On this day: Elvis Presley recorded Hound Dog

Events, birthdays and anniversaries on 2 July.

The King  Elvis Presley  recorded Hound Dog and Dont Be Cruel on this day in 1956. PIcture: AP

311: Saint Militides began his reign as Catholic pope.

1266: By the Treaty of Perth, Norway renounced its claim on the Hebrides.

1644: Scottish forces under David Leslie helped the victory of the Parliamentary forces over Royalists at the Battle of Marston Moor near York. The Cromwellian victory under Prince Rupert was the turning point in the Civil War.

1645: The Marquis of Montrose defeated Lieutenant-General Baillie at the Battle of Alford, in which Lord Gordon was killed.

1687: King James II disbanded parliament.

1698: Thomas Savery patented the first steam engine.

1865: Former Methodist minister William Booth and his wife Catherine founded the Salvation Army, initially known as the East London Christian Mission.

1890: Brussels Act was passed by international conference to “eradicate the African slave trade and liquor traffic with primitive peoples”.

1908: Dumfries recorded a record high temperature of 32.8C (91F).

1937: Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempted circumnavigation of the globe.

1940: Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of Britain (Operation Sealion).

1940: The Vichy government was formed after the collapse of France, with Henri Pétain as head of state.

1956: Elvis Presley recorded Hound Dog and Don’t Be Cruel.

1969: Ireland bowled out the West Indies for 25 at Londonderry to win by nine wickets.

1971: The Erskine Bridge over the River Clyde was opened.

1986: Ten people were killed as military forces crushed demonstrations during a nationwide strike in Chile, protesting against the regime of General Pinochet.

1994: Colombian World Cup star Andres Escobar, who scored an own goal as his side was knocked out of the tournament, was shot dead after returning home.

1998: Bloomsbury published Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second in the series written by JK Rowling.

2003: Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy, assumed the EU council presidency and immediately caused outrage when he insulted German MEP Martin Schulz, by saying he would be ideal for a film role as a Nazi concentration camp leader.

2008: Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages held by Farc guerrillas, were rescued by the Colombian armed forces.

2010: An oil tanker exploded in South Kivo, the Democartic Republic of Congo, killing 230 people.

2010: GlaxoSmithKline settled the largest healthcare fraud case in history $3 billion.

2012: Monsoon rain in east India killed 79 people and left 2.2 million homeless.

2014: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was charged with corruption by French prosecutors.

Births: 1489 Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury; 1903 Alec Douglas-Home, Lord Home of the Hirsel, British prime minister 1963-64; 1925 Patrice Lumumba, first elected president of Republic of Congo; ; 1946 Ron Silver, actor director, producer.

Deaths: 862 Saint Swithun; 1566 Nostradamus, astrologer; 1937 Amelia Earhart, aviator (disappeared in the Pacific); 1961 Ernest Hemingway, novelist; 1973 Betty Grable, actress; 1975 James Robertson Justice, actor; 1977 Vladimir Nabokov, novelist.