POPnews - July 15th

^{[Containing the same passage written in classical Greek,
demotic and hieroglyphic Egyptian, the Rosetta Stone
enabled scholars to finally understand hieroglyphics,whose meaning had hitherto stymied them.]}

1099 - The First Crusade achieved its goal when a Christian army commanded by Raymond of Toulouse and Godfrey of Bouillon took the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem following the final assault in a difficult siege.

1207 - England's King John expelled the Canterbury monks for their support of Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton.

1240 - A Novgorodian army led by Alexander Nevsky defeated the Swedes - legend has it commanded by Birger Magnusson - at the Battle of the Neva.

1381 - John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, was hanged, drawn, and quartered in the presence of King Richard II, in what was surely the goriest Royal Variety Performance ever.

1685 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, was executed at London's Tower Hill following his defeat at the Battle of Sedgemore on July 6th.

1741 - When Alexei Chirikov sighted land, possibly at what is now Prince of Wales Island, the men he sent ashore in a longboat to investigate became the first Europeans to visit Alaska.

1789 - Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, was named colonel-general of the new National Guard of Paris by acclamation.

1799 - The Rosetta Stone was found in an Egyptian village by Pierre-Francois Bouchard; the stone was later seized by the British Army in 1801 and brought to London, where today it resides in the British Museum.

1806 - When US Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike embarked upon the Pike Expedition from Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis his stated aim was to explore the American West; Colorado's majestic Pikes Peak today bears his name as a tribute to that brave endeavour.

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to the British aboard the HMS Bellerophon.

1823 - A fire destroyed the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

1870 - The Hudson's Bay Company transferred control of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to the Dominion of Canada, out of which was created Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.

1931 - Kid Chocolate became Cuba's first world boxing champion.

1954 - The maiden flight of the Boeing 707, the first passenger jet liner, ushered in the age of jet travel.

1957 - Full-scale production of the Ford Edsel began; though in production for three years from 1958 to 1960, the Edsel was a famous flop.

1974 - Florida television personality Christine Chubbuck committed suicide live on the air.

1995 - Amazon.com sold its first item.

1997 - Andrew Cunanan murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace on the steps of Versace's palatial Florida home.

2004 - Monorail service opened along the Las Vegas Strip.
*