This Day In History: July 27, 1940 On July 27, 1940, a legendary, world-renowned rabbit was born in Brooklyn, New York. (Actually, he was born in Hollywood, but you’d never know it from the accent.) He’s the wise-cracking, street-smart, self-assured star of the screen, Bugs Bunny. But he didn’t just appear out of nowhere. The bunny that became Bugs was […]

This Day In History: July 24, 1911 On the drizzly, damp morning of July 24, 1911, Yale professor Hiram Bingham was leading an expedition through the jungles of the Andes Mountains in Peru. He was searching for the last two capitals of the Inca Empire, Vitcos and Vilcabamba. Instead, with a young local boy leading the way, Bingham happened upon […]

This Day In History: July 23, 1948 “To watch his work is like being witness to the beginning of melody, or the first conscious use of the lever or the wheel; the emergence, coordination, and first eloquence of language; the birth of an art: and to realize that this is all the work of one man.” – James Agee David […]

This Day In History: July 22, 1893 On July 22, 1893, a young professor of English literature from Wellesley, Massachusetts named Katharine Lee Bates wrote a poem that morphed into one of the most iconic songs in American history. She was traveling cross-country by train to lecture at Colorado College that summer. What she saw along the way inspired her […]

This Day In History: July 21, 365 CE The impact of a catastrophic earthquake and mega-tsunami on July 21, 365 CE devastated Peloponnesus, the Greek Islands, Sicily, Cyprus, Libya, Palestine and Egypt. It completely leveled major cities and killed thousands of people. It also changed the topography of the Mediterranean region and, to some extent, the course of history. The […]

This Day In History: July 20, 1704 The first baby born in the Americas to those who traveled over on the Mayflower was the second child of William and Susanna White, who are thought to have been part of a London merchant group, rather than the Leiden Holland religious movement. The couple boarded the Mayflower in England with their young […]

This Day In History: July 17, 1968 On July 17, 1968, the world premiere of the Beatles third feature film, the animated “Yellow Submarine”, took place at the London Pavilion on Piccadilly Circus. The Beatles hadn’t been seen in public much recently at this point. They spent most of the year in India with the Marhareshi and recording the White […]

This Day In History: July 16, 1557 Anne of Cleves was arguably the luckiest of Henry VIII’s six wives. Had she been less agreeable, she could have found herself facing the executioner’s block, but instead she led a happy life of luxury and privilege. When she died on July 16, 1557, it was as the late King Henry’s “beloved sister” […]

This Day In History: July 15, 1500 It’s a rare wedding that goes off without a single hitch, be it big or small. But few, if any, can rival the nuptials-turned-massacre of Astorre Baglioni and Lavinia Colonna on July 15, 1500 in Peruglia, Italy. In Peruglia, civic unrest was the name of the game in the 14th century. There was […]

This Day In History: July 14, 1966 Carrying a revolver and a knife, a 24-year-old drifter named Richard Speck, who had numerous run-ins with the law to his name already despite his young age, broke into a townhouse that functioned as a girls’ dormitory on Chicago’s southeast side. Reeking of alcohol, he ordered six student nurses living in the building […]

This Day In History: July 13, 1793 Charlotte Corday hailed from Normandy where her family was part of the minor nobility. Despite her (slightly) blue blood, she supported the Revolution and backed the Gironde, a group of moderate republicans who advocated a constitutional government. She believed their reasoned approach would enable France to avoid all-out civil war and save the […]

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This Day In History: July 9, 1893 An important step in medicine occurred as the result of one James Cornish getting stabbed in the chest on July 9, 1893. His physician, an African-American doctor from Chicago named Daniel Hale Williams, performed the second successful operation on the pericardium (the lining around his heart). Dr. Williams was born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania […]

This Day In History: July 8, 1776 Like many beloved tales of early Americana, such as Betsy Ross creating the flag, the Declaration of Independence being signed on July 4th (it was actually about a month later), and Paul Revere doing that midnight ride as a solo act, the tale of the Liberty Bell ringing to mark the first reading […]

This Day In History: July 7, 1980 In the late 1970s, the members of Led Zeppelin were plagued by misfortune. Singer Robert Plant was put out of commission by a serious car accident in 1975. When he had almost fully recovered two years later, his 5-year-old son died suddenly of an infection. Just days before little Karac’s death, drummer John […]

This Day In History: July 6, 1535 “Let not your spirits be cast down, for I hope we shall see one another in a better place, where we shall be free to live and love in eternal bliss.” – Sir Thomas More It wasn’t just Henry VIII’s wives that bore the brunt of his ire. His closest pals also met […]

This Day In History: July 3, 1775 Just a couple of weeks after the Battle of Bunker Hill, there was an uneasy stalemate between the British troops and the American colonists as both sides took their measure and regrouped. The British stationed at Bunker Hill had a lovely view of the 20,000 Colonial troops and their sturdy fortifications across the […]