On this day: July 30
A breakfast classic is invented, the host nation captures the very first World Cup, Hoffa goes missing and one of Hollywood's major power couples splits up, all on this day.
AD 762: Baghdad is founded by Caliph Abu Ja'far Al-Mansur.
AD 762: Baghdad is founded by Caliph Abu Ja'far Al-Mansur.
1619: In Jamestown, Va., the first representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time. The assembly is seen in this 1851 painting by Peter F. Rothermel being addressed by Patrick Henry.
1629: An earthquake in Naples, Italy, kills about 10,000 people.
1729: The town of Baltimore, Md., is founded and is named after Lord Baltimore, who was the first Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. Baltimore would grow swiftly in the 18th century as a granary for sugar-producing colonies in the Caribbean.
1818: English novelist Emily Brontë ("Wuthering Heights") is born in Thornton, England.
1863: Henry Ford, who would go on to found the Ford Motor Company, is born on a farm near Detroit.
1865: The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, Calif., killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time.
1898: "Scientific America" carries the first magazine automobile ad. The ad was for the Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, Ohio.
1916: German agents sabotage American ammunition supplies at Black Tom Island in Jersey City, N.J., resulting in explosions that kill as many as seven people. The attack was designed to prevent the materials from being used by the Allies in World War I.
1930: Hosts and pre-tournament favorites Uruguay defeats Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo to become the first nation to win the World Cup.
1932: Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies cartoon "Flowers and Trees" debuts. It's the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short.
1932: The 10th modern Olympic games opens in Los Angeles. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations and athletes were unable to pay for the trip to Los Angeles. The games would feature the first Olympic Village and the first use of a victory podium.
1934: MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is born in Milwaukee, Wis.
1935: The first Penguin book is published, starting the paperback revolution.
1936: Blues guitarist and singer Buddy Guy is born in Lettsworth, La.
1941: Singer-songwriter Paul Anka ("Diana," "Lonely Boy," "Put Your Head on My Shoulder") is born in Ottawa, Canada. He's seen here in this promotional image from 1961.
1945: USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sinks in minutes. Of 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remaining 900 men faced exposure, dehydration and shark attacks as they waited four days for rescue. Only 317 survived.
1947: Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor, bodybuilder and former California governor, is born in Thal, Austria.
1954: Elvis Presley makes his professional concert debut opening for Slim Whitman at a concert advertised as a "Hillbilly Hoedown" at the Overton Park Shell in Memphis.
1956: A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto. The motto would be progressively added to paper money over a period from 1957 to 1966.
1961: Actor Laurence Fishburne ("The Matrix," "What's Love Got to Do With It") is born in Augusta, Ga.
1963: Actress Lisa Kudrow ("Friends") is born in Los Angeles.
1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid. Johnson (far right) is seen here with Secretary of HEW John Gardner (second from left) and SSA Commissioner Bob Ball (left) receiving the first Medicare Part-B application form from a member of the general public, Baltimore resident Tony Palcaorolla (second from right).
1966: The Beatles' "Yesterday... and Today," album goes No. 1 on U.S. Billboard charts and stays in that position for five weeks.
1970: Film director Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight Rises," "Inception") is born in London.
1971: Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module module Falcon land on the moon with the first Lunar Rover.
1974: President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the United States Supreme Court.
1974: Actress Hilary Swank ("Million Dollar Baby," "Boys Don't Cry") is born in Lincoln, Neb.
1975: Former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again, and will be declared legally dead on this date in 1982.
1990: George Steinbrenner is banned permanently from day-to-day management (but not ownership) of the New York Yankees by MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent for hiring Howie Spira to "get dirt" on Dave Winfield. He would actually be reinstated in 1993.
1990: The first Saturn automobile rolls off the assembly line in Spring Hill, Tenn.
1996: Tommy Lasorda, seen here in 2009 at the World Baseball Classic, retires as Los Angeles Dodger manager after 20 years.
2000: Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt are married.
2001: Lance Armstrong becomes the first American to win three consecutive Tours de France. He would go on to more than double that number, winning seven straight through 2005.
2003: In Mexico, the last "old style" Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.
2006: The world's longest running music show, "Top of the Pops," is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.
