This day in history
In Hong Kong
1959: A 12-year-old boy was sentenced to two strokes of the cane by a Central Juvenile Court for using abusive language towards a police constable, while a nine-year-old shoeshine boy was given four strokes for hawking without a licence.
1968: Hong Kong's air pollution problem was less serious than imagined, except for Hunghom which was 'the only area one would worry about anywhere in the world', said government spokesman John Marden.
1969: The circulation of the South China Morning Post rose to more than 30,000 copies daily during the eight-day coverage of the Apollo XI moon mission.
1973: Hong Kong's entertainment elite and more than 20,000 fans paid their last respects to martial arts superstar Bruce Lee, who died on July 20. Celebrities at the funeral included Nancy Kwan, Josephine Siu Fong-fong, Raymond Chow, George Lazenby, Samuel Hui, Chan Po-chu and Robert Chua.
1984: Restaurant employee Lau Kam-tin admitted wounding a policeman - but explained in court the chopper he threw was aimed at a stray cat stealing from the kitchen. He was fined $1,500.
Around the world
1261: Byzantine emperor Michael VIII recovered Constantinople and was crowned there. He deposed John IV, ending the Latin Empire.
1797: British naval commander Horatio Nelson's right arm was shattered by grapeshot during an assault on Tenerife and later had to be amputated.
1834: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the English poet whose works include The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, died.
1843: Charles Macintosh, the Scottish chemist best known for his invention of a method for making waterproof garments, died.
1848: Arthur James Balfour was born in Scotland. British prime minister from 1902-1906 and later foreign minister (1916-1919), he crafted the 1917 'Balfour Declaration' promising a homeland for Jews in Palestine.
1917: Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, the Dutch spy known as Mata Hari, was sentenced to death on charges of spying for Germany.
1963: The US, Soviet Union and Britain agreed on a treaty banning nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water.
1978: The world's first test-tube baby, Louise Joy Brown, was born at Oldham General Hospital in Lancashire, England.
1984: Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space.
1993: Eleven worshippers were killed when black gunmen sprayed St James's Church in Cape Town, South Africa, with bullets and lobbed grenades into the congregation.
1994: Israeli and Jordanian leaders signed a historic
declaration in Washington, ending the state of war between them.
1995: Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic were charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by the UN war crimes tribunal, after conflict flared in the Balkans.
