Today in History

JUNE 20th: 2019 - "Gilmour's Guitar sale"
David Gilmour’s guitar collection set several auction records when nearly 130 instruments went up for bid at Christie's in New York today.
The former Pink Floyd frontman's most iconic instrument, the so-called Black Strat, fetched $3,975,000, well above the estimated range of $100,000 to $150,000.

Other items sold included a 1954 Fender Stratocaster with the serial number 0001, which was used on the recording of 'Another Brick in the Wall Part 2' went for over $1.8 million, a 1958 Gretsch White Penguin went for $447,000, and a 1955 Gibson Goldtop Les Paul, also used on 'Another Brick' sold for $447,000. Christie’s declared all to be world auction records.

 

JUNE 20th: 1893 - "Lizzie Borden took an axe..."
In the case of the murder of her father Andrew Jackson Borden, and her stepmother, Abby Borden despite incriminating circumstances but with no murder weapon found and no blood evidence found.
A jury in New Bedford, Mass., found Lizzie Borden innocent of the axe murders of her father and stepmother.
The case was is best remembered by the popular jump-rope rhyme:
"Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. And when she saw what she had done She gave her father forty-one".
.
Lizzie Borden - Wikipedia

 

JUNE 20th: 1947 - "Mob Killing"
. .
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel is murdered at the Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, at the order of mob associates angered over the soaring costs of Siegel’s pet project, the Flamingo resort now costing in the region of $6,000,000 in Las Vegas, Nev.
In the 1972 movie the Godfather the character of Moe Greene is heavily based on Siegel.
Bugsy Siegel - Wikipedia

 

JUNE 20th: 1967 - "Ali takes a blow":

After appearing for his scheduled induction into the U.S. Armed Forces on April 28th, 1967 in Houston, he refused three times to step forward at the call of his name.
Ali refused to be inducted into the armed forces, saying “I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong.”
- On 20th June Muhammad Ali is convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted.
The decision is later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

The movie was actually released in 1975 the year I was born.

I have a number of relatives who lives on Martha's Vineyard Island, MA and they remember the intense curiosity, as residents and tourists
alike followed Steven Spielberg and his film crew around to various locations.

 

= Typo - Amended accordingly

 

JUNE 20th: 1920 - "Happy Birthday 'Bones'

Born: June 20th, 1920, Atlanta, Georgia
Died: June 11th, 1999, Los Angeles, California
De-Forest Kelley is best known for playing 'Dr 'Bones' McCoy, = was Captain Kirk's medical officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and he was one of the original cast for the show's opening season (in 1966).
He visited California for a couple of weeks at the age of seventeen and stayed there for a year.
By the time of his return to Georgia he had decided to become an actor and moved there.
He was seen by a Paramount talent spotter, and taken for the new show, in which he played Dr. Leonard McCoy for its all three seasons, and six films.
He died of cancer in 1999.
DeForest Kelley - Wikipedia

 

btw She was acquitted by a jury of 12 men because women were not allowed to serve on the jury in Massachusetts until 1951.

The prosecution wasn't able to introduce damning evidence such as 2 weeks after the murders, Lizzie was seen by a close friend burning a red spotted dress, or two days before the murders, she attempted to purchase prussic acid from the local druggist but she didn't have a prescription so he wouldn't sell it to her.
btw Prussic acid is hydrogen cyanide. It was used by the Nazis as the main ingredient in Zyklon B.

 

Today in history June 21st


1633 Accused of heresy by the Inquisition, Galileo was forced to recant his support of the Copernican system, which held that the Sun was the centre of the solar system.

1893 The first Ferris wheel made its debut

Note: The Ferris wheel was originally called the “observation wheel.” It was meant to provide a bird’s eye view of the entire city.

1915 Germany uses poison gas for the first time in warfare in the Argonne Forest.

Note: The Germans released lethal chlorine gas

Note: The Gas was very effective, but If the wind shifted direction it would cause death and blindness just as easily among the German soldiers as it did the allies.

1942 German General Erwin Rommel captures the port city of Tobruk in North Africa.

1945 Japanese forces on Okinawa surrender to American troops.

Note: There were 49,000 American casualties, including 12,000 deaths. 90,000 Japanese combatants died in the fighting, but deaths among Okinawan civilians reached 150,000.

1964 Three civil rights workers disappear in Meridian, Mississippi.

Note: The victims were James Chaney from Meridian, Mississippi, and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner from New York City. All three were associated with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

1993 English mathematician Andrew Wiles proves last theorem of Fermat

 

JUNE 21st: - "Once upon a long ago ....."

Summer solstice - Wikipedia

 

JUNE 21st: 1972 - "Stonehenge Free Festival."

The first Stonehenge Free Festival was held at Stonehenge, England culminating on the summer solstice.
Staged between 1972 and 1984, acts who have appeared include Hawkwind, Gong, Doctor and the Medics, Flux of Pink Indians, Buster Blood Vessel, Crass, Selector, Dexys Midnight Runners, Thompson Twins, The Raincoats, Amazulu, Wishbone Ash, Man, Benjamin Zephaniah, The Enid, Roy Harper, Jimmy Page, Ted Chippington, Zorch and Ozric Tentacles.

 

JUNE 21st: 1980 - "A Nice Riot."

French police arrested all members of The Stranglers after a concert at Nice University for allegedly starting a riot.
Aural Sculptors - The Stranglers Live: 'There's A Riot Going On.....' - The Nice Incident 1980

 

JUNE 21st: 1994 - "George Michael lawsuit ."

George Michael lost his lawsuit against Sony Records.
Michael claimed that his 15-year contract with Sony was unfair because the company could refuse to release albums it thought wouldn't be commercially successful.
The plaintiff, entertainer argued that his recording contract constituted an unreasonable restraint of trade.
Michael alleged that the defendant had failed to promote his album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 with due vigour as punishment when the artist decided to downplay his status as a sex symbol.
Panayiotou v. Sony Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd. - Wikipedia
- Michael vowed he would never record for Sony again.
- - He re-signed with the company in 2003.

 

JUNE 21st: 1964 - " Ku Klux Klan "

Three civil rights field workers disappear after investigating the burning of an African American church by the Ku Klux Klan.
The murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, also known as the Freedom Summer murders, the Mississippi civil rights workers' murders or the Mississippi Burning murders, refers to three activists who were abducted and murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, in June 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement.
Their bodies were found buried six weeks later and seven members of the Ku Klux Klan were found guilty on federal conspiracy charges.
Eight others including Edgar Ray Killen were found not guilty (check 2005 entry for Edgar Ray Killen on this day in history).
= = 2005 : Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman organizer was found guilty of three counts of manslaughter in the deaths of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Miss., in 1964 41 years to the day earlier. He is sentenced to 60 years in prison.

 

JUNE 21st: 1989 - "Burning the flag"
. .
A deeply divided United States Supreme Court upheld the rights of protesters to burn the American flag in a landmark First Amendment decision.
In the controversial Texas v. Johnson case, the Court voted 5-4 in favor of Gregory Lee Johnson, the protester who had burned the flag.
Texas v. Johnson - Wikipedia

 

JUNE 21st: 1963 - "And your New Pope is ..."
= Paul VI in early 1969
Diocese Rome
Papacy began 21st June 1963
Papacy ended 6th August 1978
Pope Paul VI - Wikipedia

 

On This Day - 21st June

1377 The death of Edward III, King of England. His long reign of 50 years was the second-longest in medieval England (after that of his great-grandfather Henry III). He transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe and saw vital developments in legislation and government, in particular the evolution of the English parliament.

1675The laying of the foundation stone of the new St Paul's Cathedral in London. The cathedral was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and the site faced that of the church destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.

1854The first Victoria Cross, Britain's highest medal for bravery, was awarded to Charles Lucas, who was awarded it during the Crimean War for conspicuous bravery. The medal was made from metal from a cannon captured at Sebastopol. The Victoria Cross was extended to colonial troops in 1867 and to date, a total of 1,356 Victoria Crosses have been awarded.

 

JUNE 21st: 1877 - "Molly Maguires"

Ten members of the Irish Miners Group The "Molly Maguires" were hanged for murder, the hangings bought about an end to the group as members now feared for their lives and loved ones lives.
"Molly Maguires" were a group of Irish anthracite miners who were fighting for better working and living conditions in the coal fields of Pennsylvania, and were considered militant union activists
Molly Maguires - Wikipedia

 

1937First televising of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships.

1948The first stored-program to run on a computer was put through its paces on the Small Scale Experimental Machine, known as Baby, at Manchester University.

1969The BBC TV broadcast 'Royal Family' - a documentary going behind the public facade of the British Royal Family. This was the first time anyone had seen Queen Elizabeth II, her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, and their children other than on official engagements.


1970Tony Jacklin won the US Open at Hazeltine Golf Club, Minnesota. He was the first Briton to win since Ted Ray in 1920.

1982Diana, Princess of Wales, gave birth to a boy, (Prince William) sixteen hours after checking in to St Mary's Hospital, in London.


1991British Gas chairman Robert Evans came under fire for accepting a pay increase of 66%, taking his annual wage to £370,000.


1996Britain and other members of the EU reached an agreement for the phased lifting of the ban on British beef. French farmers, however, blockaded two-channel ports.

 

The Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning (1988) is an excellent Hollywood recount of the events leading to their deaths and the aftermath.