Today’s highlight in history
On June 29, 1767, Britain approved the Townshend Revenue Act, which imposed import duties on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper and tea shipped to the American colonies. (Colonists bitterly protested, prompting Parliament to repeal the duties — except for tea.)
On this date
In 1613, London’s original Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a cannon shot during a performance of “Henry VIII.”
In 1927, the first trans-Pacific airplane flight was completed as Lt. Lester J. Maitland and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger arrived at Wheeler Field in Hawaii aboard the Bird of Paradise, an Atlantic-Fokker C-2, after flying 2,400 miles from Oakland, Calif., in 25 hours, 50 minutes.
In 1956, actress Marilyn Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller in a civil ceremony in White Plains, N.Y. (The couple also wed in a Jewish ceremony on July 1; the marriage lasted 41⁄2 years).
In 1967, actress Jayne Mansfield, 34, was killed along with her boyfriend, Sam Brody, and their driver, Ronnie Harrison, when their car slammed into the rear of a tractor-trailer on a highway in Slidell, La.; three children riding in the back, including Mansfield’s 3-year-old daughter, Mariska Hargitay, survived.
In 1967, Jerusalem was re-unified as Israel removed barricades separating the Old City from the Israeli sector.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a trio of death sentences, saying the way they had been imposed constituted cruel and unusual punishment. (The ruling prompted states to effectively impose a moratorium on executions until their capital punishment laws could be revised.)
In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian Mir space station linked in orbit, beginning a historic fiveday voyage as a single ship.
Ten years ago: The first generation of Apple iPhones went on sale.
Five years ago: The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency filed formal charges against Lance Armstrong, accusing the seven-time Tour de France winner of using performance-enhancing drugs throughout the best years of his career. (The USADA ended up stripping Armstrong of all his Tour de France titles and issued a lifetime ban from cycling.)
One year ago: President Barack Obama and the leaders of Mexico and Canada, meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, pushed back against the isolationist and antiimmigrant sentiments roiling Britain and championed by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.