Today in History
July 5 - Today in History
By Staff
Jul 5, 2008 - 12:00:00 AM

0649 - St Martin I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0767 - Duke of Nepi names his brother (leek) Pope Constantine II
1054 - Brightest supernova (Crab Nebula) first reported
1294 - Pietro del Murrone elected as Pope Coelestinus V
1295 - Scotland and France sign anti-English covenant
1436 - German emperor Sigismund signs peace with Hussieten
1450 - Pope Nicolas V names Walraven van Meurs bishop of M�nster
1596 - English fleet under the earl of Essex plunder Cadiz
1626 - Battle at Lenz: Rebel Austrian Boers defeated
1643 - First recorded tornado in US (Essex County, Massachusetts)
1681 - Fjodor Aleksejevitsj, tsar of Russia, dies
1687 - Isaac Newton's PRINCIPIA published by Royal Society in England
1750 - Slave revolt on Curacao
1791 - Jose Maria Narvez discovers Point Grey (now Vancouver BC)
1808 - Battle of Buenos Aires
1809 - -6) Battle of Wagram - Napoleon beats archduke Charles
1811 - Venezuela, first South American country to gain independence from Spain
1814 - Americans defeat British and Canadians at Chippewa, Ontario
1830 - France invades Algeria, begins a 40 year conquest
1832 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin departs Rio de Janeiro
1834 - Provisional government forms in Oregon Country
1841 - Thomas Cook opens first travel agency
1843 - Committee of 9 appointed to establish civil government in Oregon Country
1859 - Capt N C Brooks discovers Midway Islands
1861 - Battle of Carthage, Missouri - US Gen Sigel attacks pro-secessionist
1863 - Battle of Jackson, Mississippi and Battle of Birdsong Ferry, Mississippi
1864 - Battle of Smith's Expedition, Mississippi (Tupelo, Harrisburg)
1865 - Great Britain delegate's world first maximum speed laws
1865 - Secret Service began operating under the Treasury Department
1871 - Trial against Kiowa chief Satanta (White Bear) and Big Tree, begins
1884 - German consul-general Gustav Nachtigal takes possession of Cameroon
1884 - US Congress accept 2nd Chinese Exclusion Act
1891 - Hail kills 6 horses in Rapid City, SD
1900 - Compulsory education law passes Dutch first Chamber
1902 - Australia won the one and only Test Cricket played at Sheffield
1904 - Giants 18-game winning streak ends as Phillies win 6-5 in 10 inn
1913 - Queen Wilhelmina meets SDAP-leader Troelstra
1914 - Boston Braves are 15 games back in NL, and win World Series
1914 - Germany offers Austria war aid to fight against Russia in Serbia
1919 - 32nd Wimbledon Womens Tennis: S Lenglen beats Chambers (10-8 46 97)
1919 - Red Sox Babe Ruth hits 2 HRs in a game for his first of 72 times
1922 - First general election in Netherlands
1922 - Uprising of social righteousness in Rio de Janeiro
1922 - Women first vote in Dutch elections, Christian parties win
1924 - Military revolt in Sao Paulo, Brazil
1929 - 42nd Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Helen Moody beats Helen Jacobs (61 62)
1930 - 50th Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Bill Tilden beats W Allison (63 97 64)
1932 - Antonio de Oliveira Salazar becomes premier/dictator of Portugal
1933 - German party Catholic Center disbands
1935 - First "Hawaii Calls" radio program is broadcast
1935 - First time brothers on opposing teams hit HRs, Tony and Al Cuccunello
1935 - Chicago Cubs are 10 games back in NL, and go on to win the pennant
1935 - FDR signs National Labor Relations Act
1937 - Chicago Cub Frank Demaree gets 6 hits in first game and 2 in 2nd game
1937 - Joe DiMaggio's first grand slammer
1937 - Republican offensive by Brunete in Spain
1938 - Herb Caen's first column in SF Chronicle
1940 - Diplomatic relations broken between Britain and Vichy government in France
1941 - German occupiers disband political parties
1942 - First performance of Heitor Villa-Lobos' Choros 6/9/11
1942 - Ian Fleming graduates from a training school for spies in Canada
1943 - Battle of Gulf of Kula
1943 - Battle of Koersk, USSR begins (6,000 tanks)
1943 - Liberator bombers sink U-535 in Gulf of Biskaye
1943 - US invasion fleet (96 ships) sails to Sicily
1944 - Harry Crosby takes first rocket airplane, MX-324, for maiden flight
1945 - Labour Party wins British parliamentary election
1946 - Louis Reard's bikini swimsuit design debuts at Paris fashion show
1947 - 54th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Margaret Osborne beat Doris Hart (62 64)
1947 - Larry Doby signs with Cleveland Indians-first black player in Alabama
1948 - Britain's National Health Service Act begins
1949 - NY Giants purchase Monty Irvin and Henry Thompson, their first blacks
1950 - Law of Return passes, guarantees all Jews right to live in Israel
1951 - Dodgers sweep the Giants and lead by 7 games (Giants will win pennant)
1951 - Dr William Shockley invents junction transistor (Murray Hill New Jersey)
1952 - 59th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Maureen Connolly beats L Brough (75 63)
1953 - Jackie Pung wins LPGA Triangle Round Robin Golf Tournament
1954 - B-52A bomber made its maiden flight
1955 - English harbor strike ends
1956 - France raises tobacco tax 20% due to war in Algeria
1957 - 71st Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Lew Hoad beats Ashley J Cooper (62 61 62)
1957 - Tom Graveney scores 258 v West Indies at Trent Bridge
1958 - 65th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Althea Gibson beats A Mortimer (86 62)
1958 - J Pengel forms government/Emanuels premier of Suriname
1959 - Ben-Gurion's Israeli government resigns
1959 - Indonesia restores constitution
1960 - Mongolia adopts constitution
1961 - 80 die in collisions in Algiers
1961 - St Louis Cardinal Bill White hits 3 HRs and a double
1962 - 96 murder at massacre in Oran, Algeria
1962 - Algeria gains independence after 132 years of French rule
1962 - Mantle hits 2 homers en route to 4 consecutive homers
1963 - First Beatle tune to hit US charts, Del Shannon "From Me to You" at #87
1966 - National Guard mobilizes in Omaha after 3rd night of rioting
1966 - Saturn I rocket launched at Cape Kennedy
1967 - Congo uprising under Belgian mercenary Jean Schramme
1968 - "Manifest of 1000 words" published in Prague
1968 - 82nd Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Rod Laver beats Tony Roche (63 64 62)
1968 - John Lennon sells his psychedelic painted Rolls-Royce
1968 - Phila 76'ers trade Wilt Chamberlain to LA Lakers
1969 - 83rd Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Rod Laver beats J Newcombe (64 57 64 64)
1969 - Rolling Stones play a free concert in London's Hyde Park
1970 - 25th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Donna Caponi Young
1970 - Air Canada DC-8 crashes 7 miles from Toronto's airport killing 109
1971 - 26th amendment certified (reduces voting age to 18)
1972 - Pierre Messmer appointed French premier
1973 - Isle of Man begins issuing their own postage stamps
1973 - Maj Gen Juvenal Habyarimana becomes president of Rwanda
1973 - Rwanda military coup under general-major Habyalimana
1974 - 81st Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Chris Evert beats Olga Morzova (60 64)
1975 - 89th Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Arthur Ashe beats J Connors (61 61 57 64)
1975 - Cape Verde Is gain independence after 500 years of Portuguese rule
1977 - Pakistan's army, led by Gen Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, seizes power
1978 - Soyuz 30 spacecraft touches down in Soviet Kazakhstan
1978 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 - 87th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Evonne Goolagong beats C Evert (61 76)
1980 - 94th Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Bjorn Borg beats McEnroe (16 75 63 67 86)
1981 - 9th du Maurier Golf Classic (Peter Jackson Classic): Jan Stephenson
1981 - Premier Begin's Likud party wins Israeli elections
1981 - Rajan Mahadevan recites 31,811 digits of � from memory
1981 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1982 - Challenger flies to Kennedy Space Center via Ellington AFB, Texas
1982 - ICC Trophy record p/ship, 257 Schoonheim/Liffman, Hol v Malay
1983 - France invades Algeria
1983 - NJ Devils purchase AHL Maine Mariners as their farm team
1983 - Woman gives birth to baby 84 days after brain death (Roanoke, VA)
1984 - Supreme Court weakens 70-year-old "exclusionary rule"-evidence seized with defective court warrants can now be used in criminal trials
1985 - Premier Mugabe wins Zimbabwe elections
1985 - Nicholas Mark Sanders (England) begins circumnavigation of globe, covering 13,035 road miles in 78 days, 3 hr, 30 min
1986 - 93rd Wimbledon Womens Tennis: M Navratilova beats H Mandlikova (76 63)
1986 - Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway sets 10K woman's record (30:13.74)
1986 - Nancy Reagan cuts red, white and blue ribbon; reopens Statue of Liberty
1986 - Statue of Liberty is reopened after it is refurbished
1987 - 101st Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Pat Cash beats Ivan Lendl (76 62 75)
1987 - A's Mark McGwire is first rookie to hit 30 HRs before All Star break
1987 - Jane Geddes wins LPGA Jamie Farr Toledo Golf Classic
1988 - Malcolm Marshall takes 7-22 at Old Trafford, England all out 93
1989 - Barry Bond's HR sets father-son (Bobby) HR record at 408
1989 - Mark McGwire's gets 100th HR, 2nd fastest (1400 at bats) (to Kiner)
1989 - Rod Stewart hits his head while on stage and knocks himself out
1989 - South-African President Pieter Botha visits ANC leader Nelson Mandela
1989 - Toronto Blue Jays are 10 games back in AL, and go on to win AL East
1990 - Zina Garrison upsets Steffi Graf in Wimbledon semi-finals
1991 - Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins given final approval by owners
1991 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1991 - Lillian Cucuzza wins name Florida baseball team contest (Marlins)
1992 - 106th Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Agassi beats Ivanisevic (67 64 64 16 64)
1992 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Jamie Farr Toledo Golf Classic
1993 - A's Rickey Henderson is 2nd to hit leadoff homers in doubleheader
1993 - Kurd guerrilla's murder 32 villager in East Turkey
1993 - Richard Chelimo run world record 10 km (27:07.91)
1994 - Boxer Buster Douglas comes out of a diabetic coma
1994 - US changes refugee policy, by sending Haitian boat people back
1995 - Columbia U beats Hartferd College to be first US to win Henley Regatta
1996 - A's scores 13 in first vs Angels
1996 - NY Yank John Weteland ties Lee Smith's record of 19 consecutive saves
1997 - 104th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Martina Hingis beats Jana Novotna
1997 - NY Yanks withdraw Kenny Rogers and Mariano Duncon deal for SD Padre
1998 - 53rd US Women's Open Golf Championship at Blackwolf Run GC, Kohler WI
2002 - Baseball great, Ted Williams, died