Today in History

Today, is 8th of July. What were the important events that happened today, many, many years ago? I googled it, and this is what I found...

1497 Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon in search of a sea route to India.

1709 Peter the Great, at the head of a 50,000 strong Russian Army, defeats Charles XII of Sweden's 20,000 troops at the Battle of Poltava. Less than 2,000 Swedish soldier escape.

1776 The first ringing of the Liberty Bell in America.

1884 In Britain, the founding of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

1889 In boxing, John L Sullivan defeats Jake Kilrain in Mississippi, USA after a total of 75 rounds. Its the last bare-knuckle heavyweight title contest.

1907 The first of the Ziegfeld Follies - spectacular music and dancing shows - is performed on Broadway at the Jardin de Paris, New York, produced by Florence Ziegfeld.

1943 World War II: French resistance leader Jean Moulin, known as 'Max', is executed by the Gestapo.

1961 The first women's singles final at Wimbledon between two English players - Angela Mortimer beating Christine Truman in three sets.

1965 Ronald Briggs, one of the Great Train Robbers, scales the wall of Wandsworth Prison in London using a rope ladder and escapes after serving just 15 months of his jail sentence. He is later found living in Brazil.

1978 Mountaineers Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler become the first to climb Mount Everest entirely without additional oxygen.

1978 I was born! haha (this everyone must remember :P) So, happy birthday to me! Yes, I have turned 30 and proud of it! [beam]

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