On this day 23rd July

776 BC Officially recorded date of the first Olympic Games at Olympia, Greece
636 Arabs gain control of most of Palestine from the Byzantine Empire
685 John V begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1253 Jews are expelled from Vienne France by order of Pope Innocent III
1298 Jews are massacred at Wurzburg, Germany
1403 In England, the Battle of Shrewsbury.
1599 Caravaggio's 1st public commission for paintings
1632 300 colonists bound for New France depart Dieppe, France.
1745 Scotland's Charles Stuart, the 'Young Pretender', lands in the Hebrides islands
1759 Russian troops defeat the Prussians in the Battle of Kay, in Eastern Germany during the Seven Years' War
1793 The Prussians conquer Mayence.
1798 Napoleon captures Alexandria, Egypt
1803 Robert Emmett's insurrected in Dublin
1829 William Austin Burt patents "typographer" (typewriter)
1840 British Parliament passes the Union Act - uniting Upper and Lower Canada
1862 In the American Civil War Henry W. Halleck takes command of the Union Army.
1877 1st US municipal railroad, Cincinnati Southern, begins operations
1880 1st commercial hydroelectric power planet begins, Grand Rapids, Mich
1881 The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique, the world's oldest international sport federation, is founded.
1886 Steve Brodie supposedly survives plunge from Brooklyn Bridge
1900 Pan-African Congress meets in London
1904 Ice cream cone created by Charles E Menches during La Purchase Expo
1914 Austria-Hungary issues ultimatum to Serbia. When Serbia denies Austria-Hungary their demands World War I is sparked on July 28, 1914
1920 Kenya becomes a British crown colony
1926 Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.
1929 Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words.
1931 Ashmore and Cartier Islands in Indian Ocean transferred to Australia
1931 France announces they can't afford to send a team to 1932 LA Olympics
1936 In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of socialist and communist parties.
1937 Isolation of pituitary hormone announced (Yale University)
1940 World War II: In Britain, the Local Defence Volunteers are renamed the Home Guard by Prime Minister Winston Churchill
1940 "Blitz" begins, all-night raid on London
1940 US Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles`s declaration on the US non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
1942 The Holocaust: The Treblinka extermination camp is opened
1942 Hitler signs the Operation Edelweiss.
1943 The British destroyers Eclipse and Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.
1944 US forces invade Japanese-held Tinian in WW II
1945 The process against Philippe Pétain begins.
1947 1st (US Navy) air squadron of jets, Quonset Point, RI
1951 French Army Marshal Philippe Petain dies in prison. Was sentenced to life imprisonment at the end of World War II for being head of the Vichy Government in France which collaborated with the Germans following the invasion in 1940
1952 Establishment of the European Coal and Steel community.
1952 King Farouk of Egypt is deposed by a military coup led by General Neguib
1955 British speed enthusiast Donald Campbell breaks the world water speed record on Ullswater in the Lake District, England when he reaches 202.32mph in his craft 'Bluebird'
1956 Bell X-2 rocket plane sets world aircraft speed record of 3,050 kph
1958 1st 4 women named to peerage in House of Lords
1961 Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) founded in Nicaragua.
1962 Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal.
1964 Egyptian munition ship "Star of Alexandria" explodes at dockside
in Bone, Algeria. 100 die, 160 injured, $20 million damage
1965 Beatles "Help" is released in the UK
1966 Cavern Club in Liverpool reopens
1966 Napoleon XIV releases "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha! Ha!"
1967 12th Street Riot: In Detroit, Michigan, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city (43 killed, 342 injured and ~1,400 buildings burned).
1968 The first and only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft took place when a 707 carrying 10 crew and 38 passengers was taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The aircraft was en route from Rome, Italy, to Lod, Israel.
1968 Glenville Shootout: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization led by Ahmed Evans and the Cleveland Police Department occurred. During the shootout, a riot began that lasted for five days
1970 Qaboos ibn Sa’id, becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Sa’id ibn Taimur.
1972 1st Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS) is launched
1973 Ozark AL plane knocked out of the air by lightning, St Louis-36 die
1974 Greek military dictatorship collapses
1977 Washington jury convicts 12 Hanafi Moslems on hostage charges
1978 Israeli cabinet rejects Sadat's call for return of 2 Sinai areas
1980 Billy Carter admits to being paid by Libya
1980 Soyuz 37 ferries 2 cosmonauts (1 Vietnamese) to Salyut 6
1982 The International Whaling Commission votes for a total ban on commercial whaling from 1985
1983 Beginning of Sri Lankan Civil War, with the killing of 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In the subsequent government-organised pogrom of Black July, about 1,000 Tamils were slaughtered, some 400,000 Tamils fled to neighbouring Tamil Nadu, India and many found refuge in Europe and Canada.
1983 Air Canada flight 143 lands "dead-stick" in Gimli, Manitoba.
1984 Vanessa Williams, 1st black Miss America, resigns due to posing nude
1986 Queen Elizabeth II's son, Prince Andrew, marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminister Abbey in London. They become the Duke and Duchess of York following the 600 year old tradition for naming the second son of the reigning monarch
1987 Petra Felke (E Ger) throws javelin 78.89 m (women's record)
1988 General Ne Win, effective ruler of Myanmar since 1962 resigns after pro-democracy protests.
1991 James Farentino of Dynasty arrested in Canada for cocaine possession
1995 Comet Hale-Bopp is discovered
1997 Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic is sworn in as President of Yugoslavia
1997 The Swiss Bankers Association issues a list of unclaimed accounts dating back to the 1930s - many belonging to Jews killed by the Nazis in Germany during World War II
1997 Spree killer Andrew Cunanan commits suicide in the upstairs bedroom aboard a Miami houseboat to avoid capture by the police.
1999 Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Al-Hassan, is crowned King Mohammed VI of Morroco at the death of his father.
1999 ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo.
2005 Three bombs hit the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people.

23rd July 2006

UN appalled by Beirut devastation

Israel 'presses US on bomb sale'

Dozens killed by Iraq car bombs

23rd July 2007

World 'losing fight against Aids'

'Militants die' in Pakistan clash

Turkish PM vows to pursue reform

23rd July 2008

EU suspends funding for Bulgaria

Bull-ring collapses in Colombia

China 'to allow Olympic protests'

23rd July 2009

Monsoon wreaks havoc in Pakistan

23rd July 2010

7 EU banks fail stress tests

Trafigura found guilty on waste

Mass grave in Mexico yields 18 bodies

Birthdates which occurred on 23rd July :

1816 Charlotte Sanders Cushman US, actress (Lady MacBeth)
1834 James Cardinal Gibbons archbishop of Baltimore
1853 William H Gillette actor, portrayed Sherlock Holmes on stage
1888 Dr Milan Stoyadinovich Serbia, fascist Yugoslavia PM (1935-9)
1888 Gluyas Williams SF, cartoonist (Fellows Citizen)
1892 Haile Selassie emperor of Ethiopia (1930-74)
1893 Karl Menninger psychiatrist (Menninger Clinic)
1894 Arthur Treacher Brighton England, announcer (Merv Griffin Show)
1898 Mervyn "Red" Dutton Manitoba, 2nd NHL pres (1943-46)
19-- Calvert DeForest Brooklyn NY, comedian (Larry "Bud" Melman)
19-- Helen Martin St Louis Mo, actress (Pearl-227)
19-- Larry Manetti Pendleton Ore, actor (Baa Baa Black Sheep, Magnum PI)
19-- Lucy Lee Flippin Phila, actress (Flo, Little House on the Prairie)
19-- Roger Lahr rocker (Ugly Kid Joe-Mad Man, Too Bad)
19-- Slash rock guitarist (Guns & Roses-Sweet Child of Mine)
19-- Winifred Freedman Granite City Ill, actress (Joanie Loves Chachi)
1908 Karl Swenson Bkln NY, actor (Lara-Little House on the Prairie)
1912 Michael Wilding actor (Derby Day)
1913 Coral Browne Melbourne Aust, actress (Margaret-Time Express)
1916 Ben Weber St Louis Missouri, composer (Thorne Music Award-1965)
1917 Kurt Kreuger St Moritz Switz, actor (Fear, Unfaithfully Yours)
1919 Pee Wee Reese Hall of Fame shortstop (Dodgers)
1925 Gloria De Haven LA, actress (Bog, Yellow Cab Man, Irene-Nakia)
1925 Pierre Baugniet Belgium, pairs ice skater (Olympic-gold-1948)
1927 Elliot M See Jr Dallas Texas, astronaut
1928 Leon Fleisher SF Calif, pianist/conductor (Annapolis Symph 1973-77)
1931 Jan Torell Limhamm Sweden, director (New Land, Emigrants)
1933 Bert Convy St Louis Mo, actor (Snoop Sisters, Win Lose or Draw)
1936 Anthony M Kennedy Calif, supreme court justice (1988- )
1936 Don Drysdale Van Nuys Calif, pitcher (LA Dodgers-Cy Young 1962)
1938 Ronny Cox Cloudcroft Mass, actor (St Elsewhere)
1940 Gary Stites singer (Lonely For You)
1945 Dino Danelli drummer (Young Rascals)
1946 Andy McKay sax/oboe player (Roxy Music)
1947 Don Imus radio personality (IMUS in the Morning)
1947 Spencer Christian weatherman (Good Morning America)
1950 Belinda J Montgomery actress (Man From Atlantis, Stone Cold Dead)
1950 Blair Thornton guitarist (Bachman-Turner-Overdrive)
1950 Kaity Tong news anchor (WABC-TV NYC) [50]
1951 Edie McClurg actress (Cinderella-1985, Hogan Family)
1952 Janis Siegel NYC, jazz singer (Manhattan Transfer-Tuxedo Junction)
1958 Lydia Cornell El Paso Tx, actress (Sara Rush-Too Close for Comfort)
1961 Martin Gore rocker (Depeche Mode-Just Can't Get Enough)
1961 Woody Harrelson Midland Tx, actor (Woody Boyd-Cheers)
1968 Beth Ehlers Queens NY, actress (Harley Cooper-Guiding Light)
1968 Stephane Seymour model (Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover-1988)
1970 Sam Waters vocalist (Color Me Badd-I Want to Sex You Up)
1982 Schottzie Schott dog mascot of the Cincinatti Reds

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Deaths which occurred on July 23rd:
1844 Christian Gobrecht 4th US chief engraver (1840-44), dies in office
1885 Ulysses S Grant 18th US pres, dies in Mount McGregor, NY, at 63
1951 Henri Philippe P‚tain dies
1955 Harry Haden actor (Harry-Stu Erwin Show), dies at 73
1968 Don Lillis NY Jet president
1971 Van Heflin actor (Great Adventure), dies at 60
1979 Keith Godchaux rocker (Grateful Dead), dies in a car accident at 32
1982 Vic Morrow killed during filming of "Twilight Zone" at 53
1984 Lloyd Gouch actor, dies of aortic aneurism at 77
1985 Kay Kyser (James King Kern Kyser) US bandleader, dies
1985 Mickey Shaughnessy actor, dies at 64 of heart failure
1990 Joe Turner jazz pianist, dies at 82 of cardiac arrest