TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS FRIDAY, JUNE 22, the 173rd day of 2018. There are 192 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

On this date in 1918, a train carrying members of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus and their families was rear-ended by another train near Hammond, Ind., killing at least 86 people aboard the circus train.

In 1611, English explorer Henry Hudson, his son and several others were set adrift in present-day Hudson Bay by mutineers aboard the Discovery.

In 1911, Britain’s King George V was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

In 1937, Joe Louis began his reign as world heavyweight boxing champion by knocking out Jim Braddock in the eighth round of their fight in Chicago.

In 1940, during World War II, Adolf Hitler gained a stunning victory as France was forced to sign an armistice eight days after German forces overran Paris.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the “GI Bill of Rights.”

In 1945, the World War II battle for Okinawa ended with an Allied victory.

In 1969, singer-actress Judy Garland died in London at age 47.

In 1988, gay rights activist Leonard Matlovich, discharged from the U.S. Air Force because of his homosexuality, died at age 44.

In 2012, ex-Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted in Bellefonte, Pa., on 45 counts of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years. (Sandusky is appealing a 30-60-year state prison sentence.)

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Prunella Scales (TV: “Fawlty Towers”) is 86. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is 85. Singeractor Kris Kristofferson is 82. Singermusician Todd Rundgren is 70. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., actresses Meryl Streep and Lindsay Wagner, and singer Alan Osmond are 69. Pop singer Cyndi Lauper is 65. Rock musician Garry Beers (INXS) is 61. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is 58. Actress Amy Brenneman and author Dan Brown are 54. Actor Donald Faison is 44.