11 June - Definition and Overview

June 11 is the 162nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (163rd in leap years), with 203 days remaining.

Events

1200 BC-AD 1899

• 1184 BC - According to the calculations of Eratosthenes, the date that Troy was sacked and burned.
• AD 1509 - Marriage of King Henry VIII of England and Katherine of Aragon.
• 1534 - Jacques Cartier and crew celebrate the first recorded Catholic mass in North America.
• 1770 - Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
• 1788 - Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: U.S. war ships start to sail for Cuba.
• 1899 - Pope Leo XIII dedicates the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

1900-1999

• 1901 - New Zealand annexes the Cook Islands.
• 1937 - Great Purge: The Soviet Union executes eight army leaders under Joseph Stalin.
• 1940 - World War II: British forces bomb Genoa and Turin, Italy.
• 1942 - World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
• 1955 - Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healy and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the Le Mans Grand Prix.
• 1962 - Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin escape from Alcatraz.
• 1963 - American Civil Rights Movement: Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students from attending that school.
• 1963 - Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.
• 1964 - World War II veteran Walter Seifert runs amok in an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers and seriously injuring several more with a home-made flamethrower and a lance.
• 1967 - Mexico becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
• 1977 - Seattle Slew wins the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.
• 1994 - The Los Angeles radio station KROQ opens the second annual of their live concert Weenie Roast with The Afghan Whigs, Beck, Candlebox, Counting Crows, Frente!, Green Day, James, The Offspring, Oingo Boingo, Pavement, The Pretenders, Rollins Band and The Violent Femmes.
• 1998 - Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in largest high-tech acquisition.

2000-2099

• 2001 - The United States carries "out the severest sentence for the gravest of crimes" as Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
• 2004 - Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe.

Births

1500-1899

• 1519 - Cosimo I de Medici, duke of Florence (d. 1574)
• 1572 - Ben Jonson, dramatist (d. 1637)
• 1588 - George Wither, writer (d. 1667)
• 1672 - Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (d. 1749)
• 1776 - John Constable, painter (d. 1837)
• 1842 - Carl von Linde, engineer and industrialist (d. 1934)
• 1847 - Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (d. 1929)
• 1864 - Richard Strauss, composer and conductor (d. 1949)
• 1867 - Charles Fabry, physicist (d. 1945)
• 1876 - Alfred L. Kroeber, anthropologist
• 1877 - Renee Vivien, Poet born Pauline Tarn, (d. 1909)
• 1879 - Max Schreck, actor (d. 1936)
• 1879 - Roger Bresnahan, baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1944)
• 1880 - Jeannette Rankin, politician, feminist, pacifist (d. 1973)

1900-1949

• 1902 - Ernie Nevers, American football player (d. 1976)
• 1910 - Jacques Cousteau, explorer, inventor (d. 1997)
• 1913 - Vince Lombardi, American football coach (d. 1970)
• 1920 - Hazel Scott, singer (d. 1981)
• 1925 - William Styron, author
• 1932 - Athol Fugard, playwright
• 1933 - Gene Wilder, actor
• 1939 - Jackie Stewart, Formula One racing driver

1950-1999

• 1950 - Bjarne Stroustrup, computer scientist
• 1950 Lynsey De Paul, British singer/songwriter
• 1956 - Joe Montana. American football player
• 1957 - Jamaaladeen Tacuma, jazz musician
• 1959 - Hugh Laurie, actor, comedian
• 1963 - Cheryl List, model, wife to the famously handsome Mark Rex
• 1965 - Joey Santiago, guitarist (Pixies)
• 1989 - Monika Culp famous for her singing and fashion design
• 1988 - Ryan Slaney, Professional Dud

Deaths

1200-1899

• 1216 - Henry of Flanders, emperor of the Latin Empire (b. c. 1174)
• 1727 - King George I of Great Britain (b. 1668)

1900-1999

• 1903 - Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia (b. 1876) and Queen Draga
• 1924 - Théodore Dubois, composer and teacher (b. 1837)
• 1936 - Robert E. Howard, author (b. 1906)
• 1937 - R. J. (Reginald Joseph) Mitchell, British aircraft designer, developer of the Spitfire (b. 1895)
• 1949 - Oton Župančič, Slovenian poet (b. 1878)
• 1970 - Frank Laubach, Apostle of Literacy and Christian missionary (b. 1884)
• 1971 - John W. Campbell Jr., science fiction writer, publisher, editor (b. 1910)
• 1979 - John Wayne, actor (b. 1907)
• 1986 - Chesley Bonestell, engineer, architect, artist, illustrator (b. 1888)
• 1993 - Ray Sharkey, actor ("Sonny Steelgrave" on Wiseguy)
• 1996 - Brigitte Helm, German actress (b. 1908)
• 1998 - Catherine Cookson, author
• 1999 - DeForest Kelley, actor (b. 1920)

2000-2099

• 2001 - Timothy McVeigh, terrorist (executed) (b. 1968)
• 2002 - Robbin Crosby, guitarist of rock band Ratt
• 2003 - David Brinkley, television reporter (b. 1920)
• 2004 - Xenophon Zolotas, former Greek prime minister (b. 1904)

Holidays and Observances

• Kamehameha Day, official state holiday of Hawai'i, United States, in honor of its first monarch, celebrated with floral parades, hula competition and festivals
• Feast of St Barnabas
• Roman Empire, Matralia in honor of Mater Matuta
• Roman Empire, fifth day of the Vestalia in honor of Vesta

June 10 - June 12 - May 11 - July 11 -- listing of all days