Once Upon A Time – July 1 – 1997 – United Kingdom Returns Hong Kong And New Territories To People’s Republic Of China

1689 Matsuo Basho, Zen poet, leaves for 150 days journey on Honshu, Japan

1798 Baptism of Mary Webb, a Bostonian. She had been reluctant to take this public step of faith because of a physical deformity which bound her to a wheelchair. She will become a leading mission organizer.

1835 Robert Murray McCheyne is licensed to preach at the Presbytery of Annam, where he will become a famous pastor and revivalist.

1858 The joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace’s papers on evolution to the Linnean Society

1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Lee’s northward advance halted

1867 The Dominion of Canada is formed, comprising the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario & Quebec, with John A. Macdonald serving as the first Prime Minister

1916 First day of the Battle of the Somme: The British Army suffers its worst day, losing 19,240 men (WWI)

1921 The Communist Party of China is founded and Chen Duxiu elected its leader

1941 Bulova Watch Co pays $9 for 1st ever network TV commercial

1997 United Kingdom returns Hong Kong and the New Territories to the People’s Republic of China

HISTORICAL EVENTS TODAY

TODAY IN MUSIC

1967 The Beatles’ album “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” goes #1 in the United States, where it would stay for 15 weeks

TODAY IN SPORT

1998 NBA commences a player lockout after no agreement with players about salary issues – lasts 204 days with the season shortened by 50 games

MORE FACTS….

1908 “SOS” (· · · – – – · · ·) distress signal becomes the worldwide standard for help

1916 1st of 4 fatal Jersey Shore shark attacks occur at Beach Haven when Charles Vansant (25) bled to death, challenging previous scientific belief that sharks never hurt humans, and sparking popular fear over sharks which persists today

FAMOUS WEDDINGS

1900 Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (36) weds countess Sophie Chotek (32) in Reichstadt, Bohemia

1902 British admiral John Jellicoe (42) weds Gwendoline Cayzer at Holy Trinity in London

1916 Dwight Eisenhower marries Mary `Mamie’ Geneva Doud in Denver, Colorado