1543 – King Henry VIII of England wed his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr.
1565 – Senglea is besieged.
1679 – Britain’s King Charles II ratifies Habeas Corpus Act allowing prisoners right to be imprisoned to be examined by a court
1690 – Battle of Boyne: in Ireland, Protestant King William III defeats English Catholic King James II
1790 – French Revolution: The Civil Constitution of the Clergy is adopted, putting the Catholic Church in France under the control of the state
1804 – Former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton dies after being shot in a pistol duel by Vice President Aaron Burr
1862 – The Medal of Honor, awarded for battlefield bravery, was created for the U.S. Army.
1863 – In New Zealand, British forces invade Waikato, home of the Maori King Movement, beginning a new phase of the wars between Maori and Colonial British
1913 – 150,000 Ulstermen gather and resolve to resist Irish Home Rule by force of arms; since the British Liberals have promised the Irish nationalists Home Rule, civil war appears imminent
1943 – World War II: Battle of Prokhorovka – Russians defeat German forces in one of the largest ever tank battles
1957 – US Surgeon General Leroy Burney connects smoking with lung cancer
1984 – Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale put forward Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate on this day in 1984, making her the first woman ever nominated for vice president by a major U.S. political party.
2005 – Prince Albert II, the only son of Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly, formally assumed the throne of Monaco.
Births & Deaths: 1904 – Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician Pablo Neruda, perhaps the most important Latin American poet of the 20th century and the winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize for Literature, was born in Parral.
Sport: 1998 – FIFA World Cup Final, Stade de France, Saint-Denis: Zinadine Zidane scores twice as France wins first World Cup beating Brazil, 3-0
Music: 1962 – Rolling Stones 1st performance (Marquee Club, London)
TV & Film: 1976 – 1st “Family Feud” game show debuts on ABC hosted by Richard Dawson
