1341 – Andronicus III Paleologus, Byzantine emperor (1328-41), dies
1724 – Henry Sacheverell, English churchman and politician (b. 1674)
1768 – James Short, Scottish mathematician and manufacturer of telescopes, dies at 57
1889 – Mihail Eminesco, Romanian poet (Luceafarul), dies at 39
1982 – Neil Fitzgerald, Irish actor (Bride of Frankenstein), dies at 90
2006 – Alireza Shapour Shahbazi, Iranian archaeologist and a world expert on Achaemenid archeology, dies of cancer at 63
2013 – José Froilán González, Argentine race car driver, dies from respiratory failure at 90
2014 – Daniel Keyes, American author (Flowers for Algernon), dies from complications from pneumonia at 86
2014 – Casey Kasem, American radio personality (creator of American Top 40) and the voice of Shaggy on Scooby-Doo, dies from Lewy body dementia at 82
2017 – Aleksey Batalov, Russian actor named a People’s Artist of the USSR (1976) and a Hero of Socialist Labour (1989), dies at 88
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 15th June 2023
1567 – Republic of Genoa expels Jews from its whole territory
1869 – World’s 1st plastic celluloid is patented by John Wesley Hyatt in Albany, NY
1924 – Ford Motor Company manufactures its 10 millionth automobile
1934 – Great Smokey Mountains National Park on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee is dedicated
1978 – Soyuz 29 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6; they stay 139 days
1984 – “Thicke Of The Night” TV Talk Show last airs in syndication
1986 – Amnesty International “Conspiracy of Hope” tour concludes with mega-concert at Giants Stadium in Rutherford, New Jersey; participants include: U2; Sting; Bryan Adams; Peter Gabriel; Lou Reed; Neville Brothers; Joan Baez; Joan Armatrading; Joni Mitchell; The Police; Jackson Browne; Yoko Ono; Miles Davis; Peter, Paul and Mary; and The Hooters
2008 – 62nd Tony Awards: “In the Heights” (musical) and “August: Osage County” (play) win
2019 – Anthony Davis’s opera “The Central Park Five” premieres at the Long Beach Opera Company, California (Pulitzer Prize for Music 2020)
2020 – Philippines journalist and ‘Time Person of the Year’ Maria Ressa found guilty of cyber libel in Manila amid claims charges politically motivated
Today in History for 15th June 2023
Historical Events
1834 – Rioters in Safed Palestine kills many Jews
1918 – 1″ of snow falls in Northern Pennsylvania
1940 – German troops occupy Paris as French resistance to the German invasion crumbles
1963 – “Sukiyaki” sung by Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto, hits #1
1972 – Rock fall inside Vierzy Tunnel (France) causes 2 train crash; 107 die
2008 – 62nd Tony Awards: “In the Heights” (musical) and “August: Osage County” (play) win
Famous Birthdays
1888 – Ramon Lopez Velarde, Mexican poet (La Sangre Devota), born in Jerez de García Salinas, Mexico (d. 1921)
1910 – Berend Giltay, Dutch composer, born in Hilversum, Netherlands (d. 1975)
1920 – Alla Kazanskaya, Russian stage and film actress (Burnt by the Sun), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 2008)
1935 – Fernand Schokweiler, British judge
1941 – Harry Nilsson, American pop and rock singer-songwriter (“Everybody’s Talkin'”; “One”; “Without You”), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1994)
1983 – Derek Anderson, American football player
Famous Deaths
1383 – John VI Cantacuzenus, Byzantine Emperor
1397 – Count of Eu, French knight, dies in Turkish captivity
1666 – Pieter de Bitter, Dutch admiral (Colombo, Goa), dies
1724 – Henry Sacheverell, English churchman and politician (b. 1674)
1864 – Haller Nutt, American rich Southern Plantation owner (Longwood house – largest octagonal house in the US), dies at 48
2021 – Jim Phelan, American college basketball coach (Mount Saint Mary’s University 1954–2003), dies at 92
Famous Deaths for 14th June 2023
1703 – Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer (Mémoires), dies at 77
1916 – João Simões Lopes Neto, Brazilian writer (b. 1865)
1936 – Hans Poelzig, German architect (Grosses Schauspielhaus), dies at 67
1944 – Lubor Niederle, Czech archaeologist and anthropologist, dies at 78
1951 – Hendrik Baels, Belgian politician, dies at 73
1969 – Wynonie Harris, American rhythm and blues singer, dies of cancer at 53
1994 – Lionel Grigson, British jazz musician, dies at 52
1994 – Michel Vitold, Russian-French actor (Madame et le Mort), dies at 78
1997 – Richard Jaeckel, American actor (3:10 to Yuma, Sands of Iwo Jima, Sometimes a Great Notion), dies of cancer at 70
1999 – Bernie Faloney, American-Canadian professional football player (Hamilton Tiger-Cats), dies at 66
Historical Events for 14th June 2023
1565 – Catharina de Medici and Duke of Alva discuss Calvinism
1807 – Emperor Napoleon I’s French Grande Armee defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Prussia (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending War of the Fourth Coalition
1944 – General Charles de Gaulle lands at Courselles France
1957 – Edouard Carpentier beats Lou Thesz to become NWA wrestling champion
1965 – Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jim Maloney no-hits New York Mets but loses in 11 innings, 1-0
1973 – 46th National Spelling Bee: Barrie Trinkle wins spelling vouchsafe
1973 – US President Richard Nixon administration imposes 60-day economy-wide price freeze, superseding Special Rule No. 1 for oil companies
1980 – “Theme From New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra spreads to #32 on the charts
2013 – Hassan Rouhani is elected President of Iran
2019 – Petition to create world’s first “time free zone” on Sommaroy island which has complete daylight for 2 months, delivered to the Norwegian parliament
Today in History for 14th June 2023
Historical Events
1841 – 1st Canadian parliament opens in Kingston, Ontario
1900 – Having been annexed to the USA on 12 August 1898, Hawaii is constituted as an organised territory
1967 – Mariner 5 Launch (Venus Flyby)
1967 – USSR launches Kosmos 166 for observation of Sun from Earth orbit
1983 – 5 killed in a fire at a Ramada Inn in Fort Worth, Tx
2022 – First controversial UK flight to take asylum seekers to Rwanda cancelled after last-minute legal ruling from European Court of Human Rights of “real risk of irreversible harm”
Famous Birthdays
1691 – Jan Francisci, Slovakorganist and composer born in Neusohl, Kingdom of Hungary (now Banská Bystrica, Slovakia) (d. 1758)
1904 – Benno Ammann, Swiss composer (Missa Defensor Pacis) and conductor, born in Gersau, Sweden (d. 1986)
1917 – Katherine Rawls, American diver (Olympic silver 3m springboard 1932, 36) and swimmer (Olympic bronze 4×100m freestyle 1936), born in Nashville, Tennessee (d. 1982)
1939 – Steny Hoyer, American politician (Rep-D-MD, 1981-), born in NYC, New York
1940 – William P. Baker, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California), born in Oakland, California
1953 – Janet Mackey, New Zealand politician (Member of the New Zealand Parliament for East Coast), born in Auckland, New Zealand
Famous Deaths
1544 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine and military leader (freed the Duchy of Lorraine from the Holy Roman Empire), dies at 55
1750 – Franz Anton Maichelbeck, German composer, dies at 47
1800 – Jean-Baptiste Kléber, French general, dies at 47
1800 – Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French military leader (b. 1768)
2004 – Eamonn McGirr, Irish-born singer and entertainer
2014 – Sam Kelly [Roger Michael Kelly], English actor (‘Allo ‘Allo!, Porridge), dies of cancer at 70
Famous Deaths for 13th June 2023
1817 – Richard Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish inventor and educationalist, dies at 73
1899 – [Robert] Lawson Tait, Scottish-born pioneering surgeon performed first salpingectomy for ectopic pregnancy, dies at 54
1946 – Edward Bowes, American radio host (Major Bowes Amateur Hour), dies at 71
1951 – Ben Chifley, Australian politician and the 16th Prime Minister of Australia (Labor: 1945-49), dies of a heart attack at 65
1972 – Stephanie von Hohenlohe, Austrian-German princess by her marriage to the diplomat Prince Friedrich Franz von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst and spy, dies at 80
1982 – Peter Maivia, wrestler (b. 1935)
1982 – Abdul Aziz Khaled, King of Saudi-Arabia, dies at 69
2005 – Jonathan Adams, English actor (b. 1931)
2014 – Chuck Noll, American Pro Football HOF coach (Super Bowl 1974, 75, 78, 79; Pittsburgh Steelers 1969-91), dies from Alzheimer’s disease at 82
2022 – Carlos Ortiz, Puerto Rican boxer (World Light Welterweight Champion 1959-60; World Lightweight Champion 1962-65, 65-68), dies at 85
Historical Events for 13th June 2023
1777 – Marquis de Lafayette lands in the US
1854 – Anthony Faas, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, patents the 1st US accordion, having made improvements to both the keyboard, and to enhance the sound (Patent No. 11,062)
1868 – Oscar Dunn becomes first African American to be elected a Lieutenant Governor, of Louisiana
1927 – Ticker-tape parade welcomes Charles A Lindbergh to NYC
1953 – Jim Peters runs world record marathon (2:18:40.2)
1990 – “Les Miserables” opens at S Alberta Jubilee Centre, Calgary
1994 – Chicago Cub 2nd baseman Ryne Sandberg, retires due to poor play, he forfeits $15.7 million of his $25 million contract
2015 – Philae, 1st spacecraft to land on a comet in European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission re-awakes after 7 months
2018 – Volkswagen fined €1 billion (£880m) by German prosecutors over diesel emissions scandal
2019 – Archaeologists announce Scottish crannogs (fortified settlements on artificial islands in lochs) far older than first thought, radiocarbon dated to 3640-3360 BC, older than Stonehenge
Today in History for 13th June 2023
Historical Events
1868 – Oscar Dunn becomes first African American to be elected a Lieutenant Governor, of Louisiana
1969 – Mick Taylor leaves John Mayall Band and joins The Rolling Stones
1970 – Beatles’ “Long and Winding Road” single goes #1 and stays #1 for 2 weeks
1974 – Henry Aaron addresses House of Representatives
2010 – 64th Tony Awards: “Memphis” and “Red” (play) win
2019 – Kenyan MP Rashid Kassim arrested for slapping female MP Fatuma Gedi, following a walk out of parliament by female MPs after claiming male MPs joked “its slapping day”
Famous Birthdays
1773 – Thomas Young, British physician and physicist (light interference), born in Milverton, Somerset, England (d. 1829)
1824 – Julius Eichberg, German composer, born in Düsseldorf, Germany (d. 1893)
1866 – Lambertus Zijl, Dutch sculptor (Trade scholarship), born in Kralingen, Netherlands (d. 1947)
1951 – Mike Weaver, American heavyweight boxer (WBA World Heavyweight Champion), born in Gatesville, Texas
1962 – Hannah Storm, American sports journalist (CNN, NBC), born in Oak Park, Illinois
1978 – Ethan Embry, American actor
Famous Deaths
1231 – Anthony of Padua, Portuguese saint, dies at 35
1550 – Johann Spangenberg, German theologist and composer, dies at 66
1784 – Henry Middleton, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1717)
1871 – Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (né Robert), French watchmaker and illusionist considered the father of modern magic, dies of pneumonia at 65
1982 – Ken Mackay, Australian cricketer (Aussie all-rounder 1956-63), dies at 56
1984 – Marinus de Jong, Dutch composer, dies at 92
Famous Deaths for 12th June 2023
1687 – Jurriaen van Streeck, Dutch still life painter, buried
1946 – Count Hisaichi Terauchi, Japanese fieldmarshal, dies
1989 – Lou Monte {Scaglione], Italian-American novelty song singer-songwriter (Peppino the Italian Mouse; Dominick the Donkey), dies at 72
1995 – Luigi Innocenti, Italian motorbike and auto tycoon (Lambretta), dies at 71
2005 – Scott Young, Canadian sportswriter, novelist, and journalist (b. 1918)
2006 – György Ligeti, Hungarian classical composer (Le Grand Macabre), dies at 83 (b. 1923)
2006 – Kenneth Roy Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet, Canadian businessman and art collector (b. 1923)
2011 – Kati-Claudia Fofonoff, Skolt Sámi poet and writer, dies at 63
2016 – Janet Waldo, American radio and actress (Judy Jetson, Shazzan, Penelope Pitstop), dies at 97
2020 – William S. Sessions, American director of FBI (1987-93), dies at 90