July 9: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

Comic-Con celebrated its 48th yearly event in San Diego.

The British TV series “The Office” first aired on the BBC.

Donald Trump became Mike Tyson’s advisor.

Nintendo released the Donkey Kong arcade game in Japan.

NASA’s Voyager 2 flew past Jupiter, continuing its journey towards Saturn.

The Voyager 2 was sent to fly by Jupiter and Saturn to collect data. After it successfully made it to Saturn, NASA provided additional funding for a flyby of Uranus and authorized an extended flyby of Neptune.

Andy Warhol presented his artwork for the first time at the Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, US.

Attendees weren't expecting to turn up to find 32 paintings of Campbell's Soup.

Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & Comets reached #1 on the US singles charts.

British Princess Elizabeth got engaged to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.

The couple met in 1934 at the royal wedding between Princess Marina and Prince George. They tied the knot on November 20, 1947, at Westminster Abbey, London.

A fire broke out in 20th Century Fox’s New Jersey film storage facility.

Film at the time was made from nitrocellulose, an incredibly volatile and flammable substance. The film in the storage facility is believed to have spontaneously combusted, causing the death of one employee and the destruction of almost all silent films created by the Fox Film Corporation prior to 1932.

Several internal explosions inside Britain’s HMS Vanguard battleship occurred at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, Scotland.

845 men were on board, and only three survived the disaster.

The Federation of Australia was given Royal Assent.

The Commonwealth of Australia became a nation the following year on January 1. Australia was previously made up of six separate British colonies: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia.

The first-ever Wimbledon Championship began.

The men's tennis tournament ran until July 19 at the All England Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England.

The first president of the United States of America, George Washington, read the Declaration of Independence.

Nineteen Dutch Catholic clerics, secular and religious people, known as the Martyrs of Gorkum, were hanged in Brielle, the Netherlands, by militant Dutch Calvinists.

This occurred during the Dutch War of Independence; this was aside from the 16th-century religious wars which happened in the Netherlands.