Today in History for 12th June 2024

[CoM Moderators]

Historical Events

1772 - Marion du Fresne is killed at Tacoury's Cove, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, by local Māori
1933 - Financial and Economy World conference opens (66 countries)
1950 - 2 Air France DC-4s crash near Bahrain, about 100 die
1963 - "Cleopatra" directed by Joseph Mankiewicz and starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton premieres in NYC, then most expensive film ever made
2002 - 1st CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards: Dixie Chicks, Martina McBride, and Kenny Chesney win
2020 - African American Rayshard Brooks shot dead in drive-through carpark in Atlanta leading to further protests at police violence and the resignation of city's police chief

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Famous Birthdays

1835 - George Atzerodt, American conspirator who failed to attempt an assassination of Vice President Andrew Johnson on the night Abraham Lincoln was murdered, born in Dorna, German Confederation (d. 1865)
1878 - James Oliver Curwood, American journalist and writer (Kazan the wolfdog), born in Owosso, Michigan (d. 1927)
1942 - Bert Sakmann, German cell physiologist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1991), born in Stuttgart, Germany
1945 - Alfred Gell, British social anthropologist (d. 1997)
1963 - Philippa Baker, New Zealand rower (World C'ship gold LW1x 1991; W2x 1993, 94), born in Wanganui, New Zealand
1973 - Jason Caffey, American NBA forward (Chicago Bulls), born in Mobile, Alabama

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Famous Deaths

1687 - Jurriaen van Streeck, Dutch still life painter, buried
1761 - Meinrad Spiess, German composer, dies at 77
1888 - Carel Vosmaer, Dutch poet and art critic (Netherlands Spectator), dies at 62
1994 - Ron Goldman, waiter, murdered with wife of O.J. Simpson at 27
1995 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian classical pianist, dies at 75
2022 - Phil Bennett, Welsh rugby union fly-half (29 Tests Wales, 8 British and Irish Lions; Barbarians FC; Llanelli RFC 414 games and 2,535 points), dies at 73

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