On this day thread

[Muteswan]

30th May
1431 Hundred Years' War: 19 year old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal in Rouen, France.
1536 Eleven days after he had his second wife Anne Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII married Jane Seymour, former lady-in-waiting to Anne.
1588 The last ship of the Spanish Armada set sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
1626 An explosion at the Wanggongchang Gunpowder Factory in Beijing destroys part of the city and kills 20,000 people.
1656 The formation of the Grenadier Guards, the senior regiment of the British Army.
1778 Voltaire [Francois-Marie Arouet], French writer, philosopher and playwright (Candide), dies at 83.
1842 An assassination attempt was made on Queen Victoria as she drove down Constitution Hill in London with her husband Prince Albert. The would-be assassin was John Francis.
1895 English cricket icon W. G. Grace scores 169 for Gloucestershire against Middlesex at Lord's for his 1,000th first-class run of the season in just 22 days.
1908 Mel Blanc, American voice actor, comedian best known for his Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons (Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd & Porky Pig), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1989).
1909 Benny Goodman, American clarinetist and bandleader (King of Swing), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1986).
1912 Wilbur Wright, US aviation pioneer, dies at 45.
1912 Born this day in Marian Glas, Anglesey, Hugh Griffith, who won an Oscar Award for his role as Sheik Ilderim in Ben-Hur alongside Charlton Heston. Griffith is also fondly remembered by Welsh rugby fans for his role in television film comedy Grand Slam.
1942 World War II: The RAF carried out its first 1,000 plus bombing raid of Germany, sending 1,047 aircraft to bomb Cologne.
1947 Georg von Trapp, Austrian WWI submarine commander and inspiration for "The Sound of Music" character, dies at 67.
1948 The British Citizenship Act conferred the status of British subjects on all Commonwealth citizens.
1949 Bob Willis, English cricket fast bowler and captain (90 Tests, 325 wickets; 64 ODIs), born in Sunderland, County Durham, England (d. 2019).
1964 The Beatles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Love Me Do', the group's fourth US No.1 in five months.
1968 The Beatles began recording what became known as The White Album.
1972 The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.
1986 England cricketer Ian Botham was banned from international matches for two months for possession of drugs.
2013 Mark Bridger was found guilty of abducting and murdering five-year-old April Jones, in a sexually motivated attack. The schoolgirl went missing on 1st October 2012 near her Machynlleth home, sparking the biggest search in UK police history.
2015 Alistair Cook becomes the leading run scorer of all time in test cricket for England.
2019 Two new studies find eating processed foods leads to an early death and ill health published in "British Medical Journal".
2020 [Nicolas] Michael Angelis, English actor (Thomas & Friends, Boys from the Black Stuff), dies of a heart attack at 76.

 

[Muteswan]

31st May
1838 The last battle on English soil took place at the Battle of Bosenden Wood between armed soldiers and 40 agricultural peasants.
1859 The clock in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament was started, with the bell (Big Ben) sounding for the first time on 11th July 1859.
1875 Born this day in Taibach, Daniel 'Dan' Jones, a Welsh international rugby union scrum-half who played club rugby for Aberavon. He is notable for being the first player to represent Aberavon at international level. Jones was a tinplate furnaceman by occupation and lived in Taibach all his life.
1884 Dr John Harvey Kellogg patents "flaked cereal".
1893 Whitcomb Judson, Chicago, patents a hookless fastening (zipper).
1907 Taxis 1st began running in NYC.
1910 Lord Baden-Powell's sister Agnes formed the Girl Guides.
1910 Born this day in Briton Ferry, Sir Francis Avery Jones - gastroenterologist. After graduating in medicine from St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, Jones specialised in gastroenterology and became a leading authority on the treatment of stomach and bowel ulceration. He was also the editor of the journal Gut, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and president of the Medical Society of London.
1911 RMS Titanic launched in Belfast. At the ceremony, a White Star Line employee claimed, 'Not even God himself could sink this ship.'
1930 Clint Eastwood, American actor (Dirty Harry)/mayor (Carmel, California), born in San Francisco, California.
1938 Born this day in Prestatyn, John Prescott, Britain's longest serving Deputy Prime Minister, who is also remembered for his passion for Jaguars and the punch he threw at a farmer during an election campaign.
1939 Terry Waite, English Anglican Church envoy/Lebanese hostage, born in Bollington, Cheshire.
1941 A Luftwaffe air raid in Dublin, in neutral Ireland, claims 38 lives.
1948 John Bonham, English rock drummer (Led Zeppelin), born in Redditch, England (d. 1980).
1968 Movie star James Stewart retires from the US Air Force after 27 years of service.
1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono record "Give Peace a Chance" in a Montreal hotel, during their second 'bed-in' for peace.
1969 Stevie Wonder releases the single "My Cherie Amour" which goes on to become a soul classic.
1976 The Who set the record for the loudest concert of all time, 120 decibels at 50 metres, at The Valley in Charlton.
1977 The BBC announced a ban on the new Sex Pistols single 'God Save The Queen' saying it's, "in gross bad taste".
1980 The Theme From M*A*S*H* (Suicide Is Painless), by Mash was at No.1 on the UK singles chart.
1983 Jack Dempsey, American boxer (world heavyweight champion 1919-26), dies of heart failure at 86.
1989 1st International Rock Awards.
2004 "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", the 3rd film based on the books by J. K. Rowling is released in UK cinemas.
2004 British children's cartoon "Peppa Pig" created by Astley Baker Davies premieres on Channel 5.
2009 Millvina Dean, British civil servant who was the last living survivor of the RMS Titanic and also the youngest aboard, dies of pneumonia at 97.

 

[Muteswan]

1st June
1495 First written record of Scotch Whisky appears in Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, Friar John Cor is the distiller.
1533 Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's new queen, was crowned.
1774 Boston Port Act: Following the passage of the act, the British government orders Port of Boston closed to punish colonists for the Boston Tea Party.
1899 English cricket icon W. G. Grace starts 22nd and final Test against Australia at Nottingham; Test debut of Wilfred Rhodes and Victor Trumper.
1907 Sir Frank Whittle, English RAF engineer air officer and inventor of the turbojet engine, born in Coventry, England (d. 1996).
1926 Marilyn Monroe [Norma Jean Mortenson], American actress (Some Like It Hot), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1962).
1935 Britain introduced the compulsory use of 'L' plates for learner drivers. Also On This Day, all people who had started to drive on or after 1 April 1934 needed to have passed the test.
1937 Morgan Freeman, American Academy Award-winning actor (Driving Mrs Daisy, Glory), born in Memphis, Tennessee.
1946 Television licences were issued in Britain for the first time. They cost £2.
1947 Ronnie Wood, English rock guitarist (Faces, Jeff Beck Group, The Rolling Stones), born in Hillingdon, England.
1947 Ron Dennis CBE, British auto racing owner (McLaren F1 team principal 1989-2001; group chairman until 2016), born in Woking, England.
1957 'ERNIE' drew the first premium bond prizes in Britain. The first prize was £1000.
1958 Charles de Gaulle elected premier of France.
1959 The first edition of Juke Box Jury aired on the BBC, the show’s host was David Jacobs.
1959 Martin Brundle, British auto racer (World Sportscar C'ship 1988; 24 Hours of Le Mans 1990) and F1 television commentator (ITV, BBC), born in King's Lynn, England.
1967 The Beatles released Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in the UK.
1968 Simon & Garfunkel's single "Mrs Robinson" from "The Graduate" hits #1 (first rock song to win Grammy for Record of the Year)
1973 Paul McCartney & Wings release "Live & Let Die".
1975 Ronnie Wood replaces Mick Taylor as Rolling Stones guitarist.
1976 Great Britain and Iceland end the "cod war"
1977 The maximum speed limits on Britain's roads was changed to 70mph.
1978 Future England cricket captain David Gower makes his Test debut in 1st Test against Pakistan in Birmingham; England win by an innings and 57 runs.
1985 West Indian cricket batsman Viv Richards scores 300 in a day on the way to 322 in a tour match against Warwickshire at Taunton; 42 fours and 8 sixes off 258 balls.
2002 Hansie Cronje, South African Cricket Batsman and captain (68 Tests, 3,714 runs, 43 wickets; 188 ODIs; life ban for match-fixing 2000), dies in a plane crash at 32.
2017 US President Donald Trump announces the US is withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement.

 

[Muteswan]

2nd June
1740 Marquis de Sade, French philosopher and writer (Justine). The words sadism and sadist are derived from his name., born in Paris, France (d/ 1814).
1840 Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet was born at Higher Bockhampton, Dorset.
1850 The birth of Jesse Boot, chemist, philanthropist and founder of 'Boots the Chemist'.
1857 Edward Elgar, English composer (Coronation Ode, Pomp and Circumstance), born in Lower Broadheath, Worcestershire (d. 1934).
1868 The first meeting of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), in Manchester.
1875 Alexander Graham Bell makes first sound transmission.
1896 Italian engineer and inventor Guglielmo Marconi applies for the first ever patent for a system of wireless telegraphy in the United Kingdom.
1941 Charlie Watts, British drummer (Rolling Stones), born in London, England.
1946 Peter Sutcliffe, English murderer of 13 women "The Yorkshire Ripper", born in Bingley, England (d. 2020).
1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, London, England.
1954 British jockey Lester Piggott, aged 18, became the youngest jockey to win the Derby.
1965 Steve Waugh, Australian cricket captain, and Mark Waugh, Australian cricketer born today.
1966 Frank Sinatra was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Strangers In The Night', the singers second UK No.1.
1970 The collapse of the Cleddau Bridge in Pembrokeshire. Errors in the box girder design caused it to collapse during its construction. A 230 feet (70 m) cantilever being used to put one of the 150-tonne sections into position collapsed on the south side of the estuary. Four workers died and five were injured. The bridge finally became operational in 1975.
1972 Pink Floyd released Obscured By Clouds in the UK.
1975 First recorded snowfall in London in June.
1982 Pope John Paul II became the first reigning Pope to visit Wales.
1985 The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced an indefinite ban on English football clubs from taking part in any of the European competitions, after continued hooliganism by their fans when travelling abroad.
1987 Andres Segovia, Spanish classical guitarist and composer, dies at 94.
1989 Steve Smith, Australian cricket batsman (Test batting rating of 947, 2nd-highest of all time), born in Sydney, NSW.
1994 25 senior intelligence officers, involved in counter terrorism in Northern Ireland, were killed when their Chinook helicopter crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland.
1997 Timothy McVeigh found guilty of 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168.
2002 Crime drama "The Wire" created by David Simon and starring Idris Elba and Dominic West debuts on HBO.
2008 Bo Diddley [Ellas McDaniel], American rock guitarist dies of heart failure at 79.
2010 Twelve people were killed and 25 injured when gunman Derrick Bird opened fire in west Cumbria, apparently shooting people at random, before shooting himself.
2011 A storage tank exploded at the Pembroke Refinery in Rhoscrowther. Four refinery workers were killed and a fifth seriously injured.
2015 FIFA President Sepp Blatter announces his resignation, 5 days after his re-election, amid FIFA's involvement in a bribery scandal.
2017 Peter Sallis, British actor (Wallace and Gromit, Last of the Summer Wine), dies at 96.
2020 UK death toll from COVID-19 passes 50,000 (50,032) according to its Office of National Statistics

 

[Muteswan]

3rd June
1865 George V, King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India (1910-36), born in Marlborough House, London, (d. 1936).
1875 Georges Bizet, French composer (Carmen), dies of a heart attack at 36.
1899 English cricket captain W.G.Grace became the first man to play Test cricket beyond the age of 50. He played his last game against Australia aged 50 and 320 days at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
1906 Josephine Baker, American-French song and dance revue artist (Folies-Bergere), actress, and civil rights activist, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1975).
1925 Tony Curtis [Bernard Schwartz], American actor (Some Like It Hot), born in Manhattan, New York (d. 2010).
1937 The Duke of Windsor, (the abdicated King Edward VIII), married American divorcee Mrs Wallis Simpson, privately in a château near Tours, France.
1940 World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ended with a German victory and with Allied forces in full retreat.
1946 1st bikini bathing suit displayed (Paris).
1956 3rd class travel on British Railways ends.
1964 Ringo Starr collapses from tonsillitis and pharyngitis.
1967 Aretha Franklin's cover of the Otis Redding song "Respect" reaches #1 in America.
1969 Last episode of Star Trek (original series) airs on NBC (Turnabout Intruder).
1970 Deep Purple released their fourth studio album 'Deep Purple In Rock'.
1970 Ray Davies of The Kinks travels round trip NY-London to change 1 word in "Lola," (Coca-Cola to Cherry Cola) because of BBC commercial reference ban.
1973 At Paris air show, Tupolev 144, a Soviet supersonic airliner ("Concorde-ski"), crashes, 15 killed.
1974 Kelly Jones, Welsh singer (Stereophonics), born in Cwmaman, Wales.
1976 Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" goes gold.
1976 US presented with oldest known copy of Magna Carta.
1979 Born this day in Cardiff and brought up in Newport, Christian Malcolm, who was 200 metre World Junior Champion in 1998 and World Junior Athlete of the Year in the same year.
1981 Shergar won the Epsom Derby by a record 10 lengths.
1986 Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player, born in Manacor, Balearic Islands, Spain.
1989 Beginning of the Tiananmen Square Massacre as Chinese troops open fire on pro-democracy supporters in Beijing.
2016 Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay], American boxer (world heavyweight champion 1964-7 74-8), dies of respiratory illness at 74.
2017 Eight people were killed and forty eight were injured in terrorist attacks when a van was deliberately driven into pedestrians on London Bridge. The three terrorists then carried out a stabbing spree in nearby pubs and restaurants before being shot dead by the police.
2019 US President Donald Trump begins a three-day visit to the UK by calling London Mayor Sadiq Khan "a stone cold loser" after Khan called Trump's language that of a 20th century fascist.
2020 Three former police officers charged in connection with death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Derek Chauvin's charge upgraded to second degree murder.

 

[Muteswan]

4th June
781 BC Oldest Chinese recording of a solar eclipse.
1070 Roquefort cheese created in a cave near Roquefort, France.
1798 Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer, writer, librarian and womanizer, dies at 73.
1805 The first official Trooping The Colour took place at Horse Guards Parade in London.
1896 Henry Ford takes his 1st Ford through streets of Detroit.
1910 Christopher Cockerell, English inventor (Hovercraft), born in Cambridge, England (d. 1999).
1913 English suffragette Emily Davison dies after throwing herself in front of King George V's horse Anmer during running of the Derby at Epsom.
1927 1st Ryder Cup Golf, Worcester CC: US beats Great Britain, 9½-2½.
1940 British complete the "Miracle of Dunkirk" by evacuating 338,226 allied troops from France via a flotilla of over 800 vessels including Royal Navy destroyers, merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and even lifeboats. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivered his famous 'We shall fight on the beaches ... we shall never surrender' speech to the House of Commons.
1959 Born this day in Dolgellau,Gwyndaf Evans, rally driver who won the British Rally Championship in 1996.
1962 The Beatles signed a recording contract with EMI Parlophone.
1964 Test Cricket debut of Geoff Boycott v Australia at Trent Bridge, scores 48.
1967 The Beatles started a 23 week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
1969 22-year-old man sneaks into wheel pod of a jet parked in Havana and survives 9-hr flight to Spain despite thin oxygen levels at 29,000 ft.
1975 Angelina Jolie, American actress (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Wanted, Salt, Maleficent), born in Los Angeles, California.
1977 Five British plane-spotters imprisoned in Greece for alleged spying were released after 10 weeks in jail.
1977 An estimated 20,000 Scottish football fans invade the Wembley Stadium pitch after Scotland beats England, 2-1; goalposts and advertising hoardings destroyed.
1982 "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," released in USA.
1984 DNA is successfully cloned from an extinct animal.
1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre: Chinese troops clear the square of student protesters, unofficial figures place death toll near 1,000.
1992 Iron Maiden played a gig at the Oval pub, Norwich before 400 fans as The Nodding Donkeys, as a thank you to the pub's landlord Chris Hiles.
1993 Cricket's "Ball of the Century" - Australian spin bowler Shane Warne bowls England batsman Mike Gatting with his first ball of an Ashes series; Australia wins 1st Test at Old Trafford by 179 runs.
2008 British TV presenter Michael Parkinson is knighted by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.
2018 US President Donald Trump tweets "I have the absolute right to PARDON myself".

 

[Muteswan]

5th June
1661 Isaac Newton admitted as a student to Trinity College, Cambridge.
1883 John Maynard Keynes, English economist whose ideas changed the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, born in Cambridge, England (d. 1946).
1916 World War I: British General Lord Kitchener drowned when HMS Hampshire hit a mine off the Orkney Islands during a storm and sank en route to Russia. There were no survivors.
1940 A synthetic rubber tire exhibited in Akron, Ohio by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.
1949 Ken Follett, Welsh spy author (Eye of the Needle, Lie Down with Lions), born in Cardiff, Wales.
1949 Enid Blyton's wooden toy character Noddy first appears in the "Sunday Graphic".
1952 Test Cricket debut of Freddie Trueman v India at Headingley.
1957 NY narcotics investigator, Dr Herbert Berger, urges AMA to investigate use of stimulating drugs by athletes.
1958 Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Thai businessman, sports team owner (Leicester City FC), born in Bangkok, Thailand (d. 2018).
1963 British Minister of War John Profumo resigns due to Christine Keeler scandal.
1964 Davie Jones & King Bees debut "I Can't Help Thinking About Me"; group disbands but Davie Jones goes on to success as David Bowie.
1967 Six-Day War begins between Israel and the neighboring Arab states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
1975 United Kingdom electorate votes 67% to 33% in a referendum to remain part of the European Common Market.
1975 Egyptian president Anwar Sadat reopens Suez Canal (closed since 1967).
1981 AIDS Epidemic officially begins when US Centers for Disease Control reports on pneumonia affecting five homosexual men in Los Angeles.
1996 The Second Severn Crossing was opened today. In July 1986, the Sec­re­taries of State for Trans­port and for Wales agreed to build a bridge across the Sev­ern Estu­ary to con­nect to the M4 on both banks, as well as to the M5 near Avonmouth. It took 4 years to build at a cost of £330 mil­lion and is approx­i­mately 3.2 miles, carrying three lanes of traf­fic in each direc­tion.
2002 Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist (The Ramones), dies of a heroin overdose at 51.
2004 Ronald Reagan, 40th US President (Republican: 1981-89) and actor (Bedtime for Bonzo), dies at 93.
2018 Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges in court in New York.
2018 US President Donald Trump administration's policy of separating immigrant children from their families violates international law according to the UN.

 

[Muteswan]

6th June
1683 The Ashmolean Museum, on Oxford's Beaumont Street, opened as the world's first university museum.
1752 3rd great fire in Moscow in 2 weeks; 1/3 of city destroyed.
1844 Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) formed by George Williams in London.
1844 The Factory Act in Britain restricted female workers to a 12-hour day; children between eight and 13 years were limited to six-and-a-half hours.
1868 Robert Falcon Scott, British leader of ill-fated south pole expedition, born in Plymouth, England (d. 1912).
1882 Electric iron patented by Henry W Seely, NYC.
1900 Arthur Askey, British actor (Bees in Paradise, Ghost Train), born in Liverpool, England (d. 1982).
1912 The eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins, the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.
1930 Frank Tyson, England Test cricket fast bowler/broadcaster (17 Tests, 76 wickets @ 18.56), born in Farnworth, Lancashire, (d. 2015).
1936 Gatwick Airport opened in Surrey. Half a century later, it became Britain’s second biggest international airport, and one of the world’s busiest.
1939 The ship MS St. Louis, carrying 907 Jewish refugees from Europe, begins sailing back to the continent after it was refused entry into America. Approximately a quarter of those on board would perish in the Holocaust.
1943 Born today in Newport, Sir Terry Mathews, Wales’ first billionaire and owner of the Celtic Manor Hotel.
1944 World War II: The Battle of Normandy began. D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, commenced with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France to liberate Western Europe from German occupation.The allied soldiers quickly broke through the Atlantic Wall and pushed inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
1947 David Blunkett, English blind politician, Home Secretary (2001-4), born in Sheffield, England.
1949 Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell’s prophetic novel of a world ruled by Big Brother, was published.
1956 Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player (11-time Grand Slam winner), born in Stockholm, Sweden.
1957 Mike Gatting, English cricket batsman (79 Tests, captain 1986-88), born in Kingsbury, England.
1960 Steve Vai, American rock guitarist, and composer (Frank Zappa; David Lee Roth Band; Whitesnake), born in Carle Place, New York.
1960 Roy Orbison releases "Only the Lonely".
1962 The Beatles meet their producer George Martin for the first time and record "Besame Mucho" with Pete Best on drums.
1965 Rolling Stones release single "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".
1972 David Bowie releases his breakthrough album "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars".
1976 "The Omen" premieres in the UK.
1976 J. Paul Getty, American oil magnate and billionaire (Getty Oil), dies at 83.
1984 Video game Tetris is first released in the Soviet Union by Alexey Pajitnov.
1988 Queen Elizabeth II stripped champion jockey Lester Piggott of his OBE after he was jailed for tax evasion.
1991 Stan Getz [Stanley Gayetski], American jazz tenor saxophonist (Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey), dies of liver cancer at 64.
1994 West Indian cricket batsman Brian Lara hits world 1st-class record 501 not out and 390 runs in 1 day for Warwickshire vs Durham at Edgbaston; only quintuple-hundred in first-class history.
1998 TV sitcom "Sex and the City" premieres in the US on HBO.
2002 A near-Earth asteroid estimated at 10 metres diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. Resulting explosion estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb.
2002 "The Bourne Identity" directed by Doug Liman and starring Matt Damon premieres in Los Angeles, California.
2005 Anne Bancroft [Anna Italiano], American actress ( The Graduate; Miracle Worker), director, screenwriter and singer,, dies from uterine cancer at 73.
2018 Convicted drug trafficker, Alice Johnson, granted clemency by US President Donald Trump after Kim Kardashian highlights case.
2018 French man announced to have won France's €1 million My Lottery for the second time in 2 years, with odds of 1 in 16 trillion.

 

[sambattherford]

This is really nice and amazin. Love it. Great work done.

 

[Darran]

This is really nice and amazin. Love it. Great work done.

Mutey is a really nice and anazin poster.

 

[Swanjaxs]

I look at this thread every day, some interesting anniversaries, well done Mutey keep up the good work

 

[Muteswan]

Well thank you all.
Kind words, but how do you know I’m nice and anazin(?) ?
I am by the way.

 

[Muteswan]

7th June
1329 Robert the Bruce, King of Scots (1306-1329) and national hero, dies at 54.
1665 Great Plague of London: Samuel Pepys writes in his diary of houses marked with a red cross in London's Drury Lane, meaning somebody inside is infected with the plague and must be locked in for 40 days or until death.
1753 British Museum founded by an Act of Parliament with royal assent from King George II (opens in 1759).
1780 Anti-Catholic riot in London, hundreds die.
1906 Famous Cunard passenger liner Lusitania launches.
1917 Dean Martin [Dino Paul Crocetti], American singer ("That's Amore"), comedian and actor (Martin and Lewis, The Dean Martin Show), born in Steubenville, Ohio (d. 1995).
1917 Melvin Jones and a number of other Chicago businessmen found Lions Clubs International, now the largest service organization in the world.
1929 Vatican City becomes a sovereign state.
1939 George VI and Elizabeth become the 1st king and queen of Britain to visit USA.
1940 Tom Jones [Woodward], Welsh pop singer ("What's New, Pussycat?"; "Delilah"), and TV personality (The Voice UK), born in Pontypridd, Wales.
1942 Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan revolutionary, politician, and political theorist, born in Qasr Abu Hadi, Libya.
1946 Micky Jones, Welsh rock guitarist (Man), born in Merthyr Tydfil (d. 2010).
1954 Alan Turing, British mathematician and computer scientist pioneer (Turing Machine), commits suicide at 41 (b. 1912).
1958 Prince [Rogers Nelson], American funk, rock, R&B singer-songwriter and musician ("1999"; "Purple Rain"), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 2016).
1965 Sony Corp introduced its home video tape recorder, priced at $995.
1969 Supergroup Blind Faith's debut performance in Hyde Park, London, featuring Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker and Rick Grech.
1969 The Who's fourth album, 'Tommy' album entered the UK chart, peaking at No.2.
1975 Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder for sale to the public.
1989 For one second this morning, the time is 01:23:45, 6-7-89.
2000 Animal welfare companies praised a policeman who closed a section of the M5 in Devon to rescue three ducklings.
2001 Tony Blair's Labour Party wins another landslide victory in the General Election.
2006 British Houses of Parliament temporarily shut down due to anthrax alert.
2010 Former Stereophonics drummer and BBC Radio Wales presenter Stuart Cable, was found dead at him home near Aberdare in Wales aged 40.
2015 Sir Christopher Lee, English actor (The Lord of the Rings, Dracula), dies at 93.
2018 Mars Curiosity Rover finds organic matter, including methane, on Mars in studies published in journal "Science".
2019 Theresa May officially stepped down as the leader of the Conservative Party, but remained as Prime Minister until 22nd July when her successor was announced.
2020 Black Lives Matter Protests continue worldwide in large numbers, In Bristol England statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston pulled down.

 

[Muteswan]

8th June
793 Vikings raided the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria. The event is commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.
1779 Admiral Horatio Nelson and Captain Thomas Hardy on HMS Foudroyant set sail against Spanish fleet.
1829 1st UK municipal swimming pool outside of London opens in Liverpool.
1937 Born on this day in Wrexham, John Williams, former snooker referee, who presided over nine World Championship finals.
1942 Bing Crosby records "Silent Night".
1942 Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player (Masters 1977; Pot Black 1978, 85; UK C'ship 1988, World C'ship 1981 runner-up), born in Gelligaer, Wales (d. 2021).
1943 Colin Baker, English actor (Sixth Doctor in Doctor Who, Swallows & Amazons), born in London.
1949 Siam changes name to Thailand.
1950 Test Cricket debut of famous West Indian spin twins Alf Valentine and Sonny Ramadhin in 1st Test v England at Manchester.
1951 Bonnie Tyler [Gaynor Hopkins], Welsh rocker ("Total Eclipse Of The Heart"), born in Skewen, Neath, Wales.
1955 Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor (World Wide Web), born in London, England.
1967 Procol Harum were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' the group's only UK No.1.
1968 James Earl Ray, wanted for the murder of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, was arrested in London, travelling under an assumed name.
1969 General Franco closes Spain's frontier with Gibraltar.
1974 Keyboardist Rick Wakeman quits rock group "Yes" (for the first time).
1974 Paul McCartney and Wings went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Band On The Run'.
1982 Up to fifty British servicemen were killed in an Argentine air attack on two supply ships in the Falklands. Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram were anchored at Bluff Cove when they were hit by missiles in a surprise raid by five Argentine Skyhawks.
1984 "Ghostbusters", American supernatural comedy film, directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, HArold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson is released.
1985 Tears For Fears started a two-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World'.
1988 Nippon Airways announces that painting eyeballs on Jets cut bird collisions by 20%.
1996 Revival of the legendary procession of Lady Godiva (Godgifu) naked through Coventry, England.
2003 Leighton Rees, Welsh darts player (BDO World Champion 1978), dies at 63.
2003 Led Zeppelin were at No.1 on the US album chart with their triple live album How The West Was Won.
2007 Jazz legend Oscar Peterson forced to cancel his appearance at Carnegie Hall all-star performance (held in his honour), owing to illness.
2009 Labour suffered its worst post-war election result after it was beaten into third place by UKIP and saw the BNP gain its first seats in the European elections.
2017 Ex-FBI chief James Comey testifies to a US Senate committee that US President Donald Trump told "lies plain and simple".
2017 British General Election results in a hung parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May and the Conservative party lose their majority.
2020 Lockdowns for COVID-19 in Europe saved 3 million lives according to study by Imperial College London.

 

[Muteswan]

9th June
68 Claudius Nero, Roman emperor (54-68), commits suicide at 31.
1549 The Church of England adopted the Book of Common Prayer, compiled by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer.
1672 Peter the Great [Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov], Tsar of Russia (1682-1725), born in Moscow (d. 1725).
1781 George Stephenson, English engineer known as the "Father of Railways" (Locomotion No. 1, Standard Gauge), born in Newcastle, England.
1803 British explorer Matthew Flinders arrives in Sydney becoming the first person to circumnavigate Australia, proving it is one continent.
1856 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa, and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
1869 Charles E. Hires sells his 1st root beer, in Philadelphia.
1870 Charles Dickens, English writer (Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol), dies of stroke at 58.
1873 Alexandra Palace in London burns down, after being open for only 16 days.
1891 Cole Porter, American composer and lyricist (Anything Goes, Kiss Me Kate), born in Peru, Indiana (d. 1964).
1898 China leases Hong Kong's new territories to the United Kingdom for 99 years.
1910 A passenger on SS Arawatta throws bottle with note overboard (found June 6, 1983 in Queensland).
1913 Patrick Steptoe, English scientist (developed in vitro fertilization), born in Oxford, England (d. 1988).
1915 Les Paul [Polsfuss], American guitarist, songwriter and inventor (solid-body electric guitar), born in Waukesha, Wisconsin (d. 2009).
1934 1st appearance of Donald Duck in a cartoon, "The Wise Little Hen".
1941 Jon Lord, British keyboardist and composer (Deep Purple - "Smoke On The Water"; Whitesnake), born in Leicester, England (d. 2012).
1958 HM Queen Elizabeth II officially opens London Gatwick Airport, (LGW), Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom.
1961 Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor, author, comedian and activist (Family Ties, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf), born in Edmonton, Alberta.
1961 Aaron Sorkin, American screenwriter and playwright (A Few Good Men, The West Wing), born in New York City.
1963 Gilad Atzmon, Israeli jazz musician and author. Played at Swansea Jazz Club many times.
1963 Johnny Depp, American actor (21 Jump Street, Pirates of the Caribbean), born in Owensboro, Kentucky.
1975 UK House of Commons is broadcast live by radio for first time.
1984 Donald Duck's 50th birthday celebrated at Disneyland.
1989 "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" premieres in USA.
2014 Rik Mayall, English actor & comedian, dies from cardiac arrest at 56.
2017 Adios the 64th and final studio album by American singer-songwriter Glen Campbell was released.
2019 Over 1 million people protest in Hong Kong over proposed new extradition laws to China in one of largest-ever protests in the city.
2020 Welsh rock guitarist Paul Chapman died on his 66th birthday age 66. He is best known for his work in bands such as UFO and Lone Star.