On This Day: 1 July

The Crusaders, led by Prince Bohemond of Taranto, defeat a Seljuk army led by sultan Kilij Arslan I at the Battle of Dorylaeum		1097
Sir Thomas More goes on trial		1535
The Westminster Assembly – appointed to restructure the Church of England – meets for the first time, at Westminster Abbey		1643
Battle of the Boyne: William III defeats the Jacobites under James II (Julian date)		1690
Battle of Fleumo: George Frederick, Duke of Waldeck, of the Grand Alliance, defeated by Napoleon's marshal the Duc de Luxembourg		1690
The first volume of Diderot's Encyclopedie is published		1751
At the Battle of Porto Novo (in southern India), Haidar Ali – in alliance with the French – attacks the Carnatic but is defeated		1781
Compulsory registration of births, marriages and deaths comes into force in Britain		1837
The first adhesive postage stamps (5 cents and 10 cents) go on sale in the USA		1847
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace read their respective papers on evolution to the Linnean Society		1858
Battle of Malvern Hill – the last of the Seven Days Battles (in the American Civil War)		1862
Battle of Gettysburg begins		1863
The Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia join to form the Dominion of Canada; Sir John A. Macdonald is sworn in as its first Prime Minister		1867
Queen Victoria unveils London's Albert Memorial		1872
Prince Edward Island joins the Canadian Confederation		1873
Pennsylvania minister Charles Taze Russell publishes the first edition of The Watchtower		1879
The first international telephone call is made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick and Calais, Maine		1881
The sovereignty of King Leopold I of the Belgians over the Congo is announced		1885
Zanzibar is ceded to Britain, and Heligoland is ceded to Germany in exchange		1890
The Klondike Gold Rush begins		1897
Britain acquires a 99–year lease on Hong Kong's New Territories		1898
George Bernard Shaw's Candida receives its première		1900
The first Tour de France begins		1903
SOS is adopted as the international distress signal		1908
The Union of South Africa is formed, with Dominion status		1910
A crisis develops between France and Germany over Agadir, Morocco, after the German gunboat Panther is despatched		1911
The first Variety Command Performance takes place at the Palace Theatre, London		1912
On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 19,000 soldiers of the British Army are killed and 40,000 wounded		1916
The new–style Coca Cola bottle is first produced		1916
British civil administration in Palestine begins		1920
Popeye the Sailor is created by Elzie Segar		1929
Wiley Post (USA) and Harold Gatty (Australia) complete the first circumnavigation of the globe in a single–engined monoplane aircraft		1931
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is formed		1932
Salvador Dalí delivers a lecture (entitled Fantômes paranoïaques authentiques) to the International Surrealist Exhibition in London, wearing a deep–sea diving suit. Nearly suffocating, Dalí had to be rescued by the young poet David Gascoyne, who arrived with a spanner to release him from the diving helmet		1936
The 999 emergency service comes into operation in Britain		1937
The first conscripts are called up in Britain		1939
German forces occupy Jersey		1940
WBNT in New York broadcasts the first TV commercial (Bulova Clock & Watch Co.)		1941
First Battle of El Alamein		1942
The Bretton Woods Conference (to discuss international monetary policy) begins		1944
The first nuclear bomb tests begin over Bikini Atoll		1946
The International Geophysical Year begins		1957
Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units are adopted after agreement between the USA, UK and other Commonwealth countries		1959
The Somali Republic is formed		1960
Rwanda and Burundi become independent		1962
A referendum in Algeria backs General de Gaulle's peace plan		1962
ZIP codes are introduced in the USA		1963
HM Government admits that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent, and that he was the "third man" in the Burgess and Maclean case		1963
Bill Wyman urinates against the wall of a service station in Stratford, East London, after being refused permission to use the toilets. Mick Jagger and Brian Jones do the same nearby		1965
The European Community is formally created by a merger of the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission		1967
The BBC makes its first colour broadcast, from the Wimbledon championships		1967
The Treaty on the Non–Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is signed in Washington DC, London and Moscow by 62 countries		1968
Prince Charles is invested as Prince of Wales, at Caernarfon Castle		1969
Juan Peron dies and is succeeded by his widow Maria Estela		1974
Sony introduces the Walkman		1979
Canada officially adopts O Canada as its national anthem		1980
The 6d coin is withdrawn from circulation		1980
Diego Maradona signs for Napoli for £1 million		1984
Geoffrey Collier, former head of securities at Morgan Grenfell, becomes the first person to be convicted of insider dealing, since it became illegal in 1980 (in relation to the take–over of the engineering firm AE by Robert Maxwell, the previous November)		1987
RCA buys Motown Records for $61 million		1988
President Gorbachev announces that he will not tolerate separatism		1989
The East and West German currencies are united under the Deutschmark		1990
The Warsaw Pact is finally abolished at a meeting in Prague		1991
Yasser Arafat, chairman of the PLO, returns to the Gaza Strip after 27 years in exile		1994
Hong Kong reverts to Chinese rule as Britain's lease expires		1997
EMI secures the copyright to 15,000 Motown hits in a £132m ($132m?) deal		1997
The Queen opens the new Scottish parliament		1999
Twenty lives are lost when a cable car taking staff to an international observatory in the French Alps plunges 260 feet		1999
Ken Follett, millionaire novelist and long–standing Labour activist and fundraiser, makes a scathing personal criticism of Prime Minister Tony Blair – questioning his morals and describing spin doctors as "the rent boys of politics"		2000
Sarah Payne, aged 8, fails to return after playing with her brothers and sister in a field near their grandparents' home in West Sussex		2000
The International Criminal Court is established		2002
All 71 people on board both planes lose their lives when a passenger airliner and a cargo plane collide in mid–air over Lake Constance, in southern Germany		2002
Roman Abramovich agrees to buy Chelsea Football Club – the deal to be completed within three weeks		2003
The Cassini mission enters Saturn orbit (and leaves after 1 hour 36 minutes)		2004
Felipe Scolari makes it a hat–trick of wins over Sven Goran Eriksson as Portugal beat England in the World Cup quarter finals – on penalties again. Wayne Rooney is sent off for "violent conduct"		2006
A ban on smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces comes into effect in England		2007
Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union		2013

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On This Day: 1 July