1886 – A German mechanical engineer, Karl Benz drives the 1st automobile, a motorised tricycle. This was the first “horseless carriage” to be driven by an internal combustion engine. In 1893, Karl produced the first four-wheeled car.
1951 – Author Maya Angelou weds Thomas J. Angelos at the age of 23.
1962 – Algerian Revolution against French rule ends. Algeria gains independence on 5th July.
1962 – Actor Tom Cruise is born in Syracuse, New York
1971 – Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, is born in Townsville, Queensland.
1976 – Israel launches the rescue of 12 crew and 91 passengers of an Air France plane that was being held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda by pro-Palestinian hijackers on June 27. All the seven hijackers died in the operation that lasted one hour.
1987 – Virgin Atlantic’s Founder, Richard Branson and adventurer Per Lindstrand finish the first ever hot-air balloon trip across the Atlantic. Branson,36, and Lindstrand, 38, launched the Virgin Atlantic Flyer on Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine, on the 2nd July and landed in Limavady, Northern Ireland the following day.
1989 – The movie Batman makes record sales of $100 million in 10 days.
1990 – Liberian President Samuel Kanyon Doe tenders his resignation following rebel incursions in his country. He was later kidnapped, tortured and executed by his kidnappers.
1992 – Thirty-one years after being expelled, South Africa has its FIFA membership reinstated. South Africa had been expelled from FIFA due to racial discrimination in sport.
2005 – The national law legalizing same-sex marriage takes effect in Spain. 4,500 same-sex couples get married within a year from the ruling.
2010 – The Office actress Jenna Fischer, 36, weds writer Lee Kirk, 38, in Malibu.
2013 – Egypt’s president, Mohammed Morsi, is deposed by the military, led by the army chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
2014 – Germany sets the minimum wage at 8.5 euros per hour.
