July 5th in History

The first modern bikini is introduced, July 5, 1946. Designer Louis Reard was unable to find a “respectable” model and hired 19-year old nude dancer Micheline Bernardini to display it at the Molitor swimming pool in Paris. She is holding a small box into which the entire suit can be packed. (Source: Hulton Archive)

Today in History

  • Sir Isaac Newton publishes his Principia Mathematica (1687)
  • Thomas Cook organizes the first package tour (1841)
  • The luncheon meat Spam goes on sale (1937)
  • The bikini goes on sale (1946)
  • The British national public health system is created (1948)
  • Elvis records his first single (1954)
  • Pakistan prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is overthrown in a military coup (1980)
  • Dolly the Sheep becomes the first mammal cloned from an adult cell (1996)

Birthdays

  • David Farragut, US admiral (1801)
  • P. T. Barnum, circus impressario (1810)
  • Cecil Rhodes, financier and politician (1853)
  • Jean Cocteau, filmmaker (1889)
  • Milburn Stone, actor who played “Doc” on Gunsmoke (1904)
  • Robbie Robertson, singer-songwriter and guitarist (1943)
  • Huey Lewis, singer-songwriter (1950)
  • Bill Watterson, cartoonist, creator of Calvin and Hobbes (1958)
  • Edie Falco, actress (1963)

Deaths

  • Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore (1826)
  • Nicéphore Niépce, creator of the first known photograph (1833)
  • Lewis Armistead, Confederate general (1863)
  • Walter Gropius, architect (1969)
  • Harry James, trumpet player and bandleader (1983)
  • James Stockdale, US admiral (2005)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Bloody Thursday (International Longshore and Warehouse Union)
  • X-Day (Church of the SubGenius)
  • Arbor Day (New Zealand)
  • Constitution Day (Armenia)
  • Independence Day (Algeria, Cape Verde, Venezuela)
  • Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (Czech Republic, Slovakia)
  • Tynwald Day (Isle of Man) [If July 5 falls on a weekend, the holiday is celebrated the following Monday]
  • Emancipation Day (New York City)
  • Poplifugia (ancient Rome)
Informal and made-up holidays include Bikini Day, Sidewalk Egg Frying Day, National Apple Turnover Day, National Graham Cracker Day, and Work-a-Holics Day.
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July 5 is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years). There are 179 days remaining until the end of the year.