Wednesday, 30th July 2025 in London

Welcome to your daily snapshot of London! It's International Day of Friendship and World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Explore 51 historical events, birthdays, deaths, and milestones that shaped this day in London. From remarkable moments in local and world history to the people who left their mark — find out what makes today special. Today's weather in London brings drizzly with temperatures between 16°C and 24°C. Tonight's moon is in its waning gibbous phase, and the zodiac sign of the day is Leo. If you're curious about the history of a day — this page brings together everything worth knowing about this Wednesday, 30th July in London, GB.

London
Ilya Grigorik – CC BY-SA 3.0Wikimedia Commons

Wednesday, 30 July 2025 in London presents drizzly weather conditions typical of the city's unpredictable summer climate. Astrologically, the date falls under the zodiac sign of Leo, the fire sign associated with creativity and confidence. The moon is in its waning gibbous phase, having passed its full stage and gradually diminishing towards the new moon.

On this day

On 30 July 1966, England won the FIFA World Cup on home soil at Wembley Stadium in London, defeating West Germany 4–2 after extra time. The victory remains one of the defining moments in English football history and continues to be celebrated as a landmark achievement for the national team.

In a moment of historic significance that predated England's World Cup triumph by 36 years, Uruguay claimed the inaugural FIFA World Cup on 30 July 1930 in Montevideo, defeating Argentina 4–2 in the final. This match established the foundation for what would become the world's most prestigious football tournament. More recently, on 30 July 2018, Emmerson Mnangagwa was elected to his first full term as president of Zimbabwe following his assumption of power in the 2017 coup d'état.

International Day of Friendship

The International Day of Friendship was designated by the United Nations in 2011 to recognise the role friendship plays in promoting peace and building bridges between cultures. The day was inspired by the Declaration and Programme of Action on Culture of Peace adopted by the UN General Assembly. Observed annually on 30 July, it encourages individuals, communities and organisations to engage in activities that celebrate friendship across borders and backgrounds. The observance has been marked worldwide for over a decade through cultural events, educational initiatives and diplomatic exchanges.

World Day Against Trafficking in Persons

The World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, established by the United Nations in 2013, draws attention to the situation of victims of human trafficking and the abuse of their human rights. The date of 30 July was chosen to commemorate the birth of Carita Pointen, a Finnish-born activist and UN official who championed efforts against trafficking before her death in 2002. The day serves to raise awareness of the estimated 27.3 million people currently in situations of human trafficking globally. Since its inception, the observance has prompted governments, NGOs and civil society to intensify prevention efforts and victim support services.

DayAtlas provides comprehensive information for any date and location, displaying weather conditions, historical events, and notable births and deaths. The platform enables users to explore what happened on a specific day throughout history whilst also revealing meteorological patterns and astrological details for their chosen date.

Find out what's happening today in London.

What the Weather Had in Store for London on 30th July 2025

Drizzle

Sunrise 05:22
Sunset 20:52
Sunshine duration 13:11 hours
Daylight duration 15:30 hours

Maximum temperature 24.7°C
Minimum temperature 16.1°C

Wind speed 14km/h from WNW
Precipitation 0.8mm

Beginnings demand more oxygen than the journey that follows.

Fortune of the Day

30th July in the Stars – Star Sign Leo

Today, the zodiac sign Leo celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality People born on July 30th blend classic Leo charisma with Martial drive. They're passionate, bold, and magnetically compelling to others. Their temperament is vibrant – they don't just want admiration, they want to lead and make things happen.

Strengths & Weaknesses Their greatest assets are initiative, generosity, and commanding presence. However, impatience can flip into recklessness. They naturally dominate situations, which can alienate others who prefer subtlety and collaboration.

Love These natives love intensely and expect equal passion in return. They need partners who respect their independence yet admire their achievements. Loyalty runs deep, provided they receive consistent attention and appreciation.

Caree & Finance Career is their arena – they chase positions where they can lead and shine. Entrepreneurship suits them excellently. Financially generous, sometimes recklessly so; saving clashes with their ambitious dreams and desire for the finer things.

Health These individuals possess robust vitality, yet their intense nature demands outlets for energy. Stress surfaces as restlessness or irritability. Regular physical activity and deliberate downtime are essential for sustainable well-being and balance.


That night, the moon was in its waning gibbous phase.


Chinese year of the Snake (Wood).

Fun Facts About 30th July

Name Days in Your Language: Casey, Enrica, Enrique, Etta, Everard, Everett, Hank, Hendrick, Henrietta, Henry, Kacey, Kacie, Kasey, Reece, Reese


Someone born on this day would be just 326 days old today — roughly 7,833 hours, 470,030 minutes, or 28,201,841 seconds spent on Earth so far.


It's the 211. day of the year. In 2025, 30th July falls on a Wednesday.


There are 154 days still to come.


We’re currently in Week 31 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 30th July

On this day, 188 notable people were born on 30th July — spanning from 1470 to 1999. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

30/07/1999

Joey King, American actress

Joey Lynn King is an American actress. She starred as Ramona Quimby in the comedy film Ramona and Beezus (2010) and gained wider recognition for her lead role as a late-blooming teenager in the Kissing Booth film series (2018–2021). King received critical acclaim for playing Gypsy-Rose Blanchard in the crime drama series The Act (2019), for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.


30/07/1996

Nina Stojanović, Serbian tennis player

Nina Stojanović is a Serbian professional tennis player. On 2 March 2020, Stojanović reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 81. On 17 January 2022, she peaked at No. 37 in the WTA doubles rankings.


Dylan Larkin, American hockey player

Dylan Larkin is an American professional ice hockey player who is a center and captain for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). Larkin was drafted 15th overall by the Red Wings in the 2014 NHL entry draft.


30/07/1995

Hirving Lozano, Mexican footballer

Hirving Rodrigo Lozano Bahena, also known by his nickname Chucky, is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club San Diego FC and the Mexico national team.


30/07/1994

Nelydia Senrose, Malaysian actress

Datin Hajah Nik Zaris Nelydia Binti Nik Sen, better known by her stage name Nelydia Senrose, is a Malaysian actress. She debuted in 2007 and actively appeared in a few television dramas and popular in the drama Setia Hujung Nyawa as Ersalina, Bukan Kerana Aku Tak Cinta as Hannah Mastura dan Lafazkan Kalimah Cintamu as Tengku Aqilah.


30/07/1993

Jacob Faria, American baseball player

Jacob Daniel Faria is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Boston Red Sox.


André Gomes, Portuguese footballer

André Filipe Tavares Gomes is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew.


Margarida Moura, Portuguese tennis player

Margarida Moura is a former Portuguese tennis player.


Miho Miyazaki, Japanese singer

Miho Miyazaki is a Japanese singer, actress and former member of the idol girl group AKB48 where she was active in Team A. She also participated in the Korean-Japanese show Produce 48.


30/07/1992

Hannah Cockroft, English wheelchair racer

Hannah Lucy Cockroft is a British wheelchair racer, specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification, and a TV presenter.


30/07/1991

Diana Vickers, English singer-songwriter

Diana Vickers is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She was a semi-finalist on The X Factor in 2008, being the ninth contestant eliminated. Vickers signed a record deal with RCA Records and, after touring with her fellow contestants from The X Factor, played the title role in a West End revival of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.


30/07/1990

Chris Maxwell, Welsh footballer

Christopher Ethan Maxwell is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.


Tom Morris, Australian journalist

Tom Morris is an Australian sports journalist who specialises in Australian rules football and cricket. He is a football reporter at the Seven Network and also appears on Sunday Footy Feast and Agenda Setters.


30/07/1989

Aleix Espargaró, Spanish motorcycle racer

Aleix Espargaró Villà is a Spanish former Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He was the Spanish 2004 FIM CEV 125cc International Champion and has competed since 2017 in the MotoGP class using Aprilia machines. He retired from Grand Prix racing at the end of the 2024 season and signed as a test rider for Honda Racing Corporation. He decided to become a cyclist with the United States team, Lidl-Trek, making his debut in the world of cycling at the 2025 Tour of Austria.


Wayne Parnell, South African cricketer

Wayne Dillon Parnell is a South African professional cricketer who has played Test, One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket for the South Africa national cricket team. At domestic level he played for Cape Cobras, Warriors and Eastern Province in South Africa and for a range of teams in competitions around the world.


30/07/1988

Wen Chean Lim, Malaysian rhythmic gymnast

Chrystal Lim Wen Chean is a Malaysian rhythmic gymnast.


30/07/1987

Anton Fink, German footballer

Anton Fink is a German professional footballer who plays as a striker for Oberliga Baden-Württemberg club FC Nöttingen. He has scored the most 3. liga goals of all time (136).


Sam Saunders, American golfer

Samuel Palmer Saunders is an American professional golfer and the grandson of Arnold Palmer.


30/07/1986

Tiago Alencar, Brazilian footballer

Tiago Alencar dos Santos known as Tiago or Tiago Alencar is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Ipatinga on loan from Corinthians Paranaense.


William Zillman, Australian rugby league player

William Gary "Zilly" Zillman is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s, he played in the National Rugby League. His usual position is at fullback but can also play five-eighth. Zillman has previously played for the Canberra Raiders and Gold Coast Titans.


30/07/1985

Chris Guccione, Australian tennis player

Christopher Luke Guccione is an former Australian professional tennis player from Greenvale, Victoria. He has won five ATP Tour doubles titles, and reached career-high rankings of singles world No. 67 achieved on 7 April 2008 and doubles world No. 38 achieved on 3 November 2014.


Daniel Fredheim Holm, Norwegian footballer

Daniel Fredheim Holm is a Norwegian footballer who plays as a midfielder and works as a sporting director for KFUM in the Eliteserien. He is the half-brother of former Vålerenga colleague Thomas Holm, and the son of former footballer Paal Fredheim.


Luca Lanotte, Italian ice dancer

Luca Lanotte is an Italian former ice dancer. With partner Anna Cappellini, he is the 2014 World champion, the 2014 European champion, the 2015 Cup of China champion and a thirteen-time medalist on the Grand Prix series, and a seven-time Italian national champion (2012–18).


Matthew Scott, Australian rugby league player

Matthew Scott, also known by the nickname of "Thumper", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a prop for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL and Australia at international level.


30/07/1984

Marko Asmer, Estonian race car driver

Marko Asmer is an Estonian former racing driver, who won the British Formula 3 Championship title in 2007. Asmer is also the first Estonian to test a Formula One car, having tested for the Williams BMW team in 2003, after just half a season of car racing in British Formula Ford. Asmer's father is a former racing driver Toivo Asmer, who was Estonian Minister of Regional Affairs between 1999 and 2003.


Gabrielle Christian, American actress and singer

Gabrielle Christian is an American actress and singer best known for her portrayal of Spencer Carlin in The N original series South of Nowhere, and her portrayal of Colby Robson in the web series Girltrash! and the film Girltrash: All Night Long. In addition, she has also guest starred on Drake & Josh, Windfall, Without a Trace and What Should You Do? along with several minor roles in a variety of other shows.


Ása Berglind Hjálmarsdóttir, Icelandic politician

Ása Berglind Hjálmarsdóttir is an Icelandic politician and member of the Althing. A member of the Social Democratic Alliance, she has represented the South constituency since November 2024.


Trudy McIntosh, Australian artistic gymnast

Trudy McIntosh is an Australian artistic gymnast.


Kevin Pittsnogle, American basketball player

Kevin Lee Pittsnogle Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. He played for the Pittsburgh Xplosion of the CBA and the Austin Toros and the Albuquerque Thunderbirds of the NBA D-League. He is best known for his collegiate play at West Virginia University.


Gina Rodriguez, American actress

Gina Alexis Rodriguez is an American actress. She is known for her leading role as Jane Villanueva in The CW satirical romantic dramedy series Jane the Virgin (2014–2019), for which she received a Golden Globe Award in 2015.


30/07/1983

Seán Dillon, Irish footballer

Seán Dillon is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Scottish League One club Montrose, where he is a player-coach. He previously played for Dundee United and Irish teams Longford Town and Shelbourne in the League of Ireland prior to joining Dundee United in January 2007 then Montrose in June 2017. He has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-16, under-21 and B international level.


30/07/1982

Jehad Al-Hussain, Syrian footballer

Jehad Fadhil Al Hussain is a former Syrian footballer who played as a midfielder. He is now the head coach of the Syria U23 national team.


James Anderson, English cricketer

Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson is an English cricketer who played for England from 2002 to 2024. He was serving as the fast-bowling mentor of the England cricket team and continues to play for Lancashire. Widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the sport, he holds the record for the most wickets taken by a fast bowler in Test cricket (704) and third most wickets in international cricket (991).


Martin Starr, American actor and comedian

Martin James Pflieger Schienle, known professionally as Martin Starr, is an American actor. He is known for the television roles of Bill Haverchuck on the comedy drama Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000), Roman DeBeers on the comedy series Party Down, Bertram Gilfoyle on the HBO series Silicon Valley (2014–2019), for his film roles in Knocked Up (2007) and Adventureland (2009), and as Roger Harrington in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films The Incredible Hulk (2008), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).


Yvonne Strahovski, Australian actress

Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski, known professionally as Yvonne Strahovski, is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles as Sarah Walker in the spy comedy drama series Chuck (2007–2012), Hannah McKay in the drama series Dexter (2012–2013) and Kate Morgan in the event series 24: Live Another Day (2014). Strahovski starred as Serena Joy Waterford in the drama series The Handmaid's Tale (2017–2025), for which she has received nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe Award.


30/07/1981

Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (died 2017)

Nicholas Patrick Hayden, nicknamed "The Kentucky Kid", was an American professional motorcycle racer who won the MotoGP World Championship in 2006. Hayden began racing motorcycles at a young age. He began his road racing career in the CMRA before progressing to the AMA Supersport Championship and then to the AMA Superbike Championship. He won the AMA title in 2002 and was approached by the Repsol Honda team to race for them in MotoGP in 2003.


Juan Smith, South African rugby union footballer

Juanne Hugo Smith is a South African former professional rugby union player who represented South Africa in international test rugby, the Cheetahs in the Super Rugby competition, and the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup. He mainly played as a blindside flanker, although he has also played number eight.


Hope Solo, American soccer player

Hope Amelia Stevens is an American former soccer goalkeeper who represented the United States from 2000 to 2016. She is a World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. After playing at the collegiate level for the University of Washington, she played professionally for the Philadelphia Charge in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA). When the WUSA folded after her first season, she traveled to Europe to play for the top division leagues in Sweden and France. From 2009 to 2011, she played in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) for Saint Louis Athletica, Atlanta Beat and magicJack. After the WPS ceased operations in early 2012, she played for the Seattle Sounders in the W-League. She most recently played for Seattle Reign FC in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States.


Indrek Turi, Estonian decathlete

Indrek Turi is a retired Estonian decathlete. His coach is Andrei Nazarov.


30/07/1980

Seth Avett, American folk-rock singer-songwriter and musician

Timothy Seth Avett is an American musician and one of the lead singers and founding members of the American folk-rock band The Avett Brothers. Avett sings and plays guitar, drums, bass, and piano for the band based out of Concord, North Carolina. In 2008, their album, The Second Gleam, reached the number ten spot on Billboard.com's Top Independent Albums chart, and stayed there for three weeks.


Justin Rose, South African-English golfer

Justin Peter Rose is an English professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. He is a former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. He has won one major championship, the 2013 U.S. Open.


30/07/1979

Carlos Arroyo, Puerto Rican basketball player and singer

Carlos Alberto Arroyo Bermúdez is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association with the Toronto Raptors, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, and Boston Celtics.


Chad Keegan, South African cricketer and coach

Chad Blake Keegan is a South African former cricketer who played County Cricket for Middlesex and Sussex.


Graeme McDowell, Northern Irish golfer

Graeme McDowell is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland. He has eleven tournament victories on the European Tour, and four on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. In 2022, he joined LIV Golf. McDowell has also represented Ireland at the World Cup and he has been a member of the European Ryder Cup team on four occasions. He has appeared in the top-10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, with a highest ranking position of 4th.


Maya Nasser, Syrian journalist (died 2012)

Maya Nasser was a Syrian journalist and reporter who worked for Press TV, an Iranian English-language broadcasting service. Nasser reported from Syria during the Syrian Civil War. His reports from Aleppo are the most notable. Nasser also reported from the United States, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Bahrain.


30/07/1977

Diana Bolocco, Chilean model and journalist;

Diana Catalina Bolocco Fonck is a Chilean journalist, known as sister of Cecilia Bolocco, Miss Universe 1987.


Misty May-Treanor, American volleyball player and coach

Misty Elizabeth May-Treanor is an American retired professional beach volleyball player. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and the second most successful female beach volleyball player as of January 2026, having won 112 tournaments in domestic and international competition.


Jaime Pressly, American actress

Jaime Elizabeth Pressly is an American actress and model. Known for her role as Joy Turner on the NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl (2005–2009), she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and received nominations for two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Satellite Award, and four Gold Derby Awards. She has appeared in such films as Can't Hardly Wait (1998), Inferno (1999), Not Another Teen Movie (2001), The Karate Dog (2004), and I Love You, Man (2009). For her portrayal of Jill Kendall on the CBS sitcom Mom (2014–2021), she was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.


Bootsy Thornton, American basketball player

Marvis Linwood "Bootsy" Thornton III is an American former professional basketball player.


Ian Watkins, Welsh former Lostprophets singer-songwriter and convicted child sex offender (died 2025)

Ian David Karslake Watkins was a Welsh singer, songwriter, and convicted child sex offender. He was the lead singer and frontman of the rock band Lostprophets from 1997 to 2012. Watkins founded Lostprophets with Lee Gaze in 1997, having previously been in a band called Fleshbind with him. Lostprophets released five studio albums, four of which made the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart, including Liberation Transmission which went to number 1 in 2006.


30/07/1975

Graham Nicholls, English author and activist

Graham Nicholls is a British author, installation artist and specialist on out of body experiences. He speaks widely on parapsychology, ethics and art at institutions ranging from the London Science Museum, The Society for Psychical Research to the Cambridge Union Society.


Kate Starbird, American basketball player and computer scientist

Catherine Evelyn Starbird is an American computer scientist and former women's professional basketball player.


30/07/1974

Radostin Kishishev, Bulgarian footballer and manager

Radostin Prodanov Kishishev is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who works as director of youth/U19 coach of Chernomorets 1919.


Jason Robinson, English rugby league footballer, and rugby union footballer and coach

Jason Thorpe Robinson is an English former rugby league and rugby union player who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A dual-code international, he represented Great Britain and England in rugby league, and England and the British & Irish Lions in rugby union.


Hilary Swank, American actress and producer

Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress and film producer. She first became known in 1992 for her role on the television series Camp Wilder and made her film debut with a minor role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). Swank came to international recognition for her performances as Brandon Teena in Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry (1999) and as Maggie Fitzgerald in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby (2004). Both performances earned her widespread critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards for Best Actress and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. She was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005.


30/07/1973

Kenton Cool, English mountaineer

Kenton Edward Cool is an English climber and mountain guide. He is one of Britain's leading alpine and high altitude climbers. He has reached the summit of Mount Everest 20 times—the most of any non-Nepali. His ascents of Everest include leading Ranulph Fiennes' 2008 and 2009 Expeditions.


Ümit Davala, Turkish footballer and manager

Ümit Aydın Davala is a Turkish football coach and former player. During his stint at Galatasaray, he won four Süper Lig, three Turkish Cup, one UEFA Cup and one UEFA Super Cup title between 1996 and 2001. He won the 2003–04 Bundesliga with Werder Bremen. Davala represented Turkey with 41 caps in international competitions, scoring 4 goals. He was part of the Turkey squad which earned a bronze medal at 2002 FIFA World Cup.


Anastasios Katsabis, Greek footballer

Anastasios "Tasos" Katsabis is a former Greek football player, who last played for Iraklis in Super League Greece as a centre back. Katsabis started his career as a midfielder but when he was played at PAOK, Angelos Anastasiadis tried him as a centre back because of his height. It was by playing his new position that he gained his first call-up to Greece.


Markus Näslund, Swedish ice hockey player and manager

Markus Sten Näslund is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player and former general manager for Modo Hockey of the Swedish Hockey League. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks, and New York Rangers, as well as in the Elitserien with Modo Hockey from 1990 to 2010. Nicknamed "Nazzy" by Canucks fans and "Macke" or "Mackan" in his native Sweden, he was known for his offensive skills, particularly his wrist shot and stickhandling.


Sonu Nigam, Indian playback singer and actor

Sonu Nigam is an Indian playback singer, music director, dubbing artist and actor. He is considered one of the most versatile singers in India, with a wide vocal range. His performances include a wide range of genres, like classical music, devotional music, ghazals, qawwali, rock and pop music, among others. Nigam sings predominantly in Hindi- and Kannada-language films. He has recorded over 6,000 songs in more than 32 languages throughout his career. He has released a number of non-film albums and acted in some Hindi films. Nigam has been awarded one National Film Award, two Filmfare Awards and two Filmfare Awards South and four IIFA Awards for Best Playback Singer. He was ranked top artist on the Billboard Uncharted charts twice in September and October 2013. Nigam was honoured with the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award in 2022.


Clementa C. Pinckney, American minister and politician (died 2015)

Clementa "Clem" Carlos Pinckney was an American politician and pastor who served as a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, representing the 45th District from 2000 until his assassination in 2015. He was previously a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1997 through 2000.


30/07/1972

Jim McIlvaine, American basketball player and sportscaster

James Michael McIlvaine is an American former professional basketball player who spent seven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Washington Bullets, Seattle SuperSonics, and New Jersey Nets. The 7-foot-1 shot-blocking specialist is perhaps best remembered for the fall-out that occurred after he signed with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1996.


30/07/1971

Elvis Crespo, American-Puerto Rican singer

Elvis Crespo Díaz is an American merengue singer. He has won multiple awards, including a Grammy and a Latin Grammy Award in merengue music.


Tom Green, Canadian comedian and actor

Michael Thomas Green is a Canadian-American comedian, television personality, actor, podcaster, singer, songwriter, and rapper. After pursuing stand-up comedy and music as a young adult, Green created and hosted The Tom Green Show, which aired on Rogers TV and later on MTV from 1994 to 2000. The show became popular for its shock comedy, its absurd pranks, and Green's manic persona, and influenced later series such as Jackass, Punk'd and The Eric Andre Show. Green has appeared in the Hollywood films Road Trip (2000), Charlie's Angels (2000), Stealing Harvard (2002), and Shred (2008). Green directed, co-wrote, and starred in the cult film Freddy Got Fingered (2001). He was briefly married to actress Drew Barrymore (2001–2002), who co-starred with him in Charlie's Angels and Freddy Got Fingered.


Christine Taylor, American actress

Christine Joan Taylor is an American actress. She has played Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) and A Very Brady Sequel (1996), and appeared in The Craft (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), Zoolander (2001), and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004). In television, she has appeared in roles in Hey Dude, Arrested Development, and Search Party.


30/07/1970

Alun Cairns, Welsh businessman and politician

Alun Hugh Cairns is a Welsh Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Vale of Glamorgan from 2010 to 2024. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2016 to 2019.


Dean Edwards, American comedian, actor, and singer

Dean Edwards is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and singer. His work as a voice actor includes Scottie Pippen and Spike Lee in Celebrity Deathmatch, a robot in Robotomy and Donkey in Scared Shrekless after Eddie Murphy was unable to reprise the role, along with a couple of other projects. He also appeared in Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Halftime Special as Savion Glover and Don Cheadle, in Tony n' Tina's Wedding as Father Mark, and The Sopranos.


Christopher Nolan, English-American director, producer, and screenwriter

Sir Christopher Edward Nolan is a British and American filmmaker. As a significant auteur of his generation, he has established himself a major figure of 21st-century Hollywood. His films have earned over $6 billion worldwide, making him the seventh highest-grossing film director of all time. Nolan's accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and two British Academy Film Awards. He was appointed as a CBE in 2019 and was knighted in 2024 for his contributions to film.


30/07/1969

Simon Baker, Australian actor, director, and producer

Simon Lucas Baker is an Australian actor and director. He first gained prominence on the Australian soap opera E Street (1992–1993). Baker achieved his Hollywood breakthrough in 1997 with a supporting role as Matt Reynolds in L.A. Confidential (1997). This role marked his American film debut and a pivotal turning point in his career, successfully establishing his presence in the international film industry. He later starred in the CBS legal drama The Guardian (2001–2004), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama in 2002. His breakthrough role came as Patrick Jane in the 2008-2015 Drama-thriller series The Mentalist, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2009. Baker has also appeared in several films, including, Restaurant (1998), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), and Margin Call (2011).


Errol Stewart, South African cricketer and lawyer

Errol Leslie Rae Stewart is a former South African cricketer and rugby union player. He attended Westville Boys' High School in Westville, KwaZulu-Natal where he was selected for the SA schools cricket and rugby sides in 1987. He also was selected for Natal schools for Hockey and athletics. He studied law at the University of Natal and played as a wicket-keeper for the University of Natal and for the Natal Dolphins, captaining them in his final season in 2004.


30/07/1968

Terry Crews, American actor and football player

Terry Alan Crews is an American actor, television host, and former professional football player. He played Julius Rock in the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, which aired from 2005 to 2009, and portrayed Terry Jeffords in the Fox and NBC sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013–2021). Crews starred in the BET reality series The Family Crews (2010–2011) and hosted the American version of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire from 2014 to 2015. He has appeared in films, including Friday After Next (2002), White Chicks (2004), Idiocracy (2006), Blended (2014), The Expendables film series (2010–2014), and Rumble (2021). Crews began hosting America's Got Talent in 2019, following his involvement in the same role for the program's spin-off series America's Got Talent: The Champions.


Robert Korzeniowski, Polish race walker and coach

Robert Marek Korzeniowski is a Polish former racewalker who won four gold medals at the Olympic Games and three gold medals at World Championships.


Sean Moore, Welsh drummer and songwriter

Sean Anthony Moore is a Welsh musician and songwriter. He is best known for being the drummer and occasional trumpet-player of the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. He is cousin to bandmate James Dean Bradfield.


30/07/1966

Kerry Fox, New Zealand actress and screenwriter

Kerry Lauren Fox is a New Zealand actress. She came to prominence playing author Janet Frame in the movie An Angel at My Table directed by Jane Campion, which gained her a Best Actress Award from the New Zealand Film and Television Awards.


Craig Gannon, English guitarist and songwriter

Craig Gannon is an English guitarist, best known as the second guitarist in the Smiths (1986). He is now a composer for film and television.


Allan Langer, Australian rugby league player and coach

Allan Jeffrey "Alfie" Langer AM is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and worked as an assistant coach for the Australian national team, the Queensland Maroons and the Brisbane Broncos.


Sean Patrick Maloney, American politician

Sean Patrick Maloney is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development from 2024 to 2025. He previously served five terms as the U.S. representative from New York's 18th congressional district from 2013 to 2023.


Louise Wener, English author and singer-songwriter

Louise Jane Wener is an English writer, singer, songwriter and guitarist of the band Sleeper.


30/07/1965

Tim Munton, English cricketer

Timothy Alan Munton is an English cricketer. He had a long career in county cricket, playing over 500 games combined between first-class and List A, primarily with Warwickshire before ending his career at Derbyshire. He also played two Test matches for England in the 1992 series against Pakistan, and went on a number of England A tours. A medium pace bowler and lower order batsman, cricket writer Colin Bateman stated, "at 6ft 6in, with an ability to make the ball swing, Munton is at his best in English conditions". His time at Warwickshire was a particularly successful one for the club, winning 6 trophies between 1993 and 1995; as a crucial part of that side, Munton was honoured as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1995.


30/07/1964

Ron Block, American singer-songwriter and banjo player

Ronald Franklin Block is an American banjo player, guitarist, and singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the bluegrass band Alison Krauss & Union Station. He has won 14 Grammy Awards, 6 International Bluegrass Music Awards, a Country Music Association Award, and a Gospel Music Association Dove Award.


Vivica A. Fox, American actress

Vivica Anjanetta Fox is an American actress and producer. She began her career on Soul Train (1982–1983) and played roles on the daytime television soap operas Days of Our Lives (1988) and Generations (1989–1991). In prime time, she starred opposite Patti LaBelle in the NBC sitcom Out All Night (1992–1993). Fox's breakthrough came in 1996, with roles in two box-office hit films, Roland Emmerich's Independence Day and F. Gary Gray's Set It Off.


Alek Keshishian, Lebanese-American director, producer, and screenwriter

Alek Keshishian is an Armenian-American film and commercial director, writer, producer and music video director. His 1991 documentary, Madonna: Truth or Dare was the highest-grossing documentary of all time until 2002; it "changed the way filmmakers explored the world of celebrity" and had a "profound impact on LGBTQ representation in film".


Jürgen Klinsmann, German footballer and manager

Jürgen Klinsmann is a German professional football manager and former player. He played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He was part of the West German team that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup and the unified German team that won the UEFA Euro 1996.


Laine Randjärv, Estonian lawyer and politician, 6th Estonian Minister of Culture

Laine Randjärv is an Estonian politician from the Reform Party. She was the mayor of Tartu from 23 September 2004 to 2007, and previously she was deputy mayor from 2002 to 2004. From 2007 to 2011, she served as the Minister of Culture in Andrus Ansip's second government.


30/07/1963

Peter Bowler, English-Australian cricketer

Peter Duncan Bowler is a former English-born Australian cricketer who played for Leicestershire in 1986, Tasmania in 1986/87, Derbyshire from 1988 to 1994 and for Somerset from 1995 to 2004.


Lisa Kudrow, American actress and producer

Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress and writer. She rose to international fame for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the American television sitcom Friends, which aired from 1994 to 2004. The series earned her Primetime Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, Satellite, American Comedy and TV Guide awards. Phoebe has since been named one of the greatest television characters of all time and is considered to be Kudrow's breakout role, spawning her successful film career.


Antoni Martí, Andorran architect and politician

Antoni Martí Petit was an Andorran architect and politician who served as the prime minister of Andorra between 2011 and 2019, when he was elected on the ticket of the Democrats for Andorra.


Chris Mullin, American basketball player, coach, and executive

Christopher Paul Mullin is an American former professional basketball player, executive and coach. He is a five time NBA All-Star and four time All-NBA Team member. He is also two-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.


30/07/1962

Alton Brown, American chef, author, and producer

Alton Crawford Brown Jr. is an American television personality, food show presenter, author, voice actor, and cinematographer. He is the creator and host of the Food Network television show Good Eats that ran for 16 seasons, host of the miniseries Feasting on Asphalt and Feasting on Waves, and host and main commentator on Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen. Brown is a best-selling author of several books on food and cooking. A recap series titled Good Eats Reloaded aired on Cooking Channel, and a true sequel series, Good Eats: The Return, ran from 2019 to 2021 on Food Network.


Jay Feaster, American ice hockey player and manager

Jay Harry Feaster is a National Hockey League (NHL) executive currently serving as the Executive Director of Community Hockey Development for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He is the former general manager of the Calgary Flames, having served from May 16, 2011 to December 12, 2013, after serving as acting general manager since December 28, 2010, following Darryl Sutter's resignation. He was the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning for six years, during which he was named the NHL's executive of the year by The Sporting News in 2004 after guiding the Lightning to their first Stanley Cup championship.


Yakub Memon, Indian accountant and terrorist (died 2015)

Yakub Abdul Razzaq Memon was an Indian gangster apprehended over his financial involvements in the 1993 Bombay bombings, and the brother of one of the prime suspects in the bombings, Tiger Memon. After his appeals and petitions for clemency were all rejected, he was executed at Nagpur Central Jail on 30 July 2015. Memon financially assisted his brother Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim in planning and executing the bombings. Memon handled Tiger's funds, funded the training of 15 youths who were sent to a secret location to learn handling arms and ammunition, purchased the vehicles used in the bombings, and stockpiled weapons.


30/07/1961

Laurence Fishburne, American actor and producer

Laurence John Fishburne III is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has gained recognition for his roles on stage and screen as militant and authoritative characters. Fishburne first came to prominence appearing in Apocalypse Now (1979) and achieved further recognition for his supporting role in Boyz n the Hood (1991). Later, he became known for portraying Morpheus in The Matrix trilogy (1999–2003) and the Bowery King in the John Wick film series (2017–).


30/07/1960

Jennifer Barnes, American-English musicologist and academic

Jennifer Chase Barnes is a musicologist and former university administrator. She was a Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in the University of Cambridge, and the 4th President of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge in the United Kingdom.


Richard Linklater, American director and screenwriter

Richard Linklater is an American filmmaker. He is known for making films which deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Silver Bear, a César Award, and five Academy Award nominations.


Brillante Mendoza, Filipino independent film director

Brillante Mendoza, also known as Dante Mendoza, is a Filipino independent filmmaker. Mendoza is known one of the key members associated with the Philippine New Wave.


30/07/1958

Kate Bush, English singer-songwriter and producer

Catherine Bush is an English singer, songwriter, musician, dancer and record producer. She is noted for her eclectic style, unconventional lyrics and innovative dance performances. Her sound and choreography have influenced a range of artists.


Liz Kershaw, English radio broadcaster

Elizabeth Marguerita Mary Kershaw is an English radio broadcaster. She is one of the longest serving female national radio DJs in the UK, celebrating 30 years on national BBC Radio in 2017.


Daley Thompson, English decathlete and trainer

Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, is an English former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four times. He was unbeaten in competition for nine years.


30/07/1957

Antonio Adamo, Italian director and cinematographer

Antonio Adamo is an Italian pornographic film director. He won the 2003 AVN Award for "Best Director, Foreign Release" for the film Gladiator I.


Bill Cartwright, American basketball player and coach

James William Cartwright is an American former professional basketball player and a former coach. A 7-foot-1-inch (2.16 m) center, he played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls and Seattle SuperSonics, helping the Bulls capture consecutive championships in the 1991, 1992 and 1993 seasons. He attended Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove, California, and played college basketball for the San Francisco Dons. Following his playing career, he served as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, the Osaka Evessa of the bj League and the Mexico men's national basketball team as well as an assistant coach for several years in the NBA.


Clint Hurdle, American baseball player and manager

Clinton Merrick Hurdle is an American former professional baseball outfielder and manager. Hurdle played for the Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, and St. Louis Cardinals, and previously managed the Rockies and the Pittsburgh Pirates.


Nery Pumpido, Argentinian footballer, coach, and manager

Nery Alberto Pumpido is an Argentine football coach and former goalkeeper who played for Argentina in two World Cups. After retirement, Pumpido moved into club management. His nephew Facundo Pumpido is also a professional footballer.


30/07/1956

Delta Burke, American actress

Delta Burke McRaney is an American actress, producer and author. From 1986 to 1991, she starred as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women, for which she received two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.


Réal Cloutier, Canadian ice hockey player

Réal Cloutier is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Cloutier spent five prolific seasons as a winger in the World Hockey Association (WHA) with the Quebec Nordiques. In his rookie season as a professional, he scored 26 goals in 63 games. He proceeded to reach his prime over the next couple of seasons, which started with scoring 60 goals in his sophomore season in 1975. The next season saw him score 66 goals with 75 assists to record a career-high 141 total points as the Nordiques advanced all the way to the Avco Cup Finals. In 17 postseason games that year, he scored 14 goals and had 27 total points as Quebec won their only championship. Cloutier recorded two further 100-point seasons prior to the team being absorbed into the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1979; in 369 total games in the WHA, he had 566 total points. He scored 42 goals in 67 games in the first season in the NHL in 1979-80 before injuries hindered him in his next two seasons with the team that saw him score 80 combined goals in his last three seasons with Quebec. He was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 1983, but troubles with ice time saw him score 24 total goals in 81 games over two years.


Georg Gänswein, German prelate, Prefect of the Pontifical Household, and former personal secretary to Pope Benedict XVI

Georg Gänswein is a German prelate of the Catholic Church who was named Apostolic Nuncio to Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia on 24 June 2024. He served as Prefect of the Papal Household from 2012 to 2023 and was the Personal Secretary of Pope Benedict XVI. He was a professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross for about a decade and has been an archbishop since 2013. He is also an Honorary Canon of Freiburg Cathedral.


Anita Hill, American lawyer and academic

Anita Faye Hill is an American lawyer, educator and author. She is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the university's Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She became a national figure in 1991 when she accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, her supervisor at the United States Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, of sexual harassment.


Soraida Martinez, American painter and educator

Soraida Martinez is an American visual artist of Puerto Rican descent known for her contemporary abstract expressionist paintings and social commentary. She is the creator of the art movement, Verdadism.


30/07/1955

Rat Scabies, English drummer and producer

Christopher John Millar, known by his stage name Rat Scabies, is a musician and the drummer for English punk rock band the Damned.


Christopher Warren-Green, English violinist and conductor

Christopher Warren-Green is a British violinist and conductor.


30/07/1954

Ken Olin, American actor, director, and producer

Kenneth Edward Olin is an American actor, television director, and producer. As an actor, Olin is known for his role as Michael Steadman in the ABC drama series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1990. Olin later began working behind the scenes, as a director and producer. His credits as a producer include Alias (2001–2006), Brothers & Sisters (2006–2011), and This Is Us (2016–2022). Olin is married to actress Patricia Wettig.


30/07/1952

Stephen Blackmore, English botanist and author

Stephen Blackmore CBE FRSE FRSB FLS is a British botanist, who was educated at St. George's School, Hong Kong and the University of Reading where he completed his PhD in 1976 on the "Palynology and Systematics of the Cichorieae". He was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1976. He then worked at the Royal Society of London’s Research Station on Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean before being appointed Lecturer in Biology and Head of the National Herbarium and Botanic Garden at the University of Malawi. In 1980, he was appointed Head of Palynology at Natural History Museum in London and from 1990 to 1999 served there as Keeper of Botany. In 1985 he organized, together with Keith Ferguson, the Linnean Society symposium "Pollen and Spores: Form and Function" and in 1990, together with Susan Barnes, "Pollen and Spores: Patterns of Diversification". He was the 15th Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh from 1999 until 20 December 2013, and was appointed His Majesty's Botanist in Scotland in 2010.


30/07/1951

Alan Kourie, South African cricketer

Alan John Kourie is a former South African first class cricketer, who played for Transvaal, from 1970–71 to 1988–89. Educated at Jeppe Boys High, he played for Transvaal in the Nuffield week, and for South African schools in 1970.


Gerry Judah, Indian-English painter and sculptor

Gerald David Judah FRSS is a British artist and designer who has created settings for theatre, film, television, museums and public spaces.


30/07/1950

Harriet Harman, English lawyer and politician

Harriet Ruth Harman, Baroness Harman is a British politician and solicitor who served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Chair of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2015 and Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal from 2007 to 2010. She also briefly served as Leader of the Opposition in 2010 and 2015 following the resignations of Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband respectively. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham from 1982 to 2024, during which time she held various Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet positions, and was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer in 2024.


Frank Stallone, American singer-songwriter and actor

Francesco Stallone Jr. is an American actor and musician. He is the younger brother of actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone and has written music for Sylvester's movies. His song "Far from Over" appeared in the 1983 film Staying Alive and was included in the film's soundtrack album. The song reached number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 and received a Golden Globe nomination for Stallone, while the album itself, consisting of Stallone and various other artists, received a Grammy nomination.


30/07/1949

Duck Baker, American guitarist

Richard Royall "Duck" Baker IV is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist who plays in a variety of styles: jazz, blues, gospel, ragtime, folk, and Irish and Scottish music. He has written many instruction books for guitar.


Sonia Proudman, English lawyer and judge (died 2023)

Dame Sonia Rosemary Susan Proudman, DBE, styled The Hon. Mrs Justice Proudman, was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales.


30/07/1948

Billy Paultz, American basketball player

William Edward Paultz is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and in the now defunct American Basketball Association (ABA). Nicknamed "the Whopper", He was a 4-time ABA All-Star and led the ABA in blocks in 1976.


Jean Reno, Spanish-French actor

Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jiménez, commonly known as Jean Reno, is a French and Spanish actor. He established himself as a leading man of French cinema through his collaborations with director Luc Besson, and has worked in numerous international productions. He is a three-time César Award nominee - Best Actor for Les Visiteurs (1993) and Léon: The Professional (1994), and Best Supporting Actor for The Big Blue (1988).


Otis Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Otis Taylor is an American blues musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist whose talents include the guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and vocals. In 2001, he was awarded a fellowship to the Sundance Film Composers Laboratory.


Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian pianist and composer (died 2010)

Julia Tsenova was a Bulgarian composer, pianist and musical pedagogue.


30/07/1947

William Atherton, American actor and producer

William Atherton is an American actor. He had starring roles in The Sugarland Express (1974), The Day of the Locust (1975), The Hindenburg (1975) and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), but is most recognized for what have become iconic roles in the Ghostbusters and Die Hard film series.


Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, French virologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is a French virologist and Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Division and Professor at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. Born in Paris, Barré-Sinoussi performed some of the fundamental work in the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the cause of AIDS. In 2008, Barré-Sinoussi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, together with her former mentor, Luc Montagnier, for their discovery of HIV. She mandatorily retired from active research on 31 August 2015, and fully retired by some time in 2017.


Jonathan Mann, American physician and author (died 1998)

Jonathan Max Mann was an American physician who was an administrator for the World Health Organization, and spearheaded early AIDS research in the 1980s.


Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, 38th Governor of California

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, film producer, politician, and former professional bodybuilder. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 38th governor of California from 2003 to 2011.


30/07/1946

Neil Bonnett, American race car driver and sportscaster (died 1994)

Lawrence Neil Bonnett was an American NASCAR driver who compiled 18 victories and 20 poles over his 18-year career. Bonnett was a member of the Alabama Gang, and started his career with the help of Bobby and Donnie Allison. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s with his performances in cars owned by Jim Stacy and Wood Brothers Racing, becoming one of the top competitors in the 1980s. The Alabama native currently ranks 47th in all-time NASCAR Cup victories. He appeared in the 1983 film Stroker Ace and the 1990 film Days of Thunder. Bonnett hosted the TV show Winners for TNN from 1991 to 1994, and was a color commentator for CBS, TBS, and TNN in the years until his death. Bonnett's racing career was interrupted in 1990 when he suffered a severe brain injury in a crash that left him with amnesia and chronic dizziness. While working towards a much-anticipated comeback to the NASCAR circuit, Bonnett died as a result of injuries he sustained in a crash during a practice run for the 1994 Daytona 500. He lost control of his vehicle and collided with the outside wall in turn four, resulting in massive head injuries that proved fatal.


Jeffrey Hammond, English bass player

Jeffrey Hammond, also known by his former stage name Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, is an English artist and musician who was the bassist of progressive rock band Jethro Tull from 1971 to 1975. Hammond played on some of the band's most successful albums, including Aqualung (1971) and Thick as a Brick (1972).


30/07/1945

Patrick Modiano, French novelist and screenwriter, Nobel Prize laureate

Jean Patrick Modiano, generally known as Patrick Modiano, is a French novelist and recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is a noted writer of autofiction, the blend of autobiography and historical fiction.


David Sanborn, American saxophonist and composer (died 2024)

David William Sanborn was an American alto saxophonist. He worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He began playing the saxophone at the age of 11 and released his first solo album, Taking Off, in 1975. He was active as a session musician and played on numerous albums by artists including Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Sting, the Eagles, Rickie Lee Jones, James Brown, George Benson, Carly Simon, Elton John, Bryan Ferry, Ween, and The Rolling Stones. Sanborn released more than 20 albums and won six Grammy awards.


30/07/1944

Gerry Birrell, Scottish race car driver (died 1973)

Gerald Hussey Buchanan Birrell was a British racing driver from Scotland, who was killed in a wreck during practice for a Formula Two race at Rouen-Les-Essarts.


Peter Bottomley, English politician

Sir Peter James Bottomley is a British Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1975 until 2024, last representing Worthing West.


Frances de la Tour, English actress

Frances J. de Lautour, better known as Frances de la Tour, is a British actress. A Tony Award winner and three-time Olivier Award winner, she is also known for her roles in the television sitcom Rising Damp and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.


30/07/1943

Henri-François Gautrin, Canadian physicist and politician

Henri-François Gautrin is a Quebec politician, professor and physicist. He was the Member of National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Verdun in the Montreal region. He represented the Quebec Liberal Party and was the former Minister of Governmental Services from February 2006 to February 2007.


30/07/1942

Pollyanna Pickering, English environmentalist and painter (died 2018)

Pollyanna Pickering was an English wildlife artist and environmentalist.


30/07/1941

Paul Anka, Canadian singer-songwriter and actor

Paul Albert Anka is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, and actor. His songs include "Diana", "You Are My Destiny", "Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", "(You're) Having My Baby" and "My Way".


30/07/1940

Patricia Schroeder, American lawyer and politician (died 2023)

Patricia Nell Scott "Pat" Schroeder was an American politician who represented Colorado's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Schroeder was the first female U.S. Representative elected from Colorado and ran for president in 1988.


Clive Sinclair, English businessman, founded Sinclair Radionics and Sinclair Research (died 2021)

Sir Clive Marles Sinclair was an English entrepreneur and inventor, best known for being a pioneer in the computing industry and also as the founder of several companies that developed consumer electronics in the 1970s and early 1980s.


30/07/1939

Peter Bogdanovich, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2022)

Peter Bogdanovich was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. He started out his career as a young actor studying under Stella Adler before working as a film critic for Film Culture and Esquire and finally becoming a prominent filmmaker of the New Hollywood movement. He received accolades including a BAFTA Award and Grammy Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.


Eleanor Smeal, American activist, founded the Feminist Majority Foundation

Eleanor Marie Smeal is an American women's rights activist. She is the president and a cofounder of the Feminist Majority Foundation and has served as president of the National Organization for Women for three terms, in addition to her work as an activist, grassroots organizer, lobbyist, and political analyst.


30/07/1938

Hervé de Charette, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs

Hervé de Charette is a French centrist politician. He is a descendant of the royalist military leader François de Charette and of king Charles X of France.


Terry O'Neill, English photographer (died 2019)

Terence Patrick O'Neill was a British photographer, known for documenting the fashions, styles, and celebrities of the 1960s. O'Neill's photographs capture his subjects candidly or in unconventional settings.


30/07/1936

Buddy Guy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr., and John Mayer. In the 1960s, Guy played with Muddy Waters as a session guitarist at Chess Records and began a musical partnership with blues harp virtuoso Junior Wells.


Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz (died 2020)

Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz, Viscountess of La Torre, sometimes known more simply as Pilar de Borbón, was the elder daughter of Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona and Princess María Mercedes of the Two Sicilies, and older sister of King Juan Carlos I.


30/07/1934

Bud Selig, 9th Major League Baseball Commissioner

Allan Huber "Bud" Selig is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the commissioner emeritus of baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth commissioner of baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as de facto acting commissioner beginning in 1992 in his capacity as chairman of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Executive Committee before being named the official commissioner in 1998. Selig oversaw baseball through the 1994 strike, the introduction of the wild card, interleague play, and the de facto merging of the National and American leagues under the Office of the Commissioner. He was instrumental in organizing the World Baseball Classic in 2006. Selig also introduced revenue sharing. He is credited for the financial turnaround of baseball during his tenure with a 400 percent increase in the revenue of MLB and annual record-breaking attendance.


30/07/1931

Dominique Lapierre, French historian and author (died 2022)

Dominique Lapierre was a French author.


Marina Popovich, Soviet pilot, engineer and military officer (died 2017)

Marina Lavrentyevna Zhikhoreva was a Soviet Air Forces colonel, engineer, and decorated Soviet test pilot. In 1964, she became the third woman and the first Soviet woman to break the sound barrier. Known as "Madame MiG", for her work in the Soviet fighter, she set more than one hundred aviation world records on over 40 types of aircraft over her career.


30/07/1929

Sid Krofft, Canadian-American puppeteer and producer (died 2026)

Cydus Yolas and Moshopopoulos Yolas, known professionally as Sid and Marty Krofft or the Krofft Brothers, were a Canadian sibling team of television creators, writers, and puppeteers. Through their production company Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, they made numerous children's television and variety show programs in the US, particularly in the 1970s, including H.R. Pufnstuf, Land of the Lost, and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Their fantasy programs often featured large-headed puppets, high-concept plots, and extensive use of low-budget special effects.


30/07/1928

Sulochana Latkar, Indian actress (died 2023)

Sulochana Latkar, better known by her screen name Sulochana, was an Indian actress of Marathi and Hindi cinema, who acted in 50 films in Marathi and around 250 films in Hindi. She received accolades and honor throughout her career. In 1997, the V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed on her by the Government of Maharashtra. She has been honoured by the Government of India with Padma Shri for her contribution in the field of Arts. In 2009, she received the Maharashtra Bhushan, the highest civilian honour in the Indian state of Maharashtra. She epitomized the "mother" roles right from 1959 until the early 1990s.


Joe Nuxhall, American baseball player and sportscaster (died 2007)

Joseph Henry Nuxhall was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, best remembered for having been the youngest player ever to appear in a Major League game and for spending 40 years as a Cincinnati Reds broadcaster.


30/07/1927

Richard Johnson, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2015)

Richard Keith Johnson was an English stage and screen actor, writer and producer. Described by Michael Coveney as "a very 'still' actor – authoritative, calm and compelling," he was a staple performer in British films and television from the 1960s until the 2010s, often playing urbane sophisticates and authoritative characters. He had a distinguished theatrical career, notably as a cornerstone member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and was once acclaimed as "the finest romantic actor of his generation."


Pete Schoening, American mountaineer (died 2004)

Peter Kittilsby Schoening was an American mountaineer. Schoening was one of two Americans to first successfully climb the Pakistani peak Gasherbrum I in 1958, along with Andrew Kauffman, and was one of the first to summit Mount Vinson in Antarctica in 1966.


Victor Wong, American actor (died 2001)

Victor Gee Keung Wong was an American actor, artist, and journalist of Chinese descent.


30/07/1926

Betye Saar, American artist

Betye Irene Saar is an American artist known for her work in the medium of assemblage. Saar is a visual storyteller and an accomplished printmaker. Saar was a part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, which engaged myths and stereotypes about race and femininity. Her work is considered highly political, as she challenged negative ideas about African Americans throughout her career; Saar is best known for her artwork that critiques anti-Black racism in the United States.


George Shanard, American politician and businessman (died 2012)

George Harris Shanard was an American politician and agribusinessman who served as a member of the South Dakota Senate from 1975 to 1992 and served as majority leader for the Republican Party from 1989 to 1992. He was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1999.


30/07/1925

Stan Stennett, Welsh actor and trumpet player (died 2013)

Stanley Llewelyn Stennett was a Welsh comedian, actor and jazz musician.


Alexander Trocchi, Scottish author and poet (died 1984)

Alexander Whitelaw Robertson Trocchi was a Scottish novelist.


30/07/1924

C. T. Vivian, American minister, author, and activist (died 2020)

Cordy Tindell Vivian was an American minister, author, and close friend and lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. He resided in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded the C. T. Vivian Leadership Institute, Inc. He was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.


30/07/1922

Henry W. Bloch, American banker and businessman, co-founded H&R Block (died 2019)

Henry Wollman Bloch was an American businessman and philanthropist who was the co-founder and the chairman emeritus of the American tax-preparation company H&R Block. He and his brother, Richard Bloch, founded H&R Block in 1955 in Kansas City, Missouri.


30/07/1921

Grant Johannesen, American pianist and educator (died 2005)

Grant Johannesen was an American pianist.


30/07/1920

Walter Schuck, German lieutenant and pilot (died 2015)

Walter Schuck was a German military aviator who served in the Luftwaffe from 1937 until the end of World War II. As a fighter ace, he claimed 206 enemy aircraft shot down in over 500 combat missions, eight of which while flying the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. Schuck was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.


30/07/1914

Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, Irish journalist and author, 6th President of the International Olympic Committee (died 1999)

Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin was an Irish journalist, author, sports official, and the sixth president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), serving from 1972 to 1980. He succeeded his uncle as Baron Killanin in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1927, when he was 12, which allowed him to sit in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster as Lord Killanin upon turning 21.


30/07/1913

Lou Darvas, American soldier and cartoonist (died 1987)

Louis F. Darvas was an American artist and sports cartoonist. He received the National Cartoonist Society Sports Cartoon Award for 1963 and 1967 for his work.


30/07/1910

Edgar de Evia, Mexican-American photographer (died 2003)

Edgar Domingo Evia y Joutard, known professionally as Edgar de Evia, was a Mexican-born American interiors photographer.


30/07/1909

C. Northcote Parkinson, English historian and author (died 1993)

Cyril Northcote Parkinson was a British naval historian and author of some 60 books, the most famous of which was his best-seller Parkinson's Law (1957), in which Parkinson named the satirical Law stating that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion" after himself. The Law came to be taken seriously and led to his being regarded as an important scholar in public administration and management.


30/07/1904

Salvador Novo, Mexican poet and playwright (died 1974)

Salvador Novo López was a Mexican writer, poet, playwright, translator, television presenter, entrepreneur, and the official chronicler of Mexico City. As a noted intellectual, he influenced popular perceptions of politics, media, the arts, and Mexican society in general. He was a member of the Mexican modernist writers' group Los Contemporáneos, as well as of the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua.


30/07/1901

Alfred Lépine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 1955)

Joseph Alfred Pierre Hormisdas "Pit" Lépine was a Canadian ice hockey forward and coach. He was born in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec.


30/07/1899

Gerald Moore, English pianist (died 1987)

Gerald Moore was an English classical pianist best known for his career as a collaborative pianist for many distinguished musicians. Among those with whom he was closely associated were Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kathleen Ferrier, Elisabeth Schumann, Hans Hotter, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Victoria de los Ángeles and Pablo Casals.


30/07/1898

Henry Moore, English sculptor and illustrator (died 1986)

Henry Spencer Moore was an English visual artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore also produced many drawings, including a series depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz during the Second World War, along with other graphic works on paper.


30/07/1890

Casey Stengel, American baseball player and manager (died 1975)

Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder and manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, the expansion New York Mets. Nicknamed "the Ol' Perfessor", he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.


30/07/1881

Smedley Butler, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1940)

Major General Smedley Darlington Butler was a United States Marine Corps officer. During his 34-year military career, he fought in the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Mexican Revolution, World War I, and the Banana Wars. At the time of his death, Butler was the most decorated Marine in U.S. military history. By the end of his career, Butler had received sixteen medals, including five for heroism; he was awarded the Marine Corps Brevet Medal as well as two Medals of Honor, both for separate actions.


30/07/1872

Princess Clémentine of Belgium (died 1955)

Princess Clémentine of Belgium was the third daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium, and Marie Henriette of Austria. She was by birth a Princess of Belgium and member of the House of Wettin in the branch of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; as such she was also styled Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess in Saxony. In 1910, Clémentine became Princess Napoléon, and claimant to be Empress consort of the French as the wife of Napoléon Victor Jérôme Frédéric Bonaparte, Bonapartist pretender to the Imperial throne of France as Napoleon V.


30/07/1863

Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (died 1947)

Henry Ford was an American industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automobiles affordable for middle-class Americans through the system that came to be known as Fordism. In 1911, he was awarded a patent for the transmission mechanism that would be used in the Ford Model T and other automobiles.


30/07/1862

Nikolai Yudenich, Russian general (died 1933)

Nikolai Nikolayevich Yudenich was a commander of the Russian Imperial Army during World War I. He was a leader of the anti-communist White movement in northwestern Russia during the Civil War.


30/07/1859

Henry Simpson Lunn, English minister and humanitarian, founded Lunn Poly (died 1939)

Sir Henry Simpson Lunn was an English humanitarian and religious figure, and also founder of Lunn Poly, one of the UK's largest travel companies.


30/07/1857

Thorstein Veblen, American economist and sociologist (died 1929)

Thorstein Bunde Veblen was an American economist and sociologist who, during his lifetime, emerged as a well-known critic of capitalism.


30/07/1855

Georg Wilhelm von Siemens, German-Swiss businessman (died 1919)

Georg Wilhelm von Siemens was a German telecommunications industrialist of the Siemens family.


30/07/1832

George Lemuel Woods, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 3rd Governor of Oregon (died 1890)

George Lemuel Woods was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Woods served as the third governor of Oregon from 1866 to 1870. Failing to win renomination, Woods was then appointed Territorial Governor of Utah by President Ulysses S. Grant, serving in that position from 1871 to 1875.


30/07/1825

Chaim Aronson, Lithuanian engineer and author (died 1893)

Chaim Aronson was a Lithuanian Jewish inventor and memoirist.


30/07/1818

Emily Brontë, English novelist and poet (died 1848)

Emily Jane Brontë was an English writer best known for her 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. She also co-authored a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte and Anne entitled Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.


Jan Heemskerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, 16th and 19th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (died 1897)

Jan Heemskerk Abrahamszoon was a Dutch politician who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1874 to 1877, and again from 1883 to 1888. His son, Theo Heemskerk also served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers.


30/07/1809

Charles Chiniquy, Canadian-American priest and theologian (died 1899)

Charles Paschal Telesphore Chiniquy was a Canadian socio-political activist and former Catholic priest who left the Catholic Church and converted to Protestant Christianity, becoming a Presbyterian minister. He later rode the lecture circuit in the United States, denouncing the Catholic Church. His themes were that Catholicism was pagan, that Catholics worship the Virgin Mary, and that its theology was anti-Christian.


30/07/1781

Maria Aletta Hulshoff, Dutch feminist and pamphleteer (died 1846)

Maria Aletta Hulshoff was a Dutch Patriot, feminist and pamphleteer.


30/07/1763

Samuel Rogers, English poet and art collector (died 1855)

Samuel Rogers was an English poet, during his lifetime one of the most celebrated, although his fame has long since been eclipsed by his Romantic colleagues and friends Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron. His recollections of these and other friends such as Charles James Fox are key sources for information about London artistic and literary life, with which he was intimate, and which he used his wealth to support. He made his money as a banker and was also a discriminating art collector.


30/07/1751

Maria Anna Mozart, Austrian pianist (died 1829)

Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia "Marianne" Mozart, also known by her nickname Nannerl, was a distinguished musician from Salzburg. In her childhood, she developed into an outstanding keyboard player under the tutelage of her father Leopold. She became a celebrated child prodigy and went on concert tours through much of Europe with her parents and her younger brother Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. At age 17, her career as a touring musician came to an end, though she continued to work at home teaching piano and performing on occasion. At age 33 she married, moved to a village six hours by carriage from Salzburg, and there raised her own and her husband's children. On her widowhood in 1801, she returned to Salzburg and resumed teaching and performance. She is known to have composed works of music, though no manuscripts survive. In her later years she contributed to the biographical study of her late brother.


30/07/1641

Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (died 1673)

Regnier de Graaf, original Dutch spelling Reinier de Graaf, or Latinized Reijnerus de Graeff, was a Dutch physician, physiologist and anatomist who made key discoveries in reproductive biology. He specialized in iatrochemistry and iatrogenesis, and was the first to develop a syringe to inject dye into human reproductive organs so that he could understand their structure and function.


30/07/1549

Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (died 1609)

Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I. He expanded the culture of Tuscany, which included presenting the opera Euridice by Jacopo Peri. Ferdinando supported Henry IV of France following the assassination of Henry III of France and provided him with financial support. He expanded the Naviglio canal and started an irrigation project in the Val di Chiana. Ferdinando died on 17 February 1609.


30/07/1511

Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter, historian, and architect (died 1574)

Giorgio Vasari was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer known for his work Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, considered the ideological foundation of Western art-historical writing, and still much cited in modern biographies of the many Italian Renaissance artists he covers, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, although he is since regarded as including many factual errors, especially when covering artists from before he was born.


30/07/1470

Hongzhi, emperor of the Ming dynasty (died 1505)

The Hongzhi Emperor, personal name Zhu Youcheng, was the tenth emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1487 to 1505. He succeeded his father, the Chenghua Emperor.


Lives Remembered on 30th July

On 30th July, 104 remarkable people passed away — from 578 to 2025. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

30/07/2025

David Argue, Australian actor (born 1959)

David J. Argue was an Australian actor. He was best known for his role as Snowy in Gallipoli, as Whitey in BMX Bandits (1983), Dicko in Razorback (1984), and in the leading role of Brad McBain in Hercules Returns (1993).


George Nigh, American politician, 17th and 22nd Governor of Oklahoma (born 1927)

George Patterson Nigh was an American politician and civic leader from the state of Oklahoma. Nigh served as the 17th and the 22nd governor of Oklahoma and as the eighth and tenth lieutenant governor of Oklahoma. He was the first Oklahoma governor to be re-elected and the first to win all 77 counties in the state. Additionally, short term vacancies in the governor's office twice resulted in Nigh assuming gubernatorial duties while serving as lieutenant governor.


30/07/2024

Onyeka Onwenu, Nigerian singer, actress and politician (born 1952)

Onyeka Onwenu was a Nigerian singer-songwriter, actress, human rights and social activist, journalist, politician, and X Factor series judge. Dubbed the "Elegant Stallion" due to her significant impact on African culture and entertainment, Onwenu was a chairperson of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture. In 2013, she was appointed the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Women Development.


30/07/2023

Paul Reubens, American actor and comedian (born 1952)

Paul Reubens was an American actor and comedian, widely known for creating and portraying the character Pee-wee Herman.


30/07/2022

Pat Carroll, American actress and comedian (born 1927)

Patricia Ann Carroll was an American actress and comedian. She is best known for providing the voice of Ursula in The Little Mermaid. She made guest appearances in many popular television series including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laverne & Shirley, and ER; she also had a regular role on The Danny Thomas Show as Bunny Halper. Carroll was an Emmy, Drama Desk, and Grammy Award winner, as well as a Tony Award nominee.


Nichelle Nichols, American actress, singer and dancer (born 1932)

Grace Dell "Nichelle" Nichols was an American actress, singer and dancer whose portrayal of Uhura in Star Trek and its film sequels was groundbreaking for African American actresses on American television. From 1977 to 2015, she volunteered her time to promote NASA's programs and recruit diverse astronauts, including some of the first female and ethnic minority astronauts.


30/07/2021

Shona Ferguson, Botswana-born, South African actor and executive producer (born 1974)

Aaron Arthur Ferguson, professionally known as Shona Ferguson, was a Motswana actor based in South Africa, executive producer and co-founder of Ferguson Films, alongside his wife, Connie Ferguson.


30/07/2020

Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese politician, President (1988–2000), Vice President (1984–1988) and mayor of Taipei (1978–1981) (born 1923)

Lee Teng-hui was a Taiwanese statesman, economist, and agronomist who served as the fourth president of the Republic of China and chairman of the Kuomintang from 1988 to 2000. He was the first president to be born in Taiwan, the last to be indirectly elected, and the first to be directly elected.


Herman Cain, American businessman and political activist (born 1945)

Herman Cain was an American businessman and Tea Party movement activist in the Republican Party.


30/07/2018

Michael A. Sheehan, American author, former government official and military officer (born 1955)

Michael A. Sheehan was an American author and former government official and military officer. He was a Distinguished Chair at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York and a terrorism analyst for NBC News.


30/07/2016

Gloria DeHaven, American actress, singer, and dancer (born 1925)

Gloria Mildred DeHaven was an American actress and singer who was a contract star for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).


30/07/2015

Lynn Anderson, American singer (born 1947)

Lynn René Anderson was an American country singer and television personality. Her crossover signature recording, "Rose Garden", was a number one hit internationally. She also charted five number one and 18 top-ten singles on the Billboard country songs chart. Anderson is regarded as one of country music's most significant performers.


Stuart Baggs, English businessman (born 1988)

Stuart Baggs, also known by his self-styled sobriquet as Stuart Baggs "The Brand", was an English businessman and entrepreneur from Plymouth, Devon. He founded and ran BlueWave Communications, a broadband company in the Isle of Man. He gained recognition for reaching the final five of Series 6 of The Apprentice. Baggs died aged 27 in Douglas, Isle of Man due to an asthma attack.


Endel Lippmaa, Estonian physicist (born 1930)

Endel Lippmaa was an Estonian scientist, academician, politician, and twice government minister in 1990–1991 and 1995–1996.


Francis Paul Prucha, American historian and academic (born 1921)

Francis Paul Prucha was an American historian, professor emeritus of history at Marquette University, and specialist in the relationship between the United States and Native Americans. His work, The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians, won the Ray Allen Billington Award and was one of the two finalists for the 1985 Pulitzer Prize in History. It is regarded as a classic among professional historians.


Alena Vrzáňová, Czech figure skater (born 1931)

Alena "Ája" Vrzáňová was a Czech figure skater who represented Czechoslovakia in competition. Vrzáňová is the 1949 & 1950 World champion and 1950 European champion.


30/07/2014

Robert Drew, American director and producer (born 1924)

Robert Lincoln Drew was an American documentary filmmaker known as a pioneer—and sometimes called the father—of cinéma vérité, or direct cinema, in the United States. Two of his films, Primary (1960) and Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963), were named to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. In 1993 he was a recipient of the Career Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association.


Harun Farocki, German director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1944)

Harun Farocki was a German filmmaker, author, and lecturer in film.


Julio Grondona, Argentinian businessman (born 1931)

Julio Humberto Grondona was an Argentine football executive. He served as president of the Argentine Football Association from 1979 until his death in 2014. He also served as Senior Vice-President of FIFA.


Peter Hall, English geographer, author, and academic (born 1932)

Sir Peter Geoffrey Hall was an English town planner, urbanist and geographer. He was the Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration at The Bartlett, University College London and president of both the Town and Country Planning Association and the Regional Studies Association. Hall was one of the most prolific and influential urbanists of the twentieth century.


Dick Smith, American make-up artist (born 1922)

Richard Emerson Smith was an American special make-up effects artist and author, known for his work on such films as Little Big Man (1970), The Godfather (1972), The Exorcist (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Scanners (1981) and Death Becomes Her (1992). He won a 1985 Academy Award for Best Makeup for his work on Amadeus and received a 2012 Academy Honorary Award for his career's work.


Dick Wagner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1942)

Richard Allen Wagner was an American rock guitarist, songwriter and author best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, and Kiss. He also fronted his own Michigan-based bands, the Frost and the Bossmen.


30/07/2013

Cecil Alexander, American architect, designed the State of Georgia Building (born 1918)

Cecil Abraham Alexander, Jr. was an American architect, principally a designer of commercial architecture, best known for his work in Atlanta, Georgia. He worked with the firm FABRAP, which, in 1985, became Rosser FABRAP International and later Rosser International. Together with other architects of the firm, he "shaped the skyline of Atlanta".


Berthold Beitz, German businessman (born 1913)

Berthold Beitz was a German industrialist. He was the head of the Krupp steel conglomerate beginning in the 1950s. He was credited with helping to lead the re-industrialization of the Ruhr Valley and rebuilding Germany into an industrial power.


Robert Neelly Bellah, American sociologist and author (born 1927)

Robert Neelly Bellah was an American sociologist and the Elliott Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was internationally known for his work related to the sociology of religion.


Harry F. Byrd Jr., American lieutenant, publisher, and politician (born 1914)

Harry Flood Byrd Jr. was an American newspaper publisher and politician. He served in the Senate of Virginia and then represented Virginia in the United States Senate, succeeding his father, Harry F. Byrd Sr. His public service spanned 36 years, while he was a publisher of several Virginia newspapers. After the decline of the Byrd Organization due to its massive resistance to racial integration of public schools, he abandoned the Democratic Party in 1970, citing concern about its leftward tilt. He rehabilitated his political career, becoming the first independent in the history of the U.S. Senate to be elected by a majority of the popular vote.


Antoni Ramallets, Spanish footballer and manager (born 1924)

Antoni Ramallets Simón was a Spanish football goalkeeper and manager.


Ossie Schectman, American basketball player (born 1919)

Oscar Benjamin "Ossie" Schectman was an American professional basketball player. He is credited with having scored the first basket in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which would later become the National Basketball Association (NBA).


Benjamin Walker, Indian-English author, poet, and playwright (born 1913)

Benjamin Walker was the truncated pen name of George Benjamin Walker, who also wrote under the pseudonym Jivan Bhakar. He was a British citizen, an Indian-born author on religion and philosophy, and an authority on esoterica.


30/07/2012

Maeve Binchy, Irish author, playwright, and journalist (born 1939)

Anne Maeve Binchy Snell was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist, and speaker. Her novels were characterised by a sympathetic and often humorous portrayal of small-town life in Ireland, and surprise endings. Her novels, which were translated into 37 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. Her death at age 73, announced by Vincent Browne on Irish television late on 30 July 2012, was mourned as the death of one of Ireland's best-loved and most recognisable writers.


Bill Doss, American singer and guitarist (born 1968)

Bill Doss was an American rock musician. He co-founded The Elephant 6 Recording Company in Athens, Georgia, and was a key member of the Olivia Tremor Control. Following the band's breakup, he led the Sunshine Fix and later became a member of the Apples in Stereo. Doss was married to freelance photographer Amy Hairston Doss, whom he met while both were attending Louisiana Tech University.


Stig Ossian Ericson, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1923)

Stig Ossian Ericson was a Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter.


Les Green, English footballer and manager (born 1941)

Leslie Green was an English footballer and manager.


Jonathan Hardy, New Zealand-Australian actor and screenwriter (born 1940)

Jonathan Hardy was a New Zealand-Australian film and television actor, writer and director.


Bill Kitchen, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1960)

William Percy Kitchen was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played 41 games in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs between 1982 and 1985. He was born in Schomberg, Ontario and was the younger brother of Mike Kitchen.


Mary Louise Rasmuson, American colonel (born 1911)

Mary Louise Milligan Rasmuson was an American army officer, and fifth director of the Women's Army Corps (WAC).


30/07/2011

Bob Peterson, American basketball player (born 1932)

Robert Peterson was an American basketball player. He played three seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), from 1953 to 1956.


30/07/2009

Mohammed Yusuf, Nigerian militant leader, founded Boko Haram (born 1970)

Mohammed Yusuf, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Yusuf al-Barnawi, was a Nigerian militant who founded the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in 2002. He was its leader until he was killed during the 2009 Boko Haram uprising.


Peter Zadek, German director and screenwriter (born 1926)

Peter Zadek was a German director of theatre, opera and film, a translator and a screenwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest directors in German-speaking theater.


30/07/2008

Anne Armstrong, American businesswoman and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (born 1927)

Anne Legendre Armstrong was a United States diplomat and politician. She was the first woman to serve as Counselor to the President and as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, serving in those capacities under the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations. She was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1987.


30/07/2007

Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian director and screenwriter (born 1912)

Michelangelo Antonioni was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for a trio of films often dubbed the "alienation trilogy": L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and L'Eclisse (1962); the English-language film Blowup (1966); and the multilingual The Passenger (1975). His films have been described as "enigmatic and intricate mood pieces" that feature striking visual composition, subdued narratives, and a preoccupation with modern landscapes. His work substantially influenced subsequent world art cinema, including the slow cinema movement.


Teoctist Arăpașu, Romanian patriarch (born 1915)

Teoctist was the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church from 1986 to 2007.


Ingmar Bergman, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1918)

Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the greatest and most important filmmakers in the history of cinema, most notably as a prominent figure of both European film industry and Swedish cinema. His films have been described as "profoundly personal meditations into the myriad struggles facing the psyche and the soul."


Bill Walsh, American football player and coach (born 1931)

William Ernest Walsh was an American professional and college football coach. He served as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and the Stanford Cardinal, during which time he popularized the West Coast offense. After retiring from the 49ers, Walsh worked as a sports broadcaster for several years and then returned as head coach at Stanford for three seasons.


30/07/2006

Duygu Asena, Turkish journalist and author(born 1946)

Duygu Asena was a Turkish journalist, best-selling author and activist for women's rights.


Al Balding, Canadian golfer (born 1924)

Allan George Balding was a Canadian professional golfer, who won four events on the PGA Tour. In 1955, he became the first Canadian to win a PGA Tour event in the United States; Canadians Ken Black, Jules Huot and Pat Fletcher had won PGA Tour events in Canada.


Murray Bookchin, American philosopher and author (born 1921)

Murray Bookchin was an American social theorist, author, orator, historian, and political philosopher. Influenced by the works of G. W. F. Hegel, Karl Marx, and Peter Kropotkin, he was a pioneer in the environmental movement. Bookchin formulated and developed the theory of social ecology and urban planning within anarchist, libertarian socialist, and ecological thought. He was the author of two dozen books covering topics in politics, philosophy, history, urban affairs, and social ecology. Among the most important were Our Synthetic Environment (1962), Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971), The Ecology of Freedom (1982), and Urbanization Without Cities (1987). In the late 1990s, he became disenchanted with what he saw as an increasingly apolitical "lifestylism" of the contemporary anarchist movement, stopped referring to himself as an anarchist, and founded his own libertarian socialist ideology called "communalism", which seeks to reconcile and expand Marxist, syndicalist, and anarchist thought.


Anthony Galla-Rini, American accordion player and composer (born 1904)

Anthony Galla-Rini was an American accordionist, arranger, composer, conductor, author, and teacher, and is considered by many to be the first American accordionist to promote the accordion as a legitimate concert instrument.


Akbar Mohammadi, Iranian activist (born 1972)

Akbar Mohammadi was an Iranian student at Tehran University involved in the 18th of Tir crisis, also known as the July 1999 Iran student protests, Iran's biggest pro-democracy demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He later died at Evin prison, causing an international outcry.


30/07/2005

Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (born 1905)

Raymond Lee Cunningham was an American professional baseball third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1931 and 1932. He batted and threw right-handed. A native of Mesquite, Texas, Cunningham played briefly for the Cardinals at third base before an injury cut short his career. He injured himself, whipping a sidearm throw to first base on a swinging bunt.


John Garang, Sudanese colonel and politician, 6th President of South Sudan (born 1945)

John Garang De Mabior was a Sudanese politician and revolutionary leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement as a commander in chief during the Second Sudanese Civil War. He served as First Vice President of Sudan for three weeks, from the comprehensive peace agreement of 2005 until his death in a helicopter crash on July 30, 2005.


30/07/2003

Steve Hislop, Scottish motorcycle racer (born 1962)

Robert Steven Hislop was a Scottish motorcycle racer. Hislop won at the Isle of Man TT eleven times, was the British 250cc Champion (1990) and lifted the British Superbike championship on two occasions.


Sam Phillips, American record producer, founded Sun Records (born 1923)

Samuel Cornelius Phillips was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Howlin' Wolf. Phillips played a major role in the development of rock and roll during the 1950s, launching the career of Presley. In 1969, he sold Sun to Shelby Singleton.


30/07/2001

Anton Schwarzkopf, German engineer (born 1924)

Anton Schwarzkopf was a German engineer who founded Schwarzkopf Industries GmbH, a German manufacturer of roller coasters and other amusement rides that were sold to amusement parks and travelling funfairs around the world.


30/07/1998

Buffalo Bob Smith, American television host (born 1917)

Robert Emil Schmidt, nicknamed Buffalo Bob, was an American radio and television personality and presenter; he was well known as the host of the children's show Howdy Doody.


30/07/1996

Claudette Colbert, French-American actress (born 1903)

Claudette Colbert, also known as Lily Claudette Chauchoin ; was a French-American stage and film actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures. Initially associated with Paramount Pictures, Colbert had a string of successes as she gradually shifted to working as a freelance actress.


30/07/1994

Konstantin Kalser, German-American film producer and advertising executive (born 1920)

Konstantin Kalser was a German-American film producer and advertising executive. He won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1957 with Crashing the Water Barrier.


30/07/1992

Brenda Marshall, Filipino-American actress and singer (born 1915)

Brenda Marshall was an American film actress.


Joe Shuster, Canadian-American illustrator, co-created Superman (born 1914)

Joseph Shuster was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in Action Comics #1.


30/07/1990

Ian Gow, British Member of Parliament who was assassinated by the IRA (born 1937)

Ian Reginald Edward Gow was a British politician and solicitor. As a member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Eastbourne from 1974, until his assassination in 1990 by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) outside his home in East Sussex.


30/07/1989

Lane Frost, American professional bull rider (born 1963)

Lane Clyde Frost was an American professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding, and competed in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). He was the 1987 PRCA World Champion bull rider. He was also the only rider ever to score a qualified ride on Red Rock, the 1987 PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year.


30/07/1985

Julia Robinson, American mathematician and theorist (born 1919)

Julia Hall Bowman Robinson was an American mathematician noted for her contributions to the fields of computability theory and computational complexity theory—most notably in decision problems. Her work on Hilbert's tenth problem played a crucial role in its ultimate resolution. Robinson was a 1983 MacArthur Fellow.


30/07/1983

Howard Dietz, American songwriter and publicist (born 1896)

Howard Dietz was an American publicist, lyricist, and librettist, best remembered for his songwriting collaboration with Arthur Schwartz. According to historian Stanley Green, Dietz and Schwartz were "most closely identified with the revue form of musical theatre."


Lynn Fontanne, English actress (born 1887)

Lynn Fontanne was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End and United States, she married the American actor Alfred Lunt in 1922, with whom she co-starred in Broadway and West End productions over the next four decades. They became known as "The Lunts", and were celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic.


30/07/1977

Emory Holloway, American scholar, author, and educator (born 1885)

Rufus Emory Holloway was an American literary scholar-educator most known for his books and studies of Walt Whitman. His Whitman: An Interpretation in Narrative (1926) was the first biography of a literary figure to win the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1927.


30/07/1975

James Blish, American author and critic (born 1921)

James Benjamin "Jimmy" Blish was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is best known for his Cities in Flight novels and his series of Star Trek novelizations written with his wife, J. A. Lawrence. His novel A Case of Conscience won the Hugo Award. He is credited with creating the term "gas giant" to refer to large planetary bodies.


30/07/1971

Thomas Hollway, Australian politician, 36th Premier of Victoria (born 1906)

Thomas Tuke Hollway was the 36th Premier of Victoria, and the first to be born in the 20th century. He held office from 1947 to 1950, and again for a short period in 1952. He was originally a member and the leader of the United Australia Party (UAP) in Victoria, and was the inaugural leader of the UAP's successor, the Victorian division of the Liberal Party, but split from the Liberals after a dispute over electoral reform issues.


30/07/1970

Walter Murdoch, Scottish-Australian academic (born 1874)

Sir Walter Logie Forbes Murdoch, was a prominent Australian academic and essayist famous for his intelligence and wit. He was a founding professor of English and former Chancellor of the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth, Western Australia.


George Szell, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (born 1897)

George Szell, originally György Széll, György Endre Széll, or Georg Szell, was an Austro-Hungarian-born American conductor, composer, and pianist. Considered one of the twentieth century's greatest conductors, he was music director of the Cleveland Orchestra of Cleveland, Ohio, and recorded much of the standard classical repertoire in Cleveland and with other orchestras.


30/07/1965

Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Japanese author and playwright (born 1886)

Jun'ichirō Tanizaki was a Japanese author who is considered to be one of the most prominent figures in modern Japanese literature. The tone and subject matter of his work range from shocking depictions of sexuality and destructive erotic obsessions to subtle portrayals of the dynamics of family life within the context of the rapid changes in 20th-century Japanese society. Frequently, his stories are narrated in the context of a search for cultural identity in which the West and Japanese tradition are juxtaposed.


30/07/1947

Joseph Cook, English-Australian miner and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (born 1860)

Sir Joseph Cook was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the sixth prime minister of Australia from 1913 to 1914. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party, having previously been leader of the Anti-Socialist Party from 1908 to 1909. His victory at the 1913 election marked the first time that a centre-right party had won a majority at an Australian federal election.


30/07/1941

Hugo Celmiņš, Latvian politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia (born 1877)

Hugo Celmiņš was a Latvian politician, a public employee, agronomist, twice the Prime Minister of Latvia. Arrested and deported to the USSR after the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, imprisoned in Moscow's Lefortovo Prison. On 30 July 1941 shot and buried in the mass graves of Kommunarka shooting ground. Hugo Celmiņš was one of those who developed agrarian reform in Latvia.


30/07/1938

John Derbyshire, English swimmer and water polo player (born 1878)

John Henry "Rob" Derbyshire was an English freestyle swimmer and water polo player from Chorlton, Lancashire, who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics (maybe), 1906 Intercalated Games, 1908 Summer Olympics and 1912 Summer Olympics. He and Alice Derbyshire founded swimming clubs in Hammersmith.


30/07/1930

Joan Gamper, Swiss-Spanish footballer and businessman, founded FC Barcelona (born 1877)

Hans Max Gamper-Haessig, commonly known as Joan Gamper, was a Swiss-born football executive and versatile athlete. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Spain, most notably Barcelona.


30/07/1920

Albert Gustaf Dahlman, Swedish executioner (born 1848)

Albert Gustaf Dahlman was a Swedish executioner. He was the last executioner in Sweden, as well as the last to carry out capital punishment in Sweden, the last by means of beheading by hand, and the last to execute a woman.


30/07/1918

Joyce Kilmer, American soldier, journalist, and poet (born 1886)

Alfred Joyce Kilmer was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection Trees and Other Poems in 1914. Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his Catholic faith, Kilmer was also a journalist, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. At the time of his deployment to Europe during World War I, Kilmer was considered the leading American Catholic poet and lecturer of his generation, whom critics often compared to British contemporaries G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) and Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953). He enlisted in the New York National Guard and was deployed to France with the 69th Infantry Regiment in 1917. He was killed by a sniper's bullet at the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918 at the age of 31. He was married to Aline Murray, also an accomplished poet and author, with whom he had five children.


30/07/1912

Emperor Meiji of Japan (born 1852)

Emperor Meiji was Emperor of Japan from 30 January 1867 until his death in 1912. The Meiji Restoration proclaimed the Empire of Japan in 1868, beginning the Meiji era. During his reign, Japan transformed from a feudal state under the Tokugawa shogunate into a major imperial power.


30/07/1900

Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1844)

Alfred was sovereign Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 22 August 1893 until his death in 1900. He was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1866 until he succeeded his paternal uncle Ernest II as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the German Empire.


30/07/1898

Otto von Bismarck, German lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (born 1815)

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as its first chancellor from 1871 to 1890. Bismarck's Realpolitik and firm governance earned him the nickname Iron Chancellor.


30/07/1889

Charlie Absolom, England cricketer (born 1846)

Charles Alfred Absolom was an English amateur cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Kent County Cricket Club and England in the period from 1866 to 1879.


30/07/1875

George Pickett, American general (born 1825)

George Edward Pickett was an American military officer who became a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for being one of the commanders at Pickett's Charge, the futile and bloody Confederate offensive on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg that bears his name.


30/07/1870

Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian poet and journalist (born 1818)

Aasmund Olavsson Vinje was a Norwegian poet and journalist who is remembered for poetry, travel writing, and his pioneering use of Landsmål.


30/07/1832

Lê Văn Duyệt, Vietnamese general, mandarin (born 1763–4)

Lê Văn Duyệt was a Vietnamese general who helped Nguyễn Ánh—the future Emperor Gia Long—put down the Tây Sơn wars, unify Vietnam and establish the Nguyễn dynasty. After the Nguyễn came to power in 1802, Duyệt became a high-ranking mandarin, serving under the first two Nguyễn emperors Gia Long and Minh Mạng.


30/07/1811

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexican priest and soldier (born 1753)

Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla Gallaga Mandarte y Villaseñor, commonly known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or simply Miguel Hidalgo, was a Mexican Catholic priest and prominent leader of the Mexican War of Independence, who is recognized as the Father of the Nation.


30/07/1771

Thomas Gray, English poet (born 1716)

Thomas Gray was an English poet, letter-writer, and classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College. He is widely known for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, published in 1751. Gray was a self-critical writer who published only 13 poems in his lifetime, despite being very popular. He was even offered the position of Poet Laureate in 1757 after the death of Colley Cibber, though he declined.


30/07/1718

William Penn, English businessman and philosopher, founded the Province of Pennsylvania (born 1644)

William Penn was an English writer, theologian, religious thinker, and influential Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania. An advocate of democracy and religious freedom, Penn was known for his amicable relations and successful treaties with the Lenape native peoples who had resided in present-day Pennsylvania before European colonisation there.


30/07/1700

Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, English royal (born 1689)

Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, was the son of Princess Anne and her husband, Prince George of Denmark. He was their only child to survive infancy. Styled Duke of Gloucester, he was viewed by contemporaries as a Protestant champion because his birth seemed to cement the Protestant succession established in the "Glorious Revolution" that had deposed his Catholic grandfather James II & VII the previous year.


30/07/1691

Daniel Georg Morhof, German scholar and academic (born 1639)

Daniel Georg Morhof was a German writer and scholar.


30/07/1683

Maria Theresa of Spain (born 1638)

Maria Theresa of Spain was Queen of France from 1660 to 1683 as the wife of King Louis XIV. She was born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal as the daughter of King Philip IV and Elisabeth of France, and was also an Archduchess of Austria as a member of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg.


30/07/1680

Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, Irish admiral and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (born 1634)

Vice-Admiral Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory was an Irish soldier and politician. He was the eldest son of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond but predeceased his father and therefore never succeeded as duke.


30/07/1652

Charles Amadeus, Duke of Nemours (born 1624)

Charles Amadeus of Savoy, Duke of Nemours was a French military leader and magnate. He was the father of the penultimate Duchess of Savoy and of a Queen of Portugal.


30/07/1624

Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox, British nobleman (born 1579)

Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox, KG, 7th Seigneur d'Aubigny, lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a Scottish nobleman and through his paternal lines was a second cousin of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. He was a patron of the playwright Ben Jonson who lived in his household for five years.


30/07/1608

Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, last King of Tyrconnell (born 1575)

Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, was an Irish earl and soldier.


30/07/1566

Guillaume Rondelet, French doctor (born 1507)

Guillaume Rondelet, also known as Rondeletus/Rondeletius, was Regius professor of medicine at the University of Montpellier in southern France and Chancellor of the University between 1556 and his death in 1566. He achieved renown as an anatomist and a naturalist with a particular interest in botany and ichthyology. His major work was a lengthy treatise on marine animals, which took two years to write and became a standard reference work for about a century afterwards, but his lasting impact lay in his education of a roster of star pupils who became leading figures in the world of late-16th century science.


30/07/1550

Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, English politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (born 1505)

Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, was an English peer, secretary of state, Lord Chancellor and Lord High Admiral. A naturally skilled but unscrupulous and devious politician who changed with the times, Wriothesley served as a loyal instrument of King Henry VIII in the latter's break with the Catholic Church. Richly rewarded with royal gains from the Dissolution of the Monasteries, he nevertheless prosecuted Calvinists and other Protestants when political winds changed.


30/07/1540

Thomas Abel, English priest and martyr (born 1497)

Thomas Abel was an English priest who was martyred during the reign of Henry VIII. The place and date of his birth are unknown.


Robert Barnes, English martyr and reformer (born 1495)

Robert Barnes was an English reformer and martyr.


30/07/1516

John V, Count of Nassau-Siegen (born 1455)

Count John V of Nassau-Siegen, German: Johann V. Graf von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: Graf zu Nassau, Vianden und Diez, Herr zu Breda, was since 1475 Count of Nassau-Siegen and of half Diez. He descended from the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.


30/07/1393

Alberto d'Este, Lord of Ferrara and Modena (born 1347)

Albert (V) d'Este was Lord of Ferrara and Modena from 1388 until his death.


30/07/1286

Bar Hebraeus, Syrian scholar and historian (born 1226)

Gregory Barhebraeus or Bar Hebraeus, also known as Abu al-Faraj and in Latin, Abulpharagius, was the maphrian Catholicos of the East of the Catholicate of the East under the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1264 until his death in 1286. He is recognised as one of the most accomplished and multifaceted academics of the medieval Syriac Christian world, with important contributions to the fields of theology, philosophy, history, linguistics, medicine, and the natural sciences.


30/07/0829

Shi Xiancheng, general of the Tang Dynasty

Shi Xiancheng was a general of the Chinese Tang dynasty, who ruled Weibo Circuit semi-independently from the imperial government.


30/07/0734

Tatwine, English archbishop (born 670)

Tatwine was the tenth Archbishop of Canterbury from 731 to 734. Prior to becoming archbishop, he was a monk and abbot of a Benedictine monastery. Besides his ecclesiastical career, Tatwine was a writer, and riddles he composed survive. Another work he composed was on the grammar of the Latin language, which was aimed at advanced students of that language. He was subsequently considered a saint.


30/07/0579

Pope Benedict I

Pope Benedict I was the bishop of Rome from 2 June 575 to his death on 30 July 579. His pontificate took place during the Lombard expansion in Italy and during famine in Rome and other parts of Byzantine Italy.


30/07/0578

Jacob Baradaeus, Greek bishop

Jacob Baradaeus, also known as Jacob bar Addai or Jacob bar Theophilus, was the Bishop of Edessa from 543/544 until his death in 578. He is venerated as a saint in the Oriental Orthodox Churches and his feast day is 31 July. Jacob's missionary efforts helped the non-Chalcedonian Syriac Orthodox Church survive despite persecution, for which it came to bear the name of "Jacobite" Church after its eponymous leader.


Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 30th July

Christian feast day: Abdon and Sennen

Abdon and Sennen, variously written in early calendars and martyrologies Abdo, Abdus, and Sennes, Sennis, Zennen, are recognized by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church as Christian martyrs, with a feast day on 30 July. In some places they have been honoured on 20 March, and the first Sunday of May.


Christian feast day: Hatebrand

Hatebrand was a Benedictine abbot. A native of Frisia, Netherlands, he became the Abbot of Olden-Klooster, Frisia in 1183. He is famed for having revived the Benedictine order, in the area of Frisia. His relics are at Sint-Benedictuskerk in Mortsel.


Christian feast day: Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda

The three virgins of Tuburga were a group of young women who were executed for being Christians around 257 AD, in what was Roman Empire–era Tunisia.


Christian feast day: Peter Chrysologus

Peter Chrysologus was an Italian Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Ravenna from about 433 until his death. He is known as the "Doctor of Homilies" for the concise but theologically rich reflections he delivered during his time as the Bishop of Ravenna.


Christian feast day: Robert Barnes (Lutheran)

Robert Barnes was an English reformer and martyr.


Christian feast day: Rufinus of Assisi

According to legend, Rufinus of Assisi, was the first bishop of the city of Assisi, Italy, and a martyr.


Christian feast day: Tatwine

Tatwine was the tenth Archbishop of Canterbury from 731 to 734. Prior to becoming archbishop, he was a monk and abbot of a Benedictine monastery. Besides his ecclesiastical career, Tatwine was a writer, and riddles he composed survive. Another work he composed was on the grammar of the Latin language, which was aimed at advanced students of that language. He was subsequently considered a saint.


Christian feast day: Ursus of Auxerre

Saint Ursus of Auxerre was Bishop of Auxerre from c. 502 until his repose in 508. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic church, with his feast day being commemorated on 30 July.


Christian feast day: Solanus Casey

Solanus Casey, OFMCap was an American Catholic priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He was known as a healer and for his abilities as a spiritual counselor, but especially for his great attention to the sick, for whom he celebrated special Masses. The friar was much sought after and revered, especially in Detroit, where he resided. He was also a noted lover of the violin, a trait he shared with his eponym, St Francis Solanus.


Christian feast day: July 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

July 29 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - July 31


Feast of the Throne (Morocco)

This is a list of holidays in Morocco.


Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Vanuatu from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.

This is a list of public holidays in Vanuatu.


International Day of Friendship (international), and its related observances: Día del Amigo (Paraguay)

Friendship Day is an international holiday dedicated to friendship and the celebration of it. Its date varies greatly by country and region. The idea of a World Friendship Day was first proposed on July 20, 1958 by Artemio Bracho during a dinner with friends in Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay.


Martyrs Day (South Sudan)

Martyrs' Day are days observed in or by some countries, including the Albania, Burkina Faso, India, Myanmar, Panama and Tunisia, to recognise martyrs such as soldiers, revolutionaries or victims of genocide. Below is a list of various Martyrs' Days for different countries of the World.


What Happened on 30th July?

51 significant events took place on Sunday, 30th July — stretching from 762 to 2025. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

30/07/2025

A magnitude 8.8 earthquake hits Russia, causing tsunamis over the Pacific Ocean.

On 30 July 2025, at 11:24:52 PETT, a Mw 8.8 megathrust earthquake struck off the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, 119 km (74 mi) east-southeast of the coastal city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. It was the most powerful earthquake recorded worldwide since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, and is tied with the 1906 Ecuador–Colombia and 2010 Chile earthquakes as the sixth-strongest ever recorded by seismometers. However, it caused minimal damage compared to other earthquakes of similar magnitude. The earthquake caused moderate damage and multiple injuries in Kamchatka Krai and Sakhalin Oblast. The subsequent Pacific-wide tsunami was weaker than expected, with waves approximately 1 m (3 ft) or less in most places. However, a locally high run-up of 33.1 m (109 ft) was recorded in a steep narrow river valley near Vestnik Bay. One indirect fatality and 21 injuries were attributed to tsunami-related evacuations in Japan.


30/07/2024

A series of landslides occurs in Kerala, India, causing over 420 fatalities.

The 2024 Wayanad landslides were a series of landslides that occurred in Punjirimattom, Mundakkai, Chooralmala, and Vellarimala villages in Meppadi panchayat, Vythiri taluk in Wayanad district, Kerala, India in the early hours of 30 July 2024. The landslides were caused by heavy rains that caused hillsides to collapse onto the areas below. The disaster was one of the deadliest in Kerala's history, with reports of 254 fatalities, 397 injuries, and 118 people missing. Deforestation, seismic sensitivity, poor building construction, and global warming have been identified as possible causes for the landslides and fatalities.


30/07/2020

NASA's Mars 2020 mission was launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Mars 2020 is a NASA mission that includes the rover Perseverance, the now-grounded small robotic helicopter Ingenuity, and associated delivery systems, as part of the Mars Exploration Program. Mars 2020 was launched on an Atlas V rocket at 11:50:01 UTC on July 30, 2020, and landed in the Martian crater Jezero on February 18, 2021, with confirmation received at 20:55 UTC. On March 5, 2021, NASA named the landing site Octavia E. Butler Landing. As of 12 June 2026, Perseverance has been on Mars for 1887 sols. Ingenuity operated on Mars for 1042 sols before sustaining serious damage to its rotor blades, possibly all four, causing NASA to retire the craft on January 25, 2024.


30/07/2014

Twenty killed and 150 are trapped after a landslide in Maharashtra, India.

On 30 July 2014, a landslide occurred in the village of Malin in the Ambegaon taluka of the Pune district in Maharashtra, India. The landslide, which hit early in the morning while residents were asleep, was believed to have been caused by a burst of heavy rainfall, and killed at least 151 people. Rains continued after the landslide making rescue efforts difficult.


30/07/2012

A train fire kills 32 passengers and injures 27 on the Tamil Nadu Express in Andhra Pradesh, India.

The Nellore train fire occurred on 30 July 2012, when the Chennai-bound Tamil Nadu Express train caught fire at 4:22 am near Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India. At least 32 passengers died and 27 were injured. The fire gutted the S-11 sleeper coach in 20 minutes. A railway emergency crew prevented the fire from spreading to the other coaches.


A power grid failure in Delhi leaves more than 300 million people without power in northern India.

Two severe power outages affected most of northern and eastern India on 30 and 31 July 2012. The 30 July 2012 blackout affected over 400 million people and lasted about 13.5 hrs. During that period, it was the largest power outage in history by number of people affected, beating the January 2001 blackout in Northern India. Similar conditions caused a blackout on the next day, which remained the largest power outage in history as of May 2025. The outage on 30 July affected more than 620 million people, spread across 22 states in Northern, Eastern, and Northeast India. An estimated 32 gigawatts of generating capacity was taken offline. Of the affected population, 320 million initially had power, while the rest lacked direct access. Electric service was restored in the affected locations between 31 July and 1 August 2012.


30/07/2011

Marriage of Queen Elizabeth II's eldest granddaughter Zara Phillips to former rugby union footballer Mike Tindall.

Zara Anne Elizabeth Tindall is a British equestrian, Olympian, and member of the British royal family. She is the daughter of Anne, Princess Royal, and Captain Mark Phillips, and the eldest niece of King Charles III. At birth she was sixth in the line of succession to the British throne during the reign of her maternal grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and as of 2026 is 22nd.


30/07/2006

The world's longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.

Top of the Pops (TOTP) is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1 January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its history, it was broadcast on Thursday evenings on BBC One. Each show consisted of performances of some of the week's best-selling popular music records, usually excluding any tracks moving down the chart, including a rundown of that week's singles chart. This was originally the Top 20, though this varied throughout the show's history. The Top 30 was used from 1969 and the Top 40 from 1984.


An Israeli airstrike kills 28 Lebanese civilians, including 16 children.

The 2006 Qana airstrike was an airstrike carried out by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) on a three-story building in the small community of al-Khuraybah near the South Lebanese village of Qana on July 30, 2006, during the 2006 Lebanon War. The strike killed 28 civilians, 16 of whom were children. Israel halted airstrikes for 48 hours following the attack, amid increasing calls for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas.


30/07/2003

In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.

The Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is a small family car produced by the German company Volkswagen from 1938 to 2003. A global cultural icon known for its bug-like design, the Beetle is widely regarded as one of the most influential cars of the 20th century. Its production period of 65 years is the longest for any single generation of automobile. With 21.5 million units produced over twenty locations worldwide, the Beetle is the best-selling car of a single platform in history and the second best-selling car nameplate of the 20th century.


Three years after the death of the last Pyrenean ibex, Celia, a clone of her is born only to subsequently die from lung defects. Within minutes, the Pyrenean ibex becomes the first and so-far only species to have ever gone de-extinct as well as go extinct twice.

The Pyrenean ibex, Aragonese and Spanish common name bucardo, Basque common name bukardo, Catalan common name herc and French common name bouquetin, was one of the four subspecies of the Iberian ibex or Iberian wild goat, a species native to the Iberian Peninsula and immediately adjacent southern France. The Pyrenean ibex occurred in the northeastern part of the species' range in the Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees, in northern Spain and the far south of France. This subspecies was common during the Holocene and Upper Pleistocene, during which their morphology, primarily some skulls, of the Pyrenean ibex evolved to be larger than other subspecies of Capra pyrenaica in southwestern Europe from the same time.


30/07/1990

Ian Gow, Conservative Member of Parliament, is assassinated at his home by the IRA in a car bombing after he assured the group that the British government would never surrender to them.

Ian Reginald Edward Gow was a British politician and solicitor. As a member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Eastbourne from 1974, until his assassination in 1990 by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) outside his home in East Sussex.


30/07/1981

As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, took to the streets in Łódź to protest food ration shortages in Communist Poland.

Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located 120 km (75 mi) south-west of Warsaw. As of 2025, Łódź has a population of 639,890, making it the country's fourth largest city.


30/07/1980

Vanuatu gains independence.

Vanuatu, officially the Republic of Vanuatu, is an archipelagic country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is 1,750 km (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 540 km (340 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, east of New Guinea, southeast of Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji.


Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law.

The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel.


30/07/1978

The 730: Okinawa Prefecture changes its traffic on the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side.

In Japan's Okinawa Prefecture, 730 is a reference to July 30, 1978, the day the prefecture switched back from driving on the right-hand side of the road to the left.


30/07/1975

Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.

James Riddle Hoffa was an American labor union leader who served as the General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 to 1971. He was alleged to have ties to organized crime, and disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1975.


30/07/1974

Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Watergate scandal, or simply Watergate, was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. On June 17, 1972, operatives associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign were caught burglarizing and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex. Nixon's efforts to conceal his administration's involvement led to an impeachment process and his resignation in August 1974.


30/07/1971

Apollo program: On Apollo 15, David Scott and James Irwin in the Apollo Lunar Module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover.

The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived in 1960 in the Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency during Project Mercury and executed after Project Gemini. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in his address to the U.S. Congress on May 25, 1961.


An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Iwate, Japan, killing 162.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. ANA operates services to both domestic and international destinations and is Japan's largest airline, ahead of its main rival Japan Airlines. As of March 2024, the airline has approximately 12,800 employees. The airline joined as a Star Alliance member in October 1999.


30/07/1969

Vietnam War: U.S. president Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders.

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.


30/07/1966

England defeats West Germany to win the FIFA World Cup at Wembley Stadium 4–2 after extra time.

The England national football team have represented England in men's international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by the Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliated with UEFA and comes under the global jurisdiction of world football's governing body FIFA. England competes in the three major international tournaments contested by European nations: the FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship and UEFA Nations League.


30/07/1965

U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

Lyndon Baines Johnson, also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. Johnson was vice president under John F. Kennedy from 1961 until Kennedy's assassination in 1963, when he assumed the presidency. Before becoming vice president, he served in both houses of the U.S. Congress, representing Texas as a member of the Democratic Party.


30/07/1962

The Trans-Canada Highway, the then-longest national highway in the world, is officially opened.

The Trans-Canada Highway is a transcontinental highway system within the country of Canada. The system traverses all ten provinces of Canada, and the main route travels 7,821 kilometres (4,860 mi) between Victoria, British Columbia, and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, making it one of the longest routes of its type in the world.


30/07/1956

A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto.

In the United States Congress, a joint resolution is a legislative measure that requires passage by the Senate and the House of Representatives and is presented to the President for his approval or disapproval. Generally, there is no legal difference between a joint resolution and a bill. Both must be passed, in exactly the same form, by both chambers of Congress, and signed by the President to become a law. Only joint resolutions may be used to propose amendments to the United States Constitution, and these do not require the approval of the President. Laws enacted by joint resolutions are not distinguished from laws enacted by bills, except that they are designated as resolutions as opposed to Acts of Congress.


30/07/1945

World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen. Most die during the following four days, until an aircraft notices the survivors.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks, submarines, and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.


30/07/1932

Premiere of Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short.

Walter Elias Disney was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards won (22) and nominations (59) by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and have also been named as some of the best by the American Film Institute.


30/07/1930

In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup by beating Argentina.

Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. As of the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,287,452, making up about 36.8% of the country's total population, in an area of 201 square kilometers (78 sq mi). Montevideo is situated on the southern coast of the country, on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata.


30/07/1916

The Black Tom explosion in New York Harbor kills four and destroys some $20,000,000 worth of military goods.

The Black Tom explosion was an act of arson by field agents of the Office of Naval Intelligence of the German Empire to destroy U.S.-made munitions awaiting shipment to the Allies during World War I. The explosions occurred on July 30, 1916, in New York Harbor, killing at least 7 people and wounding hundreds more. It also caused damage of military goods worth some $20,000,000. This incident, which happened before U.S. entry into World War I, also damaged the Statue of Liberty. It is one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in history.


30/07/1912

Japan's Emperor Meiji dies and is succeeded by his son Yoshihito, who is now known as the Emperor Taishō.

Emperor Meiji was Emperor of Japan from 30 January 1867 until his death in 1912. The Meiji Restoration proclaimed the Empire of Japan in 1868, beginning the Meiji era. During his reign, Japan transformed from a feudal state under the Tokugawa shogunate into a major imperial power.


30/07/1871

The Staten Island Ferry Westfield's boiler explodes, killing over 85 people.

The Staten Island Ferry is a fare-free passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs 5.2 miles (8.4 km) through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry boats completing the trip in about 25 minutes. The ferry operates 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, with boats leaving every 15 to 20 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes at other times. Apart from NYC Ferry's St. George route, it is the only direct mass-transit connection between the two boroughs. Historically, the Staten Island Ferry has charged a relatively low fare compared to other modes of transit in the area; and since 1997, the route has been fare-free. The Staten Island Ferry is one of several ferry systems in the New York City area and is operated separately from systems like NYC Ferry and NY Waterway.


30/07/1866

Armed Confederate veterans in New Orleans riot against a meeting of Radical Republicans, killing 48 people and injuring another 100.

The New Orleans massacre of 1866 occurred on July 30, when a peaceful demonstration of mostly Black freedmen was set upon by a mob of white rioters, many of whom had been soldiers of the recently defeated Confederate States of America, leading to a full-scale massacre. The violence erupted outside the Mechanics Institute, site of a reconvened Louisiana Constitutional Convention. According to the official report, 38 were killed and 146 wounded, of whom 34 dead and 119 wounded were Black freedmen. Unofficial estimates were higher. Gilles Vandal estimated 40 to 50 Black Americans were killed and more than 150 Black Americans wounded. Others have claimed nearly 200 were killed. In addition, three white convention attendees were killed, as was one white protester.


30/07/1865

The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time.

A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. The term steamboat is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels working on lakes, rivers, and in short-sea shipping. The development of the steamboat led to the larger steamship, which is a seaworthy and often ocean-going ship.


30/07/1864

American Civil War: Battle of the Crater: Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war ended with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.


30/07/1863

American Indian Wars: Representatives of the United States and tribal leaders including Chief Pocatello (of the Shoshone) sign the Treaty of Box Elder.

The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas against various American Indian tribes in North America. These conflicts occurred from the time of the earliest colonial settlements in the 17th century until the end of the 19th century. The various wars resulted from a wide variety of factors, the most common being the desire of settlers and governments for Indian tribes' lands. The European powers and their colonies enlisted allied Indian tribes to help them conduct warfare against each other's colonial settlements. After the American Revolution, many conflicts were local to specific states or regions and frequently involved disputes over land use; some entailed cycles of violent reprisal.


Valuev Circular banned the publication of religious, educational and training books in Ukrainian in the Russian Empire.

The Valuev Circular of 18 (30) July 1863 was a decree (ukaz) issued by Pyotr Valuev (Valuyev), Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire, by which many publications in the "Little Russian" (Ukrainian) language were forbidden, except for belles-lettres works.


30/07/1859

First ascent of Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps.

The Grand Combin is a mountain massif in the western Pennine Alps in the canton of Valais. At a height of 4,309 metres (14,137 ft) the summit of Combin de Grafeneire is one of the highest peaks in the Alps and the second most prominent of the Pennine Alps. The Grand Combin is also a large glaciated massif consisting of several summits, among which three are above 4000 metres. The highest part of the massif is wholly in Switzerland, although the border with Italy lies a few kilometres south.


30/07/1811

Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, is executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua City, Mexico.

Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla Gallaga Mandarte y Villaseñor, commonly known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or simply Miguel Hidalgo, was a Mexican Catholic priest and prominent leader of the Mexican War of Independence, who is recognized as the Father of the Nation.


30/07/1756

In Saint Petersburg, Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers.

Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd (Петроград) and later Leningrad (Ленинград), is the second-largest city in Russia, after Moscow, the nation's capital. Situated on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, its area of 1,439 square kilometers (556 sq mi) renders it the smallest administrative division of Russia by area. The city had a population of 5,601,911 residents as of 2021, with more than 6.4 million people living in the metropolitan area. Saint Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents. As the former capital of the Russian Empire, and a historically strategic Baltic port, it is governed as a federal city.


30/07/1733

The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts.

Freemasonry consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is considered the oldest existing secular fraternal organisation, with documents and traditions dating back to the 14th century. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of three main traditions:Anglo-American style Freemasonry, which insists that a "volume of sacred law" should be open in a working lodge, that every member should profess belief in a supreme being, that only men should be admitted, and discussion of religion or politics does not take place within the lodge. Continental style Freemasonry or Liberal style Freemasonry which has continued to evolve beyond these restrictions, particularly regarding religious belief and political discussion. Women's Freemasonry or Co-Freemasonry, which includes organisations that either admit women exclusively or accept both men and women. Women Freemasonry groups can lean Conservative or Liberal, requiring a religion or not as determined by their Grand Orient or Obedience.


30/07/1729

Founding of Baltimore, Maryland.

Baltimore, also known as Baltimore City, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the 30th-most populous U.S. city with a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 569,997 in 2025, while the Baltimore metropolitan area at 2.86 million residents is the 22nd-largest metropolitan area in the nation. The city is also part of the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area, which had a population of 9.97 million in 2020. Baltimore was designated as an independent city by the Constitution of Maryland in 1851. Though not located under the jurisdiction of any county in the state, it forms part of the Central Maryland region together with the surrounding county that shares its name.


30/07/1676

Nathaniel Bacon issues the "Declaration of the People of Virginia", beginning Bacon's Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.

Nathaniel Bacon was an English merchant adventurer who settled in the Virginia Colony, where he sat on the Governor's Council. In early 1676 he led Bacon's Rebellion against the Virginia government. The rebellion was briefly successful; but after Bacon’s death from dysentery in October 1676, the rebel forces collapsed.


30/07/1656

The Battle of Warsaw ends with a Swedish-Brandenburger victory over a larger Polish-Lithuanian force.

The Battle of Warsaw took place near Warsaw on July 28–July 30 [O.S. July 18–20] 1656, between the armies of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden and Brandenburg. It was a major battle in the Second Northern War between Poland and Sweden in the period 1655–1660, also known as The Deluge. According to Hajo Holborn, it marked "the beginning of Prussian military history".


30/07/1645

English Civil War: Scottish Covenanter forces under the Earl of Leven launch the Siege of Hereford, a remaining Royalist stronghold.

The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the struggle consisted of the First English Civil War and the Second English Civil War. The Anglo-Scottish war of 1650 to 1652 is sometimes referred to as the Third English Civil War.


30/07/1635

Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Schenkenschans begins; Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, begins the recapture of the strategically important fortress from the Spanish Army.

The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, excessive taxation, and the rights and privileges of the Dutch nobility and cities.


30/07/1627

An earthquake kills about 5,000 people in Gargano, Italy.

The 1627 Gargano earthquake struck Gargano and part of Tavoliere, southern Italy, at about mid-day on 30 July 1627. A "very large earthquake" caused a major tsunami, the largest seismic event ever recorded in the Gargano region, which "produced severe damage in the whole promontory", killing about 5,000 people. Four aftershocks were documented. The most extensive damage was noted between San Severo and Lesina.


30/07/1619

In Jamestown, Virginia, the first Colonial European representative assembly in the Americas, the Virginia General Assembly, convenes for the first time.

The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about 2.5 mi (4 km) southwest of present-day Williamsburg. It was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 4, 1607 O.S. (May 14, 1607 N.S.). It followed earlier, failed English colonization attempts, including the 1585 Roanoke Colony. A river island was selected to evade Spanish naval patrols; however, it was infested with mosquitoes, lacked potable water, and was used by the Paspahegh people. Despite supply missions, only 60 of the original 214 settlers survived the 1609–1610 winter known as Starving Time. In 1612, West Indies tobacco was successfully cultivated, leading to an economic boom for the colony and England.


30/07/1609

Beaver Wars: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs on behalf of his native allies.

The Beaver Wars, also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars, were a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th century in North America throughout the Great Lakes region and the St. Lawrence River valley which pitted the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) – with the active support and arming by the Dutch and later the English – against neighbouring Indigenous nations such as the Wendat (Huron) who were supported by the French.


30/07/1502

Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.

Between 1492 and 1504, the Italian explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus led four Spanish transatlantic maritime expeditions in the name of the Catholic Monarchs to the Americas. These voyages led to Europeans learning about the New World. This was an early breakthrough in the period known in Europe as the Age of Exploration, which saw the colonization of the Americas, a related biological exchange, and trans-Atlantic trade. These events, the effects and consequences of which persist to the present, are often cited as the beginning of the modern era.


30/07/1419

First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council.

The Defenestrations of Prague were three incidents in the history of Bohemia in which people were defenestrated. Though already existing in Middle French, the word defenestrate is believed to have first been used in English in reference to the episodes in Prague in 1618 when the disgruntled Protestant estates threw two royal governors and their secretary out of a window of the Hradčany Castle and wrote an extensive apologia explaining their action. In the Middle Ages and early modern times, defenestration was not uncommon—the act carried elements of lynching and mob violence in the form of murder committed together.


30/07/0762

Baghdad is founded.

Baghdad is the capital and largest city in Iraq. It is located on the banks of the Tigris in central Iraq. The city has an estimated population of 8 million. It ranks among the most populous and largest cities in the Middle East and the Arab world and constitutes 22% of Iraq's population. Baghdad is a primary financial and commercial center in the region.