History of Today 10 July: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 10 July. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 10 July. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 10 July 2026, 01:00 AM

Important Events on 10 July in History

10 Jul 2019: The final Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the line in Puebla, Mexico; the last of 5,961 "Special Edition" cars will be exhibited in a museum. Read more
10 Jul 2018: Tham Luang cave rescue: A group of Thai school children and their football coach are all rescued from a cave after being stuck there for 18 days; one Thai Navy SEAL diver dies during the rescue mission. Read more
10 Jul 2017: Iraqi Civil War: Mosul is declared fully liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by the government of Iraq. Read more
10 Jul 2016: Portugal defeats France in the UEFA Euro 2016 Final to win their first European title. Read more
10 Jul 2012: The Episcopal Church USA allows same-sex marriage. Read more
10 Jul 2011: Russian cruise ship Bulgaria sinks in the Volga River near Syukeyevo, Tatarstan, causing 122 deaths. Read more
10 Jul 2011: Amid widespread backlash to revelations of phone hacking, the British weekly tabloid newspaper News of the World publishes its final issue and shuts down after nearly 168 years in print. Read more
10 Jul 2008: Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all war-crimes charges by a United Nations tribunal. Read more
10 Jul 2007: Erden Eruç begins the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world. Read more
10 Jul 2007: The Pakistani military storms the Lal Masjid mosque in Islamabad, which had been seized by Islamist militants. Read more
10 Jul 2006: A Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship crashes near Multan International Airport, killing all 45 people on board. Read more
10 Jul 2002: The Massacre of the Innocents, a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, is sold at a Sotheby's auction for £49.5 million (US$76.2 million) to Lord Thomson. Read more
10 Jul 2000: EADS, the world's second-largest aerospace group is formed by the merger of Aérospatiale-Matra, DASA, and CASA. Read more
10 Jul 2000: Bashar al-Assad succeeds his father Hafez al-Assad as President of Syria. Read more
10 Jul 1999: In women's association football, the United States defeats China in a penalty shoot-out at the Rose Bowl near Los Angeles to win the final match of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. Watched by 90,185 spectators, the final sets a new world record for attendance at a women's sporting event. Read more
10 Jul 1998: Catholic Church sexual abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claim they were sexually abused by Rudolph Kos, a former priest. Read more
10 Jul 1997: In London, scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supports the "out of Africa theory" of human evolution, placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. Read more
10 Jul 1997: Miguel Ángel Blanco, a member of Partido Popular (Spain), is kidnapped (and later murdered) in the Basque city of Ermua by ETA members, sparking widespread protests. Read more
10 Jul 1995: Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest. Read more
10 Jul 1995: The NIOSH air filtration ratings update with the enactment of 42 CFR 84, previously published in the Federal Register. The new regulation includes rules governing the new N95 respirator standard. Read more
10 Jul 1992: In Miami, former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations. Read more
10 Jul 1991: The South African cricket team is readmitted into the International Cricket Council following the end of Apartheid. Read more
10 Jul 1991: Boris Yeltsin takes office as the first elected President of Russia. Read more
10 Jul 1991: A Beechcraft Model 99 crashes near Birmingham Municipal Airport (now Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport) in Birmingham, Alabama, killing 13 of the 15 people on board. Read more
10 Jul 1985: The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents, killing Fernando Pereira. Read more
10 Jul 1985: An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-154 stalls and crashes near Uchkuduk, Uzbekistan (then part of the Soviet Union), killing all 200 people on board in the USSR's worst-ever airline disaster. Read more
10 Jul 1978: President Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania is ousted in a bloodless coup d'état. Read more
10 Jul 1976: Four mercenaries (one American and three British) are executed in Angola following the Luanda Trial. Read more
10 Jul 1974: An EgyptAir Tupolev Tu-154 stalls and crashes at Cairo International Airport, killing all six people on board. Read more
10 Jul 1973: The Bahamas gains full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations. Read more
10 Jul 1967: New Zealand decimalises its former currency to the modern-day New Zealand dollar. Read more
10 Jul 1966: The Chicago Freedom Movement, co-founded by Martin Luther King Jr., holds a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago; as many as 60,000 people attend. Read more
10 Jul 1962: Telstar, the world's first communications satellite, is launched into orbit. Read more
10 Jul 1951: Korean War: Armistice negotiations begin at Kaesong. Read more
10 Jul 1948: The official establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).: 121 Read more
10 Jul 1947: Muhammad Ali Jinnah is recommended as the first Governor-General of Pakistan by the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee. Read more
10 Jul 1943: World War II: Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, begins. Read more
10 Jul 1942: World War II: An American pilot spots a downed, intact Mitsubishi A6M Zero on Akutan Island (the "Akutan Zero"), which the US Navy then uses to learn the aircraft's flight characteristics. Read more
10 Jul 1941: Jedwabne pogrom: Massacre of Polish Jews living in and near the village of Jedwabne. Read more
10 Jul 1940: World War II: The Vichy government is established in France. Read more
10 Jul 1940: World War II: Six days before Adolf Hitler issues his Directive 16 to the combined Wehrmacht armed forces for Operation Sea Lion, the Kanalkampf shipping attacks begin against British maritime convoys in the leadup to initiating the Battle of Britain. Read more
10 Jul 1938: Howard Hughes begins a 91-hour airplane flight around the world that will set a new record. Read more
10 Jul 1927: Kevin O'Higgins TD, Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, is assassinated by the IRA. Read more
10 Jul 1925: Scopes trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" begins of John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act. Read more
10 Jul 1924: Paavo Nurmi wins the 1,500 m and 5,000 m events at the Paris Olympics, with just an hour between the two races. Read more
10 Jul 1921: Belfast's Bloody Sunday occurs with 20 killings, at least 100 wounded and 200 homes destroyed during rioting and gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Read more
10 Jul 1920: Arthur Meighen becomes Prime Minister of Canada. Read more
10 Jul 1890: Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state. Read more
10 Jul 1883: War of the Pacific: Chileans led by Alejandro Gorostiaga defeat Andrés Avelino Cáceres's Peruvian army at the Battle of Huamachuco, hastening the end of the war. Read more
10 Jul 1882: War of the Pacific: Chile suffers its last military defeat in the Battle of La Concepción when a garrison of 77 men is annihilated by a 1,300-strong Peruvian force, many of them armed with spears. Read more
10 Jul 1877: The then-villa of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, formally receives its city charter from the Royal Crown of Spain. Read more
10 Jul 1850: U.S. President Millard Fillmore is sworn in, a day after becoming president upon Zachary Taylor's death. Read more
10 Jul 1832: U.S. President Andrew Jackson vetoes a bill that would re-charter the Second Bank of the United States. Read more
10 Jul 1806: The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company. Read more

Famous Births on 10 July

10 Jul 2024: Moo Deng, Thai celebrity pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng is a pygmy hippopotamus residing at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Si Racha, Chonburi, Thailand. She gained widespread attention as an internet meme at two months old, after photos of her went viral online in September 2024. Read more
10 Jul 2007: Mason Thames, American actor Mason Thames is an American actor. He made his acting debut in 2017 and gained recognition for his performance in the lead role of Finney Blake in the horror film The Black Phone (2021), a breakthrough role he reprised in its 2025 sequel. In 2025, he received increased attention for his portrayal of Hiccup in the live-action fantasy How to Train Your Dragon – for which he received a nomination for a Saturn Award – and for his romantic lead role in Regretting You. Read more
10 Jul 2002: Reece Walsh, Australian rugby league player Reece Walsh is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a fullback for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. He has also represented Queensland in the State of Origin series, and Australia in the 2025 Kangaroo tour of England. Read more
10 Jul 2001: Isabela Merced, American actress Isabela Yolanda Moner, known professionally as Isabela Merced since 2019, is an American actress and singer. She played the lead role in the Nickelodeon television series 100 Things to Do Before High School (2014–2016), and went on to feature in the films Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), Instant Family (2018), and Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018). She starred as the titular character in the adventure film Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) and played main roles in the films Madame Web, Turtles All the Way Down, and Alien: Romulus. In 2025, she had a starring role in the second season of the HBO series The Last of Us and played Hawkgirl in the DCU film Superman and series Peacemaker. Read more
10 Jul 1999: April Ivy, Portuguese composer and singer Mariana Barreiros dos Santos Gonçalves, better known for her stage name, April Ivy, is a Portuguese singer-songwriter. Read more
10 Jul 1999: San, South Korean singer and dancer Choi San, known mononymously as San, is a South Korean singer and dancer. He is a member of the boy group Ateez, formed by KQ Entertainment. Read more
10 Jul 1998: Angus Cloud, American actor (died 2023) Conor Angus Cloud Hickey was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Fezco O'Neill in the HBO drama series Euphoria (2019–2022), and had roles in the films North Hollywood (2021), The Line (2023), Abigail and The Garfield Movie. He also appeared in music videos by Noah Cyrus, Juice Wrld, Becky G, and Karol G. At age 25, Cloud died from an accidental overdose in Oakland, California. Read more
10 Jul 1994: Chae Soo-bin, South Korean actress Bae Soo-bin, known professionally as Chae Soo-bin (채수빈), is a South Korean actress. She first gained recognition for her role in the television series Love in the Moonlight (2016), and transitioned into leading roles, with The Rebel (2017), Strongest Deliveryman (2017), Where Stars Land (2018), and When the Phone Rings (2024). Read more
10 Jul 1992: Han Yu, Chinese pool player Han Yu is a Chinese professional pool player. She is a four-time world pool champion, having won the WPA Women's World Nine-ball Championship in 2013, 2016 and 2018, and the WPA Women's World Heyball Championship in 2018. Han has also reached the final of the WPA World Ten-ball Championship in 2023, and the semi-finals of three further Women's World Championships: the nine-ball event in 2017, and the ten-ball events in 2011 and 2014. Read more
10 Jul 1991: Daishōmaru Shōgo, Japanese sumo wrestler Daishōmaru Shōgo is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Hirano-ku, Osaka. He made his debut in March 2014 at an elevated rank known as makushita tsukedashi and wrestles for Oitekaze stable. Read more
10 Jul 1990: Adam Reynolds, Australian rugby league player Adam Robert Reynolds is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who captains and plays as a halfback for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League (NRL). Read more
10 Jul 1990: Trent Richardson, American football player Trenton Jamond Richardson is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he was recognized as a unanimous All-American and was a member of two BCS National Championship teams. Read more
10 Jul 1990: Chiyonokuni Toshiki, Japanese sumo wrestler Chiyonokuni Toshiki is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler from Iga, Mie. He made his professional debut in May 2006 and reached the top makuuchi division for the first time in January 2012. He reached the highest rank of maegashira 1, but he has also been restricted by injuries, falling to the sandanme division in 2015. He staged another comeback and then once again had a serious injury in 2019, which sent him down the ranks. He made a final comeback which saw him stagnate in the second half of the jūryō division before his demotion and retirement. He is a member of Kokonoe stable where he is an elder under the name Sanoyama. Read more
10 Jul 1988: Antonio Brown, American football player Antonio Tavaris Brown Sr., nicknamed "AB", is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. During his first nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Brown developed a reputation as one of the greatest receivers of his era, but his career was also marked by various controversies. Read more
10 Jul 1988: Heather Hemmens, American actress, director, and producer Heather Hemmens is an American actress, film director, and film producer. She is best known for her role as Alice Verdura in The CW series Hellcats (2010–2011). She starred as Stacy Collins in the Netflix comedy Dad Stop Embarrassing Me! opposite Jamie Foxx and starred as Maria DeLuca in the series Roswell, New Mexico (2019–2022). Previous credits include the OWN series, If Loving You Is Wrong, where she played Marcie Holmes for five seasons. Read more
10 Jul 1988: Sarah Walker, New Zealand BMX rider Sarah Louise Walker is a New Zealand BMX racer. A competitor at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, she won silver in the Women's BMX at the latter event. Missing out on selection for the 2016 Summer Olympics due to injury, she was elected onto the IOC Athletes' Commission during those Games. In 2022, she was elected as its second vice-chair. Read more
10 Jul 1985: Park Chu-young, South Korean footballer Park Chu-young is a South Korean retired footballer who played as a forward. Read more
10 Jul 1985: B. J. Crombeen, American ice hockey player Brandon James Crombeen is an American-born Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who last played for the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played in the NHL for the Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning, drafted by the former in the second round, 54th overall, in 2003. Read more
10 Jul 1985: Mario Gómez, German footballer Mario Gómez García is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented the Germany national team over a period of 11 years between 2007 and 2018. Read more
10 Jul 1985: Funda Oru, Belgian politician Funda Oru is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of Vooruit, she has represented Limburg since June 2024. Read more
10 Jul 1984: Nikolaos Mitrou, Greek footballer Nikolaos Mitrou is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
10 Jul 1983: Giuseppe De Feudis, Italian footballer Giuseppe De Feudis is an Italian former professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Read more
10 Jul 1983: Matthew Egan, Australian footballer Matthew Egan is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He served as interim senior coach at the Essendon Football Club after the resignation of James Hird for the final three rounds of the 2015 season. He served as head of development at the Melbourne Football Club from September 2016 until 2020. Read more
10 Jul 1983: Gabi, Spanish footballer Gabriel Luis Fernández Arenas, known as Gabi, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He is currently assistant manager of La Liga club Atlético Madrid. Read more
10 Jul 1983: Kim Hee-chul, Korean entertainer and singer Kim Hee-chul, better known mononymously as Heechul, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper, presenter, and actor. He is a member of the South Korean boy band Super Junior and has further participated in its subgroups Super Junior-T and Super Junior-83z, as well as project group Universe Cowards with Min Kyung-hoon and Woojoo jjokkomi with Lee Soo-geun. He was also a member of the disbanded pop rock duo Kim Heechul & Kim Jungmo. Read more
10 Jul 1983: Joelson José Inácio, Brazilian footballer Joelson José Inácio, known as just Joelson, is a Brazilian footballer who played as a forward, and current head coach of Serie D club Real Calepina. Read more
10 Jul 1983: Doug Kramer, Filipino basketball player Douglas Rimorin Kramer is a Filipino former basketball player. Playing power forward for the Ateneo Blue Eagles, he then played for eight teams in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Read more
10 Jul 1983: Anthony Watmough, Australian rugby league player Anthony Watmough is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative forward, he played the majority of his career with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, winning both the 2008 NRL Premiership and the 2011 NRL Premiership with them. Read more
10 Jul 1983: Sherif Ekramy, Egyptian footballer Sherif Ekramy Ahmed Ahmed El-Shahat is an Egyptian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Pyramids FC. He has also played for the Egypt national team. Read more
10 Jul 1982: Alex Arrowsmith, American guitarist and producer Alex Michael Arrowsmith is a rock/pop musician from Portland, Oregon. He is best known for his work with the Minders and the Shaky Hands, as well as his solo catalog. Read more
10 Jul 1982: Juliya Chernetsky, Ukrainian-American television host Juliya Chernetsky Denning, is a television personality best known for her stage name Mistress Juliya and the popularity on the music-themed network Fuse. Read more
10 Jul 1982: Sebastian Mila, Polish footballer Sebastian Mila is a Polish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was most recently the assistant coach of the Poland national team. Read more
10 Jul 1982: Jeffrey Walker, Australian actor and director Jeffrey Walker (born 10 July 1982) is an Australian director and former actor, best known to the Australian public for his appearances as a child actor in Ocean Girl and Round the Twist. He moved on to direct episodes of Australian soaps Neighbours, Home and Away, and H2O: Just Add Water, and now directs feature films and TV series in Australia and the US. He is married to American-born Australian actress Brooke Harman-Walker. Read more
10 Jul 1981: Aleksandar Tunchev, Bulgarian footballer Aleksandar Blagov Tunchev is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He is currently in charge of Arda Kardzhali. Read more
10 Jul 1980: Alejandro Millán, Mexican singer-songwriter and keyboard player Alejandro Millán Montoya is the singer, keyboardist, and composer for the band Hello Madness. After winning a music production contest by CONARTE, he released the album "Light and Life After Dusk". He founded the progressive band Elfonía in 2002, releasing the albums Elfonía and This Sonic Landscape. Read more
10 Jul 1980: Adam Petty, American race car driver (died 2000) Adam Kyler Petty was an American professional stock car racing driver. A member of the Petty racing family, he was the fourth generation from the Petty family to drive in races in the highest division of NASCAR racing, mostly in what was then known as the NASCAR Busch Series. He was believed to be the first fourth-generation athlete in all of modern American professional sports. Read more
10 Jul 1980: Claudia Leitte, Brazilian singer-songwriter Cláudia Cristina Leite Inácio is a Brazilian singer and television personality. She rose to fame in late 2002 as the lead vocalist of the Axé music group Babado Novo. The group achieved a string of consecutive diamond-certified hit singles in Brazil and five golden and platinum albums from 2003 to 2007, as granted by the Brazilian Association of Record Producers (ABPD). Read more
10 Jul 1980: James Rolfe, American actor, director, and producer James D. Rolfe is an American YouTuber, filmmaker, and actor. He is best known for creating and starring in the comedic retro gaming web series Angry Video Game Nerd (2004–present). His spin-off projects include reviews of retro films, television series, and board games. He is considered a pioneer of online gaming content and is noted for his widespread influence on YouTube after the series premiered on the site in 2006. Read more
10 Jul 1980: Jessica Simpson, American singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer Jessica Ann Johnson is an American singer, actress, and fashion designer. After performing in church choirs as a child, Simpson signed with Columbia Records in 1997, aged seventeen. Her debut studio album, Sweet Kisses (1999), sold two million copies in the United States and was led by the Billboard Hot 100-top three single "I Wanna Love You Forever". Simpson adopted a more mature image for her second studio album, Irresistible (2001), and its title track peaked within the top 20 of the chart. The album received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Simpson's third studio album, In This Skin (2003), sold three million copies in the United States. Read more
10 Jul 1979: Mvondo Atangana, Cameroon footballer Simon Pierre Mvondo Atangana is a Cameroonian former footballer who played as a forward for many clubs across multiple countries. His career began in native Cameroon, playing for Olympic Mvolyé and Tonnerre Yaoundé with a spell in Saudi Arabia with Al-Fateh separating the two stints. He earned a move to Scotland, signing for Dundee United in 2000. He went out on loan to English club Port Vale in 2002. Upon leaving Dundee United, Atangana joined Colchester United before moving to English non-League clubs Grays Athletic and Halstead Town. He later played in Eastern Europe for Luch-Energiya and Terek Grozny in Russia and Lokomotiv Minsk in Belarus. He retired in 2006, returning from retirement in 2010 to play for French club CO Saint-Dizier. Read more
10 Jul 1979: Gong Yoo, Korean actor Gong Ji-cheol, known professionally as Gong Yoo (공유), is a South Korean actor. He is known for his starring roles in the television series Coffee Prince (2007), Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016–2017), the Netflix series Squid Game (2021–2025), and the films Silenced (2011), The Suspect (2013), Train to Busan (2016), and The Age of Shadows (2016). Read more
10 Jul 1977: Chiwetel Ejiofor, English actor Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor is an English actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards. In 2008, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and in 2015, he was advanced to Commander (CBE) for his services to the arts. Read more
10 Jul 1977: Vivek Murthy, Vice-Admiral and 19th US Surgeon General Vivek Hallegere Murthy is an American physician and a former vice admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, who served as the 19th and 21st surgeon general of the United States from 2015 to 2017 and again from 2021 to 2025, under Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. Murthy is the first surgeon general of Indian descent, and during his first term as surgeon general was the youngest active duty flag officer in federal uniformed service. Read more
10 Jul 1976: Edmílson, Brazilian footballer José Edmílson Gomes de Moraes, known simply as Edmílson, is a Brazilian football executive and former professional footballer. He is currently a technical consultant for São Caetano. Read more
10 Jul 1976: Elijah Blue Allman, American singer and guitarist Elijah Sky Blue Allman, known professionally as P. Exeter Blue I , is an American musician known for leading the group Deadsy. Read more
10 Jul 1976: Ludovic Giuly, French footballer Ludovic Vincent Giuly is a French former professional footballer who played as a winger. Read more
10 Jul 1976: Adrian Grenier, American actor, producer, and screenwriter Adrian Sean Grenier is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Vincent Chase in the television series Entourage (2004–2011). He has appeared in films such as Drive Me Crazy (1999), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Trash Fire (2016), and Marauders (2016), as well as the Netflix series Clickbait (2021). Read more
10 Jul 1976: Brendon Lade, Australian footballer and coach Brendon Lade is a former Australian rules footballer with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently a senior assistant coach with the Western Bulldogs Football Club. Read more
10 Jul 1976: Lars Ricken, German footballer Lars Ricken is a German retired footballer and the current managing director of Borussia Dortmund. From 2008 to 2024, he was the youth coordinator at Dortmund. Read more
10 Jul 1975: Andrew Firestone, American businessman Andrew Boulton Firestone is an American television personality and businessman. Read more
10 Jul 1975: Brendan Gaughan, American race car driver William Brendan Gaughan is an American semi-retired professional racing driver who has competed in off-road and stock cars. He is the grandson of Vegas gaming pioneer Jackie Gaughan, and son of Michael Gaughan, a hotel and casino magnate. Read more
10 Jul 1975: Alain Nasreddine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Alain Jean-Paul Mohammed Nasreddine is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played as a defenceman in the NHL. Read more
10 Jul 1975: Stefán Karl Stefánsson, Icelandic actor (died 2018) Stefán Karl Stefánsson was an Icelandic actor and singer. He was best known for portraying Robbie Rotten, the antagonist of the children's television series LazyTown. Read more
10 Jul 1975: Richard Westbrook, English race car driver Richard Westbrook is a British professional racing driver noted for his success in racing Porsche and International sports cars. As a junior, he attended St Joseph's College, Ipswich. He has won both the Porsche Supercup international championship and the Porsche Carrera Cup in his native Britain (2004). At the end of the 2007 season, Richard signed a factory contract deal with the German marque Porsche, and the British ace proceeded to take on the world's best on the other side of the Atlantic. The next year (2009), Westbrook won the highly coveted FIA GT2 Championship, taking four victories in the process, establishing himself firmly on the World motor sport stage and in the upper echelons of elite sports car drivers. Read more
10 Jul 1974: Imelda May, Irish singer-songwriter, musician, and producer Imelda Mary Higham, professionally known as Imelda May, is an Irish singer, songwriter, television presenter and multi-instrumentalist. She became known for her musical style of rockabilly revival and has also been compared to female jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday. Read more
10 Jul 1974: Brian Thompson, American insurance executive (died 2024) Brian Thompson, the CEO of the American health insurance company UnitedHealthcare, was shot to death in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on December 4, 2024. The shooting occurred early in the morning outside an entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown. Read more
10 Jul 1972: Peter Serafinowicz, English actor Peter Szymon Serafinowicz is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is known for his roles as the voice of Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Pete in Shaun of the Dead (2004), Garthan Saal in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), the voice of Big Daddy in Sing (2016) and Sing 2 (2021), The Sommelier in John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) and Spitelout in the live-action remake How to Train Your Dragon (2025). Read more
10 Jul 1972: Sofía Vergara, Colombian-American actress and producer Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara is a Colombian and American actress and television personality. She has received five nominations each at the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in the United States. Read more
10 Jul 1972: Tilo Wolff, German-Swiss singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer Tilo Wolff is a German musician and artist. He was born in Frankfurt am Main and currently lives in Switzerland. Read more
10 Jul 1971: Adam Foote, Canadian ice hockey player Adam David Vernon Foote is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. As a player, he was best known for his physical presence and gritty play as a stay-at-home defenceman. He is an assistant coach for the Utah Mammoth. He was previously a coach with the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL), serving initially as an assistant coach starting in 2023 and subsequently for the 2025–26 season as the team's head coach. He was also the former head coach of the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Read more
10 Jul 1971: Gregory Goodridge, Barbadian footballer and coach Gregory Ronald St Clair Goodridge is a Barbadian former professional footballer. He has captained the Barbados national team and played professionally in the English Football League. Read more
10 Jul 1970: Gary LeVox, American singer-songwriter Gary LeVox is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for being the lead vocalist of the contemporary country music band Rascal Flatts, and his stage name was taken from the studio-console label for his lead vocal track. Read more
10 Jul 1970: Jason Orange, English singer-songwriter and dancer Jason Thomas Orange is an English retired singer. He is best known for being a member of the pop group Take That from the band's creation in 1990 until their split in 1996, and again from their reunion in 2005 until he retired from entertainment in September 2014. Read more
10 Jul 1970: John Simm, English actor John Ronald Simm is an English actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, the Master in Doctor Who, and Det Supt Roy Grace in Grace. His other television credits include State of Play, The Lakes, Crime and Punishment, Exile, Prey, and Cracker. His film roles include Wonderland, Everyday, Boston Kickout, Human Traffic and 24 Hour Party People. He has twice been nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and has won the 2014 Royal Television Society award in the Best Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series (Male) category for his work on the crime thriller series Prey.. Read more
10 Jul 1969: Marty Cordova, American baseball player Martin Kevin Cordova is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, and Baltimore Orioles. He was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. Before embarking on a major league career, Cordova played six seasons in the minor leagues. Read more
10 Jul 1969: Gale Harold, American actor Gale Morgan Harold III is an American actor, known for his leading and recurring roles on Queer as Folk, Deadwood, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, The Secret Circle and Defiance. He also starred in the romantic comedy Falling for Grace. Read more
10 Jul 1967: Tom Meents, American professional monster truck driver Thomas "Tom" William Meents is an American former professional monster truck driver. He primarily drove Monster Patrol (1993–1998), Bulldozer (1999), Goldberg (2000–2001), Team Meents (2001–2002), and Maximum Destruction/Max-D (2003–2024) in a 31 year career as a Monster Truck driver in Monster Jam. He won 14 Monster Jam World Finals championships during his career in three different trucks. Tom is often referred to as the professor, and the GOAT of monster trucks. Read more
10 Jul 1967: Rebekah Del Rio, American singer-songwriter (died 2025) Rebekah Del Rio was an American singer-songwriter and actress from Chula Vista, California. Read more
10 Jul 1967: Gillian Tett, English journalist and author Gillian Romaine Tett is a British author and journalist who is provost of King's College, Cambridge and a member of the editorial board for the Financial Times. She writes weekly columns, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues. Tett co-founded Moral Money, the paper's sustainability newsletter. Read more
10 Jul 1967: Ikki Sawamura, Japanese model, actor and television presenter Kōzo Nomura , known professionally as
Ikki Sawamura , is a Japanese model, film and television actor, and television presenter signed to Ken-On. Read more
10 Jul 1967: John Yoo, South Korean-American lawyer, author, and educator John Choon Yoo is a South Korean-born American legal scholar and former government official who is the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. While serving in the George W. Bush administration, he became known for his legal opinions concerning executive power, warrantless wiretapping, and the Geneva Conventions. Read more
10 Jul 1966: Clive Efford, English politician Clive Stanley Efford is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Eltham and Chislehurst, previously Eltham, since 1997. Read more
10 Jul 1966: Johnny Grunge, American wrestler (died 2006) Michael Lynn Durham was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Johnny Grunge. He is known for his appearances with Eastern/Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as one-half of the tag team The Public Enemy with Rocco Rock. In the course of his career, Grunge held championships such as the ECW World Tag Team Championship and WCW World Tag Team Championship. Read more
10 Jul 1966: Christian Stangl, Austrian skier and mountaineer Christian Stangl is an Austrian alpine style mountaineer and mountain guide. He has become known as Skyrunner by numerous exceptionally fast ascents of high mountains. His major success was in 2013, when he became the first person to ascend the three highest mountains on all seven continents, the so-called "Triple Seven Summits". Read more
10 Jul 1966: Anna Bråkenhielm, Swedish business executive Anna Birgitta Bråkenhielm, during a period of time Anna Carrfors Bråkenhielm, is a Swedish business leader and producer of television programming. She was also owner and CEO of the magazine Passion for Business and presented the radio show Sommar i P1. Read more
10 Jul 1965: Scott McCarron, American golfer Scott Michael McCarron is an American professional golfer. McCarron was formerly a member of the PGA Tour but now plays on the PGA Tour Champions. Read more
10 Jul 1965: Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark, European Princess Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark is the eldest child of Constantine II and Anne-Marie, who were King and Queen of Greece from 1964 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1973. She was heiress presumptive to the Greek throne from her birth in 1965 until the birth of her brother Crown Prince Pavlos in 1967. Read more
10 Jul 1965: Ken Mellons, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Kenneth Edward Mellons is an American country music artist who released his self-titled debut album in 1994. This album produced the single "Jukebox Junkie", a Top Ten hit on the Hot Country Songs charts. Mellons followed up his debut album with three more albums – 1995's Where Forever Begins, 2001's The Best of Ken Mellons and 2004's Sweet — in addition to charting six more singles on the country charts. Read more
10 Jul 1964: Martin Laurendeau, Canadian tennis player and coach Martin Laurendeau is a tennis coach and a former professional player and captain of the Canada Davis Cup team. Read more
10 Jul 1964: Urban Meyer, American football player and coach Urban Frank Meyer III is an American sportscaster and former football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons from 2001 to 2002, the Utah Utes from 2003 to 2004, the Florida Gators from 2005 to 2010, and the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2012 to 2018. He retired from coaching in 2019 at the end of the Rose Bowl, and stayed at Ohio State as an assistant athletic director and was also an analyst for Fox Sports, appearing weekly on their Big Noon Kickoff pregame show. In 2021, Meyer came out of retirement to take his first National Football League (NFL) job as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, but was fired 13 games into his first and only season, after going 2–11 and being involved in both on- and off-field controversies. He then went back to Fox Sports to resume his broadcasting career. Read more
10 Jul 1964: Wilfried Peeters, Belgian cyclist Wilfried Peeters is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer. Nowadays, he is sporting director of the Quick Step team. During his cycling-career, he was a major help for Johan Museeuw in classics such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix. Read more
10 Jul 1963: Ian Lougher, Welsh motorcycle racer Ian Lougher is a retired Welsh motorcycle racer, noted for 8 victories at the North West 200, 10 wins at the Isle of Man TT Races and 32 wins at the Southern 100 Races in his career. Read more
10 Jul 1961: Jacky Cheung, Hong Kong singer and film actor Jacky Cheung Hok-yau is a Hong Kong singer and actor. One of the most influential artists in the Greater China region, Cheung is widely regarded as a Heavenly King of Cantopop music and an icon of Hong Kong popular culture. He is often dubbed as the "God of Songs" for his vocal delivery and live performances. Read more
10 Jul 1961: Marc Riley, English guitarist and radio DJ Marc Riley is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Read more
10 Jul 1960: Ariel Castro, Puerto Rican-American convicted kidnapper and rapist (died 2013) Between 2002 and 2004, Ariel Castro abducted Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus from the roads of Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and later held them captive in his home at 2207 Seymour Avenue in the city's Tremont neighborhood. All three young women were imprisoned at Castro's home until 2013, when Berry successfully escaped with her six-year-old daughter, to whom she had given birth while captive, and contacted the police. Police rescued Knight and DeJesus, and arrested Castro a few hours later. Read more
10 Jul 1959: Ellen Kuras, American director and cinematographer Ellen Kuras is an American cinematographer, known for documentary and narrative film, as well as music videos and commercials, both from studio and independent media. Read more
10 Jul 1959: Sandy West, American singer, drummer and songwriter (died 2006) Sandra Sue Pesavento, known professionally as Sandy West was an American singer, drummer and songwriter. She was one of the founding members of the Runaways, a teenage all-girl rock band that achieved success in the 1970s. Read more
10 Jul 1958: Béla Fleck, American banjo player and songwriter Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American virtuoso banjo player whose work blends bluegrass with other genres, including jazz, and who is known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. Fleck has won 18 Grammy Awards and been nominated 41 times. Read more
10 Jul 1958: Fiona Shaw, Irish actress and director Fiona Shaw is an Irish actress in screen and stage. She did extensive work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, as well as in film and television. In 2020, she was listed at No. 29 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors. She was made an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001. Read more
10 Jul 1957: Derry Grehan, Canadian rock guitarist and songwriter Dermot Fergus "Derry" Grehan is a Canadian guitarist best known as a member of the rock band Honeymoon Suite. The band was co-founded by Johnnie Dee, keyboardist and vocalist Brad Bent, and drummer Mike Lengyell in 1981. Read more
10 Jul 1956: Tom McClintock, American lawyer and politician Thomas Miller McClintock II is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 5th congressional district since 2009. His district stretches from the Sacramento suburbs to the outer suburbs of Fresno; it includes Yosemite National Park. A member of the Republican Party, McClintock served as a California state assemblyman from 1982 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2000, when he became a California state senator, a position he held until 2008. He unsuccessfully ran for governor of California in the 2003 recall election and for Lieutenant Governor of California in the 2006 election. Read more
10 Jul 1956: K. Rajagopal, Malaysian football manager Datuk Rajagopal s/o Krishnasamy is a Malaysian football pundit, manager and former player. He led the Malaysia national team to the 2009 SEA Games gold medal and 2010 AFF Championship. Read more
10 Jul 1955: Nic Dakin, English educator and politician Sir Nicholas Dakin is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Scunthorpe since 2024, having previously served from 2010 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Vice-Chamberlain of the Household since September 2025. Read more
10 Jul 1955: Geoff Gerard, Australian rugby league player Geoff Gerard is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. An Australia international and New South Wales State of Origin representative forward, he played his club football with Sydney clubs Parramatta, Manly Warringah and Penrith, and also spent time with English clubs Wakefield Trinity and Hull FC. From the time of his retirement in early 1989 to mid-1994 he held the record for the most career New South Wales Rugby League premiership first-grade games until overtaken by Terry Lamb. He holds the distinction of playing in the most first-grade grand finals (four) without ever winning one. Read more
10 Jul 1954: Tommy Bowden, American football player and coach Tommy Pearce Bowden is an American former college football coach. He served as the head coach at Clemson University from 1999 until October 13, 2008. He is a son of Bobby Bowden, former head football coach of Florida State University, against whom he coached in games nicknamed the "Bowden Bowl." He is also a brother of Terry Bowden, who served as the head coach of Auburn. Read more
10 Jul 1954: Andre Dawson, American baseball player Andre Nolan Dawson, nicknamed "the Hawk" and "Awesome Dawson", is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for four different teams as a center and right fielder, spending most of his career with the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs. Read more
10 Jul 1954: Neil Tennant, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player Neil Francis Tennant is an English singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and lyricist of the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. Before becoming a professional musician, Tennant had a career in publishing, including a stint as an editor at Marvel UK in the mid-1970s. He was a music journalist for Smash Hits and became assistant editor in the early 1980s. Read more
10 Jul 1953: Rik Emmett, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Richard Gordon Emmett is a Canadian vocalist, guitarist, and member of the hard rock band Triumph. Read more
10 Jul 1953: Zoogz Rift, American musician and wrestler (died 2011) Zoogz Rift was an American musician, painter and professional wrestling personality. Read more
10 Jul 1952: Kim Mitchell, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist Joseph Kim Mitchell is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer and guitarist for the band Max Webster before going on to a solo career. His 1984 single, "Go for Soda", was his only charted song on the US Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 86. Several other singles such as "Patio Lanterns", "Rock and Roll Duty", and "Rockland Wonderland", reached the top 20 in Canada. Read more
10 Jul 1952: Peter van Heemst, Dutch politician Erik Peter van Heemst is a Dutch politician. From 1991 to 2006 he was a member of the House of Representatives for the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA). Since the municipal elections of 2006 he was the leader of the PvdA in Rotterdam, until his resignation on 27 March 2014. Read more
10 Jul 1951: Cheryl Wheeler, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Cheryl Wheeler is an American singer-songwriter of contemporary folk music. She has recorded thirteen folk albums to date and has toured extensively throughout the United States since the mid-1970s. Read more
10 Jul 1951: Rajnath Singh, Indian Politician and Union Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh is an Indian politician and lecturer who has served as the 29th Minister of Defence since 2019 and as the Deputy Leader of the House, Lok Sabha since 2014. He is a Member of Parliament from Lucknow since 2014. He previously served as the 25th Union Minister of Home Affairs in the first Modi ministry from 2014 to 2019, making him the first person born after Indian independence to hold the office. He was President of the Bharatiya Janata Party from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2014. Singh is a veteran leader of the BJP who started his career as a swayamsevak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Read more
10 Jul 1950: Tony Baldry, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, British Minister of State for Agriculture Sir Antony Brian Baldry, is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Banbury from 1983 to 2015. Read more
10 Jul 1950: Prokopis Pavlopoulos, President of Greece, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister for the Interior Prokopios "Prokopis" Pavlopoulos is a Greek retired politician, who served as the president of Greece from 2015 to 2020. A member of New Democracy, he previously was Minister of the Interior from 2004 to 2009. He was succeeded by Katerina Sakellaropoulou on 13 March 2020, who became the first woman to serve as President of Greece. Read more
10 Jul 1949: Anna Czerwińska, Polish mountaineer and author (died 2023) Anna Czerwińska was a Polish climber. She is known for being the then-oldest woman to summit Mount Everest, doing so at the age of 50. She also published several books about mountaineering. Read more
10 Jul 1949: Sunil Gavaskar, Indian cricketer and sportscaster Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer. He captained the Indian national cricket team while representing India and Mumbai from 1971 to 1987. He was the first batsman to pass 10,000 runs in Test cricket. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time. Read more
10 Jul 1949: Greg Kihn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2024) Gregory Stanley Kihn was an American rock musician, radio personality, and novelist. He founded and led the Greg Kihn Band and he wrote several popular horror novels. He is best known for the hits "The Breakup Song " in 1981 and "Jeopardy" in 1983. Read more
10 Jul 1948: Ronnie Cutrone, American painter (died 2013) Ronnie Cutrone was an American Neo-pop painter and nightclub impresario. He began his career as Pop Artist Andy Warhol's assistant before becoming known for his own paintings of cartoon characters. He was a performer with Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable that also featured The Velvet Underground. Cutrone also helped run the New York City nightclub Mudd Club and later operated his own short term bar/dance club/cabaret space/tapas lounge nightclub called The Rubber Monkey at 279 Church Street in TriBeCa. His memories play a part in the history of punk rock book Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. Read more
10 Jul 1948: Chico Resch, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster Glenn Allan "Chico" Resch is a Canadian–American former professional ice hockey player and television sportscaster. He played as a goaltender in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1973 to 1987, and won a Stanley Cup with the New York Islanders in 1979–80. He has served as the color commentator for telecasts of New Jersey Devils games on MSG Network and MSG Plus. Read more
10 Jul 1948: Natalya Sedykh, Russian figure skater, ballet dancer, actor Natalya Yevgenyevna Sedykh is a Russian retired figure skater, ballet dancer, and film actor. Read more
10 Jul 1948: John Whitehead, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2004) John Cavadus Whitehead was an American singer and songwriter. He was best known as one of the key members of the Philadelphia International record label, and was one-half of the successful team of McFadden & Whitehead with Gene McFadden. Read more
10 Jul 1947: Arlo Guthrie, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor Arlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's best-known work is his debut piece, "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a satirical talking blues song of about 18 minutes that has since become a Thanksgiving anthem. His only top-40 hit is a cover of Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans". His song "Massachusetts" was named the official folk song of the state, in which he has lived most of his adult life. Guthrie has also made several acting appearances. He is the father of four children, who have also had careers as musicians. Read more
10 Jul 1946: Jean-Pierre Jarier, French race car driver Jean-Pierre Jacques Jarier is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1971 to 1983. Read more
10 Jul 1946: Chin Han, Taiwanese actor Chin Han, is a Taiwanese actor whose birth name is Sun Siang-chong (孫祥鐘), and got his first stage name Kang Kai (康凱) from Li Han-hsiang (李翰祥) at the beginning of his acting career. He changed his stage name to Sun Ge (孫戈) during the shooting of Five Brothers from Tangshan. It was director Yao Feng-Pan (姚鳳磐) who gave him the stage name Chin Han, which he kept ever since. In Chin’s long acting career, he is best known for starring in literary romantic (愛情文藝) films and TV series, adaptations from novels by Qiong Yao (瓊瑤) and other writers in the 1970s and 1980s. With Charlie Chin (秦祥林), Brigitte Lin (林青霞) and Joan Lin (林鳳嬌), the four eventually became known as the "Two Chins and Two Lins" (二秦二林) for their extensive roles in the genre of literary romantic film. Read more
10 Jul 1945: Ron Glass, American actor (died 2016) Ronald Earle Glass was an American actor. He was known for his roles as literary Detective Ron Harris in the television sitcom Barney Miller (1975–1982), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination, and as the Shepherd Book, in the science fiction series Firefly (2002) and its sequel film Serenity (2005). Read more
10 Jul 1945: Hal McRae, American baseball player and manager Harold Abraham McRae is an American former designated hitter, outfielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for the Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals (1973–87). Read more
10 Jul 1945: John Motson, English sportscaster (died 2023) John Walker Motson was an English football commentator. Beginning as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Motson was the dominant football commentary figure at the BBC, apart from a brief spell in the mid-1990s. Read more
10 Jul 1945: Jean-Marie Poiré, French director, producer, and screenwriter Jean-Marie Poiré, also credited as Jean-Marie Gaubert, is a French film director, and screenwriter. He is the son of the producer Alain Poiré. Read more
10 Jul 1945: Virginia Wade, English tennis player and sportscaster Sarah Virginia Wade is a British former professional tennis player. She won three major tennis singles championships and four major doubles championships, and is the only British woman in history to have won titles at all four majors. She was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world in singles, and No. 1 in the world in doubles. Read more
10 Jul 1944: Mick Grant, English motorcycle racer Michael Grant is an English former professional motorcycle road racer and TT rider. A works-supported rider for Norton, Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki, he is a seven-time winner of the Isle of Man TT motorcycle race on various makes, including 'Slippery Sam', a three-cylinder Triumph Trident. The son of a coal miner, the soft-spoken, down-to-earth Yorkshireman from Wakefield, was a sharp contrast to the brash, playboy image presented by Londoner Barry Sheene during the 1970s. Read more
10 Jul 1944: Norman Hammond, English archaeologist and academic Norman Hammond is a British archaeologist, academic and Mesoamericanist scholar, noted for his publications and research on the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. Read more
10 Jul 1943: Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and journalist (died 1993) Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. Ashe was the first Black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team, and the only Black man ever to win the singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. He retired in 1980. Read more
10 Jul 1943: Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, Zambian politician Princess Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika is a Zambian politician who has served as Ambassador of the Republic of Zambia to the United States of America. She presented her credentials to U.S. President George W. Bush on 26 February 2003. Read more
10 Jul 1943: Jerry Miller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2024) Jerry Miller was an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performed as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He was also a founding member of the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, which continues to perform occasionally. Rolling Stone included Miller at number 68 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time and Moby Grape's album Moby Grape at number 124 on their 2012 list of 500 greatest albums of all time. Miller's longtime guitar was a Gibson L-5 CES Florentine guitar which he called "Beulah". Read more
10 Jul 1942: Ronnie James Dio, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2010) Ronald James Padavona, known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell. Read more
10 Jul 1942: Pyotr Klimuk, Belarusian general, pilot, and astronaut Pyotr Ilyich Klimuk is a former Soviet cosmonaut and the first Belarusian to travel in space. Klimuk made three flights into space. From 1991 to 2003, he headed the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Read more
10 Jul 1942: Sixto Rodriguez, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2023) Sixto Diaz Rodríguez, mononymously known as Rodríguez, was an American musician from Detroit, Michigan. Read more
10 Jul 1942: Lopo do Nascimento, Angolan politician; 1st Prime Minister of Angola Lopo Fortunato Ferreira do Nascimento is an Angolan retired politician. He served as the first Prime Minister of Angola from 11 November 1975 to 9 December 1978 and was Secretary-General of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). Read more
10 Jul 1941: Jake Eberts, Canadian film producer (died 2012) Jake Eberts, OC was a Canadian film producer, executive and financier. He is known for his work on Academy Award-winning titles Chariots of Fire, Gandhi (1982), Dances with Wolves (1990), and the successful animated feature Chicken Run (2000). According to Filmink magazine "he was responsible for some of the greatest British films of all time." Read more
10 Jul 1941: David G. Hartwell, American anthologist, author, and critic (died 2016) David Geddes Hartwell was an American critic, publisher, and editor of thousands of science fiction and fantasy novels. He was best known for work with Signet, Pocket, and Tor Books publishers. He was also noted as an award-winning editor of anthologies. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes him as "perhaps the single most influential book editor of the past forty years in the American [science fiction] publishing world". Read more
10 Jul 1941: Robert Pine, American actor and director Robert Pine is an American actor. He is best known as Sgt. Joseph Getraer on the television series CHiPs (1977–1983). Including CHiPs, Pine has appeared in over 400 episodes of various television shows. Read more
10 Jul 1941: Ian Whitcomb, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (died 2020) Ian Timothy Whitcomb was an English entertainer, singer-songwriter, record producer, writer, broadcaster and actor. As part of the British Invasion, his hit song "You Turn Me On" reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1965. Read more
10 Jul 1940: Meghnad Desai, Baron Desai, Indian-English economist and politician Meghnad Jagdishchandra Desai, Baron Desai was an Indian-born British economist and Labour politician. Read more
10 Jul 1940: Helen Donath, American soprano and actress Helen Jeanette Donath is an American soprano with a career spanning fifty years. Read more
10 Jul 1940: Brian Priestley, English pianist and composer Brian Priestley is an English jazz writer, pianist, and arranger. Read more
10 Jul 1940: Keith Stackpole, Australian cricketer (died 2025) Keith Raymond Stackpole MBE was an Australian cricketer who played in 43 Test matches and six One Day Internationals between 1966 and 1974. He went on to become a cricket commentator on radio and television in the 1980s and '90s. His father, Keith Stackpole Sr. also played first-class cricket and was a noted Australian rules footballer for Collingwood and Fitzroy. Read more
10 Jul 1939: Phil Kelly, Irish-English footballer and manager (died 2012) James Philip Vincent Kelly was an Irish footballer who played at both professional and international levels as a full back. Read more
10 Jul 1939: Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Turkish political scientist, journalist and educator (died 1999) Ahmet Taner Kışlalı was a Turkish professor, politician, and commentator. He served in the Parliament of Turkey in 1977 and was minister of culture in 1978 and 1979. He was killed in 1999. Read more
10 Jul 1939: Mavis Staples, American singer Mavis Staples is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band the Staple Singers, of which she is the last surviving member. During her time in the group, she recorded the hit singles "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again". In 1969, Staples released her self-titled debut solo album. Read more
10 Jul 1938: Paul Andreu, French architect (died 2018) Paul Andreu was a French architect, known for his designs of multiple airports such as Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, and multiple prestigious projects in China, including the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Read more
10 Jul 1938: Lee Morgan, American trumpet player and composer (died 1972) Edward Lee Morgan was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. One of the key hard bop musicians of the 1960s and a cornerstone of the Blue Note label, Morgan came to prominence in his late teens, recording with bandleaders like John Coltrane, Curtis Fuller, Dizzy Gillespie, Hank Mobley, and Wayne Shorter, and playing in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Read more
10 Jul 1937: Edwards Barham, American farmer and politician (died 2014) Erle Edwards Barham was a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate. He first won the Senate seat in December 1975 beating L. B. Loftin by just 89 votes. Read more
10 Jul 1937: Gun Svensson, Swedish politician Gun Brynhild Svensson is a Swedish politician and blogger. She was born in Stensele and is a Pirate Party member and blogs under the name Farmor Gun i Norrtälje. In 2009, she won "Stora bloggpriset" in the category Politics and Society. And in the 2010 Swedish General elections she was a candidate for the Riksdagen for the Pirate Party. Read more
10 Jul 1936: Herbert Boyer, American businessman, co-founded Genentech Herbert Wayne "Herb" Boyer is an American biotechnologist, researcher and entrepreneur in biotechnology. Along with Stanley N. Cohen and Paul Berg, he discovered recombinant DNA, a method to coax bacteria into producing foreign proteins, which aided in jump-starting the field of genetic engineering. By 1969, he had performed studies on a couple of restriction enzymes of E. coli with especially useful properties. Read more
10 Jul 1936: Tunne Kelam, Estonian journalist and politician Tunne-Väldo Kelam is an Estonian politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Estonia. He is a member of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, part of the European People's Party. Read more
10 Jul 1935: Margaret McEntee, American Catholic religious sister and educator Margaret C. McEntee SR. SC., also known by her confirmation name Marita James, is an American Catholic religious sister and educator who is known as being the inspiration for the character of Sister James in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley. The 2008 film adaptation is dedicated to her. Read more
10 Jul 1935: Wilson Tuckey, Australian politician Charles Wilson Tuckey is an Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1980 to 2010, representing the seat of O'Connor in Western Australia for the Liberal Party. He was a minister in the Howard government. Read more
10 Jul 1935: Wilson Whineray, New Zealand rugby player and businessman (died 2012) Sir Wilson James Whineray was a New Zealand business executive and rugby union player. He was the longest-serving captain of the national rugby union team, the All Blacks, until surpassed by Richie McCaw in 2014. Rugby writer Terry McLean considered him the All Blacks' greatest captain. Read more
10 Jul 1934: Marshall Brodien, American actor (died 2019) Marshall Brodien was an American professional magician who played Wizzo the Wizard, a wizard clown character which appeared on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus and The Bozo Show from 1968 to 1994. Read more
10 Jul 1934: Jerry Nelson, American puppeteer and voice actor (died 2012) Jerry Nelson was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with the Muppets. Known for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and various Muppet movies and specials. Read more
10 Jul 1933: Jerry Herman, American musical theater composer (died 2019) Gerald Sheldon Herman was an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway theatre. Read more
10 Jul 1933: Jumpin' Gene Simmons, American rockabilly singer-songwriter (died 2006) Morris Eugene Simmons, better known as Jumpin' Gene Simmons, was an American singer and songwriter best known for his 1964 novelty single "Haunted House". Read more
10 Jul 1933: C.K. Yang, Taiwanese decathlete and pole vaulter (died 2007) Yang Chuan-kwang, or C.K. Yang, was a Taiwanese Olympian decathlete. Yang attended college at UCLA, where he trained and competed with teammate and Olympian Rafer Johnson and was coached by Elvin C. Drake. Read more
10 Jul 1932: Carlo Maria Abate, Italian race car driver (died 2019) Carlo Maria Abate was an Italian auto racing driver. He was one of the best Ferrari 250 GTO specialists. Abate preferred to be addressed as "Carlo Mario Abate" instead of his christened name. Read more
10 Jul 1932: Neile Adams, Filipino-American actress, singer and dancer Maria Ruby Neilam Arrastia y Salvador, known as Neile Adams, is a Filipina-American actress, singer, and dancer who made more than 20 appearances in films and television series between 1952 and 1991. Read more
10 Jul 1932: Manfred Preußger, German athlete Manfred Preußger is a retired East German athlete. He competed in the men's pole vault at the 1956, 1960 and the 1964 Summer Olympics. Read more
10 Jul 1931: Nick Adams, American actor and screenwriter (died 1968) Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock, better known as Nick Adams, was an American film and television actor and screenwriter. He was noted for his roles in several Hollywood films during the 1950s and 1960s, including Rebel Without a Cause along with his starring role in the ABC television series The Rebel (1959–1961). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Twilight of Honor (1963). He also led the cast of several Japanese productions, including Frankenstein Conquers the World, Invasion of Astro-Monster and The Killing Bottle. Read more
10 Jul 1931: Jerry Herman, American composer and songwriter (died 2019) Gerald Sheldon Herman was an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway theatre. Read more
10 Jul 1931: Julian May, American author (died 2017) Julian Clare May was an American science fiction, fantasy, horror, science and children's writer who also used several literary pseudonyms. She is best known for her Saga of Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu Series books. Read more
10 Jul 1931: Alice Munro, Canadian short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024) Alice Ann Munro was a Canadian short story writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Her work tends to move forward and backward in time, with integrated short story cycles. Read more
10 Jul 1930: Bruce Boa, Canadian actor (died 2004) Andrew Bruce Boa was a Canadian actor, who found success playing the token American in British films and television, usually playing military types. Boa's most notable film role is in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) as General Carlist Rieekan. On television, his most notable role is probably as the brash, plain-speaking American guest, Mr. Harry Hamilton, in the Fawlty Towers episode "Waldorf Salad". Read more
10 Jul 1930: Janette Sherman, American physician, author, and pioneer in occupational and environmental health (died 2019) Janette Dexter Sherman was a physician, toxicologist, author, and activist in the U.S. She researched pesticides, nuclear radiation, birth defects, breast cancer, and illnesses caused by toxins in homes and was a pioneer in the field of occupational and environmental health. Sherman was an expert witness or consultant in 5,000 workers' compensation cases about deadly chemicals, contaminated water, and toxic pesticides. Read more
10 Jul 1930: Josephine Veasey, English soprano and actress (died 2022) Josephine Veasey CBE was a British mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with Wagner and Berlioz
roles. Read more
10 Jul 1929: Winnie Ewing, Scottish lawyer and politician (died 2023) Winifred Margaret Ewing was a Scottish lawyer and politician who figured prominently in the Scottish National Party. Read more
10 Jul 1929: George Clayton Johnson, American author and screenwriter (died 2015) George Clayton Johnson was an American science fiction writer, who co-wrote with William F. Nolan the novel Logan's Run, the basis for the MGM 1976 film. He also wrote television scripts for The Twilight Zone, and the first telecast episode of Star Trek, entitled "The Man Trap". He also wrote the story and screenplay on which the 1960 film Ocean's 11 and its 2001 remake were based. Read more
10 Jul 1929: Moe Norman, Canadian golfer (died 2004) Murray Irwin "Moe" Norman was a Canadian professional golfer whose accuracy and ability to hit shot after shot perfectly straight gave him the reputation as a golf swing "genius" with the nicknames, "Pipeline Moe" and golf's savant "Rain Man". During his career, Norman won 65 Canadian Golf Tour tournaments and set 33 course records. Read more
10 Jul 1929: José Vicente Rangel, Venezuelan politician; 21st Vice President of Venezuela (died 2020) José Vicente Rangel Vale was a Venezuelan politician. He ran for president three times in the 1970s and 1980s and later supported Hugo Chávez. He served under Chávez as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2001, as Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2002, and as the vice president from 2002 to 2007. Read more
10 Jul 1928: Don Bolles, American investigative reporter (died 1976) Donald Fifield Bolles was an American investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic newspaper who was known for his coverage of organized crime in and around Phoenix, Arizona, especially by the Chicago Outfit. His murder in a car bombing was suspected to have been mob-related but was later found to be connected to his reporting on real estate fraud by local contractors. Read more
10 Jul 1928: Bernard Buffet, French painter and illustrator (died 1999) Bernard Buffet was a French painter, printmaker, and sculptor. An extremely prolific artist, he produced a varied and extensive body of work. His style was exclusively figurative and is often classified as Expressionist or "miserabilist". Read more
10 Jul 1928: Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentinian-Italian race car driver and businessman, founded De Tomaso (died 2003) Alejandro de Tomaso was an Argentine racing driver and businessman. His name is sometimes seen in an Italianised form as Alessandro de Tomaso. He participated in two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 13 January 1957, but scored no championship points. He later founded the Italian sports car company De Tomaso Automobili in 1959. Read more
10 Jul 1928: Moshe Greenberg, American-Israeli rabbi and scholar (died 2010) Moshe Greenberg was an American rabbi, Bible scholar, and professor emeritus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Read more
10 Jul 1928: John Glenn, American baseball player (died 2023) John Glenn was an American professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder. Over the course of 15 minor league seasons, he made appearances in 32 games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1960. Read more
10 Jul 1927: Grigory Barenblatt, Russian mathematician and academic (died 2018) Grigory Isaakovich Barenblatt was a Russian mathematician. Read more
10 Jul 1927: David Dinkins, American soldier and politician, 106th Mayor of New York City (died 2020) David Norman Dinkins was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. Read more
10 Jul 1927: William Smithers, American actor (died 2026) William Smithers was an American actor best known for his recurring roles as David Schuster in Peyton Place from 1965 to 1966 and as Jeremy Wendell in the television series Dallas in 1981 and from 1984 to 1989. Read more
10 Jul 1926: Carleton Carpenter, American actor, magician, songwriter, and novelist (died 2022) Carleton Upham Carpenter Jr. was an American film, television and stage actor, magician, songwriter, and novelist. Read more
10 Jul 1926: Fred Gwynne, American actor (died 1993) Frederick Hubbard Gwynne was an American actor, artist, and author, who is widely known for his roles in the 1960s television sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? and The Munsters, as well as his later film roles in The Cotton Club (1984), Pet Sematary (1989), and My Cousin Vinny (1992). Read more
10 Jul 1925: Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysian physician and politician, 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir bin Mohamad is a Malaysian politician, physician and author who served as the fourth and seventh prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020. He was the country's longest-serving prime minister, serving for a cumulative total of 24 years. His political career has spanned more than 75 years, from joining protests opposing citizenship policies for non-Malays in the Malayan Union in the 1940s to forming the Gerakan Tanah Air coalition in 2022. During his premiership, Mahathir was granted the title "Father of Modernisation" for his pivotal role in transforming the country's economy and infrastructure. At 100 years old, he is the second-oldest living former state leader in the world and the first Malaysian prime minister to reach that age. Read more
10 Jul 1925: Ernest Bertrand Boland, American Roman Catholic bishop (died 2023) Ernest Bertrand Boland OP was an American Roman Catholic bishop. Read more
10 Jul 1924: Johnny Bach, American basketball player and coach (died 2016) John William Bach was an American professional basketball player and coach. A swingman, Bach played college basketball at Fordham University and Brown University. He was selected by the Boston Celtics in the 1948 Basketball Association of America (BAA) Draft, and played 34 games for the Celtics. Read more
10 Jul 1924: Bobo Brazil, American wrestler (died 1998) Houston Harris was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Bobo Brazil. Credited with breaking down barriers of racial segregation in professional wrestling, Harris is considered one of the first black professional wrestlers to be a marquee name in North America. Read more
10 Jul 1923: Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer and actress (died 2001) Amalia Mendoza García, nicknamed as La Tariácuri, was a Mexican singer and actress. "Échame a mi la culpa" and "Amarga navidad" were some of her greatest hits. Her best friend since her youth was Martha de Miranda Jiménez, "Martuquia" as she called her, who was her companion for many years when Amalia was on tour. Read more
10 Jul 1923: John Bradley, American soldier (died 1994) John Henry "Jack" "Doc" Bradley was a United States Navy Hospital corpsman who was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism while serving with the Marines during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. During the battle, he was a member of the patrol that captured the top of Mount Suribachi and raised the first U.S. flag on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. Read more
10 Jul 1923: Suzanne Cloutier, Canadian actress and producer (died 2003) Suzanne Cloutier was a Canadian film actress. Read more
10 Jul 1923: G. A. Kulkarni, Indian author and academic (died 1987) G. A. Kulkarni, or known simply as "GA", was an Indian Sahitya Akademi Award winner Marathi writer of short stories. Read more
10 Jul 1922: Jean Kerr, American author and playwright (died 2003) Jean Kerr was an American author and playwright who authored the 1957 bestseller Please Don't Eat the Daisies and the plays King of Hearts in 1954 and Mary, Mary in 1961. Read more
10 Jul 1922: Herb McKenley, Jamaican sprinter (died 2007) The Hon. Herbert Henry McKenley OM was a Jamaican track and field sprinter. He competed at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics in six events in total, and won one gold and three silver medals. Read more
10 Jul 1922: Jake LaMotta, American boxer and actor (died 2017) Giacobbe "Jake" LaMotta was an American professional boxer who was world middleweight champion between 1949 and 1951. Nicknamed "the Bronx Bull" or "Raging Bull" for his technique of constant stalking, brawling and inside fighting, he developed a reputation for being a "bully"; he was what is often referred to today as a swarmer and a slugger. Read more
10 Jul 1921: Harvey Ball, American illustrator, created the Smiley (died 2001) Harvey Ross Ball was an American commercial artist. In 1963, he created a design for a pin back button, that played a pivotal role in the adoption of the modern day smiley face. Ball was approached by marketing director Joy Young of State Mutual Life Assurance Company in 1963, with the instructions to design "a little smile". Read more
10 Jul 1921: Jeff Donnell, American actress (died 1988) Jean Marie "Jeff" Donnell was an American actress. Read more
10 Jul 1921: John K. Singlaub, U.S. Army Major General (died 2022) Major General John Kirk Singlaub was a major general in the United States Army, founding member of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and a highly decorated officer in the former Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Read more
10 Jul 1921: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American activist, co-founded the Special Olympics (died 2009) Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver was an American philanthropist. Shriver was a member of the Kennedy family by birth, and a member of the Shriver family through her marriage to Sargent Shriver, who was the United States ambassador to France and the final Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1972. She was a sister of U.S. president John F. Kennedy, U.S. senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy, and U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith. Read more
10 Jul 1920: David Brinkley, American journalist (died 2003) David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997. Read more
10 Jul 1920: Owen Chamberlain, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2006) Owen Chamberlain was an American physicist who shared with Emilio Segrè the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the antiproton, a sub-atomic antiparticle. Read more
10 Jul 1920: Cyril Grant, English footballer (died 2002) Cyril Grant was an English professional footballer. He was born in Wath, Yorkshire. Read more
10 Jul 1919: Pierre Gamarra, French author, poet, and critic (died 2009) Pierre Gamarra was a French poet, novelist and literary critic, a long-time chief editor and director of the literary magazine Europe.Gamarra is best known for his poems and novels for the youth and for narrative and poetical works deeply rooted in his native region of Midi-Pyrénées. Read more
10 Jul 1919: Ian Wallace, English actor and singer (died 2009) Ian Bryce Wallace OBE was an English bass-baritone opera and concert singer, actor and broadcaster of Scottish extraction. Read more
10 Jul 1918: James Aldridge, Australian-English journalist and author (died 2015) Harold Edward James Aldridge was an Australian-British writer and journalist. His World War II despatches were published worldwide and he was the author of over 30 books, both fiction and non-fiction works, including war and adventure novels and books for children. Read more
10 Jul 1918: Chuck Stevens, American baseball player (died 2018) Charles Augustus Stevens Jr. was an American professional baseball player in Major League Baseball (MLB). Read more
10 Jul 1918: Frank L. Lambert, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Occidental College (died 2018) Frank L. Lambert was an American academic who was Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Occidental College, Los Angeles. He is known for his advocacy of changing the definition of thermodynamic entropy as "disorder" in US general chemistry texts to its replacement by viewing entropy as a measure of energy dispersal. He died in December 2018 at the age of 100. Read more
10 Jul 1918: Fred Wacker, American race driver and engineer (died 1998) Frederick Glade Wacker Jr. was an engineer and former president of two large Chicago companies. He was also a prominent Chicago socialite, a jazz musician, and a racing driver. He participated in five Formula One World Championship races, debuting on June 21, 1953. He scored no championship points. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races. Read more
10 Jul 1917: Hugh Alexander, American baseball player and scout (died 2000) Hugh Alexander was an American professional baseball player and scout. He was an outfielder during his brief playing career, but after he suffered a career-ending injury at the age of 20 he became one of baseball's most celebrated scouts. Read more
10 Jul 1917: Don Herbert, American television host known as "Mr. Wizard" (died 2007) Donald Jeffry Herbert, better known as Mr. Wizard, was an American television host. He was the creator and host of Watch Mr. Wizard and Mr. Wizard's World (1983–1990), which were educational television programs for children devoted to science and technology. He also produced many short video programs about science and authored several popular books about science for children. It was said that no fictional hero was able to rival the popularity and longevity of "the friendly, neighborly scientist". In Herbert's obituary, Bill Nye wrote, "Herbert's techniques and performances helped create the United States' first generation of homegrown rocket scientists just in time to respond to Sputnik. He sent us to the moon. He changed the world." Herbert is credited with turning "a generation of youth" in the 1950s and early 1960s on to "the promise and perils of science". Read more
10 Jul 1917: Reg Smythe, English cartoonist (died 1998) Reginald Smyth was a British cartoonist who created the popular, long-running Andy Capp comic strip. Read more
10 Jul 1916: Judith Jasmin, Canadian journalist (died 1972) Judith Jasmin was a journalist from Quebec. Born in Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada, she was the first woman from Quebec to become a grand reporter. Read more
10 Jul 1915: Milt Buckner, American jazz pianist and Hammond organ pioneer (died 1977) Milton Brent Buckner was an American jazz pianist and organist, who in the early 1950s popularized the Hammond organ. He pioneered the parallel chords style that influenced Red Garland, George Shearing, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson. Buckner's brother, Ted Buckner, was a jazz saxophonist. Read more
10 Jul 1914: Joe Shuster, Canadian-American illustrator, co-created Superman (died 1992) Joseph Shuster was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in Action Comics #1. Read more
10 Jul 1914: Rempo Urip, Indonesian film director (died 2001) Rempo Urip was an Indonesian film director. He began his career in the theatre, serving as an extra and footballer for the Dardanella theatre company beginning in 1934. After six years and three troupes, Urip entered the film industry, working as a distributor for Oriental Film and assistant director for Java Industrial Film. He returned to the theatre during the Japanese occupation (1942–1945) and national revolution (1945–1949). In 1951 he joined Djamaluddin Malik's Persari as a director, completing thirteen films for the company before it closed in 1958. He continued as a freelance director until 1977. Read more
10 Jul 1913: Salvador Espriu, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (died 1985) Salvador Espriu i Castelló was a Catalan poet from Spain. Read more
10 Jul 1911: Terry-Thomas, English comedian and character actor (died 1990) Terry-Thomas was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads, toffs and bounders, using his distinctive voice; his costume and props tended to include a monocle, waistcoat and cigarette holder. His striking dress sense was set off by a 1⁄3-inch (8.5 mm) gap between his two upper front teeth. Read more
10 Jul 1911: Cootie Williams, American trumpeter and bandleader (died 1985) Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter. Read more
10 Jul 1909: Donald Sinclair, English lieutenant and businessman (died 1981) Donald William Sinclair was an English naval officer and hotel owner. He was the co-proprietor of the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay in Devon. He helped manage the hotel after an extensive career as an officer in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Navy. During the Second World War, Sinclair twice survived the sinking of the ships on which he was serving. Read more
10 Jul 1907: Blind Boy Fuller, American singer and guitarist (died 1941) Fulton Allen, known as Blind Boy Fuller, was an American blues guitarist and singer. Fuller was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists, along with Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss. Read more
10 Jul 1905: Mildred Benson, American journalist and author (died 2002) Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson was an American journalist and writer of children's books. She wrote some of the earliest Nancy Drew mysteries and created the detective's adventurous personality. Benson wrote under the Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name Carolyn Keene from 1929 to 1953 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mysteries, which were bestsellers. Read more
10 Jul 1905: Thomas Gomez, American actor (died 1971) Thomas Gomez was an American actor. Read more
10 Jul 1905: Wolfram Sievers, German physician (died 1948) Wolfram Sievers was a Nazi and convicted war criminal for medical atrocities carried out while he was managing director of the Ahnenerbe from 1935–1945. He was convicted of war crimes in the Doctors' Trial in 1947 and executed by hanging in 1948. Read more
10 Jul 1904: Lili Damita, French-American actress (died 1994) Lili Damita was a French-American actress, singer, and dancer who appeared in 33 films between 1922 and 1937. Read more
10 Jul 1903: Werner Best, German SS officer and jurist (died 1989) Karl Rudolf Werner Best was a German jurist, police chief, SS-Obergruppenführer, Nazi Party leader, and theoretician from Darmstadt. He was the first chief of Department 1 of the Gestapo, Nazi Germany's secret police, and initiated a registry of all Jews in Germany. As a deputy of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, he organized the SS-Einsatzgruppen paramilitary death squads that carried out mass-murder in Nazi-occupied territories. Read more
10 Jul 1903: John Wyndham, English author (died 1969) John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes. Some of his works were set in post-apocalyptic landscapes. His best known works include The Day of the Triffids (1951), filmed in 1962, and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), which was filmed in 1960 as Village of the Damned, in 1995 under the same title, and again in 2022 in Sky Max under its original title. Read more
10 Jul 1902: Kurt Alder, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1958) Kurt Alder was a German chemist and Nobel laureate. Read more
10 Jul 1902: Nicolás Guillén, Cuban poet, journalist, and activist (died 1989) Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista was a Cuban poet, journalist and political activist. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba. Read more
10 Jul 1900: Mitchell Parish, Lithuanian-American songwriter (died 1993) Mitchell Parish was an American lyricist, notably as a writer of songs for stage and screen. Read more
10 Jul 1900: Sampson Sievers, Russian monk and mystic (died 1979) Sampson Sievers, July 10, 1900 – August 24, 1979 was a Russian Orthodox Christian elder, hieromonk, priest, confessor of Russian patriarch and higher clergy, and mystic of English ancestry, who was imprisoned and sent to Soviet forced labor camps. Read more
10 Jul 1899: John Gilbert, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1936) John Gilbert was an American actor, screenwriter and director. He rose to fame during the silent era and became a popular leading man known as "The Great Lover". His breakthrough came in 1925 with his starring roles in The Merry Widow and The Big Parade. At the height of his career, Gilbert rivaled Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw. Read more
10 Jul 1899: Heiri Suter, Swiss cyclist (died 1978) Heinrich 'Heiri' Suter was a Swiss road racing cyclist. Excelling mainly in the classics, Suter was the first non-Belgian winner of the Tour of Flanders in 1923. Two weeks after his win in the Tour of Flanders, he won Paris–Roubaix, becoming the first cyclist to win both classics in the same year. He also holds a record six victories in Züri-Metzgete, Switzerland's most important one-day race. Read more
10 Jul 1898: Renée Björling, Swedish actress (died 1975) Renée Björling was a Swedish film actress. She was born in Lovö, Sweden and died in Täby. Read more
10 Jul 1897: Legs Diamond, American gangster (died 1931) Jack "Legs" Diamond, also known as John Nolan and Gentleman Jack, was an Irish-American gangster in Philadelphia and New York City during the Prohibition era. A bootlegger and close associate of gambler Arnold Rothstein, Diamond survived a number of attempts on his life between 1916 and 1931, causing him to be known as the "clay pigeon of the underworld". In 1930, Diamond's nemesis Dutch Schultz remarked to his own gang, "Ain't there nobody that can shoot this guy so he don't bounce back?" Read more
10 Jul 1897: Karl Plagge, German general and engineer (died 1957) Karl Plagge was a German officer who rescued Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania by issuing work permits to non-essential workers. A partially disabled veteran of World War I, Plagge studied engineering and joined the Nazi Party in 1931 in hopes of helping Germany rebuild from the economic collapse following the war. After being dismissed from the position of lecturer for being unwilling to teach racism and his opposition to Nazi racial policies, he stopped participating in party activities in 1935 and left the party when the war broke out. Read more
10 Jul 1896: Thérèse Casgrain, Canadian politician (died 1981) Marie Thérèse Casgrain was a Canadian feminist, reformer, politician and senator. She was a leader in the fight for women's right to vote in the province of Quebec, as well as the first woman to lead a political party in Canada. In her later life she opposed nuclear weapons and was a consumer activist. A strong federalist, one of her last political actions, at age 83, was to intervene on the "No" side in the 1980 Quebec sovereignty referendum. Read more
10 Jul 1895: Carl Orff, German composer and educator (died 1982) Carl Heinrich Maria Orff was a German composer and music educator who is best known for composing the cantata Carmina Burana and formulating concepts of his Schulwerk, which became influential for children's music education. Read more
10 Jul 1894: Jimmy McHugh, American composer (died 1969) James Francis McHugh was an American composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he is credited with over 500 songs. His songs were recorded by many artists, including Chet Baker, June Christy, Bing Crosby, Marlene Dietrich, Deanna Durbin, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Adelaide Hall, Billie Holiday, Beverly Kenney, Bill Kenny, The Everly Brothers, Peggy Lee, Carmen Miranda, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, and Dinah Washington. Read more
10 Jul 1891: Edith Quimby, American medical researcher and physicist (died 1982) Edith Smaw Quimby was an American medical researcher and physicist, best known as one of the founders of nuclear medicine. Her work involved developing diagnostic and therapeutic applications of X-rays. One of her main concerns was protecting both those handling the radioactive material and making sure that those being treated were given the lowest dose necessary. Read more
10 Jul 1889: Noble Sissle, American jazz composer, singer, lyricist and playwright (died 1975) Noble Lee Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical Shuffle Along (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry". He also served as the first president of the Negro Actors Guild. Read more
10 Jul 1888: Giorgio de Chirico, Greek-Italian painter and set designer (died 1978) Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico was a Greek-Italian artist and writer born in Volos, Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the scuola metafisica art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His best-known works often feature Roman arcades, long shadows, mannequins, trains, and illogical perspective. His imagery reflects his affinity for the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer and of Friedrich Nietzsche, and for the mythology of his birthplace. Read more
10 Jul 1888: Toyohiko Kagawa, Japanese evangelist, author, and activist (died 1960) Toyohiko Kagawa was a Japanese Evangelical Christian pacifist, Christian reformer, and labour activist. Kagawa wrote, spoke, and worked at length on ways to employ Christian principles in the ordering of society and in cooperatives. His vocation to help the poor led him to live among them. He advocated for women's suffrage and promoted a peaceful foreign policy. Read more
10 Jul 1883: Johannes Blaskowitz, German general (died 1948) Johannes Albrecht Blaskowitz was a German Generaloberst during World War II. After joining the Imperial German Army in 1901, Blaskowitz served throughout World War I, where he earned the Iron Cross for bravery. During WWII, Blaskowitz led the 8th Army during the Invasion of Poland and was the Commander in Chief of Occupied Poland from 1939 to 1940. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. He commanded Army Group G during the Allied invasion of Southern France and Operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. Blaskowitz later commanded the remnants of Army Group H as it withdrew to Northern Netherlands before surrendering to Allied forces. Read more
10 Jul 1883: Hugo Raudsepp, Estonian playwright and politician (died 1952) Hugo Raudsepp was an influential and prolific Estonian playwright and politician. In 1951 he was deported to the Irkutsk region by the Soviet authorities, where he died. Read more
10 Jul 1882: Ima Hogg, American society leader, philanthropist, patron and collector of the arts (died 1975) Ima Hogg, known as "The First Lady of Texas", was an American society leader, philanthropist, mental health advocate, patron and collector of the arts, and one of the most respected women in Texas during the 20th century. Hogg was an avid art collector, and owned works by Picasso, Klee, and Matisse, among others. Hogg donated hundreds of pieces of artwork to Houston's Museum of Fine Arts and served on a committee to plan the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. An enthusiastic collector of early American antiques, she also served on a committee tasked with locating historical furniture for the White House. She restored and refurbished several properties, including the Varner plantation and Bayou Bend, which she later donated to Texas arts and historical institutions who maintain the facilities and their collections today. Hogg received numerous awards and honors, including the Louise E. du Pont Crowninshield Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Santa Rita Award from the University of Texas System, and an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Southwestern University. Read more
10 Jul 1878: Otto Freundlich, German painter and sculptor (died 1943) Otto Freundlich was a German painter and sculptor of Jewish origin. One of the first generation of abstract artists, Freundlich deeply admired cubism and spent much of his life in France. He was murdered at the Majdanek concentration camp during the Holocaust. Read more
10 Jul 1877: Ernst Bresslau, German zoologist (died 1935) Ernst Ludwig Bresslau was a German zoologist. He was the son of historian Harry Bresslau. Read more
10 Jul 1875: Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (died 1955) Mary McLeod Bethune was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, and proceeded to establish the Aframerican Women's Journal, which was the flagship journal of the organization. She presided over other African-American women's organizations, including the National Association for Colored Women. Shortly after joining the National Youth Administration in 1935, Bethune became the first Black woman to lead a federal agency when she was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the head of a department within the NYA. Read more
10 Jul 1875: Dezső Pattantyús-Ábrahám, Hungarian politician (died 1973) Dezső Pattantyús-Ábrahám de Dancka was a conservative Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister and temporary Minister of Finance of the second counter-revolutionary government in Szeged for one month in 1919. His government commissioned Miklós Horthy to Supreme Commander of the National Army. Read more
10 Jul 1874: Sergey Konenkov, Russian sculptor (died 1971) Sergey Timofeyevich Konenkov, also Sergei Konyonkov was a Russian and Soviet sculptor. He was often called "the Russian Rodin". Read more
10 Jul 1871: Marcel Proust, French novelist, critic, and essayist (died 1922) Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist best known for his novel À la recherche du temps perdu, which was published in seven volumes between 1913 and 1927. He is considered by critics and writers to be one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century. Read more
10 Jul 1867: Prince Maximilian of Baden (died 1929) Maximilian, Margrave of Baden, also known as Max von Baden, was a German aristocrat, general and politician. A member of the House of Baden, in October and November 1918 he briefly served as the last chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia. Read more
10 Jul 1864: Austin Chapman, Australian businessman and politician, 4th Australian Minister for Defence (died 1926) Sir Austin Chapman was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1901 until his death in 1926. He held ministerial office in the governments of Alfred Deakin and Stanley Bruce, serving as Minister for Defence (1903–1904), Postmaster-General (1905–1907), Minister for Trade and Customs, and Minister for Health (1923–1924). Read more
10 Jul 1856: Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American electrical and mechanical engineer (died 1943) Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American engineer, futurist, and inventor. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. Read more
10 Jul 1839: Adolphus Busch, German brewer, co-founded Anheuser-Busch (died 1913) Adolphus Busch was the German-born co-founder of Anheuser-Busch with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. He introduced numerous innovations, building the success of the company in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He became a philanthropist, using some of his wealth for education and humanitarian needs. His great-great-grandson, August Busch IV, is a former CEO of Anheuser-Busch. Read more
10 Jul 1835: Henryk Wieniawski, Polish violinist and composer (died 1880) Henryk Wieniawski was a Polish virtuoso violinist, composer, and pedagogue, who is regarded amongst the most distinguished violinists in history. His younger brother Józef Wieniawski and nephew Adam Tadeusz Wieniawski were also accomplished musicians, as was his daughter Régine, who became a naturalised British subject upon marrying into the peerage and wrote music under the name Poldowski. Read more
10 Jul 1832: Alvan Graham Clark, American astronomer (died 1897) Alvan Graham Clark was an American astronomer and telescope-maker. Read more
10 Jul 1830: Camille Pissarro, Danish-French painter (died 1903) Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas. His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Pissarro studied from great forerunners, including Gustave Courbet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. He later studied and worked alongside Georges Seurat and Paul Signac when he took on the Neo-Impressionist style at the age of 54. Read more
10 Jul 1823: Louis-Napoléon Casault, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (died 1908) Sir Louis-Napoléon Casault was a Quebec lawyer, judge, professor and political figure. He represented Bellechasse in the 1st Canadian Parliament from 1867 to 1870 as a Conservative member. Read more
10 Jul 1809: Friedrich August von Quenstedt, German geologist and palaeontologist (died 1889) Friedrich August von Quenstedt was a German geologist and palaeontologist. Read more
10 Jul 1804: Emma Smith, American religious leader (died 1879) Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement and a prominent member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as well as the first wife of Joseph Smith, the movement's founder. In 1842, when the Ladies' Relief Society of Nauvoo was formed as a women's service organization, she was elected by its members as the organization's first president. Read more
10 Jul 1802: Robert Chambers, Scottish geologist and publisher, co-founded Chambers Harrap (died 1871) Robert Chambers was a Scottish publisher, geologist, evolutionary thinker, author and journal editor who, like his elder brother and business partner William Chambers, was highly influential in mid-19th-century scientific and political circles. Read more
10 Jul 1802: Alfred Ronalds, British fly fishing author, artisan and Australian pioneer (died 1860) Alfred Ronalds was an English writer, artisan, and Australian pioneer, best known for his book The Fly-fisher's Entomology. Read more

Notable Deaths on 10 July

10 Jul 2025: David Gergen, American political consultant (born 1942) David Richmond Gergen was an American political commentator and longtime presidential adviser who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He was later a senior political analyst for CNN and a professor of public service and the founding director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. Gergen was also the former editor at large of U.S. News & World Report and a contributor to CNN and Parade Magazine. He was twice a member of election coverage teams that won Peabody awards: in 1988 with MacNeil–Lehrer, and in 2008 with CNN. Read more
10 Jul 2024: Joe Engle, American Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut (born 1932) Joseph Henry Engle was an American pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut. He was the commander of two Space Shuttle missions including STS-2 in 1981, the program's second orbital flight. He also flew two flights in the Shuttle program's 1977 Approach and Landing Tests. Engle was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the Air Force and NASA. Read more
10 Jul 2024: Alex Janvier, Native American Artist (born 1935) Alexan Simeon Janvier was a First Nations painter in Canada. A member of the Indian Group of Seven, he helped pioneer contemporary Aboriginal art in Canada. Read more
10 Jul 2024: Dave Loggins, American musician (born 1947) David Allen Loggins was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his 1974 hit single "Please Come to Boston" as well as his 1984 duet with Anne Murray, "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do". Read more
10 Jul 2022: Maurice Boucher, Canadian outlaw biker (born 1953) Maurice Boucher was a Canadian gangster, convicted murderer, reputed drug trafficker, and outlaw biker. He was once president of the Quebec Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. Boucher led Montreal's Hells Angels against the rival Rock Machine biker gang during the Quebec Biker War of 1994 through 2002 in Quebec, Canada. In 2002, Boucher was convicted on two counts of first degree murder for ordering the murders of two Quebec prison officers in an effort to destabilize the Quebec Justice system. Read more
10 Jul 2020: Lara van Ruijven, Dutch short track speed skater (born 1992) Lara Victoria van Ruijven was a Dutch short track speed skater. At the 2018 Winter Olympics, she was part of the Dutch 3000 metres relay team that won a bronze medal. She won gold at the World Championships one year later. By doing so, she became the first Dutch woman to win a world short track title at an individual event. Read more
10 Jul 2020: Jack Charlton, English footballer and manager (born 1935) John Charlton was an English professional footballer and manager who played as a centre-back for Leeds United. He was part of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup and managed the Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 1996, taking them to two World Cups and one European Championship. He was given Irish citizenship in 1996. He was the elder brother of Manchester United forward Bobby Charlton and one of his teammates in England's World Cup final victory. Read more
10 Jul 2019: Denise Nickerson, American former child actress known for playing Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (born 1957) Denise Marie Nickerson was an American former actress. Starting her career as a child actress, at the age of 13, she starred as Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. She later played Allison on The Electric Company, and had recurring roles as Amy Jennings, Nora Collins, and Amy Collins in the soap opera Dark Shadows and many numerous appearances on television and films. She later worked as a receptionist and office manager. Read more
10 Jul 2018: Henry Morgenthau III, American author and television producer (born 1917) Henry Morgenthau III was an American author and television producer, and scion of the Morgenthau dynasty and member of the Lehman family. Read more
10 Jul 2016: Katharina Focke, German politician (born 1922) Katharina Focke was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). She served as Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth from 1972 to 1976. Read more
10 Jul 2015: Roger Rees, Welsh-American actor and director (born 1944) Roger Rees was a Welsh-American actor and director. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He also received Obie Awards for his role in The End of the Day and as co-director of Peter and the Starcatcher. Rees was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in November 2015. Read more
10 Jul 2015: Omar Sharif, Egyptian actor (born 1932) Omar Sharif was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as his country's greatest male film star. He began his career in Egypt in the early 1950s. He is best known for his appearances in American, British, French, and Italian productions, and has been described as "the first Egyptian and Arab to conquer Hollywood". His career encompassed over 100 films spanning 50 years, and brought him many accolades including three Golden Globe Awards and a César Award for Best Actor. Read more
10 Jul 2015: Jon Vickers, Canadian tenor (born 1926) Jonathan Stewart Vickers, known professionally as Jon Vickers, was a world renowned Canadian heldentenor. Read more
10 Jul 2014: Robert C. Broomfield, American lawyer and judge (born 1933) Robert Cameron Broomfield was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Read more
10 Jul 2014: Juozas Kazickas, Lithuanian-American businessman and philanthropist (born 1918) Juozas Petras Kazickas or Joseph P. Kazickas was a Lithuanian-American businessman, self-made multi-millionaire and philanthropist. With assets estimated worth over 3 billion litas, he was considered to be the wealthiest Lithuanian in 2006. Read more
10 Jul 2014: Paul G. Risser, American ecologist and academic (born 1939) Paul Gillan Risser was an American ecologist and academic from Oklahoma. He served as president of Miami University and Oregon State University before becoming chancellor of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education. Read more
10 Jul 2014: Zohra Sehgal, Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer (born 1912) Zohra Mumtaz Sehgal was an Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer. Having begun her career as a member of a contemporary dance troupe, she transitioned into acting roles beginning in the 1940s. Sehgal appeared in several British films, television shows, and Bollywood productions in a career that spanned over eight decades. Read more
10 Jul 2014: Gloria Schweigerdt, American baseball player (born 1934) Gloria June "Tippy" Schweigerdt was an American pitcher who played from 1950 through 1952 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m), 120 lb, she batted and threw right-handed. Read more
10 Jul 2013: Philip Caldwell, American businessman (born 1920) Philip Caldwell was the first person to run the Ford Motor Company who was not a member of the Ford family. He orchestrated one of the most dramatically successful turnarounds in business history. Read more
10 Jul 2013: Józef Gara, Polish poet and linguist (born 1929) Józef Gara was a miner who spoke an endangered language of Wilamowice, Wymysorys, which had only 70 native speakers, and created the Wymysorys alphabet. He also wrote poetry in Wymysorys. In 2003 he published Zbiór wierszy oraz słownik języka wilamowskiego. In 2004 he collected old Wymysorys songs, corrected and extended the old ones with a view of releasing them. Between 2004 and 2006 he taught Wymysorys in a primary school in Wilamowice. Read more
10 Jul 2013: Concha García Campoy, Spanish journalist (born 1958) Concepción García Campoy, also known as Concha García Campoy, was a Spanish radio and television journalist and personality. Read more
10 Jul 2013: Caroline Duby Glassman, American lawyer and jurist (born 1922) Caroline Duby Glassman was an American attorney and former jurist in the state of Maine. A native of Oregon, she completed college and law school in that state before moving to Portland, Maine, where she practiced law with her husband Harry P. Glassman. In 1983, she became the first woman to serve on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Read more
10 Jul 2013: Ku Ok-hee, South Korean golfer (born 1956) Ku Ok-hee was a South Korean professional golfer who played on the LPGA of Japan Tour and the LPGA Tour. Read more
10 Jul 2013: Gokulananda Mahapatra, Indian author and academic (born 1922) Gokulananda Mahapatra was an Indian scientist and science fiction writer, who popularized science in the Odia language. Mahapatra has authored over 95 science fiction and children science books.
Some of his notable contributions are Krutrima Upagraha, Prithibi bahare Manisha, Chandra ra Mrutyu, Nishabda Godhuli, Madam Curie and Nila Chakra Bala Sapare. He was the founding member of Orissa Bigyana Prachar Samhiti with the objective of making science popular in the state of Orissa. He received Orissa Sahitya Akademy Award for his book E juga ra sreshtha abiskara. Read more
10 Jul 2012: Dolphy, Filipino actor, singer, and producer (born 1928) Rodolfo Vera Quizon Sr., known professionally as Dolphy, was a Filipino comedian and actor. Widely regarded by Philippine media as the country's "King of Comedy", he starred in a long list of comedy films and television series over a career spanning more than six decades. Read more
10 Jul 2012: Peter Kyros, American lawyer and politician (born 1925) Peter Nicholas Kyros was an American attorney, politician, and lobbyist who served as a Democratic U.S. representative from Maine from 1967 to 1975. Read more
10 Jul 2012: Berthe Meijer, German-Dutch journalist and author (born 1938) Berthe Meijer was a Dutch Holocaust survivor and author. In her memoir of her time imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, she wrote of knowing Anne Frank, which was corroborated by other camp survivors. She was also a culinary journalist and published a cookbook. Read more
10 Jul 2012: Fritz Langanke, German lieutenant (born 1919) The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded for a wide range of reasons and across all ranks, from a senior commander for skilled leadership of his troops in battle to a low-ranking soldier for a single act of extreme gallantry. A total of 7,321 awards were made between its first presentation on 30 September 1939 and its last bestowal on 17 June 1945. This number is based on the analysis and acceptance of the order commission of the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients (AKCR). Presentations were made to members of the three military branches of the Wehrmacht—the Heer (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy) and Luftwaffe —as well as the Waffen-SS, the Reichsarbeitsdienst and the Volkssturm. There were also 43 recipients in the military forces of allies of the Third Reich. Read more
10 Jul 2012: Viktor Suslin, Russian-German composer (born 1942) Viktor Yevseyevich Suslin was a Russian composer. An associate of Sofia Gubaidulina's, together with her and Vyacheslav Artyomov he formed the improvisatory ensemble 'Astraea' in 1975. He emigrated to Germany in 1981. Read more
10 Jul 2011: Pierrette Alarie, Canadian soprano and educator (born 1921) Pierrette Alarie, was a French Canadian coloratura soprano. She was married to the French-Canadian tenor Léopold Simoneau. Read more
10 Jul 2011: Roland Petit, French dancer and choreographer (born 1924) Roland Petit was a French ballet company director, choreographer and dancer. He trained at the Paris Opera Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets. Read more
10 Jul 2009: Ebba Haslund, Norwegian writer (born 1917) Ebba Margareta Haslund Halvorsen was an American-Norwegian novelist, writer of short stories, playwright, essayist, children's writer, literary critic, radio speaker and politician. Read more
10 Jul 2008: Hiroaki Aoki, Japanese-American wrestler and businessman, founded Benihana (born 1938) Hiroaki Aoki , better known as Rocky Aoki, was a Japanese-American restaurateur, professional offshore powerboat racer and amateur wrestler. He was the founder of the Japanese cuisine restaurant chain Benihana and Genesis magazine. Read more
10 Jul 2008: Mike Souchak, American golfer (born 1927) Michael Souchak was an American professional golfer. He won fifteen events on the PGA Tour in the 1950s and 1960s and represented the United States for the Ryder Cup in 1959 and 1961. Read more
10 Jul 2007: Abdul Rashid Ghazi, chancellor of Faridia University. (born 1964) Abdul Rashid Ghazi was a Pakistani Islamic scholar and diplomat-turned Islamist dissident who served as Khatib of Lal Masjid, the Chief Executive of Jamia Faridia University, the Chairman of Defense of Human Rights Pakistan (DHR), a member of UNICEF Committee on preventive healthcare and a leader of Difa-e-Pakistan Council. Prior to this he had worked for the Ministry of Education and was a diplomat affiliated with UNESCO, a specialized agency of the United Nations. Read more
10 Jul 2007: Doug Marlette, American cartoonist and author (born 1949) Douglas Nigel Marlette was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American editorial cartoonist who, at the time of his death, had also published two novels and was "finding his voice in writing long-length fiction." His popular comic strip Kudzu, distributed by Tribune Media Services from 1981 to 2007, was adapted into a musical comedy. Read more
10 Jul 2006: Shamil Basayev, Chechen terrorist rebel leader (born 1965) Shamil Salmanovich Basayev, also known by his kunya Abu Idris, was a Chechen guerrilla leader who served as a senior military commander in the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He held the rank of brigadier general in the Armed Forces of Ichkeria, and was posthumously declared generalissimo. As a military commander in the separatist armed forces of Chechnya, one of his most notable battles was the separatist recapture of Grozny in 1996, which he personally planned and commanded together with Aslan Maskhadov. He also masterminded several of the worst terrorist attacks that occurred in Russia. Read more
10 Jul 2006: Lennart Bladh, Swedish politician (born 1920) Lennart Villiam Bladh was a Swedish politician who served as member of the Riksdag (MP) from 1974 to 1985. Read more
10 Jul 2005: A. J. Quinnell, English author (born 1940) Philip Nicholson, known by his pen name A. J. Quinnell, was an English novelist. He is best known for his novel Man on Fire, which has been adapted to film twice and a television series. Later in life he spent much of his time in Gozo, Malta, where he died. Read more
10 Jul 2004: Pati Behrs, Russian-American ballerina and actress (born 1922) Pati Behrs Eristoff was a Russian-American prima ballerina and actress. Read more
10 Jul 2003: Winston Graham, English author (born 1908) Winston Mawdsley Graham OBE, born Winston Grime, was an English novelist best known for the Poldark series of historical novels set in Cornwall, though he also wrote numerous other works, including contemporary thrillers, period novels, short stories, non-fiction and plays. Graham was the author's pseudonym until he changed his name by deed poll from Grime to Graham on 7 May 1947. Read more
10 Jul 2003: Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, German-English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (born 1902) Hartley William Shawcross, Baron Shawcross,, known from 1945 to 1959 as Sir Hartley Shawcross, was an English barrister and Labour politician who served as the lead British prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes tribunal. He also served as Britain's principal delegate to the United Nations immediately after the Second World War and as Attorney General for England and Wales. Read more
10 Jul 2002: Jean-Pierre Côté, Canadian politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (born 1926) Joseph Julien Jean-Pierre Côté was a Canadian parliamentarian and the 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Quebec. Read more
10 Jul 2002: Evangelos Florakis, Greek general (born 1943) Evangelos Florakis was a Greek Army officer who rose to the rank of lieutenant general. After retiring from the Hellenic Army, from 2000 until his death in a helicopter accident in 2002 he commanded the Cypriot National Guard. Read more
10 Jul 2002: Laurence Janifer, American author (born 1933) Laurence Mark Janifer was an American science fiction author, with a career spanning over 50 years. Read more
10 Jul 2000: Vakkom Majeed, Indian journalist and politician (born 1909) Vakkom Majeed was an Indian freedom fighter, politician and a former member of the Travancore-Cochin State Assembly. He was born into one of the most prominent aristocratic Muslim families in Travancore. Influenced by the works of his uncle, Vakkom Moulavi, he became involved in social and political reform movements. Majeed was one of the early architects of the Indian National Congress in Travancore, eventually becoming the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Attingal constituency (1948–1952). Regarded as one of the great Indian nationalists of 20th century, Majeed belonged to a tradition of politics that was intrinsically value-based, secular and humanistic. Read more
10 Jul 1996: Eno Raud, Estonian author (born 1928) Eno Raud was an Estonian children's writer. His works are considered classics in Estonia as well as in the other former Soviet countries. Raud was included in International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honour List in 1974. Read more
10 Jul 1995: Mehmet Ali Aybar, Turkish lawyer and politician (born 1908) Mehmet Ali Aybar was a lawyer, member of the Turkish parliament, the second president of the Workers Party of Turkey, the founder and President of the Socialist Revolution Party, and a member of the Russell Tribunal against the war crimes of the United States in Vietnam. He is known as one of the most prominent proponents of democratic socialism in Turkish political history. Read more
10 Jul 1993: Ruth Krauss, American author and poet (born 1901) Ruth Ida Krauss was an American writer of children's books, including The Carrot Seed, and of theatrical poems for adult readers. Many of her books are still in print. Read more
10 Jul 1993: Sam Rolfe, American screenwriter and producer (born 1924) Samuel Harris Rolfe was an American screenwriter best known for creating the 1950–60s highly rated CBS television series Have Gun – Will Travel, as well as his work on the 1960s NBC television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Eleventh Hour. Read more
10 Jul 1989: Mel Blanc, American voice actor (born 1908) Melvin Jerome Blanc was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over sixty years. Referred to as "The Man of a Thousand Voices", he is widely regarded as the greatest and most influential voice actor of all time. Blanc is best known for providing voices for Looney Tunes cartoons by Warner Bros. during the golden age of American animation. Read more
10 Jul 1987: John Hammond, American record producer, critic, and activist (born 1910) John Henry Hammond Jr. was an American record producer, civil rights activist, and music critic active from the 1930s to the early 1980s. As a talent scout, Hammond became one of the most influential figures in 20th-century popular music. He is the father of blues musician John P. Hammond. Read more
10 Jul 1986: Tadeusz Piotrowski, Polish mountaineer and author (born 1940) Tadeusz Piotrowski was a Polish mountaineer and author of several books related to the subject. He has been referred to as "perhaps the finest winter mountaineer of his day". Read more
10 Jul 1985: Fernando Pereira, Dutch photographer (born 1950) Fernando Pereira was a Portuguese-Dutch freelance photographer, who drowned when French intelligence (DGSE) detonated a bomb and sank the Rainbow Warrior, owned by the environmental organisation Greenpeace on 10 July 1985. Read more
10 Jul 1980: Joseph Krumgold, American author and screenwriter (born 1908) Joseph Quincy Krumgold was an American writer of books and screenplays. He was the first person to win two annual Newbery Medals for the most distinguished new American children's book. Read more
10 Jul 1979: Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (born 1894) Arthur Fiedler was an American conductor known for his association with both the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops orchestras. With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made the Boston Pops one of the best-known orchestras in the United States. Fiedler was sometimes criticized for over-popularizing music, particularly when adapting popular songs or editing portions of the classical repertoire, but he kept performances informal and sometimes self-mocking to attract a bigger audience. Read more
10 Jul 1978: John D. Rockefeller III, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Asia Society (born 1906) John Davison Rockefeller III was an American philanthropist. Rockefeller was the eldest son and second child of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller as well as a grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was engaged in a wide range of philanthropic projects, many of which his family had launched, as well as supporting organizations related to East Asian affairs. Rockefeller was also a major supporter of the Population Council, and the committee that created the Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Read more
10 Jul 1976: Costas Georgiou, Cypriot-born British mercenary in the Angolan Civil War (born 1951) Costas Georgiou, also known by his alias Colonel Callan, was a Greek Cypriot turned-mercenary who was executed following the Luanda Trial for activities during the Angolan Civil War after being captured by MPLA forces. Read more
10 Jul 1972: Lovie Austin, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (born 1887) Cora "Lovie" Austin was an American Chicago bandleader, session musician, composer, singer, and arranger during the 1920s classic blues era. She and Lil Hardin Armstrong are often ranked as two of the best female jazz blues piano players of the period. Read more
10 Jul 1971: Laurent Dauthuille, French boxer (born 1924) Laurent Dauthuille was a French boxer. Read more
10 Jul 1970: Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic academic and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Iceland (born 1908) Bjarni Benediktsson was an Icelandic politician of the Independence Party who served as prime minister of Iceland from 1963 to 1970. He was born to Benedikt Sveinsson (1877–1954), a leader in the independence movement of Iceland and a member of the Althingi from 1908 to 1931, and Guðrún Pétursdóttir frá Engey, a nationally renowned poet. Read more
10 Jul 1963: Teddy Wakelam, English rugby player and sportscaster (born 1893) Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Blythe Thornhill Wakelam, known as Teddy Wakelam, was an English sports broadcaster and rugby union player who captained Harlequin F.C. Read more
10 Jul 1962: Yehuda Leib Maimon, Israeli rabbi and politician (born 1875) Yehuda Leib Maimon was an Israeli rabbi, politician and leader of the Religious Zionist movement. He was Israel's first Minister of Religion. Read more
10 Jul 1960: Sæbjørn Buttedahl, Norwegian actor and sculptor (born 1876) Sæbjørn Buttedahl was a Norwegian stage and film actor who later found prominence as a sculptor. Read more
10 Jul 1956: Joe Giard, American baseball player (born 1898) Joseph Oscar Giard was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. Read more
10 Jul 1954: Calogero Vizzini, Italian mob boss (born 1877) Calogero Vizzini, also commonly known as "Don Calò", was a Sicilian Mafia boss of Villalba in the province of Caltanissetta, Sicily. He was considered to be one of the most influential and legendary Mafia bosses of Sicily after World War II until his death in 1954. In the media, Don Calò was often depicted as the "boss of bosses" – although such a position does not exist in the loose structure of Cosa Nostra. Read more
10 Jul 1952: Rued Langgaard, Danish organist and composer (born 1893) Rued Langgaard was a late-Romantic Danish composer and organist. His then-unconventional music was at odds with that of his Danish contemporaries but was recognized 16 years after his death. Read more
10 Jul 1950: Richard Maury, American-Argentinian engineer (born 1882) Richard Fontaine Maury was an American railway engineer and naturalized Argentine. He became known for the project of the Argentine "Ramal C-14" of the Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano and the touristic Tren a las Nubes. Read more
10 Jul 1941: Jelly Roll Morton, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (born 1890) Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential characteristics when notated. His composition "Jelly Roll Blues", published in 1915, was one of the first published jazz compositions. He also claimed to have invented the genre. Read more
10 Jul 1941: Huntley Wright, English actor (born 1868) Huntley Wright was an English stage and film actor, comedian, dancer and singer, best known for creating roles in many important Edwardian musical comedies. Read more
10 Jul 1938: Arthur Barclay, 15th president of Liberia (born 1854) Arthur Barclay was the 15th president of Liberia from 1904 to 1912. Read more
10 Jul 1929: Ève Lavallière, French actress (born 1866) Ève Lavallière was a French stage actress and later a noteworthy Catholic penitent and member of the Secular Franciscan Order. Read more
10 Jul 1920: John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, British admiral (born 1841) Admiral of the Fleet John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher,, commonly known as Jacky or Jackie Fisher, was a Royal Navy officer. Fisher was chiefly recognised as an innovator, strategist, and architect of naval reform rather than as an operational admiral, although he held combat commands throughout his career. Appointed First Sea Lord in 1904, Fisher played a critical role in the Anglo-German naval arms race, helping to modernise the British navy ahead of the First World War. Read more
10 Jul 1915: Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Dutch painter (born 1831) Hendrik Willem Mesdag was a Dutch marine painter. Read more
10 Jul 1908: Phoebe Knapp, American organist and composer (born 1839) Phoebe Knapp was an American composer of music for hymns and an organist. She composed the music for over five hundred hymns. Read more
10 Jul 1884: Paul Morphy, American chess player (born 1837) Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. During his brief career in the late 1850s, Morphy was acknowledged as the world's greatest chess master. Later commentators have concluded that he was far ahead of his time. Read more
10 Jul 1881: Georg Hermann Nicolai, German architect and academic (born 1812) Georg Hermann Nicolai was a German architect and educator, Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts on the Brühl Terrace in Dresden from 1850 until his death. Read more
10 Jul 1863: Clement Clarke Moore, American author and educator (born 1779) Clement Clarke Moore was an American writer, scholar and real estate developer. He is best known as author of the Christmas poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", which first named each of Santa Claus's reindeer. Read more
10 Jul 1851: Louis Daguerre, French photographer and physicist, invented the daguerreotype (born 1787) Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French scientist, artist and photographer recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photography. Though he is most famous for his contributions to photography, he was also an accomplished painter, scenic designer, and a developer of the diorama theatre. Read more
10 Jul 1806: George Stubbs, English painter and academic (born 1724) George Stubbs was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. Stubbs' output includes history paintings, but his greatest skill was in painting animals, perhaps influenced by his love and study of anatomy. His series of paintings on the theme of a lion attacking a horse are early and significant examples of the Romantic movement that emerged in the late 18th century. He enjoyed royal patronage. His painting Whistlejacket hangs in the National Gallery, London. Read more

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