Wednesday, June 10, 2009

10 June: War Declared On U. S., Boozing, France, Britain & Italy

By The Associated Press 50 mins ago Today is Wednesday, June 10, the 161st day of 2009. There are 204 days left in the year. From another world, where they have history too. A/V. UPI Almanac. Today's Highlight in History: On June 10, 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio. On this date: In 1652, silversmith John Hull, in defiance of English colonial law, established the first mint in America. In 1692, in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Bridget Bishop, the first colonist tried in the Salem witch trials, was hanged after being found guilty of the practice of witchcraft. In 1801, the North African state of Tripoli declared war on the United States in a dispute over safe passage of merchant vessels through the Mediterranean. In 1865, the Richard Wagner opera "Tristan und Isolde" premiered in Munich.
In 1898, U.S. Marines invaded Cuba in the Spanish-American War. In 1907, 11 men in five cars set out from the French embassy in Beijing on a race to Paris. (Prince Scipione Borghese of Italy was the first to arrive in the French capital two months later.) In 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain; Canada declared war on Italy. In 1942, the Gestapo massacred 173 male residents of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, in retaliation for the killing of a Nazi official. In 1946, Italy replaced its abolished monarchy with a republic. In 1964, the Senate voted to limit further debate on a proposed civil rights bill, shutting off a filibuster by Southern senators. In 1967, the Middle East War ended as Israel and Syria agreed to observe a U.N.-mediated cease-fire. In 1977, James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Tennessee with six others; he was recaptured June 13. In 1978, Affirmed won the Belmont Stakes and with it, horse racing's Triple Crown. In 1985, socialite Claus von Bulow was acquitted by a jury in Providence, R.I., at his retrial on charges he'd tried to murder his heiress wife, Martha "Sunny" von Bulow. Twenty years ago, in 1989, the Rev. Jerry Falwell said his conservative lobbying group, the Moral Majority, had accomplished its goals and would be disbanded. In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted, spewing debris as far as 20 miles away. Ten years ago: Yugoslav troops departed Kosovo, prompting NATO to suspend its punishing 11-week air war. The Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that Chicago went too far in its fight against street gangs by ordering police to break up groups of loiterers. One year ago: A Sudanese jetliner skidded off a runway and crashed into airport lights after landing in Khartoum, killing 30 people. Today's Birthdays: Britain's Prince Philip is 88. Columnist Nat Hentoff is 84. Actor-director Lionel Jeffries is 83. Author Maurice Sendak is 81. Attorney F. Lee Bailey is 76. Actress Alexandra Stewart is 70. Singer Shirley Alston Reeves (The Shirelles) is 68. Actor Jurgen Prochnow is 68. Media commentator Jeff Greenfield is 66. Country singer-songwriter Thom Schuyler is 57. Former Sen. John Edwards is 56. Actor Andrew Stevens is 54. Singer Barrington Henderson is 53. Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is 50. Rock musician Kim Deal is 48. Singer Maxi Priest is 48. Actress Gina Gershon is 47. Actress Jeanne Tripplehorn is 46. Rock musician Jimmy Chamberlin is 45. Actress Kate Flannery is 45. Model-actress Elizabeth Hurley is 44. Rock musician Joey Santiago is 44. Actor Doug McKeon is 43. Rock musician Emma Anderson is 42. Country musician Brian Hofeldt (The Derailers) is 42. Rapper The D.O.C. is 41. Rock singer Mike Doughty is 39. R&B singer JoJo is 38. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is 38. R&B singer Faith Evans is 36. Actor Hugh Dancy is 34. R&B singer Lemisha Grinstead (702) is 31. Actor DJ Qualls is 31. Actor Shane West is 31. Singer Hoku is 28. Actress Leelee Sobieski is 27. Olympic gold medal figure skater Tara Lipinski is 27. Today In Entertainment History --In 1922, singer-actress Judy Garland was born Frances Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minn. In 1964, the Rolling Stones met two of their idols during a recording session, when they ran into bluesmen Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters at Chicago's Chess studios. The Beatles released "A Hard Day's Night," both the album and the single. In 1966, a Beatles record featuring a new audio effect was released. "Rain" used a tape played in reverse. John Lennon said the reverse-tape effect wasn't planned; the tape was just put on the wrong way. In 1967, actor Spencer Tracy died, just weeks after he finished filming "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." He was 67. Bob Dylan and The Band began recording sessions that remained unreleased for a long time but eventually surfaced as an album titled "The Basement Tapes." In 1972, Joe Strummer and Topper Headon of The Clash were arrested for painting their band's name on a London wall. [Not bloody likely. Not in 197-fucking-2, you AP idiots. — Ed.] In 1982, singer Micki Harris of The Shirelles died at the age of 42. The play "Torch Song Trilogy," by Harvey Fierstein, opened on Broadway. In 1990, the band 311 (three-eleven) played their first gig, opening for Fugazi in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1992, a Texas law enforcement agency called for a national boycott of "Cop Killer" by Ice-T. Sales of the song skyrocketed. In 1993, Burt Reynolds filed for divorce from Loni Anderson after five years of marriage, blaming irreconcilable differences. In 1995, 100,000 people gathered in New York's Central Park to see a free sneak preview of "Pocahontas."
[Two out of three from the AP leads us to figure it was 2004. — Ed.] 2004 Singer-musician Ray Charles died at age 73. Five years ago: [That would be 2004. — Ed.] Singer-musician Ray Charles, known for such hits as "What'd I Say," "Georgia on My Mind" and "I Can't Stop Loving You," died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 73. In 2005, singer Ray Charles died of liver disease at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 73. In 2007, the final episode of "The Sopranos" aired on HBO. Thought for Today: "I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool." — Katharine Whitehorn, British newspaper columnist.

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