Born On This Day:

• John Jacob Astor, 1763
• Earle Stanley Gardner, 1889
• James Cagney, 1899
• William Gargan, 1905
• Hardy Amies, 1909
• Art Linkletter, 1912
• Phyllis Diller, 1917
• Diahann Carroll, 1935
• Donald Sutherland, 1935
• Spencer Davis, 1942
• Camilla Parker Bowles, 1947
• Lucie Arnaz, 1951
• David Hasselhoff, 1952
• Nicolette Larson, 1952
• Phoebe Snow, 1952
• Angela Merkel, 1954

Died On This Day:

• Czar Peter III murdered, 1762
• Adam Smith, 1790
• Charlotte Corday executed, 1793
• James McNeill Whistler, 1903
• Anastasia (daughter of Czar Nicholas II), 1918
• Czar Nicholas II and family murdered, 1918
• Billie Holiday, 1959
• Ty Cobb, 1961
• John Coltrane, 1967
• Dizzy Dean, 1974
• Katherine Graham, 2001
• Sir Edward Heath, 2005
• Walter Cronkite, 2009
• Elaine Stritch, 2014

Today's Events:

• 709 BC - First allusion to a solar eclipse written in China in Book 1 of Chun-chiu, first Chinese chronicle of history.
• 1429 - French Dauphin crowned Charles VII in Rheims Cathedral, thanks to Joan of Arc driving English out of France.
• 1453 - Victory of French over English at Battle of Castillon-le-Bataille, the final battle in 100 years war.
• 1505 - Martin Luther overtaken by thunderstorm proclaims 'Help, St. Anne, and I'll become a monk.'
• 1717 - As King George I sails on Thames, George Frideric Handel first performs his Water Music.
• 1761 - First waterway in England - Bridgewater Canal - opens linking Worsley and Manchester.
• 1762 - Catherine II (the Great) of Russia becomes Czar upon the murder of her father Peter III.
• 1790 - Sixty years before Singer in America, Thomas Saint of London patents the first sewing machine.
• 1810 - First Jewish non-orthodox religious service held by Israel Jacobson in his school in Seesen, Lower Saxony; reform/progressive Judiasm born.
• 1821 - Spain cedes Florida to U.S.
• 1841 - Punch humour magazine first published in UK; to publish continually for 150 years.
• 1850 - First photograph taken of a star by astronomer George Phillips Bond.
• 1902 - First air conditioning installed in Buffalo Forge Company by inventor Willis Haviland Carrier.
• 1917 - Britain's royal family adopts the name 'Windsor' changing from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
• 1918 - At Yekaterinburg, Siberia early in the a.m, Czar Nicholas II and family including Anastasia executed.
• 1936 - Spanish Civil War begins.
• 1938 - 'Wrong Way' Corrigan 'accidentally' flies monoplane to Ireland instead of California from N.Y.
• 1941 - Cleveland Indians pitchers end Joe DiMaggio's record 56 consecutive game hitting streak.
• 1945 - The Potsdam Conference headed by Churchill (later Atlee) Truman and Stalin opens.
• 1955 - Disneyland opens; $17 million theme park Magic Kingdom, dream of Walt, comes to life at Anaheim.
• 1975 - Soviets and Americans linkup in space-Apollo to Soyuz; cosmonauts & astronauts shake hands.
• 1981 - Humber Bridge, the longest single span suspension bridge (now 2nd) opens to traffic from Hull, East Yorkshire, UK.
• 1994 - Parts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy continue to plow into planet Jupiter in huge cosmic explosions.
• 1994 - Two billion people, 1/3 of world population, view World Cup final in LA; Brazil beats Italy.
• 2007 - Dow Jones briefly soars to over 14,000 for the first time.
• 2014 - Israel launches ground offensive in the Gaza Strip after Hamas escalates war with missile attacks on Israel.
• 2014 - Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from the Netherlands shot down by Russian missile over the Ukraine; 298 dead.

Feast Day of Saint:

• Leo IV (died today A.D. 855)
• Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne
• Kenelm
• Clement of Okhrida
• Ennodius
• Marcellina
• 7 Apostles of Bulgaria
• Speratus
• Narses of Lampron
• The Scillium Martyrs
• Alexis

Holiday:

• Japanese Festival Susa-No-O begins (8 days)
• Constitution Day South Korea (1948)
• National Day in Iraq

Non-Specific Holiday:

• JAGANNATH, RATHA YATRA, Hindu Festival of Car Procession of Vishnu
• CHI HSI, Festival of the Milky Way in China (seventh day of the seventh moon)
• CHUNG YÜAN, Festival of the Dead in China (fifteenth day of the seventh moon)
• NAGA PANCHAMI, Hindu Festival of the Serpent God
• RAKHI, Hindu Festival to Pledge Protection
• CHUNG-CH'IU, Mid-autumn festival, Harvest or Moon Festival (fifteenth day of the eighth moon)
• TISH'AH B'AB (Jewish) Anniversary of fall of Jerusalem and destruction of first & 2nd temples Ab 9
• NEBUTA, Japanese Festival at peak of summer to drive off lethargy
• SOMA NOMAOI, Japanese Festival of samurai equestrian displays