Today June 13th 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
1525 – Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for priests and nuns.
1625 – King Charles I marries French princess Henrietta Maria de Bourbon
1774 – Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain s North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina, in order to help the Continental Congress to train its army.
1798 – Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded.
1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River.
1871 – In Labrador, a hurricane kills 300 people.
1881 – The USS Jeannette is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.
1886 – A fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia.
1886 – King Ludwig II of Bavaria is found dead in Lake Starnberg south of Munich at 11:30 PM.
1893 – Grover Cleveland undergoes secret, successful surgery to remove a large, cancerous portion of his jaw; operation not revealed to US public until 1917, nine years after the president s death.
1898 – Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital.
1917 – World War I: the deadliest German air raid on London during World War I is carried out by Gotha G bombers and results in 162 deaths, including 46 children, and 432 injuries.
1927 – Aviator Charles Lindbergh receives a ticker-tape parade down 5th Avenue in New York City.
1934 – Adolf Hitler and Mussolini meet in Venice, Italy; Mussolini later describes the German dictator as a silly little monkey.
1935 – In one of the biggest upsets in championship boxing, the 10 to 1 underdog James J. Braddock defeats Max Baer in Long Island City, New York, and becomes the heavyweight champion of the world.
1942 – The United States opens its Office of War Information.
1944 – World War II: Germany launches a counter attack on Carentan.
1944 – World War II: Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. Only four of the eleven bombs actually hit their targets.
1952 – Catalina affair: a Swedish Douglas DC-3 is shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter.
1953 – Hungarian Prime Minister Mátyás Rákosi is replaced by Imre Nagy
1955 – Mir Mine, the first diamond mine in the USSR, is discovered.
1956 – Real Madrid wins the inaugural European Champion Clubs Cup final, defeating Stade de Reims 4-3 at the Parc des Princes, Paris.
1966 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.
1967 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
1970 – The Long and Winding Road becomes the Beatles last Number 1 song.
1971 – Vietnam War: The New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers.
1977 – Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before.
1978 – Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from Lebanon.
1981 – At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.
1982 – Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.
1983 – Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the solar system.
1994 – A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blames recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages.
1995 – French president Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia.
1996 – The Montana Freemen surrender after an 81-day standoff with FBI agents.
1997 – A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to the death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
1997 – American fugitive Ira Einhorn is arrested in France for the murder of Holly Maddux after 16 years on the run, though he would not return for another four years.
2000 – President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang.
2000 – Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.
2002 – The United States of America withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
2005 – A jury in Santa Maria, California acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch.
2007 – The Al Askari Mosque is bombed again.
Births
823 – Charles the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor and King of the West Franks (d. 877)
1649 – Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (d. 1706)
1752 – Fanny Burney, English novelist and diarist (d. 1840)
1763 – José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva, Brazilian statesman (d. 1838)
1773 – Thomas Young, English scientist (d. 1829)
1775 – Antoni Radziwill, Polish politician (d. 1833)
1786 – Winfield Scott, U.S. general (d. 1866)
1822 – Carl Schmidt, German chemist (d. 1884)
1827 – Alberto Henschel, German-Brazilian photographer and businessman (d. 1882)
1831 – James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist (d. 1879)
1864 – Rudolf Kjellén, Swedish political scientist (d. 1922)
1864 – Dwight B. Waldo, American educator and historian (d. 1939)
1863 – Lady Lucy Duff Gordon, English fashion designer (d. 1935)
1865 – William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1937)
1870 – Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1961)
1876 – William Sealey Gosset, English chemist, statistician (d. 1937)
1884 – Anton Drexler, founder of the German Worker s Party (d. 1942)
1884 – Gerald Gardner, British occultist (d. 1964)
1884 – Etienne Gilson, French philosopher (d. 1978)
1887 – Bruno Frank, German author (d. 1945)
1888 – Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet (d. 1935)
1892 – Basil Rathbone, English actor (d. 1967)
1893 – Dorothy L. Sayers, English author (d. 1957)
1894 – Dr. Leo Kanner, Austrian-American physician (d. 1981)
1894 – Jacques Henri Lartigue, French photographer (d. 1986)
1897 – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (d. 1973)
1899 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (d. 1978)
1901 – Tage Erlander, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1985)
1903 – Red Grange, American football player (d. 1991)
1906 – Bruno de Finetti, Italian mathematician (d. 1985)
1910 – Mary Whitehouse, British campaigner (d. 2001)
1910 – Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, Galician writer (d. 1999)
1910 – Mary Wickes, American actress (d. 1995)
1911 – Luis Alvarez, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
1911 – Erwin Wilhelm Müller, German-born physicist (d. 1977)
1912 – Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, French Canadian poet (d. 1943)
1913 – Etienne Leroux, major Afrikaans author.
1915 – Don Budge, American tennis player (d. 2000)
1917 – Teddy Turner, comedian (d. 1992)
1918 – Ben Johnson, American actor (d. 1996)
1918 – Helmut Lent, German night fighter pilot (d. 1944)
1924 – Percy Rodriguez, Canadian actor (d. 2007)
1926 – Paul Lynde, American actor (d. 1982)
1928 – John Forbes Nash, American mathematician, Nobel laureate
1929 – Alan Civil, English French horn player (d. 1989)
1930 – Ryszard Kuklinski, Polish colonel (d. 2004)
1931 – Irvin D. Yalom, psychotherapist,Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University
1933 – Tom King, British politician
1934 – Lady Annabel Goldsmith, English socialite
1935 – Christo, Bulgarian artist
1935 – Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebonnt, French artist
1935 – Samak Sundaravej, Thai 25th Prime Minister (former)
1937 – Erich Ribbeck, German football player/manager
1939 – Tom Cheek, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1940 – Bobby Freeman, American soul singer
1941 – Esther Ofarim, Israeli singer
1941 – Marcel Lachemann, American baseball player
1943 – Malcolm McDowell, English actor
1944 – Ban Ki-moon, the current U.N. Secretary General
1945 – Whitley Strieber, American author
1947 – A. G. Lafley, American executive director
1948 – Garnet Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and executive (d. 2001)
1948 – Joe Roth, American executive, producer and film director
1949 – Dennis Locorriere, American singer and guitarist (Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show)
1950 – Michael Stark, Australian actor
1950 – Gerd Zewe, German footballer
1951 – Richard Thomas, American actor
1951 – Stellan Skarsgård, Swedish actor
1952 – Tony Bruno, American talkshow host
1952 – Jean-Marie Dedecker, Belgian politician and former judoka
1953 – Tim Allen, American comedian and actor
1954 – Andrzej Lepper, Polish politician
1954 – Rita Cadillac, Brazilian dancer
1955 – Alan Hansen, Scottish football pundit
1959 – Steve Georganas, Australian politician
1959 – Lance Kinsey, Canadian actor
1961 – Anders Järryd, Swedish tennis player
1962 – Ally Sheedy, American actress
1962 – Glenn Michibata, Canadian professional tennis player
1962 – Davey Hamilton, American racing driver
1963 – Bettina Bunge, German tennis player
1963 – Paul De Lisle, American musician (Smash Mouth)
1964 – Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke, English actress
1964 – Christian Wilhelm Berger, Romanian composer
1965 – Lukas Ligeti, Austrian composer and drummer
1965 – Infanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca
1965 – Lisa Vidal, American actress
1966 – Grigori Perelman, Russian mathematician
1966 – Naoki Hattori, Japanese racing driver
1968 – David Gray, British musician
1968 – Denise Pearson, British singer (Five Star)
1968 – Fabio Baldato, Italyan cyclist
1969 – Svetlana Krivelyova, Russian athlete
1969 – Søren Nystrøm Rasted
1970 – Chris Cairns, New Zealand cricketer
1970 – Rivers Cuomo, American musician (Weezer)
1970 – Mikael Ljungberg, Swedish wrestler (d. 2004)
1972 – Natalie MacMaster, Canadian musician
1973 – Sam Adams, American football player
1973 – Mattias Hellberg, Swedish musician (The Hellacopters)
1973 – Ville Laihiala, Finnish musician (Sentenced, Poisonblack)
1973 – Kasia Kowalska, Polish pop rock singer
1974 – Selma Björnsdóttir, Icelandic singer
1974 – Steve-O, American television personality
1974 – Brande Roderick, American actress
1974 – Takahiro Sakurai, Japanese voice actor
1974 – Valeri Bure, Russian ice hockey player
1975 – Ante Covic, Australian footballer
1975 – Johannes Grenzfurthner, Austrian artist, writer, curator and director
1975 – Riccardo Scimeca, English footballer
1976 – Kym Marsh, English singer, actress, & T.V. presenter
1976 – Jason J Brown, English Singer
1977 – Alaura Eden, American porn actress
1978 – Ethan Embry, American actor
1978 – Mathis Künzler, Swiss actor
1978 – Jason Michael Carroll, Country musician
1978 – Mikako Ichikawa, Japanese actress and model
1979 – Nila Håkedal, Norwegian beach volleyball player
1980 – Darius Vassell, English footballer
1980 – Florent Malouda, French footballer
1980 – Markus Winkelhock, German racing driver
1980 – Sarah Connor, German singer
1981 – Chris Evans, American actor
1981 – David Madden, 4th-ranked Jeopardy! champion of all-time
1982 – Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopian athlete
1983 – Matt Allison, British racing driver
1983 – Jason Spezza, Canadian hockey player
1984 – Nery Castillo, Mexican-Uruguayan footballer
1985 – Raz-B, American singer (B2K)
1985 – Danny Syvret, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Filipe Albuquerque, Portuguese racing driver
1986 – Kat Dennings, American actress
1986 – Ashley Olsen, American actress
1986 – Mary-Kate Olsen, American actress
1989 – Lisa Tucker, American singer
1990 – Aaron Johnson, British actor
Deaths
1036 – Ali az-Zahir, caliph (b. 1005)
1231 – Anthony of Padua, Portuguese saint (b. 1195)
1256 – Tankei, Japanese sculptor (b. 1173)
1636 – George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, Scottish politician (b. 1562)
1645 – Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese swordsman
1665 – Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer, Dutch admiral (b. 1604)
1760 – Antoine Court, French Huguenot minister (b. 1696)
1784 – Henry Middleton, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1717)
1881 – Josef Skoda, Czech physician (b. 1805)
1886 – King Ludwig II of Bavaria (b. 1845)
1898 – Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1840)
1904 – Nikiphoros Lytras, Greek painter (b. 1832)
1918 – Tsar Mikhail Alexandrovitch Romanov (b. 1878)
1930 – Henry Segrave, British racing driver who held land speed records and the water speed record (b. 1896)
1931 – Shibasaburo Kitasato, Japanese physician (b. 1851)
1943 – Koco Racin, Macedonian poet (b. 1908)
1951 – Ben Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1885)
1958 – Edwin Keppel Bennett, British writer (b. 1887)
1965 – Martin Buber, Austrian philosopher (b. 1878)
1965 – David Drummond, Australian politician (b. 1890)
1972 – Clyde McPhatter, American musician (b. 1932)
1972 – Georg von Békésy, Hungarian biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
1972 – Stephanie von Hohenlohe, Austrian-born German World War II spy (b. 1891)
1972 – Dündar Taser, Turkish nationalist (b. 1925)
1977 – Matthew Garber, British child actor (Mary Poppins) (b. 1956)
1979 – Darla Hood, American actress (b. 1931)
1980 – Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure (b. 1942)
1982 – King Khalid of Saudi Arabia (b. 1912)
1982 – Peter Maivia, wrestler (b. 1935)
1982 – Riccardo Paletti, Formula One driver (b. 1958)
1986 – Benny Goodman, American musician (b. 1909)
1987 – Geraldine Page, American actress (b. 1924)
1989 – Fran Allison, American, early television personality (Kukla, Fran and Ollie) (b. 1907)
1993 – Deke Slayton, astronaut (b. 1924)
1993 – Gérard Côté, Canadian runner (b. 1913)
1998 – Birger Ruud, Norwegian athlete (b. 1911)
2002 – John Hope, American meteorologist (b. 1919)
2003 – Malik Meraj Khalid, Former caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1916)
2004 – Dick Durrance, American skier (b. 1914)
2004 – Ralph Wiley, American journalist and writer (b. 1952)
2005 – Jonathan Adams, English actor (b. 1931)
2005 – Álvaro Cunhal, Portuguese politician and writer (b. 1913)
2005 – David Diamond, American composer (b. 1915)
2005 – Lane Smith, American actor (b. 1936)
2006 – Charles Haughey, Taoiseach (b. 1925)
2007 – Walid Eido, Lebanese MP (b. 1942)
2008 – Tim Russert, American television host, NBC News Meet the Press moderator (b. 1950)
2008 – Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (b. 1926)
Holidays and observances
Roman Empire – Quinquatrus Minusculae held in honor of Minerva
Roman Empire – seventh day of the Vestalia in honor of Vesta
Saint Anthony of Padua, priest, confessor, Doctor of the Church
Saint Agricius, bishop of Sens, confessor
Saint Cetteus, bishop, martyr
Saint Leo III, pope
Saint Onuphrius, hermit, confessor
Blessed Thomas Woodhouse, martyr
