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Childhood
While out walking along the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (later the Missouri Pacific Railroad) where it crosses Big River outside of Irondale (Washington County, Missouri), William Helms finds a five-day-old baby in a suitcase, evidently having been thrown from a passing train. Helms and his wife foster the child, and name him William Moses Gould Helms. Within a few months, The Rev. J.T. Barton will be inspired to write the song Ballad Of The Iron Mountain Baby, telling the story of the child. It will become a popular folk song and a new treatment of the story, entitled Sarah Jane And The Iron Mountain Baby, will be released in 2013 on the LP Love Has Come For You by Steve Martin And Edie Brickell.
Music hall star George Formby Jr records In The Congo and All Going Back, for Dominion Records in London, UK.
Blues vocalist and guitarist Smokey Hogg records I Want My Baby For Christmas and Going Back To Texas, for Specialty Records in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Too Young by Nat King Cole on Capitol Records reaches No1 in The Billboard magazine chart in the USA. It will remain at No1 for five weeks.
Schoolboy 
James Marshall Hendrix [later to become Jimi Hendrix] leaves Leschi Elementary School in Seattle, Washington, USA, because his father Al can no longer pay for their house at 2603 26th Avenue. They move to 1436 29th Avenue.
Starring tonight on tv show American Bandstand in the USA is Jerry Lee Lewis. Further down the bill, however, are Tom And Jerry singing their minor hit Hey! Schoolgirl. They will find greater success after a name change to Simon and Garfunkel.
Aspiring rock guitarist Jeff Beck leaves Wimbledon School of Art in Wimbledon, London, England, UK, Europe.Leif Per Nervik is born in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. He will find fame as 70s teen pop star Leif Garrett, but his life and career will be blighted by heroin addiction.
In Australia, Oceania, Robin and Maurice Gibb leave school. They are already playing with their older brother, Barry Gibb, in the family group, The Bee Gees.
Rag
Doll by The Four
Seasons enters the Billboard Top 40 Singles Chart in the USA on
its way to No1.
Half of the singles in the newly published Billboard Top Ten Singles Chart in the USA are by British acts.
BILLBOARD MAGAZINE - SINGLES CHART - July 4,1964
1. I GET AROUND - THE BEACH BOYS
2. My Boy Lollipop - Millie Small
3. Memphis - Johnny Rivers
4. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying - Gerry And The Pacemakers
5. People - Barbara Streisand
6. A World Without Love - Peter And Gordon
7. Chapel Of Love - The Dixie Cups
8. Rag Doll - The Four Seasons
9. Bad To Me - Billy J.Kramer And The Dakotas
10. Can't You See That She's Mine - The Dave Clark Five
1. I GET AROUND - THE BEACH BOYS
2. My Boy Lollipop - Millie Small
3. Memphis - Johnny Rivers
4. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying - Gerry And The Pacemakers
5. People - Barbara Streisand
6. A World Without Love - Peter And Gordon
7. Chapel Of Love - The Dixie Cups
8. Rag Doll - The Four Seasons
9. Bad To Me - Billy J.Kramer And The Dakotas
10. Can't You See That She's Mine - The Dave Clark Five
The Beach Boys have a recording session in Los Angeles, California, USA, working on a version of the song I'm So Young. the song was first recorded in 1958 by Cincinnati r'n'b vocal group The Students.
Doris Day, with Jimmy Joyce and the Children's Chorus, releases a new album, With A Smile And A Song, on Columbia Records in the USA.
Herman's Hermits and Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders play a benefit concert for crippled children at Kennedy Stadium, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. The show is part of a Dick Clark-promoted package tour.
Conway Twitty, with Owen Bradley as producer, records Skip A Rope, Take Me As I Am, By The Time I Get To Pheonix and Sing Me Back Home in Bradley's Barn, Bender's Ferry Road, Mount Juliet, Tennessee, USA.
The Jackson 5, including Michael Jackson's, latest album, Goin' Back to Indiana, enters the Billboard US Albums Chart, where it will peak at No16 during a 26-week run.
It is announced that 26-year-old bass guitarist Alan Longmuir is leaving teen sensations The Bay City Rollers on the grounds that he is considered too old to remain in the band. He will return to the group in 1978.
In court in California, USA, for yet another hearing, Michael Jackson's lawyer insists that Michael is innocent of all charges relating to child molestation.
Michael Jackson arrives forty minutes late at his child molestation trial in Santa Maria, California, USA, claiming that back pain has delayed him.
Antonio Cantu, chief of forensics for the US Secret Service, testifies in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial in Sanata Maria, California, USA. Cantu says it is possible that fingerprints from Jackson's accuser, found on an adult magazine, could have degraded in the year it took police to test the magazine. He says it would have been preferable for the tests to have been done immediately.Taking the witness stand in California, USA, at the Michael Jackson trial for child sexual abuse, the actor Macaulay Culkin talks of having had a special bond with Jackson when he was younger.During Michael Jackson's trial on child abuse charges in Santa Maria, California, actor Macaulay Culkin testifies, declaring that Jackson never touched him sexually in any way. He acknowledges that he did sleep in Jackson's bed, but that was only because he happened to fall asleep there.The Rev Jesse Jackson, spiritual advisor to Michael Jackson, tells reporters outside the Santa Maria, California, USA, courthouse where Jackson's child molestation trial has been heard, that the star is 'anxiously awaiting' the jury’s verdict, but is also 'amazingly optimistic'. In Santa Maria, Los Angeles, California, USA, Michael Jackson is cleared of all charges laid against him in his child molestation trial.
The Mattel toy company announces that it is to launch a range of Destiny's Child dolls, despite the fact that the group has recently announced its break-up.
Prosecutors in R. Kelly's ongoing underage sex trial in Chicago, Illinois, USA, reduce the timeframe in which the alleged sex acts took place. Judge Vincent Gaughan had stated a month earlier that their timeframe was too vague. The new timeframe still covers more than three years.
Michael Jackson's absence from his father's birthday celebrations today at the Estrel Hotel, Berlin, Germany, Europe, are explained by his brother Jermaine Jackson as being because Michael has been emotionally 'torn apart' by his recent trial on child molestation charges and "needs his rest right now".
Rock star Bryan Ferry's son, Otis Ferry, a student at Marlborough College, Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, UK, Europe, is given a one year conditional discharge at Gloucester Crown Court in Cirencester after admitting that he put a hunt monitor in fear during an incident in the Cotswolds 18 months earlier.
Actor Mark Lester, a close friend of Michael Jackson, claims in a News Of The World interview that he was the sperm-donor responsible for the birth of Jackson's daughter Paris.
It is announced that all of Bob Dylan's international royalties from his forthcoming album, Christmas In The Heart, will be donated to the World Food Programme and Crisis UK in perpetuity. Over the next Christmas period, Dylan's donations will provide 500,000 meals to school children in the developing world and 15,000 meals to homeless people in the United Kingdom through Crisis.
Guardianship of seventeen year old Frances Bean Cobain is awarded to Wendy O'Connor and Kimberly Dawn Cobain, the mother and sister of Frances' late Nirvana frontman father Kurt Cobain. Frances is, by this decision, removed from the custody of Cobain's wife Courtney Love.
It is reported that officials at Child AbuseWatch.net, a leading U.S. children's charity, are angered that The Who has been scheduled to play a 2010 Super Bowl half-time show in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA, because of Pete Townshend's 2003 arrest on suspicion of possessing child pornography.
While in Derby, England, UK, Europe, to launch her Miley And Max clothing collection for George at Asda, Miley Cyrus pays an unannounced vsit to Silverhill Primary School, making a surprise appearance at the school assembly.
Country music singer Mindy McCready and her young son Zander are found hiding together in a home in Heber Springs, Arkansas, USA. Three days earlier, McCready had removed Zander from her perents' house in Cape Coral, Florida, USA.
Ed Sheeran turns up unannounced for the Annual Summer Concert at his former school, Brandeston Hall, Brandeston, Suffolk, England, UK, Europe.
Ed Sheeran is named an official ambassador for East Anglia's Children's Hospices, during a visit to The Treehouse, Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK, Europe. The charity supports youngsters with life-shortening illnesses and their families. During the visit, Sheeran takes part in a Music Therapy session.
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It is reported that the remaining members of Lostprophets are forming a new, but as yet un-named, band. Lostprophets split in 2013 after frontman Ian Watkins was jailed for 35 years on child sex offences.It is reported that convicted paedophile Rolf Harris has written a song while in jail criticising his victims and describing them in insulting terms. The lawyers for his victims have now called for Harris to be denied parole.
It is announced that Billy Joel has pledged $1m to help prevent Long Island High School For The Arts from closing, on condition that the education authorities commit to keeping it open for three years.
Singer Halsey pledges $1 for every re-tweet of her Twitter message of support for the Planned Parenthood organisation. The message is shared 100,000 times and the 22-year-old donates $100,000 to the organisation.
It is announced in Southwark Crown Court, London, England, UK, Europe, that entertainer and hit-maker Rolf Harris will not give evidence at his second trial for sex offences as he would only be able to tell jurors that he "cannot remember" being at the places where he is alleged to have carried out those offences. Harris is following proceedings at the court via video-link from prison.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) reports that officers of South Wales Police made 'errors and omissions' and in some instances failed to 'carry out even rudimentary investigation' in the case of paedophile rock star Ian Watkins of the band Lost Prophets. Watkins was jailed for 29 years in December 2013 for a string of child-related sex offences.
Justin Timberlake tells Zane Lowe during a Beats 1 Radio interview in the UK, that he would like to have as many children as he and his wife Jessica Biel can.
Speaking at a press conference in New York City, USA, Sir Elton John announces that he plans to retire from touring, after his next tour (Farewell Yellow Brick Road), in order to spend more time with his children, Zachary and Eiljah, and with his husband David Furnish.It is revealed during a hearing at the Crown Court, Leeds, England, UK, Europe, that disgraced former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins hid a three inch long white GTSTAR mobile phone inside his anus so prison officers at HMP Wakefield wouldn't find it. He agreed to give up the phone in order to be allowed to meet with his mother.
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