today.nukz.net: Almanac June 11

Peter Hayden Dinklage (born June 11, 1969) is an American film, television and theatre actor. Since his breakout role in the 2003 film The Station Agent, he has acted in Elf, Underdog, Find Me Guilty, the 2007 film Death at a Funeral and its 2010 remake, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Since 2011 he has starred in the HBO series Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin's series of novels A Song of Ice and Fire, which earned him the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

Events

1184 BC – Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called "miracle of the rain".
631 – Emperor Taizong of Tang, the Emperor of China, sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to seek the release of enslaved Chinese prisoners captured during the transition from Sui to Tang from the northern frontier; this embassy succeeded in freeing 80,000 Chinese men and women who were then returned to China.
1345 – The megas doux Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire, is lynched by political prisoners.
1429 – Hundred Years' War: start of the Battle of Jargeau.
1509 – Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon.
1594 – Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paved way to the stabilization of the rule of the Principalía (an elite ruling class of native nobility in Spanish Philippines).
1770 – Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
1775 – The American Revolutionary War's first naval engagement, the Battle of Machias, results in the capture of a small British naval vessel.
1776 – The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.
1788 – Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
1805 – A fire consumes large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory.
1825 – The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish.
1865 – The Naval Battle of Riachuelo is fought on the rivulet Riachuelo (Argentina), between the Paraguayan Navy on one side and the Brazilian Navy on the other. The Brazilian victory was crucial for the later success of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina) in the Paraguayan War.
1892 – The Limelight Department, one of the world's first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia.
1898 – Spanish-American War: U.S. war ships set sail for Cuba.
1898 – The Hundred Days' Reform is started by Guangxu Emperor with a plan to change social, political and educational institutions in China, but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after 104 days. The failed reform though led to the abolition of Imperial Examination in 1905.
1901 – New Zealand annexes the Cook Islands.
1903 – Group of Serbian officers stormed royal palace and assassinated King Alexander Obrenovic and his wife queen Draga.
1907 – George Dennett, aided by Gilbert Jessop, dismisses Northamptonshire for 12 runs, the lowest total in first-class cricket.
1917 – King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father Constantine I abdicates under pressure by allied armies occupying Athens.
1919 – Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the Triple Crown.
1920 – During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to first coin the political phrase "smoke-filled room".
1935 – Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States at Alpine, New Jersey.
1936 – The International Surrealist Exhibition opens in London, England.
1937 – Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin executes eight army leaders.
1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Wuhan starts.
1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Nationalist government creates the 1938 Yellow River flood to halt Japanese forces. 500,000 to 900,000 civilians are killed.
1942 – World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
1944 – USS Missouri (BB-63) the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned.
1955 – Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest ever accident in motorsports.
1956 – Start of Gal Oya riots, the first reported ethnic riots that target minority Sri Lankan Tamils in the Eastern Province. The total number of deaths is reportedly 150.
1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.
1963 – American Civil Rights Movement: Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending that school. Later in the day, accompanied by federalized National Guard troops, they are able to register.
1963 – Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.
1964 – World War II veteran Walter Seifert runs amok in an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers and seriously injuring several more with a home-made flamethrower and a lance.
1970 – After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first females to do so.
1972 – The Eltham Well Hall rail crash, caused by an intoxicated train driver, kills six people and injures 126.
1978 – Altaf Hussain founds the students' political movement All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) in Karachi University.
1981 – A Richter Scale 6.9 magnitude earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000.
1982 – The Sentosa Musical Fountain was officially opened as part of the second phase of construction on the island of Sentosa, Singapore.
1998 – Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2002 – Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
2004 – Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of the Saturn moon Phoebe.
2007 – Mudslides in Chittagong, Bangladesh, kill 130 people.
2008 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an historic official apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to a residential school abuse in which children are isolated from their homes, families and cultures for a century.

Births

1403 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (d. 1427)
1456 – Anne Neville, wife of Richard III of England (d. 1485)
1540 – Barnabe Googe, English poet (d. 1594)
1588 – George Wither, English writer (d. 1667)
1672 – Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (d. 1749)
1690 – Giovanni Antonio Giay, Italian composer (d. 1764)
1696 – Francis Edward James Keith, Scottish soldier and Prussian field marshal (d. 1758)
1697 – Francesco Antonio Vallotti, Italian composer, music theorist, and organist (d. 1780)
1704 – Carlos Seixas, Portuguese composer (d. 1742)
1713 – Edward Capell, English critic (d. 1781)
1723 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (d. 1788)
1726 – Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, Spanish-born Dauphine of France (d. 1746)
1741 – Joseph Warren, American doctor and soldier (d. 1775)
1776 – John Constable, English painter (d. 1837)
1797 – José Trinidad Reyes, Honduran national hero (d. 1855)
1815 – Julia Margaret Cameron, English photographer (d. 1879)
1832 – Lucy Pickens, American and Confederate socialite (d. 1899)
1842 – Carl von Linde, German engineer and industrialist (d. 1934)
1846 – William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (d. 1920)
1847 – Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (d. 1929)
1864 – Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (d. 1949)
1867 – Charles Fabry, French physicist (d. 1945)
1871 – Stjepan Radic, Croatian politician (d. 1928)
1876 – Alfred L. Kroeber, American anthropologist (d. 1960)
1877 – Renée Vivien, English-born French poet (d. 1909)
1879 – Roger Bresnahan, American baseball player (d. 1944)
1880 – Jeannette Rankin, American politician, feminist and pacifist (d. 1973)
1888 – Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist (d. 1927)
1894 – Dai Vernon, Canadian magician (d. 1992)
1895 – Nikolai Bulganin, Soviet politician (d. 1975)
1897 – Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian Revolutionary, Founder of Hindustan Republican Association (d. 1927)
1897 – Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia (d. 1918)
1903 – Ernie Nevers, American football player (d. 1976)
1910 – Carmine Coppola, American composer, director and songwriter (d. 1991)
1910 – Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French marine biologist and inventor (d. 1997)
1912 – James Algar, American film director (d. 1998)
1913 – Vince Lombardi, American football coach (d. 1970)
1913 – Risë Stevens, American operatic soprano
1913 – Coby Whitmore, American painter and magazine illustrator (d. 1988)
1914 – Gerald Mohr, American actor (d. 1968)
1915 – Nicholas Metropolis, Greek-American mathematician, physicist and computer scientist (d. 1999)
1917 – Joseph B. Wirthlin, American religious leader (d. 2008)
1919 – Helen Tobias-Duesberg, Estonian-born American composer (d. 2010)
1919 – Richard Todd, British actor (d. 2009)
1920 – Shelly Manne, American jazz drummer (d. 1984)
1920 – Hazel Scott, Trinidad and Tobago-born American singer (d. 1981)
1920 – Irving Howe, American literary and social critic (d. 1993)
1922 – John Bromfield, American actor (d. 2005)
1922 – Michael Cacoyannis, Cypriot film maker (d. 2011)
1925 – William Styron, American novelist and essayist (d. 2006)
1926 – Carlisle Floyd, American composer
1928 – Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Spanish-born Queen consort of the Belgians
1930 – Charles B. Rangel, American politician
1931 – Audrey Schuh, American soprano
1932 – Athol Fugard, South African playwright
1933 – Gene Wilder, American actor
1934 – Henrik, French-born Prince Consort of Denmark
1936 – Jud Strunk, American singer, songwriter and comedian (d. 1981)
1936 – Chad Everett, American actor
1937 – Robin Warren, Australian pathologist, Nobel laureate
1937 – Johnny Brown, American comedian
1939 – Sir Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver
1939 – Bernard Purdie, American session drummer
1939 – Christina Crawford, American actress and writer
1940 – Joey Dee, American musician (Joey Dee and the Starliters)
1944 – Roscoe Orman, American actor
1945 – Adrienne Barbeau, American actress
1947 – Laloo Prasad Yadav, Indian politician
1947 – Henry Cisneros, American politician
1947 – Richard Palmer-James, British lyricist and guitarist (King Crimson, Supertramp)
1947 – Bob Evans, British racing driver
1948 – Dave Cash, American baseball player
1948 – Stephen Schnetzer, American actor
1948 – Michael Swan, American actor
1949 – Frank Beard, American drummer (ZZ Top)
1949 – Tom Pryce, British racing driver (d. 1977)
1950 – Lynsey de Paul, British singer and songwriter
1950 – Graham Russell, British guitarist and vocalist (Air Supply)
1951 – Yasumasa Morimura, Japanese appropriation artist
1951 – Mark D. Siljander, American politician
1952 – Donnie Van Zant, American rock vocalist and guitarist (38 Special, Van Zant)
1953 – Peter Bergman, American actor
1953 – José Bové, French political activist
1953 – Georgios Orfanos, Greek politician
1955 – Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower
1955 – Duncan Steel, British astronomer and author
1956 – Steven A. Cohen, American hedge fund manager
1956 – Joe Montana. American football player
1957 – Jamaaladeen Tacuma, American free jazz bassist
1959 – Hugh Laurie, English actor and comedian
1959 – Magnum T.A., American professional wrestler
1960 – Mehmet Oz, American television host, surgeon, inventor
1961 – María Barranco, Spanish actress
1962 – Erika Salumäe, Estonian cyclist
1963 – Bruce Kimball, American diver
1963 – Sandra Schmirler, Canadian curler (d. 2000)
1964 – Jean Alesi, French Formula One driver
1964 – Gunnar Sauer, German footballer
1965 – Manuel Uribe, Mexican one-time world's heaviest man
1967 – Clare Carey, American actress
1967 – João Garcia, Portuguese mountaineer
1968 – Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein
1969 – Peter Dinklage, American actor
1969 – Steven Drozd, American drummer and guitarist (The Flaming Lips)
1969 – Bryan Fogarty, Canadian professional ice hockey player (d. 2002)
1969 – Olaf Kapagiannidis, German footballer
1969 – Matt McGrath, American actor
1970 – Chris Rice, American singer and songwriter
1970 – Kang Ho Dong, Korean traditional wrestler and MC
1973 – José Manuel Abundis, Mexican footballer
1973 – Dana Brunetti, American film producer
1974 – Fragiskos Alvertis, Greek basketball player
1974 – David Starie, British boxer
1975 – Choi Ji Woo, South Korean actress and model
1975 – Thomas Bimis, Greek diver
1976 – Gran Naniwa, Japanese professional wrestler (d. 2010)
1977 – Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer
1977 – Ryan Dunn, American actor (d. 2011)
1977 – Shane Meier, Canadian actor
1978 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian actor
1978 – Ujjwala Raut, Indian supermodel
1979 – Amy Taylor, Australian television presenter and model
1980 – Yhency Brazobán, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Emiliano Moretti, Italian footballer
1982 – Eldar Rønning, Norwegian cross-country skier
1982 – Johnny Candido, American professional wrestler
1982 – Joey Graham, American basketball player
1982 – Stephen Graham, American basketball player
1982 – Diana Taurasi, American basketball player
1983 – Chuck Hayes, American basketball player
1983 – José Reyes, Dominican baseball player
1983 – Josh Ramsay, Canadian singer (Marianas Trench)
1984 – Andy Lee, Irish boxer
1984 – Vágner Love, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Chris Trousdale, American pop singer and dancer
1986 – Shia LaBeouf, American actor
1986 – Chase Clement, American football quarterback
1987 – TiA, Japanese R&B singer
1987 – Didrik Solli-Tangen, Norwegian singer and Eurovision contestant
1988 – Yui Aragaki, Japanese actress and model
1988 – Claire Holt, Australian actress and model
1989 – Maya Moore, American basketball player
1989 – Keith Aulie, Canadian hockey player
1992 – Eugene Simon, British actor and model
1994 – Ivana Baquero, Spanish actress

Deaths

1183 – Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England (b. 1155)
1216 – Henry of Flanders, Emperor of the Latin Empire
1488 – King James III of Scotland (b. 1451)
1557 – King John III of Portugal (b. 1502)
1695 – André Félibien, French architect (b. 1619)
1712 – Louis Joseph, duc de Vendôme, Marshal of France (b. 1654)
1727 – King George I of Great Britain (b. 1660)
1796 – Samuel Whitbread, English brewer (Whitbread Group PLC) and politician (b. 1720)
1847 – John Franklin, English sea captain and explorer (b. 1786)
1852 – Karl Briullov, Russian painter (b. 1799)
1859 – Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Austrian statesman (b. 1773)
1879 – Prince Willem of the Netherlands, disgraced heir apparent to the Dutch throne (b. 1840)
1882 – Louis Maigret, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1804)
1903 – Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician (b. 1837)
1903 – Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia (b. 1876)
1911 – James Curtis Hepburn, American missionary and linguist (b. 1815)
1914 – Adolf Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1848)
1920 – William F. Halsey, Sr., United States Naval Officer (b. 1853)
1924 – Théodore Dubois, French composer and teacher (b. 1837)
1927 – William Attewell, English cricketer (b. 1861)
1934 – Lev Vygotsky, Russian psychologist (b. 1896)
1936 – Robert E. Howard, American writer (b. 1906)
1937 – R. J. (Reginald Joseph) Mitchell, British aircraft designer (b. 1895)
1941 – Daniel Carter Beard, founder of the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1850)
1963 – Thích Qu?ng Ð?c, Vietnamese Buddhist monk (b. 1897)
1965 – José Mendes Cabeçadas, 95th Prime Minister of Portugal and 9th President of Portugal (b. 1883)
1970 – Earl Grant, American pianist, organist and singer (b. 1931)
1970 – Frank Laubach, Christian missionary (b. 1884)
1974 – Julius Evola, Italian philosopher (b. 1898)
1974 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, President of Brazil (b. 1883)
1976 – Jim Konstanty, American baseball player (b. 1917)
1979 – John Wayne, American actor (b. 1907)
1982 – Al Rinker, American singer (The Rhythm Boys) (b. 1907)
1984 – Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (b. 1922)
1985 – Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (b. 1954)
1985 – Sapfo Notara, Greek actress (b. 1907)
1986 – Chesley Bonestell, American engineer, architect and artist (b. 1888)
1991 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (b. 1925)
1993 – Ray Sharkey, American actor (b. 1952)
1995 – Rodel Naval, Filipino Singer (b.1953)
1996 – Brigitte Helm, German actress (b. 1908)
1998 – Catherine Cookson, British novelist (b. 1906)
1999 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (b. 1920)
2001 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)
2001 – Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer (b. 1923)
2003 – David Brinkley, American television reporter (b. 1920)
2004 – Egon von Furstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (b. 1946)
2005 – Vasco Gonçalves, Portuguese general (b. 1922)
2006 – Bruce Shand, father of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (b. 1917)
2006 – Michael Bartosh, computer expert and author (b. 1977)
2006 – Neroli Fairhall, New Zealand archer (b. 1944)
2007 – Imre Friedmann, American scientist (b. 1921)
2007 – Mala Powers, American film actress (b. 1931)
2008 – Võ Van Ki?t, former prime minister of Vietnam (b. 1922)
2008 – Ove Andersson, Swedish rally driver (b. 1938)
2008 – Miroslav Dvorák, Czechoslovak ice hockey player (b. 1951)
2009 – Sumire, Japanese fashion model (b. 1987)
2011 – Seth Putnam, American musician (b. 1968)