American World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey was born on this date in 1895. One of the men who made boxing a popular sport in the US, Dempsey won the heavyweight title from Jess Willard on July 4, 1919. Earlier in the year, he had won five fights in a row, each time knocking out his opponent in the first round. Dempsey’s bout against Georges Carpentier was the first one to boast a $1 million prize. Dempsey won that match and continued his winning streak until 1926, when he lost his title to Gene Tunney.
The term “flying saucer” was coined on this date in 1947 when an American pilot reported seeing strange objects near Mt. Rainier, WA, describing them as “saucers skipping across the water.” Fifty years later, also on this date, the U.S. Air Force released its report on the Roswell Incident, stating that the UFO’s and aliens that were reportedly seen near Roswell, NM, in 1947, were actually life-sized dummies.
1964 - Topic of the Day: Cigarette smoking is dangerous to one’s health — the Federal Trade Commission required that a message be placed on all cigarette packages warning consumers of the dangers of smoking, forty years ago today.
Anthony Hopkins, the Olsen twins, Halle Berry, Britney Spears, Kevin Costner, Glenn Close, Patty Duke, Brooke Shields, director John Singleton and composer Hans Zimmer will be receiving stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 2004.
1374 - A sudden outbreak of St. John’s Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion.
1664 - The colony of New Jersey is founded.
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