31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in July 2025

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in July 2025 (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 2025, which lists more than 3,600 anniversaries. The Date-A-Base Book 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 are also available. The 2030 edition will be published in April 2025.

1 Jul 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolution: the New England Restraining Act came into effect. The British Parliament forbade its North American colonies from trading with anyone other than Britain, Ireland and the British West Indies. It also prohibited the colonies from fishing in the Atlantic without authorisation.

2 Jul 1900 – 125 years ago
The Zeppelin LZ 1 made its first flight over Lake Constance in southern Germany. It was the world’s first rigid airship. On this first test flight it flew 3.7 miles before one of its engines failed and it had to make an emergency landing for repairs.

3 Jul 1985 – 40 years ago
The time-travel comedy film Back to the Future was released in the USA. (UK: 4^th December.)

4 Jul 1950 – 75 years ago
Cold War: Radio Free Europe made its first broadcast (to Czechoslovakia). Its aim was to bring about the peaceful demise of the Communists.

5 Jul 1950 – 75 years ago
The Law of Return was passed in Israel. It granted all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel.

6 Jul 1925 – 100 years ago
Birth of Bill Haley, American rock and roll singer (Bill Haley and His Comets). Best known for the songs Rock Around the Clock, See You Later, Alligator and Shake, Rattle and Roll. (Died 1981.)

7 Jul 2005 – 20 years ago
The 7^th July London bombings, UK. A coordinated series of four suicide bomb attacks on London’s transport system during the morning rush hour. 56 people were killed, including the four bombers. More than 700 were injured. It was the worst-ever terrorist attack on Britain, and the country’s first attack by suicide bombers. There was a second attack on 21^st July.

8 Jul 1965 – 60 years ago
British Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs escaped from Wandsworth Prison in London. He lived in Brazil until 2001 when he returned to the UK and was re-imprisoned. Released July 2009. Died December 2013.

9 Jul 1960 – 65 years ago
Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev traded threats over Cuba. Khrushchev said the Soviet Union was prepared to use nuclear missiles to protect Cuba from U.S. intervention, and said the USA was no longer an unreachable target. Eisenhower said the USA would not countenance the establishment of a communist regime in the West. The two leaders continued to exchange charges and counter-charges in a bitter war of words.

10 – 21 Jul 1925 – 100 years ago
The Scopes Trial, Dayton, Tennessee, USA. High school science teacher John Scopes was charged with teaching the theory of evolution, in violation of a Tennessee state law (the Butler Act). He was found guilty and fined $100, but the conviction was later over-turned by the Court of Appeal and the trial was declared void. Scopes had agreed to be tried for violating the act. The trial was organised as a publicity stunt to gain attention for the town of Dayton, and was funded by the American Civil Liberties Union. The Butler Act was repealed in 1967.

11 Jul 1950 – 75 years ago
The first episode of the BBC children’s television show Andy Pandy was broadcast in the UK.

12 Jul 1960 – 65 years ago
The Etch-A-Sketch children’s toy first went on sale.

13 Jul 1985 – 40 years ago
Live Aid. Two simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia, plus other venues including Sydney and Moscow, raised millions of pounds for famine victims in Africa.

14 – 15 Jul 1965 – 60 years ago
NASA’s Mariner 4 spacecraft flew past Mars and sent back the first close-up photos of another planet.

15 Jul 1955 – 70 years ago
The Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons was signed in Germany by eighteen Nobel Prize laureates. 52 had signed it within a year.

16 Jul 1945 – 80 years ago
The USA detonated the world’s first nuclear weapon (‘Fat Boy’) at the Trinity Site, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

17 Jul 1850 – 175 years ago
The first photo of a star (Vega) was taken by William Bond and John Adams Whipple at Harvard College Observatory in the USA.

18 Jul 1925 – 100 years ago
The first volume of Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf (My Struggle) was published.

19 Jul 1900 – 125 years ago
The Paris Métro in France began operating.

20 Jul 1960 – 65 years ago
The first Polaris missile was successfully test launched from a submerged submarine, the USS George Washington, off Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.

21 Jul 1925 to Jun 1927 – 100 years ago
The Great Syrian Revolt. French victory.

22 Jul 1950 – 75 years ago
King Leopold III of Belgium returned to the throne after more than five years in exile. His return was marked by violent protests and a general strike, and on 1^st August he announced his abdication. He officially abdicated on 16^th July 1951 and was succeeded by his son Baudouin on 17^th July.

23 Jul 1985 – 40 years ago
The Commodore Amiga 1000 personal computer was released. Its advanced graphics and audio capabilities led to it being called ‘the first multimedia computer’.

24 Jul 1950 – 75 years ago
The first rocket to be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA: the Bumper 2. Its first stage was a captured German V-2 rocket, and its upper stage was a U.S. Army WAC Corporal rocket. It reached a height of 25 miles.

25 Jul 1925 – 100 years ago
TASS, the official news agency of the Soviet Union, was established. It was a successor of the Commercial Telegraph Agency, which was established in 1902.

26 Jul 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolution: the Second Continental Congress established the United States Post Office, headed by Benjamin Franklin. After the American Revolution, the official United States Post Office Department was established in 1792.

27 Jul 1900 – 125 years ago
Birth of Charles Vidor, Hungarian-born American film director (The Tuttles of Tahiti, The Desperadoes, Gilda, Hans Christian Andersen, A Farewell to Arms, and many more).

28 Jul 2005 – 20 years ago
The IRA ended its thirty-year armed campaign in Northern Ireland and ordered all units to dump their weapons. Its leadership stated that they would continue their campaign exclusively through peaceful means.

29 Jul 1945 – 80 years ago
The BBC Light Programme radio station was launched in the UK. It broadcast mainstream light entertainment and music. It became BBC Radio 2 in 1967.

30 Jul 1975 – 50 years ago
American trade union leader Jimmy Hoffa disappeared from a restaurant car park in Detroit, Michigan. He was never seen again. He was declared dead in July 1982.

31 Jul 1875 – 150 years ago
Death of Andrew Johnson, 17^th President of the United States (1865–69). He was Vice-President to Abraham Lincoln and assumed the presidency after Lincoln was assassinated.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2025.

The 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 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.

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!

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