History of Today 19 June: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 19 June. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 19 June. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 19 June 2026, 01:03 AM

Important Events on 19 June in History

19 Jun 2020: Animal rights advocate Regan Russell is run over and killed by a transport truck outside of a pig slaughterhouse in Burlington, Ontario. Read more
19 Jun 2018: The 10,000,000th United States Patent is issued. Read more
19 Jun 2018: Antwon Rose II is fatally shot in East Pittsburgh by East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld after being involved in a near-fatal drive-by shooting. Read more
19 Jun 2012: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange requests asylum in London's Ecuadorian Embassy for fear of extradition to the US after publication of previously classified documents including footage of civilian killings by the US army; he will remain there until 2019. Read more
19 Jun 2009: Mass riots involving over 10,000 people and 10,000 police officers break out in Shishou, China, over the dubious circumstances surrounding the death of a local chef. Read more
19 Jun 2009: War in North-West Pakistan: The Pakistani Armed Forces open Operation Rah-e-Nijat against the Taliban and other Islamist rebels in the South Waziristan area of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Read more
19 Jun 2007: The al-Khilani Mosque bombing in Baghdad leaves 78 people dead and another 218 injured. Read more
19 Jun 2005: Following a series of Michelin tire failures during the United States Grand Prix weekend at Indianapolis, and without an agreement being reached, 14 cars from seven teams in Michelin tires withdrew after completing the formation lap, leaving only six cars from three teams on Bridgestone tires to race. Read more
19 Jun 1991: The last Soviet army units in Hungary are withdrawn. Read more
19 Jun 1990: The current international law defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, is ratified for the first time by Norway. Read more
19 Jun 1990: The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is founded in Moscow. Read more
19 Jun 1988: Pope John Paul II canonizes 117 Vietnamese Martyrs. Read more
19 Jun 1987: Basque separatist group ETA commits one of its most violent attacks, in which a bomb is set off in a supermarket, Hipercor, killing 21 and injuring 45. Read more
19 Jun 1987: Aeroflot Flight N-528 crashes at Berdiansk Airport in present-day Ukraine, killing eight people. Read more
19 Jun 1985: Members of the Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers, dressed as Salvadoran soldiers, attack the Zona Rosa area of San Salvador. Read more
19 Jun 1982: The People's Armed Police is de facto founded; It is officially established 10 months later on April 5, 1983 Read more
19 Jun 1978: Garfield's first comic strip, originally published locally as Jon in 1976, goes into nationwide syndication. Read more
19 Jun 1965: Nguyễn Cao Kỳ becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam at the head of a military junta; General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu becomes the figurehead chief of state. Read more
19 Jun 1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate. Read more
19 Jun 1961: Kuwait declares independence from the United Kingdom. Read more
19 Jun 1960: Charlotte Motor Speedway holds its first NASCAR race, the inaugural World 600. Read more
19 Jun 1953: Cold War: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing, in New York. Read more
19 Jun 1947: Pan Am Flight 121 crashes in the Syrian Desert near Mayadin, Syria, killing 15 and injuring 21. Read more
19 Jun 1945: The Smoke Tragedy left 355 workers dead in the underground copper mine of El Teniente, Chile. Read more
19 Jun 1943: The Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL merge for one season due to player shortages caused by World War II. Read more
19 Jun 1934: The Communications Act of 1934 establishes the United States' Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Read more
19 Jun 1926: King Roger, an opera about Roger II of Sicily by Karol Szymanowski, is premiered at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw. Read more
19 Jun 1921: The village of Knockcroghery, Ireland, is burned by British forces. Read more
19 Jun 1913: Natives Land Act, 1913 in South Africa implemented. Read more
19 Jun 1910: The first Father's Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington. Read more
19 Jun 1903: Benito Mussolini, at the time a radical Socialist, is arrested by Bern police for advocating a violent general strike. Read more
19 Jun 1875: The Herzegovinian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire begins. Read more
19 Jun 1867: Maximilian I of the Second Mexican Empire is executed by a firing squad in Querétaro, Querétaro. Read more
19 Jun 1865: Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, United States, are officially informed of their freedom. The anniversary was officially celebrated in Texas and other states as Juneteenth. On June 17, 2021, Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday in the United States. Read more
19 Jun 1862: President Abraham Lincoln signs the Territorial Slavery Act of 1862, which prohibits slavery in all current and future United States territories. Read more
19 Jun 1850: Princess Louise of the Netherlands marries Crown Prince Karl of Sweden–Norway. Read more
19 Jun 1846: The first officially recorded, organized baseball game is played under Alexander Cartwright's rules on Hoboken, New Jersey's Elysian Fields with the New York Base Ball Club defeating the Knickerbockers 23–1. Cartwright umpired. Read more
19 Jun 1821: Decisive defeat of the Filiki Eteria by the Ottomans at Drăgășani (in Wallachia). Read more
19 Jun 1816: Battle of Seven Oaks between North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Read more
19 Jun 1811: The Carlton House Fête is held in London to celebrate the establishment of the Regency era. Read more
19 Jun 1800: War of the Second Coalition Battle of Höchstädt results in a French victory over Austria. Read more

Famous Births on 19 June

19 Jun 2004: Millie Gibson, English actress Amelia Eve Gibson, known professionally as Millie Gibson, is an English actress. She is known for portraying Kelly Neelan in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street from 2019 to 2022 and Ruby Sunday in the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who from 2023 to 2025. Read more
19 Jun 2002: Bennedict Mathurin, Canadian basketball player Bennedict Richard Felder Mathurin is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats, where he was named a consensus second-team All-American and Pac-12 Player of the Year after his sophomore season. Mathurin was selected sixth overall by the Pacers in the 2022 NBA draft. He was voted to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2023 and finished fourth in voting for the 2023 NBA Rookie of the Year award. Read more
19 Jun 2002: Nuno Mendes, Portuguese footballer Nuno Alexandre Tavares Mendes is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Portugal national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best left-backs in the world. Read more
19 Jun 1999: Jordan Poole, American basketball player Jordan Anthony Poole is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines. At Michigan, he was a member of the 2017–18 team that won the 2018 Big Ten tournament and advanced to that season's national championship game. Read more
19 Jun 1998: Atticus Shaffer, American actor and YouTuber Atticus Shaffer is an American actor and YouTuber. He is known for playing Brick Heck on the ABC sitcom The Middle (2009–2018), as well for voicing Edgar in the movie Frankenweenie (2012) and Ono on the Disney Junior series The Lion Guard (2016–2019), and for his brief appearance in Hancock (2008). Shaffer also voices Morrie Rydell on Focus on the Family's Adventures in Odyssey. Read more
19 Jun 1998: Joshua Da Silva, Trinidadian cricketer Joshua Michael Da Silva is a Trinidadian professional cricket right-handed batter and wicket-keeper. He has represented Trinidad and Tobago since 2018 and the West Indies since 2020. As of 2026, he is signed with the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Read more
19 Jun 1994: Lejla Njemčević, Bosnian cross-country and mountain bike cyclist Lejla Njemčević is an Italian-born Bosnian cross-country and mountain bike cyclist. Considered one of the most successful marathon cyclists in the world, she was the overall winner of the cross-country marathon at the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, and the overall winner of the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon Series. Competing at the highest level of the sport, Njemčević holds a remarkable record of 15 medals at UCI World Cup races. Read more
19 Jun 1993: KSI, English YouTuber Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji, known professionally as KSI, is a British influencer, musician, and former professional boxer. He is a co-founder and former member of YouTube group the Sidemen, the co-founder of Misfits Boxing and co-owner of several businesses, including Prime Hydration and Lunchly. KSI has also served as a judge on Britain's Got Talent since 2025. Read more
19 Jun 1992: Keaton Jennings, South African-English cricketer Keaton Kent Jennings is a South African-born English cricketer who captains Lancashire County Cricket Club and has represented England. Read more
19 Jun 1992: C. J. Mosley, American football player Clint Mosley Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, and was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft. Mosley made four Pro Bowls as a member of the Ravens, and made another as a member of the Jets. Read more
19 Jun 1990: Ashly Burch, American actress, writer, and director Ashly Burch is an American actress, writer, director, and singer. She is known for her roles as Aloy in the Horizon series, Chloe Price in the Life Is Strange series, Tiny Tina in the Borderlands series, Mel in The Last of Us Part II, Miss Pauling in Team Fortress 2, the web series Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'?, Enid Mettle in OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Molly McGee in The Ghost and Molly McGee, Ash Graven in Final Space, Cassie Rose in Minecraft: Story Mode, the Rutile Twins in Steven Universe, Rachel Meyee in Mythic Quest, Cassie Cage in Mortal Kombat X and Ray in Fortnite. Read more
19 Jun 1990: Moa Hjelmer, Swedish sprinter Moa Elin Marianne Hjelmer is a Swedish athlete who competes in the 200 metres and 400 metres. Hjelmer was born in Stockholm. She won a silver medal in the Junior European Championships in 2011 in Ostrava. She beat the Swedish record time on 400 metres on 14 August 2011, then beat it twice during the European Championship in Helsinki in 2012. On 29 June 2012 she won a gold medal at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki when she won the 400 metres final on a new Swedish record time of 51.13 seconds. She had set the previous record time at the previous day's semi final race. Read more
19 Jun 1990: Xavier Rhodes, American football player Xavier Rhodes is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles, and was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft. With the Vikings, Rhodes made three Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro selection. Read more
19 Jun 1988: Jacob deGrom, American baseball player Jacob Anthony deGrom is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the New York Mets. Read more
19 Jun 1987: Rashard Mendenhall, American football player Rashard Jamal Mendenhall is an American former professional football player who was a running back for six seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 2008 NFL draft. He won Super Bowl XLIII with the Steelers. He also played for the Arizona Cardinals. Read more
19 Jun 1986: Aoiyama Kōsuke, Bulgarian sumo wrestler Aoiyama Kōsuke is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler or rikishi from Elhovo, Bulgaria. He made his professional debut in 2009, reaching the top division two years later, debuting in the November 2011 tournament. Aoiyama has won four Fighting Spirit awards, one Technique award and one kinboshi for defeating a yokozuna. He was twice runner-up in a tournament. His highest rank was sekiwake. Aoiyama was one of the heaviest competitors in sumo, weighing around 200 kg for most tournaments. In March 2022, he obtained Japanese citizenship. Read more
19 Jun 1986: Lázaro Borges, Cuban pole vaulter Lázaro Eduardo Borges Reid is a Cuban pole vaulter. Read more
19 Jun 1986: Marvin Williams, American basketball player Marvin Gaye Williams Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. He played one season of college basketball for North Carolina before being drafted second overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2005 NBA draft. Read more
19 Jun 1985: Ai Miyazato, Japanese golfer Ai Miyazato is a former Japanese professional golfer who competed on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour (JLPGA). She was the top-ranked golfer in the Women's World Golf Rankings on three occasions in 2010. Read more
19 Jun 1985: José Ernesto Sosa, Argentinian footballer José Ernesto Sosa is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Argentina Primera Division club Estudiantes de La Plata. He also represented the Argentina national team. Read more
19 Jun 1985: Dire Tune, Ethiopian runner Dire Tune Arissi is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner. Read more
19 Jun 1984: Paul Dano, American actor Paul Franklin Dano is an American actor and film director. His work includes both independent film and blockbusters, and his accolades include nominations for a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Read more
19 Jun 1984: Wieke Dijkstra, Dutch field hockey player Wieke Elisabeth Henriëtte Dijkstra is a Dutch field hockey player, who plays as midfielder for Dutch club Laren. Read more
19 Jun 1984: Andri Eleftheriou, Cypriot sport shooter Andri Eleftheriou is a Cypriot sport shooter, and a member of the women's national shooting team of Cyprus. Read more
19 Jun 1983: Macklemore, American rapper Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, better known by his stage name Macklemore, is an American rapper. A native of Seattle, Washington, he started his career in 2000 as an independent artist releasing: Open Your Eyes (2000), The Language of My World (2005), and The Unplanned Mixtape (2009). He rose to international success collaborating with producer Ryan Lewis as the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (2009–2016). Read more
19 Jun 1983: Aidan Turner, Irish actor Aidan Turner is an Irish actor. He began his career in the RTÉ medical drama The Clinic (2008–2009) and the BBC series Desperate Romantics (2009). He later gained attention for co-starring as one of the main leads in the popular BBC Three series Being Human (2009–2011), and for playing the dwarf Kíli in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014), before starring as Ross Poldark in Poldark (2015–2019). Read more
19 Jun 1982: Alexander Frolov, Russian ice hockey player Alexander Alexandrovich Frolov is a Russian retired professional ice hockey player. In an eight-year National Hockey League (NHL) career, he played with the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers. After Frolov's NHL career ended, he moved to the KHL with Avangard Omsk and CSKA Moscow. Read more
19 Jun 1982: Chris Vermeulen, Australian motorcycle racer Christopher Vermeulen is an Australian retired motorcycle racer. He competed in the Supersport World Championship and the Superbike World Championship before racing in the premier MotoGP class between 2005 and 2009, most prominently as a member of the Suzuki MotoGP team, winning the 2007 French Grand Prix. Read more
19 Jun 1982: Michael Yarmush, American actor Michael Lawrence Yarmush is an American-Canadian actor. He is known for providing the original voice of Arthur Read in the PBS children's animated television series Arthur. Read more
19 Jun 1981: Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi, Saudi Arabian long jumper Mohamed Salman Al-Khuwalidi is a Saudi Arabian long jumper. His personal best jump, 8.48 metres, achieved in July 2006 in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France. is also the current Asian record. Read more
19 Jun 1981: Moss Burmester, New Zealand swimmer Moss James Burmester is a New Zealand swimmer and diver. His specialist event is the 200m butterfly in which he holds the Commonwealth record of 1:54.35 set at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Read more
19 Jun 1980: Jean Carroll, Irish cricketer Jean Christine Carroll is an Irish former cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper. She appeared in eight One Day Internationals and five Twenty20 Internationals for Ireland between 2007 and 2009. Read more
19 Jun 1980: Dan Ellis, Canadian ice hockey player Daniel Ellis is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who currently works as a goaltending scout for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Read more
19 Jun 1980: Robbie Neilson, Scottish footballer and manager Robbie Neilson is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently head coach of Shenzhen Peng City in the Chinese Super League. Read more
19 Jun 1980: Nuno Santos, Portuguese footballer Nuno Filipe Oliveira dos Santos is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played mainly as a forward but also as a full-back. Read more
19 Jun 1979: José Kléberson, Brazilian footballer José Kléberson Pereira, commonly known as José Kléberson or simply Kléberson, is a Brazilian football coach and former player who is currently the head coach of North. Read more
19 Jun 1978: Dirk Nowitzki, German basketball player Dirk Werner Nowitzki is a German former professional basketball player who is a special advisor for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), with whom he played his entire 21-year career as a power forward. Listed at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest power forwards of all time and is considered by many to be the greatest European player of all time. Read more
19 Jun 1978: Zoe Saldaña, American actress Zoë Yadira Saldaña-Perego, known professionally as Zoe Saldaña, is an American actress. The highest grossing lead actor in history, she is the recipient of many accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Critics Choice Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a SAG Award, and a Cannes Film Festival Award. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023 and 2026. Read more
19 Jun 1978: Claudio Vargas, Dominican baseball player Claudio Vargas Almonte is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He has previously played for the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, and Los Angeles Dodgers. He has both started games and also pitched in both middle and long relief during his career. Read more
19 Jun 1976: Dennis Crowley, American businessman, co-founded Foursquare Dennis Crowley is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded the social networking sites Dodgeball and Foursquare. Read more
19 Jun 1976: Bryan Hughes, English footballer and manager Bryan Hughes is an English football manager and former professional footballer. Read more
19 Jun 1976: Anita Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer Anita M. Wilson is an American gospel music singer, songwriter, and music producer. She is known for her hit single, "Jesus Will" from her debut album, Worship Soul. Read more
19 Jun 1975: Hugh Dancy, English actor and model Hugh Michael Horace Dancy is an English actor who rose to prominence for his role as the title character in the television film adaptation of David Copperfield (2000) as well as for roles in feature films as Kurt Schmid in Black Hawk Down (2001) and Prince Charmont in Ella Enchanted (2004). Other film roles include Joe Conner in Shooting Dogs (2005), Grigg Harris in The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), Luke Brandon in Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), Adam Raki in Adam (2009) and Ted in Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011). On television, he portrayed criminal profiler Will Graham in the NBC television series Hannibal (2013–2015), Cal Roberts in the Hulu original series The Path (2016–2018) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in the Channel 4 miniseries Elizabeth I (2005); the latter role earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Dancy currently portrays Senior Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price on NBC's revival of the original Law & Order (2022–present). Read more
19 Jun 1975: Anthony Parker, American basketball player Anthony Michael Parker is an American professional basketball executive who is the general manager of the Orlando Magic and former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as in Italy and Israel. Read more
19 Jun 1974: Doug Mientkiewicz, American baseball player, coach, and manager Douglas Andrew Mientkiewicz is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from 1998 to 2009, most prominently as a member of the Minnesota Twins where he was a Gold Glove Award winner. He was also a member of the 2004 World Series winning Boston Red Sox team. He is one of six players to win both an Olympic gold medal and a World Series championship. Read more
19 Jun 1974: Mustaque Ahmed Ruhi, Bangladeshi member of parliament Mustaque Ahmed Ruhi is a Bangladeshi politician and a former Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Netrokona-1 constituency. In 2008, he was elected as a member of the Bangladesh Awami League nominee in the general election. He is a former AGS and VP consecutively of Ananda Mohan College Central Students Union(AMUCSU) Read more
19 Jun 1973: Jahine Arnold, American football player Jahine Amid Arnold is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). Read more
19 Jun 1973: Yuko Nakazawa, Japanese singer Yuko Nakazawa is a Japanese pop and enka singer, and actress, best known as one of the original members of the all-female J-pop group Morning Musume. She is also a member of Japanese pop group Dream Morning Musume. Read more
19 Jun 1973: Yasuhiko Yabuta, Japanese baseball player Yasuhiko Yabuta is a Japanese former baseball pitcher. Read more
19 Jun 1972: Jean Dujardin, French actor Jean Edmond Dujardin is a French actor and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian in Paris before guest starring in comedic television programmes and films. He first came to prominence with the popular TV series Un gars, une fille (1999–2003), in which he starred alongside his partner Alexandra Lamy, before becoming a popular film actor with comedies such as Brice de Nice (2005), Michel Hazanavicius's OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006), its sequel OSS 117: Lost in Rio (2009) and OSS 117: From Africa with Love (2021), and 99 Francs (2007). Read more
19 Jun 1972: Dennis Lyxzén, Swedish singer Sven Olov Dennis Lyxzén is a Swedish singer, best known as the lead vocalist for the influential hardcore punk band Refused, as well as the bands Backengrillen, INVSN and Fake Names. He is also a former member of bands including AC4, Step Forward, Final Exit, and The (International) Noise Conspiracy, and co-founded the record labels Ny Våg and Desperate Fight Records. Read more
19 Jun 1972: Ilya Markov, Russian race walker Ilya Vladislavovich Markov is a Russian race walker. Read more
19 Jun 1972: Brian McBride, American soccer player and coach Brian Robert McBride is an American former soccer player who played as a forward for Columbus Crew, Fulham and Chicago Fire. He is the sixth-highest all-time leading goalscorer for the United States national team. Read more
19 Jun 1972: Poppy Montgomery, Australian actress Poppy Montgomery is an Australian actress. She played FBI agent Samantha Spade on the CBS mystery drama Without a Trace and Detective Carrie Wells on the CBS/A&E police drama Unforgettable. Read more
19 Jun 1972: Robin Tunney, American actress Robin Tunney is an American actress. She made her film debut in Encino Man (1992) and rose to prominence with leading roles in the cult films Empire Records (1995) and The Craft (1996). Her performance in Niagara, Niagara (1997) won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. She then headlined films like End of Days (1999), Supernova, Vertical Limit, Cherish, The Secret Lives of Dentists and The In-Laws (2003). Read more
19 Jun 1971: José Emilio Amavisca, Spanish footballer José Emilio Amavisca Gárate is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a left winger or a second striker. Read more
19 Jun 1971: Chris Armstrong, English footballer Christopher Peter Armstrong is an English former footballer who played professionally as a striker from 1989 to 2005. Read more
19 Jun 1970: Rahul Gandhi, Indian politician Rahul Rajiv Gandhi is an Indian politician. A member of the Indian National Congress (INC), he is currently serving as the 12th leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and as the member of the Lok Sabha for Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, since June 2024. He previously represented the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala, from 2019 to 2024, and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, from 2004 to 2019. Gandhi served as the party president of the Indian National Congress from December 2017 to July 2019. Read more
19 Jun 1970: Quincy Watts, American sprinter and football player Quincy D. Watts is an American former athlete, and two-time gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Read more
19 Jun 1970: Brian Welch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Brian Philip Welch, also known by his stage name Head, is an American musician. He is a guitarist and founding member of the nu metal band Korn and his solo project Love and Death, where he also provides vocals. Along with fellow Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer, Welch helped develop Korn's distinctive sound that defined the nu metal aesthetic beginning in the mid-'90s. Read more
19 Jun 1968: Alastair Lynch, Australian footballer and sportscaster Alastair Graeme Lynch is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is best known as a three-time premiership full-forward for the Brisbane Lions. Read more
19 Jun 1968: Timothy Morton, American philosopher and academic Timothy Bloxam Morton is a professor and Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English at Rice University. A member of the object-oriented philosophy movement, Morton explores the intersection of object-oriented thought and ecological studies. Morton's use of the term 'hyperobjects' was inspired by Björk's 1996 single 'Hyperballad', although the term 'Hyper-objects' has also been used in computer science since 1967. Morton uses the term to explain objects so massively distributed in time and space as to transcend localization, such as climate change and styrofoam. Read more
19 Jun 1968: Kimberly Anne "Kim" Walker, American film and television actress (died 2001) Kimberly Anne Walker was an American actress. Read more
19 Jun 1967: Bjørn Dæhlie, Norwegian skier and businessman Bjørn Erlend Dæhlie is a Norwegian businessman and retired cross-country skier. From 1992 to 1999, Dæhlie won the Nordic World Cup six times, finishing second in 1994 and 1998. Dæhlie won a total of 29 medals in the Olympics and World Championships between 1991 and 1999, making him the most successful male cross-country skier in history. Read more
19 Jun 1966: Mike Hasenfratz, Canadian ice hockey referee Michael Edgar Hasenfratz was a Canadian ice hockey referee. He worked in the National Hockey League (NHL) from the 2000–01 season until his retirement following the 2014–15 season, officiating 705 regular season games. He wore uniform number 30 until the 2011–12 season, wearing number 2 for the remainder of his career. He previously worked 18 years in the Western Hockey League (WHL), refereed at two Memorial Cups, and was a linesman at the 1991 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He received the Allen Paradice Memorial Trophy as the WHL's official of the year in the 1999–2000 season. Read more
19 Jun 1966: Michalis Romanidis, Greek basketball player Michalis Romanidis is a retired Greek professional basketball player. At 199 cm tall, he played at the small forward and power forward positions. Read more
19 Jun 1965: Sabine Braun, German heptathlete Sabine Braun is a German former athlete in track and field. Because she had talents in several disciplines, Sabine Braun competed in the heptathlon and had a number of successes. Her international sport career began in August 1983 with the European Junior Championships where she won second place. Read more
19 Jun 1965: Sadie Frost, English actress and producer Sadie Liza Frost is an English actress, producer and fashion designer. Her credits as an actress include Empire State (1987), Diamond Skulls, also known as Dark Obsession (1989), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), The Krays (1990), Magic Hunter (1994), Shopping (1994), A Pyromaniac's Love Story (1995), Flypaper (1997), Final Cut (1998), Captain Jack (1999), Love, Honour and Obey (2000), Beyond the Rave (2008), Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism (2015), and A Bird Flew In (2021). Read more
19 Jun 1964: Brent Goulet, American soccer player and manager Brent Goulet is an American retired soccer forward who later coached SV Elversberg from 2004 to 2008. He began his career in the United States before moving to England and Germany, and also earned eight caps with the U.S. national team. He was the 1987 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year and was a member of the United States Olympic Soccer team at the. Member of 1989 U.S. Futsal World Championship Bronze Medal-winning team in Holland. 2018 Walt Chysowych Distinguished Playing Career
Award recipient. Read more
19 Jun 1964: Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and former Mayor of London Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He was previously Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and mayor of London from 2008 to 2016. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 2001 to 2008 and for Uxbridge and South Ruislip from 2015 to 2023. Read more
19 Jun 1964: Brian Vander Ark, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Brian Vander Ark is an American singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer for the American rock band the Verve Pipe. Read more
19 Jun 1963: Laura Ingraham, American radio host and author Laura Anne Ingraham is an American conservative television presenter. She has been the host of The Ingraham Angle on Fox News Channel since October 2017, and is the editor-in-chief of LifeZette. She formerly hosted the nationally syndicated radio show The Laura Ingraham Show. Read more
19 Jun 1963: Margarita Ponomaryova, Russian hurdler Margarita Anatolyevna Ponomaryova, also known as Margarita Khromova, was a hurdler from Russia, best known for setting the world record in the women's 400 metres hurdles in 1984 with 53.58 secs. Read more
19 Jun 1963: Rory Underwood, English rugby player, lieutenant, and pilot Rory Underwood, is an English former rugby union player. He is England's men's record international try scorer, with 49 tries in 85 internationals between 1984 and 1996. Underwood's principal position was wing and he played 236 games for Leicester Tigers between 1983 and 1997, he also played for Middlesbrough, Bedford Blues and the Royal Air Force. Underwood toured with the British and Irish Lions in 1989 and 1993 playing in six tests and scoring one try. In 1992 Underwood played for England alongside his younger brother Tony Underwood, becoming the first brothers to play together for England since 1937. Read more
19 Jun 1962: Paula Abdul, American singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, and presenter Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographer for the Laker Girls, where she was discovered by the Jacksons. After choreographing music videos for Janet Jackson, Abdul became a choreographer at the height of the music video era and soon thereafter she was signed to Virgin Records. Read more
19 Jun 1962: Jeremy Bates, English tennis player Michael Jeremy Bates is a British former professional tennis player. He was ranked UK number 1 in 1987 and from 1989 to 1994. He reached a career-high ATP world ranking of 54 from 17 April 1995 to 23 April 1995. Read more
19 Jun 1962: Ashish Vidyarthi, Indian actor Ashish Vidyarthi is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Marathi, and Odia films. He is noted for his antagonist and character roles. In 1995, he received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for Drohkaal. He has also received several awards including a Filmfare Award South along with nominations for two Filmfare Awards. Read more
19 Jun 1960: Andrew Dilnot, English economist and academic Sir Andrew William Dilnot, is a British economist and broadcaster. He was director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies from 1991 to 2002, Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford from 2002 to 2012, and Warden of Nuffield College, Oxford from 2012 to 2024. He served as Chair of the UK Statistics Authority from April 2012 until March 2017. Read more
19 Jun 1960: Johnny Gray, American runner and coach John Lee Gray Jr. is a retired American world-class 800 meter runner from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s and the holder of the 600m world best. A four-time Olympian (1984-1996), in 1985 he set the US record of 1:42.60 at a meet in Koblenz. That time puts Gray as the nineteenth fastest performer of all time. He came seventh in the 1984 Summer Olympics, fifth in 1988, and won the bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. In 1993 Gray was one of the favourites to win a gold medal at the World Championships in Stuttgart as he had won the A-race at the prestigious meeting in Zurich. However, he failed to qualify for the final in Stuttgart. He also set the world 600 meter record in 1986 at 1:12.81. In 1992 and 1993 Gray came close to breaking the world indoor record over 800 m several times. He held the US indoor record at 1:45.00 till February 2019. Read more
19 Jun 1960: Luke Morley, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer Luke Morley is the guitarist, chief songwriter and producer for the hard rock band Thunder from 1989 to present. Previous to that he was a member of 1980s group, Terraplane who subsequently became Thunder. Read more
19 Jun 1960: Patti Rizzo, American golfer Patrice M. "Patti" Rizzo is an American professional golfer and golf instructor. Read more
19 Jun 1959: Mark DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player Mark "Marty" DeBarge is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In addition to being a drummer and percussionist, he plays a variety of wind instruments, such as the saxophone, trumpet, flugelhorn and flute. He is best known for his work as an original member of 1980s Motown singing family group DeBarge. He is also known for writing the group's popular album track, "Stay With Me", later covered by the likes of The Notorious B.I.G., Ashanti and Mariah Carey. Read more
19 Jun 1959: Christian Wulff, German lawyer and politician, 10th President of Germany Christian Wilhelm Walter Wulff is a retired German politician and lawyer who served as President of Germany from 2010 to 2012. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he previously served as minister president of the state of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2010. He was elected to the presidency in the 30 June 2010 presidential election, defeating opposition candidate Joachim Gauck and taking office immediately, although he was not sworn in until 2 July At the age of 51, he became Germany's youngest president. Read more
19 Jun 1958: Sergei Makarov, Russian-American ice hockey player and coach Sergei Mikhailovich Makarov is a Russian former professional ice hockey right wing. In the Soviet Union, Makarov played 11 championship seasons with CSKA Moscow, winning the Soviet Player of the Year award three times. Together with Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov, they formed the KLM Line, one of the most talented and feared lines ever to play hockey. He later played in the National Hockey League with the Calgary Flames, and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year at the age of 31. Read more
19 Jun 1957: Anna Lindh, Swedish politician, 39th Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 2003) Ylva Anna Maria Lindh was a Swedish politician, diplomat, and lawyer who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1998 until her assassination in 2003. A leading figure of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Lindh was a Member of the Riksdag representing Södermanland County from 1982 to 1985 and again from 1998 to 2003. Read more
19 Jun 1957: Jean Rabe, American journalist and author Jean Rabe was an American journalist, editor, gamer and writer of fantasy and mystery. After a career as a newspaper reporter, she was employed by TSR, Inc. for several years as head of the Role Playing Game Association and editor of the Polyhedron magazine. Rabe began a career as a novelist for TSR and Wizards of the Coast, and over the last 30 years has produced over three dozen books and scores of short stories, at first in the genres of game-related fantasy and science fiction and later as an author of mystery novels. Read more
19 Jun 1957: Subcomandante Marcos, Mexican insurgent and EZLN leader Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente is a Mexican insurgent, the former military leader and spokesman for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in the ongoing Chiapas conflict, and a prominent anti-capitalist and anti-neoliberal. Widely known by his initial nom de guerre Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, he has subsequently employed several other pseudonyms: he called himself Delegate Zero during the Other Campaign (2006–2007), Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano from May 2014 to October 2023, which he adopted in honor of his fallen comrade Jose Luis Solis Lopez, his nom de guerre being Galeano, aka "Teacher Galeano." and since October 2023, Capitán Insurgente Marcos. Marcos bears the title and rank of Capitán, and before that Subcomandante,, as opposed to Comandante, because he is under the command of the indigenous commanders who constitute the EZLN's Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee's General Command. Read more
19 Jun 1955: Mary O'Connor, New Zealand runner Mary Theresa O'Connor is a retired long-distance runner from New Zealand. She competed for her native country at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. There she ended up in 27th place in the women's marathon. O'Connor set her personal best in the classic distance (2:28.20) in 1983. She was born in Hokitika, West Coast. Read more
19 Jun 1955: Mary Schapiro, American lawyer and politician Mary Lovelace Schapiro served as the 29th Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She was appointed by President Barack Obama, unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and assumed the Chairship on January 27, 2009. She is the first woman to be the permanent Chair of the SEC. In 2009, Forbes ranked her the 56th most powerful woman in the world. Read more
19 Jun 1954: Mike O'Brien, English lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales Michael O'Brien KC is a British lawyer and former Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for North Warwickshire from 1992 to 2010, serving in a number of ministerial posts. Read more
19 Jun 1954: Lou Pearlman, American music producer and fraudster (died 2016) Louis Jay Pearlman was an American music manager and convicted felon. He was the person behind many successful 1990s boy bands, having formed and funded the Backstreet Boys. After their massive success, he then developed NSYNC. Read more
19 Jun 1954: Kathleen Turner, American actress Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. Known for her deep, husky voice, she is the recipient of two Golden Globes, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy, and two Tony Awards. Read more
19 Jun 1954: Richard Wilkins, New Zealand-Australian journalist and television presenter Richard Stephen Wilkins is a New Zealand–born Australian television and radio presenter. He is the entertainment editor for the Nine Network and weekend announcer on smoothfm. Read more
19 Jun 1952: Bob Ainsworth, English politician, Secretary of State for Defence Robert William Ainsworth is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry North East from 1992 to 2015, and was the Secretary of State for Defence from 2009 to 2010. Following the general election in 2010 he was the Shadow Defence Secretary, but was replaced by Jim Murphy following the election of Labour leader Ed Miliband. Read more
19 Jun 1951: Ayman al-Zawahiri, Egyptian terrorist (died 2022) Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri was an Egyptian-born pan-Islamist militant and physician who served as the second general emir of al-Qaeda from June 2011 until his death in July 2022. He is best known for being one of the main orchestrators of the September 11 attacks. Read more
19 Jun 1951: Francesco Moser, Italian cyclist Francesco Moser, nicknamed "Lo sceriffo", is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He finished on the podium of the Giro d'Italia six times, including his win in the 1984 edition. Read more
19 Jun 1950: Neil Asher Silberman, American archaeologist and historian Neil Asher Silberman is an American archaeologist and historian with a special interest in biblical archaeology. He is the author of several books, including The Hidden Scrolls, The Message and the Kingdom: How Jesus and Paul Ignited a Revolution and Transformed the Ancient World, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, and Digging for God and Country. A graduate of Wesleyan University, he studied Near Eastern archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Awarded a 1991 Guggenheim Fellowship, he is a contributing editor to Archaeology and a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Cultural Property. He served as the president of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Interpretation and Presentation (ICIP) and was a member of the ICOMOS International Advisory Committee and Scientific Council from 2005–2015. In 2015 he was named a Fellow of US/ICOMOS. Read more
19 Jun 1950: Ann Wilson, American singer-songwriter and musician Ann Dustin Wilson is an American singer best known as the lead singer of the rock band Heart. Read more
19 Jun 1948: Nick Drake, English singer-songwriter (died 1974) Nicholas Rodney Drake was an English musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridge. His debut album, Five Leaves Left, was released in 1969, and was followed by two more albums, Bryter Layter (1971) and Pink Moon (1972). He did not reach a wide audience during his lifetime, but found acclaim and wider recognition following his death. Read more
19 Jun 1948: Phylicia Rashad, American actress Phylicia Rashad is an American actress. She was most recently dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University before her three-year contract ended in May 2024. Known for her roles on stage and screen, she has received two Tony Awards as well as nominations for six Primetime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Read more
19 Jun 1947: Salman Rushdie, Indian-English novelist and essayist Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magical realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions that marked the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize. Read more
19 Jun 1947: John Ralston Saul, Canadian philosopher and author John Ralston Saul is a Canadian writer, political philosopher, and public intellectual. Saul is most widely known for his writings on the nature of individualism, citizenship and the public good; the failures of manager-led societies; the confusion between leadership and managerialism; military strategy, in particular irregular warfare; the role of freedom of speech and culture; and critiques of the prevailing economic paradigm. He is a champion of freedom of expression and was the International President of PEN International, an association of writers. Saul is the co-founder and co-chair of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, a national charity promoting the inclusion of new citizens. He is also the co-founder and co-chair of 6 Degrees, the global forum for inclusion. Saul is also the husband to the former governor general Adrienne Clarkson, making him the Viceregal consort of Canada during most of her service (1999–2005). Read more
19 Jun 1946: Jimmy Greenhoff, English footballer and manager James Greenhoff is an English former footballer. He was a skilful forward but, although capped five times at under-23 level, he never played for the full side and is labelled as the finest English player never to play for England. He made nearly 600 appearances in league football. His younger brother Brian was also a professional footballer. Read more
19 Jun 1945: Radovan Karadžić, Serbian-Bosnian politician and convicted war criminal, 1st President of Republika Srpska Radovan Karadžić is a Bosnian Serb former politician who served as the president of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War. He was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Read more
19 Jun 1945: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese politician, diplomat and author who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2021. She has served as the general secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD) since the party's founding in 1988 and was registered as its chairperson while it was a legal party from 2011 to 2023. She played a vital role in Myanmar's transition from military junta to partial democracy in the 2010s. She has been widely described as the de facto leader of Myanmar from 2016 to 2021. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Read more
19 Jun 1945: Tobias Wolff, American short story writer, memoirist, and novelist Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff is an American short story writer, memoirist, novelist, and teacher of creative writing. He is known for his memoirs, particularly This Boy's Life (1989) and In Pharaoh's Army (1994). He has written four short story collections and two novels including The Barracks Thief (1984), which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Wolff received a National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in September 2015. Read more
19 Jun 1945: Peter Bardens, British keyboardist (died 2002) Peter Bardens was an English keyboardist and a founding member of the progressive rock group Camel. He played keyboards, sang, and wrote songs with Andrew Latimer. During his career, Bardens worked alongside Rod Stewart, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood and Van Morrison. He recorded eleven solo albums. Read more
19 Jun 1944: Chico Buarque, Brazilian singer, composer, writer and poet Francisco Buarque de Hollanda, popularly known as Chico Buarque, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, economic, and cultural reflections on Brazil. Read more
19 Jun 1942: Merata Mita, New Zealand director and producer (died 2010) Merata Mita was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, and writer, and a key figure in the growth of the Māori screen industry. Mita was the first indigenous woman and the first woman in New Zealand to solely write and direct a dramatic feature film Mauri (1988). Read more
19 Jun 1941: Václav Klaus, Czech economist and politician, 2nd President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second and last prime minister of the Czech Republic while it was a federal subject of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, and then as the first prime minister of the newly independent Czech Republic from 1993 to 1998. Read more
19 Jun 1939: Bernd Hoss, German footballer and manager (died 2016) Bernd Hoss was a German football manager. Read more
19 Jun 1939: John MacArthur, American minister and theologian (died 2025) John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. was an American Calvinistic Baptist pastor, theologian, author, and broadcaster. He was the founder of Grace to You, a nationally syndicated radio and television Bible teaching program. He was also the longtime pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California from 1969 until his death in 2025. Additionally, MacArthur served as the chancellor emeritus of The Master's University and The Master's Seminary, both based in Santa Clarita, California. Read more
19 Jun 1938: Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (died 2002) Edward Hugh McDaniel was an American professional football player and professional wrestler better known by his ring name Wahoo McDaniel. He is notable for having held the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship five times. McDaniel was a major star in the American Wrestling Association and prominent National Wrestling Alliance affiliated promotions such as Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling, NWA Big Time Wrestling and, most notably, Jim Crockett Promotions. Read more
19 Jun 1937: André Glucksmann, French philosopher and author (died 2015) André Glucksmann was a French philosopher, activist, and writer. He was a leading figure of the new philosophers. Glucksmann began his career as a Marxist, who went on to reject Marxism–Leninism and real socialism in the popular book La Cuisinière et le Mangeur d'Hommes (1975), and later became an anti-Communist and outspoken critic of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russian foreign policy. He was a strong supporter of human rights. In later years, he opposed the claim that Islamic terrorism is the product of the clash of civilizations between Islam and the Western world. Read more
19 Jun 1936: Marisa Galvany, American soprano and actress Marisa Galvany is an American soprano who had an active international career performing in operas and concerts up into the early 2000s. Known for the great intensity of her performances, Galvany particularly excelled in portraying Verdi heroines. She was notably a regular performer at the New York City Opera between 1972 and 1983. Read more
19 Jun 1934: Gérard Latortue, Haitian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Haiti (died 2023) Gérard Latortue was a Haitian politician and diplomat who served as the prime minister of Haiti from 12 March 2004 to 9 June 2006. He was an official in the United Nations for many years, and briefly served as foreign minister of Haiti during the short-lived 1988 administration of Leslie Manigat. Read more
19 Jun 1933: Viktor Patsayev, Kazakh engineer and astronaut (died 1971) Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 11 mission and was part of the third space crew to die during a space flight. On board the space station Salyut 1 he operated the Orion 1 Space Observatory ; he became the first man to operate a telescope outside the Earth's atmosphere. Read more
19 Jun 1932: Pier Angeli, Italian actress, twin sister to Marisa Pavan (died 1971) Anna Maria Pierangeli, known internationally by the stage name Pier Angeli, was an Italian actress, model and singer. She won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress for her debut role in the 1950 film Tomorrow Is Too Late, and subsequently won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress for her performance in the American film Teresa (1951). Read more
19 Jun 1932: José Sanchis Grau, Spanish author and illustrator (died 2011) José Sanchis Grau was a Spanish comic book writer. He also worked for Editorial Bruguera and Spanish children comics in general. He was the creator of strips like Pumby (1954) and Robín Robot (1972). Read more
19 Jun 1932: Marisa Pavan, Italian actress, twin sister to Pier Angeli (died 2023) Maria Luisa Pierangeli, known professionally as Marisa Pavan, was an Italian and French actress who first became known as the twin sister of film star Pier Angeli before achieving success in her screen career. She received an Academy Award nomination and won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the 1955 film The Rose Tattoo. Read more
19 Jun 1930: Gena Rowlands, American actress (died 2024) Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands was an American actress, whose career in film, stage, and television spanned nearly seven decades. She was a four-time Emmy Award and two-time Golden Globe winner, and she was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Read more
19 Jun 1930: Boris Parygin, Soviet philosopher, psychologist, and author (died 2012) Boris Dmitrievitch Parygin was a Soviet and Russian philosopher, sociologist and one of the founders of social psychology and member of a wide range of international academies. Parygin was a specialist in a sphere of philosophical and psychological problems of social psychology – its history, methodology, theory and praxeology. Read more
19 Jun 1928: Tommy DeVito, American singer and guitarist (died 2020) Gaetano "Tommy" DeVito was an American musician. He was best known as a founding member, vocalist, and lead guitarist of rock band the Four Seasons. Read more
19 Jun 1928: Nancy Marchand, American actress (died 2000) Nancy Lou Marchand was an American actress. She began her career in theater. She was most famous for portraying Margaret Pynchon on Lou Grant – for which she won four Emmy Awards – and Livia Soprano on The Sopranos, for which she won a Golden Globe Award. Read more
19 Jun 1927: Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, Argentine general and human rights violator (died 2018) Luciano Benjamín Menéndez was an Argentine general and convicted human rights violator and murderer. Commander of the Third Army Corps (1975–79), he played a prominent role in the murders of social activists. Read more
19 Jun 1926: Erna Schneider Hoover, American mathematician and inventor Erna Schneider Hoover is an American mathematician who invented a computerized telephone switching method which "revolutionized modern communication". It prevented system overloads by monitoring call center traffic and prioritizing tasks on phone switching systems to enable more robust service during peak calling times. At Bell Laboratories where she worked for over 32 years, Hoover was described as a pioneer for women in the field of computer technology. Read more
19 Jun 1923: Bob Hank, Australian footballer and coach (died 2012) Robert William "Bob" Hank grew up in and lived in Lockleys and was an Australian rules footballer who played for West Torrens in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Read more
19 Jun 1922: Aage Bohr, Danish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2009) Aage Niels Bohr was a Danish nuclear physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1975 with Ben Roy Mottelson and James Rainwater "for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection". His father was Niels Bohr. Read more
19 Jun 1922: Marilyn P. Johnson, American educator and diplomat, 8th United States Ambassador to Togo (died 2022) Marilyn Priscilla Johnson was an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Togo. She was appointed to that position on September 23, 1978, and left her post on July 29, 1981. Read more
19 Jun 1921: Louis Jourdan, French-American actor and singer (died 2015) Louis Jourdan was a French film and television actor. He was known for his suave roles in several Hollywood films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (1947), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Gigi (1958), The Best of Everything (1959), The V.I.P.s (1963) and Octopussy (1983). He played Dracula in the 1977 BBC television production Count Dracula. Read more
19 Jun 1920: Yves Robert, French actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2002) Yves Robert was a French actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. Read more
19 Jun 1919: Pauline Kael, American film critic (died 2001) Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the consensus of her contemporaries. Read more
19 Jun 1917: Joshua Nkomo, Zimbabwean guerrilla leader and politician, Vice President of Zimbabwe (died 1999) Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and Socialist politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999. He founded and led the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) from 1961 until, after an internal military crackdown in western Zimbabwe, mostly targeting ethnic Ndebele ZAPU supporters, ZAPU merged in 1987 with Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) to form ZANU–PF. Read more
19 Jun 1915: Pat Buttram, American actor (died 1994) Maxwell Emmett "Pat" Buttram was an American character actor. He was known for playing the sidekick of Gene Autry and for playing the character of Mr. Haney in the television series Green Acres. He is primarily remembered for his distinctive voice, which "has been described as sounding like a handful of gravel thrown in a Mix-Master." Read more
19 Jun 1915: Julius Schwartz, American publisher and agent (died 2004) Julius "Julie" Schwartz was an American comic book editor and a science fiction agent. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He is best known as a longtime editor at DC Comics, where at various times he was primary editor over the company's flagship superheroes, Superman and Batman. Read more
19 Jun 1914: Alan Cranston, American journalist and politician (died 2000) Alan MacGregor Cranston was an American politician and journalist who served as a United States senator from California from 1969 to 1993, and as President of the World Federalist Association from 1949 to 1952. Read more
19 Jun 1914: Lester Flatt, American bluegrass singer-songwriter, guitarist, and mandolin player (died 1979) Lester Raymond Flatt was an American singer, bluegrass guitarist, and mandolinist, best known for his collaboration with banjo picker Earl Scruggs in the duo Flatt and Scruggs. Read more
19 Jun 1913: Helene Madison, American swimmer (died 1970) Helene Emma Madison was an American swimmer. She was a 1932 Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter, 400-meter and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and a former world record-holder. Read more
19 Jun 1912: Don Gutteridge, American baseball player and manager (died 2008) Donald Joseph Gutteridge was an American infielder, coach, manager and scout in Major League Baseball. Primarily a second baseman and third baseman, he was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates over 12 seasons between 1936 and 1948, and later managed the Chicago White Sox in 1969–1970. He was the regular second baseman of the 1944 Browns, the only St. Louis entry to win an American League pennant. Read more
19 Jun 1912: Virginia MacWatters, American soprano and actress (died 2005) Virginia MacWatters was an American coloratura soprano and university professor. Read more
19 Jun 1910: Sydney Allard, English race car driver, founded the Allard Company (died 1966) Sydney Herbert Allard was a British businessman and rally and hillclimb driver. He was the founder of the Allard car company and competed in cars of his own manufacture. Read more
19 Jun 1910: Paul Flory, American chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1985) Paul John Flory was an American chemist and Nobel laureate who was known for his work in the field of polymers, or macromolecules. He was a pioneer in understanding the behavior of polymers in solution, and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1974 "for his fundamental achievements, both theoretical and experimental, in the physical chemistry of macromolecules". Read more
19 Jun 1910: Abe Fortas, American lawyer and jurist (died 1982) Abraham Fortas was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1965 to 1969. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Fortas graduated from Rhodes College and Yale Law School. He later became a law professor at Yale and then an advisor for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Fortas worked at the Department of the Interior under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was appointed by President Harry S. Truman to delegations that helped set up the United Nations in 1945. Read more
19 Jun 1909: Osamu Dazai, Japanese author (died 1948) Shūji Tsushima , known by his pen name Osamu Dazai , was a Japanese novelist and author. A number of his most popular works, such as The Setting Sun and No Longer Human, are considered modern classics. Read more
19 Jun 1909: Rūdolfs Jurciņš, Latvian basketball player (died 1948) Rūdolfs Jurciņš was a Latvian basketball player. He played as a center. Read more
19 Jun 1907: Clarence Wiseman, Canadian 10th General of the Salvation Army (died 1985) Clarence Dexter Wiseman, was the tenth General of The Salvation Army from 1974 to 1977. Read more
19 Jun 1906: Ernst Boris Chain, German-Irish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1979) Sir Ernst Boris Chain
was a German-born British biochemist. He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alexander Fleming and Howard Florey "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases". Read more
19 Jun 1906: Knut Kroon, Swedish footballer (died 1975) Knut "Knutte" Kroon was a Swedish footballer who played as a striker. Read more
19 Jun 1906: Walter Rauff, German SS officer (died 1984) Hermann Julius Walther Rauff, also Walther Rauff was a mid-ranking SS commander in Nazi Germany. From January 1938, he was an aide of Reinhard Heydrich firstly in the Security Service, later in the Reich Security Main Office. Read more
19 Jun 1905: Mildred Natwick, American actress (died 1994) Mildred Natwick was an American actress. She won a Primetime Emmy Award and was nominated for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards. Read more
19 Jun 1903: Mary Callery, American-French sculptor and academic (died 1977) Mary Callery was an American artist known for her Modern and Abstract Expressionist sculpture. She was part of the New York School art movement of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Read more
19 Jun 1903: Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (died 1941) Henry Louis Gehrig was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, which earned him the nickname "the Iron Horse", and he is regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Gehrig was an All-Star seven consecutive times, a Triple Crown winner once, an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player twice and a member of six World Series champion teams. He had a career .340 batting average, .632 slugging average, and a .447 on-base average. He hit 493 home runs and had 1,995 runs batted in (RBIs). He is also one of 21 players to hit four home runs in a single game. In 1939, Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and was the first MLB player to have his uniform number retired by a team when his number 4 was retired by the Yankees. Read more
19 Jun 1903: Wally Hammond, English cricketer and coach (died 1965) Walter Reginald Hammond was an English first-class cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England. Hammond was primarily a middle-order batsman. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described him as one of the four best batsmen in the history of cricket. He was considered the best English batsman of the 1930s by commentators and those with whom he played; they also said that he was one of the best slip fielders ever. Hammond was an effective fast-medium pace bowler and contemporaries believed that if he had been less reluctant to bowl, he could have achieved even more with the ball than he did. Read more
19 Jun 1903: Hans Litten, German lawyer (died 1938) Hans Joachim Albert Litten was a German lawyer who represented opponents of the Nazis at important political trials between 1929 and 1932, defending the rights of workers during the Weimar Republic. Read more
19 Jun 1902: Guy Lombardo, Canadian-American violinist and bandleader (died 1977) Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo was a Canadian and American bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racer whose unique sweet jazz style remained popular with audiences for nearly five decades. Read more
19 Jun 1897: Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1967) Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood was a British physical chemist and expert in chemical kinetics. His work in reaction mechanisms earned the 1956 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Read more
19 Jun 1897: Moe Howard, American comedian (died 1975) Moe Howard was an American comedian and actor. He is best known as the leader and straight man of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures, short films, and television for four decades. The group started out as Ted Healy and His Stooges, an act that toured the vaudeville circuit. Moe's distinctive hairstyle came about when he was a boy and cut off his curls with a pair of scissors, producing an irregular shape approximating a bowl cut. Read more
19 Jun 1896: Rajani Palme Dutt, English journalist and politician (died 1974) Rajani Palme Dutt was a British political figure, journalist and theoretician who served as the fourth general secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain during World War II from October 1939 to June 1941. His classic book India Today heralded the Marxist approach in Indian historiography. Read more
19 Jun 1896: Wallis Simpson, American wife of Edward VIII (died 1986) Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, was an American socialite and the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a constitutional crisis that led to Edward's abdication. Read more
19 Jun 1891: John Heartfield, German photographer and activist (died 1968) John Heartfield was a German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements. Heartfield also created book jackets for book authors, such as Upton Sinclair, as well as stage sets for contemporary playwrights, such as Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator. In 1916 Heartfield, his brother Wieland Herzfelde and George Grosz founded the Malik-Verlag through which they published most of their work. Read more
19 Jun 1888: Arthur Massey Berry, Canadian soldier and pilot (died 1970) Arthur Massey "Matt" Berry was a pioneering Canadian bush pilot. Read more
19 Jun 1886: Finley Hamilton, American lawyer and politician (died 1940) Finley Hamilton was a United States representative from Kentucky. He was born in Vincent, Owsley County, Kentucky. He attended the public schools and Berea College. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1915 and commenced practice in London, Kentucky. Read more
19 Jun 1884: Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, French painter and historian (died 1974) Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes was a French anti-art painter, writer, poet, musician, playwright closely associated with the intended affront to aesthetic sensibilities that was the Dada movement. He was born in Montpellier and died in Saint-Jeannet. Read more
19 Jun 1883: Gladys Mills Phipps, American horse breeder (died 1970) Gladys Mills Phipps was an American socialite, sportsperson, and a thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder who began the Phipps family dynasty in American horse racing. She was known as the "first lady of the turf". Read more
19 Jun 1881: Maginel Wright Enright, American illustrator (died 1966) Maginel Wright Enright Barney was an American children's book illustrator and graphic artist. She was the younger sister of Frank Lloyd Wright, architect, and the mother of Elizabeth Enright, children's book writer and illustrator. Read more
19 Jun 1877: Charles Coburn, American actor (died 1961) Charles Douville Coburn was an American actor and theatrical producer. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award three times – for The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), The More the Merrier (1943) and The Green Years (1946) – winning for his performance in The More the Merrier. He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for his contribution to the film industry. Read more
19 Jun 1876: Nigel Gresley, Scottish-English engineer (died 1941) Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley was a British railway engineer. He was one of Britain's most famous steam locomotive engineers, who rose to become Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). He was the designer of some of the most famous steam locomotives in Britain, including the LNER Class A1 and LNER Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific engines. An A1 Pacific, Flying Scotsman, was the first steam locomotive officially recorded over 100 mph in passenger service, and an A4, No. 4468 Mallard, still holds the record for being the fastest steam locomotive in the world (126 mph). Read more
19 Jun 1874: Peder Oluf Pedersen, Danish physicist and engineer (died 1941) Peder Oluf Pedersen was a Danish engineer and physicist. He is notable for his work on electrotechnology, his cooperation with Valdemar Poulsen on the developmental work on Wire recorders, which he called a telegraphone, the arc converter known as the Poulsen Arc Transmitter, and his work on electrical currents in the ionosphere. Read more
19 Jun 1872: Theodore Payne, English-American gardener and botanist (died 1963) Theodore Payne, was an English horticulturist, gardener, landscape designer, and botanist. His best known work was done over his adult life in Southern California. Read more
19 Jun 1871: Alajos Szokolyi, Hungarian hurdler, jumper, and physician (died 1932) Alajos János Szokolyi was a Hungarian athlete, sports organizer, sports manager, archivist and physician. Read more
19 Jun 1865: May Whitty, English actress (died 1948) Dame Mary Louise Webster, known professionally as May Whitty and later, for her charity work, Dame May Whitty, was an English stage and film actress. She was one of the first two women entertainers to become a Dame. The British actors' union Equity was established in her home in 1930. Read more
19 Jun 1861: Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Scottish-English field marshal (died 1928) Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig was a senior officer of the British Army. During the First World War he commanded the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front from late 1915 until the end of the war. Read more
19 Jun 1861: Émile Haug, French geologist and paleontologist (died 1927) Gustave Émile Haug was a French geologist and paleontologist known for his contribution to the geosyncline theory. Read more
19 Jun 1861: José Rizal, Filipino journalist, author, and poet (died 1896) José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was a Filipino nationalist, writer, and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a national hero of the Philippines, although no official proclamation formally declares him as such. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement in the 1880s, which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain. Read more
19 Jun 1858: Sam Walter Foss, American poet and librarian (died 1911) Sam Walter Foss was an American librarian and poet whose best-known works included "The Coming American" and "The House by the Side of the Road". Read more
19 Jun 1855: George F. Roesch, American lawyer and politician (died 1917) George Francis Roesch was an American lawyer and politician from New York. Read more
19 Jun 1854: Alfredo Catalani, Italian composer and academic (died 1893) Alfredo Catalani was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas Loreley (1890) and La Wally (1892). La Wally was composed to a libretto by Luigi Illica, and features Catalani's most famous aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana." This aria, sung by American soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez, was at the heart of Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 film Diva. Catalani's other operas were much less successful. Read more
19 Jun 1854: Hjalmar Mellin, Finnish mathematician and theorist (died 1933) Robert Hjalmar Mellin was a Finnish mathematician and function theorist. Read more
19 Jun 1851: Billy Midwinter, English-Australian cricketer (died 1890) William Evans Midwinter was a cricketer who played four Test matches for England, sandwiched between eight for Australia. He was the only cricketer to have played for Australia and England in Test matches against each other. Read more
19 Jun 1851: Silvanus P. Thompson, English physicist, engineer, and academic (died 1916) Silvanus Phillips Thompson was an English professor of physics at the City and Guilds Technical College in Finsbury, England. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1891 and was known for his work as an electrical engineer and as an author. Thompson's most enduring publication is his 1910 text Calculus Made Easy, which teaches the fundamentals of infinitesimal calculus, and is still in print. Thompson also wrote a popular physics text, Elementary Lessons in Electricity and Magnetism, as well as biographies of Lord Kelvin and Michael Faraday. Read more
19 Jun 1850: David Jayne Hill, American historian and politician, 24th United States Assistant Secretary of State (died 1932) Rev. David Jayne Hill was an American academic, diplomat and author. He was president of Bucknell University and the University of Rochester. Read more
19 Jun 1846: Antonio Abetti, Italian astronomer and academic (died 1928) Antonio Abetti was an Italian astronomer. Read more
19 Jun 1845: Cléophas Beausoleil, Canadian journalist and politician (died 1904) Cléophas Beausoleil was a Canadian journalist, publisher, office holder, lawyer, and politician. Read more
19 Jun 1843: Mary Sibbet Copley, American philanthropist (died 1929) Mary Sibbet Copley Thaw was an American philanthropist and charity worker. Read more
19 Jun 1840: Georg Karl Maria Seidlitz, German entomologist and academic (died 1917) Georg Karl Maria von Seidlitz was a German doctor and entomologist. He was a zoology teacher in Dorpat (1868–77), then in Königsberg, (1877–88), where he became a fishery expert. He later specialised in Coleoptera, describing many new species and he wrote Fauna Baltica. Die Käfer (Coleoptera) der Ostseeprovinzen Russlands. Dorpat, 1875. His general beetle collection is conserved in the Zoologische Staatssammlung München, his Baltic Coleoptera are in the zoology museum in Kaliningrad. Read more
19 Jun 1834: Charles Spurgeon, English pastor and author (died 1892) Charles Haddon Spurgeon was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, to some of whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers." He was a strong figure in the Baptist tradition, defending the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day. Read more
19 Jun 1833: Mary Tenney Gray, American editorial writer, club-woman, philanthropist, and suffragette (died 1904) Mary Davy Tenney Gray was a 19th-century American editorial writer, clubwoman, philanthropist, and suffragist from Pennsylvania, who later became a resident of Kansas. She lived in Kansas City, Kansas for more than twenty years and during that time, was identified with almost every woman's movement. She served on the editorial staff of several publications including the New York Teacher, the Leavenworth Home Record, and the Kansas Farmer. Gray's paper on "Women and Kansas City's Development" was awarded the first prize in the competition held by the Women's Auxiliary to the Manufacturers' Association of Kansas City, Missouri. Read more
19 Jun 1816: William H. Webb, American shipbuilder and philanthropist, founded the Webb Institute (died 1899) William Henry Webb was a 19th-century New York City shipbuilder and philanthropist, who has been called America's first true naval architect. Read more
19 Jun 1815: Cornelius Krieghoff, Dutch-Canadian painter (died 1872) Cornelius David Krieghoff was a Dutch-born Canadian-American painter of the 19th century. He is best known for his paintings of Canadian genre scenes involving landscapes and outdoor life, which were as sought after in his own time as they are today. He painted many winter scenes, some in several variants. He painted in Quebec City from 1853 to 1864 and 1870 to 1872, creating a prolific portfolio of landscape and genre paintings. Read more

Notable Deaths on 19 June

19 Jun 2020: Ian Holm, British actor (born 1931) Sir Ian Holm Cuthbert was an English actor. After graduating from RADA and beginning his career on the British stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he became a successful and prolific performer on television and in film. He received numerous accolades including two BAFTA Awards and a Tony Award, along with a nomination for an Academy Award. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 for services to drama. Read more
19 Jun 2019: Etika, American YouTuber and streamer (born 1990) Desmond Daniel Amofah, better known as Etika, was an American YouTuber and live streamer. Amofah became known online for his dramatic reactions to Super Smash Bros. character trailers, Nintendo Direct presentations, and for playing and reacting to various games. He resided in the Brooklyn borough of New York City; his father is the Ghanaian politician Owuraku Amofah and his granduncle is the former Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo. Starting his online career in 2007, Amofah created his main YouTube channel, "EWNetwork", in 2012. His fanbase was dubbed the "JOYCONBOYZ" in reference to the Nintendo Switch controller, the Joy-Con. He garnered popularity following the release of Super Smash Bros. 4, primarily stemming from his reaction videos of news surrounding the game. His content consisted of playthroughs of various video games, reaction videos, and pre-recorded material. Across his multiple YouTube channels, he amassed over 1 million subscribers and 146 million views. Read more
19 Jun 2018: Koko, western lowland gorilla and user of American Sign Language (born 1971) Hanabiko, nicknamed "Koko" was a female western lowland gorilla born in the San Francisco Zoo and cross-fostered by Francine Patterson for use in ape language experiments. Koko gained public attention as the subject of two National Geographic cover stories and, in 1985, the best-selling children's picture book, Koko's Kitten. Koko brought widespread attention to her critically endangered species. Read more
19 Jun 2017: Otto Warmbier, American college student detained in North Korea (born 1994) Otto Frederick Warmbier was an American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea in 2016 on a charge of subversion. In June 2017, he was released by North Korea in a vegetative state, and died shortly thereafter. Read more
19 Jun 2016: Anton Yelchin, American actor (born 1989) Anton Viktorovich Yelchin was an American actor. Born in the Soviet Union to a Russian Jewish family, he immigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of six months. He began his career as a child actor, appearing as the lead of the mystery drama film Hearts in Atlantis (2001) and as a series regular on the Showtime comedy-drama Huff (2004–2006). His fame grew when he guest-starred in a 2004 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and when he played the title character in Charlie Bartlett (2007). Read more
19 Jun 2015: James Salter, American novelist and short-story writer (born 1925) James Arnold Horowitz, better known as James Salter, his pen name and later-adopted legal name, was an American novelist and short-story writer. Originally a career officer and pilot in the United States Air Force, he resigned from the military in 1957 following the successful publication of his first novel, The Hunters. Read more
19 Jun 2014: Oskar-Hubert Dennhardt, German general (born 1915) Oskar-Hubert Heinrich Dennhardt was a German Major in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. Wounded and seriously ill, he was evacuated from Königsberg to Schleswig on one of the last ships. In June 1945, POW Dennhardt was released from captivity directly from a military hospital in Schleswig. Read more
19 Jun 2014: Gerry Goffin, American songwriter (born 1939) Gerald Goffin was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No. 1 hits "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "Take Good Care of My Baby", "The Loco-Motion", and "Go Away Little Girl". It was later said of Goffin that his gift was "to find words that expressed what many young people were feeling but were unable to articulate." Read more
19 Jun 2014: Ibrahim Touré, Ivorian footballer (born 1985) Ibrahim Obyala Touré was an Ivorian professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the younger brother of former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré and former Arsenal and Manchester City defender Kolo Touré. Read more
19 Jun 2013: Vince Flynn, American author (born 1966) Vincent Joseph Flynn was an American author of political thriller novels featuring the fictional assassin Mitch Rapp. He was a story consultant for the fifth season of the television series 24. He died of prostate cancer on June 19, 2013. Read more
19 Jun 2013: James Gandolfini, American actor (born 1961) James John Gandolfini was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Tony Soprano, the Italian-American mafia crime boss in HBO's television series The Sopranos (1999–2007). For this role, he won three Primetime Emmy Awards, five Actor Awards, and one Golden Globe Award. His role as Tony Soprano has been described as the greatest and most influential performance in television history. Read more
19 Jun 2013: Gyula Horn, Hungarian politician, 37th Prime Minister of Hungary (born 1932) Gyula János Horn was a Hungarian politician who was the Prime Minister of Hungary from 1994 to 1998. Read more
19 Jun 2013: Dave Jennings, American football player and sportscaster (born 1952) David Tuthill Jennings was an American professional football player who was a punter in the National Football League (NFL) from 1974 to 1987. He played for the New York Giants and the New York Jets. He later worked as a radio color commentator for Jets and Giants games until 2007. He died of complications with Parkinson's disease in 2013. Read more
19 Jun 2013: Filip Topol, Czech singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1965) Filip Topol was a Czech singer, songwriter, pianist and writer. He was best known as leader of the alternative rock band Psí vojáci, but he also performed as a solo artist. Topol was the younger brother of the writer Jáchym Topol, son of the playwright and dissident Josef Topol and grandchild of the writer Karel Schulz. Read more
19 Jun 2013: Slim Whitman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1923) Ottis Dewey "Slim" Whitman Jr. was an American country music singer and guitarist known for his yodeling abilities and his use of falsetto. Recorded figures show 70 million sales, during a career that spanned more than seven decades. His prolific output included more than 100 albums and around 500 recorded songs; these consisted of country music, contemporary gospel, Broadway show tunes, love songs, and standards. Soon after being signed, in the 1950s Whitman toured with Elvis Presley. Read more
19 Jun 2012: Norbert Tiemann, American soldier and politician, 32nd Governor of Nebraska (born 1924) Norbert Theodore "Nobby" Tiemann was an American Republican politician from Wausa, Nebraska, and was the 32nd governor of Nebraska, serving from 1967 to 1971. Read more
19 Jun 2010: Manute Bol, Sudanese-American basketball player and activist (born 1962) Manute Bol was a Dinka Sudanese-American professional basketball player and political activist. Listed at 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) or 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) tall, Bol was one of the two tallest players in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Read more
19 Jun 2010: Anthony Quinton, Baron Quinton, English philosopher and academic (born 1925) Anthony Meredith Quinton, Baron Quinton was an English political and moral philosopher, metaphysician, and materialist philosopher of mind. He served as President of Trinity College, Oxford from 1978 to 1987; and as chairman of the board of the British Library from 1985 to 1990. He is also remembered as a presenter of the BBC Radio programme Round Britain Quiz. Read more
19 Jun 2010: Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican writer, journalist and political activist (born 1938) Carlos Monsiváis Aceves was a Mexican philosopher, writer, critic, political activist, and journalist. He also wrote political opinion columns in leading newspapers within the country's progressive sectors. His generation of writers includes Elena Poniatowska, José Emilio Pacheco, and Carlos Fuentes. Monsiváis won more than 33 awards, including the 1986 Jorge Cuesta Prize, the 1989 Mazatlán Prize, and the 1996 Xavier Villaurrutia Award. Considered a leading intellectual of his time, Monsiváis documented contemporary Mexican themes, values, class struggles, and societal change in his essays, books and opinion pieces. He was a staunch critic of the long-ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), leaned towards the left-wing, and was ubiquitous in disseminating his views on radio and television. As a founding member of "Gatos Olvidados", Monsiváis wanted his and other "forgotten cats" to be provided for beyond his lifetime. Read more
19 Jun 2008: Barun Sengupta, Bengali journalist, founded Bartaman (born 1934) Barun Sengupta, the founder-editor of Bartaman newspaper, was a Bengali journalist and popular political critic. He is remembered for his bold and simple diction of political analysing that made him extremely well liked among the common readers in West Bengal. Read more
19 Jun 2007: Antonio Aguilar, Mexican singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1919) José Pascual Antonio Aguilar Márquez Barraza, known as Antonio Aguilar, was a Mexican singer and actor. He recorded over 150 albums, which sold 25 million copies, and acted in more than 120 films. He was given the honorific nickname "El Charro de México" because he is credited with popularizing the Mexican equestrian sport la charrería to international audiences. Read more
19 Jun 2007: Alberto Mijangos, Mexican-American painter and educator (born 1925) Alberto Mijangos was a Mexican-American artist and painter. Read more
19 Jun 2007: Terry Hoeppner, American football player and coach (born 1947) Terry Lee Hoeppner was an American college football coach who served as head coach of the Miami RedHawks in Oxford, Ohio from 1999 to 2004 and the Indiana Hoosiers from 2005 to 2006. Shortly after announcing that he would be on medical leave for the 2007 season, he died of brain cancer. Read more
19 Jun 2007: Ze'ev Schiff, Israeli journalist and author (born 1932) Ze'ev Schiff was an Israeli journalist and military correspondent for Haaretz. Read more
19 Jun 2004: Clayton Kirkpatrick, journalist and newspaper editor (born 1915) Clayton Kirkpatrick was an American journalist who was the editor of the Chicago Tribune newspaper from 1969 until 1979. He is credited with modernizing the Tribune, shifting its news coverage and editorial page away from reflexive partisanship and—in a famous editorial—calling for the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. Read more
19 Jun 2001: Stanley Mosk, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (born 1912) Morey Stanley Mosk was an American jurist, politician, and attorney. He served as Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court for 37 years (1964–2001), the longest tenure in that court's history. Read more
19 Jun 2001: John Heyer, Australian director and producer (born 1916) John Whitefoord Heyer was an Australian documentary filmmaker, who is often described as the father of Australian documentary film. Read more
19 Jun 1995: Peter Townsend, Burmese-English captain and pilot (born 1914) Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend was a British Royal Air Force officer, flying ace, courtier, and author. He served with distinction during the Second World War and, in 1944, was appointed equerry to King George VI, before later becoming comptroller of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's household. Townsend became widely known for his relationship with Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, which attracted significant public and political attention in the 1950s. He married twice and had five children. After leaving the Royal Household, he served as air attaché in Brussels and later pursued a successful writing career. He died in France in 1995 and has since been portrayed in the Netflix series The Crown. Read more
19 Jun 1993: William Golding, British novelist, playwright, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911) Sir William Gerald Golding was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel Lord of the Flies (1954), Golding published another 12 volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980, Golding was awarded the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage, the first novel in what became his sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth. Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature. Read more
19 Jun 1991: Jean Arthur, American actress (born 1900) Jean Arthur was an American film and theater actress whose career began in silent films in the early 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s. Read more
19 Jun 1990: George Addes, American trade union leader, co-founded United Automobile Workers (born 1911) George F. Addes was a founder of the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW) union and its secretary-treasurer from 1936 until 1947. Along with R. J. Thomas and Richard Frankensteen, he was a leader of the pro-Communist left-wing faction of the UAW. Read more
19 Jun 1990: Isobel Andrews, New Zealand writer (born 1905) Isabella Smith Andrews, known professionally as Isobel Andrews, was a New Zealand playwright, novelist, short-story writer and poet. She wrote over sixty plays, many of which were published, and was associated with the New Zealand branch of the British Drama League. She won the League's annual playwrighting competition four times. Her plays, particularly The Willing Horse, have continued to be performed into the 21st century. Read more
19 Jun 1989: Betti Alver, Estonian author and poet (born 1906) Elisabet "Betti" Alver, was one of Estonia's most notable poets. She was among the first generation to be educated in schools of an independent Estonia. She went to grammar school in Tartu. Read more
19 Jun 1988: Fernand Seguin, Canadian biochemist and academic (born 1922) Fernand Seguin, was a Canadian biochemist, professor and host of science programs on radio and television. Read more
19 Jun 1988: Gladys Spellman, American lawyer and politician (born 1918) Gladys Noon Spellman was an American educator who served as the U.S. representative for Maryland's 5th congressional district from January 3, 1975, to February 24, 1981, when her seat was declared vacant after she fell into a coma the previous year. She was a member of the Democratic Party. Read more
19 Jun 1987: Margaret Carver Leighton, American author (born 1896) Margaret Carver Leighton was an American children's author. Read more
19 Jun 1986: Len Bias, American basketball player (born 1963) Leonard Kevin Bias was an American college basketball player for the Maryland Terrapins. In the last of his four years playing for Maryland, he was named a consensus first-team All-American. Two days after being selected by the Boston Celtics with the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft, Bias died from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose. In 2021, Bias was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame. Read more
19 Jun 1984: Lee Krasner, American painter and educator (born 1908) Lenore "Lee" Krasner was an American painter and visual artist active primarily in New York whose work has been associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement. Read more
19 Jun 1981: Anya Phillips, Chinese-American band manager (born 1955) Anya Phillips was a Taiwanese fashion designer and the co-founder of the New York nightclub the Mudd Club. Phillips influenced the fashion, sound, and look of the New York-based no wave scene of the late 1970s. She was also the manager and girlfriend of musician James Chance. Read more
19 Jun 1981: Subhash Mukherjee, Indian scientist and physician who created India's first, and the world's second, child using in-vitro fertilisation (born 1931) Subhash Mukherjee was an Indian scientist and physician who created the world's second and India's first child using in-vitro fertilisation, Kanupriya Agarwal (Durga), who was born in 1978, just 70 days after Louise Brown, the first IVF baby in United Kingdom. Afterwards, Dr. Subhash Mukherjee was harassed by the then Government of West Bengal and Government of India and was not allowed to share his achievements with the international scientific community. Dejected, he committed suicide on 19 June 1981. Read more
19 Jun 1979: Paul Popenoe, American explorer and scholar, founded Relationship counseling (born 1888) Paul Bowman Popenoe was an American marriage counselor, eugenicist and agricultural explorer. He was an influential advocate of the compulsory sterilization of mentally ill people and people with mental disabilities, and the father of marriage counseling in the United States. Read more
19 Jun 1977: Ali Shariati, Iranian sociologist and philosopher (born 1933) Ali Shariati Mazinani was an Iranian revolutionary and sociologist who specialised in the sociology of religion. He is regarded as one of the most influential Iranian intellectuals of the 20th century. He has been referred to as the "ideologue of the Islamic Revolution", although his ideas did not ultimately serve as the foundation for the Islamic Republic. The work and ideas associated with Shariati are known as Shariatism. Read more
19 Jun 1975: Sam Giancana, American mob boss (born 1908) Salvatore "Mooney" Giancana was an American mobster who was boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966. Read more
19 Jun 1973: Marie Vieux-Chauvet, Haitian writer (born 1916) Marie Vieux-Chauvet was a Haitian novelist, playwright, and short story writer. Her novels are considered by translator Myriam J. A. Chancy to be "by far the best-known works by a Haitian woman novelist". Born in Port-au-Prince, Chauvet grew up during the United States occupation of Haiti. She began writing at the age of 10 and attended the Annex of the Upper School for Teachers, receiving her certificate in 1933. During the late 1940s, she wrote several plays, and during the 1950s, she wrote her first three novels. She became involved with the literary collective Haïti Littéraire during the early 1960s. Read more
19 Jun 1968: James Joseph Sweeney, American bishop (born 1898) James Joseph Sweeney was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of Honolulu in Hawaii from 1941 until his death in 1968. Read more
19 Jun 1966: Ed Wynn, American actor and comedian (born 1886) Isaiah Edwin Leopold, better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was known for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, his performances in classic Disney films such as Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins, and his later career as a dramatic actor, which continued into the 1960s. Wynn's variety show (1949–1950), The Ed Wynn Show, won a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award. Late in his career, he began alternating his comedic work with acclaimed dramatic performances; earning nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award for The Great Man, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Diary of Anne Frank. Read more
19 Jun 1962: Frank Borzage, American film director and actor (born 1894) Frank Borzage was an American film director and actor. He was the first person to win the Academy Award for Best Director for his film 7th Heaven (1927) at the 1st Academy Awards. Read more
19 Jun 1956: Thomas J. Watson, American businessman (born 1874) Thomas John Watson Sr. was an American businessman who was the chairman and CEO of IBM. He oversaw the company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956. Watson developed IBM's management style and corporate culture from John Henry Patterson's training at NCR. He turned the company into a highly effective selling organization, based largely on punched card tabulating machines. Read more
19 Jun 1953: Ethel Rosenberg, American spy (born 1915) Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg were an American married couple who were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union, including providing top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and nuclear weapon designs. They were executed by the federal government of the United States in 1953 using New York's state execution chamber in Sing Sing in Ossining, New York, becoming the first American civilians to be executed for such charges and the first to be executed during peacetime. Read more
19 Jun 1953: Julius Rosenberg, American spy (born 1918) Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg were an American married couple who were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union, including providing top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and nuclear weapon designs. They were executed by the federal government of the United States in 1953 using New York's state execution chamber in Sing Sing in Ossining, New York, becoming the first American civilians to be executed for such charges and the first to be executed during peacetime. Read more
19 Jun 1951: Angelos Sikelianos, Greek poet and playwright (born 1884) Angelos Sikelianos was a Greek lyric poet and playwright. His themes include Greek history, religious symbolism as well as universal harmony in poems such as The Moonstruck, Prologue to Life, Mother of God, and Delphic Utterance. His plays include Sibylla, Daedalus in Crete, Christ in Rome, The Death of Digenis, The Dithyramb of the Rose and Asclepius. Although occasionally his grandiloquence blunts the poetic effect of his work, some of Sikelianos finer lyrics are among the best in Western literature. Every year from 1946 to 1951, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Read more
19 Jun 1949: Syed Zafarul Hasan, Indian philosopher and academic (born 1885) Syed Zafarul Hasan was a Pakistani Islamic philosopher. Read more
19 Jun 1941: C. V. Hartman, Swiss botanist and anthropologist (born 1862) Carl Vilhelm Hartman, was a Swedish botanist and anthropologist. Read more
19 Jun 1941: Otto Hirsch, German jurist and politician (born 1885) Otto Hirsch was a German Jewish jurist and politician during the Weimar Republic. He was born in Stuttgart, Germany and died in Mauthausen concentration camp. Read more
19 Jun 1940: Maurice Jaubert, French composer and conductor (born 1900) Maurice Jaubert was a prolific French composer who scored some of the most important films of the early sound era in France, including Jean Vigo’s Zero for Conduct and L'Atalante, and René Clair’s Quatorze Juillet and Le Dernier Milliardaire. Many of his film scores were used as the basis for concert pieces. The song "À Paris, dans chaque faubourg" remains well known today. François Truffaut used his music posthumously in four of his films. Read more
19 Jun 1939: Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (born 1878) Grace Abbott was an American social worker who specifically worked in improving the rights of immigrants and advancing child welfare, especially the regulation of child labor. She served as director of the U.S. Children's Bureau from 1921 to 1934. Read more
19 Jun 1937: J. M. Barrie, Scottish novelist and playwright (born 1860) Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several successful novels and plays. There he met the Llewelyn Davies boys, who inspired him to write about a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens, then to write Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a 1904 West End "fairy play" about an ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland. Read more
19 Jun 1932: Sol Plaatje, South African journalist and activist (born 1876) Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje was a South African intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator and writer. Plaatje was a founding member and first General Secretary of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), which became the African National Congress (ANC). The Sol Plaatje Local Municipality, which includes the city of Kimberley, is named after him, as is the Sol Plaatje University in that city, which opened its doors in 2014. Read more
19 Jun 1930: John Mackenzie Moore, Canadian architect (b. 1857) John Mackenzie Moore was a Canadian architect and politician who served as the mayor of London, Ontario, from 1926 to 1927. An apprentice of William Robinson and Thomas Henry Tracy, Moore worked as a hydraulic engineer and surveyor. He remained with their firm after George F. Durand took control, but left after a dispute over the terms of a gentlemen's agreement. In 1891, two years after Durand's death, Moore partnered with former staff member Fred Henry to continue the firm's operations. He remained its primary architect into the 1920s. Read more
19 Jun 1922: Hitachiyama Taniemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 19th Yokozuna (born 1874) Hitachiyama Taniemon was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. He was the sport's 19th yokozuna from 1903 till 1914. His great rivalry with Umegatani Tōtarō II created the "Ume-Hitachi Era" and did much to popularise sumo. He is remembered as much for his exploits in promoting the sport as for his strength on the dohyō. In his later years as head coach of Dewanoumi stable he trained hundreds of wrestlers, including three yokozuna. Many consider him the most honorable yokozuna in sumo history, which earned him the nickname "Kakusei" (角聖), or "sumo saint". Read more
19 Jun 1921: Ramón López Velarde, Mexican poet and author (born 1888) Ramón López Velarde was a
Mexican poet. His work was a reaction against French-influenced modernismo which, as an expression of a purely Mexican subject matter and emotional experience, is unique. He achieved great fame in his native land, to the point of being considered Mexico's national poet. Read more
19 Jun 1918: Francesco Baracca, Italian fighter pilot (born 1888) Francesco Baracca was Italy's top fighter ace of World War I. He was credited with 34 aerial victories. The emblem he wore side by side on his plane of a black horse prancing on its two rear hooves inspired Enzo Ferrari to use it on his racing car and later in his automotive company. Read more
19 Jun 1903: Herbert Vaughan, English cardinal (born 1832) Herbert Alfred Henry Joseph Thomas Vaughan was an English prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1892 until his death in 1903, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1893. He was the founder in 1866 of St Joseph's Foreign Missionary Society, known best as the Mill Hill Missionaries. He also founded the Catholic Truth Society and St. Bede's College, Manchester. As Archbishop of Westminster, he led the capital campaign and construction of Westminster Cathedral. Read more
19 Jun 1884: Juan Bautista Alberdi, Argentinian-French politician and diplomat (born 1810) Juan Bautista Alberdi was an Argentine political theorist and diplomat. Although he lived most of his life in exile in Montevideo, Uruguay and in Chile, he influenced the content of the Constitution of Argentina of 1853. Read more
19 Jun 1874: Ferdinand Stoliczka, Moravian palaeontologist and ornithologist (born 1838) Ferdinand Stoliczka was a Moravian palaeontologist who worked in India on paleontology, geology and various aspects of zoology, including ornithology, malacology, and herpetology. He died of high altitude sickness in Murgo during an expedition across the Himalayas. Read more
19 Jun 1867: Miguel Miramón, Unconstitutional president of Mexico, 1859-1860 (born 1832) Miguel Gregorio de la Luz Atenógenes Miramón y Tarelo, known as Miguel Miramón, was a Mexican conservative general who disputed the Mexican presidency with Benito Juárez at the age of 27 during the Reform War, serving between February 1859 and December 1860. He was the first Mexican president to be born after the Mexican War of Independence. Read more
19 Jun 1867: Maximilian I of Mexico (born 1832) Maximilian I was an Austrian archduke who became emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 10 April 1864 until his execution by the Mexican Republic on 19 June 1867. Read more
19 Jun 1865: Evangelos Zappas, Greek-Romanian businessman and philanthropist (born 1800) Evangelos or Evangelis Zappas was a Greek philanthropist and businessman who is recognized today as one of the founders of the modern Olympic Games, which were held in 1859, 1870, 1875, and 1888 and preceded the Olympic Games that came under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee. These Games, known at the time simply as Olympics, came before the founding of the International Olympic Committee itself. The legacy of Zappas, as well as the legacy of his cousin Konstantinos, was also used to fund the Olympic Games of 1896. Read more
19 Jun 1864: Richard Heales, English-Australian politician, 4th Premier of Victoria (born 1822) The premier of Victoria is the head of government of the state of Victoria in Australia. The premier leads the Cabinet of Victoria and selects its ministers. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, must be a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, and command confidence in the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria. The premier is usually the leader of the political party that holds a majority of lower house members. Read more
19 Jun 1864: Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, American soldier (born 1843) Sarah Rosetta Wakeman was an American female soldier who served in the Union army during the American Civil War under the male name of Lyons Wakeman. Wakeman served with Company H, 153rd New York Volunteer Infantry. Her letters written during her service remained unread for nearly a century because they were stored in the attic of her relatives. Read more
19 Jun 1844: Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French zoologist and biologist (born 1772) Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theories. Geoffroy's scientific views had a transcendental flavor and were similar to those of German morphologists like Lorenz Oken. He believed in the underlying unity of organismal design, and the possibility of the transmutation of species in time, amassing evidence for his claims through research in comparative anatomy, paleontology, and embryology. He is considered as a predecessor of the evo-devo evolutionary concept. Read more
19 Jun 1820: Joseph Banks, English botanist and author (born 1743) Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Read more
19 Jun 1805: Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, French painter and educator (born 1724) Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée was a French rococo painter and student of Carle van Loo. He won the Grand Prix de Rome for painting in 1749 and was elected a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1755. His younger brother Jean-Jacques Lagrenée was also a painter. Read more

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