1652 – England declares war on The Netherlands – beginning of the 1st Anglo-Dutch war
1861 – Lincoln writes to Kentucky’s militia and says Union troops will not enter that state
1926 – Lake Denmark, New Jersey, arsenal explodes, killing 21 and causing $75 million in damage
1945 – Admiral Marc Mitscher named chief of US Navy staff
1947 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah is recommended as the first Governor General of Pakistan by then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Clement Attlee
1991 – Foreign Minister R.F. Botha of South Africa signs accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on behalf of South Africa
2016 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Scotsman Andy Murray beats Canadian Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 for his second Wimbledon and third Grand Slam title
2018 – Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo joins Italian champions Juventus in a deal worth £99.2 million, becoming one of the four most expensive players of all time
Author: gil7
Today in History for 10th July 2026
Historical Events
518 – Former peasant Justin I proclaimed Byzantine emperor in the Hippodrome, Constantinople
1775 – Horatio Gates issues order excluding Blacks from Continental Army
1971 – National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) founded in US by women, including Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Myrlie Evers-Williams, and Gloria Steinem
1992 – Spaceship Giotto (Halley 1986) approaches comet Grigg-Skjellerup
2006 – Pakistan International Flight PK-688 crashes in Multan, Pakistan shortly after takeoff, killing all 45 people on board
Famous Birthdays
1625 – Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer, born in La Rochefoucauld, France (d. 1703)
1888 – Giorgio De Chirico, Italian painter (founded the scuola metafisica art movement), born in Volos, Greece (d. 1978)
1914 – Joe Shuster, Canadian-American cartoonist (co-creator, with Jerry Siegel, of “Superman”), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1992)
1933 – Ivan Passer, Czech film director (Born to Win, Cutter’s Way), born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (d. 2020)
1982 – Alex Arrowsmith, American pop-rock singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (The Shaky Hands), born in Hood River, Oregon
Famous Deaths
1594 – Paulo Bellasio, Italian organist and late Renaissance composer, dies at 40
1868 – Carlo Conti, Italian composer, dies at 71
1970 – Félix Gaillard, French Radical Party politician (Prime Minister, 1957-58), dies in a yacht accident at 50
2000 – Justin Pierce, English-American actor and skateboarder (b. 1975)
2020 – Corra Dirksen, South African rugby union winger (10 caps; Northern Transvaal), dies from COVID-19 complications at 82
Famous Deaths for 9th July 2026
1228 – Stephen Langton, English Cardinal and scholar, Archbishop of Canterbury (1207-1228), negotiated the Magna Carta, thought to have divided Bible into chapters (b. c. 1150)
1673 – Johann Rudolph Ahle, German organist, composer, and music theorist, dies at 47
1704 – Yan Ruoqu, Chinese scholar of Qing dynasty, dies at 67
1828 – Gilbert Stuart, American portrait painter (unfinished portrait of George Washington), dies at 72
1850 – Bab [Shirazi, Sayyid Ali Muhammad], Persian founder of Babism, executed by firing squad on orders of the Persian government at 30
1852 – Thomas M. T. McKennan, American politician who served as the 2nd United States Secretary of the Interior for only 11 days (1850), dies at 58
1923 – William R. Day, American diplomat and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, dies at 74
1960 – Vallance Jupp, cricketer (28 wkts in 8 Tests for England 1921-28), dies
1980 – Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet and lyricist, dies at 66
1986 – Lê Duẩn, Vietnamese communist politician (General Secretary of Vietnam 1960-86), dies at 78
Historical Events for 9th July 2026
1386 – Battle at Sempach: Swiss beat Duke Leopold III of Austria
1867 – An unsuccessful expedition led by E.D Young sets out to search for Dr David Livingstone (Scottish missionary and explorer)
1891 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Lottie Dod beats Blanche Bingley-Hillyard 6-2, 6-1 in a repeat matchup and result of the 2 previous finals
1933 – Construction begins on the San Fransisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
1965 – Senators’ Frank Howard ties record with seven strikeouts in a doubleheader
1980 – Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten sentenced to 10 years in prison
2002 – The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as African leaders replace the Organization of African Unity. South African President Thabo Mbeki serves as its first chair.
2018 – Hedge fund billionaire David Tepper buys Carolina Panthers for an NFL record $2.275 billion
Today in History for 9th July 2026
Historical Events
1932 – Yankees’ Ben Chapman hits two inside-the-park home runs, tying the record
1991 – South Africa re-admitted to Olympics
1992 – Kim Basinger gets 1,959th star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame
2002 – The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as African leaders replace the Organization of African Unity. South African President Thabo Mbeki serves as its first chair.
2022 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan claims her first Grand Slam title with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur; first Kazakhstani player to win a major title
Famous Birthdays
1753 – William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, Governor of Newfoundland, born in England (d. 1825)
1941 – Takehide Nakatani, Japanese lightweight judoka (Olympic gold 1964), born in Hiroshima, Japan
1951 – Eugeniusz Knapik, Polish pianist and classical music composer (Islands; Up Into The Silence), born in Ruda Śląska, Poland
1955 – Lisa Banes, American actress (Cocktail; Look Back in Anger), born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio
1965 – Frank Bello, American heavy metal bassist (Anthrax), born in The Bronx, New York
Famous Deaths
1386 – Leopold III, Duke of Austria (1365-68), dies at 34
1668 – Jacob Balde, German poet (Jephthe), dies at 64
1922 – Mori Ōgai, Japanese novelist (The Wild Geese), poet and surgeon, dies at 60
1981 – Wilhelm H C Tenhaeff, para-psychologist, dies at 87
2011 – Würzel [Michael Burston], English guitarist (Motörhead, 1984-95), dies of ventricular fibrillation at 61
Famous Deaths for 8th July 2026
1253 – Theobald de Champagne, French ruler (Count of Champagne; King of Navarre, 1234-53), poet, and troubadour, dies at 52
1784 – Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist and mineralogist notable for publishing the largest chemical affinity tables, dies at 49
1822 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, British romantic poet (Adonais; Prometheus Unbound), drowns at 29
1897 – Isham Green Harris, American and Confederate politician (US Senator from Tennessee, 1877-97; Governor of Tennessee, 1857-1862; US Representative from Tennessee, 1849-53), dies at 79
1913 – Louis Hémon, French novelist (Maria Chapdelaine), dies at 32
1957 – Grace Goodhue Coolidge, American First Lady (1923-29) wife of Calvin Coolidge, dies at 78
1974 – Morris “Moose” Charlap, American Broadway composer (Peter Pan; Kelly), dies at 45
1987 – Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet (Versos humanos), dies at 90
1988 – Ray Barbuti, American athlete (Olympic gold 400m, 400m relay 1928), dies at 83
2018 – Alan Johnson, American Emmy Award-winning screen and stage choreographer (The Producers – “Springtime for Hitler”; Legs Diamond), director (To Be Or Not To Be), and dancer (West Side Story), dies at 81
Historical Events for 8th July 2026
1911 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Anthony Wilding of New Zealand wins 2nd of 4 consecutive Wimbledon singles titles beating Herbert Roper-Barrett 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-2 ret
1951 – Yankee Joe DiMaggio and manager Casey Stengel feud after Stengel pulls DiMaggio out of game
1963 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Australian Margaret Smith wins her first of 3 Wimbledon titles beating Billie Jean Moffitt 6-3, 6-4
1965 – Joe Morgan is the first Houston player with six hits in a game
1969 – IBM CICS is made generally available for the 360 mainframe computer
1970 – Fantasy records releases “Cosmo’s Factory”, the fifth studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival; it is critically acclaimed and becomes their biggest seller, spawning six singles that reach the top 5 of the Billboard charts
2000 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Venus Williams wins her first career Grand Slam singles title; beats fellow American Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-6
2005 – Marvel superhero film “The Fantastic Four,” starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis, premieres
Today in History for 8th July 2026
Historical Events
1943 – British air raid sinks U-232
1956 – US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enewetak Atoll
1961 – Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: In an all-British final Angela Mortimer wins her 3rd Grand Slam singles title; beats Christine Truman 4–6, 6–4, 7–5
1988 – American rockers and brothers Chico DeBarge and Bobby DeBarge indicted on drug trafficking charges
2021 – Japan says the Olympics will be held without spectators as Tokyo announces state of emergency due to a surge in COVID-19
Famous Birthdays
1830 – Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Altenburg, German-born Russian princess married to Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, born in Altenburg (d. 1911)
1928 – Norma Donaldson, American stage and screen singer and actress (Across 110th Street; Poetic Justice; The Young and the Restless), born in Harlem, New York City (d. 1994)
1928 – Jane Tehira, New Zealand sportsperson (triple international: basketball, softball, hockey), born in Kaikohe, New Zealand (d. 2023)
1942 – Phil Gramm, American economist and politician (US Representative for Texas, 1979-85; US Senator from Texas, 1985-2002), born in Fort Benning, Georgia
1960 – Valarie Pettiford, American actress (One Life to Live, Half and Half), born in Queens, New York
Famous Deaths
1496 – Benedetto Bonfiglio, Italian painter, dies
1941 – Philippe Gaubert, French flautist, conductor (Paris Opéra, 1919-41), composer, and teacher (Paris Conservatoire), dies of a stroke at 62
1988 – Ray Barbuti, American athlete (Olympic gold 400m, 400m relay 1928), dies at 83
1996 – Amschel Rothschild, British banker (executive chairman of Rothschild Asset Management of the Rothschild banking family of England), dies at 41
2011 – Mary Fenech Adami, First Lady of Malta (b. 1933)
Famous Deaths for 7th July 2026
1537 – Madeleine of Valois, French princess who briefly became Queen of Scotland after marrying James V, dies only six months after the wedding at 16
1799 – William Curtis, English botanist and publisher (Botanical Magazine), dies at 53
1889 – Giovanni Bottesini, Italian Romantic composer, conductor and a double bass virtuoso, dies at 67
1907 – James McGranahan, American composer, dies at 67
1930 – Arthur Conan Doyle, British author who brought Sherlock Holmes to life twice, dies at 71
1968 – Leo Sowerby, American organist and composer (Pulitzer Prize for Music, 1946), dies at 73
1973 – Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (Dialectic of Enlightenment, Eclipse of Reason), dies at 78
1975 – Barbara Brown, American actress dies at 73
2008 – Bruce Conner, American artist and experimental filmmaker (A Movie, America is Waiting), dies at 74
2021 – Jovenel Moïse, Haitian politician, President of Haiti (2017-21), assassinated at 53
Historical Events for 7th July 2026
1754 – Kings College in NYC opens (renamed Columbia College)
1905 – 127°F (53°C), Parker, Arizona (state record until 1994)
1943 – -10] Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo visits Java
1967 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: John Newcombe outclasses Wilhelm Bungert of Germany 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 for his 1st of 3 Wimbledon singles titles
2002 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: Lleyton Hewitt of Australia wins his only Wimbledon singles title beating David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-1, 6-3, 6-2
2019 – Nigeria, Africa’ biggest economy, joins the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), in attempt to create world’s largest free trade area
2024 – For the first time more than 3 million passengers were recorded passing through US airport security in one day, amid an increase in air travel in the US
2025 – Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres has two singles, including his 2,000th MLB career hit in 6-3 loss to the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park