On This Day July 8

The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley loved the sea and yachting but never learnt to swim. On July 8, 1822 he drowned whilst sailing in a sudden storm as he traveled back to Lerici, Italy in his schooner, the Don Juan. When his body was washed up on the beach two books were found, a slim edition of The Works of Sophocles and a volume of Keats' poems still clutched in his hand. Shelley was cremated soon afterwards on the beach near Viareggio attended by his anguished friends including Lord Byron.

The Funeral of Shelley by Louis Édouard Fournier (1889)

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On This Day July 7

Bishop John Carroll oversaw the construction of the first Catholic cathedral in the United States, the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore. It was designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect of the United States Capitol. The cornerstone of the cathedral was laid by Carroll on July 7, 1806, but he did not live to see its completion. Work on The Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore was completed in 1821. It is the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States.

Carroll lays the cornerstone for the Cathedral of the Assumption

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On This Day July 6

On July 6, 1895, La France created a puzzle that was close to a modern Sudoku. Its instructions read, "Use the numbers 1 to 9 each nine times to complete the grid in such a way that the horizontal, vertical, and two main diagonal lines all add up to the same total." These number puzzles were a feature of French dailies and magazines for a couple of decades, but disappeared about the time of World War I. The modern Sudoku puzzle was invented in Indianapolis, USA in 1979.

From La France newspaper, July 6, 1895

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On This Day July 5

Arthur Ashe was the first black male tennis player to win the US national singles and open championships in 1968. Five years later, on July 5, 1975, Ashe became the first black man to win Wimbledon, beating defending champion Jimmy Connors three sets to one. While actively protesting apartheid in South Africa, Ashe was granted a visa in 1973 to become the first black professional to play in that country.

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On This Day July 4

By June 1826, Thomas Jefferson was on his death bed due to a combination of various illnesses and conditions probably including toxemia, uremia, and pneumonia. Jefferson was determined to last until the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. At 12.45 pm on July 4, 1826, Jefferson mumbled "This is the fourth"? When he realized it was he mumbled "I resign my spirit to God, my daughter to my country" and died peacefully.

John Adams, 2nd President of the United States, died the same day as his political rival Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826. On one occasion Adams warned of the consequences of a potential Jefferson presidency in an attack ad: “Murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed, the soil will be soaked with blood and the nation black with crimes.” Adams' last words were "Thomas Jefferson still survives."

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On This Day July 3

The video game Pac-Man was licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway and released in October 1980. Within 15 months of Pac-Man's U.S. release, Americans had spent over $1,000,000,000 in quarters playing the game. The maximum possible score is 3,333,360 points. Billy Mitchell was the first player to achieve a perfect Pac-Man score on July 3, 1999 at Funspot Family Fun Center in New Hampshire.

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On This Day July 2

The strong nationalist sentiment conveyed in Jean Sibelius' music was deemed an expression of patriotism in Finland. Sibelius' tone poem Finlandia was composed when his country was under Russian domination and premiered in Helsinki on July 2, 1900 with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society. The work was banned by the Russian rulers of Finland because it aroused much patriotic fervor among the Finns. In Berlin it was played as 'Vaterland'; in Paris as 'Patrie'.

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