June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 191 days remaining until the end of the year.

[edit] Events

• 1180 - First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan
• 1305 - The Flemish-French peace treaty is signed at Athis-sur-Orge.
• 1314 - First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn, south of Stirling, begins.
• 1532 - Henry VIII and François I sign a secret treaty against Emperor Charles V.
• 1565 - Turgut Reis (Dragut), commander of the Ottoman Navy, dies during the Siege of Malta.
• 1611 - The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson's fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they are never heard from again.
• 1661 - Marriage contract between Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza.
• 1683 - William Penn signs friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.
• 1713 - The French residents of Acadia are given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia, Canada.
• 1757 - Battle of Plassey - 3,000 British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong Indian army under Siraj Ud Daulah at Plassey.
• 1758 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Krefeld - British forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.
• 1760 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Landeshut - Austria defeats Prussia.
• 1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Springfield fought in and around Springfield, New Jersey (including Short Hills, formerly of Springfield, now of Millburn Township.
• 1794 - Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kiev.
• 1810 - John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.
• 1812 - War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.
• 1860 - The United States Congress establishes the Government Printing Office.
• 1865 - American Civil War: At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant rebel army.
• 1868 - Christopher Latham Sholes receives a patent for Type-Writer.
• 1887 - The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating the nation's first national park, Banff National Park.
• 1888 - Frederick Douglass is the first African-American nominated for U.S. president.
• 1894 - The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
• 1914 - Mexican Revolution: Francisco Villa takes Zacatecas from Victoriano Huerta.
• 1917 - In a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retires 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.
• 1919 - Estonian Liberation War: The decisive defeat of German Freikorps forces in the Battle of Cesis. This day is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.
• 1926 - The College Board administers the first SAT exam.
• 1931 - Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine plane.
• 1938 - The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.
• 1940 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.
• 1941 - The Lithuanian Activist Front initiates independence from the Soviet Union; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis occupy Lithuania a few weeks later.
• 1942 - World War II: The first selections for the gas chamber at Auschwitz take place on a train load of Jews from Paris.
• 1942 - World War II: Germany's latest fighter, a Focke-Wulf FW190 is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales.
• 1943 - World War II: The British destroyers Eclipse and Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.
• 1945 - World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends when organised resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island.
• 1947 - The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act.
• 1958 - The Dutch Reformed Church accepts women ministers.
• 1959 - Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumed a scientific career).
• 1959 - A fire in a resort hotel in Stalheim, Norway kills 34 people.
• 1967 - Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.
• 1968 - 74 are killed and 150 injured in a football stampede towards a closed exit in a Buenos Aires stadium.
• 1969 - Warren E. Burger is sworn in as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring chief Earl Warren.
• 1972 - Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.
• 1972 - 45 countries leave the Sterling Area, allowing their currencies to fluctuate independently of the British Pound.
• 1973 - A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six year old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by arsonist Peter Dinsdale.
• 1985 - A terrorist bomb aboard Air India flight 182 brings the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.
• 1988 - James Hansen testifies to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that it was 99% probable that global warming had begun.
• 1990 - Moldavia declares independence.

[edit] Births

• 47 BC - Pharaoh Ptolemy XV of Egypt
• 1373 - Queen Joan II of Naples (d. 1435)
• 1433 - Francis II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1488)
• 1456 - Margaret of Denmark, wife of James III of Scotland (d. 1486)
• 1534 - Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (d. 1582)
• 1596 - Johan Banér, Swedish soldier (d. 1641)
• 1612 - André Tacquet, Belgian mathematician (d. 1660)
• 1668 - Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher and historian (d. 1744)
• 1683 - Etienne Fourmont, French orientalist (d. 1745)
• 1703 - Maria Leszczyńska, queen of Louis XV of France (d. 1768)
• 1716 - Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English politician (d. 1789)
• 1750 - Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, French geologist (d. 1801)
• 1763 - Josephine de Beauharnais, Empress of France (d. 1814)
• 1799 - John Milton Bernhisel, American physician (d. 1881)
• 1800 - Karol Marcinkowski, Polish physician and social activist (d. 1846)
• 1824 - Carl Reinecke, German musician and composer (d. 1910)
• 1884 - Cyclone Taylor, ice hockey player (d. 1979)
• 1888 - Bronson M. Cutting, American politician (d. 1935)
• 1889 - Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (d. 1966)
• 1894 - Alfred Kinsey, American entomologist and sexologist (d. 1956)
• 1894 - King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (d. 1972)
• 1902 - Mathias Wieman, German actor (d. 1969)
• 1903 - Paul Joseph James Martin, Canadian politician (d. 1992)
• 1905 - Jack Pickersgill, Canadian politician (d. 1997)
• 1907 - James Meade, English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
• 1907 - Dercy Gonçalves, Brazilian comedienne (d. 2008)
• 1909 - David Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1981)
• 1910 - Jean Anouilh, French dramatist (d. 1987)
• 1910 - Gordon B. Hinckley, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 2008)
• 1910 - Milt Hinton, American jazz bassist (d. 2000)
• 1912 - Alan Turing, English mathematician, often considered to be the father of modern computer science (d. 1954)
• 1916 - Len Hutton, English cricketer (d. 1990)
• 1919 - Muhammad Boudiaf, Algerian political leader (d. 1992)
• 1922 - Hal Laycoe, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1998)
• 1925 - Miriam Karlin, English actress
• 1927 - Bob Fosse, American choreographer (d. 1987)
• 1929 - June Carter Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1935 - Maurice Ferre, former mayor of Miami
• 1936 - Costas Simitis, Prime Minister of Greece
• 1937 - Martti Ahtisaari, President of Finland
• 1937 - Niki Sullivan, American guitarist (The Crickets)
• 1940 - Adam Faith, English singer and actor (d. 2003)
• 1940 - Lord Irvine of Lairg, Scottish Lord Chancellor
• 1940 - Wilma Rudolph, American runner (d. 1994)
• 1940 - Stuart Sutcliffe, English musician (The Beatles) (d. 1962)
• 1941 - Robert Hunter, American lyricist and poet (The Grateful Dead)
• 1941 - Roger McDonald, Australian author
• 1941 - Richard M. Richie Roberts, former Marine and New Jersey Police Detective, Criminal Defense Attorney
• 1943 - Vint Cerf, American Internet pioneer, Turing Award laureate
• 1943 - James Levine, American conductor
• 1945 - John Garang, Sudanese leader and politician (d. 2005)
• 1945 - Kjell Albin Abrahamson, Swedish journalist and writer.
• 1946 - Ted Shackleford, American actor
• 1947 - Bryan Brown, Australian actor
• 1948 - Myles Goodwyn, Canadian guitarist and vocalist (April Wine)
• 1948 - Darhyl S. Ramsey, American author
• 1948 - Clarence Thomas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• 1949 - Gordon Bray, Australian sports broadcaster
• 1950 - Douglas C. Lord, Canadian businessman
• 1951 - Michèle Mouton, French race car driver
• 1955 - Pierre Corbeil, Canadian politician
• 1955 - Glenn Danzig, American musician (The Misfits and Danzig)
• 1955 - Maggie Greenwald, American film director and writer
• 1955 - Jordan, British actress and model
• 1955 - Jean Tigana, French footballer
• 1956 - Tony Hill, American football player
• 1956 - Randy Jackson, American music producer
• 1957 - Frances McDormand, American actress
• 1960 - Donald Harrison, American musician
• 1960 - Tatsuya Uemura, Japanese musician and programmer
• 1961 - Zoran Janjetov, Serbian comic artist
• 1962 - Chuck Billy, American singer (Testament)
• 1962 - Kari Takko, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1962 - Kevin Yagher, TV/film special effects technician
• 1963 - Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
• 1963 - Steve Shelley, American musician (Crucifucks and Sonic Youth)
• 1964 - Yun Lou, Chinese gymnast
• 1964 - Joss Whedon, American producer, director, and screenwriter
• 1965 - Paul Arthurs, British guitarist (Oasis)
• 1966 - Chico DeBarge, American musician (DeBarge)
• 1966 - Richie Ren, Taiwanese musician
• 1967 - Helen Geake, British archaeologist
• 1967 - Paul King, New Zealand politician
• 1969 - Martin Klebba, American actor
• 1970 - Robert Brooks, American football player
• 1970 - Martin Deschamps, Quebec rock singer
• 1970 - Yann Tiersen, French musician
• 1971 - Félix Potvin, Canadian hockey player
• 1972 - Selma Blair, American actress
• 1972 - Ron Corning, American television anchor
• 1972 - Zinedine Zidane, French footballer
• 1973 - Marie N, Latvian singer
• 1974 - Joel Edgerton, Australian actor
• 1975 - Kevin Dyson, American football player
• 1975 - KT Tunstall, Scottish singer and songwriter
• 1976 - Wade Barrett, American soccer player
• 1976 - Joe Becker, American musician
• 1976 - Patrick Monahan, British comedian
• 1976 - Brandon Stokley, American football player
• 1976 - Emmanuelle Vaugier, Canadian actress
• 1976 - Patrick Vieira, French footballer
• 1977 - Miguel Ángel Angulo, Spanish footballer
• 1977 - Hayden Foxe, Australian footballer
• 1977 - Jason Mraz, American singer and songwriter
• 1978 - Memphis Bleek, American rapper
• 1978 - Frédéric Leclercq, French bassist (DragonForce)
• 1978 - Matt Light, American football player
• 1979 - LaDainian Tomlinson, American football player
• 1980 - Becky Cloonan, American comic book artist
• 1980 - Ramnaresh Sarwan, Guyanese cricketer
• 1983 - Jason Berrent, American performer
• 1983 - Brooks Laich, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1984 - Duffy, Welsh Singer
• 1988 - Isabella Leong Lok-Sze, Hong Kong singer, actress and model
• 1988 - Chellsie Memmel, American gymnast
• 1990 - Samuel Lee, FIFA 08 World Champion
• 1992 - Bridget Sloan, American gymnast
• 1996 - Charlie Jones, British actor

[edit] Deaths

• 79 - Vespasian, Roman Emperor (b. 9)
• 1018 - Henry I of Austria
• 1222 - Constance of Aragon, Aragonese princess
• 1555 - Pedro Mascarenhas, Portuguese explorer (b. 1470)
• 1582 - Shimizu Muneharu, Japanese military leader (b. 1537)
• 1615 - Mashita Nagamori, Japanese warlord (b. 1545)
• 1677 - Wilhelm Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1647)
• 1686 - William Coventry, English statesman
• 1707 - John Mill, English theologian
• 1733 - Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (b. 1672)
• 1770 - Mark Akenside, English poet and physician (b. 1721)
• 1775 - Karl Ludwig, Freiherr von Pöllnitz, German adventurer and writer (b. 1692)
• 1779 - Ras Mikael Sehul, warlord of Ethiopia (b. about 1691)
• 1806 - Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French naturalist (b. 1723)
• 1832 - James Hall, Scottish geologist (b. 1761)
• 1836 - James Mill, Scottish philosopher and historian, (b. 1773)
• 1856 - Ivan Kireevsky, Russian literary critic and philosopher (b. 1806)
• 1891 - Wilhelm Eduard Weber, German physicist (b. 1804)
• 1893 - Sir Theophilus Shepstone, British-born South African statesman (b. 1817)
• 1926 - Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter (b. 1848)
• 1956 - Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (b. 1875)
• 1959 - Boris Vian, French writer and musician (b. 1920)
• 1969 - Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish athlete (b. 1907)
• 1970 - Roscoe Turner, American aviator and racer (b. 1895)
• 1980 - Clyfford Still, American painter (b. 1904)
• 1980 - Varahagiri Venkata Giri, Fourth President of India (b. 1894)
• 1980- Sanjay Gandhi, Son of Indira Gandhi died in a plane crash. (b.1946)
• 1981 - Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1907)
• 1982 - Vincent Chin, Chinese-American hate crime victim (b. 1955)
• 1989 - Werner Best, German jurist and nazi leader (b. 1903)
• 1992 - Eric Andolsek, American football player (b. 1966)
• 1995 - Jonas Salk, American medical researcher (b. 1914)
• 1995 - Anatoly Tarasov, Russian ice hockey coach (b. 1918)
• 1996 - Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
• 1997 - Betty Shabazz, wife of Malcolm X (b. 1936)
• 1998 - Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish actress (b. 1911)
• 1999 - Buster Merryfield, British actor (b. 1920)
• 2001 - Yvonne Dionne, one of the Canadian Dionne quintuplets (b. 1934)
• 2002 - Pedro 'El Rockero' Alcazar, Panamanian boxer (b. 1975)
• 2003 - Maynard Jackson, Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (b. 1938)
• 2005 - Shana Alexander, American columnist (b. 1926)
• 2005 - Manolis Anagnostakis, Greek poet (b. 1925)
• 2006 - Aaron Spelling, American television producer (b. 1923)
• 2006 - Luke Graham, American wrestler (b. 1940)
• 2006 - Harriet, Galápagos tortoise (b. 1830)
• 2007 - Rod Beck, American baseball player (b. 1968)

[edit] Holidays and observances

• Jāņi (Līgo) - Latvia
• Midsummer's Eve, Christianized as the eve of the feast of Saint John the Baptist, is celebrated in much of Northern Europe
• Victory Day - Estonia
• Father's Day - Poland, Nicaragua and Uganda
• Grand Duke's Official Birthday - Luxembourg
• Saint Etheldreda
• Saint Jonas Day - especially celebrated in Lithuania
• Saint Lietbert of Brakel (d. 1076)
• Blessed Mary of Oignies (d. 1213)

[edit] External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada