1565 – The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1567 – James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.
1793 – John Graves Simcoe decides to build a fort and settlement at Toronto, having sailed into the bay there.
1844 – Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1791) died.
1848 – Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt – In Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.
1849 – Max Nordau, Hungarian physician, author, and critic, co-founded the World Zionist Organization (d. 1923) was born.
1864 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.
1890 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (b. 1853) died.
1907 – Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp runs from August 1 to August 9, 1907, and is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement.
1917 – Rochus Misch, German SS officer (d. 2013) was born.
1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1924 – Black Dahlia, American waitress and murder victim (d. 1947) was born.
1932 – Great Depression: In Washington, D.C., troops disperse the last of the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans.
1937 – Tōngzhōu Incident: In Tōngzhōu, China, the East Hopei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians.
1942 – Tony Sirico, American actor (The Sopranos) Born
1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.
1945 – I-58 Japanese submarine sinks the American cruiser Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen in the worst loss in the history of the U.S. navy. More than 800 fell into the Pacific many died due to injuries during the sinking but the remaining seamen were left to flounder in the Pacific, fend off sharks, drink sea water it was 84 hours before help arrived and only 318 survived the rest were eaten by sharks or drowned. The USS Indianapolis had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian prior to it’s sinking by the submarine.
1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad – After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, open in London.
1953 – Geddy Lee, Toronto Canada, lead vocalist/bassist (Rush-Tom Sawyer)Born
1953 – Ken Burns [Kenneth Lauren], Brooklyn, New York, American director and documentary film producer (The Civil War, Baseball) Born
1953 – Tim Gunn, American television personality (project Runway) Born
1956 – Teddy Atlas, American boxing trainer and commentator, Born
1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1959 – John Sykes, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Tygers of Pan Tang, and Blue Murder) was born.
1959 – First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
1965 – Dean Haglund, Canadian actor (X Files / Lone Gunman) was born.
1965 – Woody Weatherman, American guitarist and songwriter (Corrosion of Conformity) was born.
1965 – Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
1967 – Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
1973 – Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.
1974 – Cass Elliot, American singer (The Mamas & the Papas, The Big 3, and The Mugwumps) (b. 1941) died.
1976 – Mickey Cohen, American gangster (b. 1913)Dies
1976 – In New York City, David Berkowitz (aka the “Son of Sam”) kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
1980 – Iran adopts a new “holy” flag after the Islamic Revolution.
1980 – Ben Koller, American drummer (Converge, United Nations, Mutoid Man, and All Pigs Must Die) was born.
1981 – A worldwide television audience of over 700 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
1983 – David Niven, actor (Rugues), dies in Switzerland at 73
1987 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).
1993 – The Supreme Court of Israel acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
1996 – The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act is struck down by a U.S. federal court as too broad.
2007 – Tom Snyder, American journalist (b. 1936) died.
2008 – Former United States President and Commander in Chief, George W. Bush approved the first execution of an American soldier in over fifty years on this day. Ronald Gray a serial killer who was found guilty of the rape and murder of 4 victims, a member of the armed forces in the states of North Carolina was convicted of rape and murder in 1988 and sentenced to death. On November 26th, 2008, a federal judge granted Gray a stay of execution to allow time for further appeals which is still proceeding