1885: On this day, just after completing his memoirs, civil war hero and former president Ulysses S. Grant dies of throat cancer.
1903: Ford Motor Company sold its first automobile, a Ford Model A; five years later it introduced the hugely influential Model T.
1952: Military seizes power in Egypt. In Egypt, the Society of Free Officers seizes control of the government in a military coup d’etat staged by Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser’s Free Officers. King Farouk, whose rule had been criticized for its corruption and failures in the first Arab-Israeli war, was forced to abdicate and relinquish power to General Muhammad Naguib, the figurehead leader of the coup.
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1955: British speed enthusiast Donald Campbell broke the world water speed record on Ullswater, in the Lake District, when his jet-propelled hydroplane – Bluebird, reached 202.32mph. (Note:- Donald Campbell died on 4th January 1967 in his attempt to break his world water speed record on Coniston Water in the Lake District. He is buried in Coniston graveyard.
1962: First live transatlantic television signal
Telstar 1, a communications satellite relayed the world’s first transatlantic television signal in the form of a show that featured Walter Cronkite.
1970: Sultan Saʿīd ibn Taymūr of Oman was overthrown by his son, Qaboos bin Said, in a palace coup.
1972: Landsat 1 launched
The first satellite in the US’s LANDSAT program, the Landsat discovered an uninhabited island off the eastern coast of Canada in 1976. The island is now called Landsat Island.
1974: Greek military rule gives in to democracy
The military government in Greece has collapsed and the former Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis has been invited to return. Huge crowds gathered to greet him at Athens airport and there has been jubilation in the streets of the Greek capital to mark the beginning of a return to democracy.
1982: International Whaling Commission bans commercial whale hunting
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) passed a resolution to restrict commercial whaling and ban it completely after 1986. 25 countries voted to put the restrictions and ban in place.
1992: Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia
The Republic of Abkhazia is a disputed territory of Georgia and is recognized as an independent state by only a handful of countries including Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, Tuvalu.
1995: Comet Hale–Bopp discovered
Also known as C/1995 O1 by the scientific community, this well-known comet was discovered independently by Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp.
1995: Britain sent 1,200 troops to relieve the besieged Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.
2005: Dozens killed in Egypt bomb blast
At least 88 people have been killed in bomb attacks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, hospital staff, say. Some 200 more were injured in the overnight blasts. The first, in the Old Market, was followed by two more in Naama Bay, where a hotel was badly hit.
2014: The death, aged 91, of Dora Bryan, veteran British actress whose long career encompassed theatre, film, radio and television. She won a Bafta for her performance in the classic 1962 film A Taste of Honey.
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: July 23
Haile Selassie (23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975)
Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie was born Ras (Prince) Tafari Makonnen on 23 July 1892. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia for Empress Zewditu from 1916 until 1930. Haile Selassie I was known for modernizing his country, and for helping to establish the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union) in 1963. Selassie was the last reigning monarch of Ethiopia’s Solomonic Dynasty. He was 83.
Theo” Van Gogh (23 July 1957 – 2 November 2004)
Theodor “Theo” van Gogh, a Dutch film director was born on 23 July 1957. He directed Submission: Part 1, a short film written by Somali writer and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, which criticised the treatment of women in Islam in strong terms. On 2 November 2004, he was murdered by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan Islamist who objected to the film’s message. The last film Van Gogh had completed before his murder, 06/05, was a fictional exploration of the assassination of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn. It was released posthumously in December 2004, a month after Van Gogh’s death, and two years after Fortuyn’s death. He was 47.
Lateef Jakande (23 July 1929 – 11 February 2021)
Lateef Kayode Jakande was a Nigerian journalist and politician who served as governor of Lagos State from 1979 to 1983, and later as Minister of Works under the Sani Abacha military regime. He established many schools for the poor. He established the Lagos State University and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism. Jakande’s government also constructed over 30,000 affordable housing units across Lagos State. He died at 91.
