THIS DAY IN HISTORY 07/04

This Day in History 07/04 APRIL 7TH

95 – France adopts the metre as the basic measure of length.

1798 – Mississippi Territory organized

1902 – Texas Oil Company (Texaco) forms

1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.

1934 – In India, Mahatma Gandhi suspended his campaign of civil disobedience

1940 – 1st black to appear on US stamp (Booker T. Washington)

1941 – British generals O’Connor & Neame captured in North Africa

1946 – Syria’s independence from France is officially recognised.

1948 – World Health Organization forms by UN

1953 – Dag Hammarskjoeld of Sweden elected 2nd UN general-secretary

1956 – Spain relinquishes her protectorate in Morocco

1963 – Yugoslavia proclaimed a Socialistic republic

1992 – Republika Srpska (aka the Bosnian Serb Republic) announces its independence.

2012 – Joyce Banda becomes President of Malawi

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS

1770 – William Wordsworth, England, poet laureate (Prelude)

1926 – Johannes Rood, Dutch immunologist (Eurotransplant)

1927 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer (d. 2003)

1954 – Jackie Chan, martial art actor (Rumble in the Bronx)

1964 – Russell Crowe, Wellington, New Zealand, Australian/New Zealand actor (A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator)

FAMOUS DEATHS

1972 – Abeid Karume, Tanzanian sheik/president, murdered

1972 – Victor Wong, actor (Mission to Moscow, King Kong) dies at 65

FAMOUS WEDDING

1921 – French president Charles de Gaulle (30) weds Yvonne Vendroux (20)

2003 – Academy Award “Gladiator” actor Russell Crowe (39) weds singer Danielle Spencer (32) at his 560-acre cattle farm in Nana Glen, New South Wales, Australia Adejokeiyabadan’s blogblog