Today in history
1558 — The Flemish army under Duke of Egmont in service of Spain’s King Philip II, aided by an English fleet, defeats the French at Gavelines.
1787 — The Northwest Ordinance is enacted by Congress, outlining how the territory north of the Ohio River will be governed and evolve into states.
1793 — French revolutionary Jeanpaul Marat is murdered in his bath by patriot Charlotte Corday.
1822 — The Greeks defeat Turks at Thermopylae in Greece.
1837 — King William approves the naming of Adelaide after his queen.
1841 — Major powers, by Convention of the Straits, guarantee Ottoman independence, and the Dardanelles and Bosporus are closed to warships of all nations in peacetime.
1854 — Abbas I, Viceroy of Egypt, is murdered, and succeeded by Mohammed Said.
1863 — Rioting against US Civil War military conscription breaks out in New York City, and about 1000 people are killed in three days of disorder. 1878 — Russo-turkish War ends. 1911 — Britain and Japan renew their alliance for four years.
1922 — The France II, the world’s largest sailing vessel, is wrecked off the coast of New Caledonia.
1955 — Ruth Ellis becomes the last woman to be hanged in Britain after she had murdered her lover.
1960 — John F Kennedy wins the Democratic presidential nomination at his party’s convention in Los Angeles.
1985 — Live Aid concert watched by 1.5 billion around the world raises $100 million for African famine relief.
1992 — President George Bush announces the United States will no longer produce plutonium and highly enriched uranium for weapons.
2001 — Fiji’s coup leaders release their remaining 18 captives, ending a two- month-old parliamentary hostage crisis.
2011 — Rupert Murdoch’s dream of controlling a British broadcasting behemoth evaporates after he withdraws his bid for BSKYB.
2012 — Australian cricketer Brett Lee retires from international matches.
2014 — Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe, one of Australia’s greatest ever athletes, reveals he’s gay in an exclusive interview with iconic journalist Sir Michael Parkinson; Germany wins the FIFA World Cup, beating Argentina 1-0 in extra time in Rio de Janeiro. Today’s Birthdays: Wole Soyinka, Nigerian writer and Nobel laureate (1934-); Harrison Ford, US actor (1942-); Roger Mcguinn, US guitarist-singer The Byrds (1942-); Erno Rubik, Hungarian inventor of Rubik’s Cube (1944-); Ladyhawke, New Zealand singer-songwriter (1979-).