July 22nd in History

1099 - First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem.

1298 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Falkirk – King Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeat William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons outside the town of Falkirk.

1676 - Pope Clement X dies

1706 - The Acts of Union 1707 are agreed upon by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by each countries' Parliaments, lead to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1805 - Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition – Battle of Cape Finisterre – an inconclusive naval action is fought between a combined French and Spanish fleet under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve of Spain and a British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder.

1812 - Napoleonic Wars: Peninsular War – Battle of Salamanca – British forces led by Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) defeat French troops near Salamanca, Spain.

1894 - The first ever motor race is held in France between the cities of Paris and Rouen. The fastest finisher was the Comte Jules-Albert de Dion, but The 'official' victory was awarded to Albert Lemaître driving his 3 hp petrol engined Peugeot.

1937 - New Deal: the United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.

1937 - New Deal: the United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.

1942 - Holocaust: the systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins.

1943 - World War II: Allied forces capture the Italian city of Palermo.

1976 - Japan completes its last reparation to the Philippines for war crimes committed during the imperial Japan's conquest of the country in the Second World War

2003 - Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay's 14-year old son, and a bodyguard.

2011 - Norway is the victim of twin terror attacks, the first being a bomb blast which targeted government buildings in central Oslo, the second being a massacre at a youth camp on the island of Utøya.

2013 - HRH The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to HRH Prince George of Cambridge. He is third in line to the British throne

Famous Birthdays

1210 - Joan of England, Queen consort of Scotland

1510 - Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence

1713 - Jacques-Germain Soufflot, architect, designed the Panthéon

1848 - Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

1890 - Rose Kennedy, wife of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.

1931 - Perry Lopez, actor

1942 - Peter Habeler, mountaineer

1946 - Johnson Toribiong, 7th President of Palau

1954 - Pierre Lebeau, actor

1963 - Rob Estes, actor

1967 - Irene Bedard, actress

1978 - A. J. Cook, actress

1983 - Aldo de Nigris, footballer

1989 - Keegan Allen, actor

1992 - Selena Gomez, actress and singer

2002 - HH Prince Felix of Denmark, Count of Monpezat

2013 - HRH Prince George of Cambridge, 3rd in line to the British throne