WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2007

Today is Tuesday, July 18, the 198th day of 2007. There are 167 days left in the year.

64 _ The Great Fire of Rome begins (Nero didn't fiddle)

1536 _ Pope’s authority declared void in England

1872 _ Britain introduces secret ballot voting

1918 _ U.S. and French forces launch Aisne-Marne offensive in WWI

1931 _ The first air-conditioned ship (Mariposa) launched

1936 _ Spanish Civil War begins, Gen. Francisco Franco led uprising

1947 _ The U.S. receives U.N. trusteeship over Pacific Islands

1951 _ Uruguay accepts its constitution

1955 _ The first electric power generated from atomic energy sold commercially

1959 _ The first black to win a major golf tournament (William Wright)

1967 _ Silver hits record $1.87 an ounce in NY

1969 _ Mary Jo Kopechne and Sen. Kennedy plunge off Chappaquiddick bridge

1974 _ The world's tallest structure, 646-m Polish radio mast, completed

1979 _ Gold hits record $303.85 an ounce in London

1980 _ Billy Joel's Glass Houses album tops charts

1986 _ Videotapes released showing Titanic's sunken remains