History of Today 05 July: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 05 July. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 05 July. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 05 July 2026, 01:02 AM

Important Events on 05 July in History

05 Jul 2024: Keir Starmer is appointed Prime Minister by Charles III, becoming the first Labour prime minister since Gordon Brown in 2010 and the first one to win a general election since Tony Blair at the 2005 general election Read more
05 Jul 2023: The last Ariane 5 rocket is launched, carrying the Heinrich Hertz and Syracuse 4B satellites. Read more
05 Jul 2022: British government ministers Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak resign from the second Johnson ministry, beginning the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis. Read more
05 Jul 2016: The Juno space probe arrives at Jupiter and begins a 20-month survey of the planet. Read more
05 Jul 2012: The Shard in London is inaugurated as the tallest building in Europe, with a height of 310 metres (1,020 ft). Read more
05 Jul 2009: A series of violent riots break out in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. Read more
05 Jul 2009: The largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever discovered in Britain, consisting of more than 1,500 items, is found near the village of Hammerwich, near Lichfield, Staffordshire. Read more
05 Jul 2006: North Korea tests four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile and a long-range Taepodong-2. The long-range Taepodong-2 reportedly fails in mid-air over the Sea of Japan. Read more
05 Jul 2004: The first direct Indonesian presidential election is held. Read more
05 Jul 2003: The World Health Organization announces that the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak has been contained. Read more
05 Jul 1999: U.S. President Bill Clinton imposes trade and economic sanctions against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Read more
05 Jul 1997: Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil MP A. Thangathurai is shot dead at Sri Shanmuga Hindu Ladies College in Trincomalee. Read more
05 Jul 1996: Dolly the sheep becomes the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. Read more
05 Jul 1995: Armenia adopts its constitution, four years after its independence from the Soviet Union. Read more
05 Jul 1994: Jeff Bezos founds Amazon. Read more
05 Jul 1989: Iran–Contra affair: Oliver North is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines and 1,200 hours community service. His convictions are later overturned. Read more
05 Jul 1987: Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE uses suicide attacks on the Sri Lankan Army for the first time. The Black Tigers are born and, in the following years, will continue to kill with the tactic. Read more
05 Jul 1984: The United States Supreme Court gives its United States v. Leon decision providing a good-faith exception from the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule against use of evidence obtained through defective warrants in criminal trials. Read more
05 Jul 1980: Swedish tennis player Björn Borg wins his fifth Wimbledon final and becomes the first male tennis player to win the championships five times in a row (1976–1980). Read more
05 Jul 1977: The Pakistan Armed Forces under Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq seize power in Operation Fair Play and begin 11 years of martial law. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, is overthrown. Read more
05 Jul 1975: Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title. Read more
05 Jul 1975: Cape Verde gains its independence from Portugal. Read more
05 Jul 1973: A boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) in Kingman, Arizona, following a fire that broke out as propane was being transferred from a railroad car to a storage tank, kills eleven firefighters. Read more
05 Jul 1973: Juvénal Habyarimana seizes power over Rwanda in a coup d'état. Read more
05 Jul 1971: The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years, is formally certified by President Richard Nixon. Read more
05 Jul 1970: Air Canada Flight 621 crashes in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, killing all 109 people on board. Read more
05 Jul 1962: The official independence of Algeria is proclaimed after an eight-year-long war with France. Read more
05 Jul 1954: The BBC broadcasts its first daily television news bulletin. Read more
05 Jul 1954: Elvis Presley records his first single, "That's All Right", at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Read more
05 Jul 1950: Korean War: Task Force Smith: American and North Korean forces first clash, in the Battle of Osan. Read more
05 Jul 1950: The Knesset of Israel passes the Law of Return which grants all Jews the right to immigrate to the Land of Israel. Read more
05 Jul 1948: National Health Service Acts create the national public health system in the United Kingdom. Read more
05 Jul 1946: Micheline Bernardini models the first modern bikini at a swimming pool in Paris. Read more
05 Jul 1945: The United Kingdom holds its first general election in 10 years, which would be won by Clement Attlee's Labour Party. Read more
05 Jul 1943: World War II: An Allied invasion fleet sails for Sicily (Operation Husky, July 10, 1943). Read more
05 Jul 1943: World War II: German forces begin a massive offensive against the Soviet Union at the Battle of Kursk, also known as Operation Citadel. Read more
05 Jul 1941: World War II: Operation Barbarossa: German troops reach the Dnieper river. Read more
05 Jul 1940: World War II: Foreign relations of Vichy France are severed with the United Kingdom. Read more
05 Jul 1935: The National Labor Relations Act, which governs labor relations in the United States, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Read more
05 Jul 1934: "Bloody Thursday": The police open fire on striking longshoremen in San Francisco. Read more
05 Jul 1915: The Liberty Bell leaves Philadelphia by special train on its way to the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. This is the last trip outside Philadelphia that the custodians of the bell intend to permit. Read more
05 Jul 1884: Germany takes possession of Cameroon. Read more
05 Jul 1865: The United States Secret Service begins operation. Read more
05 Jul 1859: The United States discovers and claims Midway Atoll. Read more
05 Jul 1852: Abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivers his "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" speech at a meeting organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. Read more
05 Jul 1841: Thomas Cook organises the first package excursion, from Leicester to Loughborough. Read more
05 Jul 1833: Lê Văn Khôi along with 27 soldiers stage a mutiny taking over the Phiên An citadel, developing into the Lê Văn Khôi revolt against Emperor Minh Mạng. Read more
05 Jul 1833: Admiral Charles Napier vanquishes the navy of the Portuguese usurper Dom Miguel at the third Battle of Cape St. Vincent. Read more
05 Jul 1830: After inflicting a series of defeats on Algerian forces, the French army under the Comte de Bourmont captures Algier. Read more
05 Jul 1814: War of 1812: Battle of Chippawa: American Major General Jacob Brown defeats British General Phineas Riall at Chippawa, Ontario. Read more
05 Jul 1813: War of 1812: Three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock and Plattsburgh, New York commence. Read more
05 Jul 1811: The Venezuelan Declaration of Independence is adopted by a congress of the provinces. Read more
05 Jul 1809: The Battle of Wagram between the French and Austrian Empires begins. Read more
05 Jul 1807: In Buenos Aires the local militias repel the British soldiers within the Second English Invasion. Read more
05 Jul 1803: The Convention of Artlenburg is signed, leading to the French occupation of the Electorate of Hanover (which had been ruled by the British king). Read more

Famous Births on 05 July

05 Jul 2005: Sombr, American singer and songwriter Shane Michael Boose, known professionally as Sombr, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He released his debut single, "Nothing Left to Say", in 2021 and his first extended play (EP) In Another Life in 2023, through Warner Records and his own imprint, SMB. Read more
05 Jul 2003: Junior Caminero, Dominican baseball player Junior Alberto Caminero Sánchez is a Dominican professional baseball third baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023. In 2025, Caminero was named to his first All-Star game. He earned a bronze medal with the Dominican Republic at the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Read more
05 Jul 1999: Suzan Lamens, Dutch tennis player Suzan Lamens is a Dutch professional tennis player. Lamens has a best singles ranking of No. 57 by the WTA, achieved on 22 September 2025. Lamens is the current No. 1 Dutch singles player. Lamens has won one singles title on WTA Tour and one WTA 125 singles title. Read more
05 Jul 1999: Kang Hye-won, South Korean actress and singer Kang Hye-won is a South Korean actress and singer. She is a former member of the South Korean–Japanese girl group Iz*One, formed by CJ E&M through Mnet's 2018 reality competition television show Produce 48. Read more
05 Jul 1998: Emily Fox, American soccer player Emily Ann Fox is an American professional soccer player who plays as a right back for Women's Super League club Arsenal and the United States national team. Prior to her move to the English club, she played for American teams Racing Louisville and North Carolina Courage. Read more
05 Jul 1996: Aamir Jamal, Pakistani cricketer Aamir Jamal is a Pakistani cricketer who plays as a right-arm fast-medium bowler for the Pakistan national cricket team. Read more
05 Jul 1994: Jeon Jong-seo, South Korean actress Jeon Jong-seo, also known as Rachel Jun, is a South Korean actress. She made her acting debut in a leading role in the acclaimed thriller film Burning (2018). She next starred in the film The Call (2020) for which she won the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actress. She starred in the English language film Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2021) and in the Netflix series Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area (2022). Read more
05 Jul 1994: Shohei Ohtani, Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani is a Japanese professional baseball designated hitter and pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "Shotime", he has previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Angels and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Because of his contributions as a hitter and as a pitcher, which make him a rare two-way player, Ohtani's prime seasons have been considered among the greatest in baseball history, with some likening them to the early career of Babe Ruth. Read more
05 Jul 1993: Yaroslav Kosov, Russian ice hockey player Yaroslav Alekseyevich Kosov is a Russian professional ice hockey player. He is currently an unrestricted free agent who most recently played with Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Kosov was selected by the Florida Panthers in the 5th round of the 2011 NHL entry draft. Read more
05 Jul 1993: Jorge Polanco, Dominican baseball player Jorge Luis Pacheco Polanco is a Dominican professional baseball infielder and designated hitter for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins and Seattle Mariners. Polanco made his MLB debut in 2014 and was an MLB All-Star in 2019. Read more
05 Jul 1992: Alberto Moreno, Spanish footballer Alberto Moreno Pérez is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back. Read more
05 Jul 1992: Chiara Scholl, American tennis player Chiara "Chichi" Scholl is an American inactive tennis player. Read more
05 Jul 1991: Jason Dolley, American actor, musician and Twitch streamer Jason Scott Dolley is an American actor, musician, and Twitch streamer known for his roles in Disney Channel shows and movies. These include Newton "Newt" Livingston III on Cory in the House, Virgil Fox in Minutemen, Connor Kennedy in Read It and Weep, Pete Ivey in Hatching Pete, and PJ Duncan on Good Luck Charlie. Read more
05 Jul 1990: Abeba Aregawi, Ethiopian-Swedish runner Abeba Aregawi Gebretsadik is an Ethiopian-born Swedish middle-distance runner who specialised in the 1,500 metres. She won the silver medal in the 1,500 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the World Championships in 2013. She represented Ethiopia internationally until December 2012, and afterwards represented Sweden. Read more
05 Jul 1989: Adam Cole, American wrestler Austin Kirk Jenkins, known by the ring name Adam Cole, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Paragon. He is also known for his tenures with WWE and Ring of Honor (ROH). Read more
05 Jul 1989: Georgios Efrem, Cypriot footballer Georgios Efrem is a former Cypriot professional footballer who last played as a winger for Cypriot First Division club APOEL and the Cyprus national team. Read more
05 Jul 1988: Samir Ujkani, Albanian footballer Samir Ujkani is a former Kosovan professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is currently the sports director of the Kosovo national team. Read more
05 Jul 1987: Ji Chang-wook, South Korean actor Ji Chang-wook is a South Korean actor and singer. He rose to fame for playing the lead role of daily drama series Smile Again (2010–2011), and gained further prominence with television series Warrior Baek Dong-soo (2011), Empress Ki (2013–2014), Healer (2014–2015), The K2 (2016), Suspicious Partner (2017), The Worst of Evil (2023), Welcome to Samdal-ri (2023–2024), and film Fabricated City (2017). Read more
05 Jul 1987: Safiq Rahim, Malaysian footballer Safiq bin Rahim is a Malaysian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. He is also a former member of the Malaysia national team. Read more
05 Jul 1987: Alexander Kristoff, Norwegian cyclist Alexander Kristoff is a Norwegian former road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI ProTeam Uno-X Mobility and competed professionally from 2006 to 2025. Read more
05 Jul 1986: Iurii Cheban, Ukrainian canoe sprinter Yuriy Volodymyrovych Cheban is a retired Ukrainian sprint canoeist. He is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion in C-1 200 metres. Read more
05 Jul 1986: Piermario Morosini, Italian footballer (died 2012) Piermario Morosini was an Italian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. On 14 April 2012, during a match between Pescara and Livorno, Morosini suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on the pitch. Read more
05 Jul 1986: Alexander Radulov, Russian ice hockey player Alexander Valerievich Radulov is a Russian professional ice hockey player for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He had previously had two separate stints with the Nashville Predators, the NHL team which had drafted him, from 2006 to 2008 and again in 2012, as well one season with the Montreal Canadiens, five seasons with the Dallas Stars between 2016 and 2022, and eight seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), split evenly between Salavat Yulaev Ufa and CSKA Moscow from 2008 to 2016. Read more
05 Jul 1985: Alexandre R. Picard, Canadian ice hockey player Alexandre Remi Picard is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). Read more
05 Jul 1985: Megan Rapinoe, American soccer player Megan Anna Rapinoe is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder and winger. She spent most of her career playing for Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. Winner of the Ballon d'Or Féminin and named The Best FIFA Women's Player in 2019, Rapinoe was a member of the national teams that won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015 and 2019, and the team that finished second in 2011. She also won gold at the Olympics in 2012. Rapinoe co-captained the national team alongside Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan from 2018 to 2020. She previously played for the Chicago Red Stars, Philadelphia Independence, and magicJack in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), as well as Lyon Women in France's Division 1 Féminine. Read more
05 Jul 1984: Danay Garcia, Cuban actress Danay García is an American actress of Cuban descent. She is best known for her roles as Sofía Lugo on Fox's drama series Prison Break (2007–2009) and Luciana Galvez on AMC's horror drama series Fear the Walking Dead (2016–2023). Read more
05 Jul 1984: Zack Miller, American golfer Zack Miller is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour. Read more
05 Jul 1983: Marco Estrada, Mexican baseball player Marco René Estrada is a Mexican-American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Nationals, Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Oakland Athletics. He was an All-Star in 2016. Read more
05 Jul 1983: Jonás Gutiérrez, Argentinian footballer Jonás Manuel Gutiérrez is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He acquired the nickname "Spider-Man" for his goal celebration of putting on a mask of the superhero. He also calls himself "El Galgo", which means "The Greyhound" in Spanish. Read more
05 Jul 1983: Zheng Jie, Chinese tennis player Zheng Jie is a Chinese former professional tennis player. In May 2009, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15. Read more
05 Jul 1983: Taavi Peetre, Estonian shot putter (died 2010) Taavi Peetre was an Estonian shot putter and discus thrower. He represented his country at two Olympic Games and also took part in the World Championships in Athletics on two occasions. His personal best shot put mark of 20.33 m was then the second best after an Estonian record holder Heino Sild. His personal best in discus throw was 60.84 m, achieved in April 2010 in Denton, Texas, United States. He died in 2010 after a boat accident. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Fabrício de Souza, Brazilian footballer Fabrício de Souza or simply Fabrício is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Alexander Dimitrenko, Ukrainian-German boxer Alexander Viktorovych "Sascha" Dimitrenko is a Ukrainian-born German former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019, and held the European heavyweight title from 2010 to 2011. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Alberto Gilardino, Italian footballer Alberto Gilardino is an Italian professional football manager and a former player who played as a striker; who was most recently the head coach of Serie B club Pisa. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Philippe Gilbert, Belgian cyclist Philippe Gilbert is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is known for being a versatile rider who was able to win four of the five very different profile cycling monuments and also the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three Ardennes classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège – in a single season, which he accomplished in 2011. Gilbert also finished the 2011 season as the overall winner of the UCI World Tour. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Kate Gynther, Australian water polo player Kate Maree Gynther is an Australian former water polo player. She played for the Brisbane Barracudas in the National Water Polo League. She represented Australia as a member of the women's senior national team at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal at the 2008 and 2012 Games. She is a leading goalscorer in Olympic water polo history, with 30 goals. She was the joint top sprinter at the 2012 Olympics with 21 sprints won; and a leading sprinter in Olympic water polo history, with 39 sprints won. She has also won a bronze medal at the 2005 Super League Finals. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Dave Haywood, American singer-songwriter and guitarist David Wesley Haywood is an American country musician and songwriter. He is one-third of the American country music band Lady A, in which he plays guitar, piano and mandolin, and sings backing vocals. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Paíto, Mozambican footballer Martinho Martins Mukana, known as Paíto, is a Mozambican former professional footballer who played as a left-back. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Szabolcs Perenyi, Romanian-Hungarian footballer Szabolcs Mihai Perényi is a Romanian-born Hungarian former professional football player. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Beno Udrih, Slovenian basketball player Beno Udrih is a Slovenian former professional basketball player who is currently the head coach of the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League. He previously played in the NBA for the San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons. During his time with the Spurs, Udrih won two NBA titles in 2005 and 2007. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Tuba Büyüküstün, Turkish actress Tuba Büyüküstün is a Turkish actress and model. She is the recipient of several awards and one of Turkey's most popular and highest paid actresses. Read more
05 Jul 1982: Junri Namigata, Japanese tennis player Junri Namigata is a Japanese tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking is 105, which she reached in February 2011. Her career-high doubles ranking is 101, achieved May 2015. Read more
05 Jul 1980: Pauly D, American television personality Paul Michael DelVecchio Jr., known as Pauly D and DJ Pauly D, is an American television personality and DJ. He is best known for being a cast member of MTV's reality show Jersey Shore. Read more
05 Jul 1980: David Rozehnal, Czech footballer David Rozehnal is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He played for a host of European clubs, making over 400 appearances in a career spanning almost two decades, and retired from the professional game in April 2018. Internationally Rozehnal made 60 appearances for the Czech Republic, appearing in three major tournaments: Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2008. Read more
05 Jul 1980: Mads Tolling, Danish-American violinist and composer Mads Tolling is a Danish-American violinist, violist, composer and two-time Grammy Award-Winner. Read more
05 Jul 1979: Shane Filan, Irish singer-songwriter Shane Steven Filan is an Irish singer best known for being a member and one of the lead singers of the pop vocal group Westlife. Read more
05 Jul 1979: Amélie Mauresmo, French-Swiss tennis player Amélie Simone Mauresmo is a French former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and tournament director. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 39 weeks. Mauresmo won 25 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including two majors, at the 2006 Australian Open and the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, as well as the 2005 WTA Tour Championships. She also won an Olympic silver medal in singles at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Mauresmo was known for her powerful one-handed backhand and strong net play. Read more
05 Jul 1979: Stiliyan Petrov, Bulgarian footballer and manager Stiliyan Alyoshev Petrov is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Petrov joined Celtic from CSKA Sofia in 1999, and won ten trophies in his time at Celtic Park, including four Scottish Premier League titles. In 2006, he moved to Aston Villa in the Premier League, along with his former manager Martin O'Neill. Petrov became club captain at Villa Park, and was an inductee to the Aston Villa Hall of Fame in 2013 having made 219 competitive appearances for the club. Read more
05 Jul 1978: Britta Oppelt, German rower Britta Oppelt is a German Olympic-medal winning sculler. Read more
05 Jul 1978: Allan Simonsen, Danish race car driver (died 2013) Allan Weel Simonsen was a Danish racing driver, born in Odense. He died after a crash during the third lap of the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans. Read more
05 Jul 1978: İsmail YK, German-Turkish singer-songwriter İsmail YK, born as İsmail Yurtseven, is a German Turk pop singer. YK stands for Yurtseven Kardeşler, the siblings group he was a member of at the start of his career. A number of his albums have been top sellers in Turkey. His first solo album Şappur Şuppur sold 1.2 million copies. In 2006 his second album Bombabomba.com was the best selling Turkish album with over 600,000 copies. In 2008, his third album Bas Gaza sold 450,000 copies. İsmail YK has won many awards including Best Turkish singer that he won 3 times consecutively in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
İsmail YK, who accelerated his works after a long break, released his album Kıyamet on Valentine's Day 2015. The album consisted of 12 songs, including the song "Yaralıyım" from the album Haydi Bastır which was rerecorded with Hatice. The song "Çıkmam Seneye" which he had written at the age of 12 was included in the album as well.
İsmail YK rerecorded the rock version of the song "Allah Belanı Versin" (2006) and released a music video for it. In its 2006 music video he used an Alfa Romeo 164 while for the new music video he used a Ferrari F430 car. The songs and its music video were among the most discussed subjects on music news in Turkey within the first 3 days of its release. As to why he damaged the car in the music video he said that "he wanted to send this message that instead of hurting someone it's better to cause damage to materialistic things".
He is speaker the television programme in partner of Aysun Kayacı in Şen-Şakrak-Show and YK Show in broadcasting Kanaltürk television channel in 2011. Read more
05 Jul 1977: Nicolas Kiefer, German tennis player Nicolas Kiefer is a German former professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open and won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kiefer's career-high singles ranking was world No. 4, achieved in January 2000. Read more
05 Jul 1976: Bizarre, American rapper Rufus Johnson, better known by his stage name Bizarre, is an American rapper, best known as a member of the Detroit-based hip-hop group D12. Read more
05 Jul 1976: Nuno Gomes, Portuguese footballer Nuno Miguel Soares Pereira Ribeiro, known as Nuno Gomes, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a striker. Read more
05 Jul 1975: Hernán Crespo, Argentinian footballer and coach Hernán Jorge Crespo is an Argentine professional football coach and former player. He is considered one of the best strikers in the history of the Argentina national team. Read more
05 Jul 1975: Ai Sugiyama, Japanese tennis player Ai Sugiyama is a Japanese former tennis player. She reached the world No. 1 ranking in women's doubles on the WTA Tour and had a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8, achieved on February 9, 2004. In her career, she won six singles and 38 doubles titles, including three Grand Slam titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. Sugiyama held the all-time record, for both male and female players, for her 62 consecutive Grand Slam main-draw appearances, until she was surpassed by Roger Federer at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships. Read more
05 Jul 1974: Márcio Amoroso, Brazilian footballer Márcio Amoroso dos Santos is a Brazilian football pundit and former professional player who mainly played as a forward. He played for several teams in his home country as well as in Japan, Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece while also representing Brazil at international level, winning the 1999 Copa América. Read more
05 Jul 1974: Sarah Taylor, Jersey squash player Sarah Taylor is a former Jersey female squash player. She represented Jersey at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she had competed in the women's singles and mixed doubles. In the mixed doubles, she partnered her husband Nick Taylor during the multi-sport event. Sarah Taylor is regarded as a finest squash player to have represented Jersey at international competitions especially winning a silver medal at the 2011 Island Games in the women's singles event. Read more
05 Jul 1973: Marcus Allbäck, Swedish footballer and coach Marcus Christian Allbäck is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was known for his sharp finishing ability and represented clubs in Sweden, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, England, and Germany during a career that spanned between 1992 and 2009. A full international between 1999 and 2008, he won 74 caps for the Sweden national team and scored 30 goals. He represented Sweden at three UEFA European Championships as well as two FIFA World Cups. Read more
05 Jul 1973: Bengt Lagerberg, Swedish drummer The Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden in 1992. The main lineup of the band consisted of guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Post-hiatus shows since 2012 have been with Oskar Humlebo on guitar instead of Svensson. Read more
05 Jul 1973: Róisín Murphy, Irish singer-songwriter and producer Róisín Marie Murphy is an Irish singer, songwriter and record producer who first became known in the 1990s as one half of the pop duo Moloko alongside the English musician Mark Brydon. After the breakup of Moloko, Murphy embarked on a solo career and released her debut solo album Ruby Blue (2005), which she wrote and produced with the experimental musician Matthew Herbert, to critical praise. Her second solo album Overpowered was released in 2007. Read more
05 Jul 1972: Matthew Birir, Kenyan runner Matthew Kiprotich Birir is a former athlete from Kenya and a winner of the 3000 m steeplechase at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Read more
05 Jul 1972: Robert Esmie, Canadian sprinter Robert Esmie is a Canadian retired sprinter, who was a member of the gold medal-winning Canadian 4 × 100 m relay team at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Read more
05 Jul 1972: Gary Shteyngart, American writer Gary Shteyngart is a Soviet-born American writer. He is the author of six novels, and a memoir. Much of his work is satirical. Read more
05 Jul 1971: Derek McInnes, Scottish footballer and manager Derek John McInnes is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is manager of Scottish Premiership club Rangers. In his playing career, his longest spells were with Greenock Morton, Rangers, West Bromwich Albion and Dundee United. He won two caps for the Scotland national team while with West Brom. Read more
05 Jul 1970: Mac Dre, American rapper and producer, founded Thizz Entertainment (died 2004) Andre Louis Hicks, known professionally as Mac Dre, was an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Vallejo, California. He was an instrumental figure in the emergence of hyphy, a cultural movement in the Bay Area hip-hop scene that emerged in the early 2000s. Hicks is considered one of the movement's key pioneers that fueled its popularity into mainstream, releasing songs with fast-paced rhymes and basslines that inspired a new style of dance. As the founder of the independent record label Thizz Entertainment, Hicks recorded dozens of albums and gave aspiring rappers an outlet to release albums locally. Read more
05 Jul 1970: Valentí Massana, Spanish race walker Valentín Massana Gracia is a Spanish race walker, and the Spanish national record holder in the men's 50 km walk (3:38:43) in Ourense, March 20, 1994. Read more
05 Jul 1969: Jenji Kohan, American screenwriter and producer Jenji Leslie Kohan is an American television writer and producer. She is best known as the creator and showrunner of the Showtime comedy-drama series Weeds and the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black. She has received nine Emmy Award nominations, winning one as supervising producer of the comedy series Tracey Takes On…. Read more
05 Jul 1969: John LeClair, American ice hockey player John Clark LeClair is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins from 1991 to 2006. LeClair was a member of the Montreal Canadiens' Stanley Cup winning team in 1993, scoring two overtime game-winning goals in consecutive games during the Final. With the Flyers, LeClair became the first American-born player to score 50 goals in three consecutive NHL seasons while playing on the Legion of Doom line with Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg. Read more
05 Jul 1969: RZA, American rapper, producer, actor, and director Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA or the RZA, is an American rapper, record producer, composer, actor, and filmmaker. He is the de facto leader of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most of the group's albums and those of its members. Known for his signature use of soul samples, sparse beats, and cinematic elements, his production style has been widely influential in hip-hop. The Source and Vibe both ranked him among the greatest hip-hop producers of all time, while NME included him on its list of the 50 Greatest Producers Ever, spanning all genres. Read more
05 Jul 1968: Ken Akamatsu, Japanese illustrator Ken Akamatsu is a Japanese manga artist and politician who has served since 2022 as a member of the House of Councillors. He made his professional manga debut in 1993, and is best known as the author of Love Hina (1998–2001) and Negima! Magister Negi Magi (2003–2012), both serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine; a sequel to Negima!, UQ Holder!, was serialized from 2013 to 2022. In 2011, Akamatsu founded J-Comi, a free digital distributor of out-of-print manga. Read more
05 Jul 1968: Kenji Ito, Japanese pianist and composer Kenji Ito , also known by the nickname Itoken (イトケン), is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on the Mana and SaGa series, though he has worked on over 30 video games throughout his career as well as composed or arranged music for over 15 other albums, concerts, and plays. He learned to play several instruments at a young age, and joined Square directly out of college as a composer in 1990 at the advice of a professor. He worked there for over a decade, composing many of his best-known scores. In 2001, he left Square to become a freelance composer, but has since continued to collaborate with the company. Read more
05 Jul 1968: Nardwuar, Canadian celebrity journalist and musician Nardwuar the Human Serviette is a Canadian journalist and musician. He formed the Vancouver-based garage rock band the Evaporators in 1986, for which he serves as lead singer and keyboardist. He is best known for his in-depth interviews with musicians, celebrities, and politicians. Read more
05 Jul 1968: Hedi Slimane, French fashion designer and photographer Hedi Slimane is a French photographer and couturier. From 2000 to 2007, he was the creative director for Dior Homme. From 2012 to 2016, he was the creative director for Yves Saint Laurent. From February 2018 to October 2024, Slimane was the creative, artistic and image director of Celine. Read more
05 Jul 1968: Alex Zülle, Swiss cyclist Alex Zülle is a Swiss former professional road bicycle racer. During the 1990s he was one of the most successful cyclists in the world, winning the 1996 and 1997 Vuelta a España, taking second place in the 1995 and the 1999 Tour de France. He was world time-trial champion in Lugano in 1996. He admitted doping with EPO and raced for the three most notorious doping teams in 1997–9. Read more
05 Jul 1968: Susan Wojcicki, Polish-American technology executive (died 2024) Susan Diane Wojcicki was an American business executive who was the chief executive officer of YouTube from 2014 to 2023. Her net worth was estimated at $765 million in 2022. Read more
05 Jul 1967: Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Iraqi politician, 80th Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa Abdul Latif Mishatat al-Gharibawi, known as Mustafa al-Kadhimi is an independent Iraqi politician, lawyer, bureaucrat and former intelligence officer who served as the prime minister of Iraq from 7 May 2020 to 27 October 2022. He was nominated as prime minister in May 2020 following the 2019 Iraqi protests and the resignation of Adel Abdul Mahdi. He previously served as columnist for several news outlets and the Director of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, originally appointed in June 2016. He briefly served as Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs in an acting capacity in 2020. The latter part of his tenure closely followed the 2022 Iraqi political crisis. Following the conclusion of his term as prime minister in 2022, he spent over two years abroad, returning to Baghdad in February 2025. During his time away, he resided in London and the United Arab Emirates. His return was at the invitation of current Iraqi political leaders who sought his assistance in addressing the country's economic challenges. Read more
05 Jul 1966: Susannah Doyle, English actress, director, and playwright Susannah Doyle is an English actress, notable for her roles as Joy Merryweather in Drop The Dead Donkey (1991–1998), and as Avril Burke in Ballykissangel (2001). Read more
05 Jul 1966: Gianfranco Zola, Italian footballer and coach Gianfranco Zola is an Italian football executive, manager, and former footballer who played predominantly as a forward. He is currently vice-president of the Lega Pro, the Italian Serie C football league. Read more
05 Jul 1965: Kathryn Erbe, American actress Kathryn Elsbeth Erbe is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Alexandra Eames on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, a spin-off of Law & Order, and Shirley Bellinger in the HBO series Oz. Read more
05 Jul 1964: Ronald D. Moore, American screenwriter and producer Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for his work on Star Trek, as well as on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series, for which he won a Peabody Award, and on Outlander, based on the novels of the same name by Diana Gabaldon. In 2019, he created and wrote the series For All Mankind for Apple TV+. Read more
05 Jul 1963: Edie Falco, American actress Edith Falco is an American actress. She is known for her roles on stage and screen and has received numerous accolades including four Primetime Emmy Awards, five Actor Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. She is the most nominated performer in the Actor Awards history. Read more
05 Jul 1962: Sarina Hülsenbeck, German swimmer Sarina Hülsenbeck is an East German swimmer who competed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow in the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle and competed in the 4 × 100 m medley relay qualifying round, but not in the final. Read more
05 Jul 1959: Marc Cohn, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player Marc Craig Cohn is an American singer-songwriter. He is best known for the song "Walking in Memphis", which was a top 40 hit from his 1991 album Marc Cohn and was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards. His other charting singles include "Silver Thunderbird" (1991), "True Companion" (1991), and "Walk Through the World" (1993). Cohn won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1992. Read more
05 Jul 1958: Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (died 1996) Veronica Guerin Turley was an Irish investigative journalist focusing on organised crime in Ireland, who was murdered in a contract killing believed to have been ordered by a South Dublin-based drug cartel. Born in Dublin, she was an athlete in school and later played on the Irish national teams for both Association football and basketball. After studying accountancy she ran a public-relations firm for seven years, before working for Fianna Fáil and as an election agent for Seán Haughey. She became a reporter in 1990, writing for the Sunday Business Post and Sunday Tribune. In 1994 she began writing articles about the Irish criminal underworld for the Sunday Independent. In 1996, after pressing charges for assault against major organised crime figure John Gilligan, Guerin was ambushed and fatally shot in her vehicle while waiting at a traffic light. The shooting caused national outrage in Ireland. Investigation into her death led to a number of arrests and convictions. Read more
05 Jul 1958: Bill Watterson, American author and illustrator William Boyd Watterson II is an American cartoonist who authored the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. The strip was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson concluded Calvin and Hobbes with a short statement to newspaper readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium. Watterson is known for his negative views on comic syndication and licensing, his efforts to expand and elevate the newspaper comic as an art form, and his move back into private life after Calvin and Hobbes ended. Read more
05 Jul 1957: Carlo Thränhardt, German high jumper Carlo Thränhardt is a retired German high jumper. He excelled at indoor competitions, setting the world indoor record on three occasions between 1984 and 1988. His best mark of 2.42 metres ranks him second on the indoor all-time list one-centimetre behind world record holder Javier Sotomayor of Cuba. The only superior outdoor performances are Sotomayor's world record of 2.45 m, and Mutaz Essa Barshim's clearance of 2.43 m in 2014. Like all modern high jumpers, Thränhardt used the Fosbury Flop style, but of the 16 men in history to have cleared 2.40 m or higher, he was only the second to do so jumping off his right leg. The first was Igor Paklin. At the European Indoor Championships, he won a gold medal in 1983 and four silver medals. Outdoors, his best championship result was winning a bronze medal at the 1986 European Championships. He also reached the Olympic finals in 1984 and 1988. Read more
05 Jul 1957: Doug Wilson, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager Douglas Frederick Wilson is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman, who later served as general manager of the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League, and is currently Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He won the 1984 Canada Cup with Team Canada. Read more
05 Jul 1956: Horacio Cartes, Paraguayan businessman and politician, President of Paraguay Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara is a Paraguayan politician and businessman who is serving as president of the Colorado Party since 2023, having previously served as president of Paraguay from 2013 to 2018. Read more
05 Jul 1956: James Lofton, American football player and coach James David Lofton is an American former professional football player and coach.
He played in the National Football League (NFL) as a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers (1978–1986), Los Angeles Raiders (1987–1988), the Buffalo Bills (1989–1992), Los Angeles Rams (1993) and Philadelphia Eagles (1993). He was also the NCAA champion in the long jump in 1978 while attending Stanford University. Read more
05 Jul 1955: Tony Hadley, English footballer Anthony Paul Frederick Hadley is an English former professional footballer, who played as a central defender. Read more
05 Jul 1955: Peter McNamara, Australian tennis player and coach (died 2019) Peter McNamara was an Australian tennis player and coach. Read more
05 Jul 1954: Jimmy Crespo, American guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Crespo is an American guitarist. He was the lead guitarist for Aerosmith from 1979 until 1984. He co-wrote "Rock in a Hard Place" with Steven Tyler, and has performed or recorded with Rod Stewart, Billy Squier, Meat Loaf, Stevie Nicks, Robert Fleischman, Rough Cutt, Renegade, Flame and others. Read more
05 Jul 1954: John Wright, New Zealand cricketer and coach John Geoffrey Wright is a former international cricketer who represented – and captained – New Zealand. He made his international debut in 1978 against England. Read more
05 Jul 1953: David Morrow, Australian radio host and sportscaster (died 2024) David William Morrow was an Australian sports radio and television broadcaster/commentator, best known for his association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and 2GB, and his calling of horse racing and the NRL, but also other sport and his coverage of the Olympics and Commonwealth Games. Read more
05 Jul 1953: Caryn Navy, American mathematician and computer scientist Caryn Linda Navy is an American mathematician and computer scientist. Blind since childhood, she is chiefly known for her work in set-theoretic topology and Braille technology. Read more
05 Jul 1951: Goose Gossage, American baseball player Richard Michael "Goose" Gossage is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1972 and 1994. He pitched for nine different teams, spending his best years with the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres. Read more
05 Jul 1950: Carlos Caszely, Chilean footballer Carlos Humberto Caszely Garrido is a Chilean former professional footballer, nicknamed "Rey del metro cuadrado", who played as a forward. Read more
05 Jul 1950: Huey Lewis, American singer-songwriter and actor Hugh Anthony Cregg III, known professionally as Huey Lewis, is an American actor and former singer-songwriter. Read more
05 Jul 1949: Ludwig G. Strauss, German physician and academic (died 2013) Ludwig Georg Strauss was a German nuclear medicine physician and professor of radiology at the University of Heidelberg. Read more
05 Jul 1949: Jill Murphy, British children's author (died 2021) Jill Frances Murphy was a British author and illustrator of children's books. First published by Allison & Busby in 1974, she was best known for the Worst Witch novels and Large Family picture books, with sales amounting to several millions. Her books were adapted for stage and television. She was called "one of the most engaging writers and illustrators for children in the land". Read more
05 Jul 1946: Pierre-Marc Johnson, Canadian lawyer, physician, and politician, 24th Premier of Quebec Pierre Marc Johnson is a Canadian lawyer, physician and politician. He was the 24th premier of Quebec from October 3 to December 12, 1985, making him the province's shortest-serving premier, and the first Baby Boomer to hold the office. Read more
05 Jul 1946: Paul Smith, English fashion designer Sir Paul Brierley Smith is an English fashion designer, best known for his eponymous luxury brand. Founded by Smith in 1970, it has since expanded to 130 stores in more than 60 countries. The brand sells clothing and accessories through both physical shops and online. Its fluorescent pink flagship store in Los Angeles has become a widely photographed landmark. Read more
05 Jul 1946: Gerard 't Hooft, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Gerardus "Gerard" 't Hooft is a Dutch theoretical physicist and professor emeritus at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He shared the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics with his thesis advisor Martinus J. G. Veltman "for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions." Read more
05 Jul 1946: Vladimir Mikhailovich Zakharov, Russian dancer and choreographer (died 2013) Vladimir Mikhailovich Zakharov was a Russian choreographer, founder, Chief Choreographer and Artistic Director of Moscow National Academic Theater of Dance Gzhel and Moscow Ballet Academy Gzhel, Ph.D. in Study of Culture, Academician, Director of the University of Dance under the Academy of Slavic Culture, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, Honoured Artist of Dagestan Republic, People's Artist of The North Ossetia-Alaniya Republic. Read more
05 Jul 1945: Michael Blake, American author and screenwriter (died 2015) Michael Lennox Blake was an American author, best known for the film adaptation of his novel Dances With Wolves, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Read more
05 Jul 1945: Humberto Benítez Treviño, Mexican lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Mexico Humberto Benítez Treviño is a Mexican lawyer and politician. He was Attorney General of México from 1994 to 1996. Read more
05 Jul 1944: Leni Björklund, Swedish politician, 28th Swedish Minister of Defence for Sweden Leni Christina Elisabeth Björklund is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. She served as Minister for Defence from 2002 to 2006. Read more
05 Jul 1943: Curt Blefary, American baseball player and coach (died 2001) Curtis Leroy "Clank" Blefary was an American professional baseball left fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1965–1968), Houston Astros (1969), New York Yankees (1970–1971), Oakland Athletics (1971–1972) and the San Diego Padres (1972). A native of Brooklyn, New York, he batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Read more
05 Jul 1943: Mark Cox, English tennis player, coach and sportscaster Mark Cox is a former tennis player from England, who played professional and amateur tennis in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was ranked as high as world No. 12 on the ATP rankings, achieving that ranking in October 1977. Read more
05 Jul 1943: Robbie Robertson, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (died 2023) Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson was a Canadian musician, composer, and producer. Robertson was the onetime lead guitarist for Bob Dylan's backing band. He was also the guitarist and primary songwriter of the Band from its inception until his 1976 departure. In his later solo career, Robertson released six albums. Read more
05 Jul 1942: Matthias Bamert, Swiss composer and conductor Matthias Bamert is a Swiss conductor and composer. Read more
05 Jul 1942: Hannes Löhr, German footballer, coach, and manager (died 2016) Johannes Löhr was a German professional football player and manager. Read more
05 Jul 1941: Epeli Nailatikau, Fijian chief, President of Fiji (died 2026) Brigadier-General Ratu Epeli Nailatikau,, often referred to as Na Turaga Mai Naisogolaca, was a Fijian chief who was President of Fiji from 2009 to 2015. He had a long career in the Military, diplomatic service, and government. From 2001 to 2006 he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives – the lower and more powerful chamber of the Fijian Parliament. He was also the chairman of the Parliamentary Appropriations Committee and of the House Committee. On 8 January 2007, he was appointed the interim Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade; he was moved to the post of interim Minister for Provincial Development and Multi-Ethnic Affairs in September 2008. In October 2008, he became Indigenous Affairs Minister "and effectively Great Council of Chiefs chairman". On 17 April 2009, he was appointed Vice-President by the military government. Read more
05 Jul 1940: Chuck Close, American painter and photographer (died 2021) Charles Thomas Close was an American painter, visual artist, and photographer who made massive-scale photorealist and abstract portraits of himself and others. Close also created photo portraits using a very large format camera. He adapted his painting style and working methods in 1988, after being paralyzed by an occlusion of the anterior spinal artery. Read more
05 Jul 1938: Ronnie Self, American singer-songwriter (died 1981) Ronnie Self was an American singer-songwriter known for the rockabilly song "Bop-A-Lena" and his energetic live performances and aggressive vocals, which earned him the nickname Mr. Frantic. Released as a single on Columbia Records in January 1958, it appeared on Billboard charts in the United States and Australia. Limited in commercial success as a performer, Self had significant success as a songwriter across multiple genres in the 1960s and 1970s. Multiple musicologists have retrospectively cited him as an influence on garage rock and proto-punk, and historian Colin Escott described "Bop-A-Lena" as "the first punk record." Read more
05 Jul 1937: Nita Lowey, American politician (died 2025) Nita Sue Lowey was an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from New York from 1989 until 2021. She was a member of the Democratic Party. Lowey also served as co-dean of the New York congressional delegation, along with former U.S. Representative Eliot Engel. Lowey's district was numbered as the 20th from 1989 to 1993, as the 18th from 1993 to 2013, and as the 17th beginning in 2013. The district included many of New York City's inner northern suburbs, such as White Plains, Purchase, Tarrytown, Mount Kisco, and Armonk. Read more
05 Jul 1936: Shirley Knight, American actress (died 2020) Shirley Enola Knight Hopkins was an American actress, active in theatre, film, and television from the 1960s through the 2010s. She was a two-time Oscar nominee, a three-time Primetime Emmy Award winner, and a Golden Globe and Tony Award winner, among other accolades. Read more
05 Jul 1936: Tommy LiPuma, American Grammy Award-winning jazz record producer and record label executive(died 2017) Tommy LiPuma was an American music producer. His productions received 33 Grammy nominations and sold over 75 million albums. His six individual nominations resulted in five Grammy wins. LiPuma worked with many musicians, including Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, George Benson, Phil Upchurch, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Natalie Cole, Gábor Szabó, Claudine Longet, Dave Mason, the Yellowjackets, the Sandpipers,
Michael Franks, Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Ben Sidran, The Crusaders, Joe Sample, Randy Crawford and Dr. John. In 2020, his biography, The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma, written by Ben Sidran and published by Nardis Books, was named "the music biography of the year" by The New York City Jazz Record. Read more
05 Jul 1936: James Mirrlees, Scottish economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Sir James Alexander Mirrlees was a British economist and winner of the 1996 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was knighted in the 1997 Birthday Honours. Read more
05 Jul 1935: John Schoenherr, American illustrator (died 2010) John Carl Schoenherr was an American illustrator. He won the 1988 Caldecott Medal for U.S. children's book illustration, recognizing Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, which recounts the story of the first time a father takes his youngest child on a traditional outing to spot an owl. He was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2015. Read more
05 Jul 1935: Amnon Barzel, Israeli art critic (died 2025) Amnon Barzel was an Israeli internationally known art curator and author. Read more
05 Jul 1933: Paul-Gilbert Langevin, French musicologist, critic and physicist (died 1986) Paul-Gilbert Langevin was a French musicologist, who was a specialist on Anton Bruckner, Franz Schubert and 19th-century classical music. Read more
05 Jul 1932: Gyula Horn, Hungarian politician, 37th Prime Minister of Hungary (died 2013) Gyula János Horn was a Hungarian politician who was the Prime Minister of Hungary from 1994 to 1998. Read more
05 Jul 1932: Victor Navasky, American journalist, author and publisher of The Nation (died 2023) Victor Saul Navasky was an American journalist, editor, and author. From 1978 to 1995, he edited the progressive weekly magazine The Nation. From 1995 to 2005, he was the magazine's publisher and editorial director, before stepping down to become publisher emeritus. He then went on to direct the George T. Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and to chair the Columbia Journalism Review. Read more
05 Jul 1931: Ismail Mahomed, South African lawyer and politician, 17th Chief Justice of South Africa (died 2000) Ismail Mahomed SCOB SC was a South African lawyer and jurist who served as the first non-white Chief Justice of South Africa from January 1997 until his death in June 2000. He was also the Chief Justice of Namibia from 1992 to 1999 and the inaugural Deputy President of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1995 to 1996. Read more
05 Jul 1929: Jimmy Carruthers, Australian boxer (died 1990) James William Carruthers was an Australian boxer, who became the Undisputed Bantamweight World Champion in 1952. Read more
05 Jul 1929: Katherine Helmond, American actress and director (died 2019) Katherine Marie Helmond was an American actress. Over an acting career spanning six decades, she was best known for her starring role as Jessica Tate on the sitcom Soap (1977–1981) and her co-starring role as Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss? (1984–1992). Helmond also played Doris Sherman on Coach (1995–1997) and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2004). She also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety shows. Read more
05 Jul 1929: Tony Lock, English cricketer (died 1995) Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in 49 Test matches for England taking 174 wickets. Read more
05 Jul 1929: Jovan Rašković, Serbian psychiatrist, academic, and politician (died 1992) Jovan Rašković was a Croatian Serb politician. He was leader of the Serb Democratic Party. Read more
05 Jul 1929: Jiří Reynek, Czech poet and graphic artist (died 2014) Jiří Reynek was a Czech poet and graphic artist. A fluent French speaker, he translated the works of Henri Pourrat and Francis Jammes. He was the son of Suzanne Renaud and Bohuslav Reynek. Photographer Daniel Reynek was his older brother. The family spent winters in Grenoble and summers in Petrkov, where Reynek spent most of his adult life. The family farm was seized by Germany during World War II, then came under state control after Czechoslovakia transitioned to communism in the 1948 coup d'état. Read more
05 Jul 1928: Pierre Mauroy, French educator and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 2013) Pierre Mauroy was a French politician who was Prime Minister of France from 1981 to 1984 under President François Mitterrand. Mauroy also served as Mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001 and President of the Socialist International from 1992 to 1999. At the time of his death, Mauroy was the emeritus mayor of the city of Lille. Read more
05 Jul 1928: Warren Oates, American actor (died 1982) Warren Mercer Oates was an American actor. He was best known for his roles in Western and crime films, most notably in collaboration with directors Sam Peckinpah and Monte Hellman. He had starring roles in Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). Other of his most acclaimed performances was as officer Sam Wood in Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night (1967) and as Mr. Sargis in Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973). Read more
05 Jul 1926: Diana Lynn, American actress (died 1971) Diana Marie Lynn was an American actress. She built her career by starring in Paramount Pictures films and various television series during the 1940s and 1950s. Two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are dedicated to her name. Read more
05 Jul 1925: Fernando de Szyszlo, Peruvian painter and sculptor (died 2017) Fernando de Szyszlo Valdelomar was a Peruvian painter, sculptor, printmaker and teacher. He was a key figure in advancing abstract art in Latin America since the mid-1950s, and one of the leading plastic artists in Peru. Read more
05 Jul 1925: Jean Raspail, French author and explorer (died 2020) Jean Paul Raspail was a French explorer, novelist and travel writer. He was a recipient of the prestigious French literary awards Grand Prix du Roman and Grand Prix de littérature by the Académie Française. The French government honoured him in 2003 by appointing him to the Legion of Honour, with the grade of Officer. Although the majority of his books are travelogues or novels about historical figures, exploration and indigenous peoples, internationally, he is best known for his controversial 1973 novel The Camp of the Saints, which is about mass third-world immigration to Europe. Read more
05 Jul 1925: Jelesko Grancharoff, Bulgarian-Australian resistance fighter and anarchist (died 2016) Jelesko Grancharoff, better known by his nickname Jack the Anarchist, was a Bulgarian and Australian resistance fighter and anarchist. He is best known for the central role he played within the anarchist movement in Australia, from the 1950s until his death. Read more
05 Jul 1924: János Starker, Hungarian-American cellist and educator (died 2013) János Starker was a Hungarian-American cellist. From 1958 until his death, he taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he held the title of Distinguished Professor. Starker is considered one of the greatest cellists of all time. Read more
05 Jul 1924: Edward Cassidy, Australian Roman Catholic cardinal priest (died 2021) Edward Idris Cassidy AC was an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church who was president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity from 1989 to 2001. He headed the Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations with the Jews. He spent most of his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See both in Rome and overseas. He was made a cardinal in 1991. Read more
05 Jul 1923: George Moore, Australian jockey (died 2008) George Thomas Donald Moore OBE was an Australian jockey and Thoroughbred horse trainer. He began his career in racing in 1939 in Brisbane where he quickly became one of the top apprentice jockeys and where in 1943 he won the Senior Jockeys' Premiership. He then relocated to Sydney and in 1949 went to work for trainer Tommy J. Smith with whom he would have considerable success. Read more
05 Jul 1923: Mitsuye Yamada, Japanese American activist Mitsuye Yamada is a Japanese American poet, essayist, and feminist and human rights activist. She is one of the first and most vocal Asian American women writers to write about the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. Read more
05 Jul 1921: Viktor Kulikov, Russian marshal (died 2013) Viktor Georgiyevich Kulikov was the Warsaw Pact commander-in-chief from 1977 to 1989. He was awarded the rank of the Marshal of the Soviet Union on 14 January 1977. Read more
05 Jul 1921: Nanos Valaoritis, Greek author, poet, and playwright (died 2019) Ioannis (Nanos) Valaoritis was a Greek writer, widely published as a poet, novelist and playwright since 1939; his correspondence with George Seferis was a bestseller. The quality, the international appeal, and the influence of his work led Valaoritis to be described as the most important poet of the Hellenic diaspora since Constantine Cavafy. Read more
05 Jul 1918: K. Karunakaran, Indian lawyer and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Kerala (died 2010) Kannoth Karunakaran was an Indian politician, political strategist, decision maker and statesman who served as the chief minister of Kerala in 1977, from 1981 to March 1982, from May 1982 to 1987 and from 1991 to 1995. He is the founder of the Indian National Congress (INC)-led United Democratic Front (UDF) coalition, which governed the state in the periods of 1982-87, 1991–96, 2001–06 and 2011–16; and currently is the ruling alliance in Kerala since 2026. He has also served as the Union Minister for Industry from 1995 to 1996 and served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly for four terms- 1967 to 1969, 1978 to 1979, 1980 to 1981 and 1987 to 1991. He also has the distinction of being one of the longest serving Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Leaders in the country, holding that post from 1967 to 1995. Read more
05 Jul 1918: Brian James, Australian actor (died 2009) Brian James was an Australian radio, stage, television and film actor. Read more
05 Jul 1918: Zakaria Mohieddin, Egyptian general and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Egypt (died 2012) Zakaria Mohieddin was an Egyptian military officer, politician who served as the 3rd prime minister of Egypt and head of the first Intelligence body in Egypt, the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate. Read more
05 Jul 1918: George Rochberg, American composer and educator (died 2005) George Rochberg was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Long a serial composer, Rochberg abandoned the technique after his teenage son died in 1964, saying it had proved inadequate to express his grief and was empty of expressive power. By the 1970s, Rochberg's use of tonal passages in his music had provoked controversy among critics and fellow composers. A professor at the University of Pennsylvania until 1983, Rochberg chaired its music department until 1968. He became the first Annenberg Professor of the Humanities in 1978. Read more
05 Jul 1916: Lívia Rév, Hungarian classical pianist (died 2018) Lívia Rév was a Hungarian classical concert pianist. Read more
05 Jul 1916: Ivor Powell, Welsh footballer (died 2012) Ivor Verdun Powell, MBE was a Welsh football player and manager. He won eight caps for Wales. Read more
05 Jul 1915: Babe Paley, American socialite (died 1978) Barbara Cushing Mortimer Paley was an American magazine editor and socialite. Affectionately known as Babe throughout her life, Paley made notable contributions to the field of magazine editing. In recognition of her distinctive fashion sense, she was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1958. Together with her two sisters, Minnie and Betsey, she was a popular debutante in her youth and the trio were dubbed "The Fabulous Cushing Sisters" in high society. She was married twice; first, to the sportsman Stanley G. Mortimer Jr. and second, to CBS founder William S. Paley. Read more
05 Jul 1915: John Woodruff, American runner and commander (died 2007) John Youie "Long John" Woodruff was an American middle-distance runner, winner of the 800 meter event at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Read more
05 Jul 1915: Al Timothy, Trinidadian musician and songwriter (died 2000) Albon Timothy was a Trinidadian jazz and calypso musician and songwriter who played numerous instruments but was best known for his tenor saxophone playing. His most successful hit as a songwriter was "Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me", written with Michael Julien, which reached number 3 in 1959 in the charts sung by Shirley Bassey. Read more
05 Jul 1914: John Thomas Dunlop, American administrator and labor scholar (died 2003) John Thomas Dunlop was an American administrator, labor economist, and educator. Dunlop was the United States Secretary of Labor between 1975 and 1976 under President Gerald Ford. He was Director of the United States Cost of Living Council from 1973 to 1974, Chairman of the United States Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations from 1993 to 1995, which produced the Dunlop Report in 1994. He was also arbitrator and impartial chairman of various United States labor-management committees, and a member of numerous government boards on industrial relations disputes and economic stabilization. Read more
05 Jul 1914: Annie Fischer, Hungarian pianist and composer (died 1995) Annie Fischer was a Hungarian classical pianist. Read more
05 Jul 1913: George Costakis, Russian art collector (died 1990) George Costakis was a Greek-Russian art collector who amassed one of the largest private collections of Russian avant-garde art in the world. Read more
05 Jul 1913: Smiley Lewis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1966) Overton Amos Lemons, known as Smiley Lewis, was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues singer and guitarist. The music journalist Tony Russell wrote that "Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans. He hit on a formula for slow-rocking, small-band numbers like 'The Bells Are Ringing' and 'I Hear You Knocking' only to have Fats Domino come up behind him with similar music with a more ingratiating delivery. Lewis was practically drowned in Domino's backwash." Read more
05 Jul 1911: Endel Aruja, Estonian-Canadian physicist and academic (died 2008) Endel Aruja was an Estonian physicist specialising in X-ray crystallography, encyclopedian, librarian, supporter of libraries and a long-term Estonian expatriate activist. Read more
05 Jul 1911: Haydn Bunton, Sr., Australian footballer and coach (died 1955) Haydn William Bunton was an Australian rules footballer who represented Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL), Subiaco in the West Australian Football League (WAFL), and Port Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) during the 1930s and 1940s. Read more
05 Jul 1911: Giorgio Borġ Olivier, Maltese lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Malta (died 1980) Giorgio Borg Olivier was a Maltese politician. He twice served as Prime Minister of Malta and as the Leader of the Nationalist Party. He was also Leader of the Opposition between 1955–1958, and again between 1971–1977. Read more
05 Jul 1911: Georges Pompidou, French banker and politician, 19th President of France (died 1974) Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou was President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He had previously served from 1962 to 1968 as Prime Minister of France under President Charles de Gaulle, with whom he was closely associated throughout his career. Read more
05 Jul 1910: Georges Vedel, French lawyer and academic (died 2002) Georges Vedel was a French public law professor from Auch, France. Read more
05 Jul 1908: Henri of Orléans, (died 1999) Henri d'Orléans, was the Orléanist pretender to the defunct throne of France as Henry VI from 1940 until his death in 1999. Henri was the direct descendant of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, son of Louis XIII. He was also a descendant of Louis XIV through a female line, from his legitimized daughter Françoise Marie de Bourbon, as well as the great-great-grandson, by four different lines of descent, of Louis Philippe I. He used the style of Count of Paris. Read more
05 Jul 1908: Lyman S. Ayres II, American businessman (died 1996) Lyman Skinner Ayres II was president of L. S. Ayres and Company from 1954 to 1962 and its chairman of the board from 1962 to 1973. The flagship store in the Ayres family's Midwestern retail department store chain was founded by his grandfather, Lyman S. Ayres, in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1872. Read more
05 Jul 1905: Madeleine Sylvain-Bouchereau, Haitian sociologist and educator (died 1970) Madeleine Sylvain-Bouchereau was a pioneering Haitian sociologist and educator. In 1934, she was one of the principal founders of the Ligue Féminine d'Action Sociale, the first feminist organization registered in Haiti. Read more
05 Jul 1904: Harold Acton, English scholar and author (died 1994) Sir Harold Mario Mitchell Acton was a British writer, scholar, and aesthete who was a prominent member of the Bright Young Things. He wrote fiction, biography, history and autobiography. During his stay in China, he studied the Chinese language, traditional drama, and poetry, some of which he translated. Read more
05 Jul 1904: Ernst Mayr, German-American biologist and ornithologist (died 2005) Ernst Walter Mayr was a German-American evolutionary biologist. He was also a renowned taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, philosopher of biology, and historian of science. His work contributed to the conceptual revolution that led to the modern evolutionary synthesis of Mendelian genetics, systematics, and Darwinian evolution, and to the development of the biological species concept. Read more
05 Jul 1904: Milburn Stone, American actor (died 1980) Hugh Milburn Stone was an American actor, best known for his role as "Doc" in the Western series Gunsmoke. Read more
05 Jul 1902: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., American colonel and politician, 3rd United States Ambassador to the United Nations (died 1985) Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. was an American diplomat and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate and served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations in the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1960, he was the Republican nominee for Vice President. Lodge later served as a diplomat in the administrations of John F Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. Lodge was a presidential contender in the 1964 primary campaign. Read more
05 Jul 1901: Julio Libonatti, Italian-Argentinian footballer (died 1981) Julio Libonatti was an Italian Argentine football manager and footballer who played as a forward for the Argentina and Italy national teams. Read more
05 Jul 1900: Yoshimaro Yamashina, Japanese ornithologist, founded the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology (died 1989) Marquis Yoshimaro Yamashina was a Japanese ornithologist. He was the founder of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology. Read more
05 Jul 1900: Bernardus Johannes Alfrink, Dutch cardinal (died 1987) Bernardus Johannes Alfrink was a Dutch Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Utrecht from 1955 to 1975, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1960. Read more
05 Jul 1899: Marcel Achard, French playwright, screenwriter, and author (died 1974) Marcel Achard was a French playwright and screenwriter whose popular sentimental comedies maintained his position as a highly recognizable name in his country's theatrical and literary circles for five decades. He was elected to the Académie française in 1959. Read more
05 Jul 1898: Georgios Grivas, Greek general (died 1974) Georgios Grivas, also known by his nickname Digenis, was a Greek Cypriot officer of the Hellenic Army and founder and leader of the Greek and Greek Cypriot paramilitary organisations Organization X (1942–1949), EOKA (1955–1959) and EOKA B (1971–1974). He was also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in Cyprus, then-known as the Supreme Military Defence Command of Cyprus (ASDAK), which in the event of war would lead the Cyprus National Guard and the Hellenic Force in Cyprus (ELDYK). Read more
05 Jul 1896: Thomas Playford IV, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of South Australia (died 1981) Sir Thomas Playford was an Australian politician from the state of South Australia. He served as Premier of South Australia and leader of the Liberal and Country League (LCL) from 5 November 1938 to 10 March 1965. Though controversial, it was the longest term of any elected government leader in Australian history. His tenure as premier was marked by a period of population and economic growth unmatched by any other Australian state. He was known for his parochial style in pushing South Australia's interests, and was known for his ability to secure a disproportionate share of federal funding for the state as well as his shameless haranguing of federal leaders. His string of election wins was supported by a system of malapportionment later dubbed the "Playmander". Read more
05 Jul 1894: Ants Lauter, Estonian actor and director (died 1973) Ants Lauter was an Estonian actor, theatre director and pedagogue, People's Artist of the USSR (1948). He was born in the parish of Velise within Veski, Wiek County, and died, aged 79, in Tallinn. Read more
05 Jul 1893: Anthony Berkeley Cox, English writer (died 1971) Anthony Berkeley Cox was an English crime writer. He wrote under several pen-names, including Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley and A. Monmouth Platts. He was a founder of the Detection Club, and his novel Before the Fact (1932) was filmed as the Alfred Hitchcock classic Suspicion (1941). Read more
05 Jul 1893: Giuseppe Caselli, Italian painter (died 1976) Giuseppe Ugo Caselli was an Italian painter. Read more
05 Jul 1891: John Howard Northrop, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1987) John Howard Northrop was an American biochemist who, with James Batcheller Sumner and Wendell Meredith Stanley, won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The award was given for these scientists' isolation, crystallization, and study of enzymes, proteins, and viruses. Northrop was a Professor of Bacteriology and Medical Physics, Emeritus, at University of California, Berkeley. Read more
05 Jul 1891: Tin Ujević, Croatian poet and translator (died 1955) Augustin Josip "Tin" Ujević was a Croatian poet, considered by many to be the greatest poet in 20th-century Croatian literature. Read more
05 Jul 1890: Frederick Lewis Allen, American historian and journalist (died 1954) Frederick Lewis Allen was the editor of Harper's Magazine and also notable as an American historian of the first half of the twentieth century. His specialty was writing about recent and popular history. Read more
05 Jul 1889: Jean Cocteau, French novelist, poet, and playwright (died 1963) Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th century and highly influential on the Surrealist and Dadaist movements, among others. The National Observer suggested that "of the artistic generation whose daring gave birth to Twentieth Century Art, Cocteau came closest to being a Renaissance man". Read more
05 Jul 1888: Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1963) Herbert Spencer Gasser was an American physiologist, and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1944 for his work with action potentials in nerve fibers while on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis, awarded jointly with Joseph Erlanger. Read more
05 Jul 1888: Louise Freeland Jenkins, American astronomer and academic (died 1970) Louise Freeland Jenkins was an American astronomer who compiled a valuable catalogue of stars within 10 parsecs of the sun, as well as editing the 3rd edition of the Yale Bright Star Catalogue. Read more
05 Jul 1886: Willem Drees, Dutch politician and historian, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1948–1958) (died 1988) Willem Drees Sr. was a Dutch politician of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and later co-founder of the Labour Party (PvdA) and historian who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 7 August 1948 to 22 December 1958. Read more
05 Jul 1886: Prince John Konstantinovich of Russia (died 1918) Prince John Konstantinovich of Russia, formerly Grand Duke John Konstantinovich of Russia, sometimes also known as Prince Ivan, Prince Ioann or Prince Johan, was the eldest son of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia and Yelizaveta Mavrikievna, née Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg. He was described by contemporaries as a gentle, religious person, nicknamed "Ioannchik" by his relatives. Read more
05 Jul 1885: Blas Infante, Spanish historian and politician (died 1936) Blas Infante Pérez de Vargas was an Andalusian socialist politician, Georgist, writer, historian and musicologist. He is considered the "father of Andalusia" by Andalusian nationalists. Read more
05 Jul 1885: André Lhote, French sculptor and painter (died 1962) André Lhote was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes, and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Read more
05 Jul 1884: Enrico Dante, Italian cardinal (died 1967) Enrico Dante was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Papal Master of Ceremonies from 1947 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965. Read more
05 Jul 1883: Gustave Lanctot, Canadian historian, author, and academic (died 1975) Gustave Lanctot, also spelled Gustave Lanctôt, was a Canadian historian and archivist. Read more
05 Jul 1882: Inayat Khan, Indian mystic and educator (died 1927) Inayat Khan Rehmat Khan, was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the sarasvati vina, poet, philosopher, writer, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West. At the urging of his students, and on the basis of his ancestral Sufi tradition and four-fold training and authorisation at the hands of Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani of Hyderabad, he established an order of Sufism in London in 1914. By the time of his death in 1927, centers had been established throughout Europe and North America, and multiple volumes of his teachings had been published. Read more
05 Jul 1880: Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist and composer (died 1940) Jan Kubelík was a Czech violinist and composer. Read more
05 Jul 1880: Constantin Tănase, Romanian actor and playwright (died 1945) Constantin Tănase was a Romanian actor and writer for stage, a key figure in the revue style of theater in Romania. Read more
05 Jul 1879: Dwight F. Davis, American tennis player and politician, 49th United States Secretary of War (died 1945) Dwight Filley Davis Sr. was an American tennis player and politician. He is best remembered as the founder of the Davis Cup international tennis competition. He was the Assistant Secretary of War from 1923 to 1925 and Secretary of War from 1925 to 1929. Read more
05 Jul 1879: Wanda Landowska, Polish-French harpsichord player and educator (died 1959) Wanda Aleksandra Landowska was a Polish and French harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 20th century. She was the first person to record Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations on the harpsichord in 1933. She became a naturalized French citizen in 1938. Read more
05 Jul 1874: Eugen Fischer, German physician and academic (died 1967) Eugen Fischer was a German professor of medicine, anthropology, and eugenics, and a member of the Nazi Party. He served as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, and also served as rector of the Frederick William University of Berlin. Read more
05 Jul 1872: Édouard Herriot, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1957) Édouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and twice as President of the Chamber of Deputies. He led the first Cartel des Gauches. Under the Fourth Republic, he served as President of the National Assembly until 1954. A historian by occupation, Herriot was elected to the Académie Française's eighth seat in 1946. He served as Mayor of Lyon for more than 45 years, from 1905 until his death, except for a brief period from 1940 to 1945, when he saw his movements variously restricted for opposing the Vichy regime. Read more
05 Jul 1867: A. E. Douglass, American astronomer (died 1962) A. E. Douglass was an American astronomer and archaeologist. He discovered a correlation between tree rings and the sunspot cycle, and founded the discipline of dendrochronology, which is a method of dating wood by analyzing the growth ring pattern. He started his discoveries in this field in 1894 when he was working at the Lowell Observatory. During this time he was an assistant to Percival Lowell, but fell out with him when his experiments made him doubt the existence of artificial "canals" on Mars and visible spokes on Venus. Read more
05 Jul 1864: Stephan Krehl, German composer (died 1924) Stephan Krehl was a German composer, teacher, and theoretician. His writings include Traité général de la musique and Théorie de la musique et de science de la composition. His pupils included Didia Saint Georges, Pablo Sorozábal, Maurice Besly, and Else Streit. Read more
05 Jul 1862: George Nuttall, American-British bacteriologist (died 1937) George Henry Falkiner Nuttall FRS was an American-British bacteriologist who contributed much to the knowledge of parasites and of insect carriers of diseases. He made significant innovative discoveries in immunology, about life under aseptic conditions, in blood chemistry, and about diseases transmitted by arthropods, especially ticks. He carried out investigations into the distribution of Anopheline mosquitoes in England in relation to the previous prevalence of malaria there. With William Welch he identified the organism responsible for causing gas gangrene. Read more
05 Jul 1862: Horatio Caro, English chess master (died 1920) Horatio Caro was an English-German chess player, of world-class Master strength for about a decade, from the late 1880s to the late 1890s, a frequent winner of significant German events. He was a regular competitor for 30 years in Master events. Caro is principally known as the co-inventor of the Caro–Kann Defence, a heretofore virtually unknown opening variation, which he analyzed, published, and played from the mid 1880s. Read more
05 Jul 1860: Robert Bacon, American colonel and politician, 39th United States Secretary of State (died 1919) Robert Bacon was an American athlete, banker, businessman, statesman, diplomat and Republican Party politician who served as the 39th United States Secretary of State in the Theodore Roosevelt administration from January to March 1909. He also served as Assistant Secretary of State from 1905 to 1909 and Ambassador to France from 1909 to 1912. Read more
05 Jul 1860: Mathieu Jaboulay, French surgeon (died 1913) Mathieu Jaboulay was a French surgeon born in Saint-Genis-Laval, a city in the department of Rhône. He is remembered for introduction of new surgical procedures, as well as his work involving techniques of vascular anastomosis. Read more
05 Jul 1857: Clara Zetkin, German theorist and activist (died 1933) Clara Zetkin was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights. Read more
05 Jul 1857: Julien Tiersot, French musicologist and composer (died 1936) Julien Tiersot, was a French musicologist, composer and a pioneer in ethnomusicology. Read more
05 Jul 1853: Cecil Rhodes, English-South African businessman and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Cape Colony (died 1902) Cecil John Rhodes was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia, which the company named after him in 1895. He also devoted much effort to realizing his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory. Rhodes set up the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate. Read more
05 Jul 1849: William Thomas Stead, English journalist (died 1912) William Thomas Stead was an English newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst editor of The Pall Mall Gazette, including his 1885 series of articles, The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon. These were written in support of a bill, later dubbed the "Stead Act", that raised the age of consent from 13 to 16. Read more
05 Jul 1841: William Collins Whitney, American financier and politician, 31st United States Secretary of the Navy (died 1904) William Collins Whitney was an American political leader and financier and a prominent member of the Whitney family. He served as Secretary of the Navy in the first administration of President Grover Cleveland from 1885 through 1889. A conservative reformer, he was considered a Bourbon Democrat. Read more
05 Jul 1832: Pavel Chistyakov, Russian painter and educator (died 1919) Pavel Petrovich Chistyakov was a Russian painter and art teacher, active in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo from Tsar Alexander II's reign through the Civil War days. He is known for historical and genre scenes as well as portraits. Read more
05 Jul 1829: Ignacio Mariscal, Mexican politician and diplomat, Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico (died 1910) Ignacio Mariscal was a Mexican liberal lawyer, politician, writer, and diplomat. He was named Secretary of Foreign Affairs in 1871–72, for the first time during the Benito Juárez administration. During the Porfirio Díaz's government, he held the office in 1880–83 and 1885–1910. In 1909, he was the President of Mexican Academy of the Language. Read more
05 Jul 1820: William John Macquorn Rankine, Scottish physicist, mathematician, and engineer (died 1872) William John Macquorn Rankine was a Scottish mathematician and physicist. He was a founding contributor, with Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson, to the science of thermodynamics, particularly focusing on its First Law. He developed the Rankine scale, a Fahrenheit-based equivalent to the Celsius-based Kelvin scale of temperature. Read more
05 Jul 1810: P. T. Barnum, American businessman, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (died 1891) Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, and politician remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus with James Anthony Bailey. He was also an author, publisher, and philanthropist, although he said of himself: "I am a showman by profession … and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me." The adage "there's a sucker born every minute" has frequently been attributed to him, although no evidence exists that he had coined the phrase. Read more
05 Jul 1805: Robert FitzRoy, English captain, meteorologist, and politician, 2nd Governor of New Zealand (died 1865) Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy was an English officer of the Royal Navy, politician and scientist who served as the second governor of New Zealand between 1843 and 1845. Read more
05 Jul 1803: George Borrow, British writer (died 1881) George Henry Borrow was an English writer of novels and of travel based on personal experiences in Europe. His travels gave him a close affinity with the Romani people of Europe, who figure strongly in his work. His best-known books are The Bible in Spain and the novels Lavengro and The Romany Rye, set in his time with the English Romanichal (Gypsies). Read more
05 Jul 1802: Pavel Nakhimov, Russian admiral (died 1855) Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov was a Russian admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy known for his victory in the Battle of Sinop and his leadership in the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) during the Crimean War. Read more
05 Jul 1801: David Farragut, American admiral (died 1870) David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered in U.S. Navy tradition for his bold order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually abbreviated to "Damn the torpedoes … full speed ahead." Read more

Notable Deaths on 05 July

05 Jul 2024: Jon Landau, American film producer (born 1960) Jon Landau was an American film producer. Best known for his collaborations with filmmaker James Cameron, he co-produced Cameron's Titanic (1997)—for which he won the Academy Award for Best Picture—as well as Cameron's Avatar film series (2009–2025). Titanic, Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) are three of the four highest-grossing films of all time, with Avatar in the top spot. Landau's other notable credits include Solaris (2002) and Alita: Battle Angel (2019), both of which he produced alongside Cameron, as well as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and Dick Tracy (1990). His final film, Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) is dedicated to his memory. Read more
05 Jul 2024: Bengt I. Samuelsson, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1934) Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson was a Swedish biochemist. He shared with Sune K. Bergström and John R. Vane the 1982 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related substances. Read more
05 Jul 2024: Vic Seixas, American tennis player (born 1923) Elias Victor Seixas Jr. was an American tennis player. Read more
05 Jul 2021: Raffaella Carrà, Italian singer, dancer, television presenter and actress (born 1943) Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni, known professionally as Raffaella Carrà and sometimes mononymously as Raffaella, was an Italian singer, dancer, actress, television presenter and model. Widely considered a pop culture icon in Europe and Latin America, between the 1970s and 1980s she became a pioneer of feminism and women's rights in the music and television industry, as well as a music icon, an LGBT icon and an icon of fashion and design. Read more
05 Jul 2021: Richard Donner, American film director (born 1930) Richard Donner was an American filmmaker. Described as "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters", Donner directed some of the most financially successful films of the 1970s and 1980s. His career spanning more than six decades crossed genres and influenced trends among filmmakers across the world. Read more
05 Jul 2020: Nick Cordero, Canadian actor and singer (born 1978) Nicholas Eduardo Alberto Cordero was a Canadian actor and singer. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as Cheech in the 2014 Broadway musical Bullets Over Broadway and was twice nominated for Drama Desk Awards. His career also included television and film roles. Read more
05 Jul 2015: Uffe Haagerup, Danish mathematician and academic (born 1949) Uffe Valentin Haagerup was a mathematician from Denmark. Read more
05 Jul 2015: Yoichiro Nambu, Japanese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1921) Yoichiro Nambu was a Japanese-American physicist and professor at the University of Chicago. Read more
05 Jul 2014: Rosemary Murphy, American actress (born 1925) Rosemary Murphy was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She was nominated for three Tony Awards for her stage work, as well as two Emmy Awards for television work, winning once, for her performance in Eleanor and Franklin (1976). Read more
05 Jul 2014: Volodymyr Sabodan, Ukrainian metropolitan (born 1935) Metropolitan Vladimir was the Metropolitan of Kiev and the Exarch of Ukraine in the Patriarchate of Moscow, and, ex officio, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) from 1992 to 2014. He was styled "His Beatitude, Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine". At that time, the Church in Ukraine was the only Eastern Orthodox Church inside Ukraine to have canonical standing in Eastern Orthodoxy worldwide. Read more
05 Jul 2014: Hans-Ulrich Wehler, German historian and academic (born 1931) Hans-Ulrich Wehler was a German left-liberal historian known for his role in promoting social history through the "Bielefeld School", and for his critical studies of 19th-century Germany. Read more
05 Jul 2014: Brett Wiesner, American soccer player (born 1983) Brett Valenciano Wiesner was an American soccer player. Read more
05 Jul 2013: Bud Asher, American lawyer and politician (born 1925) Baron Henry "Bud" Asher was an American politician, football coach and former lawyer. Asher served as the mayor of Daytona Beach, Florida, for eight years from 1995 until 2003. Before becoming mayor, Asher was elected as a Daytona Beach City Commissioner in 1983, a position he held for twelve years from 1983 to 1995. Read more
05 Jul 2013: David Cargo, American politician, 22nd Governor of New Mexico (born 1929) David Francis Cargo was an American attorney and politician who served as the 22nd governor of New Mexico between 1967 and 1971. Read more
05 Jul 2013: William Tebeau, American engineer, first African-American man to graduate from Oregon State University (born 1925) William Henry Tebeau in 1948 became the first African-American man to graduate from Oregon State College (OSU). He was an engineer for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) for 36 years. A residence hall at OSU and Highway 126 between Eugene and Florence are both named after him. Read more
05 Jul 2013: Lambert Jackson Woodburne, South African admiral (born 1939) Vice Admiral Lambert Jackson Woodburne was Chief of the South African Navy from 1 July 1990 to 31 August 1992. He is one of only two people to have been awarded the Van Riebeeck Decoration, which he received for Special Forces operations in Tanzania. He was more commonly known by his nickname "Woody". Read more
05 Jul 2012: Rob Goris, Belgian cyclist (born 1982) Rob Goris was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist who rode for UCI Professional Continental Team team Accent.jobs–Willems Veranda's. Read more
05 Jul 2012: Gerrit Komrij, Dutch author, poet, and playwright (born 1944) Gerrit Jan Komrij was a Dutch poet, novelist, translator, critic, polemic journalist and playwright. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s, writing poetry that sharply contrasted with the free-form poetry of his contemporaries. He acquired a reputation for his prose in the late 1970s, writing acerbic essays and columns often critical of writers, television programs, and politicians. As a literary critic and especially as an anthologist he had a formative influence on Dutch literature: his 1979 anthology of Dutch poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries, reformed the canon, and was followed by anthologies of Dutch poetry of the 17th and 18th centuries, of Afrikaans poetry, and of children's poetry. Those anthologies and a steady stream of prose and poetry publications solidified his reputation as one of the country's leading writers and critics; he was awarded the highest literary awards including the P. C. Hooft Award (1993), and from 2000 to 2004, he was the Dutch Dichter des Vaderlands. Komrij died in 2012 at age 68. Read more
05 Jul 2012: Colin Marshall, Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge, English businessman and politician (born 1933) Colin Marsh Marshall, Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge, was a British businessman and member of the House of Lords. Read more
05 Jul 2012: Ruud van Hemert, Dutch actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1938) Ruud van Hemert was a Dutch film director known especially for (dark) comedy. In the 1970s he helped produce and direct TV shows on VPRO before starting a career as a film director. Read more
05 Jul 2011: Cy Twombly, American-Italian painter, sculptor, and photographer (born 1928) Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. was an American painter, sculptor, and photographer. Read more
05 Jul 2010: Bob Probert, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host (born 1965) Robert Alan Probert was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. Probert played for the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. While a successful player by some measures, including being voted to the 1987–88 Campbell Conference all-star team, Probert was best known for his activities as a fighter and enforcer, as well as being one half of the "Bruise Brothers" with then-Red Wing teammate Joey Kocur, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Probert was also known for his off-ice antics and legal problems. Read more
05 Jul 2008: Hasan Doğan, Turkish businessman (born 1956) Hasan Doğan was the 37th president of the Turkish Football Federation. He died of a heart attack in Bodrum, a popular tourist destination in the southwest Turkish Riviera, where he was on vacation. He was incumbent for a relatively short period, beginning on 14 February 2008 and serving until his death on 5 July 2008. Read more
05 Jul 2007: Régine Crespin, French soprano (born 1927) Régine Crespin was a French soprano who had a major international career in opera and on the concert stage between 1950 and 1989. She started her career singing roles in the dramatic soprano and spinto soprano repertoire, drawing particular acclaim singing Wagner and Strauss heroines. She went on to sing a wider repertoire that embraced Italian, French, German, and Russian opera from a variety of musical periods. In the early 1970s Crespin began experiencing vocal difficulties for the first time and ultimately began performing roles from the mezzo-soprano repertoire. Throughout her career she was widely admired for the elegance, warmth and subtlety of her singing, especially in the French and German operatic repertories. Read more
05 Jul 2007: George Melly, English singer-songwriter and critic (born 1926) Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973, he was a film and television critic for The Observer; he also lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism. Read more
05 Jul 2006: Gert Fredriksson, Swedish canoe racer (born 1919) Gert Fridolf Fredriksson was a Swedish sprint canoeist. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won eight medals including six golds, one silver, and one bronze. At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Fredriksson was head coach of the Swedish team. Read more
05 Jul 2006: Thirunalloor Karunakaran, Indian poet and scholar (born 1924) Thirunalloor Karunakaran was a poet, scholar, teacher and leftist intellectual of Kerala, India. Read more
05 Jul 2006: Kenneth Lay, American businessman (born 1942) Kenneth Lee Lay was an American businessman and political donor who was the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of Enron. He was heavily involved in Enron's accounting scandal that unraveled in 2001 into the largest bankruptcy ever to that date. Lay was indicted by a grand jury and was found guilty of 10 counts of securities fraud at trial. Lay died in July 2006 while vacationing in his house near Aspen, Colorado, three months before his scheduled sentencing. A preliminary autopsy reported Lay died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. His death resulted in a vacated judgment. Read more
05 Jul 2006: Amzie Strickland, American actress (born 1919) Amzie Ellen Strickland was an American character actress who began in radio, made some 650 television appearances, had roles in two dozen films, appeared in numerous television movies, and also worked in TV commercials. Read more
05 Jul 2005: James Stockdale, American admiral (born 1923) James Bond Stockdale was a U.S. Navy vice admiral, aviator, and Stoic philosopher who received the Medal of Honor in 1976 for his leadership as a POW for more than seven years during the Vietnam War. Read more
05 Jul 2004: Hugh Shearer, Jamaican journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (born 1923) Hugh Lawson Shearer was a Jamaican trade unionist and politician, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1967 to 1972. He was also Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade from 1980 to 1989, under Edward Seaga. Read more
05 Jul 2004: Rodger Ward, American race car driver and sportscaster (born 1921) Rodger Morris Ward was an American racing driver best known for his open-wheel career. He is generally regarded as one of the finest drivers of his generation, and is best known for winning two National Championships, and two Indianapolis 500s, both in 1959 and 1962. He also won the AAA National Stock Car Championship in 1951. Read more
05 Jul 2002: Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (born 1924) María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García, known professionally as Katy Jurado, was a Mexican actress. She followed in the footsteps of earlier Mexican actresses in Hollywood, including Dolores Del Rio, Lupe Velez, and María Félix. And her talent for playing a variety of characters helped to promote later Mexican actresses in American cinema. She acted in popular Western films of the 1950s and 1960s. She was the first Latin American actress nominated for an Oscar, as Best Supporting Actress for her work in Broken Lance (1954), and was the first to win a Golden Globe Award, for her performance in High Noon (1952). Read more
05 Jul 2002: Ted Williams, American baseball player and manager (born 1918) Theodore Samuel Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960; his career was interrupted by military service during World War II and the Korean War. Nicknamed "Teddy Ballgame", "the Kid", "the Splendid Splinter", and "the Thumper", Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, and is the last player to hit over .400 in a season. Read more
05 Jul 1998: Sid Luckman, American football player (born 1916) Sidney Luckman was an American professional football quarterback who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1939 through 1950. During his 12 seasons with the Bears, he led them to four NFL championships in 1940, 1941, 1943, and 1946. He also played safety on defense for most of his career. Read more
05 Jul 1997: A. Thangathurai, Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician (born 1936) Arunasalam Thangathurai was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. Read more
05 Jul 1995: Jüri Järvet, Estonian actor and screenwriter (born 1919) Jüri Järvet, born Georgi Kuznetsov, was an Estonian actor. Read more
05 Jul 1991: Howard Nemerov, American poet and essayist (born 1920) Howard Nemerov was an American poet. Nemerov was the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of English and Distinguished Poet in Residence at Washington University in St. Louis. He was twice Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, from 1963 to 1964 and again from 1988 to 1990. For The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov (1977), he won the National Book Award for Poetry, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and Bollingen Prize. Read more
05 Jul 1984: Chic Murray, Canadian politician, 2nd Mayor of Mississauga (born 1914) Charles Myron "Chic" Murray was a Canadian politician who served as the second Mayor of the Town of Mississauga, before it amalgamated with several surrounding towns to form the current City of Mississauga. Read more
05 Jul 1983: Harry James, American trumpet player and actor (born 1916) Harry Haag James was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but shortly after he reorganized and was active again with his band from then until his death in 1983. He was especially known among musicians for his technical proficiency as well as his tone, and was influential on new trumpet players from the late 1930s into the 1940s. He was also an actor in a number of films that usually featured his band. Read more
05 Jul 1976: Walter Giesler, American soccer player and referee (born 1910) Walter John Giesler was an American soccer administrator, and coach best known for coaching the United States men's national soccer team in the 1950 FIFA World Cup. Read more
05 Jul 1975: Gilda dalla Rizza, Italian soprano and actress (born 1892) Gilda Dalla Rizza was an important Italian soprano. Read more
05 Jul 1969: Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist and educator (born 1884) Wilhelm Backhaus was a German pianist and pedagogue. He was particularly well known for his interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Brahms. He was also much admired as a chamber musician. Read more
05 Jul 1969: Walter Gropius, German architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building and Werkbund Exhibition (born 1883) Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of Bauhaus in Weimar and taught there for several years, becoming known as a leading proponent of the International Style. Gropius emigrated from Germany to England in 1934 and from England to the United States in 1937, where he spent much of the rest of his life teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In the United States he worked on several projects with Marcel Breuer and with the firm The Architects Collaborative, of which he was a founding partner. In 1959, he won the AIA Gold Medal, one of the most prestigious awards in architecture. Read more
05 Jul 1969: Tom Mboya, Kenyan politician, 1st Kenyan Minister of Justice (born 1930) Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya was a Kenyan politician and labour leader. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya. He led the negotiations for independence at the Lancaster House Conferences and was instrumental in the formation of Kenya's independence party – the Kenya African National Union (KANU) – where he served as its first Secretary-General. He laid the foundation for Kenya's capitalist and mixed economy policies at the height of the Cold War and set up several of the country's key labour institutions. Mboya was Minister for Economic Planning and Development when he was assassinated. Read more
05 Jul 1969: Leo McCarey, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1898) Thomas Leo McCarey was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was involved in nearly 200 films, including the critically acclaimed Duck Soup, Make Way for Tomorrow, The Awful Truth, Going My Way, The Bells of St. Mary's, My Son John, and An Affair to Remember. Read more
05 Jul 1966: George de Hevesy, Hungarian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1885) George Charles de Hevesy was a Hungarian radiochemist and Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate, recognized in 1943 for his key role in the development of radioactive tracers to study chemical processes such as in the metabolism of animals. He also co-discovered the element hafnium. Read more
05 Jul 1965: Porfirio Rubirosa, Dominican race car driver, polo player, and diplomat (born 1909) Porfirio Rubirosa Ariza was a Dominican diplomat, race car driver, soldier and polo player. He was a supporter of dictator Rafael Trujillo, and was rumored to be a political assassin under his regime. Rubirosa made his mark as an international playboy for his jetsetting lifestyle and his legendary sexual prowess with women. His five spouses included two of the richest women in the world. Read more
05 Jul 1957: Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar (born 1887) Anugrah Narayan Sinha, known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian nationalist politician, participant in Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhian, and one of the architects of modern Bihar. He served as the first Deputy Chief Minister and the Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar from 1946 to 1957. He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, which was elected to write the Constitution of India and served in its first Parliament as an independent nation. He also held a range of portfolios including Labour, Local Self Government, Public Works, Supply & Price Control, Health and Agriculture. A.N. Sinha, affectionately called Anugrah Babu, was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom movement and worked with Bihar Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha to lead the Gandhian movement in Bihar. One of the leading nationalists in the Indian independence movement from Bihar after Dr Rajendra Prasad, he was elected as the Congress Party deputy leader in the state assembly to assume office as the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of independent Bihar, and re-elected when the Congress Party won Bihar's first general election with a massive mandate in 1952. Read more
05 Jul 1950: Thomas William Burgess, English swimmer and water polo player (born 1872) Thomas William Burgess was the second person to successfully complete a swim of the English Channel after Matthew Webb, following sixteen attempts. Burgess was British but spent most of his life in France, and won a bronze medal with the French water polo team at the 1900 Olympics. Read more
05 Jul 1948: Georges Bernanos, French soldier and author (born 1888) Louis Émile Clément Georges Bernanos was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. A Catholic with monarchist leanings, he was critical of elitist thought and was opposed to what he identified as defeatism. He believed this had led to France's defeat and eventual occupation by Germany in 1940 during World War II. His two best-known novels Sous le soleil de Satan (1926) and the Journal d'un curé de campagne (1936) both revolve around a parish priest who combats evil and despair in the world. Most of his novels have been translated into English and frequently published in both Great Britain and the United States. Read more
05 Jul 1948: Carole Landis, American actress (born 1919) Carole Landis was an American actress. She worked as a contract player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 film One Million B.C. from United Artists. She was known as "The Ping Girl", a nickname given to her by Frank Seltzer that she disliked and would try to disassociate herself from. Read more
05 Jul 1948: Piet Aalberse, Dutch politician (born 1871) Petrus Josephus Mattheus "Piet" Aalberse Sr. was a Dutch politician of the General League of Roman Catholic Electoral Associations, later the Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP) and later co-founder of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and jurist. He was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 31 December 1934. Read more
05 Jul 1945: John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (born 1885) John Curtin was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having been most notable for leading the country through the majority of World War II, including all but the last few weeks of the war in the Pacific. Curtin's leadership skills and personal character were acclaimed by his political contemporaries, and he is frequently ranked as one of Australia's greatest prime ministers and political leaders. Read more
05 Jul 1943: Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski, Polish actor (born 1880) Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski was a Polish stage and film actor. He was a legendary figure in Polish cinema who had appeared in the earliest Polish films in 1902. Junosza-Stępowski was killed while trying to protect his wife from members of the Polish Home Army, who had discovered she was an informer for the Gestapo. Read more
05 Jul 1943: Karin Swanström, Swedish actress, director, and producer (born 1873) Karin Swanström was a Swedish actress, producer and director. Read more
05 Jul 1937: Daniel Sawyer, American golfer (born 1884) Daniel Edward "Ned" Sawyer was an American golfer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. Read more
05 Jul 1935: Bernard de Pourtalès, Swiss captain and sailor (born 1870) Bernard Alexandre George Edmond de Pourtalès was a Swiss infantry captain and sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. Read more
05 Jul 1932: Sasha Chorny, Russian poet and author (born 1880) Alexander Mikhailovich Glikberg, better known as Sasha Chorny or Cherny, was a Russian poet, satirist and children's writer. Read more
05 Jul 1929: Henry Johnson, American sergeant (born 1897) William Henry Johnson, commonly known as Henry Johnson, was a United States Army soldier who performed heroically in the first African American unit of the United States Army to engage in combat in World War I. On watch in the Argonne Forest on May 14, 1918, he fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier while suffering 21 wounds, in an action that was brought to the nation's attention by coverage in the New York World and The Saturday Evening Post later that year. On June 2, 2015, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in a ceremony at the White House. Read more
05 Jul 1927: Albrecht Kossel, German physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1853) Ludwig Karl Martin Leonhard Albrecht Kossel was a German biochemist and pioneer in the study of genetics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1910 for his work in determining the chemical composition of nucleic acids, the genetic substance of biological cells. Read more
05 Jul 1920: Max Klinger, German painter and sculptor (born 1857) Max Klinger was a German artist who produced significant work in painting, sculpture, prints and graphics, as well as writing a treatise articulating his ideas on art and the role of graphic arts and printmaking in relation to painting. He is associated with symbolism, the Vienna Secession, and Jugendstil, the German manifestation of Art Nouveau. He is best known today for his many prints, particularly a series entitled Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove and his monumental sculptural installation in homage to Beethoven at the Vienna Secession in 1902. Read more
05 Jul 1908: Jonas Lie, Norwegian author, poet, and playwright (born 1833) Jonas Lauritz Idemil Lie was a Norwegian novelist, poet, and playwright who, together with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Alexander Kielland, is considered one of the Four Greats of 19th-century Norwegian literature. Read more
05 Jul 1884: Victor Massé, French composer (born 1822) Victor Massé was a French composer. Read more
05 Jul 1863: Lewis Armistead, Confederate general (born 1817) Lewis Addison Armistead was a career United States Army officer who became a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. On July 3, 1863, as part of Pickett's Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, Armistead led his brigade to the farthest point reached by Confederate forces during the charge, a point now referred to as the high-water mark of the Confederacy. However, he and his men were overwhelmed, and he was wounded and captured by Union troops. He died in a field hospital two days later. Read more
05 Jul 1862: Heinrich Georg Bronn, German geologist and paleontologist (born 1800) Heinrich Georg Bronn was a German geologist and paleontologist. He was the first to translate Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species into German in 1860, although not without introducing his own interpretations, as also a chapter critiquing the work. Read more
05 Jul 1859: Charles Cagniard de la Tour, French physicist and engineer (born 1777) Baron Charles Cagniard de la Tour was a French engineer and physicist. Read more
05 Jul 1833: Nicéphore Niépce, French inventor, created the first known photograph (born 1765) Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was a French inventor and one of the pioneers of photography. Niépce developed heliography, a technique he used to create the world's oldest surviving products of a photographic process. In the mid-1820s, he used a primitive camera to produce the oldest surviving photograph of a real-world scene. Among Niépce's other inventions was the Pyréolophore, one of the world's first internal combustion engines, which he conceived, created, and developed with his older brother Claude Niépce. Read more
05 Jul 1826: Stamford Raffles, English politician, founded Singapore (born 1782) Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles was a British colonial official who served as the governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieutenant-governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. Raffles was involved in the capture of the Indonesian island of Java from the Dutch during the Napoleonic Wars. It was returned under the Anglo–Dutch Treaty of 1824. He also wrote The History of Java in 1817, describing the history of the island from ancient times. The Rafflesia flowers were named after him. Read more
05 Jul 1819: William Cornwallis, English admiral and politician (born 1744) Admiral Sir William Cornwallis, was a Royal Navy officer and politician. Cornwallis took part in a number of decisive battles including the siege of Louisbourg in 1758, when he was 14, and the Battle of the Saintes but is best known as a friend of Lord Nelson and as the commander-in-chief of the Channel Fleet during the Napoleonic Wars. He is depicted in the Horatio Hornblower novel, Hornblower and the Hotspur. His affectionate contemporary nickname from "the ranks" was Billy Blue, and a sea shanty was written during his period of service, reflecting the admiration his men had for him. Read more

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