
1535: Sir Thomas More went on trial for treason for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England.
1798: Napoleon Bonaparte arrives with the French fleet at Alexandria, Egypt. The French Campaign to conquer Egypt begins.

1899: South African mining magnate, British imperialist, and white supremacist Cecil Rhodes writes his will, which establishes upon his death what will become the prestigious Rhodes Scholarships to be awarded to outstanding individuals. Rhodes ensures that only white and not black South African scholars become beneficiaries.

1903: The Tour de France Bicycle Race is flagged off for the first time
The now annual multi-leg bike race lasted for 20 days with a course that stretched about 1,500 miles. The race was first created by the sports daily, L’Auto, as a way to boost its circulation. The first Tour de France was won by Italian-French racer, Maurice Garin.
1908: SOS is adopted as the International Distress Signal
The 2nd International Radiotelegraphic Convention, which was signed in December 1906, made the Morse code distress signal (โข โข โข โ โ โ โข โข โข), the standard international maritime distress signal. Even though it was replaced by the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System in 1999, SOS is universally seen as a distress call and is often mistakenly thought to be an abbreviation of Save Our Souls or Save Our Ship.
1952: To control the movement of black South Africans into urban areas and to make them ipso-facto foreigners in their own country, the apartheid government passes the Natives Co-Ordination of Documents Act, which details the type of passports each black South African must carry at all times or be subject to arrest.

1959: The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), founded in 1958 and entirely owned by the Nigerian government, begins operations, in Lagos and issued the first Nigerian currency, denominated in pounds, ten shillings, and five shillings.

1966: Created by a treaty signed by 23 African nations in 1963, The African Development Bank begins operations at its headquarters in Abidjan, Cรดte dโIvoire. Only African countries may join the bank for financing of development projects, although non-Africans will be able to join from 1982.

1979: The Walkman makes its appearance in stores for the first time. The portable audio cassette player was made by Sony and went on sale in Japan.
1991: The Warsaw Pact, a defense treaty between 8 communist countries, is formally disbanded in Prague. The pact was founded in 1955, during the height of the Cold War, as a way to counterbalance the power of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Western Europe.
1997: Hong Kong returned to China. At midnight on July 1, 1997, Hong Kong reverts to Chinese rule in a ceremony attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles of Wales, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. A few thousand Hong Kongers protested the turnover, which was otherwise celebratory and peaceful.

1993: British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, freezes new aid to Nigeria.
2002: The International Criminal Court (ICC) is established. It is the first international judicial body that has the power to try individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. It was created by the Rome Statute, an international treaty that was signed in the Italian city of Rome in 1998.
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: July 01
Pamela Anderson, 57 years
Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, and media personality. She was born on 1 July 1967 and is best known for her modeling work in Playboy magazine and her role as “C.J.” Parker on the television series Baywatch.

Missy” Elliott, 53 years
Melissa Arnette “Missy” Elliott, also known as Misdemeanor, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer, born on 1 July 1971. She began on her musical career as a member of the R&B girl group Sista during the 1990s, who were part of the larger musical collective Swing Mobโled by DeVante Swing of Jodeci.

Diana, Princess of Wales (July 1, 1961โAugust 31, 1997)
Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, son of Queen Elizabeth II and heir to the British throne.
Diana was born on July 1, 1961, in Sandringham, Norfolk, to John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, and Frances Shand Kydd. In 1975, she became Lady Diana Spencer when her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer. She married Prince Charles on July 29, 1981. They divorced in 1996.
As Princess of Wales, Diana supported several charitable causes, including leprosy, HIV/AIDS, landmines, homelessness, cancer, mental illness, and drug abuse. She developed a particular interest in diseases and health-related matters, including AIDS and leprosy. In 1989, while visiting Harlem Hospital Center in New York City, she picked up and hugged a seven-year-old AIDS patient, an act that had a lasting effect on the social acceptability of AIDS in the United States. In 1996, she became actively involved with the anti-landmine campaign. Diana died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, at the age of 36.
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