History of 11 June
1910 – Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born. He was the French underwater explorer that invented the Aqua-Lung diving apparatus.
1912 – Silas Christofferson became the first pilot to take off from the roof of a hotel.
1915 – British troops took Cameroon in Africa.
1919 – Sir Barton became the first horse to capture the Triple Crown when he won the Belmont Stakes in New York City.
1927 – Charles A. Lindberg was presented the first Distinguished Flying Cross.
1930 – William Beebe dove to a record-setting depth of 1,426 feet off the coast of Bermuda. He used a diving chamber called a bathysphere.
1934 – The Disarmament Conference in Geneva ended in failure.
1936 – The Presbyterian Church of America was formed in Philadelphia, PA.
1937 – Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a purge of Red Army generals.
1940 – The Italian Air Force bombed the British fortress at Malta in the Mediterranean.
1942 – The U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a lend-lease agreement to aid the Soviets in their effort in World War II.
1943 – During World War II, the Italian island of Pantelleria surrendered after a heavy air bombardment.
1947 – The U.S. government announced an end to sugar rationing.
1950 – Ben Hogan returned to tournament play after a near-fatal car accident. He won the U.S. Open.
1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Florida for trying to integrate restaurants.
1963 – Alabama Gov. George Wallace allowed two black students to enroll at the University of Alabama.
1967 – Israel and Syria accepted a U.N. cease-fire.
1972 – Hank Aaron tied the National League record for 14 grand-slam home runs in a career.
1973 – After a ruling by the Justice Department of the State of Pennsylvania, women were licensed to box or wrestle.
1977 – In the Netherlands, a 19-day hostage situation came to an end when Dutch marines stormed a train and a school being held by a South Moluccan extremist. Two hostages and the six terrorists were killed.
1981 – The first major league baseball player’s strike began. It would last for two months.
1982 – Steven Spielberg’s movie “E.T.” opened.
1987 – Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term of office.
1990 – The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law that would prohibit the desecration of the American Flag.
1991 – Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted. The eruption of ash and gas could be seen for more than 60 miles.
1993 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who commit “hate crimes” could be sentenced to extra punishment. The court also ruled in favor of religious groups saying that they indeed had a constitutional right to sacrifice animals during worship services.
1993 – Steven Spielberg’s movie “Jurassic Park” opened.
1998 – Mitsubishi of America agreed to pay $34 million to end the largest sexual harassment case filed by the U.S. government. The federal lawsuit claimed that hundreds of women at a plant in Normal, IL, had endured groping and crude jokes from male workers.
1998 – Pakistan announced a moratorium on nuclear testing and offered to talk with India over disputed Kashmir.
2010 – The FIFA World Cup opener in South Africa. It was the first time it was held in Africa.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Emiliano Moretti, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Kristo Tohver, Estonian footballer and referee
- 1982 – Vanessa Boslak, French pole vaulter
- 1982 – Jacques Freitag, South African high jumper
- 1982 – Joey Graham, American basketball player
- 1982 – Stephen Graham, American basketball player
- 1982 – Reni Maitua, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Eldar Rønning, Norwegian skier
- 1982 – Diana Taurasi, American basketball player
- 1983 – Chuck Hayes, American basketball player
- 1983 – José Reyes, Dominican baseball player
- 1984 – Andy Lee, Irish boxer
- 1984 – Vágner Love, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Tim Hoogland, German footballer
- 1986 – Sebastian Bayer, German long jumper
- 1986 – Shia LaBeouf, American actor
- 1987 – Marsel İlhan, a Turkish tennis player
- 1987 – Didrik Solli-Tangen, Norwegian singer
- 1988 – Jesús Fernández Collado, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Yui Aragaki, Japanese actress, voice actress, singer-songwriter, model, radio host
- 1989 – Maya Moore, American basketball player
- 1990 – Christophe Lemaitre, French sprinter
- 1991 – Daniel Howell, English internet celebrity
- 1993 – Brittany Boyd, American basketball player
- 1994 – Ivana Baquero, Spanish actress
- 1996 – Ayaka Sasaki, Japanese singer
- 1998 – Charlie Tahan, American actor