On This Day - 9th July

1850 - President Zachary Taylor died and Millard Fillmore became the 13th President of the United States.
1856 - Nicola Tesla born
1927 - Ed Ames born
1947 - O.J. Simpson born
1950 - The World Cup saw the winner of four groups progress to a final round-robin round. On July 9, hosts Brazil hammered Sweden 7-1 in front of a crowd of 138,000 in Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium.
1952 - John Tesh born
1955 - Jimmy Smits born
1956 - Tom Hanks born
1957 - Kelly McGillis born
1964 - Courtney Love born
1973 - Bahamas gains independence from Britain
1976 - Fred Savage born
1982 - Michael Fagan scaled the walls of Buckingham Palace and spent 10 minutes talking to the Queen in her bedroom.

1984 - York Minster is engulfed in flames after being struck by lightning.
1991 - South Africa is readmitted into the Olympic movement after 30 years of exclusion. Also the closure of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International loses about 20 local councils up to £30m in investments.
1997 - Mike Tyson was banned from boxing and fined $3 million (£2m) for biting Evander Holyfield's ear during a fight on June 28. However, on October 18 1998, Tyson's license was restored.

2001 - A Californian University throws more light on why the Big Bang theory works after nearly 40 years of world-wide research.
2006 - The World Cup final saw Zidane put France ahead after just seven minutes with a penalty but it took only another 12 minutes for Materazzi to equalise. The two later locked horns when Zidane, in his last match before retiring, head-butted Materazzi in extra-time and was sent off. Italy eventually won 5 - 3 in the penalty shoot out.