Welcome to Today In History for Sunday, July 20, 2008.

On this day in history ..

• 0514 - St Hormisdas elected as Pope succeeding Pope Sympowerus
• 1031 - Henry I succeeds father Robert II as King of France
• 1495 - French viceroy of Naples Montpensier surrenders
• 1498 - Emperor Maximilian names Albrecht governor of Netherlands
• 1553 - PM John Dudley captured in Cambridge
• 1608 - Reynier van Oldenbarnevelt marries Anna Weytzen in Delft
• 1609 - Emperor Rudolf II grants Silezische protestants freedom of religion
• 1619 - Gerardus Vossius resigns as Dutch regent States college leader
• 1627 - English fleet under George Villiers reaches La Rochelle [OS=June 10]
• 1654 - Anglo-Portuguese treaty, Portugal comes under English control
• 1749 - Earl of Chesterfield says "Idleness is only refuge of weak minds"
• 1773 - Scottish settlers arrive at Pictou, Nova Scotia (Canada)
• 1801 - Elisha Brown Jr pressed a 1,235 pound cheese ball at his farm
• 1808 - Napoleon decrees all French Jews adopt family names
• 1810 - Colombia declares independence from Spain
• 1836 - Charles Darwin climbs Green Hill on Ascension
• 1847 - German astronomer Theodor discovers Comet Brorsen-Metcalf
• 1849 - Start of 1st Lancashire-Yorkshire clash at Hyde Park, Sheffield
• 1855 - 1st train from Rotterdam to Utrecht in Netherlands
• 1858 - Fee 1st charged to see a baseball game (50›) (NY beats Bkln 22-18)
• 1858 - Gathering of PlombiŠres - Napoleon III meets Cavour
• 1861 - Confederate state's congress began holding sessions in Richmond, Va
• 1862 - Guerrilla campaign in GA (Porter's & Poindexter's) [->SEP 20] US580 CS2866
• 1864 - Battle at Stephenson's Depot Virginia: 200 killed or injured
• 1864 - Battle of Peachtree Creek-Atlanta Campaign
• 1866 - Sea battle of Lissa-Austria vs Italy
• 1868 - 1st use of tax stamps on cigarettes
• 1871 - British Columbia becomes 6th Canadian province
• 1872 - Mahlon Loomis patents wireless radio
• 1876 - 1st US intercollegiate track meet held, Saratoga, NY; Princeton wins
• 1877 - Military shoots on stopped railroad workers in Balt, kills 9
• 1878 - 1st telephone introduced in Hawaii
• 1881 - Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull, surrenders to federal troops
• 1890 - "Gibbons Stamp Monthly" begins publishing
• 1890 - Snow & hail in Calais, ME
• 1894 - 2000 fed troops recalled from Chicago, having ended Pullman strike
• 1903 - Giuseppe Sarto elected Pope Pius X
• 1906 - Bkln Dodger Mal Eason no-hits St Louis Cards, 2-0
• 1910 - Former Dutch premier Abraham Kuyper acquitted of corruption
• 1911 - Boston Red Sox Smokey Joe Wood no-hits St Louis Browns, 5-0
• 1911 - Generals Henry Wilson/Auguste Dubail sign plan for British Expeditionary army in case of war with Germany
• 1912 - Phillies Sherry Magee steals home twice in 1 game
• 1913 - Turkish troop take Adrianopel & Erdine from Bulgaria
• 1914 - Armed resistance against British rule begins in Ulster
• 1916 - Giants trade Christy Mathewson to Cin Reds
• 1917 - Pact of Corfu signed: Serbs, Croats & Slovenes form Yugoslavia
• 1917 - WW I draft lottery held; #258 is 1st drawn
• 1920 - Heerenveen soccer team forms
• 1922 - Togo made a mandate of League of Nations
• 1923 - Yanks hit into a triple-play but beat A's 9-2
• 1924 - F‚deration Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) forms in Paris
• 1925 - Beirut sultan Pasja al-Atrasj calls Druzen for holy war against France
• 1925 - Italian-Serbian/Croatian/Slav treaty about Dalmati‰
• 1927 - Lindbergh begins NY flight (Spirit of St Louis)
• 1930 - 106øF (41øC), Washington, DC (district record)
• 1933 - Vatican state secretary Pacelli (Pius XII) signs accord with Hitler
• 1934 - 118øF (48øC), Keokuk, Iowa (state record)
• 1935 - 1st broadcast of "Gang Busters" on NBC-radio
• 1938 - Finland awarded 1940 Olympic games after Japan withdraws
• 1940 - Germany occupiers forbid Dutch Communist Party (CPN) in Netherlands
• 1940 - Nazi collaborator Rost of Tonningen appointed director of Marxist
• 1940 - Billboard publishes its 1st singles record chart (#1 is "I'll Never Smile Again" by Tommy Dorsey)
• 1941 - Yanks beat Tigers 12-6 in 17
• 1942 - 1st detachment of Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, begin basic training
• 1942 - Barbados dismiss Trinidad for 16 in 69 minutes, Derek Sealy 8-8
• 1942 - Legion of Merit Medal authorized by congress
• 1942 - Time puts Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovitch on its cover
• 1942 - Women's Army Auxiliary Corps began basic training at Fort Des Moines
• 1943 - Joint Chiefs of Staff question adm Nimitz (landing Gilbert Island)
• 1944 - Brit/Canadian troops occupy Hill 67/Ifs/Bras/Frenouville, Normandy
• 1944 - British premier Winston Churchill flies to France to meet Montgomery
• 1944 - Browns Nelson Potter is 1st pitcher suspended for throwing spitballs
• 1944 - Canadian Cameroon Highlanders conquer St-Andr‚
• 1944 - Death March of 1,200 Jews from Lipcani Moldavia begins
• 1944 - Fieldmarshal von Kluge consults with German commandant at Caen
• 1944 - Flying Fortresses of US 8th Air Force attack Leipzig/Dessau
• 1944 - Gen Eisenhower visits Montgomery's headquarter in Normandy
• 1944 - Heavy storm hampers British offensive at Caen
• 1944 - Japanese aircraft carrier Hijo sinks by US air attack
• 1944 - July 20th Plot-Failed assassination attempt on Hitler
• 1944 - Liberators of US 8th Air Force attack Gotha Russelsheim/Eisenach
• 1944 - Pres FDR nominated for an unprecedented 4th term at Dem convention
• 1944 - US 15th Air Force attacks Friedrichshaven Memmingen
• 1944 - US 9th AF bombs railroad at Chaulnes Sabl‚-sur-Sarthe/Dreux
• 1944 - US invades Japanese-occupied Guam in WW II
• 1944 - Violent battles in VerriŠres-hill (Normandy)
• 1947 - 1st political action of Neth Army on Java & Sumatra
• 1948 - Lou Thesz beats Bill Longson, to become NWA wrestling champ
• 1948 - Syngman Rhee elected president of South-Korea
• 1948 - US Communist Party chairman William Forster arrested
• 1949 - Israel's 19 month war of independence ends
• 1949 - Vasil Kolarov elected premier of Bulgaria
• 1950 - "Arthur Murray Party" premieres on ABC TV (later DuMont, CBS, NBC)
• 1952 - Emile Zatopek runs Olympic Record 10K (29:17.0)
• 1952 - Fausto Coppi wins Tour de France
• 1953 - USSR/Israel recover diplomatic relations
• 1954 - Armistice for Indo-China signed, Vietnam separates into North & South
• 1954 - Tennis champ Maureen Connolly's right leg is crushed in an accident
• 1954 - West German secret service head Otto John defects to German DR
• 1956 - France recognizes Tunisia's independence
• 1956 - Great Britain refuses to lend Egypt money to build Aswan Dam
• 1956 - US performs atmospheric nuclear Test at Bikini Island
• 1956 - Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford ties AL record of 6 straight strike-outs
• 1958 - 40th PGA Championship: Dow Finsterwald shoots a 276 at Llanerch CC PA
• 1958 - Betty Jameson/Mary Lena Faulk wins Homestead 4-Ball Golf Tournament
• 1958 - King Hussein of Jordan breaks off diplomatic relations with UAR
• 1960 - 1st submerged submarine to fire Polaris missile (George Washington)
• 1960 - Sirima Bandaranaike becomes 1st female premier of Ceylon
• 1960 - USSR recovered 2 dogs; 1st living organisms to return from space
• 1962 - Dmitri Shostakovitch completes his 13th Symphony
• 1962 - France & Tunisia recover diplomatic relations
• 1963 - 17 African states & Madagascar sign peace treaty with EC
• 1963 - 18th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Mary Mills
• 1963 - Verne Gagne beats Crusher Lisowski in Minneapolis, to become NWA champ
• 1964 - 1st surfin' record to go #1-Jan & Dean's "Surf City"
• 1964 - Dmitri Shostakovitch completes his 10th String quartet
• 1965 - 18.18" (46.18 cm) of rainfall, Edgarton, Missouri (state 24-hr record)
• 1965 - NY Yankee pitcher Mel Stottlemyre hits an inside-the-park grand slam
• 1967 - Pablo Neruda receives 1st Viareggio-Versile prizes
• 1967 - Race riots in Memphis Tenn
• 1968 - Jane Asher breaks her engagement with Paul McCartney on live TV
• 1968 - Iron Butterfly's "In-a-gadda-da-vida" becomes 1st heavy metal song to hit charts, it comes in at #117
• 1969 - 1st men on Moon, Neil Armstrong & Edwin Aldrin, Apollo 11
• 1969 - Carol Mann wins LPGA Danbury Lady Carling Golf Open
• 1969 - Eddy Merckx wins Tour de France
• 1970 - Dodgers Bill Singer no-hits the Phillies 5-0, giving up no walks
• 1972 - US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
• 1973 - Jack Brisco beats Harley Race in Houston, to become NWA champ
• 1973 - Chic's Wilbur Wood starts & loses both games of a doubleheader with NY Yankees, 12-2, & 7-0
• 1974 - Heng Yo & Heng Ju, completes 1,000 mile (SF-Seattle) pilgrimage
• 1974 - Turkey invades Cyprus
• 1975 - 30th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Sandra Palmer
• 1976 - Hank Aaron hits 755th & last home run off Angels Jerry Augustine
• 1976 - Last US troops leave Thailand
• 1976 - US Viking 1 lands on Mars at Chryse Planitia, 1st Martian landing
• 1977 - Flash flood hits Johnstown, Pa, kills 80 & causing $350 mil damage
• 1979 - 44-kg Newfoundland dog pulls 2293-kg load, Bothell, Wash
• 1980 - 109th British Golf Open: Tom Watson shoots a 271 at Muirfield Gullane
• 1980 - Joop Zoetemelk wins Tour de France
• 1980 - Pat Bradley wins LPGA Greater Baltimore Golf Classic
• 1981 - England set for innings loss v Aust, Botham hits 100 in 87 balls
• 1981 - Irene Saez, of Venezuela, crowned 30th Miss Universe
• 1982 - Bombs planted by Irish Republican Army explode in 2 London parks
• 1982 - IRA bomb attacks in London
• 1982 - T Macauly & D Vosburghs musical "Windy City," premieres in London
• 1983 - France performs nuclear Test at Muruora Island
• 1984 - Uwe Hohn of East Germany throws javelin a record 104.8 m
• 1984 - Vanessa Williams is asked to resign as Miss America
• 1985 - Divers find wreck of Spanish galleon Atocha
• 1986 - Jane Geddes wins LPGA Boston Five Golf Classic
• 1987 - Don Mattingly ties 1st base fielding record with 22 put-outs
• 1988 - Michael Dukakis selected Democratic presidential nominee
• 1989 - 93øF, highest overnight low ever recorded in Phoenix Arizona
• 1989 - Burma govt puts author Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest
• 1990 - Justice William Brennan resigns from Supreme Court after 36 years
• 1991 - Kirk Cameron marries Growing Pains co-star Chelsea Noble in upstate NY
• 1991 - Mike Tyson is accused of raping a Miss Black America contestant
• 1992 - 121st British Golf Open: Nick Faldo shoots a 272 at Muirfield Gullane
• 1992 - Round World Air Race begins in Paris
• 1993 - Fire in the press box at Altanta Fulton County Stadium
• 1993 - Joe Petruzzi files for divorce from Annabella Sciorra (Jungle Fever)
• 1994 - Major parts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy hit Jupiter (July 16th-22nd)
• 1994 - OJ Simpson offers $500,000 reward for evidence of ex-wife's klller
• 1996 - 26th Olympic games open at Atlanta, Georgia (sched)
• 1997 - 126th British Golf Open: Billy Ray Brown shoots a 271 at Royal Troon
• 1997 - American Justin Leonard wins the British Open shooting at 272
• 1997 - Burnet Senior Golf Classic
• 1997 - Michele Redman wins LPGA JAL Big Apple Classic