
1429: French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeated the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay (slightly north of Orlรฉans, France). The event turned the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.

1452: The Roman Catholic Church gives its official blessing for the conquest and enslavement of Africa. Pope Nichols V issues a papal decree permitting Portugal to enslave Africans as long as they are converted to Catholicism. Portugal believes a fortune is to be made trading enslaved Africans, and asks the pope for a religious justification – one which will be used over the next centuries by other European powers. Pope Nicholas obliges: โWe grant you, with our Apostolic Authority, full and free permission to invade, search out, capture, and subjugate the pagans and any other unbelievers wherever they may be, as well as their kingdoms and their property, and to reduce their persons into perpetual servitude.โ

1815: Napoleon suffers a shattering defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. At Waterloo in Belgium, Napoleon Bonaparte suffers defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington, bringing an end to the Napoleonic era of European history. The battle was Napoleon’s last thus ending 23 years of recurrent warfare between France and the other powers of Europe. The French Emperor was exiled to Saint Helena where he died six years later. โTo meet one’s Waterlooโ is still a figure of speech today indicating total defeat.

1940: A speech by Charles de Gaulle sparks the French Resistance to German occupation –
The Appeal of June 18, transmitted by radio from de Gaulle’s exile in the United Kingdom, was pivotal in mobilizing the French after Germany had declared more than half of the country an occupied zone. On August 25, French and Allied troops liberated Paris.
1940: Benito Mussolini arrives in Munich with his foreign minister, Count Ciano, to discuss immediate plans with the Fuhrer, and doesnโt like what he hears. Embarrassed over the late entry of Italy in the war against the Allies, and its rather tepid performance since, Mussolini met with Hitler determined to convince his Axis partner to exploit the advantage he had in France by demanding total surrender and occupying the southern portion still free.

1948: The LP record is introduced. The 33โ rpm microgroove vinyl Long Playing record developed by Columbia Records soon became the music industry’s standard medium. It allowed for a total playing time of 20 minutes per side.

1953: The Egyptian Monarchy is abolished by the military that overthrew King Farod in 1952, and The Republic of Egypt is declared. Former General Mohamed Naguib is appointed as president. Although Gamal Nasser commands actual power, he feels his low rank of Lieutenant Colonel will not allow the Egyptian people to accept him as a revolutionary leader. Nasser will rule behind the scenes as vice-chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council.
1972: A Trident jetliner crashes after takeoff from Heathrow Airport in London, killing 118 people. The official cause of this accident, which becomes known as the Staines air disaster, remains unknown, but investigations later show that the pilot (who suffered from a heart condition) failed to maintain the recommended airspeed.
1979: Leonid Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter sign SALT II. The second โStrategic Arms Limitation Talksโ (SALT) agreement was a ground-breaking arms reduction treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States.

1983: The space shuttle Challenger is launched into space on its second mission. On board the shuttle is Dr. Sally K. Ride, who as a mission specialist, becomes the first American woman to travel into space. Ride, who had earlier pursued a professional tennis career, answered a newspaper ad in 1977 from NASA calling for young tech-savvy scientists who could work as mission specialists.

2020: A video is uploaded onto social networking site Instagram showing a barefoot 11-year-old Nigerian boy performing ballet steps in the rain, and goes viral. Anthony Mmesoma Madu becomes a global sensation for his grace and talent, and will receive a scholarship to the American Dance School in the U.S.

BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: June 18
Thabo Mbeki, 82 years
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress. Before that, he was deputy president under Nelson Mandela from 1994 to 1999.

Paul McCartney, 82 years
Sir James Paul McCartney CH MBE is an English singer, songwriter, and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon.

Isabella Rossellini, 72 Years
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is an Italian-American actress and model. The daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted for her successful tenure as a Lancรดme model and an established career in American cinema.

Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (18 June 1934 – 24 November 1982)
Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. He is a central figure in his son’s memoir, Dreams from My Father. Obama married in 1954 and had two children with his first wife, Kezia. He died at the age of 48
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