Anniversaries - July - General
1-JUL-1903: The first Tour de France began in Paris - 6 stages in 19 days, varying in length 268km to 467km.
1-JUL-1916: The Battle of the Somme commenced with a huge artillery barrage. British troops suffer 19,000 killed and 40,000 wounded.
2-JUL-1644: Battle of Marston Moor - General Fairfax gained a big victory, ending Royalist influence in the North of England.
3-JUL-1938: Near Grantham in Lincolnshire, the Mallard took the world land speed record for a steam locomotive - 126mph.
Record-breaking Mallard Crew - Peterborough
4-JUL-1954: Meat rationing came to an end in Britain.
5-JUL-1841: Thomas Cook’s first travel excursion - 500 people went from Leicester to Loughborough.
5-JUL-2009: Detectorist Terry Herbert unearthed the Staffordshire Hoard near Lichfield.
6-JUL-1685: The Battle of Sedgemoor ended in defeat for the supporters of the Monmouth Rebellion - the rebels are executed or transported.
7-JUL-2005: Islamic terrorists in London killed 52 innocent people with bombs and injured nearly 800 more.
8-JUL-2008: The Ministry of Defence cleared women for service in close combat roles.
9-JUL-1900: Queen Victoria signed a bill to unify 6 free colonies - New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia - thereby creating the Commonwealth of Australia.
10-JUL-1553: Lady Jane Grey ascended the throne.
10-JUL-2011: Publication of the last edition News of the World (since 1843) after a phone-hacking scandal.
11-JUL-1690:The Battle of the Boyne - King William defeated the forces of James II who fled to France.
12-JUL-1932: Yorkshire’s Hedley Verity recorded figures of 19.4-16-10-10 at Headingley against Nottinghamshire.
13-JUL-1843 : Swedish-American inventor John Ericsson registered a patent for the first screw propeller design.
14-JUL-1933: Yorkshire’s Hedley Verity bowled out Essex twice in a single day at Leyton, with figures of 8-47 and 9-44.
15-JUL-1834: After 356yrs, the Spanish Inquisition concluded. Cayetano Ripoli was its last victim in 1826.
16-JUL-1945: Churchill, Truman and Stalin met at Potsdam to determine the future of Germany and central Europe.
Potsdam Conference
17-JUL-1917: Bolsheviks murdered the Russian Czar Nicholas II, his wife and 5 children at Ekaterinburg.
18-JUL-1947: King George VI signed the Independence of India Act.
19-JUL-1553: Lady Jane Grey was deposed by Queen Mary and her supporters.
20-JUL-1969: The Apollo 11 mission succeeded as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon.
The Crew of Apollo 11 - Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin - 1969
20-JUL-1982: The IRA detonated two bombs in Hyde Park and Regents Park that killed 11 soldiers and 7 horses.
21-JUL-1925: In a Sunbeam on Pendine Sands, Malcolm Campbell became the first to break the 150mph barrier on land.
22-JUL-1812: The Battle of Salamanca - Wellington’s victory turned the Peninsula War in Britain’s favour.
22-JUL-1946: Menachem Begin’s Zionist terror group Irgun bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem which is the British administrative headquarters in Palestine, killing 91 people of various nationalities and injuring 46.
23-JUL-1949: Former Leeds United apprentice Brian Close became England’s youngest Test cricketer, aged 18 years 149 days against New Zealand. It is a record he will hold until December 2022 when Rehan Ahmed beat him by 23 days.
24-JUL-1660: The Great Fire of Constantinople; two-thirds of the city was destroyed including 280,000 wooden houses, with a death toll of around 40,000.
25-JUL-1909: France's Louis Bleriot, made the first international flight when his plane crossed the English Channel and landed near Dover Castle.
26-JUL-1945: Clement Attlee’s Labour Party won a landslide general election victory, ousting Churchill.
27-JUL-2012: Opening ceremony of the London Olympics - the first city to host three games.
28-JUL-1540: Henry VIII married his fifth wife Catherine Howard, whilst his great servant Thomas Cromwell was being executed.
29-JUL-1948: Opening ceremony of the London Olympics - the second city to host two games.
30-JUL-1930: The Beano was first published.
31-JUL-1943: In Caserta near Naples, England spinner Capt. Hedley Verity died of wounds sustained near Catania, Sicily - see photo of the month-4.