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Today (May 31)
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May 31  Castle of Guînes in 2012 The siege of Guînes took place from May to July 1352 when a French army under Geoffrey de Charny unsuccessfully attempted to recapture the French castle (pictured) at Guînes which had been seized by the English the previous January. The siege was part of the Hundred Years' War and took place during the uneasy and ill-kept truce of Calais. The strongly fortified castle had been taken by the English during a period of nominal truce and the English king, Edward III, decided to keep it. Charny led 4,500 men and retook the town but was unable to either recapture or blockade the castle. After two months of fierce fighting, a large English night attack on the French camp inflicted a heavy defeat and the French withdrew. Guînes was incorporated into the Pale of Calais. The threat posed by this enclave caused the French to garrison 60 fortified positions around it, at ruinous expense. The castle was besieged by the French in 1436 and 1514, but was relieved each time, before falling to the French in 1558. (Full article...)
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May 31  Marc Lieb As of 2023, 135 drivers and 51 teams have won a European Le Mans Series title. The European Le Mans Series (ELMS) is a European endurance motor racing championship organised by the umbrella organisation Le Mans Endurance Management and administered by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The ACO awards European championships and trophies to the most successful drivers and teams in each of the series' categories over the course of a season. Marc Lieb (pictured) is the most successful ELMS driver, with four championships; and Proton Competition are the series's most successful team, with six titles. There have been 83 drivers and 33 teams who have won a title in the Le Mans Prototype (LMP) classes. Paul-Loup Chatin and Emmanuel Collard have earned the most LMP drivers' titles, with three each; and G-Drive Racing have achieved the most LMP teams' championships, with four. (Full list...) | |||
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May 31
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Tomorrow (June 1)
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June 1  Courtyard of Ludwigsburg Palace Ludwigsburg Palace is a 452-room complex of 18 buildings in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the largest palatial estate in the country and has been called the "Versailles of Swabia". Eberhard Louis, Duke of Württemberg, began construction of the palace in 1704. Charles Eugene, the son of his successor, completed it and refurbished parts in the Rococo style, especially its theatre. Charles Eugene abandoned the palace in 1775, and it began a decline until Frederick, the future duke, moved into the palace in 1795. As King of Württemberg, Frederick and his wife Queen Charlotte renovated the entirety of the palace in the Neoclassical style. The palace was opened to the public in 1918. It underwent periods of restoration, including for its tercentenary in 2004. It has hosted the Ludwigsburg Festival annually since 1947. The palace is surrounded by gardens named Blooming Baroque (Blühendes Barock), laid out in 1954 as they might have appeared in 1800. (Full article...)
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 Wreckage of American Airlines Flight 1420
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June 1
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In two days (June 2)
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June 2  Hall's A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary John Richard Clark Hall (1855–1931) was a British scholar of Old English, and a barrister. Hall's A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (pictured) became a widely used work upon its 1894 publication, and after multiple revisions remains in print as of 2021. His 1901 prose translation of Beowulf was still the canonical introduction to the poem into the 1960s; some later editions included a prefatory essay by J. R. R. Tolkien. Hall's other work on Beowulf included a metrical translation in 1914, and the translation and collection of Knut Stjerna's Swedish papers on the poem in the 1912 work Essays on Questions Connected with the Old English Poem of Beowulf. In the final decade of his life, Hall's writings took to a Christian theme. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge published two of his works in this time: Herbert Tingle, and Especially his Boyhood, and Birth-Control and Self-Control. Hall worked as a clerk at the Local Government Board in Whitehall, becoming principal clerk in 1898. (Full article...)
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June 2: Festa della Repubblica in Italy (1946) .jpg) Elizabeth II on her coronation day
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June 2
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In three days (June 3)
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June 3  James and Margaret Reed of the Donner Party The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers who set out for California in a wagon train, but became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains in November 1846. Running out of food, some resorted to cannibalism to survive. The journey west usually took between four and six months, but the Donner Party had been slowed by following a new route called the Hastings Cutoff, which crossed the Rocky Mountains' Wasatch Range and the Great Salt Lake Desert in present-day Utah. They lost many cattle and wagons in the rugged terrain, and divisions formed within the group. Their food supplies ran low after they became trapped by an early, heavy snowfall high in the mountains. In mid-December some of the group set out on foot and were able to obtain help. Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived to reach California. Historians have described the episode as one of the most spectacular tragedies in California history. (Full article...)
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June 3: Anniversary of Khomeini's Death in Iran (1989); Martyrs Day in Uganda; King's Official Birthday in New Zealand (2024); Western Australia Day (2024)  One of the last two great auks
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June 3 _in_1936_at_Princeton_University.jpg) Alan Turing The Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in the field of computer science and is often referred to as the "Nobel Prize of Computing". The award is named after Alan Turing (pictured), who was a British mathematician and reader in mathematics at the University of Manchester. Turing is often credited as being the founder of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, and a key contributor to the Allied cryptanalysis of the Enigma cipher during World War II. The first recipient, in 1966, was Alan Perlis, of Carnegie Mellon University. The youngest recipient was Donald Knuth who won in 1974, at the age of 36, while the oldest recipient was Alfred Aho who won in 2020, at the age of 79. As of 2024, 77 people have been awarded the prize. (Full list...) | |||
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June 3
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In four days (June 4)
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June 4  550 Madison Avenue is a postmodern skyscraper on Madison Avenue between 55th Street and 56th Street in New York City. Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee with associate architect Simmons Architects, the building was completed in 1984. It is a 647-foot-tall (197-meter), 37-story office tower with a facade made of pink granite. It was originally the headquarters of AT&T Corp., which relocated from 195 Broadway, the company's previous headquarters. Following the breakup of the Bell System in 1982, AT&T spun off subsidiary corporations and never occupied the entire building as it had originally intended. The building later became the American headquarters of Sony. An annex to the west was demolished and replaced in the early 2020s. Opinion of the building has been mixed ever since its design was first announced in March 1978. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building's exterior as a landmark in 2018. (Full article...)
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June 4: Trianon Treaty Day in Romania (1920)  Emily Davison
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June 4 The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen. In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines. | |
In five days (June 5)
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June 5  Reverse of the double sovereign The double sovereign is a gold coin of the United Kingdom with a nominal value of two pounds sterling (£2). It features the reigning monarch on its obverse and, most often, Benedetto Pistrucci's depiction of Saint George and the Dragon on the reverse (pictured). It was rarely issued in the first century and a half after its debut in 1820, usually in a new monarch's coronation year or to mark the institution of a new coinage portrait of the monarch. In addition to the usual coinage in Britain, specimens were struck at Australia's Sydney Mint in 1887 and 1902. Most often struck as a proof coin, the double sovereign has been issued for circulation in only four years, and few examples worn from commercial use are known. It is now a collector and bullion coin, and has been struck by the Royal Mint most years since 1980. In some years, it has not been issued and the Royal Mint instead placed gold versions of the commemorative £2 piece in the annual gold proof sets. (Full article...)
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June 5 The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen. In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines. | |
In six days (June 6)
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June 6  American Cemetery, where the film's opening and closing scenes are set Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set in 1944 in France during World War II, it follows a group of soldiers, led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), on their mission to locate Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), who is to be brought home after his three brothers are killed in action. Inspired by the books of Stephen E. Ambrose and accounts of the deaths of members of a single family such as the Niland brothers, Rodat drafted the script and Paramount Pictures hired him to finish the writing. Spielberg wanted to make Saving Private Ryan as authentic as possible, and hired Frank Darabont and Scott Frank to perform uncredited rewrites based on research and interviews with veterans. The cast went through a week-long boot camp to understand the soldier experience. Filming took place from June to September 1997 in England and Ireland. Saving Private Ryan earned critical acclaim for its graphic portrayal of combat. (Full article...)
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June 6: National Day of Sweden  Shivaji
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June 6
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In seven days (June 7)
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June 7  Cover of the May 1911 edition Munsey's Magazine was an American magazine founded by Frank Munsey in 1889. Originally launched in 1889 as Munsey's Weekly, it became an illustrated monthly in 1891, printing both fiction and non-fiction. In 1893 the price was reduced from 25 to 10 cents and circulation rose to more than 250,000 issues. The same year Munsey became one of the first publishers to regularly feature a pretty girl on the cover. Circulation was also helped by the liberal use of illustrations, and reached a peak of about 700,000 in 1897, declining in the 1910s. Well-known writers appeared, including O. Henry, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, P. G. Wodehouse, and Joseph Conrad. In 1929 it was merged with Argosy, another of Munsey's magazines. Magazine historians consider Munsey's to have started a revolution in magazine publishing by setting a low price to increase circulation, and attracting sufficient advertising revenue to make a substantial profit. Other magazines quickly followed the example of Munsey's. (Full article...)
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 Mosaic of Aelia Eudocia
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June 7 .jpg) Jacinta Allan The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the state of Victoria, Australia. The premier leads the Cabinet of Victoria and selects its ministers to lead government. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria and is usually the leader of the political party that has a majority of lower house members. Elections are held every four years, on the last Saturday of November, and no term limits are imposed on the role. Currently, the premier is paid a total salary of A$481,190. Premiers who hold the office for more than 3,000 days are entitled to a statue, a milestone six premiers have achieved, however, only four have had their statues erected. Since the role's establishment in 1855, there have been 49 premiers. The longest-serving premier was Henry Bolte of the Liberal Party, who served for over 17 years. The shortest-serving premier, George Elmslie, served for only 13 days. The current premier, Jacinta Allan (pictured) of the Labor Party, assumed office on 27 September 2023. (Full list...)
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