On This Day:
Thursday July 18, 2013

This is the 199th day of the year, with 166 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: gymnastics

The first perfect score in Olympic gymnastics history occurred on July 18, 1976. Fourteen-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci scored a perfect "10" for her efforts on the uneven bars at the Montreal Olympics. Nadia managed to repeat this feat seven times in her gymnastics career.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Bruno of Segni, St. Pambo, St. Arnoul or Arnulf of Metz, and St. Frederick of Utrecht.
Uruguay: Constitution Day.

Events

64 B.C.E. - The Great Fire of Rome started; in 9 days, two-thirds of the city was destroyed.
1872 - Britain introduced the concept of voting by secret ballot. 
1925 - Adolf Hitler published the first volume of his personal manifesto, "Mein Kampf."
1927 - Ty Cobb recorded his 4,000th career hit.
1932 - The United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.
1936 - The Spanish Civil War began. It was the first major military contest between left-wing forces and Fascists led by GeneralFrancisco Franco, and has been called the first chapter of World War II. 
1947 - President Harry Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act, which placed the speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate president pro tempore next in the line of succession after the vice president. 
1969 - A car driven by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard; passenger Mary Jo Kopechne died. The senator did not report the fatal car accident for 10 hours.

Births

1811 - William Makepeace Thackeray, English author.
1906 - S.I. Hayakawa, U.S. senator, college administrator, writer.
1909 - Andrey Gromyko, Soviet foreign minister (1957-1985).
1913 - Red Skelton, American comedian.
1918 - Nelson Mandela, civil rights activist, first black president of South Africa.
1921 - John Glenn Jr., first astronaut to orbit Earth, U.S. Senator.
1939 - Hunter S. Thompson, American "gonzo" journalist.
1947 - Steve Mahoney, Canadian politician.
1947 - Steve Forbes, American entrepreneur and politician.
1950 - Sir Richard Branson, British entrepreneur.
1954 - Ricky Skaggs, American country/bluegrass musician.
1963 - Martín Torrijos Espino, President of Panama.
1967 - Vin Diesel (born Mark Sinclair Vincent), American actor.

Deaths

1610 - Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian painter.
1817 - Jane Austen, English novelist.
1872 - Benito Juárez, five-term Mexican President.
1997 - Eugene Merle Shoemaker, American astronomer and one of the founders of the fields of planetary science.
2001 - Fabio Taglioni, Italian automotive engineer.
2002 - Victor Emery, British theoretical physicist.
2004 - Paul Foot, British journalist.
2005 - William Westmoreland, American general.