In 331 BC, Alexander the Great defeated Darius III at the Battle of Guagamela. News of the World began enriching the world of British journalism in 1943. Congress established Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks in 1890. The Shinkansen bullet trains began service between Tokyo and Osaka in 1964 and Denmark became the first country to allow civil partnerships for homosexual couples in 1989.
Born today: Jimmy Carter (1924), Julie Andrews (1935) and Tim O'Brien (1946). If you've never heard of Tim O'Brien -- he is the author of one of my favourite books,
The Things They Carried, about the Viet Nam War. It is brilliant.
It is Independence Day in Tuvalu, Nigeria and Cyprus.
