FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2008

Today is Friday, July 18, the 200th day of 2008. There are 166 days left in the year.

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

1536 _ Pope's authority declared void in England

1872 _ Britain introduces secret ballot voting

1955 _ First electric power generated from atomic energy sold commercially

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

1966 _ Carl Sagan turns 1 billion seconds old

1970 _ Ron Hunt gets hit by a pitch for a record 119th time

1972 _ 200,000 attend Mt. Pocono rock festival in Penn.

1979 _ Gold hits record $303.85 an ounce in London

1980 _ Billy Joel's Glass Houses album tops charts