July 3
July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining.
Events
- 324 - Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium
- 533 - Battle of Ad Decimum: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals near Carthage.
- 987 - Hugh Capet was crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty which ruled France till the French Revolution in 1792.
- 1250 - Louis IX of France is captured by Baibars' Mamluk army at the Battle of Fariskur while he is in Egypt conducting the Seventh Crusade; he later has to ransom himself.
- 1608 - Quebec City founded by Samuel de Champlain.
- 1754 - George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces during the French and Indian War.
- 1775 - George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- 1778 - British forces massacre 360 men, women & children in Wyoming, Pa, and Prussia declares war on Austria.
- 1819 - The first savings bank in the United States (The Bank of Savings in New York City) opens.
- 1839 - The first state normal school in the United States opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with 3 students.
- 1844 - The last pair of Great Auks is killed.
- 1848 - Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands).
- 1852 - Congress establishes the United States's 2nd mint in San Francisco, California.
- 1863 - U.S. Civil War: The final and bloodiest day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
- 1866 - Austro-Prussian War decided at Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
- 1884 - Dow Jones published its 1st stock average.
- 1886 - The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
- 1890 - Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
- 1928 - First color television broadcast in London.
- 1932 - First Sunday game at Fenway Park, the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 13-2, and John McGraw retires from baseball.
- 1938 - World record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the "Mallard", which reaches a speed of 203 km/h (126 mph).
- 1952 - Puerto Rico's Constitution is approved by the Congress of the United States.
- 1962 - The Algerian War of Independence against the French ends
- 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits segregation in public places.
- 1969 - Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones drowns in his swimming pool. The band plays a concert at Hyde Park, London two days later in his honor.
- 1970 - A British Dan-Air De Havilland Comet chartered jetliner crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 112 people.
- 1971 - Singer Jim Morrison of The Doors is found dead of a heart attack in his bathtub.
- 1976 - Israeli commandos rescue 105 hostages at Entebbe Airport, Uganda during Operation Yonatan.
- 1977 - The Senegalese Republican Movement (MRS) is founded.
- 1979 - US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
- 1988 - United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
- 1993 - Prince Alois of Liechtenstein weds Duchess Sophie of Bavaria.
- 1993 - Steffi Graf wins Wimbledon.
- 1994 - Pete Sampras beats Goran Ivanisevic to win Wimbledon;
- 1994 - Romania eliminates Argentina 3-2 in the World Cup.
- 2001 - A Vladivostokavia Tupolev TU-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia killing 145 people.
- 2004 - Official opening of Bangkok's subway system.
- 2005 - Part of Australia's Twelve Apostles rock formation collapses. The national law legalizing same-sex marriage takes effect in Spain.
Births
- 1423 - King Louis XI of France (d. 1483)
- 1442 - Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1500)
- 1511 - Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter and architect (d. 1574)
- 1530 - Claude Fauchet, French historian (d. 1601)
- 1567 - Samuel de Champlain, French explorer (d. 1635)
- 1676 - Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1747)
- 1683 - Edward Young, English poet (d. 1765)
- 1685 - Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (d. 1768)
- 1728 - Robert Adam, Scottish architect (d. 1792)
- 1731 - Samuel Huntington, Continental Congress president and signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (d. 1796
- 1738 - John Singleton Copley, American painter (d. 1815)
- 1793 - John Clare, British poet (d. 1864)
- 1854 - Leos Janacek, Czech composer (d. 1928)
- 1870 - Richard Bedford Bennett, eleventh Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1947)
- 1875 - Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon (d. 1951)
- 1879 - Alfred Korzybski, Polish linguist
- 1883 - Franz Kafka, Austrian writer (d. 1924)
- 1893 - Mississippi John Hurt, American musician (d. 1966)
- 1906 - George Sanders, Russian-born actor (d. 1972)
- 1908 - M. F. K. Fisher, American writer (d. 1992)
- 1913 - Dorothy Kilgallen, American columnist and television personality (d. 1965)
- 1921 - Susan Peters, American actress
- 1927 - Ken Russell, British director
- 1930 - Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 2004)
- 1935 - Harrison Schmitt, astronaut
- 1937 - Tom Stoppard, Czech-born playwright
- 1940 - César Tovar, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1994)
- 1944 - Michel Polnareff, French pop songwriter and singer
- 1946 - Leszek Miller, Prime Minister of Poland
- 1947 - Dave Barry, American writer
- 1947 - Betty Buckley, American actress
- 1949 - Jan Smithers, American actress
- 1950 - James Hahn, American politician
- 1951 - Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
- 1952 - Alan Autry, American football player, actor, and politician
- 1955 - Sanma Akashiya, Japanese television performer and actor
- 1957 - Laura Branigan, American singer (d. 2004)
- 1959 - Julie Burchill, British journalist and author
- 1960 - Vince Clarke, British songwriter (of the bands Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure)
- 1960 - Tim Smith, English singer (Cardiacs)
- 1962 - Tom Cruise, American actor
- 1964 - Joanne Harris, British author
- 1964 - Yeardley Smith, American actress
- 1966 - Moises Alou, baseball player
- 1969 - Kevin Hearn, Canadian keyboardist (Barenaked Ladies)
- 1970 - Teemu Selänne, Finnish hockey player
- 1970 - Shawnee Smith, American actress
- 1973 - Johnny Terris, Canadian-born actor and director
- 1976 - Andrea Barber, American actress
- 1980 - Roland Mark Schoeman, South African swimmer
Deaths
- 683 - St. Leo II, pope
- 1570 - Aonio Paleario, Italian humanist
- 1642 - Maria de' Medici, queen of Henry IV of France (b. 1573)
- 1672 - Francis Willughby, English biologist (b. 1635)
- 1704 - Sophia Alekseyevna, regent of Russia (b. 1657)
- 1749 - William Jones, Welsh mathematician (b. 1675)
- 1790 - Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, French chemist (b. 1736)
- 1795 - Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (b. 1714)
- 1795 - Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and governor of Louisiana (b. 1716)
- 1863 - George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826)
- 1904 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian Zionist (b. 1860)
- 1914 - Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (b. 1836)
- 1918 - Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1844)
- 1933 - Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina (b. 1852)
- 1935 - André Citroën, French automobile pioneer (b. 1878)
- 1969 - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (drowned) (b. 1942)
- 1971 - Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (b. 1943)
- 1977 - Alexander M. Volkov, Russian novelist and mathematician (b. 1891)
- 1979 - Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1888)
- 1986 - Rudy Vallee, American singer (b. 1901)
- 1989 - Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1993 - Joe DeRita, American actor and comedian (b. 1909)
- 1995 - Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (b. 1928)
- 1998 - Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b. 1949)
- 2000 - Kemal Sunal, Turkish actor (b. 1944)
- 2001 - Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (b. 1931)
- 2003 - Gaetano Alibrandi, papal diplomat (b. 1914)
- 2004 - Andrian Nikolayev, cosmonaut (b. 1929)
- 2005 - Alberto Lattuada, Italian film director (b. 1914)
- 2005 - Gaylord Nelson, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (b. 1916)
Holidays and observances
- Start of the Dog Days
- Feast day of Saint Thomas
External links
July 2 - July 4 - June 3 - August 3 -- listing of all days