- Jul 1 'O Canada' officially becomes the national anthem of Canada
World Record
Jul 1 British runner Steve Ovett breaks countryman Sebastian Coe's world record for the mile in 3:48.8 in Oslo, Norway
- Jul 2 Comedy film "Airplane!" written and directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and starring Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty premieres
- Jul 2 Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir, drummer Mickey Hart, and manager Danny Rifkin arrested for "suspicion of inciting a riot" after a concert in San Diego, California
- Jul 2 Julie Marie Bryan, 18, of Georgia, crowned America's Young Woman of Yr
- Jul 3 Biggest MLB crowd in 7 years, 73,096 watch Indians beat NY Yankees, 7-0 at Cleveland Stadium
Baseball Record
Jul 4 Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) fans Reds' Cesar Geronimo to become 4th pitcher to 3,000 MLB strikeouts
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
Jul 4 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley beats Chris Evert 6-1, 7-6 for her 3rd Wimbledon singles crown
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
Jul 5 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Björn Borg beats John McEnroe 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6 for his 5th straight Wimbledon crown with famous 22-minute, 34-point, fourth-set tiebreak
- Jul 6 France performs nuclear test
Baseball Record
Jul 6 MLB Philadelphia Phillies starter Steve Carlton fans 7 Cardinals to reach 2,836 strikeouts, the most by a left-handed pitcher in MLB history
Boxing Title Fight
Jul 7 American boxer Larry Holmes scores a 7th round TKO of Scott LeDoux in Bloomington, Minnesota in defense of his WBC heavyweight title
- Jul 7 Institution of Sharia law in Iran
- Jul 7 Jim King completes riding Miracle Strip Roller coaster 368 hours
- Jul 7 Jineane Ford of Arizona replaces Shawn Weatherly (Miss Universe) as the 29th Miss USA
- Jul 7 Shawn Weatherly, of USA, crowned 29th Miss Universe
- Jul 7 The Safra massacre in Lebanon
- Jul 8 51st All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 4-2 at Dodger Stadium, LA
- Jul 8 All star MVP: Ken Griffey (Cincinnati Reds)
Event of Interest
Jul 9 7 die in a stampede to see Pope John Paul II in Brazil
Event of Interest
Jul 9 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten sentenced to 10 years
- Jul 10 Alexandra Palace in London burnt down for a second time
- Jul 10 Sam Shepard's play "True West" premieres at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco [1]
- Jul 10 Willie Jones hospitalized for heat stroke with record 46.5°C temperature
- Jul 11 American hostage Richard Queen freed by Iran militants due to illness
US Women's Golf Open
Jul 13 US Open Women's Golf, Richland CC: Amy Alcott scores convincing 9 stroke win over runner-up Hollis Stacy
- Jul 13 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
Event of Interest
Jul 15 Billy Carter, the brother of US President Jimmy Carter, registers as a foreign agent of the Libyan government after it was revealed they paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars
Baseball Record
Jul 15 Johnny Bench hits his 314th HR as a catcher which breaks Yogi Berra's record
- Jul 16 Polish railway workers block railway to Russia
Reagan Nominated
Jul 16 Ronald Reagan nominated for US President by Republicans in Detroit
- Jul 17 Bolivian military coup; General Garcia Meza becomes president
- Jul 17 Ronald Reagan formally accepts Republican nomination for US president
- Jul 17 Zenko Suzuki becomes Premier of Japan
Music History
Jul 18 Billy Joel's "Glass Houses" album tops US charts, featuring "It's Still Rock 'n' Roll to Me"
- Jul 18 Failed attack on former Prime Minister of Iran Shapour Bakhtiar in Neuilly, France
- Jul 18 Federal court voids Selective Service Act as it doesn't include women
- Jul 18 Quett Masire installed as President of Botswana
- Jul 18 Rohini 1, 1st Indian satellite, launches into orbit
- Jul 19 USSR's Walter Polovchak is placed in US custody at 12 after his asylum application
- Jul 19 XXII Summer Olympic Games open in Moscow, Russia; led by United States, 66 nations boycott event because of Soviet-Afghan war
- Jul 20 67th Tour de France won by Joop Zoetemelk of Netherlands
British Golf Open
Jul 20 British Open Men's Golf, Muirfield: Tom Watson wins his 3rd of 5 Open titles, by 4 strokes from fellow American Lee Trevino
- Jul 21 Jean-Claude Droyer climbs Eiffel Tower in 2 hrs 18 mins
- Jul 23 River of No Return Wilderness Area, surrounding the Salmon River in Idaho, designated by US President Jimmy Carter
- Jul 23 Soyuz 37 ferries 2 cosmonauts (1 Vietnamese) to Salyut 6
Music History
Jul 29 David Bowie stars in dramatic stage play "The Elephant Man" at the Auditorium Theater in Denver, Colorado
- Jul 30 13th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at U.S. Grant Hotel
- Jul 30 American swimmers Mary T Meagher (2.06.37) and Craig Beardsley (1.58.21) both set 200m butterfly world records at the US National Swimming Championships at Irvine, California
- Jul 30 Houston Astros pitcher J. R. Richard suffers a stroke and collapses while playing a game of catch before an Astros game, ending his career
- Jul 30 Vanuatu (New Hebrides) gains independence from Britain & France
- Jul 31 Hurricane Allen forms in the Atlantic Ocean, will go on to become the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin with winds of 190mph (305km/h)
- Jul 31 John Phillips of Mamas and Papas is arrested on drug charges
- Jul 31 Soyuz 37 crew returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 36
- Jul 31 USSR performs nuclear Test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
Authors
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