On this day

June 13th

1902 - Finland: Russia intensifies the process of "Russianisation" by imposing Russian as the official language.

1906 - France: Scientists claim they have successfully immunised cattle against tuberculosis.

1914 - Russia: The monk Gregory Rasputin, confidant of the Czar and Czarina is stabbed and wounded.

1915 - London: King George strips his cousin the German Kaiser of the Order of the Garter.

1922- Vienna: Austria announces it is bankrupt.

1929 - China: Soviet troops cross the Chinese border in retaliation for raids on USSR consulates.

1930 - Miami: Al Capone is arrested on a perjury charge.

1934 - Berlin: Hitler rejects a mutual aid pact with the USSR.

1941 - Vichy: Petain announces the arrest of 12,000 Jews for "plotting to hinder Franco-German co-operation.

1944 - Britain: The first V-1 bomb lands in England.

1949 - Tokyo: General Macarthur accuses the USSR of inciting disorder in Japan.

1953 - Britain: Jim Peters is the first person to run a marathon in under two hours, twenty minutes.

1956 - Vienna: Herbert von Karajan is made artistic director of the Vienna State Opera.

1957 - New York: Lawrence Olivier's "The Prince and the Showgirl" starring Marilyn Monroe, has it's premiere.

1967 - Washington: Thurgood Marshall is appointed the first black member of the US supreme court.

1972 - Mediterranean: Israeli and Egyptian warplanes clash for the first time in 22 months.

1974 - London: Prince Charles makes his maiden speech in the House of Lords, the first such Royal speech in 90 years.

1978 - Lebanon: The Israeli's withdraw the last of their troops in the south of the region.

1982 - Saudi Arabia: The reigning Monarch King Khalid dies aged 69 in Taif.

1986 - Johannesburg: Bishop Desmond Tutu meets President Botha for the first time in six years to protest against the state of emergency.

1991 - Russia: In the first free elections of Russia's 1,000 year history Boris Yeltsin is voted in as President.

1997- Colorado: Timothy McVeigh is sentenced to death for the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma.

2007 - Mongolia: Gigantorapor Erlianensis, a gigantic birdlike dinosaur is discovered by palaeontologist Xu Xing in Inner Mongolia.

June 15th

1904 - South America: UK and Brazil sign an arbitration convention to settle the disputed border of British Guyana.

1914 - Europe: Denmark, Holland, Sweden and Switzerland form a defence league.

1917 - Ireland: The Government announces the release of all prisoners held during the Easter Rising of 1916.

1919 - London: US General Pershing arrives to lead the Peace Celebration Parade through the capital.

1923 - Persia: Up to 20,000 people are reported dead after an earthquake caused an avalanche burying five villages.

1925 - Germany: Scientists report the discovery of two new elements, Masurium and Rhenium.

1928 - Edinburgh: The "Flying Scotsman" locomotive narrowly beats an aeroplane in a race from London to Edinburgh.

1931 - Warsaw: Poland signs a trade and friendship treaty with the USSR.

1935 - Britain: Fourteen people die in a railway crash at Welwyn Garden City.

1938 - China: The Yellow River bursts its banks in the worst flooding since 1855.

1949 - South Africa: MPs approve the Citizenship Bill: Britons must wait five years for their papers.

1953 - Korea: 30,000 Chinese troops attack UN forces along a 30 mile front.

1961 - Moscow: Khruschchev warns of "military conflict" if the West tries to reach Berlin against East Germany's will.

1963 - USA: The shooting of civil rights leader Medgar Evans sparks riots across the Southern states.

1969 - France: Georges Pompidou is elected President.

1970 - Britain: Sir Lawrence Olivier is given a life peerage "for services to the theatre" in the Queens birthday honours list.

1971 - Britain: Local authorities protest at Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher's plans to end free school milk.

1978 - Rome: President Giovanni Leone resigns after press allegations of corruption and tax evasion.

1985 - South Africa: The country's first mixed marriage is celebrated.

1991 - Philippines: Half a million people are evacuated as Mount Pinatubo threatens to erupt.

1994 - Rome: The Vatican and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.

1995 - Los Angeles: The O.J Simpson trial reaches a crucial point when a pair of blood-stained gloves found at the scene of the crime are a tight but feasible fit for the defendant.

1996: Britain: A massive IRA bomb devastates the heart of Manchester. 200 people are injured, nine seriously, including a pregnant woman.

1998: France: England win their first World Cup match of the tournament beating Tunisia 2-0 in Marseilles.

June 16th

1900 - China: German ambassador Baron Klemens von Ketteler is murdered by Boxer rebels in Peking.

1901 - Atlantic: Wireless telegraphy at sea is tried for the first time aboard the liner "Lucania".

1917 - Petrograd: The Pan-Russian Congress of Soviets opens, with Lenin's declaration that Bolsheviks aim to rule Russia alone meeting with general derision.

1920 - Holland: The League of Nations Permanent Court of Justice opens in The Hague.

1926 - Naples: Fascist leader Aurelio Padovani is killed when a balcony collapse.

1933 - USA: President Roosevelt signs the National Industry Recovery Act.

1937 - London: Chancellor Sir John Simon outlines a new Defence Contribution Scheme for a five per cent profits tax.

1939 - French Indochina: The French submarine "Phenix" sinks with the loss of 69 crewmen.

1946 - London: Britain invites Indian leaders to set up an interim government.

1955 - Britain: 13 people die when the submarine HMS Sidon sinks in Portland Harbour after an explosion.

1957 - Cairo: Jordan closes its Embassy.

1958 - London: Yellow "No Waiting" lines come into force.

1963 - Jerusalem: David Ben-Gurion resigns as Israeli premier.

1964 - New York: Nightclub comedian Lenny Bruce goes on trial for obscenity.

1972 - New York: Clifford Irving is jailed for two and a half years for writing a fake Howard Hughes biography.

1975 - South Africa: Britain and South Africa terminate the 1955 Simonstown naval agreement.

1978 - Rome: The Pope bans Prince Michael of Kent from marrying his fiancée in a Catholic church.

1983 - London: Margaret Thatcher scraps her "Think Tank" the Central Policy Review Staff.

1986 - South Africa: Millions of blacks stay away from work on the tenth anniversary of the Soweto uprising.

1989 - Hungary: Five executed leaders of Hungary's uprising in 1956, including Imre Nagy, are reburied.

1992 - Beirut: Germans Heinrich Strubig and Thomas Kemptner, the last two Western hostages in the Middle East, are freed.

1998 - Ethiopia/Eritrea: Ethiopia and Eritrea agree to stop air-strikes against each other for a chance of a peace deal.

2008 - California: Tiger Woods defeats Rocco Mediate in a play-off to win the US Open Golf Championship at Torrey Pines.

June 17th

1906 - Russia: Officials admit that a massacre of hundreds of Jews at Bielostock was planned in advance.

1909 - London: During a debate in Parliament, both sides agreed that workhouses were not fit places for children.

1912 - London: The Government introduces the Franchise and Registration Bill, abolishing plural voting and setting 21 as the voting age for all men.

1914 - USA: Finnish composer Jean Sibelius is awarded a Doctorate of Music by Yale University.

1917 - USA: Charlie Chaplin's "The Immigrant" is released.

1919 - Versailles: The German delegation are stoned by mobs when they leave the Peace Conference for Berlin.

1924 - South Africa: General Jan Smuts loses his seat as nationalists win the general election.

1927 - China: Chang Tso-lin is made dictator in command of the Northern armies fighting the Kuomintang.

1931 - Shanghai: The British arrest Nguyen Ai Quoc, also known as Ho Chi Minh, founder of the Indochinese Communist Party.

1936 - Berlin: Heinrich Himmler is appointed head of the Reich's police force.

1939 - Liverpool: The 34,000 ton-liner "Mauretania" leaves on her maiden voyage.

1941 - Britain: The RAF reveals that "radio-location" has been Britain's key weapon against German bombers.

1944 - Reykjavik: Iceland becomes an independent republic.

1946 - Japan: The Allies decide not to try Emperor Hirohito as a war criminal.

1955 - Buenos Aries: Over 200 people are reported to have died in an armed uprising against President Juan Peron.

1959: London: Liberace wins £8,000 from the Daily Mirror after it's "Cassandra" column implied he was homosexual.

1963: London: Buckingham Palace admits that 14-year old Prince Charles bought a cherry brandy in a hotel bar.

1967 - China: The first Chinese H-bomb is detonated.

1968 - Britain: Frederick West, Britain's first heart transplant patient dies.

1970 - Britain: Rover announces its new four-wheel-drive Range Rover.

1974 - Tokyo: Eisaku Sato, Japan's head of state since 1964 resigns.

1977 - Ireland: Jack Lynch's Fianna Fail sweep to victory in the general election.

1980 - Britain: Greenham Common in Berkshire and a disused military base at Molesworth, Cambridgeshire, are designated to base American owned Cruise Missiles.

1981 - Washington: Relations with Moscow become strained as President Reagan agrees to sell arms to China.

1986 - Madrid: Three people die in a bomb attack by the Basque separatist group ETA.

1992 - South Africa: A gang of around 200 men armed with guns and machetes, rampage through a squatter camp 40 miles south of Johannesburg, killing 39 people and wounding many more.

1993 - Moscow: Russia and the Ukraine agree to evenly divide the disputed Black Sea Fleet.

1995 - California: Actor Hugh Grant is arrested near Sunset Boulevard and charged with lewd conduct with a prostitute (Divine Brown) in a public place.

1996 - Beijing: The Chinese government agrees to crack down on copyright piracy to avert a trade war with the US.

1997 - South Africa: Eugene Terreblanche, the disgraced leader of the Neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement, is sentenced to six years in jail for the attempted murder of a black labourer in 1996.

June 18th

1904 - South Africa: The first Chinese labourers arrive in the country.

1918 - London: The Government asks for a further war loan of £500 million.

1922 - USA: Scientists at Columbia University claim the sun produces vitamin D in the body which prevents rickets.

1927 - Germany: The Nurburgring motor racing circuit is opened.

1932 - Rome: Two men are executed for plotting to assassinate Benito Mussolini.

1935 - China: The Nationalist Government of China caves in to a Japanese ultimatum, following Japan's bloodless victory in Manchuria.

1942 - Washington: Winston Churchill arrives for talks with President Roosevelt aiming to concentrate maximum Allied war power on the enemy.

1943 - India: General Wavell is appointed Viceroy of India, with General Auchinleck as commander-in-chief.

1946 - Palestine: A curfew is enforced after Jewish Terrorists kill two British officers and kidnap three others.

1948 - Germany: The Western Allies unveil the Deutschemark to replace the Reichsmark in western Germany.

1950 - Cairo: Egypt signs a security pact with Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

1953 - Japan: 129 US servicemen die in the world's worst air tragedy when a Globemaster transport plane crashes near Tokyo.

1954 - Paris: Pierre Mendes-France is voted premier by French MPs on a policy of making peace in Vietnam.

1956 - Britain: The Queen invests Sir Anthony Eden and Earl Atlee with the Order of the Garter.

1959 - Paris: Brigitte Bardot marries Jacques Charrier.

1963 - Wembley: Henry Cooper floors Cassius Clay with "Henry's Hammer" just before the end of round four of their heavyweight title bout before succumbing to a badly-cut eye.

1975 - Riyadh: The mentally ill prince who assassinated King Faisal is publicly beheaded.

1979 - London: Neil Kinnock, with no previous government
experience, becomes shadow education spokesman.

1980 - South Africa: Residents in the coloured/mixed race townships outside Cape Town, take the law into their own hands, by shooting at gangs of looting fire-raising thugs known as Skollies".

1987 - Britain: Unemployment falls below three million.

1988 - Turkey: The Prime Minister, Turgat Ozal, survives an assassination attempt.

1993 - Azerbaijan: President Elchibey flees Baku as rebel leader Geidar Aliyev takes over power.

1995 - New Delhi: The death toll resulting from the hottest weather in northern India this century hits 525 as temperatures reach 113 degrees Fahrenheit.

1996 - California: Theodore Kaczynski is formally charged with carrying out bomb attacks attributed to the so-called Unabomber.

1998 - London: The Government announces the introduction of a national minimum wage of £3.60 per hour, with a youth wage of £3.00.

2006 - Kazakhstan: The countries first satellite Kazsat-1 is launched from Baikonor Space Centre.

June 19th

1900 - USA: William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt win the Republican election nominations for President and Vice-President.

1904 - London: Admiral Sir John Fisher is appointed First Sea Lord.

1916 - London: Tribich Lincoln, former MP for Darlington is commited for trial for spying.

1918 - London: The Government announce the introduction of general rationing.

1924 - Finland: Paavo Nurmi sets a new world record for the I,500 metres of 3mins 52.6 seconds.

1927 - London: 20,000 people take part in a "Festival of Youth" at Crystal Palace.

1931 - Britain: Farmers are forbidden to move any livestock in an attempt to check an epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease.

1937 - Spain: Bilbao falls to Franco's rebels.

1943 - Berlin: Goebbels declares the city is "free of Jews"

1944 - Italy: The Allies take Perugia as Elba surrenders to French troops.

1946 - Nuremberg: Hitler's architect Albert Speer begins his defence in court at the trials.

1953 - New York: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg become the first married couple to suffer the death penalty in the US, and the first to die for spying in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison.

1956 - Norway: London Harrier Gordon Pirie sets a new world record for the 5,000 metres in a time of 13 minutes 36.8 seconds in Bergen.

1957 - London: ITV broadcasts the first episode of the comedy series "The Army Game" with Bill Fraser and Alfie Bass.

1961 - Kuwait: Britain ends its protectorate of the oil-rich sheikdom, but continues to lend military aid.

1963 - Britain: The first British oral contraceptive becomes available on prescription.

1970 - USSR: Soyuz 9 cosmonauts land safely after a record 17 days in space.

1975 - Britain: Over 100 striking stable-boys march round Ascot racecourse on Gold Cup day over pay.

1980 - Baghdad: Iraqi police kill three terrorists in the British embassy compound.

1982 - London: Italian banker Roberto Calvi is found hanged from Blackfriars Bridge.

1985 - Beirut: A car bomb explosion in the city centre kills 52 people.

1997 - London: The longest trial in British legal history ends after more than 300 days when two environmentalists are adjudged to have libelled fast-food company McDonalds.

2004 - Norway: Norway becomes the worlds second nation after Ireland to ban smoking in all bars and restaurants.

2010: Turkey: A roadside bomb explodes in Istanbul killing four and wounded twelve on a bus carrying soldiers.

June 20th

1905 - Hungary: Opposition Nationalists begin a campaign of non- payment of taxes and the refusal to be conscripted.

1914 - Hamburg: The Kaiser launches the world's biggest ship, the liner "Bismarck".

1918 - London: The Government announces the postponement of Home Rule and the abandonment of Irish conscription.

1919 - Berlin: Rather than sign the Peace Treaty, German Chancellor Phillipp Scheidemann resigns.

1921 - USSR: The first food cargo ship in three years arrives in the port of Petrograd.

1928 - Belgrade: Two deputies are shot dead by a Radical deputy during a heated debate in the Yugoslav parliament.

1930 - New York: The revue "Hot Chocolate's" opens with Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong.

1934 - London: Dismantling of the old Waterloo Bridge begins.

1935 - USA: Bruno Hauptmann appeals against his death sentence for kidnap and murder of the Lindbergh baby.

1937 - Germany: The Nazis close all Catholic schools in Bavaria.

1940 - Britain: The first Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in the UK.

1944 - Finland: The Russians take the key Karelian port of Viipuri.

1949 - Wimbledon: A record 25,000 spectators attend the tennis tournament's opening day.

1952 - London: The government announces that zebra crossings will be marked by blinking orange beacons.

1959 - Britain: Labour Party veteran Herbert Morrison announces he will retire after the next general election.

1961 - Cairo: Plans are approved to move the ancient temple of Abu Simbel above the Aswan Dam's floodwaters.

1962 - France: Farmers in Breton dump Artichokes in the streets in protest at low prices.

1963 - Geneva: Russia and the US agree to establish a hot line phone link.

1965 - Peking: China Denounces Harold Wilson's peace mission to Vietnam.

1966 - London: James White gets 18 years for his part in the Great Train Robbery.

1971 - London: Britain grants asylum to space expert Anatol Fedoseyev, one of the most important defectors since 1945.

1974 - Lebanon: 16 people die in Israeli air attacks on Palestinian refugee camps.

1977 - London: Home Secretary Merlyn Rees pleads to the unions for calm as picket line violence grows at the Grunwick film processing labs.

1979 - USA: Opposition to Somoza grows after the screening of an ABC reporter being murdered by Nicaraguan troops.

1986 - Britain: The slaughter and movement of lambs in parts of Cumbria is temporarily banned because of Chernobyl fall-out.

1997 - Washington: In a landmark arrangement US tobacco companies agree to pay out almost $370 billion to settle state Medicare bills for the treatment of smoking-related diseases.

1926 - London: The 50th Wimbledon tennis tournament begins. Prince Albert, the Duke of York, plays in the doubles.

1927 - South Africa: Nationalists attack the proposed new union flag, which includes the Union Jack.

1932 - New York - American boxer Jack Sharkey wins the world heavyweight title from German Max Schmeling.

1933 - USA: The American Federation of Labor announce the creation of 1.7 million new jobs in two months.

1935 - London: A Croydon telephonist wins a GPO competition to find a voice for the Speaking Clock.

1938 - Manchester: Australia's Don Bradman hits 100 runs in 73 minutes at Old Trafford.

1939 - China: The Japanese capture the international port of Swatow.

1942 - Libya: Tobruk falls to Rommel's troops. Around 25,000 allied soldiers are taken prisoner.

1954 - Finland: Australian Athlete John Landy runs the mile in three minutes 58 seconds beating Roger Bannisters record.

1960: Belgian Congo: Formal Postal worker Patrice Lumumba is asked to be the first premier of Independent Congo.

1963 - Paris: France announces her withdrawal from the North Atlantic Fleet of NATO.

1966 - Australia: Opposition leader Arthur Calwell is wounded in an assassination attempt.

1973 - Washington: The Supreme Court gives US states the power to censor obscene material.

1974 - Britain: Inflation soars to a post-war record of 16%.

1976 - London: The Dorchester Hotel is bought for 9 million by two arabs.

1980 - Moscow: The Soviet news agency Tass reports that troops are being withdrawn from Afghanistan.

1982 - USA - John Hinckley is found not guilty of trying to kill President Ronald Reagan on mental grounds.

1984 - Britain: Solicitors are to be allowed to advertise there charges and services from the beginning of October.

1989 - Afghanistan: The siege of Jalalabad ends after 15 weeks.

1995 - Washington: The CIA alleges that China has sold componants for missile systems to Iran and Pakistan.

2006 - Baghdad: Saddam Hussein's principal defence lawyer Kahals Al- Obeidi is assassinated.

1981: Chapman pleads guilty to Lennon murder
A man has pleaded guilty to shooting dead former Beatle John Lennon in New York.
The court heard Mark Chapman dramatically change his plea to admit responsibility for the murder, saying God had told him to do so.

Even his own defence team were taken by surprise by the decision, and his lawyer has asked the judge to examine his client to ensure he is mentally fit to stand trial.

Appearing at a pre-trial hearing, Chapman said nothing in open court.

The drifter now faces a minimum of 15 years imprisonment, although the judge has indicated it will be more like 20.

Lennon, 40, was shot several times as he entered his luxury apartment building, the Dakota on Manhattan's Upper West Side, opposite Central Park, in December 1980.

The musician was rushed in a police car to St Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, where he died.

Explaining that Chapman had decided to plead guilty after "God told him" to do so on June 8, his lawyer revealed he had "serious questions" over his client's sanity.

"I have asked that he be examined to determine whether or not he is fit to go to trial or to change his plea," he said.

The judge will receive a full report on the defendant before passing sentence in August.


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John Lennon was shot in New York in December 1980



In Context
Mark Chapman is serving 20 years to life in Attica prison near New York after he was deemed competent to plead guilty.
He said he had heard voices in his head telling him to kill the world-famous musician.

In 2000 the killer had his appeal for early release turned down, the same happened in October 2002 when he made another appeal for early release.

A third appeal was rejected in October 2004.

Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, has said she would not feel safe if Chapman were released, and experts believe it is quite possible he will stay behind bars for the rest of his life.


Stories From 22 Jun
1941: Hitler invades the Soviet Union
1981: Chapman pleads guilty to Lennon murder
2004: Child killer Dutroux jailed for life
1979: Thorpe cleared of murder charges
2001: Bulger killers to be released
1959: Harrods in £34m merger talks


http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...536321.stm


http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witne...248018.stm


http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/4d544...f471d385b9

June 22nd

1906 - Washington: Roosevelt sues John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Co. for operating monopoly.

1907 - London: David Lloyd George opens the new Hampstead Tube line.

1910 - Germany: Count von Zeppelin's new airship "Deutschland" is the first to fly with paying passengers.

1919 - USA: 200 people are feared dead after a tornado strikes Fergus Falls, Minnesota.

1921 - China: Civil war breaks out over Sun Yat-sen's election as president.

1931 - Rome: The Facist clampdown on secret societies continues as 124 Mafia members are jailed for life.

1933 - USA: The Illinois Waterway opens, linking the Great Lakes of the Northern US with the Gulf of Mexico.

1941 - USSR: Germany invades along an 1,800-mile front with Finnish and Rumanian allies.

1944 - France: The Allies seize two V-1 launch sites on the Cherbourg peninsula.

1953 - London: Murderer John Christies trial opens at the Old Bailey, where he pleads insanity.

1959 - London: Debenhams launch a £33.8 million takeover bid for Harrods.

1964 - USA: Francis Chichester sets a new record by crossing the Atlantic in under thirty days.

1965 - Tokyo: Japan and South Korea establish diplomatic relations.

1976 - London: A Record temperature of 95 degrees hits the capital.

1984 - Britain: The first Virgin Atlantic flight to New York costing £99 single, leaves Gatwick.

1990 - London: The Government launches a £15 million initiative to stop homelessness.

1994 - Washington: The Clinton administration halts its campaign for sanctions against North Korea after the country agrees to freeze its nuclear programme.

2009 - USA: Eastman Kodak Company discontinues its sales of Kodachrome color film, ending its 74 year run as a photography icon.