So you want to have a drink but you aren't sure why? Here are some GREAT reasons to call your friends over and have a party.

July 3rd


- Christian Feast Day
- Emancipation Day (United States Virgin Islands)
- Independence Day, celebrates the liberation of Minsk from Nazi occupation by Soviet troops in 1944. (Belarus)
- The start of the Dog Days according to The Old Farmer's Almanac but not according to established meaning in most European cultures.

July 3rd


- 2006 - Valencia metro accident leaves 43 dead in Valencia, Spain.
- 2006 - Asteroid 2004 XP14 flies within 432,308 kilometres (268,624 mi) of Earth.
- 2001 - A Vladivostok Avia Tupolev Tu-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia killing 145 people.
- 1996 - Stone of Scone is returned to Scotland.
- 1994 - The deadliest day in Texas traffic history, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Forty-six people are killed in crashes.
- 1988 - United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
- 1988 - The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus.
- 1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan presides over the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.
- 1981 - First mention in the New York Times of a disease that would later be called AIDS
- 1979 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
- 1977 - The Senegalese Republican Movement is founded.
- 1970 - A British Dan-Air De Havilland Comet chartered jetliner crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 113 people.
- 1970 - The Troubles: the "Falls Curfew" begins in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
- 1969 - The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N-1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad.
- 1962 - The Algerian War of Independence against the French ends.
- 1952 - The Constitution of Puerto Rico is approved by the Congress of the United States.
- 1952 - The SS United States sets sail on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During the voyage, the ship takes the Blue Riband away from the RMS Queen Mary.
- 1944 - World War II: Minsk is liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.
- 1940 - World War II: the French fleet of the Atlantic based at Mers el Kébir, is bombarded by the British fleet, coming from Gibraltar, causing the loss of three battleships: Dunkerque, Provence and Bretagne. One thousand two hundred sailors perish.
- 1938 - World speed record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 126 miles per hour (203 km/h).
- 1938 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield.
- 1913 - Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors.
- 1898 - Spanish-American War: The Spanish fleet, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, is destroyed by the U.S. Navy in Santiago, Cuba.
- 1890 - Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
- 1886 - Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen – the first purpose-built automobile.
- 1886 - The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
- 1884 - Dow Jones and Company publishes its first stock average.
- 1866 - Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
- 1863 - American Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett's Charge.
- 1852 - Congress establishes the United States' 2nd mint in San Francisco, California.
- 1849 - The French enter Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification.
- 1848 - Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) by Peter von Scholten in the culmination of a year-long plot by enslaved Africans.
- 1844 - The last pair of Great Auks is killed.
- 1839 - The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today's Framingham State College, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with 3 students.
- 1819 - The Bank of Savings in New York City, the first savings bank in the United States, opens.
- 1778 - American Revolutionary War: British forces kill 360 people in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
- 1775 - American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- 1767 - Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.
- 1767 - Norway's oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded and the first edition is published.
- 1754 - French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
- 1608 - Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.
- 987 - Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France till the French Revolution in .
- 324 - Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium.

July 3rd


- 1988 - Winston Reid, New Zealand - Danish Football Player
- 1987 - Sebastian Vettel, German racing driver
- 1986 - Greg Paulus, American basketball and football player
- 1985 - Minami Keisuke, Japanese singer and actor.
- 1984 - Syed Rasel, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1984 - Corey Sevier, Canadian actor
- 1984 - Manny Lawson, American Football player
- 1984 - Nicolas Roche, Irish cyclist
- 1983 - Steph Jones, American singer and model
- 1982 - Kanika, Indian actress
- 1981 - Justin Torkildsen, American actor
- 1980 - Roland Mark Schoeman, South African swimmer
- 1980 - Kevin Boyle, American basketballer
- 1980 - Trae, American rapper from Houston, Texas
- 1980 - Bostjan Nachbar, Slovenian basketball player
- 1980 - Harbhajan Singh, Indian cricketer
- 1980 - Olivia Munn, American television hostess
- 1980 - Melisa Young, American Rapper ("Kid Sister")
- 1979 - Ludivine Sagnier, French actress
- 1979 - David Bacani, American baseball player
- 1978 - Mizuki Noguchi, Japanese long-distance runner
- 1977 - David Bowens, American football player
- 1976 - Andrea Barber, American actress
- 1976 - Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1976 - Henry Olonga, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1976 - Wanderlei Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist
- 1976 - Bobby Skinstad, Springbok Rugby player
- 1973 - Johnny Terris, Canadian actor and director
- 1973 - Patrick Wilson, American actor
- 1973 - Emma Cunniffe, British actress
- 1973 - Ólafur Stefánsson, Icelandic handball player
- 1972 - Warren Furman, British television personality
- 1970 - Teemu Selänne, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1970 - Shawnee Smith, American actress
- 1970 - Serhiy Honchar, Ukrainian cyclist
- 1969 - Kevin Hearn, Canadian musician (Barenaked Ladies)
- 1968 - Aku Louhimies, Finnish film director and screenwriter
- 1967 - Brian Cashman, American major league baseball executive
- 1967 - Spiros Marangos, Greek footballer
- 1966 - Robin Burgener, Canadian programmer, inventor of 20Q
- 1966 - Moisés Alou, Dominican baseball player
- 1965 - Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese wrestler (d. 2005)
- 1965 - Connie Nielsen, Danish actress
- 1964 - Joanne Harris, British author
- 1964 - Yeardley Smith, French-born American actress
- 1962 - Tom Cruise, American actor
- 1962 - Hunter Tylo, American actress
- 1962 - Thomas Gibson, American actor
- 1962 - Hugh Page, former South African cricketer
- 1961 - Pedro Romeiras, Portuguese dancer
- 1961 - Tim Smith, English musician (Cardiacs)
- 1960 - Vince Clarke, British songwriter (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure)
- 1959 - Julie Burchill, British journalist and author
- 1959 - David Shore, Canadian-born writer
- 1959 - Stephen Pearcy, American singer (Ratt)
- 1958 - Matthew Fraser, Canadian-British journalist
- 1958 - Siân Lloyd, Welsh weather presenter
- 1958 - Aaron Tippin, American singer
- 1958 - Charlie Higson, English author and actor
- 1957 - Laura Branigan, American singer (d. 2004)
- 1957 - Ken Ober, American game show host (d. 2009)
- 1956 - Montel Williams, American talk show host
- 1956 - Don Vito, American Viva La Bam castmember
- 1955 - Sanma Akashiya, Japanese television performer
- 1952 - Amit Kumar, Indian singer
- 1951 - Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
- 1951 - Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician
- 1950 - James Hahn, American politician
- 1950 - Ewen Chatfield, New Zealand cricketer
- 1949 - Jan Smithers, American actress
- 1949 - Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (Heatwave) (d. 2006)
- 1948 - Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish comics artist
- 1947 - Dave Barry, American humorist and author
- 1947 - Betty Buckley, American actress
- 1947 - Anthony "Top" Topham, English musician
- 1946 - Johnny Lee, American country-and-western singer
- 1946 - Leszek Miller, Prime Minister of Poland
- 1945 - Michael Cole, American TV actor
- 1944 - Michel Polnareff, French singer and songwriter
- 1943 - Kurtwood Smith, American actor
- 1943 - Judith Durham, Australian singer and songwriter
- 1942 - Eddy Mitchell, French singer and actor
- 1942 - Paco Stanley, Mexican TV personality (d. 1999)
- 1940 - César Tovar, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1994)
- 1940 - Lamar Alexander, American politician
- 1940 - Jerzy Buzek, Prime Minister of Poland
- 1940 - Fontella Bass, American soul singer
- 1939 - László Kovács, Hungarian politician and diplomat
- 1939 - Brigitte Fassbaender, German mezzo-soprano
- 1938 - Bolo Yeung, Hong Kong actor
- 1937 - Tom Stoppard, Czech-born, British playwright
- 1936 - Baard Owe, Norwegian-born Danish actor
- 1935 - Harrison Schmitt, American astronaut and politician
- 1933 - Edward Brandt, American doctor and public health official (d. 2007)
- 1932 - Richard Mellon Scaife, American newspaper publisher
- 1931 - Frits Helmuth, Danish actor (d. 2004)
- 1930 - Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 2004)
- 1930 - Tommy Tedesco, American musician (d. 1997)
- 1930 - Pete Fountain, American clarinetist
- 1927 - Ken Russell, British director
- 1924 - S. R. Nathan, 6th president of Singapore
- 1922 - Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, Belgian painter, called Corneille (d. 2010)
- 1921 - Susan Peters, American actress (d. 1952)
- 1920 - Paul O'Dea, American baseball player (d. 1978)
- 1918 - S. V. Ranga Rao, South Indian actor (Telugu Cinema Actor) (d. 1974)
- 1917 - Joăo Saldanha, Brazilian journalist and football manager (d. 1990)
- 1916 - John Kundla, American college and professional basketball coach
- 1913 - Dorothy Kilgallen, American columnist (d. 1965)
- 1910 - Fritz Kasparek, Austrian mountaineer (d. 1954)
- 1908 - M. F. K. Fisher, American writer (d. 1992)
- 1908 - Robert B. Meyner, American politician (d. 1990)
- 1906 - George Sanders, British actor (d. 1972)
- 1906 - Jack Earle, American actor and sideshow performer (d. 1952)
- 1903 - Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1992)
- 1900 - Alessandro Blasetti, Italian film director (d. 1987)
- 1888 - Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Spanish writer (d. 1963)
- 1886 - Raymond A. Spruance, American Navy admiral (d. 1969)
- 1883 - Franz Kafka, Czech-German writer (d. 1924)
- 1880 - Carl Schuricht, Polish-born German conductor (d. 1967)
- 1879 - Alfred Korzybski, Polish linguist (d. 1950)
- 1878 - George M. Cohan, American actor, director, singer and dancer (d. 1942)
- 1875 - Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon (d. 1951)
- 1870 - Richard Bedford Bennett, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1947)
- 1866 - Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (d. 1907)
- 1854 - Leoš Janá?ek, Czech composer (d. 1928)
- 1851 - Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer (d. 1930)
- 1743 - Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, queen consort of Sweden (d. 1813)
- 1738 - John Singleton Copley, American painter (d. 1815)
- 1728 - Robert Adam, Scottish architect (d. 1792)
- 1685 - Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (d. 1768)
- 1683 - Edward Young, English poet (d. 1765)
- 1676 - Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1747)
- 1530 - Claude Fauchet, French historian (d. 1601)
- 1442 - Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1500)
- 1423 - King Louis XI of France (d. 1483)