Date·Lore

On This Day · The 186th day of the year

July 5

July 5 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1841 and 2012. Thomas Cook organises the first package excursion, from Leicester to Loughborough.

♋ZodiacCancer ◈BirthstoneRuby ❀Birth flowerLarkspur

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on July 5?

July 5 is the 186th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1841 and 2012. Famous people born on July 5 include Hedi Slimane, Georges Pompidou and Ernst Mayr.

The shape of the day

As calendar dates go, July 5 keeps a short memory — its record stays close to the present. Most of the weight falls in the 20th century, where politics and nation-building recur.

Cancer is the sign for July 5 — read more on the Cancer page, or see July's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on July 5

Movies, games, albums & shows

2023

  • TV Fireworks of My Heart
  • TV My Happy Marriage

2022

  • TV Love Like the Galaxy

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1841

    Thomas Cook

    Thomas Cook organises the first package excursion, from Leicester to Loughborough.

  2. 1940

    World War II

    World War II: Foreign relations of Vichy France are severed with the United Kingdom.

  3. 1945

    United Kingdom

    The United Kingdom holds its first general election in 10 years, which would be won by Clement Attlee's Labour Party.

  4. 1950

    Korean War

    Korean War: Task Force Smith: American and North Korean forces first clash, in the Battle of Osan.

  5. 1954

    Elvis Presley

    Elvis Presley records his first single, "That's All Right", at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.

  6. 1973

    Juvénal Habyarimana

    Juvénal Habyarimana seizes power over Rwanda in a coup d'état.

  7. 1995

    Armenia

    Armenia adopts its constitution, four years after its independence from the Soviet Union.

  8. 2006

    North Korea

    North Korea tests four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile and a long-range Taepodong-2. The long-range Taepodong-2 reportedly fails in mid-air over the Sea of Japan.

  9. 2009

    July 2009 Ürümqi riots

    A series of violent riots break out in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China.

  10. 2012

    The Shard

    The Shard in London is inaugurated as the tallest building in Europe, with a height of 310 metres (1,020 ft).

Famous birthday twins

Born on July 5

Hedi Slimane

b. 1968

French fashion designer and photographer

Georges Pompidou

b. 1911

French banker and politician, 19th President of France

Ernst Mayr

b. 1904

German-American biologist and ornithologist

Gianfranco Zola

b. 1966

Italian footballer and coach

Willem Drees

b. 1886

Dutch politician and historian, Prime Minister of the Netherlands

Caryn Navy

b. 1953

American mathematician and computer scientist

Cecil Rhodes

b. 1853

English-South African businessman and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Cape Colony

Viktor Kulikov

b. 1921

Russian marshal

Deaths

  • 2024Vic Seixas
  • 1969Wilhelm Backhaus
  • 1969Walter Gropius
  • 1945John Curtin
  • 1927Albrecht Kossel
  • 1920Max Klinger

Holidays & observances

  • —Bloody Thursday (International Longshore and Warehouse Union)
  • —Christian feast day: Anthony Maria Zaccaria, priest (died 1539)
  • —Christian feast day: Cyril and Methodius (a public holiday in Czech Republic and Slovakia)
  • —Christian feast day: Wexford Martyrs (Roman Catholic Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Zoe of Rome (Roman Catholic Church)
  • —Christian feast day: July 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • —Fifth of July (New York), historic celebration of the abolition of slavery in New York in 1827.
  • —Independence Day (Algeria), celebrating the independence of Algeria from France in 1962.

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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