1922 – ATandT begins broadcasting on WBAY (NYC, later WEAF, WNBC, WRCA, and WFAN)
1956 – Pittsburgh Pirates’ Roberto Clemente hits MLB’s first and only walk-off inside-the-park grand slam for a 9-8 win over visiting Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field
1963 – Belgian Senate accepts law on language regulations
1993 – Romantic comedy film “Sleepless in Seattle,” starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and co-written and directed by Nora Ephron, is released
1997 – Howard Stern is fired from radio station KEGL in Dallas, Texas
2012 – The double-dip recession in the UK economy continues with a fall of 0.7% in GDP in the second quarter of 2012
2021 – Evian Championship Women’s Golf, Evian Resort GC: Australian Minjee Lee recovers from seven shots behind to defeat South Korea’s Lee6 Jeongeun in a playoff for her first major title
2023 – Scientists say a crucial Atlantic Ocean current is near collapse as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation could reach its tipping point in the middle of this century
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 24th July 2025
1651 – Anthony Johnson, a free African American, receives grant of 250 acres in Virginia
1905 – Tsar Nicholas II (Russia) and Emperor Wilhelm II (Germany) sign the Björkö Treaty, whereby each country agrees to come to the other’s defense if attacked by European powers
1908 – After days of discussion with his ministers, Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey announces he is restoring the liberal constitution of 1876 and will become more responsive to demands of dissidents
1929 – New York to San Francisco foot race ends after 2½ months; the winner is 60-year-old Monteverde
1936 – 118°F (48°C) recorded in Minden, Nebraska (state record)
1967 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Columbine CC: Don January wins his only major title in 18-hole playoff with Don Messengale (69-71)
1990 – Ms. Magazine hits newsstands again after an 8-month hiatus
1991 – Ottawa Rough Riders Board of Directors resigns
Historical Events for 23rd July 2025
685 – John V begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1812 – Battle of Mogilev: first significant fighting during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia results in minor French victory
1877 – First telephone and telegraph line in Hawaii is completed
1904 – Ice cream cone is created during the St. Louis World’s Fair, reputedly first by Charles E. Menches
1917 – Cleveland Metropolitan Park District established in Greater Cleveland, Ohio
1929 – The Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words
1965 – The Beatles’ single “Help” is released in the UK
2024 – Hottest day on Earth: average global temperature of 17.15°C (62.87°F) surpasses record set the previous day, according to EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service
Historical Events for 22nd July 2025
1298 – English defeat the Scots at the Battle of Falkirk
1632 – Foundation laid in Madrid for Buen Retiro Palace for King Philip IV
1923 – 17th Tour de France won by Henri Pelissier of France
1926 – 108°F (42°C), Troy, NY (state record)
1954 – US Virgin Islands adopt constitution (Revised Organic Act)
1984 – 22nd Federation Cup Women’s Tennis, São Paulo, Brazil: Czech pair Hana Mandlíková and Helena Suková beat Australians Elizabeth Sayers and Wendy Turnbull 6-2, 6-2 for a 2-1 victory
1997 – “One Piece,” world’s best-selling manga and comic series, written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, first appears serialized in “Weekly Shōnen Jump” in Japan
2014 – European Union claims that Israel “has the right to defend itself,” but says civilian casualties in Gaza are unacceptable
2019 – India’s lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2 successfully takes off from Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota aiming to be fourth nation to soft-land on the moon
2022 – Droupadi Murmu is the first tribal politician to be elected President of India (head of state, without executive powers)
Historical Events for 21st July 2025
230 – St Pontianus begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1545 – The first landing of French troops onto the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion
1588 – First engagement between the English fleet and the Spanish Armada off the Eddystone Rocks
1913 – The Egyptian government announces a new constitutional system and electoral law
1940 – VARA-management accepts Rost of Tonningens demands
1962 – 160 civil right activists jailed after demonstration in Albany, Georgia
1970 – Libya orders confiscation of all Jewish property
1972 – Two passenger trains collide head-on killing 76 (Seville, Spain)
1977 – Sanjiva Reddy is elected sixth President of India unopposed
2015 – On This Day changes its domain name and brand from HistoryOrb.com to OnThisDay.com
Historical Events for 20th July 2025
1654 – Anglo-Portuguese treaty is reinforced, England guarantees Portugal’s independence and receives trade concessions
1712 – The Riot Act takes effect in Great Britain
1793 – Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie completes the first European east-to-west crossing of America north of Mexico
1926 – A convention of the Methodist Church votes to allow women to become priests
1943 – Jacques Lusseyran is arrested by the Gestapo after being betrayed by a fellow member of the French resistance
1951 – Talal bin Abdullah (42) is coronated as King of Jordan, after the assassination of his father
1963 – Verne Gagne beats Crusher Lisowski in Minneapolis, to become NWA champ
1981 – Irene Sáez, of Venezuela, crowned 30th Miss Universe
1982 – Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings: 11 British soldiers and 7 military horses killed in Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb attacks during military ceremonies in London
2020 – Scientists find evidence of volcanoes on Venus, showing the planet is not as dormant as previously thought (Nature Geoscience)
Historical Events for 19th July 2025
1692 – Five more people – Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth How, Sarah Good, and Sarah Wildes – hanged for allegedly practicing witchcraft as a result of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts Bay Colony
1696 – Russian Tsar Peter I’s fleet occupies the southern mouth of the Don River and gains access to the Sea of Azov, after the surrender of the Ottoman Azov garrison
1875 – Emma Abbott, a floating hospital for sick children, makes trial trip, NYC
1908 – Dutch football club Feyenoord is established in Rotterdam as Wilhelmina; reverts to SC Feijenoord 1912; updated to SC Feyenoord 1974 and to Feyenoord Rotterdam 1978
1942 – US première of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony in NYC by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in a concert broadcast nationwide on NBC radio
1957 – 1st rocket with nuclear warhead fired, Yucca Flat, Nevada
1970 – 57th Tour de France: Defending champion Eddy Merckx of Belgium wins general, mountains and combination categories
1973 – NY Mets future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Mays is named to NL All Star team for 24th time (ties Stan Musial)
2019 – Heat wave begins across the east of America affecting 100 million people and killing 6, with New York city declaring a state of emergency
2022 – Temperatures exceed 40°C in parts of England for first time
Historical Events for 18th July 2025
64 – Great Fire of Rome begins under the Emperor Nero
1536 – Pope’s authority declared void in England
1862 – Battle of Newburgh, Indiana – captured by Union forces
1870 – Pope Pius IX and the First Vatican Council officially proclaim the concept of papal infallibility
1947 – King George VI signs Indian Independence Act
1951 – Uruguay accepts its constitution
1976 – “Something’s Afoot” closes at Lyceum Theater NYC after 61 performances
1988 – Shooting begins on Bond film “License to Kill”
2012 – Kim Jong-un is officially appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea and given the rank of Marshal in the Korean People’s Army
2024 – Chinese Third Plenum, a five-yearly decision-making summit, ends with a focus on “Chinese Modernisation” and lays groundwork for an unprecedented fourth term for Xi Jinping
Historical Events for 17th July 2025
1712 – Great Britain, Portugal and France sign ceasefire [or 19th]
1912 – International Amateur Athletic Federation forms in Stockholm, Sweden (now known as World Athletics)
1925 – Tris Speaker, is 5th to get 3,000 hits
1944 – WWII: Port Chicago Disaster – explosion during munition loading kills 322 and, injures nearly 400, destroys three ships and a pier at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California; conditions inspire the Port Chicago Mutiny later that summer
1954 – Theodor Heuss re-elected president of West Germany
1958 – US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands
1970 – 30,000 attend Randall’s Island Rock Festival, NYC
1974 – Bob Gibson becomes second pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters (Cesar Geronimo)
1997 – STS 94 (Columbia 23) lands
2016 – 17 works by Swiss architect Le Corbusier included in UNESCO World Heritage sites list as “an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement”
Historical Events for 16th July 2025
1857 – Sir Henry Havelock arrives at Battle of Cawnpore
1888 – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: 3-time runner-up Ernest Renshaw wins his lone major title; beats defending champion Herbert Lawford 6-3, 7-5, 6-0
1902 – John McGraw officially becomes manager of MLB New York Giants; 30 year tenure begins (1902-32)
1950 – FIFA World Cup Final, Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Alcides Ghiggia scores a 79th minute winner as Uruguay beats Brazil, 2-1
1956 – Detroit Tigers and Briggs Stadium sold for then record $5.5 million
1961 – Ralph Boston of US, sets then long jump record at 27′ 2″
1970 – Cincinnati Reds spoil Pirates debut in Pittsburgh’s new Three Rivers Stadium, 3-2
1988 – San Antonio (Texas League) beats Jackson 1-0 in 26 innings
1990 – The ANC send a report on police violence to President F. W. de Klerk and demand an end to “the shocking inhumanity” of police action in rural areas of South Africa
1993 – President Lissouba calls emergency rule in Congo-Brazzaville