Today in History ~ July 23

811 – Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum’s treasury.

1632 – Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France.

1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.

1885 – President Ulysses S. Grant dies of throat cancer

1914 – Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on July 28.

1929 – The Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words.

1940 – The Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

1942 – The Holocaust: The Treblinka extermination camp is opened.

1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite.

1995 – Comet Hale-Bopp is discovered; it becomes visible to the naked eye on Earth nearly a year later.

1503 – Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (d. 1547)

1796 – Franz Berwald, Swedish surgeon and composer (d. 1868)

1888 – Raymond Chandler, American crime novelist and screenwriter (d. 1959)

1892 – Haile Selassie, Ethiopian emperor (d. 1975)

1918 – Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1999)

1936 – Anthony Kennedy, American lawyer and jurist

1957 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)

1773 – George Edwards, English biologist and ornithologist (b. 1693)

1875 – Isaac Singer, American businessman, founded the Singer Corporation (b. 1811)

1885 – Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (b. 1822)

1930 – Glenn Curtiss, American pilot and engineer (b. 1878)

1948 – D. W. Griffith, actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1875)

1973 – Eddie Rickenbacker, American pilot and race car driver, founded Rickenbacker Motors (b. 1890)

2002 – Chaim Potok, American novelist and rabbi (b. 1929)

2011 – Amy Winehouse, English singer-songwriter (b. 1983)