1847 Archives - Page 2 of 9 -

July 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

The terms 7th July, July 7th, and 7/7 (pronounced “Seven-seven“) have been widely used in the Western media as a shorthand for the 7 July 2005 bombings on London’s transport system. In the Chinese language, this term is used to denote the Battle of Lugou Bridge started on July 7, 1937, marking the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

July 7 in History

1124 – The city of Tyre falls to the Venetian Crusade after a siege of nineteen weeks.
1456 – A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death.
1520 – Spanish conquistadores defeat a larger Aztec army at the Battle of Otumba.
1534 – Jacques Cartier makes his first contact with aboriginal peoples in what is now Canada.
1575 – The Raid of the Redeswire is the last major battle between England and Scotland.
1585 – The Treaty of Nemours abolishes tolerance to Protestants in France.
1770 – The Battle of Larga between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire takes place.
1777 – American forces retreating from Fort Ticonderoga are defeated in the Battle of Hubbardton.
1798 – As a result of the XYZ Affair, the US Congress rescinds the Treaty of Alliance with France sparking the “Quasi-War”.
1807 – The Peace of Tilsit between France, Prussia and Russia ends the War of the Fourth Coalition.
1834 – In New York City, four nights of rioting against abolitionists began.
1846 – US troops occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the US conquest of California.
1863 – The United States begins its first military draft; exemptions cost $300.
1865 – Four conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln are hanged.
1892 – The Katipunan is established, the discovery of which by Spanish authorities initiated the Philippine Revolution.
1898 – US President William McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.
1907 – Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. staged his first Follies on the roof of the New York Theater in New York City.
1911 – The United States, UK, Japan, and Russia sign the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 banning open-water seal hunting, the first international treaty to address wildlife preservation issues.
1915 – The First Battle of the Isonzo comes to an end.
1915 – Colombo Town Guard officer Henry Pedris is executed in British Ceylon for allegedly inciting persecution of Muslims.
1916 – The New Zealand Labour Party was founded in Wellington.
1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time (on the inventor’s 48th birthday) by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri.
1930 – Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser begins construction of Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover Dam).
1937 – The Marco Polo Bridge Incident provides the Imperial Japanese Army with a pretext for starting the Second Sino-Japanese War.
1937 – The Peel Commission Report recommends the partition of Palestine, which was the first formal recommendation for partition in the history of Palestine.
1941 – The US occupation of Iceland replaces the UK’s occupation.
1944 – World War II: Largest Banzai charge of the Pacific War at the Battle of Saipan.
1946 – Mother Francesca S. Cabrini becomes the first American to be canonized.
1946 – Howard Hughes nearly dies when his XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft prototype crashes in a Beverly Hills neighborhood.
1952 – The ocean liner SS United States passes Bishop Rock on her maiden voyage, breaking the transatlantic speed record to become the fastest passenger ship in the world.
1953 – Ernesto “Che” Guevara sets out on a trip through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador.
1954 – Elvis Presley makes his radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records, “That’s All Right”.
1958 – US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
1959 – Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.
1963 – Buddhist crisis: The police of Ngô Đình Nhu, brother and chief political adviser of President Ngo Dinh Diem, attacked a group of American journalists who were covering a protest.
1978 – The Solomon Islands becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1980 – Institution of sharia law in Iran.
1980 – During the Lebanese Civil War, 83 Tiger militants are killed during what will be known as the Safra massacre.
1981 – US President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.
1983 – Cold War: Samantha Smith, a US schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Secretary General Yuri Andropov.
1985 – Boris Becker becomes the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon at age 17.
1991 – Yugoslav Wars: The Brioni Agreement ends the ten-day independence war in Slovenia against the rest of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1992 – The New York Court of Appeals rules that women have the same right as men to go topless in public.
1997 – The Turkish Armed Forces withdraw from northern Iraq after assisting the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War.
2003 – NASA Opportunity rover, MER-B or Mars Exploration Rover–B, was launched into space aboard a Delta II rocket.
2005 – A series of four explosions occurs on London’s transport system, killing 56 people, including four suicide bombers, and injuring over 700 others.
2007 – The first Live Earth benefit concert was held in 11 locations around the world.
2012 – At least 172 people are killed in a flash flood in the Krasnodar Krai region of Russia.
2013 – A De Havilland Otter air taxi crashes in Soldotna, Alaska, killing ten people.
2016 – Ex-US Army soldier Micah Xavier Johnson shoots fourteen policemen during an anti-police protest in downtown Dallas, Texas, killing five of them. He is subsequently killed by a robot-delivered bomb.

Births on July 7

611 – Eudoxia Epiphania, daughter of Byzantine emperor Heraclius
1053 – Emperor Shirakawa of Japan (d. 1129)
1119 – Emperor Sutoku of Japan (d. 1164)
1207 – Elizabeth of Hungary (d. 1231)
1482 – Andrzej Krzycki, Polish archbishop (d. 1537)
1528 – Archduchess Anna of Austria (d. 1590)
1540 – John Sigismund Zápolya, King of Hungary (d. 1571)
1586 – Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, English courtier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland (d. 1646)
1616 – John Leverett, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (d. 1679)
1752 – Joseph Marie Jacquard, French merchant, invented the Jacquard loom (d. 1834)
1766 – Guillaume Philibert Duhesme, French general (d. 1815)
1831 – Jane Elizabeth Conklin, American poet and religious writer (d. 1914)
1833 – Félicien Rops, Belgian painter and illustrator (d. 1898)
1843 – Camillo Golgi, Italian physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)
1846 – Heinrich Rosenthal, Estonian physician and author (d. 1916)
1848 – Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian politician, 5th President of Brazil (d. 1919)
1851 – Charles Albert Tindley, American minister and composer (d. 1933)
1855 – Ludwig Ganghofer, German author and playwright (d. 1920)
1859 – Rettamalai Srinivasan, Indian politician (d. 1911)
1860 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1911)
1861 – Nettie Stevens, American geneticist (d. 1912)
1869 – Rachel Caroline Eaton, American academic (d. 1938)
1869 – Fernande Sadler (d.1949), French painter and mayor
1874 – Erwin Bumke, German lawyer and jurist (d. 1945)
1880 – Otto Frederick Rohwedder, American engineer, invented sliced bread (d. 1960)
1882 – Yanka Kupala, Belarusian poet and writer (d. 1941)
1884 – Toivo Kuula, Finnish conductor and composer (d. 1918)
1884 – Lion Feuchtwanger, German author and playwright (d. 1958)
1891 – Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Japanese general and poet (d. 1945)
1891 – Virginia Rappe, American model and actress (d. 1921)
1893 – Herbert Feis, American historian and author (d. 1972)
1893 – Miroslav Krleža, Croatian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1981)
1898 – Arnold Horween, American football player and coach (d. 1985)
1899 – George Cukor, American director and producer (d. 1983)
1900 – Maria Bard, German stage and silent film actress (d. 1944)
1900 – Earle E. Partridge, American general (d. 1990)
1901 – Vittorio De Sica, Italian actor and director (d. 1974)
1901 – Sam Katzman, American director and producer (d. 1973)
1901 – Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese cinematographer and producer (d. 1970)
1902 – Ted Radcliffe, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
1904 – Simone Beck, French chef and author (d. 1991)
1905 – Marie-Louise Dubreil-Jacotin, French mathematician (d. 1972)
1906 – William Feller, Croatian-American mathematician and academic (d. 1970)
1906 – Anton Karas, Austrian zither player and composer (d. 1985)
1906 – Satchel Paige, American baseball player and coach (d. 1982)
1907 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer and screenwriter (d. 1988)
1908 – Revilo P. Oliver, American author and academic (d. 1994)
1909 – Gottfried von Cramm, German tennis player (d. 1976)
1910 – Doris McCarthy, Canadian painter and author (d. 2010)
1911 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-American composer (d. 2007)
1913 – Pinetop Perkins, American singer and pianist (d. 2011)
1915 – Margaret Walker, American novelist and poet (d. 1998)
1917 – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, Salvadoran general and politician, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
1917 – Iva Withers, Canadian-American actress and singer (d. 2014)
1918 – Bob Vanatta, American head basketball coach (d. 2016)
1918 – Jing Shuping, Chinese businessman (d. 2009)
1919 – Jon Pertwee, English actor (d. 1996)
1921 – Ezzard Charles, American boxer (d. 1975)
1921 – Adolf von Thadden, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1996)
1922 – Alan Armer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1922 – James D. Hughes, American Air Force lieutenant general
1923 – Liviu Ciulei, Romanian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
1923 – Whitney North Seymour Jr., American politician (d. 2019)
1923 – Eduardo Falú, Argentinian guitarist and composer (d. 2013)
1924 – Natalia Bekhtereva, Russian neuroscientist and psychologist (d. 2008)
1924 – Karim Olowu, Nigerian sprinter and long jumper (d. 2019)
1924 – Mary Ford, American singer and guitarist (d. 1977)
1924 – Eddie Romero, Filipino director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1925 – Wally Phillips, American radio host (d. 2008)
1926 – Nuon Chea, Cambodian politician (d. 2019)
1926 – Anand Mohan Zutshi Gulzar Dehlvi, Urdu poet (d. 2020)
1927 – Alan J. Dixon, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 34th Illinois Secretary of State (d. 2014)
1927 – Charlie Louvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
1927 – Doc Severinsen, American trumpet player and conductor
1928 – Patricia Hitchcock, English actress
1928 – Kapelwa Sikota Zambian nurse and health official (d. 2006)
1929 – Hasan Abidi, Pakistani journalist and poet (d. 2005)
1929 – Sergio Romano, Italian writer, journalist, and historian
1930 – Biljana Plavšić, 2nd President of Republika Srpska
1930 – Hamish MacInnes, Scottish mountaineer and author
1930 – Theodore Edgar McCarrick, American cardinal
1930 – Hank Mobley, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1986)
1931 – David Eddings, American author and academic (d. 2009)
1932 – T. J. Bass, American physician and author (d. 2011)
1932 – Joe Zawinul, Austrian jazz keyboardist and composer (d. 2007)
1933 – David McCullough, American historian and author
1934 – Robert McNeill Alexander, British zoologist (d. 2016)
1935 – Gian Carlo Michelini, Italian-Taiwanese Roman Catholic priest
1936 – Egbert Brieskorn, German mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
1936 – Jo Siffert, Swiss race car driver (d. 1971)
1936 – Nikos Xilouris, Greek singer-songwriter (d. 1980)
1937 – Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong businessman and politician, 1st Chief Executive of Hong Kong
1938 – James Montgomery Boice, American pastor and theologian (d. 2000)
1939 – Elena Obraztsova, Russian soprano and actress (d. 2015)
1940 – Ringo Starr, English singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor
1941 – Marco Bollesan, Italian rugby player and coach
1941 – John Fru Ndi, Cameroonian politician
1941 – Michael Howard, Welsh lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for the Environment
1941 – Bill Oddie, English comedian, actor, and singer
1941 – Jim Rodford, English bass player (d. 2018)
1942 – Carmen Duncan, Australian actress (d. 2019)
1943 – Joel Siegel, American journalist and critic (d. 2007)
1944 – Feleti Sevele, Tongan politician; Prime Minister of Tonga
1944 – Tony Jacklin, English golfer and sportscaster
1944 – Glenys Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, English educator and politician, Minister of State for Europe
1944 – Emanuel Steward, American boxer and trainer (d. 2012)
1944 – Ian Wilmut, English-Scottish embryologist and academic
1945 – Michael Ancram, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
1945 – Adele Goldberg, American computer scientist and academic
1945 – Helô Pinheiro, inspiration for the song “The Girl from Ipanema”
1947 – Gyanendra, King of Nepal
1947 – Howard Rheingold, American author and critic
1949 – Shelley Duvall, American actress, writer, and producer
1954 – Simon Anderson, Australian surfer
1955 – Len Barker, American baseball player and coach
1957 – Jonathan Dayton, American director and producer
1957 – Berry Sakharof, Turkish-Israeli singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Alexander Svinin, Russian figure skater and coach
1959 – Billy Campbell, American actor
1960 – Kevin A. Ford, American colonel and astronaut
1960 – Ralph Sampson, American basketball player and coach
1963 – Vonda Shepard, American singer-songwriter and actress
1964 – Dominik Henzel, Czech-Swedish actor and comedian
1965 – Mo Collins, American actress, comedian and screenwriter
1965 – Jeremy Kyle, English talk show host
1966 – Jim Gaffigan, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
1967 – Tom Kristensen, Danish race car driver
1968 – Jorja Fox, American actress
1969 – Sylke Otto, German luger
1969 – Joe Sakic, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Cree Summer, American-Canadian actress
1970 – Wayne McCullough, Northern Irish boxer
1970 – Min Patel, Indian-English cricketer
1970 – Erik Zabel, German cyclist and coach
1971 – Christian Camargo, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1972 – Lisa Leslie, American basketball player and actress
1972 – Manfred Stohl, Austrian race car driver
1972 – Kirsten Vangsness, American actress and writer
1973 – José Jiménez, Dominican baseball player
1973 – Kārlis Skrastiņš, Latvian ice hockey player (d. 2011)
1974 – Patrick Lalime, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1975 – Tony Benshoof, American luger
1975 – Louis Koen, South African rugby player
1975 – Adam Nelson, American shot putter
1976 – Bérénice Bejo, Argentinian-French actress
1976 – Dominic Foley, Irish footballer
1976 – Vasily Petrenko, Russian conductor
1976 – Ercüment Olgundeniz, Turkish discus thrower and shot putter
1978 – Chris Andersen, American basketball player
1978 – Davor Kraljević, Croatian footballer
1979 – Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad Arbaysh, Saudi Arabian terrorist (d. 2015)
1979 – Anastasios Gousis, Greek sprinter
1979 – Douglas Hondo, Zimbabwean cricketer
1980 – John Buck, American baseball player
1980 – Serdar Kulbilge, Turkish footballer
1980 – Michelle Kwan, American figure skater
1981 – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian cricketer
1982 – Jan Laštůvka, Czech footballer
1982 – George Owu, Ghanaian footballer
1983 – Justin Davies, Australian footballer
1984 – Minas Alozidis, Greek hurdler
1984 – Alberto Aquilani, Italian footballer
1984 – Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladeshi cricketer
1985 – Marc Stein, German footballer
1986 – Ana Kasparian, American journalist and producer
1986 – Udo Schwarz, German rugby player
1986 – Sevyn Streeter, American singer-songwriter
1988 – Kaci Brown, American singer-songwriter
1988 – Lukas Rosenthal, German rugby player
1989 – Landon Cassill, American race car driver
1989 – Miina Kallas, Estonian footballer
1989 – Karl-August Tiirmaa, Estonian skier
1990 – Lee Addy, Ghanaian footballer
1990 – Pascal Stöger, Austrian footballer
1991 – Alesso, Swedish DJ, record producer and musician
1992 – Ellina Anissimova, Estonian hammer thrower
1992 – Dominik Furman, Polish footballer
1994 – Timothy Cathcart, Northern Irish race car driver (d. 2014)

Deaths on July 7

984 – Crescentius the Elder, Italian politician and aristocrat
1021 – Fujiwara no Akimitsu, Japanese bureaucrat (b. 944)
1162 – Haakon II Sigurdsson, king of Norway (b. 1147)
1285 – Tile Kolup, German impostor claiming to be Frederick II
1304 – Benedict XI, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1240)
1307 – Edward I, king of England (b. 1239)
1345 – Momchil, Bulgarian brigand and ruler
1531 – Tilman Riemenschneider, German sculptor (b. 1460)
1568 – William Turner, British ornithologist and botanist (b. 1508)
1572 – Sigismund II Augustus, Polish king (b. 1520)
1573 – Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Italian architect, designed the Church of the Gesù and Villa Farnese (b. 1507)
1593 – Mohammed Bagayogo, Malian scholar and academic (b. 1523)
1600 – Thomas Lucy, English politician (b. 1532)
1607 – Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire, English noblewoman (b. 1563)
1647 – Thomas Hooker, English minister, founded the Colony of Connecticut (b. 1586)
1701 – William Stoughton, American judge and politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1631)
1713 – Henry Compton, English bishop (b. 1632)
1718 – Alexei Petrovich, Russian tsar (b. 1690)
1730 – Olivier Levasseur, French pirate (b. 1690)
1758 – Marthanda Varma, Rani of Attingal (b. 1706)
1764 – William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, English politician, Secretary at War (b. 1683)
1776 – Jeremiah Markland, English scholar and academic (b. 1693)
1790 – François Hemsterhuis, Dutch philosopher and author (b. 1721)
1816 – Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish playwright and poet (b. 1751)
1863 – William Mulready, Irish genre painter (b. 1786)
1865 – George Atzerodt (b. 1833)
1865 – David Herold (b. 1842)
1865 – Lewis Payne (b. 1844)
1865 – Mary Surratt (b. 1823)
1890 – Henri Nestlé, German businessman, founded Nestlé (b. 1814)
1901 – Johanna Spyri, Swiss author (b. 1827)
1913 – Edward Burd Grubb Jr., American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Spain (b. 1841)
1922 – Cathal Brugha, Irish revolutionary and politician, active in the Easter Rising, Irish War of Independence; first Ceann Comhairle and first President of Dáil Éireann (b. 1874)
1925 – Clarence Hudson White, American photographer and educator (b. 1871)
1927 – Gösta Mittag-Leffler, Swedish mathematician and academic (b. 1846)
1930 – Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (b. 1859)
1932 – Alexander Grin, Russian author (b. 1880)
1932 – Henry Eyster Jacobs, American theologian and educator (b. 1844)
1939 – Deacon White, American baseball player and manager (b. 1847)
1950 – Fats Navarro, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1923)
1955 – Ali Naci Karacan, Turkish journalist and publisher (b. 1896)
1956 – Gottfried Benn, German author and poet (b. 1886)
1960 – Francis Browne, Irish priest and photographer (b. 1880)
1964 – Lillian Copeland, American discus thrower and shot putter (b. 1904)
1965 – Moshe Sharett, Ukrainian-Israeli lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1894)
1968 – Jo Schlesser, French race car driver (b. 1928)
1971 – Claude Gauvreau, Canadian poet and playwright (b. 1925)
1972 – Athenagoras I of Constantinople (b. 1886)
1973 – Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (b. 1895)
1973 – Veronica Lake, American actress (b. 1922)
1976 – Walter Giesler, American soccer player and referee (b. 1910)
1978 – Francisco Mendes, Guinea-Bissau lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1933)
1980 – Dore Schary, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1905)
1982 – Bon Maharaja, Indian guru and religious writer (b. 1901)
1984 – George Oppen, American poet and author (b. 1908)
1987 – Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, Dutch-French pianist (b. 1902)
1990 – Bill Cullen, American television panelist and game show host (b. 1920)
1990 – Cazuza, Brazilian singer and songwriter (b. 1958)
1993 – Rıfat Ilgaz, Turkish author, poet, and educator (b. 1911)
1994 – Carlo Chiti, Italian engineer (b. 1924)
1994 – Cameron Mitchell, American actor (b. 1918)
1994 – Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, German general (b. 1907)
1998 – Moshood Abiola, Nigerian businessman and politician (b. 1937)
1999 – Julie Campbell Tatham, American author (b. 1908)
1999 – Vikram Batra, Param Vir Chakra, Indian Army personnel (b. 1974)
2000 – Kenny Irwin Jr., American race car driver (b. 1969)
2001 – Fred Neil, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
2003 – Izhak Graziani, Bulgarian trumpet player and conductor (b. 1924)
2006 – Syd Barrett, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1946)
2006 – Juan de Ávalos, Spanish sculptor (b. 1911)
2006 – John Money, New Zealand-American psychologist and author (b. 1921)
2008 – Bruce Conner, American sculptor, painter, and photographer (b. 1933)
2008 – Dorian Leigh, American model (b. 1917)
2011 – Allan W. Eckert, American historian and author (b. 1931)
2011 – Dick Williams, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1929)
2012 – Ronaldo Cunha Lima, Brazilian poet and politician (b. 1936)
2012 – Dennis Flemion, American drummer (b. 1955)
2012 – Doris Neal, American baseball player (b. 1928)
2012 – Jerry Norman, American sinologist and linguist (b. 1936)
2012 – Leon Schlumpf, Swiss politician (b. 1927)
2013 – Artur Hajzer, Polish mountaineer (b. 1962)
2013 – Robert Hamerton-Kelly, South African-American pastor, theologian, and author (b. 1938)
2013 – Donald J. Irwin, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut (b. 1926)
2013 – Ben Pucci, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1925)
2014 – Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (b. 1926)
2014 – Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian general and politician, 2nd President of Georgia (b. 1928)
2014 – Peter Underwood, Australian lawyer and politician, 27th Governor of Tasmania (b. 1937)
2015 – Maria Barroso, Portuguese actress and politician (b. 1925)
2015 – Bob MacKinnon, American basketball player and coach (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances on July 7

Christian feast day:
- Æthelburh of Faremoutiers
- Felix of Nantes
- Illidius
- The job of Manyava (Ukrainian Orthodox Church)
- Willibald (Catholic Church)
- July 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Solomon Islands from the United Kingdom in 1978.
Ivan Kupala Day (Belarus, Poland, Russia, Ukraine)
Saba Saba Day (Tanzania)
Tanabata (Japan)
World Chocolate Day

July 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

July 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

The Aphelion, the point in the year when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, occurs around this date.

July 4 in History

362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans.
414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaimed herself empress (Augusta) of the Eastern Roman Empire.
836 – Pactum Sicardi, a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, is signed.
993 – Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint.
1054 – A supernova, called SN 1054, is seen by Chinese Song dynasty, Arab, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
1120 – Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew’s death.
1187 – The Crusades: Battle of Hattin: Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.
1253 – Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre.
1359 – Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.
1456 – Ottoman–Hungarian wars: The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins.
1534 – Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.
1584 – Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe arrive at Roanoke Island
1610 – The Battle of Klushino is fought between forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish–Muscovite War.
1634 – The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (now Quebec, Canada).
1744 – The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iroquois cede lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
1774 – Orangetown Resolutions are adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament’s Coercive Acts.
1776 – American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: U.S. forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.
1802 – At West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy opens.
1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
1817 – In Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins.
1826 – John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, respectively the second and third presidents of the United States, die the same day, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence. Adams’ last words were, “Thomas Jefferson survives.”
1827 – Slavery is abolished in the State of New York.
1831 – Samuel Francis Smith writes “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities.
1837 – Grand Junction Railway, the world’s first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.
1838 – The Iowa Territory is organized.
1845 – Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau’s account of his two years there, Walden, will become a touchstone of the environmental movement.
1855 – The first edition of Walt Whitman’s book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published In Brooklyn.
1862 – Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg: Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to U.S. forces under Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege. One hundred fifty miles up the Mississippi River, a Confederate army is repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.
1863 – American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia withdraws from the battlefield after losing the Battle of Gettysburg, signalling an end to the Confederate invasion of U.S. territory.
1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: The Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burned to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.
1881 – In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
1886 – The Canadian Pacific Railway’s first scheduled train from Montreal arrives in Port Moody on the Pacific coast, after six days of travel.
1887 – The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.
1892 – Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a year with 367 days.
1894 – The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.
1898 – En route from New York to Le Havre, the SS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks off the coast of Sable Island, with the loss of 549 lives.
1901 – William Howard Taft becomes American governor of the Philippines.
1903 – The Philippine–American War is officially concluded.
1910 – The Johnson–Jeffries riots occur after African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in the 15th round. Between 11 and 26 people are killed and hundreds more injured.
1911 – A massive heat wave strikes the northeastern United States, killing 380 people in eleven days and breaking temperature records in several cities.
1913 – President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913.
1914 – The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie takes place in Vienna, six days after their assassinations in Sarajevo.
1918 – Mehmed V died at the age of 73 and Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.
1918 – World War I: The Battle of Hamel, a successful attack by the Australian Corps against German positions near the town of Le Hamel on the Western Front.
1918 – Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).
1927 – First flight of the Lockheed Vega.
1939 – Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself “The luckiest man on the face of the earth”, then announces his retirement from major league baseball.
1941 – Nazi crimes against the Polish nation: Nazi troops massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian city of Lviv.
1941 – World War II: The Burning of the Riga synagogues: The Great Choral Synagogue in German occupied Riga is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement.
1942 – World War II: The 250-day Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea ends when the city falls to Axis forces.
1943 – World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world’s largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka.
1943 – World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives.
1946 – The Kielce pogrom against Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland.
1946 – After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.
1947 – The “Indian Independence Bill” is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan.
1950 – Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts.
1951 – Cold War: A court in Czechoslovakia sentences American journalist William N. Oatis to ten years in prison on charges of espionage.
1951 – William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor.
1954 – Rationing ends in the United Kingdom.
1960 – Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Acts (United States)).
1961 – On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years.
1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year.
1976 – Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.
1976 – The U.S. celebrates its Bicentennial.
1977 – The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit.
1982 – Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown.
1987 – In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (a.k.a. the “Butcher of Lyon”) is convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment.
1994 – Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city.
1997 – NASA’s Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
1998 – Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation.
2001 – Vladivostock Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Airport killing all 145 people on board.
2004 – The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City.
2004 – Greece beats Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final and becomes European Champion for first time in its history.
2005 – The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.
2006 – Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program’s history to occur on the United States’ Independence Day.
2009 – The Statue of Liberty’s crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.
2009 – The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao.
2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN.
2015 – Chile claims its first title in international soccer by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América Final.

Births on July 4

AD 68 – Salonina Matidia, Roman daughter of Ulpia Marciana (d. 119)
1095 – Usama ibn Munqidh, Muslim poet, author and faris (Knight) (d. 1188)
1330 – Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shōgun (d. 1367)
1477 – Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (d. 1534)
1546 – Murad III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1595)
1656 – John Leake, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1720)
1694 – Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (d. 1772)
1715 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet and academic (d. 1769)
1719 – Michel-Jean Sedaine, French playwright (d. 1797)
1729 – George Leonard, American lawyer, jurist and politician (d. 1819)
1753 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard, French inventor, best known as a pioneer in balloon flight (d. 1809)
1790 – George Everest, Welsh geographer and surveyor (d. 1866)
1799 – Oscar I of Sweden (d. 1859)
1804 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1864)
1807 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (d. 1882)
1816 – Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club whisky (d. 1899)
1826 – Stephen Foster, American songwriter and composer (d. 1864)
1842 – Hermann Cohen, German philosopher (d. 1918)
1845 – Thomas John Barnardo, Irish philanthropist and humanitarian (d. 1905)
1847 – James Anthony Bailey, American circus ringmaster, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (d. 1906)
1854 – Victor Babeș, Romanian physician and biologist (d. 1926)
1868 – Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer and academic (d. 1921)
1871 – Hubert Cecil Booth, English engineer (d. 1955)
1872 – Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States (d. 1933)
1874 – John McPhee, Australian journalist and politician, 27th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1952)
1880 – Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1975)
1881 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American general (d. 1968)
1883 – Rube Goldberg, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer (d. 1970)
1887 – Pio Pion, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1965)
1888 – Henry Armetta, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1945)
1895 – Irving Caesar, American songwriter and composer (d. 1996)
1896 – Mao Dun, Chinese journalist, author, and critic (d. 1981)
1897 – Alluri Sitarama Raju, Indian activist (d. 1924)
1898 – Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican-American historian and activist (d. 1997)
1898 – Gertrude Lawrence, British actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1952)
1898 – Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician (d. 1998)
1898 – Gertrude Weaver, American supercentenarian (d. 2015)
1900 – Belinda Dann, Indigenous Australian who was one of the Stolen Generation, reunited with family aged 107 (d. 2007)
1900 – Nellie Mae Rowe, American folk artist (d. 1982)
1902 – Meyer Lansky, American gangster (d. 1983)
1902 – George Murphy, American actor and politician (d. 1992)
1903 – Flor Peeters, Belgian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1986)
1904 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (d. 1976)
1905 – Irving Johnson, American sailor and author (d. 1991)
1905 – Robert Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, British diplomat and public servant (d. 1996)
1905 – Lionel Trilling, American critic, essayist, short story writer, and educator (d. 1975)
1906 – Vincent Schaefer, American chemist and meteorologist (d. 1993)
1907 – John Anderson, American discus thrower (d. 1948)
1907 – Howard Taubman, American author and critic (d. 1996)
1909 – Alec Templeton, Welsh composer, pianist and satirist (d. 1963)
1910 – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and scholar (d. 2003)
1910 – Gloria Stuart, American actress (d. 2010)
1911 – Bruce Hamilton, Australian public servant (d. 1989)
1911 – Mitch Miller, American singer and producer (d. 2010)
1914 – Nuccio Bertone, Italian automobile designer (d. 1997)
1915 – Timmie Rogers, American actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
1916 – Iva Toguri D’Aquino, American typist and broadcaster (d. 2006)
1918 – Eppie Lederer, American journalist and radio host (d. 2002)
1918 – Johnnie Parsons, American race car driver (d. 1984)
1918 – King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga, (d. 2006)
1918 – Alec Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2010)
1918 – Eric Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2006)
1918 – Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (d. 2013)
1920 – Norm Drucker, American basketball player and referee (d. 2015)
1920 – Leona Helmsley, American businesswoman (d. 2007)
1920 – Fritz Wilde, German footballer and manager (d. 1977)
1920 – Paul Bannai, American politician (d. 2019)
1921 – Gérard Debreu, French economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1921 – Nasser Sharifi, Iranian sports shooter
1921 – Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut (d. 2014)
1921 – Philip Rose, American actor, playwright, and producer (d. 2011)
1921 – Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003)
1922 – R. James Harvey, American politician (d. 2019)
1923 – Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1924 – Eva Marie Saint, American actress
1924 – Delia Fiallo, Cuban author and screenwriter
1925 – Ciril Zlobec, Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and politician (d. 2018)
1925 – Dorothy Head Knode, American tennis player (d. 2015)
1926 – Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (d. 2014)
1926 – Lake Underwood, American race car driver and businessman (d. 2008)
1927 – Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress and photographer
1927 – Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1928 – Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer and politician
1928 – Teofisto Guingona Jr., Filipino politician; 11th Vice President of the Philippines
1928 – Jassem Alwan, Syrian Army Officer (d. 2018)
1928 – Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic (d. 2001)
1928 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011)
1929 – Ron Casey, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2018)
1929 – Al Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 2011)
1929 – Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (d. 1998)
1930 – George Steinbrenner, American businessman (d. 2010)
1931 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Ireland-born American actor (d. 1977)
1931 – Rick Casares, American football player and soldier (d. 2013)
1931 – Sébastien Japrisot, French author, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
1931 – Peter Richardson, English cricketer (d. 2017)
1932 – Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian runner
1934 – Yvonne B. Miller, American academic and politician (d. 2012)
1934 – Colin Welland, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1935 – Paul Scoon, Grenadian politician, 2nd Governor-General of Grenada (d. 2013)
1936 – Zdzisława Donat, Polish soprano and actress
1937 – Thomas Nagel, American philosopher and academic
1937 – Queen Sonja of Norway
1937 – Richard Rhodes, American journalist and historian
1937 – Eric Walters, Australian journalist (d. 2010)
1938 – Steven Rose, English biologist and academic
1938 – Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2020)
1940 – Pat Stapleton, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020)
1941 – Sam Farr, American politician
1941 – Tomaž Šalamun, Croatian-Slovenian poet and academic (d. 2014)
1941 – Pavel Sedláček, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist
1941 – Brian Willson, American soldier, lawyer, and activist
1942 – Hal Lanier, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1942 – Floyd Little, American football player and coach
1942 – Stefan Meller, French-Polish academic and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2008)
1942 – Prince Michael of Kent
1942 – Peter Rowan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Conny Bauer, German trombonist
1943 – Emerson Boozer, American football player and sportscaster
1943 – Adam Hart-Davis, English historian, author, and photographer
1943 – Geraldo Rivera, American lawyer, journalist, and author
1943 – Fred Wesley, American jazz and funk trombonist
1943 – Alan Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970)
1945 – Andre Spitzer, Romanian-Israeli fencer and coach (d. 1972)
1946 – Ron Kovic, American author and activist
1946 – Michael Milken, American businessman and philanthropist
1947 – Lembit Ulfsak, Estonian actor and director (d. 2017)
1948 – René Arnoux, French race car driver
1948 – Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer and actor
1948 – Jeremy Spencer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Philip Craven, English basketball player and swimmer
1950 – David Jensen, Canadian-English radio and television host
1951 – John Alexander, Australian tennis player and politician
1951 – Ralph Johnson, American R&B drummer and percussionist
1951 – Vladimir Tismăneanu, Romanian-American political scientist, sociologist, and academic
1951 – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American lawyer and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
1952 – Álvaro Uribe, Colombian lawyer and politician, 39th President of Colombia
1952 – Carol MacReady, English actress
1952 – John Waite, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – Paul Rogat Loeb, American author and activist
1953 – Francis Maude, English lawyer and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office
1954 – Jim Beattie, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1954 – Morganna, American model, actress, and dancer
1954 – Devendra Kumar Joshi, 21st Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy
1955 – Kevin Nichols, Australian cyclist
1956 – Robert Sinclair MacKay, British academic and educator
1957 – Rein Lang, Estonian politician and diplomat, 25th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1958 – Vera Leth, Greenlandic Ombudsman
1958 – Kirk Pengilly, Australian guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter
1958 – Carl Valentine, English-Canadian footballer, coach, and manager
1959 – Victoria Abril, Spanish actress and singer
1960 – Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian race car driver (d. 1994)
1961 – Richard Garriott, English-American video game designer, created the Ultima series
1962 – Pam Shriver, American tennis player and sportscaster
1963 – Henri Leconte, French tennis player and sportscaster
1963 – Laureano Márquez, Spanish-Venezuelan political scientist and journalist
1963 – José Oquendo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
1963 – Sonia Pierre, Hatian-Dominican human rights activist (d. 2011)
1964 – Cle Kooiman, American soccer player and manager
1964 – Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer
1964 – Edi Rama, Albanian politician
1964 – Mark Slaughter, American singer-songwriter and producer
1964 – Mark Whiting, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1965 – Harvey Grant, American basketball player and coach
1965 – Horace Grant, American basketball player and coach
1965 – Kiriakos Karataidis, Greek footballer and manager
1965 – Gérard Watkins, English actor and playwright
1966 – Ronni Ancona, Scottish actress and screenwriter
1966 – Minas Hantzidis, German-Greek footballer
1966 – Lee Reherman, American actor (d. 2016)
1967 – Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player and manager
1967 – Sébastien Deleigne, French athlete
1969 – Al Golden, American football player and coach
1969 – Todd Marinovich, American football player and coach
1969 – Wilfred Mugeyi, Zimbabwean footballer and coach
1972 – Stephen Giles, Canadian canoe racer and engineer
1972 – Mike Knuble, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
1973 – Keiko Ihara, Japanese race car driver
1973 – Gackt, Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor
1973 – Michael Johnson, English-Jamaican footballer and manager
1973 – Anjelika Krylova, Russian ice dancer and coach
1973 – Jan Magnussen, Danish race car driver
1973 – Tony Popovic, Australian footballer and manager
1974 – Jill Craybas, American tennis player
1974 – La’Roi Glover, American football player and sportscaster
1974 – Adrian Griffin, American basketball player and coach
1976 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2003)
1976 – Yevgeniya Medvedeva, Russian skier
1978 – Marcos Daniel, Brazilian tennis player
1978 – Émile Mpenza, Belgian footballer
1979 – Siim Kabrits, Estonian politician
1979 – Josh McCown, American football player
1979 – Renny Vega, Venezuelan footballer
1980 – Kwame Steede, Bermudan footballer
1981 – Dedé, Angolan footballer
1981 – Brock Berlin, American football player
1981 – Christoph Preuß, German footballer
1981 – Francisco Cruceta, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Will Smith, American football player (d. 2016)
1982 – Vladimir Boisa, Georgian basketball player
1982 – Vladimir Gusev, Russian cyclist
1982 – Jeff Lima, New Zealand rugby league player
1982 – Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino, American model, author and television personality
1983 – Melanie Fiona, Canadian singer-songwriter
1983 – Amantle Montsho, Botswanan sprinter
1983 – Miguel Pinto, Chilean footballer
1983 – Amol Rajan, Indian-English journalist
1983 – Mattia Serafini, Italian footballer
1984 – Jin Akanishi, Japanese singer-songwriter
1984 – Miguel Santos Soares, Timorese footballer
1985 – Kane Tenace, Australian footballer
1985 – Dimitrios Mavroeidis, Greek basketball player
1985 – Wason Rentería, Colombian footballer
1986 – Ömer Aşık, Turkish basketball player
1986 – Nguyen Ngoc Duy, Vietnamese footballer
1986 – Rafael Arévalo, Salvadoran tennis player
1986 – Willem Janssen, Dutch footballer
1986 – Terrance Knighton, American football player
1986 – Marte Elden, Norwegian skier
1987 – Wude Ayalew, Ethiopian runner
1987 – Guram Kashia, Georgian footballer
1988 – Angelique Boyer, French-Mexican actress
1989 – Benjamin Büchel, Liechtensteiner footballer
1990 – Jake Gardiner, American ice hockey player
1990 – Richard Mpong, Ghanaian footballer
1990 – Naoki Yamada, Japanese footballer
1990 – Ihar Yasinski, Belarusian footballer
1992 – Ángel Romero, Paraguayan footballer
1992 – Óscar Romero, Paraguayan footballer
1993 – Tom Barkhuizen, English footballer
1995 – Post Malone, American singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer
1999 – Moa Kikuchi, Japanese musician
2003 – Polina Bogusevich, Russian singer

Deaths on July 4

673 – Ecgberht, king of Kent
907 – Luitpold, margrave of Bavaria
907 – Dietmar I, archbishop of Salzburg
910 – Luo Shaowei, Chinese warlord (b. 877)
940 – Wang Jianli, Chinese general (b. 871)
943 – Taejo of Goryeo, Korean king (b. 877)
945 – Zhuo Yanming, Chinese Buddhist monk and emperor
965 – Benedict V, pope of the Catholic Church
973 – Ulrich of Augsburg, German bishop and saint (b. 890)
975 – Gwangjong of Goryeo, Korean king (b. 925)
1187 – Raynald of Châtillon, French knight (b. 1125)
1307 – Rudolf I of Bohemia (b. 1281)
1336 – Saint Elizabeth of Portugal (b. 1271)
1429 – Carlo I Tocco, ruler of Epirus (b. 1372)
1533 – John Frith, English priest, writer, and martyr (b. 1503)
1541 – Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish general and explorer (b. 1495)
1546 – Hayreddin Barbarossa, Ottoman admiral (b. 1478)
1551 – Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, English politician (b. 1514)
1603 – Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1521)
1623 – William Byrd, English composer (b. c. 1540)
1644 – Brian Twyne, English academic, antiquarian and archivist (b. 1581)
1648 – Antoine Daniel, French missionary and saint, one of the eight Canadian Martyrs (b. 1601)
1742 – Luigi Guido Grandi, Italian monk, mathematician, and engineer (b. 1671)
1754 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French playwright and author (b. 1680)
1761 – Samuel Richardson, English author and painter (b. 1689)
1780 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine (b. 1712)
1787 – Charles, Prince of Soubise, Marshal of France (b. 1715)
1821 – Richard Cosway, English painter and academic (b. 1742)
1826 – John Adams, American lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the United States (b. 1735)
1826 – Thomas Jefferson, American architect, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of the United States (b. 1743)
1831 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (b. 1758)
1848 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French historian and politician (b. 1768)
1850 – William Kirby, English entomologist and author (b. 1759)
1854 – Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German academic and jurist (b. 1781)
1857 – William L. Marcy, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 21st United States Secretary of State (b. 1786)
1881 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish philosopher and politician (b. 1806)
1882 – Joseph Brackett, American composer and author (b. 1797)
1886 – Poundmaker, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1797)
1891 – Hannibal Hamlin, American lawyer and politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (b. 1809)
1901 – Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (b. 1843)
1902 – Vivekananda, Indian monk and saint (b. 1863)
1905 – Élisée Reclus, French geographer and author (b. 1830)
1910 – Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1833)
1910 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (b. 1835)
1916 – Alan Seeger, American soldier and poet (b. 1888)
1922 – Lothar von Richthofen, German lieutenant and pilot (b. 1894)
1926 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist and saint (b. 1901)
1934 – Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
1938 – Otto Bauer, Austrian philosopher and politician, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1881)
1938 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (b. 1899)
1941 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (b. 1881)
1943 – Władysław Sikorski, Polish general and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Second Republic of Poland (b. 1881)
1946 – Taffy O’Callaghan, Welsh footballer and coach (b. 1906)
1948 – Monteiro Lobato, Brazilian journalist and author (b. 1882)
1949 – François Brandt, Dutch rower and engineer (b. 1874)
1963 – Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, New Zealand general and politician, 7th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1889)
1963 – Clyde Kennard, American activist and martyr (b. 1927)
1963 – Pingali Venkayya, Indian activist, designed the Flag of India (b. 1876)
1964 – Gaby Morlay, French actress and singer (b. 1893)
1969 – Henri Decoin, French director and screenwriter (b. 1890)
1970 – Barnett Newman, American painter and illustrator (b. 1905)
1970 – Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, American sailor and businessman (b. 1884)
1971 – August Derleth, American anthologist and author (b. 1909)
1971 – Thomas C. Hart, American admiral and politician (b. 1877)
1974 – Georgette Heyer, English author (b. 1902)
1974 – André Randall, French actor (b. 1892)
1976 – Yonatan Netanyahu, Israeli colonel (b. 1946)
1976 – Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1895)
1977 – Gersh Budker, Ukrainian physicist and academic (b. 1918)
1979 – Lee Wai Tong, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1905)
1980 – Maurice Grevisse, Belgian linguist and author (b. 1895)
1984 – Jimmie Spheeris, American singer-songwriter (b. 1949)
1986 – Paul-Gilbert Langevin, French musicologist, critique musical and physicist (b. 1933)
1986 – Flor Peeters, Belgian organist and composer (b. 1903)
1986 – Oscar Zariski, Belarusian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1899)
1988 – Adrian Adonis, American wrestler (b. 1954)
1990 – Olive Ann Burns, American journalist and author (b. 1924)
1991 – Victor Chang, Chinese-Australian surgeon and physician (b. 1936)
1991 – Art Sansom, American cartoonist (b. 1920)
1992 – Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian bandoneon player and composer (b. 1921)
1993 – Bona Arsenault, Canadian historian, genealogist, and politician (b. 1903)
1994 – Joey Marella, American wrestling referee (b. 1964)
1995 – Eva Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and singer (b. 1919)
1995 – Bob Ross, American painter and television host (b. 1942)
1997 – Charles Kuralt, American journalist (b. 1934)
1997 – John Zachary Young, English zoologist and neurophysiologist (b. 1907)
1999 – Leo Garel, American illustrator and educator (b. 1917)
2000 – Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Polish journalist and author (b. 1919)
2002 – Gerald Bales, Canadian organist and composer (b. 1919)
2002 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American general (b. 1912)
2003 – Larry Burkett, American author and radio host (b. 1939)
2003 – André Claveau, French singer (b. 1915)
2003 – Barry White, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1944)
2004 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (b. 1920)
2005 – Cliff Goupille, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1915)
2005 – Hank Stram, American football player and coach (b. 1923)
2007 – Bill Pinkney, American singer (b. 1925)
2008 – Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (b. 1940)
2008 – Jesse Helms, American politician (b. 1921)
2008 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress (b. 1916)
2008 – Terrence Kiel, American football player (b. 1980)
2008 – Charles Wheeler, German-English soldier and journalist (b. 1923)
2009 – Brenda Joyce, American actress (b. 1917)
2009 – Allen Klein, American businessman and talent agent, founded ABKCO Records (b. 1931)
2009 – Drake Levin, American guitarist (b. 1946)
2009 – Steve McNair, American football player (b. 1973)
2009 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish author and actor (b. 1935)
2009 – Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard, Congolese poet and politician (b. 1938)
2010 – Robert Neil Butler, American physician and author (b. 1927)
2012 – Hiren Bhattacharyya, Indian poet and author (b. 1932)
2012 – Jimmy Bivins, American boxer (b. 1919)
2012 – Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (b. 1987)
2012 – Eric Sykes, English actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
2013 – Onllwyn Brace, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1932)
2013 – Jack Crompton, English footballer and manager (b. 1921)
2013 – James Fulton, American dermatologist and academic (b. 1940)
2013 – Charles A. Hines, American general (b. 1935)
2013 – Bernie Nolan, Irish singer (b. 1960)
2014 – Giorgio Faletti, Italian author, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1950)
2014 – C. J. Henderson, American author and critic (b. 1951)
2014 – Earl Robinson, American baseball player (b. 1936)
2014 – Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (b. 1932)
2015 – Nedelcho Beronov, Bulgarian judge and politician (b. 1928)
2015 – William Conrad Gibbons, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1926)
2016 – Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (b. 1940)
2017 – John Blackwell, American R&B, funk, and jazz drummer (b. 1973)
2017 – Daniil Granin, Soviet and Russian author (b. 1919)
2018 – Henri Dirickx, Belgian footballer (b. 1927)
2018 – Robby Müller, Dutch cinematographer (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances on July 4

Christian feast day:
- Andrew of Crete
- Bertha of Artois
- Blessed Catherine Jarrige
- Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
- Elizabeth of Aragon (or of Portugal)
- Oda of Canterbury
- Ulrich of Augsburg
- July 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Birthday of Queen Sonja (Norway)
The first evening of Dree Festival, celebrated until July 7 (Apatani people, Arunachal Pradesh, India)
Independence Day, celebrates the Declaration of Independence of the United States from Great Britain in 1776. (United States and its dependencies)
Liberation Day (Northern Mariana Islands)
Liberation Day (Rwanda)
Republic Day (Philippines)

July 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

June 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

296 – Pope Marcellinus begins his papacy.
763 – The Byzantine army of emperor Constantine V defeats the Bulgarian forces in the Battle of Anchialus.
1422 – Battle of Arbedo between the duke of Milan and the Swiss cantons.
1521 – Spanish forces defeat a combined French and Navarrese army at the Battle of Noáin during the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre.
1559 – King Henry II of France is mortally wounded in a jousting match against Gabriel, comte de Montgomery.
1651 – The Deluge: Khmelnytsky Uprising: The Battle of Berestechko ends with a Polish victory.
1688 – The Immortal Seven issue the Invitation to William, which would culminate in the Glorious Revolution.
1758 – Seven Years’ War: Habsburg Austrian forces destroy a Prussian reinforcement and supply convoy in the Battle of Domstadtl, helping to expel Prussian King Frederick the Great from Moravia.
1794 – Northwest Indian War: Native American forces under Blue Jacket attack Fort Recovery.
1805 – Under An act to divide the Indiana Territory into two separate governments, adopted by the U.S. Congress on January 11, 1805, the Michigan Territory is organized.
1859 – French acrobat Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
1860 – The 1860 Oxford evolution debate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History takes place.
1864 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln grants Yosemite Valley to California for “public use, resort and recreation”.
1882 – Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C. for the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield.
1886 – The first transcontinental train trip across Canada departs from Montreal, Quebec. It arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia on July 4.
1892 – The Homestead Strike begins near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1905 – Albert Einstein sends the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduces special relativity, for publication in Annalen der Physik.
1906 – The United States Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act.
1908 – The Tunguska Event, the largest impact event on Earth in human recorded history, resulting in a massive explosion over Eastern Siberia.
1912 – The Regina Cyclone, Canada’s deadliest tornado event, kills 28 people in Regina, Saskatchewan.
1916 – World War I: In “the day Sussex died”, elements of the Royal Sussex Regiment take heavy casualties in the Battle of the Boar’s Head at Richebourg-l’Avoué in France.
1921 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding appoints former President William Howard Taft as Chief Justice of the United States.
1922 – In Washington D.C., U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and Dominican Ambassador Francisco J. Peynado sign the Hughes–Peynado agreement, which ends the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic.
1934 – The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler’s violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, takes place.
1936 – Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia appeals for aid to the League of Nations against Italy’s invasion of his country.
1937 – The world’s first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Cherbourg ends with the fall of the strategically valuable port to American forces.
1953 – The first Chevrolet Corvette rolls off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan.
1956 – A TWA Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 collide above the Grand Canyon in Arizona and crash, killing all 128 on board both airliners.
1959 – A United States Air Force F-100 Super Sabre from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, crashes into a nearby elementary school, killing 11 students plus six residents from the local neighborhood.
1960 – Belgian Congo gains independence as Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville).
1963 – Ciaculli bombing: a car bomb, intended for Mafia boss Salvatore Greco, kills seven police officers and military personnel near Palermo.
1966 – The National Organization for Women, the United States’ largest feminist organization, is founded.
1968 – Pope Paul VI issues the Credo of the People of God.
1971 – The crew of the Soviet Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply escapes through a faulty valve.
1972 – The first leap second is added to the UTC time system.
1974 – The Baltimore municipal strike of 1974 begins.
1977 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.
1985 – Thirty-nine American hostages from the hijacked TWA Flight 847 are freed in Beirut after being held for 17 days.
1986 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Bowers v. Hardwick that states can outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.
1990 – East Germany and West Germany merge their economies.
1994 – During a test flight of an Airbus A330-300 at Toulouse–Blagnac Airport, the aircraft crashes killing all seven people on board.
1997 – The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to China.
2005 – MTV Canada is rebranded as Razer
2007 – A Jeep Cherokee filled with propane canisters drives into the entrance of Glasgow Airport, Scotland in a failed terrorist attack. This was linked to the 2007 London car bombs that had taken place the day before.
2009 – Yemenia Flight 626, an Airbus A310-300, crashes into the Indian Ocean near Comoros, killing 152 of the 153 people on board. A 14-year-old girl named Bahia Bakari survives the crash.
2013 – Nineteen firefighters die controlling a wildfire in Yarnell, Arizona.
2013 – Protests begin around Egypt against President Mohamed Morsi and the ruling Freedom and Justice Party, leading to their overthrow during the 2013 Egyptian coup d’état.
2015 – A Hercules C-130 military aircraft with 113 people on board crashes in a residential area in Medan, Indonesia, resulting in at least 116 deaths.
2019 – Donald Trump becomes the first sitting US President to visit the Democratic Republic of Korea.

Births on June 30

1286 – John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, English magnate (d. 1347)
1468 – John, Elector of Saxony (d. 1532)
1470 – Charles VIII of France (d. 1498)
1478 – John, Prince of Asturias, Son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile (d. 1497)
1503 – John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1554)
1533 – Martín de Rada, Spanish missionary (d. 1578)
1588 – Giovanni Maria Sabino, Italian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1649)
1641 – Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg, German-English general (d. 1719)
1685 – John Gay, English poet and playwright (d. 1732)
1688 – Abu l-Hasan Ali I, ruler of Tunisia (d. 1756)
1722 – Jiří Antonín Benda, Czech composer, violinist and Kapellmeister (d. 1795)
1755 – Paul Barras, French soldier and politician (d. 1829)
1789 – Horace Vernet, French painter and academic (d. 1863)
1791 – Félix Savart, French physicist and psychologist (d. 1841)
1803 – Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet, playwright, and physician (d. 1849)
1807 – Friedrich Theodor Vischer, German author, poet, and playwright (d.1887)
1817 – Joseph Dalton Hooker, English botanist and explorer (d. 1911)
1843 – Ernest Mason Satow, English orientalist and diplomat (d. 1929)
1864 – Frederick Bligh Bond, English architect and archaeologist (d. 1945)
1884 – Georges Duhamel, French author and critic (d. 1966)
1889 – Archibald Frazer-Nash, English motor car designer, engineer and founder of Frazer Nash (d. 1965)
1890 – Paul Boffa, Maltese physician and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Malta (d. 1962)
1891 – Man Mountain Dean, American wrestler and sergeant (d. 1953)
1891 – Ed Lewis, American wrestler and manager (d. 1966)
1891 – Stanley Spencer, English painter (d. 1959)
1892 – Pierre Blanchar, Algerian-French actor and director (d. 1963)
1893 – Walter Ulbricht, German soldier and politician (d. 1973)
1895 – Heinz Warneke, German-American sculptor and educator (d. 1983)
1899 – Madge Bellamy, American actress (d. 1990)
1905 – John Van Ryn, American tennis player (d. 1999)
1906 – Anthony Mann, American actor and director (d. 1967)
1907 – Roman Shukhevych, Ukrainian general and politician (d. 1950)
1908 – Winston Graham, English author (d. 2003)
1908 – Luigi Rovere, Italian film producer (d. 1996)
1908 – Rob Nieuwenhuys, Dutch writer (d. 1999)
1909 – Juan Bosch, 43rd President of the Dominican Republic (d. 2001)
1911 – Czesław Miłosz, Polish novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1911 – Nagarjun, Indian poet (d. 1998)
1912 – Ludwig Bölkow, German engineer (d. 2003)
1912 – Dan Reeves, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1971)
1912 – María Luisa Dehesa Gómez Farías, Mexican architect (d. 2009)
1913 – Alfonso López Michelsen, Colombian lawyer and politician, 24th President of Colombia (d. 2007)
1913 – Harry Wismer, American sportscaster (d. 1967)
1914 – Francisco da Costa Gomes, Portuguese general and politician, 15th President of Portugal (d. 2001)
1914 – Allan Houser, American sculptor and painter (d. 1994)
1917 – Susan Hayward, American actress (d. 1975)
1917 – Lena Horne, American actress, singer, and activist (d. 2010)
1917 – Willa Kim, American costume designer (d. 2016)
1919 – Ed Yost, American inventor of the modern hot air balloon (d. 2007)
1920 – Eleanor Ross Taylor, American poet and educator (d. 2011)
1921 – Washington SyCip, American-Filipino accountant (d. 2017)
1922 – Al Besselink, American professional golfer
1923 – Andy Jack, English footballer
1924 – Max Trepp, Swiss sprinter
1925 – Fred Schaus, American basketball player and coach (d. 2010)
1925 – Ebrahim Amini, Iranian politician (d. 2020)
1926 – Paul Berg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1926 – David Berglas, American magician and mentalist
1927 – Shirley Fry Irvin, American tennis player
1927 – James Goldman, American screenwriter and playwright (d. 1998)
1927 – Mario Lanfranchi, Italian director, screenwriter, producer, collector and actor
1927 – Frank McCabe, American basketball player
1928 – Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli, Islamic philosopher, theologian, mathematician and mystic
1928 – Nathaniel Tarn, American poet, essayist, anthropologist, and translator
1929 – Yang Ti-liang, Chinese judge
1930 – Ben Atchley, American politician (d. 2018)
1930 – Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabian politician
1930 – Ignatius Peter VIII Abdalahad, Syrian bishop (d. 2018)
1931 – Yo-Yo Davalillo, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
1931 – Andrew Hill, American pianist and composer (d. 2007)
1931 – Ronald Rene Lagueux, American judge
1931 – Kaye Vaughan, American football player
1933 – Tomislav Ivić, Croatian football coach and manager (d. 2011)
1933 – M. J. K. Smith, English cricketer and rugby player
1933 – Orval Tessier, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1933 – Joan Murrell Owens, American educator and marine biologist (d. 2011)
1934 – Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician and author (d. 1997)
1935 – John Harlin, American pilot and mountaineer (d. 1966)
1936 – Assia Djebar, Algerian-French author and translator (d. 2015)
1936 – Nancy Dussault, American actress and singer
1936 – Tony Musante, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1936 – Dave Van Ronk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
1937 – Larry Henley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
1938 – Billy Mills, American sprinter
1939 – Tony Hatch, English pianist, composer, and producer
1939 – Barry Hines, English author and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1939 – José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican poet and author (d. 2014)
1940 – Mark Spoelstra, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2007)
1941 – Peter Pollock, South African cricketer and author
1942 – Robert Ballard, American lieutenant and oceanographer
1942 – Ron Harris, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1943 – Florence Ballard, American pop/soul singer (d. 1976)
1943 – Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Indian director and screenwriter
1944 – Raymond Moody, American parapsychologist and author
1944 – Glenn Shorrock, English-Australian singer-songwriter
1944 – Ron Swoboda, American baseball player and sportscaster
1949 – Uwe Kliemann, German footballer, coach, and manager
1949 – Andy Scott, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1951 – Stanley Clarke, American bass player and composer
1952 – Athanassios S. Fokas, Greek mathematician and academic
1952 – David Garrison, American actor and singer
1953 – Hal Lindes, American-English guitarist and film score composer
1954 – Stephen Barlow, English organist, composer, and conductor
1954 – Pierre Charles, Dominican educator and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)
1954 – Serzh Sargsyan, Armenian politician, 3rd President of Armenia
1954 – Wayne Swan, Australian academic and politician, 14th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
1955 – Brian Vollmer, Canadian singer
1955 – Egils Levits, Latvian judge, jurist, 10th President of Latvia
1956 – Volker Beck, German hurdler and coach
1956 – David Lidington, English historian, academic, and politician, Minister of State for Europe
1956 – David Alan Grier, American actor, singer, and comedian
1957 – Bud Black, American baseball player and manager
1957 – Sterling Marlin, American race car driver
1958 – Pam Royle, British television presenter, journalist and voice coach
1958 – Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish conductor and composer
1959 – Vincent D’Onofrio, American actor
1959 – Daniel Goldhagen, American political scientist, author, and academic
1959 – Brendan Perry, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1959 – Sakis Tsiolis, Greek footballer and manager
1959 – Sandip Verma, Baroness Verma, Indian-English businesswoman and politician
1960 – Jack McConnell, Scottish educator and politician, 3rd First Minister of Scotland
1960 – Murray Cook, Australian musician, actor, songwriter and producer
1961 – Lynne Jolitz, American computer scientist and programmer
1961 – Clive Nolan, English musician, composer and producer
1962 – Tony Fernández, Dominican baseball player
1962 – Julianne Regan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1963 – Olha Bryzhina, Ukrainian sprinter
1963 – Rupert Graves, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1963 – Yngwie Malmsteen, Swedish guitarist and songwriter
1964 – Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg
1964 – Mark Waters, American director and producer
1965 – Steve Duchesne, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
1965 – Cho Jae-hyun, South Korean actor
1965 – Anna Levandi, Russian figure skater and coach
1965 – Gary Pallister, English footballer and sportscaster
1965 – Mitch Richmond, American basketball player
1966 – Mike Tyson, American boxer and actor
1967 – Patrik Bodén, Swedish javelin thrower
1967 – David Busst, English footballer and manager
1967 – Victoria Kaspi, American-Canadian astrophysicist and academic
1968 – Phil Anselmo, American singer-songwriter and producer
1969 – Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lankan cricketer and politician
1969 – Uta Rohländer, German sprinter
1969 – Sébastien Rose, Canadian director and screenwriter
1970 – Brian Bloom, American actor and screenwriter
1970 – Antonio Chimenti, Italian footballer and manager
1970 – Mark Grudzielanek, American baseball player and manager
1971 – Monica Potter, American actress
1972 – Sandra Cam, Belgian swimmer
1973 – Chan Ho Park, South Korean baseball player
1973 – Frank Rost, German footballer and manager
1974 – Hezekiél Sepeng, South African runner
1975 – James Bannatyne, New Zealand footballer
1975 – Ralf Schumacher, German race car driver
1978 – Ben Cousins, Australian footballer
1978 – Patrick Ivuti, Kenyan runner
1978 – Claudio Rivalta, Italian footballer
1979 – Sylvain Chavanel, French cyclist
1980 – Rade Prica, Swedish footballer
1980 – Seyi Olofinjana, Nigerian footballer
1980 – Ryan ten Doeschate, Dutch cricketer
1981 – Can Artam, Turkish race car driver
1981 – Matt Kirk, Canadian football player
1981 – Barbora Špotáková, Czech javelin thrower
1981 – Ben Utecht, American football player
1982 – Lizzy Caplan, American actress
1982 – Ignacio Carrasco, Mexican footballer
1983 – Marcus Burghardt, German cyclist
1983 – Katherine Ryan, UK-based Canadian comedian and presenter
1983 – Cheryl, English singer and TV personality
1984 – Fantasia Barrino, American singer-songwriter and actress
1984 – Tunku Ismail Idris, Crown Prince of Johor, Malaysia
1985 – Trevor Ariza, American basketball player
1985 – Michael Phelps, American swimmer
1985 – Fabiana Vallejos, Argentinian footballer
1986 – Alicia Fox, American wrestler, model, and actress
1986 – Fredy Guarín, Colombian footballer
1986 – Nicola Pozzi, Italian footballer
1986 – Allegra Versace, Italian-American businesswoman
1987 – Ryan Cook, American baseball player
1987 – Andrew Hedgman, New Zealand runner
1988 – Elisa Jordana, American singer-songwriter, radio and TV personality
1989 – Asbel Kiprop, Kenyan runner
1989 – Steffen Liebig, German rugby player
1989 – David Myers, Australian footballer
1990 – N, South Korean singer
1998 – Tom Davies, English footballer

Deaths on June 30

350 – Nepotianus, Roman ruler
710 – Erentrude, Frankish abbess
888 – Æthelred, archbishop of Canterbury
945 – Ki no Tsurayuki, Japanese writer and poet (b. 872)
1181 – Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester, Welsh politician (b. 1147)
1224 – Adolf of Osnabrück, German monk and bishop (b. 1185)
1278 – Pierre de la Broce, French courtier
1337 – Eleanor de Clare, English noblewoman (b. 1290)
1364 – Arnošt of Pardubice, Czech archbishop (b. 1297)
1538 – Charles II, Duke of Guelders (b. 1467)
1522 – Johann Reuchlin, German humanist and Hebrew scholar (b. 1455)
1607 – Caesar Baronius, Italian cardinal and historian (b. 1538)
1649 – Simon Vouet, French painter (b. 1590)
1660 – William Oughtred, English minister and mathematician (b. 1575)
1666 – Alexander Brome, English poet and playwright (b. 1620)
1670 – Henrietta of England (b. 1644)
1704 – John Quelch, English pirate (b. 1665)
1708 – Tekle Haymanot I of Ethiopia (b. 1684)
1709 – Edward Lhuyd, Welsh botanist, linguist, and geographer (b. 1660)
1785 – James Oglethorpe, English general and politician, 1st Colonial Governor of Georgia (b. 1696)
1796 – Abraham Yates Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1724)
1857 – Alcide d’Orbigny, French zoologist and paleontologist (b. 1802)
1882 – Charles J. Guiteau, American preacher and lawyer, assassin of James A. Garfield (b. 1841)
1882 – Alberto Henschel, German-Brazilian photographer and businessman (b. 1827)
1890 – Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, American organist and composer (b. 1819)
1908 – Thomas Hill, American painter (b. 1829)
1913 – Alphonse Kirchhoffer, French fencer (b. 1873)
1916 – Eunice Eloisae Gibbs Allyn, American correspondent, author, and poet (b. 1847)
1917 – Antonio de La Gándara, French painter and illustrator (b. 1861)
1917 – Dadabhai Naoroji, Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political and social leader (b. 1825)
1919 – John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1842)
1932 – Bruno Kastner, German actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1890)
1934 – Karl Ernst, German soldier (b. 1904)
1934 – Erich Klausener, German soldier and politician (b. 1885)
1934 – Gustav Ritter von Kahr, German lawyer and politician, Minister-President of Bavaria (b. 1862)
1934 – Gregor Strasser, German lieutenant and politician (b. 1892)
1934 – Kurt von Schleicher, German general and politician, 23rd Chancellor of Germany (b. 1882)
1941 – Yefim Fomin, Belarusian politician (b. 1909)
1941 – Aleksander Tõnisson, Estonian general and politician, 5th Estonian Minister of War (b. 1875)
1948 – Prince Sabahaddin, Turkish-Swiss sociologist and academic (b. 1879)
1949 – Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, French financier and polo player (b. 1868)
1951 – Yrjö Saarela, Finnish wrestler and coach (b. 1884)
1953 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish author and illustrator (b. 1874)
1953 – Charles William Miller, Brazilian footballer and civil servant (b. 1874)
1954 – Andrass Samuelsen, Faroese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1873)
1956 – Thorleif Lund, Norwegian actor (b. 1880)
1959 – José Vasconcelos, Mexican philosopher and politician (b. 1882)
1961 – Lee de Forest, American inventor, invented the audion tube (b. 1873)
1966 – Giuseppe Farina, Italian race car driver (b. 1906)
1966 – Margery Allingham, English author of detective fiction (b. 1904)
1968 – Ernst Marcus, German zoologist (b. 1893)
1971 – Georgi Asparuhov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1943)
1971 – Herbert Biberman, American director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
1971 – Georgy Dobrovolsky Ukrainian pilot and astronaut (b. 1928)
1971 – Nikola Kotkov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1938)
1971 – Viktor Patsayev, Kazakh engineer and astronaut (b. 1933)
1971 – Vladislav Volkov, Russian engineer and astronaut (b. 1935)
1973 – Nancy Mitford, English journalist and author (b. 1904)
1973 – Vasyl Velychkovsky, Ukrainian-Canadian bishop and martyr (b. 1903)
1974 – Alberta Williams King, Civil rights activist (b. 1904)
1976 – Firpo Marberry, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1898)
1984 – Lillian Hellman, American author and playwright (b. 1905)
1985 – Haruo Remeliik, Palauan politician, 1st President of Palau (b. 1933)
1995 – Georgy Beregovoy, Ukrainian general and astronaut (b. 1921)
1995 – Gale Gordon, American actor and voice artist (b. 1906)
1996 – Lakis Petropoulos, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1932)
2001 – Chet Atkins, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1924)
2001 – Joe Henderson, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1937)
2002 – Chico Xavier, Brazilian medium and author (b. 1910)
2003 – Buddy Hackett, American actor and comedian (b. 1924)
2003 – Robert McCloskey, American author and illustrator (b. 1915)
2004 – Eddie Burns, Australian rugby league player (b. 1916)
2007 – Sahib Singh Verma, Indian librarian and politician, 4th Chief Minister of Delhi (b. 1943)
2009 – Pina Bausch, German dancer, choreographer, and director (b. 1940)
2009 – Harve Presnell, American actor and singer (b. 1933)
2012 – Michael Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun, English-Australian politician (b. 1942)
2012 – Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli politician, 7th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1915)
2012 – Michael J. Ybarra, American journalist and author (b. 1966)
2013 – Alan Campbell, Baron Campbell of Alloway, English lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
2013 – Akpor Pius Ewherido, Nigerian politician (b. 1963)
2013 – Kathryn Morrison, American educator and politician (b. 1942)
2013 – Thompson Oliha, Nigerian footballer (b. 1968)
2013 – Keith Seaman, Australian politician, 29th Governor of South Australia (b. 1920)
2014 – Frank Cashen, American businessman (b. 1925)
2014 – Paul Mazursky, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
2014 – Željko Šturanović, Montenegrin lawyer and politician, 31st Prime Minister of Montenegro (b. 1960)
2015 – Charles W. Bagnal, American general (b. 1934)
2015 – Robert Dewar, English-American computer scientist and academic (b. 1945)
2015 – Arthur Porter, Canadian physician and academic (b. 1956)
2015 – Leonard Starr, American author and illustrator (b. 1925)
2017 – Barry Norman, English television presenter (b. 1933)
2017 – Simone Veil, French lawyer and politician (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances on June 30

Christian feast day:
- Martial
- Theobald of Provins
- First Martyrs of the Church of Rome
- June 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Armed Forces Day (Guatemala)
Asteroid Day (International observance)
General Prayer Day (Central African Republic)
Independence Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo), celebrates the independence of Democratic Republic of the Congo from Belgium in 1960.
Navy Day (Israel)
Philippine–Spanish Friendship Day (Philippines)
Revolution Day (Sudan)
Teachers’ Day (Dominican Republic)

June 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

June 26 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

4 AD – Augustus adopts Tiberius.
221 – Roman emperor Elagabalus adopts his cousin Alexander Severus as his heir and receives the title of Caesar.
363 – Roman emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sasanian Empire.
684 – Pope Benedict II is chosen.
699 – En no Ozuno, a Japanese mystic and apothecary who will later be regarded as the founder of a folk religion Shugendō, is banished to Izu Ōshima.
1243 – Mongols defeat the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Köse Dağ.
1295 – Przemysł II crowned king of Poland, following Ducal period. The white eagle is added to the Polish coat of arms.
1407 – Ulrich von Jungingen becomes Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.
1409 – Western Schism: The Roman Catholic Church is led into a double schism as Petros Philargos is crowned Pope Alexander V after the Council of Pisa, joining Pope Gregory XII in Rome and Pope Benedict XII in Avignon.
1460 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and Edward, Earl of March, land in England with a rebel army and march on London.
1483 – Richard III becomes King of England.
1522 – Ottomans begin the second Siege of Rhodes.
1541 – Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego de Almagro the younger. Almagro is later caught and executed.
1579 – Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory begins.
1718 – Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, Peter the Great’s son, mysteriously dies after being sentenced to death by his father for plotting against him.
1723 – After a siege and bombardment by cannon, Baku surrenders to the Russians.
1740 – A combined force of Spanish, free blacks and allied Indians defeat a British garrison at the Siege of Fort Mose near St. Augustine during the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Fleurus marked the first successful military use of aircraft.
1830 – William IV becomes king of Britain and Hanover.
1843 – Treaty of Nanking comes into effect, Hong Kong Island is ceded to the British “in perpetuity”.
1848 – End of the June Days Uprising in Paris.
1857 – The first investiture of the Victoria Cross in Hyde Park, London.
1870 – The Christian holiday of Christmas is declared a federal holiday in the United States.
1886 – Henri Moissan isolated elemental Fluorine for the first time.
1889 – Bangui is founded by Albert Dolisie and Alfred Uzac in what was then the upper reaches of the French Congo.
1906 – The first Grand Prix motor race is held at Le Mans.
1909 – The Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity.
1917 – World War I: The American Expeditionary Forces begin to arrive in France. They will first enter combat four months later.
1918 – World War I: Allied forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord defeat Imperial German forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince in the Battle of Belleau Wood.
1924 – The American occupation of the Dominican Republic ends after eight years.
1927 – The Cyclone roller coaster opens on Coney Island.
1934 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Federal Credit Union Act, which establishes credit unions.
1936 – Initial flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter.
1940 – World War II: Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Romania requiring it to cede Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina.
1941 – World War II: Soviet planes bomb Kassa, Hungary (now Košice, Slovakia), giving Hungary the impetus to declare war the next day.
1942 – The first flight of the Grumman F6F Hellcat.
1944 – World War II: San Marino, a neutral state, is mistakenly bombed by the RAF based on faulty information, leading to 35 civilian deaths.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Osuchy in Osuchy, Poland, one of the largest battles between Nazi Germany and Polish resistance forces, ends with the defeat of the latter.
1945 – The United Nations Charter is signed by 50 Allied nations in San Francisco, California.
1948 – Cold War: The first supply flights are made in response to the Berlin Blockade.
1948 – William Shockley files the original patent for the grown-junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.
1948 – Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery is published in The New Yorker magazine.
1952 – The Pan-Malayan Labour Party is founded in Malaya, as a union of statewide labour parties.
1953 – Lavrentiy Beria, head of MVD, is arrested by Nikita Khrushchev and other members of the Politburo.
1955 – The South African Congress Alliance adopts the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People in Kliptown.
1959 – Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson becomes world champion of heavy weight boxing, by defeating American Floyd Patterson on technical knockout after two minutes and three seconds in the third round at Yankee Stadium.
1960 – The former British Protectorate of British Somaliland gains its independence as Somaliland.
1960 – Madagascar gains its independence from France.
1963 – Cold War: U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall.
1967 – Karol Wojtyła (later John Paul II) made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.
1974 – The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
1975 – Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial.
1977 – Elvis Presley held his final concert in Indianapolis, Indiana at Market Square Arena.
1978 – Air Canada Flight 189, flying to Toronto, overruns the runway and crashes into the Etobicoke Creek ravine. Two of the 107 passengers on board perish.
1991 – Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav People’s Army begins the Ten-Day War in Slovenia.
1995 – Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani deposes his father Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in a bloodless coup d’état.
1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Communications Decency Act violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
2000 – The Human Genome Project announces the completion of a “rough draft” sequence.
2003 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
2006 – Mari Alkatiri, the first Prime Minister of East Timor, resigns after weeks of political unrest.
2007 – Pope Benedict XVI reinstates the traditional laws of papal election in which a successful candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes.
2008 – A suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi policeman detonates an explosive vest, killing 25 people.
2012 – The Waldo Canyon fire descends into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood in Colorado Springs burning 347 homes in a matter of hours and killing two people.
2013 – Riots in China’s Xinjiang region kill at least 36 people and injure 21 others.
2013 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
2015 – Five different terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia, Somalia, Kuwait, and Syria occurred on what was dubbed Bloody Friday by international media. Upwards of 750 people were either killed or injured in these uncoordinated attacks.
2015 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Births on June 26

12 BC – Agrippa Postumus, Roman son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder (d. 14)
1399 – John, Count of Angoulême (d. 1467)
1575 – Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (d. 1612)
1581 – San Pedro Claver, Spanish Jesuit saint (d. 1654)
1600 – Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish-born bishop and viceroy of New Spain (d. 1659)
1681 – Hedvig Sophia of Sweden (d. 1708)
1689 – Edward Holyoke, American pastor and academic (d. 1769)
1694 – Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (d. 1768)
1699 – Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin, French businesswoman (d. 1777)
1702 – Philip Doddridge, English hymn-writer and educator (d. 1751)
1703 – Thomas Clap, American minister and academic (d. 1767)
1726 – Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia (d. 1796)
1730 – Charles Messier, French astronomer and academic (d. 1817)
1764 – Jan Paweł Łuszczewski, Polish politician (d. 1812)
1796 – Jan Paweł Lelewel, Polish painter and engineer (d. 1847)
1798 – Wolfgang Menzel, German poet and critic (d. 1873)
1817 – Branwell Brontë, English painter and poet (d. 1848)
1819 – Abner Doubleday, American general (d. 1893)
1821 – Bartolomé Mitre, Argentinian soldier, journalist, and politician, 6th President of Argentina (d. 1906)
1824 – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-Scottish physicist and engineer (d. 1907)
1835 – Thomas W. Knox, American journalist and author (d. 1896)
1839 – Sam Watkins, American soldier and author (d. 1901)
1852 – Daoud Corm, Lebanese painter (d. 1930)
1854 – Robert Laird Borden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1937)
1865 – Bernard Berenson, Lithuanian-American historian and author (d. 1959)
1866 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English archaeologist and banker (d. 1923)
1869 – Martin Andersen Nexø, Danish journalist and author (d. 1954)
1878 – Leopold Löwenheim, German mathematician and logician (d. 1957)
1880 – Mitchell Lewis, American actor (d. 1956)
1881 – Ya’akov Cohen, Israeli linguist, poet, and playwright (d. 1960)
1892 – Pearl S. Buck, American novelist, essayist, short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
1893 – Dorothy Fuldheim, American journalist and news anchor(d. 1989)
1895 – George Hainsworth, Canadian ice hockey player and politician (d. 1950)
1898 – Willy Messerschmitt, German engineer and businessman (d. 1978)
1898 – Chesty Puller, US general (d. 1971)
1899 – Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
1901 – Stuart Symington, American lieutenant and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Air Force (d. 1988)
1902 – Hugues Cuénod, Swiss tenor and educator (d. 2010)
1903 – Big Bill Broonzy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1958)
1904 – Frank Scott Hogg, Canadian astronomer and academic (d. 1951)
1904 – Peter Lorre, Slovak-American actor and singer (d. 1964)
1905 – Lynd Ward, American author and illustrator (d. 1985)
1906 – Alberto Rabagliati, Italian singer (d. 1974)
1906 – Viktor Schreckengost, American sculptor and educator (d. 2008)
1907 – Debs Garms, American baseball player (d. 1984)
1908 – Salvador Allende, Chilean physician and politician, 29th President of Chile (d. 1973)
1909 – Colonel Tom Parker, Dutch-American talent manager (d. 1997)
1909 – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator, director, and producer (d. 1985)
1911 – Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American golfer and basketball player (d. 1956)
1911 – Bronisław Żurakowski, Polish pilot and engineer (d. 2009)
1913 – Aimé Césaire, French poet, author, and politician (d. 2008)
1913 – Maurice Wilkes, English computer scientist and physicist (d. 2010)
1914 – Laurie Lee, English author and poet (d. 1997)
1914 – Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, European royalty (d. 2001)
1915 – Paul Castellano, American gangster (d. 1985)
1915 – George Haigh, English professional footballer (d. 2019)
1915 – Charlotte Zolotow, American author and poet (d. 2013)
1916 – Virginia Satir, American psychotherapist and author (d. 1988)
1916 – Giuseppe Taddei, Italian actor and singer (d. 2010)
1917 – Idriz Ajeti, Albanian albanologist (d. 2019)
1918 – Leo Rosner, Polish-born Austrian Jewish musician (d. 2008)
1918 – Raleigh Rhodes, American combat fighter pilot (d. 2007)
1918 – J. B. Fuqua, American entrepreneur and philanthropist (d. 2006)
1919 – Richard Neustadt, American political scientist and academic (d. 2003)
1919 – Jimmy Newberry, American pitcher (d. 1983)
1919 – George Athan Billias, American historian (d. 2018)
1919 – Donald M. Ashton, English art director (d. 2004)
1920 – Jean-Pierre Roy, Canadian-American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2014)
1921 – Violette Szabo, French-British secret agent (d. 1945)
1921 – Robert Everett, American computer scientist (d. 2018)
1922 – Walter Farley, American author (d. 1989)
1922 – Eleanor Parker, American actress (d. 2013)
1922 – Enzo Apicella, English artist, cartoonist, designer, and restaurateur (d. 2018)
1923 – Franz-Paul Decker, German conductor (d. 2014)
1923 – Ed Bearss, American veteran of World War II
1924 – Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher and author (d. 2010)
1924 – James W. McCord Jr., CIA officer (d. 2017)
1925 – Pavel Belyayev, Russian soldier, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1970)
1925 – Wolfgang Unzicker, German chess player (d. 2006)
1925 – Jean Frydman, French resistant and businessman
1926 – Kenny Baker, American fiddler (d.2011)
1926 – Mahendra Bhatnagar, Indian poet
1926 – Fernando Mönckeberg Barros, Chilean surgeon
1926 – Dinu Zamfirescu, Romanian politician
1927 – Robert Kroetsch, Canadian author and poet (d. 2011)
1928 – Jacob Druckman, American composer and academic (d. 1996)
1928 – Yoshiro Nakamatsu, Japanese inventor
1928 – Bill Sheffield, American politician; 5th Governor of Alaska
1928 – Samuel Belzberg, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2018)
1929 – June Bronhill, Australian soprano and actress (d. 2005)
1929 – Fred Bruemmer, Latvian-Canadian photographer and author (d. 2013)
1929 – Milton Glaser, American illustrator and graphic designer
1930 – Jackie Fargo, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2013)
1930 – Wolfgang Schwanitz, East German secret police
1931 – Colin Wilson, English philosopher and author (d. 2013)
1931 – Robert Colbert, American actor
1932 – Dame Marguerite Pindling, Bahamian politician; Governor-General of the Bahamas
1932 – Don Valentine, American venture capitalist (d. 2019)
1933 – Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (d. 2014)
1933 – Gene Green, American baseball player (d. 1981)
1933 – David Winnick, English politician
1934 – Dave Grusin, American pianist and composer
1934 – Toru Goto, Japanese swimmer
1935 – Carlo Facetti, Italian race car driver
1935 – Sandro Riminucci, Italian basketball player
1935 – Dwight York, American singer
1936 – Benjamin Adekunle, Nigerian general (d. 2014)
1936 – Hal Greer, American basketball player (d. 2018)
1936 – Robert Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart, Scottish politician (d. 2020)
1936 – Edith Pearlman, American short story writer
1936 – Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (d. 2015)
1936 – Nancy Willard, American author and poet (d. 2017)
1937 – Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1937 – Reggie Workman, American bassist and composer
1938 – Neil Abercrombie, American sociologist and politician, 7th Governor of Hawaii
1938 – Billy Davis Jr., American pop-soul singer
1938 – Gerald North, American climatologist and academic
1939 – Chuck Robb, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th Governor of Virginia
1939 – Zainuddin Maidin, Malaysian politician (d. 2018)
1941 – Yves Beauchemin, Canadian author and academic
1942 – J.J. Dillon, American wrestler and manager
1942 – Gilberto Gil, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and politician, Brazilian Minister of Culture
1943 – Georgie Fame, English singer, pianist, and keyboard player
1943 – Warren Farrell, American author and educator
1944 – Gennady Zyuganov, Russian colonel and politician
1946 – Candace Pert, American neuroscientist and pharmacologist (d. 2013)
1949 – Fredric Brandt, American dermatologist and author (d. 2015)
1949 – Adrian Gurvitz, English singer-songwriter and producer
1949 – Mary Styles Harris, American biologist and geneticist
1951 – Gary Gilmour, Australian cricketer and manager (d. 2014)
1952 – Gordon McQueen, Scottish footballer and manager
1952 – Olive Morris, Jamaican-English civil rights activist (d. 1979)
1954 – Luis Arconada, Spanish footballer
1955 – Mick Jones, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Gedde Watanabe, American actor
1956 – Chris Isaak, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1956 – Catherine Samba-Panza, interim president of the Central African Republic
1956 – Patrick Mercer, English colonel and politician
1957 – Al Hunter Ashton, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1957 – Philippe Couillard, Canadian surgeon and politician, 31st Premier of Quebec
1957 – Patty Smyth, American singer-songwriter and musician
1959 – Mark McKinney, Canadian actor and screenwriter
1960 – Mark Durkan, Irish politician
1961 – Greg LeMond, American cyclist
1961 – Terri Nunn, American singer-songwriter and actress
1962 – Jerome Kersey, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1963 – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian-Swiss businessman and philanthropist
1963 – Mark McClellan, American economist and politician
1963 – Harriet Wheeler, English singer-songwriter
1964 – Tommi Mäkinen, Finnish race car driver
1966 – Dany Boon, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1966 – Kirk McLean, Canadian ice hockey player
1966 – Jürgen Reil, American drummer
1967 – Inha Babakova, Ukrainian high jumper
1967 – Olivier Dahan, French director and screenwriter
1968 – Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, Icelandic lecturer and politician, 6th President of Iceland
1968 – Paolo Maldini, Italian footballer
1968 – Shannon Sharpe, American football player and sportscaster
1969 – Colin Greenwood, English bass player and songwriter
1969 – Ingrid Lempereur, Belgian swimmer
1969 – Geir Moen, Norwegian sprinter
1969 – Mike Myers, American baseball player
1970 – Paul Thomas Anderson, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1970 – Paul Bitok, Kenyan runner
1970 – Irv Gotti, American record producer, co-founded Murder Inc Records
1970 – Sean Hayes, American actor
1970 – Adam Ndlovu, Zimbabwean footballer
1970 – Chris O’Donnell, American actor
1970 – Nick Offerman, American actor
1971 – Max Biaggi, Italian motorcycle racer
1972 – Jai Taurima, Australian long jumper and police officer
1973 – Gretchen Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – Derek Jeter, American baseball player
1974 – Jason Kendall, American baseball player
1975 – Chris Armstrong, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Terry Skiverton, English footballer and manager
1976 – Ed Jovanovski, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Pommie Mbangwa, Zimbabwean cricketer and sportscaster
1976 – Chad Pennington, American football player and sportscaster
1976 – Dave Rubin, American political commentator
1977 – Quincy Lewis, American basketball player
1979 – Ryō Fukuda, Japanese race car driver
1979 – Walter Herrmann, Argentinian basketball player
1979 – Ryan Tedder, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1980 – Hamílton Hênio Ferreira Calheiros, Togolese footballer
1980 – Michael Jackson, English footballer
1980 – Jason Schwartzman, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor
1980 – Chris Shelton, American baseball player
1980 – Michael Vick, American football player
1981 – Natalya Antyukh, Russian sprinter and hurdler
1981 – Paolo Cannavaro, Italian footballer
1981 – Kanako Kondō, Japanese voice actress and singer
1981 – Takashi Toritani, Japanese baseball player
1982 – Zuzana Kučová, Slovak tennis player
1983 – Vinícius Rodrigues Almeida, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Nick Compton, South African-English cricketer
1983 – Toyonoshima Daiki, Japanese sumo wrestler
1983 – Felipe Melo, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Antonio Rosati, Italian footballer
1984 – Indila, French singer
1984 – José Juan Barea, Puerto Rican-American basketball player
1984 – Yankuba Ceesay, Gambian footballer
1984 – Elijah Dukes, American baseball player
1984 – Raymond Felton, American basketball player
1984 – Priscah Jeptoo, Kenyan runner
1984 – Jūlija Tepliha, Latvian figure skater
1984 – Deron Williams, American basketball player
1984 – Preslava, Bulgarian singer
1985 – Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Tibetan spiritual leader, 17th Karmapa Lama
1986 – Duvier Riascos, Colombian footballer
1987 – Carlos Iaconelli, Brazilian race car driver
1987 – Samir Nasri, French footballer
1988 – Oliver Stang, German footballer
1990 – Belaynesh Oljira, Ethiopian runner
1990 – Igor Subbotin, Estonian footballer
1991 – Houssem Chemali, French footballer
1991 – Diego Falcinelli, Italian footballer
1991 – Dustin Martin, Australian rules footballer
1992 – Joel Campbell, Costa Rican footballer
1992 – Rudy Gobert, French basketball player
1992 – Jennette McCurdy, American actress and singer-songwriter
1993 – Ariana Grande, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
1994 – Hollie Arnold, English javelin thrower
1994 – Leonard Carow, German actor
1997 – Baek Ye-rin, South Korean singer
1997 – Callum Taylor, English cricketer
2002 – Chandler Smith, American racing driver
2009 – Yesha Camile, Filipino child actress

Deaths on June 26

116 BC – Ptolemy VIII, king of Egypt
363 – Julian the Apostate, Roman emperor (b. 332)
405 – Vigilius, bishop of Trent (b. 353)
822 – Saichō, Japanese Buddhist monk (b. 767)
969 – George El Mozahem, Egyptian martyr (b. 940)
985 – Ramiro III, king of León
1090 – Jaromír, bishop of Prague
1095 – Robert, bishop of Hereford
1265 – Anne of Bohemia, duchess of Silesia (b. 1203 or 1204)
1274 – Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian scientist and writer (b. 1201)
1487 – John Argyropoulos, Byzantine philosopher and scholar (b. 1415)
1541 – Francisco Pizarro, Spanish explorer and politician, Governor of New Castile (b. c. 1471)
1574 – Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, captain of the Scottish Guard of Henry II of France (b. 1530)
1688 – Ralph Cudworth, English philosopher and academic (b. 1617)
1752 – Giulio Alberoni, Spanish cardinal (b. 1664)
1757 – Maximilian Ulysses Browne, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)
1784 – Caesar Rodney, American lawyer and politician, 4th Governor of Delaware (b. 1728)
1793 – James Dickey, Irish revolutionary (b. 1776)
1793 – Gilbert White, English ornithologist and ecologist (b. 1720)
1795 – Johannes Jährig, German linguist and translator (b. 1747)
1808 – Ludwik Tyszkiewicz, Polish poet and politician (b. 1748)
1810 – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, French inventor, co-invented the hot air balloon (b. 1740)
1830 – George IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1762)
1836 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French soldier and composer (b. 1760)
1856 – Max Stirner, German philosopher and author (b. 1806)
1870 – Armand Barbès, French lawyer and politician (b. 1809)
1878 – Mercedes of Orléans (b. 1860)
1879 – Richard H. Anderson, American general (b. 1821)
1883 – Edward Sabine, Irish-English astronomer, geophysicist, and ornithologist (b. 1788)
1918 – Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet and author (b. 1843)
1922 – Albert I, Prince of Monaco (b. 1848)
1927 – Armand Guillaumin, French painter (b. 1841)
1932 – Adelaide Ames, American astronomer and academic (b. 1900)
1932 – William Murray McPherson, Australian politician, 31st Premier of Victoria (b. 1865)
1938 – James Weldon Johnson, American poet, lawyer and politician (b. 1871)
1938 – Daria Pratt, American golfer (b. 1859)
1939 – Ford Madox Ford, English novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1873)
1943 – Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
1945 – Emil Hácha, Czech lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1872)
1946 – Max Kögel, German SS officer (b. 1895)
1946 – Yōsuke Matsuoka, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1880)
1947 – R. B. Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1870)
1949 – Kim Koo, South Korean educator and politician, 13th President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (b. 1876)
1955 – Engelbert Zaschka, German engineer (b. 1895)
1956 – Clifford Brown, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1930)
1956 – Richie Powell, American pianist (b. 1931)
1957 – Alfred Döblin, Polish-German physician and author (b. 1878)
1957 – Malcolm Lowry, English novelist and poet (b. 1909)
1958 – George Orton, Canadian runner and hurdler (b. 1873)
1958 – Andrija Štampar, Croatian physician and scholar (b. 1888)
1964 – Léo Dandurand, American-Canadian businessman (b. 1889)
1967 – Françoise Dorléac, French actress and singer (b. 1942)
1975 – Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and saint (b. 1902)
1979 – Akwasi Afrifa, Ghanaian soldier and politician, 3rd Head of State of Ghana (b. 1936)
1989 – Howard Charles Green, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Public Works (b. 1895)
1990 – Anni Blomqvist, Finnish author (b. 1909)
1992 – Buddy Rogers, American wrestler (b. 1921)
1993 – Roy Campanella, American baseball player and coach (b. 1921)
1993 – William H. Riker, American political scientist and academic (b. 1920)
1994 – Jahanara Imam, Bangladeshi author and activist (b. 1929)
1996 – Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (b. 1958)
1996 – Necmettin Hacıeminoğlu, Turkish linguist and academic (b. 1932)
1997 – Don Hutson, American football player and coach (b. 1913)
1998 – Hacı Sabancı, Turkish businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935)
2002 – Jay Berwanger, American football player (b. 1914)
2002 – Arnold Brown, English-Canadian 11th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1913)
2003 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroon footballer (b. 1975)
2003 – Denis Thatcher, English soldier and businessman (b. 1915)
2003 – Strom Thurmond, American general, lawyer, and politician, 103rd Governor of South Carolina (b. 1902)
2004 – Ott Arder, Estonian poet and translator (b. 1950)
2004 – Yash Johar, Indian film producer, founded Dharma Productions (b. 1929)
2004 – Naomi Shemer, Israeli singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
2005 – Tõnno Lepmets, Estonian basketball player (b. 1938)
2005 – Richard Whiteley, English journalist and game show host (b. 1943)
2006 – Tommy Wonder, Dutch magician (b. 1953)
2007 – Liz Claiborne, Belgian-American fashion designer, founded Liz Claiborne (b. 1929)
2007 – Joey Sadler, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1914)
2010 – Algirdas Brazauskas, Lithuanian engineer and politician, 2nd President of Lithuania (b. 1932)
2010 – Harald Keres, Estonian physicist and academic (b. 1912)
2011 – Edith Fellows, American actress (b. 1923)
2011 – Jan van Beveren, Dutch footballer and coach (b. 1948)
2012 – Sverker Åström, Swedish diplomat, Swedish Permanent Representative to the United Nations (b. 1915)
2012 – Pat Cummings, American basketball player (b. 1956)
2012 – Nora Ephron, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1941)
2012 – Mario O’Hara, Filipino director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
2012 – Doris Singleton, American actress (b. 1919)
2012 – Risley C. Triche, American lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
2013 – Henrik Otto Donner, Finnish trumpet player and composer (b. 1939)
2013 – Edward Huggins Johnstone, Brazilian-American sergeant and judge (b. 1922)
2013 – Byron Looper, American politician (b. 1964)
2013 – Justin Miller, American baseball player (b. 1977)
2013 – Marc Rich, Belgian-American businessman (b. 1934)
2014 – Howard Baker, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 12th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1925)
2014 – Bill Frank, American-Canadian football player (b. 1938)
2014 – Rollin King, American businessman, co-founded Southwest Airlines (b. 1931)
2014 – Bob Mischak, American football player and coach (b. 1932)
2014 – Julius Rudel, Austrian-American conductor (b. 1921)
2014 – Mary Rodgers, American composer and author (b. 1931)
2015 – Yevgeny Primakov, Ukrainian-Russian journalist and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Russia (b. 1929)
2015 – Chris Thompson, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1952)

Holidays and observances on June 26

Day of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan
Christian feast day:
- Anthelm of Belley
- David the Dendrite
- Hermogius
- Isabel Florence Hapgood (Episcopal Church)
- Jeremiah (Lutheran)
- John and Paul
- José María Robles Hurtado (one of Saints of the Cristero War)
- Josemaría Escrivá
- Mar Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church)
- Pelagius of Córdoba
- Vigilius of Trent
- June 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Flag Day (Romania)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Madagascar from France in 1960. (Madagascar)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of British Somaliland from the British in 1960. (Somalia)
International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (International)
International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (International)
Ratcatcher’s Day (Hamelin, Germany)
Sunthorn Phu Day (Thailand)
World Refrigeration Day (International)

June 26 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

June 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1312 BC – Mursili II launches a campaign against the Kingdom of Azzi-Hayasa.
217 BC – The Romans, led by Gaius Flaminius, are ambushed and defeated by Hannibal at the Battle of Lake Trasimene.
109 – Roman emperor Trajan inaugurates the Aqua Traiana, an aqueduct that channels water from Lake Bracciano, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Rome.
474 – Julius Nepos forces Roman usurper Glycerius to abdicate the throne and proclaims himself Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
637 – The Battle of Moira is fought between the High King of Ireland and the Kings of Ulster and Dál Riata. It is claimed to be the largest battle in the history of Ireland.
972 – Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces, takes place.
1128 – Battle of São Mamede, near Guimarães: Forces led by Afonso I defeat forces led by his mother Teresa of León and her lover Fernando Pérez de Traba.
1230 – The Siege of Jaén begins, in the context of the Spanish Reconquista.
1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn concludes with a decisive victory by Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce.
1340 – Hundred Years’ War: Battle of Sluys: The French fleet is almost completely destroyed by the English fleet commanded in person by King Edward III.
1374 – A sudden outbreak of St. John’s Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion.
1497 – John Cabot lands in North America at Newfoundland leading the first European exploration of the region since the Vikings.
1509 – Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon are crowned King and Queen of England.
1535 – The Dominion of Münster, a radical communal Anabaptist state in the independent German city of Münster, is conquered by Franz von Waldeck, the Catholic Prince-Bishopric of Münster in a night attack.
1571 – Miguel López de Legazpi founds Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
1604 – Samuel de Champlain discovers the mouth of the Saint John River, site of Reversing Falls and the present-day city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
1622 – Battle of Macau: The Dutch make a failed attempt to capture Macau.
1663 – The Spanish garrison of Évora capitulates, following the Portuguese victory at the Battle of Ameixial.
1717 – The Premier Grand Lodge of England is founded in London, the first Masonic Grand Lodge in the world (now the United Grand Lodge of England).
1762 – Battle of Wilhelmsthal: The British-Hanoverian army of Ferdinand of Brunswick defeats French forces in Westphalia.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Great Siege of Gibraltar begins.
1793 – The French Constitution of 1793 is formally adopted, although it is effectively suspended by the Committee of Public Safety.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon’s Grande Armée crosses the Neman river beginning the invasion of Russia.
1813 – Battle of Beaver Dams: A British and Indian combined force defeats the United States Army.
1821 – The Battle of Carabobo takes place. It is the decisive battle in the war of independence of Venezuela from Spain.
1859 – Battle of Solferino (Battle of the Three Sovereigns): Sardinia and France defeat Austria in Solferino, northern Italy.
1866 – Battle of Custoza: An Austrian army defeats the Italian army during the Austro-Prussian War.
1880 – First performance of O Canada at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français. The song would later become the national anthem of Canada.
1894 – Marie François Sadi Carnot is assassinated by Sante Geronimo Caserio.
1902 – King Edward VII of the United Kingdom develops appendicitis, delaying his coronation.
1913 – Greece and Serbia annul their alliance with Bulgaria.
1916 – Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million-dollar contract.
1918 – First airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto.
1922 – The American Professional Football Association is renamed the National Football League.
1932 – A bloodless revolution instigated by the People’s Party ends the absolute power of King Prajadhipok of Siam (now Thailand).
1938 – Pieces of a meteorite land near Chicora, Pennsylvania. The meteorite is estimated to have weighed 450 metric tons when it hit the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded.
1939 – Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Phibunsongkhram, the country’s third prime minister.
1940 – World War II: Operation Collar, the first British Commando raid on occupied France, by No 11 Independent Company.
1943 – US military police attempt to arrest a black soldier in Bamber Bridge, England, sparking the Battle of Bamber Bridge mutiny that leaves one dead and seven wounded.
1947 – Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington, leading to the coining of the phrase “flying saucer”.
1948 – Cold War: Start of the Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union makes overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin impossible.
1949 – The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, starring William Boyd, is aired on NBC.
1950 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed, formally segregating races.
1954 – First Indochina War: Battle of Mang Yang Pass: Viet Minh troops belonging to the 803rd Regiment ambush G.M. 100 of France in An Khê.
1957 – In Roth v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.
1963 – The United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government.
1973 – The UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, is attacked by an arsonist during a church service, and 32 people die from smoke inhalation or fire.
1975 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 encounters severe wind shear and crashes on final approach to New York’s JFK Airport killing 113 of the 124 passengers on board, making it the deadliest U.S. plane crash at the time. This accident led to decades of research into downburst and microburst phenomena and their effects on aircraft.
1981 – The Humber Bridge opens to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It remained the world’s longest bridge span for 17 years.
1982 – British Airways Flight 9 flies into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four engines.
1989 – Jiang Zemin succeeds Zhao Ziyang to become the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
1995 – Rugby World Cup: South Africa defeats New Zealand and Nelson Mandela presents Francois Pienaar with the Webb Ellis Cup in an iconic post-apartheid moment.
2002 – The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania kills 281, the worst train accident in African history.
2004 – In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional.
2010 – At Wimbledon, John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France, in the longest match in professional tennis history.
2010 – Julia Gillard assumes office as the first female Prime Minister of Australia.
2012 – Death of Lonesome George, the last known individual of Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii, a subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise.
2013 – Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is found guilty of abusing his power and engaging in sex with an underage prostitute, and is sentenced to seven years in prison.

Births on June 24

1210 – Count Floris IV of Holland (d. 1234)
1244 – Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1308)
1254 – Floris V, Count of Holland (d. 1296)
1257 – Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford, English nobleman (probable; d. 1331)
1314 – Philippa of Hainault Queen of England (d. 1369)
1322 – Joanna, Duchess of Brabant (d. 1406)
1343 – Joan of Valois, Queen of Navarre (d. 1373)
1360 – Nuno Álvares Pereira, Portuguese general
1386 – John of Capistrano, Italian priest and saint (d. 1456)
1465 – Isabella del Balzo, Queen Consort of Naples (d. 1533)
1485 – Johannes Bugenhagen, Polish-German priest and reformer (d. 1558)
1485 – Elizabeth of Denmark, Electress of Brandenburg (d. 1555)
1499 – Johannes Brenz, German theologian and the Protestant Reformer (d. 1570)
1519 – Theodore Beza, French theologian and scholar (d. 1605)
1532 – Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English politician (d. 1588)
1532 – William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1573)
1535 – Joanna of Austria, Princess of Portugal (d. 1573)
1546 – Robert Persons, English Jesuit priest, insurrectionist, and author (d. 1610)
1587 – William Arnold, English-American settler (d. 1675)
1591 – Mustafa I, Ottoman sultan (d. 1639)
1614 – John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse
1616 – Ferdinand Bol, Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman, student of Rembrandt (d. 1680)
1661 – Hachisuka Tsunanori, Japanese daimyō (d. 1730)
1663 – Jean Baptiste Massillon, French bishop (d. 1742)
1687 – Johann Albrecht Bengel, German-Lutheran clergyman and scholar (d. 1757)
1694 – Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui, Swiss author and theorist (d. 1748)
1704 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’Argens, French philosopher and author (d. 1771)
1753 – William Hull, American general and politician, 1st Governor of Michigan Territory (d. 1825)
1755 – Anacharsis Cloots, Prussian-French activist (d. 1794)
1767 – Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès, French geographer and author (d. 1846)
1771 – Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, French chemist and businessman, founded DuPont (d. 1834)
1774 – Antonio González de Balcarce, Argentinian commander and politician, 5th Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (d. 1819)
1774 – François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general and engineer (d. 1838)
1777 – John Ross, Scottish commander and explorer (d. 1856)
1782 – Juan Larrea, Argentinian captain and politician (d. 1847)
1783 – Johann Heinrich von Thünen, German economist and geographer (d. 1850)
1784 – Juan Antonio Lavalleja, Uruguayan general and politician, President of Uruguay (d. 1853)
1788 – Thomas Blanchard, American inventor (d. 1864)
1795 – Ernst Heinrich Weber, German physician and psychologist (d. 1878)
1797 – John Hughes, Irish-American archbishop (d. 1864)
1797 – Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish geologist and explorer (d. 1873)
1804 – Stephan Endlicher, Austrian botanist, numismatist, and sinologist (d. 1849)
1804 – Willard Richards, American religious leader (d. 1854)
1811 – John Archibald Campbell, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1889)
1813 – Henry Ward Beecher, American minister and reformer (d. 1887)
1813 – Francis Boott, American composer (d. 1904)
1821 – Guillermo Rawson, Argentinian physician and politician (d. 1890)
1826 – George Goyder, English-Australian surveyor (d. 1898)
1835 – Johannes Wislicenus, German chemist and academic (d. 1902)
1838 – Jan Matejko, Polish painter (d. 1893)
1839 – Gustavus Franklin Swift, American businessman (d. 1903)
1842 – Ambrose Bierce, American short story writer, essayist, and journalist (d. 1914)
1846 – Samuel Johnson, Nigerian priest and historian (d. 1901)
1850 – Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, Irish field marshal and politician, Governor-General of Sudan (d. 1916)
1852 – Friedrich Loeffler, German bacteriologist and academic (d. 1915)
1854 – Eleanor Norcross, American painter (d. 1923)
1856 – Henry Chapman Mercer, American archaeologist and author (d. 1930)
1858 – Hastings Rashdall, English historian, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1924)
1865 – Robert Henri, American painter and educator (d. 1929)
1867 – Ruth Randall Edström, American educator and activist (d. 1944)
1869 – Prince George of Greece and Denmark (d. 1957)
1872 – Frank Crowninshield, American journalist and art and theatre critic (d. 1947)
1875 – Forrest Reid, Irish novelist, literary critic and translator (d. 1947)
1880 – Oswald Veblen, American mathematician and academic (g. 1960)
1880 – João Cândido Felisberto, Brazilian revolutionary and sailor (d. 1969)
1881 – George Shiels, Irish-Canadian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1949)
1882 – Athanase David, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1953)
1882 – Carl Diem, German businessman (d. 1962)
1883 – Victor Francis Hess, Austrian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
1883 – Fritz Löhner-Beda, Jewish Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer (d.1942)
1883 – Jean Metzinger, French artist (d. 1956)
1883 – Arthur L. Newton, American runner (d. 1956)
1883 – Frank Verner, American runner (d. 1966)
1884 – Frank Waller, American runner (d. 1941)
1885 – Olaf Holtedahl, Norwegian geologist (d. 1975)
1888 – Gerrit Rietveld, Dutch architect, designed the Rietveld Schröder House (d. 1964)
1893 – Roy O. Disney, American businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (d. 1971)
1895 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer and soldier (d. 1983)
1898 – Armin Öpik, Estonian-Australian paleontologist and geologist (d. 1983)
1898 – Karl Selter, Estonian politician, 14th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (d. 1958)
1900 – Wilhelm Cauer, German mathematician and engineer (d. 1945)
1901 – Marcel Mule, French saxophonist (d. 2001)
1901 – Harry Partch, American composer and theorist (d. 1974)
1901 – Chuck Taylor, American basketball player and salesman (d. 1969)
1904 – Phil Harris, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1995)
1905 – Fred Alderman, American sprinter (d. 1998)
1906 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist and educator (d. 1986)
1906 – Willard Maas, American poet and educator (d. 1971)
1907 – Arseny Tarkovsky, Russian poet and translator (d. 1989)
1908 – Hugo Distler, German organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1942)
1908 – Alfons Rebane, Estonian colonel (d. 1976)
1909 – Jean Deslauriers, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1978)
1909 – William Penney, Baron Penney, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1991)
1909 – Betty Cavanna, American author (d. 2001)
1911 – Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1995)
1911 – Ernesto Sabato, Argentinian physicist and academic (d. 2011)
1911 – Portia White, Canadian opera singer (d. 1968)
1912 – Brian Johnston, English sportscaster and author (d. 1994)
1912 – Mary Wesley, English author (d. 2002)
1913 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian cyclist and soldier (d. 2002)
1914 – Jan Karski, Polish-American activist and academic (d. 2000)
1914 – Pearl Witherington, French secret agent (d. 2008)
1915 – Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and author (d. 2001)
1916 – William B. Saxbe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 70th United States Attorney General (d. 2010)
1916 – Saloua Raouda Choucair, Lebanese painter and sculptor (d. 2017)
1917 – David Easton, Canadian-American political scientist and academic (d. 2014)
1917 – Lucy Jarvis, American television producer (d. 2020)
1917 – Ramblin’ Tommy Scott, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
1917 – Joan Clarke, English cryptanalyst and numismatist (d. 1996)
1918 – Mildred Ladner Thompson, American journalist and author (d. 2013)
1918 – Yong Nyuk Lin, Singaporean businessman and politician, Singaporean Minister for Education (d. 2012)
1919 – Al Molinaro, American actor (d. 2015)
1921 – Gerhard Sommer, German soldier
1922 – Jack Carter, American actor and comedian (d. 2015)
1922 – John Postgate, English microbiologist, author, and academic (d. 2014)
1922 – Richard Timberlake, American economist
1923 – Margaret Olley, Australian painter and philanthropist (d. 2011)
1924 – Kurt Furgler, Swiss politician, 70th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 2008)
1924 – Archie Roy, Scottish astronomer and academic (d. 2012)
1924 – Yoshito Takamine, American politician (d. 2015)
1925 – Ogden Reid, American politician (d. 2019)
1927 – Fernand Dumont, Canadian sociologist, philosopher, and poet (d. 1997)
1927 – James B. Edwards, American dentist, soldier, and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Energy (d. 2014)
1927 – Martin Lewis Perl, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
1929 – Carolyn S. Shoemaker, American astronomer
1930 – Claude Chabrol, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1930 – Donald Gordon, South African businessman and philanthropist (d. 2019)
1930 – William Bernard Ziff, Jr., American publisher (d. 2006)
1931 – Billy Casper, American golfer and architect (d. 2015)
1932 – David McTaggart, Canadian-Italian environmentalist (d. 2001)
1933 – Sam Jones, American basketball player and coach
1933 – Ngina Kenyatta, 1st First Lady of Kenya
1934 – Ferdinand Biwersi, German footballer and referee (d. 2013)
1934 – Jean-Pierre Ferland, Canadian singer-songwriter
1934 – Gloria Christian, Italian singer
1935 – Terry Riley, American composer and educator
1935 – Jean Milesi, French racing cyclist
1935 – Charlie Dees, American baseball player
1937 – Anita Desai, Indian-American author and academic
1938 – Lawrence Block, American author
1938 – Abulfaz Elchibey, 1st democratically elected Azerbaijani president (d. 2000)
1938 – Ken Gray, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1992)
1939 – Brigitte Fontaine, French singer
1940 – Ian Ross, Australian newsreader (d. 2014)
1940 – Vittorio Storaro, Italian cinematographer
1941 – Erkin Koray, Turkish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1941 – Julia Kristeva, Bulgarian-French psychoanalyst and author
1941 – Graham McKenzie, Australian cricketer
1942 – Arthur Brown, English rock singer-songwriter
1942 – Michele Lee, American actress and singer
1942 – Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Chilean engineer and politician, 32nd President of Chile
1942 – Colin Groves, Australian academician and educator
1943 – Birgit Grodal, Danish economist and academic (d. 2004)
1944 – Jeff Beck, English guitarist and songwriter
1944 – Kathryn Lasky, American author
1944 – Chris Wood, English saxophonist (d. 1983)
1945 – Colin Blunstone, English singer-songwriter
1945 – Wayne Cashman, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1945 – George Pataki, American lawyer and politician, 53rd Governor of New York
1945 – Betty Stöve, Dutch tennis player
1946 – David Collenette, Canadian civil servant and politician, 32nd Canadian Minister of National Defence
1946 – Ellison Onizuka, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (d. 1986)
1946 – Robert Reich, American economist and politician, 22nd United States Secretary of Labor
1947 – Clarissa Dickson Wright, English chef, author, and television personality (d. 2014)
1947 – Peter Weller, American actor and director
1948 – Patrick Moraz, Swiss keyboard player and songwriter
1949 – John Illsley, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1949 – Betty Jackson, English fashion designer
1950 – Nancy Allen, American actress
1950 – Bob Carlos Clarke, Irish-born English photographer (d. 2006)
1950 – Jan Kulczyk, Polish businessman (d. 2015)
1950 – Mercedes Lackey, American author
1951 – Raelene Boyle, Australian sprinter
1951 – Charles Sturridge, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1952 – Dianna Melrose, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Tanzania
1952 – Bob Neill, English lawyer and politician
1953 – William E. Moerner, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1953 – Michael Tuck, Australian footballer and coach
1955 – Chris Higgins, English geneticist and academic
1955 – Edmund Malura, German footballer and manager
1955 – Loren Roberts, American golfer
1956 – Owen Paterson, English politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
1957 – Mark Parkinson, American lawyer and politician, 45th Governor of Kansas
1958 – Jean Charest, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
1958 – Silvio Mondinelli, Italian mountaineer
1958 – John Tortorella, American ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Andy McCluskey, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1960 – Elish Angiolini, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Solicitor General for Scotland
1960 – Siedah Garrett, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1960 – Karin Pilsäter, Swedish accountant and politician
1960 – Erik Poppe, Norwegian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
1961 – Dennis Danell, American singer and guitarist (d. 2000)
1961 – Iain Glen, Scottish actor
1961 – Bernie Nicholls, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – Ralph E. Reed, Jr., American journalist and activist
1961 – Curt Smith, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1963 – Yuri Kasparyan, Russian guitarist
1963 – Preki, Serbian-American soccer player and coach
1963 – Mike Wieringo, American author and illustrator (d. 2007)
1964 – Jean-Luc Delarue, French television host and producer (d. 2012)
1964 – Kathryn Parminter, Baroness Parminter, English politician
1964 – Gary Suter, American ice hockey player and scout
1965 – Claude Bourbonnais, Canadian race car driver
1965 – Uwe Krupp, German ice hockey player and coach
1965 – Richard Lumsden, English actor, writer, composer and musician
1966 – Hope Sandoval, American singer-songwriter and musician
1966 – Adrienne Shelly, American actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1967 – Janez Lapajne, Slovenian director and producer
1967 – John Limniatis, Greek-Canadian footballer and manager
1968 – Alaa Abdelnaby, Egyptian-American basketball player and sportscaster
1970 – Glenn Medeiros, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1970 – Bernardo Sassetti, Portuguese pianist, composer, and educator (d. 2012)
1972 – Robbie McEwen, Australian cyclist
1972 – Denis Žvegelj, Slovenian rower
1973 – Alexis Gauthier, French chef
1973 – Jere Lehtinen, Finnish ice hockey player
1974 – Dan Byles, English sailor, rower, and politician
1974 – Chris Guccione, American baseball player and umpire
1975 – Marek Malík, Czech ice hockey player
1975 – Federico Pucciariello, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
1976 – Brock Olivo, American football player and coach
1977 – Dimos Dikoudis, Greek basketball player and manager
1977 – Jeff Farmer, Australian footballer
1978 – Luis García, Spanish footballer
1978 – Pantelis Kafes, Greek footballer
1978 – Shunsuke Nakamura, Japanese footballer
1978 – Ariel Pink, American singer-songwriter
1978 – Juan Román Riquelme, Argentinian footballer
1978 – Emppu Vuorinen, Finnish guitarist and songwriter
1979 – Mindy Kaling, American actress and producer
1979 – Petra Němcová, Czech model and philanthropist
1980 – Cicinho, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Nina Dübbers, German tennis player
1980 – Andrew Jones, Australian race car driver
1980 – Minka Kelly, American actress
1982 – Kevin Nolan, English footballer
1982 – Jarret Stoll, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Rebecca Cooke, English swimmer
1983 – Gianni Munari, Italian footballer
1983 – Gard Nilssen, Norwegian drummer
1983 – David Shillington, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Andrea Raggi, Italian footballer
1984 – J.J. Redick, American basketball player
1984 – Johanna Welin, Swedish-born German wheelchair basketball player
1985 – Diego Alves Carreira, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Tom Kennedy, English footballer
1985 – Ethan Klein, American YouTuber
1985 – Nate Myles, Australian rugby league player
1985 – Vernon Philander, South African cricketer
1985 – Yukina Shirakawa, Japanese model
1986 – Stuart Broad, English cricketer
1986 – Phil Hughes, American baseball player
1986 – Solange Knowles, American singer-songwriter and actress
1987 – Simona Dobrá, Czech tennis player
1987 – Lionel Messi, Argentinian footballer
1987 – Pierre Vaultier, French snowboarder
1988 – Micah Richards, English footballer
1989 – Teklemariam Medhin, Eritrean runner
1990 – Michael Del Zotto, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Richard Sukuta-Pasu, German footballer
1991 – Yasmin Paige, English actress
1991 – Aidan Sezer, Australian rugby league player
1992 – David Alaba, Austrian footballer
1996 – Duki, Argentinian rapper

Deaths on June 24

994 – Abu Isa al-Warraq, Arab scholar (b. 889)
1046 – Jeongjong II, Korean ruler (b. 1018)
1088 – William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, Norman nobleman
1314 – Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, English commander (b. 1291)
1314 – Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford, English soldier and politician, Lord Warden of the Marches (b. 1274)
1398 – Hongwu, Chinese emperor (b. 1328)
1439 – Frederick IV, duke of Austria (b. 1382)
1503 – Reginald Bray, English architect and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1440)
1519 – Lucrezia Borgia, Italian wife of Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (b. 1480)
1520 – Hosokawa Sumimoto, Japanese commander (b. 1489)
1604 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English courtier, Lord Great Chamberlain (b. 1550)
1637 – Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer and historian (b. 1580)
1643 – John Hampden, English politician (b. 1595)
1766 – Adrien Maurice de Noailles, French soldier and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1678)
1778 – Pieter Burman the Younger, Dutch philologist and academic (b. 1714)
1803 – Matthew Thornton, Irish-American judge and politician (b. 1714)
1817 – Thomas McKean, American lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1734)
1835 – Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, Greek admiral and politician (b. 1769)
1902 – George Leake, Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Western Australia (b. 1856)
1908 – Grover Cleveland, American lawyer and politician, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (b. 1837)
1909 – Sarah Orne Jewett, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (b. 1849)
1922 – Walther Rathenau, German businessman and politician, 7th German Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1867)
1931 – Otto Mears, Russian-American businessman (b. 1840)
1931 – Xiang Zhongfa, Chinese politician, 2nd General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1880)
1932 – Ernst Põdder, Estonian general (b. 1879)
1943 – Camille Roy, Canadian priest and critic (b. 1870)
1946 – Louise Whitfield Carnegie, American philanthropist (b. 1857)
1947 – Emil Seidel, American politician, Mayor of Milwaukee (b. 1864)
1962 – Volfgangs Dārziņš, Latvian composer, pianist and music critic (b. 1906)
1964 – Stuart Davis, American painter and academic (b. 1892)
1968 – Tony Hancock, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
1969 – Frank King, American cartoonist (b. 1883)
1969 – Willy Ley, German-American historian and author (b. 1906)
1976 – Minor White, American photographer, critic, and academic (b. 1908)
1978 – Robert Charroux, French author and critic (b. 1909)
1980 – V. V. Giri, Indian lawyer and politician, 4th President of India (b. 1894)
1984 – Clarence Campbell, Canadian businessman (b. 1905)
1987 – Jackie Gleason, American actor, comedian, and producer (b. 1916)
1988 – Csaba Kesjár, Hungarian race car driver (b. 1962)
1991 – Sumner Locke Elliott, Australian-American author and playwright (b. 1917)
1991 – Rufino Tamayo, Mexican painter and illustrator (b. 1899)
1994 – Jean Vallerand, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1915)
1995 – Andrew J. Transue, American politician and attorney Morissette v. United States (b. 1903)
1997 – Brian Keith, American actor (b. 1921)
2000 – Vera Atkins, British intelligence officer (b. 1908)
2000 – David Tomlinson, English actor and comedian (b. 1917)
2000 – Rodrigo Bueno, Argentine cuarteto singer (b. 1973)
2002 – Pierre Werner, Luxembourgian banker and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg (b. 1913)
2004 – Ifigeneia Giannopoulou, Greek songwriter and author (b. 1957)
2005 – Paul Winchell, American actor, voice artist, and ventriloquist (b. 1922)
2007 – Natasja Saad, Danish rapper and reggae singer (b. 1974)
2007 – Chris Benoit, Canadian wrestler (b. 1967)
2007 – Derek Dougan, Northern Irish footballer and manager (b. 1938)
2008 – Gerhard Ringel, Austrian mathematician and academic (b. 1919)
2009 – Roméo LeBlanc, Canadian journalist and politician, 25th Governor General of Canada (b. 1927)
2010 – Fred Anderson, American jazz tenor saxophonist (b. 1929)
2011 – Tomislav Ivić, Croatian football coach and manager (b. 1933)
2012 – Darrel Akerfelds, American baseball player and coach (b. 1962)
2012 – Gad Beck, German author and educator (b. 1923)
2012 – Gu Chaohao, Chinese mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
2012 – Miki Roqué, Spanish footballer (b. 1988)
2012 – Ann C. Scales, American lawyer, educator, and activist (b. 1952)
2013 – Mick Aston, English archaeologist and academic (b. 1946)
2013 – Emilio Colombo, Italian politician, 40th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1920)
2013 – Joannes Gijsen, Dutch bishop (b. 1932)
2013 – William Hathaway, American lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
2013 – James Martin, English-Bermudian computer scientist and author (b. 1933)
2013 – Alan Myers, American drummer (b. 1955)
2014 – John Clement, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1928)
2014 – Olga Kotelko, Canadian runner and softball player (b. 1919)
2014 – Ramón José Velásquez, Venezuelan journalist, lawyer, and politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1916)
2014 – Eli Wallach, American actor (b. 1915)
2015 – Cristiano Araújo, Brazilian singer-songwriter (b. 1986)
2015 – Mario Biaggi, American police officer, politician and criminal (b. 1917)
2015 – Marva Collins, American author and educator (b. 1936)
2015 – Susan Ahn Cuddy, American lieutenant (b. 1915)
2019 – Billy Drago, American actor (b. 1945)

Holidays and observances on June 24

Army Day or Battle of Carabobo Day (Venezuela)
Bannockburn Day (Scotland)
Christian feast day:
- María Guadalupe García Zavala
- Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
- June 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the Caboclo (Amazonas, Brazil)
Discovery Day, observed on the nearest Monday to June 24 (Newfoundland and Labrador)
Earliest day on which Armed Forces Day can fall, while June 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Saturday in June. (United Kingdom)
Earliest day on which Inventors’ and Rationalizers’ Day can fall, while June 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Saturday in June. (Russia)
Earliest day on which Mother’s Day can fall, while June 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in June. (Kenya)
Earliest day on which Youth Day can fall, while Jun 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in June. (Ukraine, Belarus)
Inti Raymi, a winter solstice festival and a New Year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere (Sacsayhuamán)
St John’s Day and the second day of the Midsummer celebrations (although this is not the astronomical summer solstice, see June 20) (Roman Catholic Church, Europe), and its related observances:
- Enyovden (Bulgaria)
- Jaanipäev (Estonia)
- Jāņi (Latvia)
- Jónsmessa (Iceland)
- Midsummer Day (England)
- Saint Jonas’ Festival or Joninės (Lithuania)
- Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (Quebec)
- Sânziene (western Carpathian Mountains of Romania)
- Wattah Wattah Festival (Philippines)
Fors Fortuna, ancient Roman festival to Fortuna

June 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

June 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Summer solstice sometimes occurs on this date, while the Winter solstice occurs in the Southern Hemisphere.

451 – Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius’ battles Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory.
1180 – First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan.
1620 – The Battle of Höchst takes place during the Thirty Years’ War.
1631 – The Sack of Baltimore: The Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates.
1652 – Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha is appointed Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
1685 – Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.
1756 – A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
1782 – The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.
1787 – Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the ‘United States’.
1789 – Deputies of the French Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath.
1819 – The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.
1837 – Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.
1840 – Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.
1862 – Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated.
1863 – American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world’s first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
1893 – Lizzie Borden is acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.
1895 – The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is officially opened.
1900 – Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China.
1900 – Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departs Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return.
1921 – Workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Chennai, India, begin a four-month strike.
1942 – The Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp.
1943 – The Detroit race riot breaks out and continues for three more days.
1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force launches Operation Bellicose, the first shuttle bombing raid of the war. Lancaster bombers damage the V-2 rocket production facilities at the Zeppelin Works while en route to an air base in Algeria.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”.
1944 – Continuation War: The Soviet Union demands an unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. The Finnish government refuses.
1944 – The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.
1945 – The United States Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.
1948 – The Deutsche Mark is introduced in Western Allied-occupied Germany. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany responded by imposing the Berlin Blockade four days later.
1956 – A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people.
1959 – A rare June hurricane strikes Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.
1960 – The Mali Federation gains independence from France (it later splits into Mali and Senegal).
1963 – Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called “red telephone” link between Washington and Moscow.
1972 – Watergate scandal: An 18½-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex.
1973 – Snipers fire upon left-wing Peronists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in what is known as the Ezeiza massacre. At least 13 are killed and more than 300 are injured.
1973 – Aeroméxico Flight 229 crashes on approach to Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport, killing all 27 people on board.
1975 – The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as “summer blockbusters”.
1979 – ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder is caught on tape and sparks an international outcry against the regime.
1982 – The Argentine Corbeta Uruguay base on Southern Thule surrenders to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War.
1990 – Asteroid Eureka is discovered.
1990 – The 7.4 M_w  Manjil–Rudbar earthquake affects northern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, and injuring 60,000–105,000.
1991 – German Bundestag votes to move seat of government from the former West German capital of Bonn to the present capital Berlin.
1994 – The 1994 Imam Reza shrine bomb explosion in Iran leaves at least 25 dead and 70 to 300 injured.
2003 – The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Births on June 20

1005 – Ali az-Zahir, Fatimid caliph of Egypt (d. 1036)
1389 – John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, English statesman (d. 1435)
1469 – Gian Galeazzo Sforza, duke of Milan (d. 1494)
1566 – Sigismund III Vasa, Polish and Swedish king (d. 1632)
1583 – Jacob De la Gardie, Swedish soldier and politician, Lord High Constable of Sweden (d. 1652)
1634 – Charles Emmanuel II, duke of Savoy (d. 1675)
1642 – George Hickes, English minister and scholar (d. 1715)
1647 – John George III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1691)
1717 – Jacques Saly, French sculptor and painter (d. 1776)
1723 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1816)
1737 – Tokugawa Ieharu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1786)
1754 – Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, princess of Baden (d. 1832)
1756 – Joseph Martin Kraus, German-Swedish composer and educator (d. 1792)
1761 – Jacob Hübner, German entomologist and author (d. 1826)
1763 – Wolfe Tone, Irish rebel leader (d. 1798)
1770 – Moses Waddel, American minister and academic (d. 1840)
1771 – Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, Scottish philanthropist, and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Kirkcudbright (d. 1820)
1771 – Hermann von Boyen, Prussian general and politician, Prussian Minister of War (d. 1848)
1777 – Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Canadian bishop (d. 1840)
1778 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac, French politician, 7th Prime Minister of France (d. 1832)
1786 – Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French poet and author (d. 1859)
1796 – Luigi Amat di San Filippo e Sorso, Italian cardinal (d. 1878)
1808 – Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi and scholar (d. 1888)
1809 – Isaak August Dorner, German theologian and academic (d. 1884)
1813 – Joseph Autran, French poet and author (d. 1877)
1819 – Jacques Offenbach, German-French cellist and composer (d. 1880)
1847 – Gina Krog, Norwegian suffragist and women’s rights activist (d. 1916)
1855 – Richard Lodge, English historian and academic (d. 1936)
1858 – Charles W. Chesnutt, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1932)
1860 – Alexander Winton, Scottish-American race car driver and engineer (d. 1932)
1860 – Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer, footballer, and coach (d. 1937)
1861 – Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1865 – George Redmayne Murray, English biologist and physician (d. 1939)
1866 – James Burns, English cricketer (d. 1957)
1869 – Laxmanrao Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded the Kirloskar Group (d. 1956)
1870 – Georges Dufrénoy, French painter and academic (d. 1943)
1872 – George Carpenter, American 5th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1948)
1875 – Reginald Punnett, English geneticist, statistician, and academic (d. 1967)
1882 – Daniel Sawyer, American golfer (d. 1937)
1884 – Mary R. Calvert, American astronomer and author (d. 1974)
1884 – Johannes Heinrich Schultz, German psychiatrist and psychotherapist (d. 1970)
1885 – Andrzej Gawroński, Polish linguist and academic (d. 1927)
1887 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter and illustrator (d. 1948)
1889 – John S. Paraskevopoulos, Greek-South African astronomer and academic (d. 1951)
1891 – Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, Italian soprano (d. 1951)
1891 – John A. Costello, Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 1976)
1893 – Wilhelm Zaisser, German soldier and politician (d. 1958)
1894 – Lloyd Hall, American chemist and academic (d. 1971)
1896 – Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1982)
1897 – Elisabeth Hauptmann, German author and playwright (d. 1973)
1899 – Jean Moulin, French soldier and engineer (d. 1943)
1903 – Sam Rabin, English wrestler, sculptor, and singer (d. 1991)
1905 – Lillian Hellman, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1984)
1906 – Bob King, American high jumper and obstetrician (d. 1965)
1907 – Jimmy Driftwood, American singer-songwriter and banjo player (d. 1998)
1908 – Billy Werber, American baseball player (d. 2009)
1908 – Gus Schilling, American actor (d. 1957)
1909 – Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor (d. 1959)
1910 – Josephine Johnson, American author and poet (d. 1990)
1911 – Gail Patrick, American actress (d. 1980)
1912 – Anthony Buckeridge, English author (d. 2004)
1912 – Jack Torrance, American shot putter and football player (d. 1969)
1914 – Gordon Juckes, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1994)
1914 – Muazzez İlmiye Çığ, Turkish archaeologist and academic
1915 – Dick Reynolds, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2002)
1915 – Terence Young, Chinese-English director and screenwriter (d. 1994)
1916 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Premier of Quebec (d. 1973)
1916 – T. Texas Tyler, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1972)
1917 – Helena Rasiowa, Austrian-Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1994)
1918 – George Lynch, American race car driver (d. 1997)
1918 – Zoltán Sztáray, Hungarian-American author (d. 2011)
1920 – Geoffrey Baker, English Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff of the British Army (d. 1980)
1920 – Danny Cedrone, American guitarist and bandleader (d. 1954)
1920 – Thomas Jefferson, American trumpet player (d. 1986)
1921 – Byron Farwell, American historian and author (d. 1999)
1921 – Pancho Segura, Ecuadorian tennis player (d. 2017)
1923 – Peter Gay, German-American historian, author, and academic (d. 2015)
1923 – Jerzy Nowak, Polish actor and educator (d. 2013)
1924 – Chet Atkins, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2001)
1924 – Fritz Koenig, German sculptor and academic, designed The Sphere (d. 2017)
1925 – Doris Hart, American tennis player and educator (d. 2015)
1925 – Audie Murphy, American lieutenant and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1971)
1926 – Rehavam Ze’evi, Israeli general and politician, 9th Israeli Minister of Tourism (d. 2001)
1927 – Simin Behbahani, Iranian poet and activist (d. 2014)
1928 – Eric Dolphy, American saxophonist, flute player, and composer (d. 1964)
1928 – Martin Landau, American actor and producer (d. 2017)
1928 – Jean-Marie Le Pen, French intelligence officer and politician
1928 – Asrat Woldeyes, Ethiopian surgeon and educator (d. 1999)
1929 – Edgar Bronfman, Sr., Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
1929 – Anne Weale, English journalist and author (d. 2007)
1929 – Edith Windsor, American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist (d. 2017)
1930 – Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish sculptor and academic (d. 2017)
1930 – John Waine, English bishop
1931 – Olympia Dukakis, American actress
1931 – James Tolkan, American actor and director
1932 – Robert Rozhdestvensky, Russian poet and author (d. 1994)
1933 – Danny Aiello, American actor (d. 2019)
1933 – Claire Tomalin, English journalist and author
1934 – Wendy Craig, English actress
1935 – Jim Barker, American politician (d. 2005)
1935 – Len Dawson, American football player and sportscaster
1935 – Armando Picchi, Italian footballer and coach (d. 1971)
1936 – Billy Guy, American singer (d. 2002)
1936 – Enn Vetemaa, Estonian author and screenwriter (d. 2017)
1937 – Stafford Dean, English actor and singer
1937 – Jerry Keller, American singer-songwriter
1938 – Joan Kirner, Australian educator and politician, 42nd Premier of Victoria (d. 2015)
1938 – Mickie Most, English music producer (d. 2003)
1939 – Ramakant Desai, Indian cricketer (d. 1998)
1939 – Budge Rogers, English rugby player and manager
1940 – Eugen Drewermann, German priest and theologian
1940 – John Mahoney, English actor (d. 2018)
1941 – Stephen Frears, English actor, director, and producer
1941 – Ulf Merbold, German physicist and astronaut
1942 – Neil Trudinger, Australian mathematician and theorist
1942 – Brian Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer
1945 – Anne Murray, Canadian singer and guitarist
1946 – Xanana Gusmão, Timorese soldier and politician, 1st President of East Timor
1946 – David Kazhdan, Russian-Israeli mathematician and academic
1946 – Bob Vila, American television host
1946 – André Watts, American pianist and educator
1947 – Dolores “LaLa” Brooks, American pop singer (The Crystals)
1948 – Cirilo Flores, American bishop (d. 2014)
1948 – Ludwig Scotty, Nauruan politician, 10th President of Nauru
1949 – Alan Longmuir, Scottish bass player and songwriter (d. 2018)
1949 – Lionel Richie, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor
1949 – Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 8th president of Sri Lanka
1950 – Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi politician, 76th Prime Minister of Iraq
1951 – Tress MacNeille, American actress and voice artist
1951 – Sheila McLean, Scottish scholar and academic
1951 – Paul Muldoon, Irish poet and academic
1952 – John Goodman, American actor
1952 – Vikram Seth, Indian author and poet
1953 – Robert Crais, American author and screenwriter
1953 – Raúl Ramírez, Mexican tennis player
1953 – Willy Rampf, German engineer
1954 – Allan Lamb, South African-English cricketer and sportscaster
1954 – Ilan Ramon, Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003)
1955 – E. Lynn Harris, American author (d. 2009)
1956 – Peter Reid, English footballer and manager
1956 – Sohn Suk-hee, South Korean newscaster
1958 – Kelly Johnson, English hard rock guitarist and songwriter (d. 2007)
1960 – Philip M. Parker, American economist and author
1960 – John Taylor, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor
1963 – Kirk Baptiste, American sprinter
1963 – Mark Ovenden, British author and broadcaster
1964 – Pierfrancesco Chili, Italian motorcycle racer
1964 – Silke Möller, German runner
1966 – Boaz Yakin, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1967 – Nicole Kidman, American-Australian actress
1967 – Dan Tyminski, American singer-songwriter
1968 – Robert Rodriguez, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1969 – Paulo Bento, Portuguese footballer and manager
1969 – Misha Verbitsky, Russian mathematician and academic
1969 – MaliVai Washington, American tennis player and sportscaster
1970 – Andrea Nahles, German politician, German Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
1970 – Athol Williams, South African poet and social philosopher
1971 – Rodney Rogers, American basketball player and coach
1971 – Jeordie White, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and bass player
1972 – Alexis Alexoudis, Greek footballer
1973 – Chino Moreno, American singer-songwriter
1975 – Joan Balcells, Spanish tennis player
1975 – Daniel Zítka, Czech footballer
1976 – Juliano Belletti, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Carlos Lee, Panamanian baseball player
1977 – Gordan Giriček, Croatian basketball player
1977 – Amos Lee, American singer-songwriter
1978 – Frank Lampard, English footballer
1978 – Jan-Paul Saeijs, Dutch footballer
1979 – Charles Howell III, American golfer
1980 – Franco Semioli, Italian footballer
1980 – Tika Sumpter, American actress
1980 – Fabian Wegmann, German cyclist
1981 – Brede Hangeland, Norwegian footballer
1982 – Aleksei Berezutski, Russian footballer
1982 – Vasili Berezutski, Russian footballer
1982 – Example, English singer/rapper
1983 – Josh Childress, American basketball player
1983 – Darren Sproles, American football player
1984 – Hassan Adams, American basketball player
1985 – Saki Aibu, Japanese actress
1985 – Aurélien Chedjou, Cameroonian footballer
1985 – Matt Flynn, American football player
1986 – Dreama Walker, American actress
1987 – A-fu, Taiwanese singer and songwriter
1987 – Carsten Ball, Australian tennis player
1987 – Asmir Begović, Bosnian footballer
1987 – Joseph Ebuya, Kenyan runner
1987 – Kierra Sheard, American gospel singer
1989 – Christopher Mintz-Plasse, American actor
1989 – Javier Pastore, Argentinian footballer
1989 – Terrelle Pryor, American football player
1990 – DeQuan Jones, American basketball player
1991 – Kalidou Koulibaly, Senegalese footballer
1991 – Rick ten Voorde, Dutch footballer
1993 – Sead Kolašinac, Bosnian footballer
1994 – Leonard Williams, American football player
1995 – Caroline Weir, Scottish footballer
1996 – Sam Bennett, Canadian ice hockey player
1997 – Bálint Kopasz, Hungarian sprint canoeist

Deaths on June 20

465 – Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei (b. 440)
656 – Uthman ibn Affan, Rashidun caliph (b. 577)
840 – Louis the Pious, Carolingian emperor (b. 778)
930 – Hucbald, Frankish monk and music theorist
981 – Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburg
1176 – Mikhail of Vladimir, Russian prince
1351 – Margareta Ebner, German nun and mystic (b. 1291)
1405 – Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, fourth son of King Robert II of Scotland (b. 1343)
1597 – Willem Barentsz, Dutch cartographer and explorer (b. 1550)
1605 – Feodor II of Russia (b. 1589)
1668 – Heinrich Roth, German missionary and scholar (b. 1620)
1776 – Benjamin Huntsman, English businessman (b. 1704)
1787 – Carl Friedrich Abel, German viol player and composer (b. 1723)
1800 – Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, German mathematician and academic (b. 1719)
1810 – Axel von Fersen the Younger, Swedish general and politician (b. 1755)
1815 – Guillaume Philibert Duhesme, French general (b. 1766)
1820 – Manuel Belgrano, Argentinian general, economist, and politician (b. 1770)
1837 – William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1765)
1840 – Pierre Claude François Daunou, French historian and politician (b. 1761)
1847 – Juan Larrea, Argentinian captain and politician (b. 1782)
1869 – Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese commander (b. 1835)
1870 – Jules de Goncourt, French historian and author (b. 1830)
1872 – Élie Frédéric Forey, French general (b. 1804)
1875 – Joseph Meek, American police officer and politician (b. 1810)
1888 – Johannes Zukertort, Polish-English chess player (b. 1842)
1906 – John Clayton Adams, English painter (b. 1840)
1909 – Friedrich Martens, Estonian-Russian historian, lawyer, and diplomat (b. 1845)
1925 – Josef Breuer, Austrian physician and psychologist (b. 1842)
1929 – Emmanouil Benakis, Greek merchant and politician, 35th Mayor of Athens (b. 1843)
1945 – Bruno Frank, German author, poet, and playwright (b. 1878)
1947 – Bugsy Siegel, American mobster (b. 1906)
1952 – Luigi Fagioli, Italian race car driver (b. 1898)
1958 – Kurt Alder, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
1963 – Raphaël Salem, Greek-French mathematician and academic (b. 1898)
1965 – Bernard Baruch, American financier and politician (b. 1870)
1966 – Georges Lemaître, Belgian priest, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1894)
1974 – Horace Lindrum, Australian snooker player (b. 1912)
1975 – Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, Hatian anthropologist (b. 1898)
1978 – Mark Robson, Canadian-American director and producer (b. 1913)
1984 – Estelle Winwood, English actress (b. 1883)
1995 – Emil Cioran, Romanian-French philosopher and educator (b. 1911)
1997 – Cahit Külebi, Turkish poet and author (b. 1917)
1999 – Clifton Fadiman, American game show host, author, and critic (b. 1902)
2001 – Gina Cigna, French-Italian soprano (b. 1900)
2002 – Erwin Chargaff, Austrian-American biochemist and academic (b. 1905)
2002 – Tinus Osendarp, Dutch runner (b. 1916)
2004 – Jim Bacon, Australian politician, 41st Premier of Tasmania (b. 1950)
2005 – Larry Collins, American journalist, historian, and author (b. 1929)
2005 – Jack Kilby, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
2010 – Roberto Rosato, Italian footballer (b. 1943)
2010 – Harry B. Whittington, English palaeontologist and academic (b. 1916)
2011 – Ryan Dunn, American television personality (b. 1977)
2012 – Judy Agnew, Second Lady of the United States. (b. 1921)
2012 – LeRoy Neiman, American painter (b. 1921)
2012 – Heinrich IV, Prince Reuss of Köstritz (b. 1919)
2012 – Andrew Sarris, American critic (b. 1928)
2013 – Ingvar Rydell, Swedish footballer (b. 1922)
2015 – Angelo Niculescu, Romanian footballer and manager (b. 1921)
2015 – Miriam Schapiro, Canadian-American painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
2017 – Prodigy, American music artist (b. 1974)

Holidays and observances on June 20

Christian feast day:
- Adalbert of Magdeburg
- Florentina
- John of Matera
- Blessed Margareta Ebner
- Methodius of Olympus
- Pope Silverius
- June 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the National Flag (Argentina)
The earliest date for the summer solstice in the Northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the Southern hemisphere, and its related observance:
- Earliest day on which Day of the Finnish Flag can fall, while June 26 is the latest; celebrated on Saturday of Midsummer’s Day (Finland)
- International Surfing Day (on or near Summer solstice)
- Litha / Midsummer celebrations in the northern hemisphere, Yule in the southern hemisphere.
Gas Sector Day (Azerbaijan)
Martyrs’ Day (Eritrea)
West Virginia Day (West Virginia)
World Refugee Day (International)

June 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

June 11- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1184 BC – Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called “miracle of the rain”.
631 – Emperor Taizong of Tang sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to seek the release of Chinese prisoners captured during the transition from Sui to Tang.
786 – A Hasanid Alid uprising in Mecca is crushed by the Abbasids at the Battle of Fakhkh.
980 – Vladimir the Great consolidates the Kievan realm from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea. He is proclaimed ruler (knyaz) of all Kievan Rus’.
1011 – Lombard Revolt: Greek citizens of Bari rise up against the Lombard rebels led by Melus and deliver the city to Basil Mesardonites, Byzantine governor (catepan) of the Catepanate of Italy.
1118 – Roger of Salerno, Prince of Antioch, captures Azaz from the Seljuk Turks.
1157 – Albert I of Brandenburg, also called The Bear (Ger: Albrecht der Bär), becomes the founder of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, Germany and the first margrave.
1345 – The megas doux Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire, is lynched by political prisoners.
1429 – Hundred Years’ War: Start of the Battle of Jargeau.
1488 – Battle of Sauchieburn: Fought between rebel Lords and James III of Scotland, resulting in the death of the king.
1509 – Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon.
1594 – Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paved way to the stabilization of the rule of the Principalía (an elite ruling class of native nobility in Spanish Philippines).
1748 – Denmark adopts the characteristic Nordic Cross flag later taken up by all other Scandinavian countries.
1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
1775 – The American Revolutionary War’s first naval engagement, the Battle of Machias, results in the capture of a small British naval vessel.
1776 – The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.
1788 – Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
1805 – A fire consumes large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory.
1825 – The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish.
1865 – The Naval Battle of the Riachuelo is fought on the rivulet Riachuelo (Argentina), between the Paraguayan Navy on one side and the Brazilian Navy on the other. The Brazilian victory was crucial for the later success of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina) in the Paraguayan War.
1892 – The Limelight Department, one of the world’s first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia.
1895 – Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, sometimes called the first automobile race in history or the “first motor race”, takes place.
1898 – The Hundred Days’ Reform, a planned movement to reform social, political, and educational institutions in China, is started by the Guangxu Emperor, but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after 104 days. (The failed reform led to the abolition of the Imperial examination in 1905.)
1901 – The boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand are extended by the UK to include the Cook Islands.
1903 – A group of Serbian officers stormed the royal palace and assassinated King Alexander Obrenović and his wife, Queen Draga.
1917 – King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father, Constantine I, abdicates under pressure from allied armies occupying Athens.
1919 – Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown.
1920 – During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to coin the political phrase “smoke-filled room”.
1935 – Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States at Alpine, New Jersey.
1936 – The London International Surrealist Exhibition opens.
1937 – Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin executes eight army leaders.
1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Wuhan starts.
1940 – World War II: The Siege of Malta begins with a series of Italian air raids.
1942 – World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
1942 – Free French Forces retreat from Bir Hakeim after having successfully delayed the Axis advance.
1944 – USS Missouri, the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned.
1955 – Eighty-three spectators are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest ever accident in motorsports.
1956 – Start of Gal Oya riots, the first reported ethnic riots that target minority Sri Lankan Tamils in the Eastern Province. The total number of deaths is reportedly 150.
1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.
1963 – American Civil Rights Movement: Governor of Alabama George Wallace defiantly stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending that school. Later in the day, accompanied by federalized National Guard troops, they are able to register.
1963 – Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.
1963 – John F. Kennedy addresses Americans from the Oval Office proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which would revolutionize American society by guaranteeing equal access to public facilities, ending segregation in education, and guaranteeing federal protection for voting rights.
1964 – World War II veteran Walter Seifert attacks an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers and seriously injuring several more with a home-made flamethrower and a lance.
1968 – Lloyd J. Old identified the first cell surface antigens that could differentiate among different cell types.
1970 – After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first women to do so.
1971 – The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control.
1978 – Altaf Hussain founds the student political movement All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) in Karachi University.
1981 – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000.
1987 – Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant are elected as the first black MPs in Great Britain.
1998 – Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2002 – Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
2004 – Cassini–Huygens makes its closest flyby of the Saturn moon Phoebe.
2007 – Mudslides in Chittagong, Bangladesh, kill 130 people.
2008 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada’s First Nations in regard to abuses at a Canadian Indian residential school.
2008 – The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is launched into orbit.
2010 – The first African FIFA World Cup kicks off in South Africa.
2012 – More than 80 people die in a landslide triggered by two earthquakes in Afghanistan; an entire village is buried.
2013 – Greece’s public broadcaster ERT is shut down by then-prime minister Antonis Samaras. It reopened exactly two years later by then-prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
2018 – 3 World Trade Center officially opens.

Births on June 11

1403 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (d. 1427)
1431 – Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond (d. 1456)
1456 – Anne Neville, Princess of Wales and Queen of England (d. 1485)
1540 – Barnabe Googe, English poet and translator (d. 1594)
1555 – Lodovico Zacconi, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1627)
1572 – Ben Jonson, English poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1637)
1585 – Evert Horn, Swedish soldier (d. 1615)
1588 – George Wither, English poet (d. 1667)
1620 – John Moore, English businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of London (d. 1702)
1655 – Antonio Cifrondi, Italian painter (d. 1730)
1662 – Tokugawa Ienobu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1712)
1672 – Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (d. 1749)
1690 – Giovanni Antonio Giay, Italian composer (d. 1764)
1696 – James Francis Edward Keith, Scottish-Prussian field marshal (d. 1758)
1697 – Francesco Antonio Vallotti, Italian organist and composer (d. 1780)
1704 – Carlos Seixas, Portuguese harpsichord player and composer (d. 1742)
1709 – Joachim Martin Falbe, German painter (d. 1782)
1712 – Benjamin Ingham, American missionary (d. 1772)
1723 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (d. 1788)
1726 – Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain (d. 1746)
1741 – Joseph Warren, American physician and general (d. 1775)
1776 – John Constable, English painter and academic (d. 1837)
1797 – José Trinidad Reyes, Honduran philosopher and theorist (d. 1855)
1807 – James F. Schenck, American admiral (d. 1882)
1815 – Julia Margaret Cameron, Indian-Sri Lankan photographer (d. 1879)
1818 – Alexander Bain, Scottish philosopher and academic (d. 1903)
1829 – Edward Braddon, English-Australian politician, 18th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1904)
1832 – Lucy Pickens, American wife of Francis Wilkinson Pickens (d. 1899)
1842 – Carl von Linde, German engineer and academic (d. 1934)
1846 – William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (d. 1920)
1847 – Millicent Fawcett, English academic and activist (d. 1929)
1861 – Alexander Peacock, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Victoria (d. 1933)
1864 – Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (d. 1949)
1867 – Charles Fabry, French physicist and academic (d. 1945)
1871 – Stjepan Radić, Croatian lawyer and politician (d. 1928)
1876 – Alfred L. Kroeber, American-French anthropologist and ethnologist (d. 1960)
1877 – Renée Vivien, English-French poet and author (d. 1909)
1879 – Roger Bresnahan, American baseball player and manager (d. 1944)
1880 – Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (d. 1973)
1881 – Spiros Xenos, Greek-Swedish painter (d. 1963)
1881 – Mordecai Kaplan, Lithuanian rabbi, founded Reconstructionist Judaism (d. 1983)
1888 – Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian-American anarchist and convicted criminal (d. 1927)
1889 – Hugo Wieslander, Swedish decathlete (d. 1976)
1894 – Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (d. 1952)
1895 – Nikolai Bulganin, Soviet politician (d. 1975)
1897 – Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian activist, founded the Hindustan Republican Association (d. 1927)
1897 – Reg Latta, Australian rugby league player (d. 1970)
1899 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
1901 – Cap Fear, Canadian football player and rower (d. 1978)
1901 – Benny Wearing, Australian rugby league player (d. 1968)
1902 – Eric Fraser, British illustrator and graphic designer (d. 1983)
1903 – Ernie Nevers, American football player and coach (d. 1976)
1908 – Karl Hein, German hammer thrower (d. 1982)
1908 – Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (d. 1919)
1909 – Natascha Artin Brunswick, German-American mathematician and photographer (d. 2003)
1910 – Carmine Coppola, American flute player and composer (d. 1991)
1910 – Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (d. 1997)
1912 – James Algar, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
1912 – William Baziotes, American painter and academic (d. 1963)
1912 – Mohammad Hassan Ganji, Iranian meteorologist and academic (d. 2012)
1913 – Vince Lombardi, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 1970)
1913 – Risë Stevens, American soprano and actress (d. 2013)
1914 – Jan Hendrik van den Berg, Dutch psychiatrist and academic (d. 2012)
1915 – Magda Gabor, Hungarian-American actress (d. 1997)
1915 – Nicholas Metropolis, American mathematician and physicist (d. 1999)
1917 – Joseph B. Wirthlin, American businessman and religious leader (d. 2008)
1918 – Ruth Aarons, American table tennis player and manager (d. 1980)
1919 – Suleiman Mousa, Jordanian historian and author (d. 2008)
1919 – Richard Todd, Irish-English actor (d. 2009)
1920 – Shelly Manne, American drummer, composer, and bandleader (d. 1984)
1920 – Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American singer, actress, and pianist (d. 1981)
1920 – Keith Seaman, Australian lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of South Australia (d. 2013)
1922 – Jean Sutherland Boggs, Peruvian-Canadian historian, academic, and civil servant (d. 2014)
1922 – Michael Cacoyannis, Greek Cypriot director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
1925 – Johnny Esaw, Canadian sportscaster (d. 2013)
1925 – William Styron, American novelist and essayist (d. 2006)
1926 – Carlisle Floyd, American composer and educator
1927 – Beryl Grey, English ballerina
1927 – John W. O’Malley, American Catholic historian, academic and Jesuit priest
1927 – Kit Pedler, English parapsychologist and author (d. 1981)
1928 – Queen Fabiola of Belgium (d. 2014)
1929 – Ayhan Şahenk, Turkish businessman (d. 2001)
1930 – Charles Rangel, American soldier, lawyer, and politician
1932 – Athol Fugard, South African-American actor, director, and playwright
1932 – Tim Sainsbury, English businessman and politician, Minister of State for Trade
1933 – Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1937 – Chad Everett, American actor and director (d. 2012)
1937 – Robin Warren, Australian pathologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1939 – Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, English cricketer and journalist (d. 2017)
1939 – Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver and sportscaster
1942 – Parris Glendening, American politician, 59th Governor of Maryland
1943 – Henry Hill, American mobster (d. 2012)
1945 – Adrienne Barbeau, American actress
1947 – Richard Palmer-James, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1948 – Dave Cash, American baseball player and coach
1948 – Lalu Prasad Yadav, Indian politician, 20th Chief Minister of Bihar
1949 – Frank Beard, American drummer and songwriter
1950 – Lynsey de Paul, English singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, cartoonist and actress (d. 2014)
1950 – Graham Russell, English-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Matthew Engel, English journalist and author
1951 – Yasumasa Morimura, Japanese painter and photographer
1952 – Yekaterina Podkopayeva, Russian runner
1952 – Donnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Steve Bassam, Baron Bassam of Brighton, English politician
1953 – José Bové, French farmer and politician
1953 – Barbara Minty, American model
1954 – John Dyson, Australian cricketer
1954 – Johnny Neel, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1955 – Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower
1955 – Duncan Steel, English-Australian astronomer and author
1956 – Joe Montana, American football player and sportscaster
1956 – Simon Plouffe, Canadian mathematician and academic
1956 – Arthur Porter, Canadian physician and academic (d. 2015)
1956 – Jamaaladeen Tacuma, American bass player and bandleader
1958 – Barry Adamson, English singer and bass player
1959 – Hugh Laurie, English actor and screenwriter
1960 – Mehmet Oz, American surgeon, author, and television host
1962 – Mano Menezes, Brazilian footballer and coach
1963 – Gioia Bruno, American singer-songwriter
1963 – Sandra Schmirler, Canadian curler and sportscaster (d. 2000)
1964 – Jean Alesi, French race car driver
1964 – Kim Gallagher, American runner (d. 2002)
1965 – Georgios Bartzokas, Greek former professional basketball player
1965 – Gavin Hill, New Zealand rugby player
1966 – Bruce Robison, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Graeme Bachop, New Zealand rugby player
1967 – João Garcia, Portuguese mountaineer
1968 – Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein
1968 – Manoa Thompson, Fijian rugby player
1969 – Peter Dinklage, American actor and producer
1969 – Bryan Fogarty, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2002)
1969 – Olaf Kapagiannidis, German footballer
1971 – Vladimir Gaidamașciuc, Moldovan footballer
1971 – Liz Kendall, British politician
1971 – Mark Richardson, New Zealand cricketer
1971 – Kenjiro Tsuda, Japanese voice actor
1972 – Stephen Kearney, New Zealand rugby league player and coach
1973 – José Manuel Abundis, Mexican footballer and coach
1974 – Fragiskos Alvertis, Greek basketball player, coach, and manager
1976 – Reiko Tosa, Japanese runner
1977 – Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer
1978 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian-American actor
1978 – Daryl Tuffey, New Zealand cricketer
1979 – Ali Boussaboun, Moroccan-Dutch footballer
1979 – Amy Duggan, Australian footballer and sportscaster
1980 – Yhency Brazoban, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Emiliano Moretti, Italian footballer
1981 – Kristo Tohver, Estonian footballer and referee
1982 – Vanessa Boslak, French pole vaulter
1982 – Jacques Freitag, South African high jumper
1982 – Joey Graham, American basketball player
1982 – Stephen Graham, American basketball player
1982 – Reni Maitua, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Eldar Rønning, Norwegian skier
1982 – Diana Taurasi, American basketball player
1983 – Chuck Hayes, American basketball player
1983 – José Reyes, Dominican baseball player
1984 – Andy Lee, Irish boxer
1984 – Vágner Love, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Tim Hoogland, German footballer
1986 – Sebastian Bayer, German long jumper
1986 – Shia LaBeouf, American actor
1987 – Marsel İlhan, Turkish tennis player
1987 – Didrik Solli-Tangen, Norwegian singer
1988 – Jesús Fernández Collado, Spanish footballer
1988 – Yui Aragaki, Japanese actress, voice actress, singer-songwriter, model, radio host
1989 – Maya Moore, American basketball player
1990 – Christophe Lemaitre, French sprinter
1991 – Daniel Howell, English internet celebrity
1993 – Brittany Boyd, American basketball player
1994 – Ivana Baquero, Spanish actress
1996 – Ayaka Sasaki, Japanese singer
1998 – Charlie Tahan, American actor
1999 – Eartha Cumings, Scottish footballer

Deaths on June 11

323 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (b. 356 BC)
573 – Emilian of Cogolla, Iberic saint (b. 472)
840 – Junna, emperor of Japan (b. 785)
884 – Shi Jingsi, general of the Tang Dynasty
888 – Rimbert, archbishop of Bremen (b. 830)
1183 – Henry the Young King of England (b. 1155)
1216 – Henry of Flanders, emperor of the Latin Empire (b. c. 1174)
1248 – Adachi Kagemori, Japanese samurai
1253 – Amadeus IV, count of Savoy (b. 1197)
1298 – Yolanda of Poland (b. 1235)
1323 – Bérenger Fredoli, French lawyer and bishop (b. 1250)
1345 – Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire
1347 – Bartholomew of San Concordio, Italian Dominican canonist and man of letters (b. 1260)
1446 – Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick (b. 1425)
1479 – John of Sahagun, hermit and saint (b. 1419)
1488 – James III of Scotland (b. 1451)
1557 – John III of Portugal (b. 1502)
1560 – Mary of Guise, queen of James V of Scotland (b. 1515)
1683 – Nikita Pustosvyat, a leader of the Russian Old Believers, beheaded (b. unknown)
1695 – André Félibien, French historian and author (b. 1619)
1712 – Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme (b. 1654)
1727 – George I of Great Britain (b. 1660)
1748 – Felice Torelli, Italian painter (b. 1667)
1796 – Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and politician, founded the Whitbread Company (b. 1720)
1847 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician (b. 1786)
1852 – Karl Bryullov, Russian painter (b. 1799)
1859 – Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire (b. 1773)
1879 – William, Prince of Orange (b. 1840)
1882 – Louis Désiré Maigret, French bishop (b. 1804)
1885 – Matías Ramos Mejía, Argentinian colonel (b. 1810)
1897 – Henry Ayers, English-Australian politician, 8th Premier of South Australia (b. 1821)
1903 – Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1837)
1903 – Alexander I of Serbia (b. 1876)
1903 – Draga Mašin, Serbian wife of Alexander I of Serbia (b. 1864)
1911 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician and missionary (b. 1815)
1913 – Mahmud Shevket Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 279th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1856)
1914 – Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1848)
1920 – William F. Halsey, Sr., American captain (b. 1853)
1924 – Théodore Dubois, French organist, composer, and educator (b. 1837)
1927 – William Attewell, English cricketer (b. 1861)
1934 – Lev Vygotsky, Belarusian-Russian psychologist and theorist (b. 1896)
1936 – Robert E. Howard, American author and poet (b. 1906)
1937 – R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire (b. 1895)
1941 – Daniel Carter Beard, American author and illustrator, founded the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1850)
1955 – Pierre Levegh, French race car driver (b. 1905)
1962 – Chhabi Biswas, Indian actor and director (b. 1900)
1963 – Thích Quảng Đức, Vietnamese monk and martyr (b. 1897)
1965 – Paul B. Coremans, Belgian chemist and academic (b. 1908)
1965 – José Mendes Cabeçadas, Portuguese admiral and politician, 9th President of Portugal (b. 1883)
1970 – Frank Laubach, American missionary and mystic (b. 1884)
1974 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian general and politician, 16th President of Brazil (b. 1883)
1974 – Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and author (b. 1898)
1976 – Jim Konstanty, American baseball player (b. 1917)
1979 – Alice Dalgliesh, Trinidadian-American author and publisher (b. 1893)
1979 – John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907)
1983 – Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian businessman and politician (b. 1894)
1984 – Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (b. 1922)
1986 – Chesley Bonestell, American painter and illustrator (b. 1888)
1991 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (b. 1925)
1993 – Ray Sharkey, American actor (b. 1952)
1994 – A. Thurairajah, Sri Lankan engineer and academic (b. 1934)
1995 – Rodel Naval, Filipino singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1953)
1996 – George Hees, Canadian politician (b. 1910)
1996 – Brigitte Helm, German-Swiss actress (b. 1908)
1998 – Catherine Cookson, English author (b. 1906)
1999 – DeForest Kelley, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1920)
2001 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)
2001 – Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1923)
2003 – David Brinkley, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
2004 – Egon von Fürstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (b. 1946)
2005 – Vasco Gonçalves, Portuguese general and politician, 103rd Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1922)
2005 – Anne-Marie Alonzo, Canadian playwright, poet, novelist, critic and publisher (b. 1951)
2006 – Neroli Fairhall, New Zealand archer (b. 1944)
2006 – Bruce Shand, English soldier (b. 1917)
2007 – Imre Friedmann, American biologist and academic (b. 1921)
2007 – Mala Powers, American actress (b. 1931)
2008 – Ove Andersson, Swedish race car driver (b. 1938)
2008 – Võ Văn Kiệt, Vietnamese soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1922)
2011 – Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Israeli physicist and engineer (b. 1947)
2011 – Seth Putnam, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1968)
2012 – Ann Rutherford, Canadian-American actress (b. 1917)
2012 – Teófilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer and engineer (b. 1952)
2013 – Miller Barber, American golfer (b. 1931)
2013 – Carl W. Bauer, American lawyer and politician (b. 1933)
2013 – Robert Fogel, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
2013 – James Grimsley, Jr., American general (b. 1921)
2013 – Rory Morrison, English journalist (b. 1964)
2013 – Kristiāns Pelšs, Latvian ice hockey player (b. 1992)
2013 – Vidya Charan Shukla, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1929)
2014 – Ruby Dee, American actress (b. 1922)
2014 – Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Spanish conductor and composer (b. 1933)
2014 – Susan B. Horwitz, American computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1955)
2014 – Mipham Chokyi Lodro, Tibetan lama and educator (b. 1952)
2014 – Benjamin Mophatlane, South African businessman (b. 1973)
2014 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (b. 1947)
2015 – Jim Ed Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
2015 – Ornette Coleman, American saxophonist, violinist, trumpet player, and composer (b. 1930)
2015 – Ian McKechnie, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1941)
2015 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (b. 1924)
2015 – Dusty Rhodes, American wrestler (b. 1945)
2016 – Rudi Altig, German track and road racing cyclist (b. 1937)
2020 – Stella Pevsner, children’s author (b. 1921)

Holidays and observances on June 11

American Evacuation Day (Libya)
Brazilian Navy commemorative day (Brazil)
Christian feast day:
- Barnabas the Apostle
- Bartholomew the Apostle (Eastern Christianity)
- Blessed Ignatius Maloyan (Armenian Catholic Church)
- Paula Frassinetti
- Riagail of Bangor
- June 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Davis Day (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada)
Kamehameha Day (Hawaii, United States)
Student Day (Honduras)

June 11- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

June 7- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire).
879 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia under Duke Branimir as an independent state.
1002 – Henry II, a cousin of Emperor Otto III, is elected and crowned King of Germany.
1099 – First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins.
1420 – Troops of the Republic of Venice capture Udine, ending the independence of the Patria del Friuli.
1494 – Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries.
1628 – The Petition of Right, a major English constitutional document, is granted the Royal Assent by Charles I and becomes law.
1654 – Louis XIV is crowned King of France.
1692 – Port Royal, Jamaica, is hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1,600 people are killed and 3,000 are seriously injured.
1776 – Richard Henry Lee presents the “Lee Resolution” to the Continental Congress. The motion is seconded by John Adams and will lead to the United States Declaration of Independence.
1788 – French Revolution: Day of the Tiles: Civilians in Grenoble toss roof tiles and various objects down upon royal troops.
1800 – David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba.
1810 – The newspaper Gazeta de Buenos Ayres is first published in Argentina.
1832 – The Great Reform Act of England and Wales receives royal assent.
1832 – Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
1862 – The United States and the United Kingdom agree in the Lyons–Seward Treaty to suppress the African slave trade.
1863 – During the French intervention in Mexico, Mexico City is captured by French troops.
1866 – One thousand eight hundred Fenian raiders are repelled back to the United States after looting and plundering the Saint-Armand and Frelighsburg areas of Canada East.
1880 – War of the Pacific: The Battle of Arica, the assault and capture of Morro de Arica (Arica Cape), ends the Campaña del Desierto (Desert Campaign).
1892 – Homer Plessy is arrested for refusing to leave his seat in the “whites-only” car of a train; he lost the resulting court case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
1899 – American Temperance crusader Carrie Nation begins her campaign of vandalizing alcohol-serving establishments by destroying the inventory in a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas.
1905 – Norway’s parliament dissolves its union with Sweden. The vote was confirmed by a national plebiscite on August 13 of that year.
1906 – Cunard Line’s RMS Lusitania is launched from the John Brown Shipyard, Glasgow (Clydebank), Scotland.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Messines: Allied soldiers detonate a series of mines underneath German trenches at Messines Ridge, killing 10,000 German troops.
1919 – Sette Giugno: Nationalist riots break out in Valletta, the capital of Malta. British soldiers fire into the crowd, killing four people.
1929 – The Lateran Treaty is ratified, bringing Vatican City into existence.
1938 – The Douglas DC-4E makes its first test flight.
1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Nationalist government creates the 1938 Yellow River flood to halt Japanese forces. Five hundred to nine hundred thousand civilians are killed.
1940 – King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian government leave Tromsø and go into exile in London. They return exactly five years later.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway ends in American victory.
1942 – World War II: Aleutian Islands Campaign: Imperial Japanese soldiers begin occupying the American islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
1944 – World War II: The steamer Danae, carrying 350 Cretan Jews and 250 Cretan partisans, is sunk without survivors off the shore of Santorini.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy: At Ardenne Abbey, members of the SS Division Hitlerjugend massacre 23 Canadian prisoners of war.
1945 – King Haakon VII of Norway returns from exactly five years in exile during World War II.
1946 – The United Kingdom’s BBC returns to broadcasting its television service, which has been off air for seven years because of the Second World War.
1948 – Anti-Jewish riots in Oujda and Jerada take place.
1948 – Edvard Beneš resigns as President of Czechoslovakia rather than signing the Ninth-of-May Constitution, making his nation a Communist state.
1955 – Lux Radio Theatre signs off the air permanently. The show launched in New York in 1934, and featured radio adaptations of Broadway shows and popular films.
1962 – The Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS) sets fire to the University of Algiers library building, destroying about 500,000 books.
1965 – The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibiting the states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
1967 – Six-Day War: Israeli soldiers enter Jerusalem.
1971 – The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1971 – The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service raids the home of Ken Ballew for illegal possession of hand grenades.
1977 – Five hundred million people watch the high day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begin on television.
1981 – The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq’s Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera.
1982 – Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits.
1989 – Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashes on approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname because of pilot error, killing 176 of 187 aboard.
1991 – Mount Pinatubo erupts, generating an ash column 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) high.
2000 – The United Nations defines the Blue Line as the border between Israel and Lebanon.
2013 – A bus catches fire in the Chinese city of Xiamen, killing at least 47 people and injuring more than 34 others.
2013 – A gunman opens fire at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, after setting a house on fire nearby, killing six people, including the suspect.
2014 – At least 37 people are killed in an attack in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s South Kivu province.

Births on June 7

1003 – Emperor Jingzong of Western Xia (d. 1048)
1402 – Ichijō Kaneyoshi, Japanese noble (d. 1481)
1422 – Federico da Montefeltro, Italian condottiero (d. 1482)
1502 – John III of Portugal (d. 1557)
1529 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and jurist (d. 1615)
1687 – Gaetano Berenstadt, Italian actor and singer (d. 1734)
1702 – Louis George, Margrave of Baden-Baden (d. 1761)
1757 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1806)
1761 – John Rennie the Elder, Scottish engineer (d. 1821)
1770 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1828)
1778 – Beau Brummell, English cricketer and fashion designer (d. 1840)
1811 – James Young Simpson, Scottish obstetrician (d. 1870)
1831 – Amelia Edwards, English journalist and author (d. 1892)
1837 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (d. 1903)
1840 – Carlota of Mexico (d. 1927)
1845 – Leopold Auer, Hungarian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1930)
1847 – George Washington Ball, American legislator from Iowa (d. 1915)
1848 – Paul Gauguin, French painter and sculptor (d. 1903)
1851 – Ture Malmgren, Swedish journalist and politician (d. 1922)
1861 – Robina Nicol, New Zealand photographer and suffragist (d. 1942)
1862 – Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1863 – Bones Ely, American baseball player and manager (d. 1952)
1868 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish painter and architect (d. 1928)
1877 – Roelof Klein, Dutch-American rower and engineer (d. 1960)
1879 – Knud Rasmussen, Danish anthropologist and explorer (d. 1933)
1879 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1963)
1884 – Ester Claesson, Swedish landscape architect (d. 1931)
1883 – Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and scholar (d. 1948)
1886 – Henri Coandă, Romanian engineer, designed the Coandă-1910 (d. 1972)
1888 – Clarence DeMar, American runner and educator (d. 1958)
1892 – Leo Reise, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1975)
1893 – Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (d. 1938)
1894 – Alexander P. de Seversky, Georgian-American pilot and engineer, co-designed the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (d. 1974)
1896 – Douglas Campbell, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1990)
1896 – Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1896 – Imre Nagy, Hungarian soldier and politician, 44th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1958)
1897 – George Szell, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1970)
1899 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author and critic (d. 1973)
1902 – Georges Van Parys, French composer (d. 1971)
1902 – Herman B Wells, American banker, author, and academic (d. 2000)
1905 – James J. Braddock, American lieutenant and boxer (d. 1974)
1906 – Glen Gray, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1963)
1907 – Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (d. 2002)
1909 – Virginia Apgar, American anesthesiologist and pediatrician, developed the Apgar test (d. 1974)
1909 – Peter W. Rodino, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2005)
1909 – Jessica Tandy, English-American actress (d. 1994)
1910 – Arthur Gardner, American actor and producer (d. 2014)
1910 – Mike Sebastian, American football player and coach (d. 1989)
1910 – Bradford Washburn, American mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer (d. 2007)
1910 – Marion Post Wolcott, American photographer (d. 1990)
1911 – Brooks Stevens, American engineer and designer, designed the Wienermobile (d. 1995)
1912 – Jacques Hélian, French bandleader (d. 1986)
1917 – Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (d. 2000)
1917 – Dean Martin, American singer, actor, and producer (d. 1995)
1920 – Georges Marchais, French mechanic and politician (d. 1997)
1921 – Myrtle Edwards, Australian cricketer and softball player (d. 2010)
1921 – Brian Talboys, New Zealand politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2012)
1922 – Leo Reise, Jr., Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1923 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2000)
1925 – Ernestina Herrera de Noble, Argentine publisher and executive (d. 2017)
1926 – Jean-Noël Tremblay, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2020)
1927 – Charles de Tornaco, Belgian race car driver (d. 1953)
1927 – Paul Salamunovich, American conductor and educator (d. 2014)
1928 – Dave Bowen, Welsh footballer and manager (d. 1995)
1928 – James Ivory, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1928 – Randolph Turpin, English boxer (d. 1966)
1929 – Ernie Roth, American wrestling manager (d. 1983)
1929 – John Turner, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Canada
1931 – Virginia McKenna, English actress and author
1932 – Per Maurseth, Norwegian historian, academic, and politician (d. 2013)
1933 – Romeo Galán, Argentine athlete
1935 – Harry Crews, American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2012)
1935 – Shyama, Indian actress (d. 2017)
1936 – Bert Sugar, American author and boxing historian (d. 2012)
1938 – Ian St John, Scottish international footballer, forward and manager
1939 – Yuli Turovsky, Russian-Canadian cellist, conductor and educator (d. 2013)
1940 – Tom Jones, Welsh singer and actor
1940 – Ronald Pickup, English actor
1944 – Annette Lu, Taiwanese lawyer and politician, 8th Vice President of the Republic of China
1944 – Clarence White, American guitarist and singer (d. 1973)
1945 – Gilles Marotte, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
1945 – John Olsen, Australian politician, 42nd Premier of South Australia
1945 – Wolfgang Schüssel, Austrian lawyer and politician, 26th Chancellor of Austria
1947 – Don Money, American baseball player and coach
1947 – Thurman Munson, American baseball player (d. 1979)
1948 – Jim Walton, American businessman
1952 – Liam Neeson, Irish-American actor
1952 – Orhan Pamuk, Turkish-American novelist, screenwriter, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1953 – Johnny Clegg, English- born South African singer-songwriter, guitarist and anthropologist (d. 2019)
1954 – Louise Erdrich, American novelist and poet
1955 – William Forsythe, American actor and producer
1955 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
1956 – L.A. Reid, American songwriter and producer, co-founded LaFace Records
1957 – Juan Luis Guerra, Dominican singer-songwriter and producer
1957 – Paddy McAloon, English singer-songwriter
1958 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor (d. 2016)
1958 – Surakiart Sathirathai, Thai politician and diplomat
1959 – Mike Pence, 48th Vice President of the United States, 50th Governor of Indiana
1960 – Hirohiko Araki, Japanese manga artist and creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
1960 – Bill Prady, American screenwriter and producer
1961 – Dave Catching, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1962 – Thierry Hazard, French singer-songwriter
1962 – Takuya Kurosawa, Japanese race car driver
1963 – Gordon Gano, American musician
1964 – Gia Carides, Australian actress
1964 – Graeme Labrooy, Sri Lankan cricketer
1965 – Mick Foley, American wrestler, actor, and author
1965 – Jean-Pierre François, French footballer and singer
1965 – Damien Hirst, English painter and art collector
1966 – Eric Kretz, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
1966 – Tom McCarthy, American director, screenwriter and actor
1966 – Stéphane Richer, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Dave Navarro, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1970 – Helen Baxendale, English actress
1970 – Cafu, Brazilian footballer
1970 – Andrei Kovalenko, Russian ice hockey player
1970 – Mike Modano, American ice hockey player
1972 – Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
1974 – Bear Grylls, English adventurer, author, and television host
1975 – Allen Iverson, American basketball player
1976 – Necro, American rapper, producer, and director
1976 – Mirsad Türkcan, Turkish basketball player
1977 – Marcin Baszczyński, Polish footballer
1978 – Mini Andén, Swedish-American model, actress, and producer
1978 – Bill Hader, Two-time Emmy winning American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
1979 – Kevin Hofland, Dutch footballer
1979 – Anna Torv, Australian actress
1980 – Ed Moses, American swimmer
1981 – Stephen Bywater, English footballer
1981 – Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
1981 – Kevin Kyle, Scottish footballer
1983 – Milan Jurčina, Slovak ice hockey player
1983 – Piotr Małachowski, Polish discus thrower
1984 – Ari Koivunen, Finnish singer-songwriter
1984 – Eri Yanetani, Japanese snowboarder
1985 – Arkadiusz Piech, Polish footballer
1985 – Charlie Simpson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1985 – Richard Thompson, Trinidadian sprinter
1986 – Keegan Bradley, American golfer
1988 – Michael Cera, Canadian actor
1988 – Milan Lucic, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Iggy Azalea, Australian rapper
1990 – T. J. Brodie, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Allison Schmitt, American swimmer
1991 – Cenk Tosun, Turkish professional footballer
1991 – Fetty Wap, American rapper
1992 – Sara Niemietz, American singer-songwriter and actress
1992 – Mathias Gehrt, Danish professional footballer
1992 – Alípio, Brazilian footballer
1993 – George Ezra, English singer, songwriter and guitarist

Deaths on June 7

555 – Vigilius, Pope of the Catholic Church (b. 500)
862 – Al-Muntasir, Abbasid caliph (b. 837)
929 – Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders (b. 877)
940 – Qian Hongzun, heir apparent of Wuyue (b. 925)
951 – Lu Wenji, Chinese chancellor (b. 876)
1329 – Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (b. 1274)
1337 – William I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1286)
1341 – An-Nasir Muhammad, Egyptian sultan (b. 1285)
1358 – Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese shōgun (b. 1305)
1394 – Anne of Bohemia, English queen (b. 1366)
1492 – Casimir IV Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 (b. 1427)
1594 – Rodrigo Lopez, physician of Queen Elizabeth (b. 1525)
1618 – Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1577)
1660 – George II Rákóczi, Prince of Transylvania (b. 1621)
1711 – Henry Dodwell, Irish scholar and theologian (b. 1641)
1779 – William Warburton, English bishop and critic (b. 1698)
1792 – Benjamin Tupper, American general and surveyor (b. 1738)
1810 – Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver and etcher (b. 1765)
1826 – Joseph von Fraunhofer, German optician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1787)
1840 – Frederick William III of Prussia (b. 1770)
1843 – Friedrich Hölderlin, German lyric poet (b. 1770)
1853 – Norbert Provencher, Canadian missionary and bishop (b. 1787)
1854 – Charles Baudin, French admiral (b. 1792)
1859 – David Cox, English painter (b. 1783)
1861 – Patrick Brontë, Anglo-Irish priest and author (b. 1777)
1863 – Antonio Valero de Bernabé, Latin American liberator (b. 1790)
1866 – Chief Seattle, American tribal chief (b. 1780)
1879 – William Tilbury Fox, English dermatologist and academic (b. 1836)
1896 – Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer (b. 1829)
1911 – Maurice Rouvier, French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1842)
1915 – Charles Reed Bishop, American banker and politician, founded the First Hawaiian Bank (b. 1822)
1916 – Émile Faguet, French author and critic (b. 1847)
1927 – Archie Birkin, English motorcycle racer (b. 1905)
1927 – Edmund James Flynn, Canadian lawyer and politician, 10th Premier of Quebec (b. 1847)
1932 – John Verran, English-Australian politician, 26th Premier of South Australia (b. 1856)
1933 – Dragutin Domjanić, Croatian lawyer, judge, and poet (b. 1875)
1936 – Stjepan Seljan, Croatian explorer (b. 1875)
1937 – Jean Harlow, American actress and singer (b. 1911)
1942 – Alan Blumlein, English engineer (b. 1903)
1945 – Kitaro Nishida, Japanese philosopher and academic (b. 1870)
1954 – Alan Turing, English mathematician and computer scientist (b. 1912)
1956 – John Willcock, Australian politician, 15th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1879)
1961 – Reginald Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster, English navy officer and politician, Secretary of State for Transport (b. 1885)
1963 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (b. 1894)
1965 – Judy Holliday, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
1966 – Jean Arp, German-French sculptor, painter, and poet (b. 1886)
1967 – Anatoly Maltsev, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1909)
1967 – Dorothy Parker, American poet, short story writer, critic, and satirist (b. 1893)
1968 – Dan Duryea, American actor and singer (b. 1907)
1970 – E. M. Forster, English novelist, short story writer, essayist (b. 1879)
1978 – Charles Moran, American race car driver (b. 1906)
1978 – Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
1979 – Asa Earl Carter, American Ku Klux Klan leader (b. 1925)
1980 – Elizabeth Craig, Scottish journalist and economist (b. 1883)
1980 – Philip Guston, Canadian-American painter and educator (b. 1913)
1980 – Henry Miller, American novelist and essayist (b. 1891)
1985 – Klaudia Taev, Estonian opera singer and educator (b. 1906)
1987 – Cahit Zarifoğlu, Turkish poet and author (b. 1940)
1988 – Martin Sommer, German SS officer (b. 1915)
1989 – Chico Landi, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1907)
1989 – William McLean Hamilton, Canadian politician, Postmaster General of Canada (b. 1919)
1992 – Bill France Sr., American race car driver and businessman, co-founded NASCAR (b. 1909)
1993 – Dražen Petrović, Croatian basketball player, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer 2002 (b. 1964)
1995 – Hsuan Hua, Chinese monk and educator (b. 1918)
1995 – Charles Ritchie, Canadian diplomat, High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom (b. 1906)
1996 – Max Factor, Jr., American businessman (b. 1904)
1997 – Jacques Canetti, French music executive and talent agent (b. 1909)
2001 – Víctor Paz Estenssoro, Bolivian politician, 52nd President of Bolivia (b. 1907)
2001 – Carole Fredericks, French singer (Fredericks Goldman Jones) (b. 1952)
2001 – Betty Neels, English nurse and author (b. 1910)
2002 – Signe Hasso, Swedish-American actress (b. 1915)
2002 – B. D. Jatti, Indian lawyer and politician, 5th Vice President of India (b. 1912)
2002 – Lilian, Princess of Réthy (b. 1916)
2004 – Quorthon, Swedish musician (b. 1966)
2008 – Rudy Fernandez, Filipino actor and producer (b. 1953)
2008 – Jim McKay, American journalist and sportscaster (b. 1921)
2008 – Dino Risi, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1916)
2009 – Hugh Hopper, English bass player and songwriter (b. 1945)
2011 – Paul Dickson, American football player and coach (b. 1937)
2012 – Phillip V. Tobias, South African paleontologist and academic (b. 1925)
2012 – Bob Welch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1945)
2013 – Pierre Mauroy, French educator and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1928)
2014 – Fernandão, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1978)
2014 – Dora Akunyili, Nigerian academic and politician (b. 1954)
2014 – Epainette Mbeki, South African activist (b. 1916)
2015 – Christopher Lee, English actor (b. 1922)
2015 – Sheikh Razzak Ali, Bangladeshi journalist and politician (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances on June 7

Anniversary of the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation (Slovakia)
Birthday of Prince Joachim (Denmark)
Christian feast day:
- Antonio Maria Gianelli
- Colmán of Dromore
- Landulf of Yariglia (Asti)
- Meriasek
- Paul I of Constantinople
- Robert of Newminster
- Chief Seattle (Lutheran Church)
- Blessed Marie-Thérèse de Soubiran La Louvière
- June 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Commemoration Day of St John the Forerunner (Armenian Apostolic Church)
- Pioneers of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil (Episcopal Church (USA))
Battle of Arica Day (Arica y Parinacota Region, Chile)
Flag Day (Peru)
Journalist Day (Argentina)
Sette Giugno (Malta)
Union Dissolution Day (Independence Day of Norway)

June 7- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

June 6- History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

913 – The 8-year-old illegitimate son of Leo VI the Wise, Constantine VII, becomes nominal ruler of the Byzantine Empire, under the regency of a seven-man council headed by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, appointed by Constantine’s uncle Alexander III on his deathbed.
1513 – Italian Wars: Battle of Novara. Swiss troops defeat the French under Louis II de la Trémoille, forcing the French to abandon Milan. Duke Massimiliano Sforza is restored.
1523 – Gustav Vasa, the Swedish regent, is elected King of Sweden, marking a symbolic end to the Kalmar Union. This is the Swedish national day.
1586 – Francis Drake’s forces raid St. Augustine in Spanish Florida.
1674 – Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire, is crowned.
1749 – The Conspiracy of the Slaves in Malta is discovered.
1762 – Seven Years’ War: British forces begin a siege of Havana, Cuba, and temporarily capture the city in the Battle of Havana.
1808 – Napoleon’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte, is crowned King of Spain.
1809 – Sweden promulgates a new Constitution, which restores political power to the Riksdag of the Estates after 20 years of enlightened absolutism. At the same time, Charles XIII is elected to succeed Gustav IV Adolf as King of Sweden.
1813 – War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek: A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeats an American force twice its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
1822 – Alexis St. Martin is accidentally shot in the stomach, leading to William Beaumont’s studies on digestion.
1832 – The June Rebellion in Paris is put down by the National Guard.
1844 – The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) is founded in London.
1844 – The Glaciarium, the world’s first mechanically frozen ice rink, opens.
1857 – Sophia of Nassau marries the future King Oscar II of Sweden–Norway.
1859 – Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales (Queensland Day).
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Memphis: Union forces capture Memphis, Tennessee, from the Confederates.
1882 – The Shewan forces of Menelik II of Ethiopia defeat the Gojjame army in the Battle of Embabo. The Shewans capture Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, and their victory leads to a Shewan hegemony over the territories south of the Abay River.
1889 – The Great Seattle Fire destroys all of downtown Seattle.
1892 – The Chicago “L” elevated rail system begins operation.
1894 – Governor Davis H. Waite orders the Colorado state militia to protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek miners’ strike.
1909 – French troops capture Abéché (in modern-day Chad) and install a puppet sultan in the Ouaddai Empire.
1912 – The eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins. It is the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.
1916 – The death of Yuan Shikai marks the beginning of China’s Warlord Era.
1918 – World War I: Battle of Belleau Wood: The U.S. Marine Corps suffers its worst single day’s casualties while attempting to recapture the wood at Château-Thierry.
1919 – After eight days of existence, the Republic of Prekmurje is conquered by the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
1921 – Southwark Bridge in London is opened to traffic by King George V and Queen Mary.
1932 – The Revenue Act of 1932 is enacted, creating the first gas tax in the United States, at a rate of 1 cent per US gallon (¹⁄₄¢/L) sold.
1933 – The first drive-in theater opens in Camden, New Jersey, United States.
1934 – New Deal: The U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 into law, establishing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
1939 – Judge Joseph Force Crater, known as the “Missingest Man in New York”, is declared legally dead.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Midway. U.S. Navy dive bombers sink the Japanese cruiser Mikuma and four Japanese carriers.
1944 – World War II: The Allied invasion of Normandy—codenamed Operation Overlord—begins with the execution of Operation Neptune (commonly referred to as D-Day), the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The Allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
1946 – The Basketball Association of America is founded in New York City; the BAA was the precursor to the modern National Basketball Association.
1954 – The grand opening of the sculpture of Yuriy Dolgorukiy took place in Moscow. This statue is one of the main monuments of Moscow.
1964 – Under a temporary order, the rocket launches at Cuxhaven, Germany are terminated. They never resume.
1971 – Soyuz program: Soyuz 11 is launched.
1971 – A midair collision between a Hughes Airwest Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a United States Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II jet fighter near Duarte, California, claims 50 lives.
1971 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Khanh between Australian and Vietnamese communist forces begins.
1974 – A new Instrument of Government is promulgated making Sweden a parliamentary monarchy.
1981 – Bihar train disaster: A passenger train travelling between Mansi and Saharsa, India, jumps the tracks at a bridge crossing the Bagmati River. The government places the official death toll at 268 plus another 300 missing; however, it is generally believed that the death toll is closer to 1,000.
1982 – The Lebanon War begins. Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon during Operation Peace for the Galilee, eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
1985 – The grave of “Wolfgang Gerhard” is opened in Embu, Brazil; the exhumed remains are later proven to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death”; Mengele is thought to have drowned while swimming in February 1979.
1993 – Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat wins the first presidential election in Mongolia.
1994 – China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 crashes near Xi’an, China, killing all 160 people on board.
2002 – Eastern Mediterranean event. A near-Earth asteroid estimated at ten meters in diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. The explosion is estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, slightly more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb.
2004 – Tamil is established as a “classical language” by the President of India, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, in a joint sitting of the two houses of the Indian Parliament.
2005 – In Gonzales v. Raich, the United States Supreme Court upholds a federal law banning cannabis, including medical marijuana.

Births on June 6

pre-19th century

1236 – Wen Tianxiang, Chinese general and scholar (d. 1283)
1243 – Alix of Brittany, Dame de Pontarcy, Breton noble (d. 1288)
1296 – Władysław of Legnica (d. 1352)
1436 – Regiomontanus, German mathematician, astronomer, and bishop (d. 1476)
1519 – Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (d. 1603)
1539 – Catherine Vasa, Regent of East Frisia (d. 1610)
1553 – Bernardino Baldi, Italian mathematician and author (d. 1617)
1556 – Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, English politician and diplomat (d. 1625)
1580 – Godefroy Wendelin, Belgian astronomer and author (d. 1667)
1584 – Yuan Chonghuan, politician, military general and writer (d. 1630)
1599 – Diego Velázquez, Spanish painter and educator (d. 1660)
1606 – Pierre Corneille, French playwright and producer (d. 1684)
1622 – Claude-Jean Allouez, French-American missionary and explorer (d. 1689)
1646 – Hortense Mancini, favourite Italian niece of Cardinal Mazarin (d. 1699)
1661 – Giacomo Antonio Perti, Italian composer and educator (d. 1756)
1699 – Johann Georg Estor, German historian and theorist (d. 1773)
1714 – Joseph I of Portugal (d. 1777)
1735 – Anton Schweitzer, German composer (d. 1787)
1755 – Nathan Hale, American soldier (d. 1776)
1756 – John Trumbull, American soldier and painter (d. 1843)
1772 – Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily (d. 1807)
1799 – Alexander Pushkin, Russian author and poet (d. 1837)

19th century

1807 – Thiệu Trị, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1847)
1810 – Friedrich Wilhelm Schneidewin, German philologist and scholar (d. 1856)
1829 – Honinbo Shusaku, Japanese Go player (d. 1862)
1841 – Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish author and publisher (d. 1910)
1844 – Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter and academic (d. 1905)
1850 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1918)
1857 – Aleksandr Lyapunov, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1918)
1862 – Henry Newbolt, English historian, author, and poet (d. 1938)
1867 – David T. Abercrombie, American surveyor and businessman, founded Abercrombie & Fitch (d. 1931)
1868 – Robert Falcon Scott, English sailor and explorer (d. 1912)
1872 – Alix of Hesse, German princess and Russian empress (d.1918)
1875 – Thomas Mann, German author and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
1878 – Vincent de Moro-Giafferi, French lawyer and politician (d. 1956)
1884 – Jock Hutchison, Scottish-American golfer (d. 1977)
1890 – Ted Lewis, American singer, clarinet player, and bandleader (d. 1971)
1891 – Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, Indian author and academic (d. 1986)
1891 – Erich Marcks, German general (d. 1944)
1896 – Henry Allingham, English World War I soldier and supercentenarian (d. 2009).
1896 – Italo Balbo, Italian air marshal and politician (d. 1940)
1898 – Walter Abel, American actor (d. 1987)
1898 – Jacobus Johannes Fouché, South African politician, 2nd State President of South Africa (d. 1980)
1898 – Ninette de Valois, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (d. 2001)
1900 – Manfred Sakel, Ukrainian-American psychiatrist and physician (d. 1957)

1901–1930

1901 – Jan Struther, English author and hymnwriter (d. 1953)
1901 – Sukarno, Indonesian engineer and politician, 1st President of Indonesia (d. 1970)
1902 – Jimmie Lunceford, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1947)
1903 – Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer and conductor (d. 1978)
1903 – Bakht Singh, Indian evangelist, well-known bible teacher and preacher (d. 2000)
1906 – Max August Zorn, German mathematician and academic (d. 1993)
1907 – Bill Dickey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1993)
1907 – Robin Humphreys, British scholar of Latin America (d. 1999)
1908 – Giovanni Bracco, Italian race car driver (d. 1968)
1909 – Isaiah Berlin, Latvian-English historian and philosopher (d. 1997)
1913 – Carlo L. Golino, Italian-American author, critic, and academic (d. 1991)
1915 – Vincent Persichetti, American pianist and composer (d. 1987)
1916 – Hamani Diori, Nigerien academic and politician, 1st President of Niger (d. 1989)
1917 – Kirk Kerkorian, American businessman, founded the Tracinda Corporation (d. 2015)
1918 – Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
1919 – Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, English army officer and politician, 6th Secretary General of NATO (d. 2018)
1923 – V. C. Andrews, American author, illustrator, and painter (d. 1986)
1923 – Jean Pouliot, Canadian broadcaster (d. 2004)
1925 – Maxine Kumin, American poet and author (d. 2014)
1925 – Frank Chee Willeto, American soldier and politician, 4th Vice President of the Navajo Nation (d. 2013)
1926 – Torsten Andersson, Swedish painter and illustrator (d. 2009)
1926 – Erdal İnönü, Turkish physicist and politician, Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2007)
1926 – Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (d. 1998)
1929 – Sunil Dutt, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician (d. 2005)
1930 – Frank Tyson, English-Australian cricketer, coach and journalist (d. 2015)

1931–1945

Tommie Smith, born 6 June 1944, at the 1968 Olympic medal ceremony where he and John Carlos (behind) protested against racism.

1932 – David Scott, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut
1932 – Billie Whitelaw, English actress (d. 2014)
1933 – Eli Broad, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded KB Home
1933 – Heinrich Rohrer, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1934 – Albert II of Belgium
1935 – Jon Henricks, Australian swimmer; winner of two Olympic gold medals in 1956.
1936 – Mompati Merafhe, Botswana general and politician, Vice-President of Botswana (d. 2015)
1936 – D. Ramanaidu, Indian actor, director, and producer, founded Suresh Productions (d. 2015)
1936 – Levi Stubbs, American singer (d. 2008)
1938 – Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza
1938 – Ryuchi Matsuda, Japanese martial artist and author (d. 2013)
1939 – Louis Andriessen, Dutch pianist and composer
1939 – Gary U.S. Bonds, American singer-songwriter
1939 – Eddie Giacomin, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
1940 – Kumar Bhattacharyya, Baron Bhattacharyya, Indian-English engineer and academic (d. 2019)
1940 – Willie John McBride, Northern Irish rugby player, coach, and manager
1941 – Alexander Cockburn, Scottish-American journalist and author (d. 2012)
1943 – José de Jesús Gudiño Pelayo, Mexican lawyer and jurist (d. 2010)
1943 – Richard Smalley, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
1943 – Joe Stampley, American country music singer-songwriter
1944 – Monty Alexander, Jamaican jazz pianist.
1944 – Phillip Allen Sharp, American molecular biologist; 1993 Nobel Prize laureate (Physiology or Medicine).
1944 – Tommie Smith, American sprinter and football player; winner of 1968 Olympic 200m gold medal in a world record time.

1946–2000

1946 – Tony Levin, American bass player and songwriter.^[
1947 – David Blunkett, British Labour politician; Home Secretary 2001–2004.
1947 – Robert Englund, American actor; best known for Nightmare on Elm Street.
1947 – Ada Kok, Dutch butterfly stroke swimmer; winner of three Olympic medals including gold in 1968.
1948 – Arlene Harris, American entrepreneur, inventor, investor and policy advocate.
1949 – Holly Near, American folk singer and songwriter.
1954 – Harvey Fierstein, American actor and playwright; twice a winner at the Tony Awards.
1954 – Wladyslaw Zmuda, Polish footballer and manager; 91 caps for Poland and voted Best Young Player at the 1974 FIFA World Cup.
1955 – Sam Simon, American director, producer and screenwriter; co-developer of The Simpsons (d. 2015).
1956 – Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player; winner of eleven Grand Slam singles titles including five consecutive Wimbledons.
1972 – Natalie Morales, American television journalist and NBC News anchor.

Deaths

184 – Qiao Xuan, Chinese official (b. c. 110).
863 – Abu Musa Utamish, vizier to the Abbasid Caliphate.
913 – Alexander III, Byzantine emperor (b. 870).
1097 – Agnes of Aquitaine, Queen of Aragon and Navarre
1134 – Norbert of Xanten, German bishop and saint (b. 1060)
1217 – Henry I, King of Castile and Toledo (b. 1204)
1237 – John of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon
1251 – William III of Dampierre, Count of Flanders
1252 – Robert Passelewe, Bishop of Chichester
1333 – William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster (b. 1312)
1393 – Emperor Go-En’yū of Japan (b. 1359)
1480 – Vecchietta, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (b. 1412)
1548 – João de Castro, Portuguese soldier and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (b. 1500)
1561 – Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, Italian painter (b. 1483)
1583 – Nakagawa Kiyohide, Japanese daimyō (b. 1556)
1659 – Nadira Banu Begum, Mughal princess (b. 1618)
1661 – Martino Martini, Italian Jesuit missionary (b. 1614)
1730 – Alain Emmanuel de Coëtlogon, French general (b. 1646)
1740 – Alexander Spotswood, Moroccan-American colonial and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (b. 1676)
1784 – Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, Dutch politician (b. 1741)
1799 – Patrick Henry, American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Virginia (b. 1736)
1813 – Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, French architect, designed the Hôtel de Mademoiselle de Condé (b. 1739)
1813 – Antonio Cachia, Maltese architect, engineer and archaeologist (b. 1739)
1832 – Jeremy Bentham, English jurist and philosopher (b. 1748)
1840 – Marcellin Champagnat, French priest and saint, founded the Marist Brothers (b. 1789)
1843 – Friedrich Hölderlin, German poet and author (b. 1770)
1861 – Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Italian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1810)
1862 – Turner Ashby, American colonel (b. 1828)
1865 – William Quantrill, American captain (b. 1837)
1878 – Robert Stirling, Scottish minister and engineer, invented the stirling engine (b. 1790)
1881 – Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian violinist and composer (b. 1820)
1883 – Ciprian Porumbescu, Romanian composer and poet (b. 1853)
1891 – John A. Macdonald, Scottish-Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1815)
1916 – Yuan Shikai, Chinese general and politician, 2nd President of the Republic of China (b. 1859)
1922 – Lillian Russell, American actress and singer (b. 1860)
1924 – William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, Irish businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of Belfast (b. 1847)
1934 – Julije Kempf, Croatian historian and author (b. 1864)
1935 – Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, English field marshal and politician, 12th Governor-General of Canada (b. 1862)
1941 – Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-American race car driver and businessman, founded Chevrolet and Frontenac Motor Corporation (b. 1878)
1943 – Pandelis Pouliopoulos, Greek politician (b. 1900)
1946 – Gerhart Hauptmann, German novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
1947 – James Agate, English author and critic (b. 1877)
1948 – Louis Lumière, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1864)
1951 – Olive Tell, American actress (b. 1894)
1954 – Fritz Kasparek, Austrian mountaineer and author (b. 1910)
1955 – Max Meldrum, Scottish-Australian painter and educator (b. 1875)
1961 – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (b. 1875)
1962 – Yves Klein, French painter (b. 1928)
1962 – Tom Phillis, Australian motorcycle racer (b. 1934)
1963 – William Baziotes, American painter and academic (b. 1912)
1968 – Randolph Churchill, English journalist and politician (b. 1911)
1968 – Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (b. 1925)
1968 – Kâzım Özalp, Turkish general and politician, 3rd Turkish Minister of National Defence (b. 1880)
1975 – Larry Blyden, American actor (b. 1925)
1976 – J. Paul Getty, American businessman, founded the Getty Oil Company (b. 1892)
1979 – Jack Haley, American actor (b. 1897)
1980 – Ruth Aarons, American table tennis player and manager (b. 1918)
1982 – Kenneth Rexroth, American poet and academic (b. 1905)
1983 – Hans Leip, German author, poet, and playwright (b. 1893)
1984 – A. Bertram Chandler, English-Australian soldier and author (b. 1912)
1991 – Stan Getz, American saxophonist (b. 1927)
1994 – Barry Sullivan, American actor (b. 1912)
1996 – George Davis Snell, American geneticist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
1997 – Magda Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (b. 1915)
2000 – Frédéric Dard, French author and screenwriter (b. 1921)
2001 – Suzanne Schiffman, French screenwriter and director (b. 1939)
2003 – Ken Grimwood, American author (b. 1944)
2003 – Dave Rowberry, English singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1940)
2005 – Anne Bancroft, American actress (b. 1931)
2005 – Dana Elcar, American actor (b. 1927)
2006 – Arnold Newman, American photographer and educator (b. 1918)
2006 – Billy Preston, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (b. 1946)
2006 – Camille Sandorfy, Hungarian-Canadian chemist and academic (b. 1920)
2009 – Jean Dausset, French-Spanish immunologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
2009 – Jim Owens, American football player and coach (b. 1927)
2010 – Marvin Isley, American singer-songwriter and bass player (b. 1953)
2012 – Vladimir Krutov, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1960)
2012 – Manuel Preciado Rebolledo, Spanish footballer and coach (b. 1957)
2012 – Mykola Volosyanko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (b. 1972)
2013 – Jerome Karle, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
2013 – Eugen Merzbacher, German-American physicist and academic (b. 1921)
2013 – Tom Sharpe, English-Spanish author and academic (b. 1928)
2013 – Esther Williams, American swimmer and actress (b. 1921)
2014 – Ado Bayero, Nigerian politician and diplomat (b. 1930)
2014 – Eric Hill, English-American author and illustrator (b. 1927)
2014 – Lorna Wing, English psychiatrist and physician (b. 1928)
2015 – Pierre Brice, French actor (b. 1929)
2015 – Vincent Bugliosi, American lawyer and author (b. 1934)
2015 – Ronnie Gilbert, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
2015 – Ludvík Vaculík, Czech journalist and author (b. 1926)
2016 – Viktor Korchnoi, Russian chess player (b. 1931)
2016 – Peter Shaffer, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2018 – Ralph Santolla, American guitarist (b. 1969)

Holidays and observances on June 6

Christian feast day:
- Claude the Thaumaturge
- Gottschalk
- Ini Kopuria (Church of England, Episcopal Church, Anglican Church of Melanesia)
- Marcellin Champagnat
- Norbert of Xanten
- June 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Engineer’s Day (Taiwan)
Korean Children’s Union Foundation Day (North Korea)
Memorial Day (South Korea)
National Day, marks the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union. (Sweden)
National Huntington’s Disease Awareness Day (United States)
Normandy landings of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (D-Day), a.k.a. Operation Neptune, part of Operation Overlord (1944)
Queensland Day (Queensland)
Teachers’ Day (Bolivia)
UN Russian Language Day (United Nations)

June 6- History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

May 31- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day, Uncategorized / admin

455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome.
1223 – Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus’ and Cumans.
1293 – Mongol invasion of Java was a punitive expedition against King Kertanegara of Singhasari, who had refused to pay tribute to the Yuan and maimed one of its ministers. However, it ended with failure for the Mongols. Regarded as establish City of Surabaya
1578 – King Henry III lays the first stone of the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), the oldest bridge of Paris, France.
1669 – Citing poor eyesight as a reason, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
1775 – American Revolution: The Mecklenburg Resolves are adopted in the Province of North Carolina.
1790 – Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
1790 – The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.
1795 – French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed.
1805 – French and Spanish forces begin the assault against British forces occupying Diamond Rock.
1813 – In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth reach Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
1859 – The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.
1862 – American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston and G.W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside Richmond, Virginia.
1864 – American Civil War: Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: The Army of Northern Virginia engages the Army of the Potomac.
1879 – Gilmore’s Garden in New York City is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
1884 – The arrival at Plymouth of Tāwhiao, King of Maoris, to claim the protection of Queen Victoria.
1889 – Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam fails and sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
1902 – Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.
1909 – The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), convenes for the first time.
1910 – The South Africa Act comes into force, establishing the Union of South Africa.
1911 – The RMS Titanic is launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1911 – The President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz flees the country during the Mexican Revolution.
1916 – World War I: Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet engages the High Seas Fleet in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.
1921 – The Tulsa race massacre kills at least 39, but other estimates of black fatalities vary from 55 to about 300.
1935 – A 7.7 M_w  earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan killing 40,000.
1941 – Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns ‘Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II.
1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
1947 – Ferenc Nagy, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, resigns from office after blackmail from the Hungarian Communist Party accusing him of being part of a plot against the state. This grants the Communists effective control of the Hungarian government.
1961 – The South African Constitution of 1961 becomes effective, thus creating the Republic of South Africa, which remains outside the Commonwealth of Nations until 1 June 1994, when South Africa is returned to Commonwealth membership.
1961 – In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.
1962 – The West Indies Federation dissolves.
1970 – The 7.9 M_w  Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794–70,000 were killed and 50,000 were injured.
1971 – In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
1973 – The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
1977 – The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.
1985 – United States–Canada tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
1991 – Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations’ UNAVEM II mission.
2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was “Deep Throat”.
2008 – Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7 m/s) 9.72 seconds
2010 – Israeli Shayetet 13 commandos boarded the Gaza Freedom Flotilla while still in international waters trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip; nine Turkish citizens on the flotilla were killed in the ensuing violent affray.
2013 – The asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon make their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.
2013 – A record breaking 2.6 mile wide tornado strikes El Reno, Oklahoma, United States, causing eight fatalities and over 150 injuries.
2017 – A car bomb explodes in a crowded intersection in Kabul near the German embassy during rush hour, killing over 90 and injuring 463.
2017 – U.S. President Donald Trump tweets the word “covfefe” and quickly becomes a worldwide viral phenomenon.
2019 – A shooting occurs inside a municipal building at Virginia Beach, Virginia, leaving 13 people dead, including the shooter, and four others injured.

Births on May 31

1443 (or 1441) – Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (d. 1509)
1462 – Philipp II, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1504)
1469 – Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
1535 – Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
1556 – Jerzy Radziwiłł, Catholic cardinal (d. 1600)
1577 – Nur Jahan, Empress consort of the Mughal Empire (d. 1645)
1613 – John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)
1640 – Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (d. 1673)
1641 – Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem (d. 1707)
1725 – Ahilyabai Holkar, Queen of the Malwa Kingdom under the Maratha Empire (d. 1795)
1732 – Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian archbishop (d. 1812)
1753 – Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French lawyer and politician (d. 1793)
1754 – Andrea Appiani, Italian painter and educator (d. 1817)
1773 – Ludwig Tieck, German poet, author, and critic (d. 1853)
1801 – Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist and scholar (d. 1887)
1815 – Adye Douglas, English-Australian cricketer and politician, 15th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1906)
1818 – John Albion Andrew, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1867)
1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, and journalist (d. 1892)
1827 – Kusumoto Ine, first Japanese female doctor of Western medicine (d. 1903)
1835 – Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese commander (d. 1869)
1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English economist and philosopher (d. 1900)
1842 – John Cox Bray, Australian politician, 15th Premier of South Australia (d. 1894)
1847 – William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, Canadian-Irish businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of Belfast (d. 1924)
1852 – Francisco Moreno, Argentinian explorer and academic (d. 1919)
1852 – Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist, invented the Petri dish (d. 1921)
1857 – Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
1858 – Graham Wallas, English socialist, social psychologist, and educationalist (d. 1932)
1860 – Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
1863 – Francis Younghusband, Indian-English captain and explorer (d. 1942)
1866 – John Ringling, American entrepreneur; one of the founders of the Ringling Brothers Circus (d. 1936)
1875 – Rosa May Billinghurst, British suffragette and women’s rights activist (d.1953)
1879 – Frances Alda, New Zealand-Australian soprano (d. 1952)
1882 – Sándor Festetics, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of War (d. 1956)
1883 – Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician, 2nd President of Finland (d. 1942)
1885 – Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia (d. 1967)
1887 – Saint-John Perse, French poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
1892 – Michel Kikoine, Belarusian-French painter (d. 1968)
1892 – Erich Neumann, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1951)
1892 – Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian poet and author (d. 1968)
1892 – Gregor Strasser, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1934)
1894 – Fred Allen, American comedian, radio host, game show panelist, and author (d. 1956)
1898 – Norman Vincent Peale, American minister and author (d. 1993)
1900 – Lucile Godbold, American Olympic athlete (d. 1981)
1901 – Alfredo Antonini, Italian-American conductor and composer (d. 1983)
1908 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
1909 – Art Coulter, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2000)
1911 – Maurice Allais, French economist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
1912 – Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American experimental physicist (d. 1997)
1914 – Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer and educator (d. 2006)
1916 – Bert Haanstra, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1918 – Robert Osterloh, American actor (d. 2001)
1918 – Lloyd Quarterman, African American chemist (d. 1982)
1919 – Robie Macauley, American editor, novelist and critic (d. 1995)
1921 – Edna Doré, English actress (d. 2014)
1921 – Andrew Grima, Anglo-Italian jewellery designer (d. 2007)
1921 – Howard Reig, American radio and television announcer (d. 2008)
1921 – Alida Valli, Austrian-Italian actress and singer (d. 2006)
1922 – Denholm Elliott, English-Spanish actor (d. 1992)
1923 – Ellsworth Kelly, American painter and sculptor (d. 2015)
1923 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (d. 2005)
1925 – Julian Beck, American actor and director (d. 1986)
1927 – James Eberle, English admiral (d. 2018)
1927 – Michael Sandberg, Baron Sandberg, English lieutenant and banker (d. 2017)
1928 – Pankaj Roy, Indian cricketer (d. 2001)
1929 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director and producer (d. 2014)
1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, musician, and producer
1931 – John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019)
1931 – Shirley Verrett, American soprano and actress (d. 2010)
1932 – Ed Lincoln, Brazilian pianist, bassist, and composer (d. 2012)
1932 – Jay Miner, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 1994)
1933 – Henry B. Eyring, American religious leader, educator, and author
1934 – Jim Hutton, American actor (d. 1979)
1935 – Jim Bolger, New Zealand businessman and politician, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
1938 – Johnny Paycheck, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1938 – John Prescott, British sailor and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1938 – Peter Yarrow, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1939 – Terry Waite, English humanitarian and author
1940 – Anatoliy Bondarchuk, Ukrainian hammer thrower and coach
1940 – Augie Meyers, American musician and singer-songwriter
1940 – Gilbert Shelton, American illustrator
1941 – June Clark, Welsh nurse and educator
1941 – Louis Ignarro, American pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 – William Nordhaus, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1943 – Sharon Gless, American actress
1943 – Joe Namath, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
1945 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1945 – Laurent Gbagbo, Ivorian academic and politician, 4th President of Côte d’Ivoire
1945 – Bernard Goldberg, American journalist and author
1946 – Ted Baehr, American publisher and critic
1946 – Steve Bucknor, Jamaican cricketer and umpire
1946 – Krista Kilvet, Estonian journalist, politician, and diplomat (d. 2009)
1946 – Debbie Moore, English model and businesswoman
1947 – Junior Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1947 – Gabriele Hinzmann, German discus thrower
1948 – Svetlana Alexievich, Belarusian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate
1948 – John Bonham, English musician, songwriter and drummer (d. 1980)
1948 – Martin Hannett, English bass player, guitarist, and record producer (d. 1991)
1948 – Duncan Hunter, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician
1949 – Tom Berenger, American actor, film producer and television writer
1950 – Jean Chalopin, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded DIC Entertainment
1950 – Gregory Harrison, American actor
1950 – Edgar Savisaar, Estonian politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior
1951 – Karl-Hans Riehm, German hammer thrower
1952 – Karl Bartos, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1953 – Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Finnish actor and screenwriter
1954 – Thomas Mavros, Greek footballer
1954 – Vicki Sue Robinson, American actress and singer (d. 2000)
1955 – Tommy Emmanuel, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Susie Essman, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter
1956 – Fritz Hilpert, German drummer and composer
1956 – John Young, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1957 – Jim Craig, American ice hockey player
1959 – Andrea de Cesaris, Italian racing driver (d. 2014)
1959 – Phil Wilson, English politician
1960 – Greg Adams, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman
1960 – Chris Elliott, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
1960 – Peter Winterbottom, English rugby player
1961 – Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 – Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician
1961 – Lea Thompson, American actress, director, and producer
1962 – Corey Hart, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
1963 – David Leigh, holder of the Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry at the University of Manchester
1963 – Viktor Orbán, Hungarian politician, 38th Prime Minister of Hungary
1963 – Wesley Willis, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (d. 2003)
1964 – Leonard Asper, Canadian lawyer and businessman
1964 – Stéphane Caristan, French hurdler and coach
1964 – Yukio Edano, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs
1964 – Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels, American rapper and producer
1965 – Brooke Shields, American model, actress, and producer
1966 – Roshan Mahanama, Sri Lankan cricketer and referee
1967 – Phil Keoghan, New Zealand television host and producer
1967 – Kenny Lofton, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
1971 – Arun Luthra, Indo-Anglo-American saxophonist, konnakol artist, composer, and arranger
1972 – Christian McBride, American bassist and record producer
1972 – Archie Panjabi, Indo-British actress
1972 – Frode Estil, Norwegian skier
1972 – Antti Niemi, Finnish international footballer, goalkeeper and coach
1972 – Dave Roberts, American baseball player and coach
1974 – Hiroiki Ariyoshi, Japanese comedian and singer
1974 – Chad Campbell, American golfer
1975 – Mac Suzuki, Japanese baseball player
1976 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor
1976 – Matt Harpring, American basketball player and sportscaster
1977 – Theodoros Baev, Bulgarian-Greek volleyball player
1977 – Domenico Fioravanti, Italian swimmer
1977 – Eric Christian Olsen, American actor
1977 – Moses Sichone, Zambian footballer
1977 – Petr Tenkrát, Czech ice hockey player
1979 – Jean-François Gillet, Belgian footballer
1981 – Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer
1981 – Daniele Bonera, Italian footballer
1981 – Jake Peavy, American baseball player
1981 – Marlies Schild, Austrian skier
1984 – Andrew Bailey, American baseball player
1984 – Milorad Čavić, Serbian swimmer
1984 – Nate Robinson, American basketball player
1985 – Jordy Nelson, American football player
1986 – Robert Gesink, Dutch cyclist
1989 – Marco Reus, German footballer
1990 – Erik Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player
1992 – Michaël Bournival, Canadian ice hockey player
1992 – Laura Ikauniece, Latvian heptathlete
1996 – Normani Korde, American singer
1998 – Santino Ferrucci, American race car driver

Deaths on May 31

455 – Petronius Maximus, Roman emperor (b. 396)
930 – Liu Hua, princess of Southern Han (b. 896)
960 – Fujiwara no Morosuke, Japanese statesman (b. 909)
1076 – Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, English politician (b. 1050)
1089 – Sigwin von Are, archbishop of Cologne
1162 – Géza II, king of Hungary (b. 1130)
1321 – Birger, king of Sweden (b. 1280)
1326 – Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley (b. 1271)
1329 – Albertino Mussato, Italian statesman and writer (b. 1261)
1349 – Thomas Wake, English politician (b. 1297)
1370 – Vitalis of Assisi, Italian hermit and monk (b. 1295)
1408 – Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1358)
1410 – Martin of Aragon, Spanish king (b. 1356)
1504 – Engelbert II of Nassau (b. 1451)
1558 – Philip Hoby, English general and diplomat (b. 1505)
1567 – Guido de Bres, Belgian pastor and theologian (b. 1522)
1594 – Tintoretto, Italian painter and educator (b. 1518)
1601 – Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne (b. 1547)
1640 – Zeynab Begum, Safavid princess (date of birth unknown)
1665 – Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, Dutch painter (b. 1597)
1680 – Joachim Neander, German theologian and educator (b. 1650)
1740 – Frederick William I of Prussia (b. 1688)
1747 – Andrey Osterman, German-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1686)
1809 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian pianist and composer (b. 1732)
1809 – Jean Lannes, French general (b. 1769)
1831 – Samuel Bentham, English architect and engineer (b. 1757)
1832 – Évariste Galois, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1811)
1837 – Joseph Grimaldi, English actor, comedian and dancer, (b. 1779)
1846 – Philip Marheineke, German pastor and philosopher (b. 1780)
1847 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister and economist (b. 1780)
1848 – Eugénie de Guérin, French author (b. 1805)
1899 – Stefanos Koumanoudis, Greek archaeologist, teacher and writer (b. 1818)
1908 – Louis-Honoré Fréchette, Canadian author, poet, and politician (b. 1839)
1909 – Thomas Price, Welsh-Australian politician, 24th Premier of South Australia (b. 1852)
1910 – Elizabeth Blackwell, English-American physician and educator (b. 1821)
1931 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (b. 1866)
1931 – Willy Stöwer, German author and illustrator (b. 1864)
1945 – Odilo Globocnik, Italian-Austrian SS officer (b. 1904)
1954 – Antonis Benakis, Greek art collector and philanthropist, founded the Benaki Museum (b. 1873)
1957 – Stefanos Sarafis, Greek general and politician (b. 1890)
1957 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet and academic (b. 1878)
1960 – Willem Elsschot, Flemish author and poet (b. 1882)
1960 – Walther Funk, German economist, journalist, and politician, German Minister of Economics (b. 1890)
1962 – Henry F. Ashurst, American lawyer and politician (b. 1874)
1967 – Billy Strayhorn, American pianist and composer (b. 1915)
1970 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1929)
1976 – Jacques Monod, French biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
1977 – William Castle, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1914)
1978 – József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1925)
1981 – Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, English economist and journalist (b. 1914)
1982 – Carlo Mauri, Italian mountaineer and explorer (b. 1930)
1983 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer and lieutenant (b. 1895)
1985 – Gaston Rébuffat, French mountaineer and author (b. 1921)
1986 – Jane Frank, American painter and sculptor (b. 1918)
1986 – James Rainwater, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
1987 – John Abraham, Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
1989 – Owen Lattimore, American author and academic (b. 1900)
1989 – C. L. R. James, Trinidadian journalist and historian (b. 1901)
1993 – Honey Tree Evil Eye, or, Spud Mackenzie, a Bull Terrier, dies of kidney failure.
1994 – Uzay Heparı, Turkish actor, producer, and composer (b. 1969)
1994 – Herva Nelli, Italian-American soprano (b. 1909)
1995 – Stanley Elkin, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1930)
1996 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (b. 1920)
1998 – Charles Van Acker, Belgian-American race car driver (b. 1912)
2000 – Petar Mladenov, Bulgarian diplomat, 1st President of Bulgaria (b. 1936)
2000 – Tito Puente, American jazz musician (b. 1923)
2000 – A. Jeyaratnam Wilson, Sri Lankan historian, author, and academic (b. 1928)
2001 – Arlene Francis, American actress, talk show host, game show panelist, and television personality (b. 1907)
2002 – Subhash Gupte, Indian cricketer (b. 1929)
2004 – Aiyathurai Nadesan, Sri Lankan journalist (b. 1954)
2004 – Robert Quine, American guitarist (b. 1941)
2004 – Étienne Roda-Gil, French screenwriter and composer (b. 1941)
2006 – Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Spanish sculptor (b. 1933)
2006 – Raymond Davis, Jr., American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
2009 – Danny La Rue, Irish-British drag queen performer and singer (b. 1927)
2009 – George Tiller, American physician (b. 1941)
2010 – Louise Bourgeois, French-American sculptor and painter (b. 1911)
2010 – Brian Duffy, English photographer and producer (b. 1933)
2010 – William A. Fraker, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1923)
2010 – Rubén Juárez, Argentinian singer-songwriter and bandoneón player (b. 1947)
2010 – Merata Mita, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
2011 – Pauline Betz, American tennis player (b. 1919)
2011 – Jonas Bevacqua, American fashion designer, co-founded the Lifted Research Group (b. 1977)
2011 – Derek Hodge, Virgin Islander lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (b. 1941)
2011 – Hans Keilson, German-Dutch psychoanalyst and author (b. 1909)
2011 – John Martin, English admiral and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey (b. 1918)
2011 – Andy Robustelli, American football player and manager (b. 1925)
2012 – Christopher Challis, English cinematographer (b. 1919)
2012 – Randall B. Kester, American lawyer and judge (b. 1916)
2012 – Paul Pietsch, German racing driver and publisher (b. 1911)
2012 – Orlando Woolridge, American basketball player and coach (b. 1959)
2013 – Gerald E. Brown, American physicist and academic (b. 1926)
2013 – Frederic Lindsay, Scottish author and educator (b. 1933)
2013 – Miguel Méndez, American author and poet (b. 1930)
2013 – Tim Samaras, American engineer and storm chaser (b. 1957)
2013 – Jairo Mora Sandoval, Costa Rican environmentalist (b. 1987)
2013 – Jean Stapleton, American actress (b. 1923)
2014 – Marilyn Beck, American journalist (b. 1928)
2014 – Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer and coach (b. 1952)
2014 – Hoss Ellington, American race car driver (b. 1935)
2014 – Martha Hyer, American actress (b. 1924)
2014 – Lewis Katz, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1942)
2014 – Mary Soames, Baroness Soames, English author (b. 1922)
2015 – Gladys Taylor, Canadian author and publisher (b. 1917)
2016 – Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (1976–2016) (b. 1947)
2016 – Jan Crouch, American televangelist, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (b. 1938)
2016 – Carla Lane, English television writer (b. 1928)
2016 – Rupert Neudeck, German journalist and humanitarian (b. 1939)

Holidays and observances on May 31

Anniversary of Royal Brunei Malay Regiment (Brunei)
Christian feast day:
- Camilla Battista da Varano
- Hermias
- Petronella
- Visitation of Mary (Western Christianity)
- May 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
The beginning of Gawai Dayak (Dayaks in Sarawak, Malaysia and West Kalimantan, Indonesia)
World No Tobacco Day (International)

May 31- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day, Uncategorized