Today is Monday, July 23, the 205th day of 2012. There are 161 days left in the year.
636 ― Arabs gain control of most of Palestine from the Byzantine Empire
1798 ― Napoleon captures Alexandria, Egypt
1829 ― William Austin Burt patents ``typographer" (typewriter)
1880 ― First commercial hydroelectric power planet begins, Grand Rapids, Mich.
1904 ― Ice cream cone created by Charles E. Menches during La Purchase Expo
1940 ― ``Blitz" begins, all-night raid on London
1948 ― Progressive Party convention nominates Henry Wallace for president
1968 ― PLO's first hijacking of an El Al plane
1984 ― Vanessa Williams, first black Miss America, resigns due to posing nude
1986 ― Britain's Prince Andrew marries Sarah Ferguson