CNN Interactive - Almanac

Bastille Day is celebrated in France.
Tens of thousands of Protestants are scheduled to watch the re-enactment of a 17th-century military victory over Irish Catholics in Scarva, Northern Ireland.
The Arkansas State House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear testimony from families affected by the March 24 school shootings in Jonesboro.

On Wednesday, July 15, a hearing will be held in White Plains, New York, for John A. "Junior" Gotti, 34. He's accused of robbery, extortion, loansharking, gambling and fraud.
On Thursday, July 16, Syrian President Hafez Assad visits France.
On Friday, July 17, U.S. President Bill Clinton is tentatively scheduled to visit Little Rock, Arkansas.
On Saturday, July 18, the official ceremony to unveil the African-American Civil War Memorial is to be held in Washington.
On Sunday, July 19, the 1998 Goodwill Games begin in New York.

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The Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. gave a record $10 million donation to the Smithsonian Institution on Monday to help restore the flag that inspired the "Star-Spangled Banner." To learn more about the historic flag and others, check out Star Spangled Flag Makers.		France, French Guiana and New Caledonia celebrate Bastille Day. Iraq celebrates July 14 Revolution. Kiribati celebrates Independence Day. Monaco, Saint Pierre, Miquelon and Tahiti celebrate National Day. Actress Polly Bergen ("To Tell the Truth") is 68. Filmmaker Ingmar Bergman ("Wild Strawberries") is 80. Former U.S. President Gerald Ford is 85. Actress Missy Gold ("Benson") is 28. Actor and football star Rosey Grier is 66. Actor Harry Dean Stanton ("Repo Man") is 66. Sportscaster Steve Stone is 51.

In 1789 in Paris, the Bastille, a grim prison and symbol of the monarchy, was seized by the people at the start of the French Revolution.
In 1865, British climber Edward Whymper led the first team of climbers to reach the summit of the Matterhorn in the Alps at a height of 14,690 feet.
In 1867, explosives manufacturer Alfred Nobel first demonstrated his invention, dynamite, at Merstham Quarry in Redhill, Surrey.
In 1887, German industrialist and arms manufacturer Alfred Krupp, who became a dominating force in the development of the Ruhr territories, died.
In 1918, the French troop carrying liner Djemnah was sunk by a German submarine in the Mediterranean; 442 people were killed.
In 1933, in Germany, the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler banned all opposition parties.
In 1958, King Faisal of Iraq was assassinated along with his entire household and his prime minister in a coup by army officers which resulted in Iraq's becoming a republic.
In 1959, the first atomic powered cruiser, the USS Long Beach, was launched at Quincy, Massachusetts. The ship had two nuclear reactors and could reach 30 knots.
In 1965, the satellite Mariner 4, launched in 1964, became the first to send photographs from Mars and transmitted for over eight hours.
In 1976, the Chinese-built Tanzam railway was completed ahead of schedule linking Zambia with Dar-es-Salaam.
In 1978, Russian dissident Anatoly Shcharansky, a founder member of the Helsinki Group set up to monitor Soviet observance of human rights, was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
In 1984, in New Zealand, David Lange and his leftist Labor Party swept to a landslide electoral victory defeating the ruling national Party led by Sir Robert Muldoon.
In 1996, a bomb exploded in a hotel at Enniskillen in Northern Ireland in which 40 people were injured. It was the first bomb in the province for two years. IRA guerrillas denied responsibility for the explosion.
In 1997, the U.N. war crimes tribunal sentenced Bosnian Serb Dusan Tadic to a 20-year prison term for his part in a vicious "ethnic cleansing" campaign against Muslim civilians in 1992.