TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS MONDAY, JULY 29, 2019

On this day in history:

1588 - The English defeated the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Gravelines.

1754 - The first international boxing match was held. The 25-minute match was won when Jack Slack of Britain knocked out Jean Petit from France.

1836 - Governor Richard Bourke enacts the Church Act, allocating public funds for the advancement of other churches besides the Church of England in New South Wales.

1917 - The accident of stockman Jim Darcy causes a chain of events that eventually leads to the founding of the Flying Doctor Service in Australia.

1938 - The ‘Territory for the Seat of Government’ becomes the Australian Capital Territory.

1942 - During World War II, Japanese forces attack Kokoda on the island of New Guinea, forcing Australian troops to retreat.

1950 - Disney’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island was released.

1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency was established.

1968 - Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s stance against artificial methods of birth control.

1981 - England’s Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married.

1997 - Minamata Bay in Japan was declared free of mercury 40 years after contaminated food fish were blamed for deaths and birth defects.

2005 - Astronomers announced that they had discovered a new planet (Xena) larger than Pluto in orbit around the sun. BIRTHDAYS

Booth Tarkington 1869 Benito Mussolini 1883 Sigmund Romberg 1887 Theda Bara 1890 Melvin Belli 1907 Stephen McNally 1913 Marcel Bich 1914

Patti Scialfa (E Street Band) 1953

Alexandra Paul 1963 Martina McBride 1966 Chris Gorman (Belly) 1967 Wil Wheaton 1972 Stephen Dorff 1973 Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men) 1973