On This Day In History
Did You Know?
The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine
Today in History in 1974
Would You Believe?
First written record of Scotch Whisky appears in Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, Friar John Cor is the distiller
Today in History in 1495
2nd June
455 King Gaiseric and the Vandals sack Rome – Rome looted for 14 days
1862 Robert E. Lee takes command of Confederate armies of North Virginia during the American Civil War
1896 Italian engineer and inventor Guglielmo Marconi applies for the first ever patent for a system of wireless telegraphy in the United Kingdom
1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, London, England
1989 10,000 Chinese soldiers are blocked by 100,000 citizens in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, protecting students demonstrating for democracy
Did You Know?
James Gibbs of Virginia, patents the chain-stitch single-thread sewing machine
Today in History in 1857
Would You Believe?
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
Today in History in 1763
June 3rd
1621 Dutch West India Company (WIC) receives charter for The West Indies (The Americas, Caribbean and West Africa)
1929 Chile and Peru sign the Treaty of Lima, finally resolving their border dispute from the War of the Pacific (1879–83). Chile keeps Arica and Peru regains Tacna.
1943 A mob of 60 from the Los Angeles Naval Reserve Armory beat up everyone perceived to be Hispanic, starting the week-long Zoot Suit Riots
1979 Ixtoc I rig in the Gulf of Mexico blows, spilling 3 million barrels of oil in one of the worst oil spills in history
1989 Beginning of the Tiananmen Square Massacre as Chinese troops open fire on pro-democracy supporters in Beijing
Did You Know?
American radical feminist Valerie Solanas attempts to assassinate Andy Warhol by shooting him three times. She is later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and pleads guilty to “reckless assault with intent to harm”, serving a 3 year sentence.
Today in History in 1968
Would You Believe?
1st baseball uniforms worn when the NY Knickerbockers wear a uniform of straw hats, white shirts and blue long trousers
Today in History in 1851
June 4th
1760 Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada taken from the Acadians
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
1945 US, Soviet Union, Britain and France agree to divide up occupied Germany
1989 Eastern Europe’s 1st partial free elections in 40 years held in Poland, Solidarity Party comes to power
1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre: Chinese troops clear the square of student protesters, unofficial figures place death toll near 1,000
Did You Know?
A patent for the ATM is granted to Don Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain
Today in History in 1973
Would You Believe?
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
Today in History in 1969
June 5th
1873 Sultan Bargash bin Said under British pressure closes the infamous slave market of Zanzibar in modern day Tanzania
1947 US Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the “Marshall Plan” to rebuild Western Europe
1963 State of siege proclaimed in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini arrested
1967 Six-Day War begins between Israel and the neighboring Arab states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria
1968 Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan shoots Robert F. Kennedy three times, who dies the next day. and wounds 5 others at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California
1981 AIDS Epidemic officially begins when US Centers for Disease Control reports on pneumonia affecting five homosexual men in Los Angeles
1981 World’s first today in history program with editable data “TODAY”, invented by Michael Butler runs for the first time on a mainframe computer
1984 Indira Gandhi orders an attack on Sikh’s holiest site, the Golden Temple in Amritsar
Did You Know?
Russian Orthodox Church celebrates its 1,000th anniversary
Today in History in 1988
Would You Believe?
Bananas become popular in US, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia
Today in History in 1876
June 6th
1523 Gustav Vasa is elected King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union
1716 French transport the 1st African slaves to Louisiana
1916 The death of Yuan Shikai, ruler of much of China since 1912, causes the central government to virtually collapse in the face of warlords, including Sun Yat-sen
1944 Operation Overlord: D-Day begins as the 156,000-strong Allied Expeditionary Force lands in Normandy, France, during World War II
1982 30,000 Israeli troops invade Lebanon to drive out the PLO
Did You Know?
Electric iron patented by Henry W Seely, NYC
Today in History in 1882
Would You Believe?
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.
Today in History in 2002
June 7th
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide the new world along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa
1628 English King Charles I ratifies the Petition of Rights
1654 Louis XIV crowned King of France
1753 British Museum founded by an Act of Parliament with royal assent from King George II (opens in 1759)
1929 Vatican City becomes a sovereign state
1965 The Supreme Court of the United States decides on Griswold v. Connecticut, effectively legalizing the use of contraception by married couples
Did You Know?
Thomas Malthus publishes the first edition of his influential ‘Essay on the Principle of Population’ (date of the unsigned preface)
Today in History in 1798
Would You Believe?
Police warn bald men against attacks in Mozambique after 5 men murdered for the gold believed in their heads
Today in History in 2017