today.nukz.net: Almanac June 7

Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (7 June 1831 – 15 April 1892) was an English novelist, journalist, traveller and Egyptologist. In the winter of 1873–1874, accompanied by several friends, Edwards toured Egypt, discovering a fascination with the land and its cultures, both ancient and modern. Journeying southwards from Cairo in a hired dahabiyeh (manned houseboat), the companions visited Philae and ultimately reached Abu Simbel where they remained for six weeks. During this last period, a member of Edwards' party, the English painter Andrew McCallum, discovered a previously-unknown sanctuary which bore her name for some time afterwards. Having once returned to the UK, Edwards proceeded to write a vivid description of her Nile voyage, publishing the resulting book in 1876 under the title of A Thousand Miles up the Nile. Enhanced with her own hand-drawn illustrations, the travelogue became an immediate bestseller. Edwards' travels in Egypt had made her aware of the increasing threat directed towards the ancient monuments by tourism and modern development. Determined to stem these threats by the force of public awareness and scientific endeavour, Edwards became a tireless public advocate for the research and preservation of the ancient monuments and, in 1882, co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund (now the Egypt Exploration Society) with Reginald Stuart Poole, curator of the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum. Edwards was to serve as joint Honorary Secretary of the Fund until her death some 14 years later.

Events

421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia. The wedding is celebrated at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire).
1099 – The First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins.
1420 – Troops of the Republic of Venice capture Udine, ending the independence of the Patriarchal State of Friuli.
1494 – Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries.
1628 – The Petition of Right, a major English constitutional document, is granted the Royal Assent by Charles I and becomes law.
1654 – Louis XIV is crowned King of France.
1692 – Port Royal, Jamaica, is hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1,600 people are killed and 3,000 are seriously injured.
1776 – Richard Henry Lee presents the "Lee Resolution" to the Continental Congress. The motion is seconded by John Adams and leads to the United States Declaration of Independence.
1800 – David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba.
1810 – The newspaper Gazeta de Buenos Ayres is first published in Argentina.
1832 – Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
1862 – The United States and the United Kingdom agree to suppress the slave trade.
1863 – During the French intervention in Mexico, Mexico City is captured by French troops.
1866 – 1,800 Fenian raiders are repelled back to the United States after they loot and plunder around Saint-Armand and Frelighsburg, Quebec.
1880 – War of the Pacific: The Battle of Arica, assault and capture of Morro de Arica (Arica Cape), that ended the Campaña del Desierto (Desert Campaign).
1892 – Benjamin Harrison becomes the first President of the United States to attend a baseball game.
1892 – Homer Plessy is arrested for refusing to leave his seat in the "whites-only" car of a train; he would lose the resulting court case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
1893 – Mohandas Gandhi's first act of civil disobedience.
1899 – American Temperance crusader Carrie Nation begins her campaign of vandalizing alcohol-serving establishments by destroying the inventory in a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas.
1905 – Norway's parliament dissolves its union with Sweden, a vote that is confirmed by a national plebiscite on August 13 of that year.
1906 – Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania is launched at the John Brown Shipyard, Glasgow (Clydebank), Scotland.
1909 – Mary Pickford makes her screen debut at the age of 16.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Messines – Allied ammonal mines underneath German trenches at Messines Ridge are detonated, killing 10,000 German troops.
1919 – Sette giugno: Riot in Malta; four are killed.
1929 – The Lateran Treaty is ratified, bringing Vatican City into existence.
1936 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, a trade union, is founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Philip Murray is elected its first president.
1938 – The Douglas DC-4E makes its first test flight.
1940 – King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav, and the Norwegian government leave Tromsø and go into exile in London.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway ends.
1942 – World War II: Aleutian Islands Campaign: Japanese soldiers occupy the American islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
1944 – World War II: The steamer Danae carrying 350 Cretan Jews and 250 Cretan partisans is sunk without survivors off the shore of Santorini.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy – At Abbey Ardennes members of the SS Division Hitlerjugend massacre 23 Canadian prisoners of war.
1945 – King Haakon VII of Norway returns with his family to Oslo after five years in exile.
1948 – Edvard Beneš resigns as President of Czechoslovakia rather than sign the Ninth-of-May Constitution making his nation a Communist state.
1955 – Lux Radio Theater signs off the air permanently. The show launched in New York in 1934, and featured radio adaptations of Broadway shows and popular films.
1965 – The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, effectively legalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
1967 – Israeli forces enter Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.
1971 – The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment.
1971 – The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service raids the home of Ken Ballew for illegal possession of hand grenades, which all turn out to be inert or dummies.
1975 – The inaugural Cricket World Cup begins in England.
1977 – 500 million people watch on television as the high day of Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begins.
1981 – The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera. The facility could have been used to make nuclear weapons.
1982 – Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits.
1989 – Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashes on approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname due to pilot error, killing 176 of 187 aboard.
1991 – Mount Pinatubo explodes generating an ash column 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) high.
1995 – The long-range Boeing 777 enters service with United Airlines.
1998 – James Byrd, Jr. of Texas is killed when white supremacists drag him behind a pickup truck along an asphalt pavement.
2000 – The United Nations defines the Blue Line as the border between Israel and Lebanon.
2006 – Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, is killed in an airstrike by the United States Air Force.

Births

1529 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and writer (d. 1615)
1687 – Gaetano Berenstadt, Italian alto castrato (d. 1734)
1732 – Giuseppe Demachi, Italian composer (d. 1791)
1757 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1806)
1761 – John Rennie, Scottish engineer (d. 1821)
1770 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1828)
1778 – Beau Brummell, English fashion leader (d. 1840)
1811 – James Young Simpson, British obstetrician (d. 1870)
1831 – Amelia Edwards, English author and Egyptologist (d. 1892)
1837 – Alois Hitler, father of Adolf Hitler (d. 1903)
1840 – Charlotte of Belgium, Empress of Mexico (d. 1927)
1845 – Leopold Auer, Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1930)
1848 – Paul Gauguin, French painter (d. 1903)
1862 – Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1947)
1863 – Bones Ely, professional baseball player (d. 1952)
1868 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect, designer, and watercolourist (d. 1928)
1879 – Knud Rasmussen, Greenlander explorer (d. 1933)
1879 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer (d. 1963)
1880 – Thorleif Lund, Norwegian actor (d. 1956)
1883 – Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and spy (d. 1948)
1886 – Henri Coanda, Romanian aerodynamics pioneer (d. 1972)
1894 – Alexander de Seversky, Russian-born aviation pioneer (d. 1974)
1896 – Douglas Campbell, American World War I flying ace (d. 1990)
1896 – Robert S. Mulliken, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1986)
1896 – Imre Nagy, Hungarian politician (d. 1958)
1897 – George Szell, Hungarian conductor (d. 1970)
1899 – Elizabeth Bowen, Irish novelist (d. 1973)
1900 – Glen Gray, American jazz musician and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra (d. 1963)
1902 – Herman B Wells, American college president and chancellor of Indiana University (d. 2000)
1905 – James J. Braddock, Irish-American boxer and one-time Heavyweight Champion of the World (d. 1974)
1907 – Prince Sigvard, Duke of Uppland (d. 2002)
1909 – Virginia Apgar, American physician and developer of the Apgar test (d. 1974)
1909 – Peter W. Rodino, American politician (d. 2005)
1909 – Jessica Tandy, English-born American actress (d. 1994)
1910 – Mike Sebastian, American football player (d. 1989)
1910 – Bradford Washburn, American explorer (d. 2007)
1911 – Brooks Stevens, American industrial designer (d. 1995)
1917 – Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (d. 2000)
1917 – Dean Martin, American singer and actor (d. 1995)
1920 – Georges Marchais, French politician (d. 1997)
1921 – Tal Farlow, American jazz guitarist (d. 1998)
1921 – Dorothy Ruth, American horse breeder; adopted daughter of Babe Ruth (d. 1989)
1922 – Leo Reise, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1975)
1923 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian jurist (d. 2000)
1925 – John Biddle, American yachting cinematographer and lecturer (d. 2008)
1927 – Charles de Tornaco, Belgian racing driver (d. 1953)
1928 – Dave Bowen, Welsh international football manager (d. 1995)
1928 – James Ivory, American film director
1928 – Reg Park, British bodybuilder (d. 2007)
1929 – Ernie Roth, American wrestling manager (d. 1983)
1929 – John Napier Turner, Canadian seventeenth Prime Minister of Canada
1931 – Malcolm Morley, English painter
1931 – Virginia McKenna, English actress
1932 – Tina Brooks, American jazz musician (d. 1974)
1933 – Herb Score, American baseball player (d. 2008)
1935 – Harry Crews, American author
1935 – Thomas Kailath, American engineer
1937 – Neeme Järvi, Estonian conductor
1938 – Goose Gonsoulin, American football player
1938 – Ian St. John, Scottish footballer
1940 – Tom Jones, Welsh singer
1940 – Ronald Pickup, English actor
1943 – Nikki Giovanni, American poet
1943 – Ken Osmond, American actor
1943 – Michael Pennington, English actor
1944 – Annette Lu, Vice President of Taiwan
1945 – Wolfgang Schüssel, Chancellor of Austria
1946 – Jenny Jones, Canadian-born American talk show host
1947 – Don Money, American baseball player and manager
1947 – Thurman Munson, American baseball player (d. 1979)
1950 – Gary Graham American actor
1951 – Terry O'Reilly Canadian ice hockey player
1952 – Liam Neeson, Northern Irish actor
1952 – Orhan Pamuk, Turkish writer, Nobel laureate
1953 – Colleen Camp, American actress
1953 – Johnny Clegg, South African musician
1953 – Dougie Donnelly, Scottish television broadcaster
1954 – Louise Erdrich, American author
1955 – William Forsythe, American actor
1955 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
1956 – Antonio Reid, American music producer
1957 – Juan Luis Guerra, Dominican musician
1957 – Paddy McAloon, English singer and songwriter (Prefab Sprout)
1958 – Prince, American musician
1958 – Surakiart Sathirathai, Thai Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand
1960 – Bill Prady, American television producer
1961 – Dave Catching, American musician
1961 – Kym Whitley, American actress and comedian
1962 – Michael Cartellone, American drummer (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
1962 – Thierry Hazard, French singer and songwriter
1962 – Takuya Kurosawa, Japanese racing driver
1962 – Simon Day, English comedian
1963 – Roberto Alagna, French tenor
1964 – Judie Aronson, American actress
1964 – Gia Carides, Australian actress
1965 – Mick Foley, American wrestler
1965 – Jean-Pierre François, French footballer and singer
1965 – Billy Reeves, English songwriter and BBC radio presenter
1965 – Damien Hirst, English artist
1965 – Christine Roque, French singer
1966 – Eric Kretz, American musician (Stone Temple Pilots)
1966 – Stéphane Richer, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Dave Navarro, American musician
1969 – Adam Buxton, British TV presenter and DJ
1969 – Prince Joachim of Denmark
1969 – Kim Rhodes, American actress
1970 – Cafu, Brazilian footballer
1970 – Andrei Kovalenko, Russian hockey player
1970 – Mike Modano, American ice hockey player
1970 – Helen Baxendale, English actress
1971 – Terrell Buckley, American football player
1971 – Alex X. Mooney, American politician
1972 – Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
1973 – Song Yun-ah, South Korean model and actress
1974 – Mahesh Bhupathi, Indian tennis player
1974 – Bear Grylls, British adventurer and former soldier, now Chief Scout
1974 – Cassius Khan, Canadian musician
1974 – Jason King, Web Developer
1975 – Shane Bond, New Zealand cricket player
1975 – Allen Iverson, American basketball player
1976 – Necro, American rapper
1976 – Cassidy Rae, American actress
1977 – Marcin Baszczynski, Polish footballer
1977 – Preston Campbell, Australian Rugby League Player
1977 – Joe Horgan, American baseball player
1977 – Odalis Pérez, Dominican baseball player
1978 – Tony An, Korean singer (H.O.T)
1978 – Mini Anden, Swedish model
1978 – Adrienne Frantz, American actress
1978 – Bill Hader, American comedian
1979 – Brian Donnelly, Canadian artist
1979 – Kevin Hofland, Dutch footballer
1979 – Evelina Papantoniou, Greek fashion model and actress
1980 – Ed Moses, American swimmer
1981 – Stephen Bywater, British footballer
1981 – Tyler Johnson, American baseball player
1981 – Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
1981 – Kevin Kyle, Scottish footballer
1981 – Larisa Oleynik, American actress
1982 – Virgil Vasquez, American baseball player
1983 – Milan Jurcina, Slovakian hockey player
1983 – Mark Lowe, American baseball player
1983 – Pierre Pierce, American basketball player and convicted sex offender
1984 – Jennyfer Jewell, English-New Zealand actress
1984 – Ari Koivunen, Finnish singer (Amoral)
1985 – Dani Evans, American model
1985 – Shannon Shorr, American poker player
1985 – Charlie Simpson, English singer (Busted, Fightstar)
1985 – Simon Whaley, English footballer
1986 – Keegan Bradley, American golfer
1988 – Michael Cera, Canadian actor
1988 – Milan Lucic, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Shelley Buckner, American actress
1989 – Ashley Melnick, American model, Miss Texas 2010
1990 – Allison Schmitt, American swimmer
1992 – Sara Niemietz, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress
1993 – Jordan Fry, American actor
1993 – Park Ji-yeon, South Korean singer and actress (T-ara)
1993 – Cameron Wakefield, New Zealand actor
1996 – Jasper Harris, English actor

Deaths

1329 – Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland (b. 1274)
1358 – Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese shogun (b. 1305)
1394 – Anne of Bohemia, wife of Richard II of England (b. 1367)
1618 – Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English governor of Virginia (b. 1577)
1676 – Paul Gerhardt, German hymnist (b. 1606)
1711 – Henry Dodwell, Irish theologian (b. 1641)
1779 – William Warburton, English critic and Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1698)
1810 – Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver (b. 1765)
1821 – Tudor Vladimirescu, Romanian revolutionary hero (b. c. 1780)
1826 – Joseph von Fraunhofer, German physicist (b. 1787)
1840 – King Frederick William III of Prussia (b. 1770)
1854 – Charles Baudin, French admiral (b. 1792)
1859 – David Cox, English artist (b. 1783)
1866 – Chief Seattle, Native American leader
1879 – William Tilbury Fox, English dermatologist (b. 1836)
1896 – Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer (b. 1829)
1911 – Maurice Rouvier, French statesman (b. 1842)
1915 – Charles Reed Bishop, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1822)
1916 – Émile Faguet, French writer and critic (b. 1847)
1927 – Edmund James Flynn, Premier of Quebec (b. 1847)
1931 – Viktor Schwanneke, German stage director, stage and film actor (b. 1880)
1933 – Dragutin Domjanic, Kajkavian poet (b. 1875)
1936 – Stjepan Seljan, Croatian explorer (b. 1875)
1937 – Jean Harlow, American actress (b. 1911)
1942 – Alan Blumlein, English electronics engineer (b. 1903)
1945 – Kitaro Nishida, Japanese philosopher (b. 1870)
1951 – Oswald Pohl, German SS officer (b. 1892)
1954 – Alan Turing, British mathematician and computer scientist (b. 1912)
1963 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (b. 1894)
1965 – Judy Holliday, American actress (b. 1921)
1966 – Jean Arp, German-born sculptor, painter, and poet (b. 1886)
1967 – Anatoly Maltsev, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)
1967 – Dorothy Parker, American writer (b. 1893)
1968 – Dan Duryea, American actor (b. 1907)
1970 – E. M. Forster, English author (b. 1879)
1978 – Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1897)
1979 – Forrest Carter, American author (b. 1925)
1980 – Elizabeth Craig, British writer (b. 1883)
1980 – Henry Miller, American writer (b. 1891)
1988 – Vernon Washington, American actor (b. 1927)
1989 – Chico Landi, Brazilian racing driver (b. 1907)
1992 – Bill France, Sr., first president of NASCAR, NASCAR founder (b. 1909)
1993 – Dražen Petrovic, Croatian basketball player (b. 1964)
1995 – Hsuan Hua, Chinese-born religious leader (b. 1918)
1996 – Max Factor, Jr., American businessman (b. 1904)
1999 – Paco Stanley, Mexican TV entertainer (b. 1942)
2001 – Víctor Paz Estenssoro, President of Bolivia (b. 1907)
2001 – Carole Fredericks, American singer (b. 1952)
2001 – Betty Neels, English novelist (b. 1910)
2002 – Mary Lilian Baels, Belgian princess (b. 1916)
2002 – Basappa Danappa Jatti, former Vice-President of India and Acting President (b. 1912)
2002 – Wayne Cody, American popular radio and television sportscaster (b. 1936)
2003 – Trevor Goddard, English actor (b. 1962)
2006 – John Tenta, Canadian wrestler (b. 1963)
2006 – Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Jordanian-born Mujahid (b. 1966)
2008 – Rudy Fernandez, Filipino actor (b. 1953)
2008 – Jim McKay, American sportscaster (b. 1921)
2009 – Kenny Rankin, American singer (b. 1940)
2009 – Hugh Hopper, British musician (b. 1945)
2010 – Stuart Cable, Welsh musician (b. 1970)
2010 – Adriana Xenides, Australian TV personality (b. 1956)
2010 – Omar Rayo, Colombian painter, sculptor, caricaturist and plastic artist. (b. 1928)
2011 – Nataraja Ramakrishna, Indian classical dancer and composer. (b. 1923)
2011 – Paul Dickson, American football player and coach (b. 1937)