June 8th
 

452 ~ Attila the Hun invaded Italy.

1625 ~ Birthday of Giovanni Cassini, Scientist.

1776 ~ American invaders driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

1810 ~ Birthday of Robert Schumann, Composer.

1866 ~ The Canadian Parliament met for the first time in Ottawa.

1867 ~ Birthday of Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect.

1887 ~ Herman Hollerith received a patent for his punch card calculator.

1910 ~ Birthday of John W. Campbell Jr., Science Fiction Writer, Publisher, Editor.

1916 ~ Birthday of Francis Crick, scientist, Nobel laureate.

1949 ~ Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell was published.

2004 ~ First transit of Venus since 1882; the next one will occur on June 6, 2012.

June 9th
 

1534 ~ Jacques Cartier became the first European to discover the St. Lawrence River.

1672 ~ Birthday of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia.

1775 ~ Guy Carleton prepared to face an American invasion at Quebec.

1810 ~ Birthday of Otto Nicolai, Composer.

1891 ~ Birthday of Cole Porter, Composer and Lyricist.

1916 ~ Birthday of Les Paul, Guitarist.

1934 ~ Donald Duck’s first appearance.

1940 ~ World War II: Norway surrendered to Germany.

1942 ~ World War II: The American Philippine Department surrendered to Japan.

1997 ~ The British lease on the New Territories in Hong Kong expired.

June 10th
 

1688 ~ Birthday of James Francis Edward Stuart, "The Old Pretender".

1692 ~ Salem witch trials: Bridget Bishop was hanged as a witch.

1829 ~ First boat race between Oxford and Cambridge.

1835 ~ Birthday of Rebecca Felton, first woman US Senator.

1898 ~ Spanish-American War: American Marines landed in Cuba.

1901 ~ Birthday of Frederick Loewe, Composer.

1915 ~ Birthday of Saul Bellow, author, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1921 ~ Birthday of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

1935 ~ Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in New York City.

1990 ~ Nelson Mandela is released from prison.

June 11th
 

1509 ~ Marriage of King Henry VIII of England and Katherine of Aragon.

1572 ~ Birthday of Ben Jonson, Dramatist.

1770 ~ Captain James Cook ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

1776 ~ Birthday of John Constable, Painter.

1864 ~ Birthday of Richard Strauss, Composer & Conductor.

1901 ~ New Zealand annexed the Cook Islands.

1910 ~ Birthday of Jacques Cousteau, Explorer.

1963 ~ The University of Alabama was desegregated as Governor George Wallace stepped aside.

1979 ~ Death of John Wayne, Actor & Icon.

2004 ~ Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe.

June 12th
 

1897 ~ Birthday of Anthony Eden, British Prime Minister.

1929 ~ Birthday of Anne Frank, Nazi victim.

1931 ~ Al Capone indicted for violating United States Prohibition laws.

1941 ~ Birthday of Chick Corea, musician.

1942 ~ Anne Frank received a diary for her thirteenth birthday.

1963 ~ ”Cleopatra” starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton premiered.

1975 ~ Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi found guilty of corrupt election practices in 1971.

1987 ~ Ronald Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

1991 ~ NAFTA talks opened in Toronto, Ontario.

2003 ~ Death of Gregory Peck, Actor.

June 13th
 

1774 ~ Rhode Island became the first American colony to outlaw the importation of slaves.

1811 ~ Birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Author.

1865 ~ Birthday of William Butler Yeats, poet and dramatist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature.

1892 ~ Birthday of Basil Rathbone, Actor.

1897 ~ Birthday of Paavo Nurmi, Runner.

1970 ~ "The Long and Winding Road" became the Beatles' last #1 song.

1983 ~ Pioneer 10 became the first manmade object to leave the solar system.

1995 ~ French president Jacques Chirac announced the resumption of nuclear tests in Polynesia.


I close this evening with a quote from “The Second Coming”, penned by Mr. Yeats in 1921, about our own times:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Poets are indeed the antennae of civilizations!

June 14th
 

1671 ~ Birthday of Tomaso Albinoni, Composer.

1775 ~ The United States Army was established.

1864 ~ Birthday of Alois Alzheimer, Physician.

1872 ~ Trade unions legalized in Canada.

1909 ~ Birthday of Burl Ives, Musician & Actor.

1919 ~ Alcock and Brown departed St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.

1928 ~ Birthday of Ernesto (Che) Guevara, Revolutionary

1940 ~ World War II: The Wehrmacht occupied Paris.

1946 ~ Birthday of Donald Trump, business tycoon

1982 ~ War between United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falkland Islands ends.

June 15th
 

1094 ~ Valencia fell to El Cid.

1330 ~ Birthday of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales.

1843 ~ Birthday of Edvard Grieg, Composer.

1909 ~ Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa met at Lords and form the Imperial Cricket Conference.

1911 ~ Tabulating Computing Recording Corporation (IBM) was incorporated.

1914 ~ Birthday of Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1919 ~ Alcock and Brown completed first nonstop transatlantic flight at Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.

1943 ~ Birthday of Xaviera Hollander, Prostitute, Author.

1956 ~ John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time.

1995 ~ Death of John Atanasoff, computer pioneer

June 16th
 

1487 ~ Battle of Stoke Field, the last battle of the Wars of the Roses.

1755 ~ French and Indian War: French surrendered Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians.

1806 ~ Birthday of Edward Davy, Physician, Chemist & Inventor.

1829 ~ Birthday of Geronimo, Apache Warrior & Leader.

1884 ~ The first roller coaster in the United States began operation at Coney Island, New York.

1890 ~ Birthday of Stan Laurel, Actor & Comedian.

1963 ~ Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.

1902 ~ Birthday of Barbara McClintock, Geneticist.

1912 ~ Birthday of Enoch Powell, British Politician.

1977 ~ Leonid Brezhnev became president of the USSR.

June 17th
 

1597 ~ Sir Francis Drake claimed a land he called ‘Nova Albion’ (modern California) for England.

1703 ~ Birthday of John Wesley, theologian, founder of Methodists.

1775 ~ American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bunker Hill - The British forces took Bunker Hill outside of Boston.

1818 ~ Birthday of Charles Gounod, Composer.

1882 ~ Birthday of Igor Stravinsky, Composer.

1885 ~ The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor.

1900 ~ Birthday of Martin Bormann, Nazi official.

1917 ~ Birthday of Dean Martin, Singer & Actor.

1944 ~ Iceland became independent from Denmark and formed a republic.

1953 ~ Workers Uprising: The Soviet Union ordered a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.

June 18th
 

1778 ~ American Revolutionary War: British troops abandoned Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1815 ~ Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Waterloo led to Napoleon Bonaparte abdicating the throne of France for a second time.

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

1928 ~ Aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean.

1940 ~ Appeal of June 18 by Charles de Gaulle.

1942 ~ Birthday of Sir Paul McCartney, Singer & Guitarist for The Beatles.

1964 ~ Birthday of Uday Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein.

1983 ~ Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.

June 19th
 

1306 ~ Forces of Earl of Pembroke defeat Bruce's Scottish rebels at the Battle of Methven.

1623 ~ Birthday of Blaise Pascal, Mathematician.

1865 ~ Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas are finally informed of their freedom. June 19th is unofficially celebrated as Juneteenth in the United States.

1882 ~ Birthday of William F. Halsey Jr., American admiral.

1896 ~ Birthday of Wallis Warfield, Duchess of Windsor.

1945 ~ Birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi, politician and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

1947 ~ Birthday of Salman Rushdie, Author.

1953 ~ Executions of Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, convicted spies.

1976 ~ King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden married Silvia Sommerlath.

1978 ~ First appearance of the comic strip “Garfield”.

June 22nd
 

166 BC ~ The Third Macedonian War ended with the Battle of Pydna, when the Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeated and captured the Macedonian King Perseus.

1757 ~ Birthday of George Vancouver, Navigator & Naval Surveyor.

1837 ~ Birthday of Paul Morphy, Chess Phenomenon.

1846 ~ The saxophone was patented by Adolphe Sax.

1856 ~ Birthday of H. Rider Haggard, Author.

1906 ~ Birthday of Billy Wilder, Director.

1941 ~ In one of - if not THE - turning points of World War II, in Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union.

1944 ~ Three years to the day of the start of Operation Barbarossa, the Soviet Union's Operation Bagration began against Army Group Centre.

1976 ~ The Canadian House of Commons abolished capital punishment.

2002 ~ Death of Ann Landers, Columnist.

June 23rd
 

1534 ~ Birthday of Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord.

1757 ~ Indian Mutiny: Battle of Plassey - 3000 British troops defeated a 50,000 strong Indian army.

1894 ~ Birthday of Alfred Kinsey, Sexologist.

1894 ~ Birthday of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, Duke of Windsor.

1894 ~ International Olympic Committee was founded at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

1912 ~ Birthday of Alan Turing, Mathematician.

1969 ~ Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief justice of the US Supreme Court by retiring chief justice Earl Warren.

1927 ~ Birthday of Bob Fosse, Choreographer.

1989 ~ The movie “Batman” was released in the United States.

1993 ~ Lorena Bobbitt cut off the penis of her husband John Wayne Bobbitt.

June 24th
 

1314 ~ Scotland regained its independence at the Battle of Bannockburn, when forces led by Robert the Bruce beat Edward II of England.

1519 ~ Death of Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara.

1692 ~ Kingston, Jamaica founded.

1842 ~ Birthday of Ambrose Bierce, Author

1901 ~ First exhibition of Pablo Picasso's work opens.

1915 ~ Birthday of Fred Hoyle, Cosmologist & Science Fiction Author.

1918 ~ First airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto.

1948 ~ Start of the Berlin Blockade. The Soviet Union made overland travel between the West with West Berlin impossible.



Holidays and observances:
Feast day of St. John the Baptist
Discovery Day in Newfoundland and Labrador (celebrating the 1497 discovery by John Cabot)