1855 – The Portland Rum Riot occurs in Portland, Maine
1875 – Alexander Graham Bell makes first sound transmission
1901 – Benjamin Adams arrested for playing golf on Sunday (NY)
1934 – French Championship Women’s Tennis: England’s defending champion Margaret Scriven beats American Helen Jacobs 7-5, 4-6, 6-1
1947 – Hungarian premier Ferenc Nagy resigns
1952 – 650,000 metalworkers go on strike in US
1953 – Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, London, England
1985 – LPGA Championship Women’s Golf, Jack Nicklaus GC: Nancy Lopez wins by 8 shots from fellow American Alice Miller
2018 – Ringo Starr’s thirteenth All-Starr Band debuts in concert; members include: Steve Lukather, Gregg Rolie, Colin Hay, Graham Gouldman, Gregg Bissonette, and Warren Ham
2020 – UK death toll from COVID-19 passes 50,000 (50,032) according to its Office of National Statistics
Author: gil7
Today in History for 2nd June 2025
Historical Events
1625 – Prince Frederick Henry sworn in as viceroy of Holland/Zealand
1881 – Haarlem-Zandvoort Railway opens
1901 – Benjamin Adams arrested for playing golf on Sunday (NY)
1953 – Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, London, England
2018 – Ringo Starr’s thirteenth All-Starr Band debuts in concert; members include: Steve Lukather, Gregg Rolie, Colin Hay, Graham Gouldman, Gregg Bissonette, and Warren Ham
Famous Birthdays
1940 – John O’Shea, Welsh rugby union prop (5 Tests Wales, 1 British and Irish Lions; Cardiff RFC 213 games), born in Weston-Super-Mare, England (d. 2024)
1940 – Christopher Bernau, actor (Guiding Light), born in Santa Barbara, California
1948 – Jerry Mathers, American actor (Leave It To Beaver – “Theodore ‘Beaver’ Cleaver”; The Trouble with Harry), born in Sioux City, Iowa
1967 – Kenny Atkinson, American basketball head coach (Brooklyn Nets 2016-19; Director Player Development, Houston Rockets 2007–08), born in Huntington, New York
1970 – Karen Mok, Hong Kong actress and singer (Around the World in 80 Days), born in Hong Kong
Famous Deaths
1968 – R. Norris Williams, American tennis player (US National C’ship 1914, 16; survived sinking of RMS Titanic), dies of emphysema at 77
1996 – Amos Tversky, Israeli psychologist (b. 1937)
2003 – Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler (b. 1918)
2004 – Loyd Sigmon, American radio broadcaster, sound engineer, and inventor (“Sig Alert” for traffic and emergency notices), dies from complications of Parkinson’s disease at 95
2023 – Kaija Saariaho, Finnish electro-acoustic and contemporary classical composer (L’Amour de loin (Love from Afar); Circle Map), dies of brain cancer at 70
Famous Deaths for 1st June 2025
1710 – David Mitchell, Scottish admiral in the British Royal navy (b. 1642)
1795 – Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist (b. 1744)
1846 – Gregory XVI [Bartolomeo Alberto Mauro Cappellari], Pope (1831-1846), dies at 80
1876 – Hristo Botev, Bulgarian poet and revolutionary, dies at 28
1973 – Helen Parkhurst, American educator (The Dalton Plan), dies at 86
1996 – Stephen Jones, English art historian, dies of cancer at 41
2001 – Queen Aiswarya of Nepal, killed by her son Dipendra in the Nepalese Royal Massacre at 51
2004 – William Manchester, American historian (Death of a President), dies at 82
2006 – Rocío Jurado, Spanish singer and actress, dies at 59
2008 – Tommy Lapid, Israeli journalist and politician (b. 1931)
Historical Events for 1st June 2025
1935 – Compulsory driving tests and license plates introduced in the United Kingdom
1940 – Major General Bernard Montgomery returns to London
1951 – International Cheese treaty signed
1957 – French Championships Men’s Tennis: Sven Davidson becomes first Swede to win a Grand Slam title; beats American Herbert Flam 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
1965 – Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson at Bell Labs detect 3°K primordial background radiation – helping confirm The Big Bang theory (1978 Nobel Prize)
1970 – Soyuz 9 launched into Earth orbit for 18 days
1984 – KWK-AM in St Louis MO changes call letters to KGLD
1990 – Dow Jones Industrial Average hits a record high of 2,900.97
1995 – Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers’ scoreless inning streak ends at 39 in a 6-3 win over the Minnesota Twins
2019 – Price of a movie ticket rises in Japan for the first time in 26 years from ¥1,800 to ¥1,900, while some cinemas keep the price the same
Today in History for 1st June 2025
Historical Events
1864 – Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia (Gaines’ Mill, Gaines’ Farm)
1967 – Mayor-council form of government instituted for Washington, D.C.
1980 – First transmission of the Cable News Network or CNN
1982 – Oakland A’s left fielder Rickey Henderson steals 2 bases in 3-2 win over Boston Red Sox to become fastest to reach 50 stolen bases in a MLB season
1985 – West Indian cricket batsman Viv Richards scores 300 in a day on the way to 322 in a tour match against Warwickshire at Taunton; 42 fours and 8 sixes of 258 balls
Famous Birthdays
1858 – William Wilfred Campbell, Canadian poet (Beyond the Hills of Dream, Ian of the Orcades), born in Newmarket, Ontario (d. 1918)
1903 – Percy Whitlock, English composer and organist, born in Chatham, England (d. 1946)
1917 – William Standish Knowles, American chemist and winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, born in Taunton, Massachusetts (d. 2012)
1942 – Tom Mankiewicz, screenwriter (Diamonds are Forever), born in Los Angeles, California
1969 – Ari Sulander, Finnish ice hockey goaltender (World C’ship gold 1995; Olympic bronze 1998), born in Helsinki, Finland
Famous Deaths
1340 – Jan van Diest, Bishop of Utrecht (1322-40), dies
1713 – Johan Runius, Swedish poet (Dudaim), dies at 34
1951 – Rafael Altamira Crevea, Spanish lawyer and historian, dies at 85
1991 – David Ruffin, American soul musician and early lead singer for The Temptations (My Girl; Ain’t Too Proud to Beg), dies of a drug overdose at 50
2018 – Eddy Clearwater [Edward Harrington], American blues musician (West Side Strut), dies of heart failure at 83
Famous Deaths for 31st May 2025
1076 – Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria and the last Anglo-Saxon earl, beheaded after rebelling against William the Conquorer
1246 – Isabella of Angouleme, queen consort of King John of England (1200-16) and Countess of La Marche, dies at about 58
1847 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister and 1st moderator (Free Church of Scotland 1843-47), dies at 67
1906 – Hermann Schell, German theologist and philodopher (Gott und Geist), dies of a heart attack at 56
1996 – Elsbeary Hobbs, American rocker (Drifters), dies at 59
2010 – Rubén Juárez, Argentine bandoneonist, dies of cancer at 62
2010 – Chris Haney, Canadian journalist who created the board game “Trivial Pursuit”, dies at 59
2017 – Jiří Bělohlávek, Czech conductor (Czech Philharmonic, 1990-92 and 2012-17; Prague Philharmonia, 1993-2005; BBC Symphony, 2006-12), dies of cancer at 71
2020 – Christo [Javacheff], Bulgarian artist and wrapper (Running Fence), dies at 84
2021 – Phil Johnstone, British songwriter, keyboardist, and record producer (Robert Plant), dies at 63
Historical Events for 31st May 2025
1665 – Jerusalem’s rabbi Sjabtai Tswi proclaims himself Messiah
1790 – Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca (now the international border between Canada and the US)
1847 – Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens
1916 – HMS Invincible explodes after taking fire during the Battle of Jutland, killing 1026 officers including Rear-Admiral Hood – only 6 crew members survive
1919 – NC-4 aircraft commanded by AC Read completes 1st crossing of Atlantic
1921 – Boston Red Sox 1st baseman John “Stuffy” McInnis begins an errorless string of 1,700 chances
1937 – German warships bombard Almeria, Spain
1970 – Cathedral of Brasília, designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer is dedicated in the Brazilian capital Brasília
1990 – BPAA US Women’s Bowling Open won by Dana Miller-Mackie
2021 – Tulsa, Oklahoma, marks 100 year anniversary of the massacre of hundreds of black residents by a white mob in the Greenwood neighborhood
Today in History for 31st May 2025
Historical Events
1923 – The South African Indian Congress (SAIC) forms in Durban, South Africa, with Omar Hajee Amod Jhaveri as President
1928 – First aerial crossing of the Pacific takes off from Oakland
1937 – 1st quadruplets to finish college (Baylor University)
1958 – Dick Dale invents “surf music” with “Let’s Go Trippin”
1970 – KDUB TV channel 40 in Dubuque, IA (ABC) begins broadcasting
Famous Birthdays
1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (Wife at University), born in Skipton, Yorkshire, England (d. 1900)
1892 – Willem Ravelli, Dutch baritone singer (St Matthew Passion), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1980)
1893 – Janet Sobel [Jennie Olechovsky], Ukrainian-American abstract expressionist and drip-paint pioneering artist (Milky Way), born in Katerynoslav, Russian Empire (now Dnipro, Ukraine) (d. 1968)
1904 – Stan Brenders, Belgian jazz pianist and bandleader, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1969)
1929 – Neil Shaw, Canadian-British businessman and CEO of sugar company Tate and Lyle, born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 2023)
Famous Deaths
1198 – Moses ben Solomon Ha-Cohen, rabbi of Mainz, dies
1957 – Leopold Staff, Polish Modernist poet , dies at 78
1960 – Walther Funk, German economist and Nazi politician, dies at 69
2000 – Johnnie Taylor, American RandB and multi-genre singer (“Disco Lady”; “I Believe In You”), dies at 66
2021 – Phil Johnstone, British songwriter, keyboardist, and record producer (Robert Plant), dies at 63
Famous Deaths for 30th May 2025
1809 – Johan B Scheffer, portrait painter, dies at about 43
1922 – David Mendes Chumaceiro, Curacaos poet (Adelfas), dies at 45
1935 – Lothar Windsperger, German composer and editor, dies at 49
1938 – Raden Soetomo, Indonesian freedom fighter, dies at 49
1944 – Jessie Ralph, American stage, silent and sound screen actress (The Good Earth; San Francisco: The Bank Dick), dies at 79
1946 – Louis Slotin, Canadian Physicist and Chemist (Manhattan Project, Los Alamos) who assembled the plutonium core for ‘Trinity’, the first detonated atomic device, dies of radiation poisoning at 35 (b. 1910)
1977 – Claire Goll, German-French writer, dies at 86
2006 – Shohei Imamura, Japanese film director, won 2 Palme d’Or awards for “The Ballad of Narayama” and “The Eel”, dies at 79
2008 – Boris Shakhlin, Russian gymnast (Olympic gold, 1956, 1960, 1964; World Champion, 1958; European Champion, 1955), dies at 76
2022 – David Holford, West Indian cricket all-rounder (24 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 105no, 51 wickets, BB 5/23; Barbados), dies at 82
Historical Events for 30th May 2025
1642 – All honours granted by Charles I are retrospectively annulled by Parliament
1907 – 41st Belmont Stakes: George Mountain aboard 3-year-old stallion Peter Pan wins
1917 – Jazz standard “Dark Town Strutters Ball” by Shelton Brooks recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band
1927 – Walter Johnson records 110th and final shutout of his Baseball HOF career, the most in MLB history; Washington Senators score 3-0 win over Boston Red Sox
1956 – Mickey Mantle misses by 18 inches hitting 1st home run out of Yankee Stadium in the first game of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators
1957 – Test Cricket debut for Rohan Kanhai v England at Edgbaston
1959 – The Auckland Harbour Bridge is officially opened in Auckland, New Zealand.
1966 – Indianapolis 500: English 1962 F1 World Champion Graham Hill wins after leading for a total of only 10 laps; first rookie winner since 1927
1972 – 3 Japanese PFL terrorists kills 24, wound 72 at Tel Aviv’s Lod Intl airport
1986 – Indianapolis 500: Bobby Rahal becomes first driver in race history to complete the 500 miles (800 km) in less than 3 hours; average speed 170.722 mph (274.750 km/h)