A Day In History

June

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In 1495 -- First written record of Scotch Whiskey appears in Exchequer Rolls of Scotland. Friar John Cor is the distiller.
In 1638 -- First earthquake recorded in US, at Plymouth, Mass.
In 1845 -- Homing pigeon completes 11,000 km trip (Namibia-London) in 55 days.
In 1915 -- First Zeppelin air raid over England.
In 1926 -- Andy Griffith Mount Airy NC, actor (Andy Griffith Show, Matlock), born.
In 1926 -- Marilyn Monroe [Norma Jean Baker], actress (Some Like It Hot), born.
In 1930 -- Edward Woodward England, actor (Breaker Morant, Equalizer), born.
In 1937 -- Morgan Freeman actor (Driving Mrs. Daisy), born.
In 1938 -- Superman Comics launched.
In 1958 -- Charles de Gaulle becomes premier of France.
In 1959 -- Constitution of Tunisia promulgated (National Day).
In 1963 -- King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, becomes Emperor of Ethiopia.
In 1968 -- Helen Keller blind & deaf, dies at 87.
In 1980 -- Ted Turner's Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting

2nd

In 1491 -- Henry VIII, King of England (1509-47), born.
In 1740 -- Marquis de Sade, 1st known sadist, writer (Justine), born.
In 1835 -- St Pius X, 257th Roman Catholic pope (1903-14), born.
In 1835 -- P. T. Barnum & his circus begin 1st tour of US.
In 1840 -- Thomas Hardy, England, poet/novelist (Mayor of Casterbridge), born.
In 1904 -- John Weissmuller, actor (Tarzan)/100m swimmer (Olympic-gold-1924, 28), born.
In 1936 -- Sally Kellerman, Long Beach Cal, actress (M*A*S*H, Back to School), born.
In 1940 -- Constantine II, deposed king of Greece (-1967), born.
In 1941 -- Charlie Watts, drummer (Rolling Stones), born.
In 1944 -- Marvin Hamlisch, US composer/pianist (The Sting, Chorus Line), born.
In 1946 -- Italian people chooses republic over monarchy (National Day).
In 1948 -- Jerry Mathers, Sioux City Iowa, actor (Beaver-Leave It To Beaver), born.
In 1953 -- Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey.
In 1955 -- Dana Carvey, comedian (Sat Night Live, Wayne's World), born.
In 1979 -- John Paul II becomes 1st pope to visit a communist country (Poland).
In 1987 -- Andres Segovia Spanish guitarist, dies at 94.
In 1989 -- Ten thousand Chinese soldiers are blocked by one hundred thousand citizens protecting students demonstrating for democracy in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
In 1990 -- Rex Harrison, actor famous for "Doctor Doolittle" and "My Fair Lady", dies at 82 from cancer.

3rd

In 1539 -- Hernando De Soto claims the US state of Florida for Spain.
In 1621 -- Dutch West India Company receives charter for "New Netherlands".
In 1864 -- Ransom Eli Olds, auto (Oldsmobile) and truck (REO) manufacturer, born.
In 1911 -- Paulette Goddard, born.
In 1925 -- Tony Curtis, actor, born.
In 1926 -- Allen Ginsberg, poet, born.
In 1934 -- Dr. Frederick Banting, co-discoverer of insulin, knighted.
In 1937 -- Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor married Wallis Warfield Simpson in France.
In 1942 -- Battle of Midway turning point in war in Pacific began.
In 1942 -- Curtis Mayfield, musician, born.
In 1949 -- "Dragnet" is first broadcast on radio (KFI in Los Angeles).
In 1950 -- Suzi Quatro (in Detroit, Michigan), musician, born.
In 1965 -- Gemini IV is launched. Ed White first American to walk in space.
In 1966 -- Gemini IX is launched.
In 1969 -- Australian aircraft carrier "Melbourne" slices US destroyer "Frank E Evans" in half, killing 74. (South Vietnam).
In 1976 -- U.S. presented with oldest known copy of the Magna Carta.
In 1980 -- The crew of Soyuz 36 returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 35.
In 1981 -- Pope John Paul II gets out of hospital after attempt on life.
In 1989 -- Chinese government puts down student democracy protest in Beijing ... thousands die in Tiananmen Square.

4th

In 1738 -- George III of England, king, born.
In 1647 -- British army seizes King Charles I as a prisoner.
In 1896 -- Henry takes his first Ford through the streets of Detroit. The road test of the is delayed an hour because the car is wider than the door of the shed in which it is built.
In 1940 -- British complete miracle of Dunkirk by evacuating 300,000 troops.
In 1942 -- Battle of Midway begins. First naval battle won in the air.
In 1944 -- Rome liberated from the Fascist armies of Mussolini.
In 1944 -- First submarine captured and boarded on high seas - U 505.
In 1956 -- Speech by Khrushchev blasting Stalin made public.
In 1957 -- First commercial coal pipeline placed in operation.
In 1982 -- Israel attacks targets in southern Lebanon.
In 1986 -- Jonathan Pollard spy for Israel pleads guilty.
In 1989 -- Ayatollah Khomeini (86) dies from complications due to surgery leading to days of loud, hysterical mourning.
In 1989 -- The Chinese Army eschews moderation and greets protesting students in Beijing's Tiananmen Square with tanks and guns. Hundreds of students are killed.
In 1989 -- In Siberia, two trains pass each other in a valley filled with natural gas from a leaking pipeline. The gas explodes and hundreds are killed.

5th

In 1723 -- Adam Smith (in Kirkcaldy, Scotland), economist, born.
In 1783 -- Joseph Jaques Montgolfier becomes the first to fly (10 minute) in a hot-air balloon.
In 1833 -- Ada Lovelace (future first computer programmer) meets Charles Babbage.
In 1849 -- Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy.
In 1875 -- Pacific Stock Exchange formally opens.
In 1883 -- John Maynard Keynes (in Cambridge, England), another economist, born.
In 1900 -- Dennis Gabor, inventor of holography (3D laser photography), born.
In 1940 -- Battle of France begins in WW II.
In 1940 -- First synthetic rubber tire exhibited Akron, OH.
In 1944 -- First B-29 bombing raid one plane lost; engine failure.
In 1967 -- Israel, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt begin Six-Day War.
In 1968 -- Senator Robert F. Kennedy assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles (by Sirhan Sirhan) after winning the Democratic Primary.
In 1975 -- Suez Canal reopens (after 6 Day War caused it to close).
In 1977 -- Revolution in the Seychelles Islands.
In 1980 -- Soyuz T-2 is launched.

6th

In 1809 -- Sweden's constitution adopted.
In 1844 -- The Young Men's Christian Association founded in London.
In 1925 -- Walter Percy Chrysler founded the Chrysler Corporation.
In 1933 -- First drive-in theatre opens, in Camden, New Jersey.
In 1935 -- Dalai Lama, religious leader, born.
In 1940 -- Tom Jones, singer, born.
In 1942 -- Japanese forces retreated in the World War II Battle of Midway.
In 1942 -- First nylon parachute jump Hartford Ct Adeline Gray.
In 1944 -- D-Day. Invasion of Europe; Allies storm Normandy, France.
In 1946 -- Henry Morgan is first to take off shirt on TV.
In 1956 -- Bjorn Borg, tennis player, born.
In 1955 -- Sandra Bernhard, actress, born.
In 1966 -- Gemini IX returns to Earth.
In 1982 -- Israel invades Lebanon to drive out the PLO.
In 1984 -- 1,200 die in Sikh "Golden Temple" uprising India.
In 1985 -- Body of Dr. Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal, located and exhumed.
In 2012 -- Transit of Venus (between Earth and Sun) will occur.

7th

In 1583 -- Gregory XIII, pope, born.
In 1654 -- Louis XIV crowned King of France.
In 1778 -- Beau Brummel, English Dandy, man of fashion, born.
In 1848 -- Paul Gauguin, French post-impressionist painter, born.
In 1909 -- Jessica Tandy (in London, England), actor (Driving Miss Daisy, Cocoon), born.
In 1922 -- Rocky Graziano, pugilist, born.
In 1929 -- Vatican City becomes a sovereign state.
In 1948 -- Communists take over Czechoslovakia.
In 1953 -- First color network telecast in compatible color Boston, MA.
In 1958 -- Prince, musician, born.
In 1965 -- Gemini IV returns to Earth.
In 1967 -- Israel captures Wailing Wall.
In 1972 -- German Chancellor Willy Brandt visits Israel.
In 1981 -- Israel destroys alleged Iraqi plutonium production facility.
In 1982 -- Pres Reagan meets with Pope John Paul II and Queen Elizabeth.
In 1989 -- For one second this morning, the time is 01:23:45, 6-7-89.

8th

In 452 -- Italy invaded by Attila the Hun.
In 536 -- St. Silverius begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 570 -- Religion of Islam (submission) founded in Mecca.
In 632 -- Mohammed prophet of Islam (Koran), dies (according to tradition).
In 1625 -- Giovanni Domenico Cassini discovered 4 satellites of Saturn.
In 1783 -- Laki Volcano in southern Iceland begins 8-month eruption.
In 1786 -- First commercially-made ice cream sold (NY).
In 1809 -- Thomas Paine writer (Age of Reason, Common Sense), dies at 72.
In 1815 -- Thirty-nine German states unite under the Act of Confederation.
In 1824 -- Washing machine patented by Noah Cushing of Quebec.
In 1928 -- First US-to-Australia flight lands (Sir Charles Kingford-Smith).
In 1933 -- Joan Rivers Brooklyn, comedian (The Late Show, Hollywood Squares), born.
In 1940 -- Nancy Sinatra Jersey City, singer, (These boots were made for walking), born.
In 1940 -- Discovery of element 93, neptunium, announced.
In 1958 -- Keenen Ivory Wayans comedian (In Living Color), born.
In 1960 -- Mike Hucknall, singer (Simply Red-Every Time We Say Goodbye), born.
In 1986 -- Alleged Nazi Kurt Waldheim elected pres of Austria.
In 2004 -- Transit of Venus (between Earth & Sun) occurs.

9th

In 0068 -- Nero, Roman Emperor commits suicide.
In 1456 -- Twenty-third recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
In 1640 -- Leopold I, Emperor of Holy Roman Empire, born.
In 1781 -- George Stephenson, inventor (principal RR locomotive), born.
In 1870 -- Charles Dickens, author, dies in England.
In 1893 -- Cole Porter, composer/lyricist (Anything Goes, Kiss Me Kate), born.
In 1898 -- China leases Hong Kong's new territories to Britain for 99 years.
In 1915 -- Les Paul, Waukesha Wisconsin, U.S.A., guitarist/inventor (Les Paul guitar), born.
In 1934 -- Donald Duck, famous fowl, born.
In 1940 -- Norway surrenders to Germany during WW II.
In 1961 -- Michael J Fox, Edmonton, Canada, actor (Family Ties, Back to the Future, Spin City), born.
In 1963 -- Johnny Depp, actor, born.
In 1977 -- Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth celebrated with fireworks.
In 1978 -- Gutenberg Bible (1 of 21) sells for $2.4 million, London.
In 1989 -- "Star Trek V" premiers.
In 1997 -- British lease on New Territories in Hong Kong expires.

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10th

In 1610 -- First Dutch settlers arrive (from NJ), to colonize Manhattan Island.
In 1692 -- Bridget Bishop became the first person hanged for witchcraft, during the ordeal known to history as the 'Salem Witch Trials.' In all, 20 people died before theological jurisprudence was restored in this isolated Puritan community in Massachusetts.
In 1801 -- Tripoli declares war on US for refusing tribute.
In 1836 -- Yamaoka Tesshu Japanese swordsman, master of kendo, born.
In 1854 -- George F. B. Reiman proposes that space is curved.
In 1903 -- King Alexander I & Queen Dragia of Serbia are assassinated.
In 1916 -- Great Arab Revolt begin.
In 1921 -- Prince Philip Mountbatten, Greece, current Duke of Edinburgh, born.
In 1922 -- Judy Garland [Frances Gumm], Michigan, U.S.A., actress/singer (Wizard of Oz), born.
In 1924 -- Giacomo Matteotti Italian socialist deputy, assassinated by fascists.
In 1928 -- Maurice Sendak, NYC, author/illustrator (Where The Wild Things Are), born.
In 1934 -- Italy beats Czechoslovakia 2-1 (OT) in soccer's 2nd World Cup at Rome.
In 1940 -- Italy declares war on France & Britain during WW II.
In 1941 -- Marcus Garvey dies at 52 in London England.
In 1942 -- Massacre at Lidice (Czechoslovakia) Gestapo kills 173.
In 1957 -- Harold MacMillan becomes British PM.
In 1967 -- Israel, Syria, Jordan, Iraq & Egypt end "6-Day War" with UN help.
In 1977 -- Apple Computer ships its 1st Apple II.
In 1982 -- Israeli troops reach outskirts of Beirut.
In 1984 -- US missile shot down an incoming missile in space for 1st time.
In 1985 -- Claus von Bulow acquitted on charges he tried to murder his wife.

11th

In 1770 -- Captain Cook runs aground on Australian Great Barrier Reef.
In 1776 -- John Constable (in England), painter, born.
In 1864 -- Richard Strauss (in Germany), composer, born.
In 1867 -- Charles Fabry, discovered the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere, born.
In 1895 -- First known auto race.
In 1910 -- Jacques Yves Cousteau (in France), marine explorer, born.
In 1918 -- Nelson Mandela, South African civil rights leader & politician, born.
In 1935 -- Gene Wilder, comedic actor, born.
In 1939 -- Jackie Stewart, race-car driver, Ford spokesperson, born.
In 1937 -- Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races" released.
In 1942 -- US and USSR sign Lend-Lease agreement during World War II.
In 1982 -- Israel and Syria stop fighting in Lebanon.
In 1982 -- Movie "E T: The Extra-Terrestrial" released in America.

12th

In 1819 -- Charles Kingsley (in England), author, born.
In 1898 -- Philippine nationalists declared their independence from Spain. Philippine Independence day
In 1915 -- David Rockefeller, International Power Broker, born.
In 1919 -- Uta Hagen, born.
In 1923 -- Harry Houdini frees himself from a straitjacket while suspended upside down, 40 feet above the ground.
In 1924 -- George Herbert Walker Bush, former President of the United States, born.
In 1929 -- Anne Frank, diarist, born.
In 1932 -- Jim Nabors, actor (Gomer Pyle, USMC; Mayberry RFD), singer, born.
In 1937 -- USSR executes 8 army leaders as Stalin's purge continued.
In 1964 -- Nelson Mandela begins a long jail term in South Africa.
In 1972 -- John Lennon's political "Sometime in NYC" released including "Woman is the Nigger of the World", "Attica State", and "Luck of the Irish".
In 1986 -- P. W. Botha declares South African national emergency.
In 1991 -- Chicago Bulls win their first NBA championship in a 4-1 series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

13th

In 323 B.C. -- Alexander the Great dies of fever at Babylon.
In 40 -- Gnaeus Julius Agricola Roman general; conquered Wales and Northern England, born.
In 823 -- Charles II (the Bald) king of France (843-77), emperor (875-77), born.
In 1373 -- Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Alliance (world's oldest) signed.
In 1752 -- Fanny Burney, England, author (Camille, Evelina), born.
In 1773 -- Thomas Young proponent of the wave theory of light, born.
In 1863 -- Samuel Butler publishes 1st part of "Erewhon", Christchurch, N.Z..
In 1865 -- William Butler Yeats Ireland, poet (Wild Swans at Coole-Nobel 1923), born.
In 1886 -- King Ludwig II of Bavaria drowns.
In 1900 -- China's Boxer Rebellion against foreigners and Christians.
In 1940 -- Paris evacuated before the German advance.
In 1944 -- Nazi Germany begins V-1 (Fieseler Fi-103) buzz-bomb attacks.
In 1970 -- Beatles' "Let It Be", album goes #1 and stays #1 for 4 weeks, Beatles' "Long & Winding Road", single goes #1 and stays #1 for 2 weeks.
In 1980 -- UN Security Council calls for South Africa to free Nelson Mandela.
In 1981 -- Teenager fires 6 blanks at Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1981 -- Tom Snyder interviews Charles Manson on "Tomorrow".
In 1982 -- Fahd becomes king of Saudi Arabia when King Khalid dies at 69.
In 1982 -- King Khalid of Saudi Arabia, dies at 69.
In 1986 -- Benny Goodman the clarinet playing King of Swing, dies in NY at 77.
In 1892 -- Basil Rathbone Johannesburg S Africa, actor (Sherlock Holmes), born.
In 1893 -- Dorothy L Sayers England, novelist (9 Taylors), born.
In 1983 -- Pioneer 10 becomes 1st man-made object to leave Solar System.
In 1986 -- Pres. Reagan criticizes South African state of emergency.
In 1990 -- Boeing 767 sets nonstop commercial flight distance record, Seattle, U.S.A. to Nairobi, Kenya.

14th

In 1864 -- Alois Alzheimer Germany, psychiatrist/pathologist (Alzheimer Disease), born.
In 1834 -- Hardhat diving suit patented by Leonard Norcross, Dixfield, Maine
In 1834 -- Sandpaper patented by Isaac Fischer Jr., Springfield, Vermont
In 1841 -- First Canadian parliament opens in Kingston, Ontario
In 1847 -- Bunson invents a gas burner. Lab teachers celebrate worldwide.
In 1909 -- Burl Ives Hunt Ill, folk singer/actor (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), born.
In 1935 -- Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay ends
In 1942 -- Walt Disney's "Bambi" is released
In 1944 -- First B-29 raid against mainland Japan
In 1946 -- Donald Trump master builder (Trump Towers/Plaza/Castle), born.
In 1949 -- State of Vietnam formed
In 1951 -- First commercial computer, UNIVAC 1, enters service at Census Bureau
In 1961 -- Boy George, androgynous rock musician (Culture Club), born.
In 1967 -- Launch of Mariner V for Venus fly-by
In 1967 -- USSR launches Kosmos 166 for observation of Sun from Earth orbit
In 1969 -- Steffi Graf, West Germany, tennis player (Grand Slam 1988), born.
In 1982 -- Argentina surrenders to Britain on Falkland Is, ends 74-day conflict
In 1985 -- Lebanese Shiite Moslem gunmen hijack TWA 847 after Athens' takeoff
In 2160 -- Montgomery Edward Scott Aberdeen, Scotland (Star Trek's Scotty), born.

15th

In 763 B.C. -- Assyrians record total solar eclipse event on clay tablet.
In 1215 -- King John signs Magna Carta at Runnymede, England.
In 1330 -- Edward the black prince, prince of Wales (1343-1376), born.
In 1649 -- Margaret Jones of Charlestown became the first person tried and executed for witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts.
In 1785 -- Two French balloonists die in world's 1st fatal aviation accident.
In 1843 -- Edvard Grieg, Bergen Norway, composer, born.
In 1844 -- Goodyear patents vulcanization of rubber.
In 1851 -- Jacob Fussell, Baltimore dairyman, sets up 1st ice-cream factory.
In 1869 -- Celluloid patented by John Wesley Hyatt, Albany, NY.
In 1878 -- First attempt at motion pictures (used 12 cameras, each taking 1 picture) done to see if all 4 of a horse's hooves leave the ground.
In 1924 -- Ford Motor Company manufactures its 10 millionth automobile.
In 1940 -- French fortress of Verdun captured by Germans.
In 1954 -- Jim Belushi, Chicago Ill, comedian (Sat Night Live, Trading Places), born.
In 1956 -- John Lennon (15) & Paul McCartney (13) meet for the 1st time as Lennon's rock group The Quarrymen perform at a church dinner.
In 1960 -- Argentina complains to UN about Israeli illicit transfer of Eichman.
In 1963 -- Helen Hunt, LA California actress (Mad About You), born.
In 1964 -- Courtney Cox Birmingham Ala, actress (Monica on Friends), born.
In 1978 -- Jordan's King Hussein marries Elizabeth Halaby, 26-yr-old American.
In 1982 -- Riots in Argentina after Falklands/Malvinas defeat.
In 1985 -- En route to Halley's Comet, USSR's Vega 2 drops lander on Venus.
In 1986 -- Pravda announces high-level Chernobyl staff fired for stupidity.
In 1989 -- Ronald Reagan is knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

16th

In 1216 -- Innocent III pope, dies at 54.
In 1567 -- Mary Queen of Scots thrown into Lochleven Castle prison.
In 1879 -- Gilbert & Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore" debuts at Bowery Theatre NYC.
In 1895 -- Stan Laurel comedian (Laurel & Hardy), born.
In 1922 -- Henry Berliner demonstrates his helicopter to US Bureau of Aeronautics.
In 1937 -- Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races" opens in LA.
In 1940 -- Communist govt. installed in Lithuania.
In 1944 -- Takamiyama [Jesse Kuhaulua] Hawaii, 1st non-Japanese sumo champion, born.
In 1948 -- Brian Eno rocker (Here Comes the Warm Jets), born.
In 1955 -- Pope Pius XII ex-communicated Argentine President Juan Peron.
In 1961 -- Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects to West in Paris.
In 1977 -- Leonid Brezhnev named president of USSR.
In 1982 -- Britain requests Argentina arrange for return of prisoners.
1991 Boris Yeltsin elected president of Russian SSR.

17th

In 1579 -- Sir Francis Drake lands on the coast of California.
In 1870 -- George Cormack, the inventor of "Wheaties" cereal
In 1882 -- Igor Stravinsky, composer (Firebird Suite, The Rite of Spring)
In 1885 -- Statue of Liberty arrived in NYC aboard the French ship `Isere'.
In 1917 -- Dean Martin, singer, actor
In 1946 -- Barry Manilow, singer, jingle writer (Like a Good Neighbor...)
In 1937 -- Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races" opens in NY.
In 1940 -- France asks Germany for terms of surrender in WW II.
In 1942 -- First American expeditionary force to land in Africa (WW II).
In 1944 -- Republic of Iceland proclaimed at Thingvallir, Iceland.
In 1972 -- Arrest of burglars starts the Watergate affair.
In 1982 -- President Galtieri resigns in Argentina.
In 1982 -- Ronald Reagan's "evil empire" speech.
In 1985 -- Eighteenth Space Shuttle Mission - Discovery 5 is launched.

18th

In 1583 -- Richard Martin of London takes out the first life insurance policy, on William Gibbons. The premium is 383 pounds.
In 1812 -- War of 1812 begins as US declares war against Britain.
In 1815 -- Battle of Waterloo -- British and Prussians defeat Napoleon.
In 1873 -- Susan B. Anthony fined $100 for attempting to vote for President.
In 1877 -- James Montgomery Flagg, illustrator, best known for his "I want you" Uncle Sam recruiting poster
In 1928 -- Amelia Earhart is first woman to cross the Atlantic.
In 1940 -- Winston Churchill urged perseverance so that future generations would remember that "this was their finest hour."
In 1942 -- Paul McCartney, musician (Wings, Beatles)
In 1952 -- Isabella Rossellini, actor (Blue Velvet)
In 1953 -- Egypt proclaimed a republic.
In 1975 -- Saudi Prince Faisal Ibn Mussed Abdul Aziz beheaded in Riyadh shopping center parking lot for killing his uncle the king.
In 1977 -- Space Shuttle test model the "Enterprise" carries a crew aloft for the first time. It was fixed to a modified Boeing 747.
In 1981 -- Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart retires. (replaced by Sandra Day O'Connor first woman on the high court).
In 1983 -- Seventh Shuttle Mission (Challenger 2) launched. Sally Ride is the first U.S. woman in space.

19th

In 1623 -- Blaise Pascal, mathematician, born.
In 1862 -- Slavery is abolished in the US territories.
In 1867 -- Mexico's deposed emperor Maximilian is executed.
In 1886 -- Duchess of Windsor, famous divorcee, born.
In 1917 -- After WW I King George V ordered members of British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames. They took the name Windsor.
In 1943 -- Malcolm McDowell, actor, born.
In 1954 -- Kathleen Turner, actress, born.
In 1962 -- Paula Abdul, singer, born.
In 1963 -- Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space, returns to earth.
In 1970 -- Soyuz 9 returns to Earth.
In 1977 -- Pope Paul VI makes 19th-cent bishop John Neumann first US male saint.
In 1978 -- Garfield, famous cat (big fat hairy deal), born.
In 1986 -- Artificial heart recipient Murray P. Haydon died in Louisville, KY.

20th

In 1402 -- Battle of Angora (Ankara)-Tatars defeat Turkish Army.
In 1791 -- King Louis XVI caught trying to escape French Revolution.
In 1837 -- Queen Victoria at 18 ascends British throne following death of uncle King William IV. She ruled for 63 years until 1901.
In 1837 -- King William IV of England, dies.
In 1899 -- Jean Moulin hero of the French Resistance during WW II, born.
In 1909 -- Errol Flynn actor (Captain Blood, Robin Hood, Against All Flags), born.
In 1920 -- DeForest Kelley, Atlanta GA, actor (Dr Leonard McCoy-Star Trek), born.
In 1924 -- Audie Murphy, Kingston TX, WWII hero/actor (Destry, Joe Butterfly), born.
In 1924 -- Chet Atkins Luttrell Tennessee, guitarist (Me & My Guitar), born.
In 1936 -- U.S. sprinter, Jesse Owens sets 100 meter record at 10.2 seconds.
In 1952 -- John Goodman actor (Roseanne, Everyone's All American), born.
In 1960 -- Federation of Mali (& Senegal) becomes independent of France.
In 1967 -- Muhammad Ali convicted of refusing induction into armed services.

21st

In 1633 -- Galileo Galilei is forced by Inquisition to "abjure, curse, & detest" his Copernican heliocentric views (eg. That the earth went around the sun and not the other way around).
In 1887 -- Britain celebrates golden jubilee of Queen Victoria.
In 1893 -- First Ferris wheel premieres (Chicago's Columbian Exposition).
In 1905 -- Jean-Paul Sartre, France, philosopher/writer (Nobel 1964; declined), born.
In 1919 -- Germans scuttle their own fleet.
In 1921 -- Jane Russell, actress full-figured gal (The Outlaw), born.
In 1942 -- Rommel takes Tobruk in North Africa.
In 1945 Japanese forces on Okinawa surrender to US during WW II.
In 1948 -- First stored computer program run, on Manchester Mark I.
In 1948 -- Dr Peter Goldmark of CBS demonstrates "long playing record", Columbia commits to 33 1/3 rpm records, plans to phase out 78's.
In 1953 -- Benazir Bhutto 1st female leader of a Moslem nation (Pakistan), born.
In 1963 -- Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) succeeds John XXIII.
In 1982 -- Prince William of Wales, second in line to English throne (Son of Prince Charles), born.
In 1989 -- Melanie Griffith & Don Johnson remarry.
In 1990 -- Twenty-five thousand die in Iranian Earthquake.
In 1990 -- Little Richard gets a star on Hollywood's walk of fame.

22nd

In 816 -- Stephen IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 1675 -- Royal Greenwich Observatory established in England by Charles II.
In 1772 -- Slavery outlawed in England.
In 1815 -- Second abdication of Napoleon (after Waterloo).
In 1847 -- First Doughnut created.
In 1858 -- Giacomo Puccini Italy, operatic composer (Madama Butterfly), born.
In 1874 -- Howard Staunton world chess champion, designer of chess pieces, dies.
In 1887 -- Sir Julian Huxley London, biologist/philosopher, Darwin's Bulldog, born.
In 1903 -- John Dillinger one of America's Most Wanted, born.
In 1906 -- Billy Wilder movie director (Some Like It Hot, Apartment, Stalag 17), born.
In 1911 -- King George V of England crowned.
In 1936 -- Kris Kristofferson singer/actor (Amerika, Millenium), born.
In 1936 -- Harry Froboess dives 110 m from airship into Bodensee & survives.
In 1941 -- Germany declares war on Soviet Union during WW II.
In 1949 -- Lindsay Wagner LA Ca, actress (Bionic Woman, Paper Chase, Nighthawks), born.
In 1949 -- Meryl Streep NJ, actress (French Lieutenant's Woman, Sophie's Choice), born.
In 1965 -- David O Selznick Gone With the Wind's producer, dies at 63.
In 1969 -- Judy Garland singer/actress, dies in London at 47.
In 1969 -- Aretha Franklin arrested in Detroit for creating a disturbance.
In 1977 -- Walt Disney's "The Rescuers" released.
In 1978 -- James Christy's discovery of Pluto's moon Charon announced.
In 1987 -- Fred Astaire actor/dancer, dies at Century City Hospital in LA at 88

23rd

In 1846 -- George Sax inventor (the saxophone), born.
In 1868 -- Christopher Latham Sholes patents "Type-writer"
In 1894 -- Alfred Kinsey entomologist/sexologist (Kinsey Report), born.
In 1894 -- Duke of Windsor [King Edward VIII of England] (briefly in 1936), born.
In 1902 -- Dr Howard T Engstrom Boston, a designer of Univac computer, born.
In 1912 -- Alan Turing mathematician pioneer in computer theory (Turing Machine), born.
In 1970 -- Rocker Chubby Checker arrest for marijuana procession.
In 1972 -- Nixon & Haldeman agree to use CIA to cover up Watergate.
In 1975 -- Rocker Alice Cooper falls of stage in Vancouver, breaks 6 ribs.
In 1989 -- The movie "Batman" premiers.

24th

In 1842 -- Ambrose Bierce, cynic
In 1895 -- Jack Dempsey, boxer (The Manassa Mauler)
In 1942 -- Mick Fleetwood, musician
In 1944 -- Jeff Beck, musician
In 1314 -- Scotland, under King Robert I, defeats England.
In 1509 -- Henry VIII becomes King of England.
In 1947 -- First reported sighting of Flying Saucers, near Mt. Rainier, Washington by Kenneth Arnold of Boise, Idaho.
In 1948 -- The Berlin Blockade and Berlin Airlift begin.
In 1949 -- Cargo airlines first licensed by US Civil Aeronautics Board.
In 1949 -- Hopalong Cassidy becomes first network western.
In 1975 -- One hundred thirteen killed in Eastern Boeing 727 crash at JFK airport.
In 1977 -- IRS reveals Jimmy Carter paid no taxes in 1976.
In 1982 -- Soyuz T-6 is launched.
In 1982 -- The Equal Rights Amendment goes down to defeat.
In 1983 -- Seventh Space Shuttle Mission (Challenger 2) returns to Earth
In 1985 -- Eighteenth Space Shuttle Mission (Discovery 5) returns to Earth.

25th

In 1178 -- Five Canterbury monks report something exploding on the Moon (only known observation). These monks have NO winery of their own.
In 1630 -- The Fork is introduced to American dining by Gov. Winthrop.
In 1835 -- Pueblo founded with construction of first building (start of Yerba Buena, later to be called San Francisco).
In 1876 -- First public display of the telephone at the Philedelphia Exhibition.
In 1894 -- Hermann Oberth, founder of modern astronautics
In 1906 -- Architect Stanford White shot dead atop Madison Square Garden, which he designed, by Harry Thaw, the jealous husband of Evelyn Nesbit. During Thaw's trial, he tried to plead 'brainstorming' (temporary insanity).
In 1919 -- First flight Junkers F13 advanced monoplane airliner.
In 1929 -- Pres. Hoover authorizes the building of Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam).
In 1941 -- Finland declares war on the USSR.
In 1942 -- British RAF staged a thousand-bomb raid on Bremen Germany (WW II).
In 1942 -- Willis Reed, basketball player
In 1945 -- Carly Simon (in New York City), singer
In 1949 -- Phyllis George (in Denton, Texas), commentator, former Miss America
In 1949 -- Jimmie Walker, comedian, born.
In 1950 -- Korean Conflict begins; North Korea invades South Korea.
In 1951 -- First color TV broadcast - CBS' Arthur Godfrey from NYC. Four cities see the show in color.
In 1953 -- First passenger to fly commercially around the world in less than 100 hours.
In 1963 -- George Michael (in England), singer, born.
In 1973 -- John Dean begins testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee.

26th

In 684 -- St Benedict II begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 1483 -- Richard III usurps English throne.
In 1819 -- Abner Doubleday, credited with inventing American baseball, born.
In 1824 -- William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, engineer/mathematician/physicist, born.
In 1904 -- Peter Lorre, actor (M, Casablanca, Beast with 5 Fingers, voice over for Twilight Zone), born.
In 1909 -- Col. Tom Parker Elvis Presley's manager, born.
In 1940 -- End of USSR experimental calendar; Gregorian readopted 6/27.
In 1941 -- Finland enters WW II against Russia.
In 1945 -- UN Charter signed by 50 nations in SF.
In 1948 -- US denounces Soviet blockade of Berlin.
In 1949 -- Walter Baade discovers asteroid Icarus inside orbit of Mercury.
In 1955 -- Mick Jones rocker (The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite), born.
In 1960 -- British Somaliland (now Somalia) gains independence from Britain.
In 1960 -- Madagascar gains independence from France (National Day).
In 1964 -- Beatles release "A Hard Day's Night" album.

27th

In 1693 -- The first woman's magazine, "The Ladies' Mercury" first advice column published in London.
In 1867 -- Bank of California opens its doors.
In 1880 -- Helen Keller, blind-deaf author-lecturer
In 1929 -- First color TV demonstration NY city.
In 1930 -- H. Ross Perot, billionaire, owner of one of three original copies of the Magna Carta, attempted to run for US Presidency.
In 1940 -- End of USSR experimental calendar.
In 1942 -- FBI captures 8 Nazi saboteurs from a sub off NY's Long Island.
In 1950 -- First jet plane combat victor in Korea - RJ Brown.
In 1950 -- Pres. Truman ordered the Air Force and Navy into the Korean conflict.
In 1955 -- U.S.'s First automobile seat belt legislation is enacted in Illinois.
In 1973 -- John W. Dean tells Watergate Committee about Nixon's `enemies list'.
In 1977 -- Djibouti National Day.
In 1978 -- Soyuz 30 is launched.
In 1982 -- Fourth Space Shuttle Mission (Columbia 4) launched.
In 1983 -- Soyuz T-9 is launched.

28th

In 767 -- St Paul I ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 1491 -- Henry VIII of England (1509-47), born.
In 1820 -- Tomato is proven nonpoisonous.
In 1838 -- Britain's Queen Victoria crowned in Westminster Abbey.
In 1861 -- Leipzig Observatory discovers short-period (6.2 yrs) Comet d'Arrest.
In 1914 -- Archduke Ferdinand & wife Sofia of Austria assassinated (starts WW I).
In 1919 -- Treaty of Versailles ending WW I signed.
In 1926 -- Mel Brooks comedian/actor/director (Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs), born.
In 1946 -- Gilda Radner Detroit, comedienne (Saturday Night Live), born.
In 1971 -- Supreme Court overturns draft evasion conviction of Muhammad Ali.
In 1974 -- Wings release "Band on the Run" & "Zoo Gang" in UK.
In 1975 -- Rod Serling writer/host (Twilight Zone, Night Gallery), dies at 60.
In 1975 -- David Bowie releases "Fame".

29th

1613 -- Shakespeare's Globe Theater burns down.
1776 -- Mission Dolores founded by SF Bay.
1858 -- Treaty of Algun, China cedes north bank of Amur River to Russia.
1865 -- Shigechiyo Izumi achieved oldest authenticated age (120 y 237 d), born.
1911 -- Prince Bernhard, Germany, (Consort to Queen Juliana of Netherlands), born.
1919 -- Slim Pickens Kingsburg CA, actor (Dr Strangelove, Blazing Saddles), born.
1944 -- Gary Busey Goose Creek TX, actor (Buddy Holly Story, Under Siege), born.
1945 -- Ruthenia, formerly in Czechoslovakia, becomes part of Ukrainian SSR.
1949 -- South Africa begins implementing apartheid; no mixed marriages.
1949 -- US troops withdraw from Korea after WW II.
1958 -- Brazil beats Sweden 5-2 in soccer's 6th World Cup at Stockholm.
1963 -- Beatles' 1st song "From Me to You" hits the UK charts.
1964 -- First draft of Star Trek's pilot "The Cage" released.
1967 -- Jayne Mansfield actress, dies in a car crash at 34.
1976 -- Seychelles gains independence from Britain.
1978 -- Bob Crane actor (Hogan's Heroes), murdered at 59.

30th

1470 -- Charles VIII king of France (1483-98), invaded Italy, born.
1893 -- Excelsior diamond (blue-white 995 carats) discovered.
1894 -- Korea declares independence from China, asks for Japanese aid.
1908 -- Giant fireball impacts in Central Siberia (Tunguska Event).
1914 -- Mahatma Gandhi's 1st arrest, campaigning for Indian rights in S Africa.
1923 -- New Zealand claims Ross Dependency in Antarctica.
1934 -- "Night of the Long Knives," Hitler stages bloody purge of Nazi party.
1936 -- "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell, published.
1944 -- Glenn Shorrock vocalist (Little River Band-Help Is On Its, Way), born.
1948 -- Transistor as a substitute for Radio tubes announced (Bell Labs).
1950 -- Pres Truman orders US troops into Korea.
1960 -- Zaire (then Belgian Congo) gains independence from Belgium.
1962 -- Rwanda & Burundi become independent.
1963 -- Cardinal Montini elected Pope Paul VI, 262nd head of RC Church.
1966 -- "Iron" Mike Tyson heavyweight boxing champ (1986-90), born.
1970 -- Brazil beats Italy 4-1 in soccer's 9th World Cup at Mexico City.
1971 -- Three cosmonauts die as Soyuz XI depressurizes during reentry.
1979 -- Johnny Rotten & Joan Collins appear together on BBC's Juke Box Jury.
1981 -- China's Communist Party condemns the late Mao Tse-Tung's policy.

This page last revised: May 2005

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