June 26
is the 177th day of the year (178th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 188 days remaining.
*
363 -
Roman Emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the
Sassanid Empire. General
Jovian is proclaimed Emperor by the troops on the battlefield.
*
684 -
Benedict II becomes
Pope.
*
1284 - According to legend, the
Pied Piper lures 130 children of Hamelin away.
*
1409 -
Western Schism: The
Catholic church is led into a double
schism as Petros Philargos is crowned
Pope Alexander V after the
Council of Pisa, joining
Pope Gregory XII in
Rome and
Pope Benedict XII in
Avignon.
*
1483 -
Richard III becomes king of
England.
*
1723 - After a lasting siege and firing from the cannons
Baku surrendered to
Russians.
*
1807 - Lightning hits a warehouse in
Luxembourg, killing 230 people.
*
1819 - The
bicycle is patented.
*
1848 - End of the
June Days Uprising in Paris.
*
1857 - The first investiture of the
Victoria Cross in
Hyde Park,
London.
*
1870 - The
Christian holiday of
Christmas is declared a
federal holiday in the
United States.
*
1924 -
American occupying forces leave the
Dominican Republic.
*
1934 - President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Federal Credit Union Act, which establishes credit unions.
* 1934 - Initial flight of the
Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter.
*
1940 -
World War II: Under the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the
Soviet Union presents an
ultimatum to
Romania requiring it to cede
Bessarabia and northern part of
Bukovina.
*
1945 - The
United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco.
*
1948 - The Western allies start an airlift to
Berlin after the
Soviet Union has blockaded
West Berlin.
*
1959 - The
Saint Lawrence Seaway opens, opening North America's
Great Lakes to ocean-going ships.
*
1960 - Former
British Protectorate of
Somaliland British Somaliland gains its independence
*
1963 -
John F. Kennedy spoke the famous words "
Ich bin ein Berliner" on a visit to
West Berlin.
*
1973 - On
Plesetsk Cosmodrome 9 persons are killed in an explosion of a Cosmos 3-M rocket.
*
1974 - The
Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley's
chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio
*
1975 -
Indira Gandhi establishes
authoritarian rule in
India.
* 1975 -
FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler and
American Indian Movement member Joseph Stuntz were killed in a shootout on the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in
Oglala,
South Dakota.
*
1976 - The
CN Tower, the tallest free-standing structure on land in the world, was opened.
*
1977 - The
Yorkshire Ripper kills 16 year old shop assistant Jayne MacDonald in
Leeds, changing public perception of the killer as she was the first victim who was not a
prostitute.
*
1978 -
Air Canada Flight 189 to
Winnipeg overran the runway and crashed into the
Etobicoke Creek ravine. Two of 107 passengers onboard died.
*
1993 - The
U.S. launches a missile attack targeting
Baghdad intelligence headquarters in retaliation for a thwarted assassination attempt against former President
George H.W. Bush in April in
Kuwait.
*
1996 - Irish Journalist
Veronica Guerin is shot in her car while in traffic in the outskirts of
Dublin*
1997 - The
U.S. Supreme Court rules that the
Communications Decency Act violates the
First Amendment.
*
2003 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules that gender-based
sodomy laws are unconstitutional in
Lawrence v. Texas.
*
2006 - The
Republic of Montenegro becomes the 192nd member of the
United Nations.
*
1681 -
Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish writer (d.
1708)
*
1689 -
Edward Holyoke, American President of Harvard University (d.
1769)
*
1694 -
Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and minerologist (d.
1768)
*
1702 -
Philip Doddridge, English religious leader (d.
1751)
*
1703 -
Thomas Clap, first president of Yale University (d.
1767)
*
1819 -
Abner Doubleday, Major General, United States Army and purported inventor of baseball (d.
1893)
*
1824 -
Lord Kelvin, Irish-born physicist (d.
1907)
*
1854 -
Robert Laird Borden, eighth
Prime Minister of Canada (d.
1937)
*
1865 -
Bernard Berenson, American art historian (d.
1959)
*
1866 -
George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English financier of Egyptian excavations (d.
1923)
*
1869 -
Martin Andersen Nexø, Danish writer (d.
1954)
*
1892 -
Pearl S. Buck, American writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1973)
*
1898 -
Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer (d.
1978)
*
1899 -
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (d.
1918)
*
1904 -
Frank Scott Hogg, Canadian astronomer (d.
1951)
* 1904 -
Peter Lorre, Hungarian-born actor (d.
1964)
*
1906 -
Alberto Rabagliati, Italian singer and actor (d.
1974)
*
1907 -
Debs Garms, baseball player (d.
1984)
*
1909 -
Colonel Tom Parker,
Elvis Presley's manager (d.
1997)
*
1911 -
Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American athlete and golfer (d.
1956)
*
1912 -
Jay Silverheels, American actor (d.
1980)
*
1919 -
Richard Neustadt, American political historian (d.
2003)
*
1922 -
Eleanor Parker, American actress
*
1923 -
Barbara Graham, American murderer (d.
1955)
*
1925 -
Pavel Belyayev, cosmonaut (d.
1970)
*
1933 -
Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor
* 1933 -
Gene Green, baseball player (d.
1981)
*
1934 -
Jeremy Wolfenden, British journalist (d.
1965)
* 1934 -
Dave Grusin, American jazz pianist and composer
*
1936 -
Robert Maclennan, British politician
* 1936 -
Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte, Archbishop of
Montreal*
1937 -
Sombat Metanee, Thai film actor
* 1937 -
Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
1941 -
Yves Beauchemin, Canadian novelist
*
1942 -
Gilberto Gil, singer, songwriter, and first Minister of Culture of Brazil
*
1943 -
John Beasley, American actor
* 1943 -
Georgie Fame, British singer
*
1945 -
Dwight York, American cult leader and convicted child molester
*
1951 -
Gary Gilmour, Australian cricketer
*
1954 -
Steve Barton, American actor, singer, and dancer
*
1955 -
Mick Jones, British guitarist (
The Clash and
Big Audio Dynamite)
*
1956 -
Chris Isaak, American singer
*
1957 -
Patty Smyth, American singer (
Scandal)
*
1959 -
Mark McKinney, Canadian actor
*
1961 -
Greg Lemond, American cyclist
* 1961 -
Terri Nunn, American singer (
Berlin) and actress
*
1963 -
Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, Russian businessman
*
1964 -
Tommi Mäkinen, Finnish rally driver
*
1968 -
Rich Eisen, sports broadcaster
* 1968 -
Paolo Maldini, Italian footballer
* 1968 -
Shannon Sharpe, American football player and commentator
*
1969 -
Colin Greenwood, British musician (
Radiohead)
*
1970 -
Chris O'Donnell, American actor
* 1970 -
Sean Hayes, American actor
* 1970 -
Irv Gotti, American record producer
* 1970 -
Paul Thomas Anderson, American filmmaker
* 1970 -
Nick Offerman, American actor
*
1972 -
Garou, Canadian singer
*
1973 -
Gretchen Wilson, American singer
*
1974 -
Matt Striker, American professional wrestler
* 1974 -
Derek Jeter, American baseball player
* 1974 -
Jason Kendall, American baseball player
*
1976 -
Ed Jovanovski, NHL hockey player
* 1976 -
Chad Pennington, American football player
* 1976 -
Joe Landon, American pornographic actor
*
1977 -
Michael Thomas Dunn, American actor and filmmaker
* 1977 -
Kubo Tite, Japanese cartoonist
*
1980 -
Jason Schwartzman, American actor
* 1980 -
Michael Vick, American football player
* 1980 -
Chris Shelton, American baseball player
*
1985 -
Urgyen Trinley Dorje, Tibetan spiritual leader
*
1990 -
Ryan Ward, American actor
*
2005 -
Princess Alexia of the
Netherlands*
363 -
Julian the Apostate,
Roman Emperor (killed in battle) (b.
331)
*
1291 -
Eleanor of Provence, wife of
Henry III of England*
1541 -
Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conqueror of Peru (murdered)
*
1688 -
Ralph Cudworth, English philosopher (b.
1617)
*
1784 -
Caesar Rodney, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (b.
1728)
*
1793 -
Gilbert White, English ornithologist (b.
1720)
*
1810 -
Joseph Michel Montgolfier, inventor of the
hot air balloon (b.
1740)
*
1836 -
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French composer (
La Marseillaise) (b.
1760)
*
1917 -
Joseph Acton, Professional wrestler
*
1918 -
Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet and Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1843)
*
1922 -
Albert I, Prince of Monaco (b.
1848)
*
1939 -
Ford Maddox Ford, English writer (b.
1873)
*
1943 -
Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1868)
*
1947 -
Richard Bedford Bennett, eleventh
Prime Minister of Canada (b.
1870)
*
1956 -
Clifford Brown, American Jazz trumpeter (b.
1930)
*
1957 -
Alfred Döblin, German writer (b.
1878)
*
1958 -
George Orton, Canadian athlete (b.
1873)
* 1958 -
Andrija Štampar, Croatian physician and United Nations diplomat (b.
1888)
*
1964 -
Gerrit Rietveld, Dutch architect (b.
1888)
*
1967 -
Françoise Dorléac, French actress (b.
1942)
*
1975 -
St. Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish Catholic priest (b.
1902)
*
1984 -
Michel Foucault, French literary theorist (b.
1926)
*
1993 -
William H. Riker, American political scientist (b.
1920)
* 1993 -
Roy Campanella,
Major League baseball player (b.
1921)
*
1996 -
Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (b.
1958)
*
1997 -
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Hawaiian singer (b.
1959)
*
2002 -
Arnold Brown, the 11th General of
The Salvation Army (b.
1913)
* 2002 -
Jay Berwanger, American football player (b.
1914)
*
2003 -
Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroon footballer (b.
1975)
* 2003 -
Strom Thurmond, U.S. Senator (b.
1902)
* 2003 -
Dennis Thatcher MBE, husband of
Margaret Thatcher (b.
1915)
*
2004 -
Yash Johar, Indian film producer (b.
1929)
*
2005 -
Richard Whiteley, British television game show host (b.
1943)
* The
United Nations' Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
*
Flag Day in
Romania*
Sunthorn Phu Day in
Thailand* Independence Day in
MadagascarLiturgical feasts
in the Roman Catholic church
*
Saint Anthelmus *
Saint Babolenus*
Saint David*
Saints John and Paul*
Saint Josemaría Escrivá (d.
1975)
*
Saint Vigilius*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaJune 25 -
June 27 -
May 26 -
July 26 --
listing of all days
