On this day

July 4th

1901 - Manila: William Howard Taft is installed as Civil governor of the Philippines.

1905 - South Africa: Boers protest at new electoral laws which give new privileges to the British.

1907 - Italy: National celebrations mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Garibaldi.

1908 - Russia: 228 people die and 150 are feared missing after a pit disaster at Jusovka.

1916 - London: Queen Mary opens the South London Hospital for Women in Clapham.

1920 - Belgium: Allied premiers meet German leaders for the first time since the Versailles Treaty, at the resort of Spa.

1927 - London: King Fuad of Egypt arrives on a state visit.

1935 - London: The Ministry of Transport announces Dipped Car Headlights will become compulsory.

1939 - Vienna: Nazi thugs beat up the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Theodor Innitzer.

1941 - Britain: Coal rationing begins.

1949 - Epsom: The George Colling trained "Nimbus" ridden by Charlie Elliott wins the Epsom Derby by a head in the first photo finish to the classic race.

1953 - Wimbledon: Maureen Connelly defeats Doris Hart to win her second Women's singles title.

1954 - Switzerland: Germany win the World Cup Final in Berne, defeating Hungary 3-2 after being 2-0 down.

1957 - London: MPs vote themselves an increase in expenses of £750 a year.

1965 - France: Common Market finance ministers endorse Britain's application to the IMF for a £500 million loan.

1968 - Portsmouth: Yachtsman Alec Rose returns to his home town after sailing around the world in his tiny ketch "Lively Lady" His 28,500 mile adventure took him 354 days.

1970 - Wimbledon: The longest Women's Single's final sees Margaret Court defeat Billie Jean King 14-12, 11-9.

1975 - Jerusalem: A bomb explodes in a busy square at the height of the Pre-Sabbath rush killing 13 people and injuring 72 more.

1984 - Britain: The government announces the abolition of dog licences.

1988 - Wimbledon: Stefan Edberg defeats Boris Becker 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 6-2 in a rain delayed Men's Singles Final.

1998 - Florida: 120,000 people have to flee their homes from forest fires.

2004 - New York: The cornerstone of the "Freedom Tower" is laid on the site of the World Trade Center.

July 5th

1914 - Berlin: Kaiser Wilhelm II reaffirms Germany's alliance with Austria.

1920 - Britain: A new airmail service to Amsterdam begins, costing threepence per ounce of mail.

1921 - Vienna: Scientists claim they have carried out successful eye transplants on fish, frogs, and rats.

1924 - Paris: The Eighth Olympic Games opens with 42 nations taking part, Germany is excluded.

1929 - London: Scotland Yard detectives seize twelve paintings of nudes by the novelist D.H Lawrence from a Mayfair gallery after a series of complaints about the exhibition.

1932 - Britain: The first main-line electric express train runs from London Bridge to Three Bridges in Sussex.

1935 - Washington: The National Labor Relation Act comes into force, guaranteeing the freedom of trade unions.

1937 - Britain: The train "Coronation Scot" reaches Edinburgh in a record six hours from London.

1945 - Warsaw: The Polish government of national unity is recognised by Britain and the US.

1948 - Britain: The National Health Service - regarded as the most sweeping reform so far introduced by the government, comes into being.

1950 - Korea: American troops in their first major engagement are badly mauled when 40 North Korean tanks overrun their forward positions south of Suwon.

1952 - London: Thousands of Londoners bid farewell to the city's last tram, which runs from Woolwich to New Cross.

1953 - Kenya: 99 Mau Mau are killed in the British drive on terrorist strongholds.

1961 - Cairo: The United Arab Republic, backed by Moscow, calls for Britain to withdraw from Kuwait.

1968 - Britain: Lone yachtsman Alec Rose is Knighted.

1974 - Britain: Don Revie becomes England's new football manager.

1975 - Wimbledon: Billie Jean King defeats Evonne Cawley to win her sixth Women's Singles Title.

1977: Pakistan: Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is overthrown and arrested by General Zia ul-Huq his appointed Chief of Army Staff after four months of unrest and hundreds of deaths.

1981 - Liverpool: Rioting erupts in the Toxteth area of the city.

1984 - Beirut: The Lebanese army tear down the "Green Line", the five miles of barricades that divide the city.

1988 - Britain: The Church of England votes to go ahead with plans for the ordination of women.

1996 - Florida: The space shuttle Columbia returns to Earth after the longest shuttle flight of 16 days and 22 hours.

2004 - Indonesia: The first Indonesian presidential election is held.

2009 - Britain: The largest amount of Anglo Saxon gold (more than 1,500 items) is uncovered near the village of Hammerwich, near Lichfield, Staffordshire.

July 6th

1908 - France: New government laws grant automatic divorce after three years legal separation.

1912 - Surrey: The county sees a wide area breakout of Foot and Mouth disease.

1915 - Calais: British and French ministers hold the first Allied war conference.

1916 - London: David Lloyd George becomes War Secretary in succession to Kitchener.

1918 - Moscow: German ambassador Count Wilhelm von Mirbach-Harff is assassinated by socialist revolutionaries opposed to Communists and the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty.

1924 - Brazil: Government opponents take over Sao Paulo, culminating in the deaths of 250 people.

1927 - London: The Church of England approves the proposed revision of the Book of the Common Prayer.

1931 - Britain: Census results show the lowest rate of increase in the population since 1801; at 44.8 million it is almost at a standstill.

1936 - USA: The Hindenberg airship crosses the Atlantic in under 46 hours.

1938 - Palestine: A bomb hidden in a basket at a market in Haifa explodes killing 43 people.

1941 - London: 15 hours, 48 minutes of sunshine gives the capital its sunniest day of the century.

1944 - Berlin: Field Marshal von Rundstedt is sacked as supreme commander of the German army in the west.

1955 - Strasbourg: Britain and France outline plans to include East Bloc states in the Council of Europe.

1962 - Algeria: Moroccan troops invade the border region of Tindouf.

1968 - Wimbledon: Rod Laver defeats his fellow Australian Tony Roche 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the Men's Singles Final.

1971 - London: The Government announces that crash helmets are to become compulsory for motorcyclists.

1973 - Rhodesia: Guerrillas kidnap 270 children and staff from a Catholic mission school.

1977 - Washington: President Carter calls on Arab nations to establish links with Israel.

1983 - London: The government announces a rise in defence spending, including £624 million for the Falklands.

1992 - France: Thousands of Holidaymakers are stranded as French lorry drivers block roads in protest against a new driving licence system.

2005 - Chile: A court strips Augusto Pinochet of presidential immunity from prosecution in the investigation of the disappearance of political opponents in "Operation Columbo"

2009 - China: Riots in the Xinjiang region leave 156 dead and more than 800 injured.

July 7th

1909 - China: The US protests against the Sino-Russian treaty, saying it will give Russia too much power.

1910 - France: Aviator Hubert Latham reaches a record height of 5,000ft during trials at Rheims.

1915 - Eastern Front: The Russians defeat Austro-German troops south of Lyublin, taking 11,000 prisoners.

1916 - Persia: Britain and Russia form an alliance with the Persian Shah.

1924 - Paris: The Prince of Wales unveils a memorial to British war dead in Notre Dame Cathedral.

1926 - London: Rudyard Kipling is awarded a gold medal by the Royal Society of Literature.

1934 - Wimbledon: Double celebrations for Britain as Fred Perry defeats Jack Crawford 6-3, 6-0, 7-5 to win the Men's singles final, while Dorothy Round defeats Helen Jacobs 6-2, 6-8, 6-3 in the Women's singles final.

1937 - London: To end the "Irreconcilable conflict" between Jews and Arabs, the British government announce proposals to partition Palestine.

1943 - London: The government announces it will consider the introduction of "pay-as-you-earn" taxation.

1947 - Britain: Statistics reveal there have been 50,000 divorces for this year, compared to 10,000 before the war began.

1952 - Britain: The US liner "United States" crosses the Atlantic in a record three days, ten hours, and forty minutes.

1955 - Britain: A new supersonic Hawker Hunter crashes at the Farnborough Air Show, killing the pilot.

1959 - London: House of Fraser launches a counter-bid for Harrods.

1966 - Bucharest: Warsaw Pact states offer to send volunteers to North Vietnam if Hanoi requires them.

1967 - Nigeria: Government troops invade the oil-rich breakaway region of Biafra.

1972 - Moscow: The US signs a science and technology cooperation pact with the Soviet Union.

1981 - Britain: Ian Botham quits as England cricket captain in anticipation of being sacked.

1982 - Oslo: David Moorcroft sets a new world record for the 5,000 metres of 13 minutes 00.41 seconds.

1985 - Wimbledon: 17 year old Boris Becker becomes the youngest Men's Singles champion defeating Kevin Curran 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.

1986 - Kuala Lumpur: A Briton and an Australian are the first foreigners to be hanged under Malaysia's stiff anti-drug laws.

1987 - USSR: Six former technicians at the Chernobyl plant go on trial for causing last years catastrophe.

1992 - London: "Sogo" the first Japanese department store in London, opens in Piccadilly.

1994 - Yemen: The government claims victory after a two-month civil war against secessionist forces.

1998 - Milan: Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is given a prison sentence of two years and nine months for bribing tax executives.

2008 - France: Un-enriched Uranium from the Tricastin Nuclear Power Center in Bollene, leaks into the Gaffiere and Lauzon rivers, resulting in a closure of the plant.

July 8th

1905 - Russia: The Mutinous crew of the ship "Potemkin" surrender to the Rumanians, who after deliberation say they will not be extradited because the mutiny was a political act.

1908 - Britain: Scotsman George Davidson invents a "Gyropter" a flying machine with two rotary fans.

1912 - Italy: A 15 month trial of Neapolitan Camorra gangsters finds nine accused guilty of murder. One prisoner cuts his throat in the dock.

1913 - Peking: The Chinese parliament agrees to grant Mongolia Independence.

1928 - India: 18 people die when an East Indian railway train is derailed after saboteurs remove part of the track.

1935 - Berlin: A naval Programme is announced to build 28 submarines, 16 destroyers, and two giant cruisers.

1942 - USA: British-born actor Cary Grant marries Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, a week after becoming a US citizen.

1951 - Korea: UN and Communist delegates meet for preliminary cease-fire talks at Kaesong.

1954 - London: Labour MPs accept the government's proposal for a £2 daily allowance rather than a pay rise.

1959 - London: British Rail are given the go ahead to raise rail fares by 50 per cent.

1960 - Moscow: American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is indicted as a spy.

1961 - Wimbledon: An all British Women's Singles Final is won by Angela Mortimer who defeats Christine Truman 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

1964 - Geneva: The International Commission of Jurists attacks Soviet repression of the Jews.

1968 - London: Britain is promised $2,000 million credit by 12 countries in a bid to bolster the pound.

1970 - London: Roy Jenkins becomes deputy leader of the Labour Party.

1975 - Bonn: Itzhak Rabin arrives on the first visit to Germany by an Israeli premier.

1978 - Italy: Sandro Pertini is elected Italy's first Socialist President by an overwhelming majority.

1985 - West Germany: The Originators of the "Hitler Diaries" are jailed for forgery.

1989 - Britain: The House of Lords passes a bill privatising the water industry in England and Wales.

1992 - London: South African cricket tour rebels have their Test ban lifted due to the changing political situation in South Africa.

1994 - Pyongyang: North Korean President Kim Il Sung dies of an apparent heart attack on the eve of crucial nuclear talks with the US.

2008 - Thailand: Prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra goes on trial, facing corruption charges.

2010 -Spain: Two people are gored and five are injured after the "Running of the Bulls" at the San Fermin Festival.

July 9th

1909 - London: George Bernard Shaw's censored play "Press Cuttings" receives a public performance.

1910 - Egypt: Archaeologists discover a tablet describing the fall of Jerusalem.

1915 - Africa: General Botha accepts the surrender of all German forces in South West Africa.

1918 - USA: Henry Ford launches the first "Eagle" boat. A new type of fast submarine-chaser.

1919 - London: The government raises the price of coal to six shillings a ton.

1922 - Germany: Total financial collapse is feared following the spectacular drop in the mark's value.

1925 - London: The government announces it will not abandon British rights in China.

1935 - Moscow: Tunnel engineers on the new underground railway discover Ivan the Terrible's torture chamber.

1937 - Britain: Golfer Henry Cotton wins the British Open Golf Championship for the second time.

1940 - London: The Duke of Windsor is appointed Governor of the Bahamas.

1947 - Athens: 2,500 alleged Communist plotters are arrested.

1951 - USA: Writer Dashiell Hammett is jailed for six months for contempt of court.

1954 - Britain: Australian golfer Peter Thompson at 24 becomes the youngest winner of the British Open Championship.

1961 - Moscow: Khrushchev announces he has cancelled defence cuts but will increase military spending.

1962 - Pacific: A US H-bomb test lights up the night sky from Hawaii to New Zealand.

1967 - Hong Kong: Four people die in violent clashes between police and Communist rioters.

1973 - Uganda: Idi Amin orders the arrest and expulsion of 112 Peace Corps workers.

1979 - Tehran: Ayatollah Khomeini announces an amnesty for all jailed under the Shah except murderers and torturers.

1984 - York: A bolt of lightning is blamed for the fire which devastates York minster.

1989 - Wimbledon: Steffi Graf wins the Woman's Singles Title beating Martina Navratilova 6-2, 6-7, 6-1.

1990 - Iraq: Saddam Hussein denies Iraq has a nuclear capability.

1995 - Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankan government sends 10,000 troops to combat Tamil Tiger Guerrillas.

1996 - Northern Ireland: Prime Minister John Major sends in 1,000 more British troops as loyalist violence and disruption reaches it's highest level for almost 15 years.

2009 - Pakistan: A drone strike by the US kills 50 Taliban militants in South Waziristan.

2010 - USA: American researchers discover that fruit and veg grown today has less nutritional values than those grown in the 1950's.

July 10th

1901 - London: The first completed section of London's Electric Tramway is opened between Shepherd's Bush to Southall.

1908 - London: The Admiralty reveals a new torpedo with a four-mile range and a speed of four knots.

1918 - Russia: A new provisional government of Siberia is established at Novonikolayevsk.

1921 - China: Mongolia declares independence as a people's republic.

1923 - Rome: Benito Mussolini dissolves all opposition parties.

1927 - Dublin: Vice President of the Irish Free State, Kevin O'Higgins is gunned down by men in a waiting car while walking from church.

1928 - London: The House of Lords rejects the "Rabbits Bill" allowing their destruction, fearing it could mean a shortage available for shooting.

1930 - China: Communist armies unite to attack Hankow.

1931 - Britain: Bentley Motors call in a receiver.

1938 - New York: Howard Hughes sets off on a round-the-world flight.

1940 - London: The British Union of Fascists is banned.

1943 - Italy: The first Allied troops go ashore on Sicily along a 100 mile front.

1947 - London: The government announce that Princess Elizabeth will get extra ration coupons for her wedding dress.

1950 - London: The government ends soap rationing.

1951 - Earl's Court: Randolph Turpin, the British and European middleweight boxing champion, causes one of boxing's greatest upsets by battering the great Sugar Ray Robinson to a points defeat to take the world crown. Robinson needed 14 stiches in a badly cut eye.


1955 - London: The Soho Fair Festival opens, which is aimed at ridding Soho of its seedy underworld associations.

1962: USA: Martin Luther King is jailed for leading an illegal march in Georgia.

1964 : Liverpool: 300 people are injured as a crowd of 150.000 welcome The Beatles back to the city.

1970 - France: David Broome becomes the first Briton to win the world show jumping championship.

1972 - London: Home Secretary William Whitelaw admits he secretly met IRA leaders.

1976 - Italy: A safety valve bursts at chemical factory at Seveso, near Milan, releasing a cloud of poisonous weed killer.

1980 - London: A fire causes huge damage to Alexandra Palace in North London.

1985 - New Zealand: The international protest ship "Rainbow Warrior" is badly damaged by two explosions in Auckland Harbour.

1991 - Leeds: Yorkshire cricket club breaks with tradition to allow outsiders to play for the county.

1992 - Miami: General Manuel Noriega of Panama is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug trafficking.

2003 - USA: NASA announces the discovery of PSR B160-26b (unofficially named Methuselah) the oldest extra solar planet yet discovered.

July 11th

1902 - London: King Edward VII confers the Order of the Garter on Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsberg Empire.

1903 - Ireland: The world's first powerboat race takes place organised by the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

1911 - Paris: 60,000 masons go on strike, paralysing the building industry.

1927 - Palestine: 26 people are reported killed after an earthquake hits the region.

1929 - Britain: The government refuses to grant Leon Trotsky asylum.

1932 - Basle: The World Bank calls for a return to the gold standard.

1937 - USA: Famous composer George Gershwin dies in Hollywood from a brain tumour aged 38.

1944 - Washington: President Roosevelt agrees to run for a fourth term in office.

1949 - Britain: The Transport and General Workers Union bans Communists and Fascists from office.

1950 - London: Frank Sinatra makes his London debut at the Palladium and is given a rousing ovation by besieged fans.

1953 - Washington: The State Department announce that South Korean leader Syngman Rhee has agreed to sign an armistice.

1955 - Britain: The biggest rise in Coal prices sees the price soar by 18 per cent.

1962 - Britain: US frogman Fred Baldasare becomes the first person to swim the English Channel underwater.

1963 - Ecuador: President Carlos Monray is overthrown in a military coup.

1972 - Washington: Apollo 15 astronauts are reprimanded for smuggling philatelic souvenirs to and from the moon.

1975 - China: Chinese archaeologists uncover a "terra-cotta army" of 6,000 life sized warriors with chariots, spears, and horses in battle formation, near the ancient Chinese capital of Xian.

1978 - Peking: China cuts off all economic and technical aid to Albania.

1981 - London: The Queen opens the Nat West Tower, Europe's tallest building.

1982 - Southampton: The Prince of Wales welcomes back the liner "Canberra" from the Falklands.

1988 - Greece: Nine people are killed and 78 are injured when terrorists open fire the Greek ferry "City of Porus."

1990 - Britain: The Case of the McGuire family, convicted of running an IRA bomb factory in 1976, is referred to the Court of Appeal.

1991 - Liverpool: The Labour MP Terry Fields is jailed for failing to pay his poll tax.

1995 - London: Lord Nolan presents a report on the standards of public life, aimed at cleaning up "sleaze" at Westminster.

2007 - London: The British Museum announces that a Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet dating from 695bc contains an inscription confirming the existence of a figure mentioned in the Bible.

2010: Pacific: A total solar eclipse occurs in the South Pacific ocean with thousands viewing the event on Easter Island.

July 12th

1900 - London: Puccini's Opera "Tosca" receives it's first performance in the UK at Covent Garden.

1904 - London: Britain signs a five year treaty with Germany to resolve disputes through arbitration.

1910 - Britain: Aviation claimed it's first British fatality, when the Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls crashed his aircraft during a flying competition in Bournemouth.

1916 - Ireland: The government prohibits the carrying of arms without a permit.

1924 - Cairo: Egyptian premier Zaghlol Pasha escapes an assassination attempt by a student.

1929 - Germany: The giant six-engine Dornier Do X flying boat makes it's maiden flight.

1938 - Czechoslovakia: The Sudeten German party makes big gains in the national elections.

1945 - Berlin: Montgomery presents senior Soviet officers with awards from the King.

1949 - London: Figures show that 13,000 dock workers are now out on strike.

1952 - USA: Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns from the US army.

1954 - Vienna: Reports announce that at least 27 people have died in the worst floods in central Europe for over 100 years.

1957 - USA: 20-year-old Harvard student Prince Karim is declared the Aga Khan on the death of his grandfather.

1960 - Africa: French Congo, Chad, and the Central African Republic become independent from France.

1964 - South Vietnam: Vietcong guerrillas inflict a major defeat on government forces in the Mekong Delta.

1969 - Britain: Lytham St. Anne's sees Tony Jacklin becomes the first British golfer since Max Faulkner in 1951 to win the British Open.

1977 - London: The average house price in the capital and the soth-east is £16, 731.

1979 - London: Margaret Thatcher attacks the BBC for an interview on the "Tonight" programme with an INLA terrorist.

1982 - London: Britain declares an end to hostilities in the South Atlantic and says it will repatriate Argentine prisoners.

1984 - London: Robert Maxwell buys the Mirror newspaper group for £113.4 million.

1986 - Northern Ireland: 100 people are injured during Orange day clashes between Protestants and Catholics.

1988 - Britain: The Texan Oilman Red Adair, boards the burning Piper Alpha oil-rig.

1989 - Britain: Rail workers stage a fourth one-day strike.

1994 - Westminster: Parliament is in uproar over accusations that two Tory MPs Graham Riddick and David Tredinnick were paid to ask "commercial" questions in the house.

2004 - Portugal: Pedro Santana Lopes becomes Prime Minister.

2009 - India: Five people are killed and several more are injured after a bridge being constructed for the Delhi Metro collapse.

July 13th

1901 - France: Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont crashes his dirigible at Boulogne after circling the Eiffel Tower.

1909 - Persia: Nationalist forces opposed to the Shah capture Tehran.

1914 - London: The Performing Rights Society is formed.

1916 - London: The Local Government Board issues rules for a scheme to combat Venereal diseases.

1920 - London: The London County Council bans the employment of foreigners in almost all council jobs.

1923 - London: MPs pass Lady Astor's Liquor Bill, banning the sale of alcohol to people under 18.

1930 - Uruguay: The first World Cup Tournament begins in Montevideo.

1934 - Germany: Heinrich Himmler is appointed overlord of Nazi Germanys notorious concentration camps.

1939 - London: Chancellor Sir John Simon announces new defence borrowings of £500 million.

1943 - Sicily: The Allies capture Augusta and Ragusa and land new forces near Catania.

1944 - Lithuania: The capital Vilna is captured by the Soviet Army on its advance through the Baltic states.

1948 - Britain: Figures reveal the Coal Board lost over £23 million in the first year of its nationalisation.

1951 - London: The Queen lays the foundation stone of the National
Theatre.

1958 - Cyprus: 31 people are killed after a week of violence across the island.

1960 - Los Angeles: John F. Kennedy wins the democratic presidential nomination beating senator Lyndon Johnson.

1964 - London: The Appeal Court quashes 25 year jail sentences against two of the Great Train Robbers.

1970 - Northern Ireland: Orange Day parades pass off peacefully after the UK's biggest ever security operation.

1976 - Brussels: Roy Jenkins is appointed President of the European Commission.

1977 - New York: Looting and Vandalism is rife after the city is blacked out by a massive power failure.

1981 - Belfast: IRA hunger striker Martin Hurson dies.

1983 - Britain: Neil Kinnock escapes unhurt when his car overturns on the M4 near Newbury.

1986 - Britain: Native South Africans Zola Budd and Annette Cowley are banned from the Commonwealth Games.

1990 - USSR: Boris Yeltsin the President of the Russian republic shocks delegates in the Kremlin for the 28th congress of the Communist Party by announcing his resignation from the party.

1993 - Moscow: Rolls-Royce opens its first showroom in Russia.

1998 - Japan: Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto resigns as critics blame him for the country's economic problems.

2006 - Nigeria: Sabotage is suspected as two explosions hit Italian company owned oilstations in the southeast region of the country.

2008 - Afghanistan: A suicide bomber blows himself up next to a police patrol in the Oruzgan Province, killing 18 people.