TODAY IN HISTORY: French designer's morbid inspiration for the word 'bikini'

The previous smallest swimsuit had been named 'The Atom'. Réard declared that he had "split the Atom", naming the new design after the atoll where a nuclear bomb had been tested four days earlier - Bikini.

The swimsuit was considered so scandalous no model would agree to wear it.

Instead he hired a nude dancer named Micheline Bernardini to model it.

Australian Prime Minister John Curtin died of a heart attack on July 5, 1945.

A Catholic priest arrived at the Lodge to perform the last rites, but was turned away.

While nominally Catholic, Curtin refused to set foot in a church - even for weddings.

He was replaced by Frank Forde, who held the office for just seven days - the shortest term of any Australian prime minister.

Forde, the Deputy PM, was sworn in ahead of a leadership spill on July 13. Ben Chifley trounced Forde in the vote, 45 to 16.

Pioneering heart surgeon Victor Chang was shot dead on July 4, 1991, in the affluent Sydney suburb of Mosman.

Chang was gunned down in a bungled attempt to kidnap him for ransom.

Chang carried out Australia's first successful heart transplant in 1984.

He was named Australian of the Century in 1999.

Two Malaysian men were arrested and sentenced to long jail terms for the murder of Chang.

Following the surgeon's death, the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute was founded in 1994 with public and private funding.

One of the most successful hostage rescues of the modern era took place on July 4, 1976, when Israeli commandos stormed Entebbe Airport in Uganda to rescue dozens of Israeli hostages held there by a Palestinian terrorist group.

The operation involved the military unit travelling more than seven hours from Israel to Uganda to launch the rescue.

Adding to the element of surprise, the Israeli commandos who landed at Entebbe airport wore Ugandan uniforms and the lead assault element drove the same type of Mercedes that was then driven by Ugandan generals.

Seven terrorists and dozens of Ugandan soldiers were killed in the raid, as well as three hostages, but other 102 hostages were freed.

The Entebbe rescue mission was a major embarrassment for Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

One elderly female hostage, Dora Bloch, was taken to the hospital before the raid and was later killed by Amin's troops as an act of revenge.

On July 4, 1776, the United States Congress declared independence from Great Britain.

July 4 has been celebrated every year since as Independence Day, popularly called the Fourth of July.

The declaration, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and others, proclaimed that the (then) 13 American colonies were no longer subject or subordinate to the monarch of Britain, King George III, and were now united, free, and independent states.

Scottish inventor John Logie Baird demonstrated the first colour television transmission on July 3, 1928.

The demonstration was that of an eight-year-old girl trying on different coloured hats. That girl, Noele Gordon, went on to become one of British television's longest running soap stars.

Baird's colour television came only four years after he invented black and white TV.

The young man assembled the first television using an old hatbox, darning needles, bicycle light lenses, a used tea chest and sealing wax.

By 1940, Baird had also developed 3D television.

German engineer Carl Benz officially unveils the first production automobile on July 3, 1886.

About 25 of the motorised tricycles were built over a seven-year period.

Garfield was not immediately killed, but died slowly over the course of the next few months.

During that time, doctors repeatedly touched the wound with unsterilised fingers and instruments in a bid to get the bullet out.

He likely died as a result of infections from doctors' intervention.

Guiteau argued that point at his trial, saying he should be charged with shooting Garfield, but not killing him.

His lawyers tried to argue the insanity defence, but it was not accepted by the jury.