History of Today 04 July: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 04 July. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 04 July. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 04 July 2026, 01:01 AM

Important Events on 04 July in History

04 Jul 2025: A devastating flood strikes the Texas Hill Country, killing at least 108 people. Read more
04 Jul 2025: The Oasis Live '25 tour began in Principality Stadium, Cardiff, ending a 16 year hiatus. Read more
04 Jul 2024: The Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, wins a landslide majority in the 2024 United Kingdom general election, ending 14 years of Conservative government. Read more
04 Jul 2015: Chile claims its first title in international football by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América Final. Read more
04 Jul 2012: The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN. Read more
04 Jul 2009: The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks. Read more
04 Jul 2009: The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao. Read more
04 Jul 2008: A bomb explodes at a concert in Minsk's Independence Square, injuring 50 people. Read more
04 Jul 2006: Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program's history to occur on the United States' Independence Day. Read more
04 Jul 2005: The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1. Read more
04 Jul 2004: The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City. Read more
04 Jul 2004: Greece beats Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final and becomes European Champion for first time in its history. Read more
04 Jul 2002: A Boeing 707 crashes near Bangui M'Poko International Airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, killing 28. Read more
04 Jul 2001: Vladivostok Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Airport killing all 145 people on board. Read more
04 Jul 1998: Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation. Read more
04 Jul 1997: NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars. Read more
04 Jul 1994: Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city. Read more
04 Jul 1982: Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown. Read more
04 Jul 1982: Space Shuttle program: Columbia lands at Edwards Air Force Base at the end of the program's final test flight, STS-4. President Ronald Reagan declares the Space Shuttle to be operational. Read more
04 Jul 1977: The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit. Read more
04 Jul 1976: Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists. Read more
04 Jul 1973: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago sign the Treaty of Chaguaramas in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago establishing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). It replaces the Caribbean Free Trade Association as another step towards Caribbean regional integration. Read more
04 Jul 1966: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year. Read more
04 Jul 1961: On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years. Read more
04 Jul 1960: Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Acts (United States)). Read more
04 Jul 1954: Food rationing in Great Britain ends, with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in World War II, and nearly a decade after the war's end. Read more
04 Jul 1951: Cold War: A court in Czechoslovakia sentences American journalist William N. Oatis to ten years in prison on charges of espionage. Read more
04 Jul 1951: William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor. Read more
04 Jul 1950: Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts. Read more
04 Jul 1947: The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan. Read more
04 Jul 1946: The Kielce pogrom against Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland. Read more
04 Jul 1946: After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States. Read more
04 Jul 1943: World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka. Read more
04 Jul 1943: World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives. Read more
04 Jul 1942: World War II: The 250-day Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea ends when the city falls to Axis forces. Read more
04 Jul 1941: Nazi crimes against the Polish nation: Nazi troops massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian city of Lviv. Read more
04 Jul 1941: World War II: The Burning of the Riga synagogues: The Great Choral Synagogue in German-occupied Riga is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement. Read more
04 Jul 1939: Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league baseball. Read more
04 Jul 1927: First flight of the Lockheed Vega. Read more
04 Jul 1918: Mehmed V died at the age of 73 and Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne. Read more
04 Jul 1918: World War I: The Battle of Hamel, a successful attack by the Australian Corps against German positions near the town of Le Hamel on the Western Front. Read more
04 Jul 1914: The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie takes place in Vienna, six days after their assassinations in Sarajevo. Read more
04 Jul 1913: President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913. Read more
04 Jul 1911: A massive heat wave strikes the northeastern United States, killing 380 people in eleven days and breaking temperature records in several cities. Read more
04 Jul 1910: The Johnson–Jeffries riots occur after African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in the 15th round. Between 11 and 26 people are killed and hundreds more injured. Read more
04 Jul 1903: The Philippine–American War is officially concluded. Read more
04 Jul 1901: William Howard Taft becomes American governor of the Philippines. Read more
04 Jul 1898: En route from New York to Le Havre, the SS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks with the loss of 549 lives, one of the worst maritime disasters in history. Read more
04 Jul 1894: The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole. Read more
04 Jul 1892: Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a leap year with 367 days. Read more
04 Jul 1887: The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi. Read more
04 Jul 1886: The Canadian Pacific Railway's first scheduled train from Montreal arrives in Port Moody on the Pacific coast, after six days of travel. Read more
04 Jul 1881: In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens. Read more
04 Jul 1879: Anglo-Zulu War: The Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burned to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee. Read more
04 Jul 1863: American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg: The Confederate army in Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege, contributing to the Union capture of the Mississippi River. Read more
04 Jul 1863: American Civil War: Union forces repulse a Confederate army at the Battle of Helena in Arkansas. The battle thwarts a Rebel attempt to relieve pressure on the besieged city of Vicksburg, and paves the way for the Union capture of Little Rock. Read more
04 Jul 1863: American Civil War: Retreat from Gettysburg: The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee withdraws from the battlefield after losing the Battle of Gettysburg, signaling an end to his last invasion of the North. Read more
04 Jul 1862: Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels. Read more
04 Jul 1855: The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published in Brooklyn. Read more
04 Jul 1845: Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau's account of his two years there, Walden, will become a touchstone of the environmental movement. Read more
04 Jul 1838: The Iowa Territory is organized. Read more
04 Jul 1837: Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool. Read more
04 Jul 1832: John Neal delivers the first public lecture in the US to advocate the rights of women. Read more
04 Jul 1832: Durham University established by Act of Parliament; the first recognized university to be founded in England since Cambridge over 600 years earlier. Read more
04 Jul 1831: Samuel Francis Smith writes "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities. Read more
04 Jul 1827: Slavery is abolished in the State of New York. Read more
04 Jul 1818: US Flag Act of 1818 goes into effect creating a 13 stripe flag with a star for each state. New stars would be added on July 4 after a new state had been admitted. Read more
04 Jul 1817: In Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins. Read more
04 Jul 1803: The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the US people. Read more
04 Jul 1802: The United States Military Academy opens at West Point, New York. Read more

Famous Births on 04 July

04 Jul 2003: Polina Bogusevich, Russian singer Polina Sergeyevna Bogusevich, also known as Nanamé, is a Russian singer. She represented Russia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Wings", and went on to win the competition. She is the second Russian entrant to win the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Read more
04 Jul 1999: Moa Kikuchi, Japanese musician Moa Kikuchi , better known by her stage name Moametal, is a Japanese singer and dancer. She is best known as a member of the kawaii metal band Babymetal, and was formerly a member of the idol group Sakura Gakuin. She is represented by the talent agency Amuse Inc. Read more
04 Jul 1995: Post Malone, American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer Austin Richard Post, known professionally as Post Malone, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His music blends various genres including pop, hip-hop, trap, country, R&B, and rock. Read more
04 Jul 1993: Tom Barkhuizen, English footballer Thomas John Barkhuizen is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for National League club Barrow. Read more
04 Jul 1992: Ángel Romero, Paraguayan footballer Ángel Rodrigo Romero Villamayor is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a winger for Argentine Primera División club Boca Juniors and the Paraguay national team. He is the twin brother of Óscar Romero. Read more
04 Jul 1992: Óscar Romero, Paraguayan footballer Óscar David Romero Villamayor is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Primera División club Huracán and the Paraguay national team. He is the twin brother of Ángel Romero. Read more
04 Jul 1990: Jake Gardiner, American ice hockey player Jake William Gardiner is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 17th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2008 NHL entry draft. Read more
04 Jul 1990: Richard Mpong, Ghanaian footballer Richard Mpong is a Ghanaian professional footballer who currently plays as a winger, for Elmina Sharks and the Ghana national football team. Read more
04 Jul 1990: Naoki Yamada, Japanese footballer Naoki Yamada is a Japanese footballer who plays for J3 League club FC Gifu. Read more
04 Jul 1990: Ihar Yasinski, Belarusian footballer Ihar Syarheyevich Yasinski is a Belarusian professional footballer who plays for Bumprom Gomel. Read more
04 Jul 1989: Benjamin Büchel, Liechtensteiner footballer Benjamin Büchel is a Liechtensteiner professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Swiss Challenge League club Vaduz, which he captains, and the Liechtenstein national team. Read more
04 Jul 1988: Angelique Boyer, French-Mexican actress Angelique Monique-Paulette Boyer Rousseau, simply known as Angelique Boyer, is a Mexican actress. Among her most notable works is her participation in soap operas such as Rebelde, and Teresa. Read more
04 Jul 1987: Wude Ayalew, Ethiopian runner Wude Ayalew Yimer is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner. She was the bronze medallist over 10,000 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and took the silver in that event at the 2011 All-Africa Games. Her sister Hiwot Ayalew is also a top level runner. Read more
04 Jul 1987: Guram Kashia, Georgian footballer Guram Kashia is a Georgian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Niké Liga club Slovan Bratislava and the Georgia national team. Read more
04 Jul 1986: Ömer Aşık, Turkish basketball player Ömer Faruk Aşık is a Turkish former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and other leagues. Aşık, standing at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), was sought after by many of the top Euroleague basketball teams at the age of 19. Aşık got his first chance playing professionally with the Turkish Basketball League team Fenerbahçe in 2005–06. After one season with Alpella, Aşık moved back to Fenerbahçe and eventually ended his Turkish club career with them in 2009–10. He gained recognition playing for the Turkey national team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, and as the starting center, he helped Turkey win the silver medal. In July 2010, Aşık signed with the Chicago Bulls. He was nicknamed "The Turkish Hammer" and "Asik the Destroyer" by Bulls commentator Stacey King. Read more
04 Jul 1986: Nguyen Ngoc Duy, Vietnamese footballer Nguyễn Ngọc Duy is a Vietnamese retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
04 Jul 1986: Rafael Arévalo, Salvadoran tennis player Rafael Arévalo González is a retired professional tennis player from El Salvador. The majority of Arévalo's professional career has been restricted to playing on the Futures (ITF) circuit, with a further 22 appearances for the El Salvador Davis Cup team; he also had modest success in the juniors, reaching a peak of No. 10 in 2004. However, in 2008, aided by the Salvadoran Tennis Federation, he was awarded an invitation to the 2008 Beijing Olympics tennis tournament. The Tripartite Commission, which issued the invitation, is composed of representatives from International Olympic Committee (IOC), National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and the International Tennis Federation (ITF). It is standard practice to award such invitations to countries with small Olympic teams. Arévalo was the first player from El Salvador to represent the country in a tennis competition at the Olympics. Arévalo defeated South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik in three sets in the first round, before being beaten by Swiss World No. 1 Roger Federer in the second. Later that year, Arévalo won his only ATP Challenger Tour match, beating Borja Malo in Quito, before losing to Julio Cesar Campozano. Read more
04 Jul 1986: Willem Janssen, Dutch footballer Willem Janssen is a Dutch professional football official and a former player who played as a central defender. He is the technical director of VVV-Venlo. Read more
04 Jul 1986: Terrance Knighton, American football player Terrance O'Neil Knighton is an American football coach and former defensive tackle. He was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round of the 2009 NFL draft after playing college football for the Temple Owls. Knighton was nicknamed "Pot Roast" and "Mutton Chop" by his teammates. He also played for the Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins and spent time with the New England Patriots prior to the 2016 NFL season. Read more
04 Jul 1986: Marte Elden, Norwegian skier Marte Elden is a Norwegian cross-country skier who competed between 2005 and 2011. Read more
04 Jul 1985: Kane Tenace, Australian footballer Kane Tenace is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Read more
04 Jul 1985: Dimitrios Mavroeidis, Greek basketball player Dimitrios Mavroeidis is a Greek former professional basketball player and currently the team manager for AEK Athens of the Greek Basket League and the Basketball Champions League. During his career as a player, he stood at 2.12 m tall and covered the center position. Read more
04 Jul 1985: Wason Rentería, Colombian footballer Wason Libardo Rentería Cuesta is a Colombian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
04 Jul 1984: Jin Akanishi, Japanese singer-songwriter Jin Akanishi is a Japanese singer-songwriter and actor. He has been active since 1998 as one of the two lead vocalists of the J-pop boy-band KAT-TUN before starting a solo career in 2009. Akanishi has also acted in several films and dramas. Read more
04 Jul 1983: Melanie Fiona, Canadian singer-songwriter Melanie Fiona Hallim is a Canadian R&B singer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began her career in 2002 as part of a Canadian R&B trio X-Quisite, who was nominated for a Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for their self-titled album (2004). She went on to form the duo the Renaissance with hometown native Drake, although they released no albums. Read more
04 Jul 1983: Amantle Montsho, Botswanan sprinter Amantle Montsho is a Botswana former sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres. She represented her country at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, reaching the final at the latter edition. She was the first woman to represent Botswana at the Olympics. She also competed at the World Championships in Athletics and the IAAF World Indoor Championships, and was the former World Champion over the 400 m, winning in a personal best time of 49.56 in Daegu. Read more
04 Jul 1983: Miguel Pinto, Chilean footballer Miguel Ángel Pinto Jerez is a Chilean former football goalkeeper. He is the current assistant coach of Esteban González in Querétaro. Read more
04 Jul 1983: Amol Rajan, Indian-English journalist Amol Rajan is an Indian–British journalist, broadcaster and writer working in the United Kingdom. Formerly the media editor of BBC News, he presented the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 from 2021 to 2026. He has presented University Challenge on BBC Two since 2023. Prior to joining the BBC, Rajan was the editor of The Independent newspaper between 2013 and 2016. Read more
04 Jul 1983: Mattia Serafini, Italian footballer Mattia Serafini is an Italian footballer. Read more
04 Jul 1982: Vladimir Boisa, Georgian basketball player Vladimir Boisa or Vladimer Boisa is a Georgian former professional basketball player. Since 2013 he is the vice-president of Georgian Basketball Federation. Read more
04 Jul 1982: Vladimir Gusev, Russian cyclist Vladimir Nikolayevich Gusev is a Russian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2015 for the Team CSC, Discovery Channel, Astana, Team Katusha and Skydive Dubai–Al Ahli teams. Read more
04 Jul 1982: Jeff Lima, New Zealand rugby league player Jeff Lima is a former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Canberra Raiders in the NRL. A New Zealand international representative prop, he previously played for the Wests Tigers, Melbourne Storm, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Wigan Warriors and the Catalans Dragons in the Super League, as well as France's Elite One Championship for the Saint-Gaudens Bears. Read more
04 Jul 1982: Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino, American model, author and television personality Michael Paul Sorrentino, also known as The Situation, is an American television personality. He appeared on all six seasons of the MTV reality show Jersey Shore from 2009 through 2012, and has since returned to the franchise with Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. Read more
04 Jul 1981: Dedé, Angolan footballer Adérito Waldemar Alves Carvalho, commonly known as Dedé, is an Angolan former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
04 Jul 1981: Brock Berlin, American football player Brock Sterling Berlin is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida Gators and Miami Hurricanes. Berlin was signed by the Miami Dolphins of the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2005, and was also a member of the Hamburg Sea Devils, Dallas Cowboys, St. Louis Rams, and Detroit Lions. Read more
04 Jul 1981: Christoph Preuß, German footballer Christoph Preuß is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender or defensive midfielder. Read more
04 Jul 1981: Francisco Cruceta, Dominican baseball player Francisco Alberto Cruceta is a former professional baseball pitcher. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers, in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) for the Samsung Lions and in the Mexican Baseball League for the Saraperos de Saltillo. Read more
04 Jul 1981: Will Smith, American football player (died 2016) William Raymond Smith III was an American professional football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes and was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 2004 NFL draft, where he played for the entirety of his career. On April 9, 2016, Smith was murdered by firearm during an altercation after a traffic crash. Read more
04 Jul 1980: Kwame Steede, Bermudan footballer Kwame Steede is a Bermudian football coach and former player. He was appointed head coach of the Devonshire Cougars in 2015. Read more
04 Jul 1979: Siim Kabrits, Estonian politician Siim Kabrits is an Estonian entrepreneur and former politician. He was a member of Riigikogu from April 6, 2011, to March 26, 2014. Read more
04 Jul 1979: Josh McCown, American football player Joshua Treadwell McCown is an American professional football coach and former quarterback. He is the offensive passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). McCown played three seasons of college football for the SMU Mustangs, throwing for 27 touchdowns and 34 interceptions. He then transferred to play his final season of college football for the Sam Houston State Bearkats. In his only season with the Bearkats, he threw for 3,481 yards, 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, earning Southland Football League Player of the Year and third-team Division I-AA All-American honors. McCown was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round of the 2002 NFL draft. A journeyman quarterback, McCown was in the NFL for eighteen seasons and was a member of twelve different franchises. He also played one year in the United Football League (UFL). Read more
04 Jul 1979: Renny Vega, Venezuelan footballer Renny Vicente Vega Hernández is a Venezuelan former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
04 Jul 1978: Marcos Daniel, Brazilian tennis player Marcos Diniz Daniel is a retired professional tennis player from Brazil who turned professional in 1997. The right-hander reached his highest ATP singles ranking of World No. 56 in September 2009. He is coached by his brother, Márcio. Read more
04 Jul 1978: Émile Mpenza, Belgian footballer Eka Basunga Lokonda "Émile" Mpenza is a Belgian former footballer who played as a striker. He has been capped at international level by Belgium. His older brother, Mbo, also represented Belgium. Read more
04 Jul 1976: Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (died 2003) Daijiro Kato was a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, the 2001 250cc world champion, and the 2000 and 2002 Suzuka 8 Hours winner. He died as a result of injuries sustained after a crash during the 2003 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit, Japan. Read more
04 Jul 1976: Yevgeniya Medvedeva, Russian skier Yevgeniya Vladimirovna Medvedeva is a Russian cross-country skier who has competed since 1996. Competing in two Winter Olympics, she won two medals at Turin in 2006 with a gold in the 4 × 5 km relay and a bronze in the 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit. Read more
04 Jul 1974: Jill Craybas, American tennis player Jill N. Craybas is an American former professional tennis player. Read more
04 Jul 1974: La'Roi Glover, American football player and sportscaster La'Roi Damon Glover is an American professional football coach and former player who is the defensive line coach for the Orlando Storm of the United Football League (UFL). He played as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). Glover played college football for the San Diego State Aztecs. He enjoyed a 13-year career in which he made six-consecutive Pro Bowls and was a four-time All-Pro selection. He spent five seasons with the New Orleans Saints (1997–2001), four seasons with the Dallas Cowboys (2002–2005) and finished his playing career with the St. Louis Rams (2006–2008). Read more
04 Jul 1974: Adrian Griffin, American basketball player and coach Adrian Darnell Griffin Sr. is an American professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as the head coach for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA as a shooting guard and small forward from 1999 to 2008. Griffin grew up in Wichita, Kansas, and played college basketball for the Seton Hall Pirates. Read more
04 Jul 1973: Keiko Ihara, Japanese race car driver Keiko Ihara is a Japanese auto racing driver and businesswoman. She was a former race queen, a model who appears in a swimsuit or other fashionable apparel at race circuits, before deciding to become a racing driver. She is one of the few Japanese women nationals to race internationally at a high level. Her best finishes in the British Formula Three Championship are two eighth places finishes in 2005, which helped her to a final championship standing position of 16th with 12 points. In the 2006 series, she finished in 17th and last position in the Championship Class, with four points. Read more
04 Jul 1973: Gackt, Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor Gakuto Oshiro , better known as Gackt, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and actor. Read more
04 Jul 1973: Michael Johnson, English-Jamaican footballer and manager Michael Owen Johnson is a former footballer who played as a defender, primarily at centre back, although he also played left-back when called upon. He is a current England U18s coach and club ambassador of Derby County. He made more than 550 appearances in the Football League and Premier League, including more than 250 games for Birmingham City and more than 100 each for Notts County, the club where he began his professional career, and for Derby County. Johnson was born in Nottingham, England, and played 13 times for the Jamaica national team, for which he qualified by descent. He retired as a player at the end of the 2008–09 season, and took up the post of youth team manager with Notts County. Michael can also be found coaching with the Campioni Soccer Academy at family holiday resorts during the summer months, coaching and mentoring children whilst they holiday with their parents. Read more
04 Jul 1973: Anjelika Krylova, Russian ice dancer and coach Anjelika Alexeyevna Krylova is a Russian retired ice dancer. With partner Oleg Ovsyannikov, she is the 1998 Olympic silver medalist and two-time World champion. She currently works as a coach and choreographer in Moscow, Russia. Read more
04 Jul 1973: Jan Magnussen, Danish race car driver Jan Ellegaard Magnussen is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA Formula One World Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the Corvette Racing team, Magnussen won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in class on four occasions, in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009, as well as the IMSA Sportscar Championship twice in 2017 and 2018. He also won the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTLM class. Read more
04 Jul 1973: Tony Popovic, Australian footballer and manager Tony Popovic is an Australian soccer manager and former player who serves as head coach of the Australia national team. Read more
04 Jul 1972: Stephen Giles, Canadian canoe racer and engineer Stephen Giles is a Canadian sprint canoeist who competed from the early 1990s to the mid 2000s. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won the bronze in the C-1 1000 m event at Sydney in 2000. Read more
04 Jul 1972: Mike Knuble, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach Michael Rudolf Knuble is a Canadian-born American former professional ice hockey right winger who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). During his 16 NHL seasons, he played for the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals. Read more
04 Jul 1969: Al Golden, American football player and coach Alfred James Golden Jr. is an American professional football coach and former tight end who is the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head football coach for the Temple Owls from 2006 to 2010 and the Miami Hurricanes from 2011 to 2015. Read more
04 Jul 1969: Todd Marinovich, American football player and coach Todd Marvin Marinovich is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), Canadian Football League (CFL), and Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football for the USC Trojans. Marinovich is known for the well-documented, intense focus of his training as a young athlete and his brief career as a professional, cut short primarily because of his addiction to drugs. Read more
04 Jul 1969: Wilfred Mugeyi, Zimbabwean footballer and coach Wilfred Mugeyi is a Zimbabwean former footballer whose last job was coach at South African Premier Soccer League club AmaZulu FC. Read more
04 Jul 1967: Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player and manager Vinicio "Vinny" Castilla Soria is a Mexican former Major League Baseball third baseman who played his best years with the Colorado Rockies. During his career, he played with the Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2000–2001), Houston Astros (2001), Washington Nationals (2005), and San Diego Padres (2006). He currently serves as a special assistant to the Rockies GM Bill Schmidt. Read more
04 Jul 1967: Sébastien Deleigne, French athlete Sébastien Deleigne is a French modern pentathlete. He competed in four Olympic Games between 1992 and 2004. Read more
04 Jul 1966: Ronni Ancona, Scottish actress and screenwriter Veronica Jane Ancona is a British actress, comedian, impressionist and writer. She co-wrote and starred in The Big Impression, which was, for four years, one of BBC One's top-rated comedy programmes, winning a BAFTA in 2003. She also starred in the first series of the ITV series The Sketch Show, and has appeared in Last Tango in Halifax since its creation in 2012. She is a co-director, alongside Sally Phillips and Nick Hamson, of the production company Captain Dolly. In 2026, she has played the role of Bea Pollard in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. Read more
04 Jul 1966: Minas Hantzidis, German-Greek footballer Minas Hantzidis is a Greek former footballer. He played for Bayer Leverkusen, VfL Bochum, Olympiacos, Iraklis, Veria, Wuppertaler SV, SV Elversberg, Union Solingen, 1. FC Kleve, TSV 05 Ronsdorf and SpVgg Radevormwald, as well as for the national side. He competed at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Read more
04 Jul 1966: Lee Reherman, American actor (died 2016) Lee Reherman was an American actor, appearing in television and film and hosting television reality shows. Read more
04 Jul 1965: Harvey Grant, American basketball player and coach Harvey Grant is an American former professional National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball player. He is the identical twin brother of Horace Grant, also a former NBA player. Read more
04 Jul 1965: Horace Grant, American basketball player and coach Horace Junior Grant Sr. is an American former professional basketball player who is a special advisor to Michael Reinsdorf, the president and chief operating officer of the Chicago Bulls. He played college basketball for the Clemson Tigers before playing professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he became a four-time champion, winning three championships with the Chicago Bulls and one championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. Horace is the twin brother of former NBA player Harvey Grant. Horace made an NBA All-Star Game in 1994. Read more
04 Jul 1965: Kiriakos Karataidis, Greek footballer and manager Kyriakos Karataidis is a former Greek football player. He played for Olympiacos, as well as for the national side. Read more
04 Jul 1965: Gérard Watkins, English actor and playwright Gérard Watkins is a British and French actor, playwright, director, and songwriter. Read more
04 Jul 1964: Cle Kooiman, American soccer player and manager Christopher Clemence "Cle" Kooiman is an American former soccer defender. He played professionally in both Mexico and the United States including the first Major Indoor Soccer League, Western Soccer Alliance, American Professional Soccer League and Major League Soccer. He earned twelve caps, scoring one goal, with the U.S. national soccer team in 1993 and 1994. He was a member of the U.S. team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Read more
04 Jul 1964: Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer Elie Saab is a fashion designer based in Lebanon. He started his business in the early 1980s, and specialized in bridal couture. His work includes the use of materials such as lace, gemstones, crystals, pearls, and embroidery. Read more
04 Jul 1964: Edi Rama, Albanian politician Edvin Kristaq "Edi" Rama is an Albanian politician, artist, writer, and former professional basketball player who has served as prime minister of Albania since 2013 and as chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. He was the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports from 1998 to 2000 and the Mayor of Tirana from 2000 to 2011. Read more
04 Jul 1964: Mark Slaughter, American singer-songwriter and producer Mark Allen Slaughter is an American singer and guitarist and one of the founders of the glam metal band Slaughter. Read more
04 Jul 1964: Mark Whiting, American actor, director, and screenwriter Mark Randolph Whiting is an American writer, director, designer and actor. Read more
04 Jul 1963: Henri Leconte, French tennis player and sportscaster Henri Leconte is a French former professional tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the French Open in 1988, won the French Open men's doubles title in 1984, and helped France win the Davis Cup in 1991. During his career, he won singles titles on all four major court surfaces: hard, clay, grass and carpet. Leconte's career-high singles ranking was world No. 5. Read more
04 Jul 1963: Laureano Márquez, Spanish-Venezuelan political scientist and journalist Laureano Olegario Márquez Pérez is a Spanish-born Venezuelan humorist and political scientist. Read more
04 Jul 1963: José Oquendo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach José Manuel Oquendo Contreras, nicknamed "the Secret Weapon", is a Puerto Rican professional baseball coach and former utility player who is the fundamentals coordinator of the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played 12 seasons in MLB for the New York Mets and Cardinals, and has coached in various roles within the Cardinals' organization since his retirement, most notably as third base coach for 18 seasons. Oquendo also managed the Puerto Rico national team in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics. Read more
04 Jul 1963: Sonia Pierre, Haitian-Dominican human rights activist (died 2011) Solange Pierre, known as Sonia Pierre, was a human rights advocate in the Dominican Republic who worked to end antihaitianismo, which is discrimination against individuals of Haitian origin either born in Haiti or in the Dominican Republic. For this work, she won the 2006 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Read more
04 Jul 1962: Pam Shriver, American tennis player and sportscaster Pamela Howard Shriver is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster, pundit, and coach. She was ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and world No. 1 in doubles. During the 1980s and 1990s, Shriver won 133 WTA Tour-level titles: 21 in singles and 112 in doubles. This includes 22 major titles, 21 in women's doubles and one in mixed doubles, as well as an Olympic gold medal in women's doubles at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, partnering Zina Garrison. Shriver and regular doubles partner Martina Navratilova are the only women's pair to complete the Grand Slam in a calendar year, winning all four majors in 1984. Read more
04 Jul 1961: Richard Garriott, English-American video game designer, created the Ultima series Richard Allen Garriott de Cayeux is a British-born American video game developer, entrepreneur and private astronaut. Read more
04 Jul 1960: Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian race car driver (died 1994) Roland Walter Ratzenberger was an Austrian racing driver, who competed in Formula One at three Grands Prix in 1994. Read more
04 Jul 1959: Victoria Abril, Spanish actress and singer Victoria Mérida Rojas, better known as Victoria Abril, is a Spanish film actress and singer based in France. She is possibly best known to international audiences for her performance in the film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! by director Pedro Almodóvar. Read more
04 Jul 1958: Vera Leth, Greenlandic Ombudsman Vera Leth is a Greenlandic civil servant who was the County Council Ombudsman for the Parliament of Greenland between 1997 and 2023. Read more
04 Jul 1958: Kirk Pengilly, Australian guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter Kirk Pengilly is an Australian musician and member of the Australian rock group INXS. Kirk plays saxophone and guitar, and also performs as a backing vocalist. Read more
04 Jul 1958: Carl Valentine, Canadian soccer player, coach, and manager Carl Howard Valentine is a former professional soccer player and coach who has had a long association with soccer in the Vancouver area. Read more
04 Jul 1957: Rein Lang, Estonian politician and diplomat, 25th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Rein Lang is an Estonian politician, a member of the Estonian Reform Party since 1995, and a diplomat. He was the Minister of Culture in Andrus Ansip's third cabinet until his resignation. Read more
04 Jul 1956: Robert Sinclair MacKay, British academic and educator Robert Sinclair MacKay is a British mathematician and professor at the University of Warwick. He researches dynamical systems, the calculus of variations, Hamiltonian dynamics and applications to complex systems in physics, engineering, chemistry, biology and economics. Read more
04 Jul 1955: Eero Heinäluoma, Finnish politician Eero Olavi Heinäluoma is a Finnish politician who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament since 2019. A former chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, he was replaced in the party's leadership by Jutta Urpilainen in June 2008. He was Speaker of the Parliament of Finland from 2011 to 2015. Read more
04 Jul 1955: Kevin Nichols, Australian cyclist Kevin John Nichols is a former track cyclist and Olympic gold medallist. Read more
04 Jul 1954: Jim Beattie, American baseball player, coach, and manager James Louis Beattie is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played for the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners from 1978 to 1986. He also served as the Montreal Expos' general manager from 1995 to 2001, and was the Baltimore Orioles' general manager with Mike Flanagan from 2003 to 2005. As of 2010, Beattie served as a professional scout in the Toronto Blue Jays organization through the 2018 season. Beattie retired from his decades-long career in MLB at the end of the 2018 season. Beattie starred in baseball and basketball at South Portland High School in South Portland, Maine. Read more
04 Jul 1954: Morganna, American model, actress, and dancer Morganna Roberts is an American entertainer who became known as Morganna or Morganna, the Kissing Bandit in baseball and other sports from 1969 through 1999. She was also billed as "Morganna the Wild One" when appearing as a dancer in the 1980s. Read more
04 Jul 1954: Devendra Kumar Joshi, 21st Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM is the 14th Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands since 2017 and the Vice Chairman of Islands Development Agency (IDA).
He was an Admiral in the Indian Navy and served as the 21st Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy, having assumed office on 31 August 2012. He is a specialist in anti-submarine warfare. He resigned on 26 February 2014, taking responsibility for a series of accidents, thus becoming the first Indian Navy Chief to resign. Read more
04 Jul 1953: Francis Maude, English lawyer and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Anthony Aylmer Maude, Baron Maude of Horsham, is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2010 to 2015. He also served in several posts while the Conservatives were in opposition, notably as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Shadow Foreign Secretary and Chairman of the Conservative Party. Maude was Member of Parliament (MP) for North Warwickshire from 1983 to 1992 and then for Horsham from 1997 to 2015. Read more
04 Jul 1952: Álvaro Uribe, Colombian lawyer and politician, 39th President of Colombia Álvaro Uribe Vélez is a Colombian politician who served as the 32nd President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010. He is a member and leader of the right-wing political party Democratic Center. Read more
04 Jul 1952: Carol MacReady, English actress Carol MacReady is an English actress. She has been working in the profession since 1961. She is known for the role of Mrs Dribelle in the series Bodger and Badger. Read more
04 Jul 1952: John Waite, English singer-songwriter and guitarist John Charles Waite is an English rock musician. As a solo artist, he has released ten studio albums and is best known for the 1984 hit single "Missing You", which reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the top ten on the UK singles chart. He was also the lead vocalist for the rock bands the Babys and Bad English. Read more
04 Jul 1952: Paul Rogat Loeb, American author and activist Paul Rogat Loeb is an American writer whose work has focused on activism, civic engagement, and social change. Read more
04 Jul 1951: John Alexander, Australian tennis player and politician John Gilbert Alexander, nicknamed JA, is an Australian former professional tennis player, sports broadcaster, and federal politician. Read more
04 Jul 1951: Ralph Johnson, American R&B drummer and percussionist Ralph Randolph Johnson is an American singer, songwriter, musician and producer. Johnson is a member and percussionist of the funk/soul/disco band Earth, Wind & Fire. Read more
04 Jul 1951: Vladimir Tismăneanu, Romanian-American political scientist, sociologist, and academic Vladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in political systems and comparative politics, he is director of the University of Maryland's Center for the Study of Post-Communist Societies, having served as chairman of the editorial committee (2004–2008) and editor (1998–2004) of the East European Politics and Societies academic review. Over the years, Tismăneanu has been a contributor to several periodicals, including Studia Politica, Journal of Democracy, Sfera Politicii, Revista 22, Evenimentul Zilei, Idei în Dialog and Cotidianul. He has also worked with the international radio stations Radio Free Europe and Deutsche Welle, and authored programs for the Romanian Television Company. As of 2009, he is Academic Council Chairman of the Institute for People's Studies, a think tank of the Romanian Democratic Liberal Party. Between February 2010 and May 2012, he was also President of the Scientific Council of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania. Read more
04 Jul 1951: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American lawyer and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend is an American politician and attorney who served as the sixth lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. She was the first woman to serve in that role. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran unsuccessfully for governor of Maryland in 2002. Read more
04 Jul 1950: Philip Craven, English basketball player and swimmer Sir Philip Lee Craven is an English sports administrator, former Paralympic wheelchair basketball player, swimmer and track and field athlete. Between 2001 and 2017 he was the second president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Read more
04 Jul 1950: David Jensen, Canadian-English radio and television host David Allan Jensen is a Canadian-born British radio DJ and television presenter. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began as a radio DJ on Radio Luxembourg. Jensen was later a broadcaster for the BBC from 1976 to 1984, as a host on BBC Radio 1 and presenter on the TV music programme Top of the Pops from 1976 to 1984. Jensen has also hosted and presented for Capital FM and ITV among other stations. Read more
04 Jul 1948: René Arnoux, French race car driver René Alexandre Arnoux is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1978 to 1989. Arnoux won seven Formula One Grands Prix across 12 seasons. Read more
04 Jul 1948: Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer and actor Bert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor and musician. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role as Anatoly/"The Russian" in the musical Chess. He played the role on the 1984 concept album, and on stage in the 1986 world premiere West End production in London, as well as several times since. Körberg has represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest twice: 1969 and 1988. Read more
04 Jul 1948: Jeremy Spencer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeremy Cedric Spencer is a British musician, best known for playing slide guitar and piano in the original line-up of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. A member since Fleetwood Mac's inception in July 1967, he remained with the band until his abrupt departure in February 1971, when he joined the Children of God, a religious organisation now known as The Family International, with which he is still affiliated. After a pair of solo albums in the 1970s, he continued to tour as a musician, but did not release another album until 2006. He released further solo albums from 2012 onwards and has also recorded as part of the folk trio Steetley. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Read more
04 Jul 1947: Lembit Ulfsak, Estonian actor and director (died 2017) Lembit Ulfsak was an Estonian stage and film actor. Ulfsak starred in the 2014 film Tangerines which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards. It was also among the five nominated films at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Ulfsak died on 22 March 2017, at the age of 69. Read more
04 Jul 1946: Ron Kovic, American author and activist Ronald Lawrence Kovic is an American anti-war activist, author, and United States Marine Corps sergeant who was wounded and paralyzed in the Vietnam War. His best selling 1976 memoir Born on the Fourth of July was made into the 1989 film of the same name which starred Tom Cruise as Kovic and was co-written by Kovic and directed by Oliver Stone. Read more
04 Jul 1946: Michael Milken, American businessman and philanthropist Michael Robert Milken is an American financier. He is known for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds, which led to his reputation as the "Junk Bond King", and his conviction and sentence following a guilty plea on felony charges for violating U.S. securities laws. Milken's compensation while head of the high-yield bond department at Drexel Burnham Lambert in the late 1980s exceeded $1 billion over a four-year period, a record for U.S. income at that time. With a net worth of $6 billion as of 2022, he is among the richest people in the world. Read more
04 Jul 1945: Andre Spitzer, Romanian-Israeli fencer and coach (died 1972) Andre Spitzer was an Israeli fencing master and coach of Israel's 1972 Summer Olympics team. He was one of 11 athletes and coaches taken hostage and subsequently killed by terrorists in the Munich massacre. Read more
04 Jul 1943: Conny Bauer, German trombonist Konrad "Conny" Bauer is a German free jazz trombonist. He is the brother of the trombonist Johannes Bauer. Read more
04 Jul 1943: Emerson Boozer, American football player and sportscaster Emerson Boozer is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as a running back for the New York Jets in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). In the last year of separate drafts by the AFL and the NFL, Boozer signed with the AFL's Jets, rather than with an NFL team. He was a member of the Jets team that defeated the NFL's champion Baltimore Colts, 16–7, in Super Bowl III. Before joining the AFL, Boozer played college football at Maryland State College, which is now the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). Read more
04 Jul 1943: Adam Hart-Davis, English historian, author, and photographer Adam John Hart-Davis is an English scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster. He presented the BBC television series Local Heroes and What the Romans Did for Us, the latter spawning several spin-off series involving the Victorians, the Tudors, the Stuarts and the Ancients. He was also a co-presenter of Tomorrow's World, and presented Science Shack. Read more
04 Jul 1943: Geraldo Rivera, American lawyer, journalist, and author Geraldo Michael Rivera is an American talk show host and political commentator who worked at the Fox News Channel from 2001 to 2023. He hosted the tabloid talk show Geraldo from 1987 to 1998. He gained publicity with the live 1986 TV special The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults. Rivera hosted the news magazine program Geraldo at Large, hosts the occasional broadcast of Geraldo Rivera Reports. He served as a rotating co-host of The Five from 2022 to 2023. Read more
04 Jul 1943: Fred Wesley, American jazz and funk trombonist Fred Wesley is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s, and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s. Read more
04 Jul 1943: Alan Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1970) Alan Christie Wilson, nicknamed "Blind Owl", was an American musician, best known as the co-founder, leader, co-lead singer, and primary composer of the blues rock band Canned Heat. He sang and played harmonica and guitar with the group, live and on recordings. Wilson was the lead singer for the group's two biggest U.S. hit singles: "On the Road Again" and "Going Up the Country". Read more
04 Jul 1942: Hal Lanier, American baseball player, coach, and manager Harold Clifton Lanier is an American former infielder, coach and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Known as a brainy, defense-first player, he won National League Manager of the Year as a rookie manager for leading the Astros to the National League West division championship in 1986. From November 2014 through the end of his 2018 contract, Lanier served as the first manager of the Ottawa Champions of the independent Can-Am League. From 1964 through 1973, Lanier played for the San Francisco Giants (1964–71) and New York Yankees (1972–73). He is the son of Max Lanier, a former MLB All-Star pitcher. Read more
04 Jul 1942: Floyd Little, American football player and coach (died 2021) Floyd Douglas Little was an American professional football player who was a halfback for the Denver Broncos, initially in the American Football League (AFL) and later the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Syracuse Orangemen, twice earning All-American honors. Little was the sixth overall selection of the 1967 NFL/AFL draft, the first common draft. He was the first first-round draft pick to sign with the AFL's Broncos, where he was known as "the Franchise". Little was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010. Read more
04 Jul 1942: Stefan Meller, French-Polish academic and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 2008) Stefan Meller was a Polish diplomat and academician. He served as foreign minister of Poland from 31 October 2005, to 9 May 2006, in the cabinet of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz. Read more
04 Jul 1942: Prince Michael of Kent Prince Michael of Kent is a member of the British royal family who is 53rd in line to the British throne as of 2026. The younger son of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, he is a grandson of George V, nephew of Edward VIII and George VI, and first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. Michael's mother was also a first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II, making him both a second cousin and first cousin once removed to Charles III. Read more
04 Jul 1942: Peter Rowan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Peter Rowan is an American bluegrass musician and composer. He plays guitar, fiddle, dobro, banjo, bass, piano and mandolin. He has a wide vocal range and yodels. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2022. Read more
04 Jul 1941: Sam Farr, American politician Samuel Sharon Farr is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for California's 17th (1993–2013) and 20th congressional districts (2013–17). He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected to Congress in a 1993 special election when longtime Democratic Rep. Leon Panetta resigned to become Director of the Office of Management and Budget. He retired from Congress following the 2016 elections. Read more
04 Jul 1941: Tomaž Šalamun, Croatian-Slovenian poet and academic (died 2014) Tomaž Šalamun was a Slovenian poet who was a leading figure of postwar neo-avant-garde poetry in Central Europe and an internationally acclaimed absurdist. His more than 50 books of Slovene poetry have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. His work has been called a poetic bridge between old European roots and America. Šalamun was a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He lived in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and was married to the painter Metka Krašovec. Read more
04 Jul 1941: Pavel Sedláček, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist Pavel Sedláček is a Czech rock and roll singer, songwriter and guitarist. When he was 15 played "Rock Around the Clock" on the show for amateur musicians. From 1962 he collaborated with theatre Semafor. At the same time he recorded the song "Život je pes" which became his first hit. In 1968 he attended Czech Technical University in Prague. Read more
04 Jul 1941: Brian Willson, American soldier, lawyer, and activist S. Brian Willson is a U.S. American Vietnam veteran, peace activist, and trained attorney. Read more
04 Jul 1940: Pat Stapleton, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2020) Patrick James "Whitey" Stapleton was a Canadian ice hockey player. A defenceman, Stapleton played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA), most notably for the Chicago Black Hawks. He was the father of Mike Stapleton, who had a lengthy career in the NHL. Read more
04 Jul 1938: Mike Mainieri, American jazz and session vibraphonist Michael T. Mainieri Jr. is an American vibraphonist, known for his work with the jazz fusion group Steps Ahead. He is married to the singer-songwriter and harpist Dee Carstensen. Read more
04 Jul 1938: Steven Rose, English biologist and academic Steven Peter Russell Rose was an English neuroscientist, author and social commentator. He was an emeritus professor of biology and neurobiology at the Open University and Gresham College, London. Read more
04 Jul 1938: Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2020) William Harrison Withers Jr. was an American soul and R&B singer and songwriter. Born in Slab Fork, West Virginia, and raised in Beckley, West Virginia, he is known for having several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), "Use Me" (1972), "Lean on Me" (1972), "Lovely Day" (1977) and "Just the Two of Us" (1980). Withers won three Grammy Awards out of nine total nominations. He largely stopped performing and recording in the mid-1980s, citing burnout and conflicts with record company executives. Read more
04 Jul 1937: Thomas Nagel, American philosopher and academic Thomas Nagel is an American postanalytic philosopher. He is a professor of philosophy, a professor of law, and University Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at New York University. From 2001 to 2003, he was the Fiorello LaGuardia Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law. His main areas of philosophical interest are political philosophy, ethics, and philosophy of mind. Read more
04 Jul 1937: Queen Sonja of Norway Sonja is Queen of Norway as the wife of King Harald V. She is Norway's first queen consort since Queen Maud, the wife of King Haakon VII, who died in 1938. Read more
04 Jul 1937: Richard Rhodes, American journalist and historian Richard Lee Rhodes is an American historian, journalist, and author of both fiction and nonfiction, best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986). Read more
04 Jul 1937: Eric Walters, Australian journalist (died 2010) Eric Walters was an Australian journalist, media trainer and former television presenter. He was best known for his long-running stint as early morning anchor for the Nine Network, both on the Today and National Nine Early Morning News. Read more
04 Jul 1936: Zdzisława Donat, Polish soprano and actress Zdzisława Donat-Pajda is a Polish coloratura soprano. She studied in Warsaw and Siena, where she was a pupil of Gino Bechi. Read more
04 Jul 1936: Dick Hyde, American trombonist and session musician (died 2019) Richard John Hyde, sometimes credited as Slyde Hyde, was an American trombonist who played several brass and woodwind instruments. He was a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) Hall of Fame. He worked as a session musician and sideman for Count Basie, Herbie Hancock, Frank Sinatra, Jaco Pastorius, Steely Dan, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Beach Boys, Tom Waits, Supertramp, Temptations, Boz Scaggs, Ringo Starr, Carole King, Madonna, and Donna Summer. Read more
04 Jul 1935: Paul Scoon, Grenadian politician, 2nd Governor-General of Grenada (died 2013) Sir Paul Godwin Scoon was a Grenadian politician who served as governor-general of Grenada from 1978 to 1992. His tenure is notable for the hectic events related to the rise and fall of the People's Revolutionary Government, as well as his personal involvement in and support of the invasion of Grenada. Read more
04 Jul 1934: Yvonne B. Miller, American academic and politician (died 2012) Yvonne Bond Miller was a Virginia educator and American politician who became the first African-American woman to serve in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. A Democrat, in 1983 Miller became the first African-American woman elected to the state house, where she served for four years before winning election to the state Senate, where she consistently won re-election until her death in office. Miller taught in the Norfolk Public schools, and later taught early and childhood education at one of her alma maters, which had become Norfolk State University during her lifetime. Read more
04 Jul 1934: Colin Welland, English actor and screenwriter (died 2015) Colin Welland was an English actor and screenwriter. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Mr Farthing in Kes (1969) and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for writing Chariots of Fire (1981). Read more
04 Jul 1932: Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian runner (died 2023) Aurèle Vandendriessche was a Belgian marathon runner, who won silver medals at the 1962 and 1966 European Championships. He competed at the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Summer Olympics with the best result of seventh place in 1964. Twice winner of the Boston Marathon, he recorded his best time there, 2:17:44 in 1965, while finishing fourth. Read more
04 Jul 1931: Stephen Boyd, Northern Ireland-born American actor (died 1977) William Millar, better known by his stage name Stephen Boyd, was an actor from Northern Ireland. He emerged as a leading man during the late 1950s with his role as the villainous Messala in Ben-Hur (1959), a role that earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. He received his second Golden Globe nomination for the musical Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962). Read more
04 Jul 1931: Rick Casares, American football player and soldier (died 2013) Richard Jose Casares was an American professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) for twelve seasons during the 1950s and 1960s. Casares played college football for the University of Florida, where he was standout fullback and kicker. Casares played professionally for the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins of the NFL, and was a member of the expansion Miami Dolphins of the AFL. Read more
04 Jul 1931: Sébastien Japrisot, French author, director, and screenwriter (died 2003) Sébastien Japrisot was a French author, screenwriter and film director. His pseudonym was an anagram of Jean-Baptiste Rossi, his real name. Renowned for subverting the rules of the crime genre, Japrisot broke down the established formulas "into their component pieces to re-combine them in original and paradoxical ways." Some critics argue that though Japrisot's work may lack the explicit experimental element present in the novels of some of his contemporaries, it shows influences of structuralist theories and the unorthodox techniques of the New Novelists. Read more
04 Jul 1931: Peter Richardson, English cricketer (died 2017) Peter Edward Richardson was an English cricketer, who played for Worcestershire and Kent County Cricket Clubs and in 34 Test matches for the England cricket team. Read more
04 Jul 1930: George Steinbrenner, American businessman (died 2010) George Michael Steinbrenner III, nicknamed "the Boss", was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. He was the longest-serving owner in club history, and the Yankees won seven World Series championships and 11 American League pennants under his ownership. His outspokenness and role in driving up player salaries made him one of the sport's most controversial figures. Steinbrenner was also involved in the Great Lakes and Gulf Coast shipping industry. Read more
04 Jul 1929: Al Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (died 2011) Allen R. Davis was an American professional football executive and coach. He was the managing general partner, principal owner and de facto general manager for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) for 39 years, from 1972 until his death in 2011. Prior to becoming principal owner of the Raiders, he served as the team's head coach from 1963 to 1965 and as a part-owner from 1966 to 1971, assuming both positions while the Raiders were members of the American Football League (AFL). He served as the AFL commissioner in 1966. Read more
04 Jul 1929: Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (died 1998) William Robert Tuttle was an American professional baseball player. Primarily a center fielder, he appeared in 1,270 games played in Major League Baseball over 11 seasons for the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Athletics (1958–1961) and Minnesota Twins (1961–1963). Tuttle also played 85 games as a third baseman during 1961 for the Twins; they were the only MLB games he ever played at the "hot corner." He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 190 pounds (86 kg). Read more
04 Jul 1928: Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer and politician (died 2021) Giampiero Boniperti was an Italian footballer who played his entire 15-season career at Juventus between 1946 and 1961, winning five Serie A titles and two Coppa Italia titles. He also played for the Italy national team at international level and took part in the 1950 and 1954 FIFA World Cup finals, as well as the 1952 Summer Olympics with Italy. After retirement from professional football, Boniperti was the CEO and chairman of Juventus and, later, a deputy to the European Parliament. Read more
04 Jul 1928: Teofisto Guingona Jr., Filipino politician; 11th Vice President of the Philippines Teofisto "Tito" Tayko Guingona Jr. is a Filipino statesman and diplomat who served as the 11th vice president of the Philippines from 2001 to 2004, during the first term of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Born in San Juan, he is a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, where he was a working student. Read more
04 Jul 1928: Jassem Alwan, Syrian Army Officer (died 2018) Jassem Alwan was a Syrian military officer and prominent military figure in Syria in the early 1960s. He rose to prominence during the period of the United Arab Republic (UAR) when he served as the Commander of the Qatana Base near Damascus. Alwan, a staunch supporter of UAR President Gamal Abdel Nasser, opposed Syria's secession from the union in 1961, leading two failed coup attempts to overthrow the secessionist government in 1962. Read more
04 Jul 1928: Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic (died 2001) Emeritus Professor Sittampalam Shanmugaratnam, also known as Shan Ratnam, was a Singaporean obstetrician and gynaecologist. Read more
04 Jul 1928: Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (died 2011) Charles William Tanner was an American professional baseball player and manager. A left fielder and pinch hitter who appeared in 396 games in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1955 and 1962, he was known for his unwavering confidence and infectious optimism. As a manager for all or parts of 19 seasons, he led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a World Series championship in 1979. In his last baseball job, he served as a senior advisor to Pirates general manager Neal Huntington. Read more
04 Jul 1927: Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress and photographer (died 2023) Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida was an Italian actress, model, photojournalist, and sculptor. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol and was dubbed "the most beautiful woman in the world". Nicknamed "la Bersagliera" in her country after her famed role in Bread, Love and Dreams as well as her combative character, at the time of her death she was among the last surviving high-profile international actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Read more
04 Jul 1927: Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter (died 2018) Marvin Neil Simon was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three Tony Awards and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He was awarded a Special Tony Award in 1975, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1991, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006. Read more
04 Jul 1926: Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (died 2014) Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé was an Argentine and naturalised Spanish professional footballer and manager who played as a forward, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the greatest Real Madrid player ever. Nicknamed "Saeta Rubia", he is best known for his achievements with the club, where he was instrumental in the club's domination of the European Cup and La Liga during the 1950s and 1960s. Along with Francisco Gento and José María Zárraga, he was one of only three players to play a part in all five European Cup victories, scoring goals in each of the five finals. Di Stéfano played international football mostly for Spain after moving to Madrid and becoming a naturalised citizen, but he also played for Argentina. Read more
04 Jul 1926: Lake Underwood, American race car driver and businessman (died 2008) Lake Carl Underwood was an American entrepreneur who competed as a champion in the racing of prototype automobiles and motorcycles. He was a master mechanic who, although high performance fuel delivery and carburetor design and mechanics were his specialties, also invented automobile improvements, especially in electronics for German automobiles. Read more
04 Jul 1925: Ciril Zlobec, Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and politician (died 2018) Ciril Zlobec was a Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and former politician. He is best remembered for his poems, publishing several volumes of poetry in his lifetime. In 1990 he became a member of the Presidency of Slovenia at a critical time for Slovene independence. Read more
04 Jul 1925: Dorothy Head Knode, American tennis player (died 2015) Alice Dorothy Head Knode, also known as Dottie Head Knode, was an American tennis player who reached the women's singles final of the French International Championships in 1955, losing to Angela Mortimer in three sets, and 1957, losing to Shirley Bloomer in straight sets. She reached the semifinals of six other Grand Slam singles tournaments from 1952 through 1957. Read more
04 Jul 1924: Eva Marie Saint, American actress Eva Marie Saint is an American retired actress. In a career spanning more than seven decades, she received an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, in additions to nominations for two BAFTA Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Saint is the earliest surviving and oldest living Academy Award winner and one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Read more
04 Jul 1924: Delia Fiallo, Cuban author and screenwriter (died 2021) Delia Fiallo was a Cuban author and screenwriter who lived in Miami, Florida. She was born in Havana, Cuba and raised in Pinar Del Rio, Cuba. She was one of the most distinguished representatives of the contemporary romance novel, dabbling in various genres which appeared in her literary output. Read more
04 Jul 1924: Harry Stewart Jr., American military officer and fighter pilot (died 2025) Harry Thaddeus Stewart Jr. was an American fighter pilot. He was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces, and a Distinguished Flying Cross recipient who served in the 332nd Fighter Group, best known as the all–African American Tuskegee Airmen. Read more
04 Jul 1923: Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss lawyer and politician (died 2013) Rudolf Heinrich Friedrich was a Swiss attorney and politician. He served as a member of the Federal Council (Switzerland) for the Free Democratic Party from 1982 to 1984, where he held the position as Head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police. He resigned from this position for health reasons. Previously, Friedrich served as a member of the National Council from 1975 to 1982. Read more
04 Jul 1922: R. James Harvey, American politician (died 2019) Russell James Harvey usually known as James Harvey, was a United States representative from Michigan and an inactive senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Read more
04 Jul 1921: Gérard Debreu, French economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004) Gérard Debreu was a French-born economist and mathematician. Best known as a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he began work in 1962, he won the 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Read more
04 Jul 1921: Nasser Sharifi, Iranian sports shooter Nasser Sharifi is an Iranian former sports shooter. He competed in the 50 metre rifle, three positions event at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Read more
04 Jul 1921: Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut (died 2014) Mikhail of Asyut, was the elder metropolitan of the Holy Metropolis of Asyut (Lycopolis), (Hieracon, and of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and was the abbot of the Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great, in Scetes, Lower Egypt until early 2009, when he decided to resign this responsibility due to his failing health and also due to the demise of Matta El-Meskeen, the Chief Hegumen in-charge of the Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great in 2008. Read more
04 Jul 1921: Philip Rose, American actor, playwright, and producer (died 2011) Philip Rose was a Broadway theatrical producer of such productions as A Raisin in the Sun, The Owl and the Pussycat, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, Purlie, and Shenandoah. His work was particularly notable for its social insight and distinctive social conscience. Read more
04 Jul 1921: Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (died 2003) Tibor Varga was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, and music teacher who developed pedagogic methods for teaching string music. He was a founding member of the string department in the Musikhochschule Detmold. Read more
04 Jul 1920: Norm Drucker, American basketball player and referee (died 2015) Norm Drucker was a major influence in professional basketball officiating for over 35 years. His NBA and ABA officiating career as both a referee and Supervisor of Officials spanned the careers of all-time pro basketball greats, from George Mikan, Bob Cousy, Dolph Schayes and Bob Pettit in the 1950s, to Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Bill Russell in the 1960s, to Julius Erving, Rick Barry, Bill Bradley and Walt Frazier in the 1970s and to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the 1980s. Read more
04 Jul 1920: Leona Helmsley, American businesswoman (died 2007) Leona Roberts Helmsley was an American businesswoman. After allegations of non-payment were made by contractors hired to improve Helmsley's Connecticut home, she was investigated and convicted of federal income tax evasion and other crimes in 1989. Although having initially received a sentence of 4 years, she was required to serve only 19 months in prison and two months under house arrest. During the trial, a former housekeeper testified that she had heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes." This quote was identified with her for the rest of her life. Helmsley's flamboyant personality and reputation for tyrannical behavior, especially towards her employees, earned her the nickname Queen of Mean. Read more
04 Jul 1920: Fritz Wilde, German footballer and manager (died 1977) Fritz Wilde was a German football player and manager, who played as a forward. Read more
04 Jul 1920: Paul Bannai, American politician (died 2019) Paul Takeo Bannai was an American politician who was the first Japanese American to ever serve in the California State Legislature. He served in the State Assembly as a Republican legislator from 1973 until 1980, when he was defeated for reelection by Democrat Richard Floyd. Read more
04 Jul 1918: Eppie Lederer, American journalist (Ann Landers) and radio host (died 2002) Esther Pauline "Eppie" Lederer, better known by the pen name Ann Landers, was an American advice columnist and eventually a nationwide media celebrity. She began writing the "Ask Ann Landers" column in 1955 and continued for 47 years, by which time its readership was 90 million people. A 1978 World Almanac survey named her the most influential woman in the United States. She was the identical twin sister of Pauline Phillips, who wrote the similarly popular "Dear Abby" advice column as Abigail Van Buren. Read more
04 Jul 1918: Johnnie Parsons, American race car driver (died 1984) John Woodrow Parsons was an American racing driver in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series. He was the 1949 AAA national champion, and won the 1950 Indianapolis 500. Read more
04 Jul 1918: King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga, (died 2006) Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV was King of Tonga from 1965 until his death in 2006. He was the tallest and heaviest Tongan monarch, weighing 209.5 kg (462 lb) and measuring 196 cm. Read more
04 Jul 1918: Alec Bedser, English cricketer (died 2010) Sir Alec Victor Bedser was an English professional cricketer, primarily a medium-fast bowler. He is widely regarded as one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century. Read more
04 Jul 1918: Eric Bedser, English cricketer (died 2006) Eric Arthur Bedser was a cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club. He was the elder identical twin brother of Alec Bedser (1918–2010), widely regarded as one of England's top bowlers of the 20th century. Eric was an all-rounder, a useful right-handed batsman and right-arm off-spin bowler. Read more
04 Jul 1918: Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (died 2013) Pauline Esther Phillips, also known as Abigail Van Buren, was an American advice columnist and radio show host who began the well-known Dear Abby newspaper column in 1956. It became the most widely syndicated newspaper column in the world, syndicated in 1,400 newspapers with 110 million readers. Read more
04 Jul 1916: Iva Toguri D'Aquino, American typist and broadcaster (inappropriately known as 'Tokyo Rose') (died 2006) Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino was an American citizen visiting Japan when World War II began. Unable to return to the United States, she risked her life smuggling food to American service men held in prisoner of war camps. Read more
04 Jul 1915: Timmie Rogers, American actor and singer-songwriter (died 2006) Timmie Rogers was an American comedian, singer-songwriter, bandleader and actor who appeared on many national TV shows in the 1960s and 1970s. Rogers was one of the first Black comedians allowed to directly address a white audience when he worked. Before Rogers, African-American funny men had to either work in pairs or groups, only conversing with each other, and they had to play a character, while popular white comedians, such as Bob Hope and Jack Benny got to play themselves. Rogers worked by himself, always dressed well, often wearing a tuxedo, and never wore blackface. Read more
04 Jul 1914: Nuccio Bertone, Italian automobile designer (died 1997) Giuseppe Bertone, also called "Nuccio", was an automobile designer and constructor. He took over Carrozzeria Bertone from his father, Giovanni after World War II, growing the small business to a car building and designing powerhouse. After racing Fiat, O.S.C.A., Maserati, and Ferrari, Bertone moved to construction, agreeing to build his first car, a series of 200 MGs, at the 1952 Turin Motor Show. He drew attention at the Paris Motor Show that year with an Abarth concept, and was chosen to design the replacement for the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante. These so-called BAT cars used the Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint chassis. Bertone is also responsible for designing the famous Lambretta GP/DL range of scooters and the Luna line of scooters. Read more
04 Jul 1911: Bruce Hamilton, Australian public servant (died 1989) Leslie Bruce Hamilton was an Australian senior public servant and head of the Department of Social Services between 1966 and 1973. Read more
04 Jul 1911: Mitch Miller, American singer and producer (died 2010) Mitchell William Miller was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor and artists and repertoire (A&R) man. Miller was one of the most influential people in American popular music during the 1950s and early 1960s, both as the head of A&R at Columbia Records and as a best-selling recording artist with an NBC television series, Sing Along with Mitch. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in the early 1930s, Miller began his musical career as a player of the oboe and English horn, making numerous highly regarded classical and popular recordings. His albums were #1 for 22 weeks in Canada between 1959 and 1962. Read more
04 Jul 1911: Elizabeth Peratrovich, Alaskan-American civil rights activist (died 1958) Elizabeth Peratrovich was an American civil rights activist, Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, and a Tlingit who worked for equality on behalf of Alaska Natives. In the 1940s, her advocacy was credited as being instrumental in the passing of Alaska's Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, the first state or territorial anti-discrimination law enacted in the United States. Read more
04 Jul 1910: Champion Jack Dupree, American boxer, blues and boogie-woogie pianist, singer-songwriter (died 1992) William Thomas "Champion Jack" Dupree was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. His nickname was derived from his early career as a boxer. Read more
04 Jul 1910: Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and scholar (died 2003) Robert King Merton was an American sociologist who is considered a founding father of modern sociology, and a major contributor to the subfield of criminology. He served as the 47th president of the American Sociological Association. He spent most of his career teaching at Columbia University, where he attained the rank of University Professor. In 1994 he was awarded the National Medal of Science for his contributions to the field and for having founded the sociology of science. Read more
04 Jul 1910: Gloria Stuart, American actress (died 2010) Gloria Frances Stuart was an American actress, visual artist and activist. She was known for her roles in pre-code films, and garnered renewed fame late in life for her portrayal of Rose Dawson Calvert in James Cameron's epic romance Titanic (1997), one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Her performance in the film won her a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role and earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture. Read more
04 Jul 1909: Alec Templeton, Welsh composer, pianist and satirist (died 1963) Alec Andrew Templeton was a Welsh composer, pianist, and satirist. Read more
04 Jul 1907: John Anderson, American discus thrower (died 1948) John Franklin Anderson was an American athlete who competed mainly in the discus throw. He won the gold medal in this event at the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. Read more
04 Jul 1907: Howard Taubman, American author and critic (died 1996) Hyman Howard Taubman was an American music critic, theater critic, and author. Read more
04 Jul 1906: Vincent Schaefer, American chemist and meteorologist (died 1993) Vincent Joseph Schaefer was an American chemist and meteorologist who developed cloud seeding. On November 13, 1946, while a researcher at the General Electric Research Laboratory, Schaefer modified clouds in the Berkshire Mountains by seeding them with dry ice. While he was self-taught and never completed high school, he was issued 14 patents. Read more
04 Jul 1905: Irving Johnson, American sailor and author (died 1991) Irving McClure Johnson was an American sail training pioneer, adventurer, lecturer and writer. Read more
04 Jul 1905: Robert Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, British diplomat and public servant (died 1996) Robert Maurice Alers Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, was a British diplomat and public servant. Read more
04 Jul 1905: Lionel Trilling, American critic, essayist, short story writer, and educator (died 1975) Lionel Mordecai Trilling was an American literary critic, short story writer, essayist, and teacher. One of the leading U.S. critics of the 20th century, he analyzed the contemporary cultural, social, and political implications of literature. He and his wife, Diana Trilling, were members of the New York Intellectuals and contributors to the Partisan Review. Read more
04 Jul 1904: Angela Baddeley, English actress (died 1976) Madeleine Angela Clinton-Baddeley was an English stage and television actress, widely remembered for her role as household cook Mrs. Bridges in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Her stage career spanned seven decades. Read more
04 Jul 1903: Flor Peeters, Belgian organist, composer, and educator (died 1986) Franciscus Florentinus Peeters, Baron Peeters was a Belgian composer, organist and academic teacher. He was director of the Conservatorium in Antwerp, Belgium, and organist at Mechelen Cathedral from 1923 to his death in 1986. Read more
04 Jul 1902: Meyer Lansky, American gangster (died 1983) Meyer Lansky was an American organized crime figure associated with gambling operations and illicit finance in the United States, Cuba, and the Caribbean during the mid-20th century. He was closely linked to Charles "Lucky" Luciano and is frequently described by historians and law-enforcement sources as a key figure in the formation of interethnic criminal cooperation in the United States, including the network later referred to as the National Crime Syndicate. Read more
04 Jul 1902: George Murphy, American actor and politician (died 1992) George Lloyd Murphy was an American actor and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1944 to 1946, and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1951. Murphy served from 1965 to 1971 as U.S. Senator from California, the first notable American actor to be elected to statewide office in California, predating Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who each served two terms as governor. He is the only United States senator represented by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Read more
04 Jul 1900: Belinda Dann, Indigenous Australian who was one of the Stolen Generation, reunited with family aged 107 (died 2007) Belinda Dann was an Indigenous Australian born as Quinlyn Wardagoo to an Irish cattle station manager and a Nyikina mother in the Lunlungai community in Derby, Western Australia. At the age of 6, 7, or 8 she was taken away and sent to Beagle Bay Mission with other members of the stolen generation. Her name was changed to Belinda Boyd to integrate with White society. Read more
04 Jul 1900: Nellie Mae Rowe, American folk artist (died 1982) Nellie Mae Rowe was an African-American artist from Fayette County, Georgia. Although she is best known today for her colorful works on paper, Rowe worked across mediums, creating drawings, collages, altered photographs, hand-sewn dolls, home installations and sculptural environments. She was said to have an "instinctive understanding of the relation between color and form." Her work focuses on race, gender, domesticity, African-American folklore, and spiritual traditions. Read more
04 Jul 1898: Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican-American historian and activist (died 1997) Pilar Barbosa de Rosario was an educator, historian and political activist. She was the first female Official Historian of Puerto Rico. Read more
04 Jul 1898: Gertrude Lawrence, British actress, singer, and dancer (died 1952) Gertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York. Read more
04 Jul 1898: Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician (died 1998) Gulzarilal Nanda was an Indian politician and economist who specialised in labour issues. He served as the acting Prime Minister of India for two 13-day tenures following the deaths of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966 respectively. Both his terms ended after the ruling Indian National Congress's parliamentary party elected a new prime minister. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1997. Read more
04 Jul 1898: Gertrude Weaver, American supercentenarian (died 2015) American supercentenarians are citizens or residents of the United States who have attained or surpassed 110 years of age. By January 2015, the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) had validated the longevity claims of 782 American supercentenarians. The oldest living American is Naomi Whitehead, aged 115 years, 279 days. The longest-lived American ever was Sarah Knauss, of Hollywood, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, who died on December 30, 1999, aged 119 years and 97 days. Read more
04 Jul 1897: Alluri Sitarama Raju, Indian activist (died 1924) Alluri Sitarama Raju was an Indian revolutionary who waged an armed rebellion against the British colonial rule in India. He engaged in guerilla campaigns against the British forces across the border regions of present-day Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, and led the Rampa rebellion in 1922. He was known by the title "Manyam Veerudu" to the local people. Read more
04 Jul 1896: Mao Dun, Chinese journalist, author, and critic (died 1981) Shen Dehong, best known by the pen name of Mao Dun, was a Chinese novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright, and literary and cultural critic. He was highly celebrated for his realist novels, including Midnight, which depicts life in cosmopolitan Shanghai. Mao was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party and participated in a number of left-wing cultural movements during the 1920s and 1930s. He was the editor-in-chief of Fiction Monthly and helped lead the League of Left-Wing Writers. He formed a strong friendship with fellow left-wing Chinese author Lu Xun. From 1949 to 1965, Mao served as the first Minister of Culture in the People's Republic of China. Read more
04 Jul 1895: Irving Caesar, American songwriter and composer (died 1996) Irving Caesar was an American lyricist and composer primarily for theater who wrote lyrics for numerous song standards, including "Swanee", "Sometimes I'm Happy", "Crazy Rhythm", and "Tea for Two", one of the most frequently recorded tunes ever written. In 1972, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Read more
04 Jul 1888: Henry Armetta, Italian-American actor and singer (died 1945) Henry Armetta was an American character actor who appeared in at least 150 American films, beginning in silent movies. His last film was released posthumously in 1946, the year after his death. Read more
04 Jul 1887: Pio Pion, Italian engineer and businessman (died 1965) Pio Pion was an Italian entrepreneur, known for founding the first Italian company producing movie projectors, the Fumagalli, Pion & C. Read more
04 Jul 1886: Tom Longboat, Canadian runner and soldier (died 1949) Thomas Charles Longboat was an Onondaga distance runner from the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario and, for much of his career, the dominant long-distance runner. He was known as the "bulldog of Britannia" and was a soldier in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the First World War. Read more
04 Jul 1883: Rube Goldberg, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer (died 1970) Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Read more
04 Jul 1881: Ulysses S. Grant III, American general (died 1968) Ulysses Simpson Grant III was a United States Army officer and planner. He was the son of Frederick Dent Grant, and the grandson of General of the Armies and American President Ulysses S. Grant. Read more
04 Jul 1880: Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (died 1975) Victor Kraft was an Austrian philosopher. He is best known for being a member of the Vienna Circle. Read more
04 Jul 1874: John McPhee, Australian journalist and politician, 27th Premier of Tasmania (died 1952) Sir John Cameron McPhee, KCMG was an Australian politician and member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. He was Premier of Tasmania from 15 June 1928 to 15 March 1934. Read more
04 Jul 1872: Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States (died 1933) Calvin Coolidge was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he served from 1921 to 1923 as the 29th vice president, under President Warren G. Harding, and from 1919 to 1921 as the 48th governor of Massachusetts. Coolidge gained a reputation as a small-government conservative, with a taciturn personality and dry sense of humor that earned him the nickname "Silent Cal". Read more
04 Jul 1871: Hubert Cecil Booth, English engineer (died 1955) Hubert Cecil Booth was an English engineer, best known for having invented one of the first powered vacuum cleaners. Read more
04 Jul 1868: Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer and academic (died 1921) Henrietta Swan Leavitt was an American astronomer. Her discovery of how to effectively measure vast astronomical distances led to a shift in the understanding of the scale and nature of the universe. Read more
04 Jul 1854: Victor Babeș, Romanian physician and biologist (died 1926) Victor Babeș was a Romanian physician, bacteriologist, academician and professor. One of the founders of modern microbiology, Victor Babeș is the author of one of the first treatises of bacteriology in the world – Bacteria and their role in pathological anatomy and histology of infectious diseases, written in collaboration with French scientist Victor André Cornil in 1885. In 1888, Babeș underlined the principle of passive immunity, and a few years later he enunciated the principle of antibiosis. He made early and significant contributions to the study of rabies, leprosy, diphtheria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. He also discovered more than 50 unknown germs and foresaw new methods of staining bacteria and fungi. Victor Babeș introduced rabies vaccination and founded serotherapy in Romania. Read more
04 Jul 1847: James Anthony Bailey, American circus ringmaster, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (died 1906) James Anthony Bailey was an American owner and manager of several 19th-century circuses, including the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Read more
04 Jul 1845: Thomas John Barnardo, Irish philanthropist and humanitarian (died 1905) Thomas John Barnardo was an Irish, Christian philanthropist and founder and director of homes for poor and deprived children. From the foundation of the first Barnardo's home in 1867 to the date of Barnardo's death, nearly 60,000 children had been taken in. Read more
04 Jul 1842: Hermann Cohen, German philosopher (died 1918) Hermann Cohen was a German Jewish philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century". Read more
04 Jul 1826: Stephen Foster, American songwriter and composer (died 1864) Stephen Collins Foster, known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour and folk music during the Romantic period. Foster wrote more than 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer". Many of his compositions remain popular today. Read more
04 Jul 1816: Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club whisky (died 1899) Hiram Walker was an American entrepreneur and founder of the Hiram Walker and Sons Ltd. distillery in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He was born in East Douglas, Massachusetts, and moved to Detroit in 1838. He purchased land across the Detroit River, just east of what is Windsor, Ontario, and established a distillery in 1858 in what would become Walkerville, Ontario. He began selling his whisky as Hiram Walker's Club Whisky, in containers that were "clearly marked". He used a process to make his whisky that was vastly different from all other distillers. Read more
04 Jul 1807: Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (died 1882) Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. He contributed to the Unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. He is considered to be one of Italy's "fathers of the fatherland", along with Camillo Benso di Cavour, King Victor Emmanuel II and Giuseppe Mazzini. Garibaldi is also known as the "Hero of the Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in South America and Europe. Read more
04 Jul 1804: Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (died 1864) Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. Read more
04 Jul 1803: John Adams II , son of President John Quincy Adams and grandson of President John Adams (died 1834) John Adams II was an American government functionary and businessman. The second son of President John Quincy Adams and Louisa Adams, he is usually called John Adams II to distinguish him from President John Adams, his grandfather. Read more

Notable Deaths on 04 July

04 Jul 2025: Lyndon Byers, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host (born 1964) Lyndon Svi Byers was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and radio personality. Byers played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for parts of ten seasons with the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks, earning a reputation as one of the league's toughest enforcers. He was the cousin of former NHL forward Dane Byers. Read more
04 Jul 2025: Richard Greenberg, American playwright and television writer (born 1958) Richard Greenberg was an American playwright and television writer known for his subversively humorous depictions of middle-class American life. He had more than 25 plays premiere on Broadway, off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway in New York City and eight at the South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, California, including The Violet Hour, Everett Beekin, and Hurrah at Last. Greenberg is perhaps best known for his 2002 play Take Me Out. Read more
04 Jul 2025: Bobby Jenks, American baseball player (born 1981) Robert Scott Jenks was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox from 2005 through 2011, and was a two-time All-Star. A relief pitcher, Jenks served as a closer for most of his career, and he ranks second in career saves among White Sox pitchers. Read more
04 Jul 2025: Peter Russell-Clarke, Australian chef, author and illustrator (born 1935) Peter Russell-Clarke was an Australian chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and illustrator, artist, cartoonist, television presenter and media personality. Read more
04 Jul 2025: Mark Snow, American composer for film and television (born 1946) Mark Snow was an American composer for film and television. He was perhaps best known for composing the theme for The X-Files, and would compose for the show's initial nine-season run from 1993 to 2001. He would return for the show's revival from 2015 to 2018. Additionally, he composed the score for the two feature films and the short-lived spinoff series The Lone Gunmen. Read more
04 Jul 2022: Cláudio Hummes, Brazilian prelate of the Catholic Church (born 1934) Cláudio Hummes was a Brazilian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 2006 to 2010, having served as Archbishop of Fortaleza from 1996 to 1998 and Archbishop of São Paulo from 1998 to 2006. A member of the Order of Friars Minor and an outspoken proponent of social justice, he was made a cardinal in 2001. Read more
04 Jul 2022: Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese manga artist (born 1961) Kazuo Takahashi , known professionally as Kazuki Takahashi , was a Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the author of Yu-Gi-Oh!, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1996 to 2004. The manga spawned a trading card game of the same name, which holds the Guinness World Record for the best-selling trading card game of all time. Read more
04 Jul 2021: Harmoko, Indonesian politician, former parliament speaker and government minister (born 1939) Harmoko, colloquially referred to as Bung Harmoko, was an Indonesian politician and journalist who was active during the New Order era. He served as the Speaker of the People's Representative Council from 1997 until 1999, and was a factor in president Suharto's resignation during the widespread student demonstrations which occurred at the end of the New Order. Read more
04 Jul 2021: Matīss Kivlenieks, Latvian ice hockey goaltender (born 1996) Matīss Edmunds Kivlenieks was a Latvian professional ice hockey goaltender who played for Prizma Riga of the Latvian Hockey Higher League (LHL), the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL), and the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL) between 2012 and 2021. Kivlenieks died on 4 July 2021 after being struck by fireworks. Read more
04 Jul 2018: Henri Dirickx, Belgian footballer (born 1927) Henri Dirickx was a Belgian international footballer, who played as a defender. Dirickx was the last surviving member of Belgium's 1954 World Cup squad. Read more
04 Jul 2018: Robby Müller, Dutch cinematographer (born 1940) Robby Müller, NSC, BVK, was a Dutch cinematographer. Known for his use of natural light and minimalist imagery, Müller first gained recognition for his contributions to West German cinema through his acclaimed collaborations with Wim Wenders. Read more
04 Jul 2017: John Blackwell, American R&B, funk, and jazz drummer (born 1973) John Blackwell Jr. was an American contemporary R&B, funk, jazz, fusion, and pop drummer, best known for his work with Prince. Later, he was a member of D'Angelo's backing band, The Vanguard. Read more
04 Jul 2017: Daniil Granin, Soviet and Russian author (born 1919) Daniil Aleksandrovich Granin, original family name Gherman, was a Soviet and Russian author. Read more
04 Jul 2017: Gene Conley, American MLB player and NBA player (born 1930) Donald Eugene Conley was an American professional baseball and basketball player. He pitched for four teams in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1952 to 1963. Conley also played as a forward in the 1952–53 season and from 1958 to 1964 for two teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is the second person, after Otto Graham, to win championships in two of the four major American sports: one with the Milwaukee Braves in the 1957 World Series and three with the Boston Celtics from 1959 to 1961. Read more
04 Jul 2016: Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (born 1940) Abbas Kiarostami was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of over forty films, including shorts and documentaries. Kiarostami attained critical acclaim for directing the Koker trilogy (1987–1994), Close-Up (1990), The Wind Will Carry Us (1999), and Taste of Cherry (1997), which was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year. In later works, Certified Copy (2010) and Like Someone in Love (2012), he filmed for the first time outside Iran: in Italy and Japan, respectively. His films Where Is the Friend's House? (1987), Close-Up, and The Wind Will Carry Us were ranked among the 100 best foreign films in a 2018 critics' poll by BBC Culture. Close-Up was also ranked one of the 50 greatest movies of all time in the famous decennial Sight & Sound poll conducted in 2012. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of Iran, and of all time. Read more
04 Jul 2015: Nedelcho Beronov, Bulgarian judge and politician (born 1928) Nedelcho Krumov Beronov was a Bulgarian jurist, right-wing politician and Constitutional Court chairman, as well as a presidential candidate in the 2006 presidential elections. Read more
04 Jul 2015: William Conrad Gibbons, American historian, author, and academic (born 1926) William Conrad Gibbons was an American historian and foreign policy expert. Read more
04 Jul 2014: Giorgio Faletti, Italian author, screenwriter, and actor (born 1950) Giorgio Faletti was an Italian writer, musician, actor and comedian. Born in Asti, Piedmont, he lived on Elba Island. His books have been translated into 25 languages and published with great success in Europe, South America, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. Read more
04 Jul 2014: C. J. Henderson, American author and critic (born 1951) Chris "C. J." Henderson was an American writer of horror, hardboiled crime fiction and comic books, known for such works as the Piers Knight and Teddy London series. His comics work includes books for Marvel Comics and Valiant Comics. Read more
04 Jul 2014: Earl Robinson, American baseball player (born 1936) Earl John Robinson was an American professional baseball outfielder and third baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he played both baseball and basketball, helping Cal to three straight conference titles in basketball from 1956 to 1958. Born in New Orleans, Robinson attended Berkeley High School in the San Francisco Bay Area before matriculating at Cal. Read more
04 Jul 2014: Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (born 1932) Richard Mellon Scaife was an American billionaire, a principal heir to the Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune, and the owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. In 2005, Scaife was number 238 on the Forbes 400, with a personal fortune of $1.2 billion. By 2013, Scaife had dropped to number 371 on the listing, with a personal fortune of $1.4 billion. Read more
04 Jul 2013: Onllwyn Brace, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (born 1932) David Onllwyn Brace was a Welsh international scrum-half who played club rugby for Newport and Aberavon. He won nine caps for Wales and would captain the team twice in the early 1960s. Brace was an exciting, unorthodox scrum-half, who epitomised the Welsh flair scrum-half, though his uneven international appearances point towards unhappiness in his match play from the Welsh selectors. Read more
04 Jul 2013: Jack Crompton, English footballer and manager (born 1921) John Crompton was an English professional footballer. Born in Hulme, Manchester, Lancashire, he was a goalkeeper for Manchester United between 1944 and 1956. He was part of the team that won the FA Cup in 1948 and the league title in 1952. During the Second World War, he played as a guest for Stockport County. Read more
04 Jul 2013: James Fulton, American dermatologist and academic (born 1940) Dr. James E. Fulton Jr., M.D., was an American dermatologist and medical researcher who co-invented Retin-A, a popular acne medication, in 1969. Read more
04 Jul 2013: Charles A. Hines, American general (born 1935) Charles Alfonso Hines was an American Army major general, university administrator, and sociology professor. Read more
04 Jul 2013: Bernie Nolan, Irish singer (born 1960) Bernadette Therese Doneathy was an Irish actress, singer and television personality. She was a member of the girl group the Nolans, which she formed with her sisters. From the age of two, Bernie was brought up in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. Read more
04 Jul 2012: Hiren Bhattacharyya, Indian poet and author (born 1932) Hiren Bhattacharyya, popularly known as Hiruda, was an Indian poet and lyricist best known for his works in the Assamese literature. He had innumerable works published in Assamese and achieved many prizes and accolades for his poetry including Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for his anthology of poems 'Saichar Pathar Manuh'. He has been also known as 'Sugandi Pakhilaar Kobi'. Read more
04 Jul 2012: Jimmy Bivins, American boxer (born 1919) James Louis Bivins was an American boxer whose professional career ran from 1940 to 1955. He was born in Dry Branch, Georgia. Although he was never given the opportunity to fight for a world title, despite at one point being the number one contender in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, Bivins fought and defeated many of the great fighters of his era and won the "Duration" Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight titles. In recognition of his achievements in the ring – among other things, he defeated eight of the eleven world champions he faced – Bivins was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999. He was also the one-time husband of Dollree Mapp, the subject of prominent Supreme Court case regarding the rights of search and seizures. Read more
04 Jul 2012: Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (born 1987) Jeong Min-Hyeong was a South Korean footballer who played as a midfielder for Busan IPark in the K-League. Read more
04 Jul 2012: Eric Sykes, English actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1923) Eric Sykes was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Tommy Cooper, Peter Sellers, John Antrobus and Johnny Speight. Sykes first came to prominence through his many radio credits as a writer and actor in the 1950s, which include collaboration on some scripts for The Goon Show. He became a television star in his own right in the early 1960s when he appeared with Hattie Jacques in several popular BBC comedy television series. Read more
04 Jul 2010: Robert Neil Butler, American physician and author (born 1927) Robert Neil Butler was an American physician, gerontologist, psychiatrist, and author, who was the first director of the National Institute on Aging. Butler is known for his work on the social needs and the rights of the elderly and for his research on healthy aging and the dementias. Read more
04 Jul 2009: Brenda Joyce, American actress (born 1917) Brenda Joyce was an American film actress. She was best known for playing Jane Porter in RKO's Tarzan films from 1945 to 1949. Read more
04 Jul 2009: Allen Klein, American businessman and talent agent, founded ABKCO Records (born 1931) Allen Klein was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits for his musician clients by negotiating new record company contracts. He first achieved monetary and contractual gains for Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen, one-hit rockabillies of the late 1950s. He then managed Sam Cooke before later becoming the manager of both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones simultaneously, along with many other artists. This made him one of the most powerful individuals in the music industry during his era. Read more
04 Jul 2009: Drake Levin, American guitarist (born 1946) Drake Maxwell Levin was an American musician best known as the guitarist for the pop-rock band Paul Revere & the Raiders. Read more
04 Jul 2009: Steve McNair, American football player (born 1973) Stephen LaTreal McNair, was an American professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons. Nicknamed "Air", he spent the majority of his career with the Tennessee Titans franchise. He was the first African American quarterback to win NFL MVP and one of only four to receive the award. Read more
04 Jul 2009: Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish author and actor (born 1935) Folke Lars-Olov Strömstedt, better known as Lasse Strömstedt, was a Swedish writer who wrote of and about his own life in prison and drug abuse. Strömstedt was born in Gävle in 1935. He was a casual laborer whose working life was frequently disrupted by imprisonment. After 1971 he changed his life and became a writer, debater and actor. In 1974, Strömsted published his first novel, Grundbulten, written together with reporter Christer Dahl under the pseudonym Kennet Ahl. Strömstedt was married to Swedish singer and writer Ann-Christine Bärnsten. He died aged 74 of natural causes in Gränna on 4 July 2009. Read more
04 Jul 2009: Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard, Congolese poet and politician (born 1938) Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard was a Congolese politician and poet. Having previously served as Minister of Higher Education and Minister of Arts and Culture, he was Minister of Hydrocarbons in the government of Congo-Brazzaville from 1997 to 2009; he was also the founder and President of the Action Movement for Renewal (MAR), a political party. Aside from politics, Tati Loutard published numerous books of his own poetry and literature in general. Read more
04 Jul 2008: Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (born 1940) Thomas Michael Disch was an American science fiction writer and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book—previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book"—in 1999. He had two other Hugo nominations and nine Nebula Award nominations to his credit, plus one win of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, a Rhysling Award, and two Seiun Awards, among others. Read more
04 Jul 2008: Jesse Helms, American politician (born 1921) Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. was an American politician, a journalist, and Navy veteran. A leader in the conservative and nationalist movement, he represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001, he had a major voice in foreign policy. Helms helped organize and fund the conservative resurgence in the 1970s, focusing on Ronald Reagan's quest for the White House as well as helping many local and regional candidates. Read more
04 Jul 2008: Evelyn Keyes, American actress (born 1916) Evelyn Louise Keyes was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. Read more
04 Jul 2008: Terrence Kiel, American football player (born 1980) Terrence Dewayne Kiel was an American professional football player who spent his entire career as a safety for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL) from 2003 to 2006. He played college football for the Texas A&M Aggies and was selected by the Chargers in the second round of the 2003 NFL draft. Read more
04 Jul 2008: Charles Wheeler, German-English soldier and journalist (born 1923) Sir Selwyn Charles Cornelius-Wheeler was a German-born British journalist and broadcaster. Having joined the BBC in 1947, he became the corporation's longest-serving foreign correspondent, remaining in the role until his death. Wheeler also had spells as presenter of several BBC current affairs television programmes, including Newsnight and Panorama. Read more
04 Jul 2007: Bill Pinkney, American singer (born 1925) Willie "Bill" Pinkney was an American performer and singer. Pinkney was the last surviving original member of The Drifters, who achieved international fame with numerous hit records. He was chiefly responsible for its early sounds. The Drifters have had a strong influence on soul, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll music. As an original group member, Bill Pinkney was a 1988 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with The Drifters. Read more
04 Jul 2005: Cliff Goupille, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1915) Joseph Emilien Clifford "Red" Goupille was a Canadian ice hockey player who played 224 games in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens between 1936 and 1942. Read more
04 Jul 2005: Hank Stram, American football player and coach (born 1923) Henry Louis Stram was an American football coach. He is best known for his 15-year tenure with the Dallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). Read more
04 Jul 2004: Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (born 1920) Jean-Marie Auberson was a Swiss conductor and violinist. Read more
04 Jul 2003: Larry Burkett, American author and radio host (born 1939) Larry Burkett was an American radio personality whose work focused on financial counseling from a Christian point of view. Read more
04 Jul 2003: André Claveau, French singer (born 1915) André Claveau was a French singer, popular in France from the 1940s to the 1960s. He won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958 singing "Dors, mon amour", with music composed by Pierre Delanoë and lyrics by Hubert Giraud. Winning at the age of 46 years and 76 days, Claveau was the oldest winner of the contest until 1990, being the first and only winner prior to 1990 to triumph in their forties. Read more
04 Jul 2003: Barry White, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (born 1944) Barry Eugene White was an American R&B, soul and disco singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, who made the #1 hit "Love's Theme" written by White. White's music contains elements of multiple different genres such as R&B, soul, and disco, this is shown as such on his two biggest hits: "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" and "You're the First, the Last, My Everything". Read more
04 Jul 2002: Gerald Bales, Canadian organist and composer (born 1919) Gerald Albert Bales, was a Canadian organist and composer. Read more
04 Jul 2002: Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American general (born 1912) Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. was a United States Air Force (USAF) general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. Read more
04 Jul 2000: Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Polish journalist and author (born 1919) Gustaw Herling-Grudziński was a Polish writer, journalist, essayist, World War II underground fighter, and political dissident abroad during the period of Soviet and communist rule. He is best known for writing a personal account of life in the Soviet Gulag entitled A World Apart, first published in 1951 in London. Read more
04 Jul 1999: Leo Garel, American illustrator and educator (born 1917) Leo Garel was an American artist. He illustrated cartoons for such notable magazines as The New Yorker, The Saturday Evening Post and Playboy. Read more
04 Jul 1997: Charles Kuralt, American journalist (born 1934) Charles Bishop Kuralt was an American television, newspaper and radio journalist and author. He is most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and later as the first anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning, a position he held for fifteen years. In 1996, Kuralt was inducted into Television Hall of Fame of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Read more
04 Jul 1997: John Zachary Young, English zoologist and neurophysiologist (born 1907) John Zachary Young, generally known as "JZ" or "JZY", was an English zoologist and neurophysiologist, described as "one of the most influential biologists of the 20th century". Read more
04 Jul 1995: Eva Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and singer (born 1919) Eva Gabor was a Hungarian born American actress and socialite. She gained fame for her role on the 1965–1971 television sitcom Green Acres as Lisa Douglas, the wife of Eddie Albert's character Oliver Wendell Douglas, and also was known for her voice roles for animated Disney films in the 1970s, including Duchess in The Aristocats (1970) and Miss Bianca in The Rescuers (1977) and its sequel The Rescuers Down Under (1990). In addition to acting, she was also a businesswoman who marketed wigs, clothing, and beauty products. Her elder sisters, Zsa Zsa and Magda Gabor, were also actresses and socialites. Read more
04 Jul 1995: Bob Ross, American painter and television host (born 1942) Robert Norman Ross was an American painter and art instructor who created and hosted The Joy of Painting, an instructional television program that aired from 1983 to 1994 on PBS in the United States and CBC in Canada. Read more
04 Jul 1994: Joey Marella, American wrestling referee (born 1964) Joseph Anthony Marella was an American professional wrestling referee for the World Wrestling Federation and son of former wrestler and then WWF announcer Gorilla Monsoon from Willingboro Township, New Jersey. Read more
04 Jul 1993: Yvette Amice, French mathematician (born 1936) Yvette Amice was a French mathematician whose research was in the areas of number theory and p-adic analysis. The Amice transform and Amice theorem for p-adic functions are named after her. She led academic societies and she was the second woman president of the Société mathématique de France. Aside from the academic work, she promoted the recognition of women mathematicians and their achievements. Read more
04 Jul 1993: Bona Arsenault, Canadian historian, genealogist, and politician (born 1903) Bona Arsenault, was a Canadian historian, genealogist and a federal and provincial politician. Read more
04 Jul 1992: Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian bandoneon player and composer (born 1921) Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. A virtuoso bandoneonist, he regularly performed his own compositions with a variety of ensembles.
In 1992, American music critic Stephen Holden described Piazzolla as "the world's foremost composer of Tango music". Read more
04 Jul 1991: Victor Chang, Chinese-Australian surgeon and physician (born 1936) Victor Peter Chang was a Chinese-born Australian cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation in Australia. Read more
04 Jul 1991: Art Sansom, American cartoonist (born 1920) Arthur Baldwin Sansom Jr., better known as Art Sansom, was an American comic strip cartoonist who created the long-running comic strip The Born Loser. Read more
04 Jul 1990: Olive Ann Burns, American journalist and author (born 1924) Olive Ann Burns was an American writer from Georgia best known for her single completed novel, Cold Sassy Tree, published in 1984. Read more
04 Jul 1988: Adrian Adonis, American wrestler (born 1954) Keith Adonis Franke was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Adorable" Adrian Adonis. He was best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association and World Wrestling Federation throughout the 1980s. Read more
04 Jul 1986: Paul-Gilbert Langevin, French musicologist, critique musical and physicist (born 1933) Paul-Gilbert Langevin was a French musicologist, who was a specialist on Anton Bruckner, Franz Schubert and 19th-century classical music. Read more
04 Jul 1986: Flor Peeters, Belgian organist and composer (born 1903) Franciscus Florentinus Peeters, Baron Peeters was a Belgian composer, organist and academic teacher. He was director of the Conservatorium in Antwerp, Belgium, and organist at Mechelen Cathedral from 1923 to his death in 1986. Read more
04 Jul 1986: Oscar Zariski, Belarusian-American mathematician and academic (born 1899) Oscar Zariski was an American mathematician. The Russian-born scientist was one of the most influential algebraic geometers of the 20th century. Read more
04 Jul 1984: Jimmie Spheeris, American singer-songwriter (born 1949) Jimmie Andrew Spheeris was an American singer-songwriter who released four albums in the 1970s on the Columbia Records and Epic Records labels. Spheeris died in 1984, at the age of 34, after a motorcycle accident. Read more
04 Jul 1980: Maurice Grevisse, Belgian linguist and author (born 1895) Maurice Grevisse was a Belgian grammarian. Read more
04 Jul 1979: Lee Wai Tong, Chinese footballer and manager (born 1905) Lee Wai Tong was a Hong Kong and Chinese international association football player, head coach, and former Vice President of FIFA. He is often regarded as the greatest Chinese footballer, due to his accomplishments in winning several Far Eastern Games titles with the national team of the Republic of China as well as captaining the national football squad on a 13-year unbeaten run in competitive games from 1923 to 1936, a streak that ended at their first ever Olympic tournament. Read more
04 Jul 1977: Gersh Budker, Ukrainian physicist and academic (born 1918) Gersh Itskovich Budker, also named Andrey Mikhailovich Budker, was a Soviet physicist born in Murafa in Ukrainian People's Republic, specialized in nuclear physics and accelerator physics. Read more
04 Jul 1976: Yonatan Netanyahu, Israeli colonel (born 1946) Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu was an Israeli military officer who commanded Sayeret Matkal during the Entebbe raid. The raid was launched in response to the 1976 hijacking of an international civilian passenger flight from Israel to France by Palestinian and German militants, who took control of the aircraft during a stopover in Greece and diverted it to Libya and then to Uganda, where they received support from Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Though Israel's counter-terrorist operation was a success, with 102 of the 106 hostages being rescued, Netanyahu was killed in action – the only Israeli soldier killed during the crisis. Read more
04 Jul 1976: Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and playwright (born 1895) Antoni Słonimski was a Polish poet, artist, journalist, playwright and prose writer, president of the Union of Polish Writers in 1956–1959 during the Polish October, known for his devotion to social justice. Read more
04 Jul 1974: Georgette Heyer, English author (born 1902) Georgette Heyer was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story conceived for her ailing younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. The couple spent several years living in Tanganyika Territory and Macedonia before returning to England in 1929. After her novel These Old Shades became popular despite its release during the General Strike, Heyer determined that publicity was not necessary for good sales. For the rest of her life she refused to grant interviews, telling a friend: "My private life concerns no one but myself and my family." Read more
04 Jul 1974: André Randall, French actor (born 1892) André Randall was a French screen actor. He was born André Ayaïs in Bordeaux and died at Sainte-Foy-la-Grande. Read more
04 Jul 1971: August Derleth, American anthologist and author (born 1909) August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. He was the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. He made contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the cosmic horror genre and helped found Arkham House, a publishing company which did much to introduce hardcover prints of United Kingdom supernatural fiction works to the United States. Derleth was also a leading American regional writer of his day, as well as prolific in several other genres, including historical fiction, poetry, detective fiction, science fiction, and biography. Notably, he created the fictional detective Solar Pons, a pastiche of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Read more
04 Jul 1971: Thomas C. Hart, American admiral and politician (born 1877) Thomas Charles Hart was a United States Navy admiral whose service extended from the Spanish–American War through World War II. Following his retirement from the Navy, he served briefly as a United States Senator from Connecticut, becoming the highest-ranking military official ever to serve in Congress. Read more
04 Jul 1970: Barnett Newman, American painter and illustrator (born 1905) Barnett Newman was an American painter. He has been critically regarded as one of the major figures of abstract expressionism, and one of the foremost color field painters. His paintings explore the sense of place that viewers experience with art and incorporate the simplest forms to emphasize this feeling. Read more
04 Jul 1970: Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, American sailor and businessman (born 1884) Harold Stirling Vanderbilt CBE was an American railroad executive, a champion yachtsman, an innovator and champion player of contract bridge, and a member of the Vanderbilt family. Read more
04 Jul 1969: Henri Decoin, French director and screenwriter (born 1890) Henri Decoin was a French film director and screenwriter, who directed more than 50 films between 1933 and 1964. He was also a swimmer who won the national title in 1911 and held the national record in the 500 m freestyle. He competed in the 400 m freestyle at the 1908 Summer Olympics and in the water polo tournament at the 1912 Summer Olympics. Read more
04 Jul 1964: Gaby Morlay, French actress and singer (born 1893) Gaby Morlay was a film actress from France. Read more
04 Jul 1963: Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, New Zealand general and politician, 7th Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1889) Lieutenant-General Bernard Cyril Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, was a British-born New Zealand soldier and Victoria Cross recipient, who served as the 7th governor-general of New Zealand from 1946 to 1952 – the first to have been raised and educated in New Zealand. Read more
04 Jul 1963: Clyde Kennard, American activist and martyr (born 1927) Clyde Kennard was an American Korean War veteran and civil rights leader from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In the 1950s, he attempted several times to enroll at the all-white Mississippi Southern College to complete his undergraduate degree started at the University of Chicago. Although the United States Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, the college rejected Kennard. He was among the thousands of local activists in the 1940s and 1950s who pressed for their rights. Read more
04 Jul 1963: Pingali Venkayya, Indian activist, designed the Flag of India (born 1876) Pingali Venkayya was an Indian freedom fighter, known for designing the initial version of the Indian National Flag. Apart from his role in the independence movement, Venkayya was a lecturer, author, geologist, educationalist, agriculturist, and a polyglot. Read more
04 Jul 1949: François Brandt, Dutch rower and engineer (born 1874) François Antoine Brandt was a Dutch rower who competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. Brandt was part of the Dutch eight team that won a bronze medal with Hermanus Brockmann as the coxswain. Brockmann also steered the boat of Brandt and Roelof Klein in the coxed pairs semifinal, which they lost to France. The pair realized that the 60 kg weight of Brockmann puts them in disadvantage; they replaced him with a local boy of 33 kg and won the final narrowly beating the French team. Read more
04 Jul 1948: Monteiro Lobato, Brazilian journalist and author (born 1882) José Bento Renato Monteiro Lobato was one of Brazil's most influential writers, mostly for his children's books set in the fictional Sítio do Picapau Amarelo but he had been previously a prolific writer of fiction, a translator and an art critic. He also founded one of Brazil's first publishing houses and was a supporter of nationalism. Read more
04 Jul 1946: Taffy O'Callaghan, Welsh footballer and coach (born 1906) Eugene "Taffy" O'Callaghan was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a forward for Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, Fulham and Wales during the 1920s and 1930s. Read more
04 Jul 1943: Władysław Sikorski, Polish general and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Second Republic of Poland (born 1881) Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski was a Polish military and political leader. Before World War I, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independence. He fought with distinction in the Polish Legions during World War I, and later in the newly created Polish Army during the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921. In the latter war, he played a prominent role in the decisive 1920 Battle of Warsaw. Read more
04 Jul 1941: Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (born 1881) Antoni Marian Łomnicki was a Polish mathematician. He contributed to applied mathematics and cartography. He was the author of several textbooks of mathematics and was an influential mathematics teacher at the University of Lwów. Read more
04 Jul 1938: Otto Bauer, Austrian philosopher and politician, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1881) Otto Bauer was an Austrian politician who was one of the founders and leading thinkers of the Austromarxists who sought a middle ground between social democracy and revolutionary socialism. He was a member of the Austrian Parliament from 1907 to 1934, deputy party leader of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) from 1918 to 1934, and Foreign Minister of the Republic of German-Austria in 1918 and 1919. In the latter position, he worked unsuccessfully to bring about the unification of Austria and the Weimar Republic. His opposition to the SDAP joining coalition governments after it lost its leading position in Parliament in 1920 and his practice of advising the party to wait for the proper historical circumstances before taking action were criticized by some for facilitating Austria's move from democracy to fascism in the 1930s. When the SDAP was outlawed by Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg in 1934, Bauer went into exile, where he continued to work for Austrian socialism until his death. Read more
04 Jul 1938: Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (born 1899) Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen was a French tennis player. She was the inaugural world No. 1 from 1921 to 1926, winning eight Grand Slam titles in singles and twenty-one in total. She was also a four-time World Hard Court Champion in singles, and ten times in total. Lenglen won six Wimbledon singles titles, including five in a row from 1919 to 1923, and was the champion in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles at the first two open French Championships in 1925 and 1926. In doubles, she was undefeated with her usual partner, Elizabeth Ryan, highlighted by another six titles at Wimbledon. Lenglen was the first leading amateur to turn professional. She ranked as the greatest women's tennis player from the amateur era in the 100 Greatest of All Time series on the Tennis Channel in 2012. Read more
04 Jul 1935: Anna Paaske, Norwegian opera singer and music teacher (born 1856) Anna Paaske was a Norwegian opera singer and music teacher. She often performed in Wagner roles in concerts in Scandinavia and Northern Europe, and was especially popular in Germany. Her stage career ended after she injured her foot, from which she never fully recovered. Read more
04 Jul 1934: Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1867) Maria Salomea Skłodowska Curie, better known as Marie Curie, was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist. She shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband, Pierre Curie, "for their joint researches on the radioactivity phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel". She won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "[for] the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element". Read more
04 Jul 1926: Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist and saint (born 1901) Pier Giorgio Frassati was an Italian Catholic activist and a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. He was dedicated to social justice issues and joined several charitable organizations, including Catholic Action and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, to better aid the poor and less fortunate living in his hometown of Turin. Read more
04 Jul 1922: Lothar von Richthofen, German lieutenant and pilot (born 1894) Lothar Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen was a German First World War fighter ace credited with 40 victories. He was a younger brother of top-scoring ace Manfred von Richthofen and a distant cousin of Luftwaffe Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen, who also became a flying ace. Read more
04 Jul 1916: Alan Seeger, American soldier and poet (born 1888) Alan Seeger was an American war poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme, serving in the French Foreign Legion. Seeger was the brother of Elizabeth Seeger, a children's author and educator, and Charles Seeger, a noted American pacifist and musicologist; he was also the uncle of folk musicians Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger, and Mike Seeger. He is lauded for the poem "I Have a Rendezvous with Death", a favorite of President John F. Kennedy. A statue representing him is on the monument in the Place des États-Unis, Paris, honoring those American citizens who volunteered to fight for the Third French Republic while their country was still neutral and lost their lives during the war. Seeger is sometimes called the "American Rupert Brooke". Read more
04 Jul 1910: Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, Chief Justice of the United States (born 1833) Melville Weston Fuller was an American politician, attorney, and jurist who served as the eighth chief justice of the United States from 1888 until his death in 1910. Staunch conservatism marked his tenure on the Supreme Court, exhibited by his tendency to support unfettered free enterprise and to oppose broad federal power. He wrote major opinions on the federal income tax, the Commerce Clause, and citizenship law, and he took part in important decisions about racial segregation and the liberty of contract. Those rulings often faced criticism in the decades during and after Fuller's tenure, and many were later overruled or abrogated. The legal academy has generally viewed Fuller negatively, although a revisionist minority has taken a more favorable view of his jurisprudence. Read more
04 Jul 1910: Kabua the Great, Marshallese iroijlaplap (born c. 1820) Kabua the Great, also Kabua Laplap, was a Marshallese iroij whom the German Empire recognized as the king of the Marshall Islands. From 1863 until his death in 1910, he claimed to be the paramount chief, or iroijlaplap, of the Ralik Chain, though his cousin Loiak also claimed the title. Kabua worked with western missionaries and copra traders to expand his wealth and political power. He was also one of the several Marshallese iroij to sign treaties with the German Empire, first granting Germans exclusive trading rights in the Marshalls in 1878 and then legitimizing German annexation of the islands as a protectorate in 1885. The German treaties recognized Kabua as King of the Marshall Islands, though the German anthropologist Augustin Krämer noted that "Kabua is king only by the grace of the Germans." Read more
04 Jul 1910: Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (born 1835) Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli was an Italian astronomer and science historian. Schiaparelli established the Martian system of nomenclature still in use today; before him, features of the planet bore the names of contemporary astronomers, similar to the lunar map of van Langren that preceded that of Hevelius. Read more
04 Jul 1905: Élisée Reclus, French geographer and author (born 1830) Jacques Élisée Reclus was a French geographer, writer, and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork, La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes , over a period of nearly 20 years (1875–1894). In 1892 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Paris Geographical Society for this work, despite having been banished from France because of his political activism. Read more
04 Jul 1902: Swami Vivekananda, Indian monk and saint (born 1863) Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, and is credited with raising interfaith awareness and elevating Hinduism to the status of a major world religion. Read more
04 Jul 1901: Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (born 1843) Johannes Friedrich Heinrich Schmidt was a German linguist. He developed the Wellentheorie of language development. Read more
04 Jul 1891: Hannibal Hamlin, American lawyer and politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (born 1809) Hannibal Hamlin was an American politician and diplomat who was the 15th vice president of the United States, serving from 1861 to 1865, during President Abraham Lincoln's first term. He was the first Republican vice president. Read more
04 Jul 1886: Poundmaker, Canadian tribal chief (born 1797) Poundmaker, also known as pîhtokahânapiwiyin, was a Plains Cree chief known as a peacemaker and defender of his people, the Poundmaker Cree Nation. His name denotes his special craft at leading buffalo into buffalo pounds (enclosures) for harvest. Read more
04 Jul 1882: Joseph Brackett, American composer and author (born 1797) Joseph Brackett Jr. was an American songwriter, author, and elder of The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, better known as the Shakers. The most famous song attributed to Brackett, "Simple Gifts", is still widely performed and adapted. Read more
04 Jul 1881: Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish philosopher and politician (born 1806) Johan Vilhelm Snellman was a Finland-Swedish philosopher, journalist and statesman, and one of the leading figures of Fennoman nationalism in 19th-century Finland. A central exponent of Hegelian philosophy in the Nordic countries, he is regarded as one of the most important 'awakeners' of Finnish national identity, alongside Elias Lönnrot and J. L. Runeberg. Read more
04 Jul 1857: William L. Marcy, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 21st United States Secretary of State (born 1786) William Learned Marcy was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served as U.S. Senator, the eleventh Governor of New York, U.S. Secretary of War and the twenty-first U.S. Secretary of State. In the latter office, he negotiated the Gadsden Purchase, the last major acquisition of land in the contiguous United States. Read more
04 Jul 1854: Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German academic and jurist (born 1781) Karl Friedrich Eichhorn was a German jurist. Read more
04 Jul 1850: William Kirby, English entomologist and author (born 1759) William Kirby was an English entomologist, an original member of the Linnean Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society, as well as a country rector, so that he was an eminent example of the "parson-naturalist". The four-volume Introduction to Entomology, co-written with William Spence, was widely influential. Read more
04 Jul 1848: François-René de Chateaubriand, French historian and politician (born 1768) François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who influenced French literature of the 19th century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from Brittany, Chateaubriand was a royalist by political disposition. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1822 to 1824 and as the French ambassador to Sweden, Prussia, the United Kingdom, and the Papal States. Read more
04 Jul 1831: James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (born 1758) James Monroe was an American Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as president as well as the last president of the Virginia dynasty. Monroe was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, and his presidency coincided with the Era of Good Feelings, concluding the First Party System era of American politics. He issued the Monroe Doctrine, a policy of limiting European colonialism in the Americas. Monroe had previously served as Governor of Virginia, a member of the United States Senate, U.S. ambassador to France and Britain, the seventh secretary of state, and the eighth secretary of war. Read more
04 Jul 1826: John Adams, American lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the United States (born 1735) John Adams was a Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain. During the latter part of the Revolutionary War and in the early years of the new nation, he served the Continental Congress of the United States as a senior diplomat in Europe. Adams was the first vice president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with contemporaries, including his wife and advisor Abigail Adams and his friend and rival Thomas Jefferson. Read more
04 Jul 1826: Thomas Jefferson, American architect, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of the United States (born 1743) Thomas Jefferson was a Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the second vice president under John Adams. Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, and a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism and natural rights. Read more
04 Jul 1821: Richard Cosway, English painter and academic (born 1742) Richard Cosway was a leading English portrait painter of the Georgian and Regency era, noted for his miniatures. He was a contemporary of John Smart, George Engleheart, William Wood, and Richard Crosse. He befriended fellow Freemasons and Swedenborgians William Blake and Chevalier d'Éon. His wife was the Italian-born painter Maria Cosway, a close friend of Thomas Jefferson. Read more

Why is 04 July Important in History?

04 July is important because many political, cultural, scientific, educational and social events took place on this date. These facts are useful for students, exam aspirants and readers interested in daily history and general knowledge.

History of Today 04 July for Competitive Exams

Questions based on today in history, famous personalities, historical events and important dates are often asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, Defence and State PSC examinations.

👉 View complete History of Today archive

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on 04 July in history?

On 04 July, many important historical events, famous births and notable deaths occurred across the world.

Why is History of Today important for exams?

History of Today helps students remember important dates, events and personalities for competitive exams like UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway and PSC.

Where can I read daily history facts?

You can read daily history facts on this History of Today section, updated regularly with important events, births and deaths.