On This Day In History
20 July 1960. Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), elected, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, as Prime Minister thereby making her the world’s first elected female head of government. pic.twitter.com/8EOQizGS6X
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 20, 2022
20 July 1969. Apollo 11 Astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first humans to land on the moon and six hours later walked on its surface. As he stepped on to the moon, Armstrong famously said: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” pic.twitter.com/uEcWpnJDrV
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 20, 2022
Apollo 11’s mission to the moon summarised in 90 seconds: pic.twitter.com/G0dCwwxvmD
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 20, 2022
The plaque the Apollo 11 astronauts left on the moon. pic.twitter.com/FlfBGFTYc0
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 20, 2022
The Apollo 11 Command Module that made it to orbit around the moon and back to earth. pic.twitter.com/M1XR2qgLd6
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 20, 2022
20 July 1973. Bruce Lee (Lee Jun-fanne), one of the most influential martial artists of all time, died (aged 32). Time magazine named him one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. Films include: The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon and Enter the Dragon. pic.twitter.com/Ex4kYmpAbR
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 20, 2022
20 July 2011. Acclaimed artist, Lucian Freud, died (aged 88). He was one of the leading 20th century portrait artists. He was born in Berlin, and the grandson of Sigmund Freud. His family moved to Britain in 1933 to escape Hitler’s Antisemitic policies. pic.twitter.com/SN10s0MgYw
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 20, 2022
PHOTO OF THE DAY. The Lunar Module from Apollo 11. The photo is by astronaut, Michael Collins, in the command module (1969). pic.twitter.com/aFdZ2muZ7m
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 20, 2022
July 21st
356 BC Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World
365 Crete Earthquake followed by tsunami around the Eastern Mediterranean allegedly destroys Alexandria
1861 First Battle of Bull Run [Battle of First Manassas], 1st major battle of the US Civil War is fought near Manassas, Virginia, Confederate victory
1904 After 13 years, the 4,607-mile Trans-Siberian railway is completed
1925 John T. Scopes found guilty of teaching evolution in the “Scopes monkey trial” in Dayton, Tennessee, fined $100 and costs
1954 Geneva Accords for Indochina signed, dividing French colonial territories into the countries of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam), Cambodia, and Laos
1969 Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to step on the Moon at 2:56:15 AM (GMT)
1970 Aswan High Dam opens in Egypt, enables human control of the flooding of the Nile
2015 On This Day changes its domain name and brand from HistoryOrb.com to OnThisDay.com
Did You Know?
In market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true western showdown
Today in History in 1865
Would You Believe?
World's lowest-ever natural temperature recorded −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F; 184.0 K) at Soviet Vostok Station, Antarctica
Today in History in 1983
This day 44 years ago – 21 July 1976 – Judith Cooke, a 26-year-old civil servant, and Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the British Ambassador to Ireland, were killed by a Provisional IRA bomb.
Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave: “This atrocity fills all decent Irish people with a sense of shame.” pic.twitter.com/qlRfH8RIvk
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) July 21, 2020
#otd in 1656 enslaved African-American woman, Elizabeth Key, won her freedom in a US court. Her mother was enslaved, her father a free Englishman. His status and her own baptism won the day; Elizabeth married and lived in freedom with her two sons. https://t.co/kIIR4KaUTJ
— On This Day She (@OnThisDayShe) July 21, 2022
On this day in 1913, thirty-five Black men at a segregated prison camp in Mississippi burned to death when the neglected dormitory they were locked into at night caught fire. To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. https://t.co/wHK0dQV0zc
— Equal Justice Initiative (@eji_org) July 21, 2022
21 July 356 BC. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was destroyed by arson (the photo is of the replica building in Istanbul,Turkey). pic.twitter.com/7arVGohJoZ
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 21, 2022
21 July 1796. Scottish poet, Robert Burns, died (aged 37). He’s regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. His poem (and song) Auld Lang Syne is often sung to welcome in the new year and his birthday in January is called “Burns Night”. pic.twitter.com/KQmiXT7kQZ
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 21, 2022
21 July 1925. Malcolm Campbell became the first man to exceed 150 MPH on land at Pendine Sands in Wales, driving the Sunbeam 350HP. pic.twitter.com/8QJOE7KU0l
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 21, 2022
21 July 1998. American Astronaut, Alan Shepard, died (aged 74). He was the first American to travel into space, and in 1971 he walked on the Moon during the Apollo 14 mission. pic.twitter.com/n5V4snNv0Z
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 21, 2022
21 July 2011. The Space Shuttle Atlantis, the final mission of the US Space Shuttle programme, touched down at Kennedy Space Centre on Merritt Island, Florida, at 5:57 AM, after a journey of more than 5 million miles, during which it orbited the Earth 200 times. pic.twitter.com/2wRCFjWOCl
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 21, 2022
This day in history has been out of this world!