What Happened on June 30
Historical Events
- 1520 Spanish conquistadors are expelled from Tenochtitlan following an Aztec revolt against their rule under Hernán Cortés during "La Noche Triste" (the Night of Sadness). Many soldiers drown in the escape, and Aztec emperor Moctezuma II dies in the struggle
- 1860 Famous debate on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution held at the Oxford University Museum and dominated by arguments between Thomas Henry Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce
- 1905 In Russia, the "Potemkin" arrives at Odessa, where sailors take the bodies of dead crewman ashore; sailors join civilians in revolutionary actions of the '1905 Revolution'
- 1908 A giant fireball, most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet flattens 80 million trees near the Stony Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate, Russia, in the largest impact event in recorded history
- 1934 "Night of Long Knives" - Adolf Hitler stages a bloody purge of the Nazi party
- 1938 Superman 1st appears in DC Comics' Action Comics Series issue #1
- 1992 South African ANC President Nelson Mandela meets with UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at Dakar
- 1997 British lease on the New Territories in Hong Kong, established by the Second Convention of Peking, expires
- More Historical Events
Jun 30 in Film & TV
- 1955 "Johnny Carson Show" debuts on CBS-TV
Jun 30 in Music
- 1992 "End of the Road" single released by Boyz II Men (Grammy Award Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best R&B Song 1993, Billboard Song of the Year 1992)
Jun 30 in Sport
Did You Know?
The world's first emergency call telephone service is launched in London using the number 999
On June 30, 1937
Charles VIII
Willie Sutton
Susan Hayward
Mike Tyson
Sanath Jayasuriya
Michael PhelpsWould You Believe?
Winton Motor Carriage Company publishes the first known automobile ad in Scientific American using the headline “dispense with a horse.”
On June 30, 1898
Famous Weddings
- 1831 Soldier and future Confederate General Robert E. Lee (24) marries Mary Custis (22) at Arlington House, Arlington Virginia
- 1949 Austrian-American filmmaker Billy Wilder (43) weds American actress and singer Audrey Young (27), until his death in 2002
- 1973 Prime Minister of Canada Joe Clark (34) weds lawyer Maureen McTeer (21)
Famous Divorces
- 1992 Actress Natasha Richardson (29) divorces producer Robert Fox (39) after a year of marriage
- 2006 American singer-songwriter and TV personality Jessica Simpson (25) divorces 98 Degrees boy band singer Nick Lachey (32) due to irreconcilable differences after 3 years of marriage
- 2010 "Scream" actress Neve Campbell (37) divorces British actor John Light (36) due to irreconcilable differences, after 3 years of marriage
More Weddings & Divorces
Moctezuma II
Charles J. Guiteau
John William Strutt
Lillian Hellman
Yitzhak Shamir
