July 15

July 15 is the 196th day (197th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 169 days remaining.

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Events

• 1099 - Christian soldiers take Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after a difficult siege during First Crusade.
• 1207 - John of England expels Canterbury monks for supporting Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton
• 1381 - John Ball, veteran of Peasants' Revolt, executed in the presence of Richard II of England
• 1410 - Battle of Grunwald (a.k.a. Tannenberg or Zalgiris), power of the Teutonic Knights broken by a defeat from Poles and Lithuanians
• 1685 - In England, the Duke of Monmouth is executed at Tower Hill, after he was defeated at the Battle of Sedgemore.
• 1789 - Marquis de la Fayette, by acclamation, named colonel-general of the new National Guard of Paris.
• 1799 - In the Egyptian village of Rosette, French Captain Pierre Bouchard finds the Rosetta Stone.
• 1806 - Pike expedition: Near St. Louis, Missouri, United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine to explore the west.
• 1815 - Napoléon Bonaparte surrenders from aboard HMS Bellerophon
• 1862 - American Civil War: Confederates break naval blockade of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
• 1870 - Reconstruction: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
• 1916 - In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing incorporates Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).
• 1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Marne - The battle begins near the River Marne with a German attack.
• 1929 - First weekly radio broadcast of Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
• 1931 - Kid Chocolate becomes Cuba's first world boxing champion.
• 1944 - World War II: Americans take Saipan
• 1953 - John Reginald Christie executed.
• 1954 - First flight of the Boeing 707, the first American jet passenger airliner.
• 1958 - In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to provide military support to the pro-Western government there.
• 1974 - In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'etat, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president.
• 1975 - Apollo Soyuz Test Project: Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft take off for U.S.-Soviet link-up in space.
• 1979 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his famous "malaise" speech, where he characterizes the greatest threat to the country as "this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation."
• 1988 - Die Hard opens in theaters, starring Bruce Willis
• 1994 - Albert Belle of the Cleveland Indians caught with a corked bat.
• 1995 - Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought by Douglas Hofstadter becomes the first item sold on Amazon.com
• 1996 - MSNBC cable-DBS channel launched
• 1996 - Hercules C-130 of the Royal Belgian Air Force carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport. Thirty-two people died in the flames, two people died of their injuries. Seven people sustained severe burns.
• 1997 - In Miami, Florida, serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan guns down Gianni Versace outside his home.
• 2002 - So-called "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and for the possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each of the charges.
• 2002 - Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three other suspects convicted of murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
• 2003 - AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.
• 2004 - Monorail service begins in Las Vegas.
• 2004 - 18 - The Open Championship in golf, known in North America as the British Open, takes place in Troon, Scotland.
• 2004 - The BBC airs the documentary "The Secret Agent", exposing racism by members of the British National Party.

Births

• 1573 - Inigo Jones, architect (d. 1652)
• 1606 - Rembrandt, artist (d. 1669)
• 1779 - Clement Clarke Moore, educator, author, poet (d. 1863)
• 1796 - Thomas Bulfinch, mythologist, author Bulfinch's Mythology (d. 1796)
• 1808 - Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, archbishop (d. 1892)
• 1812 - James Hope-Scott, lawyer (d. 1873)
• 1848 - Vilfredo Pareto, economist and sociologist (d. 1923)
• 1850 - Mother Cabrini, Roman Catholic saint (d. 1917)
• 1865 - Alfred Charles William Northcliffe, newspaper publisher
• 1870 - Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, Russian publisher and politician (d. 1922)
• 1871 - Kunikida Doppo, writer (d. 1908)
• 1892 - Walter Benjamin, literary critic and writer (d. 1940)
• 1899 - Sean F. Lemass, Irish leader (d. 1971)
• 1902 - Jean Ray, politician, President of the European Commission 1967-1970 (d. 1983)
• 1911 - Edward Shackleton, explorer (d. 1994)
• 1914 - Hammond Innes, writer (d. 1998)
• 1918 - Bertram N. Brockhouse, Nobel Prize-winning physicist (d. 2003)
• 1919 - Iris Murdoch, writer (d. 1999)
• 1923 - Philip Carey, actor
• 1926 - Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentinian dictator (d. 2003)
• 1926 - Driss Chraïbi - author
• 1927 - Nan Clow Martin, actress
• 1928 - Carl Woese, microbiologist
• 1930 - Jacques Derrida, philosopher
• 1930 - Stephen Smale, mathematician who broke the dimension barrier
• 1931 - Clive Cussler, author
• 1933 - Julian Bream, English guitarist and lutenist
• 1934 - Harrison Birtwistle, composer
• 1934 - Risto Jarva, Finnish filmmaker
• 1935 - Diahann Carroll, actress
• 1942 - Mil Mascaras, former professional wrestler
• 1944 - Millie Jackson, R&B singer
• 1945 - Jürgen Möllemann, German politician
• 1946 - Linda Ronstadt, singer
• 1947 - Camilla Parker Bowles, British royal mistress
• 1949 - Carl Bildt, politician
• 1949 - Trevor Horn, musician
• 1951 - Jesse Ventura, former professional wrestler, former
• 1953 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haitian politician
• 1953 - John Denham, British politician
• 1956 - Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division
• 1956 - Barry Melrose, hockey player, coach, commentator
• 1956 - Marky Ramone, member of The Ramones
• 1958 - Mac Thornberry, American politician
• 1961 - Forest Whitaker, actor
• 1966 - Irène Jacob, actress
• 1968 - Eddie Griffin, actor
• 1970 - Chi Cheng, musician
• 1971 - John Dolmayan, Drummer for System of a Down
• 1973 - Brian Austin Green, actor

Deaths

• 518 - Anastasius I, Byzantine Emperor
• 1085 - Robert Guiscard, Norman adventurer
• 1291 - Rudolph I of Germany
• 1381 - John Ball
• 1571 - Shimazu Takahisa, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1514)
• 1685 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth
• 1767 - Michael Bruce, poet
• 1782 - Farinelli, castratto
• 1828 - Jean Antoine Houdon, sculptor
• 1839 - Winthrop Mackworth Praed, poet
• 1844 - Claude Charles Fauriel, historian
• 1857 - Carl Czerny, composer
• 1869 - A.J. Hayne, black captain of Arkansas militia
• 1881 - William 'Billy the Kid' Bonney
• 1890 - Gottfried Keller, poet
• 1904 - Anton Chekhov, playwright
• 1929 - Hugo von Hofmannsthal, dramatist
• 1931 - Ladislaus Bortkiewicz, economist
• 1933 - Freddie Keppard, musician (b. 1890)
• 1940 - Robert Pershing Wadlow, giant: 8 feet, 11-1/10 inches tall 439 pounds.
• 1947 - Walter Donaldson, songwriter
• 1948 - John J. Pershing, U.S. general
• 1957 - George Cleveland, actor
• 1957 - James M. Cox, U.S. politician
• 1958 - Julia Lennon, mother of Beatle John
• 1959 - Billie Holiday, jazz and blues singer
• 1960 - Lawrence Tibbett, actor
• 1961 - John E. Brownlee, Canadian politician
• 1965 - Francis Cherry, U.S. politician
• 1971 - Bill Thompson, actor (Lady and the Tramp, The Aristocats, et al.)
• 1980 - Eddie Jackson, comedian
• 1982 - Wendy Caulfield, 1st Green River victim
• 1983 - Eddie Foy Jr, actor
• 1986 - Benny Rubin, actor/comedian
• 1986 - Florence Halop, actress
• 1988 - Eleanor Estes, author
• 1990 - Troy Dixon, rapper
• 1991 - Bert Convy, actor
• 1992 - Hammer DeRoburt, first President of Nauru (b. 1922)
• 1997 - Gianni Versace, fashion designer
• 2003 - Adi Preißler, German soccer player
• 2003 - Roberto Bolaño, Chilenian poet

Holidays and observances

• Botswana - President's Day
• Brunei - Birthday of the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam
• Palermo, Sicily - Festival of Santa Rosalia
• Japan - Third day of Obon feast period
• Saint Swithun's feast day (Anglican Church)
• Saint Vladimir the Great's day (Eastern Orthodox; Roman Catholic)
• Confuflux (Discordianism)

July 14 - July 16 - June 15 - August 15 -- listing of all days

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