europe captured Jerusalem and began massacring the city's Muslim and Jewish population.

1789 - The French Revolution began as Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops stormed and dismantled the Bastille, a royal fortress that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs.

1865 - British climber Edward Whymper led the first team of climbers to reach the summit of the Matterhorn in the Alps.

1867 - Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel demonstrated dynamite for the first time, at a quarry in Redhill, Surrey.

1881 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.

1933 - Germany outlawed all political parties except the Nazi Party.

1940 - World War II: Britain tackled the threat of a German invasion by forming the Home Guard - a part-time volunteer army, generally comprising men too old for national service.

1958 – Iraqi Revolution: in Iraq the monarchy is overthrown by popular forces led by Abdul Karim Kassem, who becomes the nation's new leader.

1965 – The Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet.

2000 – A powerful solar flare, later named the Bastille Day event, causes a geomagnetic storm on Earth.

TheWatcher · 14-07-2011 11:42

(14-07-2011 11:29 )skully Wrote: ~~~~
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1881 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.
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http://www.aboutbillythekid.com

~~iamthatjack~~ · 14-07-2011 13:19

These people were born on this day:

1966 – Matthew Fox, American actor
1966 – Owen Coyle, Scottish-born Irish football player and manager
1967 – Jeff Jarrett, American professional wrestler
1971 – Joey Styles, American wrestling commentator
1971 – Howard Webb, English football referee
1974 – David Mitchell, English comedian and actor
1976 – Geraint Jones, England cricketer
1987 – Adam Johnson, English footballer

bombshell · 15-07-2011 08:50

1997: Versace murdered on his doorstep
Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace has been shot dead on the steps of his Miami mansion.
The incident happened shortly before 0900 local time (1400 GMT) as the 50-year-old designer returned from the fashionable News Café where he bought breakfast and Italian newspapers.

Witnesses described a white man in his mid-twenties taking a gun from a backpack and shooting Versace twice in the back of the head as he unlocked the gates to his Ocean Drive home.

A gun was found with discarded clothes in a red Chevrolet pick-up truck abandoned in a car park.

Prime suspect

Police have traced the weapon to Andrew Cunanan, 27, a gay prostitute with an "affluent clientele".

He is already on the FBI's most wanted list in connection with four other murders - all of the victims were, like Versace, homosexual.

Miami police chief Richard Barreto described Cunanan as the sole suspect, but he did not know if he had any relationship with Versace.

Hundreds of people have gathered opposite Versace's three-storey, Mediterranean style home, the only residential building in the art deco section of Ocean Drive.

Police have sealed off the area round the blood-stained steps to the house - Casa Casuarina - where Versace lived most of the time with his friend Antonio D'Amico.

Around the world Versace's stores have been closing as they received news of the tragedy.

Tributes are pouring in from the many rich and famous friends who enjoyed wearing Versace's flamboyant designs.

Amongst them Princess Diana has issued a statement saying she was "devastated at the loss of a great and talented man".

Versace had just released his new winter collection and a glamorous television launch planned for the Spanish Steps in Rome has been cancelled.

With the help of his sister Donatella and his brother Santo, Versace transformed the family firm into a multimillion-dollar fashion empire.

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Versace was shot twice outside his house

In Context
Following America's biggest manhunt, detectives traced Andrew Cunanan to a houseboat three miles from the murder scene on 25 July 1997.
After a five-hour siege a swat team stormed the boat and found Cunanan dead.

He had shot himself in the head with the gun he used to kill Versace.

His motive and any clues to his links with organised crime went with him to the grave.

There were some press reports which suggested he had been diagnosed HIV-positive, but a post mortem examination showed this was not the case.

Versace was his fifth victim, at the end of a killing spree which began in April 1997.

Versace launched his fashion label in 1978 and the year before his death made pre-tax profits of £60m from a global turnover of £300m.

The label has continued under the direction of Donatella and Santo Versace.

Stories From 15 Jul
1995: Serbs force Muslims out of Srebrenica
1997: Versace murdered on his doorstep
1966: Euston staff 'colour bar' ended
1971: Seals shot by government decree
2000: Police camera action violates human rights

TheWatcher · 15-07-2011 09:55

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone

**skully** · 15-07-2011 12:16

971 - According to the legend of St. Swithin, if it rains today, it will be the start of forty days of rain.

1099 – First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege.

1149 – The reconstructed Church of the Holy Sepulchre is consecrated in Jerusalem.

1685 - Charles II's illegitimate son (the Duke of Monmouth) was executed for rebelling against James II. His head was then put back on his shoulders so that his portrait could be painted.

1815 - French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to Captain Maitland aboard the English ship Bellerophon, at Rochefort, before being sent into exile on the island of St Helena.

1904 - The first Buddhist temple in the United States was established in Los Angeles, California.

1912 - National Insurance payments began in Britain.

2003 – AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.

2004 - The Las Vegas Monorail begins service.