July 18

July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 166 days remaining.

Events

• 64 - Great fire of Rome: A fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control while Emperor Nero reportedly plays his lyre and sings while watching the blaze from a safe distance.
• 1830 - Uruguay adopts its first constitution.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war.
• 1873 - Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim
• 1914 - Within the United States Army the Signal Corps is formed giving definite status to its air service for the first time.
• 1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.
• 1942 - World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.
• 1944 - World War II: Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
• 1947 - President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: The two-day Honolulu Conference begins in Honolulu, Hawaii between US President Lyndon B. Johnson and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.
• 1969 - After a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Edward Kennedy from Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowns. Kennedy doesn't report the incident for 10 hours. Apollo 11 makes Preparations for landing on the Moon.
• 1984 - In San Ysidro, California, 41-year-old James Oliver Huberty sprays a McDonald's restaurant with gun-fire killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
• 1986 - A tornado is broadcast live on KARE television in Minnesota when the station's helicopter pilot makes a chance encounter.
• 1994 - In Buenos Aires, an explosion destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations killing 96 and injuring many more.
• 1995 - On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee.
• 1996 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, beginning one of Canada's costliest natural disasters ever.
• 2001 - In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derailment occurs in a tunnel sparking a fire that will last days and virtually shut-down downtown Baltimore.

Births

• 1635 - Robert Hooke, scientist (d. 1703)
• 1811 - William Makepeace Thackeray, author (d. 1863)
• 1821 - Pauline Garcia-Viardot, singer/composer (d. 1910)
• 1853 - Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate (d. 1928)
• 1863 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (d. 1914)
• 1864 - Ricarda Huch, writer (d. 1947)
• 1864 - Phillip Snowden, British politician (d. 1937)
• 1887 - Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian politician and famous traitor (d. 1945)
• 1890 - Frank Forde, fifteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1983)
• 1902 - Nathalie Sarraute, writer (d. 1999)
• 1902 - Jessamyn West, writer (d. 1984)
• 1902 - Chill Wills, actor (d. 1978)
• 1906 - Clifford Odets, author, playwright (d. 1963)
• 1909 - Andrei Gromyko, Soviet diplomat and President 1985-1989 (d. 1989)
• 1909 - Mohammed Daoud Khan, Afghani President (1973-1978) (d. 1978)
• 1911 - Hume Cronyn, actor (d. 2003)
• 1913 - Red Skelton, actor, comedian (d. 1997)
• 1918 - Nelson Mandela, South Africa revolutionary and president
• 1921 - John Glenn, American astronaut and politician
• 1922 - Thomas Kuhn, philosopher (d. 1996)
• 1925 - Shirley Strickland, Australian athlete
• 1927 - Ludwig Harig, writer
• 1929 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins (d. 2000)
• 1929 - Dick Button, Olympic gold medal figure skater
• 1933 - Yevgeny Yevtushenko, poet
• 1937 - Hunter S. Thompson, journalist and author
• 1937 - Roald Hoffman, Nobel prize-winning theoretical chemist
• 1940 - James Brolin, actor
• 1940 - Joe Torre, baseball player, manager, New York Yankees
• 1941 - Martha Reeves, singer
• 1947 - Steve Forbes, entrepreneur, politician
• 1950 - Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur
• 1963 - Martín Torrijos Espino, Panamanian president-elect
• 1967 - Vin Diesel, American actor

Deaths

• 1374 - Petrarch, Italian Humanist
• 1623 - Pope Gregory XV
• 1721 - Antoine Watteau, French painter
• 1792 - John Paul Jones, American naval commander
• 1949 - Vitezslav Novák, composer
• 1988 - Nico (Christa Paffgen), German and American model and singer
• 1990 - Yoon Boseon, President of South Korea.
• 2001 - Fabio Taglioni, automotive engineer
• 2003 - Jane Barbe, voice of the telephone operator recording

Holidays and observances

• Uruguay - Constitution Day

Recorded this date

• 1901 "Ain't That A Shame" (w. John Queen m. Walter Wilson)
  - Dan W. Quinn
  
• 1901 "Good Morning, Carrie" (w. Cecil Mack m. Chris Smith & Elmer Bowman)
  - Dan W. Quinn
  
• 1901 "Simple Little Sister Mary Green" (w.m. Clifton Crawford)
  - Dan W. Quinn
  
• 1904 "My Little Creole Babe" (w.m. Maude Nugent)
  - Harry Tally
  
• 1910 "Home Boys, Home" (Jude)
  - Peter Dawson
  
• 1910 "Long Live The King" (W. Bowker Andrews)
  - Peter Dawson
  
• 1910 "Our Jack's Come Home" (Devers)
  - Peter Dawson
  
• 1910 "Sailing, Sailing" (w.m. Godfrey Marks)
  - Peter Dawson
  
• 1910 "The Toilers" (w.m. Henry T. Pontet)
  - Peter Dawson
  
• 1913 "We Have Much To Be Thankful For" (w.m. Irving Berlin)
  - That Girl Quartette
  
• 1917 "When I Hear That Jazz Band Play"
  - Marion Harris
  
• 1919 "Alexander's Band Is Back In Dixieland" (w. Jack Yellin m. Albert Gumble)
  - Harry Fox
  
• 1919 "Wait Till You Get Them Up In The Air, Boys" (w. Lew Brown m. Harry Von Tilzer)
  - Billy Murray
  
• 1923 "Milenberg Joys" (m. Leon Rappolo, Paul Mares & Jelly Roll Morton)
  - New Orleans Rhythm Kings
  
• 1923 "Wolverine Blues" (w.m. Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, Benjamin Spikes & John C. Spikes)
  - Jelly Roll Morton
  
• 1924 "Charley, My Boy" (w.m. Gus Kahn & Ted Fio Rito)
  - Eddie Cantor
  - California Ramblers
  
• 1924 "There'll Be Some Changes Made" (w,. Billy Higgins m.w. Benton Overstreet)
  - Marion Harris with O/Carl Fenton
  
• 1927 "The Whisper Song" (w.m. Cliff Friend)
  - Savoy Hotel Orpheans
  
• 1929 "Ain't Misbehavin'" (w. Andy Razaf m. Thomas "Fats" Waller & Harry Brooks)
  - Irving Kaufman with Harry Reser
  
• 1932 "I Heard" (w.m. Don Redman)
  - Al Bowlly with Carroll Gibbons & Savoy Hotel Orpheans
  
• 1932 "What A Life!" (w. Charlotte Kent m. Louis Alter)
  - Al Bowlly with The Savoy Hotel Orpheans
  
• 1932 "A Great Big Bunch Of You" (Dixon, Warren)
  - Al Bowlly with The Savoy Hotel Orpheans
  
• 1933 "Shadows On The Swanee" (w. Joe Young & Johnny Burke m. Harold Spina)
  - Ethel Waters
  
• 1933 "Don't Blame Me" (w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh)
  - Ethel Waters
  
• 1934 "Driftin' Tide" (Castleton, Williams)
  - Al Bowlly with Ray Noble & his Orchestra
  
• 1934 "Lady Of Madrid" (w. Stanley Damerell & Robert Hargreaves m. Tolchard Evans)
  - Al Bowlly with Ray Noble & his Orchestra
  
• 1934 "I Never Had A Chance" (w.m. Irving Berlin)
  - Al Bowlly with Ray Noble
  
• 1935 "Cherry" (w.m. Don Redman)
  - Jimmy Mitchelle with Erskine Hawkins & his Orchestra
  
• 1935 "Animal Crackers In My Soup" (w. Ted Koehler & Irving Caesar m. Ray Henderson)
  - Durelle Alexander with Smith Ballew & his Orchestra
  
• 1936 "Did I Remember?" (w. Harold Adamson m. Walter Donaldson)
  - Dick Powell with O/Victor Young
  
• 1936 "When Did You Leave Heaven?" (w. Walter Bullock m. Richard A. Whiting)
  - Tony Martin with O/Victor Young
  
• 1936 "A Star Fell Out Of Heaven" (w. Mack Gordon m. Harry Revel)
  - Tony Martin
  
• 1938 "Rambling Wreck From Georgia Tech" (Roman)
  - Ozzie Nelson & his Orchestra
  
• 1939 "Tuxedo Junction" (w. Buddy Feyne m. Erskine Hawkins, Williams Johnson & Julian Dash)
  - Erskine Hawkins
  
• 1945 "Please Don't Say No" (w. Ralph Freed m. Sammy Fain)
  - Jimmy Miller with Squadronaires
  
• 1946 "Blue Skies" (w.m. Irving Berlin)
  - Bing Crosby with O/John Scott Trotter
  
• 1946 "Everybody Step" (w.m. Irving Berlin)
  - Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter
  
• 1946 "(Running Around In Circles) Getting Nowhere" (w.m. Irving Berlin)
  - Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter
  
• 1946 "A Serenade to an Old Fashioned Girl" (w.m. Irving Berlin)
  - Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter
  
• 1946 "All By Myself" (w.m. Irving Berlin)
  - Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter
  
• 1946 "You Keep Coming Back Like A Song" (w.m. Irving Berlin)
  - Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter
  
• 1946 "Day By Day" (w. Sammy Cahn m. Paul Weston & Axel Stordahl)
  - Paul Carpenter with Ted Heath & his Music
  
• 1946 "I've Got A Crush On You" (w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin)
  - Sarah Vaughan with O/George Treadwell
  
• 1946 "Rumors Are Flying" (w.m. Bennie Benjamin & George David Weiss)
  - Marjorie Hughes with Frankie Carle & his Orchestra
  
• 1947 "Everything I Have Is Yours" (w. Harold Adamson m. Burton Lane)
  - Billy Eckstine with O/Sonny Burke
  
• 1951 "Hawaiian War Chant" (w. (Eng) Ralph Freed m. Johnny Noble & Prince Leleiohaku)
  - Jo Stafford featuring Ziggy Elman trumpet
  
• 1951 "Shrimp Boats" (w.m. Paul Mason Howard & Paul Weston)
  - Jo Stafford w. Norman Luboff Choir with O/Paul Weston
  
• 1951 "Kissing Bug Boogie" (w. Allan Roberts m. Robert Allen)
  - Jo Stafford with O/Paul Weston
  
• 1952 "My Love, My Life" (w.m. Ray Evans & Jay Livingston)
  - Jo Stafford
  
• 1952 "No Moon At All" (w.m. Redd Evans & Dave Mann)
  - Ames Brothers with Les Brown & his Orchestra
  
• 1956 "A Perfect Love" (w. Sammy Cahn m. Nicholas Brodsky)
  - Jo Stafford
  
• 1956 "Love Me Good" (A.Stillman, R.Allen)
  - Jo Stafford
  
• 1957 "Proceed With Caution" (Wilson Stone)
  - Eartha Kitt with O/Hugo Winterhalter
  
• 1957 "Take My Love, Take My Love" (Herb Perry)
  - Eartha Kitt with O/Hugo Winterhalter
  
• 1957 "Yomme Yomme" (Ricardo Suerte, Kim Drake)
  - Eartha Kitt with O/Hugo Winterhalter
  
• 1958 "Volare" (w. (Eng) Mitchell Parish (Ital) Domenico Modugno & Franco Migliacci m. Domenico Modugno)
  - McGuire Sisters
  
• 1963 "When I'm Not Near The Girl I Love" (w. E. Y. Harburg m. Burton Lane)
  - Frank Sinatra with O/Morris Stoloff
  
• 1963 "I've Never Been In Love Before" (w.m. Frank Loesser)
  - Frank Sinatra with O/Morris Stoloff
  
• 1963 "Old Devil Moon" (w. E. Y. Harburg m. Burton Lane)
  - Frank Sinatra with O/Morris Stoloff
  
• 1969 "Penny Arcade"
  - Roy Orbison
  
• 1979 "It Had To Be You" (w. Gus Kahn m. Isham Jones)
  - Frank Sinatra with O/Billy May
  
• 1979 "I Had The Craziest Dream" (w. Mack Gordon m. Harry Warren)
  - Frank Sinatra with O/Billy May
  

July 17 - July 19 - June 18 - August 18 -- listing of all days