On this day in History - Jul 26

0456 - Offa, king of Mercia dies.
0657 - Battle of Siffin.
0796 - Offa dies. King of Mercia.
0811 - Battle of Pliska; Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I is slain, his heir Stauracius is seriously wounded
0811 - Nicephorus I dies (slain in battle). Byzantine emperor.
0920 - Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at Pamplona.
1030 - Stanislaus of Szczepanów was born (d. 1079). St. Stanislaw.
1139 - Afonso, then a count, is proclaimed first king of Portugal and declares independence from Castile
1309 - Henry VII is recognised King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.
1380 - Emperor Komyo of Japan dies (b. 1322). Second of the Northern Ashikaga Pretenders.
1469 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Edgecote Moor - Pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of King Edward IV.
1471 - Pope Paul II dies (b. 1417.
1581 - Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Oath of Abjuration). The declaration of independence of the northern Low Countries from the Spanish king, Philip II.
1592 - Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron dies (b. 1524). French soldier.
1611 - Horio Yoshiharu dies (b. 1542). Japanese warlord.
1678 - Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor was born (d. 1711).
1680 - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester dies (b. 1647). English writer.
1684 - Elena Cornaro Piscopia dies (b. 1646). Italian mathematician.
1712 - Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds dies (b. 1631). English statesman.
1723 - Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, dies (b. 1660). English statesman.
1757 - Battle of Plassey.
1775 - The birth of what would later become the United States Post Office Department was established by the Second Continental Congress and Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General.
1782 - John Field was born (d. 1837). Irish composer.

1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 11th state of the United States.
1791 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart was born (d. 1844). Austrian composer.
1802 - Mariano Arista was born (d. 1855). President of Mexico.
1803 - the Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London.
1822 - José de San Martín arrives in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to meet with Simón Bolívar.
1829 - Auguste Marie Francois Beernaert was born (d. 1912). Belgian statesman, Nobel Prize Laureate.
1847 - Liberia gains independence.
1852 - O general Justo José de Urquiza assume o governo da República Argentina.
1855 - Ferdinand Tönnies was born (d. 1936). German sociologist.
1856 - George Bernard Shaw was born (d. 1950). Author, playwright, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1925.
1861 - American Civil War: George McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.
1863 - American Civil War: Morgan's Raid ends - At Salineville, Ohio, Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his volunteers are captured by Union forces.
1863 - Sam Houston dies (b. 1793). President of the Republic of Texas.
1865 - Philipp Scheidemann was born (d. 1939). 1st Chancellors of the Weimar Republic.
1867 - King Otto of Greece dies (b. 1815).

1870 - Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta was born. Spanish painter.
1874 - Serge Koussevitsky was born (d. 1951). Russian conductor.
1874 - Guilherme Braga dies in Porto (b. 22 Mar 1845). Portuguese poet.
1875 - Carl Jung was born (d. 1961). Swiss psychiatrist and analytical psychologist who identified the introvert and extrovert types.
1875 - Antonio Machado was born (d. 1939). Spanish poet.
1878 - In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.
1880 - Volodymyr Vynnychenko was born (d. 1951). Ukrainian statesman.
1882 - Premiere of Richard Wagner's Parsifal at Bayreuth.
1884 - Lino Ferreira was born. Portuguese dramatist, actor and film director.
1885 - André Maurois was born in Elbeuf, Normandy (d. 7 Oct 1967) . French writer. Honorary president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1965. Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966
1886 - Lars Hanson was born (d. 1965). Swedish actor.
1887 - L. L. Zamenhof publishes "Dr. Esperanto's International Language".
1890 - Dórdio Gomes was born. Portuguese painter.
1890 - Explode em Buenos Aires uma revolução dirigida por Leandro N. Alem contra Miguel Juárez Celman, que deixou a presidência argentina.
1891 - France annexes Tahiti.
1892 - Sad Sam Jones was born (d. 1966). American baseball player.
1894 - Aldous Huxley was born (d. 22 Nov 1963). English writer (Brave New World -1932 ).
1895 - Cassiano Ricardo was born in São José dos Campos, São Paulo (d. 1974). Brazilian poet, essayist, literary critic, and journalist, he was one of the most versatile 20th-century Brazilian poets.

1895 - Gracie Allen was born (d. 1964). American actress and comedian.

1896 - Henry Birkin was born (d. 1933). British racing driver.

1897 - Paul Gallico was born (d. 1976). American author.
1899 - O presidente da República Dominicana Ulises Heureaux é assassinado
1900 - Ernesto Rodolfo Hintze Ribeiro assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro de Portugal
1902 - Gracie Allen was born (d. 27 Aug 1964). Actress, comedienne.
1903 - Estes Kefauver was born (d. 1963). U.S. Senator from Tennessee.
1906 - Irena Iłłakowicz was born (d. 1943). Polish agent of Intelligence.
1908 - United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).
1908 - Salvador Allende was born (d. 1973). President of Chile.
1909 - Vivian Vance was born (d. 17 Aug 1979). Emmy Award-winning actress: I Love Lucy [1953]; The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, Lucy in Connecticut, The Lucy Show;
1909 - Peter Thorneycroft was born (d. 1994). British politician.
1914 - Serbia and Bulgaria interrupts diplomatic relationship.
1914 - Ellis Kinder was born (d. 1968). American baseball player.
1914 - Erskine Hawkins was born (d. 1993). American musician and bandleader.
1915 - Juan Luis Sanfuentes is elected President of Chile.
1918 - Marjorie Lord was born. American actress.

1919 - Virginia Gilmore was born (d. 1986). American actress.

1919 - Sir Edward Poynter dies (b. 1836). British painter.
1920 - Bob Waterfield was born (d. 1983). American football player.
1921 - Jean Shepherd was born (d. 1999). American writer.
1922 - Blake Edwards was born. American film director (The Pink Panther, 10, Victor/Victoria, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Days of Wine and Roses, Switch, Peter Gunn)
1922 - Jason Robards was born (d. 26 Dec 2000). American actor.
1923 - Hoyt Wilhelm was born (d. 2002). Major League Baseball player.
1923 - Jan Berenstain was born. American author.

1925 - Jerzy Einhorn was born (d. 2000). Polish-Swedish doctor, researcher and politician.
1925 - Gottlob Frege dies (b. 1848). German mathematician and logician.
1925 - William Jennings Bryan dies (b. 1860). American politician.
1925 - Antonio Ascari dies (b. 1888). Italian racing driver.
1926 - James Best was born. American actor (The Dukes of Hazzard, Ode to Billy Joe, The Naked and the Dead, Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair).
1926 - Ana María Matute was born. Spanish author.
1928 - Don Beauman was born (d. 1955). British racing driver.

1928 - Stanley Kubrick was born (d. 7 Mar 1999). American film director ( 2001: A Space Odyssey, Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, A Clockwork Orange, Lolita, Paths of Glory).
1928 - Francesco Cossiga was born. Eighth President of Italy.
1928 - Ibn-e-Safi was born (d. 1980). Pakistani fiction writer and Urdu poet
1928 - Peter Lougheed was born. Canadian politician
1929 - Alexis Weissenberg was born. Bulgarian-born French pianist
1929 - Marc Lalonde was born. French Canadian politician
1930 - João Pessoa is assassinated. Brazilian (from Paraná) politician.
1931 - Takashi Ono was born. Japanese gymnast.
1931 - José Lino Grünewald dies (b. 13 Feb 1931). Brazilian lawyer, journalist and poet.
1932 - Frederick Duesenberg dies (b. 1876). Automotive inventor.
1934 - Assassination of Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss.
1935 - Charlotte Beers was born. Advertising executive.
1935 - Winsor McCay dies (b. 1871). American cartoonist.
1936 - The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War
1936 - Mary Millar was born (d. 1998). English actress.
1937 - End of the Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War.
1938 - Bobby Hebb was born. American musician.
1938 - Darlene Love was born. American singer.
1939 - John Howard was born. Twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia.
1939 - Bob Lilly was born. American football player.
1939 - Rogelio Polesello was born. Argentinian artist.
1940 - Bobby Rousseau was born. Quebec ice hockey player.

1940 - Dobie Gray was born. American singer.
1940 - Mary Jo Kopechne was born (d. 1969). American aide to Robert F. Kennedy
1940 - Tolis Voskopoulos was born. Greek singer.
1941 - Darlene Love was born. American singer and actress.
1941 - Bobby Hebb was born. American musician.

1941 - Brenton Wood was born. American singer-songwriter.
1941 - World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.
1941 - Henri Lebesgue dies (b. 1875). French mathematician.
1942 - Vladimír Mečiar was born. Slovak prime minister.
1942 - Teddy Pilette was born. Belgian racing driver.
1942 - Roberto Arlt dies (b. 1900). Argentinian writer.
1943 - Mick Jagger was born. English musician (Rolling Stones).
1943 - Peter Hyams was born. American film director.
1944 - World War II: Soviet army enters Lviv, major city of western Ukraine, liberating it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jewish survivors left, out of 160.000 Jews in Lviv prior to Nazi occupation.
1944 - The first German V-2 hits Great Britain.
1944 - Kiel Martin was born (d. 1990). American actor.
1944 - Micki King was born. American diver.
1945 - General election results in the United Kingdom are announced; The Labour Party wins 48% of the vote and a Parliamentary majority of 146 seats (the largest in post-warBritish history). This is in spite of Conservative Party leader Winston Churchill's popularity.
1945 - The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.
1945 - The US Navy cruiser Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with the warhead for the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

1946 - Aloha Airlines began service from Honolulu International Airport
1946 - Helen Mirren was born. English actress
1947 - Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
1948 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981 desegregating the military of the United States.
1948 - André Marie becomes Prime Minister of France
1949 - Roger Taylor was born. English musician (Queen)
1949 - Thaksin Shinawatra was born. Ex-Prime Minister of Thailand.
1950 - Nelinho was born. Brazilian football player.
1950 - Susan George was born. English actress.
1950 - Rich Vogler was born (d. 1990). American race car driver.

1951 - Rick Martin was born. French Canadian ice hockey player.
1952 -King Farouk of Egypt abdicates in favor of his son Fuad.

1952 - Eva Perón dies from cancer (b. 1919). Wife of Argentine President Juan Perón.
1953 - Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle orders a law enforcement crackdown on Short Creek, Arizona, home to a polygamous sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

1953 - Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution.
1953 - Nikolaos Plastiras dies (b. 1883). Greek general and politician.
1953 - Robert Phillips was born. Classical guitarist.
1954 - Vitas Gerulaitis was born (d. 17 Sep 1994, killed by carbon monoxide from a faulty heater). Tennis champion: Australian Open [1977].
1956 - Following the World Bank's decline to fund building the Aswan High Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.
1956 - Dorothy Hamill was born. American figure skater.
1956 - Tommy Rich was born. American professional wrestler.
1957 - Hart Hanson was born. American television writer and producer.
1957 - Nana Visitor was born. American actress.
1957 - Yuen Biao was born. Hong Kong actor.
1957 - Carlos Castillo Armas, President of Guatemala (1954-1957), is assassinated.
1958 - Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.
1959 - Kevin Spacey was born. American Academy Award-winning actor: American Beauty [1999]; Academy Award-winning supporting actor: The Usual Suspects [1995]; A Time to Kill, Outbreak, Consenting Adults, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Lost in Yonkers, Henry and June, Working Girl, Wiseguy, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, L.A. Confidential
1959 - Rick Bragg was born. American writer
1959 - Michael Ross was born (d. 2005). American serial killer.
1960 - Maud Menten dies (b. 1879). Canadian biochemist.
1960 - Cedric Gibbons dies (b. 1893). American art director.
1961 - Andy Connell was born. English musician (Swing Out Sister, A Certain Ratio).
1961 - Dimitris Saravakos was born. Greek footballer.

1961 - Gary Cherone was born. American musician (Extreme).
1961 - Keiko Matsui was born. Japanese musician and composer
1963 - Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.
1963 - Earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia - 1100 dead.
1963 - The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development votes to admit Japan.

1964 - Sandra Bullock was born. American actress: ( Speed, Speed 2: Cruise Control, The Net, While You Were Sleeping, A Time to Kill, Hope Floats, Forces of Nature, Miss Congeniality, Fool Proof, Exactly 3:30, The Chambermaid) See Sandra Bullock wallpapers
1964 - Danny Woodburn was born. American actor.
1964 - Ralf Metzenmacher was born. German painter and designer.
1964 - Train from Povoa de Varzim, Portugal derails at Custóias near Oporto, killing over 100 people
1964 - Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe dies (b. 1884). British politician, naval officer and racing driver.
1965 - Full independence was granted to the Maldives, from Britain.
1965 - Jeremy Piven was born. American actor (The Larry Sanders Show, Ellen, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Kiss the Girls, Cupid, Serendipity, Highway, Black Hawk Down)
1965 - Jim Lindberg was born. American musician (Pennywise).

1966 - World Cup 1966 - Portugal lose the semi-final face hosts England 2-1. After beating Hungary 3-1, Bulgaria 3-0, Brazil 3-1 and North Korea 5-3 (after have been losing 0-3) Eusebio's team lose against England that would go win The World Cup.
1966 - Carlos Sousa was born. Portuguese racing car driver.
1966 - Jennifer Ashe was born. Actress (As the World Turns).
1966 - Lord Gardiner issues the Practice Statement in the House of Lords stating that the House is not bound to follow its own previous precedent.
1967 - De Gaulle’s political sensation - During a speech on a state visit to Canada, Charles de Gaulle caused a political sensation. He supported French-Canadian separatism, thereby offending the public and the Canadian government.
1967 - Anthony Durante was born (d. 2003). American professional wrestler.
1967 - Tim Schafer was born. American computer game designer
1967 - Ignacio Corsini dies. Tango singer.
1968 - Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.
1968 - Olivia Williams was born. English actress.

1969 - Jonty Rhodes was born. South African cricketer.
1969 - Frank Loesser dies (b. 1910). American composer.
1970 - Albano and Romina Power get married.
1970 - Craig Yarnold was born. Canadian-born musician.
1970 - Joan Wasser was born. American singer and musician.

1970 - Robert Taschereau dies (b. 1896). French Canadian lawyer and Chief Justice of Canada.
1971 - Apollo Program: Apollo 15 Mission - Launch of Apollo 15.
1971 - Diane Arbus dies (suicide) (b. 1923). American photographer.
1973 - Kate Beckinsale was born in London. British actress .Pearl Harbor, One Against the Wind, Much Ado About Nothing, Haunted, Shooting Fish, Brokedown Palace, Alice Through the Looking Glass , The Aviator. See wallpapers
1973 - Lenka Šarounová was born. Czech astronomer.
1974 - Greek Prime Minister Constantin Caramanlis forms the country's first civil government after seven years of military rule.
1974 - Dan Konopka was born. American musician (OK Go)

1974 - Daniel Negreanu was born. Canadian poker player.
1974 - Dean Sturridge was born., English footballer.
1975 - Formation of a military triumvirate in Portugal / O Movimento das Forças Armadas de Portugal acorda concentrar o poder num triunvirato formado pelo Presidente da República, General Costa e Gomes; o primeiro- ministro, general Vasco Gonçalves, e o general Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho.
1975 - Joe Smith was born. American basketball player.

1976 - Brad Wilkins was born. American architect.

1976 - Chad Pennington was born. American football player.
1977 - The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.
1977 - Martin Laursen was born. Danish footballer.
1977 - Rebecca St. James was born. Australian-born singer.
1977 - Karac Plant dues (b. 1972). Robert Plant's son.
1979 - Peter Sarno was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
1979 - Erik Westrum was born. American ice hockey player.
1979 - Carlo Rizzo dies in Milan (b. 30 Apr 1907 in Trieste). Italian actor.
1980 - Dave Baksh was born. Canadian guitarist (Sum41).
1980 - Lee Dong-gun was born. South Korean actor.
1980 - Ibn-e-Safi dies (b. 1928). Pakistani fiction writer and Urdu poet.
1981 - Abe Forsythe was born. Australian actor/director.
1982 - Chez Starbuck was born. American actor.
1983 - Delonte West was born. American NBA player.
1983 - Roderick Strong was borm. Professional wrestler
1983 - Charlie Rivel dies. Spanish circe comedian.
1984 - George Gallup dies (b. 1901). American statistician and opinion pollster.
1984 - Ed Gein dies (b. 1906). American serial killer.
1985 - Gaël Clichy was born. French footballer.
1985 - Audrey De Montigny was born. Quebec singer.
1986 - Averell Harriman dies (b. 1891). American diplomat.
1986 - Mangualde é elevada a cidade (Portugal).
1987 - Miriam McDonald was born. Canadian actress.
1988 - Lara Jean Marshall was born.Australian actress.
1988 - Fazlur Rahman dies (b. 1919). Pakistani scholar.
1989 - A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing a computer worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
1990 - The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.

1990 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a young woman, later identified as Kimberly Bergalis, had been infected with the AIDS virus, apparently by her dentist.
1990 - Brent Mydland dies (b. 1952). American keyboardist (Grateful Dead).
1991 - Paul Reubens, better known as Pee Wee Herman, is arrested for allegedly exposing himself at a Sarasota, Florida adult theatre.
1991 - Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Megadrive in Japan
1992 - Miguel Indurain of Spain won cycling's Tour de France for the second year in a row.
1992 - Patty Sheehan defeated Juli Inkster in a playoff to win the 47th U. S. Women’s Open at the Oakmont (PA) Country Club.
1992 - Mary Wells dies (b. 1943). American singer.
1993 - Italian Democrazia Cristian changes its name to People's Party.
1993 - Taylor Momsen was born. American actress (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Prophet’s Game, We Were Soldiers).
1993 - Matthew Ridgeway dies (b. 1895). American army general.
1994 - Israel's London embassy bombed: A car bomb explodes outside the Israeli embassy in London injuring 14 people.
1994 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders the removal of Russian troops from Estonia.
1995 - George Romney dies (b. 1907). American businessman and politician.

1995 - Laurindo Almeida dies (b. 1917). Brazilian guitarist.
1995 - Raymond Mailloux dies (b. 1918). Quebec politician.
1996 - Amy Van Dyken became the first American woman to win four gold medals at a single Olympics as she captured the 50-meter freestyle in Atlanta.
1997 - Kunihiko Kodaira dies (b. 16 Mar 1915). Japanese mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1954 for his work in algebraic geometry and complex analysis.
1997 - William Burroughs dies. American writer.
1998 - Legislative elections in Cambodia
1998 - Carlos Anasagasti Zulueta dies. Bolivian bishop.
1999 - El escritor mexicano Sergio Pitol gana el premio de Literatura Iberoamericana y del Caribe Juan Rulfo.
1999 - Luis Alvarez Piñer dies. Spanish poet.

1999 - Trygve Haavelmo dies (b. 1911). Norwegian economist who was awarded in 1989 with The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

2000 - John Tukey dies (b. 1915). American statistician.
2000 - José Lino Grünewald dies (b. 13 Feb 1931). Brazilian journalist, poet and translator.

2001 - Peter von Zahn dies (b. 1913). German journalist.

2001 - Rex Barber dies (b. 1917). American WW II aviator.
2002 - Museo Evita Perón is inaugurated in Buenos Aires.
2004 - In response to an explosion of violence in the Darfur region, the European Union advocated that the United Nations institute economic sanctions against The Sudan.
2005 - Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission - Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.
2005 - Mumbai, India receives 99.5 cm of rain within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days. (See: 2005 Maharashtra floods.)
2005 - Lebanese Christian Militia leader, Samir Geagea, has been released from prison after 11 years
2005 - Over 200 people have been killed in intense rain storms in Maharashtra, India, described by the Chief Minister of the state as the heaviest recorded rainfall in a single day in India. One third of the state Capital, Mumbai, is said to be underwater causing more than a two hundred thousand people to be stranded in offices and roads for about 24 hours.
2005 - Alexander Golitzen dies (b. 1908). American art director.
2005 - Betty Astell dies (b. 1912). British actress.
2005 - Gilles Marotte dies (b. 1945). French Canadian ice hockey player.
2005 - Jack Hirshleifer dies (b. 1925). American economist.
2007 - Lars Forssell dies (b. 1928). Swedish writer, member of the Swedish Academy.
2007 - John Normington dies (b. 1937). English actor.
2007 - Skip Prosser dies (b. 1950). American basketball coach.

Cuba - Anniversary of the Moncada Barracks Attack Day (1953), Revolution Day
Liberia - Independence Day
Maldives - Independence Day
India - Vijay Divas (end of Kargil War)

Municipal Holyday in Loures (Portugal)

Municipal Holyday in Mogi das Cruzes (São Paulo, Brazil)

Hoje é O Dia dos Avós (Portugal, Brasil)