Historical Events
1944 – British 8th Army occupies Florence
1953 – 4-5 million French go on strike against economizations
1993 – 4th Athletics World Championships open at Stuttgart, Germany
1998 – 31st San Diego Comic-Con International opens at San Diego Convention Center
2004 – Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm, strikes Punta Gorda, Florida and devastates the surrounding area.
2015 – Swedish Prosecutors announce they are dropping allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange of sexual molestation and coercion
Famous Birthdays
1817 – Károly Thern, Hungarian composer, born in Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia (d. 1886)
1918 – Frederick Sanger, British biochemist (Sanger sequencing, Nobel Prize 1958, 1980), born in Rendcomb, Gloucestershire, England (d. 2013)
1947 – John Stocker, Canadian actor
1967 – Quinn Cummings, actress (Annie-Family, Goodbye Girl), born in Los Angeles, California
1970 – Matt Hyson, American professional wrestler
1986 – Joseph Lapira, American soccer player
Famous Deaths
900 – Zwentibold, king of Lutherans (895-900), dies in battle at 29
1937 – Arthur Plunkett, English civil engineer (b. 1890)
1959 – Henri Garat, French actor and singer (Les dieux s’amusent, Congress Dances), dies at 57
1988 – Edward Bennett Williams, American lawyer, team owner (Washington Redskins, Baltimore Orioles), dies of colon cancer at 68
1992 – Bill Elverman, playwright/actor (After Hours), dies at 40
2008 – Sandy Allen, American second-tallest woman in the world (b. 1955)