5 July It Happened Today

1755  Birth of English actress Sarah Siddons.

1810  Birth of American showman Phineas Barnum.

1826  Death of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, English founder of Singapore.

1975  Arthur Ashe becomes the first black men’s singles champion at Wimbledon.

1975  The Cape Verde Islands gain independence from Portugal.

1989  Colonel Oliver North is fined $150000 and given a suspended prison sentence for his part in the Iran-Contra scandal.