Birthday of Bhagat Puran Singh (holiday and memorial day of Sikhs, representatives of the monotheistic religion founded in the Punjab in India in the 15th century. Bhagat Puran Singh [1904-1992] in his youth decided to devote his life to selfless service to humanity)
National Cheese Day in USA (52% of Americans believe cheeses are interchangeable in recipes, and 28% say they switch cheeses because they like to experiment with the flavors different cheeses offer)
1996 – The first flight of Ariane 5 explodes after roughly 37 seconds. It was a Cluster mission.
1989 – Solidarity's victory in the first (somewhat) free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparks off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, leads to the creation of the so-called Contract Sejm and begins the Autumn of Nations.
1986 – Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
1975 – The Governor of California Jerry Brown signs the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the U.S. giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights.
1961 – In the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparks the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin.
1944 – World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine U-505: The first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
1944 – World War II: Rome falls to the Allies, the first Axis capital to fall.
1940 – World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ends: British forces complete evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivers, only to the House of Commons, his famous "We shall fight on the beaches" speech.
1939 – The Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
1919 – Women's rights: The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
1917 – The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert B. Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World.
1912 – Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage.
1896 – Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gives it a successful test run.
1876 – An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City.
1862 – American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
1825 – General Lafayette, a French officer in the American Revolutionary War, speaks at what would become Lafayette Square, Buffalo, during his visit to the United States.
1784 – Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon. Her flight covers four kilometres in 45 minutes, and reached 1,500 metres altitude (estimated).
Births
1995 – Tyler Anderson, American, Excelling Partnerships Intern. Tyler John Anderson (born December 30, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB).
1990 – Evan Spiegel, American Internet entrepreneur. Evan Thomas Spiegel (born June 4, 1990) is a French-American businessman who is the co-founder and CEO of the American social media company Snap Inc., which he created (as Snapchat Inc.) with Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown while they were students at Stanford University.
1990 – Zac Farro, American singer and drummer. Zachary Wayne Farro (born June 4, 1990) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
1988 – Matt Bartkowski, American ice hockey defenseman. Matthew Richard Bartkowski (born June 4, 1988) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman for the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL).
1985 – Evan Lysacek, American figure skater. Lysacek was the 2010 United States Olympic Committee's SportsMan of the Year, and the winner of the James E.
1982 – Ronnie Prude, American-Canadian football player. He played college football at LSU and was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2006.
1978 – Robin Lord Taylor, American actor. Robin Lord Taylor (born June 4, 1978) is an American film and television actor and director, known for his role as Oswald Cobblepot in Fox's acclaimed TV series, Gotham, as well as Accepted (2006), Another Earth (2011), Would You Rather (2012) and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019).
1977 – Roland G. Fryer Jr., American economist and professor. In 2019, Fryer was suspended from Harvard for two years following sexual harassment claims.
1975 – Angelina Jolie, American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian, and activist. The recipient of such accolades as an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards, she has been named Hollywood's highest-paid actress multiple times.
1975 – Henry Burris, American football player. Henry Armand Burris Jr. (born June 4, 1975) is an American former professional football quarterback, who mostly played Canadian football in the Canadian Football League (CFL) from 1998 to 2016.
1974 – Buddy Wakefield, American poet and author. His works have been released by Strange Famous Records (CD), Righteous Babe Records (CD), and Write Bloody Publishing (books).
1974 – Darin Erstad, American baseball player and coach. Darin Charles Erstad (/ˈdærən ˈɜːrstæt/; born June 4, 1974) is an American former professional baseball player and the former head coach of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball team.
1973 – Mikey Whipwreck, American wrestler and trainer. John Michael Watson (born June 4, 1973), better known by his ring name Mikey Whipwreck, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler.
1972 – Derian Hatcher, American ice hockey defenseman. Derian John Hatcher (born June 4, 1972) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers.
1972 – Rob Huebel, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter. Robert Anderson Huebel (born June 4, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his sketch comedy work on the MTV series Human Giant and for his role of Dr.
1971 – Noah Wyle, American actor and producer. Noah Strausser Speer Wyle (/ˈwaɪli/; born June 4, 1971) is an American film, television, and theatre actor.
1969 – Horatio Sanz, Chilean-American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006.
1968 – Al B. Sure!, American R&B singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer. Albert Joseph Brown III (born June 4, 1968), known professionally as Al B.
1968 – Roger Lim, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. Roger Lim (born June 4, 1968) is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter.
1968 – Scott Wolf, American actor. He is known for the television series Party of Five as Bailey Salinger, as Jake Hartman in Everwood and Chad Decker in V.
1967 – Robert S. Kimbrough, American colonel and astronaut. Robert Shane Kimbrough (born June 4, 1967) is a retired United States Army officer, and a NASA astronaut.
1965 – Andrea Jaeger, American tennis player and preacher (Anglican Order of Preachers). Andrea Jaeger (/ˈjeɪɡər/ YAY-gər; born June 4, 1965) is a former World No. 2 professional tennis player from the United States whose brief but highly successful tennis career ended prematurely due to major shoulder injuries.
1963 – Jim Lachey, American football player and sportscaster. James Michael Lachey (born June 4, 1963) is a radio analyst for Ohio State football and a former American football offensive tackle who played for ten seasons in the National Football League with the San Diego Chargers, Los Angeles Raiders, and Washington Redskins.
1963 – Xavier McDaniel, American basketball player and coach. Xavier Maurice McDaniel (born June 4, 1963), nicknamed the X-Man, is an American retired professional basketball player who, at 6 ft 7 in, played both small forward and power forward.
1962 – John P. Kee, American singer-songwriter and pastor. Kee (born John Prince Kee on June 4, 1962) is an American gospel singer and pastor.
1961 – El DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and producer. Popular songs led by El Debarge include "Time Will Reveal", "Stay with Me", "All This Love", and "Rhythm of the Night".
1956 – John Hockenberry, American journalist and author. He has written dozens of magazine and newspaper articles, a play, and two books, including the bestselling memoir Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the novel A River Out Of Eden.
1956 – Joyce Sidman, American author and poet. She was a runner-up for the 2011 Newbery Medal.
1956 – Keith David, American actor. He has acted in mainstream films, such as Crash, There's Something About Mary, Barbershop and Men at Work.
1955 – Mary Testa, American singer and actress. She is a three-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town (1998), 42nd Street (2001) and Oklahoma (2019).
1953 – Linda Lingle, American journalist and politician, 6th Governor of Hawaii, was the sixth governor of Hawaii from 2002 until 2010. She was the first Republican governor of Hawaii since 1962.
1953 – Susumu Ojima, Japanese businessman, founded Huser, was a founder and chairman of Huser Co., Ltd.
1951 – Wendy Pini, American author and illustrator. Wendy Pini née Fletcher, (born June 4, 1951) and Richard Pini (born July 19, 1950) are the husband-and-wife team responsible for creating the well-known Elfquest series of comics, graphic novels and prose works.
1949 – Mark B. Cohen, American lawyer and politician. Cohen (born June 4, 1949) is a Democratic politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1945 – Anthony Braxton, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer. Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist who is known in the genre of free jazz.
1944 – Michelle Phillips, American singer-songwriter and actress. Phillips garnered critical acclaim for her voice, which was deemed by Time magazine as the "purest soprano in pop music." She later established a successful career as an actress in film and television in the 1970s.
1943 – Sandra Haynie, American golfer. Sandra Jane Haynie (born June 4, 1943) is an American former professional golfer on the LPGA Tour starting in 1961.
1942 – Louis Reichardt, American mountaineer. The character of Harold Jameson, U.C.S.F. biophysicist and mountaineer in the film K2 is based on Reichardt, though the events of his actual 1978 K2 attempt with Jim Wickwire bear little resemblance to the plot of the film.
1939 – Henri Pachard, American director and producer (d. 2008). Louis and Crystal Blue were the pseudonyms of the American film director Ron Sullivan (June 4, 1939 – September 27, 2008).
1938 – Art Mahaffey, American baseball player. Arthur Mahaffey Jr. (born June 4, 1938), is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (1960–1965) and St.
1937 – Freddy Fender, American singer and guitarist (d. 2006), was an American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He is best known for his 1975 hits "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" and the subsequent remake of his own "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights".
1937 – Mortimer Zuckerman, Canadian-American businessman and publisher, founded Boston Properties. Zuckerman is also the owner and publisher of U.S.
1936 – Bruce Dern, American actor. Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor, often playing supporting villainous characters of unstable nature.
1936 – Vince Camuto, American fashion designer and businessman, co-founded Nine West (d. 2015), was an American women's footwear designer and shoe industry executive, best known for co-founding the women's fashion brand Nine West. Following the 1999 sale of Nine West to Jones Apparel Group for $900 million, Camuto became CEO and Chief Creative Officer of a new fashion company, Camuto Group, maker of the Jessica Simpson brand.
1932 – John Drew Barrymore, American actor (d. 2004), was an American film actor and member of the Barrymore family of actors, which included his father, John Barrymore, and his father's siblings, Lionel and Ethel. He was the father of four children, including actor John Blyth Barrymore and actress Drew Barrymore.
1932 – Oliver Nelson, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1975), was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. He is perhaps best remembered for his 1961 Impulse! album The Blues and the Abstract Truth (1960), often regarded as being among the most significant recordings of its era.
1930 – Morgana King, American singer and actress, was an American jazz singer and actress. She began a professional singing career at sixteen years old.
1928 – Ruth Westheimer, German-American therapist and author. Ruth Westheimer (born June 4, 1928), better known as Dr.
1926 – Judith Malina, German-American actress and director, co-founded The Living Theatre (d. 2015), was an American theater and film actress, writer and director. With her husband, Julian Beck, Malina co-founded The Living Theatre, a radical political theatre troupe that rose to prominence in New York City and Paris during the 1950s and 60s.
1926 – Robert Earl Hughes, American who was the heaviest human being recorded in the history of the world during his lifetime (d. 1958), was an American man who was, during his lifetime, the heaviest human being recorded in the history of the world.
1924 – Dennis Weaver, American actor and director (d. 2006), was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild, best known for his work in television and films from the early 1950s until not long before his death in 2006. Weaver's two most notable roles were as Marshal Matt Dillon's trusty partner Chester Goode/Proudfoot on the CBS western Gunsmoke and as Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud on the NBC police drama McCloud.
1921 – Bobby Wanzer, American basketball player and coach (d. 2016). He won an NBA championship with the Royals in 1951.
1917 – Robert Merrill, American actor and singer (d. 2004), was an American operatic baritone and actor, who was also active in the musical theatre circuit. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1993.
1916 – Robert F. Furchgott, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009), was a Nobel Prize-winning American biochemist who contributed to the discovery of nitric oxide as a transient cellular signal in mammalian systems.
1910 – Christopher Cockerell, English engineer, invented the hovercraft (d. 1999), was an English engineer, best known as the inventor of the hovercraft.
1907 – Rosalind Russell, American actress (d. 1976), was an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and singer, known for her role as fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday (1940), as well as for her portrayals of Mame Dennis in Auntie Mame (1958) and Rose in Gypsy (1962). A noted comedian, she won all five Golden Globes for which she was nominated.
1880 – Clara Blandick, American actress (d. 1962), was an American stage and screen actress best known for her role as Aunt Em in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's The Wizard of Oz (1939). As a character actress, she often played eccentric elderly matriarchs.
1801 – James Pennethorne, English architect, designed Victoria Park (d. 1871), was a 19th-century English architect and planner, particularly associated with buildings and parks in central London.
1744 – Patrick Ferguson, Scottish soldier, designed the Ferguson rifle (d. 1780), was a Scottish officer in the British Army, an early advocate of light infantry and the designer of the Ferguson rifle. He is best known for his service in the 1780 military campaign of Charles Cornwallis during the American Revolutionary War in the Carolinas, in which he aggressively recruited Loyalists and harshly treated Patriot sympathizers.
1704 – Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and businessman (d. 1776), was an English inventor and manufacturer of cast or crucible steel.
Deaths
2015 – Jabe Thomas, American race car driver (b. 1930)
2014 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
2014 – George Ho, American-Hong Kong businessman (b. 1919)
2013 – Joey Covington, American drummer (b. 1945)
2013 – Walt Arfons, American race car driver (b. 1916)
2013 – Will Wynn, American football player (b. 1949)
2012 – Herb Reed, American violinist (b. 1929)
2012 – Pedro Borbón, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1946)
2012 – Peter Beaven, New Zealand architect, designed the Lyttelton Road Tunnel Administration Building (b. 1925)
2011 – Juan Francisco Luis, Virgin Islander sergeant and politician, 23rd Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (b. 1940)
2010 – John Wooden, American basketball player and coach (b. 1910)
2007 – Clete Boyer, American baseball player and manager (b. 1937)
2007 – Craig L. Thomas, American captain and politician (b. 1933)
2004 – Steve Lacy, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1934)
1998 – Josephine Hutchinson, American actress (b. 1903)
1993 – Bernard Evslin, American writer (b. 1922)
1992 – Carl Stotz, American businessman, founded Little League Baseball (b. 1910)
1990 – Stiv Bators, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1949)
1989 – Dik Browne, American cartoonist (b. 1917)
1973 – Murry Wilson, American songwriter, producer, and manager (b. 1917)
1970 – Sonny Tufts, American actor (b. 1911)
1968 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (b. 1898)
1962 – Clem McCarthy, American sportscaster (b. 1882)
1956 – Katherine MacDonald, American actress and producer (b. 1881)
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