1542 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sets sail from the Mexican port of Navidad to explore the west coast of North America on behalf of the Spanish Empire
1743 – War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Dettingen: in Bavaria, King George II of Britain personally leads troops into battle. The last time a British monarch commanded troops in the field.
1929 – 1st color TV demo, performed by Bell Laboratories in NYC
1950 – North Korean troops reach Seoul, UN asks members to aid South Korea, Harry Truman orders US Air Force & Navy into Korean conflict
1954 – 1st atomic power station opens – Obninsk, near Moscow in Russia
1967 – The world’s first ATM is installed in Enfield, London
1972 – Legendary video game and home computer Atari, Inc. founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Sunnyvale, California
1979 – Heavyweight Muhammad Ali confirms that his 3rd retirement is final (it isn’t)
1981 – Ali Khamenei narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, when a bomb concealed in a tape recorder, explodes on a desk in front of him
2001 – Pope John Paul II beatifies 28 Ukrainian Greek Catholics, including 27 martyrs most of whom were killed by the Soviet secret police. Beatification takes place at the service in Lviv, western Ukraine during his first visit to this country.
2007 – Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
2017 – Mark Zuckerberg announces Facebook has reached 2 billion monthly users
2020 – Ireland’s coalition government appoints Micheál Martin as Prime Minister after four months of negotiations
Music:
1994 – Aerosmith become first major band to let fans download a full new track free from the internet
Sport:
1890 – Canadian boxer George Dixon becomes first black world champion when he stops English bantamweight champion Edwin “Nunc” Wallace in 18 rounds in London, England
