Friday 12 July 2024 Calendar with holidays, observances and special days

Holidays and observances

• Camiri Day in Bolivia
• Costco Wholesale Day
• Cow Appreciation Day
• Different Colored Eyes Day
• Fjordens Dag
• Forest Engineer Day in Brazil
• Hochheim Wine Festival (It starts on the second Friday in July)
• Kiribati Independence Day (celebrates the independence of Kiribati from the United Kingdom in 1979)
• Kosovorotka Day in Russia
• Lawyer Day in Mexico (Día del Abogado)
• National Day of Social Medicine in Argentina
• National Pecan Pie Day in USA
• National Therapist Day in Colombia
• Official Tour Guide Day in Peru
• Saarbrücken Old Town Festival
• The Twelfth, also known as Orangemen's Day (Northern Ireland, Scotland, Newfoundland and Labrador)
• The second day of Naadam in Mongolia
• Tonga King's Day
• Weisenauer Kerb in Mainz-Weisenau
• Wine Festival in Mainz-Ebersheim
• World Flight Attendant Day or World Civil Aviation Flight Attendant Day

Events

• In 2017 iceberg A-68 detaches from Antarctica.
• In 2017 the discovery of the smallest star able to sustain fusion, EBLM J0555-57Ab, is announced; its diameter is just slightly larger than Saturn. Also research published in Royal Society Open Science reveals that six of the world's large carnivores – the African wild dog, cheetah, Ethiopian wolf, lion, red wolf and tiger – have lost over 90% of their historic range.
• 1973 – A fire destroys the entire sixth floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States.
• 1971 – The Australian Aboriginal Flag is flown for the first time.
• 1963 – Pauline Reade (16 years old) disappears in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders.
• 1962 – The Rolling Stones perform their first concert, at London's Marquee Club.
• 1960 – Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded.
• 1862 – The Medal of Honor is authorized by the United States Congress.
• 1812 – The American Army of the Northwest briefly occupies the Upper Canadian settlement at what is now at Windsor, Ontario.
• 1804 – Former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton dies a day after being shot in a duel.

Births

• 1996 – Jordan Romero, American mountaineer, was 13 years old when he reached the summit of Mount Everest. Romero was accompanied by his father, Paul Romero, his step-mother, Karen Lundgren, and three Sherpas, Ang Pasang Sherpa, Lama Dawa Sherpa, and Lama Karma Sherpa.
• 1995 – Jordyn Wieber, American gymnast. Jordyn Marie Wieber (born July 12, 1995) is an American former artistic gymnast turned gymnastics coach who is the current head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team, assuming the position in April 2019 following the retirement of long-time head coach, Mark Cook.
• 1990 – Chasen Shreve, American baseball player. The Yankees traded him to St.
• 1989 – Nick Palmieri, American ice hockey player. Nicholas Palmieri (born July 12, 1989) is an American professional ice hockey player who is currently under contract with HCB South Tyrol of the Austrian Hockey League (EBEL).
• 1988 – LeSean McCoy, American football player. LeSean Kamel "Shady" McCoy (born July 12, 1988) is an American football running back for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL).
• 1984 – Natalie Martinez, American actress. Martinez starred in the single season of the crime drama Detroit 1-8-7, had a recurring role for one season of CSI: NY, and starred in one season of the drama series Kingdom, and appeared in the 2019 science fiction miniseries The I-Land.
• 1980 – Kristen Connolly, American actress. She is known for her roles as Dana in the 2012 film The Cabin in the Woods, Christina Gallagher on the Netflix series House of Cards and Jamie Campbell on the CBS series Zoo.
• 1978 – Michelle Rodriguez, American actress. The following year, she starred as Letty Ortiz in the blockbuster film The Fast and the Furious (2001), a role she has reprised in five additional films in the Fast & Furious franchise.
• 1978 – Topher Grace, American actor. His other film roles include Traffic, Mona Lisa Smile, Valentine's Day, Take Me Home Tonight, The Big Wedding, War Machine and Breakthrough.
• 1977 – Brock Lesnar, American mixed martial artist and wrestler. Brock Edward Lesnar (/ˈlɛznər/; born July 12, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, and former mixed martial artist and professional football player currently signed to WWE, where he performs on its Raw brand and is the current WWE Champion in his fifth reign.
• 1976 – Tracie Spencer, American singer-songwriter and actress. A Waterloo native, Spencer's first claim to fame was when she participated on the CBS talent competition television show Star Search; winning the junior vocalist competition in 1987.
• 1974 – Gregory Shane Helms, American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he wrestled as The Hurricane, Gregory Helms, and Hurricane Helms and also for his time with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he wrestled as "Sugar" Shane Helms.
• 1972 – Travis Best, American basketball player. Travis Best (born July 12, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player, who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and in Europe.
• 1971 – Kristi Yamaguchi, American figure skater. As a pairs skater with Rudy Galindo, she is the 1988 World Junior champion and a two-time national champion (1989 and 1990).
• 1971 – Loni Love, American comedian, actress, and talk show host. She was the runner-up on Star Search 2003 and was named among the "Top 10 Comics to Watch" in both Variety and Comedy Central in 2009.
• 1969 – Jesse Pintado, Mexican-American guitarist (d. 2006), was a lead guitar player born in Mexico who at an early age moved to the US. He started in the grindcore band Terrorizer where he recorded the album World Downfall, the first album to feature Pete Sandoval who would later leave the band to join Morbid Angel.
• 1969 – Lisa Nicole Carson, American actress. Carson appeared in the roles simultaneously, but afterwards, she withdrew from acting until 2012 when she appeared in the final episode of David E.
• 1967 – John Petrucci, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. With his former bandmate Mike Portnoy, he produced all Dream Theater albums from 1999's Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory to 2019's Distance Over Time.
• 1967 – Mac McCaughan, American singer and guitarist. Ralph Lee "Mac" McCaughan (/məˈkɑːn/; born July 12, 1967) is an American musician and record label owner, based in North Carolina.
• 1966 – Jeff Bucknum, American race car driver. Jeff is the son of Formula One and Championship Car racer Ronnie Bucknum.
• 1962 – Joanna Shields, American-English businesswoman. Baroness Joanna Shields, OBE (born 12 July 1962) is a British-American technology industry veteran who currently serves as Group CEO for BenevolentAI.
• 1959 – Charlie Murphy, American actor and comedian (d. 2017), was an American actor, comedian, and writer. Murphy was best known as a writer and cast member of the Comedy Central sketch-comedy series Chappelle's Show, and as the co-star of the sitcom Black Jesus.
• 1958 – J. D. Hayworth, American politician and radio host. He currently hosts Newsmax Prime, a television news/talk prime time show that airs weekdays at 8:00 p.m.
• 1957 – Rick Husband, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003), was an American astronaut and fighter pilot. He traveled into space twice: as Pilot of STS-96 and Commander of STS-107.
• 1956 – Mel Harris, American actress. Mary Ellen "Mel" Harris (born July 12, 1956) is an American actress best known for her role as role as Hope Murdoch Steadman in the ABC drama series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination in 1990.
• 1956 – Sandi Patty, American singer and pianist. Sandra Faye "Sandi" Patty (born July 12, 1956) is an American Christian music singer, known for her wide soprano vocal range and expressive flexibility, which has led music critics to dub her "The Voice".
• 1955 – Jimmy LaFave, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017), was an American singer-songwriter and folk musician. After moving to Stillwater, Oklahoma, LaFave became a supporter of Woody Guthrie.
• 1954 – Robert Carl, American pianist and composer. Robert Carl (born July 12, 1954 in Bethesda, Maryland) is an American composer who currently resides in Hartford, Connecticut, where he is chair of the composition department at the Hartt School, University of Hartford.
• 1952 – Philip Taylor Kramer, American bass player (d. 1995). He later became a computer engineering executive and inventor.
• 1952 – Voja Antonić, Serbian computer scientist and journalist, designed the Galaksija computer. This initiative encouraged and enlightened thousands of computer enthusiasts during the 1980s in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
• 1951 – Brian Grazer, American screenwriter and producer, founded Imagine Entertainment. Brian Thomas Grazer (born July 12, 1951) is an American film / television producer and, occasionally, a screenwriter.
• 1951 – Cheryl Ladd, American actress, was hired for its second season in 1977 to replace Farrah Fawcett-Majors. Ladd remained on the show until its cancellation in 1981.
• 1951 – Jamey Sheridan, American actor. James Patrick Sheridan (born July 12, 1951) is an American actor, best known for playing Vice President of the United States "William Walden" in Showtime's hit TV series Homeland.
• 1950 – Eric Carr, American drummer and songwriter (d. 1991), was an American musician and multi-instrumentalist who was the drummer for the rock band Kiss from 1980 to 1991. Caravello was selected as the new Kiss drummer after Peter Criss departed, when he chose the stage name "Eric Carr" and took up The Fox persona.
• 1949 – Rick Hendrick, American businessman, founded Hendrick Motorsports. Joseph Riddick "Rick" Hendrick III (born July 12, 1949) is the current owner of the American NASCAR team, Hendrick Motorsports, and co owner of JR Motorsports, and founder of the Hendrick Automotive Group and Hendrick Marrow Program.
• 1948 – Ben Burtt, American director, screenwriter, and sound designer. He has worked as sound designer films including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), WALL-E (2008) and Star Trek (2009).
• 1948 – Richard Simmons, American fitness trainer and actor. Milton Teagle "Richard" Simmons (born July 12, 1948) is a retired American fitness instructor, actor, and video producer known for his eccentric, flamboyant, and energetic personality.
• 1948 – Walter Egan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Walter Egan (born July 12, 1948) is an American rock musician, best known for his 1978 gold status hit single "Magnet and Steel" from his second album release, Not Shy, produced by Egan, Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut.
• 1947 – Loren Coleman, American cryptozoologist, author, and academic. Loren Coleman (born July 12, 1947) is an American cryptozoologist who has written over 40 books on a number of topics, including cryptozoology.
• 1947 – Richard C. McCarty, American psychologist and academic. McCarty (born July 12, 1947) is a professor of psychology and the former provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
• 1945 – Butch Hancock, American country-folk singer-songwriter and musician (The Flatlanders). Hancock is a member of The Flatlanders along with Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, but he has principally performed solo.
• 1944 – Delia Ephron, American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Delia Ephron (/ˈɛfrən/ EF-rən; born July 12, 1944) is an American bestselling author, screenwriter, and playwright.
• 1944 – Pat Woodell, American actress and singer (d. 2015), was an American actress and singer, best known for her television role as Bobbie Jo Bradley from 1963 to 1965 on Petticoat Junction.
• 1943 – Paul Silas, American basketball player and coach. Paul Theron Silas (born July 12, 1943) is an American retired professional basketball player and former NBA head coach.
• 1942 – Swamp Dogg, American R&B singer-songwriter and musician. Jerry Williams Jr. (born July 12, 1942), generally credited under the pseudonym Swamp Dogg after 1970, is an American soul and R&B singer, musician, songwriter and record producer.
• 1941 – Benny Parsons, American race car driver and sportscaster (d. 2007), was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst/pit reporter on SETN, TBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and TNT. He became famous as the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup) champion, and was a 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee.
• 1938 – Ron Fairly, American baseball player and sportscaster, was an American Major League Baseball player and broadcaster. Combining playing and broadcasting appearances, Fairly was involved in over 7,000 major league games from 1958 through 2006.
• 1937 – Bill Cosby, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. William Henry Cosby Jr. (/ˈkɒzbi/; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician, author, and convicted sex offender.
• 1937 – Mickey Edwards, American lawyer and politician, was as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving Oklahoma's 5th congressional district from 1977 to 1993.
• 1937 – Robert McFarlane, American colonel and diplomat, 13th United States National Security Advisor. Robert Carl "Bud" McFarlane (born July 12, 1937) is a retired Marine Corps officer who served as National Security Advisor to President of the United States Ronald Reagan from 1983 through 1985.
• 1934 – Van Cliburn, American pianist and composer (d. 2013), was an American pianist who, at the age of 23, achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 (during the Cold War).
• 1933 – Donald E. Westlake, American author and screenwriter (d. 2008), was an American writer, with over a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction and other genres.
• 1933 – Victor Poor, American engineer, developed the Datapoint 2200 (d. 2012), was an American engineer and computer pioneer. At Computer Terminal Corporation (later renamed Datapoint Corporation), he co-created the architecture that was ultimately implemented in the first successful computer microprocessor, the Intel 8008.
• 1932 – Monte Hellman, American director and producer. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the horror film Beast from Haunted Cave (1959), produced by Roger Corman.
• 1932 – Otis Davis, American sprinter. For the baseball player, see Otis Davis (baseball)
• 1931 – Geeto Mongol, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (d. 2013), was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Geeto Mongol (also spelled Geto Mongol).
• 1928 – Elias James Corey, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate. Elias James "E.J." Corey (Arabic: إلياس جيمس خوري‎; born July 12, 1928) is an American-Lebanese organic chemist.
• 1928 – Imero Fiorentino, American lighting designer (d. 2013), was an American lighting designer, considered one of the most respected pioneers and leaders in the American entertainment industry. Beginning his career as a lighting designer in the Golden Age of Television, he designed productions for such celebrated series as Omnibus, U.S.
• 1927 – Conte Candoli, American trumpet player (d. 2001), was an American jazz trumpeter based on the West Coast. He played in the big bands of Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, and Dizzy Gillespie, and in Doc Severinsen's NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
• 1927 – Jack Harshman, American baseball player (d. 2013), was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the New York Giants, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, and Cleveland Indians between 1948 and 1960. He batted and threw left-handed.
• 1922 – Mark Hatfield, American soldier and politician, 29th Governor of Oregon (d. 2011), was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
• 1920 – Beah Richards, American actress (d. 2000), was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She was also a poet, playwright, and author.
• 1920 – Paul Gonsalves, American saxophonist (d. 1974), was an American jazz tenor saxophonist best known for his association with Duke Ellington. At the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, Gonsalves played a 27-chorus solo in the middle of Ellington's "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue," a performance credited with revitalizing Ellington's waning career in the 1950s.
• 1918 – Doris Grumbach, American novelist, memoirist, biographer, literary critic, and essayist. For two decades, she and her partner, Sybil Pike, operated a bookstore, Wayward Books, in Sargentville, Maine, until 2009 when they moved to a retirement home in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
• 1918 – Vivian Mason, American actress (d. 2009), was an American actress who appeared in over 30 television shows and films between 1937 and 1955.
• 1917 – Andrew Wyeth, American artist (d. 2009), was a visual artist, primarily a realist painter, working predominantly in a regionalist style. He was one of the best-known U.S. artists of the middle 20th century.
• 1913 – Willis Lamb, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008), was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1955 "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum." The Nobel Committee that year awarded half the prize to Lamb and the other half to Polykarp Kusch, who won "for his precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron." Lamb was able to determine precisely a surprising shift in electron energies in a hydrogen atom (see Lamb shift). Lamb was a professor at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences.
• 1909 – Fritz Leonhardt, German engineer, designed Fernsehturm Stuttgart (d. 1999), was a German structural engineer who made major contributions to 20th-century bridge engineering, especially in the development of cable-stayed bridges. His book Bridges: Aesthetics and Design is well known throughout the bridge engineering community.
• 1909 – Herbert Zim, American naturalist, author, and educator (d. 1994), was a naturalist, author, editor and educator best known as the founder (1945) and editor-in-chief of the Golden Guides series of nature books.
• 1909 – Joe DeRita, American actor (d. 1993), was an American actor and comedian, who is best known for his stint as a member of The Three Stooges in the persona of "Curly-Joe."
• 1908 – Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (d. 2002). Berle's career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television.
• 1908 – Paul Runyan, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2002), was an American professional golfer. Among the world's best players in the mid-1930s, he won two PGA Championships, and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
• 1895 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect and engineer, designed the Montreal Biosphère (d. 1983), was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist. Fuller published more than 30 books, coining or popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", "Dymaxion" house/car, ephemeralization, synergetic, and "tensegrity".
• 1895 – Oscar Hammerstein II, American director, producer, and songwriter (d. 1960), was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song.
• 1886 – Jean Hersholt, Danish-American actor and director (d. 1956). He is best known for starring on the radio series Dr.
• 1884 – Louis B. Mayer, Russian-born American film producer, co-founded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (d. 1957), was an American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924. Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industry's most prestigious movie studio, accumulating the largest concentration of leading writers, directors and stars in Hollywood.
• 1880 – Tod Browning, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1962), was an American film actor, film director, screenwriter and vaudeville performer. Browning's career spanned the silent film and sound film eras.
• 1876 – Alphaeus Philemon Cole, American artist, engraver and etcher (d. 1988). He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and died in New York City.
• 1857 – George E. Ohr, American potter (d. 1918), was an American ceramic artist and the self-proclaimed "Mad Potter of Biloxi" in Mississippi. In recognition of his innovative experimentation with modern clay forms from 1880–1910, some consider him a precursor to the American Abstract-Expressionism movement.
• 1854 – George Eastman, American businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (d. 1933), was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. Roll film was also the basis for the invention of motion picture film stock in 1888 by the world's first filmmakers Eadweard Muybridge and Louis Le Prince, and a few years later by their followers Léon Bouly, William Kennedy Dickson, Thomas Edison, the Lumière Brothers, and Georges Méliès.
• 1821 – D. H. Hill, American general and academic (d. 1889). Daniel Harvey Hill (July 12, 1821 – September 24, 1889) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War and a Southern scholar.
• 1817 – Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, poet, and philosopher (d. 1862). A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.
• 1730 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company (d. 1795), was an English potter and entrepreneur. He founded the Wedgwood company.

Deaths

• 2015 – D'Army Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and actor (b. 1941)
• 2014 – Alfred de Grazia, American political scientist and author (b. 1919)
• 2014 – Kenneth J. Gray, American soldier and politician (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Amar Bose, American businessman, founded the Bose Corporation (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Else Holmelund Minarik, Danish-American author and illustrator (b. 1920)
• 2012 – George C. Stoney, American director and producer (b. 1916)
• 2011 – Sherwood Schwartz, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1916)
• 2010 – Harvey Pekar, American author and critic (b. 1939)
• 2010 – James P. Hogan, English-American author (b. 1941)
• 2010 – Olga Guillot, Cuban-American singer (b. 1922)
• 2008 – Bobby Murcer, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1946)
• 2008 – Tony Snow, American journalist, 26th White House Press Secretary (b. 1955)
• 2004 – Betty Oliphant, English-Canadian ballerina, co-founded the National Ballet School of Canada (b. 1918)
• 2003 – Benny Carter, American trumpet player, saxophonist, and composer (b. 1907)
• 2001 – Fred Marcellino, American author and illustrator (b. 1939)
• 1998 – Jimmy Driftwood, American singer-songwriter and banjo player (b. 1907)
• 1996 – John Chancellor, American journalist (b. 1927)
• 1992 – Caroline Pafford Miller, American journalist and author (b. 1903)
• 1979 – Minnie Riperton, American singer-songwriter (b. 1947)
• 1975 – James Ormsbee Chapin, American painter and illustrator (b. 1887)
• 1973 – Lon Chaney, Jr., American actor (b. 1906)
• 1962 – Roger Wolfe Kahn, American composer and bandleader (b. 1907)
• 1950 – Elsie de Wolfe, American actress, author, and interior decorator (b. 1865)
• 1947 – Jimmie Lunceford, American saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1902)
• 1946 – Ray Stannard Baker, American journalist and author (b. 1870)
• 1944 – Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., American general and politician, Governor of Puerto Rico (b. 1887)
• 1934 – Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American inventor and businessman, invented the outboard motor (b. 1877)
• 1929 – Robert Henri, American painter and educator (b. 1865)
• 1910 – Charles Rolls, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (b. 1887)
• 1892 – Alexander Cartwright, American firefighter, invented baseball (b. 1820)
• 1870 – John A. Dahlgren, American admiral (b. 1809)
• 1804 – Alexander Hamilton, American general, economist, and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1755)