Today In History

Today is Friday, July 31, the 213th day of 2020. There are 153 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1777: During the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army.

ON THIS DATE

› 1715: A fleet of Spanish ships carrying gold, silver and jewelry sank during a hurricane off the east Florida coast; of some 2,500 crew members, more than 1,000 died.

› 1964: The American space probe Ranger 7 reached the moon, transmitting pictures back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface.

› 1971: Apollo 15 crew members David Scott and James Irwin became the first astronauts to use a lunar rover on the surface of the moon.

› 1981: A seven-weekold Major League Baseball strike ended.

› 1991: President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.

› 2014: The death toll from the worst recorded Ebola outbreak in history surpassed 700 in West Africa.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor Don Murray is

91. Jazz composer-musician Kenny Burrell is 89. Actress France Nuyen is

81. Actress Susan Flannery is 81. Singer Lobo is 76. Actress Geraldine Chaplin is 76. International Tennis Hall of Famer Evonne Goolagong Cawley is 69. Actor Barry Van Dyke is 69. Actor Alan Autry is 68. Jazz composer-musician Michael Wolff is 68. Actor James Read is 67. Actor Michael Biehn is 64. Rock singer-musician Daniel Ash (Love and Rockets) is

63. Actor Dirk Blocker is 63. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban is 62. Rock musician Bill Berry is 62. Actor Wally Kurth is 62. Actor Wesley Snipes is

58. Country singer Chad Brock is 57. Musician Fatboy Slim is 57. Rock musician Jim Corr is 56. Author J.K. Rowling is 55. Actress Annie Parisse is

45. Actor Robert Telfer is

43. Country singer-musician Zac Brown is 42. Actor-producer-writer B.J. Novak is 41. Actor Eric Lively is 39. Country singer Blaire Stroud (3 of Hearts) is 37. Singer Shannon Curfman is 35. NHL center Evgeni Malkin is

34. Hip-hop artist Lil Uzi Vert is 26. Actor Reese Hartwig is 22. Actor Rico Rodriguez is 22.