June 7 in History
1099 — First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins, laying the foundations for the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1420 — Troops of the Republic of Venice capture Udine, ending the independence of the Patria del Friuli (an ecclesiastical state of the Holy Roman Empire). 1502 — Pope Gregory XIII, who introduces the Gregorian calendar in 1582, is born Ugo Boncompagni in Bologna, Papal States, where he studies law and graduates in 1530.
1893 — Mahatma (Mohandas Karamchand) Gandhi, a 23-year-old lawyer who had recently arrived in SA on a one-year contract with an Indian company, is forcibly removed from a whites-only train carriage (and the train) at Pietermaritzburg station despite showing the conductor his first-class DurbanPretoria ticket. He considers leaving SA, but chooses to stay and peacefully oppose discriminatory policies … and stays for 21 years.
1937 — Actress Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter), 26, dies in Los Angeles of kidney failure. She starred in a string of hits from 1930 that focused on her comedic talent and was filming “Saratoga” (co-starring Clark Cable in their sixth collaboration) at the time of her death. The film, completed with stand-ins and released on July 23, is MGM’s biggest moneymaker for 1937.
1940 — Tom Jones (Sir Thomas John Woodward), Welsh singer (“Delilah”, “What’s New Pussycat”) and actor, is born in Treforest, Pontypridd.
1951 — ANC (then known as the SA Native National Congress) co-founder, lawyer and journalist Pixley
(ka Isaka) Seme, 69, dies in Johannesburg.
1953 — Johnny (Jonathan Paul) Clegg, SA musician (“Scatterlings of Africa”, “Great Heart”), is born in Bacup, Lancashire, England. His parents divorce when he is an infant and he moves with his mother Muriel to Zimbabwe, her fatherland, and then, at age six, to SA. 1981 — Operation Opera (or Babylon): Eight Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroy Osirak nuclear reactor, 17km southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, before it goes into operation. Israelis charged that the facility could have been used to make nuclear weapons. This follows after Iran attacked and damaged the site on September 30 1980 with two F-4 Phantoms, shortly after the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War. Ilan Ramon, one of the F-16 pilots, becomes Israel’s only astronaut (to date). Ramon, 48, and the six other Columbia crew members die on February 1 2003 when the space shuttle is destroyed upon re-entry. 1982 — Priscilla Presley opens Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home, to the public. The bathroom where he died on August 16 1977 is kept off-limits.