Blog

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in July 2026 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into movies, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more. (Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly selected an anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2026, which lists more than 3,600 anniversaries. The Date-A-Base Book 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030 are also available.

Each edition is available in British and U.S. versions. Both have the same content, but with different date formats and spellings. If you click on the links above, you should be directed to the correct version, based on your location. We’ve taken the anniversaries below from the British version.

1 Jul 1966 – 60 years ago
The Medicare health insurance programme began operating in the USA. It offered health insurance to those aged 65 and older.

2 Jul 1976 – 50 years ago
North Vietnam and South Vietnam were reunited as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with Hanoi as its capital. Hanoi was formerly the capital of North Vietnam.

3 Jul 1901 – 125 years ago
Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch carried out their last train robbery in the USA. They robbed a Great Northern Railway train near Wagner, Montana and stole more than $60,000 (equivalent to nearly $2 million today). Several members of the gang were captured or killed shortly afterwards. Cassidy and Harry Longabough (the Sundance Kid) fled to Argentina.

4 Jul 1776 – 250 years ago
American Revolution: the U.S. Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

5 Jul 1946 – 80 years ago
The first bikini two-piece swimsuit was unveiled at a fashion show in Paris, France. It was created by French designer Louis Réard. It was named after the U.S. atomic bomb test that took place at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean earlier that week (1^st July).

6 Jul 1976 – 50 years ago
The U.S. Naval Academy began admitting women.

7 Jul 1946 – 80 years ago
The first American saint, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, was canonised by Pope Pius XII.
In 1900 she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, which supported Italian immigrants to the USA.

8 Jul 1996 – 30 years ago
British scientists Bob Sinden and Julian Crampton revealed their plan to use genetically engineered mosquitoes as ‘flying syringes’ that would immunise their victims against diseases such as malaria by biting them. A worldwide patent was granted in 2002.

9 Jul 1901 – 125 years ago
Birth of Dame Barbara Cartland, British romantic novelist.
She wrote 723 novels, including 23 in a single year (1973). She was one of the best-selling authors of the 20^th century, selling more than one billion copies of her books.

10 Jul 1946 – 80 years ago
Hungary set the world record for hyperinflation: 348.46 percent per day.
Prices doubled every eleven hours. By the end of the month, its currency, the pengo, was effectively worthless. A new currency, the forint, was introduced on 1^st August. (1 forint equalled 400 octillion pengos.)

11 Jul 1976 – 50 years ago
The last slide rule in the USA was produced by Keuffel & Esser.
It was presented to the Smithsonian Institution. The company had been making slide rules since 1891. They were rendered obsolete by electronic calculators.

12 Jul 1776 to 4 Oct 1780 – 250 years ago
British explorer Captain James Cook’s third and final voyage.
He travelled to New Zealand and Hawaii, where he was killed in a violent exchange with the local people. Charles Clerke then took command of the voyage, but died of tuberculosis on the return journey. John Gore commanded the final stage of the return.

13 Jul 1951 – 75 years ago
Death of Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian-born American composer.
One of the most influential composers of the 20^th century. Leader of the Second Viennese School. The Nazi Party labelled his music ‘degenerate’ because he was Jewish. He emigrated to the USA.

14 Jul 1946 – 80 years ago
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock was published. It is one of the best-selling books in history (second only to the Bible in the USA during the 20^th century).

15 Jul 2006 – 20 years ago
Twitter (now X), the online micro-blogging service, was launched.

16 Jul 1926 – 100 years ago
The world’s first underwater colour photograph was published in National Geographic magazine. The photo of a hogfish was taken off the Florida Keys in the USA. The photographer detonated several pounds of magnesium flash powder on a raft to illuminate the scene fifteen feet beneath the surface.

17 Jul 1936 to 1 Apr 1939 – 90 years ago
The Spanish Civil War. Nationalist victory.
On 26^th July 1936, Germany and Italy joined the war, supporting General Francisco Franco’s Nationalists. Portugal also joined later. The Soviet Union, Mexico and France supported the Republicans.

18 Jul 1976 – 50 years ago
Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, aged 14, became the first female to score a perfect 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She defected to the USA in 1989 and became a naturalised citizen in 2001.

19 Jul 2001 – 25 years ago
British politician and novelist Jeffrey Archer was convicted of committing perjury and perverting the course of justice during his 1986 libel trial against the Daily Star newspaper. He was sentenced to four years in prison. He was released in July 2003.

20 Jul 1976 – 50 years ago
NASA’s Viking 1 lander successfully landed on Mars and sent back the first photo taken from the surface of Mars.

21 to 23 Jul 1976 – 50 years ago
The first Legionnaire’s Disease outbreak.
The American Legion held its annual convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Within a week, 25 attendees had died from the first recognised cases of Legionnaire’s Disease. 221 attendees contracted the disease and 34 of them eventually died (some sources give different figures). The bacterium was discovered in the hotel’s air conditioning system, and was named Legionella after its first victims.

22 Jul 1976 – 50 years ago
Japan made its last reparation payment to the Philippines in respect of war crimes it committed during WWII. In 1956 it had been ordered to pay $550 million, spread over twenty years. Much (or all?) of this was paid in products and services rather than cash.

23 Jul 1986 – 40 years ago
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first genetically engineered vaccine for humans – a hepatitis B vaccine. The recombinant vaccine was derived from yeast and is still in use today. Previous hepatitis B vaccines were made from human blood, meaning that supply was low and there was a risk of contamination from HIV/AIDS and other infections. (Germany was the first to approve it in May 1986.)

24 Jul 1851 – 175 years ago
Window tax was abolished in England and Wales. The tax was introduced in 1696 and was based on the number of windows in a house. It led to many windows being bricked up. It was replaced by a tax on inhabited buildings. Scotland also had a window tax from 1748 to 1798, and France had one from 1798 to 1926.

25 Jul 1976 – 50 years ago
NASA’s Viking 1 spacecraft took the famous photo of the ‘Face on Mars’.
NASA released the photo on 31^st July. Images from more recent missions show that it was an optical illusion.

26 Jul 1951 – 75 years ago
The world première of the Walt Disney film Alice in Wonderland, in London, UK. Released USA: 28^th July. UK: 20^th August.

27 Jul 1996 – 30 years ago
The Centennial Olympic Park bombing, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
A bomb exploded during the 1996 Olympic Games. Two people were killed and more than 100 injured.

28 Jul 1986 – 40 years ago
British estate agent (realtor) Suzy Lamplugh failed to return from an appointment in London, sparking the biggest missing person investigation since Lord Lucan. She has never been found.

29 Jul 1951 – 75 years ago
The first Miss World beauty pageant was held in London, UK.
The first pageant was known as the Festival of Britain Bikini Contest, but it became an annual event afterwards.

30 Jul 1966 – 60 years ago
The 1966 FIFA World Cup final. England beat Germany 4-2.
English player Geoff Hurst became the first (and only) player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final. At the time of writing this remains England’s only World Cup win.

31 Jul 1876 – 150 years ago
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy was established near New Bedford, Massachusetts (as the School of Instruction of the Revenue Cutter Service). It relocated to New London, Connecticut in 1932.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2026.

The 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Each edition is available as a PDF ebook (with a free Excel spreadsheet) or as a printed paperback book, in British or U.S. versions.

How to use the anniversaries:

How can you turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines, newspapers and websites? How do you get paid for writing them, and how can you make a great living from it?

Download our free guide Ditch Your Day Job. It tells you everything you need to know!