Historical Events
1856 – America’s first consul to Japan, Townsend Harris, arrives in Shimoda. (Traditional Japanese date: July 21, 1856)
1891 – Dutch Mackay government resigns
1920 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Flossmoor CC: American based Scotsman Jock Hutchison beats J. Douglas Edgar of England, 1-up; first of Hutchinson’s 2 majors
1942 – Walt Disney’s animated movie “Bambi”, based on the book by Felix Salten, is released
1983 – Jerry Herman’s musical “La Cage aux Folles”, based Jean Poiret’s French play of the same name, opens at Palace Theater, NYC; runs for 1761 performances, wins 6 Tony Awards
2004 – American super-swimmer Michael Phelps wins his 6th gold medal of the Athens Olympics even though he doesn’t swim the final of men’s 4 x 100m medley relay; US wins in world record 3:30.68
Famous Birthdays
1800 – Hiram Walden, American politician, born in Pawlet, Vermont (d. 1880)
1882 – Rik Wouters, Belgian painter (Lady in Blue), and sculptor (The Nymph), born in Mechelen, Belgium (d. 1916)
1941 – Jackie DeShannon [Sharon Lee Myers], American singer-songwriter (“What the World Needs Now Is Love”; “When You Walk In The Room”), born in Hazel, Kentucky
1957 – Janice Thomas, WBL guard (NY Stars)
1970 – Steve Everitt, NFL center (Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles), born in Miami, Florida
1974 – Pietra Gay, WNBA guard/forward (Houston Comets)
Famous Deaths
1581 – Sakuma Nobumori, Japanese retainer and samurai (b. 1527)
1723 – Dimitrie Cantemir, Romanian historian and Monarch of Moldova (1710-11), dies at 49
1957 – Nels Stewart, professional ice hockey player (b. 1902)
2005 – Polly Hill, British economic anthropologist (studied Cocoa-Farmers Of Southern Ghana), dies at 91
2005 – Dahlia Ravikovitch, Israeli poet (b. 1936)
2013 – C. Gordon Fullerton, American USMC Colonel, and NASA astronaut (STS-3; STS-51-F), dies at 76