- 217 BC Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom
- 168 BC Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeat and capture Macedonian King Perseus, ending the Third Macedonian War
- 431 Council of Ephesus (3rd ecumenical council) opens to settle dispute between Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople and Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria
- 816 Pope Stephen IV, [V] elected to succeed Leo III
- 1266 Pope Clement IV commissions English philosopher Roger Bacon to begin "writings and remedies for current conditions" ie. write a summary of the sciences (results in his 1267 "opus major")
- 1342 Fictional character of "The Hobbit" Bilbo Baggins returns to his home at Bag End, Shire Reckoning
King Richard II
1377 10-year-old Richard of Bordeaux succeeds his grandfather Edward III as King Richard II of England
- 1497 Antitax insurrection in Cornwall suppressed at Blackheath
Execution of John Fisher
1535 Cardinal John Fisher is beheaded on Tower Hill, London, for refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England
- 1555 Battle of Sirhind: Mughal army defeats the Suri Empire in the Punjab, reestablishing the Mughal Empire and Sultan Humayun
- 1559 Jewish quarter of Prague burned and looted
- 1593 Battle of Sisak: Christian Habsburg troops defeat the Bosnian Ottoman army under Hasan Pasha, in Central Croatia, wiping out the army and killing their leader
Hudson Set Adrift
1611 English explorer Henry Hudson, his son and seven others are set adrift in Hudson Bay by mutineers on his ship Discovery and never seen again
Galilei Forced to Recant
1633 Galileo Galilei recants his "heretical" position that the Earth orbiting the Sun is at odds with the Bible and church teaching (Vatican apologizes in 1992 for how it handled the case)
Royal Greenwich Observatory
1675 Royal Greenwich Observatory is established in England by King Charles II
- 1679 Battle at Bothwell Bridge on Clyde: Duke of Monmouth beats Scots
- 1740 King Frederik II of Prussia ends torture and guarantees religion & freedom of the press
- 1745 Bonnie Prince Charles sails to Scotland
- 1772 Somerset v Stewart court case finds slavery unsupported by English common law, encouraging the abolitionist movement
- 1774 British parliament accepts Quebec Act, which extends the province's territory and restores French civil law
- 1775 1st Continental currency issued ($3,000,000)
- 1799 Britain and Russia decide to invade Batavian Republic
- 1807 British board USS Chesapeake, a provocation leading to War of 1812
Battle of Beaver Dams
1812 Upon learning of plans by the Americans to execute a surprise attack, Laura Secord walks 32 km to warn British troops, results in a British surprise victory at the Battle of Beaver Dams
- 1814 First match at the current Lord's Cricket Ground, MCC vs Herefordshire
Napoleon Abdicates Again
1815 After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates for the second time, in favor of his son Napoleon II
- 1825 British Parliament abolishes feudalism and the seigneurial system in British North America
- 1832 John Howe patents pin manufacturing machine
- 1844 Influential North American fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon is founded at Yale University
- 1847 First ring doughnut is supposedly created by Hanson Gregory
Martin Van Buren Nominated
1848 Anti-slavery party, the Barnburners nominate Martin Van Buren for president
- 1848 Beginning of the June Days uprising in Paris by French workers
- 1849 Stephen C. Massett opens concert at San Francisco courthouse using only piano in California
- 1851 Fire destroys part of San Francisco, including City Hall and Jenny Lind Theatre, city's seventh major fire in 2 years
- 1864 Battle of Ream's Station, Virginia (Wilson's Raid)
- 1864 Skirmish at Culp's (Kulp's) House, Georgia
Debut of W. G. Grace
1865 Acknowledged as the first-class cricket debut of Dr. W. G. Grace; as a 16-year-old, he is dismissed for 0 while playing for the Gentlemen of the South vs. the Players of the South at Kennington Oval, London
- 1865 The CSS Shenandoah fires the last shot of the American Civil War in the Bering Strait to indicate surrender
- 1868 Arkansas re-joins the US
- 1870 US Congress creates Department of Justice
- 1874 American physician Dr Andrew T. Still founds the study of Osteopathy
- 1874 Game of lawn tennis is introduced by Welsh Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, who introduces a rubber ball to bounce on grass
- 1875 Garonne Flood: great damage in Verdun & Toulouse, kills about 1,000
- 1878 Swedish ship SS Vega with explorer Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld sets out to find the Northeast Passage (succeeds 1879)
- 1889 Louisville Colonels set ML baseball record with 26th consecutive loss
- 1893 British fleet under Vice Admiral George Tryon leaves Beirut
- 1897 Bombay plague commissioner Walter Charles Rand shot by Chapekar brothers as protest against his extreme measures to combat city's plague epidemic (dies July 3)
- 1900 In China, practically the whole foreign community in Peking, including many Chinese Christians, retreat to British compounds
- 1904 Chinese laborers arrive in South Africa following a severe labor shortage
- 1906 Haakon VII crowned King of Norway
Coronation of King George V
1911 King George V crowned King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and all his realms and territories beyond the sea
- 1911 World's largest pipe organ debuts at its new home in the Grand Court of Wanamakers department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; originally built for 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, it filled thirteen railroad freight cars
- 1915 BMT, then Brooklyn Rapid Transit, begins subway service
- 1918 A circus train is rammed by a troop train in Ivanhoe, Illinois, killing 68 people
- 1922 Herrin massacre, 19 strikebreakers and 2 union miners are killed in Herrin, Illinois.
- 1925 Spain and France fight Morocco
- 1926 Cardinals pick up 39-year-old Grover Alexander on waivers from Cubs
- 1929 Mel Ott (Giants) homers off Leo Sweetland (Phillies) in doubleheader
- 1930 New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig smashes 3 HRs in 20-13 win over Philadelphia A's at Shibe Park
- 1931 RVU, Radio-Volks-University, forms
- 1932 Congress approves "Lindbergh Act" making kidnapping a federal offense (amended 1934)
- 1932 NL finally approves players wearing numbers
- 1933 German social-democratic party (SPD) forbidden
Public Enemy Number One
1934 John Dillinger is informally named America's first Public Enemy Number One
- 1936 Harry Froboess dives 110 meters from an airship into Lake Constance at the foot of the Alps and survives
- 1936 Virgin Islands receives a constitution from US (Organic Act)
- 1938 Joe Louis scores a stunning 1st round KO of German Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium, NYC to retain his world heavyweight boxing title
- 1940 About 10,000 Afrikaner women march to the union buildings in protest of South Africa's involvement in WWII
- 1940 France surrenders to Nazi Germany, with the northern half of the country occupied and the south established as the Nazi client state Vichy France
- 1940 SS rounds up 31 German, Polish and Dutch Jews in Roermond, Netherlands
- 1940 The first Dairy Queen restaurant opens in Joliet, Illinois
- 1941 June Uprising in Lithuania begins, resulting in the collapse of the Soviet occupation, but replaced with invading German forces shortly after
1941 Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany and its allies invade the Soviet Union during World War II, the largest military operation in history
- 1941 Various Communist and Socialist French Resistance movements merge to one group
- 1942 European radio premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 takes place in London, conducted by Sir Henry J. Wood and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
- 1942 Japanese submarine I-25 surfaces at the mouth of Columbia River, Oregon and fires 17 shells at Fort Stevens, a US Navy installation, causing no serious damage
- 1942 The Jewish Brigade forms in Mandatory Palestine and serves with the British Army during World War II
Laval Backs Germany
1942 Vichy French Prime Minister Pierre Laval declares his hope for a German victory in World War II, in a radio address; words are later used against him during his post-war treason trial [1]
Dambuster Awarded Victoria Cross
1943 617 Squadron (Dambusters) attends investiture at Buckingham Palace; Commanding Officer Guy Gibson awarded the Victoria Cross
- 1944 Boston Brave Jim Tobin 2nd no-hitter of yr beats Phils, 7-0 in 5 inn
- 1944 British 14th Army frees Imphal, Assam from the Japanese
- 1944 Longest shut out in Phillies history, Phils beat Braves 1-0 in 15 inn
- 1944 Opening day of the Soviet Union's Operation Bagration against Army Group Centre
GI Bill of Rights
1944 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the GI Bill of Rights, formally known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act
- 1944 US troops occupy Biak during Battle of Biak, New Guinea
Gandhi's Denounces Hooliganism
1946 Speaking at a prayer meeting in New Delhi, Gandhi calls on the South African government to stop 'hooliganism' by Whites
- 1947 12" rain in 42 mins (Holt, MO)
- 1947 Ewell Blackwell just misses pitching back-to-back no-hitters (9th inn)
- 1951 Gene Rayburn & Dee Finch morning show premieres on NBC radio
- 1954 Famous New Zealand murder case; schoolgirls Pauline Parker and Juliet Hume murder Pauline's mother Honora Parker in Christchurch; portrayed in Peter Jackson's film "Heavenly Creatures"
- 1954 US Congress passes revised organic act for Virgin Islands
- 1955 US air patrol plane shot down above Bering sea
Lady & the Tramp
1955 Walt Disney's animated film "Lady and the Tramp" is released
- 1957 Kansas City stops using streetcars in its transit system
- 1958 Game in KC between A's & Red Sox delayed 29 minutes due to tornado
- 1959 American bowler Eddie Lubanski bowls 2 consecutive perfect games
- 1959 Pitcher Sandy Koufax strikes out 16 Philadelphia Phillies
- 1959 Shunryu Suzuki completes his historical Japan to SF voyage
- 1959 Vanguard SLV-6 launched for Earth orbit (fails)
- 1961 Beatles record "Ain't She Sweet", "Cry for a Shadow", "When the Saints Go Marching In", "Why", "Nobody's Child" & "My Bonnie", in Hamburg, Germany
Banks' 717-Game Streak
1961 MLB Chicago Cubs' Ernie Banks ends 717 consecutive games played streak
- 1961 Moise Tsjombe freed from prison in Congo
My Bonnie
1961 Tony Sheridan & the Beatles, billed as The Beat Brothers, record "My Bonnie" & "The Saints", produced by Bert Kaempfert, in Hamburg, Germany
- 1962 First test flight of a hovercraft
- 1962 French Boeing 707 crashes at Guadeloupe, 113 killed
Fingertips
1963 "Little" Stevie Wonder aged 13 releases his first single "Fingertips" (first live non-studio recording to go to No. 1 on Billboard)
- 1965 Freddie Trueman ends his Test cricket career, v NZ at Lord's
- 1966 South African Bishop Alphaeus Hamilton Zulu, is refused a passport and thus permission to attend an international church conference by the South African government
- 1969 Cleveland's Cuyahoga River catches fire due to pollution
- 1969 The Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) stage a protest by blocking the Lecky Road in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland
- 1970 Irish socialist, republican and Member of Parliament, Bernadette Devlin, loses her appeal against a 6-month prison sentence imposed for taking part in riots in Derry
Voting Rights Act Extension
1970 President Richard Nixon signs extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that requires voting age at 18 in all federal, state, and local elections
- 1970 Supreme Court ruled juries of less than 12 are constitutional
- 1970 WSWO TV channel 26 in Springfield, OH (ABC) suspends broadcasting
- 1971 Pretoria court rules that the former leader of the banned Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Robert Sobukwe, will not be allowed to use his exit permit to leave South Africa for study in the United States
- 1972 The Irish Republican Army announce that it would call a ceasefire from 26 June 1972 provided that there is a "reciprocal response" from the security forces
- 1973 Dutch High Council stops addition of fluorine to drinking water
Living in the Material World
1973 George Harrison releases his fourth studio album "Living in the Material World" in the UK
- 1973 Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 2 ("Copernican"), celebrating 500th anniversary of birth of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, premieres in performance by the Polish National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Andrzej Markowski, with soloists baritone Andrzej Hiolski and soprano Stefania Woytowicz
- 1973 Skylab 2 astronauts land safely on their return from the US space station, becoming the first to return safely to Earth
- 1975 Ulster Volunteer Force try to derail a train by planting a bomb on the railway line near County Kildare, Ireland; a civilian who tries to stop them is stabbed-to-death (his actions delay the explosion to let the train pass safely)
- 1976 SD Padre pitcher Randy Jones ties record of 68 innings without a walk
- 1977 Former US Attorney General John Mitchell starts 19 months in Alabama prison for perjury regarding his involvement the Watergate Scandal
- 1977 Walt Disney's animated film "The Rescuers" is released, first Disney film to get a sequel
- 1978 James Christy's discovery of Pluto's moon Charon announced
- 1978 Neo-Nazis call off plans to march in Jewish community of Skokie, Illinois
- 1979 Little Richard quits rock & roll a second time for religious pursuits
- 1979 Pro Football Researchers Association forms in Canton, Ohio
- 1980 Jim King begins riding the Miracle Strip Roller Coaster for 368 hours
Beatification of Kateri Tekakwitha
1980 Pope John Paul II beatifies Kateri Tekakwitha, making her the first Native American to be beatified
- 1981 2 Habash terrorists attack a travel agency in Greece killing 2
- 1981 Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr is impeached and removed from office, several of his associates are executed and he goes into hiding
- 1981 Iranian president Bani Sadr deposed
You Cannot be Serious!
1981 John McEnroe's famous "You cannot be serious" rant in first-round win over Tom Gullikson at Wimbledon
Chapman Pleads Guilty
1981 Mark David Chapman pleads guilty to killing former Beatle John Lennon
- 1982 Manhattan institutes bus-only lanes
- 1982 MLB Philadelphia Phillies infielder Pete Rose gets his 3,772nd career hit, moves past Hank Aaron into 2nd place
- 1982 Susan Lea Hammett (18), of Mississippi, crowned 25th America's Junior Miss
- 1983 NHL institutes a 5 minute sudden death overtime period
- 1983 Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-7 mission becomes the first spacecraft to retrieve a satellite from orbit, using the first robotic arm to grapple and retrieve an object in space
- 1984 Calvin Griffith signs letter of intent to sell ownership of Twins
- 1984 Carl Pohlad becomes CEO of Minnesota Twins
- 1984 Jolande van de Meer swims Dutch record 800 m freestyle (8:39.30)
- 1984 Joseph Luns resigns as secretary-general of NATO
Virgin Atlantic Airways
1984 Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways commences operations with flight from Gatwick to Newark
- 1986 Pirate Radio Euro Weekend (Holland) begins transmitting
- 1986 Spain's premier Gonzalez' Socialist Party wins elections
- 1987 A bomb blast in a Johannesburg video game arcade kills an unborn baby and injures ten people
- 1987 The International Labour Organisation, meeting for its annual conference in Geneva, calls for international sanctions against South African minerals
- 1987 Tom Seaver retires after his third stint with the New York Mets
- 1989 Business Day reports that SA is about to test an intermediate range ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads
- 1990 Billy Joel performs a concert at Yankee Stadium, New York City
- 1990 Florida passes a law which prohibits wearing a thong bathing suit
- 1990 Longest MLB game in Toronto, New York Yankees beat Blue Jays 8-7 in 15 innings
- 1990 MLB Atlanta Braves replace manager Russ Nixon with GM Bobby Cox
Mandela Addresses UN Committee
1990 Nelson Mandela addresses the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid in New York, saying that nothing has occurred in South Africa to reverse the ANC's position
- 1991 NHL Draft: Oshawa Generals center Eric Lindros first pick by Quebec Nordiques
- 1991 Underwater volcano, Mount Didicas, erupts in the Philippines
- 1992 Supreme Court rules "hate crime" laws violated free-speech rights
Russia’s Lost Royals Found
1992 Two skeletons excavated in Yekaterinburg, Russia identified as Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra
- 1993 NY Met Anthony Young ties record of 23rd straight lose
- 1993 Wilson Pickett pleads guilty to auto assault due to drunk driving
- 1994 FIFA World Cup: USA beats Colombia 2-1 in round match at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, 1st WC win since 1950
- 1994 Ken Griffey Jr. breaks Babe Ruth's record for most HRs by the end of June, hitting #31
- 1994 Mets reliever John Franco sets lefty save mark at 253
- 1996 Michael Moorer beats Axel Shultz in 11 for IBF heavyweight boxing title
- 1996 NHL Draft: Prince Albert Raiders (WHL) defenceman Chris Phillips first pick by Ottawa Senators
- 1996 Saurav Ganguly scores 131 at Lord's on Test cricket debut
- 1999 Former Mpumalanga premier, Ndaweni Mahlangu causes a storm within political circles with his now infamous statement, "It is acceptable for politicians to lie", South Africa
- 2002 An earthquake in western Iran measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale kills more than 261 people.
- 2007 Patrick Kane is selected by the Chicago Blackhawks as the first overall pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft
- 2009 Two Metro subway trains collide in Washington, D.C., killing 9 and injuring over 80
Whitey Bulger Arrested
2011 After hiding for 16 years, Boston gangster Whitey Bulger is arrested outside an apartment in Santa Monica, California
- 2012 Cult Bollywood film "Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1" directed by Anurag Kashyap is released in India
- 2012 NHL Draft: Sarnia Sting (OHL) right wing Nail Yakupov first pick by Edmonton Oilers
- 2012 Two Baghdad market bombings kill 14 people and injure 106
- 2013 Roskilde 6, world's longest Viking longship (37 meters/123 ft) rediscovered 1996, probably part of King Canute's royal fleet (built 1025 AD) goes on display for the first time at National Museum in Copenhagen [1]
- 2015 JAMA Internal Medical Journal announces obese Americans now outnumber those just overweight
Haley Urges Flag Removal
2015 South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley calls for the removal of the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds in wake of killings in a Charleston church
- 2016 NHL owners meeting unanimously approves the Las Vegas expansion bid to start play in the 2017-18 season.
- 2017 NBA Draft: Washington point guard Markelle Fultz first pick by Philadelphia 76ers
"No Royal Wants the Crown"
2017 Prince Harry claims no one in the UK royal family wants to be King or Queen in an article published in Newsweek
Oliver Blocked in China
2018 Comedian John Oliver is blocked on Chinese social media after parody of Chinese leader Xi Jinping
- 2018 Eurozone countries agree debt relief deal for Greece, signalling end to the country's economic crisis
- 2018 NHL Draft: Frolunda HC (SHL) defenceman Rasmus Dahlin first pick by Buffalo Sabres
- 2018 President Trump spokesperson Sarah Sanders is asked to leave Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington, Virginia over her support of Trump's policies, igniting debate
- 2019 Attempted coup fails in Ethiopia, four officials killed including army chief of staff General Seare Mekonnen
- 2019 Russian volcano Raikoke erupts from 700m-wide-crater, seen from International Space Station. Turns sunsets purple across the Northern Hemisphere all summer.
- 2019 Seven-story building collapses in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, with at least 25 construction workers sleeping inside killed
- 2020 Brazil becomes second country to pass 50,000 deaths (officially) with states of Amazonas, Pará, Ceará, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro most effected.
- 2020 Japanese supercomputer Fugaku in Kobe by Riken institute wins world contest to be the fastest
- 2020 New York City, once the epicentre of the pandemic in America, begins stage 2 of re-opening, allowing outdoor dinning and some in-store shopping
- 2020 US government data shows African Americans four times more likely than whites to be hospitalized for COVID-19 highlighting racial disparities for the pandemic
Sanchez Pardons Catalans
2021 Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pardons nine Catalan politicians and activists for the 2017 illegal secession referendum
- 2021 Unesco says Australia's Great Barrier Reef should be put on list of World Heritage Sites that are "in danger"
- 2022 6.1 magnitude earthquake, Afghanistan's deadliest in twenty years, strikes near Khost, in the south-east, killing at least 1000 and injuring 1500
- 2022 An orangutan in Sumatra is the first wild animal ever scientifically observed using plants as medicine, healing a cheek wound with a poultice [1]
- 2022 MLB Los Angeles Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani strikes out career high 13 batters, retires 23 of last 24 batters faced in 5-0 win over Kansas City Royals in Anaheim, California
Lumumba's Tooth Tour
2022 Tooth of murdered Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba arrives for a tour of Democratic Republic of Congo, before being laid to rest in Kinshasa (Lumumba's body was dissolved in acid) [1]
- 2022 United Kingdom posts highest inflation rate in the G7 at 9.1%, a 40-year high, lead by a rise in the price of food and fuel [1]
- 2023 Beijing records its hottest June day of 41.1C (105.9F), since records began in 1961 [1]
- 2023 Debris field found for missing Titan submersible with all five on board believed dead after it suffered "catastrophic implosion" near wreck of the Titanic [1]
- 2024 Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten shows his last collection in Paris, before retiring after 38 years [1]
- 2025 US joins Israeli offensive against Iranian nuclear facilities, bombing three sites, including more than a dozen massive “bunker buster” bombs on subterranean Fordow and Natanz facilities, while Tomahawk missiles struck Isfahan; Operation Midnight Hammer involved 125 aircraft and submarine launched missiles [1]
