July 22

2024 Calendar

July 22 is the 203rd day of the year (204th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 162 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1950

838 – Battle of Anzen: Byzantine Emperor Theophilos suffers a heavy defeat by the Abbasids.
1099 – First Crusade: Godfrey de Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre.
1209 – Massacre of Béziers: The first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade.
1298 – William Wallace fights the English at the Battle of Falkirk.
1456 – Ottoman Wars in Europe: Siege of Belgrade - John Hunyadi, Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary defeats Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire.
1499 – Battle of Dornach: The Swiss decisively defeats the army of Emperor Maximilian I.
1587 – Colony of Roanoke: A second group of English settlers arrives on Roanoke Island off present-day North Carolina to re-establish a deserted colony.
1706 – The Acts of Union of 1707 are agreed upon by Commissioners from the Kingdoms of England and Scotland.
1786 – Albany, New York is officially chartered as a municipality by Governor Thomas Dongan.
1793 – Alexander McKenzie reaches the Pacific coast of North America, becoming the first Euro-American to cross Canada.
1796 – Surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company name an area in Ohio "Cleveland", after General Moses Cleveland.
1797 – Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Battle between Spanish and British naval forces during the French Revolutionary Wars.
1802 – Gia Long conquers Hanoi and unifies modern-day Vietnam, which had experienced centuries of feudal warfare.
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition - Battle of Cape Finisterre.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: Peninsular War - Battle of Salamanca.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Atlanta.
1894 – The first-ever motor race is held in France between Paris and Rouen.
1916 – A bomb explodes during a 'Preparedness Day' parade in Market Street in San Francisco, California, killing 10 people and injuring 40.
1927 – Sheep herder Killar Kashirov of the Kabardin people becomes the first person to reach the top of the Eastern summit of Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia, considered the highest mountain in Europe.
1933 – Wiley Post becomes the first person to fly solo around the world, travelling 25,099 kilometres (15,596 miles) in 7 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes.
1934 – A man identified as American bank robber John Dillinger is shot dead.
1942 – World War II: Start of the fighting on the Kokoda Track in New Guinea between Australia and Japan.
1943 – World War II: Allied forces capture Palermo.
1944 – The Polish Committee of National Liberation publishes its manifesto, starting Communist rule in Poland.
1946 – A terrorist attack on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem kills at least 91 people.

From 1951

1951 – Dezik and Tsygan are the first dogs to make a sub-orbital flight.
1954 – Laos becomes independent from France.
1962 – The Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after take-off and has to be destroyed.
1969 – Francisco Franco declares that the Juan Carlos will be his successor.
1976 – Japan completes its last reparation to the Philippines for war crimes in World War II.
1977 – Deng Xiaoping returns to power in China.
1983 – Martial Law in Poland is officially revoked.
1986 – The United Kingdom bans corporal punishment in schools.
1991 – Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested in Milwaukee after police discover human remains in his apartment.
1992 – In Medellin, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from the luxury prison.
1993 – Kaskasia, Illinois, is evacuated in the Great Flood of 1993.
1994 – Gambia's President Dawda Jawara is removed from office in a coup, to be replaced by Yahya Jammeh.
2003 – A US airstrike on a compound in Mosul, Iraq, kills Saddam Hussein's sons Uday Hussein, Qusay Hussein (and his son Mustapha) and a security guard.
2005 – In London, officers of the Metropolitan Police shoot and kill Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes when he boards a tube train.
2005 – Yelena Isinbayeva becomes the first woman to clear 5 metres in the High Jump.
2009 – A Solar eclipse is seen over East Asia and the Pacific Ocean, and is the longest such event of the 21st century. It is also believed to have been witnessed by more people than any solar eclipse in history.
2010 – The International Court of Justice rules that Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia was not illegal.
2011 – 2011 Norway attacks: An explosion in Oslo city centre kills 8 people. Two hours later, 69 people are killed in a shooting at a political youth event on the island of Utoya, carried out by Anders Behring Breivik.
2012 – Bradley Wiggins becomes the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France.
2013 – Two earthquakes in Gansu province, People's Republic of China, kill at least 90 people.
2013 – A baby boy, Prince George of Cambridge, third in line to the British throne, is born to Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. It comes just a day after nearby Belgium got its new King, Philippe.
2016 – Nine people are killed in a shooting in and around a shopping mall in Munich, Germany. The attacker then kills himself.
2019 – Jo Swinson becomes the first woman to be chosen to lead the British Liberal Democrats.

Births

Up to 1900

1210 – Joan of England, Queen of Scots (d. 1238)
1361 – Carlos III of Navarre (d. 1425)
1478 – King Philip I of Castile (d. 1506)
1510 – Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence (d. 1537)
1519 – Pope Innocent IX (d. 1591)
1535 – Katarina Stenbock, Queen of Sweden (d. 1621)
1559 – Lawrence of Brindisi, Italian monk (d. 1619)
1596 – Tsar Michael I of Russia (d. 1645)
1702 – Alessandro Besozzi, Italian composer and oboist (d. 1775)
1711 – Georg Wilhelm Richmann, German Baltic physicist (d. 1753)
1733 – Mikhail Shcherbatov, Russian philosopher and historian (d. 1790)
1751 – Caroline Matilda of Wales (d. 1775)
1755 – Gaspard de Prony, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1839)
1784 – Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician (d. 1846)
1822 – Gregor Mendel, Austrian pioneering geneticist (d. 1884)
1831 – Emperor Komei of Japan (d. 1867)
1844 – William Archibald Spooner, known for verbal inversions called spoonerisms (d. 1930)
1848 – Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1914)
1856 – Kamran Mirza, Prime Minister of Persia (d. 1927)
1859 – Emma Lazarus, American poet (d. 1887)
1877 – Giovanni Giorgio Tressino, Italian horse rider (d. 1963)
1882 – Edward Hopper, American painter (d. 1967)
1886 – Hella Wuolijoki, Finnish author (d. 1954)
1887 – Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German quantum physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (d. 1975)
1888 – Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-American biochemist (d. 1973)
1889 – James Whale, English movie director, actor and screenwriter (d. 1957)
1890 – Rose Kennedy, mother of John F. Kennedy (d. 1995)
1893 – Jesse Haines, American baseball player (d. 1978)
1893 – Karl Menninger, American psychiatrist (d. 1990)
1894 – Oskar Maria Graf, writer (d. 1967)
1895 – Pavel Sukhoi, Russian aircraft designer (d. 1975)
1898 – Stephen Vincent Benét, American writer (d. 1943)
1898 – Alexander Calder, American artist (d. 1976)
1899 – Sobhuza II, King of Swaziland (d. 1982)

1901 – 1950

1905 – Doc Cramer, American Major League Baseball player (d. 1990)
1908 – Amy Vanderbilt, writer on etiquette (d. 1974)
1909 – Dorino Serafini, Italian racing driver (d. 2000)
1913 – Gorni Kramer, Italian bandleader and songwriter (d. 1995)
1916 – Marcel Cerdan, world champion boxer (d. 1949)
1923 – Bob Dole, United States Senator from Kansas, Presidential candidate (d. 2021)
1923 – Mukesh, singer (d. 1976)
1923 – Netti Witziers-Timmer, Dutch sprinter (d. 2005)
1923 – The Fabulous Moolah, American wrestler (d. 2007)
1924 – Margaret Whiting, American singer (d. 2011)
1925 – Joseph Sargent, American movie director (d. 2014)
1926 – Bryan Forbes, English actor (d. 2013)
1926 – Wolfgang Iser, German literary scholar (d. 2007)
1927 – Johan Ferner, Norwegian sailor (d. 2015)
1928 – Nedelcho Beronov, Bulgarian politician (d. 2015)
1928 – Jimmy Hill, English football manager and pundit (d. 2015)
1928 – Orson Bean, American actor
1931 – Guido de Marco, 6th President of Malta (d. 2010)
1932 – Oscar de la Renta, Dominican fashion designer (d. 2014)
1934 – Louise Fletcher, American Academy Award-winning actress (in 1976)
1936 – Tom Robbins, American writer
1939 – Terence Stamp, actor
1939 – Erhard Walther, artist
1940 – Alex Trebek, American game show host (d. 2020)
1941 – Estelle Bennett, American singer (The Ronettes) (d. 2009)
1941 – George Clinton, musician
1942 – Peter Habeler, Austrian mountaineer
1943 – Kay Bailey Hutchison, American politician
1943 – Bobby Sherman, American singer and actor
1944 – Anand Satyanand, former Governor-General of New Zealand
1944 – Rick Davies, English musician
1946 – Danny Glover, American actor and activist
1946 – Mireille Mathieu, French singer
1946 – Johnson Toribiong, former President of Palau
1946 – Paul Schrader, American movie director
1947 – Albert Brooks, American comedian
1947 – Gilles Duceppe, Canadian politician
1947 – Don Henley, drummer, singer, and songwriter
1948 – Otto Waalkes, German comedian, actor and entertainer
1948 – Ana de Palacio, Spanish politician
1948 – Alfonso Cano, Colombian guerrilla (FARC) (d. 2011)
1949 – Alan Menken, American composer
1949 – Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai
1949 – Lasse Virén, Finnish athlete
1950 – S. E. Hinton, American writer

1951 – 1975

1951 – Patriarch Daniel of Romania
1951 – J. V. Cain, American football player (d. 1979)
1953 – René Vandereycken, Belgian footballer
1953 – Jimmy Bruno, American guitarist
1954 – Al Di Meola, American guitarist
1955 – Willem Dafoe, American actor
1957 – Alvaro Corcuera, Mexican priest (d. 2014)
1958 – Tatsunori Hara, Japanese baseball player
1959 – Lon Bender, American sound editor
1960 – Barbara Cassani, American businesswoman
1961 – Keith Sweat, singer
1962 – Alvin Robertson, American basketball player
1964 – John Leguizamo, Colombian-American actor
1964 – Bonnie Langford, English actress and dancer
1964 – David Spade, American comedian
1965 – Shawn Michaels, retired American professional wrestler
1965 – Robert Aderholt, American politician
1967 – Irene Bedard, American actress
1967 – Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor
1969 – Jason Becker, American actor
1969 – Despina Vandi, Greek singer
1970 – Sergei Zubov, Russian ice hockey player
1970 – Devendra Fadnavis, Indian politician
1971 – Kristine Lilly, American soccer player
1972 – Andrew Holness, Prime minister of Jamaica
1972 – Paulinho, footballer
1972 – Colin Ferguson, Canadian actor
1972 – Keyshawn Johnson, American football player
1973 – Rufus Wainwright, Canadian singer and songwriter
1973 – Daniel Jones, English-Australian musician
1974 – Franka Potente, German actress
1975 – Markus Metzenthin, economist

From 1976

1976 – Kokia, Japanese singer
1978 – Dennis Rommedahl, Danish footballer
1979 – Anna Belen-Zarska, Polish tennis player
1980 – Dirk Kuyt, Dutch footballer
1980 – Kate Ryan, Belgian singer
1982 – Anna Chicherova, Russian high jumper
1983 – Sharni Vinson, Australian actress
1983 – Shelby Belle, actress
1984 – Stewart Downing, English footballer
1987 – Charlotte Kalla, Swedish skier
1987 – Joshua Small, singer, songwriter
1987 – Andrey Golubev, Kazakhstani tennis player
1989 – Keegan Allen, American actor
1989 – Baltasar Breki Samper, Icelandic actor
1992 – Selena Gomez, American singer and actress
1993 – Amber Beattie, English actress
1993 – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Chechen-American suspected terrorist
1994 – Emina Jonasson, Swedish handball player
1996 – Skyler Gisondo, American actor
1998 – Madison Pettis, American actress
2002 – Prince Felix of Denmark
2013 – Prince George of Cambridge, son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Deaths

Up to 1900

1387 – Frank Ackerman, Flemish statesman (b. 1330)
1461 – Charles VII of France (b. 1403)
1525 – Richard Wingfield, English diplomat (b. 1426)
1540 – John Zapolya, Hungarian King
1619 – Lawrence of Brindisi, Italian monk (b. 1559)
1645 – Gaspar de Guzman, Count of Olivares, Duke of San Lucar (b. 1587)
1676 – Pope Clement X (b. 1590)
1734 – Peter King, 1st Baron King, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1669)
1802 – Marie François Xavier Bichet, French anatomist and physiologist (b. 1771)
1813 – George Shaw, English naturalist (b. 1751)
1826 – Giuseppe Piazzi, Italian astronomer, mathematician and theologian (b. 1746)
1832 – Napoleon II of France (b. 1811)
1845 – Count Heinrich von Bellegarde, Austrian field marshal and statesman (b. 1757)
1869 – John August Roebling, German-American engineer and bridge builder (b. 1806)
1893 – John Rae, Orcadian explorer (b. 1813)

1901 – 2000

1903 – Cassius Marcellus Clay, American lawyer, publisher and politician (b. 1810)
1904 – Wilson Barrett, actor (b. 1846)
1908 – Randal Cremer, English politician and pacifist (b. 1828)
1909 – Detlev von Liliencron, German poet and writer (b. 1844)
1915 – Sandford Fleming, Scottish-Canadian inventor of Standard time (b. 1827)
1916 – James Whitcomb Riley, American writer and poet (b. 1849)
1918 – Indra Lal Roy, Indian flying ace (b. 1898)
1920 – William Kissam Vanderbilt, American businessman and horsebreeder (b. 1849)
1922 – Jokichi Takamine, chemist (b. 1854)
1932 – Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., American theatrical producer (b. 1867)
1932 – Errico Malatesta, Italian anarchist (b. 1853)
1932 – Reginald Fessenden, Canadian inventor (b. 1866)
1934 – John Dillinger, American bank robber, shot at the Biograph Theater in Chicago (b. 1903)
1936 – Andreas Hinterstoisser, German mountaineer (b. 1914)
1936 – Toni Kurz, German mountaineer (b. 1913)
1950 – William Lyon Mackenzie King, tenth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1874)
1967 – Carl Sandburg, American poet (b. 1878)
1968 – Giovannino Guareschi, Italian journalist (b. 1908)
1974 – Wayne Morse, former Senator from Oregon
1979 – Sándor Kocsis, Hungarian footballer (b. 1929)
1979 – J. V. Cain, American football player (b. 1951)
1988 – Duane Jones, American actor (b. 1936)
1989 – Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (b. 1935)
1990 – Manuel Puig, Argentine writer (b. 1932)
1996 – Rob Collins, English keyboardist (The Charlatans) (b. 1956)
1998 – Hermann Prey, German bass-baritone (b. 1929)
1998 – Alan Shepard, American astronaut (b. 1923)
1999 – Gar Samuelson, American drummer (Megadeth) (b. 1958)
2000 – Eric Christmas, British actor (born 1916)
2000 – Claude Sautet, French movie director (b. 1924)

From 2001

2001 – Indro Montanelli, Italian journalist and writer (b. 1909)
2003 – Wahome Muthahi, Kenyan humourist (b. 1954)
2003 – Qusay Hussein of Iraq, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1966)
2003 – Uday Hussein of Iraq, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1964)
2004 – Sacha Distel, French singer (b. 1933)
2004 – George Kidd, Canadian diplomat (b. 1917)
2005 – Jean Charles de Menezes, Brazilian shooting victim (b. 1978)
2007 – Ulrich Mühe, German actor (b. 1953)
2007 – Laszlo Kovacs, Hungarian-American cinematographer (b. 1933)
2008 – Estelle Getty, American actress (b. 1923)
2010 – Kenny Guinn, American politician, 27th Governor of Nevada (b. 1936)
2011 – Linda Christian, American actress (b. 1924)
2011 – Tore Eikeland, Norwegian youth politician (b. 1989) (2011 Norway attacks)
2012 – Bohdan Stupka, Ukrainian actor and former culture minister (b. 1941)
2012 – George Armitage Miller, American psychologist (b. 1920)
2012 – Oswaldo Payá, Cuban activist (b. 1952)
2013 – Dennis Farina, American actor (b. 1944)
2013 – Lawrie Reilly, Scottish footballer (b. 1928)
2014 – John Blundell, English economist (b. 1952)
2015 – Christopher M. Fairman, American legal scholar (b. 1960)
2015 – Eddie Hardin, British rock musician (b. 1949)
2015 – Jeannette Cathy, American philanthropist (b. 1923)
2016 – Viktor Kryzhanivskyi, Ukrainian artist (b. 1950)
2016 – Ursula Franklin, German-American scientist, author and educator (b. 1921)
2017 – Kostiantyn Sytnyk, Ukrainian botanist and politician (b. 1926)
2017 – Artyom Tarasov, Russian businessman and political activist (b. 1950)
2017 – Jim Vance, American news anchor (b. 1942)
2017 – Fritz Hellwig, German politician (b. 1912)
2018 – Rene Portland, American basketball player (b. 1953)
2018 – Chiyo Miyako, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1901)
2018 – Tony Sparano, American football coach (b. 1961)
2018 – Tor Erling Staff, Norwegian lawyer (b. 1932)
2018 – Manos Eleutheriou, Greek poet (b. 1938)
2019 – Peter Hamm, German poet and journalist (b. 1937)
2019 – Christopher C. Kraft Jr., American aerospace engineer (b. 1924)
2019 – Brigitte Kronauer, German writer (b. 1940)
2019 – Hans Lagerqvist, Swedish pole vaulter (b. 1940)
2019 – Art Neville, American musician (b. 1937)
2019 – Li Peng, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1928)

Observances

Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene
Pi Approximation Day