Around 1,000 prisoners escaped from Queyfiya Prison in Benghazi, Libya.
Queen Elizabeth II of England declared the 30th Olympics opened in London, UK.
NASA decided to suspend space shuttle flights after analyzing the launch of mission STS-114.
Tony Hawk landed the first '900' on a skateboard at the 5th annual X Games in San Francisco.
The musical 'Little Shop of Horrors' by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman premiered on Broadway at Orpheum Theater, New York, US.
Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed while performing a public prayer at the city hall in Albany, Georgia, US.
Billboard magazine started ranking sales of recorded songs.
The Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War was signed in Geneva, Switzerland.
Vincent van Gogh shot himself at a wheat field in Auvers-Sur-Oise, France, and died from his wounds two days later.
The US Department of Foreign Affairs, the fledgling nation's first federal agency, was established.
Oliver Cromwell's forces from Cambridgeshire and forces from Nottingham met near Gainsborough, ready to battle the following day in the Battle of Gainsborough.
Tobacco arrived in England for the first time.
The first recorded example of having to 'quarantine' was written by The Ragusan Republic.
The Battle of Bouvines began.