On This Day: July 3

Today is Friday, July 3, 2009. This is the 184th day of the year, with 181 days remaining in 2009.

Fact of the Day: fireworks

Fireworks originated with the ancient Chinese, from military rockets and explosive missiles. During the Middle Ages in Europe, fireworks spread as a type of military explosive. Later, pyrotechnics came to be used in celebrations of victory and peace.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Anatolius of Constantinople, Saints Irenaeus and Mustiola, St. Leo II, pope, St. Anatolius of Laodicea, St. Rumold or Rombaut, St. Bernardino Realino, and St. Helidorus of Altino.

Belarus: Independent Day.

U.S. Virgin Islands: Danish West Indies Emancipation Day.

Events

321 - Sunday was designated a day of rest by Roman Emperor Constantine I.

1775 - General George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1863 - The three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, ended in a major victory for the North as Confederate troops retreated.

1890 - Idaho became the 43rd state of the Union.

1922 - "Fruit Garden and Home" magazine went on sale; two years later it was renamed "Better Homes and Gardens".

1930 - Congress created the U.S. Veterans Administration.

1954 - Nearly nine years after the end of the World War II, food rationing in Britain finally ended.

1962 - Algeria became independent after 132 years of French rule.

1988 - USS Vincennes mistook an Iran Air jetliner to be a fighter aircraft during the Iran-Iraq conflict and shot it down over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.

2005 - A NASA space probe, Deep Impact, hit Tempel 1 as planned, its comet target.

2006 - A near-earth asteroid labeled 2004 XP14 passes within 432,308 km of Earth.

Births

1878 - George M. Cohan, American playwright, songwriter, producer for Broadway.

1908 - M.F.K. Fisher, American food writer.

1937 - Tom Stoppard (Straussler), Czech-born British playwright.

1947 - Dave Barry, American author and Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist.

1962 - Tom Cruise (born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV), American actor.

1964 - Yeardley Smith, French-born American actress.

1969 - Kevin Hearn, Canadian musician.

Deaths

1969 - Brian Jones, English rock guitarist and founding member of the Rolling Stones.

1971 - Jim Morrison, American singer and founding member of the rock band The Doors.

1986 - Rudy Vallee (Hubert Prior Vallée), American singer.

1989 - Jim Backus (born James Gilmore Backus), American radio, television, film actor, character actor, and voice actor.

1993 - Don Drysdale, major league baseball player.