Today in history...
June 2, 2009
* 455 – The Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks
* 1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city. The second siege would later start on June 7.
* 1615 – First Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.
* 1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Found guilty, she is hanged on June 10.
* 1763 – Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
* 1774 – Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided.
* 1780 – The Derby horse race is held for the first time.
* 1793 – Jean-Paul Marat recites the names of 29 people to the French National Convention. Almost all of these people are guillotined, followed by 17,000 more over the course of the next year during the Reign of Terror.
* 1835 – P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States.
* 1848 – The Slavic congress in Prague begins.
* 1855 – The Portland Rum Riot occurs in Portland, Maine.
* 1876 – Hristo Botev, a national revolutionary of Bulgaria, is killed in Stara Planina
* 1886 – U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion.
* 1896 – Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his newest invention: the radio.
* 1909 – Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
* 1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
* 1925 – Because of a lineup revision by Miller Huggins, Wally Pipp is replaced by Lou Gehrig at first base for the New York Yankees, beginning a streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, topped only by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995. Exactly 16 years later to the day, in 1941, Gehrig passes away from Amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
* 1946 – Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum the king of Italy Umberto II di Savoia is exiled.
* 1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the first to be televised.
* 1955 – The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations between both countries, discontinued since 1948.
* 1966 – Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft land on another world.
* 1967 – Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran turn into riots, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
* 1979 – Pope John Paul II visits his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
* 1984 – Operation Bluestar, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for the Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6 with causalities, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.
* 1990 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12. Petersburg, Indiana is the hardest-hit town in the outbreak, with 6 deaths.
* 1992 – In a national referendum Denmark rejects the Maastricht Treaty by a thin margin.
* 1995 – United States Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady's F-16 is shot down over Bosnia while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone.
* 1997 – In Denver, Colorado, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
* 1999 – The Bhutan Broadcasting Service brings television transmissions to the Kingdom for the first time.
* 2003 – Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.
* 2004 – Ken Jennings begins his 74-game winning streak on the syndicated game show Jeopardy!
Birthdays today...
* 926 – Murakami, Emperor of Japan (d. 967)
* 1535 – Pope Leo XI (d. 1605)
* 1731 – Martha Washington, First American first lady (d. 1802)
* 1740 – Marquis de Sade, French author (d. 1814)
* 1743 – Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, Sicilian Occultist (d. 1795)
* 1773 – John Randolph, U.S. Senator from Virginia (d. 1833)
* 1774 – William Lawson, explorer of New South Wales, Australia (d. 1850)
* 1823 – Gédéon Ouimet, French Canadian politician (d. 1905)
* 1835 – Pope Pius X (d. 1914)
* 1838 – Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna (d. 1900)
* 1840 – Thomas Hardy, English writer (d. 1928)
* 1857 – Edward Elgar, English composer (d. 1934)
* 1857 – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
* 1863 – Felix Weingartner, Yugoslavian conductor (d. 1942)
* 1865 – George Lohmann, English cricketer (d. 1901)
* 1869 – Jack O'Connor, baseball player (d. 1937)
* 1887 – Howard Johnson, American songwriter (d. 1941)
* 1891 – Thurman Arnold, American attorney and jurist (d. 1969)
* 1891 – Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese "father of the kamikaze" (d. 1945)
* 1899 – Lotte Reiniger, German film director (d. 1981)
* 1904 – Frank Runacres, English artist (d. 1974)
* 1904 – Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (d. 1984)
* 1907 – Dorothy West, American writer (d. 1998)
* 1913 – Walter Andreas Schwarz, German singer and author (d. 1992)
* 1913 – Barbara Pym, English novelist (d. 1980)
* 1915 – Walter Tetley, American voice actor (d. 1975)
* 1915 – Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian communist (d. 1992)
* 1917 – Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and filmmaker (d. 2006)
* 1918 – Ruth Atkinson, American cartoonist (d. 1997)
* 1919 – Nat Mayer Shapiro, American painter (d. 2005)
* 1920 – Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-born critic
* 1920 – Tex Schramm, American football team president and general manager (d. 2003)
* 1920 – Frank G. Clement, Governor of Tennessee (d. 1969)
* 1922 – Charlie Sifford, American golfer
* 1922 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2002)
* 1924 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist and activist (d. 2007)
* 1926 – Milo O'Shea, Irish actor
* 1927 – W. Watts Biggers, American novelist and animator
* 1929 – Norton Juster, American author and architect
* 1929 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player
* 1930 – Pete Conrad, American astronaut (d. 1999)
* 1930 – Bob Lillis, baseball player
* 1931 – Larry Jackson, baseball player (d. 1990)
* 1931 – William Donaldson, American businessman and politician
* 1932 – Sammy Turner, American singer
* 1935 – Carol Shields, American-born novelist (d. 2003)
* 1935 – Roger Brierley, English actor (d. 2005)
* 1935 – Dimitri Kitsikis, Greek turkologist
* 1937 – Sally Kellerman, American actress
* 1937 – Jimmy Jones (singer), American singer and songwriter
* 1938 – Kevin Brownlow, English film historian and author
* 1940 – King Constantine II of Greece
* 1941 – Stacy Keach, American actor
* 1941 – Charlie Watts, English musician (The Rolling Stones)
* 1941 – William Guest, American singer (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
* 1942 – Maree Cheatham, American actress
* 1943 – Charles Haid, American actor
* 1943 – Ilaiyaraaja, Indian composer
* 1944 – Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and musician
* 1945 – Jane Bonnie Newman, American politician
* 1945 – Jon Peters, American film producer and hairdresser
* 1946 – Peter Sutcliffe, English serial killer
* 1946 – Lasse Hallström, Swedish film director
* 1946 – Song Dae Kwan, Korean singer
* 1947 – Mark Elder, British opera and symphony conductor
* 1948 – Jerry Mathers, American actor
* 1949 – Heather Couper, British astronomer
* 1949 – Frank Rich, American theater critic and columnist
* 1951 – Larry Robinson, Canadian hockey player
* 1952 – Gary Bettman, American National Hockey League commissioner
* 1953 – Keith Allen, Welsh comedian, actor, singer and writer
* 1953 – Craig Stadler, American golfer
* 1954 – Dennis Haysbert, American actor
* 1955 – Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
* 1955 – Michael Steele, American musician (The Bangles)
* 1955 – Chantal Hochuli, Swiss-born socialite
* 1956 – Mani Ratnam, Indian director
* 1956 – Malcolm Garrett, English graphic designer
* 1957 – King Lizzard, American entertainer
* 1957 – Mark Lawrenson, English Football Pundit
* 1958 – Lawrence Pfohl, American professional wrestler
* 1959 – Charlie Huddy, Canadian hockey player
* 1959 – Lydia Lunch, American singer
* 1960 – Kyle Petty, American race car driver
* 1960 – Tony Hadley, English singer (Spandau Ballet)
* 1961 – Dez Cadena, American musician (Black Flag)
* 1963 – Jim Burns, American entrepreneur
* 1964 – Caroline Link, German film director and screenwriter
* 1965 – Jim Knipfel, American autobiographer and journalist
* 1965 – Mark Waugh Australian cricketer
* 1965 – Steve Waugh, Australian cricketer
* 1966 – Pedro Guerra, Spanish songwriter and singer
* 1967 – Mike Stanton, baseball player
* 1968 – Beetlejuice, American radio personality
* 1968 – Jon Culshaw, British comedian
* 1969 – Cy Chadwick, English actor
* 1970 – Andy McCollum, American football player
* 1970 – B-Real, American rapper (Cypress Hill)
* 1971 – Anthony Montgomery, American actor
* 1971 – Kateřina Jacques, Czech politician
* 1972 – Wayne Brady, American actor and comedian
* 1972 – Wentworth Miller, American actor
* 1972 – Simon Staho, Danish film director
* 1973 – Neifi Perez, Dominican baseball player
* 1974 – Matt Serra, American mixed martial artist
* 1974 – Gata Kamsky, American chess player
* 1976 – Earl Boykins, American basketball player
* 1976 – Tim Rice-Oxley, English musician (Keane)
* 1976 – Martin Čech, Czech ice hockey player (d. 2007)
* 1976 – Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brazilian mixed martial artist
* 1976 – Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso, Queen consort of Lesotho
* 1977 – Zachary Quinto, American actor
* 1978 – Dominic Cooper, English actor
* 1978 – Nikki Cox, American actress
* 1978 – Justin Long, American actor
* 1978 – A.J. Styles, American professional wrestler
* 1980 – Fabrizio Moretti, Brazilian-born rock drummer (The Strokes)
* 1980 – Abby Wambach, American Soccer player
* 1981 – Nikolay Davydenko, Russian professional tennis player
* 1981 – Tucker Rountree, American guitarist and composer.
* 1981 – Chin-hui Tsao, Taiwanese baseball player
* 1982 – Jewel Staite, Canadian actress
* 1983 – Christopher Higgins, American ice hockey player
* 1983 – Brooke White, American singer
* 1983 – Leela James, American singer-songwriter
* 1985 – Ana Cristina, Cuban American singer,composer, and actress
* 1987 – Darin Zanyar, Swedish Singer
* 1988 – Patrik Berglund, Swedish hockey player
* 1988 – Sergio Agüero, Argentinian footballer
* 1989 – Freddy Adu, Ghanaian-American footballer
* 1990 – Brittany Curran, American actress
Famous deaths...
* 829 – Saint Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 758)
* 910 – Richilde of Provence, Queen of Western Francia (b. 845)
* 1418 – Katherine of Lancaster, wife of Henry III of Castile (b. 1373)
* 1567 – Shane O'Neill, Irish chieftain (b. 1530)
* 1581 – James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, regent of Scotland (b. 1525)
* 1693 – John Wildman, English soldier and politician (b. 1621)
* 1701 – Madeleine de Scudéry, French writer (b. 1607)
* 1716 – Ogata Korin, Japanese painter (b. 1658)
* 1720 – Jeremiah Shepard, American minister (b. 1648)
* 1754 – Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish religious dissenter (b. 1680)
* 1761 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish industrialist (b. 1685)
* 1785 – Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, French mathematician (b. 1713)
* 1806 – William Tate, English painter (b. 1747)
* 1833 – Simon Byrne, Irish bare-knuckle prize fighter (b. 1806)
* 1853 – Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, British peer and soldier (b. 1777)
* 1865 – Ner Alexander Middleswarth, American politician (b. 1783)
* 1875 – Józef Kremer, Polish messianistic philosopher (b. 1806)
* 1876 – Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1848)
* 1881 – Émile Littré, French lexicographer (b. 1801)
* 1882 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian revolutionarist (b. 1807)
* 1901 – George Leslie Mackay, Canadian missionary (b. 1844)
* 1933 – Frank Jarvis, American athlete (b. 1878)
* 1937 – Louis Vierne, French organist and composer (b. 1870)
* 1941 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (b. 1903)
* 1948 – Viktor Brack, German physician (b. 1904)
* 1948 – Karl Brandt, personal physician of Adolf Hitler (b. 1904)
* 1948 – Karl Gebhardt, German doctor (b. 1897)
* 1948 – Waldemar Hoven, German physician (b. 1903)
* 1948 – Wolfram Sievers, German SS officer (b. 1905)
* 1956 – Jean Hersholt, Danish actor and humanitarian (b. 1886)
* 1961 – George S. Kaufman, American playwright (b. 1889)
* 1962 – Vita Sackville-West, English writer, and gardener (b. 1892)
* 1967 – Benno Ohnesorg, German student (b. 1940)
* 1968 – André Mathieu, Quebec pianist and composer (b. 1929)
* 1969 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (b. 1917)
* 1970 – Albert Lamorisse, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
* 1970 – Bruce McLaren, New Zealand car racer, designer, (b. 1937)
* 1970 – Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian poet (b. 1888)
* 1974 – Hiroshi Kazato, Japanese racing driver (b. 1949)
* 1976 – Juan José Torres, former President of Bolivia (b. 1920)
* 1977 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish actor (b. 1931)
* 1979 – Jim Hutton, American actor (b. 1934)
* 1982 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (b. 1904)
* 1983 – Stan Rogers, Canadian musician (b. 1949)
* 1984 – Georgios Kasassoglou, Greek musician (b. 1908)
* 1986 – Aurel Joliat, Canadian hockey player (b. 1901)
* 1987 – Anthony de Mello, Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist (b. 1931)
* 1987 – Sammy Kaye, American bandleader (b. 1910)
* 1987 – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (b. 1893)
* 1989 – Ted a'Beckett, Australian cricketer (b. 1907)
* 1990 – Stiv Bators, American singer (The Dead Boys, The Lords of the New Church) (b. 1949)
* 1990 – Jack Gilford, American actor (b. 1908)
* 1990 – Rex Harrison, English actor (b. 1908)
* 1992 – Phillip Dunne, American film director (b. 1908)
* 1993 – Johnny Mize, American baseball player (b. 1913)
* 1994 – David Stove, Australian philosopher (b. 1927)
* 1996 – John Alton, American cinematographer (b. 1901)
* 1996 – Ray Combs, American game show host and comedian (b. 1956)
* 1996 – Leon Garfield, English children's author (b. 1921)
* 1996 – Amos Tversky, Israeli psychologist (b. 1937)
* 1997 – Doc Cheatham, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1905)
* 1998 – Sylvester Ritter, American wrestler (b. 1952)
* 1999 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican musician (The Wailers) (b. 1949)
* 2000 – Svyatoslav Fyodorov, Russian ophthalmologist (b. 1927)
* 2000 – Gerald Whitrow, British mathematician (b. 1912)
* 2001 – Imogene Coca, American actress (b. 1908)
* 2001 – Frank Stagg, Baptist Theologian (b. 1911)
* 2001 – Joey Maxim, American boxer (b. 1922)
* 2003 – Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler (b. 1918)
* 2004 – Loyd Sigmon, American amateur radio broadcaster (b. 1909)
* 2005 – Gunder Gundersen, Norwegian skier and sports official (b. 1930)
* 2005 – Chloe Jones, Model and pornographic actress (b. 1975)
* 2005 – Samir Kassir, Lebanese journalist and teacher (b. 1950)
* 2005 – Melita Norwood, British spy (b. 1912)
* 2006 – Keith Smith, English rugby player (b. 1952)
* 2006 – Vince Welnick, musician, keyboardist (The Grateful Dead) (b. 1951)
* 2007 – Huang Ju, Chinese Vice-Premier (b. 1938)
* 2007 – Kentarō Haneda, Japanese composer (b. 1949)
* 2008 – Bo Diddley, American musician (b. 1928)
* 2008 – Mel Ferrer, American actor, film director and film producer (b. 1917)
Holidays and observances...
* Bulgaria: The death of Hristo Botev, a national hero.
* Isabel Province: Province Day
* Italy: Festa della Repubblica (Republic Day), which commemorates the birth of the Repubblica Italiana and the end of the monarchy.
* North Korea: Children's Day
* Sarawak: Second day of the Gawai Dayak festival.
Have a good Tuesday.
~Brian
