On This Day: 3 July

Battle of Adrianople: Constantine defeats the Emperor Licinius, who flees to Byzantium		323
Hugh Capet is crowned King of France – the first of the Capetian dynasty, which would rule France until the Revolution in 1792		987
William (the Bastard), probably aged 6 or 7, becomes Duke of Normandy on the death of his father Robert I		1035
The city of Quebec is founded by the French colonist Samuel de Champlain		1608
Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn, on a British expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret		1767
Louis XVIII enters Paris, ending the 'Hundred Days'		1815
The great auk becomes extinct as the last adult pair, incubating an egg on the island of Eldey off Iceland, are strangled by Jón Brandsson and Sigurður Ísleifsson and the egg is crushed with his boot by Ketill Ketilsson		1844
France invades the Roman Republic and restores the Papal States		1849
The Battle of Gettysburg ends in victory for the Unionists under General Meade, after a futile infantry assault ordered by Confederate general Robert E. Lee and known as Pickett's Charge (after one of the three confederate generals by whom it was led) – regarded as "the high–water mark of the Confederacy"		1863
The Austro–Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgrätz – resulting in Prussia replacing Austria as the foremost German nation		1866
Dow Jones & Company publishes its first stock average		1884
Karl Benz officially unveils his Patent–Motorwagen – the first purpose–built motor car		1886
The New–York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine – replacing typesetting by hand		1886
A Spanish squadron led by Pascual Cervera y Topete is defeated by an American squadron under William T. Sampson, in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba		1898
Russian troops massacre 6,000 civilians in Odessa to restore order during a strike		1905
John Logie Baird transmits the first colour television broadcast, in London		1928
The first commercial TV set goes on sale in the USA – price $75		1928
The British railway locomotive Mallard achieves a speed record of 126 mph		1938
The French fleet is destroyed in Miers–el–Kebr, Algeria, on Churchill's orders, to prevent it from falling into German hands after the French refuse to surrender or demilitarise the fleet; one thousand French sailors lose their lives		1940
Occupation of Berlin by US, UK and Soviet forces begins		1945
SS United States sets sail from New York on her maiden voyage to Southampton, during which it would take the Blue Riband from the Queen Mary		1952
An Austro–German expedition reaches the summit of Nanga Parbat – the world's ninth–highest mountain, and notoriously difficult to climb		1953
Post–War food rationing in Britain comes to an end		1954
Jawaharlal Nehru and Sir Sidney Holland, prime ministers of India and New Zealand respectively, are made Freemen of the City of London		1956
France proclaims Algeria independent after a referendum		1962
Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame		1962
At least 31 people are arrested after an anti–Vietnam War demonstration in Grosvenor Square, London (location of the American Embassy) turns violent		1966
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders retake the Crater district of Aden, in order to retrieve the bodies of British soldiers following the Arab Police mutiny; the insurgents are reputed to have been intimidated by the playing of the regimental pipe band as it marched down the street – ordered by Lt–Col Colin "Mad Mitch" Mitchell		1967
The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N–1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad		1969
British soldiers respond with CS gas and impose a 36–hour curfew in the staunchly Nationalist Falls district of Belfast, after a search for weapons is attacked with stones and petrol bombs		1970
A charter flight from Manchester, with 105 holiday–makers and seven crew on board, disappears shortly before it is due to land in Barcelona. The wreckage is found next day in the Montseny mountains; a Spanish Air Ministry report concludes that the aircraft was off–course owing to navigation errors made by the crew		1970
Jim Morrison, 27, lead singer of The Doors, is found dead in the bath of his Paris apartment by his girlfriend, Pamela Courson. A doctor's report gives the cause of death as heart failure aggravated by heavy drinking		1971
Bjorn Borg, 20, becomes the youngest–ever Wimbledon men's singles champion		1976
Israeli commandos begin their raid to free 105 hostages from a hi–jacked aircraft at Entebbe airport, Kampala, Uganda		1976
US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro–Soviet regime in Kabul		1979
Klaus Barbie, former Gestapo chief in Lyon – 'the Butcher of Lyon' – is sentenced to life imprisonment in Lyon. Defence lawyer Jacques Verges claims that Barbie has been made a scapegoat, "so that France can try and shed its own responsibility"		1987
Richard Branson's hot air balloon collapses over the Atlantic		1987
All 290 people on board lose their lives when the USS Vincennes shoots down an IranAir flight over the Persian Gulf – apparently mistaking it for a military aircraft		1988
Completion of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul provides the second connection between Europe and Asia over the Bosporus		1988
Anatoli Grishchenko, a helicopter pilot who dropped sand and cement onto Chernobyl after the 1986 explosion, dies of leukaemia in a US hospital		1990
South Africa is re–elected to FIFA after a gap of 18 years		1994
Prime Minister John Major undertakes to return the Stone of Scone to Scotland		1996
Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski both lose in the quarter–finals at Wimbledon – the first time since 1961 that two British men have reached that stage		1997
In his first speech as the first directly–elected Mayor of London, former Labour rebel Ken Livingstone announces that he will stand up to the government when they are not acting in the capital's best interests		2000
NASA launches Contour (Comet Nucleus Tour), scheduled to visit two comets in the next five years to study material from the infancy of the solar system which is frozen inside them		2003
Mohamed Morsi, President of Egypt, is overthrown by the military after failing to respond to four days of protests all over the country calling for his resignation. Adly Mansour, President of the Supreme Constitutional Court, is declared acting president		2013

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On This Day: 3 July