On This Day - 10th July

1890 - Wyoming becomes the 44th US State
1920 David Brinkley born
1921 - Boxer Jake LaMotta born
1926 - Actor Fred Gwynne born
1925 - Indian spiritualist Meher Baba began his 44 years of silence.
1940 - The German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, launched a series of raids on the south and east of England as the Battle of Britain got underway.

1943 - British, Canadian and American troops arrive on the Mediterranean island of Sicily - largely unopposed. Also tennis player Arthur Ashe born
1947 Arlo Guthrie born
1972 - The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Whitelaw is involved in secret talks with the provisional IRA in London.
1980 Jessica Simpson born
1982 - Poland finished third for the second time in three tournaments after beating France 3-2 at the Estadio Jose Rico Perez, Alicante.

1985 - French agents sink Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand
1991 - Boris Yeltsin begins his initial five-year term as the first elected President of Russia.
1996 - The battered bodies of Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan are found near their home in Kent.
1998 - Robert Prosinecki and Davor Suker both scored as Croatia defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in the third place match.
2000 - One in four British homes is now using the internet according to figures released by the government.
2002 - At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £49.5m ($75m) to Lord Thomson.

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.

On This Day - 8th July

1497 - Legendary Portuguese sailor Vasco de Gama sets off on first direct voyage from Europe to India.
1680 - The first tornado in recorded American history strikes in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One person is killed.
1828 Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowns
1839 John D. Rockefeller born
1889 - The first issue of the Wall Street Journal hits news stands.
1908 Nelson Rockefeller born
1914 Billy Eckstine born
1931 Roone Arledge born
1935 Steve Lawrence born
1947 - An unidentified flying object is reported to have crashed in Roswell, New Mexico.
1951 Anjelica Huston born
1952 Marianne Williamson and Christopher G. Moore born
1958 Kevin Bacon born
1961 Toby Keith born
1965 - Ronald Biggs who was serving a 30-year prison sentence for his part in the Great Train Robbery escapes from Wandsworth prison.

1971 - Two men are killed by the British army in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
1973 Kathleen Robertson born
1982 - The first of the two semi-finals at the World Cup in Spain saw Paolo Rossi take centre stage with a clinical brace to down Poland. West Germany faced France in the second semi-final at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium, and it was a 3-3 thriller with Germany eventually winning on penaltes.
1989 - Glenn Madeiros tops the UK singles chart with 'Nothing's gonna chance my love for you', commonly thought to be the worst number one in music history.
1990 - The World Cup final in Italy saw West Germany take on Argentina at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Franz Beckenbauer's side won courtesy of Andreas Brehme's 85th minute spot-kick.
1996 - Three young children and four adults are attacked by a man with a machete at an infant school in Wolverhampton.
2000 - The release of Harry potter and the Goblet of Fire breaks all publishing records.
2003 - Conjoined Iranian twins who volunteered to go ahead with a major operation to separate them both die during surgery.
2005 - The G8 summit in Gleneagles ends with a deal to boost aid for developing countries by $50bn.

2012 - Actor Ernest Borgnine dies of renal failure aged 95.

On This Day - 7th July

1865 – Four conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln are hanged.
1906 - The first ever hot air balloon race
1922 - Pierre Cardin born
1927 - Doc Severinsen born
1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company.
1930 - Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle dies
1940 - Ringo Starr born

1969 - Former Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones, drowned after taking a cocktail of drink and drugs, an inquest is told. Also Cree Summer born
1974 - The World Cup final of 1974 pitted the 'total football' of the Netherlands, inspired by the exceptional talent of Johan Cruyff, against the Franz Beckenbauer-inspired West Germany at the Olympiastadion in Munich. Germany won 2 nil.
1976 - Ugandan authorities deny knowledge of the whereabouts of missing British-Israeli citizen Dora Bloch.
1980 – Institution of sharia in Iran. Also Michelle Kwan born
1985 - Tennis unknown Boris Becker becomes the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon at the age of 17.

1990 - Martina Navratilova wins her 9th Wimbledon singles title. also England lose the World Cup third/fourth place playoff to hosts Italy 2 - 1.
1998 - At least 19 people are killed in riots in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, following the death of the opposition leader.
2001 - Two people have been stabbed and many more injured in running battles between white and Asian gangs in Bradford.
2005 - 7/7 A series of bomb attacks on London's transport network kills more than 52 people and injures over 700 others.
2011 - It is announced that next weekends edition of the News of the World newspaper will be the last, following continuing revelations over phone hacking. Also one person is killed and 16 injured when a section of the roof at FC Twente's De Grolsch Veste stadium in Enschede collapses during redevelopment work. In addition thousands of fans attend Trafalgar Square, London for the world premier of the final installment in the Harry Potter franchise.

On This Day - 6th July

1535 – Sir Thomas More is executed for treason against King Henry VIII.
1747 - One of the founders of the US Navy,John Paul Jones born. Famed for leading the last invasion of mainline Britain (Whitehaven)
1785 – The dollar is unanimously chosen as the monetary unit for the United States.
1915 - Laverne Andrews born
1921 - Nancy Reagan born
1922 - William Schallert born
1925 - Merv Griffin and Bill Haley born
1927 - Janet Leigh born
1932 - Della Reese born
1935 - Dalai Lama born
1937 - Ned Beatty born
1945 - Burt Ward born
1946 - Former U.S. President George W. Bush and Actor Sylvester Stallone born
1951 - Geoffrey Rush born

1952 - After nearly a century of service the tram has made its final appearance in London.
1958 - Jennifer Saunders born
1957 – John Lennon meets Paul McCartney at a fete in Woolton.
1974 - 74,000 watch Brazil lose 2 nil to Poland in the third/fourth playoff at the World Cup finals.
1978 - A blaze on the Penzance to Paddington sleeper train leaves 11 dead and 17 injured. Also Tia and Tamera Mowry born
1983 - Gregory Smith born

1988 - Piper Alpha North Sea oil rig explodes, killing 167 workers
1992 - The French Government mobilises the army and police to remove the lorries blocking the nation's major roads.
1997 - Nasa scientists free a robot from space probe Mars Pathfinder, allowing it to begin exploring the Red Planet.
2000 - The Prime Minister Tony Blair's eldest son, Euan, is arrested for being drunk and incapable.
2005 - London are awarded the opportunity to host the 2012 Olympic Games

On This Day - 5th July

1810 - P.T. Barnum born
1841 - Thomas Cook travel agency is founded
1889 - Jean Cocteau born
1911 - Georges Pompidou born
1928 - Warren Oates born
1951 - Huey Lewis born
1954 - At 7.30 pm Richard Baker delivered the first live news broadcast on BBC TV

1975 - American tennis player Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles' championship.
1979 - The Queen presides over the 1000th annual open-air sitting of the Isle of Man's Parliament, Tynwald. Also Shane Filan born
1981 - Up to 30 police officers are injured by bricks and other missiles as rioting and looting breaks out in Toxteth, Liverpool.

1989 - Former White House aide Oliver North escapes jail for his part in the Iran-Contra affair.
1991 - The Bank of Credit and Commerce International closes UK branches over fraud allegations.
2000 - Conservationists in South Africa carry out the biggest ever airlift of wild birds.

On This Day - 4th July

American Independance Day
1826 - Former US President John Adams dies
1826 - Former US President Thomas Jefferson dies
1855 - Alcohol is banned in New York State
1872 - Calvin Coolidge born
1883 - Rube Goldberg born
1902 - George Murphy born
1910 - Gloria Stuart born
1911 - Mitch Miller born
1918 - Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren born
1927 - Neil Simon born
1927 - Gina Lollobrigida born
1930 - George Steinbrenner born
1943 - Geraldo Rivera born
1954 - Fourteen years of food rationing in Britain is over as restrictions on the sale and purchase of meat, and bacon in particular, are lifted.
1968 - Round-the-world yachtsman Alec Rose receives a hero's welcome as he sails into Portsmouth after his 354-day trip.

1976 - In a dramatic raid Israeli commandos fly to Uganda to save 100 hostages held by pro-Palestinian hijackers at Entebbe airport.
1977 - Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty is sacked by the club's directors.
1985 - Child prodigy Ruth Lawrence achieves a starred first in Mathematics at Oxford University.
1990 - 20 years ago England met Germany in what would prove to be one of the all-time classics. This was England,s best run since 1966, reaching the semi finals but Pearce and Waddle famously miss the vital penalties.
1995 - John Major takes over as Prime Minister of Britain from Margaret Thatcher

2006 - Germany suffered a dramatic exit at the hands of Italy on home turf in the 2006 finals.