Wimbledon Men's Tennis
Jul 2 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Czech Jaroslav Drobný beats Ken Rosewall of Australia 13-11, 4-6, 6-2, 9-7 for his only Wimbledon singles title
Wonderful Town
Jul 3 Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green's musical "Wonderful Town", starring Rosalind Russell, closes at Winter Garden Theater, NYC, after 559 performances, and 5 Tony Award wins
US Women's Golf Open
Jul 3 US Open Women's Golf, Salem CC: Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins by a record 12 strokes from Betty Hicks in her comeback event 14 months after radical colon cancer surgery
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
Jul 3 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Maureen Connolly wins her 3rd consecutive Wimbledon singles title beating fellow American Louise Brough 6-2, 7-5
- Jul 4 Dr Sam Sheppard's wife Marilyn is murdered (he is accused of the crime)
- Jul 4 FIFA World Cup Final, Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland: Helmut Rahn scores twice as West Germany beats Hungary, 3-2
- Jul 4 Meat and all other food rationing officially ends in Britain, nine years after the end of World War II
- Jul 4 WMSL (WYUR, now WAFF) TV channel 48 in Huntsville, AL (ABC) begins
- Jul 5 B-52A bomber makes its maiden flight
That's All Right
Jul 5 Singer Elvis Presley's 1st professional recording session (with guitarist Scotty Moore & bass player Bill Black) takes place at Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service in Memphis, Tennessee. The trio record four songs including their historic cover of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's song "That's All Right". [1]
- Jul 5 The BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
- Jul 6 KMOS TV channel 6 in Sedalia-Warrensburg, MO (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Jul 6 Tunisian government of M'zali, resigns
Sports History
Jul 7 British runner Jim Peters, 17 minutes ahead of any rival, collapses on the final stadium lap of the Commonwealth Games marathon in Vancouver
- Jul 7 Formation of the TANU party (Tanganyika African National Union) in Tanzania
- Jul 8 KMOX (now KMOV) TV channel 4 in Saint Louis, MO (CBS) 1st broadcast
- Jul 8 Military junta selects colonel Armas President of Guatemala
British Golf Open
Jul 9 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Birkdale GC: 23-year-old Australian Peter Thomson wins first of his 5 Open titles by a stroke from Bobby Locke, Dai Rees, and Syd Scott
- Jul 11 114°F (45.6°C), Sedgwick, Colorado (ties state record; broken in 2019)
- Jul 11 1st White Citizens Council organizes in Indianola, Mississippi
- Jul 12 ANC President Albert Luthuli banned by South African Minister of Justice from attending public gatherings and confined to the magisterial district of Lower Tugela, Natal
- Jul 12 Major League Baseball Players Association founded
Event of Interest
Jul 12 President Eisenhower put forward a plan for an interstate highway system
- Jul 13 21st All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 11-9 at Municipal Stadium, Cleveland
- Jul 13 Dean Stone gets credit for AL win, although he didn't retire a batter, he threw out Shoendienst trying to steal home, AL-11 NL-9
- Jul 14 117°F (47°C), East St Louis, Illinois (state record)
- Jul 14 118°F (48°C), Warsaw & Union, Missouri (state record)
- Jul 15 110°F (43°C) at Balcony Falls, Virginia (state record)
- Jul 15 1st commercial jet transport plane built in US tested (Boeing 707)
- Jul 15 KOCO TV channel 5 in Oklahoma City, OK (ABC) begins broadcasting
- Jul 15 WBOC TV channel 16 in Salisbury, MD (CBS/NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
- Jul 17 1st major league game where majority of team is black (Dodgers)
- Jul 17 Construction of Disneyland commences in Anaheim, California
- Jul 17 Theodor Heuss re-elected president of West Germany
- Jul 18 Cards losing 8-1 to Phillies begin stalling in 5th, they forfeit game
- Jul 19 Elvis Presley's debut single, a cover of Arthur Cruddup's "That's All Right" is released
Maureen Connolly's Tragic Accident
Jul 20 American tennis champion Maureen Connolly's right leg is crushed in a horse riding accident ending a brilliant career at just 19
- Jul 20 West German secret service head Otto John defects to East Germany (DDR)
- Jul 21 Geneva Accords for Indochina signed, dividing French colonial territories into the countries of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam), Cambodia, and Laos
- Jul 22 US Virgin Islands adopt constitution (Revised Organic Act)
- Jul 22 WTHI TV channel 10 in Terre Haute, IN (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Jul 26 WCET TV channel 48 in Cincinnati, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Jul 27 Armistice divides Vietnam into two countries
- Jul 27 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Keller GC: Chick Herbert scores a 4 & 3 win over defending champion Walter Burkemo in the Tuesday final
On the Waterfront
Jul 28 "On the Waterfront", directed by Elia Kazan starring Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint, is released (Academy Awards Best Picture 1955)
Music History
Jul 28 Ernest Bloch's 4th string quartet premieres
Fellowship of the Ring
Jul 29 Publication of "Fellowship of the Ring" 1st volume of "Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien by George Allen and Unwin in London
- Jul 30 5th British Empire Games and Commonwealth Games open in Vancouver, Canada
- Jul 30 Bob Kennedy hits the 1st grand slam for the new Baltimore Orioles
- Jul 30 Elvis Presley joins the Memphis Federation of Musicians, Local 71
- Jul 31 First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio
- Jul 31 Milwaukee first baseman Joe Adcock becomes only the 3rd player in 20th century to hit 4 HRs in 9-inning game (Lou Gehrig & Gil Hodges) in 15-7 Braves' win over Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field; MLB record 18 total bases
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