TODAY June 20 – Sunni’s History Notes

Holidays and observances   

• Day of the National Flag (Argentina)
• Earliest date for the summer solstice in the Northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the Southern hemisphere, and its related observance:
• Earliest day on which Day of the Finnish Flag can fall, while June 26 is the latest; celebrated on Saturday of Midsummer’s Day (Finland)
• International Surfing Day (June 21 during non-leap years)
• Litha / Midsummer celebrations in the northern hemisphere, Yule in the southern hemisphere. (Neopagan Wheel of the Year)
• Festival in honor of Summanus (Roman Empire)
• Gas Sector Day (Azerbaijan)
• Martyrs’ Day (Eritrea)
• West Virginia Day (West Virginia)
• World Refugee Day (International)
• “Dump the Pump” Day (don’t buy gas, use alternate transportation)
• Take Your Dog to Work Day
• American Eagle Day encourages participants to adopt a bald eagle, to assist in the recovery of their natural environments, and to take part in educational outreach.
• Flip-flop day (founded by Tropical Smoothie Café)

     451 – Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius’ battles Attila the Hun. Roman and Barbarian warriors brought Attila’s army to a halt at the Catalaunian Plains in eastern France.  After the battle, which was inconclusive, Roman and Barbarian warriors brought Attila’s army to a halt at the Catalaunian Plains in eastern France.   1005 – Birth of Ali az-Zahir, Egyptian caliph (d. 1036)   1214 – The University of Oxford receives its Royal charter.   1567 – Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique   1582 – Bishop Domingo de Salazar of Manila suppresses the Philippines   1631 – The sack of Baltimore: the Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates.   1675 – Abenaki, Massachusetts, Mohegan and Wampanoag indians form anti-English front under Metacom   1756 – Birth of Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (d. 1792)   1756 – In India, 150 British soldiers were imprisoned in a cell that became known as the “Black Hole of Calcutta.”   1782 – Congress approves Great Seal of U.S. and eagle as it’s symbol   

 1789 – Oath of Tennis Court (for a new constitution) in France taken   1791 – King Louis XVI of France was captured while attempting to flee the country in the so-called Flight to Varennes.   1793 – Eli Whitney applied for a cotton gin patent. He received the patent on March 14. The cotton gin initiated the American mass-production concept.   1825 – Coronation of French king Charles X the Bourbon   1837 – Death of William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1765)   1837 – England issues its 1st stamp, 1P Queen Victoria   1837 – Queen Victoria at 18 ascends British throne following death of uncle King William IV Ruled for 63 years ending in 1901   1840 – Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.   1863 – The National Bank of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, PA, became the first bank to receive a charter from the U.S. Congress.   1863 – West Virginia became the 35th state to join the U.S.   1867 – President Andrew Johnson announces purchase of Alaska   1874 – 1st U.S. Lifesaving Medal awarded (Lucian Clemons)   1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world’s first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.   1893 – A jury in New Bedford, Mass., found Lizzie Borden innocent of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.   1895 – 1st female PhD (science) earned (Caroline Willard Baldwin)   1895 – The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is officially opened.   1898 – The U.S. Navy seized the island of Guam enroute to the Phillipines to fight the Spanish.   1900 – Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departs Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return.   1901 – Charlotte Manye is 1st native African to graduate from a U.S. college   1905 – Birth of Lillian Hellman, American playwright (d. 1984)   

 1907 – 1st Portland Rose festival   1909 – 1st balloon honeymoon (Roger Burham and Eleanor Waring)   1909 – Birth of Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1959) 

 1910 – “Krazy Kat” comic strip by George Herriman debuts in New York Journal   1910 – Birth of Josephine Johnson, American author (d. 1990) Wrote “Night Flight” which appeared in Harper’s and was reprinted in Ray Bradbury’s Timeless Stories for Today and Tomorrow.   1910 – Fanny Brice debuted in the New York production of the “Ziegfeld Follies”.   1910 – Mexican President Porfirio Diaz proclaimed martial law and arrested hundreds.   1911 – NAACP incorporates in New York   1912 – Birth of Jack Torrance, American shot putter (d. 1969) Torrance broke the shot put world record several times in 1934, his eventual best mark of 17.40 m remaining unbeaten until 1948. At the 1936 Summer Olympics he placed fifth.   1914 – Birth of Zelda, Israeli poet (d. 1984)   1919 – Treaty of Versailles: Germany ends incorporation of Austria   1921 – 11.5″ (29.2 cm) of rainfall, Circle, Montana (state record)   1923 – France announced it would seize the Rhineland to assist Germany in paying its war debts.   1924 – Birth of Chet Atkins, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2001)   1928 – Birth of Eric Dolphy, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1964)   1928 – Birth of Martin Landau, American actor   1931 – Birth of Olympia Dukakis, American actress   1933 – Birth of Danny Aiello, American actor   1936 – Birth of Billy Guy, American singer (The Coasters) (d. 2002)   1937 – W2XBS (later WCBS-TV) televised the first TV operetta. The work was the “Pirates of Penzance” by Gilbert and Sullivan.   1939 – Test flight of 1st rocket plane using liquid propellants   1941 – The U.S. Army Air Forces was established, replacing the Army Air Corps. The Army Air Forces were abolished with the creation of the United States Air Force in 1947.   1942 – Birth of Brian Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer (The Beach Boys)   1942 – German troops conquer Tobruk, North Africa   1942 – The Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp.   1943 – Germans round up Jews in Amsterdam   1943 – National Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organizes   1943 – New Quebec (Chubb) Crater discovered in northern Quebec (3 km dia)   1943 – Race-related rioting erupted in Detroit. Federal troops were sent in two days later to end the violence that left more than 30 dead.   1944 – Congress charters Central Intelligence Agency   1944 – Nazi begin mass extermination of Jews at Auschwitz   1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”.   1945 – Birth of Anne Murray, Canadian singer and guitarist   1945 – The United States Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to America.   1946 – Birth of Bob Vila, American television host   1946 – New York City transit begins using Pennsylvania system – Car # 744 on 8th Ave IND line   1947 – Death of Bugsy Siegel, American mobster (b. 1906) Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was murdered in Beverly Hills, CA, at the order of mob associates angered over the soaring costs of his project, the Flamingo resort in Las Vegas, NV.   1947 – President Truman vetoes Taft-Hartley Act   1948 – 20 Jews killed when a bomb is thrown into Jewish quarter of Cairo   1948 – Toast of the Town, later The Ed Sullivan Show, makes its television debut.   1949 – Birth of Alan Longmuir, Scottish bass player and actor (Bay City Rollers)   

 1949 – Birth of Lionel Richie, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor (Commodores)   1949 – Central Intelligence Agency Act, passes   1950 – Birth of Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi politician, 76th Prime Minister of Iraq   1950 – Birth of Peregrine Simon, British judge   1950 – Dutch Air Force base Tjililitan given to Indonesia   1950 – Joe Dimaggio’s 2,000th hit, Yankees beat Indians 8-2   1950 – Willie Mays graduated from high school and immediately signed with the New York Giants.   1952 – Birth of John Goodman, American actor and singer   1952 – Death of Luigi Fagioli, Italian race car driver (b. 1898)   1954 – Birth of Michael Anthony, American bass player (Van Halen and Chickenfoot)   1954 – Birth of Miles O’Keeffe, American actor   1955 – The AFL and CIO agreed to combine names and a merge into a single group.   1956 – A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people.   1959 – A rare June hurricane strikes Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.   1960 – 12nd Emmy Awards: Playhouse 90, Robert Stack and Jane Wyatt   1960 – Birth of John Taylor, English bass player, songwriter, producer, and actor (Duran Duran, Power Station, Neurotic Outsiders)   1963 – Beatles form “Beatles Ltd” to handle their income   1963 – The so-called “red telephone” link is established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.   1965 – Birth of Weston Ochse, American author.   1966 – Sheila Scott completes 1st round-the-world solo flight by a woman   1966 – The Beatles album, “Yesterday & Today” was released by Capitol Records.   1967 – Birth of Nicole Kidman, Australian-American actress, singer, and producer   1968 – Birth of Michael Flores, American author.   1969 – Jimi Hendrix earned the largest paycheck (to that time) for a single show when he earned $125,000 for a single set at the Newport Jazz Festival.   1970 – Birth of Ray Misra, American author and massage therapist.   1972 – Death of Howard Deering Johnson, American businessman, founded Howard Johnson’s (b. 1897)   1972 – Watergate scandal: An 18½-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex.   1973 – American Bandstand celebrated its 20th anniversary with a 90-minute television special. Little Richard, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Cheech and Chong and Three Dog Night made appearances.   1973 – Birth of Chino Moreno, American singer-songwriter (Deftones, Team Sleep, and Crosses)   1975 – The movie “Jaws” was released.   1977 – Oil enters Trans-Alaska pipeline exits 38 days later at Valdez   1977 – Steve Winwood’s first solo album was released.   1979 – ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder is caught on tape and sparks an international outcry against the regime.   1980 – “It’s Still Rock & Roll” became Billy Joel’s first #1 hit.   1980 – Roberto Duran takes WBC welterweight title from Sugar Ray Leonard at Olympic Stadium in Montreal by unanimous decision   1983 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers must treat male and female workers equally in providing health benefits for their spouses.   1986 – Doctors at Bethesda Naval remove 2 small benign polyps from Reagan’s colon   1988 – “Price is Right” model Janice Pennington is knocked out by a TV camera   1988 – Supreme Court upholds a law that made it illegal for private clubs to discriminate against women and minorities   1989 – The “Batman:Motion Picture Soundtrack” was released by Prince.   1990 – 50,000 die in a 7.6 earthquake in Iran   1990 – Asteroid Eureka is discovered.   1990 – Nelson Mandela lands in New York City to begin a tour of U.S.   1991 – The German Bundestag votes to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin.   1994 – O.J. Simpson pleaded innocent in Los Angeles to the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend Ronald Goldman.   1995 – George Jones and Tammy Wynette released their reunion album “One.”   1995 – Space probe Ulysses begins 2nd passage behind the Sun   1996 – Space Shuttle STS-78, Columbia 20, launches into space   1997 – Death of Lawrence Payton, American singer-songwriter and producer (The Four Tops) (b. 1938)   1997 – The tobacco industry agreed to a massive settlement in exchange for major relief from mounting lawsuits and legal bills.   1999 – As the last of 40,000 Yugoslav troops left Kosovo, NATO declared a formal end to its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.   2002 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the execution of mentally retarded murderers was unconstitutionally cruel. The vote was 6 in favor and 3 against.   2003 – The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.   2006 – Death of Claydes Charles Smith, American guitarist (Kool & the Gang) (b. 1948)   2009 – Death of Neda Agha-Soltan, Iranian student and activist (b. 1982)  Neda Agha Soltan, 27, was gunned down during election protests in Tehran; her dying moments were caught on video and circulated widely on the Internet.   2010 – Presidential elections take place in Poland after the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash April 10, 2010   2011 – Australian travelers are warned they may face more disruption from the 2011 Puyehue-Cordon Caulle eruption in Chile   2011 – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers grants private companies the right to create new website domain suffixes   2012 – Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, reported to be in a coma, is removed from life support   2012 – U.S. CEO of Oracle Corp, Larry Ellison, agrees to purchase 98 percent of Hawaii’s island of Lanai   2013 – Instagram offers users the ability to upload videos to their service   ???? – Birth of Tim Curran, American author.   ???? – Birth of Bailey Hunter, Canadian author and hypnotherapist.   

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