#TodayInHistory – July 18

July 18 – Some important events on this day.

64 👉🏼 Great Fire of Rome begins under the Emperor Nero. Despite the well-known stories, there is no evidence that the Roman emperor, Nero, either started the fire or played the fiddle while it burned. Still, he did use the disaster to further his political agenda.
1743 👉🏼 1st half-page newspaper ad is published (NY Weekly Journal)
1925 👉🏼 Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf (original title was the catchy “Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice”)
1936 👉🏼 Spanish Civil War: General Francisco Franco issues manifesto and leads an uprising in the Spanish army stationed in Morocco

1938 👉🏼 Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan arrives in Ireland after a 28 hours flight, supposedly left NY flying for California.
When Douglas Corrigan turned up at Baldonnel Aerodrome near Dublin in Ireland after flying from New York in 1938 his arrival was unexpected to say the least. He’d originally flown from Long Beach, California and his flight plan stated he was to return the same way. He was promptly christened Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan.
Corrigan had been refused permission to attempt a transatlantic flight and it was widely thought he had decided to try anyway. As an aircraft mechanic Corrigan had been one of those who built the Spirit of St Louis, Charles Lindbergh’s plane in his 1927 first transatlantic flight. It is thought he was emulating Lindbergh in a plane far inferior that he had modified himself. His endeavours were widely popular and his ticker-tape parade in New York on his return attracted more people than Lindburgh himself.

1976 👉🏼 Nadia Comăneci becomes the first gymnast in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 score (total 7) at Montreal Games
2012 👉🏼 Kim Jong-un is officially appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea and given the rank of Marshal in the Korean People’s Army
2013 👉🏼 Detroit, Michigan, files for bankruptcy, becoming the largest US municipal bankruptcy ever at $18.5 billion