July sixth

Today's Highlight in History:
On July sixth, 1957, Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating fellow American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2.

On this date:
In 1535, Sir Thomas More was executed in England for treason.

In 1777, during the American Revolution, British forces captured Fort Ticonderoga.

In 1885, French scientist Louis Pasteur successfully tested an anti-rabies vaccine on a boy who had been bitten by an infected dog.

In 1917, during World War One, Arab forces led by T.E. Lawrence captured the port of Aqaba from the Turks.

In 1923, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.

1944, 169 people died in a fire that broke out in the main tent of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum-and-Bailey Circus in Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1945, President Truman signed an executive order establishing the Medal of Freedom.

In 1967, the Biafran War erupted. (The war, which lasted two and a-half years, claimed some 600,000 lives.)

In 1989, the US Army destroyed its last Pershing One-A missiles at an ammunition plant in Karnack, Texas, under terms of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

In 1998, singing cowboy star Roy Rogers died in Apple Valley, California, at age 86.

Ten years ago: NATO leaders concluded two days of meetings in London, pledging to sharply reduce both nuclear and conventional defenses in Europe.

Five years ago: The prosecution rested at the O.J. Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles.

One year ago: Ehud Barak took office as prime minister of Israel, pledging to seek peace with neighboring Arab countries.

"Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form."

-- Andre Maurois, French author (1885-1967).