Today In History
Today is Thursday, July 18, the 199th day of 2019. There are 166 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› A.D. 64: The Great Fire of Rome began, consuming most of the city for about a week. (Some blamed the fire on Emperor Nero, who in turn blamed Christians.)
ON THIS DATE
› 1944: Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War II. American forces in France captured the Normandy town of St. Lo.
› 1947: President Harry S. Truman signed a Presidential Succession Act which placed the speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tempore next in the line of succession after the vice president.
› 1986: The world got its first look at the wreckage of the RMS Titanic resting on the ocean floor as videotape of the British luxury liner, which sank in 1912, was released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
› 2013: Once the very symbol of American industrial might, Detroit became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Skating champion and commentator Dick Button is 90. Olympic gold medal figure skater Tenley Albright is
84. Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 81. Singer Martha Reeves is 78. Pop-rock musician Wally Bryson (The Raspberries) is 70. Actress Margo Martindale is 68. Singer Ricky Skaggs is 65. Actress Audrey Landers is 63. Rock musician John Hermann (Widespread Panic) is 57. Rock musician Jack Irons is 57. Talk show host-actress Wendy Williams is 55. Actor Vin Diesel is 52. Actor Grant Bowler is 51. Alt-country singer Elizabeth Cook is
47. Actress Elsa Pataky (“The Fast and the Furious” films) is 43. Rock musician Tony Fagenson (formerly with Eve 6) is
41. Movie director Jared Hess is 40. Actor Jason Weaver is 40. Actress Kristen Bell is 39. Actor Michiel Huisman is 38. Rock singer Ryan Cabrera is 37. Actor James Norton is 34. Musician Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers) is 33. Actor Travis Milne is 33. Bluegrass musician Joe Dean Jr. (formerly with Dailey & Vincent) is 30.