1534– Jacques Cartier lands in Canada, claims it for France
1567– Mary Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate; her 1-year-old son becomes King James VI of Scots
1832– Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by Wyoming’s South Pass
1911– American explorer Hiram Bingham discovers Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas
1917 – Dutch-born dancer and courtesan Mata Hari, whose name became a synonym for the seductive female spy, went on trial this day in 1917, accused of spying for Germany, and was subsequently found guilty and shot by a firing squad.
1943– Operation Gomorrah: RAF begins bombing Hamburg (till 3rd August), creating a firestorm and killing 42,600 people
2019– Global warming is the fastest in 2,000 years and scientific consensus that humans are the cause is at 99%, according to three major reports published in journals “Nature” and “Nature Geoscience”
Births & Deaths: 1897 – Amelia Earhart, one of the world’s most-celebrated aviators and the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean, was born in Atchison, Kansas.
1969 – American actress and singer Jennifer Lopez—who was one of the highest-paid Latina actresses in the history of Hollywood and later found crossover success in the music industry with a series of pop albums—was born.
2013 – American sex researcher and therapist Virginia E. Johnson—who, with William H. Masters, formed Masters and Johnson, a pioneering research team noted for their studies on human sexuality—died at age 88.
Film & TV: 1952– “High Noon”, American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Gary Cooper and Thomas Mitchell, is released
1998 – The World War II drama Saving Private Ryan, starring Tom Hanks, was released, and it became a critical and commercial success, earning five Academy Awards, including best director for Steven Spielberg.
Music: 1982– Single “Eye Of The Tiger” by Survivor from “Rocky III” soundtrack starts 6-week run at No. 1 on US charts (Grammy for Best Rock Performance)
Sport: 2005 – American cyclist Lance Armstrong became the first rider to win the Tour de France seven times; however, he was later stripped of all his titles after an investigation revealed that he was the key figure in a wide-ranging doping conspiracy while he compiled his Tour victories.
