July 18
64 - A great fire began that ultimately destroyed most of Rome. The emperor Nero blamed it on Christians and began the first Roman persecution of them.
1536 - The English Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.
1863 - During the Civil War, Union troops spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of Black soldiers, charged Confederate-held Fort Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina. The Confederates were able to repeal the Northerners, who suffered heavy losses; the 54th's commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, was among those who were killed.
1872 - Britain enacted voting by secret ballot.
1918 - South African anti-apartheid leader and president Nelson Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo.
1925 - The first volume of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf was published.
1936 - The Spanish Civil War began as Gen. Francisco Franco led an uprising of army troops based on North Africa.
1944 - Hiedki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War II.
1947 - President Harry S. Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act into law, which placed the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in line of succession after the vice president.
1964 - Nearly a week of rioting erupted in New York's Harlem neighborhood following the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager, James Powell, two days earlier.
1969 - A car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard. His passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, died.
1984 - Walter Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.
1984 - Gunman James Huberty opened fire at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
1989 - Actress Rebecca Schaeffer, age 21, was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by an obsessed fan. (The killing prompted California in 1990 to pass the nation's first anti-stalking law.)
1998 - A 23-foot tsunami along the coast of Papua New Guinea killed nearly 3,000 people.
2005 - An unrepentant Eric Rudolph was sentenced in Birmingham, Alabama to life in prison for an abortion clinic bombing that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse.
2011 - Gen. David Petraeus handed over command of American and coalition forces in Afghanistan to Gen. John Allen.
2013 - Detroit, which was once the very symbol of American industrial might, became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.
2017 - President Donald Trump declared that it was time to “let Obamacare fail” after the latest Republican effort to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law was blocked in the Senate.
2017 - The Trump administration slapped new sanctions on 18 Iranian individuals, groups and networks, a day after certifying to Congress that Iran was technically complying with the nuclear deal and could continue enjoying nuclear sanctions relief.
Birthdays
28 - Taylor Russell (actress)
32 - Mandy Rose (professional wrestler)
36 - Travis Milne (actor)
37 - James Norton (actor)
37 - Chace Crawford (actor)
40 - Priyanka Chopra (actress)
40 - Ryan Cabrera (singer)
41 - Michiel Huisman (actor)
42 - Kristen Bell (actress)
43 - Jason Weaver (actor)
46 - Elsa Pataky (actress/model)
50 - Eddie Matos (actor)
50 - Elizabeth Cook (singer)
51 - Penny Hardaway (basketball player)
54 - Grant Bowler (actor)
55 - Vin Diesel (actor)
57 - Jim Bob Duggar (reality star)
58 - Wendy Williams (broadcaster)
60 - Jack Irons (musician)
61 - Elizabeth McGovern (actress)
62 - Anne-Marie Johnson (actress)
65 - Nick Faldo (golfer)
66 - Audrey Landers (actress)
68 - Ricky Skaggs (singer)
71 - Margo Martindale (actress)
72 - Richard Branson (entrepreneur)
73 - Craig Fuller (singer)
81 - Martha Reeves (singer)
82 - Joe Torre (baseball hall of famer)
82 - James Brolin (actor)
93 - Dick Button (figure skater)
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Today in Sports History - July 18
1921 - Babe Ruth achieves 139 home runs and becomes the all-time home run leader in Major League Baseball, taking the title from Roger Connor.
1927 - Future baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers recorded his 4,000th career hit.
1970 - Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants becomes the 10th player in MLB history to reach 3,000 career hits.
1976 - Fourteen-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci earned the first perfect score, a 10, at the Olympic Games in Montreal and went on to score six more 10s an won three gold medals.
1999 - New York Yankees pitcher David Cone threw the 16th perfect game in MLB history in a game against the Montreal Expos.
2020 - Canadian officials said the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team would not be able to play its home games in Toronto during the shortened 2020 season because it wasn't safe for players to travel back and forth to the United States. (The Blue Jays would play their "home" games in the ballpark of their minor league affiliate in Buffalo, New York.)
2021 - Collin Morikawa, a 24-year-old from California, won the British Open to become the first golfer to capture two different majors on his first attempt; he’d won the 2020 PGA Championship 11 months earlier.
64 - A great fire began that ultimately destroyed most of Rome. The emperor Nero blamed it on Christians and began the first Roman persecution of them.
1536 - The English Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.
1863 - During the Civil War, Union troops spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of Black soldiers, charged Confederate-held Fort Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina. The Confederates were able to repeal the Northerners, who suffered heavy losses; the 54th's commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, was among those who were killed.
1872 - Britain enacted voting by secret ballot.
1918 - South African anti-apartheid leader and president Nelson Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo.
1925 - The first volume of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf was published.
1936 - The Spanish Civil War began as Gen. Francisco Franco led an uprising of army troops based on North Africa.
1944 - Hiedki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War II.
1947 - President Harry S. Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act into law, which placed the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in line of succession after the vice president.
1964 - Nearly a week of rioting erupted in New York's Harlem neighborhood following the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager, James Powell, two days earlier.
1969 - A car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard. His passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, died.
1984 - Walter Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.
1984 - Gunman James Huberty opened fire at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
1989 - Actress Rebecca Schaeffer, age 21, was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by an obsessed fan. (The killing prompted California in 1990 to pass the nation's first anti-stalking law.)
1998 - A 23-foot tsunami along the coast of Papua New Guinea killed nearly 3,000 people.
2005 - An unrepentant Eric Rudolph was sentenced in Birmingham, Alabama to life in prison for an abortion clinic bombing that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse.
2011 - Gen. David Petraeus handed over command of American and coalition forces in Afghanistan to Gen. John Allen.
2013 - Detroit, which was once the very symbol of American industrial might, became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.
2017 - President Donald Trump declared that it was time to “let Obamacare fail” after the latest Republican effort to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law was blocked in the Senate.
2017 - The Trump administration slapped new sanctions on 18 Iranian individuals, groups and networks, a day after certifying to Congress that Iran was technically complying with the nuclear deal and could continue enjoying nuclear sanctions relief.
Birthdays
28 - Taylor Russell (actress)
32 - Mandy Rose (professional wrestler)
36 - Travis Milne (actor)
37 - James Norton (actor)
37 - Chace Crawford (actor)
40 - Priyanka Chopra (actress)
40 - Ryan Cabrera (singer)
41 - Michiel Huisman (actor)
42 - Kristen Bell (actress)
43 - Jason Weaver (actor)
46 - Elsa Pataky (actress/model)
50 - Eddie Matos (actor)
50 - Elizabeth Cook (singer)
51 - Penny Hardaway (basketball player)
54 - Grant Bowler (actor)
55 - Vin Diesel (actor)
57 - Jim Bob Duggar (reality star)
58 - Wendy Williams (broadcaster)
60 - Jack Irons (musician)
61 - Elizabeth McGovern (actress)
62 - Anne-Marie Johnson (actress)
65 - Nick Faldo (golfer)
66 - Audrey Landers (actress)
68 - Ricky Skaggs (singer)
71 - Margo Martindale (actress)
72 - Richard Branson (entrepreneur)
73 - Craig Fuller (singer)
81 - Martha Reeves (singer)
82 - Joe Torre (baseball hall of famer)
82 - James Brolin (actor)
93 - Dick Button (figure skater)
=============================
Today in Sports History - July 18
1921 - Babe Ruth achieves 139 home runs and becomes the all-time home run leader in Major League Baseball, taking the title from Roger Connor.
1927 - Future baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers recorded his 4,000th career hit.
1970 - Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants becomes the 10th player in MLB history to reach 3,000 career hits.
1976 - Fourteen-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci earned the first perfect score, a 10, at the Olympic Games in Montreal and went on to score six more 10s an won three gold medals.
1999 - New York Yankees pitcher David Cone threw the 16th perfect game in MLB history in a game against the Montreal Expos.
2020 - Canadian officials said the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team would not be able to play its home games in Toronto during the shortened 2020 season because it wasn't safe for players to travel back and forth to the United States. (The Blue Jays would play their "home" games in the ballpark of their minor league affiliate in Buffalo, New York.)
2021 - Collin Morikawa, a 24-year-old from California, won the British Open to become the first golfer to capture two different majors on his first attempt; he’d won the 2020 PGA Championship 11 months earlier.
