June

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1 June 1926 – Birth of Marilyn Monroe, iconic movie star. Died 5 August 1962.

1 June 1935 – DC Comics publishes the first Superman comic, created by Jerry Siegel.

1 June 1968 – death of Helen Keller, inspirational American author, lecturer and political activist. First deaf-blind person to achieve a Bachelor of Arts degree. Born 27 June 1880.

1 June 2012 – The inaugural ‘Panda’s Word of the Day’ published at www.shaneduran.com. The word was ‘pleonasm‘.

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2 June 1951 – birth of Gilbert Baker, American artist and gay rights activist, who designed the ‘rainbow flag’ in 1978 which came to symbolise the gay rights movement. Died 31 March 2017.

2 June 1953 – Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, England.

2 June 1965 – the first contingent of Australian combat troops arrives in Saigon to assist the American military in the Vietnam War.

2 June 1966 – The ‘Surveyor 1’ space probe lands on the moon. It is the first US space probe to do so. The Soviet Union had successfully landed a space probe, the Lunix 9, on the moon 5 months earlier, on 3 February 1966.

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3 June 1839 – China destroys more than 1,000,000 tonnes of opium seized from British traders. In retaliation, Britain declared war on China in what became known as the First Opium War.

3 June 1924 – Death of Franz Kafka, Austrian novelist, who wrote in German. Two of his books (‘The Trial’ and ‘The Castle’) were published posthumously against his wishes. He wrote of a dehumanised world in which he explored paranoia, isolation, fear and bewilderment, from which the term ‘Kafka-esque’ has been coined. Born 3 July 1883.

3 June 1926 – birth of Allen Ginsberg, leading American beat-generation writer and poet. Died 5 April 1997.

3 June 1937 – Following his abdication in December 1936, former King Edward VIII of Britain, marries American divorcee, Wallis Simpson.

3 June 1968 – Andy Warhol, pop-artist, is shot by feminist Valerie Solanas, founder of the Society for Cutting Up Men (S.C.U.M.) because she felt that Warhol had too much control over her life. Warhol was seriously injured in the shooting. Doctors had to cut his chest open and massage his heart to keep him alive. Warhol survived the shooting, but suffered permanent physical effects. The shooting had a profound effect on the direction his life and art took.

3 June 1992 – Mabo Day: The High Court of Australia found in favour of Eddie Koiki Mabo who had challenged the principle of ‘terra nullius’ (or ‘uninhabited land’). Terra nullius had allowed the Commonwealth Government of Australia to legally take over and own land that had previously belonged to the indigenous people. Unfortunately, Eddie Mabo had died 3 months before the decision was handed down. The ‘Mabo Decision’ was a significant turning point in the history of Australia’s indigenous people, giving legal recognition of indigenous rights to native land title.

3 June 2016 – death of Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr), American professional boxer (former world heavy-weight champion), philanthropist, social activist. Born 17 January 1942.

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4 June 1988 – death of Sir Douglas Nichols KCVO, OBE. Aboriginal activist, raising awareness of aboriginal issues, including treating aborigines with dignity and as people. He played for Carlton football club in the A-grade Victorian Football League (VFL), leaving after racist treatment and joining the Northcote football club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA). Nicholls became a minister and social worker. In 1957, he was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE). In 1972 he was the first aborigine to be knighted. In 1976, he became the 28^th governor of South Australia, the first aborigine to be appointed to a vice-regal position. He was born on 9 December 1906.

4 June 1989 – Tiananmen Square massacre, Beijing, China. Around a million people had flooded into Tiananmen Square over the past few days, protesting for democracy. On 4 June, the Chinese Army stormed the Square with tanks and armoured cars, killing hundreds of protestors, while arresting thousands of others.

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5 June 1967 – start of the Six Day War, when Israel attacked Egypt and Syria. During the six days of the War, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, West Bank and East Jerusalem, effectively doubling its size. Although Israel eventually withdrew from the Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula, it continues to controversially occupy Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem.

5 June 1968 – Robert F. Kennedy, Presidential candidate and brother of JFK, shot by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian-born, Jordanian citizen. Kennedy died the following day. In an interview with David Frost in 1989, Sirhan stated that he opposed Kennedy’s support of Israel and plan to send 50 bombers to Israel to ‘obviously do harm to the Palestinians’. Sirhan was initially sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted to life in prison.

5 June 1989 – the ‘Tank Man’ halts a column of Chinese tanks in Beijing for more than half an hour, following protests in Tiananmen Square.

5 June 2000 – start of the Six Day War in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo, between Ugandan and Rwandan forces, destroying a large part of the city.

5 June 2012 – death of Ray Bradbury, American fantasy, science-fiction, horror and mystery fiction writer. Author of Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustratred Man, Something Wicked This Way Comes. The movie Butterfly Effect uses a similar theory to that described in Bradbury’s short-story A Sound of Thunder. In one scene, a Sound of Thunder pennant is hanging on the dormitory door of the main character, Evan. Michael Moore’s movie Fahrenheit 9/11 was named after Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury was not happy with this and pressured Moore to change the title, which Moore refused to do. Born 22 August 1920.

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6 June – Queensland Day, which celebrates the establishment of the colony of Queensland. On 6 June 1859, Queen Victoria gave her approval for the new colony by signing the Letters Patent. On the same day, an Order-in-Council gave Queensland its own Constitution.

6 June – Russian Language Day (UN) – coincides with the birthday of Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian poet who is considered the father of modern Russian literature.

6 June 1799 – birth of Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian poet and author of the romantic era. Considered the father of modern Russian literature. He was born into Russian nobility. His matrilineal great grandfather, Abram Gannibal, was brought over as a slave from Africa and had risen to the aristocracy. Died during a duel on 10 February 1837.

6 June 1808 – Napoleon’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte, is crowned King of Spain.

6 June 1844 – The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) is founded in London.

6 June 1939 – Judge Joseph Force Crater, known as the ‘Missingest man in New York’ is declared legally dead after going missing nine years earlier. His body has never been found, but his disappearance fueled allegations of corruption in the City government and lead to the downfall of political organisation, Tammany Hall.

6 June 1944 – D-day (Operation Overlord), when the Allies launch a massive invasion of Europe to combat the German war machine. Over a million Allied troops storm the beaches of Normandy.

6 June 1961 – death of Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. He developed the concepts of extraversion and introversion; archetypes and collective unconscious. Born 26 July 1875.

6 June 1982 – the Lebanon War begins when Israeli forces under the command of the Defence Minister, Ariel Sharon, invade southern Lebanon, eventually pushing into Beirut. It lasted until June 1985. Israel suffered 657 dead and 3,887 wounded. Syrian and Palestinian casualties were 19,085 civilian and combatant deaths.

6 June 1984 – Tetris, one of the world’s biggest selling games, is released.

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7 June 1099 – the First Crusade: Siege of Jerusalem begins.

7 June 1893 – Mohandas Gandhi commits his first act of civil disobedience.

7 June 1929 – The Lateran Treaty is ratified by the Italian Parliament, allowing Vatican City to become an independent sovereign state.

7 June 1942 – Birth of Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist. Often known as Colonel Gaddafi, leader of Libya. Died 20 October 2011.

7 June 1954 – death of Alan Turing, British mathematician and computer scientist. Turing is considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. He invented the ‘Turing machine’ which formulated the computer algorithm. It’s the forerunner for the modern computer. During World War 2, Turing was instrumental in cracking German messages encrypted by the Enigma machine. Sadly, Turing’s achievements were overshadowed by him being charged with gross indecency after admitting to being in a homosexual relationship. On 31 March 1952, following his guilty plea, he was chemically castrated. Two years later, on 7 June 1954,Turing took his own life with cyanide. On 10 September 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologised on behalf of the British Government for the ‘appalling way he was treated’. On 23 December 2013, Queen Elizabeth II issued a posthumous royal pardon, clearing Turing of the charge of gross indecency. Born 23 June 1912.

7 June 1975 – the inaugural World Cup cricket match is held in London.

7 June 2015 – death of Christopher Lee, CBE, English actor and singer. Lee starred in hammer horror movies, including Dracula (in which he played the title character), Dracula has risen from the grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, and Scars of Dracula. Fearing that he would become type-cast in horror roles as had happened to Vincent Price and Peter Cushing, he went in search of other roles. Lee starred in the 1974 James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun. He played Saruman in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies, and Count Dooku in two of the Star Wars prequel films, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Born 27 May 1922.

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8 June 1921 – birth of Ivan Southall AM, DFC, Australian writer of young-adult fiction and non-fiction. Books include ‘Ash Road’, ‘Let the Balloon Go’, ‘Hill’s End’, ‘Fly West’ and ‘Josh. Died 15 November 2008.

8 June 1967 – During the Six Day War, Israel launched a naval and air assault on the USS Liberty as it sat in international waters near Egypt’s Gaza Strip. The attack left 34 US crewmen dead and injured 171 others. Israel claimed the attack was an accident, while some witnesses claimed it was deliberate.

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9 June 1870 – death of Charles Dickens, English writer and social critic. Author of numerous works, including The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist. Born 7 February 1812.

9 June 1915 – birthday of Les Paul, (born Lester William Polsfuss) American musician and inventor of the solid body electric guitar. The popular Gibson Les Paul was designed in collaboration with him. Died 12 August 2009.

9 June 1934 – Donald Duck makes his film debut in the Disney short film, the Wise Little Hen.

9 June 1961 – birth of Michael J. Fox, Canadian-American actor, producer and author.

9 June 1963 – birth of Johnny Depp, American actor, singer, producer and director.

9 June 1967 – During the Six Day War, Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria.

9 Jun 1979 – The ‘Ghost Train Fire’ at Luna Park, Sydney (Australia) kills seven.

9 June 2014 – death of Rik Mayall, British comedian and actor. Starred in The Young Ones, Bottom, Black Adder and Drop Dead Fred. Born 7 March 1958.

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10 June 323 BC – death of Alexander the Great, Macedonian King. He conquered the Persia Empire, which ruled Asia Minor, The Levant and Syria, Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia. He then invaded India before returning to Persia. He died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon, most likely by poisoning. Born 20 July 356 BC.

10 June 1838 – Myall Creek Massacre in Australia. 28 aborigines are murdered by 11 stockmen (10 Europeans and an African). After two trials, seven of the 11 colonialists involved in the killings were found guilty of murder and hanged on 18 December 1838. The leader of the colonialists, John Fleming, was never found. He was suspected of further massacres in the Liverpool Plains and New England regions. His brother, Joseph, was linked to massacres in the Maranoa area of Queensland.

10 June 1916 – British Army officer, Lawrence of Arabia leads an Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

10 June 1935 – Alcoholics Anonymous founded by two recovering alcoholics, using a 12-step program to help alcoholics overcome their addiction.

10 June 1967 – end of the Six Day War, when Israel and the Arab coalition consisting of Egypt, Jordan & Syria, agree to a UN mediated cease-fire.

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11 June 1955 – during the 24 hour Le Mans race, a Mercedes 300 crashes at high speed. Debris, including the engine block, axles and bonnet, slams through the crowd killing 83 spectators. The bonnet decapitated a number of spectators who had been tightly packed into the stand. The driver was also killed.

11 June 1962 – Three prisoners escape from the federal prison on Alcatraz Island. The three men, Frank Morris, and brothers, Clarence and John Anglin were never found. Authorities believe it is most likely that the three men did not survive the swim across San Francisco Bay, although their bodies were never recovered.

11 June 2001 – Timothy McVeigh executed for his role in the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, which killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children or babies.

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12 June – Russia Day, held every year in Russia since 1992 to celebrate the establishment of the Russian Federation, when the First Congress of the People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on 12 June 1990.

12 June 1929 – birth of Anne Frank, author of the ‘Diary of Anne Frank’. On her 13th birthday (1942) she was given a diary which she kept while the family was in hiding from the German Army. The family hid for two years in a secret annex behind her father’s office. In 1944, the family was discovered and sent to concentration camps. She died on 12 March 1945 in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The diary was published in 1947.

12 June 1967 – the US Supreme Court declares that inter-racial marriages are Constitutional and cannot be banned by the states.

12 June 1991 – Boris Yeltsin becomes Russia’s first democratically elected President following the end of the Soviet Union.

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13 June 1381 – The Peasants Revolt (a brief rebellion against poll tax), led by Wat Tyler, culminates in the burning down of the Savoy Palace in London.

13 June 1525 – Martin Luther, a German monk and Catholic priest, marries a nun, Katharina von Bora, which violated the rule of celibacy decreed by the Roman Catholic church for priests and nuns. The couple went on to have six children together.

13 June 1865 – birth of William Butler Yeats (W.B. Yeats), Irish poet, Nobel Prize laureate. One of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. He served as an Irish senator for two terms. He led the Irish Literary Revival. In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for ‘inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation‘. Died 28 January 1939.

13 June 1927 – birth of Slim Dusty AO, MBE, Australian country music singer, song-writer and producer. He was born as David Gordon Kirkpatrick and adopted the name of Slim Dusty at 11 years of age. He released his first record when he was 18. In 1957, he released ‘The Pub With No Beer‘, which became the biggest selling Australian song to that time, and the first Australian single to go gold. He won 36 Golden Guitar Awards at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. In 2000, he recorded his 100th album, ‘Looking Forward, Looking Back‘. He is the only artist in the world to have recorded 100 albums with the same record label (EMI). Died 19 September 2003.

13 June 1944 – Germany launches 10 of its new rockets, known as the V1 (also called a doodlebug or buzz bomb). The V1s were pilot-less, pulse-jet-propelled rockets with a one ton payload with a 500km range. The Germans rained V1s over London. The V1 was an early version of the Cruise Missile.

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14 June 1158 – Munich founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the River Isar.

14 June 1789 – The Reverend Elijah Craig becomes the first person to distill whisky from maize. The new whisky is named bourbon, because that is the county in Kentucky that Reverend Craig lived in.

14 June 1928 – birth of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Argentinian Marxist revolutionary, physician, author. Executed 9 October 1967 on the order of Bolivian President Rene Barrientos.

14 June 1936 – death of Gilbert Keith Chesterton (otherwise known as G.K. Chesterton – born 29 May 1874), English writer, lay theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, literary and art critic, biographer and owner of one of the world’s worst pompadours:

14 June 1937 – The USA passes the Marihuana Tax Act, which taxed the sale of cannabis.

14 June 1982 – Argentina surrenders to Great Britain after the six week Falkland’s War.

14 June 2007 – Former Ku Klux Klan member, 71 year old James Seale is found guilty of a number of charges related to the 1964 murder of two civil rights activists in Mississippi. He was sentenced to three life terms of imprisonment. His conviction was overturned the following year, before being reinstated. He died in prison in 2011.

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15 June 1215 – King John of England seals the Magna Carta (Latin for ‘Great Charter’) which established the ‘rule of law’ that was to become fundamental to the modern legal system. It ensured that no man, no monarch, was above the law. Monarchs could no longer arbitrarily deal with or dispossess their subjects. It didn’t mean equality or liberty for all, however, as it applied only to ‘all the free men’, and not all men were free in 13th century England.

15 June 1752 – Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity by launching a kite during a storm. The kite was tied to a key and a Leyden Jar, which was used to store electrical charge. The negative ions in the thunder storm charged the kite, flowing down the wet silk string and into the jar. Franklin was holding the silk at the time and was unaffected, however when he moved his hand near the key he received an electric shock, proving that lightning was static electricity. (Traditional date, the exact date is unknown).

15 June 1920 – a 5000-strong mob in Minnesota lynches three African-Americans who were convicted of the rape of a 17 year old white woman.

15 June 1946 – birth of Noddy Holder, British musician and singer. Holder was the lead singer with 1970’s glam rock band, Slade, which was famous for songs such as ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’, ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’, ‘Gudbuy T’ Jane’, and ‘Skweeze Me Pleeze Me’. Their second studio album, ‘Slayed’, spent 34 weeks at Number 1 in the UK. Slade had 17 consecutive Top 20 hits, six of which reached number one. In 2000 Holder was awarded an MBE for his services to spelling.

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16 June – International Day of the African Child, which remembers those who participated in the Soweto protests in 1976, as well as raises awareness of the need for improved education provided to African children.

16 June 1816 – Lord Byron reads his poem Fantasmagoriana to his four house guests, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Claire Clermont and John Polidori, challenging them to write a ghost story. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Polidori wrote the short story, The Vampyre, which in turn influenced numerous vampire stories, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Byron himself went on to write the poem, Darkness.

16 June 1951 – birth of Roberto Duran, Panamanian boxer nicknamed ‘Manos de Piedra’ (Hands of Stone). He held world titles at four different levels; lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight. He was the second boxer to fight over five decades. He retired from professional boxing in 2002 at the age of 50. He is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time.

16 June 1961 – Soviet ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev defects to the West. Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev allegedly issued an order for Nureyev to be killed, which did not eventuate.

16 June 1967 – The Monterey Pop Festival is held over three days at Monterey, California. Over 200,000 people attended to experience performers such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Byrds, The Animals and The Grateful Dead.

16 June 1976 – Soweto Uprising in South Africa, when up to 20,000 students marched in a non-violent protest against poor quality education and demanding to be taught in their own language after Afrikaans was introduced as the medium of instruction. The protest turned violent when police opened fire on the crowd, killing 23 people. Violence continued for two weeks, with 176 people being killed. The day is now a public holiday in South Africa and commemorated as Youth Day. Internationally it is recognised as Day of the African Child.

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17 June 1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies in childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I undertakes to build a mausoleum, the Taj Mahal, in her honour. He takes 17 years to do it.

17 June 1958 – birth of Jello Biafra (born Eric Reed Boucher), American musician and spoken word artist, was lead singer of the San Francisco punk rock band, Dead Kennedys.

17 June 1971 – US President Richard Nixon declares a War on Drugs.

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18 June 1942 – birth of Paul McCartney, member of The Beatles and his writing partnership with John Lennon made them one of the world’s most successful song-writing duos. After the break-up of the Beatles, McCartney went on to have a successful solo career. He was knighted in 1997.

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19 June 1623 – birth of Blaise Pascal, controversial French mathematician, physicist, inventor and writer. Formulated ‘Pascal’s Triangle’, a tabular presentation for binomial coefficients, challenged Aristotle’s followers who claimed that ‘nature abhors a vacuum’. The computer programming language, ‘Pascal’, is named in his honour. Died 19 August 1662.

19 June 1861 – Birth of Jose Rizal in Calamba, Laguna, Philippines. Filipino national hero. Rizal was an ophthalmologist by profession. He campaigned for reforms of the Spanish rule of the Philippines, writing numerous works critical of the Spanish government, which helped inspire the Philippine revolution. Following this Rizal was excecuted in Manila by the Spanish colonial government on 30 December 1896.

19 June 1865 – Emancipation of slaves in Texas. African Americans celebrate this every year as Freedom Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, or just Juneteenth.

19 June 1945 – birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, activist and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient.

19 June 1978 – The original Grumpy Cat, Garfield, first appears in newspaper comic strips in the USA.

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20 June – World Refugee Day – to raise awareness of the plight of refugees across the globe. Refugee Week is held Sunday to Saturday of the week that includes 20 June.

20 June 1864 – birth of Worm Pander, sculptor. Died 6 September 1919 … … no relation to this site’s Panda Man …

20 June 1909 birth of Errol Flynn, Australian-born American actor. Died 14 October 1959.

20 June 1966 – The Beatles release their ‘Yesterday and Today’ album with the controversial ‘butcher cover’. The Beatles appeared on the cover wearing white smocks and covered with decapitated baby dolls and pieces of meat. Some people took offense to this and the cover was withdrawn and replaced with something a little more savoury.

20 June 2001 – General Pervez Musharraf establishes himself as both President and Chief Executive of Pakistan. He had come to power as Chief Executive following a coup d’état in 1999.

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21 June 1940  – death of Smedley Butler, U.S. Marine Corp Major-General. He received 19 medals, five of which were for bravery. He twice received the Medal of Honor. Butler was, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in history. Nonetheless, he was an outspoken critic of war and military actions. He wrote a book called ‘War is a Racket’, which exposed the links between the military and industry, in which he stated that business interests directly benefit from warfare. Butler wrote a summary of the book, which stated: ‘War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes‘. He was born on 30 July 1881.

21 June 1953 – birth of Benazir Bhutto, elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988, becoming the first female leader of a Muslim country. She also became the first national leader to give birth while in office. She was dismissed as Prime Minister in 1996 amid accusations of corruption. She went into exile, living in the United Arab Emirates. In 2007, against the orders of President Musharraf, she returned to Pakistan to contest the 2008 election. She was assassinated at a rally on 27 December 2007.

21 June 1964 – Three civil rights activists (James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner) disappear in Mississippi while investigating an allegation that the Ku Klux Klan had burned down an African-American church. Their bodies were discovered six weeks later. In 1966, seven Ku Klux Klan members were found guilty of the murders, while eight others were found not guilty, including Edgar Ray ‘Preacher’ Killen who was retried in 2005 and found guilty.

21 June 2001 – death of John Lee Hooker, American blues guitarist. Born 22 August 1917.

21 June 2005 – Edgar Ray ‘Preacher’ Killen, former Ku Klux Klansman, is found guilty of manslaughter for his part in the 1964 killing of three civil rights activists and sentenced to 60 years imprisonment.

21 June 2018 – Jacinda Adern gives birth to a girl while serving as Prime Minister of New Zealand, becoming the second woman to give birth while serving as a national leader. The first woman to do so, was Benazir Bhutto in 1990, while serving as Prime Minister of Pakistan.

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22 June 1938 – death of C.J. Dennis, Australian poet (Songs of a Sentimental Bloke). Born 7 September 1876. Note, that C.J. Dennis foretold email by about 90 years with his reference to ‘ethergrams thro’ space’ which appears in ‘The Stoush of Day‘, in ‘The Sentimental Bloke‘.

22 June 1986 – the controversial ‘hand of God’ incident in the FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and England, when Diego Maradona scored a goal that came off his hand. The referee didn’t see the hand infringement and awarded the goal. Four minutes after the ‘hand of God’ goal, Maradona scored the ‘goal of the century’, which is claimed to be the greatest individual goal of all time, which he scored after playing the ball for 60 metres within 10 seconds, through four English defenders to slot the goal. Argentina won the match 2-1 and went on to win the World Cup.

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23 June – International Widows’ Day – a UN ratified day to address the ‘poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependents in many countries’.

23 June 1912 – birth of Alan Turing, British mathematician and computer scientist. Turing is considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. He invented the ‘Turing machine’ which formulated the computer algorithm. It’s the forerunner for the modern computer. During World War 2, Turing was instrumental in cracking German messages encrypted by the Enigma machine. Sadly, Turing’s achievements were overshadowed by him being charged with gross indecency after admitting to being in a homosexual relationship. On 31 March 1952, following his guilty plea, he was chemically castrated. Two years later, on 7 June 1954,Turing took his own life with cyanide. On 10 September 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologised on behalf of the British Government for the ‘appalling way he was treated’. On 23 December 2013, Queen Elizabeth II issued a posthumous royal pardon, clearing Turing of the charge of gross indecency.

23 June 2000 – 15 backpackers perish in a fire at the Palace Backpackers Hostel, in Childers, Queensland, Australia.

23 June 2011 – death of Peter Falk, U.S. actor (Colombo) … ‘therrre ya go‘… (born 16 September 1927).

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24 June 1950 – The Korean War begins as North Korean forces invade South Korea in response to the dividing of the Korean Peninsula by Allied forces after World War II. The US sends troops as part of the UN response to repel North Korea. In 1953 a demilitarised zone is established between North and South Korea. Although conflict ended in 1953 following a truce, both sides have remained on military alert ever since. Political posturing and a number of border clashes in the years since 1953 have brought the peninsula to the brink of war on numerous occasions.

24 June 1997 – the United States Air Force releases a report into the so-called ‘Roswell Incident’ in which there had been claims that an alien craft had crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, and the body of an alien was retrieved by the Air Force. The USAF report claimed that the bodies witnesses had seen were actually life-sized dummies.

24 June 2010 – Julia Gillard is appointed Australia’s first female prime minister after replacing Kevin Rudd in a leadership spill. On 26 June 2013, following ongoing ructions in the Labor Party, Gillard called another leadership ballot which was won by Kevin Rudd. Julia Gillard tendered her resignation, which took effect the following day when Rudd was sworn in as prime minister.

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25 June 1903 – birth of George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair), Democratic Socialist and English author of works such as ‘Nineteen-Eighty Four‘, ‘Animal Farm‘, and ‘Homage to Catalonia‘. Died 21 January 1950.

25 June 1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is first published.

25 June 1978 – the Rainbow Flag, symbol of gay pride, is flown for the first time in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.

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26 June – International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

26 June 1945 – 50 nations ratify the United Nations Charter in an effort to prevent another world war. The United Nations was formally established on 24 October 1945, replacing the League of Nations.

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27 June 1880 – birth of Helen Keller, inspirational American author, lecturer and political activist. First deaf-blind person to achieve a Bachelor of Arts degree. Died 1 June 1968.

27 June 1957 – The British Medical Research Council proves a direct link between smoking and lung cancer.

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28 June 1914 – Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, while in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The assassin, Gavrilo Princip, was one of 16 Bosnian Serbs found guilty of the incident. The assassination led to World War I as European countries took sides in the subsequent retaliation. The world’s major powers aligned into two opposing alliances: the Allies (UK, Russia, France, USA, Italy and Japan) and the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary (later joined by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria). More than 70 million military personnel were mobilised. By 1918, when the war ended, there were more than 9 million combatants and more than 7 million civilians dead. However, prior to this, following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the new communist government withdrew Russia from the war. The Allies took exception to this and invaded Russia as part of the White Armies (counter-revolutionary, anti-communist forces made up of British, French, Japanese and US Armies, as well as Russian conscripts) that waged war against the communist Red Army in what became known as the Russian Civil War. Both sides massacred civilians (the Red Terror and the White Terror). The war caused massive famine. By the time the war ended in 1922, around 8 million were dead (5 million from famine) and the Red Army was victorious.

28 June 1919 – World War I officially ends as Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles. The armistice had been agreed to on 11 November 1918, but it took until June 1919 to formalise the peace treaty. The treaty forced Germany and her allies to take responsibility for the war, to disarm, to make significant territorial concessions and to make financial reparations to a number of countries. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the motivators behind Hitler’s rise to power and subsequently World War II that resulted in the deaths of between 50 million and 80 million people.

28 June 1997 – World heavyweight champion boxer, Mike Tyson, bit Evander Holyfield’s ear during the third round of a world title rematch. Tyson was initially disqualified and then allowed to continue the fight, however, Tyson then bit off a part of Holyfield’s other ear which was later found on the floor of the ring. Tyson was disqualified and later fined $3 million. His boxing licence was rescinded, but reinstated in 1998.

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29 June 67AD – death of Paul the Apostle (formerly Saul of Tarsus), one of the most influential and important figures of the Apostolic Age. In the mid-30s to the mid-50s he founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. He was both a Jew and a Roman citizen. As Saul of Tarsus he often persecuted Christians. He had an epiphany and renamed himself Paul, going on to write 14 of the 27 books of the New Testament. Born in 5AD.

29 June 1888 – birth of Joseph Theodore Leslie (Squizzy) Taylor, Australian gangster, earned money from sly-grog, two-up, illegal bookmaking, extortion, prostitution, cocaine dealing. Died 27 October 1927 from a gunshot wound inflicted by ‘Snowy’ Cutmore.

29 June 1936 – birth of Eddie Mabo, campaigner for indigenous land rights in the Torres Strait. Successfully challenged the concept of ‘terra nullius‘ which was enshrined in federal law and meant ‘uninhabited land‘. The High Court ruled in favour of Eddie Mabo’s challenge and overturned terra nullius. The Mabo Decision resulted in legal recognition of indigenous rights to native land title. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) awarded Eddie Mabo the Human Rights Medal in 1992, along with those who assisted in the case, Reverend Dave Passi, Sam Passi (deceased), James Rice (deceased), Celuia Mapo Salee (deceased) and Barbara Hocking. Died 21 January 1992.

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30 June 1934 – Night of the Long Knives (Operation Hummbingbird), in which Hitler purges his political enemies.

30 June 1937 – The world’s first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London.

30 June 1950 – US President Truman sends troops to South Korea to assist in repelling the North Korean Army. He calls on the Soviet Union to negotiate a withdrawal from North Korea, however, the Soviets blame South Korea for an unprovoked attack.

30 June 1959 – US fighter jet, an F-100 Super Sabre, crashes into the Japanese Miyamori Elementary School at Ishikawa (now Uruma) on the US occupied island of Okinawa, Japan, killing 11 students, 6 other people from the neighbouring area and injuring 210 (including 156 students). The pilot, Captain John G. Schmitt Jr, had ejected to safety. The incident was one of many tragic events the Okinawans have suffered since the US occupation.

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