What happened today
1520
Famous birthdays
1830
Get history's greatest tales
Subscribe to our HistoryNet Now! newsletter for a blast from the past each week in your inbox.
more events on July 10
-
1993
Kenyan runner Yobes Ondieki becomes the first man to run 10,000 meters in less than 27 minutes.
-
1991
Boris Yeltsin is sworn in as the first elected president of the Russian Federation, following the breakup of the USSR.
-
1985
Coca-Cola Co. announces it will resume selling “old formula Coke,” following a public outcry and falling sales of its “new Coke.”
-
1980
Adam Petty, race driver, first fourth-generation driver in NASCAR history; his death in 2000 contributed to NASCAR’s decision to mandate a kill switch on steering wheels.
-
1976
In Seveso, near Milan, Italy, an explosion in a chemical factory covers the surrounding area with toxic dioxin. Time magazine has ranked the Seveso incident No. 8 on its list of the 10 worst environmental disasters.
-
1967
Singer Bobbie Gentry records “Ode to Billie Joe,” which will become a country music classic and win 4 Grammys.
-
1965
Alexia, princess of Greece and Denmark.
-
“”(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” becomes the Rolling Stones’ first No. 1 single in the USA.
-
1962
The satellite Telstar is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, beaming live television from Europe to the United States.
-
1960
Belgium sends troops to the Congo to protect whites as the Congolese Bloodbath begins, just 10 days after the former colony became independent of Belgian rule.
-
1951
Armistice talks between the United Nations and North Korea begin at Kaesong.
-
1947
Folk singer Arlo Guthrie (“Alice’s Restaurant,” “City of New Orleans”), son of Woody Guthrie.
-
1945
U.S. carrier-based aircraft begin airstrikes against Japan in preparation for invasion.
-
1943
Arthur Ashe, American tennis player.
-
American and British forces complete their amphibious landing of Sicily.