June 30th in History

1559 - King Henry II of France is mortally wounded in a jousting match against Gabriel de Montgomery.

1688 - The Immortal Seven issue the Invitation to William (continuing the English rebellion from Rome), which would culminate in the Glorious Revolution.

1882 - Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C. for the assassination of US President James Garfield.

1905 - Albert Einstein publishes the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduces special relativity.

1917 - World War I: Greece declares war on the Central Powers.

1934 - The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler's violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, takes place.

1937 - The world's first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London

1960 - Congo gains independence from Belgium.

1966 - The National Organization for Women, the United States' largest feminist organization, is founded

1977 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.

1990 - East Germany and West Germany merge their economies.

1997 - The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.

Famous Birthdays

1470 - Charles VIII of France

1503 - John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony

1890 - Paul Boffa, 5th Prime Minister of Malta

1919 - Ed Yost, inventor, invented the hot air balloon

1943 - Florence Ballard, singer

1954 - Serzh Sargsyan, 3rd President of Armenia

1966 - Mike Tyson, boxer and actor

1979 - Rick Gonzalez, actor

1983 - Cheryl Cole, singer-songwriter, dancer, and model

1985 - Michael Phelps, swimmer

1989 - David Myers, footballer

June 29th in History

1509 - Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby dies

1613 - The Globe Theatre in London, England burns to the ground.

1644 - Charles I of England defeats a Parliamentarian detachment at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge, the last battle won by an English King on English soil.

1807 - Russo-Turkish War: Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos.

1850 - Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece.

1880 - France annexes Tahiti.

1881 - In Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad declares himself to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer of Islam.

1914 - Jina Guseva attempts to assassinate Grigori Rasputin at his home town in Siberia.

1916 - The Irish Nationalist and British diplomat Sir Roger Casement is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising.

1974 - Isabel Perón is sworn in as the first female President of Argentina. Her husband, President Juan Peron, had delegated responsibility due to weak health and died two days later.

1976 - The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom.

2007 - Apple Inc. releases their first mobile phone, the iPhone.

Famous Birthdays

1398 - John II of Aragon

1482 - Maria of Aragon, Queen consort of Portugal

1793 - Josef Ressel, inventor, invented the propeller

1849 - Pedro Montt, 15th President of Chile

1868 - George Ellery Hale, astronomer

1892 - Henry Gerber, gay rights pioneer

1911 - Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld

1920 - Nicole Russell, Duchess of Bedford

1925 - Giorgio Napolitano, 11th President of Italy, The longest serving President in the history of the Italian Republic.

1931 - Ed Gilbert, actor

1957 - Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, 2nd President of Turkmenistan

1961 - Kimberlin Brown, actress

1969 - Ilan Mitchell-Smith, actor

1978 - Nicole Scherzinger, singer, dancer, and actress

1980 - Katherine Jenkins, soprano

1986 - José Manuel Jurado, footballer

1993 - George Sampson, actor and dancer

June 28th in History

1461 - Edward IV is crowned King of England.

1519 - Charles V is elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

1635 - Guadeloupe becomes a French colony.

1745 - War of the Austrian Succession: A New England colonial army captures Louisbourg, New France, after a forty-seven-day siege (New Style).

1776 - The Battle of Sullivan's Island ends with the first decisive American victory in the American Revolutionary War leading to the commemoration of Carolina Day.

1838 - Coronation of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

1881 - Secret treaty between Austria and Serbia.

1894 - Labor Day becomes an official US holiday.

1895 - El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua form the Greater Republic of Central America.

1914 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife  Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg are assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I.

1919 - The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, bringing fighting to an end in between Germany and the Allies of World War I.

1922 - The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces.

1940 - Romania cedes Bessarabia (current-day Moldova) to the Soviet Union.

1950 - Korean War: Seoul is captured by North Korean troops.

1964 - Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

1967 - Israel annexes East Jerusalem.

1973 - Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which will lead to power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland for the first time.

1989 - On the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, Slobodan Milošević delivers the Gazimestan speech at the site of the historic battle.

1992 - The Constitution of Estonia is signed into law.

1996 - The Constitution of Ukraine is signed into law.

2009 - Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is ousted by a local military coup following a failed request to hold a referendum to rewrite the Honduran Constitution. This was the start of the 2009 Honduran political crisis.

Famous Birthdays

1476 - Pope Paul IV

1491 - Henry VIII of England

1703 - John Wesley,founder of Methodism

1883 - Pierre Laval, 101st Prime Minister of France

1922 - Michael Vale, actor

1930 - Itamar Franco, 33rd President of Brazil

1957 - Georgi Parvanov, 4th President of Bulgaria

1966 - Mary Stuart Masterson, actress

1971 - Aileen Quinn, actress

1977 - Mark Stoermer, singer-songwriter, musician, and producer

1989 - Nicole Rottmann, tennis player

1990 - Nick Purcell, actor

1994 - HRH Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah of Jordan

June 27th in History

1358 - Republic of Dubrovnik or The Republic of Ragusa is founded

1743 - War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Dettingen: On the battlefield in Bavaria, George II personally leads troops into battle. The last time that a British monarch would command troops in the field.

1759 - General James Wolfe begins the siege of Quebec.

1806 - British forces take Buenos Aires during the first British invasions of the Río de la Plata.

1844 - Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are murdered by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail.

1898 - The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia.

1941 - Romanian governmental forces, allies of Nazi Germany, launch one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history in the city of Iaşi, (Romania), resulting in the murder of at least 13,266 Jews.

1950 - The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War.

1954 - The world's first nuclear power station opens in Obninsk, near Moscow.

1973 - The President of Uruguay Juan María Bordaberry dissolves Parliament and establishes a dictatorship.

1977 - France grants independence to Djibouti.

1991 - Slovenia, after declaring independence two days before is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft starting the Ten-Day War.

2007 - Tony Blair, British Prime Minister since 2nd May 1997, resigns

2008 - In a highly-scrutizined election President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is re-elected in a landslide after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a week earlier, citing violence against his party's supporters.

Famous Birthdays

1040 - Ladislaus I of Hungary

1350 - Manuel II Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor

1462 - Louis XII of France

1846 - Charles Stewart Parnell, politician, land reform agitator, founder of the Irish Parliamentary Party

1899 - Juan Trippe, businessman, Pan American World Airways

1942 - Bruce Johnston, singer-songwriter and musician

1951 - Mary McAleese, 8th President of Ireland

1971 - Yancey Arias, actor

1981 - John Driscoll, actor

1986 - Drake Bell, singer-songwriter, musician, and actor

1991 - Madylin Sweeten, actress

June 26th in History

363 - Roman Emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire. General Jovian is proclaimed Emperor by the troops on the battlefield.

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.

1718 - Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia, Peter the Great's son, mysteriously dies after being sentenced to death by his father for plotting against him.

1784 - Caesar Rodney, lawyer and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence dies

1830 - George IV of the United Kingdom dies

1848 - End of the June Days Uprising in Paris.

1917 - The first US troops arrive in France to fight alongside Britain and France against Germany in World War I.

1945 - The United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco.

1960 - The former British Protectorate of British Somaliland gains its independence as Somaliland.

1960 - Madagascar gains its independence from France.

1963 - US 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.

1963 - US President John F. Kennedy begins a state visit to Ireland. He is the first US incumbent to visit Ireland.

1991 - Ten Day War: the Yugoslav people's army begins the Ten-Day War in Slovenia.

1996 - Irish Journalist Veronica Guerin is shot in her car while in traffic in the outskirts of Dublin

2006 - Mari Alkatiri, the first Prime Minister of East Timor, resigns after weeks of political unrest.

2013 - Kevin Rudd ousts Prime Minister Julia Gillard as leader of Australia's Labor Party.

Famous Birthdays

1575 - Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, Queen consort of Denmark

1582 - Johannes Schultz, composer

1824 - William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, physicist and engineer

1880 - Natalia Brassova, Countess Brasova

1899 - Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, third daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

1922 - Eleanor Parker, actress

1943 - Warren Farrell, author

1959 - Mark McKinney, actor

1969 - Colin Greenwood, musician and composer

1973 - Parry Shen, actor

1980 - Jason Schwartzman, actor

1991 - Diego Falcinelli, footballer

2005 - HRH Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, 2nd in line to the Dutch throne.

June 25th in History

253 - St. Pope Cornelius is beheaded at Centumcellae.

1533 - Mary Tudor, Queen consort of France dies

1658 - Spanish forces fail to retake Jamaica at the Battle of Rio Nuevo during the Anglo-Spanish War.

1741 - Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Hungary.

1788 - Virginia becomes the 10th state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1938 - Dr. Douglas Hyde is inaugurated as the First President of Ireland.

1940 - World War II: France officially surrenders to Germany at 01:35.

1943 - The Holocaust: Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis.

1947 - The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is published.

1950 - The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.

1975 - Mozambique achieves independence.

1991 - Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia.

1993 - Kim Campbell is chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and becomes the first female Prime Minister of Canada.

2012 - The final steel beam of 4 World Trade Center is lifted into place in a ceremony.

Famous Birthdays

1242 - Princess Beatrice of England

1852 - Antoni Gaudí, architect

1900 - Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, statesman and naval officer

1931 - V. P. Singh, 7th Prime Minister of India

1933 - James Meredith, civil rights activist and writer

1947 - Jimmie Walker, actor

1956 - Boris Trajkovski, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia 

1963 - George Michael, singer-songwriter, musician, producer, and actor

1979 - Busy Philipps, actress

1987 - Scott Terra, actor

1991 - Anna Zaja, tennis player

June 24th in History

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 Dalriada. It is claimed to be largest battle in the history of Ireland.

1314 - First War of Scottish Independence: the Battle of Bannockburn concludes with a decisive victory by Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce, though England did not recognize Scottish independence until 1328 with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton.

1340 - Hundred Years' War: Battle of Sluys – The French fleet is almost destroyed by the English Fleet commanded in person by King Edward III.

1398 - Hongwu Emperor of China, founder of the Ming Dynasty dies

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.

1622 - Battle of Macau: The Dutch attempt but fail to capture Macau.

1793 - The first Republican constitution in France is adopted.

1803 - Matthew Thornton, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence dies

1812 - Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon's Grande Armée crosses the Neman River beginning the invasion of Russia.

1880 - First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada, at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français.

1913 - Greece and Serbia annul their alliance with Bulgaria.

1916 - World War I: the Battle of the Somme begins with a week-long artillery bombardment on the German Line.

1939 - Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Pibulsonggram, the country's third prime minister.

1963 - The United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government.

2010 - John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, in the longest match in professional tennis history.

2012 - The last known individual of Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii, a subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise, dies.

Famous Birthdays

1244 - Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse

1314 - Philippa of Hainault, Queen consort of Edward III of England

1343 - Joan of Valois, Queen consort of Navarre

1386 - St. John of Capistrano, saint

1542 - St. John of the Cross, O.C.D. saint

1825 - Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia

1869 - Prince George of Greece and Denmark

1893 - Roy O. Disney, businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company

1931 - Billy Casper, golfer

1947 -Peter Weller, actor

1967 - Scott Oden, writer

1975 - Carla Gallo, actress

1985 - Diego Alves Carreira, footballer

1987 - Simona Dobrá, tennis player

1992 - David Alaba, footballer

June 23rd in History

79 - Vespasian, Roman Emperor dies

1018 - Henry I, Margrave of Austria dies

1532 - Henry VIII and François I sign a secret treaty against Emperor Charles V.

1683 - William Penn signs a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.

1760 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Landeshut – Austria defeats Prussia.

1794 - Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kiev.

1848 - Beginning of the June Days Uprising in Paris, France.

1894 - The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

1913 - Second Balkan War: The Greeks defeat the Bulgarians in the Battle of Doiran.

1919 - Estonian War of Independence: the decisive defeat of the Baltische Landeswehr in the Battle of Cesis. This day is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.

1940 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.

1941 - The Lithuanian Activist Front declares independence from the Soviet Union and forms the Provisional Government of Lithuania; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis will occupy Lithuania a few weeks later.

1956 - The French National Assembly takes the first step in creating the French Community by passing the Loi Cadre, transferring a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa.

1961 - Cold War: the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent, comes into force after the opening date for signature set for the December 1st, 1959

1972 - Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.

1972 - Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination to any educational program receiving federal funds.

2012 - Ashton Eaton breaks the decathlon world record at the United States Olympic Trials.

Famous Birthdays

47 BC - Caesarion, son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra

1373 - Joanna II of Naples

1456 - Margaret of Denmark, Queen consort of Scotland

1703 - Marie Leszczyńska, Queen consort of France and Navarre, wife of Louis XV of France

1763 - Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empress consort of the French, first wife of Napoleon I

1894 - Edward VIII of the United Kingdom  (after abdication The Duke of Windsor)

1912 - Alan Turing, mathematician

1936 - Costas Simitis, 180th Prime Minister of Greece

1940 - Stuart Sutcliffe, singer and bassist

1948 - Darhyl S. Ramsey, author

1965 - Paul Arthurs, musician

1975 - Jeffrey Carlson, actor

1976 - Emmanuelle Vaugier, actress

1980 - Francesca Schiavone, tennis player

1989 - Marielle Jaffe, model and actress

1991 - Katie Armiger, singer

June 22nd in History

1276 - Blessed Pope Innocent V dies

1593 - Battle of Sisak: Allied Christian troops defeat the Turks.

1622 - Portuguese forces repel a Dutch invasion at the Battle of Macau during the Dutch–Portuguese War.

1633 - The Holy Office (The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)  in Rome forces Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the centre of the Universe in the form he presented it in, after heated controversy.

1825 - The British Parliament abolishes feudalism and the seigneurial system in British North America.

1898 - Spanish–American War: United States Marines land in Cuba.

1906 - The flag of Sweden is adopted.

1911 - George V and Mary of Teck are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1941 - Germany invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.

1941 - The June Uprising in Lithuania begins.

1978 - Charon, a satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto, is discovered by American astronomer James W. Christy.

2012 - Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo is removed from office by impeachment and succeeded by Federico Franco.

Famous Birthdays

916 - Sayf al-Dawla, Emir of Aleppo

1757 - George Vancouver, navy officer and explorer

1763 - Étienne Méhul, composer

1845 - Richard Seddon, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand

1909 - Mike Todd, film and theater producer, 3rd husband of Elizabeth Taylor

1912 - Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

1941 - Michael Lerner, actor

1947 - Howard Kaylan, singer

1949 - Alan Osmond, singer

1949 - Meryl Streep, actress

1958 - Bruce Campbell, actor

1964 - Dan Brown, author

1982 - Soraia Chaves, actress and model

1987 - Cory Gunz, rapper and songwriter

June 21st in History

On non-leap years (until 2039), this day marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, and is the day of the year with the most hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere and the least hours of daylight in the southern hemisphere.

1529 - French forces are driven out of northern Italy by Spain at the Battle of Landriano during the War of the League of Cognac.

1791 - King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution.

1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798: The British Army defeats Irish rebels at the Battle of Vinegar Hill.

1813 - Peninsular War: Battle of Vitoria.

1824 - Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea.

1877 - The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants convicted of murder, are hanged at the Schuylkill County and Carbon County, Pennsylvania prisons.

1898 - The United States captures Guam from Spain.

1900 - Boxer Rebellion. China formally declared war on the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan, as an edict issued from the Dowager Empress Cixi.

1930 - One-year conscription comes into force in France.

1942 - World War II: Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces.

1957 - Ellen Fairclough is sworn in as Canada's first woman Cabinet Minister.

1963 - Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini is elected as Pope Paul VI.

2006 - Pluto's newly discovered moons are officially named Nix & Hydra.

2009 - Greenland assumes self-rule.

Famous Birthdays

1002 - St. Pope Leo IX

1226 - Boleslaus V of Poland

1528 - Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

1788 - Princess Augusta of Bavaria

1850 - Daniel Carter Beard, illustrator and author, founder of the Boy Scouts of America

1921 - Jane Russell, actress

1925 - Maureen Stapleton, actress

1944 - Ray Davies, singer-songwriter and musician

1950 - Joey Kramer, drummer and songwriter

1953 - Michael Bowen, actor

1967 - Pierre Omidyar, businessman, founded eBay

1981 - Brandon Flowers, singer-songwriter and musician

1982 - HRH Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, 2nd in the line to the thrones of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms

1987 - Dale Thomas, footballer

1989 - Jascha Washington, actor

1997 - Rebecca Black, singer, dancer, and actress

June 20th in History

In the Northern Hemisphere, meteorological Summer begins on 20th June. In the Southern Hemisphere, meteorological Winter begins on this date.

537 - St. Pope Silverius dies

1214 - The University of Oxford receives its charter.

1605 - After only three months as Tsar, 16 year old Feodor II of Russia is assassinated.

1631 - The sack of Baltimore: the Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates.

1685 - Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.

1782 - The US Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.

1789 - Deputies of the French Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath.

1837 - Queen Victoria ascends to the British throne.

1863 - American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th US state.

1900 - Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China.

1940 - World War II: Italy begins an unsuccessful invasion of France.

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.

1960 - The Mali Federation gains independence from France (it later splits into Mali and Senegal).

1963 - The so-called "red telephone" is established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.

1982 - The Argentine base (Corbeta Uruguay) on Southern Thule surrenders to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War.

1991 - The German Bundestag votes to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin.

2003 - The WikiMedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Famous Birthdays

1005 - Ali az-Zahir, Caliph

1469 - Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan

1647 - John George III, Elector of Saxony

1754 -Princess Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt

1872 - George Carpenter, 5th General of The Salvation Army

1928 - Martin Landau, actor

1942 - Brian Wilson, singer-songwriter, musician, and producer

1946 - Xanana Gusmão, 1st President of East Timor

1954 - Michael Anthony, singer and musician

1960 - John Taylor, musician, songwriter, producer, and actor

1970 - HRH Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco, 2nd in line to the Moroccan throne.

1979 - Charles Howell III, golfer

1986 - Dreama Walker, actress

1989 - Javier Pastore, footballer

June 19th in History

1027 - St. Romuald dies

1269 - King Louis IX of France orders all Jews found in public without an identifying yellow badge to be fined ten livres of silver.

1306 - The Earl of Pembroke's army defeats Bruce's Scottish army at the Battle of Methven.

1770 - Emanuel Swedenborg reports the completion of the Second Coming of Christ in his work True Christian Religion.

1867 - Maximilian I of the Second Mexican Empire is executed by a firing squad in Querétaro, Querétaro.

1875 - The Herzegovinian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire begins.

1944 - World War II: First day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

1953 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing, in New York.

1961 - Kuwait declares independence from the United Kingdom.

1978 - Garfield, holder of the Guinness World Record for the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, makes its début.

1990 - The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is founded in Moscow.

1991 - The Soviet occupation of Hungary ends.

2009 - Mass riots involving over 10,000 people and 10,000 police officers break out in Shishou, China, over the dubious circumstances surrounding the death of a local chef.

2009 - War in North-West Pakistan: The Pakistani Armed Forces open Operation Rah-e-Nijat against the Taliban and other Islamist rebels in the South Waziristan area of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Famous Birthdays

1301 - Prince Morikuni of Japan

1566 - King James VI of Scotland and James I of England and Ireland

1701 - François Rebel, composer

1896 - Wallis Simpson (later Duchess of Windsor) wife of Edward VIII (abdicated and became the Duke of Windsor)

1907 - Clarence Wiseman, 10th General of the Salvation Army

1938 - Ian Smith, Australian actor

1941 - Václav Klaus, 2nd President of the Czech Republic

1959 - Christian Wulff,President of Germany

1962 - Jeremy Bates, tennis player

1972 - Robin Tunney, actress

1976 - Dennis Crowley, businessman, co-founded Foursquare

1982 - Michael Yarmush, actor

1983 - Ben Haggerty, "Macklemore", Rapper

1991 - Michael McShae, actor

June 18th in History

1178 - Five Canterbury monks see what is possibly the Giordano Bruno crater being formed. It is believed that the current oscillations of the Moon's distance from the Earth (on the order of meters) are a result of this collision.

1264 - The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature.

1429 - French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay. This turns the tide of the Hundred Years' War.

1778 - American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1812 - War of 1812: The U.S. Congress declares war on the United Kingdom.

1815 - Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher forcing him to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time.

1830 - French invasion of Algeria.

1873 - Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.

1928 - Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she is a passenger; Wilmer Stultz is the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic).

1940 - "Finest Hour" speech by Winston Churchill.

1953 - The Egyptian Revolution of 1952 ends with the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty and the declaration of the Republic of Egypt.

1979 - SALT II is signed by the United States and the Soviet Union.

1994 - The Troubles: the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) open fire inside a pub in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, killing six civilians and wounding five.

2012 - HRH Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is appointed Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

Famous Birthdays

1269 - Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar, eldest surviving daughter of Edward I of England and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile.

1318 - Eleanor of Woodstock, Countess of Guelders

1517 - Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan

1769 - Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, politician

1901 - Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

1914 - E.G. Marshall, actor

1931 - Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 34th President of Brazil

1936 - Ronald Venetiaan, President of Suriname

1942 - Thabo Mbeki, 23rd President of South Africa

1949 - Lech Kaczyński, 4th President of Poland

1952 - Isabella Rossellini, actress

1963 - Dizzy Reed, musician, composer, and actor

1971 - Nathan Morris, singer

1980 - David Giuntoli, actor

1985 - Gia Johnson, fashion model

1991 - Willa Holland, actress

2006 - Freule/Lady Countess Zaria of Orange-Nassau, Jonkvrouwe van Amsberg

June 17th in History

1579 - Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.

1631 - Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan I, will spend the next 17 years building her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.

1839 - In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are established as a result.

1861 - Battle of Vienna, Virginia in the American Civil War.

1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.

1940 - World War II: the British Army's 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya, Africa from Italian forces.

1940 - The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union.

1944 - Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic.

1963 - A day after South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem announced the Joint Communique to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed.

1971 - President Richard Nixon declares the US War on Drugs.

1972 - Watergate scandal: five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wire-tap the opposition.

1991 - Apartheid: the South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.

1994 - Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O.J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Famous Birthdays

1239 - Edward I of England

1603 - St. Joseph of Cupertino O.F.M. Conv., mystic and saint.

1682 - Charles XII of Sweden

1742 - William Hooper, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence

1882 - Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

1903 - Ruth Graves Wakefield, cook and businesswoman, invented the Chocolate chip cookie

1932 - Peter Lupus, actor

1945 - Ken Livingstone, 1st Mayor of London

1949 - Snakefinger, singer-songwriter and musician

1957 - Phil Chevron, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and composer

1966 - Jason Patric, actor

1980 - Venus Williams, tennis player

1983 - Lee Ryan, singer-songwriter and actor

1988 - Drew Ryan Scott, singer-songwriter and producer

June 16th in History

1487 - Battle of Stoke Field, the final engagement of the Wars of the Roses.

1586 - Mary, Queen of Scots, recognizes Philip II of Spain as her heir and successor.

1745 - British troops take Cape Breton Island, which is now part of Nova Scotia, Canada.

1745 - War of the Austrian Succession: New England colonial troops under the command of William Pepperell capture the French Fortress of Louisbourg in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia (Old Style).

1746 - War of Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeat a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza.

1779 - Spain declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Great Siege of Gibraltar begins.

1846 - The Papal conclave of 1846 concludes. Blessed Pope Pius IX is elected Pope beginning the longest reign in the history of the papacy.

1897 - A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later.

1903 - The Ford Motor Company is incorporated.

1904 - Irish author James Joyce begins a relationship with Nora Barnacle and subsequently uses the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses; this date is now traditionally called "Bloomsday".

1940 - World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Chief of State of Vichy France (Chef de l'État Français).

1958 - Imre Nag y, Pál Maléter and other leaders of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising are executed.

1989 - Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian Prime Minister, is reburied in Budapest.

2000 - Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 22 years after its issuance, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Shebaa Farms.

2010 - Bhutan becomes the first country to institute a total ban on tobacco.

Famous Birthdays

1139 - Emperor Konoe of Japan

1332 - Dame Isabella de Coucy, daughter of Edward III of England

1612 - Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan

1644 - Princess Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans

1858 - King Gustaf V of Sweden

1910 - Juan Velasco Alvarado, 1st President of Peru

1920 - José López Portillo, 31st President of Mexico

1937 - Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, last Tsar of Bulgaria

1943 - Joan Van Ark, actress

1955 - Laurie Metcalf, actress

1970 - Phil Mickelson, golfer

1973 - Amanda Byram, television host

1982 - May Andersen, model

1987 - Abby Elliott, actress and comedian

1988 - Nathan Parsons, actor

June 15th in History

1215 - King John of England puts his seal to the Magna Carta.

1389 - Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbs and Bosnians.

1520 - Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther in papal bull Exsurge Domine.

1667 - The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.

1752 - Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown).

1785 - Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, become the first-ever casualties of an air crash when their hot air balloon explodes during their attempt to cross the English Channel.

1804 - New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.

1808 - Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain.

1836 - Arkansas is admitted as the 25th US state.

1864 - American Civil War: The Second Battle of Petersburg begins.

1888 - Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II; he will be the last Emperor of the German Empire. Due to the death of his predecessors Wilhelm I and Frederick III, 1888 is the Year of the Three Emperors.

1920 - A new border treaty between Germany and Denmark gives northern Schleswig to Denmark.

1944 - World War II: Battle of Saipan: The United States invade Japanese-occupied Saipan.

1954 - UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is formed in Basel, Switzerland.

1994 - Israel and Vatican City establish full diplomatic relations.

1996 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes a large bomb in the middle of Manchester, England, United Kingdom.

2012 - Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to successfully tightrope walk over Niagara Falls.

Famous Birthdays

1330 - Edward, the Black Prince, son of King Edward III of England

1519 - Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, illegitimate son of King Henry VIII of England

1767 - Rachel Jackson, wife of Andrew Jackson, 7th First Lady of the United States

1906 - Léon Degrelle, SS officer

1917 - Lash LaRue, actor

1939 - Ward Connerly, activist and businessman, founded the American Civil Rights Institute

1946 - Noddy Holder, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

1948 - Henry McLeish, 2nd First Minister of Scotland

1955 - David Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy

1964 - Courteney Cox, actress, director, and producer

1965 - Karim Massimov, 7th Prime Minister of Kazakhstan

1971 - Jake Busey, actor

1975 - Elizabeth Reaser, actress

1982 - Haley Scarnato, singer

1985 - Nadine Coyle, singer-songwriter and actress

1990 - Denzel Whitaker, actor

June 14th in History

1381 - Richard II of England meets leaders of Peasants' Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London is stormed by rebels who enter without resistance.

1645 - English Civil War: Battle of Naseby – 12,000 Royalist forces are beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers.

1777 - The Stars and Stripes is adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States.

1800 - The French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquers Italy.

1801 - Benedict Arnold, general, traitor in the American Revolution dies

1807 - Emperor Napoleon's French Grande Armée defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Poland (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.

1863 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Winchester – a Union garrison is defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia.

1900 - Hawaii becomes a United States territory.

1907 - Norway gives women the right to vote.

1940 - World War II: Paris falls under German occupation, and Allied forces retreat.

1941 - June deportation: the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, begins.

1955 - Chile becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1959 - A group of Dominican exiles depart from Cuba and land in the Dominican Republic with the intent of overthrowing the totalitarian government of Rafael Trujillo. All but four are killed or executed.

1966 - The Vatican announces the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("index of prohibited books"), which was originally instituted in 1557.

1982 - The Falklands War ends: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley conditionally surrender to British forces.

1994 - The 1994 Stanley Cup riot occurs after the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup from Vancouver, causing an estimated CA$1.1 million, leading to 200 arrests and injuries. One person is left with permanent brain damage.

Famous Birthdays

1529 - Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria

1730 - Antonio Sacchini, composer

1870 - Sophia of Prussia, Queen consort of the Hellenes

1894 - Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess regnant of Luxembourg

1931 - Marla Gibbs, actress

1944 - Joe Grifasi, actor

1956 - King Diamond, singer-songwriter, musician, and producer

1966 - Traylor Howard, actress

1972 - Michael Cade, actor

1984 - Siobhán Donaghy, singer-songwriter

1988 - Kevin McHale, singer, dancer, and actor

June 13th in History

1373 - Anglo-Portuguese Alliance between England and Portugal is the oldest alliance in the world which is still in force.

1381 - The Peasants Revolt led by Wat Tyler culminated in the burning of the Savoy Palace.

1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for priests and nuns.

1625 - King Charles I of England marries Henrietta Maria of France, Princess of France

1774 - Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.

1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River.

1886 - King Ludwig II of Bavaria is found dead in Lake Starnberg south of Munich at 11:30 PM.

1918 - Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia dies

1934 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet in Venice, Italy; Mussolini later describes the German dictator as "a silly little monkey".

1977 - Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before.

1978 - Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from Lebanon.

1981 - At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

2000 - President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang.

2000 - Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981.

2005 - A jury in Santa Maria, California acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of molesting 13 year-old Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch.

Famous Birthdays

823 - Charles the Bald, Roman Emperor

839 - Charles the Fat, Roman Emperor

1672 - Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg, Grand Duchess of Tuscany

1865 - William Butler Yeats, writer and poet

1901 - Tage Erlander, 25th Prime Minister of Sweden

1915 - Don Budge, tennis player

1935 - Samak Sundaravej, 25th Prime Minister of Thailand

1944 - Ban Ki-moon, diplomat, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations

1959 - Boyko Borisov, 50th Prime Minister of Bulgaria

1964 - Kathy Burke, actress

1965 - HRH Infanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca

1969 - Jamie Walters, actor, singer and musician

1971 - David Mendenhall, actor

1974 - Steve-O, stuntman, actor, and author

1976 - Kym Marsh, singer and actress

1978 - Brian Dowling, television host

1984 - Phillip Van Dyke, actor

1990 - Nicole Riner, tennis player

June 12th in History

816 - St. Pope Leo III dies

1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath.

1429 - Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc leads the French army in their capture of the city and the English commander, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk in the second day of the Battle of Jargeau.

1665 - England installs a municipal government in New York City (the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam).

1776 - The Virginia Declaration of Rights is adopted.

1778 - Philip Livingston, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence dies

1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battle of Ballynahinch.

1860 - The State Bank of the Russian Empire is established.

1898 - Philippine Declaration of Independence: General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain.

1942 - Holocaust: Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.

1943 - Holocaust: Germany liquidates the Jewish Ghetto in Brzeżany, Poland (now Berezhany, Ukraine). 1,180 Jews are led to the city's old Jewish graveyard and shot.

1954 - Pope Pius XII canonises St. Dominic Savio, who was 14 years old at the time of his death, as a saint, making him the youngest non-martyr saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

1963 - Civil rights leader Medgar Evers is murdered in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi by Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith.

1964 - Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa.

1987 - The Central African Republic's former Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule.

1990 - Russia Day – the parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty.

1991 - Russians elect Boris Yeltsin as the president of the republic.

1994 - Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside her home in Los Angeles, California. O.J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in wrongful death civil suit.

1999 - Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins when a NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force (KFor) enters the province of Kosovo in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

2009 - A disputed presidential election in Iran leads to wide ranging protests in Iran and around the world.

Famous Birthdays

1107 - Emperor Gaozong of Song

1519 - Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

1771 - Patrick Gass, sergeant in the Lewis and Clark Expedition

1806 - John A. Roebling, engineer, designed the Brooklyn Bridge

1897 - Anthony Eden, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1915 - David Rockefeller, banker and businessman

1924 - George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States

1929 - Anne Frank, author and Holocaust victim

1942 - Len Barry, singer-songwriter and producer

1951 - Brad Delp, singer-songwriter and musician

1953 - David Thornton, actor

1963 - Tim DeKay, actor

1970 - Rick Hoffman, actor

1979 - Wil Horneff, actor

1982 - Samantha Tolj, actress

1985 - Dave Franco, actor

1991 - Emmalee Thompson, actress

1992 - Ryan Malgarini, actor

June 11th in History

1184 BC - Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.

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.

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.

1898 - The Hundred Days' Reform is started by Guangxu Emperor with a plan to change social, political and educational institutions in China, but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after 104 days. The failed reform though led to the abolition of Imperial Examination in 1905.

1903 - Group of Serbian officers stormed royal palace and assassinated King Alexander Obrenović and his wife Queen Draga.

1937 - Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin executes eight army leaders.

1963 - American Civil Rights Movement: Alabama Governor George Wallace 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 Thich Quang Duc burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.

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 females to do so.

2001 - Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

2008 - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to a residential school abuse in which children are isolated from their homes, families and cultures for a century.

Famous Birthdays

1403 - John IV, Duke of Brabant

1456 - Anne Neville, wife of Richard III of England

1726 - Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain

1897 - Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, second daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia

1920 - Robert Hutton, actor

1928 - Her Majesty Queen Fabiola of Belgium, was Queen consort of the Belgians

1945 - Adrienne Barbeau, actress

1950 - Lynsey de Paul, singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress

1953 - Peter Bergman, actor

1968 - HSH Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein, Count Rietberg,eldest son of Hans Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein

1973 - José Manuel Abundis, footballer

1982 - Marco Arment, web developer, co-created Tumblr

1987 - Dappy, singer-songwriter, rapper, and actor

1988 - Claire Holt, actress and model

1992 - Eugene Simon, actor and model

June 10th in History

323 BC - Alexander the Great dies

1329 - The Battle of Pelekanon results in a Byzantine defeat by the Ottoman Empire.

1539 - Council of Trent: Paul III sends out letters to his bishops, delaying the Council due to war and the difficulty bishops had traveling to Venice.

1619 - Thirty Years' War: Battle of Záblatí, a turning point in the Bohemian Revolt.

1624 - Signing of the Treaty of Compiègne between France and the Netherlands.

1692 - Salem witch trials: Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, Massachusetts, for "certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries". She is first person to be executed during the Salem witch trials

1793 - French Revolution: Following the arrests of Girondin leaders, the Jacobins gain control of the Committee of Public Safety installing the revolutionary dictatorship.

1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Brice's Crossroads. Confederate troops under Nathan Bedford Forrest defeat a much larger Union force led by General Samuel D. Sturgis in Mississippi.

1916 - The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

1924 - Fascists kidnap and kill Italian Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti in Rome.

1935 - Chaco War ends: a truce is called between Bolivia and Paraguay who had been fighting since 1932.

1940 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with his "Stab in the Back" speech at the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.

1940 - World War II: Norway surrenders to German forces.

1940 - World War II: Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.

1945 - Australian Imperial Forces land in Brunei Bay to liberate Brunei.

1967 - The Six-Day War ends: Israel and Syria agree to a cease-fire.

1980 - The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a call to fight from their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela.

1996 - Peace talks begin in Northern Ireland without the participation of Sinn Féin.

1999 - Kosovo War: NATO suspends its air strikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.

2001 - Pope John Paul II canonizes Lebanon's first female saint, Saint Rafqa.

Famous Birthdays

1688 - James Francis Edward Stuart, Prince of Wales, Jacobite pretender, son of the deposed James II of England

1713 - Princess Caroline of Great Britain

1825 - Princess Hildegard of Bavaria

1832 - Nikolaus Otto, inventor and engineer, invented the Internal combustion engine

1897 - Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, 2nd Daughter of Tsar Nicholas II

1921 - HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

1922 - Judy Garland, actress and singer

1937 - Luciana Paluzzi, actress

1956 - HH Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg, Head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

1965 - Elizabeth Hurley, model and actress

1980 - Jessica DiCicco, actress

1981 - HRH Prince Hashim bin Al Hussein of Jordan

1982 - HRH Princess Madeleine of Sweden, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland

1985 - Kaia Kanepi, tennis player

1988 - Becki Ronen, model

1992 - Kate Upton, model and actress

June 9th in History

53 - The Roman Emperor Nero marries Claudia Octavia.

68 - The Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, after quoting Homer's Iliad, thus ending the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and starting the civil year known as the Year of the Four Emperors.

1650 - The Harvard Corporation, the more powerful of the two administrative boards of Harvard, is established. It is the first legal corporation in the Americas.

1762 - British forces begin the Siege of Havana and capture the city during the Seven Years' War.

1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battle of Arklow and Battle of Saintfield.

1873 - Alexandra Palace in London burns down after being open for only 16 days.

1923 - Bulgaria's military takes over the government in a coup.

1944 - World War II: the Soviet Union invades East Karelia and the previously Finnish part of Karelia, occupied by Finland since 1941.

1946 - His  Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej ascends to the throne of Thailand. He is currently the world's longest reigning monarch.

1954 - McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army giving McCarthy the famous rebuke, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

1967 - Six-Day War: Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria

1978 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens its priesthood to "all worthy men", ending a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men.

1999 - Kosovo War: the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.

2006 - 60th Anniversary Celebrations of Bhumibol Adulyadej's Accession.

Famous Birthdays

1595 - Władysław IV Vasa,  King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania

1640 - Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

1661 - Feodor III of Russia, Tsar of All Russia

1672 - Peter the Great, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias

1885 - Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, 27th Prime Minister of Poland

1911 - George Webb, actor

1930 - Princess Ragnhild of Norway

1943 - Kenny Barron, pianist

1963 - Johnny Depp, actor, screenwriter, producer, director, and musician

1978 - Matthew Bellamy, singer-songwriter, musician, and producer

1981 - Natalie Portman, actress

1983 - HRH Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark

1986 - Adamo Ruggiero, actor

1989 - Dídac Vilà, footballer

June 8th in History

68 - The Roman Senate proclaims Galba as Emperor.

632 -The prophet Muhammad dies in Medina and is succeeded by Abu Bakr who becomes the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.

793 - Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.

1042 - Edward the Confessor becomes King of England, one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England.

1376 - Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England dies

1783 - Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.

1794 - Robespierre inaugurates the French Revolution's new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, with large organized festivals all across France.

1861 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.

1906 - Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.

1912 - Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures.

1929 - Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

1941 - World War II: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.

1949 - George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.

1967 - Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171.

1967 - Six-Day War: The Israeli army enters Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs.

1968 - Robert F. Kennedy's funeral takes place at the Basilica of St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City.

1992 - The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

2007 - Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State's worst storms and flooding in 30 years resulting in the death of nine people and the grounding of a trade ship, the MV Pasha Bulker.

Famous Birthdays

862 - Emperor Xizong of Tang

1625 - Giovanni Domenico Cassini, scientist and astronomer

1847 - Ida Saxton McKinley, wife of William McKinley, 25th First Lady of the United States

1903 - Marguerite Yourcenar, author

1921 - Suharto, soldier and 2nd President of Indonesia

1925 - Barbara Bush, wife of George H. W. Bush, 41st First Lady of the United States

1933 - Joan Rivers, television personality, comedian, writer, film director, and actress.

1936 - James Darren, actor, singer, and director

1943 - Colin Baker, actor

1944 - Annie Haslam, singer-songwriter and painter

1953 - Ivo Sanader, 8th Prime Minister of Croatia

1955 - Tim Berners-Lee, computer scientist and engineer, invented the World Wide Web

1962 - Nick Rhodes, keyboardist and producer

1969 - J.P. Manoux, actor

1975 - Shilpa Shetty, actress

1976 - Lindsay Davenport, tennis player

1981 - Alex Band, singer-songwriter, musician, and producer

1982 - Nadia Petrova, tennis player

1984 - Andrea Casiraghi, son of HRH Caroline, Princess of Hanover, currently 2nd in line to the Monégasque:  throne, and will likely succeed to the throne should his uncle, HSH Prince Albert II, die without legitimate issue.

1994 - Nick Benson, actor

June 7th in History

1099 - The First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins.

1494 - Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries.

1654 - Louis XIV is crowned King of France.

1862 - The United States and the United Kingdom agree to suppress the slave trade.

1880 - War of the Pacific: The Battle of Arica, assault and capture of Morro de Arica (Arica Cape), that ended the Campaña del Desierto (Desert Campaign).

1893 - Mohandas Gandhi's first act of civil disobedience.

1919 - Sette giugno: Riot in Malta; four are killed.

1929 - The Lateran Treaty is ratified, bringing Vatican City into existence.

1942 - World War II: The Battle of Midway ends.

1948 - Edvard Beneš resigns as President of Czechoslovakia rather than sign the Ninth-of-May Constitution making his nation a Communist state.

1967 - Israeli forces enter Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.

1975 - The inaugural Cricket World Cup begins in England.

2000 - The United Nations defines the Blue Line as the border between Israel and Lebanon.

2006 - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, is killed in an air-strike by the United States Air Force.

Famous Birthdays

1757 - Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

1770 - Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1837 - Alois Hitler, civil servant, father of Adolf Hitler

1907 - Count Sigvard Bernadotte of Wisborg

1929 - John Napier Turner, 17th Prime Minister of Canada

1942 - Muammar al-Gaddafi, Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution of Libya

1955 - William Forsythe, actor

1958 - Prince, singer-songwriter, musician, producer, and actor

1969 - HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark, Count of Monpezat

1976 - Cassidy Rae, actress

1981 - Anna Kournikova, tennis player

1985 - Charlie Simpson, singer-songwriter and musician

1993 - Jordan Fry, actor

June 6th in History

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.

1654 - Queen Christina abdicates the Swedish throne and is succeeded by her cousin Charles X Gustav. The reasons for her abdication are that she wants to become a catholic (which is forbidden in the strictly Protestant Sweden) and does not want to marry to produce an heir to the throne.

1808 - Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, is crowned King Joseph I of Spain.

1832 - The June Rebellion of Paris is put down by the National Guard.

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.

1909 - French troops capture Abéché (in modern-day Chad) and install a puppet sultan in the Ouaddai Empire.

1919 - The Republic of Prekmurje ends.

1944 - World War II: the Battle of Normandy begins. D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, commences with 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.

1971 - Vietnam War: the Battle of Long Khanh between Australian and Vietnamese communist forces begins.

1982 - The 1982 Lebanon War begins. Forces under the Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee", eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.

1984 - Tetris, one of the best-selling video games of all time, is released.

2012 - The Al-Qubeir massacre occurred in a village near Hama, Syria, killing 78 people.

Famous Birthdays

1296 - Władysław of Legnica,  Duke of Legnica

1502 - John III of Portugal

1714 - Joseph I of Portugal

1772 - Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily, Holy Roman Empress, Queen consort of the Romans

1867 - David T. Abercrombie, businessman, founder of Abercrombie & Fitch

1872 - Alexandra of Hesse and by Rhine, Empress consort of All the Russias, spouse of Tsar Nicholas II, the last Emperor of the Russian Empire.

1901 - Sukarno, 1st President of Indonesia

1916 - Hamani Diori, 1st President of Niger

1938 - HI&RH Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza, Head of the Imperial House of Brazil (disputed)

1945 - David Dukes, actor

1956 - Björn Borg, tennis player

1960 - Steve Vai, singer-songwriter, musician, and producer

1974 - Danny Strong, actor

1987 - Daniel Logan, actor

1991 - Mary Ann Springer, actress

June 5th in History

1257 - Kraków, in Poland, receives city rights.

1832 - The June Rebellion breaks out in Paris in an attempt to overthrow the monarchy of Louis-Philippe I .

1849 - Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy by the signing of a new constitution.

1883 - The first regularly scheduled Orient Express departs Paris.

1900 - Second Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria.

1915 - Denmark amends its constitution to allow women's suffrage.

1942 - World War II: The United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.

1947 - Marshall Plan: In a speech at Harvard University, the United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for economic aid to war-torn Europe.

1956 - Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.

1959 - The first government of the State of Singapore is sworn in.

1968 - Robert F. Kennedy, a U.S. presidential candidate, is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian. Kennedy dies the next day.

1975 - The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.

1975 - The United Kingdom holds its first country-wide referendum on remaining in the European Economic Community 

1989 - The Unknown Rebel halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

2000 - The Six-Day War in Kisangani begins in Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, between Ugandan and Rwandan forces. A large part of the city is destroyed.

2006 - Serbia declares independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

Famous Birthdays

1341 - Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of Edward III of England 

1660 - Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough

1771 - Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, King of Hanover

1850 - Pat Garrett, sheriff, killed Billy the Kid 

1868 - James Connolly,  Irish republican and socialist leader

1898 - Salvatore Ferragamo, shoemaker, founder of Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.p.A. 

1932 - Dave Gold, businessman, founded 99 Cents Only Stores

1939 - Joe Clark, 16th Prime Minister of Canada

1942 - Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea

1951 - Jill Biden, Second Lady of the United States, wife of Joe Biden

1962 - HI&RH Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este

1967 - Ron Livingston, actor

1986 - Amanda Crew, actress

1992 - Matías Del Pozo, actor

2005 - HE Doña Irene de Todos los Santos Urdangarín y de Borbón, daughter of HRH Infanta Cristina of Spain

The Derby of June 1913

The Derby (horse race) took place on June 4th 1913. Emily Davison was to achieve her place in history by giving her life for the Suffragette cause at this Derby - the world's most famous horse race. Emily Davison suffered terrible injuries at this race and never recovered from them. She died in a local hospital four days after the race.

The Derby is not only a horse race. In some senses, the race is secondary to the social importance of this event. In 1913, it was a race where society's elite turned up, including the Royal family who traditionally had a horse entered into it. Because of its importance, it attracted a very large crowd to the Epsom Race Course.

The race itself was a flat sprint. Epsom was shaped almost like a horse shoe. The start took the jockeys along a fast straight that lead to a long and gradual bend. The bend sharpened at Tattenham Corner where the horses slowed down before picking up into the home straight to finish in front of the Royal Box.

In the 1913 Derby, King George V entered a horse called Anmer. The jockey was Herbert Jones. As today, all the jockeys wore their colours - a racing jersey that identified that rider to the crowd.

As the horses rounded Tattenham Corner, Anmer was third from last. Emily Davison got underneath the barrier and threw herself in front of Anmer. The horse went over and Jones came off. Davison took the full force of a sprinting race horse hitting her. The impact took her clean off the ground.

Emily Davison with Anmer on the right

Confusion reigned to start with. Some believed that Davison was trying to cross the race course and had failed to see that not all the horses had cleared the course. It was a tradition that once the horses had gone past, the crowd went onto the the course to walk down to the finish.

Other spectators claimed that they heard a woman shout "Votes for Women" before leaping out in front of the King's horse. A crude black and white film was taken that caught the event 'live'. On its own it shows little as it has poor clarity. It has now been enhanced and it shows clearly that Davison stopped in front of Anmer (therefore she did not want to simply cross the course) and it appears that she tried to make a grab for the reins of the horse but the speed of Anmer and the impact on her were so great that she took a terrible blow to her upper body.

Jones did what all jockeys are trained to do. Having come off his horse, he stayed where he was until all the back riders had gone past. He was taken off the course by stretcher and taken to the ambulance room at the back of the Grand Stand. His injuries included a fractured rib, a bruised face and slight concussion. He stayed the Wednesday night at the Great Eastern Hotel in Liverpool Street, London, but by Friday was back in Newmarket where he was described as "quite cheery". Jones did recollect that he saw Davison trying to grab his reins. Anmer, having gone over, got to his feet and completed the race minus his jockey. The "Times" the next day commented that the horse had suffered bruised shins.

Emily Wilding Davison was very badly injured. She was taken to Epsom Cottage Hospital. She never regained consciousness and it appeared that her heart was damaged in the impact. On the Wednesday evening, the King enquired as to Emily's well being but the doctors there realised that she had been seriously injured. They called for Mr. Mansell Moullin, a consultant surgeon at London Hospital, to assist them. But it was to be in vain as Emily Davison died on June 8th 1913 from substantial internal injuries.

John Ervine who stood near to where Emily Davison was said the following:

Ms Davison, who was standing a few yards from me, suddenly ducked under the railings as the horses came up. This was very near Tattenham Corner, and there was a very large crowd of people on both sides of the course.

The King's horse, Anmer, came up and Ms Davison went towards it. She put up her hand, but whether it was to catch hold of the reins or to protect herself I do not know. It was all over in a few seconds. The horse knocked the woman over with very great force, and then stumbled and fell, pitching the jockey violently onto the ground. Both he and Ms Davison were bleeding profusely, but the crowd which swarmed about them almost was immediately too much for me to see any more.

I feel sure that Ms Davison meant to stop the horse, and that she did not go on to the course in the belief that the race was over, for, as I say, only a few of the horses had gone by when I first saw her leave the railings, and others had not passed when she was knocked down. I could not see whether any other horses touched her, for the whole thing happened so quickly, and I was so horrified at seeing her pitched violently down by the horse that I did not think of anything. The affair distressed the crowd very much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVrlLKAR1S0