3 July - Definition and Overview

July 3rd is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 181 days remaining.

Events

300-1899

• 323 - Battle of Adrianople Constantine the Great defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium
• 533 - Battle of the Tenth Milestone: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals near Carthage.
• 987 - Hugh Capet was crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty which ruled France till the French Revolution in 1792.
• 1608 - Quebec City founded by Samuel de Champlain.
• 1844 - The last pair of Great Auks is killed.
• 1863 - The final and bloodiest day of the battle of Gettysburg, and the fall of the besieged Vicksburg to U.S. Grant.
• 1866 - Austro-Prussian War decided at Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
• 1890 - Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.

1900-1999

• 1938 - World record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the "Mallard", which reaches a speed of 203 km/h (126 mph).
• 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits segregation in public places.
• 1970 - A British chartered jetliner crashes near Barcelona, Spain killing 112
• 1976 - Israeli commandos rescue 105 hostages at Entebbe Airport, Uganda.
• 1988 - United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.

2000-2099

• 2001 - A Vladivostokavia Tupolev TU-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia killing 145
• 2004 - Official opening of Bangkok's subway system.

Births

1400-1899

• 1423 - King Louis XI of France (d. 1483)
• 1728 - Robert Adam, architect (d. 1792)
• 1854 - Leos Janacek, Czech composer (d. 1928)
• 1870 - Richard Bedford Bennett, eleventh Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1947)
• 1875 - Ferdinand Sauerbruch, surgeon (d. 1951)
• 1883 - Franz Kafka, writer (d. 1924)
• 1893 - Mississippi John Hurt (d. 1966)

1900-1999

• 1906 - George Sanders, actor (d. 1972)
• 1908 - M. F. K. Fisher, writer (d. 1992)
• 1909 - Stavros Spiros Niarchos, ship owner (d. 1996)
• 1913 - Dorothy Kilgallen, newspaper columnist, early television personality (d. 1965)
• 1927 - Ken Russell, director
• 1928 - Günter Bruno Fuchs, writer (d. 1977)
• 1934 - Manfred Bieler, writer
• 1935 - Harrison Schmitt, astronaut
• 1937 - Tom Stoppard, playwright
• 1940 - César Tovar, baseball player (d. 1994)
• 1946 - Leszek Miller, Prime Minister of Poland
• 1947 - Dave Barry, writer
• 1947 - Betty Buckley, actress
• 1949 - Jan Smithers, actress
• 1951 - Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
• 1957 - Laura Branigan, singer (d. 2004)
• 1962 - Tom Cruise, actor
• 1964 - Joanne Harris, author
• 1964 - Yeardley Smith, actress
• 1966 - Moises Alou, Major League Baseball player
• 1969 - Kevin Hearn, keyboardist for Barenaked Ladies
• 1970 - Teemu Selänne, NHL hockey player
• 1976 - Andrea Barber, actress (Full House)

Deaths

1900-1999

• 1904 - Theodor Herzl, founder of the modern political zionism.
• 1914 - Joseph Chamberlain, British politician
• 1918 - Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire
• 1933 - Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina (1916-1922, 1928-1930).
• 1935 - André Citroën, automobile pioneer
• 1969 - Brian Jones, rock and roll musician, member of the Rolling Stones found dead in his swimming pool. He had probably died the previous night.
• 1971 - Jim Morrison, singer - The Doors
• 1979 - Louis Durey, French composer
• 1986 - Rudy Vallee, singer
• 1989 - Jim Backus, actor
• 1993 - Joe DeRita (a.k.a. "Curly Joe"), actor, comedian; member of the Three Stooges
• 1995 - Pancho Gonzales, tennis professional
• 1998 - Danielle Bunten Berry, a.k.a. Dan Bunten, software developer

2000-2099

• 2000 - Kemal Sunal, Turkish actor
• 2001 - Mordecai Richler, author
• 2003 - Gaetano Alibrandi, papal diplomat and Apostolic Nuncio to the Republic of Ireland
• 2004 - Andrian Nikolayev, Soviet cosmonaut nº3 of USSR, Vostok 3

Holidays and observances

July 2 - July 4 - June 3 - August 3 -- listing of all days