Today's Historical Events
Historic Event
1483 Duke of Gloucester succeeds as King Richard III of England after Parliament declared Edward V illegitimate
- 1498 Toothbrush invented in China using boar bristles
- 1553 Christ's Hospital in England granted a charter
- 1630 Swedish troops under Gustaf II Adolf lands at Peenemunde
- 1714 Spain & Netherlands sign peace/trade agreement
- 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.
- 1721 Dr Zabdiel Boylston gives 1st smallpox inoculations in America
- 1723 After a lasting siege and bombardment by cannons, Baku surrenders to the Russians.
Battle of Fleurus
1794 Battle of Fleurus: major victory by forces of the First French Republic under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan over the Coalition Army (Great Britain, Hanover, Dutch Republic, and Habsburgs) first use of reconnaissance balloon
Historic Event
1842 Ellen G. White is baptized by John Hobart in Portland, Maine
Historic Event
1857 The first 62 recipients are awarded the Victoria Cross for valour in the Crimean war by Queen Victoria
Music Premiere
1870 Richard Wagner's opera "Valkyrie", second in his Ring Cycle premieres in Munich, featuring "Ride of the Valkyries"
- 1879 Ismael Pasha resigns as khedive of Egypt
- 1899 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: R.F. Doherty wins 3rd straight Wimbledon singles championship; beats Arthur Gore 1-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
- 1900 Dr Walter Reed begins research that beats Yellow Fever
- 1900 Japan mobilizes 20,000 troops to help put down the Boxer uprising in China and to advance their long-term interest in gaining land and power in mainland Asia
- 1900 The Russian Tsar orders that Russian must be the official language of Finland, despite growing unrest within Finland and increasing international concern over Russia's behavior there
Historic Event
1902 Order of Merit instituted by King Edward VII
Appointment of Interest
1902 Aga Khan III is appointed Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
- 1906 Hungarian driver Ferenc Szisz in a Renault AK 90CV wins 1st Grand-Prix motor racing event in Le Mans, France
- 1907 Bolsheviks overthrows transport in Tiflis
- 1909 Victoria & Albert Museum opens in London
- 1910 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Philadelphia CC: Defending champion Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman beats Louise Hammond 6-4, 6-2
- 1911 US Open Men's Golf, Chicago GC: 19-year old John McDermott becomes first American born champion; wins in a playoff with Mike Brady and George Simpson
- 1911 Nieuport sets an aircraft speed record of 83 mph (133 kph)
- 1912 Gustav Mahler's 9th Symphony premieres in Vienna
- 1915 Germany suppresses "Vorwarts" newspaper after it called for peace
- 1916 Cleveland Indians experiment with numbers on jerseys in a game against Chicago WS; first time MLB players identified by numbers corresponding to those on scorecard
- 1917 1st US troops arrive in France during World War I
- 1918 The Australian steamer Wimmera is sunk by a mine laid north of Cape Maria van Diemen in 1917 by the German raider Wolf; 26 of its 151 passengers and crew were killed
- 1919 NY Daily News begins publishing
- 1922 The emergency decrees under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution are invoked by the government to deal with deteriorating economic conditions
- 1924 After 8 years of occupation, US troops leave Dominican Republic
- 1924 "Ziegfeld Follies of 1924", featuring Billie Burke and W.C. Fields, opens at the New Amsterdam Theatre, NYC
British Golf Open
1925 British Open Men's Golf, Prestwick GC: English born American Jim Barnes captures his only Open title, 1 stroke ahead of runners-up Ted Ray and Archie Compston
Discovery of Gold in California
1925 "The Gold Rush", directed, starring and written by Charlie Chaplin, is released
Historic Event
1928 First meeting of the International Congresses of Modern Architects (CIAM) at Lake Leman, Switzerland organized by Le Corbusier
- 1929 ENKA/Vereinigte Glanzstoff Factory merge AKU (Genl Kunstzijde Union)
- 1934 Germany & Poland sign non-aggression treaty
Historic Event
1934 W.E.B. Du Bois resigns position at NAACP
- 1935 Surrey's former England Test cricket batsman Andy Sandham scores his 100th first class century (103) v Hampshire at Basingstoke
- 1935 Lloyd Waner sets record of 18 putouts in center in doubleheader
- 1935 SDAP & CPH achieve majority in city council in Amsterdam
- 1935 Work service for recent graduates becomes obligatory in Germany
- 1936 1st flight of Fw61 helicopter
- 1936 Everett Marshall beats Ali Baba in Columbus, to become wrestling champ
- 1937 Test cricket debut of all-time great English batsman Len Hutton v New Zealand in 1st Tests at Lord's; scores 0 & 1
- 1938 Cincinnati Red Lonny Frey hits 8 doubles in a doubleheader
- 1940 End of USSR experimental calendar; Gregorian readopted 6/27
- 1941 Lithuanian fascists massacre 2,300 Jews in Kovno
- 1942 German assault on British railroad terminal at Mersa Matruh, Egypt
- 1944 2nd British army reaches Grainville-Mouen line
- 1944 Yanks, Dodgers & Giants play unique 6 inn game for War Bonds, each playing successive innings, final score Dodgers-5, Yanks-1 & Giants-0
- 1945 England win the second Victory test cricket at Bramall Lane by 41 runs
United Nations Charter
1945 United Nations Charter signed by 50 nations in San Francisco
- 1946 Dutch Nazi collaborator Arnold Meijer sentenced to 5 years
Radio History
1946 Fred Allen's last radio show, his guest is Jack Benny
Historic Event
1952 Nelson Mandela & 51 others infringe South Africa curfew
- 1953 KCTV (now KLST) TV channel 8 in San Angelo, TX (CBS) 1st broadcast
Historic Event
1953 Lavrentiy Beria, one of the trio of Russian leaders after Stalin's death and the former secret police chief, is ousted from power and arrested
Sports History
1954 Jim Peters runs marathon in 2:17:39.4
- 1955 Freedom Charter signed in South Africa
Sports History
1955 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Maple Bluff CC: Patty Berg wins her 5th WO title by 2 strokes from Louise Suggs and Fay Croker; first WO played at stroke play
Historic Event
1958 Gaston Eyskens becomes Premier of Belgium
Boxing Title Fight
1959 Ingemar Johansson TKOs Floyd Patterson in 3 for heavyweight boxing title
Historic Event
1959 Queen Elizabeth & President Eisenhower open St Lawrence Seaway
- 1959 9th Berlin International Film Festival: "The Cousins" wins Golden Bear
- 1960 British Somaliland (now Somalia) gains independence from Britain
- 1960 Hall of Fame allows veteran committee to vote annually
- 1960 Italian Somaliland declares independence from Italian administration
- 1960 Madagascar (formerly Malagasy Rep) declares independence from France
- 1960 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Beverly CC: Joyce Ziske wins on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff with Barbara Romack
- 1962 Blacks begin passive resistance in Cairo Ill
- 1962 Boston Red Sox Earl Wilson no-hits LA Angels, 2-0
- 1962 WSEC (now WLRN) TV channel 17 in Miami, FL (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1963 Alfons Gorbach forms Austrian government
- 1963 Dutch 2nd Chamber condemns commercial TV
Historic Event
1963 US President John F. Kennedy gives his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" (intended to mean "I am a Berliner", but may actually mean "I am a doughnut") speech in West Berlin
- 1964 Blacks & Whites riot over racial segregation in St Augustine
- 1964 Moise Tsjombe forms government in Congo
- 1964 14th Berlin International Film Festival: "Dry Summer" wins the Golden Bear
- 1965 Wallon party forms in Belgium
- 1966 "Time for Singing" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 41 performances
- 1966 Kanton Bazel leads female suffrage in Switzerland
Appointment of Interest
1967 Pope Paul VI names 27 new cardinals including Karol Józef Wojtyła, the Archbishop of Cracow and future Pope John Paul II
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
1968 Iwo Jima & Bonin Islands returned to Japan by US
Sports History
1970 Frank Robinson hits 2 grand slams as Baltimore Orioles beat Washington Senators 12-2
- 1970 Two young girls die in a premature explosion in Derry after their father, a member of the Irish Republican Army, was making an incendiary device, presumably for use against the British Army
- 1971 "Man of La Mancha" closes at ANTA Wash Sq Theater NYC after 2329 performances
- 1971 Angels suspend Alex Johnson (after 5 benchings & 29 fines)
- 1971 21st Berlin International Film Festival: "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" wins the Golden Bear
- 1972 Australian swing bowler Bob Massie takes 16 wickets (8-84 & 8-53) on Test cricket debut in 2nd Test vs England at Lord's
- 1972 The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) kill two British Army soldiers in separate attacks during the day and at midnight begins a "bi-lateral truce"
- 1973 London production of musical "Grease" premieres
- 1973 On Plesetsk Cosmodrome, USSR, 9 people are killed in an explosion of a Cosmos 3-M rocket.
- 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
Historic Event
1975 Indian PM Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency
- 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.
- 1975 U.S. Supreme Court's rules unanimously in "O'Connor v. Donaldson" that non-dangerous people can't be confined to psychiatric facilities without adequate treatment if able to live viably in outside society
- 1976 Washington Senators player Toby Harrah plays an entire doubleheader at shortstop without a single chance in the field
- 1977 42 die in fire inmate causes at Maury County Jail in Columbia Tenn
Music Concert
1977 Elvis Presley sings in Indianapolis, the last performance of his career
- 1977 The Yorkshire Ripper kills 16 year old shop assistant Jayne MacDonald in Leeds, changing public perception of the killer as she was the first victim who was not a prostitute.
- 1977 Tim Severin aboard the Brendan reaches Newfoundland in attempt to prove sixth-century Irish monks could have voyaged across the Atlantic
- 1978 Brittany separatists bomb Palace of Versailles in France
- 1978 First dedicated oceanographic satellite, SEASAT 1, launched
- 1978 Air Canada Flight 189 to Toronto overruns the runway and crashes into the Etobicoke Creek ravine. Two of 107 passengers on board perish.
- 1979 Rocker Nigel Olsson runs a stop sign, accidentally crashes & kills a driver
Film Premiere
1979 "Moonraker", 11th James Bond film starring Roger Moore, premieres in London
Film Premiere
1981 "Stripes", American military comedy film, directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and John Candy premieres
- 1982 Carlos Lopes runs European record 10km (27:34.39)
- 1982 US vetos UN Security Council resolution for a limited withdrawal from Beirut of Israeli & Palestine Liberation Organization forces
- 1983 "Loving" premieres on TV
- 1983 "Show Boat" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 73 performances
- 1984 1st flight of Shuttle Discovery (41-D) scrubbed at T -4
Music Recording
1984 Barbra Streisand records "Here We Are at Last"
Historic Event
1985 Portugal's Socialist Prime Minister Mário Soares resigns amid predictions that Parliament would be dissolved and elections called
Album Release
1987 Columbia Records releases "King's Record Shop", the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, and the final of her albums produced by husband Rodney Crowell
- 1989 Canada updates its with a new portrait of the Queen
- 1989 Supreme Court rules 16 year olds can receive death penalty
- 1990 122°F in Phoenix Arizona
- 1990 8 Kansas & Oklahoma radio stations boycott k d lang, due to her anti-meat ad
- 1990 New Kid on the Block Donnie Wahlberg release from hospital after fall
- 1991 "Getting Married" opens at Circle in Sq Theater NYC for 70 performances
- 1991 ANC leader Nelson Mandela addresses congress
- 1991 Amy Elizabeth Goodman, of California, crowned America's Junior Miss
- 1991 NBA Draft: UNLV power forward Larry Johnson first pick by Charlotte Hornets
- 1992 India leases Tin Bigha corridor to Bangladesh
- 1992 NYC's MTA votes to ban cigarette ads on Jan 1, 1993
- 1992 Supreme Court rules fund soliciting can be banned at airports
- 1992 UEFA European Championship Final, Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden: In a huge upset Denmark beats Germany, 2-0
Sports History
1993 NY Met Eddie Murray is 20th to get 1,600 RBIs
- 1993 Rebecca Jones, 18, of Georgia, crowned America's Junior Miss
Historic Event
1993 The U.S. launches a cruise missile attack targeting Baghdad intelligence headquarters in retaliation for a thwarted assassination attempt against former President George H. W. Bush in April in Kuwait.
- 1993 NHL Draft: Victoriaville Tigres (QMJHL) center Alexandre Daigle first pick by Ottawa Senators
- 1994 "Broken Glass" closes at Booth Theater NYC after 73 performances
- 1994 "Medea" closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 82 performances
- 1994 104°F (40°C) at Denver, Colorado
- 1994 107°F (41.6°C) at Albuquerque, New Mexico
- 1994 112°F (44.4°C) at El Paso, Texas
- 1994 122°F (50°C) at Laughlin, Nevada
- 1994 126°F (52.2°C) in Death Valley, California
- 1994 Air Ivory Fokker-27 crashes at Abidjan (16 killed/1 lives)
Sports History
1994 Kirby Puckett pass Rod Carew with 2,088 hit as Twin's top hit leader
Historic Event
1994 PLO leader Yasser Arafat returns to Gaza after 27 years
Golf Tournament
1994 Senior Players Championship Men's Golf, TPC of Michigan: 1992 champion Dave Stockton wins by 6 strokes from Jim Albus
Historic Event
1995 Gunmen ambush Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who escapes unharmed
- 1995 Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani deposes his father Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in a bloodless coup.
- 1996 Irish Journalist Veronica Guerin is shot in her car while in traffic in the outskirts of Dublin
- 1996 NBA Draft: Georgetown guard Allen Iverson first pick by Philadelphia 76ers
- 1997 Galileo, Ganymede Observations (Orbit 9)
- 1997 The U.S. Supreme Court upholds doctor-assisted suicide ban
- 1997 U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the Communications Decency Act, inconsistent with the 1st Amendment
Historic Publication
1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1st book in J. K. Rowling's best-selling series, is published
Glastonbury Festival
1998 Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, England opens: Primal Scream, Blur, and Pulp headline; other performers include Bob Dylan, Tony Bennett, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Tori Amos, The Foo Fighters, and Hothouse Flowers
Sports History
2003 NBA Draft: St. Vincent–St. Mary HS (Akron, Ohio) small forward LeBron James first pick by Cleveland Cavaliers
- 2005 US Open Women's Golf, Cherry Hills CC: Birdie Kim holes out from a greenside bunker on the 72nd hole to win her lone LPGA title, 2 strokes ahead of teenage amateurs Brittany Lang & Morgan Pressel
- 2008 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. Heller that the ban on handguns in the District of Columbia is unconstitutional.
- 2008 NBA Draft: Memphis point guard Derrick Rose first pick by Chicago Bulls
- 2011 LPGA Championship Women's Golf, Locust Hill CC: Yani Tseng of Taiwan scores her 4th major title win by 10 strokes over Morgan Pressel
Film Premiere
2012 Animated film "Ice Age: Continental Drift", directed by Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier with voices by Ray Romano and John Leguizamo premieres in Buenos Aires
Theater Premiere
2013 Peter Ustinov's "The Moment of Truth" opens at Southwark Playhouse in London starring Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley)
- 2013 Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, England opens: Arctic Monkeys, The Rolling Stones, and Mumford and Sons headline; other performers include Elvis Costello, Vampire Weekend, The Lumineers, Billy Bragg, Kenny Rogers, and Rufus Wainwright
FIFA World Cup
2014 Luis Suárez is expelled from the 2014 FIFA World Cup following his biting incident
- 2014 Following the military coup in Thailand, people are warned that anyone calling for protest on social media will be prosecuted for sedition
- 2014 NBA Draft: Kansas small forward Andrew Wiggins first pick by Cleveland Cavaliers
- 2015 US Supreme Court rules 5-4 same-sex marriage is a legal right across all US states
- 2015 Gunman opens fire at beach resort in Sousse, Tunisia, killing 38. Isis claims responsibility.
- 2015 Saudi suicide bomber kills 27 at Shia Imam al-Sadiq mosque in Kuwait, 227 injured
Important Vote
2015 Greek Credit Crisis: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras calls for a Greek referendum on new bailout terms
- 2015 NHL Draft: Erie Otters (OHL) center Connor McDavid #1 pick by the Edmonton Oilers
Historic Event
2015 US President Barack Obama sings "Amazing Grace" as part of his eulogy for Reverend Clementa Pinckney and 8 church members killed during a bible study in Charleston, South Carolina
- 2016 City of Falluja freed from Islamic State control after a month-long campaign by Iraqi forces
- 2016 Iceland’s presidential election is won by history professor Guðni Jóhannesson
- 2016 Panama Canal's third set of locks opens for commercial traffic, doubling the Canal’s capacity at an estimated cost of $5.25 billion
- 2016 Copa América Final, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ: Defending champions Chile defeat Argentina, 4-2 on penalty kicks; 0–0 after extra time
- 2017 America's Cup: Emirates Team New Zealand defeat Oracle Team USA 7-1 in Bermuda, Peter Burling (26) youngest ever helmsman
Historic Event
2017 Theresa May's UK Conservative minority party strike deal to govern with Northern Ireland's DUP with guarantee of 1 billion funding
Historic Event
2018 US Supreme Court upholds President Trump's travel ban against mostly Muslim countries
- 2018 Quriyat, Oman, registers highest "low" temperature for a day ever recorded of 42.5 degrees
- 2018 Sudanese court overturns death sentence for teenager who killed the husband after he raped her
- 2018 India is named the most dangerous country to be a women because of sexual violence and slave labour by the Thomson Reuters Foundation
- 2018 First high level talks between Ethiopian and Eritrean officials in 20 years begins in Addis Ababa
- 2018 Hello Kitty bullet train unveiled by the West Japan Railway
Film Release
2019 Japanese animation film "Spirited Away" by Hayao Miyazaki is released in China and tops the box office, 18 years after its initial release
- 2019 Two US Florida towns pay hackers considerable ransom to unfreeze their computer systems; Riviera Beach $600,00 and Lake City $500,000
- 2019 More than 5,000 smuggled turtles discovered in luggage at Kuala Lumpur Airport, Malaysia, bound for India
- 2019 Highest ever June temperatures recorded in Germany (38.6C), Poland (38.2C) and the Czech Republic (38.9C) during week-long heatwave in Europe
Film & TV History
2019 Former Gambian beauty queen Fatou "Toufah" Jallow says she was raped by former President Yahya Jammeh as part of a Human Rights Watch and Trial International report
Glastonbury Festival
2019 Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, England opens: American rock band The Killers headline; Kylie Minogue plays the Pyramid stage 14 years after cancer forced her to cancel; other performers include Bastille, Hozier, and Mavis Staples
- 2020 New York Times says Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked forces to kill US and coalition troops in Afghanistan
- 2021 British Health Minister Matt Hancock resigns after photos of him kissing an aide (and not social distancing) emerge
- 2021 Sydney goes into a two-week lockdown amid a Delta variant COVID-19 outbreak and low levels of vaccination
- 2021 South Africa announces 14-day lockdown to counter a third COVID-19 wave of infections fueled by the Delta variant, with only 2.5 million vaccines administrated [1]
- 2021 Largest-ever pile up in the Tour de France caused by a spectator with a sign during Stage 1. Spectator later hunted down and arrested.
