Thursday, July 29

• Gilbert O'Sullivan's Alone Again, Naturally tops the singles chart on this day in 1972.
• In 1974, the Mamas & the Papas singer Cass Elliot dies in her sleep from a heart attack after playing a sold-out show in London.
• The film soundtrack to Grease, featuring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, hits No. 1 on the album chart in 1978.

• President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an act on this day in 1958 creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to direct U.S. space policy.
• The so-called "Son of Sam" kills one woman and seriously wounds another in 1976 in the first of a series of attacks that would terrorize New York City for the next year.
• In 1981, nearly a billion TV viewers around the world tune in to witness the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to Lady Diana Spencer, a young English schoolteacher.

• Award-winning country music singer-songwriter Martina McBride (44)
• Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (57)
• Former Labor Secretary, American Red Cross President and North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole (74)

Wednesday, July 28

• Elvis Presley scores his second No. 1 hit on this day in 1956 with I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.
• In what's considered the largest rock concert to date, more than 600,000 people attend the Watkins Glen Summer Jam in upstate New York in 1973 to catch performances by the Allman Brothers, the Band and the Grateful Dead. 

• The first singing telegram is sent on this day in 1933 to singer Rudy Vallee on his 32nd birthday.
• A U.S. Army B-25 bomber gets lost in thick fog above New York City and crashes into the Empire State Building in 1945, killing 14 people. 
• In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson orders an increase in the number of American troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.

• Emmy Award-winning actress Sally Struthers, who played Gloria in the sitcom All in the Family (62)
• Cartoonist Jim Davis, who brought us Garfield (65)
• Former New Jersey Senator and Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Bradley (67)

Tuesday, July 27

• In 1940, Billboard magazine publishes its first music popularity chart (for the week of July 20).
• Annie's Song, a tribute to his wife, propels John Denver to the top of the singles chart in 1974.
• Nearly four years after U.S. immigration officials threaten to deport him, John Lennon acquires his green card on this day in 1976.

• Bugs Bunny makes his debut in the cartoon A Wild Hare in 1940.
• An armistice agreement is signed in 1953, ending the Korean War.
• In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signs the Cigarette Labeling Act into law, requiring cigarette makers to print health warnings on every pack of smokes.
• The Watergate scandal boils over in 1974, as the House Judiciary Committee recommends that President Richard Nixon be impeached and removed from office for obstruction of justice.
  

• New York Yankees third baseman Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez (35)
• Singer Maureen McGovern, the talent behind the 1973 hit The Morning After from the movie The Poseidon Adventure (61)
• Olympic gold medal figure skater Peggy Fleming (62)
• Grammy Award-winning singer Bobbie Gentry, who won claimed Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance honors for the 1967 hit Ode to Billie Joe (66)

Monday, July 26

• Vera Lynn is in the midst of a nine-week ride on top of the Billboard singles survey in 1952 with Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart. 
• Disco is king in 1975. On this day that year, Van McCoy's The Hustle boogies its way to the top of the singles chart.
• In 1984, movie-goers line up to see the premiere of Purple Rain, the semi-autobiographical story of musician Prince.
• Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer, off his So album, is the hottest single in 1986.
  

• Signed, sealed and delivered. The U.S. Postal Service is established on this day in 1775 and the Continental Congress appoints Benjamin Franklin as first Postmaster General.
  
• The Office of the Chief Examiner is founded in 1908 and later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935.
• In 1947, President Harry Truman signs the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa is convicted of fraud and conspiracy in 1964. The man long suspected of mafia ties serves four years in prison before President Richard Nixon commutes his sentence.

• Academy and Golden Globe Award-winning actress Sandra Bullock (46)
• Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey (51)  
• Olympic gold medal figure skater Dorothy Hamill (54)
• Academy, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren (65)
• Rolling Stone Mick Jagger (67)
• Director Blake Edwards (88)
  

Sunday, July 25

• Bob Dylan goes electric and fans go ballistic at the Newport Folk Festival on this day in 1965. Folk music purists are outraged when Dylan swaps his acoustic guitar for an electric one.
• In 1970, The Carpenters rule the singles chart with (They Long to Be) Close to You.
• A Chorus Line premieres on this day in 1975, becoming the longest running Broadway show.

• The subway token makes its shiny debut on this day in 1953 and the cost of riding the New York City underground rises from a dime to 15 cents.
• In 1956, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog off the coast of New England and sinks the next day, killing 51.
• Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space in 1984.

• World's first test-tube baby, Louise Joy Brown (32)
• Actor Matt LeBlanc, best known for his role as Joey Tribbiani in the NBC sitcoms Friends and Joey (43)
• Supermodel-actress (and Mrs. David Bowie) Iman (55)