Thursday, July 23, 1693

The English-Irish boy band One Direction (pictured) were formed while auditioning for the 2010 series of the British singing competition The X Factor.

Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in (pictured) as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment.

Forty-seven people were arrested in Tulia, Texas, for dealing cocaine; 35 of them were pardoned by the governor of Texas years later.

Hale–Bopp, one of the most widely observed comets of the 20th century, was independently discovered by astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp.

Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America, was forced to resign after the magazine Penthouse published nude photos of her without consent.

A helicopter crashed during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie in Valencia, California, killing actor Vic Morrow and two child actors.

A shootout between police and a Black power group began in Cleveland, Ohio, sparking three days of rioting.

The Holocaust: The gas chambers at Treblinka extermination camp began operation, killing 6,500 Jews who had been transported from the Warsaw Ghetto the day before.

Bulgarian poet and communist activist Nikola Vaptsarov was executed by firing squad.

Sumner Welles, U.S. Under Secretary of State, issued a declaration that the U.S. government would not recognize the Soviet Union's annexation of the Baltic states.

Wilfred Rhodes of England and Yorkshire became the only person to play in 1,000 first-class cricket matches.

The first National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party opened in a house in Shanghai.