1269 – King Louis IX of France orders all Jews found in public without an identifying yellow badge to be fined ten livres of silver.
1829 - Robert Peel's Act was passed, to establish a new police force in London and its suburbs. They were known as Peelers and then Bobbies, derived from his surname and Christian name respectively.
1862 – The U.S. Congress prohibits slavery in United States territories, nullifying the Dred Scott Case.
1917 - The British royal family adopted the name of Windsor to replace Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. King Georg V made the name change to disassociate the royal family from its German origins.
1961 – Kuwait declares independence from the United Kingdom.
1974 – A female resident of Bellevue, Washington, becomes the first person to be saved by the Heimlich maneuver.
1996 - A vast freshwater lake 2.5 mi under the ice of Antarctica was discovered. The lake covers 5,000 sq mi and is kept from freezing by the friction of the ice and by heat radiating from the earth's core.
1997 - The US fast-food chain McDonalds won a two-year libel case in Britain against two environmental campaigners who claimed that the company caused environmental damage and exploited workers in the Third World.
840 - Vikings sailed up the Seine in France as far as Rouen, for the first time.
1756 - In India, over 140 British subjects were imprisoned in a cell (18 feet by 14 feet) called the Black Hole of Calcutta only 23 survived.
1819 – The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. She is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.
1887 - Britain's longest railway bridge over the River Tay opened. The first had collapsed in 1879 whilst the Edinburgh to Dundee train was crossing, killing over 90 people.
1963 – The so-called "red telephone" is established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.
(20-06-2011 11:57 )skully Wrote: [ -> ]~~~~
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1963 – The so-called "red telephone" is established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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Since the film was made in black and white, I assume the phone was red.
1945: US troops take Okinawa
The Japanese island of Okinawa has finally fallen to the Americans after a long and bloody battle.
The island, situated 340 miles (550km) south of the Japanese mainland, will now provide the Americans with an invaluable air and naval base from which to launch a sustained and forceful attack on the mainland.
It is estimated more than 90,000 Japanese troops were killed in the 82-day conflict.
I personally saw one Kamikaze hit one of (the aircraft carriers) whilst I was operating the plot for incoming bandits
People's War memories »
America also suffered heavy losses - at this stage 6,990 servicemen have been reported killed or missing and 25,598 wounded.
Mopping up
In a statement issued today US Fleet Admiral Chester W Nimitz said: "After 82 days of fighting the battle of Okinawa has been won.
"Organised resistance ceased on June 21. Enemy garrisons in two small pockets are being mopped up."
The Japanese fought a desperate battle until the bitter end with many hiding out in caves on the southern-most tip of the island.
As the US forces closed in many threw themselves off 150ft (45.7m)cliffs or waded into the sea to drown rather than be taken prisoner.
More than 4,000 Japanese have so far been captured.
The conflict began on 1 April, when America's newly-formed 10th Army, led by Lieutenant-General Simon Bolivar Buckner, landed on Okinawa's western coast.
By 21 April most of the island had been taken by US troops but a stalemate developed in the south around Okinawa's capital city, Naha.
The Japanese were able to secure a strong defensive position in the rugged, cave-riddled terrain and it took several weeks to finally win the battle.
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Thousands of US troops have been killed or wounded in the conflict
In Context
The Japanese commander-in-chief on Okinawa, Lieutenant-General Ushijima Mitsuru, committed suicide on 22 June.
Okinawa was the last great amphibious campaign of the war.
America sent 170,000 troops and 1,213 warships and British forces also took part.
The island was defended by nearly 100,000 Japanese troops.
Lt-Gen Ushijima relied on mass kamikaze attacks as his main line of defence against the initial assault. More than 2,000 attacks were launched during the conflict.
The allies suffered unprecedented losses with 36 warships and landing craft being sunk, 763 aircraft lost and more than 12,500 servicemen killed.
Only 7,400 Japanese troops survived the conflict to become prisoners of war.
America returned Okinawa to Japan in 1972.
Stories From 21 Jun
1945: US troops take Okinawa
1978: Four dead in post office shootings
1982: Princess Diana gives birth to boy
1991: Anger over chairman's 66% pay rise
1968: Egg board 'should be scrapped'
BBC News >>
6 February 2001
Okinawa: Island of Resentment
217 BC – The Romans, led by Gaius Flaminius, are ambushed and defeated by Hannibal at the Battle of Lake Trasimene.
1675 - The laying of the foundation stone of the new St Paul's Cathedral in London The cathedral was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and the site faced that of the church destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
1854 - The first Victoria Cross, Britain's highest medal for bravery, was awarded to Charles Lucas, who was awarded it during the Crimean War for conspicuous bravery. The medal was made from metal from a cannon captured at Sebastopol.
1877 – The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants convicted of murder, are hanged at the Schuylkill County and Carbon County, Pennsylvania prisons.
1887 - Britain celebrated the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria.
1919 – Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I.
1942 – World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at nearby Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by the Japanese against the United States mainland.
1989 - The Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest is protected by the First Amendment.
2004 – SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
2006 - Pluto's newly discovered moons are officially named Nix and Hydra.
On this day in 1986 Diego Maradona scored 2 of the most talked about goals in the history of football, the infamous "Hand of God" goal and a second goal later voted in a FIFA poll as the "goal of the century".
1981: Chapman pleads guilty to Lennon murder
A man has pleaded guilty to shooting dead former Beatle John Lennon in New York.
The court heard Mark Chapman dramatically change his plea to admit responsibility for the murder, saying God had told him to do so.
Even his own defence team were taken by surprise by the decision, and his lawyer has asked the judge to examine his client to ensure he is mentally fit to stand trial.
Appearing at a pre-trial hearing, Chapman said nothing in open court.
The drifter now faces a minimum of 15 years imprisonment, although the judge has indicated it will be more like 20.
Lennon, 40, was shot several times as he entered his luxury apartment building, the Dakota on Manhattan's Upper West Side, opposite Central Park, in December 1980.
The musician was rushed in a police car to St Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, where he died.
Explaining that Chapman had decided to plead guilty after "God told him" to do so on June 8, his lawyer revealed he had "serious questions" over his client's sanity.
"I have asked that he be examined to determine whether or not he is fit to go to trial or to change his plea," he said.
The judge will receive a full report on the defendant before passing sentence in August.
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John Lennon was shot in New York in December 1980
In Context
Mark Chapman is serving 20 years to life in Attica prison near New York after he was deemed competent to plead guilty.
He said he had heard voices in his head telling him to kill the world-famous musician.
In 2000 the killer had his appeal for early release turned down, the same happened in October 2002 when he made another appeal for early release.
A third appeal was rejected in October 2004.
Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, has said she would not feel safe if Chapman were released, and experts believe it is quite possible he will stay behind bars for the rest of his life.
Stories From 22 Jun
1941: Hitler invades the Soviet Union
1992: 'Teflon Don' jailed for life
New York crime boss John Gotti has been sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole.
The head of the city's largest Mafia family was convicted on 2 April for racketeering and five counts of murder - including the former head of the Gambino clan, Paul Castellano.
Gotti's deputy, Frank Locascio, was also sentenced to life after being found guilty of similar charges. Both men were fined $250,000 (£134,500).
Several hundred Gotti-supporters had gathered outside the Brooklyn courtroom and an angry mob attempted to storm the building when the decision was announced.
Judge Leo Glasser's sentencing brought to a close the long quest to convict the man nicknamed the "Teflon Don".
Gotti, 51, had escaped repeated attempts by federal prosecutors throughout the 1980s to get charges to stick to him.
But police finally persuaded Salvatore Gravano - his former ally and right hand man - to testify against his boss in return for leniency.
If there were more people like John Gotti on this earth, we would have a better country
Gotti's deputy, Frank Locascio
"Sammy The Bull" told the court how Gotti had ordered the Castellano murder in 1985 and then watched the killing with him from a limousine on the opposite side of the street.
The case was secured when the prosecution played tapes of secretly recorded conversations between the Gambino godfather and his Mafia associates to the jury.
Gotti declined to respond after being sentenced but Locascio told the packed courtroom he was innocent of all charges.
"I am guilty, though, of being a good friend of John Gotti - and if there were more people like John Gotti on this earth, we would have a better country," he said.
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Watch/Listen
Gotti is head of the biggest Mafia family
Outrage from Gotti supporters over life sentence
In Context
John Gotti died of throat cancer in prison on 10 June 2002. He was 61.
Salvatore Gravano was released after five years, but was later convicted of peddling drugs in Arizona on the evidence of an informant in his own organisation.
The Teflon Don's son, John Gotti Jnr, took over the running of the Gambino family but was jailed in 1999 for bribery, extortion, gambling and fraud, and remains behind bars.
Stories From 23 Jun
1985: Air India jet crashes killing 329
![[Image: 250px-Pluto_system_2006.jpg]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Pluto_system_2006.jpg/250px-Pluto_system_2006.jpg)