July 5 is the 187th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 179 days remaining until the end of the year.
Work-a-holics Day
National Apple Turnover Day
Birthday of Jonathan Carter Hornblower (July 5, 1753), English mining engineer who invented the first compound steam engine for which he claimed better efficiency, using two cylinders of unequal size attached to the same beam.
Publication of Federalist Paper #83: The Judiciary in Relation to Trial by Jury written by Alexander Hamilton in 1788.
Birthday of Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum (July 5, 1810), American museum administrator and circus owner. He is remembered for his showmanship. He began as proprietor of the American Museum in New York City, which included not just freak shows, but also serious scientific exhibits, for which he actively collected natural history specimens.
See 10 things you may not know about P. T. Barnum from History.com.
In 1865, a lower speed limit – of 2 mph in town and 4 mph in the country – was imposed in Britain under the Locomotives and Highways Act. The “Red Flag” Act also required three drivers for each vehicle – two on the vehicle and one to walk ahead carrying a red flag. It was repealed in 1896, after nearly two decades of strong support from horse interests. The repeal of the act was celebrated by a 60 mile car run from London to Brighton – at the new and previously illegal speed of 12 mph.
Spam, the luncheon meat, was introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation on July 5, 1937. The word “spam” referring to unsolicited electronic bulk messages comes from a 1970 sketch of the BBC television comedy series” Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. The sketch is set in a cafe where nearly every item on the menu includes Spam canned luncheon meat.
First bikini bathing suit displayed (Paris) in 1946.
1971 – The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years, is formally certified by President Richard Nixon. It was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, and ratified on July 1, 1971 by North Carolina, the 38th state to do so, the quickest ratification of an amendment in history. It has since been ratified by an additional 5 states. No action has been taken on the amendment by the states of Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, or Utah.
In 1996, Dolly, a cloned sheep, was born at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland.