Today in history - July 23

Today is Sunday, July 23, the 204th day of 2006. There are 161 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 23, 1886, New York saloonkeeper Steve Brodie claimed to have made a daredevil plunge from the Brooklyn Bridge into the East River.

On this date:

In 1885, Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, died in Mount McGregor, N.Y., at age 63.

In 1892, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was born.

In 1904, by some accounts, the ice cream cone was invented by Charles E. Menches during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.

In 1914, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb assassin; the dispute led to World War I.

In 1945, French Marshal Henri Petain, who had headed the Vichy government during World War II, went on trial, charged with treason. (He was condemned to death, but his sentence was commuted.)

In 1951, Henri Petain died in prison.

In 1952, Egyptian military officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk I.

In 1967, rioting that claimed some 43 lives erupted in Detroit.

In 1977, a jury in Washington convicted 12 Hanafi Muslims of charges stemming from the hostage siege at three buildings the previous March.

In 1986, Britain's Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in London. (The couple divorced in 1996.)

Ten years ago: At the Atlanta Olympics, Kerri Strug made a heroic final vault despite torn ligaments in her left ankle as the U.S. women gymnasts clinched their first-ever Olympic team gold medal. The Senate passed a welfare overhaul bill.

Five years ago: Pope John Paul II urged President Bush in their first meeting, held at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, to bar creation of human embryos for medical research. Indonesian national assembly ousted President Abdurahman Wahid, electing Megawati Sukarnoputri as head of state. Negotiators from 178 nations rescued the 1997 Kyoto Protocol after marathon talks in Bonn, Germany. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Eudora Welty died in Jackson, Miss., at age 92.

One year ago: Multiple bomb blasts in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik killed at least 64 people. London police acknowledged that Jean Charles de Menezes, the man they'd shot and killed on a subway car in front of horrified commuters, had nothing to do with recent bombings on the city's transit system. Accordionist Myron Floren died in Los Angeles County at age 85.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Gloria DeHaven is 81. Actor Calvert DeForest is 78. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is 70. Actor Ronny Cox is 68. Radio personality Don Imus is 66. Country singer Tony Joe White is 63. Rock singer David Essex is 59. Actor Larry Manetti is 59. Actress Belinda Montgomery is 56. Rock musician Blair Thornton (Bachman Turner Overdrive) is 56. Actor Woody Harrelson is 45. Rock musician Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) is 45. Actor Eriq Lasalle is 44. Rock musician Yuval Gabay is 43. Rock musician Slash is 41. Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is 39. Rock musician Nick Menza is 38. Model-actress Stephanie Seymour is 38. Actress Charisma Carpenter is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sam Watters is 36. Country singer Alison Krauss is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Dalvin DeGrate is 35. Rock musician Chad Gracey (Live) is 35. Actor-comedian Marlon Wayans is 34. Country singer Shannon Brown is 33. Actor Omar Epps is 33. Baseball player Nomar Garciaparra is 33. Actress Stephanie March is 32. Country musician David Pichette (Emerson Drive) is 29. Rhythm-and-blues singer Michelle Williams is 26. Actor Daniel Radcliffe is 17.

Thought for Today: "To be proud and inaccessible is to be timid and weak." - Jean Baptiste Massillon, French clergyman (1663-1742).