1940: France to surrender
With
Paris fallen to
Germany, Marshal Henri Pétain, the new French leader, announces his intention to sign an
armistice with the Nazis. Signed on 22 June, the armistice authorized the occupation of more than half of France by Germany. In July, Pétain took office as chief of state at
Vichy, a city in unoccupied
France. Under Pétain, and later
Pierre Laval, the
Vichy government collaborated fully with the Nazis, arresting Jews and French resistance fighters and shipping them off to
Nazi concentration camps. After the Normandy invasion in 1944, Pétain and Laval were forced to flee to
German protection in the east. Both were eventually captured, found guilty of high
treason and sentenced to death. Laval was executed in 1945 but provincial French leader
Charles de Gaulle commuted Pétain’s sentence to life imprisonment. Pétain died on the Île d'Yeu off France in 1951.
2001
Cardinal Thomas Winning, the leader of the Roman
Catholic Church in Scotland, dies of a heart attack.
1994
Start of football's World Cup Finals in the
United States of America with an opening ceremony which included President
Bill Clinton, television celebrity Oprah Winfrey and singer Diana Ross.
1994
After a dramatic flight from justice witnessed by millions on live television, former football star and
actor O.J. Simpson surrenders outside his Rockingham
estate to Los Angeles police, arrested for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
1991
In
South Africa, the repeal of the Population Registration Act of 1950 effectively ends the Government’s policy of Apartheid.
1980
The British Government announces that 160 U.S. nuclear cruise missiles will be stored at
RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire.
1974
In England, an
IRA bomb explodes at the Houses of Parliament injuring 11 people.
1972
Five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the
Watergate complex in Washington D.C., America.
1970
In England, the bodies of Gary Hanlon and Susan Blatchford are found in a shallow grave in a wood at Waltham Abbey in Essex.1964
A purpose-built floating trade fair docks at Tilbury in London with 22,000 samples of
Japanese goods on board.
1953
The
Soviet Union orders an entire armoured division of its troops into East
Berlin to crush a rebellion by workers and anti-government protesters.
1944
The Second World War:
Iceland becomes a republic as it separates from
Denmark. 1923
Enrico Ferrari wins his first race, a 166-mile event at the Circuito del Savio in Ravenna,
Italy. 1775
American War of Independence: The Battle of Bunker Hill begins north of Boston, Massachussets, which ends in victory for the British.1631
Mughal emperor
Shah Jahan I’s wife, Mumtaz Mahal, dies during childbirth. The Emperor decides to build a tomb in her memory – the
Taj Mahal. 1980
American tennis player
Venus Williams.
1946
American singer Barry Manilow.1945
French champion cyclist Eddie Merckx - five times winner of the Tour De
France. 1932
British athlete Derek Ibbotson - the first man to run a mile in exactly four minutes.1930
England cricketer Brian Statham.1917
American singer Dean Martin born in Ohio.1867
John Robert Gregg born in Ireland - inventor of shorthand writing.1239
Edward I, King of England.
