927 On July 12, 927, Æthelstan, King of England, met with Constantine II, King of Scotland, at Eamont Bridge in Cumbria. The two kings agreed to a treaty that prohibited Constantine from allying with Viking kings. This was a significant step in the process of unifying Great Britain, as it marked the first time that an English king had been able to exert his authority over Scotland.
1389 On July 12, 1389, Geoffrey Chaucer was appointed the clerk of the king's works, placing him in charge of royal buildings and parks. He was paid well: two shillings a day, more than three times his salary in his previous role of Comptroller of the Customs for the port of London. Chaucer oversaw the scaffolding for the three grandstands at Smithfield's jousting area. There was one grandstand for the king and his courtiers, one for the ladies and one for the London corporation members.
1472 Following the decisive Yorkist victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury, Richard Plantagenet (later Richard III of England) married the widowed Anne Neville on July 12, 1472 when she was 16-years-old. After their marriage, Richard led a life of a rich and powerful country Lord, as Anne's dowry made him the biggest landowner in England. Anne bore Richard one son, Edward Plantagenet who died in 1484 and she died the following year, probably of tuberculosis,
1536 Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch teacher and theologian, died suddenly from an attack of dysentery in Basel, Switzerland on July 12, 1536, and was buried in the Basel Minster, the former cathedral of the city. Erasmus made significant contributions to the fields of humanism, biblical scholarship, and education. He was known for his critical edition of the New Testament and his writings on reforming the Church. His works had a profound influence on the intellectual and religious developments of the time.
1543 King Henry VIII of England's sixth and last wife was Catherine Parr. Well-educated, sensitive, sympathetic, she was a twice widowed woman in her thirties when they married on July 12, 1543 at Hampton Court Palace. Catherine helped reconcile Henry with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth and an Act of Parliament put them back in the line of succession after Edward, Prince of Wales. Her book Prayers or Meditations was the first book published by an English queen under her own name.
1561 St. Basil's Cathedral was commissioned by Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible), for Saint Basil the Blessed and built in Moscow's Red Square, the city's geographic center, between 1555-1560. Saint Basil's Cathedral was consecrated on July 12, 1561. Legend tells that Ivan the Terrible blinded the architect to prevent him repeating his feat.
1730 The pottery designer and manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood was born on July 12, 1730 in Burslem, Staffordshire, England. By the age of nine, Josiah was proving himself to be a skilled potter. However a bout of smallpox limited his strength in his leg and ultimately left him unable to work the foot pedal of a potter's wheel. Wedgwood originally worked in the family pottery business. In 1754 he became a partner of Thomas Whieldon, and began to devise improved wares.
1770 James Hargreaves was one of the very few weavers who owned their own spinning wheel in the village of Stanhill, Lancashire. He invented a machine in 1764 that could spin eight threads at the same time, which he called a spinning jenny. On July 12, 1770, Hargreaves took out a patent on his invention, but since he had sold several of his spinning machines, the patent was declared invalid when challenged in court. This left others free to use the invention without paying him royalties.
1789 Radical French political journalist Camille Desmoulins was enraged at King Louis XVI's dismissal of the French finance minister Jacques Necker, On July 12, 1789, he stood on a table at the Café de Foy in Paris brandishing two pistols and roused his countrymen with a cry of “Aux armes, citoyens”. Two days later the Bastille prison was stormed and fell, and the French Revolution begun.
1794 On July 12, 1794, while engaging in a bombardment at Calvi, Horatio Nelson was struck by debris in his right eye. Although his wound was soon bandaged, his eye was irreparably damaged and he eventually lost all sight in it. Afterwards Nelson wore a green shade attached to his hat over his good eye to protect it.
1795 Archduke Alexander Leopold organized a firework display at Laxenburg Palace on July 12, 1795 to surprise his sister-in-law Empress Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. When the Empress' arrival was announced by a gunshot, Alexander Leopold lit the first rocket in the casemates of the palace. At that moment, the door opened and a draught of air threw the rocket back on the gunpowder. The gunpowder exploded and Alexander Leopold along with his servants were killed.
1809 Scottish soldier Captain Robert Barclay-Allardice, (1779-1854) once walked 1000 miles in 1000 consecutive hours. His remarkable walking feat was performed at Newmarket between June 1 and July 12, 1809, during which he walked 1 mile (1.6 km) in each of 1000 successive hours, to win an initial wager of 1000 guineas.
1854 George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak, was born on July 12, 1854 Interested in photographic processes from an early age, he started a company in 1881 that made photographic plates for photographers. The company released its first hand-held camera that uses roll film in April 1888, which Eastman called the Kodak. Eastman began to mass produce his inventions, transforming photography from an expensive hobby of the few to a relatively inexpensive, popular pastime.
1862 President Lincoln created the U.S. Army Medal of Honor, the highest American military honor on July 12, 1862. Medal of Honor recipients are entitled to much more than the medal including a $1,300 monthly bonus, 10% retirement raise and may wear their uniform even after they are out of the service.
1910 Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls Royce, died at 32 on July 12, 1910, when he crashed his Wright biplane after its tail broke off during a flying display in Bournemouth. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aviation accident. An aviation pioneer, Charles Rolls had become the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane on June 2, 1910.
1914 On July 12, 1914 Chionya Guseva, a 33-year-old peasant woman attempted to assassinate Rasputin by stabbing him in the stomach outside his home in Pokrovskoye. Rasputin was seriously wounded, but eventually recovered from the attack.
1916 Lyudmila Pavlichenko of the Soviet Union was born on July 12, 1916. She was the most successful female sniper in history with 309 credited kills during World War II. Lyudmila Pavlichenko toured the US in 1942 to gain support for a second front in Nazi-occupied Europe; the press was more interested in her appearance and if she wore make-up on the front lines.
1917 In 1917, 1,300 miners went on strike in Bisbee, Arizona over unsafe working conditions, low pay, and long hours. The mining company, Phelps Dodge, hired 2,000 men who on July 12, 1917 loaded the strikers at gunpoint into cattle cars for a 16 hour trip through the desert without food or water and left them in New Mexico.
1918 Pablo Picasso married Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova on July 12, 1918 at the Russian Orthodox Church in Paris. Olga was of noble birth and introduced Picasso to high society, formal dinner parties, and all the social niceties of the rich in 1920s Paris. They had a son, Paulo, but Olga's insistence on social propriety clashed with Picasso's bohemian tendencies and the two lived in a state of near constant conflict. They separated in 1935 after Olga learned of her husband's mistress.
1932 Slow left-arm orthodox bowler Hedley Verity took 10 wickets for 10 runs in a county match for Yorkshire on July 12, 1932. The Yorkshire cricketer's bowling figures remain a record in first-class cricket for the fewest runs conceded while taking all 10 wickets.
1939 The heaviest recorded gray wolf in North America was a male Northwestern wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis) that was killed on the 70 Mile River in east-central Alaska on July 12, 1939. The wolf weighed 79.4 kilograms (175 pounds) and was 107 centimeters (42 inches) tall at the shoulder. It was estimated to be about 10 years old.
1944 Theodore Roosevelt Jr, son of President Theodore Roosevelt, was known for his World War II service. Despite having a heart condition and arthritis that forced him to use a cane, he led the first wave of landings at Utah Beach on D-Day, becoming the only general to land with his soldiers that day, for which he received the Medal of Honor. He died of a heart attack on July 12, 1944.
1954 On July 12, 1954, Elvis Presley signed a recording contract with Sun Records. He also gave in his notice for his truck driving job at The Crown Electric Company. Sun Records released his first single, "That's Alright Mama," a week later. It sold around 20,000 copies, which wasn't enough to chart nationally.
1389 On July 12, 1389, Geoffrey Chaucer was appointed the clerk of the king's works, placing him in charge of royal buildings and parks. He was paid well: two shillings a day, more than three times his salary in his previous role of Comptroller of the Customs for the port of London. Chaucer oversaw the scaffolding for the three grandstands at Smithfield's jousting area. There was one grandstand for the king and his courtiers, one for the ladies and one for the London corporation members.
1472 Following the decisive Yorkist victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury, Richard Plantagenet (later Richard III of England) married the widowed Anne Neville on July 12, 1472 when she was 16-years-old. After their marriage, Richard led a life of a rich and powerful country Lord, as Anne's dowry made him the biggest landowner in England. Anne bore Richard one son, Edward Plantagenet who died in 1484 and she died the following year, probably of tuberculosis,
 |
| Illuminated scroll of Queen Anne Neville and King Richard III |
1536 Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch teacher and theologian, died suddenly from an attack of dysentery in Basel, Switzerland on July 12, 1536, and was buried in the Basel Minster, the former cathedral of the city. Erasmus made significant contributions to the fields of humanism, biblical scholarship, and education. He was known for his critical edition of the New Testament and his writings on reforming the Church. His works had a profound influence on the intellectual and religious developments of the time.
1543 King Henry VIII of England's sixth and last wife was Catherine Parr. Well-educated, sensitive, sympathetic, she was a twice widowed woman in her thirties when they married on July 12, 1543 at Hampton Court Palace. Catherine helped reconcile Henry with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth and an Act of Parliament put them back in the line of succession after Edward, Prince of Wales. Her book Prayers or Meditations was the first book published by an English queen under her own name.
1561 St. Basil's Cathedral was commissioned by Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible), for Saint Basil the Blessed and built in Moscow's Red Square, the city's geographic center, between 1555-1560. Saint Basil's Cathedral was consecrated on July 12, 1561. Legend tells that Ivan the Terrible blinded the architect to prevent him repeating his feat.
 |
| Postcard St. Basil's Cathedral early 20th century |
1730 The pottery designer and manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood was born on July 12, 1730 in Burslem, Staffordshire, England. By the age of nine, Josiah was proving himself to be a skilled potter. However a bout of smallpox limited his strength in his leg and ultimately left him unable to work the foot pedal of a potter's wheel. Wedgwood originally worked in the family pottery business. In 1754 he became a partner of Thomas Whieldon, and began to devise improved wares.
1770 James Hargreaves was one of the very few weavers who owned their own spinning wheel in the village of Stanhill, Lancashire. He invented a machine in 1764 that could spin eight threads at the same time, which he called a spinning jenny. On July 12, 1770, Hargreaves took out a patent on his invention, but since he had sold several of his spinning machines, the patent was declared invalid when challenged in court. This left others free to use the invention without paying him royalties.
 |
| Model of the spinning jenny in a German museum By Markus Schweiß, |
1789 Radical French political journalist Camille Desmoulins was enraged at King Louis XVI's dismissal of the French finance minister Jacques Necker, On July 12, 1789, he stood on a table at the Café de Foy in Paris brandishing two pistols and roused his countrymen with a cry of “Aux armes, citoyens”. Two days later the Bastille prison was stormed and fell, and the French Revolution begun.
1794 On July 12, 1794, while engaging in a bombardment at Calvi, Horatio Nelson was struck by debris in his right eye. Although his wound was soon bandaged, his eye was irreparably damaged and he eventually lost all sight in it. Afterwards Nelson wore a green shade attached to his hat over his good eye to protect it.
1795 Archduke Alexander Leopold organized a firework display at Laxenburg Palace on July 12, 1795 to surprise his sister-in-law Empress Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. When the Empress' arrival was announced by a gunshot, Alexander Leopold lit the first rocket in the casemates of the palace. At that moment, the door opened and a draught of air threw the rocket back on the gunpowder. The gunpowder exploded and Alexander Leopold along with his servants were killed.
1809 Scottish soldier Captain Robert Barclay-Allardice, (1779-1854) once walked 1000 miles in 1000 consecutive hours. His remarkable walking feat was performed at Newmarket between June 1 and July 12, 1809, during which he walked 1 mile (1.6 km) in each of 1000 successive hours, to win an initial wager of 1000 guineas.
1854 George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak, was born on July 12, 1854 Interested in photographic processes from an early age, he started a company in 1881 that made photographic plates for photographers. The company released its first hand-held camera that uses roll film in April 1888, which Eastman called the Kodak. Eastman began to mass produce his inventions, transforming photography from an expensive hobby of the few to a relatively inexpensive, popular pastime.
1862 President Lincoln created the U.S. Army Medal of Honor, the highest American military honor on July 12, 1862. Medal of Honor recipients are entitled to much more than the medal including a $1,300 monthly bonus, 10% retirement raise and may wear their uniform even after they are out of the service.
1910 Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls Royce, died at 32 on July 12, 1910, when he crashed his Wright biplane after its tail broke off during a flying display in Bournemouth. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aviation accident. An aviation pioneer, Charles Rolls had become the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane on June 2, 1910.
 |
| The wreckage of the plane crash which killed Rolls |
1914 On July 12, 1914 Chionya Guseva, a 33-year-old peasant woman attempted to assassinate Rasputin by stabbing him in the stomach outside his home in Pokrovskoye. Rasputin was seriously wounded, but eventually recovered from the attack.
1916 Lyudmila Pavlichenko of the Soviet Union was born on July 12, 1916. She was the most successful female sniper in history with 309 credited kills during World War II. Lyudmila Pavlichenko toured the US in 1942 to gain support for a second front in Nazi-occupied Europe; the press was more interested in her appearance and if she wore make-up on the front lines.
1917 In 1917, 1,300 miners went on strike in Bisbee, Arizona over unsafe working conditions, low pay, and long hours. The mining company, Phelps Dodge, hired 2,000 men who on July 12, 1917 loaded the strikers at gunpoint into cattle cars for a 16 hour trip through the desert without food or water and left them in New Mexico.
1918 Pablo Picasso married Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova on July 12, 1918 at the Russian Orthodox Church in Paris. Olga was of noble birth and introduced Picasso to high society, formal dinner parties, and all the social niceties of the rich in 1920s Paris. They had a son, Paulo, but Olga's insistence on social propriety clashed with Picasso's bohemian tendencies and the two lived in a state of near constant conflict. They separated in 1935 after Olga learned of her husband's mistress.
 |
| Pablo Picasso, spring 1918 Olga in an armchair |
1932 Slow left-arm orthodox bowler Hedley Verity took 10 wickets for 10 runs in a county match for Yorkshire on July 12, 1932. The Yorkshire cricketer's bowling figures remain a record in first-class cricket for the fewest runs conceded while taking all 10 wickets.
1939 The heaviest recorded gray wolf in North America was a male Northwestern wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis) that was killed on the 70 Mile River in east-central Alaska on July 12, 1939. The wolf weighed 79.4 kilograms (175 pounds) and was 107 centimeters (42 inches) tall at the shoulder. It was estimated to be about 10 years old.
1944 Theodore Roosevelt Jr, son of President Theodore Roosevelt, was known for his World War II service. Despite having a heart condition and arthritis that forced him to use a cane, he led the first wave of landings at Utah Beach on D-Day, becoming the only general to land with his soldiers that day, for which he received the Medal of Honor. He died of a heart attack on July 12, 1944.
1957 Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first US president to ride in a helicopter on July 12, 1957. The President needed a quick way to reach his summer home in Pennsylvania, as Air Force One could not land at the White House. Eisenhower instructed his staff to look into alternative modes of transportation and a Sikorsky UH-34 Seahorse helicopter was commissioned.
1960 The Etch A Sketch toy was invented in the late 1950s by André Cassagnes, an electrician with Lincrusta Co, who named the toy L'Écran Magique (The Magic Screen). When The Ohio Art Company saw the product, they decided to take a chance it and renamed the toy Etch A Sketch. The very first Etch A Sketch rolled off of the Ohio Art Co. production line on July 12, 1960 and it quickly became the most popular drawing toy in the business.
1962 In early May 1962 Brian Jones placed an advertisement in Jazz News inviting musicians to audition for a new R&B group at the Bricklayer's Arms pub. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards both responded and joined the band. Jagger and Richards shared an admiration of Muddy Waters and the group was named after the American bluesman's 1950 song "Rollin' Stone Blues." The Rolling Stones performed their first concert, at the Marquee Club in London, on July 12, 1962.
1971 Indigenous Australians weren't considered Australian citizens until a May 1967 referendum, when the people voted overwhelmingly to include Indigenous Australians in the national census and for the government to make laws for their benefit. The Australian Aboriginal flag (see below) was flown for the first time in on July 12, 1971.
1994 On July 12, 1994 English adventurer Jason Lewis set off to complete the world's first human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth. He successfully ended his 4,833-day expedition on October 6, 2007, having traveled 46,505 miles (74,842 kilometers).
2017 A giant iceberg, covering approximately 5,800 km2 (2,200 sq mi), broke away from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica at some point between July 10-12, 2017. The iceberg weighed more than a trillion tonnes.
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