| 2nd 
            July, on this day  311 St 
            Militiades begins his reign as Catholic Pope626 In fear of assassination, Li Shimin ambushes and kills his rival 
            brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Incident at Xuanwu Gate. 
            On September 4, Shimin's father abdicated to him, and so Shimin became 
            Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor of China.
 706 In China, Emperor 
            Zhongzong of Tang had the remains of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, 
            his wife and recently-deceased ruling empress Wu Zetian, her son Li 
            Xian, her grandson Li Chongrun, and granddaughter Li Xianhui all interred 
            in a new tomb complex outside Chang'an known as the Qianling 
            Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang.
 963 The imperial army proclaims Nicephorus 
            Phocas to be Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian 
            Caesarea.
 1298 The Battle 
            of Göllheim is fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf 
            of Nassau-Weilburg.
 1561 Menas, 
            Emperor of Ethiopia defeats a revolt in Emfraz.
 1578 Martin 
            Frobisher sights Baffin 
            Island.
 1582 Battle 
            of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide.
 1613 First English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia 
            - led by Samuel 
            Argall.
 1644 English 
            Civil War: The Battle 
            of Marston Moor. The first victory of the war for the Parliamentary 
            forces with Cromwell's Roundhead Army defeating the Royalist Cavaliers, 
            commanded by Prince Rupert
 1698 Thomas 
            Savery patented the first steam engine
 1679 Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi 
            - led by Daniel 
            Greysolon de Du Luth.
 1776 Continental Congress resolves "these United Colonies are 
            and of right
 ought to be Free and Independent States" wording of the formal 
            Declaration of Independence is not approved until July 4.
 1777 Vermont becomes 1st American colony to abolish slavery
 1787 de 
            Sade shouts from Bastille that prisoners are being slaughtered
 1808 Simon 
            Fraser completes his trip down Fraser R, BC, lands at Musqueam
 1819 Britain passes the 
            Factory Act - banning the employment of children under 9 in textiles 
            factories and limiting children under 16 from working more than 12 
            hours a day
 1823 "Bahia 
            Independence Day" - the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with 
            the final defeat of the diehard Portuguese crown loyalists in the 
            province of Bahia.
 1839 Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves 
            led by Joseph 
            Cinque take over the slave ship Amistad.
 1843 An alligator falls from the sky during a Charleston, SC thunderstorm
 1850 The self-contained gas mask is patented by Benjamin J. Lane.
 1853 Russian troops invade Turkey - starting the Crimean War
 1858 Partial emancipation of Russian serfs
 1862 Lincoln signs act granting land for state agricultural colleges
 1863 Battle 
            of Gettysburg (2nd day)
 1864 General Early and Confederate forces reach Winchester
 1864 Statuary 
            Hall in US Capitol established
 1865 In Britain, religious leader William Booth begins the Salavation 
            Army with a revival meeting at Whitechapel in London
 1867 1st US elevated 
            railroad begins service, NYC
 1878 The Brighton 
            Beach Line opens in the then-city of Brooklyn.
 1881 President 
            Garfield shot by Charles 
            J Guiteau a disappointed office-seeker
 1885 Canada's North-west Insurrection ends with surrender of 
            Big Bear
 1890 Sherman 
            Antitrust Act prohibits industrial monopolies
 1900 Count 
            Ferdinand von Zeppelin 1st airship LZ-1, flies
 1900 Opening of the 2nd Olympic Games in Paris
 1917 Forty-eight 
            die in rioting in East St. Louis, Illinois, as lower-paid black 
            laborers clash with whites.
 1921 American boxer Jack 
            Dempsey defeats Georges Carpentier in Jersey City, USA in the 
            first fight to take more than one million dollars from entrance fees
 1927 1st American to win Wimbeldon in 20 years (Helen Wills Moody)
 1932 FDR makes 1st presidential nominating conventional acceptance 
            speech
 1934 The end of the Night 
            of the Long Knives, with the death of the German Military Officer 
            Ernst Röhm
 1937 American aviators Amelia 
            Earhart Putnam and co-pilot Fred 
            Noonan disappear near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean during 
            their attempt to fly round the world
 1938 Helen 
            Wills Moody (US) wins her 8th and final Wimbeldon singles
 1940 Adolf Hitler orders German military commanders to draw up plans 
            for the invasion of England
 1940 The liner Arandora 
            Star is torpedoed by a German submarine while ferrying German 
            and Italian prisoners of war to Canada. More than 750 prisoners and 
            crew are killed
 1940 Indian independence leader Subhas 
            Chandra Bose arrested and detained in Calcutta.
 1941 Nazi massacre of Jews in Lutsk, Ukraine. Jewish men were summoned 
            for work, about 2000 of them were taken to the Lubart Fortress and 
            murdered. German soldiers from rearguard units stationed in the city 
            participated in the murder.
 1943 Lt Charles Hall, becomes 1st black pilot to shoot down Nazi plane
 1947 
            An object speculated to be a UFO crashes near Roswell, New Mexico, 
            though the United States Air Force claims it is a weather balloon.
 1948 Champion English golfer Henry 
            Cotton wins the British Open Golf Championship for the third time
 1950 Korean War: US troops arrive in Korea
 1950 Kinkaku-ji 
            in Kyoto, Japan was burned down.
 1956 Elvis Presley records "Hound 
            Dog" and "Don't 
            Be Cruel"
 1957 1st sub powered by liquid metal cooled reactor completed-The 
            Seawolf
 1957 1st submarine designed to fire guided missiles launched, Grayback
 1962 The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
 1964 American President Lyndon Johnson signs the US 
            Civil Rights Bill prohibiting racial discrimination
 1966 Billie 
            Jean King wins her 1st of 6 Wimbeldon single titles
 1966 The French military explode their nuclear test bomb codenamed 
            Aldébaran in Mururoa, their first nuclear test in the Pacific.
 1976 Formal reunification of North and South Vietnam
 1976 Supreme Court ruled death penalty not inherently cruel or unusual
 1977 Sweden's Bjorn Borg won Wimbeldon men's singles over Jimmy Connors
 1980 Grateful Dead's Bob 
            Weir and Mickey 
            Hart are arrested for incitement
 1982 Larry Walters using lawn chair and 42 helium balloons, rose to 
            16,000'
 1982 Soyuz T-6 returns to Earth
 1985 Andrei 
            Gromyko becomes President of the Soviet Union
 1985 European Space Agency launches Giotto to Halley's Comet
 1985 Proto launched to Halley's Comet
 1988 Steffi 
            Graf beats Martina 
            Navratilova for Wimbeldon crown
 1990 More than 1,000 Muslim pilgrims are killed in a human stampede 
            in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the holy city of Mecca
 1990 
            Imelda Marcos and Adnan 
            Khashoggi found not guilty of racketeering
 1996 Weather experts predict global warming will have the effect of 
            moving Britain 100 miles south in the next 25 years bringing summer 
            droughts and winter rainstorms
 1997 Six IRA terrorists who plotted to blow up electricity supply 
            stations in the Home counties were each jailed for 35 years
 2000 Vicente 
            Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from 
            an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) after 
            more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario 
            Institucional (PRI).
 2001 AbioCor self 
            contained artificial heart created.
 2002 Steve Fossett 
            becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a 
            balloon.
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        | Birthdates which 
            occurred on 2nd July : 419 Valentinian 
            III Roman emperor (425-55) 1489 Thomas Cranmer England, archbishop/reformer/martyr
 1714 Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck Erasbach Germany, composer
 1821 Charles Tupper (C) 6th Canadian PM (1896)
 1865 Lili Braun Prussia, feminist/socialist writer (Im Schatten Titanen)
 1877 Hermann Hesse Switzerland, novelist/poet (Steppenwolf, Nobel 
            1946)
 1884 Dr Otto B”hm Prussia, scientist (helped create England 
            Radar)
 1887 Marcel Tabuteau CompiŠgne France, oboist (Phila Orch 1915-54)
 1894 Walter Brennan Swampscott Mass, actor (Real McCoys)
 19-- Agneta Eckemyr Karlsborg Sweden, actress (Broken Sky)
 19-- Kenneth McMillian Bkln NY, actor (Jack-Rhoda, Our Family Honor)
 19-- Larry David Brooklyn NY, comedian (Fridays)
 19-- Millie Slavin NYC, actress (Rafferty, Struck by Lightning)
 1903 Lord Alex Douglas-Home (C) British PM (1963-64)
 1903 Olav V England, King of Norway (1957)
 1905 Jean-Rene Lacoste France, tennis champ/alligator shirt designer
 1906 Hans Bethe physicist (Nobel 1967), peace worker
 1908 Thurgood Marshall Md, 1st black Supreme Court justice (1967-91)
 1914 Frederick Fennell Cleveland Ohio, conductor (Time & the Winds)
 1916 Barry Gray radio personality (started call-in radio)
 1916 Ken Curtis Lamar Colo, actor (Ripcord, Festus-Gunsmoke)
 1919 Johnny Bradford Long Branch NJ, actor (Ransom Sherman Show)
 1922 Dan Rowan Beggs Okla, comedian (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in)
 1925 Marvin Rainwater Wichita Ks, country singer (Ozark Jubilee)
 1925 Patrice Lumumba Zaire, revolutionary
 1926 Lee Allen Pittsburg, Ks, tenor sax (Walkin' With Mr Lee)
 1927 Brock Peters actor/singer (Carmen Jones, To Kill a Mockingbird)
 1927 Cornelius "Kees" Broekman Holland, speed skater (Olympic-silver-1952)
 1928 Pavel Kohout Czech, author (Poor Murderer)
 1931 Robert Ito Vancouver BC, actor (Sam-Quincy ME)
 1932 Sammy Turner Paterson NJ, vocalist (Lavender Blue)
 1935 Gilbert Kalish Brooklyn NY, pianist/professor (SUNY Stony Brook)
 1937 Polly Holliday Jasper Ala, actress (Flo-Alice, Flo-Flo)
 1937 Richard Petty auto race driver (Daytona 500-1979,81)
 1939 John Sununu US Secretary of State (1989-91)
 1940 Georgi Ivan Ivanov 1st Bulgarian space traveler (Soyuz 33)
 1946 Ron Silver NYC, actor (Gary-Rhoda, Dear Detective, Baker's Dozen)
 1947 Luci Baines Johnson Nugent Turpin daughter of Pres LBJ
 1952 Linda M Godwin Cape Girardeau Missouri, PhD/astronaut (STS 37)
 1954 Wendy Schaal Chicago Ill, actress (It's a Living, Julie-Fantasy 
            Is)
 1956 Jeffrey Cooper guitarist (Midnight Star-No Parking)
 1956 Jerry Hall Mesquite Tx, model/Mrs Mick Jagger
 1956 Julie Montgomery KC Mo, actress (Samantha-1 Life to Live, Kindred)
 1957 Mike Anger rocker (The Blow Monkeys-Wicked Ways)
 1959 Wendy B Lawrence Jacksonville Fla, USN Lt Commander/astronaut
 1961 Jimmy McNichol LA Calif, actor (Fitzpatricks, California Fever)
 1964 Dave Parsons rocker (Transvision Vamp, Sham 69-That's Life)
 1964 Jos‚ Canseco Havana Cuba, Oakland As (1986 Rookie Year, 
            1988 AL MVP)
 1967 Debee Ashby Coventry England, topless model
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deaths which occurred 
            on July 2nd:
 1566 Nostradamus French astrologer/physician/prophet, dies in Salon
 1644 William Gascoigne introduced telescopic sights, is killed at 
            24
 1798 John Fitch American inventor, clockmaker, etc, dies
 1822 Denmark Vesey & 5 aides hanged at Blake's Landing, Charleston, 
            SC
 1882 James Garfield assassinated by "job-seeker"
 1946 Anthony Overton publisher/cosmetics manufacturer/banker, dies 
            at 81
 1961 Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death in Ketchum Idaho
 1964 Glenn "Fireball" Roberts biggest NASCAR money winner, 
            dies in crash
 1969 Brian Jones founder of the Rolling Stones, drowns
 1970 Jessie Street Australian civil rights activist, dies
 1973 George Macready actor (Martin Peyton-Peyton Place), dies at 73
 1973 Swede Savage dies from injuries at Indianapolis 500
 1987 Karl Linnas accused Nazi, dies of heart failure in Russia
 1987 Michael Bennet Chorus Line director, dies of AIDS at 44
 1991 Lee Remick actress, dies at 55 from cancer
 
 
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