July 22: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

Good Vibes Festival was canceled after The 1975’s lead singer kissed his bandmate on stage in protest of Malaysia’s anti-LGBTQIA+ laws.

Malaysia is a Muslim-majority country where homosexual activity is criminalized. Matty Healy, an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, kissed bassist Ross MacDonald to make a point and criticized the government's stance on the matter.

Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” became the most financially successful movie of all time.

On this day, the movie had grossed an incredible $2.79 billion!

A deadly 106°F heatwave in Japan killed at least 65 people, and more than 22,000 were hospitalized.

Funai Electric announced that the world’s last VCR would be manufactured this month.

Funai began to manufacture video-cassette recorders in 1983 and was selling 15 million units a year at one point. But with technology evolving so often since then, the equipment needed to build VCRs has become too difficult to find.

Woodstock ’99 concert took place in Rome, New York, US.

The event was trying to emulate Woodstock 1969. Over 200,000 people attended, but it ended prematurely due to various violent acts.

Japan published the first print of the world’s most popular manga-comic series, “One Piece.”

American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer admitted to murdering 17 people.

Eleven of the victims were found in Dahmer's "House of Horrors," and although admitting his crimes, he pleaded not guilty. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to 15 life terms in prison.

The Mariner 1 Space Probe was forced to self-destruct minutes after launching.

Designed to attempt the first flyby of Venus, the Mariner 1 was the first spacecraft launched as part of NASA's Mariner program. While it was meant to launch on July 21, several failures caused its launch to be delayed by more than 24 hours. Within seconds of launching, the Mariner 1 began drifting off course, and course corrections seemed only to make things worse. The decision was made to abort the flight just 294 seconds after launch, and the probe and its launcher were destroyed.

American sci-fi horror movie “Plan 9 From Outer Space” premiered.

The movie is known to be one of the worst films ever made.

Palermo, Sicily was liberated by US forces.

300,000 Jews from a ghetto in Warsaw were deported and executed by Nazi rule.

33-year-old Katharine Lee Bates wrote the famous song “America the Beautiful.”

Bates was standing at the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado when she was inspired to write the song. The song started as a poem that she named "Pikes Peak."

The British House of Commons passed the Slavery Abolition Act.

The act began the lengthy process of abolishing slavery across the British Empire. The only territories exempt from the act were those held by the East India Company, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), and the isles of Saint Helena.

Emperor Gia Long unified Vietnam by conquering Hanoi.

The Staten General of the Netherlands declared that the country no longer recognized Philip II of Spain as its ruler.

This declaration of independence enabled the Duke of Anjou to help the resistors claim the ruling title.