109 – Roman emperor Trajan inaugurates the Aqua Traiana, an aqueduct that channels water from Lake Bracciano, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north-west of Rome.
637 – The Battle of Moira is fought between the High King of Ireland and the Kings of Ulster and Dalriada. It is claimed to be largest battle in the history of Ireland.
1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: the Battle of Bannockburn concludes with a decisive victory by Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce, though England did not recognize Scottish independence until 1328 with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton.
1497 – John Cabot lands in North America at Newfoundland leading the first European exploration of the region since the Vikings.
1509 – Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon are crowned King and Queen of England.
1604 – Samuel de Champlain discovers the mouth of the Saint John River, site of Reversing Falls and the present day city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
1717 – The Premier Grand Lodge of England, the first Masonic Grand Lodge in the world (now the United Grand Lodge of England), is founded in London, England.
1813 – Battle of Beaver Dams: a British and Indian combined force defeats the United States Army.
1880 – First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada, at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français.
1893 – Roy O. Disney, American businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (d. 1971) was born.
1895 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer (d. 1983) was born.
1902 – King Edward VII of the United Kingdom develops appendicitis, delaying his coronation.
1904 – Phil Harris, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1995) was born.
1916 – Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million dollar contract.
1938 – Pieces of a meteor, estimated to have weighed 450 metric tons when it hit the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded, land near Chicora, Pennsylvania.
1941 – Following the American Decisions to freeze all Axis Assets, closing Italian Consulates and forbidding Italians from leaving the United States, The Italian Government has put similar restrictions in place for Americans in Italy also closing consulates and freezing US Assets.
1944 – Jeff Beck, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (The Yardbirds, The Jeff Beck Group, The Honeydrippers, and Beck, Bogert & Appice) was born.
1945 – George Pataki, American politician, 53rd Governor of New York was born.
1947 – Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington.
1948 – Start of the Berlin Blockade: the Soviet Union makes overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin impossible.
1949 – John Illsley, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (Dire Straits) was born.
1949 – The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, is aired on NBC starring William Boyd.
1951 – Leslie Cochran, American activist (d. 2012) was born. Cochran was considered the man who personified “Keep Austin Weird.” He was an American homeless man, peace activist, cross-dresser, urban outdoorsman and outspoken critic of police treatment of the homeless.
1957 – In Roth v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.
1967 – Jeff Cease, American lead guitarist (The Black Crowes) was born.
1968 – Following The Poor Peoples March to Washington on June 19th organized by Martin Luther King Jr. the protesters built a small city of shanty’s as temporary shelters made from boxes and whatever else they could find at the Mall in Washington. Estimates put the number of those living there at about 3,000 to 5,000. On June 24th “Resurrection City” was closed down by authorities and protesters go back to their own communities.
1981 – The Humber Bridge is opens to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It would be the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge for 17 years.
1982 – “The Jakarta Incident”: British Airways Flight 9 flies into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four engines.
1987 – Jackie Gleason, American actor and singer (b. 1916) died.
1989 – Jiang Zemin succeeds Zhao Ziyang to become the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China after 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests.
1993 – A Yale University computer science professor David Gelernter is seriously injured and later dies while opening his mail when a padded envelope explodes in his hands. The attack was the latest in a string of bombings since 1978 that authorities believed to be related and a search for the so called Unibomber is started
1997 – The United States Air Force released a report on the 1947 ‘Roswell Incident,’ in which a flying disc had reportedly crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. The report, in response to witnesses that claimed to see the military recovering alien bodies, stated that the bodies were actually life-sized dummies.
2004 – In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional.
2006 – Patsy Ramsey, American model, Miss West Virginia 1977, mother of JonBenét Ramsey (b. 1956) died.
2007 – Chris Benoit, Canadian wrestler (b. 1967) died. He murdered his wife and son, and subsequently hanged himself. Since Benoit’s suicide, numerous explanations for his actions have been proposed, including brain damage, steroid abuse, and a failing marriage.
2012 – The last known individual of Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii, a subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise, dies.