MOMENTS IN TIME - July 15, 2010

The History Channel

* On July 22, 1598, William Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice” is entered on the Stationers’ Register. By decree of Queen Elizabeth, the Stationers’ Register licensed printed works, giving the Crown tight control over all published material.

* On July 19, 1799, a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writing is discovered in Egypt. The artifact, called the Rosetta Stone, held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a written language that had been “dead” for nearly 2,000 years.

* On July 24, 1911, American archeologist Hiram Bingham gets his first look at Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca settlement in Peru. Machu Picchu is believed to have been a summer retreat for Inca leaders, whose civilization was wiped out by Spanish invaders in the 16th century.

* On July 21, 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes is convicted of violating Tennessee’s new law against teaching evolution. The case was never really in doubt. On May 4, the American Civil Liberties Union had offered to help any Tennessee schoolteacher challenge the law. To gain publicity for the town of Dayton, Scopes, a local science teacher, agreed to fill the role since he wasn’t planning to stay in Dayton anyway. No one was really concerned whether he had actually taught evolution to his students.

* On July 20, 1963, Jan and Dean’s “Surf City” reaches the top of the charts. “Surf City” might be mistaken for a Beach Boys record, but the Beach Boys had yet to have a No. 1 hit at that time.

* On July 23, 1976, members of the American Legion gathered in Philadelphia begin suffering from a mysterious form of pneumonia. By Aug. 2, 22 people were dead and hundreds more were experiencing pneumonia-like symptoms. Their ailment would come to be known as Legionnaires disease.

* On July 25, 1985, Rock Hudson, a tall, dark and handsome Hollywood leading man of the 1950s and 1960s, announces through a press release that he is suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Hudson became the first major celebrity to go public with such a diagnosis.

(c) 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.