June Fun Facts, Trivia and History |
June Highlights |
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Traditional June Information |
| The Latin name for June is Junius. Ovid offers multiple etymologies for the name in the Fasti, a poem about the Roman calendar. The first is that the month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, the goddess of marriage and the wife of the supreme deity Jupiter; the second is that the name comes from the Latin word iuniores, meaning “younger ones”, as opposed to maiores (“elders”) for which the preceding month May (Maius) may be named. In ancient Rome, the period from mid-May through mid-June was considered inauspicious for marriage. Ovid says that he consulted the Flaminica Dialis, the high priestess of Jupiter, about setting a date for his daughter’s wedding, and was advised to wait till after June 15. |
| The month of June is named after Juno, the wife of Jupiter, and queen of the gods [Hera in Greek mythology]. It was held sacred to her, and was thought by the Romans to be the luckiest month for marriage, since Juno was the Goddess of Marriage. Wherever the goddess went she was attended by her messenger Iris (the Rainbow), who journeyed so quickly through the air that she was seldom seen, but after she had passed there was often left in the sky the radiant trail of her highly-coloured robe. Juno is always represented as a tall, beautiful woman, wearing a crown and bearing a sceptre in her hand, and often she is shown with a peacock at her side, since that bird was sacred to her. A story is told of one of her servants, Argus, who had a hundred eyes, only a few of which he closed at a time. Juno set him to watch over a cow which Jupiter wished to steal, for it was really a beautiful girl named Io, whom Jupiter had transformed. Jupiter sent Mercury to carry off Io, and by telling long and wearisome stories to Argus at last succeeded in lulling him into so deep a sleep that he closed all his eyes. The god then seized Argus’s own sword and cut off his head. Juno was very sad at the loss of her servant, and gathering up his hundred eyes scattered them over the tail of the peacock, her favourite bird. |
June is… |
| Accordian Awareness Month Adopt A Cat Month African-American Music Appreciation Month Aquarium Month Candy Month Caribbean American Heritage Month Dairy Month Fight The Filthy Fly Month Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month Gay and Lesbian Pride Month Great Outdoors Month Iced Tea Month Papaya Month |
| First Weekend in June: National Doughnut Weekend |
| Cancer is the fourth astrological sign in the Zodiac, represented by the Crab. It is associated with the element of water and is considered a cardinal sign. Those born under this sign are said to be emotional, sensitive, and nurturing. The Moon rules Cancer, and its corresponding astrological period is typically from June 21 to July 22. Cancer is known for being emotional, sensitive, and protective of their loved ones. They are also known for their strong intuition and ability to nurture and care for others. They can be moody and have a hard time dealing with change. |
June Quotes |
“If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.” “Summer makes me drowsy. Autumn makes me sing. Winter’s pretty lousy, but I hate Spring.” June is bustin’ out all over “In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.” “This is June, the month of grass and leaves . . . already the aspens are trembling again, and a new summer is offered me. I feel a little fluttered in my thoughts, as if I might be too late. Each season is but an infinitesimal point. It no sooner comes than it is gone. It has no duration. It simply gives a tone and hue to my thought. Each annual phenomena is reminiscence and prompting. Our thoughts and sentiments answer to the revolution of the seasons, as two cog-wheels fit into each other. Roses are red, “What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.” “In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” The air is like a butterfly Mine is the Month of Roses; yes, and mine That’s life, that’s what all the people say |
| People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy. |
June History |
June 1 1831 – James Clark Ross discovered the Magnetic North Pole. 1986 – Thomas Edison received his first patent (#90646). It was for an “electrographic vote recorder.” 1946 – The BBC started to grant television licenses, for legal access to broadcast TV, costing £2 annually. 1947 – The Doomsday Cock first appeared, on the cover of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. It was initiallys et at 7 minutes until midnight. 1961 – Regular FM stereo radio broadcasting with a multiplexed signal began in Schenectady, NY, on WGFM. 1965 (Explosion) A coal mine explosion in Fukuoka, Japan at the Yamano mine killed 236 people. 1968 – Blind and Deaf popular icon Helen Keller died. (born June 27, 1880) 1974 – The Heimlich maneuver, named after Dr. Henry Heimlich, was published in the journal Emergency Medicine. 1980 – The Cable News Network (CNN) began broadcasting 1991- The Comedy Network became Comedy Central 1994 – FX Network made its debut. It was the first cable TV network owned by FOX. 1996 – Major League Baseball debuted for the first time on FOX 2009 – The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien premiered on NBC 2009 – General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. June 2 1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ended as Crusader forces take the city. The crusades were a result of Muslim conquests of the Christian holy lands. 1835 – P. T. Barnum and his circus began touring the United States. 1858 – The Donati Comet was first seen and named after its discoverer, Giovanni Battista Donati, in Florence. 1865 – Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, a commander of Confederate forces, signed the surrender terms offered by Union negotiators, ending the US civil war. 1928 – Kraft’s Velveeta Cheese was made avaiable. 1953 – The coronation of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II. 1962 – Ray Charles hit Billboards Top 5 in both Pop and R&B with a country tune – I Can’t Stop Loving You. 1966 – Surveyor 1 landed in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon. 1991 – Liquid Television debuted on MTV 2004 – Ken Jennings began his 74-game winning streak on the syndicated game show Jeopardy. June 3 1889 – The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States was completed, 14 miles between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon. 1948 – The 200-inch reflecting Hale telescope at the Palomar Mountain Observatory in California was dedicated. 1956 – Santa Cruz, CA authorities announced a total ban on rock and roll at public gatherings, calling the music “Detrimental to both the health and morals of our youth and community.” 1965 – Major Edward White II, a Gemini 4 crew member, performed the first American spacewalk. 1968 – Valerie Solanas attempted to assassinate Andy Warhol by shooting him three times. 1992 – Presidential candidate Bill Clinton appeared on the Arsenio Hall Show and played the saxophone 1996 – Zenith introduced the first HDTV-compatible front projection TV in the U.S. 1989 – The government of China sent troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation. 2010 – Long suspected of his involvement in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, Joran van der Sloot was arrested for the murder of Stephany Flores in Lima, Peru. June 4 1812 – Following Louisiana’s admittance as a US state, the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory. 1876 – The Transcontinental Express arrived in San Francisco, California, in only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City. 1895 – Joseph Lee was issued a patent (#540,553) for a “bread crumbing machine” 1919 – The US Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guaranteed voting for women, and sends it to the individual states for ratification. 1937 – The first shopping carts were introduced at the Humpty Dumpty Supermarket in Oklahoma City, created by the store’s owner, Sylvan Goldman. 1957 – The first U.S. commercial long-distance coal slurry pipeline, 108 miles long, began delivery from a coal mine, from the Georgetown Preparation Plant of the Hanna Coal Company in Cadiz, Ohio, to the Cleveland Illuminating Company power station, in Eastlake, Ohio. 1974 – During a ‘Ten Cent Beer Night’ inebriated Cleveland Indians fans started misbehaving, causing the game to be forfeited to the Texas Rangers. 1976 – ‘The gig that changed the world.’ A few dozen people saw the debut of the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England 1986 – Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel. 1989 – The ‘Tank Man’ halted the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. June 5 1883 – The first regularly scheduled Orient Express left Paris. 1933 – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the United States off of the “Gold Standard”, a result of the Great Depression. President Nixon, in 1971, completed the transition when he announced that the United States would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, $35 an ounce at that time. 1956 – Elvis Presley introduced his new single, Hound Dog, on The Milton Berle Show 1966 – The Beatles had a taped appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, debuting music videos for Rain and Paperback Writer. 1968 – Robert F. Kennedy was shot and killed at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian. 1977 – The Apple II went in sale. 1981 – The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that five people in Los Angeles, California, had a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS. 1989 – The Tiananmen Square protests ended violently in Beijing by the People’s Liberation Army, with at least 241 dead. Many western journalists had errantly speculated that the army would not fight against the people. 1995 – Singled Out with host Chris Hardwick premiered on MTV 2011 – Teen Wolf premiered on MTV June 6 1882 (Cyclone) More than 100,000 people in Bombay, India were killed. 1889 – The Great Seattle Fire destroyed 25 blocks of downtown Seattle. 1912 (Volcano Eruption) Novarupta 1933 – America’s first drive-in opened near Camden, New Jersey, opened today. The first feature was a 1932 film, Wives Beware, and admission was 25 cents per car and an additional 25 cents per person. 1942 – The first parachute jump in the US using a nylon parachute was made by Adeline Gray, in Hartford, Connecticut. 1944 – D-Day: the day the Allied powers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, turning the tide of the war against Germany. 1948 – BBC Television began broadcasting again for the first time since 1939. 1964 – The Rolling Stones made their American TV debut on The Hollywood Palace. 1971 – The Ed Sullivan Show aired for the final time on CBS. 1983 – Reading Rainbow premiered on PBS 1997 – Farrah Fawcett made a bizarre appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman. She went on long tirades and story-telling sprees that made little to no sense and was distracted by blinking lights in the studio. 1998 – Sex and The City premiered on HBO 2002 – A near-Earth asteroid, estimated at 30 feet in diameter, exploded over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. 2005 – In Gonzales v. Raich, the US Supreme Court upheld a federal law banning cannabis, including medical marijuana. June 7 1753 – The British Museum was founded, starting the the collections of Sir Hans Sloane. 1755 (Earthquake) Tabriz, Iran 1893 – Mohandas Gandhi committed his first act of civil disobedience. 1914 – The Alliance was the first vessel to pass through the Panama Canal. 1954 – Rutgers Institute of Microbiology opened, it was the second dedicated microbiology laboratory in the world. 1955 – The $64,000 Question debuted on CBS. 1962 – Credit Suisse (then known as Schweizerische Kreditanstalt) opened the first drive-through bank, in Switzerland at St. Peter-Strasse 17, near Paradeplatz in downtown Zurich. 1976 – The Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night by journalist Nik Cohn was published in New York Magazine. It was the inspiration for the film Saturday Night Fever. 1981 – The Israeli Air Force destroyed Iraq’s Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera. 1990 – Universal Studios Florida opened in Orlando, FL. 2002 – Kim Possible premiered on The Disney Channel. June 8 1637 – René Descartes published Discourse on Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences. 1783 (Volcano Eruption) Laki, Iceland, killed over 9,000 over a period of months, and caused a 7 year famine. 1869 – Ives W. McGaffney of Chicago obtained the patent (#91,145) for a “sweeping machine” 1872 – The first US post card was authorized by Act of Congress. 1906 – Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value. 1940 – The element 93, neptunium (Np) was announced by Edwin M. McMillan and Philip H. Abelson working at the University of California at Berkeley. 1948 – Texaco Star Theater (later The Milton Berle Show) was first broadcast on NBC 1949 – George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was published. 1949 – The FBI reported notable Hollywood elite as communists, including John Garfield, Paul Robeson, Paul Muni, and Edward G. Robinson. 1953 (Tornado) Flint, Michigan 1953 – The US Supreme Court ruled that restaurants in Washington DC, could not refuse to serve black patrons. 1966 – National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) announced that they would merge. 1969 – Founder Brian Jones quit The Rolling Stones. He died a month later, at age 27. 1983 – The first triplets resulting from in-vitro fertilization, Aaron, Jessica, and Chenara Guare were born at the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, Australia. 1990 – Charles Freeman, the owner of E-C Records store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was charged with illegally selling the ‘legally obscene’ 2 Live Crew’s ‘As Nasty As They Wanna Be’ to an undercover officer. June 9 1856 – 500 Mormons left Iowa City, Iowa, and headed west for Salt Lake City. 1902 – Horn & Hardart opened first restaurant with vending machine service at the Automat Restaurant at 818 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1934 – Donald Duck debuted in The Wise Little Hen. 1953 – John H. Kraft was granted his patent (#2,641,545) for “manufacture of soft surface cured cheese”. 1978 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormans) opened its priesthood to “all worthy men”, ending a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men. 1984 (Tornado) Belyanitsky, Ivanovo, and Balino, Russia 1993 – ‘Hollywood Madame’ Heidi Fleiss was arrested. 1997 – Married With Children television series came to an end on FOX. 2006 – Disney’s Cars was released in theaters. June 10 1809 – The first steamboat to navigate the open seas, the Phoenix paddle wheel steamboat took 13 days to sail from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1829 – The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge took place. Oxford won. 1854 – The first class of United States Naval Academy students graduated. 1886 (Volcano Eruption) Mount Tarawera 1902 – The US patent (#701,839) for a window envelope was issued to Americus F. Callahan of Chicago, Ill., which he called the outlook envelope. 1916 – An Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire led by Lawrence of Arabia began. 1935 – Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States, by Dr. Robert Smith and Bill Wilson. 1943 – Laszlo Biro filed for a British patent (British #564172) on a practical ball point pen with quick-drying ink. 1944 – 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds became the youngest player ever in a Major League Baseball game. 1947 – Saab produced its first automobile. 1952 – Mylar was registered as a DuPont trademark for an strong polyester film that grew out of the development of Dacron, product of the early 1950s. 1991 – 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped in South Lake Tahoe, California; she was freed in 2009. 1994 – Pay television content descriptors which describe the varying degrees of suggestive or explicit content in a series and movies began being broadcast by pay channels such as HBO, Cinemax and Showtime. 2007 – HBO’s critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning Mob-family drama The Sopranos ended with a sudden cut to black and silence, leaving many fans to wonder whether Tony Soprano was dead or still alive. June 11 1509 – Henry VIII of England married Catherine of Aragon. 1742 – Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin stove. He chose not to patent it. 1793 – Robert Heterick was issued the patent (#X000063) for a stove design of cast iron 1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurred in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish. 1895 – Charles E. Duryea was granted he first US patent (#540,648) for a gasoline-driven automobile. 1949 – Hank Williams, Sr. debuted at the Grand Ole Opry. 1955 – Eighty-three spectators were killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collided at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest accident to date in motorsports. 1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin (allegedly) became the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island. They were never seen again after escaping on an inflatable raft. 1963 – Faget, Meyer, Chilton, Blanchard, Kehlet, Hammack and Johnson were granted the patent (#3,093,346), for NASA, for the Mercury space capsule. 1963 – Alabama Governor George Wallace (D) stood at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending the school. 1979 – Actor John Wayne died afrer a decade-long fight with cancer. 1982 – E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial was released in theaters. 1986 – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was released in theaters. The rare Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California was not really destroyed in the film. 2001 – Timothy McVeigh was executed for his role in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. 2002 – American Idol premiered on FOX 2002 – Antonio Meucci was acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress. His 1871 patent was not as detailed as Alexander Graham Bell’s 1876 patent. June 12 1849 – A gas mask “inhaler or lung protector” was patented (#X006529) by Lewis Phectic Haslett of Louisville, Ky. 1899 (Tornado) New Richmond, Wisconsin 1906 – Sound movies were patented (#823,022) by John Ballance. 1913 – John Randolph Bray exhibited the first animated cartoon, a movie called The Artist’s Dream (aka The Dachsund) in which a dog atesausages until he exploded. 1939 – The Baseball Hall of Fame opened in Cooperstown, New York. 1942 – Anne Frank received a diary for her thirteenth birthday. 1964 – Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa. 1967 – The US Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia declared all US state laws which prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. 1972 – Fast food restaurant chain Popeyes was founded in Arabi, Louisiana. 1979 – Cyclist Bryan Allen flew the Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel, it was powered solely by human power. 1987 – “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” – Ronald Reagan, referring to the Berlin Wall. 1998 – Geraldo ended (syndicated show) 1994 – Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered outside her home in Los Angeles, California. 1997 – Queen Elizabeth II reopened the Globe Theatre in London. 1999 – The Style Network made its debut. June 13 1525 – Ex-Catholic priest Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, against the celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for priests and nuns. 1611 – Astronomer Johannes Fabricius published Narratio de maculis in sole observatis et apparente earum cum sole conversione (Narration on Spots Observed on the Sun and their Apparent Rotation with the Sun), after his doscovery of sunspots. 1774 – Rhode Island became the first of Britain’s North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves. 1844 – A safe lock was patented by Linus Yale (#3,630) 1886 – Great Vancouver Fire destroyed much of the Canadian city. 1898 – Yukon Territory was formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital. 1904 – PS General Slocum fire and sank, East River, New York 1927 – Aviator Charles Lindbergh received his famous ticker-tape parade down 5th Avenue in New York City. 1962 – Stanley Kubrick’s controversial Lolita was released. 1966 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them. It is a bit more detailed than what police say in most televised crime dramas. 1971 – The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers. 1983 – Launced in 1972, Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit of Neptune and became the first man-made object to leave our Solar System. 1994 – A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blamed recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages. 2012 – Dallas, originally on CBS, returned to television, this time on TNT June 14 1775 -The Continental Army was established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Army. 1777 – The Stars and Stripes was adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States. Today, June 14 is officially ‘Flag Day’ in the United States. 1789 – Whiskey distilled from maize was first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It is named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky. 1834 – The first sandpaper was patented (#X08244, #X08245, #X08246, #X08247) and issued to Isaac Fisher, Jr., of Springfield, Vermont 1872 – Trade unions were legalized in Canada. 1884 – New York was the first state in the US to enact legislation requiring the burying of utility wires. 1938 – Dr. Benjamin Gruskin of Philadelphia, Pa. patented (#2,120,667) chlorophyll as a “therapeutic agent for the use in the treatment of infection” of the blood stream, infected parts, and for open cuts and wounds. 1951 – The Univac1 was unveiled in Washington, DC. and dedicated as the world’s first commercial computer. 1954 – US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill that placed the words ‘under God’ into the United States Pledge of Allegiance. 1959 – Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opened to the public in Anaheim, California. 1966 – The Vatican announced the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (“Index of Prohibited Books”), which was originally instituted in 1557. 1967 – The People’s Republic of China tested its first hydrogen bomb. 1972 As of DEcember 31, the insecticide DDT was banned from use in the US. 2002 – The Bourne Identity was released in theaters. June 15 1215 – The signed (sealed) Magna Carta guaranteed King John would respect feudal rights and privileges, uphold the freedom of the church within his kingdom. This was probably the same King John of Robin Hood lore. 1648 – Margaret Jones was hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 1752 – Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning is electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown). 1844 – Charles Goodyear received a patent (#3,633) for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber. 1846 – The Oregon Treaty established the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. 1878 – Eadweard Muybridge took a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study becomes the basis of motion pictures. The purpose of the shoot was to determine whether a galloping horse ever lifts all four feet completely off the ground during the gait, since the human eye could not break down the action. It is considered by many to be the first ‘motion picture.’ 1896 (Earthquake & Tsunami) Meiji-Sanriku, Japan 1919 – The first US patent (#228,904) for a safety razor was issued to brothers Frederick and Otto Kampfe of New York. 1991 (Volcano Eruption) Mount Pinatubo 1994 – Israel and Vatican City established full diplomatic relations. 2012 – Nik Wallenda became the first person to successfully tightrope walk over Niagara Falls. June 16 1858 – Abraham Lincoln gave his “a house divided against itself cannot stand” speech. 1884 – The first public roller coaster, LaMarcus Adna Thompson’s “Switchback Railway” (patent #310,966) opened in New York’s Coney Island amusement park. 1893 – Cracker Jack, invented by R.W. Rueckheim, was introduced at the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago’s World Fair. 1903 – The Pepsi-Cola Co. registered the Pepsi-Cola trademark. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company was incorporated by Henry Ford and 11 investors.. 1911 – IBM as founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York. 1961 – Dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected to the US from the Soviet Union. 1963 – Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space on Vostok 6. 1967 – The Monterey Pop Festival began. 2010 – Hot in Cleveland premiered on TV Land. June 17 1837 – Charles Goodyear obtained his first rubber-processing patent (#240). The success of his company came after he died in 1860. 1852 – W.H. Fancher and C.M. French of Waterloo, N.Y. received a patent (#35,600) for a combined plow and gun. Yes, you rwad that correctly. 1963 – The US Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp, against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord’s Prayer in public schools. 1971 – President Richard Nixon declared the US War on Drugs. 1987 – Florida’s Dusky Seaside Sparrow became extinct when ‘Orange band’, the last known of the species, died. 1994 – All major networks provided live coverage of the O.J. Simpson low-speed car chase in the White Bronco. The chase concluded with Simpson’s surrender to authorities in front of his mansion in Brentwood, CA. June 18 1812 – The U.S. Congress declares war on Great Britain, Canada, and Ireland, starting The War of 1812. 1815 – Napoleon defeated at Waterloo, in Belgium. 1873 – Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election. 1923 – Checker Taxi put its first taxi on the streets of Chicago. 1930 – Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Franklin Institute were held in Philadelphia, PA. 1965 – The first large solid-fuel rocket – a Titan 3C – rocket was launched into orbit. 1983 – The space shuttle Challenger launched into space on its second mission, with Dr. Sally Ride, making her the first American woman in space. 1984 – Conservative talk radio host Alan Berg – “the man you love to hate” – was gunned down and killed in the driveway of his home in Denver, Colorado. June 19 1846 – The first officially recorded, organized baseball game was played under Alexander Cartwright’s rules on Hoboken, New Jersey’s Elysian Fields with the New York Base Ball Club defeating the Knickerbockers 23-1. 1862 – The US Congress prohibited slavery in United States territories, nullifying Dred Scott v. Sandford. 1905 – The first nickelodeon theater opened in Pittsburgh, PA. 1910 – The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington. 1941 – Cheerie Oats, later renamed Cheerios, was invented. 1952 – I’ve Got A Secret premiered on CBS 1953 – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for spying for the Soviet Union, at Sing Sing, in New York. 2011 – Falling Skies premiered on TNT 2012 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange requested asylum in London’s Ecuatorian Embassy for fear of extradition to the US after publication of previously classified documents. June 20 1782 – Congress adopted the Great Seal of the United States, with the Bald Eagle clutching both an olive branch and thirteen arrows. 1837 – Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne. 1840 – Samuel Morse received the patent (#1647) for the telegraph. 1893 – Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother. 1945 – The United States Secretary of State approved the transfer of Wernher von Braun (and other Nazi rocket scientists) to America. 1948 – Toast of the Town, a variety series hosted by Ed Sullivan, premiered on CBS. It was later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show. 1963 – The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to establish a “hot line” communication system between the two nations. 1975 – Hollywood’s first major summer ‘must see’ blockbuster, Jaws, opened in theaters. June 21 1877 – The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants convicted of murder, were hanged in Pennsylvania prisons, in Schuylkill County and Carbon County. 1893 – The first Ferris wheel premiered at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, and could hold up to 2000 people on 36 cars, and was 264 feet tall. 1913 – The first successful parachute jump from an airplane by a woman was made by Georgia Broadwick, age 18, over Griffith Field, Los Angeles, California. 1940 – The first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 1948 – Columbia Records introduced the long-playing record album (33 1/3 revolutions per minute) in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, New York. The first was released in 1949 – ML 4001, Nathan Milstein performing the Mendelssohn violin concerto. 1990 (Earthquake) Rudbar, Iran June 22 1870 – US Congress created the United States Department of Justice. 1937 – Joe Louis won the world heavyweight boxing title when he defeated Jim Braddock. 1942 – Pledge of Allegiance was formally adopted by Congress. 1950 – The publication ‘Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television’ listed many suspected communists in American media, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lena Horne, Pete Seeger, Artie Shaw and Orson Welles. 1969 – Cleveland, Ohio’s Cuyahoga River caught fire. 1978 – Pluto’s Moon Charon was discovered by James W. Christy, at the Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. 2001 – The Fast and the Furious was released in theaters. 2009 – Eastman Kodak Company announced that it would discontinue sales of the Kodachrome Color Film. June 23 1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes received the patents (#79265 & #79868) for an invention he called the “Type-Writer.” He also invented the ‘QWERTY keyboard’ in 1873. 1894 – The International Olympic Committee was founded at the Sorbonne in Paris. 1926 – The College Board administered the first SAT exam. 1938 – The first ‘Oceanarium’ opened at Marineland in St. Augustine, Florida 1944 (Tornado) Shinnston, West Virginia 1953 – Frank J. Zamboni was issued a patent (#2,642,679) for his ice resurfacer. 1973 – A fire at a house in Hull, England which killd a six year old boy, was the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by arsonist Peter Dinsdale. 1980 – The David Letterman Show debuted on NBC daytime. It was cancelled a few months later. 1982 – A record low temperature of -117ºF. was recorded at the South Pole. 1989 – Batman, starring Micheal Keaton, was released in theaters. 2013 – Nik Wallenda became the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope. June 24 1873 – Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) received a patent (#140,245) for a self-pasting Scrapbook. 1916 – Mary Pickford became the first female film star to sign a million dollar contract (with Adolph Zukor/Paramount). 1938 – Pieces of a meteor, estimated to have weighed 450 metric tons when it hit the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded, landed near Chicora, in western Pennsylvania. A cow was reportedly injured. 1947 – Kenneth Arnold reported seeing the Mount Rainier UFO 1948 – Veteran Pilots Clartence Chiles and Charles Whitted, in Alabama, saw a cigashaped vehicle, with windows, flying beside them. 1949 – The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, aired on NBC, starring William Boyd. 1957 – Jack Parr became the host on The Tonight Show on NBC, 1997 – US Air Force officials released a 231-page report dismissing all of the claims of an alien spacecraft crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. 2004 – In New York, capital punishment was declared unconstitutional. 2008 – Wipeout premiered on ABC. June 25 1876 – Native American forces, led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, defeated the US Army troops lead by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. 1910 – The US Congress passed the Mann Act, which prohibited interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes.” 1914 – The Greal Salem Fire, Massachusettes 1944 – The final page of the comic strip Krazy Kat was published, months after the author, George Herriman died. 1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) was published. 1949 – The cartoon classic, Long-Haired Hare starring Bugs Bunny, was released in theaters. 1967 – The special Our World was the first live worldwide “via satellite” TV broadcast, transmitting to 30 countries via the BBC. The Beatles closed the show ith All You Need Is Love. Performers include Mick Jagger, opera singer Maria Callas, Vienna Boys’ Choir, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, Pattie Harrison, Jane Asher, Graham Nash, and others. The show lasted 2 and a half hours. 1978 – The rainbow flag, representing gay pride, was flown for the first time in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. 2009 – Michael Jackson died after suffering from cardiac arrest caused by a fatal combination of drugs given to him by his personal doctor, Conrad Murray. June 26 1797 – Charles Newbold was issued a patent (#X000177) for an improvement for the cast-iron plow 1807 – Lightning struck a gunpowder factory in Luxembourg, killing more than 300 people. 1819 – The first US patent (#X003115) for a velocipede, a predecessor of the bicycle, was issued to William K. Clarkson Jr. of New York. 1870 – Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States. 1906 – 1906 French Grand Prix, the first Grand Prix motor racing event was held. Ferenc Szisz, driving for the Renault team, won the two day event. 1926 – Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises novel was released. 1927 – The Cyclone roller coaster opened on Coney Island. 1934 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Credit Union Act, which established credit unions in the US. 1936 – The first flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first working helicopter, in Berlin, Germany. 1945 – The United Nations Charter was signed, in San Francisco. 1948 – Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, was published in The New Yorker magazine. 1963 – US President John F. Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. 1974 – The Universal Product Code was scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. 1977 – Elvis Presley performed the final concert of his life in Indianapolis, Indiana. 1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Communications Decency Act violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. 2000 – The completion of a working draft reference DNA sequence of the human genome was announced at the White House by President Bill Clinton, and representatives from the Human Genome Project (HGP). June 27 1844 – Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Mormons, and his brother Hyrum Smith, were murdered by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail. 1949 – The first sci-fi TV show, Captain Video and His Video Rangers debuted. 1966 – ABC’s dark shadows premiered. 1968 – Elvis Presley filmed his Comeback Special. 1976 – Air France Flight 139 (Tel Aviv-Athens-Paris) was hijacked en route to Paris by the PLO and redirected to Entebbe, Uganda. 1985 – US Route 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System. June 28 1832 – The first American case of a cholera epidemic was reported in New York City. 1838 – Coronation of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. 1894 – Labor Day became an official US holiday. 1895 – The US Court of Private Land Claims rules James Reavis’ claim to Barony of Arizona is “wholly fictitious and fraudulent.” 1914 – World War One (orginally ‘The Great War’) began with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Serajevo. 1926 – Mercedes-Benz was formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies. 1964 – Malcolm X formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity. 1969 – Stonewall Riots began in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement. 1992 (Earthquakes) Landers, California, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. 1997 – Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear in the third round of their heavyweight rematch, earning a disqualification. 2007 – Burn Notice premiered on USA June 29 1956 – The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signed, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System. 1967 – Actress Jayne Mansfield died in car crash on Interstate 90, east of New Orleans, Louisiana. 1974 – Mikhail Baryshnikov defected from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet. 1995 – STS-71 Mission; Atlantis Space Shuttle docked with the Russian space station Mir for the first time. 1998 – The Lifetime Movie Network made its debut. 2007 – Apple released its first mobile phone, the iPhone. June 30 1859 – Jean-Francois Gravelet, known as Emile Blondin, became the first daredevil to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. 1860 – The 1860 Oxford evolution debate (Huxley-Wilberforce debate or the Wilberforce-Huxley debate) at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History took place. 1886 – The United States Division of Forestry was recognized and established by an Act of Congress 1894 – The Tower Bridge across the River Thames in London was officially opened 1906 – The United States Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act. 1908 – The Tunguska Event happened near Lake Baikal, Russia. Destroying 770 square miles in Eastern Siberian Taiga. It was probably a big meteor. Or was it? 1936 – Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind was published. 1952 – The Guiding Light premiered on CBS. 1953 – The first Chevrolet Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan. 1966 – The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded. 1971 – Ohio ratifies the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution, reducing the voting age to 18, putting the amendment into effect. 1972 – The first leap second was added to the UTC time system. 1987 – Iran-Contra hearings aired during daytime television, pre-empting most programming. 1989 – ‘Do The Right Thing’ was released in theaters. |
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