1501 – John I Albert [Jan I Olbracht], Polish sovereign (King of Poland, 1492-1501; Duke of Głogów, 1491-98), dies at 41
1565 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, 13th Japanese shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate (1545-65), dies at 29
1734 – Duke of Berwick, French general strategist, dies in battle
1965 – Arnold Meijer, Dutch leader of fascist Dutch National and Black Front, dies at 60
1978 – Cully Richards, actor (Don’t Call Me Charlie), dies at 68
1981 – Richard O’Connor, British general (b. 1889)
1987 – Dick Howser, American baseball shortstop (MLB All Star All-Star 1961, 61²; KC A’s) and manager (World Series 1977, 78 NY Yankees; KC Royals 1985), dies of brain cancer at 51
2002 – J. Carter Brown, American art director (Washington National Gallery), dies at 67
2007 – Paul Hodder-Williams, British publisher (Hodder and Stoughton), dies at 97
2015 – Ron Clarke, Australian athlete (17 x WRs, 5,000m, 10,000m, 20,000m; 2, 3, 6, 10 miles) and politician (mayor Gold Coast), dies from kidney failure at 78
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 17th June 2026
1397 – Union of Kalmar established between Denmark, Sweden and Norway
1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends more than 20 years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal
1789 – French Revolution: During the meeting of the Estates-General, the Third Estate proclaims itself the ‘National Assembly’
1916 – US troops under General Pershing march into Mexico
1990 – US Open Men’s Golf, Medinah CC: Hale Irwin wins his 3rd Open title; defeats Mike Donald at the 91st hole, the first in sudden-death, after tying the 18-hole Monday playoff
2012 – US Open Men’s Golf, Olympic Club, SF: American Webb Simpson wins his first major title, 1 stroke ahead of runners-up Graeme McDowell and Michael Thompson
2020 – First major breakthrough in treating COVID-19 using steroid dexamethasone announced by Oxford University
2024 – NBA Finals: Boston Celtics beat Dallas Mavericks 106-88 in Game 5 to clinch the club’s record 18th Championship; MVP: Boston forward Jaylen Brown
Today in History for 17th June 2026
Historical Events
1700 – Massachusetts orders priest to leave the colony
1769 – Design of Madonnina statue chosen, symbol of the city of Milan that stands atop spire of the Cathedral, designed by sculptor Giuseppe Perego
1837 – Charles Goodyear obtains his first rubber patent
1950 – 1st kidney transplant (Chicago)
1966 – Peter Green, British blues-rock guitartist joins John Mayall’s Bluebreakers
Famous Birthdays
1907 – Charles Eames, American designer and architect, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1978)
1920 – Jacob H. Gilbert, American politician (US Representative 1960-1971), born in The Bronx, NYC, New York (d. 1981)
1950 – Susan Damante, American actress (The Adventure of Wilderness Family), born in Palo Alto, California
1969 – Paul Tergat, Kenyan long distance runner, born in Riwo, Baringo District, Kenya
1970 – Ron “Popeye” Jones, American NBA forward, 1992-2004 (Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors, and 4 other teams), and assistant coach, 2013-present (4 teams), born in Dresden, Tennessee
Famous Deaths
1501 – John I Albert [Jan I Olbracht], Polish sovereign (King of Poland, 1492-1501; Duke of Głogów, 1491-98), dies at 41
1565 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, 13th Japanese shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate (1545-65), dies at 29
1797 – Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, King of Iran (1794-7) and founder of the Qajar dynasty, assassinated at 55
2002 – J. Carter Brown, American art director (Washington National Gallery), dies at 67
2005 – Ronald Winans, American gospel singer (Winans), dies at 48
Famous Deaths for 16th June 2026
1671 – Stenka Razin, Cossack rebel leader, tortured and executed in Moscow
1707 – Marie d’Orleans-Longueville, Duchess de Nemours, sovereign princess of Neuchâtel and writer (b. 1625)
1752 – Joseph Butler, English philosopher, dies at 60
1928 – Mark Keppel, Superintendent of Los Angeles County Schools from 1902-1928, dies at 61
1929 – Vernon Louis Parrington, American author (Romantic Revolution, Pulitzer 1928), dies at 57
1939 – Chick Webb, American jazz drummer and big band bandleader (introduced Ella Fitzgerald), dies of Pott’s disease (tuberculosis of the spine), at 34
1946 – Ludwig Winder, Austrian-Czech writer and journalist, dies of heart disease at 57
1970 – Heino Eller, Estonian composer (Koit (Dawn); Videvik (Twilight)), pedagogue (Tallinn Conservatory, 1940 -70), and teacher of Arvo Pärt, dies at 83
1981 – John S Knight, American journalist and publisher (Knight Newspapers), dies at 86
1996 – David Mourão-Ferreira, Portuguese poet (Cancioneiro de Natal) and film maker, dies at 69
Historical Events for 16th June 2026
1823 – Dutch King William I opens the Fijenoord shipyard at Rotterdam
1913 – South African Government pass the segregationist Native Land Act, which restricts purchase or lease of land by native Africans
1922 – Irish republicans are beaten in a national election; the vote is in favor of the Treaty of London, which leaves the Irish Free State as a dominion within the British Commonwealth
1929 – Otto E. Funk, 62, ends marathon walk (NY to SF, 4165 miles in 183 days)
1985 – US Open Men’s Golf, Oakland Hills CC: 1978 champion Andy North wins by 1 stroke ahead of runners-up Dave Barr, T C Chen and Denis Watson
2000 – Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 after 22 years, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Shebaa Farms.
2013 – “Despicable Me 2” directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud with voices by Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig premieres at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival
2019 – India imposes retaliatory tariffs on 28 US goods
Today in History for 16th June 2026
Historical Events
1908 – The Republican Party convenes in Chicago where President Theodore Roosevelt picks William Howard Taft as his successor
1922 – Irish republicans are beaten in a national election; the vote is in favor of the Treaty of London, which leaves the Irish Free State as a dominion within the British Commonwealth
1989 – “Ghostbusters II”, American supernatural comedy film sequel, directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd premieres
1997 – The Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; 50 people are killed
2013 – 20 people are killed by a series of car bombings across Iraq
Famous Birthdays
1754 – Salawat Yulayev, Bashkir poet and national hero who led the Pugachev’s Rebellion, born in Tekeyevo, Russian Empire (d. 1800)
1953 – Valerie Mahaffey, American Emmy Award-winning character actress (Eve on “Northern Exposure”; The Doctors; Desperate Housewives), born in Sumatra, Indonesia (d. 2025)
1965 – Mike Lynch, English tech entrepreneur (Autonomy Corporation), Director of the BBC, born in London (d. 2024)
1966 – Jan Železný, Czech athlete (Olympic gold men’s javelin 1992, 96, 2000; World C’ship gold 1993, 95, 2001), born in Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia
1982 – May Andersen, Danish model (Victoria’s Secret), born in Copenhagen, Denmark
Famous Deaths
1885 – Wilhelm Camphausen, German painter (b. 1818)
1981 – John S Knight, American journalist and publisher (Knight Newspapers), dies at 86
2017 – John G. Avildsen, American film director (Rocky, The Karate Kid), dies of cancer at 81
2021 – Janet Malcolm [Jana Klara Wienerová], American journalist (The New Yorker, 1963-2021) and writer (The Journalist and the Murderer), dies of cancer at 86
2023 – Daniel Ellsberg, American military analyst, whistleblower (The Pentagon Papers), and anti-war advocate, dies of pancreatic cancer at 92
Famous Deaths for 15th June 2026
1772 – Louis-Claude Daquin [d’Acquin], French organist and composer (La Rose), dies at 77
1893 – Ferenc Erkel, Hungarian composer (Himnusz), dies at 82
1958 – François de Vries, Dutch economist, dies at 74
1961 – Giulio Cabianca, Italian racing driver (b. 1923)
1985 – Len Hopwood, cricketer (took 0-155 in two Tests Eng v Aust 1934), dies
1993 – James Hunt, English auto racer (Formula 1 World Drivers Champion 1976), dies of a heart attack at 45
1993 – Vera, scarf/linen designer, dies of cardiac arrest at 87
1996 – Clare Grundman, American composer and arranger (An Irish Rhapsody), dies at 83
2015 – Kirk Kerkorian, American CEO and “father of the mega-resort” (MGM, UA), dies at 98
2017 – John Robert Jones [John Dalmas], American sci-fi author (White Regiment, Lizard War), dies at 90
Historical Events for 15th June 2026
1667 – The first fully documented human blood transfusion is performed by French physician Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys when a small amount of sheep blood is transfused into a 15-year-old boy, who survives the procedure
1894 – Phillies beat Cincinnati Reds, 21-8
1957 – US Open Men’s Golf, Inverness Club: Dick Mayer defeats defending champion Cary Middlecoff by 7 strokes in an 18-hole playoff to win his only major title
1965 – South Africa begins economic boycott of Dutch products
1980 – Jorge Orta of Cleveland gets 6 hits in a baseball game
2014 – NBA Finals: San Antonio Spurs beat Miami Heat, 104-87 in Game 5 for 5th NBA Championship in franchise history; MVP: Kawhi Leonard
2019 – Anthony Davis’s opera “The Central Park Five” premieres at the Long Beach Opera Company, California (Pulitzer Prize for Music 2020)
2021 – US death toll from COVID-19 tops 600,000 (Johns Hopkins), with 65% of adults vaccinated with at least one dose
Today in History for 15th June 2026
Historical Events
1846 – Oregon Treaty signed, setting US-British boundary at 49°N
1918 – 1″ of snow falls in Northern Pennsylvania
1966 – Mexican record temperature of 52.5 °C (126.5 °F) in the shade is recorded in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora
1974 – Novelty song “The Streak” by Ray Stevens hits #1 on UK pop chart
1991 – Birth of the first federal political party in Canada that supports Quebec nationalism, le Bloc Québécois
Famous Birthdays
1763 – Franz Danzi, German composer and cellist, born in Schwetzingen, Electorate of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1826)
1870 – Maud Barger-Wallach, American tennis player (US Nat C’ship 1908), born at New York, NY (d. 1954)
1890 – Georg Wüst, German Oceanographer (provided first complete understanding of the temperature, salinity and deep-current structure of the Atlantic Ocean), born in Posen, Germany (d. 1977)
1935 – Belinda Lee, English actress (Who Done It, Runaway Bus), born in Devon, England (d. 1961)
1981 – Billy Martin, American guitarist and songwriter (Good Charlotte – The Young and the Hopeless), born in Annapolis, Maryland,
Famous Deaths
1246 – Frederick II “the Warlike”, duke of Austria and Styria (1230-46), dies at the Battle of Leitha at 35
1962 – Alfred Cortot, French-Swiss pianist and teacher, dies at 84
1990 – George Nakashima, American furniture maker and architect (American Craft Movement), dies at 85
2016 – Lois Duncan, American young adult novelist (I Know What You Did Last Summer), dies at 82
2018 – Joe DeNardo, American meteorologist and television weatherman (KDKA and WTAE in Pittsburgh, 1957-2009), dies at 87
Famous Deaths for 14th June 2026
1824 – Agustín de Betancourt, Spanish civil engineer (steam engines, hot air balloons), dies at 68
1938 – William Wallace Campbell, American astronomer and Director of Lick Observatory, dies at 76
1989 – Pete de Freitas, British drummer (Echo and the Bunnyman), dies in a motorcycle accident at 27
1991 – Peggy Ashcroft, British actress (A passage to India), dies at 83
1994 – Mark Alexander Lees, English rowing coach, dies at 38
1995 – Rory Gallagher, Irish rock guitarist (See Here), dies at 47
2002 – June Jordan, Caribbean-American playwright and poet (His Own Where), dies at 65
2008 – Jamelão, Brazilian samba singer (b. 1913)
2016 – Ann Morgan Guilbert, American actress (The Dick Van Dyke Show – “Millie Helper”; The Nanny – “Yetta”), dies at 87
2020 – Noel Kelly, Australian rugby league hooker (25 Tests; Queensland, NSW, Western Suburbs) and coach (Western Suburbs, North Sydney), dies from a stroke at 84