Today June 9th 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
53 – Roman Emperor Nero marries Claudia Octavia
62 – Claudia Octavia commits suicide
68 – Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging.
721 – Odo of Aquitaine defeats the Moors in the Battle of Toulouse.
1310 – Duccio s Maestà Altarpiece, a seminal artwork of the early Italian Renaissance, is unveiled and installed in the Siena Cathedral in Siena, Italy.
1534 – Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the St. Lawrence River.
1650 – The Harvard Corporation, the more powerful of the two administrative boards of Harvard, is established. It is the first legal corporation in the Americas.
1667 – The Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet begins. It lasts for five days and results in a decisive victory by the Dutch over the English in the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1732 – James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of Georgia.
1772 – The British ship Gaspee is burned off the coast of Rhode Island.
1815 – End of the Congress of Vienna: New European political situation is set.
1856 – 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
1863 – American Civil War: the Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia.
1873 – Alexandra Palace burnt down, after being open for only 16 days.
1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, becomes the first woman to drive across the United States. With three female companions, none of whom could drive a car, in fifty-nine days she drove a Maxwell automobile the 3,800 miles from Manhattan, New York, to San Francisco, California.
1915 – U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigns over a disagreement regarding the United States handling of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.
1922 – First ringing of the Harkness Memorial Chime at Yale University.
1923 – Bulgaria s military takes over the government in a coup.
1928 – Charles Kingsford Smith completes the first trans-Pacific flight in a Fokker Trimotor monoplane, the Southern Cross.
1930 – Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle is killed during rush hour at the Illinois Central train station by the Leo Vincent Brothers, allegedly over a $100,000 USD gambling debt owed to Al Capone.
1934 – Donald Duck makes his debut in The Wise Little Hen.
1944 – World War II: the Soviet Union invades East Karelia and the previously Finnish part of Karelia, occupied by Finland since 1941.
1946 – King Bhumibol Adulyadej ascends to the throne of Thailand. He is currently the world s longest reigning monarch.
1953 – Flint-Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: a tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado hits in Worcester, Massachusetts killing 94.
1954 – McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army – giving McCarthy the famous rebuke, You ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?
1957 – First ascent of Broad Peak (the world s 12th highest mountain).
1958 – HM Queen Elizabeth II officially opens London Gatwick Airport, (LGW), Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom.
1959 – The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
1967 – Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria during the Six-Day War.
1968 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a national day of mourning following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
1973 – Secretariat wins the Triple Crown.
1974 – Diplomatic relations between Portugal and the Soviet Union are established.
1978 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens its priesthood to all worthy men, ending a 148-year-old policy excluding black men.
1985 – Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped in Lebanon (he is not released until 1991).
1986 – The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
1991 – The congress of the Italian party Proletarian Democracy decides to merge with the Communist Refoundation Party.
1999 – Kosovo War: the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and North Atlantic Treaty Organization sign a peace treaty.
2002 – Bubba Ho-Tep is released to the public.
2008 – In the town of Lake Delton, Wisconsin, Lake Delton drained as a result of heavy flooding breaking the dam holding the lake back.
Births
1508 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian Protestant reformer (d. 1586)
1580 – Daniel Heinsius, Flemish scholar (d. 1655)
1588 – Johann Andreas Herbst, German composer (d. 1666)
1595 – King Wladislaus IV of Poland (d. 1648)
1640 – Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1705)
1661 – Tsar Feodor III of Russia (d. 1682)
1672 – Tsar Peter I of Russia (d. 1725)
1686 – Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (d. 1747)
1768 – Samuel Slater, American industrialist (d. 1835)
1781 – George Stephenson, English mechanical engineer (d. 1848)
1810 – Otto Nicolai, German composer (d. 1849)
1812 – Johann Gottfried Galle, German astronomer (d. 1910)
1843 – Bertha von Suttner, Austrian novelist and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1914)
1845 – Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto (d. 1914)
1849 – Michael Peter Ancher, Danish painter (d. 1927)
1851 – Charles Joseph Bonaparte, French politician (d. 1921)
1865 – Albéric Magnard, French composer (d. 1914)
1865 – Carl Nielsen, Danish composer (d. 1931)
1875 – Henry Hallett Dale, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1968)
1882 – Bobby Kerr, Canadian sprinter (d. 1963)
1890 – Leslie Banks, British actor (d. 1952)
1891 – Cole Porter, American composer and lyricist (d. 1964)
1893 – Irish Meusel, American baseball player (d. 1963)
1898 – Luigi Fagioli, Italian race car driver (d. 1952)
1900 – Fred Waring, American bandleader (d. 1984)
1911 – George Webb, British actor (d. 1998)
1912 – Ingolf Dahl, American composer (d. 1970)
1915 – Les Paul, American guitarist
1916 – Robert McNamara, United States Secretary of Defense and president of the World Bank
1921 – Arthur Hertzberg, American Jewish scholar (d. 2006)
1922 – John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (d. 1941)
1922 – Fernand Seguin, Canadian biochemist – Radio and TV animator (d. 1988)
1922 – George Axelrod, American screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director (d. 2003)
1925 – Keith Laumer, science fiction writer (d. 1993)
1929 – Johnny Ace, American singer (d. 1954)
1930 – Barbara, French singer (d. 1997)
1931 – Jackie Mason, American comedian
1931 – Joe Santos, American actor
1931 – Bill Virdon, American baseball player and manager
1934 – Jackie Wilson, American singer (d. 1984)
1936 – Mick O Dwyer, Gaelic footballer and manager
1937 – Harald Rosenthal, German biologist
1938 – Charles Wuorinen, American composer
1939 – Ileana Cotrubas, Romanian soprano
1939 – David Hobbs, English race car driver and personality on American TV
1939 – Dick Vitale, American sportscaster
1939 – Charles Webb, author
1941 – Jon Lord, organist in Deep Purple
1943 – Joe Haldeman, science fiction writer
1945 – Luis Ocaña, Spanish cyclist (d. 1994)
1945 – Nike Wagner, German woman of the theater
1947 – Kiran Bedi, Indian Police Service Officer
1947 – John Gurda, American historian
1948 – Gudrun Schyman, Swedish politician
1951 – Dave Parker, American baseball player
1951 – James Newton Howard, American film composer
1952 – Uzi Hitman, Israeli singer (d. 2004)
1954 – George Pérez, American comic book artist
1954 – Gregory Maguire, American fantasy writer
1956 – Patricia Cornwell, American author
1959 – Christian Wulff, German politician, currently prime minister of Lower Saxony.
1960 – Steve Paikin, Canadian journalist
1961 – Michael J. Fox, Canadian-born actor
1961 – Aaron Sorkin, American writer
1963 – Johnny Depp, American actor
1963 – Gilad Atzmon, Israeli jazz musician and author
1963 – David Koepp, American screenwriter and director
1964 – Gloria Reuben, Canadian actress
1964 – Hiroko Yakushimaru, Japanese actress and singer
1968 – Niki Bakoyianni, Greek high jumper
1969 – Eric Wynalda, American footballer
1971 – Gilles De Bilde, Belgian footballer
1971 – John McKeown, Scottish musician (Yummy Fur, 1990s)
1971 – Rick Renstrom, American guitarist
1972 – Tomoe Hanba, Japanese voice actress
1973 – Tedy Bruschi, American football player
1973 – Laura Ponte, Spanish model and royal
1973 – Frederic Choffat, Swiss film director
1974 – Samoth, Norwegian guitarist (Emperor, Zyklon)
1974 – Tim Shaw, British radio personality
1974 – Randy Winn, American baseball player
1975 – Andrew Symonds, Australian cricketer
1975 – Otto Addo, Ghanaian footballer
1975 – Jeff Saturday, American football player
1977 – Roopa Mishra, Indian civil servant
1977 – Amisha Patel, Indian actress
1977 – Peja Stojakovic, Serbian basketball player
1978 – Shandi Finnessey, game hostess
1978 – Matthew Bellamy, British musician (Muse)
1978 – Miroslav Klose, German footballer
1978 – Michaela Conlin, American actress
1980 – Mike Fontenot, American baseball player
1980 – Lehlohonolo Seema, Lesotho footballer
1980 – Udonis Haslem, American basketball player
1981 – Natalie Portman, Israeli-born actress
1981 – Vic Zhou, JVKV band member, Taiwanese actor, singer and model.
1981 – Anoushka Shankar, Famous sitarist and daughter of Ravi Shankar
1981 – Celina Jaitley, Indian actress
1982 – Christina Stürmer, Austrian singer
1982 – Andrew Walker, Canadian actor
1983 – Alektra Blue, American porn star
1983 – Danny Richar, Dominican baseball player
1983 – Jim Tang , Hong Kong TVB actor
1984 – Yulieski Gourriel, Cuban baseball player
1984 – Kaleth Morales, Colombian singer and songwriter (d. 2005)
1984 – Wesley Sneijder, Dutch footballer
1984 – Masoud Shojaei, Iranian footballer
1985 – Sonam Kapoor, Indian actress
1985 – Sebastian Telfair, American basketball player
1986 – Adamo Ruggiero, Canadian actor
1986 – Kary Ng, Hong Kong singer and actress
1988 – Mae Whitman, American actress and voice actress
1993 – Danielle Chuchran, American actress
Deaths
62 – Claudia Octavia, wife of Nero (b. 40)
68 – Nero, Roman Emperor (b. 37)
373 – Ephrem the Syrian, Christian hymnodist
597 – St. Columba, Christian missionary (b. 521)
630 – King Shahrbaraz of Persia
1361 – Philippe de Vitry, French composer (b. 1291)
1563 – William Paget, 1st Baron Paget, English statesman (b. 1506)
1572 – Jeanne d Albret, Queen of Navarre (b. 1528)
1583 – Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
1656 – Thomas Tomkins, Welsh composer (b. 1572)
1716 – Banda Bahadur, Sikh military commander (executed)
1717 – Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, French mystic (b. 1648)
1834 – William Carey, one of the founders of the Baptist Missionary Society (b. 1761)
1870 – Charles Dickens, English author (b. 1812)
1875 – Gérard Paul Deshayes, French geologist (b. 1795)
1892 – Taiso Yoshitoshi, Woodblock print artist
1892 – William Grant Stairs, Canadian explorer (b. 1863)
1912 – Ion Luca Caragiale, Romanian writer (b. 1852)
1946 – Ananda Mahidol, Rama VIII, king of Thailand (b. 1925)
1952 – Adolf Busch, German composer (b. 1891)
1958 – Robert Donat, English actor (b. 1905)
1959 – Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1876)
1961 – Camille Guérin, French scientist (b. 1872)
1964 – Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Canadian-born business tycoon and politician (b. 1879)
1968 – Bernard Cronin, Australian author and journalist (b. 1884)
1973 – Erich von Manstein, German military commander (b. 1887)
1974 – Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
1979 – Cyclone Taylor, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1884)
1981 – Allen Ludden, TV game show host (b. 1917)
1989 – George Wells Beadle, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
1989 – Rashid Behbudov, Azerbaijani singer and actor (b. 1915)
1991 – Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist (b. 1903)
1993 – Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (b. 1921)
1994 – Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
1997 – Stanley Knowles, Canadian politician (b. 1908)
2000 – Jacob Lawrence, American painter (b. 1917)
2004 – Rosey Brown, American football player (b. 1932)
2004 – Brian Williamson, Jamaican Gay Activist (b. 1945)
2006 – Drafi Deutscher, German Schlager singer (b. 1946)
2007 – Frankie Abernathy, Former The Real World: San Diego castmate (b. 1981)
2008 – Algis Budrys, American writer (b. 1931)
Holidays and observances
Australia Queens Birthday Holiday
Roman Empire paganism – third day of the Vestalia in honor of the goddess Vesta
