On July 10th...

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138 Roman Emperor Hadrian died.

1040 Lady Godiva rode naked on horseback through Coventry (according to legend).

1460 Richard of York defeated King Henry VI at Northampton.

1499 Vasco da Gama returned to Portugal after having commanded the first sea expedition around the southern tip of Africa to India.

1509 Protestant leader John Calvin was born.

1520 King Charles V of France and King Henry VIII of England signed the Treaty of Calais.

1559 King Henri II of France died.

1629 The first non-Separatist Congregational Church in America was founded in Salem, Massachusetts.

1723 English lawyer William Blackstone was born.

1778 King Louis XVI of France declared war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1832 President Andrew Jackson vetoed legislation to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States.

1851 Painter-inventor Louis Jacques Daguerre died.

1856 Electrical engineer Nikola Tesla was born.

1866 The indelible pencil was patented by Edson P. Clark.

1867 Humorist Finley Peter Dunne was born.

1875 Educator Mary Bethune was born.

1890 Wyoming became the 44th state.

1910 Chicago's Comiskey Park opened.

1919 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson personally presented the Treaty of Versailles to the Senate.

1921 Boxer Jake LaMotta was born.
1921 Eunice Kennedy Shriver was born.

1923 Writer-producer Earl Hammer, Jr. was born.

1925 TASS, the official news agency of the Soviet Union, was established.

1927 American politician David N. Dinkins was born.
1927 Actor William Smithers was born.

1931 Composer Jerry Herman was born.

1933 Director Ivan Passer was born.

1939 Actor Lawrence Pressman was born.
1939 Singer Mavis Staples was born.

1940 The Battle of Britain began as Nazi forces began attacking southern England by air.
1940 Actor Mills Watson.

1941 Actor Robert Pine was born.
1941 Jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton died.

1943 U.S. and British forces launched an invasion of Sicily.

1945 Tennis player Virginia Wade was born.
1945 Actor Ron Glass was born.

1946 Folk singer Arlo Guthrie was born.

1950 "Your Hit Parade" premiered on NBC-TV.

1951 Armistice talks aimed at ending the Korean Conflict began at Kaesong.
1951 Country singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler was born.

1954 Rock singer Neil Tennant was born.

1958 Banjo player Bela Fleck was born.

1960 Country musician Shaw Wilson was born.

1962 Telstar was launched into orbit and became the world's first active telecommunications satellite.

1965 Country singer-songwriter Ken Mellons was born.
1965 Rock musician Peter DiStefano was born.

1967 Bobbie Gentry recorded "Ode to Billie Joe."

1970 Country singer Gary LeVox was born.

1972 Actress Sofia Vergara was born.

1973 The Bahamas became fully independent after 300 years of British colonial rule.

1976 Actor Adrian Grenier was born.

1978 "World News Tonight" premiered on ABC-TV.
1978 Mauritanian President Moktar Ould Daddah was overthrown in a bloodless military coup.

1979 At least 13 persons were killed and 60 injured when two trains collided head-on near Naples, Italy.
1979 Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler died.

1980 Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas.
1980 Singer-actress Jessica Simpson was born.

1989 Voice actor Mel Blanc died.

1991 Boris Yeltsin took the oath of office as the first elected President of the Russian Republic.

2004 Maria de Lurdes Pintassilgo, former Prime Minister of Portugal, died.

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This page was last updated on November 29, 2017.