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Today June 23rd 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1180 – First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan
1305 – The Flemish-French peace treaty is signed at Athis-sur-Orge.
1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn, south of Stirling, begins.
1532 – Henry VIII and François I sign a secret treaty against Emperor Charles V.
1565 – Turgut Reis (Dragut), commander of the Ottoman Navy, dies during the Siege of Malta.
1611 – The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson s fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they are never heard from again.
1661 – Marriage contract between Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza.
1683 – William Penn signs friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.
1713 – The French residents of Acadia are given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia, Canada.
1757 – Battle of Plassey – 3,000 British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong Indian army under Siraj Ud Daulah at Plassey.
1758 – Seven Years War: Battle of Krefeld – British forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.
1760 – Seven Years War: Battle of Landeshut – Austria defeats Prussia.
1780 – American Revolution: Battle of Springfield fought in and around Springfield, New Jersey (including Short Hills, formerly of Springfield, now of Millburn Township.
1794 – Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kiev.
1810 – John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.
1812 – War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.
1860 – The United States Congress establishes the Government Printing Office.
1865 – American Civil War: At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant rebel army.
1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes receives a patent for Type-Writer.
1887 – The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating the nation s first national park, Banff National Park.
1888 – Frederick Douglass is the first African-American nominated for U.S. president.
1894 – The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
1914 – Mexican Revolution: Francisco Villa takes Zacatecas from Victoriano Huerta.
1917 – In a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retires 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.
1919 – Estonian Liberation War: The decisive defeat of German Freikorps forces in the Battle of Cesis. This day is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.
1926 – The College Board administers the first SAT exam.
1931 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine plane.
1938 – The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.
1940 – World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.
1941 – The Lithuanian Activist Front initiates independence from the Soviet Union; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis occupy Lithuania a few weeks later.
1942 – World War II: The first selections for the gas chamber at Auschwitz take place on a train load of Jews from Paris.
1942 – World War II: Germany s latest fighter, a Focke-Wulf FW190 is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales.
1943 – World War II: The British destroyers Eclipse and Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends when organised resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island.
1946 – The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake strikes Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
1947 – The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry Truman s veto of the Taft-Hartley Act.
1958 – The Dutch Reformed Church accepts women ministers.
1959 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumed a scientific career).
1959 – A fire in a resort hotel in Stalheim, Norway kills 34 people.
1967 – Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.
1968 – 74 are killed and 150 injured in a football stampede towards a closed exit in a Buenos Aires stadium.
1969 – Warren E. Burger is sworn in as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring chief Earl Warren.
1972 – Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation s investigation into the Watergate break-ins.
1972 – 45 countries leave the Sterling Area, allowing their currencies to fluctuate independently of the British Pound.
1973 – A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six year old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by arsonist Peter Dinsdale.
1985 – A terrorist bomb aboard Air India flight 182 brings the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.
1988 – James Hansen testifies to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that it was 99% probable that global warming had begun.
1991 – Moldova declares independence.
Births
47 BC – Pharaoh Ptolemy XV of Egypt
1373 – Queen Joan II of Naples (d. 1435)
1433 – Francis II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1488)
1456 – Margaret of Denmark, wife of James III of Scotland (d. 1486)
1534 – Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (d. 1582)
1596 – Johan Banér, Swedish soldier (d. 1641)
1612 – André Tacquet, Belgian mathematician (d. 1660)
1668 – Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher and historian (d. 1744)
1683 – Etienne Fourmont, French orientalist (d. 1745)
1703 – Maria Leszczynska, queen of Louis XV of France (d. 1768)
1716 – Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English politician (d. 1789)
1750 – Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, French geologist (d. 1801)
1763 – Josephine de Beauharnais, Empress of France (d. 1814)
1799 – John Milton Bernhisel, American physician (d. 1881)
1800 – Karol Marcinkowski, Polish physician and social activist (d. 1846)
1824 – Carl Reinecke, German musician and composer (d. 1910)
1884 – Cyclone Taylor, ice hockey player (d. 1979)
1888 – Bronson M. Cutting, American politician (d. 1935)
1889 – Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (d. 1966)
1894 – Alfred Kinsey, American entomologist and sexologist (d. 1956)
1894 – King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (d. 1972)
1902 – Mathias Wieman, German actor (d. 1969)
1903 – Paul Joseph James Martin, Canadian politician (d. 1992)
1905 – Jack Pickersgill, Canadian politician (d. 1997)
1907 – James Meade, English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
1907 – Dercy Gonçalves, Brazilian comedienne (d. 2008)
1909 – David Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1981)
1910 – Jean Anouilh, French dramatist (d. 1987)
1910 – Gordon B. Hinckley, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 2008)
1910 – Milt Hinton, American jazz bassist (d. 2000)
1912 – Alan Turing, English mathematician, often considered to be the father of modern computer science (d. 1954)
1916 – Len Hutton, English cricketer (d. 1990)
1919 – Muhammad Boudiaf, Algerian political leader (d. 1992)
1922 – Hal Laycoe, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1998)
1925 – Miriam Karlin, English actress
1927 – Bob Fosse, American choreographer (d. 1987)
1929 – June Carter Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
1935 – Maurice Ferre, former mayor of Miami
1936 – Costas Simitis, Prime Minister of Greece
1937 – Martti Ahtisaari, President of Finland
1937 – Niki Sullivan, American guitarist (The Crickets)
1940 – Adam Faith, English singer and actor (d. 2003)
1940 – Lord Irvine of Lairg, Scottish Lord Chancellor
1940 – Wilma Rudolph, American runner (d. 1994)
1940 – Stuart Sutcliffe, English musician (The Beatles) (d. 1962)
1941 – Robert Hunter, American lyricist and poet (The Grateful Dead)
1941 – Roger McDonald, Australian author
1941 – Richard M. Richie Roberts, former Marine and New Jersey Police Detective, Criminal Defense Attorney
1943 – Vint Cerf, American Internet pioneer, Turing Award laureate
1943 – James Levine, American conductor
1945 – John Garang, Sudanese leader and politician (d. 2005)
1945 – Kjell Albin Abrahamson, Swedish journalist and writer.
1946 – Ted Shackleford, American actor
1947 – Bryan Brown, Australian actor
1948 – Myles Goodwyn, Canadian guitarist and vocalist (April Wine)
1948 – Darhyl S. Ramsey, American author
1948 – Clarence Thomas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
1949 – Gordon Bray, Australian sports broadcaster
1950 – Douglas C. Lord, Canadian businessman
1951 – Michèle Mouton, French race car driver
1955 – Pierre Corbeil, Canadian politician
1955 – Glenn Danzig, American musician (The Misfits and Danzig)
1955 – Maggie Greenwald, American film director and writer
1955 – Jordan, British actress and model
1955 – Jean Tigana, French footballer
1956 – Tony Hill, American football player
1956 – Randy Jackson, American music producer
1957 – Frances McDormand, American actress
1960 – Donald Harrison, American musician
1960 – Tatsuya Uemura, Japanese musician and programmer
1961 – Zoran Janjetov, Serbian comic artist
1962 – Chuck Billy, American singer (Testament)
1962 – Kari Takko, Finnish ice hockey player
1962 – Kevin Yagher, TV/film special effects technician
1963 – Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
1963 – Steve Shelley, American musician (Crucifucks and Sonic Youth)
1964 – Yun Lou, Chinese gymnast
1964 – Joss Whedon, American producer, director, and screenwriter
1965 – Paul Arthurs, British guitarist (Oasis)
1966 – Chico DeBarge, American musician (DeBarge)
1966 – Richie Ren, Taiwanese musician
1967 – Helen Geake, British archaeologist
1967 – Paul King, New Zealand politician
1969 – Martin Klebba, American actor
1970 – Robert Brooks, American football player
1970 – Martin Deschamps, Quebec rock singer
1970 – Yann Tiersen, French musician
1971 – Félix Potvin, Canadian hockey player
1971 – Fred Ewanuick, Canadian actor
1972 – Selma Blair, American actress
1972 – Ron Corning, American television anchor
1972 – Zinedine Zidane, French footballer
1973 – Marie N, Latvian singer
1974 – Joel Edgerton, Australian actor
1975 – Kevin Dyson, American football player
1975 – KT Tunstall, Scottish singer and songwriter
1976 – Wade Barrett, American soccer player
1976 – Joe Becker, American musician
1976 – Patrick Monahan, British comedian
1976 – Brandon Stokley, American football player
1976 – Emmanuelle Vaugier, Canadian actress
1976 – Patrick Vieira, French footballer
1977 – Miguel Ángel Angulo, Spanish footballer
1977 – Hayden Foxe, Australian footballer
1977 – Jason Mraz, American singer and songwriter
1978 – Memphis Bleek, American rapper
1978 – Frédéric Leclercq, French bassist (DragonForce)
1978 – Matt Light, American football player
1979 – LaDainian Tomlinson, American football player
1980 – Becky Cloonan, American comic book artist
1980 – Ramnaresh Sarwan, Guyanese cricketer
1983 – Jason Berrent, American performer
1983 – Brooks Laich, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Duffy, Welsh Singer
1988 – Isabella Leong Lok-Sze, Hong Kong singer, actress and model
1988 – Chellsie Memmel, American gymnast
1992 – Bridget Sloan, American gymnast
1996 – Charlie Jones, British actor
Deaths
79 – Vespasian, Roman Emperor (b. 9)
1018 – Henry I of Austria
1222 – Constance of Aragon, Aragonese princess
1555 – Pedro Mascarenhas, Portuguese explorer (b. 1470)
1582 – Shimizu Muneharu, Japanese military leader (b. 1537)
1615 – Mashita Nagamori, Japanese warlord (b. 1545)
1677 – Wilhelm Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1647)
1686 – William Coventry, English statesman
1707 – John Mill, English theologian
1733 – Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (b. 1672)
1770 – Mark Akenside, English poet and physician (b. 1721)
1775 – Karl Ludwig, Freiherr von Pöllnitz, German adventurer and writer (b. 1692)
1779 – Ras Mikael Sehul, warlord of Ethiopia
1806 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French naturalist (b. 1723)
1832 – James Hall, Scottish geologist (b. 1761)
1836 – James Mill, Scottish philosopher and historian, (b. 1773)
1856 – Ivan Kireevsky, Russian literary critic and philosopher (b. 1806)
1891 – Wilhelm Eduard Weber, German physicist (b. 1804)
1893 – Sir Theophilus Shepstone, British-born South African statesman (b. 1817)
1926 – Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter (b. 1848)
1956 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (b. 1875)
1959 – Boris Vian, French writer and musician (b. 1920)
1969 – Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish athlete (b. 1907)
1970 – Roscoe Turner, American aviator and racer (b. 1895)
1980 – Clyfford Still, American painter (b. 1904)
1980 – Varahagiri Venkata Giri, Fourth President of India (b. 1894)
1980- Sanjay Gandhi, Son of Indira Gandhi died in a plane crash. (b. 1946)
1981 – Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1907)
1982 – Vincent Chin, Chinese-American hate crime victim (b. 1955)
1989 – Werner Best, German jurist and nazi leader (b. 1903)
1992 – Eric Andolsek, American football player (b. 1966)
1995 – Jonas Salk, American medical researcher (b. 1914)
1995 – Anatoly Tarasov, Russian ice hockey coach (b. 1918)
1996 – Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
1997 – Betty Shabazz, wife of Malcolm X (b. 1936)
1998 – Maureen O Sullivan, Irish actress (b. 1911)
1999 – Buster Merryfield, British actor (b. 1920)
2001 – Yvonne Dionne, one of the Canadian Dionne quintuplets (b. 1934)
2002 – Pedro El Rockero Alcazar, Panamanian boxer (b. 1975)
2003 – Maynard Jackson, Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (b. 1938)
2005 – Shana Alexander, American columnist (b. 1926)
2005 – Manolis Anagnostakis, Greek poet (b. 1925)
2006 – Aaron Spelling, American television producer (b. 1923)
2006 – Luke Graham, American wrestler (b. 1940)
2006 – Harriet, Galápagos tortoise (b. 1830)
2007 – Rod Beck, American baseball player (b. 1968)
Holidays and observances
Jani (Ligo) – Latvia
Midsummer s Eve, Christianized as the eve of the feast of Saint John the Baptist, is celebrated in much of Northern Europe
Victory Day – Estonia
Father s Day – Poland, Nicaragua and Uganda
Grand Duke s Official Birthday – Luxembourg
Saint Etheldreda
Saint Jonas Day – especially celebrated in Lithuania
Saint Lietbert of Brakel (d. 1076)
Blessed Mary of Oignies (d. 1213)
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