July 3
is the 184th day of the year (185th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining.
*
324 -
Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats
Licinius, who flees to
Byzantium *
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 -
French and Indian War:
George Washington surrenders
Fort Necessity to
French forces.
*
1767 -
Pitcairn Island is discovered by
Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by
Philip Carteret.
* 1767
Norway's oldest newspaper still in print,
Adresseavisen, is founded (first edition published this date).
*
1775 -
American Revolutionary War:
George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
*
1778 - American Revolutionary War: British forces massacre 360 men, women & children in the
Wyoming Valley massacre.
*
1778 -
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, the forerunner to today's
Framingham State College, 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 day of the
Battle of Gettysburg.
*
1866 -
Austro-Prussian War is decided at the
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.
*
1898 - Spanish fleet, led by
Pascual Cervera y Topete, destroyed by the
U.S. Army in
Santiago,
Cuba during the
Spanish-American War.
*
1928 - First color television broadcast in
London.
*
1938 - World speed record for a
steam railway locomotive is set in
England, by the
Mallard, which reaches a speed of 203 km/h (126 mph).
*
1944 -
World War II:
Minsk was liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during
Operation Bagration.
*
1952 -
Puerto Rico's Constitution is approved by the
Congress of the United States.
*
1962 - The
Algerian War of Independence against the French ends.
*
1970 - A British
Dan-Air De Havilland Comet chartered
jetliner crashes into mountains north of
Barcelona,
Spain killing 112 people.
*
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.
*
1985 -
Back to the Future debuts in theaters all over the U.S.
*
1986 -
US President Ronald Reagan presides over the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.
*
1988 -
United States Navy warship
USS Vincennes shoots down
Iran Air Flight 655 over the
Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
*
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 - The national law legalizing
same-sex marriage takes effect in
Spain.
*
2006 - Asteroid labeled as
2004 XP14 flies by
Earth's atmosphere.
*
1423 - King
Louis XI of France (d.
1483)
*
1442 -
Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (d.
1500)
*
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)
*
1738 -
John Singleton Copley, American painter (d.
1815)
*
1793 -
John Clare, British poet (d.
1864)
*
1854 -
Leoš Janáček, 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 (d.
1950)
*
1883 -
Franz Kafka, Czech writer (d.
1924)
*
1893 -
Mississippi John Hurt, American musician (d.
1966)
*
1903 -
Ace Bailey, Canadian hockey player (d.
1992)
*
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 (d.
1952)
*
1927 -
Ken Russell, British director
*
1930 -
Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d.
2004)
*
1935 -
Harrison Schmitt, astronaut
*
1937 -
Tom Stoppard, Czech-born playwright
*
1939 -
László Kovács, Hungarian politician and diplomat
*
1940 -
César Tovar, Venezuelan
Major League Baseball player (d.
1994)
* 1940 -
Lamar Alexander U.S. Senator from Tennesse
*
1944 -
Michel Polnareff, French singer and songwriter
*
1946 -
Leszek Miller,
Prime Minister of Poland*
1947 -
Dave Barry, American writer
* 1947 -
Betty Buckley, American actress
*
1949 -
Jan Smithers, American actress
* 1949 -
Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (
Heatwave) (d.
2006)
*
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
*
1956 -
Don Vito, of MTV's
Viva La Bam*
1957 -
Laura Branigan, American singer (d.
2004)
*
1959 -
Julie Burchill, British journalist and author
* 1959 -
Stephen Pearcy, American singer (
Ratt)
*
1960 -
Vince Clarke, British songwriter (
Depeche Mode,
Yazoo, and
Erasure)
*
1960 -
Tim Smith, English singer (
Cardiacs)
*
1961 -
Pedro Romeiras, Portuguese dancer
*
1962 -
Tom Cruise, American actor
*
1964 -
Joanne Harris, British author
* 1964 -
Yeardley Smith, American actress
*
1965 -
Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese wrestler (d.
2005)
*
1966 -
Moises Alou, baseball player
*
1969 -
Kevin Hearn, Canadian keyboardist (
Barenaked Ladies)
*
1970 -
Teemu Selänne, Finnish hockey player
*
1970 -
Shawnee Smith, American actress
* 1970 -
Serhiy Honchar, Ukrainian cyclist
*
1973 -
Johnny Terris, Canadian-born actor and director
*
1976 -
Andrea Barber, American actress
*
1980 -
Roland Mark Schoeman, South African swimmer
*
1986 -
Oscar Ustari, Argentine footballer
*
683 -
Pope Leo II*
1570 -
Aonio Paleario, Italian humanist
*
1642 -
Maria de' Medici, wife 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)
*
1778 -
Anna Maria Walburga Mozart née Pertl, mother of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b.
1720)
*
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)
*
1858 -
Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, Russian painter (b.
1806)
*
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)
*
1942 -
Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, French general (b.
1856)
*
1957 -
Dolf Luque, baseball player (b.
1890)
*
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)
* 1993 -
Don Drysdale, Baseball player (b.
1936)
*
1994 -
Lew Hoad, Australian tennis player (b.
1934)
*
1995 -
Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (b.
1928)
*
1998 -
Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b.
1949)
*
1999 -
Mark Sandman, American musician (b.
1952)
*
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)
*
2006 -
Benjamin Hendrickson, American actor (b.
1950)
* Start of the
Dog Days*
National holiday in
BelarusLiturgical Feast days
*
Saint Anatolus*
Saint Appolin *
Saint Bertran,
bishop of Le Mans *
Saint Gunthiern, abbot
*
Saint Guthagon, recluse
*
Saint Leo II (died 683)
*
Saint Marinus, bishop, martyr [Sleswig, Scandinavia]
*
Saint Phocas, martyr
*
Saint Raymond, confessor at Toulouse
*
Saint Sidronius, martyr [Sens]
*
Translation of Saint Thomas*
Saint Tryphon*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaJuly 2 -
July 4 -
June 3 -
August 3 --
listing of all days
