ON THIS DAY
NATIONAL DAY OF GREECE 1306:
Robert Bruce was crowned King of Scots at Scone.
1655: Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, was discovered by Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens.
1807: The Slave Trade Act became law. The act abolished the slave trade in Britain and Ireland.
1843: The Thames Tunnel, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, opened to pedestrians between Rotherhithe and Wapping in London.
1957: Six nations (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) signed the Treaty of Rome to create the European Economic Community.
1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono began their week-long ‘bed-in’ peace protest at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel.
1975: Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal was assassinated by his nephew Prince Faisal Ibu Musaed, who was later executed for the killing.
1980: Robert Runcie was enthroned as the 102nd Archbishop of Canterbury.
1980: The British Olympic Association announced it would defy the government and send
athletes to the Olympic Games in Moscow despite the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, which caused a United States-led boycott of the Games.
1989: The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race crews both had women coxes for the first time. Oxford won by two-and-a-half lengths.
1992: Pakistan beat England by 22 runs to win the ICC Cricket World Cup in Melbourne, Australia.
1996: The EU’s Veterinarian Committee banned the export of British beef and its by-products
due to fears over mad cow disease. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Bank of England confirmed that the Alan Turing £50 banknote would be issued for the first time on June 23, 2021, which coincided with his birthday.
BIRTHDAYS: Richard O’Brien, actor/writer (Rocky Horror Show), 80; Paul Michael Glaser, actor, 79; Sir Elton John, singer/songwriter, 75; Sarah Jessica Parker, actress, 57; Cathy Dennis, singer/songwriter, 53; Melanie Blatt, singer, 47; Lee Pace, actor, 43.