July 15 History, Fun Facts, and Trivia

July 15 Observances

July 15 is Gummi Worm Day, Saint Swithin’s Day, National Give Something Away Day, National Be a Dork Day, National Tapioca Pudding Day, Orange Chicken Day, I Love Horses Day, National Pet Fire Safety Day, National Respect Canada Day, and Japan’s Bon Festival, also called the Feast of Lanterns, a Buddhist observance honoring the spirits of ancestors. Saint Swithin’s Day carries an old English weather legend: if it rains on July 15, it will rain for the next 40 days. If it is sunny, 40 days of sunshine follow. Meteorologists do not endorse this, but it has been observed since the 10th century, which means it has outlasted most scientific theories of comparable age.

Gummi Worm Day

The gummi bear came first. Hans Riegel Sr., founder of Haribo (an acronym of Hans Riegel Bonn), created gummi bears in 1922. The formula uses sugar, glucose syrup, starch, gelatin, citric acid, flavoring, and food coloring. In the U.S., Haribo’s gummy bears come in five flavors: raspberry (red), orange (orange), strawberry (green), pineapple (colorless), and lemon (yellow). Green being strawberry-flavored has confused people since 1982.

The gummi worm arrived nearly six decades later. Trolli, another German confectionery company, introduced the worm in 1981 with a specific design goal: create something disgusting enough that parents would not want to eat their children’s candy. The two-flavor, two-color worm was the result, originally strawberry and grapefruit meeting in the middle. The strategy worked less well than expected. Parents eat them anyway.

Trivia: Haribo’s name is constructed from the founder’s name and city exactly like many European family businesses of its era. The company still sells more gummi bears than any other manufacturer on Earth and produces approximately 100 million gummi bears per day across its factories.

What Happened on July 15?

July 15 is the day the Rosetta Stone was discovered, the day the Spanish Inquisition was officially disbanded after 356 years, the day Boeing was incorporated, the day Twitter launched, and the day Jimmy Carter gave a speech that everyone remembers by a word he never actually said. It is also Gummi Worm Day, which is either the most or least important thing on this list, depending on your priorities.

If you were born on July 15, you were likely conceived the week of October 22 of the prior year.

July 15 History Highlights

70 AD — Roman general Titus and his legions breached the walls of Jerusalem during the siege of the city, leading to the destruction of the Second Temple and the dispersal of the Jewish people throughout the Roman Empire. The event is one of the most consequential in Jewish history. The Western Wall, which we mentioned on July 13, is the last remaining outer wall of the Temple Mount complex from this period.

1149 — The reconstructed Church of the Holy Sepulchre was consecrated in Jerusalem, built over the site traditionally identified as the location of Jesus’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. The church remains one of the most sacred sites in Christianity and is jointly administered by six different Christian denominations, who have disagreed about almost everything for most of the building’s history.

1799 — The Rosetta Stone was discovered near the Egyptian village of Rosetta (Rashid) by French Captain Pierre-Francois Bouchard during Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign. The stone is a decree issued in 196 BC by King Ptolemy V, written in three scripts: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic script, and Ancient Greek. Because scholars could read Greek, it became the key to deciphering hieroglyphics, which had been unreadable for nearly 1,400 years. The stone was seized by British forces in 1801 and has been in the British Museum ever since. Egypt has repeatedly requested its return. The British Museum has repeatedly said no.

1834 — The Spanish Inquisition was officially disbanded, approximately 356 years after its establishment in 1478. Modern historians estimate that between 3,000 and 5,000 people were actually executed over its entire run, averaging roughly a dozen per year. The numbers, while horrifying, are dramatically lower than popular mythology suggests. The Inquisition’s greater tool was social control, property confiscation, and the threat of prosecution rather than mass executions. Nobody expected it to last 356 years either.

1838 — Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered his Divinity School Address at Harvard, arguing that Jesus was a great man but not divine, and that institutional Christianity had replaced the living spirit of religion with dead ritual. The Christian community was not pleased. Harvard Divinity School did not invite him back for nearly 30 years. The address is now considered one of the foundational texts of American Transcendentalism.

1916 — William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporated Pacific Aero Products in Seattle, Washington. The company was renamed the Boeing Airplane Company the following year. Boeing is now one of the two largest aerospace companies in the world. Its first product was a seaplane called the B&W, which Boeing flew himself.

1954 — The Boeing 367-80, known as the Dash 80, made its first flight. It was the prototype for both the Boeing 707 commercial airliner and the KC-135 military tanker. The 707 launched the commercial jet age and made transatlantic air travel routine. Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston famously rolled the prototype at the 1955 Gold Cup hydroplane race in front of thousands of spectators and Boeing executives. He was called into the president’s office the next day. He explained that it was a selling maneuver. He was not fired.

1955 — Eighteen Nobel laureates signed the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, calling on world governments to renounce war as a means of resolving disputes. Thirty-four others eventually co-signed. The declaration came ten years after Hiroshima and reflects the growing scientific community’s alarm at the pace of nuclear proliferation during the early Cold War.

1979 — President Jimmy Carter delivered what is now called the “malaise speech,” though he never used that word. The speech was formally titled “A Crisis of Confidence” and addressed what Carter described as a spiritual and moral crisis in American society, characterized by self-doubt and a loss of shared purpose. It initially polled well. Carter then fired several Cabinet members days later, which undermined the message and contributed to the perception of a presidency in disarray. The word “malaise” was coined by his political opponents and stuck permanently.

2003 — The Mozilla Foundation was established, providing organizational structure for the open-source browser project that produced Firefox. Firefox eventually captured over 30% of global browser market share at its peak before Chrome eroded that lead. Mozilla’s work on open web standards influenced the entire modern internet regardless of which browser you use.

2006 — Twitter was launched publicly. The 140-character limit was chosen to fit within a single SMS text message. The first tweet was sent by co-founder Jack Dorsey: “just setting up my twttr.” Twitter has since raised the limit to 280 characters, introduced longer posts, been acquired by Elon Musk for $44 billion in 2022, and rebranded as X. The original tweet sold as an NFT in 2021 for $2.9 million. The NFT was later relisted for $48 million and received no bids.

Billboard Number One on July 15

1950: “Mona Lisa” — Nat King Cole (No. 1: July 15 through August 18, 1950). Five weeks at the top. Written for the film Captain Carey, U.S.A. and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1950. Cole reportedly recorded it in one take. It remains one of the most recognized recordings of the 20th century.
1989: “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” — Simply Red (No. 1: July 15-21, 1989). A cover of the 1972 Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes original, produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff at Philadelphia International Records. Simply Red’s version reached No. 1 in the U.S. while the original peaked at No. 3. Mick Hucknall’s vocal convinced many listeners it was an original composition.
2000: “Everything You Want” — Vertical Horizon (No. 1: July 15-21, 2000). The Boston-formed band’s breakthrough hit spent one week at the top after building slowly on radio for months. It remains their only top-40 hit.

Trivia: Nat King Cole’s “Mona Lisa” won the Academy Award despite Cole not appearing in the film it was written for. The song played over the opening and closing credits. He performed it at the ceremony and it became one of the defining recordings of his career, which is saying something given the competition.

Born on July 15

Dorothy Fields (1905-1974) — American lyricist and librettist who wrote the words to “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” “The Way You Look Tonight,” and “Big Spender,” among hundreds of others. She was one of the first women to succeed as a songwriter in Tin Pan Alley and on Broadway. “The Way You Look Tonight” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936. She was still writing for Broadway in the year she died.
Alex Karras (1935-2012) — American football player, four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions, and later actor best known as Mongo in Blazing Saddles (1974) and as Lenny in the TV series Webster (1983-1989). He was suspended by the NFL for the 1963 season for gambling. He later became an NFL analyst for ABC’s Monday Night Football alongside Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford.
Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) — American football player turned painter whose work bridged sports and fine art in a way almost no one had done before. His elongated, joyful figures appeared on the cover of Marvin Gaye’s I Want You album (1976) and in the opening credits of the TV series Good Times. His painting Sugar Shack sold at auction in 2023 for $15.3 million, setting a record for his work. He played offensive lineman in the AFL before picking up a brush full time.
Trevor Horn (1949) — English musician and record producer, one half of The Buggles. “Video Killed the Radio Star” (1979) was the first music video ever played on MTV when the channel launched on August 1, 1981. Horn went on to produce some of the most commercially successful records of the 1980s, including albums by ABC, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Grace Jones, and Yes. He has said he hates reading manuals, which explains the experimental production style.
Arianna Huffington (1950) — Greek-American journalist, author, and co-founder of The Huffington Post, which she launched in 2005 and sold to AOL in 2011 for $315 million. She later founded Thrive Global, a wellness company, after collapsing from exhaustion in 2007 and breaking her cheekbone. The experience redirected her professional focus toward sleep and sustainable success. She has written extensively about what she calls the third metric of success, beyond money and power.
Jesse Ventura (1951) — American professional wrestler, actor, and politician who served as the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003 as a member of the Reform Party, making him one of the few third-party candidates ever elected to a major U.S. governorship. He appeared in Predator (1987) alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also became a governor. The odds of that casting combination producing two governors were not calculable in advance.
Joe Satriani (1956) — American guitarist and one of the best-selling instrumental rock musicians in history. He taught guitar before achieving solo success and counts among his former students Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde of Primus, and David Bowie’s touring guitarist. He has been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards without winning any, a record for a solo instrumental artist.
Forest Whitaker (1961) — American actor and Academy Award winner for his portrayal of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (2006). He is also a UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation. His film career spans from Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) to Black Panther (2018), covering more ground than most actors manage in two careers.
Brigitte Nielsen (1963) — Danish actress and model best known for Red Sonja (1985) and Rocky IV (1985), in which she appeared alongside her then-husband Sylvester Stallone. She has remained a fixture of European celebrity culture for four decades.
Jason Bonham (1966) — English drummer and son of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, who died in 1980. Jason has led his own bands, toured with Jimmy Page, and performed with surviving Led Zeppelin members at the 2007 Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert at the O2 Arena in London, which drew 20 million ticket requests for 20,000 seats.
Adam Savage (1967) — American special effects designer and television personality best known as co-host of MythBusters (2003-2016) on Discovery Channel. The show ran for 14 seasons and 296 episodes and is credited with generating significant public interest in science, engineering, and critical thinking. He has built replicas of the Maltese Falcon, the Dodo bird, and nearly everything else that has crossed his mind.
Gabriel Iglesias (1976) — Mexican-American comedian and actor known professionally as “Fluffy,” one of the most successful stand-up comedians of his generation. His specials on Netflix have reached global audiences. He has spoken openly about his struggles with weight and diabetes and uses humor as his primary tool for addressing both.
Diane Kruger (1976) — German actress who trained as a ballet dancer before pivoting to modeling and acting. She is best known for Troy (2004), the National Treasure films, and Inglourious Basterds (2009). She won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017 for In the Fade.

Birthday Quotes from July 15 Birthdays

“Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again.”
— Dorothy Fields

“Failure is not the opposite of success; it’s part of success.”
— Arianna Huffington

“In the spirit of science, there really is no such thing as a failed experiment. Any test that yields valid data is a valid test.”
— Adam Savage

“I like to play complex characters and the duality, and trying to reach for the light. It’s more interesting really. I’ve gotten to play so many types of guys and I just try to find the humanity in each one of them the best I can.”
— Forest Whitaker

“Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles.”
— Alex Karras

“Don’t just climb the ladder of success, a ladder that leads, after all, to higher and higher levels of stress and burnout, but chart a new path to success, remaking it in a way that includes not just the conventional metrics of money and power, but a third metric that includes well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving, so that the goal is not just to succeed but to thrive.”
— Arianna Huffington

“I hate having to read the manual.”
— Trevor Horn

Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts for July 15

Michael Keaton’s real name is Michael Douglas. He changed it when he joined the Screen Actors Guild because another Michael Douglas was already registered. He reportedly chose “Keaton” as a tribute to Buster Keaton. The other Michael Douglas has won an Academy Award. So has this one.
Julianne Moore’s real name is Julie Anne Smith. She combined her first and middle names and took her stepmother’s surname for her stage name. She has been nominated for five Academy Awards and won one, for Still Alice (2014).
“Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.” — Lou Gehrig, July 4, 1939, at Yankee Stadium. Gary Cooper delivered the line in the 1942 film The Pride of the Yankees. Gehrig had been diagnosed with ALS, which is now commonly called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He died less than two years after the speech.
Thurl Ravenscroft was both the voice of Tony the Tiger (“They’re Grrrreat!”) and the singer behind “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” in the 1966 animated special. He was not credited for the Grinch song, a fact that bothered Boris Karloff’s estate, as many people assumed Karloff, who voiced the Grinch, had also sung it. Ravenscroft received a formal apology from Dr. Seuss for the omission.
Jurassic Park was filmed primarily on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The production was interrupted by Hurricane Iniki, one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit Hawaii in the 20th century, which struck during filming in September 1992. The cast and crew sheltered in the hotel ballroom. Steven Spielberg reportedly filmed the storm.
A group of giraffes is called a tower. Given that giraffes are the tallest animals on Earth, this is one of the more accurate collective nouns in the English language.
“Book ’em, Danno.” — Steve McGarrett, Hawaii Five-O. The line was said in nearly every episode from 1968 to 1980. Jack Lord, who played McGarrett, owned a percentage of the show and became extraordinarily wealthy from it. He retired to Hawaii and almost never gave interviews after the show ended.
Green Smarties are strawberry-flavored. Green gummy bears are strawberry-flavored. Green Skittles are green apple. The color green has a complicated relationship with candy flavor and it is entirely the candy industry’s fault.
People who don’t use straws at restaurants are weird. People who use straws at home are weird. There is apparently no neutral straw position.
Twitter launched on July 15, 2006. The first tweet was “just setting up my twttr.” It sold as an NFT for $2.9 million in 2021. The buyer later relisted it for $48 million. It received no bids. The arc of that story contains everything you need to know about NFTs.
The Boeing test pilot who rolled the 367-80 prototype in front of thousands of spectators in 1955 was named Tex Johnston. When asked why he did it, he said it was a selling maneuver. He was not wrong. Boeing sold hundreds of 707s.