1895: The Kiel Canal is opened by German Emperor Wilhelm II
The 98 km (61 mi) long canal in Northern Germany is one of the world’s busiest artificial waterways. It connects the North Sea with the Baltic Sea.
1945: Japanese forces defeated on Okinawa. Japanese resistance on Okinawa was finally crushed this day in 1945, less than three months after U.S. troops landed there as the last stepping-stone before the planned assault on Japan’s main islands in World War II.
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1963: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini becomes Pope Paul VI
The Italian pontiff is known for completing the Second Vatican Council, addressing the Roman Catholic Church’s relationship with the modern world.
1965: “Mr. Tambourine Man” is released, and the folk-rock revolution is on. Released on June 21, 1965, the Byrds’ debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man, marked the beginning of the folk-rock revolution. In just a few months, the Byrds had become a household name, with a #1 single and a smash-hit album that married the ringing guitars and backbeat of the British Invasion with the harmonies and lyrical depth of folk to create an entirely new sound.
1982: Assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan
John Hinckley, Jr., was ruled to be innocent by reason of insanity in the shooting of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
John W. Hinckley, Jr., who on March 30, 1981, shot President Ronald Reagan and three others outside a Washington, D.C., hotel, was found not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity. In the trial, Hinckley’s defense attorneys argued that their client was ill with narcissistic personality disorder, citing medical evidence, and had a pathological obsession with the 1976 film Taxi Driver, in which the main character attempts to assassinate a fictional senator. His lawyers claimed that Hinckley had watched the movie more than a dozen times, was obsessed with the lead actress, Jodie Foster, and had attempted to reenact the events of the film in his own life.
1985: The body of Josef Mengele is identified
An international team of scientists confirmed that the skeletal remains found in a cemetery in Embu, Brazil are those of the Nazi war criminal. Mengele was a physician in the Auschwitz concentration camp and conducted horrific experiments on some of the inmates.
1998: As votes for today’s election in Togo are counted and President Gnassingbé Eyadéma falls behind in the count, one of his generals seizes all ballots and stops the counting. The military declares Eyadéma the winner. Soldiers open fire on Togolese who object to the hijacked election, killing hundreds.
2004: First privately owned spacecraft, SS1, travels beyond the earth’s atmosphere. On June 21, 2004, SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately owned spacecraft to reach an altitude of 100 kilometers, or about 62 miles, above the earth, the generally accepted point at which “space” begins. The flight lasted 24 minutes.
2009: Greenland assumes self-rule
The island had been administered by Denmark (earlier Denmark-Norway) for centuries. The Self-Government Act grants Greenland full responsibility for its inner affairs, while Denmark retains control of foreign policy.
2020: A rare Annular Eclipse of the sun, when the moon covers only the centre of the sun – creating a solar ring of fire – is visible in an arc from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: June 20
Prince William, 42 years
William, Prince of Wales, is the heir apparent to the British throne was born on 21 June 1982. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his paternal grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. He was educated at Wetherby School, Ludgrove School and Eton College.
Paddy Adenuga, 40 years
Mike Agbolade Adeniyi Ishola Adenuga is a Nigerian businessman, in London, England. He was born on 21 June 1984. He moved in and out of his father’s business, the Mike Adenuga Group, to amass his own fortune among the younger generation of Nigerian billionaires in companies dealing with the country’s oil wealth.
Jean-Paul Sartre (21 June 1905- 15 April 1980)
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre, a French novelist, playwright, and exponent of existentialism who was awarded but declined the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, was born. He died at the age of 74.
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