July 15

It’s Gummi Worm Day and Tapioca Pudding Day and Cow Appreciation Day

ON THIS DAY…
1149 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is dedicated at the site where Jesus is said to have been entombed after his crucifixion
1381 John Ball, a leader in the Peasants’ Revolt, hanged, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard II of England
1662 The Royal Society, London, received its Royal Charter, which was passed by the Great Seal, from King Charles II
1783 The first successful steamboat, the Pyroscaphe, made a trial run on the River Saône in France
1799 The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta, by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard
1837 Smallpox epidemic reaches the Mandan in Dakota Territory, killing 1475 out of 1600 people
1869 Margarine was patented by Hippolyte Mège Mouriés in France
1870 Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union
1916 22.22 inches of rain fall in Altapass, NC
1916 William Boeing and Conrad Westervelt found the Pacific Aero Products Company in Seattle; the following year they rename the company the Boeing Airplane Company
1918 Near the Marne River in northeastern France, the second Battle of the Marne in World War I begins; the Allied victory in the three-week battle halts the German drive toward Paris
1934 Continental Airlines commenced operations
1941 Howard Florey and Norman Heatley presented mold cultures of penicillin; the potency of the sample was preserved by the freeze-drying process devised by Ernst Chain
1954 The first commercial jet transport airplane built in US – the Boeing 707 prototype – the model 367-80, made its maiden flight from Renton Field, south of Seattle, WA
1971 President Richard M. Nixon announces his plan to visit China as a step toward reopening relations with the country
1975 Construction begins on Disneyland’s Space Mountain; it would open May 1977
1979 In a nationally televised address that became known as the ‘malaise speech’ President Jimmy Carter announces steps to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign energy supplies
1995 Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought by Douglas Hofstadter becomes the first item sold on Amazon.com
1999 Safeco Field opens in Seattle, WA
2002 Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three other suspects convicted of murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl
2002 John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and for the possession of explosives during the commission of a felony
2003 The Mozilla Foundation is established
2003 AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation

BORN:
1796 Thomas Bulfinch, writer who is best known as the author of Bulfinch’s Mythology
1911 Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, KG OBE PC, geographer and Labour Party politician; the younger son of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer
1914 Hammond Innes, author who wrote over 30 novels, as well as children’s and travel books (The Wreck of the Mary Deare, The Strode Venturer)
1931 Clive Cussler, adventure novelist, creator of Dirk Pitt and marine archaeologist (Raise the Titanic!, Sahara, Pacific Vortex!)
1935 Alex Karras, football player turned actor (Blazing Saddles, FM, Webster, Victor Victoria, Porky’s)
1944 Jan-Michael Vincent, actor (Airwolf, The Mechanic, The World’s Greatest Athlete, Damnation Alley, The Winds of War)
1951 Jesse Ventura (James George Janos, also known as “The Body”), 38th Governor of Minnesota (1999-2003), retired professional wrestler, Navy UDT veteran, actor, and former radio and television talk show host
1952 Celia Imrie, actress (Kingdom, Nanny McPhee, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Dinnerladies, Gormenghast)
1952 Terry O’Quinn, Emmy Award-winning actor (Lost, Alias, JAG, Millennium, The Rocketeer, Blind Fury)
1956 Ian Curtis, vocalist and lyricist of the band Joy Division
1960 Willie Aames, actor (Eight is Enough, Zapped!, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, Charles in Charge, Dungeons & Dragons (TV), Bible Man)
1961 Lolita Davidovich, actress (Adventures in Babysitting, Blaze, JFK, Jungle 2 Jungle)
1961 Forest Whitaker, producer, director and Academy Award-winning actor (The Last King of Scotland, Vision Quest, Platoon, Good Morning, Vietnam, Bird, The Crying Game)
1968 Eddie Griffin, stand-up comedian, actor (Malcolm & Eddie, Norbit, Scary Movie 3, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo)
1973 Brian Austin Green, actor (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Freddie, Beverly Hills, 90210)

DIED:
1958 Julia Lennon, mother of John Lennon, was struck down and killed by a car driven by an off-duty policeman who was drunk at the time at 44
1991 Bert Convy, stage, screen and TV actor including the original stage productions of Fiddler on the Roof and Cabaret, dies of a brain tumor at 57
1997 Gianni Versace, fashion designer and founder of Gianni Versace S.p.A., an international fashion house, was murdered outside his Miami home at 50