TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, JUNE 11, the 162nd day of 2022. There are 203 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1955, in motor racing’s worst disaster, more than 80 people were killed during the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France when two of the cars collided and crashed into spectators.
In 1509, England’s King Henry VIII married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. In 1770, Captain James Cook, commander of the British ship Endeavour, “discovered” the Great Barrier Reef off Australia by running onto it.
In 1776, the Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence calling for freedom from Britain. In 1919, Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes, becoming horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner.
In 1938, Johnny Vander Meer pitched the first of two consecutive no-hitters as he led the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-0 victory over the Boston Bees. (Four days later, Vander Meer refused to give up a hit to the Brooklyn Dodgers, who lost, 6-0.)
In 1962, three prisoners at Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay staged an escape, leaving the island on a makeshift raft; they were never found or heard from again.
In 1987, Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term of office as her Conservatives held on to a reduced majority in Parliament.
In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that people who commit “hate crimes” motivated by bigotry may be sentenced to extra punishment.
In 2001, Timothy McVeigh, 33, was executed by injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
In 2009, with swine flu reported in more than 70 nations, the World Health Organization declared the first global flu pandemic in 41 years. In 2020, Louisville, Kentucky, banned the use of “no-knock” warrants and named the new ordinance for Breonna Taylor, who’d been fatally shot by officers who burst into her home.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: International Motorsports Hall-of-Famer Jackie Stewart is 83. Singer Joey Dee is 82. Actor Roscoe Orman is 78. Actor Adrienne Barbeau is 77. Rock musician Frank Beard (ZZ Top) and animal rights activist Ingrid Newkirk are 73. Singer Graham Russell (Air Supply) is 72. Rock singer Donnie Van Zant is 70. Actor Peter Bergman is 69. Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Joe Montana is 66. Actor Hugh Laurie is 63. TV personality Mehmet Oz, M.D., is 62. Singer Gioia Bruno (Expose) is 59. Rock musician Dan Lavery (Tonic) and country singersongwriter Bruce Robison are 56. Actor Clare Carey is 55. Actor Peter Dinklage is 53. Actor Lenny Jacobson is 48. Actor Joshua Jackson and Americana musician Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers) are 44. U.S. Olympic and WNBA basketball star Diana Taurasi is 40. Actor Shia LaBeouf is 36.