1584 – William I, first of the hereditary stadtholders of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, was assassinated.
1778 – American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain
1940 – Battle of Britain begins as Nazi forces attack shipping convoys in the English Channel
1962 – Telstar 1, the first communications satellite to transmit live television signals and telephone conversations across the Atlantic Ocean, was launched this day in 1962, inaugurating a new age in electronic communications.
1985 – French foreign intelligence agents blow up the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor, New Zealand to prevent it interfering with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific. Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira is killed.
1991 – Boris Yeltsin sworn in as 1st elected President of the Russian Federation
2012 – The American Episcopal Church becomes the first to approve a rite for blessing gay marriages
Births & Deaths: 1875 – Mary McLeod Bethune, an African American educator who was active in national black affairs and a special adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was born in Mayesville, South Carolina.
Sport: 1971 – 100th British Open Men’s Golf, Royal Birkdale: Lee Trevino wins the first of his consecutive Open Championships, a stroke ahead of Lu Liang-Huan of Taiwan
Music: 2018 – Drake surpasses The Beatles record of most singles in Billboard Hot One 100 with seven against their five from his album “Scorpion”
TV & Film: 1950 – “Your Hit Parade” premieres on NBC (later CBS) TV (broadcast on radio from 1935)
