General events not linked to a date:
National Baked Bean MonthNational Culinary Arts Month
National Hot Dog Month
National Ice Cream Month
National Picnic Month
National Pickle Month
1 July
Scarecrow Day (US)
Canada Day
International Joke Day
National Gingersnap Day
1860 Charles Goodyear R.I.P. He invented the process named ‘vulcanization’ which made the commercial use of rubber possible. Vulcanized rubber didn’t become brittle in winter and turn gummy in summer as natural rubber did
1863: Battle of Gettysburg (1-3 July 1863).
1874 The Philadelphia Zoo opened, the first zoological gardens in the U.S.
1910 Ward Baking Company of Chicago, Illinois opened the first completely automated bread plant in the U.S. Untouched by human hands.
1912 David Ross Brower was born. Brower was the founder of many environmental organizations including the ‘Friends of the Earth’ and ‘Earth Island Institute
1912 first Royal Variety Show, presented by Sir Alfred Butt
1916 Coca-Cola started using their new contoured bottle to stay ahead of the competition. (Some sources list November 16, 1915).
1929 Elzie Segar created Popeye, the spinach eating cartoon character. (Also listed as January 17, and April 11 in some sources).
1936 Wally Amos, Jr. born. Creator of ‘Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies’. He sold the name, and now makes ‘Uncle Noname’ chocolate chip cookies.
1942 Leon Daudet died. French journalist and novelist, well known gastronome of his time.
1953 Cheez Whiz was introduced nationwide by Kraft.
1956 Congress passes the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act for the construction of 41,000 miles of Interstate Highways over a 20-year period
1963 Five digit Zip Codes are introduced for U.S. mail
1994 The PLO leader Yasser Arafat, has returned to Palestine after 27 years in exile.
1997 The Colonial flag of Hong Kong is lowered for the last time prior to hand over to China
1999 Forrest Edward Mars died. Son of Frank C. Mars, he helped him develop the Milky Way candy bar. He founded his own company in Europe and developed the Mars Bar, and also created M&Ms. He merged his company with his father’s in 1964, creating the world’s largest candy manufacturer.
2 July
National Anisette Day
1566 Michel de Notredame or Nostradamus died.Nostradamus is best known for his book of prophecies ‘Centuries Asrtologiques’ published in 1555. However, in the same year he also published ‘Excellent er Moult Utile Opuscule a tous necessaire qui desirent avoir connaissance de plusieurs exq uises
recettes’ (‘An excellent and most useful little work essential to all who wish to become acquainted with some exquisite recipes’).
1843 An alligator reportedly fell from the sky during a thunderstorm in Charleston, South Carolina.
1900: First Zeppelin Flew
1926 Emile Coue died. A French pharmacist, he was an advocate of autosuggestion. He suggested repeating the following sentence 15 to 20 times in the morning and evening: “Every day, and in every way, I am becoming better and better.”
1931 Stephen Moulton Babcock died. Babcock developed a test to measure the fat content of milk, which helped improve the quality of commercial dairy production.
1932 Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, was born
1937 Amelia Earhart Goes Missing
1947 An identified or unidentified object crashes near Roswell, New Mexico.
1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is signed into law by President Johnson.
1982 Larry Walters used 45 helium filled weather balloons tied to an aluminum lawn chair to ascend to 16,000 feet above Long Beach. Several very perplexed commercial airline pilots reported seeing Larry sitting in his lawn chair in the sky, to the Long Beach airport. The FAA fined him $4,000, but later settled for $1,500.
2005 Live 8 concerts happen in members of the G8 cities around the world and South Africa
3 July
International Plastic Bag Free Day
National Chocolate Wafer Day
1806 Michael Keens presented the first cultivated strawberry combining flavor and appearance, at the Royal Horticultural Society. “…. I have for a considerable time employed myself in raising new varieties from seed, which has been not only a source of great amusement to me, but also very profitable in my profession.”
1844 The last pair of Great Auks was killed near Iceland. They had been hunted to extinction for food and bait. Great Auks (Garefowl) were almost 3 feet tall, with short wings, similar to penguins. They were flightless, which made them vulnerable to hunters.
1890 Idaho became the 43rd state, the Potato State.
1908 M.F.K. Fisher (Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher) was born. Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher was an American food critic and writer and the author of various articles, essays and books about food. She also translated Brillat-Savarin’s ‘The Physiology of Taste’ in 1949.
1922 ‘Fruit Garden & Home Magazine’ was founded. Two years later it was renamed ‘Better Homes & Gardens’.
1924 Clarence Birdseye, with the financial backing of W. Hodges, W. Gamage, B. Jones, I.L. Rice and J.J. Barry, founded the General Seafood Corporation. The birth of the frozen food industry.
1929 More unusual uses for kitchen appliances: Foam rubber was developed at Dunlop Laboratories. British scientist E.A. Murphy used a kitchen mixer to whip natural latex rubber.
1954 Rationing finally ended in Britain, almost nine years after the end of World War II.
1985 The honey bee was designated the official state insect of Missouri on July 3, 1985.
1998 Rolls Royce Sold To Volkswagen
4 July
National Barbecue Day
Caesar Salad Day
1776 United States Declaration of Independence Signed
1828 The cornerstone was laid for the Tremont House in Boston, Massachusetts. It would be the first U.S. hotel to install bathrooms. It opened on October 16, 1829.
1845 Henry David Thoreau begins his 2 year experiment with simple living at Waldon Pond.
1848 Francois Auguste René Vicomte de Chateaubriand died. Chateaubriand was a French writer and politician. His chef, Montmireil, created a famous recipe consisting of a center cut from the beef tenderloin, grilled and served with béarnaise sauce and chateau potatoes. Montmireil named the dish Chateaubriand.
1906 Vincent Schaefer was born. A U.S. research chemist, he invented ‘cloud seeding’ with dry ice to cause rain or snow.
1918 Pauline Esther and Esther Pauline were born. Pauline Esther’s pen name was Abigal Van Buren and she wrote the “Dear Abby” newspaper advice column. Her twin sister Esther Pauline wrote the “Ann Landers” column advice column.
1943 Alan Wilson of the music group ‘Canned Heat’ was born.
1946 The Philippines became a self-governing nation after 48 years of U.S. sovereignty
1954 Rationing of meat and bacon through the use of ration books ends bringing to an end rationing in Great Britain after 14 years
1956 At a Fourth of July family picnic, Milton Levine came up with the idea for the Ant Farm. I wonder if he had dreams of fencing them in so they would not bother him at picnics?
1959 A 49th star is added to the American flag to represent the new state of Alaska
1960 A 50th star is added to the American flag to represent the new state of Hawaii
5 July
National Apple Turnover Day
1794 Sylvester Graham was born in West Suffield, Connecticut. He advocated vegetarianism, temperance and the use of coarse ground whole wheat (graham) flour. He also invented the Graham cracker in 1829.
1826 Joseph-Louis Proust Died. Proust was a French chemist. In 1799 he was the first to extract sugar from grapes, and proved it identical to sugar extracted from honey.
1841 Thomas Cook hired a special excursion train between Leicester and Loughborough in England for a temperance meeting. The beginning of Thomas Cook & Son, the worldwide travel agency
1942 Oskar Bolza died. German mathematician noted for his work on the reduction of hyperelliptic to elliptic integrals.
1946 The Bikini swimsuit ( a daring 2 piece swimming costume for ladies ) was introduced by French designer Louis Reard at a popular swimming pool in Paris.
1958 ‘The Purple People Eater’ by Sheb Wooley is #1 on the charts.
1966 Large hailstones fell on Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. One hailstone measured 1 foot in diameter.
1981 Riots in Toxteth, Liverpool
1996 The first cloning of an animal by scientists was revealed by the Roslin Institute in Scotland when DOLLY THE SHEEP was cloned from tissue taken from a 6-year-old ewe’s udder.
1996 The record catfish caught with rod and reel weighed 111 pounds and was caught in Tennesee
6 July
National Fried Chicken Day
1615 Furuta Oribe died. His original name was Furuta Shigenari. He was a Japanese master of the tea ceremony who studied under Sen Riky. His ideas influenced the tea ceremony, teahouse architecture, tea-garden landscaping and even flower arrangement.
1766 Alexander Wilson was born. Scottish naturalist, ornithologist and poet. Founder of American ornithology. 1849 Minnesota’s first brewery is opened by Anthony Yoerg in St. Paul.
1869 Agoston Haraszthy de Mokcsa died. Agoston Haraszthy de Mokcsa imported 1,400 varieties of grapevines to California in 1862 and planted the first large vineyard in California in the Sonoma Valley. After the devastating phylloxera blight decimated the European vineyards, some of these same vines, now on resistant American root stock, helped rescue the European vineyards.
1886 Horlick’s of Wisconsin offered the first malted milk for sale to the public. Horlick’s developed the process to dehydrate milk, and patented it in 1883, calling it Malted Milk. The company originally produced a food for babies and invalid’s, that could be shipped without spoiling
1942 Anne Frank and her family take refuge in a secret sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse to escape being sent to Nazi concentration camps
1952 The last of the trams in London ends its journey ending nearly 100 years of trams in London
1985 ‘Raspberry Beret’ by Prince & The Revolution is #1 on the charts
1990 Nathaniel Wyeth died. Wyeth, an American chemist and inventor, received a patent for PET (polyethylene terephthalate) beverage bottles. These were the first plastic bottles strong enough to hold carbonated beverages.
7 July
National Strawberry Sundae Day
National Macaroni Day
Star Festival Day (Japan): Tanabata
1307 King Edward I of England died. King Edward I of England (ruled: 1272-1307). His coronation feast included 278 bacon hogs, 450 pigs, 440 oxen, 430 sheep and 22,600 hens and capons. I believe he had invited some guests to his coronation.
1550 The first chocolate arrived in Europe.
1568 William Turner died. William Turner, an English naturalist and botanist, is known as the ‘father of English Botany.’ His best known work was ‘A New Herball.’
1862 The first Land Grant Act was passed. Public lands were sold for agricultural education. This was the start of many state universities throughout the United States
1883: Pinocchio first printed
1891 The Travelers Cheque was patented.
1912 The first Horn & Hardart Automat in New York City is opened. (The very first Automat Horn & Hardart opened was in Philadelphia on June 9, 1902).
1928 Otto Frederick Rohwedder spent many years working on a bread slicing machine beginning in 1912. He finally perfected it, and the first sliced bread was produced and sold at M.F. Bench’s Chillicothe Baking Company, 100 Elm Street in Chillicothe, Missouri. According to the story, Mr. Bench assisted Rohwedder in the fine tuning the new bread slicing machine. The Chillicothe, Missouri Constitution-Tribune of July 7, 1928 carried a story of the new machines first use.
1930 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died. Creator of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes would go for days without food while working on a case.
1930 Construction begins on the Hoover Dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River
1936 Henry F. Phillips patented the Phillips-head screw and screwdriver.
2007 Seven Wonders of the Modern World Announced
8 July
National Chocolate with Almonds Day
1497 Vasco de Gama left Lisbon with four ships, to search for a sea route to India. He was the first European to sail there (notwithstanding Columbus’ valiant try), and he opened the area to Portuguese trade (and colonization).
1810 Gabriel Gustav Valentin was born. This German-Swiss physiologist was the first to discover the digestive activity of pancreatic juice.
1831 John Styth Pemberton was born. Pemberton was the pharmacist who invented Coca-Cola in 1885. (Pharmacists used to have a much more interesting life!)
1844 Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln was born. She was the author of the original Boston Cooking School Cook Book, before Fanny Farmer took it over.
Between 1751 and 1846 Liberty Bell Cracks
1881 The Ice Cream Sundae was invented. Edward Berner of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, supposedly invented the Ice Cream Sundae, when he served a customer ice cream topped chocolate syrup (used to flavor ice cream sodas). It was a Sunday, and flavored soda water was not served on Sundays to respectable people.
1886 It rained snails in Cornwall, England
1887 A riot breaks out at the saloonkeepers picnic in St. Paul, Minnesota
1889 The Wall Street Journal is first published
1947 The Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) issued a press release stating that personnel had recovered a crashed “flying disc” from a ranch near Roswell
1949 Wolfgang Puck was born. Chef, formerly of Spagos in Los Angeles
1957 William Cadbury, chocolatier died at age 89.
1989 ‘Good Thing’ by Fine Young Cannibals is #1 on the charts
9 July
National Sugar Cookie Day
1766 Jacob Perkins was born. Perkins was issued the first U.S. patent for a refrigerating machine. It used sulfuric ether compression
1792 S.L. Mitchell was named as the first Professor of Agriculture, at Columbia College, New York City
1815 The first natural gas well in the U.S. was discovered by accident, near Charleston, West Virginia. They had been digging a salt brine well
1850 U.S. president Zachary Taylor died. He supposedly developed peritonitis after eating too much of a new dessert treat, strawberry ice cream, at a 4th of July celebration.
1869 Henry Tibbe invented the corncob pipe. The pipe was made from a white kernel corn that was used to make taco and tortilla flour
1872 John F. Blondel of Thomason (Thomaston?), Maine, patented the first doughnut cutter
1887 John Dickenson introduced paper napkins at his company’s annual dinner
1894 Percy Le Baron Spencer was born. Spencer developed the microwave oven in 1946, after he noticed that some chocolate in his pocket had melted after being accidentally exposed to radiation from a magnetron tube he was working on at the time.
1941 Enigma Code Broken
1957 Actress Kelly McGillis was born. McGillis has a restaurant in Key West, Florida called Kelly’s Place
1982 Diet Coke was introduced
1984 A 760-year-old wing of York Minster, the largest medieval cathedral in Britain, was gutted by fire
1999 Pete Sampras wins in three straight sets beating Andre Agassi for his sixth Men’s Wimbledon title in seven years and beating the previous record of Bjorn Borg
2004 Jeff Smith, TV’s ‘Frugal Gourmet,’ died at age 65
10 July
National Pina Colada Day
‘Pick Blueberries’ Day
1720 Mrs. Clements invented a method of preparing mustard flour or powder, which was known for a long time as Durham Mustard. Until then, mustard was made into balls with honey and or vinegar, and then mixed with more vinegar when needed. (Some sources give the date as June 10).
1839 or 1842 Adolphus Busch was born in either 1839 or 1842 near Mainz, Germany. He founded Annheuser Busch in 1866 with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. Annheuser Busch is the world’s largest brewer.
1866 The indelible pencil was patented by Edson P. Clark of Northhampton, Massachusetts. This was the equivalent of the ball point pen of the time. It was non-erasable, and you didn’t need an ink well. Used for bills, prices, etc., you could also place a damp sheet of tissue paper over the writing to get a mirror image
1871 Marcel Proust was born. He was a French writer. On January 1, 1909, he ate a piece of tea-soaked toast whose taste caused on a series of childhood memories. In his 7 volume allegorical novel ‘Remembrance of Things Past,’ the character Swann has a similar experience when he bites into a lemon cookie (a madelaine) which evokes a similar torrent of memories. This is one of the most ubiquitous (i.e., widely-quoted) allusions in literature.
1892 The first concrete paved street is built in Bellefountaine, Ohio. This makes food shopping much easier.
1913 The highest temperature every recorded in the U.S., 134 F. in Death Valley, California.
1920 Edward H. Lowe born. He invented Kitty Litter in 1947
1925 John T. Scopes Trial Begins ( Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach evolution in Tennessee schools )
1940 The Germans Luftwaffe begin bombing raids against Great Britain
1941 Musician ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton died
1947 Arlo Guthrie was born. Woody Guthrie’s son, he is most known for his ballad/story ‘Alice’s Restaurant.’
1958 The first parking meters are installed in England.
1985 Coca-Cola announced it was bringing back the old formula ‘Coke’ as Coca-Cola Classic, but would continue to sell the ‘New Coke.’
1985 The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior is sunk when French agents plant a bomb on the hull of the boat
1989 Mel Blanc (Melvin Jerome Blanc) died. Blanc was a voice actor for Warner Bros. (and other) cartoon characters. Some of the characters he ‘voiced’ include Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Sylvester the Cat.
1999 Aaron ‘Bunny’ Lapin died. Lapin was the inventor of whipped cream in an aerosol can (‘Reddi-Wip’) in 1948.
11 July
National Blueberry Muffin Day
National Mojito Day
1792 The first issue of the ‘Farmer’s Almanac’ was published by Robert Bailey Thomas. (Now called ‘Old Farmer’s Almanac’)
1826 John Fowler born. Fowler was an English engineer who helped develop the ‘steam-hauled’ plow and several other specialty use plows
1899 E.B. White’s Birthday (1899 – 1995)
1955 President Eisenhower signed a bill requiring the use of the inscription ‘In God We Trust’ on all paper money
1979 SkyLab fell to the Earth
1985 The Coca-Cola company makes one of worst decisions in marketing history when it decides to change it’s original formula and introduces “New Coke”
1985 Dr. Harlan Stone announced he had developed zippers to use in place of stitches after operations on patients who might require a second operation
1987 According to the U.N., world population hit 5 billion
2008 Oil hits and an all-time high of $147 a barrel following further missile testing by Iran in the Middle East and concerns over oil supplies should tension increase further between Iran and Israel over Iran’s Nuclear program
12 July
Paper Bag Day
National Pecan Pie Day
1690 Battle of Boyne, also called Orangemen Day. 2017 commemorated the 1st peaceful march in quite some time. A victory in its own right
1730 Josiah Wedgwood was born. English inventor, artist, world renowned pottery designer and manufacturer. His daughter, Susannah, was the mother of Charles Darwin.
1817 Henry David Thoreau was Born. American author, philosopher, and naturalist. Author of ‘Walden; or, Life in the Woods.’
1859 William Goodale of Massachusetts patented a paper bag manufacturing machine
1861 or 1864 George Washington Carver was Born. African American botanist, educator, agricultural chemist and innovator. He developed hundreds of uses for peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes. He established the George Washington Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee, for agricultural research.
1873 It is reported that it rained frogs in Kansas City, Missouri.
1934 Ole Evinrude R.I.P. He invented the first practical outboard motor in 1909. The idea came to him while rowing a boat to a picnic one day. He decided there must be an easier way to move a small boat on the water.
1948 Richard Simmons was born. Weight loss program, ‘Sweatin’ to the Oldies’
1960 Etch a Sketch Introduced
1962 In Pennsylvania, a garbage dump begins to burn underground, and the fire spreads to nearby coal mining tunnels. It was still burning in 1984
1967 Race Riots began in Newark, New Jersey after a black cab driver was arrested and beaten by police
2008 IndyMac Bank Collapse
13 July
National French Fry Day (U.S.A)
Bon Fest and Feast of Lanterns (Japan)
Puzzle Day (conflicting dates but here is some benefits to puzzles)
1568 The Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral developed a method to bottle beer
1794 James Lind R.I.P. Lind was a Scottish physician who recommended that fresh citrus fruit and lemon juice be included in the seamen’s diet to eliminate scurvy. The Dutch had been doing this for almost two hundred years
1864 John Jacob Astor IV born. Great grandson of John Jacob Astor, who founded the family fortune. John Jacob IV built the Astoria section of what would become the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (1897) in New York city (this was on the site where the Empire State building would be built in 1929). He also built the Knickerbocker and the St. Regis hotels. He died on the Titanic.
1937 The first Krispy Kreme doughnut is sold in Salem, North Carolina
1940 Paul Prudhomme was born in Louisiana. Chef and restaurateur, he owned his first restaurant at the age of 17, and in 1979 opened his world famous Cajun restaurant, K-Pauls. He has also written several best selling cookbooks. 1977 Frustrated by an unsuccessful attempt to obtain funding for a water project, Kinney, Minnesota ‘secedes’ from the United States and applies for foreign aid. In support, Duluth’s frozen pizza king Gino Palucci donates 10 cases of frozen pizza.
1977 A power blackout, caused by lightning, hit New York. Power was out for about 25 hours
1985 The Live Aid Concert was a series of rock concerts held to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia around the world in cities including London, Philadelphia, Sydney and Moscow
1995 A heat wave that effects Illinois and Wisconsin starts when a heat advisory is issued in Chicago, Illinois, warning of an impending record-breaking heat wave. By the time the heat wave ends one week later, nearly 2,000 people are dead in Illinois and Wisconsin with temperatures being recorded in Chicago up to 106degrees Fahrenheit
14 July
National Grand Marnier Day
1850 The first demonstration of a refrigerated ice-making machine. Dr. John Gorrie received a patent for the machine on May 6, 1851
1857 Frederick Louis Maytag was born. One of the founders of a farm implement company in Newton, Iowa. In 1907 the company began producing the Maytag washing machine to make up for the seasonal nature of the farm equipment sales. Fred Maytag II began making Maytag Blue Cheese in the 1940s
1966 In one of the worst murder cases to date 8 student nurses are brutally murdered by Richard Speck at their group residence in Chicago, Illinois
1986 Raymond Loewy R.I.P. An American design engineer, he designed the Coca Cola bottle
1998 Richard McDonald died. One of the brothers who founded the original McDonald’s restaurant. He also designed the golden arches logo
15 July
National Tapioca Pudding Day
National Gummy Worm Day
9th or 10 century St. Swithin’s Day. If it rains on St. Swithin’s Day, it means rain for 40 days
‘St. Swithin’s day, gif ye do rain,
for forty days it will remain;
St. Swithin’s day, an ye be fair,
for forty days ’twill rain nae mair.’
1606: Rembrandt Van Rijn’s Birthday (1606 – 1928)
1869 Hippolyte Mege Mouries patented margarine. Emperor Napoleon III had offered a prize for a suitable substitute for butter, for use by the French Navy.
1907 Orville Redenbacher was born. (Date is listed variously as the 15th or 16th). Founder of the gourmet popcorn company
1931 ‘Kid Chocolate’ (Elgio Saldana) becomes Cuba’s first world boxing champion after defeating Benny Bass for the Jr. Lightweight Championship
1933 Hundreds of thousands of Chinese peasants are homeless due to the Yellow River overrunning it’s dykes and flooding thousands of acres of land. Famine is now also affecting these men, women and children and hundreds are now dying from starvation.
1945 Peter Lewis of the music group ‘Moby Grape’ was born
1954: First Boeing 707
1976 School Bus Kidnapped Chowchilla, California
1997 Gianni Versace Murdered
16 July
National Corn Fritter Day
1439 In an effort to stop the spread of disease, kissing is banned in England
1827 Josiah Spode II R.I.P. Inventor of Fine Bone China (Spode porcelain). It became the standard English bone china
1867 Reinforced concrete was patented by F. Joseph Monier. He was a Paris gardener, and developed reinforced concrete to use in garden tubs, beams and posts
1872 Roald Amundsen born (1872 – 1928)
1951 The controversial novel ‘Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger was published
- Book I Read: Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
1967 Arlo Guthrie performs a new song, the 20 minute ‘Alice’s Restaurant’, at the Newport Folk Festival
1969 Apollo 11 astronauts were launched into space on a Saturn 5 rocket launched from Cape Kennedy at 9:32 a.m. hoping to be the first men to land on the moon
1980 The California Supreme Court rules that Ted Giannoulas can appear in public in his San Diego Chicken suit as long as it does not have the call letters of the radio station (KGB) that first used it as a promotional gambit
1981 Shukuni Sasaki spins 72 plates simultaneously
2004 The City Manager of Key West, Florida fired its Official Chicken Catcher. Armando Parra was hired in January to catch and relocate some of the more than 2,000 ‘wild’ chickens that roam this small island city. They did not feel he would meet his contract quota to relocate 1,000 chickens by September
2004 Martha Stewart is sentenced to five months in prison and a two-year period of supervised release (to include five months of home confinement) by a federal judge in New York for conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to federal investigators
17 July
National Peach Ice Cream Day
1763 John Jacob Astor was born in Waldorf, Germany. His descendants built the Waldorf-Astoria hotel.
1845 Charles Grey, 2nd Earl R.I.P. Grey (also Baron Grey and Viscount Howick) was given the recipe for Earl Grey Tea by a Chinese mandarin with whom he was friends (and/or whose life either he or another British diplomat saved).
1867 Harvard School of Dental Medicine was founded in Boston, Massachusetts. It was the first dental school in the U.S
1948 Mick Tucker of the music group ‘Sweet’ was born
1954 “Operation Wetback” is launched by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to remove about four million illegal immigrants from the southwestern United States, with a focus on Mexican nationals. The operation began in California and Arizona sweeping northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a day
1955 Disneyland in Anaheim, California opens
- 30 000 invited guests attended on opening day
- 60th anniversary
1959 Mary Leakey, wife of Louis Leakey, discovered the oldest human skull in Tanganyika (Tanzania). It is about 1.8 million years old.
1961 The Supremes first single recording was released, ‘Buttered Popcorn.’
1981 Hyatt Regency Hotel Bridge Collapse Kansas City
1997 F.W. Woolworth’s, the original five-and-dime store that started in 1879, announced today that its last 400 stores would close
18 July
Cow Appreciation Day
National Ice-Cream Day (US)
National Caviar Day
1867 36 inches of rain fell in 36 hours at Sauk Center, Minnesota
1892 Thomas Cook died. In 1841 Cook hired a special excursion train between Leicester and Loughborough in England for a temperance meeting. The beginning of Thomas Cook & Son, the worldwide travel agency
1918 Nelson Mandela’s Birthday
1925 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler publishes the first volume of his personal manifesto, Mein Kampf which was a bitter and turgid narrative filled with anti-Semitic outpourings, disdain for morality, worship of power, and the blueprints for his plan of Nazi world domination.
1936 The Spanish Civil War starts as a revolt by right-wing Spanish military officers in Morocco which spreads to mainland Spain
1936 The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile is invented. It is a giant hot dog on wheels. Invented by Carl Mayer, nephew of Oscar Mayer, it was built by General Body Company at Chicago, Illinois. There are now a fleet of six
1949 Wally Bryson of the music group ‘The Raspberries’ was born
1968 ‘Grazing In The Grass’ by Hugh Masekela is #1 on the charts
1969 A car driven by Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy plunged off a narrow wooden bridge into a tidal pond after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island
1976 The first perfect 10 ever recorded in Olympic gymnastics was achieved up by Romania’s 4-foot-11, 88-pound Nadia Comaneci on the women’s uneven parallel bars
1994 Crayola introduced scented crayons
19 July
National Daiquiri Day
1104 Flitch Day. A married couple who can prove to a mock court with a jury of bachelors and maidens, that they have ‘not wished themselves unwed,’ are awarded a ‘flitch’ of bacon (half a pig). The origins of this custom are in Dunmow, Essex, England, details are not certain, but references to it go back to 1104. It has been a regular civic event in Dunmow since 1855. Now held every 4 years, and frequently televised (Some sources quote the 9th as Filch Day)
1863 Curtis Fletcher Marbut was born. An American geologist and one of the founders of modern soil science. He was with the U.S. Bureau of Soils for 25 years
1923 Insulin Introduced
1935 The first parking meter in the U.S. the Park-O-Meter invented by Carlton Magee, was installed in Oklahoma City by the Dual Parking Meter Company
1947 Bernie Leadon of the music group ‘Flying Burrito Brothers’ was born
1991 Mike Tyson is accused of the rape of Desiree Washington, a contestant in the Miss Black America pageant
1996 Mervyn Hugh Cowie R.I.P. Cowie was a British wildlife conservationist, founder and director of Kenya’s Royal National Parks
20 July
Chess Day
Ice Cream Soda Day
National Ice Cream Sundae Day
National Lollipop Day
Fortune Cookie Day
1801 Elisha Brown Jr. pressed a 1235 pound cheese ball on his farm. He presented it to president Thomas Jefferson at the White House
1836 Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt, an English physician, was born. He invented the short (6 inch) clinical thermometer which replaced a foot long meat thermometer
1851 The first cheese factory in the U.S. to make cheese from scratch was started in Rome, New York by Jesse Williams. He had his own dairy herd and purchased more milk from other local farmers to make his cheese. By combining the milk and making large cheeses he could produce cheese with uniform taste and texture. Before then, companies would buy small batches of home made cheese curd from local farmers to make into cheese, each batch of curds producing cheese with wide differences in taste and texture from one another
1923 Francisco Villa ( Pancho Villa ) is assassinated in Parral, Chihuahua, in his car and the assassins were never arrested.
1964 Violence has flared up again in Harlem New York during burial services for those killed during the earlier riots with 14 more hurt. African-American leaders in the community are urging calm but hooligans are continuing to cause damage to property in the area
1969 The Apollo 11 astronauts made history when the first man is landed on the moon by the United States and Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon leaving the first human footprints in its dusty soil.
1980 The Moscow Summer Olympics begins minus the United States and 64 other countries who were boycotting the games because of the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan
21 July
National Creme Brûlée Day
National Junk Food Day (US)
1899 Ernest Hemingway Birthday (1899 – 1961)
- Book I Read: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain a historical fiction about his first wife
- Hemingway Adventure with Michael Palin
1931 In the city of Chicago which has one of the most modern Opera Houses in the US, can not pay it’s 14,000 teachers their salaries due to running out of money
2002 Worldcom files for bankruptcy protection
2005 Terrorist Attack London Underground
22 July
National Penuche Day
1284 Pied Piper Arrived in Hamelin.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Hamelin Town’s in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover city;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side;
A pleasanter spot you never spied;
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the townsfolk suffer so
From vermin, was a pity.
1694 Georg Brandt was born. A Swedish chemist, he discovered the element cobalt in 1730. Cobalt is used in steel making, and is an essential part of vitamin B12
1873 It rained ants in Nancy, France
1898 Alexander Calder’s Birthday (1898 – 1976)
1904 Ice Cream Cones Introduced
1934 John Dillinger Public Enemy number ONE career was finally ended during a shootout with FBI agents who had been waiting outside a local Cinema following a tip-off
1983 A new low record temperature was recorded at Vostok Station, Antartica, -128.6 F
1988 An Indian Airlines Boeing 737 was charged by a bull while landing at Baroda Airport in western India
1991 Jeffrey Dahmer is caught
1994 A smoking ban in restaurants and bars in Maryland began today
2009 The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, ( when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth’s view of the Sun ) lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs off the coast of Southeast Asia
23 July
Mosquito Day
National Vanilla Ice Cream Day
Hot Dog Day
1888 Pneumatic Tires Invented
1894 Arthur Treacher, actor, announcer was born. He later founded Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips restaurant franchise
1904 The Ice Cream cone was invented. Charles E. Minches invents the ice cream cone for his customers convenience at the St. Louis World’s Fair (The Louisiana Purchase Exhibition). This is only one account, there are several other candidates
1915 Vincent Sardi Jr. was born. Owner, Sardi’s Restaurant, New York, N.Y
1952 Military Coup d’etat Egypt
1967 Detroit Riots
1976 First Cases Of Legionnaires Disease
1986 Prince Andrew married English commoner Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey
24 July
National Tequila Day
Celebrate the End of the Tour de France
1783 Simon Bolivar’s Birthday
1802 Alexandre Dumas was born. French author (‘The Three Musketeers’, etc.) he was also well known as a gourmet. He also wrote ‘Grand Dictionnaire de la cuisine,’ which he finished a few weeks before his death in 1870, and which was published in 1872
1897 Amelia Earhart Birthday
1910 The first publication of the Paul Bunyan stories of oral folklore, by James MacGillivray in the Detroit News-Tribune. A mythical hero of giant proportions who had an appetite to match his size. His camp stove had a griddle that was greased by men with sides of bacon strapped to their feet
1936 The Army Subsistence Research Laboratory opened. It was devoted solely to developing foods for the Army. One of its first products was the ‘Logan Bar,’ developed by Paul P. Logan, used in the Army’s emergency ‘D Ration’
1938 Nestle introduced Nescafe Instant Coffee in Switzerland
1949 The largest muskellunge (‘Muskie’) caught with rod and reel weighed over 67 pounds and was caught in Hayward, Wisconsin
1959 Then vice president Richard M. Nixon argued with Soviet Leader Nikita Khruschev while Khruschev was touring the United States. They were touring a kitchen at the time, and the discussion became known as the ‘Kitchen Debate’
1969 Apollo 11, the U.S. spacecraft that had taken the first astronauts to the surface of the moon, safely returns to Earth
1990 Iraq Troops Mass On Border of Kuwait
2005 Lance Armstrong Wins 7th Tour De France
- Book I Read: It’s not about the Bike
25 July
National Hot Fudge Sundae Day
F.B.I. Created
1871 Seth Wheeler of Albany, New York was issued a patent for perforated wrapping paper
1872 It was reported to have rained black worms in Bucharest, Rumania
1874 Sergey Vasilyevich Lebedev was born. Lebedev was a Russian chemist who developed a method to produce synthetic rubber on a commercial scale, which used potatoes and limestone as raw materials
1943 Benito Mussolini, the prime minister and dictator of Italy for 21 years, was forced from office
1948 Bread rationing ends in Britain
1952 Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.
1978 Lesley Brown gave birth to the world’s first test tube baby ( in-vitro fertilisation ) delivered by caesarian section in Oldham, England
1993 Vincent Schaefer died. A U.S. research chemist, he invented ‘cloud seeding’ with dry ice to cause rain or snow
2000 An Air France Concorde jet bound for New York crashes upon takeoff in Paris killing everyone onboard
2008 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation that will ban trans fats in restaurants and retail food establishments. The ban goes into effect on January 1, 2010. California is the first state to ban trans fats in restaurants. There are several cities that have banned them, and California and Oregon have previously banned trans fats in school meals.
26 July
National Bagelfest
National Coffee Milkshake Day
1856 George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, was born. You will find many food related quotes from his works on the Food Reference Website. Quote: “There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”
1866 Beatrix Potter was born. English author of children’s books, her first and most famous story is ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit,’ originally written as an illustrated letter to a sick child.
1922 Blake Edwards, American film director and producer. Among his films are ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ ‘Days of Wine and Roses,’ and ‘The Tamarind Seed.’
1926 Roquefort cheese is the first cheese designated with an appellation d’origine controlee. Only cheese that is processed in Roquefort, France and aged in the caves there may be called ‘Roquefort Cheese.’
1956 Suez Crisis Begins
1989 Leslie Merry was hit with a turnip thrown from a passing vehicle in London. He was knocked down and suffered a broken rib and a ruptured spleen. He died of respiratory failure, due to the accident.
27 July
National Scotch Day
1880 A.P. Abourne patented a method for refining coconut oil
1909 The world’s aeroplane record for two men, was broken in a flight of one hour, twelve minutes and forty seconds over fifty miles and at a speed averaging about forty miles an hour by Orville Wright and Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm, of the army signal corps, as a passenger
1910 Large hailstones fall in Todd and Wadena counties in Minnesota, some weighing as much as 5 pounds.
1931 A swarm of grasshoppers destroyed thousands of acres of crops in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. The corn fields were totally destroyed, without a stalk left standing.
1931 Auguste-Henri Forel was born. The next time you are on a picnic and become overtaken by ants, think of Forel. If you would like to know about ants, find a copy of his 5 volume ‘The Social World of the Ants’
1940 Bugs Bunny Debut In ‘A Wild Hare
1974 The House of Representatives charges President Richard M. Nixon with the first of three articles of impeachment for obstruction of justice
1962 Conrad Arnold Elvehjem died. An American biochemist, he identified nicotinic acid as one of the B vitamins, and that a deficiency caused the disease pellagra.
28 July
National Milk Chocolate Day
National Hamburger Day
1866 Beatrix Potter’s Birthday (1866 – 1943)
1870 First Finger Prints
1932 Federal troops under the order of President Hoover forcibly dispersed the “Bonus Army” of ( 17,000 World War I veterans ) who had gathered in Washington, D.C.
1956 Elvis Presley scores his second No. 1 hit with “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.”
29 July
National Lasagna Day
National Chicken Wing Day
1945 I-58 Japanese submarine sinks the American cruiser Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen in the worst loss in the history of the U.S. Navy.
1958 NASA Established
1976 The so-called “Son of Sam” pulls a gun from a paper bag and fires five shots at Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti of the Bronx while they are sitting in a car. Lauria died and Valenti was seriously wounded in the first in a series of shootings by the serial killer, who terrorised New York City over the course of the next year.
1981 Prince Charles marries Lady Diana at a royal ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral
30 July
National Cheesecake Day (US)
1818 Emily Bronte’s Birthday
1965 The Social Security Act of 1965 was signed by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson which established the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, financed by higher Social Security payroll taxes.
1965 J.K. Rowling’s Birthday
1966 England win the World Cup in extra time at Wembley Stadium 4 to 2
31 July
National Raspberry Cake Day
National Cotton Candy Day
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