History of Today in India – 11 June

Explore the history of today 11 June in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 11 June 2026, 10:00 AM

📜 Important Events on 11 June in World History

11 Jun 2013: Greece's public broadcaster ERT is shut down by then-prime minister Antonis Samaras. It would be opened exactly two years later by then-prime minister Alexis Tsipras. Read more
11 Jun 2012: Seventy-five people die in a landslide triggered by two earthquakes in Afghanistan; an entire village is buried. Read more
11 Jun 2010: The first FIFA World Cup held in African soil kicks off in South Africa. Read more
11 Jun 2008: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to abuses at a Canadian Indian residential school. Read more
11 Jun 2008: The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is launched into orbit. Read more
11 Jun 2007: Mudslides in Chittagong, Bangladesh, kill 130 people. Read more
11 Jun 2004: Cassini–Huygens makes its closest flyby of the Saturn moon Phoebe. Read more
11 Jun 2002: Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress. Read more
11 Jun 2001: Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. Read more
11 Jun 1998: Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition. Read more
11 Jun 1987: Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant are elected as the first black MPs in Great Britain. Read more
11 Jun 1981: A magnitude 6.9 earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000. Read more
11 Jun 1978: Altaf Hussain founds the student political movement All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) in Karachi University. Read more
11 Jun 1971: The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control. Read more
11 Jun 1970: After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army general officers, becoming the first women to do so. Read more
11 Jun 1968: Lloyd J. Old identifies the first cell surface antigens that could differentiate among different cell types. Read more
11 Jun 1964: World War II veteran Walter Seifert attacks an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers and seriously injuring several more with a home-made flamethrower and a lance. Read more
11 Jun 1963: American Civil Rights Movement: Governor of Alabama George Wallace defiantly stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending that school. Later in the day, accompanied by federalized National Guard troops, they are able to register. Read more
11 Jun 1963: Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam. Read more
11 Jun 1963: John F. Kennedy addresses Americans from the Oval Office proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which would revolutionize American society by guaranteeing equal access to public facilities, ending segregation in education, and guaranteeing federal protection for voting rights. Read more
11 Jun 1962: Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island. Read more
11 Jun 1956: Start of Gal Oya riots, the first reported ethnic riots that target minority Sri Lankan Tamils in the Eastern Province. The total number of deaths is reportedly 150. Read more
11 Jun 1955: Eighty-three spectators are killed and at least one hundred are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest ever accident in motorsports. Read more
11 Jun 1944: USS Missouri, the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned. Read more
11 Jun 1942: World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union. Read more
11 Jun 1942: Free French Forces retreat from Bir Hakeim after having successfully delayed the Axis advance. Read more
11 Jun 1940: World War II: The Siege of Malta begins with a series of Italian air raids. Read more
11 Jun 1938: Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Wuhan starts. Read more
11 Jun 1937: Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin executes eight army leaders. Read more
11 Jun 1936: Inventor Edwin Armstrong demonstrates FM broadcasting to an audience of engineers at the FCC in Washington, DC. Read more
11 Jun 1936: The London International Surrealist Exhibition opens. Read more
11 Jun 1920: During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gather in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to coin the political phrase "smoke-filled room". Read more
11 Jun 1919: Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown. Read more
11 Jun 1917: King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father, Constantine I, is deemed to have abdicated under pressure from allied armies occupying Athens. Read more
11 Jun 1903: A group of Serbian officers storms the royal palace and assassinates King Alexander I of Serbia and his wife, Queen Draga. Read more
11 Jun 1901: The boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand are extended by the UK to include the Cook Islands. Read more
11 Jun 1898: The Hundred Days' Reform, a planned movement to reform social, political, and educational institutions in China, is started by the Guangxu Emperor, but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after 104 days. (The failed reform led to the abolition of the Imperial examination in 1905.) Read more
11 Jun 1895: Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, sometimes called the first automobile race in history or the "first motor race", takes place. Read more
11 Jun 1892: The Limelight Department, one of the world's first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia. Read more
11 Jun 1882: Nationalist riots break out in Alexandria directed against foreign domination. More than 50 Europeans are killed, including the British consul. Read more
11 Jun 1865: The Naval Battle of the Riachuelo is fought on the rivulet Riachuelo (Argentina), between the Paraguayan Navy on one side and the Brazilian Navy on the other. The Brazilian victory was crucial for the later success of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina) in the Paraguayan War. Read more
11 Jun 1837: The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish. Read more
11 Jun 1825: The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City. Read more
11 Jun 1805: A fire consumes large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 11 June in World History

11 Jun 2004: Katrina Scott, American tennis player Katrina Scott is an American tennis player. Read more
11 Jun 2001: Billy Gilmour, Scottish footballer Billy Clifford Gilmour is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Serie A club Napoli and the Scotland national team. He is considered one of Scotland's best players, particularly in relation to his passing skills and his style of midfield play. Read more
11 Jun 1999: Eartha Cumings, Scottish footballer Eartha Cumings is a Scottish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Women's Super League club Manchester City and the Scotland national team. Read more
11 Jun 1999: Kai Havertz, German footballer Kai Lukas Havertz is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for Premier League club Arsenal and the Germany national team. Read more
11 Jun 1998: Charlie Tahan, American actor Charles Tahan is an American actor. Starting as a child actor, with appearances in the 2007 films American Loser and I Am Legend, he has progressed through teen and adult roles. His notable roles include Ben Burke in the Fox dystopian mystery thriller series Wayward Pines (2015–16), the young Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow in the Fox/DC Comics superhero drama Gotham (2014–17), and Wyatt Langmore in the Netflix original crime drama Ozark (2017–2022). Read more
11 Jun 1997: Kodak Black, American rapper Bill Kahan Kapri, known professionally as Kodak Black, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Pompano Beach, Florida, he gained initial recognition following the release of his 2014 songs "No Flockin" and "Skrt", both of which led him to sign a recording contract with Atlantic Records. The former received double platinum certification by the Recording Industry of America (RIAA), while the latter received platinum certification; "No Flockin" marked his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 two years later as a sleeper hit. He also received local recognition around this time for a series of mixtapes he released between 2014 and 2016. Read more
11 Jun 1997: Unai Simón, Spanish footballer Unai Simón Mendibil is a Spanish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Athletic Bilbao and the Spain national team. Read more
11 Jun 1997: Jorja Smith, English singer Jorja Alice Smith is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Walsall, West Midlands, she has been writing songs since the age of 11. In 2012, Smith's friend uploaded her cover of Labrinth's "Earthquake" to YouTube, which led to her discovery by record producer Guy Moot. After her first two singles received broader recognition, she signed with Sony/ATV in early 2016, releasing two EPs throughout later that year and into 2017. Read more
11 Jun 1996: Philip Billing, Danish footballer Philip Anyanwu Billing is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Danish Superliga club Midtjylland and the Denmark national team. Read more
11 Jun 1996: Ayaka Sasaki, Japanese singer Ayaka Sasaki is a Japanese idol. She is known as a member of the female musical group Momoiro Clover Z. Read more
11 Jun 1994: Ivana Baquero, Spanish actress Ivana Baquero Macías is a Spanish actress. At the age of 11, she was chosen to star as Ofelia in Pan's Labyrinth, for which she won critical acclaim and the Goya Award for Best New Actress. In 2015, she was cast as Eretria in the television series The Shannara Chronicles. Read more
11 Jun 1992: Davide Zappacosta, Italian footballer Davide Zappacosta is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a wing-back for Serie A club Atalanta and the Italy national team. Read more
11 Jun 1991: Daniel Howell, English Youtuber Daniel James Howell is an English YouTuber, presenter, comedian and author. He gained prominence through his YouTube channels Daniel Howell, which has over 6.04 million subscribers, and Dan and Phil. He is known for his frequent collaborations with his partner Phil Lester as part of the entertainment duo Dan and Phil. Together, they presented the Sunday night entertainment show Dan and Phil on BBC Radio 1 from January 2013 until August 2014, and the station's Internet Takeover slot from September 2014 until April 2016. Read more
11 Jun 1991: Kyle Troup, American bowler Kyle Troup is an American professional ten-pin bowler originally from Taylorsville, North Carolina. He uses the two-handed shovel-style delivery with a dominant right hand. Troup says he needed two hands when learning to throw the ball as a young child, calling himself self-taught in that regard. Read more
11 Jun 1990: Christophe Lemaitre, French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre is a French former sprinter who specialised in the 100 and 200 metres. In 2010, Lemaitre became the first white athlete to break the 10-second barrier in an officially timed 100 m event. Lemaitre has run a sub-10 second 100 m on seven occasions: three times in 2010 and four times in 2011. He won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2012 London Olympic Games and in the 200 metres at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. Read more
11 Jun 1989: Maya Moore, American basketball player Maya April Moore is an American social justice advocate and former professional basketball player. Naming her their inaugural Performer of the Year in 2017, Sports Illustrated called Moore the "greatest winner in the history of women's basketball". Moore was selected for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024. In 2025, Moore was selected to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Read more
11 Jun 1988: Jesús Fernández Collado, Spanish footballer Jesús Fernández Collado is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Read more
11 Jun 1988: Claire Holt, Australian actress Claire Rhiannon Holt (born 11 June 1988) is an Australian-American actress. She made her acting debut playing Emma Gilbert in the fantasy series H2O: Just Add Water (2006–2008), before moving to the United States and making her film debut in 2009. After appearing in the television sequel Mean Girls 2 and the first two seasons of Pretty Little Liars (both 2011), she had her breakthrough playing Rebekah Mikaelson in the CW supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries (2011–2014), The Originals (2013–2018) and Legacies (2021–2022). The role earned her acclaim and a Teen Choice Award nomination. She also starred in the NBC period crime drama series Aquarius (2015–2016), to further acclaim. Read more
11 Jun 1988: Yui Aragaki, Japanese actress, voice actress, singer-songwriter, model, radio host Yui Aragaki is a Japanese actress, model, singer and occasional radio show host. She has been selected several times as the most desired girlfriend and the most desired female celebrity face in Oricon's yearly survey. Read more
11 Jun 1987: Gonzalo Castro, German footballer Gonzalo Castro Randón is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is also a former Germany international. Read more
11 Jun 1986: Sebastian Bayer, German long jumper Sebastian Bayer is a German long jumper best known for having history's second longest indoor long jump. Read more
11 Jun 1986: Shia LaBeouf, American actor Shia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor and filmmaker. He played Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens, a role for which he received Young Artist Award nominations in 2001 and 2002 and won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2003. He made his film debut in The Christmas Path (1998). In 2004, he made his directorial debut with the short film Let's Love Hate and later directed a short film titled Maniac (2011), starring American rappers Cage and Kid Cudi. Read more
11 Jun 1985: Brad Jacobs, Canadian curler Bradley Robert Jacobs is a Canadian curler from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He currently skips his own team out of Calgary, Alberta. He is a 2-time Olympic champion skip, having led Canada to gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2026 Winter Olympics. Jacobs is also the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier and the 2025 Montana's Brier championship skip and the 2013 World Championship runner-up. He is a 12-time Northern Ontario provincial champion, and one-time provincial junior champion. Read more
11 Jun 1984: Andy Lee, Irish boxer Andy Lee is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2017. He held the WBO middleweight title from 2014 to 2015, and in doing so became the first member of the travelling community to win a major world title. He is the second cousin of Former lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. During his professional career, Lee was trained by the late Emmanuel Steward. Read more
11 Jun 1984: Vágner Love, Brazilian footballer Vágner Silva de Souza, known as Vágner Love, is a former Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. He has been described by World Soccer Magazine as possessing "mobility, flair, awareness and powerful shooting". Read more
11 Jun 1983: Chuck Hayes, American basketball player Charles Edward Hayes Jr. is an American basketball executive and former professional player who is the director of basketball operations for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). An undersized 6 ft 6 in center, he played college basketball for the University of Kentucky. From 2006 to 2015, he played in the NBA for the Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, and Toronto Raptors. Read more
11 Jun 1983: José Reyes, Dominican baseball player José Bernabe Reyes is a Dominican former professional baseball infielder. He played most notably at shortstop in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Miami Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays, and Colorado Rockies. Read more
11 Jun 1982: Vanessa Boslak, French pole vaulter Vanessa Boslak is a French pole vaulter. She was born in Lesquin, France. Read more
11 Jun 1982: Jacques Freitag, South African high jumper (died 2024) Jacques Freitag was a South African high jumper. Freitag is one of only eleven athletes to win World Championship titles at the youth, junior, and senior levels of an athletic event. Read more
11 Jun 1982: Reni Maitua, Australian rugby league player Reni Maitua is a former professional rugby league footballer. An Australian and Samoan International representative player, he previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, with whom he won the 2004 NRL Premiership. Maitua covered a number of positions, known for typically playing on an edge as a backrow forward or centre, Maitua's skillset saw him play in the halves as well. Read more
11 Jun 1982: Eldar Rønning, Norwegian skier Eldar Rønning is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. He skis with the Skogn IL club, in Nord-Trøndelag. Read more
11 Jun 1982: Diana Taurasi, American basketball player Diana Lorena Taurasi is an Argentine and American former professional basketball player. She played 20 seasons in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), spending her entire WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury. A global basketball icon, Taurasi helped grow the visibility of the women's game and is credited with elevating the standard of play in the WNBA. She is often considered the greatest player in women's basketball history and holds the all-time WNBA scoring record. She is the most decorated Olympic athlete in any team sport, winning six Olympic gold medals with the United States women's national basketball team. Read more
11 Jun 1981: Emiliano Moretti, Italian footballer Emiliano Moretti is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Read more
11 Jun 1981: Kristo Tohver, Estonian footballer and referee Kristo Tohver is an Estonian international referee who refereed at 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Read more
11 Jun 1980: Yhency Brazoban, Dominican baseball player Yhency José Brazobán is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He throws and bats right-handed. Read more
11 Jun 1979: Ali Boussaboun, Moroccan-Dutch footballer Ali Boussaboun is a Dutch-Moroccan former professional footballer who played as a striker. After retiring as a player, Boussaboun worked as a scout for the Moroccan football federation. Read more
11 Jun 1979: Amy Duggan, Australian footballer and sportscaster Amy Elizabeth Duggan is an Australian retired soccer player and media personality. Read more
11 Jun 1978: Joshua Jackson, Canadian-American actor Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian and American actor. He is known for his portrayals of Pacey Witter on The WB's teen drama Dawson's Creek (1998–2003), Peter Bishop in the Fox science fiction series Fringe (2008–2013), a troubled married man on Showtime's The Affair (2014–2018), and Christopher Duntsch in the Peacock crime drama series Dr. Death (2021–2023). For the last of these, he was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor. His other credits include When They See Us (2019), Little Fires Everywhere (2020), and Doctor Odyssey (2024–2025). Read more
11 Jun 1978: Daryl Tuffey, New Zealand cricketer Daryl Raymond Tuffey is a former New Zealand cricketer who represented New Zealand in all formats internationally. Tuffey was born in Milton, Otago, and played domestic first-class cricket for Northern Districts Knights. Tuffey retired from all forms of cricket on 14 September 2012. Read more
11 Jun 1977: Ryan Dunn, American stunt performer (died 2011) Ryan Matthew Dunn was an American stunt performer, television personality, and actor. He was one of the stars of the MTV reality stunt show Jackass and its film franchise. Read more
11 Jun 1977: Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer Geoff Charles Ogilvy is an Australian professional golfer. He won the 2006 U.S. Open and has also won three World Golf Championships. Read more
11 Jun 1976: Reiko Tosa, Japanese runner Reiko Tosa is a Japanese long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon race. She was born in Matsuyama, Ehime. Read more
11 Jun 1974: Fragiskos Alvertis, Greek basketball player, coach, and manager Fragiskos "Frankie" Alvertis is a Greek former professional basketball player and general manager of Panathinaikos Athens. As a player, he was the long-time captain of Panathinaikos, where he spent his whole professional career. In 1990, Alvertis joined Panathinaikos, after moving to the club from Glyfada. Alvertis is first on the list of the EuroLeague championships won by a player, with five, since the competition went to the Final Four format, beginning with the 1987–88 season. The former Italian player Dino Meneghin, is first overall, with seven EuroLeague championships won, when including all formats of the competition, dating back to the competition's inaugural 1958 season. Read more
11 Jun 1973: José Manuel Abundis, Mexican footballer and coach José Manuel Abundis Sandoval is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
11 Jun 1971: Vladimir Gaidamașciuc, Moldovan footballer Vladimir Gaidamașciuc is a Moldovan former footballer who played as a midfielder for various clubs in Moldova, Ukraine and Russia. He made 45 appearances for the Moldova national team, scoring once. Read more
11 Jun 1971: Liz Kendall, British politician Elizabeth Louise Kendall is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology since 2025, having previously served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2024 to 2025. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West since 2010. Read more
11 Jun 1971: Mark Richardson, New Zealand cricketer Mark Hunter Richardson is a former New Zealand cricketer. He was a left-handed opening batsman. He represented New Zealand in 38 Test matches between 2000 and 2004. During his cricketing career he played for Auckland, Buckinghamshire and Otago as well as for Dunedin Metropolitan in the Hawke Cup. Read more
11 Jun 1969: Peter Dinklage, American actor and producer Peter Hayden Dinklage is an American actor. Portraying Tyrion Lannister on the HBO television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series a record four times. Dinklage also received a Golden Globe Award in 2011 and an Actor Award in 2020 for the role. Read more
11 Jun 1969: Olaf Kapagiannidis, German footballer Olaf Kapagiannidis is a former professional German footballer. Read more
11 Jun 1968: Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein is the eldest son of Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, and Countess Marie Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau, and the heir apparent to the throne of Liechtenstein. Alois has been regent of the country since 15 August 2004, while his father remains the head of state. Read more
11 Jun 1968: Manoa Thompson, Fijian rugby player Manoa Thompson is a Fijian former professional rugby league footballer. Primarily playing as a centre, he played his first grade career with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Western Suburbs Magpies, and the Auckland Warriors in the NSWRL / ARL competition, as well as playing in the Super League for the Warrington Wolves. He represented the Fijian national team. Read more
11 Jun 1967: Graeme Bachop, New Zealand rugby player Graeme Thomas Miro Bachop is a former rugby union footballer from New Zealand. Read more
11 Jun 1967: João Garcia, Portuguese mountaineer João José Silva Abranches Garcia is a mountaineer in Portugal. His main professional activities are as organizer and guide in mountaineering expeditions. On 18 May 1999 he became the first Portuguese man to reach the summit of Mount Everest, without the use of supplementary oxygen. Three years later, in 2002, he published a book, A Mais Alta Solidão (The Highest Loneliness), in which he describes his experiences in mountain climbing, namely his 1999 expedition to Everest, where he endured bitter adversities. Nevertheless, João Garcia continued to climb and on the 17th April 2010, he summited Annapurna without the aid of supplemental oxygen, becoming the 10th man of all time to climb all 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen or Sherpas. Read more
11 Jun 1965: Georgios Bartzokas, Greek former professional basketball player Georgios Bartzokas is a Greek former professional basketball player, and the current head basketball coach for Olympiacos of the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the EuroLeague. During his career as a head coach, Bartzokas has won numerous titles. With the Greek club Olympiacos Piraeus, he won the World Club Championship title, as he won the 2013 edition of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup. He also won the championship of Europe's premiere club competition, the EuroLeague, at the 2013 EuroLeague Final Four, with Olympiacos, a feat he would eventually repeat in 2026, again with Olympiacos. Bartzokas has been named the EuroLeague Coach of the Year three times, as he won the award in the years 2013, 2022, and 2023. Read more
11 Jun 1964: Jean Alesi, French racing driver Jean Robert Alesi is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1989 to 2001. Alesi won the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix with Ferrari. Read more
11 Jun 1964: Kim Gallagher, American runner (died 2002) Kimberly Ann "Kim" Gallagher was an American middle-distance runner who won a silver and a bronze medal at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. Read more
11 Jun 1964: Penny Ford, American singer Penny Ford, also known as Pennye Ford, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer from Cincinnati, Ohio, who lives in Germany. She rose to fame in the 1980s after signing a recording contract with Total Experience Records and releasing her debut solo album, Pennye. It spawned the singles "Change Your Wicked Way" and "Dangerous", which were produced and written by Ford. Read more
11 Jun 1963: Britta Phillips, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress Britta Phillips is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and actress. Read more
11 Jun 1963: Sandra Schmirler, Canadian curler and sportscaster (died 2000) Sandra Marie Schmirler was a Canadian curler who captured three Canadian Curling Championships and three World Curling Championships. Schmirler also skipped (captained) her Canadian team to a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics, the first year women's curling was a medal sport. At tournaments where she was not competing, Schmirler sometimes worked as a commentator for CBC Sports, which popularized her nickname "Schmirler the Curler" and claimed she was the only person who had a name that rhymed with the sport she played. She died in 2000 at 36 of cancer, leaving a legacy that extended outside of curling. Schmirler was honoured posthumously with an induction into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and was awarded the World Curling Freytag Award, which later led to her induction into the World Curling Federation Hall of Fame. Read more
11 Jun 1962: Mano Menezes, Brazilian footballer and coach Luiz Antônio Venker Menezes, known as Mano Menezes, is a Brazilian professional football manager who is the head coach of the Peru national team. Read more
11 Jun 1960: Mehmet Oz, American surgeon, author, and television host Mehmet Cengiz Oz, also known as Dr. Oz, is an American television presenter, physician, author, educator, and government official serving as the 17th administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) since 2025. Read more
11 Jun 1959: Hugh Laurie, English actor and screenwriter James Hugh Calum Laurie is an English actor, comedian, and musician. Laurie first gained professional recognition as a member of the English comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. Fry and Laurie acted together in several projects during the 1980s and 1990s, including the BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the P. G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. From 1986 to 1989, Laurie appeared in three series of the period comedy Blackadder. Read more
11 Jun 1956: Joe Montana, American football player and sportscaster Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", Montana is widely regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. After winning a national championship with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Montana began his NFL career in 1979 at San Francisco, where he played for the next 14 seasons. With the 49ers, Montana started and won four Super Bowls and was the first player to be named the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times. He also holds Super Bowl career records for most passes without an interception and the all-time highest passer rating of 127.8. In 1993, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs, where he played for his last two seasons and led the franchise to its first AFC Championship Game. Montana was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000. Read more
11 Jun 1955: Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower (died 2021) Yuriy Georgiyevich Sedykh was a track and field athlete who represented the Soviet Union from 1976 to 1991 in the hammer throw. He was a European, World and Olympic Champion, and holds the world record with a throw of 86.74 m in 1986. Read more
11 Jun 1954: John Dyson, Australian cricketer John Dyson is an Australian former international cricketer (batsman) who is now a cricket coach, most recently in charge of the West Indies. Read more
11 Jun 1952: Yekaterina Podkopayeva, Russian runner Yekaterina Ilyinychna Podkopayeva, née Poryvkina, is a retired middle-distance runner who represented the USSR and later Russia. She gained international recognition in 1983, when she won two bronze medals at the World Championships. The same year she managed an 800 m time of 1:55.96. She resurfaced in 1992, winning the European Indoor Championships and placing 8th in the Olympics. More victories in European and World Indoor Championships followed until she retired after the 1998 season. When she won the 1500 metres at the 1997 World Indoors, she was 44, the oldest World Indoor champion ever. Read more
11 Jun 1952: Donnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Donald Newton Van Zant is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as a member of the band 38 Special, from its formation in 1974 until 2013. Van Zant was the original lead vocalist for the band, appearing in that role on their first two studio albums. He is the middle of three sons; his older brother Ronnie was the original lead singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd who died in a 1977 plane crash in Mississippi, and his younger brother Johnny has been the lead singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd since 1987. Read more
11 Jun 1951: Yasumasa Morimura, Japanese painter and photographer Yasumasa Morimura is a contemporary Japanese performance and appropriation artist whose work encompasses photography, film, and live performance. He is known for his reinterpretation of recognizable artworks and figures from art history, history, and mass media through his adoption of personas that transcend national, ethnic, gendered, and racial boundaries. Across his photographic and performative series, Morimura's works explore a number of interconnected themes, including: the nature of identity and its ability to undergo change, postcolonialism, authorship, and the Western view of Japan – and Asia, more broadly – as feminine. Read more
11 Jun 1949: Frank Beard, American drummer and songwriter Frank Lee Beard is an American drummer best known as the long-time drummer of the rock band ZZ Top. Read more
11 Jun 1948: Lalu Prasad Yadav, Indian politician, 20th Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav is an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1991 to 1997 and as the union minister for Railways from 2004 to 2009. He is the founding president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a prominent political party in Bihar. He is also a former member of Parliament (MP) of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Read more
11 Jun 1948: Lynsey de Paul, English singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, cartoonist and actress (died 2014) Lynsey de Paul was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting with UK top 10 single "Sugar Me", and became the first British female artist to achieve a number one with a self-written song. She represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 alongside Mike Moran with the song "Rock Bottom", finishing in second place and scoring another chart-topping hit in Switzerland, and had a successful career as a songwriter, record producer, actress and television celebrity. Read more
11 Jun 1945: Adrienne Barbeau, American actress Adrienne Jo Barbeau is an American actress and author. She came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Betty Rizzo in the musical Grease, and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay on the sitcom Maude (1972–1978). In 1980, she began appearing in horror and science fiction films, including The Fog (1980), Escape from New York (1981), Creepshow (1982), and Swamp Thing (1982). She also provided the voice of Catwoman in the DC Animated Universe. In the 2000s, she appeared on the HBO series Carnivàle (2003–2005) as Ruthie. Read more
11 Jun 1943: Ray Warren, Australian sportscaster Raymond Warren is an Australian retired sports commentator, known for his coverage of televised professional rugby league matches on the Nine Network. He is known as the "Voice of Rugby League", and called 99 State of Origin games as well as 45 NRL Grand Finals. Warren also used to call Australian swimming team events and the FINA World Championships until Nine lost the rights to these events in 2008 and in 2012 participated in Nine's coverage of the London Olympics. Read more
11 Jun 1942: Parris Glendening, American politician, 59th Governor of Maryland Parris Nelson Glendening is an American politician and academic who served as the 59th governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. He previously served as the county executive of Prince George's County, Maryland from 1982 to 1994 as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1999, Glendening was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Read more
11 Jun 1941: Tony Whitford, Canadian politician (died 2024) Anthony Wilfred James Whitford was a Canadian politician, who served as the commissioner of the Northwest Territories from 2005 to 2010. Read more
11 Jun 1939: Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, English cricketer and journalist (died 2017) Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, was an English cricketer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She was best known for being captain of England from 1966 to 1978, and was unbeaten in six Test series: in total, she played for the English women's cricket team from 1960 to 1982. Heyhoe Flint was captain when her team won the inaugural 1973 Women's Cricket World Cup, which England hosted. She was also the first female cricketer to hit a six in a Test match, and one of the first ten women to become a member of the MCC. Read more
11 Jun 1939: Jackie Stewart, Scottish racing driver and sports presenter Sir John Young Stewart is a British former racing driver, broadcaster and motorsport executive from Scotland who competed in Formula One from 1965 to 1973. Nicknamed "the Flying Scot", Stewart won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with Tyrrell, and—at the time of his retirement—held the records for most wins (27) and podium finishes (43). Read more
11 Jun 1937: Chad Everett, American actor and director (died 2012) Raymon Lee Cramton, known professionally as Chad Everett, was an American actor who appeared in more than 40 films and television series. He played Dr. Joe Gannon in the television drama Medical Center, which aired from 1969 to 1976. Read more
11 Jun 1937: Robin Warren, Australian pathologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024) John Robin Warren was an Australian pathologist, Nobel laureate, and researcher who is credited with the 1979 re-discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, together with Barry Marshall. The duo proved to the medical community that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is the cause of most peptic ulcers. Read more
11 Jun 1933: Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2016) Gene Wilder was an American actor, author, comedian, writer and filmmaker. He was mainly known for his comedic roles, including his collaborations with Mel Brooks on the films The Producers (1967), Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, and with Richard Pryor in the films Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) and Another You (1991), as well as his portrayal of Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). Read more
11 Jun 1932: Athol Fugard, South African-American actor, director, and playwright (died 2025) Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard was a South African playwright, novelist, actor and director. Widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright and acclaimed as "the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world" by Time magazine in 1985, he published more than thirty plays. He is best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apartheid, some of which have been adapted to film. His novel Tsotsi was adapted as a film of the same name, which won an Academy Award in 2005. Three plays he wrote, and two plays he co-authored, were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Read more
11 Jun 1932: Tim Sainsbury, English businessman and politician, Minister of State for Trade Sir Timothy Alan Davan Sainsbury is a Conservative politician and businessman in the United Kingdom. Read more
11 Jun 1930: Charles Rangel, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 2025) Charles Bernard Rangel was an American politician who served as U.S. representative for districts in New York City for 46 years. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent member of the House of Representatives at the time of his retirement in 2017, having served continuously since 1971, and the ninth-longest serving in history. As its most senior member, he was also the dean of New York's congressional delegation. Rangel was the first African American chair of the influential House Ways and Means Committee. He was also a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Read more
11 Jun 1928: Queen Fabiola of Belgium (died 2014) Fabiola Fernanda María-de-las-Victorias Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón was Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Baudouin from their marriage in 1960 until his death in 1993. The couple had no children, as all five of Fabiola's pregnancies resulted in miscarriage, so the Crown passed to her husband's younger brother, King Albert II. Read more
11 Jun 1927: Beryl Grey, English ballerina (died 2022) Dame Beryl Elizabeth Grey was a British ballet dancer. Read more
11 Jun 1926: Carlisle Floyd, American composer and educator (died 2021) Carlisle Sessions Floyd was an American composer primarily known for his operas. These stage works, for which he wrote not only the music but also the librettos, typically engage with themes from the American South, particularly the Post-civil war South, the Great Depression and rural life. His best known opera, Susannah, is based on a story from the Biblical Apocrypha, transferred to contemporary rural Tennessee, and written for a Southern dialect. It was premiered at Florida State University in 1955, with Phyllis Curtin in the title role. When it was staged at the New York City Opera the following year, the reception was initially mixed; some considered it a masterpiece, while others degraded it as a 'folk opera'. Subsequent performances led to an increase in Susannah's reputation and the opera quickly became among the most performed of American operas. Read more
11 Jun 1925: William Styron, American novelist and essayist (died 2006) William Clark Styron Jr. was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1968 for The Confessions of Nat Turner. Read more
11 Jun 1922: Jean Sutherland Boggs, Peruvian-Canadian historian, academic, and civil servant (died 2014) Jean Sutherland Boggs D. Litt. LL. D. was a Canadian academic, art historian and civil servant. She was the first female Director of both the National Gallery of Canada and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She was also a specialist in the work of Edgar Degas and Picasso. Read more
11 Jun 1922: Michael Cacoyannis, Greek Cypriot director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2011) Michalis Kakogiannis, usually credited as Michael Cacoyannis or Michael Yannis, was a Greek Cypriot filmmaker, theatre director, and playwright. He is best known for writing, directing, producing, and editing Zorba the Greek (1964), an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel of the same name. He also directed the 1983 Broadway revival of the musical based on the film in addition to writing, directing, designing, and translating dozens of stage play and opera productions. Read more
11 Jun 1920: Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American singer, actress, and pianist (died 1981) Hazel Dorothy Scott was an American jazz and classical pianist and singer. An outspoken critic of racial discrimination and segregation, she used her influence to improve the representation of Black Americans in film. Read more
11 Jun 1920: Keith Seaman, Australian lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of South Australia (died 2013) Sir Keith Douglas Seaman was Governor of South Australia from 1 September 1977 until 28 March 1982. He was the second successive governor to have been a minister of religion, Seaman being a minister in then recently merged Uniting Church in Australia. Read more
11 Jun 1919: Suleiman Mousa, Jordanian historian and author (died 2008) Suleiman Mousa was a Jordanian author and historian born in Al-Rafeed, a small village north of the city of Irbid. He wrote up to fifty books of which most prominent are Biography of Sharif Hussein Bin Ali, Jordan in the 1948 War, Great Arab Revolt, History of Jordan in the 20th century, and was the first and only Arab author to write about Lawrence of Arabia and show the Arab perspective. Read more
11 Jun 1919: Richard Todd, Irish-English actor (died 2009) Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd OBE was an Irish-British actor, known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor nomination for his performance as Corporal Lachlan MacLachlan in the 1949 film The Hasty Heart. Read more
11 Jun 1918: Ruth Aarons, American table tennis player and manager (died 1980) Ruth Hughes Aarons was a US table tennis player, vaudeville entertainer, and talent manager. Read more
11 Jun 1915: Magda Gabor, Hungarian-American actress (died 1997) Magdolna Gabor was a Hungarian and American socialite and actress, and the elder sister of Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor. Read more
11 Jun 1915: Nicholas Metropolis, American mathematician and physicist (died 1999) Nicholas Constantine Metropolis was a Greek-American physicist. Read more
11 Jun 1914: Jan Hendrik van den Berg, Dutch psychiatrist and academic (died 2012) Jan Hendrik van den Berg was a Dutch psychiatrist notable for his work in phenomenological psychotherapy and metabletics, or "psychology of historical change." He is the author of numerous articles and books, including A different existence and The changing nature of man. Read more
11 Jun 1913: Vince Lombardi, American football player, coach, and manager (died 1970) Vincent Thomas Lombardi was an American professional football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be among the greatest coaches and leaders in American sports. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight and five total NFL Championships in seven years, in addition to winning the first two Super Bowls at the conclusion of the 1966 and 1967 NFL seasons. Read more
11 Jun 1913: Risë Stevens, American soprano and actress (died 2013) Risë Stevens was an American operatic mezzo-soprano and actress. Beginning in 1938, she sang for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for more than two decades during the 1940s and 1950s. She was most noted for her portrayals of the central character in Carmen by Georges Bizet. From 1963 to 1968 she was director of the Metropolitan Opera National Company. Read more
11 Jun 1912: James Algar, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1998) James Algar was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked at Walt Disney Productions for 43 years and received the Disney Legends award in 1998. He was born in Modesto, California and died in Carmel, California. Read more
11 Jun 1912: William Baziotes, American painter and academic (died 1963) William Baziotes was an American painter influenced by Surrealism and was a contributor to Abstract Expressionism. Read more
11 Jun 1912: Mohammad Hassan Ganji, Iranian meteorologist and academic (died 2012) Mohammad Hassan Ganji, Ph.D. was an Iranian meteorologist and academic. He was born in Birjand. He is credited as being the father of modern geography in Iran. Read more
11 Jun 1910: Carmine Coppola, American flute player and composer (died 1991) Carmine Valentino Coppola was an American composer, flutist, pianist, and songwriter who contributed original music to the films The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, The Black Stallion, and The Godfather Part III. He is the father of film director Francis Ford Coppola. In the course of his career, he won both the Academy Award for Best Original Score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, in addition to nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music and Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. Read more
11 Jun 1910: Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (died 1997) Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the Aqua-Lung, which assisted him in producing some of the first underwater documentaries. Read more
11 Jun 1909: Natascha Artin Brunswick, German-American mathematician and photographer (died 2003) Natascha Artin Brunswick was a Russian-American mathematician and photographer. Read more
11 Jun 1908: Karl Hein, German hammer thrower (died 1982) Karl Hein was a German hammer thrower who won a gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Read more
11 Jun 1908: Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (died 1919) Francisco de Jesus Marto and Jacinta de Jesus Marto were siblings from Aljustrel, a small hamlet near Fátima, Portugal, who, with their cousin Lúcia dos Santos (1907–2005), reportedly witnessed three apparitions of the Angel of Peace in 1916, and several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Cova da Iria in 1917. The title Our Lady of Fátima was given to the Virgin Mary as a result, and the Sanctuary of Fátima became a major centre of global Catholic pilgrimage. Read more
11 Jun 1902: Eric Fraser, British illustrator and graphic designer (died 1983)
Eric George Fraser was a British illustrator and graphic artist. He was famous in the public mind for contributions to the Radio Times, and as the creator in 1931 of 'Mr Therm' in adverts for the Gas Light and Coke Company. Read more
11 Jun 1901: Cap Fear, Canadian football player and rower (died 1978) Alfred Henry "Cap" Fear was a star football player in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for seven seasons for the Toronto Argonauts. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1967 and into the Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1975. Read more
11 Jun 1901: Benny Wearing, Australian rugby league player (died 1968) Benny Wearing was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. An Australian international and New South Wales representative three-quarter, he played his club football in the NSWRFL Premiership for South Sydney. Wearing was the third player in Australian rugby league history to score 100 premiership tries. Read more
11 Jun 1899: Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (died 1972) Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal and are still widely read. Read more
11 Jun 1897: Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian activist, founded the Hindustan Republican Association (died 1927) Ram Prasad Bismil was an Indian poet, writer, and revolutionary who fought against British Raj, participating in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918, and the Kakori Conspiracy of 1925. He composed in Urdu and Hindi under pen names Ram, Agyat अज्ञात (anonymous) and Bismil (wounded), becoming widely known under the latter. "Bismil" was not his real surname; it was his pen name. Pandit was an honorific title conferred to him due to his specialised knowledge on several subjects. He was also a translator. Read more
11 Jun 1897: Reg Latta, Australian rugby league player (died 1970) Reginald Augustine 'Whip' Latta (1897–1970) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s and 1920s who also became a coach. An Australia national and New South Wales state representative forward, he played his club football in Sydney for the Balmain club, with whom he won five premierships. Latta also coached the team. Read more
11 Jun 1895: Nikolai Bulganin, Soviet politician (died 1975) Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 1955 to 1958. He also served as Minister of Defense, following service in the Red Army during World War II. Read more
11 Jun 1894: Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (died 1952) Kiichiro Toyoda was a Japanese engineer and businessman, and the son of Toyoda Loom Works founder Sakichi Toyoda. His decision to change Toyoda's focus from automatic loom manufacture into automobile manufacturing created what later became Toyota. Read more
11 Jun 1889: Hugo Wieslander, Swedish decathlete (died 1976) Karl Hugo Wieslander was a Swedish athlete. He set the inaugural world record in the pentathlon in Gothenburg in 1911 with a score of 5516 points. The following year, he finished second in the decathlon at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, 688 points behind Jim Thorpe. In 1913, after it was discovered that Thorpe had played semi-professional baseball for a minor league team, Thorpe was disqualified for not being an amateur. Wieslander was declared the winner of the 1912 Olympics event and awarded the gold medal, which he refused to accept. In 1982, Thorpe was reinstated by the IOC with Hugo Wieslander as joint winners of the 1912 Olympic decathlon. The IOC announced 15 July 2022 that Thorpe's gold medal had been reinstated and Wieslander, whose family had considered Thorpe the rightful winner, became the silver medalist. Read more
11 Jun 1888: Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian-American anarchist and convicted criminal (died 1927) Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists, controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a guard and a paymaster, during the April 15, 1920, armed robbery of the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Seven years later, they were executed in the electric chair at Charlestown State Prison. Most historians consider their conviction unfair due to prejudice against immigrants and radicals. Read more
11 Jun 1881: Spiros Xenos, Greek-Swedish painter (died 1963) Spiros George Xenos was a Greek-Swedish artist. Read more
11 Jun 1881: Mordecai Kaplan, Lithuanian rabbi, founded Reconstructionist Judaism (died 1983) Mordecai Menahem Kaplan was an American Conservative rabbi, writer, Jewish educator, professor, theologian-philosopher, activist, and religious leader who founded the Reconstructionist movement of Judaism with his son-in-law, Rabbi Ira Eisenstein. He has been described as a "towering figure" in the recent history of Judaism for his influential work in adapting it to modern society, contending that Judaism should be a unifying and creative force by stressing the cultural and historical character of the religion as well as theological doctrine. Read more
11 Jun 1881: Maggie Gripenberg, Finnish dancer and choreographer (died 1976) Margarita Maria “Maggie” Gripenberg was a pioneer of modern dance in Finland. She was the first to introduce Dalcroze Eurhythmics to Finland and modeled her early works on the improvisational style of Isadora Duncan. As a dancer, choreographer and teacher, she laid the educational foundations for the study of movement and dance. She was recognized by numerous awards for her choreographic work as well as being honored with the Pro Finlandia Medal and as a knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland. Read more
11 Jun 1880: Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (died 1973) Jeannette Pickering Rankin was an American politician and women's rights advocate who became the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916 for one term, then was elected again in 1940. Rankin remains the only woman ever elected to Congress from Montana. Read more
11 Jun 1879: Roger Bresnahan, American baseball player and manager (died 1944) Roger Philip Bresnahan, nicknamed "the Duke of Tralee", was an American baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). As a major-league player, Bresnahan competed for the Washington Senators (1897), Chicago Orphans (1900), Baltimore Orioles (1901–02), New York Giants (1902–1908), St. Louis Cardinals (1909–1912) and Chicago Cubs (1913–1915). Bresnahan also managed the Cardinals (1909–1912) and Cubs (1915). He was a member of the 1905 World Series champions. Read more
11 Jun 1877: Renée Vivien, English-French poet and author (died 1909) Renée Vivien was a British poet who wrote in the French language. A high-profile lesbian writer in Paris during the Belle Époque era, she is widely considered to be one of the first noteworthy lesbian poets of the twentieth century. Her work has recently received more attention due to a revival of interest in Sapphic verse. Many of her poems are autobiographical, pertaining mostly to Baudelarian themes of extreme romanticism and frequent despair. Apart from poetry, she wrote several works of prose, including L'Etre Double, and an unfinished biography of Anne Boleyn, which was published posthumously. She has also been the subject of multiple biographies, most notably those by Jean-Paul Goujon, André Germain, and Yves-Gerard Le Dantec. A novel based on her life was written by the Catalan poet Maria Mercè Marçal in 1994, and translated into English in 2020 as The Passion according to Renée Vivien. Read more
11 Jun 1876: Alfred L. Kroeber, American-French anthropologist and ethnologist (died 1960) Alfred Louis Kroeber was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the first professor appointed to the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. He played an integral role in the early days of its Museum of Anthropology, where he served as director from 1909 through 1947. Kroeber provided detailed information about Ishi, the last surviving member of the Yahi people, whom he studied over a period of years. He was the father of the author Ursula K. Le Guin. Read more
11 Jun 1871: Stjepan Radić, Croatian lawyer and politician (died 1928) Stjepan Radić was a Croat politician and the co-founder of the Croatian People's Peasant Party (HPSS), active in Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Read more
11 Jun 1867: Charles Fabry, French physicist and academic (died 1945) Marie Paul Auguste Charles Fabry was a French physicist working on optics. Together with Alfred Pérot he invented the Fabry–Pérot interferometer. He is also one of the co-discoverers of the ozone layer. Read more
11 Jun 1864: Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (died 1949) Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer and conductor known for his tone poems and operas. A leading figure of the late Romantic and early Modern era, and a successor to Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt, he combined, along with his friend Gustav Mahler, subtleties of orchestration with an advanced harmonic style. Read more
11 Jun 1861: Alexander Peacock, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Victoria (died 1933) Sir Alexander James Peacock was an Australian politician who served as the 20th Premier of Victoria. Read more
11 Jun 1847: Millicent Fawcett, English academic and activist (died 1929) Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett was an English political activist and writer. She campaigned for women's suffrage by legal change and in 1897–1919 led Britain's largest women's rights association, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), explaining, "I cannot say I became a suffragist. I always was one, from the time I was old enough to think at all about the principles of Representative Government." She tried to broaden women's chances of higher education, as a governor of Bedford College, London and co-founding Newnham College, Cambridge in 1871. In 2018, a century after the Representation of the People Act, she was the first woman honoured by a statue in Parliament Square. Read more
11 Jun 1846: William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (died 1920) William Louis Marshall was an influential figure in the US Corps of Engineers. Read more
11 Jun 1842: Carl von Linde, German engineer and academic (died 1934) Carl Paul Gottfried von Linde was a German scientist, engineer, and businessman. He discovered the refrigeration cycle and invented the first industrial-scale air separation and gas liquefaction processes, which led to the first reliable and efficient compressed-ammonia refrigerator in 1876. Read more
11 Jun 1834: Johann Bauschinger, German mechanical engineer and physicist (died 1893) Johann Bauschinger was a mathematician, builder, and professor of Engineering Mechanics at Munich Polytechnic, from 1868 until his death. The Bauschinger effect in materials science is named after him. He was also the father of astronomer Julius Bauschinger (1860–1934). Read more
11 Jun 1832: Lucy Pickens, American wife of Francis Wilkinson Pickens (died 1899) Lucy Petway Holcombe Pickens was a 19th-century American socialite of Tennessee and Texas, known during and after her lifetime as the "Queen of the Confederacy". She was also a First Lady of South Carolina. Described as "beautiful, brilliant, and captivating" by her male contemporaries, she helped shape the stereotype of the "Southern belle." Born into a planter's family, she moved with them to Marshall, Texas, the seat of Harrison County, at age 16. Read more
11 Jun 1829: Edward Braddon, English-Australian politician, 18th Premier of Tasmania (died 1904) Sir Edward Nicholas Coventry Braddon was a British Indian civil servant and Australian politician who served as Premier of Tasmania from 1894 to 1899, and was a Member of the First Australian Parliament in the House of Representatives. Braddon was a Tasmanian delegate to the Constitutional Conventions. Read more
11 Jun 1818: Alexander Bain, Scottish philosopher and academic (died 1903) Alexander Bain was a Scottish philosopher and educationalist in the British school of empiricism and a prominent and innovative figure in the fields of psychology, linguistics, logic, moral philosophy and education reform. He founded Mind, the first ever journal of psychology and analytical philosophy, and was the leading figure in establishing and applying the scientific method to psychology. Bain was the inaugural Regius Chair in Logic and Professor of Logic at the University of Aberdeen, where he also held Professorships in Moral Philosophy and English Literature and was twice elected Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen. Read more
11 Jun 1815: Julia Margaret Cameron, Indian-Sri Lankan photographer (died 1879) Julia Margaret Cameron was an English photographer who is considered one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century. She is known for her soft-focus close-ups of famous Victorians and for illustrative images depicting characters from mythology, Christianity, and literature. Read more
11 Jun 1807: James F. Schenck, American admiral (died 1882) James Findlay Schenck was a rear admiral in the United States Navy who served in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. His younger brother, Robert C. Schenck, was a Union Army general and a United States Ambassador to Brazil. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 11 June in World History

11 Jun 2025: Brian Wilson, American singer and songwriter, co-founder of the Beach Boys (born 1942) Brian Douglas Wilson was an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and significant musical figures of his era, he was distinguished for his high production values and complex harmonies, orchestrations, and vocal arrangements. In addition to his typically ingenuous or introspective lyrics, he was known for his versatile head voice and falsetto. Read more
11 Jun 2024: Tony Lo Bianco, American actor (born 1936) Anthony LoBianco was an American actor. Read more
11 Jun 2024: Howard Fineman, American journalist (born 1948) Howard David Fineman was an American journalist and television commentator. In a career that spanned nearly five decades, Fineman covered nine presidential campaigns as a reporter, writer, and analyst. For 30 years, he drove Newsweek magazine's political coverage. At the height of the publication's influence, Fineman was its chief political correspondent, senior editor, and deputy Washington bureau chief. His "Living Politics" column was posted weekly on Newsweek.com. After his tenure at Newsweek, he was named global editorial director of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group. Read more
11 Jun 2024: Françoise Hardy, French singer-songwriter and actress (born 1944) Françoise Madeleine Hardy was a French singer-songwriter, actress, and author. She was known for singing melancholic, sentimental ballads. Hardy rose to prominence in the early 1960s as a leading figure in French yé-yé music and became a cultural icon in France and internationally. In addition to her native French, she also sang in English, Italian, and German. Her musical career spanned more than 50 years, with over 30 studio albums released. She also represented Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963. Read more
11 Jun 2024: Majed Abu Maraheel, Palestinian long-distance runner and football player (born 1963) Majed Abu Maraheel was a Palestinian long-distance runner, football player, security officer, and athletics coach, who was the first Palestinian to compete at the Olympic Games. Born into a refugee family in the Nuseirat refugee camp of the Gaza Strip, Abu Maraheel took part in athletics and football as a child. Before his international sporting career, he self-trained as a long-distance runner on Gazan streets and beaches, becoming locally famous after winning a variety of local competitions. After winning an eight-kilometer race in 1995, he was recruited by Palestinian National Authority leader Yasser Arafat into Force 17, his personal security force. Read more
11 Jun 2022: Hilary Devey, English businesswoman, television presenter (born 1957) Hilary Lorraine Devey CBE was an English businesswoman and television personality best known for her role on the BBC Two programme Dragons' Den until she left to present the Channel 4 series The Intern. Read more
11 Jun 2020: Stella Pevsner, children's author (born 1921) Stella Pevsner was an American author of children's books and works of young adult literature published since the late 1960s. Read more
11 Jun 2019: Billy McKee, Irish republican and founding member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (born 1921) Billy McKee was an Irish republican and a founding member and leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Read more
11 Jun 2016: Rudi Altig, German track and road racing cyclist (born 1937) Rudi Altig was a German professional track and road racing cyclist who won the 1962 Vuelta a España and the world championship in 1966. After his retirement from sports he worked as a television commentator. Read more
11 Jun 2015: Ornette Coleman, American saxophonist, violinist, trumpet player, and composer (born 1930) Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. His pioneering works often abandoned the harmony-based composition, tonality, chord changes, and fixed rhythm found in earlier jazz idioms; instead, Coleman emphasized an experimental approach to improvisation rooted in ensemble playing and blues phrasing. Thom Jurek of AllMusic called him "one of the most beloved and polarizing figures in jazz history", noting that while "now celebrated as a fearless innovator and a genius, he was initially regarded by peers and critics as rebellious, disruptive, and even a fraud." Read more
11 Jun 2015: Ian McKechnie, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1941) Ian Hector McKechnie was a Scottish footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
11 Jun 2015: Ron Moody, English actor and singer (born 1924) Ron Moody was an English actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Fagin in Lionel Bart's 1960 stage musical Oliver!, originating the role in the initial London production and reprising it in the 1968 film adaptation and in West End and Broadway revivals in the 1980s. Moody earned a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for the film, as well as a Tony Award nomination for the stage production. Other notable projects include The Mouse on the Moon (1963), Mel Brooks's The Twelve Chairs (1970) and Flight of the Doves (1971), in which Moody shared the screen with Oliver! co-star Jack Wild. Read more
11 Jun 2015: Dusty Rhodes, American wrestler (born 1945) Virgil Riley Runnels Jr., better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who worked for the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wrestling Federation, later known as WWE. Rhodes was considered a star wrestler and presented the persona of an American everyman, the American Dream personified. Rhodes is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Read more
11 Jun 2014: Ruby Dee, American actress (born 1922) Ruby Dee was an American actress. She was married to Ossie Davis, with whom she frequently performed until his death in 2005. She received numerous accolades, including an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Obie Award, and a Drama Desk Award, as well as a nomination for an Academy Award. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1995, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2000, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004. Read more
11 Jun 2014: Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Spanish conductor and composer (born 1933) Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos was a Spanish conductor and composer. Frühbeck was born in Burgos, Spain to a family of German ancestry. He first took up conducting while on military service in the Spanish Army before graduating from the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. Frühbeck was principal conductor of various orchestras around the world, starting with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra from 1958 to 1962, then moving on to the Spanish National Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo and many others. Throughout his career Frühbeck de Burgos recorded on a number of labels. He was a member of the Academy of Fine Arts and History Institución Fernán González. His honours include the 2011 Conductor of the Year award from Musical America. Read more
11 Jun 2014: Susan B. Horwitz, American computer scientist, engineer, and academic (born 1955) Susan Beth Horwitz was an American computer scientist noted for her research on
programming languages and software engineering, and in particular on program slicing and
dataflow-analysis. She had several best paper and an impact paper award mentioned below under awards. Read more
11 Jun 2014: Mipham Chokyi Lodro, Tibetan lama and educator (born 1952) Mipham Chokyi Lodro, also known as Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche, was the fourteenth Shamarpa of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Shamarpa is the second-most important teacher of the Karma Kagyu school, after the Karmapa. Read more
11 Jun 2014: Benjamin Mophatlane, South African businessman (born 1973) Leetile Benjamin Mophatlane was a South African business magnate, and former Chief Executive Officer of Business Connexion Group. He died on 11 June 2014 after suffering cardiac arrest while in a meeting in Rosebank in Johannesburg. Read more
11 Jun 2013: Miller Barber, American golfer (born 1931) Miller Westford Barber Jr. was an American professional golfer. He enjoyed significant success on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and 1970s, and a greater degree of success on the Senior PGA Tour in the 1980s. Read more
11 Jun 2013: Robert Fogel, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926) Robert William Fogel was an American economic historian and winner of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. As of his death, he was the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of American Institutions and director of the Center for Population Economics (CPE) at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. He is best known as an advocate of new economic history (cliometrics) – the use of quantitative methods in history. Read more
11 Jun 2013: Kristiāns Pelšs, Latvian ice hockey player (born 1992) Kristiāns Pelšs was a Latvian ice hockey player. He was the son of poet and translator Einārs Pelšs. At the time of his death, he played for the Oklahoma City Barons of the American Hockey League (AHL) as a prospect of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League. Read more
11 Jun 2013: Vidya Charan Shukla, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (born 1929) Vidya Charan Shukla was an Indian politician whose political career spanned six decades. He was predominantly a member of the Indian National Congress, but also had spells in Jan Morcha, Janata Dal, Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya), Nationalist Congress Party and Bharatiya Janata Party. He was known as a close associate of Indira Gandhi. Read more
11 Jun 2012: Ann Rutherford, Canadian-American actress (born 1917) Therese Ann Rutherford was a Canadian-born American actress in film, radio, and television. She had a long career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict in 12 of the 16 MGM Andy Hardy films between 1937 and 1942, and appearing as one of Scarlett O'Hara's sisters, Carreen O'Hara, in the film Gone with the Wind (1939). Read more
11 Jun 2012: Teófilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer and engineer (born 1952) Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence was a Cuban amateur boxer who competed from 1966 to 1986. Read more
11 Jun 2011: Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Israeli physicist and engineer (born 1947) Eliyahu Moshe Goldratt was an Israeli business management guru. He was the originator of the Optimized Production Technique, the Theory of Constraints (TOC), the Thinking Processes, Drum-Buffer-Rope, Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) and other TOC derived tools. Read more
11 Jun 2008: Ove Andersson, Swedish race car driver (born 1938) Ove Andersson, nicknamed Påven, was a Swedish rally driver and the first head of Toyota's F1 programme. Read more
11 Jun 2008: Võ Văn Kiệt, Vietnamese soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam (born 1922) Võ Văn Kiệt whose real name is Phan Văn Hòa, and includes aliases Sáu Dân, Chín Dũng, Chín Hòa, Tám Thuận. Was a Vietnamese politician and economic reformer who served as the Prime Minister of Vietnam from 1991 to 1997. A well regarded Vietnamese revolutionary and political leader, Kiệt was a veteran fighter in the long wars against the French colonialists and then the South Vietnamese and American forces during the Vietnam War. Read more
11 Jun 2007: Mala Powers, American actress (born 1931) Mary Ellen "Mala" Powers was an American actress. Read more
11 Jun 2006: Neroli Fairhall, New Zealand archer (born 1944) Neroli Susan Fairhall was a New Zealand athlete, who was the first paraplegic competitor in the Olympic Games. Read more
11 Jun 2005: Vasco Gonçalves, Portuguese general and politician, 103rd Prime Minister of Portugal (born 1922) General Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves GOL OA was a Portuguese army officer in the Engineering Corps who took part in the Carnation Revolution and later served as Prime Minister from 18 July 1974 to 19 September 1975. Read more
11 Jun 2005: Anne-Marie Alonzo, Canadian playwright, poet, novelist, critic and publisher (born 1951) Anne-Marie Alonzo, was a Canadian playwright, poet, novelist, critic and publisher. Read more
11 Jun 2004: Egon von Fürstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (born 1946) Prince Egon von Fürstenberg was a socialite, banker, fashion and interior designer, and a member of the former German princely family of Fürstenberg. Read more
11 Jun 2003: David Brinkley, American journalist and author (born 1920) David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997. Read more
11 Jun 2001: Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (born 1968) Timothy James McVeigh was an American domestic terrorist who masterminded and perpetrated the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. The bombing itself killed 167 or 168 people, injured 684 people, and destroyed one-third of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. A rescue worker was killed after the bombing when debris struck her head, bringing the total to 168–169 killed. It remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Read more
11 Jun 2001: Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer and actress (born 1923) Amalia Mendoza García, nicknamed as La Tariácuri, was a Mexican singer and actress. "Échame a mi la culpa" and "Amarga navidad" were some of her greatest hits. Her best friend since her youth was Martha de Miranda Jiménez, "Martuquia" as she called her, who was her companion for many years when Amalia was on tour. Read more
11 Jun 1999: DeForest Kelley, American actor and screenwriter (born 1920) Jackson DeForest Kelley was an American actor, screenwriter, poet, and singer. He was known for his roles in film and television Westerns and achieved international fame as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television and film series Star Trek (1966–1991). Read more
11 Jun 1998: Catherine Cookson, English author (born 1906) Dame Catherine Ann Cookson was a British writer. She is in the top 20 of the most widely read British novelists, with sales topping 100 million, while she retained a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers. Her books were inspired by her deprived youth in South Shields, North East England, the setting for her novels. With 104 titles written in her own name or two other pen names, she is one of the most prolific British novelists. Read more
11 Jun 1996: Brigitte Helm, German-Swiss actress (born 1908) Brigitte Helm was a German actress, best remembered for her dual role as Maria and her double, the Maschinenmensch, in Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film Metropolis. Read more
11 Jun 1994: A. Thurairajah, Sri Lankan engineer and academic (born 1934) Alagiah Thurairajah was a Sri Lankan academic and vice-chancellor of the University of Jaffna. Read more
11 Jun 1993: Ray Sharkey, American actor (born 1952) Raymond Sharkey Jr. was an American stage, film and television actor. His most notable film role was Vincent Vacarri in the 1980 film The Idolmaker, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He is also known for his role as Sonny Steelgrave in the television series Wiseguy. Read more
11 Jun 1992: Rafael Orozco Maestre, Colombian singer (born 1954) Rafael José Orozco Maestre was a Colombian singer of vallenato music. He was one of the major representatives of Colombian popular folk music and was lead singer and co-founder, alongside fellow accordionist Israel Romero, of the vallenato group Binomio de Oro de América, which was very popular in Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. Read more
11 Jun 1991: Cromwell Everson, South African composer (born 1925) Cromwell Everson was primarily known as a composer during his lifetime. He was brought up as an Afrikaner by his mother, Maria De Wit and father, Robert Everson. He continued this tradition and all his children were brought up as Afrikaners. Read more
11 Jun 1986: Chesley Bonestell, American painter and illustrator (born 1888) Chesley Knight Bonestell Jr. was an American painter, designer, and illustrator, best known for his realistic-looking paintings of space exploration, including future spacecraft and scenes set on moons and planets in the Solar System. His work helped inspire the American space program and appeared in popular magazines and books from the 1940s into the 1970s. He is considered one of the founders of "space art" for scientific illustration and his style has been influential in science fiction art, illustration, and cinema. Read more
11 Jun 1984: Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (born 1922) Enrico Berlinguer was an Italian politician and statesman who was the most popular leader of the Italian Communist Party (PCI). He led the PCI as the national secretary from 1972 until his death during a tense period of Italian history, which was marked by the Years of Lead and social conflicts, such as the Hot Autumn of 1969–1970. Berlinguer was born into an upper-class family; his father was a socialist who became a deputy and later senator. After leading the PCI's youth wing in his hometown, he led the Italian Communist Youth Federation (FGCI) at the national level from 1949 to 1956. In 1968, he was elected to Italy's Chamber of Deputies, and he became the leader of the PCI in 1972; he remained a deputy until his death in 1984. Under his leadership, the number of votes for the PCI peaked. The PCI's results in 1976 remain the highest for any Italian left-wing or centre-left party both in terms of votes and vote share, and the party's results in 1984, just after his death, remain the best result for an Italian left-wing party in European elections, and were toppled, in terms of vote share in a lower-turnout election, in the 2014 European Parliament election in Italy. Read more
11 Jun 1983: Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian businessman and politician (born 1894) Ghanshyam Das Birla was an Indian businessman and member of the Birla Family. Read more
11 Jun 1982: H. Radclyffe Roberts, American entomologist (born 1906) Howard Radclyffe Roberts Jr. was an American entomologist known for his work on grasshoppers. His 1941 University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. dissertation was an early work highlighting the role phallic structures could play in grasshopper taxonomy. While serving in World War II, he and Edward Shearman Ross cowrote The Mosquito Atlas, used by the armed forces to identify malaria-transmitting mosquitos. Roberts worked for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP), serving as its managing director from 1947 to 1972. He described dozens of grasshopper species from North and South America, and also is the eponym of several taxa named in his honor. Read more
11 Jun 1979: Alice Dalgliesh, Trinidadian-American author and publisher (born 1893) Alice Dalgliesh was a naturalized American writer and publisher who wrote more than 40 fiction and non-fiction books, mainly for children. She has been called "a pioneer in the field of children's historical fiction". Three of her books were runners-up for the annual Newbery Medal, the partly autobiographical The Silver Pencil, The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, and The Courage of Sarah Noble, which was also named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list. Read more
11 Jun 1979: John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (born 1907) Marion Robert Morrison, known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood's Golden Age, especially in Western and war movies. His career flourished from the silent film era of the 1920s to the American New Wave in the 1970s, as he appeared in a total of 179 film and television productions. He was among the top box-office draws for three decades, and appeared with many other important Hollywood stars of his era. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Wayne as one of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema. Read more
11 Jun 1976: Jim Konstanty, American baseball player (born 1917) Casimir James Konstanty was an American professional baseball relief pitcher in Major League Baseball and National League Most Valuable Player of 1950. He played for the Cincinnati Reds (1944), Boston Braves (1946), Philadelphia Phillies (1948–1954), New York Yankees (1954–1956) and St. Louis Cardinals (1956). Konstanty batted and threw right-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 202 pounds (92 kg). Read more
11 Jun 1974: Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian general and politician, 16th President of Brazil (born 1883) Eurico Gaspar Dutra was a Brazilian military leader and politician who served as the president of Brazil from 1946 to 1951. He was the first president of the Fourth Brazilian Republic, which followed the Vargas Regime. Read more
11 Jun 1974: Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and author (born 1898) Giulio Cesare Andrea "Julius" Evola was an Italian far-right philosopher and writer. Evola regarded his values as traditionalist, aristocratic, martial and imperialist. An esoteric thinker in Fascist Italy, he also had ties to Nazi Germany. In the post-war era, he was an ideological mentor of the Italian neo-fascist and militant right. Read more
11 Jun 1970: Frank Laubach, American missionary and mystic (born 1884) Frank Charles Laubach, from Benton, Pennsylvania was a Congregational Christian missionary educated at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University, and a mystic known as "The Apostle to the Illiterates." In 1915, while working among Muslims at a remote location in the Philippines, he developed the "Each One Teach One" literacy program. It has been used to teach about 60 million people to read in their own language. He was deeply concerned about poverty, injustice and illiteracy, and considered them barriers to peace in the world. Read more
11 Jun 1965: Paul B. Coremans, Belgian chemist and academic (born 1908) Paul Bernard Joseph Marie Coremans was a Belgian scientist who advanced the fields of cultural heritage management and cultural heritage curation. He was the founder and first director of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage. Read more
11 Jun 1965: José Mendes Cabeçadas, Portuguese admiral and politician, 9th President of Portugal (born 1883) José Mendes Cabeçadas Júnior, OTE, ComA, MPCE, commonly known as Mendes Cabeçadas, was a Portuguese Navy officer, Freemason and republican, having a major role in the preparation of the revolutionary movements that created and ended the Portuguese First Republic: the 5 October revolution in 1910 and the 28 May coup d'état of 1926. In the outcome he became the minister of finance for one day only on 30 May 1926, then becoming interim minister for foreign affairs for two days between 30 May and 1 June, after which he again became the minister for finance on the same day. He served as the president of Portugal and prime minister for a brief period of time. Read more
11 Jun 1963: Thích Quảng Đức, Vietnamese monk and martyr (born 1897) Thích Quảng Đức was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who died by self-immolation at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. Quảng Đức was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government of Ngô Đình Diệm, a staunch Roman Catholic. Photographs of his self-immolation circulated around the world, drawing attention to the policies of the Diệm government. John F. Kennedy said of one photograph, "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one". Malcolm Browne won the World Press Photo of the Year for his photograph of the monk's death. Read more
11 Jun 1962: Chhabi Biswas, Indian actor and director (born 1900) Chhabi Biswas was an Indian actor, primarily known for his performances in Tapan Sinha's Kabuliwala and Satyajit Ray's films Jalsaghar, Devi and Kanchenjungha (1962). Read more
11 Jun 1955: Pierre Levegh, French race car driver (born 1905) Pierre Eugène Alfred Bouillin was a French sportsman and racing driver. He took the racing name Pierre Levegh in memory of his uncle Alfred Velghe, a pioneering driver who died in 1904. Levegh died in the 1955 Le Mans disaster which also killed about 81 spectators during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans automobile race. Read more
11 Jun 1941: Daniel Carter Beard, American author and illustrator, founded the Boy Scouts of America (born 1850) Daniel Carter "Uncle Dan" Beard was an American illustrator, author, youth leader, Georgist and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Read more
11 Jun 1937: R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire (born 1895) Reginald Joseph Mitchell was a British aircraft designer who worked for the Southampton aviation company Supermarine from 1916 until 1936. He is best known for designing racing seaplanes, such as the Supermarine S.6B, and for leading the team that designed the Supermarine Spitfire. Read more
11 Jun 1936: Robert E. Howard, American author and poet (born 1906) Robert Ervin Howard was an American writer who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He created the character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre. Read more
11 Jun 1934: Lev Vygotsky, Belarusian-Russian psychologist and theorist (born 1896) Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was a Russian and Soviet psychologist, best known for his work on psychological development in children and creating the framework known as cultural-historical activity theory. After his early death, his books and research were banned in the Soviet Union until Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, with a first collection of major texts published in 1956. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Vygotsky as the 83rd most cited psychologist of the 20th century. Read more
11 Jun 1927: William Attewell, English cricketer (born 1861) William Attewell was a cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and England. Attewell was a medium pace bowler who was renowned for his extraordinary accuracy and economy. On the many sticky or crumbling pitches encountered in his prime Attewell could get on a great deal of spin so as to always beat the bat, whilst his accuracy would make slogging – the only way to make runs under such conditions – very difficult. He was responsible for the development of "off theory" – bowling wide of the off stump to a packed off-side field to frustrate batsmen on the rapidly improving pitches of the 1890s. At times Attewell was a useful batsman for his county, and he scored 102 against Kent in 1897. Read more
11 Jun 1924: Théodore Dubois, French organist, composer, and educator (born 1837) Clément François Théodore Dubois was a French Romantic composer, organist and pedagogue. Read more
11 Jun 1920: William F. Halsey, Sr., American captain (born 1853) William Frederick Halsey was a United States naval officer. He is the father of William Halsey Jr., one of only four American naval officers to obtain the five-star rank of Fleet Admiral. Read more
11 Jun 1914: Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born 1848) Adolphus Frederick V was reigning grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from 1904 to 1914. Read more
11 Jun 1913: Mahmud Shevket Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 279th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (born 1856) Mahmud Shevket Pasha was an Ottoman military commander and statesman. Read more
11 Jun 1911: James Curtis Hepburn, American physician and missionary (born 1815) James Curtis Hepburn was an American physician, educator, translator and lay Christian missionary. He is known for the Hepburn romanization system for transliteration of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet, which he popularized in his Japanese–English dictionary. Read more
11 Jun 1903: Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician and philosopher (born 1837) Nikolai Vasilievich Bugaev was a Russian mathematician, the father of Andrei Bely. Read more
11 Jun 1903: Alexander I of Serbia (born 1876) Alexander I reigned as the king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903 when he and his wife, Draga Mašin, were assassinated by a group of Royal Serbian Army officers, led by Captain Dragutin Dimitrijević. Read more
11 Jun 1903: Draga Mašin, Serbian wife of Alexander I of Serbia (born 1864) Draginja "Draga" Obrenović, née Lunjevica (Луњевица) and formerly Mašin (Машин), was Queen of Serbia as the wife of King Aleksandar Obrenović. She was formerly a lady-in-waiting to Aleksandar's mother, Queen Natalija. Read more
11 Jun 1897: Henry Ayers, English-Australian politician, 8th Premier of South Australia (born 1821) Sir Henry Ayers was the eighth Premier of South Australia, serving a record five times between 1863 and 1873. Read more
11 Jun 1885: Matías Ramos Mejía, Argentinian colonel (born 1810) Matías Ramos Mejía was an Argentine colonel. He joined the 1828 coup of Juan Lavalle against Manuel Dorrego, and the 1839 rebellion of the Freemen of the South. He took part in the move of Lavalle's corpse to Potosí. He also fought in the Paraguayan War. He is the father of historian José María Ramos Mejía. Read more
11 Jun 1882: Louis Désiré Maigret, French bishop (born 1804) Louis-Désiré Maigret, SS.CC., served as the first vicar apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands, now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Born in Saint-Pierre-de-Maillé, France, Maigret was ordained to the priesthood as a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on September 23, 1828, at the age of 24. As part of his missionary work, Father Maigret sailed to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to help build its Catholic community of native Hawaiians. Read more
11 Jun 1879: William, Prince of Orange (born 1840) William, Prince of Orange, was heir apparent to the Dutch throne as the eldest son of King William III from 17 March 1849 until his death. Read more
11 Jun 1859: Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire (born 1773) Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein, known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternich, was a German statesman and diplomat in the service of the Austrian Empire. A conservative, Metternich was at the center of the European balance of power known as the Concert of Europe for three decades as Austrian foreign minister from 1809 and chancellor from 1821 until the liberal Revolutions of 1848 forced his resignation. Read more
11 Jun 1852: Karl Bryullov, Russian painter (born 1799) Karl Pavlovich Bryullov was a Russian painter and draughtsman during the Romantic period, remembered among the greatest visual artists in the history of Russian art. Read more
11 Jun 1847: John Franklin, English admiral and politician (born 1786) Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator. After serving in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through the islands of the Arctic Archipelago, during the Coppermine expedition of 1819 and the Mackenzie River expedition of 1825, and served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1837 to 1843. During his third and final expedition, an attempt to traverse the Northwest Passage in 1845, Franklin's ships became icebound off King William Island in what is now Nunavut, where he died in June 1847. The icebound ships were abandoned ten months later, and the entire crew died from causes such as starvation, hypothermia, and scurvy. Read more

Why is 11 June Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 11 June, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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What happened on 11 June in World history?

On 11 June, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

Is History of Today important for competitive exams?

Yes, History of Today is frequently asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, and State PSC exams as part of static GK and current awareness sections.